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Moments later, Acraban emerges from the smoke that wreathes the stern deck. His robes are torn and a trickle of blood runs from a gash above his right ear. You use your Magnakai Curing skills to heal the wizard’s wound and then, with Karvas’ help, you evacuate some injured crewmen from the crippled skyship. Acraban orders Bo’sun Gora to go and assess the condition of his crew. He returns shortly and reports that out of the ship’s original complement of ten men, three are now missing, three are wounded, and one is dead. The remaining three crewmen, himself included, have survived the crash with only minor injuries.

Using your curing skills, you ease the pain of the badly-injured crewmen before helping Karvas and Gora to bury the dead man—Kuo the helmsman. The area surrounding the crashed skyship is thickly wooded and, with night fast approaching and a sky heavy with clouds, it is impossible for you to determine your exact location. Acraban proposes to contact Lord Zinair to inform him of the disaster by means of his seeing stone. But, to his dismay, he soon discovers that the magical artefact has been lost in the crash.

As the darkness of night envelops the smouldering wreck of the Starstrider, you find it hard to suppress a growing sense of despair. It is a mood shared by the other survivors, and few words are exchanged as you work together to erect a makeshift shelter for the wounded beside the ship’s battered keel. When the shelter is finished, you each look for a place nearby where you can lie down and attempt to recover from the fatigue of your terrible ordeal.

Before you try to get some sleep, unless you possess the Discipline of Grand Huntmastery, you must now eat a Meal or lose 3 ENDURANCE points.

To continue, turn to 331.