The Harbor Trading Company was not the best of names or even the biggest shipping company in town, but for its size and capacity to operate, Chad found it a fantastic place to deal business with. Located just off the main pier, the whitewashed stone brick warehouse was a familiar sight, and to Chad’s delight, the amicable manager of the company was there to greet him when he stepped inside. The manager, a balding man about twice his age, waved as the captain walked down the cobblestone road leading to the warehouse gate. The old man’s senile look betrayed his own disposition. Chad grimaced as the manager bellowed a hearty greeting as he approached.

“Mr. Howard! It is good to see you back in town!!”

Chad resisted the urge to cover his ears, and he hesitated a moment before responding. While he found the man friendly enough, his loud and boorish behavior had thrown him off more than once when visiting the company. “Likewise, Mr. O’Connor,” started Chad, putting on his business voice. “I see you saw my ship arrive this morning. I’ve a good complement of cargo today,” he continued, cutting to the chase. 

“Indeed!! Come, come, let us not talk in the open when we have a comfortable office with a damn great view of the harbor inside!” With another hearty laugh, O’conner showed Chad into the building. 

Business negotiations did not take long, to his relief. He had proposed a deal at slightly above trading value for his cargo of spice, rum, and sugar, all commodities desired in Frelia. After a mere twenty minutes of negotiation, he managed to broker a deal that would net 3,335 gold pieces. Taking tariffs, crew wages and the Mauritania Company’s cut in the deal into consideration, that left him with about 240 gold and 19 silver in profits. But most importantly, through his exchange with Mr. O’conner, he learned that there was an airship launch a few kilometers from town. It had been abandoned when the last typhoon wrecked the facility and the airframes still inside of it. Since it was considered derelict, he was free to have a go at salvaging the equipment inside, and that was something that Chad very much intended to do. 

Having made it clear to Yazulayne and Rilolia to meet up at the tavern on Main St. at dawn, Chad made the trek up to the launch with Lyra in tow. The airship launch was situated on a forested hill overlooking the city. At the entrance, they were greeted by a pair of wrought iron gates, rusted in an open position. Beyond the gate was a pair of airship hangars surrounded by overgrown foliage and in a state of significant disrepair. The yellowed stone and rusted beams of the structure gave an eerie feel to the site that left Chad slightly unsettled. Walking up to the closer building, he noted that the large wooden doors were rotted but still secured by an old padlock. Ignoring the double doors, he circled around the building before finding a large gap created by the wall’s crumbling masonry. A rusted steel buttress laid in angled position down the gap, allowing Chad Lyra to simply walk over the fallen supporting beam to get inside. 

The condition of the room they entered was not much better than what was outside. The area they were in appeared to be some sort of mechanic’s room at one point, but the equipment in the room seemed to be utterly destroyed by the fallen buttress or was rusted by the elements. A single wooden door with peeling paint seemed to lead out of the room, but it was locked. After fumbling with the handle for a few minutes, Chad gave up and kicked the door down, revealing the hangar proper. They were greeted with a pair of two older airships parked side-by-side, but as Chad knew little on the subject of flying contraptions, he could not discern their condition.

“Well, there’s our airship. Time to call our resident airship captain.”