Slipstream: Treetop Funeral

First time in a while, here we go. 

Last time, the characters did some shopping and got set up for the funeral. This time, we open on them arriving at said funeral. The ceremony takes place on a huge treetop, with a pit hollowed out in the trunk. The pit is full of coals and fuel, and as the characters take their places, the priest lights it. He asks if anyone wants to say anything about the deceased, and Oola says that she didn't know him well, but will sing the traditional mourning song of her people. 

As the fires burns, the characters notice that there are bird-men in the trees around them, watching them. Zeenia makes eye contact with one and motions to him, saying that there's plenty of room on the treetop if he wants to come down to the funeral. He looks utterly floored by this, and flies over to another tree where he argues with several other black-winged bird-men. Iris nudges Sennet and points them out, and Sennet says they might be graverobbers ("Boy, are they going to be disappointed," says Iris). The whispered argument in the tree ends with the grave-robbers swooping down to attack, and the characters drawing their weapons to defend!

Zeena slices out the feathers from the graverobber attacking her, and he leaps across the gap to another tree to hide. Iris deftly takes on two of the ruffians with swords, and finally draws her pistol and blasts one right off the edge. Sennet takes a sword across the chest, but fights on, and Oola is badly injured and puts up her hands in surrender (the graverobbers try to take her money, but she doesn't have any). The leader of the graverobbers, realizing these people are a) not carrying much of value and b) more trouble than their worth, steals their skimmer and calls of his mates. But during the fight, he says something that the characters find troubling: "Don't kill the males!" 

The fight over, Oola patches everyone up. The characters realize that they don't have a way back to the city, so the priest (who ducked his head and stayed out of sight during the fight) offers to fly back and send help. Sennet warns them about the drop bears (they don't see very well, but they have a keen sense of smell and they're attracted by blood), and everyone tries to get a bit of wary sleep. Sennet and Iris talk a bit about the grave-robbers and the state of play on Avis, and he mentions that Prince Boolar, the eldest son of King Throx, has been taken by Queen Anthraxa. The weird bit is, though, that Throx doesn't seem to care. Sennet theorizes that his second son, Prince Craw, might have something to do with it...

A drop bear

In the morning, Sennet shows them the severed wing of the bird-man that Zeenia clipped last night - the drop bears got him. He points out that the priest isn't back yet and there's been no sign of help, meaning that he might not have made it back, either. Sennet tells them that if he has to fly back, it'll be late afternoon before anyone comes for them. Zeenia points out that she won't make it that long - she can't breathe in this atmosphere and her supply is running out. 

The characters decide to strike out for a nearby funeral tree (there are several in the general area). Oola carries Zeenia, Sennet flies, and Iris swings from vines (with some help from Sennet). They make it to the treetop and find a funeral in progress, attended by none other than Prince Craw. He is very solicitous and helpful, particularly when he learns that Zeenia is royalty, and has his valet fly them all back to the town. 

Over the next couple of days, as they wait for Zeenia's receiving tub to be completed, Iris and Sennet do a little inquiring. They learn that the ringleader of the graverobbers, Tiber, is a local thief and general scumbag - but he also left the fragment the morning after the fight. The priest never made it back to town, but they can't determine where that's because something happened to him or he was in on the plot. 

In any case, Iris figures that Prince Craw is a possible leader to finding out more about Queen Anthraxa. As Zeenia is in dire need of a vacation, they decide to head to the nearby fragment of Idunn, a planet covered in sandy islands and lovely shallow seas, and invite Prince Craw to join them...