Swamped

Well. There's one thing that's been bothering you.

"So. You're the head of the Bog Hill base... or were, at any rate. Maybe you still are on paper, I've got no clue what's going on there right now. Point is, I understand you get the occasional confidential military report."

Captain Long simply nods vaguely.

"This is correct. Usually it's directly related to the swamp, but once in a while I get a report that's only tangentially relevant."

"Any of these reports mention a flying ship like this? Because I've sure never heard of one."

Long thinks for a bit.

"There's certainly nothing new about rumors of flying machines. There are stories going back at least two hundred years, because people want to believe. But as technology improved, the idea that it might one day be possible, perhaps even without magic, became more plausible. Enough to get a few kingdoms to start looking into how to defend against such an attack, though it's hardly a widespread practice."

"So what you're saying is, somebody with just airships could catch a lot of places by surprise."

"They could. But if they did, they'd alert about a dozen kingdoms that have started on preparations. If they have targets in any of those kingdoms, they wouldn't want to tip their hands. "

You reflect on this.

"Well, I didn't see any cannons on the deck."

"Hmm. Then perhaps the ships aren't the main offensive. We do know they have powerful magic; they may think that makes cannons unnecessary. Though I suppose we can't rule out that there may be other weapons, perhaps even ones we wouldn't recognize."

Hmm. Maybe once things are more settled, you can search for weapons. Right now, though, that isn't really feasible.

The priest isn't back yet and there's still no sign of Ash. You could wait and ask Long more questions, but you're starting to wonder if it might not be better to go out and investigate.