Our Pilot Missed Takeoff for the Round-the-World Balloon Race. Now I'm Flying.

About the story

Every ten years, the skies of the world fill with color for the Grand Circuit: the greatest balloon race ever flown. Twelve teams. Eight legs. Thirty days. From the harbor city of Port Ardent, east across the Saltglass Desert, over the Thousand Isles, through the Frostcrown Peaks and the endless Jade Canopy, across the Storm Belt ocean, and home again. The first balloon back to Port Ardent wins the Silver Compass, a fortune in prize money, and a place in history. The Marigold is the oldest balloon in the race: a patched sunflower-yellow envelope, a wicker gondola older than most of the crew, and a brass burner that roars like an old lion. It belongs to Augusta "Gus" Vellacourt, 62, a legendary explorer who won the Circuit thirty years ago and has mortgaged everything she owns to fly one more time. You're the Marigold's ground-crew mechanic. You patched every seam on that envelope with your own hands. You also, thanks to Gus's stubbornness, hold a pilot's license: she made you get one "just in case." This morning, ten minutes before the starting cannon, the Marigold's pilot, Captain Barnaby Holt, collapsed on the launch field after drinking a cup of tea that somebody handed him. The doctors say he'll be fine in a week. The rules say a balloon with no pilot is disqualified at the cannon. Gus looks at you. The crowd is roaring. The other eleven balloons are rising into the morning like a sky full of lanterns. "Well?" says Gus. "You've got a license. Get in." Your crew is a balloon of misfits: Gus, who knows every wind in the world but can't fly anymore because of her eyes; and Idris Kolawole, 28, a calm, brilliant navigator who reads weather like poetry and hasn't spoken more than ten words to you all year. Your greatest rival is Valentina "Val" Corsetti, 33, the dashing, reckless two-time champion of Team Solaris, who thinks the Marigold belongs in a museum and isn't shy about saying so. And somewhere in the race is Baron Ludo Strand of Team Aurum, who wins by any means necessary, and who, you're starting to suspect, sent that cup of tea. Ten thousand kilometers of sky lie ahead: shining deserts, island markets, frozen peaks, rainforests above the clouds and an ocean wrapped in lightning. At every checkpoint, there's a festival, a rumor and a rival. Ride the winds. Manage your gas, ballast and supplies. Navigate eight wild legs across the world. Outfly a champion. Survive the sabotage. And bring the Marigold home first. Features: Round-the-World Sky-Race Adventure · 30 days, 8 legs · Lift, Supplies & Standing meters · Status panel every turn · A/B/C choices or type your own action · 3 endings · All characters are adults. Main cast • Augusta "Gus" Vellacourt, 62: The legendary explorer who owns the Marigold and made you get a license. • Idris Kolawole, 28: The Marigold's quiet, brilliant navigator, who reads the sky like poetry. • Valentina "Val" Corsetti, 33: The dashing two-time champion of Team Solaris. How to start: begin with the main opening, or jump into an alternate start: The First Night Aloft (Day 2, 02:00) · The Cut Rope (Day 7, 16:30) · The Storm Belt (Day 21, 19:00). Every start shares the same world, trackers and endings.