Auraugu understands how important glory is for other people, not just himself. That’s why he and Penk became friends to begin with.

Okay, so:

The maximum altitude for a blimp is generally about 7,000 feet, or 1.3 miles, or 2,133.6 meters. Using the calculator found here and assuming some default values, I’m getting 21.52 seconds for that blimp to hit the ground if it went directly into free fall from that height.

Now, the blimp would not go directly into free fall the instant the missile struck, because it wouldn’t quite go up all at once. Though a safe landing would clearly be impossible and fire would spread quickly, “quickly” is not “instantaneously.” The hydrogen (or “light air” the Gastonians are using, whatever its chemical makeup) would remain in the balloon until it burned or was released, yielding some additional crucial seconds for the escapes seen on this page and the next. Let’s be generous and say the on-board mages might be trying levitation spells too, reacting instinctively before they had time to realize their plight was hopeless.

But no matter how you figure it, Penk is taking a pretty big chance by pausing at the door long enough to make his morale-crushing farewell address. “My god is a fiery god, and he will delay his fire long enough for me to deliver sick burns in his name, amen–AAAAA” SMASH CRUNCH

Careful, Rachel, that’s Scipio’s broken arm you’re pulling at. Think it’s broken below the elbow, so you may be okay, but watch out.