BBG: Chapter 35

I clashed with the Elven Bladesinger almost as soon as the Commanders of the Divine Maelstrom attacked us, lunging for him as soon as he entered range to do so. However, as Discordant Note screamed in at him, its point deflected off of an invisible barrier, allowing him to close the range and strike for my head. I dragged Discordant Note away from the shield spell, just barely managing to parry the attack as it came in at me. His second attack, however, forced me back, as I just barely managed to avoid having my throat cut from the slash of his longsword. As he began to sing in a variety of Elven that was different from the Standard Elven or Sea Elven, I frowned, watching as the magic jumped to his call, tucking myself into a shoulder roll as he breathed out a cone of acidic vapor.

I managed to avoid the Acid Breath Spell, just barely, although the ballista I had been standing next to wasn't nearly so lucky, breaking apart from the acidic spell. As I came out of my shoulder roll on one knee off to the side of the Elven Bladesinger, I lashed out with Discordant Note. This time, no shield spell stopped my blade, but instead it rebounded off the thick, copper-plated leather of the boots that the Bladesinger was wearing. My second attack, a thrust at his armpit as I stood up, was parried by the Bladesinger's Longsword, and I was forced to dodge aside from his riposte, a slash that would have cleaved my head in two, helmet or no. His follow-on attack came at me with a flick of his wrist, arcing back around at my side, and I just barely managed to get Aremeg's Wisdom in front of the slash before it landed, the blow causing me to stagger sideways.

I righted myself in time to parry the Elven Bladesinger's next incoming attack on instinct, letting out a sonic bellow that would've put the best of the metal bands from back home to shame, channeling magic into it using spellsinging. My Sonic Scream Spell caught the Bladesinger in a cone of sonic force, bursting the drums of his pointed, knifelike ears and causing him to bleed. First blood went to me, it seemed, but unfortunately, when I moved to follow up with a low cut of Discordant Note at the Bladesinger's Hamstrings, he jumped up to avoid it, coming down with a cut of his own that I was just a tad too slow to dodge and which drew a line of blood across my thigh, below the fauld of my armor. I staggered away, swearing as I did so. Had I been just a moment too slow to dodge, that would have cut into my femoral artery.

Unfortunately, he wasn't finished yet, chanting in that same form of non-standard Elven and thrusting his off-hand out at me. A crackling lightning bolt flew at me, and I was unable to dodge in time thanks to having just been cut in the leg. The lightning bolt slammed into me and surged through my body, blasting me backward into the mast. As stars exploded behind my eyes from the power of his attacks, I realized that he was too well protected for me to hit, save with spells. Fortunately, I had a few of those up my sleeve capable of doing damage, but not enough. I needed to take another tactic besides trading cuts back and forth, or I was going to lose. As my vision cleared to reveal the Bladesinger coming in at me, I let out a second Sonic Scream as he did so, causing him a nosebleed as my cone of Sonic Force blasted right into his face. That spoiled his cut enough for me to duck. His blade thudded into the Mast with electric and sonic force, embedding itself, and I realized this was my shot.

I growled, lunging at him with a feinted thrust. Predictably, he moved to sidestep, only for me to turn my thrust into a cut. It was a textbook Swordplay Upset, and I was actually rather surprised that he fell for it. Fall for it he did, however, and my cut managed to slash across his left wrist, Discordant Note shrieking as it cut deep enough to sever tendons and rebound off the bone. He let out a scream of pain as I disabled his left hand, as well as hopefully, his spellcasting capabilities. Unfortunately, he stumbled backward away from his Longsword, biting out another melodic string of syllables in that oddly different Elven Language and pointing at me with his swordhand. The shimmering shape of a translucent, spectral unicorn materialized in front of him and charged me, trampling me and knocking me back five feet away from his lodged blade, allowing him to reclaim his longsword as my bones brusied under the onslaught of the Spell of Unicorn Arrow.

As he came back in at me, I let out a final metal screech, this time causing him to bleed from his eyes, temporarily blinding him as blood vessels burst in his eyes. I managed to parry his half-blind cut as he tried to attack me again with a textbook Swordplay Deflection, before leaping up onto a series of crates filled with provisions for the crew of the Divine Maelstrom in order to avoid a belched out cone of flame as the spell of Fire Breath flew toward where I had been standing. The flames caught on the provisions crates, forcing me to half-run, half-climb the stack of crates to get away from the fire.

Suddenly, a wall of water rose up from the side of the ship, crashing down onto the burning crates and forcing me to leap off the flaming stack, tucking myself into a shoulder roll to avoid being blasted by the torrent. I came out of my roll on one knee, looking over at where Janessa was trading spells near the bow of the ship with the Divine Maelstrom's Ship's Mage to find the Mage had cast the Wall of Water Spell to avoid setting the ship ablaze. Fortunately, I now had a bit of breathing room between myself and the Bladesinger. Placing Discordant Note back in its sheath, I reached into my bag of holding. Pulling out a trio of Amnian Danter, I began to sing, casting a spell as I did so.

"Money, it's a crime. Share it fairly, but don't take a slice of my pie. Money, so it's said. It's the root of all evil today. But if you ask for a rise, it's no surprise that they're giving none away." I sang out.

As I sang the lyrics to an Old Pink Floyd song, I dredged up mystic power thanks to my abilities with spellsinging. The trio of Golden Amnian Danter were transformed suddenly into weapons thanks to the Coin Shot spell, and I flung them at the Bladesinger as he charged me once again. Coin Shot turned coins into the equivalent of bullets, hitting opponents in the same way that a Lantanese Arquebus did, ignoring armor or shields. The trio of glowing, golden projectiles suddenly thudded into the Bladesinger, punching through his defenses and into his shoulders and left leg. The only reason he didn't stumble and fall to the deck from the sudden attack was because of the Anchoring Enchantment on his Armor. It did ruin his cut, though, allowing me to dodge backward and re-draw Discordant Note in time to parry his follow-on attack. Unfortunately, as I moved to riposte, he intoned another string of Odd Elven, and I was suddenly facing the wrong way as I cut out at him.

Realizing that he had swapped our positions using a spell of Baleful Transposition, I tucked myself into a forward roll just in time to dodge his next attack, which would have cut into the back of my knee and really did a bunch of damage had I not managed to roll away. Coming back up to my feet, I dredged up another spell, this time of Biting Words. This was a spell that relied solely on the opponent's ability to hear me, and thus, likewise bypassed the protection of armor and shields.

"Close, but close only counts in Throwknife and Alchemist's Fire. I guess you're just not good enough!" I taunted, infusing the taunt with the spell.

The spell gave my words weight, and they bludgeoned, pierced, and cut into the Bladesinger as he charged again at me. This also spoiled his aim, and I grinned as I managed to dodge away from him, taunting him a second time as I parried his next strike in a textbook Swordplay Style deflection.

"You know, you'd think that having seen me do this before, you would have adapted, but apparently, flexibility isn't your strong suit." I jeered.

Once again, my words cut, bludgeoned, and pierced into him. He was on his last legs as he blindly lashed out at me in response, growling in anger. Unfortunately, he managed to slip a cut past Aremeg's Wisdom, cutting into the meat of my left bicep, though not as deeply as his last melee attack that hit me. It was still enough that between the spellfire I'd taken and the cuts I'd been struck with, the pain threatened to overwhelm me and I had to push past it in order to keep fighting, gritting my teeth with an effort of will, I lashed out in a riposte, feinting once again, this time for a cut. The Bladesinger parried, but the feint was just that, a feint. My real intention was the headbutt that I smashed into his nose as he wound and bound my blade into a sword clinch. He staggered backward from the helmeted headbutt I slammed into his nose, which cracked and bent to the side from the blow. I let off one last cutting remark infused with Biting Words, before the spell lapsed.

"I guess wisdom isn't your strong suit either if you can't tell a feint from an attack." I sneered.

My words blasted into him a final time, and finally, dropped him to the deck as his eyes literally burst from the pressure of my Biting Words spell. He died, there, on the deck, choking on rage, bile, and his own blood, courtesy of a ruptured spleen from my spellwork. I was huffing, puffing, and barely managing to stay upright, but I was alive. A cure light wounds spell later, and I was good enough to lend my blade to any of the other fights still happening on the Divine Maelstrom.

After we had cleared the deck of much of the enemy crew, our loaned crewmen sent a boarding party of twenty men onto the deck of the Divine Maelstrom to begin pushing down belowdecks. That boarding party was now filtering back up onto the deck, sporting wounds, but still very much alive, having seemingly slain the remaining twenty-five Crew of the Umberlant Vessel. Thankfully, the Divine Maelstrom was a smaller Carrack, containing only a crew of fifty, and we had slain half of them before engaging the Umberlant Officers of the Ship. I decided to gather our remaining Loaned Crewmen, some fifteen warriors, and form them into a fist to aid Janessa, as both Shavariel and Selima were dealing with Puissant Undertow Juliana Montcalm together, and thus could hold out a bit longer.

I sheathed Discordant Note and grabbed my Bandore, strumming a tune to Inspire Courage in the Boarding Party of Loaned Crewmen. A jaunty tune about killing pirates issued forth, as a tale about the Coast of High Barbary from another world rang out.

"Look ahead, look astern, look the weather in the lee! Blow high! Blow low! And so sailed we!
I see a wreck to the windward and a lofty ship to lee. A-sailin' down all on the coast of High Barbary!" I sang out as I got the Boarding Party into order.

As I did, the fifteen men straightened as more steel was put in their spines and their grips on weapons firmed up. I formed them into a loose wedge and had them charge the enemy Ship's Mage that was dueling with Janessa near the bow of the ship.

"Oh, are you a pirate or a man-o-war? cried we! Blow high! Blow low! And so sailed we!
Oh no! I'm not a pirate but a man-o-war, cried he! A-sailin' down all on the coast of High Barbary!" I sang out, continuing my performance.

As we crossed the deck, I noticed that Janessa managed to tag the Enemy Ship's Mage with three out of five jagged icicles from a spell of Ice Darts, cutting him up and ruining his concentration as a spell of Lightning Bolt fizzled out in his hands.

"We'll back up our topsails and heave our vessel to! Blow high! Blow low! And so sailed we! For we have got some letters to be carried home by you! A-sailin' down all on the coast of High Barbary!" I continued to sing.

As I did so, I infused my song with mystical energy, using my spellsinging capabilities to infuse the warrior at the tip of the spear, so to speak, with a spell of Rage. He let out a whooping war cry as the magic infused his body, making him stronger and more enduring, as if he were a Berserker.

"For broadside, for broadside, they fought all on the Main! Blow high! Blow low! And so sailed we! Until at last the frigate shot the pirate's mast away! A-sailin' down all on the coast of High Barbary!" I sang out as we crossed the remaining gap between Janessa's fight near the bow and where we started the charge.

The lead Warrior of our Loaned Crew brought his Plus One Longsword of Shock down on the back of the Enemy Ship's Mage, staggering him with the force behind the blow and allowing the Warriors slightly behind him to hack at his legs with Plus One Battleaxes. The cuts were minor, owing to the lack of experience compared to the Enemy Ship's Mage, but they struck home all the same, and as we joined the fray, they provided enough of a distraction for the Enemy Ship's Mage to lose control of his Fireball Spell.

"For quarters! For quarters! The saucy pirates cried! Blow high! Blow low! And so sailed we!
The quarters that we showed them was to sink them in the tide! A-sailin' down all on the coast of High Barbary!" I continued my song.

The Enemy Ship's Mage got off a Spell of Acid Arrow on the Raging Warrior that seared through his throat, but in doing so, opened him up to Janessa, whose Orb of Force slammed true into his back, breaking it. He crawled weakly to the bow of the ship, hoping to try and salvage his life using a spell of Water Breathing to survive the tide.

"With cutlass and with gun, oh, we fought for hours three! Blow high! Blow low! And so sailed we! The ship it was their coffin and their grave it was the sea! A-sailin' down all on the coast of High Barbary!" I sang as my song reached a crescendo.

Unfortunately for the Enemy Ship's Mage, before he could fling himself into the waves, my charging wedge of Loaned Crewmen was upon him. He managed to get off a final spell, Magic Missiles scythed down another trio of our Loaned Crewmen before they hacked him to pieces as I made my way over to Janessa after singing the last Chorus.

"Thanks. Mage Duels are a hassle. I'm almost completely out of spells for the day." Nodded Janessa.

As she said that, however, a scream echoed from the sterncastle of the Divine Maelstrom. I looked over to find that Selima was huffing and puffing, clearly on her last legs. Meanwhile, Shavariel was unconscious and bleeding out. That wasn't good, and we would need to rush to their aid in order to save them.

"Not completely out of spells, I hope?" I questioned.

"No. Not completely. How about you? Are you good to go?" Queried Janessa.

"One moment." I insisted, casting a spell of Cure Moderate Wounds on myself. As I felt my body heal up further, I nodded at Janessa.

"Come on, let's go." I insisted.

And together, we charged for the Sterncastle. I summoned my magic and strummed a chord on my Bandore as we did so, strumming F and B together in a so-called Devil's Chord. The music transformed the discordant interval into a chord of shards, the magic cutting into Puissant Undertow Juliana and spoiling her next attack, a blow from her trident wreathed in the crackling black energy of an Inflict Critical Wounds spell. The Trident thunked into the railing harmlessly, even as Janessa called forth the last of her magic for the day to cast a spell of Magic Missile, with all five of the darts of mystical force striking home. I put up my Bandore as we reached the steps to the Sterncastle and drew Discordant Note as Janessa, out of spells, pulled her Sling and loaded it with a magical slingstone.

I mounted the steps in time to see Selima take a second, darkly crackling, Inflict Wounds-laden strike from Puissant Undertow Juliana's Trident on her shield. Unfortunately, her riposte was similarly parried. I reached the top of the steps in time to cut out with Discordant Note, only for her to call out an invocation to Umberlee.

"Queen of the Deeps, Delay my foe!" She spat.

As she did so, a wave suddenly crested under the boat, rocking me and spoiling my slash as Puissant Undertow Juliana cast Control Water under the boat, causing me to slip up. Discordant Note hacked into the rail as Puissant Undertow Juliana lashed out at me with her Trident, crackling with the power of another Inflict Wounds spell. Unfortunately for her, I was able to free my blade from the wood of the Rail in time to parry the strike with a textbook Swordplay Style Deflection. As I wound and bound with her Trident, a slingstone flew true from Janessa, smashing into Puissant Undertow Juliana's Temple, busting open her scalp in a flash of holy light.

"Umberlee drown you all!" Shrieked Puissant Undertow Juliana, infusing the words with the Unholy Power of the Bitch Queen and giving them weight.

The burst of sound shredded into myself, Selima, and Janessa, who had just gotten partway up the stairs to the Sterncastle. Selima, who had just moved back into the fray after stabilizing Shavariel, was on the edge of the Sound Burst spell. Unfortunately, with her already so wounded, that was enough to bring her down, unconscious on the deck of the Sterncastle. I was still able to fight, but running out of steam fast, while Janessa stumbled on the steps, paralyzed. Janessa hit her head on the wooden steps and, already on her last legs, was knocked unconscious from the sharp, unprotected blow. That left me all on my own against Puissant Undertow Juliana.

"You think you can stop the Queen of the Depths' Return?" Asked Puissant Undertow Juliana with a sneer.

"We can and we will." I growled.

"Fools! You should know when you are defeated! You may have slain Filveryl and Alejandro, but you will not claim victory over the Faithful!" Spat Puissant Undertow Juliana.

She lashed out with her Trident, once again trying to run me through, though notably, without the aid of an inflict wounds spell this time. I managed to parry that strike and hop up onto the rail to avoid the second. With a snarl, Puissant Undertow Juliana bit out a curse at me even as my riposte with Discordant Note plunged through the gap between pauldron and breastplate to pierce through her right shoulder with sonic power.

"Queen of the Waves! Blind my foe with the brine of the sea!" She literally cursed at me.

Fortunately, though my eyes began to sting as brine materialized in them, I was able to quickly blink them clear, my fortitude proving too much for the Curse of Blindness that Puissant Undertow Juliana sent my way. It did provide her an opening to thrust her trident through that I wasn't able to parry. Fortunately, her thrust was weak and stopped by my armor as the tines of the trident struck the mirror plate of the Chahar-Aina, failing to penetrate. Her follow-on attack was an attempt to trip me off the rail I was standing on with a sideways swipe of the haft of her Trident. I was able to avoid the attack, hopping up first on one leg, then the other, and managing to maintain my balance along the rail. My pair of cuts that I sent back at her were parried and ducked, though I managed to parry her riposte using a textbook Swordplay Style Deflection.

My next cut began was another Swordplay Style Upset Feint, a cut at the top of her head that she fell for, attempting to parry on the haft of her trident. As she did that, however, a flick of my wrist sent Discordant Note whirling about, whipping it back and around into a thrust that stuck her between her left pauldron and breastplate, punching through her left shoulder in a mirror of the previous wound I had dealt her. I withdrew my blade with a flourish, and she growled out in pain and anger.

"Damn you! Stay still and die!" She demanded, thrusting her trident at me, wreathed again in crackling black energy that indicated another inflict wounds spell had been used on it.

"No!" I retorted.

As I did that, I leaped off the rail and abandoned my advantage of height to tumble to the deck of the Sterncastle in a shoulder roll. Puissant Undertow Juliana's Trident thudded into the Rail where I had been standing, stuck fast as I rose to my feet and lunged at her back. Discordant Note punched through the gap between her cuisse and greave, severing tendons in her right knee and causing her to fall to one knee from the sudden sneak attack. She was breathing hard, bloodied, and down a leg, without her Trident. Clearly, Puissant Undertow Juliana was on her last legs, my last attack proving decisive.

"You think you have won, but you haven't! The Queen of the Sea controls all that occurs in her domain! If you strike me down, you will not live out the day, for she will cause such a storm upon the waves that your so-called fleet will be scattered and smashed in the throes of her vengeance! This I swear!" Spat Puissant Undertow Juliana.

"Maybe, maybe not. We've got some pretty skilled sailors, after all." I retorted.

As I did so, my blade flashed out and cut Puissant Undertow Juliana's Throat out from her. That, apparently, was a mistake as off on the horizon, a bank of dark clouds began to gather, seemingly intent on bringing a storm our way. I frowned, estimating, thanks to my skills in Seamanship, that it would take about ten minutes for the clouds to arrive. Immediately, I moved over to Selima, casting a Cure Light Wounds spell on her, before moving to do the same to Shavariel. Both of them were roused from their unconscious states thanks to that.

"We have to go, now. There's a storm coming in." I insisted.

"Right. Why wouldn't there be?" Questioned Shavariel.

"Where's Janessa?" Queried Selima.

"Unconscious. Can you heal her enough that she wakes up? I only have a few bits of magic left for the day, and some of them need to be used to signal the fleet." I asked.

"I should be able to." Agreed Selima.

Fortunately, it seemed that my loaned crew was already in the process of looting the Divine Maelstrom after they'd cleared the Bow, Amidships, and Belowdecks. Unfortunately, we didn't have a whole lot of time. I called out to them as they were moving chests and bodies over to the Hammerdown to store them.

"You have three minutes to finish plundering! There's a storm coming in!" I intoned.

Then I made my way back over to the Hammerdown and set about contacting the rest of the fleet. Fortunately, it seemed that the Nacre Seahorse had struck its colors, judging by the makeshift flag it was now flying that was identical to Captain Half-Tusk's Flag. Both Water Elementals had been slain, though the Bloody Spear had been sunk in the process. The Searazor had apparently been sunk by the Iron Drakon and the Seahearth Slingstone, though they had taken the Heartharbor Surprise to the depths with them. The Barracuda, meanwhile, was busily piling on sail to flee for port in Caer Jannath, pursued by the Speedy Drake and the Hin Blade. Some quick nautical calculations showed they would make it out of the area before the storm hit.

It seemed our flotilla had lost two ships to win this victory. We would lose more if I couldn't signal the other ships in time. Fortunately, I had a spell that could signal everyone, plus enough spell slots to perform it. With a pull on my magic, I cast a spell of Pyrotechnics into the air, the darkening skies providing an adequate backdrop as my spell caught the attention of all captains and spelled out the danger in fire across the sky. Immediately, semaphore messages using flags began to flicker across the flotilla, and I was able to relay the situation.

Two minutes before the storm hit, everyone was back aboard their respective ships, and the Flotilla set sail for Cadfael Island. Unfortunately, we had cut it far too close, thanks to the slowness of the Semaphore Signals compared to something like a spell of Message. We were caught on the outskirts of the storm, trying for dear life to ride out the wrath of Puissant Undertow Juliana Montcalm's Death Curse. It was a long time we spent in the storm, and by the end of things, everyone was hurt and exhausted. Several crewmen were pitched overboard, lost to the fury of the Sea Goddess from the thwarting of her priestess. From a loaned crew of thirty men, the Hammerdown came out of the storm with thirteen, three of whom were too wounded to sail. We were alive, though.

We would anchor off a spit of rock about two hours' sail from Caer Jannath on Cadfael Island to rest, heal, mend, and make sail. It turned out that the Seahearth Slingstone was damaged enough to require aid from Selima via Mending Spells in order to repair, and the Iron Drakon had a number of its oars snapped in twain. All told, some Eight-Hundred-Eighty People had been sailors, warriors, and officers in our Flotilla. Of those, eight-hundred-eighty, seven-hundred-fifteen were still alive. Of those seven-hundred-fifteen men, seventy-two were badly wounded. Thankfully, we had a plentiful supply of healing potions, thanks to the Master Bern Morgan of the Hearthharbor Guild of Brewers, Whitesmiths, and Coopers. We managed to more or less heal everyone in the day that we rested, but the flotilla had still taken just over nineteen percent casualties in the Battle of the Jannath's Tears Archipelago.

Honestly, it was a refreshing change of pace when the Hin Blade and Speedy Drake returned with full complements of sailors, having failed to chase down the Barracuda before losing them in the night. If there was one thing that the Zhentarim knew, though, it was how to use the cover of darkness to sneak away. Not that I had much in the way of room to talk there, but the point was it was expected. By the time we set sail for Caer Jannath and Cadfael Island, five days would have passed since we had left Jannathstaad. When we arrived, though, we would be facing the dregs of the Umberlant Forces. It would prove a simple matter to cut through them and make our way to Castle Jannath.

Unfortunately, the fighting within the Castle itself would prove to be another story entirely. . .

XXXX

AN: All right, so here we have the next chapter. The Battle of the Jannath's Tears Archipelago ends in a success, though there was a brush with Puissant Undertow Juliana's Death Curse at the end. Fortunately, however, the Seventh Level Control Weather Spell takes ten minutes to form a storm once successfully cast, providing a window with which to get the hell out of dodge. Unfortunately, doing so with a big fleet that has just been in a battle is cumbersome, and the Flotilla still got caught up on the edge of the storm and was battered. Now they have to retake Cadfael Island, which is both as easy and as difficult as seizing Caer Jannath.

This was a difficult battle. Puissant Undertow Juliana Montcalm was a Level Thirteen Cleric of Umberlee, Filveryl Swiftcutter was a Fighter Five/Sorcerer Four/Elven Bladesinger Four. Alejandro Garza was only a Tenth Level Sorcerer, so Janessa had the easiest time of things, but by the end there, three out of four party members were down, and Robar was in single-digit HP.

At any rate, the next chapter will be the penultimate chapter of the prologue section of the fic as the Flotilla attacks Caer Jannath and tries to retake Cadfael Island. Robar and Company will be the tip of the spear as they fight their way through the town and into Castle Jannath.

Stay tuned, , ,