BBG: Chapter 30

The Commercial Docks of Heartharbor were on fire as we were jolted out of our beds to the sounds of battle from outside. We tooled up as swiftly as we dared, trusting in the fact that the Hammerdown was docked in the Military Harbor to save us from being attacked while donning our equipment. Fair dues to the Guard, it seemed to be a good decision, largely thanks to the fact that the Halflings that were defending the Military Docks were very well-trained. As we rushed out from belowdecks on the Hammerdown, I finally got to see who was attacking us.

A Northlander Longship, a Calimshite Dhow, and an Amnian Caravel, all three of which I had seen before, all three of which were flying a familiar flag. A Skull missing its bottom jaw above two crossed daggers on a blood red background. The Banner of the Skaug Corsairs. They'd shown up, likely to fight because Thurgrim didn't want to wait for an answer. Had they been just lying in wait somewhere? Waiting for the signal that the Council didn't tell Thurgrim what he wanted to hear, and that they could attack Heartharbor? If so, how had they managed to evade the patrols that I knew Commodore Islandwarden had sent out from the Harbor after hearing that Xommyrru was dead?

All these were questions that I would not get an answer to. Not standing about on the dock like this, at any rate. Instead, I headed for the sounds of battle, my group following after me. Up ahead, a platoon of twenty or so Halfling Guards was fighting off thirty Northlanders, clearly all under the command of one of the Pirate Captains of the Skaug Corsair Flotilla that had been sent to the Jannath's Tears Archipelago. The Northlander, Wulf, Captain of the Tidereaver, the Longship that was sitting out in the Harbor. He still bore most of the same equipment that he'd borne during the attack on Caer Jannath, though his blades were different from the ones I had seen before.

He wore a Belt that I could now tell was a Belt of Physical Perfection Plus Four, a Suit of Nimble Buoyant Mithril Chainmail of Heavy Fortification Plus Three, an Amulet of Natural Armor Plus Three, a Ring of Protection Plus Three, a pair of Pauldrons of the Serpent, a pair of Boots of the Sea, a Hat of Tongues, and a pair of Bracers of Quick Strike. For weapons, he had a dagger that seemed to have an Icy Burst Enchantment, a Thundering Enchantment, and a general plus three Enchantment on it, but also had another I couldn't figure out. He also had a Longsword of Fever Iron was clearly a Plus Four Weapon and clearly had a Razor Sharp edge, with both Frost and Flaming Enchantments, but that was all I could discern of it. It certainly didn't explain the scintillating haze of vile greenish energy that pervaded it.

As we approached the vicious melee, I realized that the Guards were down several Halflings Wounded while the Pirates were faring better, thanks to the presence of their leader. As we barreled into the enemy, bolstering the Guard's lines, I realized that it was likely that the Guards had been on the verge of calling a retreat before we showed up. As it was, I lashed out with Aremeg's Fury and cut into a Northman Pirate, my thrust punching through the links of his Chain Shirt where they were weaker, around the armpit, impaling his heart. I withdrew it in a spray of blood in time to parry an incoming cut of a Northman Pirate's Battleaxe with Aremeg's Wisdom, riposting with a cut of Aremeg's fury that cut the legs out from under that Pirate, sending him toppling into the harbor.

To my right, Shavariel skewered a Northlander Pirate through the face, even as a Second Northlander Pirate twitched out his death throes at her feet. To my left, Selima battered a Northlander Pirate's Brains out with her Frost Mace, having grabbed the more powerful weapon instead of her Order's Hammer now that she had the Cloak Pin to show her devotion to Deneir. Her back swing smashed into the elbow of another Northlander Pirate, freezing him to the bone while also corroding through his arm, and he fell to the floor, in shock. Even Janessa got in on the action, slaying one Pirate with a barrage of magic missiles and wounding another with the remainder, who tripped over his dead comrade and splashed into the Harbor.

Suddenly down eight men, the Pirates quailed in fear, and the Guards bulled forward, claiming the lives of three more Pirates before Captain Wulf stepped in and glared at his men, putting steel back into their spines or else. However, they were now outnumbered, and Captain Wulf strode forth to glare at me.

"You are formidable. I am Wulf, Captain of the Tidereaver. I will carry your name to the next port with me if you would but give it." Intoned Captain Wulf, challenging me.

"Robar the Red, Captain of the Hammerdown, I will do the same for you." I responded.

"Robar?" Questioned Janessa.

"Just keep fighting the other pirates, I've got this." I insisted.

"Are you certain?" Queried Shavariel.

"Whether he is or not is immaterial. There is a battle to be won, is there not?" Asked Selima.

"Indeed. I'll be fine." I insisted.

"You think so, eh? Your friends ought to be more worried about themselves! Eðlafang! Come forth!" Shouted Captain Wulf.

Suddenly, there was a roar, and a massive Saltwater Crocodile burst up out of the water. Interestingly, it was wearing Nimble Hide Armor Plus Three and Spiked Collar of Protection Plus Three. I wasn't sure how Wulf had managed to train something like that, but he'd clearly put money, time, and effort into it. Regardless, the Crocodile bit the arm off of one of the Halfling Guards even as it knocked another into the harbor with a tail strike that had broken to poor Guard's neck.

As the Guards realized that leaving such a beast to rampage unchecked would lose them the battle, four of them charged the Crocodile. That opened up a gap in the lines that the Pirates could exploit. Janessa, Shavariel, and Selima moved to fill that gap, and I began my duel with Captain Wulf, tapping Aremeg's Fury against the rim of Aremeg's Wisdom, the universal signal to come at me. Captain Wulf grinned savagely and strode forth, ready to attack. Just before he reached me, I adopted a Swordplay Style Stance and prepared for his first attack. He did not disappoint.

For such a big man, he moved fast, blazingly so. Two attacks with his Dagger and three with his blazing green blade. I managed to snap off a parry against the first attack in a textbook Swordplay Deflection. His First off-hand attack slammed into Aremeg's Fury, while I dodged his second Off-Hand Attack, leaning away from the dagger. Unfortunately, his second attack with the Longsword caught me across the bicep as I was leaning away, a graze that alternately chilled and burned my body while also searing at my soul. And that was just a graze. Furthermore, as I ducked the last attack from the blade, I noticed droplets of blood spattering from my wounded arm onto the pier. The wound was bleeding through some property of the blade.

Snarling, I pushed through the pain and snapped off a pair of strikes, the first of which carved into Captain Wulf's own Bicep on the opposite side of his body from my own bicep wound, steam hissing and cauterizing his wound. My second strike was parried with his Dagger, the fiery enchantments of my longsword warring with those of Captain Wulf's Dagger. I snarled at that, blocking the cut of the black longsword, wreathed in green haze, on Aremeg's Fury, only for Captain Wulf to finesse Aremeg's Fury into a wooden post with his dagger. Aremeg's Fury thunked into the post, and before I could attempt to free it, Captain Wulf lashed out with his blades again. I managed to avoid the Longsword, but his Dagger thundered into my thigh, somewhat literally. I felt my thigh punched into, while it was also blasted by cold and sonic energy. I snarled as he withdrew his dagger and came in again, forcing me back away from Aremeg's Fury.

"What will you do now, I wonder?" Questioned Captain Wolf.

In response, I summoned magic from deep in my core, suffusing my voice with it as I spoke, exclaiming, "I'll show you exactly what I can do without a blade!"

The magic gave my words actual, physical force and smashed, cut, and pierced him as he tried taunting me. Off-balance from the sudden attack, he didn't notice me reach into my Bag of Holding and pull out the Stranger Tides Blade, the morphing property of the Adamantine Weapon changing into a Longsword as I drew it. As Captain Wulf bulled back in, cutting out for me, I tumbled under the double cut of his Longsword and dagger, coming up behind him with a slash that took a chunk out of the back of his leg, including several tendons, as I managed to cut into the pit of his knee and damn near took his right leg off. He spun as he toppled to the side, cutting out with his longsword and dagger. I snapped off a textbook parry, the swordplay deflection, angling his longsword away from me, while his dagger rebounded off the front mirror plate of my Chahar-Aina.

"Careful! You could hurt yourself like that!" I taunted, my words imbued further with mystical energy as the spell of Biting Words hadn't run out yet. The power behind my words bludgeoned, cut up, and pierced into Captain Wulf some more. He tried to get to his feet, but his right leg just wouldn't support his weight. Instead, he parried my next attack with a cross block of both his sword and dagger, and tried to leverage me into the harbor. Fortunately, I was able to avoid being pulled off my feet and tossed into the drink.

"Close! But close only counts in Horseshoes and Alchemist's Fire!" I smirked, my voice punching into, cutting up, and smashing around, Captain Wulf one more time before the magic gave out. This time, however, when he parried with his dagger, he combined it with a kick to my shin with his good leg, managing to knock me off balance and disarm me. I was forced to tumble backwards to avoid what likely would have been a lethal strike from his Longsword as the Stranger Tides blade clattered to the wooden floor of the dock. I came up next to the post that Aremeg's Fury had been stuck into, grinning as I reached out and retrieved my original blade, pulling it free of the post with a cracking noise and a spray of splinters.

However, I realized he couldn't move from where he was, thanks to me crippling his leg earlier. That being so, it would be a lot less dangerous to simply sit back and fire my Hand Crossbow at him than to keep going to him in melee and possibly getting cut. A giant, shit-eating grin crossed my face as I sheathed Aremeg's Fury before moving to retrieve the Stranger Tides Blade, placing it back into my Bag of Holding. All the while, Captain Wulf lay there on the ground, not doing much to stop me. Then, I grabbed my Crossbow, slotted in a bolt, and began firing away at him. It only took two shots to finish him off, though by the time I did, I wasn't looking too hot myself. I wasn't battle with Xommyru wounded, but I was pretty damned close.

Fortunately, it seemed that the others had managed to slay Captain Wulf's Crocodile, Eðlafang, though it'd killed five guards and wounded three others in the process. Of the remaining ten Guards, half were wounded, though the Pirates had all been slain to a man. Of my Companions, Selima and Shavariel had taken a few hits, while Janessa had clearly only taken one, a bleeding cut across her forehead. We had won, though, and now was the time to heal up and loot.

Of Captain Wulf's Equipment, nobody could deny me the right to take from him. Shavariel grabbed the Belt of Physical Perfection Plus Four along with the Gauntlets of Quick Strike, while Janessa got Shavariel's Old Belt of Giant Strength and Gloves of Dexterity, and Selima took the Hat of Tongues. The rest of it went into bags of holding for sale, except for the Longsword and Dagger, which we identified using spells.

The Longsword was the Barrow Blade of King Gudbrand Bale-Eye. In Life, King Gudbrand was known to be a Tyrant, who oppressed not only the Ffolk of his small kingdom, but often also the very Northlanders whom he relied upon to bolster his rule. The local Northlanders only tolerated Gudbrand's abuses because he had led them to victory time and again against the Kings of Gnarhelm, during which a strike from the hammer of Jarl Olaf the Grim of Otta almost put out his right eye entirely, turning his eye to a bloody red, hence the name Gudbrand Bale-Eye. In return, Gudbrand took Jarl Olaf's head.

Stories like that abound when it comes to Gudbrand, though it was telling that after several decades of pillaging and plundering his fellow Northlander Kings of the Moonshae Isles, Gudbrand ultimately was felled by a sickness that had spread across his capital during one particularly wet autumn. It was a curse, some said, that Gudbrand's lifetime of attacking his own people had caught up with him. His Kingdom was quick to entomb him in a barrow, the blade with which he had slain many of his fellow Northlanders entombed with him. As they did, the forces of Gnarhelm moved in to annex Gudbrand's Kingdom, and with Gudbrand dead and resting in his tomb, they succeeded.

Cursed or not, a large measure of the evil that Gudbrand lived his life by still persists in this blade. The Blade itself is not cursed, unlike its original wielder supposedly was, however, it is quite nasty. Gudbrand's Barrow Blade is a Razor-Sharp Unholy Vile Fever-Iron Longsword of Frost, Flame, and Wounding Plus Four. A singularly unpleasant weapon for a singularly unpleasant King. Captain Wulf must have engaged in a spot of tomb-robbing to get this blade, or taken it from someone else who had.

The Dagger is far more straightforward. It is known as the Cold Wolf's Howl and had been crafted by Gorm Wolfkiller, an Adventurer originally from Ruathym who specialized in slaying wolves and wolf-like creatures. His last and greatest adventure was a hunt against the Werewolf Lord of Neverwinter Wood, Darnold Errard, in the spring of the Year of Many Monsters, Twelve-Thirty-Three Dale Reckoning. He took the components, along with enough gold to choke a horse, to Mirabar and had the Dwarven Smiths there craft him a dagger to use in his off-hand.

The Smiths of Mirabar ground up the fangs of Worgs, Bargests, and Winter Wolves to use as flux for the forging, and inscribed powerful runes into the dagger for both attack and defense. When the process was finished, the Cold Wolf's Howl was the result. Gorm Wolfkiller would go on to slay Darnold Errard, saving the village of Helm's Stead from an impending assault by the Werewolf Lord and his pack. Gorm Wolfkiller hung up his boots, retiring from adventuring in Helm's Stead to take over the Old Dirty Dwarf Tavern from the original owner, the titular Dirty Dwarf, Algug Bottlemaster.

The Cold Wolf's Howl was a Plus Three Razor Sharp Alchemical Silver Dagger of Frost, Thundering, and Disarming. It was equally good on both defense and offense and was the perfect weapon to wield in your off-hand, if you were so inclined.

Once we had looted and identified everything, along with healing ourselves up, I made my way over toward the Guard Lieutenant on duty. She had a cut that was being stitched up by a medic across her left arm that was bleeding as red as her bright red hair. As we approached, she looked over at us and nodded.

"Thanks for the assist, but we're not the only ones in trouble. Captain Halver is holed up in the Guildhall of Brewers, Whitesmiths, and Coopers. He's got a bunch of big folk there helping to guard the Civilians, but not many Guards. Councillor Morgan should be holed up in his office there." Informed the Lieutenant.

"Can he hold out?" I queried.

"Probably not. Unfortunately, I don't have the forces to spare to send Guards with you. Someone has to protect the Military Docks until the Commodore returns from patrol." Admitted the Lieutenant.

"What about you? Can you come with us?" Asked Janessa.

"What good would one Hin do?" Questioned the Lieutenant.

"More than you might think." Offered Shavariel.

"Besides, between the four of us, even if you aren't much help, we should already have enough force to push whatever enemy forces are at the Guildhall away." Insisted Selima.

"If that's so, then why do you need me?" Queried the Lieutenant.

"Call it insurance, just in case the unexpected comes up and we need another pair of hands." I intoned.

"Very well. I suppose I can come with you if necessary. Sergeant!" Called out the Lieutenant.

"Ma'am?" Questioned a slightly older-looking Halfling compared to the rank and file.

"You have the watch till I return or we're all dead." Informed the Lieutenant.

"Yes, Ma'am." Saluted the Sergeant.

"I'm Lieutenant Devora, may I have your names?" Asked the Lieutenant, Devora.

"Robar the Red." I introduced.

"Janessa Goodharbor." Continued Janessa.

"Selima of Murann." Added Selima.

"Lady Shavariel of Nelquazzar." Finished Shavariel.

"Excellent, now let's be off. Captain Halver can't hold out forever, and the longer we stick around, the more likely it is that the Guildhall will have fallen by the time we arrive." Nodded Lieutenant Devora.

And with that, we headed out into the Commercial Docks of Heartharbor. Here and there, corpses lay strewn about the ground, both of Halfling Guards and of Pirates, along with a smattering of Non-Halfling Civilians. The Docks fronted onto the Overhill District, which meant that if there were any Civilian Dead in this area, they were going to be Non-Halflings. There were plenty of corpses, but not quite so many as Caer Jannath had suffered during its attack. It seemed that Heartharbor's preparations for War had stood them in good stead, as most of the dead were Pirates or Guards, with very few dead civilians.

As we made our way through the Commercial Docks and into the Overhill District, we paused to take out a few groups of Pirates attempting to loot various places. One quartet was attempting to loot an abandoned wagon of various utensils that had been brought to the docks for sale, picking through the pewter and copper to get at the silver when we arrived. We dispatched them before taking out a group of six who had been looting a Dockside Tavern for drinks. Another trio had been attempting to break into a jeweler's shop that had been locked up tight when we arrived to kill them. Mostly, the fighting had passed this part, so we only encountered Pirates in drips and drabs.

It was when we arrived at the small plaza in front of the Guildhall of Brewers, Whitesmiths, and Coopers that we first encountered organized resistance. Here, a group of Thirty-five Calimshite Corsairs was being led by a Dark-Haired, Dusky-Skinned Woman. She was wearing a suit of Buoyant Cooling Leather Armor of Freedom Plus Three, wearing a Belt of Physical Perfection Plus Four, a Headband of Wisdom Plus Four, a cloak of Resistance Plus Three, an Amulet of Natural Armor Plus Three, a Ring of Protection Plus Three, and a Pair of Boots of Striding and Springing. She wielded a Dagger that was Plus Three and had a Shocking Burst Enchantment, though that wasn't the main issue. No, that was the Scimitar, which seemed to stir up currents of air, particularly when it came to dust particulates. I couldn't figure out what the Scimitar was supposed to be, beyond that it clearly had a Plus Four Enhancement on it, from a glance.

The group had blocked off the exit to and from the Guildhall of Brewers, Whitesmiths, and Coopers, and were occasionally trading potshots with haggard-looking defenders through the windows with their Composite Shortbows, all while the Woman looked on. As we arrived, I spotted one of the hastily pressed into service coopers take a Corsair Arrow to the shoulder, punching through the collarbone with a sickening thud as the Man screamed and had to be dragged away from the window. A Whitesmith with a heavy crossbow took his place, but from the Man's fumbling, he had no real clue how to use the weapon.

It was only a matter of time before the Corsairs broke through the clearly flagging defense of the Guildhall. It was now or never to intervene. With that in mind, I let out a battle cry and charged the rearmost ranks of the corsairs, my Group as well as Lieutenant Devora following after me.

And the fight for the Guildhall was on. . .

XXXX

AN: All right, so here we have the next chapter. It turns out that Thurgrim wasn't content to sit and wait for the Council's decision. He waited for nightfall before signalling three ships of the Skaug Corsairs that had been lying in wait for just this sort of eventuality, and now Heartharbor is under attack with Robar and Company stuck defending. Fortunately, they aren't alone, and Heartharbor was expecting something like this. Accordingly, the Guard and Council are much better prepared to fight than Caer Jannath had been. Plus, Robar and Company have already slain one of the three Captains and are currently engaging a second.

Captain Wulf, by the way, was a Fighter Two/Ranger Six/Dread Pirate Four. The thing about the Dread Pirate Prestige Class is that while it's great for commanding a crew in battle, when you get down to one-on-one duels, a bunch of the class features no longer apply. This next Captain, Yasmina Al-Safra, is a Fighter Six/Rogue Two/Al-Qadim Corsair Six. She's gonna be a pretty difficult fight, especially as some of her crew also have Prestige Classes. For example, the First Mate, who is around but hasn't made her presence known because she's sneaky, is a Fighter Five/Rogue Three/Scarlet Corsair Three. There's also a Ship's Mage who is a Wizard Eight/Elemental Savant Three, but he's currently fighting in the Underhill District and so won't be around for this fight.

At any rate, the next chapter will be the fight with the Corsairs. I'll also have character sheet updates out before then, as everyone leveled up from the fights in this chapter, plus a few images of various things and people.

Stay tuned. . .