BBG: Chapter 27

As the alkaline cloud came in, I sang out, trying to enact a spell of Bladed Dash to carry me out of the range of the deadly cloud. It turned out that instead of a cone, a Brine Dragon's alkaline breath came in the form of a line, which made this easier. As I sang out, the sounds of Iron Maiden's Flash of the Blade echoed through the cavern and my Spellsinging ability allowed my spell to take hold and I carried myself thirty feet closer to Xommyrru, just to the side of the alkaline breath, coming out to swing Aremeg's Fury into him with a shout.

The unexpected rush forward caught Xommyrru flat-footed, despite the fact he had no feet. It was possibly the only thing that allowed my strike to connect, meeting little resistance as it plunged into a weak point between two, steel-hard, yellowish scales in the Wyrm's Serpentine Bulk. Blood gushed from the wound as I withdrew my blade, causing Xommyrru to roar in pain, rearing back and slamming his head against the roof of the cavern as I must have hit an artery or something. This impact knocked one of the coral stalactites loose, causing it to plummet to the cavern floor and shatter, sending razor-sharp shards of black coral everywhere. Fortunately, I was able to block most of them by putting Aremeg's Wisdom in the way, but a decent-sized chunk still sliced into the meat of my upper calf, just above the leather of my boots.

Unfortunately, looking around, it seemed that I was the only one willing to approach the Wyrm. Shavariel it seemed, had been shaken by the beast's Frightful Presence and refused to get closer, instead, pulling the Longbow she had and retreating fifty feet from the Wyrm to try and sting it to death with her Longbow. Unfortunately, the arrow she fired shattered against the scales along the Wyrm's Snout. Meanwhile, Selima was busily healing Janessa, who had been caught in the periphery of the Wyrm's Alkaline breath, lost her grip on her spell, and almost died in the process.

Finding myself alone was a problem, however, finding myself alone against a Xommyrru who had decided to focus on me was even worse. Unfortunately, that was exactly what was happening right now. I had to dive to the side to avoid the fanged, descending, maw, as it threatened to devour me. Thankfully, I managed that, but took a rake from a pair of blade-like, flipper-mounted, claws in the process that punched through gaps in my armor to draw blood. I cried out in pain from the sudden wounds but managed to leap away from the tail slap that cracked the stone of the ground where I had been standing and caused several of the coins at the top of the hoard to tumble down from their lofty heights, revealing a Magical Composite Longbow that at a glance was strung with Dragon Sinew.

Looking at it, I realized that the Longbow was one that bore an enchantment of Dragon's Bane on it, as well as various other enchantments. Given how wounded just twelve seconds of combat against Xomyrru had made Janessa and I, that might be our only hope. Fortunately, Shavariel wouldn't need much convincing to grab that Longbow and use it against Xommyrru, not like she would if she had to actually approach the Wyrm.

"Shavariel! The Longbow in the Hoard! Use it!" I shouted out.

"What?" Questioned Shavariel, but she still moved for the Longbow.

"I won't let you!" Xommyrru Roared, beginning to move to block Shavriel by launching into a rushing bite at the Sea Elf.

"Not so fast!" Shouted Janessa, who Selima had just finished healing. Janessa made an Arcane Gesture and incanted a brief incantation. A globe of translucent force issued forth from her outstretched hand and struck at Xommyrru, smashing into the Dragon as he tried to bite at Shavariel from the side and knocking his rushing bite off-course. His sideways bite missed Shaveriel by mere inches as she was able to scrabble over toward the Hoard and begin climbing it to retrieve the Longbow.

Unfortunately, that was not the only attack that Xommyrru had, and he snarled and launched claw strikes at both Shavariel and Selima, hoping to claw the healer and the one going for the longbow down to size. Both struck deeply, and Shavariel was blasted off the pile of coins she was scrabbling atop to smash into a coral stalagmite with enough force to crack the structure, cutting into her further with razor-sharp shards of coral. Meanwhile, Selima was struck deeply as well, but she was only taken off her feet, as she didn't have the height that Shavariel did. That did little to help her, however, as Xommyrru's tail came down and slammed into the Deneirrath Cleric, cracking her ribs in the process.

In response, I tried hacking into Xommyrru, but my twin strikes rebounded off his steel-hard scales, a testament to the power inherent in even a Lesser Dragon's Hide. I took a claw strike in response, though thankfully, I managed to keep my feet. Janessa launched into another bout of spellcasting, but unfortunately, had to abandon her spellcasting to dodge the bulk of Xommyrru's snapping jaws. Also, unfortunately, she did not avoid all of the Brine Dragon's bite, a shortsword-sized fang punching through her robes and into her shoulder. Already slightly wounded, as Selima had not healed her completely, owing to the lack of healing spells she had remaining even before facing off against Xommyrru, Janessa sank to her knees as the Dragon withdrew its snout, falling unconscious from the bite.

Xommyrru roared in triumph slicing Selima, who had just stood back up, with another flipper-mounted claw and sending her right back down to the cavern floor. Shavariel stood up and raced for the hoard once more, but was struck by a tail strike that flattened her to the cavern floor once again. We were being massacred by Xommyrru and he seemed to know it, letting out a giant, Draconic, belly laugh at our predicament and his seeming triumph.

"A noble effort, but in the end, you will fall like all the rest!" Laughed Xommyrru.

"We're not dead yet, Wyrm!" I insisted.

"True, but you cannot seem to hit home, save by luck and by magic, and your mage seems to be having difficulties staying alive. That leaves luck, a fickle thing at the best of times. You have no hope to withstand my assault. However, I will give you one chance, as I am a merciful Overlord. Agree to serve me and replace the servants you slew and I will spare your wretched lives!" Pronounced Xommyrru.

That was interesting, the mercurial nature of Brine Dragons was seemingly compelling Xommyrru to offer us a chance to survive. I noticed that as he spoke, however, Shavariel had managed to clamber back to her feet and was trying to stealthily make her way back over to the Hoard to get hold of the Dragonbane Bow. I needed to stall for time to keep Xommyrru's attention. Fortunately, as a Bard, that was something that I was very good at, drawing people in with a performance.

"Tempting, tempting. Of course, you understand that Human dietary restrictions are different from those of Sahuagin? We can't survive off meat alone." I mused, drawing on my acting abilities to fake negotiations.

"Of course. That, however, is what raids are for. So long as you leave me the gold and valuables for my tributes, I care not about you taking fresh water and other food for yourselves." Scoffed Xommyrru, clearly taken in by my performance.

"All right, let's talk medical treatment." I pressed.

"What do I care about your wounds?" Queried Xommyrru with a sneer.

"Well, I assume you want us functional to serve you to the best of our capabilities, yes?" I asked.

"Naturally. If you attempt to do anything less, I will devour you!" Snarled Xommyrru.

"Well, we can hardly do that, wounded as we are. Your might has harmed our caster and wounded some of us to near death, and while I am badly wounded myself, and Selima can heal us now, I doubt that her God will remain with her through our servitude under you. Deneir doesn't tend to hold with the sort of actions we would have to perform, after all." I insisted while drawing Xommyrru's attention to Selima, who was busily expending the last of her healing spells to stabilize Janessa.

"So it would seem. Very well, I will allow you to use some of the healing items left over from the Sahuagin's castle. There are a few potions of that sort remaining in one of the towers." Nodded Xommyrru with a huff.

"Excellent. Now, let's talk renumeration." I tried.

"You will keep what I allow you to keep and nothing more!" Growled Xommyrru.

"Fair enough." I nodded, effecting a sigh.

"I tire of these negotiations! I demand your answer now! What will it be?" Questioned Xommyrru with a rumble.

"Give me a moment to think it over." I pleaded, seeing that while Shavariel had reached the bow, she needed time to grab it and nock an arrow.

"You have six seconds." Warned Xommyrru, as he began counting.

I made a show of stroking my beard in thought, but the charade had just about outlived its usefulness as Shavariel had nocked an arrow to the Dragonbane Bow and drew back on the string, ready to let fly. As the countdown reached Zero, Xommyrru snarled.

"What is your answer?" Queried Xommyrru.

"I think we'll pass. Shavariel! Now!" I commanded.

"With pleasure!" Exclaimed Shavariel.

"What Treachery is this?" Asked Xommyrru, turning around.

Shavariel let fly with the Dragonbane Bow and the arrow flew true, striking Xommyrru in the right eye and biting deep into his brain with a blast of searing heat. Xommyrru roared in pain as the powerful blow obliterated his brain while still inside his skull, thrashing around in death throes that shook the cavern for a few moments, causing more coral stalactites to fall to the floor and shatter, sending shards of coral everywhere. Shavariel and I managed to avoid the Shards, but Selima wasn't as lucky, having to cover Janessa's unconscious form with her body to avoid a blast of razor-sharp coral shards from killing the unconscious Sorceress. That in turn, sent Selima into unconsciousness.

Meanwhile, Xommyrru's thrashing coils smashed into me, cracking my ribs with force and knocking Shavariel off the pile of coins before the Brine Dragon stilled, dead. I wasn't unconscious, but I was barely alive, aware, and able to move. Shavariel was better off, as her fall had been broken by the Watchpost Banner that Knight-Lieutenant Melarue had wanted us to bring back to her, but she wasn't much better off than I was. It didn't really matter, much, however, as we were alive.

I made my way over to Selima and began singing the words to Fix You by Cold Play as I channeled a Cure Light Wounds spell through the song with my Spellsinging abilities. This managed to not only stabilize but bring Selima back to consciousness, though she was still badly wounded. Two of us had been downed in the process and the rest badly wounded, but we had done it. We had won, killing Xommyrru and freeing the Sea of Swords from the terror of the Longtail Wyrm.

Now all that was left was to heal and reap the rewards. . .

XXXX

AN: All right, so here's the fight with Xommyrru. Unfortunately, I have things I need to do today, so we have to cut this short at the end of the fight, but there's a bunch of good stuff that everyone will get from this fight from the hoard, plus they'll finally learn what exactly the Umberlant Church wants with the Jannath's Tears Archipelago. Unfortunately, the jump from level nine to level ten requires so much experience that even with quest rewards, everyone is still about a thousand XP off leveling up, but they'll get there before the end of this Prologue Story.

Both Selima and Janessa were at minus four HP at the end there, by the way, and Robar and Shavariel were both at less than ten HP before Xommyrru finally stopped moving, with Robar being at two HP and Shavariel at four HP. This was very much not a level-equivalent encounter, after all.

At any rate, the next chapter will involve the loot and finally figuring out what the Umberlants want in the Jannath's Tears Archipelago.

Stay tuned. . .