Chapter 25

The Coral Citadel loomed large up ahead. We'd had to travel for half a day from Knight-Lieutenant Melarue's Watchpost to reach the place. It was situated on a plateau rising up from the seafood. A bunch of black coral formed a number of jagged spires jutting up almost to the surface of the sea surrounding an arched hall of yet more black coral. In front of the door to the hall was a courtyard full of buildings of stone quarried out of the plateau. Much like the Keloss Barony, these appeared to be a number of businesses meant to be worked by slaves. Unlike the Keloss Barony, this section was largely deserted. A sign that Xommyrru doesn't truly care for his servitors. What would normally be a bustling, if twisted, town center, was instead quiet and deserted.

Picking through the buildings revealed a number of tools, barrels of Sahuagin Beer made of fermented fish blood, and not a whole lot else. No wealth or anything that might be useful. I was willing to bet that was all tribute given over to Xommyru's Hoard by the frightened Servitors of the Sahuagin Tribe. Likely so they could avoid being eaten by the notoriously temperamental Brine Dragon. It was eerie to look at, like the corpse of a town, but that wasn't the main thing that made me uncomfortable with the situation, however. After all, every Sahuagin Barony ran off slave labor. Judging by some of the sea wax tablets that had been laid out with writing in Sea Elf tallying how much Sahuagin Fish Blood Beer had been sold, this settlement was no different. It was Janessa who gave voice to my misgivings.

"I wonder what happened to all the slaves?" She asked.

"I think I know, but I don't want to say." I frowned.

"I will. They likely fed them to Xommyrru. Yet more tribute to avoid being eaten." Scowled Shavariel.

"Will that work? Brine Dragons are not the most rational of creatures." Queried Selima.

"For a time, maybe. I doubt it kept Xommyrru happy for long." I scoffed.

"Do you think that's why we didn't find survivors or bodies on most shipwrecks?" Asked Janessa.

"Most likely." Nodded Shavariel.

"I shudder to say this, but we'll probably find some kind of Larder inside filled with parts of bodies. You should steel yourselves just in case." I warned.

"Grisly, but accurate." Agreed Selima.

"Ew. I don't even want to think about that." Gagged Janessa.

"That's life with Sahuagin. They are foul creatures." Huffed Shavariel.

"Foul creatures who don't wish to be eaten by their new overlord." Added Selima.

Speaking of which, as we spoke on the subject, the gates to the hall of the Coral Citadel, wrought of giant clam shells, opened up and a number of Sahuagin Warriors issued forth into the Plaza in front of the Citadel. All were armed with equipment that seemed to be either masterwork with minor, more mundane, modifications, but a pair had slightly magical, heavier, plus one gear with similar modifications, no doubt the fruits of their near-constant raids. One of the two with magical gear, wearing ornate, pearlescent, chitin armor snarled out something in Sahuagin that I didn't catch, since I didn't speak Sahuagin. Shavariel did, though, and judging from her snarl and the fact that whatever had been said caused the other Sahuagin to let out barking laughter, whatever was said wasn't exactly flattering.

Whatever it was, it didn't seem that Shavariel was willing to hold her tongue about it, as she growled out a response in the guttural, barking, Sahuagin Language that stopped the laughter. Then one of the Sahuagin in the fancy magical Chitin Armor snarled out something else. As the Sahuagin surrounded us, lowering their Razor Sharp Tridents to hem us in, I figured it was an order to attack. Twenty Sahuagin, plus two that were clearly officers, versus the four of us wouldn't usually be considered an equal fight, but I wasn't too worried. After all, we had faced down worse odds and come out on top, plus, all of these guys looked far less capable than us, even the officers. I drew my weapons, as did Shavariel and Selima, while Janessa prepared to cast a spell. For a few moments, it seemed like a standoff here in the Plaza, neither side moving to actually attack. Then the Officer Sahuagin who had insulted Shavariel barked out a command and the fight began in earnest.

Almost immediately, I found myself confronted with an attack from two Sahuagin Warriors, parrying one as he thrust for my throat with a Razor Sharp Trident. The other scored a gash along my thigh with his own Razor Sharp Trident. I gave as good as I got, striking out with Aremeg's Fury and scoring a vicious blow on one that cleaved his head in twain and wounded the other in the leg, but more moved in at me to take their place. Fortunately, Janessa was there to help. An incantation and gesture from her cast a series of five mystical bolts of force at our opponents with Magic Missile, two striking the Sahuagin I'd wounded in the chest, pulping his ribcage, and killing him. The other three struck one of the fresh Sahuagin and I heard his ribs crack even through the water, which largely dampened sound. My own next blow finished that one, though the blow after was barely ducked by the Fourth Sahuagin. Janessa, though, hit the Fourth Sahuagin with an Acid Arrow that sizzled into his chest, sending him back down as he tried to get up and quickly burning him to death from the inside.

Looking around, I saw similar sights around Shavariel and Selima. Both had minor wounds, like myself, but the Sahuagin were coming off much worse. Shavariel had a trio of dead Sahuagin around her and was currently engaging one of the Officers in combat alongside two of the other, Regular Sahuagin, while Selima likewise had a pair of dead Sahuagin at her feet and had wounded a third. She was engaged with three others though, not the Other Officer. Instead, that Officer and five Regular Sahuagin were headed for Janessa and I. Snarling I began to incant the Blade Dash Spell, using Iron Maiden's Flash of the Blade as the incantation with my Spellsinginf abilities. Underwater it didn't have the same feeling, though, it sounded a touch muffled, even with the magic adapting me to be able to survive down here.

"You'll die as you lived in a flash of the blade. In a corner forgotten by no one. You lived for the touch, for the feel of the steel. One man and his honor!" I sang as the magic took hold.

As the magic took hold, I blurred into motion to meet the charging Sahuagin, lashing out with Aremeg's Fury and cutting down one of the Regular Sahuagin Warriors. I was immediately forced back by a thrust of the Officer, however, his Razor-sharp, Ornate, Plus One Trident sought to gut me and forced me to backpedal. Aremeg's Wisdom came up as a second Regular Sahuagin tried to take advantage, blocking a blow, even as I parried a Third Sahuagin with a textbook Swordplay Style Parry. My riposte carved the Third Sahuagin's throat open, but a fourth Sahuagin stabbed his Trident into the meat of my left arm, wounding me. I grunted in pain as the scent of blood in the water seemed to reinvigorate the Sahuagin even as I ducked a strike from the Fifth Sahuagin, but Janessa was already moving to help me out. A pair of scorching rays lashed out, felling one of the other Regular Sahuagin and wounding the Sixth. The Seventh changed course to attack Janessa, and the Second and Fifth followed suit, leaving me to face the Fourth and Sixth alongside the Officer.

I did so, carving into the Officer's leg under the Chitin Tassets and biting deep, even as my footwork carried me away from the attacking Fourth Sahuagin, who was eagerly trying to press his attack with a thrust at my throat. The wounded Sixth Sahuagin was warily trying to flank me, moving around to my side. I couldn't worry about that, however, because the Officer was thrusting for my chest. Once again, I snapped off a textbook Swordplay Style Parry and immediately riposted with a thrust. This time, my blow took the Officer right in the mouth, punching past his roaring, teeth-filled, shark mouth to sink into his soft palate and into his brain, killing him. The Wounded Sixth Sahuagin tried attacking me from the side as I withdrew Aremeg's Fury but found his thrust studied by Aremeg's Wisdom, my shield blocking his assault. As I faced off against the remaining two Sahuagin, however, Selima arrived from the side to smash her Mace into the side of the Wounded Sixth Sahuagin, killing him. Suddenly outnumbered, the Fourth Sahuagin was no longer quite so hopped up on bloodlust as to continue to press his attack, adopting a defensive stance.

"Go help Janessa, I'll finish up here!" I ordered.

"Right. Tymora's Fortune be with you." Nodded Selima, heading for the fight where Janessa was struggling against three Sahuagin.

"Tymora's Fortune is always with me." I grinned.

Then Selima charged off to aid Janessa, leaving me to face off against the Fourth Sahuagin. I grinned, shifting my style to the Outslug Style, adopting a stance not entirely unlike that of Longpoint Stance from German Longsword back on Earth, with the point of Aremeg's Fury extended in front of me. This was different from Swordplay Style, which more or less followed the basic tenets of Bolognese Sidesword, including the Guards, and worked mostly Iron Door or Long Tail Guard. The reason for the Longpoint-like Guard became clear shortly as the Sahuagin came in at me. As soon as he was about to engage my blade, I took a step back, forcing him to commit more to his attack. As I dodged his thrust, my blade came up and around, cutting into his wrist. He never stood a chance as he fell back wounded and I advanced to cleave his head in twain with my follow-on strike, finishing him.

Looking around, I saw that the battle had more or less wrapped up. Shavariel had killed her opponents already and moved to help Janessa and Selima. Meanwhile, Selima and Janessa had turned the tables on their opponents and, though Janessa had taken wounds, she was still up and able to fight. They were down to one last Sahuagin now, and I didn't even need to join in to finish it, Shavariel did that for me with a thrust of her Trident into the back of the last Sahuagin. That settled that, and we moved to gather loot, and heal our wounds. Fortunately, we'd rested for enough time in Melarue's Watchpost for Selima to be able to regain spent healing spells, though we'd had to reapply our various water-breathing spells to come out here. That was on Janessa, though, not Selima, and we were able to get healed up to full health easily.

Unfortunately in terms of loot, some of the armor and shields wound up being g a total loss, the power of our blows wrecking them. In the end, we managed to grab eight suits of Lightweight Masterwork Coral-Studded Sharkskin Armor, eight Lightweight Masterwork, Nacreous, Tortoiseshell Heavy Shields, twenty Razor-sharp Masterwork Tridents, two Nacreous Lightweight Ornate Suits of Chtin Armor Plus One, Two Nacreous Lightweight Ornate Tortoiseshell Heavy Shields Plus One, and Two Razor-sharp Ornate Tridents Plus One. Even selling that all off at half price, we'd get at least twenty-five-thousand Danter for it all. This would be a great haul on its own, but we were far from done with this place yet.

Entering the main hall of the Coral Citadel, the layout gave the impression of not only a ruined fortress but one of a decent level of power. At least enough that the former ruler had a throne. The thing of jet black stone was cracked as if by a great force, of course, likely the handiwork of Xommyrru. At the same time, most trappings of value or artistry had been stripped from the hall, most likely added to Xommyru's Hoard. A tunnel that was the size of five men standing abreast had been bored out of the rock and led down into the depths of the plateau. As we took all that in, however, we were confronted by another twenty Sahuagin coming up out of the tunnel, led by another officer. The Officer snarled out as he saw us, but at least he spoke common when he decided to insult us.

"So, Zarathin and Xalforith failed to avenge our leader? Typical. You don't send a whelp to do a Warrior's Job. Unfortunately for you Air-Breathers, your luck has run out. You Air-Breathers Tire so easily and have already fought. I won't even exert myself dealing with you." Snarled the Officer.

"We slew Eldraxis, we cut our way through your friends. What makes you think you'll fare any better?" I questioned.

"Zarathin and Xalforith were weak, mere pups. I am Krevok, and I am not weak. As for Eldraxis, no doubt you used some Air-Breather trick. That will not avail you down here!" Spat the Officer, Krevok.

"You think so?" Queried Janessa.

"I do. Besides, it hardly matters." Snarled Krevok.

"And why is that?" Asked Selima.

"Even should you kill us, the Wyrm Below will make a meal of you. He's done it to so many others already. You should be happy to die by the blade rather than that." Scowled Krevok.

"Enough talk. We have little time as it is." Insisted Shavariel.

"For once, a Sea Elf speaks sense. Kill them and have done with!" Ordered Krevok.

And with that, the Sahuagin jumped to the attack and our second battle with the Sahuagin of the Coral Citadel officially began. . .

XXXX

AN: All right, here's the next chapter. It's mostly combat in this chapter, but you knew what you were signing up for with a dungeon crawl like this. Now they need to push through the rest of the Coral Citadel to reach Xommyrru's Lair deep in the bowels of the plateau. That's where the Hoard is, but also where they'll find out what the Umberlants want with the Jannath’s Tears Archipelago, as they left written instructions and details on what their goals are with Xommyrru.

At any rate, the next chapter will involve the fight with Krevok's Sahuagin in the main hall of the Coral Citadel.

Stay tuned. . .