Chapter 20

As I waded into combat, I plunged Aremeg's Fury into the back of a Waveguard who was battering away at one of the Jannathstaad Warriors. I slipped the blade through the gaps between the pauldron and backplate, plunging the hissing, steaming, weapon deep into the Man's Torso. He fell dead to the ground, even as Shavariel crippled another Waveguard to my right with a thrust of her Trident, and to my left, Selima smashed the skull of a third Waveguard like an egg. Further down the line, Erik cut the sword arm off a Waveguard, while Janessa cast an Acid Arrow that punched through a fifth Waveguard's torso with hissing, acrid, force.

Our sudden appearance on the battlefield drew the ire of an entire wing of Waveguards, allowing the right wing of the Jannathstaad Shield Wall to rest a bit. The Left Wing of the Waveguard of Umberlee had been comprised of thirty Waveguards at the start of the fighting, however, time and combat had seen that whittled down to eighteen. It was still over three times our own numbers. However, I was confident we could take them. The Leader of the Jannathstaad Right Wing, a large, burly, Northman with a close-cropped beard, long red hair, and wearing magical Leather Armor Plus Two, a Plus Two Keen Greataxe of Icy Burst, a Pair of Gauntlets of Ogre Strength, and a Magical Bearskin Cloak that I couldn't Identify, nodded at me and I nodded back.

"Go! We'll handle these ones!" I assured him.

Then with another nod, he turned and led his own men straight for the flank of the Waveguard's Center, leaving my group and I to face the onslaught of enemies alone. With a shout, I lashed out with Aremeg's Fury, carving into a charging Waveguard with a Spear, even as a Second Waveguard slipped a blow from a Warhammer past my shield to clang against my armor, bruising my ribs underneath. My riposte, however, took his throat out. Shavariel, meanwhile, struck out with constant attacks from her Trident, the thundering, shocking, weapon of the now-dead Baron Keloss, striking down a pair of enemies even as a third opponent managed to cut into the meat of her right bicep with his longsword. He was swiftly engaged by Erik, who took his head clean off with a powerful strike of his blade. Erik's second attack skidded off the shield of another enemy, and a thrown hammer smashed into Erik's head from the side, staggering him.

On this went for a few minutes, with us cutting down opponents, only to receive wounds to the numbers. The situation wasn't helped by the sudden appearance of an Umberlant Longship with teal sails and tarnished, copper, lettering on the bow spelling out the Name Searazor, sailing out of the fog that had crept across the Sea and docking to disgorge reinforcements. Said reinforcements were being led by two men. One was a Bald, Scarred, Old Man in Teal Robes who stayed on the Longship with a skeleton crew of Twelve Men was clearly some sort of Priest of Umberlee but was too far away from me to make out anything about his equipment's enchantments and capabilities. He and the Searazor attacked the Iron Drakon.

The other one, the one that came ashore was a Bearded Man in a Teal Enameled Nimble, Buoyant, Mithril Breastplate Plus Three of Heavy Fortification and Cold Resistance, a Belt that felt like my Gauntlets and Boots combined and magnified, a Cloak of Resistance Plus Three, a Ring of Protection Plus Three, and wearing Gauntlets and Boots of an Unknown Capability. He drew an Adamantine Bastard Sword that glowed with power and I could make out the Plus Three Enchantment, as well as the Keen, Anarchic, Morphing, Force, Corrosive, and Frost Enchantments. The Blade also had a razor edge, ornate hilt, and a blood groove while also looking perfectly balanced from the way he moved it. Those last bits weren't enchantments per-se, just flourishes that the smith put on the blade. They were, however, extremely well-crafted and would give the wielder certain benefits.

We cut through the reinforcements as best we could, but when it came time to handle their leader, we found ourselves badly outclassed. We'd all taken wounds previously in the battle, however, and none of us had begun the fight completely at full health. As we squared off against the Leader of the Reinforcements, it was all we could do to not die. Even that was not enough, however, and after a bit of back and forth, with all our teamwork, mystical gear, and technical skill just barely keeping us in the fight, we began to slip up. One by one, we began to drop to this man's incredible power, technical expertise, and wealth of mystical gear. It didn't help that our Opponent radiated an Aura of despair that threw off our game eventually, as if the very forces of the cosmos were telling us we could not win.

Erik was the first to fall, as he attempted to bull rush the Enemy Leader from behind. The Enemy whirled on Erik with a powerful sword stroke that cleaved Erik's head from his body, causing his body to stagger forward to slump at our Opponent's Feet while his head was sent flying in another direction. Shavariel was next, downed by a cut to the back of her knee that hamstrung her, causing her to miss her thrust and stagger into a strike from an off-hand dagger that our opponent pulled from his belt. His dagger plunged into Shavariel's Armpit. As Selima came in to try and cover for Shavariel, however, striking with her hammer for our Opponent's chest, he weaved away from the Deneirrath weapon and backhanded Selima with a muttered curse calling on Umberlee's might, an Inflict Moderate Wounds Spell answered, searing Selima's face and opening her up for a strike from the sword.

Our Opponent turned toward me and I set myself in a Swordplay Stance, in an attempt to try and challenge him alone and maybe give Janessa time to run. Janessa, though, she wasn't going to run. Instead, as our Opponent closed the distance toward me, Janessa struck. Incanting a Spell in the language of magic and making a gesture with both hands, a giant, glowing, orb of hissing, green, acid appeared between the palms of her hands. Shoving her arms outward, the Acid Orb went flying right toward our Opponent, splashing over his side and bowling him over.

He managed to tumble back to his feet, but the acid had clearly done its work and several patches of skin were visibly eaten through as he staggered his way into a parry of my Lunge. However, that lunge was a feint and I dipped Aremeg's fury down to land a glancing blow on our Opponent's thigh between tassets and greaves that carved a line across his leg just above the knee that was cauterized by hissing steam. That caused him to lash out with another prayer to Umberlee to lend him her might and struck out with a bunch crackling with foul energy. His blow landed on my armor and the energy seeped into me like an electric shock, searing into my chest under the armor. I stumbled back away from the Inflict Moderate Wounds spell and barely got Aremeg's Wisdom up in time to block the follow-on sword strike.

Fortunately, Janessa was backing me up. A shouted incantation and mystical gesture from her and a bolt of lightning was flung at our Opponent from the side. This time, however, our Opponent was able to weave away from enough of the bolt of mystic electricity to only catch a glancing blow. I came back in with a feint, but he was onto me, backing away from my real attack. However, I came in once again with a lunge that cut into the meat of his left bicep, steam hissing into and cauterizing the wound even as the blade opened his arm up. His riposte was sudden and brutal, carving into my thigh, even as he dodged a second lightning bolt from Janessa, turning a killing blow into a glancing one.

I shoved myself to my feet to attempt to fight on, but my feints were seen through by the more experienced swordsman and he was wise to my follow-on lunge now. He dodged most of my first cut, taking a glancing blow to the cheek instead of being decapitated, and parried my lunge entirely. He then punched me one more time and the crackling power of the Inflict Light Wounds Spell seared into my body. I fell to the ground, gasping for air, trying to figure out how to survive this when I could barely cling on to consciousness.

"Robar!" Shouted Janessa, she began casting again, but our Opponent managed to dodge the Orb of Force she fired at him, charging toward her and burying his fist in her gut as he did so, backed by the power of another Inflict Moderate Wounds Spell. Janessa was never the toughest of us physically to begin with and with the wounds she'd already taken today, that was enough to put her on the ground, unconscious like Shavriel and Selima. I was just barely clinging to consciousness myself.

"That was quite the fight. I don't think I've had one that close for a long time." Mused our Opponent.

"Who. . .are you?" I questioned, huffing between breaths.

"You have had the honor of being bested by Sebestan Cragtide, wielder of the Blade Stranger Tide, Slayer of the Storm Giant Lord Gautarr of Skyspire Stack in the Whalebones, and destroyer of his Clan." Introduced our Opponent.

Hearing that somehow crystallized just who we were up against. Sebestan Cragtide was a famous Blackguard of Umberlee from the Temple of Red Sails in Luskan. He was known to fight and kill those who had blasphemed against the Sea Goddess and had retrieved the blade known as Stranger Tides during his most famous exploit, which was known in song as the Desolation of Skyspire Stack. I knew that song as well, it was one often sung in a certain type of tavern on Ruathym, where Robar had been from before I had inserted into his mind, after all.

He and an Umberlant Priest, Varrwave Rostovek, had taken a small crew of Pirates from Luskan and assaulted one of the outlying Fortress-Holds of the Storm Giants in the Whalebones. It was something that had previously been thought impossible, and most simply paid the Storm Giants of the area tribute to leave them alone. Lord Gautarr of Skyspire Stack had taken it too far when he had extorted more tribute from a ship under the protection of the Temple of Red Sails in Luskan than could be overlooked. The Temple sent in Sebestan and Rostovek and they massacred Gautarr's clan down to the last woman and child.

Somehow, knowing that managed to clear my mind from the pain and remember the Healing Belt I had on. As my fingers brushed the belt, I felt a wave of healing energy surge into my body, mending my wounds just enough to get me back into the fight. Sebestan was still monologing and taking his time as he paused with his blade hovering over each of my unconscious, but still alive companions.

"Who should I kill first, I wonder? Would the Queen of the Depths prefer I send her an Aquatic Elf first? Or a Priestess of a Rival God? Maybe she would prefer a Sorceress who managed to almost defeat her champion?" Queried Sebestan as he paused with his blade hovering over Shavariel, then Selima, then Janessa.

"What. . .about. . .me? I killed. . .Bjorn Shankspar. . .maybe she. . .wants revenge?" I asked, keeping the ruse that I was too wounded to continue fighting going.

"True. Vengeance is near and dear to the Wavemother's heart. Very well, I shall do so. You fought valiantly. I would ask your name, but honestly? I don't care." Agreed Sebestan.

Sebestan moved over to me, completely falling for my bluff, which was helped by my acting. As he raised his blade, that's when I struck, surging upward with my own blade, I punched Aremeg's Fury up into his armpit between the breast and backplates of his armor. I rose to my feet as he fell, blood fountaining from his lips. I grabbed onto him by the straps of his breastplate holding him in place, not letting him fall to the ground just yet.

"My name is Robar the Red of Ruathym, Favored of Tymora, and Captain of the Hammerdown. Remember it when you go to the watery halls of your Goddess." I spat.

Then I let him fall to the ground where he wheezed out his last, choking, breaths in a death rattle. As soon as he was dead, I withdrew Aremeg's Fury from his corpse and looked around. The Battle was wrapping up and I could see that the Waveguard had been pressed back against the sea, all while the reinforcements from the Searazor were doing everything they could to scrabble back aboard their ship, aided by priestly magic from the Umberlant Cleric who had to be Varrwave Rostovek, just based on Sebestan's presence here. Leading the Warriors of Jannathstaad as they literally pushed the enemy into the sea were the twin forms of Jarl Ullr Finehair and Prince Magnus Ullrsson, neither of which looked to have taken much in the way of damage, but both of which had blood on their blades.

Interestingly, the lumbering, Bearskin-Cloaked, Man from earlier was making his way over to my position, alongside a few of his own men. As he made his way over, I checked Janessa, Shavariel, and Selima, all would live, if they got healing, and probably would have to rest for some time after this. Unfortunately, I was in no way qualified to do any of that. Instead, I busied myself searching the bodies around me for anything of use, since we used up all our potions and healing in the fighting that we did today. I didn't come up with any, but I did manage to strip Sebestan of his equipment.

Aside from the stuff I had previously identified, I was able to identify the Belt as a Belt of Physical Perfection Plus Four which granted bonuses to strength, dexterity, and constitution, the Gauntlets as Gauntlets of Balanced Hands, which allowed the user to fight with two weapons as if they had the two-weapon fighting feat, explain the use of belt daggers and other off-hand attacks, and the boots were Boots of the Sea, which gave the wearer a bonus to his ability to swim and allowed him to cast Water Walk and Breath Water on himself at will.

"Shame about Erik. The Prince won't like his Thane being dead, but it seems like the fight was hard fought as it was." Came a rumbling voice from behind me.

I turned to see the hulking, bearlike, Leader of the Jannathstaad Right Wing and a few of his troops standing nearby. The pair flanking were leaning on spears, their leather armor stained with blood and clear exhaustion on their faces. They were young too, brunettes who looked like a pair of brother and sister. They couldn't be much older than sixteen, which begged the question of why they were here. Were they militia? It was plausible that militia had been called up to help beef up the numbers.

"They'll make it if they can get healing. I don't suppose you happen to have any potions left on you?" I questioned.

"I do, but I don't think the two I have on me is going to be enough." Mused the Brunette Girl.

"What about Torvold Bonecracker?" Queried the Brunette Boy.

"You think he'll have some on him?" Asked the Brunette Girl.

"He barely fought, just stood in the rear ranks of the Shield Wall and occasionally bopped an enemy on the head with that maul of his. I don't think he was so much as touched." Nodded the Brunette Boy.

"Get him up here, before that, though, introductions." Insisted the Leader.

"Robar the Red of Ruathym, Captain of the Hammerdown, and these unconscious three are my traveling companions, Lady Shavariel of Nelquazzar, Warrior of the Alu'Tel'Quessir, Selima of Murann, Glyphscribe of Deneir, and Janessa Goodharbor, Sorceress of the Fourth Circle." I introduced myself and my companions.

"Yes, I had heard something about about Ironhand Rognvaldr's demise, along with that of his crew. I'd also heard of a Robar the Red matching your description who freed several slaves that had previously been held captive by Sharkmen. Now you have aided us in ridding our home of these duplicitous scum while also slaying a great champion of theirs in the process. I think that you will go far indeed." Nodded the Leader.

"I appreciate the sentiment." I grinned.

"It was well-earned. I am known as Torstein the Bear, I am Thane to Jarl Ullr Finehair. These two are my son and daughter, Leif and Laufey. The Gods blessed me with twins, but it seems as if they're more trouble than they're worth sometimes." Grumbled the Leader, Torstein, good-naturedly as he pointed first to the Brunette Boy, then to the Brunette Girl.

"Ach, father. What have I done to earn such cruel treatment? Did I not follow you into battle as requested? Oh, the shame of it all!" Replied Leif in a melodramatic tone.

"Your performance needs work if you seek to be a Skald, brother." Smirked Laufey.

"Enough out of both of you. Go find Torvold and tell him that if he gives up what healing potions he has, there will be an extra share of the loot in it for him." Insisted Torstein.

His twins made their way back along the lines of people and raced toward where a Large, Blonde, Clean-Shaven, Man in a Plus One Breastplate with a large, two-handed, Plus One Maul sat drinking out of a wineskin with his back placed up against a rock. They argued for a few moments before the large man reached into a haversack at his waist and pulled out three jiggers of glowing blue liquid. Three Potions of Cure Moderate Wounds had been found and brought back. I had to force-feed my comrades, but in the end, they were all back on their feet.

The rest of the day was spent gathering the dead up, tending to the wounded, and gathering the loot to be liquidated, acquired by various warriors, or sold off. Fortunately, nobody pressed us for any of the stuff we took off the various officers. Why would they when there was a literal fortune in equipment lying on the ground? Of two-hundred-fifty enemy fighters, perhaps some forty-five managed to escape on the Searazor. That meant there were one-hundred-five suits of armor, weapons, shields, and other effects to go around, and that was before the actual complex was looted. Some of that stuff was magical enough that various people would be using it to replace their old equipment.

I knew both Leif and Laufey had replaced their Masterwork Leather Armor with suits of Studded Leather Plus One they had taken off of reinforcement corpses, same with their spears, replaced by Spears Plus One taken from the Waveguards. Torstein, on the other hand, preferred to take his share in coin. We stayed with them as it all got tallied up along with the butcher's bill. Of the two-hundred-thirty Warriors of Jannathstaad that had participated in the Battle of the Temple Complex, twenty-four had been killed while a further thirty-six had been wounded enough to require mystical healing. Even forewarned, the price had been heavy, with a quarter of the warriors being casualties, with ten percent of the total being killed in action. We had won, however.

Tomorrow, there would be a massive pyre as the Victorious Dead were sent on their way to the afterlife. Then there would be a celebratory feast, as spoils were shared and tales told. Thankfully, the potions and resting day had allowed Janessa to begin brewing up some more healing potions to get everyone back to full health in time for us to attend the ceremonies and festivities.

What we did not realize during the day we spent resting was that we would be the guests of honor. . .

XXXX

AN: All right, so here we have the end of the Battle for the Temple. There was almost a party wipe against Sebestan, after all, the dude was a ninth-level fighter and a fourth-level Blackguard, for a total of thirteenth-level. Fortunately, there were a few things going for the group. Notably, Janessa went pretty deep into combat magic for a lot of her spells, Sebestan was cocky, and a Bard can outbluff anyone, which is how Robar was able to keep hitting him. Feint is a hell of a drug, especially when you have style feats built around them.

Unfortunately, it seems that whatever the Umberlants are doing on Cadfael Island is attracting Umberlants from as far away as Luskan, which definitely isn't good. Unfortunately, Jarl Finehair and Prince Magnus do not have the forces to strike the enemy alone. Fortunately, there is one other island in the Jannath's Tears Archipelago that might help.

As for the next chapter, though, it will involve a celebration of the Victory over the Umberlants in the Jarl's Castle. Before that, though, we have level ups and new images to get out.

Stay tuned. . .