Over one hundred Gilded Skull forces now moves towards Droyva…
As the hour of battle approaches Cerulean Swagger close up their strategy for the defense of Droyva… They all spend a few more hours about the town of Droyva. Some members of the group realize that the ships carpenter named Fausco had never returned to the ship after his late-night rendezvous with Chandra the alchemist. Darby and Sali try to track him down by looking at Chandra’s shop. Eventually they give up on looking for him as they have more pressing matters at hand.
The group gets some last-minute affairs settled as Jotun procures some upgraded armor before the upcoming battle. Sali breaks into the item shop for health potions but to no avail. Luckily it seemed like no one was around to care. Cerulean Swagger and the war captains from Maywell and Ugend gather up for a last-minute war council. There it is discussed that Cerulean Swagger’s ship “The Windwaker” will be stationed just off of shore and there it will remain hidden in a cloud of fog, provided through magical means by Erik. They will also be given five Ugend guards aboard the Windwaker in order to provide backup when the Gilded skull makes their move.
In Droyva, Jotun remains in the clock tower to provide cover. Godrus and Sali remain on the beach to set off the beach traps for the enemies and on the western side of Droyva, Kai as well as forces from Ugend and Maywell have established defensive positions at the entrance of Droyva in order to cover potential land-based invasion. The forces remain stationed there almost the entire day, simply biding their time until the enemy arrives.
All seems calm and uneventful, until night fall. Jotun is not able to see much from his vantage point. As he keeps a sharp eye out on the ground below he spots their scout Gavin riding into town from the South west on the back of Boda the wolf. Gavin who looks slightly injured informs Jotun that there are forces coming in from the west after all and that there are a lot of them. Jotun curses and leaps down from the clock tower. He races to the front to immediately pass along this critical message to Kai and the rest of the defenders at the western front.
Right after Jotun delivers his warning and heads back to his post at the clocktower, Kai spots a scout from Maywell who tells him that the pirates are approaching and more importantly one group has split off from the other group and is now pulling a large wooden wagon. Kai tells everyone to hide and wait. When the enemy comes in Kai and his allies ambush the Gilded Skull.
Aboard the Windwaker, Darby watches the beach line in anticipation as Gilded Skull ground forces begin rowing onto shore. Suddenly he has a moment of realization that he is not alone on the deck of the ship. He spins just in time to divert a dagger blow to his back. A Gilded Skull assassin snarls at him and continues to slash at him. A number of dangerous assassins had taken the time to carefully sneak onto the ship. Erik and Darby are forced into a corner and are fighting back the shadowy figures as best as they can. However, the assassins outnumber them and are slashing fiercely at them both. They are both narrowly avoiding critical physical damage from the blade of these assassins. However, the danger is short lived as the crew of the Windwaker and the guards from Ugend realize the danger on the deck of the ship and are able to provide enough support to keep Erik and Darby from taking fatal damage. By working as a team, the Windwaker crew brings down the assassins.
That is when Darby looks to the crew and tells them that it’s their turn to be on the offensive. The helmsman Ganovan turns the Windwaker and they sail toward the bay of Droyva. The Windwaker’s counter offensive begins.
As ships sail in from the East and then begin firing upon Droyva as well as upon the Windwaker. The crew of the Windwaker prepares to fire upon the Gilded Skull ships with their powerful arcane cannons. This is the beginning of a long and drawn out naval battle which inevitably calls on of the Maywell airships towards the coast line to assist in the fight. Thus, a naval-air battle begins. Erik’s eyes crackle with divine storm energy and he calls a lightning strike down which smashes into the enemy ship. At the same moment a Maywell airship prepares its own arcane cannons and it launches a barrage of fireballs at the same Gilded Skull vessel.
With a thunderous cracking sound, the enemy ship explodes with hot white fire and then splits in half at the middle. It quickly sinks into the rolling seas, fire licking at the folding waves around the deck of the splintered wooden planks. After such a powerful spell by Erik a large storm rolls in above the village of Droyva and heavy rain begins thundering down upon the battle field. The battle is hard fought as forces along the beach move inland and explosions light the night sky as well as light the waters of the Fanged Coast.
Suddenly one of Maywell’s airship sustains heavy damage from trading cannon fire from Gilded Skull vessels. The arcane crystal at the top of its wooden frame and with a boisterous moan the airship loses control and catches fire, it begins careening down towards the beach and eventually crashes down nearly crushing Sali, Godrus and the rest of the Droyvan defense. The fiery airship lands down the stone steps leading down to the beach and with a horrible thunder it slides all the way down to the beach. smashes into Sali’s sand bombs and explosions are triggered all across the beach. Killing a great number of Gilded Skull pirates on the beach.
Godrus takes some damage from the explosion but is not in critical condition. There are now two airships still fighting off the Gilded Skull ships.
Meanwhile, Jotun begins to realize he cannot reach or see any enemies to offer any kind of help, he heads towards the Western front to back up Kai. Kai meanwhile begins to sneak his way through the forest and toward this cart being pulled by the Gilded Skull. No one detects him as he quietly creeps through the underbrush. He approaches the back of a cart which is covered by a white tarp. Kai lightly places his hand onto the shape under the tarp and notices that it feels metallic. In a split-second decision he pulls out some flint and steal and sets to work setting the wheel of the wagon to catch fire. After which he stealthily rolls back into the brush. Jotun has carefully made his way through the forest as well and dips his arrow in grease and then ties a miniature bomb to the tip of his arrows. He fires towards the cart which completely destroys one of the wheels of the cart and renders it useless as it crashes down onto its side from the damaged wheel.
They celebrate very briefly until a gigantic metallic shape begins shifting underneath the tarp. A bright red eye flickers to life. The sound of creaking metal and thrumming metallic gears fills the night sky. The iron beast stands to its full height of 15 feet. The Gilded Skull’s apparent trump card has arrived.
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