Droyva is quiet, as usual the sleepy town is unassuming. A coastal quaint place, and yet, it stands to be raised to the ground if undefended from the dreaded pirate crew known far and wide as the Gilded Skull.
Cerulean Swagger learns that the informant from the Gilded Skull has now gone into hiding, if the pirates were to find out about her betrayal then her life would be over. Running is the best option for her. Cerulean Swagger on the other hand prepares for an attack in a little over 48 hours with no knowledge as to whether their efforts in Wraithshadow yielded any results.
Darby walks onto the group's ship The Windwaker for the very first time and after a brief look around, Jotun mentions that it would serve them well if he could investigate the arcane cannons that are on board. The wizard looks at the Arcane Cannons to see if can figure out how they work. Which is obviously time consuming work.
“I will need some time to investigate this, get prepared for the battle and I will let you know what I find out.” -Darby Jenkins
Cerulean Swagger all decide to accomplish as many tasks as possible to prepare for the arrival of the invaders. Salivator and Kai set off into town. First heading up into town to speak with the local blacksmith. When the two of them enter the blacksmiths shop they spot a thick and filthy Dwarven man who is covered in grease, ash and sweat. Sali greets the dwarf cordially and begins to tell the man of an idea to make underwater explosives in order to try and catch the Gilded Skull ships off their guard.
The Dwarf explains that he has never made anything of that nature before but he could at least forge them a steel shell of sorts which could maybe contain the explosives for the device. However, the results would be untested and costly. The blacksmith suggests they speak with a man named Ledo, a gnome inventor that lives just in the outskirts of Droyva.
Darby, who is still aboard the Windwaker, has used his arcane knowledge to work out how to charge the ten arcane cannons with fire balls; he discovers that the cannons use elemental properties of whatever spell is charged into the cannon. So he spends the next few hours charging runes on the cannons with fire spells.
Jotun goes into town to speak with the Mayor of Droyva. The mayor greets Jotun warmly and after a brief and cordial discussion Jotun brings up that Cerulean Swagger was never paid for their work in getting this far and this kind of effort oftentimes requires compensation. The Mayor is reasonable about this matter and agrees to pay the group for their efforts. Once he issues some gold to Jotun and by extension the rest of his comrades he informs Jotun that he is holding a meeting later this evening to discuss plans and possible evacuation for the denizens who will not be fighting. Jotun tells the Mayor that he will pass the message along to Cerulean Swagger and Jotun departs into the nearby woodlands whistling for Boda his wolf to join him on a quick Elk hunt.
Meanwhile, Erik dives into the sea for materials under the water, to affix to his trident and enjoys a calm moment under the waves. After a successful hunt Jotun returns his yield to the ship and heads along the beach to pick up their new ship carpenter, a toy maker named Fausco. Fausco was placed in training under the local portmaster in order to properly prepare him for the role of keeping the Windwaker repaired while sailing the open seas.Luckily, when Jotun arrives Fausco seems ready to take his position as the ship carpenter and returns with Jotun all the while talking Jotun’s ear off.
Kai and Sali arrive at a hovel that lies at the outskirts of Southern Droyva. When they knock on the door, a wiry and grumpy looking Gnome answers the door. Sali instinctually dislikes Gnomes, yet he is cordial at first. When the two are welcomed into the Gnomes abode and begin discussing the job with Ledo, Ledo makes it clear that he has never made something like this before and that he would not do so for free.
Ledo explains that a job like this would be costly, as a result Sali and Kai decide to instead look into purchasing some smaller bombs and even after some bartering with Ledo prices for explosives are steep.
Sali and Kai become annoyed as it seems like this Gnome cares little for the threat that might befall this village when the Gilded Skull arrives.The duo get after Ledo explaining that they are trying to save Droyva from destruction and that he should be assisting them in saving the village from certain doom!
Ledo simply shrugs his shoulders and responds with,
Hey! I still need to make a living!
After some discussion of how high the stakes truly are and how much danger Ledo is in he sighs and finally decides to give them the bag of small bombs pro bono. He tells them that he is leaving town before the attack takes place. Strongly implying that he will not be around at least 24 hours before the assault is supposed to take place. Sali and Kai smirk at each other, certain that they will be back for more explosives once the Gnome leaves town.
Darby goes into town after charging the cannons in search of potions and other helpful resources. That is when he meets Chandra the local alchemist. Chandra is old with gray wiry hair and a friendly disposition. After a quick discussion of her goods and wares Darby decides to lay down some charm on her in order to get some good deals on health and mana potions and other goods to help with the upcoming battle. Chandra greatly appreciates these advances and Darby has to deescalate the situation by saying a quick goodbye and making a quick getaway from the alchemist shop.
Darby heads back to the Windwaker and the group begins a discussion with Sakki.Who explains that he has been in contact with the “Precise Strike” a mercenary guild out of Ugend that handles a variety of contract jobs. Sakki is pleased to inform the group that he signed up Cerulean Swagger to take contracts from the guild. This should help Cerulean Swagger pick up some extra coin, if they should survive the upcoming battle.
In regards to the upcoming battle, when the rest of the group arrives back at the Windwaker they enter the war room in the lower decks of the ship and begin to discuss the game plan prior to the arrival of the Gilded Skull. The first thing that they note is that they have no way of knowing how things are progressing in Maywell. They do not know whether they will receive reinforcements of any kind because as of now, the group has no means of long range communication they are solely relying on Kalariah Vaemaris to come through with the airships, and Farale to teleport reinforcements using the gold provided from the Dragon's hoard.
They don’t have time to discuss much more as Jotun passes along that the Mayor is holding an emergency town meeting and that they would do well to be there for it.The group returns to town and arrives before a crowd of nervous people who are all muttering amongst themselves and wondering what the future of Droyva will be after this.The mayor welcomes everyone and while the the upcoming danger is great he is optimistic and praises Cerulean Swagger for their efforts in seeking aid for the village.
He states that those who can evacuate should do so, but those who want to stay and fight for their home would do so with Cerulean Swagger at their back. The people cheer and applaud, obviously inspired by the Mayor's optimistic outlook. The Mayor then takes a moment and invites someone from Cerulean Swagger to speak on behalf of the group.
They all look around and Sali nudges Jotun forward to speak on their behalf. Jotun sheepishly steps up and begins explaining the plan of attack to the people of Droyva. Before he can finish his thought the sound of marching and voices echoes through the trees and to everyone's surprise 30 or so troops from Ugend arrive in the village of Droyva. There is a spark of excitement among the people as their chances of survival have just improved dramatically. With a smile on his face, the mayor dispurses the congregation.
With a Ugend commander in toe they all discuss battle plans. Because the village of Droyva is elevated, those coming up from the beach must climb a set of stone steps to reach the town itself. So they determine that by using spike barriers to block the southern entrance this will slow down their approach and it will bottleneck the Gilded Skull forces that come up from the beach. That being said, no one knows where the Gilded Skull is coming from.
Cerulean Swagger decides that on the day of the battle they will send one of their crew members Gavin, a hard nosed and witty Gnome along the southern coast whilst riding on Boda the white wolf's back. Meanwhile, Sakki will fly from the air to scope out danger and incoming ships. After discussing war plans, Cerulean Swagger heads back to the ship for a feast to let off some steam before the battle. Just as they are reaching the descent to the beach they watch large shadows extend across the cobblestone and then stretch onto the beach below. Over their heads each of them looks up in awe. Three airships from Maywell float above their heads. Large Arcane crystals pulsing with a mysterious energy. After a short few minutes The skybound ships land with a steady humming sound on the beach. A number of ramps are extended from the doorways of the vessels and lines of Maywell troops depart from the Airship totalling forty-five. Kalariah was able to secure airship support as well as troops from Maywell.
Kai is practically buzzing with excitement as he has quite the interest in these airships. He approaches Sakki and practically begs him to go and find out the specifics of these vessels. Sakki agrees and he flies above the airships to investigate the top decks of the airships.Kai boards one of the vessels and speaks with the crew. He finds out the specifics of the Airships including cannons and ballistas. Now empowered, Cerulean Swagger and the people of Droyva feel like they have a fighting chance.
With a new energy of optimism and a fire in their eyes the crew of the Windwaker and the ship itself becomes a vessel of merriment and dancing. There is music and drinking and laughter as they prepare themselves for potentially one final night of fun and celebration. However, during the festivities aboard Windwaker Darby pulls Sali aside and solemnly asks him about the glowing in Godrus’s chest from when they were in Wraithshadow. Sali asks Darby about the ritual that he saw before and the inscription that he read during and after its completion…
“One of pure body and soul,
Only that whose essence has faded,
One which another inhabits,
The soul of that long dead, now traded.
Darby, pinching his chin and considering the meaning of said inscription recalls, using his keen mind, as well as his prior knowledge regarding arcane rituals of days long ago, recalls the legend of a force called Tenteus, who is an agent of destruction. Including the defeat of this entity but along with that defeat, there was a heavy cost.
The Legend of Tenteus: The Dragon God of Chaos
Tenteus was said to be the avatar of the elements of chaos. His power was directly linked to the elemental plains and his creation took place when the veil to the plains began to think. As such a primordial egg was formed at the center of the planet. When he hatched he was a red headed dragon. As he grew he began to grow more heads, one for each of the chromatic colors of the elemental dragons. He raged across the world of Vaildar more than 700 years ago. Ranovan Weivel, and his sister Lanlee Weivel were chosen by the gods to strike down Tenteus. Ildar granted Ranovan the Lightscale blade.
The Lightscale was a weapon supposedly capable of withdrawing the soul of any creature no matter their power. “Ranovan the Lightscale'' and his sister “Lanlee of the Tempest Order” was granted “the Hammer of Ruin.” This hammer was supposedly the literal hand of Ildar and was capable of completely obliterating any kind of power, or entity. The siblings gathered a party of fighters known as the “Council of Deliverance.” This council combatted Tenteus and Ranovan used the Lightscale blade to pull out Tenteus’s essense rendering him nothing but a shell.
Lanlee was the most powerful wizard of this time, as such she was the only one capable of destroying such an essence. However Ranovan decided to instead combine Tenteus’s essense into the Lightscale.The Lightscale became insanely more powerful with the force of two gods within it. Lanlee could not face the power of the Lightscale with the “Hammer of ruin,” and she watched helplessly as the artifact fell into the depths of the ocean never to be heard from again.
Unfortunately, the artifact was lost to time. However, the blade itself was corrupted and Ranovan with it. Ranovan left the grace of Ildar and instead desired to become a god himself. But overtime, the power of the Lightscale became too much for him to control, the essence of Tenteus burst outward and split across the world. Ranovan was left as a broken man with all of the memory of his treachery and weakness. It is believed that the shards of Tenteus broke into fragments of his scattered power. A shard for each color of chromatic dragon. The Tenteus shards have long been sought after and utilized. For hundreds of years the fragments of power have been used to accomplish near impossible feats.
After retelling the legend of the fragments to Sali the two speculate as to whether or not one of these fragments had been implanted into Godrus. Darby asks Sali to keep an eye on Godrus which Sali is happy to do. As Sali has a soft spot for Godrus. Darby carefully asks if Sali is capable of killing Godrus if he needs to. Which Sali hesitantly agrees to do as Sali has truly formed a kind of bond with Godrus that he has not felt since his father passed.
The rest of the group eats, drinks, and enjoys the festivities and eventually they all succumb to sleep for the night. The following day presents one last opportunity to prepare for the coming battle.Sali heads to the blacksmith once more and he buys as many caltrops that he can find. He then makes the trek back to Ledo’s home and when he determines that the Gnome is no longer in Droyva he breaks in. When he steps inside he spots a letter on the table that says “To mr. White Dragonborn” expecting a good natured note that apologizes for being stingy and thanking him for his heroic actions it instead reads
“Dear Dragonborn, F**k Off!”
Sali boils with rage and ransacks the place in search of explosive ingredients. He loads up on explosives including something that resembles ash. Sali pools all of his resources down to the beach and begins constructing his own invention. “spike bombs” which in theory when detonated will cause an explosion which also launches shrapnel-like projectiles at anyone within the blast radius. He digs some holes under the sand and then carefully plants each bomb under the beach. Finally, he pulls a fuse which connects to the explosives, up the stairs and far enough away that he can light them from a distance.
Jotun and Darby investigate the clock tower to use as a vantage point just in case there is a land invasion rather than a sea invasion. The scouts Gavin and Sakki depart from Droyva as well to keep a sharp eye out for Gilded Skull. It is decided that Sali will remain on the beach as the invasion begins and set off his hidden bombs. He will also position one arcane cannon above the beach to attack land forces and support him while he fights on the beach. Meanwhile, The Windwaker will be helmed by Erik, with the support of Kai and the Crew. Who will travel north and using a cloud of magical fog created by Erik, they will hide the ship in an attempt to flank Gilded Skull ships.
With battle on everyone’s mind they discover a very important fact about the middle aged carpenter Fausco. He might die a virgin. So the group takes it upon themselves to get Fausco laid before he goes into battle. He is sent in to flirt with a lovely elven woman which Darby uses his divination magic to make Fausco fail horrible. Things look pretty dire for Fausco until he meets the one and only Chandra the alchemist, and the rest is history.
Nightfall arrives and Darby awakens early. In order to arrive at the clock tower prior to the invasion. While watching the horizon on the deck of the ship. He witnesses a massive golden portal open like a sunrise and 30 troops emerge from the portal from Maywell. The Axis portal was a success…
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