âDeep breaths Kass, itâs not like EVERYTHING is relying on you,â Kassandra whispered to herself. Voss and his staff not only managed to hold the line, but completely drive the Dread Isles' first attack wave back through the portal. It was an impressive victory, now it was her turn.
She slithered over to the three groups assembled in front of the portal. âWe advance slowly, and carefully. We keep our losses minimal until we find Captain Gayle.â Both the Revenants and Sirens nodded, but the third group was a little distracted. That wasnât super surprising, it was difficult to get gremlins to focus on things other than research and development.
âJenkins!â the little gremlin jumped at her call, dropping the tablet sheâd been scribbling on. âIâm relying on you to keep your team on task. Remember: NO explosives. Falling into the water will get you devoured by the sea life, and we CAN sink the ship-based floors. I donât want to lose our entire team to an early escape.â
âYes Kass⦠lady⦠maâam.â The diminutive gremlin replied with a salute. Kass didnât miss the disappointed look on the other gremlins' faces, as they started stuffing a number of orbs back into their bags. They would be an effective group, if they could be kept on task.
With a sigh, she turned back to the rest of the group, and gave Rembrandt a nod. âBegin the advance!â The revenants lined up, prepared their weapons, and started forward. The imposing undead stepped through the portal, right onto the deck of the faux pirate ship, with Kass and the other squads just a few steps behind.
The entire stage was being buffeted by a storm, strong winds and pelting rain. The weather honestly wasnât that bad, but the water made the deck slick, and slightly harder to traverse.
That didnât stop the groups of merpeople all over the deck from forming up into squads, and rushing forward to intercept us. They must have expected our groups to be unsteady, because the first group barrelled directly into the revenant line.
They regretted the decision immediately. The pirates were surefooted, and skilled at swordplay, but they were no match for a squad of elite weapon masters. It took mere seconds for Rembrandtâs group to disarm, disembowel and outright destroy their opponents. The attack barely even slowed their advance.
It wasnât all positive, the near-suicidal rush distracted the revenants long enough for the last group of pirates, a race of orange-furred ape people, to climb into the rigging and start raining harpoons down upon the front line, spearing one of the revenants before the rest managed to get their shields up.
âJenkins, counter fire! Everyone keep your defenses up!â Kass yelled. All around her the sirens took cover behind various scenery, only popping up long enough to shoot the occasional spell. Calliope was actually sitting underneath Toto, the harpoons bouncing off his shell, while she threw out healing spells.
âWe could clear this up a lot faster with localized explosions,â Jenkins called, while emptying her crossbow. The thing shot out five quick shots, catching one of the ape people in the chest, before she had to duck back and begin the laborious process of reloading.
âIf you sink the ship ALL of us will die! You better be very sure that wonât happen before you commit to demolitions,â Kass snapped back. With a single motion she summoned a massive water elemental, and sent it forward. Unfortunately, it barely made it halfway down the deck before being brought down by a combination of javelins from above, and flanking action from the merpeople.
âI can do that⦠probably. At least if it doesnât work the charge wonât be large enough to completely sink the ship. It might have a leak or twoâ¦â Jenkins replied, still reloading her crossbow.
Kassandra turned to berate the gremlin, but paused when she saw both a siren and another revenant get simultaneously impaled. They were pinned down here, and needed a way through. âIâll allow it if you can guarantee minimal collateral damage, can you do that?â She asked.
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The gremlin didnât reply, instead she just turned to one of her squadmates, a bright smile on her face. âJacobs, wallbreaker!â The other gremlin nodded enthusiastically, then dug through his oversized pack until he found what he was looking for. He pulled out a collapsible tube, somewhat similar to a telescope, a pouch with a string poking out of it, and a small ball, before handing them over.
âExcellent!â Jacobs muttered. She extended the tube, dropped the bag into the wide end of the tube, string down, then added the ball into the wide end. While she was fishing the string out of the narrow end her partner took out a miniature torch.
It took a few seconds for Kass to realize what the pair were doing, and when she did her eyes went wide. âWAIT! Donât doâ¦â Of course it was too late. Jenkins popped around the box sheâd been hiding behind, holding the tube under her arm, while Jacobs lit the fuse. Less than a second later there was a thunderous boom as the miniature cannon fired, shattering the bottom of the mast, and throwing Jenkins back a good five feet.
For a long moment, no one moved, shocked by the action, but right after there was bedlam. The mast started falling into the sea, while the apes desperately tried to jump for safety. Only one made it back to the deck, the rest were swept overboard by the rigging. They didnât last long, because without the rain of harpoons to pin them down, the revenants swept up the deck, slicing up the monkey people as they passed, before slamming into a group of flat footed mer-pirates.
The sirens, and remaining pirate crew, took a little longer to recover, but rushed in to support the melee a few seconds later. Kass just summoned another elemental, before going to check on Jenkins. âThat was really irresponsible, you know,â she said, while pulling the gremlin to her feet.
âMaybe, but being crazy and irresponsible is what gremlins do best! Our chaos canât be planned for, which is probably why we were assigned here,â Jenkins replied. She had a gash on her forehead, and was stumbling wildly, but had a massive smile on her face.
âYes, well, thank you for not sinking the ship,â Kass replied, brushing the gremlin off. âWeâre going to have to have a quick talk about what other surprises youâre carrying before we get into the next fight, assuming we survive this.â The gremlin threw her a crooked salute, before staggering off towards her squad.
By the time Kass returned to the front line, the battle had hit a bit of a stalemate. The mer-pirates had been worn down, but were still plentiful enough to engage the sirenâs pets and Kassandraâs elemental, while the remaining revenants were all tied up engaging a single merwoman in a long royal purple coat, and massive hat. Despite being outnumbered three to one, the woman managed to slip between the coordinated attacks the revenants threw at her, and impale the spear-wielder on her rapier. It wasnât that surprising, considering they were facing the boss, Captain Vanessa Gayle, expert duelist.
The gremlins were disorganized, and the sirens were somewhat held up dealing with the remaining pirates, so it fell to Kassandra to break the stalemate. She slid into position next to the two remaining revenants, all four knives flashing forward. Even with the surprise, she barely managed to draw blood. The merwoman blocked the lower two strikes, ducked below the upper knives, before bounding backwards. âMiss Kassandra, welcome to the Swift Wind,â she said with a cocky grin. âIâd say âmake yourself at homeâ but it looks like you and your friends already did that.â
âWe wonât be staying long, weâre just passing through,â Kass replied, darting forward. Her knives attempted to find an opening in the merwoman's stance, but despite having three more blades, and two weapon masters as backup, she couldnât score a solid hit.
âI donât think so⦠Iâm going to keep you here, enjoying my hospitality, until reinforcements arrive. You. Stop. Here.â Before Kass could react the rapier flashed forward, and caught her in the shoulder. She fell back, allowing the two remaining revenants to take over for a moment. As much as she hated to admit it, Vanessa was probably correct. They were running out of time. She pulled whatever magic she had left, and rushed into the fight again.
In the few seconds sheâd backed off, Vanessa had taken out another revenant, leaving Rembrandt fighting her alone. Kass swept in, slicing all four blades vertically, then horizontally, while simultaneously releasing her power.
Vanessa simply smirked, stepped to one side, then bent backwards, to avoid the attacks. Her smirk died when she attempted to limbo under Kassâs blades, because it gave her an excellent view of the massive elemental that formed, and was in the midst of bringing its chest-sized fist straight down on her position. To her credit, she almost managed to drop down, and roll to the side, but it still managed to clip her and drive her to the deck, and that was all the opening Kass and Rembrandt needed. Four knives sunk into her right side, one long blade in her left, and the captain de-rezed.
A half-hearted cheer went up from the remaining sirens and gremlins, it was a victory, but a costly and exhausting one. Kass wanted to fall over, this was only her first conquest of the day, and she was already exhausted. It was going to be a long match.