#seiku

The vessel beneath the waves was unlike any magical or inventive marvel the crew of the Pride of Halar had ever seen. Like a great metal snake, it cut through the waves with little concern for the airship — or storm — above.

There was a rumble of thunder in the air, but Felix kept their course true. “Let’s keep those snakes from taking another dive, shall we? To your stations everyone!” As Felix gave the order and two massive harpoons were readied, another cry shattered the air.

Dark shadows flitted through the storm clouds. Indistinguishable at first, another sharp raptor cry pierced the night as two pteranodons swooped towards the ship. They threateningly snapped beaks filled with sharp teeth at the crew before flying back up to the circling flock above.

Lightning lit up the sky for a moment, followed quickly by a thunderous bang and rain began to fall in earnest down on them.

The first mate, a human woman allergic to bullshit, looked between the two threats to their ship. “Captain?”

“We have a mission to see through! Those dastardly dinos will need to get in line! Ready the harpoons!” Felix brought the ship lower just as the metal serpent broke the surface below. “Fire!”

The screeching howl of metal piercing metal was lost beneath the storm’s thunder, but the airship jerked as the tethered harpoons struck the vessel and held tight. Around the ship, the crystals flared brighter, their magic stabilizing to keep the Pride of Halar from being pulled into the sea.

As they began to ascend once more, dragging their underwater cargo along, a burst of fire shot out of a protruding tube from the vessel below. It struck the airship’s hull, bright sparks scaring away another swooping raptor.

Leaving his first mate at the helm, Felix rushed out to the bow of the ship where Sei’ku, Messenger, and Stonebark surveyed the scene. “Righto. You lads know what we’re after, yes? We’ll keep that ship up as long as we can, but there’s not much time. Reclaim the Scarab,” Felix said, hoisting himself up on the rails, “we’ll handle things up here.”

Before any of them could question the halfling, Felix gave a salute and launched himself off of the ship, onto the back of a passing pteranodon. They watched, dumbstruck, as he tried to steer the creature into its flock and away from his ship. Seemingly unfazed by her captain, the first mate shot another of the creatures with her wand, stuck it in her hair, and went back to keeping the Pride of Halar aloft.

Messenger pulled two potions of water breathing from his bag — just in case — and passed them to his breathing companions before getting up onto the rails as well. “You heard him. Let’s go.” He lept fearlessly, catching the harpoon rope on his descent and Stonebark clumsily followed suit.

Sei’ku took one last look at the sky battle happening in the storm around them before diving after his allies.

From a hatch on the ocean-wet deck of the ship, a yuan-ti sorceress spat a curse at them. Her spell missed, but sparked a rage in Messenger from the second his metal feet slammed on the deck. With Nameless unsheathed and divine and primal magic flaring around them, the three dove into battle.

The yuan-ti sorcerers and malison brutes who had come to investigate the breach were first-line defenders and put up enough of a fight to cost the trio precious moments. With the shaman emboldening himself and the warriors, they were able to push their way through to the hatch.

Within the ship, a horrible discordant alarm warned of the assault. Pausing on the ladder, the warforged put a hand on his head and shook it once.

“Messenger? What is it?”

“Klaxon alarms…”

Sei’ku’s brows furrowed. “What?”

Messenger dropped down the last few feet and withdrew Nameless. “Let’s just get this over with.”

“Which way?” Stonebark asked, peering into the hall.

Before they could decide, a bolt of fire struck Messenger in the shoulder and the barbarian whirled around to face the next challenge. Like the first wave, these yuan-ti proved to be dangerous. The malisons clashed swords with Messenger, trying to get the upper hand as their sorcerers struck from around corners.

The last standing sorcerer backed up, a spell already desperately weaving between his fingers, but Messenger charged him before it could be cast.

Sei’ku crouched down in front of him, ignoring the blood streaking down his own face now. “What are down these halls?” he asked pointing the way the mage had come.

“Dorms… storage…” he rasped. And when Sei’ku pointed down the opposite hall expectantly he answered, looking past the paladin to the barbarian making threats behind him. “The cats…”

Sei’ku used Pharos to stand up. “We don’t have much time.”

Deciding that Messenger would be better fit to break open prison cells and Sei’ku would have more of an eagle eye in storage, they agreed to split up. Stonebark took a look at Sei’ku, who’d been singed by more than a few fire spells already, and decided to go with him towards the back of the ship.

Breaking away on his own, Messenger headed fore towards the prison. A dozen or so tabaxi sat in their cells with heavy collars wrapped around their throats. A few perked up at the sight of Messenger.

He looked them over. “There a key somewhere?”

One of them shook her head. “Captain has it,” she told him, pointing towards the door further down. “He’s… not likely to hand it over.”

Messenger cracked metallic knuckles and stepped up. “We’re going to make our own key then.” Grabbing the door and bracing against the bars, Messenger raged and yanked the door straight off its hinges. The screech of metal had the tabaxis’ ears flat on their skulls, but they quickly brushed past him out of the cage.

Taking the jail door, Messenger turned towards the captain’s door and wedged it in there. “That should keep him busy.” Noticing a couple of the tabaxi touching their collars he asked, “Want me to get that?”

A beige tabaxi shrank back a little. “We’ve tried… They… don’t come off… cleanly,” he said with a wince.

“But they’ll kill you if you keep them on.”

The tabaxi looked Messenger up and down, blood still staining him from the last encounter. “Maybe not if they’re all dead?”

He grunted and gestured the way he’d come. “Let’s go. We’ll make the mages useful later.”

While Messenger freed the prisoners, Sei’ku led Stonebark towards cargo. Already wounded though, an encounter with a sorceress making her way out of the dorms almost proved deadly for Sei’ku. He was able to strike her with Pharos in the narrow hallway, but her spell slammed into his chest, knocking him off his feet.

Focused on his ally rather than the retreating snakefolk, Stonebark pressed one of his last healing spells into the aasimar and helped him up. “Careful there, friend,” he said, steadying him.

“Thank you, Stonebark… but we need to hurry.”

Pushing on, they found cargo an unorganized mess of stolen goods. And with Detect Magic up, Sei’ku saw the glimmer of the arcane across every shelf. “Well…”

“Do you see your bug?”

Making a noise in the negative, Sei’ku grabbed a sack from one of the shelves and began to quickly shove anything that glittered inside. To his relief, the bag neither bulged nor grew heavier and so he began to sweep whole shelves of magical goods inside without looking.

Suddenly, there was a low boom further up and the whole vessel shook.

They shared a worried look about the continued structural sanctity of this underwater vessel. Neither wanted to test the potions on their belts.

Sei’ku drew the bag shut and hooked it over his shoulder. “Let’s find Messenger.”

They returned to their entry point moments after Messenger and the tabaxi arrived. Messenger glanced at Sei’ku’s new bag and the assimar nodded. “Is that everyone?”

“Everyone that’s left,” offered one tabaxi, shooting a glare at the fallen body of one of the malisons in the corridor.

Understanding, Sei’ku looked back at the ladder they’d come down, the rails charred and broken from their previous engagement. Not to be stopped, Stonebark latched his long branch limbs to the hatch and looked down at the smaller catfolk. “Can you climb?”

Not about to question him, they quickly clambered up the treefolk towards freedom. Sei’ku flew up ahead with one good beat of his wings and perched up on the deck, offering each tabaxi a hand up.

Messenger stood guard below deck as they made their escape, watching for any yuan-ti who would try to stop them. But with only a few tabaxi left, the ship shuddered with nearby cannon fire. If the cannons continued and their own ship was damaged, no one would be getting out of here. Shouting “I’ll handle this,” over his shoulder, Messenger ran back up the hall.

Above, the Pride of Halar was struggling to keep airborne between its aggressive, sunken anchor and the storm-brave pteranodons. Sei’ku began to lead the tabaxi to the one remaining harpoon tethering the two ships. Between the thunder and cannons, he had to shout to be heard. “I’ll help you up! But you need to climb!”

Wet, miserable, and ready to be done with this entirely, the beige tabaxi was the first to step up to the rope and climb under Sei’ku’s guidance.

Back inside, even without the downpour, Messenger was feeling the wear of the assault. Using the last of his energy to go into a final rage, he broke down the door barring him from the ship’s weaponry and surprised the two yuan-ti at the arcane cannon within. One crumpled quickly under his attacks, but the other continued to hiss and fight.

It wasn’t until he pulled Nameless from the lifeless body of the defiant mage did he realize his mistake. The yuan-ti had been less defiant than he was distracting. The first mage still lived, breathing in shallow, bloodied breathes on the floor as she shoved the last of her magic into one final spell.

But rather than blast back, Messenger watched a small, glowing, ember red marble roll from her hand. Dread sank into his hollow stomach and Messenger sprinted back into the hall. “Shit.”

The ship trembled again.

Metal crashed up ahead and Messenger looked up to see a hulking, serpentine form slithering out over the broken cell door. Unlike any of the other yuan-ti they’d encountered before, this one was more snake than man. With a serpent’s body and multiple snake heads all focused on Messenger, the anathema captain charged in a rage of his own.

“Shit!”

“Messenger?” Stonebark called. His attempts to step back into the hall were aborted as Messenger booked it around the corner and started to shove him towards the hatch.

“No time! Need to go!”

Beneath the commotion of the storm, everything moved slowly for a moment, rain impeding every effort made. Sei’ku, flying between the two ships, called for Tabbus’s attention to help the freed tabaxi. Felix, returned to his ship, was shouting orders into the storm even as the last remaining pteranodons circled and shrieked. And Messenger and Stonebark pulled themselves up before the anathema could drag them back in.

For a moment, it seemed almost calm. Like despite the hellish night they’d just endured, they would see their mission through.

And then everything exploded in a terrible instant of intensity. An explosion wracked the vessel beneath the waves, lightning struck the balloon keeping the Pride of Halar aloft, and everything turned painfully white.