The entire way back to their temporary hideout Zhantos spoke excitedly, “Oh, this is going to be an amazing fight! All those crazy powers and all those fighters! Radais, we’ve gotta join in!”
“Perhaps we might, but let us reevaluate the situation first,” Radais replied.
Xion frowned and shook her head, “I don’t like the odds… we were barely able to handle
Theion and his bandits, all the heavy hitters in that arena seem way more powerful than he was.” She was worried about the well-being of her friends. While they were once all dragons, the mightiest of all creatures, the curse had left them diminished and vulnerable.
Radais smiled at her in an understanding manner. “I share your concern. If it were all of them versus the four of us we’d already be beating a hasty retreat, but remember our goal is the Dragon Gemstone which means we must only deal with Redmane and his beastmen.”
“Well, them and whoever we’ll have to fight through to get to him.” Xion cautioned.
“There’s another angle to all this we need to consider….” Zhanatos chimed. “These pirates are all bad guys. Wincam isn’t the only city that’s been harmed by them, it's the whole world. Someone has to do something about them.”
“I agree, but that’s going to have to be someone else. The best thing we can do in that regard is report this location to the Adventure’s Association so more equipped forces can deal with the problem.” Radais replied.
“So our best plan is to find Redmane, get the gem, and leave then?” Zhanatos asked.
“And steal whatever loot we can on the way out,” Larxene added, which drew a look from the rest of the group. “Well, we might as well! I mean that crown would look really good on me…” She noted with the subtlest hint of a longing tone.
Radais shook his head, “Too risky it will be well guarded, but should the chance to loot present itself we’ll take it. The question is how do find Redmane and how do we get to him while avoiding as many extraneous fights as possible?”
“He’ll probably be down near the docks closest to the water,” Larxene explained. “Even if he can’t call the kraken right now there are still plenty of other creatures of the deep he could call upon for help. Let’s wait till someone else picks a fight with him, then swoop in and grab the gemstone. We’ll either escape via the tunnel or we’ll steal one of the boats and sail out.”
“The ‘Opportunist’ method,” Zhanatos noted.
“Alright, that will be the goal then, but if all else fails we’ll return to this tunnel and retreat.” Radais nodded. “We can probably get rid of these disguises now. I doubt being half dragons would draw any special attention during the battle royal.”
An odd hush fell over the town as the clock ticked and tocked towards the midnight hour and the start of the battle. All the non-combatants locked themselves away in whatever shelter they could find, but curious eyes glanced from every window eager to see how the fights would play out. The major players each moved to different sections of the city to fight on terrain that best suited them save for King Maelstrom who was lightning-teleporting around the upper walkways daring anyone and everyone to come and take their shot at the king.
The clock soon struck twelve and horns blared out signaling the start of combat.
Zhanatos being the team's best melee fighter took point as they began making their way through the network of walkways down to the docks. They had a brief skirmish with a few locals, but rather than getting into a protracted fight the half-dragons decided to scare the lesser foes off with showy blasts of magic. The first real trouble came as they were racing across one of the rope bridges and a geyser of water suddenly slammed into it knocking it sideways forcing the team to hold on for dear life. The geyser stopped and one of Redmane’s beastmen, a ten-foot-tall bear man thoroughly soaked from having been carried upward by the water, sputtered and coughed for a moment before turning his gaze upon Radias. The Dragon Prince was aware of the beastmen’s ability to fly into a frenzied rage enhancing their raw brutal strength in exchange for diminished mental facilities which usually left them in a wild state of attacking anyone or anything that moved.
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“I don’t suppose we could--” Radais began but quickly fell silent as the bearman roared angrily and swiped for the Dragon Prince's throat. Radais stumbled backward losing his footing between two of the planks and falling with a loud *oof* but evading the deadly blow.
Larxene quickly drew her rune-bow and fired a shot into the bearman’s back, to which the imposing beast figure let out a sharp huff and turned to give the corsair an annoyed look. *THUNK* *THUNK* She quickly followed up the attack with two more arrows, but the beastman was so deep in his frenzy that the pain didn’t even register. Larxene looked to Xion with a nervous grimace as if to silently ask, “Okay, now what do we do?”
Xion looked back the way they came in hopes of retreating to create more space or at least find a more stable ground to fight on, the bridge was already shaking as the massive bearman lumbered around. Unfortunately, another group of pirates was already at the end of the bridge and making their way to them. “We’re trapped!” She called out in alarm.
Zhanatos tried to help Radais get his foot unstuck but the Prince waved him away and said “Help the girls!” The berserk knowing his friends were in danger quickly leaped into the air and swung his broadsword impaling the bearman's back. He had hoped to deliver a fatal blow, but instead, the bearman cried out in pain and began thrashing about in an attempt to throw the berserker off causing the bridge to sway wildly.
Radais got himself free just in time to see another group of pirates scrambling onto the rope bridge meaning his team was now cut off on both sides with a rampaging bear stuck between them. In a moment of desperation, he did the one thing he could think of. “Everyone hold on!” He cried out as he conjured a sphere of fire and blasted the rope bridge causing the lines to shear sending everyone falling down.
Xion and Larxene had been quick to act and managed to hold on to the bridge as swung downwards, Zhanatos had the presence of mind to hold on to his sword which was plunged into the back of the beastman, but the beastman himself lacked that same presence of mind to hang on. Thus both soon plummeted downward slamming through a lower walkway and crushing two other sparing pirates and then into the roof of a building below.
Xion, Larxene, and Radais all called after their friend, but there was nothing they could do to help him at the moment as they were stuck hanging from the fallen rope bridge clinging for dear life as other attackers that had been charging at them earlier were now tumbling past on their path to the walkways below.
“Was this seriously the best idea you could come up with?!” Larxene asked angrily as she glared down at Radais.
“I admit it wasn’t perfect, but I would argue that on the whole, our situation has improved.” Radais retorted.
“We have to get to Zhanatos!” Xion yelled to both before spreading her wings and kicking away from the bridge to begin gliding downward. While half-dragons could fly it was something of a difficult process; one needed enough forward momentum to fly in a stable manner and flapping wings to stay aloft was a taxing process. Gilding was easier, but still a tricky prospect in the tight confines of the city's many walkways.
Radais and Larxene pushed off and gilded after Xion, Radais struggling with the task due to being less physically capable than his guardsmen friends.
Xion spotted a blue flash in the distance and quickly called out “Look out!” As she made a sudden downward dive narrowly avoided the bright blue bolt of lightning that was a stray shot from the Pirate king battling another foe. The shockwave from the blot superheating the air knocked Xion aside causing her wings to fold in sending her into a free fall.
Radais and Larxene managed to avoid the bolt from the blue with a quick evasive maneuver but then were forced to dive after Xion. Larxene cast a quick spell to direct winds upward, creating an updraft to slow the crusader's fall as Radais caught her and began flapping wildly to slow their descent.
“Don’t worry! I’ve got you!” He declared as he strained to keep them in the air, briefly wishing he had taken Xion’s offer for flying lessons back when they were still in the palace long ago.
With the aid of Larxene’s wind, the three managed to land safely a short distance away from the building Zhanatos crashed into, but the effort left them winded and the sudden detour had taken them well off course. Originally, the team planned to use the upper floors to skirt around the major conflicts in the middle of the city, now they were right smack in the middle of the city and the commotion created by the fall had drawn attention to them that they did not want. As the team stood up and dusted themselves off some of that very unwanted attention slithered toward them.