The shit’s hit the whirling device here. After a few hours in the airship, we noticed that a big black arcane cloud was approaching us from the stern. Tibles sent his eagle Emryss to scout it out for us, and the demonic little bird came back to us with a warning that we were being chased by a military vessel.
Tibles had equipped us with special ammunition and alchemical weapons, but that certainly wouldn’t be enough. We were overtaken by the superior ship, and before we knew it, we had been enveloped in dark purple fog. We manned our battle-stations and prepared for the worst. They were upon us in an instant, and wasted no time in ripping holes in the side of our airship, then boarding us. Belarin and Peregrine swung over to their ship, while me, Tibles, Boris, Jackson, Bonnie, Nakisha, and most of the crew stayed behind. When pirates set foot on our deck, I knew our ship would be going down. Tibles headed below deck, and found Jackson. I headed down there as fast as I could, and helped Tibles carry out an injured Nakisha and a terror-stricken bonnie.
Meanwhile, our crew was being slaughtered, and Peregrine and Belarin were ripping holes in the enemy’s forces aboard their own ship. Our vessel was done for, so me, Tibles, Boris, Nakisha, and Bonnie swung onto the pirate ship.
Through the fog it was hard to make out, but I thought I heard Belarin and Peregrine towards the stern. I made my way over, to see them standing atop a pile of corpses, fighting with all their might. Amidst the chaos, I lost track of the others, but the three of us fought as hard as we could. Peregrine delivering precise cuts with his scimitars, Belarin repeatedly cheating death and defying all odds against him, and me, giving as much medical support as I could.
In the end, we killed the guards, and stood panting atop a pile of mutilated corpses. We took a moment to catch our breath, enveloped in fog, taking in the utterly silent stillness around us. Our ship was gone, as was the crew.
Peregrine began walking towards the ship’s bow, and immediately his sighs of relief turned to calls of alarm. The mist lifted enough to show a force of pirates, at least three dozen, surrounding our bound and restrained comrades. They had guns aimed at us.
I told them that if they were planning on killing us, we would gladly take them down too. I aimed my crossbow at the air bladder above us. Belarin and Peregrine both aimed up as well. Whoever the captain was, he must have had some sort of death wish. He told us to go ahead. We obliged, and with a loud pop, broke three nicely shaped holes in the only thing holding us afloat. The ship began to descend.
The captain demanded that I relinquish the sword that I had taken. I politely told him ‘no.’
He ordered the crew to fire upon us.
—Richard J Buckles
