Fantasy 𝐌𝐀𝐍 — 𝐎' — 𝐖𝐀𝐑

[elanara]

“I’ll try to leave some of the weaker looking ones for you.”

Jin rolled her eyes. Even in such dire circumstances Daragh could always be counted on to make jests. And while Jin didn't possess the same lighthearted disposition, she did find his general antics and the things he had to say... somewhat entertaining. That much was apparent by the amused look on her face.

"How thoughtful of you, Mr. O'Malley." She replied cooly, then glanced him quickly up and down with a raised brow. . "Though, are you sure you don't want me to do the same for you? From the looks of it you seem to have already tired yourself out before the real battle has even begun."

Daragh was an impressive fighter, Jin always thought. Impulsive, yes, and exceedingly reckless, but willing to face battle without an ounce of fear. One had to respect that. She certainly did, though she never said it aloud. Of course, she also thought he would be much more impressive if he cooled off on drinking. But that was unlikely to happen. Though, some days she couldn't help but wonder if all that drinking made him better.

There was little time to dwell on that, though, as the Dreadnaught pulled in close in preparation to board their ship. They'd done significant damage to the Maelstrom already, hitting her with multiple blasts. Dextra's magic had done some to repel their attacks, as well as the many strikes of lighting that hit the ship, minimizing as much destruction as she could. But it was clear that Raske was fully intent on turning this into a hand to hand battle. And being that the Dreadnaught was bigger and faster, they had no other choice but to fight.

Below deck, the men on the guns had stopped firing. They'd already made their way up to the top deck, pistols and rapiers in hand.

The Dreadnaught inched ever closer until it towered over them completely. By this point, the rain was pouring down on them, and the thunder and lightning intensified.

Strands of long black hair were plastered to Jin's face. She unsheathed both her swords and gripped them tight. "Perhaps we should have a contest to see who can get the most kills." She suggested, with a small, confident smile. "I'll even be even kind enough to give you a head start."

Lost Echo CuChulainn

 

[elanara]

The Dreadnaught swooped in close, and within moments their crew began crossing on wooden planks and fallen pieces of wreckage, even swinging across on hanging ropes. The crew of the Maelstrom was ready to fight, of course, but what they weren't expecting was a crew of this size. Waves and waves of enemy boarders climbed aboard their ship, until the crew of the Maelstrom found themselves outnumbered three to one.

Amongst the enemy were two giants. They began sweeping the deck with their heavy weapons, killing many of the Maelstrom's crew within the first few seconds of the battle. Above in the crows nest, rounds of musket fire rained down on them in all directions. And amidst all the chaos, the Dreadnaught's captain was nowhere to be seen.

Lost Echo CuChulainn wickedlittlecritta SavannahSmiles Tempestus Blispy125

 

[elanara]

There was little time to process anything. Don't stop. Keep moving. He repeated it to himself over and over in his head, like the strangest of prayers.

The giants stood at twenty-feet tall each. More than double the size of the tallest man of the Maelstrom crew, yet not quite big enough to fall through the floor of the main deck. The sharpshooters above fired at them with their muskets, but not even that was enough to stop them. One of giants reached down and picked up one of the Maelstrom's men into the air, crushing him with its bare hands. Blood streamed down the giant's hand, falling into a wet pool below.

Whilst this was happening, Dreadnaught sailors continuously swarmed the Maelstrom deck. By now they were severely outnumbered. Will fought his way through the chaos and reached the main mast, where he began to climb. Finally, he made it all the way up to the crows nest, picked up a musket from a fallen shooter and began the lengthy process of loading it. Beside him, Pippy continued to fire at the enemy below.

"Aim for their eyes!" He shouted. Blood trickled down the back of his head from the injuries he sustained earlier that evening, but at this point there was enough adrenaline pumping through his veins that he didn't feel any pain. Once he finished loading the rifle, he set the butt stock against his shoulder, set aim, and fired.

The bullet hit directly where he wanted it — through one of the giant's eyes. The creature stopped immediately in its tracks, swayed a bit, then stumbled over its huge legs before falling sideways to its death. It fell with a crash against the deck, taking out a portion of the side-railing of the ship. A problem they could deal with later. The other giant was still causing trouble, and with his fire already shot, it was up to Piper to finish him off.

@ Blispy125 ​

 

[Blispy125]

Pippy

Piper had been resting in the crow’s nest when the battle began. She didn’t trust any of these new ‘crew mates’. When she heard the yelling and thumps she stood straight up. She leaped skillfully down from the crow’s nest. A knife in her mouth and both pistols in her hands.

In a way, it was slightly a relief to be attacked. It meant she had a target to point her discomfort and displeasure at. However, she hated losing her fellow crew mates more than she enjoyed shooting attackers. This was going to be terrible no matter the way she looked at it, like most things.

She watched one of the giants who had hopped on the boat get shot by William. She frowned, she hadn’t exactly expected the man to be useful. She was kind of hoping he would be useless so it would be easier to get him off his ship, but her hopes were dashed. She scanned the boat for the remaining giant. When she spotted it she nearly gagged. He was mid-way through cutting a crew mate straight in half.

She knew she could not beat the giant with her physical strength, so she kept her distance and aimed. She’d dealt with this their kind before and they were never sways to take down. She kept her eyes on it knowing if she closed her eyes or turned away from it she might as well call herself as good as dead.

She finally shot one in the side. It was a good clean shot, not a simple graze yet he didn’t seem to falter at all. Instead, it seemed to just make him go faster. “What the fuck,” she exclaimed. She didn’t understand how a bullet didn’t slow him down at all. Instead, he simply turned his gaze to her, “Well, shiiit.”

She dodged the first swing of his weapon but her arm was sliced with the next. She let out a cry of pain before once again pointing a pistol at him. It was close range she couldn’t possibly mess this up. She shot him right between the eyes. Blood hit her in the face and if it had been years prior she would have vomited but since she was used to it she simply just kept fighting.

 

[Lost Echo]

Dextra barked a laugh at the two’s competition, “Winner gets a kiss.” She winked over her shoulder before growing serious again. The Dreadnaught had come close enough to board. Swinging over the quarterdeck’s railing, she landed as smoothly as the young Pippy, immediately up and ready to attack.

She almost drew her sword, but the giants on the deck were the bigger problem. Hearing the new boy shout, Aim for the eyes, she decided to trust him, or at least Pip’s aim. Instead she needed to stop the influx of the Dreadnaught’s crew. It was a wonder it could sail with so many on it. Using her finger to direct it, she summoned her lightning to hit the plank his crew was crossing on. It exploded in a shatter of splinters, causing those upon it to fall into the deep bleeding.

Raske came over prepared. She glanced back into her quarters, grateful the map wasn’t hidden in there. Reynir wasn’t in sight, probably hiding the coward. No concern, she’d get to kill him herself that way. He was dying for his betrayal, and her sword yearned to make the blow.

 

[CuChulainn]

Daragh

---

“A contest? Well I’d hate to turn such an easy wager down, If you’re sure you want to be heavily beaten and embarrassed in front of the crew”.

The dreadnaught slammed into the side of Maelstrom and the chaos of a boarding party ensued. Ropes and planks swung across the now precarious gap between the two ships as they sailed side by side. The carnage had begun.

Daragh pulled out a pistol and fired a shot right through the head of an enemy sailor just as they landed on the Maelstrom’s deck. At the next instant he hurled the spear in his hand through the chest of another. The spear dissipated and was back in Daragh’s hand before the body hit the deck. He turned to Jin;

“Let me get a head start? At this rate you’ll still be up here twiddling your thumbs while I’m in double digits. But what’s at stake?”

The Captain’s comment floated in the air as she ran into the fray. A cheeky comment from the Captain indeed. Daragh smiled, laughed, and turned back to Jin. “I’ll happily let you decide a prize you won’t get. Anything you want. Now while you’re up here thinking I’ll go down and save our sorry asses from this mess.” He winked and turned not waiting for her answer.

===

The battle on the deck raged as both sides fought fierce close quarters battle. The cacophony of gunshots had subsided in place of the far more barbaric sounds of clattering steel and bone curdling screams of agony.

All around the crew of the Maelstrom had been put to it. The Dreadnaught had a seemingly endless supply of minions swarming the decks. No attempt to stem the flow had worked, every plank they knocked was simply replaced by another for the Dreadnaughts crew to flow across.

Daragh walked slowly onto the deck taking stock of the battle. Two men saw him and charged, one had a wooden club, and the other a thin rapier. The man with the club yowled as he ran forward, swinging the club to his side ready to swing it back and crash across Daragh’s chest. The club swung, made contact, and bounced right off. The man looked incredulous as Daragh laughed. Daragh reached to his right, where a cannonball had lodged into the mast of the Maelstrom and pulled it free. With a quick movement Daragh slammed the cannonball into the side of the man's head, caving in his skull in an instant. The second man with the rapier shouted and looked on, Daragh pulled his arm back, cannonball in hand, and threw it square into the second man's chest with a strength that would kill a small beast.

As he did so half a dozen more enemies rushed towards him to try and take him down.

====

Daragh's face was covered in blood and sweat. His eyes and teeth glistened through a mask of thick red all across his face. More foes appeared every time he cut one down. Another man rushed at him and Daragh swung the spear up, as he did the spear itself magically reshaped into that of an axe. He pulled it down right into the neck of the oncoming man. The man, who stank of piss and sweat gasped and stumbled forwards. Right into Daragh’s oncoming headbut. He crunched his head into the man's nose and his head shot back and then his whole body crumpled to the floor.

Two more came at Daragh, swords in hands. The first man, a pudgy little fellow with about as many strands of hair as teeth, which were also limited in number, lunged his curved sabre straight at Daragh’s chest. Gracefully sidestepping he slammed the shaft of the magical spear down onto the man's wrist with a cracking thud. He cried out in pain and dropped his sword. Daragh grabbed his arm and pulled the man into the head of the blade with such force that it punctured right through his chest and out of his back. The squat man let out a rasping sigh before his legs buckled and he fell.

Before he had a chance to pull the spear free the second man was upon him. Daragh jumped to the side but he slipped. The deck of the Maelstrom was now caked in blood and rain water as the battle raged about them. Daragh took a second to rejoice in the fact that he had put no effort into washing the decks this morning given all that work would now be undone. However Daragh was snapped out of this though as he slid away awkwardly from the onrushing warrior. He wasn’t quick enough, and the man carved a gash into his leg and Daragh grunted in pain. As Daragh stopped, the man saw an opening and ran forward. He bore gritted teeth and let out a half grunt half roar sound as he thrust his sword towards Daragh’s side. Unfortunately for him, before he was able to land his killing blow Daragh sidestepped him with inhuman speed. The man blinked in shock at Daragh’s near godlike, superhuman agility. Mouth agape in confusion when the rock hard fist hit him in the side of the head. He continued his momentum forward and crumpled onto the floor.

Daragh stood up and surveyed the battle scene. His body had a faint aura and a blue outline. His tattoo’s swirled about his body more and more aggressively as he fought, their own shapes pulsing a dim blue colour. He looked like a warrior god straight out of the legends. He threw his head back and let out a hearty laugh. For the joy of battle was upon him and the bloodlust coursed through his very being. In that moment he stood as if he were one of the great heroes of old, Cu Chulainn, Ferdiad, Fionn McCumhaill, and now him, standing on the deck of the Maelstrom a God of War, a God of Death.

=======

Time slipped by and the battle continued. All around Daragh lay the bodies of those who’d tried to claim him. The ebb of battle was waning as both sides began to tire. Neither side was relenting and the fierce combat had devolved into petty skirmishes as the whole event turned to a stalemate. That was until the sound of shouting came, “KRAKEN”. The fighting stopped, everyone froze as if paused in time, and then the chaos began anew. This time as the crew of the Dreadnaught disengaged and scurried back to their own ship. Confusion and panic took hold as both crews scrambled. Daragh pushed through and ran to look overboard. His heart sank as he saw the writhing, boiling, whirlpool formed below. No sooner had the chaos begun were the two ships being pushed apart and separated. This would be a tough fight when they were at their best, but the crew of the Maelstrom were battered, bloody, and tired, Daragh knew that this would be too much.

At that moment the first tentacles burst from the water and slammed into the two ships. He could hear the screams of those who’d been caught in the first crushing blow. Daragh turned and ran back to the centre of the deck as more began to slam into the ship, covering the deck in the slimy appendages. Daragh shouted for the crew to get below decks and pushed some towards the rear of the ship. The cannons below deck rang out again as they began to target the Kraken.

He began hacking and cutting at the tentacles that now wrapped themselves tightly to the ship. He could feel his own energy beginning to wane. “Captain” he shouted as loud as he could. But the rain and darkness was heavy now and in the confusion he couldn’t make out anyone. He shouted for Jin “Jin!” “Jin! Get us the fuck out of here”. At that moment an explosion ripped through the Maelstrom, knocking Daragh off his feet. Something had happened below in the gun deck, but Daragh didn’t have time to dwell. He could see now that there was not just one Kraken. He sighed, he couldn’t see the Captain or Jin anywhere.

Daragh continued to do what he could to push the Kraken that was engulfing the ship back. He was covered in gore as he sliced through tentacle after tentacle trying to buy time for the crew to take cover below and help with the cannons. He turned back and suddenly saw a boy wander out onto the deck. Daragh furrowed his brow and shouted “what the fuck are you doing, get out of here”. But the boy didn’t hear him, he looked dazed and confused, shellshocked from the explosion or cannonball that had hit the Maelstrom earlier. Daragh didn’t recognise him, he reckoned he’d been one of the crew they’d picked up earlier from the island. He shouted once more but the boy’s eyes grew wide as he saw the mass of tentacles from the sea monster.

He was frozen in his spot, and his face had gone pale. Without thinking Daragh sprinted forward and tackled the boy to the ground as one of the tentacles swiped across the deck narrowly missing both. Daragh stood, pulling the boy up and pushing him hard through an open door on the quarter deck. But in that moment Daragh had not seen, nor had he time to react to the returning tentacle that had swept past moments before. It slammed into his chest with a powerful thud and lifted Daragh off his feet. Had it not been for the main mast Daragh may well have been lifted clean overboard, as it was, Daragh slammed hard into the mast and slumped to the ground.

His Warrior Form was a very very powerful magic. It could absorb blows that would cut other men in half, it could give him the strength to hurl cannon balls like they were small rocks. But it had its limitations. Although it could shield him from damage it could only withstand so much at one go. As he slammed into the mast Daragh felt the surge of pain being absorbed but the magic was overwhelmed, it had saved him from death but now he could no longer hold onto his form. He released the magic and was instantly flooded with sharp pain. His mouth had the metallic taste of blood and he could feel the bruising forming on his chest and sides already. Daragh lay his head back against the mast. His body had now gone back to its normal human size. The tattoos now motionless on his pale skin, their pulsing blue light turned to solid black. He couldn’t move, the pain was too much right now, so instead he grabbed some rope that had been looped around the bottom of the mast and pulled it tight around his chest, tying it in a knot.

Taking a deep breath he looked out at the damage to the Maelstrom and the bodies that littered the deck, then he rolled his head forward, closed his eyes, and succumbed to unconsciousness, hoping that he’d wake up, and the Maelstrom had survived.

 

[elanara]

The battle raged on. By this point Will had seen enough of this damned place to not be shocked as Piper leapt all the way from the crow's nest down to the blood-soaked deck of the ship. Most would've climbed down so they wouldn't break their necks and die from the fall, but ah, there was too much going on at this point for him to bother questioning things.

Piper's bullet — damn she was accurate — hit the second giant right between the eyes. Good. One less thing to worry about it. But even with them down, they still had the rest of the Dreadnaught crew to contend with. William was just about ready to make his way back down to the deck to continue fighting, until he noticed something at the edge of his eye. A short, red-haired woman he'd recognized from earlier that day, climbing up the foremast several feet away from him. A number of enemy combatants were climbing up after her. Without hesitating he turned his attention towards them and began picking them off. Re-loading and shooting as fast as he could.

Down below, the canons were firing again.

"Fuck." William hissed — he wasn't much for swearing, but at this point he was all out of pleasantries — as one of the blasts knocked him back against the railing of the nest causing him to miss his shot. The bullet flew right past his target's head. He reached beside him and yanked another musket off a dead sailor, aimed again. Fired.

Bang. The bullet hit the man right in the chest, sending him flying off the rope ladder into the depths below.

Another blast of cannon fire. William steadied himself against the rail. Looked below to see where perhaps the blast might've hit. A sense of dread filled his stomach as he thought of his friend Desmond in the ship's orlop, tending to the wounded, wondering if the canon blast had hit there.

But there was little time to think of that. Not when another unearthly horror presented itself, causing the battle to a sudden stop. Everything went hush quiet for a several moments, sweeping the deck with an eerie sense of dread. William's brows furrowed in confusion. Never in his life had he seen this many men so intent on killing each other stop so abruptly. Then the shout for the Kraken came. And at that, everyone descended into a panic, and began scrambling back to their ships.

"What in God's name..." Will whispered under his breath. Far below, the sea began to bubble. Gently at first. Then violently. A steadily increasing whirlpool began to take form, surrounding both ships. As if that wasn't terrifying enough, the look on his face gradually shifted to horror as gigantic tentacles appeared from the ocean's surface and began climbing up and over the sides from bow to stern. It wasn't long before every man began cutting and hacking their way at them, desperately trying to keep from being devoured.

Despite being too stunned to think, Will kept shooting. But his bullets did little to damage the kraken's flesh. Not wanting to waste precious time, he dropped the musket and slid his way back down to the deck via one of the ropes, picked up a stranded rapier, and began cutting away at the tentacles with the rest of the men. Some weren't so lucky — the kraken's tentacles would latch onto them and drag them out to sea. Their screams as they realized their fate howled in the wind of the storm.

Determined not to end up as one of them, Will moved as quickly and efficiently as he could, slicing and hacking away, ignoring the blood and guts drenching him from head to toe.

Several feet to his left, he saw Piper fighting off the monster as well. Only, somewhere along the way her feet had given way to the slick, bloodied floor beneath her, and had slipped and fell. Swirled tight around her ankle was one of the kraken's tentacles. "No!" Will shouted as he rushed forward, cutting the foul-mouthed, sharpshooter free at the last second. In that same moment, the sky was abruptly filled with an intense burst of light. So bright it almost made it seem like it was daytime. William squinted at first, raised a hand to shield his eyes as he gazed up in awe at the sky, pure shock and exhaustion written on his blood-splattered face.

The krakens let out a series of high pitched, ear-piercing shrieks, louder than any explosion he'd ever heard. Their grip on the Maelstrom quickly released; any sailors they were clinging onto slammed back down onto the decks or into the treacherous sea below. Then, the light disappeared, everything returned to black.

And they were being lifted out of the air and into the night sky.


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Blispy125 SavannahSmiles Lost Echo