Weapon of Mass Destruction

Hobnail and his pirates put their plan to destroy Westmark into motion.

22.

Weapon of Mass Destruction

 

 

Muld and Syndi heard Alleania's message to her niece and both were dressed and heading toward the common room before the messenger got halfway to their cabin.

"We've got to get there immediately!"  Muld exclaimed when everyone was assembled, " Syndi and I think we have figured out Hobnail's plans!"  

He shared their theory that he'd use the floating city of Windhaven to destroy Westmark and Sophia had already begun to try to reopen her scrying link to Alleania before Muld even finished telling them everything.

"She's not responding; they're probably out helping in the defense,"   The Drow sorceress told Muld.

"Damn!   We've got to get there at once!   We could stop it!   Lady Sophia, do you have any way to teleport us to Westmark?"

"No, the teleportation spells have diminished so greatly now that I would say you have a greater chance of materializing in the middle of a wall or twenty feet under ground.     Most times the spell won't work at all.   It's far too dangerous, Muld."

Muld slammed his fist into the side of a chair, "He'll kill thousands unless we stop them!   There has to be a way to get there!"

"We're about half a day away,  Muld,"   Khord told him, "That's about 600 miles and this storm front is huge, which will slow us down.   Alleania said it is dark and windy in Westmark, but even with a tailwind, it'll take us -- at best-- ten hours."

Suddenly Aloea, who had sat there quietly holding her baby, jumped to her feet and began excitedly trying to tell them something in her race's language of whistles, chirps and croaks.

"Wait a moment, Aloea!"  Deborah interrupted her and then quickly cast a Tongues spell so her language would be understood by all.

As soon as Deborah's spell was completed, the Lizard-woman began speaking, and they heard her speech as the common tongue.

"There is a Druid spell -- it allows a Druid to travel from one place to another in the middle of an area where there is a storm.   It is called 'Lightning Chariot' and it will move anyone in a thirty yard radius around me, to where I choose to go, as long as the destination is within the same storm system as the beginning point."

"Aloea, how quickly does the spell move you?"   Muld asked, daring to hope.

"The speed of lightning -- we could be there immediately, but if there is any clear sky breaking the dark clouds up between us and Westmark, we will stop where the clear skies begin."

Muld turned to Khord, "Do you think this is the same weather system that is over Westmark?"

Khord shrugged, "I have no way to know for sure, but it seems possible.    Right now, Aloea's spell is our only option."

Muld took Aloea's hand, "Aloea, will the spell endanger you or your baby in any way?"

The Lizard-woman gave him her toothy grin, "No, it is safe.   But I will only be able to move this airship with the spell.   The others in our group will have to wait behind."

Muld turned to King Eiolmoel, who knew already what he was going to ask.    The King nodded and turned to one of his servants, "Contact Captain Kollin on The Phantom Jaguar and tell him what we're about to do.    Tell him that he's in command of the convoy and to keep heading to Westmark at the speed we've travelled so far."

"Yes, Your Majesty,"   The servant bowed and hurried to pass the message to the scrying wizard who would pass the message to the airship.

 

"Give us five minutes, Muld, to tell Captain Kollin, and we'll be ready."  

Muld nodded, "Thank you, Your Majesty,   Aloea, prepare that spell if you will."

The Lizard-woman nodded, handing her baby to Sophia as she hurriedly made preparations to chant the spell.

 

***

 

Jevon leaped to his feet as soon as he heard the warning horns sound and was dressed in a minute's time.    As soon as he had exited his apartment and was throwing his hood over him, he could dimly make out someone running toward him.

He knew it was Ant before he could actually see her, for she was excitedly calling to him telepathically.

*Hobnail is attacking!*   She said in his mind and he waited for her approach to reply.

"So do we nab Deryck at the Docking Platform?"  

When he saw that she was now wearing the form of the Losasidhe girl Jain, he knew he had his answer.

"Let's go!"   Ant said with Jain's voice and they took off at a run toward the Airship docking platform.

 

***

 

Rick and Shel were also moving; running as fast as they could through the streets filled with panicking people, toward the royal shipyards.

A large bale of burning hay crashed down in the street in front of them, knocking a small child and his mother down and catching them on fire.    Rick had his cloak off in a moment, smothering out the child's flames while Shel did the same with his mother.

"My God, they'll kill us all!"  The young mother said hysterically; snatching up her child and running with him in her arms without another word to her saviors.

Rick just shook it off,  grabbed his slightly singed cloak and motioned for his new wife, "Come on, Shel!" 

They darted around a growing number of desperate people which all seemed to be moving the opposite direction.   

"We should have found Tadd and Mutt first!"   Shel shouted to him over the howling wind.

"No time for that; I fear we are already too late."

 

Soon the imposing brick building that was the main building of the royal airship yards loomed before them.     Several airships that had been moored at the yard, awaiting repairs, were just leaving to assist in fighting the attacking pirates.    Towering overhead like a misplaced mountain was the floating city of Windhaven, which was about a quarter of the size of Westmark.     Eight thick iron mooring chains kept the city stationary in the stout wind.

Rick and Shel raced into the shipyard, unchallenged by any guards.   Suddenly Rick stopped dead in his tracks, causing Shel to nearly run into him.   He was peering upward at the underside of the floating city.

"Shel, do you see anything hovering up there?"

"Underneath Windhaven?    Well, no...wait...I thought I saw a reflection off of something.   I'm not sure..."

"I saw the same thing a few moments ago.     Something is up there between us and the underside of Windhaven."

She grabbed his arm, "Do you think that it’s Hobnail with some wizards trying to dispel the levitation magic?"

"I know it is!"  He told his wife, "We've got to get up there and stop them."

"How?"

Rick looked around and after a few moments, located what he was searching for.   Taking Shel's hand, he pulled her over to one of the shipyard's hover platforms, which they used to do repair work on the hulls of airships.

"We've got to simply disrupt their spell, we don't need to be heroes by taking them all on.   I want you to pilot the hover platform while I prepare a spell.   I'll show you how to work it."

"Okay,"  Shel smiled, "I will say this; my life has been much more exciting since I met you, hon."

"Let's just hope we have a long life ahead of us.    Now here is how you raise and lower the platform..."

 

***

 

Across town at the Practical Magician's Guild, Mutt and Tadd, along with their girlfriends, were struggling to move a pair of arcane cannons from the warehouse out into the street, where Tadd felt they could angle them to hit the hovering airships.

"I don't think angling the cannons will be enough,"  Mutt was telling the Halfling, "The magic can’t overcome gravity enough to reach the airships."

"Well we can at least try!"  Tadd snapped back, as he pushed the first cannon in place under a row of stacked crates, "Put the other one next to it.   There should be a cannon ball already loaded into it.   Then go help Mandy and Vellie pull that pallet of cannonballs out here."

"This is insane,"  Mutt said under his breath, but he did as he was ordered.    A few minutes later both barrels of the cannons were angled at about  45 degree upward.

"Now we have to wait for them to fly over into range,"  Mutt complained, but Tadd ignored him and began pacing back and forth, tracking the movement of the airships while the wind tore at him.

It felt as if time had stopped flowing forward.     One of the airships had been destroyed by lightning and was burning over the Faesidhe forest.     The other two had apparently dropped anchors and were stationary, only drifting a short distance in the powerful wind before snapping back in place.

It became apparent that the nearest pirate ship to them wasn't going to drift into range, so with some cursing under his breath, Tadd began to try to move the cannons around so he could shoot.

"Come on, let's help him,"  Mutt told the Halfling girls as they watched him struggle for a while.

Between the four of them, they were able to position the guns in the general direction of the nearest airship.

Tadd used the targeting scope to fine-tune the target and without a warning to his companions, pulled open the tube's lead cover.    There was a loud pop as the push spell cast on the inside of the tube shot forth the cannon ball.    It reached about 100 feet in the air before crashing down into the upper branches of the trees lining the sidewalk.

"I told you,"  Mutt replied before he began chanting a spell.   When he completed it, he touched the barrel of the second cannon, "That was an Amplify spell; try shooting the airship now."

Tadd quickly targeted the ship and opened the cover.   A sonic boom filled the air as the Amplify  spell flung the cannonball high into the air.  Up, up, up it went and then began to fall, but this time it crashed into the side of the ship.     The impact did not destroy the pirate ship, but it was a morale booster.

"There!   You see?   Chant that Amplify spell again while I load this one," Tadd instructed, and Mutt once again chanted the spell while Tadd and the girls loaded a cannon ball into one of the guns.

 

***

 

A green ball of electricity wrapped around the airship as Aloea finished her incantation.   As soon as she chirped out the last of her spell, there was a loud boom and a flash of light.

For a few moments all of them on the airship were stunned.    Their ears rang from the after effects and spots danced before their eyes.    Muld now understood why the Lizard-woman had wrapped her baby's head in a blanket (except for his little snout); she was shielding him from the sound and light.

 

"Did it work?"   Syndi asked, and Muld could just barely hear her question over his ringing ears.

Muld went to the window in the airship cabin and looked down.   In spite of the dark spots still dancing in his field of sight, he could make out the sprawling city of Westmark.   It was lit up by flashes of light and sporadic fires burning across the town.

Two pirate ships were flinging rocks and burning bundles down upon the city, while two merchant ships were slowly leaving their moors at the royal shipyards, apparently to attack the pirate ships.

Muld was most concerned about the huge floating city of Windhaven which hovered over the shipyards (and probably a quarter of the city).

He could not see a ship hovering near Windhaven, though he suspected that it was there.

"We're in Westmark,"   he told his companions, then turning to the ship's pilot said, "Now let’s pull in closer to the underside of Windhaven."

 

***

 

Shel's first experience of piloting a hover platform was unforgettable.   It rose slowly and Rick was busy chanting a spell, so he could not give her any more directions.

They rose steadily and were unnoticed by those aboard the black airship above them.   But that changed when out of nowhere there came a bright flash of light followed immediately by an ear-splitting clap of thunder.    The loud noise stunned her which caused the hover platform to stop its ascent for a few moments.    Thankfully, the light and noise had not disrupted Rick's concentration (though he could not hear his own voice for half a minute after the thunder sounded).

But the location of the noise could not be easily determined and those on Hobnail's ship that were not busy chanting spells looked all around for the source, and discovered Shel and Rick slowly ascending toward them.   The clap of thunder (or whatever it was) had only caused a few wizards to lose their concentration.   The majority kept chanting their Dispel Magic spells, unhindered by the noise.

When they saw the platform ascending toward them, those on the black airship began firing arrows and dropping rocks off the side.    Shel quickly maneuvered the platform underneath the hull of the black airship.

"Sorry, hon, but we've been seen."

Rick just nodded, his voice rising as he neared the completion of his spell.    Then he pointed upward, at the black airship as the spell ended.  Then he immediately chanted a quick cantrip and again pointed at the ship.  The vessel began to glow bright green

"What did you cast?"   Shel asked, wondering about the spell.

"One of the simplest of spells; Faerie Fire.   It will highlight the ship so everyone below will see it, since I used the Amplify Cantrip to make the effect more brilliant."

"That's going to make it a target."

"I'm hoping it will.   But we need to get out of the line of fire.  Go horizontally across the bottom of the airship and come up on the other side."

"Are you still planning on boarding the ship?"

"We can't take any chances, we've got to disrupt those wizards."

"We'll be easy targets as we come up the other side."

"Hopefully I can minimize that."

"Okay, if you say so, I trust you."

 

Rick began chanting another spell as Shel moved them horizontally across the bottom of the pirate airship.    As soon as they left the cover of the bottom of the ship, a shout went up from the deck.

But before they could resume dropping stones or firing arrows down upon them, Rick finished his spell, just as Shel began bringing the platform upward.

It was the longer, more powerful spell version of the Amplify cantrip and Rick touched the deck of the platform while shouting to Shel, "Hold on!"

They shot upward like a flash, rising above the black airship and almost crashing into the bottom of Windhaven before Shel could stop the ascent.

The sudden bolt upward took those on the black airship by surprise.   Rick looked down at the deck, highlighted by the glow of the Faerie Fire spell.

About 25 to 30 wizards stood in a long line in the middle of the deck, chanting in unison the same spell, while the pirate crew surrounded them in a ring.   The pirate ship was only about 20 feet below the bottom of Windhaven, and Rick guessed that the pilot planned to raise them closer when they neared completion of their Dispel Magic spells.

"Quickly, Shel, before they start shooting at us!"

Rick did not have to explain further.   Shel pushed the horizontal control lever on the hover platform and the device zipped over the deck of the pirate ship, its' speed still amplified by Rick's spell.

Arrows were whizzing by them when Shel turned to her husband and asked, "Drop?"

"Yep; it will be quite a jolt, so prepare for it."

Shel grimly nodded and without further comment, pulled the vertical control level back.   

The platform plummeted downward like a stone, slamming into the middle of the cluster of wizards.     Most broke their spells and leaped out of the way, but a handful did not and were crushed by the impact of the platform.

Shel and Rick had braced for the crash, but were thrown up into the air and back down onto the wreck of the hover platform and casualties on the deck.

Neither of them were seriously injured, but the jolt stunned them and even rocked the airship enough to knock everyone on deck to the ground.

They had disrupted the Dispel Magic spell and saved Westmark and Windhaven, but now they were trapped on the deck of the black airship with Hobnail, his pirates and the surviving wizards all around them.

"Maybe this wasn't the smartest plan, "  Rick said as he pulled Shel to her feet and the enraged pirates swarmed upon them.