Silvertree Chronicles Bk. 02 Pt. 02

The other Captains walked in and he secured the room. "Changing the plan. We are going to the backside of the island. I will go out on a launch alone. I will determine the distance between the barrier and being crushed. I will communicate that out. Once we have that information, I will pass it back in one message, to you." As he pointed to one of the Captain casters.

"I want you to use magical telepathy to get the details from me and pass them along to the other launches. Send them in one at a time. I will be at the top of the cliff waiting. Once all launches are away, I want the fleet to move a safe distance off of the reef on the front side of the harbor. SPREAD OUT. I want two dragons to remain with each ship.

I will contact Lady Silver Hair when the barrier is open. When she has her force inside, we will close the barrier. Any pirate ships or dragons from the outside you will have to deal with them! I want the sappers to rearm those devices but I also want them to work rigging up all of the ballistas. I want any pirate ship that shows destroyed. Once the fight is done, I will open the reefs and lower the barrier long enough for our ships to move inside the port.

I will contact the Queen and let her know we are ready for the masters. To the assault force, once inside the barrier the situation will be very fluid. Dimension door and teleports will be stopped immediately once I activate this device. I will do that once we are at the top of the cliff. We take the fortress quickly. I want four strike teams.

Strike team one will clear level one strike team two will continue to level two, strike team three will be the largest of the group and I will lead it. That is where the controls are going to be; most likely where the Lich will be. Team four will continue down. Team one will check in with team three then head to level four, the same goes for team two.

Once we have our forces all inside, we will work toward the bottom. Any hostages, get them to level 1 and away from level 10. Watch for friendly fire, tanks protect the casters. Casters use area of effect spells sparingly as this will be a long project. You have wands we created, use them! On level 10 the command shifts to our dragons. They will direct where they need us.

We will be destroying dragon corpses trying to trap any Liches reforming in walls of force. Expect other necromancers; no holding back! Expect other undead, obliterate them! Now get to your ships and be prepared to get underway when our friends arrive! That is all!" He unsealed the room.

Silver stayed while the others moved into action, "I know you are hurting."

Brannar looked at her, "We are all hurting. The task is to focus that into anger against the enemy. Not make mistakes. Just sleep and work until this is done."

He kissed her hard. "I need you to take this role because I trust you. You have been here since I walked into that inn. One of my longest friends and mentors died. I want to explode but I have to channel it for now. Know when this is over, we will work to find more time for just us.

She kissed him back, "Then we better get back to work."

Neva 4th 7017

The ships were underway. Boat teams were assigned with the remaining crews. They had doubled all the watches. So far all was quiet. No attempts to communicate were made or received. Brannar spent a few hours in Silver's arm. Before they passed each other on shift. They made love to each other for almost 8 straight hours to remind themselves of what they were doing this for. Silver insisted and it helped Brannar to get some sleep.

Neva 6th 7017

They arrived but the situation got dire. The weather threatened to turn nasty in the next 18-24 hours. The seas were high. He boarded the launch they towed; extra launches were towed by the ships just in case they were needed. He used a small gust of wind to get him headed for the cliff. He had his staff in hand and waves were impacting about twenty feet above and below the midline. He felt the energy of the shield as it was thicker than he expected.

The front of the ship made contact with the wall as he flew into the air. He passed along his instructions, "The gap is narrower than expected the barrier is thicker. Roughly five to six feet from the wall to the barrier. Narrow window.

Recommend spheres or walls of force to get everyone's fly set and the wave to pass. Then fly straight up. Watch your approach speed, too fast and you will be buried in that wall. I am headed to the top. Stay close to the wall on the way up."

Brannar got to the top. "No signs of enemy activity. Launch, no more than two at a time from each ship."

It took two hours to get all of the launches crashed into the cliff. They lost 18 against the rocks and in the water, the ships began to circle the island and they headed for the fort. He had 244 who made the landing.

He looked at his troops, "24 remain up top until you see dragons flying, then move into level 1. Once we secure the top section of the fort, then 50 in each group with 70 in group 3."

The top of the fort was unguarded and Brannar buried the teleportation device in a location that the team leads from the other groups could find. They appeared to have been undetected in the breach. He did not expect that to last. Team one led the way with casters dropping wards.

They blasted anything not living or wielding a weapon. They got to the stairs where team two took point making the same effort. They heard screams and fighting in both directions. Level three Brannar had four casters working wards and two blasting anything moving in the halls. He took a twelve-man assault force into the control room.

Proximity wards on the first level alerted Vexxor that there were issues. He looked at the necromancers, "Dragons could not get in here. I will investigate. Nobody shall do anything rash. We have forces here to decimate and others to call in if needed. Call in the other pirate ships. Bring them into the area to see if they can see any sizable force in the area. Contact any dragons patrolling the island and deploy them."

He went straight up to level three and activated the scrying device to see what was going on. Hundreds of humans and elves had penetrated the defenses somehow. He hissed, "We must have a traitor in our midst."

He searched over the controls and set up additional wards in this chamber While his undead and half-dragon forces worked on the enemy, along with over 400 necromancer apprentices that were training here. He thought, "They do not stand a chance. Yet he watched levels 1 and 2 get destroyed by forces with only a small number, by comparison, loss of life. He looked at level 10 and the necromancers were following the dragons' orders and rushed his setup and experiments to create more draco-liches. He hissed out, "Fools."

---

As expected, the Lich had set up residence on the third floor in the control room.

He turned from his scrying device and uttered the word, "Silvertree!"

Before it was game on. Brannar focused on countering spells to close the distance while others worked on wards between him, the other necromancers, and the lich. Vexxor cast teleportation to try and get to his phylactery and escape. Only to find out it was blocked and he was trapped.

The Alliance troops decimated the necromancers and the Silvertree wielder countered every spell he attempted to throw.

They got the all-clear and started to unload as he actively used his innate undead ability to drain the life away from those that got near him.

Vexxor paralyzing two of the casters he touched. The paladins were hitting him with holy smites as Brannar called forth his sword, "Karti'Ros right hand Moon Fire on."

Vexxor grabbed Brannar's wrist, squeezed and tried to paralyze him, but not before Brannar dropped the blade into his skeleton body through the collar bone and rib cage.

Brannar froze up as he became paralyzed and crashed to the ground. Vexxor had released him as he withered in pain as the blade bounced around inside his rib cage and he made the fatal mistake. He tried to pull the blade out.

The Moon Blade slammed him into the ceiling bodily and drained away what life was left in the creature's rotted bones until it turned into dust. The cleric Gerald got them to their feet and they quickly removed the wards on the controls. Team one came in, "Move to level four and meet up with them." He got the field down for the dragons.

He pulled out the pearl, "Lady Silver Hair, the door is open tell me when to close it."

He grabbed his sword while he waited.

He thought, "Karti'Ros, it was a good thing I decided to claim you. You got one lich so far and we are just getting started."

Karti'ros chuckled in his head, "It felt good to help bring the family some justice. But I am nothing without a worthy wielder. You have been worthy of your actions today. Press forward and we will get more of them together."

Two minutes later and team two arrived, He looked at them, "I want a dozen left in this room, half caster and half tanks. Take the rest of this team and mine to level four. We will regroup there. Split into two teams."

Another three minutes and the pearl lit up, "Close the door."

He shut in the group of twelve after sealing the barrier. He headed to level four and the men were waiting, "I need numbers and a report."

Captain Tracker who led group four had been anticipating this, "We have 42 dead, another 26 wounded bad enough to be taken to the surface. We found two prisoners on this level: a dwarf and an elven female. Naked both of them. We wrapped them in blankets. The woman had this in her hand." He took it from him as the House Silvertree symbol appeared, "Was this symbol there when she held it?"

He nodded. He looked at him, "I want one cleric from this group to take this back to her. Tell her Brannar is here and I am looking for the others. If she has any information, she should let you know. You catch up to us after tending to any wounds they might have. Leave them with food, water, and this."

He pulled out extra clothes of his and handed them to them. "Good work, but now we MOVE the dragons are on level 10 and we have to fight our way down to them.

Two teams, clear your level and move to the next one. Then we meet down at level nine. I will lead the team onto level five."

He stepped into the hall and walked down the stairs. He got on the crystal, "Your Majesty, we have breached. We have control of the control room. The fight is ongoing. It would be time to get the master craftsman and material gathered.

We have rescued two so far one is one of my sisters and another is a dwarf. I do not know which sister. We are moving into level five now. I will contact you again when we have finished capturing this place."

They encounter only token resistance over the next three levels and then encounter 7 half-dragons barricading the path into the entrance of level 9. He unloaded a salvo of chain lightning followed by a dozen blasts from a wand of fireballs. He sent in cold mages to mop up the group at the bottom.

He headed down with the group and the rest of level 9 was empty. They opened the doors to the lower level. They were faced with the fight of the century. He looked at his caster, "Start disintegrating the bodies of the dead dragons. Paladins, take out those necromancers. Fighters help the paladins."

They went ahead with the experiments before they entered the cave. The necromancers on this level must have panicked and initiated the ritual. One of the three dragons did not survive the transformation. His other siblings and the dwarves were dead.

The other two were now Draco-liches are in a pitched battle with the other dragons. He cast the spell to find the first phylactery and it did not take long to locate as they had yet to secure them at this point.

He smashed the gem with his sword. That got the attention of one of the Draco-liches who turned to come for him. It shot fire at him and He jumped into its mouth and stabbed up into the skull. While it tried to dislodge him and banged him around. He launched a massive lightning bolt into the brain of the creature.

The other dragons destroy what remained. He got to the ground and cast another locate phylactery and this one went for the base of the altar.

He used a disintegration to blast the altar and the fragment of bone pointed down.

He used a disintegration scroll to blast further down and he saw the green handle of the dwarven dagger. He cleared the wards over it and forced it out with his sword. He then proceeded to smash the hell out of it. The dragons had a lot of wounded. They had the last Draco-lich trapped. He looked at his clerics, "Heal them, Wands Scrolls potions keep them all alive!"

He yelled out, "Lady Silver Hair two phylacteries are destroyed. The Lich and one belonging to that Draco-lich. You will need to find the phylactery for that one inside of the walls. I am out of casting."

She flew down to him and changed shape a bit worse for wear. He looked at her, "I want to reset the reefs to let the ships into the port. Have you taken care of all the enemy dragons?"

She nodded, "There were 24 of them. All dead, plus the 3 in here."

He looked at her, "Will call you on the crystal and you can inform our ships to move in with the remaining dragons. I will contact the Queen once you tell me this area is secure. I want the ships docked before that storm hits!"

She nodded and he grabbed Captain Two-Stroke. "I want you to send someone to the surface and bring me that teleportation blocking device and the rescued prisoners. To the control room!"

He nodded and found a junior member to make the run. He got back to the third floor just as Lady Silver Hair came on the Crystal. "The last phylactery is destroyed. The dock is secured."

He finished flipping the controls, "The reef is open and shield to block travel for your dragons is down, "Let me know when all of your remaining dragons are inside. I want to shut that one down and have them do a sweep of the island before we do anything else."

He updated his journal while he waited. A few minutes later and the Captain walked in with his sister and he realized he still had his sword drawn. He put it away as she started crying. He looked at her, "He died going against another champion. Our sister will explain it to you."

He took the artifact and turned it off. "Take her and the other rescued prisoner to Quatarsia, you know the way. Then head to the Palace and await further instructions. After leaving these two with my sister."

He nodded and they were off, Silver Hair yelled out, "All dragons are in!"

He closed the barrier blocking magical and dragon transportation. "Tell me when all the ships are past the reef!" He pulled out a crystal, "Sister, Viola was rescued. The others are dead. We saved a dwarf as well they should be at your Keep now."

She cried back, "I got her, how are you?"

He froze for a second, "Very busy. Once you have her settled in, get in touch with the Palace and let the Queen know about the rescue effort."

Silver Hair called out, "They are all past the reef!"

He hit the control and put the reef into a random pattern. He looked at the men, "Half of you get some rest. Two stand guard outside the door.

I need one of you to go to the surface and pull those guys into level one before the weather gets too bad. Stand guard and lock that door!"

He nodded to Brunt and headed back to the docks as the last of the ships got tied off. The weather had gotten really bad outside of that cavern. He looked at Lady Silver Hair who looked exhausted. He saw Silver running toward them. She leaped into his arms and knocked his ass to the ground. He was so tired.

She looked shocked, "You alright? Did I hurt you?"

He looked around, "I am far from alright, and you did not hurt me, but help me up."

He looked over, "All senior officers over here!" They all got collected and he looked at Lady Silver Hair, "I sent one caster out with the two prisoners we rescued while you brought you dragons in." He handed her the artifact. "The Lich is dead, his phylactery is over there in pieces."

She looked at Brannar, "Your father distracted a Draco-lich and saved a Silver dragon's life. You probably saved 10 or more. I saw you jump into his mouth, what were you thinking?!"

Silver looked shocked and angry. Brannar looked at Lady Silver Hair, "If it was acid or cold that I was fucked. Fire and Electric I am immune too. I fired a lightning bolt into its brain as well. I figured the safest place from its claws, wings, and the bite was to wedge myself into its mouth. With my sword jammed into its skull which also has undead bane. Every time he shook his head, he was hurting himself much more than me and he would have a harder time focusing on your guys. It would get him off the battlefield."

That got a few laughs and Silver just stared and glared at him.

He turned to her, "Any ships or dragons show up?"

She snaps out of it, "Two approached to within firing distance the ballistas sent them to the bottom quickly. The dwarves were happy they got to blow something else up. Two more were approaching from further out and a group of six dragons went and dispatched them. And the three dragons that came with them. That is why it took so long for them all to get inside."

He looked at her, "Would like you to get teams together to replace the guards on the first level; tell them to do a slow and methodical search all the way down. Every room. Also, to start bringing the dead and injured down to the ships."

He looked over and saw one cargo ship, "Captain Two-Stroke, I want that ship searched top to bottom, take casters to search for wards."

He looked at Lady Silver Hair, "Anything sneak on the island while your guys came in?

She shook her head, "It looks like we caught them napping until they heard explosions. A few stuck there head out long enough to see the ships coming around. They started coming out of the cave when they saw the Metallic Dragon forces come through the island bubble. They realized they had been breached.

We lost 14 metallic Dragons 8 to the two Liches. We have another 25 seriously wounded and your healers are tending to them."

He looked at her, "Any immediate emergencies? I don't really want to lower that barrier until we have ensured this island is cleared, floor by floor. That this storm has passed, and we have a chance to go over any intelligence together."

She nodded, "We can wait provided all the hells has not broken out back home."

He pulled out a crystal, "Lord Regal, are you alone?"

He replied, "No, I am with Jarron at your embassy."

He sighed, "Your forces have 14 dead and another 25 seriously injured. Not counting the two blues from the other day there was another 24 chromatics here who are all dead. 3 more died out over the ocean when they went after the ships.

That does not include the 1 failed Draco-lich attempt or the 2 successful Draco-lich attempts which have been destroyed. The Lich is dead, his phylactery destroyed. All other necromancers here are dead. We have people sweeping the fort top to bottom to make sure we did not miss anything. We encountered 7 half-dragons on level 9 who are dead. Another 20 or so en route to the bottom.

Four more pirate ships have been destroyed and one cargo ship captured inside the fort dock. We have a major storm overheard right now. We are holding off on teleporting anyone off just yet."

One of the Captains came over with a sheet of parchment for me, "We have 87 dead with a 112 wounded; six lost limbs. Four more are likely to die due to injuries."

A Captain Smith who was elf-blooded looked at Brannar, "Those numbers are for the bodies we have. They do not count those getting onto the island."