Evolution: A Warlock's Rise To Power

Silent watched the battle from above.  She sent down her blue swarm to help watch over their own ship.  When a pirate managed to make it over.  The carnivorous butterflies immediately attacked. The ranged attackers knew that their spells wouldn't hurt her pet and the flutter blue mass was an indicator of who they should target in the midst of the chaotic battle.

She wasn't only focusing on their side though.  Her arrows began to rain down on the pirates who took cover from the lateral attacks that were flying from deck to deck.

They may be able to use barrels and crates to hide from the attackers in front of them but they couldn't stop her attacks from above.

She kept most of her attention on Lucan, whenever he was about to be surrounded by three or more, her arrows would fall and help him finish one of the enemies off if they were close to death.

Watching him go, she was just a touch jealous.  The others might think he was just picking random target, but he would weave through the crowd and appear in front of a pirate that was chanting. She knew the he had seen the fluctuations in mana.  A few times, a pirate thought he had gotten the jump on the warlock and fired a pistol point blank into him, but Lucan's demonic palm would appear and block the shot.  The musket ball would still do a bit off damage, but it was nothing compared to if it would have struck anywhere else.

Seeing him use his body modifications to his advantage made her desire for her own, but that desire was always greatly diminished when she remembered the pain he went through and the visible disfigurement that always lingered afterwards.  She didn't have a ring that could permanently alter her appearance and hide those oddities.

She put those thoughts out of her mind and leaned of the railing in the crow's nest and began to fire straight down towards the newest invader.

The player's ship and the first pirate ship were both parallel to each other but facing opposite directions.  The second ship was circling behind the back of the players ship and in a few moments its ally would no longer be in the line of fire of its cannons, leaving only the players ship to take the full damage.

Milocara knew it was time to act.  He ran towards the rear railing and leapt into the air.  The second ship was obviously two far away for him to jump onto it so he began to fall towards the water.

His timing was perfect as he stretched his feet out and connect with he slope of a small wave.  The water froze as he slid down and then forward across a path of ice.  The water was freezing under him as he moved forward, but the ice was not thick, it cracked and broke after he passed.

Summoning all the icy energy he could into his hands, he pressed forward and dove.  A few feet in front of the second ship, ice began to bloom.

This ice was thick and heavy.  The second ship began to slow as he poured out all his icy essence into the water.

This didn't go unnoticed by the pirates on the ship.  But Milocara wasn't the only one to attack.

Standing on top of the rear sail, a Willow player pulled out his crossbow that was already prepared. The bolt that had a thick rope attached struck deep into the deck.  He quickly tied the other end of the rope to the rear mast.  The other players were ready with their extra thick gloves.  They held onto the rope and ziplines across the open water, landing on the deck.

This wasn't an all-out siege like the players had done to the first ship.  This was a precision assault. And the players also knew that it was a bit of a suicide mission.

The first seven players that crossed knew that the completion of their mission was far more important than their lives.  The split into two groups and went charging towards the main mast and the rear mast.

Three players that ran towards the main mast protected a fourth player that had his hands full with two overloaded satchels.  The protectors were less interested in doing damage compared to moving forward.  The three players heading towards the rear of the ship were in a similar situation minus one player.

It became apparent that neither group was going to be able to reach their destination.  They had taken too much damage and they hadn't even attacked.  Fighting their way out wasn't likely.

DarkX_XAssassin and Bubblegumfairy were the last to slide down the zipline.  When they landed, they were able to disappear in the midst of the chaos.

The group heading towards the rear mast was the first to throw out the satchels.  And with good aim and less enemies, the satchels landed near their target.

"Stop them!  Throw the bags overboard!"  The captain said after feeling a a premonition that something bad was about to happen.

The pirates at the rear had ignore the bags at first and were chasing the players.  They had to turn around and run back towards them.  Since the group going towards the central mast was a bit slower to act and the warning had been issued before they through their bags, their satchels were intercepted in mid air and thrown towards the edge of the boat.

Before the pirate could reach the rear mast, it was too late.

*BOOOOM*

The bags had been filled with black powder.  With the help of a delayed spark scroll, the bags exploded.

*Creak* *Creak* *Crack*

The rear mast began to fall, its sail slowed the decent, but the mast had been fractured.  The fifty-foot-tall pole fell towards the water and the ship lost its secondary sail.

The main mast had been protected but the bags hadn't cleared the ship before they exploded.  The deck, railing and a few unfortunate pirates to the brunt of the blast.

Two of the players in the rear had managed to jump overboard while only one from the other group had managed to escape.  The pirates on the ship scrambled and didn't bother with the players who jumped into the water.  They turned their aggrieved attention towards the unlucky players who were trapped.

When the players hit the water, they dove down under the ship.  When the loud explosion echoed out across the main deck, no one had heard the small explosion in the lowest level.  As the players held their breath they quickly searched under the ship.

It didn't take long for the three players to find a patch of ice on the bottom of the hull.  A hand reach through and one by one they grabbed it.  The hand was able to pull them through the ice without breaking it.  Once pulled through they found themselves in the storage area of the pirate ship.  Milocara was maintain the ice to keep the hole from flooding while pulling them through.

In a ship that was sealed off by sections, a single hole in the bottom would not be enough to sink the ship.  So instead of exposing themselves, they decided to patch the hole temporarily with ice while using it as an entry point.

When the three players and Milocara were together, DarkX_XAssassin appeared from thin air.

"BubbleGum is in position.  Take a moment to replenish your stamina and health, then we act."