Limitless Seas 2, Chapter 37.

Chapter 37.

“It’s going to be dark before we get to the harbor, captain,” Shada said. They were cautiously approaching, having no way of knowing if any of the pirates had returned in their brief absence. As dusk fell and the fleet approached the harbor entrance, the glow of fires could be seen near the docks. A careful examination of the stronghold revealed that the pirates hadn’t replaced the siege engines, but something unusual was going on here.

“Well, those weren’t there when we left, and they surely weren’t on fire,” Larson said as the Sea Venom pulled into the harbor. At the docks were a half dozen ships, a few more of the typical pirate sloops, and a pair of the larger merchant vessels. Every one of them was a smoldering hulk, having been burnt to the waterline sometime in the last few days. Watchmen walked the partially ruined docks, the men at first waiving toward the approaching fleet like they were glad to see them, before realizing they weren’t part of the pirate fleet. Alarm bells rang out in the harbor and a group of pirates began to gather on the docks.

“Sir, are we going to retake this place again?” Dredge asked.

“Aye, we don’t have any other choice, do we? Order the others to hold back, we’ll rake them with our guns and then see about taking the fight to them directly,” Larson said.

The ship went to general quarters and the civilians, many of whom had gathered on the deck of the ship to get a peek at their temporary home, were herded below. The guns were loaded with grapeshot and run out. He could have shifted all the guns over to one side to increase the firepower of their initial volley, but if they needed more, they could always rotate the ship to use the guns mounted on the other side. With Cassia, assisting, maneuvers in tight quarters weren’t all that difficult in the calm waters of the harbor.

Much like their first visit, the pirates gathered near the docks, those with bows and crossbows firing haphazardly at the Sea Venom. The shots weren’t very accurate and as more gathered with melee weapons, Larson was surprised at the limited number of foes facing them. Just over a score of pirates stood by to defend the docks, and they lacked the makeshift barricades the mercenaries had used to reinforce the position the first time. They also had no idea about his guns, or they wouldn’t be standing where they were.

“All right boys, they’re making it easy for us, target them fools and don’t leave a single one standing,” Dredge called out. The four guns fired as one, the view of the docks briefly obscured by the flame and smoke billowing from the weapons. Larson expected cries of alarm, or perhaps even panicked survivors, but when the smoke cleared, there was only a mound of bodies marking where the pirates had tried to make their stand. A few of the critically injured moaned from the pile, but there was no way Larson was going to risk his crew to try and save men who had just tried to kill him.

“Bring in the fleet, send the marines out to recon the town,” Larson ordered. They watched warily as the ships docked and the marines disembarked. They were joined by the remnants of the town guard that had joined them aboard the ships, the group making a short scouting trip into the ruins of the town to make sure there weren’t any additional forces waiting to attack.

Larson made his way onto the docks, his vision trying to pick out any targets for his pistols in the dim light cast by the pirate watchfires. Sounds of fighting were heard in the town, spurring Larson to join his men. In the small town square, Larson watched as two of his marines and one of the guardsmen battled against a bulky humanoid creature. Their attacker stood almost as tall as Larson and was covered in scales. Unlike Larson, this creature didn’t have a serpent’s lower body, instead, he resembled a bulked-up lizard walking on two legs.

The monster swung a giant club embedded with sharp blades of rock. It hit the guardsman, and the strength of the blow hurled him into the side of a building, dead to all rights. Larson was having none of this and raised his pistols as he closed the distance to his prey. Both guns boomed and flashed in the dark, the pair of one-inch iron balls slamming into the monster, who gave a hissing grunt and stumbled back. The monster dropped his club and tried to hold back the blood pouring from the gaping wounds the shot had opened up. The two marines, both gnolls, wasted no time and charged in, their axes finishing the beast. It was now that Larson recognized one of the gnolls as the leader of their pack, Ghonen.

“Where did that thing come from?” Larson asked.

“It came from that building, and I hope there aren’t too many more of them,” Ghonen said, pointing toward the ruins of an inn.

The three of them moved to investigate as the sound of more fighting was heard throughout the village. Inside the inn, the place resembled an abattoir. Another of the lizardmen creatures had been hacked apart and lay among the remains of four pirates, their bodies crushed by the giant clubs of the lizards. Whoever these lizard people were, they didn’t seem too friendly with the pirates.

“Captain Larson! Are you out here!” A sailor shouted, several of the men began to filter into the village ruins, torches held aloft as they looked for their leader.

“Over here,” Larson and Ghonen called out.

“Captain, well, I guess you’ve seen the things that started attacking us,” the man said, pointing at the dead lizardman that Larson had shot.

“Aye, how many more were there?” He asked.

“Two others, they’re tough, but Ibn handled one, and the other was already wounded and wasn’t too much trouble. Sir, that mercenary guy, Silas, has been asking for you, he seemed spooked after seeing them lizards charge out of the dark,” the sailor said.

“Ghonen, get with Ibn and set up a perimeter, we don’t want any of these things sneaking through and getting to the civilians. On that note, make sure we set a watch on each ship, who knows if these monsters can swim or not. I’m thinking they can unless the pirates decided to burn their ships for no reason,” Larson ordered as he returned to the ships.

Silas was there waiting for him, slumped over near one of the watchfires the pirates had set. The man still looked to be in a lot of pain, and unfortunately, Shada had been far too busy with the burn victims to properly deal with the wounds he had received. The traitor that had tried to usurp control of the mercenaries from Silas Crow had done a number on him, gutting the man to the point that without Shada’s immediate work, he would have died.

“Captain, I think this is what I wanted to talk to you about. Things had been too busy, and I’m sorry it dropped my mind after that sea monster tried to eat us,” Silas said.

“Well, you were injured, and we’ve been too busy to sit and chat. You have my attention now, what’s the deal with the lizard things?” Larson asked.

“It’s something to do with the old temple that we were using as a stronghold. Bad magic in that place, and in the catacombs beneath the temple, there’s a portal to wherever these things come from. We sealed up the tunnel and guarded the entrance, but the monsters popped up in random places near the temple every now and then. Tough buggers, and they caused enough trouble that Lord Makon hired them adventurers to deal with it. The adventurers had us clear a path to the portal, but they didn’t come back out, but neither did the lizard people so Lord Makon had us seal the passageway to the portal back up and we all kind of hoped the problem had been dealt with,” Silas said.

“I’d say it’s not been dealt with, but if we’re going to set up operations here it will need to be. Do you know anything about that portal? Can we send a team inside to shut it down?” Larson asked.

“I may be of some assistance here,” Narbos said, joining them at the watchfire.

“You know about these things?” Larson asked.

“No, not, in particular, other than the lizardfolk are aggressive and no friend of any humanoid. Don’t underestimate their intelligence either, some are quite brilliant and have access to lost magics from an age long ago. No, these are not the common lizardfolk you’ll find in the wild places of this world, these, I believe, are the result of whatever you’ll find inside that portal. From the way it was described and based on the way this Lord Makon, Mox, or whatever you call him tried to deal with it, I think we’ve discovered a new dungeon,” Narbos said.

“A dungeon, like a lizard prison of some sort?” Larson asked, confused with the whole situation.

“No, it’s a term used by adventurers and one that really doesn’t fit as far as I’m concerned. A dungeon like this is a portal to another place. Inside, an entire ecosystem of sorts is created. Typically, they’re smaller areas, and one could traverse them in a few hours if it wasn’t for the monsters and traps inside. When untamed and left to their own devices, these dungeons will spew forth whatever horrors are inside out into the world around the portal. Usually, adventurers love these places, they’re great for gaining resources and power if you’re careful. I’m afraid you’ll continue to face assaults by these monsters unless the heart of the dungeon, its core if you will, is destroyed,” Narbos offered.

“Assuming I believe you, we have to go into the portal and destroy the heart of the place. How do we get back?” Larson asked, not liking where this was heading one bit.

“Once you defeat the dungeon, you’ll be teleported outside the entrance. A powerful creature usually guards the core of the dungeon and once you conquer it, you’ll be offered rewards. Once the heart is destroyed, the place will eventually form a new one, but that takes time, giving you a reprieve from the attacks as well as offering a great location to train your troops and loot treasures and powerful artifacts. If you’re willing to advertise it, adventurers will come from all over the realm to try their hand at defeating the dungeon, providing a nice bit of commerce if you stick around this place,” Narbos advised.

“Well, I suppose we’ll need to see about destroying this ‘dungeon’ place, or at least doing what we need to in order to stop the attacks. At least the pirates seem to have taken care of most of the immediate problem,” Larson said.

“Aye, captain, and given the state of their ships, I’d say they had quite the fight on their hands,” Silas said. Given the lack of crew that had opposed them, Larson was sure the lizardfolk had done a number on the pirates.

“Sir, if you can get me a bit more healing, I can lead you to the portal. It’s a maze down there, but I think I remember the way. Oh, and I should mention that there’s something weird about the place, only lets a few folks inside at a time. We tried to send a whole platoon of troops inside to clear it out, but after twenty or so got in, the portal locked up,” Silas said.

“See if Shada’s up and about yet, and have the officers meet me here,” Larson said to one of the crew nearby.

Shada had woken up but wasn’t in any condition to heal anyone, at least for another few hours. Sarvo was located aboard the Red Sea Trader and was able to provide a regeneration potion to Silas which should fix him up completely over the next twenty minutes or so. A mana potion for Shada got her back into action as well, just in time for them to discuss their current situation.

“Sounds like we’re going to keep having problems from this dungeon unless we deal with it, but it’ll take our best fighters to clear that place out, who do we send, and who do we leave behind to watch over things?” Tarley asked.

“I was thinking of leaving you, along with Samir, some of the marines, the mercenaries, and all the Stratwall Harbor guardsmen we have left. You’ll try and get things in order here and fix up the town so people can move in as soon as possible. I’ll go into the dungeon and take Bug Bartholomew, Ibn, Shada, Narbos, Silas Crow, and as many marines as this dungeon will let inside,” Larson said.

“It sounds like we have a plan, sir, I’ll send my men to clear a path to the temple. No use wasting the energy and abilities of those that have to fight the dungeon just to mop up the odd lizardfolk or pirate lurking about,” Ibn said. They had a plan, and his crew took little time in implementing things.

A squad of marines, reinforced with some of the better fighters among the crew and a few mercenaries, began to clear the path from the town up to the stronghold. They ran into the signs of battle almost everywhere, dead pirates and lizardfolk stood testimony to the brutal fighting that must have been going on for days. The only action they saw was when they reached the entrance to the stronghold. Standing inside the ruined gate were four pirates on watch, a volley from the mercenary crossbows and a few swipes of their blades took care of the guards. The stronghold itself was eerily quiet. A few torches had been lit by the pirates, but for the most part, the ruins were shrouded in darkness.

Silas Crow led them down a stairway into a dark maze that ran beneath the stronghold itself. A few torches lit the way, telling them that the pirates were perhaps trying the same thing they were. After what seemed to Larson like an eternity, but which was probably less than an hour, they emerged from the winding passage to find themselves in a small room, the glowing swirl of a portal standing in front of them. Another two pirates were standing watch outside the portal, both going down easily to the overwhelming force confronting them.

“I’ll head in first, then start sending everyone in the order we agreed on,” Larsson said. Taking a deep breath, he stepped into the portal.