Last Stand at Southsun

The skies were clear and the sea was calm as the Lion's Arch Frigate, Sunfire, sailed close to Southsun Cove.

"Prepare to make port!" barked the old Charr captain to his crew. Sailors and marines scrambled to their posts.

The Sunfire was a warship commissioned and built by Lion's Arch to bolster the free city's already formidable fleet; she was a frigate, triple-masted, thirty guns, and plenty of speed and maneuverability for its size. Lion's Arch used to be a chaotic haven for pirates, but it had risen to become the wealthiest and most prosperous city in Tyria; The city was the home of the Black Lion Trading Company, which controls most trade across Tyria, both land and naval-based. The Black Lion is under the protection of the Lionguard, the armed wing of Lion's Arch, and therefore under the protection of the Commodore and the Captain's Council.

Many ships of the Lion's Arch Navy consist of privateer ships, mercenary pirates in a sense, and rare are the privateers who are absolutely loyal to the service of the free city. To mitigate the questionable loyalty of the privateers, the Commodore of Lion's Arch had several dedicated warships created to act as a more professional navy rather than a mercenary navy. These ships are captained and crewed by Lion's Arch citizens and Lionguard Marines.

The Sunfire set sail from Claw Island and out to the Sea of Sorrows several days ago to reach Southsun Cove. The cove was reported by the Consortium to be experiencing 'turbulence,' in weeks past, but a more recent report by a Lionguard inspector suggested that the Consortium had made a severe understatement in its report. Karka and other wild animals were going mad and attacking any and all settlers on the island. Lion's Arch sent ships such as Sunfire and others to ferry skilled adventurers and Lionguard troops to the island to beat back the mad wildlife, as well as to bombard overrun section of the cove with cannonfire.

Several adventurers came out of the lower decks to breathe the fresh air. On the starboard side of the ship, they could see Southsun Cove, a tropical island, with several islets around it. The main port on the cove, if you could call it a port, was on Pearl Islet, where the Consortium have built an island resort, but there were other anchorages on the islands, none of them safe.

"Captain!" called out one of the adventurers. Diegovich was his name, a Human Engineer from the Kingdom of Kryta.

He wore a midnight blue naval privateer's coat with white-gold accents. On his head he wore a tricorne hat that was the same shade of blue. Diegovich was a privateer working for Lion's Arch, but he lost his ship in the Straits of Devastation to Risen Minions during the fight against the Elder Dragon Zhaitan. When the struggle for Orr was over, he returned to Lion's Arch to work again, slowly rebuilding his old wealth.

"Diegovich," replied the captain, "What might I assist you with?"

"Nothing, captain," he replied, "It's just good to be on a ship again."

"Those damn Orrians nearly sunk the Sunfire too, you know," told the captain, "This huge Risen megalodon smashed into the lower decks from under the sea. She was taking water so fast, all the while with Risen pirates climbing aboard the ship! I was able to run her aground near Fort Trinity, saving the ship, but the crew, well, let's just say most of the men here right now weren't there that day."

"I know what you mean," said Diegovich, "Say, Captain, it looks like the whole damn beach is pink... and moving!"

"Looks like the northern shoals are overrun with Karka. Look at all of 'em!"

The captain pulled out his telescope to view the shore. There were Karka of all shapes and sizes, the four legged deep sea crustaceans that grew larger and tougher the older they got. From tiny hatchlings, rabid young ones, towering mature Karkas, and one huge Karka domineering over them all.

"By the legions," the captain murmured, "See that big one? That's a Karka Queen!"

"All I see is a beach full of targets, captain."

"Aye, that's exactly what it is. Helmsman! Bring us closer to the northern shore! Crew, man the guns! Round shot! We're killing Karka!"

The frigate turned and moved in closer to the shore. Crewmen loaded the cannons

"Starboard cannons ready, captain!" declared the first mate, a male Sylvari.

"Open fire!"

Sunfire unleashed its starboard broadside, 15 cannons spit out hot iron spheres as another adventurer, a female human elementalist, cast a fire field in the air, in front of the cannons, causing the round shot to be engulfed in fire as it flew toward the beach.

The flaming cannonballs reached their target; the beach was so full of Karka that every cannon hit one or more of the beasts, some piercing through Karka's shells and hitting others, at the same time setting fire to any Karka.

"Reload!" shouted the captain, "And aim for the big mama!"

The Sunfire continued on its course, the crew reloaded the cannons, and the elementalist readied the fire field.

"Fire!" barked the Charr captain.

As the cannons fired the second broadside, the ship came to an abrupt and rough halt. Several crewmen, adventurers, and marines fell from the sudden stoppage. Diegovich and the captain kept their feet, being the most experienced seafarers on the ship.

"What in the eternal alchemy was that?!" cursed an Asuran crewman.

"This close to the cove," Diegovich noted, "It could be a reef. Southsun has plenty."

"Nay," replied the captain, "I've sailed several sorties through this place, even closer sometimes. This is no reef."

The boat rocked and shifted left and right. The sailors heard an eerie crunching sound below the ship.

Diegovich looked over the portside of the ship, and saw the large crustacean limb latching onto the ship's portside.

"Karka Queen!" Diegovich shouted.

"Battle stations!" the captain ordered, "Marines, sailors, everyone! Pick up a weapon and prepare for a fight!"

"You heard the big cat," reminded the Sylvari first mate, "Man up!"

The queen clung onto the ship from under, with two limbs latched to each side of she ship.

Karka hatchlings and young Karka surfaced from underwater and climbed up the ship. The smaller hatchlings entered the ship from the cannon ports, jumping and latching themselves onto crewmen, though they were more of an annoyance than a lethal threat. The young Karka climbed up to the top deck and used their deadly pincers to attack the men up there.

The adventurers grouped together as Lionguard Marines fired their rifles and sailors hacked at the Karka with their boarding axes and swords.

The ship rocked again, the queen's limbs tightening their grip on the ship, slowly pulling it down.

"We need to get ourselves free from the Queen's grip!" shouted a Sylvari guardian to the captain as he put up a shield to deflect the spike barrage of a young Karka.

Several marines pointed their rifles down the side of the ship and opened fire on the queen, but the chitin on her limbs was too tough and the shots only scratched or bounced off the hard shell.

"No use!" the captain called the riflemen off, "We need to draw her up; at this range, the cannons will tear her apart! Gallach, Diegovich, get some bombs ready!"

Gallach, the first mate, ran down to the powder magazine prepare several powder kegs, while Diegovich took a small barrel from his bag.

"Cover me," he called to the Slyvari guardian.

"What is that?" coughed the captain as he sliced a young karka in half with his sword.

Diegovich pressed a button and the barrel folded out to become an even larger barrel, which Diegovich began filling with yellow explosive powder.

Meanwhile, the elementalist stood over the ship's starboard side, and charged lightning magic on her hands. She unleashed it unto the seawater, causing the queen to howl in anger more than pain. The water under the ship soon filled with the floating corpses of dead Karka hatchlings, killed by the lighting.

Gallach returned to the top deck carrying two large powder kegs, and a hatchling clinging to his leg. The captain drew his pistol and shot the hatchling off Gallach's leg with pinpoint accuracy.

Diegovich and Gallach threw their bombs down the sides of the ship. They splashed and sunk into the water, and after a few heartbeats, they detonated, spouting two large water jets, and causing a loud shriek from underwater.

The Karka queen released her grip from the ship's starboard side, and the ship tilted slightly to the left. The limbs on the lumbered up the ship, however, and crashed into the top deck, damaging the hull as the queen revealed her torso from underwater. The beast's other two limbs then clinged to the bottom of the portside and she raised herself up, slightly pushing the ship down.

The beast was massive, pink and purple she was, with barnacles clinging to her hard shell. The captain looked at the queen and smiled.

"Now! Port cannons, broadside! Cook us some seafood!"

The portside guns spat fire and iron, ripping through shell and skin. The Karka queen howled in pain and detached itself from Sunfire.

The captain ran to the helm and turned it as hard as he could.

"We're free! I want full sail now!"

Sailors began climbing and opening the masts as others finished off the remaining Karka on the decks.

"Captain," Gallach called, "The queen made substantial damage to the hull; at the rate we're taking in water, we'll never make it to Pearl Islet!"

"I'm aiming for Pride Point."

Diegovich turned to the captain, "Pride Point is overrun!"

"Not as overrun as the rest of the shoals!"

The captain turned to run straight at Pride Point, a makeshift Lionguard anchorage on the northeastern shoals of Southsun Cove. The captain would sooner run his ship aground at Pride Point and make a mad dash to the coalition of Consortium, Lionguard, and Settler troops fighting the Karka horde near Pearl Islet than have his ship sunk and crew dragged under by Karka. Better to die fighting than drowning.

Just then, the wind made a sudden shift, and the ship slowed.

"Bloody traitorous wind," cried Gallach.

The ship was again forced to a halt, accompanied by the crunching of wood and the growling of a mad Karka queen.

The queen climbed up from the ship's stern, and smashed her limbs down, killing several crewmen. The captain met her face to face in desperation, jumping at her with his sword raised, unloading his pistol at the beast.

It was no use. The queen tore the old Charr apart with her pincers, and dug her limbs deeper into the ship. She was going to sink Sunfire or tear it apart, whichever came first. Marines and sailors fired and hacked at the beast relentlessly, to no avail. The guardian dropped his shield, drew his hammer and began smashing the armored limbs with little effect, while Diegovich and the elementalist attacked it from afar.

Gallach was unloaded his twin pistols, uselessly, and turned his head to see white sails in the distance.

"Ship spotted on the portside!" he called out. Diegovich turned to see the sails. He ran to where the captain dropped his telescope, picked it up, and viewed the ship.

It was a Lion's Arch corvette. Two masts, a small ship that had one gun deck with only around 16 guns by the look of it. The corvettes were the fastest and most maneuverable warships in the Lion's Arch fleet.

"She's sailing towards us!" Diegovich announced. The corvette was moving at an incredible speed.

The corvette quickly got in range, and fired a broadside at the Karka queen.

"Brace!" Gallach commanded. The crew ducked and took cover.

As the cannonballs flew close to the queen, they detonated and rained hot shrapnel onto the queen, who replied with a shriek as she again released Sunfire from her grip.

Gallach ran to the helm. "Go!" he cried out, "Drop some things overboard! We need to gain speed!"

Crewmen threw dead sailors, barrels, powder kegs, and cannonballs our of the ship to remove some weight from the Sunfire. She was close to being ripped into two from the damage she sustained from the Karka queen. The corvette was still sailing in the deeper waters off the Cove."

The Sunfire managed to make it to Pride Point; Gallach ran the ruined ship aground on the abandoned anchorage and it nearly ripped in two.

"Off the ship now!" Gallach ordered, "Carry the wounded out! We need to get to Pearl Islet!"

Sailors, marines, and the adventurers scrambled off the ship, swinging down from ropes, while dropping ladders and ramps. They were greeted by several young Karka on the shore, which the marines quickly dispatched.

"Gallach!" Diegovich called, "There's a big Karka horde coming at us from the south!"

"Quickly," Gallach beckoned, "Get the wounded up that shipwreck!"

Close to Pride Point was a shipwreck on some rocks that the Lionguard had turned into a camp. Gallach decided to try and weather the horde from there instead of a suicidal run to Pearl Islet.

"Hurry!" Diegovich ordered the sailors. Everyone stopped for a moment when a familiar growling was heard behind the Sunfire.

"Run!" shouted a sailor.

The wounded Karka queen burst out from behind the Sunfire, splitting the damaged shit in two, and letting out a frightening shriek.

"She's hurt! Marines! Adventurers!" Gallach called, "With me! We're taking this sea whore down!"

A group of marines stayed with the sailors to provide fire support from the shipwreck rock.

"Open fire!" Gallach ordered. The Marines fired their muskets at the beast, aiming at her more vulnerable joints, the guardian took his scepter and barraged the queen with light magic, while the elementalist bombarded it with a meteor shower, and Diegovich threw grenades and fired his guns.

Their sustained barrage was whittling, but not enough to kill the queen. She advanced slowly on them, forcing them to withdraw slowly back to the rock.

When she was close enough, the queen leaped and landed among the group killing a few marines, while wounding and knocking back others. The survivors fell back to the rock, but Gallach and the three adventurers remained to hold the queen back.

"She's too strong," the elementalist cried, "We can't kill her!"

"No," Gallach replied, "but they can!"

Gallach pointed out to the sea while hearing the cheering of his surviving crewmen from the rocks. Where the lone corvette was, now there were over thirty Lion's Arch ships, frigates, corvettes, and the massive ships-of-the-line, the largest of which had over a hundred guns.

Diegovich dropped a glue bomb and signaled everyone to run. Before the bomb exploded, though, the queen caught Gallach with her large leg, trapping him. The glue bomb exploded, and the queen, as well as Gallach, was stuck to the ground.

The Sylvari guardian couldn't bear leaving his kin behind, so he ran back to try and save him.

"No!" Gallach urged,"Leave me!"

The Lionguard fleet opened fire on the shoals, hundreds of cannons flew across the waters an impacted all throughout the beaches, killing hundreds, possibly thousands, of Karka.

Diegovich and the elementalist ran to the shipwreck rock as the cannons exploded all around them. They dove into the ruined ship.

"Ugh..." the elementalist groaned, "H-help..."

Diegovich looked to see a large piece of shrapnel from the bombardment had flew into her gut, and she was bleeding to death. They had to remove the shrapnel and seal the wound.

"I can take it out," he said to the elementalist, "but you have to drop a water field, or any healing spell on yourself when I do!"

"I can't..."

"You can," Diegovich replied, "You two, hold her down."

"Ready?"

"No..."

"You're going to die if I don't, damn it!"

"Please..."

"Oh, damn it! Here goes!"

Diegovich pulled out the piece of shrapnel and a marine doctor began trying to seal the wound, but it was too large; it could not be healed without magic.

"Cast a water field now! A healing spell! Anything! Please!"

The elementalist was crying in pain.

"No," she cried, almost uncomprehensible, "I can't..."

No amount of Diegovich's medkits or healing turrets could save her. He prayed to Dwayna that she heal her, to Grenth so that he may have pity on her, but alas, they did not answer.

She perished soon after.

The bombardment ended a minute later, and the crew came out to see the beach decimated, littered with mangled Karka carcasses, among them several queens, including the one that had attacked them.

Gallach and the Sylvari guardian did not survive.

The forces at Pearl Islet pushed forward and began hunting down the remaining Karka while reclaiming the rest of the island.

The corvette that saved the crew of the Sunfire put down its anchor at Pride Point, while the rest of the fleet either moved to Pearl Islet or back to Lion's Arch.

A lone Human warrior climbed off the corvette, which Diegovich observed was named Night Lion.

The warrior approached Diegovich.

"Damn good fighting there, Engi," said the warrior.

"Didn't save the captain, though," Diegovich replied, "or Gallach, or those two other adventurers."

"Southsun is saved."

"And I have nothing left," Diegovich replied, "I'm think it's time to retire. Go back to Divinity's Reach, find a wife, have kids. There are plenty of heroes out there. I fought one Elder Dragon already. Let the others kill the rest."

"You could," the warrior responded, "but that isn't the ideal life for an engineer like yourself, is it? You still want battle, but you don't want the permanent loss."

"If only."

"But there is a way," the warrior replied.

"Is that so?" Diegovich asked.

"Yes. You are a nocturnal, correct?"

"I am," Diegovich answered, "What of it?"

"What do you know of the Mist War?" the warrior inquired.

"An eternal battle between our reality and that of others? Where warriors are damned to fight for all eternity to protect our world."

"You aren't well-informed on the Mist War, are you? Mortals who are still living in this world can enter the Mists and fight in the Mist War, without fear of permanent death. If a living soul dies in the Mist War, they revive without any side-effects."

"And you wish to recruit me?"

"That's why I'm here, Diegovich. The Commander of Ehmry Bay's Night Watch is in dire need of soldiers, builders, and others skilled in warfare. We have a well organized and numerous day army, but at night, our enemies field a far superior numerical force. We can hold them, but our holdings are decimated in the process."

"I have nothing here," Diegovich remarked, "I will go."

And so his watch begins.