Mid-next morning, they saw The Black Isle on the horizon. It was small and as they approached it started getting bigger, but not by much, the Island was only a couple of miles in area.
On the deck, Effie, laid out her full armour. It was a lot bigger than regular armour as it had to contain the mountain of an elf that was Effie but her shoulder pauldrons looked as though they were stolen from a Giant-kin. She completed a set of stretches before the beginning the long process of suiting up.
Yuko did a couple squats before clawing at the wooden barrier to ensure her claws were not just sharp, but fight ready sharp. The Captain grabbed an extra belt of slugs and tossed them over her shoulder.
They dropped anchor about two miles out from the cove. Liz loaded a barrel of gunpowder onto the rowboat, followed by Effie jumping in on the deck, with her overall weight, there was no way she'd be jump in once it was on the water. From the helm, Mat slowly levitated the row boat to the side of The Gimel.
Hamish, Nabila and Yuko climbed down and began rowing towards the island. Yuko took over the rowing duties as they approached the narrow entrance to the Cove. Hamish focused and raised his hands, a sphere of water enveloped the boat, to cloak their presence.
A faint explosion of cannon fire sounded behind them. The Gimel's shot fell way short of the island, but the ruckus had caused a stir.
The cliffs either side were dark gritstone, going fifty feet into the air. The group in the row boat saw a dozen or so troops of all races, dressed in white on either side of the rocks look out towards the Gimel in the distance.
They did not return fire, there was no point, the ship was too far out of range.
Nabila loaded up a ceramic ball of gun power into a sling shot. She stood up, lit the fuse and began spinning it overhead. Hamish opened a gap in their cloak of water and the Captain let the ceramic fly.
By the time it had landed, knocking most of the troops off the cliff, she was winding up another. Hamish rearranged the gap in the cloak and she let off a matching explosion on the other cliff. They sat down and continued toward the dock.
The inside of the cove contained the town they were aiming for. It's dark sandy beech dominated the entire coastline. Hamish was surprised at how dilapidated the small town looked, the majority of building lay in ruins.
Only about three of the sixty structures remained in tact and they bared the scars of cannon blasts and scorch marks of fire damage. A few ships were docked in what looked like the last remaining pier, but the one furthest one from the land stood out.
Around the same size as The Gimel, it was by far, the most fortified boat. Hamish could spot around a dozen troops by it on the jetty, scrambling to set sail, Hamish assumed to meet The Gimel.
'We need to sink that one on the end.' Hamish told the others.
'If that gets to The Gimel, we're done for.' Nablia thought aloud whist loading three ceramic balls into her slingshot.
Hamish dropped the cloak and let off a volley of scorching rays towards the sail and deck of the ship, Nablia let of the ceramic balls but shot two of them down with her Blunderbuss, the gunpowder showered the deck of the boat, accelerating the spread of the fire faster than anyone on board could handle.
Hamish shot off an acidic bubble towards the hull of the ship and by the time they had landed on the beech next to the pier, the ship was crippled with half it's deck submerged.
Effie landed on the sand with a dull thud, she grabbed the barrel of gun power and ran the short distance under the pier. She joined the others gathered on the promenade in time to see the barrel explode. The entrance to the pier collapsed separating the troops from the remaining boats.
'That was beautiful.' Nabila swooned at the black smokey aftermath. Yuko nudged her back to reality.
'Where do'ee head fro' here?' She asked to Hamish.
'Just along here, right and a straight road.' He explained gesturing with his arms.
They made their way along the promenade, and stopped at the corner they needed to take. Yuko checked around the corner. 'E got aboot eight lads in white.'
'Lot of cover on the right. Can you go around and attack from the side on my mark?' Nabila asked Yuko, the Catfolk girl nodded and disappeared over the wall.
The Captain held up a ceramic ball. 'This is the mark by the way.' She smiled at the siblings.
She tossed the ball to the opposite side of the road, as soon as it had left her hand, Effie began running at the gathered troops. They came to seen that the huge explosion was, they were not expecting a seven foot mountain of an elf wielding a great sword as wide as a mast to come charging at them.
The ball let off a blast and Yuko pounced towards one of the gathered troops at the back of the group. She swiped the back of his knees, cutting the tendons to ribbons and by the time he doubled over backwards in agony, she had moved on to the next troop.
Effie's armored shoulder barged into the face of a human troops with a muffled crunch they went flying backwards violently. She swung at the other troops in the group, to create some distance and engaged in combat with the poor dwarf troop who stepped forward first.
Hamish rolled from cover, arms out, he shot off magic missiles picking off troops at the far edge of the group, while Nabila did the same on the other side with her Blunderbuss.
It only took a moment to clear the area, before they set off up the road through the town. The brick road soon became a dirt trail heading up a large hill, an expanse of scorched trees lay either side of them. Wildfire damage, Hamish thought based on the heat of the island and wavy view in the distance.
They moved in a two by two formation with Effie and Yuko on point, with Captain Nabila and Hamish at the rear.
'I can hear people ahead.' The party stopped, Effie took a knee, closed her eyes and concentrated. 'Two people, just over this next hill on the left.'
'I'll ge'it.' Yuko piped up. 'Quiet yeah?' She looked to Nabila who nodded. Yuko set off ahead.
Effie was listening intently for a minute before her face dropped. 'I just heard her yell in pain.'
'Shit, let's go.' Nabila cursed as they set off in pain.
They came upon a small guard tower, only about ten feet high. On the ground a Gnome troop lay dead, thrown from the tower from the positioning. At the foot of the tower, lay a human troop along with Yuko, a dagger lodged firmly in her left shoulder. She was sat upright, not making noise but from her face, she was clearly in a lot of pain.
'Speedy fuck' go' me.' She nodded to the human troop through gritted teeth. Nabila dropped to her knees and inspected the damage. 'Jus' bandage th' cunt up.'
'I am.' Nabila took out a bandage from the belt pocket and dressed the wound. 'That'll do until Mat can look at this.'
'Ah grea' let's ge' goin' Yuko went to stand up, but Nabila pushed her back to where she was sat.
'Not a chance.' Nabila said sternly.
'Ay fu-' Yuko began, before Nabila cut her off.
'You're staying here love. If not voluntarily, I'll tie you to that ladder.' Nablia told her sternly.
Yuko started to argue but gave up before any words could form.
'We'll pick you up on the way back love.' Nabila told her, she grabbed a small bottle from her knapsack and handed it down to Yuko. She opened the bottle and gave it a sniff, her eyes lit up. 'Cheers cap'n.' She toasted as she took a swig.
'She'll be alright?' Effie asked, uneasy leaving her.
'It's just hit muscle.' Hamish explained as they began back onto the trail. 'If it had hit an artery, would have been way more blood.'
Nabila nodded, 'Exactly, she'll be good for a couple of hours.'
Over the next hill they could see the white stone Château, however they had a large outer fence to get past first being guarded by four troops in white. Two on the ground and two in lookout positions.
Hamish hit one of the lookouts with a lighting bolt, he fell hard. The other lookout made their way to check on the fallen, he didn't get there due to Nabila's Blunderbuss. Effie made quick work of the ill prepared guards.
'Enter at you're own terror' Hamish read the crudely painted sign on the outer gate a loud. Captain Nabila shrugged, 'Terror? Oh no, we should go home.'
Effie shook her head, 'It's always terror or dread or be afraid.'
'Never had a do not enter, you'll ruin our mega good vibes?' Nabila asked.
'I'm sure I will eventually.' Effie replied.
'Shall I use an explosive the get this open?' Captain Nabila asked, ceramic ball already in hand.
'Save it, I have this.' Hamish shined his Ring and punched the gates, a spectral Ram emerged and rattled the gate, but it was not breached. 'Huh.' He looked at the ring, disappointed.
Effie, placed her hand on the gate contemplating. 'Hamish, hold my sword.' She tossed it toward him, he tried to catch it with one hand but it was far too heavy, and dragged him to the ground.
Effie took a step back, turned sideways and crouched low. She launched forward and popped up, shoulder first into the gate. They flung open. She grabbed her sword with one hand and pulled Hamish up by the scruff of the neck with the other. 'Let's get moving.'
Captain Nabila smiled at a slightly embarrassed Hamish. 'Aw, that was so cute.'