Eternal
Considering that you’re not really going to launch any other major operation until these islands have been tamed, you might as well oversee the process.
Jon warns you that you’ll probably be doing more fighting than diplomacy. He mentions that some of the other groups living on the islands have become very odd and more isolated, some of them to the point where they attack anyone on sight.
In the next few days you see what Jon was talking about when you come in contact with your first group of islanders. They don’t even speak other than war cries and in some cases complete gibberish. Other groups, while not as wild they’re still just as hostile and need to be eliminated. It’s a fairly time consuming process sometimes due to their intimate knowledge of their own islands, but it doesn’t matter in the end, because well where are they going to run?
There is the rare occasion you’re met by hostile ships, but these are much rarer. Jon apparently had the biggest fleet in the League so you easily outnumber and out power any such encounters.
While you’ve got more than enough ships and troops to split up and search the numerous islands, it still takes months. You do start getting friendlier islander encounters however. Jon figures what you’ve been doing to everyone else is beginning to get around and people are finally waking up to the idea that you mean business and aren’t going away. Seems like a likely conclusion.
Jon tells you that your search and destroy missions should probably be coming to an end soon as he’s dug around his office and found some of the older maps that haven’t been used in a long time.
“Not sure if it’s necessary, but I know the Empire likes to be thorough. There’s an island cluster far out to the northwest that you probably haven’t searched yet.” Jon says handing you a dusty old map.
“What, are these like so called lost islands or something?” you ask.
“Heh, not really lost so much as not visited too much anymore. They used to be used more when piracy was more lucrative, but as time went on, they got used a lot less. Also they’ve actually drifted further out to open sea as well so those maps are more of a guide than a precise location. Just another reason why they became less visited or used. Still, who know who might be living out there.”
With this in mind you set off on what will hopefully be the last mission on these islands. You’ve had enough of ships and water for a long time.
The journey to the island cluster takes about a week, but the maps weren’t too inaccurate. Jon was right though they have drifted from what the locations were on the charts. You wonder what caused such a thing to these, but not the other islands. Then again you’re not an expert on geology or the ways of the sea, you’re just here to claim the damn islands and be done with it.
There are no signs of ships, so these islands probably are empty, but you don’t need any possible surprises later. As usual you have some of your fleet split up to have their crews search the other islands.
When you land on the island that you’ve chosen to search you find that the island’s ground is fairly soft and water seems to seep through it every step you take. You wonder if this place is in the beginning stages of sinking completely.
The island shows no signs of any life, though upon a bit more exploration, you do come across something you thought was lost to time long ago.
A ruined structure lies half above the ground, half submerged under water. Its worn and crumbling from age, water and other elements, but it’s the old shadow temple. You’re actually surprised to find it, considering it was leveled when the shadows were eliminated back during the old Empire days.
Not exactly the most pleasant of memories for you considering they were your enemy and your experience with Cyrus, but you get the impression Jennifer would love to dig around this place for the history value.
Just as you’re about to call it quits, you hear a loud explosion coming from the direction of where your ship was. You and the rest of your soldiers waste no time in running back it.
When you arrive you see it on flames and slowly sinking into the sea. You also see some of the crew that stayed aboard dead on the ground nearby, but more disturbing, is that you see some of the same crew cheering at the fact the ship on fire and sinking. You don’t know what exactly the hell is going on here, but you know this is a very bad situation.
The first thing you do is order the soldiers with you to open fire on the traitors. After that’s done you try to keep morale up.
“Don’t worry, we’re not going to be stranded here. We’ve got a whole fleet out there and I’m sure several of our ships saw that explosion.” You say.
Naturally no sooner do you calm everyone’s immediate fears when new ones crop up… all around you.
Several humanoid creatures begin popping up from the water. They have fishlike qualities and weld weapons made out of coral or bone. It’s obvious what their intent is as they advance on your position.
You order your troops to form a defensive circle. You lob a couple of fireballs at the fish people group in an effort to thin out their ranks.
More of them emerge from the water and you realize out severely outnumbered you are. Your soldiers only have so many bullets and eventually they manage to start closing the ranks. You focus on casting an area effect spell in the hopes of eliminating more of them.
You rain fire and ice down on the island and kill multitudes of the fish people, but it’s at a terrible cost. Most of your troops are wiped out as well. Those that aren’t are severely wounded and yet, you STILL haven’t stopped the fishman horde.
“What the fuck, it’s like they knew I was…” you don’t even complete that sentence as you mumble it to yourself.
You suddenly come to the realization that this whole thing, from Barnacle to this island has been one big trap. There’s an island league all right, but the only thing the humans around here are in league with are these aquatic monsters. The worst thing is somehow they got to some of your people and turned them against you.
Probably managed to do it when groups split up and then came back to report that they didn’t encounter any hostiles, only “friendly islanders.” Who knows how many they managed to brainwash or mind control, or well you don’t know exactly how they got to your people, but it hardly matters right now.
You spend the better part of the day personally slaying fish monsters. Eventually the rest retreat, but that doesn’t stop the fact that you’re stranded on here. You wait another couple days for the hope of rescue from one of your other ships, but you get none. Instead you see and hear several explosions in the distance, probably from battle or sabotage no doubt.
You attempt to build a raft, but the wood on this island is scarce and in any case, you don’t have time to finish it as another horde of fishmen come back to attack you again. You manage to fend them off, but they actively destroy what bit of raft you did create.
They continue this cycle every few days and you’re successful in driving them back despite the odds. You manage to survive on fish person meat to survive, but the problem is a lack of fresh water (And as for fishman blood, well you might as well be drinking sea water). You just can’t keep up your strength to survive the ongoing assault and again, there is no rescue in sight.
Eventually after a week of holding out, you eventually succumb to a combination of dehydration and the fishman attacks. Soon after your bloody death, your body is mostly consumed and some of your bones used to make new weapons.
Jon warns you that you’ll probably be doing more fighting than diplomacy. He mentions that some of the other groups living on the islands have become very odd and more isolated, some of them to the point where they attack anyone on sight.
In the next few days you see what Jon was talking about when you come in contact with your first group of islanders. They don’t even speak other than war cries and in some cases complete gibberish. Other groups, while not as wild they’re still just as hostile and need to be eliminated. It’s a fairly time consuming process sometimes due to their intimate knowledge of their own islands, but it doesn’t matter in the end, because well where are they going to run?
There is the rare occasion you’re met by hostile ships, but these are much rarer. Jon apparently had the biggest fleet in the League so you easily outnumber and out power any such encounters.
While you’ve got more than enough ships and troops to split up and search the numerous islands, it still takes months. You do start getting friendlier islander encounters however. Jon figures what you’ve been doing to everyone else is beginning to get around and people are finally waking up to the idea that you mean business and aren’t going away. Seems like a likely conclusion.
Jon tells you that your search and destroy missions should probably be coming to an end soon as he’s dug around his office and found some of the older maps that haven’t been used in a long time.
“Not sure if it’s necessary, but I know the Empire likes to be thorough. There’s an island cluster far out to the northwest that you probably haven’t searched yet.” Jon says handing you a dusty old map.
“What, are these like so called lost islands or something?” you ask.
“Heh, not really lost so much as not visited too much anymore. They used to be used more when piracy was more lucrative, but as time went on, they got used a lot less. Also they’ve actually drifted further out to open sea as well so those maps are more of a guide than a precise location. Just another reason why they became less visited or used. Still, who know who might be living out there.”
With this in mind you set off on what will hopefully be the last mission on these islands. You’ve had enough of ships and water for a long time.
The journey to the island cluster takes about a week, but the maps weren’t too inaccurate. Jon was right though they have drifted from what the locations were on the charts. You wonder what caused such a thing to these, but not the other islands. Then again you’re not an expert on geology or the ways of the sea, you’re just here to claim the damn islands and be done with it.
There are no signs of ships, so these islands probably are empty, but you don’t need any possible surprises later. As usual you have some of your fleet split up to have their crews search the other islands.
When you land on the island that you’ve chosen to search you find that the island’s ground is fairly soft and water seems to seep through it every step you take. You wonder if this place is in the beginning stages of sinking completely.
The island shows no signs of any life, though upon a bit more exploration, you do come across something you thought was lost to time long ago.
A ruined structure lies half above the ground, half submerged under water. Its worn and crumbling from age, water and other elements, but it’s the old shadow temple. You’re actually surprised to find it, considering it was leveled when the shadows were eliminated back during the old Empire days.
Not exactly the most pleasant of memories for you considering they were your enemy and your experience with Cyrus, but you get the impression Jennifer would love to dig around this place for the history value.
Just as you’re about to call it quits, you hear a loud explosion coming from the direction of where your ship was. You and the rest of your soldiers waste no time in running back it.
When you arrive you see it on flames and slowly sinking into the sea. You also see some of the crew that stayed aboard dead on the ground nearby, but more disturbing, is that you see some of the same crew cheering at the fact the ship on fire and sinking. You don’t know what exactly the hell is going on here, but you know this is a very bad situation.
The first thing you do is order the soldiers with you to open fire on the traitors. After that’s done you try to keep morale up.
“Don’t worry, we’re not going to be stranded here. We’ve got a whole fleet out there and I’m sure several of our ships saw that explosion.” You say.
Naturally no sooner do you calm everyone’s immediate fears when new ones crop up… all around you.
Several humanoid creatures begin popping up from the water. They have fishlike qualities and weld weapons made out of coral or bone. It’s obvious what their intent is as they advance on your position.
You order your troops to form a defensive circle. You lob a couple of fireballs at the fish people group in an effort to thin out their ranks.
More of them emerge from the water and you realize out severely outnumbered you are. Your soldiers only have so many bullets and eventually they manage to start closing the ranks. You focus on casting an area effect spell in the hopes of eliminating more of them.
You rain fire and ice down on the island and kill multitudes of the fish people, but it’s at a terrible cost. Most of your troops are wiped out as well. Those that aren’t are severely wounded and yet, you STILL haven’t stopped the fishman horde.
“What the fuck, it’s like they knew I was…” you don’t even complete that sentence as you mumble it to yourself.
You suddenly come to the realization that this whole thing, from Barnacle to this island has been one big trap. There’s an island league all right, but the only thing the humans around here are in league with are these aquatic monsters. The worst thing is somehow they got to some of your people and turned them against you.
Probably managed to do it when groups split up and then came back to report that they didn’t encounter any hostiles, only “friendly islanders.” Who knows how many they managed to brainwash or mind control, or well you don’t know exactly how they got to your people, but it hardly matters right now.
You spend the better part of the day personally slaying fish monsters. Eventually the rest retreat, but that doesn’t stop the fact that you’re stranded on here. You wait another couple days for the hope of rescue from one of your other ships, but you get none. Instead you see and hear several explosions in the distance, probably from battle or sabotage no doubt.
You attempt to build a raft, but the wood on this island is scarce and in any case, you don’t have time to finish it as another horde of fishmen come back to attack you again. You manage to fend them off, but they actively destroy what bit of raft you did create.
They continue this cycle every few days and you’re successful in driving them back despite the odds. You manage to survive on fish person meat to survive, but the problem is a lack of fresh water (And as for fishman blood, well you might as well be drinking sea water). You just can’t keep up your strength to survive the ongoing assault and again, there is no rescue in sight.
Eventually after a week of holding out, you eventually succumb to a combination of dehydration and the fishman attacks. Soon after your bloody death, your body is mostly consumed and some of your bones used to make new weapons.
