The Strike of Saarii - Final Chapter

Coming out of Enligt Castle, the group discussed what the odds were that they would survive through the storms close to Saarii one more time. Deciding that adventure and living through peril was their life style, they sought the general to acquire resources for the journey to Saarii. Before they left, the general gave them one last piece of advice, "go back to Kalastaia, leave on a small boat from there. The enemy has his eyes on Enligt, Kalastaia holds no threat to Saarii, you should get fairly close to Saarii before he sees you, if he does at all."

Having received all the resources needed for their journey, they left for Kalastaia, luckily, not being disturbed on their way. Arriving there, they did not dally, for they knew that the residents here could remember who these warriors were, although time had gone by. So they talked to a young fisherman and bought his boat from him, offering him an unreasonably high amount of money for it. He did not hesitate to give them the only boat he had.

So they left for Saarii once again, this time, moving to the east instead of Southwards towards the island. Going a long way to the east, and then heading towards the island on its East side. On their way there, they noticed that there was no soldiers standing on the bastions guarding the island; their focus was all put to use at the Western part of the island. So the Druid was right. They eventually managed to find a small beach they could land on; they managed to arrive at Saarii safely, avoiding all of the bad weather they had faced before.

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Once on the island, the group scouted the area to check if there were any hostile forces, none could be found. Having landed on the beach late in the evening, they camped in the shadow of some large rock formations, to avoid being seen by a random guard who decided to actually look their way, instead of the way their leaders ordered. Waking up in the morning, they had something to eat and prepared to look for the cave they were to find.

This did not take too long, apparently, the sorcerer they were to kill liked to live close to the waters. Creeping towards the entrance, they looked inside to see if they could locate their target without him knowing they were there. Nobody could be seen inside, only the dim light coming from a couple torches hanging on the walls. Walking inside, the group started exploring the inside of the cave, finding nothing of use on their way, only torches and a few lanterns. After what seemed like an hour, they started noticing that the wall was no longer rough stone eroded by the sea, but finely cut to form a corridor. At a certain point, they even found a couple of rooms, in which they found animated corpses brandishing swords. They had to be killed; once more, not lasting long enough to strike once. the group moved on, deeper and deeper into the tunnels beneath Saarii, until they arrived at an opening leading to a huge hall. Inside, the dark figure they saw in the Druid's orb.

"If the dwarf did not drag his feet so much, I would not have heard you coming." The voice boomed throughout the hall, the dark figure not moving yet. "This does not mean I have not seen you coming, a small boat to be unseen; a wise move." At this the figure turned to face them, the cloak dropping to the ground; their enemy was nothing they had expected. An elf, taller than any of them, with heavy armour; not the type usually used by mages and sorcerers. Giving them a few seconds to know what they were facing, he said "Let's play." He stretched out his arms and in a second, all the lights in the hall were extinguished, a strong gust of wind blowing dust out towards the warriors at the entrance, covering their eyes to avoid visibility problems later on. Opening them again, the only thing they saw were two small glows of red light. Amal immediately cast a spell to illuminate the hall; he was right, their enemy's eyes were now bright red, his stance, that of a warrior ready to strike.

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They all drew their weapons, but before any one of them could do anything, bolts of red lightning were shot at them, they had to make a lot of effort to avoid them, this guy was leagues above the one they met up in the mountain. Any time Dan or Duryraen got close enough for the sorcerer to think they had any chance of hitting him, he turned his focus onto them and shot blasts of wind at them to throw them back against the wall, making them easier targets for his precise attacks while dazed from the blast, but the other was also getting closer, while he also had to take care of Dean's arrows and Uuragan's icicles.

When one of Dean's arrows hit the sorcerer in the shoulder, he decided to take it up a notch. He stamped his foot, blasting Dan and Duryraen away from him while he cast a wall of ice to block off Dean's arrows, and a wall of fire in front of it to block off Uuragan's ice. He then conjured two magical swords which he used to fight off Dan and Duryraen. This surprised the two, for they did not imaging a sorcerer to be this skilled with arms.

Amal immediately knew that magic would not pierce through the fire, the same death magic that gave energy to the corpses they dealt with before was fuelling these flames. He focused all his energy to dispel the magic holding them at bay; while Uuragan and Dean waited, furious that they were cut off so easily. Dan and Duryraen on the other side of the walls were having a hard time keeping up with what seemed like a veteran swordsman. After hundreds of strikes from each one, all three of them had visible cuts, blood oozing freely down their armour. At this point, life started flowing back intro the cave, Amal managed to stop the fire and then Uuragan melted the ice. Arrows shot through, one after the other, but the sorcerer was quick to avoid them. This time, it was Uuragan who attacked, having had time to position himself while Dean distrated their enemy, Uuragan now cast a wave of frost at the sorcerer, slowing his movement and decreasing his visibility. This time, arrows did hit their mark, the second one hitting him in the back; as soon as he turned to face Dean, another pierced his stomach.

Falling to his knees, the sorcerer dropped his swords, which faded away quickly, Duryraen who had recovered a little moved in quickly and stabbed him in the back, lodging his dagger deep into his foe, the blade protruding from the sorcerer's chest. Using his second dagger, he slit his throat, letting him drop to the ground. At the back of the cave, Amal was working hard to heal Dan's wounds, as he was in a much worse shape than Duryraen.

The terrible storms outside suddenly subsided, beautiful weather followed, the opportunity the army of Enligt was waiting for. Aboard longships was the entire army, already on the way towards the island of Saarii.

Uuragan Oakwale, Dean Dalgaard, Dan Scott, Duryraen dar'Vuzmur and Amal Cal.These are the men who beat helped make Saarii the strategic military base of the Enligt empire. These are the men mentioned in song and legend. These are the men who vanquished the power of Saarii. These are the men from the Strike of Saarii.