Thunder crackled down angrily from the mottled dark grey clouds and heavy rain pelted down on the deck of the Blue Locust 2 in a downpour. The gunmetal sky poured laden water droplets as if it were trying to drown everything below it. Ponderous winds swept across the slick deck, causing tethered crates to shift nervously under their unbridled force.
Unfortunately, the Blue Locust 2 ran into a storm right after undocking. The tempest had relentlessly bullied the airship for the past few hours. Unfortunately, the Blue Locust 2, not having internal instruments, required the crew to be out on the deck to fly, so the party was still on deck. To make matters worse, parts of the sails that were used for steering the airship had been damaged by the heavy rain.
Hadarai had walked out on the sails with a repair kit. Even the heavyset dwarf in his armour had almost been blown away in the storm and off the ship. However, he was luckily saved by Perona, who used magic to pull him back on board in time.
That meant, however, that only a portion of the sail was fixed. Celran deemed further repair attempts unsafe and ordered the rest of the crew under the deck except for the party, Cozith, and a few deckhands.
Aralynn had never been more thankful for her osprey-born coat of oil—rain slid off her like dewdrops rolling from a leaf. She wore the clothes Perona had bought, as her imperial army issued combat uniform had been torn to shreds by the dwarf's attack earlier that morning. Even so, the tattered cloak still clung to her shoulders, its frayed hood pulled low over her head. She had nothing better to keep her warm. Though her plumage and skin stayed dry, the damp fabric beneath dragged at her limbs, heavy with rainwater, sending a shiver through her body.
In the downpour, even Aralynn's keen sight faltered. The storm turned the world into a blur—visibility was almost zero.
That didn't mean, however, that she couldn't spot the sparks of lightning that appeared through the tempest. At first, they seemed like flashes of lightning in the distance. They drew closer, and a flash of lightning backlit the creatures. Only then could Aralynn could discern their true form.
Writhing through the air were eels—grey like the clouds that they had emerged from, a dozen pairs of wings were placed upon their impossibly long, sinuous bodies, each coil and muscle rippling with the power of lightning. Each looked easily the size of a small escape dingy, and they were a flock of easily half a dozen.
Luckily, she wasn't the only one who'd noticed them: Celran belted orders over the howl of the storm, and the dockhands as well as Cozith readied ballistae had recently been brought up from belowdecks after the dwarf incident. Perona joined them as they trained the siege weapons on the rapidly approaching forms.
The eels grew closer and closer. Eventually, their massive shapes began to circle the airship. One reared its head.
Out of the corner of her eye, Aralynn could notice that Cozith and Celran in particular were particularly perturbed by the appearance of the eels.
Before she got a chance to ask why, Celran's guttural voice boomed over the sounds of the storm, magnified by magic: "Avoid harming the eels unless they attack us. These are Tempest Wyrms, one of the creations of Zephyr. They've rarely been seen, and when they have been..." Celran trailed off. "Either way, there must be a reason why they have come to us. Either they are here as a warning, or we have done something gravely wrong. While I hope that isn't the case… prepare to fight."
Aralynn took this as the cue for her to shoulder objection. She trained the rifle on the eel that had reared its head.
"I can try speaking to them," Grango offered. "I've dealt with all kinds of creatures over the years—maybe they'll understand me. At the very least, I might be able to show we mean no harm… maybe figure out what they're after."
"Try it," Celran said, his voice still magnified. "Anything's better than nothing."
Grango did his best to shout over the storm, a series of croaks, clicks, and low calls followed by gestures of his webbed hands and arms.
There was no response except for the eels coiling midair, their bodies gathering the lightning of the storm as they drew even closer.
"Shit." Grango cursed.
"What'd they say?" Celran asked, even though he probably knew the answer.
"They didn't respond, but I think we can assume they won't listen. There's no reasoning with them." Grango sighed. "I don't know about you, but they look pretty dead set on screwing us over, Celran."
"I can figure that much," Celran said, gritting his teeth. "Engage!"
Perona's balistae was the first to go off, the heavy spear discharging from the limbs of the weapon with a heavy whump. While the spear went wide, Cozith and the other deckhands found more success as one of the Tempest Wyrms screeched, its sides speared through with two giant spears.
Aralynn aimed for the head of the warm she'd been tracking, then pulled the trigger. The bullet screamed through the air just as the eel unleashed a electric charge, lightning flowing out of the creature like frost across a spindly leaf.
The lightning struck Aralynn's bullet mid-flight, arcing along the copper with a crackling halo. However, the round didn't melt or slow; if anything, it hit harder, a flash of light trailing in its wake as it punched through the eel's hide with a sharp, sizzling crack.
The eel made a wet screeching noise as it retreated—however, it was far from gone. Shaking its head in agony, Aralynn could see that it darted high above the ship, circling, looking for an opportunity to attack.
She'd hoped to end the Tempest Wyrm with a single shot to the head, but it didn't look like that would be possible.
Aralynn cycled the bolt and made sure to kick the casing far away and off to the side of the airship. While lightning probably wouldn't be attracted to the tiny metal cylinder, she wasn't going to take any chances.
As Aralynn searched for her next target, she noticed Hadarai wrestling the imperial inspector, who had been loitering, back below the deck. The imperial elf seemed to put up a bit of a fight before Hadarai snarkily tapped his choker, reminding him that his head could blow up at any moment. Eventually, the troublemaker was brought down below the deck.
Aralynn lined up her next shot, putting another eel precisely in her sights as more ballistaes went off, their deadly payloads unfortunately not finding much success. Grango and Amon had turned to their longbows, slinging steel-tipped arrows at the eels, which behaved much like Aralynn's bullets as the Tempest Wyrms unleashed their electric shocks.
Eventually, though, the eels learned to not unleash their electric shocks, avoiding the ranged attacks. They darted forwards with the speed of lightning on their side, easily swimming through the air on ionized currents.
Aralynn sighed as the Tempest Wyrms snaked through their barrage and hovered low above the deck of the Blue Locust 2.
They were too close for ranged weapons—now, the party had to resort to melee combat, and with their eels' lightning discharges, Aralynn wasn't looking too forward to it.