Battle of Blacksail Harbor

Military action

The Battle of Blacksail Harbor was fought in late 1080 SKR. As the name implies, it was fought in and around the undersea haven of Blacksail Harbor.   On one side were the Fire Wasps and their allies. Honnak Wavecutter, Sea Baron of Shellcliff and his men sailed with them, along with the Hastane siblings Thongal and Kerda Brekwold. Honna's old friend, the Dragon Lazaranthios the Bronze joined with them and brought his own allies, Duke Marinus of the Leaward Shoals and his Merfolk. The other side was commanded by the Olhydra cultist and pirate Gar Shatterkeel and his Genasi second in command, Shoalar Quandrill. They rallied a force of Orcs and Sahuagin eager to destroy the Fire Wasps after the War of the Three Heads. They were also joined by numerous Elementals of Water and the Undead crew of Captain Hellstrom.     Although there were causalities on both sides, both Shatterkeel and Hellstrom were defeated.

The Battle of Blacksail Harbor was fought in late 1080 SKR. As the name implies, it was fought in and around the undersea haven of Blacksail Harbor.   On one side were the Fire Wasps, and their allies. Honnak Wavecutter, Sea Baron of Shellcliff and his men sailed with them, along with the Hastane siblings Thongal and Kerda Brekwold. Honnak's old friend, the Dragon Lazaranthios the Bronze joined with them and brought his own allies, Duke Marinus of the Leaward Shoals and his Merfolk.   The other side was commanded by the Olhydra cultist and pirate Gar Shatterkeel and his Genasi second in command, Shoalar Quandrill. They rallied a force of Orcs and Sahuagin eager to destroy the Fire Wasps after the War of the Three Heads. They were also joined by numerous Elementals of Water and the Undead crew of Captain Hellstrom.   The Fire Wasps approached the Mere of Dead Men and joined forces with Lazaranthios and Duke Marinus. Two huge whales drew the ship underwater, heading down to Blacksail Harbor. A force of sahuagin intercepted them, and the battle began. When enough sahuagin were slain to create an opening, the Fire Wasps and Lazaranthios continued, while Duke Marinus held their rear guard.   The surface forces soon emerged into the harbor and immediately joined battle with Hellstrom and the crew of the Dagon’s Wrath. A favor that Brother Eustace asked of Shandalene resulted in a number of Archons joining their side, including the Hound Archon Kalok, who fought beside them directly. Hellstrom countered by calling a Vrock from the Abyss. While Eustace used the power of Shandalene to destroy most of the Undead crew, Kidalis Havengard used his ties to the Feywild to force the Vrock away.   Lazaranthios blasted the orcish ship with his lightning breath and engaged in battle with the largest elementals Shatterkeel had called to battle. Honnak and his men engaged Shatterkeel’s forces, while some of the Merfolk attacked anything that fell into the water, including orcs fleeing their burning ship. Thongal was wounded, some of the Archons were defeated, and Honnak’s men held their own, taking down as many if not more as they lost.   Kidalis, Ghost, and Tilly Thistleshanks engaged Hellstrom in melee while Tristan Holdfast and the Shaper offered ranged, magical support and Eustace and Kalok took care of the rest of the crew. Although Ghost felt Hellstrom’s terrible life draining touch, they were victorious over the fiend-touched captain. At the moment of his defeat, those closest saw Dagon drag his servant bodily into the Abyss, a sight they will not soon forget.   Shatterkeel and his men, including Shoalar Quandrill now entered the fray. Shatterkeel summoned water elementals of various sorts to hold them off while he and his right hand priest used magic to blast and demoralize the adventurers. The Shaper used his mind powers to control the elementals, setting them against each other, while Tilly and Ghost slowly made their way through their ranks. Eustace kept everyone healed, and Tristan acted as ranged support, while Kidalis slowly made his way across the harbor to confront Shatterkeel directly.   Eustace banished Qandrill for a time, but a Tidal Wave spell by Shatterkeel broke his concentration. Tristan, however, used a Banishment spell of his own to remove the priest again. Shatterkeel mercilessly used lightning to batter them over and over, until the Shaper managed to briefly control his mind. He attempted to make Shatterkeel drop Drown into the waters of the harbor, but soon found he could not remove Olhydra’s blessing from her chosen one, as Gar teleported to the Shaper and struck him almost down with a series of blows.   Meanwhile, Lazaranthios was wounded by a ballista, and Thongal took grievous wounds saving his sister from Shatterkeel’s men before Honnak moved to help protect them both. Still, they gave better than they got for the most part.   Finally, his men mostly dead, his priest banished to the Elemental Chaos, and having been struck by Kidalis’ holy smites, Gar finally succumbed to a Guiding Bolt by Eustace. He and his cursed sword were reclaimed by Olhydra, turning to filthy seawater and washing off the deck into the harbor.   Many of Honnak’s men were dead, and, sadly, Thongal was mortally wounded. He thanked the Fire Wasps for helping him to see things in a new light before he passed. Kerda sadly said farewell, giving him a proper Hastane funeral in a boat, set alight by Tristan’s magic. Tilly honored them both with the Lament of Lemora, which Kidalis and Kerda both joined him in.   Following the battle, the Fire Wasps claimed the Olhydra’s Fury to give to Darberik Fivebraids, renaming it Thongal’s Honor, and Honnak claimed the pirate treasures to pay the families of the men he’d lost.