"TAKE EVASIVE ACTION!" Bruno barked orders to his crew scrambling about the airship command deck. Craining out the left window, "Roberts! You and your men get on those deck guns, asap!"

Roberts had his men relieve Bruno's crew on the deck guns so they could supplement other areas of the ship's function. IT only took two shots for them to employ their battle mage to enchant the shells to explode in proximity to the flying beast. If they couldn't get a direct hit, they would shred him with shrapnel. Anything to buy some time.

Venger/Nightmare swerved in, around and by other buildings as it gave chase to the airship. While the buildings took most of the brunt of the shrapnel fire the crew intended for the Dark Lord, Venger/Nightmare drew closer and closer for a critical strike that would take down the airship and all hands on board.

"If anybody has any good ideas to take that thing down," Neven offered nervously, "Now might be a good time to share them."

Irzen turned towards Bruno, then Quake and then Willow asking each of them a series of rapid fire questions, "Bruno, do you have any kegs or caskets full of black powder? Quake, how good is your throwing arm? And Willow, how good are you at using Kana's Energy Bow?"

"Down the deck to the left" The half orc pointed through the window of the bridge.

"In spite of its magic, it is a bow like any other," The Ranger replied, "Why do you ask?"

"I'm planning to bake a cake," The Swordsman smiled devilishly, "But I have to see if I have all of the ingredients I need before I can put the cake in the oven. Quake, Bruno, what do you say?"

Quake's quesiness disappeared at the mention of baking. "OOOOoo! I love baking! Reminds me of how I got Mount Chasme to wake up!"

The Elementalist not taking her eyes off of the uber enemy boss still pursuing the gang, "Not now, Quake! Focus on the RECIPE! And two, ask Mermidon to aid you in spirit, after all he is our creation!"

Physically Mermidon could not nor would not be able to assist the group in the Black City. On the Spiritual plane, well that was another story. Quake concentrated with all her might, and knowledge from her creation since the Lady came to the Realm all the way up the present. Despite all the chaos happening around them and the perpetual darkness everywhere, Quake's appearance took on a heavenly appearance.

"WOW! COOL!" Quake admired the shiny, radiant look of Mermidon's Armor which would reflect all magical damage back on the one who cast it, including breath attacks, and provided a thirty foot radius of Aura of Protection vs. Evil, Chaos, and Corruption. Since the Quake was not on the ground of her primary element of Earth, she gained the bonuses of Mermidon's primary element of Air, effectively eliminating Quake's quessiness.

Roberts and his men kept up the barrage against Venger. As the range closed, their shots became much more accurate, scoring some direct hits which caused Venger to reel back several times. It may or may not have caused any real damage, but it was enough to stall Venger's approach enough to let the others concoct their plan. He had a pretty good idea what they were up to and would have suggested the same had they not piped up.

The Dark Lord's aerial approach upon the airship was stalled by Roberts and his men. But Venger continued to press onward fully enraged by his fleeing enemies.

"Enraged endgame Op boss...," Alyson muttered quietly, "that usually ends up wiping the raid party but hey we like to push the bar as far as it can go and some of us like to flirt with Death on a regular basis. Although," The elementalist noticed that all the barrage attacks were slowly taking a toll on the Force of Evil."

"Quake, go downstairs and bring up as many caskets of black powder that you can find," Irzen ordered, "Then, on my mark, I want you to hurl them into Venger's mouth right before he opens up with that breath weapon of his."

"Aye, aye, captain. Swordsman, drow guy!" Quake ran past the group to the stock room where the black powder was stored and carefully made her way back to the deck.

"Willow," The Swordsman turned towards The Ranger, "I want you to take Kana's bow and blast those caskets to bits just as they enter Venger's mouth. With any luck, we could take him out altogether or at the very least knock him out of the sky. Any questions? If not, then let's move like we've got a purpose, people!"

"That's a brilliant idea, Lord Irzen," Serna piped up with a smile.

"Only if it works, Serna, only if it works," The Swordsman acknowledged grimly as Willow took Kana's Energy Bow and prepared himself to do his appointed duty.

War Scribe, for her part, was sitting nestled in a corner of the ship quietly observing and writing down all that was transpiring.

The elementalist glanced briefly in the chronicler's direction, "Hey, Scribe, you write this adventure in the Epic section of your tome. You know for prosperity sake and all."

"That's why I'm here, Alyson, that's why I'm here," The Drowling replied dismissively without looking up from her work.

Roberts hoped that their little plan worked. For his comfort, he would have preferred something with more of a punch, but, it would have to do. He looked at his battle mage. "Plan 49. Execute" With that, the mage's eyes glazed over and he went into a trance, seemingly speaking to himself.

**Somewhere in the skies just outside of Venger's borders, another mage slipped into a similar trance aboard Her Grace's Airship Andromeda. "Plan 49. This location. Triangulate. Roberts." The skipper of the airship quickly signalled the rest of his squadron and engaged his engines at maximum speed to the other mage**

"Quake, throw that casket directly into Venger's mouth on my mark," Irzen commanded before he turned to The Ranger, "Willow, are you ready?"

The Ranger nodded as he nocked an Energy Arrow in Kana's bow.

"Okay, Quake, throw it NOW!"

Right on que, the elemental threw the casket of black powder directly at the mouth of the monster.

All the while, Venger began to draw closer and closer to the airship.

From the helm Bruno couldn't help but watch the drow swordsman half baked plan in action, "If this works, I'll buy the drow a drink."

"If it works, captain." His firstmate steadied the helm as the rest of the crew prepared for a counter attack to defend the ship and its guests.

"That's a big IF, Bruno,"Roberts chimed in. "With his rate of fire, and rate of approach, it might not be that easy. Do you have any speed boosts that we can use to open up that range?"

"Willow! FIRE!" The Ranger cut loose with an Energy arrow that struck and exploded the casket inches away from the Venger/Night Mare monster's maw. The resulting explosion did two things: One, it temporarily stunned the Venger/Night Mare causing it to veer into and subsequently demolish the roof of a nearby tower. Two, it caused a concussive blast that jolted the airship forward forcing Bruno and his men to fight for control so they did not share the same fate as the Venger/Night Mare.

The Venger/Night Mare may have been stunned but it was still airborne as it tried to recover its pursuit.

"Curse it all!" The Swordsman snapped, "We didn't take him down!"

"He'll be ready for us the next time around," The Ranger reluctantly admitted.

Irzen nodded in agreement before he turned to Quake, "Ready for another try?"