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?"

Bruno glanced around the helm of his airship again, "Hmm...the gadgets on this ship haven't been fully tested yet, Roberts. Take a look for yourself, maybe you can figure out some of these ordinates?"

"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!"

"Have you forgotten, Irzen? Venger has the home field advantage here." Alyson said without taking her eyes off of the enemy.

"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?"

"I'll give it another try or two." Quake seemed optimistic about a counterstrike.

Roberts watched the skies towards the border with anticipation, knowing the message he sent would have been received by now. The dots of other airships appeared in the distance. Roberts quickly assessed the distance and closing rate. "BRUNO! Come port 2 points then give her all she's got!"

"Home field advantage?" The Swordsman turned towards The Elementalist, "What's that supposed to mean?"

"That he is stronger here than he is anywhere else?" Neven offered with a shrug.

"He's gaining on us!" Serna declared to no one in particular as she witnessed the Venger/Night Mare veer towards them in hot pursuit.

The Ranger readied another Energy Arrow while The Stone Elemental went to retrieve another casket.