I watch through Teemo’s eyes as he talks with Yendo. I’d be holding my breath if I could, and releasing it in a sigh of relief when he accepts helping us. After just a little more explanation, my Voice makes a messy shortcut out of there, and the two book it.

Those are the shoddiest shortcuts I’ve ever seen him make, but they’re definitely good for getting Hullbreak’s attention. Teemo keeps as aware of his surroundings as he can as the two flee. It looks like Yendo is just focussed on my Voice’s fuzzy butt, as he doesn’t seem to flinch at the various denizens that try to stop them. Or he trusts Hullbreak. Could be a bit of both, really.

Once they get out of Hullbreak, Teemo makes the shortcuts a bit better, though he still collapses them behind them as they go. I’m pretty sure he’s doing that more for a smoother run than anything else. It’s not like Hullbreak can’t easily guess where they’re going.

Once safely inside the beachhead, Teemo lets Yendo catch his breath, then introduces him to my scions. While he does that, I poke Leo to make sure he knows it’s go time. Looks like he expects not much more than five minutes for Hullbreak to get his act together and assault the beachhead.

That gives my attacking scions time to get to their positions. Rocky stands at one of the openings in the walls and strikes his most imposing pose… which mostly involves just standing there and letting the tide idly move his robe.

Slash stays back more in the core of the beachhead. He’s supposed to be more support than full offense in this, if all goes well. Well, if all goes well, he won’t have to be either, but you know.

Jello is sticking near Yendo, glad the merman is still moving slowly, uncertain of his surroundings. He soon wanders to one of the smaller openings to look out into the sea, waiting for the response from his dungeon.

It ends up taking Hullbreak closer to ten minutes to show up, though what he presents is pretty intimidating, not gonna lie. Out of the murky depths comes a veritable wall of sharks, looking much more organized than I would have expected. Looking through the eyes of my scions, I can even see more shapes further back. Whoof… this is going to be quite a thing if it gets ugly.

At the head of the shark army is what can only be the First Mate, a massive great white that only reinforces the fact that I would not have been able to get a big enough boat. She’s not scaled up like Tiny is, but I’m still pretty sure normal great whites aren’t quite that great in size.

She stops advancing and starts swimming back and forth a decent distance away; far enough back she should be able to avoid any ranged stuff I might try to pull, but still close enough for my scions to hear as she starts talking.

“I am the First Mate, Voice of Captain Hullbreak! Return Yendo, Neverrest! You won’t like what happens if you don’t!”

Alright, Teemo. Time to drop the shoe and hope it doesn’t mean we have to throw down the gloves, too.

Teemo nods and climbs onto Slash. “Think you can amplify me?” he asks, and my elemental nods. My Voice clears his throat and starts speaking, and Slash’s hat flashes with electricity to bring his words across the distance to the First Mate.

“I am Teemo, Voice of Thedeim. We freed Yendo because you were keeping him prisoner. You are keeping all of them prisoner, Hullbreak.”

The shark thrashes as she responds. “The Captain is protecting them! No matter which side of the foam they’re from, outsiders are dangerous! With the Captain, they are safe!”

“They’re stifled! And you were starving! If it wasn’t for the Boss, how would you and the dwellers be faring right now?”

The First Mate scoffs. “You’re saying those invaders were charity? At least make your lies believable, Neverrest! You want to subsume the Captain and kill the merfolk! You just miscalculated what it would take to finish off the Captain!”

“I already told you: I’m the Voice of Thedeim, not Neverrest! The Boss subsumed Neverrest months ago!”

“Enough with your lies! Give back Yendo!”

The merman’s voice carries over the waves in response. “I refuse to go back, First Mate! The Captain is sick with grief, not in his right mind! You know it!”

The shark darts forward a few yards before stopping herself, not wanting to get too close to the beachhead on her own. “Yendo?! Is that really you? Are you alright? Did they hurt you?!”

The merman looks back to the various skeletons around him as he slowly starts to make his way out from the barricade, and none of them try to stop him, though Jello quietly follows. “I’m fine! They even told me I could leave if I wanted, but suggested I come here. I want to help the Captain, First Mate! And I believe this Thedeim does, too!”

The First Mate takes more than a minute to respond, and she slumps a bit in her swimming before she does. “It doesn’t matter now, Yendo. The Captain doesn’t believe that dungeon can be trusted, no matter what its name is. You either come back with me, or it and the Captain will both slowly starve.”

Yendo looks confused, as do my scions. I’m pretty confused, too, and Teemo soon Voices that confusion.

“What? How do you intend to starve the Boss? I’m sure you can feel how strong even just Rocky is, and he’s not the only scion here right now.”

The shark doesn’t respond immediately, but Poe suddenly wants my attention. The expeditions are reporting something coming from the ocean. A lot of somethings.

“The Captain has a new scion: The Quartermaster. That great albatros and the gulls will wipe out the town. No delvers, no mana. No mana… we both starve.”

“How’d you get the mana for something like that?! All those sharks out there should have taken up everything the Boss gave you!”

The First Mate shakes her head and gives a whistle, and the indistinct shadows start moving forward as she explains. “No point in hiding it now. This whole thing was just to buy time for the Quartermaster to get into position. Only the front line are sharks.”

The truth of that statement is quickly apparent, as my scions watch, more ordinary fish come out from the obscuring distance. They’re still pretty big fish… but there’s a big difference between just a big fish and an actual shark.

“Those are the terms, Neverrest… Thedeim. Yendo comes back with us, or we all die. Even if you beat me and subsume him, your scions are too far away to stop the Quartermaster from razing that town before you do.”

We’ll see about that. Coda, ring the bell! I know the bats are settling in to sleep now, but we need to get peoples’ attention! Fluffles, get at least Folarn from the spiderkin and get her to the public war room! Thing will do the same with Larx! Leo, take the shortcut back, as quickly as you can! It looks like I’ll need you to help organize and lead a bit more directly over here, instead of organizing the forces beneath the waves! Poe, try to get Tarl’s attention, then head out! Try to delay this Quartermaster until Fluffles can catch up, unless you’re sure you can take him. I don’t know how much mana Hullbreak’s been pumping into him, nor for how long, so be careful.

Hopefully, once the dwellers and Tarl see the map, they’ll understand at least the gist of the situation, and can help keep the town safe. I eye the option to expand outward, too, but leave it alone for now. People will probably be grumpy enough being woken up by the bell and the sound of corvids and gulls fighting. I don’t need to make it worse by having a spawner show up in peoples’ basements or something.

I refocus on my scions in the beachhead, and Rocky and Slash look ready to make a go of subsuming Hullbreak before the attack can hit, but I do my best to calm them. Looking back out at the First Mate, it looks like she’s just waiting for our response to that. She also doesn’t look too happy about having to inform us her captain has a gun to both of our heads… or at least thinks he does.

Teemo’s voice echoes over the waves. “The scions here might be too far away, but these are not all of Thedeim’s scions. Call the Quartermaster back, and we can still talk.”

It takes the First Mate only a few seconds to reply. “The Captain says you’re bluffing. He’ll do anything to ensure the safety of his dwellers. If it takes him getting destroyed to end a threat to them… so be it.”

“We’re not a threat to him, we’re trying to help him! If he attacks Fourdock, it’ll just be another mistake he’ll live to regret!”

I can see the shark slump some more, and probably sigh, though it's too far away for it to travel to any of my scions. “No. The Captain says: if it’s not a mistake, he’ll be happy, and his merfolk will be safe. If it is a mistake… he doesn’t think you’ll let him live to regret it.”