Siege of Racana

[ulyssar]

The Fleets of Lilan moved elegantly and proudly through the water, slicing through it like a hot knife through butter. The pure white sails billowed in the light wind, the banners of Lilan flapping honourably in the breeze.

The sun sparkled off the water as the hundred or so ships converged onto the fort of Racana, which sat grey and wielding on the shore of the brown island in front of them, just out of catapult range.

Lorian called the fleet to a halt and the ships sat it a long line, encircling the water around the fort. Ballistas loaded and prepared. The onagers on the siege ships primed.

Several shouts sut through the air as orders were given from various captains on ships around Lorian.

She stood at the back of the aftdeck of one of the battleships of her fleet. The captain at the wheel in front of her, giving orders to his crew. By now, the transport ships would have landed the 10,000 troops in the northern forests of Danarta, and they would be almost upon the walls, along with Nau'ren and Henry.

Lorian sat silently as she watched her Commodore walk in front of the captains on the ship, relaying her orders.

"By order of the Admiral, the fort of Racana is to fall." He walked down the line. "The stones will be crumbled and the pirates slaughtered. Give no honour, nor loyalty, no quarter, no respect... for you shall recieve none. These pirates are long past their judgement." He stopped and looked back down the line. "Give it to them..."

The captains moved away, back to their own ships.

Lorain waited until they were all ready. The pirates would have easily noticed her stupendous fleet by now.

"Commodore!"

"Yes Ma'am."

Lorian smiled, "Engage the fort..."


OOC: As this is the first major battle on this site, I'm going to explain to everyone the rules of an engagment of this size.

1: Troops who are not under control of anybody, eg. not a character of a profile can be subject to control by anybody. For example, a pirate can write that they killed a Naval soldier, or two, or three etc. This is also in respect to ships. If the ship is not not owned by any profile, than they are subject to be rped by anybody.

2: When you are controlling enemy army's, you have to keep realism. Fer example, two hundred soldiers can't kill twenty thousand with 2 casualties in 1 post, or one catapult can kill fifty ships, or one arrow can topple a tower, a pirate cannot order a naval ship around... you get the drift

3: The battle will continue for quite some time... all battles will. If the result cannot be determined by the actual rp, we'll flip a coin. Everyone in the fight will be pmed to know the victor and then the rp can be finished.

4: Have fun, it may be a huge fight, but this a massive chance to have some fun and develop your character... make the most of it

If anything else comes up, we'll deal with it then. Until then...

[khalora]

Alessio Khalora woke up suddenly to sound of stone crumbling and men shouting. He had been sleeping in a temporary building while the Southerners had been doing worl to the fort.

"What are they doing out there?" Alessio thought angrily. He walked out of the house and looked out towards the port. He stopped suddenly and stopped breathing when he saw the huge fleet of ships moving on the fort. "Holy shit..." he breathed. A boulder crashed down somewhere nearby and some people screamed. Alessio looked up and saw boulders flying through the air to and from the ships. Only a few of the ships would have onboard onagers, but there were three trebuchets from Sanara here.

He rushed in and hurriedly put on his armour. He ran out of the house and around to where Achilles was tied up in the stable. He drew his sword and cut the rope in two, launching himself onto the horses back. "Lets go Achilles," he kicked the horse and he thundered out of the stables and down the streets towards the docks.

"This was way too early... He didn't know if he and the pirates could repel an assault of this size now..."

[Poker]

Poker sat up in his bed. He had heard something. Archer was barking. Someone far away screamed and there the sound was again.

There was a loud twang, a whoosh of wind and the sickening sound of impact.

Balista Fire.

Poker leapt out of the bed in the inn he had been sleeping in a pulled on some clothes. Poker didn't bother worrying himself with his scabbards; he was positive he would need his cutlasses out in the open. Archer ran beside him; he was growling now. There was a siege happening, Poker knew it.

The Town was awakening all around him. From the road outside the inn Poker could see out to the harbour and the moonlight was shaded by the sails of ships sporting the navy flags. Balista were mounted and being loaded. The giant arrows cutting through the now broken air, rushing to destroy the town.

Poker bared his teeth. Khalora had drawn their attention to Racana Port and now all the Pirate's lives were at stake.

[Henry]

Henry was with the units who had arrived in the forest. "Ok men! We attack from the north while the navy ships attack from the sea. Charge! Leave no pirate alive, do not attack women or children inless they have a pirates outfit, or attack you!" Henry said as he pulled out his sword. "CHARGE!!!" He and his units charged towards racana's walls.

[ulyssar]

"Aim the onagers for the starboard wall tower, make a low break at waterlevel." Lorian said to her Commodore, who relayed the commands.

The next bombardment from the siege ships saw no less than seven boulders hurtling through the air. They slammed into the wall of Racana just below the waterlevel. Stone fragments went hurtling everywhere and splashed down into the water, many feet away. Another two bombardments saw that the entire tower rocked precariously, and them tumbled forwards into the ocean. It sent up a huge splash of water that covered a huge distance. Some more boulders cleared a path about six row-boats wide.

"Continue to bombard the city, gather my guard, we will engage through the breach. Cover our advance." Lorian stepped down off the aftdeck and onto one of the many rowboats being readied to advance on the city. Her guards were all getting into them as she worked.

A boulder hurtled through the air and slammed into a cruiser three down the line from her. Wood went flying through the air and the sails crumbled in on themselves. The whole ship snapped in two and began to sink below the waves. She's have to disable those trebuchet's of theirs quickly...

[Poker]

Poker was on the walls of Racana, the world was exploding around him. (ooc: Boulders? Racana Port is surronded by jungle. There aren't any mountains around until much further into the center of Alante). Poker ran towards the walls facing inland. There must be a ground force, the naval soldiers weren't that stupid in their tactics.

Where is Amory? Poker thought desperately. Archer ran beside him barking and baring his teeth. Archer could well be the difference between life and death in close combat and Poker was glad to have him here.

Poker reached the wall and yelled to the guards on watch. "Load the balista!" He yelled, keeping quick commanded. 'Ring the bells! Wake the city! The Navy is here! The Southerners have brought us to war!"

The guards banged on giant bells with their hammers and immediately the townspeople were stirring to live. Every able bodied person would be grabbing weapons. The Navy wanted a war, they'd sure get one.

ooc: We need to wait for Amory now. Can't start it too much without her.

[amory]

Amory's eyes had immediately shot open from her light sleep that night at the sound of something crashing nearby. She quickly rose from her bed and ran to the window of her room, noticing a boulder flying through the air. Her eyes widened slightly, as the thoughts of who were invading the Fort interrupted her small trance. Her eyes darted across the bedroom she was staying in at the inn, and she saw her claymore and dagger resting peacefully by her bed. Yasar was just waking from the arrogant sound, his tongue whisped out of his mouth and he hissed. Amory did not say anything to the snake, instead she tried to collect her thoughts from the sudden attack. She pulled her black boots on faster than she ever thought she could and grabbed her hat from the side table, placing it upon her head with pride and integrity gleaming in her eyes. She continued to ignore the irrated hisses coming from Yasar, who followed Amory out of her room and down the stairs of the inn, soon entering the outdoors.

She looked around and saw Pirates and Southerners scattering about, trying to get themselves ready for battle as quickly as they could. Amory did not pay much attention to them, however, as she looked around for Khalora. As she didn't see him in the large crowd of people, she quietly cussed under her breath and towards the sea, where the ballistas were located. Her pace slowed as her eyes grew wide, again with another surprise ahead of her. In the waters, she saw the fleet of ships coming their way. She wasn't expecting that many. Her mind grew doubtful, but she quickly shook the thoughts away and had to stay positive, knowing that they did have a fighting chance once they prepared themselves. This would be the first time the Pirates and Southerners fought side by side, and she just hoped that they would cooperate with each other. If not for the other's sake, at least for their own, as they may just die that day if they were not careful...

Amory saw Poker a small distance away, shouting to get the ballista ready. Amory walked a farther distance from him and shouted, "Load all of the ballistas immediately and keep firing at those ships!" We cannot let them get close... because if they get to our land, we'll have to do first hand combat. And that was not in Amory's interest, although she knew that they would have a much better chance on land against the Navy, she wanted as many ships destroyed as possible. She moved away from the ballistas and closer to where several ships were anchored against the beach's edge. "At least ten people to a ship!" She closed her eyes, trying to gain her focus and her control. She took a deep breath. This was going to be a bloody battle, she knew. The navy was not going to be an easy opponent. She looked out at the ships once again and wondered which one had the leader on it. She narrowed her eyes. She hoped that that ship would be destroyed. "If they come onto our land, draw your weapons... and prepare to fight them! They are of the sea, we are of land... We will not lose." She said that in an effort to help inspire them, but she wasn't quite sure how well it would work, as she didn't even feel inspired herself. She wondered where Khalora was.

[Henry]

Henry heard a southerner shout out to the city. "The navy has infentry to the north!" Well they had been spotted. If they where spotted then they could take out the enemy. "Ok, show no mercy! Attack! For the navy, defenders of the sea! Kill all pirates!" The infentry units charged at the fort. They wouldn't expect a group of pirates to flank them but thats war.

[khalora]

Khalora rode atop Achilles, his armour shining brightly in the sun, "Move the ships into a defensive line around the edge of the docks. Fire at anything that comes close!" One of his lieutenants ran off to relay the orders.

"Co-ordinate the fire from all three of the trebuchets! Make sure you've got them covered from the font and keep them hidden behind the walls! Aim for the siege ships with the onagers on them, stop their bombardment!" With every order, somebody ran off to give them to who needed to hear it.

Three boulders suddenly soared overhear in perfect unison, and all three of them slammed straight through one of the naval siege ships, shattering it in an instant.

"Mi'lord! The Navy has amassed an army on the northern wall!"

"Send the Southern crossbowmen to the wall, to fire down at the soldiers. Devote a third of the northern ballistae to fire on the troops. Never cease the attack!"

"Lieutenant! I want you to set up seven ammunition points along the walls. Put as many arrows and ballistae bolts there as you can for each one. We only have the boulders we've brought from Sanara, so check the targets of each ship before firing!"

Khalora turned to see the siege ships all turn in unison and bombard a seaward tower. The whole thing collapsed and sunk below the sea, leaving a gaping hollow in the wall behind one of the Southerner cruisers.

"The wall has been breached on the seaward side! Prepare the knights to counter any infantry that comes through!" He rode down to join the knights on the streets. "There were both Southerner and Pirate knights in the group. "Prepare to repel soldiers!"

[Poker]

Poker noticed Amory in the crowd of people. She said something to him but he never heard a word. The noise was thunderous. People were screaming, arrows were whistling, swords were scratching against scabbards and Archer was barking, louder than it all.

Poker reached over and put his hand on Amory's shoulder. And for a moment it seemed there was dead silence around them and everything seemed to grow stiller.

"For the Pirates." He said, looking at Amory's eyes.

Poker let go of his queen. Noise returned. Movement returned and war was again around him. Poker held both of his cutlasses in the air.

"For the Pirates!" He screamed. Poker ran along the wall where the Navy were now attacking. The Land-facing wall was still perfectly in tact and the gates shut tight. It would be damn hard for the Navy break that. There were few Southerners up this end of the city, most must have been with Khalora. Wherever he was.

Now would be Poker's chance to redeem himself for the pitiful work he did in the Caves of the Basilisk.

Poker held his cutlasses high aboe him. Archer was barking, but with the war-lust upon him, Poker's words were louder even than his dog's barks.

"Archers!" He screamed. In an instant he was surronded by Pirates wielding crossbows, longbows and anything in between.

"Fire!"

[Lyneya Oceanheart]

Lyneya could hear the screams before she could see the Port.

She had stood frozen next to the sea. Not a muscle on her face seemed to move when she first heard the screams. Inside, a terrible battle was being held. A battle within herself as to whether she should go to the screams or simply run away.

Finally, even as the screams grew in volume, Lyneya began to turn. It had nothing to do with her and she couldn't get herself into these things.

As she turned she saw debris floating through the water. Wood, sails and bodies. Lyneya put both hands to her mouth to muffle a scream. One of the bodies raised his head from the water. Half his face was gone.

"You're a coward." He hissed.

Lyneya shook her head desperately. "No! No! The water!" Lyneya looked back towards the way she had come and then turned to face the screams. It didn't take any longer for Lyneya to bundle up her dress in her hands and run towards the screams, for any ends.

[amory]

Amory felt something touch her shoulder for a brief moment, only right before he pulled away did she notice it to be Poker. She was about to say something to him, but noise had overpowered every sound she made, and she gave up on trying as he ran off. She looked around, frantic on the outside, but her mind was in control. Ships were being destroyed, but the fleet was huge, and inside Amory knew that they would reach land soon. That would be to her relief, however, as she touched her claymore she remembered just how much she loved using it. Her eyes trailed away from the ocean and she examined everything in her view, taking it all in as her mind whirled, trying to find a strategy they could currently use. At first, nothing seemed to come to mind. However, her eyes stopped at some trees. This entire fort was surrounded by them, how could she use them to their advantage? She thought about the Navy. Suddenly, something strikes her. One strategy, at least, that may help them a little bit... The navy, she knew, uses close-combat weapons more often than they use archery weapons. "We need to get archers on the trees, prepared for when the Navy comes onto the land! Fire at as many as possible." She has to use whatever they have to their advantage, and at the moment, that was all she could think of. She wasn't quite sure how many could hear her over the shouts and screams, but she hoped at least a few. She sighed. She wished Chase was here, as he would prove to be quite useful as an Archer. But, again, they would have to make do with what they have.

[ulyssar]

Lorian leapt off the rowboats as they hit the sand. Men started jumping off the boats all around her. "For ranks, swords up front, spears at back!" She called.

The men quickly formed a phalanx as wide as the breach, the spears trying to protect the ranks of swordsmen up front. Lorian heard three loud creaks and huge boulders flew through the air, hurtling towards the siege ships. A boulder hit the back of one of them and ripped off the whole aft section, including the catapult. Another siege ship fell under the other two boulders.

In retaliation, the siege ships fired again into the city. A huge building, possibly an Inn of somesort, started collapsing onto the streets. Screams... then nothing. She smiled.

"Lieutenant! Row back to the ships, use the cruisers to defend the siege ships, if they go, then we lose this battle. Move the battleships forward, the captains can attack as they wish, as long they never run..."

She turned back and drew her two-handed sword, and that was when she saw the knights. Both Southerners and Pirates, charging towards them. "Shields!!!"

[khalora]

Khalora saw the Naval soldiers leap off the boats and start to march through the breach in the wall. "For the South! For the Pirates! For Racana!" He screamed, sword high in the air. "Charge!"

He and the other knights thundered down the streets, their horses easily closing the distance between them and the enemy. Khalora was whipping past pirates and stores at a great pace, as he neared he could see the soldiers, then their faces, then their eyes... then their fear.

"Shields!!" The order was given too late. The knights crashed through the fronk ranks of the soldiers. Achilles knocked over a group of six soldiers, sending them sprawling. He continued to charge through the ranks, Southerners and Pirates all around him. He swung his sword down and cut open a Naval soldier.

The charge soon ceased, their momentum died, and then it was up close and personal the whole way. Khalora sat atop Achilles, taking a sword on the shield, and stabbing the soldier from underneath it. He spun and beheaded another. "No quarters men!"

Some Southerner crossbowmen on the walls where Poker was saw the fray, but there was nothing they could do. They had to hold the army back.

Khalora and his men were alone...

[Poker]

Poker could see from the wall the battle taking place on the beach but all he could hear with the sharp clash of metal on metal and the screams of dying horses and men.

The Navy Men had reached the wall now and were trying to erect ladders.

"Fire at Will!" Poker yelled to the archers around him. The first line of the infantry fell underneath a cloud of black fletched arrows, whistling menachingly in the wind. But there were limited arrows and limited archers. The Navy had archers to, standing below them, firing up at the wall.

One such arrow just missed Poker's arm, another bounced off his cutlass and one flew just past Archer's head, causing him to bark only louder still, eagerly awaiting the chance to attack.