CH. 11 - Liberation of Shadowshore

[Daos]

After a journey of several weeks, the fleet is positioned about a mile out from the port of Shadowshore, awaiting orders to move forward with the attack.  It is around noon time, and the weather is thankfully clear and sunny.

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(OOC:  Now is the time for any last second preparations.  You can choose what spells your henchmen have prepared today.  And give me an idea of what kind of battle formation you want the fleet to be in; including how far apart each ship should be.)

[Bishgada]

Senllip goes first to Cassie and ask her to join him while he makes last round about the ship, checking every inch of it. He passes few words with every crew member, complimenting their quality and their importance to the team success. By now, he appointed a commander to every 4 sailors to carry commands while in battle. He makes sure every one has clear tasks in battle. Who man the cannons. the cataplut and the ballistae. The crewmen who man the catapult will later use the fire arrows when they are in closer distance, trying to set the enemies sails on fire. He the verifies with the first mate that people safety if top priority and how they should cover for each other, and he let his sister give some reassuring words and divine blessings to the sailors.
"Today is the day we free Shadowshore from the Gunn tyrants. We will sabotage their skims and cast them away and by doing so we will increase our fame, riches and fleet size!" then he speaks with the first mate, the navigator the small team commanders and Cassie of course, and explaining the hit and run tactics agreed with the other members of the fleet. "At the beginning of the fight we will try to soften the enemy using heavy artillery. At long range the cannons and catapult and at middle range the Ballistae. Our ship will be on the left flank, somewhat to the left and behind The Blue Moon. Once our ships are in range that our artillery endangers them we will keep somewhat behind, if possible keep some artillery and if we see one of our ship in trouble, we come fast and hard, give some heavy fire with bows and crossbows, and then fall back again. We must keep communication with the other ships to coordinate the attack." After everything is said he raises a toast, "For glory and riches!" and looks about the ship with pride.

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(OOC: Senllip plans to keep somewhat back to avoid being the main target of the enemy attack but able to come quick to aid the main ships of their fleet, and enough aside to be able to use the long range weapons. He will keep communicating with Brax ships since they have similar role in the fight.)

[HorizonsDream]

Kalana had been checking every single weapon on the ship constantly during the trip to make sure they were in good working order. Now that they were a mile out, she was a little bit of a nervous wreck, but she was trying to remain calm because she had to since she was the captain. Now she had to do captain things, which was to make sure that there were enough people ready at the weapons. She had told Julak and Tiaru to be the attack vessels, and Kalana decided that the Blue Moon would be a support and attack vessel, so they were all in the front. Brax's and Senllip's ships would be in the middle, and Saren's ship would be in the back. The idea would be that the two cargo ships would be protecting Saren, and if needed they would do hit and run tactics on enemy ships when needed.

[GreyWolfVT]

Brax having made sure to polish his new weapon and his old pistols makes sure they are all ready for action, then sees to the weapons on the ship making sure all the crew know what to do and keeps their spirits up. "Remember we're supportin' tha main fleet. We're gonna be doin' some hit n' run fightin' don't waste a shot if yah ain't got one. We gotta do what we can ta help and see if we ain't able ta pull off a victory taday." is the best he can muster for an inspirational speech.

[Daos]

(OOC:  How does this look?  Each hex is 50 feet in size.)

[HorizonsDream]

OOC: Looks good to me.

[Daos]

Once the fleet is in formation, Bayla approaches Kalana and informs her.  "We're ready to begin final approach, at your command," she says.

[HorizonsDream]

Kalana takes in a deep breath and lets it out slowly in hopes it would calm her nerves a bit. "Begin the final approach," she says to Bayla.

[GreyWolfVT]

Brax waits for whatever commands are signaled from the head ship and orders his crew to follow them. (OOC: Yes I am assuming we have flags or something to relay messages between the ships, hopefully that is not too far off.)

[Daos]

The other ships receive the signal to move forward, and the fleet begins sailing forward.  When they are around half a mile out, they can now see the enemy ships.  They consist of a great galley, a sohar, two cogs and two caravels; all about five hundred feet apart from each other.  Kalana notes that Tethys' flagship is not among them, but rather currently docked with the other half of the fleet.

[HorizonsDream]

"It figures he would still be on shore," Kalana says as she takes note of Tethys' ship. "We csn begin the attack. Maybe we can catch them a little by surprise."

[GreyWolfVT]

Brax once the signal is received relays to his crew "Alright, be alert, be ready, an take tha time ta line yer shots up. We gotta make this count lads. If we win this drinks be on me, and shore leave fer tha lot of yah fer a month!" he pauses for a second "If we got any pitch er tar that'll burn put em on tha ballistic ammo and light em afore ya fire. We wanna burn tha Gunn fleet down. If ya gotta use lamp oil an rags do it."

[Daos]

As the crews prepare for battle, the fleet sails onward.  After a few minutes, Bayla calls down to the admiral and signals to the other ships that the enemy fleet has spotted them and are moving in an attack course.

[HorizonsDream]

Kalana has Bayla signal to Julak and Tiaru that she wants them to go for the strongest ships. Kalana will go for the second strongest. Once close enough, she will signal for her men to fire at the ships.

[Daos]

The ships sail forward, until the enemy is around 1,000 yards away.  As per Kalana's orders, the Lleiset starts moving toward the great galley, the largest of the ships.  The Tiaru, meanwhile, heads for the two caravels to the east.

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(OOC:  For now, each hex is worth 50 yards.

For reference:
Light ballista have a short range of 80 yards, a medium range of 160 yards and a long range of 240 yards.  Medium ballista have a minimum range of 10 yards, short range of 100 yards, medium range of 200 yards and long range of 300 yards.  A medium catapult has a minimum range of 150 yards and a max range of 320 yards.  And a cannon has a short range of 20 yards, a medium range of 40 yards and a long range of 60 yards.  So you're all going to have a few rounds of movement before you can start shooting at each other, so that gives you a chance to get into positions and get ready.)