The Bloodoar War Ep.2 has started at Outside Arx - Lyceum near Nilanza - Small Islands off the East Coast of the Lyceum.

A messenger arrives, delivering a message to Ian before departing.

The team responsible for disabling the watch tower is shuttled back onto the galley alongside the majority of the soldiers and marines that will be participating in the coming assault. As they climb onto the ship and find their positions the rest of the fleet moves into position in the waters formerly guarded by the watch tower, preparing for the coming assault. For nearly twenty minutes after the formation seems to have settled into its final positions nothing much happens. Then a signal goes out from the Caravel Beatrice and the entire formation starts moving towards the Bloodoar Port on the Island known as the mouth.

The port defenses come into view and a few moments later you hear the first alarms from the target port. Not long after that a catapult starts firing from the wall. The first stone drops into the ocean just off the side of one of your escorting longships, causing the vessel to violently rock in the shockwave before continuing on without any apparant hard. The second rock lands just behind that terribly picked on longship.

The third shot nearly hits YOU. Whilst nobody on board is directly harmed by that rock the violent yawing of the galley knocks men and women off their feet and the wave from the rock knocks at least one sailor overboard.

Ian checks dexterity and dodge at easy. Ian is successful.

Raven checks dexterity and dodge at easy. Critical Success! Raven is inhumanly successful in a way that defies expectations.

Caspian checks dexterity and dodge at easy. Caspian is successful.

Sunaia checks dexterity and dodge at easy. Sunaia is successful.

Terese checks dexterity and dodge at easy. Terese is successful.

Ian checks dexterity and sailing at normal. Botch! Ian fails badly.

Sunaia checks dexterity and sailing at normal. Sunaia is successful.

Caspian checks charm and leadership at normal. Caspian is successful.

Ariella checks dexterity and sailing at easy. Ariella is successful.

Raven checks dexterity and sailing at easy. Raven is successful.

Raven checks dexterity and dodge at normal. Raven is successful.

Ariella checks dexterity and sailing at normal. Ariella marginally fails.

Terese is here keeping steady on the ship, seems she is getting more used to sailing and more comfortable. She does not know enought about sailing or their plans yet to setp in and offer any commands or insperation. So she just keeps steady and waits

A messenger arrives, delivering a message to Terese before departing.

Ian's emphasis on hanging onto things as a means of compensating for his uncertain footing on the moving deck comes in handy when the ship suddenly pitches. He loses his footing entirely, but doesn't let go of the taut line that he was holding onto, so that he recovers quickly enough that the ship might as well not have pitched at all. A follower at heart, when he hears the captain of the galley start giving orders, his first instinct is to obey. And this is where things fall apart. There are some glaring differences in terminology between the Isles and the Lyceum, and even worse, there are glaring differences in thought process about how orders are to be obeyed. And so there's Ian, bringing the Isles to a Lycene boat-fight until the bosun eventually tells His Lordship to go stand over there where he'll be out of the way, and Ian, opening this engagement sullen and irritated by sloppy knots that he's SURE are going to just completely fail just when they're needed.

Raven checks dexterity and sailing at normal. Raven is successful.

Sunaia had her hear secured to her person as the assault began. Her steelsilk-gloved hand took hold of rigging and railing as the shock of the damage to the galley tested her sealegs. Whatever she cursed as the sound deafened the moment was lost. This might be the first time she might have to put her Wash Kennex School of Sailing education to test, but now was the time to help the crew keep the ship moving. She shouted at the nearest sailor to hold tension for her, and she accessed where to move or shout an order next. That's when she sees Ian and the faces around him. Bolstering the commands he wants them to follow, she rephrases them for Lycene men, and made large gestures with her body. The crew seems to understand the more impatient sounding pale woman.

Terese checks dexterity and dodge at normal. Terese is successful.

Ariella checks command and sailing at normal. Ariella marginally fails.

Caspian was talking to one of the sailors when suddenly the ship went careening away from the wave that washed over the side. he stumbled back, arms pinioning as he he struggled to stay on his feat. he was already soaking from his early jump into the water so at least he had that going for him. he wiped the spray of water from his eyes and blanched as he saw the sailor he had been talking to was simply gone. he looks over the side but nothing but crashing waves could be seen. "Right! The bastards think they can scare us off by throwing some pebbles our way! lets show them how real warriors fight! Mind your footing, hands on your blades and we all be feasting in the hall of the Bloodoar tonight!" His voice bellowed out to the ship as he began to move about, providing encouragement and helping the men whom he could. Sure enough a few moments later a song could be heard peaking over the sounds of waves and yelling.

"Before us quivers our cowardly quarry
Lets turn the waters red and gory

We'll send them all to purgatory
claim whats ours this territory

Sing of battles, the fame and glory
Watch us now and see our story"





Raven's boots are off. Rule number one for Raven is be barefoot always and so this makes it easy for her to trot along the starboard towards the bow, she manages to avoid the rigging and other sailors as she pulls herself up precariously on the railing to see if she can get a clearer look at how many seige weapins they're dealing with.

Ariella is a natural when it comes to balance at sea. Okay, at least until there are CATAPULTS firing at the ship! "Fuck, fuck, fuck," she whisper-chants below her breath as she braces against the mast, waiting for the worst of the initial rocking to pass before she launches into action.

Or tries to. She goes over to try to help the sailors only to break into a fit of laughter when she sees so many on the deck. "Oh, I can't even take you seriously," she crows, trying to bark out orders through the thick of her laughter and struggling to be of much help.

Terese is able to still keep steady, her main focus being still on not loosing her footing then anything else. She keeps a close eye to see if anyone might need help but for now just quietly awaits any battle they might encounter.

The crew know what they are doing and quickly adapt to the help being offered by Sunaia and Raven. Even Ian's efforts only cause a modicum of confusion once Sunaia steps up. Even so there is a definite sense of relief when the Captain orders Ian to stop. Raven identifies two catapults up on a squat tower which have clearly been positioned for just this purpose. They are no threat to anyone in the port proper. Just the fleet.

"Brace!" Calls the Captain of the Galley you are on (actually the only galley in this fleet) as the oars dig in and the galley starts to slew towards the waiting pier. The vessel hits hard enough to stagger the soldiers and tries to bounce right back off but a few well timed grapples go out and tie the pier and galley close together. A longship in the fleet takes a direct hit as the galley moves to dock.

Not far away Bloodoar soldiers are preparing themselves to meet your assault.

Ariella wields Revival, a rubicund saber.

Ariella checks dexterity and medium wpn at normal. Ariella is successful.

Sunaia wields Moonflower, an alaricite shotel with wolf and lily motif.

Ian checks command and leadership at normal. Ian is successful.

Caspian checks charm and leadership at normal. Caspian fails.

Raven checks command and war at normal. Raven is successful.

Sunaia checks command and leadership at normal. Sunaia is successful.

Terese checks command and war at normal. Terese fails.

Raven stands on the railing of the bow and points towards the seige weaponry, "First order of business ought to be to hold the dock, VERY close second is to take those seige engines! It's big, hard, and gives a nice hard swing- I WANT IT AND I MUST HAVE It!" she bellows rauciously, drawing her sword and jabbing towards the seige weapons.

Caspian draws his blades, leaping up onto the edge of the ship as it comes barreling toward the pier and grasping a rope to steady himself he shouts out loudly for the men, "With me warriors of Malespero! With me and lets drive these bastard into the.." his words were cut off as the ship impacted with an exceptionally nasty wave.. or maybe it was the pier. Either way, Caspian, who lets face it was not a great sailor to begin with, completely lost his foot and went hurtling from the railing to bounce hard off one of the pier pylons. he came up out of the water, bleeding from gash to his forehead and sputtering but more pissed then hurt it would seem.

Caspian wields Charm and Grace, alaricite chain knives.

Somehow, Ian's fatalistic certainty that they were all going to sink under the weight of Lycene incompetence doesn't come true, and here they are, at the dock! Crashing into the dock. Well, it's not about how you get there, right? Ian's able to, with one hand on a railing, grab a soldier by his belt and haul him back just before he ends up in the drink, and helps someone else to his feet. "Alright. We're not dead yet. Let's go. You! Up you come. You too. Here's your blasted sword. For the gods' sake, they can't throw rocks at you on the dock." It's not the words so much as how Ian says them, with an understated delight in how much danger they're in, that prove to be inspiring. Hard not to follow someone with such a realistic and yet bizarrely upbeat take on the situation, especially when that someone is 'patting you on the back' with enough force to push one hesitating greenhorn off the ship. He gathers a cadre of previously hesitant soldiers, bolstering them with his own confidence that they're PROBABLY not all going to die today.

Raven wields Blackheart Halfmoon Blade.

Terese is trying to give some tactical advice to any soldiers she can close by to where she is but then the enemy is already upon them, in the midsts of the chaos, she was so busy trying to prep the soldiers for what to expect she does not see one of the Bloodoar soldiers come right for her and manage to deliver the first strike and it's clear she os both caught off guard and wounded as she prepares to face the enemy. Trying to adjust to tactics in the moment

Sunaia holds on as they land roughly. She got her shotel free of its sheath, and took inventory of the little war party gathering around the lady. "Don't stray, don't mouth off to the Bloodaors, and- Take the seige engines!" That was a command she very much could get behind. The Malespero had a garden growing ballistas, not sunflowers, one rumour might have said. She looked ambitiously cheerful that this next act was going to go very smoothly. Sure it was.

Ariella left her men behind for this campaign, but she doesn't mind. Drawing her weapon and giving it a few limb-loosening swings, she joins the portion of the crew at the ready to charge into battle. Her golden eyes are ablaze with delighted anticipation, and when Ian signals to her section that it is time, she bounds forward with the rest of the combatants and jumps down onto the dock, landing on both boots with a FUMP. Straightening, she flashes a grin, and makes kissy faces at the nearest Sergeant, waiting for him to charge and then swings hard at his face with Revival when he comes into range. "Trust me, it's an improvement!" she gleefully shouts as he goes down, running past him before he even hits the ground.

Dismounting the galley turns out to be a mixed bag. The men grouped under Raven, Sunaia's and Ian's commands pour out onto the ship in good order before forming up into a formation designed to push through the soldiers gathered here and press onto the tower. Ariella finds herself at the tip of this formation and her efforts help inspire the men to press harder. Then there are the men under Caspian and Terese. The men grouped under Caspian make it out of the ship before forming up a defensive line along the deck to protect the pair who have decided to fish Caspian out of the drink and the men grouped under Terese's command are slower than ideal. They move forward quickly enough to keep losses down but quickly find themselves on the defensive.

Caspian checks charm and leadership at normal. Caspian fails.

Ian checks command and leadership at normal. Ian is successful.

Ariella checks dexterity and medium wpn at normal. Ariella is successful.

Sunaia checks command and leadership at normal. Sunaia is successful.

Terese checks command and leadership at normal. Terese is successful.

Raven checks dexterity and medium wpn at normal. Raven is successful.

Ian checks dexterity and dodge at normal. Ian is successful.

Caspian checks dexterity and dodge at normal. Caspian is successful.

Ariella checks dexterity and dodge at normal. Ariella is successful.

Terese checks dexterity and dodge at normal. Terese is successful.

Raven hopes down and goes to try to help cut a line towards the seige weaponry, leaving the finesse of command to brighter minds and caving in to the do what she does best-wreak havock., She does so-still bare footed with a single-minded focus though she tries to keep an eye on the team that she leads even if most of her focus is carving a path forward.

Raven checks dexterity and dodge at normal. Raven is successful.

Sunaia checks dexterity and dodge at normal. Sunaia is successful.

"Let's see if they use their swords any better than the blasted catapults." Ian drives his previously hesitant soldiers on with a mix of encouragement, mild abuse, and the occasional shove that becomes less necessary as the push gains momentum. As Ariella becomes the tip of the spear, he warns them: "She's never going to let you guys hear the end of it if she gets there first. Come on, move! I don't want to listen to her the whole fucking way home." Inexplicably, he hasn't drawn his sword yet, although he does use his cane as a parrying weapon from time to time, interposing it not just in the way of attacks aimed at him, but one or twice saving his green recruits. Truth be told, those green recruits are starting to do plenty of damage without his help.

Caspian is being hauled out of the drink by the men, using his knives as climbing implements as lord wash had shown him once.. albeit in a very different way. Another rock crashed into the water, sending a wave hurtling toward the pier. most of the men scattered or braced. half out of the water as he was, the wave caught caspian full on, leaving him dangling by one hand from one of his daggers. as he coughed out a few gallons of seawater, he began to hack violently. he was hauled up, still gagging until with a final heave, a small silvery fish popped out of his mouth, flicking caspian's nose with its tail before vanishing into the sea. Caspian gasped for air, the men just stared in wonder for a moment before everyone realized that oh yes.. they were in fact in the middle of battle and were supposed to be pushing alongside Terese's group... oops

Sunaia pressed on intently with her men, and listening with delight at the sounds of the sass and commands washing through the numbers. With her shotel ready, the pale sliver of a woman moved decisively among her soldiers clad in darker hues of their House.

Terese is trying to regain order but then well seems the soldiers in her group go to assist Caspians and well now she is basically trying to keep both groups together as the two soldiers work to fish Caspian from the drink still. "Alright group together and watch eachother's back, they make no progress forward, mainly defending the spot they are in. "You still alive Caspian," she asks as she dodges more attacks and keeps order

Ariella is... skipping. She is skipping through the battle, and seems to be getting a bit choosey about who she engages, dodging swings upon her person and leaving them to the men behind her. "You're going to have to listen to me regardless, Ian darling!" she sing-songs over the fray, finally planting her feet and blocking several strikes from a shav warrior. Ever the showoff, she puts on a helpless expression and lets him feel he has knocked her back a few paces before suddenly cackling and starting to prance around him like this is a performance. She easily sidesteps his heavy swings, but eventually gets bored, ducks, and takes him out at the back of the knees before he can regain equilibrium from his latest attempt. Once he's on the ground, she uses his head as a springboard to launch herself further toward their goal.

Without the support of Caspian's squad, Terese's advance along the docks gets blocked in the shadow of several gibbets, some of which are still occupied by the living rather than the dead. They fight competently and take almost no injuries, but the growing wall of Bloodoar shav's is just to much to push back without the extra men.

The group working to take the catapult tower is doing far better. The group has formed a fearsome wedge which has split the shav forces into two seperate groups, each of which fights a different flank. The point of the wedge is now up against the door of the tower. If they can hold this spot and get inside then the catapults will be theirs!

Out on the water another vessel gets smashed into kindling by a lucky catapult shot. Those familiar with naval tactics might notice that something has disrupted the formation. Unfortunately it will take time and a higher vantage point to know exactly what.

Caspian checks charm and leadership at normal. Caspian is successful.

Ariella checks dexterity and medium wpn at normal. Ariella is successful.

Terese checks command and leadership at easy. Terese is successful.

Raven checks dexterity and medium wpn at normal. Raven is successful.

Raven checks dexterity and athletics at normal. Raven marginally fails.

Sunaia checks dexterity and medium wpn at normal. Critical Success! Sunaia is spectacularly successful.

Ian checks command and leadership at easy. Ian is successful.

Ariella checks dexterity and dodge at normal. Critical Success! Ariella is spectacularly successful.

Ian checks dexterity and dodge at normal. Ian is successful.

Terese checks dexterity and dodge at normal. Botch! Terese fails badly.

Raven checks dexterity and dodge at normal. Raven is successful.

Sunaia checks dexterity and dodge at normal. Critical Success! Sunaia is spectacularly successful.

Caspian checks dexterity and dodge at normal. Caspian is successful.

Raven fights forward trying to cut a path for those behind her. Impatient to see what the commotion is she moves around out of immediate range of fighting to scale the tower-aaand forgets that climing with one arm is just an idiot idea she fails entirely, and finds herself on a small lip being targeted by archers, "Where the fuck do I get these fucking ideas and how the fuck did this seem like GOOD idea?" She purses her lips, rather calm for someone in her present predicament.

Caspian spits up the last of the small pond he seems to have swallowed and gets back on his feet. "right.. lets." he paused to spit out a n errant scale and then continued. "the docks are ours! these bastards just dont know it yet!! lets instruct them of their error!" with a roar the warriors, the waterlogged caspian charging at the head and dripping profusely, rejoin terese to drive toward the bloodoars to secure the docks

Let's be honest with all the chaos and focus Terese needs to help not only her group but Caspian's group keep defending the spot they are holding she fails once more to see another attacker coming past the defenses and striaght forward, she is probably too busy trying to make sure Caspian is fine that she is blissfully unaware till it is too late and she can't dodge the attack

"Sunaia! Go! We'll hold the door!" Ian gathers his troops, preparing to stand their ground while the others make the dash for the catapult. Now, as they draw up, he finally draws his sword. The alaricite blade sings free of the cane, gleaming lambent in the sunlight, and Ian, now, fights alongside his men. Once again, the role he plays, while violent, is supportive. He parries strikes that might have taken one soldier or another down, and when one of his people hesitates at the moment of killing a shav in a kill or be killed situation, Ian steps in and calmly runs the shav through. His unlikely band have become an immovable object, protecting the backs of the people working their way up the tower, and the Sword of Stormward has become the one protecting the immovable object.

Raven checks perception and sailing at easy. Raven is successful.

"Affirmative!" Sunaia called back to Ian. The charge is head by a long, curved alarcitie blade. It, must like the lady wielder, is an impossibly sharp and quick glimmer of light that cuts through lines of defenders. The tower doesn't need exquisite tactics to gain access to and flood with her men to carve a very bloody pathway up. Whatever offense Sunaia took from the Bloodoar who had sliced up her arm previously was being transformed into a focused push to their goal. The Malespero soldiers had made remarkable work of lesser combatants around her, leaving her to need only disabling moves to cast aside obstacles in the tower. The first archer she met was too focused on Raven to see her coming, and with a very nasty force, her steelsilk boot launched the archer from his windowed spot into a clash of gear below. A second archer found similar fate, but from being forcible pulled away from the ledge and into a crowd of impatient soldiers under her banner. That's when she made a bursting run up another flight and found herself sword to sword with an officer that had simply no chance facing down her adrenaline's deadly accuracy. It happened so quickly, the first two men behind her didn't quite catch the final motion before blood pooled at her feet.

"Clear this one out of the way. Others?" Sunaia told them, and turned to look for Ariella who was also clearing her way through the tower at remarkable speed.

Ian made it a challenge, so now Ariella is determined. She shoves into the tower along with Sunaia and her men, giving space for close-quarters fighting with which she appears to be intimately familiar. Spotting a shav in armor on the approach at one of the landings, she appears to leave the softer-looking ones to the greener men filtering in behind them and takes on the slightly greater challenge herself. She doesn't draw this one out, ending the woman with a few strikes, a tut, and a whispered, "You could have been so much more," before unceremoniously shoving her lifeless form out of the way and continuing up the tower. "Ian!" she shouts once she is peering down from one of the archer's posts Sunaia had emptied. "IAN, LOOK! IAN UP HERE! CAN YOU BELIEVE I MADE IT AHEAD OF ALL OF THESE SPRY WEE LADS?" Whether he can hear her or not, she grins that insufferable grin and then darts back out of view to get back to work.

"For fuck's sake," grumbles Ian, who absolutely DID hear that.

As Caspian's men surge to join Terese's the battle shifts in their favor. Steadily they push the Bloodoar soldiers off the docks until they can take control of the point where the road joins the docks. It's a nice easy place to defend and the Bloodoars seem to realise that they have lost the docks. An officer near the back calls out an order in the local shav dialect and then the entire rank of shav's takes several steps back away from the soldiers currently lead by Terese and Caspian. The two forces are still close enough that combat could restart in a moment but for a few minutes at least the fighting has stopped.

On the ground near the tower Ian takes command of the Malespero forces and gives them just enough guidance to help them hold. One or two of them are injured and rapidly shuffled back to where the battle medic can tend to them but nobody is lost on your side. The same can't be said for the shavs who are still trying to retake the tower. They seem almost suicidal in their desperation.

After a pair of Malespero soldiers deal with the tower door Sunaia and Ariella fight their way up to the top, bursting through a trapdoor and onto the roof. Two catapults are up here along with a much depleted collection of rocks. Both are currently in the process of reloading and their three strong crews scrabble to fire them off before the pair can reach them.

Ian checks dexterity and medium wpn at normal. Critical Success! Ian is spectacularly successful.

Ariella checks dexterity and medium wpn at normal. Ariella is successful.

Sunaia checks dexterity and medium wpn at normal. Sunaia marginally fails.

Raven continues to be more or less totally useless where she clings to the narrow ledge watching arrows impotently fail to make it to her and being oddly reminded of lovers poast she does note something amiss out on the sea, "Lady Sunaia! Were you expecting company? Looks like a fleet of Galeheart ships are trying to make it to the docks!"

Sunaia takes a breath to shout back to Raven, " GALEHEART'S WERE NOT INVITED! Only friendly if they are fighting the Bloodoar! They want /THIS/ city back for themselves!" She attempts to precisely exclaim to Raven so that the their host knows to be on alert and not too trusting. SHe honestly did not know what side the Galeheart 'felt' inspired to take right now.

As the pressure on the door begins to ramp up and Ian's recruits start to become overwhelmed, something subtle changes in his bearing. A liveliness that was there before drains away to be replaced by an eerie calm, and he brings his sword up not with any flash or flair, but almost with a sense of lazy disregard. It's the kind of change that might signal someone on the verge of giving up... if it were literally anyone else. But it's not anyone else. And when Ian lifts his sword to point at a commander from the other side, the challenge is unmistakable. Pressure eases off his beleaguered troops as the duel begins. It could be a Sword duel of old, not to first blood, but to the death. By the time it's over, the shav champion is dead, Ian has a gallant but not especially deep cut on his face, and all of the oxygen has been completely sucked out of the battle at the base of the tower.

Raven checks luck at hard. Raven is successful.

Terese checks command and leadership at normal. Terese is successful.

"No you don't," Ariella calmly informs the crew of one of the catapults, as she jogs nearer. Revival slashing through the air, she takes them out one by one without too much difficulty since their hands are full of rock and catapult rather than weapons. The one shav who does manage to put up a fight, she just kind of kicks in the chest to knock him off the tower, and as he's screaming on his way down, she shouts back, "You sound just like your mother!" And then she moves to peer over the tower, ready to start tormenting Ian with the sound of her voice again, but she is arrested by the duel happening below. And, perhaps for the first time since the campaign began, she keeps her mouth shut.

Caspian checks charm and war at easy. Caspian is successful.

Caspian listens to the cries of Galeheart get raised from those above, particularly when Sunaia calls out they are not friendly. "Gale heart are coming.. so lets prepare a welcome for them! get those crates moved over, block off the docks! drapre out the cargo nets, make em crawl through those! grab the pikes and spear, we'll skewer em like fish as they try and get off!"

Terese spots the Officer of the troops that are currently against her and Caspian's group and gives the signal that she would like the speak peacefully. "Look as a General of an army, I know like me you want as many of your troops to make it out of here alive and return home. Would you please help. We are trying to stop Bloodoar," she says. She keeps her sword close but over all keeps a non-threatening stance as she speaks, more as an officer would to another

Raven carefully fishes something out that looks like a careworn, black garment but unravels to reveal a flag as tall as she is and slightly more long and carefully leans against rhe wall, so her good arm can take her sword and then hefts the flag up flying from her sword and carefully waves it trying not to fall-or to drop the flag. The flag? The sigil of the Blackheart-no doubt hoping the reputation of the Blackheart and the legacy which now spans between Lunara and Raven-at least gives unwelcome pirates pause, "I will take a huge dump on everything if you fuckers don't back off..." She grumbles as she waves her flag.

Caspian's men form up a cordon around the dock in preparation for the arriving longships whilst Ariella captures one of the catapults and Sunaia struggles to claim the second. Luckily the second catapult crew surrenders after witnessing the combo of Blackheart flag, Sunaia's aggression and Ariella's capturing their friends. Theres no fighting on the docks anymore, not now that Ian has dealt with the Bloodoar noble, and Terese and Caspian's soldiers swept the others up to the place where docks become city.

The officer that Terese is talking to says "The docks might be yours Lady but you'll have to pay a tithe in blood to take the city." His men seem to be happy to simply fortify their position rather than fight for the docks though.

The first of the Galeheart longships comes into the dock and the first of the men start to disembark into a horseshoe around their ship. A ripple of fighting starting where their line comes into contact with Caspian's... The second lands a few seconds later.. but just before the third lands.. The caravel signals for you to withdraw.

Ian checks command and leadership at easy. Ian is spectacularly successful.

Terese checks command and leadership at easy. Terese is successful.

A ragged cheer starts to go up among not just Ian's troops, but some other random Malespero troops who happened to get sucked in by the drama of the duel and Ian flicks a lock back at them. "Shut your mouths and get the fuck back in formation," he snaps. "We're going to get everyone out of here alive." Everyone shuts up, but there are a few people grinning, now, and casting sidelong glances at each other, because they're going to be drinking for free for a long time on the story of being told to shut up this way. Ian himself seems subtly altered by the fight, more centered. More certain. More willing to swear at people. It's more endearing than it ought to be.

Raven checks dexterity and athletics at normal. Botch! Raven fails completely.

Ariella checks dexterity and war at easy. Critical Success! Ariella is spectacularly successful.

Caspian hollers up to ian as the men continue to hold at the docs. "Why the fuck are they ordering us back?! we can hold them hear!" a grunt as he dodges a blow and dances back. "gah.. Orders Lord?!"

Raven takes her flag in her teeth, sheathes her sword, and begins to inch towards a corner to try to ease her way down-and is reminded people are STILL trying to shoot her with arrows. There's a flail of her good arm and a high-pitched "Shitfu-" cut off abruptly by a THUD!

"You could have allies if you work with Lord Pasquale, you should consider it," Terese tell the officer then they are being called to withdraw. "Well if we are Ordered back than we should follow it," Terese replies, waiting to ensure everyone is withdrawing as they keep the dock secure

"We've been ordered to withdraw," Ian calls back to Caspian. "We withdr --" THUD! "Shit. You. Calton. Go make sure Raven's not dead." He sends one of the more reliable soldiers back. Just in case.

Ariella is /pissed/ that they are being recalled and, like any mature adult, she's gonna smash her new toys in protest. She wanders around her catapult in an unhurried fashion, tipping her head to the side and then bending to pull out a single pin. And the entire thing just falls to pieces, making such a commotion that she seems satisfied even though no smashing occurred. She wanders over and is ready to reach and help Raven into the tower when she begins to fall! "OI," she screams at some men that are still at the base of the tower. "CATCH HER!" This is obviously ill-advised, but now several people are /somewhat/ hurt rather than one person being /all the way/ hurt, and that is something. Then she races down the tower to check on the woman, not caring so much about the young people who broke her fall whether they liked it or not.

The Galeheart that Sunaia might recognise as Lady Rosethorn lands on the third longship and quickly keeps the Galeheart soldier's from messing with the withdrawing Malespero forces. A cat got the cream smile on her lovely face.

With effort being made on both sides to avoid combat from sparking between the two forces its not too long before you are all safely back on the Galley and the rather disgruntled looking Captain calls for the ship to pull away from the dock and return to its place in the shadow of the Caravel Beatrice.

Raven wheezes and grunts, her f half sticking out of her sleeve she rolls off one of the unfortunate souls she fell on, "Whoever's elbow that is fucking owes be dinner and a bottle of rum." as she staggers to her feet.

Seeing Raven alive and well, Ariella begrudgingly stalks off back toward the docks, cursing out the people recalling the forces colorfully under her breath.

There was a bit of an eruption of laughter around Lady Sunaia as they struggled to claim their catapult and Ariella's was quickly destroyed. They didn't have to leave everything they way their found it here either. The tower still stood after all- mostly. As they were leaving, it was the newly arrived Lady that she called out to.

"Lady Rosethorn! Please give the Fayal my warmest Malespero 'regards' for the state of the skyline, and defenses. The Ninefinger Galeheart should consider your survey of this holding!" It was not a threat but with the Bloodoars suffering all around, and the Galehearts looking to retake a city they had previously claimed as their own, the Rosethorn knew what players were left after Lady Lianne had begun to interview the three factions. Scales were tipping.

Caspian does what he can to lead a semi-orderly withdraw from the docks, grumbling the entire time of course. oh how he wanted to end this then.. oh he wanted to wipe that grin off that woman's face. but... he was following orders. So back they all trudged, withdrawing back to the ships. when rejoined with the others he sighed, "we could have taken em..why do you they get to just come in and take the place?!"

"We're not here to fight a two front war," Ian comments to Caspian, while the two of them continue to keep the plates spinning on the retreat back to the galley. "We're here to knock the most dangerous element out of the fight. And we haven't done that yet."

"Ian," Ariella is already pestering the poor man. "Ian. Ian. Ian." She's bounding after his group, weaving through row by row trying to get up beside him on the way back to the ship. "Ian." Bob. Weave. She pops up nearby. "Ian. Did you see? Ian, did you see me?" This is going to be a long war.

Sunaia's words do take a little of the sparkle off Lady Rosethorn's smile before the politician in her recovers enough to respond to Lady Malespero with a jaunty little wave. "Give your Duchess my thanks." The Galeheart lady gestures for her soldiers to follow her and starts for the road where Terese left the Bloodoar officer and his people. The one good thing about Lady Rosethorn's arrival is that she tells her soldiers "Someone take those gibbets down." along the way.

"Caspian, some battles are not to be won," Terese murmers to him as she helps guide the men back to the ship in an orderly manner well as orderly as she can

Raven stiffly shuffles aboard the ship and wonders to Caspian, "Is that what I sound like when I talk to Lord IAn?" she jerks her thumb towards Ariella.