Forums / Roleplaying / The Stormborn :The Black Staff

[ok, ok, stop fighting over elven sub-races!]

[Dark Elves are a bit more militaristic than your elves, Erunion, as they have been fighting off almost every race ,because most races want to kill them.]

[The Naggarothians, in other words Dark elves were born in the Fires of war.
Every single Citizen is a trained warrior who is prepared to be sent off to raid the lesser races at any given moment.
Dark  Elves economy is held together by slave labour. The Dark Elves take to sea in their Black Arks. Kept afloat by magic, the Black Arks travel far and wide to procure slaves. Each Black Ark is home to a small army of Dark Elf raiders and a small fleet of raiding vessels. These forces can be landed on the coast of an unsuspecting kingdom, perform a lightning raid, and be off before any of the local defence forces are able to react. In this way countless millions of doomed souls have been taken back to Naggaroth to a fate worse than death.
The Dark Elves believe themselves to be superior to all and equal to none. Their principle enemies are the High Elves for obvious reasons, but over the centuries have been given reason to take up arms against all races]

[[OOC: I so agree...]]

As the party ends the sailors fall asleep, and the boat is guided by only sober Septim and his two crewmen that didn't drink, Aesius and Conwell.

"The winds are with us tonight, the next port should be within our sight soon", said Septim.

The ship went on for a day, and Septim stayed awake. The crewmen woke up with hangovers, and Septim cracked a smile. When Verll was over his hangover Septim looked at him.

"Take...the wheel..."

Septim walked into his cabin and fell onto his bed, drifting into the bliss of sleep almost instantly.

The deck slowly began to fill with life, as the crew fought their hangovers to defend themselves against the threat. Demonsul was totally unprepared for the rain of arrows that were to issue from the pirate ship. Luckily, the pirates were still too distant to aim very well, and only three arrows actually hit the ship. Two hit the deck harmlessly, and one embedded itself in Demonsul's arm...

Erunion runs on to the deck, bow in hand.
"Archers! Unleash arrows!"
His words pierce the haze experienced by most of the crew, waking them up enough to fire.
After a few volleys, the Pirate ship was close enough to board. Using his magic to destroy all but two of the gangplanks which were lowered, Erunion drew his Trendarat and rushed to the defense of the ship.
"Forward men! Don't let them get a foothold!"

Bartimaeus and Xarxes saw Demonsul fall down to the floor and pulled him to safety, Xarxes being the one pulling him and Bartimaeus fending off any attackers, they managed to pull him below deck before joining the battle again.

***

Septim cut another two grappling hook ropes and parried a blow from a pirate, he kicked him off the ship and turned to see a knife being thrown at him, he managed to catch it in between his hands and throw it at the attacker, he picked up Firengard and continued fighting.

[[OOC: If he's dead then you're on a desert island with nothing but an iron dagger...no ships go there, it's a wasteland, and plus you'd be out of the game if you aren't on the Stormborn anyways...]]

[[OOC: You know what...he was going to die anyways, might as well get him out now...]]

Bartimaeus ran up and began dueling a pirate holding a gold hilted cutlass and in the attire of a captain. Bartimaeus parried a blow and made a stab, but the Captain dodged, he then whistled and suddenly Bartimaeus was surrounded. The enemies charged Bartimaeus and the captain smiled, but so did Bartimaeus, he ran at the Captain and plunged his blade into the Captain's heart. He then lost his balance and fell off the ship into the waters below.

***

Septim stabbed one man and suddenly the entire pirate crew ran off the ship shouting, "The Captain be dead! Run!"

"Of course, pirates without a leader are cowards..."

The crew counts the dead and comes up with the total of five people dead on their side and eleven (including the captain) on the pirates' side.

"Put the weapons and undamaged armor in the hold for selling or arming later...", said Septim as he went into his cabin.

***

The crew burned the bodies they found, and went off to the port of Shermar, a friendly northern port town. Septim approached Demonsul.

"Get your message out to your people and then go with Might and Erunion to try to find ten men to replace those we lost...", said Septim, "We need men with ballista experience or experience at repelling boarders"

After that he approached Verll, "As my XO, you have the deck until we return...", he turned his head to Vineraven, "Go find any news you can find on the Eastern Empire, we will be pillaging one of their cities soon, so we need to know their tactical formations, their weapons, and who their Generals are."

After that Septim walked over to the portmaster, payed him, and walked off into the town.

Septim approached a shady figure in a back alleyway.

"I need heavy siege weaponry that can be mounted on a ship...", said Septim.

"That's good Captain S...I got just what you're looking for..."

***

An hour later a crew of shady men are mounting a catapult on the ship, making sure to put a lazy susan type rotational device so that it may rotate.

***

Septim approaches another black market dealer and makes a special order (I'll reveal it later...).

***

Septim reaches the final black market merchant and buys twelve jugs of fire that cannot be put out using water called Greek fire for some reason, Septim has no idea what or where Greece is (it doesn't exist in this world) but he takes the mixture nonetheless and returns to the Stormborn.

Salaracen walked through the town looking for a map dealer or an information stand of some sort.
He walked over to a group of villagers and asked them if they knew anything about the Eastern lands. After a number of failed attempts, due to Salaracen announcing the people he was asking for information as scum or lesser beings, He  finally gained information of someone who might know something about the Eastern lands.

After talking to a rather old man for about three quarters of an hour, he had all of the information written on a piece of parchment. He gave the information to Septim and went off the boat again.
Seeing he had nothing better to do he decided he go for a meaningful walk along the shore where the Stormborne was docked.

Salaracen eventually looked out to the ocean, longing and hoping for something familiar from home.
Salaracen soon fell asleep on the sand. The sleep possibly lasted for hours until Salaracen was woken by an all too familiar sound.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

A Dark Elf Black Ark had floated down the coast searching for a good place to dislodge all of its raiding vessels, and it had decided that just off the coast from Port Shermar was a dam good place to do this.

The Witch King stood to his feet as a dozen of these ships landed on the beach right in front of him. Salaracen smiled a smile of content as the warriors stared in silence at him for over a minute.

 "These are my people. And I wish to help you more than I can by working on a ship" Salaracen stated as he stood on the beach in front of several battalions of Dark elf Corsairs and Warriors.
"The Black Ark just off the coast here shall ride with your ship to the east, then we will assist in the assault of their cities."

One of the crew members checks an old book to see what Black Arks actually are and comes across...

"The Dark Elves take to sea in their Black Arks. The size of small cities these Black Arks are kept afloat by magic, the Black Arks travel far and wide to procure slaves. Each Black Ark is home to a small army of Dark Elf raiders and a small fleet of raiding vessels. These forces can be landed on the coast of an unsuspecting kingdom, perform a lightning raid, and be off before any of the local defence forces are able to react. In this way countless millions of doomed souls have been taken back to Naggaroth to a fate worse than death."

Salaracen smiled at the crew of the Stormborne. "Let me help you."

Verll  was walking around the deck, making sure the crew did what it was supposed to do. He had too make sure that the next time they docked he could leave the ship. He needed to buy some more throwing knives and such, he had lost almost all he had in the battle with the sea monsters, as he liked to call themeven though everyone else had fancy names on them. He had thrown them into the eye's of the bastardly things.

He was a bit vary of the Dark Elfs, he had met quite a number of them on his travels, and most were hardly trustable. Even though they could have their uses in the battle, they were fierce warrios, just not as disciplined as the Naergothrendarin soldiers.

Ay, he vouched for having them around for now, but put minimally trust him them. He would not trust a Dark Elf to his back even if his life depended on it.

*Might sat in is chair working on his dagger.*

Whats the deal with elves....they always hate each other for the most unimportant reasons. Sometimes I think this world would be better without elves period ,but the only thing thats stopping me from sasying that is that they make a tasty meal.....

Demonsul saw the Black Ark on the horizon. Whatever was about to happen, he hoped it would end quickly.

[Hey, what can I say! Its what we do :D]


[PS: We take the men as well. Children are too weak to do the work required so we kill them]

{We await the Mighty Septimus.}

[No.]

Septim boarded the Stormborn and waited for his crew to board, upon boarding they pulled out of the harbor towards the small town of Falisham of the Eastern Lands, it is known for its agricultural contributions to the mighty Eastern Empire.

***Fifteen days later***

Septim looks at the large town through his spyglass and turns to his men.

"Man the catapult and ballista men! We have to take out their fort before my mercenaries and Western armies arrive!", roared Septim, the catapult men loaded a projectile into the catapult and fired into the fort, caving it in on itself and killing all within, meanwhile a ballista fires and hits the catapult on the north wall, disabling it, from the west comes a large army of westerners, and from the north, mercenaries hired by Septim to help in the raid, Septim had been busy in the previous town, sending messages to many. Another catapult volley launched at the town and destroyed a guard tower with ten men and a catapult on it, the final volley before the Stormborn's loading ramp was lowered to the shore hit the gates, breaking them outwards and letting many westerners and mercenaries in.

[[OOC: Westerners are known for their warriors and pikemen, their cavalry is moderate and they use artillery only when needed, mercenaries have no artillery or cavalry, and few pikemen, their skill in close quarters combat varies.]]

Men on horses try to charge the Westerners, but their pikemen take them out. Meanwhile Septim leads the crew of the Stormborn into battle.

***

"C'mon men! To victory, make the Easterners pay for raiding northern lands!", roared Septim in the voice that had made him so famous as a Western General, his beard now an inch long, he looked like a berserker when he yelled his battle-cry and ran into battle, but he was not. His actions full of finesse and perfection, he did not let rage fuel his combat, his brain never lost control.

lol i could have done that =P  Oh sure, I get kicked right before the most exciting part.  Al though, I got my revenge and really had to other reason to stay.

The Westerners defeat the Eastern defense force, and Septim goes out to greet them.

"Westerners! Good work, take this city for the Emperor, you may use it as a foothold, has any new been heard of a man with a black staff?", asked Septim.

"Yes, he lives in a fortress to the south of here, he has many guards, but I am sure you can take them...", said the westerner Captain, "Good luck General."

***Seven hours later***

The Stormborn sailed through the calm waves, the crows nest holding one man who shouted "there it is!" upon seeing the whitestone fortress. The catapult was armed, and fired at the walls, which crumbled, a ballista shot went up and missed the tower, but flew down and hit a poor soldier in the keep. After a barrage of projectiles, the crew of the Stormborn stomed the stronghold, the men inside were brave, but no bravery could save them from the steel of the Stormborn's crew. After the battle Revenge approached the man with the black staff, Revenge drew his blade and stabbed it into the man's heart, he fell to the floor and Revenge took his blade out and sheathed it without a word. After looting the place thoroughly, finding many great treasures, the crew returned to their homes, the Stormborn itself was taken to a cove, where it was beached and left, where it would stay until another adventurous group would grace it's deck again.

[[OOC: Sorry for controlling your character Revenge, you're sort of inactive, but I wanted you to get revenge...I will start a new Stormborn soon...]]