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[Maldevious]

We should probably stop training and rest our rib as much as we can before this combat, so we can... you know... actually fight?

Let's learn a bit of Altanic and Jaegish from our friends. Just the basics, enough to say hello in a polite enough way. Keeping the bigger picture in mind.

And practice our letters.

[stabbymcstabstab]

lets do the job

[Gervassen]

We should probably stop training and rest our rib as much as we can before this combat, so we can... you know... actually fight?

Let's learn a bit of Altanic and Jaegish from our friends. Just the basics, enough to say hello in a polite enough way. Keeping the bigger picture in mind.

And practice our letters.

+1

Also, let our recruits know that this is the real deal, and if they were bored before, they won't be soon. Leave off training, but continue supervising theirs with a vengeance, reminding them that the consequences of poor training can be death.

[Iituem]

You don't have any pressing needs, so you take the three days to drill and prepare your men, as well as get in one last night on the town before the ship departs.  You do take the time to impress upon your men that although the odds are with you, their training is what will make the difference between death and glory for them.  One or two seem sobered by the realisation, but you phrase it in such a way that morale is not dampened.  On the day you set off, Briggs calls you and the other captains into his quarters for a proper briefing.

Your client is a Tarian merchant of some standing and influence by the name of Lar deSouza.  He has hired you to seize several warehouses and port facilities from a rival merchant and hold them until his own troops and merchants can arrive to take possession of the merchandise and resume operation of the port under his auspices.  The port is staffed by Tarians but located on the coast of Aghreb, a Mukhtish state on the far coast of the Serpent Sea.  deSouza has assured Briggs that the Emir's ministers are being paid enough bribes to ignore the conflict, although the post has its own guards.

deSouza has provided fairly good intelligence on the target.  The warehouses and facilities are located within a compound protected by a simple wooden palisade and low wall.  There are between twenty to thirty soldiers total in the hire of the local merchants, professional guardsmen who patrol the compound.  The merchants themselves mostly live in houses in the nearby port town, but there are slaves and servants who bunk in the compound with the guards.  A small stone holdfast in the corner of the compound serves as a fortified position to withdraw to, but would hold no more than a dozen or so men.  Exact numbers are unavailable, but the soldiers are apparently a mix of archers and macemen, fairly well equipped.

During the two weeks it takes to reach the target, you deliberately take it easy and rest your rib as best you can.  You restrict yourself to basic exercises to keep up your fitness, oversee the drilling of your band, and work on more cerebral pursuits.  You devote several hours a day to learning your letters with Dawlish and try to get Mord and John to teach you a few basic phrases in Jaegish and Altanic.  You don't make a lot of progress, but you are at least able to recognise individual letters (with difficulty) and know how to say important things like "Hello", "Goodbye" and "Where is the brothel" in two new languages.  It's a start.

Your rib doesn't heal fully in the time you have, but you feel you can risk combat with it.  You've just got to hope you don't get hit in that part of your torso.

Briggs calls you to his cabin once again when the ship is nearing the target.  He holds a brief counsel with you and the other captains to discuss strategy.  Dens and Twine both favour sailing directly into the port in the guise of a merchant ship and then overpowering the local guards and forcing their way into the compound with the element of surprise.  Pannis suggests holding back and sending a few men by rowboat further up the beach to scout the port first, then if need be disembark and attack from land rather than risk a bottleneck confrontation at the dock.  Briggs seems undecided, so if you have any tactical strategies to offer or wish to support a course of action this is the time.

Spoiler: Garntice Hestaceson (click to show/hide)

Age: 15
Healing Rib

Native Tarian Speaker, Rudimentary Literacy
Minimal Jaegish Speaker
Minimal Altanic Speaker
Not Vvardic Speaker

Proficient Thrower
Skilled Spearman
Skilled Armour User
Average Speaker
Average Axeman
Average Shield-User
Average Gambler
Average Athlete
Novice Commander
Novice Surgeon
Novice Bargainer
Dabbling Hero

Spoiler: Possessions (click to show/hide)

Wages: Minor
Purse: Small
Loot: -
Debt Fund: Meagre

Boiled Leather Armour
Basic Iron Spear
Iron Handaxe
Simple Iron Buckler
3 Iron Throwing Axes
6 Wood-Tipped Javelins
Average Longbow
Quiver: 12 Arrows
Steel Dagger
Firepot
Bottle o' Nerves (3 doses)
Pack of Cards, Fair Dice
Scroll case w/ literacy parchments
Styluses and Slates

Debt: Serious (small basic debt, plus serious fine for evading debt collection)

Spoiler: Legal Status (click to show/hide)

Wanted for Debt Evasion.
Member of the Black Boars.

Spoiler: Subordinates (click to show/hide)

John, an Altanic spearman - Loyal
Mord, a Jaegish spearman - Loyal

General Troop Morale - Content
6 normal spearmen
4 green spearmen

Spoiler: Contacts (click to show/hide)

Jados Venti, a merchant - Met
Lar deSouza, a merchant prince - Heard Of

The Black Boars
Commander Briggs - Respectful
Sea Captain Bors - Seen
Galen, Quartermaster - Neutral
Dawlish, Company Surgeon - Neutral
Captain Twine, a Gulsh captain - Neutral
Captain Dens, a Jaegish captain - Neutral
Captain Pannis, a Tarian captain - Neutral

Spoiler: Deceased (click to show/hide)

Captain Tovey, your band captain - Slain in the Battle of Dewden
Karl, your bandmate - Slain in the Battle of Dewden
Brandon, your bandmate - Slain in the Battle of Dewden
Petras, Drillmaster -  Slain in the Battle of Dewden
Commander Brecht - Slain in the Battle of Dewden

[Maldevious]

I like Pannis' idea. Let's not rush in and end up in another Dewden.

[Gervassen]

Sailing into the port directly and fighting near our ship is risky because it's hard to unmoor and escape if something bad happens. Scouting without local assistance that can blend into the surroundings could simply alert everyone to our presence here if they see people loitering about on the horizon. Our main advantage is that no one knows that we are coming. That should be further leveraged by a surprise night attack by those rowboats from our ship anchored down the coast and out of sight. It's far better to risk a few rowboats, which can turn around and escape in the safety of the night, than to sail an entire ship into the moorings and have no escape option.

[Gervassen]

Once we land under darkness, we could assault the compound quickly and overpower the night guards. We should take ladders and attempt to avoid the gates. Hit the stronghold first, and make sure the garrison can't reach the holdfast to make a last stand, then clear out the other buildings, release the slaves to either fight for us, or to cause more confusion with their panicked escape. Lastly, we attack the gates and have fully secured the compound.

It might be a little against the rules to touch the slaves, but it makes our lives easier and advances the overall goal, since the employer principally just wants the port infrastructure and valuable merchandise. These slaves are lowly grunt dock-workers. The additional chance that this gives us of disorienting the enemy is worth freeing some cheap grunt-work slaves.

[Theodolus]

Agreed with Gervassen. A stealthy approach is probably the best option at this point. We can muffle our oars with rags in order to slip in a bit quieter as well.

[Parsely]

All is good, except don't touch the slaves. The client said no looting, and slaves are most certainly a part of that. Don't free them, don't kill them, don't even go near the house where they're kept unless they try to leave. Other than that, the plan is golden.

[GreatWyrmGold]

Am I the only one amused that "Where is the brothel?" is one of the phrases we learned?

[Gervassen]

Yeah, I was moderately amused, too. There are risks to freeing the slaves, and to not freeing the slaves. I think the overall mission is more likely achieved, the more bedlam and trouble we create for the defenders. Sweating the details of losing a few slaves for unloading ships is not a big deal if the entire mission fails.

[Iituem]

Working on an update, but to clarify; the compound is technically within the town and borders the docks. Here is a convenient if incomplete map, which I should have just included from the start!  I'll hold off on updating for a bit in case this prompts a change in plans.

Code: [Select]

   | o-----------o |
   | |        |  | |
___| |        o--| |__
     |           |
___  |           |  __
   | |           | |
   | |           | |
   | |           | |
___| o----| |----o |__

 --- --- --- --- ---
   | | | | | | | |
   |_| |_| |_| |_|


[Gervassen]

Also, we should advance after capturing the compound and strike out at the merchants in the nearby town. These people are the leadership of the port defences, and if they escape, they can rally the mercenaries and recruit more. We have to hold these facilities until whatever point in time that our employer arrives. It could be weeks in a low-tech world.

That's why arming the slaves lightly and promising them freedom after they fight might be a good idea. They can be cheap militia for holding the seized compound, while our real troops are roaming the townhouses and abducting the merchant leaders.

[Parsely]

For God's sake NO FREEING THE SLAVES. They're bloody property and the contractor said 'no looting', which also includes letting his valuable stock run away. We want to get paid this time and get a decent reputation, remember?! Hence we should fulfil the contract by following our employer's instructions. Slaves have always been expensive, and I'm sure they are in this universe as well.

[Gervassen]

Yeah, there's a little risk of failing a minor contract clause, but these slaves are not that expensive. It's a judgement call. In the real world, the Maghreb Arabs would think nothing of enslaving hundreds of Christians, chaining them to oars in a galley, and rowing them to death. Hundreds for each galley. These slaves are expendable.