Drewsport - contested territory.

#21

Catch his runner before he could head out, Tormag’ru took his to the side. “I have a few additional tasks for you. you will have to ride hard to finish them but don’t stop if you can help it. First, after you have stopped by HQ, i need you to swing up to tne Great Uf and send the Axillary unit here. those younglings can aid in repairing the town and get shown that not all earthers are evil. that most of the earthers are just scared but otherwise similar to the gogs.”

"Second, and this is the more dangerous part, I need you to deliever a message. i need you to take this spear and throw it at the forces of the Oners at that Thomasville place. Make sure that you don’t hit any of them, just get it close enough that they can’t misss it. just be sure that you aren’t stopped. i expect you back as fast as possible.’

“Now go with the Redeemer, and swift ride”

Then he stood there watching the rider disappear into the dust on his Slephnir. Turning back to the work in town, he went to make sure that everything was proceding apace.

#22

Iguli was becoming distracted and making small mistakes on building, Dol taps him on the shoulder, “maybe you can go run an errand for me. You can be my runner to the north, I want to see if we can get this whole town running together. Let them know that we are repairing the building and attempting to repair the townsfolk as best as we can, they can be as scared of us as they want but I didn’t join this raid to level half the town.” Dol looks at the devastation, “now go, and return quickly with news.”

#23

Babi Yaal looked out over Drewsport. After negotiations failed he and the crew got ready to head out. Then the Batavian Bat made a stand and the family was caught with its thumb up its butt.

The human crew readily joined in the work with the humans of Drewsport. They would try to teach the citizens of Drewsport to be tolerant of Dol Kug’lock and her crew, while telling them horror stories of the vampyrs, implying the Batavian Bat was the only thing keeping them in line.

Babi Yaal would head to Batavian Bat to congratulate the captain for taking half the town. Vampyrs were not known for being good rulers, it was better that Dol Kug’lock had the helm. He would also offer them Ever full barrels of water to make sure both the town and the Reverent and Batavian Bat had full stores.

(OOC: If the water way was open they would make a quick jaunt to the coven to pick up 4 barrels)

#24

Milos was marching toward the southern end of town, when he almost tripped over a pirate that had tripped and fallen in a rush. Stopping he looked at the being and said “I don’t know what your hurry is, but you might want to be careful if you be heading into the north town. The townsfolk saw what the pirates did to the south town, and they are not too happy about it.”

#25

From the north, came riding several gogs on the mounts of the Redeemer. This olgogs looked different from the others in the Redeemer forces. They were not Grey furs. The 8 Ur’Ruhgs and 3 Conscripts approached the town slowly after nearing the range of the Springshots in the towers.

A few moments later, 3 more riders came into view. These were more like what the townsfolk had come to expect. They were the Grey furs. Approaching the captain, they reined in their mounts. “Reinforcements reporting as ordered, sir,” said the one in front. These Dead looked like they could be triplets. The Captain nodded, “good to see you. Get up to the west tower and make sure everything is ready.”

“Sir,” they replied and headed off.

Looking at the other group of riders, Captain Tormog’ru walked over and nodded. “well, you guys are here to help us repair the town and help these people get ready to defend themselves. We have set up in the guard barracks by the north gate. get your things stowed and get ready to work hard. any questions?”

One of the conscripts, a scrawny brezan, asked grumpily “Why we be 'elping these earthers? ain’t dey da Church of Onesies that always be attackings our people? Why shouldn’t we just let dem die?” looking around at the other gogs that rode in with him, he hoped to see support for his idea.

Faster than a striking stalker, the captain’s hand lashed out, striking a backhanded slap across the face of the conscript. “You little fool, don’t you know that is how the Ancient Evils that want to destroy all of your people want you to think? You are young still, so you may not have been told of the ancient wars and how they laid waste to everything around. The death on both sides. We who follow the way of the Redeemer are set upon a course to try and stop the Ancient Evils from doing that to and other civilization. If you can not see that then you are free to leave. But know this, If you stay, you could be helping to find a way to stop the killing of the Gogs by the church. The power of the church rests in its people. If you can change the little people and then keep them alive so they can change others, there is a chance that enough will change to topple the few who think they rule. If we show these people a better way, show that their lives are better when they live and work with us instead of everyone killing one another, then we might have a chance to stop the bloodshed. Can you understand that?”

Taking a deep breath, the Captain continued “I know it is a hard thing I ask of you. But if you are not willing to try, how can we ever expect the earthers to? Us Dead are good at fighting and destroying stuff, but it is the Living like yourselves and the townsfolk that can build things and heal the rift between the races. That is all I am asking. Try. Use the leyas to help fix up the town. help the sick and injured. help repair the town’s defenses and buildings. Show the people that the Olgog people are not mindless brutes. They have be shown the violence that the gogs can do. The south end of town is under the control of pirates and vampyres. The townsfolk we are protecting have already seen both bad sides and good of what our peoples can bring. Let us be sure they know, we are not the brutes that leveled hslf the town. The Dead will defend the town and give you a chance to do so.”

Waving them away to stow their stuff and then spread out thru the north town, helping the people; Captain Tormug’ru turn to gaze out to sea, wondering what problem would crop up next.

#26

Iguli jumps up quickly and brushes himself off. “I’m okay” he said. A bit more clumsy without the sea rocking beneath his feet he stumbled towards whoever seemed to be in charge. Dol had given him a note with explanation of south end progress. Someone needs to see this.

The note says:
North drewsport leader:
37% of the buildings have so far been repaired and fortified.
23% of the townsfolk that were found have been healed enough for them to run away. We still frighten them.
The docks and the bat are repaired and set for the next adventure.

We did not want to terrorize the townsfolk, unfortunately they are scared of us anyways.

Dol Kug’lock Captain of the Batavian Bat

#27

Looks like Dunesphere is here faster than i thought they would be… Dol thinks as she hears a ruckus from the bat. Hm… just as I thought, they aren’t planning on trying Drewsport back. With that artillery it will be burnt up. They are planing to cleanse the entire area. perhaps it is time to think outside the box. I wish i had more of those bombs from the land swimmer. This town will not survive.

step one, cloud cover over the port and entire town including my two ships.
step two, send one pirate through Daemonbanes tent to retrieve him.
step three, remove the inhabitants by force if needed, since they don’t trust us.
step four, move the revenant and the bat into position to act as a blockade.
step five, use the pirates on the revenant to bring the lightning down onto the battle ships. should be between 10 and 20 lightning strikes a round.
step six, pirates in Drewsport will be focused on using air leyas to misdirect incoming projectiles and putting out fires with air or water leyas.
step seven, clean up.

“this is just a working proposal, we really should be working together on this. let me know where i should change things my fellow gogs. My strong point is at sea, so i have been focusing there. if you need help with the malitia just let me know.”

#28

Babi shook his head and took off his top hat. This looked grim. “Where da hariless go? We tell them to go into da desert and da militia will slaughter them like hoblok at da butchers. We tell them to take to da waves and those fishing boats get torn apart by da church ships.”

Babi looked at the reverent and batavian bat. “You gonna park your ships out there and let da church use them as target practice?” Babi asked incredulously. Even with a buffer of air leyas he seriously wondered if the wooden hull stood even a remote chance against the battle ships big guns.

“I hope da grey furs handle da militia. Da family refuses to fight them.” He concluded, “As for da ships. If you use da lightning then we can’t use part of my plan. Instead da vampyrs will create walls of shadow infront of da moving ships. Da ship to big to miss it, and as it passes through the ship it inspire terror. We also use da walls of shadow on da gun pods. Hopefully da pilots are no good at flying and they pass through them and crash.”

#29

Inquisitor Tom rode into Drewsport through the north road with three Red Bishops, four small red flags attached to their horses. They rode to the section of the town controlled by the “Redeemers” Inquisitor Tom called out “You wished to negotiate?”

#30

Captain Tormog’ru stepped out of the doorway he was standing in. “Welcome, I would like to discuss the protection of these townsfolk and the attacks on this town by the forces of the Kolgol militia and the navy of DUnesphere. These civilians have done nothing to deserve these attacks. We are just trying to prevent this conflict from escalating. I was wondering what you and your forces would be able to offer to aid in the protection of this town?”

#31

Inquisitor Tom smiled at the Captain “Of course we wish to keep this port safe, I am sure if we work together we can remove all other intruders. Then we can reopen the port to Church vessels and try to get this town back to normal. We thank you for taking the time to keep the people safe. If we can get the invaders out into the open the naval ships can bombard them from sea. It would also be useful if you can convince the other naval vessels to move away from the town. That way we can try to eliminate all unnecessary violence.”

#32

The Captain nodded slowly. “That may be difficult at this time. I have offered safe passage for the pirates to leave, but with the Church Navy out there, they may not believe that. If you could ask that they draw back and not fire on the pirates, we may be able to get them to leave peacefully.”

#33

Inquisitor Tom nodded "I will contact the ships, I can tell them to allow the pirates to withdraw, however if the pirates return they will look at that as an act of aggression and open fire. They are pirates after all and generally shot on sight. However in the pursuit of peace we shall allow them to withdraw. After all our focus needs to be on rebuilding and safeguarding this town.

If only all of your kind was so willing to work toward peace. We could end this destructive conflict and then work toward a more permanent peace. After all, it is hard to trust someone when their knife is at your throat."

#34

Captain Tormag’ru nodded, “Yes, I can understand that. We Dead were created by a great Evil to be soldiers and machines of destruction, but by following the Way of the Redeemer, we hope to one day prove that we are better than that. If you can get the ships to hold their fire, so that we can defeat the kolgol militia, I will attempt to talk the pirates out of town. I can not gaurantee anything, but as you say we should try to work toward peace. If we can solve this peacefully, we can try to negotiate with them to make a safe sailing zone around this town, so that ship will be protected. But I must warned you that it may require some concessions on your part.”

Pausing to clear his head, he proceeded “I can offer you quarters in the north barracks at this time. It is where my forces have quartered for the time being. You and your men can have the commander’s quarters as I have been spending most of my time organizing the recovery efforts.”

#35

Inquisitor Tom nodded as well "Yes, well you are certainly on your way in your quest to prove that you are better then most of your brethren. Not only can I get the ships not to fire on the town, I can have them fire on specific targets, so if we can get the Militia into a clear area they can be bombarded.

As for the pirates, they can leave, if they do not get in our way or attack us. You have to understand, the vast majority of my people hate your entire race, living, dead, somewhere in-between, hate. The very fact that I am agreeing to not shell the entire town is a concession, some of my order considers speaking to you heresy. The pirates are not going to get much better then being allow to leave, in some circles the very idea of me allowing them to go would get me put on on one of those lovely crosses. I will let them go as a sign of our desire for peace and as a gesture of good will, however they most likely will not get anything more then that.

We are thankful for quarter, however there is a lot of work to do. We need you to fill us on on enemy positions and strengths so we can formulate a plan of action. We can rest when the town is safe."

#36

Dol had sent an errand boy, Iguli had yet to return, she was beginning to get concerned. When Iguli returned with information of the conversation between the dead gogs and to accursed church of one, the crumpled note still in hand. Iguli explained as many details that he could remember form the talk, the main point being that the pirates should be able to leave and sail past the blockade. “Sounds like a trap to me. Plus that doesn’t mean that they really won’t blow this whole town to dust just because we were here.” Dol looked into the sky thinking. “Well we know that we can’t trust the oners. and now i see that we do not have an ally in the dead. we are on our own, as always. We can’t allow the oners simply to do as they wish in this land because what they wish is our eradication.”

#37

Babi was tired of playing bob the builder. The earthers of drewsport would likely never trust the pirate force which pillaged them. Could he blame them? The original plan was to capture the town and have turned int over the GNA to rule and protect. Get wealth trading with the town and the Great northern army, maybe have a GUTS trading post.

The GNA never showed up, Babi wondered why, wondered what calamity befell the eastern front. He didn’t have time for those ponderings. The crew of the Batavian bat took a much more active rule in the town. Now they wanted to dig in their heels and fight for their new jewel.

“It be a good ting to get to open water, no matter what.” He noted. Getting pressed from both the shore and the waves sounded like disaster. The offer sounded like a trap, but so was staying in the harbor.

“We use da church to fight da militia. Dat a good ting too.” He noted. he had an idea but it was a long shot. “What if we use da militia as a distraction to get past da church. Get to open water and then deal with da navy?”

“We shadowwalk da militia onto da church ships. Da militia and church fight each other on da church ships. We take da waves double back and destroy da ships from the open water.”

He looked to Captain Dol. He would stand by the GUTS alliance but the plan of using the ships as a blockade seemed like suicide.

#38

Ka’na’al of the Ka Gor stood near Captain Dol when Iguli came back.
She thought Igulis aura made him kind of cute. Cute in a young heroic sort of way.
Ka’na’al again cursed her red fur. Each night she sang for the crew of the Bat but some nights she was singing for Iguli. He didn’t notice.
She could tell he was frustrated as he reported the lack of positive social contract between the factions in Drewsport. It made her upset on his behalf. Unlikely as it seemed, and as unseemly as it was Ka’na’al wanted to make cute Iguli smile. Though she might never see his smile.

She adjusted the handsome pirate clothing that adorned her amazonian form and decides now was the time to act.

“Captain Dol, Iguli, Mister Babi, I can help. Or at least I smelled some friends in town who could help. They were the dapper red furs who have been buying supplies in town. The ones who do not dress like typical red furs.
If an army of Red Furs attacked the Kolgul Militiagogs from behind it would allow Mr Babi and his vamp…pirates to set their plan in action quickly. The Grey Furs want to work with the vile Iron Crosses then maybe we can be vile too.
They need ships with hulls? Red furs can melt the hulls after Mr Babi transport Kolgul Militiagogs onboard to fight Iron Crosses. Both groups drown or feed the Dargor.
Would this help Captain Dol, Mr Babi?”

Then she felt Iguli looking at her and she blushed and wanted to crawl away and hide.

#39

After wandering the southern portion of town for hours, Trooper Milos was getting frustrated. None of the townsfolk would talk to him around the pirates. Everwhere he looked the pirates were hard at work doing something to try and repair the buildings. But it made no sense to be putting portholes on buildings. And he had stopped in amazement at the trio working to raise a mast on warehouse.

As he entered a alley, still trying to find anyone in charge of this confusion, he was stopped by a earther woman. “Sir, are you from the Angels?” she asked. When he nodded, she held up a child. “Please sir, take my baby with you. I can’t stand the thought of her being preyed upon by those horrible creatures?” She then thrust the baby into his arms and turned running.

Milos stood there shocked. ‘Was it so bad here that the woman would trust her child to an undead rather than have it stay?’ He decide that he needed to report this immediately, and set off at a trot back to the north sector.

#40

Yirhug watched the Pirates and Unit 817 working at cross purposes. He asked the Dimension Walker, “Sir, if both groups of Olgogs want to help the Earthers why don’t they work together?”

The Dimension Walker looked up from the binber-red silk pantaloons at one of the clothing stalls ,“Same reason as always. People talk at each other not with each other.”

“But sir.”

“No buts Yirhug, both the Pirates and the Grey Furs think their path is correct,” said the Dimension Walker, “But what is the best solution? Certainly not handing these people over to the Kolgul Militia. And certainly not handing them back to the Church of One zealots.
Groups like these are why the Ka Gor tribe considers the Ka Gor’na a blessing. At least the Ka Gor’na would have enforced an element of unity among them and the people of Drewsport.”

“By demanding their own form of zealotry,” stammered Yirhug as he thought of his dad.

“Blasphemy,” said the Dimension Walker obviously joking as he paid the vendor for the pantaloons in food rations.

“I’m serious. Our packmates aren’t better than the zealots,” said Yirhug.

“And,” asked the Mentor.

“Shouldn’t we help the Olgogs North and South work together?” asked Yirhug.

“The Grey furs won’t accept our help because of our fur color,” replied mentor dismissively.

“And the Pirates they have a red fur with them,” said Yirhug, “We could convince them to team up and save all the people here.”

“What then?” Asked the mentor.

“Then they rule this town fairly,” said Yirhug in the way only a youngling could.

“And what of the Earthers? Do they get to rule themselves?” Asked the mentor.

“Yes,” replied Yirhug.

“How nice,” said the Dimension Walker, “Go and speak with the Pirates and ask them.
Then you can watch them leave the Earthers to their fate.”

“You are wrong,” said Yirhug running off.

"I highly doubt that, the Earthers here are an ignorant lot, the pirates won’t risk their lives for them "said the Dimension Walker, “I will see you later child.”