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Post by Magnate Lucius on Jun 8, 2020 10:20:43 GMT -5
Given that Adrian was a rich old goat, the corsairs would find quite the booty awaiting them. Within a series of vaults, the Lysserion Brothers, who led the party to find what was hidden, found a lump sump of four thousand, three hundred gold awaiting them. Gangs of the corsairs began to haul the gold dragons up, more than pleased with the promise made by their 'Pirate King' who said he would make them rich. As the treasures were brought up, including gems, rare trinkets, and such, Rance Weaver, another one of the captains, found an oddity stored away. This vault was more cleverly hidden, but the Ironborn's eye was good with details. Him and a few of his men opened the vault to find an artifact within.
Rance came up the stairs, from below, finding his way to Aurane Waters. In his hands was a glimmering Valyrian Steel axe, the reputed Crab Pincer.
Mi'lord, found this in a 'idden vault below. Bet that Maric boy hid it from us and hoped to retrieve it later eh?
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Post by Gandalf on Jun 8, 2020 11:32:52 GMT -5
"A fine prize, Rance. Set it with the rest of the plunder, in the Great Hall. Each man shall have his share. Those who try to steal from us will be hanged as traitors."
Commanded Aurane. Every man would be searched as he deposited whatever he'd found before Celtigar's throne, which the Lord of the Waters was now seated upon. Crab's Pincer lay across his lap, claimed as his own personal prize. It would take much of the day for the loot to be gathered, but once it was set in one place, each man would take his share.
Aurane had the first pick, taking Crab's Pincer and a fifth of the gold for himself. Then came the captains, who took a smaller share. The rest, a not inconsiderable pile of gold and silver, was left to the men, each man being given a handful of coin. While a paltry amount to a noble, it was likely more than any had held in their lifetime.
Over the following days, Aurane turned Claw Isle into his personal fortress. Patrols and garrisons were established, and the crews were set to work on rebuilding the docks and fortifying the island, or collecting tribute from the smallfolk who dwelt in the harbour village. Whatever trees were left would be cut down to make more ships. The Lord of the Waters now only had Celtigar's family to deal with.
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Post by Magnate Lucius on Jun 8, 2020 14:07:49 GMT -5
Of the Celtigar family, Aurane was able to capture Maric and a sister. The second sister, and their elderly mother, managed to escape, by boat, to friendly territory within Crackclaw Point. Maric, the remaining son, and his sister, were locked within a bedroom, for now, until Aurane wanted to deal with them.
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Post by Gandalf on Jun 8, 2020 14:41:19 GMT -5
The lord's son and daughter were treated with respect. It was forbidden to do them harm, and though they were kept under guard they were given food and water, as well as separate quarters. Aurane did not think it prudent to waste resources looking for the others and so let them go. He himself took Lord Adrian's old quarters, warming his bed with a golden-haired knight's daughter that took a liking to him.
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Post by Gandalf on Jun 8, 2020 20:34:42 GMT -5
Dragonstone. It was ominously visible even from Claw Isle, the pitch black fortress jutting from the Narrow Sea. It grew larger as the ships drew closer. Aurane left all the smaller vessels on Dragonstone, the Dromonds and War Galleys making up the fleet for the purposes of the ruse. No banners fluttered from their masts save Aurane’s own device. As they made their approach, Aurane sent a few men forwards in a rowboat. They requested to speak with the garrison commander, claiming that Lord Aurane Waters had been reconciled with the Tyrells, and had been sent by the Crown to defend Dragonstone from corsairs crossing into the Narrow Sea. Lord Waters wished to speak with the commander in person; the Lord Tywin had anchored just off the coast of the island.
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Post by Magnate Lucius on Jun 9, 2020 20:43:13 GMT -5
Those men did not return. A panicked garrison commander, Ser Felton, a Reachman loyalist, had ordered the men, on his walls, to fire at those sent ashore. The arrival of Lord Tywin and a score of many other galleys and dromonds had caused him to react as such. Aurane Waters was a traitor and how he managed to turn ten dromonds into tens more made him shut the gates quickly. Felton only had a couple hundred men, but perhaps a raven to King's Landing to report this. However, the thicket of ships around Dragonstone made him think twice and doubt that a raven could get through such a blockade.
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Post by Gandalf on Jun 9, 2020 21:01:51 GMT -5
Aurane watched the debacle from the prow of his ship, Crab’s Pincer hanging from from his waist. The Lord of the Waters shook his head, sadly. The garrison commander would not be so easily duped, and there was little he could do from his ships but wait. A blockade would be enforced on the island, and a messenger sent back to Claw Isle for the Cogs to set sail. At nightfall, Aurane and his captains sent more men in rowboats, careful not to alert the patrols on the top of the walls. Under cover of darkness they would search for some kind of weakness in the walls; hopefully Loras Tyrell’s assault on the island had left the gate or some section of the wall damaged enough for Aurane’s men to force entry into the castle.
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Post by Magnate Lucius on Jun 9, 2020 21:07:24 GMT -5
The men sent, via rowboat, had barely gotten ashore when the alarms were raised on the northern wall. Torches flared up and men went upon the wall, firing arrows down upon the corsairs at the shoreline. A gate opened and several riders had come out with a score of infantry following as they headed down to the beach to attack the men sent. However, Aurane would notice something off. From where the sally had been sent, which was obstructed, due its eastward direction, there was no sound of a thud from a gate closing. No indication, upon the walls, of a gate being lifted and lowered. It was hard to tell though, given the shouts upon the walls and the bells ringing. Perhaps there was an damaged point at the eastern gatehouse of Dragonstone's castle.
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Post by Gandalf on Jun 9, 2020 21:21:04 GMT -5
The men retreated to the ships and licked their wounds. A few had died or been wounded and lay stranded on the island, bodies filled with arrows. But, one brought news of a possible weakness at the east side. At dawn, a galley circled the island, hoping that the sun would allow them to see what darkness had obscured - the gatehouse on the eastern side of Dragonstone. It was hard to send men close, given that the defenders were now alerted, so the men were ordered to remain on the ship rather than try to land on the shore. At night, however, Aurane would try the same trick again, a fast moving party of men would land on the eastern shore and either confirm or deny his suspicions before returning to the boat, hopefully leaving the garrison commander none the wiser.
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Post by Magnate Lucius on Jun 9, 2020 21:45:35 GMT -5
The second night proved to be more fruitful. The ship, sent at dawn, confirmed the suspicions of the men from before. The eastern gatehouse was being held together by a patch work of wooden works. However, due to the presence of Aurane's fleet, the captain of the skiff reported that there was a strong presence of men there, more so than the night before. It seemed Ser Felton was not a fool as he guessed, rightfully, of Aurane's plan. However, there were numbers and skill on the side of the Lord of the Waters. His corsairs did not fight like Westerosi after all. Even the exiles learned a thing or two from Essosi style of fighting and from years of being on the seas. The men were able to discern that around a hundred men guarded the gatehouse alone, which meant that this entry point would be hard to punch through, but it was a weak point, given the structures state.
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Post by Gandalf on Jun 10, 2020 7:21:21 GMT -5
One the Cogs arrived, Aurane would give the order for crews to begin landing on the beaches, in the fishing villages furthest from the castle. If the garrison came out they would fight them for control of the villages below Dragonstone, if not then the men would find whatever wood remained on the island to fashion. Pirates came to shore once more in several dozen row boats, setting to work on pulling down peasant hovels to fashion them into pavise shields and a rudimentary battering ram. Dragonstone and the Dragonmont loomed in the distance, but Aurane hoped to land a sizeable force here, far from the walls of the fortress itself. The Lord of the Waters himself would lead the attack, clad in fine Qohorik steel plundered from Lord Celtigar’s treasure hoard. When dusk came they would march to the fortress and the eastern gate, hoping that darkness will have fallen by the time of their arrival. Around a thousand or so of them landed,
”We control Dragonstone, we control the Narrow Sea. From here, we rule the waves, and even the boy king in the Red Keep will shit his breeches at our names! Attack!”
Waters led his men through the darkness, finally approaching Dragonstone’s walls. They would circle round to the east side. Aurane expected arrow fire if they were seen, and so those men who stood on the flanks or at the front carried a great wooden square as cover for them or their comrades. Aurane gave the order for them to halt, as a few of his best went up to the gate house, throwing their torches onto the wooden barricade to try and set it alight.
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Post by Magnate Lucius on Jun 10, 2020 18:35:33 GMT -5
There was nobody awaiting them at the village, although some of the villagers voiced their complaints before noticing the swords and numbers of the corsairs present. They quickly removed themselves to the more inner parts of fishing villages and away from the invading men. This was the second time, this year alone, that soldiers had come and the villagers were getting sick of it for sure. Whatever their complaints, the corsairs were able to gather the means to craft what they needed for the anticipated assault on the castle. Their activity seemed to go completely unnoticed as Ser Felton kept his gaze locked upon Aurane's ships and not patrolling the shores of Dragonstone.
However, as they attempted to approach Dragonstone's walls, and aimed to burn the wooden barricade, Ser Felton noticed the activity and ordered his archers to loose their arrows. Salvos rained down upon the makeshift palisades, but even hit those carrying torches. The fire attack seemed unlikely given the stubbornness of the defenders and the thicket of arrrows. Ser Felton, confident in what was occurring, ordered a sally. Half of the garrison, numbering seventy-five heavy infantry and twenty-five cavalry charged forth, aiming to run down the corsairs and pirates.
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Post by Gandalf on Jun 10, 2020 18:46:30 GMT -5
The fire didn’t catch, but that didn’t matter. The commander had sallied, and Aurane held his ground, ordering his men to form a rudimentary shield wall, bristling with swords, axes, and various weapons of all kinds plundered from the Celtigar armoury.
”Kill then where they stand, boys!”
Bellowed Waters, who lowered his visor and raised Crab’s Pincer to meet the foe.
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Post by Magnate Lucius on Jun 10, 2020 20:32:22 GMT -5
The men who sallied forth met their doom before the shieldwall of Aurane's corsairs. The knights drove into them, but the knights were pulled down by many hands and swarmed many times over as sabre and spear hacked their armor away. The infantry collided with the pirates, but numbers were against them. With heavy losses to their own, the garrison began to retreat back into the castle. Yet, Aurane's men were too fast to prevent a blocking maneuver. Norys Redbeard, the dastardly captain to first join Waters, brought a contingent of his own men around and held the gatehouse open. Thus one half of the garrison was slaughtered before the walls... and, once the makeshift stockade was torn down, before the eastern gatehouse, the corsairs were swarming in, killing as they went.
Dragonstone had fallen to Aurane Waters. The Narrow Sea was close to becoming a domain of a pirate king, not seen since the days of the Conqueror himself.
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Post by Gandalf on Jun 10, 2020 21:15:39 GMT -5
Crab’s Pincer swung through the air at ferocious speed, biting into the shoulder of a man wearing the Lion of Lannister, cutting through steel and flesh and bone as if it were soft cheese. Blood spattered all over Aurane’s armour, the bright steel now stained with a splash of crimson. A Reachman met a similar fate, Valyrian steel singing through the air and swiping his head clean from his shoulders. Now it was their turn to push forward, the corsairs surging towards the unguarded gatehouse. Redbeard had opened their way into Dragonstone, and now they swarmed in. Aurane himself led the charge, surprisingly mobile and agile in his plate armour as he harried and hacked down those cravens that tried to flee into the keep. Those who did not fall to their blades surrendered to Aurane’s custody, including the garrison commander that had given the Lord of the Waters so much trouble. They were sent to the dungeons, and Dragonstone was his. The crews were ordered to scour the fortress for loot, though Aurane did not expect to find much, unless the Tyrells had hoarded some of Stannis Baratheon’s treasures for themselves. Blood was still spattered across his armour as he removed his helm and seated himself on the throne that Aegon himself had used before his conquest. Not so long ago he had been here as the mere bastard brother of the Lord of Driftmark. Now he was a lord of men in his own right, master of the Narrow Sea with none that dared to challenge him.
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