OOC: Doh! Sorry, I thought Miro had already headed back to the Heart of Oak.

Loukas keeps his place until Barmak relieves him. He gives the Arab a comradely clap on the shoulder, "My thanks. I was beginning to get worried our song would end with me crashing this ship into the The Heart of Oak!"

Moving to the rail he looks towards the city to see what he can of the battle there. The city walls will hold for some time, but if the Perchenegs have siege equipment they'll have to move to land quickly. He stands waiting for orders.

For a moment, Balthazar watches the fleeing ships ruefully and mutters, "I didn't even get a chance to sink one.  Darn!"

Then he turns his gaze on Cuivi and says, "It is time to cast your spell."  (Cuivi knows the spell he refers to is detect lie.)

Cassius (our clay golem) can move forward and hold onto the cleric while we question Nicephorus.

Once detect lie is cast, Balthazar goes straight to the point.  "Tell me everything you know and everything you did regarding our original mission to escort Armin the Persian and his death."

Barnak, who indeed was settling in for a nice nap, climbs down and obeys. He winds up taking the helm; and, in the absence of specific instructions, steers to avoid collisions.

Heinrich walks up to the rail by Loukas, his bow in hand. He looks out toward the fighting by the city, and asks, "What now? There appear to be a few fighters outside the city trying to get in."

In reply to Heinrich (msg #121):

Loukas lifts an eyebrow as he responds to Heinrich's observation, "You must be used to massive battles, my friend, if those look like a 'few' Half-orc barbarians outside the city.

"I think Miroslav will want to transfer some crew to this ship first, but eventually we'll see what we can do to hit the shore. With their fleet gone, something tells me they may lose some hope, but now that they've got no where else to go I fear we'll see plenty of fighting on land before we have regained our land-legs."

Heinrich laughs, and replies, "Battles, not so much. Lots of men marching, getting sick, and dying in the cold and wet, yes.  We are going to have to think carefully before we go on land. There are a lot of them.  We'll have to break them quickly."

Nodding in agreement Loukas says, "Yes. Doubtless we won't be the only crew landing since with the Byzantine fleet broken many of these Captains will want to be back to the city... It does not appear as if the Perchenegs have siege engines, so it may just be a matter of docking our ships and joining our brothers on the walls. If the walls hold, the barbarians will eventually leave. Regardless, the next move will have to be made carefully, though, I agree."

Balthazar nods off-handedly, "I should be able to chase away the Pechenegs with a fire elemental."

"If I can help any, just let me know," Jaleh offered, feeling a little left out.

A'kos returns to the enemy ship where Loukas has control and stands watch nearby while keeping an eye on things.

"I'm ready to get back on land, riding the plains atop Storm's Wind and off the water," he says to Loukas, scowling at any of the enemy crew that draws too near.

Loukas nods and smiles in agreement, "Aye, these feet miss the dirt and stone. Soon, my friends!"

To Balthazar he says, "Once your interrogation of Nicephorus and his priest are complete and you have confirmed whether they have more troops than those we see before the gates and who leads them, we'll know best where to strike. I suspect you are correct that a Fire Elemental will deal with those Perchenegs, but since we've got the enemy with us we ought to be certain."

Heinrich nods as Loukas talks.   He then adds, "Yes, I wonder if they have a supply line we could let them see burning to encourage a ....withdrawal."

"Assault from many fronts!" grins the Falcon.  "A sound plan indeed!"

"I would expect that their 'supply line' was this ship and the rest of the Greek Fleet. Nicephorus likely expected that they'd defeat our fleet and then be able to keep the troops they have delivered fed using what foodstuffs they've brought with them and fish from the sea."

Cuivi takes his prayer beads in hand and bows his head. With his free hand he lightly touches Nicephorus on the arm. You can almost see a pale light stream from the hand of the old shaman. He looks at the Greek and says..."You will answer his questions now."

Knowing the power of the spell somewhat, Nicephorus seems resigned to just tell the truth...."You were almost all supposed to die with Armin the Persian. This was the plan of the Emperor, not mine. I only carried it out and advised him. A few survivors were to be spared so they could report back that the Rus had killed the Persian, spoiling Rus, Persian relations that were growing too warm for our liking."

Miroslav join s in on the questioning..."Now tell us of this invasion."

Nicephorus glances at Cuivi then answers the Slav's question..."The fleet was the distraction. The real threat are the Pechenegs. The emperor paid them well.I have no idea of their numbers but if your walls are still standing, they are not all here yet. The emperor has no desire to have this city back, only destroyed."

Cuivi nods his head letting everyone know that the Byzantine has spoken the truth.

The Grecian woman leans forward still looking tired from her extended illusion.

"If what he says is true, and we must believe it is, it will take more than a fire elemental to frighten off the Pechenegs. I imagine they will have their own shamans out for this event."

Loukas nods in agreement with Dyanna, "This is much worse that I expected. We have the advantage of surprise, I suppose, but things are about to be very much more difficult."

He ignores Nicephorus and speaks to Miroslav, "If we are still expecting additional Perchenegs we probably ought to strike sooner rather than later. If the fleet was just a distraction, then we needn't be concerned about their return. This means that we can leave a small fleet of our ships out here and then put the crews for those that remain on land."

"I still think strikes along their supply routes are a good distraction," adds A'kos.  "Cavalry of, say, 100 men or so, striking quickly from range...especially if their, um, 'shamans' are clumped together."

Shrugging he adds, "Hit them hard, early morning, or at dusk, then flee into the surrounds."

Loukas looks blankly at the Magyar, "Your plan is very good, A'kos, but... Where are you going to get 100 Cavalryman? If the Perchenegs are still arriving, and we do not know from whence they are coming it will be difficult to determine where their supply line lays, if they have bothered with such a thing. After all, they are barbarians, who rarely concern themselves with logistics and had the Greek fleet to supply them.

"Perhaps we land and pull some troops out of the city and then land them 'upstream' and strike from there. Opening a second front, if you will... Regardless we need to do something quickly while the Perchenegs are still arriving. If we're able to do enough damage to them perhaps this will dissuade whomever else is coming to stay away."

A'kos grins, replies, "Recall our last encounter with the Pechanegs?  Our Lady Dweomercrafter supplied us with a number of handy illusions that seemed to have a direct and deadly affect on the horde.  Couple that with Balthazar's own form of magic and I don't really need 100 cavalrymen, now do I?"

"I'd much rather take the fight to them, than await them behind the walls," he adds.  "Once the battle's been joined at the city gate, anything can happen.  At least a sortie of sorts gauges their strength, and allows us to sow discord and confusion among them."

"But if this plan ill suits you," finishes A'kos blandly, "you can stay behind and organize the local militia.  I might leave one or two of their children for you to play with after I've had my fun."