Fire Rains Down|Grandisle, Firegem Isles

[Kender Bard]

Gingtaras was careful to keep in contact with Saul through a Mind on both of their ships. He kept his ship towards the back of the fleet, relatively safe in his position. A spyglass in hand, he watched his ships making steady progress towards Grandisle. They had already encountered a few ships that had been stationed off the island to attack on the fleet, but it had been a paltry fight. Barely enough to whet his appetite. His own fleet had lost only a single ship. All the rest took light damage, nothing that they couldn't repair once the island was taken.

He relayed a message to Saul and then tried to strain his spyglass to its limits as the first ship beached. The grandisle guard as well as any citizenry who wished to fight alongside the guards were behind barricades thrown up against the oncoming attack. He grinned widely as he managed to catch a fleeting look of horror on the face of an islander as the first ship unloaded its cargo of battle-thirsty men, all shouting with scented triumph. Their cries echoed over the ear so that he could even faintly hear it.

"It's a good day to plunder," he murmured in pleasure.

---

On Saul's ship, the Mind messenger dutifully reported Gingtaras's latest request. "The Dread Lord requests that you continue to keep the Morilanta fleet in check. You may send a couple of ships to beech with the rest but he is still anticipating a northern attack and wants Morilanta to be kept in the wings until more of the island is secure."

[Devon]

Saul sat back in his chair preferring to have someone report to him what was going on outside than to actually watch it, he disliked being on ships in the first place. Nodding his head he looked to the Mind and replied to him, "Good, Morilanta will do as he requests and wait for anything from the north. Any man who tries to strike before given permission gets thrown over board. I will not have this campaign marred."

[Kender Bard]

The Mind nodded and relayed the information. Gingtaras, from his ship, was more than satisfied with Saul's compliance in the whole operation.

He watched as, steadily, more of his soldiers landed on the bloody beaches, making their way inland. Resistance grew weaker with each wave as more and more men were cut down. Mixed in with the soldiers were Zenais's wonderful thieves and assassins--those not already planted on the island already. They slipped past the chaos of battle and began making their way steadily towards the great homes, which sat like fat sows waiting for slaughter.

Sure enough, steadily, red flags began to go up from house to house indicating that it was successfully captured, the occupants being held prisoner while his lieutenants broke away from battle with a few of his men to go separate out the people he specified he wanted kept alive.

Gingtaras glanced at the Mind. "Ask Saul if there's any specific kind of people he wants to be preserved from the slaughter. I'm not sure what Morilanta's tastes are in slaves, if any."

The Fireteeth Mind nodded and relayed the question.

[Devon]

"The strong and able of both gender, anyone capable of healing as well and a few children I can train them while they're young to serve Morilanta," Saul replied back. "Is now a good time to come out and greet my new island or do I have to stay cooped up here a little longer, my Empress and I are itching to get land under our feet."

[Kender Bard]

Gingtaras laughed at the answer he received. "He'll have to share the children. The man practically read my mind though."

The Fireteeth Mind smiled and relayed the response, including Gingtaras's amiable remark.

Gingtaras folded up his spyglass. "We've got things well in hand. Tell him to swing his men around in a pass and then join us upon the land. Our prisoners are going to be herded off to the palace like a neat little parcel."

"Yes, my lord," the Mind replied and sent this information to Saul as well.

---

Upon Saul's ship, Anarchy poked her head up from the hold beneath the deck. "Saul? Is the 'clean up' almost done? I'm all aflutter with anticipation you know."

[Devon]

"Tell the Dread Lord we'll be around shortly," Saul said to the Mind sending him away once the message was delivered. Looking to Anarchy he smiled and motioned for her to join him. "Yes, now your surprise should be in full view, take a look around and tell me what you see."

[Kender Bard]

Anarchy smiled and clambered out of the chamber, coming to stand near the railing and peering out. "It's certainly a lush and colorful place," she remarked with interest. "And it's all ours? What are we going to do with it, precisely? Make an outpost?"

[Devon]

"Yes, it is all ours," Saul replied to Anarchy. Taking her arm in his he waited for their ship to draw near enough to land for the of them to disembark. "We can vacation here if you like, but as far as running this island will go, I plan on leaving the leading General from this attack in charge of this place. He'll answer to me, but work closely with our Fireteeth brothers. What do you think so far?"

[Kender Bard]

"It makes sense," Anarchy replied. "I take it that we'll be bringing back a bevy of fresh slaves too? That should prove profitable. I think I'd also like time to browse the island proper for anything that catches my eye." She smiled and pointed to one of the great houses. "How thoughtful! They're not burning and pillaging the place. I could spend days here going through everything. How long will we be staying to enjoy our home away from home?"

[Devon]

"We won't stay long unfortunately," Saul said to his wife. "Long enough to repair the ships and then we head back to Morilanta. These islands have come into contact with the rest of our land before and I won't take the risk that news gets out before we've returned and prepared for any backlash. You'll have two weeks at the most, the rest of my higher ups in Morilanta are aware of what is going on, so I can leave my land for at least that long."

[Kender Bard]

"I'd rather not linger," Anarchy admitted. "Well. I WOULD, actually. You don't know how much I dread getting back in that Force damned boat for another long ride. But I greatly dislike being away from Morilanta with danger afoot. I'll spend a few days gathering up things to make my time here worthwhile and then we can set sail again. But we will be back in the foreseeable future, yes?"

[Devon]

"Of course my dear," Saul said with a smile. "I don't make grand moves like this without planning on keeping my hold for a long time." Glancing off to the side he noticed they were finally close enough to take their first steps on Grandisle. "Now let's go and see our new island."

[Kender Bard]

Anarchy paused on the sand and shook the water from her dress with a look of distaste but she did not complain. Instead she glanced around, eyes skipping over the twisted forms of dead bodies and men dying, ignored their moans of pain. "Are we going to go there-" she pointed to the palace "-first or take a scenic stroll?"

[Devon]

"To the palace first," Saul said as he began moving that way, complete with his entourage of guards. "I wish to address Grandisle before we do anything else Anarchy, then I can personally take my time and join you on a tour of the island."

[Kender Bard]

"I love your speeches," Anarchy laughed, looping her arm in his. She glanced up at him, eyes fairly sparkling with delight. "This is such a great gift, my husband. You always beat every other men in things romantic." She was mostly teasing, of course, understanding the attack for what it was, but she also enjoyed that aspect of it as well.

She looked around the palace, when they arrived, with a moue of distaste. "So much blood," she sighed. "I hope it gets cleaned up by tonight. Oh, my, look at what we have here."

All of the men and women who had been selected by Saul and Gingtaras's criteria for slavery were kept here in the grand court hall. They were roughly separated--the children, the potential slaves, and the guards. There was also a second group who looked anything but harassed and were surveying the masses as well.

"What do we have here?" Anarchy purred, pointing.

One of the Fireteeth soldiers, recognizing Saul from his description by Gingtaras, saluted to the pair. "Sir, Gingtaras requested those that surrender peacefully and claim allegiance to the new leaders be kept safe but we didn't want to put them in a separate building."