The Battle of Crimsonhold

"The Amity sails with the Mangy Dog. What are your orders, Admiral von Rheintach?"

-John Foote

Escaping the Keep

As the pirates looked out the window at the chaos unfolding in the city below, they were met with a hail of crossbow bolts from several of Thorpe's men below. With the room quickly filling with smoke, Elria flew out of the window with a rope and managed to secure it to a nearby lower rooftop to form an impromptu zipline. Anton told the other captains that they were free to follow him out of the window, but only if they swore to support him. Meanwhile, Elria dropped her wildshape and dispatched the crossbowmen below. Several of the captains chose to follow Anton while others followed Foote and Larron who traveled down through the castle.
After rappelling down out of the burning keep, Anton found an open battle being fought in the courtyard between the supporters of Thorpe and the other captains' pirates. With the help of the other captains, Anton and Elria helped to wipe out Thorpe's men in the courtyard and open a path to the docks. The survivors, including Mute Bob, followed Anton until they were halted at the courtyard gates by a large group of Thorpe's reinforcements. Just then Foote and his followers managed to emerge from the burning keep, and through some shadowy magic from Johnathan Bones the gatehouse collapsed atop the group of reinforcements. Together, all of the pirates began rushing through the streets of Crimsonhold to get to their ships.

Brawl at the Docks

As Ra'zon and Ari stumbled to their feet after a nearby ship exploded, they saw a large group of Thorpe's men moving towards the Mangy Dog with a large ballista in tow. The two sprung into action and engaged the soldiers, hoping to prevent them from loading the ballista and firing it at the ship. Meanwhile in So Below, Grom staggered back to consciousness and found himself surrounded by flames. He attempted to get out of the rubble of the building but found himself trapped and unable to escape before the fire ignited bar's the wall of liquor, resulting in a huge explosion. As he braced for impact however, the newly-acquired scapular around his neck began to glow white-hot, protecting him from harm by the fire.
Now freed and with an opening to the street Grom saw the Mangy Dog a few hundred feet away, and the imminent danger as Thorpe's men prepared to fire the ballista. He activated Ardevin's battlesuit and rocketed towards the fray, destroying the ballista in the process. As a second wave of Thorpe's men approached, Grom and Ari boarded the ship to prepare for an escape while Ra'zon stood at the entrance to the pier, single-handedly holding the pirates off.

Battle in the Bay

After an arduous fight through the streets, Anton, Elria, Mute Bob, and the other pirate captains arrived at the docks near the Mangy Dog. There they could see a large number of pirate ships moving out into the harbor to engage the enemy. Upon seeing the Hildonian ships attacking the city, John Foote realized that he made the wrong call in trusting them and conceded the election to Anton, declaring him the 13th Overcaptain of Kassoth. Anton, Elria, and Mute Bob boarded the Mangy Dog, followed closely by Ra'zon. Between Ari and Elria's magic, the small ship rocketed out into the harbor to join the battle.
Using the Dog's cannon they were able to destroy one of Thorpe's ships while crippling the Hildonian sloop Aelin's Call, thus clearing a path to the massive Hildonian flagship Kingfisher. Opening the sails fully and again propelled by Ari and Elria's magics, the Mangy Dog moved into ramming position. Gaining an incredible amount of speed, Grom fashioned his tiny hut at the fore of the ship, creating a protective shield that would protect their ship while damaging the Kingfisher. Dealing a massive amount of damage upon impact, the crew of the Dog boarded the larger ship and began fighting on deck. There wound up being far more soldiers aboard the ship than expected, and the battle started to turn against the party. Meanwhile, Ra'zon pushed his way through the crowd and sought out the ship's commander Admiral Jörsten Graves. Ra'zon attempted to negotiate with him but was thrown overboard when the Darrington slammed into the other side of the ship and joined the fight.
With their new reinforcements, Anton was able to force Graves to surrender. At the same time, all around the bay most of the other opposing ships were either sinking or fleeing. While more than half of the pirate ships were destroyed and the town was in flames, the day was won.

Chapter Twenty-Two

"The Battle of Crimsonhold"

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Previous Chapter: Conclave Catastrophe

Next Chapter: Heavy is the Head

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Ingame Date: 21^st of Rainseed, 1855
Real-Life Date: March 14, 2021
Protagonists:

• Grom
• Ra'zon the Broken
• Anton von Rheintach
• Elria Svistra
• Ari

Featured NPCs:

• John Foote
• Jörsten Graves
• Mute Bob

Locations:

• Crimsonhold
• The Scarlet Fortress
• The Red Harbor