The Great War Continues

This is the historical account of the events known as The Great War. This record is written by King Baronton's Master of Knowledge Iremsi, it provides first hand accounts of the events surrounding both the war and the forging of the five Kingdoms of Balamy.

This historical record has been edited by King Raughn's Master of knowledge Rickharton only adjusting the notes to show the passage of time.

The Battle of the Four Tides

The following is eyewitness accounts from the Battle of the Four Tides sewn together to create a cohesive picture of the events of the war.

For the past three years the Kingdom of Valcanne had fought long and hard but had slowly but surely lost more and more ground to the Blue Bannermen, Imporo was lost unable to hold against the relentless tide of bannermen sent to break their lines - even a larger area of Southeast Ralteith had been taken by the invaders.

South of the line held by the Blue Bannermen

Now in our tenth year of constant war, the Blue Bannermen made a sudden attack on the Four Tides - it was completely unexpected the Kingdom of Valcanne had assumed when the boats had stopped coming that the Blue Bannermen had been defeated at least on the waterfront.

The Kingdom was wrong - after the third consecutive day of record temperatures, mid morning as the heat began to climb, the bells began to sing alerting the Kingdom of the impending threat. Unlike last time when the Blue Bannermen had attempted to take the Four Tides, this time they came with a massive fleet of fifty mammoth ships.

One small mercy, at least the Kingdom is permitted some warning to prepare for the incoming swarm of enemy ships heading directly towards them. The people were given the opportunity to flee this time out of harm's way, evacuating all lands below the steep rise that surrounded the shores of Valcanne, Almain and Ralteith that protected much of the different Kingdoms sheltered behind them.

Soldiers moved into position at the battlements now built along the crest of the rise, ready to reign cannon fire down on any ships that attempt to pass them by. The ships were upon them within two hours of their first sighting the first cannon hit Vacannes shores, the large ships continued two at a time into the mouth of the Four Tides bombarding both shores with constant cannon fire.

Valcanne's Battlements

All that was not protected by the rise was systematically hit with cannon fire, over the course of the day the several ships were destroyed but the line just continued with one boat gone another took its place - soon it became apparent the ships would not be stopped here at least.

King Baronton called a meeting with the masters of war, hunt and knowledge along with his other most trusted advisors and commanding officers.

Marontus the Master of War and Belakin the Master of Hunt entered the King's private study, where King Baronton and his son Prince Eroden waited. The door closed behind them Maranchi, Balachi and Borten were restless at the delay, the two men had proven themselves worthy soldiers over the past ten years - many of the efforts would have been in vain had they not agreed to join in Valcanne's defence.

Balachi no longer a boy of 15 now a man of 25 years - had grown over the years of the invasion, trained with the soldiers, his father and Borten, he was now a force to reckoned with in his own right. The three former farmers had become a cohesive unit and a formidable group in combat, they had also become a pivotal part of King Baronton's defensive plans for Valcanne.

Finally the doors swung open and the rest of the advisors were permitted entry into the chamber, Master of knowledge Iremsi was the first to speak.

"There was no way of knowing my lord, how does eight ships utterly destroyed three years ago ever suggest that fifty more would be coming now."

He spat the words furious at the deception he had fallen victim to, King Raughn stood and all fell silent.

"Iremsi no one would have guessed this outcome, you are not to blame. Yet here we are and this matter will not resolve on it's own, there are more ships in that fleet than we will be able to stop with our cannons alone - the cannot all be stopped from travelling along the Four Tides."

"We need to send warning to Fenton, Almain and Ralteith let them know the Bannermen come and this time they will need to join in the defence of the Four Tides."

Iremsi nodded at the instruction and left the room immediately, Marontus looked to his King.

"My lord, by my best estimates we can assume to destroy at least twenty of the ships and hopefully damage all of them, but once they cross into the waters between Almain and Fentone our defences are useless. We cannot ensure they will be destroyed when passing through any of the Kingdoms along the Four Tides, we must assume Imporo is their destination - additional troops and a massive resupply - This is their final move they seek to destroy us with sheer numbers alone."

Belakin the Master of Hunt grunted with a nod of agreement, Maranchi unable to stand the tediously slow pace these meetings progressed pushed on.

"That just means they are as desperate as we are to have this war end, this could be all they have. If we destroy them we may just destroy their chances of ever attaining victory."

"This may be true but there is no way to know, there could be another fleet just as large coming behind them we can't assume this would be the end."

Marontus protested in caution.

"True but either way if we don't destroy them surely the numbers they are carrying would ensure our demise."

Maranchi threw back at the Master of War who nodded in acceptance that it was indeed the case.

"What are our options? We can't let them replenish their lines or supplies, this war has dragged on too long we've seen too many die we have lost too much. We need to end this here, before we lose any chance of success."

The Master of hunt rose, all in the room turned to face him a quiet man of few words.

"We take away their advantage, we take their boats and their men."

The room remained silent waiting to hear how Belakin planned to destroy the stronger enemy.

How the Bannermen believe the current flows

"They were studying the Four Tides and they think they understand its complex nature all they know is the current is strong and flows towards them, they do not - they only now understand how to enter it they know nothing of the flows within the branches of shores."

Prince Eroden contorted his face arrogantly.

"And you do Hunt Master?"

Intentionally reversing the title in an attempt to embarrass and belittle his knowledge.

"Yes My Lord, I do."

Crossing the room to a map hanging on the wall Belakin continued his explanation.

"Well the Four Tides should really be called the eleven currents, but I guess that doesn't sound as appealing."

He glanced at Prince Eroden to drive home the point.

Upper current of the Four Tides

"Most men can assume the basics water flows in through the four main mouths of the Four Tides, what most men don't realise is that the different widths and depths of the mouths allow for massively different flows in the water."

"More water is forced through Imporo and Ralteith's mouths than Almain and Valcannes, water is forced from the lower and higher mouths in the west and those currents are forced into each other at great speed this causes the lower flow to forcefully forke the upper flow continuing to swirl between Fentone and Imporo while the lower current pushes up and joins with the higher current"

Lower current of the Four Tides

"The higher mouths current is now even stronger, the surface water flows out along Almain and onto Valcanne adding to the massive current that the boats encounter when trying to enter via our mouth of the Four Tides. Now the crucial part is that the small rapids that separate Valcanne from Fentone, the water moves at such an immense speed that a massive amount of water is dumped into the waters in between Fentone and Imporro.

"The significance is that the water of the Four Tides in between Fentone and Imporo has three flows all impacting with each other causing massive turbulence in the water."

Eroden again interrupts his father's senior advisor.

"What does any of this matter? The tides only impact them they won't stop them."

Belakin shut his eyes and intentionally turned to address his Kink directly.

"The Significance is that the water between those two shores is constantly mixing with itself and all new water added, the rains are also due any day especially with this heat. We can use all of this against them, I suggest that tomorrow night Rehdin, Seta and myself cross the rapids into fentone and we start to lace the water with Fire Oil."

"If we can get far enough west and lace the water and then ensure that the water from that shore to the other is doused in the oil then, we lace a house close to our own borders with powder kegs. While we are doing this Marontus and his men will run skirmishes into our stolen lands to the south and as much of Imporo as possible, they will distribute more fire oil onto our own lands but only lower than the drop off where Maranchi held ten years ago - any higher and the destruction would destroy all of us.

"After the fire oil has been laid every able bodied person is to bucket water down towards the hill this will spread the fire oil further into their ranks, it's odourless, colourless and requires both water and fire to be ignited one without the other two is useless."

"With the speed they are continuing it will take them three days at least to reach the water, that means if we start at the west first we have our best chance of this being a success. However with the bannermen on Imporo's northern shore accessing the water will be no simple task, once all of this is in place we may actually stand a chance.

The Prince looked confused again, so Belakin continued.

"Once the first ship is within distance of the building laced with powder kegs in Fentone, all of the fleet should God's willing be in within the contaminated water. Fire oil floats on the surface of water, the tides will keep it localised to this area alone - once the ships get to their they will surely still be firing those cannons.

"They will ignite the fire oil by setting off the powder kegs, when this happens we run more raids back into our occupied lands being sure to remain above the fire oil. We then roll massive powder kegs down the hill and then we will set them alight as they roll into enemy occupied territory, we will attack them on two fronts when they expect us at our weakest."

King Baronton agreed to the plan and preparations commenced immediately. Belakin, Rehdin and Seta crossed the treacherous rapids losing one barrel of fire oil to the water, once across they say the Kingdom of Fentone was completely abandoned not a living soul remaind. The three of them worked day and night for three days, working through the cannon fire that struck all around them as the fleet continued on its path up the Four Tides.

Upon their return it was confirmed the other skirmishes had also taken place and that every person had been bucketing water for three days now, the ground squelched with every footfall. The last of the massive powder kegs were moved into position, anyone not fighting was moved as far northeast as possible incase something were to go wrong with the fire oil.

As the night drew closer along with it came cannon fire all along Fentones borders the Kingdom had been flattened after three days of constant cannon fire on all sides, the first ships were drawing closer to the laced building but the last of the ships hadn't managed to enter the fire oil laced waters.

The first ship hit the building but nothing happened a sense of apprehension took over Valcanne as the Kingdom watched on, the last boat was so close to entering when another cannon hit the building and still nothing happened - apprehension turned to dread what if the building didn't explode nothing would ignite the fire oil.

As the last boat crept into the fire oil laced water, the charge ship let loose two canons one after the other. The first struck and still nothing happened. When the second one hit it's mark and the keg exploded, igniting the fire oil on the Four Tides.

The blackened night was suddenly illuminated like day, the flames roared into the sky and could be seen from those hiding in Almain and Ralteith. Valcanne felt the heat it was almost unbearable even at their considerable distance, men could be heard screaming.

The people of Valcanne stood for a time watching the horror they had devised, men threw themselves in the burning water thinking it would save them only to coat them in more fire oil and cause explosions. Marontus and Belakin the first to get me back on task the next stage must begin now, to overwhelm the enemy and get back some much needed farming lands.

The barrels were launched down toward the enemy lines, Belakin, Marontus, Maranchi, Balachi, Borton, Seta and Rehdin were those chosen to shoot the flaming arrows, which needed to penetrate the powder keds to set them to explode and in turn ignite the fire oil.

The skilled archers achieved their goals and soon more flames appeared it was even brighter and hotter, more pool were being set off and causing chain reaction of explosions. One of the boats had steered towards Imporo's shore only to explode in spectacular fashion causing fires to ignite in new areas, unexpectedly there was another massive explosion this time further within the Bannermens main camp.

It is believed that the barrel of fire oil the was lost on the rapids was taking into the Bannermens main camp, when the fires started setting of chain reaction explosions a large flaming piece of wreckage must have hit the barrel causing another mammoth explosion - this time well inside their main camps creating more damage than they could have anticipated.

The enemy could be seen fleeing the distance, the flames roared on for days - fire oil burns until it runs out of fuel there is no way to douse it. A chain reaction of explosions echoed through the night, sparking fires in random dwellings scattered across the fields.

The heat was intense the screaming excruciating and the victory well and truly sat in the hands of Valcanne for the first time in ten years the Kingdom had had its first major strategic success that might actually sway the enemy to finally leave their lands for good.

Previously
"The Great War - The Endless Stalemate - The Kingdom of Valcanne's Guide to Keltorin"
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