Pirate Cove

BR24
January 684

The inhabitants of the once busy trading port of Barakon
had no warning of the attack that was coming. They had
resided there for two decades since their fathers had taken it
from the fat merchants who kept its location hidden from
outsiders. For the piratical folk Barakon was a paradise, with
large palace-like homes in the higher district and space aplenty
for loot in the warehouses of the lower district.
It had been taken with a huge amount of cunning, timing,
blood and most of all luck. The pirate captain Gorebeard had
fled the oceans after the free cities had begun hiring privateers
to hunt down his ilk, and had chosen this stronghold to be his
new kingdom. He was long dead now, but the pirates that had
once roamed the seas with him still remained, and often sent
out ships to hit weak merchant fleets. Two of their longships
were out doing that right now and the prospect of loot and
maybe some food to get them through the last of the winter had
made them act with desperation. Their most able crews and
captains had been gone for weeks now and the inhabitants
were worried.
The ports main defence was its location. The only way into
its harbour was through a passageway in the side of the coastal
cliff face, which led to the deep sinkhole that Barakon was built
within. The passage was only wide enough for one ship to pass
through at a time, and each end of this route had a pair of large
towers with heavy metal chains that could be winched up to
block entry. A hundred or more feet above the port around the
rim of the sinkhole were another two towers which could
receive messages to and from seven coastal defence towers.
These defences had been neglected and left empty since
the raiders had taken the port, and so did not give any warning
to the inhabitants that a fleet of ships was sailing to retake the
long lost stronghold. The first they knew of the attack was when
the great ship Akathon emerged from the rock tunnel. As the
flagship of the Sea Mist tribe it was heavily armed and held a
full crew of battle ready marines. The Akathon sailed straight
towards the two longships and dragonship that were docked in
the harbour. Within a few minutes another great ship entered,
this one The Spirit of Grantham captained by Admiral
Gulliman, which immediately sailed to drop its heavily armed
marines to take the harbour side and develop a beachhead.
The men of the port finally began to react to this
unexpected assault, and began running from their houses
hastily equipping themselves with whatever was to hand.
However their slow reaction and lack of order had already cost
them the battle and the port, and it only took a few dozen
deaths before they realised their fate. By the time the
resistance group had reached the docks another two great
ships had emerged from the passageway and were emptying
their crews onto the docks.
The raiders vessels which had been left unguarded were
taken within minutes, and the docks were soon overflowing with
marines who moved with intent to swiftly crush any resistance.
The port of Barakon was once more the scene of an assault
that saw its defenders overrun and its peoples lives in the
hands of an unfriendly force.