The Approaching Shadow: The Dreadnought (6th Entry)

[+Veritas]

Stelios dismounts his horse and hands the reins to one of the foot soldiers summoned to the shores of one of the great towns of Excelsior. All around him are soldiers setting up camps on the shore, and a few large dragon ships are seen in the distance, coming to shore. Holding his hand over his eyes to block the sun, he looks across the deck of the ships rounding the peninsula. He sees multiple people on the lines of the ship, as well as archers on look-out. Each ship, with its guild’s colors flying for war.

“They are over here sir”, yelled a young recruit. Stelios approached the two fishermen who were recently recovered from just under a mile off the coast by a scouting ship. “It was huge sir, huge!” “We were close to it sir, but they didn’t see us. The fog of the morning covered us, but we saw them!” Stelios, just arriving after being told about the urgency of coming asked with confusion, “What are you talking about? What did you see?” “The Dreadnought sir, the ship those boys described around the campfire that night after our assault on Bael’Nefario’s men. It was there, I saw it!” Stelios, floored by this sat down on the ground closer to the old man and glanced up to his fellow officers. One of the officers standing around the two of them spoke up and said, “Sir, if I may…it’s about that ship and some intel from our last offensive.” “We found dispatches and logs on a soldier killed near the docks, I don’t know if you were told…Angela was logged as being a prisoner moved to that ship.” Angela, the widow of the lost scout Jerrin. The wife of the man, who’s head still remains in Trinsic to remind all that we are at war. Stelios then looked out over the water for a long pause, and then looked back to the old man. “Describe everything to me, did you see scout ships? How about spotters?” The man looked up still shaking from the cold waters, and said, “I say a few people on the deck, but not many. There were cannons…so many cannons on the side…I can’t tell you how many.” Stelios then watched as the man’s face went from shocked to confused. He then look back out to sea, and said in a calm and confused tone, “But, nothing in the back.” “Nothing in the back?” asked Stelios, “What do you mean nothing in the back?” “I mean”, the old man said, “I mean there were people working on the rudder. They were not armed, but hanging off the side of the rudder. But, even more strange was that there were no cannons. There were spots for cannons, but no cannons.” Stelios said immediately after the man stopped, “They moved them…” Another one of the officers chimed in with, “They moved them to repair the rudder…bet you anything.”

After wrapping a blanket around the man, Stelios stood up and blew his horn to get everyone’s attention. Soldiers, shipmates, and servants of all kinds came to attention.
“We have an opportunity we can seize, and not a lot of time to do so. Bael’Nefario’s flagship, the one used to transport the shadow casters and the Umbris army, has been spotted off the shore of this town. Reports say that it is disabled and unable to turn. It currently has its stern pointing to this shore, and it doesn’t have any firepower covering that direction. A young soldier interrupts, “You mean, it was when they saw it. That doesn’t mean they didn’t put them back…” Stelios replied, “I mean, it was last known as being wide open for a flank attack. We have the opportunity to board our enemy’s flagship and burn it into the sea.” Conversation started among the crowd, and after a few moments of looking among the men assembled around him, he held up his hands and said, “Ride out, and get as many able bodied men and women as you can. Soldiers, farmers, store clerks, I don’t care, anyone who can wield a sword and is willing to fight for the freedom of this land. We don’t have time to get people from all over Excelsior, we needed to launch an hour ago.”