Pirates' Talk

Not long ago, a group of barbarians seized the piratical galley Darkwing where it was harbored secretly in the Ocean's Throat sea caves, and claim beyond that to have seized a secret stronghold within those caves. Durham of the Ringing Anvil in particular sailed back out to the Ocean's Throat caves immediately after that expedition, and rumor is that he installed the Wasgo Tribe of renyu in the stronghold as a kind of garrison friendly to the cadre of barbarian-adventurers in the city of Cothon.

But perhaps strangely, that expedition didn't lead to the capture of any pirates, other than the sorceress Vikonyá (who was turned over to the agents of the Hanse at the Kantor Kabljauhof for a reasonable bounty) and her ensorcelled "apprentice" Hadisha (who was returned to her family for a not insignificant reward).

Indeed, a group of fighting-men / sea-men who were with the company when they returned to Cothon, and who seemed rough-and-tumble sorts, were claimed to be men-at-arms hired by the company for their expedition, and were subsequently led from the city to Sesel's new iqta' thereafter to garrison his lands. But they were emphatically not pirates, according to the company.

Nevertheless, the company was able to relay to the cities certain fresh rumors about the campaign against the Luwian pirates currently underway east and north in Dirac's Sea, unknown at the time of the expedition, but since corroborated by messenger-biremes that have returned to the city to give word to their Hanseatic masters.

Given that corroboration, the rumors are now published here by the Scribes:

1) The Battle Off Isbota

("off" is intentional)

After their successes in the Denyan Islands, driving the Luwians from a well-placed stronghold in their eastern reaches--and holding it against a Luwian counterattack--the Hanse's fleet under Telman of Tsipa were faced with a choice: turn north against Elx, or east against the pirates closer to distant Misr?

Telman chose both, and split his forces, sending some east [this battle] while accompanying the larger portion of his fleets north toward Elx [the larger threat, described below].

To the east, a squadron of Hanseatic galleys came against a combined force of Luwian galleys and Qorcuri biremes. The Luwians and Qorcuri had been having some kind of council on the island of Isbota, the westernmost of the Qorcuri Islands--most certainly the Luwians were attempting to draw their erstwhile allies into the conflict against the Hanse, but having trouble convincing them. As the Hanseatic galleys drew near and were spotted, both groups of pirates sailed out to greet them, though the Qorcuri did so reluctantly.

Hanse northwest, Luwians south, Qorcuri east

The result was a disaster for the Luwians. They sped bravely into battle, thinking that the Qorcuri would back them strongly, but the Qorcuri hung back as the Luwian galleys entered into a melee with the Hanseatic ships. The first ram seemed to presage victory for the pirates, as a catastrophe sent one Hanseatic ship to its watery grave, but a general melee developed among rams and counter-rams. With their greater numbers, the Hanse began to take a toll, sinking Luwian ships; and when the Qorcuri finally came to aid their "fairweather friends", their lighter ships proved too fragile for a battle of rams--they should have boarded instead!--and many Qorcuri were sunk outright.

The piratical informants of the company only heard about this battle because the two Qorcuri biremes that escaped; every other pirate-vessel, of either people, was captured or sunk! A total defeat of the pirates to the east (though a bringing of the Qorcuri into the conflict, which may bolster the Luwians' strength).

2) The Battle of Elx

Meanwhile, Telman sailed with the remainder of his fleet north to Elx and its attendant islands, to deal with the Elxingite branch of Luwians. The Elxingites tend to prefer high-sided and sailed vessels that are better able to roll with the storms seen more often in northern waters. Their high sides make boarding easier, though their lack of oars makes them useless for ramming. Therefore this was a battle of differing fundamental tactics.

The Elxingites also build their settlements on high rocky escarpments that are easily defended from land, and easily supplied by water. To take them by siege would require the destruction of the Elxingite fleet. To that end, Telman sailed around to the north of the islands and provoked an attack by a massed squadron of Elxingites against his fleet of galleys, hoping to destroy them by main force.

Hanseatic galleys to the north, Elxingites to the south, an Elxingite fortified headland to the southwest

What resulted was a battle of boarding and counter-boarding. The Elxingites made good account of themselves in the melee, their crews carrying many a Hanseatic galley and putting the marines and rowers to the sword; but too many of the ships they captured were crippled by the rams of their erstwhile owners, who hoped to scuttle them and thus deny them to the pirates. Meanwhile, the Elxingite vessels proved too vulnerable to ramming, and not fleet enough to escape when pursued by oared-galleys.

All in all, the battle ended in defeat for the Elxingites, and opened Elx and its islands to invasion by Telman and his Hanseatic fleets. Though the pirates made off with 4 of their own ships, and 4 captured Hanse-galleys, they lost 11 of their own vessels to rams, which cripples their ability to project force on the waters. The only hope for the pirates now is that their garrisons hold out, while their fleets (hopefully) call in allies (like the Qorcuri), or rally to defeat Telman and his squadrons.

Things are looking grim for the Luwians these days ...

3) a Treasure "Rutter"

Those involved in the expedition that secured the Darkwing are said to have been told about a buried pirate treasure. They are chary about the details (wishing to keep the location secret still for themselves), but it is apparently a narrative "map" (a rutter, as it were) of how to reach the "hoard" of a "good haul" of around 15,000 dinars worth of goods hidden somewhere in the Denyan Islands. With the retreat of the Luwians from the Denyan Isles, the time to seize such a buried hoard seems as if it is fast approaching.