The coast near Urgor

[altria]

The snake and The sword glided along the north western winds up the coast of the Plains. Karata Juhal had been given command of 400 warriors and the two ships to scout up the coast, until they found somthing quite different.
Along the coast near Nerxis were signs of landing, scouts had not reported ships or ports for that matter thought Juhal.....he decided to investigate.....

For the next few days the ships patrolled that stretch of coast, even up toward Urgor and up to a day out from the coast....when they landed on the northern corner of the Plains and scouts were sent to Urgor they returned with news of an unknown force camping near Urgor....This worried Juhal.
"We continue to patrol, a few more days then we retreat back to Gur...."

(Your Choice Belial, you can have your ships emerge and drop more troops to reveal yourself to the Gur'ai or not )

[denise]

(Gur'ai have spotted Belai's men)

[belial]

* Waves splash up as they get cleaved by the stems of The Lion and The Dragon. Suddenly the cry of the marine in the crow's nest.*

" Ozamen!" [ Ships ]

* Both captains appear within a minute on deck and look to the bigger ships, carrying a strange flag. The captain of The Dragon narrows his eyes. Next to him a marine officer appears*

"Quarths?" [ Orders? ]

* The captain sighs and while keep looking to the strange ships he answers*

" Udos orn mir nindol heen. dryss'ho dosst glenn." [ We will keep this course. Gather your men]

* The marine officer nods and starts shouting orders*

" Uuuniloh kr'athin!" [ archers ready!]

* The captain takes a last look to the approaching ships and then grabs a nearby member of his crew and orders him something. A few minutes later the royal flag, a crouching golden dragon and golden lion on a black field, together with a white flag raises. Meanwhile...the ships come closer and closer...*

[altria]

Juhal saw the two smaller ships, about the size of the cutters Al'tria was planning to build. He quickly thought through possible actions, the wind blew north west still and those ships looked lightly armed and so he decided to move in closer.
He shouted orders to the crew and had flag signals made to The Sword to arm the Ballistae and ready the men for combat.

With that oars were prepared in case of a southern chase but the two ships glided with the winds toward the two other ships, each ship went to either side of the two unknown ships in a hope to out flank them and give the oppurtunity to bring the heavier fire power and rams to bear if needed, but that was a last resort.

As the ships came closer Juhal used the common tongue of the plains, he wasnt the best but managed to shout what he wanted "New comerz from the sacred water plain, speak what you want along the plainz!"

[belial]

* The captain frowns and looks questionating to Juhal*

"Udos doer wun gre'as'anto" [ we come in peace] *he answers and points to the white flag in the top*

[altria]

Juhal looked to the man, he couldnt understand the language. Judging by the landing along the coasts he suspected Plains military, but these looked nothing like them....maybe Urgor. He raised a hand and men raised spears ready to throw as Juhal spoke aloud "By the name of the Lordz of The Sand....you are to give your ships over!"

[belial]

* The captain of The Dragon frowns as he doesn't understands the words of the stranger on the other ship. Then he turns towars the nearest soldier*

"Alu harl lu'ka l'niki zhal'la xo'al ulu plynn phor nindol ozam. Morfeth ol." * the soldier salutes and disappears into the ship. After a quick nod of the captain the same happens on The Lion. Without order, several soldiers with shields gather around the few Valheru officers on board who's eyes have allready changed into dragon-similar ones, ready to unleash as stream of fire that would pierce through the enemy ships. The archers all choose a target and with a few steps the soldiers with shield take their position in front of the archers. The few archers at the crow's nest aim their bow significantly to Juhal: if he would start a fight, he would be the first to fall. The captain, a Valheru himself takes a few steps forwards and closes his eyes. Then he opens them again an two dragon-similar eyes look to Juhal. Fire appears around his hands. A second time he points towards the white flags in the top of The Lion and The Dragon.....*

[altria]

Seeing the officers bear balls of fire Juhal sneered, he knew he and his men could easily dodge arrows they had been trained hard all their lives, and he himself was one of the greatest warriors in Gur'ai....but the ships.
Swiftly he ordered the oars out and the ships turned to return to the main land, he would set up scouts their to relay info back to Gur'ai about these invaders....

[belial]

* The captain of The Dragon smiled. Immediately he starts to shout orders and soon the cutters leave the bigger ships behind them. Just outside the range of the oars, the captain nods towards two Valheru. A smile appears on their faces as they call up their magic. With an effort of pure fire-magic they send two small streams towards the sails of the enemy ships behind them. The captain grins as he sees the streams approaching the sails of the bigger ships. Sure,...the enemy would have a reserve sail but it would take them a while to replace it. In meanwhile he would we able to drop the soldiers at the coast, and sail back to Krondor.*

[altria]

Juhal looked to the burning sails.....a minor inconveniance as he drew a spear and walked to the top of the deck. The oars proppeled the ships forward, with the sails gone there was no wind resistance and the ships moved faster toward the mainland (North west wind im moving east ) as the ships made a decent distance between the two pairs of ships Juhal called out in Karata "I leave you a gift foolish plains" As he shouted he threw the spear, it sailed through the air and plunged into the chest of a sailor not far from the officer......

Some hour later the Sword landed alongside the Snake. Juhal leaped from the ships along with 300 warriors, an easy match for a force twice its size. He gave orders and the two ships made way toward Gur with its crew as Juhal turned to his men, which included Four Rhuidi "Spread out standard formations, these humans will pay, keep in the cover of the rocks and trees we can all easily hide until they land...Scouts keep an eye up and down the coast."

Scouts moved out as the force waited....

[belial]

* upon the sea, the Valheru-captain looks to the Gurai-ships sailing south. He frowns as his look-out cofirmes the fact that the ships look less peopled.*

" I don't trust this, not at all" * he mumbles*

" Lower the anchor and bring two of the pidgeons to my cabine."

* Then he turns around and goes downstairs to his cabine.*

-- Houres later two pidgeons leave The Dragon, covered by the darkness of the night--

[altria]

Scouts had been keeping an eye on the two ships anchored off the coast for through the night as the scout teams sent reports to Juhal in a small command point hidden in a small wood not far from the coast. Juhal listened intently, Nerxis was quite the guards of the village not even aware of their presence, Further north scouts were inspected only just to reach the boundries of the city of Urgor when all along the coasts all was quite except for the occasional group of unarmed people, none saw the Gur'ai scouts.
Juhal didnt like the situation, he had hoped for the ships to unload their cargo and present an oppurtunity for an attack, maybe even to capture the ships, it didnt seem likely now. With the ships anchored not far from the coast he presumed maybe the 'Rhuidi' or whatever they called their spell casters may have sent messages to others nearby, he doubted Urgor would help or Nerxis and so inspected a week minimum before more men appeared to the rear.
He decided to wait it out a few more days, 2 more days he would leave if nothing happened and head to Elven forests for sactuary before crossing the desert....

[belial]

* Two days later a small detachement of Nerxis cavalry,around 100 men armed with horsebows, ride through the open grassland towards the coast. They have been ordered to keep curious spectators away from the landing scenes of the Krondor. Around noon they pass the forest where Juhal has his command point around 300 meters south of it. Suddenly a quick flash of the sun on steel attracts the attention of the detachement sergeant. After a quick order, the detachement stops in the middle of the open field and ten horsemen ride towards the small forest to check.....*

[altria]

A scout ran into the heart of the small forest and informed of a Detachment of horsemen from Nerxis, a definate problem thought Juhal as he sent scouts to sneak from the forest to call up the other troops, he had a mere 80 men in the forest.
As he reached the edge of the forest hidden behind a tree he saw 10 horsemen armed with bows approach the edge of the forest, he called up the Rhuidi. As the four men approached with simple staffs and a spear he spoke quitly "Cast your magics"
As he said this he screamed a battle cry as a score of spears flew out toward the 10 men, the men died in their saddles a few flew back from the impact and a couple of horses fell injured and at that moment a bright light shined from the Rhuidis spear tips covering the retreat deeper into the wood....

[belial]

* The captain of the Nerxis mounted archers saw with unbelief his men being striked down without any warning. A blush of anger appears on his face as the attackers disappear into the covering woods.*

" Damned... "*he said* " We need to stay in open field." * he mumbled and then he turned in his saddle and looked to one of his men*

" You! Go to Nerxis and report this. Come back with reinforcements. If I must, I shall burn that forest to the ground to get to them...."

* Then he ordered another 20 men to scout the nearby environment for other possible enemy units. A group, yes, even one man would be seen quickly in the open grassland of the Plains*