Invasion of the Black Ships

Flambard Greenholm walked down the cobbled streets of Waymeet, nothing but a few documents in his hand that were delivered to his home by the Assassin's Guild after they gained some important information. It was a bright day, the sun shining down on the green hills of the town. A nice wind blew across the landscape and made Flambard feel a little more refreshed after waking up so early to go to a meeting.

He was heading over to the Council Chamber to discuss the latest events with the other Councilmen and the military advisors. Flambard passed the low houses until he came across a large abode, built of nothing special and carrying no peculiar qualities about it, other than the sign above the door: "Council Chambers."

He walked through the double doors and was greeted by the smell of coffee. There was a large circular table that had chairs gathered all around it and everyone else was already seated, waiting for him to take the head chair. Flambard walked over and fell into the seat rather ungracefully, nodding his head for them to start the meeting. Saradoc Boffin, leader of the Eurovan military, took out some papers and began to speak:

"As you all know, a great danger is headed towards Eurova at this very moment, with no other clear objective other than destruction. Hordes of goblins are sailing towards this very island on their black ships. We have no choice other than to defend. We have no naval power and support is out of the question right now, due to the danger of traveling by sea. According to our spies it will be only three days until they arrive. If we plan it right, that should be plenty for us to prepare."

Murmurs erupted from a few people as they heard these words, even though they weren't new ones. Camellia Fisher, leader of the Assassins, stood up in turn to speak.

"It is most likely that they will come and land on the west side of the island, due to their straightforwardness," she said to them cooly. "That means that they will meet our port town, Wateredge, first, and probably attempt to ransack it."

Flambard lowered his glasses and looked across the table.

"I'm no military expert," he began, "but I assume the best thing to do would be placing our guerilla forces there to defend and hold them off."

Saradoc shook his head and turned to Flambard.

"No, we cannot win in a straight out battle," he replied. "We will have to evacuate our people from there to move to Waymeet for the time being. I will have a few of the Assassins and guerilla members out there to loosen the numbers of the goblins a bit once they arrive. After fighting, our men will not stay, but retreat back to the Greenward Forest, where the rest of our army will be hiding in the trees ready to ambush the enemy like we were trained. That forest will be the main battle point in our assault, as the goblins will have no choice but to go through the forest to reach Waymeet."

All the people in the Council Chambers nodded in agreement and they started to discuss matters of who would be placed where in the time being while Flambard sat back and listened. His high point definitely wasn't military tactis. He was glad people like Saradoc were around. Now all they would be able to do was plan and wait, for a storm fiercer than anything they had ever faced before was approaching...

Fifty large galleys sailed towards Eurova, on the deck of each ship lay parts to crude siege engines and piles of weapons and armor. This was an invasion and something the Hobgoblins were good at, when encountered in number they proved to be a strong foe. As each ship neared the shore the Hobgoblins on-board moved towards the front of the ship and readied to land, on the largest vessel sat a robed Hobgoblin with a ornate staff in his hand. This was Gurkil, chieftain of the Wimmybik tribe, he commanded great respect form the Hobgoblins and had united many tribes under one banner, either through negotiations or through conquest. He was ruthless and had never faced total defeat in battle, many times his army was about to break and retreat but he always had a trick up his sleeve that would grant his side victory. Now that the other Hobgoblins followed him he turned his gaze across the sea to the Eurovan Republic, he ordered for many vessels to be built so he could lay waste to the Halfling lands and now his fleet was complete and the war was about to begin.