The Great War

[windhound]

 The battle seemed to have all but stopped.  windhound gazed curiously at the slightly smoking fortress.  The seige seemed to have failed, misribly at that.  
"ah well" he said.  "Anon, our turn!"
"yessir"
The fleet of about a hundred ships all pointed their bows towards the fort clearly outlined by smoke.  There was no sign of the group of goodbeasts who had presued them, nore did any of the ships appear to be damaged.  A healthy breeze picked up, the sails billowed out, and the fleet jumped forward, moving at a fast clip towards their destination.  Each crew of ferrets, weasels, foxes, and stoats were heavily armed, with about a third of the group made up of archers carrying longbows raided from goodbeasts.  

windhound grabbed his longbow and tested it.  A simple weapon made of yew and its string carefully waxxed, windhound favored it above all others.  It also allowed him an excuse not to lead a charge, which he never cared for.  All the yelling and screaming and slicing with blades never really appealed to him.  

Deathclaws' fleet was gaurding the shoreline (occ:  dangit, you never said where your fleet was.  I assume they're gaurding, feel free to move and I'll edit).  Cooking fires erupted throughout windhound's fleet and oil soaked arrowheads were dipped in and the arrows quickly fired.  Hundreds of flaming missiles made their fast approach on Deathclaw's ships

[Deathclaw]

 "Archers, return fire!"

They shot their own flaming arrows at the fleet, who was a bigger target being close together, whereas Deathclaw's fleet was spread out from each other by several shiplengths.

"Double your fire, I want two thirds firing arrows, the others be ready for the charge."

Deathclaw went to the front walltop, and had three archers in hiding waiting for him to scratch his head as the signal to kill the vermin.

"What do you want, and one false move and my army comes out and kills you all."

[windhound]

 "get thoes sails down!" windhound shouted at his crew the moment he saw Deathclaw's ships lighting their own fires
"douse thoes decks with water, but dont let the cooking fires go out!"
Most of the ships had already done this by the time the command was given, but there were a few stragglers and as the return volley of fire reached them four ships burst into flame.  The crew, as instructed, quickly hauled up the sails and removed all supplies from the smoldering ships, then tied the rudder inplace and swam towards the other skiffs where willing paws pulled them aboard.  The four ships now began to blaze, as well as pickup a good amount of speed, having little weight left on them, and they raced on ahead of the rest of the fleet on their last mission.

windhound sighed.  he didnt like to lose ships, but as long as Deathclaw lost more than he did he would be content.  
"Archers!  Keep the arrows flying!"

[Gen. Volkov]

 *Watches the explosions and death occuring near him with telescope* *Makes notes* This would make a good book I think, *He mutters to a stoat that just walked up to him, wheezing* yes, a very good book in deed. *Looks at the stoat* So where have you been? *The stoat springs to attention* SIR! You were moving to fast, sir! The troops could not keep up, sir! They have short legs, sir! *Volkov nods* Ah, that would make sense then. Very well I shall wait for them to arrive, then we shall continue our trek to the mountains. *Over the next few hours contigents and larger chunks of his army trickle in, until he has a force of millions all around him, dusty and sweaty from trying to keep up with him* OK, half hour break for everyone, then we push on. *Contnues to lean against a cow and watch the battle as his monkeys and troodons feed and give drink to his hungry soldiers, when the wagons carrying his food supply straggle in that is, with their guard of half a million leaders, and the other 2.5 million straggle in a bit later with his strong boxes full of billions of dollars of cash.* A leader asks him were this is all going and his eyes get wide* *The leader asks*So he yet lives? *Volkov whispers in his ear and the leaders eyes get even wider, and then the leader grins evilly and goes back to his tent.*

[RazorClaw]

 RazorClaw smirked. "Well, it seems as if you are in a bit of trouble. I'm a mercenary by trade. I would like to offer the services of myself--" he gestured to the other surviving troops, all weasels, who had been merely faking fear, who all formed up around him "and my counterparts, as part of your army, for a nominal fee, food, shelter, etcetera. Also, the late commander had some... Dealings, with your bushy-tailed enemy, windhound. I may, perhaps, be able to provide information useful to his defeat. And supplies." He wiped the smile off his face.  "And, seeing as I played a great part in your victory, I think it the least bit of thanks you could provide." He awaited a reply.  

[Deathclaw]

 "I do not employ vermin in my army. Your horde is weakened, and cannot beat me. For each soldier you have, is an archer on the wall, with many more. Attempt an attack and you will be killed. I will buy the information for windhound's defeat however. Enough supplies to last your army a season. Do we have a deal?"

[RazorClaw]

 RazorClaw frowned. "If you shall not employ me and my" he paused, gestured at the other seven vermin and rolled his eyes, "army, then I shall be going. I have much to do, and I'm sure there are others who shall appreciate my skills..." RazorClaw gave the enemy commander an icy grin, then left. An hour later, he and his gang were at the beach, with a cannon, ammunition, throwing weapons with ranges as long as arrows, and a desire to be emplyed by someone. They loaded into the boat and set off towards one of windhound's ships. employment had to come somewhere...

[Deathclaw]

 "Deathclaw, the vermin are going off in a boat."

"Send four small boats of otters, surround him, kill him."

[windhound]

 (occ:  heh.  looks like Deathclaw forgot about his navy, which is just as well..  they're finnished anyhow ^_^)

The four flaming wreaks, former skiffs of the Windhounds, smashed into Deathclaw's fleet, infecting many more ships with the deadly flames

windhound hadnt, ofcourse, known that Razor had attempted to sell info about him and his fleet, but he did see Razor coming out to meet him with a group of goodbeasts chasing behind

he sighed, and signaled to eights skiffs on the outer edge of the fleet, pointing them in the direction of Razor and his presuers.  Eight was overkill for four small boats, but no chances were to be taken.  If Razor turned out to be working with the goodbeasts then the eights skiffs would make sure that he regretted his decision, noone was to be trusted except his own.

meanwhile, the three score archers continued to fire off their fire arrows

"meh"  muttered windhound to himself, "this is quite a bit of work just for some supplies"

[Deathclaw]

 Deathclaw sent for his navy bases, harbored in caves full of water down the coast, ordering them to surround windhound. They quickly began their task.

"Fire arrows at those skiffs, now!" Deathclaw yelled.

[Gen. Volkov]

 *Volkov frowns as he watches Deathclaw's ambush* That's not very fair. *He confers with his lieutenants about what can be done about the situation, and is quickly reminded of the fleet transporting the rest of his army and supplies. A very large fleet.* *Volkov knows that the bulk of his navy is still in harbor back at home base, but the other fleet is close enough* *He points to a runner* "You, go find the fleet currently sailing along the coast and have them offload their cargo, and then sail to here and engage Deathclaw's fleet." "Make sure the supplies are guarded well" *He orders several thousand vermin to protect his runner and ensure the message is delivered* *The runner and his guard dissappear* *Soon enough the millions of sails of Volkov fleet appear over the horizon* *They begin to engage Deathclaw's fleet*

[RazorClaw]

 RazorClaw smiled. Goodbeasts. All noble about great ideals and all that yarn they fed to young ones, but when it came to battle, they were as dirty as any vermin. RazorClaw took a large arrow and shot it into each of the enemy boats, sinking them. He and his troops the proceeded to pick off the remaining otters. RazorClaw saw one of windhound's skiffs approaching...

Once aboard windy's ship, RazorClaw grinned. "windhound," he said, "it's sure been a long time. I came here with two things: the first, a gift. The second, an offer. First, the gift." RazorClaw had his beasts bring aboard their cargo, a massive, sleek gold cannon. "New technology, devised by myself. Nobody has these. Nobody. Now, to demonstrate..." RazorClaw pulled a lever on the cannon. A large boom echoed, and a large lead ball flew at one of Deathclaw's ships. A large hole knocked through the side, which started filling the hole rapidly with water. "My offer now... I offer my and my crew's services in combat, for food and shelter, and a small sum, say, fifteen-thousand, per battle? Would this be acceptable?"

[Deathclaw]

 "Get out the cannons!" roared Deathclaw.

Each ship removed its cannon, and Razorclaw learned he wasn't the only one possessing a cannon.

OOC: they didn't have cannons and you wouldn't have beaten my otters... especially that easily.

[RazorClaw]

 OOC: I invented the cannon for the purpose of this RP. Gunpowder was already discovered, so cannons were easily possible, and I did not defeat your otters, I just sank their ship as a demonstration. Otters are good SWIMMERS. Please edit your post.  

[Deathclaw]

 OOC: if you can have cannons it is impossible for me, so why should I edit? And otters are good swimmers, they would've cut off your ships and put up some sort of fight, and you could not have transported the cannon in your small boat.