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Registered: 2020-04-29

Posts: 621

Don't Let Those Hares Drown!- Zoltsr TP

Zoltar has had some bad luck, some good, but he still saw victory, in the end, he just had to wait. But right now he needed to get rid of annoying hares, yeah some got lucky, but not all of them as he grinned." Gonna have a good morning...for a swim huh?"

Velm just glared at the cat."You're all happy right now chap, trust me it won't last." He knew they were not in a good position but that doesn't mean he won't tell the cat off.

Zoltar smirks." You..and them." He points to the other 3 hares." Are the ones in the cage." He backs off, the sandbar was clearly seen and a few good yards into the sea, not too large to be on, but big enough for a cage." DO have a lovely morning..or rather a bad one." He chuckles." Maybe the stripe dog is watching the fun." He laughs coldly and quickly heads back to shore before the high tide comes in.

Velm just glared, but as the cat left a frown formed...water was only up to their knees but that would change in a  couple of hours.."

"Sur?.."One of the privates asked, "How do we...get out of this?"

  The Lt. just sighs and slams a paw into the bars. He looked at the other 3 hares, "We...don't"He sounded defeated.

A couple of hours pass, it's morning and seagulls are out..and by now that water is very likely chest deep....the hares seemed doomed.

The small flotilla of fishing vessels that set out from Halyard when the horde invaded have been making a temporary port out on one of the small islands beyond the western shore. It has fresh water and grass but not much else so they have been doing scouting trips back along the shore to see what is going on.
   
They have seen the horde leave Halyard but are reluctant to return home just yet. They did pull off a quick run to pick up more villagers and what food supplies were left. The Mayor doesn't want to risk everyone going home as that'd just give Zoltar a chance to sweep back in and seize a load of prisoners.
 
Now the bulk of the ships are back at their temporary base but Mayor Durang, the sea-rat seer Orel and a small  group of hares are crewing the Mayor's fishing boat. Corporal Jessica, Privates Harvey, Tamon, Sarah and Debra are making up the crew. The Mayor is acting as captain with Orel helping to teach the hares how to sail over the past few weeks they have gotten quite good at it.
   
They are lurking just out of sight of the shore to the south, Durang the big sea otter watching the horde on the shore before the mountain through his telescope. He has been watching the captive hares and the horde leader on the shore waiting for the tide to come in.
 
As the water reaches their chests Durang gives the order and Orel snaps too, shouting instructions to the hares on the crew and the little fishing boat raises its sails and leaps forward with the riding tide. Corporal Jessica, Harvey and Tamon have bows and arrows ready to pepper the shore whilst the Mayor and the others aim to sang that cage.

Zoltar doesn't see the small boat yet, but he soon will.A few horde do watch the cage,  every so often anyways as it's assumed the hares will die anyways, and the wildcat has not yet seen any ships, that may change today.

Velm mutters to himself,till he feels a tap on his shoulder.."Wot....I'm sorry guys, I let you down..".."Sur...look" the Lt. looks to where the Private ispointing and his ears perk up,but he doesn't dare shout out as that would alert the horde.

The little sailing ship has one sail and several spars with triangular side sails to aid with the ocean breezes. Durang and the hares have piled on as much canvas as they can to pick up speed, they don't intend to stop from the looks of it.
 
The sea otter is on the tiller, steering them toward the cage and the sand-bar, he is going to have to steer the boat just right to not crash on the sandbar but get close enough to the cage to make a difference.

Orel the brown rat is up the front of the boat doing something with ropes whilst the hares are ready to start shooting the shore as soon as they are in range or manning the various ropes.

Zoltar has decided he is gonna, well he assumes, watch the water take the cage ,the hares wouldn't  be able to stay standing too long.He glances at the mountain with a chuckle and then looks out at where the cage is, he blinks as he thought he caught movement and motions a small group of 10 horde beasts over to him.

Velm smiles as he sees the ship but there is still the rising water to deal with.He nods to his fellow hares,3 privates with him"We may have hope chaps."

The little fishing boat tacks left, then right, it is zig-zagging to keep in the wind and bearing down faster and faster on the little cage as the water keeps rising. It is not far away now, about half a mile, it will be within bow-range any minute now however and the Corporal Jessica and her team are ready to start firing as up the front Orel is ready.

Zoltar watches movement...it is a movement." what in the blazes!" The horde beasts beside him look confused." Don't just stand there! GEt arrows ready! No one gets away from me!"

Velm looks over at the shore and frowns"Oh great..."He frowns at the water level as it's a little higher,but he had to stay positive, he had to stay hopeful so the prvates wouldn't panic."That boat is getting closer, we are not done yet..stay

A  Zig
   
A Zag.....
 
Then the boat turns and is racing along the outward edge of the sandbar, arrows start to fly as Jessica gives the order. They are still far enough out that a lot of them hit the shallows but if Zoltar's beasts want to hit the cage or the boat they will also have to come into the shallows where the arrows are falling.
   
It'll be about a minute, Orel is leaning over the side of the boat, the tails of his bandana streaming as he calls out orders to the hares on the ropes, it won't be long.

Zoltar steps back, he glares at a couple of the horde beasts, so a couple get brave and step into the shallows quickly and fire off thier own arrows." Morons..." He hisses a little,well if the badger is watching this the wildcat is getting grumpy at the idea of losing captives. His right paw from wrist to almost elbow is still bandaged tightly but he can still use it somewhat.
.
Velm watches the shore, when one private panics a little he lays apaw under  their shoulder and makes sure to keep them from falling under the water.

Ciocan is watching, in fact as the little fishing boat swings a horn is sounded from inside the mountain! The horde may be camped outside of bow-range but the Badger Lord is standing tall atop the crater, puffing on an old horn, taunting Zoltar and the horde and adding some distraction, it could after all be prelude to attack.
 
It isn't an attack, just a loud noise but then there is a clang. The large hook Orel is holding snags the top of the cage as the rat expertly clunks it into place. Then with a bellowed order two of the privates aboard haul on a rope as the boat flashes past, a spar shifts, swinging around as a rope goes taught and starts to pull the cage up out of the water.
   
Mayor Durang throws the tiller over and starts to head back out to sea and away, the cage slowly lifting up out of the water to dangle from the rear spar of the boat. Corporal Jessica calls a halt to the firing and wanders over to salute. "Sah.... sorry for interupting your no doubt very convoluted spy op but we felt you might need a pick up," she jokes quietly as the little fishing boat races away from the shore and Ciocan keeps on tooting the horn in victory.

Zoltar looks toward the mountain,  he draws a sword and points." Any hares that dare come out...kill them!" One of the horde archers is hit and falls over while others back off and look to prepare for an attack from the mountain.

Velm nods up at the corpal "Oh tis fine corporal....perfect timing." At first the privates, even the Lt. for a brief second did panic a little.The hares are safe now, dripping wet and a little cold,but safe.

Durang is still sailing the boat, heading north and away, once out of sight of shore he will turn west and south to head back to their island hideout. But for now they are safe.
 
The brown rat Orel walks over, looking up at the cage and gives some orders to the hares who lower it down to the deck. He then climbs up on top of it and smacks out the pins with a mallet and one side falls open. "Welcome aboard friends," he says softly, "I'm Orel, the Mayor Durang and I thought we'd invite you to join us in freedom."

Zoltar hisses and  in angry straggles one weasel and tosses them into the sea as he storms away from the waters edge." Stupid hares..." He smirks." No matter, I will have my victory..the vixen said so." He looks at the mountain." Your all gonna die! I will have this fortress do you hear me!" He chuckles,  the seer fox said if he got rid of the cub he would have vicory...little does he know the cub is still alive.

Velm steps out, the 3 privates follow as the Lt. smiles"Thankyou for your help Orel. Wot we need ta do now is plan an attack ...hopefully a surprise one."He glaces at the shore and back to them."I am unsure how long  Salamastron can put up with that lot of horde beasts."

Orel nods and peers back, "They will not win," He says soflty, "I have seen it... but it will not be won without loss."
 
The rat sighs, "This is why I left the sea, so I didn't have to give prophecy to mad tyrants... I'd much rather use it to help the village predict fishing patterns... but I will help the Long Patrol when asked."
   
Private Sarah is now on the tiller and the Mayor walks over, the big sea otter smiling through their thick whiskers, "Good to see you, it's Velm isn't it? Glad we could help, we are heading back to our little island hide-away. But we want to help as best we can."

Zoltar meanwhile gets his horde ready for an attack, it likely won't be today...but soon

Velm listens and nods.He nods to the otter "Yes,  Lt. Velm...one of the main healers in the mountain. We recently saved an otter from that cat...his name is Errapel...came from a small holt  that cat attacked"

Orel sighs and nods and looks at Durang who growls soflty, "I know that holt... damn them..."
 
The Mayor stares out at sea then looks back at Velm, "Hopefully we can come up with some way to help drive off this horde from our home. I have been having one of the ships keep watch on the shore each day. Hopefully we can then use this as a warning to all sail in and help.

Velm nods "Yes ..any help be good thank you." He takes a towel given to him so he can dry off more,as do the 3 privates with him "As for the hares on your ship, I am glad to see them safe."He glances towards the shore, a worried look..a very worried look."One is...missing..I don't know where...Private Donica.."

Orel looks at Jessica who shakes her head, "I don't think any of us have seen Private Donica, there are about fifteen of us with the fishing fleet. Mostly the team from Halyard when the horde arrived, we were outside on the docks so we were able to make it aboard the boats with the villagers but Donica isn't with ks "

Velm nods"Explains where some of the hares were, the ones from the base...well"He frowns "Some...got to the mountain..barely." Some hares died at the base, which needs to be rebuilt now." I knew a handful of hares were missing, sadly we still lost around 16 hares at the base."

Durang nods, "Well you are safe with us now, hopefully we can return to the fleet and you can all dry off and rest up and Private Donica will show up soon."

Velm nods"Yes...hopefully..."He sighs again, but soon lets it be know why more worry for Donica than most others.."Me and Donicaare supposed to get married..we had hoped soon then..this stupid wildcat shows up"

Durang nods his head, "Well if we can locate the lass we'll throw you an impromptu ship wedding instead! But we'll find her, don't worry."

Velm chuckles" that be unique indeed" He then gets serious "But yes we need to plan, this horde needs gone. Its possible we may have some seagulls helping but I have not see the one Sea Gull his Lordship made friends with for a few days now." He hmms"Unless he is with the other gulls or just  I just not seen him  perhaps"

Orel tilts his head, "We have some birds with the fleet, we could send one of them to the mountain. If we can establish communications with the Badger Lord we can co-ordinate our efforts and hit the horde from both sides. "

Velm nods"That...could be good,I don't think the wildcat is expecting many from the sea. He is gonna be too focus on trying to get into the mountain ."

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I play:  Xavier ( Log-A-log of GUOSIM) Elbio (Lt.,Archer, and Fighter in Long Patrol and RW Residential Hare)