RP- Port Battle for the Strait

[Zephore]

Agnar walks in, wearing a long coat and his longsword attached to his back. He walks to the bar and orders a rum. He lets out a sigh as he sits at a nearby table

[Meliva]

Brian waves at him

Hey Agnar, long time no see. We just got back from a crazy trip west. Heard rumors of a nasty conflict about to happen, and Emily here is trying to gather up a good sized force to join in.

Emily nods as she speaks in a slurred voice

Yup. Offering up lots of gold and other stuff. Gotta make sure those bloody governor's don't get control of the strait. I should stop being drunk now.

She takes out a bottle and quickly downs it, looking much better, though she grabs her head in pain.

Alright, I'm sober now. Sweet mother of mine I shouldn't have drank so much. How ya been Agnar.

[Zephore]

Agnar comes over and shrugs

I've been just fine but busy. Lots of paperwork for some odd reason.
Been watching this conflict build up though, I don't know why. But you can feel the tension when you go to the ports. Oh, and bought a new ship. Nothing to be impressed by yet, just a simple 94 gun second-rate. She needs a few modifications.

[Jack Teach]

Jack looks at him perplexed

That's definitely an impressive ship, and most certainly not simple.

[Zephore]

Agnar laughs

Hard to sink and sheer firepower. However, she's slow. Could be tempted to make some changes, but time will show. Accompanied by 2 heavy frigates, she's a beast though. And I never bring her into a port for specific reasons.

[Meliva]

Emily takes out a map of the strait and the surrounding areas and begins to speak.

Vune tasked me with getting involved in this conflict to make sure it ends well for the mages guild. This strait is of great importance as im sure you all already know. Without it, ships would need to sail far north to the Hannes strait, or far south to the Tokelau pass to get around those 2 landmasses. Right now, 3 of the ports adjacent to it are trying to gain control of it for various reasons. Luckily i managed to find out what those reasons are, and none are good for any of us. I will start with the worst one.

The governor of Neopolis wishes to create an Isthmus through it, blocking off Caspian from selling cotton to the western ports. This would also block off any ships from sailing through it, and make travel much harder and longer. This, is by far the worst outcome for almost everyone save for Neopolis.

The next worst outcome, is Thorokas. They wish to make a large checkpoint at one end of the strait, heavily fortified and well guarded, and charge a fee for anyone who wishes to cross it-and i doubt that the fee will be cheap.

Finally Caspian wishes to build a large fort on their end of the strait, with the purpose of blasting any pirates who cross it, and to keep any invasion fleets from using it. This, isn't too bad-they don't intend to charge anyone who uses it, nor block travel for anyone save for pirates.

However i think its in our best interest if we make sure none of them get what they want. Which is why im hoping you all will help make sure none of them succeed.

[Zephore]

Agnar frowns

How do you think we should deal with it though?

[Meliva]

She looks to him and sighs

We fight them sadly. You see, none of them can do what they want to do so long as a force exists nearby that would stop them. Building a fort, or checkpoint or an isthmus are time consuming projects that take considerable resources, and lots of workers. if a hostile force is nearby, then that force can easily interrupt the workers and force them to stop. So all 3 ports are gathering forces-whichever one wins, will be able to complete their project without any fear of someone attacking.

So we need to have a force prepared, ready to make sure no one can make their project on the strait happen. In a worst case scenario we fail, then we will need to make a bigger force to undo whatever is done to the strait. As I said before, the worst case scenario is Neopolis wins and an Isthmus is built. That would take ages to undo.

[Jack Teach]

Jack nods

We'll need a large force.

[Zephore]

Edvin walks into the tavern and moves towards Agnar

Ravan and Blue Crest has arrived.

Agnar smiles

So, I'm bringing a 2!d rate, 3rd rate and 2 heavy frigates to help you in this. They're all fully crewed, and if you want, I could send a message to my hideout for a few more frigates and brigantines to show up.