The Secret of the Storm Fortress.
I do not own Assassin's Creed. If I did, Shay Cormac would have had a hood in his Templar outfit just has how the cover of the game depicted.
Hi readers, Rebelblade71 here with a one shot on the Storm Fortress, the unrealistically overpowered (still slow and sorta stupid imo) legendary Man O' War that is fought after the other three legendary ship battles are completed in Assassin's Creed Rouge.
North Atlantic Ocean.
A large convoy of warships bearing the flags of the British Empire was sailing through the ice cold waters of the North Atlantic amidst a raging storm at midnight. The convoy consisted of a frigate, a Galleon or a "Man O' War" as it was known to the English, four brigs and four schooners. The ships sailed in a disciplined manner maintaining a formation which involved the light and agile schooners patrolling ahead followed by the brigs and with the larger ships covering their rear. Their tactic was to let the schooners scout ahead of the fleet, when they would spot any trouble, they would employ hit and run tactics using their superior speed as the brigs engaged the enemy with long range mortar support from the larger ships. It was a simple, yet effective tactic.
They were tasked with reaching the colonies to provide support to their allies in the continent against their French adversaries. So far, they haven't faced any sort of trouble on their way other than some stray French warships patrolling the area, which were either avoided or were sent to the bottom of the Atlantic. It was unlikely that they would face any trouble from King Louis unless they were up against a large and well equipped battle group.
But now, they were caught in the middle of a harsh storm. There was very little visibility as the ships rocked violently as they passed rouge waves. But all this was nothing unfamiliar to the sailors of the empire. They had experience at the seas for years and a storm like this wasn't something that could deter them.
But little did they know that they were on the path of a different kind of storm. The kind that sent chills down even the most experienced sailors on the Atlantic.
Without any warning, all of the schooners scouting on ahead blew up in a fiery inferno one by one as a rain of flaming cannonballs showered upon the fleet. The ships at the rear immediately broke formation and scattered as a rain of metal spheres splashed down on the surface of the Atlantic. The captain of the Galleon, the one who was in charge of the fleet quickly took out his spyglass and started searching for the enemy. But amidst the storm, he saw nothing except the vast expanse of the Atlantic. The captain was a veteran sailor who had participated in many of the major naval battles of the Royal Navy. The sea was like his personal playground. Yet this time, he was completely taken off guard by the attack.
Before they could take any further action, two of the brigs were set alight as mortar shells rained down upon them from above. This time the captain caught a glimpse of a light in the distance. He quickly focused his spyglass at that direction.
It was then that he caught glimpse of his enemy. It was a single ship, a large Man O' War pitch black as the darkness itself. The sides of the large ship were studded by numerous cannons arranged in four decks. Its black sails were decorated with skull like insignia which was typically seen in pirate ships that used to plague the Caribbean. But its most distinguishing feature was the figurehead in front of its bow which depicted a kraken. The captain widened his eyes in shock as he saw this. Only one ship had such a figurehead in the whole Atlantic; it was the infamous Storm Fortress, one of the most feared ships to ever sail in the Atlantic Ocean.
The Storm Fortress again stared firing mortars at what was left of the fleet as the remaining four ships attempted to get close enough to the leviathan to use their broadsides with the two larger ships firing their mortars at it while on the move. The Royal Navy ships advanced as mortar fire constantly rained down on them. Masts broke like twigs and explosions rocked the decks of the ships as mortar fire hit them. The crew desperately tried to put out the fires that have started on the deck while trying to move the injured sailors to safer parts of the ship. Soon one of the brigs blew up as its ammunition storage was ignited.
As the three remaining ships closed in, the remaining brig and the frigate then attempted to attack the large galleon from two sides. The brig maneuvered in front of the large ship at a distance while the frigate targeted the rear of the Storm Fortress. The two Royal Navy ships then simultaneously fired their broadsides at the behemoth as it slowly started to turn itself. The cannonballs struck the massive galleon directly from both sides but it was evident that it did little to slow it down, let alone severely damage it as it turned out that the leviathan had its hull heavily reinforced. There were signs of damage at only few parts of the ship and most, if not all of its cannons were still intact.
The crews of the two smaller ships desperately started reloading the cannons. But it was too late for them. The galleon had turned around enough just enough for its broadsides to face both ships. The darkness of the Atlantic Ocean was suddenly illuminated by a bright light as the large ships fired all its cannons at its prey. From a distance, it would appear as if volcano had suddenly erupted in the middle of the ocean. The two ships were completely overwhelmed by the massive volley of cannonballs hitting the hull, decks…everywhere. Within mere seconds, two of the ships manned by some of the most experienced sailors of the Royal Navy were reduced to nothing but burning pieces of wood floating on the water. The air was filled with the smell of gunpowder and the corpses of numerous British sailors littered on the surface of the ocean. Few sailors who were lucky enough to abandon their vessels before their destruction desperately tried to swim to safety, only to be shot dead by the crew of the massive ship.
The captain gritted his teeth as he saw the demise of his comrades and the destruction of his fleet. The slow Royal Navy Man O' War was now close enough to the leviathan to use its broadside cannons. He was not going to let the sacrifice of the comrades who fought by his side for long go to waste. He knew that it took time for the crew of any ship to reload all cannons after firing a full volley. From that perspective, the death of his comrades weren't in vain is it gave him an opportunity to strike.
But he was wrong.
The cannons of the Storm Fortress roared again as it fired a massive volley of cannonballs at the opposing Royal Navy galleon. The Royal Navy Captain watched in horror, transfixed in fear as everything around him came apart due to the large volume of cannon fire. The towering masts of the warship caught ablaze and crashed down upon the upper deck, killing anyone unfortunate to be caught under it. Explosions occurred in many places on the lower deck as the store of gunpowder and ammunition were ignited. He watched as his loyal crew was dying before him. He had failed them.
The Storm Fortress fired its cannons once again obliterating the Man O' War. Within thirty minutes, it had decimated an entire fleet of the Royal Navy.
Inside the massive behemoth, the crew rejoiced as they achieved victory once more. From here, something about the ship appeared to be quite different from any other ships; the cannons. The cannons on the galleon appeared to have a strange revolving drum like object attached to them. There were six large holes on the said drums with each large enough to fit a cannonball. The crew began loading cannonballs onto the cannons as an Englishman inspected them.
"Well done lads, that's ten more for the record." He congratulated the crew. As he went on, inspecting each cannon James Puckle chuckled. The British Empire made a terrible mistake in not accepting the puckle guns he had devised for mass production due to being too complex and costly blah blah blah. Now they have to face the wrath of his latest invention: The Puckle Cannon.
Authors Note: Well I hope you readers liked it. The puckle cannon thing is entirely fictional. James Puckle designed the puckle guns that you can use while on the Morrigan but those were never accepted due to the fact that the design was well ahead of its time. The Puckle gun can be somewhat considered the predecessor of revolvers and to some extent, autocannons. I got the idea for this when watching the Storm Fortress use its broadsides. The thing could continuously keep firing them for like five to ten seconds like a damn machine gun, blowing anything that comes to its sides straight to Davy Jones locker. Well, if you liked this, feel free to review.
