Lydia

The enemy boats were moving fast towards them, and the first wave of cannons had been fired. The orders were to destroy the warship, then board the supplier. She had been loading and lighting Faendal's ballista over and over as they pounded the warship with fire and bomb arrows. She heard more yelling from the leaders.

"Port cannons stern to bow fire! Port ballistae fire off chains!" the captain was yelling over the boom of cannon fire and the crackling of flame. The enemy ship was starting to pitch and turn as it was being broken to pieces by the many cannons that they fired at it.

"Is the chain in?" Faendal asked.

"Yeah, let them have it!" Lydia got out of the way as Faendal fired the ballista's secondary firing mode. It shot out a chain with two weights on either side. It smashed into the enemy ship's secondary mast, and caused it to fall over.

"Good shot, you two! Get ready to board the second ship!" Talen pulled out his sword, which began to glow with heat. As they neared the other boat, people threw over some grappling hooks, and pulled the hulls together. Lydia pulled out her sword and leapt over the side into the other boat. The first Imperial, a scout, swung his sword at her head. She blocked that with her shield, and slashed him across the face, kicking him away. The next one was in heavy armor, and had a shield. Lydia shield-bashed him and then stabbed at his side. He blocked that, but then was knocked away as the captain sliced him in the throat. Talen then went on to pull out his crossbow, aim it, and fire it into another one of the legionnaires with one hand. He put the crossbow away before stabbing at another one of the soldiers.

"More coming up from below!" Lydia pointed at the hatch, where twenty soldiers had just crawled out, and onto the deck. Talen cursed, and held out a hand. Lydia heard a fizzle, before an explosion of energy shot out of his hand. The lightning bolt struck the first couple legionnaires and knocked them down. By the way they were still; she could tell that it had killed them. Of course, he's a Breton. Naturally he knows magic. Lydia slashed at another scout before running up to who looked to be the enemy captain. He wasn't in legion armor; he had a fur coat on with a hood. He looked to be a Dunmer, and she saw him pull out a scimitar. She ran up, slashing at his throat. He dodged that, and then swung his scimitar up towards her face. She blocked that with her shield, and countered with another slash.

"Nice try, rebel. But you won't win this," the man smiled, before engulfing himself with flame. Lydia had seen the Ancestor's Wrath ability Dunmer can call upon before, so she knew how to fight it. She slammed her shield into his stomach, and slashed at his sword arm. He grabbed her with flaming arms, causing her to call out and fall back. She had fallen down, and he was about to stab down into her when the captain blasted him with another bolt. He staggered, but the fire blocked the main amount of the energy.

"Surprise, blue-skin," Talen leapt forward with his sword aimed at the elf's head. The elf dodged, but it still sliced into his shoulder, and the dark elf fell down. "Have fun in Oblivion." With a stab, the elf was silenced. Talen helped Lydia to her feet, healing her with magic.

"Thank you," Lydia groaned. The burns still hurt, but he had taken away some of the pain. She managed to get back to their boat, at the same time, the pirates were looting anything that could be of use on their boat. She helped bring some boxes below and pulled some bags over from the other boat. After they left, she got the honors of shooting the flaming arrow at the explosives they put on the boat, and watched it sink.

Cloud Ruler Temple

Ralof

Cloud Ruler Temple had been turned into a giant trap. Esbern and Delphine had found about twenty traps in the Library and Barracks, and then in the Armory they had to dismantle another three or four. Ralof had to dismantle two or three tripwires in the main hall, while Tyr broke the pressure pads. The town guard from Bruma helped as well, aiding in finding and stopping the traps. After the day was over, they had found and dismantled every trap they could find. This Temple was now their command base in Tamriel, and Ralof was proud of their work. Then next day, Ulfric arrived to set up the planning stations. He had talked to the count, and they decided to keep Bruma quiet about their supporting the rebellion. As they set up, Ralof talked to Galmar of what is going to happen next. Ralof had recently become a lieutenant of the Stormcloak army, so Galmar was the only one who was above him other than Ulfric and Tyr.

"So, what's the plan for our first attack?" Ralof asked as he set up his bedroll and pack.

"Ulfric wants us to be quiet for a couple days. We will plan and be ready for the next part. We will then send a group down to the city called Cheydinhal, and take it over. We do not attack the Imperial city until the rest of Cyrodil is under our control."

"And how long will that take?"

"Weeks, maybe months. The fleet will be getting to Anvil in about two weeks, so we will wait for them." Ralof nodded, before walking outside to see how well the outside preparations were going. They had some horses in the stables, a small catapult in the courtyard, a tanning rack, and a workbench. He saw a couple Stormcloaks heading out to hunt, and thought of how much like home this was. He thought of the fleet, and wondered if they were doing as well as the ground troops were.

Ok, everyone. After this bit, there's going to be a time skip to about two to three weeks. The ground troops have now officially taken Cheydinhall and Bruma. The fleet is nearing Anvil, and are about to go in for the attack.