By all accounts the city of Valtegaard was the most strategically valuable stronghold in the South.  Technically it wasn’t even a stronghold – it did not need to be, surrounded as it was on three sides by jagged cliffs and on the fourth side by deceptively shallow waters.  To the untrained eye it appeared little more than a seaside town populated by fishers and artisans but for the past century it had been the vexation of the entire Corseilan military.  For one, this town of glorified paddlers and basketweavers had manage to sustain themselves for millennia with no apparent agriculture or trade.  For another, despite its small size it boasted a highly organized and well-armed militia that had fended off every direct attack in living memory.  Third, it had never been successfully besieged.  No matter how well-stocked the invading army the end was always the same – the smart captains returned home with just enough supplies to make the trip and the foolish ones ran out of rations, ultimately drying up and leaving their anchored ghost ships as a testament to their failure.<br/><br/>As he surveyed the carnage unfolding around him Endymion thanked the gods for those foolish captains.  Most of their ships had sunk, but enough remained afloat for him to quietly lead a small unit of officers ashore by rowboat using them as cover from the watchful eyes of guards stationed in each of the five stone towers encircling the city.  From there they split up, each to a different watchtower to neutralize the guards before they could sound for the militia.  This done he lit the signal for his army to begin rappelling down the cliffs.  They were vulnerable to projectile attack at this point but by the time the militia was finally roused they were halfway down the cliffside.  Many of them would make it aground to help in the conquest of the city proper, but their primary objective was to draw the attention of the militia away from the rest of his navy as it picked its way through the wreckage to the shore.  It had been a massive undertaking and casualties had been high, but in the end he came out victorious.<br/><br/>He paced confidently in front of a crowd of townspeople, saying nothing.  Give the people something to respond to and someone will inevitably respond in a way to make things difficult.  Silence, however, when combined with the right expression can cause even the bravest to rethink their course of action.  In the background his officers were wrapping up the last of the skirmishes and directing traffic until everyone with injuries serious enough to warrant immediate treatment were gathered in a hastily constructed medical tent and any citizen of Valtegaard capable of standing on their own was herded into the town square.  It was not until this was done and the last of his officers fell in line behind him that he spoke.<br/><br/>“Which one of you was up until tonight in charge of this city?"