Difference between revisions of "Second siege of Meereen"

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[[House Targaryen]] host<br>
 
[[House Targaryen]] host<br>
 
*[[Brazen Beasts]]
 
*[[Brazen Beasts]]
**[[Unsullied]]
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*[[Unsullied]]
**[[Stormcrows]]
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*[[Stormcrows]]
**[[Mother's Men]]
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*[[Mother's Men]]
**[[Stalwart Shields]]
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*[[Stalwart Shields]]
**[[Free Brothers]]
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*[[Free Brothers]]
 
*[[Windblown]]
 
*[[Windblown]]
 
*[[Second Sons]]  
 
*[[Second Sons]]  

Revision as of 13:37, 13 September 2016

Not to be confused with the siege of Meereen, taking place in 299 AC.
Second siege of Meereen
Mike Capprotti Ser Barristan.jpg
Ser Barristan Selmy commands his queen's forces as Hand of the Queen © FFG
Conflict Targaryen campaign in Slaver's Bay
Place Meereen
Result to be decided
Combatants
House Targaryen host
House Greyjoy
Slaver alliance
Commanders
* Ser Barristan Selmy, Hand of the Queen and leader of the ruling council of Meereen
  • The Tattered Prince
  • "Brown" Ben Plumm
  • Victarion Greyjoy
  • Slaver Alliance
    Strength
    Meereen
  • ~10,600 Unsullied, including 2000 who had not earned their spiked caps
  • 2,000 Windblown (turned on the slavers at the beginning of the battle)[1]
  • ~4000 Brazen Beasts city watch
  • ~6,000 freedmen divided into 3 companies
  • 500 Stormcrows[2]
  • ~200 Pit Fighters
  • 26 squires of Barristan
  • ~20 of Daenerys Targaryen's Dothraki warriors
  • ~unknown number of elephants
  • Viserion
  • Rhaegal
  • House Greyjoy: half of the Iron Fleet

    • 4,400+ reavers
    • 44 war galleys
    • 17 captured slaver ships (merchant ships, cogs, war galleys)
    New Ghis
    • 36,000 men divided into 6 legions
    • 100 armored and towered war elephants
    • 3 war galleys

    Yunkai

    Qarth

    Other

    Casualties
    unknown Little Pigeon
    Pudding Face
    Clanker Lords (possibly)
    Likely several thousands of slave-soldiers/Ghiscari/Qartheen
    Ser Barristan looks at a smouldering Meereen - by Marc Fishman ©

    The second siege of Meereen takes place following the coup against Hizdahr zo Loraq. A coalition of slavers besieges Meereen, the seat of Queen Daenerys Targaryen.

    Prelude

    Yunkai and her allies march on Meereen in order to cast down Queen Daenerys Targaryen and reinstall the government of the Great Masters as well as slavery.

    Daenerys marries Hizdahr zo Loraq, a Ghiscari noble of the city of Meereen, in order to broker peace. Daenerys holds the wedding feast in the Great Pyramid, with the Yunkish lords and sellsword captains in attendance. An exchange of seven hostages is arranged in order to ensure the peace.[2] The Yunkai'i remain encamped outside of Meereen and the peace does not last long after Daenerys goes missing on her dragon, Drogon, and King Hizdahr is removed from power and imprisoned on the grounds of attempting to murder her. Daenerys's new Hand of the Queen, Ser Barristan Selmy, takes command of the city in her stead along with the ruling council of Meereen.[5] In the meantime the bloody flux, brought by runaway Astapori freedmen, begins to spread among the Yunkish army and their allies as well as inside the city.

    Meanwhile Tyrion Lannister and Ser Jorah Mormont escape slavery and join the Second Sons encamped outside the city.[6] Tyrion and Jorah surmise that the Second Sons are fighting for the wrong side and they need to go over to Daenerys.[4]

    Out in Slaver's Bay the Iron Fleet arrives, as Euron Greyjoy, King of the Isles and the North, has sent his brother Victarion to bring Daenerys to Westeros. Wulfe on the Noble Lady and part of the fleet depart from the Iron Victory when the sky is still dark. The troops they carry are relatively few in number compared to the Essos troops involved in the battle, but far superior in training and equipment. They are commanded to strike the first blow by Victarion, Lord Captain of the Iron Fleet. On the Iron Victory Victarion has in his possession the dragon horn called Dragonbinder and he plans on using it on Daenerys's three dragons.[7]

    Battle

    The battle begins shortly before dawn. Dead men and dragons move through the sky, whilst warships crash and clash on Slaver's Bay and ironborn swarm ashore. The battle is split in two, one out on the bay, another one beneath the city. The Brazen Beasts man the city walls to replace as many Unsullied as possible. They will serve as the city’s last line of protection should Barristan's attack fail and Daenerys not return.

    The battle fought beneath the city

    Ser Barristan Selmy leads the charge on the Harridan with all available cavalry fighters, over 500 in total, while all of the Unsullied he could replace with the Brazen Beasts to defend the walls, 5,000 in total, pour out the city gates to form a shield wall and face the most dangerous of the enemy force, which he believes are the sellsword companies. A number of Meereen's pit fighters also join the attack, instructed to follow into the breach and cause as much mayhem in the slavers' tents and the enemy rear as possible. The Harridan itself is being defended by a Ghiscari legion, six thousand strong and six ranks deep, and several of the Yunkai slave-soldier companies.

    Barristan feints at the defense lines of the trebuchet, turning away from the spearwall of the legion guarding the trebuchet at the last minute and attacking the Yunkai slaves defending the Harridan, particularly Paezhar zo Myraq's Herons. The Unsullied finish lining up outside the gates as the Yunkai'i and their allies miss their chance to counterattack them. In the air Viserion snatches and devoures corpses thrown by the Wicked Sister while corpses set fire by his flame mid-air land and indiscriminately set fire to men and horses below. Rhaegal flies over the bay and circles the clashing ships of the Iron Fleet and Qarth.

    A messenger from the Yunkish high command orders the Second Sons to attack the ironborn who are landing on the shores, but since Brown Ben Plumm is away with the Girl General, neither Inkpots nor any of the mercenary leaders present are willing to do anything. Ben later explains that the Second Sons are commanded by the Girl General to defend the Wicked Sister in the fear that Barristan might attack after he has dealt with the Harridan. The closest fighting is a good league off from their encampment. They have a meeting in Brown Ben's tent.

    By this point the Ghost of Astapor is already down. The Mother's Men break the Long Lances like a rotten stick and drag the trebuchet over with chains. Viserion flies back to his lair in the Pyramid of Uhlez, while Rhaegal still circles the bay. A Yunkish nobleman comes to the tent to inform them that Morghaz zo Zherzyn, Supreme Commander of the Yunkai'i, wants them to attack the Unsullied in the rear while they advance on the Harpy's Daughter, defended by Bloodbeard and two Ghiscari lockstep legions.

    The Second Sons are informed that Gorzhak zo Eraz has been slain, cut down by the Tattered Prince - meaning that the Windblown have gone over to Daenerys Targaryen and the Drunken Conqueror is now supreme commander. The Yunkish noble envoy recognizes Tyrion as an escaped slave of Yezzan zo Qaggaz and demands he be turned over. Ser Jorah Mormont answers the nobleman by killing him with his sword. Ben then announces that the Second Sons have always been the queen's men and that rejoining the Yunkai'i was just a ploy.

    The battle fought out on the bay

    Barristan's attention is drawn to Slaver's Bay, recognizing the banners of House Greyjoy, but he is not sure what is going on. Warships crash and clash in the bay. The ironborn block the mouth of the Skahazadhan with a fireship. Rhaegal circles above the bay banking and turning. The ships of the Yunkai and her allies are destroyed and their men put to the sword. The ironborn swarm ashore.

    Result

    To be determined.

    Quotes

    Dragons wheeled overhead, their shadows sweeping across the upturned faces of friend and foe alike.


    We have ironborn swarming ashore and Ser Barristan and his Unsullied pouring out the city gates, with us between them, fighting on the wrong bloody side. I am terrified myself.

    Tyrion Lannister, to Penny


    We do not want to be fighting for the slavers when Daenerys returns… and she will, make no mistake. Strike now and strike hard, and the queen will not forget it. Find her hostages and free them. And I will swear on the honor of my house and home that this was Brown Ben's plan from the beginning.

    Jorah Mormont, to Inkpots


    The Second Sons were ripe for another change of masters, Tyrion was almost certain of that… though there was a great abyss between "certain" and "almost certain." If I have misjudged my man, all of us are lost.

    References and Notes