Embargo on the Land of Heel

With the mounting tensions making war seem more likely as the days past and Sheen remaining on the fence, a plan was hatched to bring them into the conflict. While the government seemed receptive to joining the embargo and possible war, the public was more indifferent. An inciting incident was required, as well as a nice little bribe to have the government look the other way.

A small bribe of thirty-thousand Thaler and a chartered ship with 2.700 tons of picric acid, 400 tons of dynamite, and 10 tons of guncotton later, a nice arms shipment was now sailing past the blockade and towards Heel. As it approached and came well within range of the Heelish navy and sight of others, an emergency flair was shot up and a man was set to ask for help and inform them they were being attacked by the Heelish navy when a customs ship came alongside. A few moments later, the timed fuses on the bombs were up and the entire ship was awash in flames and exploding like a new born constellation of stars and wiping out anyone unfortunate enough to be close by.

---

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halifax_Explosion

Viewing the rapid descent of events occurring in Heelish waters, Dunwikki traders, their ships loaded with metals, foods, and their profits from investment, hurried back to Miskatonic, and their news reached the Grand Chairman. The government of Dunwik was silent in public, but in private, a quiet request was floated over towards the Sadalen. It would take all of the Minister of Foreign Affair's intelligence, guile, and deception ability to keep their trades going and profits high, but if it worked, then they could continue business... mostly as normal. In which way this letter was meant to be received was unknown, whether it was deception is unclear, but hopefully it would save, or at least mitigate the damage to, the Dunwikki companies operating in Heel.

The note arrives in flawless Hundisch.

To Be Read Before the Raihksgamotjing of thata Raikh af hize Dalen, may your wisdom guide you well.

Greetings. My name is Percival Clarke, current Minister Of Foreign Affairs to the Corporate Confederation of Dunwik. I urge you to read this in full. I have read some of the basics of your economic policy, and send this letter as a means of requesting access to Heelish waters to conduct trade. Now, one may think that this is a blatant skirting of the blockade, but I urge you to read further. Namely, we at Dunwik wish to export our goods to Heel as we used to, but we will no longer accept their currency, and instead request all their transactions to be conducted via precious metals or other material goods. Capital to us in Dunwik will only flow outwards from Heel, and to us. Economically, it will not be substantially different than if we ceased trade from them altogether. Indeed, it may even hurt them more. You have free license to investigate our vessels and speak with the crew of the vessels, should you desire.

-Speaking on behalf of your friends and allies at Dunwik
Percival Clarke.

In typical Dunwikki tradition, this letter came with a small gift. This time it was a box of fine cigars.

A similar note arrives in Sheen, but with the gift of finely made white suits in the Dunwikki fashion. They fit uncomfortably well.

After Heel spend 80.000 Heels on bribes it uncovered convincing evidence that Sadalen was behind the explosion. It spread this knowledge with every method it could find but sadly did not manage to convince the Sheen populace however underground news papers which seemed to be growing in Sadalen report successfully of the truth and are causing minor civil unrest. Also prices of all Embargo goods rise strongly causing Sadalen shipping to having to pay higher and higher prices to the traders coming in from everywhere selling their goods indirectly Sadlaen now.

Every Sadalen ship that enters Heel waters gets intercepted by an PT boat and asked to turn around. If it does not comply then it get impounded and the cargo confiscated until the Sadalen Embargo of Heel is lifted. All other nations can pass trough as usual.

In response to the escalating Heelish aggression, the Hauhkunoleiks Flutt is hereby redeploying its forces in the immediate area along this line. Bombardment of Heelish military positions will begin should Heel not capitulate and pay an indemnity of twelve-thousand Thaler for every day of inconvenience imposed by them on merchant shipping.

Should the destruction of their coastal defences not be enough, we also promise to exact vengeance on them and their shipping without mercy, until such a time as they pay the owed amount, as well as any operational costs assessed to have been incurred as a result of their actions. This includes but is not limited to the cost of bedding, medical supplies, ammunition, wages, materials, time, and food supplies for our naval forces and other formations employed by us in our operations.

Furthermore, an official letter of apology is also required should any deaths occur due to their actions as well as a full person price be paid for every man killed, including a payment to his lord.

---

For reference, my ships are actually maintaining a fair distance from the coast. They are close enough to shoot things coming from the coast, but not so close as to be easily tracked from the coast. About fifteen to twenty miles away. This would generally put the ships outside the effective range of 18" guns.

Sailing safely away from the coast, the Haimleiks Hauhsaiwsflutt came within sight of Karlovačko, a city on the eastern side of the Dragkona Strait. Dozens of guns fired on ships from the shoreline, their shots falling far too short to threaten the fleet or going wide by half a mile. Saiwsfrauja Eisenhorn watched dispassionately as the enemy guns rained ineffectual fire from the shore, their being too afraid to send what meagre forces they had to fight and die like men. Thinking on his mission, he waited a while before deciding that the lesson had to be taught.

'Faths, how far away is that city?' 'Thirteen nautical miles, my Saiwsfrauja.' It was not a very impressive city, quite provincial. It had a small citadel, some port infrastructure, and a reported military district, quite run of the mill. 'If you would, signal the other ships and inform them that they will be commencing bombardment of the city on our signal. Load high explosive rounds.' The Faths got to the task, the Staua af Gedweolä and the Skadus af Eisenmuss acknowleding and signaling when ready after a few minutes.

The Saiwsfrauja in the mean time had gotten himself a nice pot of tea and a serving table next to his chair. Offering a cup to the Faths, he took a glance at the city once more and wondered what sort of cowards the enemy were, that they did not simply surrender the city and spare it all the coming destruction, when they refused to defend it like men. Rebels, heretics, and upstarts, pathetic in character to a man. Eager to get the castigation underway now, the Saiwsfrauja turned back to his subordinate and simply said 'You may fire when ready.' before getting up with some binoculars and watching the defenceless target before them.

All the guns were fully elevated and pointing on one direction when the order came through and like a thunderstorm, the sound of them firing was a rolling one. The twelve inch guns began firing in sequence so as to make sure that at no time was there any gap in the shells raining down upon the city. The first few hitting a smattering of what were likely warehouses, one setting off an explosion that could only be seen from behind some buildings, and another striking right into a palatial building that was likely the local seat of government. The explosions were quite entertaining, as each shell landed with a rather pleasant plume of dust and smoke followed by a distant boom a few minutes later.

On the odd impact, the explosion of the shell was fully in view of the ships, as it landed on some elevated area or even burst before hitting the ground properly thanks to this or that tower or roof being made of stone or other strong materials. Listening carefully, you could just make out distant sirens and bells coming from the city now, though you would be hard pressed to given the ever present sound of large guns firing. All in all, it was quite the entertaining spectacle, as some fires even started to spread from the shelling.

As such, it was only natural that it came as quite a shock when three shells fell in quick succession right onto the deck of the Mikils Bann. The ship shook rather violently from their impacts, with the explosions tearing the wooden deck and exposing the armour beneath. Thankfully, they had not properly penetrated the deck and the damage was quite livable, though unpleasant all the same. 

'Who shot us!' was the first first thing said heard, as the Faths and Saiwsfrauja both scanned around to see if a Heelish ship had somehow been allowed to get within range of them without anyone noticing. Nothing on the sea as far as the eye could see, other than their own ships of course. The question was answered by a report from the secondary tower. 'My lords, it was the coastal guns. The lookouts say they saw no other shots fired.' That thought caught them wrong footed, as neither could really think of anything to say to that. 'Good shots.' The tension left the bridge as the unexplained shots were explained, and a bit of a chuckle passed through as it was noted that the shore batteries were shooting more excitedly now trying to recreate their miracle shots.

Teams of trained sailors quickly got the fires that had started under control and those that had been injured were taken to the medical staff on board. Two hours in, a watch change had to occurred and those that had been on duty were relieved. The Saiwsfrauja stayed though, as he had been relaxing quite contentedly on the bridge. Two hours later, they finally saw the first real sign of proper action. Smoke coming from the south, the reinforcements that they had been hoping would come from the south of Heel to try and enforce their little blockade of the strait.

The Faths was called back up to the bridge from his nap and the fleet began repositioning. Where as before they had been a drawn line parallel to the coast, they now formed a line perpendicular to the coast. The lookout called out what appeared to him to be three battleships in the coming force, perfect for humiliating the enemy at sea. As they watched an waited, the enemy fired off a salvo of shots at extreme range. Most of the shots missed, but two smacked into the ship's hull, again only doing minor damage.

In a mystifying move, the enemy chose to open fire with what appeared to be a cloud of secondary guns, no larger than eight inch guns from the look of things. A truly impressive amount of shot was hurled at the fleet, but more impressive than everything else, one of the shells managed to hit! It did almost no damage, but the fact hat a single shot managed to traverse such a great range was astounding. Sadly, as time went on, the enemy did not come into range for return fire.

Be it out of absolute craven cowardice or some bizarre logic and plan, the reinforcements sailed hugging the coast in dangerously shallow waters, all the way to the port. There they were... Sitting there... Refusing to give fight. They were naturally no match for the Flutt, but this level of cowardice and tactical ineptitude just drove the officers wild with confusion. So the fleet once more repositioned itself, to run parallel to the coast as the enemy crept into their favourite place.

---

Haimleiks Hauhsaiwsflutt - Home Seas Fleet
Saiwsfrauja - Sea-Lord
Faths - Master and Commander
So Mikils Bann - The Gratuitous Malediction
So Staua af Gedweolä - The Heretics' Judgement
So Skadus af Eisenmuss - The Shadow of Eisenmuss

You receive a message from Vladimir Nikonov commander of the Black Fleet an element of the old Duom Asderaordian navy requesting sanctuary and offering their services as privateers 

Although maintaining official neutrality, the Divinian Offshore Company recognizes a potential profitable venture. As such, the Chambers hava ensured the rights of individual parties to be contracted out as mercenary forces for the Embargo of Heel. Currently, four destroyers, 2 armored cruisers, and 3 modified coastal defense ships are contracted for service.

Heel accepts these Terms as the point of closing the Straight was to make Sadalen lift its Embargo.