The Siege of Orgur was an attempt by an Andan army, led by Terryn Tegenye, to invest the city of Orgur during the Third Yrian War.^[1]

Dispositions

Orgur was a predominantly orcish city known for its navy - mercantile and military - located on the Turrl Bay. The city center, including a large temple of Melkart (orcish god of trade and wind) and two land-side ports, was located on an island approximately 1 kilometer away from the coast, and reachable only by ferryboat. On the proper coast, there was only a small port, and a little town called Ik'orgur.

Orgur was a former Drubark city, and laid just south of powerful Murog's dominion. It was Murog's ally, and had been blockaded by land for nearly four years, as Andan forces controlled most of the coast and even nominally controlled Murog proper. The city survived that time by keeping control of Ik'orgur and its surroundings, trading with allies far north and also in notionally Andan Turrl, and taking an as neutral stance as possible. In 749 however, when the Murogian army got back on its feet and routed the Andan troops near its city, Orgur reaffirmed its loyalty and sent ships to bring supplies and aid Murog's liberation.

The city was a thorn in the Andan side: it single-handedly kept the goblinoids from gaining full naval superiority, it helped turn the tide in the campaign for Murog, and its presence made the coastal road unusable for Andan supply trains, forcing the goblinoids to use roads further inland.

The Siege

The Huddagr general Terrkyn Tegenye arrived with an army estimated 12'000 strong, aiming to end the Orgurian threat. It rapidly took control of the coast, but then it faced a problem: Tegenye needed to cross the channel between the coast and the island-city, whose walls reached to the waterline, and he did not have access to the Andan fleet.

The Andans constructed a mole over the water, profiting from the presence of an embankment just a few meters beneath water level stretching between the island and the mainland. The mole was 30 meters wide. Within range of the walls, Terrkyn set up two siege towers, both of them topped with catapults, which he used to bombard the defenders and damage the walls. Work went more slowly from then on, because the attackers were in arrow range from the defenses, the mole was being made even wider to better accommodate an assault, and the water was considerably deeper. The attackers did manage to reach the walls, but unfortunately the coast-facing walls were massive and built on top of solid rocks, requiring even more work to elevate the mole while under attack from above and repeatedly harassed by sallies from the defenders.

In the winter downtime of early 748, a fleet of a dozen Dwarven ships came to Orgur, and docked at the northern port. The Dwarves however did not want to risk starting war with the Andans, and intended to make a fully transactional deal: they'd bring extra supplies and a promise of protectorate, if Orgur severed all ties to its Drubark allies, entered massive debt, and gave most of its navy to Dwarven "management". The two did not come to an agreement, and in the end the Dwarves did not resupply the Orgurians.

Soon after, Terryn finally received naval support, alongside some fresh troops; about 70 warships all in all, mostly from the Turlian goblinoid cities, and the Yrians (complementing the 25 Androgian warships who'd arrived in late 749). He now had naval superiority, and he redoubled his efforts by using four covered ships with rams, to try and attack the waterside walls at a different, more southern spot. In a sally, Orgurian divers and ships severed the ropes tethering the rams to the walls, and in response Terryn replaced the ropes with chains.

The situation looking increasingly dire, the Orgurians turned to Murog for support. So far, only a detachment of 500 Murogians stood in the city, helping defend the walls. Murog agreed to send help; 2'000 mounted archers and 15'000 infantry, the better part of Murog's field army, came by land, under command of Gorrnon. The cavalry riding ahead encountered and slaughtered a 600-strong Andan foraging party. Terryn, realizing the siege would likely need several more months and considerable effort to complete, and hearing that the Andan army further east was retreating - leaving him alone on the frontline - chose to give up. The most part of his army went south on foot, aiming to rejoin the Andan forces in the territory of their ally in Gurnag, whereas he went with his Huddagr detachments by ship, to return to his home city.

Aftermath

Murog successfully saved Orgur. Though the Orgurians remained sovereign in name, Gorrnon appointed an interim governor, who ruled the city until 742. Their fleet especially saw heavy action - and heavy damage - in the Turrl such that by 743 it was reduced largely to insignificance. The Andans would finally invest the city in 742, after a major siege from sea and land (notably using the still partly intact mole), in the closing moves of the Third Yrian War.

As for Terrkyn Tegenye, his flotilla (probably just the Huddagr component, and not the 90 warships of the full contingent) was caught at sea while traveling out of the Turrl by a Murog-affiliated fleet. All the ships were sunk or captured, and he himself died in that fight.