 When the Maniots heard of the Ottoman preparations they gathered their army under the command of Éxarchos Grigorakis and his nephew Tzanetos Grigorakis who were from the powerful clan of Ayeranos and Skoutari in the mountains above Parasyros and waited for the Ottomans to arrive.When the Ottoman fleet arrived at Gytheio, Hasan Ghazi sent his second in command Ali Bey with 10,000 men he advanced to Kastania to deal with the klephts Konstantinos Kolokotronis and Panagiotaros Venetsanakis.The town was defended by 400 men, women and children who held out for twelve days before trying to break out.