Balak was warned of the crisis by his dream of Joscelin, and immediately surrounded the castle. Baldwin II tried to fortifiy Kharpurt, rejecting a polite offer of a safe-conduct for himself and his companions to Edessa or Antioch. Balak quickly lost patience with the negotiations, threatened vengeance, and undermined the fortress, brought down a tower, and eventually forced Baldwin to surrender unconditionally. The fifty Armenians were brutally butchered. The remaining prisoners, including Baldwin, his nephew and Waleran, were recaptured and taken for safer imprisonment to Harran