At the head of the remaining force he left Karl Muzakë Thopia, his brother-in-law, since Berat was formerly a possession of Muzaka's family.

After a successful bombardment, the Ottoman commander of the garrison agreed to turn over the keys to the castle if the sultan had not sent reinforcements within a certain amount of time.

This was a ploy to fool the Albanian forces into a false sense of security and delay any actions, giving reinforcements time to arrive.

Only one Albanian commander, Vrana Konti (Kont Urani), managed to resist the initial Ottoman onslaught and pushed back several attacking waves.

Italian chronicles of the time describe Skanderbeg as performing feats of bravery “with sword and mace” and that many owed their life to his opportune intervention.