In the next stage of the feud the people of Taumutu were joined by reinforcements from Otago under the chief Taiaroa, and also, in spite of Tama-i-hara-nui's order, by about 100 men from Kaiapoi, who wished to avenge the death of the Taumutu women. This force then proceeded to attack Wairewa, led by two men with muskets — the first of these weapons to be carried by a war party in Canterbury. They found the pā empty, however, chiefly because Taiaroa, whose real purpose was to try to end the feud, had warned the people of Wairewa of the approach of the war party. On their way home, the Kaiapoi men fell upon and killed a nephew of the important chief Taununu, whose pā was at Ripapa Island. Instead of taking his reprisal by attacking Kaiapoi—probably because of the strength of that fortress—Tanunu attacked Whakaepa (Coalgate), a small but populous offshoot of Kaiapoi, and killed all its people.