DM CD's Unrest in Atlus
Game Master Vethcyr

Half a keg of powder gives you 25 pounds of powder to use for explosives. That's five glassware bombs.

Gareth speaks up, "So we use a dragon illusion over the fleet to bluff Carron into nonaggression. If that doesn't work, we have some bombs we can drop on their ships. What if they do have eagles, though? We may have a hard time getting to their ships if they have a swarm of eagle riders in the air."

"I figured that at that point I would use the dragon illusion to scatter the eagles. The people may see through it, but I doubt their eagles will."

Since it seems you have a general plan, let's move along.

Over the course of the day, the crew of the Albatross fails to repair the ship's rigging, and your second day of travel draws to a close.

Day 3

On your third day of travel, your fleet sails up the coast. You expected to get further, but weak winds hinder your progress. The crew of the Albatross manages to fix their ship's rigging, and the ship rejoins the other caravels.

Day 4

On your fourth day of travel, the winds are much more favorable. You clear the coastline of Windrip Isle early in the morning, and make good progress throughout the day. While your travel during the day is otherwise uneventful, just before dusk you spy a sail to the northwest. It is eight or nine miles distant, but it appears to be traveling roughly towards you. As you watch the distant vessel, a series of flashing lights appear above it.

Map
You and your fleet are the red X, while the distant vessel is at point Y. Roughly. It's not quite to scale on the map due to the limitations of PowerPoint's text boxes.

So what your saying is that you would rather risk a guaranteed combat where we are out manned, and almost certainly face destruction as oppose to landing on shore and maybe running into some fae creatures, who if we don't pay, might cause some mischief? I mean, im not one to run from a fight, but even that seems a little far fetched for me.

percp1d20 + 4 ⇒ (16) + 4 = 20

Gareth pipes up and says, "Carron is to the west, and their fleet will be heading east, towards us and Silverkeep. Traveling northeast instead of northwest only increases our chances of running headlong into them. If we discover that they have beaten us to mouth of the Merin'he, overland travel will become a much more favorable option. Assuming we can make a break for land and that we can't negotiate. These people are refugees - surely Carron won't mind a thousand or so hungry mouths joining the blockaded population?"

The sighting of the distant vessel will happen either way. You have some time to decide how to proceed.

Perception H 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (19) + 7 = 26
Perception T 1d20 + 17 ⇒ (2) + 17 = 19

Spellcraft Aid T 1d20 - 1 ⇒ (20) - 1 = 19
Spellcraft H 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (13) + 8 = 21

That ship is of Carron, and most likely a scout. I suspect it has reported its sighting of us, so we won't be able to silence it. But if it's in the fore of the main fleet, it's a sign we might be able to beat them to the Merin'He, if Twohey recalls the geography rightly.

Friends, I propose to take Twohey and an Eagle and scout the Carronese fleet. If they are truly in the lee of this scout, that is valuable information.

It will be dark in another hour. Do you want to wait until then to scout the fleet? Most fleets light lanterns at night to reduce the odds of collision between ships, so finding your way around shouldn't be too difficult. You'll also be harder to spot, but might in turn have more difficulty discerning details about the other ships.

As the stillness of night begins to wash over the boat, Martin looks to the rest of the party, "It might be an idea to take an exploratory mission with the eagles to see the business of that boat over there. This might be a good opportunity to see if they are friend or foe and what their business is."

Yeah, that sounds pretty legit, especially since I have the advantage of Twohey's darkvision.

Sorry I have been out of communication the last few days. My sister got married this weekend and I had to help with the set up and take down. I also had not been told beforehand that I would be staying at the farm with no internet. Anyway, I will now be back to my usual posting.

Leto went along with them. Assuming that we are too far away for them to hear us Leto says "We could try to take them out quietly. We could drop in from above and take out the ship. If we want to send a message we could light it on fire and make it look like a black dragon destroyed it. For that to work we would have to take the men out quietly then blow up the boat or light it on fire and make it look like a black dragon did it. That should convince them that the dragon is real and they should stay the hell away. How does that sound to everyone?"

Does Leto think that the other ships could hear gunshots or see what is happening on the ship?

Map

The opposing fleet (represented by the green Z) is about fifteen or sixteen miles northwest of your ships, with the scout vessel you're investigating midway between the two. Again, the map is not to scale. You're about a day, maybe a day and a half away from the mouth of the Merin'he.

Leto, you have no idea if the other ships would hear gunshots from this distance. As the fleet is in visual range of the scout ship, however, they would almost certainly see the flashes of gunfire or any more Dancing Lights signals the crew send up.

Twohey has a better idea, friends. We only need a small delay to allow our fleet to win the race. Let us capture their wizard, and determine their codes, and then send a message to the rest of their ships to make them change course, or wait, or something. If possible, we can even take control of this ship and impersonate the crew, feeding lies to the captains of the fleet. What say you?

"I like it. Let's try to make the wizard unconscious though instead of killing him if we can because then we could interrogate him. Shall I try to disguise self as one of the musketeers and then drop to the ship. I have my ring of feather fall and it is a little less obvious then flying in on an eagle. What do you think?"

Yes, paradropping onto a warship is the subtle approach.

More subtle than attacking it with a bunch of eagles. But yes, it has its problems. But how bond is this!!

Hascya quietly chants a spell, granting himself and Twhohey the power to see magic. Twohey then takes a low, silent pass across the boat.

Stealth 1d20 + 15 ⇒ (4) + 15 = 19

Does he see any concentrations of magical power?

Twohey flies low over the ship. A sudden draft dips him lower still, and he flies into the area illuminated by the ship's lanterns (unlucky stealth roll vs very good perception roll). The armored man on the quarterdeck shouts "An owl! Shoot it down!" He draws his pistol and fires at Twohey, winging the bird (11 damage).

Two of the musketeers are able to spot the bird as well. One fires off a shot that narrowly misses the fleeing familiar, while the other one's gun jams.

Surprise Round Map

End Surprise Round - Twohey was on a scouting flight, and you seemed to be still in the reconnaissance stage when Twohey blew his stealth and the (alert) crew opened fire. Thus, surprise round.

Initiative Order:
DM (26)
Martin (20)
Leto (16)
Hascya (15)

The armored man (he wears a chain shirt, the musketeers have studded leather) with the heavy pistol reloads his weapon, as do the musketeer who actually fired during the surprise round (the man whose weapon misfired starts fiddling with it). A third musketeer fires at Twohey, grazing him (4 damage). As the ship surges forward in the water, a robed man rushes out of the cabin, calling out "What's going on out here?" The apparent captain shouts back, "Someone's scouting us out. Not the mercenaries. Signal the fleet at once." You hear a general clamor from the ship, as people adjust to the sudden gunfire.

Round 1 Map

DM Done!

A note on maps: height indicators are relative to the height of the ship's deck. A green label on a musketeer token indicates that soldier fired his musket this turn. A purple token indicates that the man reloaded this turn, and an orange token indicates that the man has a jammed weapon.

How many explosive packs does martin have left? I know he had 4, but not sure if some of his were used for the stairwell explosion back in town. If not...

Martin pulls out 2 sacks of explosive powder, one in each hand, "Hey Leto, give me a light. Oh and maybe fake a dragon!"

Martin readies to throw the bombs as the ship below.

I'm pretty sure he contributed two for the stairwell. So he had 2 left, but Leto mixed up some new explosives as well. I should also point out that the ship below you is moving, and that you are two hundred feet above it. Missing from this height might mean being very off target (by upwards of twenty or thirty feet, even).

Assuming he is readied for throwing the powder below for when it is lit.
"I can only do one at a time! Let's start with fires see where that gets us!"
Leto casts spark on one of the bombs.

If martin's eagle is keeping pace with the boat it shouldn't matter if it's moving. It would be the same as dropping a bomb off a stationary building (as opposed to a moving one?). Assuming that the eagle isn't quite matching speeds exactly, i can roll a ride check to get the eagle in line, and an atk to modify for how much I think the eagle is off. Keep in mind hitting a square is only ac 5 though. I agree there is a fairly decent chance of missing

Martin tosses the bomb.

Ride:1d20 + 4 ⇒ (17) + 4 = 21
Atk1d20 + 7 ⇒ (18) + 7 = 25

Ships have their own AC and are treated as attended objects while there is a crew/helmsman controlling them. As this is a touch attack (only needs to land aboard the ship rather than hit a specific point), you ignore the helmsman's profession (sailor) bonus, which is added to a ship's AC, so the effective AC is 2. That said, it is in your 20th range increment (200 feet up, where standard thrown object - like alchemist's fire - range increment = 10 feet), which applies a -38 penalty to hit. As you never specified which square you were targeting, I'm going to assume you were aiming for the center of the ship.

Delay: 1d4 - 1 ⇒ (4) - 1 = 3 Per house rule 7
Splash weapon deviation: 1d8 ⇒ 7
Deviation Distance: 1d20 ⇒ 8 Per splash weapons sidebar, except that I'm saying that this can fall anywhere within the number of range increments thrown.

Martin's bomb splashes harmlessly into the water ahead of the ship.

Leto casts major image on the area surrounding and including the man in the chain shirt. Suddenly flames will appear to have exploded from below the deck as though suddenly something was causing it to start on fire and fill all the space in the back of the ship possible. The image will make it seem as though everything and everyone in the spaces are on fire. The sounds coming from them will be ear splitting screams of pain interspersed with shrieks of "Abandon Ship!!!!" Anyone who interacts with the fire will similarly apear to be on fire and the same rules surrounding sound will be in play. In addition to this the fire will be so high as to obstruct views of one another. Images of people jumping overboard will also exist if I have the space. The most important element is of course the screams and that many of them seem to be coming from the captain. If I can control this element when Leto releases the spell the fire will die down instead of going out suddenly.

That's Leto's action for next round. Waiting on Hascya's action for this round.

Hascya's eagle dives steeply, pulling up just before the ship. Hascya dives out of the saddle and tackles the robed man.

You can change this if you'd want, but I'm going to call it a charging grapple initiation. He gets an AoO if he's wielding a weapon. Hascya also starts raging when he dives of the saddle, because you'd have to be crazy to do this.

Tumble to avoid falling damage 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (1) + 9 = 10
Initiate grapple 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (18) + 11 = 29 vs CMD

Leto lights Martin's bomb, which Martin then flings too far. The bomb plunges harmlessly into the sea ahead of the ship.

Hascya's eagle flies towards the ship, but is not able to descend close to the deck. Hascya leaps from its back and plummets one hundred feet, directly onto the robed man (cleared with JC, 5 nonlethal damage, 37 lethal damage to both). He lands with a sickening crack, and is now prone atop the still corpse.

Shocked by the sudden case of death from above, the captain of the ship shouts out a patently obvious "We're under attack! Kill him!" He fires his gun at Hascya two times (yes, he can do that), but misses with both shots. Two musketeers draw cutlasses and move to attack Hascya. One swing connects (6 damage). The musketeer who fired moments ago reloads his weapon, while the man whose weapon jammed continues to fiddle with and curse at the thing.

The helmsman releases his grip on the wheel to draw a wand, but he fails to cast anything from it. The ship continues forward in an uncontrolled manner.

Full Map
Ship close-up

DM Done!

Current Initiative Order:
DM
Leto <-
Martin
Hascya

Same thing as before for the illusion, the flames include all the squares from the rear of the ship forward but Hascya's square.

I'm going to go ahead and post my action now, since I'm online and I doubt Martin's action will affect mine, unless he also plans to become a human kamikaze bomber.

With remarkable speed despite the earthshattering fall he just suffered, Hascya springs to his feet, away from his attackers, and up the stairs.

Acrobatics 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (12) + 9 = 21

As the flames spring up around him, he stands before the tiller and growls at the crew, blood (much of it his own, but much of it not) drips from his massive form. You all might want to see to your posts; your captain and I are going for a swim.

Intimidate (not an action, so it may or may not do anything, but he's being damn intimidating) 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (13) + 4 = 17

With that, he tenses and springs at the captain, attempting to drive him off the side of the aftcastle.

Bull rush (provokes no AoOs, since neither the captain nor the helmsman have melee weapons).

CMB 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (16) + 9 = 25

(If that's enough to knock the captain back 5 feet, Hascya will follow him into the water).

Martin is going to move as close to the ship as Safely possible, again preparing to bomb.

Flames spring up all around the ship. The captain and crew appear worried and panicked, while the helmsman just looks confused.

Hascya leaps to his feet (provokes AoO from adjacent melee foes regardless of acrobatics success to tumble, but I like the idea of getting up as a swift action with acrobatics, so I'll allow this turn to work), taking a light wound from a cutlass in the process (2 damage), and sprints to the aftcastle, where he throws the captain off the deck.

Martin's eagle descends to about one hundred and ten feet above the ship and follows it closely.

The crew leap from the "burning" ship's deck and into the water. All except the helmsman, who you see run into the cabin at the rear of the ship, shouting, "The flames aren't real! They're trying to trick us!" Hatches open on the sides of the ship from a lower deck, and crewmen clamber through them to escape the "inferno" above.

The crewmen in the water seem to be entirely focused on staying afloat, as the ship sails out of control away from them. Hascya and the captain of the ship appear to be brawling underwater.

Full Map
Ship Close-up
Water close-up

Was that damage after the -2 penalty for slashing weapons underwater?

Swim 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (14) + 8 = 22

No, no, we'll have none of that. Time to see how long you can hold your breath.

Hascya grabs the man by his wrist and waist and attempts to force him below the surface.

Grapple Provokes yet another AoO 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (11) + 9 = 20

In each subsequent round, I'll be attemptint to pin/maintain pin the captain, as the two of us sink further beneath the waves. I'm betting that I, as a raging barbarian, can hold by breath longer than he can.

Daggers function equally well as piercing weapons. No penalty to damage.

The captain stabs you in the shoulder as you fail to grab him, (6 more damage, and the attempt fails).

Captain AoO: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (19) + 10 = 29 Crit threat
Crit confirm: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (2) + 10 = 12 Does not confirm
Damage: 1d4 + 2 ⇒ (4) + 2 = 6

The better question might be "can Hascya survive long enough to drown the guy?"

Grapple rules

Martin will continue to ascend, leveling out about 20 feet above the ship

*descend*

Leto will keep at a safe distance and continue to focus on the illusion.

Leto maintains the false flames aboard the ship.

Martin's eagle flies lower, towards the ship.

Hasyca fails to grab hold of the captain, taking another wound in the process. His eagle loops around, diving toward him.

Crewmen continue to spill out from the hatches on the side of the ship as it continues forward. The helmsman emerges from the cabin carrying a heavy-looking metal box.

Moving nimbly in the water, the captain thrusts at Hascya once again. He connects, stabbing him in the arm (5 damage).

Map of the Ship
Map of the Aquatic Brawl

"S+$~! Martin! Help Hascya! If he keeps this up he's going to get killed!"
Leto, conflicted about what to do, chooses to continue concentrating on the illusion. Hoping that Hascya can be saved and he can finish off the ship to help protect the fleet.
Sidenote: Is Hascya at 12 or 7? I am making this action assuming he is at 12 after the 5 damage to to the arm.

Hascya is at 6 HP, but has 5 points of nonlethal damage. He's been counting the nonlethal damage against his total HP, but 1 more point of damage (be it lethal or nonlethal) and he's staggered. 2 more and he'll be unconscious.

Chris would it be alright if I redid that turn? Sorry about that I should have checked the hit points before, but I assumed that they were what Hascya had posted at 12.

Yeah, Hascya's at 1. Turns out jumping off an eagle and taking on an entire crew unarmed is a bad call.

Martin's Eagle lands on the deck of the ship (possibly wracking at a crewman if one is nearby). Martin will hop off and drop the bomb he's holding (Free Action, booyah action economy). Running to the edge of the ship and pulling out his sword (not his shield), Martin yells out "Leto, HIT IT!"

With that Martin will dive into the water, straight for Hascya, using 2 charges from his belt of healing
3d8 ⇒ (4, 5, 7) = 16

Note: As we have been on a ship Martin is likely not wearing his breastplate but is instead probably using either some leather, or mwk studded leather if it was available. This puts his AC at 14 or 15 respectively currently (I CAN ACTUALLY BE HIT! MADNESS). Note his shield is attached to his back at this point. The breastplate is most likely in the saddle bags of his eagle.

Leto, go ahead and revise your action for this turn if you so desire. Martin, you can definitely have a suit of studded leather armor (it's probably not masterwork). Hascya is seventy feet behind the ship, so were you healing yourself?

Bomb delay: 1d4 - 1 ⇒ (2) - 1 = 1 Start of DM's turn.

Martin wouldn't be wearing the studded leather because of the armor check penalty unless it was mwk. So i'll take the leather unless there was some mwk stuff on the ship.

Also, my eagle is probably going to try and get the heck out of dodge once Martin is off.

Thank you, friend Martin. I will try to take this one alive, you secure the ship, and give them hell for what they did to Twohey!

With that, he launches himself once more at this slippery bastard of a captain.

Swim 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (7) + 11 = 18
Grapple 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (10) + 9 = 19
Expending Auspicious Mark Rage Power ==> Grapple 19 + 1d6 ⇒ 19 + (3) = 22

Apparently I misunderstood what was going on. Martin is going to fly towards hascya, having his eagle swoop in and grapple him out of the water.

Fly check to avoid AOO: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (9) + 1 = 10

Martin will swing down and use the belt to heal Hascya as previous, rather then bombing the ship.

So I'm grappled by the Eagle? And what about your wolf?