Take what you can. Give nothing back. (Interlude) (Inactive)

Game Master Aku Warashi

Party Health:
Nthanda-------4/18
Victoriana----(-1)/16

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The Storyteller

Each of you has your own history and circumstance that made you be in the Merchant ship, the Man’s Promise.
Only when you were already at sea, the Captain Aspar Tharkidor revealed his destination.
The city for Senghor!
Now, the city itself was not the problem. The problem is the waters around it. It’s pirate territory!
No amount of talking would swat the captain from his destination, and thus, your journey began.
The Man’s Promise in manned by its captain, four officers and twenty four sailors (including yourself!)
Please, describe your char and post up what would be her best job in a ship.


The Storyteller

The Man’s Promise is a three-masted sailing ship, 105 feet long and 30 feet wide. Interior rooms are unlit during the day (except for those with windows or portholes), and usually have a single hooded lantern for light at night.

Ship Locations:

B1. Main Deck: Two 10-foot-square hatches sit in the deck forward of the mainmast and open onto the middle hold. Between the hatches and mast, a steep set of wooden steps descends into the middle deck (area B8) 15 feet below.
B2. Foredeck: The foredeck rises 10 feet above the main deck. The ship’s nameplate on the hull reads Man’s Promise, but a DC 10 Perception check notices a second nameplate beneath it. This second nameplate reads the Motley. Further investigation reveals marks in the wood of the hull that indicate that a previous nameplate existed before that one, but it has long since been removed.
B3. Aft Deck: The aft deck sits 10 feet above the main deck, and steps lead up to an even higher deck behind the mizzenmast. The ship’s wheel stands just before the rail overlooking the main deck.
B4. Sterncastle: This high deck sits behind the mizzenmast, 20 feet above the main deck. A pair of light ballistas sits upon this deck, next to a box containing a dozen ballista bolts.
B5. Ship’s Boats: Two ship’s boats, a cutter and a gig (see the Skull & Shackles Player’s Guide for statistics), hang from davits on the gunwales just forward of the aft deck.
The boats are lashed to the ship and require three DC 10 Profession (sailor) checks or Dexterity checks to launch.
Each such check is a full-round action. Each ship’s boat has four oars and a single mast. The cutter can carry up to 12 Medium passengers, while the gig can carry up to 8 Medium passengers.
B6. Officers’ Quarters: This tidy cabin has two portholes to allow light and fresh air to enter. A hefty trap door sits in the floor, leading to the middle deck (area B8)

B6a. Officers’ Storage: These two storerooms are both unlocked and hold the lockers and personal effects of those sailors berthed in the officers’ quarters (area B6).
B7. Captain’s Cabin: The rear wall of this luxurious (by merchant ship standards) cabin holds four gilt-framed windows that rise the full height of the chamber. The cabin contains a luxurious hammock, a dining table and chairs, and a few chests and bookshelves. A trap door opens directly into the cook’s cabin below (area B11). The two doors opening onto the main deck and the trap door are locked with good locks. The windows do not open.
B7a. Captain’s Storage:
B8. Middle Deck and Armory: Weapon racks along the walls turn this hold into a working armory. Steps behind the foremast descend into the main hold (area B12). A second set of stairs against the aft bulkhead lead up to the main deck (area B1).
B9. Crew Berths: Ten supporting pillars behind the mainmast fill this spacious compartment, with room for over a score of hammocks.
B10. Galley: This sizable galley contains a large stove against the aft bulkhead and a single porthole in the starboard wall. In one corner, a derrick stands next to a trap door that opens into the secure storage below (area B13). The door is locked with a huge, good padlock.
B11. Cook’s Cabin: This filthy cabin contains two dirty hammocks and a single porthole in the port wall. A rickety adder ascends to a trap door in the ceiling, leading to the captain’s cabin (area B7).
B12. Main Hold: The main hold of the Man’s Promise contains a large water barrel secured to the starboard wall. Stairs behind the foremast lead up to the middle deck (area B8), while a trap door near the mainmast leads to the bilges.
B13. Secure Storage: This large compartment aft of the main hold is locked.


Nthanda had been on the Man's Promise for six months now-- not as long as some, but long enough that she knew the ropes, both literally and figuratively.

Cheerful and hard-working, the Mwangi-Chelish woman is well-liked by most of the crew-- she pulls her own weight, and is always ready with a touch that soothes away barked knuckles, skinned knees, or blisters and sunburn.

Nthanda roams over the ship with her face often uplifted to the sea breeze. She delights in pointing out seagulls and terns, or laughing at the sight of the silver-grey shipfish.

Her Mwangi heritage is evident in her height, thick black hair, and laughing black eyes; the blood of her northern father has lightened her skin somewhat, but she is still clearly a daughter of the Garundi continent. Nthanda moves with a smooth rolling gait born of a life on ship, and the muscles of her shoulders and long bare arms are toned from net-hauling and rigging-work.

She is most often in the rigging or helping with the deck-level ropework, or serving as ship's sawbones and tending to the inevitable injuries of shipboard life.

Today, Nthanda is coiling rope on the deck and singing a sea song. Her voice isn't the most melodic-- she's out of key-- but she sings with a cheerful enthusiasm that gets a few of the nearer sailors to join in with the refrain.

"My crew sailed around the Cape of Omens
"And gave up thought of ever comin' home'n
"But into Obari we sailed, we sailed
"Though the rain came down in pails, in pails!

"My crew sailed into the Stormy Eye-yeee...."


The Storyteller

A senior officer, a Rahadoumi woman named Riaris Tarroon, is nearby and enjoying very much your song.
After you finish it, she jokes ”Have you ever considered being a bard, instead of a healer?”


Nthanda laughs a belly laugh and shakes her head. "Onna ship, any tune is benny, neh? Onna land, I am thinking they t'row the empty cuppa at my head."

She slings a coil of rope over her shoulder, to take it to be stowed, and hums the refrain of the song to herself. The smooth, scrubbed planks of the deck are sun-warm beneath the bare soles of her feet; the sky is blue and the wind is stiff. Full sails and good weather: what more can you ask of the world?

(Pardon as I experiment to try to find a voice for the character; there will probably be some variation as I try to figure out how to convey her speech patterns in text. I envision her as speaking with what we might call a Jamaican patois, but I think it would look awful and be kind of offensive if I tried to type all of that out phonetically, so I'll keep the phonetics to a minimum and instead try and use slang words and non-standard-English construction. Aku, if it's a pain for you to read as a non-native English speaker, I can easily not do it at all.)


F Gnome (Gear Gnome) Oracle 4 (Lore)
Vitals:
HP: 35/35 | AC: 23, T: 16, FF: 18 | Fort +5, Ref +7, Will +5 | Init +1 | Perception +3, Low-light vision
Spells/Day:
Lvl 1: 8/8, Lvl 2: 4/4

Oh no, somehow I missed that there was gameplay on this thread.

Victoriana is a newcomer to the Man's Promise, joining whenever it last made port. She's a gnomish engineer and lay healer down on her luck, recently robbed by pirates, who's just looking to earn enough money to buy some new tools, or at least passage home.

There may not be a ton for her to do on the ship, but she's taken on passage out of the promise that she can take on the heaviest maintenance tasks, and what she does she does very, very quickly—using her daily Prestidigitation to clean the oldest and most difficult dirt from the deck or magically flavoring meals, Mending to heal dents in the wood and tears in the sails without a need for special tools, and Speak with Animals to get scouting tips from the local shorebirds.

And she only takes up a quarter as much food and bunk space as the rest of the crew, so that's another plus.

Victoriana is gracious and personable, but not too talkative, being still a bit out of her element. She's a little more relaxed around Nthanda, as she's spent more time in the Mwangi Expanse than the shackles, and respects the honesty and free spirits of the Mwangi tribes. Maybe she's tried teaching the other Oracle a thing or two about speaking to dolphins and seabirds, of yet to little effect.

She's just spent half an hour (unsuccessfully) trying to convince one of the ship's officers that, the next time they put to port, they should pick up some materials to build the Man's Promise a proper deck gun or two.

"Obari, eh, Nthanda? Is that a song, or a brag? Why, if you've ever been to Vudra, I'd love to hear about the place."


F Gnome (Gear Gnome) Oracle 4 (Lore)
Vitals:
HP: 35/35 | AC: 23, T: 16, FF: 18 | Fort +5, Ref +7, Will +5 | Init +1 | Perception +3, Low-light vision
Spells/Day:
Lvl 1: 8/8, Lvl 2: 4/4
Nthanda wrote:
(Pardon as I experiment to try to find a voice for the character; there will probably be some variation as I try to figure out how to convey her speech patterns in text. I envision her as speaking with what we might call a Jamaican patois, but I think it would look awful and be kind of offensive if I tried to type all of that out phonetically, so I'll keep the phonetics to a minimum and instead try and use slang words and non-standard-English construction. Aku, if it's a pain for you to read as a non-native English speaker, I can easily not do it at all.)

I know what you mean there. I've got a dwarf who speaks a bit like a hillbilly, and a Qadirian Tiefling with whom I've been trying to do an Iranian/Afghani accent. I usually try to accent one or two key words in every sentence, enough to be a bit of a reminder that the character has an accent but not enough to require decoding.

That said, I'm not sure what a gnome should sound like. I think I'm planning to go with "trying to use proper words to stand out as the most educated of this band of scalawags"


The Storyteller

”Oh, please don’t stop!” says Riaris laughing.

I want to give you the opportunity to get to know each other, so I'll refrain from posting too much for a day or two. Feel free to interact with the NPC's tho, I'll answer if you do that.


Nthanda flashes a white grin at the newest member of their crew, as she unshoulders the rope into a neat coil on the deck.

"Is just being a tune, maqi. I am solid that some time back-in-the-before, a sailor is making good time to Obari, and he singing it, neh? So then. Ship to ship, it passes like sickness!"

Nthanda touches her bright red scarf at Riaris's words, and launches into another verse with a wink at Victoriana.

"My crew sailed through an' past the Shackles
"Chased by twice-damned greedy ocean jackals
"But into Kalhari we sailed, we sailed
"Though the rain came down in pails, in pails!"

Ah yes, I hear all that. There's a fine line to walk between trying to reflect the culture that certain Golarion ethnic groups are obviously based on, and not wanting to do a tone-deaf, awful version of them. I feel your pain!


F Gnome (Gear Gnome) Oracle 4 (Lore)
Vitals:
HP: 35/35 | AC: 23, T: 16, FF: 18 | Fort +5, Ref +7, Will +5 | Init +1 | Perception +3, Low-light vision
Spells/Day:
Lvl 1: 8/8, Lvl 2: 4/4
"Nthanda"[smaller wrote:
Ah yes, I hear all that. There's a fine line to walk between trying to reflect the culture that certain Golarion ethnic groups are obviously based on, and not wanting to do a tone-deaf, awful version of them. I feel your pain![/smaller]

Yeah... and it turns out that some accents are very hard to type out.

"Heh, sure. Always room for music on a boat, when things are moving slow. I hear the merfolk make some mighty fine waterproof fiddles. If you ever get a chance to meet one, how they do it, and maybe I can make you something for accompanying, Riaris."


The Storyteller

"Oh no, no! I’m not cut for that!" laughs the woman. She is about to say some more when a lookout cries “Ship ahoy!” late in the afternoon.
The woman ignores what she is about to say and run off to the deck, to see what ship it is.
Intentions?


F Gnome (Gear Gnome) Oracle 4 (Lore)
Vitals:
HP: 35/35 | AC: 23, T: 16, FF: 18 | Fort +5, Ref +7, Will +5 | Init +1 | Perception +3, Low-light vision
Spells/Day:
Lvl 1: 8/8, Lvl 2: 4/4

Victoriana's not tall enough to get a better look than anyone else on the ship, so she'll stay put. "Nthanda, there a lot of pirates in these waters?"

And Knowledge (local): 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (10) + 6 = 16 to see if Victoriana knows anything about there being pirates or merchants about.


The Storyteller

Victoriana:

You are currently at the Fever Sea.
And that's to say: Pirate's home.

Also, Merchant ships are commonly attacked by pirates, to steal plunder and any valuable merchandize they are carrying.


The easy banter of shipboard life fades when Nthanda hears the cry of ship ahoy. She steps up onto the starboard railing, bare toes curling on the wood, one hand on the rigging-rope for steadiness, and uses her free hand to shade her eyes and squint out to sea.

"Aye-a, there are being pirates. Always, there are pirates," she says unhappily. "Luck on us, is just a merchanta, neh?"

She can't see the ship, and drops back down to the deck again. The lookout will cry soon enough whether the ship is flying colors, and she'll know whether or not they can relax. But in the meantime... be ready for the worst.

"Choo, you know to be cutting the boarding-ropes, neh?"

She'd probably better grab a weapon to do the same herself-- her mace is nice for cracking someone on the skull, but little use to cut a rope.


F Gnome (Gear Gnome) Oracle 4 (Lore)
Vitals:
HP: 35/35 | AC: 23, T: 16, FF: 18 | Fort +5, Ref +7, Will +5 | Init +1 | Perception +3, Low-light vision
Spells/Day:
Lvl 1: 8/8, Lvl 2: 4/4

"... yeah, sounds about my luck."

And then, reaching around for her crossbow, and then looking down at her hands, speaking mostly to herself, "You may need to get ready to do some healing, too. Now, anyone who tries to board, I might be keen to burn through their ropes. But... gotta wonder... how hard would it be to light their topsail on fire, and would that be enough for us to outpace them in these waters?"


Nthanda shrugs. "Lotta canvas to light up, an' you must be reaching it first. Lessy you are having a trick to send fire wicked-long. Me, I am burning only when they are being close, sorrow be."


The Storyteller

I’ll be using some ‘sailors’ slangs, please tell me if you find it boring or confusing.
"Shiver me timbers!" exclaims Riaris after looking at her monocular ”Jolly Roger” you hear her saying before she starts to run, yelling ”Captain! Captain!”


F Gnome (Gear Gnome) Oracle 4 (Lore)
Vitals:
HP: 35/35 | AC: 23, T: 16, FF: 18 | Fort +5, Ref +7, Will +5 | Init +1 | Perception +3, Low-light vision
Spells/Day:
Lvl 1: 8/8, Lvl 2: 4/4

"Guess I should probably learn to fly, too, before I could e'er make it there through a horde of angry pirates. Guess your plan is more sound."


Sailor's slang works for me!

Nthanda curses harshly in a dialect of Mwangi when Riaris's call-to-arms rings out over the deck.

To Victoriana, she offers a rueful smile. "Aye-a, hard to be getting near when they are shooting and killing. This.... neh benny," she mutters. "Be staying close, neh? Back to back, we are fighting."


F Gnome (Gear Gnome) Oracle 4 (Lore)
Vitals:
HP: 35/35 | AC: 23, T: 16, FF: 18 | Fort +5, Ref +7, Will +5 | Init +1 | Perception +3, Low-light vision
Spells/Day:
Lvl 1: 8/8, Lvl 2: 4/4

"Heck, you're the only other person on this ship who can throw a proper fire spell. I'd be happy to."

Victoriana doesn't know much sailor slang yet, but she's trying to pick it up!

P.S. Victoriana speaks Mwangi, because of backstory. This may be useful later as a secret language.


The Storyteller

Not so much time later, a nervous looking captain appears on the deck, a telescope of his own and starts looking for the ship.
”She’s seen us, sure as damnation. And there is no way the ‘Man’s Promise’ will outrun her loaded like this.” Curses the captain.
”To arms! Ye Sea dog! Buccanneers have come and we be teaching then a sure lesson!” yells the captain, sound not so much convincing.
Intentions? At this part, you can consider you have anything up to 1000gp. Just don’t get your hopes up, because you know, Pirates do what they do best. Plunder.


You mean Polyglot? ;)

In that case, then, she got an earful of a very graphic sexual act involving goats and the parents of the pirates bearing down on them.


Duly noted re: gear *salutes GM*

Nthanda draws a cutlass from the ship's armory, and a crossbow as well, which she loads. She doubts she'll get off more than one shot with it before the pirates close, but she'll do what she can.

When the enemy ship comes closer, she calls upon the protection of Besmara and the ocean wind, to wreath her with guarding spirits.

"Victoriana, maqi, can I be calling a prayer on you also?"

Intentions overall, if time permits: grab a cutlass, grab and load a crossbow, ready to cast Shield of Faith* on herself when the ship is a minute away, casting Shield of Faith on Victoriana too if there is time and Victoriana permits. Intentions once the other ship is within bow range: fire her crossbow at a pirate, then switch to cutlass and wait for the first assault, ducking low to the rail for cover, etc.

*Shield of Faith: currently a +2 to AC. It requires a component that I doubt Nthanda will have access to post-pirating-capture-- a scrap of parchment from a holy text-- but if it's safe to assume she can have that now, she'll use it. Might be the last time she casts that for a while. ;)


F Gnome (Gear Gnome) Oracle 4 (Lore)
Vitals:
HP: 35/35 | AC: 23, T: 16, FF: 18 | Fort +5, Ref +7, Will +5 | Init +1 | Perception +3, Low-light vision
Spells/Day:
Lvl 1: 8/8, Lvl 2: 4/4
Nthanda wrote:
In that case, then, she got an earful of a very graphic sexual act involving goats and the parents of the pirates bearing down on them.

Yeah, that's the one—she was part of an expedition in the Expanse that lasted a few years with no results. Luckily, Victoriana's knowledge of Polyglot isn't quite that advanced, and she probably only understood that goats were involved.

With a thousand GP worth of stuff, oh boy, this could be interesting. Let me know if you think this is too overpowered/gamey (I can get rid of the catapult, for instance), but Victoriana's "emergency pirate supply" bag right now consists of a Catapult feather token, 4x Fire Bolts, and a single Alchemical Fire catapult shot, which comes out to 1000 gp exactly (with her armor and crossbow paid by level 1 starting gold).

"Prayer sounds good, an' I've got something on top of that—firepower. Want to see something you'll never forget?"

And with that, Victoriana descends into her quarters, running as fast as she can, and returns with a barrel full of ammunition; she places it next to Nthanda, and jumps on top of it, screaming at the top of her lungs.

Charisma check (to yell loudly): 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (13) + 4 = 17

"Alright, men! Anyone with a crossbow, over here! In this barrel I've got some alchemical, fiery bolts that'll do a number on the enemy sails. The first spell I cast (Abundant Ammunition) will make sure we don't run out of fire bolts. Remember, aim for their sails!"

And then, theatrically, she steps down and throws forward a feather token, which rattles with a resounding thud and slowly expands into a shaky-looking catapult. "And I'll need someone who can fire THIS THING, too! I'll be loading it up with barrels of fire, 'n don't you worry!"


F Gnome (Gear Gnome) Oracle 4 (Lore)
Vitals:
HP: 35/35 | AC: 23, T: 16, FF: 18 | Fort +5, Ref +7, Will +5 | Init +1 | Perception +3, Low-light vision
Spells/Day:
Lvl 1: 8/8, Lvl 2: 4/4

(seriously, I don't want to accidentally sink the Wormwood, so if you think the catapult-in-a-bag is too crazy I'll replace it with some more mundane items.)


F Gnome (Gear Gnome) Oracle 4 (Lore)
Vitals:
HP: 35/35 | AC: 23, T: 16, FF: 18 | Fort +5, Ref +7, Will +5 | Init +1 | Perception +3, Low-light vision
Spells/Day:
Lvl 1: 8/8, Lvl 2: 4/4

Okay, yeah, I got too excited; there's a few ballistas on board already. Missed that before. We could tie alchemist's fire to the ballista bolts or smear them in oil with a fuse, and I can use abundant ammo to make that fiery ammo last the whole fight. That seems potentially more practical, but I'll wait for a second opinion on the insta-catapult.


F Gnome (Gear Gnome) Oracle 4 (Lore)
Vitals:
HP: 35/35 | AC: 23, T: 16, FF: 18 | Fort +5, Ref +7, Will +5 | Init +1 | Perception +3, Low-light vision
Spells/Day:
Lvl 1: 8/8, Lvl 2: 4/4

Okay, so, backing up, let's redo this with the assumption that we've got quite a few hours.

"Prayer sounds good, an' I've got something on top of that—firepower. Want to see something you'll never forget?"

And with that, Victoriana descends into her quarters, running as fast as she can, and returns with a barrel full of ammunition; she places it next to Nthanda, and jumps on top of it, screaming at the top of her lungs.

Charisma check (to yell loudly): 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (13) + 4 = 17

"Alright, men! You may not know me too well, an' I may not know ships too well, but I swear to t'gods I know more than anyone on board about lighting them on fire! So here's the plan, if anyone'll listen."

"Firstly, this ship's got two ballistas! The pirates may well have something worse, but not once we spruce 'em up. I'll need all the pitch we can find, but I've got some oil and some alchemical supplies, and, trust me on this, any educated gnome worth 'is salt knows how to make those things explode!"

"I kin give you a demonstration if'n you'd like, but I'm gonna make our ballistas shoot fire! Pitch burns slow 'n long, alchemist's fire explodes, an' if that ship following us is as wooden as I pray it is, with any luck she'll go up like a tinderbox!"

"The real secret, 'f course, is all in the magic. There's a spell I ken that'll make a few bolts last for quite a few shots. An' you know what else, too, I've got in this barrel some especial fiery arrows for crossbows. Only got four, but I kin make those four last for at least twen'y shots each, so we'll need the best four shots on the ship drawing from the same quiver—you up for it, Riaris, if you're out there listening?" You'll probably want to aim for the sails or somesuch with those, anything that looks like it'll burn easy, since a heavy plank of wood takes a lot of fire to get started.

And then, absently playing with her emergency anchor token, she has another idea. "An' if they get too close, after all of this, I've got a way that just might work to make those pirates weigh anchor, whether they like it or not."


Nthanda's brows climb as the little gnome-woman launches into a whirlwind of activity and crew organization. The Mwangi woman blinks, then shrugs. She comes to lend a hand with the setting-up of this... novel-sounding pirate deterrent method, listening closely.

She is sure that when the pirates strike, they will do so with fierce weapons-- and perhaps spells-- of their own as well. She intends to focus on healing the wounded, but it doesn't hurt to familiarize herself with their battle plan.

The gnome has spirit... Nthanda only prays that's enough.


The Storyteller

Motivated by the gnome high spirits, the sailors begin to gather around her, and everything seems to be happening the way she wants, until the captain intrudes.

”I hear ye there. She-gnome has real good ideas but no real experience! You do as your officers tell ye to do! And do it smartly. We be showing them this day who rules those waters!” says the captain.

As the captain confirm for himself that the other ship is a pirate one, even with his bravado about fighting, he set a ship course trying to flee, but the Man’s Promise sails are no match for those of the pirate ship, which closes over a period of 12 hours. During the last hour, you see those of the pirate ship slaughtering pigs, slitting their throats, and throwing them overboard, most likely to attack sharks to the scene of battle.

This too will be played in rounds, one round per day, excluding weekends of course.
I’ll provide you with a map, so you can position yourself. Tell me where you guys want to be in the boat. (Use the boat locations spoiler some post above.)

Round one:

As the pirate ship closes to within firing distance, Victoriana wants to bombard the crew "A solid ballista shot will take out for the crew, but aim the ones on deck—if you miss, ye'll start a fire anyway!" but the officer in charge overrule her saying ”Forget the crew, aim for the rigging! Now!” and then, they start to fire at the pirate ship rigging, hoping to slow it down or even halt it’s advance. At the same time, banks of heavy mist suddenly envelop the man’s promise, making it hard to aim and to attack the pirate ship.
As crossbow fire is exchanged between the two ships, you are free to move and position yourself for better defend about the pirate attack, what will you do?


F Gnome (Gear Gnome) Oracle 4 (Lore)
Vitals:
HP: 35/35 | AC: 23, T: 16, FF: 18 | Fort +5, Ref +7, Will +5 | Init +1 | Perception +3, Low-light vision
Spells/Day:
Lvl 1: 8/8, Lvl 2: 4/4

Victoriana shrugs. If the captain is going to override her orders—and they're good orders—there's not much she can do. If the ship gets any closer, though, she might need to make emergency plans to slow down the pursuing ship.

The fog is strange. Does the other ship have a spellcaster? The ship's close; maybe she can spot them by the railing.

Perception (to spot a caster): 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (6) + 2 = 8
Spellcraft (to source the spell): 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (17) + 6 = 23

And, just to be doubly sure, she mutters a spell (Detect Magic) to see if the fog is magical—and also whether it seems to be centered on the ship, or a specific location that the ship can sail out of.


The Storyteller

Victoriana:

This is certainly a magic effect. Fog cloud


F Gnome (Gear Gnome) Oracle 4 (Lore)
Vitals:
HP: 35/35 | AC: 23, T: 16, FF: 18 | Fort +5, Ref +7, Will +5 | Init +1 | Perception +3, Low-light vision
Spells/Day:
Lvl 1: 8/8, Lvl 2: 4/4

Heh, and I thought I wouldn't need wind spells or items for a few more levels. Oh well.


Nthanda grips the rigging with tension in her tall body as the other ship closes. She has cast protection on herself on the little gnome-- she only wishes she had enough for all the crew, but she does not.

"Remember," she calls to her crew in their last moments of silence before the twang of crossbows begins, "a deck in battle is being a chaos. If you are hurting, call for Nthanda: I will come."

The fog, when it comes, dismays her. A healer who cannot see to reach the wounded is in trouble... Nthanda swallows down her fear.

She will also attempt to identify the fog with detect magic and spellcraft

Spellcraft: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (15) + 5 = 20

"A curse on you, who use nature to be hiding!" Nthanda shouts. "Victoriana-- fire will be burning it off!"

Nthanda hurries to the rail of the main deck (B1) where the pirates will try to board, crouching behind the rail for shelter from the enemy bolts. She murmurs prayers beneath her breath, and readies her inner flames: as soon as there are a clump of the enemy boarders gathered within her range, she will show them that fire is also a danger of the open sea.

Planning to use burning hands on the first wave of boarders; alternately, to cut any grappling ropes/etc they throw across if they don't nicely clump up for me


F Gnome (Gear Gnome) Oracle 4 (Lore)
Vitals:
HP: 35/35 | AC: 23, T: 16, FF: 18 | Fort +5, Ref +7, Will +5 | Init +1 | Perception +3, Low-light vision
Spells/Day:
Lvl 1: 8/8, Lvl 2: 4/4

Will a fire spell actually burn through the fog?


good question. I was thinking of obscuring mist; doesn't look like fog cloud had the same fire effect listed.


The Storyteller

The sailors seem at loss of that to do. They don’t know if follow Victoriana instructions or obey the captain orders.
From inside the fog, is hard to see what’s happening on the other side, but you can see, at times, that the pirates are working hard on putting the fire out. Banks of water suddenly appears out of thin air, drenching the sails and rigging, stopping the fire.
==//==

Intructions:

The boat will take three rounds to close in boarding distance.
What you need to do:
Describe your actions in the first three rounds using this format:
Round one:
Round Two:
Round Three:

==//==

At the fourth round, you’ll describe what you’ll do to prevent the boarding or What actions you are prepared to execute when the pirates board the ship.

Also, feel free to position the four sailors at b1 the way you see it's best. The sailors at the ballista, should not be moved.


Map


Round 1 Nthanda uses a casting of burning hands to test if she can burn away the fog that is wreathing the Man's Promise, trying to clear free air for the crossbow-ers to fire.

Round 2If burning hands helps clear the fog, she will fire a crossbow at anyone she sees on the pirate ship making squiggly hand gestures or chanting. // If burning hands does not clear the fog, she will remain in covered position behind the railing, cutlass at the ready and listening for the sound of any pirate grappling hook hitting the deck or the rail. She will try and locate such hooks by sound and feel and the 5-feet of sight allowed, and cut the rope.

Round 3 Pretty much a repeat of Round 2-- load and fire a crossbow, or cut ropes if applicable.

I cannot currently see the map you linked, but requested access to do so. Round 4 is... probably pretty contingent on what has happened by that point. If people are wounded on our side, Nthanda would prioritize healing them. If enemy boarders are coming over near her, she would greet them with a burning hands, or the cutlass.


The Storyteller

My bad, changed permission. You should be able to see and edit it now.


No worries! My actions probably remain the same: stay in the thick of things, heal injured people, try to prevent the boarding, etc.


F Gnome (Gear Gnome) Oracle 4 (Lore)
Vitals:
HP: 35/35 | AC: 23, T: 16, FF: 18 | Fort +5, Ref +7, Will +5 | Init +1 | Perception +3, Low-light vision
Spells/Day:
Lvl 1: 8/8, Lvl 2: 4/4

The fog is an unexpected development, and Victoriana suddenly finds herself at a loss as to what to do. Ideas and schemes turn in her head, frightening, until she comes to another harebrained conclusion.

"If you can see the rigging" she shouts, "Follow the captain's orders! If not, a good fiery ballista shot should still kill a pirate."

Round 1 No pirates visible. Victoriana will wait, firing if she sees one. (-1 to hit, 1d6+1d4 damage).

Round 2 The ship is getting too close. Close enough for a grappling arrow. Time to stop them dead in the water—if this works.

Victoriana will load a grappling arrow into her crossbow. (If I forgot to buy a few of these, my bad, they cost about 5 gp and I meant to) Then, she'll mutter a prayer, and fire at the Wormwood's railing.

To hit (grappling arrow): 1d20 - 1 ⇒ (10) - 1 = 9 (-2 to hit if >30 feet away)

And then Victoriana will jump off the Man's Promise, swing down on the rope, and attempt to land, dangling right below the water line, at the side of the Wormwood.

Acrobatics (to avoid potential collision damage, if the water doesn't soften the blow): 1d20 - 1 ⇒ (4) - 1 = 3
Reflex (to hold onto the rope): 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (12) + 4 = 16

Round 3 Hopefully, the pirates have been too surprised by the incoming grappling hook to attempt to dislodge it. Victoriana will attempt to let go of the rope with one hand, wrap it around herself just enough to not slide down into the water, and then pull two objects out of a pocket where she placed them for easy access.

The first is an anchor feather token, which instantly transforms into an anchor with a chain as deep as the current sea. The second is a stubborn nail, which she shoves through one of the chain links and into the side of the Wormwood, where it pins the chain with great force to the side of the ship.

If the items work as she hoped, within a few rounds (if the sea is shallow enough, or else a few minutes), the anchor will catch on the bottom of the sea, stopping the Wormwood from moving while the Man's Promise regains speed and escapes.

* * *

On the fourth round, while the pirates begin to board the Merchant's Promise, Victoriana will try to find a way back onto it, either by cutting herself loose and firing another grappling arrow (and hoping that her allies don't dislodge it) or through some other means.

And hopefully the sharks haven't found her yet.


Hoh my, you are ambitious. :D I really hope I can see you in order to help you out if you wind up needing it....


F Gnome (Gear Gnome) Oracle 4 (Lore)
Vitals:
HP: 35/35 | AC: 23, T: 16, FF: 18 | Fort +5, Ref +7, Will +5 | Init +1 | Perception +3, Low-light vision
Spells/Day:
Lvl 1: 8/8, Lvl 2: 4/4
Nthanda wrote:
Hoh my, you are ambitious. :D I really hope I can see you in order to help you out if you wind up needing it....

It's a convoluted plan that may well fail any step of the way! But it's the first battle, and Victoriana still thinks she's a brilliant genius.


The Storyteller

@Victoriana

Round one: You wait until the wormwood gets near.
Round two: Then you fire a grappling arrow at the boat and throw yourself into the water ending at the pirate boat.
DM thing1: 1d3 ⇒ 1

Round three:
You pick up the anchor token, but before you can activate it, a big, big and ugly shark attacks you!
Atk: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (16) + 5 = 21
Dmg: 1d8 + 4 ⇒ (3) + 4 = 7
You yell in pain as the big bad shark bites you. Drawing blood, ripping skin.
DM thing2: 1d3 ⇒ 1
Before posting round four, do you want to change actions? :D

@Nthanda
At your round three, you can't see Vic, but you hear hear yelling in pain.
Want to change your action for round 4?


Yuuup.

Nthanda blinks when she hears the sound of Victoriana's yelling coming from.... over the deck, down at the water level? What? How did she get knocked overboard?

Nthanda tries to peer over the railing but of course the fog prevents her from seeing Victoriana.

"Where are you?! Keep yelling, maqi! Grab the rope!" she calls, and gropes for a coil of rope on the deck to throw one end overboard.

Perception to try and get a bead on where Victoriana is by sound: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (5) + 2 = 7

Will do as much of the rope grabbing-and-throwing-it-overboard as I can do in one turn.


F Gnome (Gear Gnome) Oracle 4 (Lore)
Vitals:
HP: 35/35 | AC: 23, T: 16, FF: 18 | Fort +5, Ref +7, Will +5 | Init +1 | Perception +3, Low-light vision
Spells/Day:
Lvl 1: 8/8, Lvl 2: 4/4

That was a lucky shot, Victoriana thinks, I should have dodged that shark. But she's still doing okay, and will wait another round or two before trying to heal herself.

"I'm sabotaging their ship!" she shouts back. "Don't cut that rope, I'll be back in ten seconds!"


The Storyteller

@Victoriana

Round one: You wait until the wormwood gets near.
Round two: Then you fire a grappling arrow at the boat and throw yourself into the water ending at the pirate boat.

Round three:
You pick up the anchor token, but before you can activate it, a big, big and ugly shark attacks you!
You yell in pain as the big bad shark bites you. Drawing blood, ripping skin.

Round four:
The brave gnome, reach into her pockets and bring a big nail, but that provokes the Shark into biting her gain!
Atk AoO: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (1) + 5 = 6
Dmg: 1d8 + 4 ⇒ (3) + 4 = 7
Fortunately it misses!

She then proceeds into fixing it into the wormwood, but before she is done, another shark appears and attack her inside the water!
Shark 1
Atk: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (5) + 5 = 10
Dmg: 1d8 + 4 ⇒ (8) + 4 = 12

Shark 2
Atk: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (5) + 5 = 10
Dmg: 1d8 + 4 ⇒ (1) + 4 = 5

The heavens however are smiling at her, and the big beasties were unable to hit her small frame again.

@Nthanda
Round four:
You hear the yell, you yell back searching for the gnome and throws the hope.
Strangely enough, no pirate seems to have boarded the ship yet. You heard sounds of grappling hooks, someone appear to have used a spell against the Mam’s Promise, but that made the sailors shot in that direction, and a cry of pain could be heard.
But then the gnomes yell back ” "I'm sabotaging their ship! Don't cut that rope, I'll be back in ten seconds!"”


The Storyteller

Post your Round Five actions.


F Gnome (Gear Gnome) Oracle 4 (Lore)
Vitals:
HP: 35/35 | AC: 23, T: 16, FF: 18 | Fort +5, Ref +7, Will +5 | Init +1 | Perception +3, Low-light vision
Spells/Day:
Lvl 1: 8/8, Lvl 2: 4/4

Victoriana smiles. She's always been a lucky dodger—on the Mwangi expedition, not too long past, one of her fellow travelers claimed that fallen arrows and falling rocks must simply be afraid of her. These sharks, it seems, are no different.

Taking a withdraw action, so she can only swim+climb a total of 10 feet, but doesn't provoke attacks of opportunity... don't know if this gets her out of the water, or just to the base of the rope, but I'll roll the relevant checks.

Swim, if necessary, get back to the rope: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (9) + 8 = 17
Climb: 1d20 - 2 ⇒ (10) - 2 = 8
(at level up, she may wish to learn some more useful shipboard skills... but a wall with a rope to brace against is a DC 5 climb check, so she might be okay)

And Victoriana attempts to haul herself back out of the water, to the Man's Promise.


(Round 5)

Sabotaging their ship?! What? Nthanda listens in disbelief. She is also at a loss at to why the other ship hasn't begun attacking in earnest... but she will take what little miracles are thrown at them.

"We are having man overboard!" Nthanda calls to the nearest of the sailors next to her in the fog. "Come to my voice, grab this rope and tie it off! Maqi, we will haul you up once you are having hold!"

Nthanda is helping to tie off the rope/readying to haul when Victoriana calls that she has the rope.

STR check if needed: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (10) + 1 = 11


F Gnome (Gear Gnome) Oracle 4 (Lore)
Vitals:
HP: 35/35 | AC: 23, T: 16, FF: 18 | Fort +5, Ref +7, Will +5 | Init +1 | Perception +3, Low-light vision
Spells/Day:
Lvl 1: 8/8, Lvl 2: 4/4
GM Aku wrote:

@Victoriana

To withdraw swimming, you need to have swim speed. To climb, you need climbing speed. Since you don't have it, you can't make a withdraw action.

Oh, I missed that. My bad! I've never tried withdrawing while swimming before. In that case, Victoriana will take a total defense as a standard action, then swim to the rope. This won't give her enough movement to climb the rope once she grabs it, but it will raise her AC to 23 against any attacks for the next round.

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