DM Michael Cullen's Skull and Shackles

Game Master MichaelCullen

At the cry of "Sail ho!" Suny bounces to attention and eagerly awaits the Captain's orders. (^_^)

"Gunny" Black will stand by Big Bertha awaiting instruction

"LISTEN UP!" Arjun barks out a series of orders, punctuated by his pointing finger indicating his object of attention. "I want us in running rigging, people! Make certain those halyards and sheets are separated and not wrapped around each other or fouled on anything. Check your knots and stopper! HOIST THE MAINSAIL! Raise the jib halyard and cleat it off! Be ready to trim that jib if the wind changes."

Profession (sailor) 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (10) + 7 = 17

He approaches Calah and touches a finger to his brow in salute. "Figuring we are a pirate vessel engaged in pirating, I will instruct the crew to give chase to any targets that do not obviously threaten the ship. Just let me know if you don't want to engage a ship."

Suny bounces and snaps her own salute to Arjun, spinning about and racing off to help adjust the sails for the coming encounter.

Acrobatics:1d20 + 6 ⇒ (15) + 6 = 21

Profession Sailor:1d20 + 3 ⇒ (6) + 3 = 9

That's a bugger. Used tha' wrong number fer me skill a'fore. :(

A smile crosses Calah's face. "Well assumed Arjun. Call all hands on deck. Let Dimitrious prepare the cannon in case they fire upon us. Noro! Take the wheel and chase her. Unless they open fire, see that we sail alongside her port side. With this wind we will take the wind out their sails. Lets see if we can board her."

Calah stands at the raised balcony to inspect her crew working to prepare for their first combat. Shouting orders where needed.

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Jax gets down to a cannon, incase it needs loaded.

You are able to turn the ship to, she out paces the dhow without too much effort. As you close to within 5 nautical miles the dhow, she sprints to get around an island. It looks like you will be able to catch her on the other side of the small isle.

A quick check of the charts reveals very little about the waters you are sailing into, the isle you are by is labeled Bonecrick isle but there are no charted depths.

For this chase I will need the following positions filled:

Other possibilities can contribute as well, a great example is that alter winds spell, a casting of that here would grant very favorable conditions to the Sail Master granting a +8 circumstance bonus on his or her check.

Calar will read the winds and waves and gives directions to the helm. prof sailor: 1d20 + 12 ⇒ (18) + 12 = 30

"We almost got her. I need a few lookouts to watch out for reefs and shallow waters, NOW!" Calah commands.

She then casts alter winds (favorable).

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"We almost got her. I need a few lookouts to watch out for reefs and shallow waters, NOW!" Calah commands.

Hearing the call Suny scampers down and asks, "D'ye want a look out on'a bowsprit?" (The mast that juts forwards from the bow)

"Or, should I swim ahead an' a lookin' out on'a 'sprit can watch fer signals?" Suny fairly vibrates as she bounces in place obviously full of excitement. (^_^)

Suny's swim seed should let her 'run' ahead of the ship, at least for a while... Thoughts? Comments?

I can see Suny doing her best dolphin impersonation bowriding in front of the ship

Preparing Bertha to fire Captain, Any request on the type of ammo you want loaded

Calah yells some more orders. "Lookout on the bowsprit! Check for shallow water and reefs! Load a chainshot but hold fire until my command. Let's not waste any precious ammo unless needed."

shame I didn't get any alchemist fires for Havok to bombard the enemy with. Should destroy their sails quite nicely to keep em occupied.

At work.

Suny salutes and jumps at the Captain's orders.

Acrobatics:1d20 + 6 ⇒ (9) + 6 = 15

Perception:1d20 + 6 ⇒ (14) + 6 = 20

Noro simply work the rigging and clears the deck for quarters.

On the intial call to make ready Noro hopes to find boarding pikes and grapples to bring topside to line the railings, having weapons ready and nearby makes boarding that much easier.

keeping an eye for the target ship to best position the equipment for the boarding action.

profession sailor: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (3) + 8 = 11
perception: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (9) + 6 = 15

Dimitrious cracks a smile Chainshot...my favorite,alrighty then, you all heard ther captain load the chainshot

Don't worry captain I will slow them down to a crawl once we get closer

Suny's swim seed should let her 'run' ahead of the ship, at least for a while... Thoughts? Comments?

I am fine with this working over short periods, a mile or so and then Con checks to avoid fatigue if you want to keep that up longer. (For future reference, I see you are on the bowsprit right now.)

Noro hopes to find boarding pikes and grapples to bring topside to line the railings.

You only have a couple of boarding pikes, this ship was origionally meant to move cargo, but you do find a couple left over from your boarding, you also find a couple of grapples over by the jolly boats, meant for helping them come allongside.

Suny spots the slight discoloration in the water indicative of shallows about 300 yards off the bow DC 15. She is able to relay the impending danger before the ship finds itself in extremis. DC 20

Calah is able to expertly manuever the ship getting the most out of the winds and seas DC 20.

As you close the Dhow makes a break for the shore, but your speed is to great for it to get away.

Will you attempt to come alongside if so what side?

I put the DCs (which you made) in ooc tags for your reference so you can see what your skill checks got you.

I can take the Sail Master role, either temporarily or permanently. Sail Master check with bonuses.

Profession (sailor) 1d20 + 15 ⇒ (12) + 15 = 27

Captain ordered Port side... (^_^)

Capah wants to keep the island on the other side of the enemy vessel, so that they cannot sail away without running on reefs. I think that would be starboard side.

Jax is just going to be down by the cannons, he makes sure they are all loaded, but he doesn't fire any until he knows we are under attack.

Through expert seamanship you are able to both cut off any easy escape route and are about to overtake her.
Within 3 rounds you will be alongside, the dhow will be to your port (left) side.

You are currently 60 feet off her starboard quarter and are closing about 20 feet per round.

You can make out eight sailors on deck, six are loading crossbows and two are holding pikes. They appear to have given up on getting away and are preparing to fight.
Please place yourselves as you like on the Map.

Suny Init: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (3) + 3 = 6
Arjun Init: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (8) + 7 = 15
Calah Init: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (7) + 4 = 11
Dimitrious Init: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (16) + 7 = 23
Jax Init: 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (5) + 11 = 16
Noro Init: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (4) + 2 = 6
Kyranda Init: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (18) + 2 = 20
Dhow Sailors (pike): 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (7) + 2 = 9
Dhow Sailors (crossbow): 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (2) + 3 = 5

ORDER
Dimitrious
Kyranda
Jax
Arjun
Calah
Pikes
Suny
Noro
Crossbows

The pikes will just be readying and you all will go before the crossbows so you are all up.

Suny scampers to the railing, the better to see the other ship... and perhaps have something to duck behind should they decide to shoot/throw things in retaliation.

Other wise she gets ready to try and board the other ship and have fun! (^_^)

Placed tha' image where I liked. That be okeys?

Works for me!

(^_^)

Dimitrious will cast web:Reflex 17 centered on the mast right below enemy 1

Should be able to get all them

I don't suppose we could just pull up along side and ask for directions? also put Noro in starting spot...of course she's almost last as usual... remember Captain, you promised I get to bonk some heads.

Hmm those crossbowmen might get annoying. Here's something for them.
Calah starts casting a spell and out of nowhere giant rocks come falling down on their ship. Stone call, aimed so that it hits all of them and some rocks fall outside of the water. It has 40 feet radius and makes the terrain difficult for 3 more rounds.

stones dmg: 2d6 ⇒ (3, 1) = 4

Much to the surprise of the crew of the dhow, a giant web springs into being coverning them in sticky fibers.
Reflex: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (10) + 6 = 16
Reflex: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (11) + 6 = 17
Reflex: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (11) + 6 = 17
Reflex: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (7) + 6 = 13
Reflex: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (6) + 6 = 12
Reflex: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (14) + 6 = 20
Reflex: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (8) + 1 = 9
Reflex: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (11) + 1 = 12

Crossbowmen 1, 4, and 5 as well as the pikemen fail their saves and are grappled by the web.

No sooner then they find themselves trapped in the web then rocks start falling from the sky.

Status:
Crossbow 1: grappled, 4 dmg
Crossbow 2: 4 dmg
Crossbow 3: 4 dmg
Crossbow 4: grappled, 4 dmg
Crossbow 5: grappled, 4 dmg
Crossbow 6: 4 dmg
Pikeman 1: grappled, 4 dmg
Pikeman 2: grappled, 4 dmg

Arjun takes cover behind the fo'c'sle and waits for the ships to come closer to each other.

Crossbow men 1, and 2 shoot at Calah,
Crossbowman 4 will shoot at Dimitriois.
3 and 6 will shoot at Noro
5 will shoot Kyrandra
Crossbowman 1: 1d20 + 12 - 2 - 2 ⇒ (11) + 12 - 2 - 2 = 191d8 + 7 + 1d6 ⇒ (5) + 7 + (3) = 15
Crossbowman 2: 1d20 + 12 ⇒ (19) + 12 = 311d8 + 7 + 1d6 ⇒ (2) + 7 + (4) = 13
Crossbowman 3: 1d20 + 12 ⇒ (18) + 12 = 301d8 + 7 + 1d6 ⇒ (4) + 7 + (1) = 12
Crossbowman 4: 1d20 + 12 - 2 - 2 ⇒ (16) + 12 - 2 - 2 = 241d8 + 7 + 1d6 ⇒ (1) + 7 + (6) = 14
Crossbowman 5: 1d20 + 12 - 2 - 2 ⇒ (13) + 12 - 2 - 2 = 211d8 + 7 + 1d6 ⇒ (8) + 7 + (5) = 20
Crossbowman 6: 1d20 + 12 ⇒ (15) + 12 = 271d8 + 7 + 1d6 ⇒ (1) + 7 + (5) = 13
confirm number 2: 1d20 + 12 ⇒ (16) + 12 = 281d8 + 7 ⇒ (1) + 7 = 8
As the bolts hit they spark with electricity.

The ships move closer together and the dhow sends a hail of bolts you direction. Three of the Crossbowman are able to reload but the others are stuck too much in the web to use both hands.

Top of the round, y'all are up.

Ships are now 20 feet from being alongside. I can't update the map right now because we have a power outage and I am posting from my phone.

Wow, those dice choose a poor time to get hot, if Kyrandra has me still DM PCing I will probably be channeling. At least those caught in the web can't reload.

With the enemies volley of bolts having thunked into their ship all around her Suny takes the opportunity to scamper up the rigging.

Climb Check:1d20 + 5 ⇒ (14) + 5 = 19

Acrobatics:1d20 + 6 ⇒ (1) + 6 = 7

Suny should be able to make a good 10' or 20' up the ropes.

Yeah, got'a love tha' dice roller. (¬_¬)

Calah has been hurt for 21 dmg, ouchies that crit. And I need to study more long range spells it seems.
Being quite hurt from a well placed bolt in her shoulder, Calah grits her teeth and pulls the bolt out. She then casts a spell to heal her wounds while taking slight cover behind the balustrade.
clw: 1d8 + 4 ⇒ (8) + 4 = 12
"Prepare to board those landlubbers. Take quarter if they surrender! We have need of deckswabs!" Calah orders the crew.

noro took 25 damage, also as far as boarding, with the web and the stone making difficult terrain, Noro cannot quite do much, except take cover until there is a clear deck to approach on.

round 1
Jax fires the cannon at the other ship. I do not know what I roll for this or if it goes off dex or whatnot. My dex is 16, my bab is 2.

Yo Jax Wait until I hit bertha with "true strike" and load the proper ammo

belay that order. No firing as it is a waste of ammo now. The cannon is for when we want to sink ships or stop them from getting away.

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who knows, it may throw them off balance, I think it might be a good idea.

In this case chain shot would work similar to solid shot, with the added bonus of taking out some of their rigging.
The rules we decided on for normal shot:

Here is how I will run cannons, it will attack with a +5 against touch AC down a line, for each range increment of 50 feet I will roll a d10 a 5 or 6 will mean it fires down the line intended, a 4 means 5 feet to the right 3 means 10 feet to the right, a 7 means 5 feet to the left et cetera. Proficiency will turn that into a d6 with 3 and 4 being down the line intended.

I will let Dimitrious and Calahs words reach Jax before he lights the fuse, but if Jax wants to "have already lit the fuse" then just roll me a D6 (at this range I cant see you missing by more than that) and tell me where you are aiming at. I can do the rest. You are almost bound to hit something as long at the touch attack hits.

Other than that it is the top of round 2. @ Jax if you want to have fired the cannon as your round one action that is fine just let me know in your post.

Kyranda cries out, Group up I am going to channel
She moves and readies an action to channel just before the crossbowmen that can attack again.

Dimitrious will hide behind the cannon and hit the enemy ship with Web again(Reflex 17)

For Dimitrious's Web:
Reflex Crossbow 2: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (5) + 6 = 11
Reflex Crossbow 3: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (16) + 6 = 22
Reflex Crossbow 6: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (1) + 6 = 7

With the second web only one crossbowman remains unentangled.

Cannon crew, point the cannon at our enemies Surrender or face the consequences Diplomacy: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (19) + 9 = 28

Jax will aim the cannon at one of the people on the other ship if it can reach the far. If that is an impossible reach, he aims at the front of the ship as close to the wheel as possible knocking the opposing captain off balance.roll: 1d6 ⇒ 3

Many apologies for the delay. I was under the weather for a few days.

Arjun emerges from the cover of the forecastle, runs across the deck and leaps the gap between the two ships...

Acrobatics 1d20 + 12 ⇒ (5) + 12 = 17

...landing safely on the other side. [move action] He lashes out with his wakizashi, dripping with vishkanya venom. [standard action]

+1 wakizashi 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (8) + 9 = 171d6 + 2 ⇒ (2) + 2 = 4 against Spearman2

Vishkanya Venom: Injury; save Fort DC 10 + 1/2 the vishkanya's Hit Dice + the vishkanya's Constitution modifier; frequency 1/round for 6 rounds; effect 1d2 ⇒ 1 Dex; cure 1 save.

With a cheeky wink, he disappears into thin air.

Use vanishing trick. [swift action]

Ki 3/4

@ Dimitrious, that is a lot more intimidate than diplomacy, so I am going to use the roll on the die and your modifier for intimidate, you will receive a circumstance bonus against the entangled sailors for favorable conditions. Result is the same 19 +5 charisma +4 circumstance.

The entangled crossbowmen loose heart, they are clearly outnumbered, the 5 of them drop their crossbows. The one who managed to keep out of the web as well as the pike men seem unfazed.

As if to emphasize his point Jax fires the cannon right where he was aiming, a cannon ball flies toward the two crossbowmen in the front.
cannon touch attack on Crossbowman 1: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (18) + 5 = 236d6 ⇒ (4, 5, 1, 1, 4, 4) = 19
cannon touch attack on Crossbowman 3: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (9) + 5 = 146d6 ⇒ (1, 4, 2, 3, 2, 6) = 18
Ok so the cannon does not seem to have the effect I want to portray it having, 6d6 is simply not enough for being hit by a cannon ball, I do not want to simply add damage because that does not scale well. So here is what I am going to do, when hit by a cannon ball a fort save with a DC equal to the damage dealt is required to not die from massive trauma. Please leave any complaints or better ideas in the discussion thread. I want cannons and their ammo to be rare but powerful. Certain very powerful creature (like a kraken) may be immune to that save vs death or at least receive a bonus equal to half its natural armor or something along those lines.

fort save vs death crossbowman 1: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (5) + 7 = 12
fort save vs death crossbowman 1: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (11) + 7 = 18

The chain shot careens across the dhows deck, it catches one of the crossbowmwn across the chest, his is severed completely in two. The shots the crash into the deck sending a hail of splinters at the crossbowman behind him. The splinters carry the majority of the shots energy and leave massive wounds on his body but he manages to keep himself standing.

As the cannon fires Arjun jumps the gap and lands on the dhow, but the pikemen were ready for him and attack him as he lands (readied actions)
pikeman 1: 1d20 + 12 - 2 - 4 ⇒ (1) + 12 - 2 - 4 = 71d8 + 6 ⇒ (4) + 6 = 10
pikeman 2: 1d20 + 12 - 2 - 4 ⇒ (18) + 12 - 2 - 4 = 241d8 + 6 ⇒ (3) + 6 = 9
Once he lands he has no issue slicing through the pikeman's defenses.
fort save vs venom: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (8) + 8 = 16
The blade stings more than it should but he manages to stave off its debilitating effects.
To his surprise his assailant disappears in front of his eyes.

Kyranda channels as the remaining crossbowman seems ready to fire again. All but Calah are bathed in healing. channel: 2d6 ⇒ (5, 5) = 10

The one crossbowman still left in the fight targets Jax with his crossbow,
crossbow: 1d20 + 12 ⇒ (1) + 12 = 131d8 + 7 ⇒ (1) + 7 = 8 O Fortuna velut Luna
He then reloads.

Only crossbowman 3 is left unentangled and he and the pikemen are the only ones left in the fight.

Top of round 3.

Round 3:

From her position in the rigging Suny takes a rope and swing across to the enemies rigging.

Acrobatics:1d20 + 6 ⇒ (6) + 6 = 12

Hoping that dice roll is enough... :/

Thence she begins to climb down to join the fight from a different flank/angle.

Calah yells "I told you not to use the cannon! That shot comes out of your pay! Board their ship and take out the remaining few idiots who are too stupid to recognize a losing endeavor."
Calah uses hydraulic maneuver to push one into the webbing.
hydraulicpush: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (10) + 9 = 19

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is the enemy deck still covered in stone (difficult terrain?) that may impede boarding. also I believe nobody burned the webs so save vs getting caught if we board also?

the difficult terrain may affect Arjun's jumping across as wellnot trying to be a pain, but as we proceed these area effect spells do have small down sides. I have been injured far to many times thanks to "friendly fire"

With the advantage of swinging over from high terain Suny is able to make it over to the stern of the dhow but does not swing high enough to careen into their rigging. You can place yourself on the deck at the stern of the dhow.

The deck is covered in web so you must make a reflex save or escape artist check or become grappled every time you move through the web. Arjun if you fail this save you will only benifit from concealment (20% miss) due to all of the strands of web lacing you. If you pass then you are able to keep your invisiblity. As Noro mentioned the deck is covered in stone as well, as I see it that should not effect your ability to jump over to the dhow but further movement will be effected.

Ref Save:1d20 + 7 ⇒ (5) + 7 = 12

Suny tumbles to the enemy deck, not making it to her intended target. Nor does she escape the attention of the white fluff.

Escape Artist:1d20 + 5 ⇒ (19) + 5 = 24

"It gets in'a all'a wrong places!" (>_<) Suny extricates herself from the webbing and tries to climb the enemies rigging.

Again, wishin' ye all'a bestest fer recoverin' Noro. *Hugz*