Islands in the Sky (Inactive)

Game Master avr

Darian's face slowly curved into a vindictive grin. "Yes. Yes there is. This way," he said, leading the rough looking warrior and his prisoners down to the holding cells.

Pike follows along, herding the prisoners. He grunts "Good. Let's get these sorted out."

The navigator explains "Six, a weightsman and a pilot on each skiff as a full load, 'short' means just five with -" before a loud crack sounds and blood pours down his face.

Over the distance a voice calls out "Talking to the enemy Norris? Should've known I couldn't trust you!" Two of the skiffs have taken off the rock with the last getting ready to do so. The lead skiff has one person leaning over a long, smoking gun while another person shouts at you from around the pilot.

They're about 300' away for the nearest skiff, 400' and 500' for the next two. The two in the air already will reach the ship they're going for - which may be their own but you can't tell easily from here, now - in 2 rounds.

The possibly soon to be renamed Will's Bluebird has a masterwork ballista on the bow and another Surtr isn't so sure of on the stern. Given you knew you were going into danger I'd assume both are loaded already.

Sorry about the delay, I was stuck. Also unwell at first, but mainly stuck.

To clarify, are Jale and Mog on the western edge of the commandeered vessel, next to the rail? And the pilot is with us, tied up?I haven't shifted Jale's icon on the map, sorry.

Seps swivels suddenly, eyes narrowing as they scan the skiffs. Perception: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (13) + 10 = 23 Even as they tally the passengers they're flicking their arm, dropping a narrow crossbow out of its sheath. They take careful aim over the vast distance, breathe in deeply, and let a single bolt fly.

Shooting at the nearest gunner, fourth range increment. Attack: 1d20 + 10 - 6 ⇒ (18) + 10 - 6 = 22 Damage: 1d8 + 1 ⇒ (8) + 1 = 9

I don't seem to be on the initiative list.

The bolt hits the gunner hard in the arm, but not hard enough to disable them.

I think Ol' Pike was going to take all the prisoners down below deck, unless there's some reason otherwise - like you wanted to interrogate the pilot next - she'll be down there too. You can have moved or not as you wish.

Apologies Darian, I copy/pasted without thinking of that omission.

Darian: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (12) + 2 = 14

Once I get on deck, i'll just help someone fire one of the siege engines as I'm not great at range...

"Head down, Norris," says Mog while he kicks the man away from the railing. He draws his crossbow and drops to the deck to buy himself time to reload. (Is Norris dead or alive? Mog is going to kick him either way, but it seems like a good thing to know.)

"Company's coming in, lads and lasses," Mog yells to his crew along the ship. "Weapons raised, tempers up, and we might still get out of this!"

Begin Inspire Courage, so +1 to hit and damage.

Norris is dead.

Will post in the morning, sleep now.

"Awright, whats the plan down there?! We gotta stay together!"

Surtr begins his Weapon Song once again with the same bonuses as before, and gets ready to fire on the first guy on a skiff to attack him, or the party.

Readied Arrow: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (8) + 6 = 14
Dam: 1d8 + 5 ⇒ (5) + 5 = 10

Darian enjoyed locking away his former captors, stripping them of all their possessions just as they had done to him.

When he came back up on deck he was surprised to find a fight starting. He grinned. Today was a good day.

He found a spot to take cover and drew one of his heavy throwing spikes, waiting.

Taking cover. Readied action to throw. Waiting until they get within 40 feet.

Don't know if I can go yet as it seems to still be the baddies' turn. Whenever it is my, turn, I'll do the following.

Pike comes rushing up on deck and, seeing the situation, takes cover. He roars from his cover "Any of ya good with a ballista? I'll help ya out!."

Jale sees the oncoming skiff, and hoots a few times in anticipation. She moves to the western door of the Passenger Lounge, and after scoping the room, hides....ehrmm, takes cover just in the doorway.

Perception: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (17) + 9 = 26 [please apply whatever penalties due for a cursory examination of a room while awaiting the arrival of skiff-borne warparties bristling with pirates full of get the f$&k off my ship]

Mmm, are we missing something?

Illness and a not-unrelated accident - I dropped my laptop off the sofa while feeling dog-tired and need to replace the hard drive and rebuild it - are the reason for this delay. Sorry once again.

The skiffs close half the distance and their gunners shoot. One targets Seps, the other takes a shot at the booming skald.

Gunner 1 attack, 2 range increments-far shot, inspire courage: 1d20 + 5 - 2 + 1 ⇒ (18) + 5 - 2 + 1 = 22
damage, martial focus, inspire courage: 1d12 + 1d10 + 1 ⇒ (6) + (5) + 1 = 12
Gunner 2 attack, 5 range increments-far shot: 1d20 + 5 - 5 ⇒ (2) + 5 - 5 = 2
damage, martial focus: 1d12 + 1d10 ⇒ (2) + (2) = 4

The first cheers as she earns some revenge for Seps' shot, the second misfires badly and has no effect, even her target was uncertain. Surtr's arrow skips off the first's light armor giving her another fright but no damage.

Ballistas only take one person to fire (a ranged attack roll at -4 assuming no feats or other abillities, albeit probably with a better range increment than anyone's personal weapon) but having a second person to help reload is helpful. Possibly not that helpful now though considering how fast these skiffs are closing, magic or unusual skill must be involved. The first skiff is now at 100', the second at 200', the third has just launched and is still at 500'.

The passenger lounge has been shut for the night and no one is inside. If they have fancy silverware or lamps those aren't obvious now. There is a telescope fixed to a tripod and Jale will likely have at least seen one of those used.

Pike stays behind cover near the ballista, ready to surge out and defend his allies as soon as he gets a chance.

Seps winces as the gunner's bullet makes contact. Their eyes close for a fraction of a second, and the wound starts to stitch itself back together. Swift action lay on hands. Healing: 2d6 ⇒ (3, 4) = 7

At Pike's remark, Seps darts down the stairs after him, stepping up to the ballista. "I've fired one of these... once." Seps takes aim at the closest gunner once again, letting the projectile fly. Attack: 1d20 + 9 - 4 ⇒ (19) + 9 - 4 = 24 Ooh, is that a critical threat?

Sure is. The damage on a ballista is 3d8, but of course that's 6d8 if you confirm the crit.

Crit Confirmation: 1d20 + 9 - 4 ⇒ (2) + 9 - 4 = 7 Ah well.
Damage: 3d8 ⇒ (7, 5, 3) = 15

The gunner drops, but she's pulled back aboard before she takes the longest dive. Seps has clearly won that duel.

The other will be taking her time to clear the misfire, with partial cover protecting her once her action comes up.

Surtr, you're up again. Also anyone else bar Seps who wants to act before the skiffs move again at the end of the round.

I should have done this before...
Seps perception: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (4) + 10 = 14
Ol'Pike perception: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (9) + 9 = 18
Sailor stealth: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (3) + 8 = 11
Seps and Ol'Pike hear the sailor on the outside of the hull as she shifts position. This would be the one who escaped earlier.

Does a skiff have any notably important machinery exposed, like an engine? Figure it's worth asking.

Sure, there's a propellor up front. Difficult to take it out with an arrow though a ballista bolt might penetrate it to the engine behind. These skiffs have big grapples used as landing gear, though taking them out wouldn't prevent the skiff stopping over either ship and the goons jumping out.

Jale hears the exchange of fire and curses, feeling useless and worried that her allies are being torn to pieces.

I hear the sailor moving about on our bow? If so, I'll move toward her.

Ol' Pike moves toward the front of the boat while trying to stay under cover. "Don't give 'em any easy targets!" he reminds his comrades.

Surtr moves over to a ballista onboard his own ship and fires on the propeller of the closest skiff.

*THUNK*: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (8) + 1 = 9 This is assuming I can't transfer the Weapon Song bonus to the ballista. Adds +1 enhancement bonus otherwise.

If I went down to the engine room, could I get our boat to move faster or maneuver better for a bit?

Ol' Pike stands on one side of a bit of reinforced wood at the bow, the sailor is on the other side.

Do you want to hack through? You'd be looking at hardness 5 and 15 HP of wood to cut through before you hit the sailor, but you'd be sure to catch her flat-footed. Talking is also possible of course. Or just ignoring her and concentrating on other problems.

The ballista on Will's Bluebird glows from Surtr's fiery words. The bolt flies out and and hits at this near-perfect range for the weapon.

ballista damage: 3d8 + 1 ⇒ (3, 7, 3) + 1 = 14

Steam starts pouring out and the skiff shudders and slows but does not stop.

You probably could Darian but it's a bit late now, the skiffs are almost here and no one's been driving the ship so you'd be starting from a dead stop.

Oh dang, I just assumed I missed.

Boats don't have much dexterity. I didn't realise you'd be that quick to reply or I'd have asked you to make the roll instead.

Is it feasible for Pike to stand on something and swipe at her with his bardiche?

Pike yells to the sailor "Yer not gonna want to be there lassy. Things'll get mighty hairy for ya. Let's put ya nice and safe in the brig then we'll drop ya off when we get to the nearest rock. If ya don't cooperate, I'm afraid I'll have to make things ugly for ya."

Intimidate: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (4) + 8 = 12

Pike ends up sounding a bit more grandfatherly than he intends. But maybe this will work in his favor?

Mog stands up and takes a shot at the pilot on the lead ship. No idea what the range increment is.

Attack: 1d20 + 8 + 1 ⇒ (13) + 8 + 1 = 22
Damage: 1d8 + 1 + 1 ⇒ (2) + 1 + 1 = 4

"You're up against some real ruffians here - not like these milksops you left on deck! Come dock with yer hands up and we'll let you keep a skiff to scuttle off in!" yells the pirate.

Inspire courage is still up so don't forget your +1s

Surtr's warchant swells in response to his successful strike and takes aim at the skiff behind his previous target.

Bolt-action: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (18) + 2 = 20
Dam: 3d8 + 2 ⇒ (7, 8, 1) + 2 = 18 I don't think I have to spend a standard action reloading the ballista, but I could be wrong.