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Viper strike!
Gah! Don't do that!
No one expects the Chelaxian Viper Inquisition!
Our chief weapons are devils - devils and snakes - snakes and devils... Our two weapons are devils and snakes - and an army of Hellknights... Our three weapons are devils, and snakes, and an army of Hellknights... and an almost fanatical devotion to House Thrune - Our four - no... Amongst our weapons... Amongst our weaponry... are such elements as devils, snakes - I'll come in again.
Maybe those are your weapons, I prefer seduction, manipulation, and control of life and death.
By silver tongue are many a fair youth and strong fortress overcome...
So myself, Malen, Morrigyn, and Elrox are all here, and Nebdel is present but not yet saying anything. Anyone heard from Casarus the Kharijite?
And what about Aurilous?
Might need to change my connection and ship, if necessary.
Well, Casarus' player has been posting recently, so he's still around... but we can't wait for him forever. Would be some interesting RPing if he's late to the Admiral's office.
I’m so sorry!! I never finished the PC’s background so I assumed I wasn’t accepted into the game. I’ll finish the character sheet and start posting tomorrow.
I can RP being late to the Admiral's office. Good idea Stefan.
I’ll probably change the avatar tomorrow too.
Just put up a little flashback showing some more of Stefan's character (disgusting guy that he is), and a bit of background link with Casarus.
NB: Stefan wouldn't accept a bribe to violate Regulations, oh my, no. (Like, say, accepting substandard provisions -- he knows that they have a purpose and they're there to help the Navy do its job. Besides, someone might catch him at it.) But he certainly knows how to tie the regulations into a pretzel for his own benefit (and incidentally the Navy's.)
Underway at last!
Some flashbacks from Nebdel and Elrox might be fun, for character establishment as we start to interact.
DM, were you going to give us any additional information about spending cash to improve the ships or is that still to come?
that will be coming up soon Nebdel no worries i havent forgotten :)
Not to mention it would be a bad idea to start improving ships without knowing what ships they are, and what mission they are designed for ;)
Nice catch, Nebdel :)
I can't wait to hear what else the Admiral has to say.
Hmmm... lots of rolling over on the gameplay thread, but I didn't think anyone else needed to sit through many posts of interviews with officers, and this is what Stefan is really good at, so he ought to have a decent shot at getting the basics done.
(His problem, which he is only partly aware of, is that while Stefan is good at handling ships and very good at reading and manipulating people, he doesn't have much training in strategy or naval operations, so he's not as equipped to criticize the Admiral's ideas as a more senior captain or a strategic theorist might be.)
Then again, he also hasn't heard many details of the plan... which he is aware of. And he's not going to challenge the Admiral without being very, very sure of his ground.
DM, do you want us to create subordinate officers for our ships, or do you want to do that? Also, please check your email for a couple of notes from me.
Nice catch, Nebdel :)
Just trying to be as much the LE suspicious inquisitor as I can manage.
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Oh, and overthinking things? Yes, Stefan is rather vulnerable to that vice, I think :)
Hmmm... don't really have a crew - Anyone willing to have me on their ship?
It’s probably up to the DM, but Stefan could use a few more crew members and would be happy to have Elrox aboard.
Sorry for the Delays, Turkey day got...complicated I guess is the best way to put it >.< You will have your ships soon, whom was planning on having the undead laden assault ship Left my notes at work >.<
Undead assault ship, I choose you!
Perfectly understood that lots of things can happen during a holiday. :)
Elrox you will be an attachment on that ship leading her majesties royal marines. Briefing to follow soon :)
Sorry, we volunteered to watch the grandkids so their parents could have a long weekend. I probably won't have any free and non-sleep time until Tuesday afternoon. Feel free to bot or skip me if needed.
As a parent who enjoys the occasional long weekend provided by his parents, I salute you. Have fun!
Malen do you have a list of the ship's officer's names?
1st Lieutenant - Gerrol Abegan
2nd Lieutenant - Elisha Danigan
3rd Lieutenant - Stanford McManus
Sailing Master - Alver Solaris
Purser - Bekka Zillum
Marine Master - Ilmer Resapian
Bosun - Thoms Malverson
Carpenter - Kelyon Dratwith
And some lower level midshipmen.
Hmmm... still thinking about my crew. Been a rather busy day, hope to get a post in tomorrow.
OK, officer's roster for the Abrogail's Revenge. Subject, of course, to the Admiral's approval and/or Admiralty reassignments
First lieutenant- Lucio Malvoglio (LE male human fighter (lore warden) 4), decorated for bravery in boarding actions and good with small boats
Second lieutenant - Julia Maretto (LN female human ranger 3), good navigator and sailor
Third lieutenant - Marco Doria (LE male human fighter 2/aristocrat 1), a nephew of the late lamented Captain Doria from Stefan's previous voyage
Sailing master - Ferdinand Colombo (LE middle-aged male human expert 4), veteran of the Shackles Patrol and generally tired of life
8 midshipmen - it's a large ship but the Admiralty was out of master's mates with all the recent casualties and deployments so we got a draft of just-graduated Academy youngsters.
Purser - Isabella Rotino (LN female halfling expert 3/rogue 1), very capable and very quiet, and a skinflint gambler
Carpenter/surgeon - Brer Pollo (NE male human adept 1/expert 3). Stefan would really like to know how Brer finagled the Admiralty into getting two warrants and drawing two salaries simultaneously... Brer might have things to teach him about Regulations-fu. Very superstitious and plenty of low-level spells.
Bosun - Val Orcia (LG female human expert 3/ranger 1), good at boats, rigging, daredevil acrobatics, and being out of place in Cheliax.
Ship's wizard - Dottore Giuseppe Secco (N middle-aged male human wizard 3 (siege mage)/ druid 2), noted artillery expert with a side interest in tropical birds
Ship's chaplain - Matthias Terrani (LN male human cleric 3/expert 1), cleric of Abadar and naval architect, still on board for inspections and finishing the ship. (Stefan really hopes to still get an assistant chaplain for him who can command undead if necessary.)
Marine captain - not yet arrived aboard
Stefan is a firm believer in the velvet glove, by the way. Doesn't mean there isn't an adamantine viper inside it...
it will be a few before the first ship board combat happens but i thought i would drop this link here if you all wanted to peruse it.
There will be special modifications availible later in the campaign but for now this list here has a list of improvements you can have "puchased" if you saved finances from charector creation. It will be assumed they are already on the ship so no need to actually requisition them now.
Quick query: are the ships armed with cannons, or with earlier types of siege engines (catapults, ballistae, trebuchets)?
It will vary. For instance
For instance The Impeccable will have cannons, Abrogails resolve will have a mix of balistae and well the two trebuchet, though really those are for shore bombardment. Though you will also have some cannon, I basically see it as well the whole fleet is moving to the technology of cannon, just at different steps, Im working out the stats for your boats fuly this weekend, s#~# err things just keeps cropping up.
Sounds reasonable...
... but I certainly hope we don't run into, say, a pirate equipped with lots of cannon ;)
Well in theory i mean you are the ship to be protected in a sea battle. I mean you can fight back but really your purpose is more for the anti land sort of roll ;)
Right, so we're a ship-of-the-line armed en flute, with weapons mostly stripped to allow us to carry troops, a fast troop transport with some teeth, probably quite capable of fighting a small pirate ship but might have some difficulty with a bigger warship. OK, got it.
Oh, and nasty idea for a land siege -- trebuchets can throw pretty large stone blocks. Attach a bloody skeleton to the stone block and launch into fort. Skeleton is probably killed by the fall but it reanimates an hour later inside the fort... along with all the others launched on succeeding blocks.
See now thats some devious thinking
I have not yet begun to deviate...
Why one tied to a stone? Send several boxes stuffed full of them. Just release control when launched so you can keep animating more.
GM Question: I see Stefan (I have a real hard time typing that with an 'f' instead of 'pf') with details on his crew members. Have you sent him those details or are you wanting us to 'build' our crew members? I'm ok either way. Just don't want to be the hold up.
I built them up. Naturally the GM can overrule if he wants, but I tried not to be too excessive. Still, a ship of the line historically had a crew of 550-600. I figured officers in command of that many people would have 3-5 levels, even if we are half-manned, and giving each of them a brief personality helps me keep them straight for later.
Do we have any rules/limitations to use for building them?
The words within reason are your rules, its certainly a help for me :)
I figure that for simplicity a lot of sailors will be expert 1, or rogue 1, or maybe warrior 1; experienced and memorable sailors will be 2nd level (and very possibly multiclassed), with a sprinkling of other classes to taste.
Here's the complete roster for a historical 74-gun warship - I figure that the Abrogail's Revenge is a slightly smaller ship (maybe the equivalent of a Royal Navy 50 or 64), and only partly manned to boot, but a lot of the jobs will be the same. Our smaller ships would probably have a crew of about 150-300 men, depending on size. Obviously, in game some of these jobs will be carried out by other classes (e.g., surgeons and chaplains might be replaced in whole or part by clerics), but there's a LOT of work that goes into making a major warship functional.
From the appendix in the Wooden World
3rd rate, 74 guns
Complement 600-700
Captain 1
Lieutenants 4
Warrant Sea officers 6 (Master, Boatswain, Gunner, Carpenter, Surgeon, Purser)
Inferior Warrant Officers 8 (Chaplain, Cook, Schoolmaster, Sailmaker, Armorer, Surgeons Mate x 3, Master at Arms)
Petty Officers 55 (Master’s Mate x 3, Midshipmen x 16, Captains clerk, Quartermaster x 6, Quartermaster’s Mate x 4, Boatswain’s Mate x 2, Yeomen of the Sheets x 4, Coxswain, Sailmakers Mate, Gunner’s Mate x 2, Yeomen of the Powder Room x 2, Quarter Gunner x 18, Carpenters Mate, Steward, Corporal x 2, Trumpeter)
Idlers 11 (Sailmaker’s Crew x2, Carpenter’s Crew x8, Steward’s mate)
Servants 39-43
Widow’s Men 12-14 (“dummies” carried on the books to provide widow’s pensions)
Seamen 352-448
(These would be listed and divided in a number of ways - training level, duty station, and so on, but we won't get into that. There's a lot, because you need men to crew the weapons AND handle the ship AND do damage repairs AND ammunition resupply in combat; in a ship with only about half its weapons it could be a lot less, and the ship could be handled in easy weather with 30 or 40 men, though you might need more in bad storm weather)
Marines 1 Captain, 1 1st Lieutenant, 1 2nd Lieutenant, 3 Sergeants, 2 Corporals, 1 Drummer, 90 Privates
OK, so we have:
Abrogail's Resolve - for some reason I seem to have named her Revenge instead, maybe we could keep that name? Revenge sounds like a more Chelaxian virtue (?) - Stefan & Elrox (and which of us gets called "Captain", eh? - with 300 Marines under his command Elrox is probably a Major) - fast heavy troop ship
Impeccable - Malen & Morrigyn - fast scout ship
Bezrieul’s Gaze - Casarus & Nebdel - fast scout ship
And a fourth ship, presumably the Admiral's, unless he decided to sail on Abrogail's R instead. Name and type unknown. (I wonder, is this the Penitence or did Aurilous and his ship get snagged by another of the fleets?)
Neat idea!
Good luck!