Voyages of the Ghostlight - IC

[JNAProductions]

"I can do that," Sasha says, "provided you let me. I know you've got some bad blood with Captain Montgomery, but you've barely even met me. If you actually want it to be civil, I can help-more than that, I will help."

She looks at the goons Maria brought with her. They're well-armed, but unlikely to know how tough she is. Still, not much reason to make a scene and risk getting hurt for no reason. She waits for the other captain's response.

[Dr.Gunsforhands]

A Cormorant Somewhere at Sea

Macra tries and fails to stifle a laugh, then kneels down to pet the Cormorant's resident pest control officer, Ensign Raphael Ambrosius Coppercoat the Third. "Mrr! Good kitty! Are you trying to look out for me because I look tired?"

It's no wonder. Even after she and the rest of the staff finished loading everything by hand with horses trying to bolt, they spent the rest of the night moving stuff around trying to balance out the weight. Most of the servants have been resting since that was done; Macra went on to spend the morning with the guard shift. She hasn't eaten for a day, either.

"Of course I can't really eat this." Still petting Copper, she mercifully breaks the dying mouse's neck and stashes it in a separate pouch as bait for later. "It's okay, though. I can go get something for myself, and I really should if we're going to be fighting pirates."

She stands up and heads below decks to refill her fresh water and to grab an orange before they run out and switch to the limes. While she's down there, she (naturally) decides to check in on the Valtiers and on Archambault and (also naturally) tries to see and hear as much as possible before they notice her.

Spoiler: (naturally)

Show

Spy in case it's needed: (3d6)[4][4][5](13)

[MCerberus]

Doc - On the Ghostlight

With all the supplies being what he could drag in already onboard and the potential... interesting times, Doc had previously not had any reason to leave the ship. Still being restrained to such a small space when the larger town is still bustling had begun to rub him the wrong way. In his grumpy mood he had decided something was off. They were so close to leaving and there was less wrangling of the crew than he remembered.

"Hey, where's the taskmistress," he asks of the nearest available crewman.

[-Sentinel-]

Ghostlight - Mériault

"Hey, where's the taskmistress," he asks of the nearest available crewman.

The sailor shrugged, not looking up from the knot he was tying. "Fetching somethin', mebbe? Ask the cap'n. He often sends her on errands."

---

Streets of Mériault

"I can do that," Sasha says, "provided you let me. I know you've got some bad blood with Captain Montgomery, but you've barely even met me. If you actually want it to be civil, I can help-more than that, I will help."

"This isn't about Phobias this time," said Captain Sevilla. "One of his crew murdered one of mine last night. I'll have justice. Or at least, payback. That'll depend on him." She pointed a flintlock pistol at Sasha. "Walk to the Ghostlight with us. Don't try anything funny."

Sasha took note of her surroundings. The alleys were very narrow and twisting; it would take only a few steps to get outside the line of fire of Sevilla's flintlock, if she wanted to flee. But she also noticed that one of the four pirates was young, long-legged, and alert-looking. He would catch up quickly.

Spoiler

Show

It's up to you whether you want to flee, fight, or play nice. Fleeing or fighting will require some kind of test.

---

Cormorant - High seas

Copper purred in contentment at Macra's touch and flopped on his back to have his belly rubbed. Macra happily obliged.

Heading down into the darkened hold of the Cormorant to get water and an orange, Macra passed near the sick bay. She could hear voices arguing in hushed tones. She crept closer to the door, her spy training taking over.

"...any more laudanum, he might die!" Doctor Archambault was whispering.

Lady Elena replied: "You said it yourself, doctor, my father is unlikely to survive that injury. A stomach wound means he's digesting himself. Just ghastly. Perhaps it's best to... let him go peacefully? That'll free up your time for the other wounded we have on board."

"And I suppose the fact that you're his heiress doesn't factor into that decision?"

There was no response from Elena for a moment. At last, she said: "Well, there's also his mismanagement of our house. You know that. Everyone knows that, even if no one dares to say it out loud. The overspending, his petty feuds with the King, all of the bridge-burning with some of our oldest allies... his treatment of my late mother, an Alberione, those very same Alberiones we're now counting on to help us take back our city... Maybe it's time House Valtier moved past him."

"I swore an oath to do no harm."

"Same oath you were under when he had you cut open my mother to 'save' a newborn who didn't even survive a day?"

"My Lady, you're being unfair, I did everything I possibly could to—"

"How much does my father pay you?"

"...W-what does that have to do with anything?"

"Because I'll pay you half again as much once I'm running House Valtier. Which could start today. Or a bit later, if he dies of that stomach wound, but then you can kiss your pay raise goodbye."

[JNAProductions]

"An unjust attack, I'm sure," Sasha says with a touch of snark in her tone. But she follows the woman's command-four goons and a captain are not even close to sufficient to take on the Ghostlight. So there's not really any harm in bringing them to the ship to talk.

She mentally goes over a list of crewmates in her head, trying to think of who'd be most easily provoked. Then, realizing the easy solution... "Who did it?" she asks.

[-Sentinel-]

"Who did it?" she asks.

"Expect me to know everyone on your crew by name?" said Maria Sevilla with a shrug. "I barely know half the names of my own crew. Less talking, more walking."

---

Ghostlight (Doc and Sasha)

Doc's queries about Sasha became moot when the young woman emerged onto the docks—with flintlock pistols pointed at her back by four pirates from another ship. Among them, Doc recognized the notorious Captain Maria Sevilla, who commanded a ship of a similar size and armament as the Ghostlight and was a longtime rival (and, it was rumored, a past lover) of Captain Montgomery. Many of the sailors of the Ghostlight drew their own pistols and cutlasses, but with Sasha at Sevilla's mercy, they held off for now. The air bristled with tension.

"Phobias!" shouted Captain Sevilla. "We need to talk!"

Montgomery emerged from belowdecks. His mood, already sour at having to deal with Sevilla, turned murderous when he saw his rival holding Sasha hostage. "What's the meaning of this?" he demanded.

"A woman on your crew stabbed my man Rahem to death last night," said Sevilla. "There's a witness, and she says Rahem got at least one stab in before he went down. There was blood on his knife, too." Captain Sevilla paused. "Tell me, Phobias, did anyone on your crew come back last night with a stab wound?"

"Not that I'm aware of," said Montgomery. "You sure it's someone on my crew?"

"Yes. I understand that before the murder, the killer was boasting that she served on the Ghostlight."

Spoiler: MCerberus

Show

Would Doc have told Montgomery about the incident last night?

If he did, then Montgomery is lying to Captain Sevilla to protect his own crew. If not, then he genuinely knows nothing about it. For now, the outcome is the same, but it'll become important very soon, so I need an answer.

[MCerberus]

Doc - The Ghostlight

Suddenly things just go a lot more complicated with what happened last night. While still having kept to his end of things, that sailor decided to omit one piece of information. That's going to make him upset, since he's now looking the fool and now that the other crew ran running to mommy it IS actually the crew's problem.

The dwarf looks through the crowd finding the lass from last night.
"Oi, you have some explaining to do. Didn't say you killed him did you?"

[Dr.Gunsforhands]

It would be easy to just let this play out. Macra doesn't know much about medicine, but she knows that sometimes you need to focus on making someone comfortable on their way out. It's sad, but it happens. Still, she doesn't like the choice that Elena is asking the doctor to make.

"Excuse me, my lady," she says. "You don't honestly expect him to agree to that, do you? Would you really trust a healer who would trade away a patient's life for a pay raise?"

She turns her attention to Archambault. "That said, doctor, there are other people upstairs who need you right now. If you've already done what you could for the baron, then you need to move on, let him rest and focus on where you can do the most good! Does that make sense?"

Spoiler

Show

She's trying to demonstrate her positivity here. If the doctor really thinks this is where he's doing the most good, then she won't second-guess him, but he shouldn't be obsessing over the man he couldn't save, especially if it's just because he's a baron.

[-Sentinel-]

Ghostlight - Mériault

"Oi, you have some explaining to do. Didn't say you killed him did you?"

Keiri had changed her shirt since last night, but the blood still seeped through both the bandage and the fabric, and so she wore a jacket over it. The jacket had no buttons, and she needed to awkwardly keep it closed with one hand to conceal the bloodstain near her kidney.

"He... wasn't dead yet when I left," she told Doc defensively. "And I wasn't gonna stick around to check on him... The girl we were fighting over was screamin' bloody murder." She winced at her own, accidentally too-literal turn of the phrase.

Meanwhile, the two captains' heated argument was going on uninterrupted.

"You don't get to take one of my crew members hostage and then sue for justice, Maria!" said Montgomery. "Let her go, so we can talk like civilized people."

"Fat chance," spat Maria Sevilla. "I know the killer's on your ship, Phobias. Or if not, then she's on the run, and it's your job to find her and deliver her to me. I'll have justice one way or another, even if I have to kill this pretty lass here just to make a point." She poked at the back of Sasha's head with her pistol for emphasis.

Anyone who knew anything about pirate politics would understand that Sevilla's demand for payback had nothing to do with justice or a sense of duty to her crew, and everything to do with maintaining her not-to-be-messed-with reputation. A pirate captain who let a crewman's murder go unavenged was seen as a weakling, and weaklings did not last long in this line of work.

Captain Montgomery gave a sour grunt and headed straight to Doc. "Tell me," he said, in a low voice, so that Sevilla would not hear, "did you treat a stab wound last night? Now would be the right time to let me know, so we can figure out what comes next."

Next to Doc, Keiri was keeping utterly still.

---

Cormorant - High seas

"Excuse me, my lady," she says. "You don't honestly expect him to agree to that, do you? Would you really trust a healer who would trade away a patient's life for a pay raise?"

Both Lady Elena and Doctor Archambault were startled at Macra's intrusion.

"Hmm, should've guessed you were an eavesdropper," snorted Elena. "Well, the doctor was just telling me that my father had little chance of survival anyway, and that his death would be agonizing without the laudanum. Which, incidentally, we'll run out of in two or three days, if we keep him sedated the whole time. So we might as well use it now, while there's enough to make a lethal dose."

Archambault seemed at a loss. To him, Macra was just a chambermaid, far below him in the hierarchy of House Valtier's retainers, and he was not sure why he should justify himself to her. But Lady Elena was not just shooing Macra away like she would a chambermaid, which only added to his confusion.

"I, um..." He wiped his glasses wearily. "Lady Elena is correct about the laudanum situation. If we must make a lethal dose, we must do it now, while there's enough left. If we keep giving His Lordship laudanum in small doses just to keep him asleep, by tomorrow we likely won't have enough to... um... give him a painless end... if it becomes obvious that there's no chance to save his life."

"Which is why you'll do exactly as I ask, doctor," said Elena coldly.

Archambault took a deep breath. "I... won't do it. I won't break the vow I made as a doctor." He grabbed a roll of bandages and some surgical instruments. "Instead I'll go care for the other wounded on the deck." He left a half-full bottle of brown, acrid-smelling liquid on a table. "If your father starts moaning again, my lady, give him a few more drops."

This sounded very much like a code for: If you want your father dead, kill him yourself.

The doctor walked out of the sick bay and headed to the deck, leaving Macra and Elena alone with the sleeping Baron Valtier.

[MCerberus]

Doc - the Ghostlight

There's a small huff and the dedicated attempt not to roll his eyes at that response. Before being asked by the captain he tell/scolds Keiri. "Ya asked me to keep it shut 'til it threatened the rest of the crew and I did. I stitched you up and didn't make a rat of myself, now you gotta do the same."

A few seconds later he's being asked by the captain, and can't and doesn't want to be caught in a lie about this.

"Aye, was told it was a lover's fight and swore to say no more if it didn't threaten the rest of the crew,"
He waits a moment to allow for any guilty parties to step forward.

Spoiler

Show

Plague doctor to try and convince Keiri to take responsibility, if that fails he's likely to continue on and give full details
(3d6)[6][4][6](16)

[-Sentinel-]

Ghostlight

Keiri seemed to understand that Doc meant to tell the truth if she did not. "I'm the one they're looking for, Cap," she confessed to Captain Montgomery with extreme reluctance.

She began to open her jacket to show him the stab wound, but the captain stopped her with a sharp gesture.

"Don't let them see it, idiot!" he hissed. "I'm not handing you over. We'll find a way."

He walked away from Doc and Keiri and returned to the aftcastle to speak to Captain Sevilla from an elevated position. "My shipboard surgeon says no one came to him with a stab wound," he reported. "Either the culprit's hiding her wound, or she didn't come back to the Ghostlight last night."

Sevilla looked skeptical. "That so? You expect me to take it on faith?"

"No. You're free to come have a close look at all the women on my crew. If you find one with a fresh stab wound, she's all yours."

Keiri tensed up and gave Doc a sidelong glance. "He does have a plan, right?"

Sevilla seemed to find Montgomery's solution acceptable. She turned to one of her men. "Sam, you tie the prisoner's hands and keep your gun on her. Any funny business happens, you shoot her. I'm going on that ship with Emil and Diego."

The pirate named Sam tied Sasha's hands behind her back with a highly complex sailor's knot—almost impossible to squeeze out of for a normal prisoner, but Sasha was far from normal, given the strange and mutable nature of her body. Good thing Captain Sevilla and her men did not know that, or they would have set more than one person to keep watch over her. Sevilla and two of her men boarded the Ghostlight and began roughly inspecting the female crew members to see if they were hiding any recent stab wounds under their shirts. They seemed to be focusing on women with a darker skin tone and short hair, like Keiri; clearly, the girl at the brothel had given them a description of Rahem's killer.

Captain Montgomery stood very straight on the deck and gave Sasha a piercing gaze, as if expecting something of her.

Spoiler: JNAProductions

Show

Give me some appropriate tests for Sasha, depending on what you intend to do.

Sasha can also choose to let things play out.

[MCerberus]

Doc - the Ghostlight

Unable to do anything more right now from the deck at the moment, Doc starts thinking about what's on-hand before plucking a couple vials from the bandoleer. Smoke and flash. One of them may become useful. He can't very well signal to Sasha but Doc looks straight at her and tilts his head slightly.

[JNAProductions]

"I see how it is," Sasha says with a roll of her eyes. "I don't even count as a woman to be investigated? Brimstone and hellfire, Sevilla, you know how to make a lady feel unwanted." She tests the restraints, seeing how quickly she can break loose, and if need be, dropping them into her hands so she's no longer bound, while still appearing so.

But she doesn't need to-the knot is competent, but hardly the kind of thing that'd restrain her. So, she waits for Sevilla to respond to her.

[Dr.Gunsforhands]

Cormorant - Sick Bay

Just as planned.

"Sorry! It's just, I've always admired healers. He'd never forgive himself if he had to compromise his principles like that!" Macra stammers idly. Once she's sure he's out of earshot, she continues. "I guess I should leave as well. Technically, I was only asked to see the two of you out of Brisevent." She looks over at the unconscious baron. There's no denying it - he wasn't a very good man. Macra can't protect him forever. "If by chance you have somewhere else to be, I can take care of him for you."

[-Sentinel-]

Ghostlight - Mériault

Captain Sevilla looked up from her inspection on the Ghostlight to throw Sasha an irritated scowl, then returned to her work. Evidently she did not consider her hostage worth engaging with. Or perhaps Sasha just did not match the description of the killer. Meanwhile, by shifting the shape of her fingers, Sasha managed to get her hands unbound without accidentally dropping the rope on the pier. Risking a glance over her shoulder, she saw that Sam had his eyes fixed on the proceedings on the Ghostlight and was none the wiser. In fact, his flintlock pistol was no longer pointing directly at the back of her head.

One of Maria Sevilla's crewmen who had followed her onto the ship let out an exclamation. "Oh, would ya look at that?" He lifted a side of Keiri's open jacket, revealing the bloodstain on her shirt. "Think we got our killer, Cap."

From the aftcastle, Captain Montgomery gave Sasha a piercing look.

---

Cormorant - High seas

"If by chance you have somewhere else to be, I can take care of him for you."

"Appreciate it, Macra, but I can deal with this on my own," said Lady Elena with a curt nod. "Why don't you go help Doctor Archambault? I'd like our wounded to be patched up by the time that other ship catches up with us."


OOC:

Spoiler

Show

It'll still be hours before the pursuing ship catches up. Therefore, until the situation in Mériault has been resolved and the Ghostlight has set sail, I don't have much else for Macra to do, unless she wants to strike up a conversation with someone else on the Cormorant.

[JNAProductions]

Sasha peeks back at Sam, and seeing his attention wavering almost entirely, moves back and swats the pistol out of his hand, before aiming to get him in a lock of some kind.

She calls up to Sevilla, saying "We could've settled this easily. You could've been polite, and we'd've hashed out something. But you bring your incompetent louts with you, can't even tie a proper knot, and yet you have the gall to demand all this? You take me captive, force your way on the vessel... Hell, lady, you do realize you're outnumbered? Your only, and I mean your only measure of safety was reliant on this idiot here keeping me in check, and look where that got you!"

"How about this-you take this lesson as payment for your loss, and then get lost."

[-Sentinel-]

Spoiler: JNAProductions

Show

I'd normally request some kind of combat test, but eeeh, the ooze test to get out of the bindings was good enough that let's say it carries over.

Ghostlight - Mériault

Sam cried out in alarm when Sasha overpowered and disarmed him. Captain Sevilla, Emil and Diego soon found themselves surrounded by the drawn swords and pistols of the entire crew of the Ghostlight. Sasha was right; they had nothing more to bargain with. Sevilla and her men slowly raised their hands in surrender.

"Get off my ship, Maria," said Captain Montgomery coldly.

"This isn't over," seethed Captain Sevilla. She pointed a finger at Keiri. "You. I won't forget your face, lass. When I catch you, I'll have you keelhauled."

The crack of Montgomery's pistol made her flinch. Luckily for her, that shot had been aimed at the sky. "I said... get - off - my - ship."

Captain Sevilla gestured at her men to follow her and stepped off the deck of the Ghostlight. In passing, she gave Sasha a murderous look that implied: 'You'll get yours, too'. Then her ire shifted to Sam. She started to berate him for his poor knot-tying skills as they disappeared in the narrow alleys of Mériault.

Montgomery tipped his tricorn hat at Sasha. "Good job. I don't know how you do it, but you always come through. Did you manage to find matches? We need to set sail while the tide's good."

[MCerberus]

Doc - the Ghostlight

Since Sasha was able to get out on her own and the tables turned, it looks like alchemical assistance won't be needed. Doc quietly puts the vials away and starts wondering about the quality of the matches. Sulfur going for way too much these days.

[JNAProductions]

Sasha shakes her head. "We'll have to do without, Captain-I doubt any of us should be wandering portside for the moment. Though you'd best address Keiri-we can't be having mistrust in the crew."

[-Sentinel-]

Ghostlight

Sasha shakes her head. "We'll have to do without, Captain-I doubt any of us should be wandering portside for the moment. Though you'd best address Keiri-we can't be having mistrust in the crew."

"Hmm. We do have some matches left, but let's hope we don't need to fire too many cannons," said Montgomery. "And yes, I intend to address Keiri."

He threw Keiri a withering glare and spoke, loud enough for all to hear so as to make an example of her: "In normal times, that'd be extra duties and twenty lashes of the cat o' nine tails, but you're already injured, so you'll be spared that. Instead, at our next three layovers, you'll stay on watch duty on the Ghostlight. No brothels, no inviting girls on board. Oh, and your rations of grog for the next month will be going to Sasha, since she was taken hostage on your account. You owe her that."

"Yes, sir," said Keiri morosely. For someone who liked both to get drunk and get laid, this was actually worse than a flogging.

"As for you, Doc," said Montgomery in a firm tone, "in the future I'd like to be informed if someone gets injured in port." He clapped his hands. "All right, scallywags, to your posts. Pull that gangplank up and cast off. Bearing east-southeast."

The Ghostlight caught a stiff breeze and turned her prow towards Brisevent.

Around late morning, the lookout in the crow's nest spotted a sail straight ahead. The Ghostlight changed her bearing to an intercept course. As the distance closed, Captain Montgomery put the spyglass to his eye and confirmed that the other vessel was one of those treasure ships fleeing the revolution—she was ungainly and ornate, unlike the lean-and-mean pirate ships that also prowled these waters.

"She's being chased," noted Montgomery, now turning his spyglass to another dark shape on the horizon. "That's good. It'll be a chance to prove ourselves to those fancypants." He raised his voice: "All crew, prepare for battle!"

---

Cormorant


It was during the noon meal in the Cormorant's luxurious dining room, which Macra attended as a serving maid, that Doctor Archambault reported Baron Valtier's passing. Lady Elena put on an excellent performance of shock and sorrow—Macra was quite sure that everyone present except herself and Archambault fell for it hook, line and sinker.

"I guess it falls to me to steer my house's destiny in its darkest hour," sighed Lady—now Baroness—Elena, her shoulders slumping as if under the weight of a terrible burden. "More than ever, we depend upon our allies for survival. We must reach Farobianco."

"Yes... about that," said one of the ship's officers gingerly, "we've spotted a second ship trying to intercept us. We fear they're pirates too, like the ones after us."

This time, Elena's worry was not feigned. "I see." She held up her cup of wine at Macra for a refill. This was the kind of news she was too sober to deal with. "Can we change our course so that they catch up with us around the same time?"

"We can't fend off both of them," protested the officer.

"I know that. But the first thing they'll do is try to take out the competition. With a bit of luck, the winner will be too crippled to keep chasing us."

"Hmm. Yes, I suppose, we could arrange a meeting between those two ships..."

"Do it." The Baroness downed the rest of her wine and stood up. "And if that fails, House Valtier will go down fighting."

[MCerberus]

Doc - The Ghostlight

Down below decks Doc is preparing for battle for his position. That is, ether, leather straps for biting on, some hand saws, and sewing equipment. Everything has to be in order for that, although the superstitious members of the crew would likely not come anywhere close to that load of bad vibes.

[Dr.Gunsforhands]

Cormorant

Macra silently refills glasses and is generally more like her usual self as far as everyone else is concerned. She'll let the sailors handle the sailor stuff, like picking a heading so their two pursuers will collide with each other. Macra needs to make... other plans.

The meal abruptly ends as all present head to their stations, and Macra casts her senses around for potential allies. On the deck, she looks for any birds in the air, or stowing away on her ship or the pirates'. When she gets an excuse to look at the water, she can see shadows underneath the waves - less with her eyes and more with a honed instinct.

The right kind of bird could help right now, to see what's gong on with the pirates before they go down. The fish could help later, when it comes time to fight.

Spoiler

Show

Animals?: (4d6)[5][3][2][3](13)

[-Sentinel-]

Ghostlight


The Ghostlight’s gunners loaded the cannons, while the boarding party—including Sasha—prepared for close quarters fighting. The pirate ship pursuing the Cormorant was smaller than the Ghostlight, with a size that suggested maybe a score of cannons, but her fore-and-aft rig made her suited to sailing close to the wind, which meant she would be more agile in battle.

“Oi, I know that ship!” exclaimed a sailor next to Sasha, one of the new hires who had signed up last night. “That’s the Mongrel. I used to serve on her.”

“Oh?” said Mr. Graves, the first mate, who led the boarding party. “Why did you leave them?”

“Wasn’t my fault. Got drunk and overslept and she left port without me. Had to find another ship.”

“Hah! Lucky you, ‘cause we’re about to sink them. You got any problem fighting your old pals?”

“Hell naw. Most of ‘em are assh0les.”

The Ghostlight and the Cormorant sailed past one another without exchanging any gunfire. The Mongrel was following not far behind the Cormorant, and soon came within cannon range.

“To starboard!” shouted Captain Montgomery.

The Ghostlight veered to bring her broadside to bear.

“Cannons, take aim at the hull!”

There was a pregnant pause as all gunners waited for the order to fire. The order never came; Captain Montgomery swayed on his feet, then collapsed with a perfectly round little hole in his chest.

“Captain’s down!” yelled someone.

Sharpshooter, thought Sasha at once. And a damn good one, too, at this distance. Or maybe just a lucky one.

The deck crew was still in a state of confusion as to what had just happened when the Mongrel brought her own guns to bear, aiming at the Ghostlight’s rigging. A dozen cannonballs punched holes through the Ghostlight’s sails, crippling her. The Mongrel then resumed her pursuit of the Cormorant.

“The sails!” shouted Mr. Graves, the first mate. “We need to replace the sails! Quickly now! And get the captain to Doc!”

Spoiler: OOC

Show

I need a sailor test from Sasha.

---

Cormorant


Nearby seabirds heeded Macra’s call, and at her request, performed flyovers of both pirate ships. Their understanding of human matters was limited, but they could still tell Macra the gist of the situation. It seemed, as Lady Elena had intended, that the pirates were focused on one another rather than the larger yet less heavily-armed Cormorant.

The pirate ship coming from ahead did not even fire her cannons at the Cormorant as she passed her by—which Macra found almost insulting. She just went straight for the pursuing ship. Macra hurried to the aftcastle of the Cormorant to see how things would play out. It was not much of a battle; the smaller of the two pirate ships swiftly crippled the bigger ship by making ruins of her sails with a single salvo of her cannons, then resumed pursuit of the Cormorant. So much for Elena’s hopes of mutual destruction of the two enemy ships.

The pursuer was upon them in mere minutes. Mongrel, said the faded letters on the side of her hull. Grappling hooks bit into the port-side railing of the Cormorant, bringing both ships hull to hull.

Commander Galraud had his cavalry sabre out. “Men, prepare to repel—”

The top of his head exploded in blood, and he collapsed. Macra looked up and spotted a sharpshooter sitting high on the topmast of the Mongrel. They were reloading their rifle for another shot.

Mere seconds later, boarders from the Mongrel leapt onto the deck of the Cormorant, and battle was joined.

Spoiler: OOC

Show

Give me a combat test, and/or an animal friend test if you intend to use seabirds.

[JNAProductions]

Spoiler: Sailor

Show

(3d6)[3][4][2](9)

Rolling before editing a post in.

Sasha shouts "Fire at will!" as she finds a good spot to stand and take charge from. "Keep them from hitting anyone or anything else!"

While she's pretty sure she can take a bullet and not die, she's sincerely hoping that the marksman was more lucky than skilled, or that the (hopeful) counterfire will stop them from taking a good mark on her. But if someone is going to be shot for taking charge, she's the best option-she'll live. Most won't.

[Dr.Gunsforhands]

On the one hand, the Cormorant now faces yet another dead guy on the team, a threat to everyone aboard, and jeopardy for Macra's mission. On the other hand, this is the reason the Royal Navy recruited her to begin with.

She snaps her fingers and points to the shooter. Treats for everyone who pecks that guy! Bonus points if he falls out of his perch! And an orange slice for whoever brings me that metal tube he's holding!

To all the world, the maid looks like she may have gone mad, holding up a handful of stale cereal and making weird bird noises. All the world except country folk and magicians, anyway. She notices a few men that were distracted by her little display. "Well? You heard the commander! Port deck, let's go!"

Macra can't afford to not come off as a weirdo at this point. As far as she's concerned, her cover lost most of its value once the Cormorant left port. She rushes to confront the boarders along with the guards.

Spoiler: Roll

Show

I have my next move in mind, but bird-based sniping is probably enough to constitute my action for the round.

Animal Friend: (4d6)[4][1][6][4](15)

[MCerberus]

Doc - Belowdecks

Without eyes on the events that are happening, Doc can only hear that the commotions starts. At that point when all the noises start but before the wounded start coming in, there's a wait, a wait where there's nothing but dread anticipation. All he can do is wait for the first soul to come in, which will be properly dealt with a new, insane theory he was reading about called 'triage'. He does not know who the first one is, however.

[-Sentinel-]

Ghostlight - Deck


With most of her sails torn to shreds, the Ghostlight had trouble maneuvering to bring her broadside to bear. She fired back at the Mongrel at an awkward angle, causing some damage and eliciting cries of pain and dismay from the opposing crew but failing to significantly slow down the smaller ship. By the time the Ghostlight's cannons were reloaded for a second salvo, the Mongrel had latched herself to the Cormorant with grappling hooks. Any attempt to fire again at the Mongrel would risk damaging the Cormorant.

"We have to take them in close quarters!" roared Mr. Graves. "Boarding party, to me! And get this ship moving again!"

Up the masts, the Ghostlight's riggers were hard at work, trying to take down and replace the torn sails as fast as they could. In his haste, one of the riggers—a youth of about sixteen, hired only last night—lost his footing and took a bad fall not far from Sasha. The young woman winced at the sickening crack as the boy's leg collapsed under him. She was sure glad not to have any bones in her body... They sounded like more trouble than they were worth.

---

Ghostlight - Sick bay


The first wounded that Doc received was Captain Montgomery himself, who sported a neat hole all the way through his right lung. There was an exit wound, meaning the musket ball was already out and would not need to be removed, but the lung was rapidly filling with blood and the captain's breathing was wheezing and laborious. Doc knew at a glance that this was almost certainly a fatal wound... at least by traditional methods of medicine.

About a minute later, he received his second wounded, a young lad with a badly broken leg. A white splinter of tibia was sticking out through the skin, just below the knee. The boy screamed and swore in pain.

---

Cormorant


At Macra's urging, a dozen seagulls and other birds flew straight to the sharpshooter sitting in the Mongrel's crow's-nest. The sharpshooter—a young woman, it turned out—frantically tried to shoo the birds away as they began assaulting her face. She tumbled from her perch, but her fall was arrested by a rope that she had tied around her ankle. She did at least drop her rifle onto the deck of the Mongrel, where it broke in at least three pieces. Now all she could do was hang upside down and try to shield her eyes from the birds trying to peck them out.

Macra did not see more of the sharpshooter's struggle, for the entire deck of the Cormorant was now a bloody battle between the Mongrel's boarders and the Cormorant's crew and soldiers, and every moment required vigilance to avoid getting shot or stabbed. Lady Elena, not one to hide belowdecks while others fought and died on her behalf, was in the middle of it all. Her rapier parried and countered at incredible speed. Her style was elegant, almost like a dance, but none too versatile; she had been trained to fight duels, not melees, and she seemed to be struggling when facing multiple opponents at a time. Right now, there were three men attacking her at once, and she was being driven back, step by step.

[JNAProductions]

Seeing the riggers at work, Sasha scoops the injured boy up. "Come on!" she tells him, "Getting you belowdecks-you'll have to make your way to Doc on your own after that, sorry."

True to her word, she dashes for the entrance to below, and sets him quickly but gently as she can manage down, before moving back out to check on the status of the sails and the Ghostlight's mobility.

[Dr.Gunsforhands]

Cormorant

The spy draws her knife and joins the fight on the deck. She tosses some more granola ahead of her into the face of one pirate as she moves to parry and/or stab another.

Spoiler

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It kind of depends on the time scale we're going for. The immediate issue of helping the aristocrat beat down the trio she's dealing with seems like the beat you're expecting next, so I'll oblige using Royal Spy:

(3d6)[6][2][6](14)

If we bowl through them, the move I'm planning is to make for the ropes and toss the mouse, either onto one of the ropes or in the face of a would-be boarder. What she manages to summon this way will depend on the result of an animal friend roll, so when we get there I'll roll it OOC before posting IC. My initial thoughts, for fun:

0 successes: "Why did that maid just throw a dead mouse at me?"
1 Success: The mouse wakes up! It momentarily distracts a target or slowly chews through a cable.
2 Successes: After a beat of confusion, Copper pounces from nowhere and causes chaos.
3 Successes: A big fish jumps up to grab the bait. Takes out an enemy, snaps the boarding line, or both.
4 Successes: Summons a whale. The enemy's win/loss condition is suddenly much more complicated.

[MCerberus]

Doc - Belowdecks

With the Captain not only being important but a stone's throw from the reaper, Doc unfortunately has to let the broken bone set for the need be. "Get em some ether!" he calls not sure if there were anyone nearby to actually help.

Now that kinda shot means that in a bit they're going to need a mage to get the captain back. Not the good kind, the creepy ones. That won't work anyway. Clean through at least which means that 'regular' old healing essence is going to work. That and something to keep from deflating. Now air essences are pretty chaotic so this is going to go bad if they take a broadside during a sensitive moment, but doc readies his tools. Healing draft for the flesh and clean air to stop the deflation.

Quantities are going to be the real problem, too little of one and the blood doesn't heal out and blood lung will take him. Too much the heart gives out. Also mentioned the previous air essence.

And assuming that works, the kid is easier if not as... pleasant. That solution is the leather strap, a mallet, bandage wrap, some cursing, and either that ether or an EXTREME amount of cursing lacking ether.

Spoiler

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Mad Alchemist to try and fix or at least save the captain
(4d6)[2][3][5][2](12)

If there's nothing stopping it, will try and save the broken leg as well with Plague Doctor
(3d6)[3][4][1](8)