11/02/2020 - The Colourful Corsairs

**TL;DR**

* Tamsin  appeared on the ship and she and Blagden  caught up
* A couple of days were spent in free time for half of the PCs, while the others helped to run the ship
* A tidal wave struck and Narko  and Kunai  were thrown into the water but were rescued, and set to work repairing the damage
* They saw a pirate ship approaching while they were stuck and were boarded by attackers
* After a fierce battle they sent the bandits running with their tails between their legs

*We resume on the ship as our adventurers begin their voyage, setting out into the open waters...*

## **Setting Sail**

With most people staring out at the horizon and pondering the adventures to come, Rocky  broke the wistful silence. "So, uh, Captain …where are we going?”. Still frowning at the map he’d been provided with before, the Captain  glanced up. “Well I don’t actually know the name of the island, but it’s roughly a week’s sailing to the North”. Khrom  immediately saw the opportunity in this. “So if it doesn’t have a name, can we name it?”. After a classic Rocky -Khrom  debate, this time featuring the difference between Vampires and ‘Lampires’ for some reason, Leoven  brought the conversation back on track with a valid concern. “What if the inhabitants already have a name for it?”. “Well then that ain’t a problem is it?”, Rocky  retorted, before ensuring that a provisional name of ‘Rocky  Island’ was on the table. As people made valid concerns about the actual Rockyness of the place, he decided to spend some time with Wilbur in the hold for a further brainstorm.

And not a moment too soon. Having set his course, the Captain  cleared his throat to gather everyone’s attention. “Now you lot, this ship isn’t going to sail itself. I’m going to need about half of you to help out with some of the work". Given the small army they were shipping, the group felt this seemed pretty fair and a group of keen-beans decided to take the first shift.

As the crew started showing the more helpful and enthusiastic members of the group how to help out, a dark figure strode out from below deck. She (so most surmised) had thick dark red curly hair and, by her deeply tanned and freckled complexion, was clearly used to the outdoors. Most eyes turned to regard the new figure, but only one pair lit up in recognition. “Tamsin !”, Blagden  exclaimed excitedly, “Fank god you’re ‘ere!”. She regarded him with exasperation, her expressive hazel eyes overwhelmingly showing relief. “Ah, thank fuck you’re on here! I’ve been chasing you around for ages”.

The two friends caught up on the past few days of activity, Blagden  revealing that he’d completely forgotten Tamsin  had a deal with the guards to get him released, and that he now had a lawyer who was really clever. This last part caused Khrom  to stand a little straighter. For her part, Tamsin  had spent ages tailing Blagden’s  island-wide shenanigans, as well as getting pleasantly lost in the library for several days. Once she got word from the Captain  regarding their departure she came aboard immediately, but was then exhausted. Blagden  then told her about Steve and, with the rigours of the days emotions still fresh in his inexperienced mind, he shed a small tear. “Get over here!”, Tamsin  exclaimed as she brought him into a comforting embrace. Their catch up complete, Tamsin  got Blagden  to introduce everyone. About halfway through he remembered that there were actually loads of them, but he persevered. Just as he finished, Gimble  sauntered over to get more involved and stood a bit too close to (somehow) everyone at the same time. “We are friends!”. People uncomfortably dispersed.

## **The Journey**

For a couple of days, life on the ship became more settled. While those who volunteered to help out could be seen occasionally scrubbing a deck or helping everyone to avoid scurvy, the rest, including Bayul , Narko , Ashtai , Kunai , Tamsin , Merric , Gimble  and Bird Person all enjoyed some time to themselves. The Captain  was the heart and soul of the ship, keeping everyone’s spirits up with top nautical banter while simultaneously downing his own spirits #wherestherumgone.

The second day was a calm one, with almost no wind and only the slightest rocking motion to remind the group that they were even at sea. Most of the group were lost in their own pursuits when the waters began to get choppier. But not Kunai  (whose main form of relaxation was actually being on guard). Narrow eyes flitting rapidly around to the waters at port, starboard, bow and stern, he soon saw the source of the disruption and his eyes widened massively as he recognised the wall of water careering towards the ship. It was all he could do to cry out “TIDAL WAVE!!” and grab the nearest solid-looking thing before it crashed into them. Heeding his cry, all except Narko  managed to grab something sturdy before the ship gave a tremendous groan as liquid force engulfed and kneaded it. Kunai  gasped in shock as the rope he assumed to be anchored in turned out to be totally loose and he was blasted from his feet, ejected from the other side of the ship alongside the flailing centaur.

As the vessel settled, Bayul  sprang to his feet, discarded his heavy wargear and dived in after the two castaways. As he leapt, he saw Narko  take a final big gulp of air before being pulled under by the weight of his armour. Thankfully, the lizard was ably treading water, more bemused than anything Kunai  . He swam over the assist as Bayul  reached down into the depths to clasp the forearm of the sinking centaur. With a  heave, they pulled him back to the surface at which point Bayul  let out a mighty trumpet aimed at those on the ship. “ROPE!”.

Scrambling to be useful, Gimble  quickly found a coil and cast one end in their direction. As soon as Narko  had hold, Gimble  began to heave and to everyone’s surprise, the centaur began to rise out of the water smoothly. It was only about halfway up that Gimble  realised the rope wasn’t in fact tied to anything and Narko  was dangling fairly uselessly, unable to climb in any way. He lurched forwards, dropping Narko  back into the briney depths with a splash, and the rope landing like an undignified snake around him. Another rope, this time anchored to the ship, was rapidly deployed. Once again, Gimble  took a firm grasp but this time was aided by Merric, who lent him magical guidance, and Maxwell who employed his extraordinary canine vigour. With a second heave, Narko’s  dripping equine form again ascended like an angelic horse, this time making it to the deck.

Tumbling over the side ungracefully, he appeared abashed as he addressed his liberator. “Master Gimble , you are a true hero today. You really are mightier than you look”. Embarrassed, Gimble  blurted out “anyone could have done it”. “Ahem, if it’s not too much trouble…”, came a voice from over the side, jogging everyone’s memory of their other two crew mates. Once everyone was safely back on board, Narko  also turned to thank Bayul . The loxodon the glanced over at Gimble  and gave a terse nod of approval, causing him to swoon. Meanwhile below deck, Wilbur was enjoying the sudden violent rocking only slightly more than his stomach, which decided very abruptly to evacuate its contents. It was the second time Rocky  had been covered in sick in 2 days, and he was not impressed.

Blustering about after his ship narrowly avoided being rent asunder, the Captain  checked that everyone was alright. “I’m not optimal, Captain ”, Kunai  responded drily. Trimaeus  explained that some cargo had been washed overboard, but even worse was the fact that the sail was down and in dire need of repair; until then, they were sitting ducks for marauders and despots looking to take advantage of the chaos. Narko  and Kunai  spent a while resting after their ordeal, while everyone else pitched in to get the ship back to working order. Merric  starting patching up the tattered sails, while Gimble  began to rebuild the giant ballistae on the deck and Ashtai helped to tie cargo down in case of more waves. Bayul  lent some of his strength to that task, while focusing intently on the horizon, on the lookout for Pirates. However, it was Tamsin , utilising the keen eyes of her raven familiar high above, who finally spotted the possible contact.

“Ship to the southeast!” she cried in warning. One eye flicking open from his rest, Kunai  sprang to his feet and made his way alongside Bayul  who was then busy mentally preparing for an assault. They discussed strategy, and Kunai  got the Captain’s  spyglass to take a closer look, while Bayul  called for Narko  to prepare himself too and got Gimble  to man a ballista as soon as he was ready. Ever keen to please, the gnome immediately cut off his rest and jumped to his position. Merric  clambered nimbly up the rigging to the bird’s nest, where a disgruntled Bird Person grumpily took flight.

As it descended upon them, Kunai  made out the flag. On first appearances it was simply the classic skull and crossbones flag that indicated nothing but trouble, but a closer look revealed a more intriguing detail. On the forehead of the skull was placed a pyramid with multicoloured light rays appearing from the peak. He recognised them as the ‘Prismatic Pirates’, a notorious and well organised crime syndicate in which each Captain had his own distinct colour.

As the ship crossed into within perhaps 600ft, preparations began in earnest. Merric  and Narko  kept a bead on the ship as it closed in, while Tamsin  readied herself with an arcane suit of armour, Kunai  slipped into the shadows and Ashtai  got into a martial stance. The ballista’s bearings groaned as Gimble  strained to heave it around, sending a calibration bolt flying into the water as soon as he had his line of sight. Narko  drew back his colossal longbow to his cheek and let it fly with a mighty ‘TWANG’, unfortunately sending a missile to thunk into the hull of the approaching ship. Unperturbed, he invoked his rune of storm giants, causing his eyes to glow with the power of those ancient creatures. As Bayul  rammed another bolt into the ballista for Gimble , Maxwell trotted over next to him and both set themselves into defensive stances.

Moving into ramming trajectory, the oncoming ship let loose a hail of ballista bolts. Most of the group saw this coming and evaded the giant missiles, but some crashed into the wood of the decks and lashed everyone with sharp splinters. In retaliation, the members of the party below decks opened fire with the battery of ballistae below. Sadly, they were not experienced as an artillery crew and the bolts made for a deeply flaccid display of force as they fell short or arced massively over the top of the enemy sails.

On deck, Narko  invoked a second rune, this one causing his skin to tighten and tense up, before unleashing a second arrow. And while Narko  fired from the deck, Merric  fired from above. Granted the foresight of the storm giants by Narko, he sniped a humanoid and was rewarded by a very distant cry of pain.

## **Pirates!**

Everyone was well braced for the collision, but the sheer force of it still took them by surprise. As the pointed hull of the swift enemy vessel ploughed into the exposed flanked Trimaeus’s  ship, it was all the group could do to keep their feet before orkish-looking marauders leapt aboard. Two immediately laid into Bayul , but with Maxwell biting at their ankles they failed to break through his defence. As their blows bounced off his shield, Bayul  saw an opening and took the opportunity to disembowel one of the assailants. Along the deck, Gimble  successfully parried the blows of two more attackers, and while one flicked his blade past Narko’s, it inflicted a mere scratch to his toughened hide. At that moment, Kunai’s  chain whirled out from the shadows and, in a blur, separated a head from the neck it should have been attached to.

Tamsin  looked with distaste at the attackers, selected one and pointed her finger at it ominously. The creatures hearing was engulfed by the deep sound of a dolorous bell, but had sufficient fortitude to shake its head free of the incantation. In the centre of the fray, one particularly unfortunate soul had leapt enthusiastically into the marauding, only to find himself completely surrounded. Gimble  saw his plight and capitalised on it, dispatching him with an elegant strike as a burning green plume manifested on his sword and darted into yet another of the creatures, which yelped at the scorching pain. Next to him, Ashtai  battered into another enemy with a flurry of blows, each one striking another part of its body until the final punch turned its neck with a sickening crack.

While Narko  engaged in a spot of to-ing and fro-ing with one of the creatures, Kunai  crept around the side. Like lightning, he struck at the unprotected back of the creature. Seeing the knife at the end of the chain appear through the face of his sparring partner, the centaur turned his attention to the last remaining enemy on board. He galloped around for a better perspective and charged once he got line of sight. The deck rumbled as his hooves thundered across it, and his glaive tore straight through the meagre armour and chest of the unfortunate pirate, emerging from the other side to create a nice pirate kebab.

Merric  was afforded a view of both decks, and seeing the successful defence of the deck below, he focused on the enemy’s movements. Seeing a second wave of better armed and armoured foes forming up for an assault, he whipped out his trusty bag of ball bearings. As they advanced, he catapulted the ball bearings directly at one. The warrior failed to see it coming and earned both a nasty bruise and feet surrounded by slippery balls for his inattentiveness. With his axe bloodied, Bayul  vaulted up onto the enemy deck to give them a piece of his mind, aiming to halt the fight right there. Sadly for him, either they were more confident than he gave them credit for or his speech was just generally poor, and they barrelled past him. He refocused and struck out at one but was surprised by the quality of the armour that deflected his blow. Two turned and forced him back with a series of downward strikes, but were again unable to penetrate his shield.

In their charge, one of the newcomers soared down with an arcing cut that wounded Maxwell deeply, but its compadres faired less well against the agility of Ashtai  and the sturdy armour of Narko. Another surprised Kunai  as he was still trying to dislodge his chain from the face of the previous aggressor, and slashed across his side, drawing blood. Gimble  the nimble once more evaded several vicious sword strikes, and yet another invader was frustrated when its blow, about to run Tamsin  through, was completely blocked by the sudden appearance of an arcane shield. In response, she gave him a wry grin and extended her finger. As previously, the harrowing resonance of a booming bell permeated his being. This time, however, the creature cried out as it gave in to the sensation and a fraction of its very soul was ripped free.

Having evaded several attacks, Ashtai saw his opening and pounded into a set of exposed ribs with his powerful punches while simultaneously sending a knife of psychic energy stabbing into his brain. The brute of an attacker mewed like a kitten as he was winded mentally and physically, and crooned further when he watched his ally run through from almost directly below by Gimble . Irritated by his wound, Kunai  gritted his teeth and smoothly danced out of reach of the raider before moving swiftly (but NOT dashing) to hide bravely behind Tamsin . He struck out with his chain once more but succeeded only in scoring a deep fissure into the deck.

Beside this new feature of the floor, Narko  decided he wasn’t quite buffed enough and invoked his giant’s might. His already-substantial volume surged to new levels of girth and he struck out powerfully with his glaive, slicing a hearty cleft in an enemy while its blows glanced off him harmlessly. Merric  peered down at this melee and fired directly at the head of this particularly outmatched chap, though the angle was poor and he went wide. Meanwhile, Maxwell took a moment to lick his wounds and seemed suddenly revitalised and back to his waggy self. Bayul  looked across the deck to Kunai  and commanded him to attack, specifically ‘WI’ CHAIN!’. The lizard did not need telling twice and the chain neatly sliced across the neck of the guy previously wounded by Narko . In the split second before the chain struck, the victim decided he had certainly had better days.

Seeing the Loxodon distracted by this, two of the warriors chopped towards him and one scored a deep gash. As the second made his move, however, Bayul  deflected the blow with his shield and took his head off with a backhand swipe of his axe. Two also ganged up on Ashtai , pinning him between them to mitigate his evasion and cutting him down savagely. Gimble  saw this and immediately dashed over to stabilise the monk with a potion of healing, though he took a nick from one of the attackers who saw him scuttle by. The final two had less success against Narko  as one was seemingly muddled by his rune’s false foresight and another clinked its blade off his splint armour.

On the flank, Tamsin  manifested a glowing orb of multicoloured violence, but was tentative in her wish to avoid allies and it flew wide. Back on his feet thanks to the quick action of Gimble , Ashtai  repaid those who struck him with a rampage of fists, bringing one slumping to his knees before crashing to the floor. For the second time, Narko watched as the enemy he was crossing swords with had Kunai’s  chain emerge with a spray of gore from its front, though he could not see Kunai  himself who had already darted away to sneakily hide behind the mast. Freed of that combat, the centaur turned menacingly to the creature next to him. The last thing it saw was his tempestuous glare as his glaive carved through it.

Aiming down from the crow’s nest like the speed limit guy on Yavin-4, Merric  was once again guided by the storm giant’s insight as he sent a projectile plunging into the shoulder of a creature. The pain distracted it long enough for Maxwell to leap up and ferociously remove it from existence with a savage bite. As the one remaining creature saw it’s comrades decimated one by one, it decided it was suddenly not so keen on plunder. Disengaging its combat with Gimble  and Ashtai , its legs carried it back onto its own ship in sheer desperation as the crew came to the same conclusion. Rowing hard back, the pirate ship disengaged and began to turn away.

However, the party was not about to let them get away so easily. Gimble  immediately jumped back onto the ballista and took aim at the mast, but was too optimistic and it skirted wide. Along the same lines, Merric  catapulted a flaming torch at their sails and though it was too weak to set the canvas ablaze he still yelled to them cheerfully. “You will always remember this is the day that you almost caught Merric  Alton Ander Lyle Brightsmith, III!”. As their final surviving assailant limped across the deck, Ashtai  fired a psychic knife and Narko pulled free his longbow to do the same, though they hit the deck with a disappointing ’thunk’ and whatever sound a psychic knife makes. Tamsin  pointed her finger at him across the water to initiate the lamentable note of his demise, but he discarded the effect in his eagerness to get to safety. Kunai  dashed below decks to get the group’s ballista crews to “fire everything!”, and Khrom  took him quite literally by loading him in the absence of any remaining ammo.

Seeing the last chance to complete their revenge, Bayul  unhooked a throwing axe from his belt. With Narko’s  foresight imbued within him to aid the throw over the growing distance, he sprinted up and sent the axe spinning in a broad arc between the vessels. It struck true with a satisfying thud, right in the back of the limping figure. However, perhaps through sheer resilience or force of will, enough life remained in the creature for it to finally reach safety below the decks.

## **The Aftermath**

In the aftermath of the battle, everyone pitched in with helping to repair damage to the hull, and Leoven  began the process of taking the swords and armour of the fallen for smithing into ballista bolts. Once the damage was repaired and wounds were dressed, the next few days settled back into the routine of the first few. That is until one day, almost out of the blue, everyone was startled by the cry "Land ahoy!”.

*We will resume as our adventurers reach the new island and begin their exploration...*