October 19, 2008

Ahoy Matey!

We got together for another night of online HackMaster. The group is a bit on the short side with only three players. We also have two PPCs, a couple of proteges, but one is supossed to be a torchbearer and the other is a pretty much a pacificst DS Diviner.

The group holed up in the ship for a couple days. We put her out to anchor out in the bay while we went over all of the paperwork we found in the slaver's bar. It seemed like we might get some better info if we went to the next city south along the bay so we set off.


Earnest, Klemwinkle's DS Diviner protege has the Scholar package and some skill in engineering. He'd been spending his free time repairing a ballista we talked the one town guard out of. It was busted some and we did use a fair amount of magic putting out the fire that would have burned down the garrison headquarters....so they owed us. Earnie got it repaired and just in time.

The ship got attacked by two large octopus-like creatures. Klemwinkle had been in the crow's nest on lookout when the attack occured. Kylie and Earnest started manning the ballista while Dagon and Viggo went to work on one octopus. Unfortunately Klem didn't have his crossbow with him so he had to get down to engage in combat. His best idea was to loop some rope around the mast and use it as a makeshift belt to slide down. (OOC: Like a lumberjack's climbing belt). That didn't work out so well and he fell/slid down quite a bit taking less damage than he should have.

The octopus on the starboard side of the ship has two crewman in it's grip and bites one in half. The port side octopus has one crewman in it's grip. Klem manages to called-shot crit the port octopus , severing the tentacle that had the crewman grappled. Everybody whittles down the octupi until they flee. Viggo and Dagon barely manage to keep a sailor from going overboard with their baddy. In the end we lose just one crewman.

Figuring there were some lessons learned, Klem gets his light crossbow up in the crow's nest and affixes a block and tackle up there. With a rope secure to his body he should be able to use the block and tackle to rappel himself down the mast in a hurry if he needs to. Night falls and the routine goes back to normal.

Klem notices a ship gaining on ours in the dark. He calls the Captain over who determines that it's a pirate ship and we have maybe an hour until they can board us. War preparations are made. Klem blackens up and gears up completely, preparing to snipe from the crow's nest. The crew moves the ballista to the stern and Earnest gets his 12 guage and the ballista loaded. Dagon and Viggo take up positions next to the captain and Kylie helps out Earnest.

It becomes apparent that there are a lot of pirates being led by a mage and their captain. Kylie lobs spells and Earnest pretty much misses everything he aims at. Dagon and Viggo help our Captain engage the Pirate Captain and several Sailors. The Pirate Mage is protected from normal missiles. Dagon does manage to damage him with some magical stones. The Mage then flies over to our ship, draws a burning sword, and begins setting the rigging and sails on fire. As he nears the crow's nest Klemwinkle decides to take action.

Klem, already tied off, takes the free end of his rope and secures it. Trying to move stealthy, he leaps from the crow's nest onto the mage. Unfortunately Klem is a trap specialist and not particularily sneaky. Instead of a backstab the best he can do is make a couple slashing attacks as he falls by the mage. One connects fairly well. Klem takes a small amount of damage as he slams onto the mast about halfway down. Before Klem can act the Mage severs his rope and Klem takes some serious falling damage. He calls out to Earnest and Dagon passes it along, "Target the Mage with the Ballista!". Dagon gets off a Hold Person spell on the Mage and then Earnest finally connects with the ballista! The Mage pretty much gets propelled into the ocean, where he was most likely eaten by sharks (several show up to feast on the pirates that didn't manage to make the ship-to-ship transition).

Our Captain goes down and Klem is almost taken out by several pirates. Dagon boards the other ship and manages to subdue the remaining 4 pirates that stayed behind to man the siege weapons and slaves.

Dagon comes back to our ship and hands out the traditional post-combat heals and cures. We've won the battle, but at a terrible cost. We have two ships, only one is servicible, a couple of sailors, a good 4 or 5 captives, and an untold number of slaves. Hopefully we can get the slaves to help man the ship and row themselves to freedom. We need to get to a friendly port, but that is likely to be a week or so travel away.

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