A Rather Odd Shovel [Judge: Bront]

Trouvere · May 3, 2008

"And guide his legs in the name of not falling overboard," concludes Keldar, coming topside. "Tarag's, too."

He peers forward into the night. "It's too dark for me to see them. So unless they have their own night-eyed crew, they can only see our lights. That gives us some options. We could douse them, hope to sneak past at a distance, with Fimble beside the wheel as guide. But perhaps we'd do better to keep a steady course as though unsuspecting and give them a warm welcome. We're forewarned and better prepared than the next ship might be."

Rae ArdGaoth · May 4, 2008

By the time Galwynn gets his armor on and is up on the deck, a few minutes have passed. The pirate ship is still out of sight for everybody except Fimble. "I think we can surprise them, too. I can see the pirates. They're taller, like you all." He points at those on deck, besides Tarag. "And they definitely have their weapons out. Swords, of some sort." He lifts his glasses and squints. Riki, his weasel, perches on his head and does the same.

The first mate looks nervously at the adventurers. "I should be waking the captain now. He know what we must do." He locks the ship's wheel in place with a wooden latch and dashes down the stairs.

"We have time to plan something. They'll come at us from the right. Er, port? Starboard? Whatever, the right side. I don't know if they'll ram us, but they certainly won't move in front let us ram them."

covaithe · May 4, 2008

[sblock=ooc]I'm back, but piled under a small mountain of correspondence. Apologies if I've missed important details. A question: where do we stand as far as prepared spells go? Does Tommy have a full complement? Also, Tommy's current list of prepared spells was intended for peaceful downtime (and interrogation of an architect), not combat. I would probably have switched it up when we started taking watches, though if I were to switch it now, the temptation to metagame and load up on ranged combat spells would be strong. A grease spell right now would be a lot of fun, and web almost as much fun.

Detect thoughts seems a little out of place.

Even with his current lineup, I can think of a few nasty things Tommy can do from a distance. Mage hand, unseen servant, and prestidigitation could be good for interfering with the boat's workings. I'm thinking of something like unstepping the rudder or dropping the anchor overboard, which might allow us to get by without a fight. If we wanted to do that.

And then there's always scorching ray. Can it be used to set things on fire? Like, say, boats? Tommy also has a few charges of magic missile left, and plenty of crossbow bolts.
[/sblock]

Tommy squints into the gloom. "All swordsmen? No archers? What kind of ship is it?" he asks in a whisper.

Trouvere · May 4, 2008

"A plan, eh? It's a pity no one lets me make them anymore," grumbles Keldar.

"I wonder. If they see no need for archery, then they think they can head off or win any chase quickly. Since they've not all been killed already, they're probably right. Or they're new at this." Keldar retrieves his longbow from magical storage and takes a moment to string it. He looks at it fondly.

Rae ArdGaoth · May 5, 2008

Fimble's squint seems to be doing little good. "They're moving around, I can't get a count. I don't see any with bows..."

[sblock=OOC: ]Covaithe, if you trust yourself, I trust you to prepare your spells for a generic potentially dangerous watch. Or, you can look at your prepared spells for the tower excursions in Notes on the Aether. Or, you could be a daredevil and go with your "architect-guild-raid" spells. I leave it up to you.[/sblock]

Wik · May 5, 2008

Galwynn looks at the weasel nervously. Standing near the rails, Galwynn squints out in the darkness. Feeling sick, he hopes that no one notices the sweat oozing even from his knuckles.

"We can't swing first, thief. And you're right. They're faster. We have to announce our presence, and let them make the first move. And they've noticed us, I'm sure. We weren't trying to hide. They were."

He isn't happy when he whispers this. He gulps nervously.

"Gnome. Get everyone below decks that can't handle themselves in a fight. Something tells me blood will be spilled tonight."

OOC: Starboard is right. Port is left. An easy way to remember is that port and left both have four letters.

Trouvere · May 5, 2008

"I wasn't going to swing at all," says Keldar, drawing back his bow experimentally. "Paladins!" he snorts. "I see you're the only one of us without even a crossbow, Galwynn. All right, we'll let them make their hostile intentions clear. They might just be night fishermen. With swords. But I'm not waiting for their boarding party to pay us a visit. The moment they head for us, I'm loosing an arrow at the man at the wheel."

covaithe · May 5, 2008

Tommy Worthallingham, Wizard 3, AC 16, HP 13

"You'll have to be able to see him, first," says Tommy. "Fimble, can you help us with that? Maybe a light spell on their mast or something? Then Galwynn can challenge them all to mud wrestling or whatever, and allow them to make their intentions clear while there's still time for us to do something about it before they board us. And I think it would be prudent for the rest of us to take appropriate defensive precautions at this point." Suiting action to words, Tommy casts mage armor and readies his crossbow.

[sblock=spells prepared]
Spells per day 4/3/2, save DC: 14 + spell lvl
0: Mage Hand, Detect Magic, Prestidigitation, Ray of Frost
1: ~~Mage Armor~~, Unseen Servant, Grease
2: Scorching Ray, Prot. from Arrows
[/sblock]

Trouvere · May 5, 2008

"If Tarag or Galwynn go overboard in the scuffle, they'll sink like a bag of rocks before we can throw a rope, which'd only float out of reach. I want something to hand that'll sink after them - like another bag of rocks. And you wondered why I brought them! Let's tie a length of rope to the bag. If one of you spellcasters is around to put a light on it if we need it, that'd be nice too. If you fall overboard, don't panic. Just walk around on the lakebed holding your breath looking for a glowing bag of rocks. Grab the rope and we'll haul you back up! Anyway, I'm sure we won't need to mount a rescue, and I'm sure the lake isn't deeper than the rope is long." Keldar looks doubtful. "It'll never work," he mouths to Rapture.