May 25th, 2006 aka 616 / 12 / 10 to 617 / 1 / 5

[David]

After limping back to the ship with Jamal, the party brought Chloe to examine the wounded ranger. Clearly, without a cure critical wounds he would never be able to walk, much less effectively fight, again. So, in order to heal him, resupply, and drop off the woman the group rescued, the heroes set sail back to Muluk by way of the westside of Hawa/Firethorn Isle. A day out, the ship encountered a fleet of fishing vessels and left the woman (on her own suggestion) with the fishermen, shaving a day off their time to Muluk

On 616 / 12 / 26, the Destiny came to port in the City of Kings. Since it was just two days until the Yule celebration, the officers decided to stay in port over the holiday. Flint and Arthur did some shopping for potions and Jamal found a magical scimitar for sale, although he wasn't able to actually purchase it until the morning of 617 / 1 / 1, forcing the Destiny to stay in port until the 2nd.

The ship set sail back for the mysterious island on the morning of 617 / 1 / 2 and had clear weather, decent wind, and no troubles...until just before midnight on 617 / 1 / 5 when a group of sahuaghin boarded and attacked!

The battle was fierce and, at first, very one sided. Only one of the four crewmen on deck survived the initial assault. Asha and Flint used their stinking clouds and [/i]magic missiles[/i] to devastating effect and managed to avoid direct melee. Sabuto, meanwhile, waded through the sea-devil invaders, slaughtering several at a time. One did shatter Orn's knee, but with his potion of extra-healing and some time, he'll be fine. Another broke both Su's right hip and leg. He would have probably drowned when pulled overboard, but changed shape, so that he could somewhat function, and was able to reach the Destiny.

In the end, 23 sahuaghin lay dead with only one known to have escaped... The ship lost four crew (bodies and all, since, like Su, they were pulled overboard), but managed to save three other wounded men.

[adam]

Cost for 1 month food and wages is 500gp

400 of that is food

So if we pay 1000gp we are covered for salaries and food for 2 months.

Note that some of the crew is now dead and we would not have to pay thier salaries, but we would be replacing them with a couple of similiar positions.

Does anyone think we should consider some extra marines to help guard the ship?

David - What are the typical defensive set ups on ships in the area? Are we missing something? (boarding nets, lookouts, etc).


Adam

[David]

Howdy Adam,

The only obvious problem is that you are sailing through waters heavily trafficked by pirates but do not have a very large force of men-at-arms/mariners or a particularly battle-ready vessel. The sahuaghin were an atypical encounter, although you did get off quite light (about half the time sahuaghin board a ship, there are no survivors at all). Now, all that said, you do have a PARTICULARLY powerful crew (even if their numbers are small) -- as I understand, casualties of a half dozen were fairly normal in naval battles. And do recall that with one fireball Flint completed avoided one pirate encounter earlier (it's worth noting that after a DIRECT HIT fireball most crews WILL attack, because a) that usually all a mage has and b) the attackers have already suffered such a huge loss, there's not much point in not getting SOMETHING out of the attack -- so, yes, Steven, you did the right thing).

Does that make sense?

[adam]

Hi,

Ok. That all makes sense to me. The question was more what can we do to make the ship be(appear to be) more battle ready, and thus one that is not screaming 'target'.

We are seeing encounters every 3-6 days which if we were a typical merchant vessel would mean we would be out off business so there must be something different about us. Unless it is just the flashing PC's over the ship.

So some things I can think of with some questions attached.

1) I think we should hire a slightly larger crew with sailing experience. We have a high power crew, but the low level guys are the ones with the ability to sail the ship. Thus they die and we are left with out the ability to go anyplace.

2) Arm/Defend ship. So far all of the attacks we have had have been aboard before we could do anything so I am not sure what to do here.

3) Establish (pay for) reputation as 'not worth the effort' Perhaps by flying an additional banner for identification, etc. 6(?) high level characters (lvl 6+) have to be considered a fair amount of power in one place. This helps with the pirates, but not the 'beasts'

4) Consider adding a couple of marines to do watch type duties in addition to repelling boarders.

5) talk strategy for some kinds of attacks. For example if Orn had thought about it he could have cast Efficacious Monster Ward in the hall way before Dim Dooring up. This would have protected (as I understand it) all of the crew down stairs for the length of the spell (assuming they are 2- HD) NOTE: I would prefer that these talk happen during not our game time but such is life.

Adam

[sgeorge1701]

david said:

(it's worth noting that after a DIRECT HIT fireball most crews WILL attack, because a) that usually all a mage has and b) the attackers have already suffered such a huge loss, there's not much point in not getting SOMETHING out of the attack -- so, yes, Steven, you did the right thing).

By "wasting" a Fireball - It was a show of Strength. Not only was it a warning, BUT The Mage on board could "Afford" to waste a Fireball - that in itself will make people think twice. (Their mage can afford to be nice - AHHHH!)

S

[sgeorge1701]

adam said:

Does anyone think we should consider some extra marines to help guard the ship?

David - What are the typical defensive set ups on ships in the area? Are we missing something? (boarding nets, lookouts, etc).


Adam

I'd like to equip the crow's nest with telescopes and spells to increase the watch's ability to detect trouble earlier.

Also, I do have "stone hull" but I believe that affects the speed of the ship - although we haven't "needed" that spell it is in reserve.

Maybe we should seal the deck with an armoured roof...

Also, I'd like to implement a "wake up" call or "bells" below decks, just in case more people are needed on deck.

Maybe a booming MAGIC MOUTH that was activiated by intruders...

Or some kind of "sub-surface" wizard's eyes on the keel of the ship - looking for submerged danger.

S

[David]

Hiya Adam and Steve,

Here are some things (IMNSHO) to think about...

Adam, your point #3 is well founded. Consider then, this: most captains who sail these waters both known them and are known in them. As a result, they avoid the obvious perils and pitfalls (which Py!ota CAN do to a limited degree) and are known to the local corsairs (and thus are not preyed upon...usually...for a fee, perhaps). Sure, maybe one or two "local" ships per year get fleeced, but the rest enjoy "professional courtesy" (or maybe you can call it "home court advantage").

Unfortunately, until and unless the party becomes part of the local "in" crowd, this type of encounter will have to be repelled through force (or threat or payment). And I'm not even sure we WANT or ethically would be comfortable being part of the "corsair establishment"...

Now, that said, tossing a fireball over a ship's port bow is a good way to deter an attack. Following that up with another aimed at the mast and rigging should end the assault of any single ship without a POTENT mage. Sure, multiple-ship pirates are still an issue, but you're a single, small ship.

Most of these pirates prefer the cargo fleets of the Free Cities -- laden with the specific goods from each port in the chain. These ships are protected by warships from Quadra (their "goods" are well-trained, battle-hardened slave-warriors, the mamluks), which are the (abolishionist-minded) corsairs' favorite foes. If you run afoul of such a pirate fleet, you are screwed, but at the same time, a couple of fireballs will tell them "only mess with us if you feel like doing a major re-org aboard the lead ship or two".

So that should cover human threats.

As for sea-monsters, they are part of the package. Most ships sailing these waters are a little larger with a higher concentration of marines. That said, you did fine against the koalinth (sea-hobgoblins) and only had trouble with the sahuaghin because you were caught with your pants down (many of your and Steven's suggestions should help with this -- such as securing the hatches and leaving a marine with a signal and missile weapons in the 'nest). In addition, sahuaghin are only a real threat at night. You may encounter scrag, kopoacinth, merrow, ixitxichitl, locathah, mermen, weresharks, seawolves, dragon turtles, giant squid and/or octopi, etc, but none of these are likely to be very coordinated. Both reef and storm giants are usually friendly and a zaratan will only respond if you hurt it. Honestly, most encounters you had you didn't even realize...(they average once every 3-5 days)...

I guess what I'm trying to say is what you've dealt with is the 85% mark for what's out there. Sure, you MIGHT meet a sea dragon, morkoth or aboleth (at night, in deep water!), but otherwise, pirates are your biggest concern and they're not likely to screw with you if you LOOK like you can put up a decent (bloody) fight.

Does that help?

[Stephanous]

Hi All,

I think securing the hatches so monsters can't get below decks is a good idea. Also, we might want to keep 3 or 4 extra men on hand for when shit like this happens.
Keeping a heavy crossbow or two in the crows nest is also a great idea. I wonder if we could put some sort of spears along the side of the ship near entry points so if we get boarded by Sahuagin or another creature that can jump right up into the boat they might land on a spear or two.

Paul

[David]

Unfortunately, the ship needs to remain functional. While latches on the port-holes are a minor annoyance, they should seriously slow down a sahuaghin the first time they encounter 'em (which should be all the time you need to sound 'general quarters' and get ready!). The spears would hamper ship's functions. Now, perhaps a set of magic mouths set to go off if a sahuaghin gets within 30' of the hull might work better...