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[Iituem]

GALAN USES LIGHT AND TRIES TO MAKE IT PURPLE!

You do so.  The light you conjure is a sort of diffuse purple glow emanating from the end of your baton, but you easily transfer it onto the end of a lit torch.  The effect is as expected; the flames appear purple - or at least more purple than orange.

With the false beacon in place, you see a pair of giant flags brought out onto the deck of the Retribution.  You are confused by the manner in which the sailor is waving them at first, and then remember the trick of reading from your original seafaring days, decades ago.

Caerill, from your time spent at sea, you also recognise the semaphore.  The Retribution signals D.I.S.T.R.E.S.S.N.A.T.U.R.E.  After a short pause, a pair of matching flags are brought out by quartermaster Greene, who signals S.O.S.P.I.R.A.T.E.S.S.H.I.P.D.A.M.A.G.E.D.  The Retribution returns the signal "Y", then alters course on an approach.

You have your various orders, all but Galan, who seems to have either been forgotten or given free rein.  Your spells don't have enough range, and standing orders are to engage with ballistae as soon as the ship comes within 1000ft (ballista range).  You could man one of the ballistae if you wished, or prepare some other defence for the battle due to commence.

[Tawa]

Prepare to cast Magic Missile. For now, stand at the ready.

[highmax28]

Varg mans a ballista. Hopefully his aim stays true as before

[Fniff]

As does Caerill. Let's leave navigating to people who actually navigate.

[Iituem]

[Going to wait for Mila before resolving turn.]

[USEC_OFFICER]

((I... yes? Am I even with everyone else?))

[Iituem]

((I... yes? Am I even with everyone else?))

Apologies.  You seemed to be busy, so I semi-railroaded you onto the pirate ship with the rest of the crew - at that point you were the only character not actively surrendering, so unless you wanted to retcon in a one-man stand I thought I ought to move the story on.  But yes, I'm assuming you have been with them on the ship this whole time.  Again, apologies for liberties taken.  >.<

[USEC_OFFICER]

((It's fine. Honestly I was just kinda in shock that we folded so quickly, you know? So... Go with whatever everyone else is doing I guess?))

[Iituem]

[Sorry, thought I posted this this morning.  Must've bounced.]

((It's fine. Honestly I was just kinda in shock that we folded so quickly, you know? So... Go with whatever everyone else is doing I guess?))

[Thanks.  Sorry, with the rest of the party surrendering the NPC crew decided to surrender as well.  I promise no more railroading, though.  Nobody specified their target, however, so I will determine randomly.]

Galan takes a position that grants him some cover behind the mast, readying his spell in the event the ships come into range.  Caerill, Varg and Mila each man ballistae, with seaman Cragg manning the fourth.  Caerill, Mila and Cragg pick the Retribution's guns as target, while Varg sticks with his plan to take out their sails.

For the first bank of shots (Caerill and Varg), the Galamite vessel heads directly towards the Hope to render assistance, and the Hope faces the Retribution on its side to facilitate this.  [12-1-8, 16+2-8]  Caerill's bolt overshoots, but instead of hitting the targetted gun it flies past it and strikes down the uniformed gunner on the next ballista behind, doing minor damage to the woodwork.  Varg's firebolt sails true, however, striking the mast dead on.  The flaming bolt actually cracks the foremast in twain about a third of the way up, causing it to topple [50%] although the sails themselves do not immediately catch fire.  The mast falls forward, its sails covering up the front quarter of the ship and [50% x2] knocking the front two plainclothed gunners overboard in the process.  Annoyingly, it covers the main cargo hatch in the process, but you can spot a secondary one further up the ship.

"Full sails!" shouts the captain.  "Give her everything she's got!"  The crew leap into action, drawing out the ship's sails for speed.  (17+5) The crew's fine-honed skills come into play, and the ship juts forward under the hand of the winds.  The crew of the Retribution panic under the collapse of the main mast and go into disarray.  Their first bank of guns fire [20!+1-8, 16+5-8], the first shot utterly obliterating the Hope's mast and the second [50%] misses Galan by inches as it flies through the space where the mast was, sticking into the deck without causing further damage to the ship.  The mast falls down, narrowly missing Mila, Michael and the Captain and covering the aft half of the ship with canvas sail.  The Hope sails on for a little longer under momentum, allowing the Navigator to try and push her round for a second barrage of shots [16+7+1-8 vs 2].  At the same time, there is a heavy creaking and a cracking sound belowdecks - the damage from the previous battle has re-opened!  Even so, Mila and Cragg fire off their shots at the other side of the Retribution, [14+1-8, 9+1-8] Cragg's shot falling short of the ship and Mila's missing the gunners and driving through the deck and likely out the bottom of the ship.  [15+1-8-8, 6+5-8-8, 2+5-8-8] All three of the Retribution's shots go wide.

The Hope is dead in the water.  The Retribution is maintaining distance, circling around to permit the two guns on its port side to fire.  They have only their secondary mast, but you have no mast at all and can only fire two of your guns.  What do you do?

[Tawa]

Well crap.

Magic Missile one of the enemy ballistae!

[highmax28]

AEGIR DAMN YOU GALAN! Take out their gunners! We can't last if they keep giving us all they got!

Reload. If its already reloaded, fire again, taking out their gunners!

If we make it out of this, I'm going to have a VERY long talk with Galan... Varg mutters under his breath

[Tawa]

AEGIR DAMN YOU GALAN! Take out their gunners! We can't last if they keep giving us all they got!

Reload. If its already reloaded, fire again, taking out their gunners!

If we make it out of this, I'm going to have a VERY long talk with Galan... Varg mutters under his breath

((... I did next to nothing right there.))

[Tawa]

Galan drums his fingers on whatever is available, as this tense moment seems to have taken days.

[Fniff]

Caerill grabs a firebolt and tries to aim it at the secondary mast.

[Iituem]

Galan drums his fingers on whatever is available, as this tense moment seems to have taken days.

[Hey, I've been without an internet connection.  It happens.    Also, wasn't sure if anyone else was going to make an action, but I realise there's limits on what to do here.]

Well crap.

Magic Missile one of the enemy ballistae!

[Spellcraft: 16+7 vs ad-hoc DC 20]  The range of the magic missile is well beneath the thousand feet you need it to reach, but while you didn't learn to expand your powers during your youth at the wizarding academy, you learned a thing or two about manipulating them.

- "Young Galan, pay attention!  Now, magic is not distributed equally.  There are channels of power in the world, the very channels we tap into for the magical strength we use to power our spells.  They run almost invisibly across the world, but with years of training one can sense them and tap them.  If the circumstances are right, we can even cast a spell through one, but it is difficult indeed- I said pay attention!  Are you drawing girls in your textbook?  That's it, deten-"

You shake yourself out of your reverie and taste the background magic in the air about you.  As luck would have it, there is a faint natural ley line running roughly between the two ships.  You gather your inner magic and pour it into the form of the magic missile, then shunt that form straight into the ley line - you cast it in such a way that the missile is flung in an arc away from the enemy ship and then straight back towards it.  You hit one of the ordinary seamen manning the guns, and the blast of wind clocks him across the jaw, knocking him out cold.

AEGIR DAMN YOU GALAN! Take out their gunners! We can't last if they keep giving us all they got!

Reload. If its already reloaded, fire again, taking out their gunners!

If we make it out of this, I'm going to have a VERY long talk with Galan... Varg mutters under his breath

You're on the wrong side of the ship to fire, so you hustle across decks and displace the sailor manning the gun.  [Artillery: 18+2-8-1] You reload the ballista and fire, picking out one of the leather-armoured soldiers in their distinctive pink livery.  Their captain is manning the helm, but despite his clear advantage he is having trouble manoeuvering with only the secondary sail to work with.  You compensate for his struggles and your bolt crashes through not only the soldier but his gun as well, tearing the mechanism apart.  The soldier collapses to the ground.

Caerill, you take a shot at the enemy mast, [14-1-1-8] and while the bolt misses the mast [50%] it strikes the sails as it passes through them, setting them on fire.  They're still functional, but they won't be for long.

The remaining starboard enemy gunner returns fire [19+5-8] and the bolt sails through the air, stabbing Quartermaster Greene right in the gut.  To your amazement, the Quartermaster only sags a little, dragging himself back up and taking cover behind the wheel - it seems his impressive bulk is almost an armour in and of itself.  The Retribution turns around as you reload your guns, and the two port-side gunners take their shots.  [18+1-8] A bolt narrowly misses Greene again, but passes through the deck, doing some damage to the hull.  [5+5-8] The second misses the ship entirely.

The Retribution draws in close to the Hope, clearly intending to board with their remaining men.  With their burning remaining sail they have little choice, but they will close by the time you have your guns reloaded again, so if you have any preparations to make first, make them.  Otherwise, make your plans of attack.