FLUFF: Jammers: Turn 8 Chapter 8

The Adventures of my Jammers PBEM game.

I hope folks are enjoying these, if there is a 
consensus that they suck I will be happy to stop 
posting them. Let me know what you folks think. 
(My players should feel free to comment as well:))

Website: http://lost.spelljammer.org/Jammers/

----------- = Meanwhile, elsewhere...
*********** = Later...
{} = Actions and descriptions within these 
brackets take place within the psionic mindscape 
and are OOC knowledge for all accept the parties 
directly involved.

Quaff while thou canst; another race,
When thou and thine like me are sped,
May rescue thee from earth's embrace,
And rhyme and revel with the dead.

'Lines Inscribed Upon a Cup Formed From a Skull'
5th stanza, Lord Byron

IC:

Back on the NIGHTWIND:

As Kain cuts through the last rope, a pistol shot 
rings out from ISTUS' MAIDEN...

Kain ducks down his eyes searching the tangle of 
sliced boarding lines.  Seeing nothing he heads 
cautiously back to the edge and shouts up, "The 
lines are cut. Should I come back up?"

Holland runs over to the lines that the COSS 
strung to the MAIDEN and begins to untie them, 
"Yeah, get back up here."  As Holland works, the 
lines flop down to hang from the galleon's 
railing.

Kain checks the safety rope about his waist, and 
quickly secures his sword. "Ok Sekeht, pull me 
back up!" he shouts before jumping through the 
gravity plane and scrambling back up the side of 
the ship.

Lellyn calls out to Holland "Perhaps it would be 
better if we also gained some altitude. It would 
be far easier to render aid to those on the 
Maiden's decks if we had a clear line of sight. 
Being below her allows anyone on that ship to 
cast weapons or spells at our decks, while 
preventing us from doing the same."

"It's easier on Oquid if both ships keep to the 
same gravity plane," Sekeht says. "That way they 
stay together as we move through space. 
Otherwise, Oquid'll have to keep making 
adjustments to keep us alongside the derelict."

"If we were just voyaging together, I would agree 
with you that it would be better to 'share' the 
gravity plane. Now however we have friends aboard 
a ship that may still be hostile to us. Adjusting 
our position from time to time would be worth the 
inconvenience, to ensure the safety of our 
comrades.  Once we are certain that the Maiden 
contains no further surprises then we can return 
to the same plane as we make our way to Bral." 
Lellyn explains with a nod to Sekeht.

With Kain now back aboard, Holland goes to the 
voice tube and says, "Oquid, we shouldn't be 
moored any longer, pull us back about 25 yards 
from the MAIDEN, and raise us up a little so we 
can look down on her deck."

"Anyone manning the sails?" Oquid asks, a bit 
saucily. "I can't just shift that way, sir."

Holland says, "You're right. We'll push off from 
the MAIDEN, and then you raise us up a bit after 
we've achieved some distance."

Holland then says, "Dhebun, Kain, Sekeht, Lellyn, 
help me with pushing the ships apart. We can use 
the poles we got for exploration."

Kain hurriedly unties his safety line and heads 
over to help. "Ay Captain, ready now." he shouts, 
"Those boarders drove big spikes into the 
underside and used ropes to shimmy across. I have 
cut them all now."

Holland nods, "That would explain how they made it over to our opposite side."

Dhebun stomps over to man the poles.   Bracing 
his boots on the deck he pushes on the poles to 
help reposition the NIGHTWIND.  Quietly he 
mutters, "I hope, by Mahl's bristling beard, that 
wretched hulk is worth all this trouble."

Holland gets five of the 10' poles and 
distributes them out. Using the poles the four of 
them push the NIGHTWIND away from the MAIDEN, 
putting about 20 yards between ships.

-----------

On the galleon...


Meanwhile, below decks...

They all hear a pistol shot go off on one of the decks above and aft.

Talus lifts his head up as he hears the shot, "I 
guess the ship has a little fight left in her 
after all!"  Drawing his dagger with his other 
hand Talus says, "I'm going to go check it out." 
Lifting off the deck Talus shoots down aft and up 
the stairs.

"Indeed. Let us see what causes such a 
commotion." Ferric replies following after Talus 
at an agile run.

Allagan says to Ferric, as Talus zooms off, 
"Shots mean something with vague intelligence, 
not like simple zombies.  We'd best go help."

Allagan shuts the door to the armory behind him 
and runs to the aft and up the stairs to find the 
source of the shots.

On the main deck...

Ives and Grigree are standing on the main deck of 
the galleon.  They've thrown all the wight 
corpses over board, and gathered 20 rusty 
cutlasses and 3 old Wheelock pistols. (near main 
deck, #9).

Then, they hear the sound of the pistol shot come from the stern castle.

They ignore Holland as he unties the ropes and 
instead stare aft, towards the gunshot.

Suddenly Talus swoops up the stairs and out the 
door from below, Ives and Grigree both start as 
he than swoops into the stern castle.

A few moments later, Allagan and Ferric pound up the stairs after Talus.

In the stern castle...

Nilaroo, Raken, and Freneth continue to battle the skeleton...

Round 4:

Nilaroo continues to grapple with the ogre 
skeleton, keeping the creature in a fixed, 
exposed position with its arms locked in his 
massive paws.  His muscles strain and pop as he 
pits his immense strength against the cold power 
of the undead beast.

Raken says "Keep at it, mateys! We got 'em now!" 
Raken continues his assault on the ogre skeleton, 
hacking the skeleton's unprotected back with his 
scimitar.

Freneth continues to hack at the giant skeleton, 
concentrating his attacks at one particular shin 
bone.

Round 5:

Nilaroo continues to hold the bag of bones in 
place, the two giant forms seemingly frozen in 
place.

Raken again attacks the skeleton's unprotected 
back, opening a large crack in it's backbone but 
not yet snapping it.

Freneth switches grips, and swings at the other 
side of the same bone.  There is a loud SNAP and 
his ax shatters the bone.

Talus, still flying, investigates the sound of 
the shot, entering the stern castle and looking 
in open doors.  Once he sees the guys fighting 
the big skeleton he pauses, "You any good against 
skeletons?" he asks the Cutlass.

"Aye, laddy! AVAST YE SKULL!  HAVE AT YE!" Cutlass answers enthusiastically.

Round 6:

Taking advantage of the shift as the skeleton's 
leg shatters, Nilaroo gets a firm grasp on its 
arms, pinning them betwixt his massive limbs.

Raken's scimitar slams again into the undead nightmare's unprotected back.

Freneth's swings at the other shin of the undead 
ogre, cracking the bone but not shattering it.

Talus steps up into the only open spot and swings 
Cutlass into the beast's back alongside Raken.

The accumulated damage finally has the desired 
effect, as the skeleton literally falls apart 
into a pile of insensate bones in Nilaroo's arms.

Allagan and Ferric rush into the room, just as success is achieved.

Raken takes a rag and wipes bone dust off his 
scimitar. "Thanks for the backup; although I fear 
we might have caused ye unnecessary worry. Just a 
skeleton, if a big one. Did ye find anything 
interesting?"

Talus says, "A bunch of zombies, we made short 
work of them.  We heard the shot and thought it 
might be good to check it out.  We found a room 
with a lot of wheel-locks and bullets, over a 
hundred wheel-locks.  We still have three rooms 
to check on the cargo deck.  We haven't been down 
to steerage yet."

Seeing the threat abated, Allagan steps back 
outside the room and watches the hallway.

Raken contemplates, "A hundred wheel-locks? 
Interesting... very interesting.  I think we 
found the powder that goes to those wheel-locks, 
along with a mold-infested kitchen, and a 
magic-locked door. Once we finish with this room, 
I can try my hand at dispelling the enchantment 
and gain access to the helm room."

Talus begins checking out the room, looking for 
any valuables or hidden panels.  But the room 
appears to be bare.

Raken helps where he can but largely allows the 
far more experienced Talus to work the room.

Talus replies as he works, "We might want to 
clear the rest of the ship before we deal with 
the magic-locked door. With all of us together, 
this should go pretty quickly, that is, if we 
don't run across any more undead."

Freneth listens quietly to the conversation in 
the room, as he sorts through the ogres skeleton 
bones. Eventually, he picks up a splinter of 
bone, and slides it into his pouch carefully. 
Afterward, Freneth turns his attention to Talus's 
work.

Nilaroo watches Freneth wryly, as the grom picks 
up the ogre's entire skull by the two eye holes 
and the nose hole.  A couple of quick shakes 
dislodge the rest of the cervical vertebrae, and 
Nilaroo carries the trophy out to the deck.

Raken chuckles. "Ye certainly earned that trophy!"

Ferric nods and says, "If you gentlemen do not 
mind I would like to transfer the booty we've 
found so far back to our ship. The firearms and 
powder are worth a small fortune and I would be 
loathe to lose them should we run across any 
traps or foes that may ignite, explode, or 
otherwise ruin what has been a good, if vigorous, 
day."

Talus says, "Sounds fine to me. We'd best hurry though, just to be safe."

Raken nods. "Very well. Let us move the barrels 
first, then start transferring the wheel-locks. 
Ives should be tickled pink, that is certain!"

Ferric shoulders a load and makes his way to the 
deck. "Holland we have five score Wheel-lock's 
and their powder to bring across. Mind bringing 
her in close and giving us a hand as we haul it 
up to the deck?"

Holland yells back, "Sure, just a second," and 
then says down the voice tube, "Oquid, bring us 
down almost level with the MAIDEN, we are going 
to get close again."

After working to pole the ships apart and helping 
man the sails to raise the NIGHTWIND up, Kain 
hurls a rope back across to the MAIDEN so that 
the two ships can be hauled alongside one another 
again, a look of resignation on his face.

Once the ship is lowered, Holland says to the 
others on deck, "Let's toss them some ropes," 
Holland follows by tossing a lead over to the 
MAIDEN.

Ropes are thrown and, especially with Ives and 
Nilaroo's massive muscles, the ships are easily 
dragged back together.

Once the two ships are together Holland steps to 
the side and lets the boarding party bring over 
the booty as he counts the number of weapons and 
barrels of smoke powder brought aboard.

Raken helps move a barrel of smoke powder onto 
deck. Ives and Grigree join in enthusiastically.

Ferric grabs an old deck plank and heave up on it 
snapping and splinting the wood as it tears free. 
"We even have extra boarding planks at hand." he 
says as he sets it to bridge the gap between the 
two vessels.

Raken almost laughs at Ferric's makeshift 
boarding plank. "Ye realize Nilaroo will be 
making you repair that, right?" he says with a 
wink.

Minutes pass as more trips are made below and the 
rest of the guns and power are transferred to the 
NIGHTWIND. Finally the armory of the MAIDEN is 
emptied and safely stowed.  Holland's tally says 
20 barrels of smoke powder, each branded with the 
symbol of an exploding rock above a campfire, and 
100 brass-bound chests, each holding 2 wheel-lock 
pistols and 100 bullets.  There are also 35 old, 
rusted cutlasses and about 20 old wheel-lock 
pistols  from the undead pirate corpses.  

Allagan helps move the weapons and ammunition and 
then stands ready to search the rest of the ship.

Ferric brings a water skin back from the 
NIGHTWIND and takes a long pull before handing it 
to Raken.  Using a handkerchief he wipes the 
sweat from his brow. "You were saying something 
about a magically sealed door Raken? Should we 
search the remainder of the ship before you 
attempt to unravel its mysteries or do you want 
to have a go at it straight way?"

Talus replies, "Let's clean the rest of the ship out first.."

Taking a little water himself to wipe away the 
soot & sweat, Raken comments "There are two rooms 
in the stern castle yet to be explored, likely 
the helm room and the chart locker, three rooms 
in the cargo hold, and steerage. If there be any 
guardians left on this boat, they'll be in the 
stern castle. A helm will be likely most heavily 
guarded, so maybe its best to take it when we are 
at our strongest, and not let ourselves become 
weakened by whatever other traps and monsters 
lurk in the ship's bowels." He thinks for a 
moment, staring at the galleon, "you know, we 
need not waste a spell on that door, when there 
is a perfectly good window we could smash and 
swing through from above..."

"Too true. Talus, once we catch our breath and 
are readied perhaps you could be good enough to 
check it out for us before we commit to 
clambering over the sides?" Ferric asks.

Talus says, "I'd prefer to finish searching the 
rest of the ship first but when it comes time to 
try for the helm, if someone would be so kind as 
to make me a small satchel charge, I'll stick it 
to the window and light it. That should get us 
entry through the window."

Allagan says, "Maybe Ives can whip something up 
while we are checking the ship out."

"Are we perhaps making this too complicated?" 
Ferric asks.  "It is only glass.  Most children 
can break it let alone someone wielding an 
enchanted blade."

"Ship pane glass can get pretty thick." Ives 
observes, "But I'm certain Nilaroo or I could 
easily smash it."

Talus says, "Let's check the last room on the 
main deck and then move to the cargo deck."

Allagan replies, "That sounds fine to me.  Let's 
look at the whole ship before we investigate the 
helm."

Allagan pauses and looking over the others says, 
"But first, let me help you," stepping over to 
Nilaroo, Allagan lays his hands on his wounds and 
chants a prayer to the All-Father.  Looking 
Nilaroo over, Allagan keeps his hands in place 
and chants a second time.

Allagan then moves over to Raken and repeats his 
actions, praying over Raken twice, stepping away 
from the two Allagan looks at them and smiles, 
"There, that should hold you for now, just try to 
avoid the sharp pointy things."

Nilaroo shivers slightly as the godspells wash 
over him.  "Thank you, Allagan," Nilaroo replies. 
"I wonder why the fur never comes back with 
those, though," he ponders aloud, gazing ruefully 
at the patchwork of bare, healed skin left by the 
exploding book.

Raken says, "Well, not matter what we do, the ship won't investigate itself!"

Talus says, "Alright, I'll lead the way."

Raken, Nilaroo, Freneth, Ferric, and Allagan all follow Talus.

With Cutlass in hand, Talus leads the group to 
the main deck and the room across from the room 
filled with the brass-bound chests.  Talus checks 
out the door first, for traps or locks.  Finding 
neither, he checks to make sure everyone is ready 
behind him and then opens the door, stepping to 
the side so he isn't in the open doorway and to 
allow the others access to the room.

As soon as he opens the door, there is cacophony 
of loud BANGs as multiple wheel-lock pistols fire 
on the half-elf.  Talus staggers back as several 
balls slam into him.

Date/Time: 6:00 pm, 7th day of the 1st Month, 5050 OC





-- 
CREON: The state, I pray, It is not reckoned his who governs it?
HÆM: Brave rule! Alone, and o'er an empty land!
  Sophocles Antigone, lines 841-843; translated by E. H. Plumptre, 1865.

Paul Westermeyer, westermeyer@????????.net