50 Fathoms
Session 4 Maiden Voyage
The Party:
Urghh - Half Ugak Bloodthirsty Sailor - Aaron
Flynt - Delusional Human Merchant - Charlie
Obadiah Merle - Squanderous Human Rifleman - Garry
Kuthelaquin - Kraken Water Mage - Rob
After negotiating to get the ship repaired in Baltimus dry dock, the crew were released on shore to carouse while the group headed to The Severed Head Inn to discuss what to do next, and after a somewhat long winded conversation about trade and profit margins, the overly loud players were approached by a shifty looking scalywag called Robinson. The grungy sailor had a business offer for the group, 10000 pieces of eight to transfer a cargo of "blackbirds" to Jomba town. Quickly reading between the lines, and realising he was a slaver, Urghh's response was "I have no problem with this." Somewhat appalled, the rest of the crew were against the idea, especially Merle who was very vocal about why they wouldn't be accepting, and Robinson left the table to make his offer to a nearby crew of merchants.
Merle took the party aside and revealed his plan, by digging into their own pockets and some nimble persuasion they could get their letter of marque from the great harbour council, they could refloat the ship and capture the merchants who had agreed to take Robinson's offer. They knew where they were going and it would be easy enough to intercept them. The party agreed, with Kuthelaquin, Merle and Flynt heading to get their letters, while Urghh would shadow the merchants and gather information.
Urghh's spying lead him to an old shack on the edge of town where Robinson lead the merchant crew, inside were 20 men and women in shackles. He reported this back to the party and they decided he should follow them the next day in case they left for sea.
Disaster struck the following morning when Urghh managed to follow the merchants to the shack, the ragged chained slaves were being transported undercover by skiff to a galleon lying at anchor in the harbour. Realising that their ship was still a day and a half from being sea worthy, the party rushed to the dry dock and bribed the dock supervisor to try to get his men to complete the repairs as soon as possible. Merle headed into town to round up the crew as the ship was refloated, and they boarded as quick as they could, and left in pursuit of the slavers, a scant 5 hours later.
The galleon was sighted a day of out port, the older and slightly more cumbersome ship was easily overtaken by the Binkley. The ship was identified as The Red Reaper. Deciding to attack under cover of darkness, the crew shadowed the galleon, and immediately attempted to board her as night fell. With some amazing boating rolls, Urghh managed to maneuver the ship into close range and all hands launched grappling hooks at the enemy ship.
Drawing close, there were 20 pirates on the enemy ship's deck waiting for the attacking crew, Flynt took half a dozen crew from the Binkley and ordered the boarding action, with 2 - 1 odds, this was going to be a fight to the death.
As the two ships crunched together, Urghh attempted to swing from the rigging and engage the enemy captain in combat on the quarterdeck. A critical fail on the agility roll however, saw Urghh mistime his acrobatic feat, and smack into the side of the ship with a grisly thud. He then slid down the side of the hull and fell into the water between the two combating vessels.
From his sniping position in the rigging, Merle tried to shoot the captain down and missed, then swung down and joined the boarding party.
The battle royal kicked off with the defending pirates shooting the attackers with pistols then moving to close combat with their cutlasses. Kuthelauquin killed two off the pirates with water bolts then drew his bone sword and started dispatching them gorily. With scientific precision, Merle used his pistols and musket to whittle down the attackers before drawing his sword and attacking. Meanwhile, the soaking wet and angry Urghh climbed the side off the ship, vaulted over the gunwhale and launched himself at the captain. Flynt was directing the attacking crew of the Binkley and taking pot shots at the pirates.
Urghh was shaken by the captain, failed his smarts roll and immediately frenzied, butchering the captain and the nearby crewmate with his great axe.
After a long and bloody battle, where Flynt and Kuthelaquin were both wounded, the pirates were destroyed, with only one of the crew of the Binkley suffering a wound.
The decks literally awash with blood and gore, the crew of the Binkley stood victorious, and claimed the ship for themselves. After freeing the slaves who readily agreed to join them, they sailed both ships back to Baltimus to claim their prize money.
As news of their heroism spread through town, people flocked to the dockside to see the valiant heroes and cheered them as they made their way back to the Great Harbour Council Hall to claim their prize. After some more haggling with Pathe, a bounty of 31,000 pieces of eight was agreed on, and the battered and bloody crew immediately went shopping, with Merle giving a bonus of 200 pieces of eight each to the original crew of the Binkley.
As they were about to leave the council hall, they were approached by the personal secretary of Edward Lazenby, Percy Bartlet. He handed them a wax sealed envelope with courtly grace, which had the personal seal of Lazenby himself. After hearing of their heroism and speaking to Admiral Duckworth, Lazenby had invited them all to a performance of The Merchant Of Venice at the Baltimus Shakespear Company, formal dress mandatory.
Flush with cash, the party headed to Mid Town to outfit themselves in finery for a night at the theatre.
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