The Guild - Game Thread

Val stays silent at the rear, happy to let the others take the leas on questioning the man. 
He keeps an eye on the man reactions and answers just in case. 
insight: 15

Alright you do that. You don't detect anything besides shire tiredness. Maybe try again later.

Going to make a plot post in the next hour.

Monsoon 4
Time: 10:00 AM

The rain is still falling though it is showing signs of stopping. The captain has called you all in the meeting. The 4 day long rain has created a thick fog outside. If it wasn't for the sound of the sea and the occasional wave, one would be forgiven for thinking that the ship is sailing through the clouds. The captain says, "So if the man's words are to be believed, the pirate base is in an island. I think we should sail there on Monsoon 6 as it may not be the best idea to engage the pirates in such fog. Until then we should stick to our original plan of luring the pirates to attack us. If this succeeds then it would be much safer as we will not have ship-based artillery to deal with. Since the pirates have been attacking merchant ships, I don't believe they have any war weapons on their ships like we do. However, the possibility of them having a Dual-Shot Ballista is there. A Cruiser Class can whether attacks from such a weapon however were they to turn it on grounded crew, that would be an issue. So I would like to avoid the island if at all possible. Any questions or comments?"

 Elsara thinks for a moment. "Do sailing ships use cloud signals? If we get to a spot we think we have good positioning, we could put a distress signal out saying we're off course. That could draw them closer!"

The captain says, "I like how you think. Normally, ships use more discreet communications but not for distress signals." He looks outside and says, "We'll have to use the secondary distress signal, the one that can be used in thick fog. Hopefully the pirates will attack us then."

"Really!?" Elsara seems ecstatic that someone took her plan seriously. "Well I can help shape clouds with some ritual casting if that helps. Not sure if it'll be that useful with all this fog, but I don't think the spell can be shaped to affect fog as well... Hmm..." She begins to think about other ways she might be able to help set up any aid, bobbing on the balls of her feet as she does so.

"What is fog except clouds that have forgotten how to fly?" Devarus asked, clearly half-joking about the question. "It's your ship captain. Your mission. However you wish to handle things, we will do our best to assist however we can...  That said, I cannot say I'm not hopeful about taking advantage of this fog in some way. At the very least if thins enough that its harder to scrutinize our ship at a distance, all the better bait to tempt them into a poor engagement." 

(OOC: Would Skywrite be usable to influence the fog? Not sure if we're allowed to do things like that with this specific spell, so up to DM.)

No Skywrite won't work (Sorry I missed the notification on that post)

You need something that will create light. The ship mage has a spell like that so no need to worry to much.

Elsara didn't bother with the light spell...

(Sad darkvision noises)

“A good old fashioned fireball could burn off a bit of fog, I imagine.”  Gendan says with a bit of snark and plenty of desire to be destructive. “Probably a poor choice for a distress signal, though.” She sighs and returns to the depths of her cloak and hood, wishing she had never spoken at all for any attention is too much attention. 

Elsara waits to see what the crew's plan in, idly flicking through the metallic sheets of her spell tome to ensure she has some appropriate spells for potential ship to ship combat.

(I was waiting on Val to see if he had something to add. If not I would move to the next phase)

(Alright that's enough waiting)

Later that day, the first mate uses a combination of Spells such as Dancing Lights and Darkness to create patterns above the ship. To most of you, it seems like random flashes but Devarus, due to his background with the guard, recognizes the patterns as a distress signal. The distress signal is one for ships getting lost.

This signalling continues for a while until another ship shows up the captain takes one look at it and realizes that it's another ship that's part of the Rurik military. He sends the other ship captain a message apologizing for the inconvenience and telling him their plan. The ship baring the colors of Rurik's naval forces disappear into the fog once more. Other than that, no pirates dare to attack the ship. Later that day the captain calls a meeting. At this point the rain has finally stopped but it will take one more day for the fog to clear up. The fog is colored golden now as the sun is setting.

The captain says, "The idea for a distress signal was a good one but regretfully, it didn't work. What do you propose we do? We could either sail aimlessly for a few more days, hoping the pirates see us when there is no fog or we could use the fog as cover to approach the location where the rescue said the pirate base is."

Runt is bored. Aggressively she states We take the fight to them.

Ever since the other ship arrived, Devarus had a troubled air about him. But at the captain's questioning later, he visibly shakes off the funk and says, "I am not one for such an aggressive approach usually, but... In this instance, I am of agreement. Let us hope there numbers are as small as our former captive says." 

Gendan starts to shake off her grumpiness and join in on the excited tone. “Yeah, let’s take the fight to them!”

Elsara is probably lying down on the floor, looking very bored after several days of not being able to do much besides not be seasick. "I guess so. Maybe if we can catch their watchmen and question them we might not be walking blindly into their base."

The captain nods and says, "Alright then. We head out to their base. Catching their watchman may be a little difficult but we shall try."

The captain orders the crew to turn the ship around and head for the island the pirates are said to base in.

Monsoon 5
Time: 5: 00 PM

The ship traveled fast and reached the island. The fog has lessened though it hasn't lifted yet. The rain has finally stopped. All is quiet as the ship approaches the island. There appears to be only one other ship docked on the shore. This one bears no markings which itself acts as pirate markings. It is a much smaller ship though it does seem to have a ballista attached and a Grapshot attached. The captain identifies it as a Destroyer Class ship; a small and fast ship that is made for quick attacks and out-maneuvering larger ships.  There doesn't appear to be any guards though. The man who was rescued, still sickly but can get out of bed, points to the direction of green foliage and says, "There. Their base is through there."

Elsara takes a look over the bough of the ship. "Ooh, it looks real gloomy in the mists like that." She says. "Super spooky and picturesque. Wonder how many ships are docked there." She proceeds to have a glance around to survey the environment.