rp thread [Round 6] A Shrouded Place

[BladeofOblivion]

Kor's fury shattered a segment of the marketplace, sending those merchants and random noncombatants still present into a state of sheer panic, but the Dread Crewmen were made of sterner stuff and deftly avoided and parried his blows...for a time. One made a mistake and got a throat-punch that immediately dropped him like a sack of bricks for his trouble, and the other was unable to stand alone against someone as strong as Kor for long. But silencing them had taken longer than Kor hoped, and already more in the same livery were arriving, bearing spark-wands of their own; he was forced to duck into an alley to evade them, following directions to the harbor while trying to shake the pursuit. Kor had a choice to make - he still only had a few scattered, maybe-not-totally reliable maps, but the spare sailcloth was intact and he'd managed to grab the other basic supplies they needed; this was perhaps the more critical thing. Robert seemed quite sure they were somewhere northeast of Taer Mojr and surely they couldn't miss an entire continent as long as they sailed southwest using the guidance of the maps they did have?

But if he was willing to risk burning more time, there was a harbor master's building that the Tempest-Runner's second had briefly checked in with on their way up. They would probably have better maps.

---

Robert made it to the harbor, wounds accumulating among himself and his followers. Some of those he previously thought able to fight were pierced by shafts, reduced in mobility but doing their best. Three were dead and morale was plummeting, but they'd come this far. Every injury made him less and less confident that he could take a whole ship, but they were still ahead of the Tempest-Runner. He picked out a cutter to target in seconds, with anchor still weighed and sail still fully furled. Crew compliment of thirty or so, he estimated. It'd have to do, and he hoped he could storm over the skeleton crew on it with what he had.

[Jadetarem]

If one thing had been made plain, it was that the longer the pursuit lasted, the less likely it was that anyone was leaving at all. The harbormaster would remain undisturbed - Kor immediately went for the docks.

[BladeofOblivion]

Robert's arbitrarily picked ship to storm turned out fortuitously - her crew was mostly ashore but for four lictors driving a dozen labor-slaves to load up boxes of caged songbirds. None of the four had any chance against Robert alone, much less Robert-plus-a-dozen-rabble. The slaves already aboard the ship needed little convincing to join what was clearly an escape attempt, especially after seeing the strongman physically toss their former captors to be dashed upon the rocks. Kor himself arrived not a moment too soon as the pirates already at the docks caught onto what was happening and Dreadlove's men with the Tempest-Runner at the helm stormed into the harbor after them. The hero managed to clamber up the gangplank to hear Robert giving orders.

"You, put pressure on her wounds, you four, go to the right side and pick up the oars, be ready for when I give the order and-Kor! I am happy to see you! Are we ready to go?"

His tone suggested that he dearly hoped so, his eyes flicking to the green pyres already starting to land in the waters near the ship as he bent over to pull the gangplank up.

[Jadetarem]

"I have a spare sail and sufficient supplies. The maps... could be better maps. I intend to correct any deficiencies on our way out, but we will rely on your reckoning for parts of the navigation." The mechanical being did not shrug, but somehow gave the impression of it. "It is time."

[BladeofOblivion]

Robert nodded, setting the gangplank aside and grabbing the chain connected to the anchor, beginning to haul it up from the water.

"Alright, oars, start rowing! Mitts, keep mitting!" If Kor had to guess, "mitts" were the pair of people wearing leather mitts and going around ripping pyre-bolts out of the wood where they landed, then stamping out any flames.

From the shore, Kor heard the Tempest-Runner give the order. "Aim high! Take out their sails and mast!", before witnessing the Utui stalk off toward their own ship. Dreadlove's elites formed a line and fired in volleys, with most stray shots landing in the water but a few hitting the decks - one indeed hit the still-furled sail moments before the ship cleared the harbor, and the sailcloth erupted in flames. And then the Tempest-Runner's flagship lurched from its position, the fog already beginning to spread from its travel.

"Damn it, no no no...", Robert muttered, dropping the anchor onto the deck and trying to shimmy up the mast, but he's obviously not a practiced climber. "Keep rowing! We'll have to clear their pursuit the hard way. Row against the wind! Against the wind!"

[Jadetarem]

The Omega elected to fight fire with fire. If the enemy could use sails and they couldn't, it would be the end. For the second time that day, Kor lobbed a ball of flame, aiming for the enemy sails.

[BladeofOblivion]

Kor's opportunistic fireball struck true, at a portion of the sails before they were completely enshrouded in fog - and melted through, the cloth shriveling in response but failing to ignite like their own had. Still, it was a big hole, and he had to hope it would at least slow them down. Hope is what they had. Robert managed to shimmy up the mast in time to smack at the flames and save the mast and mooring even if the sail itself was a lost cause. It was fortunate that Kor had obtained a spare.

The chase was on, plucky little escape craft versus the Tempest-Runner's flagship and whatever else launched after it in the trailing fog. But they had a lot of pluck.

 

(Semi-?)Final Roll: 2d6(+10 Hero, +0 backup sails, +3 healthy rowers, +1 slowed rival, +2 Robert assist)

Edited July 10, 2023 by BladeofOblivion (see edit history)

[BladeofOblivion]

It was a hard burn, but once the backup sail was in place they managed to skirt the wind and slowly, steadily outpace their pursuit. Once darkness fell, the fog cloud could not even be seen in the distance anymore. Finally, they could rest.

A few days of travel later, doing their best to sort out the map situation, they ran into an unexpected encounter - a group of ships flying Voilese colors, Rangers scouting the northeast passages.

[Jadetarem]

"A fortuitous ending to our journey." Kor observed. "Those are our allies in the Voille. Their sailors can guide us back to Taer Mojr, though they live on the opposite end of it." The Omega turned to Robert. "I do not know the state of your lands, but I will advise Still Lake to minimize disruption and restore them prior to uplift. Beyond simple governance, hopefully little will change."