LogFate of Souls-Jason-5

Game log for the 2018/02/18 session of Fate of Souls, as taken by Jason

We stop and take stock, and conclude that our biggest worry is lack of crew. Weneed to go to a port, preferably one on the way to the Bay of Minos. Hey, Port Zelith is on the way! But it's a wretched hive of scum and villainy, so maybe not. Dalkeith is on the way, in the Kingdom of Near. It's got a giant statue to Tintenwal at the harbor mouth. So, apparently, Dalkeith it is.

A day of out of Dalkeith, we see a giant cloud of smoke on the horizon. Piro looks into the flames and sees fire, blood, and swords. She sees narrow alleys and people hiding. It's going to be one of those port visits, I guess. Bartleby wants to be able to render aid if needed, so staying clear is out of the question.

Less than a day out, we see a fishing boat riding low with refugees, making best speed, followed by a larger warship with red sails, flying the flying serpent banner of the Grand Duchy of Bulrothos. The Grand Dukes have royal blood, and the house is hand-in-glove with the Church of Agaroth. Toth expresses concern that the Purgators might go the way of the Bulrathi. Bartleby doesn't see us having much hope going up against a ship of war. On the other hand, he's a sympathetic guy. When Hirazoth offers to turn the wind in favor of Omdurman, Barleby asks him to do something for the fishing vessel. The wizard conjures a downdraft that separates the pursuer from the pursued, but in doing so, he's spotted. The Bulrathi change course to pursue us.

Even with Hirazoth messing with the wind, they gain ground on us. Bartleby heads for the reefs, which gives us a shot at getting away... eventually. This encounter will have Aspects of "reefs" and "the sun is going down." Hirazoth tries to whistle up a wind, but there's something going on that's making it harder. Piro joins Ham at one of the ballistas. The raiders send a bolt our way, which sets one of our yards on fire. Ham's attempt to return fire puts our bolt into their hull near the waterline, which throws off their oarsman. Weyden joins the damage control party, up in the rigging with water buckets on a rope. Bartleby rallies the crew, making the most of our limited crew.

Hirazoth summons a new wind, timed so that the guy getting a new flaming bolt for their ballista trips and falls. Ho, ho, ho, now they're on fire too. Piro and Ham switch places, so the big guy is responsible for the heavy lifting. The Bulrathi bolt hits Omdurman in the hull. Luckily, it's a tough ship. Weyden, with cooperation from the sailors in the rigging, puts the fire out. Bartleby stars planning his course to make it easier for Piro to aim.

Hirazoth summons the winds to guide Piro's fire. Unfortunately the enemy helmsman is really alert, and still dodges. The enemy's return fire goes astray because they're busy trying to put out the fire. Ham screws up the reloading. Toth and Weyden start moving the bow scorpion to the stern. Bartleby tries to put distance between our ships but can't seem to open the range.

Hirazoth changes up the wind, putting a crosswind right on their bows. Piro begins planning her shot, trying to pick out the captain on their deck. Ham manages to get the new bolt locked in. The raiders shoot but miss. Weyden uses his hammer and brawn to accelerate uninstallation of the scorpion, and helps Toth move it to the rear. Bartleby tries to thread a needle between the reefs, knowing that the wind will make the enemy ship harder to control. This time everything works exactly as he hoped, and the raiders run aground.

Hirazoth jumps with joy, shouting about how he's the best wizard on the world ocean. Piro puts another scorpion round into their hull, and Ham reloads. The raider's pyromancer puts out all their fires, and their captain brings their ship a little closer. Weyden fires the portable scorpion, but fails. Toth reloads. Bartleby steers for open water, where he can evade incoming fire more effectively.

Hirazoth conjures a friendly wind for the portable scorpion. Piro fires the stern scorpion and hits her target square, taking him out of the fight. With their gun captain down, the raiders' shooting falls off. The raiders inch closer but can't seem to build a meaningful advantage on us. Weyden's bolt misses. Bartleby once again steers for smooth water to make the ship a good shooting platform.

Hirazoth goes to help Weyden shoot, because he's sick of watching people squander his gifts. The enemy dodges Piro's shot again. Ham reloads. The enemy captain steers out of the crosswind. Weyden fires his shot, and Hirazoth's friendly wind picks it up and brings it right to their windlass, parting the line. The enemy realizes that the incoming fire is not only getting stronger but guided, and they decide they've had enough, backing oars to put distance between us.

Bartleby brings us in to Dalkeith so he can get his drank on. Piro and Ham point out a tiny little beach, on the other side of the headland from Dalkeith proper. Skudjin does not approve of this plan, and even the prospect of booze does not cheer him up. We still go ashore, looking for drinks and crew. Piro gets the word out and encourages people to spread it, so that the news basically goes viral. The Bolrothi are still in the city, so people are getting worried that it was not a burn-and-pillage raid but an attempt to take the city from Near.

One of the incoming sailors is a member of the Storm Cult. Hirazoth taunts him with the sad inadequacy of their puerile teachings. The cultist tries to summon a thunderhead. He can't. Hirazoth summons the fifth wind and makes the Northern Lights dance. Victor: crazy capering guy. Hirazoth claps the guy on the shoulder, says, "See? Five winds. You'll figure it out." Then he walks away. Meanwhile, Bartleby buys booze. Hirazoth drinks with him. All that's great, but there's no food to be had in town, and we need food. There's a grain silo the next village south, if we can get to it before the raiders do.

On the ship, Weyden turns the portable scorpion into a bow scorpion again. When Bartleby returns to the ship, he asks Ham and the Sealers to think about how to get to that grain silo. Ham recruits men and sends them to Bartleby. Piro, meanwhile, decides to go for the grain silo. Weyden notices she's gone and goes looking for her.

Piro tries to divine the way to get to the grain silos, but she only sees fire. She gets directions to it from a villager and heads south. Using a little stealth, she gets close to the silo, and finds some grain. She also finds a wagon, sitting in a stable which in turn belongs to a house that's already on fire. If she can manage to pull the wagon, she could load it with sacks of grain and try to make off with it, though it would be dangerous. She goes looking for someone might be hiding, hoping to recruit help, but she can't find anyone.

Ham looks for Piro and doesn't find her - clearly she's left. He goes to Weyden and says as much. Weyden knows she's been asking about the grain, so they decide to head south and look for her. When Bartleby hears about this, he decides he has to go, and asks Börk to pick a good crew to help track her down in the morning. Weyden, Toth, and Ham aren't willing to wait, and Weyden looks so sad that Hirazoth decides to go along too.

Coming the other way along the road, we find a guy riding a horse fast toward us. He's dressed like a Dream Merchant, and Weyden thinks he's carrying. Bartleby hails him but he doesn't stop. Bartleby follows his hail by telling the fellow that he has a ship, and that's reason enough for him to stop and talk. He's suspicious. Luckily, Weyden's not so much interested in "stop and talk" as much as "block and rob." He brandishes his seal, blocks the road with Toth's help, and forces the Dream Merchant to rein in. Bartleby is still talking about passage, and Weyden owes him, so they work out a deal where the only payment needed is one stone for the Sealers. Hirazoth tries to sell the guy on the deal by telling some lies about the Omdurman's accomodations, but it's Bartleby who closes the deal by pointing out that the area is going to be a war zone. Weyden accedes to the deal, though he's not happy about it. Bartleby directs him to the ship and tells him to ask for Börk, and then hands Weyden the stone.

Ham didn't wait for all that to get settled - he runs on ahead to look for Piro. He doesn't get all that far before he sees some Bulrathi soldiers, who almost notice him. Almost doesn't count, though, and his ingenious plan to hide in some bushes actually works out for him. He moves down the road, looking everywhere for her, and eventually picks up her trail.

Piro sees that the raiders are burning buildings but not harvested grain. That suggests they're move invaders than raiders. Ham finds her and reads her the riot act, but she doesn't care, and gets right to explaining her wagon plan to him. As they talk, two Bulrathi arrive, talking about the silo. One of them is mounted, presumably an officer, and the other is reporting to him. The officer is demanding a count of available grain for transport to Dalkeith. The non-comm comes in while the officer moves on. Piro sneaks up on the NCO as Ham draws his attention with a classic, "Hey fuckwad, prepare to die." The Bulrathi fends Ham off.

Ham focuses on occupying the enemy's attention and putting his back to Piro. She sneaks up behind him and throws a knife at him, sticking him square in the kidney. The enemy runs for it as Piro celebrates. Ham catches him before he leaves the barn and cuts him off, frustrating his escape. Piro grabs a pitchfork. The enemy begins to shout. Piro attacks with the unfamiliar weapon but can't break the guy's guard. Ham attacks again, but the other guy sells him a fake and manages to get out the door.

The rest of the party come over the hill and see that the village is on fire.

Ham and Piro almost lose their quarry in the dark, but Ham is dogged in pursuit. Ham breaks his guard again and this time the guy's taken out. Ham hides the body and then tells Piro that it's time to find some horses.

We all meet up. Weyden and Ham search the area for horses and find a Bulrathi paddock. They invoke their authority and their armored fearitude to straight up confiscate a couple of horses. Hirazoth uses the wind to keep the fire from spreading in the wrong direction, Bartleby stages some grain, anf then once we have the wagon set up, we're good to go. Now we just have to get the grain back to the beach, which is the wrong direction for anyone to be going.

Piro consults the fire to find our best path back. She sees the officer they saw earlier round up a scratch unit and take it to deal with a problem, which tells her that there will be a section where the troops were repurposed. If they can just find his area, they'll have an easier passage. Ham goes looking for that guy and finds him on a track - which means they can follow that same track, once he's gone, and it should be clear. The officer gets summoned as Piro foresaw, and we follow. Weyden drives the wagon through that pass and gets it to the beach without being seen. We put to sea again, fully crewed, fully provisioned.