Piracy on the Sundering Sea (Part 2)
Commander Giacomo Estori
The enemy both veered to
the northeast seeking the weather gauge but I headed towards them. We began
exchanging missiles and they brought down several of my crossbowmen. They then
manoeuvred so as to where better to allow the missilemen of both their bow and
stern castles to fire. Most of it was coming from the lead ship and methought I
saw women on the other. In fact I spotted a tall woman operating a dart firer on
its forecastle. They must be desperate and my thoughts about them carrying
horseless women back to Thentis seemed proven! A woman operating a dart
firer!..... Pain! and everything went
black!
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Baron Giles Du Rheine of Dune
I ordered my Captain to
steer northeast, so as to be sure of obtaining the weather gauge, with the St
Amadour following on behind. Soon we were close enough to exchange missiles and
I manoeuvred so as to allow the maximum missilemen to fire. The St. Amadour did
likewise and it became obvious that our fire was more effective than theirs. I
knew that the St. Amadour was weak in melee power so my ship would have to bear
the brunt of the hand to hand fighting. Therefore I hoped to weaken the enemy
manpower significantly before boarding. A spell set their sail ablaze, whilst a
like one only scorched ours. Losing wind power as the sail size reduced they
slowed, such that we caught up. Then the enemy took to cowering behind their
bulwarks so there was little option but to board. So we sailed close to their
starboard quarter. They threw two grapnels which bounced off, but I wanted us to
fight main deck to main deck, rather than our small fore castle to their well
manned stern castle. For some reason they cast a mist spell, which made no
difference since we were all so close together. Perhaps they had spotted another
ship who might aid us? I ordered the Captain to haul up a dolphin. We moved a
little further past them but another grapnel thrown from their stern castle,
hooked us and hauled ours closer to them. Our missile fire was very damaging to
them and they were cast into disarray. When we and the St. Amadour dropped our
dolphins they immediately cried for quarter! Lady Marguerite of the St. Amadour
shouted out “That is a goodly prize! Let us help them save it!” so one of their
two spare sails was used to try to cover the two holes. All worked together to
save her and the leakage was eventually stemmed to manageable proportions. The
wind dropped but it was against us for returning to Sklavis anyway so I decided
that we would wait until it turned favourable. We had killed or incapacitated
all the Nef’s officers main but one lady, although there were a couple of mates
and three sergeants. Lady Marguerite set this lady, Donna Catherine Escrivo, to
write out the story of how she came to be on the pirate ship. This was to help
us decide the fates of those that we had captured. We had lost but Captain
Exeter of the St. Amadour and five other men. We cast them and the dead from the
Nef overboard to ease the crush on the decks. We captured thirty-three people of
which six men and two women were wounded, one of the women being Donna Catherine
who had received an arrow in her thigh.
The wind dropped
completely in the night and in the morning we were surrounded by a dense mist.
So we lay becalmed whilst relays of men kept bailing the Nef.
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Lady Marguerite des
Confetes has ordered that I write this account of my origins and recent actions
whilst we are becalmed.
My mother was the widow
Donna Bice Turco y Estori who lived on her dower estate near Vendola. When young
it was discovered that I had some Magh Pozum, so I was sent to Zauben Priest of
Baphomet, who ran a school beside
his temple. As a female I was much employed in supplying and working in the
kitchen. I did learn some things but my powers have never amounted to much. When
I was seventeen I met Louis, this Faraese captain in Vendola and he persuaded me
to run away to sea with him. His Cog the Lucette mostly sailed up and down the
Sundering Sea ports and I became the ship’s cook. After four years Louis was
washed overboard and lost off Pinha. We had a cargo bound for Elysa so I became
the ship’s skipper and took it there. There we picked up a cargo of leather and
walrus ivory goods and I took her back to Faralon. Naturally the owner, who had
not known that I existed, replaced Louis with a new Captain Umberto. I was still
allowed to remain as cook. I left the Lucette the next time that it called at
Vendola. My mother forgave me for running away, but I was too unsettled to stay
ashore. Zauben refused to take me back as a potential priestess of
Baphomet. So my mother contacted
Giacomo Estori, a relative of hers and he agreed to take me into the crew of his
Azeladian Nef.
This already had some women
in the crew, a female Mate called Baudia and two so called nurses. Naturally I
was assigned to provisioning and cooking duties. It seemed that Giacomo had been
involved in pirate activities but when his Commander Admiral Valente Degollar
was captured, he decided it was best to stick to more legitimate shipping
activities. Then we were used to transport troops from Elysia to Tikjolit to
join King Lollo’s army. Some were kept on board, notably Wizard Mauben, the two
Viraga warrior women and two more nurses. Then we were sent with the Nef
Lamtotir to blockade Sklavis. A felucca would come from time to time with
supplies and news. When we heard that King Colombo was dead, the Commanders
Giacomo and Victor decided that we should become pirates, plundering vessels
around the Arwyn delta. Giacomo had good contacts with the Larete Balokha
smugglers, whose leader Wizard Risenstar lived in Vendola. He was also Head of
the Consiglio that ruled Vendola. As you may know its ownership has been
disputed between Fara and Elysia but really it has kept itself independent of
both most of the time. So our vessels sailed out and attacked expecting your
Lymphads to be weakly manned. When the Lamtotir was badly damaged we took it
back to Vendola. With it being out of action for some time, Commander Giacomo
decided that we should sail out on our own. You know the rest!
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Lady Ethel Tangent
To Lady Megan Tangent at Pordoro Bridge
Written this 9th Third Moon 707ATN
Dearest Mama,
Lady Marguerite des Confetes has suggested that I should write to you. As
you know the intention was that we should sail up to Agetsu to join the Crusade
where I should join Papa and Hamnet. As you may have heard, in fact King Eudes
with the consent of the Monseigneur instead led us to fight in Azelad. It seems
that a usurper Colombo Degollar had seized the throne and when many good knights
opposed him, they were defeated at Elar with most being captured. Our crusade
was to rescue these knights and depose Colombo, in favour of the rightful King
Anghered, who has served the Lawic Cause for many years. As you may know I was
aboard Duchess Angelique of Wardour’s
Lymphad the Saint Melania. This was in King Eudes own squadron. First we
attacked the Port of Tikjolit. Alas King Eudes went ashore ahead of most of our
strength and he with other important persons was captured by the usurper
Colombo. Our Saint Melania moored
alongside the King’s Saint Eustace but there was little that we could do and I
was not even allowed to disembark ! Its springald was destroyed by a mangonel
stone from an enemy tower. Alas that our ship did not have a springald!
Amongst our host was the witch Morgana Lefey, who with her mounted force
performed most valiantly ashore. They had four of the blue unicorns for which
she is famed! With the King
captured, the host was commanded by Duke Pietro of Wardour. At a Council
attended by Duchess Angelique, it was decided that the host would assault the
nearby Tikhar Castle, where the usurper held the taken prisoners. It was decided
that most of the female crusaders would man three lymphads commanded by Duchess
Angelique, to blockade the castle from the sea.
I had told the Duchess of my expertise in firing our springald at flying
geese, so I was assigned to the St. Amadour which carried one on its fore
castle. This was commanded by Lady Marguerite des Confetes
the leader of a contingent from the Alpenais province of Thentis. They
are Barbaran heretics but we became quite friendly. The army ashore was joined
by one led by King Anghered . We were told by a flying elf woman that there was
an oubliette in the castle and I helped row out a sail at night, to catch any
the evil usurper tried to kill that way. In the event two men were saved by it
and the flying elf woman flew them to the jetty. It seems that rescuing people
at sea is her main mission in life. On
the 14th of the Third Moon the men ashore stormed the castle, killed
Colombo and rescued King Eudes and the other prisoners.
They then marched to Mirimaz the Capital of Azelad where the Dowager
Queen Caprizia came to terms with King Anghered. She is to become Anghered’s
Ambassadress in Ekthalon. I was one of those remaining with the fleet at
Tikjolit. Lady Marguerite allowed me to practise firing her springald at targets
set ashore. Her original engineer had been killed in the assault on Tikhar, so
she was glad to have me. Alas, as you will know, the King’s army marched up to
Omos to treat with its Count and then passed over your bridge on its way back to
Thentis. Naturally being still at Tikjolit I had no chance to write to you then.
There we were joined by some of the original crusaders, plus some Azeladians who
had been sentenced to serve on the Crusade for a year. Led by Duke Pietro we
eventually sailed off for Agetsu in four Lymphads, The St. Gilbert, the St.
Fabiola, the St. Melania and the St. Amadour which I am on. We soon met two
large Nefs which attacked us. One rammed the St. Gilbert so sharply that both
vessels were like to sink. A miracle set the sail of the other Nef on fire and
so we escaped escorting the St. Gilbert to the Port of Sklavis. There it was
decided that Baron Giles Du Rheine of Dune should take the St. Fabiola and
ourselves on to Agetsu. The other two would follow when the St. Gilbert had been
repaired. So on this 19th we
sailed back out and headed north. Around lunch time we encountered the pirate
nef whose sail had now been replaced. Baron Giles declared that we should attack
it, to spare our supply ships that will be sailing to support our Crusade. We
started to exchange missiles, so with a sailor Munt I was able at last to make
myself useful. I saw an armoured knight on the stern castle of the Nef and
skewered him, making a loud groan come from his men, so I think he was someone
important ! Then there was another knight on the main deck whom I also brought
down. There were some crossbowmen firing back at us but they were rotten shots
so they turned to firing at some billmen in the unprotected waist of our ship.
These men had been sentenced with their lords to go on the crusade. They had
been below decks but Brother Modicum forced them to come up ‘to protect the lady
warriors’. Alas for them, poorly armoured they were all slain.
Then the Nefs sail caught fire and
although we could see their crew throwing water up on it, it burnt away and they
were slowing to a halt. The St. Fabiola went alongside its starboard (right
hand) side so a boarding action could begin. However Lady Marguerite had heard
Baron Giles order his crew to raise a dolphin so she did likewise. Dolphins are
great iron weights, which dropped from the end of a yardarm, burst through the
decks and bottoms of enemy ships. Although our ‘lady warriors were keen to board
the Nef, Lady Marguerite kept us apart until the dolphin had been dropped. Ours
landed almost the same instant as that of the St. Fabiola’s and the foes
immediately cried for quarter! Their ship was taking in water and like to sink
despite, their desperate bailing! “That is a goodly prize! We
must help them save it!”
declared Lady Marguerite , and so with the help of the St. Fabiola we
did. A spare sail was rove under the ship and paddings put in place to block the
two great holes. It took a while to bail out the great quantity of water that
had already come in. Even with the padding they needed teams of men bailing to
keep it afloat. Baron Giles said that we must escort it back to Sklavis but the
wind was against us. With my Springald darts I had killed the Commander of the
Nef was Giacomo Estori and sore wounded his second in command Don Patini. With
their skipper also dead, command had devolved down to a woman Donna Catherine,
who had an arrow in her thigh. She it was who had surrendered the Nef.
Our losses were Captain Exeter and the four billmen and from the St.
Fabiola but one crossbowman. The enemy had naturally lost all in dead, wounded
or captured. Whilst we were all hove to, Lady Marguerite ordered Donna Catherine
to write a full account of her origins and recent actions.
We remained becalmed in a
dense mist for most of the next day. Baron Giles held a court to decide the fate
of the prisoners. Don Patini and the evil wizard Mauben were thrown overboard.
Donna Catherine was spared on condition that she give them information regarding
the situation at Vendola. The rest were sentenced to serve Baron Giles on the
crusade for a year.
When the wind became favourable we
ushered in the damaged Nef to Sklavis. There a surprise awaited us. In the port
was a Lymphad, the St. Lioba with Baron Giles’ arms on its sail! Anyway in
Sklavis is where I am now and so I must finish this letter so it can be sent to
you.
Your ever dutiful daughter Ethel
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Games Master’s Account
Sharp eyed reader may note
that there was a mix up amongst the crews of the two Nefs but the results have
to stand. As usual Alan’s above average dice luck prevailed! He decided to use
his missile superiority to weaken the Nef before any boarding action. I had
expected him to think about the dolphins earlier than he did. In the event, they
both seriously holed the Nef at a time when its crew were on the verge of
surrendering anyway! Lady Ethel with her plus two for hit chances and her
licence as an officer to aim at particular figures, coupled with Alan’s dice
luck helped swing the action. I thought it sensible to put the two similar
actions into one module. I have now decided that there will be a sequel.