Café de Nuit

Adam wrote:Alfonse raises a hand in a signal to those behind.

"No thanks, mates," he says, "Job's getting a bit too hot for me."

GERTIE steps near the mage who holds the gnome's arquebus and slow match.
She sticks one of her fire-arrows against the smoldering match tip. It lights.

A pirate on the cog says,
" Hey, that's my job!" He shakes a smoking arrow of his own at GERTIE.

GERTIE places a second arrow between her teeth, biting it to hold it steady, and lights that with the first.

The cog moves off slowly, with men pushing against the dock using long poles. The sails lift.

GERTIE shoots at the oily rope draped over the ship, firing both arrows in rapid succession. One hits. The rope catches fire.

The pirate archer shoots over GERTIE and Alfonse, striking a sack left behind on the wharf, which Gem is sniffing. The dog barks, scrambling away as the sack erupts in flame. A black trail connecting that sack to other sacks strewn along the wharves behind the party catches light...

Alfonse's eyes open wide and runs for the pile of sacks, trying to get ahead of the flames.

"Guys, there are spots where the pirates left sacks splashed with tar or pitch, arranged in a loose string along the waterfront with pitch trails connecting the several sacks. The sacks contain moldy grain. If we shot a fire arrow into one of those sacks it would set fire to the watetfront."

VAN wrote:"Guys, there are spots where the pirates left sacks splashed with tar or pitch, arranged in a loose string along the waterfront with pitch trails connecting the several sacks. The sacks contain moldy grain. If we shot a fire arrow into one of those sacks it would set fire to the watetfront."

Tom's warning comes a moment before the pirate does just that-- fires a burning arrow into one of the sacks.
The pirate's arrow lights that bag. Smoking grain spills out.


Now Damien kicks one of the sacks.
WHOOSH...SPLASH!
That second, smoldering sack flies through the air , impelled by Damien's kick, and lands in the bay.
It bursts, leaving an oily, smoky patch on the water.

The trail of pitch leading into the looted warehouse to the east has been cut.
But the flames streak out along the chain to the west, racing down the waterfront.

Alfonse runs to get ahead of the burning line.

The others?

ewancummins wrote:http://www.dundjinni.com/forums/uploads ... kScene.jpg

Pirate vessel now moving off/partly burning is the big ship on the far right.

Sacks are strung across the waterfront from the warehouse to near the far left.

(Anyone who looks about can see that many storefronts, the cargo crane, stalls, planked sections, gangways, ropes, etc are all liable to burning. The pirates seem to have arranged the sacks and laid the tarry stuff for maximum arson effect! The good news is that a fair amount of the wharf itself is masonry and thus resistant to fire. That doesn't mean a big fire won't do serious damage-- and possibly injure or kill the party. And if the supporting structure of even some sections contains wood...)

Fild jumps out of the sack, sword in hand and takes a look at the situation.
"Oh, come on!" He exhales looking towards the heavens and shaking his fist angrily "That isn't funny you twisted deity! It's not funny!"

Titus sees Alphones running after the line of flame, and then noticed the line of flame moving towards the sacks.

"Oh"

Titus runs after Alphones.

Fild assumes (probably erroneously) that his allies can stop the fire so he tries to stop the pirates from resuming trying to START the fire, or stop the fires from damaging their ship. He grabs the Arquebus, takes aim and fires. The bullet ricochets above the head of a pirate before grazing his arm.

THE WATERFRONT

Gertie assists Fild with providing covering fire, while the others knock all the burning sacks into the water. And Damien kicks in the unburnt ones for good measure.
Sweating, breathing hard, smeared with soot, the party stands victorious over the piratical arson attempt.

But that shipload of pirates has only drifted a little way out into the bay.
And that crew have also won their own fire-fight, reducing the blaze to a smoldering coil of rope. A charred sail flaps from the cog's main mast.
Pirates heft weapons and turn toward the wharf. One thrusts his sword toward the party and shouts,
"Let's go kill the traitors!"
Obscene screams and an angry roar rises from the bucanneers on deck.

But then an officer cries for the men to hoist a fresh sail; they hasten to obey.



One of Povero's war galleys, driven by oars, cuts into view from the open bay to the east, closing in fast.

The pirates get the new sail up. But not in time. The war galley gets close enough for its archers in the forecastle to shoot at any pirate in the rigging or on the cog's open deck.

A little closer and marines with lifted shields rises into view over the gunwales. At this distance, the party can hear the rhythmic chant of the Poveran rowers pushing the sleek galley through the bay.

The pirates scramble for cover as arrows strike the sail, rigging, and deck. A pirate screams, impaled, and pitches into the water.

Poveran galley, sail down and oars in, fighting men not shown:


http://militaryhistory.x10.mx/shippictu ... y%20XV.jpg

Fild Cheers. "OK, we won! Let's get changed now before the watch chops us to pieces or hangs us without bothering to ask the Savelles or Hoblins about our identity. And let's try to get to those pirates we left in the back."
He waits for Alfonse to give the directions.

Alfonse looks the boat over, trying to spot someone doing a critical job, and closes his eyes briefly to chant words of magic.

In a moment, a bolt of magical energy streaks through the air from the pier to the ship, striking home on the crewman.

Job done, he nods in satisfaction and slaps Fild on the shoulder. "Good work, everybody. Let's go see if we can find any stragglers who may have been left behind."

Adam wrote:Alfonse looks the boat over, trying to spot someone doing a critical job, and closes his eyes briefly to chant words of magic.

In a moment, a bolt of magical energy streaks through the air from the pier to the ship, striking home on the crewman.

Job done, he nods in satisfaction and slaps Fild on the shoulder. "Good work, everybody. Let's go see if we can find any stragglers who may have been left behind."

The crewman, one of the huddle of pirates stamping out the last of the smoking rope, gasps and pitches flat on the deck.

His mates scramble for cover.


GERTIE and Damien take cover behind an overturned stall along the waterfront. Damien lights fire arrows and GERTIE shoots them at the pirate cog's big white sail as quickly as she can draw and loose.
Some arrows splash into the bay, some hit the vessel but fail to set blazes.
The hasty volley does send a couple of freebooters in the bow of the cog jumping for cover.


Now the pirate crew labor to get the big square sail of their tubby vessel (a grain ship without fighting platforms) angled into the most favorable wind, one that will move them further out into the bay and away from both the oncoming war galley and the fire-archer on the waterfront.

GERTIE slips the bow over her shoulder and crawls toward the others, Damien crab-walking behind her.
They stop when the get close to the others, preferably with the corner or archway of a building to protect them from any returning missile fire coming from the cog.

She pulls off her bandanna disguise.
"You said time to go?"
She looks at Alfonse.

Damien discards the coat he nabbed from a raider.
"I'm right behind you, Signore Alfonse!"

He nods out towards the Proveran vessel sailing into the harbor. "I think they can handle it from here. Let's go see if they need our help elsewhere."

He moves under cover to head away from the docks.