(G 66 03/10/09 KT)

DAY 116 cont...

In the following battle there was a lot of action I did not witness, but having talked to
everyone else involved I will set out - as best I can - the sequence of events.

People on the Nixie and the Wyvern spot an incoming pirate vessel coming around a head land at
an impossibly high speed and raise the alarm.
Both captains decide to make sail as quickly as possible.
Moth and Shifty are attacked by lizardmen with spears as they follow the trail to the beach
but make short work of them. This means I 'leap frog' them though as I run past and fall victim
to ettercap webs.
Zan, on the Nixie and Meree on the Wyvern fire the first shots of the sea battle - ballista bolts
at extreme range, which both hit the enemy ship.
Next, Skald begins the 'battle of the tops' trading long range arrows with the pirates in the
rigging and crows nest opposite.
Back on the beach, Mr B helps me with the ettercaps and the rest of the party arrive. I cut myself
loose of the webs and run down to the beach where I wade into the water.
I get one last glimpse of arrows and ballista bolts flying through the closing gap of the ships
before diving under the waves and turning into a dolphin.
Acid arrows fired from the deck of the pirate ship strike Tulu and he falls from the rigging
and dies on the deck of the Wyvern.
Shlump arrives at the beach and the gnomes dismount from their trusty half-orc steed. With a
wicked gleam in her eyes Eriss fires off two massive long range fireballs that puts the pirate
ship into disarray.
Once Shifty and Moth arrive, Nobby casts waterwalk on everyone present.
The Nixie is now underway and begins to swing around to bring her ballista's to bare on the pirate
ship.
Falah is shot and falls to the deck mortally wounded, but Meree takes a moment to bandage her
wounds.
Kelech, manning (goblining?) the rear ballista gets a direct hit on a spell caster on the enemy
deck and hurling him fifteen feet back pins him to the mast.
Solomon is hit by a magic missile and falls from the rigging but survives.
A fireball spell is cast from the pirate ship amongst the Wyverns masts and injures a few people
and sets some of the ropes and sails ablaze. Wabenga is hit by the blast, falls from the rigging
and dies.
By this time I am beside the pirate ship, and although I get battered a bit by its high speed passage
I manage to cast a Wood Shape spell on the hull and open up a 5ft square hole.
Rather like a checked horse the ship grinds slowly to a halt so that a ramming that could have sunk
the Wyvern turns into nothing more than a bump.
Lirith, in the rigging, has been shooting arrows at the enemy, and is nearly knocked down by an
exploding ballista bolt.
Meree is hit by several arrows, but returns a rapid reply of fire.
Avner, in a fit of panic, leaps over the rear of the Wyvern and hangs dangling from a rope over
the rudder for the rest of the battle. When we finally retrieved him it appeared he had soiled his
britches.
Shifty got off a long shot with his crossbow as he made his way over the waves to the Wyvern and
killed a sailor with a trident who had leapt onto our deck.
Lirith continued to shoot from the rigging and kills two more pirates.
The captain abandons her attempt to get the Wyvern underway and joins the battle with her crossbow.
Meree continues to pour an incredible torrent of arrows at the decks, slaying several pirates,
until she is hit by an acid arrow and sorely injured retreats below deck to be healed by Urol.
Solomon is again hit and falls, but sadly this time he dies.
I summon a crocodile onto the pirate ship and not long after that, a wolf.
The Nixie is now baring down on the enemy and proceeds to pour on the fire - ballista bolts and
magic missiles from Leamay.
Shlump is the first of us to set foot on the enemy deck, climbing over the side from the water
but he is brought down by arrows from the few remaining survivors.
Moth, who had lingered a while on shore to be healed by Nobby now arrives and kills one of the
enemy casters with a crossbow bolt.
With slight reservations considering how it went last time I tried, I leap onto the enemy deck
and on landing turn back into human form and call for the two remaining pirates to surrender.
They say they are willing to parley so I quickly stabilise Shlump, but the female pirate tries
to stab me and misses so I return the favour by slashing her across the face with my scimitar.
Eris, who has just arrived burns the other pirate to a cinder with a Combust spell. He appears
much more willing to surrender after that. The female leaps over the side never to be seen
again.
Myself, Eris and Moth hold the enemy deck! Shifty arrives inexplicably from the deck of the
Wyvern when the fighting is finally over and virtually pushes us aside so he can begin looting
the bodies.

Lirith quickly went up onto the crows nest to check on Skald and found him in a pool of blood
and very very close to death. She managed to bandage him up and yelled for someone to bring
up Nobby. (Later, talking to him about it, he was sure that somehow he had 'cheated fate'.
I think he was extremely lucky to have survived for that long considering how much blood
was in the cross nest so who knows?)

I realise the ship is sinking and go to rescue any prisoners that may be below decks and indeed
find a half elf and set him free. Eris goes into a cabin and persuades a pirate bard to
surrender. We find two pirates who are also not dead.

We grab as much as possible before the ship sinks and then get the Wyvern a little more ship
shape. It is a long night.

DAY 117

My first job for this morning, and not something I was really looking forward too, was to
turn into a squid and go and retrieve the anchor chains. Those idiots are also calling down
to me 'Look for treasure!', 'Look for pearls!' as if I am doing nothing more than go into
town from the pie shop and they want me to bring them back two ounces of tobacco.
I don't think anyone realises how dangerous it is down there, or how odd and unpleasant it
is to be spend a morning as such an strange creature.