Bloody Pirates

Waking up form a good night sleep, I pack my things and get ready for the trip. Yesterday we decided to travel to Donner Keep, which means we’ll be traveling some distance by sea. I’d rather keep my feet on sturdy ground, but this is a necessary evil.
 
Once everybody is ready, we head out in search of a ship that can take us to Dasgoul, our first stop on the trip. After some searching, we find a ship called ‘The Second Best’. Valstrax is able to book us passage, and we might even make some money doing it! The ship captain is worried about the pirate rumours going around. So, since Valstrax is a registered adventurer, she figured we could protect the ship during the voyage. If we do a good job, we’ll earn enough money for the trip and then some!
 
When we get on board, we introduce ourselves to the captain and her first mate. Their own names are Jenny Harken and Red Bertram. The ship is manned by thirty people, and while on the trip we’re expected to carry our own weight. Shouldn’t be too difficult.
 
A little while out of the harbour of Slowbel, we all start to find our spots on the ship. Skrik is being the lookout in the crow’s nest. I think he’s doing the job with a bit too much excitement, since he’s pointing out everything he sees. Much to the annoyance of the crew. Janey is helping the crew with her mage hand as much as possible. Voron decided to hide under one of the stairs on deck so that he could avoid seeing the sea as much as possible. Valstrax is staying out of the way of the crew by hanging on his new ‘hammock’ rope. I tried to find a job below deck but, to no luck. Shortly after that I started to feel sick, so I spent most of my time hanging over the railing.
 
Later that day some creatures are spotted in the water to the port side of the ship. They start to climb onto the ship. I can’t see them yet since I’m still hanging over the railing on the starboard side. The others are able to take care of them quite well though, most of the creatures get hit right back into the water when their heads pop up above the railing. The one that did make it up onto the deck, ran right into the grasp of Valstrax. Which didn’t end well for it. Suddenly I notice another creature on my side of the ship. It was able to get onto the deck really quickly, probably because of its much bulkier form than the others. I tried to hold him in place with the powers granted to me, but it was able to break free. The others arrived soon after to do some serious damage, I tried to get a hit in but I’m just too sick. The creature jumps into the water but I’m able to hit him with a spell just before it disappears. His corpse floats back to the surface. Janey is able to tie a rope around one of its feet using her mage hand. We pull the creature back on board to have a better look. Their tools seem primitive, they were probably hunting for food. Valstrax has already started butchering the two that lie on the deck. As always, he plans on cooking them into a dish. Speaking about food, back to the railing I go.
 
It’s getting dark and I’m still hanging over the railing, will this ever end? Skrik shows up with a bowl of stew and smells absolutely delicious, I’ve got to try it! It tastes absolutely amazing! Skrik tells me Valstrax made this from the creatures we killed earlier. They were humanoid, but this tastes so good! I guess this isn’t the worst thing... At least my stomach seems to be calming down, I think I can get some sleep but I’ll bring a bucket with me just in case. I say good night to Voron under the stairs and Valstrax on his rope. When I get to the bunkbeds, I see Janey and Skrik reading in two of the beds. I had hoped to get some work done for the dagger, but I’m just too tired.
 
In the morning, my sea sickness seems to have finally cleared! I get up to get breakfast with the rest. It’s good to get some solid food in me again, but Skrik seemed to have a little accident during breakfast. He almost chocked on something, luckily Valstrax was able to save him. His technique was a little unorthodox though. He put his whole hand down Skrik’s thought get the piece out, that must’ve hurt! We get back to helping the crew however we can. I decide to scrub the deck. It’s only reasonable seeing as I was so sick yesterday.
 
Later that day, a ship is spotted on the horizon. It seems to be heading towards us! It could just be a coincidence but a little later it just seems to get closer. Janey decides to shoot off some spells to tell the other ship to back off, but it doesn’t seem to work, they’re still towards us. We decide this is too suspicious and we prepare to shoot at them. The ship has two weapons on it, a ballista and a mangonel. The mangonel has the longest range, so it will have to do for now. Skrik will be aiming and shooting the mangonel while I will be loading it. The quartermaster will help us operate it.
 
The wind is acting very strange, it seems to be changing direction every few minutes. I hope that doesn’t mean there’s a storm coming, I don’t see anything on the horizon at least. The other ship doesn’t seem to be impacted by the wind at all, there’s something strange about that ship.
 
Eventually the ship gets into range and we start shooting boulders at it, the other ship returns fire. Skrik comes up with a great idea, we could coat the boulder in oil and light it while it flies to the other ship, that should do quite some damage! Hopefully their sails will catch fire so that we can escape. We get a direct hit with a flaming boulder on the sails, but they don’t light up. These sails must be enhanced by some kind of magic, that would explain why it can sail while ignoring the wind. We try to escape from the ship, but the wind just isn’t in our favour. The pirate ship slowly comes closer and closer. Valstrax starts shooting the ballista as soon as they get into range of it. At this range we can also see that the ship also has a mangonel and ballista, we should really destroy those before they do too much damage. Voron pops up and casts a spell on the pirate ship’s deck, spawning a lot of thorns, that should make it more difficult for them. Janey also shoots off some spells once they’re in range, but most of the time the ship is just too far away. We’re able to destroy their mangonel and bridge, so they can’t steer anymore. Sadly, they’re able to destroy our bridge too, it seems we’re not getting away. The ship is now only 120 feet away from us and closing, looks like we’re about the boarded!