Re: Piracy on the Seven Skies (Sky Pirates IC Thread)

[jaguargamma]

Frisky's voice echoes from somewhere below deck.

"If the owner has any brains at all, he'll have some kind of escort. Bunch of smaller ships or a full frigate, depending on how much he cares to spend on security."

Then she's topside, looking over the railing.

"We casting off, yet?"

[Espresso]

"I know we're getting a 2000 bit reward, but if we see something particularly shiny sitting around in the cargo, or, say, on the crew's person... how's that going to be dealt with?"

"Yes, this much has been predicted by the client. They are willing to part with anything on the persons of the crew or are loose items. Anything boxed in the cargo hold must stay. Essentially, the standard rules of contracted looting."

"Do you know if the Hail Mary will have an escort and do you know who the captain of the ship is? Anything you could tell us about them would be helpful."

Frisky's voice echoes from somewhere below deck.
"If the owner has any brains at all, he'll have some kind of escort. Bunch of smaller ships or a full frigate, depending on how much he cares to spend on security."

The 'below-deck' - if the cramped underside of the small sloop can even be called that - is basically what's left of the hull with the deck in place. An average pony can barely walk through with their heads hunched over, and that's without considering the piles of additional munitions and supplies stacked up haphazardly around.

Obscurity nods at Frisky's statement. "We are unsure of the exact numbers - our scouts have had limited success in investigating the ship, but we suspect at least a light escort - perhaps a corvette, or a couple of war sloops - guarding the merchant ship. However, we have receive no reports of anything that significantly outmatches the Huntress in the area."

"We casting off, yet?"

"Simmer down, lass." Vapor scolds, lightly bopping the enthusiastic unicorn on the nose. "The ship still needs to warm up. In the meantime..." She goes to the prow of the airship and kicks a plank over the side, bridging the short gap between the ship and the pier. "There's not much to familiarize yourself with, but get comfy anyway. It's a couple hour's flight away. Talk. Strategize. Whatever. My job's just to drive."

[AleneShazam]

Trigger trots onboard, daintily navigating the plank and taking a look around the ship. It really isn't much - Trigger's seen better, but at the same time, Trigger's also seen worse. She can work with this. Immediately, she gravitates towards the flame cannons, taking a careful look at the cannons. They're pretty standard issue, on the old side of things.

She tuts at the state of the cannons, and sets to work polishing them up and correcting the various issues. The casing has to go - it's making the hot air stagnate inside the workings of the cannon and making it prone to overheating. With a few pipes, she can set up an additional cooling system to keep the cannons regulated. Maybe even tinker with the aperture and calibrate the cannon to fire single-shot fireballs instead of a stream...

As she does so, she mentions offhandedly to her temporary crew mates, "As you might see, I am an engineer. Firearms expert, in particular. I make things explode. Sometimes myself, but moving on..." She mumbles the last part, before continuing to work on the cannons. "One good look at the target ship and I'll be able to tell you where to hit it, and how hard you'll need to hit to get it to blow up."

[Faege]

Vulcan follows suit, stepping onto the deck of the ship and surveying it. He takes equal interest in the flamethrowers as Trigger, though when she makes it abundantly obvious her expertise is greater than Vulcan's, he steps back, allowing her to do her work.

"Vulcan," He says gruffly. "I kill things. With fire."

He clicks his metal claws together for emphasis, a flickering flame springing up on the tip of his claw.

[Senshuken]

Apollo sighed a little to himself as he decided to walk up the gangplank rather then triggering his jetpack; He didn't feel the need to show off like some others did. However, he did decide to speak up in defense of one of his earlier questions by answering back "The ship is traveling along a well established trading route. It isn't that strange for the overconfident or the cheap to cut corners and forgo spending the additional funds to hire an escort. No harm in asking if we had any additional intel through..."

Glancing at the gun mare and the newly named Vulcan, the penguin griffon looked between the two with professional intent was he cleared his throat. "Apollo. I'm here to make sure we get the job done and get paid with a minimum of fuss. That said, I would prefer it if we could try and avoid turning this into a bloodbath. We are not the bloody black sky after all." There was a tone of distaste at mentioning the black sky, but Apollo was quick to return to a more professional manner once more. Turning towards their pilot and the middle... stallion? he decided to quickly ask "So do we have any information on who the captain of the Hail Mary is? Knowing who's in charge of the ship would give us a good idea of how they would respond and thus allow us to figure out the best approach."

[jaguargamma]

"The ship is traveling along a well established trading route. It isn't that strange for the overconfident or the cheap to cut corners and forgo spending the additional funds to hire an escort. No harm in asking if we had any additional intel through..."

"Didn't say it was strange. The ponies that file the paperwork on those incidents are regulars in the Canterlot bars. Get enough booze in them, and they'll complain about their job to anypony that'll listen. One of them said something about the Hail Mary, but I didn't get any details before he passed out, though. Had to find the contract to come here myself."

[Faege]

"That said, I would prefer it if we could try and avoid turning this into a bloodbath. We are not the bloody black sky after all."

"Amen to that." Vulcan mutters, flexing his claws. "I fight with honor."

He swings the tank around, nudges his mask down a bit and takes a long draw from his store of alcohol. "Though, anyone who stands in our way, I'll set them on fire. It's only fair."

[Paper Shadow]

"I'm sure none of us mind not killing the guys not wan'ing to kill us." comments Mori, "But y'know, they are gonna be wan'ing to kill us."

[AleneShazam]

"We could just sink the convoys before close quarters combat begins." Trigger comments offhandedly, as she pops out her swiss army leg to reveal a myriad of workshop tools stored within, advancing on the flame cannons. "With a little luck, and assuming they have safety precautions in place, that'll nonlethally incapacitate the bulk of the resistance."

[Espresso]

A tremor passes through the ship as the four engines positioned on both sides of the ship fully start up, producing a vortex of wind that propels the ship around. "She's good to go," Vapor reports, clambering back above deck. She glances at Trigger, and chuckles. "You ship junkies don't waste a moment to fiddle with things, do you?"

She walks over and leans over the railing. "We castin' off, Obscurity. Anything else to warn the recruits?"

Obscurity thinks for a moment, before shrugging. " I will be waiting here for good news. " They hesitate for a moment longer before adding, "May the skies guide your ventures."

The ship detaches from the dock, and drifts off into the sky, slowly at first before picking up speed. Before long it's speeding along the skyways, though all the Huntress' crew feels is a light but insistent wind due to the pegasus magic circulating around the ship's deck and hull.

The modifications to the ship's cannons go on at a steady pace, and there's plenty of opportunity for Trigger to wander off to do something else while the ship works itself out. What does the crew do to fill the few hour's free time until they reach the location where the Hail Mary is supposed to pass?

[AleneShazam]

Trigger passes the time by tinkering with various machines she finds on board as well as on her person. If she can she also makes idle chitchat with Vapor Trail, asking about her sailing experiences.

[Paper Shadow]

Mori stands idly with the others. "Don't s'pose any of you brought cards? Or need a check up?"

[Senshuken]

While the others went about their business of upgrading the weapons or standing around and talking, Apollo instead decided to make himself useful; Looking around the ship in order to find its charts, he carefully started to look over the trade route that they would be raiding while factoring in what he knew about their ship and the defenses of the target in order to try and come up with the best possible plan in order to take it that had the most chance of success without things turning into a complete and utter bloodbath (at least... that wasn't the intention. He recognized that what he planned to happen and what was going to happen could be two very different things) or damaging the cargo that their paycheck counted on being intact.

Actions and Dice Rolls:

[jaguargamma]

Frisky just barely contains the urge to squeal as the ship gets underway.

Without thinking, she spreads her wings and flutters onto the bow of the ship to watch the world fall away beneath it as it ascends.

[Faege]

"No cards on me," Vulcan says to Mori. "Though I've alcohol aplenty. Might be a bit strong for non-dragons, however."

He sizes up the batpony for a moment. "Check up. You're a doctor?" He sits down next to the batpony, and pulling down his mask, takes a long drink out of his alcohol tank. "I've literally just dragged myself out of what most thought would be my deathbed. Wouldn't hurt to get myself looked at by a ship's doctor."

[Paper Shadow]

The bat pony smiles. He digs his muzzle into his tattered satchel and whips out a magical crystal tied on thick string, swinging it above his head and rotating the makeshift necklace so the crystal is at the front. He then peers around the dragon's body, inspecting any injuries he finds. "So. Big, tough. Fights with honour. Looks like a shipwreck. You're Blood Sky, right? Did one of those blood hunts go wrong or something?"

(Heal Check: 12 (Roll) + 18 (Skill) = 30)

[Espresso]

Trigger passes the time by tinkering with various machines she finds on board as well as on her person. If she can she also makes idle chitchat with Vapor Trail, asking about her sailing experiences.

"I've been sailing the skies for years. Was a freelancer at first, but the pay wasn't as good, so I joined up with the Gold Sky." Vapor explains. "Usually I do shipping jobs. Smuggling, precious cargo, that kind of thing. I only really hunt if the going's rough... or if 2000 bits are on the line."

She chuckles, then peers at the fire cannons that Trigger is working on. "I won't profess to be the best engineer - I can fix problems as they come, but that's about it - but that looks to be some fine work you're doing."

While the others went about their business of upgrading the weapons or standing around and talking, Apollo instead decided to make himself useful; Looking around the ship in order to find its charts, he carefully started to look over the trade route that they would be raiding ... in order to try and come up with the best possible plan in order to take it that had the most chance of success without things turning into a complete and utter bloodbath or damaging the cargo...
Sense (Make a plan of attack): 3+9+5(Fk:Airship tactics)=17

The maps show the trade route is fairly straightforward, conforming to the various geographical features. The presence of the Everfree presents a definite no-fly zone that might be used to funnel the merchant ship. However, the other geographical features don't seem to factor in too prominently - the Whitetail woods is a bog standard forest, and the space between the forests and the mountain ranges are open fields with very little strategic value.

The bat pony smiles. He digs his muzzle into his tattered satchel and whips out a magical crystal tied on thick string, swinging it above his head and rotating the makeshift necklace so the crystal is at the front. He then peers around the dragon's body, inspecting any injuries he finds.
(Heal Check: 12 (Roll) + 18 (Skill) = 30)

It's obvious even from a glance that the drake has been through some harsh times. His wings are missing, cut off at the base; there are multiple deep scars on his chest, potentially cutting deep into his ribs; His forearms bear similar injuries, perhaps in trying to defend himself. His scales show clear signs of warping under intense heat, impressive considering the natural heat resistance of dragons. However, almost miraculously, despite all that, the drake seems to have made a near-full recovery and is fighting fit. There might be a few recurring kinks in the system now and then, but the drake is for the most part healthy.

[Senshuken]

Apollo frowned as he looked over the map again. The Everfree was... something of a mixed blessing in that while its presence would cause the Hail Mary to (hopefully) stick to the proper shipping lane rather then risking a shorter route, it also presented a very real risk to their whole operation. Namely, there was a serious chance that the Hail Mary might take flight and take its chances risking the mystically dangerous 'no fly zone' over the Everfree in an attempt to escape from being attacked... and that would require them to go after it in order to have any hope of recovering its cargo.

For a brief moment, he considered the possibility of having their ship pretend to be crippled and calling for help as a means of luring the Hail Mary in so that they could try and reduce the chance of it running away... but thinking about it in further thought quickly pointed out all the flaws in such an approach. This lane was to well traveled and to close to an established town for such a ploy to really be believable... and even then, the target was carrying expensive cargo; It likely wouldn't stop to help another ship out even if the situation was dire exactly because it wanted to avoid the risk of such a trap.

Looking over the map again with more of an eye for a position to launch an ambush from, Apollo's eye kept being drawn to Ghastly Gorge... but his frowned deepened. He didn't know how wide or deep the gorge was and thus if it was big enough for them to actually hide in safely for the Hail Mary to arrive...

With a small 'hmm' noise, he decided to take advantage of the fact that he wasn't alone on the ship to give a small shout "Anyone here familiar with Ghastly Gorge?! Never been there myself and I need more information on it."

Actions and Dice rolls:

[Faege]

"So. Big, tough. Fights with honour. Looks like a shipwreck. You're Blood Sky, right? Did one of those blood hunts go wrong or something?"

"Close, but not quite." Vulcan chuckles, taking another drink. "I used to sail with them, back in the day, but..."

He raises his blackened claw gauntlet, showing Mori the fire-patterned engravings on the metallic claw-tips. "I'm Brimstone, born and bred. Used to be a captain, actually. Had my own ship and everything - The Firefly. Was a beauty it was."

He takes a long draw from the tank, and smacks his lips. "But for now, I'm here, with this eccentric crew. Brings me back to my hatchling days, actually!" He laughs heartily, accidentally letting out a small sliver of fire from his maw with each dry, rattling laugh.

[AleneShazam]

"I pride myself on my knowledge of projectile weapons, big or small..." Trigger's mechanical eye whirrs as it zooms in to the inner workings of the cannon. "I'm just about done..."

She glances over to Apollo. "Ghastly Gorge? Ghastly Gorge... I've had a few flybys over it, but..."

Streetwise:

[Espresso]

She glances over to Apollo. "Ghastly Gorge? Ghastly Gorge... I've had a few flybys over it, but..."

Streetwise:

Trigger knows it's quite wide - the local quarray eel population have widened the stone cliffs enough that small ships can fit inside. Though risky (exactly because of the quarray eels), an ambush from inside the gorge would be entirely unexpected and thus, very effective.

Without thinking, she spreads her wings and flutters onto the bow of the ship to watch the world fall away beneath it as it ascends.

After a while, Vapor sets the ship on course and steps away from the helm, heading up to the bow and stopping next to Frisky. "Really takes your breath away, don't it?"

The wind blows Frisky's hair back, the cool winds biting but not too unpleasant. "It's your first hunt, innit? It's gotta be, with that kind of reaction."

"It's great and all, but I'd still hide those wings. Or your horn. Whatever." She glances at Frisky's wings. "Most pirates don't take kindly to alicorns. Crown or no Crown, it's a touchy subject. I personally don't care, as long as I get paid, but..." She shrugs.

[AleneShazam]

"Ghastly gorge is pretty large, as far as fissures go. Big enough for a small ship like this one to fit, but I wouldn't recommend it." Trigger steps closer to Apollo. "It's riddled with quarray eels, massive nasties that'll snap a ship like ours clean in half."

[Paper Shadow]

Mori whistles at the gauntlet. "Brimstone captain, ey? That's pretty old school. I'm sure you'll make pirates out of these two." He points towards the pony who looks like they've just jumped out of a pirate fairy tale and the griffin who was willing to pay back five bits. His hooves then retreat back to the dragon's arm, pointing out the deformed scales. "Brimstone would 'splain the heat warping on your scales too, playing with fire too hot even for you. Those chest scars run deep but you ain't dead so you'll be fine."

[jaguargamma]

Frisky looks at her wings, then folds them to her sides.

"That's only because they've only ever known one alicorn," she says. "We'd need at least five to form a proper reference pool. It won't include me, of course, since I'm really just a unicorn that ended up with pegasus wings after, um...mishandling a pegasus crystal. No ascension or coronation."

Her demeanor becomes serious. "Her Royal Highness went to excruciating lengths to determine that."

Then back to chipper. "So...d'ya have any plans for after we're done with this contract? Adventure? Pillaging? Treasure hunting?"

[Senshuken]

Apollo frowned as he got the intel that he required about the gorge, taking another look at the map as he tried to think of an alternative. Sadly, his tactical mind wasn't coming up with anything really amazing that didn't come with some degree of risk. "As dangerous as it might be to hide in the gorge... it seems like the only ambush position we can take that doesn't risk the Hail Mary trying to escape into the Everfree's airspace in a panic... because we'll have to go after it if we want to get paid and I would rather not disappearing off the face of the planet, never to be seen again."

Pointing out the bridge that seemed to span the gorge next to the forest, he decided to run the idea "If we hide under this bridge, we should be able to safely wait for the target to fly by before ambushing it from below without risk of being spotted... as well as prevent the ship from trying to flee into Everfree's airspace. We'll just have to try and deal with the eels if and when we encounter them."

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