Fanaxia: The Naval Battle Continues

Marshall, Leira, and Geddy had assaulted the flagship and killed Lord Bulbeck; they then managed -- barely -- to stabilize Marshall. They loot Bulbeck for 10,500 GP and a Circlet of Persuasion and a +3 rapier. Getting Marshall back is not easy, but once he’s back he manages to heal everybody. They steer the final ship towards one of its large companions, and then teleport to the capital ship that’s moving to confront Lord Crowe’s fleet. The Styre Navy (suborned by Bulbeck and Richlieu) is also moving in towards their flank.

They teleport to one of the two navy capital ships, arriving with Leira on the mast and Marshall and Geddy flying to either side of her. Even better, they seem to have arrived unseen. There are a couple of wizards, probably followers of Vecna; there are also some rogues, some archers, a cleric, and an orc who’s probably a barbarian. Geddy casts Dominate Person on the captain; the rogues look up and notice him. Leira drops her last Sunburst on the other Navy capital ship, blinding them and doing Bad Things to everyone on deck. She is also visible now.

Everybody shoots at Leira; she gets hit by three crossbow bolts for relatively minimal damage. The wizards on the fore- and aft decks cast lesser globes of invulnerability; their companions hit Leira with Magic Missiles. Marshall drops to the aft deck and taps the central wizard with Slay Living. He dies, taking the Lesser Globe of Invulnerability with him. Geddy sets the captain to ram this boat into the other Navy Capital Ship. Geddy casts Mass Suggestion and suggests that everyone should Abandon Ship. Everyone amidship fails, and one of them move to the edge but hesitates -- he’s in heavy armor. One of the rogues shoots Leira with a bow.

The orc barbarian charges Marshall and hits him fairly hard. Most of the lesser combatant leap off the center of the boat. The wizard casts blindness on Marshall, but fails to affect him. The two wizards on the foredeck fire lightning bolts up at Leira and Geddy, hitting Leira worse than Geddy -- and damaging the map. Leira collapses;  Geddy is injured.

Marshall attacks the barbarian, and Geddy swoops down on his Ebony Fly to get Leira. Leira is unconscious and possibly drowning.

The Orc decides to attack Marshall some more, Power Attacking but missing completely. The guy in the armor decides not to jump off the boat. The wizards Magic Missile Marshall. Marshall drops Divine Favor and Divine Power on himself, just in time for the Orc to attack and drop his falchion in the attempt. The cleric moves towards the aft deck, and another rogue moves up. The wizard is still in play; he tries Tasha’s Hideous Laughter on Marshall Instead but fails. The two wizards up front throw Magic Missiles, and Marshall decides to heal himself before proceeding. Geddy heals Leira. Leira: “You’re not Sacha!”

Leira drops a Freezing Sphere on the foredeck, catching two wizards and a rogue. They turn to ice, fall over, and shatter.

The Orc bends down to pick up his sword and Marshall smacks him; he straightens up and hits Marshall in return. More enemies move in on Marshall; the cleric throws a Flame Strike at Leira and Geddy on the ebony fly. Geddy zags them out of the way, avoiding the worst of the damage. The wizard by Marshall tags him with a Magic Missile. Marshall looks at all the people around him and drops Mass Inflict Serious. A bunch of the lesser combatants simply die; everyone else takes damage, but survives. Geddy makes himself, Leira, and the fly invisible, and heads up and away. Leira is annoyed; she casts Disintegrate at the cleric. He’s just gone.

The rogue tumbles behind Marshall and attacks but misses; the orc hits once for fairly solid damage. The archer who remains alone on the foredeck stops and considers his options. The wizard drops magic missile. Marshall shifts position and tags the orc three times and the wizard once, dropping them both. Geddy puts a crossbow bolt in the rogue and kills him. He puts another bolt in the archer up front, and misses with his third shot. Leira drops the archer with a Magic Missile.

Meanwhile, the first line of Bulbeck’s boats reaches Crowe’s fleet and the battle is joined. The boat that we turned is crashing through the center of the fleet, and the other boats are scattering to avoid collisions. Meanwhile, a bunch of the small pinnaces move in on Alexej and Tavros. A pair of Caravels move in behind them. The crab takes a bit of damage from the caravels. 

A Pinnace attacks the capital ship and does some damage.The advantage appears momentarily with Crowe’s forces, but advantage in a situation like this is temporary. The Caravels and Dromonds behind them begin exchanging fire. Over in the navy forces, the dead capital ship crashes into the other capital ship, and one of the caravels goes down. Tavros and Alexej are still taking out boats with the crab: one and then another.

So: Leira, Marshall, and Geddy have now crashed their large boat into the other large boat. A significant portion of the crew on deck was destroyed by Leira’s sunburst; the remaining six are injured and possibly blind and all but one of them are blind. Then the boats collided, and the blind ones suddenly had to make balance checks; four of them fall down.

A cleric-looking fellow stands up, and cures his own blindness. We’ve done some curing on the way over. Marshall crosses to the new boat and lands on the foredeck next to the orc (who is blind).  One of the rogues feels his way over to the barrel by the mast and starts splashing water on his eyes. One of the rogues, the one who can see, takes a shot at Geddy and promptly jams his crossbow. The dwarf staggers to his feet, looking undamaged but cursing (“Och! I’m bland and I havnae e’en been drinkin!”) but one of the rogues is looking badly injured. Geddy finishes him with a crossbow bolt. Leira drops Disintegrate on the cleric, who manages some resistance but still take damage from it. The blind orc climbs to his feet, and Marshall swings his scythe into him from behind. The orc turns around and attacks, but misses. On the aft deck, a cleric in black Vecna robes stands up and cures his own blindness. This guy is another cleric; and Marshall and Geddy notice the signal mirrors and realize that this is the command ship for the navy. The priest who unblinded himself last time drops a flame strike on the fly, doing a bit of damage.

Marshall cuts down the orc.

The two clerics move to regroup on the aft deck. The Vecna cleric removes the blindness from the Dwarf.

Geddy dominates the lesser priest and sends him over to signal the fleet to withdraw. He calls down to Marshall so Marshall knows not to kill the guy. Leira drops a Freezing Sphere on the aft deck, killing one guy, damaging the dwarf, and injuring the cleric somewhat less.

The Vecna cleric tries a Flame Strike of his own, and Geddy again steers them away from the worst of it. Marshall crosses to the back of the boat. The Dwarf rages and then Power Attacks Marshall, hitting twice. Leira drops Freezing Sphere and takes out the Vecna cleric, while Marshall finishes the dwarf with a critical hit.