Chapter 64: Trouble on the High Seas

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New Quest unlocked: “Trouble on the High Seas” — Resolve the conflict or escape.

● Rewards: +50 FE, +10 FE (Mirrors and/or Illusion), 5 exp in [Goddess], 3 exp credit to the most relevant sub-class used during the quest.

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The first thing Sammy noticed was they were not in sight of land anymore — it was all open sea. She had no good angles to see any better than the other men on board, and less than the captain. She checked the ships through her Mirror Sense, but she found no open mirrors. She got a slight feeling of a few stowed away.

Damn it. One measly use on the relic too…

Meanwhile, the ship was a swarming hive of activity... men preparing the ship’s artillery, soldiers getting ready with bows, nets being tied up to make boarding more difficult, and so on. Two men each crawled to the top of the crow’s nests — these were sailors handy with a bow. Meanwhile, the captain was looking out continuously from the back of the ship and asking Bast about his spells at the same time.

“What are the odds of outrunning?” Sammy asked Orswyth mentally.

“None. They’re just faster, and they’re gaining quickly. In sea terms, anyway. If we can damage their sails once they’re in range… then the odds begin to climb. But the odds of doing so aren’t great.”

“What is the range?”

“I think around 400 meters. The catapult will fire once before that. Rangefinding. Any other attacks are probably half that. Or worse, depending.”

Overhearing the captain speaking with Bast, he let out a curse with such speed and garbled language Sammy only caught f-bombs and something about ‘teets.’ It seemed like it was about his singular AoE spell… and its pathetically short range.

Great.

“When you get in range,” the captain continued, “try the main mast with that mother pokin’ Forcebolt. If ya can’t fucking hit it, try to punch a bloody hole or three in a fucking hull under the sea. Shiteaters might break off if she takes on water.”

“I will certainly, eh, bloody fucking try, Captain,” Bast answered. He reached into his pouch and pulled out a necklace of a simple white stone and put it on. Sammy could tell it was magical. Then he pulled out a piece of chalk and began making a pentagram circle on the raised platform that was the back of the deck, off to the side of the catapult.

Sammy considered her Illusion ability. Wanting input, she more or less thought aloud to Orswyth, “I have to consider the best time to use this. I can basically cover most of, almost all of the whole ship if you’re in the middle. 10 meters in every direction. I can’t hide the damn masts, though… they’re higher than my reach. The last thing I want is to be too late, but I can’t waste it either.”

“I think you have to save it, Your Majesty. Their likely goal is to board and take the ship. The captain is going to resist, obviously, so they’ll be aiming to kill most of us in the process if they can’t force a surrender. If both of them manage to hook us, we’d be doomed without support. We also don’t know their capabilities. They might be able to just see through. Even dispel. Best to ambush them with it at the key moment.”

Sammy took a deep, calming breath. “Right. Actually, it’s all the Illusion abilities. And my attack spell. I can’t just use them through a mirror. It’s all crammed into the relic-use time. Okay… you are going to buff the artillerist?”

“After the first shot. Then he’ll have his skills improved for what might actually score a hit. If we can even see in the dark… the moon is out, at least.”

“They have the advantage there too, don’t they?”

“If they’re Naugites, yes.”

Without any long-term buffs, there wasn’t a lot to do other than gnash her teeth and wait. Many of the marines were in the same boat. Distance had to close before anything happened.

She did have Minor Persistent Illusion (Object) which lasted 24 hours... and for whatever reason, to her surprise, it was some sort of exception to her need to ‘activate use’ through the relic, though she still had to work through the relic.

She dumped 6 FE (Illusion) on some things. Weapons — spears into staffs, thereby disguising their length and danger. Shortening the sword Bloodletter’s apparent length. Anyone thinking they dodged the tip would be in for a surprise. She made sure the wielders were immune, which was just a minor tweak.

She considered other trickery… false magic items, distractionary things, but it didn’t seem as efficient as something that would constantly screw with an enemy’s senses. It also only worked on liftable, discrete objects, and flat-out ‘full’ invisibility wasn’t allowed. It was exceptionally limited.

Sammy made sure her Followers had whatever mirrors were available handy. There were three decently-sized hand mirrors. Galynth’s plate armor and his shield were polished to perfection and usable.

Canmore’s prior shield was also an odd all-bronze round shield that Orswyth had arranged to be polished to a mirrored surface days ago. This was given to Elias, the burly soldier that was also her Follower.

Tashome also revealed two mirror pieces he had fashioned into ‘throwing disks’ while in Fobent. He did not keep them for himself, claiming he ‘wasn’t a great throw,’ instead giving them to Bamm, the scout, archer, and pretty much the best ranged expert on the ship. Sammy took note… A throwable mirror certainly had potential with her Mirror Maze ability, in addition to general intelligence potential.

The ships out in the distance on the water gradually came into view, multiple triangular sails speeding them along in their pursuit. One seemed a bit smaller than the other and increasingly was moving to the flank, probably so their approach would be in the same timeframe.

Finally, the first stone was hurled up in the air from the catapult with a tremendous racket. The stone came well short and splashed into the water. Before the artillerist could make adjustments, Orswyth cast his buff, appearing as if conducting in strange spellcraft. Bast nearby watched with a smirk.

“How does one become a priest, oh Goddess?” He asked her through the mental connection. “Fake spells make even more sense when cast by a wizard. A wizard calling on deific blessings, in the illusion of actual spells, is that not the height of amusement?”

Of course he’s going to screw around in a life-or-death scenario…

“It’s expensive to invest in it. Eventually, yes, I’ll make you one. You should be a Devout, though. Which provides more Faith Energy and worship benefits.”

“I should! More benefit to praising such a beauty as you? Why would I refuse, and how could I have lost all this precious time already?”

“Bast, would you cool it?! This is serious right now! Focus on staying alive for me, please.”

He only nodded his agreement, however amused.

From the first shot, the ships closed in quickly, visibility and apparent size increasing. White flags were still raised, perhaps calling for surrender. But catapult stones still launched up high as shouts came from the crew, most eyes watching anxiously as they came down…

“Short!” Yelled the captain, then he cursed in more mutters as the splashes could soon be seen just as he called them. “The flanker didn’t shoot a fucking stone! A pot. Helm, pitch to starboard!”

“Pot? What does that mean?!” Sammy queried Orswyth anxiously.

“The first was probably just filled with oil, but the following likely will be filled with alchemical fire, Your Majesty. Or at least, the next few will be, at the least. Bad news on a direct hit, especially if it hits the masts and sails.”

At that point, she made sure to check on the details of Icebolt.

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Icebolt (3 MP)

(Evocation) You fire a dart or bolt of potentially lethal freezing magic out from your hand straight at a target within (200 meters + 10 per Caster Level). You have +4/+3/+2/+1 to Effective Caster Levels within 10/25/50/100 meters, for accuracy purposes only.

The attack cannot be parried and ignores all non-magical armor as well as all [Physical Defense] modifiers. A successfully interjected non-magic shield will be damaged and the target’s arm suffers a wound at 2/3rds Lethality Grade, rounded down.

Lethality Grade is Effective Caster Level +1. Base level is [Wizard]. One additional class may add as normal, providing (level/3, rounded up) to the base class — this only includes certain special classes (Note: [Goddess] adds).

Any target wounded by Icebolt will suffer the malus [Chilled] for 2 minutes, which varies based on location. A standard torso hit reduces effectiveness at all actions.

The magical burst of Icebolt will extinguish any flames, or any magical flames of Effective Caster level equivalent or lower. You may cast Icebolt as a non-damaging spell for this purpose as well.

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Well, it might help. And it scales really well, thankfully. But I can’t use it except through the fucking relic…

With the ships closing in, another rock flew from the Strip out at their enemy. Just wide with a kerplunk into the ocean.

More exchanges. The white flags of the enemy ships came down. The captain kept calling the shots in the air. Sammy could just see them flying, and she could definitely see them landing. One rock wide right with a splash. Then a pot came up short again… and exploded in a fiery, oily cacophony, the substance and bluish flames not being doused on the water but persisting.

The crew had many curses and exclamations of fear or dread from the sight.

I thought it was supposed to be like neon green, though…

“Fucking bastard scum! Hope they sail right through their own shit!”

But it sadly did not seem likely… the angle would carry them both around it.

More catapult shots came down, more near misses and explosions of fire. “Stone in!” the captain called suddenly, and men looked up for the drop.

The rock came down near the middle of the ship, but just too much to one side. It crashed into the railing, smashing it and sending splinters men dived away from, then the stone simply ricocheted into the water. Men at the ballistae soon called out that the nearby weapons were undamaged.

The Strip’s own catapult shot arced up. “It’s on!” one of the sailors said triumphantly. But it ricocheted with no apparent damage from a graze on the side of the hull. Everyone cussed up a storm for the shit luck. She heard someone mutter about ‘jinxin’ it.’

No one was more disappointed than the artillerist. He tossed his hat down in frustration. “We won’t get another bloody shot at the range they’re inside!”

But Sammy was more worried about the flanker’s unshot pot. Everyone else had been close…

She touched the mind of the archer Bamm, already prepping like all the rest to begin firing on the enemy as they closed. Bast meanwhile was casting his Pentagram protection spell, the circle he drew pulsing with energy. “Bamm… you have good eyes?”

He froze for a moment in shock to be communicated with. “Hello? Yes? You can hear?”

“Yes! Listen! Look for the last shot. Have one of the disks r-”

“Pot away!” the captain called as the enemy ship launched.

“Bamm! Throw the disk at the-”

“Pot in, take cover!” The captain literally hit the deck, also finding time to curse sorely.

“-pot!” Simultaneously, she dropped a REX buff on him. One she’d researched for such occasions as utilizing protected ranged specialists.

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Honed Concentration

Choose a type of particular physical or mental task that requires concentration — your Effective Level is increased by 1 for such tasks. In addition, such is your single-minded determination, you may ignore up to 2 levels of circumstantial penalties (or temporary circumstantial difficulty levels) affecting the task. Duration is 5 minutes.

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“Yes, ma’am.”

As the rest of the crew was taking cover, Bamm was staring upward, right at the barely seen blur of the clay vessel dropping down upon the ship. And he flung the mirror disk at it, the glint of moonlight and torches reflecting on its spinning form.

Sammy connected to the mirror surface, instantly feeling vertigo from the vision of a spinning world of darkness and light.

She quickly activated Reflect Force as the pot hit the mirror square on.

Above the ship, there was a flash like iridescent thunder, and a sound all found unique and haunting — the sound of great force striking a mirror… if the mirror refused to break. It was the bizarre howl of supernatural power, it was the sound of the Hidden Trickster snapping their fingers, ‘Gotcha!’

The pot right above the ship falling down seemed to rewind itself and fly upward like a meteor sucked back up into the sky. In a span of moments, it went along its prior arc to its source, and there it crashed down in a fiery blaze and cacophony right onto a crow’s nest, igniting the sails and raining down shards and oil and blue fire. Horrible screams just barely made their way across the distance.

Sammy threw a fist up from her throne. “Ha! Rejected, reflected! Suck it, pirates!”

Though they had stood spellbound, the crew of the Strip soon let out a riotous, virulent cheer of joy and victory, men jumping up and hugging each other, tossing their hats, yelling obscene taunts out at the burning ship and so on. One man even did jazz hands.

But not everyone had taken that moment to congratulate themselves prematurely. The captain, Orswyth, Bast, Bamm… they were looking out at the other ship still approaching.

A new flag was being raised. Black as the night with a crimson horn.

“Wraevaus,” the captain said, likely as quietly as he had ever spoken. “Wraith of the Sea. We’re all dead.”

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