Chapter 6 - Session 9

The Curtain Falls, the Ships Collide

Events and Actions

Hours had passed since the previous clash with The Fortnum — long enough for the crew to repair The Medallion's spar, cracked but not broken in that exchange — when the session opened with the party still planning their boarding action, aware The Fortnum was closing from windward with the wind in its favor. While the crew waited on deck, Noddy was seen eating a raw scrap of the harpooned pigeon in front of several onlookers — most of the bird having been ruined by the harpoon that killed it — a small oddity that drew uneasy looks but no real concern. Rather than shout across the deck himself, Knick Nab sent Tolly, the ship's boy, to fetch Keyes — the former Fortnum crewman now sailing with The Medallion — for questioning. Keyes confirmed that Randolph was being held in the sail storeroom on the Orlop deck — one level below the gun deck — under two guards, with all his luggage, including his carrier pigeons. He described The Fortnum's strength: ten carronades to a side plus two long rifled bow guns, and roughly thirty Marines, somewhat reduced from the previous engagement. The powder room was deep below, served by its own stair up to the gun deck.

A tactical vote settled the question of timing. Rather than evading The Fortnum for five hours until nightfall, the party chose to engage immediately. Cosimo preferred waiting until night when his illusions would be more effective, and Riu agreed — resting and conserving magic was worth the delay. Werner abstained. Knick Nab voted to go now, as did De Torres, the master of sail, and Leopold, the quartermaster, who were keen on prize money and confident after the previous encounter. Three to two, they would fight in daylight. Before the fog could rise, The Fortnum opened fire from extreme range — two shots that sailed wide, but a clear sign the enemy was closing fast and forcing the party's hand.

The plan was shaped around Cosimo. As The Fortnum closed from windward, Cosimo cast a massive wall of fog — a semicircle of static illusion anchored to the bow, roughly 320 feet in radius, set to last fifty minutes. It rose from the water in a vast curtain, and the crew — who had heard about Cosimo's powers but not fully reckoned with their scale — fell silent before breaking into cheers. Knick Nab led three cheers for the "master of fog," and the crew, who had privately thought the title a joke, finally understood why he carried it. The Fortnum vanished into it.

With The Fortnum blind, Knick Nab maneuvered The Medallion to optimal sailing angle. Noddy, aloft, sent Pocket flying some 350 feet above the fog bank — well beyond the height a seagull would normally attempt — to serve as a living sensor, relaying the Fortnum's movements to the deck below. Cosimo then cast a second spell: Fantasm Two, producing a fully moving, visible duplicate of The Medallion — complete with a phantom likeness of Knick Nab at the helm — and positioning it just ahead of the real ship. When he then cancelled the fog — it fell like a curtain, condensing back into the sea in an instant — The Fortnum's crew found themselves looking at two identical vessels.

Before The Fortnum could fire, Cosimo sealed its gun ports with a static illusion of thick black smoke, forcing the gunners half-blind. The Fortnum fired anyway: its cannons went straight through the illusory ship, the shot passing harmlessly through empty air where wood should have been. The real Medallion's three guns returned fire aimed at the rigging: both shots found the upper sails, tearing them badly and compromising The Fortnum's ability to hold speed.

Knick Nab, at the wheel, tried something the crew had never attempted before: ordering The Medallion directly to rise a fathom in the water, hoping to make it easier to board over The Fortnum's taller rail. The ship did not respond, staying at its normal draft. Mani took position at the chains — the point of the hull that would come closest alongside an enemy ship — and laid out grapples, boarding pikes, belaying pins, and four pistols in preparation. Boarding netting was raised along The Medallion's rails to block any counter-boarders, with a single gap left near the port chains for their own boarding party to cross. Riu used a directed spell to deliver a grenade into the cluster of marines and their officer massed at The Fortnum's bow — four devastating shrapnel criticals. Two were killed outright or mortally wounded; two more were knocked down and severely injured. Werner fired the ship's arbalest with a grapple, embedding it near the base of The Fortnum's foremast — though the recoiling line snagged his own foot as it paid out.

Knick Nab drove The Medallion deliberately alongside The Fortnum. The hulls ground together with tremendous force: The Fortnum's hull buckled and bent below the waterline, beginning to take on water, and two upper spars of the main mast came down entangled in The Medallion's rigging. The Medallion took minor structural damage to the port bow but fared considerably better in the exchange. Then, as the ships continued moving in opposite directions, the arbalest rope — still embedded in the foremast — drew taut and snapped loose, whipping back across The Fortnum's deck. Four marines and their officer were caught by it: one killed instantly with a broken neck, one dying from internal heart damage, one flung to the deck with a badly sprung wrist and left reeling in terror, one knocked down by a bruising blow to the shoulder, and their officer struck with a torn muscle in his upper leg.

On the Medallion's side of the rail, five Fortnum Marines had managed to get shots off before the chaos fully engulfed them. Four missed. The fifth did not: Gus, one of the party's Marines stationed near the chains, took a musket ball through the bicep that shattered the bone. He went down screaming, arm useless and bleeding.

With the enemy still reeling from the whipped arbalest rope, Cosimo enhanced his own skill and cast a stun cloud onto The Fortnum's port side, targeting the ship's drummer boy directly. The cloud billowed outward like tear gas, catching the drummer, the lieutenant commanding the Marines, and several of the men still staggering from the rope's blow, stunning and half-blinding all of them at once.

Noddy cast Resilient Invisibility upon himself and winked out of sight, then opened a dimensional portal in the side of The Fortnum — a 3-foot-square aperture straddling the boundary between the gun deck and the Orlop deck, giving access to both from The Medallion's side. The ships were still in motion and the window was brief. Mani went first, leaping from the chains and tumbling through. Leela went second and simply walked through, then reached back and pulled the next person after her. Guy, a brawny southerner recruited to the crew as a boarder for exactly this kind of work, came through on her arm. Knick Nab dove through last with an extraordinary burst of acrobatics, and brought Riu with him.

The portal closed. The ships continued past one another and began to separate — The Fortnum's crew made no attempt to grapple in return, apparently having learned from the previous encounter that closing with The Medallion invited more chaos than advantage. The boarding party — Mani, Leela, Guy, Knick Nab, and Riu — was inside The Fortnum, cut off from The Medallion, in the near-total darkness of the Orlop deck: no gun ports let in daylight here, and only thin cracks between the planks and a distant hatch grating offered enough light to make out shapes. The headroom was barely five feet, forcing everyone into a stooping crouch and close-quarters fighting. The session ended there.

NPCs & Creatures

Randolph the Chronicler — confirmed prisoner aboard The Fortnum, held in the sail storeroom on the Orlop deck under two guards, with his luggage and pigeons.
Keyes — crew member of The Medallion, formerly of The Fortnum. Provided detailed intelligence on Randolph's location, The Fortnum's armament, crew complement, Marine strength, and Orlop deck layout.
Leela — boarded The Fortnum with the party as part of the boarding group.
Guy — one of The Medallion's crew, recruited specifically for boarding actions. Brawny and cheerful, a southerner with a booming laugh; a former farmer who discovered a natural talent for fighting and is proficient with a boarding axe. Part of the boarding party.
Gus — one of The Medallion's Marines, stationed at the chains. Struck by a Fortnum musket ball: the bone in his bicep was shattered, arm useless, bleeding.
Pocket — Noddy's seagull familiar. Flew above the fog bank to serve as a high-altitude sensor, relaying The Fortnum's position and movements to the party below.
Tolly — The Medallion's young ship's boy. Sent by Knick Nab to fetch Keyes for questioning rather than being hailed directly.

Locations

The Medallion — the party's ship. Sustained minor structural damage to the port bow during the collision, and lost a grapple and rope to The Fortnum's mast.
The Fortnum — the Northern Navy ship holding Randolph the Chronicler. After the engagement: hull buckled and leaking below the waterline, two upper spars of the main mast lost, upper sails torn, significant Marine casualties along both rails and at the bow.

Conflicts

Naval engagement — The Medallion vs. The Fortnum:
The Fortnum's cannons fired blind through Cosimo's illusory duplicate ship, doing no damage to The Medallion.
The Medallion's three guns struck The Fortnum's rigging — two critical hits, both tearing upper sails and compromising the ship's sailing speed.
Riu's grenade, delivered via a directed spell, struck the Fortnum's bow marines with four shrapnel criticals. Two killed (one immediately, one dying). Two others knocked down, severely wounded.
Five Fortnum Marines returned fire at The Medallion's rail: four missed; one shot hit Gus (broken bicep, arm useless, stunned and bleeding).
Ship collision: The Fortnum's hull badly buckled below the waterline; two main mast spars entangled and came down; The Medallion took minor port bow damage.
Werner's arbalest grapple rope snapped as ships separated, whipping across The Fortnum's deck — four marines hit (one dead with broken neck, one dying from heart damage, one with a sprung wrist and left shaken with fear, one knocked down with a shoulder blow) plus their officer, struck with a torn thigh muscle.
Cosimo's stun cloud (tier cloud) rolled across The Fortnum's port side like tear gas, engulfing the drummer, several marines, and the group already reeling from the arbalest rope's whip — stunning and blinding many of them at once.

Learnings and Discussions

Randolph is on the Orlop deck in the sail storeroom, guarded by two sentries at all times, with all his possessions including his carrier pigeons.
The Fortnum's complement and armament as confirmed by Keyes: approximately 250 crew, roughly 30 Marines (reduced), 10 carronades per side and 2 long guns at the bow; powder room in the lowest decks, with a dedicated stair running directly up to the gun deck.
Without the priests, The Fortnum can no longer magically detect or track The Medallion. Arnim and Margot, who could see through illusions and locate the party, are confirmed gone.
The Orlop deck where Randolph is held is below the gun deck with no gun ports — it will be nearly pitch dark for anyone entering from outside, with only lantern light if any is lit.
The fear effect from The Medallion's skulls was noted to apply to all who can see them — crew and enemy alike — though The Medallion's own crew have grown accustomed to it.
Conditions at the time of engagement: mid-afternoon, wind from windward, weather slightly overcast with the glass dropping — Noddy predicted cloudy skies and an intermittently hidden quarter moon tonight.
Riu spoke of Randolph as "my master" while explaining why he wanted to go below decks himself rather than assist Cosimo's illusion from a distance — a personal connection to the chronicler that hasn't yet been explained.
Secondary ways to cripple The Fortnum were discussed at length before the engagement: flooding part of the hull, disabling the rudder or its below-deck steering cables, breaking the mainmast, or setting fire to the sail room. All were set aside in favor of the boarding plan, since Randolph's safety came first, but remain options if a future fight calls for them.
Handsome Gulliver Gold, Cosimo's illusory ally, was floated as an intimidation tactic for a future boarding action — appearing on the enemy deck after a tier cloud softened it up — though it was not summoned this session.
The Medallion's own senses were recapped before the engagement: it perceives out to roughly 25 nautical miles, though it cannot distinguish a person from a shark or other creature at that range, and it detects magic at the same distance — except, curiously, the Diads a couple of officers wear around their necks, one of them the Diad originally recovered on Spider Island, Leela's home island, which the ship's senses cannot pick up at all.
The Medallion's water magic is limited to raising itself in the water; it has no other magical actions of its own.
Orders to The Medallion must be given by whoever holds the wheel, and only by speaking directly to the skull mounted on the mainmast — the ship's sole command interface.

Items Gained

None.

Items Lost

Grapple and rope from the ship's arbalest — the grapple was embedded in The Fortnum's foremast and the rope snapped from The Medallion's side during the collision.