Fellowship of the Dice

"Ye lads, t'night'll be a trial against a ship o' ghosts and dead men. Let not their fear strike yer hearts for we'll prevail as greatly as we did during any battle 'fore us. Those who fall'll be remembered with great revereance and anyone who doesn't run'll be able to call herself a slayer o' the haunted," Aya shouts as she sees the red lantern. She's standing on the sterncastle with her rapier drawn already and her pistol loaded. The petite captain tries to rouse as much passion for the fight ahead as she can. "Whalebone Pilk and his Deathknell have had their time on the sea and it'll be us who're goin' to make them sink beneath the waves for a last time! No dead or undead'll be standin' on the deck o' Besmara's Banshee when the sun rises! None of us'll join them at the bottom of the sea! After tonight even the ghosts'll fear the crew of the Banshee and be the one t' haunt their nightmares!"

Gragol raises his urgrosh high in the air and begins hollering, trying to get everyone rattled up. "Undead 'ave already been defeat'd before. We'll put 'em there for good this time!"

Rod joins in. "Now's the time to show yer men and women of the Banshee, not some weakling landlubber cowards. Fight!"

Maggie joins in with the rallying, trying to calm the crew's worries and get them ready to fight. "Besmara's not gonna let ye fall to a bunch o' dead whalers," she calls out. "She's the Pirate Queen and we're her pirates. Let's show her what that means!"

Toruk silent readies himself as the fog appears. He casts a protective spell on himself for armor and moves to stand with others looking out over the rail. "Are we going to try and outrun them or do we turn and sail at them?"

"I do not know what would be best." He looks out at the other ship trying to gauge its speed. "Is there a chance at outrunning it?"

"Outrunning the ship of a ghost seems a bit futile. Besides, everyone's ready for this now, better put the boiling blood to use," Aya replies with a grin. She puts a hand on the wheel and pulls to bring the ship around. "Aye, get ready t' haunt 'em! We'll face 'em head on and not run like a cowardly bunch o' Chelish!"

"We ought to keep in front of 'em. Let 'em come to us. Gives us time to prepare." Gragol says as he works the rigging and watches the other ship approach.

Maggie is at the wheel, and hears the captain's order, "We could try and out run her, but I like your plan better but Gragol has a point, let's not give her our broad side. Make her come to us!" So the sails are dropped, the men are armed, and everyone is ready for the fight of their lives against an undead crew.

The Deathnell has a large whaling ballista mounted on its bow and it fires once on you as it closes. The massive harpoon punches into your hull damaging the stern of your ship.

Through it all the bell on that other ship keeps ringing louder and louder and louder until the Deathknell comes up your port side. As it comes up alongside you the grappling lines from both ships are thrown across the gap and the Deathknell and the Banshee are pulled together! You watch in horror, but not too much surprise, as the enemy sailors turn out to be rotting corpses, zombies of the deep briny sea! Captain Pilk puts himself safely behind the line of them ringing that damn bell.

The ships crash together and cries and shouts go up from both sides as your crew engages the zombies up and down the deck. Rod leads the charge...

Rod suddenly has an idea. He is not sure if it is brilliant or foolish, but he is a swashbuckler and that ends his inner conflict. He clicks his boots together and, one hand holding his cutlass and the other holding his tricorn on his head, he moves, tumbles, rolls and jumps towards the enemy captain, dodging left and right to evade slashes and stabs. He skids to a halt next to the captain, raises his cutlass and ... slashes at the ropes holding the bell!