Introduction: A Tale Of Two Plants

[TetNak]

"I think, my German friend, we should worry about naming the ship a bit later." Blackstone secures his rifle at his side, ready to run forward to get a better vantage and shooting spot against the other ship.

[3rd-I]

Sinclair's observations through the spyglass confirm his initial reaction. About 200 yards upstream and 400 yards from the shore, a small rowboat packed with perhaps a dozen men is determinedly making its way in the direction of the clipper. Payne kneels, bringing his rifle up to his shoulder to stare through its large clumsy brass scope. The glint of sunlight on steel can be clearly seen and the boat's mixed crew appear to be armed with a variety of crude cudgels, boarding hatchets and muskets. He pans round to view the clipper. Its small skeleton crew are calmly going about their business and seem unaware of the impeding danger. Unable to make out the ship's bell he turns back to the rowboat, and picks out a target. He spots a European looking man standing at the prow of the boat, telescope held to his eye: a promising target. He calmly takes aim.

'œGood God man! Are you sure?' asks the Colonel of Sinclair, aghast. He hurriedly snatches the telescope from him, and brings it to his eye. After a few moments he lowers the scope and returns it to the surgeon. 'œYou're right Sir! That's a boarding party and no mistake. Brigands think they can half inch my precious clipper do they? Have at them Payne!'

At the Colonel's order the Irish sharpshooter pulls the trigger. It's a tough shot at long range, the low sun flares off the lens of his scope, and the high sides of the moving row boat obscure his man. The doghead clatters into pan, igniting the prime, but then nothing! The musket's charge fails to ignite.

'œBlast!' exclaims the Colonel, irritated. 'œWhat a time for a hang fire!'

He looks around for a moment, then spots one of his company's own rowboats pulled up at the shore near the jetty. 'œThere!' he shouts, pointing to it. He runs down to the shore, and beckons to the group of six coolies who have paused their labour to watch the events unfold. He barks a few brief words in Bengali and shakes his coin purse in their direction. The coolies spur into action and clamber aboard the boat grabbing the oars.

Bengali

"A Rupee for each of you if you can row to that clipper before those brigands!"

'œCome on, come on!' he shouts to the group gesturing for them to join in, and clearly slipping back into his old military mentality. 'œAll aboard! We'll teach those blagards a lesson!'

Maladhar bursts back out of the office towards the group, a well made long-rifle in hand. He passes it to Thurston. 'œYour firearm Sahib! Now go!'

OOC

Payne firing: Roll 14, Malfunction! (I wont bother listing all the factors for the shot since it misfired, but it was <=13 to hit, so unlucky mate!)

Tet, yes assume you have your weapons with you. Orvost, I fudged it so you can have your rifle. In hindsight yes, its an odd time to be fully armed but meh!

Everyone has their weapons and any light items (telescopes etc).

JW, please I really need your finished character sheet before I can go any further cause you'll need to start rolling for things soon!

[Trogdor]

As the colonel orders everyone to the boat, Sinclair draws his pistol and tries one last ploy to at least warn the clipper. The pistol doesn't have nearly the range to hit the raiders. But it does make a large, and very distinctive, noise. With luck, gunfire will get the skeleton crew to at least look around. And there was time to reload as the coolies rowed them to the ship. So, taking aim to somewhere that won't hit anyone, he fires off the weapon.

OOC

Fire into the river (or somewhere else that won't accidentally hit someone). I'm just looking to give a fine report that'll warn the ship that something's up. Sort of like a leeward gun.

Then follow the others to the row boat.

[Hayabusa]

Cursing, Payne puts a piece of leather from a pouch on the muzzle of his rifle and slings it on his back. Then he dashes to the rowboat, drawing his pistol and jumps aboard. Although he possibly isn't the strongest he would take a paddle and start rowing, if this makes them faster, while the pistol lies at his feet when there's no water inside. Anyway Payne already plans to get up, when they're close enough to the boarding party and try to avenge the misfire.

[TetNak]

Immediately, Blackstone turns and bolts for the ship. He follows the Colonel, and just before reaching the ship itself, Blackstone hoists his own rifle up and aims at the ship coming on fast. He sends a ball in that direction as he cocks back the hammer and pulls on the trigger.

Action

Shoot at the boarders!

[JohnnyWeird]

Starting mildly at the explosion of gunfire, Nair rushes to the boat the Colonel indicates, drawing a sizable knife from her pouch and gazing coolly at the boarders, evaluating them like a shopper at market.

[Orvost]

'œAusgezeichnet!' Exclaims Thurston.
'œMr. Maladhar, my good man, you are a marvel.' He says as he gently hefts the rifle. He gives the weapon a cursory examination to make sure it is in proper working order, then he turns and sprints to the boat. When he reaches the boat, he prepares to take a shot.

OOC

If Thurston is one of the last people there, he'll simply climb aboard and prepare a shot while others paddle. If he has time to prime and set before the boat is ready, he'll take a shot from shore.

[3rd-I]

The group hurriedly rush down to the river bank where the coolies are clumsily setting about making the boat ready to set out. They seem unfamiliar with the boat and clearly have little practice in such matters but are the only other employees left in the compund, all of the company's sailors having long left for the day.

Pausing by the jetty, both Thurston and Blackstone bring their weapons to bear and line up shots of their own, hoping for better luck than the Irishman. Squinting into the low sun, both marksmen reach the conclusion that the shot is hopeless at this range, and unlike Payne decide to save their shot until they can be made to tell.

Sinclair, however, raises his pistol to the air and fires off a shot. The noise echoes acrosss the river, the pistol releasing a gout of dense white smoke as it discharges. Without time to observe the clipper's crew's reaction he follows the others, bundling into the back of the row boat just as Maladhar finishes unlooping the mooring rope.

The coolies finally shove the boat clear of the bank with their oars, Maladhar assisting them with a final shove sending the craft out into the muddy coloured waters. He throws a brief salute in the direction of the Colonel with a stern look on his face.

"Good luck Sahib!" he yells after the boat.

Hilton straightens upright and returns the salute from the boat then turns his attention back to the clipper.

He mutters under his breath "Hold on my dear, we're coming for you!"

OOC

Ok, with Hayabusa's shot I forgot that the shots range is greater than 1/2D for a baker rifle (300 yards), therefore the Acc bonus for the shot is 0 and he actually needed <=6.

For Blackstone and Thurston the required hit no.'s were 1 and 2 respectively, factors as follows (I assumed that since the characters had plenty of time that you had a full 4 turns of aiming. In future please state how long you are going to spend aiming):

Lighting (low sun) -1, Cover (sides of boat) -2, Range (<750 yards) -15, Speed (4 yards/sec) -1, Aim (+3), Careful Loading +1.

Since the effective skill is <3 a roll is not allowed. Since my last post was a little misleading I've let you hold your shots for later. Once closer, the range penatly is less and you get to use the +7 Acc bonus (when inside 1/2D range) and the shot will be much easier

For Sinclair's shot I rolled to check if the weapon went off.

Roll 10 vs Malf 14, ok!

Thats the end of the introduction. Everyone please move to the new "Act 1" thread, which I will start later tonight. Thanks!