Serafen described Fort Deadlight as a well defended armed island fortress. I was a former Valian fortification now occupied by Captain Aeldys, a ruthless Pirate Captain who was the nominal leader of a rebel faction of Principi. Benweth was one of her lieutenants. The place was considered impossible to assault, and suicidal to approach. So in order to approach and dock they would need to be flying Principi colors. And there was only one way to quickly acquire those. Take them from an existing pirate ship.
That would not be easy, as the Defiant was still nowhere near up to snuff in the Deadfire arms race. So they would have to leverage the advantages they did have. A Shiphunter. Surprise. And magic. Sarafen lead them to a suitable target – a journeyman pirate Captain with more pride than sense. Who notably did *not* have any magical support. Sapphire took advantage of this vulnerability, shrouding the vessel in shadow so that it could not see their approach and blow them away in closing.
Once they were close, they swung aboard and the battle was on!
Unfortunately, Journeyman Captain or not this was a larger and tougher crew than the boarding party they had fought earlier – with more experience leveraging the advantage of their numbers. Before long Blur found herself surrounded, and took a nasty shot to the back.
Ace dove in to take off the heat.
While Grim charged his way through to reach her.
After winning the battle they quickly got her back to the Defiant.
Fortunately Star was able to stabilize her, and together with Old Engram (now acting Ship’s Surgeon) they eventually had her back on her feet. They had won their flag, but not without cost.
They held their breaths as the approached the fortress, but the strategy worked. They were allowed to dock without issue.
Once in the fort they made their way to the tavern looking for information. Ace wondered if they should perhaps be a bit more circumspect as they strode in. But Grim merely told him, “To blend in with pirates, act like a pirate. ‘Circumspect’ is not in the vocabulary”.
Inside they met an Orlan woman named Syri the Siren, who was apparently a former girlfriend of Serafen. They had not parted on good terms. In fact, it seemed he had shipped out without telling her he was leaving at all – after having made a lot of promises. Serafen looked to Grim to help him with an excuse, but Grim saw little reason to intervene. Serafen could suffer his own consequences.
Once she had given Serafen a piece of her mind, Syri was quite willing to talk with the rest of them. She told them that Benweth was a brutal scoundrel who was *not* popular with most of the pirates here. Known as “Brutal Ben”, even Aeldys was ambivalent about him. Syri said Benweth had many, many enemies, and they would do well to make use of them. She suggested they meet with a Captain Lamond – currently working hard labor in the forge.
The forge was guarded, but there appeared to be an in. It was more lightly guarded at night, and a group of pirates nearby were being drunk and rowdy. The guard to the entry was irritated and repeatedly came down to try to quiet them down. So Grim elected to stir them up even further instead – with a drinking contest!
Once that had provoked the guard enough to get into an argument with the pirates, he snuck in to talk to Captain Lamond. Lamond had a big grudge against Benweth. He had been indentured and his crew had been locked up after he had decked Benweth’s first mate in an argument. He said that Benweth was largely keeping himself barricaded in Aeldys’ quarters with heavy guard – being aware of how many enemies he had made for himself. This would make it difficult for Grim to get at him. But Lamond had a plan to both hit Benweth where it hurts and draw him out for Grim. Steal his ship!
If they could free Lamond’s crew from prison, and eliminate Benweth’s henchmen guarding his ship in a secret dock below the fortress, then the trap would be set. They need only ring the harbor bell at the top of the Western Battlement. That would be the signal for Lamond and his crew to sail off with the ship. The unplanned toll would draw out Benweth to see what was happening. Then Grim could deal with him as he liked.
Ace made quick work freeing the captive crew as the others provided a distraction for the guards.
Then they snuck down to the hidden dock. As predicted, there were guards everywhere.
Ace got into position, taking note of snipers and a wizard preparing to quickly end threats..
Sapphire kicked things off by engulfing the pirates in a chilling fog – disorienting them and hampering their vision and movemen
And the others took on any pirates that stumbled out of the fog. With Blur doing a *little* better at sticking close so that Grim could help if she got swarmed.
Before long the dock was secured. They snuck up to the Western battlement, and rung the bell as agreed. Sure enough Benweth came charging out of his lair just in time to see his prized ship sailing away!
At which point Grim introduced himself. They had a brief discussion as Benweth made threats and stalled waiting for his men to arrive. Grim cool-ly informed him that no backup would be arriving. Ever. And that they would be settling things personally…
When Benweth lay beaten Grim stared down at him for a while, and then horrified the others by hefting the man overhead and tossing him off the battlement onto the rocks below.
Star was incensed. “Why did you do that?! He was beaten You had already won! You didn’t need to murder him!”
Grim calmly heard her out. And then responded. “Remember all we know of this man. Who he was. What he has always done. And then ask yourself if he would have let things end if we simply walked away. I do not leave enemies at my back to plan their vengeance. That was his error.“
And to that, she had no answer. That did not make her any happier
Having achieved their objective, they returned to the Defiant. Grim thought it best they not be present when Aeldys returned. Serafen told them that Furrante would want to receive them at his own stronghold in Dunnage. But Grim thought there would be time for that later. For now he wanted to reach the Huana capital of Neketaka, earn enough to get the Defiant kitted out well enough to defend itself, and figure out the political lay of the land before making any more enemies. Or friends. The Gods… would have to be patient.
Author’s Notes:
This is a heavy concentration on what is simply one early quest line in the game, but it allowed me to focus on experimenting with lighting and styles in a variety of settings to establish how I do things going forward.
And the story is not too different from how our first boarding action actually went. Out-manned and out-gunned, and Blur charging ahead berserk didn’t help matters. Grim was the only one who didn’t come out of that fight with serious injury – largely because I underestimated how defensively strong his build would be early. He just will *not* go down.
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