GOD GAMES

“Take Cover!” [Merchant Captain] Morris warns.

Not a moment after, several cannonballs impact the hull of the hauler class Imperity. After each impact, the number on the side of his vision decreases rapidly.

Hull Integrity

1121/2173 Mana

+1.7 Mana regeneration per second.

Hull Integrity

8372173 Mana

+1.7 Mana regeneration per second.

Hull Integrity

215/2173 Mana

+1.7 Mana regeneration per second.

Morris grimaces at the damage. The Imperity can withstand one more volley before his ship's hull won’t be able to withstand the attacks. He needs to get away.

“Tack right. Aim for the masts!’

The crew of the Imperity quickly follow his command. His ship swerves right and the eight canons of his portside lock in on the approaching destroyer.

“Hold!” He raises a hand and studies the ship.

Anadasta (Five-Mast Destroyer)

Max Speed: 14 knots

Construction: Wood

Modifications: Thick Hull

Hull Integrity: 2771/3117 Mana

A Thick Hull greatly improves hull integrity at the cost of internal storage. It’s a modification seen primarily on military designs. The fact that a [Pirate Captain] is in possession of such a ship is extremely rare and disconcerning to behold. Such vessels are usually scrapped instead of sold on the open market.

Two masts. If he can just take out two masts, the Anadasta would be slowed enough for the Imperity to get away. Otherwise, the next volley will drain his hull integrity and open his ship up to real damage. At that point, surrender is the only option.

With hand held ready, he watches the Anadasta start turning to its other broadside. As soon as the Anadasta’s bo w faces his ships broadside. He lowers his arm and yells.

“FIRE!”

Eight cannons roar from his ship. The projectiles travel the distance, aiming at the Anadasta’s masts. But, his hopes are somewhat drowned as the [Pirate Captain] orders his ship to ascend. The Anadasta rises right before his cannonballs make contact. To Morris’s dismay, four balls impact Anadasta’s hull, two completely miss, and only two make it on the deck. Of those two, one of them actually rips into a mast.

He watches, elated, as one of the five masts aboard the enemy vessel crashes down on the deck.

With a mast down, he calls up the enemy ship's information again.

Anadasta (Four-Mast Destroyer)

Max Speed: 13 knots

Construction: Wood

Modifications: Thick Hull

Hull Integrity: 2771/3117 Mana

The Anadasta’s lost another knot of speed with that strike. Considering the Imperity travels at 13 knots, getting away and out of cannon-range before his ship takes too much damage won’t be possible.

Swallowing his growing spit, he watches as the Anadasta continues turning.

“Tack right and take cover. Prepare for impact.”

Imperity turns so that his stern is now facing the Anadasta’s broadside. If he’s lucky, his hull integrity will withstand the impacts and give him an opening to try to take out another mast.

He hears the roar of a distance cannon and quickly huddles down. He hears an impact, and then the roar of several more cannons.

From the side of Morris’s eye, he watches as twelve projectiles careen twenty feet to the right of his ship.

Confused, he looks back at the Anadasta and watches as another mast falls.

“[Captain]! ship to our left,” A member of his crew warns.

Looking left, he indeed finds a distant ship. From a brief glance, the ship looks to be of frigate class. But not your usual frigate. The first thing he notices is that the ships cannons are very large and extend out of the ships gunports. The next thing he notices is the shiny metal plating throughout the ship hull. Lastly, some structure he can’t properly make out is settled directly atop the ship.

As he goggles the frigate, one of the ships cannons fire with such force that the frigate tilts the opposite side. A second later, the ball impacts the Anadasta with enough force to slightly nudge the ship.

Then he hears another shot from the cannon followed by an impact. Then another. And another. And another. A third mast falls on the ship's deck.

“[Captain], what are your orders?” His [First Mate] yells.

Breaking out of his fugue, he realizes the frigate is giving him an opportunity to escape.

“Full speed ahead! We’re retreating from the Anadasta!”

_____________________________________________________

“[Captain]! The Imperity is getting away!” the [First Mate] warns.

“Fuck the Imperity,” [Pirate Captain] Galdon Forceward curses. His experienced glare is focussed on the distant vessel outranging his cannons.

With a thought, he calls up the enemy ship.

Timbergrove (Three-Mast Cored Frigate)

Max Speed: 10 knots

Construction: Wood

Modifications: Plated Hull, Enlarged Gun Port, Installed Ballistae.

Hull Integrity: 1233/1233 Mana

“Madness.” he whispers louder than usual. “Those are cruiser armaments. What insane idiot installs such weapons on a frigate.”

“Sir?”

Another explosion rockets his ship and another mast falls.

Cursing his indecision, he calls up his own ship.

Anadasta (Two-Mast Destroyer)

Max Speed: 11 knots

Construction: Wood

Modifications: Thick Hull

Hull Integrity: 2613/3117 Mana

To his surprise, the damage to his hull integrity is minor. Though the cannon has a long range, the speed at which they are shot is lacking in sustained damage.

At this point, he has two options. Retreat out of enemy range, or hunt the enemy cored frigate down.

“Is the Imperity fully retreating?”

“They are, [Captain]. They’ll be out of cannon range soon enough.”

Galdon grins.

“Good. Drop excess weight and full speed towards the Timbergrove. Be ready to board.”

__________________________________________________________________

“Myers, this is stupid. What’s the point of having badass cannons if we can only fire one of them at a time.” A puffy cute cat whines atop an aged man’s shoulder.

“Firing more than one risks tipping the timbergrove over.” Myers explains.

On the gundeck, one of the cannons fire. The ship tilts the opposite direction, only for Myers to manipulate the top and side masts to force the Timbergrove back into a neutral state.

“If we add more weight, think we could fire two?” the cat asks.

“Possibly, but this ship is already quite heavy and slow because of the armored plating and cannons. More weight could make it impossible for the ship to reach higher islands. A better option is to apply dampening runes to the cannons.”

The cat waves its paw while rolling its eyes. “Right, just magic the problem away… except when you can't, because anyone who can install dampening runes on Buxon designed cannons isn’t going to be living in a [Pirate] infested city at the corner of the world.”

The next cannon goes off.

The old man sighs. “Yes, I’ll admit I made a mistake. I forget that Buxon cannons are far more powerful than what’s normally available. But, you don’t have to find someone to install the dampening runes. You should be able to obtain the runes and have Emma learn them. She’ll level from it.”

The cat sighs. . “Yea, yea. Next big town we stop at we’ll try to find the runes. In the meantime.” He raises a paw towards the [Pirate] ship. “How long is it going to take- oh shit, they’re coming at us.”

Both cat and old man stare in the distance as the Anadasta is rushing at them.

“They’re faster than us. They’ll catch up.” Myers warns.

Right after his warning, another cannon shot from the Timbergrove causes the ship to tilt. This cannonball hits dead center on the final standing mast of the Anadasta.

“And now we’re equal in speed.”

The old man shakes his head. “I’m rather surprised how accurate those shots are. Are you sure he doesn't have several dozen levels as a [cannoneer]?”

“Yea, Cillian’s a weirdo. Who’d have thought being an experienced gun-nut lets you shoot cannons at pinpoint accuracy.”

“Gun-nut?”

“Someone with an obsession with firearms… actually, I think his obsession is with weaponry in general.”

Myers nods. “I’ve met the types. Constantly polishing and collecting various weapons. They tend to make great combatants as well.” The old man points at the incoming ship.

“Should we make a retreat now? They won’t be able to catch us if we leave now.”

The cat looks at Myers as though the man’s gone crazy.

“Why would we retreat? We’ve got them exactly where we want them. All we need to do now is board.”

Myers groans. “Are you planning on boarding every ship we come by? Is the idea of obtaining treasure so enticing that you'd waste time and effort that could be better spent going to our destination? The tower is only two days away.”

The cat grins. “I need to level. Also, I remember when the first time I wanted to board a ship, you thought I was going to get myself and my crew killed.”

“That's before I realized you can transform into a damn Fenrimorph.” The old man shakes his head. “Fine, we’ll set to board. I doubt the pirates are going to attack us if we give them the option of boarding.” The ship swerves from its position and heads directly towards the Anadasta.

“Perfect. I’ll go grab the crew.”

The cat hops off Myers' shoulder and rushes down into the depths of the Timbergroves gundeck. When the cat arrives, he finds the rest of the crew to be present. Boriss, the burly Russian, is busy loading the cannons. Irmgard and Emma are manipulating the valves that move the cannon while Cillian, resident drunkard, is in charge of aiming and firing.

Finally, the last and most important member of the crew is Clay. The child of seven is following Boriss with a towel to wipe the man's sweat from his brow.

“Everyone,” the cat interrupts all present. “The enemy wishes to surrender their loot after a bit of combat.”

“We’re boarding already?” Cillian asks with a pout. “I’ve barely even fired the cannon.”

“The hell are you looking sad for? The last time we boarded a [Pirate] ship, we got a gun and a bunch of weapons and armor.”

Cillian feels the side of his hip where the three cylinder magnum is located.

Boriss arrives with a towel in hand. “Comrade Cillian, is good exercise. We fight. We win. Then you drink, yes?”

“Alcohol!” the Scot smiles. “They probably have some on their ship.” He gives a glare at Irmgard. “I’m sure what they have is better than the piss you brought.”

The tall blonde raises an eyebrow. “I bought that piss because a certain Scot drinks so much that we’d have run out already if I bought the expensive stuff.”

“I only drank a wee bit more than anyone else.” Cillian counters.

Irmgard continues staring. “You go through five bottles a day.”

“It’s a normal amount.”

“I bought eighty bottles.”

“Far too little if you ask me.”

“We only have eight left.”

Cillian blinks. He looks at the cat. “We need to board that ship.”

“I wholeheartedly agree. Now, here's the plan. Cillian will stay on the ship with Myers. Clay is going to hide in the hold. Me, Boriss, Irgmard, and Emma are going to board the pirates.”

“I’m boarding too?” Emma asks.

The cat nods. “I know Irmgard’s been training you with the sword, but there is no better training than real battle.”

“I could die.”

“You’ll be fine if you wear your mothers armor.”

“But-”

“You’ll be fine.” Irmgard lays a hand on Emma’s shoulder. “You’ve taken to the sword better than most I’ve trained. Real combat will help your training take hold.”

The cat stretches. “Then it’s decided. Armor up and meet me on the deck. Boriss, don’t forget to grab my gauntlets.”

___________________________________________________________

As a level 42 [Deft Swordsman] and level 42 [Pirate Captain], Galdon Forceward is someone who has seen plenty of action throughout his life. He’d joined the military, the navy, and rose up until he’d become a proper [Ship Captain]. All within a decade. It was only civil war and the complete implosion of his kingdom which led him to the lucrative [Pirate] life thirty years ago.

So, at the age of fifty-four, Galdon is easily one of the more experienced [Captains] on the seas.

And of all those years, never ever had he been in a position where a frigate is rushing at him.

“What should we do, [Captain]? Think it’s a trap?” His [First Mate] asks while holding a spyglass to his eye.

Galdon scratches his long scruffy beard with a bulging right arm covered in glowing violet lines.

“Possibly, but unlikely. That ship doesn’t look like a [Nobles] vessel. It looks like some idiot modified a trading frigate with far too large cannons and a Ballistae.”

“The ship and equipment would sell high on the market.” The [First Mate] adds.

“Agreed. If they’re coming at us, then who are we not to accept them with open arms.”

The [First Mate] lowers the spyglass. “Are we going to soften them up, first?”

“No. We’d risk damaging the cannons and the ballistae. Just get the men ready to fight.”

“Aye, [Captain].”

___________________________________________________________