OoC thread

[Selina Parcellus]

Gonna be honest here. Not sure how to approach this. They have ranged magic (ligthning bolts even) and we have ballistae that may or may not be accurate. Not really sure what to do here.

[DM Vitkyng]

[OoC my opinion is to get some distance.. attacking them is foolish. negotiating with intelligent undead never ends well. We are on a ship built for speed. Let's use it or try to.]

[GM Marvel]

It's true that your ship is faster and might be able to outrun them.  But whether that will be before they blast you to bits is the real question.  

Simon can tell you that the Thantii would actually be offended to be called ab-dead (Undead).  As a whole they aren't known to be an evil race.  And they do consider themselves to be a race who has about as much in common with other undead as a human has with an Orc.  Also this world tends to turn many tropes upside down.  Like at least to the Thantii (and many others), Vampirs are generally considered vagrants and junkies.  So their attitudes and motivations, even toward other undead, are not the same as your typical undead found on other worlds.

Another option you have is you could have the ship try to outrun them and then when there's enough distance between you you all could jump ship and activate the shoots.  Hopefully the Thantii would keep chasing the ship or be unable to catch you before you land.  You would reach terminal velocity in 2 rounds (12 seconds) which is much faster than their ship could follow.

[Selina Parcellus]

...why on Earth would Selina suggest they all blow up the ship that was supposed to take them there and back? At the very least she would be endangering the lives of the sailors, if not the soldiers as well. That's a very selfish and CE thing to do.

[GM Marvel]

...why on Earth would Selina suggest they all blow up the ship that was supposed to take them there and back?  At the very least she would be endangering the lives of the sailors, if not the soldiers as well.  That's a very selfish and CE thing to do.

Wut? I didn't suggest you blow up the ship.  I said you could try to outrun them but they might be able to blow up the ship before you got out of range.  It's up to you if you want to take that chance.  

If you were to try to jump ship the plan would be that the ship would return for you once they shook the Thantii off their tail.  The hope would be that the Thantii wouldn't pursue the ship into New Crobuzon air space.  One Thantii ship against the New Crobuzon airforce are not odds the Thantii would want to take on.

[Betimi]

I would agree, though perhaps not CE, it definitely would not be Good or Lawful. If our ship dove would that increase speed?

[GM Marvel]

I would agree, though perhaps not CE, it definitely would not be Good or Lawful.  If our ship dove would that increase speed?

Again, I never said to blow up the ship.  I was just describing a possible consiquence of trying to outrun them and not escaping in time.  But that's even presuming they want to destroy you.  They have yet to fire a single canon at the ship.  They damaged your mast, but did not destroy it, as a warning and to slow your ship down.  The Thantii may not even want to destroy the ship.

Presumably if you dive the your speed would increase, as would theirs.

[Selina Parcellus]

All this does nothing to help me decide.  They're essentially holding the ship's crew hostage.

Do we know how far away they are?

[GM Marvel]

Betimi will go out on deck , bow i hand to assess the sutuation.  As soon as the pirate vessel comes in range she will start shooting, choosing tp target any creatures/people she can see that appear to be figures of authority first.  At the extreme range [10 range increments for a bow = 1000ft ; -20 to hit] she knows she is unlikely to hit anything, but there is that slim chance..

The vessel was around 1000' away when Betimi was firing at the Captain and hit the bow of the ship with her arrow.  It's been a few minutes since then so you can guess the ships are about 700' away from each other.  Ballista have a range increment of 120' so it will have a -8 to hit if you start firing now.  Of course, if you start firing you would be giving the Thantii a reason to defend themselves.

FYI: I do have a player waiting to begin play.  The group just has to get into a position where you can be introduced to them.

[Selina Parcellus]

700'???  And they still got the mast with a lightning bolt?  Then it must be something else because lightning bolt is a 120' line effect.