Raiya- Early Game

by Russell Wilbinski

  He looked to either side of the ship and was excited to see that curved firing arcs extended away from the ship on both side, showing exactly where he needed to be to target the other ship. He grinned and shook his head, happy that Raiya had so many little game mechanics that made life that much easier. Now he had indicators and felt much more confident in his ability to pilot the ship in combat.

  The two ships crashed through the waves, each angling to get into an optimal firing position without exposing the Typhoon to themany cannons bristling from the Rose. Skree felt his battle lust return, filling him with a need to do some damage. He saw a large swell rolling toward them and threw the wheel hard, turning the ship to broadside at the height of the swelling water. Explosions rang out as the cannons came into alignment, and dozens of ten-pound cannonballs crashed into the Golden Rose. The wails of dying men and women followed closely the sound of splintering wood.

  Although these people were attacking them, he still struggled with killing them. They were people and just like this crew; they were only doing what they needed to survive. Many of them would leave families without their fathers or mothers which is why captains paid recompense when crewmen died. Everyone on these ships knew danger and death were a likely part of the job, but it still didn’t make killing them feel any easier.

  The Typhoon coasted down the tail end of the swell, gaining speed as they passed in front of the Golden Rose. Skree continued pushing past, showing a smaller rear profile to the broadside of the Rose. The zips of cannonballs followed distant explosions, heavy steel flying overhead. One of them flew so close to Skree that he felt the pull of the air as it whistled past to bounce along the deck, shattering crates and barrels before rolling into the sea.

  “Excellent positioning Mister Skree.” Hawkins praised. “Bring us around quickly so the second group of cannons can fire on the aft.”

  Skree responded with a smile. He was already moving the ship in that direction and that was all the confirmation he needed to commit fully. The wheel spun wildly; the ship lurching heavily to the side, giving the crew of the Typhoon a near perfect firing arc. They rewarded his excellent positioning with a barrage of explosions and the Rose taking massive damage as the deadly projectiles tore through the side of her hull.

  “Woohoo!” Fenna screamed at the top of her lungs as smoke billowed from the Rose. “That is some mighty fine work. Now, it’s time to push the advantage.” She rang the bell three times, signaling the crew to load chain shot. “We need to take down the sails.”

  “Brace for fire!” Hawkins roared and took cover behind the bridge railing. Skree ducked behind the wheel but Fenna stood tall waving her sword and swaying back and forth with the motion of the ship.

  “I am coming for you Delavega!” she taunted the captain of the other ship. As if in response, the Rose came into alignment with the Typhoon and unleashed the full fury of her broadside as a wall of smoke erupted from the cannon ports. This time it was the Typhoon that suffered major damage as cannon balls ripped through the hull and the cannon rooms. Screams of agony erupted from below decks and Zuka cowered between Skree’s legs.

  When he stood and retook the wheel, he saw they had blown away a huge chunk, leaving him with only four of the six handles it normally had. He realized in that instant he had missed being turned into a pink mist by mere inches. He shuddered at the thought of being hit by one of the massive balls, refocusing and spinning the mangled wheel to bring them into a firing position. Steering the ship with a damaged wheel was much harder than he expected, leading to a large overcorrection that exposed their already damaged side to full broadside, blowing huge chunks out of the ship.

  “Skree!” Fenna yelled. “Get this boat turned around now!”

  He changed his hand position on the wheel, using the bottom as his new ten and two. He saw another wave inbound and turned the Typhoon to catch the wind, racing ahead of the rolling sea. The Typhoon reached its max speed just as the wave met the aft of the ship, propelling it forward at an incredible speed, he turned away from the crest and rode the shoulder like a surfer on a massive wave. The Rose turned away, trying to limit its exposure to the Typhoons guns, but it was too late. The glowing lines of the firing arcs washed over the deck at a steep angle from above. Each of the gunners made rapid adjustments and fired the chain-shot projectiles.

  Chain shot has a unique sound as the smaller cannonballs twist and whirl around their center of gravity they whistle like a high-pitched squeal. To Skree’s ears, it sounds like a dozen Hawks descending on their prey in screeching triumph. The modified projectiles shredded the rigging and sails, smashing into the deck and skittering dangerously across the wooden surface. The bouncing projectiles clipped men and women as they flew wildly around the ship, severing limbs and dismembering torsos with brutality.

  He watched as the foremast of the Rose toppled, the lack of rigging no longer allowing it to support its own weight. It collapsed, bowling into the mainmast, tearing the main sail nearly in half. The bisected cloth was flapping wildly in the breeze and the ostentatious ship slowed. Two out of three masts destroyed, the Golden Rose rolled to a near stop as it limped away.

  Fenna rang the bell a half dozen times then waited in silence. Thirty seconds passed, and she rang the chimes once more, and again, there was no response.

  “Damn it. What a stupid, stupid man.” She hissed.

  “What’s going on?” Skree asked.

  “Six bells is an offer of surrender. If Captain Delavega wanted to spare his crew and give up his ship, he can ring six bells in reply.” Hawkins explained, watching the floundering ship.

  “And no bells?” Skree asked.

  “Means a fight to the death. Refusal of terms.” Hawkins said.

  Fenna grabbed the looking glass and watched the ship. Through the lenses, she saw the Captain of the Golden Rose, dressed in fine golden armor that matched the absurdly ostentatious ship he captained. She gasped as she watched, then handed the glass to Hawkins. He looked at the scene unfolding on the deck and chuckled.

  Confused by their change in behavior, Skree strained his eyes to see the Rose. Sadly, it was just too far away and the smoke coming from the ship made it impossible to see. “What’s going on? I need orders here.” He kept the Typhoon circling the smoking ship at a distance, staying out of cannon range.

  Fenna snorted. “His crew looks to be turning against him. They have him at sword point!”

  The gentle rush of wind carried the sound of six chiming bells drifting to the Typhoon. Hawkins collapsed the looking glass and issued new orders.

  “Bring us in alongside the Golden Rose, the crew has shackled their Captain and are waving flags of surrender.” Hawkins said. “Please fetch Helmsman Adelaide.” he yelled.

  Two of the women below shouted “Aye, aye!” and ran below decks. Within minutes, Adelaide was standing on the bridge, snapping a sharp salute to the Captain and the First Mate. “Reporting as ordered.” She was a small woman, lean but well muscled. Skree had seen her a few times during the last few weeks, but had never interacted with her for more than a few moments. By the time he had arrived each day for his turn at the helm, Hawkins had already dismissed her and she was below decks, finally turning in for the night.

  “Adelaide, Mister Skree will bring us to boarding distance. Once secured and anchored, you have the helm.” Hawkins explained.

  “Aye, aye Sir!” she replied and took position behind Skree as he brought them in close enough for them to toss boarding hooks and lock the ships together.

  His heart was pounding furiously in his chest as he maneuvered the massive ships together, knowing a small mistake would lead to him dragging the hull against the already damaged ship. Cutting it wide just enough, they floated slowly into grapple range. The boarding crew tossed the ropes across the gap and the crew of the Golden Rose helped secure the lines before the heaving efforts of both crews pulled them together.

  “Let’s take our prize.” Fenna said, waving her hand for t
hem to follow.

  Chapter 12

  Skree, Zuka, and Hawkins followed Fenna down the stairs, across the gangplank and onto the Golden Rose. The enemy crew had disarmed themselves, leaving a pile of swords at the other end of the ship.

  A fanciful young lady marched up to Fenna and shook her hand. “Captain Lis, it is good to see you again. My apologies it is under such poor circumstances.”

  Fenna shook her hand graciously. “That is an interesting way to put it Elaina.” She said with mild irritation.

  “You beat us fair and square, but the Captain decided that he would rather see us all drowned before surrendering.” She said with a hint of shame. “Fenna, I promise the Captain called for this attack against my recommendation. Once I realized why he had made this decision, I had to put a stop to it.”

  Fenna leaned around Elaina and glanced at the Captain. Delavega was on his knees, wrists shackled and the first hints of what would be a nasty black eye soon. She looked back to Elaina. “May I?” she said, gesturing to Captain Delavega.

  “By all means.” She said, stepping to the side and gesturing her forward.

  Fenna strode easily and confidently across the deck and stood before the man. She rested her hands on her hips and scowled down at the dark-skinned Captain.

  “Explain Rojelio.” She snapped, her tone demanding an answer quickly.

  “I think you know why.” He said in a thick Spanish accent.

  She grinned devilishly. “Oh, I do. I just want to hear you say it.”

  He peered around at his mutineer crew then back up at Fenna. “You are a thief. A dirty rotten scoundrel. A whore.”

  Skree saw her shoulders tense, and he thought she might hit the man, but she just sighed. “Fair enough, I suppose. Can’t honestly say I’m not those things, but why did you attack my ship?”

  “You stole my heart. You told me you loved me and then you abandoned our love!” He wailed.

  She looked at Elaina with a puzzled look. “I never said I loved you.”

  “You didn’t have too! From the very first time we made love, I knew it was meant to be.”

  “Whoa.” She said, holding her hands up defensively. “I may have taken you for a tumble in the sheets, but I never thought of you like that.”

  His eyes went wide and were welling with tears. “You mean you don’t love me?”

  “Love you? You weren’t even that great in the sack.” She scratched her chin thoughtfully. “Plus, you’re a shit sailor with too much money and not enough brains.” She squatted, eye to eye with the weeping man. “What about your wife? Poor V, married to such an emotional man.” She patted him on the cheek playfully. “No sir, I am not in love with you. Can’t say I even like you much.”

  She stood, turning her back on the Captain. She took a step but stopped when he yelled angrily, “I am Captain Rojelio Alma Vasquez Delavega. If you take my ship, I swear I will hunt you down and sink you. I will chase you to the end of the world to have my revenge.” He said with the flourish of a stage actor.

  Fenna rolled her eyes and turned back to the kneeling man. “I was planning to be nice, take the ship, let you sail my prize back home. Hell, I would even give you first bid at auction.” She tutted loudly. “But since you were willing to sacrifice your entire crew and you are being a whiny little baby, I think I will bar you from the auction. Also, I think I will let Elaina here pilot my prize into Theseldora.” She grabbed his hair hard, forcing him to look at her. “You are now the proud Captain of that Dingy over there.” She pointed to one of the small rowboats further down the deck. “Goodbye, Delavega.” She pivoted and marched to the helm of the Rose, beckoning Skree and Hawkins to follow her. They marched up the stairs to the bridge and as soon his foot hit the bridge a prompt appeared.

  Capturing the Golden Rose - 0% complete.

  It was a small cartoon boat with a progress bar encircling it. As they stood on the bridge, the meter slowly increased until it hit one hundred percent. There was a strange sound, and the prompt changed to a notification.

  You have successfully captured the ship - The Golden Rose. The crew of the Typhoon receives 15,000 experience points. You are now eligible for a share of the prize money once the captain sells the ship at auction.

  First Capture Bonus - 5,000 experience points

  Helmsman capture bonus - 5,000 experience points

  Boarding crew capture bonus - 5,000 experience points

  Congratulations! You have completed the quest Learning the Ropes, Part 4: Steady as she goes. You have successfully learned the ways of boarding and capturing a mighty fine prize in the process! Reward: 15,000 experience.

  Skree whistled as he read it. “That’s a lot of experience, hell yeah!”

  Fenna nodded to him. “It would have been more, but they surrendered the ship to us, so it was no contest.”

  “It’s usually more?” he asked, thinking about how fast he could level just by capturing ships.

  “It is about double that, on a contested capture.”

  “We should capture more ships!” he said excitedly.

  Fenna patted him on the back. “Sounds like someone is a becoming a real pirate.” She looked back to the crew of the Rose. “Elaina dear, would you come here a moment?”

  Elaina jogged up the stairs quickly, stopping before them with a nod. Her outfit was fascinating to Skree. The strange combination of a military uniform and a colorful quilt was quite jarring to the eyes.

  “Yes, Captain Lis?” she asked.

  “I assume you heard what I said earlier about piloting my new ship back to Theseldora?” Fenna asked.

  “I did. Standard delivery terms?” she asked with a polite smile.

  “No, I think we women need to stick together. Let’s double your share to four percent if you can get the Rose back in five days.”

  Elaina’s head bobbed back and forth as she considered the numbers, eventually nodding her agreement. “Five days is tight, but you have a deal Captain.” She extended a hand, and they shook vigorously.

  Fenna walked away, but stopped holding up a finger. “One more thing.”

  “Yes, Captain?” Elaina asked.

  “I wasn’t joking about Rojelio being the Captain of that Dingy.”

  Elaina raised an eyebrow questioningly. “And what does being the Captain of a Dingy entail?”

  “What else could it mean? He needs to pilot his new ship to Theseldora. Be a doll and make sure he has enough food and water for his trip.”

  She shrugged apathetically. “That is very generous of you, Captain Lis.”

  They made their way back to the Typhoon and took stock of the damage and their losses. They fared much better than the crew of the Golden Rose. Eighteen injured, three dead. Skree rushed to the cargo hold and checked on the Kobolds. There were minor injuries, and one broken bone, but mostly they were just frightened. Skree cast Minor Restoration on each of them until they were all back to full health. Unfortunately, he didn’t have much time to stay and chat, there were other crew members who needed healing. He went straight to the makeshift infirmary, casting his healing spell as fast as he could. Even Zuka pitched in, casting Lick Your Wounds whenever it was off cool-down.

  Exhausted from the effort and drained of mana, he returned to the bridge to speak with Hawkins and Fenna.

  “I have taken care of all the injured. Why is there only one other person on this ship that can cast healing magic?”

  Fenna and Hawkins exchanged glances. “My god, it’s like talking to a child sometimes.” Fenna said.

  Skree grit his teeth. Her constant mockery could be so tiresome, especially after he had just spent the last hour healing her crew.

  Hawkins put a hand on his shoulder, calming him. “Thank you for patching up the crew. We…” he paused and glared at Fenna. “Really appreciate your help.”

  “Sorry.” She said, visibly slumping. “I get so worked up after a battle. Three of my crew are dead because a vain prick was mad I wouldn’t marry him. Honest
ly, you have my sincerest thanks. To answer your question, healing spell books are prohibitively expensive and rare. Normally a ship like this would have a dedicated healer but ours…” she looked to Hawkins for help. When he shrugged, she continued, “Went missing before we left.”

  “So no one else got healing spells with their classes?” he asked.

  “Most sailors understand that healing is important, but magic classes aren’t common for sailors. Most of them choose melee fighter classes as boarding is an important part of being a pirate.” Hawkins elaborated.

  “Still, with how powerful and useful it is, I figured more people would choose something that offered healing.” Skree said, still confused that so few people picked healing classes.

  “Let me try to explain. If you are a potent healer, you can charge a lot of money for your services. If you had a steady stream of income from nobles and wealthy landowners why would you spend the time becoming a sailor and living on a cramped and dirty ship ten months out of the year?” she asked. “So, if a ship has a dedicated healer, that person is probably running from a powerful noble or the Central Kingdom authorities.”

  Skree bobbed his head. “So healing magic is still rare and people with healing magic get paid well for their services.”

  “That sums it up nicely. If you could make a full gold piece every month just by sitting in your fancy house and waiting for someone to call on you, would you journey to the outer reaches and live with a bunch of pirates, whores and unpalatable people?”

  “Hm, probably not.” A grin spread across his features. “So where should I send the bill?”

  Fenna burst out laughing. “Yep, definitely a pirate now!”

  “I have another question.” He said.

  She took a deep breath and sighed. “Ask away.”

  “You gave control of the Rose to Elaina on her word she would return it to Theseldora. What’s stopping her from taking the ship for herself?”

  She waggled her fingers. “Magic!”