Pirate Punk Session 1: Seizing the San Ambrosio

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    Powerful waves crashed against the hull, accompanied by frantic shouts from the sailors above. Both marines looked to each other then glanced at the hold full of chained elves, dwarves, orks, a couple of magic-users, and a single troll. "They won' be gettin' out, an' if they do- they've nowhere to go" clipped the older marine as new shouts of alarm rang down from above. They leapt above decks to assist the crew, only one pair of eyes following their ascent.

    Eston Calgary broke into a tusked smile and nudged Britton, a human mage he had grown fond of during the voyage.

    "If there was ever a chance to escape, it's now- this storm has them all distracted".

    Britton listened to Eston, "If only there was someone very strong who could maybe break some chains..." he looked past Eston at that someone: The lone troll, Davey, was hanging by irons attached to the ceiling. His head hung low and he sighed, "I have tried".

    "But have you tried to break someone else's chains?" quipped the mage, giving an emphatic shake of his manacles.

    Davey clinked his own in kind. Undeterred, the human went on, "Could you get your feet up on Eston's chains though?"

    "I don't think so...I've put on quite an amount of stones since this change has taken place"

    Britton sat back and heard a voice- his totem.

    "I can sense you for the first time in a fortnight. This is your chance- use the storm's power."

    Britton looked around, "Storm's power...what does that mean to anybody?"

    Eston, puzzled, shared some of his knowledge, "I've heard tell of mana storms passing through on Atlantic crossings-"

    "Mana storms!"

    Britton reached out with his mind and found that, yes, he could touch the Astral Plane. With a thought, he summoned the feathered snake spirit. He leaned in and spoke.

    "Everyone is very distracted right now. I could really use some keys."

    The serpent darted above decks and through its eyes Britton saw the chaos unfolding above.  The shrine of magical dampening that restricted their magic was sputtering ineffectually and the crew, marines included, were completely absorbed in fighting the storm. The serpent easily snatched the keys then darted back to him.

    "That's great!" they clinked into Britton's hand and were quickly followed by his manacles unlocking. The serpent disappeared. He had everyone's full attention now. "So who's first?"

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    Davey rubbed his wrists. They hurt, sure, but this inhuman hide stood up to abuse much better than his old skin. He shook the thought away and went in search of a weapon; now was not the time to think of the life he had before.

    Wisely, the marines hadn't left any actual weapons amongst them. Settling on a discarded wooden board, Davey snapped it in half: the jagged spar would be a good a weapon as any in his hands. As Eston took the other piece, Davey saw Britton freeing the other magic-user- a Romani Elf named Elvic. That was wise, they would need all the help they could get to overwhelm a Cabal Le Mont Ship, even in a severe storm the marines would be able combatants.

    As if the world had listened to his thought, the marines thundered back down into the hold. Whipping towards them with roars on their throats, Davey and Eston charged. The shock of two armed inhumans barreling towards them had frozen them in place. Davey's board broke violently over the head of one and Eston jabbed at the other still standing. From deeper in the hold a long sinuous whip of water lashed the standing marine to the deck. Davey followed the retracting liquid arm and saw that it belonged to the Romani, Elvic. Behind her, it looked like her and Britton had freed enough prisoners to try and overwhelm the rest of the marines.

    Britton saw the eagerness in his eyes and cautioned, "wait until we have a few more."

    Davey nodded and hauled the bodies of the marines behind him, just as more marines appeared- with rifles this time. Davey, Eston, and Elvic stood their ground and braced for a hail of fire that would tear them apart. The marines raised their weapons, aimed, AND...*click*.

    "Looks like you're a bit wet", Davey chided. Then they charged into the marines.

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    Elvic frenetically lashed out with her water whip as the melee raged. Numbers were on their side but their force was unarmed aside for a few jagged timbers. Against marines with bayonets it was turning into a slaughter. Britton, breaking away from the fighting, shared a glance with her. It looked like he had come to the same conclusion. He rushed towards the mast and began to climb.

    Confused and believing he was wounded, Elvic shouted out to him, "I can heal you Britton, just let me know!". He ignored her and kept climbing. She shook her head, what was he going to do? Hurl himself onto the deck rather than face defeat? She went down to the hold and focused on a healing spell. Britton might throw himself to his death but she would try and buy them all more time.

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    Britton reached the crow's nest, looked into the battle below, and jumped. Some noticed his plummet, saw his fists wreathed in flame, and turned away as the shockwave of fire washed over all above decks. 

    The mortally wounded were incinerated. Nobody escaped unburnt.

    Britton didn't stop in the lull of the shockwave. He was up and running towards the captain immediately. From the corner of his eye he saw Davey, bless his Troll hide, toss one officer overboard before following Britton's lead. Meanwhile a soothing mist was covering the deck, brushing away the wounds of survivors. As he prepared to collide with the captain, he couldn't help but feel that this was the start of something great.

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    That was our first session of what my group is calling "PiratePunk". We're using ICRPG with a whole bunch of homebrew 17th century pirate-ized Shadowrun material homebrewed by the GM.

The characters are...

- Davey (my character), a former gunner in Her Majesty's Navy who has only recently underwent goblinization into a troll. Wants to go home to his beloved betrothed but can't: he's a monster now.

- Elvic Rhoda, an Iberian Romani elf mage who finds herself on the run anywhere she goes. Perhaps the New World will prove different?

- Britton, a street urchin who everyone dismisses as nothing but a churl. He's desperate to make a name for himself and just might do so since mysteriously contacting a feathered snake spirit.

    It was really enjoyable writing this report as more akin to fantasy fiction. The writing came easier which I'm attributing to being a player working with limited detail rather than the GM with a thousand things in my brain. I'm looking forward to chronicling the rest of our adventures. They should be interesting!

P.S

Cover image generated using Stable Diffusion XL. AI Art is a godsend for quick RPG related visuals.