faderift | Bae-Watching

WHO: James Norrington, Korrin Ataash, Prompto Argentum
WHAT: Three heroes in a boat being ... well. Heroic.
WHEN: Late part of Justinian
WHERE: The Wounded Coast
NOTES:A Sea-Faring Adventure, brought to you by your Naval Presence Crew

James had never liked the Wounded Coast. The name was far too apt for all the dark corners that the inlets and caves that this stretch of sand and hills hid. Far too many slaver caves, far too many blood mages. Which, really, was why they were here. He steered their small sloop - his, Korrin's and Prompto's, around another jut of rocks, his green eyes kept on the water before them.

He knew that if Korrin, or even Prompto, saw something that they would need to investigate for the safety of Kirkwall, neither one of them would be quiet about it. As it stood, he was more worried that they were going to be sailing around here and get attacked on the water than anything was on the shore.

However, considering the unpredictability of ...everything these days? They had to at least try.

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James is busy keeping the sloop steady with the two women climbing aboard, so his gaze is free to cast about, looking for any possible currents that might be trouble. That ... was how he saw the bandits.

His green eyes widened, and he called out to Korrin, "Portside! Incoming!"

"Fuck." Of course their timing couldn't be any worse, that's always how these things go. She rushes to finish getting the ladies aboard, focusing more on speed than delicacy, and ignores protests about wanting to retrieve their goods from the stricken vessel. Once all are aboard, she glances over to the incoming ship and frowns, shaking her head.

"No time for that! This isn't a battleship, our only hope is to outdistance them. James, Prompto, we're ready. Let's move it!"

James beat him to announcing it just seconds ahead of Prompto. As soon as Korrin hits the deck, Prompto's pulling in the rope as quick as he can. This is a whole lot of Not Good. He's got his bow and arrows, of course, but shooting baddies on a moving ship from another moving ship wasn't going to be easy, not even with his good aim.

"Ladies, you might want to get below deck! This could get hairy!" Once the rope's in, he tosses it aside and grabs his weapon. "I'll shoot and see if that doesn't, uh, dissuade them. But get ready if they're faster than us."

James lets out a low curse, before he slides his shield over the two women as they move into the very small hull of the ship. Sloops are not ... known for their roomy accommodations, but at least they will be out of immediate harm. He grimly motions to the other two to toss him the ropes, as he mans the rudder.

"I am going to try to weave us through the coves!" He yelled to the other two, "Try to see what you two can do to discourage them following us!"

Korrin nods in encouragement at Prompto's suggestion, gesturing for the ladies to take cover. It's not comfortable, but it'll do. That done, she turns back to the approaching ship and nods grimly. "I haven't actually needed to do this before, so here goes--"

She falls silent, concentrating as she taps into the part of herself that can move mountains with the Fade's help. In this case, it's not mountains that move but the wind. A little lackluster before, it begins to pick up, pushing their vessel along at a significantly speedier pace than before. They're not out of the woods yet, but it's a boost...admittedly a boost that Korrin must continue to focus on, so no picking off pirates for her.

James is steering and Korrin's giving them a desperately needed headstart. With the women safe, that just leaves Prompto to deal with the bandits, who are after them with gusto. The artificial wind Korrin's making helps them stay ahead of the bandits, but not quite enough to deter them from giving chase. If speed won't do it, then perhaps pain will.

Prompto moves to the back of the sloop, arrow notched. Aiming with all the movement of the ship and waves, not to mention the movement of the bandits' ship, is going to be a nightmare. But Prompto does his best to take aim, kneeling to steady himself. The first arrow flies. It's a warning shot that hits the hull of their ship. He pauses a moment, waiting to see if they turn around and back off.

It's quickly apparent that they won't. So notching another arrow, he aims again, this time less in warning and more in 'okay now you've brought this on yourselves'. He fires, the arrow flying just past some of the bandits.

"Wow are they determined," he mutters as the ship presses on after theirs.

James gritted his teeth as the wind kicked up, tightening his grip down on the rudder and sails as the ship jumped forward. Not that he didn't appreciate the breeze, and the headstart. He just had to make sure they didn't ram first into the cove.

He looks over to the horizon, seeing if they sweep up along the coast they could lose them before making a run for Kirkwall. Dangerous, but possible...

Edited 2018-08-08 13:58 (UTC)

"Keep doing what you're doing, guys! We'll make it work!" Korrin yells above the wind that flares around her and the vessel, taking out a lyrium potion to down should she need to maintain concentration longer than thought. She knows she can't push them that much more, or James might lose control over the ship, and then they're all screwed. Now it's time for patience on her part, leaving it up to the others. She hates being patient.

The bandits still aren't deterred, and Prompto's still firing arrows at them. One lucky shot manages to pierce the guy driving their boat. Their vessel lurches to the side, almost hitting some rocks before another man manages to get it under control. It does, however, put them farther behind. And a resident archer on board their boat finally begins firing back, though his arrows land harmlessly in the water, for now. "They fell behind a bit! Now's our chance!"

James glances behind for a moment, long enough to see their pursuers ship languish behind them. He nods at Korrin, then at Prompto, before yelling at both of them, "Hold onto something!"

Then he is standing up, yanking the sails in as tightly as he can as he jerks the rudder right through the cove, the ship gliding along the edge of the reef like it is dancing on a knife's edge. To do this, he's nearly got the ship tipped sideways for a few breathless moments, before he rights it once more.

Korrin doesn't ease up on her manipulation of the winds, at all but she takes James' warning to heart. Gripping the railing, she stares back out at their pursuing boat, smirking as she can see Prompto's news is accurate. But that smirk falls away quickly, caught up in their own perilous situation.

"Shitshitshitshit--"

And once James's rights the ship, she lets out a breath she didn't realize was being held. "...that was close."

"Huh - AH!" Prompto barely registers the warning before the ship is tipping. He's gripping his bow in one hand, so he only has the other to grab onto the gunwale. It's a tenuous grip, and his fingers begin slipping rather quickly. In but a moment, he loses his grip and he slides towards the side of the boat tipped towards the reef. Luckily, just as he does, James rights the boat. The good news is, he doesn't go into the water. The bad news is, he crashes into the side of the boat in a tangled mess of limbs and bow. "Ow."

James exhaled slowly, as the ship was righted once more, and only then he glanced behind them. Then he jerked his gaze forward again, "We lost them! ... Prompto, are you all right?"

Bae-Watching - Closed

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