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CREW CLUB
WHO: Forces + Some special guests
WHAT: Boat Combat 101
WHEN: Post-Orzammar, early Justinian
WHERE: The Waking Sea, etc
NOTES: A catch-all for mandatory naval training. OOC information located HERE. If you didn't sign up but still want to join it, feel free to jump in.
WHAT: Boat Combat 101
WHEN: Post-Orzammar, early Justinian
WHERE: The Waking Sea, etc
NOTES: A catch-all for mandatory naval training. OOC information located HERE. If you didn't sign up but still want to join it, feel free to jump in.
Early in Justinian, roughly half the would-be sailors and ballista engineers and mages and anchor shard bearers in Riftwatch pile onto the sleek Tevinter-styled schooner in the outfit's possession. They cut out from Kirkwall harbor in the early hours of the morning, and won't return for two days. Unfortunately, this cruise is more bootcamp than a yachting tour along the Waking Sea coastline.
Over the course of the next two days, training participants will be run through the gauntlet; they'll be assisted by a skeleton crew of a few seasoned hands who are used to working the ship, but otherwise will be expected to jump when they're told to jump, climb when they're told to climb, and not complain too much about the questionable state of the food coming out of the ship's galley.
Anyone with a fair amount of experience in any of the fields covered by training may be volunteered as a section leader—so if you're someone with sailing experience, or who knows a thing or two about offensive magic, you may find yourself in charge of organizing and conducting the lessons for the people around you.
- SEAMANSHIP
Bowlines, hitches, and bends—oh my! The first thing any good sailor needs to know is how to tie an array of basic knots. Practice tying off lines; practice tying up your friends! Just don't call the thing you're putting a knot into a rope.
Speaking of lines, while they're learning the basics of how to secure them, everyone will also receive a crash course on basic rigging and how the ship functions. No one will be expected to actually sail the damn thing (that's the sailing master, helmsman and captain's job), but they will be expected to fall in and help haul away on the right bit of line when barked at. They'll spend a few hours drilling on the grueling work of lowering and raising sails, making a series of minute adjustments to bring the ship to a better "point" of sail, and then scrapping the whole setup and doing it all over again until everyone knows which barking orders mean what. On the plus side, the crew knows a wide variety of extremely risque work songs to set the tempo for all of this. So at least there's a soundtrack to sweat to.
And while the dangerous work of securing the sails is left to the valuable topmen of the established crew, everyone will be required to go skylarking—ascending the ladder-like ratlines to climb into the upper rigging of the ship. On the plus side, the Tevinter ship's masts aren't half so tall as an Antivan merchant vessel's, so unless someone is very sensitive to heights, it's likely only a nauseating experience rather than a paralyzing one.
COMBAT DRILLS
As with most combat, naval strategy boils down to a relatively simple truth: If you have the advantage of numbers or firepower, give chase; if they do, retreat. While there are exceptions—insert convoluted tactical outliers here—, the bulk of naval combat features two main stages: closing distance (in which you aim to do as much damage to the other ship as possible at range in an effort to wound or exhaust the crew aboard), and boarding actions (where you jump onto the other boat and kill however many people you can find until someone surrenders).
With no targets to chase, no actual fighting will be simulated. Instead, everyone will be familiarized with some basic concepts and instructed that if they ever are in a real fight, that they will be expected to follow directions and 'try not to fall in.' Heartening!
- DEFENSIVE DRILLS that everyone will be run though include: the raising and lower of boarding nets—dense nets raised along the ship's sides to entangle enemies attempting to, you guessed it, board the ship—, and being acquainted with the orders to man the rails, the most orderly way to put out fires, getting out of the way when someone with more expertise is doing on the fly repairs, and fundamentals of What Do Do When Someone Is Wounded (spoilers: the answer is 'get them below decks, and if you can't do that they get them out of the way'). Mages, rifters, and anchor bearers who can use shielding magic/have some kind of shield-based abilities will be familiarized with stations along the ship's rails and in the rigging from where they will be expected to defend against the likelihood of projectiles, oncoming enemies, or (rarely, given that these are southern waters) other magic.
OFFENSIVE DRILLS include learning the basic anatomy and operation of the ship's weapons. This particular ship was designed with a crew of mages in mind, and so has a limited number of weapons. It's outfitted with three medium sized swivel-mounted ballista (one at the front of the ship, and two in the rear). It also has two catapults on the main deck, one to port (left) and one to starboard (right).
The ballista's fire heavy bolts which have, for this the purposes of training, lengths of rope secured to them in hope of retrieving them once fired (though some losses are to be expected…). The catapults typically fire a wide range of ammunition—bundles of caltrops, balls of nails and pitch designed to be set on fire before being lobbed over, and pots filled with quicklime, ativan fire, angry bees, venomous snakes. You know. All the usual stuff you might throw at someone to ruin their day. Luckily, today everyone will be firing jars filled with paint and aiming to find a target among a series of barrels which have been floated out in the catapult's range.
Once everyone knows the basics, everyone will be broken out into teams for a catapult marksmanship contest. The teams (which you either signed up to play out or potentially handwave by checking the appropriate box on your sign-up form) are:
| TEAM ONE Marcus Gabranth Benedict TEAM TWO Edgard Barrow Darras TEAM THREE Tony Diana Glimmer TEAM FOUR - RNG says this team wins. Congratulations! Your prize is an extra ration of booze with dinner (sorry, Ellis)! Ellis Jone Laura |
TEAM FIVE Matthias Kostos Zoya TEAM SIX Nikolai Byerly Fenris Colin TEAM SEVEN Derrica Gwenaelle Margaery |
Mages, rifters, and anchor bearers with offensive abilities will be given more specific instruction as to which targets on a ship are the most vulnerable/most useful to damage. Damaging or destroying sails, rigging, or anything which propels and steers the enemy ship is as much of a priority as exacting casualties. Anyone with long range offensive abilities will be run through similar hit-the-floating barrel drills in an effort to identify range, accuracy, and general effectiveness.
STILL WATERS
Late in the day, the ship will arrive at it's overnight port of call—a secluded inlet East of Kirkwall that's remote enough to be unobserved. In the relatively calm waters, anyone who wants to try their hand at swimming is more than welcome to do so, though it isn't required.
However, everyone with an anchor shard and anyone familiar with combat around closing rifts will be taken ashore. After a thorough survey of the beach and surrounding tree line, they will receive extremely pointed orders that what they're about to do shouldn't be shared with anyone outside of Riftwatch, made part of any official record, or utilized in the field without express orders from a Division Head. Then those with anchor shards will be tasked with opening rifts.
Highly experimental and generally exhausting, the aim will be to determine how many rifters it requires to open a rift when the Veil is relatively intact (whereas usually the practice is only done to open places where the Veil is weak and likely to soon open a rift on its own). Anchor bearers will be split into groups—those opening the rifts, and those following after them to immediately close them. Any reinforcements are just around in case something goes wrong and a bunch of shades or demons fall out between Step 1 and 2. The work is slow, and methodically done to make a dangerous thing as safe as possible, and very tiring.
And when that's all done, everyone who went ashore can return to the ship for something to eat, a reasonable amount of sleep (unless you've been saddled with one of the night watches), and whatever other mingling people might feel compelled to do. The return trip to Kirkwall consists of more drills, more marksmanship practice, and more knot tying.
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"I see. You're doing marvelously. But are you sure you don't want to come join me up here and show me exactly how I should be doing this more properly?"
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He reveals hands that are lyrium-lined on both sides, blue-white markings starting at the wrist and branching to the fingernail.
Fenris climbs nimbly upward. "I hope you don't expect me to drag you along."
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By the time Fenris joins her where she is, easily making her progress look more like a toddler crawling across the floor, Margaery's wearing a disgruntled expression that goes very well with her flushed nose and cheeks. It clears up a moment later though, as it becomes something more hopefully expectant.
"I would never expect such a thing. But I really am willing to learn from you if you'd like to teach me. And maybe- go slower? I can't quite shake the feeling that every movement of the ship will dislodge me from these ropes when I'm on my way down and I'm not sure why."
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"Haste," he says, "haste is your friend. Go quickly and do not think so much of peril. Your true enemy is time. You do not want to stay on the ropes, where you are most vulnerable."
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It doesn't help, much. But she does get more conscious of how tightly she's gripping the rope and relaxes her hold with the intent to take his advice to heart. And since their conversation has been working so well -
"Where did you learn to climb?"
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"I was... friendly with a pirate, once."
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"I had no idea pirates were capable of being friendly," the sun causes her to wrinkle her nose a bit as she looks up at him, vastly preferring this to their previous positions. "Did you like sailing with them?"
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Anyway. "I did not sail under her, but she was a help. I will tell you more when you reach the ground."
Isabela, eternally complex, deserves not to have herself puzzled out in the wind, half-heard and poorly remembered.
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When Margaery reaches the floor, she stumbles a bit, nearly face-planting back into the ropes, but not even her relief can distract her from Fenris' promise.
"So. You were going to tell me more about a very friendly pirate?"
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With another glance around their surroundings, "I think I've got enough adventure to last for a week."
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Fenris looks out on the water, wondering where Isabela is now, what she's doing. He could find out. A message he sent would surely reach her... though she'd know he'd have to have someone read it to him, so nothing of importance could be sent or received.
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When it's obvious he won't say anything else -
"What makes a mage the most dangerous sort? And how did you meet her?"
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He considers the next question more carefully. Should he bowdlerize that incident? Is it worth it? Hasn't Varric already told the tale everywhere? Does Fenris think he's suddenly become a good liar?
The truth it is, then.
"I needed help. At the time, she was not a famed hero, and took whatever job necessary to help her family. So she helped me, and I paid her, but against my better judgement we stayed in contact."