The "goblin races" come in two distinct varieties in Aramar. The first are the native varieties - which are tougher and meaner than what are encountered in many other worlds. These were apparently crafted, what the Forerunner magic known as 'genetic engineering' did, as a set of soldier races in those days.There are also transplantees from those decades where Spelljammers commonly plied the realities. Some found their way to this land and thrived, and at least three of the tribes in the Goblin Reaches are of these wanderers.
All have adapted to life in this Seventh Age, with varying degrees of facility.
-from "Th'arkun The Wanderer, A Warrior's Journey" by Th'arkun Brokentusk as related to Ventel Reede.
Clouds could be found scattered in layers on most days, Aramar having pretty darn big oceans - most of which were shallow when compared to those of other habitable worlds. Airships usually skirted the clouds due to visibility problems. After all, when you had flying creatures big enough to rival a large ship also out and about - a midair collision could get quite messy.
As with many rules there were exceptions.
Smugglers, pirates, monsters that lay in ambush - all made use of cloud cover.
The goblinoid races had adapted to the Seventh Age like they had to every situation since then. There were the Goblin Reaches that had a number of tribes fighting their fellows in constant intertribal warfare, and there were a few who turned to other pastimes.
As with the ship Ranma was on, these goblins had a refitted spelljammer. Whereas Ranma had a "Dolphin" ship converted to passenger ferry, the goblin ship was a "Triop."
D'ruddj flipped the cap to the speaking tube up with one hand as he continued to look out through the spy tube. "One ship. Dolphin type. Appears to have a disturbance aboard. Distance 400 ship lengths. Downwind at six. Distance 390."
The captain, two floors away, listened and scratched the flaking skin hanging from his jowls with the hook-hand he'd used to replace one lost years ago. The hook itself was dull, otherwise he'd have cut an artery years ago. When going into battle he could swap the hook for a main-gauche hand he'd had made for just such an occasion.
"Cloak!" called out Captain Spl'n. In response the light seemed to dim within the ship and the air felt 'heavy.' As with many ships, the Triop ran off a psi-crystal matrix. A number of effects could be produced by such things, though usually it was just negating the weight so that tons of wood and cloth could sail the skies. Diverting that energy to an invisibility spell meant sacrificing maneuverability and speed among other things.
Flipping another tube and squeezing the bulb beside it, the captain's orders went to another part of the ship. "Helm. Forward at best speed. When you see 'em, close that range. Everyone - Attack Pattern Slash."
The old goblin, one didn't get to be an old goblin without being a clever goblin, had drilled his people on several different attack patterns that he could order in as small a time as possible. Slash was the pattern for decloaking and then launching a quick 'pacification' attack to cripple the other vessel before hurling ropes and sending boarders. If he had ordered 'Burn' they'd have tried to force the ship down, and 'Pillage' would have been to ram in such a way to lock the vessels together for immediate boarding. He didn't favor 'Pillage' - the Triop wasn't exactly new and he wasn't sure how many more impacts it could take.
Even now, Captain Spl'n knew, he had goblins readying their weapons and standing by. The two forward facing light ballista had been replaced with mage cannon, one ice and one lightning, and the catapults on either side had been replaced with bombards. By using the 'Slash' pattern, they'd be coming alongside the target and the bombard on that side would be loaded with springshot. A cylindrical shell with one end thick enough to withstand the impact of being fired, the other end thinned to hold a number of nasty surprises - liquid fire being a favorite.
"Closing," came the garbled voice of the helmsman. "Pulling alongside."
"Firing," came the shrill voice of the bombardier. The female was plainly excited about the bloodshed about to commence.
"Hit!" came the voice of the lookout, D'ruddj having just a hint of excitement in his own voice instead of the usual sleepy tone. "Got their mainmast!"
Captain Spl'n actually smiled at that. Cutting the opponents manueverability made boarding all the easier.
(Posted Thu, 25 Mar 2004 08:33)
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