The Guardians of the Gold
Pirates Battle Report

Tonight, we reverted to our usual twin ring of wild islands with a rich one in the middle, with two differences: there were four whirlpools (three in the outer island ring and one near the center island), and that center island was protected by the Guardians of the Gold, three sea monsters controlled by Mike, which would mercilessly attack any ship that tried to steal "their" treasure. The Guardians started the game near their center island.

Because the action was so confused and moved in so many different directions at once, it will probably be easier to describe each ship's cruise in turn.

• Paul the Pirate Prince's Ships:

• Freedom (S+L; 3S,3L,3L,3S; +1 vs Pirates) +Explorer +Flag of Tortuga: if a ship ever deserved a medal for trying hard, it was the Freedom. She and the Sea Nymph both made a safe passage through a whirlpool and went straight for the center island. Once there, the Freedom loaded two treasures while her fleetmate tried to shield her from the Guardians. To no avail; the Freedom had brought the wrath of the sea creatures down on her. First, Calim circled to her lee side and rammed into her. The ram did no harm, but the huge squid then sent tentacles slithering over the gunwales in a boarding action that snapped off a mast and snatched one of her treasures. Then Champ surfaced and savagely lashed the Freedom from across the whirlpool with its coils, leaving her with no masts.

  But you have to give her captain credit -- he was determined to get home with his gold. The Sea Nymph transferred her Oarsman to the derelict ship, which plunged into the whirlpool for the first, fast leg of a long, slow journey home. Again, she suffered no damage from this bizarre mode of movement. But before she could creep back to her home island, Jake's HMS Royal overtook her and sent her to the bottom. The final insult was that Jake also claimed the one treasure coin she still carried.

• Sea Nymph (S+L; 3S,3L,3L,3S; built-in Oarsman) +Captain +Helmsman +Oarsman: this ship had an eventful cruise, albeit a short one. She accompanied the Freedom in the latter's quest for the forbidden gold of the central island, but even though she was easily close enough to have loaded some, she stuck to her mission of battle. Her attempt to block Calim from attacking the Freedom was thwarted by Calim's unbelievable speed. Next, she maneuvered to transfer her Oarsman to the derelict Freedom, and traded potshots with Champ as well; each scored one hit on the other. Once Paul's smaller ships had arrived in the center, the Sea Nymph tried to help them in their attacks on the Guardians. She couldn't stop Champ from crushing both of them, but she avenged them by landing two more hits on the rampaging sea serpent, chasing it away. Unfortunately, HMS Royal had luffed up on her unengaged side and blasted all three remaining masts. Jake sank her on his next turn.

• Cat's Claw (S+S; 3L,3L; +1 if Captain) +Captain +Shipwright: this two-master has become one of the Pirate Prince's favorite ships. In this battle, she followed her two larger, faster fleetmates into the whirlpools, but her lower speed caused her to lag behind. When she arrived, her Shipwright was missing (apparently he fell over the side during a rough whirlpool passage), and the Freedom was already in trouble. The Cat's Claw turned to open her broadside against Champ, but both cannons missed. This was especially bad because she had gotten the sea serpent's attention. Champ rammed and boarded, stripping away both her masts. Rather than see her captured, Paul gave her a scuttling order, and the unfortunate Cat's Claw settled to the bottom.

• Carrion Crow (S+S; 2S,2S; cargo=2; lose a mast if roll a 1) +Explorer: like the Cat's Claw, this ship made her best speed to join the rest of Paul's squadron in the center, but was held back by her speed. Her cruise ended quickly; as soon as Champ had disposed of the Cat's Claw, it turned on the Carrion Crow, with identical results, right down to the scuttling order.

• Petty Officer Jake's Ships:

• HMS Royal (L; 3S,2L,2L,3S; world-hater) +Captain +Helmsman +Shipwright +Cmdr Rhys Griffin Owen: this four-master has replaced HMS Forge as Jake's #1 ship. At first, she hung back from the action in the center; the sight of Calim waving its tentacles just below the surface seemed to unnerve the crew. But when the Fire Blossom sent her Lady's Scorn too close to Jake's portion of the bay, his fleet sprang into action. Led by the Royal, all three ships ganged up on the Lady and blew her to bits. Jake wasn't concerned when the blue ship reappeared at Aimee's home island; he reasoned that it would take so long to fix her that it wouldn't matter. The Royal's Shipwright took a longboat ride over to fix the badly damaged Nautilus, and the big ship sailed on without him.

  The Royal's next victim was Paul's Freedom, creeping home on Oarsman power. She was an easy target, and Jake was happy to claim her one treasure as she sank. Then her captain noticed the fighting in the center between Paul and the Guardians. "Whatteth a beautiful brawleth!" he said as he turned on the Sea Nymph, and sent her to the bottom as well. Not content with all this, she hunted down Admiral Abigail's Cursed Blade and blasted her out of the water, taking half her treasure (one coin).

• HMS Nautilus (S+L; 2S,2L,2S; Schooner, +1 vs USA) +Captain: this speedy ship is another of Jake's favorites. Her first act was to clean out a nearby wild island. She then engaged the Lady's Scorn, but the battle went very much against her; she wound up derelict, and if the Royal and the Algiers had not been nearby, it would have been very sad for the Nautilus. But her fleetmates took care of the Fire Blossom's ship, and the Royal's Shipwright patched her up and got her home. The three turns she spent under repairs kept her from getting into any more mischief.

• HMS Algiers (S+S; 2L,2L; 2nd action on 5-6) +Captain: like the Nautilus, Jake used this ship as a combination fighting and gold ship. She grabbed a treasure first (a cask of Rum, which Jake didn't even share with his friends), then joined in the attack that finished off the Lady's Scorn. She spent the rest of the battle looking for action, but not quite finding it. At the very end, she was about to load gold from another wild island; this would have given Jake a clear victory, but the Algiers was one turn too late.

• Bosun Zach's Ships:

• El Toro (L; 3L,3L,3L,3L; titan, fear) +Captain: this enormous creature lived up to our proud tradition of giant crabs being busy but never surviving to the end. She made her slow way out of port, looking for something to snap in half with her claws. That unfortunate victim was Antonio's San Salvador, which had just docked at a wild island. Three swipes of her claws took out two masts, and the Salvador was done; its fourth claw took a piece out of the nearby Cordoba. The Cordoba fired back and shredded one of the crab's claws.

  The big beast then curved around the bay, joining up with L'Atalante. It lost another claw at some point, but this historian has forgotten who did it or how. Ultimately, the crab's Captain transferred to L'Atalante, leaving the titan crewless. It tried to shield its fleetmates from Abigail's approaching ships, but the Zeus rammed it, and with help from Empress the tiger, El Toro's days of terrorizing the seas came to a sudden end.

• Gold Eagle (L; 3L,3L,3L; reverse captain) +Shipwright: whether by design or by accident, this ship wound up trying to support Paul the Pirate Prince in the center. She took a whirlpool journey in which her mainmast was washed over the side, appeared near the Freedom, and promptly rammed into Champ. The ram did no damage, and when Champ stuck its head over the gunwales in a boarding action, the Gold Eagle lost both her mizzenmast and her Shipwright. Squalo the shark made things even worse by inspiring such Fear in her crew that they couldn't sail faster than S. She took a final shot at Champ with her last cannon, missed, and pulled away, only to be shot by Champ and lose her last mast. She sat derelict for two turns, on the verge of reaching a whirlpool but unable to move, until Squalo surfaced and finished her off with a mighty bite.

• L'Atalante (L; 3S,3S,3S; schooner, +1 vs nearby forts) +Explorer: this French schooner used the whirlpools to get the drop on somebody's gold fleet. This historian can't recall who she attacked, or whether it was by cannons or by boarding, but somehow, she got a 7-gold coin home. She then peeled off for the action in the center of the map, took El Toro's Captain on board, and fired Zach's last shots of the battle to sink the derelict Black Pearl.

• The Fire Blossom's Ships:

• Lady's Scorn (L; 3S,3L,3L,3S; eternal, reroll) +Captain: whoever got this ship into Aimee's hands must have known her well; it is easily her favorite ship. In this battle, she started out by trying to shield her smaller fleetmate, the Bloody Jewel, from Zach. But she got too far out in front, and ran into trouble whose name was Jake. The Lady gave better than she got in a duel with the Nautilus, but then the Algiers and the Royal teamed up and sank her. This was only a temporary setback for the Lady's Scorn. In fact, this was the first battle in which she used her Eternal ability to get repaired and back into the action. That action was to jump Antonio's fleet as he tried to move into her zone of influence, and leave the Cordoba with no masts.

• Black Pearl (L; 3L,2L,2L,3L; +1 cannons & +S move if Captain) +Captain: for a while, no one was quite sure what this dark ship was up to. She sailed toward the middle, then took a whirlpool into Abigail's zone, where the fair Admiral's ships were headed home with gold. "I'll help protect you," Aimee announced, even though (a) there were no hostile ships anywhere nearby, and (b) the Zeus didn't need much protecting. After Abigail's fleet was safely home, the Black Pearl turned, took a whirlpool to the center which cost her a mast, and arrived just as Squalo was finishing off Zach's Gold Eagle. A giant shark, caught on the surface! Such an opportunity doesn't come often, and the Fire Blossom's gunners were dead on target. "I killed a shark!" she exclaimed with great glee. But revenge was in the air (as usual). The nearly-defunct Champ rammed her (no damage) and boarded her (she lost a mast and her Captain), followed by another ram/board by Calim that left the Black Pearl a black derelict. Zach's L'Atalante finished her off before she had time to feel sad about it.

• Bloody Jewel (S+L; 3L,3S; cargo=5; USA gets +1) +Explorer: this ship completed the Fire Blossom's colorful fleet -- she had ships of blue, black, and red. She took a whirlpool ride to Antonio's side of the bay, picked up a coin that he hadn't had room for, and then sat there for three turns; apparently, her admiral had forgotten about her. She eventually made a return trip through the whirlpools and got home safely, with the only gold Aimee found all night.

• Admiral Abigail's Ships:

• Zeus (L; 3S x10; Junk, take all gold if win board) +Captain +Empress +Jonah: Tonight, this enormous ship was fairly busy, if not fully productive. She began by running out to a nearby wild island and loading a treasure coin, then taking it home. When this menial errand was done, she returned to the same area, where Zach's fleet was passing through. She maneuvered to ram El Toro, the only thing on the seas that made the Zeus look small, and succeeded. This was bad for Zach, but even worse, the Zeus' captain gave the command to "Release the tiger!" Empress bounded across the gap between ship and crab, and tore another claw to bits. That was all the claws El Toro had, and the titan sank to the bottom forever.

• El Ballista (S+L; 4L,4L,4L,3S; eliminate 1 crew when pinned) +Gentleman Jocard: Abigail used this four-master as a gold ship, and she brought in the bulk of her admiral's treasure tonight. She saw no action otherwise, one of the very few ships that had a peaceful cruise.

• Cursed Blade (S+S; 3S,3S,3S; 5 cargo; schooner, take treasure from ship touching) +Mistress Ching +Hag of Tortuga: this, too, was a gold ship tonight, but she wasn't as lucky as the Ballista. She took a whirlpool ride to get behind Antonio's fleet and reach a wild island that no one had touched. Antonio was nowhere to be seen, but Jake took up the slack and jumped the pirate ship with HMS Royal. In one round of gunfire, the Blade lost all her masts. Abigail was frantically weighing her options, helped by several improbable suggestions from Mike, until he concluded, "... or you could just let Jake finish you off; half the treasure is better than none." She reluctantly agreed, and Jake obliged her on his next turn.

• Almirante Antonio's Ships:

• El San Salvador (S+L; 2S,2S; schooner, forts cannot hit) +Captain: this two-master quickly grabbed some nearby gold and brought it home. Then she rode the whirlpools to the other side of the bay, where Zach was ignoring the wild islands. But Zach wasn't ignoring Antonio; El Toro, the giant crab, caught the Salvador before she could load, and stripped away both her masts. Antonio's ship spent the rest of the battle derelict, stranded far from home.

• La Cordoba (L; 3S,2L,3S; one treasure worth +1) +Captain +Helmsman: Antonio used this ship as a combination gold ship and fighter, but she didn't do a lot of either one. She got one treasure early in the battle, returned to the fray, and got picked on by first El Toro, then the Lady's Scorn. Like the San Salvador, she ended the battle with no masts, but still afloat.

• La Bazana (S+S; 3S,3S; immune to red cannons) +Captain +Explorer: this ship somehow never found the action. Her fleetmates got the nearby gold, and by the time she got to other wild islands, someone else had cleaned them out. She was very good at following the Cordoba around, and if the game had run longer, she might have towed that ship home. As it was, she was the only one of Antonio's ships to finish with a full hide.

• Cadet-Captain Mike's Ships:
  It should be noted that, because Mike controlled the Guardians of the Gold instead of a "real" fleet, he had no home island, so he wasn't eligible to win.

• Calim (S+S+S; 4S,2S,4S,2S,4S; sea monster, remove mast if win board): the biggest of the Guardians had the least eventful day. It started by scaring Jake into leaving the center alone. Then it joined in the ramming and boarding of Paul's Freedom, inflicting damage and stealing back one of the coins Paul had loaded from the center island. After this, she dipped back under water and resumed her role of intimidator, keeping Jake at a distance and threatening Paul when he tried to reinforce his fleet. When the Black Pearl arrived at the center, she didn't make a target of herself by loading gold there. But she did make a target of herself by killing Squalo, so Calim and what was left of Champ stripped away all her remaining masts.

• Champ (S+S; 3S,3L,3L,3L; sea monster, remove mast if win board): this sea serpent was certainly the busiest and most successful of the Guardians. It began, not with a ram and board, but with a body-segment attack on Paul's Freedom that left it derelict. That ship ran out the sweeps and made her escape, so Champ exchanged shots with the Sea Nymph while fending off (and eventually derelicting) Zach's Gold Eagle. Then Paul sent his two two-masted ships to join the battle. "Mmmm! Snacks!" thought Champ, which was still on the surface. It made two ram/board attacks, one on the Cat's Claw and one on the Carrion Crow, which left them both derelict and ready for scuttling. But it stayed on the surface a little too long; the Sea Nymph fired all her remaining cannons and blew off every piece of Champ but its head. That head slipped under the waves for safety. Normally, that would have been the end of the story. But when the Black Pearl struck down Squalo, Calim couldn't avenge it alone. So Champ made one more ram/board that cost the Pearl a mast, and enabled Calim to finish the job.

• Squalo (L; 2S,3S; sea monster, fear): the smallest of the Guardians had a busy evening as well. It spent most of the battle under water, trying to cause Fear in any ship that came close. It only worked twice, slowing down Zach's Gold Eagle both times. Aching for action (and very hungry), the shark then rose to the surface and bit a hole out of the Gold Eagle's hull, sinking her. Its timing was very bad, though. The Black Pearl had just popped out of a nearby whirlpool, and her gunners quickly found the range. That was the end of Squalo.

However...

...as this historian was writing this report, he realized that Jake had sunk Abigail's Cursed Blade, with the Hag of Tortuga on board, and Paul's Freedom, which had the Flag of Tortuga. Both of these crew have the Ransom keyword, which means Jake got a point for sinking each one. That means Jake was the actual winner, and Abigail was second by one point. Not only did the wrong people award the Captain's Coin, they gave it to the wrong person. Look ashamed, you two.

It was a wild battle that spread all across the map. No less than 13 ships were sunk or derelicted, and some of the whirlpools were as busy as Grand Central Station. The Guardians of the Gold did their job well; only one ship even tried to steal their treasure. Mike had expected the other players to gang up on the Guardians, and loot the rich central island (and fight each other) once the main threat was gone; instead, they contented themselves with the lesser islands, and allowed Paul to face the Guardians and pay the price by himself.

For its role in derelicting four ships, Champ earned the Bronze Saber; this is the first time a sea monster has ever won a medal. But those heroics paled before the exploits of HMS Royal. That ship finally lived up to her excellent potential, sinking (or helping to sink) four big ships, and bringing in enough gold with those sinkings to help her admiral into first place. For that performance, HMS Royal wins the Silver Saber.

Overheard during the battle:

Mike: Aimee, what are you doing?
Aimee: Uh huh.

Scribed this day, the Twenty-Third of July,
the Year of Our Lord Two Thousand Eight,
by Cadet-Captain Mike

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