Nightfall settles over Puerto de las Sombras. Redmane stands aboard the captured flagship beneath Ballantyne colors, the governor’s signet and command ledger still in her hands as Spanish lanterns multiply beyond the harbor mouth.
Lady Beatrice Ashcombe
The sighting is confirmed from the harbor wall. Their line entered the outer water sooner than our watches predicted, and more lanterns appear behind the first squadron.
Lady Beatrice Ashcombe comes down from the wall with salt on her coat and a rolled chart beneath one arm. Behind her, signal bells mark each new Spanish sail.
Mateo Vargas
Sir Edmund Vale and Captain Lucía Serrano are still hours away. Their reinforcements cannot reach us before the enemy reaches the harbor guns.
Commodore Alonso de Villareal
That is Admiral Velasco’s formation. He means to break Puerto de las Sombras before your allies arrive, then call this harbor’s lawful surrender a rebellion crushed.
Villareal remains under guard but stands awake beside the captured quarterdeck rail. Mateo studies the ledger, while Beatrice spreads the chart across a gun carriage and weighs the darkened approaches.
Lady Beatrice Ashcombe
Their van is steering for the western channel. Captain, where shall we place the captured ships while the harbor decides whether to hold its breath or fire?
Beyond the mouth, the approaching formation alters course. Lanterns gather into a deliberate crescent, and the first Spanish signal flashes twice against the black water.
✓ Quest Accepted
Force Velasco’s van away from the harbor guns
✓ Quest Accepted
Defeat Velasco’s Spanish crescent
“Can Villareal identify a weakness in Velasco’s formation?”
YES (Likely, rolled 38)
Villareal studies the lanterns as the Spanish crescent advances. Then his guarded expression sharpens, and he points beyond the leading ships toward the black water behind them.
Commodore Alonso de Villareal
Velasco has weighted his van with his strongest ships, but left the rear too far astern. The crescent cannot support both ends at once.
He traces the formation across Beatrice’s chart, marking the widening gap between the van and the slower rear ships. The weakness lies just outside the western channel’s shoals.
Commodore Alonso de Villareal
Draw the van toward the harbor guns, then strike the rear before it can close. Velasco must choose between rescuing his tail and pressing the attack.
Lady Beatrice Ashcombe
He has made his own formation a chain with a weak link. If the rear turns, the van enters the guns unsupported.
Mateo bends over the chart, measuring the tide and the lantern intervals. Beyond the harbor mouth, Velasco’s crescent continues inward, its separated rear ships falling farther behind.
“I ask the Commodore why he aids in my defense as I fight against his own invasion forces?”
FAILURE (Legendary Intrigue, rolled -4)
Captain Redmane
Commodore, why aid my defense while you fight against your own invasion forces?
The question lands cleanly, Silver Tongue stripping away ceremony while the command ledger and governor’s harbor signet frame it as an official inquiry. Then the wanted poster snags her sleeve, exposing her likeness to the watching quarterdeck and tightening every eye upon Villareal.
Commodore Alonso de Villareal
I aid the defense because my surrender purchased my sailors’ lives. Do not mistake that bargain for loyalty to you, Captain.
His answer satisfies the public terms but evades the private motive. The signet makes his statement binding before the harbor, while the ledger leaves his words entered as surrender testimony rather than confession.
Commodore Alonso de Villareal
Ask me again when my surviving officers stand beyond your guns. Here, every answer becomes another weapon against them.
Villareal steps back from the chart and refuses further explanation before witnesses. His cooperation is now confined to protecting his crews and obeying recorded orders, leaving his deeper allegiance sealed behind that condition.
“I wear the signet ring on my person solidifying my authority while allowing Velasco’s deeper into the harbor subtly encircling them.”
SUCCESS (Legendary Intrigue, rolled +1)
Redmane slips the governor’s harbor signet onto her finger and closes the command ledger. The gesture makes authority personal, while its gleam catches every watching eye aboard the flagship.
She reads the tide marks and shoals, then alters the harbor signals by measured degrees. The van receives an invitation toward the guns, while deeper flags quietly draw the rear inward.
Lady Beatrice Ashcombe
Velasco is answering. His van presses toward the western channel, and his rear is turning to close the gap.
The wanted poster snags her sleeve, flashing her likeness across the quarterdeck. Redmane tears it free and folds the interruption into the spectacle of a commander who cannot be shaken.
Commodore Alonso de Villareal
The crescent is closing. You have brought the deeper ships within supporting distance, while the van stands committed beneath your batteries.
Signal flags rise from the harbor walls and captured masts. The Spanish Invasion Fleet folds inward exactly as the ledger predicted, its ships entering a tightening arc with Ballantyne guns commanding every escape.
Mateo Vargas
They are encircled, Captain. Velasco must advance into the harbor guns or turn his whole formation through the shoals.
“I order all batteries to fire on the rear ships and launch the harassing sloops beyond the harbor.”
SUCCESS (Legendary Seamanship, rolled -2)
Captain Redmane
All batteries, fire on the rear ships. Launch the harassing sloops beyond the harbor.
Redmane sets the command ledger beneath the governor’s harbor signet and reads the tide, shoals, and enemy spacing at a glance. The signal book turns her order into precise pennants, while Inspiring Presence carries it from wall to wall.
Mateo Vargas
The rear ships are exposed. I will relay the firing sequence and send the sloops through the outer passage.
Every harbor battery fires together at the Spanish rear. Shot tears through spars and rudders as the fast sloops sweep beyond the harbor mouth, harrying the formation from its unprotected side.
A gust snaps the wanted poster against Redmane’s arm and wrenches her sideways into the gun carriage. Her ribs strike hard, leaving a sharp bruise, but she keeps the signal flag raised.
Commodore Alonso de Villareal
The rear is crippled, and the sloops have crossed beyond the harbor. Velasco’s line can no longer close without exposing its flank.
The rear ships yaw apart under converging fire while the sloops dart between them, forcing their guns away from the harbor. Redmane’s maneuver succeeds, though every breath now pulls against the fresh bruise beneath her coat.
“All batteries and broadsides continue firing upon the rear vessels into wrecks as reinforcements finally arrive.”
SUCCESS (Legendary Seamanship, rolled +1)
Redmane keeps the batteries and captured broadsides firing into the Spanish rear as wrecks crush against its path. Her bruised ribs protest each deep breath, but her signals never falter.
The command ledger fixes each target, while the signal book synchronizes harbor guns, galleon broadsides, and harassing sloops. The governor’s harbor signet sends every order through the officers without delay.
A wanted poster whips across the quarterdeck and catches Redmane’s wrist, but Inspiring Presence turns the interruption into steadiness. She tears it free and keeps the next salvo precisely timed.
Mateo Vargas
The rear is breaking, Captain. Their ships are trapped between the wrecks and our broadsides, with nowhere to turn.
Fresh sails appear beyond the smoke as Sir Edmund Vale’s private squadron, with its commander, a young adult man with a lean build, wind-browned skin, shoulder-length dark hair, and a blue naval coat over buff breeches, and Captain Lucía Serrano’s cutters, with their commander, a young adult woman with a sturdy build, warm brown skin, tightly curled black hair, and a crimson coat over a white shirt, enter the outer water, striking the exposed Spanish rear from opposite quarters.
Commodore Alonso de Villareal
Admiral Velasco’s rear is finished. His ships are dismasted or hard aground, and the van cannot reach them through this fire.
The final coordinated broadsides smash the rear vessels against the wrecks. Their colors fall, guns fall silent, and the Spanish line is destroyed before reinforcements can join the fight.
“I offer Villareal’s crews life for surrender”
SUCCESS (Legendary Diplomacy, rolled +1)
Redmane raises the governor’s harbor signet above the command ledger, its authority visible through the smoke. The torn wanted poster still clings to her wrist, complicating the offer, but Silver Tongue carries it past suspicion.
Captain Redmane
Spanish crews, surrender your ships and arms. You will keep your lives, receive fair treatment, and have your lawful shares recorded openly.
Inspiring Presence steadies the harbor batteries and the watching sailors as the command ledger displays the terms. The signet makes the promise official, while the poster’s danger becomes proof that Redmane risks herself before them.
Commodore Alonso de Villareal
You have my surrender already, and now you offer the same mercy to every deck. I accept these terms for my crews. Strike the colors and lay down arms!
Across the battered rear, Spanish colors descend. Guns are secured, weapons lowered, and the surviving sailors emerge onto their decks with hands visible as Ballantyne officers take formal custody.
Spanish Invasion Fleet
We surrender! Our lives and lawful shares are under Ballantyne protection.
The surrender is complete. Villareal’s crews live, the prizes are secured, and the command ledger receives their promised shares beneath the harbor signet’s witness.
Quest Complete
Defeat Velasco’s Spanish crescent
Skill Upgrade: Fencing Good→Great
“I have Matteo lead boarders out to secure Villareal’s flagship and remaining crews ending the battle.”
SUCCESS (Legendary Seamanship, rolled +1)
Captain Redmane raises the command ledger beneath the governor’s harbor signet, marking Villareal’s flagship and the remaining surrendered decks. Reads Naval Tactics finds the safest boarding sequence through smoke and wreckage.
Mateo Vargas
Boarders, with me. Secure the quarterdeck, guns, and colors. No man is harmed who keeps his hands visible.
Mateo leads the Ballantyne boarders across the gap. Inspiring Presence steadies their timing as they sweep onto the flagship, disarm the watch, and take every station without bloodshed.
The wanted poster catches Redmane’s bruised wrist and tugs painfully at her ribs, but she tears it free and keeps the signet raised. Her signals send the captured ships’ crews into orderly custody.
Commodore Alonso de Villareal
Flagship secured. My remaining crews will obey your officers and surrender their arms under the terms already proclaimed.
Mateo’s boarders lower the Spanish colors and raise Ballantyne crimson and blue. Across the remaining decks, the Spanish Invasion Fleet lays down arms as harbor officers record each surrendered vessel.
Spanish Invasion Fleet
We surrender and accept Ballantyne protection, lawful shares, and Captain Redmane’s command.
The battle ends with Villareal’s flagship and the remaining ships secured. The command ledger receives their crews and prizes beneath the governor’s signet, while Mateo reports the harbor safe.