The broad-shouldered shipwright strides from the loading gangway with fresh calculations scratched across a strip of sailcloth. Four eager yard hands cluster beside the half-refitted sloop, gripping coils, mallets, and spare canvas.
Tortuga shipwright 1
She can take the tide today. The remaining work is useful, not essential, and every hour she lies here costs us opportunity.
The shipwright snaps the sailcloth calculation flat against the barrel. Fresh caulking gleams along the sloop’s seams, while an unfinished spar and loose blocks mark the risks he is asking them to accept.
Mateo Vargas
A hurried departure gives us a fast hull, but not a proven one. If her rig fails offshore, our powder, credit, and reputation travel with the wreck.
Merchant 1
Our terms require repayment from the next prize sale. If this sloop sails before the refit is sound, the premium becomes the least of our concerns.
The eager hands glance from the sloop to Captain Redmane, ready to cast off yet wary of the officers’ warnings. Behind them, the flagship’s loaded stores wait beneath fresh canvas.
Tortuga shipwright 1
Give the word, Captain Ballantyne. We can finish her under sail, or keep her tied while the tide and our advantage slip away.
✓ Quest Accepted
Prove the sloop seaworthy
“I keep her tied and finish the spar, blocks, and caulking.”
SUCCESS (Superb Seamanship, rolled -1)
Captain Redmane keeps the sloop fast to the dock. She sets the command ledger open beside the sailcloth figures, ordering the repairs by load, tide, and strain.
Reads Naval Tactics turns the unfinished spar and loose blocks into a clean sequence: fit the spar, reeve the lines, then seal every seam before testing the rig.
The wanted poster slips from beneath the ledger and exposes her likeness to the quay. She pins it down without pausing, keeping the dangerous paper from interrupting the work.
Tortuga shipwright 1
Hold her here. We finish properly, and she leaves with a spar that will answer the helm instead of fighting it.
Four eager yard hands raise the finished spar, set the blocks, and pull the rigging taut under the shipwright’s direction. Caulking closes the seams in bright, even lines.
The command ledger fixes each completed repair against the credit and stores. When the tide turns, the sloop is sound, tested, and ready to cast off without gambling the fleet’s supplies.
Quest Complete
Prove the sloop seaworthy
✓ Quest Accepted
Secure the shipwright’s commitment to the silver-tender interception
“Do I have enough vessels, cannons, and crew to intercept a treasure convey?”
NO, BUT (Unlikely, rolled 36)
The finished sloop rides ready beside the flagship, but the yard’s remaining guns and hands make the arithmetic plain. Two vessels cannot challenge a guarded treasure convoy at sea.
Mateo Vargas
Not the convoy, Captain Ballantyne. We lack guns, hulls, and trained men for that fight, and the escort would break us before sunset.
The four yard hands fall silent among the coils and mallets. The sloop is sound, yet her lean crew and light battery leave no margin for a broadside exchange.
Mateo Vargas
But the convoy does not remain together. The treasure ships anchor at San Telmo Roads while the fastest tender carries the royal silver onward under a lighter escort.
Vargas draws a salt-stained route across the sailcloth, marking a narrow passage behind the island chain. One swift sloop could reach that tender before the main squadron turns.
Tortuga shipwright 1
Give me another tide and I can mount two more carriage guns, but not a full battery. She will strike quickly, then run cleanly.
The Privateer
Then the whole convoy is beyond our reach, but its loose silver tender is not. That is a prize worth sailing for.
The route remains open on the sailcloth, with San Telmo Roads and the tender’s narrow passage plainly marked. The fleet cannot seize everything, but a precise interception now has a usable target.
“I order two more carriage guns mounted before we pursue the silver tender. I will also purchase a second flintlock pistol.”
SUCCESS (Superb Seamanship, rolled +0)
Captain Redmane orders the two carriage guns mounted before pursuit. The command ledger fixes their weight and placement, while the sailcloth route keeps the sloop’s balance aligned with the tender’s passage.
Reads Naval Tactics turns the work into a swift sequence: reinforce the deck, brace the carriages, then test recoil against the rigging. Four yard hands haul timber and iron into position.
A gust snatches the wanted poster across the ledger, scattering measurements and making one gunner hesitate. Captain Redmane pins it beneath the account book, and the precise plan resumes without wasted motion.
Tortuga shipwright 1
Two carriage guns, secured low and forward. She will strike hard enough to cripple the tender, then keep her speed for the escape.
The yard hands bolt both carriages home and lash the guns tight. The sloop’s trim holds under trial fire, her deck answering cleanly as the new battery settles into place.
Merchant 1
A second flintlock pistol is yours, Captain Ballantyne. I have entered its price against the next prize sale with the powder and shot.
Mateo Vargas
The sloop is armed, balanced, and ready. With the tender’s passage marked, we can pursue the silver before San Telmo’s escort understands the danger.
Quest Complete
Secure the shipwright’s commitment to the silver-tender interception