May 1660: At Long Last (And About Bloody Time!)

First of all, a quick recap...Aledys and her happy band of misfit miscreants are prowling around this particular bit of Lemuria (Area 6):

And her current fleet consists of Lily of Anjou (now under the capable command of English Edward, a Rep 4 Born Leader) and the new flagship Gertrude of Ulm, which used to be a Lung Ho junk.

As usual, we start with the Random Event check, and the results are not doubles, so there's nothing special about May.  This is probably a good thing.

After some consultation with her new crew and some griping and complaining about having to risk curried food on any new prizes, Aledys and Edward decide that it would be better to get away from the Lung Ho and Chang Wang for a bit (just in case) and so set sail for Area 5.

This gives a whole new couple of vict...er, possible encounters, being in the main the largely Hindi kingdom of Alawar and the Sikh kingdom of Vendya.  None of these worthies are exactly easy pickings, but they also dislike the Lung Ho as a bunch of arrogant upstart new Chou-on-the-block sorts.  Seeking an encounter for fun and profit, Aledys checks against the Area Activity Level of 5 and gets one success: sail on the horizon!  And it's four Vendya ships!  Which prove to be three 4th rate Merchantmen and a 5th rate Merchantman.  Needless to say, our ruthless protagonists press the attack (because going back to port with the pitiful take from last month hardly makes it worthwhile to have gotten out to sea in the first place).  Aledys wins the advantage by a narrow margin, and the pirates swoop down on their prize.

The first turn passes with Lily closing on the rearmost 4th Rater and opening fire, scoring a single hit and forcing a Morale check...and while the crew are experienced enough, being Rep 4, they're also Merchants and take a -1 penalty to Rep after a single hit.  The resulting roll is just bad enough that they immediately Strike their colors!  One down...and unwilling to press her luck (or, more accurately, recognizing that she doesn't have the crew to capture the entire fleet), Aledys signals Ed to break off the pursuit and secure the  prize while Gertrude sails up alongside in stately fashion to formally take control.

Imagine, then, her delight to discover that this one's got full holds!  Feeling magnanimous, Aledys politely offers to 'escort' her prize back to port without any undue unpleasantness, and under the circumstances the Merchant Captain allows that this is probably the best offer he's gotten from a pirate recently.  The Crew, somewhat miffed about the thought of not getting to watch a chubby rich merchant type get his, are mollified by the thought that payday is coming up very soon!

Aledys gains 3 Fame points (four for her prize, minus one for not dividing the loot this month) and passes the Loyalty test with flying colors.

After a brief conference with Edward, the fateful decision is made to return to Chang Wang to sell the cargo, mostly because they can likely get a far better price.  Also, the odds of the Vendyan navy pursuing them is higher if they put in on Alawaran shore.  This will mean a bit longer at sea for the crew without pay, but the results should be easier all 'round.