The wind is brisk, from the east, but not unmanageable, and the rain has been light but unremitting. Still, the journey across Haven Bay and into the gullet proves no challenge for your seasoned crew, assisted as they are by . You pass the narrow cliffs of the inner headlands and enter the wider expanse of the channel, which the local pilots call The Throat. As you tack easterly to prepare to hug the eastern coast through the outer headlands, you notice the massive looming structures of the Gullet's fortifications emerge from the rain and mist.
Two pairs of forts are built on both the east and west sides of The Gullet. One pair, the chain forts, is near sea level, and supposedly hosts a massive adamantium chain that can be raised or lowered through mighty winches to open or close the approach. Despite your many transitions into and out of the harbor you have never seen that chain in use.
The other pair, high above the chain forts on the headlands, are equipped with huge cannons that commanded the sea and land approaches.
However, today you notice something different. The outer bastions, down at sea level, normally deserted, seem abuzz with activity. The rest of the massive structures seem quiet, as is expected during peacetime and storm season.
Strange....
The southern facing of The Gullet makes it possible to exit Haven Bay, even with the strong winds. However, the Chain Forts have been instructed not to allow the HMS Lady Jezebel to pass.
- Captain Rodriguez is in charge of the Chain Forts with orders to destroy the Lady Jezebel as she attempts to leave the harbor.
- If the Lady J leaves in an obvious way, during the day with the tide, they will be ready. In addition, Valdos, Kerric, and Syndric from The Golden Company will be in a position to assist.
- However, if Lady J leaves stealthily, things will be much harder for the ambush. The light will limit visibility to 1 mile, medium rain to half a mile, and heavy rain to a quarter of a mile. This will make it impossible to signal The Golden Company in time and make it challenging to raise the chain before the ship passes
- This ambush is a private operation by Captain Rodriguez; only the men directly under his command will initially participate. However, if the ship attacks the chain outer bastions then the rest of the defenses will join in. This will take time however, the forts are on low alert
- Transitioning the Gullet at a safe pace requires 20 minutes. As the ship enters the Gullet, however, a Perception roll of 30+ will reveal activity at the Chain Forts. This roll may be attempted every 5 minutes at difficulty (30 - minutes). Success reveals two pieces of information
- In general, the forts are quiet, the cannon ports shuttered against the wind
- However, there is a lot of activity in two particular outer bastions, on the ground floor near the very edge of the fort. Many soldiers headed into that bastion
- With aerial recon they will notice the soldiers leashing horses up a giant capstan. They will also notice Captain Rodriguez giving orders
- It takes 15 minutes to raise the great chains
- The two bastions will fire upon the ship, but only when it moves into close range
- It's possible to beat the chains by cracking on sail; however, doing so does run risks and requires seamanship skills by the crew. Since Lady Jezebel has experienced sailors, these rolls are made at an advantage versus a DC of 12. Failure means the ship gets too close to the lee shore and must veer off.
- The chain is composed of links six feet thick, weighs thousands of pounds, and dates back to the days of the Annwyn Empire and is made of an iron and steel alloy that is extremely hard. They are vulnerable to magic, but have advantage on saving throws against it.
- Each link has 100 hit points and a damage threshold of 20
- Initially, only links very close to the Chain Forts are visible.
- Severing a single link is sufficient to collapse the chain and render it ineffective
- The forts will not fire on the ship unless attacked.