>If you want larger bonuses you need rituals. And rituals do take
>hours of time (don't have the exact numbers to hand).
The visible horizon at sea in our world* is 5 miles from a ship's deck, perhaps 10 miles from the mast-top. Your average wooden sailing ship propelled by a moderate breeze can sail at maybe 5 miles per hour - so that's 1-2 hours warning - minimum. If the ship has to tack against the wind to reach you, you'll have double that time.
This, of course, assumes you don't take evasive action. If the enemy ship's behind you and trying to catch up, you might have _days_ of time before it eventually overhauls you. Plenty of time for a ritual. Not to mention the days of rituals you engaged in before setting off, while your more mundane colleagues were giving the ship its regular maintenance...
(* I'm assuming for the sake of argument that the horizon is the same in Glorantha, even if the explanation is radically different)
Of course, friendly Mist Spirits hiding the pirates' approach, or Triolini pushing their ship, can make a big difference...
>At this point IIRC the Wolf Pirates dominate the Homeward Ocean.
>They are ruthless, deadly, and motivated by plunder.
"and scavenge the seas in hordes thousands strong", to (mis)quote
Greg. Presumably the Wolf Pirates either:
a) don't, actually, dominate the seas
or
b) Aren't as ruthless and deadly as Harrek's propagandists like to
point out
(since otherwise they would soon wipe out all legitimate merchant
shipping from the oceans)
or
c) They really *are* as powerful and deadly as stated, but the
situation is highly temporary and grossly unstable. Pretty soon now,
the trade ships will stop sailing, the Wolf Pirates will run out of
plunder and start to starve, and Harrek will have to dump them and
find a new career - preferably somewhere far inland, and nice and
mountainous with no coastline...
Stephen
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