Once more, Tarkaz cranks back the gigantic crossbow that is the ballista and takes aim under Captain Naresh's directions. At three-hundred-and-fifty feet and closing, you can track the bolt without a spyglass now. It leaves the machine with a deck-shaking 'ka-chunk,' and flies true, directly at the scorpion-ships' 'head'! Alas, sound cannot travel through the void, so you cannot hear the sound of breaking glass that accompanied that hit!
Giving a low whistle, the Captain drops the spyglass from her eye and casts Tarkaz an approving smile. "Now that was a good hit! Pity it lost most of its power smashing through the windows! Someone in their helm room had to dodge that strike! I could see them moving around out there!" Looking at the rest of you, she frowns and shakes her head. "I am not going to lie, we are in for a bad fight. There are fourteen of us, and probably thirty or more of them. I would ready any ranged weapons you have, and be prepared to duck. They are loading their own ballista as I speak." Bringing the spyglass back up, she suddenly swears. "Duck and cover!" she shouts.
In the helm room, Drakk notices a strange thing coming into his vision. It looks kind of like a big spear. Like the ones used on the ballista, but bigger? It certainly looks more wicked, with four sharpened vanes on the head and black fletching on the shaft, and it looks like it is going to hit... uh oh... It takes a supreme effort of will to not dive for cover when the ballista bolt smashes through the windows off to your left. Rasmus has one hand over his chest, a look of horror in his eyes. He'd managed to flatten himself against the wall, and the bolt missed him by less than a foot. He doesn't look so good. His lips are a tad on the gray side, and his pallor is paler than normal, but he perseveres, dusts himself off, and takes up a position just inside the shattered window, pulling a long, spindly looking wand from a holster somewhere within his robes.