Re: Shipping Out!
Although Gorren is better in a fight than he is at range, he's not in full armor. Not only did he not have time, but that's not such a good idea at sea. He's only rather reluctant to try to jump across to the other ship. So he takes cover by a rail and unslings his military rifle... props it on the rail and waits for a target to appear out of the smoke. However, his warhammer is still at his waist in case the enemy gets too bold and too close.
His assessment of the enemy not being any kind of elite unit turns out to be accurate, since his shot rings out, hits his target, and the target drops. Any kind of elite unit he'd have to shoot twice!
Rrger attacks the Ogrun #4 with his Shocking Grasp-enspelled weapon. The Ogrun is wearing some metal armor, which is enough to attack the electified weapon, just enabling Rrger to hit. The combined 28 points of damage is enough to finish off the Ogrun.
Nicollo, reluctant to use his other guns in favor of his bonded weapons, decides that the situation warrants it. Holstering "Poetry" and "Rhythm", he pulls out "Heirloom" and "Shouter". As one of the armed marines staggers out of the smoke to the railing of the other ship, coughing and disoriented, Nicollo fires "Heirloom".
He hits his target, but it doesn't drop him, though no doubt he's staggered a bit more. As no other target immediately appears, he shoots the same marine with "Shouter". This, too, hits, and drops the marine.
Now he has to reload. He quickly holsters "Heirloom" and "Shouter", and draws "Poetry" again. This time, he fastens a lanyard to the stock... just in case he has to drop it in a hurry... and begins to reload.
He still has his pepperbox "Twister" and his baton if the enemy gets too close.
Danyka takes cover behind some of the crates piled on deck. The overstocked ship has plenty of such on deck. Barrels are all below deck due to their tendency to roll, plus they usually have contents that don't mix well with water.
She has no problem reloading her pistol.
Katrin, a rogue/fighter with hedge wizard in her background, isn't as reliant on her pistol as the gunmages, so she waits until Dany is reloaded before she'll do the same. She's still better at range than in close combat, but her pistol is the only range weapon she's any good with. She holsters her pistol and draws her baton to attack any enemy that gets too close. The smoke has evened the odds a bit, but there were still too many of the enemy to risk boarding the other ship just yet.
Creswick reloads his crossbow.
Marco, still up on the yardarm, had a clear advantage with his rifle at picking off the other ship's marines. He even had some cover from the yardarm itself as he reloaded. However, that had never been his primary intent. Ship-to-ship combat needed panache, and he had plenty of that! Slinging his rifle, he scuttled back along the yardarm, cut one of the ratlines, wrapped it around his forearm while gripping it with the same hand, and dropped off of the yardarm!
He felt like he should have some sort of battlecry to go with the action, but he couldn't think of anything appropriate. Besides, with everyone in the smoke, they'd never see him coming... which was actually a good thing at this point. He vantage point let him see an assortment of heads milling about in the smoke, so he aimed for them.
In a strong wind, the line had to hold far more weight than him, so he didn't doubt the line would hold. His major concern was that he'd not estimated the length he needed correctly, but there was a liberal amount of wiggle room.
The arc of his swing carried him over to the other ship, but he had to raise his legs to clear the railing. Not as planned, but probably for the best as his body was more in a prone position that upright at that point. For this effect, he couldn't wait for the rope to reach the end of it's momentum. Instead, he let go as he reached the group of men. At the last second, he swung his rifle around in front of him to use it as a kind of battering ram as he slammed into the group. Crunching bones and screams of pain were his reward.
In the tangle of arms and legs, he knew everyone was his enemy. Keeping low to the deck under the smoke, he began slashing at arms and legs and bodies.
Yes, this will be more than a single round, but that's what he's doing.