Apologies on the abbreviated nature (or not-so abbreviated). Or, in any
rate, the lack of cinematic description. This is an event-event-event type log
and not indicative of the drama, intrigue, or even entertaining quirky
conversations present in the actual games themselves. Also be advised that this campaign deals with
mature themes – from sexuality to violence to religion to slavery – and other
issues that were dealt with during the timeperiod.
CAMPAIGN METAPLOT IN A NUTSHELL:
The original four characters, Ethan, Amaki, Dorian, and Alrik
- were marked with a strange rune each when they opened a mysterious puzzle box.
And since then, strange adventures have seemed to find them as they search for
why they have these marks, what they mean, or how to get rid of them....
The markings on the characters have placed in a way a curse, and in a way a gift
and geis on them - they are the ones that can activate ancient runes deep in
the heart of Africa - and they have a compulsion to find their way there.
This box was found by a group of men who had researched the history and sought
to use whatever mysterious boon these ruins conveyed for their own means and
profit.
The characters are now on the run from these men. However, these runes act
as a kind of "weirdness magnet" - making it more likely that they encounter
stranger situations than normal. Magic ISN'T Common, but it seems that if
something is going amiss... the characters are more likely to find it.
Furthermore, things that happen TO them are more likely to leave a... lasting
impression. Ethan is naturally a half demon, but he was the only one of
the group born as anything other than human. However, those marked are
likely to have something odd happen to them... as was expressed with Alrik's
ancestry and bear shirt actually activating and taking the full folkloric
implications. Dorian, after being attacked and ravaged by mutant rats, and
falling ill with their disease, began to take on ratlike characteristics
himself....
OTHER CHARACTERS
Ethan is obviously just one of the party members in this campaign. Ethan is also the only character that carried over from the original game.
The other characters in the group are:
Amaki -
all outward appearances is a very exotic (For the location) Japanese Geisha.
Tall, slender yet strong, and very flexible. Sixteen years old - kicked out of
her okiya. Amaki was raised as a girl by "her" mother - and with a
stress on privacy and physical humility - but is in truth male. Her mother
raised her as such to be able to keep her and help make up for her pregnancy.
Amaki does not know the difference between men and women - only that something
is "wrong" with her that got her kicked out when the headwoman of the
okiya saw her undressed and kicked her out. Likewise, no one in the party knows
either. Amaki is easily embarrassed with any kind of physical exposure, and disdains
any kind of hard work. Amaki is elegant and exotic, but not necessarily beautiful
by female standards (for obvious reasons). Her father was technically a Gaijin
(a client of her mother's from
Amaki has since in game been revealed to be a male, and has been trying to cope
with this revelation that everything she grew up knowing about herself was a
lie. Amaki is trying to find her place in this strange world, and gender
role.
Also, since the game began and Amaki was "marked" by the
runes, she was subject to the attention of a Vampire, who 'she' reminded of an
old lover of his. She has since been turned into a vampire herself.
When she "died", her rune disappeared and showed up on fellow crewmate and party
skeptic, Quinton.
-
Character Reference Sheet
Amaki Public
ref sheet – This is her old "public" reference sheet (no mention to her
really being male)
Best Reference Images
Dorian
Dorian also owns a small monkey that he purchased during the campaign. The monkey HATES Ethan, and this gives Dorian no end of amusement.
Dorian, after being attacked by rat mutants, and the disease
they spread catalyzing with the magic-intensive rune he bears, has become a sort
of were-rat - taking on a lot of rat characteristics in personality just as much
as physically when he shifts.
- Character Reference Sheet
Best Reference Images
Alrik Tyrsson - A Norseman, and who has been sailing for most of his life (he's 30-something). Strong, broad, and usually somewhat stoic - descended from the bear-shirt berserkers. Bearded, with long, blonde hair. Alrik has a good head on his shoulders, and while he may resemble the barbarians (to the minds of the Westerners) he is rational and, while generally stoic, guides the party to do more logical courses of action from the background. He is the most seasoned sailor or warrior of the group and while perhaps not as flashy as Dorian’s swordplay, he is confident and competent. He does have a traditional (Norse), religious/superstitious side, but he generally keeps it to himself.
For him, the magical rune has activated with the bear shirt he carries of his ancestry, emphasizing the legendary side of the myth - and he is gradually gaining the ability to shift into a bear (becoming more bear-like as he shifts as time goes on)
- Character Reference Sheet
Best Reference Images
Quinton Alberts – A later addition to the group, another Englishman, although this one with a streak of eccentrism that rivals Tanek’s, albeit Quinton is a good deal younger. Mechanic by trade, Quinton is a man of only his mid twenties, outspoken and generally finds himself superior-minded, and is not afraid to say as much. Quinton is brutally non-superstitious, believing in the miracles science can accomplish instead. Despite his bravado, Quinton is a coward in the face of physical danger, and will attempt to “delegate” such matters to the rest of the crew.
Quinton has long, brown hair pulled back into a tight braid, mousy features, and is clean-shaven with brass-rimmed glasses. His clothing is informal: a brown jacket with bright copper buttons, simple black shoes with white leggings and brown trousers.
When Amaki "died" (part of becoming a vampire), her rune (from the back of her neck) disappeared, and appeared (the same place and appearance) on Quinton.
While Quinton doesn't know it, some of the mechanical devices he makes are even more advanced than he thinks - while it makes sense to him, they couldn't be replicated by others following his plan - he has a sort of magical touch - gained from prolonged exposure to the characters and their runes, and the contents of the Box.
Solesh Elrich - Another
later addition picked up along with Quinton – Solesh hails from
He and Alrik get along frighteningly well, although Solesh is more likely to speak his mind.
He is a follower of Ra, and has had a vision from his deity, being gifted with true clerical abilities of his God. Likewise, prolonged exposure to the characters has brought him the magical attention.
Dr. Tanek Pachniak
- An elderly gentleman researcher/scientist - on the eccentric side - brutally
honest, but at least has decorum that Dorian lacks. Would look something like
Adventure 1 – In Which the Party Meets and Become Entangled in a Bigger Plot
((My session))
The game opened in April of 1705 on board the merchant
vessel Capricorn with Captain Steven
Ogden (as a nod to the original game). The ship had just left port from
Finally, he got a charter – a group of explorers had apparently made some sort
of find in the central American jungles, and booked passage to
Things progressed normally until about halfway through the voyage – a sloop flying the Union Jack was spotted heading in the same direction, but traveling at a faster rate, at about the time that an island is seen off of the other side – the port – of the Capricorn. At about the time that the sloop is about to pass on the starboard, the Union Jack is pulled down and replaced with a Jolly Roger. And the ship is under attack. Gun turrets open and a few warning shots fire. The Capricorn begins evasive maneuvers, but is being herded towards the island while boarding parties are launching an attack. The men are grossly outnumbered, and the majority of the sailors on the Capricon seem to flee, hiding beneath deck while the Pirates engage any crewmen on deck in order to get to the cargo hold.
Ethan, along with Alrik, Dorian, and a few other older sailors engage the Pirates. Ethan isn’t much help, but is eager to prove himself to the crewmates, and actually manages to.. dispatch of a pirate – although afterwards Ethan is rather shaken by his action. Only a few pirates stay on deck to keep the group and other sailors busy while the rest storm the cargo hold and begin taking what they can grab and heading back towards the ship. Meanwhile, Alrik attempted to stir the hiding crewmembers to battle, only to be backstabbed – clobbered over the head and tied up while they remained below deck. Amaki fended off two pirates who attempted to raid the passengers for their goods.
The battle was chaotic and moving quick, and before they knew it, the pirates were heading back to their vessel, with as much loot as they could carry. But, as the ship disengaged, cannonfire was pounded into the side of the Capricorn, blowing out most of the cargo hold, and the ship barely limped to shore.
Once they reached shore, the remaining crew was split up to do duties – as a reward for actually participating in the battle, Dorian, Alrik, Ethan (and assigned to escort and watch Amaki) were tagged to recover as much cargo as they could that spilled into the bay while the rest were sent into the jungle after supplies.
They began combing the beach looking for crates that had survived the wreck. After making a few trips, they stumbled across one particular crate. While it was marked RUM, it had a painted red X over it, and it appeared to have split open on the beach, spilling out an oddly elegant velvet wrappings.. and a stone box of sorts encrusted with shellwork and even some semiprecious stones. Amaki picked it up curiously, explaining that it looked similar to puzzle boxes that she had seen, and began to fidget with it.
Then, after a series of clicks, the box opened in her hands. But before any glimpse could be seen of its contents, the characters were bathed in a blindingly bright light and a small spot on each of them flared with a sharp pain as if they were being burned (Ethan on his left shoulder). When the light finally waned, the box was closed once more, the puzzle reset, and each of the characters sported a strangely designed “tattoo-like” mark on their bodies.
Moments later, altered by the bright light, their fellow crewman who were supposed to be gathering supplies approached the group, weapons drawn. They were angry, furious – demanding that they turn over the box – that it was theirs (and a few could be overheard muttering that at least the pirates did their job they were paid to do and left this crate alone). These were the men who seemed incompetent at sailor work, and who had apparently been staging an attempt to get the relic from the passengers. Weapons were drawn and the group ordered to drop theirs. As soon as they had, they began to escort them further down the beach when…
The passengers approached. About equal in number to the “crewmen” they also saw the flash of light – though had been back at camp waiting for their work to be done for them. Not aware that the characters were not a part of the main group, they demanded the artifact, and things quickly escalated. The crewmen were not afraid to use lethal force, knowing that it was not the other group who now bore the marks. In the ensuing chaos, the group escaped, with the artifact.
They continued along the beach opposite from the ship, and as they suspected, the small vessel that the ‘crewmen’ planned to escape on was moored in the bay, and a rowboat on the beach with only a few men standing watch. The characters, feeling wanted by both groups, ambushed the two men standing guard by the rowboat. Amaki distracted them while the others snuck up. Ethan cracked one over the head with a thick stick – and has been shaken by that later – those weren’t pirates, and while they may not have been good people, they hadn’t attacked them personally.
They took their clothes and weapons and got on board the
rowboat, and made for the small ship, The Charming Mary, a small fishing
boat – a Lugger. They convinced the two men on board to hoist up the rowboat.
As soon as the boat was tied off on the side of the ship, Alrik and Dorian
sprung and killed them. The group then made haste away from the island, towards
Adventure 2 – In Which the Group Meets and Old Sea Dog
and
((My session))
The group decided to set sail to
At that period in time,
SO! The group arrives in
When they return to the Hogswallow for dinner, Amaki dances – displaying her surprising skill – and draws the attention of they’re an older man who reeks, barely has a handful of teeth in his mouth, and wearing what might be called clothes, though he also carried a rosary – who introduces himself as Bart Sawkins. He mentions that he works the docks and saw their pretty little vessel sail into port – and that they didn’t look like fishermen. He also mentions that he could use someone as flexible as her for an idea he had….
Bart is up front about having left Port Royale during the earthquake. He knew a lot of good men that died that day, and even more wealth that was eaten by the sea that day…
Bart says that he was there – he knows where ships were moored, and he saw the destruction. It’s all still there, just buried. Buildings and ships all slid into the loose sand and the bay. Over the past ten years, he’s been collecting information about how to salvage some of that material. Most of it is in the bay, claimed by the sea, and “unless you can breathe underwater, it’s lost.”
However, the earthquakes did a lot of damage, and a lot of the other buildings further mainland just sunk. There’s tunnels under the city that the Earthquake opened, and a lot of the old city is still down there, if you know where to look. He’s been back a few times, found an entranceway. He needs a ship the size of the Charming Mary to slip into a small, shallow cove and get access to some Cliffs around the bay from the main city. ((In truth, he also wants a ship small enough not to arouse suspicions by the officials)). And also needs something to haul back the takings.
He says he’s been getting equipment necessary – and will want help loading it onto the boat. About half of this is explosive powder, most of which is either in tightly sealed barrels that he’ll shoo people away from initially – or be upfront about needing it to blast the way through some obstacles. He claims that he knows the way to valuables under the city and long forgotten. That he will split the profits equally with the part for their help. He’s an old man and can’t do the kind of stuff necessary. He’s mapped out sections of the undercity, they just need to help him go and get it, and their boat to access it and haul it back. He also claims that it will help put his ghosts to rest in going back to Port Royale.
The group doesn’t trust him very much… but the proposal is interesting, and promises to make a lot of money… so they agree.
- Bart’s Motivation -
In truth, Bart he’s been around this town since the earthquake. He was a pirate in Port Royale. Some pretty chilling rumors, but he went by a different name. Bartholomew Sharp, captain of the Trinidad. He was in prison in Port Royale when the earthquake hit. He escaped, thanks to it, and hasn’t been the same since. Still a mean SOB despite appearances. Bartholomew was deeply shaken by the Earthquake, and sincerely believes that God spared him for a reason. He was a vocal proponent that the city was sunk because of its sin, and that he has a purpose to achieve. But just because he believes God saved him does not necessarily make him a good man. He is still manipulative and sharp despite his age.
He is still very much a wanted man, if authorities found out who he is. He’s branded a pirate from when he was captured.
However, what no one really knows is that Bart has taken things a bit to the extreme. He believes that God hates Port Royale and this was made very clear to him. He was more shaken than he’d care to admit by the disaster. Sure, he was a cold hearted sonnuva bitch when it came to it for being a pirate, but he attacked grown men on ships, and a relatively small scale. After seeing the deaths of thousands it kind of set the man loose in the head. His ration no longer really makes all that much sense to anyone but Bart.
Bart wasn’t a pirate per
se. Bart was a Privateer for the British. Previously a Buccaneer, he
attacked almost exclusively Spanish settlements. When Port Royale was corrupt,
it was the ideal method of conscripting buccaneers to privateering, and
Bartholomew was one of them.
Bart has
rationalized the tragedy and his survival (none of his crew made it, either) as
God’s will. He is no longer a pirate, but sees God as having saved him because he is someone willing to get
the job done. God wanted Port Royale destroyed, and so help him he would see it
done. And not to mention, see to it that the backstabbing dog Handasyde goes
down with the city. Bart was responsible for the fire in
Bart wants to finish the job. He wants to level Port Royale. Or, at the very least the governor’s mansion. He has stockpiled gunpowder again from working the docks, sealed tight in unmarked casks. IF the gunpowder is discovered, he’ll explain that he expects to have to blast his way down to the remains of the old city.
- Exploration Under Port Royale -
They agree to Bart’s proposal, cautiously. And as they’re preparing the vessel to leave port, they’re approached by the Harbormaster who seems skittish after hearing that Bart was putting out to sea with them. He told them that they weren’t the first group that Bart sailed with – the last group, a group of seedy-looking fishermen, never came back. He doesn’t know anything specific, but he has never liked Bart – things tended to go missing from ships when he’s working.
The group travels across the bay, and into a small inlet West of Port Royale proper, through a narrow strait. Midway up the cliff there’s a crevasse. Between the supplies that Bart brings (including several barrels sealed with wax), they make their way upthe cliff and into the crevasse – the mouth of the cavern.
Not too far into the cave they run across an unexpected individual, Professor Tanek Pachniak , who found his own way to the crevasse in search of rare molds and other cave dwelling species for his experiments. He’s an eccentric professor who tags along, much to Bart’s annoyance.
They meander the naturally-hewn cave caused by the earthquake and find quite a bit of wreckage of old buildings, including an eerie destroyed chapel, many shops of various sorts, inns, residences, etc. Most of the damage is too difficult for the handful of people to excavate, but Bart wasn’t lying when he said that there was wealth to be found. There were – quite uncoincidentally – several passages that the cart that bart was responsible for couldn’t fit through – and the group was sent ahead, leaving Bart time to leave the big barrels of gunpowder, making up for the cargo that they were taking on.
I will make a long story short – they went through a lot of caves, found lots
of stuff – I made a whole “dungeon” map and everything – they dealt with
ancient corpses, putrid water, and unstable passageways/rubble.
It was on the way out that they started to grow suspicious – and noticed that there were less barrels on the cart than they came in with. Dorian hung back while the group went through one more passageway. Bart “accidentally’ shook some cargo loose from the cart, and a barrel went rolling towards the entrance of the passageway they went through. And Bart drew his gun – telling Dorian that he should have gone with his friends. Dorian drew his weapon in response and Bart fired on the barrel, collapsing the passageway that the group had gone through.
Dorian and Bart got into a fight – it was harsh – Bart was seasoned… but old,
and Dorian was better than he thought. Dorian won and they eventually dug the
others out of the other passageway. They figured based on the gunpowder, the
lengths of rope and lantern oil that Bart had destruction in mind, and made
their way out of the cave with the goods.
Adventure 3 – In Which Goods are Fenced, Alrik is
Cursed, and a New Task is Undertaken
((Amaki’s players’s session))
Still avoiding known ports, they sailed next to St.
Domingue, Hispaniola (modern
As it happened, shortly after putting into port, they found wanted posters on the walls of the harbormasters – rough caricatures, and the name of the ship. They hastily sandpapered and renamed the vessel – at least enough to get by in this out of the way port, and set out to stay in a crummy area of town to keep their heads down. Amaki dressed in Western clothing and rinsed the ink out of her hair, Ethan wore one of the leather hats he found (and took a liking to it), Dorian bleached his hair, and Alrik played up the fact that his portrait was particularly stereotyped of a burly Norseman. Tanek was not with the original group and not wanted.
They set out to sell goods – in a shadier area of town - taking a good part of the day. All in all, the group each made nearly 90 Doubloons – which was a fortune for most of them. They kept a navigation telescope, Alrik some of the alcohol, Tanek a silver pocketwatch, Ethan the hat, and Amaki some jewelry (including a jade bracelet).
They were left with a few odd items, and the recommendation to visit “Mi Tia”. They found her – a small shack on the edge of the city, butt up against the start of jungle, several children peering out of windows. A man stopped them outside, and went in to see if “Mi Tia” could see them. Tanek entertained some of the children by giving them a handful of coins. Ethan attempted to make them smile by pretending to “add” a finger to his left hand with a sleight of hand trick – playing up his six fingers – only to scare some, and be yelled at in some language he didn’t understand and get dirt thrown at him. He could assume what they said…
Eventually, they were given admittance inside – past a rundown living area with
lots of caged animals and strange dried plants and a few peering children. They
were escorted past a blind of beads to the back room – a smoky, dark room with
a heavy, aging old ethnic woman with a mass of dreds. They began to ask her if
she might be interested in the things that they had for sale, but she had them
wait, fussing with some thing behind the table. Ethan fidgeted nervously with
his cross – unsure of the proceedings, and getting a very edgy feeling.
She pointed at Ethan, expressing bluntly that she did not want him in the room. In fact, the room felt cloistering to him, so he went out to the main chamber, partially disappointed he couldn’t see what was going on, but kind of shaken on the other hand. He busied himself investigating the caged animals – only to be screeched at and dung thrown at him from the monkeys – and more screaming and dirt from the children when he tried to entertain them.
Meanwhile, back in the room with the old woman, they showed her the statuettes that they recovered from the undercity (Chinese Fu dogs, a coat of arms, and a few other miscellaneous artifacts) – she didn’t have much in the way of money, but offered them 5 handbeaded goatsmilk skeins. Not having anyone else interested in the items, and they were nice pouches. However, the woman stopped Alrik – saying that there was something of his that she wanted – an animal skin in his bag – it was a family heirloom bearskin shirt – he had never actually worn it, but there was a great deal of history and legend to it. She offered him a bag of gold nuggets for it – and he accepted, but as soon as he handed it over, he felt a chill, weak… something was wrong.
As soon as he left the room, he felt weak, off, and bad things began to happen. It started minor – bird crap, dog using him as a ‘tree’, and so forth…. But it was only a matter of time.
That evening they went back to the inn to meet with a man who they were negotiating a trade of boats. It didn’t take a genius to figure out why they were selling their ship – but then, they went to the right man. He drove a harder bargain, but eventually they paid 50 doubloons and their nice bottle of wine to upgrade to a nice little new ship of about the same style as the one they had – but that those who were looking for them wouldn’t spot. They reached a good bargain and Alrik wisely stayed out of it and abstained from drinking. By the time negotiations were complete, Ethan had… gone off and the rest returned to their rooms.
Ethan… tried to help, but was very much naieve in the way of illicit negotiations. Eventually, he tried to prove himself by ordering a double shot of whisky, and got himself sauced. Then, he proceeded to flirt with the barmaids. ((Ironically, much like the last campaign, Ethan happened to roll a natural 20 on his carouse and …. Scored the affections of three of the ladies)) ((Also, I like to play up these charm sessions, his charisma when it comes to flirtation, etc not so much being a result of practice or sexiness but some natural (or supernatural) charm that Ethan isn’t even aware he’s tapping into. He would think he’s just “That good” even though he really really isn’t. Unfortunately, unlike last time, they were in a much seedier bar and the women were not quite so honest. After Ethan passed out, they stripped him for all he was worth (Fortunately this was before he had gotten his share of the loot) – all the money he had at the time, the buttons from his shirt and pants… and he woke up suddenly when they lifted the silver cross off of his chest. Suddenly he was very sober and very awake and it felt like a great pressure was pushing DOWN on his chest – something was wrong, off, and something felt like it was boiling to the surface. He snatched it out of their hands, shaken and scared – and suddenly the gloating he had felt hours before was gone, soured. All the memories of his mother’s warnings surfaced and this seemed to confirm to him that there was a very real reason that he shouldn’t take it off – that it as a protection of some sort, and even someone else lifting it away from his chest felt THAT wrong.
He quickly headed back to the room – in the middle of the
night – to smirks from Dorian and
Early the next morning, Alrik went back to the woman with the pouch of gold, intended on trading her back. However… when he got admittance to see her, she smirked darkly, and informed him that it as not that simple. She had traded the gold for a purpose, and it would not be gotten back that easier. In order to get back his bear shirt, he would need to bring her something just as valuable to her. There is supposedly in the jungle a hidden temple – and the skull of the priest Takuma which it is said that kept one young. She is an old woman, and not up for trips into the jungle any more. But if he follows this legend map that she has, and bring it back to her, then she would give him back the shirt.
On his way out, the man gave him a bowl of strange smelling liquid – and it helped him with his physical weakness, but Alrik knew that that would only be a temporary solution, and would probably do nothing to boost the ill fortune that he had been experiencing.
Alrik returned to the group with the map/story and explained his problem, and the Voodoo woman’s task.
Adventure 3, Part 2:
Into the Jungle
Of course, the group didn’t exactly have much choice at that
point, caring for Alrik’s wellbeing. So map in hand, they set off into the
jungle towards the temple where the skull of Takuma was supposed to be.
They took the cart and bought a pair of goats to drag it, and it was over a
full day’s journey, met with many jungle hazards – from giant centipedes
(Thankfully scattered by a foul-smelling concoction of Tanek’s) , to quicksand,
to difficult trails to follow before they finally reached rocky foothills that
appeared on the map. They traveled through a ghost town of a native settlement,
and followed the path up to what appeared to be an abandoned, but ancient temple.
Along the way, a motif of skulls decorated the artwork and paintings and
architecture – and not all of it just representations, especially as they
entered the temple.
The temple itself continued the motif – often with full skeletons built into
the walls of the temple in various dancing poses. And the danger was far from
over. As they picked their way through the temple, ancient traps still proved
quite effective as they delved deeper. From pitfalls to walking on tiles with
certain skull patterns or else risking poisoned darts or chemical fire
combustions, to hoards of scorpions. The whole temple, while apparently ancient
and abandoned, seemed to still pulse with life and danger.
Finally, they found themselves at a large door, and opening it, to their
surprise, they saw an ancient figure seated in an unmistakable throne. Ancient,
but alive, and as they opened the door he raised his head with a baleful glare.
They had not exactly expected to find Takuma alive. Not expecting him to
understand, Ethan and Dorian quickly expressed such surprise, wondering how
exactly they were supposed to bring “Mi Tia” his skull. Unfortunately, such
commentary was not appreciated, as they heard the sound of buzzing hornets
approaching as Takuma rose to his feet.
Suddenly, the tomb was alive with movement. The thunder of the hornets quickly
approached as the group dashed into the room with Takuma and shut themselves
in, as two of the skeletons mounted on the walls seemed to come alive and moved
to attack.
There followed a quick, but harrowing battle between the group and the skeletons and Takmua. Ethan tried to look brave and went straight for Takuma, winding up with a spear slash to his gut as the only show of his courage. Dorian rushed in and finished the battle with Takuma, taking a near-lethal blow himself as his own critical blow was struck. Ethan tended to Dorion’s wounds as Alrik finished the job that Dorian started, and as he did the skeletons fell to pieces and the whole temple seemed to fall quiet again, feeling much more like a tomb. Dorian remained convinced that the skeletons that they had seen were some sort of rigged contraption. Ethan was panicking at the obvious show of “evil magic” – though Tanek, while he believed in magic, believed that all magic was neutral, just its uses could be benign or malign.
Amaki and Ethan, the more superstitious of the lot, said final rights – each in their own beliefs and did their best to hopefully quell his spirit and lay the body to rest before Alrik took the man’s head to bring back to Mi Tia.
The trip back was relatively uneventful, as the party knew
the best routes now to avoid, and returned to Mi Tia. Once again, she forbade
Ethan from entering the back room, but she kept her bargain with Alrik –
seemingly eerily excited to extricate the “secrets from Takuma’s head”. She was
impressed by their success, and commented to herself that she would have to
remember such.
Before leaving, Ethan noted from his place in the outer room that the small,
irritating monkey that seemed to despise him was taken into the back – for what
fate Ethan could only surmise… only to find that, no, Dorian had decided to
purchase the thing. And along the rest of their adventures (at least thus far)
it continues to hate Ethan just as much and shriek at him or throw excrement
any time that he happens to get close to the creature. Dorian finds this
amusing to no end.
Finally, they purchase supplies for the ship and waste no time in continuing on, seeing as how the security around the port and notably around the inn they had previously stayed at seemed to be on the rise. While thunderheads seemed to loom in the distance, the group found it worth the risk.
ADVENTURE 4: The
((My session – therefore much of
this is copied-pasted from my notes out of laziness))
The ship set sail, heading East towards an island that
Dorian and Alrik seemed to agree was likely not to be heavily populated by
officials – Ethan despised the connotations of it likely being a pirate port,
but couldn’t really argue. However, after about a day of sail, and before they
had even left the
The buildings were clustered around a larger stone church in the center of town
– and certainly appeared to be the most well/lovingly built structure. There
were livestock in some of the yards, skinny and untended to, and, after a bit
of examination, they noted that smoke curled from just one chimney – the
largest of the actual homes in the village, and one without a farm attached.
When they knocked on the door, after a few minutes, on the face of a small
child looked out. Tanek took the job of talking to him, and eventually he
coaxed the frightened child to let them in- where they found about seven other
small children. The children spoke Spanish, and they got from them that their
parents had disappeared over a course of four nights about a week ago while
they slept. No one remembered hearing anything or seeing anything. They were
frightened, but apparently reasonably well fed. Tanek set out to use materials
from the kitchen to cook the group and the kids a breakfast.
- Children:
§ Estéban – M, 7, and the eldest/ “leader”
§ Simon – M, 5 (Cristobal’s brother). He would be the only one to have any sign of injuries. There is some old bruising/scarring on his upper arms.
§ Tomas – M, 5 (Tomasa’s older brother)
§ Lucás – M, 4
§ Matteo – M, 3
§ Marta – F, 4
§ Tomasa – F, 3 (Tomas’s little sister)
§ Ana – F, 6 – Ignatio’s (the town medic’s) Daughter.
They found out that this was Ana’s home. Her dad was Ignatio. Lots of blankets lay out on the floor that they have. They’re scared and banding together, but at least look like they’ve been getting enough to eat. This is the largest house of the village, but smaller than the church by far. They looked around and were able to find basic medical supplies: herbs, bandages, scissors, burners, etc. There would also be a few books kept with the medical supplies which appeared to be a record of visitors and injuries over the course of about ten years. This was obviously the home of the town medic – and while there were no sophisticated supplies or books, it was certainly reasonable enough for a town of such small size. They were able to piece together that there had been seven families living here, in addition to the priest from the church. When asked why they didn’t go to the church, the children seemed scared – they said that the priest was one of the first to disappear, and that it was a scary place. They had come here, to Ignatio, and he and his wife had been the last to disappear. Along with the priest, it was Simon’s father, Eduardo, and his mother who disappeared. Then the Second night: Parents of: Esteban, Tomas & Tomasa, and Marta, the Third night: parents of Lucas, and Matteo, and, finally, the fourth night: which was the last adults left: Ana’s parents (Ignatio the medic & his wife)
The group and the children ate, while the group discussed in
English what to do – Amaki changed into other clothing, and the children began
to open up again, begging the group to help them find their parents – many
seemed intrigued by Amaki’s clothing and fancy jewlerey and make up (especially
the little girls) and the big, strong Alrik.
At first, Dorian was promoting to just leave as soon as the rain let up,
although that suggestion was not well met by the other group members. Even if
they took the kids, they felt they ought to at least try to find the parents –
or, worst case scenario, what happened to them. Eventually, Tanek, Alrik and
Dorian decided to go investigate this church while Ethan and Amaki stayed back
to watch the children. That job was pretty rigorous. Eight children who were
opening up, demanding, and into everything – especially Amaki’s things. She
tried to teach them how to make paper cranes, but most of them couldn’t keep
the attention, or squabbled amongst themselves, leaving Amaki and Ethan rather
frazzled.
Meanwhile, at the church, everything seemed relatively in
order at an initial look-through. It is a small Catholic church. The couple
rows of pews were situated, there were small basins of holy water by the doors,
and small and not very ornate alter. There did not appear to be any sign of
struggle. They traveled into the back, where the priest’s quarters were, and
found a small office with a large book laid out on the desk. The book had only
begun to be written in, although there were a series of books on a small shelf
that were numbered one through eight. The one on the desk was nine. While
written entirely in Spanish, the books appeared to be logs kept by the priest
of the town events, notes about the sermons, and goings on in the village. The
earliest of the records was only 1885, only twenty years ago, and seems to be
when the town was formed.
In the newest book on the table, there were two prayers that were written down,
for the mass dated the Sunday before last:
o LET US BOW OUR HEADS IN PRAYER:
Compassionate and loving God, yours is the beauty of childhood and yours is the
fullness of years. Comfort us in our sorrow,
strengthen us with hope, and breathe peace into our troubled hearts. Assure us
that the love we had for Cristobal was not in vain – indeed make it a part of
the store of goodness you are even now pouring out upon her in your eternal
kingdom. Indeed help us to bless you for the gift you gave us in him, for the
joy he gave all who knew him, for the memories that will abide with us, and for
the assurance that he lives forever in the joy and peace of your presence.
Guide us through this time of sadness with the light of your love and the
strength of your compassion - we ask it in the name of Christ Jesus. Amen
o When the presence and power of evil is
unleashed, touching, indeed invading our lives, we turn to the only source of
greater presence and power, even God alone. The manifestation of that presence
and power for me is especially found in communities of faith…and in the loving
caring of individuals acting in behalf of each other. This past week we have
been witnesses, perhaps even participants in the presence and power of these
strong forces. And we must bond together, brothers and sisters. We must hold
strong against those forces which wrested away our dear child Cristobal.
Together as a community, nay, as a Family we are strong and our faith in the
Lord can banish whatever demons the heathens have left for us to poison us. Our
family must look after one another and be Strong! We must be both the sheep and
the sheepdogs and stop the wolves from claiming another lamb!
After this entry, there is a small journal, vaguely noted
that the evil had been dealt with. There would be a note that Cristobal was
laid to rest in the small cemetery in the back of the church, and that the
priest was to have dinner that night with Cristobal’s family. That would be the
last record.
They looked at the end of the book previous to that one, to find a note about
Cristobal’s father, Eduardo, had come into the church late Saturday night with
Cristobal’s dead body – saying that when the boy didn’t come home for supper
that he went out to find him. He found the body by some sort of pagan statue
not far into the jungle. The man was a wreck, and the priest assured him that
they would do all that they could.
After that, Tanek, Dorian and Alrik went out behind the church to the small
graveyard. In total, there were no more than half a dozen tombstones. And
indeed, the newest one, the earth would even appear to be freshly tilled, was
Cristobal : 1699 – 1705. That is the most recent death, and the only one from
that year.
There would only be a smattering of other tombstones. Most of them would cover a decent span of time on the lifeline – and all of the other deaths would have been at least a year ago. None of the tombstones are older than 20 years. Surprisingly, there were NO other tombstones of children (Which was very uncommon for the period, especially a new settlement).
Begrudgingly, Tanek and Dorian decided to stay back in the rainy churchyard after finding a set of shovels from a small nearby shed, to investigate the contents of Cristobal’s plot. Tanek returned to the house to inform Ethan and Amaki what they had discovered so far, and to see if he could talk to Cristobal’s younger brother, Simon.
Simon was nervous, but answered Tanek’s questions when pulled away from the other children. He and some of the other children had sometimes gone off to their “secret place” to play during the day. One evening, around suppertime, his brother Cristobal refused to go home – it was late already and he knew their father would be upset. He made Simon promise not to tell where he was, even though Simon wouldn’t stay with him. When he got home, his father was angry… and when asked, yes, his father did hit him (which explained some of the old bruising) – and made Simon tell him where his brother was – and Simon showed him how to find the entrance to the trail that the children used. He didn’t go with him, though, and when his father came back, he said Cristobal had died, Simon said around tears. And after that, the grownups were all really upset, and after church went back to their secret place, making them all promise to never go back. It was that Sunday night that his dad and the priest disappeared, and after that the rest of the adults started disappearing at night.
Meanwhile, Alrik and Dorian made it to the casket and cracked it open. Inside indeed was the week and a half old corpse of the small child. Dorian hesitantly examined it to – triumphantly – reveal a rather mundane cause of death – an obvious blow to the back of the child’s head. Given the father’s story in the book and Cristobal’s brother, Simon’s injuries, Dorian began to theorize that the father himself had been responsible (intentional or not) for Cristobal’s death and blamed it on the pagan statue. Alrik agreed, but – just to be certain, he placed a stake through the corpse’s heart and said a prayer before re-burying it.
They returned back to the house, filthy and muddy from their work, and there was more discussion ouside on the porch on what to do next. It was only mid afternoon by this point, and it was still raining (although not quite as hard), and the group decided not to delay for the ominous evening to continue their investigation. Tanek stayed back with Amaki to talk with the children and to convince Simon to show them where the “secret place” was.
Meanwhile, Ethan, Alrik and Dorian went around to the other houses to investigate. They started with Eduardo’s house. Most of it appeared unlived in, but undisturbed, except the bedrooms. The sheets were unmade, and the beds appeared slept in. In the parent’s bedroom, upon close examination, they found a few flecks of blood on the pillow, and then smudged drops of blood along the floor, towards the room door. They found similar scenarios in most of the other houses – signs of what appeared to be clubbing over the head and then being dragged off. There was not much blood at all, however, and certainly not enough to indicate a murder (at least not there) – which gave some note of optimism that the parents might still be alive somewhere.
They rendezvoused back together at the main house and two
divergent opinions began to form. One was that whatever natives had built the
shrine originally had taken revenge on the adults for its destruction – and
they were stealthy and proficient enough to sneak into the households without
waking the children, and kill or kidnap the parents. Dorian was convinced of
this rationale – there were very mundane pieces of evidence around the village.
Amaki and Ethan promoted the idea that they had disturbed some kind of spirit
at the shrine that was taking its own revenge.
To continue their investigation, they got Simon to show them the path to the
“secret place” – assuring him that he wasn’t doing anything wrong. After about
a quarter of a mile, of following a small path with occasional nocks in the
trees or a piece of ribbon tied near by, they found a small clearing with heaps
of stone rubble. By this time, the rain was just about over. It was certainly
obvious that the adults had destroyed whatever used to be there. As Tanek was
looking over the pieces and beginning to try to place them together to try to
figure out at least what it had represented, Amaki was noticing that the mud
around the area was remarkably red, and after a little bit of digging, only an
inch or two down.
Even a week since the last disappearance, the ground was
still stained red with the blood. There were even still small flecks of it on
some of the stones from the statue. It was easy to paint a grizzly scene of
what exactly had occurred here. The unconscious bodies had been dragged here
and then clubbed to pieces with the pieces of the destroyed statue.
Alrik heard moving water nearby and it wasn’t long at all till he found its
source – a small river – the same one presumably that ran through the town and
out to sea. Digging around in the mud by the banks, he found pieces of femur…
arms… The bodies had been dumped here after apparently having been dismembered.
The wounds were ragged – certainly not expertly made – and could have easily
been done with the jagged pieces of broken statue… Even more disturbing was the
fact that there were large chunks of flesh missing. Particularly, Tanek noted,
those areas that would have been the most edible.
Tanek was in fact able to collect the pieces together on the ground to surmise
that the statue was probably around 8 or 9 feet tall, made of a sort of black
stone, and crudely carved. It had depicted a sort of beastly, hulking figure,
cradling a human infant in its arms – the infant had a serene expression – the
piece of its face still in tact, although the creature appeared foreboding and
snarling. Apparently, the group surmised, this had been some sort of alter or
representation to some monstrous being that was a protector of children. If the
father had indeed been responsible for Cristobal’s death, perhaps having
knocked the child up against the statue – then he would have killed the child
in front of a protector of children – and certainly would have drawn its – or
its builders – rage.
By this point the sun was sinking, and while Alrik tried to
follow the river back a ways towards it source, it soon became evident that it
would not be done easily through the thick jungle at night. They took a
different route back to the village – along the river to see if they could find
any last evidence. The way was more difficult to pick through – the brush
thicker along its banks – but Alrik did manage to find another piece of a body,
this one still with scraps of clothes attached, stuck against a partially
submerged log.
By the time they reached the village again, it was dark… and the chimney was no
longer smoking. The group huddled in the bushes on the outskirts to try to
surmise the situation – what if the natives came back because there were adults
back in the village or… something else?
Not long after observing, they saw a movement come from one of the houses, one of the children! Walking awkwardly and silently, head at a strange tilt. It walked into one of the yards and out of the sight of the party where they heard a squawking chicken…. And then silence. Then child walked back into view holding a limp chicken by the neck. They saw a smaller child then approach the other, take a leg of the chicken, and rip it away from the body effortlessly. Then the children began to eat…
The group was stunned, and nauseated, but … it certainly explained everything. That left a decision. Dorian said that they should leave – then and there – make it back to the ship and just go. Ethan hesitated, wanting to try to help – the children were possessed! But in the arguments, more children emerged from houses and looked towards the group, and began walking in their direction. More indecision, until one of the children arrived and hit, remarkably hard, Dorian.
As reluctant as the group was to fight children, they kind of didn’t have much choice as the children began hitting at them with supernatural strength – the group fought defensively, and doing their best to use non-lethal force. They couldn’t just stand there, though. Dorian was still emphasizing that they should try to make a break for the ship. Ethan brought up that the church was a lot closer… and from what they knew – and the children had said before… it should be safe.
At next opportunity, Ethan made a break for it, encouraging the others to do so as well. Amaki followed, as did Tanek, and Alrik scooped up a child under his arm – mustering through the kicking and biting – and they ran for the door. Dorian eventually followed as well after he broke free of the small cluster of kids around him.
As soon as they crossed the threshold of the church yard, the silent child began to scream his head off in Alrik’s arms, but he also noted that the strange strength seemed to sap away. As soon as they got it through the doors they gathered around it, trying to restrain it as it continued to thrash and scream and beg to go outside. Tanek, thinking quickly, dipped his hand in the holy water and sprinkled it over the child in the sign of the cross, at which, the child began to convulse, and then, the group could feel a presence ebb away… and the child lay still then… blinked in confusion. Wondering what was going on, why they had “pulled him out of bed and into church”. Amaki escorted the child back to the priest’s room while the rest of the group set out to try to bring the rest of the children into the church.
Thinking quickly Dorian and Alrik grabbed some of their rope and concocted lassos and managed to rope two of the children gathered outside the gates and drag them in. ((Much a joke about child-wrangling ^~ )). Ethan then got elected to be tossed out as “Bait” after Tanek threw some solution that when combined glowed in the dark, and a bit of holy water ((Ethan began to itch, blaming the weird concoction of Tanek’s – a day later or so, he would appear to have a nasty sunburn – which he will credit to staying out on deck of the ship to avoid the kids below deck… )) This succeeded in drawing all but one child out, and they managed to get the child into the church, while Tanek exorcized them.
The last child had been seen heading down the path towards the “secret place”. They waited till morning, keeping the children in the church, and wondering if what they had done was a temporary… or permanent fix. Once morning arrived, they investigated the medic’s house, to find a fire going and the last child, a little girl, curled up asleep in front of it. They carried her into the church, at which she immediately began convulsing and screaming. The holy water only seemed to make it worse. They tied her up, and Tanek used a solution to put her to sleep (for a little bit)… and it was a harrowing day. During which Ethan, felt uncomfortable – crediting the evil presence around them, and the children’s’ stories that the church was bad. ((In reality, he actually felt uncomfortable staying in the doors of the church)). That day, they fed the children and talked with them – none could remember what happened at nights, and as a whole, many admitted to having felt strange during the last week. It was agreed that nothing would be said about the fate of the parents, only that they weren’t coming back.
Come nightfall, however, the child woke again and began to struggle. This time, when doused again with Holy water, she convulsed worse than all the rest as an almost tangible presence seemed to ebb away from her and out of the church. Almost immediately, the sky seemed to cloud over and a Presence was felt. The little girl was sent to the back room where the rest were being kept.
When they looked out the window, they could more sense than
see a presence – hulking and they could feel the emotions pouring off of it –
feelings of anger, sorrow, and craven hurt. At first, trying to look at it, the
characters’ eyes just slipped off of it, around it – it was like a blind spot
in their vision. Alrik was the first to summon his will to actually look at the creature, and what he saw he
could not comprehend or describe, but the fear shocked him to the core and sent
him fleeing to the room with the children for a good ten minutes. Ethan and
Tanek also looked on the creature, but held their ground, though they still
could not fully comprehend what they saw. But they knew, they knew that the
creature had, in its own way, been “protecting” the children. That they were
right – the father had killed his own son in its clearing, and the parents had
destroyed its statue – awakening it and taking away its corporeal shelter.
Those that looked upon it got this connection, this unspoken understanding –
although Dorian could not manage to look (his disbelief kept him from being
able to do so). It refused to leave, and they knew it wanted the children back.
It raged outside the church – to those who could not see it could feel the wind
howling, an oppressive feeling of anger. Amaki braved outside, followed
afterwards by Ethan and Tanek, and brought the small jade Fu Dog statue with
her that she had found under Port Royale, hoping that maybe it could be a
physical body the spirit could inhabit. It lingered over it, and then it raged
again. ((It was far too small physically, and not a close enough “match” to its
representation)). They discussed the possibility (but more actually the
improbability) of building it another shrine by dawn.
Eventually, Ethan, insisting that it was an evil presence – regardless its
goals it had killed the parents, took his dagger, dipped it in the holy water,
and threw it from the church door. They could feel pain as it hit, and they
began to assault it from the safety of the church. Eventually, Alrik, who while
he could not look at the creature, got a lucky shot with his rifle – the bullet
dipped in the water, and the spirit dissipated, the oppressive feeling lifted.
The group, then, exhausted and shaken, slept for the night.
Amaki recollected the Jade statue, but she could feel an unclean presence
clinging to it. However, after performing cleansing rituals she felt it return
to normal.
The next morning they hastily gathered supplies from the village, while
deciding where to go. Tanek said that about a day and a half by boat, around
the coast of
ADVENTURE 5: La Hurón
((Tanek’s player’s session – a
particularly Zorro-inspired session))
The trip to
Finally, they arrived, they loaded the kids up into the goat cart, and they headed through town out towards the monastery. The town was relatively large, but not in the best of repair – only the main street was actually cobbled, the rest just a dirt road. They group knew also that this port was, while officially Spanish controlled, had no contact with the main Spanish hold, and pretty much set its own laws independently from the rest of the colonies – they received little funding from Spain, and thus, it was not likely that anyone would look for them here.
They traveled a few hours to the small adobe monastery and met with the monks, telling them an abriged version of the story (leaving out the evil-spirit possession and eating the parents part). And the monks agreed to take the children in. They stayed the night – got fed, and discovered the amazing coffee that the monks produced – Dorian bought a large 35 pound bushel of it, as well as a machine to help him prepare it. And Dorian then delighted in introducing the stuff to Ethan. A lot of it. He played nice and complimented him, calling him a man and goaded him to drink about a dozen cups of concentrated coffee. Ethan… didn’t sleep that night, and subsequently felt rather ill (Coffee has that effect….) He bothered the party one after the other, chatting at them until they sent him away.
The next morning, the group headed back towards the ship (Ethan, now crashed, sleeping in the cart). However, on their way through town, they heard cries of “Thief” and a great commotion through the streets – guards rushing about. Nervous at first they had been found out, but it quickly became apparent that they were not the ones being pursued – instead, eyes were drawn to the rooftops.
Not getting involved, and deciding it would be a good time to leave, they got back to the ship… only to find that everything that wasn’t literally a part of the ship was missing: food, supplies, navigational equipment and maps, the telescope, everything. Dorian was particularly seething at the loss of his personal affects – books and his artwork and writings. There was but a note, affixed to the wheel:
“La Hurón was here”
((Hurón = “Ferret” in Spanish)).
The group stormed out to see the harbormaster, demanding an explanation, and
why their goods were not kept safe. He told them that the thief was a woman, a
woman who the guards and city officials had never succeeded in catching – and
that if it was something she stole, the city refused responsibility. The group,
well, spearheaded by the enraged Dorian, vowed to catch her themselves and get
back their things. They didn’t have enough money to fully resupply the ship,
and so were effectively stuck there until they could get their things back.
Alrik took off to start asking around town to see what people knew of this “Huron” – the opinions seemed to drastically differ between the poor and the wealthy. The poor described her as someone who cared about the people – that she harassed the wealthy and that often times the poor would find “gifts” that they would accredit to her. The wealthy complained that she disrupted public works, vandalized and prevented trades from coming to the port. That the poor were not so bad off that they needed this thief. That she had struck the govenor’s manor multiple times. However, most people seemed to agree that robbing the ship of a small group of people who were bringing orphans to the monastery, nor did leaving a note seem to be her style. The descriptions seemed consistent, however, a woman, dressed all in black – breeches like a man, and a mask over her face, that rode a black stallion.
A few of the characters (miraculously, only now) recalled seeing a woman leading a team of coal black horses through town when they were there the day before, fending off some men who had made lewd comments. After asking around a bit more, people described the local stable master, Filipia – a woman who bred black horses notable in the area.
They decided to split up – Amaki and Ethan went to go see Filipia, while Alrik and Dorian wanted to go meet the mayor.
Dorian and Tanek went to go purchase new, nicer clothes. This was the first time since he left home Dorian had dressed more appropriately to his birth class, and on their way out of the clothing shop, they were stopped by a young noblewoman, who asked if they were the men asking around about La Huron – that she found the tales fascinating and romantic, that a woman could be so strong and valiant – and that at least before they had not seemed like the sort that she would have robbed – until she saw Dorian dressed like that. Suspicions were immediately roused. The woman was Juanita Castro – and after asking where they were headed, she offered to escort them to the mansion, as that is where she herself had been heading.
They met the governor for lunch along with Mrs. Castro and her husband. She remarked on the robberies, and claimed that she marveled at how La Huron found the energy to do so much, herself being worn out after just a day of shopping.
Eventually, the mayor spoke about how it was just three days
from a festival. The Spanish had turned their backs on the city, and the French
had made a move to legally purchase the land from
Meanwhile, at Filipia’s stables… Ethan and Amaki had gotten the word that
Filipia owned two stables – one place of business in town where she dealt with
sales, and then her actual property outside of town. Given that it was just a
couple of hours after there had been an uproar in town about La Huron, they
went to visit her place of business. The stable hands complimented Filipia and
her business practices, commending her fine horses. They insisted that she had
been in her office for the past five hours – although they were also obviously
very loyal to her, and proud of their positions.
Ethan went to go speak to her while Amaki snooped around the property looking
for anywhere that their things might be hidden. Filipia was charming, and Ethan
immediately took a shine to the young, powerful woman. They spoke of the horses
for a while, Ethan trying to find a hook into conversation about La Huron,
trying to flirt. Eventually, he began to compliment La Huron to try to evoke a
reaction, expressing his confusion between what townspeople said and her strike
on their ship. Unfortunately, Ethan kept hitting a wall with her- passive
comments and Filipia seemed to be rather neutral on the subject saying that she
had never had any trouble with her personally. When directly asked about her
horse (after "cagedly" trying to find out who else owned them) she
did comment that about two years ago one had been stolen from her. Ethan then
tried to ask about La Huron's horse - if she had such a passion for the horses
then shouldn't she be able to recognize it - and who she sold it to or if it
was indeed the one that had been stolen - but, conveniently, apparently Filipia
had never actually seen La Huron on her horse.
Amaki had about equal luck in snooping around the stables - and found nothing of note that would indicate that perhaps their things had been stashed there.
So, the group met up again and shared information on the ship when a commotion was heard, and she was spotted - on another nearby ship, fending off guards and then making a break for it. It was only a quick glimpse - her springing down to the horseback - dressed in black like the people had said, and carrying a small bundle under her arm. Alrik tried to take a shot, to have it parried. Dorian tried to pursue on horseback, but lost her once she reached the edge of town. (heading in the opposite direction of Filipia's stables that were outside of town.)
So from there, they decided to pay a longer visit on Juanita Castro - Dorian, Amaki and Ethan were elected to go, Dorian keeping Ethan up all night trying to coach him on the bare basics of etiquette to at least pass for the young son of a plantation owner - and a "family friend from America whom he was taking on a tour". Amaki posed as Dorian's exotic wife. Meanwhile, Tanek was to go investigate Filipia's stables outside of town and Alrik was going to search around East of town (The direction La Huron had been seen riding) to see if there was any sort of geography that could hide a base or some such.
On the way to the dinner, a third suspect materialized. A young woman in a flower shop, (also by the name of Juanita) carrying a walking staff, seemed to effortlessly beat away hooligans. While she did not take a step while doing so, she certainly did not seem hampered by her apparent handicap. Ethan went inside on pretense to buy flowers and compliment her on her finesse. He was able to discern enough that she was certainly hiding something - and did not seem to really be injured. She was a young proprietress and was engaged to another young man in the town. Ethan bought a few flowers to bring to dinner that night.
The dinner at the Castros went smoothly enough. Dorian worked on keeping idle conversation with the husband while Amaki and Ethan spoke with the wife to try to play two different angles to finagle information - Amaki the curious foreign woman and more of a compatriot - her geisha training certainly included the art of conversation, and Ethan played up his charm for all he could - and the effect was quite successful ((quite according to the roll)). The wife was swooning, although the context of the dinner table did limit things, and they spoke of adventure, the freedoms a woman could have, and so forth - the wife obviously had an admiration for La Huron, and spoke about having come from Spain originally, her father one of the king's personal guards, her mother had died when she was young (which would be an avenue that she could have learned the sword) - she was engaged to Don Castro, her father thinking it a smart match, who promptly sailed for the New World. She was disagreeable with the terms, but didn't have much opportunity to protest - however, she did say that she did end up falling for the man despite circumstances.
By the end of dinner, they didn't have any more conclusive information, only more leads (or red herrings). Nothing had been eliminated, just more possibilities expanded. All three of the suspects were similar of build - tall, athletic, with long dark hair and brown eyes (not uncommon for the area, granted).
However, as they were arriving back on the ship... they had a visitor. A woman clad in black sat on the railing of the ship and had just initiated conversation with Alrik. La Huron had not been oblivious to their search for her and wished to get them off of their back. Dorian demanded their things back - and the only condition that they would leave and cease pursuit. La Huron insisted that it was impossible - but offered to steal them replacements. She also refused to even answer if she had been the culprit. Dorian insisted that replacements were not an option (his personal affects were what was most valuable to him) - and all were quickly losing patience for the circular talking of the woman (who, apparently was also a master of disguise and even Ethan who had had rather intimate contact with all three suspects could not perceive through the technique she was using to alter her voice/mannerisms ((Even on a roll of a natural 20 9_9 )) When the group got into a brief argument as to whether all of this was really worth Dorian's personal affects, the woman disappeared off the side of the ship - diving into the water below.
That night, the party set up watches to keep an eye on the ship, and another out for La Huron. Ethan, enthusiastically, volunteered to take the first one. A few hours into his shift, an arrow with a note attached came whizzing by his head, thunking into the deck. It read: “Meet me at the stables at midnight. Come alone.”
Ethan, not exactly possessing the most common sense in the party, felt incredibly important at this note addressed to him – his head filling with the admiration of his friends if he single-handedly brought her in or… as he suspected her to be one of the women he had flirted with – some other sort of romantic moonlit encounter.
So, after waking Alrik up for his shift, Ethan promptly snuck off the boat and over to Filipia’s stables. There, stabled in one of the stalls was only one of the black horses, fully saddled. Ethan did not immediately see La Huron, so he took the opportunity to inspect the stallion to see if he could find any characteristic marks – as he found flecks of white fur on the insides of the legs, her heard a noise behind him. Turning, Ethan found himself caught off guard as he faced La Huron, sauntering towards him in a rather disarming fashion. Ethan had the good sense to rest a hand on the hilt of his cutlass, noting that La Huron was indeed armed, however it was quite obvious that she was flirting – that she had found him charming and he had caught her attention. When she presented him a lovely flower, Ethan didn’t think the wiser as he took a deep whiff… into unconsciousness.
When Ethan awoke, he was somewhere else, somewhere dark and distinctly cave-like… and he was bound by hand and foot on… a bed. Ethan called out, insisting that she didn’t need to knock him out to bring him here, or tie him up… although if she was into that…. Ethan was more nervous than trying to be coy – knowing how stupid it had been, in retrospect, to go alone and get himself kidnapped. However, when La Huron emerged a few moments later, dressed quite different – still wearing her mask but otherwise in rather revealing lingerie, Ethan certainly didn’t complain. There was only a brief conversation – about why she had done it when it was outside her MO – she said she thirsted for a challenge – that their group was odd, armed to the teeth on such a small boat… she hadn’t anticipated them taking so long to get back, and now she had to lure them out for a real match.
Ethan likewise didn’t complain with what happened next. *Fade to black*
Meanwhile, the rest of the party was rather unsettled when Ethan was no where to be found the next morning. They began to search but, Ethan having taken the letter with him, they really had nothing to go off of until Filipia rode up, saying that there had been an incident at her stable last night – a neighbor had reported a small scuffle and La Huron riding off with a boy matching Ethan’s description. They headed to the stable and began to follow clues as to where Ethan might have been taken.
Eventually, they tracked the horse (now its hooves dug a bit deeper into the dirt having to carry two people), past a river to the entrance of a hidden cave.
There, they found Ethan… naked… and tied to a bed. Amaki was scandalized, and quickly averted her eyes. Ethan was sheepish, and tried to lie, saying that he had no time to lose in chasing her – where he caught her at the stables, and tried to avoid admitting to what had happened after that… However, when La Huron appeared and tossed the note she had given him to the group, Ethan was caught in a lie. Before Ethan had much chance to do anything other than scramble for his clothes, La Huron presented herself from the darkness….
Amaki sprung to action surprisingly quickly, her anger a thing to be held as she rushed her. La Huron seemed overconfident, right up to a moment before Amaki’s fist impacted with her face – much, much harder than anyone anticipated. With a punch that unsettled Ethan and impressed Alrik and Dorian, Amaki lay La Huron out cold on the floor with one well-placed hit.
Ethan scrambled to get dressed and reclaim his things while Alrik examined the small cavern that La Huron had obviously made her base of operations. There they found all of their things, as well as a number of others – anything from clothing to food to valuables. However, the group took no more than the things that were their own.
Meanwhile, Dorian and Amaki examined La Huron. They whisked away her mask to reveal… what would have been Ethan’s last guess until he was presented with the flower the night before – the flower-girl. They tied her up and put her on the cart with the rest of their things, and rode towards town, talking about whether or not they would turn her in and collect the reward. Ethan tried to avoid saying a whole lot, although he got an amused, impressed look from Dorian, and dagger-glares from Amaki.
However, before they reached town, explosions of smoke jostled the small cart. And in the brief chaos, after the smoke had settled, La Huron was gone. There was a quick note left behind – “Nice try! I told you I had a boyfriend!”
The group was eager to leave town. They packed up the ship, and Dorian paid a young kid to deliver a message to the mayor saying the whereabouts of the hidden loot. And they set sail.
When they arrived in the next port, they heard stories of
the town of
ADVENTURE 6: The Haunted Mansion?
((Dorian’s player’s session))
En route to the following port, Ethan had been sitting out on deck when a glint of something in the water caught his attention. Fetching a dip net, he scooped it out of the sea to find that it was a bottle, a note curled inside.
Opening the note revealed a distress note:
It explained that the author, one Captain Blackall, had arrived on a small
island seeking a the treasure of the fabled pirate Captain Portugues. They made
landfall and found their way to a mansion hidden behind the treeline. The
pirate captain had supposedly escaped his pursuers and his greedy crew and
retired there, and Captain Blackall and his crew were eager to make off with
the man’s fortune.
However, when they encountered the pirate and killed him, strange things
apparently started to occur. The doors and windows slammed shut, and his crew
went mad with the lust for the wealth and escaping with it. Capain Blackall
declared he no longer had a wish for the gold, just escape for him and his
sister, and he seemed to be spared. Those crewmen who did escape stole the ship
and fled, leaving him and his sister stranded on the island and in the haunted
mansion. The gold remained, a fortune of over 100,000 pieces of eight, and the
letter begged that if rescued, he would be happy to give the gold and even his
sister’s hand.
On the back of the letter was a crude map to the island.
There followed some discussion among the crew as to whether
or not to seek to aid the Captain – if the letter was in fact true, there was
no telling how old it was. He could be long dead. Dorian insisted again on the
wealth – saying that if there were indeed to seek
Eventually, there reached enough agreement to head towards the island itself.
En route, another object was spotted adrift at sea – this
one significantly larger: A small rowboat, far from shore, with two men. Ethan called
out attention to Dorian, who steered the ship closer. Inside were two men, very
thirsty and hungry from the look - who claimed to have narrowly escaped a
pirate attack on their vessel. They were quite eager to be taken aboard and
introduced themselves as Quinton – obviously a young Englishman, and Solesh,
who was taller and swarthy of complexion – and after a bit of discussion was
revealed to hail from
Before long, they reached their destination – indeed a tiny speck of land that could barely call itself an island – perhaps a mile across at most. They set anchor and Ethan climbed a tree – spotting the roof of what appeared to be a building a small distance into the jungle.
Soon, they found themselves before the mansion of note – a three story building seemingly out of place among the trees. They called out their arrival, hoping that it would be a simple matter of the Captain hearing them and coming out to them. But so was not the case. They walked around the building, inspecting its dark windows. The only entrance (or exit) seemed to be through the front door. Ethan was anxious, having read the letter and being a firm believer in the presence of sprits, was quite hesitant to enter a building that was reputed to be haunted. Dorian and Tanek, not so much, and the two of them headed straight inside, leaving Ethan anxious and insisting that they shouldn’t split up.
He went as far as the door frame, while Solesh and Quinton were inspecting the exterior. Only when the entire group were to go inside did Ethan set foot into the house. Solesh planted a dagger in the path of the outside door and when all had crossed the threshold… there was a terrifying slam as the door swung closed, sending the dagger skittering inside. The door, when tried, was firmly locked, and pounding and shoving even by the strongest party members did nothing.
Tanek helped the characters remain levelheaded, encouraging them to explore, and Ethan insisted that they remain together, thoroughly convinced of a supernatural presence in the house. Calling out for Captain Blackall yielded no answers. And the first sign of strangeness occurred when Solesh was inspecting a suit of armor while the others were poking their nose into a small bedroom. The armor tilted forward, seeming to jump at him, only to fall to pieces. When they returned to see what happened, Tanek slipped a piece of string out and claimed that he