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 time period.

 

 This game is a restart of another campaign originally GMd by someone who left town.  This campaign is GM'd in a round-robin style, each of us GMng an adventure or two before passing it. There is a metaplot that we hooked the group together with the first session that Kamiki and I will be continuing through our games. I’ll make a note on each adventure who was the GM, though most of the metaplot developments are co-planned between Amaki’s player, Kamiki, and I.

 

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, and Amaki, who was the obsession of a vampire, making 'her' one like him.

 

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 Denmark - the only country with access to Japan at the time) - and she has his green eyes. Her hair is naturally dark brown, but usually dyed black. She specializes in fan dancing.
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 Arlington - 20-something young noble swordsman who left England in search of inspiration. Always wanted to be an artist to leave his mark on the world, despite the fact that he has absolutely no talent for it. What he does have a talent for (but no passion) is swordsmanship. Dorian is, however, unimaginative, lacks social graces, and can be rather caustic. He does not seem to understand that most artwork is supposed to evoke emotion or show an understanding of the human spirit. He is not superstitious, especially coming from a noble family, and generally scoffs at such. Usually not recently shaven with a short ponytail. He has brown hair.

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

Ref Image 1

Ref Image 2

 

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 Egypt, and is a swordsman, wielding two curved blades usually strapped to his back. He is a rather imposing man – of swarthy complexion and tattoos of two stylized eyes (eyes of Ra) over each collarbone. He is bald with striking green eyes. He usually sports a smile.

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 Hammond from the Jurassic Park movie. Tanek is an older gentleman and who serves as almost a grandfather figure to the group – with more wisdom from his years than any of the other characters, albeit sometimes Tanek is quite the eccentric in his own right – as the man is a chemist (or alchemist >> ) and open minded to the possibilities of magic. He constantly searches out new ingredients to examine and study their properties.  Tanek comes and goes, often meeting up with the group after having been out on his own researching or traveling for a few months at a time.


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 Campeche in New Spain. It had been moored in port for over a month prior to this departure, and many of the original crewmembers had jumped ship to seek work in the interim. It was a slow port, and the Captain had been having a difficult time finding a charter. One of the original crewmen was Dorian Arlington, who did not have as much of an issue with money as many of the other cremembers.


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 Santiago. It was in Campeche that Ethan joined on as a shiphand, only having been sailing for a few months prior. Alrik Tyrsson also joined up as a deckhand. Amaki had only recently made her way to the Americas – not yet found a place to settle down, and boarded passage on the ship. About a dozen other men joined up on the voyage, many of whom seem frustratingly green when it comes to sailing.

 

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 Kingston, Jamaica, now marked men literally and figuratively.

 

Adventure 2 – In Which the Group Meets and Old Sea Dog and Explore Subterranean Port Royale
((My session))

 

The group decided to set sail to Kingston because it was both close, and was not the target destination of the Capricorn, so they figured it would be a safe harbor.

 

At that period in time, Kingston was the largest port in Jamaica. Previously, Port Royale had been the dominant harbor, and had been a pit of sin – it was virtually open to Pirates, and was about as bad as Totuga was frequently depicted in the Pirates movie. On June 7, 1692 there was a massive earthquake, and 2/3 of the city slid into the sea and thousands of people died. Many heralded this as God’s new Babylon. Leading up to this point, the British had tried to reform the port, and started to arrest pirates. But regardless, after the Earthquake, many fled across the bay to Kingston. Since then, Kingston had been on the rise, Port Royale had never quite recovered.

 

SO! The group arrives in Kingston. They get a room at an inn called The Hogswallow. Then, they set off to try to find information about the relic. Between a visit to a historian and subsequently one of the many sugar plantations, the most information that they can surmise is that the marks (when written down) appear to be of likely African origin. They also notified officials that there was a ship, the Capricorn run aground and its location ( looking out for the Captain that Dorian had grown to like).

 

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. Jamaica's Governor Modyford personally conscripted him in the late 1660s, allowing him to moor in Port Royale. However, in the 1690s, the policy of privateering began to fall out of fashion in Europe. And the adage of "no peace beyond the Line” was dropped, but Bart liked what he did. The British, however, did not, especially with Bartholomew still brandishing around the Union Jack. When he was at port one fateful June in 1692, he tried to collect on money he felt he was owed by the British. They refused, and when it became obvious that Bart had no intention on stopping, Bart and his crew was arrested, their ship seized. It was, in specific, it was one Thomas Handasyde who was responsible for bringing Bart to prison. And Bart is well aware of this. He was an up and coming politician who was looking at getting rid of the corruption. Thomas Handasyde is currently the governor, living in Port Royale and this chaps his ass something hard. Bart feels he has unfinished business, and has been looking for a means to settle it for years, but biding his time. He’s patient, but his age is catching up to him. He needs a group of gullible but capable people with a small boat. And he doesn’t want to work with pirates – not only does he not trust them, but in order to justify this to himself as doing God’s work and being “reformed.”

 

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 Jamaica two years ago that nearly leveled it again. Were the authorities to find this out, there would be QUITE the price on his head (probably around 1000 dbl).

 

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 Haiti). It was a small port, and a short enough trip that their fishing vessel could make it. They had every intention of using the money made to trade out their vessel for another one that wouldn’t be known to be stolen.

 

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 Alton, and disapproving looks, and disappointment from Amaki.

 

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 Village of Lost Children
((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 Hispaniola coast, the storm picked up. By early morning, they couldn’t navigate safely in their small ship and, spotting a small settlement along the coast, they decided to take shelter until the storm cleared. The village appeared of vaguely European architecture, not native. However, when they set anchor and took the rowboat to shore, they noted in surprise, that the village appeared empty despite being early morning in what seemed like mostly a farming village.

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 Hispaniola, he had a friend who was in a Franciscan monastery that would likely take in the children. They collected what money they could find (to give to the monastery to help raise the children or eventually give to them), and set sail to Santo Domingo.



ADVENTURE 5: La Hurón

((Tanek’s player’s session – a particularly Zorro-inspired session))

 

The trip to Santo Domingo was mostly uneventful, save for the boat hold full of whiny, seasick children. Ethan mostly stayed above deck (though complained of Sunburn).

 

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 Spain. The town was eager for this –hoping to actually get official governmental support – troops and finances for the city, and were going to welcome the ambassador who was coming to inspect the town. To show their support, the town had pooled their wealth to make a golden statuette of Queen Ann. The mayor assured Dorian that it was somewhere safe, where La Huron would never find it. Dorian was pointedly dubious – thinking this the perfect challenge to a thief. Though the mayor assured him that of course La Huron, like all the people, would welcome the English and the prosperity that they would bring – that she had eluded the officials so far and why would the British be any different? Dorian also had the opinion that why would any thief welcome more law. The mayor did mention the regret that unfortunately this would put Filipia out of business – as it was English law that women could not hold property – unless she were to marry and work through her husband. She bred fine horses and he himself owned a couple – some of which were gifts to allow her continued ownership of the stables after her father’s death. So Filipia at least had a motive…

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 Santo Domingo, and how the diplomat for England had turned on the town, opening fire on it and attempted to claim it by force. Only through the combined efforts of the town and a strange, masked woman, had they managed to fend him off.

 

 

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 Africa for answers to the puzzle box and their marks, that they would need a larger ship at the very least . Amaki begged true to this. Ethan claimed that they should do it to help the man and his sister.

 

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 Egypt. Introductions were made, food and drink was provided, and the two men were eager and thankful for their rescue, despite how rag-tag of a crew without even the agreeance on who their captain was (much to Dorian’s annoyance who tried to have them declare loyalty to him). Both were travelers without any particular goal that they admitted, Solesh traveling the world, Quinton out to learn what he could. When told of the map that they were following, they both agreed to travel with them.

 

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 had found it – and it was rigged. This seemed to settle Ethan’s nerves a bit, if nothing else.

 

They continued to make an inspection of the house, heading upstairs through a library, bedrooms, and bathrooms. Dorian could have sworn he saw a bloodstain in the tub, until he called someone over and it was gone… In the master bed room, Alrik saw a massive bloodstain on the bed, and called Ethan over. This time, it remained, freaking Ethan out. It didn’t help that it began to dissipate before their eyes. Anxious, Ethan pulled out his cutlass and began prodding the bed. He nearly jumped out of his skin when it began to seep blood. However, when Dorian pulled back the sheets, it revealed a nest of dead rats, now bleeding where Ethan had prodded them. Ethan wasn’t quite sure what to make of that. They found a journal, written by Captain Portugues. The diary boasted how he had evaded capture from his crewmates, and settled on this island and took a wife and had a son. However, years later, the wife fell ill, and perished – followed closely thereafter by their son – there was a price to living in isolation. He said that he would not continue the journal and end it with himself falling sick. The last date had been ten years ago. They had then found the wife’s room – a lady’s room with a lovely bed and porcelain dolls, and the other was the master bedroom.

 

They continued their exploration, finding the house long in apparent disrepair – from dustiness, to moth-eaten clothes, to nests of live rats. They made their way to the attic, Tanek went ahead, and came back shortly after – claiming nothing of interest. Dorian called his lie and proceeded ahead to find he had uncovered a chest – apparently filled with pieces of eight, and several more sheets tossed over other objects. Ethan could guess why Tanek had lied – the note had said that death came to those that sought the gold, and Dorian’s intent was clear. He begged him to leave it alone – that they should just find their way out. Dorian at least was willing to leave it be until they did – although Solesh and Alrik were of similar mind that they should burn this house when they left. In one more room in the attic they found what appeared to be a child’s playroom. An eerily spinning mobile in the center.


They then headed back downstairs, to continue their investigations there. As they were making their way from the dining room to the kitchen, the lights they were carrying suddenly went out. They heard a muffled “Eep” and when they were able to get the candles lit again, Ethan was missing. They began to search for them, Amaki especially worried for him.

 

Ethan remembered only briefly some sort of chemical smell before conscious again left him. He awoke in a small storage room that he knew that they had not found in their investigation… but he wasn’t alone. There with him was a beautiful, voluptuous, young woman with long, blonde hair. She immediately embraced him, and explained that she was Lucy Blackall, Captain Blackall’s sister – she had been stuck in this room for two weeks – pulled from her brother. She had been living off of the food stored here, but was terrified. She explained that her and her brother had arrived here two months ago. But now someone was there to help them! Ethan was elated, and swore that they would help them escape. That he had friends – that he would help her find a way out of this room, or at the least could make enough noise that they would hear him. However, Lucy proclaimed that it had been so very long since she was stuck here, and she was so very glad to have company. And Ethan was easily convinced that he didn’t have to start looking for a way out immediately.

 

Not-so long story short, Ethan, once again, found himself enjoying his capture. And when all was said and done… he passed out.

 

He awoke not too long afterward in what appeared to be the storage shed, however, by his side was not Lucy, well, not precisely. There was a desiccated corpse… with long blonde hair… and her dress. Ethan shrieked and ran – not really knowing where. All that he knew was that he seemed to fall through a wall and next thing he knew he was in the kitchen.

The rest of the part was soon upon him, and only then did Ethan realize that he was sans clothing.

 

Ethan babbled an explanation, after being handed a coat that they had picked up, and many an eyebrow was raised when he got to the point of finding a corpse. Ethan staunchly denied that she was dead when he had met her.

 

He led them back to the pantry area, to just find a wall. After a good deal of effort, a pry bar, and the help of Alrik, they managed to lift a hidden wall, that was quite heavy and reveal the pantry… with Ethan’s clothing, and the dessicated corpse. They inspected the body while Ethan continued to proclaim that she hadn’t been like that – and figured she had been dead for some time. It was about this point, after recalling the chemical smell before passing out, and this and the hidden walls, that Ethan became a staunch believer that this house was not haunted – and in fact someone was screwing with them. Primarily, he didn’t want to believe that he had slept with a ghost.

 

What followed was some intensive exploration. The windows were of a much thicker substance than they had assumed and refused to break. The doors were lined with iron, and an iron sheet had slid down outside the front door when, with great effort, they were able to pry it open.


Meanwhile, Ethan had figured out some missing space behind the coat closet and he and Amaki had gone in to try to find another place to pry up a wall when… there was a funny smell and the door slammed shut. Ethan recognized the smell from his work with herbs with his mother – and knew it to be able to cause hallucinations, and in large doses, insanity. He began to panic, which didn’t help matters, while the others worked at getting the door open. He could swear, among his other hallucinations, that there were red eyes in the closet with them. When they finally got out, Ethan was terrified and hallucinating, and only barely able to stutter out what the chemical was. Tanek and Quinton had heard of it, and knew that they both needed to drink a lot of water quickly to avoid permanent effects. They proceeded to do so, though it took a while for the last of the remaining effects to wash off, small hallucinations and movement at the corner of their eyes and paranoia further heightened their already miserable experience. Amaki and Ethan stuck fast to each other after that, and Ethan was now convinced that this was not a real haunting. But understood how most men would have not known what had happened, and hallucinations could make for a terrifying, believable “haunted house”.

 

They began to get frantic. And once, when they managed to get the panes of windows out and use Tanek’s acid to boil through the thin metal frames, iron walls slid down outside the windows. It was about then that Quinton picked up on the steady, mechanical clicking sound in response to the doors. When Ethan was sober enough to explain more about the room, they took the door off of the hinges, filled a sock with coal and tied it around his mouth, and finding a metal pane inside it, and examined the wall – to find indeed, two eye-holes in the back wall. About then the slider slid open and gas began to pour out. Ethan stayed FAR away from that. When Alrik tried to put his finger through to keep it from shutting it nearly cut his fingers off and medical attention was needed. However, sticking a dagger through the hole resulted in the gas continuing to trickle, and an audible mechanical clicking. Quinton led the group in following the sound to the source, leading them up to the third story, and the child’s room, where they found the mobile slowly turning – now, that made perfect sense.

 

Quinton got to work, and the crew was thankful that they had picked him out of the ocean now – truly a fortunate blessing. Unscrewing the mobile revealed gears, and, after a few hours of work, he had opened up a small cavity in the ceiling with an immensely complicated array of gearwork. At least Quinton seemed to know what he was doing. Meanwhile, the group explored a bit more. Ethan discovered, as he looked at the pieces of eight again…. That they were fake. Just painted lead. He began to think then, and while most of the rest of the group were knocking down shelves in the library, Ethan found that the porcelain dolls in the woman’s bedroom appeared to have had their stitches ripped out before. He opened them up to reveal some sheafs of paper, and a woman’s gold heart-shaped locket – inside were drawings of Lucy and, presumably, her brother. The paper sheafs, Ethan realized triumphantly, were plans – diagrams, and very complicated ones, apparently of the house. He rushed them to Quinton, who put them to good use and was able to decipher that there was a sort of lift near the kitchen – a heavily modified dumbwaiter that should be able to carry a large group of people, and he set to work at the gears to finangle a way to get them down.

 

Finally, they succeeded. The group went down to wait in the dumbwaiter that Quinton had managed to bring up, and they rigged a breakaway piece that would carry them down. And after a false start where Quinton briefly encountered Captain Blackall himself in the house who shot at him – thankfully only grazing his arm, trying to stop him before being chased into a closet and apparently disappearing. They group headed down below the house…

 

There, they encountered men who were waiting for them – three men in the area where the lift landed. When dealt with and “questioned”, the survivor admitted to being part of Captain Blackall’s crew. They lured ships there, dealt with the crew, and while they were stuck in the house stole all of their loot and the ships. They had found the house like this, though, not knowing who was mad enough to build it, but put it to good use. As soon as he had talked, Solesh killed the man – saying that he would not leave an enemy alive behind them. While gruesome, most of the characters were already shaken by the encounter, and they continued on.


They encountered another group of men as they went through the rough-hewn walls that appeared to have at one point been a cave system. After a firefight, using the metal-lined door as a massive portable cover that they had brought along with them since it had proved useful in preventing new doors from closing in on them ((and in Dorian’s absence they jokingly deemed to be their new captain, Captain Gustov, being much more effective than the last one)). They nailed one of the crewmen’s hats to it after defeating the men in the firefight.

 

Continuing on, Quinton was ecstatic when they found what amounted to the control room – a massive chair with footpetals, lots of flips and switches, and tubing that seemed to lead from various parts of the house above to be able to listen in on where the “Guests” were. It took some convincing to get them to continue on. They passed by what seemed to have at one point been the real treasure room – now apparently hastily vacated and they knew they had to hurry.

 

They barely made it out – to what appeared to be a hidden cove with one ship nearly departed – and two others in the bay – one being their ship, La Triumphita, and the other a larger ship. Lucy was on the gangplank, and her brother declared that he would catch up in the second ship with the remaining crewmen, and to go on with out him, set out to face the group after a disturbingly friendly kiss goodbye with his sister.

 

Ethan, triumphantly, declared that that was the woman he had seen, who was pointedly not dead.

 

There followed a difficult battle. Captain Blackall was a very skillful swordsman, even against Ethan with the help of Solesh and Amaki. Dorian had remained behind, and Tanek, Quinton and Alrik were dealing with the other crewmembers and making sure that they didn’t enter melee.

 

Ethan couldn’t manage to hit Captain Blackall, and was furious – at what he had put them through – and after Solesh clanged him enough to give the man pause, Ethan grabbed him by the wrists to hopefully assist his friends better that way. What he didn’t expect was a sudden acrid, burning smell, and his left hand feeling a bit tingly. He yelped and let go, seeing a mark burned in the man’s wrist in the distinct shape of his own six-fingered hand. Ethan was set aback, while fortunately the others dispatched of Captain Blackall and the rest of the surviving crew who hadn’t managed escape on the ship.

 

Solesh looked at him strangely, and said that perhaps he had a curse on him, not very settling, and Alrik commented that perhaps his left hand really was evil… Ethan was mostly quiet after that to try to puzzle out what had happened.

 

They appraised the remaining ship, it was larger than their vessel, and actually had cannons. However, they didn’t think that they could man it with the small number of men they had available. However, Quinton said that with some time, and supplies from the house, he could probably rig it to work, and was all for having a boat with actual cannons.

 

It was agreed upon, and the group was reunited, and they set to fixing up their new ship.

 

 

ADVENTURE 7: The Weary Horseman

(Adventure by Amaki’s player, Kamiki)

Once again, the group headed East towards Saba, now North of most of the Caribbean islands and, unfortunately, in harder to navigate waters. However, after spending a few weeks on the island, Quinton was able to fanengle their now, larger, ship to be able to be run by just a few men – a task that the party was capable of – although the complicated gearwork on the ship required instruction from Quinton, and that was just to operate it – he would be vital in repairing it if any damage were to happen.

Their new ship, the Colchester, outfitted with a couple of cannons – was a more formidable vessel – although still small by comparison to the trans-atlantic vessels. It would be able to carry a larger supply of cargo (which they loaded up on as much as they could carry from the reserves under the mansion) would not be able to sail across the Atlantic to Africa.

A few of the characters opted to stay in the comforts of the house (Ethan was not among them – refusing to go back inside the mansion, staying instead in the rooms beneath – even though they had chased off the pirates. However, a few glimpses of ghostly faces in the mirrors and other eerie half-seen visages did catch Solesh and the few people who did stay upstairs – remnant effects of the house that didn’t require activation, or real ghosts? The characters didn’t stay to investigate.

 

Also, before they left, Quinton finally gave into temptation. The ornate puzzlebox that they had shown him earlier was eating at him – in Quinton’s Eurocentric arrogance, the complexity of the puzzle for “savages” intrigued him, and the accounts of the group that there had been a bright flash of light when it was opened, and no one could see inside fascinated him. After asking to borrow it from Alrik to investigate, he set about to figure out the puzzle – which Amaki swore was different from the previous, and more difficult. However, Quinton was able to open it, and when he did, inside the box he saw a small orb of what appeared to be pure light. And… immediately, all of the characters who bore a rune on their skin from the first time cried out in pain as their runes began to burn like the first time the box was opened – and grow – adding to the patterns and about doubling in skin area that they covered. They felt a drawing, a pulling towards the box, and the pain did not subside until the entire group was gathered, irately, around Quinton.

Quinton, meanwhile, had attempted to touch the ball – to scald himself on cold. But, when all had gathered, the box sealed itself, once again, with a different, and more complicated puzzle. Quinton was fascinated, but the group forbade him from trying to open it again, scared of what it meant.

 

So they set off, once again for Saba, heading East. Being the middle of summer, it was not surprising when another storm picked up – fast and furious. With their larger ship, they weathered through it, traveling slowly and carefully. However, when it began to clear, leaving behind just a thick fog and heavy drizzle, they spotted another ship run aground a reef or jagged rocks. There was a massive hole in the side, and it was obvious that it was only afloat thanks to the same rocks that stopped it. Little did the crew know that during the storm they had drifted rather off course, further North ((and rather close to a certain triangular segment of ocean…))

 

They slowed and dropped anchor and hailed the other vessel – who reported that they had run aground during the storm and would welcome the assistance.


The group took the lifeboat over to the vessel, The Weary Horseman. There they met with Captain Brown – a genial fellow who said that they had been transporting cargo, and would appreciate at least delivering a note to the nearest English port explaining their delay. He invited them to dinner and welcomed any assistance the crew could offer. Besides, the captain cautioned that the area was thick with rocks and reef and it was not safe to navigate by night. The group, overly paranoid, returned to their vessel, claiming to need to speak to the rest of their “crew” before deciding.

Ethan insisted that it was incredibly rude to turn down an invitation of hospitality – and such was taboo at sea at least as much as in his home, Dorian and several of the others were anxious, however. Ethan, as it turned, was quickly becoming the moral center or conscience of the group – having been spending quite a bit of time with his bible since the strange incident involving his hand on Captain Blackall’s wrist… not to mention the guilt regarding killing the guards of the Charming Mary that he had knocked over the back of the head – men that hadn’t attacked them and may not even have been pirates.

 

Eventually, Ethan’s insistence resulted in at least he, Amaki, Quinton, and Dorian going over to the other vessel to accept the dinner invitations. Solesh and Alrik remained behind to guard their vessel and keep an eye out for trouble.

 

Dinner went well. There was polite conversation between the group and Captain Brown, and his first mate Cody Middle and Master of arms, William James. Eventually, Ethan asked on chance if they had ever heard of a man named Dyson Graves. To his surprise, the Captain seemed to remember sailing with a man by that name, a few years back when he was the first mate on this ship.

 

The captain invited Ethan into his quarters to look through some of the old logbooks. Meanwhile, Dorian and Quinton and Amaki finished dinner and began to wander the ship – to help out with some of their repair work and to investigate if anything out of the ordinary was going on. There were a few strangely marked crates that the crew seemed to be hesitant to let the group investigate too closely, but nothing too out of the ordinary.

 

Eventually, the captain came across the log, from two years previous, where Dyson had signed his name on board the ship. However, strangely enough, the captain said that Dyson was a younger man, who didn’t appear too much older than Ethan himself – far too young to be his father – an older brother perhaps… He had only sailed with him a short time before Dyson had gotten word of a sick relative in the colonies – when Ethan asked about a sister – what he had heard from the villagers in Beldore Hollow – the captain affirmed it. When asked about a tattoo – the captain remembered a tattoo of a sort of dog on his arm – a snarling fighting dog. However, he didn’t remember any odd number of fingers. The date got to Ethan, and he asked if he could see the log book. Ethan’s confusion doubled when he saw the date on the log – 1683 – over twenty years ago.

 

Ethan was about to say something, but as he was speaking up, confirming the date was correct – his vision suddenly went blurry and he was overcome with a sensation of nausea. The room blurred and he lost consciousness. When he woke up … The captain was dead at his feet, a gunshot wound to the head, a gun on the floor, and blood all over Ethan.

 

Ethan screamed and moments later the rest of the group came running up, astonished by what they found – Ethan babbling over and over again that he didn’t do it – that he found the captain like this – that something weird was going on. Unfortunately, the ship’s crew that arrived moments later would hear none of it, accosted the group and threw them in the brig.

 

Apparently, once there, they discussed matters – Dorian and the rest had experienced a weird sensation, and then were somewhere other than where they had been a moment ago. None of them remembered blacking out, however. They believed Ethan when he claimed he wasn’t responsible – they knew his character well enough to know he wouldn’t kill a man in cold blood like that. Ethan was quite nervous, however – scared that he was going to be killed by the crew, and what had happened. Also, apparently it was about two hours later into the night than Dorian, Quinton and Amaki remember after the strange lurching sensation…

Meanwhile, back on our ship, Alrik and Solesh had hit the alcohol. The fog was rolling in as it got later at night and then, surprisingly, the lights of the other ship disappeared. Peering out into the fog, it was difficult to tell if the ship was still even there. One set out in a rowboat, tied to the ship to see if they could find it – but the fog was so thick at sea-level that he couldn’t figure which direction he was even going – just rowing in circles and couldn’t find the boat. Eventually, they returned to the main ship to keep an eye out. Hails also received no response. A couple of hours later, the lights returned…

 

Back in the brig, the characters tried to plot, confused, when not too much later, the lurching sensation happened again, this time more severe for all of the characters – like had happened to Ethan. When Ethan came to again, he was alone in his cell…

 

… While Amaki, Dorian, and Quinton were elsewhere on the boat – Dorian and Quinton were in the crew quarters in hammocks – and none of the rest of the crew seemed to think that strange. When they wandered out onto the ship, people regarded them as normal crewmen, but everyone was agitated. When they went to see if Ethan was still in the brig – they referred to him as the first mate, Middle. Ethan was horribly confused, and quite scared. There was apparently debates among the crew to put him to death at dawn, or follow procedures and wait till they made it to shore to have him officially arrested. Dorian and Quinton were also referred to by different names – and their inquiries tended to arouse suspicion that they might have had something to do with the murder of the captain. However, when asked to describe Ethan, everyone described him correctly – young, freckles and curly hair – Ethan tried to talk sense into them – that he was too young to be a first mate, and he obviously didn’t look like he had money between his clothing and Colonist accent.

 

Also, strangely enough, no one recognized that a woman was on board, and when Amaki tried to talk to someone, no one seemed to even register that she was there.

 

Not too much longer after that, Quinton spied a small amount of smoke coming from the ship, which set him on edge, and Alrik and Solesh came rowing over – having started a small fire in a pan to use the excuse that their ship was damaged and burning to come over and board. The crew on the other ship had told them now to stay away, that they had none of their crewmates on board – and problems of their own.

 

Quinton and Dorian played along when they boarded, Quinton was quite paranoid about the condition of “his” ship, and thus “feigning” anger at the pair was not very difficult.

 

Together, Quinton, Dorian, Amaki, Alrik and Solesh began to do their best to investigate what had happened, going into Middle’s room and finding a journal hidden under his matters – talking about suspicion of the master of arms James. Dorian and Alrik pieced together that, more than likely, it was the master of arms that had the most to gain from the predicament – pinning the blame on the first mate who wouldn’t normally assume command until designated by the harbormaster – as long as he could keep control of the crew – so by assuming the role of a hero and pinning it on someone else he could gain confidence. So Alrik struck a bargain – that he would take Ethan, “Middle” off of their hands – never to return – and he could claim that he killed the man to bolster confidence and strength by the crew – and along with it the two suspicious crewmen, who they seemed to think were Dorian and Quinton. A deal was struck and the group hurriedly returned to their ship. By the time morning dawned, the other ship, the Weary Horseman… was gone. The letter that they had been handed looked ancient and waterlogged – and the date… 1685.

The only sign of a shipwreck was old scraps of wood clinging to the rocks and, a few crates. One was hauled out of the water and inspected – to appear to have at one point been opium, leeched into the surrounding waters – and apparently what the crew had been smuggling. Quinton was quite convinced that bad fish from the opiate-laden waters had caused a mass hallucination. The rest of the crew were not so certain, of any other fact than they were happy to leave the area.

 

ADVENTURE 8: Assisting The Rook, or, “Oh God! It’s a Lion! Get in the Boat!”

(Mini-adventure by me))

 

The crew were eager to leave the site of the mysterious Weary Horseman, although the crew were right – there were quite a few rocks and shallow reefs in the area, and it was slow going navigating safely out of danger. By the time they had gotten on their way, they realized just how off course they had gotten, far North of their destination. It also became quickly apparent that the storm was, indeed, rather severe when they came across another ship crashed after about a half a day’s travel away.

 

This ship, The Rook, was a large merchant vessel, and quite obviously a ship that was intended for trans-Atlantic travel. This one, however, seemed more genuinely in distress. It was flying white flags, and as soon as our vessel came into visual sight of the ship, they began attempts to hail us. We anchored nearby and they sent a small rowboat over with the captain, first mate, and two other crewmen. Looking through the spyglass, furthermore, all of the crew appeared haggard and skinny.

 

The captain introduced himself as Captain John Greene. Along with him was First Mate Michael Tupper and two other Crewmen, Samuel Hardy and Peter Masters. He told the group that they were on their way back from Africa, taking the Mid-Atlantic Passage – and while a strenuous voyage by any definition, bad weather and other complications had taken the voyage much longer than expected, leaving them dangerously short on supplies. Also, ironically, they had crashed not 100 miles away from land. They crew was tired, hungry, and frustrated, and furthermore, they had cargo that was very time sensitive that needed to reach their port of destination, Antigua. Captain Greene offered to buy whatever supplies the group could spare (given that they had a larger ship, fully loaded up when they left the “haunted” island) they had plenty to spare and were happy to sell it to Captain Greene to help feed his men until they could repair their ship and make it to port themselves. The damage wasn’t ridiculously extensive, but enough to keep them stationary for at least a week or two – they had the supplies, they had the manpower to fix it, they just needed the time. Captain Greene and the crew also reached negotiations, to take their time-sensitive material the rest of the way to Antigua (which technically was also very close to Saba) for an eventually negotiated 10% of the profits from the cargo. Captain Greene was amiable enough, and seemed sincerely thankful – and along with the crew they reached an agreement that he would send his first mate, Michael Tupper, their financier – a severe Chinese man of few words, Shu Xiang, and four crewmen – Samuel Hardy, Peter Masters, along with Christopher Alvard and Paul Wormuth ((Captain Greene, while amiable, was not stupid and did not want to send any fewer men with them than he saw on board)). They also agreed that they would keep watch over the cargo themselves.

 

However, when preparations were made and a gangplank set between the two ships, most of the crew of our ship was not prepared to see that the majority of the cargo was people. Specifically, the Rook was primarily a slave trader. The slaves were even more underfed than the crew – and it was surprising that even a couple of them were still alive in their condition. Ethan immediately felt uncomfortable with the arrangement – even though he was from the colonies, he was from a tiny city where no one had been rich enough to own slaves – and his moral system from his mother valued people rather equally. Amaki had come from a background where she had virtually been a slave herself – and ownership of another person was not a foreign concept, however if she had been privy to how these men were acquired, she would have been scandalized.

 

Alongside them, a few other large crates were also brought on board, although the issue of transporting slaves was enough to distract the crew from the other crates. Dorian went on board the other ship temporarily to see how the atmosphere was on the ship – the men were starving and were eager to get supplies from our ship, however, they also seemed relieved to get rid of the cargo – Dorian also spotted one man with a series of parallel slash marks across one shoulder…

 

They disembarked, and headed towards Antigua. While Dorian, Quinton and Alrik ran the ship, Amaki along with Ethan set out giving food to the slaves brought on board, anxious about dealing with men who couldn’t understand him, many of whom were sick and starving and pulled from their homes. Solesh, meanwhile, took the opportunity to see if any of them spoke a language that he knew to see if they could find out any information about the puzzlebox. He found one man who understood Swahili – although he did not seem to recognize the writing on the box – after Solesh mentioned that bad things happened when it was opened, the man did not doubt him and seemed scared. When asked, he also said that he had come from a village with a medicine man. Solesh interpreted this as a possible guide who might lead them in the right direction if they succeeded in traveling to Africa, and in exchange be able to set the man free to see his wife again.


Solesh passed the information along to Dorian, who agreed to see if they could purchase the man directly from the first mate. The first mate was skeptical, expecting to fetch in the neighborhood of at least 20 doubloons a person once they got to Antigua, perhaps more depending on conditions that he was ill-equipped to discern. However, when the man was pointed out, it turned out to be one of the men who was gravely ill and was quick to agree to the initial offering of 20 doubloons that Dorian had offered him (he could pocket the money and claim the man didn’t survive the last leg of the journey – not an unbelievable claim given how ill with dysentery the man was).

 

The man was released from his shackles and Ethan took him to one of the extra rooms on board and began to treat the man – a little worried whether or not his treatments would be enough. When asked, the man gave a name of Maru. But Ethan fortunately knew enough to diagnose and prescribe herbs, and with his care the light began to return in the man’s eyes.

 

Meanwhile, the ship continued to proceed normally. The only incident was First Mate Tupper coming to Dorian, anxious, saying that many of the men were telling stories about the ship being haunted – how a ship of such size could only be piloted by a handful of men. Quinton set the man’s mind to more ease, although with no small amount of patronizing, when he explained, briefly, the mechanics.

 

Then, just after dusk, an exclamation rose up from the cargo area. When Solesh, Amaki and Ethan went down to investigate – they found Samuel Hardy, one of the crewmen from the Rook, dead in the cargo hold, looking as if he had been mauled by a large animal.

 

Worrisomely, First Mate Tupper did not seem surprised by this development, just aggravated. After anchor had been dropped and everyone had gathered below deck he was questioned. This was not the first time it had happened – however, Tupper insisted that he had only boarded this ship with men he trusted – no one could be “letting it out”. A quick examination of the large crates revealed one to contain a very live, rather irritable male African Lion. Dorian was furious – that had not been agreed upon – he did not agree to put his crew in danger, and the first mate argued back that someone had to be letting the cat out – that they had only boarded with good men, men they trusted – and he didn’t know how this had happened. There had been a few deaths on the other ship, and they had been promised a substantial sum of money if they could bring a lion back alive – at least so the Chinaman had said. The Chinaman would hear no talk of killing the animal – they had spent a good deal of money and men to see to its health during the voyage. Arguments persisted, and Dorian insisted that Tupper and the rest of his crewmates be put behind a locked door for the duration of the voyage – that it had to be one of them – his crew was not even aware of the lion’s presence on the ship. Dorian and Tupper squared off, and eventually Tupper ascented. However, Xiang was not so easily persuaded. He and Amaki had it out – the Chinese and the Japanese long since harboring a bitter hatred for each other came out between the two with very personal insults slung. Eventually, after the man’s honor was called into question, he went with the rest of the crew, none too happy – threatening that the group he worked for would have our crew’s necks if the lion was killed. It ended with a stalemate, Dorian and Alrik insisting that if the lion got out and attacked us, that we would fight back.

 

While the ship was still moored, Solesh, meanwhile went to talk to Maru – interested in investigating all possible aspects – finding it worrisome that Tupper only brought trusted men aboard with him. He asked Maru if he had seen the lion – Maru seemed frightened, saying that it had eaten several men on board the other ship – that he feared for his life – and that once, it had passed right by him, and he had kept so still hoping that it did not see him. When pressed, however, the lion had never attacked one of the slaves. But, if a slave were to die along the journey, he body was not given a proper disposal, instead, it was thrown to the beast – he did not want to be eaten by the lion! And he begged that if he were to die on the voyage, that rites be said over his body, and it not be fed to the lion. Solesh also asked if any of the men he had been traveling with ever spoke a lot before the lion went on the prowl. After thinking, Maru confirmed that two people tended to speak a lot, perhaps including when the lion was out – a man, with dot-like tattoos under his eyes, and an older woman.

 

Solesh returned to the group and passed on the information. Quinton was highly skeptical of this insinuation, but the rest were willing to at least hear him out. The box was taken from Alrik’s bag and shown to the two people in question. The woman seemed confused, and a little anxious. The man, however had a very perceptible reaction – his eyes widened and he surged against the chains. They figured they had their answer. As well as an intriguing connection – too bad that the man did not speak a language that any of them could understand or visa versa…

 

What to do before disembarking again was argued. They opened the other two crates first, to find many skins, horns, bones, and jarred internal organs of various African animals. In addition, carved sculptures that appeared native in design. Eventually, the crate with the lion was removed to another room and guarded by Alrik. The man with the dots under his eyes was taken to the brig and bound, and Ethan sat outside his cel where he watched over Maru’s health, and administered the dysentery medicine to the rest of the slaves as well. The man with the dots under his eyes, surprisingly, did not show any signs of illness – and he was the only one of the group. Solesh watched over the rest of the slaves.

 

In order to have enough people to run the boat, they released First Mate Tupper to help out – by this point that man was not suspect by our crew.

 

Things went quietly for a few hours when Alrik heard a click and a sliding sound coming from the crate when he had wandered to the other side…. And watched as the lion prowled out of the box. As soon as their eyes met, the lion sprung, tearing at him. He ripped open Alrik’s shirt, leaving bloody gash-marks… however, as soon as the lion’s eyes locked on the rune on Alrik’s chest, he paused in his second swipe, and Alrik could swear he saw the cat’s eye widen then, purposefully, stride away from him.

 

Alrik set out a shout that the lion was out and began to carefully follow after the cat. Solesh, hearing the exclamation, ran from the cargo hold towards Alrik… passing Ethan and Maru, asleep outside the brig. Solesh quickly seized the door open to see the man, his gag off of his mouth, and in a trance, chanting under his breath. He seized the man, shaking him, and Alrik immediately noticed a change in the lion – no longer purposeful, now anxious and cornered.

 

Solesh grabbed the man, Ethan now awake, and sheepishly explaining that he didn’t know what happened – and they followed after Alrik, Amaki soon to join them. The rest were still busy trying to slow down the ship.

 

Amaki and Alrik set about to corner the lion in a room while Ethan “bravely” ran to go get some rope and Solesh held the man restrained. Eventually, primarily between Amaki and Alrik, they were able to herd the lion back into the room with the crate and shut it back inside.

 

Before Tupper came down, decisions were quickly made – they fetched the Chinese man – whom they had suspicions of being the financier of the trip and the strange cargo. The man was belligerent – saying that the lion had yet to harm him, and when they threatened to kill the slave with the dots under his eyes, the Chinese man became more agitated, threatening the crew – saying that that man was “his” – he had made specific arrangements to acquire the man – and that it was none of the crew’s concern why. However, the man in question seemed to have no love for the Chinese. When pressed, he admitted to being able to speak with the man. He said that he would be taking the man back to his company, and it didn’t take a genius to figure that the Chinese man and whoever he worked for were interested in what the African man was capable of doing, and had little regard for the lives of the crew from the Rook that had been lost in the process as the African man was seeking freedom. Shu Xiang then began to threaten the crew again with the power of the organization that he worked for…. And a quick decision was reached as they heard Quinton heading back with Tupper. They threw Shu into the crate with the lion. Ethan and Amaki were horrified, and Ethan more than a little guilty – but it was evident that Shu was not a good person – having willingly sacrificed men from the Rook to get his prizes back in tact – and was fully aware of the danger. Besides, there was acting being threatened against them.

 

When Tupper came down, it was easy to convince him that the lion had claimed another victim before they were able to get him back in the box – and that they assured him that they figured out the culprit. Dorian, now, was not eager at all to spend any time in Antigua, even if it meant getting 10% of the profits, given the group that Shu worked for and Antigua being a British port where they would likely be looked for. So, Dorian made Tupper an offer – the man with the dots under his eyes instead of the 10% that they were entitled to. Not knowing the significance of the man, Tupper agreed.

 

Using pantomime and drawings, they were able to communicate a little bit with the man – who they effectively told they would take him back to Africa. The man seemed highly interested in Alrik’s mark – and the other three showed the man their runes as well. He seemed confused, but interested ((The man had only known before that they had possessed the box, not been marked by it…)) When Quinton mimed opening the box the man very emphatically communicated not to. Also, they were able to get an agreeance that he would not release the lion again.

 

The rest of the crew of the Rook were released from the hold, and the ship continued along its way towards Antigua where it dropped them off and sailed off quickly.

 

ADVENTURE 9: Ambush in Saba ((adventure ran by me)

And I’m summarizing these sessions in more brevity ^^; But it will probably be filled in with more content than this relatively soon. At the moment, this is more like chronological mnemonic devices.

 

After several detours on the way to Saba, the crew finally makes it to their destination.

En route, Solesh spent time with Eliki (the shaman with the dots under his eyes) and Maru (the first slave who had been ill). Starting to try to learn the languages.

Meet up with Tanek, who’s been waiting for them. Tanek had left the island with the “haunted mansion” after they did – taking some time to study some strange fungi there, and eventually left – it was not far from other islands, nor were the characters the last ones to find a note promising treasure. He had come earlier to Saba and had been waiting for the characters there – knowing that this was their intended destination.

Go to the inn (Swindled Spaniard) - There, the characters celebrate finally making it to Saba, where they've been trying to get to and failing for months, despite the fact that the only reason they wanted to get here was a port where they felt they could get some downtime in an unsecured port.  They are introduced to Rumfustians - drinks mixed with gunpowder and set ablaze.  Dorian and Ethan both try the challenge, and succeed in downing them - and earn the respect and cheers from the men in the tavern.  They offer the men wenches.  Ethan accepts - enthused to be praised by the people, and not wanting to turn down hospitality. 

Meanwhile, Quinton on board the ship notices as The Drake - a new ship - pulls in.

the characters in the tavern notice that Ethan doesn't come back downstairs.  When they go to investigate, they interrogate the woman who Ethan had been with, who eventually reveals that a man had stopped him when he was leaving the room, and taken him. 

Meanwhile, Quinton was the only one left aboard the characters's ship.  A group of men ask permission to board to discuss a job.  When they get on the ship, however, Quinton is knocked over the head and kidnapped back to their ship.  The group of men is left aboard to watch it. 

Ethan, Quinton, and the two freed slaves are both brought back to the Drake and interrogated - specifically about the marks and the box - these are some of the men from one of the groups who had been after the box - the ones who had hired the pirates.  Quinton, is also interrogated, but nto as much attention is paid to him when it is revealed he doesn't possess a mark.  Ethan is kept in a cell that is a part of the captain's quarters.

Meanwhile, the characters arrived back on the ship to find it strangely quiet.  They got into a combat with the men that were left on the ship - and after a rough combat, they emerged victorious.  However, it was bloody, and rough.  Two men were left alive and restrained.  One was terrified, a Michael Follows.  He tried to be helpful and provide information, but he really didn't know much - he had put on as a sailor with the company only recently and didn't know anything really about the motivation other than the characters were supposedly theives and pirates.  He gave the names of the officers.  The other that were captured was ... interrogated in a less nice fashion - as he was less forthcoming with information, swearing at Follows for providing any information.  This terrified Follows even more.  Eventually, the other captor was made an example of, and left for the other ship to find in a rather bloody Fashion.  Tanek took Follows below deck and saw to his wounds, and drugged him up.  However, the combination of him not beeing the brightest crayon to begin with, added to the drugs after a traumatic experience left the man a bit... damaged.  He's quite friendly, and has stayed with the crew after this, but is quite slow ((Think Caboose from RedVsBlue ;) )) 

 

Next, Solesh, being one of the few men on the ship who the group wasn't on the lookout for (no wanted posters out for him yet), did reconnaissance on the ship. He pretended to enlist with them, offering his language skills.  When he was taken down to the barracks to see if he could speak the same language as the former slaves captured, he was able to make plans to free them/Quinton.    He brought Amaki as "hostage" - with the goal of her finding Ethan.  She was much more viable in combat than she looked, and they took the wager that they wouldn't be as hostile towards a woman.  After an interrogation (She did get hit, but not too badly) she found Ethan and told him the plan.   He had been knocked around a bit worse than she had...

He went back to the group, and more plans were made.  Explosives were loaded up on a dingy, Solesh snuck some on board.  He got back down to the prisoners, and set up to rig an explosion... timed while Dorian set off more explosives off the side of their ship.  They were detonated one right after another - and the desire to cause chaos on board was successful.  As it turned out, the detonation below deck  was right beneath the cells amaki and Ethan were in.  Fire filled the ship, and they scrambled to control the flames.  However, in the escapes, Ethan was right in the middle of a particularly hot burst of flame, and yet he was not burned - although his clothing was completely singed.  Amaki was able to grab some notes of the captain as they fled through his quarters.

Everyone beat a hasty retreat back to the ship, and it set sail while the flames were still raging aboard the Drake.  There was whooping from the pirates in the harbor, and they left with much fanfare.  After they were out to sea, they officially renamed the ship to the Deus ex Machina.  And Ethan tried to understand why the fire didn't hurt him...  They set sail to Anguilla to resupply.  

 

ADVENTURE 10: “Vampire”, Merchant Ship for Hire,  Amaki's Secret, the Return of Captain Ogden & Ethan's True Form Revealed
((Sessions by Alrik’s player))

 

The characters get to Anguilla to find it a ghost town.

Find people at the inn – rumors of a vampire. Most people have left town.

Killer in the streets.  they leave the inn to go back to the ship and find a man dying in the streets with his throat ripped out.  Ethan tries to help, but it's far too late.  They try to pursue him, but lose him in the twisted alleyways.

They ask around -apparently it started with a paritcular ship.  That's where the deaths started, and no one has dared go aboard. 

They investigate to find the ship mostly empty, except for what looks like a kind of nest below deck.  There's smatters of blood, ripped cloth, etc.  They also trace clues to find a house in town with all the windows boarded up. The town believes it's a vampire.  He only attacks at night, and so forth.  Ethan believes it to be a vampire, as does Alrik.  Quinton thinks they're being ridiculous.  They wait outside the safehouse till dawn - and no luck... so they return to the ship.  They locate him hidden in a crawlspace, and they fight him.  When they pin him down, he seems very much alive - although scared of Ethan's cross, and dies in a very mundane fashion.  Quinton recognizes the disease he had - contracted through the blood-  and apparently he had gotten in a fist fight and nearly killed in town.  He had woken up in a coffin when he was believed to be dead (thanks to the disease) and due to his own superstition, believed himself a vampire, so began to act out how he felt he should act - the disease also gave him a sensitivity to sunlight.  ((I don't remember the name of the disease, but it is a real one >> ))

Quinton was quite triumphant when he was revealed to not be a vampire.  And while Ethan pressed that the man himself thought he was, and even though he really wansn't, didn't mean that there weren't ANY vampires. 

They reporte4d back to the inn, triumphant.  In thanks, they were given some supplies (they were low themselves), and next, they headed to the Virgin Islands

for a full reprovision

 

 

When they made it to theVirgin Islands they discovered accurate wanted posters, including Solesh and Quinton.

The port was Spanish owned, however, and the British posters seem to be mostly disregarded by the people there.   But this likely meant that the people that they had escaped from were spreading their net.  

Resupply & outfitting

Now, they needed money – they sat down and actually began to  talk about trying to go to Africa - what were their goals and where were they headed?  The box and the runes that had appeared on Ethan, Alrik, Amaki and Dorian led them to feel inclined to head to Africa.  And what was the best way to get there?  They decided that booking passage to Europe first – avoid the middle passage would be ideal.  But, their ship can’t make the journey. Some of them have things they want to do first. Ethan: his father. Quinton – wants to find Lucy regarding something about the haunted estate.

Ethan finds a name for his father’s ship, “The Sea Nymph” by asking around.  It's a clue - and something else that would be easier to track down. 

Other characters spent some time in the pub – Solesh and Alrik make a wager that Ethan hasn’t learned his lesson and pay a prostitute to lure Ethan away from the conversation with Quinton and their planning where to go from there.

Quinton meets with a wealthy merchant on the island and offers the service of the ship to transport goods. Accepts the offer and has them transport sugar, salt and maize to Puerto Rico – paying them a nice overhead. Also requests that they pay a visit to one of the more Northern Islands on the Virgin Islands – there there is an old pirate/rival merchant, LaCroix who apparently has native artifacts that he has thus far refused to sell.

Crew accepts the job.

About to leave – guards arrive and nearly arrest the crew. However, the merchant pulls strings to get them released - the characters, now on top of having taken him up on a job, now are more heavily persuaded to do the job right.  The merchant makes no secret of the fact that it is because the guards are in his pocket that they were not arrested - and to remember the favor. 

 

THE BIDDING & AMAKI’S SECRET

 

On the ship, and on their way to do the merchant's shipping business, there is downtime to talk.  Ethan is picked on for getting himself caught multiple times during periods of indescretion.  Further prodded by the fact that he took their offer in the bar when they paid a woman to sleep with him.  Amaki, after all of this, is frustrated, always feeling left out of these conversations.  She knows that because her ceremony was interrupted, she never became a woman like she was supposed to.  She's felt in limbo since then - not a woman, no longer a girl.  She brought up that in her country, there is a bidding ceremony to make a maiko into a full geisha... and incites the crew to participate, mostly out of aggravation and pent up frustration.

 

Ethan's View on Women:
Ethan doesn't bid - he's always seen Amaki as a friend, and due to his upbringing, while he has respect for women, he views things as two very distinct roles - friends, and sleeping partners.  He doesn't have an emotional connection with sleeping partners - it's not that he doesn't respect women, but due to the strength of his views of equality, he doesn't understand that that might be construed as using them - instead sees it more as a situation of mutual enjoyment.  Another reason he himself doesn't like to hire prostitutes, preferring just to hook up on his own merits.  His first exposure to sex was from peer pressure from his first crew, and it made him more of a man in their eyes.  Ethan is highly concerned about what other people think about him - having been so sheltered growing up and never really had friends.  He's desperate to prove himself good enough to others, and that was his first real foray into that experience.  On top of that, there's the comfort and acceptance from the woman.  Having no friends growing up and the superstition from the villagers, Ethan craves the approval of others, and he thinks that he finds that through the embrace of strangers.  Finally, well, he IS a seventeen year old guy. 
However, Ethan has a hangup about commitment and crossing that line with friends.  Because of his closeness with his mother in a totally nonsexual way, he has developed a very divided way of viewing women.  Even though Ethan isn't really aware of it, views Amaki in a similar fashion.  When he left home, because he'd been fairly coddled by his mother.  When he was in trouble, or did something stupid, she was there to help.  He grew up, therefore, rather dependent and emotionally insecure.  And growing up with just a mother figure, Ethan IS in touch more with his sensitive side than a lot of other guys.  Out in the big world, Ethan has felt very alone, and dealing with a lot of problems.  Most of the guys aren't exactly the share-y sensitive type.  Amaki has been the only other woman he's traveled with (or at least he thinks...)  He's gotten comfortable talking with her about problems, his emotions, and so forth.  And Amaki has shared in return as she is also very alone, out of her element and culture.  But because of this closeness, he doesn't view it as a sexual attraction.  Ethan views commitment as synonymous with courting and marriage.  According to his beliefs, premaritial sex isn't a crime, but cheating IS.  so Ethan isn't interested in an actual relationship until he's ready to look for a wife.  And he's just set out on the world, he' doesnt want to settle down.  He wants to make his mark in the world.  Ethan doesn't realize that he views Amaki like a mother-figure.  He just knows that the concept of sleeping with a friend is really awkward for him.  Eventually, Ethan needs to bridge his emotional insecurity with finding a fulfilling relationship.

So The bidding war starts.  The participants are Dorian, Quinton, and Alrik.  Alrik was mostly competing to spite Dorian - who actually had been developing an interest in the exotic Japanese woman - begining to learn her language.  With his british upbringing, her being Japanese and proper and fancy, he sees her as a smart match.  Quinton was also bidding to keep her from the other two.  Dorian wagered his spyglass, Alrik... I don't remember , and Quinton won with a music box that he handcrafted.


However, when Amaki went to Quinton, he just sat her down to tea.  He was very proper, not interested in women or such disgraceful practices.  However, he encouraged Amaki to let the others believe that they had been together.  He also tried to explain just what sex was... thoroughly confusing her.  He did succeed, however, at upsetting Dorian.


When Amaki went to talk to Ethan about what had happened, she explained her continued confusion and frustration - that something must have been wrong with her since she was sent out of the hanamachi.  Ethan mentioned that he IS a doctor, and had assisted with more private symptoms and childbirth before, and volunteered to take an objective look.  Ethan thought that perhaps she was misformed - he had heard stories from some of the men on his previous ship that Japanese women were.. shaped differently.  With Amaki's green eyes and brown hair, they both had suspicions that her father was Dutch (the only non-Asian people who did business with Japan) - so perhaps she was shaped like a Western woman.

 

However, what he saw was not what he expected in the least.  Amaki was a man. 

 

He, stunned, told Amaki, who was devastated.  She retreated to her room, incredulous.  Her entire life had been a lie.  Things made sense, but it couldn't be true - some horrible lie... but Ethan wouldn't lie to her... She felt like she could never truly fit in - no one would take her as a wife now.  She was in a strange country, and how would she ever find a man.  Her entire upbringing had left her so turned around.

 

Dorian was unaware of the discovery.  He knew Amaki was upset, but not the reason.  Encouraged, he wrote her a poem - with a bit more feeling in it than most of his artistic creations.  However, when he read it to her, it made her feel conflicted.  She wanted to be accepted, wanted to be loved, and yet Dorian didn't know...

 

By this point, they made it to Puerto Rico.  As they arrived, they noted with anxiety another ship, The Triumph's Revenge, pulling in laden with British Soldiers. 

 

Dorian asked Amaki to go out on the town with him - taking her to a fine restaurant.  However, Amaki had to be honest with him.  Dorian was stuned... and needed time.  He found htat time in the bottoms of many glasses of alcohol as he fretted over this revelation. 

 

Finally, he came back, drunk off of his ass, and declared loudly to Amaki that he didn't care.  He wanted 'her' anyway.  And they started to see each other.  Although Amaki cautioned Dorian that she needed time to figure things out.  She wasn't sure where she fit in any more.  She asked Dorian not to push her - to let her decide, give her time to think.  

 

Travel NW to find the island – seems uninhabited. LaCroix crazy old hermit. Traps. Eventual negotiation for a large amount of rum – he has no desire to leave or money. Get the objects – which turn out to be very grimy golden statues.

 

Return to first merchant again. Impressed that the crew returned all of the objects to him (crew had debated keeping them, thinking that the merchant didn’t know about them). Good graces. However, that doesn’t stop when a ship, “Mary’s Return” from catching up with them.

 

The crew was delayed, waiting on a message from the merchant who was researching information for Quinton about Lucy's whereabouts.  He said that the information wouldn't be there till dawn.  They were very anxious about the presence of the ship, however. 

 

On watch, Alrik is kidnapped, message left signed Ogden to meet them at the local inn. 

 

They know it's probably a trap, but they don't know what to do.  Crew goes there to find Captain Stephen Ogden there and angry.  He was the captain of their first voyage, where they found the box.  He was led to believe after the group fled on the stolen ship that the characters were the ones responsible for the pirate attack and the true traitors.  He had been employed by the other group (not the ones in Saba), the ones who had originally commissioned Ogden's ship (The Capricorn) to hunt down the characters. 

 

Ogden apprehends the group and one by one interrogates them, trying to get a straight story.  All the characters tell the truth from their POV.  And Ogden is indecisive.  He's inclined to believe them - especially with the convincing arguments, but the ship he's on is owned by the group. 

 

So he makes the decision to have Quinton and Solesh released. Neither of them were on the initial trip.  Furthermore, in a display of strength for the group, he shoots Alrik in the shoulder overboard (Ogden believed them, but had been hired by the group that wanted to apprehend us. A way to put people on the outside).

 

Alrik is recovered by Quinton and Solesh, and they plan to bust the characters out. 

 

In the hold –the group is taunted by the sailors on the ship.  Ethan is trying to at least make the point that this time being captured isn't his fault.

 

However, when they are antagonized by the sailors, and Ethan goes to the bars to mouth off, they rip off his shiny silver pendant....

 

 

And Ethan undergoes a transformation.  he feels the clutching sensation at his chest, the feeling that he can't breathe... and then.... a surge of energy.  He sprouts horns, a tail, hooves rip through his boots, and Ethan assumes his REAL form - a half demon. 

 

Ethan begins freaking out - understandably.  He's terrified, confused.  And fortunately - the men who ripped off the pendant drop it and run. 

 

Everything comes crashing down around Ethan's head psychologically.  He'd been called a demon-child before.  Because of his finger, because his mother would never say who his father was.  But he never believed it.  Or he was scared to even give consideration.    It was ridiculous - they were just small-minded farmers.  This changed everything.  He was always religious - he always was the moral center of the party, wanting to be a good person.  Was he evil??

But things began to fall into place - not knowing his father, his mom's refusal to talk about it, his extra finger, finding he didn't burn or his hand singing Captain Blackall when they fought.

 

Dorian and Amaki were stunned, but tried to help him pull himself together - they were reassured when they saw that Ethan himself was panicking - that it was still him.  Finally, they snatched the pendant from where it had dropped.  Ethan felt it now - pulling at him, draining away the characteristics as he held it - it was kind of painful that way.  But as he tied it back around his neck, he felt the features drain away, returning him to looking normal. 

 

Not long after, the rescue party came for them.  Solesh, Alrik and Quinton came with guns blazing.  Between a fire-spewing contraption Quinton had made, and Solesh and Alrik in full plate mail he had acquired somewhere, they set the ship ablaze and rescued their friends. 

 

Captain Ogden let it happen, irate that the men had deceived him and set him against innocent men.   They beat a hasty retreat to their ship, where the note was now waiting, and set sail.   Ethan spends some time by himself with Amaki and Dorian, talking to them about what he had found out.  Both were very reassuring.  Dorian said he'd never known a man as good hearted as Ethan, and truly he could not be evil despite appearances. 

And he and Amaki talked, realizing that they had more in common than they ever thought - both of them living lies - finding out something about themselves that changes their perspectives.   having to decide how to live, how to take this new identity... the sheltering of their mothers' for their own protection. 

 

ADVENTURE 11: Lucy's Plot (ran by Dorian's Player)

 

-   Discussion on what to do next.

    - Quinton receives the message from the merchant with information as to Lucy's location:  gathering  sailors from all over to launch a massive treasure hunt.  Biggest organization of sailors/pirates heard of in a long time.  A recruiter in Saba, and the characters go there.  They figure Saba is probably the last place they'll look for them again, where they had almost been caught, and populated by pirates that seemed supportive of the characters'. 

 

Indeed, when they arrived, The men of the Drake had left, along with the Walrus - the massive galleon that had been taken over by pirates.  They had apparently hired themselves a way off the island. 

 

    - Quinton finally admits to why he's looking for Lucy - his father went missing a long time ago, and a note in the "haunted" house seemed to be from him.  Lucy is the only connection. 

    - Ethan reacting to finding out he seems to look like a demon.   He makes the decision to talk to the other characters - wanting to not hide from them, valuing their friendship, and deciding that he'd rather share with them - share his anxieties and tell them sooner rather than them finding out somehow later and turning on him.   being honest with them.  He was relieved with acceptance.  Alrik was violently surprised, pinning him to a wall - Ethan squelching out a terrified noise.  The man studied his face, his fear... and let him down, knowing that the fact he seemed to still act the same was no ruse. Quinton had no explanation... but refused to accept that he was a literal demon.  He kept (and still to this day) keeps saying that "he'll figure it out".  Solesh was amazed - with the imperviousness to fire - the obvious sign of magic.  The combination of bestial traits - he came from an upbringing that believed in old Gods of Egypt.  He encouraged Ethan to pray with him, but sees Ethan more as a divine boon than something demonic.

 

    - Meanwhile, while also in port in Saba, Solesh takes Amaki out, comforting her. Strangely, he finds her more attractive and respectable as a man than a woman.

 

- Dorian claims Amaki before the trip - to make her his and try to ensure that even though they'd go for a month pretending to not be together/her being a man, that she'd feel obligated to come back to him.  Even though she had asked for time to figure out about herself.  He pressed, and she didn't say no (Japanese almost never explicitely say "no" - they will try to dissuade, but eventually she was pressed into it.  This, unfortunately for Amaki, only made her feel more uncomfortable - both with the relationship with Dorian and confused as to her gender role, and feeling dirty ). 

 

- Enlist with Lucy's crew.  leave the ship in the care of Tanek, Follows, Eliki and Maru in Saba. 

- month-long trip in cramped quarters.  Miserable, smelly, and crowded.  Characters' have to put their issues on hold.  Amaki tries dressed like a man, but it's a miserable trip anyway.  Meet Sasha, the Flying Mouse - russian acrobat - and also one of the men in the ship.

- Stop a mutiny halfway through of dissatisfied sailors.

- Finally arrive in Central Mexico.  Something like 15 other ships full of men.  They were leading them into an old cave, and brainwashing them to think they're Aztec warriors (or possessed?  Never really figured out for certain.  Difference of opinion).  They had captured Quinton's father to have them build enhanced ships to launch attacks against the Spanish colonies en masse.  Lucy had teamed up with an old indian who cast the "spell" to make the crewmen brainwashed. 

- Find and Rescue Quinton's father.  Launch plan to destroy the ships and stop the attack.  Know weak points, damage two ships, kill the engineers.  Collapse cave with indian in it.  

- They flee on Lucy's ship, taking her hostage until they arrive in Campeche, the closest "civilization".  Turn her in, but she escapes.  Quinton's dad tags along with them, ultimately planning on going back to England.

 

ADVENTURE 12: Vampires - this time for real (Tanek's Player)

- Finally make it to Campeche, and now the characters have the ship that they got from Lucy, but as soon as they got there, Lucy released her hold on the crew, and they went their separate ways.  So they have a ship, but no men to crew it.  It's far too large for them to sail alone, and it would take a very long time, with supplies and money they don't have for Quinton to modify it. 

- Ethan takes the opportunity while stuck in port to ask around (again) For Dyson Graves.  No luck still.  But he's had time to think and consider while on that month long journey to think about what he is, and decide to still pursue finding his father.  Finding out about his demonic visage has only created more questions.

- However, the characters are approached by a man in a tavern, one Alexander Lucard (ba dum bum ching) - who is the leader of an immigrant group from Eastern Europe (posing as Spaniards at the time).  He and his group are fleeing a corrupt nobleman, and have contacts at the Mouth of the Mississippi River.   They offer the group 500 doubloons to take them to the Mississippi, and are even willing to work on the ship to get there.  The offer is too good to refuse.

- The man does notice Ethan's pendant, and mentions that it might offend some of the passengers, who do not follow the cross, and suggest he keep it under his shirt.

- They meet the people who had been staying in a warehouse, and load up the boat with their cargo.  Eventually, the ship is loaded, and they set sail.

- The crew is lively, lots of drinking and revelry - but not dangerously so.  Ethan, Dorian, Solesh, etc enjoy socializing with them.  However, the crew is very adamant about the characters staying out of the cargo hold where most of them are staying, and their things.  This, admittedly, only rouses the characters' curiousity (at least Ethan's and Solesh's).  Dorian and Quinton advise keeping their noses out of their business, but Ethan is easily encouraged by Solesh, and they go to investigate. 

- They have four large crates, and while Solesh distracts them by joining in a poker game, Ethan investigates and finds mostly uninteresting thing in the first three crates: oranges, mangos, banannas... but the fourth seems to be full of rats

- They reconveine, and most of the characters try to discourage their curiousity.  However, many of the new crewmen seem to possess strange marks on their necks - ethan first mistakes for a sign that they've been amorous....

- Ethan, Alrik and Solesh join the festivities the following night (Alrik mostly to keep an eye on the other two).  However, after a long night of drinking, but not really what should have been enough to knock them out, they pass out.

- Ethan wakes up to find himself alone with a beautiful woman he didn't remember seeing before.  She begins to seduce him - Ethan had been very hesitant about having any relations with women since finding out about his unique nature - feeling like he was being deceptive, and worried about leaving women with children that might be like him... but this woman is very... forward.  Sexy, exotic, and mesmerizing.  She convinces him to undress, but when she tries to get him to remove his cross, Ethan balks.  He tried to convince her that she really didn't want him to take it off - that he could toss it over his shoulder....

However, something about the way she spoke... and teased him.... And he took it off.  However, it wasn't long after her look of shock and surprise that he felt something hard and heavy whack him over the back of the head, and things went dark.

- The next morning, Ethan was convinced that it had all been a dream, as he woke up shirtless, but otherwise clothed, and wearing his pendant, and sitting next to Alrik and Solesh on the top deck. 

 - They began discussions in the room, Ethan tried to pass off his experience as a dream, but slowly, pieces were fit together, and much to Quinton's derision, Alrik mentioned Vampires.  And for Ethan, things snapped into place.  Taking off the cross, the marks on the neck, the unease about the cross..\. and teh woman he remembered from his dream seemed so cool to the touch... and had a way to convince him to do something he really shouldn't have done - even if he had drink in his system. 

- Besides, where would they have been?  Quinton had noticed that the towline of the boat seemed odd - as if they were towing something attached to the ship that was altering the drag.  They drug ropes over the hull, and found it snagging on something underneath.  This time, they went down to investigate again, and after shooing the passengers away, they found hidden compartments on the lowest deck. 

- Inside, were "sleeping" bodies - four of them.  The woman Ethan recognized, a well dressed man (both of whom had a very, very slow pulse - about two beats a minute) and then the man they had contacted - Alexander - bound and tied, and his friend Felix, also bound and tied in the compartments.

- The characters pulled the two bound men from the compartments, and brought them into the captains' quarters where they were interogated. 

- He told them a story about being a Dhampyr - half vampire, and he was fleeing his home from his relatives as he had claimed.  The man that had come with them was a spy for his father, who was intent on returning him home, and who did not share the same value of life as he and his friend Felix.  They had been feeding on their people - who knew about them, and voluntarily provided them blood, and they did not kill them.   However, the spy was going to try to claim control of the ship - and had gained influence on the rest of the crew through the use of his blood in their drinks.  They were planning on mutinying and he had stumbled on the plan, and was restrained.  Now that they were loose, as soon as the sun set, he would try to take them.

- The characters prepared, waiting for the other vampires to attack.  ((I think there was more to this - and a reason they didn't just stake them in their sleep))

- When the sun set, indeed they tried to attack, but they had fortified the captain's quarters against their attack.

- However, Amaki began to feel a presence in her mind - as the leader tried to get her to open the door, or lower the defenses.  And eventually, he managed to grab her from the room. 

- Amaki apparently reminded him of his wife many, many years ago who had passed away, and he had begun to seduce her.  He felt fortunate to find a woman from Japan that reminded him so strongly of her.  Meanwhile, a battle was launched to rescue her, and they began to combat the vampires and crewmen.

- However, eventually, as the vampire had mesmerized Amaki, after an elaborate tea ceremony and discussion, and her defenses crumbled... he discovered that she was not a she.   He was caught offguard, and at the same time, the attack was halted above deck.  He tried to assure Amaki that she was still so exotic, beautiful.... but this was not something he was prepared to deal with.  He had never considered finding a replacement until he had found her, and his priorities changed away from the original plan.  Now... he had things to deal with.  He fled.

- The battle was over, and the enemy vampires restrained with the help of Alexander. 

- Despite being shaken, the rest of the voyage went smoothly, although Quinton still remained adamant that these were not really vampires.  He had missed out on most of the more supernatural aspects of the battle. 

However, Ethan was startled to how negatively solesh reacted to the vampires - creatures of the darkness were diametrically opposed to the Sun god he worships.  He threatened them - saying to the men who they left at port that if he were to ever hear of them killing men, spreading darkness, then it would be his blade severing their necks.  And this was only after the characters had talked him down.  Ethan respected Alexander and his men very much with their response - "I hope you do".  Despite what they were, they were still good men.  To Ethan, this was quite encouraging... but he was startled with how opposed to this "dark creature" that Solesh was, worried as to how that would affect him

 

ADVENTURE 13: The Mouth of the Mississippi (Amaki's Player)

The characters arrive at the mouth of the Mississippi, and the small village on the swampy land is hardly what many of the immigrants expected.   Most of the passengers are relieved to finally be at the end of their lengthy voyage, and stay to settle.  However, about thrity agree to stay on the ship to help crew it to the characters' final destination in exchange for the ship when they get the Deux ex Machina back. 

 

- Ethan asks around and finally gets a lead on Dyson Graves - his sister, Agatha Martin, lives there. 

- Ethan is amazed - he's been looking for nearly a year now, and to find a lead so close!  He is directed to her house.

- INFO ON DYSON GRAVES & AGATHA MARTIN

    - Agatha lived at the edge of town, in a small house (if you could even call it that).  Approaching the house, some of the characters noted that despite the fact that the swampland city was hardly fertile, an air of death seemed to cling even more to the house.  Nothing was growing.  Plants were dead in the garden, and even the chickens that scrabbled around her yard were skinny. 

- When Ethan introduced himself to the woman - who despite her surroundings was surprisingly beautiful and well preserved- she invited them in.  She had a very healthy glow about her - brown hair, straight, and olive eyes.  And in her presence, Ethan's cross seemed hot against his skin.

- She told them a story of Dyson Graves.  Many years ago, she had fallen very ill.  Dyson, her brother, swore to her that he would do his best to find a way to make her well.  He left for months as she grew sick with consumption.  No doctor was able to give her a positive outlook.  And then, one day he returned - supposedly with medicine from some witch doctor that he fed to her, and she grew better.  She's never been sick a day in her life since then.  It left a strange birthmark-colored marks on her arm, but she's been healthy.   Although, life has not been good - her husband takes to drink, and money has been hard to come by.  And the city isn't what she expecited; she came with the French Mississippi crew, originally from Georgia.  Dyson's been trying to convince her to move to a bigger port - somewhere easier to visit.  He tries to come by every now and then - about once a year.  Her last correspondence with him was when he was in Port Royale - a few months back. 

- Ethan thanked her, and gave her a doubloon for her troubles.  She tried not to take it, but Ethan insisted - they were family perhaps, and you helped family. 

- However, that decision would come to bite him in the ass later.  Her husband came home drunk that night, and found that she had taken money from the young stranger... and he assumed the worst.  Him and his buddies stormed onto the ship late that night calling for Ethan.  They got into a fight with our crew, rowdy, drunk, angry, and not listening to reason.  They were beaten down but not killed.

- Meanwhile, Solesh had heard from some strange old man that smelled of urine.  he promised them that he had some sort of mythic creature - that if they bought it from him for 5 doubloons, than he would be certain that it would return their profits a hundred fold in a real port. 

- Solesh bit, and the characters went to see this creature.  They could see something squabbling at the box, a fevered, sick look in the old man... and the characters put two and to together:  Rabies.   the man was sick with it and displayed all the symptoms.  Ethan had heard of the disease, and warned Solesh not to open the box - that the man was sick.  Solesh, paranoid, shot the man and the creature in the box.

- The creature in the box was a ringtail - a rare animal for the area, but hardly mythical.  A crowd gathered upon the death - but the characters were able to hold them back - Ethan told them of the man's sickness - and to his dread, he heard that he had gotten into a barfight a week or so ago with Agatha's husband and a few others - the same easy to anger men that they had encountered.  Ethan felt heavy in the pit of his stomach, and warned the officials of the threat, that they should moniter them and quarantine them... and took the duty to himself to warn Agatha that her husband was ill with a disease that could not be cured... She was angry, frustrated, yelling at him why he would tell her such if there was nothing she could do.  Ethan felt horrible, but wanted to warn her.

- finally, they Asked harbormaster about the Sea Nymph - and they heard good news.  It was registered to be headed for Havanna, and if they left then, then they could likely catch it before it left. . 

- Buy Supplies & Leave

 

ADVENTURE 14: RATS! 

(By me/Amaki's player doing Dyson aspects)

- The characters head for Havana, Cuba next - where they were told that Dyson's ship, the Sea Nymph, was scheduled to be to meet the Spanish flota treasure fleet for trade. 

- By this point, it is October, coming up on Ethan's Birthday, and the weather is becoming a bit cooler.  Havanna's also a massive city by comparison to most of the cities they've been visiting.  This is Spain's foothold in the Caribbean and the doorway to trade between the New World and Spain.  The treasure fleet from Spain has recently arrived with goods from Spain and the port is filled with people and merchants doing trade.  Bustling and excitingly busy. 

- They register with the boat dock under the name "Dos Equis" after the name they've "dubbed" this ship - with two X's  (known by the "Twenty" in English ports).

- And Ethan along with Solesh and Alrik goes to find Dyson Graves.  It is not hard to find him.  He's in the first bar closest to the port - the "Used Barstool"

 

DYSON GRAVES:

Time had not been good to Dyson Graves.  He was a big guy, not uncommon for a sailor, but with a haggard, lined face that added years to him.  He stunk of alcohol and ill maintained hygiene.  Hazel eyes and balding head - what was left was a graying brown.   But what stood out the most was a striking tattoo on his arm:  it was much more distinct and vivid than any tattoo Ethan had seen before - it is of some muscular, fearsome fighting dog (like a mastiff and pit bull) with startling red eyes and slavering, bound by chains that trailed off into a runic writing that Ethan copied down.  Words were visible: "Habeveccio the Viaggiatore Maledetto"  Ethan introduced himself, said he'd been looking for him for some time.  He felt the breath catch in his throat. T his was the man he'd been searching for for the better part of a year.  And he was right there in front of him. He hardly knew where to start... so he just set in introducing himself as Ethan Cuskley... and told of his mother, waiting for the recognition in his eyes.

- Dyson then told him his story:

    - His family were colonists.  His sister, Agatha, grew deathly ill with consumption when she was still just a girl.  As her older brother, he couldn't abide to see her sick.  his family couldn't afford the doctors.  So he decided to strike out on his own to try to make a living and find her a cure.  He fell into sailing, hoping that his wide travels would find the right medicine.  For a year, nothing, and then distraught, and hearing word that her condition was deteriorating, he found an abandoned mission and prayed. Shortly after leaving, a man approached him, seemingly out of nowhere and offered him a cure.  But there was a catch: a blood oath to the man, that he could call on him whenever he wished to do anything he asked - no matter what.  Dyson assumed some kind of dirty job - a theft or a murder, and he was willing to do that to save his sister.  He awoke with the medicine in his hand and the tattoo on his arm.  He had no idea the cost- that sometimes he blacks out - the 'man' took over - doing God knows what and leaving him with the consequences.  He's turned to alcohol since then, but... his sister is well, and continues to be so.

Ethan asked of his mother, and Dyson remembered her.  He felt a compulsion to visit Virginia - and met Rosemary, who asked him back to her house.... as soon as he stepped across the threshold, he blacked out - to awake later in the inn.  

Ethan.... could piece together the missing parts.  The 'demon' then... had taken over and ... created him.  Ethan felt a sinking in his stomach.  dyson asked if he were normal - and Ethan had to say not - that he sought his father, his origins... and Dyson warned him not to dig too deeply.  Dyson, however, had no strange features - no extra finger.  And few men were around who saw him go into these ... "fits"... He knew he had bargained his soul now, and argued that it was not he that was Ethan's father. 

Ethan took the news heavily, but shook the man's hand.... but as soon as he did, he felt his cross burn hot, and a strange sensation.  He parted ways.... However after that, every dog in the city seemed to take offense to Ethan - even more so than ever before.  They growled and barked and snarled at him if he got too close. 

Ethan was left to mull on this information for a time, while the characters dealt with business in Havanna.

 

Ethan did visit the church briefly, feeling distinctly unwelcome within the chapel.   However, while they were there, they heard the head priest, Father Lorenzo, complain of thievery from the church - such a sin and so sad that with so many people so generous, that the money be taken.. 

 

Don Querido Adventure

Pardon odd tenses, a lot of this is pasted from my campaign planning notes. 

 

- Meanwhile, on the ship, Quinton and the others are approached by a man who says he represents Don Querido, a local merchant and afficianato of cuisines and foods from other places.  He offered them twice whatever they give him back in local, fresh supplies in exchange for the food and water they brought from the Mississippi.   They agree, at least to meet with them the following morning after discussing with the crew (It's late afternoon by the time they arrived and word spread from the harbormaster to Querido's men of their port of origin).

 

- The characters, after they get back that night, discuss the offer and don't really see a down side.  So the next morning, when they get there, they send off several crates of supplies left over from the Mississippi.  They take careful note of how many crates, of what, and leave the characters with a writ from Querido, promising to weigh the crate and bring them back double the amount within a few days.

 

- Later that afternoon, a representative from another lord, Don Toriano, asks to meet with the characters regarding their deal with Querido. 

He is a mid-thirties first generation Spaniard. He's a man of great... proportions. He's wide, with an easy smile, but beady eyes. He offers them bourbon and a seat.

He would comment that he is unfamiliar with their vessel, and inquires as to where they've sailed, and the sorts of expeditions they've been on. Then he comments that he knows of the characters from a mutual associate - who assured him that they were "solid" ((the man from Puerto Rico who they did business with...))

Then, he offered them a job:

 

The characters then spend the next couple of days investigating Querido around town.   They learn over the next couple of days:

 

After learning this, they eventually go to speak with Don Moyo

 

Don Moyo was a friendly older man who genuinely loved the little dogs.  After Don Querido stopped selling them, and his dogs started to reproduce, people came to him wanting to buy them, and one thing led to another.  But he freely admits that Querido bred them better ((he bred them more selectively and knew that some dogs needed to be culled to keep the breed strong)), but he could never gain audience with Querdio since he went into seclusion. 

He bought a dozen dogs from Querido himself, and after he stopped selling them, he's started to breed them. They're not quite as good as Querido's, if they push him, but they are good ratters – and he's been selling them well.

After taking all of this into consideration, the characters finally decide to go journey to see Querido himself.  They have enough information to be suspicious - he's conducting some sort of experiment with the foods they figure, but decide to go find for themselves.  They decide to use the in they have that they have an unfinished business arrangement to get a foot in the door.

So they all travel outside of town where he was supposed to live -but it was a fair walk - about five miles.  Along they way, they encountered a nasty smell - something dead and rotting.  They go to investigate and find the body of a man with particularly large rats eating him.  The rats, instead of fleeing, defend their meal until the characters kill them, that is.  The man is old, and it's hard to determine the cause of death, but still, this was an odd find.

They continue the way to Querido's - and find that the path and the house itself isn't in the best of repair.  There is a servan'ts building to the side, and a very nice, well maintained garden to the other, and a stable around back with horses.  They knocked, and after a little bit, a serving woman came to the door.  They said they wished to speak with him, that they had questions on his business.  And after the polite 'he's busy, he doesn't see people' didn't work, she asked them to wait inside.

The main room was suspiciously empty - a large room that once would have been an entertaining hall now just housing a threadbare carpet and a small table with a few chairs.   It took him about twenty minutes until he came to them, spoke with them, trying to assure them that he was a man of his word, that their cargo was being prepared, and to not fret.  Querido is also an older man, stern, and thin.  He wears an old highwayman's coat and a salt and pepper hair and beard.  He reiterated that he was a private individual, and had retired from such a mercantile life for a reason, and to leave an old man in peace.  However, when Solesh went to shake his hand after prying went nowhere, he did notice strange movement under his coat.  Furthermore, when they brought up the subject of rats, Querido became suspiciously animated, excited. 

They went outside, and Solesh immediately went to the side window to see where he went - apparently headed to the back of the house.  Solesh revealed what he found - and voiced suspicions that he was doing something unorthodox with those rats he once was trying to kill....

After discussions, Quenton volunteered to go explore the house - being one of the sneakiest characters (which is saying something). 

Inside, he found that the ground floor only had the large, emptied hall, and a kitchen.  In the kitchen was a larder door to oinbe side, and a heavy stone spirial staircase going up.  He explored the second story.  Aside from bedrooms, a patio that overlooked the gardens, and a well stocked library with books on  Genealogy, Spanish nobility, Religious books
Geography – lots of books on the caribean and the New World
Wildlife – particularly of the new world, and several books on rodents
Poisons
Dog Breeding – different breeds, and information on breeding

 

But... there was also a study with notes...

There is a bookshelf here as well that seems to be full of records. Many of the books are very old and dated. They record just about all the business that Querido has conducted – things that have been purchased, ships and captains on his payroll, trades and lists of contacts.

There are also ledgers about the dogs he bred – books full of genealogy and resulting pedigrees – traits that he discovered from breeding. Puppies that were culled, and eventually the buyers (and prices ) that the puppies went for. There are notes on how successful the breeds were at ratting. There are notes about the dogs he bought to bring in traits. ((Life Sciences Check DC 15)) There is a lot of quite revolutionary discoveries made in the terms of inherited traits, but he seemed to have been quite focused and not exactly science-minded.

However, there are two newer ledger books that are within the past ten years.. It starts sluggish about 9 years ago

Armed with this information, they realized that he really was up to no good, but the upstairs was empty of people.  Where had he gone?  Quinton explroed the house more thoroughly while the characters pored over the notes.  After finding missing space and a hidden door in the kitchen, Quinton was able to figure out the lever to reveal a hidden door that lead to a spirial staircase down next to the one leading up - the continuation had been hidden.  The characters heard a shatter after the door was open, and a loud THUNK.  Then, tentatively, they headed downstairs to the basement.

This is where Querido's laboratory was - and his horrific rat breeding experiments.  They listened at he doors, and went to the quiet ones first.  One was  amassive storage room with crates from all over - other ships, carefully marked their origin, the number of rats found in them, and the types of supplies. 

Other doors revealed a laboratory....  This room is full of chemicals and syringes, there are more caged rats in here, some of them quite disturbing looking....

There are plenty of table surfaces around, a couple dissected rats. Some rats hooked up to drip tubes. There are some constructed mazes...  Truly horrifying notes.  There was also a journal.... The journal told Querido's story.... ((Not ALL of this is in the journal, but this is a good place to put it XD)):

The story of Count Raul Querido:

Count Querido was a bright young man born to wealth and status in Spain. He was the count of Teba, and had a small manor. He married young, had a wife, Carola, and baby daughter, Jovita. However, one bad winter, the rats had infested the stores in the manor. The infestation was bad – they were everywhere, and eventually, he turn to drastic measures. He first tried developing a poison – it worked. It killed all the rats, but it got into the river and a lot of the men in his county got very sick – some of the young and elderly died, and he was stripped of his title. He also used it in the food stores and it ended up also killing his wife and baby daughter – they were both weakened from the recent birth. He was highly encouraged to leave Spain. His title was passed to his brother Aldo. However, despite the damage he did, it is said that not a single rat has been seen in his manor since then. He left Spain when he was about 25.

He took a lot of his holdings and some of his house servants with him to the New World, and he established himself as a merchant in Havana. He did good business, and he was well liked by a lot of the other merchants and captains. He struck good, fair deals. But he always had a good business sense and made a good amount of money from his enterprises despite keeping things above the law.

However, he kept the chip on his shoulder with rats. Everywhere people went in the new world, they brought rats with them. They traveled the globe as far as man did, and they brought disease, ate food, and were a plague. He hated them, and he wanted to find a way of dealing with them. But he swore off poisons. So he started to breed dogs to be ratters. While he did his trade, he bought various dogs from people and started selectively breeding them. For fifteen years he bred dogs (till he was about 40). And he succeeded in effectively creating a terrier – it was an expert ratter and was quite effective on ships. He didn't care for cats very much because they were difficult to train, and difficult to breed for traits. The dogs were more malleable, and he became fascinated with how much he could change the species in just fifteen years. He trained them – hiring boys to collect rats for him to train and test the dogs on. However, with new ships that began arriving, each often full of rats, he noticed variations among them as well. And of course, the dogs were never perfectly effective. Rats could sneak into smaller places, eat a wide variety of food – and were surprisingly intelligent.

Then... it was the Count Querido had the “brilliant” idea of breeding rats – initially the idea was to wipe out other species – a domesticated rat. But things started to go awry. His hatred for rats had already turned into an obsession – and now started to cross the line in the other direction. His morbid fascination turning into a sick respect for them, realizing in studying them how well adapted they were... and how he could improve on the design. He started experimenting in feeding them different plants – different waters – seeing what made them large, more cunning, more fierce. He discovered local rodents – humongous ones, ones suited for water.... and began to breed them. They bred faster than dogs – and he discovered just how malleable they were, too....

Count Raul has converted his manor to better his breeding projects. Creating crossbred rats. His servants live outside the manor and know little of what goes on inside. Only a few trusted assistants help keep his projects fed and watered. Of course, dealing with rats not all have remained captive, and some have escaped off into the jungles and are occassionally seen in town. Many of the dogs that Count Raul has bred has helped keep them from the local's attention/reach problems yet, but rats breed quickly... And occasionally a particularly large rat, or a particuarly vicious one is spotted – but is usually just brushed aside. Also, many of the ones who have gotten loose and bred with local populations water down the traits of his mutant rats..

NOW, his goals have altered a bit with his obsessive-fascination with the rats, and his goals are not quite so altruistic. In a mixture of grief that has hit him over the family that is dead because of him, the exposure to the poison that did leave him a bit off, and close connection with studying the rats, he feels like it was some divine justice that killed his family because he shouldn't have killed the rats. They've gotten to him. He respects them, he keeps them close, and they've replaced the human contact. He's been breeding rats smarter, stronger, and as a side-effect, bolder and more bloodthirsty.

He's crazy, not the batshit bouncing off the walls in a straightjacket crazy, though. He's calculating and cool and can wear a charming smile when dealing with his servants or unwanted guests. But he thinks that the rats can communicate with him. And he listens to them. He has made a breed he is proud of by this point – intelligent, can get big, but start out small, and are rather vicious. They out compete normal rats – though like killer bees if they interbreed, the traits tend to be watered down. He hopes to replace rat populations with HIS rats.   He has dubbed the massive rat queen he's bred "Jovita" - after his lost daughter.

And in a way, they are loyal to him. They won't hurt him and they know some simple tricks and commands. And if something happens to him, they will be angry. In many of their rooms, they aren't even in cages anymore.

CONCLUSION OF QUERIDO STORY (part 1 at least ;)

room filled with rats - some of them in groups in large cages, others free - the door was shut quickly as the loose ones ran for the door.  As they shut it, a few slipped under the door and ran to the other end of the hall, slipping under what looked like a wall.  Following it, they could hear heavy breathing and a lot of squeaking from behind it.  They decided not to try to open it, even though they hadn't found Querido himself. They had enough information.

But in trying to figure out how to get out (the hidden door had slid closed) they pulled a lever downstairs - this one not hidden... and while they heard the door at the top of the stairs crank open.... so did the wall to the side, and a massive, mutated rat the size of a bear lumbered out - teats heavy and swollen, rats hanging off of them - accompanied by a massive swarm of little rats, and a few massive rats the size of dogs.

Quinton saw this monstrosity, and while the other characters were running up the stairs to try to make it out before the door clicked closed again, he ran into the storage room and shut himself in, makeing the characters feel obligated to stay.

What followed was an epic battle - Dorian rushed headlong to the Rat queen, opening himself to attack from her 'guard-rats' - the big dog-sized ones, trying to defend her.  The rest were busy with the swarms of little rats that poured up the stairs, and a few of the big rats that guarded the stairs, trying to trap them there.   So Dorian was on his own for a while, and not doing so well.  He was taking a lot of injuries, and not doing much in response. 

Finally, the other characters make their way back down the stairs - Ethan ridding himself of some of the rats that had swarmed over him by lighting himself on fire.

 And eventually, after Dorian had barely made it on his own for a while, the group as a whole were able to defeat the rats and the Queen. 
They found a crawl-hole that led from the Queen's room (which was littered with what looked like was once fine silks, choice foods and drinks, and so forth - riches soiled by this disgusting, massive rat-creature)  to the outside - in the stables... right underneath what the tracks in the stables appeared that the carriage used to be.... Querido had made his escape.

However, ther ewas one more catch, Alrik, had been having a certain... "condition" since the fight on the adventure wher ethey rescued Quinton's father - the bear shirt he had had seemed to jive with him, awakening a long lost heritage.  Once when he wore it into battle, he started to change - it was very subtle at first, a little stronger, a little shaggier.  But the more he used it, the more it seemed to affect him.  During the fight with the Rat Queen, near the finale, he grew larger - about seven or so inches, his body hair shaggier, and claws and fangs.  And he attacked the rat with a roar and claws.  However, even after the combat, Alrik didn't change back....

Battered, shaken and disgusted, the characters, taking the rat queen's head with them and the journal.  They brought the information to Toriano.  He was most pleased with the information - doubtful until he saw the head - and paid them a total of 400 doubloons for their work.

By the time they were back, and the adventure concluded, it was October 30, and on the eve of a festival in town for the eve of all saint's day - feasting and celebration... and almost Ethan's Birthday. 

 

ADVENTURE 15: Havanna Continued, Habeveccio (Me & Amaki's Player),

October 31, All Hallow's Eve.  A strange day to say the least.  Starting out, Dorian wasn't feeling well at all.  He had hot and cold flashes, and bouts of nausea.  Ethan gave him some teas to address what seemed to be a fever perhaps from infection from his wounds. 

The dogs were also seeming even more vehement in barking and haraswsing Ethan.  They wouldn't get within kicking reach, but they would come out of the alley and bark at the top of their lungs.  It was maddeningly annoying, as stray dogs were all over the city. Ethan was frustrated - so much for going out and trying to have fun on the eve of his birthday with a festival in the streets.

 

Early that morning, a man approached the boat, introducing himself as George the Strange and asking for Alrik.  Apparently, this was an old crewman of Alrik's back from when he used to be a pirate (The characters didn't know this previously).  He said that his friend, one of the few men who made it away after "The incident" on the old ship, and his friend and companion had been arrested for a crime he didn't admit.  He pleaded Alrik listen to him and help free him - he was accused of stealing silver from the church - and he would never do something like that.  Alrik knew the men well enough to know they were religious in intent, and despite being petty thieves and ex-pirates, they would never steal from the church.  He agreed to help him free his friend, Bitter Wade. 

 

They went to talk with Bitter Wade in the jail - finding he was scheduled to be executed the next dawn.   They were on a timelimit.  However, they got enough information to learn that he had been fencing opium, and ended up selling it to some rich merchant.  The characters got a sinking feeling.  When he continued, saying that the silver they compensated from him - that he had been paid with - was marked with a double eagle - was supposedly marked the same way as the stolen silver from the church - and that was enough for the officials.

 

They realized that he double eagle was Toriano's mark - and the silver they received was marked the same way.

 

They went to go talk to the church, and spoke with the head priest, begging him to understand that the man was innocent.  The old priest, a nice guy, was sympathetic, and inclined to believe them, but he said that the officials were happy to apprehend someone for the crime, and convincing them to let him go... they would have to find the real culprit./  But he agreed to let them look around.  They found that the safe was NOT broken into - it was a good lock, and not scraped up.   that meant someone had to have the key.  All of the priests in the church - all 10, had a key.

In the end, with private questions to each of them, they found the culprit - Father Guinassi - was an old friend of Lord Toriano.  He had been accepting Toriano's donations of silver - which made him look very good and charitable, and relocating it - hiding it in statues of the saints he made, and giving it to ship captains who came to visit him to take back to spain under the radar of the tax men who levvy hevy taxes on all imported silver.  Guinassi and Toriano both had family in the same region of spain, and they worked together to get the silver to them untaxed. 

Guinassi was arrested, and Bitter Wade set free, and Solesh et al returned to the ship.

 

That evening, however, Ethan was feeling more and more restless, with an ominous feeling.

At midnight, a fog rolled in over the ship, and suddenly, there was a man on board who wasn't there before, flanked by two large black dogs.  He introduced himself as Habeveccio... Ethan's Father.

Ethan was terrified, plastered himself up against the larger Alrik. 

The man was charismatic, and emanated an aura of something eerie.  Ethan's cross burned against his chest.  He said he'd been trying to find Ethan for some time - and how fortuitous it was that he had finally found Dyson... allowing him to find Ethan.  That was why the dogs were baying at him.... Habeveccio has a way with canines, and he set them seeking Ethan to keep tabs on him.  He came to wish him a happy birthday.... he had tried to come for him last year... but his mother had gotten it into her head that he meant him harm.... it wasn't his fault that she decided to make such a sacrifice to keep him away from him, he said derisively. 
The man was charismatic, tried to convince Ethan that he was making assumptions about him just like he was scared others would  make about him.  How well did he think most people would react to him without that irritating "costume" he wore.  Ethan was judging him, making assumptions about him even though he didn't know him.  Certainly, he made bargains, but didn't Ethan learn that he had saved a little girl's life via Dyson? 
Ethan had been looking so hard for this information - and now that it was presented, by the demon himself, Ethan was terrified.  Part of him, almost wanted to go - he was so charismatic, persuasive - the points he brought up were valid... But Ethan remained steadfast thanks to the other characters backing him up.  He tried to convince Ethan just to go with him, speak more privately, let him truly meet ... his father.  Let his father meet his only son....

And eventually, Habeveccio took his leave - saying that if Ethan changed his mind, all he had to do was speak his name...

 

In his cabin, later, he found a fine celtic blanket, a bottle of the best vintage wine... and a pair of sandal-style shoes made of soft leather and open-toed ((Ethan had been through many pairs of boots thanks to unplanned shapeshifting)). 

 

 

ADVENTURE 16: Dorian Sick, Debt,  and Demons

- November 1, Ethan's actual birthday.  He was shaken from the encounter the night before.  Amaki and a few others went out with him to try to get his mind off of the situation, but not much was really helping.

- That night, Solesh had a VERY vivid dream:

DREAM:

It starts with darkness, a feeling of detachment and cold. Then, a light appears before you and gradually you can make out a balance. On one side is a feather. You feel a wrenching feeling and then you see materializing on the other end of the scales - a still-beating heart.

Immediately, the heart sinks lower on the scales, and with a flash of pain, you see the maw of a giant crocodile. A feeling of dread grips you as you are prepared to face pain and oblivion.

Then.... an incomprehendably bright light. You are bathed in radiance. You feel the power, the heat searing you and you see an eye.

These words are burned in your mind as the voice reverberates through you head with a power like you've never known:

"Solesh. You walk over foreign soil and sail strange waters in my name. But these foreign lands have shadowed you. You turn your back on the principles of Ma'at. You forget what I stand for and you soil my name."

Impossibly, the heat intensifies. You are awed with the power and majesty of the voice, cowed by its fury.

But then, the voice continues, the pain seemes less as the voice speaks. "However, you and you brethren are among the few that remember the true path and revere the divine blood. You will have the potential to bring my name to its former glory. Return to my light. Cleanse yourself and return to me."

As the voice ceases, the heat intensifies once more - but this time it does not hurt. It seems to fill every fibre of your being until you are not just bathed in the light, but you ARE the light. And then....
 

You wake.

 

 

- Dorian, however, was growing much worse/sicker.  Ethan was very reticent to admit that his medicine wasn't working.  Despite having gotten Toriano's man arrested, they couldn't sail with him that ill.  They needed to go get a "real" doctor - much to rankle Ethan.

- So they asked around... and heard of a new doctor who was fairly priced and very talented.... which led them... right to Tanek. 

- Tanek had the miraculous ability to find the party.  However, when they were happy to see him and bring him back to the ship, Quinton was panicked that he was no longer watching his ship back in Saba.  Suddenly, Quinton was in much more of a hurry to get the hell out of there and make sure it was safe.

- Tanek went to check on Dorian, starting to see to him.  He WAS very ill, and he started mixing up a powerful cocktail of remedies to address his symptoms and flush his systems. 

 

It was about then, another mesenger came to the ship, a boy with a message and a case.... :

 

"Msrs Alberts, Arlington, Tyrsson, Elrich, Amaki, and Cuskley:

It saddens me greatly to learn that despite our recent mutually benefitial arrangement, you choose to return the favor by causing me a great inconvenience. Especially considering my charity towards your motley crew when an upstanding citizen such as myself might have alerted the authorities to the presence of men wanted for piracy.

Now, a lesser man might take this inconvenience as a reason to exact some sort of barbaric revenge and do something rash such as sinking your ship or using his broad influences to send you to the gallows for one of any number of crimes that I hear the British have accused you of doing.

But, I am a reasonable man. And as a reasonable man, I will permit you the chance to return to my good graces by doing me a favor.

I hear tell that you are on your way to the isle of Saba. A close associate of mine, of whom I believe you are already aquainted, lives in Puerto Rico, which is conveniently on the way. You will give him the enclosed, unopened letter along with the sum of five thousand doubloons. You have cost me a lot more than this paltry sum in your recent actions. Consider this a show of my charity.
He will then, within a few days, give you a package that you will return to me unopened and intact. You will accomplish this entire task within four months

While I may be a good man, I am no saint. If you cross me or my fellows again, we will NOT be so charitable. Know where you stand and watch your ground. My influences and associates are broad. If you do not do this task for me within the time frame, I will see to it that things become very uncomfortable for all of you.

*the note is stamped at the bottom with two eagles - on either side of a stylized T*


The characters knew they were in trouble.  But what could they do?  They began to argue.  Attacking him was foolhearty and would only get them likely killed  - if not by him, then by his allies.  But how would they make 5,000 doubloons?  That was more money than any of them had ever seen before....

They tried to catch Tanek up.... who had fortunately missed a lot of the trouble.  However, when Ethan was talking about his father - Solesh couldn't remember what his name was - and without thinking... Ethan told him.  And the clouds began to roll in again...


Once again, Habeveccio was on deck, and he was not going to take an "oops, my mistake" lightly.  He had come all this way at Ethan's call.  Surely, he was going to spend some time with his father....
This time Tanek, not knowing the full story, was scandalized that Ethan had found his father... and wouldn't even spend time with him?? ((Tanek did not know yet Ethan's 'secret'). 
Quinton, meanwhile, was fretting over the 5,000 doubloons... and Habeveccio turned to him with a smile.... he could help with that.  Quinton staunchly refused to believe that this man was a real demon - he didn't even think Ethan was.  He was a businessman, and the offer was well received.... but he didn't want to commit without first exploring options - maybe offer to use his craft on Toriano's house... or his business partner's in Puerto Rico.  Habeveccio said that he would extend that offer to them to decide at a future point.... If Ethan would consent to spending the evening with him - just the evening.  Now, with Tanek pressing Ethan to do it, and Quinton  - and the whole group - needing this possible ace in the hole.  Ethan had had all day to mull on this offer.... and acepted - after making him promise no harm would come to him, and that he would return in the same way that he left (his father pressed that as long as he didn't change his mind and make other decisions).  But, he made him leave the cross.   His father assured him that he could help keep him disguised.;  So with a glare at Tanek, he took off the cross, entrusting it to Solesh, and went to Habeveccio....

 

((Solesh was foolish enough to test him, casually walking over and touching the cross to him while he spoke with Ethan.  And got himself backhanded into the side of the ship - It wasn't meant to hurt, but it was a clear warning - knocking a 250lb man back effortlessly)).

 

That night - Habeveccio was a surprisingly gracious host.  Ethan was quiet at first, terrified, but feelin surprisingly free without the cross.  He took them to a very nice dinner - to probably the only restaurant that was open.  They started talking.  Habeveccio said that Ethan was his only son - that it was very dificult for "their kind" to reproduce... that it was such a shame that he had been suppressed for so long - that without that cross, he probably would have learned to mask himself.  Ethan also realized that the sacrifice his mother made - pouring her heart and soul into that cross, was to keep Ethan safe from this very individual.  It was a good thing that he did not really mean him harm. 

Then... he took him to a brothel - and presented him a choice of three women, each who had a striking resemblance to someone Ethan knew - Lucy, La Huron, and Amaki.... Ethan ended up picking the Asian woman... justifying that it was something different - and he certainly had no fondness for Lucy any more...

The next morning, Ethan woke up in true form, to find Habeveccio standing over him, looking at him critically, lamenting that he had hoped Ethan had resembled him more.  Ethan was rather surprised by that declaration given he had thought he was rather extreme... until Habeveccio said that he should properly introduce himself... and presented himself in his true form:

Habeveccio true form

They spoke for a little longer.  Ethan was pleasantly surprised by the evening... and he begrudgingly said he'd consider speaking with him again... but that he really had found what he was looking for - real friends, people who were accepting him... that he didn't exactly want to follow his father's line of work.  But he gave him the concession of calling him father... and thanked him.  Ethan was then given an hour for Habeveccio to mask his form to make it back to the ship...

 

- Ethan returned to the ship, in the nick of time... and Tanek saw Ethan's true form as the spell wore off.  Tanek was unruffled - and fascinated - nothing had managed to scare this man - he was fascinated with the strange, and if anything, he just wanted samples... of anything Ethan would provide. who really wan't in the mood....

as Quinton, out of curiosity, had made a double of Ethan's cross to see if it really was psychosomatic in the name of science - when he had switched them out - and Ethan's pendant didn't "work" - he nearly freaked... until he brought back the original after "checking with Solesh" (who was still in his room meditating on the vision he had received in teh dream. ). 

 

- Next morning - Dorian's temperature broke, and feeling much, MUCH better ("thanks to Tanek")  ((Yeah right)).  But he was off...

Dorian was acting strangely despite feeling amazingly better - he had covered his room in murals of rats....

- Tanek also went around giving the tea to the other crew members to make sure they weren't sick or wouldn't catch it.    When Alrik took a big mouthful of it (instead of brewing it)... he began to hack ... and returned to normal!  Ethan was now quite put out that Tanek seemed to have a miracle remedy that showed him up with both Dorian and Alrik. 

 

- Before leaving port, Dorian suggested they go back to Querido's mansion to see if there was anything of value to carve away at their debt. He took a crate of contaminated food, some clothing, and found a couple hundred Doubloons stashed in the bed.

The characters resupplied, and Quinton tried to negotiate with Toriano - offering to make improvements on the house.  Toriano, while he said he might consider it in the future, said that for now, he wanted the money. 

 

 

ADVENTURE 17: En Route from Havanna to Puerto Rico (still by me)

(note copied from my GM notes.  Bad formatting - this is mostly notes to self anyway))

- Dorian feeling MUCH better - energetic, and enthusiastic... and very amorous to Amaki, who was feeling more and more uncomfortable. 

- Breakup with Amaki - Amaki and Dorian finally have the falling out.  Amaki feeling uncomfortable at how forward Dorian was and not listening to her protests.  They go their ways, and for several days, avoid each others' presence.   

- Womanizing - Dorian has a strangely active libido and makes frequent visits to the woman who had stayed on with the crew - Margarita.   Continuing to paint rats... and having VERY strange dreams...

- Ethan feeling uncomfortable wearing his cross for long periods of time - ever since his birthday, it is feeling much more uncomfortable, especially if he wears it for a long period of time. Itchy, heavy, uncomfortable, and like it's actively suppressing him.  He begins to look forward to the evenings, where he can shut himself in his quarts alone (or talk with Amaki) and revert to true form. 

- Solesh is in his room, meditating, for a full week. 

- Giant Squid hazard - Weather's changing, and after a surge of a huge school of squid, the boat seems to hit something - and a giant squid is mired on the rudder - it lashes about, providing a danger to all crew on deck, until Alrik forces the rudder - to much lashing and blood in the water... and it goes still..... but he boat is mired.

- Solesh awakens after the Giant Squid attack - not realizing he's been mediating a full week - unaware of everything that has passed during the time.  He feels invigorated, inspired.  He's had an epiphany.  Renewed dedication to his faith and the path he has been set on.  After this point, he has the ability to create fire.

 

- Pirate Attack!

 

-         Sunrise: Solesh comes out of his room – hasn't realized that over a week has passed since he began meditation.

-         Catchup: Squid attack, Dorian's feeling better, Ethan's back.

-         Solesh has no idea time has passed or any idea of anything that's happened in the interim.

  

-         Mid-Morning: Currently: They're still waiting for the sharks to pick the squid off of the ship.  It's starting to really reek.  There are seagulls all over the ship, sharks in the water, and lots of other fish taking advantage of the banquet.  The rudder is mired, the crew is shaken by the encounter, and disgusted.

 

-         Dead in the water.  It stinks by morning, the water is churning with sharks and other fishes feasting on the squid. 

-         Dorian: the scent isn't bugging you that much.  The big crate in your room is being worked into with you new appetite.  Lots of fruit, but alsoa lot of rats that have been helping you work through it...

-         Afternoon: A cloud of seagulls have gathered over the ship by the  afternoon.  The sharks have been at work on the squid, and the sea boils with life of all manner of sea creatures, but there is so much carcass. 

 

 

PIRATES

- The seagulls draw the attention of a pirate ship. 

-          

-         Their broadside pulls up along our bow. 

-         A wide variety of skill levels.  About 90 men in total.  Many stay on the ship, coming in waves.

-         It is mostly pure luck that they found the vessel – thanks to the gulls, the rats of the sea. 

-         PHASE OF ATTACK 1:

-         The ship sights ours, and from the distance we can spot their sails.  They approach  flying the union jack.  Approach from the front.  They take their time in coming close, watching our ship carefully before finally approaching. 

-         Catch a glint of them looking through spyglasses.  Name of the ship = Defiance.  She's a bigger ship than ours, and much more heavily gunned. 

-         Knowledge check (Alrik) to recognize the name of the ship as a pirate vessel.  Captained by Captain Samuel Vane

-         The crew has about 30 minutes to prepare.  Their ship is preparing as well.  Men are going to the statiosn – maybe can see men climbing up to the crow's nest, loading rifles, preparing grappling hooks and ropes.

    Our characters run up the jolly Roger - that we found from Lucy's supplies (since this was her ship)).  HOwever, this seems to only incite the pirates.  Their ship is a huge galleon - only once in a blue moon is a pirate able to take a Galleon, and the Captain has a big head now.  He's heard of Lucy, and he's heard of her defeat, and that she had barely escaped her last adventure.  He thinks by putting the final nail in Lucy's coffin that he'll secure himself a place in history.

    - We dress Amaki up as a pirate queen. 

-         Get closer, and open the cannon wells, and one gunner fires a warning shot across the bow.   They have their broadside facing our front.  If they open fire, then we cannot return it.  They call for a surrender, to pull down our flags.

-         PHASE OF ATTACK 2:

-         We don't surrender, then they open fire with guns on our ship, and a single cannon blast. Towards the sails.  ((Have them put holes in the sails.

-         Marksmen from the rigging and crows nest are firing rifles on the men on the deck.

-         PHASE OF ATTACK 3:

-         FIRST: Throw a grenados – packets of gunfire stuffed with all manner of small metal objects.

-         DC 15 reflex save for all on deck

-         +5 Damage explosion.

-         Clouding the deck and disguising their boarding. 

-         Concealment on both sides for 3 rounds.  17+ on a D20 = miss. 

-         Boarding the ship – with roars of gusto to shake the crew.   Solesh sets their sails on fire- which fortunately keeps their gunners too busy to fire on our deck while they're attacking. 

-         Grapping hooks are tossed over and the ships pull closer together.  Men are standing on the higher decks and firing while boards are laid across the ships.

-         Initiatives are rolled. 

-         First Volley: 3 Experts (Chinese guy, cutlass, axe), 4 experienced, 3 grunts (ones killed if coming over).  To engage any people who look like they're going to be putting up a fight.   They initially engage the PCs.  Nonlethal damage on Amaki ((club-fighter)).

-         Coming over about 10 men every 3 rounds, until about 40 are aboard our ship.

-         Subsequent volley : 6 grunts, 3 skilled, 1 expert ((Chain, cutlass #2, then as needed)).

-         3 grunts + 1 skilled will be going after the goods starting the 2nd volley.  Will be traveling down to the cargo bay to loot. 

-         Will try make away with supplies.  Disappointed that there isn't any cargo.   When they discover this, will go after the women (and “women”). 

-         They will use bashing damage on the women.

-         OUR CREW:   30 crewmen.  20 awake.  Roll a D20 to see how many join the fight initially.  Emphasize that the pirates are shouting and putting up great bravado, attacking with courage and confidence. 

-         If our crew rallies them, roll again to add to that, max of 25. 

-         Consider them “Green sailors, with 3 of them being experienced sailors. 

-         Make 1 initiative roll for them. 

-         Group attack rolls (divided into 4), and likewise, for the wounds dealt and received.

LONG STORY SHORT:  There's a nasty battle with all of our crew, us, and volley after volley of pirates of various skill levels.  We take a beating, and so do they.  They take enough of a beating to escape with armloads of our supplies... and Amaki - who is dressed as Lucy.  Captain Vane put in the orders to take Lucy - to deliver her final defeat.  At the begining, Dorian snatches Ethan's pendant off of him - as an intimidation tactic.  It works to some degree - many of the pirates refuse to engage Ethan in combat.... but what he didn't plan on was that our crew hadn't seen it... most of them go running back to the hold. 

Dorian also has something eerie happen to him.  While he's caught up in battle - he is injured pretty severly, and feels a sensation wash over him - anger, hurt, fear.... and he begins to change.... into a strange Rat Creature.  This is the final affect of his illness, and the mark that combined with the rat mutants' attack on him.  Eventually, he is able to learn to control his form.  But this only advances the ratlike mentality happening to him.  After he calms down ((after the battle)) he finds that he likes it...
 

-         Kidnapping:

They make off with Amaki.  As soon as they're en route, Captain questions her - it is obvious she's not Lucy, but he takes advantage of the situation, pumping her for information: 

-         Where are they from?  Were they born there?  How long they knew it?  The sorts of people from there?  How many slaves?  Rich?  What are the riches there?  What do they manufacture?  Fortifications?  Guns?  Small arms? Numbers?  Can they be snuck up on?  Lookouts? 

-         Where has she visited?  What of their defenses?  Spanish settlements?  Other places of value?

-         Heard the group has an object of great value.  What is it? 

-         Will they come for you?  You really think so? 

-         Anything else of value aboard the ship?  Hard to believe that they're traveling without cargo. 

-         Threat of Torture. 

About half an hour later, everyone who has a mark will begin to feel it burn, and a compulsion to follow.  Amaki, likewise, will feel her mark burning.  BUT - this gives us our heading...

-         The ship is still mired.

        - It takes the characters at least twelve hours to dislodge the squid.  Amaki is kidnapped, and the crew is agitated.  Facing what Dorian's become... he's... happy about it?? 0.o 

    Many of the crew are at wit's ends.  They lost about five of their own in the battle - hold a funeral for them.  Crewing with Demons, rat-monsters.... the characters are very fortunate that these men were originally knowingly sailing with Vampires.  After Solesh speaks with them, he is able to convince them to sail the vessel after they dislodge the squid. 

 

 

-         The pirates are headed to Tortuga.  Characters are currently close to St. Domingue (closest port).

 

 

- Rescue Mission in Tortuga

Dorian, Quinton, and Ethan go on board the ship early in the morning - the ship only got there about twelve hours ahead of them - and most of the pirates hit the tavern.  Now, most are asleep, out with women, or drunk. 
Meanwhile, Solesh and Alrik plan to detonate some explosives off ship. 


Successful Rescue mission - but Amaki is very jarred.  Ethan does his best to help her - he's dealt with a similar situation when he lived with his mother, a midwife/town herbalist/folk healer.   

 

- Flee to St. Domingue - food is spoiled/rat-tainted.   Many of the crew and Ethan and Quinton get sick.  Dorian's rats have gotten into the supplies and tainted them.  

 

 

- En Route: Find a Mast....

-         Alrik spots a barrel with a big red splash of paint on it floating in the ocean.  When they're getting to shallower water.  The paint looks weathered, barnacles affixed to the bottom of the barrel, and the chain is green with algae, barnacles, and other sea-life. 

-         If they try to haul it in, find it empty, but with a chain affixed to the barrel.  It will take about 10 men to pull it up.

-         What seems to be a perfectly intact mast.  There is no sign of water damage, no broken crosspole.  There is some ornate paint on it in a gold and green leaflet pattern.  The paint is also perfectly intact.  It must not have been down there very long... (right?) 

-         Alrik gets a Knowledge check DC 20. 

-         This is the center mast of a once-famed ship, “The Stormcrow”. 

-         Legend has it that it could sail through the heart of the worst Maelstrom and emerge unscathed.  The captain started to make a hefty sum running expensive cargo because the ship seemed untouched by storms.  Some say the crew was incredibly lucky.  Some say that they made a pact with the devil.  Some say an amazing crew or blessed by the sea-gods.  But the only thing anyone knows is that the vessel disappeared about ten years ago, laden in Spanish silver. 

-         If examined by Quinton, it seems to be made of an incredibly resilient wood.  Nothing he's seen before.  Most metal tools won't even scratch it.  And it doesn't seem to burn.

-         This mast was left here marked for a reason.  One of the crewmen who was part of the attack marked the sail to recover it later, but they have been unable to.

-         Written in gold filligree around the mast is the following words:

  

-         Xplorer: Xenagogue, I Vow

-         In Confidence

-         Lead Impartially -> X

 

-         Cross Xanthic Xerophyte Victoriously

-         Cautiously Veer Inland

-         Xebec Cradled In Vegetation

 

The letters correspond with Roman Numerals, and they lay out a longitude/latitude....

Quinton figures it out - writes it down.  Unfortunately, the maps have been eaten by rats....

 

ADVENTURE 18: Something Rotten in St. Domingue

((Run by Dorian's player after I do lead-in with the Hougan ((notes copied))))
 

 - Make it to St. Domingue (with NO edible food - a three day trip.  Crew is irate).

-         Used to be French Pirate Port, now more of a French colony that's been growing with Ambition and trying to keep the Spanish out (who colonize the other half of the island.  This is West Hispaniola.  And will eventually be Haiti.  Colonized FROM Tortuga.  Royal Authority took hold in 1660.   Now it's a French city, Port au Prince on the up and up.  They have aims to be the French capital in the Caribbean.

-         Full of wild hogs, fresh water, and hardwood trees.  Sugar and Coffee produced here.

-         Voudou/ Houngan priest organizing escaped slaves in the mountains.

-         Big Plantation/Slave population here, but also some escaped slaves in the mountains. 

-         Arrive late in the day, around 5:30 pm.  Too late to do trade.

 

 

- Characters go to the inn, the Crosspole:

-         Old black man (Hougan), with long hair, lots of dangles and beads.  Smoking.  People giving him a wide berth.  Has several pieces of bones and trinkets on him.  Stares at the group.  Eventually, if they don't talk, he'll find himself over and pull back clothes to reveal a mark.  Chews on something, wipes his mouth, and mumbles to himself.  Something About Pappa Legba's eyes on the group.  There's a respect in his eyes, and an intensity. The characters let him approach, and he shoves Ethan's sleeve up, revealing the mark.  His eyes shine, telling them that Pappa Legba has his eyes on them.    He's not very forthcoming with any answers– saying it is not his place.  is the Gran Chemin , the “Big Road”.  Listen to his lessons, doing his work.  Offers them a reading/fortune, to try to help them on their road.  “Lesse .  Maybe he be give you some advice, non?” 

         - Gives the characters there a basic fortune telling reading.

 

- Amaki feels uncomfortable - understandably - after her encounter with the pirates.

- Nobleman fascinated by the newcomers to the port - invites to a party

- Perfume and Haughty Nobles

- Ethan and Solesh spritzed with the perfume

- Increasingly strange behavior.  Arrogant, not wanting to be with the rest of the party.  Stay with local nobles.

- Perfume analyzed - causes first disassociation with non-spritzed.  Then aggressive tendencies.  Then some ugly deformities. Catalyzed by Salt.  Eventually, isolation from the perfume and salt returns to normal.

- Ethan and Solesh put in brig for about a week while they come of of it - bad withdrawal symptoms.

- By this time, the city is getting worse - the noblemen are being coerced by the perfume maker to aggression. 

- Riots.  Characters find the perfume maker living in underground corridors between two mansions.

- He had bargained with the hougan for information on how to make zombie powder, and adapted it.  His family had been cheated of their title a long time ago by the local nobles - and this was his form of revenge.  He doesn't care if he takes the fall - he wanted to cause chaos, disruption, and get vengeance for the wrongdoing to his family.  But he was bright, knew chemistry...

- Characters catch him in an old shack in the woods.  Turn him into the authorities.

- How to fix?  So many nobles have gone crazy.  Stronger, fires all over the city.

- Ethan and Solesh go to the hougan and bargain with him - trade him the mast that they found.  A "cleansing" rain on the city. 

- He "escapes"... but apparently only to pay his debt to the Hougan - becomes his zombi servant ((in the traditional sense - no sense of self, no will.  Just mindless servant)). 

 

 

ADVENTURE 19: The Return of the Vampire, Aftermath, and Struggle to get to Puerto Rico

 - No extra supplies in port to stock the ship/feed the crew after the riot.  Need to wait for a supply ship. 

 

-         At port in St. Domingue, Amaki is found by the vampire who she had encountered previously.

-         Amaki – feeling like she's being watched shortly after arriving in port.  A chill up her spine.  Feeling anti-social.  

-         Then, feeling a compulsion to go back to the ship.  She doesn't feel comfortable around the city – too many pirates that remind her of her time in the pirate ship.  Vampire's reading her mind, and she can start making DC 15(+1 each round) will saves to give into the compulsion.

-         If she doesn't want to be alone, she will want to soon.  ((pass notes))

-         Amaki's Will save is +6; I can roll for her to be subtle.

-         Comes to her in her room.  He's had time to think and change his mind.   Doesn't care if she has or not.

-         Name: Miron Luca

-         Platinum-blonde hair, striking blue eyes.  Well dressed and confident.

-         Seduction and drains her.  As soon as he turns her, her rune flares brightly – the vampire screams (heard among the ship) – and then everyone who also bears a rune feels it burning hot. Then Quinton feels a burning sensation on the back of his neck – he gains one of the runes.

-         The characters come running to find the vampire standing over Amaki's lifeless form. 
 

-         The vampire is stunned for a round when they enter, and they can initiate combat.  He's taken effectively a wound of aggravated damage that he can't heal from – there appear to be some burns on his arms. 

-         Amaki stays dead until the following sunset.  No sign of life.

    - The crew panics.  Quinton goes from doctor to doctor, not satisfied with the answer of "she's dead" - they're wrong.  These are crappy doctors.  Needs a second (third... fourth...) opinion.  Even though many doctors in the city are busy tending to the injured from the riots. 

 - Ethan waits over her, doing what he can, not willing to lay her to rest.  Hopeful, but mostly just stunned.  Not willing to bury his best friend.  The nagging idea of a vampire at the back of his mind. 

- Meanwhile, Solesh and Alrik have incapacitated the vampire that attacked her and attempt to interrogate him (staked him, and now unstake him).  However, when they unstake him, he forces Alrik (mental control) to release him.  Solesh panics, setting the vampire aflame... and he seems to go up in fire VERY quickly.  By the time the fire is extinguished - there is no sign of him.  It is impossible to tell if he escaped somehow by melding into the wood... or if he just burned VERY fast. 

-         That sunset, she awakens with a supernatural thirst.  Amaki has become a vampire.

    She can is led by a compulsion, and only barely makes it out of the room where Ethan and Solesh are watching her with concern - and attacks and drains/kills a crewman. 

 

-         Crew leaves the ship.  They've had enough.  Ask for money.  They've been traveling for several months with the crew.  There is a crew of 30 people left.  Don't care about the ship.  They want money, but ultimately, just want off. 

-         Justifications:

-         Demons

-         Vampire attack on their crew

-         Disease

-         Rats

-         Wererats

-         Giant Squid

-         Pirates

-         Cleaning Dorian's room

-         “The ship is Cursed!”

 

- Aftermath / dealing with the changes.

 

- No crew.  No money.  Need to get to Puerto Rico.

- Several crewmen talk to the Hougan

    - Dorian: Voodoun ritual to invite the Rat spirit to ride him

    - Solesh: Salve for Amaki

- Ethan tries buying some blood from the butcher. 

- Sell the ship for a measly 1200 doubloons of the 5 grand we owe.

- Book Passage on a ship, The Sterling Rose, to Puerto Rico

    - Superstition

    -  Amaki having trouble dealing with what's happened. 

    - The Boiling Sea - dead fish, bad smell, seagulls fleeing the area.  Spurts of hot water.

         - Impending Volcanic eruption.  But the crew doesn't believe Quinton.  Superstitious and believe that by getting the characters off the vessel, that they'll be saved. 

   - The party sent off the ship - blamed after superstitious talk from the town (our crew that left).

 

- Lifeboat - flee to a small island (Isla Marta). 

- Explore the island -

    - Big, lazy Iguanas (One taken with us - "Bob")

    - Bat Caves & Guano

    - Eventually spot city lights from the Eastern shore

    - Row - to Puerto Rico!

 

Puerto Rico and set sail back to Havanna

 

    - Puerto Rico!  A little after Christmas, and a little over a month and a half left on their timeline to get the cargo back to Tolueno in the 4 months time limit.

    - Meet with Nishka

    - No deals.  Not interested in Quinton's mechanics - take too long.  He was told Tolueno would pay him for his artifact - what did they do with the money?

    - show him the letter.  Believes them, but he still needs the 5,000 doubloons in cash.  Or else.

    - Bargain with Habeveccio

        - Ethan proposes it. 

        - Ethan willingly spends time with him afterwards. 

    - Give a valuable ruby to Nishka

    - He gives them a writ to release their ship from his blockade on the other side of Puerto Rico....  ((Characters: -.-))

    - Get the ship, and come back and pick up the cargo - a single crate that could be carried by two men.

    - Set off to Havanna, finally on their own ship again - The Deux ex Machina. 

 

- Ethan not wearing his pendant for most of the voyage - now that they're alone on their ship.  Easily the longest he's ever gone without wearing it.  It is about a month journey back to Havana.

- Stowaway - Curtis

- Dealing with Amaki's vampirism.  Ethan trusts her enough to let her feed directly, and he discovers that it feels surprisingly good...

- Ethan trying to deal with big issues: Amaki, himself, where he's going/what does he want to DO now that he's found his father (and dealing with what he has learned of him and thus himself.) 

 

ADVENTURE 20: En Route to Havanna

((Run by Quinton's player/ Summary VERY delayed and sketchy))

En route to Havanna, the characters stop over for supplies on a small island with a primarily Irish settlement.  The characters enjoy good food and primarily friendly hospitality.

((Unfortunately, It's been too long since the session and I don't recall a lot of the details of this - but in sum, a pair of children are missing and the characters volunteer to help look for him.  They discover one stumbling out of a cave system on the island, babbling about demons and attacks.  He's terrified, dehydrated, and in horrible shape.  The characters investigate, eventually discovering a family secret and a pair of twins - one horribly grotesquely deformed that was kept int  he cave system, and his mostly normal looking but sickly brother who took care of him - but who was far too intelligent and twisted.  There were hints at dark spirits within the clever brother, having killed his parents, and plans on terrorizing the village)). 

After the brothers were defeated and the characters stayed one more night in town after celebration - they all had very strange, very personal dreams. Most of them were twisted - showing them something they wanted and then twisting it (Dorian surrounded by rat-people adoring him, but finding out that he was trapped in this setting in a cave.)  Ethan however, had a dream that did not seem to have a down side.  Similar in theme, surrounded by people with demonic features, accepting him, lauding him, loving him...

 

ADVENTURE 21: Havanna dropoff & Treasure of the Stormcrow Hunt!

((Run by Me/ Summary VERY delayed))

The characters get back to Don Tolueno and deliver the package.  Don Tolueno seems very pleased.  He checks on it in the back room before returning and paying the characters generously for their service. 

After that, they realize that the coordinates from the Stormcrow mast is kind of on the way back up the American Coast, and to go hunt for it before heading along the coast (they plan on heading up the coast, and then crossing the Atlantic on the Northen side, to England, and then back down towards Africa.  The Deus Ex Machina is a fine ship, but not confident to make a full Atlantic crossing. 

They locate the island, a small, strange island, half heavily wooded with high mountain ridge, and then a gradual beach on the other side.  The beach is completely sandy except for a strip of plants that lead to the jungle, up a sharp hill.  The sand is very loose, and impossible to walk through while making footing upwards, except along the flowers.  But on closer inspection, amazingly, the flowers appear to be saffron.  Incredibly valuable.  They make their way to the woods which seems impossibly thick with huge, old trees and thick vegetation.  Their swords and knives have no effect on the wood - much like the mast of the Stormcrow.  They make their way through the canopy, mostly climbing, but it seems to be very striated with set levels.  The only inhabitants of the island other than insects seems to be rats and monkeys - which are unusually large and aggressive.  The characters explore, eventually finding all sorts of rare herbs growing wild on the island at the base level: saffron, vanilla, Cardamom, nutmeg~!  And even sugarcane that had a distinctly rum-like taste.  They also found bulbous trunk bottoms to the trees, with tiny gaps in the wood revealing glittering contents.  But the wood was impenetrable.  More investigations and snippets of notes were found inscribed into the bark in certain cavern-like formations made of the treelimbs growing around it:

LOG NOTES “Our Reputation has been growing by leaps and bounds. Our success has exceeded even my wildest dreams. I had always dreamt of the sea – of wealth and fame. And #### ## ### right.”
“…worth it. I’ll never regret the bargain. If I could only have imagined…”
“The Stormcrow is the supreme vessel of the seas. And as promised, she’s never shied away from a storm or cannon fire…”
“a cargo like we’ve never carried before….”
“We’re all going to be wealthy men when we make it to

SCRAWLINGS

“Damn Corporal Weyr! He’s led a mutiny against me – the crew has been loyal to me for fifteen years and only now does the greed fill their eyes. I warned them – I warned them that only I could captain this ship. And now they’ve got me locked in the brig…”

“At least Rutherford is loyal. He will help me get the mast…”
“.. show them. They will regret their actions. Maroon me on an island? It will be the lot of them that is marooned. They want their precious cargo so badly, they can die with it.”
“Mast…. Undo the sp####... Some day the Stormcrow will sail again… ”
“… call me crazy… …. See I was telling the truth all along when I take it… Back to the way it was…. ”

 

Between these, the monkeys and the strange things they have found around the forest they piece together what happened - the forest IS the ship, the stormcrow.  Removing the mast somehow turned the boat back to its natural state.  The upper canopy was covered with flax flowers from the sail, the wood of the boat that was indestructible by normal means... the crew to irate monkeys (many of whom had tattoos, false teeth, injuries...).  Some property was with the mast that had allowed him to create the ship - the mast that they had given to the hougan.

The characters collected the valuable spices that they could and beat a hasty retreat, worried about what might happen if they stayed too  long...

 

ADVENTURE 22:Through the Bermuda Triangle / Ethan's Cross

((Run by Tanek's Player / Summary VERY delayed and sketchy))

As the characters pass through the Bermuda Triangle, weird occurrences happen en masse to the crew - personal hallucinations, tormenting and chaos.  By the time the characters are able to get the ship fixed and sail out, three months have passed since they thought they left and heavy snows have fallen on the colonies.

 

En route, Ethan has talked with Amaki about the shrine she keeps in her room and the Japanese beliefs of honoring departed ancestors.  An idea occurs to him and he sets up a shrine for his mother with the cross at the center, making her favorite food and other memory-stirring items. 

He is visited by her spirit, comforting, and sad.  She tells him that in order to protect him from his father who came to claim him on his 17th birthday, his mother made a great sacrifice, putting her spirit into the cross itself.  That she wasn't exactly dead as she never died, but is bound to it, and has been watching over him.  Had she not, his father would have been able to forcibly taken him for whatever reason he had.  Now, Ethan had the power to make that choice.  She knows and has seen him trying to woo Ethan since they found each other, and warns him not to trust him.  To never remove his cross around him because it has the ability to hurt him, and keep his father from forcing Ethan to do things. 

Ethan is sad, happy, anguished and ecstatic to see his mother again, for reassurance after all that has happened to him.  To finally ask why she never told him about himself (though he did know the answer - his own protection, and not to let him question his religion or some kind of predestination for evil.  He grew up a good boy...)  He is saddened, that she is trapped in this item, and desperately hopes to be able to find a way to free her, even if it costs him the ability to disguise his features and protect himself from his father.  He knows there has to be a way to control his features with his will, but has yet to have much success at all. 

 

ADVENTURE 23: Home Sweet Home

((Run by Dorian's Player/ Summary VERY delayed and sketchy))

The characters try to help a settlement in the Carolinas defend themselves from a Spanish attack before heading to Ethan's birthplace of Beldore Hollow, Virginia.  Ethan wants to revisit home.  He buys a bunch of supplies from the Carolinas to bring to Beldore Hollow, hoping to come in with the respect of people who never like dhim.
The town has suffered a pretty harsh winter, but managed well enough.  His arrival is met with a mix of indifference and mild interest.  They do suggest that he bring the supplies to the fort that is several miles away - the pass was snowed in during the winter and they were not able to get them supplies.  On the way, the characters are attacked by a large, white bipedal creature.  It attacks, but is discouraged after a few good hits, and seems to disappear into the winds.  The characters get there to find only a few men left - they said that the natives ran out of food and attacked, eating many of the men in the fort.  They feed the characters with some of the remaining supplies - and recent luck they've had hunting since there has been less competition, thanking them for the supplies they brought, and ask for their help against the natives - namely one wild man living southeast of there.

However, when the characters eventually find the hermit, they hear a very different story.  The men at the fort were cut off from supplies and went hunger-mad.  When they resorted to eating a fallen soldier, they were afflicted with the curse of the Windigo.  They began to hunger for flesh, taking on the form of the snow-beast when night falls.  They first turned on each other - killing and feasting upon all that had not been affected.  then they went after the natives.  And as soon as the pass clears, the village of Beldore Hollow, and beyond, would be in danger.  What was more vile, they realized that the food they had been fed was mostly the remains of people. (Ethan immediately retched.  Amaki hadn't eaten thanks to her... "condition").    The shaman prayed that they stay with him the night - he burned herbs and chanted, hoping to quell the curse from settling on them. 

 

TO BE CONTINUED….