Somewhere in the Dark Carribean, a pirate vessel struggled through a sudden storm in search of a forbidden island. Captain Bloodlash scanned the horizon - what he could see of it anyway - as his first mate Skagg struggled to keep the ship afloat through the foul weather.
Out of nowhere, an enormous galleon infested with skeletons burst out of a fifty foot wave, undead crew hurling grapnels and leaping aboard the floundering pirate ship. Battle was quickly joined. Amid the chaos, two pirates defended themselves as best they could from the skeletons.
- The dapper Brute Brutus, net in his hand and murder in his heart.
- The tattooed Buccaneer Bart, with his enchanted flintlock and cheap parrot.
Bart fired both weapons and was stunned by arcane feedback from his magic pistol, then clobbered by a skeleton ogre. Brutus had more success fending off the undead attackers, but nearly fell off the deck when the ship ran aground. The devil's own luck protected the brigands from instant death. Brutus grabbed the insensate Bart and a map that fluttered out of the Captain's grasp as an enormous timber pierced him through the heart. The Brute leaped clear of the whirlpool as the ship went down.
Davy Jones only knows how long later, the pair of pirates found themselves washed up on an unknown island, alongside a handful of other survivors from the wreck. The Captain went down with the ship, leaving Skaggs in command according to the articles. The pirates elected not to mutiny just yet. Skaggs ordered the bulk of the survivors to salvage what they could from the shore and assemble a raft, while he scouted the island with Brutus, Bart and Billy Knives.
Pyle
From the top of the island, the pirates could see two more islands to the south. Skaggs recognized the smaller one as Rum Cay, which would make the one they were currently stuck on Conception Island. They also spotted an abandoned camp near the waterline on the other side. They descended to investigate and found bloodstains indicating that the inhabitants had been exsanguinated and dragged into the ocean. Thankfully they had died before consuming a wealth of useful weapons and items. Brutus caught fish while Bart went along the beach poaching sea turtles and turtle eggs, adding much needed food to the haul.
Back at the crash site, the other pirates found a barrel of rum, a barrel of water, and constructed a raft out of salvaged wood and cloth. The gang decided against sailing to Rum Cay in the dark, concerned about monster attacks in the night. They made camp on the highest point of the island, burning driftwood and pieces of their former ship for light. Their concerns were well founded, nighttime saw an attack by enormous spider crabs which picked off two sailors. The crustaceans were afraid of fire, which let the remaining pirates survive by huddling around the bonfire until morning when the beasts retreated into the ocean.
The pirates piled onto the raft and set sail for Rum Cay. A mermaid swam up under the boat and told the sailors to come closer so she could see them better. The wary pirates refused, and she clarified that she was interested in a simple economic transaction, not pulling them underwater. Bart gave her a ring he took off a dead man in his former career as a graverobber and got four mermaid scales in exchange, keeping two for himself and passing two to Brutus. Eating the scales would grant temporary waterbreathing.
Mossa
The gang put ashore on Rum Cay and weighed their options. According to Skaggs, Rum Cay had a small pirate settlement called Nelson's Cove, which was their best bet for getting a new ship and either finding the treasure depicted on the captain's map or escaping the region altogether. The group decided to lawnmower the island for points of interest before entering the Cove, in hopes of finding valuable items and negotiating from a position of strength.
The first stop was a sea cave down the beach from the spot where they landed the raft. The pirates lit a torch made from wood and sailcloth and stooped to enter. The floor was covered with vampire bat guano but the bats weren't interested in drinking anyone's blood, preferring to prey on sleeping beasts. The Cave Grue infesting the cave had fewer scruples and swooped down to attack the sailors. Bart shot it with his musket and Brutus threw a net over the wounded beast, allowing the others to finish it off with their cutlasses. They extracted a pile of treasure from the heaped bones in the monster's den, and Bart learned a magic spell off some petroglyphs scribed on the wall. He immediately cast it and buffed Brutus' defenses before leaving.
The gang hiked through the forest toward the other interesting thing they spotted on the way in: a flooded sinkhole on the south side of the island. They ran into some sinister fungus creatures and narrowly avoided being infected by a cloud of spores, fleeing rather than risk further contact with the horrible things.
Darkest Dungeon
The cenote was fifty feet deep and apparently free of monsters. Bart munched a mermaid scale and tied a rope around himself, so the group could retrieve him if he got in trouble. He stripped off his gunpowder weapons and dove into the pool, sinking to the bottom to peruse the treasure on offer. He found a bunch of snails with gems in their shells that shined with otherworldly visions, which he stuffed into his bucket for transport back to the surface and sell as psychoactive drugs. The pit also held twenty skulls (apparently of sacrificial victims), a twenty first skull with three eye sockets, and a sinister chained strongbox. Bart tied the rope to it and the pirates hauled it up to the surface.
The chained box was ominous, prompting the pirates to draw straws for who would open it. The talented one eyed musician Pearls drew the short straw and took the box out on the beach with a hatchet while the rest of the group hid with their guns at the ready. Pearls hacked the box open and found a dead parrot inside. The undead parrot opened its eye and began shrieking. Everyone instantly understood why the bird had been locked up and dumped in the ocean. They debated rendering it down for ash, an addictive drug made from zombies. Cooler heads prevailed - the bird would make an excellent alarm for a chest filled with valuables.
It was time to swagger into town. The pirates took the long way around the island, past a bunch of tide pools filled with more jeweled snails and delicious sea creatures. Nelson's Cove was a set of shanties and an improvised pier, where a longboat and a tartane were moored. The bulk of the pirates stayed in hiding while Skaggs, Brutus and Bart went to the shack that served as a tavern. The place was deserted except for a very drunk pirate at one of the tables, the old lady manning the bar, and the head chef. Skaggs recognized the proprietress as the retired pirate Esperanza. They didn't know each other that well, but the cook was happy enough to have new customers that he brought out a plate of crab-stuffed snails on the house. To make a good impression, the pirates sold him the jeweled snails they found in the sinkhole at below market rate. Esperanza was happy to sell them the longboat but wouldn't let the tartane go at any price. She was wary about sailing to the big island, even when she saw the pirates had a map. It was a dangerous place and she was retired. She asked for a night to think it over.
Kont
Bart poured rum for the drunk pirate, who immediately became interested in conversation. His name was Bottlesmith and he knew lots of lore about the big island. There was supposed to be a portal to another world, an abandoned pirate settlement, an abandoned church, and a bunch of shipwrecks on the southern tip of the island. He also taught them how to sing Drunken Sailor.
The group swung by the suttler's office to procure provisions before deciding what to do next, but were waylaid by one of their crew, recently awakened from a drunken stupor after washing up on the island: Pete the Swashbuckler, an aggressive drunkard with a hatred of priests and a love of pistols. He raged and raved until the group could calm him down, then agreed to accompany them on their adventure. They bought a few sundries and returned to the main body of the crew to debate their next course of action.
Skaggs was friends with Esperanza, but not good friends. She said she would think about ferrying them to the big island on her ship, but she might say no. Plus they'd need a way out of the Bahamas once they found the loot, and the longboat wasn't up to the task. That left stealing the tartane the most likely option. The pirates settled on a simple plan: host a party at the tavern, get all the other pirates in the small town drunk and steal the ship.
Pyle
The plan worked great. With the townsfolk occupied there were only two guards on the pier to frustrate the theft. The pirates paid off one of the thugs and intimidated the other into abandoning his post, leaving his crossbow behind. They cast off and set sail before Esperanza could realize she was being robbed. They even brought Bottlesmith along for the ride.
The trip to the island was uneventful, without any naval battles or unfavorable winds to frustrate their crossing. The tartane, whose name Starfly the pirates saw no reason to change, handled easily. In no time at all they had crossed the channel and were cruising down the coast of the island where the map said the treasure was buried. They recognized the three spires of rock from the map, and the sea caves below, but there was no way to safely approach from the ocean side. They sailed south until they found a beach where they could send a rowboat ashore. Pete, Brutus, Bart, Pearls, Billy Knives and Bottlesmith set out for land.
The shore party hiked inland to investigate an abandoned church. The structure was abandoned, half collapsed and smeared with a lot of blood. The pirates found silver and a magic cross that cast spells of combat prowess. They checked the crypt beneath and discovered stone sarcophaguses filled with zombies, knocking against the lids in a futile attempt at escape. The gang carefully peeled open the coffins one by one and Brutus stabbed the undead with a boarding pike. Grave robbing netted them a hand grenade, a book of Sea Shanties and a magical jade die. Brutus rolled the die and it supercharged the attack power of Bart's parrot. He rolled again and increased Pete's vitality.
The pirates were so absorbed by the jade die that they almost didn't notice the shouts of alarm from the swabs they left to guard the crypt entrance. More zombies shuffled out of the woods and attacked the pirates, tearing a chunk out of Pearls and dropping him to the ground. Brutus scooped up the wounded swab and the group fled back to the rowboat, fearing infection with zombie plague. They made it to the beach and almost ran into a witch with a skull painted on her face.
The plan was to ignore her and keep moving, but Pete's interest in the occult got the better of him. He struck up a conversation with her and learned she was a potion seller. With Pearls stabilized and safe in the rowboat, the whole group escorted Pete to the Witch's swamp hut for potion transactions. She sold the gang a potion of paralysis and two potions of healing. The pirates were generous with their spending since anything they didn't blow on business expenses would have to be shared with the rest of the crew.
Besides the provisions aboard the ship (cannons, boarding pikes, etc) the crew had looted the following items by the end of the second day of adventuring:
- 350 Silver Coins and Six Gold Doubloons
- First Aid Kit with four uses remaining
- Flint/Steel for lighting fires
- A barrel of water
- A barrel of rum
- A barrel of gunpowder
- An undead parrot that yelped endlessly when its storage box was disturbed
- The skull of the legendary pirate Three Eyed Johnny
- Twenty other skulls
- A chunk of red rhodochrosite
- An iron grenade
- A Cross of the Paragon
- A Jade Die
- A lesser healing potion
- A greater healing potion
- A potion of paralysis
- The Sea Shanties Drunken Sailor and All For Me Grog
No comments:
Post a Comment