Fort Augmentin or Bust

[  Downtime. ]

Esme arrived in the common room. There was a message from Sly Dunbar from the Wizards' Guild. He summoned the group via WG conch (stored in the Luscious Pixie inn). 

All went to Wizards' Guild to speak with him. He had a smuggling job for them.

WG Liaison
Sly Dunbar

"... After all, mon, ya' all be smugglers."

The job was eight COIN to take a package to Fort Augmentin, one day's travel anti-wards* along the coast road. The package was a trunk and was to be delivered to Captain Moses at the fort. The Captain was in charge of the actual garrison, so there should no trouble once they got it there, and they didn't need to smuggle it inside.

 

* = The four cardinal directions in the Known World are Klibwards (N), Funkenwards (S), Battlewards (W) and Antiwards (E). "K" Klibwards points to the centre of the Great Circle, "F" Funkwards directly away. "B" Battlewards the the direction (clockwise) that the two fighting gods REAL and IMAG move across the sky. And "A" Antiwards opposite to this.

The next morning, the whole group (El Cid [Shane], Sorrow [Jeff],  Burrito [Darryl], Huilam [Jaime], Tylin [Ian] and Moonlight [Chris]) headed to the WG to pick up the trunk in Carte Blanche. Carte Blanche was a finicky cart, and only Attlee had the skills to drive it safely, and of course Attlee was no longer part of the group. Finicky carts were hard to control and drive. However, if Moonlight walked along with the two horses, then he could easily control it.

They got to the WG and had a heavy trunk loaded onto it. The trunk weighed as much as two heavy men. And the sturdy cart sank down on its springs when loaded.

When they got home, El Cid, the so-called driver, noticed that Carte Blanche wasn't riding right. So, they all had a thorough search of the cart, and they found that it had a new mysterious structural beam bolted onto the chassis. It detected as magic. (So did the trunk, as expected).

They wondered if the beam had been placed on the cart during this trip, but as they had only used Carte Blanche occasionally this season, this beam could have been there for ages.

Not wanting to risk unscrewing it - Sorrow spotted suspicious triggers on the main anchor bolts of the beam - they left it in situ. 

So, the group drove Carte Blanche all the way back to the WG. Daisy Crown came out and checked it. She spotted the magic (which they already knew) and offered to do an Identify, but that would cost a full COIN, so they said no.

On the way home, El Cid bought a war pig (sow) which he named Sir Porks-a-lot. And bought it some hessian armour.

Worried about using Carte Blanche with its new attachment, the plan was to use the party's boat, the shallop Smoking Loon, and go to Fort Augmentin via sea. This trip would take two days rather than the land trip. Meanwhile, they would hire a bunch of roustabouts to take Carte Blanche for a jolly trip up klibwards. Thus if this magical beam was a tracking device, it would not cause any trouble.

 

Smoking Loon shallop

The next morning at first light, Carte Blanche was seen leaving their base and heading through the Scabport streets following the Scab river klibwards. This was the diversion, of course. 

Meanwhile, the Smoking Loon, kept in a secret boathouse under the dock, was loaded it up with everyone, Sir Porks-a-lot, her armour and the WG trunk. Then, they made their way quietly under the wharves (mast down, using oars) to the main Scabport docks. 

While the boat was clearing the dock, they spotted a familiar face on the wharf. It was Booker Dobbs of the Insular Rogues. Burrito offered to take him out with crossbow, but was talked out of it.

Then they headed out into the Scab river, past Prison Island and out to sea. There was a strong anti wind blowing and dark grey clouds beyond. The Smoking Loon was finicky, but the designated pilot was Sorrow, so he turned anti and started the long tacks, making their way slowly anti-wards.

Shallops, with their leeboards (rather than centre-boards or keels) are not very efficient at tacking so if this wind kept up, the trip would take four days

The first day, many of them were sea sick. The sea was running high. and the wind was strong.

They passed a few ships headed the other way, running with the wind.

That night the storm continued. Too dangerous to dead-reckon in a storm, and with no stars visible, they put out an anchor - the sea was shallow enough here -  and they rode out the storm all night in the inky blackness.

The second day was the same. Three boats passed them running with the wind, and by the end of the day, they had gained on another boat that was headed in their direction: a twin-masted schooner. 

When night fell, the schooner was a couple of crossbow's shots ahead of them. It dropped anchor and put on lights.