 |
| Smoking Loon shallop |
The Budgie Smugglers (Tylin [Ian], Moonlight [Chris], El Cid [Shane], Burrito [Darryl] and the recently-woken Lammy [Kevin]) were in the Fort Augmentin Travellers' Inn. Sorrow, Huilam and Argile had collapsed into fits of marmalade and had to be taken back to the party's boat the Smoking Loon (which currently bore the fake name 'Pepper Jack') moored at the jetty. Here, they were nursed by El Cid in the secret smuggler's storage compartments ("coffins") of the boat.
Because he was on the Wanted List inside Fort Augmentin, El Cid was hiding in the coffins himself. All of the coffins had been badly soiled by him (despite being an ex-sailor, his sea-legs had been rather bad the last few days - that, and drinking to excess), so he had to sluice out the vomit, urine and diarrhoea slurry.
 |
| Bilge pump |
The group's mission here was to get a magical trunk out of the wizards' tower and down to the boat. They spent an hour or two reconnoitering every possible angle of attack inside the fort itself, scrupulously noting down guard positions and numbers, calculating the field-of-view of the barracks' tower searchlight, checking how the main-gate lock worked, all in preparation for their smuggling attempt that evening.
They spoke to Sly Dunbar in the wizards' tower (loosely supervised by fort guards), and came up with a cunning plan:
- The group would take a room out in the Inn and base themselves there.
- The storm was supposed to peak tonight, so a few hours after dark, the group would all sneak over to the wizards' tower (with enough muscle to lift the heavy trunk), relying on the rain and wind to hide them, and avoid the barracks' tower searchlight best they could.
- Then, they would grab the trunk and take it to the gate. The fort gates were locked for the night, and only relied on the wall guards to watch them. The group figured these poor guys would be mostly hunkering down to avoid the rain. At the gate, the plan was for Moonlight to cast a Warp Wood on the plank where the padlocked gate-bolt pin was housed, which meant they could use the gate mechanism to open the gate.
- The 200-paces trip down to the jetty should be clear enough. The guards did not leave the fort at night.
- They would risk sailing out into the storm. And just drop the anchor and ride it out. [DM would allow Sorrow to drive the finicky shallop, despite marmalading.]
But while this planning was going ahead, things were happening down at the jetty.
El Cid had finally cleaned the bilge pump, and was in his coffin casually drinking. With the bilge level down, the coffin was now a bit cleaner, but it still stank of sour milk and sewerage. He heard (and felt) two people jump into the boat. He surreptitiously moved to the little door at the end of the coffin, and waited.
The little door opened, and a bearded face peered in. El Cid did not recognize this face at all, so he savagely punched it with all the might of his IMAG black fist, crunching jaw bone and gristle. He was copiously spattered by the poor guy's blood, spittle and pieces of brain, as his black fist went right through the man's head to the back of the skull. El Cid immediately grabbed the body and dragged it deeper into the coffin.
There was yelling outside, and then someone started to pull on the dead man's legs. A tug of war ensued, but El Cid was the stronger, and he pulled the body all the way inside; like a trap-door spider who had just caught some prey.
The other fellow outside started shouting through the hole.
"In the name of the Knives, let him out. Now!"
"Knives?" asked El Cid. "Umm ... I thought you were pirates!"
"Well, we're not!" came the reply. "Let him out... An', why are you in there any way?"
"I was ... resting," said El Cid.
"Eww ... in there?" said the guard. "In that stinking cramped dark hole? And ... anyway ... who are you?"
"Uh ... I am .. uhm.. Sorrow," said El Cid quickly, panicking. "Yes. Sorrow of the Insular Rogues. Guarding our boat. From pirates!"
"Well, Sorrow, in the name of the Knives, let Henry out. Now!"
"Um..." said El Cid. "I think he's dead."
"You killed him?!"
"He was a pirate!"
Silence.
El Cid peered out through the coffin end door. The other guard had left. So, he shut the door, and spooned his new friend, dead Henry.
______
There was hammering on the door of the group's room in the Fort Augmentin Travellers' Inn. A deputation of six guards were there, lead by a Corporal Turner.
"You're the Insular Rogues who own the 'Pepper Jack'?" asked the corporal.
Tylin, not quite knowing what was going on said "We are from ze 'Pepper Jack'."
"Well, your man Sorrow killed one of our guards: Private Demeter. And now he's hidden himself in your boat hold, and we don' wanna burn it to get at him. Come with us now. All of you."
Still confused. Lammy muttered "Sorrow?"
 |
| 2nd Lt Pigeon |
So Tylin, Lammy, Moonlight and Burrito traipsed off with the guards, sick to their stomachs.
But at the fort gate, the group was intercepted by Second Lieutenant Pigeon who ordered they all go to her office. So, the group and the squad of guards ended up in there.
"I heard there has been a killing on your boat. One of my guards." she said. "Not pleased!"
They looked rather sheepish.
"And now he.. this man Sorrow has locked himself away."
She growled.
"So," she said "We are all going to go down there to get him out. Then he will be hanged."
She paused.
"But before we go. I have some bad news for you. One of your Insular Rogues leaders, called Booker Dobbs has been killed."
Some questions flitted through their minds. They had certainly killed Booker (El Cid shot him a week or so ago), but he and Sorrow had buried the body in the wilds, so how would she, or anyone, even know he was dead? And anyway, how would she even know that Booker was from the Insular Rogues? He wouldn't be telling any one in Fort Augmentin, surely. Also, Booker Dobbs wasn't actually the Insular Rogues leader, so she got that wrong.
"My sources tell me bandits ambushed him on the Scabport road," the lieutenant continued.
"Sad news," said Tylin, smirking inwardly.
"Couldn't happen to a nicer chap," said Lammy.
Burrito and Lammy stood between Moonlight and the group of guards by the door. This gave Moonlight a clear path to the lieutenant. He cast Charm Person on her [aided by Lammy, which gives an extra die]. Moonlight was taking a considerable risk. Casting magic at Knives is a capital offence. No ifs or buts.
It went off. She gave a delightful smile.
"However," she said. "Due to the fact that you lost your leader Booker, ... I think we can call this even. One of my guards for the loss of one of yours."
"But ma'am!" snapped Corporal Turner. "You can't do that."
 |
| Corporal Turner |
"I can, and I have," she replied. "These fine gents and elves have helped Fort Augmentin in more ways than we can count, Turner."
The corporal scowled.
"Excuse ma'am," said Burrito, piping up. "Booker. He haf a trunk. Eees stuck in zee wizards' tower... Eeet no can get out."
"We should take eet 'ome," finished Tylin. "It meant a lot to 'im."
She thought about that.
"Yes," she said. "That would be fair..."
"But lieutenant!" screamed Corporal Turner. "Priestess Delaney said..."
"I know what the priestess said."
"But the plague..." he yelled.
"If you finish that sentence, Corporal Turner, it will be 'Private Turner'"
He snapped his mouth closed sullenly. Lieutenant Pigeon turned to Tylin.
"Is it possible to get the trunk out of the wizards' tower without any person going into or coming out of it."
"Yes, ma'am!" said Tylin.
"Well then," she said to the corporal. "Delaney can't not be happy about that!"
She assigned the squad to escort the group to the wizards' tower. REAL Priestess Delaney was summoned too. She was not happy, as the corporal predicted, but she had to grit her teeth and bear it.
 |
| Wizards' Guild's trunk |
Out here, Priestess Delany cast Detect Disease on the trunk, and she got no reading. But she said its magic reading was way off the chart.
The guards all then carried the heavy trunk down to the jetty and loaded it into the Smoking Loon.
The group spent the night in the Smoking Loon as the rain poured down and the wind howled. The jetty and breakwater kept most of the big seas away, so it was a sensible decision. They set some watches for the night, as there were two other larger boats moored there. During the night, there was some activity (visible with infravision), but the group didn't investigate.
_________________________________________
At light, they disembarked, and headed into the big seas. The little shallop was tossed about by the big breaking swell. Everyone felt sea sick, and, as usual El Cid got it bad. He voided his stomach and bowels.
"How he get diarrhoea from sea sick?" questioned Burrito.
As soon as it was dark, they lowered the anchor, but the sea was too deep here, and they didn't want to risk beaching the shallop in the thunderous surf in the pitch black, so they put out a sea anchor.
The night was unpleasant and wet. The wind was too strong to set up any tarpaulin shelter. No-one got much sleep, and the coffins, although drier, were particularly uncomfortable to sleep in in a big sea. Not only did you get thrown about as the boat rocked, but you got spattered by the foul bilge (with fresh El Cid diarrhoea) as it sloshed about just below you.
___________________________________
The next day, the storm had abated, and the seas were calmer, but still big. They still had a head-wind but made good progress. Just before dark, they sighted a largish town and harbour.
"Must be Winjammer."
No comments:
Post a Comment