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Savage Worlds Pirates of the Spanish Main Episode IV

Savage Worlds Pirates of the Spanish Main Episode IV

Ben as the GM: a wacky engineer who goes on and on about gorse and heather.
Evil Mike as Buck U Charlie: dual knife wielding maniac.
Owen as Nicholas Hawksworth: a lover, not a fighter.
Mike Byrd as Thomas Longshot: a branded former pirate who sleeps with his musket.
Steve (me) as Duncan Crain: a schizophrenic who makes poor decisions and great dice rolls.
Steve (also me) as Desmond Crain: the imaginary brother of Duncan.

When we left our band of…uh, heroes…they had finally made it away from rainy England and had set foot in sunny Port Royal, Jamaica. Under the employ of Elizabeth Grey, or DeVray depending upon who you ask, they were hunting the remnants of the crew of a lost treasure ship. But before that could begin in earnest, we had some booty to sell. So we headed of the merchant headquarters of Jos A. Banks. Buck wandered off muttering about getting a job while we haggled over prices. Most importantly I got a shiny new blunderbuss to replace the one lost in the ocean.

Soon after, at the request of Lady Grey, Nicholas was off to attain an audience for Ms. Grey with Sir Jacob Hamilton. Sir Hamilton was one of the crew we were looking for. He had done well for himself over the last 20 years becoming the Tax Inspector for the King here in Port Royal. Alas, even Nicholas’ social skills and guile could not get pass Hamilton’s administrative aide, Scott Bratley. So we would have to use other means to speak with Hamilton privately.

It was late that night when we realized that Buck had never returned. We hit the bars looking for information and drinking ginger beer and shandies. Nicholas found a willing barmaid and was not seen again for the rest of the night. The rest discovered that Buck had been abducted by the men at Jos A. Banks. It was up to Thomas, Duncan, and Desmond to rescue Buck from torture, dismemberment, and possible death. First though, we enjoyed another shandy.

The three of us cased the warehouse where Buck was mostly likely being held. After a skirmish with the outer guards, and opening a few locks we were inside. Desmond stayed outside watching our backs. Once inside, Thomas and Duncan had a lengthy discussion on the proper way to surprise the guards inside the warehouse. Those same guards soon barged into our hiding place as were making so much noise that we alerted them to our presence. We played a game called “let’s see how much damage Thomas can take”–apparently a lot. The guards then died for their intrusion.

Meanwhile, back in Buck’s cell, he was formulating his own escape plan. Using a cunning ruse his two jailers opened the jail door. In one sudden movement, he smashed a chair over one and raced through the door, knocking the other man unconscious with a chair leg.

We met up with Buck and searched the warehouse for some knives. Before we left, we set the warehouse on fire (Buck’s vengeance) and then stole a boat and made our getaway. We hid the boat at a small costal settlement not too far from Port Royal. We met back up with Nicholas the next morning. Nicholas had a successful night of pumping the barmaid for information.

We discovered that Sir Hamilton can usually be found at the fencing academy, so we put on our best clothes and headed posing as prospective swordsmen wishing to join. We met a slightly inebriated Mr. Rook. Who, although doubting our social class, readily proposed a duel with Buck. Buck accepted…after a short pause and some rule clarifications. Once the duel began, Mr. Rock showed no signs of being intoxicated. Buck tried several maneuvers. They all failed. Then, as luck would have it, Buck got the joker as his action card. He took full advantage of it and scored first blood on Mr. Rook. Buck won the duel and all of us who bet on Buck, quadrupled our money!

We then got into a drinking contest with Mr Rook. After three bennies and one critical failure, only one of us was still standing, unsteadily, at the end. Fortunately this person remembered to ask about Sir Hamilton’s whereabouts. We found that Sir Hamilton was attending a festival currently going on at Antigua. So it’s off to Antigua on our new ship…that Nicholas (our new captain) doesn’t know we have.

Chaos Steve

Ben’s Version of the Pirate’s Campaign

Pirates who wish they were in the Caribbean

Episode I

A long time ago, in a fishing Tavern far, far away our intrepid heroes, plus Steve, began their adventure. The cast is;

Buck U. Charlie dual knife wielding maniac Mike
Duncan Crain generally handy kind of guy with an imaginary friend Steve
Nicholas Hawksworth a ladies man, not a fighter Owen
Thomas Longshot sleeps with his musket Mike

 

The opening scene is in the Fisherman’s Friend in Falmouth. After a few drinks Duncan tries to molest a little 6 year old beggar girl, “Jinny”, and all because she stole his dagger. A finely dressed dandy, sipping wine at the bar intervenes. A brief scuffle and “Timmy Tin” tries to knife you with a concealed dagger. Buck knock him out with a tankard of beer and throws him out.

Nicholas scores with a ‘hansom’ wench called Winnie. Winnie is hoping to become the captain of the Clementine and to prove herself worthy has to do a bit of smuggling. Rumor in bar is that Winnie works for Sir Smales. A mighty land owner in Penzance.

Winnie recruits the adventurers and they set sail the next morning, an un-eventful journey to Amsterdam and back. At sunrise Winnie brings the Clementine into shallow water and a small rocky bay off the coast of Cornwall. A farmer with a horse and wagon is waiting on the sandy beach. After unloading about 40 barrels, Thomas, who is on lookout, spots a squad of soldiers advancing along the coast path. A quick exchange of musket fire and a saber to the head, leaves Thomas with three wounds and the party is scrambling to make good their escape. Nicholas is left behind on the beach and chooses to swim out to the row boat and the welcome arms of his new lover Captain Winnie. After being hauled into the row boat, Captain Winnie tells her crew          

“thro ‘im o’er the side”.

Nicholas hides in the rocks and eventually re-joins the rest of the party.

Episode II

Picture an idyllic scene of a country path across the moors covered in gorse and heather. This beautiful scene is somewhat spoilt by a wagon, laden down with two barrels of Rum and three of our heroes bickering about which way to go. They eventually find their way to a farm

. A bit of negotiation and the farmer agrees toguide them to a fishing village, next morning, in exchange for the price of a barrel of Rum. Nicholas Hawksworth rejoins the group.  In the middle of the night a Captain in cavalry uniform appears from the shadows. Not just any captain but the one leading the soldiers on the coast path, the captain that rode Thomas down…., Captain Alexandro !!. , he offers the group a deal;

“Hhhhow you say….you tell me when Winnie will next be smuggling Rum and I can recommend you for a commendation from the King. Also I have put a price on your head and the town guard in every village around here will be after you.”

The next day, the farmer guides you to a fishing village. It takes most of the day to walk there, by the time you arrive it’s late, it begins to rain. Some local thugs have heard about the price on your head and thought they could make some quick coin. After a quick fight, Nicholas Hawksworth leads the way away from the fight to the small harbor where fisherman Bob is waiting for you.

Episode III

Next morning, in the fishing boat;

“Oi recons it will take all day to make Penzance harbor, if ‘t weather holds.”

Fisherman Bob seems to know a bit about smuggling along the Cornish coast. Rumor has it that nobody can smuggle anything west of Falmouth without paying a tithe to Sir Smales. Of course nobody can prove this. Apparently there are six ships that regularly make harbor in Penzance, one of them is the Clementine, with a new captain; Winnie. It can be bad for you health to ask too many questions about the comings and goings of these ships.

Fisherman Bob recommends if you don’t be gitt’n no work or passage on a ship leaving Penzance then you could ask one of the smuggling boats.

“Them is always looking for reliable crew, they seem to return with less than started with. The Posidion should be due in any time now. But best not deal with Captain Ivy on account of im’ bein a bit mad. You speak to First Mate Bainbridge Blake. Him’ and I go back a bit, Master Blake will see you right.”

Arrived at 1.00am into Penzance after having to wait for the turn of the tide. You get a room in the ‘Welcome Wench’ tavern. As you arrive, a coach pulls in, and 3 guests go into the Welcome Wench.  Buck recognizes the crest on the luggage as the DeVrey family.

Nicholas Hawksworth decides to approach these guests and offer his unique talents. The lady is locked in her room and sounds afraid, but the Charms of Nicholas seem to work. Eventually the maid, Jenny, comes out into the hallway to explain. The lady Elizabeth DeVrey is due to take passage on the ship Phillanthrae, expected any day now. She has received several threats and she would appreciate a guard to keep watch. Duncan, Buck and Thomas take turns keeping watch in the hallway while Nicholas retires to his room to explore Jenny.

Next morning lady Elizabeth is much relieved, deciding to have breakfast at the “Tern Hotel”. Not taking any chances, our group of noble adventurers escorts the Lady. Following behind, hiding in the crowded street, is a scruffy 6 year old beggar girl. Duncan recognizes her and seizes his chance to get his dagger back. Little Jinny has been told not to go into dark alleys with strange men, especially strange men like Duncan, but he is too quick for her and stops her from scweaming out. It is Timmy Tin that has told her to follow them;

“Your that nasty man from the bar. Timmy Tin will get you, just you wait and see”

In the harbor, moored at the quayside is the Clementine, with Captain Winnie, taking on supplies for a long voyage. She does not see you.

Over breakfast lady DeVrey offers you employ as her personal guard. She will pay for your passage onboard the Phillanthrae, one way to Port Royal, Jamaica. (Jamaica ? no she went there on her own accord !!)

The passenger ship Phillanthrae comes in on the morning tide. It will depart at 4.00am. So all there is to do now is to wait till 6.00pm when the passengers can go aboard…

That afternoon Lady DeVrey, maid Jenny, the very timid secretary Mr Fish and the lady’s luggage, packed on a cart, head to harbor for the ferry boat, all escorted by Buck, Duncan and Nicholas. It starts to rain. Unfortunately the crew of the ferry, have all been gutted like fish. Timmy Tin decides to make his move. He appears from the shadows, with the rain pouring off his cloak.

“Give me the diary m’lady and no one else needs get hurt”

After quick fight with a bunch of thugs pretending to be the guard, Duncan decides to go for a swim in the harbor and Timmy Tin is shot by Thomas “they don’t call im’ longshot fer nothing”. Timmy decides to retreat.

He’ll be back! Don’t ye worry mateys, he’ll be back wuhahaha.

Savage Worlds Pirates of the Spanish Main Episode III

Savage Worlds Pirates of the Spanish Main Episode III

GM: Ben
Evil Mike as Buck U Charlie: a thief on a mission and with a past.
Owen as Nicholas Hawksworth: a lover, not a fighter.
Mike Byrd as Thomas Longshot: a branded former pirate and an expert with his musket.
Steve (me) as Duncan Crain: a schizophrenic with an imaginary brother, Desmond.

We have been trying to get out of English for two episodes now. We started this episode on a small fishing boat off the shores of England, so I think that means things are looking up. We sailed to Penzance, England–where all of the singing pirates are from—in hopes of finding a ship to carry us (further) away from the English shore.

Once in Penzance we had a chance encounter with a lady of society named Elizabeth Grey. This “chance” encounter came in the form of Nicholas gently knocking on her door and her firing a musket through the door at Nicholas. Fortunately the door took the brunt of the shot. It seems that Nicholas had met the lady previously and she now needed our help. She was receiving threatening letters and was in hiding until her ship arrive—a ship that would take her to Jamaica. That fit perfectly into our plans to get out of England, so we hired on as her bodyguards. Nicholas tried (and tried) to get much closer to her, but she spurned any and all of his advances. Her maid was much accommodating to Nicholas.

While Buck and Thomas did some shopping and snooping around in the town, Nicolas, Duncan, and Desmond escorted Ms. Grey through the various shops. Duncan realized that they were being followed by the same street urchin that had stolen his knife in episode I. He cleverly hid in an alley and waited for the small girl to come by. Duncan then leaped out, grabbed the girl, and pulled her into the alley. At this point, the rest of the players thought I’d be arrested for accosting small children. Owen even quipped the he would bet two of his bennys that I hadn’t thought this action through any further…he would have been right. As it was, Duncan did a fantastic job of intimidating the child. (It should be noted that during this encounter Evil Mike was lamenting about just how poorly Duncan’s line of questioning was going.) Once Duncan was through with the girl, she promptly kicked him in the nuts and ran off.

Ms. Grey’s ship arrived in port and life got interesting while escorting her to the ship. Thomas had placed himself in a building next to the wharf, just in case we needed his sharpshooting abilities. As we approached the docks, Buck noticed that a group of city watch was approaching and there was something wrong about them. When they stopped and began to un-sling their muskets, Buck flew into action. Buck killed five of them. Duncan tried to help, but got thrown into the sea, losing his blunderbuss. Nicholas did his best to run, hide, run some more, and generally avoid getting hit in the face. It was during this time that we found out about the treasure that Ms. Grey was seeking—a treasure that we now have a 50-50 interest in.

We eventually boarded the ship and travelled to Port Royal. (We were away from England at last!) Using the information from Ms. Grey we must now track down the former crew members of a ship that sailed long ago. One of those crew members just happens to be someone of real import in Port Royal. Someone whose name I didn’t write down.

Chaos Steve

Pirates of the Spanish Main Episode II

Savage Worlds Pirates of the Spanish Main Episode II

GM: Ben
Evil Mike as Buck U Charlie: a thief on a mission and with a past.
Owen as Nicholas Hawksworth: a lover, not a fighter.
Mike Byrd as Thomas Longshot: a branded former pirate and an expert with his musket.
Steve (me) as Duncan Crain: a schizophrenic with an imaginary brother, Desmond.

We began this adventure with Nicholas escaping the troops at the beach and with the rest of us riding on a stolen wagon carrying a few barrels of contraband rum. Where the wagon was headed we had no idea. We eventually came across a farm owned by old man Higby. The same man we stole the wagon from. It turns out he was an understanding sole. We came to an agreement concerning the rum that earned us a few coins and got us a ride into the nearby fishing town. That’s when the trouble started.

Apparently the area was abuzz with whispers of rum smugglers and the local troops offering a reward for our capture. A group of ruffians led by Sid Rats took this reward to heart and ambushed us in town. It was a dark and rainy night when they attacked. Buck was soon surrounded by three scoundrels.  Nicholas was caught flatfooted in the middle of town. Thomas and Duncan ran to his aid. Nicholas saw a lantern in the distance and realized the person was beckoning him that direction. He headed off as Thomas and Duncan did their best against Sid Rats, his henchman, and his dogs.

It turned out the man holding the lantern was willing to get us out of harms way, but not take us on his fishing boat. Nicholas turned on his charm and tried to persuade the old man.  It went something like this…

(Owen is dealt a joker for his action that round.)
GM: Make a Persuasion roll.
Owen: I fancy my chances.
Owen: Oh no! I’ve curse myself! Now I’ll roll double 1’s.
(Owen rolls.)
(Owen gets double 1’s and critically fails his Persuasion roll.)
(Ben takes pity on poor Owen.)
GM: Get to the boat now else I’ll leave ya here! (I paraphrased.) 

Thomas took the brunt of the attacks sustaining three wounds (as is normal for him.) Duncan critically failed on his attack after performing a trick. His sword flew off into the night. Buck dispatched his three opponents and came to the rescues of Duncan and Thomas. He threw several knives at Sid, severely wounding him. At this point Sid offered a suggestion. This was all a misunderstanding and both parties should go their separate ways. We agreed. Nicholas healed up Thomas and we headed after the lantern and the boat.

Chaos Steve

Pirates of the Spanish Main Episode I

This week Ben began his Savage Worlds Pirates of the Spanish Main game. Everyone made a character:

Evil Mike as Buck U Charlie, a thief on a mission and with a past.
Owen as Nicholas Hawksworth, a yellow, confrontation avoiding adorer of women.
Mike Byrd as Thomas Longshot, a branded former pirate and expert with his musket.
Steve (me) as Duncan Crain, a schizophrenic with an imaginary brother, Desmond.

We all had our reasons for wanting to escape our current circumstances. Whether it was an indignant father of a former lover or the authorities of an insane asylum, it mattered not. Our escape routes found us all on the same two and half week carriage journey to a coastal town called Foulmouth. It was during the journey that our characters became acquainted.

Once in Foulmouth, with our resources spent, we were all looking for work and staying at the local inn. Much happened on our first night at the inn. Nicholas was immediately attracted to a dark beauty carousing with a group of rowdy sailors in one corner of the inn. I was stolen from, accused of accosting a child, and lost what dignity I might have had at the hands of some dandy. Had Buck not been aiming to steal from the dandy, all might have gone worse. Desmond was of no help. As it was, the child and the dandy were revealed to be a pair of thieves working together to relieve the inn’s patrons of their money. Buck ran them out of the inn and, on the way out, stole the dandy’s purse. It turns out that Nicholas’s love interest offered us all a job. I think Nicholas’s terms were different from what the rest of us received. Oh and I almost forgot…Thomas Longshot dropped his rifle in the inn. ALtho0ugh he did hold it menacingly there for a while. Yep. That’s excitement for ya.

The woman turned out to be the acting captain of the Clementine–a small merchant vessel that was illegally smuggling rum into England from Holland. She hired us as labor and guards for the next run. Of which Nicholas did neither.

The run to Holland was uneventful until our return to England on a rainy morn. Though honestly, it was always raining in England. As we unloaded our illicit cargo, we were spotted by a group of guards. Our watchman, Thomas, saw them only at the last minute and fired a shot at them…and missed, I think. The rest of us sprang into action. The crew in the longboat began rowing back out to the ship with Nicholas jumping in the water and calling after them to wait for him. Duncan and Desmond climbed onto the wagon that was being loaded with the barrels of rum. Duncan relieved the driver of his position and spurred the horses forward. Buck climbed aboard and began throwing his knives at the captain of the guards. After some tense moments, we made our escape.

But what happened to Nicholas you might ask? His boat-mates threw him overboard. He swam to the rocks and hid. Later he made his off the beach alone.

…and so ended the first episode of our story.

Chaos Steve