Harrowed Halls

Savage Worlds Pirates of the Spanish Main Episode XI

Ben as the GM: a wacky engineer who run a great game of Pirates.
Evil Mike as Buck U Charlie: a dual knife wielding maniac who lusts after a bigger ship.
Owen as Nicholas Hawksworth: a lover, not a fighter, who lusts after all the beautiful women.
Mike Byrd as Thomas Longshot: a branded pirate who sleeps with his musket and steals clothes.
Steve (me) as Duncan Crain: a schizophrenic who makes poor decisions, but still comes out on top.
Steve (also me) as Desmond Crain: the imaginary brother of Duncan.

Words of the week: saucy wenches and adieu.

The adventure began with Nicholas arriving at our ship after his midnight frolic in a haystack with the beautiful Carmen. He was still picking the straw from his impeccable clothes when Robert Rook arrived to meet with Buck concerning a topic of mutual interest. Unfortunately the topic was a closely guarded secret and Buck, after trying many, many times, could not wrench it from the closed mouth Rook. Just why had he come here? Why did he want to meet with Buck? Will he accompany us back to see his father? Just what was his embarrassing predicament?

Time passed. Seeing that Buck was just about ready to kill him (or kill Ben the GM, it was kind of hard tell which), Rook decided to spill the beans. He had the Governor’s wife, and was willing to turn her over to us if we’d only help him get his ship off the sandbar which had him stranded here in Tobago. We agreed.

We sailed our ship, the Misery, around to where Rook ‘s ship, the Black Prince, was stuck on the sandbar. (How embarrassing.)  We expertly maneuvered our ship in front of his and began attaching ropes to pull his ship free. Then we spotted two Spanish ships heading directly for us. There were tense moments as we towed the Black Prince to freedom, hoping we could get it free in time so it could help us battle the Spanish ships.

It just so happened that Buck was on the Black Prince. He took over control of the ship during the battle. Nicholas handled our ship. I fell asleep. Then Ben woke me up and offered me the captains-ship of one of the Spanish ships–the one attacking Buck. I jumped at the chance of sinking Buck for the glory of Spain! Unfortunately a poorly timed joker (that Buck got) kept me from ramming his ship and sending her (and him) to the bottom of the sea. Seeing how I had steered the ship into an oncoming sand bar, I surrendered.

Buck was a gracious and gallant victor allowing the Spanish to flee for their lives with their personal belongings. This left him with their ship. There was some contention with Robert Rook over just what to do with the ship, but Buck eased his fears by reaching for his knives.

As for Nicholas’s ship battle, let’s just say there was very little left of the Spanish he fought.* Nicholas sent her to the bottom of the sea…which wasn’t really that far, so some of the ship jutted out of the water. Buck sent a few canon shots into the Spanish as well.

*Technically, Nicholas was below deck warming himself by the fire. But since he was the only wild card on the ship, he gets all the credit. Ok, Thomas was on board too, but the guy playing him (Mike) had to leave early. This left Owen in charge of his character; which leads me to the final action of the night…

Thomas nearly shoots the governor of Cartagena.

So let it be written. So let it be…uh, so.

Chaos Steve

Savage Worlds Pirates of the Spanish Main Episode X

Ben as the GM: a wacky engineer who run a great game of Pirates.
Evil Mike as Buck U Charlie: a dual knife wielding maniac who lusts after a bigger ship.
Owen as Nicholas Hawksworth: a lover, not a fighter, who lusts after all the beautiful women.
Mike Byrd as Thomas Longshot: a branded pirate who sleeps with his musket and steals clothes.
Steve (me) as Duncan Crain: a schizophrenic who makes poor decisions, but still comes out on top.
Steve (also me) as Desmond Crain: the imaginary brother of Duncan.

Word of the week: Topiary.

If you remember from last week’s write-up, lots of fun things happened. This week’s adventure was no different. We continued our search for James Rook and in the process attended a ball put on by the governor or Tobago. I’ll skip right to the highlights…

Buck bought a mask. It was half black and half white. It was important that his mask matched many others at the ball. Buck was in thieves’ heaven relieving the various guests of their ball sacks. Uh, I mean money sacks.

The front of the governor’s mansion was covered in pea gravel and protected by an elegant iron fence. No carriages were allowed close to the mansion, so we had to walk. The mansion was constructed of a fine, lightly colored stone that brought out the blue in Nicholas’ eyes.

Nicholas attended the ball as himself, escorting the lovely lady DeVrey. The rest of us weren’t even announced. This actually worked out well for us.

Once inside the ball room, Nicholas immediately zeroed in on the most beautiful women in the room, Sophia. She was the niece/daughter of the duke of Cartagena. His full name can be found on page 149 in the Pirates of the Spanish Main book. We shall henceforth call him Duke Rafael. Sophia was surrounded by suitors, but none had Nicholas’ wit and charm. Buck used this opportunity to relieve the suitors of their ball sacks.

Thomas made a complete fool of himself “stealthily” watching a dubious fellow at the ball. (Somehow this fellow was more dubious than Thomas himself.)

Duncan was completely taken in by the charm(s) of a beautiful senorita. The story of her oppression under her evil uncle, Duke Rafael, touched his heart. All she needed was the chest from the duke’s room and she and Duncan could run away together and be free. Needless to say, Duncan was up to the challenge. Using his wits and end of his fists (Hey, that rhymes.) he found the small, heavy, bejeweled chest. Unfortunately on his way back down to the balcony, the guards were not as friendly. This forced Duncan into his “fight or flight” mode. He chose “flight”. Bullying past the guards, he smashed through a glass door and then leaped from a balcony into the governor’s garden topiary. (He had a joker.) Duncan escaped over at +1 red brick wall.

Buck and Thomas were on the balcony when Duncan went leaping off of it. Buck asked the beautiful senorita what was going on. She told him of the madman’s rush through the door and off the balcony. Bucks, feigning drunkenness, also interferes with guards seeking to chase Duncan (said madman). The beautiful senorita mentions how she is feeling faint and goes back inside to retreat to her room. Buck hears a shot from inside and goes to investigate. The beautiful senorita is lying on the stairs, bleeding from a musket wound. She whispers to Buck to avenge her. But Buck has more questions and stays by her side until she grabs him and with all of her remaining strength tells him to AVENGE HER!

Buck finally gets the idea and heads upstairs.

Thomas, during this time, had climbed down into the topiary. He headed to the spot Duncan jump down to. There he finds the dead body of a guard who had broken his neck trying to jump from the balcony to give chase to Duncan. He immediately begins undressing the corpse.

Meanwhile, back in the ballroom, Nicholas is trying his best to seduce the lovely Sophia. After hearing the shot and shouts from outside, everyone panics and rushes from the ballroom. Nicholas stays close to Sophia, showing his gallant side, protecting her during the crowed rush.

Buck spends some tense moments upstairs trying to locate the assassin who has set a trap for him. Buck sees through the simple ruse and confronts the man (who has stolen Spanish documents). The assassin/thief turns out to be none other than James Rook. There is much banter as James escapes.

Recap:

Uncharacteristically, Buck killed no one during this session.

Uncharacteristically, Nicholas had no trysts during this session.

Uncharacteristically, Duncan actually did something that gained him treasure.

Hopefully Uncharacteristically, Thomas undressed a corpse. Let’s hope this doesn’t continue.

Final Scene:

The Lady DeVrey was very drunk by the end of the evening. Percy, the governor’s personal secretary, offered both her and Buck private rooms for the evening.He was happy to do so after the noble conduct of Buck during the theft. As Buck was getting settled into bed, the door to his room opened. A lithe form wearing a flimsy robe silently moved to his bedside. The robe is discarded and the slender form climbs under the warm covers next to Buck. There is a scream as Buck realizes the form is not that of the Lady DeVrey, but that of Percy the secretary.

 Chaos Steve