Session Eight - Recap

Session Eight - Recap

The crew set a course for Senghor, deciding to pass by Tidewater Rock as they go. They see a simple fort on an a tiny island, with a single small cove to fit one ship, and note that the place is very well defended. They sail on, with about two weeks of relative calm before arriving at Senghor: the largest city south of the Shackles.

Releasing the crew for three days, Quartermaster Scolvus and Captain Gilbert first focus on selling their plunder, before turning their thoughts to selling the captured Absalom Barque that was formerly captained by their now-prisoner, Portia D'Angelique. Asking around, their first lead is that a gentleman named Sheriff Moran has taken up residence in the Rusty Anchor Bar, and that the Sheriff is looking to buy a ship outright. They head to the bar, get an introduction from the barkeep, and speak to him in his room.

"It's an expedition! Ooooh yes! An expedition, it is!"

Sheriff Moran quickly, and routinely, informs the crew that he is indeed on an expedition and in need of a ship of his own. The expedition is for Pirate Deadeye's treasure, on a hidden cove somewhere in the Shackles. From the sounds of it, the Sheriff is either duped or absolutely ignorant (or both). Yet he is flush with cash, and pays the crew not only a handsome fee for the boat, but also 10% of his find when his "expedition" locates Deadeye's buried stash.

That evening, asking around the bar, Scolvus learns the full story of the origin of Tidewater Rock: that it was initially a base for a Pirate Queen named Stormeyes, who was so successful after taking it as a base that it became lore that the island itself was the source of her luck. Successive pirates who conquered the Rock likewise had runs of good luck. The most recent pirate conqueror was Iron Bert Smythee, who had a run of good luck untill a run-in with Captain Barnabas Harrigan--who sunk most of Smythee's ships and killed Smythee himself. That left Smythee's young wife, Lady Agasta Smythee in control of Tidewater Rock but without a fleet to defend it. The question of who would be the next to "crack the Rock" was rampant amongst the seedier types in Senghor's taverns.

The next day, the crew improved their ship by purchasing two heavy ballistae which they installed on the forecastle and a smuggling compartment hidden next to the bilge. Quartermaster Scolvus and Sadie the Goat also procured ten pigs, thinking that they might be useful food or potential bargaining chip with Tidewater Rock. Finally, they also increased their crew, by hiring on a few new hands (and pressing three others in a lucky bout of evening drinking).

Setting out the next morning, the new crew were explained the run of the ship by Captain Gilbert, Boatswain Jax, and Master-at-Arms Druna. When assigning duties, it quickly became clear that ballistae duty was absolutely unwanted, owing to the danger of the position. The crew decides that the punishment detail would be the ones who man the bows should prey be found. As they sail back north, cutting deep to sea to potentially find merchantmen loaded with goods, the routine of daily life on board a ship set in. While most of the new crew was effective, one sailor in particular seemed to be slacking--one of the impressed sailors from Senghor named Murd. Druna quickly turned to disciplining him: knocking him unconsious, starving him, and hanging him upside down on the yard.

The harsh discipline caused a ripple of rumbling through the crew, and Jax and Druna come to an agreement about punishment on the ship--trying to strike the right balance of strict yet fair. Jax informs the crew that order can be a little loose, but it'll be hard work when sails are in sight. Druna informs them that "this sailor's name is no longer Murd. It's Turd. Until he works, and works well, he'll be Turd." Assigned to bilge duty and ballistae order, but at least fed again, Turd sets about on the ship with slightly more ability and effort. After two weeks of sail, they arrive back at Tidewater Rock.

"Good fortune and sure sail await what one can crack the Tidewater Rock." - Free Captain Merrill Pegsworthy, upon christening The Broken Promise

Sailing into the small landing under a flag of peace and trade, a representative of the guard from the small fortress emerges and asks the crew's business. Captain Gilbert says they're there to offer trade and re-supply of the fortress. The steward, a man named Royster McCleagh, agrees to invite the officers in if one is held as hostage. Jax is chosen as the hostage, and accompanies McCleagh into the castle. He meets the Lady of the island, Lady Agatha Smythee, and as always, Jax cannot resist flirting with her as the terms are given to him: he'll be locked in the dungeon and under guard, and will be killed should his mates prove foul.

With Jax in the cellar, the rest are invited in for dinner. There, Lady Smythee proves to be quite perceptive, inquiring if this is a mission to size up her forces before invading. With the crew stammering just a bit, she says that she appreciates the fact that they at least came open and honest and brought actual trade goods (the hold full of hogs). After a pleasant set of exchanges, and a set of mutual appreciation of each other's situation--an isolated island without a fleet and a new captain and crew seeking to make their name in the Shackles--Lady Smythee makes an offer of a pirate's marriage. Should the fame of Captain Gilbert and The Broken Promise rise, she will agree to such an arrangement: a situation where she and the Captain would be married for a term of one year, with assets and gains held in common for that time. After the year, should the arrangement be promising, it can be continued. Gilbert gets the clear sense that this is merely a convenient contract, not a matter of sex or love. Brushing it off with a pun, they agree to return when their infamy has increased amongst the Shackles.

Whether good fortune comes to one who can crack Lady Agatha Smythee's "Rock" is another matter

As The Broken Promise will moor overnight with them, Jax is held in a cell overnight. Surprisingly, late in the night Lady Smythee comes to him and tells a tale of her needs and wants going unfulfilled since her husband was drowned years ago. With that, Jax spends the evening together with her in her bedchamber.

In the morning, at breakfast of spit-fired bacon on the beach, discussion turns to the sahuagin the crew encountered. They discuss an infamous Free Captain, Isabella Locke, who is rumored to work with the cruel fishmen. Nicknamed "Inkskin", she was once a slave to a great pirate Captain who had a map to an ancient treasure tattooed upon her shoulder and back: the legendary lost location of Mancatcher Cove and the hidden fortune of Captain Cyrus Wolfe. Once escaped from her captor, and allied with the sahuagin, she has made a name for herself as a pirate on her own in the area. As breakfast concluded, the crew agreed to search for Mancatcher Cove and perhaps put an end to Inkskin's foul alliance with the sahuagin. Walking away, Captain Gilbert remarks to Jax about the Lady Smythee: "I think she took a shine to me," which Jax answered with only silence about his own night "shine" with the Lady.

The crew began searching some of the southernmost coasts of the Shackles, looking for Mancatcher Cove in the general vicinity of where they were ambushed by sahuagin before. Sailing up one deep river inlet that fails to yeild their desired cove, they moor upstream as Galfire hunts some new food to diversify their meals. As they prepare to sail back down the river, they luckily spy tall masts downstream. Scouting as an eagle, Druna realizes that a massive Chelish Pirate Hunter has moored at the mouth of the river. The ship, with five sails and three levels of deck, dwarfs The Broken Promise and would easily sink her in a direct engagement or overwhelm her with swarming marines in a boarding action. The crew hatch a plan to disable the massive ship, by severing the tiller line that such a large ship would have between wheel and rudder. Scolvus, using his affinity with water, swam Jax to the ship under the cover of darkness. As Jax climbed up the rear of the ship with knife clenched in his teeth, he sees a massive carved nameplate: The Dominator. Slipping into the the quarterdeck via a small window, Jax located the tiller rope apparatus. Taking care that it drops silently, a few slashes with a sharp axe disabled the rope and left the ship unable to maneuver. Just at that moment, the door to the Quarterdeck opens, and in walked an officer in full Chelish regalia.

Vice-Commander Kyan Kain, famed officer and pirate hunter

Drawing boarding axes at the same time, Jax managed to dodge the vicious and lightning-fast swings of the officer. Jax's own strikes prove ineffective, his own axe embedding in a timber along the roof. Abandoning his stuck axe, Jax tumbles away to the rear of the cabin. With a quick "Au revoir" he crashed through the decorative lattice window work, turning his jump into a smooth dive in the darkness of night. With shouts of alarm ringing through The Dominator, The Maiden's Promise emerged from the river with perfect timing for Scolvus and Jax to rejoin their own ship. A single heavy catapult shot from The Dominator's aft deck proved to be the only damage taken, and the crew managed to slip into the ocean at dawn, leaving the temporarily crippled Chelish pirate hunter in their wake.

Infamy and Disrepute Tracker

Infamy Score: 5
Disrepute: 5

Port Infamy list:
Rickety's Squibbs: 2