Saturday 28 January 2017

50 Fathoms - The Prince - Sessions Fourteen - Sixteen - Never punch a velociraptor.





50 Fathoms

Sessions 14 -16 The Prince

The Party:


Urghh - Half Ugak Bloodthirsty Sailor - Aaron

Flynt - Delusional Human Merchant - Charlie

Obadiah Merle - Squanderous Human Rifleman - Garry

Kuthelaquin - Kraken Water Mage - Rob


The intrepid crew sailed for home after their adventure retrieving the heart of the poor unfortunate Tressa.  Sailing uneventfully back to Babylon Bay, they took some time off and let the crew relax and recover and decided what to do next.  Having literally no idea what was meant by "what was lost by the Kraken" meant, they decided to head to Brigandy Bay for some investigation into King Amemnus' sword and where it might be.  Kuthelaquin also opened some sort of gift/relic shop called "Kuthelaquin's Curios" for the transient trade that was starting to appear in Babylon Bay.

Heading north towards the bay, they met a merchant ship that hailed them, conveniently, the Coalition in Brigandy Bay was looking for the fearless crew of the Binkley.  Word had reached the Coalition that the British East India company was funding an armada and invasion of the pirate free town, lead by Admiral Duckworth.  The Coalition was looking for any ship to align with them to repulse the attack.  The crew discussed this and realised that they were indeed pirates now and their piratical brethren needed their help.

Sailing into the bay, they met with the Coalition and offered their services, a cunning plan to flank the attacking fleet was formed, with a fleet of 5 ships to Duckworth's 6.  As the invading fleet moved to attack, the Binkley flanked them and proceeded to hammer 2 of the ships to pieces with will placed broadsides.  Urghh boarded one of the ships, swinging from the rigging and engaging the crew in brutal hand to hand combat so fearlessly, the entire crew surrendered.  The hastily erected coastal batteries lashed the remaining ships with cannonballs so badly that Duckworth retreated, the HMS Justice badly damaged but still afloat.

Heroes of the battle, the crew caroused with the victorious pirates and were famous amongst their pirate comrades.  During the celebration, Flynt overheard some old salts talking about a Prince, who was last seen Tulago, where the infamous pirate L'Ollonaise was laying waste to, his fleet ransacking and plundering the coast.  Realising they were talking about Prince Alain, heir to the throne of Orgrapog, son of King Amemnus.  Negotiating with the men, Ennis Eng offered them 10000 pieces of eight to rescue the Prince and return him to Brigandy Bay.  The crew readily agreed and made for the Binkley.

Heading around the coast and across to the west, the crew headed for Tulago.  Their plan was to land covertly near where the fleet was laying waste to the coast and travel overland to rescue the Prince.

Finding a secluded bay, they weighed anchor and headed inland towards Tulago.  As night approached they crept to the summit of a small hill overlooking the town.  They could see that the 300 or so pirates of the fleet had scattered the townsfolk and were looting the place.  Waiting until full dark, the crew stealthily made their way into the town.  Grabbing two of the drunk pirates off the street they hustled them into a smithy and proceeded to torture information out of them.  Urghh as chief torturer managed to determine that the Prince was being held in a storeroom off the main square and L'Ollonaise was resting in a large house to the north of the centre of town.  Covering their assault with a magically summoned storm, Urghh walked boldly to the storeroom, kicked the door in and proceeded to butcher the 2 pirates left to guard the captive. The rescued a gracious Alain, then decided that L'Ollonaise would be better off dead too. 

Again, Urghh fearlessly strode across the square, killed the two guards with the help of Merle and kicked the door in to confront L'Ollonaise.  After a short brutal fight, they eventually killed the pirate leader and ransacked the body.  Taking his weapons, Merle discovered a map stitched into his coat lining and cut it free.  The crew then made a hasty retreat back into the hills and back to the Binkley.

Heading back to Brigandy Bay, the crew made their way back to meet Ennis Eng and collect their reward.  In the ramshackle tavern, they instantly suspected a trap, Eng was reticent about payment and was covered by hired brawlers.  As usual, Urghh took offence at Eng's stalling tactics and attacked.  After a short brutal melee, ending with Urghh's axe neatly thudding into Eng's back as he made a run for it, the crew decided to help the Prince back to safety.  He was given funds enough to return to a safe port, and thanked them profusely.  After this, he sheepishly admitted that L'Ollonaise had taken his father's sword and given it as a gift to Blackbeard.  Somewhat miffed, and after some smooth talking, Urghh was talked out of eviscerating the Prince and he was let go.

After examining the treasure map from L'Ollonaise, Kuthelaquin realised that one of the geographical formations was Monkape rock, a simian shaped landmark on Bluth's Crown.  The crew set sail immediately to the south west to find what they hoped to be a kings ransom, literally.  

After they made their way to Bluth's Crown, as they were weighing anchor, they saw a small Spanish merchant ship making into the bay laden with supplies for the mages.  Thinking nothing of it, they headed into the interior of the island to look for the landmarks on the map. After several false starts, they eventually managed to triangulate the treasure and realised it was hundreds of feet above them in a small cave in the cliff side.  Climbing up to the cave, they found the poisoned bodies of the crew L'Ollonaise left behind, and a small patch of disturbed earth.  Hastily digging, they failed to notice the booby trap left behind and it detonated a keg of gunpowder, bringing the roof down on them.  Merle was quick enough to leap out of the cave mouth into the air, and using his magical tattoo he made a wobbling semi-circle, flying back to the ruins of the cave and started to dig out his comrades.  After freeing the crew, no serious injuries were incurred, and they eventually found the real treasure.  Disappointingly, the only magic relic they found was a mediocre hook.  

Returning to the bay, they were approached by Manuel Domingo, a water mage who told them that the merchant who had just dropped off supplies had told him that his younger brother Luis had been captured by the Kierans, and sent to the mines in the Coker Mountains.  Pleading for their help, he offered the sword La Espada De Vampiro to sweeten the deal.  The crew agreed to try to free his brother. 

Heading north-east on a fast course, the crew headed towards the Kieran empire and the Coker mountains.  As they approached, they spotted a Kieran cutter on patrol duty, but thanks to Merle's scout edge, they were able to avoid them and shadowed them until they found an unguarded cove to make landfall.

After heading inland towards the mines, they eventually came across a small procession of slaves with a guard detail.  Leaping to attack in an ambush, one of the guards startled by the bloodthirsty Urghh let fly with his musket, downing the ferocious Ugak and almost killing him; the rest of the crew were able to best the guards and Kuthelaquin's magic was able to heal the battered barbarian.  

The grateful slaves revealed that Luis had was being taken to Montano to be interrogated about his mage brother.  Freeing the slaves, the crew became rebel leaders to the poor slaves of the Kieran empire after Rob played the folk hero adventure card.  Making their way back to the Binkley, the swift sloop managed to catch up with the Kieran cutter and after a quick battle, the enemy ship surrendered and allowed their ship to be captured.  Putting aboard a prize crew and rescuing Luis, the cutter was sent back to Babylon Bay to act as a guard to the entrance to the town.  The Binkley headed back to  Bluth's Crown to receive their reward and the thanks of Manuel.  

After sailing back to Babylon Bay and resting up and restocking the Binkley, one of the traders passing through the settlement was directed to Kuthelaquin.  He told them that he had found strangely carved wood near a fantastical stretch of burning sea, with closer examination, the mage identified them as Kraken in origin, and rounded up the crew and informed them of the significance.  The crew quickly made sail after being given rough coordinates from the merchant, and after a few days came upon the burning sea.  Spotting a horribly burned Kraken in a dingy, they pulled him aboard and Kuthelaquin healed him as best he could.  Halimas told them that there was a relic of tremendous power inside the burning sea, and warned them of creatures in there that would attack them if they went in.  When asked what the relic was, he told the crew "a vast golden sphere, bigger than the Great ship"  Undaunted, the Binkley sailed into the fiery expanse of the burning sea.  With some deft navigation by Urghh, the ship came upon the enormous rune covered golden sphere.  

Merle used his flying ability to land ropes on the sphere to tow it out of the area, while he did so, burning salamanders erupted from the flames and attacked the crew.  After a fierce fight, the inhuman monsters were defeated and the Binkley headed slowly out of the burning sea, towing the impossibly huge relic.


Once out of the burning sea, they were approached by a colossal white vessel, the Kraken Great Ship.  Hailed aboard, the crew were taken before Admiral Caspian, leader of the Kraken people.  He told them that his people had been searching for the sphere for years, and they were to be commended for finding it.  He gave them a whistle to summon the Great Ship when the final battle came, telling them that the sphere would aid them against the Hags.

After the Great Ship left, the crew decided to head to New Madrid to look for rumours about the missing 2 golden triangles for the key to Redbeard Rufus' treasure.  Reaching the Spanish city, they docked and made their way into the bustling metropolis.  Immediately, they saw the posters advertising a contest in the town's arena between a matador and "a fast, clawed upright lizard".  It having been several days since Urghh's last kill, he barged his way to the front of the queue and made his mark.  The rest of the crew decided to take instruction at Juan Martinez' fencing academy.  After enjoying a few days training, the crew joined the thousands of spectators at the arena to watch the battle between man and beast.  Urghh was first choice for the contestant, possibly based on height and sheer amount of obvious weaponry.  The half-ugak was unfamiliar with Spanish bullfighting and was somewhat disgruntled to be sewn into a full matador suit, with dagger and rapier.



Alcarde Piros himself appeared, offering a toast to the warrior, Merle was there to make sure Urghh was ready for the battle and both joined in the toast, savouring the rich red wine.  All the crew of the Binkley had bet heavily for Urghh to win.  As the Ugak hero made his way to the arena, Merle felt sick and woozy, and realised that the wine had been drugged!  Fortunately, Urghh's near superhuman vigor was able to soak the sedated wine and he felt no ill effect.  

Contemptuously throwing away his rapier and dagger, Urghh decided to fight the lizard with his bare hands.  As the yellowback raptor and the Ugak engaged in combat, neither were able to get the upper hand, Urghh was whaling on the lizard, knocking it to the ground but doing no damage, the feisty raptor kept getting back up and trying to tear chunks out of the Red Man, the combat went on for 5 rounds, with the crowd going wild before it all went horribly wrong, the yellowback got in a lucky blow and tore a searing gash across Urghh's chest, he went down and failed to get back up, allowing the lizard to move in for the kill, bending down, it ripped his flesh apart until it was hastily leashed and dragged off by the arena attendants.

Bleeding out, Urghh was quickly revived by a lucky healing intervention by Kuthelaquin and swore revenge on the victorious raptor.

After allowing Urghh time to heal and completing their fencing training, marred only slightly by an attack by the rival school of Julio Ramirez's upstart students, the crew found a buccaneer by the name of Stumpy Pete in El Hoyo, one of the worst bars in New Madrid.

Stumpy Pete regaled them with a story about a huge treasure buried on a small island north of New Madrid, and mentioned that he had seem a strange golden triangle as part of the booty.  After agreeing to a 50% share, he revealed the location of the booty and went with the crew to find it.

Heading north and with the help of Stumpy Pete they found the small mesa like island, and climbed up to the jungly plateau where the treasure was buried.  Amidst the ruins of an ancient Ograpog hunting estate, they found the treasure along with a golden triangle and a strange shrunken head.  The mummified head awoke and informed them that it was effectively a weapon to be used against the Hags.  As soon as the head awoke, loud crashing could be heard from the jungle as trees were uprooted and flung aside.  Preparing for battle, the crew saw an enormous rotting figure tear from the bush, an undead gigantic monkape dragging a tree as a club.  

Unfazed, and unafraid, the heroic crew opened fire, with Urghh and Merle leaping into combat, with a few incredibly lucky axe blows, the undead monstrosity was dispatched.  

Returning to the ship, they all decided to head north to the Cold Sea.



















Sunday 8 January 2017

50 Fathoms - Water Trap/Heart of the Archmage - Sessions Ten - Thirteen- We're the bad guys?



50 Fathoms

Sessions 10 -13 Water Trap/Heart of the Archmage

The Party:


Urghh - Half Ugak Bloodthirsty Sailor - Aaron

Flynt - Delusional Human Merchant - Charlie

Obadiah Merle - Squanderous Human Rifleman - Garry

Kuthelaquin - Kraken Water Mage - Rob




Deciding to head towards Bluth's Crown to complete their mission for the Archmages, the crew set sail from the Flotsam sea.  After an uneventful voyage, they weighed anchor and met Pars Portri and gave him the elements they had collected, receiving their reward in potions and pieces of eight, they stuck around to watch the rebuilding ritual and restocked on food and made for Baltimus.

As fate would have it the first encounter they had on the way back to Baltimus was Admiral Duckworth and the HMS Justice.  At first they hailed the ship as comrades, then Flynt realised that the Justice was beating to arms and moving to intercept the Binkley.  After a frenzied confab, the crew realised that the murder of Bruno Baltimus may not have been the perfect crime they thought it was.  In fact, the fault was Mannie Morkan who had almost immediately spilled the beans to anyone who would listen that his daughter had been avenged.  Duckworth had orders to bring the crew of the Binkley in for questioning.

Rather than trust in the legal system of Baltimus, the crew decided to make a run for it, and after a tense chase they finally lost the Justice and decided what to do.  With enemies now on both sides of the Flotsam sea, they decided to head to Deiking.

Making their way around the islands and heading north, they made their way to the Chinese territory.  Docking at Deiking, they let the crew off on shore leave and made their way into the twisted streets of the town.  They spent two weeks relaxing and undergoing intensive martial arts training at Master Sheng's Dojo, where the crew left with improved fighting skills.  During this time, they were approached by Lao Wu, a master tattooist who's daughter had been abducted by Shao Deng, one of the local warlord's lieutenant.  Infiltrating his estate at night in the appropriate style of ninjas, the group made their way past the guards and found Shao Deng in his bedchambers.  A furious martial arts melee ensued, with Deng finally beaten by Urghh.  Rescuing the daughter and making a stealthy retreat, the crew made their way back to the Binkley where Lao Wu was waiting.  They left Deiking, each of them receiving a mystical tattoo as a reward from the grateful tattooist.  

The Binkley made it's way back to the Flotsam sea to try to find a sample of water from Earth, and finally they were lucky enough to come across the wreck of the Maria Terquesa, a Spanish ship that was part of Queen Isabella's gold fleet.  Moving closer, the crew could see no-one on board and secured lines to the wreck and boarded her.  As they made their way across the creaking deck, the Octopon hunters who had been waiting patiently appeared and attacked without mercy.  Urghh immediately began to slaughter the hunters, with Merle, Flynt and Kuthelaquin providing support.  With a rending tear, the boards of the deck split open and a summoned giant octopus joined the battle, seizing Merle in its rubbery tentacles.  Kuthelaquin used his magic to control the octopus and turned it against the Octopons who were quickly dispatched.  

Searching the ship, they found an intact cask of water in the rotting hold and as they were loading it onto the Binkley, a vision of the Maiden appeared.  From the fog, she told them that they needed the sword of King Amemnus, the heart of the last archmage and that which the Kraken have lost to defeat the Hags.  

As they were at the southern edge of the Flotsam sea, the crew had the idea to form their own settlement to use as a base of operations and headed towards the savage lands to find a suitable place to call home.  Remembering tales of Angus Mcbride and his attempt to found a colony further east, they decided to see if there was anything the could salvage.  Following the coastline east, the Binkley found the wrecks of the colony fleet and saw debris all over the beaches.  Making landfall, they discovered that the colonists had made it to the savage lands but most of the fleet had been destroyed by an enormous shark the Red Men had summoned.  

The few survivors of the fleet told them that Angus Mcbride had gone inland to attack the Red Men on the offensive.  Offering to find him, the crew stocked up on provisions and heading inland.  After a few narrow escapes with the native creatures, they eventually found the big game hunter stalking out a native village.  As they met him, he told them that his men had been captured and taken here, and he was about to attack to try to save them.  Merle realised that this was actually a trap set by the Red Men and suggested they outflank them and attack.

Following Merle's idea, the crew and Mcbride attacked and slaughtered the natives, and were able to rescue the rest of Mcbride's party and beat a hasty retreat back to Vittoria.  Leaving them some much needed supplies and agreeing to take word back to the world that they were indeed alive, the Binkley headed west along the coast.  The plan at this point was still to establish their own base of operations.  

After a few days travel west, they found a river leading into a bay.



Exploring the water way they found the river opened up into a large bay formed from the run off from several large waterfalls from the surrounding mountains.  Dropping anchor, they sent scouting parties ashore that reported there was plenty of game, trees and other resources they could use.  

Kuthelaquin took charge of the building parties and after a few weeks of work had a dock, barracks, water supply and even a bar built for the crew.  Meanwhile, Merle oversaw the creation of gun batteries facing the mouth of the river, with cannons and additional ammunition.  Leaving Kuthelaquin to work, the rest of the crew headed to Brigandy Bay to buy supplies and also to inform the various parties that there was a place they could go for ship repairs, as they had the one thing Brigandy bay didn't, a working dry dock.  

Christening the settlement Babylon Bay, they soon were making a small profit from repairing and refitting ships, mostly from the free islands.  

After establishing their base of operations, the crew decided to go and speak to Tressa the red about the heart of the archmage and made their way around the coast towards the Teeth.

Making their way back to the gullet, they discovered the wrecks of a small fleet of ships that had seemingly attacked the archmage and been destroyed by her magic.  With a screech, Carnifax, Tressa's familiar landed on the deck and told the crew what had happened and where Tressa was.  Torquemada sent ships from the inquisition to capture the archmage and take her to Isla Dios to interrogate her.  

Making speed to Isla Dios, the crew made their way back into the Kieran empire waters and were a day out from the island when they received the message from Tressa herself, that she was dead.  The ghost of the archmage possessed Carnifax and directed them to remove her heart from her dead body and use it against the Hags.  

Stealthily approaching the island and scouting ahead, they realised that retrieving the heart would not  be easy.  There were at least 120 sailors, inquisitors and marines on the island and on board The Perdition, Torquemada's barge.  Tied in place in the rigging over the deck was the ruined body of Tressa.  Forming a plan of attack at night, Merle infiltrated the island and made for a copse of trees overlooking the bay where the barge was moored.  Meanwhile, Kuthelaquin swan underwater with a makeshift mine, and placed it under The Perdition.  

After climbing a tall tree, Merle launched himself into the air and, dressed entirely in black used his mystical tattoo to glide soundlessly towards the barge.  The guards were entirely unaware as he silently landed stealthily in the rigging and proceeded to professionally remove Tressa's heart.  Once safely secure, he again launched himself into the air and glided into the bay and into the water where he met Kuthelaquin.  Unfortunately, as he surfaced, he was spotted by the marines on the barge and they opened fire.  Cannonballs slammed into the water around the two heroes, as the Binkley commanded by Flynt, sailed into the bay, and hauled the two crew members on board, then, using their magic fog conch, they escaped.



Saturday 19 November 2016

50 Fathoms - The Fire Mage - Session Nine - Debauchery



50 Fathoms

Session 9 The Fire Mage

The Party:


Urghh - Half Ugak Bloodthirsty Sailor - Aaron

Flynt - Delusional Human Merchant - Charlie

Obadiah Merle - Squanderous Human Rifleman - Garry

Kuthelaquin - Kraken Water Mage - Rob


Making their way into Baltimus, the party realised they needed a way to get into the confidence of Bruno Baltimus to examine his father's records about the trial of the Hags.  As luck would have it, an opportunity to infiltrate one of his galas presented itself as they heard the tale of Mannie Morkan and his abused daughter; she was tricked into attending one of Bruno's parties and was abused by him and his debauched cronies.  Morkan wanted the ruler dead, and offered the party forged invitations to the next gala in three days.  All they would have to do was get themselves invited to the gathering afterwards to exact his revenge.

After some discussion amongst the party, they Kuthelaquin, Merle and Flynt were less than comfortable in the roles of assassins.  Urghh, predictably was completely alright with this idea.  Moran offered the legendary sword Versalis to the group if they killed Bruno.  Deciding instead to offer Bruno a cursed ring instead, that would hopefully kill him, they accepted.  

After decking themselves out in their finery, three days later they attended the gala with the elite of Baltimus.  Merle quickly insinuated himself with Bruno, making innuendo laden comments about the ring he wore around his neck, claiming it's magic gave him the sexual stamina of a horse.  Intrigued, he invited the party to attend the soiree after the gala.

After partaking of the debauchery offered, the party made their way upstairs to the sound of creaking bed springs and other less pleasing noises.  As Flynt, Merle and Kuthelaquin partook of the sleazy offerings, Baltimus left to go to his own room.  Merle interrupted him as he was entertaining two ladies of the night offered him the ring.  To the party's dismay, the ruler of Baltimus made his vigour roll and completely ignored the rings deadly magic.  Other than a placebo affect, nothing else happened.  

As the festivities wore on, Urghh made his way to a small window, jimmied it open and scaled the ivy outside on to the roof.  

After everyone had left, he stealthily climbed down and waited for Bruno to retire for the night.  As the exhausted ruler lay passed out in his bed, Urghh slid into his roof and unceremoniously smashed his head to pieces with his warhammer, slid down the outside wall, crept across the lawn and scaled the wall and made his way back to the inn where the rest of the party were.

Blood and gore still plastering his warhammer, it was fairly obvious to everyone what the Half-Ugak had done.  Merle swore the few patrons to silence and paid them off, hoping they'd keep quiet about it.  

Morkan was good to his word and presented Urghh with Versalis, who then promptly said "Swords aren't really my thing." and gave it to Merle.  

The next day, on the way back to the ship, they were attacked by what they though was a yellowback raptor.  It turned out to be an annoying parrot, mimicking the roar of the ferocious dinosaurs.  Kuthelaquin threw it some biscuits and it revealed a conversation it had overheard about a tree stump and a treasure buried next to it.  

After some searching, they found the burial site and dug up the small chest.  Inside was a small fortune in pieces of eight, and another mysterious golden triangle.

Making their way back to the ship, the intrepid party headed north to the Kehanna flumes to find gold as part of the ritual elements they were asked to find by the elementalists of Bluth's Crown.  

With a few minor scrapes they reached the flumes and Merle took a dinghy to one of the rocky volcanic outcrops and started digging for gold.  After searching for two days they thought they had enough for the ritual and were about to make their way to the Binkley when the dinghy was attacked by massive electric eels.  Not realising that using a metal weapon against them might be a bad idea, Merle and Urghh attacked fearlessly, and amazingly made their vigour rolls to resist the electrical discharge of the creatures.  Easily killing them, the crew on the Binkley feasted on fresh meat that night.  As they were hauling the 12 foot eels on board, Flynt noticed a dozen shark like heads swimming through the surf towards them, a Kehanna raiding party.  Rather than fight the Kehanna, they made sail and headed towards the Flotsam sea.

Kuthelaquin at this point remembered a legend about the golden triangles, and how the 6 pieces were the key to unlocking the vast and unclaimed treasure of the pirate Readbeard Rufus.

As they made their way south easterly towards the sea, an unearthly storm engulfed the ship and they were attacked by an unholy ghostly ship.  As it drew nearer, seemingly unaffected by the raging storm, the figure of Redbeard Rufus, the feared and now undead pirate could be seen pacing the deck.  Screaming that they return his keys, the ghost pirate mercilessly attacked, cannonading the Binkley.  Even though they were in the heart of a storm, the crew of the Binkley were about to outsail the undead pirate and managed to sink the Incinerator.  

Carrying on into the Flotsam sea, they had a completely uneventful trip, straight through the morass of ruins and debris, not finding an earth ship with water on it.  


Sunday 13 November 2016

50 Fathoms - The Fire Mage - Session Eight - Prison Break




50 Fathoms

Session 8 The Fire Mage

The Party:


Urghh - Half Ugak Bloodthirsty Sailor - Aaron

Flynt - Delusional Human Merchant - Charlie

Obadiah Merle - Squanderous Human Rifleman - Garry

Kuthelaquin - Kraken Water Mage - Rob


After disembarking at Paltos, the crew made their way into the small town to find Tomas De Orinjo.  Their first stop was the Coconut Grove, where Urghh challenged the resident monk-ape to a coconut throwing contest.  Winning easily, Mani Makawn, the owner, was so impressed he called for drinks all round and told them that the fire mage had been arrested with no charge, and was being held in the Prison looming over the town.  He added that the crew of the Valiant were drinking in the grove before moving on to The Gaoler's Due.  He said also that they were working up towards mischief and were deeply upset about Tomas' arrest.  Mani also told them about his brother who was shipwrecked on Torath-Ka, and asked the party to search for him.  They agreed to help him.

In the Gaoler's Due, the party made contact with the sailors of the Valiant and got the full story, they decided to try to get more information and promptly headed to the Governor's house to speak to him.  They were met by his personal secretary Hubert Barker, who, for a small bribe, let them into the Governor's office while he went to summon his master.  

After a quick search, Kuthelaquin spotted a letter on the desk in Spanish, signed with a flourish, Torquemada.  Putting two and two together they realised that the Governor and the prison warders were selling mages to the Inquisition.  This enraged Kuthelaquin, who swore revenge on the island, the Kieran empire and the Spanish Inquisition.

Making their way back into town hastily, they met the sailors of the Valiant and decided to scale the cliffs next to the prison and attempt a jailbreak.  Later that night they met their conspirators and ascended the cliffs.  Kuthelaquin summoned a storm to cover their assault and the sailors headed by Urghh climbed the prison walls.  

Failing their stealth rolls, the assault party were spotted by 4 guards who were messily dispatched by Urghh, the rest of the party joined them and they made their way to the prison roof.  Quietly lifting up roof tiles they freed the first captive mage, a near dead Kraken mage called Grikk, making hi way to the roof he was revitalised somewhat by the pouring rain.  In the cell next to him was a  masaquani water mage Kylie Kirrow.  Urghh immediately fell in lust with her and made lewd comments while freeing her.  Not impressed, the mage joined the sailors on the roof as the party moved on.  

Pushing their luck too far, as Urghh was lifting Kylie to the hole in the roof with an ardent fondle, they were spotted by the guards, 3 of them rushed to the locked cell door and started shooting.  Fortunately, they all missed allowing Urghh to kill 2 of them and Merle to sharpshoot from the roof and bag the last one.  Grabbing their keys, they made their way onto the iron walkway outside the cells.  The last cell on the wing contained the fire mage Orinjo.  As they moved to free him, 7 guards rushed up the stairs.  Merle took up a firing position and blew the head off the first one to appear.  This caused them to pause in fear, allowing the freed fire mage to exact his revenge.  Laying waste to the prison, guards, town and anyone else who got in his way, Tomas De Orinjo casually escorted the party back to the docks as they boarded the Binkley and made their escape.  With little or no subtlety, they had made an enemy of the Kieran empire.  

With gushing Spanish thanks, Tomas handed over the Tears of Lys to Kuthelaquin.  The kraken mage held the jewel in his hand and brooded on his worst memory, the destruction of the Kraken fleet and the loss of his friends.  This summoned a vision of the trial and execution of the Hags, with Kuthelaquin learning that Bryon Baltimus presided over the trial.  This meant he would have to know the names of the Hags.  Unfortunately, they recalled that he had recently died, and his son Bruno had inherited his estate.  They decided to make for Baltimus by way of the savage lands to investigate this new lead.  

After a few days sailing they reached the area that Mani had told them about, and saw that there was ship wreckage all over the rocks and beach.  The party took a longboat to the shore and looked for tracks.  They found the remains of a recently lit signal fire and tracks leading into the jungle.  As they made their way to the edge of the jungle, 4 enormous crabs reared out of the sand and attacked them.  Merle's rifle bullets ricocheted off the massive creature's carapace and Kuthelaquin managed to impale on on his sword.  Urghh smashed away with his warhammer, killing two, until Merle finally managed to dispatch the one attacking him.  The crew of the Binkley butchered the crabs and made bisque while the heroes went inland.

Following the tracks into the jungle for about 10 miles, they cautiously approached a small Ugak village.  As they neared, they saw that Mani's brother Moti was lashed to a post and an Ugak shaman was advancing towards his with a cleaver.  Merle took aim and blew his head off, and in the resulting chaos they managed to free Moti and make a run for it, barely making it back to the ship ahead of the rampaging Ugaks.  

With their thanks, they agreed to let Moti off at the next port to make his way back to his brother.  Somehow, they would collect the reward in the future.  

Making sail towards Baltimus, as they neared the island a sail was spotted by Merle.  It was the Mad Dog.  After some deliberation, they decided to fight, as the Binkley was now significantly upgraded and more than a match for the pirate galleon.  After some long range cannoneering, with some hits but no significant damage, Urghh expertly moved the Binkley into close range and spun the vessel to broadside the pirate ship.  Loading canisters of grapeshot, all 6 cannon sprayed lead at the enemy.  Shredding the crew and captain, the Mad Dog was captured and the body of Edward Low was kicked over the side for the sharks.  They found a cache of pieces of eight, and tucked behind a bulkhead in the Captain's quarters, a strange golden triangle inscribed with runes.  

They captured the ship and took it into Baltimus to claim the reward.  Another 35000 pieces of eight to swell the coffers of the B&R trading company.


Thursday 3 November 2016

50 Fathoms - The Fire Mage - Session Seven - Beat to arms






50 Fathoms

Session 7 The Fire Mage

The Party:


Urghh - Half Ugak Bloodthirsty Sailor - Aaron

Flynt - Delusional Human Merchant - Charlie

Obadiah Merle - Squanderous Human Rifleman - Garry

Kuthelaquin - Kraken Water Mage - Rob


After moving the ship to a more concealed position, the party waited until nightfall and stealthily approached the island of Terras.  After some scouting they determined that Noran Nass was in the bunkhouse on the western side of the small village.  The guards locked the workers inside at night, with barred doors and shutters.  While Merle sneaked close to the guard barracks and wedged a small barrel of gunpowder under the supports, Urghh moved closer to the worker barrack and entered looking for Nass.  

During the ensuring commotion of the workers trying to make a run for it, Urghh grabbed Nass and started back to the ship.  Merle detonated the gunpowder and in the chaos the party ran for the dinghy.  Disaster struck as Flynt tripped and wedged his leg between two rocks which then broke with a meaty crack.  Dragging him and Nass, the crew made it back to the ship with the guards closely following and firing at them.  Once back to the Binkley, they made sail and got out of there as fast as possible.  

Kuthelaquin used his magic to heal Flynt's broken leg and to straighten Urghh's broken nose that he suffered while running full pelt into a rock face.  

Nass was eternally grateful, offering to do custom modifications on the ship, adding to it's toughness and speed.  Now the group have one of the fastest and most manoeuvrable ships in the world.

Instead of heading back to Kiera, the crew headed towards the Coker mountains to try to gather air from the one of the peaks there.  Approaching from the south, they moored at a deserted stretch of coastline and organised an expedition to climb the jagged peak.  Flynt decided to stay behind, his leg still not healed properly, so the three heroic mountaineers set off with supplies, rope and warm clothing.  Urghh's inability to climb very well set them back a day, but eventually they made it to the peak and gathered a jar of air.  Heading back down the mountain, they came across a small survey party of prisoners and guards, Urghh launched himself from the rock face and rappelled into combat.  The 6 guards were easily dispatched, one was blown off the mountainside by Kuthelaquin's magic.  After releasing the prisoners, they escorted them back to the Binkley and set sail for Kiera.  

Making amazing time, the ship sailed back into the harbour at Kiera and they bundled up Nass in a cloak and made their way back to reunite him with his daughter.  Nass told them he and his daughter were going to head west to the free towns to live, as far from the Kieran empire as possible.  Merle made him an offer to captain a ship, realising that they needed a fleet to attack the Hags.  Nass agreed, and the rest of the week was spent looking for a ship to buy.  As fate would have it, they managed to secure a brig for 35,000 pieces of eight from a retiring sea captain.  Nass was put in command of the new ship, the Cormorant and headed west.

Remembering the captain of the merchant ship they spoke to said to contact a harbour master to ask about Tomas de Orinjo, Merle made his way to the harbour master's office and convinced him to tell them where the Valiant was last seen.  A letter from the captain of that ship revealed that the Valiant was putting in to Paltos for repairs and would be there for the next few weeks.  

Heading back to the restocked Binkley, the crew took to the sea and set a course for Paltos.  A few days out of harbour they ran into a British East India merchantman being attacked by a Kieran cutter.  With their allegiance strongly with the BEI, Flynt immediately ordered the Binkley to battle stations and for the crew to run out the guns.  Moving into combat range the crew fired off a cannonade, with all guns missing, the cutter returned fire missing as well.  The Binkley moved sleekly into close range, and the Captain ordered grapeshot loaded in the cannons.  With the expert helmsman Urghh piloting, the Binkley was optimally positioned when the opened fire and were able to bring all 6 cannons to bear on the cutter.  The results of 6 enormous shotguns going off at point blank range was not pretty, with 29 of the 32 crew eviscerated and the decks awash with blood and body parts. 

The crew of the Binkley boarded the cutter, looted it and decided to scuttle it so there would be no evidence of their act of war against the Kieran Empire.  The merchant captain thanked them profusely, saying there was no provocation, the cutter must have seen they were an easy target and decided to take the ship.  He also received a sealed report of the encounter from Merle to be given to Admiral Duckworth to appraise him of the situation.  

Leaving the burning, sinking wreck of the cutter, the Binkley sailed on to Paltos.




Monday 31 October 2016

50 Fathoms - Tressa the Red - Session six - The Perfect Storm





50 Fathoms

Session 6 Tressa the Red

The Party:


Urghh - Half Ugak Bloodthirsty Sailor - Aaron

Flynt - Delusional Human Merchant - Charlie

Obadiah Merle - Squanderous Human Rifleman - Garry

Kuthelaquin - Kraken Water Mage - Rob



After treking overland to the caldera of the volcano, the heroes collected a chunk of volcanic rock and made their way back to the ship, the return journey was uneventful and they set sail for the Teeth to find Tressa the Red.  Making good time, they sailed to the jagged rocks bordering the gullet and decided to sail straight into the 2 mile watercourse towards the Teeth.  After some death defying piloting by Urghh, they came across a wrecked privateer that appeared to have a magical figurehead, deciding to try to grab it, they moored the ship and sent half the crew across to the derelict ship to retrieve it.  After attaching the green dolphin figurehead to the Binkley, their handling was significantly increased, allowing Urghh to pilot the ship with ease into the gullet.

Realising they needed to traverse the 200 foot high geyser of seawater holding the island in the air, Kuthelaquin volunteered to take a rope and try to swim up to the rocky edge and secure a line for the rest of the crew to climb.  After swimming up and almost failing his climbing roll, Kuthelaquin managed to tie the rope off and developed a severe phobia of heights.  Urghh and Merle were able to climb up to the island with ease, Flynt however slipped, failed his climb roll and fell 150 feet into the water.  Luckily making his agility roll, he took no damage but almost drowned, with the crew of the ship dragging him back on board.  Urghh then pulled him up on the rope easily to spare him another chance to die.  

After being harassed by Tressa's annoying parrot, the crew easily passed the trial of the elements and confronted the gorgeous Tressa the Red.  She told them she knew about the rising waters and needed them to act as her agents in the world.  She told them how to summon the Hags by speaking their true names and pouring water from another world over the ruins of Ograpog.  To find the names of the Hags, they would need a relic called the Tears of Lys, last seen in the possession of Tomas de Orinjo around the Gray Isles.  

Because she was suitable impressed with the crew, she also told them about a wreck lying in the Teeth that had sails that might aid them. 

After making their way back to the ship and spotting the wreck of the Carcanus, Garry played the hidden stash action card which, after some rules bending, allowed them to fashion a crude but effective shark proof cage out of barrels and packing crates.  Kuthelaquin climbed inside and was lowered to the wreck where he was able to cut the sharkskin sails off the doomed Kraken cutter.

After raising the new sails, the Binkley made its way out of the Gullet and back into the open seas, with much improved handling and speed.  

Heading towards the Kieran empire to look for Tomas de Orinjo, it was smooth sailing for a few days, the newly improved Binkley making incredible time with over double it's original pace.  Then they saw the storm on the horizon.  

A hugely powerful storm engulfed the ship, just as the crew lashed themselves to the deck and wheel.  For and hour and a half Urghh was able to pilot the ship expertly through the maelstrom then disaster struck, failing his piloting roll, the poor ship took 5d6 damage, taking two wounds.  The main mast was shattered by a bolt of lightning and fell, piercing the deck and hull.  

Listing dangerously, and taking on water, and with judicial use of bennies, the ship made it through the storm barely, then ran aground on a sand bar.  After refloating the ship, they limped into port in Kiera and immediately made arrangements to have the vessel repaired.  Rob played the contact adventure card on Thratamas, the owner of the shipworks.  It turned out they were old friends and agreed to repair the ship for a discount as long as the crew helped out the daughter of his friend.  Merle also arranged for the Binkley's hull to be reinforced.  

Flynt met Ursa Ulm, who was looking for her Father, the master shipwright Noran Nass.  He disappeared several months ago and hadn't been heard from since.  After agreeing to help, Flynt and the rest of the crew hit town to carouse and ask around.  After some ridiculously high streetwise rolls, a salty sea dog told Flynt that Nass had been "requested" to work on an enormous battle barge being constructed on Terras.

After the ship was repaired and restocked, the crew set sail for Terras.  Then they realised they forgot to ask about Tomas de Orinjo.  Remedying this by asking passing merchant vessels, they were eventually told that harbour masters would be the best people to ask because they were inherently corrupt.  Thanking the captain of the merchant ship, they continued on to Terras.  Eventually drawing close to the island, they weighed anchor behind a rocky peninsula and made plans to scout ahead.



Wednesday 12 October 2016

Ivana Brunhilde - Freelance Air Mage




Ivana Brunhilde is a Prussian woman from Earth circa 1700, her ship was lost in the Baltic sea and made it's way to Caribdus, after fighting their way through the Flotsam Sea, Ivana was taken under the wing of Greenam Gurp, a notorious Masaquani air mage.  After receiving training in the elemental arts, she freelances as a mage for-hire.

Ivana is a stern, teutonic iceberg of a woman, all business and very little humour.

Attributes: Agility d6, Smarts d10, Spirit d8,Strength d6, Vigor d6

Skills: Boating d8, Climbing d6, Fighting d6, Notice d8, Shooting d6, Spellcasting d10, Stealth
d6, Swimming d6, Taunt d6

Charisma: 0; Pace: 6; Parry: 5; Toughness: 5

Hindrances: —

Edges: Arcane Background (Magic)

Gear: Various.

Booty: Loot.

Spells: (15 Power Points)

• Air: Elemental manipulation, deflection, zephyr.