Chapter 1 - Session 7

Casks, Guards, and Gunpowder Trails

The video can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R5ICSF6iwlE

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Events and Actions

The party undertook a nighttime smuggling operation, tasked by Burlyman, to retrieve eight barrels from boats offshore and bring them into the hidden tunnel system connected to The Crow's Nest. Rather than rush in, they weighed their options at length: wait out the watch, distract it, or subdue it outright. Noddy sent his seabird, Pocket, out to sea and confirmed two smuggler rowboats were waiting offshore, loaded with barrels. Further reconnaissance up and down the shoreline showed the cove was thoroughly watched — the coast dead-ended into Lower Town to the south, while a second pair of guards kept watch around a campfire further north — so with no coin to bribe anyone and no appetite for a fight against armed soldiers, the party settled on quietly incapacitating whoever was on duty.

Werner De Rendal and Manuel de Barret (Mani) hurried back to The Crow's Nest for the means to do it, returning with two bottles of strong rum from Burlyman and a vial of potent sleeping powder from Mistress Mary and Mistress Clara, mixed into the bottles before they left. Knick Nab planted a sack with the drugged rum and some food beside the guards' own packs, but the plan stalled: the current pair, Bertrand and Gaston, were relieved before anyone touched the sack, as Sergeant Tyler had already arranged for Fursa and Evans to take over within the hour. The party waited out the changeover, using the delay to observe the guards' rotation and command structure through Pocket.

Once Fursa and Evans settled in, Pocket rummaged noisily through one of the packs to draw a guard down to investigate, giving the party its opening. Fursa found the sack, and rather than share with his partner, kept both bottles of drugged rum for himself. He grew steadily drunker on his perch atop the watchtower until he slumped, lost his footing, and plunged roughly thirty feet onto the rocks below, badly injuring his arm; the bottle in his hand shattered beside him.

Evans rushed to his fallen partner, only to discover his own rifle missing — Manuel de Barret had slipped it away while Evans was distracted. After searching in vain, a panicked Evans grabbed Fursa's rifle, left leaning against the tower, and fired it three times into the air as a distress signal. Knick Nab quietly planted the stolen rifle where Evans would later stumble across it, making its earlier disappearance look like an accident. Sergeant Tyler soon arrived with two more guards and a stretcher; the search party walked the length of the shore and out onto the docks without finding anything amiss, and Evans recovered his rifle without drawing suspicion. Fursa was carried off, leaving the cove empty.

While hauling the first barrels toward the tunnel, Werner noticed one was leaking a fine black powder and tipped it upright to stop the flow, but not before it left a visible trail across the rocks. With Mani standing by in the water in case he ran into trouble, Knick Nab waded and climbed along the shoreline in the dark, sparing the black silk scarf a lady upstairs had given him and using his bandana instead to brush the gunpowder into the sea, timing each pass for when the remaining guard's attention was elsewhere. He managed to clear all of it but a short stretch near the second dock that he couldn't reach, leaving only his own wet footprints as a last, faint trace.

With the coast clear, the party signalled the boats — three flashes of a hooded lantern and their coin token held up for inspection. The smugglers' contact, A'Wood, came ashore, checked their hands and coins with a spyglass, and authorized the drop; two rowboats, two rowers apiece, ferried in eight barrels between them before pulling away as quickly as they'd arrived. The party moved six barrels into the tunnel on the first trip, with A'Wood himself carrying one; Werner and Mani doubled back for the last two. Pushing the loaded carts up the tunnel, Cosimo Cellini Scivio talked A'Wood into helping haul his cart, then pulled ahead of the group alone to reach Burlyman first and warn him what was coming, leaving A'Wood to travel back with the rest of the party.

Once inside, Cosimo voiced a growing unease about A'Wood to Burlyman — an inexplicable, faintly magical wrongness about the man, reminiscent of the sensation the party had felt on first arriving in this world — and pressed him on the wisdom of having brought a stranger into the tunnel at all, especially with a barrel of gunpowder among the goods. Burlyman brushed off both concerns, professing confidence in the people he worked with. The party finished hauling the last barrels up, packed away their frame-carriers, and disguised the tunnel entrance with a stockpile of loose stone that had conveniently been left there for exactly that purpose. Before leaving, they noted that every barrel held a sheet of paper written in the Common script but filled with words that made no sense — a cipher or code none of them could crack. The session closed with the party resolving to scout the cove by daylight, chart the guards' rotation, and look for a way to bribe or blackmail Fursa and Evans before risking another run this dangerous.

NPCs & Creatures

  • Knick Nab (PC)
  • Werner De Rendal (PC)
  • Infurious Montesigna aka Riu (PC)
  • Noddy (PC)
    • Pocket (Noddy's seabird/gull familiar)
  • Cosimo Cellini Scivio (PC)
  • Manuel de Barret aka Mani (PC)
  • Burlyman: Proprietor of The Crow's Nest, organizer of the smuggling operation.
  • Burlyman's wife (unnamed): Briefly seen tidying the common room in the pre-dawn hours, keeping well clear of Randolph's sword practice.
  • Randolph the Chronicler: Seen practicing swordplay in The Crow's Nest common room when Cosimo emerged from the tunnel to warn Burlyman.
  • Mistress Mary: Healer and harlot at The Crow's Nest, mixed and provided the sleeping powder.
  • Mistress Clara: Healer and harlot at The Crow's Nest, assisted Mary and seemed rather taken with Werner.
  • City Guards (Northern Kingdom):
    • Sergeant Tyler: Supervised the guard details at the cove, arranged the changeover to Fursa and Evans, and led the search after Fursa's fall.
    • Bertrand: One of the initial guards, relieved before the party's plan could be used on him, later returned with Sergeant Tyler as part of the search party.
    • Gaston: One of the initial guards, relieved before the party's plan could be used on him, later returned with Sergeant Tyler as part of the search party.
    • Fursa: Replacement guard who kept the drugged rum for himself instead of sharing with Evans, grew steadily drunk, and fell roughly thirty feet from the watchtower, badly injuring his arm.
    • Evans: Replacement guard, partner to Fursa. Had his rifle stolen by Mani during the commotion, then fired Fursa's rifle three times as a distress signal.
  • A'Wood (Smuggler contact from the boats): Verified the party's coins and hands with a spyglass before authorizing the drop, came ashore, carried one barrel himself, and helped haul a cart up the tunnel after Cosimo talked him into it.
  • Unnamed rowers on the smuggler boats.

Locations

  • The Capitol - Coastal Cove: A secluded cove near Cliff Town, featuring docks, a cliffside, and difficult terrain. Site of the smuggling operation and location of a hidden entrance to a tunnel system. The coastline dead-ends into Lower Town to the south; a second, separate guard post around a campfire was spotted further north, confirming the whole stretch of shore was watched.
  • The Crow's Nest: Tavern run by Burlyman. The party acquired rum and sleeping powder here. Its cellar is connected to the hidden tunnel system. Randolph the Chronicler keeps a semi-permanent residence there and was seen practicing swordplay in the common room.
  • Hidden Tunnel System: A network of passages used to transport the smuggled goods from the cove to The Crow's Nest cellar, fitted with a cart track, two small carts, and backpack frames for carrying barrels. A stockpile of loose stone, evidently left there for the purpose, was used to re-disguise the entrance after the run.

Conflicts

  • Stealth vs. Guards: The primary ongoing conflict involved the party's efforts to avoid detection by, observe, and ultimately neutralize the threat posed by the City Guards, complicated by having neither the coin to bribe them nor the numbers to fight them outright.
  • Guard Fursa's Incapacitation and Injury: Fursa consumed the drugged rum without sharing it with Evans, leading to his fall from a watchtower and significant injury. This was an unintended escalation of the party's plan.
  • Environmental Hazard: A barrel was discovered to be leaking gunpowder, creating a trail along the rocks and dock that the party had to meticulously clean by hand and by wading through the cold, dark water to avoid leaving evidence.
  • Internal Party Deliberations: The party engaged in extensive discussions and planning regarding strategy, risk assessment, and the ethical implications of their actions.
  • Unease Over A'Wood: Cosimo's inexplicable, faintly magical sense of wrongness about A'Wood, and his pressing of the concern with Burlyman, went unresolved when Burlyman dismissed it.

Learnings and Discussions

  • The party gained firsthand experience in planning and executing a covert smuggling operation, including reconnaissance, diversion tactics, and evidence cleanup.
  • They learned about the guard patterns, rotations, and command structure (Sergeant Tyler) in the specific cove, and confirmed the recognition signals used with the smugglers: three flashes of a hooded lantern, a coin token shown at close range, and the code words "pristine" (fight) and "copacetic" (flee).
  • The smuggled goods included at least one barrel of gunpowder, prompting concerns and discussions among the party about the nature of Burlyman's enterprise and their involvement.
  • The party discussed the trustworthiness of their new associate, A'Wood, and the overall risks of their illicit activities; Cosimo in particular felt an unexplained wrongness about him, reminiscent of the sensation the party felt on first arriving in this world.
  • The effectiveness of Noddy's bird, Pocket, for reconnaissance, communication, and creating diversions was proven invaluable.
  • The party learned that their actions could have serious, unintended consequences (Fursa's injury).
  • They discovered that each barrel contained a sheet of paper with writing in Common, the specific meaning of which was not immediately understood.
  • Recognizing how risky the run had been, the party resolved to scout the cove by daylight, chart the guards' rotation and schedule, and explore bribing or blackmailing Fursa and Evans ahead of any future job.

Items Gained

  • Eight barrels of smuggled goods. Contents primarily luxury items (e.g., quail's eggs, fine cloth, interesting foodstuffs), but also at least one barrel of gunpowder (and possibly a second, unidentified barrel). Each barrel also contained a sheet of paper with writing.
  • One bottle of strong rum (obtained from Burlyman; the other was consumed/lost).
  • A small, mostly empty vial (originally contained sleeping powder from Mistress Mary and Clara).
  • One rifle (Evans's rifle, temporarily acquired by Mani, then placed to be found by Evans).

Items Lost

  • One bottle of strong rum (consumed by Guard Fursa; the bottle subsequently broke when he fell).
  • Most of a vial of sleeping powder (administered to Guard Fursa via the rum).
  • A bandana (used by Knick Nab to help clean the gunpowder trail, presumably soiled).