Skip to content

Chapter 1 - Session 7

Casks, Guards, and Gunpowder Trails

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 — reasoning that a fight risked drawing a search party straight to the tunnel entrance, whether the guards turned up dead, went missing, or simply lived to talk about it. 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 explained why the cove was so heavily watched: the coast dead-ended into Lower Town to the south, and to the north it was choked with collapsed rubble and sheer cliff, with no other stretch that looked passable for landing a boat — this cove seemed to be the only practical spot along the whole shore. A second pair of guards kept watch around a campfire further along that northern stretch regardless. 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, having first talked through and discarded several other schemes: washing a cask of cheap ale ashore near the guards to lure them off, fouling their rations so they'd have to abandon their post to be sick, and simply grabbing a guard the next time he wandered off alone to stretch his legs.

Werner De Rendal and Manuel de Barret (Mani) hurried back to The Crow's Nest for the means to do it. Burlyman supplied two bottles of strong rum, and upstairs Mistress Mary and Mistress Clara provided a vial of potent sleeping powder — the same draught, Mary admitted, that they kept on hand for the rare unruly customer who needed to be quietly put down for the night. The powder was mixed into the bottles before Werner and Mani hurried back down. 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 — but before signalling the boats, the party doubled back to erase the last traces of the ruse, pocketing the remaining bottle of rum and spilling the abandoned sack of food across the ground so it would look like some animal had rooted through it and knocked the bottle into the sea.

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 pressed them about the shots he'd heard earlier; told a guard had taken a bad fall from the tower and been carried off, he seemed satisfied 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 struck up friendly conversation with A'Wood, playing the curious boy fascinated by the smuggler's life, and drew a little out of him — he'd grown up fishing in a coastal town to the south before drifting into smuggling — though Cosimo came away with the odd sense that A'Wood himself didn't seem to know much more about his own past than that. Cosimo 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.

Coming up alone through the tunnel's secret door into The Crow's Nest cellar, Cosimo — ever the tradesman — paused to size up the door's craftsmanship, sure he could improve on it, before finding Burlyman and voicing a growing unease about A'Wood: an inexplicable, faintly magical wrongness about the man, reminiscent of the sensation the party had felt on first arriving in this world. He pressed Burlyman 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, though he allowed that letting A'Wood see the tunnel at all had been a calculated risk. The party finished hauling the last barrels up; on the way back down, Cosimo spotted a neat stockpile of loose stone waiting near the cart track, worked out it was meant as a second layer of concealment for the passage, and used it to disguise the tunnel entrance once everyone was back inside, packing away their frame-carriers as well. 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. With the job done, the party pressed Burlyman on whether they'd be asked to run this route again and what, if anything, they might be paid beyond what already felt like an advance on their keep; he gave no firm answer either way. The session closed with the party resolving to scout the cove by daylight to establish the guards' rotation and schedule, track down where Fursa and Evans lived so they could be bribed or blackmailed directly, and put Riu's note-taking together with Noddy and Pocket's reconnaissance to properly map the operation before risking another run this dangerous — Cosimo also made a mental note to apologize to Randolph the Chronicler for missing whatever he'd promised him the night before.

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 — the same draught, she said, kept on hand for unruly customers who need to be quietly put down for the night.
  • 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. Mentioned in passing that he grew up fishing in a coastal town to the south before drifting into smuggling, though he seemed to know surprisingly little about his own history beyond that.
  • Unnamed rowers on the smuggler boats.

Locations

  • Coastal Ruins (Cliff Town): The secluded cove where the smuggling tunnel exits, featuring docks, a cliffside, and difficult terrain. Site of the smuggling operation and location of the hidden tunnel entrance. The coastline dead-ends into Lower Town to the south, and to the north it's choked with collapsed rubble and sheer cliff — this cove appears to be the only stretch of shore where a boat could plausibly land, which likely explains why it's watched so closely. A second, separate guard post around a campfire was spotted further along that same northern stretch, confirming the whole area 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 — though Burlyman did concede that letting A'Wood see the tunnel at all had been a calculated risk.

Learnings and Discussions

  • The party gained firsthand experience in planning and executing a covert smuggling operation, including reconnaissance, diversion tactics, and evidence cleanup.
  • Scouting the shoreline revealed why this cove was so closely guarded: the rest of the coast nearby is impassable, choked with collapsed rubble and sheer cliff, leaving this as the only practical place to land a boat.
  • 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).
  • Mistress Mary revealed that the sleeping powder she supplied is normally kept on hand for unruly customers who need to be quietly put down for the night — a small, telling glimpse of the rougher side of business at The Crow's Nest.
  • 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 — though they reasoned that with the North at war and its resources going to the war effort, gunpowder might be nearly impossible for a private buyer to acquire through ordinary channels, which would explain its presence among the luxury goods.
  • 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. What little they learned of him directly — that he grew up fishing in a coastal town to the south before drifting into smuggling — did nothing to settle that unease.
  • 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 using Riu's note-taking alongside Noddy and Pocket's reconnaissance, and track down where Fursa and Evans lived so they could be bribed or blackmailed directly 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).