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Chapter 2 - Session 2

Bombs in the Night, a Stowaway, and a Secret Mission

Events and Actions

The evening after the party boarded the "Advance," while still docked in The Capitol, the planned departure was delayed — provisioning a newly-assembled crew for the ship's first cruise under this complement proved a multi-day job. Later that night, an alarm was raised. Noddy, on watch in the crow's nest, and Werner De Rendal on deck, spotted a small rowboat approaching the "Advance" with what turned out to be a barrel of gunpowder and a trigger mechanism. Werner swam out and capsized the boat, neutralizing the threat. Shortly thereafter, Mani spotted a second, similar boat heading towards another nearby ship. Werner rowed the recovered first boat over while Mani swam to intercept; Mani, using a Coin of Fate, helped capsize this second bomb-boat — righting and bailing out the recovered boats afterward proved its own struggle for the two of them.

During the ensuing alarm and commotion, Knick Nab, attempting to climb up into the rigging to see what was happening, lost his footing and fell into the harbor water but was quickly rescued by Cosimo Cellini Scivio and other sailors who threw him a rope. Werner De Rendal and Mani reported the bombing attempts to Lieutenant Gunter, and subsequently to Captain Barrows, describing the mechanism they'd found behind the barrel in the first boat: a pan slowly filling with water that would eventually tip a fixed pistol lock into the powder, evidently assembled with care rather than haste. Werner, invoking naval tradition, formally described the two rowboats as prize captures, a claim the Captain indulged with some amusement. Following these events, the Captain ordered the "Advance" to make ready to sail immediately. Midshipmen were dispatched from the ship with messages.

Getting underway from the dock took real effort: with no room to raise sail so close to shore, sailors poled the ship clear with long oars, then rowed her out using oars run through the gunports normally used for the cannon, since the "Advance" has no dedicated oar deck. Only once clear of the harbor did the crew release the main, top, and top-gallant sails and bring the oars back in, catching the wind and picking up speed. The "Advance" set sail, heading in a general west-southwest direction. Once underway, the new crew members received their initial assignments: Riu was assigned to assist the ship's surgeon as one of several mates, not yet the senior one; Knick Nab became the Captain's steward; Cosimo, with his knowledge of ropes, was put to work with the sail maker and organizing rope stores; Mani joined the Marines, initially tasked with cleaning weapons; and Noddy was sent aloft to learn about the rigging and sails. Werner, already a midshipman with a small crew of sailors under him, was set to work adjusting rigging alongside them — despite having sailed before on his family's own ships, he had never held any official authority aboard one until now.

As the "Advance" departed the docks, Knick Nab was sent to fetch the Captain's morning meal and, later, his looking glass; offered a look through it himself, he swept it from the horizon back over the retreating coastline and was the first to spot two priests and a red-haired youth watching from the dock — but chose to say nothing of it to the officers. Noddy, separately, sent his seagull Pocket flying at speed toward the dock for a closer look, and confirmed the same sight: the youth pointing directly at their ship, and the two priests visibly armed, one with a sword and the other with what looked like a broken flail or mace. Noddy reported the sighting to a midshipman, who brushed it off as unimportant. Later, the party members discussed this, with Riu and Cosimo sharing their knowledge about different types of priests, including the militant "Censures," and agreed to keep watching for the red-haired youth in the future.

After the ship was well at sea, all hands were summoned to the quarterdeck, where Lieutenant Gunter read aloud all thirty-seven articles of the "Rules and Regulations of the King's Navy," covering blasphemy, drunkenness, the limits of flogging, theft of ship's stores or powder, mutiny, and murder. Afterward, Knick Nab was handed a printed copy and ordered to post it by the main hatchway below decks. In the days that followed, word spread among the crew that Werner and Mani were behind the foiling of the bomb boats, earning them a measure of quiet respect.

During a shared off-watch discussion about their unusual abilities, Cosimo shaped a length of rope into a hook to raise and lower Pocket — a demonstration noticed by a passing sailor, who marveled aloud at "that strong seagull" before walking off, underscoring the risk of being seen. The party agreed it would be prudent to keep their abilities relatively secret for the time being, perhaps revealing them at a more critical juncture to greater effect, while always attributing such powers to the blessings of The Two.

Off duty, Mani began training in earnest — pestering the Marines for boarding-action instruction, only to learn their discipline was built for musket volleys rather than individual swordplay, before seeking out older sailors skilled in rough, improvised fighting and sparring with them, all while startling onlookers by invoking dueling terms, such as a "Bonati's defense," that nobody else aboard recognized. Knick Nab, meanwhile, had been quietly developing his own scrappy, self-taught fighting style in his off hours, sparring with whatever came to hand — belaying pins, sacks, and the like — which caught Mani's attention and interest as another source to learn from.

About a week into the voyage, Noddy was in the hold when he noticed a flash of light. Casting Blur to move unseen, he investigated cautiously and discovered a marine guard grievously wounded in front of the ship's magazine, with an unknown assailant armed with a knife standing over him. Noddy flooded the corridor with a burst of Projected Light — blinding to himself as much as the attacker — and immediately raised the alarm, shouting for help as he drew his cutlass and closed to engage, clouding the assailant's mind with a spell of Confusion while holding him off. Cosimo Cellini Scivio, Mani, and Knick Nab were among the first to respond. In the confrontation that followed in the tight, dark corridors, Cosimo cried out "Father, strike my foe, protect my friend!" and cast a spell ("Strike One") that incapacitated the assailant — an invisible blow that, to everyone watching, looked exactly like an answered prayer rather than the working of any hand. The man refused to surrender and had to be beaten into submission before the others could bind him. Riu arrived that night and, through what seemed a miraculous and unseen intervention, staunched the grievously wounded marine's bleeding — by morning the marine had made a full recovery that struck everyone who heard of it as nothing short of a miracle.

The captured assailant was found to be an unrecognized man who had apparently been hiding in a crate within the hold for a week or more, having built it so it could be opened from the inside, with a small barrel of water stored alongside him. He carried a cutlass, a dagger stained with the marine's blood, a set of lock picks, and a small supply of dense, unfamiliar food, and bore three anchor-shaped tattoos in various places on his body. Wary after their own experience with hidden Medallions, the party checked him for a hidden or invisible necklace and found none, and Cosimo cast Detect Illusion over him to rule out any disguise — he proved to be exactly what he appeared. Mani, who had spent days cleaning the ship's weapons, examined the cutlass and dagger but couldn't say for certain whether they were the "Advance's" own naval-issue arms or something the stowaway had brought aboard himself, and the crate bore no maker's mark to reveal where it had been built. Nothing found on him or in his hiding place revealed who he was or who had sent him. He was hauled off to a holding space below even the ship's ordinary brig, chained directly to the keel.

The party members directly involved in dealing with the stowaway (Noddy, Cosimo, Knick Nab, Mani, and Riu for his life-saving actions) were summoned by Captain Barrows to recount what had happened. When the Captain pressed Noddy on how the assailant had been struck down and asked outright whether he was a man of the cloth, Noddy explained he had served in the church as an altar boy but held no clerical office, crediting the gods for the decisive blow — an answer Barrows accepted without further question, and which kept the party's true abilities safely hidden behind the Two. The Captain then praised their repeated bravery and resourcefulness, noting this was not the first time they had saved him — Knick Nab's testimony had once helped clear his name at his own court-martial, and Werner and Mani had already foiled the bomb plots in port. He then confided in them the true nature of their voyage. Many of the crew's identity papers, he revealed, had been stolen while the ship was in port, and the "Advance" had left alone rather than with the fleet — both signs, to the more senior hands aboard, that something beyond a routine patrol was underway. Barrows admitted he had personally witnessed the Southern Navy's ability to command wind and sea in battle, a power no amount of Northern discipline or skill could counter, and that Captain Maynard's own logs and writings had never been recovered after his disappearance — an absence he called "extremely unusual." When Mani, turning on his charm, asked directly why their ship in particular was so important that enemies would go to such lengths against it, Barrows — visibly moved by how many times they had already saved him — answered plainly: guided by the Admiralty, which knew only that Maynard had learned something before he vanished, Barrows had been tasked with retracing that doomed voyage. The "Advance" was on a secret mission to return to the uncharted island where Maynard was lost, to investigate and understand the Southern Navy's mysterious capabilities, and was under orders not to seek out an engagement with the South along the way. He mentioned he intended to announce the broad outline of the mission to the rest of the crew within the next day or so, and that its more seasoned hands — unlike the newer recruits, who had only heard rumors — remembered all too well the North's unexplained defeats whenever the two navies had clashed, in fleet actions and single-ship duels alike. Captain Barrows expressed his growing trust in the young recruits, believing their presence on his ship might even be a blessing from The Two, though he confessed himself no man of the cloth — merely a fervent admirer of the Two.

NPCs & Creatures

  • Captain Barrows: Captain of the "Advance."
  • Lieutenant Gunter: Third Lieutenant of the "Advance"; read the Rules and Regulations to the assembled crew.
  • Lieutenant Conrad: Second Lieutenant of the "Advance" (mentioned).
  • Lieutenant Clugny: First Lieutenant of the "Advance" (mentioned).
  • Werner De Rendal: A midshipman with a small crew of sailors under him, instrumental in thwarting the initial bomb plots; from a wealthy family and had sailed before on their ships, but never before held any official shipboard authority.
  • Sergeant Vasquez: Marine Sergeant aboard the "Advance."
  • Pocket: Noddy's seagull companion.
  • Unnamed Priests (2): Seen on the dock as the "Advance" departed, accompanied by a red-haired youth; visibly armed, one with a sword and the other with what looked like a broken flail or mace.
  • Red-Haired Youth: Seen on the dock with the priests, pointing at the "Advance."
  • Unnamed Marine Guard: Attacked by the stowaway at the magazine entrance; life saved by Riu.
  • Unnamed Stowaway: Saboteur found hiding in a crate in the hold; unrecognized by anyone aboard, armed with a cutlass and a dagger, and bearing three anchor-shaped tattoos.
  • Ship's Surgeon: Mentioned; Riu is assigned to assist him. Skilled but holds no officer's rank.
  • Surgeon's First Mate: Mentioned; the senior of the surgeon's several mates, Riu interacts with him and hopes to learn from him.
  • Unnamed veteran sailors: A handful of older hands skilled in rough, improvised fighting; sought out by Mani for hand-to-hand sparring.
  • Various unnamed sailors and midshipmen.

Locations

  • The "Advance": A frigate of the King's Navy. Events occurred while docked in The Capitol and later at sea.
    • The Orlop Deck: The deck immediately below the main deck, above the hold.
    • The Capstan: A large mechanism on deck used to raise the anchor, hoist sails, and bring the ship's boats aboard.
    • The Hold: Lowest storage deck of the "Advance," packed mostly with barrels and defined by the ship's structural ribs. Barrels served as the standard unit of cargo here — apples, salt pork, water, gunpowder, and ship's biscuit were all stored this way, with crates comparatively rare and live animals kept further aft. The stowaway was discovered here, hidden in a crate among ordinary cargo, stocked with a small barrel of water and bearing no maker's mark to reveal its origin.
    • Magazine Entrance: Location of the attack on the marine guard, at the end of a narrow corridor off the hold.
    • The Bow: Chosen by the party as their regular meeting spot during shared off-watch time to share information, partly because it draws fewer people — despite standing right by "the head," where the crew relieves themselves.
    • The prisoner's holding space: Below even the ship's ordinary brig; the stowaway was chained directly to the keel.
  • The Capitol Docks: Initial location where the bombing attempts occurred.

Conflicts

  • Attempted Bombings: Two rowboats carrying barrels of gunpowder and trigger mechanisms targeted the "Advance" and another nearby ship. Both were thwarted by the actions of Werner De Rendal and Mani, though righting and bailing out the recovered boats afterward took real effort.
  • Knick Nab Overboard: Knick Nab fell into the harbor water while climbing into the rigging during the alarm and was rescued.
  • Stowaway Attack:
    • An unnamed marine guard at the ship's magazine was attacked and severely wounded by a stowaway.
    • Noddy used Blur to approach unseen, Projected Light to reveal the scene, and Confusion to hamper the assailant while holding him off with his cutlass. The PCs (Noddy, Cosimo, Knick Nab, Mani) confronted and subdued the stowaway. Cosimo's "Strike One" spell was critical in incapacitating the assailant, who refused to surrender and had to be beaten into submission before being bound.

Learnings and Discussions

  • The party experienced their first night and day aboard a sailing vessel, including the routines and assignments, and quickly learned that flame is tightly restricted below decks, with severe penalties for careless use of lanterns or candles.
  • Mani successfully used a Coin of Fate to aid in capsizing the second bomb-laden rowboat. Immediately after the attack, Captain Barrows wondered aloud whether the boats had been deliberately aimed at the ship's magazine — a remark that would prove prescient a week later.
  • The "Rules and Regulations of the King's Navy" were formally read to the crew — thirty-seven articles in all, covering blasphemy, drunkenness, flogging limits, theft of the ship's stores, powder, or arms, mutiny, and murder. Magic, pets, gambling, and relations between crew members were all noted as topics the Articles did not address.
  • The party began to notice that command and raw skill are different aptitudes aboard the "Advance": Werner, despite having authority over a small crew of sailors, often found himself directing veteran hands who could simply do the job better than he could himself.
  • Mani's inquiries with combat-experienced Marines revealed that boarding actions bear little resemblance to musket-line drill — once the volley is fired, it reportedly devolves into a close-quarters free-for-all of stabbing and struggling rather than any organized formation.
  • The party sensed cliques among the crew, including hands who had served under the ship's previous captain, Maynard, before Barrows took command.
  • A stowaway had been living in a crate in the hold for approximately a week, armed and with tools (lock picks), posing a significant threat to the ship's magazine.
  • Word spread among the crew that Werner and Mani were behind foiling the bomb boats, earning the pair a measure of quiet extra respect.
  • Captain Barrows revealed the secret mission of the "Advance": to sail to an uncharted island where Captain Maynard was lost, to investigate the Southern Navy's unexplained power over natural elements like wind and sea. He disclosed that many crew members' identity papers had been stolen while the ship was in port, that the "Advance" had left port alone rather than with the fleet, that he had personally witnessed the Southern Navy command wind and sea in battle, and that Maynard's own logs and writings were never recovered after his disappearance — all of which the Admiralty, which ordered this mission, could not explain.
  • Days into the voyage, with nothing but open ocean in every direction, the party realized none of them knew their heading; Werner, drawing on his own navigation background, confirmed the ship was sailing west-southwest.
  • The PCs discussed the nature of magic in their world, generally understanding it as miracles bestowed by "The Two." A bystanding sailor's surprised reaction to a small demonstration of Cosimo's power underscored the risk of being seen, and the party decided to be cautious about revealing their own magical abilities, preferring to wait for a critical moment.
  • Riu and Cosimo shared knowledge about different orders of priests, including militant "Censures" — smaller, more fiery clerics tasked with enforcing righteousness and rooting out anathema, historically renowned as elite fighters in battles for the kingdom. Priests are not normally seen armed except while traveling between postings, and typically travel and officiate in pairs.
  • The party noted the presence of two priests and a red-haired youth observing their departure from The Capitol, with the youth pointing directly at their ship, and connected the sighting to Stick Stab's earlier mention of a red-haired youth, whom Stick Stab had shown open hostility toward, saying it wouldn't trouble him if harm came to them. They speculated the bombing attempts were likely the work of a Southern sabotage cell targeting Northern shipping broadly, since a second, unrelated ship had also been targeted.

Items Gained

  • Knowledge of the "Rules and Regulations of the King's Navy," including a printed copy handed to Knick Nab to post by the main hatchway below decks.
  • A set of lock picks (taken from the subdued stowaway, subsequently handed over to an officer).
  • A packet of dense, unfamiliar food rations (taken from the stowaway, given to Riu for examination).

Items Lost

  • One Coin of Fate (expended by Mani).