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Chapter 2 - Session 3

Channel Chase and Island Ambush

Events and Actions

Following a recap of the previous session's events (including the capture of the saboteur, Ben, and Riu's healing of an injured marine), the "Advance" continued its voyage. Some crew members, including Cosimo Cellini Scivio, experienced seasickness, though his iron stomach spared him the worst of it; one of the newer midshipmen fared far worse, seen hanging over the rail and quietly ribbed by the crew for it. The party learned more about the ship's crew structure, including the officers, other midshipmen (Cedric, Giles, Wulf), and their own assigned crewmen (Burton, Hal, Odo, Mark).

Captain Barrows personally questioned Ben in the hold, where Lieutenant Conrad had already been beating him for information. Ben would admit only his name and that he had stowed away to sabotage the ship, offering nothing further even when the captain pressed him about the crate he had used to board — a question the captain punctuated with a pointed glance at the party, doing nothing to allay his suspicions of them. When the beating left Ben too battered to continue, Riu volunteered to tend him, diagnosing broken ribs, soft-tissue damage, and a concussion, and worked until he had restored much of Ben's stamina; the captain, impressed, began referring to him as "the surgeon's mate." Afterward, Knick Nab shed his marine jacket, covered his face, and talked his way past the guards to see Ben alone, wiping the blood from his face and murmuring a few words of Sanspeak in an attempt to pass himself off as a fellow agent. Ben gave no reaction, leaving Knick Nab unsure whether the message had landed; he later dropped a hint to the marines that Ben might be a Southern spy who would only open up to one of his own, though nothing came of it. A ship-wide search followed the sabotage attempt, with three teams escorted by marines combing the "Advance" stem to stern while Pocket flew reconnaissance overhead.

Riu, tasked with keeping the ship's sick-bay records for his neat penmanship, discovered that records from the "Advance's" previous, disastrous voyage were locked away and inaccessible to him. Seeking answers elsewhere, he asked Dr. Forester what had befallen the ship's earlier crew; the doctor, who had not sailed on that voyage himself, explained that the previous ship's doctor had died in a mutiny brought on by dwindling food and fresh water, after much of the crew lost faith in then-Lieutenant Barrows for what they saw as abandoning Captain Maynard. He added that the ship had been given up for lost for months before her unexpected return, and that while some reprovisioning had evidently taken place along the way, only Captain Barrows knew the particulars.

After approximately two weeks at sea, Pocket spotted a haze of land on the horizon before any lookout did, and Noddy's call carried down the length of the ship; sighting land after so long at sea always draws a crowd, and sailors crowded the forecastle to see for themselves. It was the Channel Islands — the edge of the known sea, home to scattered Islander settlements with some islands abandoned outright, and a stretch of water that would have been extraordinarily difficult to reach at all before the Great Change. Captain Barrows addressed the crew, revealing their mission was to venture past the Channels to find the previously lost Captain Maynard. He spoke of the dangers of the previous voyage and the fate of those who had mutinied.

Soon after entering the Channels, Noddy spotted a distant masthead astern and reported it to Midshipman Cedric, who confirmed the sighting himself and passed word up to Lieutenant Gunter; as the pursuer closed, her two masts, white sails, and blue pennant became visible from the crow's nest. She was identified as a Southern Navy vessel of similar size and armament to the "Advance", and Pocket flew out for a closer look to confirm she was a genuine warship rather than a mere boat. With the crew never having fired the ship's stern chasers, Captain Barrows ordered a live gunnery drill: Midshipman Giles's crew fired wildly and clipped their own ship's stern in the process, while Werner De Rendal's crew got a clean shot away, though neither had a target in range. Captain Barrows then laid out his plan to Werner: land a shore party on a nearby island with a stern chaser, hide until the pursuer passed, and open fire from the shore just before the "Advance" swung back into view to catch the Southern ship between them. Werner asked for enough elevation to sweep the enemy's decks with canister shot and was told to bring a block and tackle to manage it.

The PCs, Marine Hicks, and Werner's assigned crew were landed on the island — flat and scrubby, with rocky outcrops and marshy ground behind the sandy beach where they came ashore — and split into three groups: one hauled the boats clear and hid them, one manhandled the cannon up to a firing position among the rocks, and one scouted for cover, piling up sand and driftwood and rehearsing pistol reloads while they waited. Cosimo concealed the gun position with an illusion (Light Mirage). The Southern ship passed by unaware, but as the "Advance" began her return run, Noddy's seagull, Pocket, spotted the enemy launching a boat with four men toward the PCs' position.

When the Southern ship rounded the island's point again, Cosimo renewed the illusion and Werner ordered the cannon to fire. The first shot went wide; the second struck home, causing splinter damage; the third, canister aimed at the rigging, did little; and the fourth misfired and jammed the gun outright — the crew doused the barrel with water for fear it would explode, and Werner judged it could only be properly repaired back aboard ship. To draw the enemy's return fire away from the real gun, Cosimo also conjured a second, illusory cannon crew farther down the beach; when the Southern ship answered with a broadside, the grapeshot sailed high overhead, well wide of the actual position. Simultaneously, Cosimo created a fantasm of a musketeer further down the beach to distract the approaching enemy landing party. The "Advance" engaged the Southern ship with a broadside, scoring hits and notably killing an officer on the enemy's forecastle. The enemy ship also returned fire.

As the four-man landing party closed in, Cosimo's illusory swashbuckler — taunting them with cries of "Varlets, you have drawn but a pint of blood... your cowardice does you discredit, fie on you!" — drew their opening volley of musket and pistol fire away from the real party. With their weapons spent and reloading, Werner threw a javelin at the nearest sailor, catching him in the forearm and disrupting his reload, while Mani put a crossbow bolt into a second. Noddy cast Confusion on the same sailor Werner had javelined, and Riu wrapped Werner in a Blur to sharpen his defenses. The session ended there, with one sailor still closing on the shore party with a drawn saber as the naval battle continued offshore.

NPCs & Creatures

  • Captain Barrows (Captain of the "Advance")
  • Ben (Captured saboteur, interrogated and healed by Riu)
  • Dr. Forester (Ship's doctor)
  • Lieutenant Conrad (Seen interrogating Ben)
  • Lieutenant Gunter (Mentioned on deck)
  • Midshipman Cedric (Senior midshipman)
  • Midshipman Giles (Seasoned midshipman)
  • Midshipman Wulf (New midshipman)
  • Crew: Burton, Hal, Odo, Mark (Assigned to Werner De Rendal)
  • Master Gunner Hubert
  • Priest Jacque (Senior priest)
  • Priest Nicolas (Junior priest, often seasick)
  • Marine Hicks (Part of the shore party)
  • Sergeant Vasquez (Marine sergeant)
  • Marines Hudson and Drake
  • Pocket (Noddy's seagull)
  • Four unnamed Southern Navy sailors (enemy landing party)
  • Southern Navy ship's crew (engaged in naval combat)

Locations

  • The "Advance" (frigate)
  • The Channel Islands (the edge of the known sea; home to scattered Islander settlements, with some islands abandoned outright; would have been extraordinarily difficult to reach before the Great Change)
  • An unnamed island within the Channel Islands (site of the ambush; flat and scrubby, with rocky outcrops and marshy ground near the sandy beach where the shore party landed)

Conflicts

  • The "Advance" was pursued by a Southern Navy ship.
  • The PCs' shore party engaged the Southern Navy ship with a cannon, aided by an illusory decoy cannon crew that pulled the enemy's return broadside wide; the real cannon eventually jammed.
  • The "Advance" engaged in a naval battle with the Southern Navy ship, exchanging broadsides. An enemy officer was killed.
  • An enemy landing party of four sailors advanced on the PCs' position. Cosimo's illusory decoy drew their first volley; Werner De Rendal wounded one with a javelin, Mani wounded another with a crossbow, and Noddy confused the sailor Werner had already wounded, before the session ended with the last sailor still closing in with a saber.

Learnings and Discussions

  • The party learned more details about the "Advance's" crew, hierarchy, and armament, confirming she carries twelve guns, plus two stern chasers, two bow chasers, and four swivel-gun mounts (two currently fitted).
  • Captain Barrows elaborated on the mission to find Captain Maynard and the perils of the previous voyage, including a mutiny; Dr. Forester separately told Riu that the previous ship's doctor had died in that mutiny, brought on by a lack of food and fresh water and the crew's loss of faith in then-Lieutenant Barrows.
  • Riu discovered that the "Advance's" sick-bay records from her earlier, disastrous voyage are locked away and inaccessible to him.
  • Asked casually by a curious Cedric about Captain Barrows's history, the party stuck to their agreed official story crediting Knick Nab (the "cabin boy") for the recovery of the stolen papers that led to Barrows's acquittal, omitting the killings they were involved in during that earlier affair.
  • Cedric explained that only two routes lead back from the seas beyond the Channels: a southern route currently hostile and inadvisable, and a longer, harder northern route — the one the "Advance" used to limp home from her previous voyage, made worse by the crew not knowing their own position. He also mentioned a northern-held port within the Channels used mainly as a freshwater stop for ships heading further west.
  • The party discussed tactics for the shore ambush, including the use of Cosimo's illusion magic.
  • Werner De Rendal was placed in command of the shore party.
  • The PCs learned about the capabilities and limitations of their cannon and Cosimo's spells in a combat scenario.
  • Noddy's seagull, Pocket, proved useful for reconnaissance and impressed a skeptical crewman with obedience tricks that convinced him it truly was a trained pet.
  • The Channels see enough legitimate naval and commercial traffic that piracy is a dangerous trade there in wartime, and the Southern Navy is not known to employ privateers, which made the shadowing ship's purpose puzzling.
  • The party observed that the ship's two priests, Jacque and Nicolas, lead two prayer services a day attended by most of the crew who are not on duty.

Items Gained

  • Marine Hicks acquired two grenades ("granados") from the ship's armory before the shore mission.
  • The PCs in the shore party were issued pistols, rifles, a cutlass, a rapier, and a main-gauche, along with shovels, rope, a bag of rations, and a block and tackle from the ship's armory and stores.

Items Lost

  • The cannon used by the shore party became jammed after a misfire; the crew doused it with water to prevent it exploding, and Werner determined it could not be repaired without proper shipboard tools.