Chapter 2 - Session 5

The Pygmies of Bitterroot Isle and Hans's Escape

Events and Actions

The party, stranded on a small, flat island in the Channel Islands (Bitterroot Isle) after a naval battle, spotted mysterious lights flickering in the dark on two separate occasions during the night, prompting speculation that it might be a hooded lantern. Werner De Rendal had his men load their captured muskets and pistol and position the cannon, charged with canister, to cover the beach, while Knick Nab slipped out alone to investigate; his approach was noisy at first, and though he pressed on more carefully, a thorough search of the surrounding scrub turned up no trace of the light or whoever carried it. Werner tried to recall any island legends of wandering lights, but nothing came to mind. At dawn, before setting out again, Riu treated the badly injured prisoner Hans so he could be moved without bleeding, and the party fed and watered all three captives. Werner De Rendal, Mani, and Knick Nab then followed a faint, low-lying game track inland — the kind of trail worn by small, wary animals rather than anything larger — to a hidden burrow entrance; an attempt to call out reassurances to whoever was inside went unanswered. Tied by the ankles with a rope and carrying a candle and knife, Knick Nab crawled down into it, finding a small junction roughly twenty feet in with three passages.

Gunfire erupted from their camp. Noddy's seagull, Pocket, observed Stanley, the Marine, firing at an unseen target. Some PCs rushed back, learning Stanley had seen a "man." Werner De Rendal was struck by a small stone projectile, the blow driving his forearm hard into his own chest; once he recovered, he charged toward where the shot had come from, gun raised, shouting for whoever it was to drop their weapons and surrender, but found no one there. Mani investigated, found another burrow close to the camp, and fired his rifle down it; Noddy then tried to smoke it out by packing the entrance with brush and grass and lighting it with a firebrand from the camp, though the fire caught poorly and achieved little. The party then sealed the hole with rocks to keep whatever lived there from reaching the camp unseen. Searching the area, Cosimo recognized their attacker might be connected to the Bitterroot sticks the old woman had given him and Noddy back in the Capitol. He recalled lore from a herbalore book he had once read about pygmies using Bitterroot and their extermination by the Divinity of Two roughly a hundred years ago, and the party debated whether the culprit deserved to be exterminated as an "abomination" or given the benefit of the doubt — it might even be a shipwrecked child. Cosimo ultimately deferred, agreeing to attempt peaceful contact first while reserving the option to capture the creature and hand it to the Two for interrogation and reward if that failed. With Hans teaching them a few halting words of Islander — "we mean no harm" and "here's some food" — they left an offering of food and Bitterroot at the first burrow, calling the phrases down into the dark.

Later, Werner De Rendal caught a massive Marlin — after nearly settling for a minnow — and butchered it expertly into two flawless fillets, earning the nickname "Marlin" and keeping its spike as a trophy. Someone suggested smoking the meat to preserve it, but the party settled for simply eating their fill before it spoiled; the catch fed the whole camp, including the prisoners, and some was wrapped in leaves and left as a further offering at the burrow entrance. Cosimo interrogated the prisoners Hans, Dieter, and the unnamed sailor about the Southern Navy's uncanny seamanship, probing whether their recent victory came from leaked battle plans or some mystical command of the waves — wondering aloud if Southern officers wore ceremonial robes and chanted to summon it — but learned nothing solid beyond the sailors' own sense that the Southern ships had simply outsailed them at every turn. The party also agreed to treat the prisoners more humanely, loosening their bonds during meals and giving them turns of comfort, reasoning that defeated men deserved better than to be treated like animals. As evening fell, they fortified the camp by hauling the cannon inside the perimeter, flipping the ship's boats for cover to form a small corral, and gathering in the oars.

Near dawn, while Werner and Mani were on watch, sling bullets whistled past them. Werner called the Islander phrase for peace into the dark even as he raised his gun, while Mani charged towards a spotted light, followed by Knick Nab. In the ensuing confusion, Cosimo accidentally shot Stanley in the foot, severing a toe. Riu stopped the bleeding and gave Stanley a piece of Bitterroot to chew, which visibly eased his pain. Mani and Knick Nab found the assailants had vanished into another hole. The party resolved to seal the tunnels the next morning with a smoky fire of brush and a trickle of gunpowder — a plan overtaken by events before it could be carried out.

During this commotion, the prisoner Hans cut himself free and escaped, aided by an old Islander lady rowing a small, one-man skiff with a tiller; Cosimo's knife was found missing afterward, presumably taken by Hans in the escape. The PCs gave chase in their own larger, four-oared boat despite the enemy's head start. Cosimo conjured a hideous, troll-like sea monster — scraggly hair tangled with seashells, a wide mouth full of shark-like teeth, mottled green skin, and long clawed arms — to rear out of the water in their path, roaring that it would eat them if they didn't turn back, but Hans and the old lady rowed on without flinching. After several missed rifle shots and two missed cannon shots, Hans and the lady reached the shore of the adjacent, larger, forested island (Totem Isle) and fled into the woods. The party weighed whether it was wise to follow onto unfamiliar ground where they might be badly outnumbered, but decided that recovering Hans and learning how he'd made contact with the Islanders was worth the risk. Knick Nab, Werner De Rendal, Riu, Noddy, Cosimo, and Mani beached beside the enemy's boat, tied it to their own so it couldn't be used again, and pursued inland, leaving Stanley, the gun crew, and the remaining two prisoners on Bitterroot Isle.

On Totem Isle, Noddy sent Pocket to track the fugitives while remaining with Cosimo at the boat. Mani, Knick Nab, Werner, and Riu chased into the forest, finding broken undergrowth where the pair had crashed through before the trail split; Mani and Werner went right, Knick Nab and Riu went left. Knick Nab and Riu misread the disturbed ground, wrongly concluding their quarry had doubled back toward the coast, and returned to an empty beach. Mani and Werner also lost the trail on their side. Partway up the hill beyond the treeline, Werner found a tall tree on a rocky outcropping and climbed it; from its height he could see down to the beach and along the shoreline in both directions but found no trace of habitation anywhere — no roads, buildings, or other sign of people — before spotting birds bursting from the canopy further up the slope, suggesting their quarry's direction. He and Mani decided to continue the pursuit towards that area as the session ended.

NPCs & Creatures

• Non-Player Characters (Allies/Neutral):
  • Stanley (Marine from the "Advance"; lost a toe to Cosimo's misfired shot during the second night's skirmish)
  • Unnamed gun crew (3 sailors from the "Advance")
• Non-Player Characters (Captives):
  • Hans (Southern sailor; revealed he spoke rudimentary Islander before escaping with the old lady's help)
  • Dieter (Southern sailor, leader of the enemy shore party)
  • Unnamed Southern sailor
• Non-Player Characters (Antagonists/Mysterious):
  • Unseen entities in burrows (presumed Pygmies)
  • Old Islander lady (aided Hans's escape, ferrying him across the channel to Totem Isle)
• Creatures:
  • Pocket (Noddy's seagull familiar)
  • Marlin (a very large fish caught by Werner)
  • Phantasm (a troll-like sea monster illusion conjured by Cosimo to frighten Hans and the old lady during the chase)

Locations

• Bitterroot Isle: A small, relatively flat island roughly three miles across in the Channel Islands where the PCs were initially stranded. It is characterized by scrubland, beaches, and hidden burrows dug low through the brush to avoid open ground. It is the native source of the Bitterroot plant.
• Totem Isle: A much larger, hilly, densely forested island across the channel from Bitterroot Isle — the same channel where the earlier naval battle had been fought — to which Hans and the old Islander lady fled. Its shore rises through scrub and rock into a large forested hill. From its higher ground the party found no roads, buildings, or other sign of habitation anywhere on the island.

Conflicts

• PCs investigated mysterious lights and sounds on Bitterroot Isle.
• Unseen assailants (presumed Pygmies) attacked the camp with sling bullets, injuring Werner De Rendal in the arm.
• Cosimo and Werner De Rendal/Riu clashed over how to treat the island's hidden inhabitants: Cosimo argued they were "abominations" fit only for extermination under the Divinity of Two's old decree, while Werner De Rendal and Riu argued against genocide based on hearsay; Cosimo ultimately deferred, agreeing to attempt peaceful contact first.
• Cosimo accidentally shot Stanley (Marine) in the foot with his rifle, resulting in a severed toe.
• The prisoner Hans escaped from Bitterroot Isle with the assistance of an old Islander lady.
• The PCs pursued Hans and the old lady by boat to Totem Isle. Rifle shots were exchanged during the chase, but all missed. Two cannon shots also missed.
• The party weighed the risk of pursuing Hans onto unfamiliar, possibly pygmy-inhabited ground before deciding the chase was worth it.

Learnings and Discussions

• The party confirmed a source of fresh water on Bitterroot Isle.
• Discovered hidden burrows/tunnels used by unknown inhabitants.
• Identified the Bitterroot plant on the island. Cosimo recalled its properties and historical significance from a herbalore book he had once read: used by pygmies for pain relief and possibly unlocking mystic abilities, and that the Divinity of Two had attempted to exterminate both the pygmies and the plant approximately 100 years prior.
• Comparing freshly harvested root to Bitterroot already in the party's possession confirmed, via Herbalism, that they were the same plant.
• Debated strategies for dealing with the island's inhabitants, including peaceful offerings versus more aggressive tactics like smoking them out.
• Interrogated the prisoners about the Southern Navy's uncanny success in the recent battle, probing for leaked orders or some mystical command of the waves, but learned nothing conclusive.
• Discussed and agreed to treat the prisoners more humanely, loosening their bonds during meals.
• Learned of Hans's escape and his apparent connection with an old Islander lady.
• Observed that Cosimo's phantasmal illusion did not affect Hans or the old Islander lady, and confirmed with a Detect Illusion spell that their boat itself was not an illusion.
• Recalled that two priests of the Divinity of Two, Jacque and Nicolas, were aboard the "Advance," and agreed to keep the discovery of Bitterroot secret from them given the Two's history of destroying both the plant and the people who used it.
• Made the decision to pursue Hans onto Totem Isle, leaving a contingent behind on Bitterroot Isle.

Items Gained

• A large catch of Marlin, expertly butchered into two flawless fillets, providing food for the whole camp.
• A Marlin spike, kept by Werner De Rendal as a trophy (and the source of his new nickname, "Marlin").
• A small quantity of Bitterroot, collected and tested by Cosimo via Herbalism — deliberately modest, since the party expected to leave the island before any large-scale harvest was practical.
• Three enemy boats were secured by the party prior to this session, and one was used for the pursuit.
• The small boat used by Hans and the old Islander lady, towed by the party after landing on Totem Isle.
• The enemy cannon was secured by the party prior to this session.

Items Lost

• Food rations (standard, consumed).
• Gunpowder and shot for cannon and small arms (expended).
• A portion of Marlin meat, left as an offering at the burrow entrance.
• Stanley's toe (severed due to friendly fire).
• Cosimo's knife (presumed stolen by Hans during his escape).
• One prisoner (Hans escaped).