DB05: Escape Sharde Islands

The party has fled the ruined town and are seeking escape from the Cryx. The small road should lead to a harbor, and possibly a ship that can be sailed away. Two regular Players are absent, and two new temporary Players are sitting in. They appear a few minutes into the episode, and are playing a pair of mercenaries who tend to be caught in bad situations.

The Players ran down the road with the Cryx army somewhere behind them in pursuit. The party burst into a small town that was relatively undamaged. They saw a few battered boats tied to the piers, and movement at the edges of town. The party sprinted for the docks and heard the Cryx army emerging into town behind them.  The party saw movement on the farthest boat, and a Trollkin started waving at them and casting off mooring lines.  The party needed no more encouragement and charged for the pier.

Statyxis Pirate Captain Viscera ran in front of her army, and roared at the party, initiating a brief cutscene.  She demanded to know what happened to the Iron Cask. The Ogrun Bosh remembered seeing a lone Raider run into the hold during the battle, and leave with the inscripted box.  The Captain recognized the Ogrun’s description as her First Mate Fallingblood. She turns to her army and snarled a few commands, starting with orders to alert contacts in Five Fingers to head off Fallingblood before she goes down the Dragon’s Throat. The Important Event can not continue without that Cask. She then ordered the remaining army to kill the party.

What followed was a running fight down the docks with the party sprinting for the boat with the Cryx army snapping at their heels. It would take four turns to prep the boat to sail. The Troll and Gobber, already on the boat, did most of this. The Ogrun smashed any Raiders who caught up, and everyone flat-out ran for the boat, so the Thralls and Helljacks could not quite catch up.  There was a short skirmish at the boat’s side, where the Ogrun held back the Raiders, and the nimble Bonejacks sent torrents of Venom arcing through the fight. As the party cast off, the remaining Raiders and two of the Bonejacks made running leaps to board the boat. One Raider and both Bonejacks failed, and ended up in the water.  The remaining Raiders did some damage but were brought down quickly.  The boat pulled away just as the heavier Helljacks and Thralls arrived, and the party escaped by the skin of their collective teeth.

As the fishing boat cleared the harbor, the party saw a number of massive, black Cryx warships coming around either side of the island. A third fleet appeared in front of them, but were soon recognized as a Cygnaran Naval force.  One character used a spyglass to see one of the Cygnaran captains looking back through a glass of their own. At first the Cygnaran saw the varied non-humans, Menites and Khadorans, and ordered his gun crews to take aim.  Then he saw the party’s Cygnaran Warcaster, and changed his mind and ordered boarding parties ready to take the fishing boat prisoner. 

The Cryx noticed the Cygnaran’s interest in the fishing boat, and sent most of their warships at the Cygnar Fleet, but also sent two ships to sink the Party.  The Cygnar saw the two ships leave formation, but thought they were to escort the party, so sent one warship of their own to intercept and sink everyone.  The party had one Character skilled at Sailing (Dwarf Pistoleer/Pirate) who maneuvered the chase so that the Cryx and Cygnar interecepted each other, and the party slipped away during the engagement.

The Players determined that they were in the northern Sharde Islands (Navigation rolls), and could sail due East towards the Cygnar coast.During that time, Crafting and Runescripting was done, and everyone has the opportunity to add “Sailing:1” for their career potential skills for next Occupational Skill buy.  They made landfall a couple of days later, and made their way into the walled city of Ceryl. This part of Cygnar is used to the Cryx, so the city had heavy defenses and a walled harbor. The party made their way into a civilized city and could finally feel safe.  It was a shame they could not stay a while.

The party ended up selling the fishing boat to the Harbormaster, and supplied themselves with wagon, small forge, and as much equipment and supplies as they needed to get across Cygnar to the city of Five Fingers. Contacts were made to various home offices, the Alchemist stocked up, one Character lost some gold gambling, and one of the Ogrun hung out in bars and picked up some rumors, including that of a single, small Cryx ship seen hurrying north.  The city of Five Fingers lay to the north, deep in the Bay of Stone. To get there by boat, they would need to sail around a large peninsula, then down the bay. By land, it looked like the main highway that cut straight across Cygnar and would be a faster route than sailing. They intended to follow up on the rumored Cryxian contact in Five Fingers.  Several party members had contacts of their own in that city, and they hoped to be able to intercept Fallingblood themselves.  Once fully supplied, the party set out into the Cygnaran contryside to follow the main road to Five Fingers.

For the two new Players, one character is Ogg, a massive Trollkin who usually doesn’t say much. (Mighty Trollkin Man-At-Arms/Ranger played by Tracy) The other is Bill, a Gobber who sits on Ogg’s shoulders and tells him what to do. (Intelligent Gobber Military Officer/Pistoleer played by Jonathan) Bill shoots people with his Hand Cannon, and Ogg hits people.  They were happy to get off the island alive, but irritated that the party sold their boat, and didn’t give them any of the money.  They left on their own, but will no doubt appear at random in further episodes.

Two XP for everyone!  They are now up to six Experience Points. Players got one point to add to a Stat.