OSR: Pirates of the Merabaha, Interlude

Charles Derwent, natural philosopher, sat cross-legged on the sand. Leather-bound notebooks surrounded him, their waterlogged pages slowly drying in the merciless heat.

"It was then," he said in Wexlish to no one in particular, "that I began to suspect that the crew of the Magnificent were pirates."

"We sailed to the east coast of Chult. The Captain - that was, Captain Margarita Duerte - obtained a Letter of Marque from the governor. There was a terrible battle with some pirates, but we prevailed. Well, I say, 'we', I had very little to do with it. I was busy you see. Looking after the tortoises."

Charles' small audience nodded appreciatively.

"The crew of the Venture - that was, a sister-vessel to the Magnificent, a Ranstead cargo transport, were all slaughtered, but somehow we made it back to Port Nyanzaru. And then we sailed north, far north, to the Merebaha Islands." Charles paused to flip the pages of his notebooks, exposing freshly blurred notes to the sky.

The Things We Do for XP - Oorlof

"There was something about... Handsome John. Yes. He was a pirate, or a lord of pirates, I'm not entirely sure. The captain of the vessel that attacked us had once sailed with him and," he said, then paused as if trying to remember an exact phrase. "And before he died, he said that none but Handsome John could claim his life, and that anyone else who tried would be cursed. That was it. Superstitious nonsense, but the crew took it very seriously. The Captain too. She spent most of the voyage in her cabin. Oh yes, she did kill that man. And... well, it must have been coincidence."

"But first there were sirens," he said again, after another very long pause. "The Captain tried to sail south of Shipkiller Rock, past Siren Point. There was... fog. And screaming. The Captain, the Quartermaster, that is, Thorfina, and some of the other crew went ashore."

"He... found us in the fog. Handsome John. Took the ships without a shot fired. I don't know what happened on shore, but only the Captain returned. I had to let Lemmy, Dexter, and Charlie out of their cages. They flew away. I hope they're safe." Charles' audience nodded again, waiting for the strange little man to continue his tale.

"He hung some of the men. Drove the women ashore and left them at Siren Point. I couldn't say why. Then, when we reached open sea, he offered to maroon me - as a gentleman - and the Captain - as a Captain - on this little island. I went for the boat, but... I'm afraid the Captain went for his throat. You see, he kept a noose around it, the same one that hung him on the gallows."

Another set of pages. Another pause. "I don't know how the fight ended. But I fear the Captain did not survive."

"That's... where ye'd be wrong," a voice rasped from the shore. Every head swiveled. By the white-hot light of the noon sun, a mangled corpse slowly dragged itself out of the water. Her torso was shredded. Ribs and organs protruded, mixed with sand and seaweed. Half her face was gone. But the voice was unmistakable.

"Captain... Margarita Duerte..." the corpse rasped, barely audible below the screams of the island's inhabitants, "at yer service. Listen close... for I have not much time. I know the means to slay Handsome John and reclaim my stolen treasure. The... noose around his neck..."

"Kill it!" someone shouted. A sword flashed, but simply rebounded off the corpse's flesh, as if struck against an anvil. "God's wounds! We'll build a fire."

"This mortal fire," the corpse groaned, "is as nothing compared to the... fire that awaits me."

"Not listening. Logs logs logs."

Lada Da

And as the crackling flames rose higher, consuming the laughing corpse within, the strangers on the island gathered together again at a safe distance.

"We should leave," one said. "Charles brought us a boat. If we could make a sail, we could probably make the mainland in 2 or 3 days."

"I think there are enough palm leaves for a sail," another said.

"How many times do I have to say it, I don't speak your stupid languages!", the third replied. "Does anyone here speak Valoch? What was that little man saying? Who is he? Why was that corpse talking? Anyone?"

OSR: Pirates of the Merabaha, Session 10, 11, & 12

Last session, the adventure capitalists of the good sloop Magnificent visited the Isle of Dread. It went about as well as the name suggests. The survivors are:
Captain Margarita Duerte, Tarraconese blacksmith and practitioner of the dark arts. Newly elected captain.
Thorfina von Dusseldorf, banker and adventurer from the Ranstead League. Elected quartermaster for her financial literacy.
Celeste, princess from the Isle of Dread, stowaway, and diplomat.
The Crew. Yes, the Crew are a PC. Some are seasoned pirates, some are Chultan villagers.

With a hold full of rubies and assorted other treasures, the Magnificent sailed east, trying to catch the equatorial winds back to Chult. With hurricane season beginning, their journey was risky, but Thorfina seemed to have almost supernatural command of the winds and weather. She explained it as "accurate charts", yet never seemed to be entirely sure which way was north.

One week out from the Isle of Dread, the crew spotted a sail on the horizon. Tacking rapidly, the pirate sloop drew up, fired a few warning shots, and rapidly boarded the merchant vessel. It was a Ranstead League ship full of building supplies and glass trade goods. While the crew picked through the cargo holds, Captain Margarita interrogated the Venture's officers. It turned out they'd been sent to set up a trading post on the Isle of Dread,

"We were just there," Margarita said. "You don't want to go."
"Why not?" their Captain, Oris Ghant, asked peevishly."It's called the Isle of Dread! Not the 'Isle of Vast Profits, Women, And Palm Wine!' " 

Margarita proceeded to spin a tale of woe, assisted by the crew (and their jars of captured spiders). Giant venemous snakes. Crocodiles the size of frigates. Lizards the size of castles. Volcanoes, floods, hail. Belligerent men and astonishingly ugly women (Celeste was kept out of sight). They'd been lucky to escape with only half the crew dead, Margarita lied, and no profit whatsoever.

They'd let the Venture and her crew go free, of course, but they'd be going to an early grave. Why not take up piracy instead? The Venture wouldn't need to fight, just haul supplies and assist with deceptions. The crew would receive full shares, plus a bonus once they reached Port Nyanzaru.

The Ranstead league sailors debated for several hours, watched by a few pirate guards but otherwise free to associate and plan. On the advice of their captain, they decided to turn pirate.

A month later, the grey line of the Mistcliff appeared on the horizon. With supplies still high, the Captain decided to follow the cliffs north, as much as the wind allowed, and sail straight for Port Nyanzaru.

One cold night, when the fog was lighter than usual, the lookouts spotted lights in the fog. The charts revealed no settlement on the coast; the whole Mistcliff was one long line of ship-wrecking cliffs and false bays as far as cartographers were concerned. After taking accurate star-charts, the Magnificent moved closer to the cliffs.

They sailed, unopposed, into a broad bay. The stump of an ancient castle or lighthouse, built from cyclopean stone blocks, loomed over a small city.  

"A secret Tarraconese fortress?" Thorfina asked, staring through the spyglass.
"Could be a slaver port, but look at those docks. Small, even for our ships," Margarita replied. "No cannons on the fort. I think this is a Chultan city. Tell the crew to wash. We'll anchor in the bay and land at first light."

That night, the crew rested uneasily, their cannons pointed at the Isle of Barzon.

Isle of Barzon Mini-Review

The adventure/location is very short, just 2.5 pages. The language is evocative. There's no need to get up to speed with the backstory of the world. "So it was on the Isle of Barzon, a small island ruled by an empire not much larger..." The writing is slightly disjointed, but I supposed it has to be to describe an entire city in a few lines of text.

I'm not sure why, but this location feels so much more alive than The God Unmoving. It could be the rivalries implied (never stated) by the text: the citizens against their overlords, the ruler against the powerful merchant, ruler against the elites. It feels like it's set up to explode; almost everyone the PCs talk to has a use for some cunning rogues. It could be the little hints for adventurers: weird insects, strange drugs, powerful magic items.

I don't know. But it worked very well, especially since I needed to adapt it to a low-magic setting on the fly. Go check out the Knockspell zines.

Adventures in Barzon or The Great Wasp Caper

1. With the Venture's dozen cannons aimed at the city, the Majestic moored to one of the docks. Her crew was met by an enormous crowd: soldiers, artisans, curious onlookers, nobles under woven umbrellas.

2. In her best outfit, augmented by a few rubies and gold chains, Margarita stepped onto the dock. A Chultan crewmember acted as translator (badly; the languages shared a few words but very little else). The Captain explained that they were "peaceful traders" from "across the sea."

3. The Barzonites explained that any visitors to the city would need a military escort, and that the strangers could not carry weapons. The Captain agreed, hoping the isolated Barzonites would not recognize flintlock pistols. Though they seemed unfamiliar with gunpowder, they seemed to know what a pistol was. The crew had to content themselves with dozens of smuggled daggers, grenades, strangling wire, poison spiders, and incendiaries.

4. While official gifts were sent to the city's mysterious ruler (a certain Svanth Dorl, who remained hidden in his fortress-palace) and Margarita did her best to distract the bulk of the soldiers, a small delegation was invited to the home of the richest merchant in town.

5. Ullkmaran the Polyarch provided wine, strange mind-dulling drugs, and samples of the local tapestries and "God-Fragments". The "Gods" were giant wasps who descended on "the unworthy." Subtly, Ullkmaran hinted that the wasps might not be divinely guided, and that somehow Trademaster Dorl's enemies always ended up as wasp-food.

6. Thorfina negotiated a trade deal: glass and iron goods from the Venture for tapestries, insect parts, and a whole lot of drugs. The crew explored the city, trying not to get into any fights or steal anything. They discovered that trade with the "world beyond" was very rare, and sailing ships completely unknown. Barzon was a coastal outpost of a large and fractured empire.

7. The next day, the party was invited to dine with the Trademaster. Wary of a trap, they ensured all cannons were loaded and discreetly aimed at the castle. Margarita, Thorfina, Celeste, and two Chultan translators dressed in their finest stolen clothes and, with a few more small gifts, proceeded in grand style to their appointed meeting.

8. The half-collapsed palace of the Trademaster was, it seemed, also the home of the wasps. The Trademaster, a dumpy fur-clad Chultan and his vacant-eyed wives, greeted the traders with ceremony and reciprocal gifts. At dinner, roast meat and strange vegetables were served between courses of mind-numbing drugs. To avoid rudeness, the pirates inhaled thick grey clouds of the drug, and their ambitious plans became fuzzy and distorted.

9. With an amorous look in his eyes, Svanth Dorl invited the crew to share the "cool air" of his balcony. On soft couches, with servants bringing in plates of candied fruit and fresh drugs, the pirates attempted to put their plan into action. They fed the Trademaster rum (distilled liquor being unknown on the island), while pretending to imbibe more drugs and extra rum. Once the Trademaster was in a near catatonic state, Margarita stumbled off "to use the little lady-captain's room". She immediately started searching rooms.

10. The Captain found the Trademaster's bedroom, but was spotted by a servant. With amorous designs of his own he advanced towards the Captain. To allay suspicion, she flopped onto the bed, clearly inviting the very excited servant closer. Then she brained him with a candlestick.

11. Searching the room, stepping over the groaning and very confused servant, she found a cabinet containing some local currency, a few bottles of drugs, and a mysterious grey cube. As one familiar with strangeness and the hidden ways of the world, she immediately identified it as valuable loot, and probably the item used to control the giant wasps.

12. Hastily making their apologies, the pirates fled. They anchored the Magnificent a few hundred feet off the docks and waited for dawn.

13. The next day, every soldier in the city menaced the pirates from the docks. The Trademaster was apoplectic, demanding their immediate surrender. Margarita retaliated, saying that the gods would punish the erring Trademaster.

14. The witch-captain used the wasp control cube to draw a huge swarm from the fortress and directly onto the Trademaster. His remains were scattered into the sea.

15. The city panicked. Citizens remained indoors unless promised safe passage by a pirate. The Magnificent and the Venture docked, loaded up the last of the trade goods, and explored the city in full safety. The crew, terrified of the Captain's unnatural powers, kept their hands to themselves. They found Ullkmaran the Polyarch and his servants were already looting the fortress. A hastily negotiated trade deal saw the pirates sail away with chests full of silver and an ancient mummy in a casket, while Ullkmaran the Polyarch discreetly received the wasp-controlling cube... and a long list of gunpowder-based threats should he ever turn the wasps on the pirates.

Newly enriched, the pirates sailed north. The great Tarraconese city of Port Nyanzaru beckoned. The three terror-folk captured, hatched, and reared by the former captain were now as large and as intelligent as parrots. Many crewmembers sported scars or stump-fingers from their razor-sharp bites.

Rounding the top of the Mistcliff, the party sailed into Port Nyanzaru as fully legitimate traders. After all, Captain Margarita spoke fluent Tarraconese, and with a bit of forged paperwork the Venture could pass for one as well. Customs officers were heavily bribed.

At last, the pirates had returned to a "proper" civilization. While the crew spent money unwisely and freely, Thorfina sold their tapestries and insect parts for a tidy profit, buying ivory, gold, and indigo to trade in the Merabaha Islands.

In an elaborate scheme, the pirates sold the ancient mummy to a rich Tarraconese collector. The mummy came with an ominous black wax candle. The Captain spread a rumour that the candle, once lit, would lead the bearer to great wealth. Either the collector or one of his servants lit the candle one evening. Pirate spies reported screams and thumping from inside the mansion.

The Captain and officers raced to the scene, broke in through the kitchen, and (to universal horror) discovered the mummy had come to life! Its dried remains proved night-impervious to shot and sword. Thinking quickly, the Captain grabbed the still-lit black candle and used an ancient spell to trap the mummy's soul inside. The corpse collapsed; the Captain snuffed out the candle flame.

Note: When I wrote the Weather Witch class, I didn't have a definitive canonical use for draw out soul. The player pointed out that the target must be "dying or extremely recently dead". Since the mummy was indisputably extremely recently dead (why, it was dead as a doornail only a few hours ago), the spell should work on it.

The crew set the mansion on fire and, assisted by a few servants, hastily "rescued" all the valuables. A few days later, the Captain locked the candle in an iron chest and threw it into the sea.

After a botched ransom scheme, the Captain tested her soul-drawing powers again. This time, she bound the soul of a dead Tarraconese merchant into a "a small item that belonged to them"; the merchant's heart. The merchant sat upright, moved, and viciously attacked the crew like a rabid animal. Chopping it to fragments helped, but the individual parts kept moving. Convinced and terrified by the Captain's unnatural powers, the crew locked the fragments in a chest and stored it in the hold.

While waiting for hurricane season to end, the pirates looked for costal work. A merchant hired them to investigate a settlement on Chult's northwest coast. According to passing merchants, Port Castigliar had taken a direct hit from a hurricane. The "merchant sailors" of the Majestic and the Venture were to make a full report, recover any of the merchant's property, and return.

Before departing, the pirates picked up a very unusual passenger. Charles Derwent, Wexlish naturalist, had arrived in Port Nyanzaru while Tarracon and Wexland were at peace. Now they were at war, and the slightly distractable naturalist had languished under a mild form of house arrest. The pirates offered him a job aboard the Majestic. He was fascinated by the leather-winged terror-folk and agreed without even haggling for payment.

And so, holds lightened but purses full, the Majestic and the Venture set sail once more. What would the find on the far coast of Chult? Would the Captain's blatant witchery catch up with her?

Find out next time.

OSR: A General History of the Notorious Sea-Robber and Murderer Known as Handsome John

Here's a piratical rumour table (of sorts). It's a ramble overheard at a tavern or pieced together over the years. Is any of it true?

Handsome John?

It's a strange tale, laddie, a strange and twisted tale. Pass us a drink. Handsome John was a bosun in the Wexlish navy. He served in the wars and fought bravely but was terribly scarred by fire and shot.
       I heard he was born that way, and that the war just made him hard and cruel.
He turned mutineer and pirate. Killed his captain and officers, rallied the crew, and sailed under no flag. The navy caught him.
      Some say he was betrayed.
             I heard he tried to sack Portsham.
At his trial, he showed no remorse or fear. When sentence was passed he said only this. "My life is not yours to take."
     No no, I heard he said, "I will live longer than any of you. As long as free men sail the sea I cannot die."
            Liar. He said, "Why do you call me a criminal and condemn me to death? Because I killed butchers of men, because I chose to sail under my own orders instead of filling the pockets and dying at the command of fat lords and armchair admirals. Hang me then and be done with it! This world is full of wickedness."

They sentenced him to hang. As a mutineer and pirate, for three days and nights he hung from the scaffold. But when the hangman came to cut him down, Handsome John wasn't dead!
     He hanged the hangman from his own scaffold. Killed the admiral who sentenced him and anyone who gave evidence. 
He vanished from Wexland. Appeared in the Merebaha Islands with his ship the Petition. Sailed for ten years, a true monster on the waves. They say he'd take his prey at night, by the light of a crescent moon. Sail right up, fire a warning shot, and force a surrender before the crew could get to their guns. He'd hang the officers and crew from the 'arms. No survivors, unless he wished to take on fresh crew.
        You could see the ships for miles. The birds, you see, feasting on the hanging bodies.
               And if he run out of rope, he used the guts of the crew.

Ten years he sailed. He sacked Longport and burned New Imbria to the ground. And then he died. His crew dispersed, his ship left as a memorial or sunk, his treasure lost.
       He died at the hands of his own quartermaster. Poison.
              No, it was Captain Louxbury who caught him. They fought a duel on the deck of the Petition as she burned. Louxbury took Handsome John's head and held it up for the crew to see.
                    But he didn't die! The head kept mouthing curses and rolling its eyes. Captain Louxbury locked it in a chest. They say it's in a monastery now on some lonesome island, where ten monks pray night and day to keep Handsome John's words from reaching the Devil.
                           Some say he's not dead at all.

What did he look like?

Horrible. That's the only word for it. He was broad and tall, stronger than any man I've seen. He could tear a coco-nut in half without straining or pick up a cannonball as you or I might pick up a walnut.
       A huge beard, burnt in places, patchy in others where scars met on his jaw. And two tiny blue  eyes, the purest blue, like the sea itself in some tranquil lagoon.
                He wore the noose that hung him 'round his neck always.
                        And he carried a burning sword. That's what they say, at least. A sword of fire.

His crew?

The scum of the earth. Convicts, exiles, madmen.
       I heard his crew weren't living men at all, but hanged men too, hanged men the Devil raised up to follow his servant.
             To join, a sailor needed to commit a murder in cold blood, take a woman by force, trample on a holy book, drain a pint of brandy, and fight another man for a position in the crew. They fought with daggers; the one who survived kept both.
And once you joined his crew your soul belonged to Handsome John. Not to God, not to the Devil, but to he, and only he could send you to your rest. 

His ship?

The Petition. An old slaver ship, low and broad.
       I heard it was a frigate from the last war that'd carried prisoners of war. The captain made sure they never reached their prison. "Illness claimed them", he'd say, though the decks ran with blood. 
              No, it was a slaver. When Handsome John took her he burned the slaves alive and caulked the hull with their ashes.

His treasure?

They say he buried it on the Island of Tears, not marked on any chart or map. Only Handsome John could tell someone how to find it.
     No, that wasn't it. If you had a tattoo made from the black sand of the island, you could always return. 
              The treasure's at the bottom of the sea and the Petition with it. Or else it was carried back to Wexland in secret.

OSR: Pirates of the Merabaha, Session 8 & 9

Last session, the reckless pirates of the good sloop Magnificent explored a mysterious pyramid, sunk a Tarraconese ship, stole some gold, looted some supplies, and decided to sail for the Isle of Dread.

Captain Beatrix, a Tarraconese carpenter and hustler. Leads by confidence and example.

John Wex the Bastard, a literate sailor with a love of tall tales.

Margarita Duerte, Tarraconese blacksmith and secret practitioner of the dark arts.

The Crew. Yes, the Crew are a PC. Some are seasoned pirates, some are Chultan villagers.

Lorenzo Nuti

The Magnificent sailed west, trying to catch unfamiliar winds and reach the fabled Isle of Dread. Their fragmentary charts showed the island's latitude but not its longitude; Captain Beatrix hoped she had procured sufficient supplies for the journey.

Three weeks west of Chult, the crew spotted a small rocky island not marked on any chart. Hopes of turning it into a pirate hideout were quickly dashed. The "island" was, in fact, the back of a giant sea-turtle. While John Wex was delighted to see an ancient myth confirmed, the rest of the crew insisted on sailing away as quickly as possible.

After another two weeks as sea, the ship sailed through a group of small wooden boats. Lit only by the moon, the crew peered over the rails at the swarm of empty vessels. "Shipwreck?" Margarita speculated. John Wex volunteered to board one and search for clues. To his shock and dismay, he discovered the boats were, in fact, boat-shaped lobster-things floating on the surface of the sea. He escaped with a few deep scratches. The crew opened fire from the deck of the Magnificent and steered away from the false-boats.

"This sea is cursed," John Wex said, spitting over the side.

"They don't call it the 'Isle of Happy Fun Times' ", Margarita sighed.

After three more weeks of calm sailing, with fresh water running low and "dancing rice" infesting the flour, the lookout spotted an unmoving bank of clouds on the horizon. The next day, the top of a plateau and a thin green line of trees moved into view. "Land ho!" the crew shouted.

"Don't be rude," Captain Beatrix said, "we'll make land when we make land."

The pirates approached the island from the southwest, staying well off the shoals and steering for the distant smoke of cooking fires. There were no signs of "proper" civilization; no other ships, no docks, no church towers. Several peaks on the island appeared to be volcanic. The rest was jungle, rocky spires, and mist-shrouded highlands.

Three small canoes rowed out to meet the Magnificent as she sailed east. The olive-skinned locals didn't speak any language the crew could understand, but Beatrix managed to convey non-hostility, friendly intentions, and willingness to trade. The canoes lead the sloop to a small village. None of the islanders appeared over-awed by the ship, indicating that this wasn't their first visit from an old-world vessel.

Very wisely, Beatrix decided on an initially cautious policy. She offered iron goods and even weapons to the local leader, an imposing and stout gentleman with a few gold rings and piercings. Slowly convinced of the crew's good will, more and more sailors were allowed off the ship. The villagers organized a feast of pork, fish, and a hundred kinds of mysterious plants. The crew ate heartily.

After the feast, the crew was delighted to discover that many of the locals were willing to offer more than food for iron and rum. The crew stripped the Magnificent of every small portable iron good they could find. For the rest of the journey, the entire crew - apart from the captain and quartermaster - ate their meals using one spoon passed from hand to hand.

Two days later, more canoes arrived from other islands to examine the curious ship and scruffy-bearded pirates. The new arrivals brought an interpreter; a captured slaver from an ill-fated raid. The slaver cursed and swore and hopped in circles, demanding freedom and vengeance. Captain Beatrix wrung all the information she could out of him, used him as a translator, found out the locals got their gold from "the Forbidden Island" to the north, thanked him, and sent him back into captivity.

The next morning, the Magnificent sailed north through the island channels. The much larger "Forbidden Island" was cut off from the rest of the chain by a huge basalt wall, built by techniques no old-world mason could fathom. Each block was the size of a cottage, fitted without mortar and carved without chisel marks. The crew stocked up on supplies, loaded their guns, and marched through the shallow bay on the north side of the wall. It was a grand expedition to the Isle of Dread.

It went about as well as you might expect.

Halil Ural

1.While crossing the bay, several crew members are devoured by giant crocodiles.
2. The party tried following an ancient half-overgrown road. They encountered a truly gigantic four-legged lizard that seemed to breathe acidic fog. They fled into the jungle and got lost.
3. While making camp, John Wex discovers a buried structure. It appears to be some sort of dry well or air shaft with an iron grate at the bottom. The group ignores it and settles down for the night.
4. The next day, John Wex and two pirates descend into the underground structure. They find a large frog idol with ruby eyes. John pries out one of the eyes, releasing a stream of clear liquid. He pries out the other eye, doubling the liquid flow, then decides to test if it's flammable by touching it with his torch.
5. The resulting explosion kills one of the crew member, destroys John's left eye, right arm, and most of his skin. Screaming and flailing, John is hauled to the surface and given the best available medical treatment: rum and rag bandages.
6. That night, several crew members are attacked by "ghoul-like" humans from the air shaft. The pale cannibals are driven back.
7. The crew mounts a full expedition into the underground structure. John Wex and two crew members are left on the surface.
8. The expedition disables a pit trap, discovers evidence of more ghoul-people, and finds a gigantic spiral staircase leading downwards. They descend and are attacked by a huge flying snake monster.
9. An epic fight ensues. The crew take many, many casualties. Captain Beatrix is swallowed by the snake and dies. Margarita, with near-suicidal bravery, destroys the creature's three ruby eyes, turning it back into stone. The creature's blood solidifies into rubies. The surviving crew members are rich beyond their wildest dreams.
10. On the surface, John Wex and his minders are attacked by ghoul-creatures. John decides to descend into the underground structure to search for the crew; they should have returned by now.
11. Unaware of the now-reset pit trap, John Wex falls in. A 8" iron spike punches through his head, poking out his other eye and shattering the socket. He is rescued by the crew.
12. Three days later, the remaining survivors drag both John Wex and huge sacks of rubies back to the basalt wall.
13. More crew members die to deadly spiders in camp. Their bodies are used to distract the crocodiles. The venomous spiders are stored in jars for later use.
14. Much diminished, the pirates flee the Isle of Dread for the safety of the Magnificent.

Blind, miserable, and on death's door, John Wex insists on being left with the islanders. He hoped his share of rubies and some hoarded gold will be enough to make his final days pleasant, or possibly enough to fund a slow and painful recovery.

The surviving crew elected Margarita Duerte as Captain.

Another group of islanders "trade" one of their captives to the pirates; a banker captured by the slavers and briefly held for ransom. Thorfina von Dusseldorf was delighted to be rescued. She was less delighted to find her saviors were pirates who immediately elected her quartermaster "for her figuring with numbers was beyond the knowing of the rest of us."

At Margarita's direction, the Magnificent set sail back to Chult. One last reminder of their time on the Isle of Dread reared its head after they were out to sea. A princess of the islands, named Celeste by the crew to avoid learning a new language, had crept aboard to see the world. Her haughty manners and strange beauty entranced the crew. Captain Margarita, baffled and a bit annoyed, tried to teach her as much Tarraconese and sailing knowledge as she could.

With sacks full of rubies resting in the hold, the pirate crew could now afford anything they could imagine. But would they live to spend their treasure, or would the unforgiving sea claim them?

Find out next time.

Martin Seidl

Notes: I've glossed over a lot of the interactions with the islanders. There were names, factions, etc, but I cant find that page of notes. No "zombie masters" or stuff like that, just a culture trying to deal with an outside context problem. The Isle of Dread felt a bit like Tahiti to me, so I took that as a starting point. And yes, the crew (despite being mixed-gender and fond of free association) really did trade all the ship's cutlery for sex. There is precedent.

It was kind of amusing to have Beatrix's player go, "These people really like rum! We could trade them a lot of rum for all their valuables, maybe set up a trade route, get them hooked... oh dear."

The PCs have take a fairly negative view of slavery for various in-character reasons. They're not going out of their way to wreck the trade, but opportunities to profit by it have been vigorously declined.

When speaking in character (as the captured slaver or other NPCs), it makes sense to refer to the islanders or Chultans as "savages" or "tribesmen" or "pygmies", etc, because that's how the NPC would see them and frame the discussion. Out-of-character, I've been very careful to stick to neutral descriptions. The players, consciously or not, seem to have picked up on the distinction.

OSR: Pirates of the Merabaha, Session 7

Last session, the salt-crusted pirates of the sloop Magnificent sailed to Chult, fought some horrible flying people, met some pirates, tried to hunt giant lizards, died to giant lizards, died to tigers, and returned to their ship saddened and impoverished. The PCs are:

Captain Beatrix, a Tarraconese carpenter, engineer, and smooth talking hustler. Still captain despite having "port = left" embroidered on her sleeve.

John Wex the Bastard, a disgraced sailor with some book-learning and a head for adventure.

Margarita Duerte, Tarraconese blacksmith and (secretly) hermetic mage. 

The Crew. Yes, the Crew are a PC. Some are seasoned pirates, some are Chultan villagers convinced that a life at sea is better than a life in the giant-lizard-infested jungle. Owing to the law of conservation of competence, the Crew are only about as useful as a standard PC.

Having restocked their ship in Jahaka Bay, the Captain announced their next venture. They would sail north along the coast, anchor near the site of the "giant step-pyramid" they'd spotted on the last expedition, find a route up the cliffs, and avoid a long perilous trek through the jungle. The crew was unenthusiastic, but John Wex regaled them with tales of temples full of gold and gems the size of grapefruits.

The logbook, normally quite detailed, is blank for the entirety of the expedition. Fragmentary notes in later entries speak of "the trials of the pyramid" and the "great speaking serpent" who dwelled there. Most of the crew did not go ashore; those who did told of "terrible bewitchment". The Captain, Margarita, and John Wex returned unharmed but with no treasure and no wish to discuss their experience.

But after that day John Wex could always find true north without a compass and read the winds and tides like an open book. Captain Beatrix asked for charts to Yoon-Suin and pored over them for hours. And Margarita, always skeptical, was heard to mutter, "never cut a deal with something thou dost not understand".

Note: I adapted the Orolunga challenge from 5th Edition's Tomb of Annihilation module. The original challenge holds the players' hands in an insulting way, ensuring they can't possibly fail. The players solved the first step by chance (having gathered up some local flowers to act as bedding for Margarita's growing collection of poisonous spiders), solved stage 2 by inspecting some carvings, and solved stage 3 by more-or-less throwing everything they had at the snakes. Good proper OSR play. The Naga at the top granted wishes - the consequences were not explained. John Wex wished to be a good navigator, the Captain wished to "find a way to become the best pirate" and was given a vision of a treasure far away, and Margarita cut no deals and asked no favours.

Giving players an unexpected wish spell - even one with no monkey's-paw-type consequences, is always entertaining. The naga could only affect things in the room or provide information about the rest of the world.

The logbook could also be blank because the Captain's return to the Majestic was more perilous than expected. A Tarraconese frigate, weatherbeaten and low, had come alongside the Majestic and was conducting an impromptu trial of the crew. As Captain Beatrix, Margarita, John Wex, and a few hand-picked crew watched from shore, the Tarraconese began rigging nooses along the yardarms. Apparently the trial had not gone well for the pirates.

The Captain came up with a plan to retake their ship. The Tarraconese seemed distracted; most of their crew was on deck and at full attention. A few chosen crew could sneak aboard the Tarraconese ship through a gunport, find the powder store, and set it aflame. At the same time, John Wex, disguised as Satan himself, would leap onto the deck and terrify the superstitious sailors. In the confusion, the pirates could regain control of the Majestic and sail away. Margarita assured the Captain that John's disguise would be "almost supernaturally effective."

Unfortunately, but perhaps not unexpectedly, the plan went awry:

1. The pirates rowed out from shore and remained undetected. They moored alongside the Tarraconese ship.
2. The crew snuck aboard, found the powder magazine, overpowered the guards, and prepared to light a fuse.
3. The crew, in their enthusiasm, accidentally lit the entire room on fire. The gunpowder exploded immediately, killing several pirates but throwing the Tarraconese ship into total confusion.
4. Through the smoke rising from the hole in the hull, John Wex leapt aboard. His face had been painted red, he sported enormous horns, a pitchfork, hooves, and a long forked beard. He shouted, "The Prince of Devils is here to aid these pirates! Run! Run for your liiives!".
5. The Tarraconese sailors panicked. The pirates panicked. Everyone panicked. His disguise was surprisingly good.
6. Only the Tarraconese captain was able to act. He drew his sword, sprinted up to John, and slashes the capering devil in the leg. John fell, cursing and bleeding profusely.
7. Aboard the Majestic, Captain Beatrix took careful aim and blasted the enemy ship with cannonfire.
8. Margarita and a few crew rescued John Wex and killed the Tarraconese captain in a fusillade of pistol fire. 
9. Secretly, Margarita bound the fallen captain's soul to his large gold crucifix. She insisted on wearing the crucifix everywhere. The crew, thoroughly spooked by Margarita's behavior, didn't insist on dividing the spoils.
10. The Majestic fled as fast as it could.

Two days later, after taking on new crew and additional gunpowder Jahaka Bay, the Majestic sailed north again, this time to catch the stricken Tarraconese frigate. The crew had insisted on taking revenge, or at least looting something of value, and the Captain had agreed. They tracked the waterlogged frigate for a full day, fired off a few warning shots, then boarded her and stole everything that wasn't nailed down. The cannons were thrown over the side, with one tied to the ship's priest. "Bad luck to kill a priest," John Wex remarked, "but he was a bad sort of priest."

Enriched, well supplied, and properly satisfied, the crew were delighted when the Captain announced a new voyage. They were less satisfied by the destination. "We sail for the Isle of Dread", Beatrix said, pointing west."

Would the Majestic ever reach that ill-omened isle? Would they find riches or death? Would Margarita's crimes against God and nature go unpunished?

Find out next time.

OSR: Class: Pirate Financier

Pirate campaigns seem to have 3 stages.

1. Acquire Sufficient Ship. Go from a rowboat or no ship at all to a "decent" ship for the group's play style.

2. Acquire Sufficient Money. Get a huge score, one that removes month-to-month worries for the immediate future.

3. Acquire Sufficient Safety. Start an empire. Cut the hamstrings of the great powers and live by your own rules. The full counter-colonial heistcrawl bit.

Games can easily stall at the end of Stage 1 or Stage 2 unless the GM's got a plan for Stage 3. Sure, disasters and foolishness can strip a group of anything they've earned, but it's worth planning for the long game.

My current pirate campaign has hit Stage 3. I'm behind on the writeups, but the (surviving) PCs just got a huge stack of loot and two decent ships. They're off to forge a pirate republic. Maybe. If they survive a journey north during hurricane season.

Anyway, Daniel Dean (Basic Red) came up with the Financier Class and as usual it's excellent. Beloch Shrike (Papers & Pencils) added a few notes. Here's my GLOG-ified version, based on Arnold K (Goblin Punch)'s GLOG system adapted for a pirate campaign. It's definitely a novelty class but it might be fun.

Source unknown.

(Pirate) Financier

Starting Equipment: Secret Pistol, Dagger 
A: Driven by Profit, More Money Than Sense, Scatterbrained, +1 Attaché
B: Hirelings Shall Be Splattered, Root of All Evil, +1 Attaché
C: Obfuscate, +1 Attaché
D: Was it Southerby, Sedgwick or Sim?, +1 Attaché

Driven by Profit
The Financier starts with 1,000gp and may request up to 10,000gp (in installments of 1,000gp) from home or from any reputable bank before they are cut off. They cannot spend money on themselves except for luxuries or accommodations in civilization. All of their money must be invested in the continued success and profit of the pirate band or their ventures.

More Money Than Sense
At character generation, or when this template is selected, the Financier cannot have any Stat higher than 15. Any stats above 15 are reduced to 15. The Financier has a -5 penalty to Attack. The Financier may be elected Captain or Quartermaster but only receives XP from one share of treasure. They cannot improve Stats when they level.

Once per day, the Financier can fire their Secret Pistol during a surprise round. If they hit, the pistol automatically deals 8 damage.

Scatterbrained
Whenever the Financier wants to use an item in their inventory that's not in their 3 quickdraw slots, there's a 50% chance they've left it aboard the ship, dropped it overboard, traded it away, broke it, or otherwise ruined the item.

Hirelings Shall Be Splattered
The Financier can cower behind an Attaché to reduce the damage from one incoming attack by 2d6+2. The Attaché dies (messily). The Financier can replace the Attaché the next time they level.

Root of All Evil
The Financier gains a +1 bonus on a Reaction Roll for every 50gp they spend.

Obfuscate
The Financier has entangled the pirate crew's finances, status, cargo, and legitimacy to a truly baffling degree. If captured by an Old World power, there is a 50% chance the party and their ship will be released without harm.

Was it Southerby, Sedgwick or Sim?
In any settlement of more than 100 people, there's a 50% chance the Financier knows someone (or knows of someone) trustworthy, slightly disreputable, and completely broke: remittance men, escaped brides, travel writers, discharged officers, failed pineapple farmers, sunburnt missionaries, diplomatic widows, shipwrecked schoolmates, etc, etc.

Adam Sto

Attachés

Attachés are special hirelings. They can't vote, don't count as part of the Crew, don't require payment, and act at the Financier's direction. They're much better quality than a standard hireling of the same type. Generate names here.

Attachés have HP equal to the number of Financier templates the Financier possesses and 10 Defense. They cannot attack. They follow the Financier everywhere, even if it's inconvenient. If asked to do anything beyond their core capabilities, like tie knots, carry treasure, or reef a sail, there's a 90% chance they screw up catastrophically. Any dead Attachés are replaced when the Financier levels up, provided there's a reasonable way to recruit them. If not, they're replaced the next time the PCs reach civilization.

Valet / Lady's Maid
Valets secretly run the Financier's life. They clean, mend, assist, and schedule. The GM can use the Valet to remind the Financier of vital plot elements they've forgotten. Once per day, if the Financier rolls to use an item in their inventory and fails to find it, the Valet can automatically hand it to them.

Artist
Artists automatically know the value of unique works of art. The complete record of their adventures is worth 100gp per PC death if sold to a publisher.

Bodyguard
Bodyguards have Defense 12. If selected to take damage via Hirelings Shall be Splattered, they reduce the damage by 14 instead of rolling 2d6+2.

Biographer
Writes the history of the group. If everyone in the party dies, the new group starts with moderately accurate records of the old group, including hints to the location of buried treasure, half-finished schemes, etc.

Chef
Meals prepared by the Chef restore 1d6+2xLevel HP instead of 1d6+Level. The Chef will not prepare meals for the crew. They can evaluate the quality and worth of rations, rum or spices.

Companion
A lady or gentleman of negotiable virtue. If the crew is electing a new Captain or Quartermaster, there is a 50% chance the Financier can select the outcome of one of the elections instead. They must select both the election and the candidate before the crew begins debating.

Doctor 
Has the Surgery skill. The Doctor has a 70% chance of removing a Fatal Wound per round. Having a doctor on board during ship combat restores 1 Crew HP at the end of each round.

Fop
If the party would encounter a trap or an ambush, the Financier may choose to have the Fop blunder in instead, taking full damage or becoming the sole target of the trap or attack. The Fop can dance, write terrible poems, and mince oaths.

Lawyer
Has the Lawyer skill. If the party is on trial, the Lawyer will conduct an inspired defense. It might not help. The Lawyer knows if any act is legal or illegal by local law provided they've spent more than 24hrs in a region.

Navigator
Has the Navigation skill. Roll 1d10+ the number of Financier templates possessed. On a 4+, the Navigator knows a few vague facts about the area the PCs are visiting. On a 7+, the Navigator has basic charts. On a 10+, the Navigator has accurate charts and knows one obscure fact.

Priest
Has the Religion skill. The Priest can sooth the Financier's conscience.

Relative
Relatives are either panicky, drunken, or eccentric. They have 5 family secrets which the DM can reveal at any time. Sometimes they are useful, sometimes they start new and interesting trouble. Once per day, if there is a mundane item worth 10gp or less that the group needs, there is a 1-in-10 chance Relative has it on their person.

Translator
The Translator automatically speaks the same language as the Financier, plus Ancient Rhemish and Ancient Gronk. Roll 1d10+ the number of Financier templates possessed. On a 4+, the Translator can convert text over a few days or weeks. On a 7+, the Translator can speak a few words in the chosen language. On a 10+, the Translator is fluent in the chosen language and might be able to teach the Financier or other PCs.

Tutor
Choose two skills: Botany, Zoology, Poetry, or Literature. The Tutor can roll these skills with an Intelligence of 12. The Tutor can also wrangle disobedient children or lecture on a profoundly boring topic.

Carl Dobsky, Ship of Fools

Mechanical Notes on the Pirate Financier
This class hasn't been tested yet, so I may need to alter some bits and pieces. I wanted to avoid overlap with the Philosopher or the Smooth Talker, so some of the skills from Daniel's version were adjusted.

Weirdly, specialized hirelings are much less common in pirate games than in dungeon-crawling games. Not sure why. In a more traditional game, I'd be worried this class would become a chandelier-swinger, where all it can do is something the PCs could normally do, but I think it works here.

OSR: Pirates of the Merabaha: the Magnificent

This post is mostly naval trivia for the benefit of my players. In my piratical wavecrawl game, the PCs are currently sailing a Bermuda-style sloop.

Shipmodell.com. Lots of images of the same (beautiful!) kit.

Source unknown.

The Magnificent is a 55' single-mast sloop, originally of Tarraconese manufacture. She has a narrow hull, just over 16' at the widest point and a relatively thin keel for her class. When first built she probably carried 12 6lb cannons in two broadsides, but Captain Beatrix had her refitted to carry 4 "long-nines" facing close to dead ahead. The added weight at the prow required adjusting cargo distribution in the hold, but the Magnificent's well-drilled gun crews can lay shot after shot into the stern of a merchant ship without taking return fire.

Originally painted black (though faded to grey), the Magnificent was repainted in blue and white before her long voyage to Chult. Captain Beatrix also used her experience as a carpenter to widen the central cargo hatch and remove unnecessary walls from the lower deck. The lower deck is essentially one giant hold. The crew sleep in the spaces between cargo and stores during inclement weather or on deck on warm evenings. At the stern, the Captain's cabin (a very modest room with a folding bed and a few locked chests) sits just above the ship's armory and "locking closet", a very small room which serves as brig, private room for the quartermaster, or surgery.

In coastal waters the Magnificent could carry up to sixty pirates, but on long ocean journeys the crew is merely thirty. On paper, the ship keeps three "watches" of nine sailors, but in practice sailing arrangements are set by infighting, argument, bribes, and a great deal of shouting by the quartermaster.

The crew of the Magnificent is very mixed: naval deserters from Wexland, assorted scum from the Isla de Caracol, kidnapped fishermen, and Chultan recruits entirely new to the sea. The crew is mixed; approximately 60% men, 40% women, and extremely permissive even by the standards of most pirate ships. As Captain Beatrix put it, "I don't give a damn what they do as long as they sail well and don't drink while the sun is up."

Melbourne Smith

In a fair fight, the Magnificent is outclassed by ships of her own size, let alone larger ships with more guns and more robust rigging. Her speed is a major advantage. She can run rings around a frigate or use her shallow draft to dart up a river or around an island.

The crew have also developed an ingenious (possibly supernatural!) method of disguising the ship's profile using false sails and spare rigging, making the single-masted ship resemble a two-masted (and less nimble) square-rigged merchantman from a distance. By the time she's closed with her prey and raised the red flag of piracy it's often too late.

Final Notes
The Magnificent is significantly smaller than pirate ships in the movies, but she's fairly realistic. The only major deviation - two pairs of prow-chasers rather than sensible broadsides - is an eccentric choice, but hardly an unprecedented one.

Richard G.'s got a post on what his players are up to in their "counter-colonial heistcrawl". My game hasn't quite hit the empire-building/empire-breaking stage yet, but I'm sure it will get there.

OSR: Pirates of the Merabaha, Session 5 & 6

Last session, the scurvy dogs of the good sloop Magnificient robbed an innocent fishing village of a harmless ancestral relic, fled the long tentacles of the law, and then fled the Merabaha Islands entirely. The PCs are:

Beatrix, a Tarraconese carpenter, engineer, and smooth talking hustler. Elected captain because nobody else wanted the job; remains as captain because she's surprisingly good at it.

Imran Goldmaker, an experienced merchant and occasional pirate from the Golden Isles. The ship's quartermaster and navigator.

Nyali Utugelu, a Chultan shopkeeper turned arsonist turned gun captain. Probably the most enthusiastic pirate.

John Wex the Bastard, a disgraced sailor with some book-learning and a head for adventure.

Note: I've significantly altered Chult for this campaign. Basic notes are here (PDF).

After two months at sea, the grey line of the Mistcliff was a welcome, if slightly forbidding, sight. Imran pored over his charts, desperately trying to remember how to calculate longitude. Eventually he decided they were "some ways south of Port Nyzanzaru and some ways north of... the blank bit on the map."

The northern and eastern shores of Chult had been mapped for decades. "New Terracon", a province carved out of the jungle by legions of slaves, exported shiploads of gold, sugar, and tobacco back to the Old World. Explorers who returned from the western shore reported only cliffs, fog, and mountains of fire.

Still, Captain Beatrix reasoned, there was no point in heading north just yet. They needed supplies; there had to be a harbour somewhere along the cliff. The Magnificent turned south. Navigating by day was easy enough, but at night, with low clouds and rolling fogs reaching out to sea, the ship sometimes drifted perilously close to the black stone walls and sunken pillars of the Mistcliff. One evening, two sailors vanished from the upper rigging to the sound of wet flapping leather.

"Harpies," John Wex declared, after consulting Plinaeus the Elder's History of Nature. The crew nodded in agreement and spent the next few nights on high alert.

On the third day, the Majestic found a large and navigable bay. They anchored and sent boats to explore the thin scrap of jungle along the edge of the cliff. The scouts found a staircase carved into the rock, weaving in and out of the cliff.

The Captain selected a few sailors (and the rest of the PCs) for a scouting mission. They reached the top of the cliff before sunset and found an overgrown and decaying city. Its sole inhabitant, a decrepit crone named Anya Pu'l, spoke a Chultan dialect Nyali could understand.

According to the old woman, the city had fallen to the "flying predators, the winged men" who lived in the cliff. These creatures had eaten the inhabitants one by one, leaving only "old and rotten Anya" behind. The party was welcome to explore the city and take anything they found, "except for the things in my hut and garden and the Sacred Cistern. Don't touch the Sacred Cistern." Beatrix agreed and called up the rest of the crew, leaving behind four unhappy sailors to guard the Majestic.

That night, full of tropical fruits and celebratory rum, John Wex and Imran decided to explore the Sacred Cistern.

It could have gone better. Descending into a dank and ill-smelling well and swimming through several chambers, John Wex encountered diseased bats with clipped wings guarding a skull-filled ritual treasure room. Though he managed to escape with a few strange gold bricks wrapped in a human leather bag, he was bitten by the bats and dragged through several feet of murky water by Imran's overzealous use of ropes.

Meanwhile, one of the celebrating sailors outside was grabbed by a flying shape and hauled screaming into the night. The crew spent the rest of the night inside a rotting lodge, pistols loaded and eyes scanning the fog.

In the morning, John Wex's wounded leg had grown swollen and purple. Anya Pu'l said he'd certainly die within three days. She could cure him... for a price. She wanted the flying "terror-folk" dead and  offered basic directions to their lair. The pirates, hoping to get revenge for their dead companions, readily agreed.

After fleeing a giant frilled lizard and getting thoroughly lost, the party found the cave of the "terror folk". Accessible only from the cliffs and a tiny air chimney, the cave contained four leathery man-beasts. The winged monsters were quickly dispatched by ambush and a small cave-in orchestrated by Nyali's explosives. The party found three large eggs inside the cave, along with a few small scraps of gold and rusted iron. Beatrix decided to transport the eggs (in a protective layer of mulch) back to their camp and then onto the ship.

That evening, Anya Pu'l "cured" John Wex, but, not realizing John Wex spoke Chultan, accidentally revealed that he "probably would have lived anyway" to the stricken pirate. Just happy to be alive, John didn't press the issue. The next day, loaded with fruit, yams, and fresh water, the crew descended to the Majestic.

Notes: M'bala is taken from 5th Edition's Tomb of Annihilation. Names have been changed. The old woman is named "Nanny Pu'pu" in the module, which... yeah... no. Did George Lucas write this? Anyway, it's a pretty neat location. The hag wants to get rid of her rivals (the pterafolk) and eat people. I had her use her flying monkey minions to trick the pirates into thinking the pterafolk were attacking by night.

Happy and content, the crew sailed further south, passing around a great peninsula and turning east. There, in a fog-shrouded bay, the PCs spotted distant lights. They navigated towards them and came, buy luck and by surprise, to Jahaka Bay. They convinced the local harbour-boats that they were trustworthy pirates (via generous bribes) and had the Majestic towed into the cave-harbour.

Jahaka Anchorage was not a large town, even compared to the parlous and dissipated Porta de Caracol, but it was still a port. After a tense meeting with Captain Zaroun Al-Saryak of the Emerald Eye, the crew of the Majestic spilled into the streets of the port, drinking and laughing and spending any money they still possessed.

After a few days haggling, selling goods, and gathering rumours, Captain Beatrix suggested a hunting expedition to the jungle. She'd seen skeletons of "fearsome great lizards" and knew that their bones, completely unknown outside of Chult, would be worth a fortune to the "natural historians" of the Old World.

The expedition did not go particularly well.

Damir G. Martin

1. After climbing a small mesa, the party spotted a very distant overgrown pyramid glinting in the sun. They decided to head towards it.

2. The party crossed a swamp and spotted several "stretch lizards" the size of buildings. These lumbering beasts appeared to have "evoluvated", according to John Wex, "to put their heads as far as possible from their tails." They decided not to shoot one with Nyali's cannon. "What if the neck and tail aren't good eating?" the captain asked.

3. While cutting into the jungle again, the expedition was ambushed by a giant toothy lizard. Imran was swallowed in one gulp.

4. The rest of the crew panicked. While Beatrix bravely hacked at the thing's leg and Nyali fired every pistol and musket she could find at it, John Wex and the sailors scattered into the jungle.

5. John Wex, screaming and waving his arms over his head, ran into a Chultan village. The locals stared at him with stark amazement. He shouted (in Chultan), "Big lizard that-a-way. Come fight, get gold," scattered a handful of his hard-earned coin into the crowd, and took off running back towards the fight.

6. With the aid of the Chultans and a wildly dangerous cannon shot, the expedition managed to kill the beast.

7. Still mourning the loss of Quartermaster Imran, the crew and Chultans butchered the giant lizard and began hauling chunks of meat and bone back towards Jahaka Bay.

8. Nyali spotted a tiger stalking a group of porters in the tall grass. While it didn't seem willing to approach the long line of shouting sailors and deeply confused Chultans, Nyali decided not to risk it and shot at it with her musket.

9. The tiger killed Nyali and two Chultans before it was finally put down.

10. Diminished, exhausted, and completely coated in blood, the crew finally reached Jahaka Bay. Many of them vowed to "never go into that damned jungle again nor have any cause to shoot a lizard, no matter the size".

Captain Beatrix, whose standing with the crew had only increased after her desperate one-on-one battle with the giant man-eating lizard, tried to recruit a few seasoned pirates to fill the gaps left by Imran, sailors who hadn't returned from the jungle, and a few deserters or unfortunates swallowed by Jahaka Bay.

The new PCs are:

Margarita Duerte, Tarraconese blacksmith and (secretly) hermetic mage. Margarita was hired to repair Nyali's favorite cannon. She may have also put the ex-gun master's soul into the cannon.

The Crew (!). Yes, the Crew are a PC now. About half of them are old-world pirates and about half are newly recruited former slaves and local Chultans from Jahaka Bay. A life on a wooden coffin far, far away from giant lizards and tropical diseases was surprisingly appealing.