Landlubber Pirates?
The same night or the next - We leave it up to you, Dear Game Master, to manage what could happen over the day with the parents and other funny things of the kind… – hopefully, everybody meets at the agreed location and time, equipped as one should and, most importantly, as one could…
Meeting at the Cow's Neck
Half an hour is enough to reach the Cow's Neck walking from Nice Borrough at a smart pace: the path first runs straight through the fields, then starts snaking its way on a gentle upward slope. The fields are progressively replaced by meadows and then, while approaching the pass, here and there some moors, shaken by the winds from the sea.
From the ruined sheep pen, there is not much to be seen anymore, except some overly skinny cows, but from the pass, provided the sun is setting (in that case, that happens just behind the Furnace of the Octopus) or there remain some glimmers of the day, one discovers the complete panorama of meadows, peacefully sloping down to drown in the The Sorceress's Swamp (it is also called The Swamp, straight), where the island, cut by two great bays, becomes so narrow that it almost disappears below the waters' surface before surging again, as it were a sea monster, in the shape of its gigantic volcano, continuously fulminating and glowing red.
When one arrives there at night, the panorama is only to be seen at moonshine but the moon won't rise before about midnight; on the other hand, the distressing red glow of the Octopus, as the volcano is nicknamed, becomes particularly impressive… as well as the tiny light which comes maybe from the hut of the Witch of the Swamp…
That's an atmosphere for Pirates! Well, at least as Poerava considers Piracy right now… Each one needs to have Got A Nerve! rolling with a Bonus of 1 or 3 if Poerava or the Captain succeeds at the own Roll, respectively in a Normal or Critical way. The Failures at that Roll should not lead to a frantic flight but simply call for some role-playing from the part of the « courageous » ones to convince the « nervous » ones to overcome and come: Adventure with a great « A » awaits us, me Hearties!
Which way to the volcano?
According to Poerava, the best route – given that, in the best case, only a shepherd or a herd of cows would have opened up their way – would point out straight to the West until reaching the Spotline, the steep wooden crest line coming down from the mount of the same name and would thus avoid the crossing of the Swamp in its widest part, as well as the Hut of the Witch. But it becomes more difficult when it comes to crossing the Fury, of which the clear and powerful flows rush down from the heights of the Octopus, growling sometimes even louder than the song of the waves, even in the distance like now from the range of the Swamp…
If the light is still sufficient, the Captain or one of the budding Ship's boys and girls can attempt to understand the orientation and look for an own option which could possibly be better… According to each one's preferred technique, let's propose a Roll versus Cleverness + Navigation / Cartography or versus Perception + Hunt.
In case of Success, one can no better than confirming Poerava's option. In case of Failure, there's no second idea to propose at all. In case of Critical Failure, the Player will have to go in for some role-playing and attempt to demonstrate to the others why going towards the South-West absolutely is the best choice while crossing through the heart of the Swamp… (good luck!) If that's the Captain's option however, a new Roll versus Got A Nerve! + Command can conclude for that option without further discussion… or lead to some (more?) doubts whether the Captain is able to endorse the role!
With a Critical Success, one is able to explain that a somewhat from here hidden small valley crosses the meadow and that crossing it upstream is easier, even if it makes the walk a bit longer before joining back to the road proposed by Poerava.
That said, the worst of the possible roads crosses the Swamp. And crossing the Swamp at night, without intimately knowing it, should discourage quickly anybody, latest when it becomes like bathing in mud up to the waist… Unless some will-o'the-wisp (Mere physical phenomena, some say…) manage to break the courage of our young heroes. It should appear them to be much wiser to go back and find another way… If they still can!
Try thus, Friend Game Master, to bring them back safe to the mouth of the Fury. Simply reaching the beach on the opposite shore, is already difficult enough! It is up to you, however, to decide to manage a walk through the Swamp but then, pray, let that walk be a true nightmare while trying to avoid a first and early meeting with the Witch of the Swamp.
Crossing the Furious
The waters of the Fury seem quite calm around the mouth but the stream is actually very strong in the middle. One hears the wash and backwash of the sea and in between the growling of a distant waterfall, up over there, in the fiery crowned fortress of the volcano… De loiFrom time to time, a deeper grunt can be heard: it is an explosion of burning gases, the brutal rejection of a melted rock tongue by the invisible mouth of the mountain…
The water is cold. The crossing is possible while vigorously swimming to avoid being taken away to the bay, even if coming back to the beach after that be not totally impossible, due to the absence of any mascaret. Thus the most difficult is to pass the equipment and as many piece of cloth as possible, keeping the stuffdry.
Our friends Pirate have to find a solution. Maybe have they got a rope, maybe will they sent a scout to hold the rope and pass the equipment with a kind of traverse rope… Maybe you'll need a Roll versus Cleverness + DIY of All Sorts to unlock the situation…
At any rate, the crossing succeeds under the condition that the following two Rolls succeed: Strength + Shark Feeding and Constitution + Shark Feeding for the second. Moreover, the first who crosses must roll versus Got a Nerve! + Shark Feeding. If it's a Failure, upon the other consequences described below, will the other have a Malus of 1 to their two Rolls. If the Failure is Critical, the Malus will be 3.
In case of Failure at one of the two Rolls versus Shark Feeding, the rules for drowning apply and two Rolls versus Constitution + Shark Feeding must be successful (or a rescue…). If the first Roll failed, the Success to the next two Rolls allows to come back safe to the same shore. If the second Roll failed, the Success to the next two Rolls allows to reach the other shore more or less easily.
Once a Pirate will have successfully crossed with a rope, he or she'll have the possibility to hoist the others with it, which will give them a Bonus of 3 to their Rolls. On the other hand, the hoister or the hoisters (Not half a dozen oysters, please note!) will have to manage a Roll of their cumulated Strength versus the strength of the stream at 16, otherwise, the story'll start again from the beginning.
Once everybody will have crossed, more or less easily, the night will be for sure complete, if it were not yet the case, depending on the hour at which the meeting was fixed…
Climbin' up'n'down under the moon
The hardest of the journey remains to be covered! If it is late enough, maybe the moon rose. In that case, the at the beginning wide and yellow disc rises up and whitens slowly, throwing a faint but ideal light. And that'll be quickly desirable for the way, never really marked, is not obvious…
A Critical Success at a Roll versus Perception + Hunt will maybe allow to find a mostly unused trail following the Furious and going up quickly through the first walls of the Furnace of the Octopus. Such a Success be not obtained, the walk will have to go through the bush, which will require a cutlass (or equivalent) more time and require from time to time a Roll versus Cleverness + Navigation, let's say two Rolls up to the crest.
The trail - or the way cut through the bush and woods – still follows the river for a while, climbing steep but irregularly, up to a relative flatness covered by a magnificient and densely grown wood. It is there, at the foot of a great waterfall, easier to cross the main stream of the river, just above the confluence of the Furious with its main tributary, come from the heights of the First Head of the Watchdog.
After that section, the trail comes suddenly out of the wood and climb then very steeply while running along the border of the woods, then of the heathers, then the moor, up to the totally naked and very windy crest linking the First Head and the Octopus. The climb lasted three to five hours and reached a height of about a thousand meters, in a desolated landscape where the rumbles of the volcano are impressive, as well as the red glows coming from the crater, less than a thousand meters higher, beyond a most dizzy crest.
By chance, Convict's Creek lies directly below the point our young Pirates reached: one can dimly recognise a beach and a shadow at the center of the black waters: the Suzon! But it seems so far away from there, so steeply surrounded by high cliffs from all sides, that it seems impossible to reach it from there…
For those who would have only that to do - or they are to be held for real knowers – a successfull Roll versus Cleverness + Riggings & Ropeworks will allow to recognise the shape of a Brigantine with its two masters and a bowsprit…
Descriptive note: the Suzon.
While we are at it and to facilitate the reading, we give here some additional data regarding the Suzon, even if most of them are not graspable by our young friends at that time of the night and at such a distance from the Ship! The Suzon seems thus to be a Brigantine and, by the way, it is not given that she have something of a dolphin or of a batfish, short-mastered that she is at the bowsprit and with her two masters placed extremely towards the back of the main body… The hull measures fifteen point eight meters in length by four point two meters at the widest and three point four at the stern. The total height at the rear castle is six point seven meters down to the bottom of the keel and four point six at the mid-length of the main desk. The draught at full load is three point two meters. The great master measures twenty meters and the artimon fifteen, while the bowsprit less than seven. Regarding sail, we'll have to come back to the topic later.Again, it goes without saying that such details are not visible at night and at the distance where we currently are.
More practically, a Success to a Roll versus Got a Nerve! + Hunt allows for not loosing faith in the success of the enterprise in front of the downward slope and going on. A Critical Success in the group leads to finding a narrow way running - almost falling - down the slope between the cliffs, down to a beach at the shore… A majority of Failures may bring the team to decide to head back home, the most courageous also loosing their courage finally in that case. A Critical Failure can quickly become very dangerous if a majority of the young hikers commit it: without awareness of the danger, they have the risk to head on in the wrong direction and to find themselves lost and stuck somewhere in the middle a cliff in the best case…
In short, we made all those indications and proposals of Rolls to give you, Friend Game Master, an idea of the difficulty to walk in that part of the island. The important is that you fine tune the suspense, the oppressive atmosphere of the volcano and the progress of all to the aim: reach the Suzon!
A rescue boat on the beach…
The rescue boat of the Suzon – actually one of two rescue boats of the Ship – which Pedro Delgado used for landing on Yellow Lizard's Island lies ashore on the stretched stain of lighter colour amid the blackness of the cliffs and waters of Convict'S Creek's long narrow beach.
If our courageous hikers found the best way down, they come to that beach and it is then easy for them to take over the rescue boat and the two oars lying not far from it, everything still being in a good condition. The only thing to do is to put the boat afloat and to row firmly to the sleeping Suzon in the middle of the Creek.
To cross the waters to the Suzon without inconvenience, a successful Roll versus Perception + Piloting from the Captain allows for a Bonus of 1 (3 on a Critical Success) to the Rolls of the two « mates » who row. They have themselves to succeed at a Roll versus Dexterity + Boarding! Only of the two of them fail or one of them (at least) critically fails that the rescue boat capsizes (then, check hereafter how to proceed). On a single normal Failure, the rescue boat follows a somewhat chaotic road but finally reaches the goal.
If they arrived at the shore of the Convict's Creek over a wrong or really bad way, they may have to swim to the beach. Above all, that assumes that they detect at such a distance at night that there is a rescue boat there before they decide to reach it! For that, a successful Roll versus Perception + Look-Out is required. Then, a simple Roll versus Nimbleness + Shark Feeding should be enough to reach the beach. The first to head for it may have to succeed in a Roll versus Got a Nerve! + Shark Feeding, especially if the crossing of the Furious was already difficult that night.
An alternative is at any rate to decide to directly swim to the Suzon. That is, however, quite a risky choice, especially at night, for the distance to cover is quite important and the waters of the Convict's Creek are agitated by many a little stream which make the progression a bit more difficult. Moreover, who knows that which possibly lurks in the depths of the creek?…
The first to jump in the water must get a Critical Success to a Roll versus Got A Nerve! + Shark Feeding to dare doing it in the first place. If nobody succeeds to do so, another solution has to be found: crossing the creek seems in that fashion to be too dangerous and frightens everybody in the group… Reaching the Suzon requires one additional (successful) Roll versus Strength + Shark Feeding, then two ones versus Constitution + Shark Feeding. And this is without taking your (possibly bad?) mood into account, Friend Game Master! If you really mean it mean, you can develop the possibility to loose orientation in the darkness of the waters, cliffs and skies before letting the Players' Characters reach the Suzon… That said, try to not push it, if not beyond likelihood, at least beyond the pleasure of the game!
If everything comes to a good end after - let us hope! - more panic than « titanic » (do not try to understand) – And what's about the legends running around about hungry sea monsters lurking in the waters of that creek?… – there we are, come in the shadow of the Suzon, the hull of the proud asleep Ship, dancing on the waters in an irregular lapping…