Of Suzon's secrets…
Where our frineds Young Pirates will nose out the Captain's Treasure, whereof the interest does not lie (anymore?) in the contents but rather in its location and the rooms to which it gives access…
The Captain's Treasure
One can reach this room coming down with the stairs from the Captain's Cabin. It measures about two meters in the length of the Ship and one point five meter in its width. It actually occupies the starside half of the Suzon's Stern.
Some chests here, which are not locked (the keys are not here either), fill the room in part and suggest it could have been the Treasure of the Captain of the Suzon, the room where were stored the most precious treasures coming from the various captures, catches and other Pirate activities.
The room has two doors, one on the left separation wall when coming from the stairs, the other on the right. Both those doors are open. The first one could be locked (however the key is missing again) and opens to the Kitchen. The second one could not be locked at all for it has no lock and gives access to the Kitchenette.
The room and the few remaining chests are empty now and are for sure not so interesting on the short term. The only thing to be mentioned is the trap door which allows for access to the Bilge. It is actually hidden below a big chest which covers it completely, so it is impossible to see it without moving the chests around here and there. If none of your players mention his or her Character actually does like that, you can grant another chance but that will require a Critical Success to a Roll versus Perception + Nosing around…
The Bilge
This is a narrow space of one point five meter maximum in height. It occupies the whole length of the Suzon on that level. It is quite remarkable by the heavy lead load placed at the bottom as a kind of keelson, providing by the way for an even surface in the whole length: all that lead is probably there to ballast the Suzon's Keel so as to give her a better balance while sailing. It is a good idea for sure but it doesn't help the Ship sailing faster!
For those who would dare go farther in that narrow space, they would finally meet face-to-face with… the bony remnants of Pedro Delgado, lying in a chaos of sheets, covers and various clothes, a belt, rings, a gun, some powder and shot, a dagger - still sharp - and other miscellaneous objects without great value.
The most important artifact is actually a piece of paper om which is written what seems to be a shopping list, notably including onions and carrots but also dried chicken legs, pickled lizard eyes and beetroot-sugar candied dragonfly wings… Those are actually the ingredients of the Voodoo recipe for the Kitchenette, enabling the Voodoo pilot of the Suzon, in a partial and probably partly false version (well, as for guessing the latter…).
Note well, friend Game Master, that it is not so delicate to steal his stuff from a dead man… of which the Ghost haunts around in the Ship! Our Young Pirates may well lear it at their expense! If, however, Delgado's Ghost is already freed from his Limbo and could go on to Elyseum or Hell, nothing stays anymore between them and his possessions. He might as well have given them himself. It then only remains to dispose of his body as he expressed the wish - or not!
While we are waiting that such events happens, the Bilge has nothing really interesting else. All that, which we can say it that, there too, the hull of the Suzon seems to be in a good condition even if, strictly analysed, it requires a complete pickling and cleaning on the exterior side below the waterkine, after such a long stay in sea waters, be it as here a well protected creek: who want some mussel salad for the dinner?! Summarized, all that means that the Suzon could well be ready to set sail on the next day, if necessary… Well, at least at first sight…
A Kitchenette?!
The door to enter in that part of the Suzon's Hold is neither closed nor lockable in any sort of way: there is only a latch. Inside, one finds a relatively small space of about one point five by two meters, symetric to the Captain's Treasure, which is the only room from which can be accessed, that which seems to be a Kitchenette: a big oven, made of whitewashed cement ( !), furnishes the corner of the room which corresponds to the rear port corner of the Suzon; below, a cast iron door opens to the separated combustion chamber and a kind of funnel seems to peep out through the upper corner just below the ceiling to exhaust fumes… There is also a little skylight close to it, which can be opened and kept in position thanks to a little trammel. In the oven, there is also a trammel as well as an impressive mechanism for a spit – the latter being unfortunately impossible to find here…
A table occupies the other side of the room and cast iron kitchen ustensils are hanged to the wall. A cupboard, also hanged, occupies the wall to the right from entry. It is open and contains salt, dried tomatoes, a can of corned beef, rusty but still tight – unfortunately for the little hunger a can-opener remains to be found somewhere but not in the Kitchenette… – as well as two coconuts, a mildewed match box almost full (half of the matches can more or less still be used) and a bottle containing still a significant quantity of kerozene at the bottom… Do not use to bone fire! The calorific potential is too high! At the ceiling are hanged a few totally dried out garlic heads, some onion and that which probably once was a leek.
The description of the place would not be complete without explaining a bit about the two standing pendulum clocks - of complex make, located one on each side of the table - and a strange object placed on it; the kind of metal it is made of has a high chance to be unknown to our Young Pirates, it is a mass of hammered tinplated copper. the shape of the object can also appear to be strange and unknown but to you, Game Master, we say it, aye! It is an alambic, nothing more or less. It actually fits in the oven and its pipeworks can be fitted into an exhaust on the side. A recipient can then be placed under a drain to collect the resulting product. A successful Roll versus Power + Strange Voodoo Things is necessary to feel the Voodoo potential in there. A Critical Success to that Roll or a Normal Success to a Roll versus Cleverness + Brew the Rooroot Beer allows to understand that it is a Portable minute-brewery™ for Rooroot Beer, a thing which could quickly enough prove very useful as we'll soon see.
Unfortunately, neither recipe nor ingredient to prepare the said beer is currently available onboard the Ship… One cannot have everything without an effort here! (There is quite much to bet that the Governor probably didn't left anything of the kind behind him.)
For those who would one day – One never knows! – like to activate the oven in the Kitchenette or in the Kitchen, note that there is neither wood nor charcoal in stock onboard the Suzon. That can well be overseen but also have some importance… And that with all the oil, asphalt and kerozene? Beware, you fool!! There is there just enough to burn out our Young inexperimented Pirates just where they are!
Well, Game Master and nevertheless Friend, we can tell that to you, but you would have already understood it all, that strange illogically on board the Suzon Kitchenette has of course a Voodoo function! The only thing our Young Pirate now have to determine is, if they dare to do so, to determine which one… And what's your opinion? Of course! It is a Voodoo device to pilot the Suzon! (There too, a Successful Roll versus Power + Strange Voodoo Stuff is necessary to feel that it could have something to do with Voodoo. On a Critical Success, the idea that the device could be a propulsion system of the Suzon could dimly appear through slightly focusing on words such as « reactor » to describe the combustion chamber, « exhaust » for the funnel, etc.)
However, the seers or the luckiest in the group wouldn't have missed the circular hollow on the Helm on the rear deck of the Suzon. Using the Suzon's Voodoo Kitchenette to sail without having placed the Voodoo Compass in it could have tremendous consequences, even catastrophical ones! At the same time, correctly implementing the Voodoo Rituals is - As we'll maybe see after - is extremely complicated…
To which concerns the clocks, the reasons of their being here are, at the very minimum, quite enigmatic and should remain so for a long time. And regarding the secret, not being sure of all its consequences, we prefer, for the time being, to not say a word about it…