And now?! What do we do?
Hard days to come now…
It is already - in the best case - morning dew and the sun rises, illuminating the collapsed caldeira of Yellow Lizard's Island; in the worst case, it can well already be noon! Actually, it doesn't matter much, the telling off and the punishment shall scale the excitement of the night and the worry of the parents… Or if the parents don't care - in the case of some why not after all – that's another story if the little prat was expected to start some work at one thing or another as soon as the day would break… Let your imagination do the job for that part, Game Master and,whatsoever, Friend!
Most of our young friends, at any rate those who still live at their parent's place, will almost for sure get a thrashing to remember and, upon that, probably quite a lot of inquisitive questions. That is why Poerava, stopping shortly at Cow's Neck, reminds everybody that everything which happened during the night and will happen further in the following days has to remain absolutely secret. She gives everybody her trust on that point! Of course, if one of our Young Pirates was designated Captain and he or she him- or herself sends a similar message, Poerava won't have to repeat it. That seems to be quite obvious. That which is less obvious now that is the time and place where to meet up again next time, as well as the objectives and next actions to be undertaken. We let our young friends conduct that last discussion and prepare their action plan a last time at Cow's Neck before they get the resounding thrashing they earned back home…
Poerava for her part knows that she won't be spared by the punishment for being unexpectedly away a whole night, especially because she was supposed to be locked in her room already as a punishment for the pseudo-drowing affair… We let you imagine her being welcomed by Gomez Garcia! So again she is locked up in her room and will be deprived of lunch and dinner… For some hours at most to get some rest for, quickly enough though he totally disagree with the process, Ernesto will have brought her back again the key to greener pastures, so that she can get to the meeting which was scheduled with the rest of the Crew… There now remains to manage the different situations of each of the Players' Characters. Try to manage so as to hamper at the maximum their freedom of movement to force them into disobediance or even rebellion if they want to honour the agreed meeting. You should proceed further like that as long as they are on Yellow Lizard's Island from now on: that's the price of Liberty!!
Do not forget either that in such circumstances, parents try to know that which their children did during the night, and even more then when they will have talked about it with other parents over the day. They will thus have cross-checked their pieces information, leading to even more suspicion and severity… That should give you enough background material to the poor atmosphere of this sad, though sunny, day, after the adventures of the night and before the next ones to come…
Regarding the coming meetings, Friend Game Masters, we suggest you to manage them the same way as the one on the first evening, that is taking the option to let Gomez Garcia and / or Elorria come into play. Indeed, if you didn't play it yet, that sequence seems to us to be important, notably to make clear the complexity of the relationships between Poerava and Elorria.
So, enough now with the framework for the next events of our story, for which we give many a detail in the following, even if there we set us free from the story-telling line to let you deploy the full potential of imagination without binding it in a given succession of events.
Taking possession of the Suzon
This introductory paragraph only to remind that it won't do to try to set sail with the Ghost of Pedro Delgado aboard the Suzon. He'll do everything, and we mean it really, everything he can do to bring the Suzon back to the vicinity of the Medallion with a horse-like head. And you, as the Game Master, must ensure that he'll be successful until our Young Pirates understand they cannot come forth by that way.
As we'll see, from now on, the Scenario is quite open on other points, so we hope our Players will forgive us that little wink to some computer adventure games where the scenario is very very very linear… But it is enough of game-mastering tricks!
The medallion with a horse-like head
A Ghost à la Rooroot Beer
Mystery Kitchenette
Pirate Logistics
In the Witch's Den
Will our friends dare pay a visit to the Witch of the Swamp? One may doubt when looking at her reputation and the place where she lives! She holds, however – if one has the means to pay – the key to many a mystery!
As already indicated, going to the place of the Witch requires to cross the Swamp, which is no fun. As for doing it by night, that a true nightmare! The Swamp essentially consists in water, more or less salty, more or less fresh, which intimately mixes with sandbanks covered with moor and rough herbs, alternating with islets of sodden clay soil covered by reeds. In the bigger or smaller and more or less deep puddles grow algae, there where the dead plants are not rotting. In those latter places can sometimes be seen at night « wills-o'-the-wisp »… Frightening at will but not at all dangerous; beware, however, that some of them might be true wills-o'-the-wisp invoked by the Witch!
The Swamp being a flat zone between the two mountainous parts of Yellow Lizard's Island, the winds from the sea blow there with a particular strength and regularity.On stormy days - if it may give you ideas, Friend Game Master – the sea, pushed by the wind, comes easily over the land and it can become really dangerous. Otherwise, the crossing of the Swamp is mostly very hard and tiresome.
What you need to know at any rate, Friend Game Master, is that the Witch's Cabin is protected by some kind of magic, such that can reach it only those who the Witch is ready to meet, for the better as well as the worse. The others believe to have seen the cabin in the distance, head to it but never find it: walk they in circles? Do they get lost? Be a dog with them, the trustworthy animal gets lost as well! On the other hand, one can imagine to let the dog go alone with a long thread at his neck, then to blindly follow the thread. The remaining problem is to obtain from the dog that it goes to the Cabin of the Sorceress. In short, it means that the Game Master has complete freedom to decide when he wants the Young Pirates to meet with the Witch… We only recommend to be annoying enough in the way of their plans so that they understand that a great power is at play here…
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The Zebra-Headed Medallion™
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