< WARNING SPOILERS FOR 50 FATHOMS AHEAD MATEY!>
DAY 83
PLACE: PIRATE SEA, TORATH-KA AREA
WEATHER: LIGHT FOG
The group spotted zombies from The Incinerator boarding another vessel. Unk could see that it was named The Conquistador. The zombies killed the upper deck crew and the first mate. Then several zombies shambled below deck.
[Chessie rolled like a 16 on Notice after getting the Alertness Edge last time for Unk (d4 Notice +2). Alertness is a great Edge for Half-Ugak and Grael to overcome their low Smarts to improve their Notice skill, BTW.]
At first, Red Pirate Roberts circumvented the two locked ships hoping to avoid conflict. But then, Horventerous saw the zombies return from below decks, one holding two human hands in triumph, and the other holding a golden triangle. Horventerous demanded that Red Pirate Roberts turn the ship around and Red Pirate Roberts relented. She had her men launch a volley at The Incinerator, but it passed through the ship and dealt a deathblow to the hull of The Conquistador. The Conquistador started to slowly sink. The Conquistador also swayed to the left, shaking the boarding planks but not destroying them. Red Pirate Roberts then moved the Rojo Cazadora broadside next to the port side of The Conquistador.
Red Pirate Roberts had her sailors reload the cannons as she stopped the ship. Stripe fell off The Crow's Nest trying to get to a cannon to reload it on her orders.
Manuel cast Stun to stun the zombies on the ship.
Unk swung onto The Conquistador but immediately was terrified by seeing a zombie holding two human hands when he landed on the deck, reminding him of his own loss and ran below deck. He heard someone crying in the kitchen and then silence.
Horventerous used three light bolts to eliminate the stunned zombies and one of the zombies holding the golden triangle dropped it.
Redbeard Rufus had his zombie crew use hammer and nails to shore up the boarding planks on the port side of The Incinerator and sent a zombie to grab the golden triangle. Then he sent his remaining zombies shambling across the planks to the other ship.
Below deck Unk found an unconscious human in a chef's hat and apron who had his nose cut off and hands severed. Unk bandaged his wounds and stopped the bleeding. When he awoke, he told Unk that his name was Jim Black. He told his tale of woe about how the cruel Redbeard Rufus had ordered his zombies to hack off his nose and hands and then left him for dead. He had heard screams from the captain's quarters to the stern of the ship and held on to consciousness long enough to see a zombie take his hands and another zombie take a golden triangle from the captain's quarters. Jim Black also told him about two holds worth of food in the cargo hold the zombies wouldn't be concerned with, including provisions and fruit.
[In my game, Edward Lo is dead, eaten by a Great White Shark in their first encounter with him, so instead I've made a different villain do the deed here that leaves Jim Black crippled and The Conquistador sinking. The evil deeds are still done, but by a different actor.]
Manuel attempted to throw his grappling hook across to the bulwark of The Conquistador but failed.
Red Pirate Roberts hobbled over to Manuel and gave him her Grappling Gun. The crew continued to reload cannons. Stripe got up from the ground, dusted himself off, ran to the starboard side, and lit the fire on the wick of the center cannon, which struck The Incinerator but did little damage. However it did shift the planks backwards from The Conquistador and a zombie toppled off one of the planks after losing its balance due to the sudden thirty degree angle slope of the plank downward.
Horventerous tried to use three more light bolts to damage the zombies, but the attacks missed or grazed them instead.
Redbeard Rufus moved The Incinerator back into place and had his zombies hammer the boarding planks onto The Conquistador's bulwark on the starboard side. The zombie with golden triangle ambled over to the southern plank.
Manuel shot the grappling gun and managed to get to The Conquistador's upper deck.
Unk found his way to the captain's quarters and saw the decapitated captain and a shattered wooden chest that had spilled seventy pieces of eight onto the floor. Unk grabbed the coins and then turned back and helped Jim Black to his feet in the kitchen.
Red Pirate Roberts had her men reload cannons but didn't give the order to fire. She carefully aimed her Pirate Pistol at a cannon on The Conquistador and struck the gunpowder. The gunpowder exploded and destroyed the nearby zombies, slagged the cannon and cannonballs, with only the golden triangle somehow surviving the explosion and a single zombie managing to dive out of the way.
[Ellen played the Explosives card, which is quite powerful from the Pirates of the Spanish Main deck. Essentially, changes a successful hit into a large burst template.]
Horventerous used a heavy bolt targeting the north wooden plank. The plank shattered in the middle causing the three zombies on top of it to topple into the Pirate Sea.
Horventerous moved again, typhoon quick, and used a second heavy bolt on the south wooden plank, again shattering the boarding plank and sending more zombies into the Pirate Sea.
Manuel used Stun on the zombies closest to the Golden Triangle and then moved south along the port side bulwark.
Redbeard Rufus aimed his pistols at Manuel but missed, hitting the stern castle instead. His remaining zombies shambled towards Manuel with one grabbing the golden triangle.
Red Pirate Roberts shot the zombie holding the golden triangle and it fell down holding it. Her crew continued to hold their fire.
Unk emerged from below deck with Jim Black stumbling around behind him in the kitchen.
Horventerous cast a spell and a wave of water moved the golden triangle from the star board side to the near the port side.
[Andrew rolled Elemental Manipulation as a push maneuver. He got a Raise so the Golden Triangle moved 5 inches across the deck and he got a Bennie for try something new rule (an excellent Bennie rule with new players).]
Manuel grabbed the golden triangle and shot the grapple gun to return to the Rojo Cazadora.
Unk stepped out on the deck and used his long sword and hook to cut down and tear apart two zombies. Jim Black emerged from below deck.
Red Pirate Roberts shot one of the remaining zombies on the deck of The Conquistador and it fell over.
Redbeard Rufus rammed The Incinerator into The Conquistador and ordered his two remaining zombies to climb the cannons and board The Conquistador.
Horventerous cast two light bolts and destroyed the last two zombies.
Redbeard Rufus broke off with his last zombie killed or sunk into the Pirate Sea, "I shall return! You haven't seen the last of Redbeard Rufus!"
Manuel gave Horventerous the golden triangle.
The group grabbed 9 cannonballs, a mere 45 shot left that wasn't waterlogged or exploded, 30 pieces of eight from the above deck crew, 260 provisions, and the fruit before The Conquistador sank. The fruit was greedily consumed by the entire crew that had tasted nothing but hardtack and fish for months. Red Pirate Roberts didn't care about the pieces of eight that could have been gained by the fruit through trading, she thought it would spoil during the time they would spend moored at Torath-Ka anyway.
DAY 84
PLACE: TORATH-KA BEACH
WEATHER: LIGHT FOG
Horventerous used a scroll of Greater Healing to patch up Smither's nagging rib wounds.
[I mentioned he could heal the Unmentionables hit to Unk's Junk, or heal Jim's nose or one of his two hands, but Andrew decided to help Ellen's Henchman instead.]
The group decided that the party that would wander off into the jungle of Torath-Ka would be Red Pirate Roberts, Unk, Manuel Domingo and three of the Spaniard sailor crew members leaving Louis, Joe, Jim Black, a Spaniard crewman, Natsu Nara, Rosetta, Horventerous, and Stripe behind.
Red Pirate Roberts, Unk, Manuel Domingo, and three sailors left for the beach on dinghies. They spotted giant crabs hiding in the sandy beach before getting off their boats.
[I rolled terrible on Stealth-- 2--for the Giant Crabs. I noticed they had Improved Frenzy, so I dropped it for the encounter since 6 x 2= 12 attacks versus 6 characters, 3 wild cards, 3 extras and none were Veteran rank. They were also pretty depleted on Bennies from the Redbeard Rufus fight.]
Red Pirate Roberts shot at the crabs but hit the sand instead. She called for Horventerous and Stripe with a hand signal. She ordered her sailors to attack with their spears but they simply bounced off the hard carapace of the giant crabs.
[Me: "Do you want to call in the artillery?" Ellen: "No, the sailors are terrible shots! They are just as likely to hit me as the crabs!"]
Unk got off the dinghy and sliced into one of the giant crabs with his longsword. His hook was parried away by the other giant crab's pincer.
Manuel attempted to swing L'Espada de Vampiro at one of the giant crabs but missed.
The giant crabs counterattacked and crushed the ribs of one of the sailors and he went down in a heap. Manuel parried one pincer away with L'Espada de Vampiro, but the other giant crab crushed his other arm with its pincer. The crabs near Red Pirate Roberts hid in the sands moving away from her pistol.
[Andrew used Extra Effort on the Vigor roll of the second attack to avoid 4 wounds, and bring it down to a manageable 1 wound.]
Unk parried away the pincer of the giant crab with his hook. Manuel dodged the pincers of the giant crabs near him. The hiding giant crabs leapt out of the sand. One of them landed on the dinghy, but the other one missed the boat and landed in between the water and rocky shoals. The giant crab tore at the back clothes of the sailor behind Red Pirate Roberts but barely missed crushing his spine in the vice grip of his pincers.
[I had d10+d6+6 damage (+2 joker, +2 wild attack, +2 partial surprise burrow/stealth). I rolled double 1s for a mere 8 damage, a Shaken result and the only way the sailor could remain standing.]
Red Pirate Roberts shot at the giant crab in front of her, but the shot simply ricocheted off the carapace of the giant crab.
Manuel stabbed one of the giant crabs with L'Espada de Vampiro. It slid through its carapace. Manuel could swear it was drawing blood out of the crab but when he blinked the sword looked normal again. The sailor behind Manuel charged the other giant crab with his spear and cracked open its shell.
Unk stabbed the remaining giant crab next to him with his long sword right through the mouth.
Unk tried to heal the sailor next to him but seemed to be doing more harm than good with surgery with a longsword and hook hand. Manuel went to the fallen sailor and healed him with magic, saving his life from the new wounds that Unk was inflicting and mending his broken ribcage.
Horventerous and Stripe swam to the edge of the map, with Stripe a bit ahead with his better swimming. Red Pirate Roberts shot at the giant crab in front of her but the shell again deflected the bullet away. The sailor behind her turned around but could do little else but brace for an attack with his spear.
[He failed his Spirit roll to Unshake in spite of Red Pirate Roberts giving a +1 bonus to Shaken rolls with Command.]
The giant crab whiffed its attack on the sailor. The other giant crab walked back on land and then burrowed into the sands to escape, deciding to find easier prey with less awareness.
[I rolled a Morale roll for the crab (Spirit) and it failed, so it wandered off with a 3. Animals don't fight to the death if they don't need to after all.]
Stripe, Horventerous, and the sailor all swung at the giant crab. Horventerous' bone sword clanged off the thick armor of the giant crab. The sailor's spear thrust bounced off the shell of the giant crab. Finally, Stripe stabbed it through the legs and penetrated the hide via a leg socket.
[18 zombies no problem! 6 giant crabs? Totally a problem with low damage rolls unable to overcome the high toughness of the giant crabs and the crew separated. Really showed the swinginess of Savage Worlds in the last encounter as a simple little encounter lasted over an hour unexpectedly. Also Giant Crabs 2 + 1d6 is brutal, Average of 4 +2= 6 crabs is 12 attacks with Improved Frenzy! + Burrow Surprise + Wild Attack ends up with just a nasty first attack phase.]
[Chessie played the Contact card.]
With the giant crabs defeated, a lone female Half-Ugak emerged from the jungle as the group grabbed thirty pieces of eight on the shoreline from dead victims of the giant crabs and broke open the shells of the crabs for three provisions of meat.
"Unk? Is that you?"--Half-Ugak woman
[I had them roll for Allies to advance. Stripe gained an Advance, so Ellen decided to up his Vigor die. Surprisingly, Stripe is the group's best fighter besides Unk with Fighting d8/Vigor d8, well except for the being an Extra part.]
[End of Session]
XP: 2
Minimum XP: 15
Loots: 130 pieces of eight, The Conquistador's cargo and ammo.
PICTURES:
I used the blue tablecloth for sea this week on the tabletop. I used DramaScape's print on demand (POD) maps from Above Decks Volume II: The Smuggler's Sloop and The Wave Cutter, Smuggler's Sloop side, for the Rojo Cazadora, Above Decks Volume I: 18th Century Corvette Ghost Ship side (half of it anyway) for The Incinerator, and the Light Cutter for The Conquistador. I modified the Light Cutter's bow to save on table space as people have to have some space for dice/characters ha ha. I used theater of the mind for below deck action on The Conquistador; there was simply no room on the table for below decks in the complex combat scenario. I used The Landing for the beachhead at Torath-Ka. The Landing makes for an excellent beachhead to the shoal-ridden Torath-Ka.
Tri-folds used are from the 50 Fathoms Figure Flat Pack PDF and a metal 50 Fathoms miniature by Pinnacle Entertainment Group. Heroclix by WizKids are used for some figures. The figure flat for Unk is from Deadly Missions Mercenaries by Grey Matter Games. Stun tokens also from Deadly Missions. Cannons and wooden boarding planks are actually modified from the drawbridge of DramaScape's Western Keep.
THE LANDING:
https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/121768/The-Landing?affiliate_id=12615
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