Return to 50 Fathoms Recap #36: The Curse is Broken

 Sunday October 9, 2022@ 1:00-4:00 P.M.

 < WARNING SPOILERS FOR 50 FATHOMS AHEAD MATEY!!>  

DAY 302
PLACE: REDBEARD RUFUS'S TREASURE ISLAND, FLOTSAM SEA
WEATHER: PARTLY CLOUDY
TIME OF DAY: AFTERNOON

         Chug sailed the ship to the closest island hoping to repair La Arcadia. They found a small island covered in tentacle-like vines. The six golden triangles glowed brightly. 

        In the center of the island was a stone monolith with six indentations for the golden triangles. After Horventerous placed them on the monolith, it split in half revealing a pit in the center. Blub got a rope and attempted to climb down. He slipped and hit the bottom with a thud and blood curdling scream. Nimue and Tar-Tar climbed down after him with a torch in Nimue's hand. Blub had been impaled by spikes, but his blubber covered them at the bottom of the pit. Unfortunately, a high weight person like Chug could displace Blub's weight and would become impaled by the spikes, forcing Chug to remain above.
         Nimue and Tar-Tar squeezed through an opening at the bottom of the pit. The tunnel went forward for a bit before Nimue noticed a piece of rotting wood on the floor. Using Blub's spear, she touched the rotting wood. The wood shattered and Nimue dropped Blub's spear. It went down the hole becoming just another spike in the second pit. She attempted to use her grapple gun to get over the pit, but a guillotine snapped the rope in half after the hook landed. Tar-Tar backed out and Nimue was forced to return to the surface and ask Natsu Nara to cast wall walker on her. Nimue glided down and hurried into the tunnel, using the wall walker to go around the pit and guillotine. When she grabbed her grapple hook, the guillotine reset. She tossed her grapple hook forward and another trap was revealed. A flint and steel in the ceiling lit a tar-wrapped torch that dropped into a pool of boiling oil that caught fire. Nimue used the updrafts from the fire to glide across and into a wide chamber stacked high with 30,000 pieces of eight, a magical rapier, magical grapple gun, magical leather armor, magic ring, magic compass, and magic Grael battleball. 

[Chessie played Windfall. Randall traded Chessie the Windfall card, so I made the treasure mostly fit Nimue with an item for Chug and a couple of boating aids that may be necessary.]

    When Nimue and Tar-Tar returned to the surface with a mere fraction of the treasure, the group saw The Incinerator appear offshore and Redbeard Rufus and his zombie crew wade onto the island. Redbeard Rufus screamed out, "No one leaves this island with my treasure!" Something behind Rufus grunted... 

[Beginning of session]

[I busted out my new grid and the dry erase markers for this one. I drew around the character sheets to make the blue island boundaries. Trees have a wooden trunk with a green canopy for the vine-like tentacle trees on the island. The center has the split statue and the center pit with a rope coming out of it. The position of La Arcadia and The Incinerator is at the bottom not to scale since there is not enough table space and the fight was not on the ships anyway.]

 

     Redbeard Rufus stepped to the side and said, "Meet my second in command, Zunk!" The zombified corpse of Unk juggled his decapitated head with a cutlass. Fear and revulsion washed over the group. Horventerous was enraged and a surge of adrenaline flowed throughout his body. Draco had a heart attack and fell to the ground clutching his chest. Everyone else kept their nerve. 

[Nick was forced to use the Teamwork card that Randall traded him to gain +4 on his Vigor roll to avoid Draco's death from the heart attack in 8 rounds. Instead Draco could recover in 1 round from the heart attack afterward.]

      Redbeard Rufus then attacked Cyrus with his screaming scimitar but he missed. He then shot his pistol at Horventerous. The shot ricocheted off his Kraken bone armor. 

      Nimue, Cyrus, and his henchman surrounded Redbeard Rufus but he managed to parry away their attacks.

      Chug drew out King Amemnus's sword and gashed Redbeard Rufus for a moderate wound. He attacked him again for a severe wound.

[Randall played Adrenaline Surge.]

    

       Natsu Nara unleashed a burst. He maximized the number of zombies he could hit, but it left one zombie right next to him. The burst missed Zunk but devastated most of Redbeard Rufus's zombies. However, the burst caused the ground to cave in, revealing gleaming piles of the treasure below for a second before it was covered by dirt and corpses.

      Horventerous cast blast and obliterated another portion of Redbeard Rufus's zombie crew.

     Tar-Tar climbed out of the pit and was stopped dead in his tracks by the hideous corpse of Zunk. Seeing a dead, zombified Half-Ugak made him wonder about his own mortality.

       Horventerous was surrounded by Zunk and three zombies but his Kraken bone armor protected him from claws and Zunk's blade.  
       Natsu Nara was attacked by a single zombie and wounded. 

 [Summer played Riled Up to gain a +2 damage bonus after Natsu Nara was wounded.]

[In the second round, it was over in the Action Card phase. A Joker for Cyrus AND a Joker for Draco.] 

      Cyrus stabbed Redbeard Rufus, dropping him prone. His henchman finished the job. Redbeard Rufus, Zunk, the Zombies, and The Incinerator started to the glow green...

      Draco got off the ground, suddenly recovering from his heart attack. He lunged at Zunk, moderately wounding him.

       Natsu Nara moved to the back of the zombie he was engaged with and cast burst at the zombies, Zunk, and Draco. 

 [Summer played Explosives with a Bennie.]

      Most of the zombies, Zunk and Draco dodged the spell. The burst caused a cave-in underneath Natsu Nara and the closest zombie. The zombie fell into the treasure room below while Natsu Nara held on to the edge of the pit.

      Chug moved forward and wounded Zunk. Horventerous drew out his bone sword and finished Zunk.
    Nimue stabbed a zombie with her new rapier, dropping it.
    Tar-Tar grabbed a vine-like tentacle from the tree and swung on it towards a zombie, decapitating it with his battle-axe.
    

      
      The green glow erupting into a green flame that surrounded Redbeard Rufus, Zunk, the zombies, and The Incinerator. It seemed to explode and then turn into green wisps like embers as they disappeared. The ghost of Redbeard Rufus rose from his body's lasts embers and he said, "The curse is lifted." before fading away.

      As they loaded up the treasure, underneath all the piles of pieces of eight, Tar-Tar found a magical battle-axe.

DAY 303
PLACE: REDBEARD RUFUS'S TREASURE ISLAND, FLOTSAM SEA
WEATHER: OVERCAST

       Cyrus directed the crew to cut down all the trees on the island and used the timber to patch the hole in the La Arcadia's hull.

[David played Convenient Repairs in combination with his Ship's Carpenter edge to repair La Arcadia in one day. I asked them where they would like to go next. The center of the Flotsam Sea? Resupply at Brigandy Bay? Nope...]

DAY 304
PLACE: FLOTSAM SEA
WEATHER: BLUSTERY

       One of the sailors claimed a cloud looked like a young girl as he looked behind the ship. The cloud split in half, looking like lips parting and a gust of wind filled the ship's sails. The winds blew north like the Boreas of legend said the Greek sailor.
         Chug held on to the ship's wheel and started evasive maneuvers to dodge all the flotsam while the ship moved at incredible speed.

[The group played Spurred On and Homing Beacon and declared their destination... Kaja, Arfk. The island to the north that has not been visited all campaign.]

DAY 304
PLACE: FLOTSAM SEA
WEATHER: RAINY
TIME OF DAY: AFTERNOON

       The rain that had been threatening for days finally arrived and the winds died down for a bit. A fire salamander ship sidled next to La Arcadia. They climbed aboard using grappling hooks attached to thick metal chains, stabbed and grabbed three sailors, and returned to their ship. A second gust of wind hit La Arcadia at that exact moment, hurtling La Arcadia north and out of the Flotsam Sea but leaving the three sailors to their fate...as fire salamander dinner.

[Randall played Favor of the Gods with a Bennie to immediately escape the encounter...]

DAY 305
PLACE: COLD SEA
WEATHER: OVERCAST

       The sailors found game in abundance.

[Shaune used Perfect Timing to grab Marksman's Map and played it to give Tar-Tar a +1 on Survival checks in the Cold Sea till the end of session.]

DAY 306
PLACE: COLD SEA
WEATHER: SNOW

       La Arcadia sailed to Kaja, Arfk in a snowstorm. Every sailor was freezing except for Chug. Chug just laughed and said, "It isn't even cold yet."

DAY 307
PLACE: DOCKS, KAJA, ARFK
WEATHER: SNOW
TIME OF DAY: MORNING

       Chug's words turned out to be prophetic. The deck of La Arcadia was nowhere near as cold as the island of Arfk. Feet in socks and boots froze when walking upon the frigid land. The crew of La Arcadia found that they were ill-prepared for the cold...

[End of session.] 

XP: 3 Legendary, 4 Heroic

MINIMUM XP: 76/Heroic

LOOT: From Booty for Tar-Tar from the hoard of Redbeard Rufus: Battle-Axe +2 Damage, +1 Fighting/Parry

MINIATURES 

     Tri-folds used are from 50 Fathoms Figure Flats and the metal Kraken miniature made by Pinnacle Entertainment Group.

     Ships used include a ship from Letters of Marque by Fantasy Flight Games and a porcelain ship from Red Rose Tea.