Here is the write-up of our seventh session of our Known World campaign. This is from Todd who is playing Niccolo. When we had last left our band of adventurers, they had escaped the island of Carcerus but were essentially lost at sea with no food or water. Each had succumbed to exhaustion, exposure, and starvation…except for Mick had earlier succumbed to some grievous wounds.
The party was rescued by a passing ship, the Sea Wyvern. We took the opportunity at the start of this session to backtrack a little bit and let the PCs interact a bit more with the crew of the ship and to ask whatever questions that the players might have about Insula Metus, the Isle of Dread.
There are spoilers below the break for X1 Isle of Dread as well as the re-imagining of that classic module in Dungeon #142. I’ve added, of course, my own re-imagining to each. As always, my GM comments are in [brackets and italics].
Insula Metus, a name that does not inspire thoughts of a tropical paradise.
Once we were allowed to leave our cabin, under supervision, I found myself spending a lot of the journey in the company of a Talasian man, Quintus Florus. We share a common…love, a desire to know about the unknown.
Quintus’ family has recently rediscovered the Isle of Dread. Quintus says that Insula Metus has always been called such, at least as far as his extensive research has been able to uncover. The mention of the island in text goes back many, many years. His sister, Lucia, is the foremost authority on all things “Insula Metus.”
Quintus was very kind to share his sister’s journal, albeit so long as he read its contents to me. It was never off his person, and it was kept safe in a case designed to keep it dry. Lucia has a knack for drawing you into what she has seen on the island. She also has a fair hand at drawings, as she provided some sketches for the reader’s “enjoyment.”
While I can say that the prospect of learning about the unknown appeals to me, I prefer the long dead unknown. The mention of ancient ruins has me eager to help Quintus. At the same time, the natural fauna and flora have me somewhat concerned. Too many things that would want to eat me for my liking. Man-sized birds of terror, eels fives times the length of a man, guardian baboons of the twin volcanoes, giant carnivorous dinosaurs, plants that eat meat, and large spider-like beings. As I mentioned earlier, not a tropical paradise.
Quintus had not planned of returning to the Isle so soon, but the disappearance of his sister prompted the change in his plans. He was in Ptolus when he received the news.
The ship, Sea Wyvern, is captained by an Oscan woman, Amata Rizzo. It is carrying more colonists to Farshore, a fledgling trading post on the small island of Temut. Verrus, Lucia’s husband, is the leader of the colony and expedition. He is not with us, having stayed in Farshore. Signore Averardo Meravanni is the money behind the expedition. According to Mick, the Meravanni family of Ptolus is rich, very rich. Signore Meravanni seems very interested in what this expedition can provide in the terms of trade and discovery, especially of a monetary value.
Insula Metus is about a four week journey south from Ptolus. I guess we have been aboard the Sea Wyvern for about a week now. The Isle has been spotted. Captain Rizzo will sail us around the north and east of the Isle. This calls for a celebration!
That night, at dinner, as Signore Meravanni is toasting to our success and good fortune, there is a terrible and loud noise as the Sea Wyvern comes to a sudden stop. Goblets of wine go flying as many people are thrown from their chairs. Moments later there is a similar but lesser noise. Captain Rizzo, with a look of shock then anger, jumps up and runs for the top deck. Signore Meravanni, with what seems to me as uncommon composure, strides after her. Some of the sailors in the galley tell everyone else to stay here. Obviously everyone does not include Quintus, Mick, or Erica. Where Erica goes, Moe goes. Not wanting to be left out, I ignore the sailors as well.
I make it to the top deck, in time to see Captain Rizzo finish punching her first mate in the face. It appears that the first mate has run us aground on a reef, both the Sea Wyvern and the galley we had escaped Carerus on. Captain Rizzo starts yelling orders, and her sailors jump in to action. I make sure to stay out of the way.
The Sea Wyvern has run aground. There is a hole in the hull. With the tide being near its peak and on its way out, the ship is stuck until some more boats can pull it off the reef. The galley, being smaller and older, is badly damaged.
Quintus says he knows where we are, and convinces Signore Meravanni that he knows the way to Farshore, over land. Signore Meravanni tells Captain Rizzo that she will lead the group. She protests about her place being on the Sea Wyvern, but it is futile. What Signore Meravanni says, goes. I and my companions volunteer to go.
Captain Rizzo gets a landing party ready to secure a section of beach, so that we will be ready to go in the morning. Quintus goes with her, as his knowledge of the Isle will be important. As they are preparing to go ashore, there is a terrible scream from the island. Quintus tells us it is just a terror bird. Not long after the landing party is gone, their torches can be seen on the beach, there are numerous gun shots. After a while, Captain Rizzo, Quintus and the rest of the landing party return to the Sea Wyvern. The gun shots were because of some attacking terror birds.
In the morning, my companions and I are provided some gear and weapons. (Mick is still angry with me for giving up the magical weapons we had found on Carcerus. Those and a very, very valuable signet ring that no one had known he had found.) Captain Rizzo divides up her crew, those going on the journey and those staying behind with the colonists. The plan is for us to travel over land to Farshore and bring back some boats to pull the Sea Wyvern off of the reef. The group staying behind will set up a camp on the beach, and make what repairs they can to the Sea Wyvern. Quintus gives us a brief description of the route we will take, using a map as his aide. We load up in the long boats and go ashore.
[Actually, the signet ring was taken as payment for the two potions used to heal Mick (potions of greater healing at that). You’d think that Mick would be grateful for that…greedy bastard. Rachel is finally starting break out of her always being the heroic type mold. đŸ˜‰ ]
As we approach the beach, we can see the bodies of the terror birds, a little ways from our landing point. A ring of torches is set up and we unload the long boats. A couple of sailors are posted on some rocky outcrops as sentries.
While an inventory is being taken and we are preparing for our journey, someone calls for quiet. After a moment, a sound like that of a thump on a drum is heard…and felt. A pair of sailors has already started to return to the Sea Wyvern in one of the long boats. We hear and feel another thump. One of the sentries call out and is pointing towards the jungle. We can see some of the tree tops sway. We hear more thumps and now crashing of trees.
Suddenly a giant lizard bursts out of the jungle. I remember Lucia’s sketch of a Tyrannosaurus Rex in her journal. It is about 20 feet tall and twice as long, it seems to have teeth as long as my forearm! I also recall Quintus saying that while it hunts by smell, movement can attract its attention. Its attention seems to be on the dead terror birds. I tell everyone not to move. Wasted words as a couple of sailors scream and turn to run away from the dinosaur.
The thunderlizard turns its head in our direction and lets out a roar. I guess a Rex prefers live food over dead food, as evidence of its pursuit of the fleeing men. Or maybe it just can’t help itself and its predator instincts take over. Chaos insues! With a few of the sailors fleeing in terror, the rest of us hold on to our wits. Signore Meravanni, Captain Rizzo, and Quintus make for the remaining long boat. I take a moment to cast a spell at the beast before moving behind an outcropping of rock. The monster is amazingly quick for its size. It closes the distance to one of the sailors and eats him, just as simple as that. More sailors run for the long boat.
I lost track of Mick and Moe but then see them with Signore Meravanni. Then I recall that, somehow they came into the employ for Mister Merivanni, something about money in hand as opposed to promises of money. Erica has the same idea as me. She calls on The Twelve and sprays a gout of fire at the thunderlizard. The speed of the it catches her unprepared as the flames scorch the sand behind it.
[Meravanni had learned that Mick and Moe had been serving in the role of bodyguards for Erica and offered them a better deal to serve as his bodyguards. They accepted. Perhaps Erica had treated Moe a little too much like a servant…]
The Rex pursues the sailors running straight away from it. Maybe changing directions quickly is a weakness. I’m hoping that I won’t have to find out first hand. The Rex only pauses long enough to bite and swallow a sailor, but it is long enough for the others fleeing to draw it farther down the beach. Erica and I circle around the rocks; the long boat is full to capacity, with people hanging from the sides.
[The fleeing sailors didn’t get too far away but before getting gobbled up but it was enough to both draw away the beast and sate its hunger…for the time being. The whole scene played out quite nicely I think and it was quite close for the PCs. Mick and Moe were both just inches (figuratively and literally on the battlemat) from being the next target for the T. Rex. The fleeing sailors, however, caught its attention and, as Niccolo mentions, its hunting instincts kicked into overdrive. I think half of the sailors in the landing party ended up being the dinosaur’s morning meal.]
Once back on land, Signore Meravanni and Captain Rizzo agree that a camp on the beach might not be an ideal plan. The colonists and remaining sailors will stay on the Sea Wyvern until we return with help. Not wasting time, Captain Rizzo get us organized, and soon has Quintus leading us into the jungle. The going is very slow. The overgrowth and uneven nature of the ground require us to move cautiously. That and Quintus’ curious nature to stop and examine every new discovery to him. It is not long before he draws the ire of Captain Rizzo.
We continue our little tromp through the jungle when it suddenly ends. A large, what would best be called a gouge, had been ripped through the middle of the jungle. From left to right, it went on farther than we could see. Across from us, about a half mile distant, jungle resumed. The gouge was 20 or 30 feet deep, and filled with tall grass growing in it. At the edges of the gouge were huge long necked dinosaurs, eating on the vegetation. Quintus said that they were harmless. Harmless until you accidentally get stepped on, I thought. We climbed down in to the gouge and started across. The grass was tall, but not so tall as to where we couldn’t see across the top of it.
Off to our side, we heard a noise, a scream, I guess you could say. Coming straight towards us was one of the grass eating dinosaurs, a young one to judge by its size. It was fleeing from a trio of terror birds. Quintus said we had to aid it! The sailor next to me had a pack with rope. I took the rope and tossed one end to Mick, thinking that we could trip the terror birds once the baby dinosaur was past us.
Mick had other ideas, as did everyone else, as they drew their pistols. Erica was able to pick up the rope. The baby dinosaur ran past, and I pulled the rope tight, only Erica did not pull on her end. The others fired their guns into the terror bird trio. Two went down and the third turned and fled back the other way. One of the sailors had moved away from the safety of our numbers, and was pounced on by the surviving bird. They killed it, and I recoiled the rope. Captain Rizzo came over to me and slammed her pistol into my chest, telling me to grow up. If looks could kill, I would be dead when I asked her how to use the gun. Point and shoot! she said. I gave Quintus a look of needing help.
[I think that one bird was killed and the other two started to run off after that. That’s when one of the sailors separated from the group to chase after the birds and shoot at them. The pair took the sailor down quickly and then, I think, the second was killed. Didn’t the third one flee?
Captain Rizzo was quite displeased that Niccolo was not carrying a suitable weapon (i.e., a gun) and forced him to take the one from the dead sailor. Niccolo does not have the Shooting skill so Quintus showed him the basics as they pressed on.
The body of the sailor was simply left behind. Rizzo didn’t even really seem to give it a second thought. Perhaps the crashing of her ship, the danger of the island, and the stress is getting to her. Hmmm…]
We travel for the bulk of the day when we happen upon something not of nature’s design. Someone notices a man-made wall underneath all the overgrowth. Quintus is excited about this discovery. Signore Meravanni asks Quintus what the ruins might mean in terms of money. [Mick was quite interested in the answer too.] We continue on our way, seeing more and more evidence of what we determine to be human occupation.
Also in evidence is the overwhelming increase of spiderwebs. Someone saw an unnaturally large spider crawl into a spider hole. Knowing what I know now about what Lucia had written in her journal about what she called the Aranea, we should have been more afraid than even Erica and her arachnophobia.
[Just a friendly reminder…Erica has the Phobia (Spiders) Hindrance.]
We continued on, the webs getting thicker and thicker, then suddenly opening up in to a clearing, a village square as Quintus called it. In the center of the square was a large chair of bones and webs. Someone or, in my mind, something was sitting on the chair or, again in my mind, throne. Quintus had no reservations in the least about going in and conversing with it. Reluctantly, I went with him.
A very old and thin woman sat in the chair. I asked him if he knew the native language, and he responded by speaking to the woman in a language I had never heard. He and the woman conversed for a few minutes, with his translating to rest of the party in Oscan. I felt so completely out of my element that I had forgotten that I knew a magic spell that would have let me communicate with the woman. Even after Quintas asked if he could share the story of my and my companions adventures on Carcerus, I still did not remember of what I was capable. By her smiles and attention, I think she enjoyed the story. I remember one of the sailors calling the lady “an old fool”.
[I love it when Todd gets as flustered as his PC and forgets these kind of things. It is great!
Didn’t the sailor mutter that she was an old fool as the troop was leaving the clearing?]
Then her expression turned to one of not so cheerful and she spoke to Quintus again. Concern showed on Quintus’ face as he looked back to the way we had come. He bowed to the lady, as I did in imitation, and said that we must be moving on. I asked what was the trouble but he said he would explain after we were gone from there. With tensions at a peak, we left the Lady sitting in her chair.
A little way into the jungle, Quintus said that the Lady told him something was following us, something unnatural. She also told him of a pass through the mountains but it was in the area of some nesting terror birds. We traveled as quickly and far as we could before it got too dark to continue. We set up guard watches with two people awake at all times.
I was woken by someone, Moe I think. Mick’s watch partner had gone missing. He was there one moment, gone the next. Captain Rizzo said we would go look for him. The trail was not hard to follow. A thick strand of webbing led away from our impromptu campsite. Now we remembered about Lucia’s journal entry on the Aranea. At the end of the trail we found the sailor, cocooned and hanging from the trees, upside down at eye-level.
I remembered the sailor as being the one that had made the disparaging comment about the Lady. Signore Meravanni said that this should be a lesson about respecting one’s betters. I wonder if that has some underlying meaning about him. We got back to our campsite and the remainder of the night was uneventful, if lacking in rest.
[Hmm…do you really think that Meravanni would put some underlying meaning in a comment like that? I don’t know…that just doesn’t seem like a rich and successful merchant from a very rich and successful merchant family from the largest city in the world. Nope…doesn’t sound like him at all. ;)]
The landscape started to change as we moved farther and farther in to the island’s interior. Quintus called for a stop and said that terror birds’ nesting grounds were beyond. He asked if I would go with him to scout. The look on my face must have been obvious to him as why he would ask me to go with him. He gave me a look and flapped his arms like a bird’s wings. Embarrassed at my own forgetfulness, I agreed.
[Mick and Moe protested the idea of Quintus and Niccolo heading off into the jungle by themselves. Mick, in particular, noted that he was quite stealthy but neither had quite caught on to the fact that the pair would be using magic to do their scouting. In the end, they both relented and let the pair of mages go off on their own. Mwah ha ha…they split the party!!!]
Leaving the others behind, we traveled until we came to the edge of the jungle. Before us, lay a wide open area with tall grasses, beyond that some a cliff face. I cast my spell and turned into a parrot. Being watchful of anything that might eat me, I flew out across the grassland. Groups of three and four terror birds roamed the grassland. Starting at one end of the butte, I flew along the cliff face until I saw a tunnel leading into the rock. To my chagrin, it was close to the terror birds’ nests, too close for my liking. To add insult to injury, or maybe injury to injury, I noticed a terror bird more than twice the size of the others, proving it’s dominance as Queen Bird.
I flew back to Quintus and reported my findings. He did confirm that terror birds are matriarchal. We went back to the rest of our group and started to work up a plan to get us to the pass.
[That’s where we called it quits for the night. It was a rather different session than a lot of others…dinosaurs kind of do that.
One interesting thing to note is how different this would have played out in D&D/Pathfinder than it did with Savage Worlds. I think the scene with the T. Rex would have turned into more of a pitched battle with the PCs standing toe-to-talon with the creature. Even if the PCs weren’t still at Novice Rank, taking on a T. Rex toe-to-talon is NOT something that you want to do. Personally, I like how this played out a lot better. I’m glad that none of the PCs ended up being the predator’s target. Another great thing about having a lot of red shirts, er, extras around.]
