You open your mouth to reply but within a moment your environment is drastically changed, what was once your storage area is now a luxurious throne room, rows of spirals line the marbled walls, each pillar is a spiral that reaches up to the ceiling, each tile on the floor is a spiral that reaches onto another tile forming an ever-continuous spiral up till the throne. Susan is by your side and with only a nod you both walk toward the throne, a spiral forms as you approach, and out steps a gilded man, cladded with glimmering spirals lining his thick fur coat, his body is small but of over worldly quality, each step he takes is without weight or limit and his hair is always in a rolled up spiral, he looks down upon you and with a gentle smile he says. “Welcome, friends. You are now in the presence of a demigod, what is that you wish, Prince of the Dream?” You glance over at Susan when he announces that name, is Susan some form of Guardian? Susan replies. “Hello, Aldoroom, I have an urgent matter that needs resolve, your spirals are leaking into the mortal realm, this demands your upmost attention.” Aldoroom’s smile is lost upon these words, he replies. “Susan, I had feared this would happen. My twin brother left just a few weeks ago to escape into the mortal realm, I had feared on what he might have planned, and it seems he wishes to summon an old god back into the mortal realm, with your help and your captain’s we might just be able to do that.” With those words Susan looks at you, you reply:
“I will only send Susan to help while I watch over the ship.”
“We will both help you to our full extent.”
“No, a demigod like yourself should be able to handle this alone.”
“Yes, but in return I wish for something in return.”
You decide to change course for the south, trusting Susan with his knowledge. You announce your decision without much disagreement, after a week of sailing you start to notice weird spirals in the water you ask Susan about it, the mere mention of it has him startled. “YOU SEE THE SPIRALS TOO? MY MIND… YOUR MIND???? WE MUST FORITFY OUR CREATIVE BOXES!!!!!” With his sudden outburst, you are now worried too, following Susan down into the storage room you notice little spirals scatter the walls leading down into the room, with each step Susan gets more concerned. Once you reach the storage room, Susan pulls out odd smelling herbs, a candle, and a small dagger. You watch Susan as he sets up a table in the middle of the room, places two chairs at each end, puts the candle in the middle of the table and spreads the herbs all around in a spiral pattern. Susan looks at you, his eyes constantly darting across the room. “ALRIGHT, ALRIGHT… ALRIGHT!” Susan then grabs the candle and tips it over onto the herbs, then he quickly grabs the dagger and brings it down into the middle of the table, the herbs light up as Susan screams. “CAPTAIN!!! QUICKLY GRAB MY HANDS!” Without much time to reach for his hands Susan has already grabbed yours. “ALRIGHT CAPTAIN, IN MERE MOMENTS WE WILL ASCEND TO THE SPIRAL DIMENSION AND CONFRONT THE SPIRAL KING!”
You decide to train the rats to become cannibals. At first, the crew is skeptical about your methods, but the cannibal rats kill off the rat population quite quickly. You estimate that there are less than 5 rats left on the ship, and you only lose 10 rations. In the meantime, you will try to keep close watch on the ration supply to try to prevent the remaining rats from eating them.
A few more days without the rat problem go by, and life at sea goes back to normal. One day, there was a small storm, which was not much of a problem. However, Susan warns that it was just a small bit of some major meteorological event which will take place soon. Susan advises that you sail towards the south, where it will be safer. If you do decide to sail south, you will take longer to complete your Atlantic journey. You decide to ask the crew members on what they think you should do.
Peggy says he can feel something too, but he isn't sure that turning south will solve the problem. He states the fact that at this latitude the winds blow from west to east, and there is no way you'll leave this zone. Peggy suggests going north to escape the "westerlies", or just continuing west. When you ask Gazpacho, he replies that any direction is fine as long as we have enough food, which is specifically 150 rations remaining. The Mistress believes it is best to just continue west as quickly as possible to try to outrace this meteorological phenomena. Camille states that she does not know much about weather, but it's probably a good idea to listen to Susan.
You stand at a tough decision here which may have grave consequences should you choose the wrong path. However, after listening to the crew's advice, you finally decide on charting a course due:
West
North
South
North-West
South-West
You are sure there must be more rats aboard the ship. And rats need to eat... When Gazpacho inspects the supplies, he confirms your suspicions. You have lost 10 days worth of rations...
You have a rat plague (80 rats) on the ship. how will you stop them from eating your (170) supplies?
Kitchen guards - You remember a conversation with a captain you had in Cartagena. He would let his crew take shifts to shoo the rats away from the food rations. This is probably the most effective way to stop the rats from endangering your supplies.
Search & destroy - "WE HAVE TO GATHER THE WHOLE CREW TO HUNT AND KILL ALL RATS WE CAN FIND TO EXTERMINATE THEM!!!" The Mistress screams. She then squashes a rat who casually strolled by under her boot. Nasty.
(79 rats)
Poison - Susan says he could prepare a poison from the medicines he has bought on the Azores. "It'll only take 2 of our medicine supply and 2 food rations to lure them..." You are unsure how this will stop the rats from touching your not so poisoned rations however...
Train the rats - Gazpacho seems to have an idea to dispose of the rats. He will use cow fat to make the inside of a barrel slippery, and then place 2 rations in it... the rats who fall in will not be able to get out, and will turn to eat eachother after a few days. Then he will release the new cannibal-rats to hunt the rest...
Smoke them out – Camille enthusiasticly shows you a round object which seems to be a ball of cloth. "This is a smoke bomb. I bought them a long time ago from some merchants who came from asia. It will create a huge cloud of black smoke and drive the filth off the ship into the water!" You don't think the rats would prefer the water above a smoked smelling ship.
"I'm Camille, have you forgotten in your drunken moments at the bar?" She says with a joyful smile. She then proceeds to introduce herself to the rest of the crew, most of whom are still loading various supplies aboard. You have a long journey ahead. It will probably take you 150 days to reach Hispaniola, the capital of the Spanish Indies. There you will have an audience with Diego Colombus, Viceroy of the indies, who will give you directions on where to go for your conquest.
Because you have given Gazpacho enough gold for supplies, he brings in 180 days worth of food rations onto the ship.
Because you have given Susan, your sage, 50 gold for medical supplies, he brings in 10 units of various medical herbs, which can be used to cure various ailments.
For some reason unknown to you, Peggy brings 10 match-lock muskets aboard, worth 100 gold coins. How did he get the money for that?
You see Camille's father standing ashore. He is carrying a wooden box with which you presume are Camille's belongings.
It's time to leave. Just before you depart Camille hugs her father, who sees his daughter leaving the island with a sad face. They wave at eachother during the departure until the port far away...
----------------------
Day 30 of 150.
----------------------
You wake up in the middle of the night feeling a sharp pain on your ear. When you stand up, you see a rat fleeing away making a loud "piiiiiiiiiiiiip". It has eaten part of your right ear...
You curse the little pest and try to squash the rat under your feet for a moment until it squeezes himself between the boards of the floor and escapes.
You ask Susan to tend to your bleeding ear, who uses vinegar to clean it "It will promote recovery, be sure not to scratch your ears for a while." It hurts as hell and you are unsure if it did anything. Susan then uses a small piece of cloth to bandage your ear. (-1 Medical supplies)
deletedabout 7 years
You decide to buy more booze from the shopkeeper. He claims his booze is better than the booze you bought in Cartagena. You don’t believe that it is better, but you end up buying 10 “quality” bottles in exchange for 25 gold. The shopkeeper thanks you for your purchase, and waits for you to leave. Eventually, you decide to leave.
You get on the ship, everyone on the crew is there except for the French girl. After a few minutes, she shows up with something that you automatically assume is to hide some of her prototype weapons. She realizes that she hasn’t told you her name yet. She says that her name is….
Marie
Camille
Léa
Manon
Chloé
Remembering her collection of oddities makes her a great choice for a new crew mate, “How about this, instead of telling one of my famous tales, why don’t you make one yourself by joining our crew?” You say in a whimsical way. The French girl looks you dead in the eyes to see if you’re being serious or not, she replies. “Monsieur, that offer does sound appealing, but as you know I do have a collection to keep an eye on and have to help my father around the shop.” You ponder for a moment and look over to Gazpacho. “Hey, Gazpacho. Do you still have the eyepatch I gave to you this morning?”
Gazpacho looks away from the cliffs and replies in a bored tone. “Yes, Captain. I have it right here in my pocket.” With that he hands you the really cool eyepatch, figuring the French girl collects oddities she might join if you give her this, you look back to the French girl and say. “We found this eyepatch on a foggy island, the dense fog never cleared, we braved this terrain for weeks on end, when we finally reached the cave our map pointed to, the only thing inside of this cave was an eyepatch upon an altar, the fog never touched this cave and it was easy enough to grab it and get out, but I have no idea what powers lie within the eyepatch, if you join our crew you can have it.” The French girl’s attention is beyond intrigued with no words she simply nods her head yes. You hand her the eyepatch, with that over with she leaves with the ale and you are now left with Gazpacho.
It’s starting to get late, you feel exhausted already. Looking around you notice patrons are starting to leave, Peggy reaping in his victory money, Gazpacho pardons himself to leave, and the hookers are long gone, with this you decide to.
Head back to the ship and go to bed.
Pay for a room in the tavern.
Follow Peggy back to the ship.
Buy more booze.
You decide to sit alone in a corner of the tavern and stare out the window. You sit in the dark corner, trying to be depressed like Gazpacho, but you're too happy for that. You sip some red wine, and look out one of the windows. After a while, the bartender comes over.
"You're enjoying your drink, mister?" he asks. You reply that you just wanted to be alone and think for a while. "I can get you a room for cheap, let's say 10 gold," he finally says. You tell him you'll consider his offer and he then walks away.
You continue to sit in the corner and think and drink. The French girl from before walks in, and talks to the bartender without noticing you. She buys a whole casket of ale, and when she exits, she recognizes you and walks to where you are sitting.
"Monsieur, are you alright? Father told me to apologize for acting rudely to you in our store," she says, sitting down next to you. You tell her that it's fine and that you are just trying to be alone in the corner and think. "You're a captain, aren't you, sir? Do you have a tale of your adventures?" she asks, intrigued.
You explain to her again that you're trying to be alone, but you suspect that she pities you. The situation is getting awkward, so you:
Tell the girl about the time you commanded La Princesa del Mar and destroyed ten barbary warships
Tell the girl about your latest boarding expedition
Tell the girl about your landing on the small island
Tell the girl that you are tired and have to get some rest in the tavern
Tell the girl to go home and leave you alone
Tell the girl to join your crew to experience adventures herself
You step into the tavern. It's surprisingly large, as the rear part of the tavern is actually an open terrace with sea view. A steep cliff protruding from the sea marks the boundaries of the terrace. You see Peggy sitting at a table there, playing a dice game with some sailors and merchants.
In the center of the tavern is a small podium, where someone is playing a violin. Probably some wealthy merchants spoiled kid, considering the bratty face he’s making. A small crowd has gathered in front of the podium to dance. You notice that most of the women in this crowd are your hookers, having "business meetings" with Portuguese merchants and sailors.
They're right to have a small side-business during your stops, you think as you walk with an amused smile to the bar and order a glass of red wine. The bartender is a young man, whom you presume is a slave of african descent. He looks rather well tended to, and in good physique. He would make a great sailor if he weren't stuck in a bar on a far-away island.
In a dark corner of the bar you see Gazpacho, your depressed cook. He's looking at the sea or maybe the cliffs in front of the sea, debating with himself how painful and deadly a fall from it would be.
Considering you have some free time, what is your party plan?
- Gamble with peggy and the merchants
- Dance with the hookers
- Sit in a dark corner
- Recruit the bartender as a sailor
- Step up the podium and sing out loud
- Figure a way to steal the violin
deletedabout 7 years
You decline all of his options and ask to be taken to the back room. He states that his daughter doesn’t like strangers looking at her private collection, and sure enough, you knock on the door and get no response. You turn around, and suddenly she throws open the door. She realizes that you’re the person she bumped into, and she asks what you need. You state that you’re looking for weapons, and she says she’s not looking to sell, apologizes, and shuts the door.
Well, that’s unfortunate. You walk out, and the shopkeeper decides to offer you a slight discount as an apology for her daughter denying you: The rapier is now 100 Gold, the club is now 150 gold, and the pistols are now 175 gold. However, the discount only applies to the first thing you buy.
You decided to buy the pistols and exit the shop. You still have 175 gold. You decide to:
Get back on the ship
Go to the Taverns
Go to the Apothecary
Go to the Shipyards.
You open the door to the arms shop and the first thing you notice is the French girl heading into the backroom, you ponder for a moment about what might be back there, perhaps a secret room for rare weapons. Who knows, you browse the store for about an hour comparing prices and qualities of each weapon to see what would be worth buying.
You approach the man with 4 high quality weapons, figuring you won't need your odd weapon anymore you put it on the counter and ask how much it's worth. "Hmmm, I'll give you 50 gold for this odd club" the shopkeeper says while giving it a few test swings. "How about 100 gold, I found it in a treasure chest on a long lost island." The shop keep narrows his eyes then says. "Ok lad, I can tell you're not lying." With 100 gold in hand you ask one last thing. "I don't mean to be intrude, but what's in the back room?" The shopkeep looks around to make sure nobody is in earshot. "Back there is where my daughter keeps the rare and bizarre weapons, she's a collector of oddities." The shopkeeper says in a hushed tone. "Alright thanks." You reply.
Judging your options you could
Buy a golden club 1d8 for 170 gold
A silver rapier 1d8 for 130 gold
Two flintlock pistols 2d8 for 200 gold
Go into the back room
Gazpacho makes some dried meat. There isn't much preparation involved, and you eat quickly.
Before the sun sets, you spot a glimpse of an island in the distance. It must be Angra do Heroísmo, a Portuguese port in the Azores, and the western-most European settlement in the Old World.
You chart a course to reach the port before the sun sets. A wind picks up, which propels your ship into the harbor. You alert your crew that you have reached a port, and you get off your ship, with your crew members going to different directions in town. You plan on staying here until the next morning, and in the meantime you can buy some supplies.
You can see a few shops and taverns in the city. Because of the port's gateway to the New World, it is very busy and there are merchants and sailors from all over Europe.
The first shop you see is the shipyards. You could upgrade your ship or buy weaponry there. The next building you pass by is a tavern. Gazpacho is already in the tavern to buy some food, so you probably don't need to go there. It might be a good place to sleep though. Another building next to the tavern is an apothecary. Susan is probably buying supplies there, so you're likely not needed there either. At the end of the street, there is an arms shop. Hand-held weapons could come in handy.
While you stand in the middle of the street pondering on which store you should enter, an attractive French girl bumps into you. "Ô! Je suis désolé!" she calls behind her back as she hurriedly rushes into the arms shop.
After that incident, you decide to go to:
The Arms Shop
The Shipyards
The Tavern
The Apothecary
You decide to search through everyone's belongings. As you walk over to Susan's barrel and look into it, he notices you, and walks up to you. "HI CAPITÁN. CAN YOU LEND ME SOME MONEY? I NEED TO BUY HERBS FOR MEDICINES AT OUR NEXT STOP." Well, no arguing with that. You don't want anyone to die of disease on your trip. You give Susan 50 gold coins.
Next you investigate Gazpacho's kitchen. The smell of pastry and fish is ever present in the ship's cooking hut. You find nothing of interest however. Gazpacho sees you rummaging through his stuff and wants to be helpful. "Are you looking for a snack? There may be some salted herring in that barrel if you're lucky. By the way capitán, could you chip in some money for food supplies? I'm in dire need of fresh water and vegetables and intend to buy these at our next stop" he says. Food is the single most important thing to survive on your journey and has high priority. You give Gazpacho 50 gold coins.
Then you decide to check the hooker's quarters. They've got 20 beds and IT IS A MESS. You fail to find anything out of the ordinary except this weird polished wooden stick.
INT: 1d20(4)+0 VS 8
The stick somewhat reminds you of a blackjack or Peggy’s leg. The mistress spots you with the stick. "I didnt know you were into that kind of stuff! But you can use that as a training model if you like…" she whispers seductively. (acquired suspicious club)
Having found nothing, you give up on your search and just want to eat something and get to sleep. You ask Gazpacho to make your favourite traveling meal, which is:
- Pickled herring
- Unfermented bread
- Dried meat
- The dates you've collected
- Grilled turnip
- Don't have dinner. Your stomach isn't ready for this
deletedover 7 years
Susan the Sage does have a nice ring to it. Unfortunately, his constant yelling does not. When he was ordered to test his knowledge of herbs, he yelled so loudly that you couldn't even make out what he was saying. He yelled a "GOODBYE" and went somewhere else on the ship. You immediately order Peggy to keep eyes on him. His so called "Sleepyelling" disrupts the crew's sleep. You quickly ask him to keep it down, and he starts talking less loudly, and "Sleepyelling", within a week, goes down to just "Sleepwalking". Victories, no matter how small, are still victories. Your crew is on lower alert because of this due to lack of sleep, but this will fade quickly.
He seems to know a decent amount all kinds of things. From herbs to history to religions, his spectrum of knowledge is pretty wide. How lucky you were to find someone like this in a barrel.
However, one night you count the gold, and you notice that you have 350 gold instead of 400. This is quite unfortunate.
The first thing you do is...
Question Susan
Question the Hookers
Look through everyone's things
Ignore it
Looking around and judging your options, throwing both bottles seems more logical than just one. You take one last swig from your trusty bottle, almost as if a farewell kiss to your lover. Using all your strength to throw this hefty bottle you imagine it as a javelin and you fling it towards the barrel. It whacks against the barrel with a loud thud, breaking the bottle upon impact. You ponder for a moment before the Mistress shows up in the heat of battle. “You imbecile! You need to light it first you drunken fool!” The Mistress then proceeds to rip off a section of her dress and stuffs it into your other bottle and hands you a small flint lighter. “Now if you’ll excuse me, Captain. I need to pirate some pirates!” The Mistress heads back into battle, leaving you with the flint. After several strikes you finally get the dress piece lit, wasting no time you imagine it as a javelin once again and fling it towards the barrel, it whacks against the barrel once again, but instead of breaking the bottle, it ignites the alcohol already on the barrel causing a good portion of that area to be blown into the sea.
The pirates now demoralized from seeing their precious ship slowly starting to sink, they easily give up. Your crew plunders their inventory before it becomes flooded and head back to your ship, leaving the pirates to their doom. Mostly gold about 400 pieces worth is found, some new scimitars which you pass around to your crew, a barrel of oil, and a cool eyepatch. Suddenly you hear commotion coming from the barrel, you summon Peggy and Gazpacho to help you identify the noise, you raise the lid to the barrel and out pops a frail old man. “I AM SUSAN THE SAGE!” he screams. “AND YOU WILL DO YOUR BEST TO RESPECT ME, IN RETURN I WILL BE YOUR CREW’S SAGE!” he screams louder. What should you do with the old man?
Of course the crew could use a sage.
Throw him overboard.
Make him test his knowledge of herbs to see if he is a real sage.
Hold him prisoner.
Bored of being chased by a boarding vessel, you order your crew to jump off the wooden boards of your ship, in an attempt to board the boarders. Each one of you equipped with a bottle (and you holding the giant Spanish flag), you navigate La Princesa del Mar backwards and leap off your ship onto the Berber ship.
The pirates are surprised but waste no time in defending their own vessel. The combat turns to bottle vs. scimitar, and glass shards are flying through the air.
A keg of gunpowder on the deck of the ship catches your eye. If you could blow it up, you would be able to sink the Berber vessel. You stand about 20 feet away from the keg, and you could throw your two bottles at it in hopes that one blows the ship up. Of course, you're also holding a large Spanish flag, and a corsair is running at you, so if you could throw the flag onto the corsair and then run away to get a better shot at destroying the powder. Time is running out, and your brain is screaming at you to:
Throw one bottle, keep the other for fighting
Throw both bottles
Continue fighting with both bottles
Throw the flag onto the corsair, then get to the powder and destroy it
There's no reason to turn back to fetch Rodriquez. You never invited him to join your adventure anyway. The Mistress is delighted with your decision to leave her ex behind. Peggy simply states "Who falls behind is left behind". Though you can tell he doesn't quite agree with leaving the poor man behind. Oh well.
You command your crew to set sail to the strait of Gibraltar, after which you will head to the last settlement of the civilized world: The Azores
After a week of travel, you near the strait of Gibraltar. And your crew notices you are not alone. "There is a ship on our tail!" shouts Peggy. You head to the bridge of your ship and see that indeed a ship is following you, looking for confrontation. They have raised a flag belonging to a Barbary pirates clan.
Try to escape and hope they lose track of your pink ship
Send a rowboat filled with hookers towards the ship
Surrender and give up all your trade goods and women
Command the crew ready their arquebusters and cannons
Prepare your crew to board their ship and pirate THEM
deletedover 7 years
You decide to declare to the villagers that you are a god. You rise above them, tall and intimidating, and one of them yells something you don’t understand. Before long, you are given a basket full of fish. They seem to be very small fish, except for a few at the bottom that are larger. You thank the islanders for their gift, and you walk back to the ship. As you walk, the islanders bow at your feet. A couple of them run up to you to give you more baskets that are also filled with fish. You carry 3 baskets to the ship in total, all filled with fish. This is a very generous offer to their “god”. You thank them for their generous offer with a smile. You then walk away to put the baskets on the ship.
Gazpacho looks at the fish and determines that he can make something out of it. You thank the islanders and announce that you are going to leave, but that you will return. They thank you in words you don’t understand. You take note of your crew, and set off. While sailing, you soon discover that you left someone on the island. More specifically, you left Rodriquez on the island. You can barely still see the island, he must be worried sick that he got marooned with the “savages”. What do you do?
-Return to the island
-Leave him behind
You could claim this island for yourself and have it as a getaway in times of danger.
You could become a god yourself and be shown as a religious icon to these villagers
You could build a date farm to have a steady supply of food.
Or you could make the natives join your crew, the fishermen would be useful.
Settling on your decision, the date trees seem like the best option, you round up your crew, and tell them. “Alright lads, it would seem the best option would be to harvest the dates, it looks as if they’ve never been picked before either, so hopefully they will be ripe and delicious!” Gazpacho lets out a sigh of relief, with the strict supplies this will make his life much easier. You form everyone up in equal groups to harvest the dates, you look over one last time at the village and notice everyone is in their huts, probably from exhaustion or something, who knows. You spend roughly five hours collecting dates, several buckets filled to the brim next to each tree, the sun now starting to set you finish up for the day and tell the crew to do likewise.
You grab a bucket and head over to the village, the huts all look the same, you ponder on which hut would be the one where the leader resides, but it doesn’t take long before the villagers start leaving their huts and form a circle around you. When the circle is complete the tribe leader approaches you, the second he notices the dates inside the bucket he bows down to you and hands you an ancient scroll, you place the bucket on the ground and unravel the scroll, at first the language seems impossible to comprehend, but the longer you look at it the more it makes sense, letters start to merge with one another and form slowly into Latin, once the process is complete you can now read the scroll, and it states. “For a millennia the ancient evil spirits of this island have resided in the dates you harvested, each year the spirits would demand a sacrifice or they would sink the island into the great depths below. Only an outsider with a heart of pure resolution could break the curse upon our village. For this act of freedom we wish to thank you in any means you wish.” Closing the scroll and handing it back to the leader, you ponder on what you could do.
It's time to send in the hookers.
You sail La Princesa del Mar close to the island. The natives are staring at you unflinchingly. You're close enough to see that they do not have any weapons with them.
You eventually land on the beach, and a crowd gathers around you. One of them, an old gray-bearded man, steps forwards and talks in a strange language you cannot understand. You shove your 20 hookers towards him, and he eyes them with contempt, then walks off, with the rest of the crowd behind him.
From the looks of the huts on the island, it seems you've reached a fishing island somewhere in the Mediterranean Sea, so the people shouldn't be dangerous - at least you hope not.
Well, this island likely doesn't have any gold. Perhaps you should continue on your journey. Getting some food here would be a good idea (although the people on the island may disagree with your taking of their food). The date trees on the beach look good, or the natives may be willing to trade for food.
You ask Peggy what he thinks but he's too drunk to give you a meaningful response. The Mistress agrees that getting food would be a good idea. Rodriguez still wants to take over the island (he brought a Spanish flag with him to put on the beach). Gazpacho complains about his deplorable working conditions. He then stalks off, muttering something about having "nothing to lose but his chains". How odd.
After consideration, you thought the best option would be to:
Collect dates from the trees - Date trees should not be hard to find on this island.
Trade liquor for food - It's the only thing you have, and food would be great. Wait, didn't you read somewhere that some religions prohibit alcohol?
Take over the island - Rodriquez certainly enjoys this choice.
Continue sailing - There's nothing good on this island. If you really want gold, maybe there is some across the ocean.
"El Capitán! El Capitán there are infidels on this island!" Peggy suddenly screams in horror. You, the Mistress and Gazpacho scramble to the front deck to see for yourselves. There are canoes laying scattered at the shoreline and just a little further inland you see something what looks a primitive village. Even more concering, you see a large group of these "infidels" gathered at the coast, eying your pink ship with suspicion.
Considering your crew is tired of sailing for 2 days, conquering the island by force may not be the wisest choice of action. Maybe you can settle this island peacefully?
Trade for land - Peggy reminds you of some worthless jewelry you have, iron lockets plated with glass shaped like pearls. Maybe you could make a “fair exchange”?
Send cheap alcohol - You remember the alcohol isopropílico of questionable quality you bought at that tavern. If you just give them the entire supply, you only have to wait until they all die from food poisoning. Or at least have gotten so drunk they cannot resist an invasion.
Send hookers - You could send the hookers to the island to seduce the infidels. Once they're all busy getting laid no one would mind your presence right?
Feed them cake - Gazpacho proposes he can bake a cake with the few supplies he has, and feed it to the locals. "Love goes through the stomach". You suspect Gazpacho is seasick and this might be a suicide attempt.
Send Inquisition - The door of the cargo hold flies open and a man dressed in a red robe storms onto the deck. "No one expects the spanish inquisition!". Was he in the cargo hold all along? "Oh... It's my stalker ex-boyfriend Inquisitor Rodriquez..." sighs The Mistress. "Don't interrupt my monologue!" shrieks Rodriquez. "These savages need to be evangelized! It is our mission as good christians! Let me bring my weapons of fear, surprise, ruthless efficiency, an almost fanatical devotion to the Pope, nice red uniforms and teach these savages how to be CIVILIZED!".
deletedover 7 years
You can never go wrong with alcohol! Alcohol makes things so much more fun, including sailing.
The first place that comes to mind, naturally, is the tavern that you sleep in. The barkeeper agrees to sell you some of his wine and beer, and you end up with 50 bottles. This would be a lot better if you now were left with no gold at all. The tavern owner, sensing that you feel ripped off, decides to give you a bottle filled with a strange liquid. He says it is filled with something called "alcohol isopropílico". He goes on and on about how you can use it for many things, and you decide to cut him short and say thank you, and get on your way.
After you buy your alcohol, you set sail with your crew! You spot an island, however much of it is covered in trees. You can barely make out a mountain at the far side of it. You could try to explore it, but you may regret it later. What do you do?
- Try to get closer to spot what's on the island
- Land your ship on the island without bothering to spot what's on it
- Keep sailing
- Attempt to colonize the island
Ah yes, the glorious La Princesa del Mar you say. Peggy gives you a questionable look as he realizes this will be the ship that will brave the seas, giving Peggy a nod you head below deck, while Peggy gets acquainted on board with his surroundings.
As you walk down the short staircase you notice the dull surroundings, not the most glamorous storage, but it will work. You take note of several things, the row of blades along the wall which look dull from overuse, the barely sustainable food supply in one corner, and lastly the bag of coins you keep next to a bottle of wine. As you do often you open the bag and count the coins, 50 as usual. You take the bag with you back uptop, Peggy gives you a nod as you head off the boat.
The moment you step off you are greeted with the rest of your charming crew, The Mistress and her gang of underground hookers, formally known as La Princesas.
"Greetings captain, where are you off to so soon to departure?" The Mistress says as she checks you over.
"I noticed we had some leftover gold, I figure we could at least use it before leaving, or just throw it into the ocean and hope it brings a dead fish back to life." You reply in a mocking tone.
The Mistress gives you a nod as her and the ladies board the ship, but before you could leave you spot Gazpacho, the chef you met at the tavern, a somber paranoid man who only joined your crew if you agreed to kill him after the adventure, he approaches the boat as well.
"Hello Captain, this is the ship right?" Gazpacho says.
"Yes, get on board and take stock of the food supply, and see if you can ration it more accordingly for this trip, who knows how long we could be out at sea." You reply.
Gazpacho gives you a thumbs up and boards the ship. After some time you enter the marketplace, thinking back on the inventory what should you spend the gold on?
Poll options: Buy more supplies, Replace the Weapons, Buy Alcohol, Don’t spend the money
Before a captain, you were a beggar. Shrewd, yes, miserly, yes, but you sure do know how to talk to people. You’d collect more money daily than most of the local fishermen. You learned from your uncle, who was the finest speaker in Cartagena, typically found in taverns convincing travelers to spare him a nickel. He also ran for mayor of Cartagena and in a rampant campaign won the election due to his popularity in the taverns. Sadly, he died before your naval career took off.
As you board your ship, a crew member approaches you. It's ol’ Peggy the peglegged Swede, who you recently hired at the tavern. "Sir, are you sure your vessel can brave the waters of the Atlantic and beyond?" he asks with skepticism. You ponder only for a moment, as your ship and you have been together through a lot, and the answer is an obvious yes. After all, it has survived through everything you have, and that would be countless navies from Italy, France, and the Barbary Coast. You reminisce to when you bought her, at the shipyard in your hometown.
“Here’s what I have in the shipyard for ya,” the master said, pointing to each individual ship. Of course, you knew which ship you wanted the moment you saw it. You ended up choosing:
La Espada - A custom-built galley made for boarding
La Bruta - A dromond with an iron ram attatched to it
La Rápida - The fastest balinger to sail the seven seas
La Minúscula - A tiny pinnace with two masts, not very sturdy in the strong winds
La Dura - A carrack with a very thick hull
La Diablesa - The captured brigantine of a famous pirate captain used for smuggling
La Princesa del Mar- A dainty pink crayer, used for trade
La Primavera - A massive galleass equipped with a gundeck and rowers
La Empresa - A galleon with a large storage area, used for trade
