This is Paul's first endeavor to run a game for this group, so we all have great expectations. Except for Tim, who is off working, doing schoolwork, and otherwise being a benefit to society, everyone shows up: Chris (Drake Sangaree), Nick (Gunther Felipe Drusein), Dan (Romeo Vestini) and Bruce (Marcel Gasoin).
The characters start out aboard the Succubus, a privateer out of Montaigne with a crew of 112, in the midst of all manner of confusion. A lookout shouts "Ship ahoy!" prompting several characters to rush about like chickens with their heads cut off trying to get a look at it. Drake Sangaree rushes to the fo'castle and gets a look at the ship's flag, determining that it bears the image of a matronly woman. The characters conclude that this is probably the flag of the ship's patron, of whom they know less than nothing.
At this point, everyone pauses to try and figure out exactly who is who. With some difficulty, the various characters are identified as:
With the introductions rather rapidly done for, Captain Fabrice Jacquinne orders the Succubus about. Around this time we learn that the Master of the Tops is Michelle Brissard, a Montaigne woman, and that the Master Gunner is another Montaigne named only Pierre. They say that grown men quake when they hear Pierre's name, and to look at him the characters instantly know why. The players remain in the dark.
The two ships draw closer, trading cannon fire. The Succubus proves to be slower than its prey, but much better armed. After a couple of rather baffling volleys (Broadsides? Chasers?) the Succubus has taken two critical hits, while the other ship has suffered slightly worse. The characters then decide that the Succubus should close to boarding range as quickly as possible. To make this a reality, the Succubus simply evades incoming fire, refusing to come about for a broadside attack.
The moment the Succubus grapples the Bountiful Wife, Gunther Drusein rushes across howling battle cries and laying about with his blade. Drake Sangaree hangs back, seeking to employ his substantial musketry skills to shoot officers among the enemy crew. Strangely, he is unable to see any, so he contents himself with picking off a couple of random crewmen. Romeo Vestini, who carries two pistols but lacks any skill in using them, joins him in blazing away at enemy crewmen. He manages to knock away a bit of ornamental molding. Marcel Gasoin stays at his post, manning the helm.
The fight is soon joined, with the characters piling across, hacking about as they go. The crew of the Bountiful Wife is clearly not ready to go down without a fight, and a swarm of them counterboard. By the end of the first round, about fifteen of their crew have rushed across to engage, though perhaps five of them are hard-pressed. Romeo and Gunther lead the fight to dice them, begging the question of how Gunther managed to get back aboard the Succubus so quickly. In dramatic contrast, Drake decides that the best defense is a good offense, and rushes across onto the Bountiful Wife where he quickly finds himself surrounded by enemy crew who slice him up like a Christmas ham. This isn't enough to stop him, and very soon he and the other Succubus crew have largely cleared the deck. Most of the survivors of the Bountiful Wife take refuge below. Drake stomps and storms across the deck, threatening anyone he can still see.
With most of the danger gone, Marcel runs about like the weasel he is, spiking the hatches to keep the enemy crew down below.
While Marcel and Drake consolidate control of the deck, Gunther finds himself rather magically faced with the Bountiful Wife's fiery-eyed Mate, who rushes from nowhere to give him a really vicious cut. Though Gunther whines incessantly about how he is surely doomed, he and Romeo manage to put the Mate down within a few rounds. Out of spite, Gunther looks down in the wounded man's eyes and pointblanks him.
With the Bountiful Wife under control, the characters call down for the crew to send up their Captain to negotiate surrender. Captain Gaston appears very quickly, and capitulates moments afterwards.
The Bountiful Wife's holds turn out to contain mostly furniture and manufactured goods. On the unfortunate side, it also turns out to be a Montaigne ship, though the characters' apparently very callous patron had previously indicated that he gave not a whit if they slaughtered and looted among his own countrymen.
In addition to the cargo in the hold, a search of the ship uncovers a pair of Castilian prisoners: one black-robed priest and one young woman. After a certain amount of fumbling for a common language (which, in the priest's case, very conveniently turns out to be Montaigne), the characters learn that they are Father Esteban Parillo and Mariana Octavia. Interestingly, the lady refuses to speak. When the characters ask him why he was in the hold, he comments, "I do not know what they intended for us." The characters are able to see that he is lying.
The Montaigne Captain explains that they were castaways, found upon the deep ocean, and that he locked them up essentially because they were Castilian and could not be trusted.
For reasons that remain obscure to several of the characters, about half of the crew of the Bountiful Wife readily agree to become pirates. Given that their other options appears to be either being cast adrift or drowned, it may be that this seemed like the best of a bunch of bad options. Either that, or the life of a merchant sailor in 7th Sea is pretty wretched.
Along the way, Romeo develops a reputation as a nutball, thanks to his continual suggestions that the prisoners should be violated in various ways. The other characters send him down into the hold to look at the cargo. He finds that though the goods are similar to those his family deals, he still doesn't have any notion of how much the stuff is worth.
Looking for a way to gain advantage from the characters' unexpected hostages, Drake asks Father Parillo if there is anyone who would pay money for him. The Father says that the Church will pay nothing for him, but that Octavia's family is wealthy, and probably would ransom her. Drake promises to see them sent back to her family after the appropriate arrangements are made for the exchange.
After failing to find anything he can smoke or drink in the cargo hold, Gunther makes a beeline for the Captain's cabin. His hope is that the Captain maintains a good liquor cabinet, a hope that is answered when he finds a single decanter of whiskey, which he splits with Romeo. In return, Romeo gives him a pistol that at one time belonged to the rather unfortunate Mate.
Hearing the distinct sounds of looting and drinking, Drake also heads towards the Captain's cabin, hoping to find logbooks or other records that might shed more light upon the mysterious captives. He finds the Captain's diary, and is immediately stymied by the fact that none of the characters knows how to read Montaigne, though Romeo strings everyone else along by acting as if he can understand it and quacking out nonsense about Vodacce superiority. The characters finally turn the bloody thing over to Captain Fabrice Jacquinne, in the hopes that he might actually know how to read.
Though there is a substantial amount of disagreement on what exactly should be done with the Bountiful Wife, Captain Jacquinne finally lays down the law and states that it will be sold in the port of Crieur. Nobody objects. On the plus side, everyone collects some loot in amounts ranging from 50G to 75G, plus their choice of weapons (predominantly swords and pistols).
Joseph Chevaille is the surgeon, a big heavyset man, treats the characters' various injuries. The players are gratified to know that in Theah leeching has fallen out of favor and physicians are normally given to cleaning their hands and tools before they work. He briefly becomes the most popular man on the ship as the characters get their wounds tended to.
On the way back to Crieur, Drake Sangaree makes a point of talking to Father Esteban Parillo and Mariana Octavia, and ensuring that they are well-treated. In return, Father Parillo tells some of their story. He claims that he and his young ward were aboard a ship that was destroyed by leviathans (which the characters know make a hobby of picking off sailing ships from time to time). Their ship had been bound for the Thalusian Isles, located some weeks' journey southwest of Castille.
Some days later, Captain Jacquinne invites Father Parillo, Mariana Octavia, Drake Sangaree and Marcel Gasoin to dinner. At the meal, the Captain drops something of a bombshell by asking the Father why he didn't mention the island in his earlier story to Drake. The Father sputters and coughs, but finally agrees to spill the beans.
Apparently, Father Parillo and Mariana Octavia were not bound for the Thalusian Isles. They were actually looking for Syrneth artifacts, which often bring high prices from the nobility (particularly decadent, syphilitic Montaigne nobility). According to the Captain's Log, Father Parillo managed to find an island with a huge store of untouched Syrneth artifacts before their ship was attacked and destroyed. Evidence would suggest that the crew of the Bountiful Wife slaughtered the other survivors of the attack.
The characters do not speculate as to why Captain Jacquinne waited until the dinner to tell them this news, or to grill Father Parillo. There is some speculation that the Captain might trust the Father more than he does his own crew…
The Succubus makes port in a small cove, upcoast of Crieur. The Captain goes into the city to make arrangements for the sale of the Bountiful Wife. Along the way, it develops that the Succubus doesn't have anybody to serve as a Purser, which prompts Drake to ask the Bountiful Wife's Purser if he wants to become a pirate. The Purser is a thin, nervous man who refuses. Drake compromises by getting the Bountiful Wife's Steward to agree to the job. Marcel persuades Captain Jacquinne to agree to the appointment.
The Succubus raises anchor and departs so quickly it makes several characters' heads swim.
The Succubus sets sail on the course specified by Father Parillo, who appears to know a lot about navigation for a guy who later proves to be completely useless. The Father estimates that it will take about two weeks' sail to get to the Mystical Island.
There's little to do on the trip, so the crew falls to gambling. Many of the other crewmembers are playing for shares of the voyage profits, but they only let the characters play for cash. Several of the eventually fall to playing, though Gunther attempts to aid his chances by spreading whiskey awfully heavy through his table:
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During the game, the characters hear several stories. The most interesting is that of the history of Josef, the ship's surgeon. One crewman claims that he was once a wealthy pirate captain. He fell in love, and sacrificed all of his men and money on her behalf. Eventually, he ran out of money and she left him. Drake opines, "I hope the story has a happy ending and he kills her." Marcel keeps his opinions to himself.
A week and a half into the journey, the winds die and the Succubus lies becalmed. For a while, some disconsolate mermaids stare at the ship and smack their capacious jaws. Eventually, they decide that no crewmen are likely to hurl themselves into the sea, so they swim away. After a day, a school of flying fish crosses behind the ship. Not long after, the water to the aft starboard side becomes roiled and turbulent. Amid the turbulence, the characters are able to see the flanks of a phenomenal sea-snake. Most sea-snakes are no more than eighty feet long, but there are stories of one large enough to eat leviathans. This specimen is at least large enough for that: it's head alone is a hundred feet long. The characters watch paralyzed as one huge coil rises into the air then plunges back into the sea.
A few hours later, the wind starts up again and the Succubus gets back under way.
In the days after the sea-snake incident, elements of the crew start to grumble about the risks of the mission. Romeo "Mad Dog" Vestini composes a beautiful speech to encourage the crew and delivers it to the crew at dinner. His speech, which draws upon the theme, "There will be no more pain when we all drown," is received with only tepid enthusiasm.
When Romeo's speech is done, the Ship's Master steps forth and suggests that he and the crew take control and abandon this suicidal and ridiculous journey. In the course of his suggestion, the Ship's Master accuses Romeo of being "foolish nobility", which Romeo interprets as an insult. Romeo challenges him to a duel to the death.
Romeo selects Drake as his second, while the Ship's Master picks the cook, Ben Benuto. The Ship's Master fights with a rapier, while Romeo fights with rapier and main-gauche.
The fight starts out badly for Romeo: the Ship's Master lunges with his rapier and hits him square. Romeo makes a good recovery, striking back and slashing the Master once in the side, once along the arm, and then once in the gut, crippling him with a total of three Dramatic Wounds. Unfortunately, the Ship's Master makes a lucky strike, drawing a line of blood across Romeo's brow and crippling him in return. Undaunted, Romeo strikes again, felling the Master.
Drake notices that a large group of crewmen had been backing the Ship's Master. He raises his musket and shoots one of them, shouting out, "There'll be no more talk of mutiny!" The crew appears cowed. Drake reloads his musket. The crew disperses.
With the crowd gone, Romeo exercises his privilege to claim the loser's possessions and loots the Master's pockets. He comes up with 58G, a rapier, a pipe, a pouch containing a bit of fine tobacco, and a strange cube about 2cm on a side decorated with strange markings. Romeo claims this stuff, then limps to the surgeon to get his wounds dealt with. The surgeon heals one Dramatic Wound.
When Romeo sees that he is no longer leaking as quickly, he goes off to the Captain to tell him that the Ship's Master was planning a mutiny and is now dead. The Captain rather oddly appears to be more annoyed that he will have to find a new Ship's Master than cheered by the prospect of not being executed by a gang of upset mutineers.
The Succubus finally arrives at Father Parillo's island. The Captain calls the four characters aside and explains that he has been impressed with their skill, loyalty and bravery. He wants all of them to be on the landing party, along with himself, Father Parillo, Mariana Octavia and five crewmen. The Boatswain, with whom Captain Jacquinne claims to have served for some years, will be left in command of the ship during his absence.
Drake suggests that the crewmen detailed to the landing party should be from among the mutineers. The Captain eventually agrees. Drake personally selects the crewmen who will go by daubing red paint upon their shirts.
Early on the morning after landfall, the landing party gathers, collects some appropriate supplies, and heads out to the island in one of the ship's boats. The island looks semi-tropical, with white sand beaches and overhanging palm trees. With the boat grounded and the landing party ashore, Drake asks Father Parillo where they should go. He admits that he wasn't actually ever on the island before. He explains that the landing party came back with a lot of artifacts, claiming to have found a Syrneth building with a lot of items inside. The characters, dismayed by the lack of useful information, look askance at each other, but refrain from killing Father Parillo outright.
The characters head inland, looking for anything that looks like a trail. They find themselves hampered by a complete lack of any skills useful in the wilderness. Romeo finally decides to climb a tree to get a view of the area. He spots a large building, slightly submerged beneath the ground, some distance away. It is built of stone, and has strange runes carved into its sides. The characters head towards it, hacking their way through the virgin jungle.
Night falls substantially before the characters reach the ruin. They look for a good place to camp, eventually deciding that no location looks any better than any other. The group sets four watches, with one character and one crewman standing each watch. At dinner, Drake asks the priest about the locals and quickly determines that Father Parillo is about the most useless guy he's ever encountered. The Father relates that several of the original landing party didn't return to the ship because the natives killed them. However, Father Parillo didn't listen to the landing party's stories about the locals because that would have upset him and given him bad dreams. Marcel privately speculates upon whether or not Father Parillo's boots would fit him.
In the middle of the night, a group of about twenty natives infiltrates the camp. They attempt to subdue and tie the party up, but are interrupted when Romeo sounds an alarm. There is a certain amount of confusion over who exactly Romeo is able to awaken with his alarm, as the character he is shouting at continues to snooze while other characters leap into activity. In the end, it proves unimportant as all the characters rise up and massive bloodshed ensues. The characters cut their way through huge piles of natives. Drake sings filthy marching songs as he hacks about with his blade. Gunther chops through natives two at a time, quickly becoming covered in gore and blood. Marcel, wearing nothing but his boots and his undershorts, rushes about screaming bloody murder and swinging a cutlass at everything that moves. Romeo, who suffered a spear thrust in the throat as the cost of raising the alarm, fights valiantly but is eventually forced to try and hide.
After some time, the characters notice that even though they have managed to fell natives equal in number to the original group, there are still more natives tromping through the trees like ants. Eventually, the natives' vastly superior numbers start to tell. Romeo is the first, surrendering when he discovers that all of the available hiding places are filled with natives. From up in his treetop refuge, Gunther fires in darkness with questionable effect, then giving up when the natives pepper him with a seemingly-endless supply of spears. Marcel surrenders and is taken captive when he is finally crippled. Masses of natives finally overwhelm both Gunther and Drake.
The natives bind the characters and drag them off to their village beneath the monolith. The characters discover that the captain, the priest, the woman and two of the crew have also been taken captive. Most of them look wounded to some degree. The natives bind everyone to stout posts about fifteen feet apart, then proceed to have a very dramatic feast. During the course of the feast, Gunther, who had held aside a sharp blade when he was captured, tries to cut his bonds subtly. He is detected and once again overwhelmed by a gang of seven natives. Several other characters elect to sit tight and refrain from escape attempts.
The characters watch as the natives finish their feast and start a ceremony. They bring out a pair of spheres with the unmistakable aura of Syrneth artifacts. Natives place them upon wooden tripods and play upon them. The spheres start to emit a humming noise that increases in frequency until the characters can no longer hear it. An earthquake-like thundering rolls in from the distance, swiftly followed by the massive sea-snake the characters saw some time before. The natives scatter, apparently intent upon letting the snake eat the characters.
Faced with snaky oblivion, the characters struggle to free themselves. Gunther and Drake free their knots, then grab knives and cut the others free. The characters manage to free the Captain, the girl and one crewmember before the snake reaches down and slurps Father Parillo off his post. Gunther and Drake rush about grabbing whatever artifacts and tools they can find. Gunther kicks one sphere off into the darkness, hoping to chase the snake away. Romeo gathers up the next and tries rolling it away, and narrowly avoids getting sucked up by the snake thanks to a lucky Drama Die. Marcel frees the last crewman. Everyone runs into the woods afterwards.
The characters and the other survivors of the landing party have fled back into the jungle as the Mother of All Sea-Snakes rampages across the native camp. Most everyone is still badly wounded from their earlier unfortunate encounter with the native horde. And out in the bay, the Boatswain is in charge of the Succubus.