The Isles of Gold Session One Part I

Chapter One: The Passage

With the rising of the sun on the third day, the crew of the Venture looks to the horizon with heavy hearts. With five of the crew lost to the hunger of Vasha, Lady of the Deep, and the ship ruined by the fury of her storm, the crew's dreams of glory and wonder exploring far off lands have been brought crashing back to cold reality. But a new dawn brings a new wind, or so it is said.

Being one with a strong appreciation for tradition, I elected to begin the campaign in a tavern: the Wren's Rest in the East Mark, a place frequented by out-of-work sailors and those looking to hire them. I mentioned that the Isles were experiencing a massive labour shortage - not because of a disaster or war, but because of the rapidly booming economy throughout the known world. We decided that the characters had already run into one another and decided to seek work as something of a group, so as to skip over the awkward part of the campaign where the characters have to, often against all reason, become fast friends. One of my favorite parts of a campaign is watching the characters naturally grow to like and trust one another (or hate and despise one another, in some cases), and so I dislike having them already be old travelling companions - but the bit where they all choose to travel together is often hard to create.

Looking around the room, they see five groups of people obviously looking to hire sailors. A merchant hands out fat gold purses to all and sundry, seeking hands to make the Gold Run, the most lucrative trade route in the isles. A beautiful girl sits absolutely silent, with a list of names on the table in front of her - in conversation, they learn that she is an explorer, looking to mount an expedition into the frozen northlands. A group of diplomats mention troubles with the drakes of Mount Caern: shipping has been going missing in the region, and they require sailors and speakers to go to the drakes and find the source of the problem. A sobbing noblewoman begs compassion for the starving peoples of a nearby island, who have been the victim of a fish-blight - she has food and a vessel, but no one to sail it for her. And lastly, a cleric of Vasha offers hte blessings of the Sea Queen to any who will help to spread her word.

I had prepared this as a sort of introduction to being in character: by making them make a decision, I intended to get the players talking to NPCs and amongst each other. They responded admirably, trying to figure out their characters' motivations for going with each of the different ships. Though Alric, a champion of good, was most in favour of the mission of mercy, the other three found the explorer most to their liking: Tarin because she was pretty and the only one of the quests to depart that day, Constance because exploration fit most with her goal of discovery and interest in power, and Tahitoa because he naturally defered to Constance on such decisions.

Tarin, however, managed to snag one of the purses the merchant was handing out by pretending to sign up for his trade venture. For carrying this off, and for getting into character so quickly (Patrick's play was interesting and well-developed throughout this scene), I awarded him fifty bonus experience.

It turned out that the woman they had signed up with was captain Lissa of the Venture, and that she intended to depart as soon as they made their way to the docks. On the way, Tarin, wary of being chased by his former captor, checked to make sure they weren't being followed - and they were. A leather-clad figure in a long cloak and hood shadowed the party all the way to the pier, upon which it made its way down a side-street and disappeared into shadow. An odd and unsettling event, to be sure.

The Venture is a wonderful ship, two-masted, three-decked, of the variety often used by the military and wealthy nobles in the Gold Isles. How captain Lissa came by such a vessel is unexplained, although Alric is mostly satisfied through careful questioning that she is hiding nothing sinister - but is nevertheless hiding something.

Sailing on the Venture is mostly uneventful for the first day, although the characters do notice a flight of drakes far out of their normal territory. Some kind of trouble is clearly brewing to the south. I describe the unnatural clarity of the water, into which they can see perhaps a thousand feet deep, which causes the players to exclaim in surprise. The first mate of the ship, Jeffreys, seems to notice Constance's air elemental Aeolus despite her efforts to keep him hidden. There is something unsettling about the man, but she is not quite sure what.

In the morning of the second day, the crew notices a looming thundercloud ahead, and begin to make preparations: they must secure the vessel against the fury of the storm, lest they be lost forever in the depths of the waves.

Stay tuned for Part II!