Our intrepid heroes continued to sail southwards along the coast of Castille,
as Henri and Aliya wrestled with a nasty bout of mal de mer. The following
day, matters grew still worse as Joaquin Orduño prepared to ride out
a storm racing in from the west. A sleepless night was spent manning the bilge-pumps,
tying down goods, and calming the terrified and wailing children of Casa Blanca,
now en route to fosterage in San Cristobal, Theus willing.
The morning found half of the provisions spoiled by the salt water, forcing
a stop at a small and inconspicuous cove. Joaquin directed the Heroes to a
small inland village, Mercado Grande, where they might buy more provisions.
The town was oddly deserted, and those remaining were hostile to strangers,
especially foreigners. Henri kept his gloves on, and his mouth shut, trusting
in Quinn's inspirational voice to smooth relations with the locals. The village
priest steered their company to Ricardo's Cantina, where Quinn explained that
supplies were needed for the children. Ricardo softened upon hearing of the
Heroes' mission, and Henri quietly suggested that families with any little
toys to spare might offer some as well, since the children had gone straight
from jail to the ship. Quinn added that toys that didn't make noises would
be particularly welcome! He also gave Ricardo a copy of a song he'd written
about the escape from Casa Blanca, to increase the Heroes' fame, and inspire
the Castillians to stand against the tide of battle, which until then had
seemed entirely against them. Henri asked that Quinn rename his character
in the ballad Enrico de la Paz.
With Ricardo, they took a cart and donkey to the harbor of Mercado Grande
to get what they could from the warehouses. Insert here, because the players
did, every conceivable joke concerning hauling ass down the road, getting
our ass in gear, Ricardo watching our ass, covering his own ass, and glad
we were that we didn't have to drive a mule instead, because this wasn't some
half-assed operation we were undertaking...
Returning north to Joaquin's ship, shots could be heard. Asgard suggested
we get off the roads, and showed a nearly supernatural ability to ferret out
trails down which the donkey could travel. As we reached a clearing, a score
or more of Castillian soldiers ran past, headed south. We continued on our
way, and a few minutes later, a like number of Montaigne cavalry, pistols
at the ready came riding up behind the Heroes', demanding in broken Castillian
to know where we were going, and who our leader was.
Henri answered in flawless, haughty, Paix-accented Montaigne that he was in
charge of this group, and demanded to know in turn precisely what this captain
thought he was doing impeding a Montaigne operative for the crown. He gave
his name as Henri du Paix, for it was safer for his family's name not to be
known while he engaged in such activities on foreign soil. "As for you,
if you ride quickly, you can catch the Castillian cowards that just ran past
us. They were headed due east," he added with a wave of his red hand.
The captain wavered, apologized, and took his patrol eastwards. Henri sagged
in relief when they'd gone, and the party continued on their way.
Upon reaching the cove, Joaquin's men loaded up the supplies, and the Heroes
bade farewell to Ricardo. A day later, they passed La Reina del Mar, and picked
up a tail of four Montaigne Men of War. One returned to La Reina, but the
other three persisted, slowly gaining on the little ship. When Joaquin reported
that they had perhaps a few hours before they were caught, it was clear that
there was little hope of combating the three vessels that heavily outgunned
him. Henri began counting sailors, turned to Aliya and asked how much tincture
of iodine she had with her...
Joaquin ran up the Plague flag as Henri and Aliya set to work, carefully speckling
and pocking the faces and exposed skin of the crew, and briefing Joaquin on
their plan. The crew and passengers were en route to Vaticine City to pray
for a miracle for the disease they were suffering. No, they didn't know what
it was, but it seemed to be highly contagious, and for the love of Theus and
the safety of their men, the Montaigne should keep their distance.
The Montaigne brought the ship up short with a shot across her bows, and the
ruse went into play. Final score: Montaigne Perspicacity 29, to Heroic Quackery
(Aliya, with Henri and Cecil assisting) 32. The Men of War withdrew, laughing
to themselves about the plague that would shortly strike the heart of the
Vaticine Church, and leaving the ship to continue its journey in peace.
From the poop deck of Joaquin's vessel, Henri accepted his comrades' congratulations
with a sad smile and watched the ship's wake. He wondered to himself just
how this group of Montaigne, Vendel, Crescent, and Avalon citizens had become
devoted partisans of Castille, and winced, realizing how easily he had turned
traitor to his own government. As the ripples spread wide across the way they
had come, he tried not to ask himself what he would do when he ran out of
lies to tell...