C479

NEW DIMENSIONGAMES

Official Game Adventures

BY: MATT DEMILLE

OUT FOR

TM

LOVE AND DUTY

For Gore Verbinski, for great films . . .

CreditsDesigner: Matthew deMille

Cover: Newell Convers Wyeth (historical picture)The Dark Lady: Based on the song by Ek Ong Kaar Kaur Khalsa

Editing, Graphic Design, Typography: Matthew deMilleProducer: James deMille

This work is protected under the copyright laws of the United States of America COPYRIGHT 2004

PLANNING THE ADVENTURE

2

Ahhh, the scent of fresh blood, I smells, minglin’with the foam o’ the sea! White caps be peacefulan’ so mean peace, but I tell ya true, red caps o’them waves are not from any poet’s sunset, but asure sign that war is burning just over the horizon.Love an’ duty are a callin’ ye fer sure. Afraid, areye? Just give a good yo-ho ta God an’ set sail fera venture most rewardin’, in ways more than gold!

PRONOUN NOTE: The male pronouns (‘he’,‘him’, ‘his’) are used throughout this ‘ere book.Though women may be bad luck at sea, they’reright fine for this ‘ere game, and we’re not betryin’ to exclude ‘em, nor even imply theirexclusion. Centuries of use have made these ‘erepronouns neutral, and they’re use provides for clearand concise written next—nothing else does.

ABOUT THIS BOOK: About this book inparticular, indeed this gamebook—what is agamebook for a role-playing game?

What is in this book: Contained within these pagesare three individual, open-ended Adventures thatwill take the Characters on thrilling journeys acrossthe Caribbean! These can be played individually, orused in chronological order, building the basis forthe careers of the Player Characters. Or, they mayeven be played in non-chronological order,assuming that the Encounters keyed to specificyears are omitted.

Using this book: These Adventures are relativelyshort, requiring on an average one full gamesession (roughly 10 hours) to play through to theirend. However, you may increase the length of anyAdventure by adding Encounters from other gamegazetteers. One must select such additions carefullyhowever, for each of the Adventures in this bookare carefully constructed and their own Encountersare carefully chosen to lead the Characters to acertain conclusion, and even one sidetrack canthrow the Players’ thinking off enough to changethe course of the entire Adventure. AdditionalEncounters are welcome and even encouraged, butyou should read through the new material and theentire Adventure itself before choosing what to addand where to add it.

It is important to note that, as theseAdventures are not ‘full-length’, that they shouldnot be played back-to-back, as Players may tend tobelieve them to be one entire Adventure. Thiswould lead to problems, in that Players wouldassociate the Encounters in one Adventure withsituations they face in another, and this can throwthem way off track in their decision making. TheseAdventures should only be played one-after-anotherif the Players are fully aware when one Adventureends and that a new Adventure is beginning.

Indeed, if you play these Adventures one afteranother, have a little ‘shore leave’ time in-betweenthem, perhaps breaking the game session at thatpoint, or in some other way clearly establishing thetime elapsed between adventures.

PREPARING TO PLAY: Before you and yourfriends sit down to play this game, you shouldconsider the basic elements of the Adventure, asexplained throughout the following pages.

Tales to be told: The Adventures in this book arepresented in their chronological order. The firstAdventure, ‘Lady Jane’s Quest’ is set in 1681. Thesecond Adventure, ‘The Endless Voyage’, occurswithin the year 1684. Finally, the third Adventure,‘Long Live The Queen’, takes place in 1687.

Telling these tales: Each of these Adventures isabout heroism, and everything revolves around thatidea, for both the Player Characters and all theNPCs as well. Thus, when telling these stories,maintain valor, honor and ‘doing what must bedone’ as the driving force behind most (if not all)themes and actions. Certainly other motives andideals such as greed, patriotism, politics or revengecan come into play, but they should never takeprecedence over courage.

SIDE ADVENTURES: In order to add greaterinterest and fun for the Player Characters, there areprovided below several ‘side adventures’. These aresimple, open-ended Encounters that may be used inany of the three Adventures found in this booklet.Use them sparingly, for they do not last long, andmoreover, use them wisely, placing them in thestory when they will be most effective.

PLANNING THE ADVENTURE

3

1) First blood

This Encounter is best used if there is at least onePlayer Character present who is either beginninghis first adventure, or is still Level 0, or is 16years of age or younger.

A ruckus in the alley outside the taverne drawsa large gathering, yourself mingled amongst them.But as soon as you arrive, the crowd is alreadybeginning to disperse, the excitement passed. Aspeople drift by you, silent and empty-eyed, yousee the aftermath of the commotion—a Spaniardlaying murdered in the alley, his fresh bloodmixing with the filth of a hog trough.

Any Player Character who is either young orinexperienced as described earlier must make aWits Check to stomach the sight of fresh blood,with failure indicating that he begins to retch andcannot take part in looting the body, nor witnesswhat anybody does with it. For the body is indeedworth looting, having on him a pistol and a purse(filled with 30 silver doubloons) that the slayermissed in his haste to flee, but can yet be foundwith a successful Search.

2) Goldtooth

This night, as you watch the waves slush by,you feel a warm wind roll down your back—thebreath of one of your crewmates. Turningaround, you’re confronted by ‘Goldtooth’, andnow you know why he has that name—one ofhis teeth is made of solid gold! And he wantsmore—he wants your purse so he can buy you acoffin . . . as he says between drunken gasps.

Goldtooth is one of the crew of the lowestLevel, and in his drunken state, he has a -1 toattack with his flint-lock pistol, and a mere DS 4,G 4, and move 60’. As Goldtooth has picked hisspot to attack a fellow crewmate at night, nobodywill notice if he dies either, though it will requirea Brawn Check to pry that gold tooth lose, whichis so pure as to be worth 5 gold coins!

3) A whale of a tale

Tonight, with the moon above, the crew gathersin the calm air amidships, where one of thembegins to sing, quickly drawing in the others fora welcome distraction from the slow speed of thenight’s voyage. Master gunner Douglas sings ofall the women he’s loved in ports around theworld, and how each one ended so badly thatnow there’s no sea-monster that could frightenhim. A whale of a tale he tells, and getting eventhe off-duty crew to join in.

The songs have distracted everyone from areal ‘sea monster’ not far away, indeed a reef thatis not being seen—only the Player Characters havea chance of spotting it before the ship they’re onhits it, and then only if at least one of them canmake a successful Intuition Check. If they spot itin time, they will raise Morale by +2. However, ifthe ship runs aground, Morale will lower by -3,and the crew will subsequently embellish the talein later tellings of how the song awoke a seamonster that speared their ship.

4) The seachest

Amongst the rest of your haul, you find an oldseachest. Its leather skin is so weathered that itis almost black, yet its thick straps still hold trueand keep it sealed. Who knows what secrets lieasleep inside of it?

The chest’s locks are rusted through and so itmust be broken open, requiring a single blow of 9Damage or more. No Attack Roll is necessary, butfailure to do this much damage with one hit willeither blunt the weapon or cause the gunshot toricochet, the former permanently lowering the BaseDamage of the weapon by -1, the latter making anunmodified Attack Roll upon a random target! Ifopened, the chest will contain only a skull, whichwill curse the pirates, saying aloud and only once“You have until the sunset . . .” It speaks true, forthose who hear this and do not get blessed by apriest by sunset will perish.

LADY JAYE’S QUEST

4

Pssst! Avast there! Be ye aware o’ what lies justahead there, mateys? Treasure indeed, says I, butno treasure o’ gold or jewels. I’m telling ya true,there be treasures greater than silver an’ gold, mate.An’ mark well me words, that while some richessend ya on adventure an’ wait fer ya at the end,some others send ya seekin’ adventure but are therefer ya when ya first raise anchor . . .

BEGINNING THE ADVENTURE: Before runningthis Adventure, it is a good idea to read through itjust to be familiar with the storyline and keyelements. However, reading the entire Adventurebeforehand is not necessary for play.

Timeline: This adventure is set in the Caribbean inthe year 1681. Those Encounters that are markedwith an ‘*’ require the game to be played in thisera. If your game does not adhere to timelines, donot use these Encounters.

Background: When everyone is ready to play,begin the adventure by reading the narrative below.

The shifting tradewinds of this day and age haveseen business bad for pirates, on either side ofthe political line and of all blood, no matter howmuch or how little they spill of any king’senemies. Truth to tell, it seems even God has amind for business, forgiving the Caribbean itscenturies of sin and blessing it with times ofrelative peace, a time when more churches andmissions are being built than ever before. Yetwhile others have blind faith, you see with openeyes of wisdom, and know that peace is but thecalm sea before a storm.

Yet even as you look out across the horizon,wondering when the sun shall set on this peaceand turn the whitecaps into ripples of red blood,you wonder most what the sea-fates have plannedfor you. Indeed, how is the gathering storm ofstories of other men going to draw you into theeye of the hurricane?

Thar she blows! As if in answer to your ownthoughts, you feel the unmistakable breeze of astorm gathering its strength. Armadas of winds toserve the Queen—of the fates. Her great eye isseeking you even now, but for what purpose?

PART 1: MONSTERS IN MONTSERRAT: Ashort sail from the military and economic anchorof English power in the Colonies that is St. Kitts,this small town is governed mostly by merchantswhose general refusal to use slavery, whose wealthin architecture and whose simple lives hold greatmeaning for the future. Here shall the adventurebegin here for all of the Player Characters. Justhow their story shall begin will be determined byusing the following Encounters in the order thatthey are presented.

1) Introduction

This Encounter will introduce any and all PlayerCharacters of British heritage.

Your tale began in England, at the Jamaica Inn,a pirate haven in Bristol. Indentured or invitedaboard the Royal Arms, one cannot tell, not on amilitary man-o-war such as that ship is. A slaveship in its earlier days no doubt, and your cabinwas no better than a slave’s seat at the oars. Yetwhen you finally put ashore, you feel not onlyfree, but reborn. Looking around the toweringsteeples and lavish mausoleums of this islandcolony, you feel that you have indeed arrived ina new world altogether.

The Characters are free to do as they willhere in Montserrat, while the ship they came on,the Royal Arms, is going to be based here.

2) Dead men swimming

This small city is a marvel of sculpture and finearchitecture. Yet today this heaven of stone turnsto a hell of bone. Being sea-level, graves floodeasily and so mausoleums are the general burialpractice, with the old bones broomed into secretpits every few years. But last night’s rain has, asit often does, flooded the wells of the dead anda storm of chaos is now overtaking the streets;dogs carry away bones, you hear the tailor say“Look, there’s goes grandma’s ol’ bones floatin’down the lane” and an entire corpse has drawnan alligator from the swamp to the marketplace!

LADY JAYE’S QUEST

5

During the next hour or so as chaos reigns,all Pilfering and Stealth Checks will gain a bonusof +3. However, should anyone be a hero and slaythe alligator, the town will offer a total reward of100 gold to the slayer(s). In any event, one otherperson will be taking advantage of the chaos too,running around to each Player Character, seekingthem out in fact, and literally whispering in theirear “If Diablo is your devil and Jahova your God,is Santana your goddess?” before using that same+3 bonus to vanish into the crowd again.

3) Introduction

This Encounter will introduce any and all PlayerCharacters of non-British heritage who have norank or title of any nation.

“I’m afraid your tale is a sad one . . .” so saysthe old man. “I’ve been here in these shacklesfor years I can no longer count. But you, well, Idon’t know what you’ve done, but it doesn’tmatter. You might have gotten away with a goodold fashioned hanging, but not after the merchantguild took over. Now, you get to look forwardto slavery. Fortunately for me, my arms are tooold and frail, for the fields or the mines. Ahhh,but not to worry—the sun or the salt will killyou long before the work does.” The old manshuts up quickly as the guards arrive, who thenproceed to haul you out in shackles, to beauctioned off before a meager crowd.

Any Player Characters already introduced maybid on the new PCs for whatever reason theywish, but doing so will make them slaves to thepurchasers under English Common Law. The highbid for any PC will be the total of all his SkillLevels, Wits Score and Girth Score. However, ifany new PC is not bought by the other PlayerCharacters, they will instead be bought by a ratherexotic-looking woman, clearly of English heritagebut with tanned skin as if she has been at sea onthe Caribbean for years. This woman is a piratecaptain in disguise, and as thus will not speak toher new ‘slaves’, but instead have her servants(other pirates in disguise) quickly take them to hership, as accounted later on in Encounter 5.

4) The haunted mansion*

The Governor’s mansion lies far back at the endof a crooked alleyway, the cobblestone streetalways alight with colorful lanterns. Passing bymany shoppes overflowing with exotic trinketsand even voodoo charms, you come to the endand stand before the wrought-iron gates of aconverted plantation estate. Rising atop a low hillsurrounded by dark elm trees, this two-storyhouse looks brand new, though its grounds aredominated by gravestones charred black by fire.

The original plantation was burned down by aslave revolt in 1640. This resulted in the foundingof the multi-cultured town of Montserrat and thegeneral disdain for slavery here. This new mansionwas built only a few years ago, though on thesame grounds, and so it is cursed. It is said to behaunted by nearly a thousand spirits, both slavesand their slaughtered masters, and others as well.The Governor is currently not on the island, seeingto business in another colony, though which onenobody knows. No guards patrol the grounds, fornone need to—should anyone break in, they willhave to deal with the appropriate Ghost forms ofany and all PCs and key NPCs that have died inthis Campaign thus far . . .

5) Introduction

This Encounter will introduce any and all PlayerCharacters who have not yet joined the story.

Fate has found you at a gala evening held at theplantation of a wealthy storyteller. However, talesof ghosts and galleys that sail against the windare all quickly sunk by salvos of merchants’comparing figures. You soon find yourself on theverandah, overlooking the simple town below. Inan instant, you and several others behold theapparition of an angel and hear her cold words:“Your salvation lies with the Santana . . .” andthen the heavenly body is gone!

Only the Player Characters who are presentwere witness to this, and no one shall believe theirtale if they try to tell it.

LADY JAYE’S QUEST

6

6) The piratess

Run this Encounter only once everybody has, forone reason or another, gone aboard the ‘Santana’.

The Santana is a dirty galleon flying all piratecolors. Once aboard, you join a crowd amidships,all looking up at an angel incarnate on the aft-deck—your gaze is drawn up her black knee-highboots to her bare, sweaty thighs strapped withtwo pistols . . . each. Her breasts, like her attitude,are barely contained by her tight captain’s coat,girt with gold thread and a gilded cutlass. Herraven hair flies wildly in the wind, worsted onlyby the darkness of her eyes.

“I have brought you here by the grace ofGod—our God!” she says in a voice that couldcause angels to cower. “Like the legend of myhome in Nottinghamshire, I too intend to plunderthe rich, of England and everybody else! But notfor myself. This ship, know now, is cursed, andnow that you’re aboard it, you are too. Leavemy command and you will fall as I draw mylast breath. Only once we’ve restored the balanceof wealth in this world shall the balance of ourlives be returned. Thus have I brought you here,one way or another. That ogre, King Charles II,encourages the merchants and commerce thatbleeds the people dry. Know this—when a countof two hundred thousand has been given to thepoor and unfortunate, we will be free.”

The crew seems surprisingly glad to be onboard the Santana. From their murmurs, you cantell that they see Lady Jaye as a rebel with theright cause, but more than that, they believe sheis quite capable of achieving freedom by a greatdegree, and at a great profit to you all.

Any and all who agree to join Lady Jaye’scause and crew will set sail with her on the tide.Lady Jaye’s statistics are provided as Handout 1,and those of her ship, the Santana, on Handout 2.Her boast about the curse is a bluff—neither shenor the ship are cursed, and she does not believein curses nor fear them, but the tale has alwaysbeen enough to keep her crew in line, for as longas they believe it, nobody ever commits mutiny—ifthey get that upset, they slay themselves in despair.

PART 2: SEEKING THE SEA KING: Whetherthe Player Characters sail aboard the Santana andunder Lady Jaye’s command or not, the winds offate shall blow them towards a famous ship. Thisthey shall encounter after venturing only 60 leaguesin any direction. If Lady Jaye is in command, shewill sail due north, passing all towns unless thereis given good reason to stop. During this voyage,use the following Encounters at your discretion.

7) Dinner with Lady Jaye

On your first night at sea, you and a few othersare invited to have dinner in the captain’s cabin.Lady Jaye sits quietly at a table as candleflamesslowly sway back and forth to tell the silent taleof the ship caressing the Caribbean waves. Aftereating an entire meal without uttering a singleword, the piratess explains at length how she isseeking the Sea King, a famous slave ship thatanchors on the Amazon coast and holds thesecret to a fabulous treasure hidden there.

Lady Jaye will tell no more, at least not outof charity. This saucy piratess will tempt thevarious Player Characters to figure out how to getmore information out of her, as detailed below.

Kissing her lips will concoct poison (Level 1)she has smeared her lips with and quietly suppedthe antidote to in her wine glass—she will informthe victim of the poison, but not the antidote, thusencouraging her little game.

Toasting her will have her switch glasses, andso provide the antedote and tale thereof to all.

Singing her a song will amuse her enough tostroke her thighs in a seductive manner.

Kissing her thighs will encourage her to tellthe tale that the treasure is guarded by ‘ghosts’.

Telling her a tale will garner the response “Idon’t believe in the ghost stories that frighten somany others away, but you should believe at leastin legends, as they will prove real enough.”

Threatening her in any way will have hercalmly remind everyone of the curse, that if she isno longer in command, they all die. Of course,this being a bluff, if called, she will fight, butafter only 3 Rounds the rest of the crew willcome to her rescue, firmly believing in the curse.

LADY JAYE’S QUEST

7

8) Seeking rumors

Should anyone seek legends of the ‘Sea King’ orany potential plunder, only one person will haveinformation, and at the first port they visit.

Locals redirect you to the home of a retiredpirate outside of town. A weather-beaten shantyon the barnacle encrusted headland, you cross amaze of planks over shallow coves to his door,which is the lid of the coffin that stories say hewas prematurely buried in. The man who invitesyou inside is visibly aging but still hale, and asyour eyes scan the trinkets and treasures thatclutter his home, you feel his every possessionhas a tale to tell. He sits down on an overturnedbarrel and looks at you with foggy eyes.

The old man calls himself ‘Scally’, short for‘scalawag’ and surname to his dead wife, ‘Scully’.For the price of 3 gold (2 if the coins are thoseof England or Holland) he will recount one talefrom the following chart. However, he is prone tolapses of memory, and thus duplicate rolls result induplicate tales, with no refund.

Rumors

Roll Rumor about the Sea King11-12 The anchorage of the Sea King is an isle

that lies beyond time and space8-10 The captain of the Sea King is a wealthy

man whose treasure is hidden inside him4-7 The name of the Sea King curses all men

who utter it aloud and alone1-3 The crew of the Sea King are all ghosts

9) Curse of the Sea King

Should anyone utter aloud ‘The Sea King’with no adjoining words before or after it, thiswill indeed awaken a curse. This curse is of a 5Magnitude, causing whomever spoke it to alwayshave ghostly voices uttering ‘The Sea King’ at thesame time he speaks any other name to anyone,thus penalizing all Charisma Checks by -6 until thecurse is lifted. To do this, one must be givenleave by the captain of that vessel, as he stillcommands the spirits of men lost long ago.

10) Services at sea

Dawn’s light finds the entire crew holding aMass amidships. As you watch and listen, youcan tell that they are trying to ward off theirgrowing fear of these waters. One of them leadsfrom the forecastle, Bible in hand. “Let us nowhear of Psalm sixty-six . . .” he says in a voiceas calm as the ocean waves surrounding the ship,indeed leading the crew along as surely as thecurrents themselves are leading your ship.

Should the Player Characters do nothing tointerfere with this Mass, they may gain a clue thatis to their advantage. Indeed, the crew will followthe lead of their preacher and sing the first sixlines of Psalm 66, which you should read aloud tothe Players. What is sung is also reproduced onHandout 3, but do not give this to the Playersunless they have a Bible amongst their Characters’equipment, or if they join in the singing (that is,the Characters singing, not the Players), and solearn the lines well enough.

Make a joyful noise unto God, all ye lands:

Sing forth the honour of his name; make his praise glorious.

Say unto God, How terrible art thou in thy works! though the greatness of thy power shall thine enemies submit themselves unto thee.

All the earth shall worship thee, and shall sing unto thee; they shall sing to thy name. Selah.

Come and see the works of God: he is terrible in his doing toward the children of men.

He turned the sea into dry land: they went through the flood on foot: there did we rejoice in him.

LADY JAYE’S QUEST

8

PART 3: GUNS AND GHOSTS: No matterwhere the Player Characters sail, they are destinedto cross sails and perhaps swords as well with thecrew of the Sea King. Indeed, at this point, thatlegendary ship is not too far away. Tell the tale ofthis confrontation with the following Encounters, tobe played one and all and in the order that theyare presented.

11) Evil omen

This morning you find your vessel mired in amost unnatural fog. The ghostly mists slay allsounds, save for the waves gently lapping againstthe side of your ship, reminding you that merewood and the craft of slaves is all that now liesbetween you and plunging into the dark oblivionof the ocean depths. Even as you try to reassureyourself that your ship is sound, looking down atthe keel, you see a few planks and scraps ofcharred cloth floating by . . .

The wreckage is coming not from the ship ofthe Player Characters, but a merchant vessel notbut a mile away, recently destroyed by the SeaKing. If they follow the debris, they will comeupon the smoldering wreck. Only those who climbaboard this slowly sinking wreck can find anything.To do so requires an Agility Check, lest one falland suffer a Base Damage of 2. Yet whether onegets hurt or not, he may make a Searching Checkto discover aboard the flaming wreck a small chestof gold, equaling 250 crowns, 235 doubloons, and392 pieces of eight. To take any of this gold willawaken a spirit, unseen but whose voice will echofrom within the chest, saying “Take not the priceour crew pays for passage to Hell. All else wastaken by the Sea King. Take not our souls . . .”

12) To battle the King

“The glass! The glass!” comes to lookout’s cry.The crew scrambles to their stations, knowingwell the call of an hourglass—the symbol of apirate’s flag and the legendary center of the SeaKing’s jolly roger—your time has run out! Forindeed, another ship is making straight for you!

The other ship is indeed the Sea King, and itis intent on capturing the ship(s) that all the PlayerCharacters sail upon. Though outnumbered, the SeaKing is driven by greed, for it is a slave shiplooking for new ‘cargo’. Indeed, anyone amongstthe Player Characters that does not duel with thecaptain in this battle will, if defeated, be knockedout instead of slain, to become a slave unless theSea King is defeated. And to defeat the Sea Kingwill be difficult, for it is a square-rigger with acrew of 100 bloodthirsty 1st Level men and 30wicked 2nd Level men, and running 20 guns. Thecaptain is a standard pirate captain, save that hewields a cutlass instead of a longsword, thussetting his Base Damage at 11*. If he is ‘slain’,he will not die, but hold onto life like a ghost . . .

13) The captain’s bargain

Use this Encounter as soon as the battle is over.

As the storm of battle dies down and the windsof war falter into the fading whispers of thought,the captain of the Sea King comes forward. Hewalks with a limp, yet none-the-less approachesyou boldly and honorably. “If you grant me myleave, good sirs, I would offer you in turn abounty far greater than the pleasure of runningme through. Let me go, and set me adrift withfood, water and a compass, and I will give upto you information that leads to a most fabuloustreasure. Indeed, I will give you the coordinatesto my secret of which so many tales tell.”

As the nameless captain finishes his speech,have each Character make an Intuition Check tonotice that he has a diamond tooth (worth 1300gold). He will further instruct, if needs be, that hisbargain involves him shouting the coordinates backto the ship once he is safely in his longboat. Hewill honor his bargain, but once the coordinates of’3 and 6 from 66’ are given, he will dematerialize,indeed like the sounds of battle themselves. If‘killed’ under any circumstances, the pirate captainwill then dematerialize all the same, yet withoutgiving the coordinates, thus leaving the Charactersand their fellow pirates with one less clue toescape the dark waters that they are already in . . .

LADY JAYE’S QUEST

9

PART 4: THE DEVIL’S SEA: The Sea Kingwas a slave ship . . . long ago, but got trapped inan area of the Caribbean known as the Devil’sSea. And now, the Player Characters have venturedthere, for one reason or another, and they mustescape it. Indeed, no matter in which direction theysail nor how far they go, they shall find nothingbut open sea, that is until they break the heart ofthe curse in Encounter 22. But to get there, theywill have to face many trials and perils, includingthe following Encounters, which are to be playedin the order that they are presented.

Coordinates to Hell’s Gate: The coordinates thatmay have been given by the captain of the SeaKing will, once applied to any charts, make nosense, for 36N and 66W lie outside the Caribbean,and thus they are useless to the Characters.

Morale: Being lost in a cursed sea, the crew willconsider this as ‘going nowhere’, and thus lose -3Morale each day, for making minimal speed.

14) Despair

If Lady Jaye is not with the Player Characters, donot read the second paragraph of the narrativebelow. However, if she is indeed still with them,read this description in its entirety.

“We be caught in the Devil’s Sea.” is a commoncomment among the crew today. Many of themlean on the railing for hours, watching the wavesgo by, whispering words of ill omen. As youpass them by, you hear other comments far moredisheartening; “I says we be trapped here.” and“This ‘ere sea, she’ll never let us go . . .”

Lady Jaye herself stands undeterred upon theaft-deck. “I’ve been caught in many traps.” shesays coldly. “To seek safety we have to find theeye of the storm.”

The crew has lost -10 to their Morale out ofsheer despair. However, before considering theramifications of this loss, the Player Characters cando a number of things to counter it—those thingsthat will matter to the crew right now are listedon the following chart (nothing else will).

Boosting Morale

Action MoraleMarry Lady Jaye (Charisma Check -4) +6Female PC whores for the crew +4Good preaching (Religion Skill Check) +2Every 1000 gold given to the crew +1

15) Coordinates of Heaven

The crew’s fears seem to have become real, asif their dread is warping time and space; the skyis an eerie green hue, the waves but a reflectionof the clouds, the horizon line altogether lost,and the ship’s compass is spinning wildly, as iftrying to escape its own wooden prison. “We areslaves now to this accursed sea.” says one of thecrew. “I cannot look to Heaven above nor Hellbelow for want or love of life. Where can welook now? Has God forsaken us?”

The ship(s) the Player Characters sail will nowfind no new shores nor any change in the weatherfor 1-12 days, and each night thus will the countof days claim an equal number of NPC crewmen.For example, on the 3rd day, 3 more crewmen willdie. However, this unnatural fog can be passed atany time by any one person singing aloud lines 3and 6 of Psalm 66, thus speaking: “Say unto God,How terrible art thou in thy works! through thegreatness of thy power shall thine enemies submitthemselves unto thee. He turned the sea into dryland: they went through the flood on foot: theredid we rejoice in him.” If this is done, the ship(s)will come to the island at the center of the Devil’sSea, bypassing Encounter 16.

16) Cursed storm

If the Players did not solve the puzzle in the lastEncounter, they will be taken to the cursed islandby a horrendous storm. This storm will be of aMagnitude of 13, and will be upon them at once,and thus it cannot be rounded. Once it has passed,move on to the next section of this Adventure, thesea fates having drawn their new slaves to theirisland. If this storm sinks the ship(s) of the PlayerCharacters, they and Lady Jaye alone will survive,floating with the wreckage just off shore . . .

LADY JAYE’S QUEST

10

PART 5: HELL’S THROAT: The center of theDevil’s Sea is an island known as ‘Hell’s Throat’.Now that the Player Characters have arrived there,they must go inside, indeed to seek the eye of thestorm, as Lady Jaye says, if they are ever to befree again. Lady Jaye herself, alone of all her crewwill go in with the Player Characters. To tell thetale of this journey through these haunted caves,use the following Encounters one and all and inthe order that they are presented.

17) Approaching the island

From a distance, it looks like any other island,though dark and shrouded in mist. Up close, yousee that it is barren of all living things. No gullsuse its sharp headlands. No trees can be seenhigh or low. This island, if indeed an island itis, appears more to you like a heap of slag thatbubbled up from the furnaces of Hell and cooledupon the ocean waves.

To reach the island, one will have to take alongboat, as no ship can safely move through themaze of sharp reefs that surround it. However, allthose in any longboat, on any raft, or swimming inthe water will be close enough to see ghostly facesin the deep, thus calling for a Wits Check at a -2penalty. Those that fail will be stricken with fearand will thus suffer a penalty of -1 to all rollsuntil they leave the island behind.

18) Tunnels of terror

The surface of the island is barren and featureless.However, one can make a Searching Check oncewith every tide (thus every 6 hours) to find a caveleading inside the island . . .

“Dead men tell no tales . . .” The ghostly voiceresounds throughout the deep, dark cave thatopens before you. Moving inside, you find thetunnel illuminated by strange, almost supernaturallights, like the green and blue torches of spiritsstill haunting this place, indeed still seeking tofind a way out. As you venture on, you swearyou can almost hear the poor devils—brokenwords bantering about division of treasure.

Up ahead, the tunnel splits into three separatepassages. However, it does not matter which waythe Characters choose to go, though certainly allowthem to banter about it on their own account, onlyto confuse themselves further.

A successful Searching Check made at thisjunction will discover a message scrawled on thewall in English, reading ‘Ten times round, fivefathoms down, our ship went south into Hell’smouth, slew seven men and one monkey when theDevil came to judge our blame’. This writing isreproduced on Handout 4.

19) Shadows and swords

The tunnels soon begin to twist and turn, makingfor a regular maze under the island. The furtheryou go, the more flooded the passages become,until you are wading thigh-deep through blackwaters. What you would give to hear the soundof gulls again, or the ocean waves—you hearinstead the clash of swords! Looking around, yousee the shadows of pirates fighting on the cavernwalls, locked in an epic battle for all eternity,dueling for the pleasure of the silent audience oftheir own mortal remains laying nearby, skullssunken in hills of sand or skeletons pinned tothe stalagmites with rusted swords, thus tellinghow the battle will end, indeed with everybody aprisoner of this island . . .

The skulls, skeletons and swords are useless tothe living. However, a successful search of thiscave will discover a monkey-head wrapped arounda glass bobble, thus serving as a gruesome potioncontainer that pours through its mouth, which iscurrently sealed by having once been burned andsubsequently stitched shut. If opened, a hideouslaughter will fill the cavern, drawing the attentionof the otherwise oblivious dueling shadows, whowill disappear, to reappear as the Ghost shadowsof all who are present here, seeking to slay theirliving counterpart. If all these shadows are defeatedthe monkey-head will vomit blood, staining thesand, though the little bit still dribbling from itscrooked teeth will, if supped by a single person,prove potent enough to permanently increase hisGirth Score by +1.

LADY JAYE’S QUEST

11

20) Rope bridge

Making your way through the maze of tunnels,you come at last to a chasm spanned by a frailrope bridge. Steam rises from this rent in theearth, sculpting the stalactites throughout timeuntold into the jaws of death, ready to close onany who venture deeper into Hell’s Throat.

The bridge is frail and can only support somuch weight. Every 50 Weight total (rounded up)is the cumulative chance in 12 that the bridgebreaks. Anyone on the bridge when it snaps mustmake an Agility Check at a -3 penalty to rideeither side of the bridge as it slams against eithercliff. All those who fail fall 100’ to Encounter 22.

21) Lady Jaye’s love

Use this Encounter only if Lady Jaye is still withthe group. She will at this point have becomeconvinced that curses are real, and will seek lovefrom one of the Player Characters for confidence.The following event will happen to, in order ofpriority, the PC that is male, English, British, theone with the highest Charisma Score, the one withthe highest Brawn Score, and finally the one withthe highest Experience Point total.

In a part of the tunnel so still and silent, and soinfernally dark that you wonder if you died andwandered into Hell without realizing it, you heara voice saying “I want you . . .” A moment’sreflection brings no new wisdom. Then you hearone of you being grabbed! Then, the confusionpasses, and all is silent again.

Let the Players (over)react however they will.However, in that moment of blind confusion, LadyJaye simply grabbed the Character she desires andkissed him. When the group continues on, she willbe holding his hand. After this, she will not leavehis sight and will die to protect him. If she wasalready married to another (from Encounter 14),she will insist that her ‘true love’ duel the other tothe death in order to break the marriage. If eitherrefuses, she will duel her husband for her ownfreedom, and thereafter vow to love no one!

22) The Eye of the Storm

The tunnels converge in a steam cavern, the wellof a dormant volcano. A lake of boiling watersurrounds a small island half buried with goldenash, the treasure of those who never came back,or indeed, who never left. In the center rises ashort pedestal fashioned from human skulls, and,set atop it, a diamond so large it could easily bethe single most valuable object in the world.

The treasure here totals 26500 ducats, 15600doubloons, 8100 guineas, 82900 pieces of eight,and a chest filled with all kinds of jewels to equala thousand count totaling 104000 gold value. IfLady Jaye is present, she will confess how her taleof being cursed was a ruse, thus she and the PCscan keep all this wealth unto themselves.

The diamond is worth 13000 in gold, but it isalso the ‘Eye of the Storm’, the key to the curseof the island and surrounding sea. If smashed, thusmaking its shards worth considerably less in gold(666 to be exact), the curse will be lifted. If thisidea is suggested Lady Jaye will agree to it,saying that freedom is the true treasure to be had.

However, if anyone took any treasure beforethe Eye was shattered, he will remain cursed, thatwhen he leaves the shores of this island, he willlose 1 random Ability Point each sunset; the rollof ‘1’ being Brawn and so on down one’s AbilityScores, with ‘9-12’ resulting in no loss that night.When any Score reaches 0, that person dies, to bea Ghost to haunt the island forever. The only wayto break the curse at this point is to get married.

CONCLUDING THE ADVENTURE: Once theparty has left the Devil’s Sea behind, there aresome things to consider.

Marooned on the island: If the Characters have noship with which to leave this accursed island, thereis a 1 in 12 chance each month that another shipwill be drawn here, though each person will haveto buy passage off at the price of 1000 gold.

Lady Jaye’s love: If anyone should marry LadyJaye, she will adventure with him forever, loyalunto the death (and perhaps beyond).

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Ever hear of the Dark Lady, mate? Ahhh, perhapsnot. ‘Tis a sad tale, ye see. Many who know itdon’t speak o’ it, lestaways not unless they feelsafe by the fireside a tellin’ other ghost stories. Fermany have crossed this ghost ship—crossed, says I,not crossed paths, this ship with a will o’ its own,born o’ heartbreak. Will her heart break yours, orwill ye be the first ta set the dead ta rest an’ takeher treasure fer yer own?

BEGINNING THE ADVENTURE: Before runningthis Adventure, it is a good idea to read through itjust to be familiar with the storyline and keyelements. However, reading the entire Adventurebeforehand is not necessary for play.

Timeline: This adventure is set in the Caribbean inthe year 1684. Those Encounters that are markedwith an ‘*’ require the game to be played in thisera. If your game does not adhere to timelines, donot use these Encounters.

Background: When everyone is ready to play,begin the adventure by reading the narrative below.

You awaken in Hell, or at least, so it seems. Asyour eyes slowly fill with the dim light of hope,you find yourself surrounded by the majesticstalactites and stalagmites of a cave. Curtains offlowstone glisten with dripping water, filling atidal pool which only now do you realize youare laying in, shallow and as cold as dead blood.Sitting upright, you look out the way you musthave come in, a narrow throat of stone leadinginto a blinding light.

Are you dead? Your mind and memories areassaulted by feverish visions, plaguing yourwaking thoughts with images of men being hungor walking the plank. And now, within this oasisof darkness, away from the stark light of life,you come to remember that all this occurred inlives you once lived, and of hearts you havebroken, by your will or not.

Even as your mortal life slips away like thetide in this cave, you can only marvel at theplan of God—if He loves you, why has hebrought you to such an end? Indeed, is this anend, or are you to suffer in Hell for all time?

PART 1: CAVE OF GLOWING SKULLS: Thislonely location may be the horrible end for thetales of many, but it is only the beginning of thisstory for the Player Characters. To tell their tale,play the following Encounters one and all and inthe order that they are presented.

1) Introduction

This Encounter will introduce all Characters whowish to play this Adventure . . .

You soon discover that you are not alone, andthat others were also washed into this tidal pool,though as they lay motionless in the shallowwater you wonder if they even alive, nor ratherhow they could be anything but dead, corpses todecorate this flooded grave to which you havebeen banished. As you fight off your fever, youbegin to remember what occurred; Your ship wascaught in a terrible gale and wrecked, and half-drowned you were washed upon these unchartedshores by a storm so fierce that a cave appearingas no better than the mouth of Hell itself offeredbetter odds than turning back into those waves.Even now, as a storm rages outside the end ofthe tunnel, you look upon the headlands whichclaimed so many others, as well as your onlyhope of escape. Timbers are still being smashedupon the cruel rocks, the ship’s skeleton poundedby the angry sea, whose rancor fills the sky, yetit is dulled to but a whisper within this cave, asoft voice that begins to awaken the dead . . .

The Player Characters are all here and alive,as will be any key NPCs that followed them fromother Adventures to this doom—they are the othersthat are stirring now, everyone having the samevisions and slow awakening as each other. Eachperson will still have all their carried equipment.

The tunnel leads onto the stormswept headlandthat is impassable at this time. However, each andevery Character who makes a successful SearchingCheck out there (or everyone that is involved in asuccessful Group Searching Check) will discoverfrom the wreckage of their ship enough goods toconstitute one roll from the following chart. Thereare no modifiers to any of the rolls on this chart.

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Recovered Goods

Roll Recovered from the shallows9-12 Barrel of water (10 days worth)6-8 1 day worth of food4-5 Body of crew to be looted (Table 81)3 30’ of good rope

1-2 Nothing more to be found by this person

Should any Player argue the loss of the ship,particularly if he had any ownership in it, remindhim that no Adventure can take that away—he willget a chance to get his ship back and more, buthe must go through some difficulties to get it. Inthe meanwhile, they have little choice but to waitout the storm, or explore further back into thecave. Either way, they are soon to have their firstdifficulty . . .

2) Old as dirt

Thunder and lightning now pounds inside thecave! Yet it is not—you see the weak lightningof a very feeble torch drawing near, followed bythe equally weak thunder of a haggard old voicethat grunts and chokes as it draws closer. Soonthe dim light reveals its master, an old man whoseems older than the cave itself, stepping out ofthe shadows like a ghost.

The old man was marooned here when he wasa boy, so long ago he cannot remember. He barelyeven remembers his own name, ‘Ric’, which he isable to recall only because how often he makes asimilar sound, choking and hiccuping, eating naughtbut fish for most of a century. He’ll wish to talkto the party, and be kind for the most part, evenjoking about himself as being ‘old as dirt’, but hehas a serious side as well—he will inform the newoccupants of this cave that there is no hope of arescue, for no ships sail here, save one, ‘the DarkLady’, as this cave lies on the edge of the feared‘Circle of Blood’, the route that evil ship sails andhs done so for years now. He knows no more, butwill say that there is greater wisdom to be foundfurther back in the cave. Ric will accompany theparty as they delve into the depths of the cave,skewering a dead fish on the end of a driftwoodstick and lighting it to use as a torch.

3) Sunken skulls

Venturing deeper into the cave, the tunnel climbsa steep slope, which is revealed as the rim of anatural pool, the beginning of a large cavern agood hundred feet long, its entire floor flooded.As your eyes adjust to the deceptive, pale lightglinting off the cave walls, you see dead facesin the water. Skulls they are, hundreds of themforming the entire bottom of the sunken floor, inwater so shallow that some of them peer abovethe surface . . . a snake swims through one eyesocket as though it were one of you leavingyour own cave under the watchful eyes of thestorm gods and sea fates that brought you here.

Ric will not venture beyond this point, as hefears the skulls and the heathen gods very much.Have each Character make an Intuition Check tonotice the old man muttering about how the skulls‘were buried almost a thousand years before Christ’and how ‘God has no power over them’.

If anyone speaks directly to the skulls, ghostlyvoices will seem answer him—no matter what onesays, his own voice will echo back with differentwords. They will also speak of their own accord ifdisturbed. What they speak will be determined atrandom on the following chart. If the words are“Dead men tell no tales . . .” then the speaker mustmake a Luck Check or perish instantly!

Legends

Roll Legend of the Dark Lady10-12 “No ships can see us or withstand us . . .”

8-9 “The headlands are the bones of gods . . .”6-7 “Dead ships shall rot even as we do . . .”3-5 “Beyond our sight lies a graveyard . . .”1-2 “Dead men tell no tales . . .”

4) Escape!

Use this Encounter only if the party moves throughthe pool in Encounter 3 and explores beyond it.

Miles beyond the sunken skulls, the tunnel opensinto the sweltering outside air of the deep jungle.

The party is now along the coast of Honduras.

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PART 2: ESCAPE FROM HONDURAS: Lostin a cave along an uncharted coast, the party hasbut three options. Each of the following Encountersaccounts for each way they might leave the caveand Honduras behind. Use only the Encounter(s)that surmise what the party does in trying theirvarious methods of escape.

Rescue: The one Encounter that will not happen isbeing rescued, no matter how long the party waitshere. Ric will in this event remind the party thatno ships come here anymore, not just to avoid theperilous headlands, but also the Dark Lady herself.

Ric: A crazy old man, Ric will not wish to leavethis cave, no matter how plausible the party’s planof escape may seem. Though he has not left thecave in nearly a century it is true, he will claimto know well enough that he will be doomed if hetries to leave—“Nothing escapes those rocks!” hewill add with such finality that his heart gives outand he dies at that moment!

5) Lost village

Use this Encounter if the party explored the caveto its end and sets out into the jungle.

Through the shredded canopy of palm leaves yousee the unmistakable glint of metal on a barrenmountain, about half a mile distant.

If the party follows the light to its source, itwill turn out to be a Spanish helmet on a pike,marking the head of a trail that leads 6 miles onto the remnants of an old native village. There arematerials enough here to build a raft after 10 totalman-days are spent working on it, thus taking thegroup out to sea and to Encounter 7.

If the village is successfully searched, one willfind a skull mingled with slag in the bottom of ahuge, cracked cauldron—it seems as if the nativeswere melting the Spaniards along with their ownweapons and armor. This one surviving skull haswriting scratched upon it in Spanish, translating to‘The Dark Lady is alive’. If nobody can translatethis writing, the Players themselves may attempt todecipher it by studying Handout 5.

6) Tides and tentacles

Use this Encounter if the party tries to travel alongthe treacherous headlands outside the cave.

These headlands seem impassable. This maze ofrocks changes with the tide, often imprisoningyou upon sun-baked boulders for hours at a timewhile you wait for the water to recede. Finally,you find your way blocked by a narrow chasmcutting into the sheer clifface as if a giant handscooped a piece of the earth away, leaving theshallows filled with the writhing tentacles of atleast one octopus, maybe more, spawned in thedeep and awaiting anyone that should fall in.

There is actually only one octopus below, butit is large and menacing to behold. It is a full 20’jump to the other side of the chasm, and anyonewho falls into the water below, which is itself 9’deep, will have to do battle with the octopus. Yetonly 4 miles beyond this point a longboat from theparty’s own wrecked vessel will be floating in acove, swamped but intact, which can lead them outto sea and thus to Encounter 7.

If the party ventures along the coast, 108leagues north will take them to Trujillo, and 96leagues south will bring them to Puerto Bello.

7) Daring the sea

Use this Encounter if the party sets out to sea inany kind of makeshift raft or boat.

The journey out to sea is difficult at first, as thewaves roll against you like armies of the oceanspirits trying to keep you back. Eventually youpush through them, drenched and with the saltytaste of the tide but also of victory on your lips.You glide over the reefs just below the surface,and then you look ahead to sea—and indeed seea ship heading your way!

The ship is a derelict French sloop, plunderedby the Dark Lady but 12 days ago, as the logbookwill indicate if read. This ship is now sinking andcannot be saved, however its longboat certainly canbe. There are 20 days of food and water aboard.

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PART 3: THE CIRCLE OF BLOOD: One wayor another, the fates will drive the Player party toJamaica and into the Circle of Blood, the routeendlessly traveled by the Dark Lady. Once theyhave reached this point, a good 180 leagues fromthe Cave of Glowing Skulls, they can encounterthe Dark Lady at any time. Run the followingEncounters whenever they are applicable, but in theorder that they are presented.

The Circle of Blood: The Circle of Blood forms aring from Port Royal, 30 leagues to Petit Goave,then 70 leagues to Tortuga, and then 80 leaguesback to Port Royal. However, the normal bonus of+3 to speed in this route is lost for the party, asthe winds blow ill, suffering them a -1 penalty tospeed, as the Dark Lady is coming for them . . .

Summoning the Dark Lady: It is possible that thePlayers have read the Caribbean Sourcebook, orrather that their Characters know the legend of theDark Lady—should anyone drink a toast in theirown blood, nothing will happen any sooner than itwould otherwise, for the ghost ship has alreadybeen summoned by fate, and is on her way . . .

8) Lonely hearts

Use this Encounter if there are any NPCs amongthe party that are the opposite gender of any PCsthemselves. The PC thus with the lowest totalAbility Points will win the affection of the NPC,regardless of any past relationships with anyone.When reading the narrative below, replace ‘NPC’with the name of the now lovestruck NPC and‘CHARACTER’ with the namesake of his or hernew admirer.

The journey seems as endless as the sea itself.Staring away across the horizon of this desert ofwater, ‘NPC’ then turns and gazes longingly intoyour eyes, ‘CHARACTER’. “I will not die alone,nor unwed. ‘Tis no trick of the maddening heatnor of despair . . . I love you!”

The NPC does indeed love the Character, andwill continue to love him, regardless of whateverhappens after this, for it is true love unbreakable.

9) Shark attack

The rolling sea ahead kicks up a spray. Soonyou see why—the waves crash against the highrocks of a reef and spew through its blow-holes.As you glide over this undersea island, the waterturns ghostly green . . . and beautiful. Ripples fromyour own oars cast emerald hues over the rocksnaught but five feet below. However, your oars,raft and even yourselves leave a wake of shadowthat draws your attention to others—the livingshadows of dark sharks gliding over the reef likedevils of the deep. They are surrounding you!

There are 7-12 reef sharks here, and will after2 Rounds begin to bump against the party’s boat,capsizing it after 2 more Rounds pass unless theyare all killed. Each person who enters the waterwill divert 1 shark from the raft, which like allreef sharks will fight him for 1 Turn and then lethim be, that is until he tries to get away, whetherby swimming away or getting back onto the raft.

A successful search of the reef (this roll madewith a -1 penalty) will find a marker-barrel, its oldrope dropping down 10’ to a chest of 810 daadlers.

10) The ghost ship’s approach

The moon is out tonight, washing all color fromthe sky and the sea. Dark clouds roll menacinglyabove like the tide of Hell encroaching on theshores of Heaven, staining the silvery seas belowthem with shadows that creep past your boat likethe wakes of unseen ghost ships. Your heart issoon to stop, for one ship you can indeed seewith living eyes—a ship whose sails fly againstthe wind and whose hull is so damaged as to bea skeleton of wood, yet float she does, and ismaking straight for you . . .

The ship is the Dark Lady herself. She willbe upon the party in 8 Rounds, though anythingthey may do (such as hide beneath their raft or liedown to play dead) will be seen and known afterthe 3rd Round. Once the party has carried out whatplans they will, the ghost ship will stop to takeaboard anybody that is willing. At this point, moveon to the next section of this Adventure . . .

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PART 4: ABOARD THE DARK LADY: The shipspoken of only in whispers and ghost stories, the‘Dark Lady’, is quite real. She continually sails thepassage known as the Circle of Blood, and nowthat the Characters are aboard her, they must tryto solve the mystery of this ship, if they are everto be free. Each of the following Encounters offera clue to solving this mystery, so use them as theparty evokes them, but only at the maximum rateof 1 Encounter occurring every 1-4 nights.

The spirit of the Dark Lady: The Dark Lady is aship kept afloat by ghostly spirits. And thus whileshe appears badly damaged, she, like a corpse, willnot sink, no matter how much damage she endures,nor will she prove able to run aground. Reefs andshoals of the physical world break apart at herpassing, much like the hearts of all those that havepassed beyond this world due to her, and indeedwhose spirits hold her together.

The curse of the Dark Lady: The entire crew ofthis ghost ship, indeed all those who stayed aboardand eventually died on this vessel, are now part ofthe ghost crew. All 36 of them are intangible tothe living and will seldom interact with them, savewhen someone joins them. This may very well bethe party’s fate, for there is no food or wateraboard. Furthermore, anyone who tries to physicallyleave the ship will become cursed, and so begin tolose 1 Brawn Point a day, until he inevitably dies.Thusly, the more investigating the party does, themore they may learn of this curse, but the longerthey will delay getting to the next section of thisAdventure, where food and freedom await them.

The blood: Though the party was doomed to comeacross the Dark Lady despite the legends in theCaribbean (Sourcebook), and thus drinking a toastin their own blood would have neither helped norhindered them before, it will now. The next sectionof this Adventure will begin once any Characterdoes indeed drink a toast to the ship in his ownblood. To get enough blood, he must effectivelywound himself for 0 Base Damage, and make anormal roll against his Girth Score to survive this.However, if he does, his wound will miraculouslyclose before his eyes.

11) Welcome aboard the Dark Lady

Use this Encounter when the party first climbs onboard this haunted vessel.

You climb aboard to find this ghost ship to bequite real. Still, there is something strange aboutthese pirates. They mull about the deck withouta care in the world. They hardly even glance inyour direction, save for one, the quartermaster byhis appearance, tall and brawny, who awaits youamidships. He opens the door to the captain’scabin and leads you inside. Therein, it is as Hellmust be. Dark and dimly lit with candles only,their pale light illuminating skulls and ill-begottentreasures that look back at you from the depthsof the shadows. The captain himself sits behinda desk whereupon rests a book and a quill, theferocious look on his twisted, gaunt face tellingyou true that to put your mark in his book is tosign your very soul away.

The captain, one Baron LaBonne, is giving theparty a chance to join him as they would aboardany pirate ship, save that if they refuse, beingalready aboard, the curse will effect them so thattheir Brawn will begin to wane as if they jumpedoverboard, though not noticeably, so each Playerwill make their choice with no hint as to whetherit is good or ill. Those who do refuse can lift thecurse by signing the book, but will not regain anyBrawn Points already lost. Any NPCs with theparty will sign unless given good reason not to,such as the PC they love refusing to sign on, andwill still make their choices only after all of thePlayer Characters have made theirs.

12) Talking to the crew

To engage one the crew in conversation requiresfirst getting their attention. The only way this canbe done is to treat him as the ghost he is, eitherby reaching through them, holding up a cross orcrossing one’s self. The crewman’s illusionary fleshwill then melt away to reveal the Ghost Skeletonbeneath, who will then attack the one who did thisto him. If defeated, his skull will utter one thingfrom the following chart.

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Ghost Stories

Roll Last words of the crew member10-12 “We are bound to the Dark Lady . . .”

6-9 “LaBonne is not in command . . .”3-5 “I tried to leave the ship once . . .”1-2 “We are cursed . . .”

13) Reading the logbook

To read the logbook one must sneak into captainLaBonne’s cabin—he will not show it to them forany reason. He only leaves once each night, whenhe goes to the helm to drink a toast, seemingly tohimself, but in truth is to the Dark Lady. This willoffer a mere 5 Rounds total for would-be thievesto approach the cabin, enter, search and slip away,and both the door and rear windows are locked. Ifthe party waits until any night when a storm fillsthe sky (rolled upon Table 40), LaBonne willspend a long time gazing out into it, giving them12 Rounds instead of 5 to complete their task.

This time you find the cabin to be not Hell, butHeaven—once the devil had conquered it. Withinthe shadows, lanterns sway back and forth withthe rocking of the ship, but appear as if they arebeing carried by angels coming to lead you awayfrom this place. As their light fills the room, orrather as your eyes adjust to the gloom, you seethat the cabin is dominated by a pipe-organ, itsgilded tubes fanning out in the shape of a shell,its keys of ivory stained red with blood. Naughtelse is to be seen, not even those items that onewould expect in a captain’s cabin—you see nocharts, weapons or logbook.

A Searching Check can be made only once asnormal, and each place one specifically looks at orinto takes another full Turn. The logbook can befound hidden in an unlocked seachest, buried underwhat looks like a Spanish bridal gown (which wasto be for the Lady Carlotta, whom was the reasonthe Dark Lady cursed her captain and crew). Itwill take far longer than a mere few Rounds toread the logbook for anything of import, but if onelooks at the last entry, he will find an interestingpassage, provided as Handout 6.

14) Waking the dead

Use this Encounter if the party simply isn’t gettingenough answers, preferably after they have at leasttried whatever actions would lead to the previousEncounters (12 and 13).

Tonight you are caught in the heart of a gale.The spray of the sea, your savior during the hotday, is poison to you now, stinging your skin asyour cold hands clutch the rigging of the DarkLady. Thunder rumbles overhead, as if the stormis reaching all the way to Heaven. A stark flashof lightning reveals a woman standing by therailing, oblivious to the fury of the sky and sea,yet somehow at one with it—the waves splashover the deck, passing right through her!

This is the ghost of a Spanish lady who wasa victim of this ghost ship. She will remain for 4Rounds. On each Character’s Turn he may try oneaction with her, but only specific actions will gether attention, and then only with specific results.After 4 Rounds the ghost lady will disappear, andthe storm will subside shortly thereafter, whetherone was rolled on Table 40 for this day or not.

Offering to help her will get no response.Asking her name will encourage her to merely

whisper it, fearful that the ship itself will hear her,requiring an Intuition Check to hear “Carlotta.”

Offering to kiss her will merit a cryptic reply,spoken in the asking Character’s own voice, “Giveyour love to the ship or she will take your life.”

Asking how she died will receive a responsethat “The captain betrayed his lover. Be warned.Hell hath no fury like a lady scorned.”

Mentioning Baron LaBonne by name will getthis ghost to weep, with tears of blood, and shewill curse his name before flying into a rage inwhich she will attack the asking Character for asingle Round, before returning to her place besidethe ship’s railing to stare out into the storm again.

Asking how to end the curse will see her turnand raise a glass of red ‘wine’, then proceed tohave a toast, the ‘wine’ filling her pale apparitionwith living color for a moment, but soon to fade,even as the winds die down, their last breathsblowing away this apparition like a mist . . .

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PART 5: AN UNFAITHFUL LOVER: Begin thispart of the Adventure only once one of the livingCharacters aboard the Dark Lady has drank a toastin his own blood. At this point, both the captainand the ship herself will become aware of the truepotential of the party and seek to exploit them.Run the following Encounters one and all and inthe order that they are presented.

15) So close and yet so far*

“Food! Water!” cries the lookout, mocking you.Yet he speaks true, for he sighted a ship, wherethe crew is alive . . . at least for now, for as theDark Lady raises her colors, the other ship isquick to show theirs—white.

The other ship is a French merchantman thathas indeed surrendered. Baron LaBonne will run upalongside her, all guns at the ready, and tell thePlayer Characters that they are free to go aboardand get what treasure they can carry in a singletrip, though they alone shall go. He will now fullyexplain how the crew are bound to never leave theship. Once they have taken what they will, he willscuttle the French ship, leaving none alive.

16) Dinner with the devil

The Characters will be asked to dine together withthe captain. Run this Encounter for all who accept.If nobody accepts, move on to Encounter 17.

Upon entering the cabin, you are drowned in aflood of sad yet majestic music flowing from theorgan that dominates the room. The captain hashis back to you, though a table has been madeready, with places for each of you, and food thatthe courtiers of France would die to dine upon.As you make yourselves comfortable, the Baron,who has no setting, begins a tale that is drownedunder his music even as you are, a song with asstrained a marriage to his organ as he has withhis ship. For each night, as he sings it, he mustdrink a toast, and this night he will share it withyou, a toast, he goes on, to his lovely lady host,the ship you sail upon. You feel that his tale,and yours, is only beginning, as is your feast.

The food and drink is real, and will providesustanance for anyone who has it, though each ofthe different items also have adverse effects as aresult of the ghost ship’s curse. Provide the Playerswith Handout 7 to list what they have to dine on.What these different foods and drinks do to theliving are explained below. Each time someone hasall of his share of anything on this ‘menu’, BaronLaBonne will sing one more line of his tale. Thus,in order to hear the full story, the party will haveto eat and/or drink a total of 6 different things.

The Lady Carlotta was a beauty quite fairMy loneliness I could no longer bearAnd I vowed she would be my wifeThe Lady of darkness I never believedUntil my bride she forced me to grieveOn this ship alone have I life

The roast chicken is sweet and savory, givingthe living a permanent increase of +1 to his PrimeRequisite Score (to a maximum of 12).

The bread is bitter and brittle, old as the shipitself, the cost and the loss to the living -1 to hisEndurance Score (to a minimum of 3).

The smoked salmon tastes like powder from acannon, requiring an Endurance Check to down butwill permanently raise one’s Defense Score by +1.

The boucaned swine still twitches at times, butif eaten it will sweeten one’s taste for other things,giving him the (additional) Trademark of ‘lustful’.

The wine is the antidote for the poison thathas been applied to the apples, and having tastedthe former will make one immune to the later.

The apples are lush and polished—with poison,concocted of a Skill Level 3, though they have anantidote in the wine that is plentiful on the table.

17) Lost love

Use this Encounter only if a Player Character hasan NPC lover. When reading this narrative, replace‘NPC’ with the loving NPC’s name.

The crew has gathered amidships for roll-call, aformality at best, and something that has nothappened until now. Then, Baron LaBonne looksat you. ‘NPC’ seems to be missing by his count,and his only response is to smile.

THE ENDLESS VOYAGE

19

The NPC committed suicide, diving overboardin despair. LaBonne knows this, and will freely tellthe party if asked. If there is any uncertainty as tothe Dark Lady being a ghost ship with her ownwill, the Baron will now speak clearly of it, whileadding that the lost love NPC felt the Dark Lady’sdespair, as have many others, and rid herself ofthe curse. He will finish by saying that the NPCis free—the Player Characters are not!

PART 6: THE END OF THE VOYAGE: Thereis only way to end this endless voyage, and that isto take command of the Dark Lady and sail herback to the Cave of Skulls, and wreck her on theaccursed headland there. But to take command, onemust defeat Baron LaBonne in a duel. Only solong as it remains one-on-one will this Ghost Heroprove a tangible enemy to the party’s own hero.Once the party takes command, the Dark Lady willtry to destroy them. Negate all rolls on Table 40as they will encounter only storms, of a differentMagnitude each day, determined by rolling a singledice. Once the ghost ship reaches the same stretchof headland where the party began this Adventure,run the following Encounters, and in the order thatthey are presented.

18) Shipwrecked sailors*

Steering straight through the heart of the gale,the night is suddenly broken by wreckage, withfloating timbers, rope and barrels defining wherethe waves end and the skies begin. Amongst thewreckage you see several sailors clinging to aswamped raft. They spot you and struggle againstthe storm to reach your ship, but clearly cannot.The choice lies with you to rescue them.

There are three sailors, one of them a woman.If rescued, she will be so grateful as to give thePlayer Characters a title deed to her home back inEurope, which is worth 5500 gold. The name thatshe goes by in the Caribbean is ‘Ek Ong KaarKaur Khalsa’, and that is the name on the deed aswell. However, only 3 people maximum can sign itand thus claim legal ownership. In order to avoiddisputes, only those who can write English canwrite their name, and must do so on Handout 8.

19) Return to the beginning

The Circle of Blood is broken with the ship, asthe Dark Lady crashes against the headlands thatbegan this adventure of yours, and now end it.The ship breaks apart in an instant, as suredly asher heart is broken forever, and she splinters intoa storm of wood and canvas. As the ghost shipfeels mortal agony, she groans for the first timein countless years. Then as she enters her death-throws, you are hurled into the relentless ocean,who cares not for sinner or savior—in her death,the Dark Lady may yet claim you as well.

Each Character must make a Luck Check toget free of the wreckage before it goes down, andthen must swim 180’ to reach the land. Those whoreach land must make an Intuition Check. Thosewho are successful will swear they can see theDark Lady sailing away, a spectral vessel ridingagainst the wind, now a true ghost ship . . .

CONCLUDING THE ADVENTURE: Once theparty has left the Dark Lady behind, in any way,shape or form, there are some things to consider.

Death of the Dark Lady: If the ship was wreckedoutside the Cave of Glowing Skulls, dawn’s lightwill reveal all the treasure she had, gathered overthe years by a crew that could not be killed—13rolls on Table 81. However, the party will still betrapped in the same place that they began.

Legend of the Dark Lady: The legend of the DarkLady will take shape in the shadows of legends.Whether she was rescued or even lived or not, thewoman who goes by the name ‘Ek Ong Kaar KaurKhalsa’ will write a song of all of this. In time,this song will circulate back to the Player party.The complete lyrics are provided on Handout 9.

The voyage of the Dark Lady: The endless voyagewill indeed continue, whether wrecked or not, as areal ship or a phantom ship. Thusly, if one sailsthe Circle of Blood and drinks a toast in his ownblood, this ghost ship will return, but now as anintangible wraith that cannot be interacted with, butmerely sighting it will lower crew Morale by -20.

LONG LIVE THE QUEEN

20

Duty? Fer pirates? Aye, I be not jestin’, matey.Fer pirates know well what duty be. They knew itonce, and they knows it now. Aye, they be dutifulta themselves! Yet freedom also bees a trap says I,fer as surely as a pirate would spit in the face o’authority or keel-haul a king, he’d also be just asquick ta serve him . . . if the price were right. I’mtellin’ ya true, that the winds are shiftin’, an’ thosepirates who sail in this ‘ere game are about ta becaught up in a storm the likes o’ which they’venever known, sending their ship an’ their fates alikeinto the service o’ Europe, as the governments be aseekin’ the same thing as they be . . .

BEGINNING THE ADVENTURE: Before runningthis Adventure, it is a good idea to read through itjust to be familiar with the storyline and keyelements. However, reading the entire Adventurebeforehand is not necessary for play.

Timeline: This adventure is set in the Caribbean inthe year 1687. Those Encounters that are markedwith an ‘*’ require the game to be played in thisera. If your game does not adhere to timelines, donot use these Encounters.

Background: When everyone is ready to play,begin the adventure by reading the narrative below.

The Caribbean, a sea of blood, and of rumor. Oflate, a tale has come and gone as often as thetide itself, a tale of two nobles, and of a throne.

As the story is most oft-told, a Duchess anda Duke, both with claim to the throne of France,were engaged to be married, indeed to unite thenow dividing country. Yet then, somehow, theirlove turned to duty, and they are now activelyhiring pirates to seek out the others’ head. As itis, they have both become a rich prize, not justto each other, but to the other nations of Europeas well, perhaps because either head would befar more valuable as a decoration for LondonGate than it would be wearing any crown.

As the tide flows back out into the sunset,leaving a bloody flotsam of crimson red and oddwreckage on the beach as the telltale sign of yetanother battle waged beyond the horizon, youwonder—what are the Duke and Duchess worth?

PART 1: SPY HOUSE: This tale can begin inany port town within the Caribbean. Overlookingthe harbor is what looks like a taverne, wherebehind closed doors government officials and somepirates conduct secret business. Just what sort ofbusiness will be done today will be told throughthe following Encounters, to be played one and alland in the order that they are presented.

1) Introduction

This Encounter will introduce one Character to thegame—the one with the most Notoriety Points. Ifthere is a draw, or nobody has any Notoriety yet,this opportunity shall be given to the one who canroll highest on a single dice. When reading thepassage below, replace ‘CHARACTER’ with thename of the Player Character being approached . . .

The wharf is bustling with activity. You are in acrowd of onlookers watching pirates being hung,and for crimes even you find offensive, when atall, steely man approaches you. “Correct me if Iam mistaken, sir,” he whispers, “but you are one‘CHARACTER’, am I not right? I was seeking abrave soul such as yourself. May we talk, awayfrom the floggings and dizzying heat? Perhaps toa taverne. Why, I am so withered by this NewWorld sun that I could have mistaken you for apirate yourself . . .”

The man is the personal servant of the town’sgovernor. If not followed, he will cry out that thePlayer Character is a pirate, leading to the swiftarrival of 10 guards. After the fight, he will moveto the next most notorious Player Character and, asyou repeat the boxed text in its entirety, repeat hisoffer, with greater emphasis on the last line. Oncea Player Character joins him at a ‘taverne’ the onechosen will be ‘Spy House’. There he will say thatthe Governor offers a commission to find the Dukethat hunts the Duchess, a payment of either 3000crowns and a ‘letter of marque’, or 8000 gold ifthe Character is already a part of the king’s Navy(whatever king or country that may be). To receivethis payment, one needs only do this duty andbring the Duke, William, back to Sp