Dungeon World Campaign: Scurvy - Adventure 11

Adventure 11: Burning Bridges and Saving Hides

Campaign Notes

Recap

Player Characters:

Mike as Z - the swashbuckling scoundrel vampire

Stephen as Geralt Darkstar - the cursed pirate alchemist

The party finds itself surrounded by Captain Goldvine, an evil pirate helping the cult wake the sleeping god Asthragothk, and a band of hired mercenary pirates. 

"Well well well, looks like all the hard work's been done for me. Hand over the keystone." Captain Goldvine growled.

"What key stone?" Z asked with an overly dramatic shrug, raised eyebrow, and shit-eating grin on his face.

The Captain smiled, lifted his shirt to reveal the fresh knife wound Z had given him on the docks the two nights ago, "The one you bloody stabbed me to learn the location of, you miserable turd. There is no other reason for anyone to ever come to this forsaken village and venture into the catacombs beneath it."

"Oh that one." Z said to the sound of muskets being cocked as his shoulders collapsed and smile fell apart.

Geralt jumped to his feet and said "We haven't found it yet, but all glory be to the sleeping god Asthragothk, we will find it together if you will allow us to help you we'll scour this village in no time!"

Captain Goldvine looked at Geralt suspiciously, "Alright, you can come with me to look for it, but he stays here. I don't trust a man who stabs me and doesn't finish the job."

Geralt agreed to go with the captain and a few mercenaries to explore other huts. On his way out, he made eye contact with Z and indicated that as soon as he could Z should take out the 7 other guards in the room. Z started to think maybe his boastful nature might have given his associate an inflated sense of his abilities.

As soon as Geralt and the others were out of earshot, Z began his schmooze, "Gentleman, have I got a deal for you. We all know you're planning to have your way with my ex-lover Famn and probably beat me while I try to defend her. I'm sure you'll win the day eventually, but I'll take some of you down with me. How about this instead: you let me leave, I don't put up a fight, and you can have your way with Famn in peace."

The pirates considered this for a moment and then pushed Z out of the door.

As the door closed, Z heard a loud bang and saw a flash of light from under the crack of the hut door. He crept back to the door and peaked inside to see a strange swirling purple and blue smoke finding it's way out of the hut, all the mercenaries were unconscious on the floor, and Famn was scowling at Z from across the room. She shook her had and scolded him without a word and then disappeared into the smoke.

Z gave zero fucks.

Meanwhile, Geralt was at the bottom of the stairway of another mining hut, strewn with garbage and debris much like the other. Captain Goldvine to one side, with a guard on Goldvine's other side, and two pirate's behind him. As soon as they stepped away from the stairway, Geralt back-stabbed Goldvine, nearly killing him with the blow. Goldvine stumbled away and ordered his men to attack.

The two men behind Geralt moved too quickly for him and landed blows that nearly killed Geralt. Z heard the shouting and fighting from the hut nearby. He sprung into action and vaulted off the nearest rock into the air, through a tangle of jungle fines that wrapped themselves around him as he descended through the roof of the hut and down into the cellar below. Sword extended he flew down the stairway, slowing as he went by the vines that entangled his legs, the end of his sword finding the back of one of Geralt's assailants, killing him with the blow.

In that moment, Geralt used witchcraft to shade cast himself in shadow that seemed to darken portions of his skin. As Geralt was casting his witchcraft, Z could feel the vines beginning to pull him back up to the surface. He immediately grabbed Geralt by the back of his shirt and pulled him with them. Launching the both of them back out of the hole, through the roof and into a patch of jungle foliage. A movement so quick and sudden that the injurred pirates couldn't even keep track of where the two disappeared to.

Battered and bruised, the party headed back to the pipeleaf plantation, to seek out the Witch Doctor's guidance on how to proceed on their journey.

However, when they returned to the village, all of the villagers shunned the party and turned away as they approached. The Witch Doctor and his hull-hut were gone without a trace. The party cornered one of the villagers to find out why the village was being so stand-offish and what happened to the Witch Doctor. The villager told them that Famn had returned and told the entire village about what Z had tried to do. The Witch Doctor left in a cloud of smoke and no one knows where he went. The party would find no help from the villagers.

Feeling defeated, but not giving up, the party headed for the Sunken Continent of the Shallow Sea, an immense continent that had been lowered below sea-level. 

There was a large crater rim around the shallow sea that kept the waters still and clear. They arrived at the fishing village of Anacordis; which was built on both the inside and outside of the crater with a tunnel connecting the two parts of the town. The sea-side level was 

Inside the crater the fishing village of Anacordis stretched out over the water on platforms build to support the shanty fishing village. They were able to track down a fishing barge, whose captain Handsome Pete (named for his perfectly constructed nose, although the rest of his face is deeply scarred from an old goblin pox infection) agreed to help them find the ruins of the temple of Athragothk.

During their trip to the temple, Geralt managed to sleep the sleep of the dead to bring himself back from the brink of death. Just in time too, as they approached the temple hideous fish people with gaping maws and razor sharp fangs began emerging from the cloudy waters surrounding the temple. In the distance they saw a dark storm cloud above the temple moving closer.

Unable to land any solid blows on the slippery Ichtha-Gog, the party focused on trying to knock them off the fishing skiff to give Handsome Pete the time he needed to move the boat safely to the ruined half-sunken temple.

They quickly disembarked on a patch of land nearby and scrambled their way through the shallows and into an entrance at the top of the temple. Inside was a large hole in the floor that lead into darkness. As they contemplated their best course of action, they heard a woman scream from somewhere down in the darkness.

Will the party be able to find the woman in distress? Will they save her in time? Will they get lost in the darkness? Will Z try to sell this woman too to save his own hide from the cult?