Session Report 1 - Escape From Fort Viola
General Summary
"Pirates are slobbering idiots, so they says. Best part 'bout our jobs is that we get to have a laugh at em'!"
-Gregory Fobbledoof
Prisoners & Pirates
Four people - Locke, Gunther, Grov, & Fazili - are thrown into a cell in Fort Viola already occupied by three people - Ramone, Laire, & Chuck. The 7 of them are charged with piracy by Commander Sebastian Saltserver, a stern senior Harpsbilgian officer with no tolerance for "mangy, empty-headed pirates." Shortly thereafter the 7 in the cell become acquainted and all of them become familiar with each other and their alleged (and real) crimes.Occasionally, the band of prisoners is jeered on by the two guards responsible for the cell block - Gregory & Samuel Fobbledoof, two numbskulls who enjoy nothing more than making fun of the prisoners they watch over. Perhaps they are making up for something.
The party is also visited by Lou Saltserver, the teenage daughter of the commander who occasionally brings them food and tries her best to remember the pirates, who are soon to be sent to the gallows.
Whisperings of Escape
As the party contemplates their oncoming execution, the topic of escape enters the conversation. The party contemplates a variety of escape methods, most of which first involves undoing the shackles around the prisoners' hands. While Chuck is freed of his binding chains, the remainder of the party cannot free themselves of their cuffs, and in the process of trying both Gunther and Grov are sent to solitary confinement. While they are released a day later, the party is unable to figure out a sufficient escape plan as their execution looms near.On the night before their execution, a single figure paces its way down the hallway to the cell - a familiar face to some, Francisco, Jack of Pirates. He hands a jangling set of keys to the prisoners and informs them that they are to free themselves and everyone else at 5 in the morning when a great horn will sound throughout the prison.
Break at the Blast of a Horn
As the horn sounds, the prisoners unlock nearby cells and pass the keys off before ruching to retrieve their gear. Grov, while originally without a weapon, sees a greataxe hung on the wall of the equipment room and feels called to it, so he takes it. The party makes their way into the courtyard, now in the middle of a throng of prisoners trying to rush their way out. A cannon shot is heard as Francisco blows a hole in the gatehouse so the drawbridge can be lowered. Chaos unfolds in the courtyard. Sebastian Saltserver dons armour and prepares for knightly combat, but is distracted when Locke produces an illusory scream that sounds just like Lou.Finally, the party makes their way over the drawbridge and quickly encounters the Fobbledoofs, who they quickly defeat but leave alive. After the defeat of another group of guards, three of whom are kept alive by Laire, the party finds themselves running down a street into an armed regiment pointing their muskets at them. The party ducks into an alley and ends up crashing through the window of a church to evade the guards, stumbling their way through a chaotic crowd towards the docks, where The Emerald Dog, the ship of Francisco and his captain (Deryll Beaufort), waits for them. After almost being run over by an apple cart, the party eventually makes it to the ship and makes it aboard, out of breath.
After a few more minutes and a few more prisoners arriving at the ship, it departs the port and begins to make its way across the Seas towards Port Rose.
Report Date
05 Jun 2022
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