TTR 3: Corpse Rigging

 Scotty: Drim. Calvin: Brooke.

Grandaunt Ngeng will not wed!

Middle Month of Summer. Day 2, end of afternoon watch. HEX B.

Galley on the water by the setting Sun

The explorers see a war galley, marked with Lord Manishi Zaq's red wave emblem. Fifty feet away. The sun setting, casting the stream in purple silhouette as the tide lowers, approaching night. Twenty-one soldiers, strung and tied by their intestines like paper dolls, hang from the rigging of the war galley. Drim knows this to be the artistry of Krun. "Fuck that," says Jubilo, as he jumps overboard and swims for the nearby crowded woods. He slams his handshot pistol on the skiff seat to preserve it, leaving the weapon behind. Callan follows after Jubilo: "Aye aye, master!" 

Brooke wakes up, fully rested. Brooke and Drim cautiously approach the galley. It's perched against a large flat stone, seemingly abandoned. The only noise the drip, drip, drip of the soldiers hanging above. Their feet nearly brush against heads. As Drim rows the skiff along the other side of the galley, Brooke catches a glimpse of a figure tailing them in a canoe. He blinks, and the figure vanishes. 

As the duo explores the eerily quiet galley it seems this figure approaches closer and closer. They find a locked ornate crate. Arms and armors. Bags of gold. Stocked rations. Drim discovers a map in the captain's office marked with important military locations. A scroll detailing the sorry state of Once Rie, Lord Zaq's fortress. These were reinforcements and provisions for his base of operations, which has been infiltrated by Krun night after night. The boat creaks. Their skiff thuds. The canoe appears beside the galley, empty. No figure.

Brooke tugs down the captain of the ship and finds a key to the crate. He nearly tugs the whole string of corpses down. The duo pick the soldier's pockets. It takes him almost an hour, but Brooke manages to tie the corpses back into place, this time with "MURDERERS" spelled out on the back of their white tunics in their own red blood. Drim sees Krun aboard the ship at the edges of Brooke's torchlight. Brooke sees two Witch Folk on a raft float beside the war galley. "Shhhh," she says. It's Nana, whom Brooke has never formally met. Krun, a thin, tired, angry looking youth holding an assortment of cleaving knives, stands aside and listens to Nana. Nana and one of her hunters, Harper ap Ka, board the galley. BOOM BOOM BOOM. She explains a Granduncle is approaching. BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM. "We must leave now. Meet us further north at a cliff ledge set into the mountain." Brooke throws Nana the keys to the crate. She leaves with Harper. Krun silently boards his canoe. Brooke and Drim carry the crate and a barrel of gunpowder on to their skiff and avoid danger as Granduncle Beg, a house-sized blue crab abomination, bursts from the forest and starts eating the corpse rigging. The war galley is destroyed as Beg stomps across its deck, consuming sparkling objects. The team escapes.

Nana plans to discuss something important in the morning. For now, everyone must rest.

Day 2, night watch. HEX F.

Learned's nest

They find the cliff ledge, thirty feet up. Nana throws a rope ladder on to the ledge, and ties the boats off to the bottom. At the top of the ledge is a giant black chalkboard, an exquisite dining table and chairs, fine china, and a "deactivated" metallic-steel 15-foot-tall Heron Knight. "He's a friend," says Nana. Drim and Nana rest. Krun is nowhere to be seen. Brooke and Harper keep watch.

They small-talk. Brooke asks if the Witch Folk want peace, and Harper explains the only way forward is violence: "They have taken too many of our people as slaves, too many of our elders as war-forts, too many of our trees as fuel." Harper is searching for Shiri. "The Scepter," she corrects herself. The hunters have been tracking her. Brooke and Harper get along okay. It seems Brooke has a crush on Harper. Harper nearly forgets his name by the morning.

Brooke spots a reflection in the water as the tide rises throughout the night. It is unconnected from anything. A Sight-Sight. Harper says that they are harmless, but sad. And angry. Brooke invites the Sight-Sight on to his shoulder. Reflected, she whispers her tale in his ear. Her son was taken to the Deadbranch Gaol as a thrall. She was drowned. She wants his rescue. Or revenge. 

Day 3, morning watch...

Gleaming heron

Nana tries to have a conversation, but is interrupted by the Heron Knight activating. "I am Learned!" he says, explaining that it is about time class started. Nana nods her head to Brooke and Drim and sits at the table with Harper. The tide has risen overnight and has turned the cliff ledge into a bank at even level with the water. A family of otters float up on their backs to participate in the lesson. After some group discussion the team agrees they want to learn how to effectively incapacitate a man. Across eight hours, giving everyone a fatigue, Learned instructs them how to "Nerve Wrack:"

NERVE WRACK: When holding a bladed weapon with one hand, make an attack aiming at the target's leg. After factoring armor, if the attack deals 4 or more damage the target's leg is drained of its strength; senses and control are severed from the brain. Collapsing, the target's leg goes rag doll limp, and can only be medically repaired by a highly-trained physician over the course of a week.

Day 3, afternoon watch...

Nana and Harper lay out the game plan. Witch Folk guerrilla, under Warmaster Granduncle See, are hatching a plot to ambush Lady Ummul Gul's fortress, Once Soot, in one week. To draw attention and forces away from Once Soot they suggest it would be beneficial to infiltrate Once Rie and hold Lord Zaq hostage. Have Lord Zaq send for help from Once Soot. "Afterward, keep the fortress if you wish. We have no use for it," says Nana. If Nana, Harper, and the other guerrilla groups do not see war galleys depart from Once Soot to aid Once Rie within a week they will attack Once Soot anyway.

"Oh, and this," Nana holds up a key. They unlock the crate and unwrap the "Sponge Army." Learned identifies the magical items:

SPONGE ARMY: 1 use. A dozen miniature soldiers made of carved sea sponges. When splashed with water, they grow to full size (8 HP, 6 STR, 13 DEX, 5 WIL, hardened sponge spears d6, detachment) and follow the orders of the first person they see until they are destroyed or dry out completely (about 10 minutes).

"Good luck." Nana and Harper head north, towards Granduncle See, leaving the Sponge Army in the hands of the soon-to-be fortress invaders. 

Day 3, beginning of afternoon watch. HEX F.