TTR 5: Playing with Fire

 Scotty: Drim. Justin: Jubilo.

Grandaunt Ngeng will not wed!

Middle Month of Summer. Day 4, beginning of morning watch. HEX J.

Soldiers fanning the flames

After resting in Finch's barrack room, Jubilo and Brooke are awoken by the thundering blast of powder. Dust shakes loose from the room. They find Captain Zaq has blown a hole in the wall of Once Rie in order to leave the fortress. Soldiers are already patching up the portcullis wall and fashioning a door in the new hole. Captain Zaq has a scroll he helped his father write. The trio descends one of the rope ladders.

At the base of the stump the tide has risen. Drim has traveled from Learned's nest upon Jubilo and Callan's handmade raft. Drim was taught how to be “Slippery.”

SLIPPERY: When a “Slippery” target is attacked, and the “Slippery” target does not deal damage this turn, all damage dealt to the target is reduced to a d4.  

Callan still secures their skiff. Good Captain Fintan shouts at the crew and makes obscene remarks about the Zaq family. "Okay Good Captain Fuckface," shouts Captain Zaq, as he hurls a lit torch aboard the Good Captain's war galley.

Combat ensues. The Good Captain gets a couple hits off on Captain Zaq. Jubilo and Drim fill torn costumes and bags of salt with gunpowder from their barrel. They chuck the improvised grenades on the deck of the war galley. Flames cover the ship's surface. The Good Captain's soldiers are consumed by the fires, pass out from the smoke and drown, or flee overboard. There are only two survivors. As the grenades finally find their fuse with the flames engulfing the galley, the ship of Good Captain Fintan is sunk; the captain with it, as Drim fires a round from his handshot into the Good Captain's collarbone. Callan rows their skiff away as Captain Zaq shouts inspiring words to his new crew. "I think I really like this guy," says Jubilo under his breath, as Captain Zaq shoves past him to do a George Washington salute with his longsword. Drim shoves forward with his sword, then Jubilo shoves forward one final time, doing the sword salute with his uncanny hand puppet and miniature toy longsword.

Travel is sweltering, dry, blasting heat. Some breezes slip through the mangrove trees and it's almost pleasant. These guys stink. Sweat-drenched. Jubilo investigates his new book. It speaks of a doomsday religion. A prophecy about a figure called the Arsonist, who will turn the world into a roiling ocean of ash. Jubilo spends the watch staring into a torch, reading The Fire Foretold. 

ALIGHT DIVINE: Spend an entire Watch in deep contemplation over a fiery light source (torch, campfire, sun, the stars) and receive either a portent spark of the future or a cryptic answer to a question.

He witnesses a portent in the fiery light:

A Witch-Folk village within a series of mountain caves. A war galley flying the silver-eye flags of Lady Ummul Gul. The captain waves friendily to the chief on the steps up to the village. The chief waves in return. The Witch-Folk here are miners. The captain leans down, and produces a firearm Jubilo has never seen: a hefty hand-cannon, which vomits balls of fire into the village. The Witch-Folk are put to flame...

Day 4, beginning of afternoon watch. HEX F.

A vision in the torch

The team returns to Learned's nest. Brooke settles down here. Learned is deactivated. Captain Zaq stays in the skiff, exhausted. Callan watches over him. Jubilo has a private conversation with Drim where he explains the book and his vision. Drim leaves a warning on Learned's blackboard, to alert Learned and any passing Witch-Folk. Jubilo discusses traveling just south of Three Finger village, straight east of Learned's nest, and traveling to Once Soot from there. The team departs, Brooke staying back at Learned’s.

Captain Zaq refuses to rest. He stays awake as Drim rows the skiff. Jubilo and Callan rest down in the skiff. The heat becomes almost unbearable. Resting comfortably, Jubilo and Callan are unaffected. Drim and Captain Zaq take 2 fatigue. 

Day 4, beginning of night watch. HEX G.

Mangrove swamp, just south of the towering mountains that make up Three Finger village. Drim notices a war galley ahead of him flying the silver eyes. Captain Zaq calls out to the crew, who let them board. The captain of the ship introduces himself as Quill. He invites Captain Zaq into his quarters to discuss. Drim eventually knocks on Quill's door, and Quill allows him entry. He has a humble living quarters. Drim clarifies their plan, to rest here for the night and then leave for Once Soot in the morning, making it to the fortress at the start of the afternoon. Quill agrees to the plan, commenting on how it might help his rank. 

Gul soldiers play cards and drink wine. Captain Zaq finally rests. So does Drim. Jubilo stares into a torch throughout the night, receiving another vision...

Day 5, beginning of morning watch. HEX G.