TTR 6: Powder Keg

 Scotty: Drim. Calvin: Brooke. Justin: Jubilo.

Grandaunt Ngeng will not wed!

Middle Month of Summer. Day 5, beginning of morning watch. HEX G.

South of the Three Fingers

Jubilo stares at the stars. "How can we save the Witch Folk of Cold Cave village?" he asks the fire. 

A scroll, the letter written by Lord Zaq, burnt to ash... A grave marker for Captain Zaq... A flag with the silver eye charred to a crisp... Captain Quill chokes underwater... 

Drim sleeps. He dreams of home. His family, Witch Folk, to the north. A memory of meeting an old woman with only one arm. He is later told that was his grandaunt elder. 

Brooke catches up to the war galley in the night: Learned lends him wooden stilts to traverse the mud and root. Brooke envisions Lady Ummul Gul. He isn't afraid. He welcomes the reunion. In the morning he plays cards with the soldiers who stayed up to celebrate. Callan fills Brooke in on the goings-on of the group, namely the death of Good Captain Fintan.

After the vision fades Jubilo calls Brooke and Drim to their skiff to have a private discussion. They weigh the lives of the Witch Folk at Cold Cave with the Witch Folk guerrilla warriors intent to invade Once Soot. They decide it's best to follow through with their current plan and deliver the letter to Lady Ummul Gul. A soldier calls out to the group. Quill wants to speak with Jubilo and Brooke. Separately. Each are called into the office and explain how they are secretly searching for the King. Quill has a sly smirk. He calls in Callan next. Callan leaves the office, nervously. The group question him on their skiff and he seems flighty. They suspect he's taken a bribe, being the Zum loyalist he is. Jubilo tells Callan to check in on Captain Zaq, who is still sleeping. 

The war galley takes off towards Once Soot. The group deliberates and comes up with a plan to destroy the entire galley. Drim and Jubilo hear a muffled scream from the bay. The plan changes. 

Day 5, two hours into morning watch (8AM). HEX G > HEX M.

The water's edge

War galley, four rowing soldiers on each side, one soldier outside the holding bay at the prow, Quill in his office at the helm with Callan, Captain Zaq asleep at a chair, and a soldier patrolling the body of the ship. Jubilo boards the ship and distracts the patrolling guard. The soldier in front of the bay heads to Quill's office. Drim and Brooke board the war galley, set up their powder keg, retreat to their skiff, pull back, and throw a torch on to the keg. 

The barrel explodes and ignites another barrel inside Quill's office. 

The helm of the galley starts going under and fire spreads across the ship.

A lot of things happen and time gets fuzzy. Brooke submerges the Sponge Army and commands ten statues to kill the Zum soldiers (including Captain Zaq), and two other statues to rescue whoever is inside the bay. 

Jubilo tricks a lot of soldiers into being distracted or fleeing. Jubilo yanks the satchel that carries the letter off of Captain Zaq. Drim carves some soldiers up and uses his Nerve Wrack. Brooke shouts orders to the statues. The soldiers shoot off pellets, slice with short swords. Callan, and Quill were blown to pieces in the initial blast. Drim wakes Captain Zaq up, who believes the Zum soldiers to be traitors, and vows to kill them. 

Jubilo hides away in the bay and discovers the Scepter, Shiri, and the Zum King, Yamin, are bound and locked away. Soldiers invade the bay room and shoot Jubilo, wounding the puppeteer and dropping him to the ground. Drim is shot and stabbed, dropping and crawling to safety into their skiff. The Sponge Army statues stab Captain Zaq until he's a fiery steaming metallic mess that boils to death in the water. Brooke orders the statues to free Shiri and Yamin. The chains are destroyed. Shiri grabs Yamin by the wrist and starts to flee, but Brooke calls out "We were sent here by Nana, by Krun--" and Shiri stops. Brooke stabilizes Jubilo and Drim with improvised bandages ripped from Jubilo's costumes. The soldiers have either fled or been killed. The remaining statues fall flat to the deck and lay out a squishy path for Jubilo and Brooke to board their skiff. The war galley simultaneously erupts into flames and sinks into the river.

Drim, Brooke, and Jubilo (all in rough shape, their raft burnt and items expended, together in their skiff) meet Shiri and Yamin on the bank by the forest treeline. Shiri faces Brooke: "How do you know my brother?"

NERVE WRACK II: With any weapon, make an attack aiming at the target's unarmored leg or arm. Ignore other armor worn (bypass armor); if the attack deals 4 or more damage the target's limb is drained of its strength; senses and control are severed from the brain. Leg: collapsing, the target's leg goes rag doll limp, they cannot move, and are Deprived. Arm: the target drops whatever it's holding, the item flying up to 15 feet away in a direction of your choice. Both: can only be medically repaired by a trained physician over the course of a week. 

COMMANDER: When an ally fails a WIL check within line-of-sight, you may take 1d2 WILL or 1d2 STR damage to turn the failure into a success. Before you and your allies roll initiative you may take 1d2 WIL or 1d2 STR damage to guarantee you and your allies acts first.

Day 5, 2 hours into morning watch (8AM). HEX G > HEX M.