Sunday, March 31, 2013
Saturday, May 16th 1925
Alexios, with Connor's help dismantles and checks the rifles out thoroughly:
http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/4000864/ total roll 67 (7+60). No failure, but Alexios realizes that the rifles are old and in not the best of shape and his efforts will not result in much increased reliability. The 8mm Kropatchek rifle has a range of 50 meters, medium range 150 meters, long range 500 meters, 1d10 damage, 8 round capacity in a tubular magazine that takes 2 rounds to fully reload.
Connington is able to devise camouflage and burlap suits, to give everyone a +10 bonus to subterfuge skills.
At midnight, you board the grey fishing vessel, which fires up its ancient coal engine. Alexios checks out the engine and sees that this fishing boat has a larger engine than most, with lots of torque. The sleeping quarters and mess deck have all been turned into coal storage. Antonio Braz and his brother Felipe, the elders of the Braz family, are on board, along with two deckhands. The Braz brothers have their own Kropatchek rifles and also carry machetes and old Portuguese army revolvers.
"Yes, here is a flare gun." (Brass World War I vintage British Very pistol with 3 flares)
In the back of the fishing boat is a small rowboat that you can use to reach the shore. The fishing boat cannot reach the beach itself, as it would ground.
Antonio: "Its' about a 40 km trip to the area where the boat is beached. It will take us 2 hours to get to the area. Figure we cut engine and drop anchor a km off shore. Here is a map (GM Note: see google maps for link I sent you). What do you want to do?"
Brass XP6 Dashwood XP6 Serafim XP5 Lloyd XP6 LVL1
Sunday, March 24, 2013
Chapter 2: The Braz Family
Friday, May 15th, 1925, Mindelo, Cape Verde Islands
You all check out of the hotel, gathering your meager belongings. Met in the street by Andres, you follow him through the streets of Mindelo into the poor fisherman and laborer neighborhood down by the wharves. The smell of rotting fish and thousands of unwashed people gets stronger as he weaves his way through alleys and side streets.
After about 15 minutes, you arrive at a complex of buildings on the edge of town, build right next to a 250 year old stone dock that doesn't appear to be in active use by major merchant ships any longer. Andres unlocks the padlock on the gate built into a crude but sturdy wooden fence and leads you inside.
Inside is a large house surrounded by a walled complex built right up on this ancient dock. There is a drydock for small vessels and about a half dozen shacks that obviously homes for someone. Nothing has been painted in quite a long time. Dogs bark, children dart about and two men are working on a simple fishing boat in dry dock. Next to the dry dock is a workshop building, its large double doors open to reveal a metalworking shop and a crude mechanic shop. Alexios can see it's in obvious constant use, even if the repairs and work done here is quite simple.
Andres: "Welcome to the Braz family home. We are a large family and we all work several jobs to support all of our children. Come meet father."
He walks you over to the workshop, where a grizzled old Portuguese man is busy grinding a gouge out of a boat propeller. "I'm Antonio Braz, uncle of Carlos, whom you've met. Thank you for helping us. We have a lot of simple skills here, but pulling bullets out of abdomens...not yet. My son, Andres, has told you about the business proposition. It is very dangerous. There are several pirates guarding that boat and one of them has an American trenchgun. We don't mind brawls, or the occasional knife fight, but my sons and nephews are not military men. That pirate yacht is worth a lot of money if I can fix it up again."
(continued) Andres takes you to a guest house, a simple two bedroom cottage with four beds and a small kitchen. There is no indoor plumbing, but he shows you the outhouse, the water pump for fresh water. The back of the guest house opens up to the dock, from where you can see into Mindelo harbor quite nicely.
He gives you the rifles and says that the recovery mission for the yacht leaves at midnight tonight (it's about 10 am right now) from the docks.
The rifles are four rusty 8mm Kropatchek bolt action rifles, 1890's vintage. Tube-fed and slow to reload, they hold 8 shots. Alexios checks them out and says that he should have them in fairly serviceable condition in a couple of hours. Andres gives you 20 rounds for each rifle.
Doc Brass asks where Carlos is and Andres says that they had to move him out of Mindelo because of suspicions that the local police may raid the compound, but that Brass can check on him tomorrow after the recovery of the ship.
By lunch time, the rifles are fixed up. A matronly woman, wife of Antonio, brought a good lunch of fish stew, fresh bread and strong red wine.
After lunch, you head to find out more about the vessel from any British sailors in Mindelo. After a couple of hours, you find a couple of British sailors tanked up and talking in a local brothel.
http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3989719/ Total roll 165. Connor is able to find out that yes, the island of Santa Lucia is infested by pirates and that an exhcange of fire took place between a patrol boat and pirates a few nights ago. The British navy has orders to only engage if attacked and not to meddle in local affairs and the patrol boat commander had to file a report why he felt that shots being fired at a local fishing boat warranted an engagement by a Royal navy vessel. The sailors both feel that shooting pirates might be good sport and wish they were allowed to follow through on their attacks.
By dinner time, you're back at the compound, where dinner is waiting. You see a large fishing boat docked at the old dock by the family home, its wooden hull painted a very dark grey color.
"That's the boat we'll be taking tonight," Andres explains.
(you can ask whatever questions you want in the GM questions thread)
Brass XP5 Dashwood XP5 Serafim XP4 Lloyd XP5 LVL1
You all check out of the hotel, gathering your meager belongings. Met in the street by Andres, you follow him through the streets of Mindelo into the poor fisherman and laborer neighborhood down by the wharves. The smell of rotting fish and thousands of unwashed people gets stronger as he weaves his way through alleys and side streets.
After about 15 minutes, you arrive at a complex of buildings on the edge of town, build right next to a 250 year old stone dock that doesn't appear to be in active use by major merchant ships any longer. Andres unlocks the padlock on the gate built into a crude but sturdy wooden fence and leads you inside.
Inside is a large house surrounded by a walled complex built right up on this ancient dock. There is a drydock for small vessels and about a half dozen shacks that obviously homes for someone. Nothing has been painted in quite a long time. Dogs bark, children dart about and two men are working on a simple fishing boat in dry dock. Next to the dry dock is a workshop building, its large double doors open to reveal a metalworking shop and a crude mechanic shop. Alexios can see it's in obvious constant use, even if the repairs and work done here is quite simple.
Andres: "Welcome to the Braz family home. We are a large family and we all work several jobs to support all of our children. Come meet father."
He walks you over to the workshop, where a grizzled old Portuguese man is busy grinding a gouge out of a boat propeller. "I'm Antonio Braz, uncle of Carlos, whom you've met. Thank you for helping us. We have a lot of simple skills here, but pulling bullets out of abdomens...not yet. My son, Andres, has told you about the business proposition. It is very dangerous. There are several pirates guarding that boat and one of them has an American trenchgun. We don't mind brawls, or the occasional knife fight, but my sons and nephews are not military men. That pirate yacht is worth a lot of money if I can fix it up again."
(continued) Andres takes you to a guest house, a simple two bedroom cottage with four beds and a small kitchen. There is no indoor plumbing, but he shows you the outhouse, the water pump for fresh water. The back of the guest house opens up to the dock, from where you can see into Mindelo harbor quite nicely.
He gives you the rifles and says that the recovery mission for the yacht leaves at midnight tonight (it's about 10 am right now) from the docks.
The rifles are four rusty 8mm Kropatchek bolt action rifles, 1890's vintage. Tube-fed and slow to reload, they hold 8 shots. Alexios checks them out and says that he should have them in fairly serviceable condition in a couple of hours. Andres gives you 20 rounds for each rifle.
Doc Brass asks where Carlos is and Andres says that they had to move him out of Mindelo because of suspicions that the local police may raid the compound, but that Brass can check on him tomorrow after the recovery of the ship.
By lunch time, the rifles are fixed up. A matronly woman, wife of Antonio, brought a good lunch of fish stew, fresh bread and strong red wine.
After lunch, you head to find out more about the vessel from any British sailors in Mindelo. After a couple of hours, you find a couple of British sailors tanked up and talking in a local brothel.
http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3989719/ Total roll 165. Connor is able to find out that yes, the island of Santa Lucia is infested by pirates and that an exhcange of fire took place between a patrol boat and pirates a few nights ago. The British navy has orders to only engage if attacked and not to meddle in local affairs and the patrol boat commander had to file a report why he felt that shots being fired at a local fishing boat warranted an engagement by a Royal navy vessel. The sailors both feel that shooting pirates might be good sport and wish they were allowed to follow through on their attacks.
By dinner time, you're back at the compound, where dinner is waiting. You see a large fishing boat docked at the old dock by the family home, its wooden hull painted a very dark grey color.
"That's the boat we'll be taking tonight," Andres explains.
(you can ask whatever questions you want in the GM questions thread)
Brass XP5 Dashwood XP5 Serafim XP4 Lloyd XP5 LVL1
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