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
Reassured as to the truthfulness of their hosts story by the recollections of the British naval personel, Brass begins to formulate a plan of attack on the boat. Firstly he wants everyone to have balaclava's in case they are seen by by unwanted persons. Next he suggests that they approach the target steathily, identify the armed gaurds, and target them for multiple, simultaneous shots. They will get a bead on an assigned target, wait for signal, then fire simutaneously. Preferably with at least two rifles aiming at each target for the first shot. With the armed targets eliminated, it shoildn't be too much trouble. However he acknowledges there may be hidden gaurds, so he suggests that they wait a few minutes after the shots to see if anyone else moves.
ReplyDeleteConnington will help Alexios with the rifles. He will watch intently as the mechanic dismantles the first rifle, and will then break down the other three, keeping the parts together. He will also take advantage of the time to clean his M1911.
DeleteThrough bits of two languages, pantomime, and drawing pictures in the sand, he will communicate to Alexios that he would like to zero the rifles if possible before setting out, but this may not be possible given the facilities.
Next, Connington will try to find some charcoal or engine grease that can be used to put irregular black stripes on our faces and hands. Also he will cut a few large sacks' worth of small bush or tree branches with greenery on them, again for later camouflage.
He will dress in khaki pants, shirt, pith helmet and boots. Connington will later listen to the doctor's proposed plan, nodding, and add his own points. "I found some blackface and some small branches that we can use for camouflage. The idea is not to completely hide, but to simply make ourselves *not* look like people."
"Also...please make sure that nothing rattles or shines. Belt buckles, snaps, canteens...let's try to land downwind of them, a mile should do it depending on how loud the boat is. I strongly recommend that if you want to smoke, do it now or wait until we get back."
"Andres, can we get a flare gun? We need a way to signal the boat to come pick us up and take the prize in tow."
Intentions: improvise camouflage with engine grease and cut branches, maximum stealth possible, approach the targets slowly and from downwind. Devise a way to signal for pickup.
Keeping quiet and paying great attention, Harry will also follow along with Alexios to learn as much as he can about the rifles they will be using. To himself, he will think, "Hmmm. Old bolt action. Not too far from those rifles I trained with during the war. Don't know how useful I will be in this area..."
ReplyDelete"Lads, I should remind you that I was in the Intelligence Branch during the war and have little experience with infantry work. For the shooting end of this affair, I will trust to your greater knowledge... Give me orders and I will do my very best to follow them..." Nodding to the others as he says this.
"However, I do have a great deal of experience in orienteering and moving through the terrain correctly to avoid the notice of the local fauna... Should serve fairly well hiding from people as well... I can also track well in jungle conditions and THIS desert island terrain will be easy! Give me a basic map of the island and a compass heading, and I can get us there through the thickest cover!"
He will ask Andres for a map of the island. Even a basic navigation map will do as the correct compass heading and at least the correct shape and size of the island will depicted... He will then ask the family men if any of them have had eyes on the island itself and get the details of the terrain across the place (at least in the general area of this boat we are looking for)...
Intentions for Dr. Lloyd:
Harry will go over whatever map they have (even if it must be one drawn from the Braz family's collective memory) and plan the route we will take as best he can.
He intends to use his Orienteering skills (Survival +40 +1 with his compass) and his tracking skills (Tracking at +60) to get us to our target.
Load out: Binoculars, compass, Jungle Outfit (green khakis), Jungle Boots, Ammo belt (with 50 rounds of .45 for the Weebly), his knives, The Light Leather Jacket (PD1,DR1), his ruck with the rope as well.
Once on the boat, he will take a nap on the way to the island asking to be awakened when we get close or if something happens on the way...
Admiring the compound style home and the strong family ties assures Alexios that his gut was correct about Andres and his intentions. Of course hearing that the others confirmed the naval action also helps. After leaving his gear in his room, he takes the Kropatschek rifles to the machine shop, reviews the tools and set up.
ReplyDeleteClearing a space with permission from the man inside, he starts to strip the weapons and cleans them up the best he can, making sure the actions are well oiled. Cleaning the barrels and the tube magazines to make sure no misfeeds will occur, he hums a local ditty getting absorbed in his work, so much that he is startled when Connington taps his shoulder to get his message across about zeroing the weapons. Knowing this as good advice he answer back “Yes, good thought!” He will then clean his broomhandle and make sure his magazines are full. He will wear his jungle outfit, but have his dark leather jacket over. Will have his pistol with two clips, cartridge belt holding the extra rifle rounds, his bowie knife, his pack will carry his mechanics tools just in case he needs to break/repair anything.
Asking the family of Andres, Alexios will try to find materials to make some crude demolitions if possible, possibly Molotov cocktails, smoke or frag grenades.
Intentions for Alexios:
Improve the weapons as best as possible. Take up the camouflage with Connington, explain best he can on the grenades in case the shit hits the fan, also if he can repair the engine of the boat they won’t have to tow it and be more vulnerable than need be