Village People
Rexlin, Siggard,
Holdenand
'Gin' Van de Poel scurry away from the mission station, its' white washed plaster walls reflecting with a pink hue as the dusky red sun sets in the distance. Within minutes the stars begin to twinkle through a darkening sky as a fresh cool breeze blows seasonal thick grey rain clouds every closer above. High in the church belfry
Geoffrey Blood and
Pascale load the muskets to give some covering fire and discourage the natives from harassing the groups.
Pascale commits to loading one musket every round, so Geoffrey you can swap them over and fire the other one each round, give me a d20 roll for this round please.
With little time to prepare, the group do a
'supermarket sweep', grabbing what they think they will need from supplies at the store or based in the ransacked church.
VdPshoulders a long musket along with several pouches of gunpowder, musket balls and swabs which dangle from around his neck. He has a bandolier of bolts and carries a heavy ironwood crossbow, his small dirks tucked inside his waist belt. He hastily grabs a few firebrand torches from the traders shop front, stuffing them into his duffel bag along with fresh canteens of water. He moves out last in the single file of the scout party, not too keen on trekking miles in thick snake invested forest throughout the night but committed at least to venture out again with the
Hagslayer.
There is no drawn map of the island to navigate to the village with. However the
Padre informs you that the chiefs' village, the largest native settlement, is in a dell at the end of the series of undulating verdant hills which run as a contorted spine across the island.
"Keep on the ridgelines you will be safer up there for the path has been frequently used. It will be more wild going off the hills or trying around the coast. We could trek there in half a morning usually." Any gift of anti-venoms potions is unfortunately turned down.
"They are stored in the Infirmary and entering has proved dangerous."he says also, gesturing towards
Pocc. A rusty half-filled, pewter and smoky glass patio lantern is located and a small first aid kit of bandages and splints is taken from the
'Monte Verde Cub Scouts' store. Pockets are stuffed with crisp red apples and a string of large Gauloise cooking onions. You all tie again the snake greaves in place on your shins. With little else to fortify your inventory and time of an essence, the group dart into the forest and trust they are not running straight into some war like aboriginals coming the other way...
Mission Stations.
The remains of the McGregor rescue party station themselves in secure locations, protecting the women and children who huddle in groups in the chapel or the sisters' manse. The settlers reinforce the barricades on the west and east sidewalls. Well armed as a group you would be hard to overwhelm, well armed though the settlers are not. Most of the menfolk, as sturdy and as determined as they look carry only hatchets or hoes sharpened into spears. A few do carry light crossbows or old duck hunting muskets and these position themselves at the four corners of the plaza.
'Goldie' and
Grimwald join the farmers, one half dozen group hunched behind each grain sacked redoubt.
Two families seek shelter alone in the shop upper storeys while
Captain Lazarus and
Padre Claude circulate among the groups.
Pocc, having shaken off the snake and any lingering effects of its venom stands alone, warding the north gap to the plaza between the manse and the infirmary, standing under the eaves of the manse door. The snake who attacked him quickly slithers out the plaza and down some rat sized burrow. Despite his bulk and large form,
Zoggrot has quietly and effectively slipped unseen into the shadows which get cast in increasing lengths as the sun ebbs below the far horizons.
There are about half a dozen teenager boys who join in to secure the chapel with the two sisters and
Eli Crowthorne who asks about oil. There are not any barrels about or flasks of oil that you can throw. The clerics could lay their hands on perhaps half a dozen flasks as a last resort but are wary about burning the natives. They want a peaceful resolution to the conflict after all. Besides a flask burns in a 3x3' area for a couple of rounds, to fill a moat or drainage ditch as a defence is not possible, they simply do not have enough supplied. Inside the church, the women and children move the wooden pew benches against the wall so folk may stand on them and shoot out of the broken windows. The side door remains closed but not locked. The front door stands slightly ajar to view folk nearing the plaza. The sisters repeat prayers and encouragements for the women and children, twitching rosaries and miniature caduceus symbols.
Sisters Manse
Iggway dutifully departs to the
Sisters Quarters to attend to the sick children. Entering the front door you remember the layout. To the left a large room which doubles as both study and evening vespers chamber. It has wooden tiled floor with solid sideboards and shelves. To one side a small out of tune upright piano stands with a dusty manuscript of music on. The treble and clef notes on the musical graph appearing to look like a different language. The dark room usually lit by fragranced candles is now gloomy with little light squinting through the shuttered window. Various religious text books and junior scripture learning verses pile untidily around, mixed in with some thicker leather bound volumes, inked engravings and pictures. To the right the common 'day room' with earthen ware plates piled unwashed on the table along with still hot bowls of soup and bread. The room is furnished sparsely but has vases of flowers upon the window sills and a small weaving frame tucked in a corner. A kitchen is on the far west whose windows now shuttered open out to view the western vista. A flight of stairs ascends to three small bedrooms and a small bathroom, a ladder extends from the corridor to the attic which doubled as both storage and bedroom for yourself.
It seems that each bedroom has a family crammed into it. One or two of the settler women and a handful of children. Spare stuffed mattresses have been placed on the floors to accommodate them all. Cluttered trunks and holdalls spill all manner of clothes and personal belongings out. The women look nervous but greet you with a smile, despite your native dress.
"Padre du Lautrere sent for help and we have been here for nearly two weeks now. First the ship wreck, now the natives, does God not wish us to build a life anywhere, should we become vagabond gypsies?"says one despairingly.
(Iggway give me a [4d6] intel roll please).
After the initial flurry of arrows and
Geoffreys' retort, all remains calm for a while and it seems maybe the group of warriors sneaking in the forest have melted away. Until one of the men stand up behind his barricade and jeers loudly and obscenely,
"C'mon then you mother f&*kers, show yourselves or crawl away on your bellies like the snake vermin you are!"
The answer he receives is as swift and as silent as the feared Azul mamba.
native arrows [1d20] = 20 [1d20] = 17 [1d20] = 16 [1d20] = 12, he topples to the floor, clutching the arrow shafts which pierced him and watches as blood begins to streak like water through his fingers.
"Is that all they got?" he bravely voices. One of the ladies scream from the manse and rushes out and across the plaza to his prone body.
"Help me, help me, pull him inside. The fool the fool, always knew shooting his mouth off would land him in trouble." She reaches him while the others look too immobilised to move, ducking down for cover fearing another accurate volley from the tree line.
Padre Claude grabs one of his arms roughly and tries to lift him on a shoulder and limps to the manse, arrows still sticking through his ribs.
(actions everyone please...and happy Easter, back on Tues)
!). They haven't seen the mage who remains on the edge of the thick vine clump. 