Holocaust World (North America) Worldbender Simulation.

Week 6, Island of Entellope

As we climbed along the hilly shore, we spotted and were spotted by a ship. We waved. It passed out of sight without firing on us or anything, but we weren't terribly surprised to be accosted in the middle of the night by a pirate crew captained by one Black John. Romana evaporated with considerable skill and hasn't been seen since. Dr. Wu represented the party as a group of criminals on the run from the mainland, and pretended we were ignorant of the identity of the island. We were (he said) delighted to find it was inhabited, and would be happy to present ourselves to the Captain of Captains tomorrow morning for admission to the pirate fleet.

Black John swallowed this. He also believed it when Cantrel woke up and pretended to be a big, stupid, vicious, slightly sadistic thug. (Four out of five are true, so it wasn't that hard.) However, Black John noticed that Romana was missing and sent some of his men out to find her. They failed. Black John and company camped next to us for the rest of the night.

In the morning, Aphron noticed that his armor was missing. (Personally, I think Romana swiped it when she ducked the pirates.) He made quite a stink about this and wanted it tracked down immediately. Eventually, we persuaded him that we would take steps to recover it after we had presented ourselves to the C of Cs.

We made our way down to the Citadel, an old military installation with a stockade thrown up around it and seven pirate ships of various size out in the bay. Outside the stockade were a cookhouse and a bunkhouse. Cantrel, still playing Stupid Thug, stopped at the cookhouse and swilled down rum at a much slower rate than he appeared to do. The rest of us entered the stockade, though the elephant/(Naza) had to stay outside with Aphron, who is wounded.

Inside, we were introduced to "Captain of Captains John (Jack)." The "jack" is always muttered sotto voce, and at the gate Black John asked if it were John today, so we may have a multiple personality here, or something.

We maintained our image of a not-very-competent bunch of amateur pirates and were dismissed from the audience. We then enhanced that image when Aphron, feeling we should have mentioned his armor to the admiral, got down from the Naza and started beating on the door. After some argument, he decided to sit down beside the door until the admiral had finished breakfast. When Black John drew his pistol to force Aphron away, Aphron did a quick-draw back and got shot.

The shot got Cantrel out of the cookhouse and over the stockade gate in one round. Nothing more happened, however, except that Aphron is once more at death's door -- his favorite neighborhood.

We took ourselves away and camped down the beach, ostensibly waiting for a pirate vessel to come in so we can join its crew. In fact, we are spying like crazy. In the week that followed:

Cantrel, continuing his Stupid Thug role, deliberately provoked a couple of fist fights so as to work himself into the local pecking order. These were entertaining, but you had to be there.

David started working as a stevedore and, in the process, noticed a well-dressed pirate who appears to wear a wrist computer or a digital watch or some such. He is wholly in charge of re-fitting one of the ships in harbor. Wu hung around the appropriate pier, "fishing," and engaged this gentleman in conversation. The guy warmed to Wu and, at one point, asked, "What scenario are you in?" Wu feigned incomprehension and the guy became very embarrassed. We never got another word out of him. It would appear that, for the first time, we have seen some of the seams in this artificial world. This gentleman is probably a paying customer of the worldbenders.

Alexa had some sword fights to demonstrate that she "wasn't that kind of a girl."

Alexa, Tom Noon, and the Naza (the latter disguised as a grazing elephant) went exploring all over the island, "foraging." They determined that the segment of the diadem is deep underground, beneath the citadel.

Cantrel, keeping watch at night, determined that a shadowy figure steals in and out of a secret entrance near the corner of the stockade. As the session ended, we were preparing to cut through the door with an ultra-blade and follow the large, figurative, neon sign reading THIS WAY TO THE NEXT ENCOUNTER.