Sunday, March 30, 2014

Isabelle LaRoux: A Flashing Steel Prequel


Game night tonight became pretty sparse for players, as several in the group bailed at the last minute.  That left Kenny, Terry and myself to carry the night.  I decided to scrap my initial offering and take the campaign in a different direction.  The crew's newest member, Isabelle LaRoux, is a bit of a mystery to the crew.  Why not give her a back story?   

A little history now can be used later in the campaign for plot purposes, so I quickly made up a plot and off we went...back to 1714 in the Caribbean.

From the musings of Isabelle LaRoux (Anglicized from her West indies patois):



I was once a favored crew member of Captain Bonefist, the feared pirate.  He was a stern captain, one part anger and one part generosity.  If you were true to him, he was true to you.  Break his rules and you were dead.  That was the way of life on his ship.


We were on an island in the Fingers, burying some of the Captain’s loot.   There was the Captain, Cook, the Bosun, a couple of sailors and myself.   

Bonefist and Isabelle
 

The Bosun and swabs, with Cook in the background
 Things were going well and the sailors had dug quite a hole for the chest we were planning on depositing.  The sun was hot…so much so that the Captain and Cook, seemingly always at Bonefist’s side, were lounging in some shade not far from the dig site.

That's when things went wrong.  An unknown band of sailors were seen by the Bosun and the swabs.  They drew their pistols and found cover in the hole, while the Bosun ran toward Cook and the safety of a large bush.


One of our sailors shot one of theirs, dropping him quick-like to the sands.  The rest kept coming, though, and it was soon blades and blood in that hole. Our boys did what they could and I took any shots in that direction as were available.  I downed their captain, but he popped up again, looking no worse for wear.  




It would have been an easy fight, but for a couple of things.  First, Captain Bonefist stayed back and drank his ale, calm as you please.  He didn't even seem surprised by the attack.  Second, another crew from another ship came at us, splitting our attention and bullets.


The Bosun, seeing this second threat, ran for cover on their flank.  As they drew near, he drew arms and gave them his steel.  It was bloody work and the battle soon made its way to my shelter.  We felled their captain, but the vermin ran away, regrouped and renewed the attack.  Cook threw one of his infamously deadly cleavers into the back of one sailor that was creeping up on me, but otherwise he and the Captain contented themselves with watching the fight unfold.
 

It was only a matter of time before their overwhelming numbers won the day.   Our sailors were finally slain, leaving the mystery crew a treasure to take back to their ship.


I caught the flat of a blade to my head and was knocked senseless to the sand.  I was told later that the Bosun, Cook and Bonefist fled the scene without so much as an attempt to save me.  So much for loyalty, hey?

I was taken to the captain-less ship, where the crew grumbled about losing out on the treasure and having a female on board to boot.  A new captain was chosen...a fellow by the name of...well, it doesn't really matter now, does it?  

We were two days out from the island of my capture when we ran across those damnable dwarf pirates and their 'submersible'.  The little bastards cored the ship, killed the crew, looted her and took me for their own vices. 

I must've been ill luck for them, for no sooner had we set sail than their vessel started taking on water.  We had to set down on an island and watch the ship sink for the last time.  Good, I say.  The damned thing was infernally hot and stunk of sweaty, unwashed men and stale beer.  Fish and Davy Jones are the only things that should swim under the waves, I say!

The rest you know.  The little men found some ruins on the island, complete with some sort of underground cavern they quickly changed into my prison.  I'm glad you killed the little bastards...for kidnapping me and for threatening me regarding their 'pleasures'...which they never go to do, thanks to you good fellows.

I do know one thing, though.  I owe a Captain Bonefist and his crew a bloody death.  It's an awfully big sea, but he likes sailing the Fingers.  Beware his ship, though.  It's a monster in its own right.  All I'll say is don't get too close to that behemoth, or you'll be so much flotsam on the waves...It's not natural what it can do to a ship. 







 

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