Treasures Age Old - Session 9 Player Recap

Present: Charlie Betts, William Chapman, Oscar Katz, Sam Bebbington, Robert Nettleton.
Last Session: Treasures Age Old - Session 8.5 Player Recap
Next Session: Treasures Age Old - Session 10 Player Recap

Campaign Day 6 - 07/05/Y120, dawn (Dawn over Freeport)

The party’s return from Amokuali Temple was a subdued one.

Those who had escaped aboard Tlali travelled downriver through what remained of the night. The storm had weakened, but it had not properly passed. Heavy rain became a constant drizzle, thunder continued to mutter somewhere behind them, and the surrounding jungle remained a solid wall of wet black vegetation.

Nobody had much energy left for conversation. Some of the party had gone close to forty-eight hours without proper sleep. Several were injured, everyone was soaked through, and riding on Tlali offered no meaningful opportunity to rest: anyone who truly fell asleep risked sliding from the dinosaur’s back into the river.

Barry Cuda was still suffering from the chain strike he had taken across his back. With the window for immediate first aid long since passed, he would need prolonged medical attention and several days of recovery. Diagnosing the problem was easy enough: someone had hit him very hard along the spine with a length of chain. Treating it was another matter.

Every so often, the wind seemed to carry something from the direction of Amokuali Temple. It might have been a distant crack of stone, or the faint shrieking of bats, or merely exhausted minds finding familiar horrors in the sounds of the jungle.

Nothing followed them.

As dawn spread across the sky in bruised shades of blue and pink, the trees thinned and Freeport emerged through the rain.

It was not the same Freeport they had left.

The harbour was awake despite the early hour. Lanterns burned from masts, cranes, and waterfront buildings. Ships had been packed together with their sails reefed, their decks crowded with armed figures. Orders were being shouted through the rain. Boots hammered against wet timber. Bells rang. Cannon, powder, and weapons were being moved into position.

The usual drunken roar of the waterfront had acquired a sharper edge. Freeport was no longer merely disorderly. It was frightened.

Scouting vessels were slipping out through the harbour to learn what lay beyond the fog. Farther out, the party occasionally heard the distant report of heavy cannon fire. Gustavo, Montañero Pirate Lord’s ships had tightened their hold around the city, and everyone from merchants to smugglers now understood that leaving Freeport by sea might mean destruction.

Nobody was moving casually.

Wanted Dead or Alive

Before the party had properly entered the city, they saw men hammering fresh notices onto posts and walls.

The portraits were crude charcoal likenesses, but not crude enough.

Peg Meg-Leg stared back from one poster. Bruno Culina (Will Chapman's Character) appeared beside her, followed by Marco, Barry Cuda, and Polonius Fumke (Jack Richardson). The drawings made them look more vicious and less attractive than they might have preferred, but they were recognisable.

They were wanted in connection with:

The bounty amounted to approximately $10,000 for each of them.

The notices offered payment dead or alive. The word dead was printed rather more prominently.

Peg Meg-Leg had returned to Freeport alongside the remnants of Redd James’ expedition. She met the others near the waterfront as they arrived on Tlali. Redd James’ riverboat and Tlali had travelled by different routes at roughly comparable speeds, so neither group had reached the city dramatically ahead of the other.

For the moment, nobody nearby had recognised them. They were wet, muddy, exhausted, and not presented quite as neatly as their wanted portraits. That protection would not last.

The party considered their position.

Peg Meg-Leg had a house in Freeport, but anyone searching for her would know to watch it. The same applied to Bennett (Freeport Scholar)’s ruined home on Wrinkle Row. A public inn would expose them to dozens of people, any one of whom could earn a life-changing amount of money by identifying them. Sleeping beneath a bridge was discussed, but the bridges carried regular traffic and the city was filled with opportunists.

The party could not even rely upon being taken alive. With the dead-or-alive wording of the bounty, a person did not need to overpower them, transport them, or prove anything in court. Killing one of them in an alley and presenting the body would be sufficient.

They briefly discussed whether performing some great service during Gustavo, Montañero Pirate Lord’s siege might cancel out their crimes. Attacking one of Gustavo, Montañero Pirate Lord’s vessels sounded heroic in theory, but it would mean challenging one of the most feared captains in the region while already exhausted and injured. Joining Gustavo, Montañero Pirate Lord was even less plausible: he was violently hostile towards pirates, Azcelani people, supernatural artefacts, and practically everything the party was associated with.

They also considered faking their deaths. The preliminary plan involved burning several bodies beyond recognition, dressing them in the party’s clothing, damaging their teeth to frustrate any hypothetical dental identification, and allowing the corpses to wash into Freeport. Nobody developed the idea far enough to make it useful.

What they needed immediately was somewhere to sleep.

Eventually, they realised that the safest people they knew were the Slippery Three.

07/05/Y120 - Morning, followed by daytime rest (Returning to the Slippery Three)

The Slippery Three were dangerous, irrational, and responsible for an alarming number of disappearances, but they were not motivated by ordinary money. They were also among the few people near Freeport who had not yet been given a straightforward reason to murder the party.

With Pulo helping to retrace the route, the party returned to the sisters’ ruined jungle shrine.

The site looked different in daylight.

The enormous stone figure worshipped by the sisters still stood at the centre of the ruins. It was roughly ten feet tall and represented an impossibly beautiful woman whose legs had been lost. The sisters believed that their sacrifices and rituals would somehow restore her. In daylight, Marco recognised the female figure to be Xochitlayotl.

With daylight and candlelight illuminating the surviving reliefs, the party could make out scenes of construction, beauty, persistence, and continuing labour. Whether these images supported the sisters’ peculiar theology remained doubtful.

Discarded onions from the previous ritual were still scattered across the ground. The remnants of the fire remained nearby, along with the improvised altar and the general debris of the sisters’ activities.

Their wooden shack had not improved.

It was small, damp, filthy, and filled with accumulated refuse. The smell was appalling. The sisters had no proper beds, no meaningful housekeeping, and little usable equipment. Their ever-ready bucket of urine remained close at hand, apparently serving as a fire extinguisher, defensive weapon, and general-purpose household object.

At least the shack had a roof.

After some knocking and shuffling from within, Eyeless Alice (Slippery Three) appeared looking half-dazed from sleep. Her first question was whether the party had brought Belladonna Velenza and her legs, as promised.

The party explained that Belladonna Velenza’s legs had proved too good to collect. They suggested that this had been part of a cunning plan and that Belladonna might eventually pass through the area herself.

Eyeless Alice then asked whether they had brought any souvenirs.

They had not.

The party asked whether they could shelter at the shrine and get something to eat. The sisters had onions, some wine provided by the party, poor cooking implements, and very little else. The possibility of recovering meat from one of the dead Swooping Terrors was raised, but the nearest carcass was roughly a day’s walk away and would already be attracting scavengers.

Marco therefore attempted to prepare a meal from the available ingredients.

Cooking under the circumstances was difficult. He was exhausted, the equipment was inadequate, the ingredients were poor, and the interior of the shack was deeply unhygienic. He compensated by taking his time and using the party’s fine wine to disguise the worst flavours.

It took around an hour and a half to produce what was essentially an onion-and-wine dish.

Against expectation, it was successful.

The Slippery Three enjoyed the food. They said it lacked Bruno Culina (Will Chapman's Character)’s distinctive touch, but it was vastly better than anything they ordinarily prepared for themselves. The compliment was slightly diminished by the sisters’ usual culinary standards.

The party attempted to dry their clothes near the fire. The jungle humidity made this difficult, and anything placed inside the shack risked emerging dry but smelling strongly of onions, wine, smoke, refuse, and urine.

Nevertheless, they finally had somewhere to rest.

They slept for most of the day. Nobody was drugged, sacrificed, murdered, or dismembered during that time. Considering whose house they were staying in, this constituted a considerable success.

The party spent the remainder of the day and the following night resting and lying low at the shrine. By the next morning, they were finally recovering from their exhaustion. Meanwhile, Bruno Culina (Will Chapman's Character) and Belladonna Velenza’s survivors had returned to Freeport.

By the time the party awoke, it was late afternoon or early evening.

Campaign Day 7 - 08/05/Y120, morning, after the return from Amokuali (Bruno and Belladonna)

Bruno Culina (Will Chapman's Character) had returned from Amokuali Temple alongside Belladonna Velenza and her surviving crew.

Belladonna Velenza’s immediate priorities were Gustavo, Montañero Pirate Lord’s siege, repairing and resupplying the Chained Hag, dealing with Little Foot’s remains, and determining how she might eventually reach Doña Isabel del Oro. She could not simply sail away while Gustavo, Montañero Pirate Lord controlled the waters outside Freeport. Flying Little Foot’s corpse out might be possible, but it would mean leaving her ship and crew behind.

Belladonna Velenza also had unfinished business with the party.

She had not forgotten Juarez. She had not forgotten the mob they had directed against the Chained Hag. She had contributed towards the bounties placed upon them, and their posters were now spread across Freeport.

Bruno Culina (Will Chapman's Character), however, had made himself useful during the temple disaster. He had survived, cooked for Belladonna Velenza, helped preserve lives, and recovered the strange black mutite dagger. Belladonna Velenza had not forgiven him, but she had begun to regard him as an asset.

She offered him a means of rising within her organisation.

Bruno Culina (Will Chapman's Character) was to locate his former companions and bring them to her. They would be offered a choice: enter the Chained Hag’s hierarchy at its lowest level or be killed and surrendered for their bounties.

If Bruno Culina (Will Chapman's Character) succeeded, it would demonstrate that he could control people and convert enemies into resources. If he failed or betrayed her, Belladonna still had the bounties hanging over all their heads.

Bruno Culina (Will Chapman's Character) led a small party into the jungle. It consisted of one of Belladonna Velenza’s Chosen and two other members of her crew. They carried chains and intended to surround the fugitives before Bruno Culina (Will Chapman's Character) approached.

On the way, Belladonna Velenza’s people asked Bruno Culina (Will Chapman's Character) what they should expect.

He described his companions’ fighting styles as best he could. Barry Cuda possessed several guns and tended to exchange them repeatedly, although this did not necessarily result in anyone being shot. Peg Meg-Leg carried a cutlass but seldom made effective use of it. The party were not especially predictable in a conventional fight, but were extremely capable of kidnapping people, provoking mobs, creating distractions, and transforming manageable situations into public disasters.

Bruno Culina (Will Chapman's Character) also told them about the Slippery Three.

He explained that the sisters drugged and abducted travellers and might have killed approximately one person each week for several years. This placed their possible total at around 150 victims, despite nobody in Freeport apparently noticing.

Belladonna’s people were tentatively impressed.

They concluded that the sisters should be kept alive if possible. Anyone capable of murdering that many people without attracting attention might be useful. Their tendency to throw urine at enemies would need refinement, but their ability to drug, abduct, and quietly dispose of people suited the Chained Hag rather well.

The rest of the party could be killed if they resisted.

The Encirclement

Belladonna Velenza’s people approached while the fugitives were eating after their long sleep.

The jungle around the shrine was dim even during daylight. By evening, the undergrowth beyond the firelight became a wall of shadow. Armed people could move within a few yards of the ruins without being easily seen.

Marco heard branches snapping in the distance.

Pulo noticed something as well, raising his head and staring into the surrounding vegetation. Marco drew his sword and began moving towards the shrine’s open approach. The others saw his reaction and started readying weapons, although none of them yet knew who was coming.

Then Bruno Culina (Will Chapman's Character) emerged openly from the jungle.

Behind him, the others caught brief glimpses of three or four armed members of the Chained Hag slipping out of sight. Their movements suggested that they were spreading around the shrine to cut off every escape route.

The party could not tell whether Bruno Culina (Will Chapman's Character) had come willingly, whether he had joined Belladonna Velenza, or whether he was being forced to lure them into the open.

Bruno Culina (Will Chapman's Character) announced that he had a proposition.

His opening offer was:

“Join me or die.”

The party asked what they would be joining him in doing.

Bruno Culina (Will Chapman's Character) admitted that it would largely involve the same things they ordinarily did, except under the authority of a different captain.

They asked whether he had joined Belladonna Velenza.

He said yes.

They asked whether Belladonna Velenza would kill them if they surrendered.

Bruno Culina (Will Chapman's Character) said she had offered them a chance to join.

They asked whether he could guarantee their safety.

He said perhaps.

This did little to reassure anyone.

Peg Meg-Leg quietly tried to persuade one of the Slippery Three to move towards an escape route. She explained that armed people were surrounding the shrine and that the sisters had no control over what was about to happen. This was complicated by Peg Meg-Leg holding a pistol and previously having threatened the same sister with it.

At one point, Peg Meg-Leg positioned the sister in front of herself as partial cover while trying to watch the foliage over her shoulder. The sister objected to being used as a shield.

Bruno Culina (Will Chapman's Character) continued advancing, calling upon the party to trust him and come together for a meal. Belladonna’s people remained concealed, intending to let Bruno Culina (Will Chapman's Character) secure the surrender before intervening. They had no desire to sit down and eat with professional poisoners inside a ruined jungle shrine.

The party debated whether they could escape into the jungle. Pulo had been needed simply to find the shrine again. Fleeing blindly into dense wilderness after sunset, while exhausted and injured, could leave them lost, separated, or eaten.

Fighting would mean facing Belladonna Velenza’s Chosen and several armed crew members while surrounded.

Bruno Culina (Will Chapman's Character) remained their friend, or at least seemed to believe he was helping them.

The party finally agreed.

The Slippery Three Decline Employment

Bruno Culina (Will Chapman's Character) explained that Belladonna Velenza’s people wanted the party in chains before taking them aboard the Chained Hag. The chains could initially be applied loosely, but once on the ship Belladonna Velenza would control whether they remained free to move.

The party accepted this as preferable to dying in the jungle.

The Slippery Three were also offered a place within Belladonna Velenza’s organisation. Bruno Culina (Will Chapman's Character) emphasised that Belladonna Velenza possessed excellent legs and suggested that the sisters could operate as consultants rather than ordinary slaves.

The sisters were unconvinced.

They liked their independence, their shrine, and their existing methods. They had escaped chains before and did not intend to volunteer for permanent captivity. They did, however, remain interested in Belladonna Velenza, her legs, and the possibility of meeting her.

They therefore refused to surrender but vaguely suggested they may follow the procession at a discreet distance.

Once the party had been loosely chained, Belladonna Velenza’s hidden crew emerged. They confiscated weapons and equipment, secured the prisoners more convincingly, and began marching everyone back towards Freeport.

On the journey, Belladonna Velenza’s people asked what exactly was wrong with the party. Every time they encountered them, the group seemed to be operating a festival, committing some bizarre crime, or surrounded by inexplicable carnage.

The party blamed exhaustion and being repeatedly caught in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Inside the Chained Hag

The prisoners were brought aboard the Chained Hag.

It was their first opportunity to see Belladonna Velenza’s vessel from within. The ship was enormous compared with Redd James’ The Red Scorn. Chains decorated its fittings, railings, bulkheads, and rigging. They were both symbols of Belladonna Velenza’s authority and practical weapons kept ready throughout the ship.

The party’s belongings were removed and stored.

Bruno Culina (Will Chapman's Character) was permitted to remain above decks. He had not risen especially high in the hierarchy, but Belladonna Velenza trusted him enough to perform work without being locked in the hold.

The others were thrown into the brig.

Several prisoners already confined there were members of the crowd the party had previously assembled in Freeport. These were people they had encouraged to attack the Chained Hag or accompany the march towards Amokuali Temple. Many had subsequently been captured, chained, or used as disposable labour by Belladonna Velenza.

They recognised the party immediately.

Their reaction was cold fury.

From their perspective, the people responsible for drawing them into the disaster had now appeared aboard the same ship, apparently in the process of negotiating better treatment for themselves.

While this reunion unfolded below decks (barely kept in check by the guards), Bruno Culina (Will Chapman's Character) went to the galley.

The Chained Hag already had several cooks and assistants, but Bruno Culina (Will Chapman's Character) immediately began shouting at them and striking anyone who made an obvious mistake. Because violence and ruthless discipline were central to Belladonna Velenza’s culture, the kitchen staff responded positively.

Bruno Culina (Will Chapman's Character) produced an exceptional meal.

This further improved his position aboard the ship. Belladonna Velenza’s crew might have distrusted him, but they were willing to tolerate a great deal from someone who could feed more than a hundred people well.

Barry Cuda asked for medical attention for his back. The Chained Hag’s crew had considerable experience treating chain injuries, partly because they inflicted so many of them.

They declined to help.[1]

He was told to wear the wound with pride.

Belladonna’s Assessment

After some time, one of Belladonna Velenza’s Chosen came to remove the prisoners from the brig.

It initially appeared that they were being taken to the Pirate Lords so Belladonna Velenza could collect their bounties. Bruno Culina (Will Chapman's Character) objected. The arrangement had been that his companions would be offered an opportunity to prove useful.

Belladonna Velenza eventually came to inspect them personally.

She had not forgotten any of them.

Belladonna asked each prisoner a simple question:

What were they useful for?

Peg Meg-Leg’s Performance

Peg Meg-Leg declared that she was an accomplished actor.

Belladonna Velenza asked what sort of acting she performed. Peg Meg-Leg claimed to be trained for the stage and argued that every successful pirate crew eventually required entertainment, a plausible cover story, or someone capable of holding a crowd’s attention.

Belladonna Velenza observed that an actor could simply be sold to someone who needed one.

Peg Meg-Leg insisted that Belladonna Velenza herself would eventually require her talents.

Belladonna Velenza demanded a demonstration.

Peg Meg-Leg produced an elaborate mime-and-slapstick performance concerning the tragic origin of "Peg Leg Reg".

The performance involved a man discovering that his wife had died. Her final wish had apparently been for him to eat an appalling bowl of soup. The grieving husband drank the soup before discovering that it contained, or possibly was made from, his missing child.

The tragedy was then revealed to have been engineered by his arch-nemesis, Peg Leg Reg.

A training sequence followed in which the widower attempted to master a sword while producing his own dramatic musical accompaniment. He eventually confronted what appeared to be Reg, only to discover that the bearded figure was his supposedly dead wife, Deborah, wearing a disguise.

Deborah revealed that she had never died. She had simply abandoned her husband and their children because she disliked them.

A swordfight followed. One of the swords turned out to be a collapsing stage prop. Peg Leg Reg attempted a decisive manoeuvre and instead severed her own leg.

The plot was almost incomprehensible.

The performance itself was extraordinary.

Peg Meg-Leg portrayed grief, betrayal, vengeance, revelation, forgiveness, and self-amputation with such conviction that the Chained Hag’s crew fell silent to watch. Even Belladonna Velenza was impressed.

Belladonna Velenza had some appreciation for performance, possibly connected to her own experiences while enslaved. She agreed to retain Peg Meg-Leg rather than surrender her for the bounty. Peg Meg-Leg would provide entertainment, perform when commanded, and potentially serve as a decoy or distraction during future operations.

Belladonna Velenza gave her one of the Chained Hag’s characteristic chains. The weapon remained wrapped around the body when not in use and could be unfurled to entangle, strike, or pull enemies. More experienced members of the crew combined it with knives or sidearms.

Peg Meg-Leg had secured a place as Belladonna Velenza’s performer and prospective chain fighter.

Barry Cuda’s Leadership

Barry Cuda described himself as a natural leader with military experience.

He produced a letter attesting to his former rank and qualifications. He offered to organise Belladonna Velenza’s lower-ranking crew, impose discipline, and improve their effectiveness. He did not even demand an immediate increase in compensation.

Belladonna Velenza was contemptuous of the paperwork.

People rose within her organisation through strength, fear, loyalty, and proven results. A letter did not demonstrate that Barry Cuda could make anyone obey him.

She asked what he did when someone refused an order.

Barry Cuda claimed nobody had.

Belladonna Velenza asked how many people he had actually commanded.

Barry Cuda pointed out that he had recently persuaded a considerable crowd of strangers to follow him into an attack against the Chained Hag. The target and outcome had been disastrous, but convincing that many armed people to obey him did demonstrate a degree of leadership.

Belladonna Velenza remained sceptical. She described him as a convincing loudmouth who had yet to prove he possessed anything behind the noise.

She did not reject him outright.

Marco’s Dinosaurs

Marco explained that he had worked as a dinosaur keeper for the wealthy and powerful in Caelor's Garden. He possessed practical animal-handling experience and had already worked with several different kinds of dinosaur.

This immediately interested Belladonna Velenza.

The Chained Hag did not ordinarily carry dinosaurs, but Belladonna Velenza wanted to expand into aerial transport. A Swooping Terror could carry messages, scouts, important passengers, or small pieces of cargo through Gustavo, Montañero Pirate Lord’s blockade. It would also give her a strategic asset normally controlled by the Pirate Lords.

She needed both a beast and someone capable of handling it.

Belladonna’s Test

Belladonna Velenza offered the party a collective proving mission.

They were to acquire a living, flight-ready Swooping Terror. They were also to acquire someone bonded to the animal who could control it and teach Belladonna Velenza’s people how to use it.

Given the party’s recent history, Belladonna Velenza was extremely precise about one condition:

Neither the dinosaur nor the rider was to arrive in thousands of pieces.

If the party succeeded, they would be retained as specialists. They would not become Chosen, nor would they be considered free, but they would operate in a separate part of Belladonna Velenza’s hierarchy: performers, cooks, handlers, organisers, and other valuable people who reported directly to her without living permanently among the chained masses.

If they failed, fled, or attempted to betray her, Belladonna Velenza reminded them that she had already captured them once.

She would not be merciful the second time.

Their weapons were returned. The chains remained wrapped around their bodies. Bruno was sent with them to ensure they completed the task.

Bruno Culina (Will Chapman's Character)’s own advancement now depended upon theirs. He had successfully brought them aboard, but Belladonna would only reward him if they produced something useful.

Planning the Theft

The obvious source of a Swooping Terror was the same cliffside hangar from which the party had previously hired Lazarro Altaviti.

This presented several difficulties.

The hangar was one of Freeport’s most valuable strategic facilities. Gustavo, Montañero Pirate Lord’s siege made aerial transport more important than ever. Lazarro Altaviti had recently died, one of the city’s Swooping Terrors had been lost, and the party were wanted in connection with both incidents.

The group considered numerous approaches.

They discussed releasing a dinosaur and following whoever was sent to retrieve it. They considered knocking one unconscious and stealing it, although Belladonna Velenza had specifically requested a flight-ready animal. Marco considered mounting one himself and forcing it into a controlled crash elsewhere in Freeport, but he had no bond with any of the beasts and would struggle to control one in the air.

They considered presenting themselves as prisoners and convincing a rider to carry them to Belladonna Velenza. The problem was that the Pirate Lords’ fort was only a short distance uphill from the hangar. Any responsible employee would simply deliver wanted criminals there.

The eventual plan relied upon personal greed.

Barry Cuda would pretend to have captured Marco and would offer a rider a private share of Marco’s bounty in exchange for flying them directly to Belladonna Velenza.

Marco would wear a barrel over his head, both to conceal his identity and to make him appear securely controlled. Chains would remain visible around his arms and body. Barry Cuda would hold them as though escorting him.

Bruno Culina (Will Chapman's Character) and Peg Meg-Leg would remain hidden nearby and intervene if necessary.

The party recognised that the plan depended upon a rider being willing to violate siege regulations, conceal the flight from his employers, and trust an unknown bounty hunter. They proceeded anyway.

The Hangar

The Swooping Terror hangar stood on a high shelf of rock above Freeport.

One road continued uphill towards a large Pirate Lords fortress shaped almost like a ship, complete with cannon covering the approaches. The other side of the hangar bordered a sheer drop of roughly eighty to one hundred yards into the city.

The launch platform extended towards the cliff. The hangar itself was a huge timber building whose broad doors could admit a Swooping Terror whole. Smaller administrative shacks stood nearby for contracts, payments, and flight records.

Rainwater turned the surrounding lanes into channels of black runoff and slick dirt. Oil from lamps washed from the yard and glimmered in the puddles.

Canvas windscreens snapped and boomed in the remaining gusts. Ropes creaked. Harness fittings and chains clinked against the timber.

The air smelled of wet plumage, reptilian musk, hot oil, feed, and sharp medicinal salves. Some of those medicines were used on Swooping Terrors injured during flight. Others were intended for stable hands bitten while treating them.

The hangar remained fully staffed despite the weather and late hour.

Stable hands moved between pools of lantern light carrying feed buckets, harnesses, straps, and hooked poles. One man worked on the roof, repairing storm damage and lashing a pulley back into place. Children performed minor tasks around the yard and were quickly ordered back to work whenever they attempted to play.

Armed handlers watched the approaches. They wore Padded Vests, carried cutlasses and Queen Anne's Pistols, and appeared competent enough to deal with ordinary thieves. More heavily equipped mercenaries had also been hired by the Pirate Lords to defend the facility during the siege.

The party could see illustrations of Swooping Terrors on the advertisements around the yard: long-bodied aerial predators with powerful limbs, hooked beaks, bright black eyes, snapping jaws, and throat sacs that pulsed as they breathed.

Fresh notices had been nailed over the ordinary advertisements:

FLIGHTS SUSPENDED OUTSIDE PIRATE LORD AUTHORITY
NO PRIVATE CONTRACTS DURING SIEGE CONDITIONS
COMPENSATION PENDING FOR THE TERRIFYING AND UNJUST LOSS OF LAZARRO ALTAVITI, A PILLAR OF THE COMMUNITY

The hangar currently possessed several Swooping Terrors, but most were away on authorised flights.

Peg Meg-Leg and Bruno Culina (Will Chapman's Character) slipped into a patch of brush overlooking the yard. Peg Meg-Leg sneezed while entering it, but the wind, workers, children, chains, and canvas produced enough noise to conceal the sound.

Barry Cuda and Marco approached openly.

The Honest Bounty Hunter

Barry Cuda wore no meaningful disguise.

His portrait was displayed around Freeport, the hangar had been warned to watch for him, and he was carrying another wanted criminal concealed beneath a barrel. His protection consisted principally of confidence and an extraordinarily honest face.

A guard turned towards him.

For a moment, recognition flickered across the man’s expression.

Barry Cuda complimented the guard’s hat.

The guard noticed that they possessed similar taste in headwear, decided Barry Cuda looked trustworthy[^2], and welcomed him to the yard. He warned him to take care near the cliffs, joking that the workers sometimes told children there was gold over the edge.

The guard asked about the man with the barrel on his head.

Barry Cuda said Marco was his prisoner.

From inside the barrel, Marco protested that Barry Cuda had taken him alive despite his best efforts. He loudly described Barry Cuda as powerful, virile, and exceptionally skilled.

Barry Cuda himself was still visibly limping and injured from the events at Amokuali Temple. The guard interpreted this as evidence of how difficult the capture had been.

Barry Cuda was allowed past.

The Disgruntled Rider

The party identified a rider outside the hangar wearing a patched leather flight coat and heavy wooden flight goggles. He was smoking while watching the yard and had recently been arguing with another employee.

Barry approached and remarked that the man appeared to be having a bad day.

The rider complained bitterly. He introduced himself as Fernando Gonzalez (Dino Pilot).

Since Lazarro Altaviti’s death, the hangar had become chaotic. One of their valuable animals was gone, authorised flights had consumed the remaining beasts, private work had been suspended, and he had been left unable to earn money. Management had become intolerable.

Barry Cuda explained that he had captured one of Freeport’s wanted men and intended to deliver him personally to Belladonna Velenza.

Fernando Gonzalez (Dino Pilot) pointed out that the Pirate Lords’ fort was a short walk uphill. He could simply deliver Marco there and claim the posted bounty.

Barry Cuda argued that he wanted favour with Belladonna Velenza specifically. Walking through Freeport with such a valuable prisoner would expose both of them to attack. Every bounty hunter, pirate, and opportunist in the city might try to seize Marco before they reached the Chained Hag.

A private flight would be safer.

The rider asked how much Barry Cuda intended to pay him.

Barry Cuda initially offered fifty per cent of whatever Belladonna Velenza gave him. This was technically fifty per cent of nothing, because Belladonna Velenza intended to enslave rather than pay them.

The rider rejected a percentage. Belladonna Velenza might refuse to pay, reduce the reward, or claim the prisoner for herself. He demanded a fixed sum.

Barry Cuda offered $5,000.

The rider demanded $7,500.

Barry Cuda agreed.

The rider started towards the administrative shack to retrieve his contract book.

Barry Cuda stopped him.

The flight was forbidden under siege regulations. If it appeared in the official records, Fernando Gonzalez (Dino Pilot)’s employers would know about the payment and demand their own share. Keeping the flight off the books would allow him to retain the entire $7,500.

The argument appealed to the man’s dissatisfaction and greed.

He agreed.

Unfortunately, there was still no available Swooping Terror - they would have to wait for one to arrive.

Joan Ackworth Arrives

A Swooping Terror eventually appeared above the hangar and descended towards the platform.

It carried a tired rider and was due to immediately take off again with a wealthy passenger desperate to leave Freeport.

The passenger was Joan Ackworth.

Joan Ackworth was a fat, greasy, self-important man who dressed richly and threw money around in taverns. He had once made lucrative deals involving Inquistador shipping, then attempted to cheat his partners and been forced to settle in Freeport. He had spent years living comfortably on his remaining wealth and purchasing popularity by buying drinks for strangers.

Gustavo, Montañero Pirate Lord’s siege had made Freeport considerably less comfortable.

Joan Ackworth began loudly demanding his flight leave immediately. He insisted that he must escape the city immediately and was furious that the hangar could not provide him with a fresh Swooping Terror at once, for the pilot Barry Cuda had made arrangements with had apparently skipped the line.

Peg Meg-Leg recognised him, or at least knew enough about his reputation to improvise.

She emerged from the bushes.

Peg Meg-Leg removed her false beard but made no other serious attempt to disguise herself.

She marched towards Joan Ackworth with her fists planted on her hips and demanded to know where her money was.

Joan Ackworth had no idea who she was.

Peg Meg-Leg claimed that they had met in a tavern three weeks earlier. He had promised her gold in exchange for “attention” and had never paid.

Ackworth stared at her. He gradually noticed the peg leg, remembered the wanted posters, and concluded that the woman calling herself Deborah might actually be Peg Meg-Leg.

He announced that he was seizing her for the $10,000 bounty.

Peg Meg-Leg responded that she was seizing him.

Joan Ackworth attempted to grab her.

The Fight beside the Cliff

Peg Meg-Leg avoided Joan Ackworth’s first attempt with an acrobatic sidestep. She then threw herself dramatically to the ground and screamed that an ugly misogynist was attempting to touch an innocent disabled woman.

The commotion drew attention from across the hangar.

Workers, guards, riders, and children turned to watch. Peg Meg-Leg portrayed herself as a helpless victim while Joan Ackworth loudly insisted that she was a wanted criminal.

The confusion was sufficient. Nobody immediately intervened on either side - though this confusion would likely only be temporary.

While the hangar watched Peg Meg-Leg, Barry Cuda and Marco quietly continued arranging their departure.

Joan Ackworth climbed onto Peg Meg-Leg and tried to restrain her. Peg Meg-Leg attempted to grab him in return, but neither possessed much wrestling ability. The confrontation became several seconds of undignified flailing on the ground.

Peg Meg-Leg tried to free the chain wrapped around her body.

She failed.

Joan Ackworth tried to pin her.

He failed.

Peg Meg-Leg tried again to ready the chain.

She failed again.

Joan Ackworth became increasingly red-faced, shouting that the bounty would be his and that $10,000 would buy him a considerable number of drinks.

At last, Peg Meg-Leg pulled enough of the chain free.

Still lying beneath him, she used her peg leg as an anchor and spun the chain into a loop. She cast it around Joan Ackworth’s neck and pulled it tight.

Joan Ackworth stopped trying to capture her and began frantically attempting to breathe.

Freeing himself would take time. Peg Meg-Leg considered knocking him unconscious, tying him to something, hanging him over the cliff, or using a rapier to stake the chain into the ground.

She ultimately chose the most direct option.

Peg Meg-Leg jumped over the edge.

Surfing Ackworth

Peg Meg-Leg’s weight snapped the chain tight.

Joan Ackworth saw her disappear over the cliff. His eyes widened, and he was dragged after her before he could release himself.

Both fell towards Freeport.

Joan Ackworth went head-first, the chain still wrapped around his neck. Peg manoeuvred above him and planted her wooden leg against his body. Rather than fall separately, she used Joan Ackworth as a human sled, board, and impact absorber.

The cliff was not a smooth vertical surface. It was an extremely steep wall of rock, roofs, ledges, and debris. Joan Ackworth’s body struck and scraped against it while Peg Meg-Leg rode him downward, repeatedly repositioning herself to remain on top.

They eventually crashed into the garden of a house below.

Joan Ackworth struck head-first. His neck broke with an audible crunch. Peg Meg-Leg’s wooden leg drove through his torso and shattered, absorbing much of the remaining impact.

Joan Ackworth suffered catastrophic injuries and died almost immediately.

Peg Meg-Leg survived with comparatively little harm.[1:1]

She removed the destroyed peg and attached the spare she carried for precisely this sort of emergency.

Angelo Sees an Angel

A young boy had been playing in the garden when Peg Meg-Leg and Joan Ackworth fell into it.

His name was Angelo (Freeport Child).

From Angelo (Freeport Child)’s perspective, a woman had descended from the heavens while riding the body of a wealthy man. He concluded that Peg Meg-Leg might be an angel.

Peg Meg-Leg decided this was destiny.

She invited Angelo (Freeport Child) to become her apprentice and join her on a life of adventure. She promised to take him to Bruno Culina (Will Chapman's Character), who would train him to become the finest chef in Freeport.

Angelo (Freeport Child) agreed enthusiastically.

He explained that his mother had once told him he could only leave home if an angel descended from the sky and commanded it. Peg Meg-Leg considered herself an exact fulfilment of the condition.

Before leaving, she encouraged Angelo (Freeport Child) to help search [Joan Ackworth’s body for treasure. She cautioned him not to touch the exposed intestines.

Joan Ackworth carried approximately fifty reales. He also wore a silver ring set with turquoise worth roughly twenty-six reals. His fine clothing was valuable, although the fall, blood, and peg-leg wound had left much of the front badly damaged.

Peg Meg-Leg took what she could.

Noise from the garden drew Angelo (Freeport Child)’s mother from the house.

She found an unknown woman looting a corpse, attempting to remove her child, and claiming that another strange man would teach him cookery.

She ordered Angelo (Freeport Child) home.

Peg Meg-Leg tried to explain that the boy had been chosen for a great destiny. She offered to borrow him for one day and promised to bring him back. She invited the mother to join the adventure as well.

The mother refused.

Angelo (Freeport Child) tried to run away with Peg Meg-Leg, but his mother caught him. She pointed out that this was apparently not the first time that year he had attempted to leave with a stranger.

Peg Meg-Leg accused the woman of starving him because Angelo (Freeport Child) had once been sent to bed without supper. She promised to return with treasure and lift the family out of poverty.

The mother responded that they owned a house with a private garden and were not poor.

Angelo (Freeport Child) was taken inside, crying.

Peg Meg-Leg departed alone, promising that she would return for him one day.

Securing the Flight

At the hangar, the spectacle near the cliff gave Barry Cuda and Marco the opening they needed.

The newly returned rider was tired and she had no desire to take another passenger immediately. Fernando Gonzalez (Dino Pilot) claimed the Swooping Terror for the short private journey.

The two riders argued.

The returning rider wanted to know the destination and objected to unauthorised use of the beast. Fernando Gonzalez (Dino Pilot) refused to explain unless she paid him $5,000 for the information. He claimed the booking had already been arranged and told her she could inspect the contract records herself.

There was no such record.

Because the flight was supposed to last only a few minutes and Joan Ackworth’s disturbance demanded attention, she finally relented. She warned the rider to return quickly and reminded him that the Pirate Lords’ regulations still applied.

Marco remained beneath the barrel, chained and loudly protesting his capture.

Barry Cuda boarded alongside him.

Fernando Gonzalez (Dino Pilot) fastened Marco beneath the Swooping Terror as captured prey, secured Barry Cuda as his passenger, and took off. To everyone remaining at the hangar, it looked like an unofficial but comprehensible transaction: a greedy employee was transporting a wanted criminal to Belladonna Velenza in exchange for a private payment.

Nobody realised that the dinosaur and rider were not coming back.

Preparing the Chained Hag

The flight to the Chained Hag lasted only a minute or two.

Before Fernando Gonzalez (Dino Pilot) arrived, Bruno Culina (Will Chapman's Character) had returned to the ship and warned Belladonna Velenza that the others were bringing her requested prize. The plan had been described to her principally as a “prank” upon the rider.

Belladonna Velenza understood enough.

Her crew concealed themselves around the deck and beneath the hatches. Chains were made ready. Belladonna Velenza took a sack resembling a payment and positioned herself where Fernando Gonzalez (Dino Pilot) would be encouraged to land.

Peg Meg-Leg made her way towards the ship from Joan Ackworth’s garden and arrived around the time the others did.

The Swooping Terror circled over the Chained Hag.

Fernando Gonzalez (Dino Pilot) deposited Marco onto the deck, still wearing the barrel, and announced that he had delivered Belladonna Velenza one of Freeport’s wanted criminals. He expected the promised $7,500.

Marco continued praising Barry Cuda’s prowess as a bounty hunter.

Belladonna Velenza approached with the money. She asked Fernando to bring the Swooping Terror closer to the rigging and land properly on the deck.

Fernando complied.

The hatches opened.

Several members of the Chained Hag’s crew hurled their chains at him simultaneously.

Fernando Nearly Escapes

Fernando reacted much faster than anyone expected.

He avoided the first mass of chains and immediately realised that the promised payment was a trap. He ordered the Swooping Terror back into the air.

The beast launched from the deck.

It could not instantly turn or accelerate away, but it gained enough height that only the longest chains could still reach it.

Peg Meg-Leg climbed into the rigging and attempted to swing onto the departing dinosaur. She released at the wrong moment, missed the creature, and fell approximately five yards back towards the deck.

She turned the fall into a controlled tumble and landed without serious injury.

Marco considered the Swooping Terror’s behaviour.

The beast was panicked rather than hunting. Its rider wanted it to escape, but only moments earlier it had carried Marco beneath it as captured prey. Marco crouched near the mast and made the high-pitched clicking and yapping noises of the small animals Swooping Terrors ordinarily hunted.

The creature hesitated.

Its instincts conflicted. Part of it wanted to escape the chains. Another part still understood Marco as prey and wanted to seize him.

That moment of confusion brought it back across the deck.

Belladonna Velenza struck.

Her chain looped around the Swooping Terror before it could evade her. She shouted orders, and the surrounding crew seized the same chain or attached their own.

The animal beat its wings and attempted to climb. Several people were briefly lifted from the deck. More members of the Chained Hag piled onto the chains, turning themselves into a human anchor.

Marco continued making prey noises near the mast, keeping the animal confused and focused on the deck.

The Swooping Terror tried to catch itself against the rigging with its tail. It failed.

The combined weight dragged it down.

It crashed onto the deck amid a heap of wings, chains, pirates, specialists, and would-be handlers. Peg Meg-Leg ended up at the bottom of much of the pile.

Before Fernando could disentangle the harness or free his mount, the Chained Hag’s crew overwhelmed and chained him.

The theft was complete.

Fernando’s New Employment

Belladonna Velenza addressed Fernando personally.

She informed him that he now worked for her.

Fernando protested that he already had employment at the hangar and had only agreed to make a short private flight.

Belladonna Velenza explained that the Pirate Lords had failed to protect her ship adequately, had not compensated her fairly for her losses, and owed her considerably more than they had provided. As someone destined to become a Pirate Lords herself, she was entitled to a Swooping Terror and rider of her own.

She assured Fernando that he would be paid.

He would not be free to work for anyone else, and he would answer directly to Belladonna Velenza, but she described this as exclusive professional employment rather than slavery.

Fernando recognised that refusal was unlikely to improve his position. Surrounded by Belladonna Velenza, her Chosen, most of the Chained Hag’s crew, and the people who had just stolen him, he accepted.

He did point out that Belladonna Velenza could simply have arranged to meet him in a tavern and made a conventional offer.

Belladonna Velenza indicated the party.

She had needed them to prove themselves.

Passing the Test

Belladonna Velenza examined what the party had accomplished.

They had obtained a living, largely unharmed Swooping Terror.

They had obtained a trained rider capable of controlling it.

Nobody at the hangar appeared to understand that either had been stolen. As far as its staff knew, Fernando had accepted an off-the-books journey with a bounty hunter. By the time they noticed he had failed to return, the trail would already be confused.

Peg Meg-Leg had also killed a wealthy and relatively well-known resident of Freeport by dragging him over a cliff and riding his body into a private garden. Consequences of that problem had not yet reached the Chained Hag.

Belladonna Velenza was impressed by Peg Meg-Leg’s immediate adoption of chain fighting, although she observed that killing one drunken rich man was not especially challenging. She expected more blood in the future.

The party had passed.

They would not be thrown among the ordinary chained labourers. Each would instead occupy an uncertain but potentially valuable specialist position:

They remained under Belladonna Velenza’s authority. They were not free, and Belladonna Velenza had known them for barely a day. Nevertheless, she now regarded them as useful enough to preserve.

Something Missing from Little Foot

While the Swooping Terror was being restrained, examined, and treated for minor injuries, one of the Chained Hag’s medics emerged from below.

The medic had been inspecting Little Foot’s remains.

The body was already in terrible condition. The Death Bat had separated the head, and the corpse had suffered considerable damage during the massacre at Amokuali Temple.

Now something else was missing.

Someone had cut the tattooed skin from Little Foot’s body.

The removal was deliberate. The cuts followed the area surrounding the markings, taking enough flesh to preserve the design. Whoever had done it had likely intended to reconstruct the whole tattoo, study it, or present it as evidence elsewhere.

Belladonna Velenza still possessed a drawn copy of the markings. She hoped Doña Isabel del Oro cared primarily about receiving Little Foot himself rather than the precise condition of his body.

Privately, however, the theft was troubling.

If someone had risked cutting the tattoo from the corpse, then the tattoo was probably more valuable than Belladonna Velenza had realised.

Attention turned towards Redd James and Grizzlebeard, who were classic culprits for this kind of skulduggery.

The two men had last been seen together at The Crossed Keys, apparently going for a drink after surviving Amokuali Temple. Both were old acquaintances and had parted from Belladonna Velenza without immediate hostility after she agreed to release Redd James’ surviving crew in exchange for Little Foot’s body.

Now they were gone - the party did not know where Redd James and Grizzlebeard were.

They did not know whether the two captains had taken the tattoo.

They did not know when the skin had been removed.

They only knew that both men had disappeared, Belladonna Velenza’s prize was incomplete, and someone else might now possess the most important piece of Little Foot.

For the moment, Belladonna Velenza considered the party valuable.

Given what had happened to every other captain who reached that conclusion, this may not have been entirely good news.

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  1. A few swashbucks were used for this sequence ↩︎ ↩︎