This continues a long-form campaign, Zen and the Art of Caravan Maintenance.
Emmett & Joshua want to sail away to a mystery new island in the Circle Sea. They’re going to see if a friend will take them.
Story
Emmett & Joshua arrive at Spiral’s hotel. Aside from hearing a rumour that he’s not getting on with his new assistant, they can hear the argument before the majordomo knocks on the door to his suite. Nevertheless, it’s all smiles when the door opens, and Spiral appears pleased to see them.
Tea is produced by the new assistant, which changes colour through pleasing hues before they drink. Spiral’s tales of the Steppes are very popular, he’s having a great time. He’s heard of the new island, but it’s not more interesting than him, so he’s ignored it. The pair persuade him he could visit it and keep ahead on the social scale.
This initially makes him quite nervous but some unrestrained charming and he’s convinced he can be first to set foot on the island and still be safe, protected by Joshua and Emmett. He extends a line of credit to the party to organise the trip. Come find him for breakfast and they’ll be off.
Obviously, the next day, he’s barely ready for noon. A fishing trawler called the Screaming Halibut, commanded by Captain Haddock plies the waves towards the isle. It’s raining reasonably hard, making identifying much in the downpour difficult. The forest forebodes, so they circle the land Northward and come ashore where it’s flat.
They’re rowed out in a small boat, and Spiral takes his first bold steps. Naturally he almost faceplants due to the surf pulling in alternating directions. Beyond the beach itself, the terrain is low, and flat. There’s heather and scrub, and very short, flat grass.
The four of them (Spiral volunteers his sulky assistant ashore too), maneuveur their gear into a rude camp in the lee of a boulder. Then a brief explore of a small collection of stone huts they can see a short walk away.
They’re eerily quiet. There’s vegetables in the garden that are ripe, plates on the tables, but nobody around.
Tools
The excellent Perilous Shores island map generator.
Lessons learned
I didn’t want to stop to shop, hence the “Spiral says you can order what you need” idea. It feels like another move to this campaign being almost totally story-telling. But probably not bad?