2019 Ghost Archipelago Campaign Game 2 -- Spider Island

     We played the second game of our 2019 Ghost Archipelago campaign on Saturday, 23 February.

From the log of the Manticore:

     Word reached us of a place called the Island of Spiders.  Spider eggs are said to be of value in certain alchemical processes, and I thought it might be prudent to put in and collect some, the state of our treasury being of some concern.

     We landed and passed on toward the center of the island, finding ourselves near a ruined temple of the Dricheans.  As we approached the temple, I took several of the crew with me around to the left, toward a smaller structure visible through the underbrush.

Our area of operations

Our Warden, Quartz, Thorn the archer, and a pair of crewmen started around toward the right-hand side of the temple, attempting to take some cover among a patch of tree stumps.

Taking cover among the stumps

Suddenly, advancing on them from the distance, several of the tribesmen making up the crew of the Heritor Arkhan appeared.  We had run into them recently, and Quartz was naturally concerned. 

     Ali, one of the crewmen with me, had found an interesting chest concealed in a thicket, and I ordered him to carry it back to the Manticore.  Ahead of me, I saw an archer pop up out of a thicket, and I threw a heavy rock at him.  He staggered, and Thetis (our pearl diver) ran forward to finish him off.  She stood for a moment afterward, considering whether she should enter the small structure (which had proved to be flooded) and dispute the ownership of a treasure being recovered by a pair of halflings.  As she did, an enormous fellow appeared and attacked her with an axe.  Despite the axe, we later learned that he was a Warden serving with the crew of Barley Gibletberrysauce, or some such outlandish halfling name.  She barely escaped with her life, and perforce left the treasure to the little people.  

     The crewman Redhand, spying some remaining gold work in the upper reaches of the temple, had carefully scaled one of the ruined columns.  Dislodging the golden carving, he dropped it to the ground, were the wounded Thetis picked it up and started for the ship.

     I heard the sound of swords clashing within the ruins, and clambered up to see what was afoot.  I found two of my crewmen attempting to drag away a large chest.  They had been set upon by the Heritor Arkhan himself.  Both of them were knocked out, and while I briefly stunned Arkhan with another rock, I thought it best to quit the area while I still could.

     As I dropped back to the jungle floor, I met Quartz and Thorn retreating hastily around the temple corner.  Arkhan's tribesmen had laid low the two crewmen who had accompanied them.  Moreover, a prodigiously huge spider had been attracted by the commotion.  We heard screams from the enemy crewmen, and had no interest in getting any nearer to the beast. 

     Once all were gathered, I signaled for a retreat.  Redhand was nowhere to be found.  He later showed up at the Manticore carrying a knapsack full of spider eggs.  It seems he was trapped in the upper works of the ruin, and escaped by waiting for nightfall and the departure of the monster spider.

     We waited for some time, and were rewarded by the sight of our wounded crew members straggling in.  Eventually all members of the landing party returned, although two of the crew were seriously wounded.  

     While the treasure found was meager, at least no hands were lost, and it is to be hoped that the experiences will prove to have imparted a useful lesson or two.

Those left to retreat