Treasure Islands

Four the fourth game of our Ghost Archipelago campaign, we decided to try out the small boat rules. We picked up a bunch of longboats from Firelock Games, and I put together some quick island pieces for us to use. For this game, we made up our own scenario with treasures scattered amongst a few islands and random monsters starting on the three bigger islands.

The Crews

Theofanis

• Theofanis the Heritor
• Ishaastal the Wave Warden
• Afzal the Crewman (two-handed weapon)
• Diego the Guide
• Eckhart the Crossbowman: Badly wounded, so missing this battle
• Johan the Crewman (staff)
• Kamal the Man-at-Arms
• León the Crewman (hand weapon)
• Themba the Crewman (hand weapon and shield)
• Tolliver the Crewman (hand weapon and shield)
• Valérian the Crewman (hand weapon)

Jean-Phillipe

• Jean-Phillipe the Heritor
• Amina the Earth Warden
• Albert the Crewman (hand weapon and shield)
• Anton the Crossbowman
• Ariel the Pearl Diver
• Carlos the Herbalist
• Gabriel the Crewman (two-handed weapon)
• Ivan the Crewman (hand weapon)
• Klaas the Infantryman
• Petar the Crewman (hand weapon)

The Battle

Both Theofanis and Jean-Phillipe set out for a set of small islands rumored to contain lost treasures. As their small boats approached the islands, their wardens both attempted to cast spells, but failed to maintain the necessary focus as the boats rocked on the waves. Jean-Phillipe got a skillful shot with his bow and destroyed a zombie that was wandering on one of the islands. On Theofanis’s side, Diego had less luck and missed his shot at a snapping turtle.

As Theofanis’s boat reached the shore of the central island, he jumped out and used the power of his blood to sprint on to the island despite his heavy armor. Valérian, Kamal, and Afzal followed behind him. Meanwhile, Ishaastal’s boat landed on one of the other islands. She cast Wrath of the Waves, but her whip of water failed to harm the snapping turtle defending the island. Themba and Tolliver then jumped out of the boat to confront the beast.

On the other island connected to the central island, Jean-Phillipe led Ariel, Carlos, and Klaas towards a treasure. On his way, he fired an arrow towards Valérian and left the crewman wounded. Amina’s boat pulled up to a small island, but she again failed to cast Earth Blood. From her boat, Anton hit Kamal with a crossbow bolt. Then Gabriel jumped out and grabbed a treasure from the small island. Then as he got ready to carry it back towards the boat, Diego scored a critical hit with an arrow and took him out of the battle. Luckily, the third boat from Jean-Phillipe’s ship was close enough that Petar was able to pick up the valuables that Gabriel dropped.

Back on the central island, Theofanis fought against a zombie so that Kamal could move to grab the central treasure. As the man-at-arms picked up the treasure though, he was hit by an arrow from Jean-Phillipe’s bow and fell to the ground. Ariel then picked up a treasure from the island where Jean-Phillipe was standing and then that whole group of Jean-Phillipe’s crew started falling back towards their boat.

As that happened, Amina cast Earth Wave to pull the central treasure away from where Theofanis was still engaged with the zombie. Albert and Ivan then moved on to the island in an attempt to claim that central treasure before Afzal could help Theofanis.

Seeing Valérian’s wounds, Ishaastal cast Water of Life in order to aid him. Unfortunately for him, as soon as he was healed, another arrow, this one shot by Anton, struck him in the back and knocked him out of the fight. Seeing his crewmate go down, Johan rushed to pick up the treasure that he had been headed towards. Closer to Ishaastal, Themba and Tolliver finally managed to break the shell of the snapping turtle they had been battling.

After cutting down the zombie, Theofanis then rushed to Afzal’s aid and took out Albert as well leaving Ivan alone and outnumbered. Jean-Phillipe shot an arrow at Theofanis, but the other heritor drew upon his blood’s power to catch the arrow. Amina then cast Projectile to send an enchanted stone hurtling towards Theofanis, but he blocked it with his shield.

Away from that skirmish, Ishaastal closed some of Themba’s wounds. Then Johan hopped into Diego’s boat with the treasure he was carrying so that they could start to escape. Themba and Tolliver though left Ishaastal to manage her own boat so that they could support Theofanis and Afzal.

Before they could reach the central island, Afzal took out Ivan and then grabbed the central treasure. As most of the boats started rowing back towards their distant ships, Jean-Phillipe and Amina continued to launch arrows and stones at Theofanis’s crew that were still on the islands. Just as Jean-Phillipe’s boat reached the edge of his bow’s range, he scored a critical hit that took out Afzal and caused the central treasure to be lost.

The Aftermath

Theofanis

While the last-minute loss of the central treasure hurt, Theofanis’s crew still managed to come out of the battle okay. Kamal and Valérian both recovered from their wounds, but Afzal passed away from the wounds left by Jean-Phillipe’s arrows. The two treasures that the crew did haul away were filled with 150 gold coins. With the experience gained, Theofanis improved his ability to use Disarm. Ishaastal used her experience to learn the spell Mist.

Jean-Phillipe

Jean-Phillipe’s crew also escaped in good shape. All of his wounded crewman fully recovered with a short rest. The treasure he claimed was also more interesting with 105 gold coins and a magical Ring of Will. After the expedition, Jean-Phillipe felt tougher and unlocked the ability to use Evade. Amina also was able to boost her Health with her experience.