Crab Island

Stefanie and I recently played the fifth game of our Ghost Archipelago campaign. For this game, our daughter Lexi wanted to design a scenario. I think her main goal was making sure that the soldier crab I recently painted was involved, but she also came up with a map of how to lay out the terrain and rules for random monster spawning on the islands.

The Crews

Theofanis

• Theofanis the Heritor
• Ishaastal the Wave Warden
• Diego the Guide
• Eckhart the Crossbowman
• 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

Theofanis and Jean-Phillipe once again converged on a small set of islands within the archipelago. On one island, a soldier crab stood over a small chest half-buried in the sand. A couple of other islands nearby also looked like they might contain some valuable treasures. As the crews rowed towards land, arrows and bolts were fired but that first volley only splashed into water. Both Ishaastal and Amina also fumbled their spells as their respective boats rocked on the waves.

With both Jean-Phillipe’s boat and his own nearing the island with the soldier crab, Theofanis decided to take a cautious approach and stay a bit further away. That meant Jean-Phillipe drew the crab’s attention first and the monstrous crustacean rushed into the water to attempt to attack Jean-Phillipe. Luckily for him, the crab’s initial attempts to attack failed as the boat drew closer to the shore.

Meanwhile, the two wardens were moving towards one of the other islands. Amina’s boat landed first. She pulled one treasure closer with Earth Wave and then Albert jumped ashore to grab it. Ariel raced towards a second piece of loot on the island. Ishaastal didn’t let that go unopposed though, and she conjured a tendril of enchanted water by casting Wrath of the Waves that pulled Albert under.

Back on the other island, Theofanis and Kamal hurried towards the crab’s treasure while it was distracted by Jean-Phillipe, and Valérian grabbed a treasure on the small island connected to the crab’s island. Eckhart then launched a crossbow bolt at the third boat from Jean-Phillipe’s ship and pierced Petar’s chest to take him out of the fight.

Jean-Phillipe’s boat rowed around the aggressive crab to land too. He missed his shot at the crab, but Anton sunk a crossbow bolt into its back. The crab was only angered though and reached into the boat to wound the crossbowman. Klaas jumped out of the boat to make sure that Theofanis and Kamal wouldn’t be able to make off with the treasure uncontested.

The wardens continued their conflict on the other island. Gabriel jumped ashore to pick up the treasure dropped by Albert when he was pulled under the waves. Amina cast Projectile to throw a stone at Tolliver, but it bounced off of his shield. Ishaastal cast Wrath of the Waves, but Gabriel dodged it this time.

Ishaastal’s boat then pulled onto the shore. Tolliver, Themba, and Johan jumped ashore to try to wrest the treasure from Gabriel. Both Tolliver and Gabriel took hits, but Gabriel managed to maintain his hold on the treasure.

On the other island, Theofanis and Kamal fought against Klaas. Initially it seemed like the fight could go either way, but then Theofanis landed a critical hit on the infantryman and took him out of the fight. Jean-Phillipe used the power of his bloodline to daze the crab, then Anton pierced its shell with another crossbow bolt. Both Jean-Phillipe and Anton then got struck by fire from Theofanis’s crew.

A snapping turtle that had been drawn by the action tried to bite at Kamal, but he managed to wound it with one blow and then take it out with a second. Carlos moved to shield Jean-Phillipe, but Theofanis cut him down and closed in on his rival. Jean-Phillipe drew on the power of his bloodline again in order to slip away from Theofanis and began to swim towards his boat.

On the other island, Amina cast Projectile but missed with the enchanted stone again. Then she ordered Ariel to start rowing and the two of them left Gabriel behind. Ishaastal hit him with Wrath of the Waves, then Tolliver finished him off as he watched his crewmates abandon him.

Reaching his boat, Jean-Phillipe finished off the crab that was attacking, but he wasn’t in time to save Anton from the dangerous crustacean. Once he climbed back into his boat, he watched helplessly as Diego and Eckhart shot and took out Ivan. Giving up on his disastrous excursion, he sat down and started rowing away from the islands. He would have to make Theofanis pay another day.

The Aftermath

Theofanis

The lopsided skirmish left Theofanis and his crew in a good position. No one had been taken out of the fight, and they had claimed four treasures from the islands. Those treasures ended up containing a superior dagger and 175 gold coins. The lessons learned also allowed Theofanis to boost his Health and improve his ability to use Sprint. Ishaastal meanwhile improved her ability to cast Water of Life.

Jean-Phillipe

With seven members of his crew taken out during the skirmish, Jean-Phillipe’s crew was in bad shape. Luckily, everyone other than Petar and Carlos recovered with only a little rest. The one treasure that Ariel had carried off contained a Quickbeam Root and 30 gold coins. Jean-Phillipe channeled his frustrations into improving his Fight ability, and Amina learned to cast a new spell, Pit. Finally, Jean-Phillipe chose Claude and Henri from the Whispering Wave‘s crew to join him on his next excursion.