by lactamaeon
IN WHICH......Interrogations Continue
...The Crew Become Veterans
...We Examine All Sides
...The Masques Have Fallen
...The Ceiling Is Safe
...The Ancient Capital Is Razed
...The Year Never Ends
Welcome again to another Seafall session report. At this point we will are approaching maximum SPOILERS, which I will not be making special effort to hide, so read on at your own risk!
To introduce our nobles provinces:
Lady Jane of Leicester (red)
Baron Hulk of Arrakeen (purple)
Count Dexter of R'lyeh (blue)
Duchess Talina of Prenderthale (gray)
Princess Dot of Mainframe (green - me)
As the first winter harvests come in, we use some of the money to activate our colony (The Edge of Beyond) on the distant isle of Innsmouth. The Restless Bones rise up on their sunken ships and threaten the sailors of all provinces. Princess Dot hires and interrogates Kenyon (The Lord), revealing him to be a member of the Society of Arados, who cryptically suggests that if we truly desire to sail further we should gather their leaders in our council. Using the wood collected by our colony, we construct a Guild Hall, hoping to exert some control over the forum of advisors. Finally, the Bones of the dead catch up to Leicester's ships, inflicting a horrible curse upon them.
The Society claims to Bend All To Their Will, but none of their soldiers are found in the ranks of any province. Duchess Talina's ships are able to use two halves of a worn map to find a secret device used by the ancients for sailing beneath the waves. While the device itself is beyond repair, her engineers are able make permanent improvements to the hold of one of her ships based on what they learn. Meanwhile, our own Adventurous Princess Dot sends Ferdinand (the Explorer's Patron) out to see what may be discovered at the Statue indicated by our own cryptic map fragments - beneath we find a hidden chamber with charts and maps of the whole world. We engrave as many of these charts as possible into the walls of the Saucy Mare, giving her unparalleled advantages when exploring anywhere in the world! As this is happening, Dot also orders our researchers to continue studying ancient maps and charts, and they are able to piece together both halves of a forgotten map as well.
The Soldier's Guild throws a massive Festival, increasing tax revenue for all provinces. Princess Dot orders Jane (the Bosun) to sail out to the iron market at Amity as indicated on our newfound forgotten map. Survivors of the incident claim to have accidentally unleashed a demon, which was barely injured by our soldiers and threatened to destroy them all until it was undone by several mighty blasts od the Saucy Mare's cannons. While many have their doubts about the details, none can deny that the market itself is destroyed! Thankfully, the surviving crew of the Saucy Mare has become notably more battle-hardened as a result.
Turbulent Waters roil at and around our colony of Innsmouth, as Lady Jane of Leicester interrogates Matrix (the Patriot), who informs us that we should be examining all sides of our advisors with the Light of Truth! This revelation leads Count Dexter to find that Ray Tracer (the Navigator) has knowledge that could lead to the final island! Truly the Masques Have Fallen! Despite dividing their knowledge among leaders of the four guilds, the Society will be unable to keep us from glory! Prenderthale's ships enter the tomb at Innsmouth and are able to repair the damaged ceiling well enough to recover a Cryptic Tablet (closing the tomb behind her). Adventurous Princess Dot orders Ferdinand (refreshed by Jane's inspiring work) to once more sail, research, and explore; he discovers a valuable mine at Lost Angles.
The Restless Bones once again rise from the sea! Truly a good time to be at sea. Leicester's flagship, the Penzance, is able to Raze the Ancient Captial of Ker, putting an end to the Pirate King's enmity for us all. Meanwhile our Adventurous Princess orders Jane back into action. She and Ferdinand are quite the power couple! We collect one half of the Sinister Chart (the other half is owned by Prenderthale) and discover an iron dock on Patmos (allowing the Mare to improve her already battle-hardened crew) before sailing on to Arados.
A wave of Despair sweeps the council of advisors, and the Society proclaims that They Move the Wealth. Duchess Talina orders the construction of a Museum to display her FOUR tablets, clinching another victory. Our Princess hires Indy (the Archaeologist) to enter the tomb on Arados, but he is only able to recover a modest sum of gold before retreating.
Whew! That was a short game at only 6 turns, and shows us how important it is to get those tablets spread around! It certainly feels like most of the high-value targets remaining are raid-based, with a few decent explore actions left. I am now only 4 glory ahead of Prenderthale (I had been up by 27 at the end of game 4). I expect she will pass me next game, so I am attempting to craft a plan that puts me in a good position for game 11. We shall see!
Thanks for reading,
-Lactamaeon