Blood, Plunder and D&D

  From the stage, Fantastic Freddy looked out at the sea of faces. The Contest of Song was one of the last contests of the Solstice Festival, and was always well attended. Hundreds of people swarmed Cathedral Square as the four remaining contestants performed their final numbers. Freddy was scheduled to go on last. Over to his left , he could see the three masked and robed judges watching him from the second story balcony of the Customs House. He smiled and waved at them. On of them, the woman, blew him a kiss. Freddy was pretty sure that was Bella Bell, under that mask and robe. As his eyes scanned over the crowd, reading them and trying to judge what tune would go over the best, his eyes were drawn to a fourth masked figure, a tall, regally dressed woman in a plumed formal masquerade mask . Not one of the judges, but the masquerade ball was tonight so masks were not exactly an uncommon site. Still, there was something special about this woman. She stood at the head of a small gro...

  Fantastic Freddy was enjoying the company of the other musicians, as they all sat around the large open air firepit that dominated the main courtyard at Bella Bells . The Solstice Festival had drawn them from far and wide to Skull River Bay , not only to compete for the 1000 gold piece prize awarded to the winner of the Contest of Song, but also of course. to ply their trade among the festival goers, trading song for gold in a dance as old as music itself.  Most of them were lodging at Bella Bells. Bella was quite the patron of the arts and gave musicians free room and board during the Festival, at least all musicians who were competing in the Contest of Song.  The Contest was entering it's final phase. The three masked judges had already winnowed the field down to four bands, and tomorrow those four were slated to compete to determine the final winner. Freddy was the favorite of course. The other finalists were good, but none were at Freddy's level, and least not accor...

  Ricmo chomped down  on his cigar and looked at his hand. He'd had better hands. He carefully laid the cards down and rubbed the sleep from his eyes. They'd been at this eight hours straight at this point, and it was the darkest part of the night. He considered for a moment and pulled out the pouch of leaves that Lil had given him. Whisperleaf had said they weren't magic exactly, but that chewing them would keep sleep at bay and keep his mind sharp. It would come at a cost though, tomorrow would be rough, and the druid had said there were risks if he used them often.  He tentatively placed some of the leaves in his mouth and chewed. They tasted bitter, but not unpleasant and indeed after a few moments he felt energy flooding back into him. His eyes brightened, he felt GOOD. "Hell yes" he thought to himself. "Let's play." The finals of Skull River Bay's Grand Tournament of Cards had begun with 25 finalists, each packing all the gold they could c...

  When he first arrived, it had been brought to Ricmo's attention that Skull River Bay was hemmed in on it's eastern approaches by a collection of sandbars. Despite the extensive system of lighthouses and the relatively deep, buoy lined channel leading to the harbor, running your ship aground on that bar was still a favorite pastime of inexperienced captains. Given that Captain Ricmo brought new meaning to the word "inexperienced captain" the more senior members of the crew had been quite concerned about the approach, one of the reasons the Lady Jezebel had anchored so far out in the bay.  He hadn't really thought about the bar much since then, though it was often visible from shore during low tide. Occasionally the inhabitants of the town rowed out and partied on the clean, sandy beaches the bar provided, often at night the fires from revelers glittered over the half mile of sea that separated the bar from the town. Just one of the many strange customs of a str...