Drake's Perch: A Satyr's Story

The Satyrs advance through the jungle towards the temple ruins in search of treasure

My players are writing up after-action reports from the point of view of their crews in my Fur-grave campaign. Here is the report of the Satyrs, written by Brett:

The crew had just dropped ship’s anchor. I called my Warden and three best crewmen over to me while directing the rest to lower the scow. There was a foreboding sense about this island, and I noticed the apprehensive glances my crew gave it.  But my Warden’s divinations have never led us astray, so if he says there is treasure on that island, then we go ashore! 

As the scow shuddered to a halt on the gravel shore, the air hung thick and hazy. The oppressive heat made me very glad to have left the heavy armor on the ship. No sooner had we headed inland, we saw the silhouettes of two structures looming up through the haze. Impossible to make out anything other than the general size, I directed the Warden and a crewman to explore the closer structure. With the other two crewmen, I set off for the further one. We had walked a short distance through the jungle and were now able to see structure more clearly. It had a very unique architecture that we had never seen before. That’s when we heard a loud, violent shriek high above us. As we ducked for cover, we looked up to see a large, lizard-like creature with a huge wingspan fanning the air as it alighted on top of our destination. Fortunately for us, its attention was intently focused on something on the other side of the building. As we stared in amazement at this creature, it shrieked again and dove off the other side and out of our sight. Not knowing how many of these things might be flying around, we quickened our pace to get to the building.

A Silver Drake perches atop an overgrown temple - luckily for the Satyrs, he would choose another victim!

Breaking through the jungle, we could now clearly see the building and noticed the center was completely open, as an archway would let you walk right through the middle of it.  Looking through the archway, we saw exactly what had held the creature’s attention. It was locked in mortal combat with what looked like a well-armored, well-trained, oversized rodent. What a strange place we’ve found! My crewmen, noticed something more troubling.  Another oversized rodent was attempting to make off with a large golden statue. Clearly this had to be the treasure the Warden foretold, and there was no way we were letting a rodent run off with it! Immediately, I directed my archer to round the building to cut off any escape. Hoping the creature would keep the other rodent occupied, we charged the overburdened rodent. With one mighty swipe, I dispatched the rodent and my trusty crewman caught the statue before it could hit the ground.

As the Drake slashes away at a member of the Mice crew, Brett's Satyrs emerge from the gloom

Meanwhile, the creature had done a better job than expected and slain the rodent. But now I found myself at the center of its attention. Fortunately, the rodent had done most of the work for me, and we were able to take down this strange creature (later, my Warden would tell me it was a Drake) without any harm to us.

Brett, middle, plans how to outwit Keith (right) and the others on their four-player board

As we turned to head back to the ship, a large bramble of vines suddenly blocked our path. What strange magic is this?  Not sure of what or who did this, we chose to exit the building on through the archway and meet up my archer crewman on the side of the building. Just as we thought we had cleared the area, two different rodents starting firing arrows at us. Fortunately, they were poor shots and not interested in following us as they retreated back into the jungle.

One of the Satyrs in possession of a central treasure found in a passage through he huge, overgrown temple

When I turned to thank our archer for sending off those rats, I saw he was already targeting something behind a large pile of stones. Then, I caught sight of the Warden waving his arms rhythmically in the air, clearly in the middle of some incantation. I thought my archer was going to fire again, but something shiny caught his eye and I guess treasure outweighs glory as he bolted to that location. Then, I saw a strange shimmer cross from the pile of stones through the stone wall near my archer, who was totally preoccupied with whatever he had found. I directed my crewman with the statue to make to the ship with all haste and ran around the wall only to find an even larger rodent about to attack my distracted archer. I charged him and, at the same time, saw the Warden round the corner as well. I knew things were not going to end well for this rodent.  But as slippery as all rodents can be, he looked up at me, and just as my blade sliced toward his neck, he pulled some crazy movement stunt and instantly vanished into the jungle.

The divinations of the Satyr's Warden came true -- the crew proved fortunate in amassing great treasure

With the immediate threat abated, the Warden and I sent the last two crewmen back to the ship, while we headed back into the jungle to investigate the obvious ruckus of another battle deeper in the jungle. We arrived in time to see the end of a skirmish of strange creatures — an odd bunch of furry creatures, with stripes on their heads, running off with what should have been more loot for us. And there were more of those cursed brambles...a LOT more! The Warden looked at brambles, looked at me, and while gesturing toward the creatures, pointed out just how outnumbered we were. He then told me he had foreseen more treasure elsewhere, and suggested we should make haste to the ship before all of the treasure we did recover mysteriously disappears amongst the crew!

As we lifted anchor, I was thankful that we didn't lose any crew and quite pleased with the amount of gold coins we found. But my Warden was far more interested in the trinkets. With a wink of an eye, he said “Just wait ‘till you see what I can do with these baubles!”