Kyle Rhea on a rare sunny day on the Isle of Skye, This small Inn or Tavern has one bedroom and some bench sleeping. It’s not salubrious and serves one purpose only. To make a dishonest living for Wee Tam MacShee, enough of a living that he’ll be able to die in his bed, unlike his Father Big Tam or his Grand Father Very Big Tam.
You may be forgiven for thinking that Kyle Rhea looks very similar to Uig and there may be some truth in that but it’s being rather uncharitable if you don’t mind me saying.
Wee Tam is the chap in the brown cloak mid right centre, the Sassenach in the black hat has many motives to be here but none will be revealed now. The fellow closest to the black house on the left wearing a blue bonnet is Jamie MacFadden a notorious drinker and gambler…..well notorious in Kyle Rhea if not Skye in general.
The Inn at Kyle Rhea was a small tavern compared to many on the Drovers Way but it had a unique place in the hearts of the people of Skye, especially the men. It was a test, a test of manhood and some thought a test of…..well…..stupidity. Anyone can go across in the ferry, it was a small boat, usually rowed by the Ferryman but occasionally if you were wealthy, and maybe just a little timid you would pay for an extra man on the oars. That was plain caution but the younger men liked to swim the straights and boast in the tavern afterwards, although there were fewer to boast than attempted the swim.
After a long hard road south Mad Wullie and his crew arrive, droving the cattle hasn’t been as much of an adventure as he’d promised Vagabond and Douglas but the good news was that they’d made it to the mainland. Well technically not the mainland until they had swum the cattle across there, and he still only has 4 cattle, neither of the pregnant cows has given birth yet. Although on the road near Camastinavaig an old woman had made a prophecy. “Live or die, only time will tell”. Wullie had told her to bugger off, he could make up his own useless prophesies. She had made the sign of the twin horns in his direction and cackled as she walked on.
At the rear of the herd of 4 cows Douglas and Vagabond were wondering how much more cow shit that they would have to walk around, these four animals were a walking manure factory. Reba was in heaven, so many new smells to take in and she could chase as many rabbits as she liked what with Douglas being engaged in avoiding cow pats and driving the herd onwards.
No arrival in the hamlet went un-noticed and Thropett stepped forward and smiled her winning smile at the 4 men facing her. She’d already learned on this tiresome journey that soft beds were few and the first one in got the best of the poor lot.
Wullie explained they only wanted 1 night in the Inn and a safe place for the cattle.
Wee Tam MacShee gestured over there and the two rearmost Drovers pushed the cattle on to the rough enclosure.
Mind the hurdle Tam shouted, the hinges are broken and she doesn’t swing as well as she used to. How many of us have thought that same unspoken thought.
Douglas sees to the welfare of Reba first and lets her drink at the trough before he slakes his thirst as well.
Vagabond looks at the distance across the straight to the mainland and wonders if steel armour floats. He thinks not, but being a closet optimist consoles himself with the thought “Well you never know until you try”
Thropett the quick learner leads the way into the tavern, following by Very Tiny Tam, Wee Tam’s son, they head through the gloom of the tavern to the only bed room. The Sassenach is close behind, too close maybe.
Mad Wullie and Thropett view the sleeping arrangements, two double beds. “Well” he starts to say, “maybe we should take the one on the left, the pillows look quite comfortable, we could sleep top and tail if you prefer”. “I’ll sleep with the dog, she’ll be more comfortable with me in the left bed than out in the yard” she responds, strangely that was the reply he’d expected. “It’ll be awfully crowded, three of us in one bed perhaps we should share”. “Well maybe not, if that would suit you better” he finished lamely.
The bedding arrangements sorted, the evening started with some serious discussion, negotiation and gambling with more than a little drinking involved.
This is the sum total of the game pictures I’m afraid. It was a four turn game with each of the Drovers having a different role to play.
Mad Wullie negotiated a price with Wee Tam for the ferry and Wee Tam’s expertise swimming cattle.
Jamie MacFadden was sitting in the corner with a jug of ale and a deck of cards, Dashing Dougie Douglas fancied his chances and asked what game Jamie preferred. Brag was the answer and Dougie said he was prepared to give it a go if Jamie explained the rules. There’s a possibility the Drovers will win or lose some coin here
Thropett using her initiative decided to try and elicit information from Very Tiny Tam, she reasoned quite correctly that if she could find out the going rates his Father charged for the ferrying business Wullie would have an advantage in the negotiations.
The Vagabond had the serious task of keeping a watchful eye on the other 3 and drinking another jug of the rather good Heather Ale Mary MacShee was pouring at regular intervals. Mary MacShee is a canny individual and her role in the negotiations is to spike the drinks of the incomers to degrade their ability to function effectively, both mentally (which was hardly required) and physically if it came to a rough house.
Each character has a variety of attributes, I usually roll an average dice to determine these but for this series of games I want us the have a better chance of survival so gave the Piddler’s the opportunity to decide their own with a total top limit. Thropett already existed so her stats are the norm and as you can see 3’s and 4’s predominate. High is always better than low.
Each turn everyone had a drink, Mary spiked our ale with some strong Poteen, there was a possibility we would notice this, although as the ale had its effect that became harder. If we noticed then there was a possibility that we would take action but it wasn’t a certainty. Causing a ruckus would be the worst thing that could happen.
The negotiation between Wullie and Tam used the Brains stat as a straight fight. For the card game I added Brains + Awareness + 2D6 and Thropett’s seduction was a straight fight between her Charisma and Very Tiny Tam’s Brains. As an aside, Tam has a very jealous girlfriend who is a dab hand with a knife.
By the end of the evening Dougers was roaring drunk but continued to be lucky at cards and won 3 out of the 4 hands. This led to an accusation of cheating from MacFadden. It was more than a bit half hearted and when Wee Tam intervened he backed down quietly.
Wullie was unaffected by the amount of alcohol he consumed but lost twice, won once, and drew once in the rounds of the negotiation. This wasn’t a bad result because Tam was satisfied he’d got a good price but it hadn’t been an easy negotiation therefore he developed a good respect for Wullie, which would be useful later.
Thropett had quietly spilt most of her spiked ale on the earthen floor of the Inn but had failed to make any impression on her target. This was probably just as well because we didn’t have any difficulties with the jealous girlfriend and if Snappers had done better Wee Tam might not have been as pleased with his negotiating as he was.
The Vagabond got mildly drunk, he’d warned Wullie twice about the spiked drink but been ignored on both occasions and ended the evening flirting with Mary MacShee which fortunately Tam didn’t notice.
The net result of this is that we’re slightly in pocket, Douglas won more than Wullie lost, we’re well in with Wee Tam there was no fighting or injury, and we’re guaranteed help getting over the straights in the morning even if a couple of us have slight hangovers.
Sorry it’s not much of a game to read about but it drove my story on quite well and has a useful impact on the next two parts of the game that will be along shortly.
Cheers
The Drovers Tale Pt 2 - The Opening - Uig - Here
No comments:
Post a Comment