Captain Black Jack's Treasure Hunt

Sit down me hearties, pull up a chair by the fire and I’ll tell you a tale about Captain Black Jack and his crew of desperados back in the 50’s, the 1750’s you understand.

Captain Black Jack and his two closest confederates Mary Cut-throat Brazier and William Plunkett were in the Tap Room of the Dog and Weasel drinking and thinking. They were deciding if the information they had gleaned was worth their lives. They’d done too much drinking and not enough thinking but even so the consensus was that - “No it wasn’t”. However if they could get a few gullible locals to go along as cannon fodder, then maybe they could alter the odds sufficiently to make it worth the risk.

You may be wondering what I’m blathering on about…..King John’s Treasure is what I’m blathering on about, the kings crown jewels and royal treasury no less.

Everyone knows that this was lost somewhere in the Wash in 1216.

No you fool - not Mrs Perkins the Washer Woman’s wash, I’m talking about the area around the Fens known as the Wash. It’s an area of dark tales and dread superstition, peopled by folk with two heads, webbed fingers and toes but there are other creatures there, much worse creatures.

Creatures from the dark pits of Hades…. (well that’s what I heard on YouTube, so it must be right!)

After a few more drinks and a bit more think Black Jack’s crew have managed to collect a few of the local ruffians together, After plying them with more of the former and less of the latter they set off for Dead Piddling in the Water.

The local ruffians were Honesty Jones, Vanity Dobbs and Sally Salisbury and are so full of the Squire’s best stout “Staggering Man” that they are as full of bravado as beer, the other local village, Much Piddling in the Marsh was uppermost in their minds. You'll have to decide why.

Dead Piddling used to be a lively place but about 12 years ago the inhabitants started to move out, well those who could move, moved. The others are in the graveyard around the old Church. No one is really sure why they moved, the live ones won’t talk, and the dead ones can’t but Jack had heard the rumour and taken heed of it.

The sun was setting as they arrived on the outskirts of the village. Jack decided he must split his forces if they were to search the village before morning, a time when other interested parties might wonder what they were up to.

Plunkett and the ruffian Vanity went right, to search the broken down house in that direction and the rest continued into the heart of the village.

The sun set just as Plunkett arrived at the door, without a thought he pushed it open and entered the hovel. He never heard the sound of wings flapping as he started to search for the treasure.

OK enough of the moody pictures, just imagine it's dark.

Neither did Vanity Dobbs, as she prepared to follow Plunkett into the building the Iki-Iki swooped down and attacked without warning.

She is taken completely by surprise and falls to the ground, the Iki-Iki feels the blood lust and kneels to drink. Plunkett alerted, turns and sees the dark form stooped over Vanity’s crumpled body, without thought he fires the pistol in his right hand and then the pistol in his left hand. He misses with both shots and realises he only has one re-load left!

Damn and blast but he draws his trusty cutlass and prepares to fight for his life. The Iki-Iki is a cowardly creature though, and it flies off, secure in the knowledge that the fresh corpse will still be there when it returns, the blood may flow a little sluggishly but flow it will.

William Plunkett is not the sharpest knife in the drawer, he picks up Vanity’s 2 loaded pistols and sticks them into his belt but he doesn’t think to search Vanity’s body for extra powder and shot. Leaving this behind and ignoring the threat of the Iki-Iki he sets off to search the next building.

Yes, he is brave as well as stupid, a bad combination.

The shot must have awakened the dead because two zombies appear above the wall surrounding the Church. They peer aggressively into the gloom of the night but don’t advance closer to Cptn Jack. (I wonder if this is why the villagers left?)

Jack shouts - give them fire lads and his crew respond in their own individual way. Sally fires wildly but in spite of this, her rushed shot hits the target. The more experienced crew take a steady shot at the rather scary creatures. Jack himself is a hopeless marksman and consequently he misses but Honesty Jones the other local ruffian fires and hits her target. Unfortunately both she and Sally shoot at the same Zombie. It is hit it in the gut and left leg, unfortunately it's legs are protected by the stone wall and sparks fly from that strike.

Well they would have, if it hadn’t been a soft lead ball but you get the gist.

The gut shot drops the dead zombie with a severe wound? Honesty ruminates on the fact that she’s just fired her one and only ball. The reason she is on this adventure is because she’s so poor she can’t afford her next meal, let alone powder and shot; that was her first and last shot.

She draws her cutlass and prepares to sell her life dearly. Maybe she will be able to buy more powder if she does sell it dearly, but then again what use will that be…it’s a bit of a circular argument really!!

This new round of shooting has disturbed some spiders in the corn field. Normally that wouldn’t be an issue but these spiders are the size of small dogs and they start to move towards Black Jack, of course he isn’t aware of them because they’re the other side of the thick hedge.

The spiders are in the cornfield moving left towards Jack. William Plunkett is in the bottom right of the picture and can see the spiders.

Jack and Sally fire on the Zombies, Jack misses again but Sally hits the other Zombie in it’s left arm, slightly stunning it but that’s better than Jack has done. Sally has 2 pistols and they’re both empty, Jack has 3 so one is still loaded.

Mary and Honesty have both fired their single pistols and so drop them and charge at the Zombies, drawing their cutlasses on the way.

Tooth and nail are no match for Sheffield steel and the cutlasses slice through the dead and they become dead......yet again. RIP.

Plunkett having seen the spiders makes the fateful decision to fire on them. He hits and kills one but this has the unfortunate result of drawing the rest toward him. Fortunately they don’t seem to move very fast.

Jack and Sally turn and peer through the hedge, they see the spiders, but decide it’s a good idea to reload their empty pistols before attracting unwanted attention. “Load as quick as you like” Jack says to Sally. Her reply is lost in the wind.

Mary and Honesty are unaware of the spiders but are congratulating themselves on their easy victory over the Zombies. They return to collect their dropped pistols, wiping the blood from their blades as they do so.

Plunkett looks on in horror when he realises that the spiders are going to activate before he will. They are close enough so that he doesn’t have time to shoot and draw his cutlass, so he just pulls the cold steel from it’s scabbard and prepares to fight.

The first spider to reach him gets the pointy end of his blade and it dies a writhing mass of legs and other body parts. The 2nd one is slashed across the head, it’s badly wounded but not dead.

Plunkett then activates first and in spite of being a brave thicko, he runs away, he easily outdistances them which is a bit of a relief.

Jack and Sally hiding behind the hedge have loaded oneipistol each and they take careful aim and fire. Jack of course misses but Sally wounds one spider. The remaining healthy one turns and skitters towards her and Jack.

Jack passes his last loaded pistol to Sally and urges her to kill the spider as it climbs over the hedge, she fires and misses!

It skuttles up and over the hedge, Merlin’s Beard, Jack shouts as he draws his cutlass and wielding his weapon like a seasoned fighter he attacks the spider, the spider attacks him. The spider comes off 2nd best and dies in the hedgerow.

The remaining injured spiders crawl off to their spidery den to lick their wounds or whatever spiders do, and are seen no more. Well not this night at least.

Honesty Jones enters a building and after a quick search there is a whoop of joy as she discovers the treasure they are searching for.

(Well that was easier than I expected. There are 13 locations that they need to search and I’m using the Spade suit of a deck of cards, when the Ace of Spades is turned up, that’s where the treasure is, this is only the 2nd card)

It’s all over; the pirates gather round the treasure chest and wonder how much their share will be. Jack of course knows that his will be much greater than the rest; he is the Captain after all. They are jubilant at this easy success although Vanity might not agree about that. The clouds clear and the moon shines down.

The full moon shines down!

Then there’s a fearful howling.

Rhazien is the Grand Daddy of werewolves, he’s huge and ferocious and hungry. He can’t see his food but he can smell it, his jaws start to drool, he’s hungry, very hungry, he howls again.

This must be the real reason the village is deserted…..well deserted by humans at least.

Rounding the corner of the decaying house he sees his prey and breaks into a run. Black Jack had already passed his last loaded pistol to Sally, recognising that she had a much better chance of a killing shot than he would. “Now lass, steady does it, make it count”. To be fair, she stood her ground and fired, there’s not many who would have done that, but she wanted to get her cutlass out of its scabbard before the beast was on top of her and she rushed the shot, which of course missed its target.

Plunkett should have done better, he had 2 loaded pistols and fired them, one after the other, both shots missed and he was grateful everyone else was between him and the werewolf because 2 empty pistols aren’t weapon enough to take on this monster.

Rhazien the Werewolf had the initiative and attacked the two at the front of the group, Honesty Jones in the green coat and Sally Salisbury in the blue blouse. They gave a good account of themselves both being better with a sword than a pistol. They inflicted some small cuts to the wolf, enough to make him step back, more in surprise than anything else.

The two girls follow up their advantage but it’s a precarious advantage and short lived as Honesty takes damage and they in turn are pushed back, both girls were still on their feet fighting and Mary “Cut-throat” Blazer has joined the fray.

It’s not enough and with a mighty blow from his razor sharp claws Rhazien fells Honesty. She was the best swordsman of the 3 so this is a bitter blow. Sally is pushed back again and the fight is slowly going Rhazien’s way.

Things change as Jack charges in on Rhazien’s left flank, the combat continues, but Jack is pretty handy with a sword (unlike the pistol) and the three of them deal more damage to the wolf and push it back again.

Rhazien should be wolf burger but he isn’t, as well against the odds he fights them to a standstill, both side draw back for a breather and consider their next move.

I roll some dice to see what the Werewolf will do. At this point he’s rolling about half as many dice as his opponents and if the fight continues the end is inevitable. I know he’s hungry but dead is dead.

Anyway after the dice are rolled, with a bellow of rage and frustration he bounds back into the fight, and takes a beating. More damage and he’s close to exhaustion, so I roll some more dice to see if he’ll run and he does the sensible thing.

However as he turns to run Jack and Sally both hit him in the back and he looses his remaining vitality and his life as he drops to the floor….dead.

There is a bit of an epilogue to the story:-

Leaving Honesty and Vanity behind….well they’re dead and if Jack hang’s around to bury them who knows what dread creatures will turn up. (Each turn I have a card draw that determines if something will turn up and another one to decide who or what it might be.)

You didn’t really think he would bury them though…..did you? Well really, that’s a bit naïve.

Anyway Jack and the others carry the chest back towards the Dog and Weasel, no of course they don’t take it into the pub, the place is full of thieves and vagabonds, it wouldn’t be safe, so they bury it and draw a map, marking the spot with a cross. It’s a treasure map after all.

Anyway, after a couple more flagons of Staggering Man stout, Jack lets slip that he’s heard a rumour about a Saxon Horde, reputedly it was a kings ransom, the others look interested, but this wanes a little as they press him for more information, “Why is it called a Saxon Horde” they ask and don’t like the answer….”because it’s guarded by a Horde of Saxons”. “They are dead Saxons though” he explains, slurring his speech a little from the effects of the stout, “what do you think, should we try and find it”?

En Guarde you Villain's

En Guarde you Villain’s

It was a fine Spring day in one of the Piddling villages, the sun was high in the sky and the pheasants were making the sort of soft clucking sound as they thought of the mating season to come, followed by the long lazy days of summer, then of course there was the 12th of August but the pheasants didn’t allow the future to impinge on the present too much.

Unlike Squire Samuel Benbow Snapcase, a lesser known scion of the famous Snapcase family, The Lords Snapcase were held in some high regard among the Piddling’s; Lesser Piddling, Greater Piddling and Much Piddling in the Marsh.

Squire Samuel was waiting impatiently for the Revenue Men. Yes - I know you might be thinking that they were the last people he would want to see, what with the honey distillery he was running in one of the Outhouses close to the Big House, but of course you’d be wrong.

He had a long standing, understanding, is I think the correct term and the understanding was with Captain ‘Old’ Bill Avery of His Majesties Revenue Service. Cptn Avery liked to confiscate contraband in the name of the King, as much and as often as he could. His only issue with this situation was that he didn’t believe the King needed to receive all of the confiscated goods. There was some leeway for an enterprising man to spread the bounty around to local deserving causes before the balance of the contraband was secured in His Majesties Government’s bonded warehouses.

Squire Samuel and Cptn Avery both regarded themselves as deserving local causes and so to that end a motley crew of Revenue men were protecting a small shipment of high value contraband as they trudged slowly along the green lane to the Squires house.

Captain Avery liked to lead his men from the front and he was ably assisted by Mad John Leadstone, they chatted amicably as they made their along the track, their pace was slowed by the pack ponies but even more so by the two men in front of the ponies. Scudder and Fishbait had served in the Royal Navy for many years but had both been severely wounded and each lost a leg in the service of their country. They wryly joked that between them they had the best pair of legs in the Piddlings and they could spread them further than anyone else.

Well - except of course for the Widow Hackett but she had extenuating circumstances that we don’t need to go into here.

Avery and Leadstone had opened a gap between themselves and the rest of the crew and this was to be their undoing. A swarthy gnome of a woman rose quietly from behind the hedge and aimed her musket at the back of Cptn Avery’s noble head and with a grunt in Spanish she pulled the trigger.

Our gallant Captain might have mistaken the ill looking woman for one of the beasts in the field but that was his last mistake, as her bullet went through the back of his skull and out the front. Leadstone looked down in horror as his commanding officer fell to the ground. Although it probably went through his mind that there would be no open casket for Avery he responded to the attack immediately.

“Ambush” he roared in a voice that could have been heard in the Main Tops when he was a young Lieutenant in the Royal Navy and even now his men responded as a well trained team will……..They dithered a little, dallied even more and then ran around like headless chickens.

Scudder pushed through the hedge and screaming like a banshee, he advanced on the ill looking Spanish woman.

Seconds later another woman rose from the near side of the hedge, she was dressed in a tight fitting green uniform and armed with a Baker Rifle. Quick as lightening she aimed and fired on Mad John Leadstone, blood trickled from the wound but he remained on his feet. Swaying a little from the pain he bellowed to Fishbait “Get her” In spite of his wooden crutch Fishbait lunged through the hedge bordering the track and drawing his cutlass he closed with the cowardly assassin who recoiled in horror as the brave man advanced.

The unarmed mule skinner was heard to mutter “The Saints preserve us” as another of the ill looking bunch poked her wicked head over the wall next to him. This was the leader of the dastardly band, a low outcast from society, Mary Shelly with an itchy belly. She was known in the drinking dens of the marches as a poet and writer of sorts, an underserved reputation, unlike the one she had for treachery and low cunning which was well deserved.

She might have been one of the most unsavoury characters to wave a red and white plume on a shako but she was a crack shot and the innocent mule skinner died instantly.

It would be no comfort to him to know that Comfort Weeks strolled calmly to the wall and realising that the rules seemed to favour shooting more than was expected put a bullet between the squinty eyes of Shelly with the itchy belly and the leader of the cowardly desperadoes died as quickly as her previous innocent victim.

Comfort Weeks also took no comfort from the fact that like a demented Jack in a box, another of the villainous crew popped up and shot her without warning. There was some mutinous muttering that the villain had a book in one hand and a sword in the other, how then was she able to shoot, this was quickly quashed by the chap who was reading the rules.

As you see here Tempest Abercrombie exacted swift revenge for the unlawful killing of poor Comfort by putting a bullet into the scurrilous hound and you can see her blood staining the ground. (The red cube means she’s wounded, but you probably guessed that.) Unfortunately she didn’t die like the dog she was. (Note the tense).

Brave and noble Edouard d’Orsay drew his cutlass and advanced on the evil wretch. Brandishing his weapon he invited her to take a turn or two around the dead body of her leader, she blanched and stuttered a reply that was lost in the wind.

(Note the book and sword - clearly no pistol).

Another of the evil crew steps out from hiding and plugs the already wounded John Leadstone. No mercy is obviously their battle cry. Muffled a little from behind their hiding places.

Edouard attacked his wicked enemy and struck a mighty blow, she parried in vain because her cheap nine penny sword was smashed asunder and his blade made of the finest Sheffield steel clove her to the bone. She died a whimpering death.

Things are looking quite sticky for our intrepid hero’s, but they’re a plucky bunch and will fight on in spite of the loss of their courageous leader and valiant second in command.

Typically the enemy resort to underhand tactics, two against one. Fishbait is a fine old gentleman with one leg and he had an exhausting night the previous night, battling monsters in an underground cavern system, a tale that may never be told now, but these wicked scoundrels have no honour and show no mercy, they attack him viciously.

They butcher the poor old, one legged gentleman without remorse, as Modesty Higginbottom looks on in horror at the unspeakable events happening in front of her. She points her pistol and fires, there is the satisfaction of seeing one of the ignoble fiends’s hit and blood spurts from the wound. Of course you can’t get blood from a stone and so this dries up quickly.

The other old veteran, Scudder is slain by the callous Spanish witch and he dies a painful death, his passing is not an easy one as she leans over him, muttering in Spanish. She asks where he keeps his valuables but the scent of her garlic laden breath takes him aback and he can not respond.

That and the fact that he can’t speak Spanish so doesn’t have a clue what she is asking.

Well they might be a plucky bunch but events are unfolding in favour of the mean, cowardly, back shooting ambushers and the brave and plucky Revenue men decide they would be better off by making a strategic withdrawal. They have given their best but the odds were always against them, I think it was eight to eight but two of them only have 1 leg each so in a leg count the odds were against them.

Tempest Abercrombie, Edouard d’Orsay and Modesty Higginbottom looking pale and wan, make a fighting withdrawal (at speed) back down the green lane leaving behind many brave men and women of the Revenue Service.

There is an adjunct, maybe an addenda or addendum depending on your level of education, mine leads me to think of it as an extra bit but I’m sure someone will correct me soon enough.

After a few stiffening libations down at the Dog and Sprocket the surviving members of the Revenue men decided that they should return to the scene of their defeat and see if any of their brothers in arms survived the vicious and unprovoked ambush. Quietly moving up the green lane they can see lights on in Squire Samuel Benbow Snapcase’s house. Edging closer they see candles flickering and hear loud, raucous voices, shouting and singing as if in celebration.

They creep up to the house and hear some talk that indicates the rather manish figure in the tight fitting green uniform is none other than the infamous The Honourable Verity (Peaches) Snapcase, is she related in some strange way to Squire Snapcase? 

 Almost certainly.

Then Edouard remembers the recent rumour that the current Lord Snapcase has recruited a unit of ruffians and nerdowells called the Silver Bayonet, can this be the very same brigands that set upon the Revenue men.

As I hope, you will have realized my opponent for this game was the well known Mad Lord Snapcase, Lady Snapcase was visiting family and friends in the area and he was able to slip away for a short while. As always after his infrequent visits I was left saddened by the fact that he and the other member of our Triumvirate Sir Douglas live so far away. However on counting the number of empty bottles of wine and the depleted state of my larder it’s maybe just as well.

Anyway I hope you enjoyed reading my true and impartial account of our game.

Cheers

Pirates of the South China Seas - Not a Naval Game ;)

Everyone has heard of the famous Jack Sparrow and the fictional Pirates of the Caribbean, but how many have heard of Calico Jack Rackham and the real Pirates of the South China Seas. In their day Jack and his crew were renowned for infamous acts of daring, utter disregard for danger and complete contempt for authority and any form of law and order.

Their exploits in the South China Sea made the Caribbean sound like a stroll through Regents Park, of course in the mid 1750’s that was a stroll in daylight and with a bodyguard but even so!

They came to my attention when I was researching Ching Shih who was born Shih Yang 石陽 in 1775 in Guangdong province. She was originally a Cantonese prostitute nicknamed Shih Heang Koo (石香姑) who worked in a floating brothel in Guangzhou and then moved up in the world becoming the most successful pirate of all time. She terrorized the China Seas during the Jiaquing period of the Quing dynasty in the early 19th century and commanded over 300 junks manned by 20,000 to 40,000 pirates. She fought with many of the major nations, such as the British and Portuguese as well as the Quing dynasty itself.

All of this is historical record, as is the fact that she married Cheng I who was from a family of notorious pirates and their roots could be traced back to the mid-17th century. What is not so well known is that she was the daughter of Calico Jack Rackham and another Chinese Prostitute Ah Toy.

John (Jack) Rackham was born in December 1682 and reputedly hung November 1720, commonly known as Calico Jack, he was an English pirate captain operating in the Bahamas and Cuba during the early 18th century. His nickname was derived from the Calico clothing that he habitually wore back then, calico is a mainly unbleached cotton and has as pale green, grey, buff colour. You may have heard his name because he is most remembered for having two female crew members: Mary Reed and his lover, Anne Bonny. The story goes that Rackham was captured by a Royal Navy pirate hunter Jonathan Barnet in 1720, put on trial by Sir Nicholas Lawes, Governor of Jamaica, and was hanged in November of that year in Port Royal, Jamaica. Of course that is pure fantasy Lawes and Rackham were in business together and they shared the proceeds of Jacks nefarious doings, Lawes would have hanged Jack without a second thought but he didn’t know where Jacks treasure was hidden, and Jack was smart enough not to tell him.

Now if you have been looking at my time line closely enough you would be thinking “Jack, born 1682, Ching Shih born 1775”, that makes Jack 94 years old when he conceived her.

Well you didn’t think I would be researching any ordinary man did you?

Jack went west, well south around Cape Horn and then west, after his “hanging”, it seemed like the smart move, after all the Royal Navy was clamping down on Piracy in the Caribbean and a Pirate needed plenty of shelter for his ship as well as unlimited targets to prey upon, he had heard of the Philippines and the islands of Indonesia but they were poor areas compared to the fabled wealth of China, and in the South China Sea were islands, harbours and anchorages in abundance. Enough to hide a fleet let alone Jacks small sloop the Kingston, and so that’s where he sailed.

I have a small hand drawn map, of a section of what appears to be modern day Cambodia, this is quite a long way from the sea but there is a notation on the map that indicates it is dated 1750. There is a diary of Johan Fernandez that has a section dated 12th June 1750 to 29th July 1750, this seems to tell the story of an expedition of some English adventurers led by Rackham. I have also read the financial accounts of a Spanish Merchant that relate to financing an expedition into the interior of Cambodia and the thousand fold return on his investment. Many years later there is a book written by someone called Arthur Conan-Doyle entitled the Lost World, it is set in South America but in reality much of his inspiration for fauna and flora was derived from this long forgotten tale in South East Asia. The specifics of that will become apparent as my tale unfolds.

My story begins in mid 1750, Calico Jack has discarded his famous calico clothing and has disguised himself in a rich red coat with a large hood to hide his features. Why he would want to do this, thousands of miles from the place where he is a well known freebooter no one knows. The information I have is sparse and only relates to the current story. I am hoping to track down more information in the near future but it may be dangerous. For some reason a person out there is trying to hide the trail to Jack Rackhams story and I don’t know why.

Yet.

Jack had left his sloop Kingston anchored in a remote bay and travelled inland with 5 other companions. There was the black witch Annie Duck, of course she was no witch but a hardened criminal from London, her speciality was beating up and robbing men, they rarely called in the authorities, well you wouldn’t would you. Please Sir I have been beaten up and robbed, she was a girl, maybe 19 or 20, that’s not going to do your credibility much good the next time you are having a snifter in the Dog and Sprocket Tavern on a Saturday night. She purported to have a magic dust that she would blow into her adversary’s faces and this would confuse and disorientate them. Powdered hashish will do that. Her blue spotted red bandana had been her trademark head gear for 20 of her 24 years so far and she was armed with a brace of pistols and a small but very sharp knife.

When they arrived at a small and derelict bridge Jack wanted Fishbait to go first. Not on your life was his response as he failed his guts test, he didn’t like the look of the crocodile eyeing him up and down. We should let the lightest go first to test the bridge will take our weight and before the words were fully out of his mouth all three women stepped forwards having passed their guts tests.

Leading the group over the bridge on the way to the treasure, did I mention the treasure, I can’t remember now but there is a lass with purple hair and she is called Thropett. There is no record if this is her first, or last name. She is just known as Thropett and she seems to distain hand to hand combat because she is also armed with a brace of pistols and a knife.

Following closely behind, is a wild and brash woman, McLeish, she must be of Scottish or maybe Irish decent. She is fearless, the sort of person you don’t want to meet in a dark alley, or indeed anywhere, unless you have the Grenadier Guards at your back, and I don’t mean a platoon of them I mean the whole battalion. In full battle order, bayonet’s fixed, and with a full complement of bullets and cartridges as well, but you probably know women like that so I don’t need to explain.

The other 2 members of the party are the afore mentioned Fishbait, again no first or last name, not even a proper name, he is in the blue coat with the wooden leg and at the rear of the party is Brigstock Jenkins, a well known bully boy around his home town of Bristol, the taverns around the docks still resound to stories about him. None usually showing him in a good light but that is probably a bit unfair and maybe detrimental to the teller’s health if any of the Jenkins family hear of the stories. The docks are deep at high tide and even at low tide a person is likely to drown with a heavy weight tied around one leg.

Thropett crosses the bridge and sees movement, if the account is to be believed it is a small group of half human, half apes. They howl and start to dance, a terrible ferocious stamping of their feet, they shake their weapons, clubs, sticks and large bones. BONES!!! They do not advance to attack the pirates but stand their ground shrieking and chanting. Imagine a football crowd on a Saturday afternoon and you just about have it.

As the rest of the pirates cross the bridge the monkey people stand their ground but don’t move forward to intercept them.

Thropett has passed her guts test on seeing the danger but also passed her Brains test and decided to carry on quietly rather than shoot at and antagonise them.

The pirates continue to advance towards the statues in the distance, they keep a sharp eye on the Monkey Men or maybe that should be Monkey people because the females seem as aggressive as the males.

The only Pirate not concentrating on the Monkey People is Fishbait, he is watching the Crocodile and trying to remember if Crocodiles are fish or not. If not he is safe, but it’s not something he wants to chance his other leg on.

The Monkey Men failed their Guts test 3 times and so didn’t attack, well not yet anyway.

The pirates enter an open space, it has a cobblestone floor and is surrounded by jungle, there is a small and large statue at either end of the space. Off to one side is a small overgrown and ruined tower, Jack recorded that he recognises Nipponese, Chinese and local Cambodian influences in the architecture and ornamentation. Where this place is I’m not sure but there are a number of clues in Jacks account to be able to track and trace the location, I shall endeavour to do so as soon as I can find the time.

I don’t think I mentioned Jack’s account before and maybe I shouldn’t now, so forget I mentioned it in case it comes to the wrong ears, the ones that want to keep Jacks history quiet.

At this point the party appeared to split into two. Jack and Thropett were moving to an arch they had discerned in the thickest part of the jungle but the rest of the crew followed the intrepid McLeish who headed directly to the small temple and the first place that she thought might hold any valuables.

Once the party was out of sight of the Monkey Men they returned to their random wandering the same as all the other encounter markers on the table. Strangely and providentially for the game this was in a roughly parallel course to the one Jack was taking.

Why Jack didn’t go to the temple first is unclear, maybe his instincts directed him away from the obvious and towards something more lucrative we will never know. These instincts, precision honed by years of staying alive in difficult situations were indeed true on this occasion as in the past, for as soon as McLeish moved to enter the temple two of the most fearsome creatures emerged out of the darkness. If I can believe the journal, the creatures were 6 to 7 foot high, hairless, with large green eyes but worst of all they had ivory tusks, short, curved and very sharp, they moved with alarming speed and attacked McLeish’s group without hesitation.

These creatures are Horrific and the group responds in their own individual way. McLeish had her knife in one hand and a pistol in the other but it was on her before she could fire. You don’t grow up in the backstreets of Glasgow by running away and as the creature closed she grew more determined than ever not to run. She stabbed it with her knife but sharp as it was she did no damage but as the creature slashed out at her she felt blood start to flow, her blood and the next minute it closed it’s jaws on her arm inflicting a terrible wound.

The other one made the mistake of attacking young Annie Duck, she is as cools as a cucumber and with a slow sardonic smile shoots it dead. There is a hole the size of a bullet in it’s forehead but a hole the size of a dinner plate in the back of its head.

Out of the corner of her eye she can see Fishbait visibly shaking from the horror but Brigstock is on his knees praying for deliverance. She didn’t know he prayed!

He didn't know either.

Things are not looking good for our band of cutthroats, McLeish is badly hurt, she is still battling and will do so to the last but the two men are in shock and will not lend a hand in the fight, Brigstock is going to continue to pray for a little while longer and Fishbait has lost his nerve altogether.

Jack and Thropett see the danger and run to help, Jack is slowed by his bad leg, an old wound that causes him to be slow to run in to a fight, but is not such an impediment when he has to run from one.

Incapacity from these old wounds comes and goes he maintains stoutly whenever he is asked about it.

Thropett was younger and more nimble and had outdistanced Jack, but once she could see the creatures and how awful they were she looses all her courage and legs it as fast as her little legs will go. She aims to get as far away as possible and is almost at the jungles edge and will continue running until she recovers her nerve.

Annie is not scared at all, she’s seen much worse in the East End of London on a Saturday night and she charges in to help McLeish. She is too late and with a groan McLeish falls to the floor but Annie’s intervention prevents the creature finishing the job and it turns on Annie.

Weakened a little from its fight with McLeish the creature’s attacks are ineffective and Annie is able to stick it with her knife, this weakens it further.

Jack might be a little slow into a fight but once there he doesn’t back down and with a bull like roar he charges in, bad leg or not. Claws and fangs are no match for Sheffield steel and Jack’s cutlass causes severe wounds to his enemy but it is still on it’s feet and fighting.

Attracted by the noise the Monkey Men emerge from the Jungle and start their incessant howling and brandishing again but fortunately don’t attack.

Brigstock finally realises that the power of prayer will not help him and so he must help himself and his comrades, he rises to his feet just as Jack slices the creature almost in half and it collapses in a pool of blood. This enrages the Monkey Men and they charge forward to be met with a hail of lead. That’s if two bullets can be called a hail, maybe a drop of lead, anyway it is enough to stop them in their tracks even though both shots missed. I imagine the loud noise and ensuing smoke discharge was enough to cause them to fall back. Annie has now discharged both of her pistols and there are still six Monkey Men to deal with.

In the distance Thropett can be heard floundering through the jungle still in a blind panic.

With the Horrific Creatures gone Fishbait recovers his nerve sufficiently and he and Brigstock move forward to join Jack and Annie who are facing down the Monkey Men, well Annie is loading her pistols as fast as she can but even though she is especially dextrous this is going to take a little while, so it’s Jack who is actually facing them down. Strangely in his past wanderings he came upon a Peruvian bear who taught him how to do a “Hard Stare” and that seems to be doing the trick at the moment.

Well in reality the Monkey Men failed to activate but I prefer the Hard Stare explanation.

Then Jack instructs Brigstock and Fishbait to fire at the Monkey Men and Fishbait hits his target but Brigstock doesn’t, the wounded Monkey Man falls to the floor howling, well like a Monkey Man I guess. This doesn’t cause the rest of them to back away but again they don’t attack.

Annie finished loading one of her pistols and starts on the 2nd one.

A small troop of 3 Baboons break from the jungle and seeing the tableau in front of them charge straight at the Monkey Men who break and run from these slavering beasts.

1,2,3 attack Monkey Men, 4,5,6 attack pirates.

The Baboons were chasing the Monkey Men but now an inexplicable thing happened. The Monkey Men whose morale had been suspect all through the story suddenly grew bold and stopped running, turning to their attackers and started their howling and foot stamping. This totally disconcerted the Baboons, usually ferocious and knowing no fear they stopped in their tracks and it looked like there was going to be a fight or at least a standoff between them. By now Jacks crew had all loaded their discharged pistols and were quietly confident that once the fight between the animals was concluded they would have no problem dealing with the survivors.

Well that is the game almost over or should I say the story told. Each turn as the randomly moving encounter tokens emerged into sight of the Pirates I checked to see what, if anything it would be and there was only 1 token unaccounted for and only a 1 in 4 chance that it would be something at all.

And then it was a 1 in 52 turn up, the Ace of Spades.

With a crashing and bashing through the Jungle came a Dinosaur. The biggest scariest animal any of the crew had ever seen, but fortunately not Horrific.

I know this will sound incredible, but re-reading Jacks Journal I am convinced he at least believed in the creature, it is possible he had been at Annie’s stash but I don’t think so and neither did Conan Doyle many years later when he used Jacks account for his own book The Lost Worlds.

They turn to face the beast, McLeish lying on the cobbles can see it as well, she urges Jack to help her to safety before the Dino decides who to eat first. Looking at their faces she realises this is going to be a forlorn request, only Brigstock looks in the slightest bit compassionate.

Panning back, these are the options for Jack, try and crowd into the small temple, but it looks pretty small and they might not all get inside, it is closest though. There is a ruined stone tower directly away from the Dino and they might make it there before it chases them down, or there is another option, at the far side of the cobbled area is the much larger temple, they should all be able to get inside, if they make it there. Of course with the final option one of the pirates has a wooden leg and McLeish can’t walk and will have to be carried.

In Jacks journal he recounts his conflicting thoughts but quick as a snake he issues his commands, that’s why they follow him, when the chips are down he knows whether to put salt or tomato ketchup on them first.

He recounts that he knew Brigstock carried a torch for McLeish and so with a quick command to Brigstock to get her inside the nearest temple, and a quick “follow me” to Annie and Fishbait he set off for the larger temple.

Strangely his old leg wound didn’t slow him down at all and he made it to the Temple entrance first, that’s also why they follow him, Annie Duck though was close on his heels.

Fishbait, knew enough about animals to know that if they had 2 long legs and walked on land they were not fish. It was a long way for a one legged man to run but he did his best, he didn’t want to end his days being known as Dinobait. He knew he would be slowest (Jack might have known that too) so he edged a little away from the straight route to the temple and made it to the temporary but illusory shelter of a lion statue.

Brigstock bent down to lift McLeish onto his shoulder, she is only a slip of a woman but she must have had something heavy in her pockets because he couldn’t raise her off the floor. Oh Bugger!

It had been going so well, the Pirates activated first, the Monkey Men and Baboons didn’t activate at all so just shrieked at each other, and the Dino was a little confused by what he saw on entering the clearing and activated last.

FOOD was about all it thought, but which food to take first, sometimes life is so full of choices, his choice was 1,2 3 the nearest 4,5 the fastest, 6 the slowest.

He rolled a 1 and went straight for Brigstock who rolled a pair of 6’s for his guts test, high is bad, low is good, he set off like a scalded cat directly away from the Dino.

The Dino would have caught him but his route, directly away from the Dino went straight between the two groups of animals that were shrieking and growling at each other. 

When the Dino arrived at the Baboons and Monkey Men they tested for their Guts, both groups passed, and then tested for their Brains and both groups failed, brave and stupid is usually a bad combination.

They attacked it, 5 Monkey Men and 3 Baboons against 1 Dinosaur, but it had a huge mouth, full of teeth and one by one it killed the small creatures.

Eventually the survivors ran away.

Leaving it to feast to its heart’s content.

Sorry I just couldn’t resist this picture.

Jack, Annie and Fishbait, watch and wait as the Dino eats its fill, McLeish lays quietly, calculating how big a stomach the Dino has and how much food there is available to it before it reaches her, will the beast be filled first.

Let’s hope so, for her sake.

Well - Jack Racham’s Journal is yielding more unbelievable stories with every section I read, hopefully anyone following my account of this first episode will be agog to hear what happens next, or then again, maybe not.

As the credits roll I should like to thank Frank from Nickel and Dime Studios for sending me some lovely pieces of jungle terrain as well as plenty of plant life for me to create more. Thanks Frank and just send the advertising money to the usual offshore account.

Cheers

Additional thanks are due to my two internet wargaming buddies who helped me out with the decisions made by Jack when the Dino appeared. As is usually with many of my games I create a cast of potential extras who may or may not make it into the final film or book or story. I do this by the simple expedient of going through the boxes of figures and pulling out likely ones for the general idea and feel of the game I’m trying to create. In this case the Dino came to mind as I don’t think he’s ever been on the table. When the Ace of Spades came up I realized I hadn’t created a character card for it and it seemed to me that knowing it’s potential would influence Jacks/my decisions and so I asked them for a plan, which worked perfectly, (unlike most of their plans)

Cheers

I’m afraid my word and picture count is going back up again, I must keep it under control so if anyone made it this far, well done you deserve a reward, not sure where you will get it from though.

Take care.