II-VI. Havana, Cuba. Tuesday, February 20, 1725 Anno Domini

• The crew of the Graceful Dame, sans Sir Randel who has not yet joined them, prepare to set sail.
• Sir Randel finally arrives, in a terrible mood, he immediately begins ranting to Doctor Spenser about his rival, Maurice Boissonade, and how that miserable Frenchman used the lovely and innocent Miss Amira. Doctor Spenser reads over the unopened missive that the Frenchman left. Holding the letter over a candle to better make it out, Doctor Spenser accidentally causes the letter to catch fire. It combusts rather quickly. Doctor Spenser apologizes, then states how unlikely it is that Sir Randel will encounter the young woman again …
• And Henry Hooper sticks his head in, declaring that Sir Randel’s ladyfriend is on the docks and seems to be in some sort of distress! Sir Randel acts quickly upon seeing her be accosted by several ruffians and snatches an appropriate line that allows him to get much closer. He intimidates the men trying to “put her back to work” into backing off, then invites her aboard the ship, fully intending on bringing her along.
• From Miss Amira – whose real name is evidently Inara – he learns that Don Marco, the man that Sir Randel verbally humiliated some days ago, has sent a letter to the Lieutenant Captain-General of the Yucatan in Campeche that accuses the crew of the Graceful Dame of smuggling. This could lead to prison and the seizure of the ship! And the ship this letter is on is just now departing!
• Sir Randel tells Inara to remain aboard before grabbing Doctor Spenser and heads to the Customs building to expedite their departure; they spin a concerning tale about sickness on the ship and are quickly cut loose. Once back aboard, they set sail…
• The crew discuss options, deciding to simply beat the Mercurio to Campeche where Sir Randel intends to sway the appropriate authorities before the letter arrives. Intercepting the letter upon arrival is also an option.
• Under Captain Hayden’s expert seamanship, the Graceful Dame blows past the Mercurio and reaches Campeche in five days where the crew begin making plans on how best to intercept the letter. Many options are suggested and discarded.
• A day later, the Mercurio arrives early in the morning. A pair of ship’s boats are rowed in, one containing (presumably) the Mercurio’s captain and the other has the not-so late Ned Long in it!

Player Notes:

• Rogers’ player was out due to vacation. Ironically, he was actually in Cuba while we were just pretending to be there!
• As I’ve done previously, I left most of the actual travel prep and travel out of the outline because that’d be pretty boring to read.
• It amused the GM, me (Spenser’s player) and Payne’s player alike to have Spenser not reveal the contents of the letter from Payne’s rival.
• Payne’s player opted to take “Inara” as a joint Ally/Dependent, which is something Gigermann has allowed in other campaigns. This will obviously adjust his “One in Every Port” quirk.
• The race against the Mercurio was intended by the GM to be more challenging, but once again, we blew it out of the water (metaphorically).
• Handsome Ned making a reappearance is certainly … unexpected.

See the Daniverse Blog for the GM’s post-game debrief.