Skulls and Shackles Campaign (Inactive)

Game Master Tyranius

Viviana follows

Charles and Viviana climb to the platform of the watchtower where they find the twisted remains of a rope hammock with a few scattered items of clothing. Lying beneath the hammock, with one boot on and the other lying across the floor from it, is the fly specked corpse of an elderly man. One side of his neck is black and swollen o the size of a melon. A dried ring of foam cakes the man's beard and mustache around his lips with a Morningstar lying near his body.

The parrot flies over, alight on the corpse and squawks again, Shoo fly, don't bother me! The parrot looks at Charles curiously.

"Damn. I hate being right..."

Charles carefully gathers up the man's body and equipment, and slowly descends the ladder, fully intending to return him to the settlement for a proper burial.

Can I take 20 on the Heal check?

Viviana examines the body slightly, before shrugging and follows Charles down the ladder again,slighty disappointed they couldn't save him.

Jack follows them up and inspects the poor soul. Heal: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (17) + 6 = 23

Do we know how to signal ships to stay away, is it worth leaving someone (or two someones) here to signal and keep others away.

Somia remembers the flag that was used for them to keep the ship's at bay and proceeds to raise the flag. while everyone inspects the body, coming to the same conclusion that the man had defended himself to the best of his abilities.

Is there anything t o build a stretcher to bring the poor chap back? If so Jack will jury-rig one

Disappointed that they found the man dead, Aishe nevertheless searches the area for any remaining gear or personal objects that might have belonged to the man.

Perception (Take 10): 10 + 10 = 20

As this was just a temporary work station with shifts all Aishe is able to find is the man's morningstar.

jack sees plenty of trees and sticks in the forest that would be suitable to build a makeshift stretcher.

Aishe helps Jack make a stretcher, and the party hauls the man back to the settlement.

It takes you a little over an hour to reach the village again. Old Rickety sees you carrying the stretcher into the building and comes running forward. With a worried look he says Is he alright?

Upon seeing the man his face turns grim. I see..... Well I appreciate you bringing him back for a proper burial. I will send another man over to man the flag. I see that you took care of the signal flag for now.

Aishe nods, "I'm sorry we didn't get to him sooner, though the way he looks, it might not have done any good. I'm no healer..." She hands the corpse and the morningstar off to others to deal with, then makes her way to the inn for a drink.

With a sad shake of his head Jack offers to do the burial customs together with Sandara, saying that its the best he can do!

Thank you for the offer Jack.

As Aishe begins to walk away Old Rickety turns to them. Hold up a moment..... He reaches down and grasps the Morningstar from the man's body. ... Here take this. Someone may as well get some use from it and it is my thanks for taking your time to see what happened for me.

I also have good news... Captain Pegsworthy volunteered his men to help the crew and yer ship will be done ahead of schedule. You should be ready to go in the morning.

"We should extend thanks to Captain Pegsworthy, might you tell us where we can find him?"

He is in the inn having a drink with some of the off crew.

Rickety snaps his fingers and a couple of sailors come by and pick up the make-shift stretcher as they take it a little ways back into the forest.

"I thank you." Somia half-curtsies to Rickety and makes her way to the Inn.

The group enters the inn and sees that Captain Pegsworthy is at a table with a group of sailors, telling all sorts of wild tales of mermaids, and even one about an actual Kraken as he looks up and sees you standing before his table.

Captain Pegsworthy looks up with the most sincere smile. So you heard! I apologize if I do seem forward but I ran into a little bit of a time crunch you see, So as I see it this benefit's the both of us. I am glad that you are back so soon. Please, please, Sit have a drink on me.... Let us be merry tonight and in the morning we shall christen yer ship!

Charles nods, and grins.

"No offense taken. The faster the upgrades are done, the faster we will be on our way, and therefore the faster you will be able to make use of the facilities here, yourself!"

Sitting down Jack orders a mug and says."Let us drink to that. Besmara, Queen of Pirates, we ask for free waters, fat merchants and a glorious fight to steal it!"

Aye! Captain Pegsworthy states as he holds his mug up high. ... An that ye have clear waters from Harrigan! May Besmara herself be watching over ye ship. He slams his mug on the table, downing it all in one drink as he calls the bar maid over for another round.

Somia accepts and raises a glass to Pegsworthy, with a charming smile "To the charity of pirates." she will study him while he drinks

Use Sin Sense Inquisition, to judge which Sin he favours most strongly.

It is definitely pride

I agree. To the charity of the pirates my lady

You drink through most of the night. In the morning the party makes it's way back to the docks where they see their newly refit ship awaiting. The ship looks like a whole new design though if you look really close and know what you are looking for you can still see hints of the Man's Promise.

Old Rickety approaches the group as he holds his hands forth. Just as I promised and ahead of me schedule thanks to the Cap'n. Now then for the payment. I believe that we come to 4900 gold pieces. How would you care to make payment?

Seems to me that if we get rid of all of the gear on the plunder tab, that will cover 7706/2 = 3853, leaving 1047gp to be paid with loose coin. If we pay 400sp and 647gp, that should cover it, right?

I would strongly advocate to keep some magic weapons! The tidewater cutlass for one.The morningstar is masterwork?

@Jack: Do you want to take the cutlass?

The total value of the gems/loose gold is 1882.8 gp.

If we keep the cutlass, the sale of the remaining 'plunder' nets us an additional 2155.5 gp.

If we sell the scrimshaw whale skull (from the gear page), that will net us 1175 gp.

That comes to a total of 5213.3 gp, which, after paying the 4900 gp, leaves us with 313.3 gp.

I am not sure I can use one, maybe our gm can be convinced that the cutlass is THE pirate weapon and an inquisitor of besmara should be able to use it ;-)

Well, honestly, I personally think a cutlass is more appropriate than a rapier as Besmara's signature weapon ;-)

Yes the morningstar is indeed of masterwork quality and has a slight magical aura about it.

As for the cutlass, seeing as this is a pirate campaign and the damage; crit multiplier and range are all exactly the same I will buy it :)

Old Rickety watches the group discuss the terms of their gold as he shifts his weight from one foot to the other. have ye come up with a name fer ye new ship also?

@GM - is there any way we can open the chest from room B7a to access the plunder inside?

Before Jack could not use it. Now... he can ;-) But you are absolutly right. I also didn´t want to play the loothog, but you never know if one day you stand before a monster immune to nonmagical damage and then you bite yourself in your bottom for selling a magical weapon. Happened to me on Saturday.

As an additional point - I don't know who placed a +1 Morningstar in Charles' equipment (on the plunder spreadsheet), but I don't want it (I am afraid that I cannot edit the sheet myself, so I cannot correct this).

Believe me, if there is something that I want, I won't be shy about asking for it ;-)

Name of the ship.
I vote for Besmaras Fortune.
I love word plays, it could mean her luck or her money.

@Aishe- As Old Rickety stated earlier. There are other avenues instead of paying immediately with your gold and items.

more names etc

Maelstrom
The Fury

etc etc

(its 1 AM and im tired)

It is never bad to repay a good loan. Think about the Tax-Reductions we could achieve. OH wait... we are pirates... WE DO NOT PAY TAXES!"

I had quite a few ideas, but I had a feeling we opt more for gentleman´s pirates than the "we kill all rape all no matter what first" second type of pirates.
And in that spirit... I am seeking a dauntless name, rather than a bloodthursty. And also for a name for a warcry and/or a nickname for the crew while on shoreleave! I mean imagine the propaganda impact if we are known as the fortunate!

I *do* like Besmara's Fortune :-)

Okay, let's sell the scrolls. Good point about the CL, I was thinking it might be useful as a source of spells if we had a prepared arcane caster, but we don't, so it's moot. In that case, we'll go with Charles' initial suggestion here

Also, it was me that gave Charles the +1 morningstar - as Jack says, you never know when you'll need a magical weapon. That said, if nobody wants it, we can put it in the plunder tab.

I also like Besmara's Fortune, and like the play on words as well.

Besmara's Fortune it is! Let's get this show on the road :-)

Old Rickety collects his gold from the sale. Good deal! So Besmara's Fortune huh.... I like it. It has quite a ring to it as either a pirate vessel or even a merchant vessel.

Before the chocks are released and the ship slides down into the estuary, Captain Pegsworthy smashes a bottle of the finest Sargavan wine upon it's keel. "Good Fortune and sure sail await what one can crack the Tidewater Rock,"

Take 10 on Knowledge (Local) for 18

"So...does anyone have any thoughts on where we should go? If not, we could make our way towards Tidewater Rock..."

Ambrose Kroop approaches Aishe. Jack notices that he is not drunk and looks as if he has not had a drink in a few days. If I might offer a few words of wisdom about pirating.

We can attack ships we find out to sea for more crew and plunder; We may also want to raid small isolated settlements along the Mwangi and Sargavan coasts and of course we have the rumor of Tidewater Rock that we can go of of.

He brushes his hands down his dirty apron.

If we are to attack other vessels then we simply need to keep them from trying to flee, Whomever is piloting the ship can try t trick the other ship’s pilot into believing that they have the upperhand by allowing the other ship to land a solid attack on our ship. Though if they get in close enough then we can attach to their ship and board a lot easier.

If we attack a village as soon as it is spotted, then you will probably face the full might of the village’s defenses, however if you sail on and return at sunset then we can make a nighttime raid, giving us the element of surprise.

This is just what I have observed being on a pirate ship for some time.

"All good suggestions, Ambrose, thank you." Aishe turns to the others, "Does anyone have any preference for which we do? I'd imagine we want to try our hand at raiding settlements as well as other ships, so that we know where our strengths lie. Tidewater Rock, while an eventual destination, can wait until we have some more experience under our belts."

"I think we should sail toward Tidewater Rock, leaving ourselves open to any opportunistic pirating we could accomplish on the way"

Jack raises his mug."To the Crew of the Besmaras Fortune and a Cheer to its cook, the excellent Ambrose Kroop, Master of Sauces and delicious meals. Let Besmaras smile shine on us!"

"I'll leave the plotting you to you professionals, I'm just here to enjoy the party and try and make sure no-one dies who doesn't have to." Somia smiles slyly to the others.

The group says goodbye to Rickety squibs and Captain pegsworthy as they load up Besmara's Fortune and set sail out of the port.

Kroop walks up to the group amassed. Where shall we head to? and shall we stick close to the shoreline or take to the open seas?