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Hello Fellow Pathfinders,
The following is my group’s adventures in Skull and Shackles (so far). This was moved from the Skull and Shackles forum as it was requested that I continue the story. Without further ado, the story as it has happened so far:
Here’s our group breakdown:
Elf Rogue (Swashbuckler)
Human Magus
Human Cleric of Besmara
Dwarf Gunslinger (Musket Master)
Some background information before we start and you will see it in the story. Both the Cleric and Rogue are both played by people who can be quite confrontational with NPC’s and any RP bullies, so I knew that this Adventure Path was going to be quite entertaining.
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After waking up on the ship, the group took a quick stock of their situation; some players were a bit miffed that they were lacking their equipment minus the clothing on their backs. When Master Scourge makes his appearance and rushes everyone up on deck, the group hurries and lines up. The Captain was about to start his introduction when the Rogue decides to beeline for the poop deck to assault the captain and "rip off his ugly beard". Master Scourge tries to trip him, but misses. Mr. Plugg intervenes to also try to subdue the Rogue, but the rogue easily avoids and twirls around Mr. Plugg to come face to face with the Captain. The Rogue is about to reach for, and pull on the captain's beard when he is finally subdued by both Mr. Plugg and the ship's wizard, Peppery Longfarthing. The Rogue is sentenced to 3 lashes at the "Bloody Hour" for his transgressions.
The assigning of job's goes off without a hitch, the cleric, assigned to being a swab, tries several times to try to open the door leading to the officer's cabin, but is discovered twice, and is sentenced to work the bilges the next day. The cook's mate (Magus) fails to catch enough fish and is also sentenced to work the bilges the next day.
Sandara introduces herself and gives 1 or 2 items back to the players, most notable she gives the rogue his elven curve blade, the cleric her Morningstar, and the magus his Aldori dueling blade. She also warns the rogue not to try anything else that is crazy or he might get himself killed, a sentiment that the gunslinger repeats to him.
With the day being over, rum rations are handed out. The rogue takes his rum ration and throws it into the face of Master Scourge and the rogue is subdued, tied to the mainmast and given 9 lashes, 3 for his previous crime and 6 for his continued problems. With the start of the Bloody hour, the players witness the keelhauling of Magpie. Most of the players are exhausted at this point and two head to sleep while the other two decide to gamble. The cleric again tries to sneak into the officer’s cabin but is unable to get the door open.
The group is assaulted by the pirates trying to make them late. They very nearly kill the main guy who pulls a knife on them, but is convinced by Sandara and the gunslinger player to let them go.
Both the Cleric and Magus report to the bilges for the day, where they fail their rolls and end up being exhausted. The rogue however sneaks off from his rigging duties to find the quartermaster where he convinces her that his armor is cursed. He succeeds and he gains his armor back.
At the end of the day, rum rations are distributed, and the rogue again throws his in the face of Master Scourge, who is about to administer punishment when the rogue charges him. Long story short, the rogue is subdued by Mr. Plugg and half a dozen other pirates, but not in time to save Master Scourge, who has been murdered by the Rogue. The rogue is sentenced to keelhauling, to which the player thinks he can survive, but by about the third round of being under, the player realises that he isn't going walk away from this, so he attempts to escape from the rope and does manage (with a natural 20 on his check) to get loose from the rope. He then climbs up the anchor chain to come face to face with Captain Barnabus, who comments that the rogue has a death wish, but can't seem to be killed. The rogue is sentenced to 24 hours in the sweatbox, after which he will be given direct duties from Mr. Plugg. If the rogue steps one toes out of line again, Captain Barnabus comments that he will rip off all his limbs and leave him for the sharks.
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Once the rogue was let out of the sweatbox, he noticed that his gear had been taken again. After inquiring around the ship, he discovered that Captain Barnabus was holding his curve blade for ransom, and could only get it back if he caused no trouble. The rogue then becomes the hardest worker on the ship
And after the death of Master Scourge, the new master of arms was reveiled to be..... Master Scourge! Although with a peg leg and a hook hand, and smelling oddly like a corpse. The PC’s begin to talk that he might be some sort of zombie
And they survived the storm with no incident, and they rescued the NPC who went overboard. The female cleric of Besmara challenged Owlbear to the fight and nearly knocked him out cold, but when Plugg threw him the club, the magus casted Color Spray on Owlbear, which caused everyone to pile in screaming "cheat" and "Foul". And it Ended up that the cleric only walked away with half the bag of gold.
And the rogue was targeted to work the bilges and fought off the other two pirates who were trying to kill him. He easily subdued them and dragged their unconscious bodies to Mr. Plugg for "discipline"
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The session started off with Boarding School, which tested the PC's at trying to toss a grappling hook and climb to the ship. After several hours of no success, the boarding school was scraped and each PC received several rope bashes, to added grumbling of the PC's.
The next day saw some excitement as sails were spotted and they began preparing for some real piracy. The magus became horrified when he realised it was a merchant ship as he is deep down an honorable man, but fell in with the rest of the party as they boarded and began to engage the merchants. The rogue used the cover of all the fog to his advantage and would appear out of the fog to back stab as many of the merchants as he could, even saved the Captain from being attacked.
The PC's defeated all the merchants, slaying all but one, whom they captured and brought back to their ship. They were awarded all their share of the plunder, and the rogue received a special amulet from the Captain for helping him during the assault. The PC's partied for countless hours until they were called on board the merchant's ship and told that they would be going with Plugg and Scourge to salvage the ship at Port Peril. The PC's were quite surprised that they were chosen for the task, until they realised that it was some cruel joke by Plugg and Scourge to work them half to death.
The crew was then divided up to various sleeping quarters, Plugg would take the Captain's quarters, Scourge and his cronies would take the officers cabin, along with Rosie and Sandara (to which the male PC's thought was indecent and were quite outraged) and the PC's were sent down to the main hold along with their pirate friends.
The second day on their new ship, the gunslinger and cleric realised within a few moments that they had changed their course from heading north to Port Peril to heading east to Bloodcove. They became even more worried when Rosie told them that Plugg called Scourge and all his cronies to the Captain's quarters that night for several hours.
The PC's then began to formulate a plan for MUTINY!!!
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The combat will include the PC's, Amborse Fishguts, Sandara, Rosie, Cogwheel, and Shortstone against the forces of Mr. Plugg, Master Scourge, Owlbear and eight other pirates loyal to Mr. Plugg.
The storm hits with a fury, and the PC's launch into attack mode. The gunslinger attempts to snipe Mr. Plugg, but his gun jams and the rogue leaps onto the poop deck and begins combat with both Master Scourge and Mr. Plugg.
The battle rages on for several minutes, Shortstone is knocked unconscious when he tries to save Rosie from a blow, and Fishguts has taken some serious blows, but was able to defeat several pirates to himself. The PC's concentrate their attacks on Mr. Plugg and Master Scourge, and when Mr. PLugg goes down, Scourge takes one look around and realises he is the last one alive. He smiles to the PC's, gives them a mocking salute, and jumps over the side of the ship. The PC's race to the edge to see him, but he has disappeared.
The PC's begin to sort out their combat when a pack of grindylows attack the ship, attracted by the sounds of combat and the smell of blood. The crew easily defeats the new enemy, but a large wave hits the ship and the crew is knocked unconscious.
They wake up the next morning to find that their ship has been moored upon some coral reef off the coast of an island. The crew notices that both Sandara and Rosie are currently missing. They also notice that water is leaking into the ship and that their fresh water supply has washed out. The PC's quickly decide to repair the ship before looking for fresh water and their missing crew. They quickly patch up the ship and grab their landing boat and row out to the unknown island to find the fate of their crew
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They stumble upon an abandoned camp, which they decide to investigate. However the Magus becomes distracted and is nearly killed by three rampaging scantily clothed ghouls.
However the players perserver and continue searching for their lost friends. They come upon an abandoned corn field, which they decide to search threw. Once they get to the middle, they discovered a stinking head on a spike covered in flies. The cleric decides to remove the head, but is attack by a botfly swarm. The cleric dives for cover and the Rogue comes to her resuce by trying to shoo away the flies. The cleric rewards his kindness by throwing a jar of alchemist fire at the swarm, igniting both herself and the rogue in the blast radius.
The corn field begins to burn, and loud pops are heard as the field slowly turns into a field of popcorn. The players try to catch their breath from nearly being killed by flies and camp for the night. What awaits them on day two of this cursed island?