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I'd like to dedicate a thread for GMs to share their original ideas for unique encounters to add to the Skulls and Shackles campaign. Feel free to add your own!
This adventure takes place some time after the PCs acquire their own boat, and can be scaled for higher levels.
Some time while the PCs are scouring the seas for plunder and disrepute, they stumble across a small, lush, unassuming island; a small, smoldering peak, dense jungles around its base, and large, open fields from jungle's edge to beachfront. Through the spyglass, the lookout can tell that this uncharted island is home to a great flock of sheep. Upon nearing the island, it becomes apparent that these are not normal sheep; they are nearly the size of a cow! Should the PCs land, they find that these sheep have another distinguishing feature; they have one single, massive eye in the center of their forehead. As they investigate the flock, the first encounter happens: the territorial alpha ram.
Use the stats for a bison for the ram, the sheep have stats for aurochs. The sheep flock together as the ram charges the trespassers, and do not fight unless attacked themselves. The ram fights until at 1/6th hp (7 for a standard bison), at which point it submits, or flees if still attacked.
When the PCs return to the flock, they will notice that some of the flock have been sheered. These are obviously attended to by someone, or something. Searching he island, they will come across a large, rudimentary hut, currently unoccupied. Inside the hut they find crude and simple items; a large size pile of wool bedding, a crudely spun blanket, jars of lamb organs, and the like. A perceptive PC will notice that there is no water being held here, though there is what appears to be a wash basin. The hut's resident is currently out gathering water from a spring in the forest, and he returns just as the PCs are about to leave.
The owner of the hut is a cyclopes, but PCs may only guess as to the singularity of his eyes due to the mask he wears. The giant eclipses the door, casting shadow over the room. He wears a mask of a hideous three-eyed hagfish. A DC 30 Knowledge(Religion) reveals this to be a very uncommon depiction of Lamashtu, the Mother of Monsters. The cyclops is a hermit, and as such only knows Giant and Cyclops, not common, wields a greatclub as oppose to the standard greataxe, and has Profession(farmer) as oppose to Profession(seer). He starts by dropping the water jugs he was carrying and yelling at the PCs in Cyclops.
The cyclopes begins the encounter as unfriendly. If he is made indifferent, he tells the PCs that he wishes to be left alone and tells them to leave. Failure to do so makes him immediately hostile. If made friendly, the cyclopes allows the PCs to stay for a time, offering them food and water. If made helpful, he gives the PCs his mask as a token of friendship and agrees to allow the PCs to his herd's wool.
If combat begins (either through failed diplomacy, the PCs wearing out their welcome, or the PCs attacking), the cyclops attacks the nearest PC first. If hard pressed, he uses his Flash of Insight to threaten a critical on a PC, hoping to thin their ranks.
Treasure:
The cyclops has his standard equipment: Large hide armor, Large greatclub, and Large heavy crossbow. His mask magically sizes when removed to the size of the one removing it, and appears to be a Goz Mask (Inner Sea World Guide). In actuality, it is a cursed Demon Mother's Mask (Gods and Magic).
The one eyed sheep are a variable source of plunder; they are worth one point of plunder if slaughtered, two points if taken alive and sold, or one point per four months if allowed to live on the island. Note that the sheep's wool is unusable if they are not properly tended to, so the PCs must revisit every month or leave a dedicated farmhand (a person with at least one rank in Profession(farmer) or be denied the plunder point until four months after the conditions are met.
Cursed Mask:
CL8
The mask does not interfere with spell casting or daily activities, and occupies the Head slot.
This mask appears to be a Goz Mask, a mask useful to sailors. Goz Masks allow you to see through rain, fog, and silt, give you a bonus on resisting wind effects, and allows the wearer to breath water for one hour a day.
Instead, this mask grants a +2 on Handle Animal and Heal, and allows the wearer to smell when an animal is in heat. The mask treats the wearer as if his patron was Lamashtu, allowing him to cast Summon Monster II to summon a fiendish squid once per day. It also allows the wearing to interbreed with any animal within one size category of themselves, often resulting in monstrous offspring, such as gnolls, lizardfolk, and natural lycanthopes in hybrid form.
The mask targets the wearer with suggestion whenever he detects an animal in heat, causing them to desire to breed with the target (DC 15 negates). The mask cannot be removed without a remove curse being cast.
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I added an Aspis Consortium lead in Bloodcove about a Pathfinder ship called the Ancient Rumor supposedly laden with artifacts of Gol Gan. I combined that with the encounter with the Devil's Pallor for an evening of excitement.
That will eventually lead to a treasure hunt and a shrine of Gol Gan on the Isle of the Blue Ring which has a thriving dinosaur population. I'll share more as I get those encounters written up.
Another encounter I'm looking forward to running involves a
Captain Skivven Snoutboil is an Alchemist (Plague Bringer) and a disciple of Urgathoa. Master of the Cesspool he sails along the coasts of Garund and Avistan spreading disease and decay however he and his crew of Ratfolk can. His green-sailed cutter uses ingenious alchemical fog machines that spray a microbial miasma to both infect their enemies and obscure their approach. Their usual tactic is to attempt to infect small villages or vessels and then retreat. Returning a few days later once the disease has set in to raid and pillage their weakened prey.
Microbial Miasma As [/]Fog Cloud[/i] except all persons in cloud must make DC17 Fortitude save or contract Bubonic Plague.
Ratfolk Crew 30 Ratfolk sailors
Poisontails 4 Ratfolk Rogue(2) with daggers and tailblades coated in captain's puss (Fort DC16 or sickened for 6 rounds).
Dire Rats the Cesspool keeps 2-4 dire rats aboard.
Rat Swarm a favored tactic of the crew is to use a catapult to launch a crate full of rats onto an enemy ship.
Captain Skivven Snoutboil Alchemist (Plague Bringer) 6
Who mainly tosses Stink Bombs and Acid Bombs.
Approx CR8 encounter: 4,800XP
LOL, that's awesome I'm stealing it. I think I'll run it tomorrow night.
nice idea sabed, I'd actually bolster it up some and make it a CR-11. Probably with some Were-rats and at least one of those really nasty Ratfolk witches.... "Evil Eye" in combination with nasty diseases.... ouch ?
Brings back fond memories of Warhammer Skaven^^
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nice idea sabed, I'd actually bolster it up some and make it a CR-11. Probably with some Were-rats and at least one of those really nasty Ratfolk witches.... "Evil Eye" in combination with nasty diseases.... ouch ?
Brings back fond memories of Warhammer Skaven^^
Yeah, I think I'm going to bolster it as you said and introduce it this way:
The PC's come back to a village they've visited before to find it was just attacked by the crew of the Cesspool. Most of the town has been infected with the Bubonic Plague and the Ratfolk disappeared again into the fog. They've heard of the way this ship does its work so they know they have a few days or at most a week till the Cesspool comes back to finish the job. The town wants to hire the PC's to protect them.
They can turn down the job, leave, and hear news of how the town was slaughtered later. Maybe then they'll still run into the Cesspool out in open waters.
They can take the job and treat it like a siege, planning to fight the Ratfolk invaders when they come back.
Or they can take the job and go hunting for the Cesspool which is hiding in one of many sheltered coves along the coast.
I'm loving these ideas. Certainly unique! For the Isle of one-eyed sheep, I think I'll be making him more of a farmer (who also owns sheep). That way I have an excuse to give him a scythe for a weapon. The meta-gamers at my table will definitely think twice before going toe-to-toe with a cyclops wielding a x4 crit weapon.
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Just found this thread and love the ideas everyone has come up with thought I would add my own.
The first is Captain Boomer and his ship called Firemaker. Captain Boomer is of course a goblin and the entire crew of the Firemaker are goblins who have learned to sail (barely). Captain Boomer wears an oversized tricorne hat and has somehow managed to get ahold of a flintlock pistol (taken from a dead pirate) which he now calls his "boomstick". He has become obsessed with guns and explosions and now collects alchemist's fire, gunpowder, and anything else he can make explode where ever he can find it.
The unfortunate goblin sailors aboard the Firemaker carry small barrells of alchemist's fire and explosives on their backs (at the command of Captain Boomer) making them running land mines.
The players can attempt to take the Firemaker or if they are crazy enough can attempt to ally with Captain Boomer and supply him with more guns and explosives.
Goblins somehow always wind up as minions of the party without my meaning them to be, so I know with out a doubt they will take Captain Boomer under their wing. Creating hours of endless enjoyment and explosions for me.
I'd like to dedicate a thread for GMs to share their original ideas for unique encounters to add to the Skulls and Shackles campaign. Feel free to add your own!
** spoiler omitted **...
Actually, once we're done with the AP I'm thinking about sitting down with the GM and plotting out some of the 'non-book' adventures we went on as if they were actual parts of the AP and posting them here for others to use.
One of the better side-treks we did was sometime after Island of the Empty Eyes but before The Price of Infamy - Rosie Cuswell had her own ship by then and was considered a close ally that we only occasionally encountered. She contacted our crew and asked our aid in dealing with a problem - our captain had begun a well-known crusade against the slave trade in the shackles and in particular through the Shackles, one that Rosie supported. After freeing some slaves from a Chelish slave ship she was astonished to find a cousin of hers among them - after much interrogation and investigation it was discovered that the rumors about Bag Island's leader was true, that the leader of the halfling isle founded on the ideals of anti-slavery had begun to dabble in the slave trade himself, demanding extortion or 'protection' money to allow slave ships to pass unmolested and even selling back into slavery those rescued who chose not to join his community.
Now all of this was unknown to the vast majority of Bag Island's inhabitants but the rumors had been floating around for some time and now that Rosie had what she considered to be proof of this complicity inthe slave trade, she was determined to expose him and bring him down. Owing her a debt, the crew was more than willing to take up the cause.
Without getting into too many details the insurrection on Bag Island involved a great many halflings, a group of indigenous giants and a rather sly fellow named Gulliver Swift...
Another great side-trek was done in the service of the Master of Gales and it involved infiltrating the Cult of the Eye... the payment of which was to aid in the construction of our new flagship, in particular casting the spell 'Hallow Ship' which acted like a normal Hallow spell except that it affected the entire ship and its occupants only. Of course that spell must be renewed once a year and somehow I suspect he's going to want another service when that comes due...