GM WhtKnt's Open Water - A Skull & Shackles Adventure Path

Game Master WhtKnt

Congratulations to her and to your family!

I'll join the others, and add that I hope it is a wonderful wedding day, a wonderful first week of being married, and a wonderful life together.

Congratulations.

Moving the discussion to the discussion thread:

Pros of going to Crown's End before moving on to Senghor:

1.) We can build Infamy

2.) We can make sure we have enough provisions to reach Senghor.

Cons:

1.) We're sitting on a hold full of plunder that we'll have to protect while we're in town building our Infamy.

Other thoughts?

Let's ride directly to Crown's End.

Haha, I certainly don't mind protecting our hold full of plunder. :D

Personally, I'm in favor of sailing straight on to Senghor, unless our current provisions aren't enough to get us there.

If we need to re supply, then I'm all for stopping at Crown's End for a day and bragging while taking on food and water.

I'm sorry. My vote should have been Senghor not Crown's End. I got confused.

Senghor for Sabine.

Also a fan of bragging, but it looks like the party's leaning the other way.

Thanks everyone! It went really well, though I was way busy than I had expected. Lots of last minute stuff. But I'm back now and working on getting caught up.

I would suggest Vic, Dantes and Faegrim team up to sell the merchandise.

Vic does the initial talking, with Faegrim either being the fall back on a bad roll or giving and Aid Another on a good roll. Dantes will use appraisal to make sure they get the best deal.

Satinder, Sabine and I will do the tavern bragging.

Thoughts or other suggestions?

I agree.

Other than Aid Another and Plunder, is there a way to increase the roll?

A Charisma-boosting spell, like Eagle's Splendor, or the bardic ability to Inspire Competence are two ways I can think of.

If you can let me sneak attack someone, I can boost the roll? :P
Sounds like a plan though.

On sneak attack, forgo damage dice for free Intimidate with +5 bonus/dice reduced.

It is worth noting that, after a three-year trek, my face-to-face group has finally completed this Adventure Path successfully! It was a long, hard fight, but they made a new name for themselves among the pirates of the Shackles!

Congratulations!

The last AP I successfully DM'd from start to finish was Age of Worms. It took us 5 years and 21 character deaths.

In the interest of expediency, shall we forego the selling rolls and just take the 100%?

We can then focus on the bragging, which will most likely yield more RP opportunities.

Thoughts?

I agree with that. I don't want to get too bogged down on the mechanics to eek out a few extra coins.

I also agree

Agreed!

The dice roller was not kind, although I suppose it could have been worse.

Thoughts on selling plunder to reach the threshold, if we fall short?

That seems like a bit of plunder to squander. How much crew do we need?

At this point, I'd rather fall short than waste the plunder.

Disrepute

Right now, you are considered Disgraceful. This means that you can select one port at which all of your Infamy checks will be made at +2. You can also spend Disrepute as outlined below to gain temporary bonuses. Currently, you have 7 points of Disrepute. You will gain more impositions as you increase your Infamy score (also currently at 7).

2 points of Disrepute - Yes, Sir!: For the next hour, the PCs’ crew completes any mundane tasks they’re assigned in half the expected time. This typically relates to Craft and Profession (sailor) checks made to prepare, maintain, or repair the ship, and cannot be applied to combat or more complex deeds like crafting magic items.

5 points of Disrepute - Captain’s Orders!: As a standard action, a PC on board her ship can cast fog cloud, heroism, make whole, quench, or whispering wind with a caster level equal to her character level.

5 points of Disrepute - Walk the Plank!: The PCs may sacrifice one crew member or prisoner to grant themselves and their crew one of two bonuses: either a +2 bonus on all skill checks or a +2 bonus on attack rolls. These bonuses only apply while on board the PCs’ ship and last until either the next day or when the captain leaves the ship. If a sacrificed character is returned to life, the PCs and their crew members take a –2 penalty on both skill checks and attack rolls for 1 day.

10 points of disrepute - Get Up, You Dogs!: Every PC and allied character on the deck of the PCs’ ship is affected as per the spell cure light wounds, as if cast by a cleric of the PCs’ average party level. This imposition can only be used once per week.

If the catapult is up and running, anyone want to be my spotter? Being a siege-focused oracle means that I need a few rounds to prepare, but after I do my cool knowledge trance, I can hit one target with unerring accuracy from extremely far away, which could be a cool opening/ambush shot.

I'm not sure if it got glossed over or I just missed the discussion, but what kind of money do we have as a result of the plunder sale?

I know that part of it went to pay the crew, but what of the rest? How much would our individual shares have been and did we have a chance to make any important purchases before we set out again?

Yes, your total came to 14,000 gp, after paying off the crew. You'll no doubt want to squirrel some away for future ship modifications and repairs (or bribes, perhaps), but that's still a healthy sum. You can do some buying if you wish. Senghor is a metropolis, so use that data for figuring what is available, etc.

So, I have two thoughts:

There are five of us currently, since Sabine decided to drop out.

We could go with 2,000 gold each with 4,000 gold stashed away for ship repairs/modifications, bribes or whatever.

OR

We could go with 1,000 gold each with 9,000 gold stashed away for the aforementioned whatevers.

Any opinions?

I prefer more my use. I vote 2000/4000.

I don't mind, so I'm going with what the captain thinks best. Either way, can't do that much yet with 1.000gp. :)

I would say 2000/4000 as well. If there is a specific modification we want for the ship that exceeds what we have in the ship reserve, then I believe we as players can put money back into the fund.

Yep. 2000 gp hits a nice threshold for what wondrous items Dantes and I can craft for everybody!

...if possible, would *like* a Belt of Dex +2 for m'self

Okay, so 2,000 gp each it is, with 4,000 in the ship's coffers for incidentals.

Crafting, you say... *glee*

Posting this in all my games:

Some of you may or may not be aware, but my wife has glaucoma which has already claimed the sight in her right eye and is eating away at the vision in her left. To further complicate matters, she had a cataract removed from her left eye, but during the operation, there was some minor temporary damage to the optic nerve. Long story short, it should heal in two to three months, but until then, I am her official reader. She can make out blurred images of people and if they speak, she is pretty good at recognizing voices, but she can't read anything.

Further, I am the only one of us who drives, since her vision started getting worse last year, so I have to take her to any and all doctor's appointments. About once every two weeks, she has to go to Tulane in New Orleans, about 90 miles away (and that's not to mention local appointments, errands, shopping trips, etc.). So if I seem slow to respond or post, please bear with me. If I am a player, bot me as needed. If I am your GM, rest assured that I have not forgotten you. I may just have had a hella busy day.

Our thoughts and prayers are with you in these troubled times.

I went through a similar thing with my dad. Sir, you certainly are earning the title of WhtKnt.

It's been quiet a few days, just wanted to make sure everyone's okay out there.

Yup, just hella stressful at work.

Just so everyone is aware; convention season is upon us again! I serve as the Game Operations Director (that is, the Director of the Game Room) at CoastCon, a local convention in 1.5 months, and this takes up a lot of my already pressed time. So if I am slow to update or respond, please bear with me and bot me as needed.

Questions for GM WHTKNT:

1.) Is the Kiss of Vengeance equipped with oars at all, or is it strictly a sailing vessel? Some sailing ships (smaller ones) had banks of oars that could be used to move the ship without relying on the sails.

2.) How strong/fast is the current moving downstream towards the mouth of the river?

3.) Is the mouth of the river wide enough to allow the Kiss of Vengeance to pass the other ship without being close enough to be boarded?

In order:

1) You do have the option of using oars.

2) Sluggishly, about 2 mph.

3) Yes.

We're one week out from the convention. As such, my time is getting crunched pretty badly. I'll try to check in as much as possible until Wednesday, after that, don't expect to hear from me until Monday. Please bot me as necessary. If I'm running your game, I ask for your patience. We will continue!

Everyone okay? Is the convention still going on?

No, but I've been having connectivity issues. Will post in the AM.

Faengrim is ready.

Update: computer has been broken for a week, power button is malfunctioning such that the computer shuts down after 30 seconds of use. I'll be offline for a few more days, unless I can sneak in PbP time at work... Bot me as necessary...

Are we on to the next round? Everyone has posted, haven't they?

Wedding tomorrow and honeymoon for a week.. Bot me if necessary :)