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

Game Master WhtKnt

Sabine follows the others, wary of another flayer ambush. "Do any of you have some food?" she asks. "I've been kept down here for days and I'm starving."

Vic hands Sabine her crossbow. "Anything ya kill with that, y'can eat."

"We did not bring food with us into this place, but there is food and clean water on the ship," Chumtooth replies, as he moves back towards the entry passage.

The return to the ship is uneventful, and the group finds upon their return that another of the crew has come forward to ask to join the ranks of the officers. Nudges Dax.

When the officers return to the ship there is a young swab, Faengrim Darkwater he is called, waiting to greet them. He helps organize the crew to relieve the officers of the burden of the captain and has rum and biscuits brought to them as they board. "Everything is ship shape." He reports.

"uhh Captain? He looks between Chumtooth, Victoriana, and Dantes trying to figure out who is the new captain. "I be wantin' a promotion. I'm able and can fight and have the respect of me peers." He resists the urge to turn around see who counters that last point. As he said, Faengrim has proven an able seaman and fighter. His wereshark heritage and ferocity in a fight has made him nearly as feared as Chumtooth.

"I am named Captain by the last words of Satinder," Chumtooth replies, tapping the brim of the tri-corn hat now resting on his head. "I have need of a bow-sunn, a warrior who is not afraid to lead our crew into battle, and who can control the crew when they become...hoehae...and do not wish to do the work. Can you do this, Fayn-greem?"

"Aye! He smiles his wide toothy smile. "Tell me, Captain, will we be seeking vengeance for, uh, the Captain there?"

"They're all dead," Vic calls out, and shrugs. "If ya want to do something in Cap Satinder's memory, I dunno, she had this thing about prayin' to bees."

"There is no vengeance to be taken here, but there is honor to be given to our fallen," Chumtooth replies. "We will give her burial rites of a pirate at the set of the sun."

"For now, we prepare to sail. Give this one food and something to drink," he says, pointing to Sabine.

"Come join us, Mister Faengrim. Come Sabine. We shall council as off-eee-sahs to choose where the ship will go."

With that, he directs the group into the Captain's cabin. Once he enters, he lays Satinder's body on her bunk and covers her with the blanket.

Dantes will go down and check on old Kroop. If he is drunk, Dantes will visit with him while he goes about preparing some food for the officers. Otherwise, he'll help Kroop gather it. Dantes will bring the food up to Chumtooth's cabin once it is ready.

Faengrim turns to the sailors and starts bellowing, "You heard the Captain you worthless gobs of goblin spittle. Set sail for deep waters. We have a mate to give honors to. Any man caught slackin will feel my bite." at that, he chomps his sharp teeth together and goes about getting the ship underway.

He spends a lot of time overseeing the ship and is one of the last to arrive at the captain's cabin.

"Bees?" Sabine asks, shaking her head in disbelief. "What bizarre things people place their faith in." She follows the others into the cabin.

After she has eaten, she turns to the others. "Now that we have a chance to breathe, I believe introductions are in order. My name is Sabine Finne and I am a servant of the Wind and the Waves. Thank you for the rescue."

"Fine then. I'm Victoriana, Gunner an' Carpenter, an' I pray to a lot more stranger things 'n bees. Some of 'em are catapults."

The totem of her goddess is the wasp, like the one on the bah-ow of the ship," Chumtooth replies. "Now that Satinder has died, we must decide if our ship needs a new totem and a new name. It may be bad luck to carry a totem of a goddess none of us pray to."

"Renaming the ship is kind of a big deal, inn't it? I mean don't we have to do a whole ritual and all? We also got a bit of a reputation. It all goes away with a new name."

"It might be bad luck to bear the image of something that holds no power here." Sabine adds. "The sea is no place for false gods and idols."

"I have no such preferences. As long as we don't spend too much money switching it out, I am content to go with the group's decision."

"Perhaps we should test our luck against the next ship we hunt. If the catch is good, our luck is still with us. If not, we need to remove the totem that no longer favors us."

"So we hunt. Where do we seek our prey?"

Profession (sailor): 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (8) + 6 = 14
Looking over the map (at least I assume there is a map), "There be shipping lanes 'ere, 'ere, and 'ere. We could go to the closest and ply our trade."

"Should we need a new name," Vic pauses for dramatic effect, "I suggest 'Besmara's Booty'"

Oh, right, this is a thing I can do...

And she frowns at Faengrim. "Yer just going to point to the drawings of ships on the map? Let me ask the knowledge spirits, see if they can help with the recollectin' of any boat stories I've heard."

And her eyes turn white and she does the mumbly trance thing again, for longer than usual this time.

Knowledge (local): 1d20 + 6 + 20 ⇒ (7) + 6 + 20 = 33
Knowledge (geography): 1d20 + 6 + 20 ⇒ (15) + 6 + 20 = 41

Oh yes, you can come up with something. It's going to be a busy weekend, and I have a F2F game tonight, but I'll see if I can sneak in a post later to set the stage for the next encounter.

"Aye. That be why there be maps. To point to 'em and whatnot." He had heard about Vic communing with spirits, but had never seen it up close. He looks to the others. "Is she ok? Is this normal? Should I..." He indicates his trident.

Victoria soon snaps out of her trance and says, "We should head southeast, Cap'n."

Chumtooth gives the orders and soon the ship is on a southeasterly course.

Pause for Satinder's funeral. You can retro whatever you want to say/do in here.

The next few weeks are spent raiding ships and slaver outposts for plunder. By the end of the month, your ship is laden with plunder and rides low in the water. Before you can take on more, you will need to hide or sell what you have.

"Best options, cap'n," Fishguts offers, "Will be Bloodcove, Senghor, or Crown's End. Crown's End is closest, and they regularly service pirates, smugglers, and the like. Bloodcove is similarly neutral in stance, but they lie further north along the coast. Senghor is halfway and they will tolerate piracy, so long as it doesn't take place in their waters."

I've glossed over quite a bit here to get to the more exciting parts. Once you've done a ship combat and a shore combat, it get's pretty monotonous and you find yourself screaming for anything different. If everyone opposes this (i.e., wants to play it out), we'll do it, but I fear that it will cause the campaign to slow and possibly die.

"Crown's End is close, so we will not sail far with a heavy load. We shall go there."

Dantes calculates quickly to ensure they have adequate provisions to reach Crown's End. If they do not, or if they will be out shortly upon arrival, he'll warn the captain.

Faengrim relays the captain's order. "You heard the word of the Captain you filth covered wyvern droppins. Drink and whores wait for us. Make sail for Crown's End."

Ship combat could be fun later, but we can save it for story missions. Does this mean enough time has elapsed for me to build my catapult?

Affirmative. There will be plenty of ship-to-ship combat in later chapters, it's just filler at the current time, and it gets boring if there is no reason for it beyond just letting the PCs get some experience.

Chumtooth hands the masterwork dagger to Dantes.

"This dagger can be a treasure, or a weapon. If one of the offeesahs wishes to fight with it, good. If not, we can sell or trade it."

Satinder's body is covered in sweat as she suddenly gasps for air, her throat feeling like she's swallowed the Kendavi desert. She has no energy, feels like she is on the brink of death, as she tries to turn her head and every vein in her body seems to be on fire. She wriggles her fingers and toes, and is scared to death that they are not working. It takes her several minutes to realise they are, and there is a big relief forming in her chest.
Where am I? Is this...

She mentally shakes her head at her thoughts of the hells below, as she starts to remember the ceiling of her cabin. She coughs, involuntarily, and regrets this instantly as her entire body aches. She hears a sound coming towards her, and tries to reach for her dagger but there is no strength whatsoever in her arms. She hears someone.. something! talking to her, but can't focus her eyes on it.

Figuring she has but one chance, she tries to mumble. A garbled sound comes out, slowly, rasping. She forces her body to make it sound proper, hoping that he is still alive and might be able to, somehow, find her.

"CH.... CH.CH.CH.... Chu..."
She curses as she hears her own voice, and prays to the Lady of Stings, as she gathers her entire strength of mind and throws it at her latest objective. She closes her eyes as pain wracks her body, but then smiles as she hears her voice almost echo, as she screams as loud as she can: "CHUM!!!"

Hearing the familiar voice crying out his name, Chumtooth turns and approaches the bunk where Satinder's body was laid. His eyes widen as he realizes her eyes are open and she is trying to move.

His hand reflexively reaches for his morningstar.

"What ju-ju is this?!" he says, clearly unnerved by what he is seeing.

He raises his morningstar, poised to strike.

Satinder coughs as she tries to draw a breath, her face in pure agony as she tries to remember the Kuru language.

My lady, why have you kept me alive?

Chumtooth's angry countenance break into a grin as he throws his head back in a deep, booming laugh.

"The Wasp goddess sent you back from the spirit world. Have you pleased or angered her?"

Chumtooth hangs his Morningstar back on his belt and moves to help Satinder sit up.

"bring her food and water," he commands.

The cabin boy hurries to comply with Chumtooth's order, fetching fresh water and a meal of dried rations.

Selling plunder requires one day per point of plunder sold. Because Crown's End is a small town, the base price being offered is 400 gp per point of plunder, but you can try to squeeze a little more out of them. The base DC is 10, and for every 5% more you want to get, the DC increases by 5. The most they will give is 60%. You could probably sell for full price at a larger town or city. The skill used can be Bluff, Diplomacy, Intimidate, or any relevant profession skill (merchant, for example).

So, who is going to conduct the sales, and how much plunder will you try to sell? You must roll for each day's sale, since you are assumed to be selling to a variety of different merchants.

You can also have someone try to increase your infamy (though selling plunder will do some of that as well). This cannot be the same character who is handling the selling of plunder. The storyteller must make a Bluff, Intimidate, or Perform check to impress the locals with your tales. The DC for the check is 27. Each point of plunder you spend adds +2 to the skill check. Additionally, if you fail the roll, you can spend 3 points of plunder to immediately recheck. This can be done only once.

Finally, you will probably want to pay your crew (it tends to help keep them loyal). This amounts to 1 point of plunder.

How big are Bloodcove and Senghor relative to Crown's End. How much longer would it take, considering our full holds, to reach them?

Satinder and Vic could mount a charm offensive to get the best prices; both have +10 Diplomacy, so one could roll and the other aid. But a larger port city is a great idea.

Bloodcove is a small city, and Senghor is a metropolis. The best prices would be found in Senghor. Senghor is closer, and will take you two weeks to get there, where it takes 4 weeks to get to Bloodcove.

What say, shipmates? Go for the big score in Senghor?

What do you reckon we spend one day here, up our infamy, before continueing to Senghor and doing the selling AND upping infamy there?

Satinder slowly recovers from her wounds.
On the third day, it is clear to the entire crew that she is feeling like her old self again, when she pins a swab against the deck for spilling something on her jacket.

Sea air, there is nothing like it.

Satinder walks to the railing, and drops a golden coin into the water.

If Stander wants to make some checks, Vic is probably better off aiding, thematically, since she's the wrong kind of crazy.

Faengrim can help with Aid Other as well.

Waiting for majority on the discussion board before choosing.

Orienting himself to the reading of maps and charts, Chumtooth notes that Senghor is a much larger port and would take about two weeks to reach from their present location.

"Dantes, do we have enough food and water to reach here?" he asks, pointing to Senghor on the map.

Dantes nods the affirmative to Chumtooth's question.

"More people to hear our tales. More money offered for our plunder, yes?" he asks the group.

As everyone nods, Satinder joins in.
"You know where to take her, Chum."

Chumtooth nods, as if to certify the matter.

"Set course to Senghor," he declares.

Right, then

You reach Senghor without difficulty and find a place to put into harbor.

Selling plunder requires one day per point of plunder sold. Because Senghor is a metropolis, the base price being offered is 1,000 gp per point of plunder, but you can try to squeeze a little more out of them. The base DC is 10, and for every 10% more you want to get, the DC increases by 10. The most they will give is 140% (DC 50). The skill used can be Bluff, Diplomacy, Intimidate, or any relevant profession skill (merchant, for example).

So, who is going to conduct the sales, and how much plunder will you try to sell? You must roll for each day's sale, since you are assumed to be selling to a variety of different merchants.

You can also have someone try to increase your infamy (though selling plunder will do some of that as well). This cannot be the same character who is handling the selling of plunder. The storyteller must make a Bluff, Intimidate, or Perform check to impress the locals with your tales. The DC for the check is 27. Each point of plunder you spend adds +2 to the skill check. Additionally, if you fail the roll, you can spend 3 points of plunder to immediately recheck. This can be done only once.

Finally, you will probably want to pay your crew (it tends to help keep them loyal). This amounts to 1 point of plunder.

Vic will try to sell treasure. Everyone okay with selling at 100% cost, as fast as possible?