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

Game Master WhtKnt

"Curses!" Dantes surges closer to his captain, sending waves of magic ahead of him.

Dantes moves forward and casts haste on the group.

As Dantes casts his spell, he notices that the enemy seems to be hasted as well. Faengrim's foe rushes to the attack, his mouth foaming and his eyes wide! He manages a hit on the pirate! Faengrim takes 11 points of damage. The remaining two target Chumtooth and Faengrim with crossbows, each scoring a hit! Chumtooth takes 6 points of damage, and Faengrim takes 3 points of damage!

Fortitude Save: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (18) + 8 = 26

Actually, I did this backward, but it will all come out in the wash. You should have had the Will save first, but since it failed, then you would have had to make the Fort save.

Chumtooth Will: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (7) + 2 = 9
Chummy Damage: 3d6 ⇒ (5, 4, 4) = 13

Chumtooth and Faengrim are up!

Chumtooth hurls his seeking harpoon, then lunges forward to bite.

Harpoon of Seeking: 1d20 + 13 ⇒ (7) + 13 = 20

Damage: 1d8 + 6 ⇒ (3) + 6 = 9

Bite Attack: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (15) + 10 = 25

Damage: 1d8 + 4 ⇒ (8) + 4 = 12

Change Shape: Land
Con +2 (+13 hp, +1 fort); Ferocity; Bite +9 1d6+2

Faengrim retaliates with relish attacking 2 until he falls, then switching to 4.

Mwk Greatsword: fav enemy, pwr attack, haste
To Hit: 1d20 + 10 + 4 - 2 + 1 ⇒ (19) + 10 + 4 - 2 + 1 = 32 To Hurt: 2d6 + 3 + 4 + 6 ⇒ (6, 1) + 3 + 4 + 6 = 20

Mwk Greatsword: fav enemy, pwr attack, haste
To Hit: 1d20 + 10 + 4 - 2 + 1 ⇒ (5) + 10 + 4 - 2 + 1 = 18 To Hurt: 2d6 + 3 + 4 + 6 ⇒ (5, 3) + 3 + 4 + 6 = 21

Mwk Greatsword: fav enemy, pwr attack, haste
To Hit: 1d20 + 10 + 4 - 2 + 1 - 5 ⇒ (10) + 10 + 4 - 2 + 1 - 5 = 18 To Hurt: 2d6 + 3 + 4 + 6 ⇒ (4, 3) + 3 + 4 + 6 = 20

Confirm Crit Mwk Greatsword: fav enemy, pwr attack, haste
To Hit: 1d20 + 10 + 4 - 2 + 1 ⇒ (12) + 10 + 4 - 2 + 1 = 25 To Hurt: 2d6 + 3 + 4 + 6 ⇒ (4, 2) + 3 + 4 + 6 = 19

Zomeraand unleashes another icy blast at the nearest standing goblin.

(Casts ray of frost)

Ranged Touch Attack: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (7) + 4 = 11

Cold Damage: 1d3 ⇒ 3

Faengrim and Chumtooth rip into their foes. Chumtooth hurts his foe, while Faengrim brings his opponent low with a series of blows. Chumtooth's opponent returns the attack, managing two hits on the captain! Chumtooth takes 24 points of damage!

Dantes is up!

Dantes? If he doesn't post in a day or so, I'll bot him.

Sorry! I thought I had posted it!

Dantes, glad that the others have the melee in hand, stays back. Instead, he draws a wand and sends two arcane missiles at one of Chumtooth's foes.

Ready wand of magic missiles, cast at boarder #1, damage 2d4 + 2 ⇒ (2, 3) + 2 = 7.

The boarder takes the damage and barely flinches, so lost is he in the battle rage. Boarder 2 leaps the railing of the vessel, dropping down right in front of Chumtooth and taking a swing at the captain. Though he lands poorly, the pain doesn't seem to slow him. It does, however, spoil his attack. Faengrim's opponent manages a solid hit on the ranger, leaving Faengrim hurting! (Faengrim takes 13 points of damage!)

From out of the fog come five glowing arrows of force that slam into Dantes! Dantes takes 5d4 + 5 ⇒ (3, 1, 1, 4, 1) + 5 = 15 points of damage from magic missiles unless he has some means of avoiding them!

2 vs. Chumtooth: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (3) + 8 = 11 Damage: 2d4 + 7 ⇒ (1, 1) + 7 = 9
4 vs. Faengrim: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (13) + 8 = 21 Damage: 2d4 + 7 ⇒ (2, 4) + 7 = 13

Change Shape: Land
Con +2 (+13 hp, +1 fort); Ferocity; Bite +9 1d6+2

Faengrim growls at the wound and retaliates with fury.

Mwk Greatsword: fav enemy, pwr attack, haste
To Hit: 1d20 + 10 + 4 - 2 + 1 ⇒ (19) + 10 + 4 - 2 + 1 = 32 To Hurt: 2d6 + 3 + 4 + 6 ⇒ (3, 2) + 3 + 4 + 6 = 18

Mwk Greatsword: fav enemy, pwr attack, haste
To Hit: 1d20 + 10 + 4 - 2 + 1 ⇒ (8) + 10 + 4 - 2 + 1 = 21 To Hurt: 2d6 + 3 + 4 + 6 ⇒ (1, 5) + 3 + 4 + 6 = 19

Mwk Greatsword: fav enemy, pwr attack, haste
To Hit: 1d20 + 10 + 4 - 2 + 1 - 5 ⇒ (10) + 10 + 4 - 2 + 1 - 5 = 18 To Hurt: 2d6 + 3 + 4 + 6 ⇒ (6, 1) + 3 + 4 + 6 = 20

confirm crit Mwk Greatsword: fav enemy, pwr attack, haste
To Hit: 1d20 + 10 + 4 - 2 + 1 ⇒ (17) + 10 + 4 - 2 + 1 = 30 To Hurt: 2d6 + 3 + 4 + 6 ⇒ (3, 2) + 3 + 4 + 6 = 18

Chumtooth lays into the boarding pirate with his morning star and his teeth.

Attack, Morning star, Hasted: 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (15) + 11 = 26

Damage: 1d8 + 5 ⇒ (5) + 5 = 10

Attack, Morning Star, Hasted: 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (17) + 11 = 28

Damage: 1d8 + 5 ⇒ (4) + 5 = 9

Attack, Bite, Hasted: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (6) + 10 = 16

Damage: 1d8 + 6 ⇒ (1) + 6 = 7

Attack, Bite, Hasted: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (8) + 10 = 18

Damage: 1d8 + 6 ⇒ (2) + 6 = 8

Dantes recoils when the missiles strike him, gasping for breath after the violent impacts. He scans the mist for where they came from. Not being able to see the offending mage, he casts a spell to flood the general area with magic.

Casting stinking cloud in the area he thinks the missiles came from.

Chumtooth slams his morningstar twice into one of the boarders, sending him over the side! The other he savagely bites twice, snatching great mouthfuls of flesh each time. The man barely seems to notice.

Faengrim snaps off three attacks with his greatsword, bringing his opponent down. With the man bleeding on the deck, Faengrim steps over to help his captain and strikes the remaining boarder hard, but the man persists!

Dantes looks for the hidden mage. Seeing nothing, he conjures a cloud of swirling vapors in the area he believes that the missiles originated. He is rewarded with the sound of coughing from within the cloud. However, it lasts but a few seconds.

The remaining boarder slashes Chumtooth and sends the captain to the deck! (Chumtooth takes 15 points of damage and is bleeding out at -3!) He turns and swings at Faengrim, but misses.

Suddenly, a cloud of toxic vapors appears around the heroes! I need DC 17 Fort saves from both Faengrim and Dantes. If you fail, you are nauseated.

Faengrim and Dantes are up! Chumtooth, I need a stabilization roll at -3, please.

(If both bites hit, then I should be at -1: Cannibalistic Vitality (ex): When Chumtooth hits a living creature with his bite attack, he gains one temporary hit point by ingesting the target's blood. This ability does not work on creatures that do not have blood.)

Stabilization Roll, DC 11: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (16) + 3 = 19 (Stabilized)

The world goes suddenly dark as Chumtooth's consciousness fails. He collapses hard to the deck.

Change Shape: Land
Con +2 (+13 hp, +1 fort); Ferocity; Bite +9 1d6+2

Fort: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (6) + 9 = 15

Faengrim wants to continue his assault against the attackers, but the noxious cloud prevents him from doing so.

Fort Save 1d20 + 6 + 2 ⇒ (9) + 6 + 2 = 17 The +2 assumes it is a spell or poison.

Dantes opens his mouth to start another spell, but instead takes inhales the noxious fumes. Only his dwarven grit allows him to keep functioning. He darts back a few yards to get clear of the cloud, and then retaliates by sending a dot of flame at the unseen foe, which blossoms into a massive fireball.

Casting fireball, trying to get the caster and maybe boarder 3 at the edge of it. DC 17 reflex save for half damage, 7d6 ⇒ (1, 6, 3, 5, 5, 4, 2) = 26 full damage.

Dantes trusts to luck and aims the fireball so that the boarder will be caught and hopes to also catch the caster. The boarder dies instantly, his body horribly burned. As for the caster, it is impossible to know whether they were affected or not, but in any case, no retaliation is forthcoming, it would seem. Several seconds pass with no response to Dantes' fireball.

Combat over, for the moment, anyway.

Faengrim feeds Chumtooth a potion of Cure Light Wounds

CLW: 1d8 + 1 ⇒ (2) + 1 = 3

Chumtooth feels a small surge of warmth suffuse his injured body, as he returns to consciousness.

”So, it was not my day to die,” he says, rising slowly to his feet. ”Though if we must fight again soon, it will be.”

He looks around to assess the status of his officers and crew.

Aside from considerable bumps and bruises, the crew seems none the worse for wear. The ship's chaplain is already working to cure what he can.

Channel Positive Energy: 3d6 + 3d6 + 3d6 ⇒ (6, 3, 1) + (2, 5, 5) + (1, 6, 2) = 31

Everyone gets back 31 hit points!

Chumtooth feels his strength return as the magic washes over him.

"These must be the wreckers. We must see how much damage the hull has taken."

Faengrim relishes the opportunity to search and ransack the ship.

Just for clarification, you hit a reef, not another vessel. Looking about, the other vessel is nowhere to be seen. It has faded into the mists (which are dissipating).

”Go below and check the hull for breaking, then report to me,” Chumtooth orders some of the deckhands. Chumtooth bends down over the nearest attacker’s body and searches it for any valuables as well as anything that might identify them.

Each raider wears studded leather, carries a falchion, a light crossbow with 30 bolts, and 15 gp. They have no identification.

What we want will be in logs. Faengrim goes to the captain's cabin.

(We are still on the Kiss. The other ship disappeared when the fog rose, and our ship hit and became stuck on the reef. The raiders attacked by boarding our ship from somewhere (not another ship, it seems).

Dantes checks the magical charts to see if there is any mention of reefs in the area.

"There was definitely a wizard or sorcerer working with them." he tells the other officers.

Faengrim, you might be best suited to take a look around. See if you can tell where they have fled to, and see what the layout of the reefs are.

If Faengrim agrees, Dantes will cast fly on him so that he can go up and scout for us.

Chumtooth is correct. The ship was an illusion.

As the mists dissipate and the illusion fades, a leaky tub of a boat stands revealed on the far side of the reef. It was probably from here that the sailors came. Also in the water below can be seen the hulks of two other vessels, previous victims, no doubt.

Dantes, the charts show nothing of the reefs in this area. The deckhands report that the hull has suffered superficial damage and will need repairs, but remains watertight. A DC 20 Profession (sailor) check is required from the ship's pilot to get the ship off the reef.

(Is taking 10 allowed on the Profession Sailor Check, or do we have to roll?)

Aid Prof (sailor) 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (8) + 7 = 15

You can take 10.

(Take 10 +11 Profession Sailor, +2 Faengrim's Assist = 23)

Chumtooth takes the wheel and carefully coordinates its turning with the rise and fall of the swells, gently working the hull off of the reef.

"Come about," he calls out to the crew. "We need to keep searching."

Dantes stands at one side of the ship looking over, calling out what he sees to the captain as he maneuvers the ship.

Take 10 for a 16 to aid Chumtooth, giving him a +2 and taking his roll up to 25.

The crew scrambles to obey Chumtooth's orders and soon the ship is free of the reef and maneuverable. Where would you like to go from here?

"Prepare to come about!" Chumtooth calls, turning the ship to move away from the reef.

"Faengrim, can you search beneath the waters, see if you see any shipwrecks below?" he asks his bosun.

"Dantes, can you search for magics? Try to find the wizard who called the mists."

Faengrim looks beneath the waves.

Perception: 1d20 + 13 ⇒ (19) + 13 = 32

Sorry about the unintended break. Things just spiraled out of control there for a while.

Faengrim, you do indeed spot two shipwrecks below. Both are recent, from the look of things, and one of them bears a nameplate, the Lady's Sting. Dantes casts detect magic and scans the area and (GM fiat) picks up a very faint trail of rapidly fading magic that leads west.

I know that detect magic doesn't work that way, but you need some way to move the story along.

Faengrim will look about the captain's cabin of the Lady's Sting a bit for the relic.

Perception: 1d20 + 13 ⇒ (10) + 13 = 23

Faengrim dives into the water and enters the shipwreck, but comes up empty-handed.

Report back to the ship and inform the captain what I found.

"The Lady's Sting. That is the ship," Chumtooth replies. "Perhaps the raiders who attacked us took the Relic of Calistria. If it is not on the ship, we will need to find where they hoard their stolen treasures."

Dantes unfurls their animated map. Does it show enough detail of the area to take an educated guess as to where they might be operating from? Knowledge (geography) 1d20 + 14 ⇒ (9) + 14 = 23

There are several small rocky islands to the west that could easily conceal hidden caves or such.

”We go West,” Chumtooth says, after listening to Dantes’ description of the rocky islands.

He moves to the ship’s wheel and brings the ship around to a Westward course.

Heading west, you sail around the rocky islands for about three hours, finding no evidence of a hidden base. Finally, more by luck than any divine providence, you catch sight of a small longboat heading north. A single individual is aboard.

Chumtooth turns the wheel to pursue the longboat.

"We pursue! Prepare to fire, and then board when we close!"

The Kiss of Vengeance comes about as she brings her ballista to bear. The small boat is hit hard but remains afloat. The occupant immediately surrenders herself to your mercy.

Ballista bolt: 1d20 + 2 - 4 ⇒ (19) + 2 - 4 = 17 Damage: 3d8 ⇒ (6, 3, 4) = 13
Crit confirm: 1d20 + 2 - 4 ⇒ (10) + 2 - 4 = 8 Crit Damage: 3d8 ⇒ (8, 7, 2) = 17