[PFS 0-17] GM Red's Perils of the Pirate Pact (Inactive)

Game Master GM Red

As the events before him unfolded further it was was all Irvine could do to hold his tongue from letting out an "I told you so!" remark. "Yeah, well it's a book we need and thats we were more than happy to assist you to get it. Nothing like being stabbed in the back." He drew his sword and started walking toward the large group."This is why I hate pirates...Personal experience..." Irvine called back to his fellow pathfinders "After we're done here, don't forget. Drinks on me or maybe on them..." He grinned.

"Well, I do owe you one Irvine!" She laughs. "I hope you know how to sail one of these boats afloat. I don't think she's going to help us back."

She laughs, grins and fades away. She draws her falchion and advances. Not that anyone can see it.

Swift Action: Spending an Arcane Pool point to enter Mystic Focus for 2 rounds.
Standard Action: Casting vanish.
Move Action: Moving forward, invisible!

Mae turns and quickly asks Sunny to defend the group before hopping forward behind the man with the large sword. "I don't think it would be wise for me to be in the front line. Don't worry, I won't scorch you." She croaks before casting a spell and a small flame appearing in her three toed hand. Produce Flame

"Yeah, if you didn't want Pathfinders, you shouldn't have forged an old book, man." Juicy says as they trundle towards the group of unfriendly pirates, glaive held out at the ready. "I mean, a pirate's map would've been better. You guys go crazy for that stuff, but us Pathfinders... Meh." They shrug and ready themself for an onslaught of angry pirates. "At least Irvine's promising drinks after this."

Sundew slithers after Irvine, unsure why they are protecting this stranger when their gardener is all alone over there. Who will prune Sundew if anything were to happen to Juicy Green Grapes, who will drop tasty little rodents in their waiting tendrils, and who will sneak them into the greenhouses and aviarys of Absalom! Worked up in an anxious frenzy, Sundew's tendrils thrash about wildly in search of the comforting taste of pirate.

Lady Riverbane tosses her hair back, and holds her palms towards Irvine. "To think you'd trekked out here in search of some stupid book when it was all a fake. How foolish do you feel now, Pathfinders? Venture-Captains working with pirates... You should've known better."

She squints her eyes, and a pool of slippery oil appears underneath Irvine, Lady Mae, and Sundew.
As per Grease. DC 13 Reflex save or fall prone

The pirates advance, one charging straight for Juicy Green Grapes with his scimitar over his head. The vine leshy barely flinches as they quickly toss the pirate aside with their glaive.

The yellow-tuniced pirate also charges at JGG, and he too is quickly thrown across the landscape, slamming into a sturdy tree trunk.

With two pirates down, Lady Riverbane scoffs loud enough to send the birds perching in the trees scattering. "USELESS. Must I do EVERYTHING myself? UGH!"

Because it affects his readied attack, I'm going to roll Irvine's reflex save.
Irvine Reflex: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (13) + 3 = 16

"Yar, ya won't be so lucky with me! Come on!" Another pirate taunts.

Irvine keeps his feet planted firmly in the ground, and watches the pirate charge at him. He lifts his greatsword up and around and carves the pirate's body open as if he were a turkey.

The remaining pirate charges too - it isn't as though these were the most intelligent foes - and dodges JGG's glaive, swinging with his scimitar.
Scimitar, charge: 1d20 + 1 + 2 ⇒ (14) + 1 + 2 = 171d6 ⇒ 1
The vine leshy takes only a light scrape to their side.

Combat Map

-- Bold is up --
Juicy Green Grapes (-1), Irvine, Sundew, Lady Mae, Dawn
Lady Riverbane & Green
Sunny the Slug

Dawn is sorry to leave J alone with a pirate, but the leader is right there, and not expecting Dawn's approach. She can't stop giggling as she closes in.

Once she's close, she casts magic and swings her falchion at Lady Riverbane.

I'm casting Shocking Grasp. As per the Magus Spellstrike ability, I'm using my Falchion to carry the charge.

I'm invisible, so I get a +2 bonus to attacks and Lady Riverbane can't use her Dex to avoid this attack. Dice don't fail me now!

Falchion, Invisible: 1d20 + 4 + 2 ⇒ (14) + 4 + 2 = 20
Chopping Damage: 2d4 + 4 ⇒ (4, 3) + 4 = 11
Shocking Grasp: 2d6 ⇒ (5, 2) = 7

Sparks fly as her falchion bursts with thunder as it cuts into the pirate queen. "Irvine's got me bottle of rum and you're in the way! Yar har har har!"

Sunny bursts into action, well, slides along the ground at a steady rate of 20 feet and spits a sour lunger at the green pirate, clearly upset she hasn't gotten her mushroom treats yet. BLOOOP BLOOOOP!

Acid Spit, Ranged Touch, Into Melee: 1d20 + 2 - 4 ⇒ (12) + 2 - 4 = 101d6 ⇒ 2 He has soft cover as well so I'm sure that misses.

"You know, it's people like you who give pirates a bad name." J says as they take a step back into a more appropriate guard for their long weapon. "Before this all started, I was like, give the pirates a chance, man. Don't judge a person by their occupation, you know?" Now in position, they flick and poke the tip of their heavy glaive at the unbalanced green pirate's midsection. "And then you do this... It's just, like, soo disappointing, man."

When Juicy Green Grapes has a spare moment, they point at Lady Riverbane and shout for Sundew to attack.

Atk. Glaive: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (15) + 4 = 19
Dmg. Slashing: 1d8 + 4 ⇒ (3) + 4 = 7

Relfex: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (7) + 6 = 13

Sundew is surprised to find the ground suddenly turn slick, and have terrible trouble trying to get any purchase on the slippery ground. At JGG's command, they eagerly wiggle on the spot in a vain attempt at getting to Lady Riverbane, covering themself in grease and getting nowhere fast. Finally, Sundew rustles their leaves in frustration, somehow upside down and in a hopeless curled up heap.

Acrobatics vs. 10: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (2) + 3 = 5 Failed by 5 or more and is now, rather embarrassingly for a snake-like creature, prone.

Oops, didn't notice it was back to the top already.

Reflex vs Grease, DC13: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (20) + 3 = 23

Mae side steps the grease with ease "We grippli love things that are slippery. We are born into a ball of jelly in the water. Not many things are more slippery than that." She hops towards the pirate woman and tosses a small ball of flame at her underhanded.

Produce Flame, RT, Melee: 1d20 + 5 - 4 ⇒ (4) + 5 - 4 = 51d6 + 2 ⇒ (4) + 2 = 6 Its too bad her fiery pitch flies over the woman's head. A new flame appears in Mae's hand instantly.

Lady Riverbane shrieks when a blade sparking with electricity suddenly appears in her chest. "GAH, get back!" She groans, stumbling desperately to add some distance between herself and the now-visible Dawn. "I've made it this far with some proper planning. Bazzak never saw it coming! I cannot fall to some low-tier Pathfinder agents now!" She struggles to get her words out as blood fills her mouth. "I bet you don't even have those stupid wayfinders yet!" She laughs, trails of blood trickling down the corners of her mouth. She turns to the last remaining of her crew, "Kill them, imbecile!"

"Aye, cap --" replies the green-tuniced pirate, but it's too late. Juicy Green Grapes skewers the last thug on the tip of their glaive.

Combat Map

-- Bold is up --
Juicy Green Grapes (-1), Irvine, Sundew, Lady Mae, Dawn
Lady Riverbane (-18)
Sunny the Slug

"Low-tier?" Dawn pauses. "Yeah, I guess so. No need to rub it in like that. And I'll get my wayfinder soon! They said it was in the mail!"

Irvine let out a low growl of anger having heard plenty out of her mouth. He wanted it shut. "Enough noise, seagull! I was tired of your voice from the moment I heard it!" he yelled, gripping his sword tightly and charging towards her with his sword raised high, the tip of the blade pointed towards her.

That's a lot of 6s... ouch.

Mae looks over puzzled by the statement "I have a wayfinder. It was a gift. I have traveled all over to earn such a gift, I will be sure to leave your corpses for the baby spiders in your old ship, they are nearly ready to hatch." Mae nods solemnly.

Irvine stares Lady Riverbane dead in the eyes as he charges at the pirate captain, swooping his blade in one fluid motion up and through her neck. Her head slips off and topples next to his feet, and the rest of her collapses into the mud.

- Out of combat -

The woods are silent once more. Walking over to take a look at the book Riverbane had tossed on the ground, it seems it is indeed the book you were tasked with retrieving: Memoirs of the Silver Brotherhood.

Noticing the silence, One-Eyed Farl and Zukka emerge from the cave. Farl observes Riverbane's corpse, a satisfied grin on his face. "Aye, she had it comin', she did."

Zukka covers his face with his arm in disgust. "How wretched. And yet, another reason to leave Deadbridge for good."

Appraise, DC10: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (16) + 1 = 17 "This book does not look very old or valuable. The back cover has a .99c price tag?" She quickly calls Sunny over to calm her after the short battle. "Easy now Sunny, those mushrooms are coming soon enough."

"Awww, and I was going to ask her where she got the name from!" Dawn laughs madly for a bit, and then calms down as her focus wears off.

"So... the book is worthless, then?" Dawn giggles. "I guess we can deliver the good news to the honorable pirate Bazzak."

Perform(Comedy): 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (18) + 3 = 21
She is aware of the irony of trusting another pirate.

"...I will be sure to leave your corpses for the baby spiders in your old ship, they are nearly ready to hatch."

"That's the circle of life, man." Juicy Green Grapes nods as Lady Riverbane's body and head bounce off the floor. After calming the greased up Sundew down and cleaning them us a little, they take a quick look at the forged book and sigh, "Yeah, but I guess we have to, like, learn how to sail of something first?" They turn to Farl. "Could you captain Riverbane's old ship if we lead you there?"

"You bet yer last vine I kin sail!" One-Eyed Farl smiles.

And so, after collecting the fake Memoirs of the Silver Brotherhood, the trek back begins through the Echo Wood and to the clearing where the Scrag Fisher had docked. Two of Lady Riverbane's flunkies are surprised to see you and not their loyal captain, but they plead ignorance of Riverbane's conspiracy and offer to help Farl sail you back to Deadbridge.

After an uneventful return trip, you find yourselves in Bazzak's office, where the porcine little man listens to your story with great interest. "Lady Riverbane was always a trusted captain, but I should have known something was amiss when my most trusted bodyguards kept dying. Guess she made the whole thing up about the book too! Hah! You gotta admit, though I'm glad she was dealt with in an appropriate way, her plot was ingenious." He takes the book from you and scans it over. "Well, the Pirate Pact remains safely in my control. If nothing else, your involvement in this affair helped free the region of a dangerous ettercap menace. Hopefully, that’s worth a quick mention in a Pathfinder Chronicle. No?"

Dawn shrugs, and then pulls out her coin purse. She hands it to Irvine. "I'm bad with this whole money thing. Just take out what I owe you."

Perform(Comedy): 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (2) + 3 = 5

Dawn's not as funny as she had hoped.

"Well captain, I would say it's been a pleasure working with you, but besides squishing some Ettercaps and making some pirate jokes I didn't get much out of this." She pauses. "That's not true, I got to see a Grippli and a Leshy climb around a jungle. That's pretty cool!"

"Let's go tell the Venture Captain this was a bust." She pivots on her heels and practically dances out of the Bazzak's home.

As they leave the clearing to head back to the ship, Mae collects up the head of Lady Riverbane. She holds it away from herself by the hair, its eyes staring ahead lifelessly, Mae not seeming to notice or care. "I told her I would feed her to the spiderlings. We owe them for their information. We must stop on the trip back so I can complete my promise and offer my gift." Mae takes the head and stuffs it unceremoniously into one of Sunny's saddle bags before starting the walk back, her eyes on the ground looking for those mushrooms.

The Spiders

Mae disembarks the ship and hops down onto the wrecked hull of the derelict and slowly makes her way below deck. She casts her speak with animals/vermin spell to make her presence and intention known. "I have come with a gift for your babies to feed on. I am sorry it is no longer living. Thank you for your information." She takes the head and places it on a low crate, staring forward at the mass of wiggling eggs and quivering webs, waiting to see when exactly the swarm of freshly hatched spiderlings will climb up for their first feeding.

Bazzak

Mae looks disappointed as Bazzak doesn't offer up anything with his book being a scam "It is too bad your book was fake. I'm not sure how well the Society will take this loss. Perhaps you have something else that is of their interest to offer instead? Only 2 such ettercaps were killed. There are likely to be many more." Diplomacy: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (1) + 3 = 4

"You think I'm cool?" Juicy asks Dawn, but shes already dancing away by the time he turns around. He shrugs and looks back at Bazzak, "I guess we also rescued an alchemist or something, that might be worth reporting. But Lady Mae is right, you must have something else to offer us for saving your pact... Some eye patches and bandannas, maybe?"

"Rewards!? Bah!" Bazzak grunts. "I haven't got much else to offer you. Such is the way of the River Kingdoms," he says with a coy grin. "Oh, alright, grab some eye patches on the way out. Any color you like. We'll be sure to bolster our forces if we ever trek into those woods again. It's unlikely that we will. Spider faced creatures... heh... Now I've heard it all..." He throws up a wave as he walks off.

___

Back in Daggermark, Venture-Captain Bosk receives your report with disappointment. "I suppose working with pirates is it a risk in and of itself, but the opportunity was too great to pass up. The book must still be out there somewhere. For now, I'm happy to hear you were able to help eliminate a potential overthrow of the Pirate Pact. Despite being pirates out for their own gain, they do provide a delicate balance by protecting merchants and pilgrims that travel those rivers. At a cost, of course," the old man says.

"At any rate, your mission is completed. I will report your success to the Decemvirate, and they should issue you chronicles within the day." As he says this, a set of papers falls onto the VC's desk. "Oh. Well, that was quick. There you go. You have my thanks."

The end.

"They look sweet, thanks man." Juicy Green Grapes says as they picks up one of the papers, peering at it with one eye, the other covered by a fetching red eye patch that really brings out their foliage. "Hey, look at this, Sundew... We're going to be famous." They add, happily waving the chronicle sheet at the slithering plant by their side.

Thanks again for the fun game! The sheet looks great. :)