Doc hits Scourge, but he's still coming.
Malevor?
"The only thing you'll be scourging once I'm through with ye is the ground in the Abyss!" Malevor moves and stabs Scourge, then gets ready for any retaliation.
Malevor's hit drops scourge to the ground.
The only opponent left standing is still Sly, who is staggered, and still moving away from you up the beach.
What's the plan?
The girl nods in satisfaction as Scourge falls, alone at the end. She'd have preferred to kill him herself, but life's just full of little disappointments like that.
She watches Sly, remembering that first morning when he was one of the cronies who jumped them. Payback time. She launches another volley of arrows. The fact that he's moving away means nothing, apart from a bit of target practice.
She punches the air as she lands an inch-perfect shot from range, on a moving target. "Sweet!"
Chaenath moves the swarm a bit aimlessly up the beach until they dissipate harmlessly a few seconds later.
Well that is done. What next?
Alessandra is already looting the bodies: on the streets where she grew up, you're either quick or you're dead.
She looks up at Chaenath and grins. "We go claim our new ship, of course, Sweetie! Looks like the current captain doesn't want it any more."
She looks at Malevor. "You want to be the new captain? People seem to follow you, no idea why, you ain't much of a looker - but if you want it, it's yours. Just don't let it go to your head and we'll be fine, hmmm?"
Malevor grins at their recent triumph. "I guess if the crew would be following me already, it makes sense." He says to Alessandra as she loots the bodies.
Malevor calmly walks over to Plugg. "I've decided I don't like you, and I've found very few others genuinely liked you. You won't be coming with us under any possible circumstances, but I believe starvation is too cruel a punishment, even for the likes of you." With that Malevor rams his rapier into Plugg's head
+ DC 34 fort or die
After finishing Plugg, Malevor looks around to see if anyone stole his old gear.
Ethron jumps at the sound of Malevor's rapier breaking bone. The sound isn't unfamiliar, but it is unsettling and out of place.
"Whoa...don't ya think that was...maybe a little harsh? Why not the heart? Give him time to think of his actions before sending him to the Boneyard?"
Turning to the others, Ethron speaks lower so Malevor () doesn't hear him. "Does he normally do this sort of thing?"
Alessandra looks up at Ethron. "Hope so. Practical. What I like to see in a man. Half-fiend. Whatever." She continues rummaging through the bodies. Anything she finds that might be magical gets passed to Chaenath for inspection.
"better than him starving to death. Why the heart? He's had plenty of time, to the abyss with him"
"After grabbing our stuff shall we go collect our ship?"
Magic items are bolded.
Ok, loot:
Mr. Plugg has on him:
1 Potion
Light Crossbow w/10 bolts
3 crossbow bolts
Cutlass
MW cat-o'-nine-tails
Amulet
Bracers
Shackles
Leather drinking cup
100 sp
200 gp
Mr. Scourge has on him:
2 potions
a poisoned punching dagger (be careful with that!)
leather armor
MW handaxe with some notches carved on the handle
Shortbow with 12 arrows in leather quiver with a buttoned shutter to protect them from the elements
Whip
Boatswain's call
corked dark green bottle with 8 doses of something in it.
6 gold teeth worth 5gp each
hefty waxed coat with many hidden pockets
leather snuff box with a diamond stud worth 100gp containing 1 dose of something.
Silver wedding ring worth 25gp
14pp
29 gp
The 6 wormwood pirates had:
6x throwing axe
6x cutlass
6x dagger
6x sap
6x basic pirate clothes
The 2 Rahadoumi sailors had:
2x studded leather
2x heavy crossbow with 20 bolts
2x short sword
total
Spellcraft checks and Detect Magic can tell you that some of the above items are:
Aura faint evocation; CL 3rd
Slot none; Price 3,395 gp; Weight 4 lbs.
Description
The blade of this +1 cutlass (Pirates of the Inner Sea 18) is spotted with rust, and its basket hilt is cast in the likeness of a grinning skull. Once per day, a tidewater cutlass can be used to cast hydraulic push.
Construction
Requirements Craft Magic Arms and Armor, hydraulic push; Cost 1,855 gp
Aura faint enchantment; CL 3rd
Slot none; Price 2,810 gp; Weight 2 lb.
Description
These battered iron manacles magically adjust themselves to fit around the wrists or ankles of any creature from Small to Huge size and automatically lock. A creature wearing shackles of compliance becomes more susceptible to intimidation. Any creature attempting to intimidate or demoralize a
target wearing shackles of compliance gains a +4 bonus on Intimidate checks. In addition, the holder of the manacles’ key can cast command (DC 25) on the wearer of the shackles three times per day.
Shackles of compliance have hardness 10 and 10 hit points, and a DC 30 Disable Device check is required to pick the shackles’ lock. A manacled creature can break free with a DC 28 Strength check or DC 35 Escape Artist check, or the lock can be opened with a DC 30 Disable Device check.
Construction
Requirements Craft Wondrous Item, command; Cost 1,470 gp
Chaenath busies herself for a good 10 minutes or so gathering all the items together that smelt of magic and examining them while sitting down on the sandy surf right in front of Plugg's still warm corpse.
Do not know what this potion is... this one will cure light wounds.. this one will cause one to go all blurry... these bolts do not like being fired and will scream if you do... the amulet will thicken the hide.. the bracer will make you harder to hit.. the skully cutlass will push out with water once a day... the shackles are icky and scare the imprisoned into doing what you want them to do.
I'll jump ahead a little.
When you return to the Man's Promise you find that Plugg had brought with him all of the loyal sailors he could count on.
Left behind aboard the ship were all of the remaining Man's Promise crew, including Fishguts Kroop and Owlbear Hartshorn (who is chained up in the Captain's cabin).
I have adjusted the entire crew roster, and will readjust to whatever positions you tell me people have. Everyone is ablebodied, except Bellara, obviously, and even she can eventually get by with a peg leg of some sort.
There are some interesting things aboard the ship as well.
Within the Captain's Cabin (B7), the hammock is especially comfortable. Should Malevor decide to have that checked out, just let me know. Also found here is a boarding pike.
Within room B7a, there is a chest with Mr. Plugg's share of the booty, worth 2 points of plunder. We can discuss this subsystem.
Boarding Pike of Repelling
Aura faint transmutation; CL 5th
Slot none; Price 4,308 gp; Weight 9 lbs.
Description
This +1 boarding pike (Pathfinder Player Companion: Pirates of the Inner Sea 18) is an 8-foot-long pole topped with a tapered metal spearpoint and a backward-facing hook, used to draw vessels closer together or repel boarders. A metal skull caps the butt of the pike. On command, a boarding pike of repelling can be extended as a swift action, giving its wielder a reach of 20 feet for 1 round. While the pike is extended, the wielder does not threaten adjacent creatures or creatures up to 15 feet away. A boarding pike of repelling can also be extended in this way to draw vessels closer together for boarding.
Construction
Requirements Craft Magic Arms and Armor, wood shape; Cost 2,308 gp
Ethron picks up the snuff box and the green bottle, taking a look at each one.
*sniff sniff* "Eww, this smells terrible." He shuts the snuff box, passing it and the bottle to Rogar. "Hey Doc, can you tell me what this is? I think it might be poison, but I don't know for sure."
"Oh hot damn, this is a boarding pike of repelling! I've only heard of these and seen them in store fronts."
So I'm too lazy to figure out the rules for identifying poison, but Doc being an alchemist, I'll just throw them out there.
The snuff Box contains 1 dose of dark reaver powder
The corked green bottle contains 8 doses of oil of taggit
When Chaenath gets back on board she says
We are back. We brought back Sandara and Bellara. Also fresh water and Ethron who is a nice healing man. We did not bring back Bellara's leg though.
Chaenath scratches Swum under his chin for a bit and then says almost as an afterthought Oh and we killed Plugg and all his friends.
Ambrose Kroop hears this and says, "Praise be to the Pirate Queen herself. We was all afeared that Plugg and Scourge was going to send you lot down into the drink. That was what they were spouting when they left out of here this morning." He points down into the hold, "yer two friends was mighty yappy about it not being right, and how you was always just doing yer jobs and following orders, and that Scourge had it out for you from the first. Plugg had them rapped on the head, and pitched into the hold, so's they'd not cause any more trouble. We dared not check on them, for fear that, well, you know. But with you back, we should haul them out and make sure they're ok."
No doubt, you will check on Diego and Shaeda, who both took a nasty shot with a sap, but come around readily enough, and seem no worse for wear. Both are surprised and quite happy to find you still among the living.
Alessandra exuberantly hugs both of her friends and nods gleefully at Ambrose. "We did it! We're free! So what now?"
After getting Bellara settled and checking on Shaeda and Diego, Sandara approaches Malevor, "Captain Sir, if I may be so bold. When Captain Barnabas Harrigan hears about this, he will be out for blood. We've stolen his prize ship, killed his men, and taken his booty."
Most ships that sail the Inner Sea region, such as the Man’s Promise, were crafted by hand in shipyards throughout Avistan and Garund. Though ships of the same type are similar in attributes and size, they each have their own look and lines, which the practiced eye of an experienced sailor can recognize in the dark by the silhouette alone. Successfully stealing a ship and hiding it from its owners requires more than a name change and a new coat of paint—there must be a complete rebuild of the superstructures and rigging in order to change the way it looks. Such an overhaul is superficial in nature and changes none of a ship’s characteristics, but it does give a ship a different appearance and lines so that even someone familiar with the original ship can only determine the falsehood after several minutes of careful study.
Changing the identity of a ship in such a way is not cheap and must be done in secret or word would quickly get out of the ship’s new identity. Powerful Free Captains with their own home ports are able to do such modifications in their own private shipyards and dry docks, and captains with access to skilled carpenters and shipwrights among their crews often make such changes far out at sea away from the shipping lanes or while beached on some distant shore. But not everyone has access to those sorts of resources. As a result, a side industry of sorts has grown into existence at remote locations throughout the Shackles and just beyond its borders, where captains can find discreet craftspeople willing to do the work quickly and with the promise of
silence for the right price.
Once that previous check is made...
Just such a location able to squib a ship is somewhat nearby. It is called "Riokety's Squibs", located in a remote estuary on the Slithering Coast.
And then a brand new check...
New ships on the seas tend to be viewed as prey by established Free Captains.
In order establish a name and acquire a reputation, the PCs must accumulate both plunder and Infamy by performing acts of piracy. The PCs should keep track of both of these scores, as they must acquire a sufficient amount of each to enter the society of the Free Captains successfully. It is important that they achieve high scores in both of these attributes, as pirates with a high Infamy score but not much plunder will be seen as merciless and cruel raiders, interested more in brutality than profit, and will thus be accepted by few and trusted by none, while a lot of plunder and a low Infamy score means that other
pirate crews will see the PCs as fresh meat just waiting to be butchered and looted.
Plugg was a small fish. Harrigan is a shark. I think we should hide until we can hunt sharks.
Alessandra grins in reply. "I certainly hope so! There's a short sword he gave me that I've been meaning to return to him..."
Alessandra grins in reply. "I certainly hope so! There's a short sword he gave me that I've been meaning to return to him..."
Alessandra nods at Rogar. "Wise words, Doc - let's get to it. Cap'n Malevor, sir - give the order to move out?" She makes a horrible attempt at a salute, it's almost as though she doesn't really mean it...
"Hey! We can promote ourselves?! This changes Imma choose First Mate - don't worry, Cap'n, I'll keep this scurvy lot in line, or keel-haul every man jack of 'em!" The half-orc teenager grins, widely, for once not caring that this reveals her tusks.
Not much for me to do on ship. Chaenath says. Does that mean I get thrown overboard? She doesn't seem very concerned about the prospect. She just says things as they occur to her.
"Firstly, I agree with Sandara, Alessandra and Doc, let's head to Rickety's
Secondly, Please don't salute. We're not in the army, we're all friends here
Thirdly, Doc don't drink too much, I'm sure the crew will want to celebrate
Fourthly, Alessandra have fun!
Lastly, Chaenath, you're ship's Mage. Given your affinity for water I believe you will become very useful."
"Promotions? Whaa? Wha'd I misss?" Ethron has already helped himself to the rum and mead, getting nice and buzzed on his way to drunk.
Sounds better than sinking to q the bottom of the briny deep. Chaenath says thoughtfully.
Do we have maps to find the squib? I do not know him or know where he is
A trip that under the best of conditions might have taken 2-3 days, has taken you nearly a week. Being short-crewed, and not used to the new Captain and such, was only made worse by some head winds and a storm two days ago. Nonetheless, Sandara was able to interpret the location of Rickety's Squibs from Plugg's charts and maps, and you have come right to it.
Rounding the tall headland reveals a hidden cove at the mouth of a wide jungle river, its sluggish brown waters staining the waters of the blue sea like an ugly bruise. A series of docks has been built upon this estuary, with buildings concealed beneath the overhanging limbs of the jungle beyond. A wooden watchtower stands upon the promontory of the headland, carefully concealed among the trees to provide a clandestine view of the seas.
As the Man’s Promise sails past the headland, a checkered f lag of yellow and red is raised above the tower on the promontory, and an answering f lag of blue is hoisted upon a yardarm at the docks ahead. A number of humanoid figures emerge from the shaded buildings and gather on a pier. A small, single-masted longboat soon sets out from the boathouse on the estuary to meet the Man’s Promise, and its crew hails the ship, asking you to drop anchor to discuss terms.
The longboat's name is clearly seen on her hull as the Peccarine. Among the crew on her deck is an older stoop-backed man with a leathery, weatherworn face; watery blue eyes; and a halo of frizzy white hair. "Permission to come aboard," queries the man, with a voice that seems much stronger than his frame should allow.
Come aboard what? Chaenath asks leaning over the side of Man's Promise?
The man takes a moment to digest the response he received before shouting back. "Go and find someone who can speak for the ship and is familiar with the customs of the seas. I've better things to do with my day than to deal with the ship's whore in any fashion other than horizontally."
Malevor comes up beside Chaenath and leans over the rail.
"Call my friend a whore again and I will have your eyes replaced with daggers. Now, who are you and what is your business here? I'm not in the manner of letting random people on my ship without knowing who they are and why they're here."
Ethron takes Chaenath by the arm and takes her away from the railing.
"We should let them talk. Trust me on this one."
Ethron looks back over the railing at the man before leaving his sight. "I don't like the idea either, but just let Malevor handle this."
The man responds, "ahhh, I see, my sentiments exactly. Even among the landlubbers it is usual that the visitor should announce themselves first, and since I'm not in the manner of letting random people at my docks without knowing who they are and why they're here, I will throw the question back to you, stranger."
Alessandra spends the week getting to know the ship and its crew better. She knew most of them already, but only from the level of being one of the other swabs. She never really saw the bigger picture, and just how much needs to be done to keep the ship afloat.
Being responsible for things is hard, she discovers - much to her surprise. The half-orc girl bares her tusks a couple of times when people don't make an effort, but honest mistakes from being short-crewed or simple error go unremarked, other than a "well, now you know not to do it again, hmm, sweetie?" She has no intention of ruling by terror the way Scourge did. She's reasonably satisfied by the end of the week that they're a loyal, well-motivated crew.
When they arrive at Ricketty's Squibs, the girl is busy supervising the riggers and it takes her a while to get there. She arrives at the ship's rail just in time to hear Malevor and Ethron display their charm(!).
"Well, this is going well..." Alessandra murmurs. She's perfectly willing to fight, but she'd rather parley right now - they have enough enemies, thanks.
"We are crew late of Harrigan's ship the Wormwood, seeking safer harbour. I'm Alessandra, daughter of an orc pirate - maybe you've heard of him? This is Malevor, captain of our ship, which ... how do I put this? Let's say it needs a new name and identity and leave it at that, hmmm?"
That covers most of it. What else? Oh yes. Stupid girl.
"We can pay. But please don't call my friend a whore again, for your own safety. Deal?"
The man looks back at Alessandra, and ponders for a second. "If you truly be late of Harrigan's crew, and you intend to not be late of this world, then you surely do need a good squibbing, don't you girl? As sure as I sailed on the Bearded Whore under Free Captain Ella Gurnett, who fed the kraken at the battle of Nolis Point, I say you have come to the right place then. My name is Rickety Hake, and so I shall ask a second time, but there shan't be a third. Permission to come aboard? Else, how can I see what needs be done to squib her, or we to make the deal, and you to show me you can pay."
Alessandra looks sidelong at Malevor, and gives him a surreptitious elbow (she's hazy on tiefling anatomy, but aims for somewhere that will get his attention). "This is the bit where you say 'Permission granted' - I think... Captain" she whispers out the corner of her mouth.
|
Rogar emerges from below deck, and has been clearly taking very good care of the beverages the last few days. "Oi, wha's th' racket 'ere? We came t' get squibbin' fer our ship, an' he's goin' t' offer that. Let th' man in, fer sakes. I go get 'im a welcome drink."
The dwarf almost turn and returns to where he came, but then remember he was carrying a bottle of grog. "Hope 'e don't mind drinkin' straight from bottle," he says with a shrug.
I do not see what the problem is. I just asked the rude man to be precise in what he asked for. Also what does he mean horizontally? If he wishes to be dead then I suppose we can help him with that. Chaenath chatters to Ethron.
"Uhh...well..." Ethron puts his hand up to whisper into Chaenath's ear what exactly Rickety Hake meant by the "horizontal" comment.
He quickly tries to drag Chaenath down below deck to avoid causing a scene, just in case.