Ethron retells what he remembers from a few studies about hauntings.
You can keep killing him. Ethron can keep getting harpooned by him but this fog is bo-ring
*tap* *tap* *tap*
"Witch, puh-lease - killing NEVER gets boring! And the fog just adds to the fun, right guys... guys?"
Alessandra's not stupid; it slowly dawns on her that her companions might - just might - have other priorities. She doesn't understand that at all, but she appreciates (is desperate for, although she'd die rather than admit it) their friendship and approval, and will go with what they want.
"...so, tell me more about how we kill this bell?"
Kill the same thing every night until we die of old age might be fine for you A-le-san-dra. But I will live for far longer. Alone and forlorn killing zombies for hundreds of boring years. Chaenath swoons dramatically.
Ethron moves to catch dramatic swooning witch.
"Stay on your feet, we've only got so long until that thing catches up to us again."
"What would happen if we make port? It wouldn't venture so close to shore, would it?"
Alessandra stamps her foot. Actually stamps her actual foot. "Fine. I find a great new toy, but noooo, somebody wants to get on with their life. Alright, fine. Have it your own way. See if I care."
Scowling sulkily, the teenager nevertheless concentrates her bowfire on the bell and not anything interesting, like a moving target. She studies it first. It's just a bell!
Alright, so I'll handwave fighting the zombies, but let's say Pilk is standing next to the bell. Alessandra has chosen to ignore Pilk and open fire on the bell, per her pre-combat briefing instructions.
She has done a total of 10 points of damage to the bell in round 1.
Everyone else?
Success
Pilk - 17
Bell - 10
Chaenath casts Enlarge Person on Ethron. Hit that Bell Giant Holy Man
He does not like us hitting his bell! It is working!
Sandara will cast bless and give everyone some +1s.
Ethron, now towering at nearly 12 feet tall, bellows a hardy laugh. "Now this is what I'm talking about!!"
Ethron's grip on his falcata shifts to a two handed grip as his stance changes for more power.
He rushes up, trying to stay out of the Captain's reach, swinging for all his might at the bell.
When you get large, your weapon damage goes up:
So I'll use 14 damage from Ethron. Bless doesn't help damage.
Pilk moves forward to attack Ethron.
Hit
I think that fails because of your size?
The party is up!
Pilk - 17
Bell - 14
The temptation to shoot at a moving target, especially one wielding a harpoon, is almost too much to resist, but Alessandra grits her teeth and fires at the bell, again. "You guys are gonna make this up to me later, right? Find me another toy, yeah?"
Ocean full of toys A-lessandra Chaenath sings and hits Pilk with a Misfortune Hex and Cackles to extend it out two rounds.
Doc nails the bell, and the acid sets to work on it.
Alessandra's first arrow strikes the acid weakened bell and shatters it.
Pilk wails, and the brine zombies turn on him. He goes down in a pile of flesh and bone. The ship shudders, and Doc tells everyone to get back to the Chimera.
Ethron is able to grab the harpoon, and you all beat feet back to your ship before the Deathknell sinks beneath the waves for its final time.
The weapon is a +1 seeking harpoon
I can make all the holy water you want Doc. How much do you want?
Ethron in his enlarged state sees from above Pilk being torn apart by his own crew. Gruesome...wait, is the ship tilting again?
Ethron hoofs it back to the boarding plank just as the spell wears off, watching the ship sink from the safety of the deck of the Chimera. He takes his silver flagon, chuckling to himself as he takes a drink of rum. "That's a story to tell, eh?"
He looks the harpoon over, noting the expert craftsmanship that kept it from falling under the same spell that kept the crew of the Deathknell undead. "Anyone want this? Or should we pawn it at port?"
Things to sell. Tales to tell. Let's land at port. Chaenath sings.
Looking back, I saw this post from Chaenath. So continuing on towards Tidewater Rock...
Let me give you a stack of history on Tidewater Rock, which the AP suggests needs a skill check, but really, you need some of this, so here:
When a Free Captain named Magna Stormeyes discovered the natural harbor on Windward Isle over 2 centuries ago, she immediately recognized that it would make the perfect haven from which to launch a pirate f leet. Starting with just one ship and a small encampment on Windward’s harbor, she began to ply the trade of piracy. With the plunder from her initial hauls, she set about building a keep, which she called Tidewater Rock. From the vantage point atop the Rock, she found she could pick out particularly ripe targets while receiving ample of warning of hostile ships approaching.
Over time, Stormeyes’ successes enabled her to build a sizeable fleet, as well as more strongholds on several different islands. She became the scourge of the southern sea lanes and eventually claimed the Hurricane Crown as her own. Shortly after becoming the Hurricane King and relocating to Port Peril, she was assassinated by rival Free Captains. Stormeyes’ burgeoning f leet fell apart among its squabbling captains. Gerta Frome, first mate of Stormeyes’ f lagship, the Cocksure, seized control of the Rock. Within only a few years, Frome became a powerful Free Captain herself, and the legend of Tidewater Rock as both a powerful good luck talisman and an impregnable bastion was born.
Over the many years since, control of Tidewater Rock has passed from hand to hand, and its strategic location and practical defensibility have enabled its owners to enrich themselves substantially. With the rebellion of Sargava and its ostensible alliance with the Free Captains, Tidewater Rock became of less strategic importance, and its owners came to be of less prominence, but the age-old axiom of “Good fortune and sure sail await what one can crack the Tidewater Rock” has stood the test of time among the pirates of the Shackles and is oft-quoted—if seldom heeded—even today.
The most recent lord of Tidewater Rock was Bertram Smythee, captain of the Vale and three other brigs. Like his predecessors, he held Tidewater Rock as his seat, but controlled a few other small castles on surrounding islands as well. Over a decade ago, “Iron Bert” Smythee went to sea with his small fleet in a feud with Free Captain Carola Antiochus and was never seen again. Word came back that Antiochus had lured Smythee into the edges of the Eye of Abendego and ambushed him with the help of a previously unknown ally—one Barnabas Harrigan—and that Smythee’s fleet was cut to pieces between the enemy fleets. Though Captain Smythee managed to sink Antiochus’s Pergador, he was last seen on the deck of the crippled and sinking Vale at the mercy of the Eye’s hurricane winds.
Captain Harrigan claimed the remainder of Antiochus’s fleet and took control of several of Smythee’s undefended castles. He made an attempt to take the Tidewater Rock as well, only to discover that Smythee’s able widow had taken charge of its defenses. She managed to fend off his
attack with such alacrity that Harrigan decided to leave the widow to rot in her tower.
Although Tidewater Rock remains a secure base and harbor, it does not command the reputation it once did. The current owner of the Rock is Agasta Smythee, widow of the late Iron Bert. Though Lady Smythee is a
competent and formidable figure, without any of her late husband’s ships or network of castles, the Lady of the Rock has fallen upon hard times. Lady Smythee’s forces have been reduced to a small body of loyal guards and a few family retainers whom she employs to eke out a living. The Rock still commands some treasures—its favorable location, its security, and the late captain’s fabled iron shirt from which he gained his nickname—but it is otherwise remote and at the mercy of what the sea chooses to throw upon its shores.
The location of Tidewater Rock is Windward Isle, the westernmost island in a small archipelago south of Motaku Isle. This puts it roughly 100 miles west of Rickety's Squibs.
Should you decide to try "cracking the rock" there are roughly three methods to try - force, stealth, and diplomacy. And those methods need not be mutually exclusive.
Ok, so that's a load of info for you.
You guys have sold plunder and stuff right? Have you spent your cash to get yourselves kitted out with gear? Rickety's could be used if you have some plunder now, or you could try it at Tidewater Rock even.
500+12500+400+4000+4152.5 = 21551.5gp Divided by four greedy adventurers: 5388gp 1sp 2cp (5388.125)
You bet, but remember it doesn't stack with a cloak of resistance
Any thoughts or questions about Tidewater Rock?
Don't see why Doc and Alessandra can't try sweet talking.
I believe you're at Rickety's right. You can find potions there.
With a grimace, Alessandra realises she doesn't have quite enough cash on her to upgrade her bow. Sighing, she sells off her bracers of archery and uses the money to get a higher quality of enchantment on her favoured weapon.
She also splashes out on a cloak having an enchantment to protect her from harm, and a set of magical sleeves that allow her to dress as she wishes. Wardrobe problems banished in an instant: man, the rich get to live well! She grins, and spends most of the next few days constantly changing outfits - although never, ever, being seen in green.
Just as Alessandra starts to purchase her own cloak, he slides the cloak back over the counter. "No thanks, she's got one." He takes off his own cloak, putting it around her shoulders.
"There you go, save yourself some hard earned cash. Ain't gonna do me any good anymore. Besides, it just didn't feel like me."
He heads off in his own direction, taking a drink from his new mug.
Alright, so everyone all set?
alright, so here we go...
Windward Isle
Windward Isle is 2 miles long by 1 mile wide and is almost entirely surrounded by rough shingle and gravel beaches. Its central elevation never rises above 100 feet, so the tower of Tidewater Rock commands a good view of almost the entire island. Its soil is rocky and barren, with thin salt grasses, scrub trees, and a few boggy areas where peat is collected. Fauna consists of nothing larger than small serpents and mice. The Lady of the Rock maintains a few small areas of cultivated land where roots, grains, and vegetables are raised to supply the castle, and an orange grove grows near the lagoon. A small hutch inland from the anchorage provides shelter for the goatherd Mardus Siggs to watch over the herd of seven goats that call Windward Isle home during the day. In addition, two small springs (one hidden in a rock cistern) provide fresh water for the island’s inhabitants.
The harbor of Windward Isle is a quarter-mile-wide channel that runs just south of Tidewater Rock and ends in a lagoon large and deep enough to safely hold three seagoing ships. The water in the channel and lagoon never drops below 20 feet deep at low tide, so ships in the anchorage are in no danger of running aground, and are protected from the worst of the storm surges when monsoons blow in off the Fever Sea.
The keep of Tidewater Rock sits right on the lagoon’s edge, where the water ranges from knee deep to neck deep, with powerful ebb tides and rip currents that can sweep invaders out to sea.
Tidewater Rock
Tidewater Rock is a fortified tower house over 70 feet tall, built upon the same stone shingle that makes up the western shore of Windward Isle. The tower house is composed of reinforced masonry walls atop a 10-foot-high stone base filled with packed dirt. A stone stair rises 10 feet to the heavy front door, and at all times but the greatest ebb of low tide, the shingle below the castle is a swirling morass of tide water. At high tide, the waves lap at the very lip of the door stoop, making assailing the castle virtually impossible.
Interior floors are built of heavy oak beams 2 feet thick, and the tower roof is sheathed in lead tiles. Ceilings are 12 feet high. Doors are of strong wood but only a few have locks (Disable Device DC 25). All the windows except one (in area B11) are narrow arrow slits, some of which are set into deep alcoves providing a broad shelf area that can be used for seating or storage. Lighting is provided by these arrow slits during the day and thick tallow candles in wall sconces at night. The entire castle has a feeling of cramped security but still manages to convey a sense of comfort and safety for those who reside there.
And here is the box text for the encounter:
A tower rises like a solid block from the sea at the edge of this island. The pounding surf rolls around its base and partially covers the steps that lead up to its front gate. A few arrow slits pierce its walls here and there, and a single shuttered window opens high upon the face of the fortress. A roof of metal shingles rises from its battlements where sentries keep lookout and siege weapons stand ready on corner turrets.
I believe it was stated that your intent was to have your chatty folks talk your way in, so assuming you approach the tower without any sign of hostile intent, the guards on the battlements alerts the residents of the castle, and two additional people, a woman, and a man, come out on the battlements to speak with you.
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Rogar walks up to the battlements, presenting himself in all his unarmed glory.
"Ahoy, there! Be this th' mighty Tidewater Rock I be watching? Be either o' ye th' lord or th' lady o' this place? Me an' me mateys be interested in sharing sum word with ye? Be ye so kind t' sit down fer a talk?"
"Preferably over a pint or two o' beer.... " The dwarf adds with a wink.
The Lady responds, "if it is peaceful intentions you have, and so it seems you claim, then peace you shall find here. I invite up to five of your officers to dine with me, but under one condition. As evidence of your good intentions, you will provide me a hostage. One of your number, who you shall deliver up to my door unarmed and unarmored while the rest of you stand back at least one hundred feet from the door. My men will bring the hostage inside, search him (or her), and keep them safe and well fed while you are inside. Once the hostage is exchanged, your officers may enter, armed if they desire, but recognize that my people too will be armed in your presence, and should you commit any hostilities against us, the life of your hostage shall be forfeit post haste. If my proposal is acceptable to you, then haul away from the door, until your hostage is ready to return. Supper will be at 4:30, try and not be late."