"We are racin' around the eye? Are ya mad?" Estelle sits down a bit but then gets up and rechecks the rigging.
"Were gonna hafta buy some extra riggin' and such just incase."
Cheat? Ya. Punch holes in their boats.
Well, Ya. I expect to cheat, but against them. It's so much more fun to out cheat a cheater.
And what do you mean the perfect map?
"That maps Fairwind gave us." Besmara replies. "Magic!"
What?
He goes over to examine the charts, and when he looks away and back and sees a smudge move.
Oh. OH
We have a lot to tank Fairwind for it seems.
If this is a race, should we think about using some of that letter of credit to upgrade the Kracken?
"I got a new bed already. What else would you want to update about the ship?"
"What did ye do with the old bed? Ye seem to be getting lots o' beds" Estelle looks at Besmara with envy
"You're the one doing the carpenting. My new bed still waits for assembly and installation. You can have the old one if ya like it." Besmara offers.
Well it's a race. Silk sails to make us run faster, or reinforced hull to keep us from being sunk if we need to fight. There is more to life then just what happens in bed.
Estelle gets to work taking apart the one bed and putting the new one in, then she has to find a spot for her new bed.
"Maybe I will be keepin' this for me ma when we get back to tha rock."
Besmara looks at the silken sails with the Kraken dyed into them and then back at Lito and into his eyes searching for signs of a concussion. "Fairwind did a pretty good job on you. Before you give commands on the ship again we need to check that you still remember the four cardinal directions."
"But if we want to win a race, then a thicker hull only slows us down."
The race is only two weeks away and therefore the time is too short for larger rebuilds of the ship.
The annual Free Captains’ Regatta is a time-honored tradition in the Shackles, and one of the few opportunities that lesser, independent captains have to increase their station and status among the pirates of the Shackles. The Free Captains’ Regatta is a grueling nautical race held among the hazardous sandbars and reefs north of the Shackles among the dangerous currents and winds at the southern fringes of the giant hurricane called the Eye of Abendego. The race is open to any Free Captain with a ship, and while many captains and ships do not finish the race (or even survive it), the regatta has no shortage of competitors each year, for the rewards are truly worth the risk—a hefty prize purse, lordship of a small island, and a seat on the Pirate Council of the Shackles.
The druid-captain known as the Master of the Gales has won the regatta for the last 5 years, but this year he is officiating the race instead of competing, leaving its outcome in doubt.
As the race date draws close and the last competitors arrive at Port Peril, the city’s populace buzzes with speculation about the course for this year’s race. A week before race day, the announcement flies through the city that the Master of the Gales has declared Cauldron Rock, the northernmost island large enough to be marked on most maps of the Shackles, as the race’s starting point. A huge flotilla of racers and spectators sets sail northward out of Jeopardy Bay.
"Let's do this!" Besmara states. "Set course to Port Peril and get us registered for that race."
Lito sends a message off to Fairwind letting her know, then plots a course to Port Peril and gets the crew ready to race per the captain's orders.
The Kraken makes it to port Peril and there Besmara registers for the Regatta with the Master of Gales himself.
Arriving at Cauldron Rock, the race fleet anchors northeast of the island. The captains of most of the competing ships disallow shore leave for their crews, but numerous spectators make merry on their ships or on a small sandy beach nearby, in spite of intermittent rain and wind from the giant hurricane to the north.
The afternoon before the race, the Master of the Gales calls a meeting of all competing ships’ captains and their senior officers aboard his xebec, the Kraken. An imposing man with tanned and weather-beaten skin and long, windblown hair and beard, the Master of the Gales outlines the course of the race to the competitors and supplies a simple route map to each participant. Designed to test even the most rugged crew, the regatta will take ships along the fringes of the Eye of Abendego and even into the storm itself, ending at a small islet called Coaming Point. Fixing each contestant with a icy blue stare, the Master of the Gales reminds everyone that the Free Captains’ Regatta is a nautical race, not a battle or an opportunity to avenge past slights. He announces that he will be monitoring the race, and any ship caught attacking or unduly interfering with another competing vessel will be disqualified, or if necessary, sunk. Nature itself will be the most dangerous enemy the contenders will face, a fact the gathered captains would be wise to remember if they hope to complete, much less win, the regatta.
This year’s Free Captain’s Regatta attracts far more entries than the last few years. A wide variety of ships are taking part, from barques, brigs, caravels, clippers, and galleons, to galleys, junks, longships, and triremes. The following ships comprise the PCs’ main opposition in the Regatta: the Albatross, Barnacled B@@#%, Bonny Witch, Chimera’s Teeth, Darcy’s Pillage, Kelizandri’s Favor, Pharasma’s Price, Promise’s Bounty, Redcap, Sea’s Largess, Skullduggery, Stormrunner, Sullied Strumpet, Wave Wraith, and lastly, the Wormwood - captained by your old nemesis, Barnabas Harrigan.
The race begins first thing in the morning, under leaden skies and sudden squalls of driving rain. After over an hour of shouting, cursing, and jostling for position, the contenders arrange themselves in rough formation behind the starting line drawn between the Kraken and another ship, the Ocean’s Revenge. All eyes look to the Master of the Gales, who stands atop a rocky promontory on Cauldron Rock. He raises both arms to the sky and unleashes a flashing bolt of lightning down into the surf, signaling the start of the race. As the Master of the Gales transforms into an albatross and flies over the participants, the wind shifts sharply and unnaturally from northerly to easterly, throwing the competitors into chaos.
Harrigan our enemy? Plugg and Scourge where and they dead. Me not care about Harrigan.
The Kraken gets a good start. Where others collide in the strange winds it gets on course with the majority of the regatta.
Next challenge are the Silted Shrouds. The Silted Shrouds are an extensive series of shallow sandbars formed by the continuous action of the Eye of Abendego. There are no up-to-date charts of the Silted Shrouds, as new channels and sandbars continuously form and wash away.
Detail: The PCs must make four successful
DC 25 Survival checks to navigate their way through.
Characters with at least 5 ranks in Knowledge (geography)
or Knowledge (local) gain a +2 bonus on the checks.
Alternatively, the PCs can use aerial reconnaissance
or underwater reconnaissance (provided the scout has
a fly speed or swim speed of 50 feet or more) to make
Perception checks instead. Failing a check subtracts
1 from the PCs’ Race score as they backtrack. Failing a
check by 5 or more means the PCs’ ship runs aground,
subtracting an additional 2 from their Race score, unless
they have an underwater scout moving ahead of the ship.
"Harrigan, I wish we could be sinkin' him and I could strangle his ass all the way to the bottom o' the ocean." Estelle cracks her knuckles and gets moving about the ship to make sure everyone is doing what they need to be.
"Owlbear, get up here we are goin' ta need ya to keep an eye out" Owlbear lumbers up to the deck in his gear ready for a right, Estelle ties him to the main mast but with enough leeway so that he can get out quickly
Trytton can swim, right.
Yes but can he swim fast enough to scout for our ship? That means moving faster the our ship. Not sure if anyone has something that can make him swim faster.....
Or if the mermaid necklace allows the user to swim fast enough to do that either. I'd do it if the necklace allows the user to swim that fast.
"Won't the seas be a bit to rough?" Estelle asks while looking up at the gray ceiling above them
"Chay, do you have a spell that allows to communicate over some distance?" Besmara asks the wizard.
Noonan takes over the scouting but that doesn't go too well. In the foaming sea everything is hard to see which leads to the need of backtracking and two times the Kraken running on ground. Luckily it is only sand and nothing breaks.
Next onthe course are the low-lying coral reefs known as Raker Shoals. Those are a well known hazard to ships in this region. The crew must quickly chart a course through the shoals with a successful DC 20 Knowledge (geography) check.
Hanging on to the steering wheel Besmara calls out "Can someone check how we get through this, from here on?"
Estelle Runs down below decks to make sure the bottom of the ship hasn't been ripped out.
Noonan gets back to doing ropework, hoping he doesn't mess things up even further
Let's see if we can catch up a bit.
Lito studies the charts and tries to plot a course.
There. If we go there, it should make up a bit of time.
"That's a good one." Besmara states as she steers the Kraken on the given course.
Besmara spots the few reefs that are on that path pretty easy and avoids them, only the last she notices almost too late.
But she curves the Kraken around it at the last moment.
Gozreh's Flow
Sometimes called Gozreh’s Piss by the less reverent, the
swirling wash of powerful ocean currents called Gozreh’s
Flow sweeps out of the Sodden Lands along the southern
fringes of the Eye. Competitors must tack into the strong
wind while navigating the treacherous currents. The PCs
must make three successful DC 25 Knowledge (nature) or
DC 30 Survival checks during this leg to avoid the strong
easterly currents dragging them back. Each failed check
subtracts 1 from their Race score. Casting commune with
nature or find the path eliminates the need for any checks.
There is no way to avoid Gozreh’s Flow.
Sailing checks: The PCs can make three DC 20 sailing
checks to improve their Race score during this leg of the race.
Noonan hides, not wanting to get whipped for messing up Besmara's ship.
"Yer gunna tear the ass outta the ship if ye keep drivin' her like that." Estelle barely makes it back up the stairs to the deck.
Besmara leaves the course and maps stuff to Lito and concentrates on getting the most out of the ship despite the bad currents.
"Some help with the sails here, keep them in the wind!" she orders.
Estelle scales the main mast to make sure the sails are going to hold.
See the way the waves clash, avoid that part of the water.
Lito tries his best to guild Besmara through the crazy current.
As he does he also uses his ability to manage the crew to aid the others in reacting to her course corrections even as they get caught in the current.
The current is tricky, but with Lito's knowledge and the combined sailing skills the Kraken catches up a bit.
Iris’ Splinters
Two jagged shafts of rock, called the Iris’s Splinters, rise out of the ocean here, forming a narrow 100 foot gap between them. Competitors must “thread the Iris” and sail between these splinters.
As the Kraken approaches the rocks, a gigantic turtlelike behemoth surfaces ahead of them. As they watch, the beast smashes into the Sullied Strumpet with a bellow, capsizing the light sloop.
The turtle’s slow swim speed gives the Kraken the opportunity to outmaneuver it and dart through the Iris with three successful DC 25 sailing checks. If you wait for another ship to draw the turtle's attention, only one sailing check is required, but this subtracts 1d3
from your race score.
Dragon Turtle!!! Take evasive action!
As the sailing is a bit lacking, someone needs to fight the dragon turtle, until the ship is past it.
"Lito take the steering wheel." Besmara orders and jumps overboard to keep that ugly thing away from her ship. As she dives into the water she transforms into a manta ray and swims towards the turtle with incredible speed.
Estelle gets to the edge of the ship as Besmara swims over, "Trytton get in there I will help from here." Estelle grabs up a crossbow.
"Flips we need ye on the GUNS" Estelle screams over the wind.
Trytton is overboard after Besmara. His legs turn into a tail as he approaches the turtle and throws a blast of water laced with lightning at it.
The turtle exhales a cloud of steam to cook the two snacks approaching her.
Besmara avoids most of the heat, but it's still painful. As she doesn't want to end inside that beast she swims around it in the hopes to distract it.