During the first half of the day, at some point, Sandra Quinn introduces herself to the part of your group that are swabs. One thing you notice is that she appears to have all of her gear. She explains that she was also caught the day before.
"I told Grok that my gear was righteous artifacts blessed by Besmara, and anyone wrongfully keeping it from me would be cursed." She smiles at the memory.
"I was also able to get these."
She hands over both Ioney's and Hraak's spell component bags.
"I think we should work together. On a pirate ship, it’s not what you know but who you know that helps you get by. Friends help each other out, enemies cause trouble—on a crowded pirate ship, this fact is essential for basic survival."
Sandra is a cleric of Besmara. She also hates Master Scrouge as they recently had an altercation.
At some point, Nivian is able to get to where you all sleep now. Carth makes an appearance, having been hiding in the boxes below decks. He also has a present for Nivian, returning with her spell component bag in his mouth.
When Hraak goes to the galley, he meets Kroop. The cook is in a sorry state, obviously drunk, though not insensate. His clothes are stained and he is fat and unkempt. However, he is friendly. Glad to have help, he explains the job to Hraak, eseentially to help Kroop prepare meals and that Hraak will spend a lot of time fishing. Kroop likes to talk, and eventually begins to talk about the ship.
“It’s poison, this ship, but don’t let anyone hear you say it aloud. The hull listens, see, and the cap’n hears it all. Poison the Wormwood is, though, rotten to the core. You’ll not meet a more nasty, sour piece of work than Cap’n Harrigan in all your days at sea, and his crew’s the same, ’specially the first mate, Mr. Plugg. Vicious little sod, he is. He’d take his own mother’s liver to the butcher to make pies with, he would. But they leave me alone, mostly. They know I can’t ’arm ’em.”
As the day wears on, you get a sense of how the rest of the crew views you.
As the day wears on, you get a sense of how the rest of the crew views you.
As the day wears on, you get a sense of how the rest of the crew views you.
No actions yet. Please wait for the prompt.
The only two ship's officers you can influence are Grok and Kroop.
While Kroop is indifferent to the you at the beginning, he is, at heart, a friendly salt, and soon becomes attached to any character who makes a modicum of effort as the cook’s mate. In general, Kroop likes to cook and drink rum. He is usually insensibly drunk in his quarters during the evening, rarely venturing onto deck after serving the evening meal. Kroop’s cook’s mate gains a +2 bonus on all checks to influence the quartermaster Cut-Throat Grok. Kroop is also happy to lend his mate any equipment from the galley, though stealing it without his permission is easy enough.
Grok is a reedy half-orc who favors dark clothing. She carries a notched greataxe and an array of throwing axes hangs from her belt. Grok frequently grins toothily, and uses appalling curse words, particularly when drunk. Grok is renowned for being tough, and she doesn’t suffer fools, but she is a close friend of Ambrose Kroop, whom she sees as someone who’s had even worse luck than she’s had. Grok is usually found in the quartermaster’s store during the day. In the evenings, she locks the store and carouses on deck, drinking and gambling with the other pirates before returning to her cabin to sleep it off.
As the group of new folks start to move about the ship, Onnello intentionally starts working on a rope near the other new rigger, a handsome gnome in a purple hat. "Afternoon, seems like were the new riggers. Names Onnello, originally sailed out of Ilizmagorti. Where do you hail from?"
[dice=sense motive]1d20+6
You sense that if you were a woman, you would more easily influnce him.
"I'm busy. mind your own business." The foppish gnome says with an irritated voice.
“It’s poison, this ship, but don’t let anyone hear you say it aloud. The hull listens, see, and the cap’n hears it all. Poison the Wormwood is, though, rotten to the core. You’ll not meet a more nasty, sour piece of work than Cap’n Harrigan in all your days at sea, and his crew’s the same, ’specially the first mate, Mr. Plugg. Vicious little sod, he is. He’d take his own mother’s liver to the butcher to make pies with, he would. But they leave me alone, mostly. They know I can’t ’arm ’em.”
"Thank you for the intro and advice Master Kroop" - Helgash nodded as he listened - "I intend to keep to myself, for as long as I can" - he added.
Sebastion smiles at the woman that brought the gifts. He notes the Besmaran holy symbol as well.
"Thank you, miss, I would most welcome a friend here. I do not know the others that were taken with me, but I feel they would all like to change our current circumstances. You said that you got those items from the ship's quartermaster? Would all our gear be in her possesion now?"
"Oh, you are a smart snake. Good job, little one. It seems that one is allowed to hold what one claims as their own, but regardless...hide within my clothing unless there is trouble at hand.", she calmly speaks with her familiar when reasonably sure that she is alone with Carth. "Now lets see what we can do about this ship...and it's crew."
As the Besmaran makes her gifts, Ioney offers a slight bow. "Thank you for your kindness and generosity. Alliances are good things, though it is usually wise to understand the situation before agreeing to one . . .. I am Ioney. A pleasure to make your acquaintance, Sandra." He tosses the spell component pouch in his hand. "You do make a solid opening case."
In response to Sebastian's question of Sandra: "He has a point. How are we to retrieve the rest of our equipment? I assume stealing it back is frowned upon."
Oh yes, stealing from the ship's stores is very risky, as you will see today." Sandra responds to Ioney.
"Although, Grok is not very careful. Also, she doesn't keep inventory, but she would recognize any stolen equipment if you tried to sell it back to her."
True to Sandra's earlier statement. the crew gathers on deck at dusk to witness the keelhauling of Jakes Magpie, a pirate caught stealing from the quartermaster’s store the night before. After a brief interrogation at the hands of Mr. Plugg and Master Scourge, Jakes admitted his crime, and is now brought up from the bilges to be slowly keelhauled before the evening meal.
Mr. Plugg seems overly gleeful at the upcoming punishment. Jakes has his hands bound to ropes that lead the bottom corners of the mainsail after he is placed below the bowsprit at the front of the ship. Once secured, Scourge gives a signal to the two crewmen at the lash points where the mainsail is currently anchored. At the signal, the two crewmen undog the tiedowns and the mainsail floats free at its bottom edge. The ropes pull taut on Jakes arms. His brief scream is cut off as he is dragged under the bow of the ship. It takes less than a minute for the ropes to travel the length of the ship. What appears on the other side has been cut to shreds and is soon thrown overboard to feed the sharks.
"Well, it looks like stealing is out unless there is a certainty of not getting caught." Sebastion says wistfully after witnessing the punishment.
"Besides, the only thing I really want is my sword, and that would be a difficult thing to wear unnoticed."
"Might be a good idea..." - Helgash growled, as he watched what was left of Jakes Magpie being fed to the sharks.
"We might get away with small weapons that are not so obvious, but I think Scourge and Plugg would be on us in an instant if we had anyhting more." Sebastion says back to Onnello.
"I am Sebastion." As he takes the prffered hand.
"I like Sandra's and Onnello'ssuggestion that we stick together. I don't like the look of some of the others, they seem to be toadies for Scourge and Plugg."
"I believe before long it may be wise to have weapons both obvious and hidden at your disposal. Neither Plugg nor Scourge seem to have objected to Sandara retrieving her gear. I think they simply took all they could to ensure none of us tried anything brave before we fully understood our situation. I'm Nivian, pleased to make all your aquaintances. And I won't make you introduce yourself a third time, Onello.", she smiles, acknowledging his earlier attempt - albeit at a ill timing - to seek contact.
After the keelhauling, the crew receives their rum ration and breaks up for the night. Many participate in night entertainments, a few go to bed. Each of you may now pick one of the nighttime actions to perform. Don't make any rolls, just pick the action, I will let each of you know what the options are for that action after you pick it.
Kroop is not available at night.
Grok is unavailable tonight as well.
Btw, Helgash, as the cook's mate, you have more freedom to move about, so your daytime actions are slightly modified. For instance, Shop and Shirk do not impose a -2 penalty on you.
"Another new "recruit", working with the Swabs. Convinced the Quartermaster that her clerical Gear would bring Besmaras curse upon any who withheld it from her.", Nivian smirks, "It would seem the Quartermaster is slightly superstitious."
She sips from her rum ration again:"Either way, she introduced herself earlier and suggested that those of us new on the ship stick together. A sensible suggestion, in my opinion. There's some other new guys - I'll likely try and have a chat with either that halfling girl or that foppish gnome later, test the waters, so to say."
Kroop is not available at night.
Grok is unavailable tonight as well.
Btw, Helgash, as the cook's mate, you have more freedom to move about, so your daytime actions are slightly modified. For instance, Shop and Shirk do not impose a -2 penalty on you.
Caulky and Owlbear are not actual crew, and generally unapproachable. They are not able to be influenced except as special events.
Kroop is dead drunk after supper, always. Grok sometimes (25%) skips carousing to tend to Kroop when he is bad off, but never two nights in a row (so tomorrow night she will definitely be carousing).
Also, as long as Helgash makes an honest effort to assist Kroop, he will become helpful after several days, so no real need to "influence" him.
Nivian, you can make either a Diplomacy check (to gather information) or a Sense Motive check to see if you can find out anything to help you influence Rosie Cusswell.
*EDIT* Actually, you can do both. The Diplomacy is free, you can make it and then decide to not go through with the action. The Sense Motive check commits you to the influence action.
Sebastion will try to find out about the angry Pharasmite, Crimson Cogward.
As the others talk about forming an alliance of the new crew, he hesitates, but eventually nods. "Can't fight the undercurrent and live. I'll do what I can to help."
---
Ioney tries to ignore the beginning of the keelhauling, except for the fact he HAS to make a show of paying attention . . .. He just stands and stares the end of it, though, looking out over the railing at the water for several minutes after the remains have been disposed.
For the night's activity, Ioney will set himself up to entertain the crew! Looking to make as broad a positive impression as he can, as quickly as he can, of course.
He'll start with a couple of traditional pieces (Drunken Sailor, High Barbary, and Haul Away, Joe), move into a story about Besmara managing to steal a shipment belonging to Abadar (mostly improve, but built from some chosen story bits - Spotting the target, outwitting the target with sun and wind, capturing the target, selling the goods back to Abadar's church), and then finish with a piece intended to engage the crew (A Drop of Nelson's Blood).
@ Nivian - Just waiting on that Diplomacy and Sense Motive checks.
@ Sebastian - Youe Gather Information reveals that Cogward prays to Pharasma often. Your Sense motive reveals that he is very interested in dark tales and bloodshed. Anyone that succeeds on a Perform(Oratory) check about a dark tale, or any fighter type that tells stories about gruesome fights, gets a +2 to any Bluff or Diplomacy check (but not Initimidate). A failure against him likely results in a violent reaction.
@ Ioney - You now have a +2 bonus to any Charisma related check against any crew member or officer (except those not present) for the next 24 hours.
Nivian approaches Rosie Cusswell , attempting to learn more about the Halfling:"You seem to fit in well with a crew of pirates - I once fitted a peg-leg that was larger than you to an Ogre, so getting their respect is quite a Feat to accomplish in such a short time. Have you served on another ship before?"
In addition, Nivian would like to take one extra late-night action, to "sneak".
Kroop is not available at night.
Grok is unavailable tonight as well.
Caulky and Owlbear are not actual crew, and generally unapproachable. They are not able to be influenced except as special events.
Btw, Helgash, as the cook's mate, you have more freedom to move about, so your daytime actions are slightly modified. For instance, Shop and Shirk do not impose a -2 penalty on you.
Also, as long as Helgash makes an honest effort to assist Kroop, he will become helpful after several days, so no real need to "influence" him.
As he moves around during the day, Helgash is drawn by his curiosity regarding the bare footed woman, so he pays more attention to her, and to what is said about her amidst the rest of the crew.
At night, and after tapping his foot to Ioney's performance, and complimenting him with a thumbs up, he decides to approach her.
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Nivian approaches Rosie Cusswell , attempting to learn more about the Halfling:"You seem to fit in well with a crew of pirates - I once fitted a peg-leg that was larger than you to an Ogre, so getting their respect is quite a Feat to accomplish in such a short time. Have you served on another ship before?"
[dice=Sense Motive]1d20+1
[dice=Diplomacy]1d20+1In addition, Nivian would like to take one extra late-night action, to "sneak".
[dice=Fortitude]1d20+3
First, your checks only give you the information I already put in her section in the crew tab on the campaign tab. Do you still wish to try and influence her? To do so would be a DC15 + her CHA modifier.
Next, the check is a CON check, not a Fort save, but you can keep that roll. As for the Sneak action, you do realize that you have a chance to get caught? It requires a Stealth check and I see you only have a +3... If you fail by 5 or more, it means you get spotted. I will put a list of ship locations on the Campaign tab, btw.
As he moves around during the day, Helgash is drawn by his curiosity regarding the bare footed woman, so he pays more attention to her, and to what is said about her amidst the rest of the crew.
[dice=Diplomacy to gather info]d20+3
At night, and after tapping his foot to Ioney's performance, and complimenting him with a thumbs up, he decides to approach her.
[dice=Then Sense Motive, right?]d20+5
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Your checks give you a +2 to influence her tonight. Do you wish to proceed? If so, you may make either a Bluff, Diplomacy, or Initimidate check to influence her.
As for stopping Nivian, that is something you can only do if she fails her stealth check. Besides, why would you want to stop her?
Your checks give you a +2 to influence her tonight. Do you wish to proceed? If so, you may make either a Bluff, Diplomacy, or Initimidate check to influence her.
"How is the air up there in the rigs?" - Helgash casually approached the barefooted woman - "I bet it is nice to have some room to breathe, instead of being down here with all us grunts?"
As for stopping Nivian, that is something you can only do if she fails her stealth check. Besides, why would you want to stop her?
Nivian sneaks into the chaotic mess that serves as Galley, and sets out to find things that won't be missed...preferable the kind that could be used as weapons, but keeping her eyes open for anything useful.
@ Helgash - You successfully improve her attitude to you by one step.
@ Nivian - I thought the Diplomacy roll was to gather information about her. So you can choose to roll another Diplomacy check, or forego attempting to influence her right now. You successfully sneak and you find a masterwork dagger. Note that there is so much stuff in the galley, much of this is lost items that have been forgotten in the clutter so they won't be missed.
As for stopping Nivian, that is something you can only do if she fails her stealth check.
"I don't think you are supposed to be here", a voice addresses Nivian as she enters the galley.
Nivian reflexively recoils, then sees the silhouette of Helgash and visibly relaxes: "Neither are you.", the Undine replies and attempts to move forward, surprised to find the Half-Orc blocking her way. "What's this about. Not even here a full day and trying to lick boots already? Let me through, before someone notices us."