Darth Maximus's page

This whole thing has been my favorite part of this game, so far. A little bit of throwaway fluff to introduce the necklace, and it blossomed into all of this. Serious props to you guys. Kel, in particular.

On a sadder note, I'm going to officially deem Buhayra as abandoned as of tomorrow. I'll be spending the day with my partner and his family tomorrow, but I'll try to reach out to some players who posted in recruitment to see if they'd be willing to come on as replacement. If any of you know any of them personally, I won't turn away recommendations.

As the debate rages, and Sven jumps into the sea to swim back to the derelict, Sandara steps up to the edge of the railing and begins intoning. After a long few seconds, 1d3 ⇒ 3 globs of water appear next to her. She turns to them and speaks.

The three small water elementals all simultaneously leap into the water. A moment later, two of them can be seen leaping from the surface to land on the deck of the sinking, burning ship. Underwater, meanwhile Sven sees the water coalesce into a translucent form near him, almost invisible. It speaks to him.

A few moments later, after Kel has gone belowdecks, two of the elementals leap back up onto the deck of the Challenger. One of them produces the necklace to Sandara, who takes it. She waves her hand over them, and they vanish.

That was awesome, guys. Usually, I would have just let that go (if you're going to throw away loot, who am I to argue), but the RP was just too good. I had to give you something. And I didn't want to try to add funds in later. So, deus ex Sandara.

Sandara walks up to Tamesis and hands her the trinket, "I don't know if it's dangerous or not, but you need to address it, nonetheless."

When morning breaks, the crew sets to work, and the Challenger sails on. While work on repairs commence, it soon becomes clear that work is going to be slow going. The fact that the majority of the crew is needed to sail, and that repairs can not be reliably made from the outside, means that the repairs will take longer than expected.

Cog and Kroop, though, put forth the suggestion that the ship make a stop on a nearby island to make the repairs more quickly.

I'm strongarming you. You all need to have this fear of islands broken.

The ship is beached on the banks of a river, and repairs begin in earnest. The crew enjoys their time relaxing in the shade of the palm trees while not on a working shift. After the second night, the ship is ready to sail again. And so it does.

After another 2 days, near mid-day, the lookout calls down.

A fishing trawler rides low in the water, heeling several degrees to port. It is obviously taking on water. The sails flap loosely from the yards and a fishing net drags in the water over the starboard side.

Upon closer inspection, the group can clearly see the breach on the port side just above the waterline, and the waves are slowly swamping the ship. The davits that held a small dinghy at the stern are empty, indicating that the crew abandoned ship. There are no signs of damage or battle other than the breach in the hull.

I hope everyone had a great Memorial Day weekend!

And if you live outside the US, I hope you had a great weekend, too. :-)

Mid-round update!

Kehlysch and Buhayra both connect with their respective elemental attacks, though neither is enough to bring down the bulky marines. Sven, on the other hand, lays into the marine so hard that his body disintegrates, splattering the deck in gore that shares it's consistency with chunky salsa...

Well, unless someone is going to help you out, you might as well start rolling Fort saves.

Also, I'm pretty sure Choon is questioning my sanity. Over the course of a single day, I rebuilt every encounter in Book 2. Still need to do loot for most of them, but that can wait for another day. I am exhausted and need rest. Goodnight!

I'll give you guys a chance to tie up any loose ends (like Kel's impending ghouldom) before moving on to the start of Book 2.

Though, I supposed being a Gillman, Kel would turn into a Lacedon, instead of a regular ghoul...

Sweet baby Jesus....

Me: "It's a ranged fight! Sven is probably gonna be useless..."
Sven: *basically one-shots the enemy with a dagger*
Me: :-|

As soon as you gain enough XP, yes. ;-)

I don't know if you guys have been able to tell, but I have been upgrading encounters to provide 1.5x the XP as listed in the book, so you are pretty well on track to where you're supposed to be.

Scourge wets his pants and collapses into a sobbing fit as Tamesis taunts him, and has to be physically lifted and thrown into the sea to be keelhauled.

Cog looks over the whistle curiously, but shrugs, "Looks like it's already been cleaned, to me. But thanks, it's a good feeling. And yeah, I'll have them report back what they see." He takes to the job like a duck to water, handing out job assignments and directing the crew to their stations. The whole process seems much smoother than it has the past couple of weeks.

The crew is quick to open up to Sven, and are thankful for his help.

Madiya finds the ballistae to be in good working order. Whoever was in charge of maintaining them previously did so proficiently.

Baolus finds that the provisions provided are limited, at best. Just enough of the basics to make it back to Port Peril, as was Harrigan's original intent. Now that the leftovers from the party are gone, it seems the crew was supposed to eat ship's biscuit on any night where no fish were caught.

Once Owlbear is awakened and advised of the mutiny, he accepts it without question. He quickly pledges his loyalty....to Sven.

Early on, it becomes clear that some of the officers will need to fill in for missing riggers and swabs. Cog wastes no time in approaching Tamesis to tell her so, either.

Once the labor issues have been resolved, however, the ship makes good time on it's new path. As the sun descends towards the horizon, Cog calls for the end of the work day. Bloody hour is held, though no one meets the lash tonight. Three of the Rahadoumi, and Jack Scrimshaw, failed to meet expectations, and are called out for it. Cog gives them a stern talking to, and a warning not to disappoint him again. Kroop brings out the evening meal, scant as it is, and serves the crew. He does ask Tamesis if she will be eating with the crew, or in her new cabin, before bringing out the meal, though.

The surrendering sailor doesn't resist as Kehlysch binds him up. Sven, meanwhile, knocks a half-frozen corpse off the side of the ship, providing the sharks with a sailorsicle. They appreciate it; the weather has been hot recently.

I have the updated map up. You have the remainder of this round, and 2 more, before the next wave. I'll let you reposition yourselves, and figure out where you want to store your prisoners.

In the following several seconds, the group catches glimpses of the greater battle through the fog. Rahadoumi sailors on the whole are scattering or surrendering, a few are jumping overboard to take their chances with the sharks, rather than face the pirates.

Captain Harrigan briefly appears, moving from belowdecks into the fog again. And....was that a human heart he was carrying in his hand?

Thank you for always posting those obscure rules, Sven. It helps more than. You know.

And no, Madiya. That's only for casting while submerged.

I love this group.

How the AP is written:
Have your players make ranged attacks to get the rope to the fallen, then pull them back up.

What the group actually does:
F that! We all jump in and take the ropes to them personally!

A strange look crosses Owlbear's face as Sven abandons his assault. A mixture of confusion, grief, relief, and gratitude; it is obvious he is not used to being treated with such kindness. Plugg, however, is livid. He takes a step towards the purse he threw down, "Both are still standing, the bets are off."

He doesn't make it to the bag. The rest of the crew, roused by Sven's words, cry out almost in unison. Shouts of anger drown out any protest Plugg makes. For a brief moment, he looks ready to fight, until Captain Harrigan's doors fly open, and the man steps out, flanked by the other officers. The crew quickly fall silent, and Plugg withers under Harrigan's glare.

Glaring at Sven with a fire in his eyes, Plugg pulls out his cat-o-nine-tails and snaps it near Owlbear, "Come on, you f***ing coward. Back belowdecks with you." He drives Owlbear back down into the hold, leaving the gold behind. The Captain watches on for a minute as the crew disperses, and pays Sven an especially long, withering stare. As Plugg returns, Harrigan and the other officers head back into his quarters, and the night goes on.

Congratulations! Sven now gets a +2 on all influence rolls for the remainder of the voyage, and Owlbear has been made Helpful.

Buhayra wins her 5gp from Ratline, and spends the rest of the night making him one of the group.

"Ratline" Rattsberger increased to Helpful.

Nighttime actions, ahoy! Buhayra has already taken hers. Also remember the rum ration.

Nice roll, Sven! Looks like the dice just wanted to make you sweat a little. :-D

A few days later, the inn burned to the ground and the smell of burned oatmeal wafted through the air for days.

And nothing of value was lost.

If the group ever makes it back to Port Peril, I may have to make this canon...

Check in here, please.

I've already spoken to Buhayra about potentially doing a small rebuild/tweak. If you want to make last-second changes now that we have our crew, go ahead and do so. Just let me know what you're changing.

Once everyone checks in, I'll start us off.

Skull & Shackles

Alright, finally settled into a new home, and ready to GM some Pathfinder...

Wait, what is this 2nd Edition thing?

Ah, screw it, I'm gonna stick to what's tried and true.

So! I'm going to be running a high seas piratey adventure in true Golarion fashion! If you're not familiar with the AP, go pick up the Player's Guide and check it out! I've run it before with loads of success, at the table. Here's to hoping it goes just as smoothly as a PbP.

Relevant Info:
1st level
20pt buy
All Paizo material, no 3pp.
Max starting wealth by class
HP: Max at 1st level, when leveling you can take average+1 or roll, but you stick with your choice.
Alignment restrictions: None, but you MUST be able tow work within the party. No backstabbery.
Traits: 2, 1 must be a campaign trait. If you want to take a drawback to get a third, be my guest.

I'm looking to get 5-6 characters, but I'll take 4 in a pinch. If there are a ton of good submissions, I'll maybe ask for a few alternates.

As for character submissions, keep it short but interesting.

If you have any questions, lemme know!