I've been running Serpent's Skull bi-weekly for a couple months now and my party has finally made it to Eleder. First things first, I didn't start a campaign journal previously because I ran Souls for Smuggler's Shiv fairly by the book. The party pushed their way through the jungle, encountered a bunch of animals and monsters, and made it off the Shiv alive. Now that we are hitting Racing to Ruin, this adventure is going to start taking some major turns from the way it was written. Whether it works or not will be interesting, but this will be a lot more fun to write about rather than going through the book verbatim.
Second, I think all of us were getting tired of being stuck on that damn island and my party utterly failed to kill Yarzoth in the final battle. But before I get into the gritty details of the island escape, let me describe the party who fought and barely made it away from the cursed island.
Shinon Irandil, Half-Elven Ranger
Technically, the only original member of the party who traveled on The Jenivere to make it to Eleder. Worked as a shiphand on the Jenivere. Lived in Ilizmagorti with his daughter, Miran, who is currently the cutest, smartest 7-year-old to serve drinks in a bar back home. Shinon is currently trying to make enough money to send his daughter to school, hoping for her to turn out better than he has since his Intelligence leaves much to be desired. Also, missing his left eye due to a previous experience in Ilizmagorti. Has recently gained his animal companion... of a lone Tyrannosaurus Rex.
Mira, Ghoul Noble Drow Oracle of Lore
Technically, the second original member of the party who traveled on The Jenivere, but she was killed by Yarzoth (through use of domination of Shinon) as Yarzoth was already hoping the Drow had died on the boat. Though originally stand-offish from the other passengers, she grew to fight for them and become a bit closer to them. Grew up in a monastery, attempting to learn about her past and her very active shadow that seemed to grow and reshape under times of great stress. Would have been dead for good if not for Mira and Shinon both contracting ghoul fever the previous day to them finding the temple. It is the most unsecret secret within the party that Mira is currently undead, though she is still relearning what she was like in life using her Brain drain ability to gather other people's memories of her. Now that she is a ghoul, Mira is hoping to find new life in her undeath.
Tymble, Gnome Alchemist
The first addition to the party since the original shipwreck. Really smart, really capable, really reckless when necessary. Lives in Mira's backpack for most of the time, taking pot shots at whoever seeks to do the party harm. Currently searching for a way to return his twin brother Grange back into being after a terrible accident, and hoping to find some solvents and alchemical means to bring him back.
Kakashi Hatake, "Human" (and not at all Aasimar) Ninja/Magus
The second addition to the party since the original shipwreck. Obsessed with honor, duty and claiming his birthright. Trying to impress the Supreme Draconic Emperor of Xi Hoi, Pham Duo Quan, and reclaim his honor after being caught with a room full of dead recruits ala Anakin and the padawans. Jumps into the fray of a battle whenever possible, even when it's unnecessary. Came from the far off lands of Tian Xi and was trasported to the island through a Thor-like portal in the stars. He literally fell from the sky. Currently searching for the demon that killed the recruits and kidnapped his master.
This is his second character and, somehow, I'm guessing not his last of this adventure.
Finally,
Caboose, Half-Orc Barbarian
Just joined the party when they arrived in Eleder. Has the strength of a behemoth but refuses to use it unless someone hurts one of his friends. Has been half-searching for his original tribe of traveling orcs but seems to find new friends wherever he goes. Is always looking for new friends yet has the social skills of a child (with too much strength). Will follow the party for as long as they are considered friends. Currently under the employ of Gelik Aberwhinge (who could not be happier to have a bodyguard).
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And, now, we sing our praises to the remembered dead/lost of Smuggler's Shiv...
Milo Leroung, Chelaxian Wizard with Greensting Scorpion familiar
A member of the noble Leroung house from Cheliax, Milo was a passenger on The Jenivere and crash landed with the original party. Milo was an explorer from the get-go, working his way through the jungle before hopping on the boat with his mentor to travel the Mwangi. Though his family had moved away from Cheliax proper, they still revered some of the old Chelaxian values that they grew up with. This was evidenced when, upon seeing the NPCs passed out on the original beach, Milo pulled out his dagger and attempted to slit Jask's throat while he was manacled and prone. If not for Mira's quick use of deeper darkness, all of the NPCs probably would have died on the beach.
During the trip down Smuggler's Shiv, the party found the body of Milo's mentor, Magister Tellen, stuffed in a large sack and chopped to pieces with cannibal bite marks in the flesh. They also found two notes on him: one to the Sargavan Guard about the possibility of Aspis trying to seed themselves into the government, the other to Aspis Consortium about finding a way to seed more Aspis members into Sargavan noble houses and wallets. Milo took Magister Tellen's ring from the bag of body parts complete with the symbol of the University of Egorian and continued travelling, though mortified.
The next morning, the party heard a loud "POP" come from Milo's tent. When they checked, there was blood sprayed across the inside of the tent and Milo was gone. It appeared that Milo had exploded over the course of the night. Mira, however, investigated further and found that the blood along the walls was a permanent image and that the faint magic left behind was caused by a plane shift. The ring that Milo had messed with was a Ring of Feign Death and Milo was stuck in a parallel plane as he obviously couln't figure out how the ring went off or how to get back.
Shinon, however, was even more mortified as he had signed a contract with Milo to help his daughter get into a good school and it might not be as valid with Milo appearing to be dead.
Erianna Dahast, Elven Bloodrager with Abyssal bloodline
Sent into the jungle to learn about the world by her parents, Erianna was on The Jenivere to continue her studies and become a more learned individual. Also, Erianna had a bit of a rage problem that almost never came up. Nobody disliked her, she had no enemies, and she was striving to be both the smartest and strongest person who crash-landed on Smuggler's Shiv. She also wanted an animal companion and went into conflict with Sasha when they both saw a troupe of dimorphodons near the edge of a cliff. Neither was happy when the party did away with the dimorphodons but Shinon attempted to hand a dimorphodon egg he found to Sasha since she seemed more hurt about it.
Erianna's player stopped showing up. This also almost ended the game as Milo's player had to leave as well and we were having issues with getting everyone to show up for over a month. Luckily, Tymble's player showed interest and his character crash landed on the Shiv the next session.
Erianna Dahast has been in a coma for the past "five days" and has been transported to a local church in Eleder for the clerics to look after. Odds are, that is where Erianna's story ends with this party.
And finally....
Professor Leo Archibald Gibson, Halfling Summoner with a Triceratops-looking Eidolon
Hoping to prove his worth to the other teachers at the University of Three Winds at Stokenhime, Leo always longed for adventure. He joined The Jenivere hoping to search the Mwangi for all of the many tomes and uncharted civilizations that it had to offer. He also had something to prove to the rest of the academic community as many of his fellow professors did not believe he could make it out in the wilderness. It turns out they may have been right...
If not for Leo, however, most of the NPCs probably would have left the rest of the party. Leo was the most sociable person out of all the survivors and always looked to keep people's spirits up. He's the reason that the party was able to help Jask find the papers that proved his innocence; he's the reason that Ishirou showed the piece of treasure map that he owned to the rest of the party and they were able to dig and find pirate treasure; and he was the reason that Sasha accepted the dimorphodon egg from Shinon instead of throwing it in his face (after he blatantly roasted the dimorphodons that they found and killed for dinner the previous day). Leo did a lot of damage control and his talking Triceratops-like companion brought a lot of laughs to the party.
Leo, however, had very little regard for his own life.
When the party found snake tracks leading into the brush, he joined to go tackle them. A Summoner at Level 2. And while everyone else (and his eidolon) took down one snake, another came out of the brush and poisoned him. For the rest of the game, he had less than 7 Constitution from all of the Con damage of that one snake.
When the party is looking for the entrance to Captain Quellig's treasure, Leo goes off on his own to the ship near the rocks away from the beach. His plan was to ride out to the ship on the rocks, somehow climb up to the ship itself, and at sunrise (when the entrance to the treasure reveals itself) he will light the ship ablaze to signal that the sun is rising. With some very lucky rolls, Leo fought a sea urchin by himself and took it down, grabbing some gold for himself. Also, the ship was lit on fire to signal the sun rising. For reasons.
When the party fought the cannibal camp and was almost overwhelmed, Leo came riding in on his triceratops and charged through Malikadna, the witch. And had his health sapped to help her last one more round.
When they went into the caves, Leo attempted to summon snakes to sit on everyone's shoulders to deter the festrogs and ghouls from attacking everyone because they might like the snakes. They did not.
And when Mother Thrunefang sent her final throng of children to take down the intruders on her lair, something very odd happened. Leo ran forward like a valiant knight (who isn't one) and made every single check to avoid getting ghoul fever. Every freaking one. However... He was paralyzed twice within that same battle (almost from the start). And every Will save versus Mother Thrunefang's 2d6 of channel negative energy hit him like a truck. He fell from the paralyzation after the battle, having already died the previous round.
Though quite a few have faced hardship over the course of Smuggler's Shiv, Leo had a full-on funeral service and pyre to light his body aflame. And ever since, whenever the group faces hardship, an NPC will turn to a player and say, "Think of Leo."
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And that's just the characters. But hopefully, that will give you a baseline for where this story is at thus far. It's a weird and wacky world out there and the serpents just want to rule it.
NEXT UP: How to Leave a Cursed Island
