Voice Of The Deep's page

Hey guys, sorry about all the delays.

(Un)Fortunately, I've just gotten a new job recently. This means I've been running super low on time between it, university and spending time with my girlfriend (which at the moment largely means doing her uni work as well).

If it's alright, I'd like to postpone the game for a week, just until I can get into a better routine of things.

Again, sorry.

At this point, I should point out that only Fipps was injured by the channel negative... well, Fipps and your party :P. All the others had already left

Nope, fast healing ends at the end of combat, so you'd get one round of fast heal, then it's over

I think you'll find that it's Nico who's hurtin'. Bratix has nicked off upstairs already, she's long gone.

Just for your enjoyment sake:

At the end of that combat, Fipps had 1 HP of non-lethal left, and exactly 0 HP left. In one round, you pretty much decimated him. Go team.

The well-endowed woman gasps at the darkness, before scowling and spitting at the floor. She assumes a rough fighting stance, as Bratix reaches the stair case and tries to sneak past her. The woman throws her arm back and attempts what would be a crippling uppercut. However, the tendrils of darkness in an already dark ship leave the woman with an empty swing, and she staggers forward slightly. This gives Bratix just enough room to sneak past and sprint up the stairs. Oblivious to Bratix’s escape, Grunt roars at Fipps and throws another punch at him. Unlike before, this one connects solidly with the fat man’s multiple chins. There is enough force in the punch that Fipps is physically spun almost 180 degrees, but he manages to stay standing.

Despite this, he seems determined to stay in the fight. He sees the dagger and hears Nico’s words but just yells back ”Master… eugh…. Master Scourge said you ain’t scary, and I believe him! Master Scourge said to rough youse up, and that what we’ll do.”
The orc and the well-endowed woman don’t seem convinced. As soon as the cowering half-orc sees the knife, he turns and runs up the stairs after bratix. The woman cries out ”Scourge said nothing about you being armed. He said you’d be easy. I ent getting stabbed for pay that little.” She too turns and flees. The wirey hair woman continues to sing, but her tune changes ”Two little mousey ran away, the harlot and jaundiced jap! One to fight another day, and one to earn a greater pay! Hehehehehe”. There is still not tune.

Astein’s scream (inaudible to everyone else) seems to again stagger fipps only momentarily. A thin rivulet of blood trickles down from each ear, but he seems hellbent on fighting his foes off.
The wirey-haired woman finally notices the daggers, looks puzzled for a moment then calmly walks away. Unlike the others, she doesn’t flee upstairs, but just walks over to the lockers as if the combat weren’t happening at all. She continues to sing, but it is softly to herself now instead of to an audience.
Despite his obvious pain, Fipps grabs a dagger from his belt. He turns past Grunt towards Lorin and throws the dagger with a mighty swing. Unfortunately, he forgot to account for the low roof, and the dagger sticks into it a few feet away from him. Lorin’s return volley of dark energy hits Fipps, and it seems to be the final blow that knocks him to his knees. He collapses on the floor unconscious.

Combat Ends

Yeah, sorry about the last week guys. I should be back to my regular schedule now, I just had a crazy weird week. Lots of stuff went wrong, lots of stuff got crazy busy, but it ended really well in the end.

In fact, I went to the casino Saturday night, put $20 in a pokies machine, pressed 3 buttons (literally, only 3 buttons), and won $500. I then turned and walked out of the casino. My whole week was that sort of crazy.

As Grunt stalks towards the group Fipps just laughs at both Lorin, Astein and Nico's words.

"Master scourge said you'd try to scare me off. He said weak people like you always try to scare them who has real power. But you don't scare me, cos I ain't here on my own. And Scourge don't like you lot. Hasn't liked you since he first saw you. So, you lot ain't going past -". At this point Grunt reaches the group and snarls into the face of the smaller Orc. His eyes widden and his toungeless mouth utters a weird guttural gasp. He drops his head and shuffles out of the way. The wifey haired woman next to starts to giggle and sing things in a child-like voice. "The yellowy orc is just too little, he gets scared by a grunt and some spittle". There's no recognizable tune.

When Grunt suddenly throws the punch, Fipps deftly moves aside, despite his considerable bulk.

"HAVE AT THEM!!!" he screams, as the fight starts for real.

Gimme initiative rolls, and whatever actions you want to do. Once I have everyone I'll put it all together and let you know how the round worked out

Not really, just had a crazy weak, so I haven't had time to prep my posts. Sorry to everyone.

Sorry I haven't had a change to post guys. No Grunt's intimidate hadn't started a mutiny, it's just scared the mute Orc for a while.

I should point out the others also won't run yet.

You wake in the morning to the sound of that same mournful bell-tone you'd heard at the bloody hour. Around you, the Pirates are rushing to get themselves ready and up the stairs to the deck. Some are barely into trousers before they're up the stairs, and most are bitterly cursing and stumbling from rum or it's revenge. Even though you are below deck, your bleary-eyes tell you it must be somewhere around dawn.

As you stumble to get up and follow the others, you notice you are not quite the last ones to head up to the deck. Blocking the stair way are four pirates. At the front is a runtish looking Half-orc, his mouth open in a gaping smile. His eyes are vaguely yellowish, and his tongue appears to have been cut out which leaves him drooling from the side of his mouth. Next to him stands a pair of women who could not be more different. The first is a well-endowed woman with make-up poorly plastered to her face, scowling at you all. Her long brown hair is carefully brushed to try to cover her large ears, but ultimately fails to do so. The other is a thin, wirey woman with crazy frizzy hair that appears to have been cut almost entirely at random. She bounces from foot to foot every few seconds. You realize that they seem familiar, and at least a couple of them helped escort you upstairs yesterday.

Behind them all stands Fipps Chumlett, the man Lorin intimidated yesterday. He is stretching his fingers until his knuckles crack, and watching the five of you intently.

As the night wears on, the already worn-out crew begin to finish their merriment and head to sleep. The hammocks that were strung across the lower deck when you first awake are again hung up, each pirate having their own space. As the five newest sailors, you are relegated to hammocks hanging at the aft of the boat. Despite the horrors that the Wormwood had brought, you all have more important things on you mind.
For Lorin, it is plots and ploys, to be the healer and the harbinger.
For Astein, it's the tumultuous future unravelling before you, it's uncertainty both a thrill and a worry.
For Nico, it's the prospect of allies to break this oppression (as well as the grim certainty that tomorrow's hangover could raise the dead and then kill them again).
For Bratix, it's the joyful prospect of mixing her new toys together in a barrel and seeing how big the explosion is.
And for Grunt, it is staring at the 5 shiny gold pieces he somehow won at dice, despite never placing a single bet.
Eventually, you all drift to sleep.

Sorry for all the delay, life is crazy sometimes.

Yeah, it's pretty much day 2. I'll do a post in a minute to wrap up day one and bring us to day two.

Astein: did ya pick a card?

:( all the Dude ever wanted was his rug back...

What rug?

Bahahaha.

On a sidenote, whenever I go to a new bar I always ask the bartender to "make me The Dude" and see if I get a White Russian or a weird look.

GM ANNOUNCEMENT: Lorin Val just changed alignment to Chaotic Evil, for being a party pooper. Only villains want PCs to frown :P

No but seriously, play nice children.

This campaign is freakin' deadly.

I hope you're all having fun on the Wormwood though. If you remember to keep all arms and limb in the ship at all times, you might just make it through alive.

Nearly forgot: need you all to take a DC5 Fortitude save for consuming the Shackles Rum. Failed check is 1d3 Con damage. I'll assume it's just the 'rum rations' component you need to take the save for this evening.

"Bah, I can drink better than most of the men too. Especially this s#@~ c+~* f$$*er pissant here" Grok bellows, taking a swing at the back of the gnome's head as he struggles back to his feet. The blow knocks his bright purple, feathered troubadour's hat to the floor. It also knocks him to the floor, where he groans and proceeds to vomit rum across the deck.

Grok ignores the offered hand, and instead goes for a punch to the shoulder. "Where as you look like you could put a pint or two away. How about it? Up for a little Heave-ho?" Grok seems excited by the prospect of a challenge, and seems to be getting along amiably with Nico.

Woops, realized I just missed something else that could kill you. Sorry guys!

Oh, and whilst I remember - the other gambling games on the ship are:

- Arm Wrestling over broken glass + caltrops.
- Heave: Drinking until only one person stands.
- Hog Lob: Essentially like a Piratey Caber Toss involving a pig carcass.

So, the games that Pirates play on the Wormwood aren't usually dice games (they usually involve a lot more physical risk), so I've invented one for you pair that includes the usual risk.

Hilo
Before the dice are rolled every player chooses High or Low, and places their bets. The shooter rolls the dice.
2-6: Low wins.
8-12: High wins.
7: Shooter wins everything.

The risk? Players can bet extra to put consequence bets in the pool. Consequence bets are non-monetary actions, such as "A free punch to the kidneys" or "Giving up Rum Rations for a day". If a player pays 5gp, they can place a consequence bet against another play's bet. If the better wins, those actions becoming binding. If they lose, the person they bet against gets to take their revenge against them. To bet against the shooter, it costs 10gp.

An example: Nico is annoyed at Bratix for eating his sandwhich. He bets five extra gold to put a "pushing you off the mast" bet against her. Bratix bets High. The dice are rolled, and it comes up a 6. Oh, no! Bratix lost! Nico can push her from the mast. But wait, one of the dice has miraculously rolled over, and it's an 8. Not only has Bratix eaten Nico's delicious sandwhich, but she gets the 5 gold bet against her, and gets to push him from the mast.

High-risk, but super high reward if it pays off a grudge.

Astein barely finishes laying out the cards before he is immediately struck with a sense of Woe: any attempts to influence Plugg or his second-in-command will only end badly. Like always, his reading is coldly accurate, but for once it seems to have more to tell. The nine-cards before him each whisper to him: The Unicorn, The Empty Throne, The Crow, The Forge, The Dance, The Beating, The Uprising, The Locksmith and The Foreign Trader all stare up at him. You can pick one card to gain more info from it. Some are about the past, some the present and some the future.

The crew are spread out through out the lower decks and making the most of their time: gambling, drinking contests, shows of strength and tales of piratical escapades abound. Bratix doesn't have too much trouble slinking away from this, although someone nearly notices her as she tries to open the cover to the bilges. Like Nico she is hit by the heat of the room. Even though the sun has set, there is still a thick mugginess to the room. Hanging from the walls are sets of manacles, clearly very well crafted. Stacked randomly around the room - half sunken in water - are a variety of boxes. Digging through them all, Bratix finds a suit of leather armor, three heavy maces and 12 silver pieces. Satisfied with her hunt, she starts to head back up again. Just as she reaches the stairs, her foot lands on something hard in the floor below. Reaching down, she finds a small wax box, covered in grime but waterproof none-the-less. Opening it she finds two tindertwigs, their alchemical mix still functional and free from water.

Nico starts searching for Grok by asking a few pirates where he can find him. The first two merely burst into laughter, one of them saying he's never seen him in his life. Finally, he approaches Sandara for directions. "You'll find her - yes, her - around somewhere, probably involved in a game of Heave or something. Look for a near drunk half-orc."

Nico finds the Quartermaster in a gaggle of cheering pirates. The group encircle a small gnome in flamboyant clothes and an older woman with stripes shaved into her hair, both of whom are sculling half-pints of rum as if they're life depended on it. The gnome is clearly swaying, stumbling from foot to foot, and Grok is drunkenly cursing him with some of the most foul words you've ever heard spoken. Grok is a lean half-orc, dressed in mostly dark clothing. Her most noticable feature (other than her heritage) is a huge scar runs the length of her throat. Hanging from her waist are a variety of throwing axes, which she repeatedly threatens to throw at the gnome if he doesn't "finish the f~~~ s!@~ t~+! drink". You want to change your particular approach? I'll still count the initial diplomacy roll.

Meanwhile, Grunt and Astein settle into the dice game. A few of the pirates seem annoyed that the Orc has joined them, but aren't willing to be the one to tell him to leave. The game is common pirate game called Hilo, which Grunt has played before. The pirates inform the Grunt and Astein that the minimum bet per hand is 1 gold piece. Roll four d6, and take the best two because of Astein's Fortune hex.

The heal check again giving a bonus to their saving throws. Just wanted to make sure you knew it won't be an instant heal, but will take time.

Shoë: can do :)

Lorin: you do recognise that Remove Sickness will only remove their illness for 10 minutes, and give them a boost to saves. Actually curing them is Remove Disease, the lvl 3 spell? Just making sure.

Nighttime Ship Actions
Sleep: Go to bed early and sleep through the night (automatically recover from fatigue)
Gamble: Play or gamble on a game of chance or pirate entertainment
Entertain: Make one Perform check to entertain the crew. Astein: I'll let you make a Harrow reading for yourself, or for shipmate here. It's a Profession (Fortune-Teller Check) for others, but for yourself you get an additional +4 modifier.
Influence*: Attempt to influence a single NPC
Sneak*: Take time exploring one area of the ship. The PC can take 20 on a single Perception check or other skill check, but must make a check to avoid being discovered.
Steal*: Attempt to open a locked door or locker. The PC must make a check to avoid being discovered.

Like daytime activities, you guys get one Nighttime Activity. Additionally, you can attempt to take up to two additional ship actions during the middle watch in the dead of night (any nighttime ship action marked with an asterisk), but to do so the PC must make a successful constitution check (DC 10, +4 per extra ship action taken) or be fatigued for the next day.

This all happens after you get your dinner rations and rum rations, which I'll get to posting soon.

Now that the man has died, Mr Plugg seems totally ignorant of him.

"Let me remind you all that theft and murder are not permitted on this ship. Master Scourge, you may now proceed to any other punishments owing to crewmen". With this Plugg heads marches away into the Officers' Cabins. Scourge administers a few lashings to pirates for laziness or incompetent work, and then the crew are dismissed for dinner.

Like a shark smelling blood, Plugg's grin widens.

"Having admitted your guilt, you are sentenced to Keelhauling. Master Scourge, administer the punishment." Scourge too smiles and gathers a group of pirates - the same ones who collected you that morning.

At the mention of keelhauling Magpie cries out, but is too broken to resist as the pirates wrap a lengthy rope around his chest. He is lead by scourge to the port side of the boat, whilst the other seven uncoil a long amount of the rope into the ocean below. Having fed most of the rope into the ocean, the clamber onto the upper decking and around to the starboard bow. Seeing his followers are ready, Scourge turns back to Magpie. Suddenly he throws a punch into the man's stomache before pushing him over the edge of the boat.

"On my count... one!" the Master-At-Arms yells. At his count, the six other pirates pull in unison against the rope. "Two, three, four," Scourge continues to announce every few seconds, the line remaining taunt in between. 30 seconds later, the line suddenly goes momentarily slack. The front most keelhauler peers over the bow, and announces Magpie is through. A few other pirates grab the end of the rope, and help haul the body onto the deck.

As he comes over the wooden railing, you see the would-be burglar hanging limply from the rope. His body is covered in small lacerations, and his eyes are glazed over. As his is set on the deck, a thin pool of water begins to run from his mouth.

Sandara looks grimly towards to the clock and whispers under her breath, "Here we go." From below the decks, a pair of pirates drag up the the bearded man Nico saw in the bilges. Unlike earlier he is awake and cursing fiercely at his captors.

"You f#*&ing bastards! Your mothers were all whores of Zon-Kuthon and I swear I'd take every last one of you if you did me in a fair fight! Even you plugg, you limey kiss-ass!" As he yells, he struggles against his assailants but it is obvious that he is physically weak and delirious.

Plugg is clearly restraining himself at that last remark, his hand rhythmically clenching the handle of a loose length of rope. He raises his voice over the man's yells.

"Jake Magpie, you are accused of theft aboard the Wormwood. You were found in possession of goods taken from the Quartermaster's store, which Grok had reported missing. How do you respond?" Plugg recites from a thin scrap of paper. When the man spits on the deck in reply, Plugg strikes him harshly with the rope before repeating his question.

"Argh...Not guilty. I'm not guilty of naught, save being a better man than you. And of that I'll boast to my grave." Plugg smiling sickly at the mention of graves. Again the rope lashes his back, raising bruises. Jake curls up fetally on the deck, blood pouring from reopened wounds.

"Not gui-," the rope is again brought down on him. Mr Plugg stares down at him, before reciting again. "You were also found in possession of a thieve's kit, and the door to the quartermaster's store had been picked. How do you respond?" Before Magpie can even respond, Plugg begins hacking at him with the rope. Although it is dull, the thick rope is clearly causing immense pain, and after a few moments the pirate cries out.

"Fine! I did it, I did it! I just wanted more rum, the cravings were so bad. So I broke in the store. I was just going to take the rum, I swear. And then I saw the open locker, and I couldn't resist. I'm guilty." Jake manages to gurgle this out through massive sobs.

At Lorin's initial question in the bubbling language, Sandarah just looks perplexed.

"So, because I'm a devout follower of a Pirate God you're assuming I can speak some pigeon-tongue language from who knows where? My mistress is much more concerned with gold and strife than a thorough education." She raises an eyebrow as Astein replied and the pair hold their own private conference. She does however smile at both Bratix's suggestion. "With a mouth like that, I'm sure you'll take to sailing in no-time."

As you talk, you each notice that the crew seem to be staring up at a large clock that hangs from the mainmast about 8 feet up. A macabre brass-and copper object depicting worms writhing through whale corpses, it sounds a single, long mournful note just as you approach. Though soft, the bell toll seems to permeate everything on the ship, including skin and bone. The crew instantly fall silent.

And I'm pretty sure Grunt would be a better enforcer, if he knew what the word meant :P

Blushing only slightly at the flattery, the red-haired beauty takes Nico's hand and shakes it firmly.

"Sandara Quinn, and I was extraordinary long before I stepped on this Gods-forsaken boat." She only just manages to finish her introduction with a straight face, before bursting into a full-bellied laugh sending her flaming curls bouncing. "And as I said to your friend earlier today, you're welcome". At this she gestures towards the shot glass hanging from Nico's neck.

"I managed to get most of my gear back from the Quarter-master and tried to grab a thing or two for you all as well," she grins mischievously, "I convinced her all my possessions were cursed by Besmara, although I doubt that'll work on Grok more than once."

She waves openly to both Bratix and Grunt as they approach, the small group.

Hahahahah; I love grunt!

Also, I'm about to go sit a 2hr Economics exam. I'll post up Sandara's response when I'm home again (~3hrs)

Do you see what I see!?

Nope, the CLW isn't innately divine, it's on the bard list. Besides the device that contains the divine spell is arcane in nature, and that's what you're scoping out.

- Detect magic reveals more the longer you focus on it, and in particular when you focus on a particular aura.
- When you have line of sight to an aura, you can make a Knowledge (Arcana) to determine the school of magic involved in the aura.
- When the aura comes from a item, Spellcraft check can be used to determine an items properties.

If you were trying to identify a divine aura, I'd permit the Knowledge (Religion), but you'd still need a Spellcraft for a Divine item.

Round 1: As you scan the ship, you feel a multitude of magical auras around you. You sense magic both strong and weak, both quite near and distance. In particular, you feel a large gathering of individual magic effects through the wall of the officer's cabins.

Haha, it's alright, it's just that there are entire books about pirate tradition, and entirely different books about pirate folklore, so there's no way you'd get that from a single knowledge roll. Repaying humiliation is easier, but writing about all three at once would lead to a post of several thousand pages.

@Lorin: From Fipps words, all you can gather is that he is genuinely hostile towards you. Your offer of power didn't seem to change his opinion at all. His strong panting is a combination of his sickness and his near morbid obesity.

That Knowledge (Local) check is unbelievably broad. I'm going to assume you wanted knowledge about responding to major humiliation.

Dagon's memories of millennia pour through you, painfully dragging across your nerve endings and raising the hairs on your arms, legs and neck. You know that conflict on ships has never been tolerated. Whilst at sea a ship is a family, and any disputes are put aside until you set aground. Any punishment or retribution that isn't ordered by the Captain, First-mate or Master-At-Arms is considered assault, and results in harsh punishments.

Once your docked at port though? Little rules apply. A pirate may put aside differences for months or even years before planting a dagger between offending shoulder-blades once ashore. It is also not unknown for a sailor to go missing overboard during the night. They're presumed to have sleepwalked themselves to a sunken tomb, or whisked away by sirens.

New map added, The Bilge.

Not very exciting really.

The crew appear to be chatting amongst themselves quite freely, and for the first time that day, no-one seems to be paying much attention to you. You have roughly 3-4 minutes in which you can chat freely, without the other crew paying much attention. Any obvious actions, including leaving the maindeck, will be noticed though

Haha, not your fault. I'm actually genuinely loving it, thursdays are just my crazy days.

1739 words. I am never underestimating the work involved in GMing again.

Oh, and feel free to read everyone's spoilers, they were more organized that way for easy-reading than to keep things secret.

Perception: Propping up a leg of a table in the corner is a large dustybook. Although it is looks worn and a bit damp, you can see that the title reads "Krooped Up: Fancy Meals On Limited Means".

And the rest of stuff tomorrow because I'm literally falling asleep.

Plugg snorts derisively, lazily cracking his whip against the ground.

"You're telling me that you have the power to curse people with ill favour... right after you ask to cook breakfast and dinner for the whole ship? You're as dumb as the oaf. I'll not have you poison me or the captain, and I'll not have you leave us unprepared either." He sweeps a quick gaze across the five of you before nodding decisively.
"The Oaf works for me. The Halfbreed cooks. The Gypsy and the Fishmonger can all work as swabs for Mr Scourge."

Mr Plugg again glares at Nico whilst a sickening smile creeps across his face.

"And as for you Bootlicker... I have a particular duty in mind for you today."

At these words, Master Scourge takes Astein and Lorin to begin work. Plugg gives some simple directions to Grunt before taking the other two below deck.

MAPS!!!!!!!!!!!

The above link contains all the areas you've currently seen, accessed. I'll add that URL to the description page so it's easy to find, and will update with any other maps as we go.

The current maps in order are:
(1) Lower deck: Where you awoke.
(2) Middle deck: Where you were dragged through.
(3) Maindeck A: Where you stood to hear the captains's address.
(4) Maindeck B: The are from which Harrigan + Plugg gave their addresses.

I've kept things you have inspected blacked out, but I'll try to make some of the symbols clearer so you at least know what is in each area you have seen. An example is in map 3: The arrows point at doors that lead into cabins that are not clearly marked on the map.

Also, sorry for the lack of posting today. I had an 11-hour day, and I'm knackered. I'm going to start posting now, but it may be a bit lacklustre.

EDIT: Also forgot to mention something I realized today when rechecking the maps. To access the main deck from the middle deck, you go up through the 10-ft square hatches you can see on Maps 3+4. I forgot to mention this in the story of you being dragged up before, you were dragged up via the left hatch.

Yeah; I can load up a map of the ship later this afternoon. Alternatively; you can get it bit by bit as you explore or work in different areas. Preference?

And all this talk of followers has me thinking about the 2 cows jokes being applied to Pathfinder Gods.

So: a bit of an explanation of how shipwork runs. Plugg is going to stick you all in a job, he doesn't choose the best person for a job, just puts you wherever.

Each day, you'll each be given specific jobs to do, with specific tests to determine how you achieve them. You can attempt to totally skirk your duty, but Plugg and Scourge are your overseers, and they'll beat you. Your work takes all day, from just after breakfast until dusk.

In addition to your work rolls each day, you can also choose to take one of five daytime actions:

Work diligently: you work hard all day, get a +4 on a single roll for your days duties.
Influence: you take your rolls as normal, and get an opportunity to influence one of the people on the boat.
Sneak: you do your job as usual, but take one brief opportunity to sneak off and explore. You can take a single perception check about part of the ship, or any other single check if you want.
Shop: take a -2 on all your checks, as you got to visit the quarter master store.
Shirk: -2 on all your checks, explore the ship more broadly and take a 10 on perception, but you also have to make a check to avoid detection.

Astein take a diplomacy roll, then I'll let you all know what jobs you wind up with.

Survival rolls for cooking... interesting.

You also get your own list of jobs to do, with interesting alternative choices :D

"Well now, that's a bit better. Someone who actually know how to cook might be able to show Kroop a thing or two." He stares back into Bratix's eyes, and licks his lips in a manner that could only be called lupine.

Sense Motive: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (8) + 2 = 10