|
At the beginning of "Bullywug's Gambit", the PC's are charged with finding their way to Kraken's Cove, and the module lists a number of ways in which they could do it...rowboat (eeek!), pinnace, cog, caravel, etc...
It begs the question of why Lavinia wouldn't simply allow them use of the Blue Nixie, which they rescued for her in the previous adventure, "There is no Honor". I'm sure my PC's will ask about it, they already have designs on that boat for their own uses anyway, as they say "Lavinia doesn't seem the sailor type, what use would she have for it?" They, of course, lack the foresight that is involved in knowing where the story's going as I do. :)
At any rate, I could easily make up an excuse as to why the Nixie is unavailable for the trip, the one that springs immediately to mind is that she's undergoing cleanup and repair following her recovery from Vark and his cronies, but if there is an actual answer in the materials, I missed it.
Is there any actual reason the PC's can't take the Nixie? I know in the metagame sense, we want the PC's to really want to bring the Sea Wyvern back from the Cove, because both will be needed for the trip to the Isle of Dread, but is that in fact the only reason? Honestly, I don't think I'll have the least bit of difficulty convincing my PC's to "appropriate" the abadonded Wyvern, and they all have several ranks in Prof: Sailor, and my party consists of 8 PCs, so I would think they could actually get 2 boats back without terrible difficulty.
What say you all?
Creative Director
|
No reason, other than the fact that Lavinia may or may not fully trust them yet depending on how they acted in "There Is No Honor." More to the point, the Blue Nixie needs a minimum crew of 7, so the PCs'll probably have to hire some sailors to help, and that might just be its own adventure. It's certainly more expensive, and at this point, Lavinia still can't really afford to throw too much money around.
|
|
Thanks for the quick reply James! As I said, we have a big party (8 PCs), so that won't be a problem. As for the trust issue, as long as they do as I suspect and return her money from the Lotus Dragons Guildhall (they are going through it right now), then that shouldn't be an issue either.
I think what I will do is have Lavinia mention that she was paying a bit of money to have the ship cleaned and refurbished, a process that will take 3 days; and if they were going to wait that long, they can have the Nixie for the trip, and if not they'd have to find other means. She is, after all, still a fancy-pants noble type, and would not dream of using a boat that's been sullied by smuggled animals and such without a little going-over.
Thanks again James!
This is the method I used for my group (only 5 of them) the Blue Nixie had just been repaired after the fire that killed the animals (no characters with ranks in Gather Information so they had to take 20, and thus several days, to get the Parrot Island plot hook). By which time I was already foreshadowing the trip to Farshore, since oddly the Cleric had memorised Comprehend Languages for the trip to the vault so was able to read the journal there and then. So Lavinia had already picked a crew for the Blue Nixie the trip to Karken Cove was a shakedown cruise.
When the group saw the Sea Wyvern (which I'd had moored outside the reef), a skeleton crew rowed across to it with the party. With the 1st Mate of the Blue Nixie Amella Venkalie leading them. The Blue Nixie then returned to Sasserine while the NPC sailors directed by Amella Venkalie repaired the Sea Wyvern, while the party explored the cove.
I suck a couple of Savage Pirates left on-board and their acid death throes together with the general chaos from just after the Savage Tide itself meant there were enough repairs to do to hold the party at the cove until the Bullywugs had raided the mansion.
Amella Venkalie was then Captain of the Sea Wyvern for the return leg to Sasserine, so it will be interesting how she handles the demotion if one of the players takes the role.