I'm not putting a spoiler on this because I put one in the title.
The Story So Far:
Lead by the half-orc gunslinger East Clintwood, the PCs one-upped and embarrassed Plugg through the first half of book one. They immediately staged a mutiny as soon as the Wormwood was over the horizon. Plugg stabbed Scourge in the back to escape...
...Only to wash ashore of Bonewrack Isle before the storm wrecked PCs. And be captured by Grindylowss. Then be rescued from the belly of the Whale by East himself. "For Questioning."
So while Squibbing come the torture for Information, breaking his mind completely. Plugg is now an acid scarred wreck, missing both pinky fingers, with assorted other torture wounds, and his psyche is destroyed.
Meanwhile, the PCs manage to subdue one of the giant wasps that attacks Rickety's, and under instruction from Captain Clintwood, "Stuff it in a big Barrel."
Okay...
Fast forward to a couple sessions into book 2, where we find Cpt. Clintwood and the rest of the crew from the Blarneycock investigating a cannibal village after night, stealing their best loot, and making back to the ship to lay waste to said village from sea.
As Sandara Identifies the items brought back, a look of horror and fear crosses her face when she comes to the JuJu Talisman they brought back. "Get it off the ship! It's more evil than you can comprehend. Please get it off the ship."
The wise Captain then tells the crew to, "Put it in that barrel with the wasp."
Alright, I'll bite. "What's with the Barrel, anyways?'
"We're going to fire it at Harrigan's ship when we see it again."
Fair Enough. "And you really are going to ignore the Cleric's warnings that the JuJu Talisman is super evil?"
"[Pretty Much]*" (*Edited by me for use of F-Bomb)
A Little bit later, they check on Plugg in his cell (closet), only to discover the redshirt guarding the cell dead. When they open the door, Plugg leaps out to attack, but not before Captain Clintwood puts a bullet between his eyes in reaction. (Critical hit when he was "just trying to wing him.") This lead to an investigation of who poisoned the redshirt (Slippery Syl), and approriate punishment being meted out.
"So what do you want to do with Plugg's Corpse?"
"The captain orders his crew to stuff it in The Barrel."
"With the husk of a starved giant wasp and an evil JuJu totem?"
"Yeah. Harrigan's going to [Pretty Much] get it, dude."
"And you don't see how this can go wrong or endanger the rest of the crew in anyway."
"[Pretty Much] No!"
Must resist Maniacal Laughter. "I'm going to allow it for now."
...So I guess the point of this post is, What should come out of The Barrel when it's opened again?
A JuJu Zombie Plugg with wasp wings and a stinger...but that's a little too obvious. I'll have to think of something more evil.
1. Pure awesomeness from you and your players; that is fun and in-character appropriate and hilarious. Kudos to the lot of you. Nice delivery. :-)
2. Unwittingly, what comes out of the Barrel, while damning to Harridan's crew, is the ace up the sleeve to allow him to worm his way out of what he can increasingly tell is a no-win situation for him vis-a-vis Cheliax and the Shackles. He knows Admiral Thrune will shaft him something diabolically fierce. Now with the cursed item and bodies (which may have taking on properties related to Calistria (Wasp + Passion) and/or Norgorber (Secret Murder Barrel), he may find a way to hold the Admiral to their deal (if Cheliax wins) or maintain a career as a pirate (if the Shackles win). Of course, he probably still wants to kill the PCs unless they soundly persuade him otherwise. (Edit: sp)
Or whatever. Keep having fun and please let us know how the Barrel and your PCs perform.
Dave - Right?! I was thinking Ghast Plugg w/Wings (limited flying) and can shoot Ghoul Fever stingers and vomit forth a "wasp" swarm that uses the infected botfly swarm stats from book one - at first. I'm still not sure though...
Uri - That would be great if I knew the barrel wouldn't get opened again until it flew towards Harrigan. Unfortunately, I know this player well enough to know that other things may make their way into the barrel.
Which actually makes me want to see what else gets added to this evil gumbo before I make it backfire in Captain Clintwood's face.