Aspis and Bloodcove

[Mavrickindigo]

So my characters sold some Aspis consortium fellows at Bloodcove and met a group of consortium thugs who wanted to get back at them for what they did. They easily defeated and humiliated the group, so I'm wondering what I should throw at them that would be harder to take down

the party (they all should be level 5, but I think a few of them are out of date
http://www.obsidianportal.com/campaigns/mavrickindigo-s-skull-shackles/char acters

[brvheart]

I was just looking at that this morning as my characters will probably be taking on the Kurtav tonight and if they go back to Bloodcove I will have to deal with it. Mine are level 4, but should be close to level 5 soon. The other thing to remember is that after defeating 3 groups they will suffer a big loss in trying to sell their plunder at Bloodcove until the consortium is paid off so I wonder if I should just leave the encounters alone. How have others dealt with this?

[vikingson]

The players irreverently raided Bloodcove shipping, especially once they had access to the Shackles themselves. hardly anyone with Aspis affection ever escaped from the ships - with a slump in shipping drying out the port (no ships being localy build, with traders feeling the aea to be massively unsafe and the port dependant on outside influx to keep existing... things turned for the worse quickly) . I ( ahem the Aspis lords) went for some higher level guards (but basically, guards are only useful to fight off the players' crew, and money became a restriction. Even teleporting in wasn't all that easy, due to the location. Ships being sunk with guards aboard didn't really help ) and some NPCs from the "Rivals" guide.
But generally, since the players usually will have the initiative as pirates and pick their attack shedule, trying to defend Bloodcove is very difficult for the Aspis Consortium

They (players) even went as far as to burn down Bloodcove twice around tenth level, just for the sake of it and settling some long-term grudges the group had from other campaigns, recruiting the Firegrass pirates to fill out their fleet and partake of the loot.
Aspis has had a very hard time at our table, and basically, Bloodcove is extremely exposed to lawless and destructive elements like the Shackles' pirates and very vulnerable to fire.

[brvheart]

Well they took the Kurstav, but decided that instead of going back to Bloodcove to sell it they should spread their gains around to they went to Senghor instead with it spoiling my fun! Well, there will be other ships. So far they have upgraded the ship with a new rudder, fast deploying sails, silk sails and another standard catapult. Most of their money has been going into ship upgrades.