6-05 Slave Ships of Absalom

[TriOmegaZero]

I don't understand ships either, so I had no idea there was any question about it myself.

[Protoman]

GM'ed this last night. I appreciated the use of map packs as I actually bought the Ship's Cabins pack for Skull and Shackles that never ended up getting very far so I was happy to bring those cards back in play. Made prepping so much easier without having to draw a map beforehand or during the game.

Party was consisted of:

Level 4 Half-Elf Barbarian. Liberty's Edge. Greataxe. Skills are noteworthy because he has Skill Focus (perception) and ranks in Heal, Intimidate, and Profession (brewer). Rather well-rounded.

Level 3 Human Battle Oracle. Grand Lodge. Of the old-school thinking where he has packed away ALL the adventuring gear: has a ten-foot pole and a mirror to look under doors for example.

Level 3 Halfling Ninja. Liberty's Edge. Rare case of a halfling rogue/ninja character going strength-based with a katana held two-handed.

Level 2 Human Bloodrager. Exchange. Classic earthbreaker user. Had to convince him not to act out his Profession (slaver) in game to avoid Liberty's Edge characters from losing out on boon at the end of the session.

I started the session asking the party to introduce and describe themselves: specifically getting height, weight and equipment.

Between the skills layout of this party, the diplomacy and intimidate on Mahjub Mahdi, they had no problems with the investigation part of the scenario, didn't even need to bribe or spend money on information.

Combat Encounters:

Because there's only 4 of them (APL 3), they were playing sub-tier 1-2. Not exactly a challenge especially with the level 4 barbarian. I was happy that the bloodrager charged and critted on a grate, failed the Reflex save and falling into the hold. The combined encounter was the only thing that made the combat somewhat challenging. Individually each encounter would have been a cake walk with three Strength 18-19 two-handed weapon martials and a ninja with 2d6 sneak attack and plenty of flanking opportunities. The gnolls and cutpurses never even got a hit off, dying before their turns ever came up. Mezuk and Curtzog only living as long as they did due to positioning prevening getting swarmed at first. The young trollhound and an area of grease were actually strong nuisances when the party got split up in the hold and on the deck. The battle oracle had create water so I didn't have to worry the fire spreading too far. Only combat I was iffy on was the Chattel shop as it was pretty cramped. In the end against Mezuk in a corner next to the table, I suggested the bloodrager to jump on the table and the halfling ninja to tumble under the table, worked out well.

Social Encounters:

The party grumbled about having to each report to Lady Darchana, trying to get away with "he said all the important stuff already" but I stuck with it and they all in turn each added something that someone else left out. I warned them that bunch of the names sound similar and the scenario was littered with alliteration, and that they should take some notes.

There's decent amount of RP if party's willing. I had the venture captain warn them that slavery is legal in Absalom and they shouldn't simply go all murderhobo for people doing legal practices and simply not being cooperative with people they have no reason to be cooperative with. I had plenty of fun RP'ing Mahjub as treating slaves well but sees them as property and can be disposed as such if needed; extremely sleazy/friendly offering to sell information special price for special friends and after the intimidation check VIP price for VIP special friends (free); and getting real chummy with the Liberty's Edge characters for saving him from the thugs. The Chelish solicitor Solvius Salbus assumed the halfling ninja as a slave (as a Chelish would lol) and asked what his price was. Majordomo Milana treated Atlag firmly and not-kindly as she still sees her as a potential spy in their midst that she can't simply dismiss out of service.
I think the scenario depicts the slavery situation well for the party, especially Liberty's Edge characters. They had to grit their teeth when legal yet sometimes distateful slavery practices were bandied out in front of them. The only thing that can get away with was attacking slavers on the open waters, much like the Grey Corsairs, as social change wasn't coming to Absalom anytime soon.

All in all I thought this was a great scenario. Good opportunities for RP if party members had Liberty's Edge or Sovereign Court PCs. From what I saw, Sovereign Court PCs have to go through a decebt amount of subterfuge and politicking to earn favors. This was the first Libetty's Edge scenario I've seen so far (I didn't get a chance to play it last week due to table/player reshuffling but look forward to it in the future) and was happy that it involved actual slave rescue as there wasn't that much of that in previous seasons for the Andoran missions. Investigative DCs weren't too high which I liked, I remember Destiny of the Sands Part 1 having rather high DCs for subtier 1-2. Combat at the very least had the real chance of getting significantly difficult when one can very easily fall through a grate on the ship, a humorous godsend for GMs wanting well optimized characters to have a challenge, in when playing down tiers.

[Genuine]

So... we had a Cleric 2 (GL), Monk 3 (GL), Gunslinger3/rogue2 (DA), and a Paladin 4 (SC). They wanted to play up.

This was the closest I have ever come to a TPK as a GM. It is also the first time my players have ever failed a scenario.

Spoiler:

They blew through the social encounters (including scaring off the thugs, though they opted to just pay the 50gp instead of fighting).

They made it to the boat - the Paladin went up first. Instead of being the least bit smart, he opted to immediately inform the first mate that there was a bounty on this ship and that they should all come quietly. The paladin took a pistol shot to the face. The paladin proceeded to get himself tangled up with the gnoll guard, leaving the gunslinger to run around. He mostly shot at the paladin, though he did switch hit at the other character with a high AC (the gunslinger rogue)(More on that later).

First problem: The monk got up the ladder immediately. He was no help at all - he swung so bad that the mate didn't even bother 5' stepping before reloading. Seriously, the monk did not land a single attack the entire time.

Next: The gunslinger used a folio re-roll to avoid falling into the water. (No powder horn, getting wet would have left him unable to participate in combat).

Next: The cleric needed a 17 to make it up the ladder, and a 1-12 meant falling in. He opted to try and make potshots with a crossbow from below, and to use lots of channel energies.

Three rounds go by: They managed to take down the gnolls, but no one had landed a hit on the mate. At this point the mate turned his gun towards the gunslinger and proceeded to crit the dude for enough damage to take him down. (The Pally had used 4/9 Lay on hands keeping himself in the fight, he also wasted a smite on the non-evil mate).

The cleric decides to channel energy to heal the gunslinger, which incidentally woke up the gnoll. The mate shot the gunslinger again, knocking him out, again. The gnoll stood up and threw a spear, hitting and seriously injuring the squishy second level cleric. The paladin was forced to go and take out the gnoll. The mate continued to ignore the monk, who continued to whiff.

A few more rounds go by. The channel-to-heal-the-gunslinger repeated the gnoll healing a couple more times. The cleric finally made it up (also blowing a reroll to not fall in the water and sink). He does this at about the same time that the captain comes up on board. (The entire party had been tanking their perception checks to notice smoke, while we were at it).

The cleric's first move was to CLW the gunslinger, waking him up again. The captain charges and knocks out the cleric, then AoOs the gunslinger back into unconsciousness (fourth time so far) as the gunslinger tried to stand up.

The mate finally gets annoyed, and shoots at the monk a couple times - high damage rolls and low con meant the monk went down with just two shots. At this point, we were 10 rounds in. Four more rounds largely involve the paladin dueling with the captain and desperately trying to keep himself healed (in 15 rounds he used all 9 Lay on Hands, and 3 of his channel energies). His attempts to wake his party up and heal himself also woke up the gnoll (again).

Finally, the paladin jumped overboard into the rowboat, and made his escape (intending to rescue his team once he meditated and recovered a few Lay on Hands). Meanwhile, the slavers tied up the unconscious pathfinders, loaded them into lifeboats, evacuated the other slaves, and escaped into the darkness.

The paladin attempted to follow the lifeboats (aided by a potion which gave him a handy-dandy swim speed), but ultimately failed to enact a rescue - he couldn't handle the captain and first mate, add in a kennel master and it just got worse.

I did allow a 5pp body recovery/rescue mission to rescue those captured, but they ended up with very little gold and no prestige. They did get 1 exp - they did manage 3 encounters. They also managed to score a refund so got at least one boon.

Ultimately, the real problem is that the party didn't have any real damage dealers. They also made no attempt to use any sort of tactics in their fight, actually healing bad guys in a flurry of poor action economy.

[Eric Clingenpeel]

I think you really screwed your players over. The captain's timer doesn't start until combat starts with the trollhound in F2.

[Deussu]

Eric Clingenpeel wrote:

I think you really screwed your players over. The captain's timer doesn't start until combat starts with the trollhound in F2.

How I read it, they were already screwed. But sure, the captain shouldn't come topside in any case. I doubt they would have fared against the gunslinger, who apparently was almost unhurt during the whole fight.

What do we learn here? This isn't the first time I've heard of a paladin completely blowing up the job, and low-level monks with low constitution should avoid melee. :)

[Genuine]

Deussu wrote:

Eric Clingenpeel wrote:

I think you really screwed your players over. The captain's timer doesn't start until combat starts with the trollhound in F2.

How I read it, they were already screwed. But sure, the captain shouldn't come topside in any case. I doubt they would have fared against the gunslinger, who apparently was almost unhurt during the whole fight.

What do we learn here? This isn't the first time I've heard of a paladin completely blowing up the job, and low-level monks with low constitution should avoid melee. :)

I dunno. One solid minute of gunfire? 23 shots fired between two gunslingers? Why wouldn't he have come topside?

That being said, reading the scenario far more carefully, I did run it wrong. I read the bit about 'hears first signs of combat,' 'first sign of trouble' and 'conflict above' and entirely missed the 'when combat begins in F2' part. At best, this is a table variation problem - I'll bring it up with my VL.

Of course, by the time the captain showed up, the mate was unhurt (though nearly out of ammunition), two PCs were unconscious, the paladin was down to just 2 lay on hands, the cleric was out of spells, and their 1d6 channeling was healing the bad guys as much as the good guys.

Also, the paladin was (oddly) built as a heal-bot and charisma monkey, rather than for straight up combat. (His Str and Dex were both just 12). He designed his damage output around Radiant Charge, and never got a real chance to get it off - the boat was a difficult place to line up a charge. Worse, he wasted one smite on a mook (the 1d8+6 non-PA damage scared him, I think) and his other on a non-evil character.

[Deussu]

Eric Clingenpeel wrote:

I dunno. One solid minute of gunfire? 23 shots fired between two gunslingers? Why wouldn't he have come topside?

I'm amazed the harbor watch didn't notice anything...

Seems like a very ill-fit group. Also, the mate could have gone and loot the PC gunslinger and take his/her bullets.

[Ascalaphus]

Played this on sunday. Had a blast.

Highlights:

• When my dice ran cold against the slaver and he refused to give the refund, I got him to show me the bill of sale. The GM ruled that it was for the price of a household slave (Adventurer's Armory). I used linguistics to forge an apology note from him and paid the refund myself, thus salvaging the boon.

• We almost missed going to Darchana because we felt we had enough leads to proceed against the ship, but the GM hinted that we also had enough solid info (after the slaver) to have a chat with her.

  Our party had two Cha-handicapped martial types who hadn't had much chance to talk to NPCs yet (the other two PCs were a Diplomacy-heavy paladin and my schmoozing investigator). So the GM basically had everyone tell his part in ascending order of Diplomacy score.

• When combat broke out on deck, the boss on deck used Intimidate to demoralize me. So I gave in to my insecurities, popped an extract of Enlarge, and fell through the grate. The trollhound tore into me quite hard, especially since I'd fallen prone. I went from 30hp to 3 in one round. Fortunately the paladin came after me and beat the thing senseless with his greatsword.

  Ironically, I was being pretty nasty to the paladin (my investigator is from Ustalav and worships Urgathoa), talking about buying some slaves instead of mules and stuff. And then the guy saves my ass. Maybe I gotta start being nicer to him.

• Meanwhile on the deck, the other two PCs (both level 1) were having a rough time; although the gnolls were dead, our magus had been pushed off the deck for 6 damage as well. While he was climbing back up, the deck boss got a greatsword crit on the level 1 fighter, sending him to -13. The magus' player had his moment of doubt and fear but spend hit turn to Infernal Heal the fighter, saving him. But this required the magus to face the deck boss alone, at 4 hp.

  But then I climbed back on deck, and at every step the captain tried to take, I reach-tripped him until the magus finished him (nonlethally, we might need him).

• So we'd left the paladin below decks, alone with the slaves. Out comes the girl with the kukris. By the time I'd gotten back below decks to start flanking her the paladin crits her with greatsword.

  So then, the captain's room has been on fire for a while, the captain's quite deep into negatives, and we have slaves yammering for us to release them. My character obviously doesn't care, and is shouting at the paladin to save the evil captain, which he refuses (how dare he!). And then one of the slaves says she's a pathfinder. Curses!

  I get sent to douse the flames (at wis 7, with no ranks in survival) while the rest fuss over the slaves. Narrowly they also manage to save the captain; I'm shouting at them that surely she's already burnt all the evidence, so we need her alive to interrogate her. We barely make it out.
  

So, accidentally triggering three encounters together, quite a ride! My investigator was getting pretty cocky from previous adventures that I had an easy time in, but he got a proper scare from this one. It had my blood pumping.

[Blackbot]

GMed it yesterday. It was over very, very quickly - we met at 11.30 am, really started at about 11.45 am and the chronicle sheets were handed out at about 2.30 pm.
I suspect our group size and our witch had something to do with it. How it went:
The group - Witch 3, Inquisitor 2, Sorcerer 2, Druid 3.

They managed to get everything relevant out of the Majordomo but still decided to head to the Red Letter. To quicken things up and because it didn't make much of a difference anymore I let the Solicitor spill the beans after only 1 successful Diplomacy-check.
When they reached the slave trader combat broke out pretty quickly - the dwarven inquisitor immediatly drew her weapon and stepped into the room, so she got stabbed by the cutpurse (or he tried to, at least). Combat was over equally quickly after the witch hit the halforc with a sleep-hex (god, I hate those damn things).
They patched up the cutpurse and the halforc agreed with Mahdu Mahjib that the protection money for this month is considered paid, but he'll return next month. Everybody was quite professional about it, really.

They turned Mahjib helpful and after some discussion ("Really, I'm taking a huge risk! I cannot get lower than 400 gp!" - "(Arguments making him helpful) - "Fine, you have me convinced, I should be ashamed of myself...200 gp is really all I should ask for, but I just cannot go any lower!" - "What about 50 gp? We saved you quite some trouble!" - "FIFTY? FIFTY GOLD PIECES! Why, I never...I could cut off my beard and get more for it! That does not even...I shouldn't...fine, because I like you and you saved the rest of my windows.") he gave them all they wanted.

My group also failed to recognize their goal as achieved and tried to find the At Sea unsuccessfully before I gently pushed them towards Lady Darchana. I really liked she picks out a PC - that way I could adress the players who had been pretty silent thus far.

The fight aboard the ship was pretty quick, too - the witch threw her sleep hexes left and right and I failed every save.
This lead to one interesting turn of events, however:
The adjustment for 4 players removes Kinore from the encounter below deck. This raises the question how the trollhound gets out of his cage. My plan was for Kinore to open the cage and get mauled by his trollhound immediatly before combat breaks out (removing him from the encounter immediatly as it is written anyways).
The sleep hex of the witch meant he opened the cage, fell asleep and got coup-de-graced by the trollhound. Leading to the group jumping down to save the slaves in a Big-Damn-Heroes-moment.

One round later the hound was asleep. I hate my girlfriend's witch.

[Mark Garringer]

Sounds like a good time Blackbot!. Just because he was removed from the combat doesn't mean he has to be removed from the scene though. Having Kinore mauled by the hound as the PCs enter the scene is a great way to set the tone however! Or having him present but as a non-combatant shouting for the hound to attack the slaves or whathaveyou.

[Deussu]

It goes to show how the whole Slumber hex should never have seen print.

(I so hate the slumber hex.)

[Ascalaphus]

In our case the GM decided that [Kinore] had just enough time to open the cage before I (Large) fell through the deck and squashed him flat.

[Woran]

Ascalaphus wrote:

In our case the GM decided that [Kinore] had just enough time to open the cage before I (Large) fell through the deck and squashed him flat.

This gives a whole new meaning to death from above.

[Deussu]

Ascalaphus wrote:

In our case the GM decided that [Kinore] had just enough time to open the cage before I (Large) fell through the deck and squashed him flat.

I hope you used falling objects rules!

How much a large creature deals damage when falling 10 ft.:

4d6 halved twice. Average 3 damage.

[Ascalaphus]

Deussu wrote:

Ascalaphus wrote:

In our case the GM decided that [Kinore] had just enough time to open the cage before I (Large) fell through the deck and squashed him flat.

I hope you used falling objects rules!

** spoiler omitted **

No. This was just a flavorful explanation for why an NPC cut in the 4-player adjustment was able to open a cage without participating in the combat afterwards.

[Quentin Coldwater]

Will be running this tomorrow, I'd like some help with the ship combat. When, exactly, does the captain start burning the evidence? The scenario mentions combat is heard belowdecks, so if they start a fight above, I'd say she starts burning, but that would mean you'd have to cut through two maps to get to her in a handful of turns, without any healing in between.
And similarly, do the belowdecks people start coming up when they hear a fight breaking out? In my mind it would make sense they'd go check stuff out, but that'd mean chaining two encounters together, but I just can't picture them sitting idly around while they hear sounds of combat up above.

I'll post tomorrow (or the day after, maybe) with how it went. So far, though, I really like the attention the NPCs are given, much more than I'm used to! They all have a little thing you can roleplay, and although I'd prefer a little more than just an affection, it makes them more real and less of an information repository.

[Quentin Coldwater]

Gah, only just noticed the typo in my post. Affection is supposed to be "affectation."

Play report: I've heard of games where the players barely rolled any combat, but not this group. It wasn't that they were seeking it out, they just didn't think of doing it any other way. They were so outraged by the thugs at the slaver's place they didn't think of handling the situation diplomatically. The grapple-Druid grabbed a guy through the broken window and wrapped him in a curtain, while the others stormed through the door. Mezuk fell rather quickly, but he did get an intimidate and an attack off, and they both hurt pretty badly. I'm happy with the proper challenge this fight brought, and the well-statted enemy with subpar tactics were refreshing after playing lots of scenarios where the mooks all fell after one hit.
At the ship, they got on board with a great Bluff check and I had the crew visibly nervous (they bluffed they came in for inspection, and the crew lied through their teeth, so they were ready to jump ship as soon as they could), but the players decided they should be taken out to prevent them ganging up on the team belowdecks. One Hydraulic Push sent the first mate overboard and due to some terrible rolls he drowned (I always seem to roll terribly on Swim checks). The gnolls were knocked below 0, stabilised, and tied up.
Belowdecks it got really hairy. One person managed to slip past the trollhound before he blocked off the entry, and from that point on it was a fight on the stairs where everyone got tripped and took squeezing penalties just to get a hit at the hound (they all rolled crap). The Alchemist kept the hound from regenerating purely because of splash damage. The kennel master was disposed of rather quickly, but the hound was still occupying them, so that's fine. One guy (grapple Druid again, he was the all-star of the scenario) managed to bash in the door (I'd misjudged the DC, I told him it was relatively easy, but later I found out the DC was much higher than I thought. Luckily, he critted the Break DC and made it anyway) and douse the flames just before they spread, but then had the ship captain to fight, while the rest was still on the stairs. He put his Figment familiar in front to tank the captain while he tried to dispose of the Trollhound (standing at 1 HP at the time). Captain went tried to hit the familiar (it counted as a Magical Beast, so I ruled her favored enemy-instincts kicked in. Besides, they needed some help), but missed. Meanwhile, the Trollhound knocks the Druid unconscious, making the familiar disappear. Captain spends a turn looking for the thing, believing it had stealthed away, while they finally took care of the g@!*$~n dog. Captain fell pretty soon afterwards, when the party could enter the hold and spread out.

I really liked the combats in this scenario, even though most of them could have been avoided. They were decently statted (except for the NPC Codex guys) and posed a proper challenge. The only downside is that the maps were so tiny and people didn't have any room to maneuver. Two people kept waiting above the stairs to pass by, but it never happened. They also didn't dare fall through the grate (first-level Wizard and a Life Oracle), so they just twiddled their thumbs that combat.

Roleplay-wise, it went great, I think. I'm not the greatest roleplayer, but I think I managed to portray them well enough, with some little quirks that happened naturally. Two people being ex-slaves themselves really helped as well. Not much to comment on, except for what I said in the last post: I loved the little touches, although small affectations don't really make a character (although they do steer you in some direction). Sometimes the gesturing was a bit too much, I think, interrupting the flow of the narrative. The NPCs seem to do something every other sentence or so, and I could see some of my players getting lost by the details of their actions.

Also: So. Many. Characters. People kept referring to them by occupation rather than name, as no one could remember them, especially when some of them occupy the same archetype (I had "slaveowner-lady" and "employer-lady", for instance). I had one doorman formally introduce himself as well, as he's named several times in the box text and you'd never know who it was referring to otherwise.

[Mark Garringer]

Quentin, thanks for the play report and the review!

As to your original question, for the future reference of others, I would probably not send any of the hold encounter above deck. Kinore's tactics I believe are reflective of that. He hears some fighting above deck, releases his pets and then hides hoping to surprise someone. So he is not sitting idle, he's activly trying to take advantage of the situation. The captain could be consitered to start burning evidence at the end of Round 1 of combat in the hold.

I have heard tales of parties triggering all 3 encounters at once, and it is certainly possible but for the sake of your players it is best to try and keep the encounters as serialized as possible. As a GM I wouldn't be looking for ways to trigger the encounters together, but I would be looking for logical outcomes to player choices.

I hear what you are saying about the names and multitude of things being thrown at the party, but I will politely counter-point with these keywords: sleuths, espionage, and Soverign Court. I feel the level of attention to detail desired is in line with these things. :D