Player Question: Powerful magical force out to get us... or just some handwavium I need to accept?

[MiggidyMack]

Salutations!

I'm currently playing in a Skull & Shackles campaign, and I've hit upon something that I feel compelled to ask about, because I feel like I run the risk of damaging the suspension of disbelief for the other players pretty badly. So I thought I would ask here, although I know it's going to be tough for anyone to answer without spoilers.

Also spoiler warning, I'm gonna talk about the events in book 1 and the start of book 2.

During last night's adventure, another captain and his crew (Pegsworthy) sailed into Rickety Squibs. They recognized the Man's Promise, knew that Harrigan had stolen it, and that it had then been stolen from Harrigan.

This, combined with the strange creatures on the island has me thinking that either A) The writer didn't think some bits through, or B) It's hinting at something pretty fun. And I want to know if this is just more handwavium in the books that I need accept, or if I'm right to want to run off and seek out the Oracle/Diviner that is tracking us with magic.

Pegsworthy somehow knows about our ship... and beyond magic I don't see how. The Man's Promise was attacked at sea, so while it's possible they didn't make a rendezvous and someone out there knows they are missing, I don't know how they know Harrigan did it. Maybe he showed up somewhere else with the crew and someone put it together. That's an awful lot to have happened in the 2 weeks since we took the ship though.

But we just managed to pull off a mutiny. We then went to the exact location Harrigan expected Plug/Scourge to take the ship. Nobody left our ship, and no ships left harbor from Rickety Squibbs. How does anyone know that we took the ship at this point? If anything, Harrigan expects the ship to be here, he wouldn't have any way to know of our mutiny (which at this point is just about 2 weeks old).

It might have gotten around the town we are in, sure, but Pegsworthy just got here... we SAW HIM ROW UP. So I've been assuming he has access to a powerful fortuneteller, and that we need to kill his crew and interrogate him about their location.

But then the boar fight on the path UP to the watch tower... how is there a cliff on both sides of us? Looking at the map we were shown... that exists nowhere. Also it couldn't logically... and how would a pair of boars get up to such a location anyway? They aren't goats. Our first response was to attempt to break the illusion trap we had walked into. It's this event that makes me question whether or not the bit with Pegsworthy is awesome foreshadowing or not.

Long Post Longer... is this just something I should accept, or will I be excited to have stumbled onto a very cleverly hidden hook? After the whole "you're pirates, be terrified of rum!" system in the first book, combined with odd encounter locations like the boars... am I just expecting things in this AP to much sense? Is this haphazard handwavium just the style of the adventure?

I'm willing to shrug it off... I just don't want to get screwed because I don't know what to shrug off out of character!

[Lamontius]

I am currently GMing this AP for my player group and we are near the end of Chapter 3.

The only thing I'm going to say is that most of the things you have mentioned happening in your above post are not written that way in the AP itself. Your GM either is changing things, is having a hard time interpreting the chapter or you have misunderstood/read-too-much into what your GM has presented.

Also, look for the "How to format your text" option below the posting window for how to use spoiler tags.

[MiggidyMack]

Are you sure? Because most of this was from read-aloud text. After we questioned the boars she read the bit from the book about both sides of the path. And the rum thing was just pure rules shenanigans.

As for Pegsworthy, that's possible. Although she was adamant that the book said he knew about the theft from Harrigan. She looked it up to double check when I mentioned him knowing the impossible to the rest of the party.

[MiggidyMack]

I just asked her about it, if she was sure. She told me to tell you to look at the bottom of page 13. Apparently the AP says, in no uncertain terms, that he knows about the theft from Harrigan. That is impossible unless magic is involved, given the timeline.

There are 9 people who should have known about that before we got to Rickety Squibs... all of us onboard the Man's Promise. Here we are now though, and some guy who just showed up knows that it was stolen from Harrigan. Hell, he asked to christen our ship. Our GM is running pretty close to the book (we have 2 players who want that) so I trust that she's running as it's written.

I have no reason to believe that she is lying when she reads things to us from the book! :)

I'm guessing I just need to let this go, it sounds like it's just strange writing choices.

[Lamontius]

I am hesitant to touch on specifics regarding all of your initial questions because, honestly, I'm not sure I would appreciate what you're doing here if I were your GM.

If your GM is absolutely fine with this thread and you seeking clarification of plot hooks and her decisions, however, I'd be happy to discuss individual items.

[MiggidyMack]

At this point she wants to know how Pegsworthy could know too. She hasnt purchased the next book yet and is curious if he knows for a reason or not.

[BzAli]

Just handwave it away. The encounter introduces an interesting NPC, who might become important later. There's not great meta-plot here.

However, if you really want an explanation, consider this: http://www.d20pfsrd.com/magic/all-spells/t/track-ship.

A routine casting by the Merchant Consortiums diviner will quickly reveal that the Mans Promise have deviated from course, and is likely captured by pirates. That'll explain how it's common knowledge that the ships is stolen.

[Dave Justus]

Pegworthy recognizes the Man's Promise and had heard that Harrigan had stolen it. That is what 'heard about the theft from Harrigan' means. Part of being a great Pirate is bragging about your captures, which Harrigan has done.

After that, I believe it is presumed that he knows Harrigan's trusted men and knows that you are not them. Obviously then, you took it from Harrigan. This part is also assuming that Pegsworthy and you have been talking in a friendly manner.

As far as the boars: "The trail itself winds through the jungle behind
the Commons, then follows the knife-edged ridgeline as it climbs along the headland."

So you have a ridgeline that drops off to either side. Not terribly uncommon. The boars, like the PCs, are on the path, no need for them to be mountain goats. I'm not sure what you find so odd about this.

[MiggidyMack]

Much appreciated BzAli, that certainly explains it a bit better! It means he assumes we took it from Harrigan, but Harrigan doesn't know yet. That's a much tighter explanation than I was assuming! Thanks!

[Paladin of Baha-who?]

Plugg and Scourge weren't supposed to take the ship to Rickety's squibs. They were supposed to take it to Port Peril. It is possible that shortly after taking the Man's Promise, Harrigan made port, met Pegsworthy, bragged about taking the ship, and Pegsworthy left for Rickety's not long after. Seeing the ship, and knowing that Harrigan was expecting it to go to PP, he infers that it was stolen. Having met P&S before, and seeing no sign of them, he infers that your characters mutinied against P&S.