The Wormwood Chronicles - My Narrative of the Wormwood's Crew's Backstories


Skull & Shackles


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As is my want to do, I've changed several details of the Skull and Shackled AP that I'll be running soon. For no reason other than I wanted to, I wrote out these changes (I did steal the part about the Wormwood clock from Dudemeister), and how they effect other elements of the AP as a sort of Prologue to The Wormwood Mutiny. It's pretty long, but for anyone who wants to read it, I hope you enjoy!

There are some cannon spoilers!

The Wormwood Chronicles; Lowly Swabs:
“Four threes!” The lower hold erupted in cheers as Patchsalt smugly looked around the circle of Liar’s Dice players. Ambrose peered under his cup, his greasy skin stretching over his face with nerves.

“Call me a liar, Fishguts!” Patchsalt was on her feet in her enthusiasm, a gesture more comical than intimidating, as the little Gnome was still only at Ambrose’s eye level as he sat on the hold’s floor.

Ambrose leered at Patchsalt, and took a long draw from his cigarette, conjuring a hush over the crowd. He flashed a toothy grin. “Five fours, and I’M the liar.”

The hold erupted again with noise as attention shifted again to Ambrose’s left, where Kipper tapped the cup that hid his dice with a chuckle. “If you’re a liar, Fishguts, call me a dirty fibber; seven fours!”

The crowd of swabs stamped their feet to Kipper’s dare. To his left, Henry sat with his arms crossed, frowning at his cup. As Henry stared boldly at the floor, rude, impatient jeers spat from the crowd. Patchsalt shouted across the circle “Oi, Plugg! We’re sinking over here!”

Henry Plugg stared for another second, then glanced up at the other players with a scowl. “Seven fives,” he said, almost too softly to hear over the taunting crowd.

The crowd booed, smelling their first lie. “Get him, Owlbear!” someone shouted, “Plugg’s lyin’, Hartshorn!”

To Plugg’s left, Owlbear chuckled at the crowd’s outburst. With arms outstretched, he bellowed “Should I call him?” The crowd bellowed an incomprehensible affirmative, and Owlbear plucked Plugg’s cup off the hold’s floor, revealing five dice, all showing one’s and three’s.

Owlbear slammed the cup on Plugg’s head and gave him a friendly, if admonishing poke in the ear. Plugg squirmed in discomfort and scowled even harder at Owlbear, who shouted under the din of the hold “You’re a liar, Plugg!”

This rowdy gang of pirates served aboard the Wormwood, but not as you might know them. This game of Liar’s Dice is being played by a crew who has yet to run into the Chelish navy. Though they’re all fated to become officers over the PC’s, they’re still just lowly swabs at the moment.

Well, except for Ambrose “Fishguts” Kroop and Clarence “Owlbear” Hartshorn. Ambrose is as the PC’s know him, albeit sober for now, cooking for the Wormwood’s crew. Owlbear is another story. Would you believe me if I told you that Hartshorn used to be the Wormwood’s resident spellcaster? He’s a CN 5th-level Psychic with the Rapport Discipline.

Clarence got his nickname for being one of the strongest members of the crew, despite being a “frail magician”. Owlbear’s magic is driven by his team spirit; he’d rather spend the night drinking with the swabs than studying magic or dining with the captain, who dislikes Owlbear’s tendency to lead with positivity than with fear and punishment.

Captain Harrigan keeps Owlbear around because despite their differing in philosophies, Owlbear’s magic has saved Harrigan’s skin plenty of times. Owlbear is something of a big brother to the swabs of the Wormwood, calling them out on their mistakes, but ultimately protecting them from worse punishments than he feels they deserve. Harrigan puts up with this behavior to an extent, but is also always considering just killing the touchy-feely psychic.

The Wormwood Chronicles; Owlbear's Secret:
Everything changed the day lightning struck the mainmast. The three Chelish ships had closed in, and their spellcaster made a remarkable shot with his spell. The Wormwood slowed to a stop in the black water, drenched in the rain, as its sails were torn asunder under the cracking and crumbling mast.

“Fix dat sail, Owlbear, or I’ll use you as a gangplank when Cheliax closes in!” Harrigan shouted over the rain, cracking wood, and general chaos of the main deck of the Wormwood.

“I can’t fix that!” Owlbear bellowed back, “And even if I could, they’d be on us long before I finished! We need to prepare to be boarded!”

Harrigan cursed and grabbed Owlbear’s shirt, roughly pulling him as close to his face as possible. “Dey have a deadly spell slinger on one of dose ships – far betta dan you, I’d wager. If you don’t want to be fed to da sharks, you betta take care of ‘im.”

Owlbear shook his head, rain dripping down his face and into his wide, shell-shocked eyes. “Cap’n, that’s not what I –“

Harrigan threw Owlbear to the ground, his own eyes wide with manic desperation. “DON’T TALK BACK TO ME; DO IT!” Harrigan turned to the rest of the crew. “Dose Chelish bastards got de upper ‘and wit dat lightning strike, but we’re gonna show dem da true power of da Wormwood if deir foolish enough to board us! Now, get ready for da fight of your lives!”

Harrigan’s call to arms was met with the crew’s battle cry as they scrambled across the deck, readying for an assault. Only a few seconds later, they were thrown from their feet, as the Wormwood gave an almighty heave, the sound of splintering wood resounding through the air, as a Chelish ship rammed into the starboard side. They jumped back to their feet, growling and shouting death threats.

As the grappling ship took everyone’s attention, no one – including poor Owlbear – noticed the Wizard ascending from the water on the Wormwood’s portside. Right before the Chelish ship rammed the Wormwood, the Wizard had dove into the stormy waters, under the Wormwood’s keel, and flew up the other side.

Owlbear began casting Enlarge Person, targeting Harrigan. Unfortunately, he never finished casting the spell. Spotting the ship’s spellcaster, the Chelish Wizard hit him with a Feeblemind spell. Owlbear stopped mid-cast, and looked around the deck stupidly.

“Dammit, Owlbear, make me bigger!” Owlbear looked at Harrigan, brow furrowed.

Harrigan made to hit Owlbear, but at that moment, the Chelish sailors from the grappling ship boarded the Wormwood in a thunderous claxon of battle. Unfortunately, no one had spotted the Wizard, who continued casting spells under cover of the storm.

The Wormwood Chronicles; Harrigan's Secret:
It was hopeless. Caught flatfooted in a pincer maneuver between sword and spell, the Wormwood crew was overtaken within seconds. Harrigan’s crew was bound above decks, and Harrigan was taken to his quarters by the boarding crew’s leader – Admiral Druvalia Thrune – accompanied by her royal Wizard and Asmodean Cleric.

“You have two options, pirate,” Druvalia said conversationally, “we kill you and your crew in a fashion most brutal –“

“No!” Harrigan pleaded, his fear of death coming to bare.

“- or you give us information we deem worthy, in which case, you will be given a quick death and your crew set free.”

“No, please!” Harrigan cried, “Please! Kill dem and spare me!”

Druvalia’s eyes narrowed. “You disgust me.” She began to walk toward the door. “Just kill him,” she said to the remaining spellcasters.

“NO! DON’T! I’LL DO ANYTING!”

Druvalia stopped walking. She stood, facing the door for a minute before turning around again. “Anything?”

“YES! I’ll do anyting! I’ll GIVE YOU anyting! Just don’t kill me!”

The Chellish Admiral closed the distance between her and Harrigan, until they were inches apart. “Mr. Harrigan, I want the Shackles. If you want to live, you will give me the Shackles.”

Of course, the fiendishly sly admiral of Cheliax would never take Harrigan on his word that he would make good with their deal to deliver her the Shackles. What was to stop him from going right to the Hurricane King and telling him of the invasion plan? With the right preparations, the free Captains could prepare a devastating bottleneck/pincer ambush and crush the invasion force, dealing a heavy blow to the Cheliax navy, while bolstering the armaments of the Shackles in the process.

To make sure Barnabas kept his word, the Wizard and Cleric performed an Occult Ritual (spell level 8th; CL 15th), binding Harrigan’s soul to the massive clock on the Wormwood. Though the clock is technically an object, it can be Scryed on as if it were Captain Harrigan, and the Scryer can communicate with Captain Harrigan with Message through the clock. Finally, A Ganji Doll was created, using the Minute Hand of the Wormwood clock (which is now missing), and is possessed by the Cleric. Should Harrigan break his deal, he’s just two Harm spells and an Inflict spell away from death, no matter how far he gets from Cheliax. While holding the Ganji Doll and Scrying on Barnabas, the Cleric can reliably use Discern Lies through the sensor. Upon Barnabas successfully delivering the Shackles to Cheliax, they will remove these measures of entrapment, and reward him with a position of power in the Cheliax-controlled Shackles.

A cursory glance on the main deck of the Wormwood with Detect Magic is drawn to the clock, as it radiates strong Divination magic, well beyond any other magical aura on the ship. If Plugg or Scourge are asked about the magical aura of the clock, they will chuckle and tell the curious PC to "ask the captain yourself – he’s quite fond of it." This is a lie; Harrigan loathes the Wormwood clock, for it is the key to his destruction, and a reminder of his cowardice. If Harrigan is asked about the clock’s magical aura (or if it is even brought up in his presence), he strikes the pirate who dared acknowledge his past failings with an unarmed strike (+16 attack roll, 1d4+4 nonlethal damage), and then personally locks them in the Sweatbox for 8 hours.

Having your soul tethered to a clock with unseen onlookers waiting to strike you down at their whims isn’t all bad. When his soul was bound to the Wormwood clock, an unanticipated side effect gave Harrigan considerable powers while on his ship, as well as within his favored ports (one of which is Port Peril), assuming his ship is docked there. Barnabas gained the Dread Lord template from his ordeal, and now has a slew of Spell-like abilities he uses to keep a firm hold on his officers. Barnabas doesn’t show off these powers, or abuse them – he’s actually ashamed of them, for they’re directly tied to his deal with Cheliax. For the most part, Barnabas only openly uses his Dread Lord SLA’s in acts of desperation or rage, or if all else fails. This means he won’t use Control Weather and Control Winds to embargo Port Peril until he’s made Hurricane King, or anything AP-breaking like that.

After all of these measures were taken, Harrigan and his crew were set free, except for his officers, who were killed as his punishment for being a sniveling coward. Ambrose was spared because he wasn’t recognized as an officer as the ship’s cook, and Owlbear was spared, because Druvalia said keeping him alive would be even greater punishment. No one saw the spell that had locked his mind up, nor was anyone even sure that it was even a spell that had rendered him stupid and mute. Harrigan told no one why they were set free, of course.

The Wormwood Chronicles; Plugg's Promotion:
A week later, everyone was relieved to spot the city of Ollo on the horizon. It was the first sign of civilization since the Wormwood’s encounter with Cheliax. Had the crew known what Harrigan planned next, they might not be so happy to see the cityscape.

“I’m gonna bury myself in a dozen whores tonight, just wait. What’re you gonna do when we get to Ollo, Plugg?”

Before Plugg could answer, the sound of Harrigan’s heavy footfalls announced his decent into the middle hold. When he reached the bottom of the stairs, his short sword clearly visible, gripped tight in his rand.

There was a moment of silence, where Harrigan glared at the two swabs. The first one to act was Plugg, who grabbed his fellow pirate and threw him to the floor before his captain. Harrigan eviscerated the helpless man and stared down Plugg.

Plugg chanced a nervous grin. “A hell of a storm, eh, Captain? And a Sea Serpent to boot; took nearly the whole crew. Too bad no one will ever believe us.”

With a grunt of numb amusement and acknowledgement, Harrigan threw Plugg an extra sword. Without a word, the two went down to the lower hold, and systemically killed almost the entire remaining crew. Patchsalt, Kipper, Ambrose, and Owlbear were spared. Patchsalt and Kipper because it would look suspicious if they made it to port from out at sea with such a small crew, Ambrose because Harrigan was still fond of the old salt’s cooking, and Owlbear because despite his neutered helpfulness, Harrigan knew he wouldn’t – couldn’t – tell anyone about Cheliax.

Though Ambrose was spared at Harrigan’s whim, it was Plugg who talked Harrigan down from killing the others for the stated reasons. From that moment, Plugg gained a loyalty in them that would never fade. Poor Owlbear would spend the foreseeable future as a simpleton, getting bullied by Plugg and the others, not understanding why the creatures he had recognized as his friends treated him so poorly, until violence was all he understood. Should he join the PC’s crew, and should they find a means to unlock his mind, Owlbear will be eternally grateful toward them. He will have much desired information about Harrigan and his involvement with Cheliax, and even though he won’t remember every detail, his fractured mind will have still retained some juicy details about the Wormwood clock. Most importantly, he will employ his psychic powers to help them deal with Harrigan with relish.

The Wormwood Chronicles; Peppery Longfarthing:
With difficulty, the Wormwood made port at Ollo, where Harrigan and the crew rounded up some poor souls in a pressgang. Most importantly, they needed a carpenter to fix the damage done to the ship. After a few nights spent at Ollo, the Wormwood was off again. It’s next stop was Hell Harbor, to visit an old friend.

“No.” Peppery stood in the doorway to her small house, blocking Harrigan’s entry.

Harrigan chuckled. “I ‘aven’t even said what I’m ‘ere for.”

“Don’t care,” Peppery sniffed. “You wouldn’t be here unless you were desperate, and anything to make a man like you desperate is not something I want to be part of.”

Harrigan glanced over his shoulder to make sure there were no evesdroppers, then leaned in closer. “I’ll make it wurt your while…”

After a moment’s pause, Peppery sighed as she stepped aside to let him in despite her own wisdom. Harrigan needed a magician to replace Owlbear, and he needed to know that it was someone he could trust more than anyone else. Peppery was that magician; no one else would do. Because of that, he couldn’t afford to get caught lying.

“Thrune, Harrigan!” Peppery barked after Harrigan’s story. “You let yourself get captured by a Thrune?!” Harrigan sat in silence. “And – an – and you’re here to deliver them the Shackles? How – by Baba Yaga’s breastmilk – do you plan to do that?” Harrigan opened his mouth to respond, but – “No, don’t answer that – I don’t wanna know – why should I help you do it?”

“Dey promised me a position of power in de Shackles after it was done. I can offer you de same ting. And watch your mout, your startin’ ta piss me off!”

Peppery took a calming breath. She thought for a long while. Harrigan broke the silence. “If you can help me lift dis curse dey put on me, I’ll give you my ship.”

Finally, Peppery grinned and said “All right, Barnabas, I accept; I’ll sail under you as the Wormwood’s resident sorceress, and help you in your suicidal plot to deliver the Shackles to Cheliax if I can’t find a way to reverse their curse.”

She held out a hand, and Harrigan took it. She gripped his hand before he could let go, and said “Oh, and I want to eat clams for dinner every night for a year.”

Harrigan grinned. “Den our next stop be Tempest Cay.”

The Wormwood Chronicles; The Deep Platinum Crown and the Storm on Day 8:
On the way to Tempest Cay, Peppery employed all of her knowledge, magic, and talent, and found Cheliax’s binding unbreakable. Harrigan was disappointed, but not surprised. The Wormwood reached Tempest Cay and Harrigan sent the crew clam hunting.

One of the crew members thought he found a giant pearl inside a clam, and brought it aboard excitedly. The pearl was actually a piece of deep platinum. Harrigan gave it to Peppery to study. The stone functioned much like an Ioun Stone, in its ability to orbit the holder’s head unsupported. The stone radiated only faint divination magic, and didn’t display any other properties besides its ability to float around a creature’s head. Peppery concluded that it was just a burnt-out Ioun Stone, though the material it was made of could prove a valuable find.

Despite this, Harrigan felt a mental pull, urging him to keep the stone, so he did. Though Harrigan isn’t a clever man, he did conduct a number of his own experiments on it – one of which was using his Detect Thoughts Spell-like ability (from his Dreadlord template), which worked!

A disembodied voice filled his head. “Who is it that seeks to speak with the owner of the Deep Platinum Crown?”

Harrigan stood shocked for a moment, then said “I am Barnabas Harrigan, Captain of de Wormwood. Who is dis?”

The voice sounded affronted. “I own the Deep Platinum Crown, that which controls the seas, that which summons storms, that which calls monsters from the deep! A piece of which sits in your grimy hand! You will address me as your master, or I will have nothing more to say to you.”

The one speaking to Harrigan is the Forgotten Mariner, found beneath Manchester Cove. The Deep Platinum pieces all have the basic Ioun Stone function like Barnabas’, and individually radiate faint Divination magic. When more than 1 piece is brought to orbit around the same creature, however, more magical effects become available, and the type and strength of the auras increase. When all 7 pieces orbit the same creature’s head, they form the Deep Platinum Crown – a Major Artifact.

Harrigan is told this, as well as vague details of the Crown’s powers. Barnabas never wears the Deep Platinum in public; only wearing it when he knows no one will walk in and see him using it. Every night, Harrigan talks to it, and is told more about the Crown, though any details about where the other pieces are is always absent from this information.

Harrigan isn’t about to unlock the secrets of the Deep Platinum crown. In fact, while he’s been busy obsessing over it, the Wormwood finally made its way to Port Peril, where the crew is fated to pressgang the PC’s, changing everything.

On day 8 of the PC's adventure, Harrigan will finally demand to know the location of the other pieces of the crown. The voice in his head will cackle and say he’ll never tell, and Harrigan will search the Shackles all his life, and never find them all.

Outraged, Barnabas will conjure a hurricane with his Control Weather Dreadlord Spell-like Ability that lasts for 24 hours, and will watch his crew fight for their lives to keep the ship afloat. Treat day 7 as normal weather, and day 9 as a Weakening Storm, like it normally is. Though Barnabas will never speak to the stone again, he’ll still keep it, hoping against hope that he can still find all the pieces of the Crown and break his deal with Cheliax.

Several other pieces of the Deep Platinum Crown will make their ways to the PC’s, but it will be up to the PC’s to figure out the mysteries of how to work them and where to find the other pieces themselves. Harrigan obviously possesses one piece, and perhaps more by the time they confront him for real. Other important NPC’s like the Hurricane King are likely to have a piece, and/or other pieces could be found as part of ancient treasure hordes.

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