I may have mentioned somewhere that my group, at the end of The Wormwood Mutiny, decided to strand these two hooligans on Bonewrack Isle with nothing more than loincloths and a dagger each, and no hints about the dangers of ghoul fever and botflies. It was a suitably nasty punishment for the dastards. It also gave them one hell of an escape clause: ghouldom.
I figured these two had enough skill and power to eke out a basic survival, since most of the worst critters were now dead and gone. The ghoul fever, however, they had little defense against aside from sleeping on a raft over the water each night, which only delayed the inevitable. So they came up with a strange suicide pact.
The villains knew it was only a matter of time until they got infected, so they tried to plan it so they were private long enough to expire from the disease and come back as ghouls (in Plugg's case, a ghast). This made hunting for meat hella easier, and they began lighting signal fires from the beacon fire atop The Fist to draw rescue ships. Of course, they ambushed landing parties to get more ghouls (and some food), and used the launches to bring the attack to the ships, create a ghoul crew, and take over. Now they sail an all-ghoul crew on "The Foul Feast" as they plunder and plot their revenge.
I've decided to throw in an extra mini-adventure involving this revenge plot at the start of AP 3 "Tempest Rising" before the PCs get to Port Peril to officially start the module. I'm looking for ideas and feedback from the community. Ideally this will take one game session of about 4 hours to complete.
Since the PCs have been spreading word of their adventures and conquests all over the Shackles, it makes sense that the undead know the name of the PCs' new ship and their base-by-marriage at Tidewater Rock. I can't see these dastards being nice about that.
My basic idea is that the ghouls went to kidnap Agasta Smythee as a hostage to lure the PCs back to Bonewrack Isle ("Where you last saw us...") and rescue her. Here's where I could use some help.
I was going to have a confrontation on the beach, with a half dozen or so ghouls with the Warren Digger feat burrowing up underneath the PCs to attack with roguish sneak attacks and tanglefoot bags. But that seems a tad straightforward, and I'm not sure what to do with Agasta.
Now I'm leaning towards a paralyzed Agasta being in some danger (trap, a big fall) and the PCs having to save her up by the fort, the one near the only freshwater spring on the island.
I'm pondering how to set this all up and execute it, so input is welcome.
Andrew <:-{}
The dastards will not want to have her scratched (contracting ghoul fever especially with all of the flies around), paralyzed and inevitably becoming a ghoul too fast. If she resists succumbing to ghoul fever while paralyzed, given the time it takes to travel in-game, there's a decent chance she may die of thirst before her rescuers arrive.
Plugg and Scourge I suggest being undead pirates. They've not been ghouls too long it seems - a few months ? - so they're likely to still be thinking more like pirates and less like undead cannibals.
Agaste gets scratched and paralyzed once the dastards sight the players' ship, locked into a "Walk that Plank" scenario. Perhaps she is in the 'cage' suspended above a drowning pool of some sort? The rope suspending her cage is obvious as one of them will be adjacent to it, cutlass in hand.
The ambush is both expected and inevitable. Some place with lots of elevated platforms and concealing foliage should do the trick ... ;)
Edit: the PCs are pirates too. Depending on the specifics of the marriage, they may well "accidentally" leave her to her fate to claim Tidewater Rock by right of surviving spouse inherits the estate...
The dastards will not want to have her scratched (contracting ghoul fever especially with all of the flies around), paralyzed and inevitably becoming a ghoul too fast. If she resists succumbing to ghoul fever while paralyzed, given the time it takes to travel in-game, there's a decent chance she may die of thirst before her rescuers arrive.
Plugg and Scourge I suggest being undead pirates. They've not been ghouls too long it seems - a few months ? - so they're likely to still be thinking more like pirates and less like undead cannibals.
Agaste gets scratched and paralyzed once the dastards sight the players' ship, locked into a "Walk that Plank" scenario. Perhaps she is in the 'cage' suspended above a drowning pool of some sort? The rope suspending her cage is obvious as one of them will be adjacent to it, cutlass in hand.
The ambush is both expected and inevitable. Some place with lots of elevated platforms and concealing foliage should do the trick ... ;)
Edit: the PCs are pirates too. Depending on the specifics of the marriage, they may well "accidentally" leave her to her fate to claim Tidewater Rock by right of surviving spouse inherits the estate...
Now I'm thinking of the final encounter with the Brinebrood Queen and the Whale, and the two NPCs suspended over the raw soup pool...
Yeah, I'm thinking a Batman-style death trap too. Just a matter of the details.
As for our PCs, they're pirates, but definitely not evil. Even the neutral ones subscribe to a "kinder, gentler pirate" philosophy. So no, the captain (and crew) will not take kindly to the missus being threatened, or their (temporary) home being threatened.
- Andrew <:-(}