Where do we go from here?

[pennywit]

My players are almost ready for S&S 3. Here is what we have so far:

Plunder & Peril:

I subbed in parts of Plunder & Peril for parts of Raiders of the Fever Sea. I kept a lot of the random events along the way, but excised the Sahaugin plot as uninteresting ... and my players have not yet gone to Tidewater Rock. Instead, they've decided they want to make Warvil's Folly their home base. They bribed the lizardmen there to help build up the monastery now that they've cleaned it out.

They're currently in Ghol-Can chasing down the treasure of Jemma Redclaw. If everything goes well, at the end of Plunder & Peril, they will have:

• Two, possibly three, ships under their command: the former [i]Wormwood, the Magpie Princess, and the Fearsome Tide.

• The beginnings of an island base on Warvil's Folly.

• Nice amounts of Plunder, Infamy and Disrepute.

• Sixth level, going on seventh.

Miscellaneous plotty bits:

Unique to our campaign, we have a couple more storylines:

• The PC captain is after sunken treasure left behind by an ancient goblin captain known as the Sodden Gob.

• The PC First Mate is searching for her missing uncle.

I've decided to tie the two plots together. That is, her uncle was also searching for the Treasure of the Sodden Gob. Part of their search will involve following his footsteps.

Ideally, I'd like for the group to get the Treasure of the Sodden Gob when they're around 10th or 11th level. So far, I've introduced the first mate's cousin, who dislikes her and is also searching for the uncle. I've also introduced a scrap of his journal saying he was at Tidewater Rock for a while. My general plan is a little devilish. I plan for the uncle (who was trailing his own ancestor!) to have found the treasure, but to have been ensanred and taken over by its guardian ... a familial lich!!

My general plan is for the players to then find another scrap of his journal indicating that he went to talk to the Ancient Mariner in Mancatcher Cove.

I also plan to have a mcguffin -- a ruby encrusted conch shell - that sings in Goblin when you put it to your ear in Jemma Redclaw's treasure. The goblin song will be a clue -- the treasure is underwater somewhere.

I've tentatively decided to use Mancatcher Cove, maybe with sahaugin, maybe not, as a second place to find a clue -- something with the Ancient Mariner, perhaps.

Finally, I've introduced a rogue plot element in the form of Captain Bloodwine, a flesh-thirsty ghoul pirate and his crew who ply the seas. So far, the players have had tangential encounters with his stuff. They encountered ghouls on Bonewrack Island (his base). They also shut down a slaver operation that supplied Bloodwine with food and crew. I'd also like him to have one of the Sodden Gob mcguffins. I'm thinking a dagger that will provide augury once per day, but only if the question is asked in Goblin. That dagger might also hold some other clue to the treasure, but I have no idea what that clue should be.

Also hovering in this are another player's story (to fight slavery).

So ... any ideas of how to integrate all this with the third module? Because it's a lot to take in.

[Cuup]

If the PC’s already have the Wormwood, does that mean Barnabas Harrigan is out of the story? Are you planning on still having the Chelish element at the end?

Maybe instead of Tessa, the group is given an audience with Jolis Raffles - Pirate Lord of Bag Island, and Halfling champion of antislavery - at the beginning of Book 3. This would satisfy the elements of your antislavery PC’s backstory. Maybe instead of Chelish spies, he’s working on dismantling Bedu Hanji’s slaving operation out of Grinitzahara (if none of these names or places sound familiar, download the Isles of the Shackles, which is an amazing setting book anyone running S&S should have handy).

You could then re-skin a lot of the encounters and locations from the middle third of the book to this new theme. Along the way, as the group gets closer to the evil Alchemist who must be taken out to deny Bedu with the macguffin, they find a clue or two that will get them closer to the Sodden Gob.

Edit: if Harrigan IS out of the story, but you’re still planning on including the Chelish element at the end, Bedu Hanji would be a pretty good fill-in for the role Harrigan plays.

[pennywit]

I was mistaken. Harrigan is still there. They have Man's Promise, not Wormwood.

[pennywit]

Cuup wrote:

If the PC’s already have the Wormwood, does that mean Barnabas Harrigan is out of the story? Are you planning on still having the Chelish element at the end?

I think I will keep the Chelish element, if only to give the antislavery player a meaty plotline.

Quote:

Maybe instead of Tessa, the group is given an audience with Jolis Raffles - Pirate Lord of Bag Island, and Halfling champion of antislavery - at the beginning of Book 3. This would satisfy the elements of your antislavery PC’s backstory. Maybe instead of Chelish spies, he’s working on dismantling Bedu Hanji’s slaving operation out of Grinitzahara (if none of these names or places sound familiar, download the Isles of the Shackles, which is an amazing setting book anyone running S&S should have handy).

I have this book and have poked through it a couple times. I like this idea in general.

I think after they finish with Redclaw's treasure they will put into port to sell things. At that point, I will probably spread some seeds in front of them and see what happens.

I am leaning toward:

* The bard PC's cousin wants to go to Tidewater Rock to look for clues about her father.

* Jolis Raffles invites the PCs for a visit. I might tie tbis plotline to Cheliax or to Bedu Hanji.

I also plan to have that ghoul captain start moving in on the PCs. I want a final confrontation with Bloodwine when the PCs are about 8th level.

[Cuup]

You could have some henchmen of the Ghoul Captain start some trouble, and in taking them out, the PC’s also save an underling of Jolis from a bite-ee fate. The Ghoul captain encounter is kicked into motion, and the PC’s get an audience with Jolis as thanks for saving his man’s life.

[*Khan*]

Whalebone Pilk could be a possible ally of the Ghoul Captain.
One takes the souls the other the Meat.

[*Khan*]

Im running Plunder and Peril at the moment, but as a side quest to Raiders of the Fever and slow track on XP but with some more loot.

[pennywit]

Cuup wrote:

You could have some henchmen of the Ghoul Captain start some trouble, and in taking them out, the PC’s also save an underling of Jolis from a bite-ee fate. The Ghoul captain encounter is kicked into motion, and the PC’s get an audience with Jolis as thanks for saving his man’s life.

Now this is pretty good. The players already took down a slaving operation that was supplying the ghouls with both crew and food.