GM: Sean Nittner
Players: Karen Twelves, Meg Pressley, Rocko Moran, and Adrienne Mueller
System: Pathfinder
Adventure Path: Skull and Shackles
Piracy be done! From Adrienne’s notes:
Round 1:
Vyv goes on scythe-based active defense. Madi is hit for 10. Davey sneak attacks Mook 1. Madi runs behind Vyv; casts Evil Eye to give opponent -2 to Attack. Anand clobbers Mook 2 with a winch. Ratliner kills Mook 1.
Round 2:
Vyv stormblasts, but misses. Remaining cutlass-guy (Mook 2) surrenders. Davey is hit twice (bolt, sword). Davey maces sword guy (Mook 3). Madi fails to intimidate surrendered Mook 2, fails, cackles and runs toward the wheel. Anand bullrushes but misses. Tense interlock at the wheel.
Round 3:
Vyv sees Barnabas being snuck up on, but doesn’t warn him. Vyv heals Davey for 10. Davey gets hit twice more. Davey hits SwordMook 3, killing him. Madi doesn’t warn the Captain; casts ear-splitting scream for 3 damage + dazing of Mook 4. Anand doesn’t warn the Captain and flurries: 6 damage, 8 damage, dead Mook 4. Ratliner holds the wheel.
Round 4:
Vyv holds the wheel, takes damage from crossbow. Barnabas is not felled and sees us. Davey hits a crossbowman. Madi ear-piercing screams. Sly falls to the deck. Anand ‘checks out the rudder’, to find Scourge and Plugg. Anand flurries and misses a crossbowman.
Round 5:
Explosion! Mady and Vyv miss reflex saves. Fires on the ship. Vyv climbs over the side to get in position for spell. Davey kills a crossbowman. Madi gets up and throws a dagger at crossbowman; misses. Sail ripped loose when Anand flurries at a crossbowman.
Round 6:
Vyv sees people trying to escape in a dinghy; climbs incredibly well; puts out the fire with a giant Wave spell and sees someone in the hold. Radoomi make progress on boat. Anand hit for two. Davey disables the dinghy-lowering device. Madi helps Ratliner hold the wheel. Anand goes toward rudder – sees some mass around it. Spots Plugg and sees Sly is near him.
Round 7:
Vyv climbs into hole, sees Kipper heal himself with a potion, senses motive, realizes he blew the place up. Radoomi cut the dinghy ropes. Davey bullrushes but misses. Madi evil eyes one of the Radoomi. Anand tries to stealth attack Plugg, but doesn’t stealth. Plugg gives Anand an order, but Anand attacks anyway. Chairbreaker; 9 damage from the winch. Sly smiles.
Round 8:
Vyv searches the hold and finds freshwater, apples, and a trunk with silks, letters and an emerald/dragon-claw pendant. Radoomi all fail to jump into the boat. Davey cracks the boat (disable device). Madi evil eyes Plugg. “You mutinous dog!” Plugg says to Anand. Plugg botches twice. Anand attacks: 1x miss, 1x 13 damage. Sly fails to hit.
Round 9:
Vyv tries to break open a door’s lock with a cannonball but misses. Radoomi officer +2 crew try to leave with other dinghy. Davey misses with crossbow. Madi cackles to keep evil eye on Plugg and holds the wheel, calling for Ratliner. Plugg does 7 damage to Anand with one weapon. Neither Anand nor Sly hit Plugg.
Round 10:
Vyv goes up on deck; sees all the fighting. Tries to water-blast Plugg, but fails. Radoomi officer doesn’t hit Davey with elongated staff. Davey doesn’t hit her with crossbow. Plugg hits Anand for 9 – knocking him out, misses Sly. Madi emits an earpiercing scream: Plugg is dazed.
Round 11:
Vyv heals Anand. Lady Arese &co start to escape. Davey shoots and misses. Madi casts Undine’s curse on Plugg and succeeds. Anand gets up. Swings the boom. Hits Plugg for max damage (15, 12 needed). Sly, Sandara and Shivikah smoothly push the corpse overboard.
Unexpected outcomes
With only moments left Sly, Shivkah, and Sandara all grabbed Plugg’s body and heaved it over the edge into the water for the sharks to devour. Moments later the fog cleared and the Captain bellowed in triumph. That day was won and the Man’s Promise was taken! Little did he know that his first mate was being devoured by sharks as he celebrated a victory.
Looking forward to next session where the players have some downtime and we find out who will take on the station of the new first mate!
Highlights
- We capture and hold the wheel! (Some Radoomi loss of life.)
- We do not take the opportunity to help Barnabas out.
- We don’t really stop people from escaping on the dinghys.
- Vyv stops the ship from going up in flames!
- Anand (with some help from Madi, Sly and healing from Vyv) kills Plugg.
- Plugg is dead. Plugg is dead. Plugg is DEAD!
XP Awarded
Defeating 8 Rahadoumi Sailors – 400
Defeating Plugg – 300
New XP Total: 4025
Treasure doled out
- 3 x Potion of Cure Moderate Wounds
- 1 x Potion of Invisibility
- 850 GP in rewards, plunder, and bounty!
- Emerald Dragon Claw Amulet
What rocked
Plugg is dead. Dead, dead, dead. Like, really, really dead.
What could have improved
Much as I hate the idea of breaking out miniatures, there was definitely some confusion about what was where, so for future fights we may want to use some kind of battle map, even if it’s just very general.
Dude! I didn’t realize you would quote me verbatim – I could have made this a less dry read. (But thanks for thinking it worthy of display.)
The internet suggests we may need 5000 or 7500 xp for level 3. Is… is it 5000?
I like minis! We don’t have to go full battle-map; I think its fun to just fiddle with them on pseudo-maps too.
Favourite bits:
– Madi preemptively casting Undine’s Curse. It was so cruel. So calculating. So Madi.
– Vyv being torn about what to do. (To help, to hide, to hurt, to hinder.)
– The three lady S’s stealthily sliding Plugg’s body overboard. Rocky (I think) was so right. It was beautiful.
– Anand’s destruction of Plugg. In the last possible moment. In the best possible way.
Other thoughts:
– Combat can be onerous, but Sean really kept things moving. Also our characters approach action in such different ways, and with such different skills, that everyone’s turn is new and interesting.
– I’m so torn about Vyv! On the one hand, although it may be hard to motivate their continued enduring of the Wormwood, I really don’t want to lose all the good bits of having such an interesting and complex character. (And our shared history!) On the other hand, it would be so perfect for Vyv’s story for them to finally escape and go on to a better life. Really, I’m rooting for that character to get what they want. So, I don’t know! I guess all options are good options.
– Can I repeat what a relief it was to have Plugg taken out? Slightly disturbing how satisfying it is to fictitiously murder someone – even if they are a villain.
Hah! Yeah, I was going to re-write it but then realized you had everything I wanted in there!
XP required to level is based on the progression for the campaign. The default (which we’re using requires) 5000 but if we had opted for slow progression it would require 7500. Here’s the chart: http://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/character-advancement
We’ll see what Vyv feels when they reads those letters!