Session Five - Recap

Session Five Recap

In the room with a swirling vortex of water, facing off against the vicious Brinebrood Queen, and watching their two bound allies fall into the water and start sinking toward the ghouls chained to the floor of the chamber below, the party sprung into action. Jax immediately began climbing up the wall, then across the roof stalactites to try and grab the severed vine to haul Sandara Quinn and Shivikah away from the ghouls. Sadie the Goat cast a spell of swimming onto Druna, who raced across the water with ease to engage the half-grindylow-half-octopus Brinebrood Queen. Frighteningly, swimming from the small recess in the back of the room came a massive, bloated grindylow. This "whale" swam with horrible speed, heading toward where Gilbert and Sadie were swimming.

He's going to swallow you...

Scolvus cast a grease spell on Sandara Quinn's bindings, hoping to allow her to struggle free on her own. Meanwhile, Gilbert faced off against the Whale. The big beast was up on him in an instant, its enormous maw clamping down directly over his head. With a savage gulp, the Whale swallowed Gilbert nearly whole. In the process, one of the beast's massive teeth pierced through Gilbert's skin and tore a huge gash all the way from his chin down to his chest (sure to leave an impressive moderate scar). 

Sandara Quinn, thanks to the spell from Scolvus, managed to slip free--lightening the load on Jax who was hanging upside down trying to keep her and Shivikah suspended above the ghouls as best he could. She swam back to try and help Gilbert, whose one leg was horribly still hanging out of the Whale's mouth, as it seemed the beast could only barely swallow its prey.

Scolvus swam to where Shivikah dangled and cut him free. But one of the savage ghouls below finally managed to struggle free of its chains (breaking its ankle horribly to pull it free). It swam up and quickly paralyzed both Scolvus and the big Mwangi sailor with its savage attacks. Jax, thinking quickly, threw a rope around them to try and haul their paralyzed forms upward.

Druna found the Brinebrood Queen rather difficult to hit, and seeing her friends paralyzed and in danger from the ghouls swam back to fight there. Meanwhile, the Whale was set upon by foes from without and within. Sandara cast a spell of healing on Gilbert's dangling foot--awakening inside the beast, he drew a dagger and slashed at its guts causing the Whale to vomit Gilbert back out in disgusting fashion. Turning on the Whale, Gilbert, Sandara, and Sadie finally manage to finish it with a series of dagger slashes.

Scolvus recovered quickly from his paralysis, and attempted to cast a spell at a foe, only to lose his grip and sending himself and Shivkah plunging back into the water into the midst of the ghouls. Thankfully, Druna continued to fight and managed to defeat both the ghouls before the trio were too further damaged. 

The Brineblood queen, enraged by the death of the whale, swam to the entrance of the room--likely torn between preventing her foes' escape and thinking of escaping herself. While she managed to summon an octopus and two dolphins to fight for her, the attacks began to start getting though. Jax lashed a rope to a rock outcropping and swung over, to leave the Queen pinned between his and Druna's savage attacks. Finally the nasty druidess was slain. The party looted the place, finding most notably a massive 50 pound whale scull carved with scrimshaw that worked as a scroll. While huge and bulky, the spells were certainly powerful enough for Scolvus to carry it along.

Like this, but with spells. Deadly, deadly spells. 

The crew swam back to the dinghy, to find that they were not the only ones who had fought grindylows. The craft contained the corpses of two of the creatures which had snuck on and tried to kill Pluck the Parrot and Anastasia the Spider. One lay clawed to death from the parrot's sharp talons, while the other was slumped in the corner paralyzed from spider venom and dead from its venom-liquified innards being consumed by the beast. The group took a moment to swim down to the wreck of the Infernus below, where the cage with the initial "weapon" ghoul lay bent and broken at the bottom of the sea. While the party searched for treasure, a shark approached--no doubt attracted to some of the residual blood on their clothes from the battle. The shark was driven off after taking a bite out of Scolvus' arm, and spotting more approaching from the smell of blood the group scooped up what small treasures they could find and swam back to the dinghy. 

Reaching the ship again, the group found Captain Plugg hardly welcoming of their efforts. Instead, he directs his ire especially at Sandara Quinn and Shivikah. Claiming that they were derilect in their duties by getting captured, he orders them lashed with the cat-o-nine. Tying the two of them immediately to the main mast, Master Scourge chuckles as he tears Sandara Quinn's blouse from her back. She tries to cover her breasts which are now exposed, and begins crying. While Shivikah's back is already torn and scarred from prior lashings, Sandara's is smooth and undamaged.

As Sandara wept uncontrollably, and Master Scourge began preparing to slash her back with the nettled cat, the injustice was finally too much for the crew. Jax moved up behind Master Scourge as he stealthily drew his dagger. Druna and Gilbert were also in motion to help when Jax slid his blade into Master Scourge's ribs. With a shout of "At 'em lads, the bullshit's at an end!" Jax started the ship's mutiny.

Almost everyone drew weapons, with the two "factions" of the crew squaring off. Conchobar Shortstone, Badger Medlar, Maheem, Tam "Narwhal" Tate, and most of the Rahadoumi crew--those loyal to Captain Plugg--were set upon by the heroes plus Dovan from Nisroch, Jaundiced Jape, Ambrose "Fishguts" Kroop, Rattline Rattsberger, and Rosie Cuswell. Meanwhile others, including the two Rahadoumi riggers that Jax had made friends with held back and watched. perhaps weighing it was best to wait and join the winning side.

Similar, if you believe the "Bligh was cruel" story over the "let's have sex in Tahiti" story

The fight began rough, with Master Scourge being more the initial target than Captain Plugg amongst those who formed the shore party. Because they seemed to have the numbers, Plugg used his Tidewater Cutlass to try and push Jax off the ship, or at least to free Master Scourge. While it bought Scourge enough time to drink a healing potion, Jax remained on the ship. Scolvus used his whale skull scroll to blast his foes on the decks, but quickly forgot to compensate for being on the dinghy he remained hiding in and fell over the side. Captain Plugg crossed swords with some of the crew, before he dashed below decks. Gilbert began a rousing speech, trying to curry those who waited by the sidelines to jump into the fight.

Master Scourge fought well, but was brought down when he left an opening when trying to reach the dinghy, and Druna, Jax, and both druid pets got to strike him when he was unprepared. He was literally torn, clawed, stabbed, and clobbered into pieces as his bloody corpse fell lifeless to the deck floor. Jax grabbed Master Scourge's bloody cat, raised it above his head, and shouted "Scourge is dead, the ship is ours! Throw down!"

The fighting on the deck paused for a moment as people looked at Jax and seemed to weigh his claim (and their opponents' intentions). But just then the door to the Captain's quarters burst open and out roared the man called Owlbear onto the deck. Carrying a massive greatclub, he madly leveled a swing at the first thing he saw: Badger Medlar, whose head shattered from behind as it was caved in by the raving madman.

Captain Plugg, undaunted by the death of his botswain, shouted "Kill them my pet! Kill those who fight against me! The ship is still mine, you scurvy dogs!" Those frozen from Jax's words leaped back into combat, and the deck started to get slick with blood. Bodies were falling on both sides amongst the pirate crew. Notably, near the forecastle Ambrose "Fishguts" Kroop lay slain, his neck opened from the savage chop of a boarding axe by a Rahadoumi sailor. Nika crouched next to him, trying fruitlessly to staunch the bleeding and screaming as her companion lay dying.

Sadie the Goat, seeing Scolvus floundering in the water below, lowered the dinghy down to rescue him. Wet but fuming with anger, Scolvus hauled himself into the small craft and raised it back up to be part of the fight. Getting back level to the deck, they saw that Captain Plugg was not easily defeated. While the hits from Jax and Druna started to add up, Plugg was giving as well as he got. Gilbert meanwhile squared off against Maheem, and managed to knock the Rahadoumi unconscious with a well-timed bash with the butt of his longspear. Conchobar Shortstone, with the stabbed and dying Rosie Cusswell lying at his feet, turned to fight Gilbert but was caught between attackers and brought down. And finally, Plugg's last ally Tam "Narwhal" Tate, was battling the mutineers when suddenly Slippery Syl Longergan slid up behind him and stabbed him right in the gut. Whispering something that sounded suspiciously like "My secret now dies with you," Syl's blade went right thru Tam's chest. He fell oddly over the deck, his neck craned on the other dinghy's edge leaving him dangling just a moment before his dead corpse plummeted into the ocean. And the druids both spoke to Owlbear, calming him down and reminding him that he was their friend--stopping his murderous rampage.

Seeing that the tides had truly turned, Captain Plugg leaped into the dinghy that his toady's blood just spilled across. He began lowering the ropes as fast as he could, when Gilbert stepped up and cut the ropes free--perhaps hoping to leave Plugg helpless and adrift or marooned on Bonewrack Isle. But both Jax and Druna wanted Plugg dead, not left adrift to potentially return. Jax cut a rope from the rigging and swung down smoothly, while Druna took a solid and slightly ungainly leap. Yet both were in the dinghy, on either side of Captain Plugg. With a few sharp sword slashes and club bashes, Plugg was reduced to a corpse lying in the bottom of the rowboat.

At that moment, Scolvus took a spot on the aft near the ship's wheel and loudly proclaimed the mutiny finished with Plugg's death, and that all should lay down their arms. The crew complied. Rosie Cusswell and Ambrose "Fishguts" Kroop lay dead, as did all of those loyal to Plugg except for Maheem. Someone mentioned that the ship now needed a new name, and Jax quickly quipped that The Man's Promise should now be named The Broken Promise, a name which suddenly and immediately seemed to fit and stick.

"The Broken Promise", moored near the cove of Bonewrack Isle

Sandara Quinn immediately spoke to those assembled on deck, speaking with the authority about "pirate laws" that only a cleric of Besmara can possess, saying that what needed to happen immediately was that a new captain should be chosen. She said that captaincy could be decided by blood or by vote of the crew, whichever they preferred. Most, seeing the bloodstained ship and former friends on both sides dead.

Nominations began, as anyone could nominate themselves or be nominated by others. Jax, Gilbert, and Scolvus were the three nominees from the shore party, while Dovan from Nisroch nominated himself and the two surviving Rahadoumi sailors Akphir and Mutnodjmet nominated each other. Sandara explained that this group would meet and discuss in secret, to see if any would drop out or lend their support to others. Retiring to the Captain's quarters, it became obvious almost immediately that the two Rahadoumi simply nominated themselves to assure that they would be okay and ask for kindness from whoever the new captain was should future Rahadoumi vessels or ports be raided. Accepting that in general principle, the two removed themselves from consideration. Jax also contemplated the position, but said that he was simply more interesting in sailing the actual ship than dealing with all the politics and planning that were the Captain's main tasks. The others, however, were resolute in their wishes to be considered for Captain.

Thus, the three candidates of Gilbert, Scolvus, and Dovan from Nisroch, were presented to the crew. Sandara Quinn fetched a holy book of Besmara and tore pages from it, as votes were to be done in sacred pirate tradition. They were distributed to all the crew, and all made their marks for the candidate of their choice. Finally, the votes were publicly revealed. Jax, Gilbert, and Nika had voted for Gilbert along with just under half of the crew. Sadie, Druna, and Scolvus had voted for Scolvus, along with the exact same number of votes from the crew. Dovan from Nisroch had received exactly two votes--one from himself and one from Samms Toppin. Worried about the situation of a tie and what that meant, suddenly a rather tired looking Galfire emerged from below decks. Seeming to not even notice the blood, nor having heard the commotion, he gave some half-formed comment about "tending to things below" to cover his shirking of work duties. The captaincy, with a clear tie, was left in his hands. Asked who he would vote for as Captain between Gilbert and Scolvus, he eyed the two candidates for a second. Judging both as feeble, weak, and neither being the kind of men he would actually take orders from, Galfire said "Gilbert. Better him than the one who falls in the water all the time."

And with that, a new Captain was proclaimed for The Broken Promise. Where the seas would take Captain Gilbert Sullivan and his crew, no one quite knew. 

Session One - Recap

Session One Recap

Seven people found themselves wake up in the swaying underbelly of the pirate ship, The Wormwood, each having been a victim of the poison-assisted press gang crew of the ruthless Master Scourge. They were: Galfire, a soft-spoken and short-tempered Half Elf cook. Jax Sandstrom, a nimble and randy young Human with tan skin and a ponytail. Druna, a short-haired and nature-minded Dwarf woman. Gilbert Sullivan, a well-spoken and impeccably dressed young Half Elf. Nika, an inventive and duplicitous Human ranger from the lands nearby Port Peril. Sadie “the Goat”—a skinny Dwarf woman with a penchant for fascination with nature and headbutting her foes. And finally, Scolvus O’Shaughnessy, a magical adept and semi-legitimate son of fabled Pirate Captain Corvus O’Shaughnessy (whose ship “The Handy Maiden” has frequently raided the coasts around The Shackles).

Before they could do much talking, Master Scourge—accompanied by four rough pirates with blackjacks in hand-burst through the door and ordered these “new recruits” onto the main deck to start work. While most obeyed, Galfire began calmly asking questions and explaining that he wasn’t supposed to be on the ship. In what was to become an instantly familiar scene, Master Scourge took exception to Galfire’s talk and set the pirates on him to force him to the deck.

Master Scourge

Up on deck, the newly impressed sailors were given a talking to by Captain Barnabas Harrigan and his boatswain, Mr. Plugg. After the Captain’s orders that he doesn’t tolerate the crew speaking to him, and that anyone found murdering someone else will be keelhauled, he turns things over to Mr. Plugg to assign tasks to the new arrivals. The first test—for another Rigger for the ship—is easily won by Jax who scampered up the ropes as quick as he was able. Nika was careful to not do too well, and Sadie the Goat managed to fall—luckily caught by Gilbert. However, Galfire drew even more ire from Master Scourge for getting tangled and stuck upside down in the rigging a mere foot off the deck. That ire was played out when Galfire, who had served as a chef in Port Peril for some time, was passed over for the Cook’s mate job. Nika got that position, simply by bluffing “yes” to the question “can you cook?” Feeling utterly disrespected, Galfire joined Druna, Gilbert, Sadie the Goat, and Scolvus as swabs. All were immediately put to tasks.

When evening came, so came the bloody hour when punishments were handed out. Some of the new arrivals received rope bashes or lashes, but the real horror of the bloody hour was having to watch one of the crew be keelhauled for stealing from the quartermaster’s store. After that gruesome event, the seven choked down their first rum rations and settled in to dinner—when their first friendly face emerged from the crew. Sandara Quinn, a self-described Holy Priestess of Besmara (the Pirate Goddess), slipped the crew a few of their stolen personal items. She said that Besmara warned her in a vision that seven would arrive who are chosen of the Pirate Queen who roams the celestial seas.

As the days went forward, the newly arrived seven started to make both friends and enemies on the ship. Scolvus and Gilbert befriended Rosie Cusswell, a Halfling swab, with a combination of friendly banter and tricking the superstitious quartermaster Cut-Throat Grok into releasing Rosie’s prized fiddle. Sadie the Goat made unlikely friends with Jack Scrimshaw, while Gilbert gained some measure of esteem from a nasty looking mercenary called Dovan from Nisroch (who told tales of twice-escaping retribution from some kingdom of bumpkins called “Fitzburgh”). Jax initially overplayed his hand with a rather attractive young sailor named Samms Toppin (with a “you know I never had sex in a hammock before” line), but over time got her somewhat back into his good graces. He also spent a great deal of time with Sandara Quinn—whether to deepen their friendship or deepen something else, it’s unclear. Nika, now the cook’s mate, got the scoop on the ship from her superior (“It’s poison, this ship” said Ambrose “Fishguts” Kroop), managed to catch a school of fish for dinner (with a little help from Druna), and made a friendly impression on Shivikah, a massive Mwangi ex-slaver, by doing his swab work for the better part of an afternoon. And finally, the druids managed to start to make animal friends. Druna started to bond with a parrot (called “Pluck” by the crew) that was prior owned by a dead crewmember. And Sadie the Goat befriended a rather large and unusual spider (which scared the crap out of fellow pirate Conchobar Shortstone). 

So while the seven made these and other friends, the seven also noticed that Master Scourge and some of his cronies were spending time turning the ears of other pirates on the ship. Their second day on the ship, four of the pirates (Aretta Banison, Fipps Chumlet, Jaundiced Jape, and Slippery Syl Lonergan) managed to forcefully keep the seven from making the deck when the crewbell rang—getting the seven each three lashes punishment. The seven subdued and humiliated their attackers, with Nika delivering a brutal punch to Aretta’s face, Scolvus using a grease spell to humiliate Slippery Syl (now called “Greasy Pete” by the party), and Druna nearly breaking Fipps Chumlett’s neck with an enchanted mop handle. However, only the seven were punished for being late… and Nika saw Aretta Banison whispering with Master Scourge. Sneaking close, she caught snippets of conversation that sounded like he put them up to it. More worrisome, the seven noticed Master Scourge, Mr. Plugg, and their toady Tam “Narwhal” Tate chatting with some of the pirates as well—and casting dirty looks their way.

“If you outlaw mops, only outlaws will have mops” -Gilbert

The third evening on the ship ended with the seven deciding to stage a drinking game for fun—a rum chugging contest aptly nicknamed “Heave”. Druna and Sadie the Goat entered the contest, as did Tam “Narwhal” Tate and Dovan from Nisroch. Druna used the contest to further rumors that she had started of an illicit relationship between Tam and Master Scourge, while Gilbert swapped his bet to Dovan to show confidence in his newfound acquaintance. Druna eventually out-drank the last of them, and won the pot for herself and “Ratline” Rattsberger (who bet on her). As she stumbled off completely inebriated and exhausted, unfortunately she heard Mr. Plugg make an ominous threat to “Rattline” Rattberger: “We’ll see how you and your lubber friends fare with tomorrow night’s entertainment: my owlbear!”

NPC Matrix

The characters have a basic idea of attitudes of the other crewmembers to them, which will be represented on this matrix and updated after each session. The (current) indicates where the attitude is, while the names in boxes show who influenced whom. (Permanent) indicates that the character is now permanently that status relative to the PCs. While they can still directly benefit from interaction with that NPC, the attitude is fixed unless something extreme happens to push the NPC the other way (cruel or insulting treatment of a helpful ally, for instance). Where movement goes back and forth, the names will be numbered to show the order of influence. I make this information public because living in close proximity on a ship really cannot hide their interactions!

Name	Face	Hostile	Unfriendly	Indifferent	Friendly	Helpful	Description
Ambrose “Fishguts” Kroop				Start (current)			Ship’s cook, perpetually drunk, smells of rum Voice: Long John Silver
Aretta Banison		(current) Master Scourge	Start				Swab, Bad tempered ex-harlot who escaped a pimp named Pepper Jack. Big ears. Voice: Bitch voice
“Badger” Medlar			Start	(current) Scolvus 1 Master Scourge 3	Scolvus 2		Swab, Older woman who has shaved white stripes like a badger on her head. Voice: Woman’s Low rumble
Conchobar Shortstone		(current) Sadie’s Spider	Start				Rigger, overly dressy and fussy gnome Voice: Olaf Peterson (“Hello beautiful ladies!!!”)
Crimson Cogward			Start (current)				Swab, Easily angered loner, impressed only by stories of bloodshed. Voice: hasn’t spoken yet
Cut-Throat Grok				Start (current)			Quartermaster, superstitious. Voice: Raspy woman (because of scar) who gasps when she laughs
Dovan from Nisroch				Start	(current) Gilbert		Swab, Colorful rogue mercenary captain, tells stories from Fitzburgh. Voice: Sexy guy voice
Fipps Chumlett		(permanent) Master Scourge / Druna	Start				Swab, Fat, Pushy bully. Voice: Bro bully voice
Jack Scrimshaw				Start	(current) Sadie		Swab, Talented young man always doing scrimshaw Voice: meek and mild
Jaundiced Jape		Start (current)					Swab, Humorless, greedy mute Voice: Mute
Maheem		(current) Mr. Plugg	Start				Rigger, Rahaddoumi half-elf with a permanent scowl Voice: Arabian Nights
"Ratline" Rattsberger				Start	(current) Druna 1 Mr. Plugg 3	Scolvus 2	Rigger, Rat faced Halfling missing fingers Voice: Chuckles constantly (think heh heh heh)
Rosie Cusswell				Start	Scolvus	(permanent) Gilbert / Fiddle	Swab, Swears constantly. Voice: stream of expletives
Samms Toppin			(current) Jax 1 Master Scourge 3	Start Jax 2			Rigger, Former fisherwoman, never wears shoes Voice: Sweet melody
Sandara Quinn						Start (current) Nika Jax	Swab, Believer in Besmara’s guidance Voice: Moonbat
Shivikah			Start	(current) Nika			Swab, Mwangi ex-slaver Voice: Deep African voice, says “My friend” to everyone
Slippery Syl Lonergan    (or Greasy Pete)		(current) Master Scourge	Start				Swab, Unhinged murderer who escaped to sea Voice: Dirty Harry (You feelin’ lucky punk?)
Tam "Narwhal" Tate		Start (current)					Swab, old friend of Master Scourge, Huge Nose Voice: Sniveling Toady