AlanBruce
2014-05-18, 06:29 AM
Greetings! I am currently having a sea faring arc and the party has been doing just great, except for the fact that none of them knows a thing about ship maintenance and being a sailor since they have always had to deal with problems on land.
The party is ECL 12-13, and powerful on their right, having chartered a ship that will take them 30 days to reach destination while exploring (since the party's pixie bard wants to do some pirateering aka. treasure hunting).
The crew is made of 20 human sailors (fighter2/expert1), a human cook (expert 4, feats focused on cooking skills with some sailor stuff added in), a healer/carpenter (adept 8), a boatswain hadozee bard7/virtuoso3, a quartermaster darfellan ranger5/leviathan hunter5, and the good captain, a half elf Rogue4/Swashbuckler3/Dread Pirate1/Scarlet Corsair3.
The party are 5 and they have paid good coin to be the only passengers on the ship, but, as luck may have it, it is day 2 (nearing the beginning of day 3) and disaster has already struck.
Forced to take a detour on account of a warning by an Ocean Strider, the ship has taken an alternate course, fraught with danger, which will lead them through, amongst many places, a graveyard ship, a harpy's island, an immense stretch of sargasso sea and, quite possibly, the domains of an old cursed Scyllan (Stormwrack).
All that's fine and dandy. These locations are ripe with RP and XP and loot opportunities for a 30 day travel. There is no complaint there. The crew, being low level (particularly the sailors), don't look upon their deluxe passengers with too much trust.
For one, a female drow paladin is considered bad luck, being a woman in a ship. Nevermind the fact she's a drow.
The warforged shaman did not help the crew's view by summoning a puppet show made of elementals on the very first night and closing the show with a 5 ton earth elemental that bore a hole in the deck, tearing through the many levels of the ship and nearly sinking it.
Thankfully, the party's conjurer was able to asist- and greatly- by using his summon unseen horde and helping the crew bucket the water out while the party's druid swam under the hull and helped the rest of the crew with repairs (he devoted some skills to carpentry), while the party's pixie bard chanted underwater as a Sirine (MM2) to give everyone a nice boost.
Cue in day two and the captain proposes the idea of treasure hunting- some coin on the side. As long as it's on the way. The route is already dangerous as is and he does not want to endanger his crew, but he also does not want to miss out on sunken treasure- something the party seems to be really good at retrieving.
The first treasure hunt was directed by the captain (played by me), the pixie and conjurer.
The pay off was a small chest with several hundred gold (breaking the 1K mark) and that damn crab so infamous in many threads. That and the risk of the ship they were investigating sliding down a trench due to TDC moving all over the main battle area- the mess hall.
One treasure chest secured and a teleport later, and the captain begins to see the usefulness in his passengers. They aren't just rich guys with expensive trinkets. They can help. Help his pocket, at least. And so, he offers the pixie three more maps for her to decipher while he mans the ship.
The maps are deciphered: One will take the ship off course by two full days- an abadoned wizard's tower in the middle of the sea, something the captain objects to, unless the party decides to go alone, since he will not alter his course so dramatically, let alone give them crew members (but he will give them a rowboat).
Another is a series of sand bars- an Atoll. Shallow waters peppered here and there by palm trees. Yurians (FF) are said to live here, but where exactly the treasure is, is a mystery. This place is along the way, but the captain has asked that if they do decide to explore, that the ship will not get a mile close, given that there is high risk of dredging the vessel on the sandbars.
The final spot is 2 days from their current location, on course. A green island by the looks on the map. Lush and probably filled with supplies. Supplies the ship may need after the elemental fiasco. The writings on the map are Hadozee, which have the Boatswain intrigued and willing to join the party and explore.
Unknown to the crew (but not to the party), the drow, who has remained silent harbors a necrotic cyst from a fight months earlier. This cyst has not been removed yet and the party's wizard makes it a habit to cast Disobedience on her every day (he is aware that he cannot control or stop her necrotic eruption, but has chosen to remain silent on the matter so as to not scare her or the rest). However the drow did speak her mind when the mage volunteered to go with the pixie and warforged to the wizard's tower, prompting her to remind him that he- and only he, was able to keep her mind at bay, should murderous desires be whispered to her.
Not the best choice of words when out at sea, probably.
Cue in a private meeting with the party, high officers and captain. Captain is in an uproar, threatens to leave the drow on the first patch of land he finds. Druid jumps in, calling him out on reneging his contract, to which the captain laughs, saying that out at sea, "the captain has ultimate say, especially when matters like these are involved".
Words are exchanged. Subtle threats thrown in. Meeting dismissed.
Cue in next day...
the drow has taken to the crow's nest, away from everyone, while the rest of the party is feeling bummed out, taking to their cabins as the captain mans the wheel and points out to the Atoll, asking if anyone wants to do a quick stop.
No answer.
So I decide to send in an advanced Dragon turtle (MM) under the ship to start attempting to capsize it, something it does not accomplish, but is successful in breaking through to the kitchen with its beak and causing the main mast to break.
The party takes action. They buff, jump under the water and get ready to face off against the beast.
The conjurer forgets his daily Disobedience and so, the cyst takes hold of the drow, submitting her to necrotic domination and asking her to use her only Alter Self to go Raptoran and fly to the Atoll while remarking that she, being a drow noble, is above protecting smelly humans... and to kill anyone who tried to stop her on the way there.
The party under the ship is having a brutal affair. The conjurer shows why he's a T1 and saves the party and crew at least 3 times by altering reality and shuffling them around the water, away from the turtle's BW, which would've slain over half the crew.
A single sailor died that fight, and it was due to an AoO as he hasted himself closer to the dragon, cutlass in hand.
In the end, the crew, the captain, the darfellan, the druid, the warforged, and the pixie bard bolstering all, caused the massive turtle to be stabbed and cut to death by getting horribly surrounded.
One sailor dead. One dragon turtle dead. Fair trade.
Of course, the aftermath has left the ship in shambles. The healer has taken to the helm and ordered those still on deck to use oars to paddle towards the Atoll- there are no sails and that's their safest bet.
The ship dredges itself less than a mile from the shallow Atoll, causing the captain to ask everyone (party included) to drag the vessel through the sandbars until they could get it to shallow waters, so it wouldn't sink. A grueling journey under a tropical sun as a group of 20+ hauled the ship by strength alone, while the warforged used an elemental to drag the turtle's mighty carcass along.
Food would be necessary while the ship was repaired.
Long story short, they meet a Yurian- or what they think is a Yurian. A wavecrest gnome effigy master inside a "crabman suit" who is horrified to see that the dragon turtle is dead- the Great Protector of the Atoll and a deity like figure to the Yurians, who kept such unsavories like sahuagin and pirates away from the place. Why did it attack their ship? That's a part of the mystery.
Currently, the crew has cut the dragon turtle following the cook's instructions and everyone had turtle soup, with salted steaks harpooned to the sandbars for later consumtion.
The warforged, aware that the party had a unique wand of Last Breath, heads back to the derelict ship and uses 2 charges on the dead sailor, bringing him back to the Atoll as a hobgoblin, something the crew is reluctant to accept at first, but the captain and officers welcome gladly, thanking the spirit shaman for his actions.
The druid and captain know slicing and eating this creature is wrong in many levels, but they need a strong crew if the Yurians are to show up, something they have not yet, but the party is certain that they are watching from beneath the shallow waters, much like their crab cousins.
I apologize for the long wall of text, but my query was the following- the players have left everything- negotiations, talking, investigating, to the captain, an npc. Their reasoning being that the captain is "the captain" and so he'd know more about the sea than them. the druid's player has shown more initiative, actively asking questions, proposing ideas and what not.
How could I make the party get involved more? They had no problem with the Dragon turtle battle. they actively went in after it, but the RP sections they just stood back and allowed the npcs to research and propose ideas, something I feel uneasy about, since I enjoy lateral thinking on behalf of my players.
They didn't even ask the wavecrest gnome what his name was, which should be a first when meeting someone new in an out of the way place like the middle of the ocean.
Any ideas are more than welcome.
Thank you and I apologize again for the long thread.
The party is ECL 12-13, and powerful on their right, having chartered a ship that will take them 30 days to reach destination while exploring (since the party's pixie bard wants to do some pirateering aka. treasure hunting).
The crew is made of 20 human sailors (fighter2/expert1), a human cook (expert 4, feats focused on cooking skills with some sailor stuff added in), a healer/carpenter (adept 8), a boatswain hadozee bard7/virtuoso3, a quartermaster darfellan ranger5/leviathan hunter5, and the good captain, a half elf Rogue4/Swashbuckler3/Dread Pirate1/Scarlet Corsair3.
The party are 5 and they have paid good coin to be the only passengers on the ship, but, as luck may have it, it is day 2 (nearing the beginning of day 3) and disaster has already struck.
Forced to take a detour on account of a warning by an Ocean Strider, the ship has taken an alternate course, fraught with danger, which will lead them through, amongst many places, a graveyard ship, a harpy's island, an immense stretch of sargasso sea and, quite possibly, the domains of an old cursed Scyllan (Stormwrack).
All that's fine and dandy. These locations are ripe with RP and XP and loot opportunities for a 30 day travel. There is no complaint there. The crew, being low level (particularly the sailors), don't look upon their deluxe passengers with too much trust.
For one, a female drow paladin is considered bad luck, being a woman in a ship. Nevermind the fact she's a drow.
The warforged shaman did not help the crew's view by summoning a puppet show made of elementals on the very first night and closing the show with a 5 ton earth elemental that bore a hole in the deck, tearing through the many levels of the ship and nearly sinking it.
Thankfully, the party's conjurer was able to asist- and greatly- by using his summon unseen horde and helping the crew bucket the water out while the party's druid swam under the hull and helped the rest of the crew with repairs (he devoted some skills to carpentry), while the party's pixie bard chanted underwater as a Sirine (MM2) to give everyone a nice boost.
Cue in day two and the captain proposes the idea of treasure hunting- some coin on the side. As long as it's on the way. The route is already dangerous as is and he does not want to endanger his crew, but he also does not want to miss out on sunken treasure- something the party seems to be really good at retrieving.
The first treasure hunt was directed by the captain (played by me), the pixie and conjurer.
The pay off was a small chest with several hundred gold (breaking the 1K mark) and that damn crab so infamous in many threads. That and the risk of the ship they were investigating sliding down a trench due to TDC moving all over the main battle area- the mess hall.
One treasure chest secured and a teleport later, and the captain begins to see the usefulness in his passengers. They aren't just rich guys with expensive trinkets. They can help. Help his pocket, at least. And so, he offers the pixie three more maps for her to decipher while he mans the ship.
The maps are deciphered: One will take the ship off course by two full days- an abadoned wizard's tower in the middle of the sea, something the captain objects to, unless the party decides to go alone, since he will not alter his course so dramatically, let alone give them crew members (but he will give them a rowboat).
Another is a series of sand bars- an Atoll. Shallow waters peppered here and there by palm trees. Yurians (FF) are said to live here, but where exactly the treasure is, is a mystery. This place is along the way, but the captain has asked that if they do decide to explore, that the ship will not get a mile close, given that there is high risk of dredging the vessel on the sandbars.
The final spot is 2 days from their current location, on course. A green island by the looks on the map. Lush and probably filled with supplies. Supplies the ship may need after the elemental fiasco. The writings on the map are Hadozee, which have the Boatswain intrigued and willing to join the party and explore.
Unknown to the crew (but not to the party), the drow, who has remained silent harbors a necrotic cyst from a fight months earlier. This cyst has not been removed yet and the party's wizard makes it a habit to cast Disobedience on her every day (he is aware that he cannot control or stop her necrotic eruption, but has chosen to remain silent on the matter so as to not scare her or the rest). However the drow did speak her mind when the mage volunteered to go with the pixie and warforged to the wizard's tower, prompting her to remind him that he- and only he, was able to keep her mind at bay, should murderous desires be whispered to her.
Not the best choice of words when out at sea, probably.
Cue in a private meeting with the party, high officers and captain. Captain is in an uproar, threatens to leave the drow on the first patch of land he finds. Druid jumps in, calling him out on reneging his contract, to which the captain laughs, saying that out at sea, "the captain has ultimate say, especially when matters like these are involved".
Words are exchanged. Subtle threats thrown in. Meeting dismissed.
Cue in next day...
the drow has taken to the crow's nest, away from everyone, while the rest of the party is feeling bummed out, taking to their cabins as the captain mans the wheel and points out to the Atoll, asking if anyone wants to do a quick stop.
No answer.
So I decide to send in an advanced Dragon turtle (MM) under the ship to start attempting to capsize it, something it does not accomplish, but is successful in breaking through to the kitchen with its beak and causing the main mast to break.
The party takes action. They buff, jump under the water and get ready to face off against the beast.
The conjurer forgets his daily Disobedience and so, the cyst takes hold of the drow, submitting her to necrotic domination and asking her to use her only Alter Self to go Raptoran and fly to the Atoll while remarking that she, being a drow noble, is above protecting smelly humans... and to kill anyone who tried to stop her on the way there.
The party under the ship is having a brutal affair. The conjurer shows why he's a T1 and saves the party and crew at least 3 times by altering reality and shuffling them around the water, away from the turtle's BW, which would've slain over half the crew.
A single sailor died that fight, and it was due to an AoO as he hasted himself closer to the dragon, cutlass in hand.
In the end, the crew, the captain, the darfellan, the druid, the warforged, and the pixie bard bolstering all, caused the massive turtle to be stabbed and cut to death by getting horribly surrounded.
One sailor dead. One dragon turtle dead. Fair trade.
Of course, the aftermath has left the ship in shambles. The healer has taken to the helm and ordered those still on deck to use oars to paddle towards the Atoll- there are no sails and that's their safest bet.
The ship dredges itself less than a mile from the shallow Atoll, causing the captain to ask everyone (party included) to drag the vessel through the sandbars until they could get it to shallow waters, so it wouldn't sink. A grueling journey under a tropical sun as a group of 20+ hauled the ship by strength alone, while the warforged used an elemental to drag the turtle's mighty carcass along.
Food would be necessary while the ship was repaired.
Long story short, they meet a Yurian- or what they think is a Yurian. A wavecrest gnome effigy master inside a "crabman suit" who is horrified to see that the dragon turtle is dead- the Great Protector of the Atoll and a deity like figure to the Yurians, who kept such unsavories like sahuagin and pirates away from the place. Why did it attack their ship? That's a part of the mystery.
Currently, the crew has cut the dragon turtle following the cook's instructions and everyone had turtle soup, with salted steaks harpooned to the sandbars for later consumtion.
The warforged, aware that the party had a unique wand of Last Breath, heads back to the derelict ship and uses 2 charges on the dead sailor, bringing him back to the Atoll as a hobgoblin, something the crew is reluctant to accept at first, but the captain and officers welcome gladly, thanking the spirit shaman for his actions.
The druid and captain know slicing and eating this creature is wrong in many levels, but they need a strong crew if the Yurians are to show up, something they have not yet, but the party is certain that they are watching from beneath the shallow waters, much like their crab cousins.
I apologize for the long wall of text, but my query was the following- the players have left everything- negotiations, talking, investigating, to the captain, an npc. Their reasoning being that the captain is "the captain" and so he'd know more about the sea than them. the druid's player has shown more initiative, actively asking questions, proposing ideas and what not.
How could I make the party get involved more? They had no problem with the Dragon turtle battle. they actively went in after it, but the RP sections they just stood back and allowed the npcs to research and propose ideas, something I feel uneasy about, since I enjoy lateral thinking on behalf of my players.
They didn't even ask the wavecrest gnome what his name was, which should be a first when meeting someone new in an out of the way place like the middle of the ocean.
Any ideas are more than welcome.
Thank you and I apologize again for the long thread.