Spelljammer |
Sinister Secret of Saltmarsh
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| Current Turn? | No |  | Subject: | The Smuggler's Ship |
| Campaign: | Greyhawk | | Turn Start Date: | 9/15/596 |
| Adventure: | Sinister Secret of Saltmarsh | | Turn End Date: | 9/26/596 |
| Adventure Number: | AAB | | Characters: | Darkthorn, Dyson Teague, Kalin, Lorcan Smythe, Morgan Dunst, Rory Rockhound |
| Turn Number: | 1.4 | | Send To: | fivewands@championsoftheempire.com |
| Greyhawk Campaign? | Yes | | Combat Turn? | No |
| Name | Lethal | NL | Current | END | PROT | LOW | DEF | ROF | Flash | Heal | Luck Pts | Fate Pts | |
| Darkthorn | 0 | 0 | 63/63 | /0 | 7 | 1 | 32 | 2 | 0/0 | 1/day | 0/1 | /0 | |
| Dyson Teague | 0 | 0 | 55/55 | 2/2 | 7 | 1 | 49 | 4 | 0/0 | 1/day | 3/3 | 1/1 | |
| Kalin | 0 | 0 | 44/44 | /0 | 6 | 1 | 19 | 0 | 0/0 | 1/day | 1/2 | 1/1 | |
| Lorcan Smythe | 0 | 0 | 54/54 | /0 | 5 | 0 | 28 | 0 | 0/0 | 1/day | 2/2 | 1/1 | |
| Morgan Dunst | 0 | 0 | 52/52 | 2/4 | 6 | 0 | 27 | 4 | 0/0 | 1/day | 1/1 | /0 | |
| Rory Rockhound | 0 | 0 | 45/45 | /0 | 4 | 0 | 14 | 0 | 0/0 | 1/day | 1/1 | /0 | |
| Wiley Finch | 0 | 0 | 55/55 | /0 | 7 | 1 | 37 | 6 | 0/0 | 1/day | 0/2 | 1/1 | |
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| Mage/Psioncist Name | Psionic Pts | Spell Pts | Spell Pool | Miscellaneous Information |
| Lorcan Smythe | / | 9/11 | 9/9 | |
| Rory Rockhound | / | 7/7 | 14/14 | |
| Wiley Finch | / | 1/7 | 8/8 | |
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On day three, after the group has sold the bolts and casks, they are again summoned to a council meeting. After their success in breaking up the shore-side smuggling operation they are asked if they would be willing to try to break up the ship side as well by waiting for the next smuggling ship to arrive and then boarding and capturing it. It is thought that the ship might arrive in the next week or so on the next dark of the moon. In return, the council will put a fishing boat, crewed by the two brothers who own it, at their disposal. The two men would patrol the coast each night for the next week or so looking for the smuggling ship. Additionally, the group would have a small house at their disposal as well as a servant to cook and clean for the duration of the adventure. To help with the adventure, the group would be given 10 sets of Healing Bandages from the herbalist. There would also be a reward for a successful mission. The group agrees to the adventure.
The group sets about planning the next phase of the adventure. They believe that the smuggler ship will arrive at the dark of the moon late the following week. They consider how the ship and shore based smugglers communicate when the ship arrives and conclude that they probably use some sort of signalling lamp. The group had found a bullseye lantern, tinderbox, candles and flasks of oil in the smuggler leader's room. They also recall the parchment they found there and conclude that it contains the signalling code. The first line probably indicates what signals the ship flashes when they arrive. The second line might be an answering signal from shore, and the third a confirmation from the ship and signal to proceed. They conclude that the dashes represent a long signal and the "X's" represent a short flash of light.
They discuss having the group on shore to answer the signal and then to capture the smugglers as they row ashore in their longboat. The problem with that is that it might be the shore-based smugglers who are supposed to row out to the ship.
Quite a few plans are thrown out and either partially discussed, partially accepted or eventually discarded. Darkthorn asks Lorcan if he can talk to sea creatures and maybe they could let him know when the ship arrived. This alone would probably not solve the problem as a random fish may not know anything but then Lorcan asks Darkthorn if he has a way of befriending animals. Darkthorn could have the Animal Friendship spell to befriend animals. In this way and plan begins to blossom.
Sometime in the next couple of days, the group will return to the haunted house and proceed down to the sea cave. Lorcan will use a spell to summon a dolphin after which Darkthorn will use his Animal Friendship spell to form a bond with it. Lorcan will then use his Speak with Aquatic Mammals spell to communicate with it. The group would then spend their time in haunted house and Darkthorn and Lorcan would spend time with the dolphin every day, training it to find a ship and return to let the group know. The plan would be to have the dolphin, which Darkthorn names Scooter, to begin patrolling the sea in the vicinity of the haunted house as the dark of the moon approaches.
Once the ship is located, Scooter would come to the sea cave and let the group know. The group would then set out in the Folding Boat taking a course that would swing wide around the ship to approach from the back side of the smuggler's vessel. Scooter would lead them to the ship in the dark.
Once at the ship, the group would need to scan the decks and see who was out. The expectation is that most of those out on the weather decks would be focused on shore awaiting a signal.
Meanwhile, the two excise men (Tom and Will Stoutly) would remain ashore and would eventually answer the signal from the ship. They wouldn't do it right away but maybe within 10 to 15 minutes. This would hopefully ensure that the ship remained and, if the general procedure was for the ship to send in a longboat, would get more smugglers off the ship making it easier for the group to take it.
To minimize sounds, Lorcan would use a wind spell to propel the Folding Boat. His ultravision would allow him to see better than anyone else (it is hoped). Wiley could cast a Levitation spell on him before approaching the ship and then Lorcan could levitate up to better scan the decks. A silence spell from Kalin is discussed but, with the short duration, it could not be cast until they arrive at the ship and then one of the smugglers might hear him casting it.
The hope is that with the smugglers focused on the shore, the group might be able to sneak aboard the ship and possibly even get inside to a private room without being noticed.
GM: The group communicates the outline of their plan to the council and they agree that it is sound. The man that the council assigned to cook for the group has no problem moving out to the haunted house and doing his work there. A small cart and horse are put at his disposal for runs into town for supplies. Tom and Will will also be out at the house and they will use their fishing boat to help train Scooter.
LORCAN: I changed my mind, I will have a Wall of Water in the spell wand instead of the Torrential Geyser. I love the latter spell, but the Wall has much more tactical usefulness when trying to board the ship and split the crew and slow them down from bringing their numbers to bear. Let me know if anyone spots something I missed, but spells I will have prepared are: Wall of Water, Water Walking, Bolt of Water, Navigation, Calm Waters, Floatation, Water Breathing, Torrential Geyser, Wave Making, Mage Wind, Speak w/ Aquatic Mammals, Fireproofing, and Calm Waters
LORCAN: I like the idea of Wiley preparing Mass Charm, that also has some chance of improving our odds. Regular Charm might be worth having too in case we have just one guard on our side of the ship who might notice our approach / boarding party. Too bad he doesn't have Rope Trick or some such dimensional hidey hole that can let him get aboard with his armor still on. Does he know the GK rituals? Sleep Dust is probably too expensive, sadly.
WILEY: I can prepare those spells Mass charm and Charm, I don’t have any extra dimensional spells , really only two special knowledge those being levitation and magic missile. As for sleep dust I haven’t found any one selling ritual components in town to create some, but I do know how to make it. I know some of the general knowledge rituals.
The plan goes largely as desired. A couple days later, the entire group moves out to the house, along with the man who will do their cooking and cleaning. Lorcan and Darkthorn head to the sea cavern and Lorcan casts a Summon Aquatic Mammals spell to bring a dolphin near the shore. Then Darkthorn casts his Animal Friendship spell to establish a bond with the animal. Lorcan uses his Speak with Aquatic Mammals spell to communicate with it.
Over the course of the next few days, Lorcan and Darkthorn spend a lot of time with the dolphin, whom Darkthorn names Scooter, training it to locate a ship offshore and then come in to warn the group. They have a few dry runs of the plan using Tom and Will Stoutly's fishing vessel. By the time the moon is almost invisible, Scooter is well trained.
Scooter comes in two nights later with the warning that a ship has arrived offshore. The group jumps and puts their plan into motion. Will and Tom, the two excise men assisting the group, head up to the old house with Darkthorn's bullseye lantern while the rest of the group piles into the Folding Boat for the trip out to the ship. They row wide to the left of where Scooter indicates the vessel is located. After they are underway, they see a signal from the ship consisting of a long light flash followed by three short ones. Per the plan, Will and Tom do not answer the first signal.
After 5 to 10 minutes the signal comes again and again Will and Tom ignore it. They finally answer on the third signal upon which the ship answers with three long flashes. Presumably this means that either the ship is sending in a boat or they are expecting a boat from the shore-based smugglers.
The group has circled wide around the ship and begins approaching it. When still a distance out, Wiley casts a Levitation spell on Lorcan to allow him to ascend to a greater height and scout once they reach the ship. Or he tries to anyway. He makes three attempts, all failures, before running out of spell energy. The group will have to live without the Levitation.
With Lorcan's superior night vision (Water Mages have natural Ultravision), the group approaches the smuggler ship just forward of amidships. Darkthorn and Dyson guide the boat alongside and prevent it from scrapping and making noise. Lorcan stands up, holding on to the side of the smuggler ship, and peers over the rail. He is barely able to see two smugglers on the starboard side looking towards the distant shore. They are mostly obscured by the ship's longboat, stowed on deck, and the mast. Looking up, he sees another crew member in the crow's nest also watching the distant shore. The fact that their longboat is on the ship indicates that they are expecting the shore-based smugglers to row out and are just waiting for the boat to arrive.
Darkthorn climbs quietly up onto the deck and takes shelter behind the longboat. Dyson follows and then Lorcan. Wiley is next and he makes some sound that causes one of the smugglers to turn and look briefly but then he turns back to face the distant shore. Wiley gets on deck. He listens at the closest door while Dyson does the same to the door next to it. Both hear nothing through the door. Wiley turns back to assist the others onto the ship. Kalin and Rory come aboard quietly leaving only Morgan.
Lorcan returns to the side, reaches over and begins folding the boat as Morgan climbs aboard. Unfortunately Morgan and Wiley are not as quiet as they could be. Nor is Lorcan and one of the pirates again turns. He shouts out, "Buster, is that you?"
From the foredeck, Buster replies, "Is what me?"
Meanwhile, the group is not waiting for the conversation to complete. Dyson quietly opens the closes door and goes through, followed quickly by the rest of the group. It leads to a ladder descending to the deck below. Those with metal armor removed it for the boat trip out so everyone is relatively quiet. Darkthorn is the last one through and he stays at the door listening. He hears someone come over to look and also hears Buster on the foredeck above him, come over. One of them says, "Nothing here" and then they move away, presumably back to waiting for the smuggler's boat to arrive from shore.
Darkthorn pads silently down the ladder and finds the group in the seaman's quarters. The smell is somewhat foul, especially near a curtained off section used as a privy. There is a single door leading aft through which the group can hear occasional conversation from some of the smugglers. They estimate 4 to 7 smugglers and believe the door probably leads to the hold.
Wiley and Kalin take the time to don their better armor as the group quietly discusses a plan. The heart of the plan will be a Silence 15' radius spell that Kalin will cast on an object. Darkthorn will be the first through the door and will carry the Silence object. Dyson will be next followed by Wiley. The general plan is for Darkthorn and Dyson to try to penetrate deep into the hold and prevent the smugglers from departing through the hatch to the upper deck or a door leading aft.
When Darkthorn no longer hears a smuggler just the other side of the door, he gives the signal to Kalin who casts Silence 15' radius on an object and hands it to Darkthorn. The strong, silent ranger throws open the door and charges through. He sees four smugglers. He jumps up on a row of barrels and charges aft. He is not noticed until he is almost abreast of one of the smugglers. He drops to the floor between one of the smugglers and a leader-looking type and attacks. Meanwhile the rest of the group is also charging in.
Battle is joined. None of the smugglers attempt to flee though they do attempt to shout but are thwarted by the silence spell. The battle lasts only a minute before all of the smugglers, some badly wounded, surrender. The group ties them up using the same cords that Wiley previously cut out of his rope to tie up the shore-based smugglers. Then they lead them into the crew's quarters and tie them into their hammocks. The hope is that this will hold them long enough for the group to take over the rest of the ship.
GM: This is where we stopped for the night.
9/13/2018
After the prisoners are bound, the group investigates the two after cabins, probably belonging to the bosun and the mate. In the mate's cabin, the find a hatch leading up to one of the master cabins on the main deck. Knowing that the smugglers are just outside, they investigate quietly and then decide to attack. The attack will start with Wiley quietly opening the door and then Lorcan stepping out to put up a Wall of Water across the front of the quarterdeck to prevent the smugglers there from easily joining the fray.
Things go wrong immediately as the door squeaks loudly as Wiley opens it. The mate comes over and sees the door partly ajar. He kicks it and it doesn't open because Wiley is holding it. He shouts out, "Someone is in the cabin. There is immediate movement on the deck above the group. Knowing that they are discovered, Darkthorn throws open the other door and charges out on deck.
The battle is joined and is a tough one. Lorcan still manages to get his Wall of Water up but it only lasts for a couple of rounds before it is countered by a mage on the quarterdeck. Lorcan finds himself battling the mate while others battle the crew. The smuggler in the crow's next rains down occasional crossbow bolts.
Wiley, Dyson and Darkthorn end up in a battle with smugglers while Lorcan ends up surrounded by the mate and the captain who came crashing into the aft cabin on a rope through a window in an incredible acrobatic maneuver (he rolled almost 300!). A mage on the quarterdeck attempts to hit the group with Bolt of Water spells but is only successful in casting one. Eventually Dyson and Wiley drop their opponent and Dyson runs up to the quarterdeck. The mage chooses to run to the side and jump into the water.
Then a door in the forecastle opens and three "fish men" charge out and join the fray. Wiley intercepts two of them and the third moves over to double team Rory. By this time, Lorcan has asked for help and Darkthorn, after killing his opponent, moves back through the cabins to assist against the captain.
A critical hit against the mate turns the tide of battle. The mate, very badly wounded, drops to the deck. Shortly thereafter, the smuggler next to him surrenders, as does the next one. With the tide of battle turning, the fish men head for the side of the ship. Dyson kills one as he flees but the other two dive over the side and are gone. The captain then surrenders.
The group binds the captives and then tends to their wounds. Both Darkthorn and Rory are badly wounded, even after first aid. Kalin has a single cure light wound spell left but holds on to it for now.
After taking arms, armor and valuables from their captives, the group begins searching the ship. In a secret compartment in the bosun's cabin, they find a secret cell containing another sea creature who is different from the "fish men" who attacked earlier and who the group later identified as koa-toa. He creature is manacled and chained.
In the captain's cabin, the group found two language primers, one for Koa-toa and the other for Passel-Tongue. Lorcan recalls that Passel-Tongue is the language spoken by lizardmen and is now certain that the manacled creature is a lizardman.
GM: This is where we stopped for the night.
9/20/2018
With the pirates tied up, the group signals to Tom and Will Stoutly to come out in their boat. Then they begin to search the ship in earnest. They find two hidden rooms below decks, one containing a lizardman prisoner and the other containing tied up bundles of what turn out to be weapons and shields. They leave the lizardman for now as they don't know if he is likely to attack or not. They find what are likely the lizardman's weapons in the bosun's cabin.
In the room that the koa-toa came out of, they find a locked and trapped (poison needle) chest that they are unable to open. They find another one in the captain's cabin that can open with a key found in the captured captain's belt pouch. It contains 500 silver coins. They find another chest in the mage's room. Dyson find's no traps on it and attempts to open it. He fails but sets off the trap that he didn't find. Gas hisses out of the chest and overcomes everyone except Darkthorn and Morgan, who are out on the main deck watching the prisoners. When Will and Tom arrive, Darkthorn goes searching for the group and finds them all in the mage's cabin, collapsed on the deck. There is a small of gas. He holds his breath and pulls everyone out onto the main deck one by one. As he finishes, Dyson is already coming around. He feels one the worse for wear. The others all appear to be sleeping a very deep sleep in which they can't be awakened.
It takes another two and a half hours before they finally awaken. Fortunately sleep seemed to be the only effect of the gas trap.
The group discusses their next move. They briefly discuss sailing the Sea Ghost into Saltmarsh but decide that they simply aren't skilled enough to handle the vessel at this time so they instead send Will and Tom Stoutly into Saltmarsh on their vessel and ask them to find a member of the town council and tell them of the situation. They would like to have the council roust out a prize crew that can sail the vessel to the dock. In the meantime, the group makes an inventory of the goods in the hold, the weapons cache and much of the ship's and galley stores. They are not sure how the town council will dispose of the ship and its cargo and how much is theirs to keep.
When the prize crew arrives on the Stoutly boat around 9 am, two members of the town council, Mordona Ramirez and Maladon Bestur, are with them. Mordona is the high priestess of the Temple of Pelor and came along to speak with the lizardman prisoner using a Tongue's spell. After getting the story of what happened from the group, they lead her down to the prison cell and she casts her spell. She spends the next ten minutes talking to the lizardman. Then she briefs the group on what she learned. The lizardman is part of a lizardman colony that has their lair somewhere in the marshes to the southwest of Saltmarsh. They had noted the occasional arrival of the Sea Ghost and, two or three months ago (the lizardman is not sure how long he has been a prisoner), he led a small group of lizardman onto the Sea Ghost to learn more. They were discovered. He was captured during a battle that saw the other lizardmen killed. He has been a prisoner ever since though he does not know why the have left him alive. He was taken on deck a few times. One such time was a couple of weeks ago when the ship had just finished loading cargo at a distant port. He saw the koa-toa a few times and does not know their role.
Mordona does not think he is a threat to the group and is somewhat concerned that there appears to be a lizardman colony not far from Saltmarsh that the town council was unaware of. The group had previously found a crudely drawn map that showed Saltmarsh, with a arrow pointing towards an inlet apparently about 10 to 15 miles to the southwest and they wonder if that is the location of the colony. An "X" is marked on the map at that point.
The prize crew brings the Sea Ghost into town and docks it at a remote and seldom used pier. The group follows the two council members to the city hall where a council meeting is convened. The group tells their story all over again. The council is impressed at the cleverness displayed by the group in boarding the ship and taking it over, especially with the fight in the hold under the cover of a Silence spell.
Once the story is told, with Lorcan practicing both his burgeoning Storytelling and Keoish skills, the council turns to the disposition of the Sea Ghost and its cargo. The normal cargo, as well as the treasure found on the ship, they tell the group, is theirs to keep subject to a 25% excise tax on the cargo. The weapons cache will be impounded as the group is not licensed to sell weapons in bulk and the council is concerned about where the cache was destined for. The ship itself, they tell the group, would normally be impounded but, if the group wants the ship for themselves, they can have it at a cost of 1,000 silver, which will be deducted from the 3,000 sp reward for completing the mission.
The group elects to keep the ship and take a 2,000 silver reward.
As the group is departing, Maladon Bestur, who is a merchant with several warehouses in town and who does business all around the viscounty, tells the group that they are welcome to try to sell the cargo themselves but, if they would like, he will take it all off there hands for a price that is likely to be less than what they could make for themselves, but will probably be more in the long run. This is because the group is unlikely to be able to sell everything in Saltmarsh. They would then need to purchase or lease a horse and cart and travel around the viscounty trying to sell everything at the various towns. He tells them to look him up if they would like to take him up on his offer.
The group sends a couple days and learns that they would only be able to sell a small portion of the cargo here in Saltmarsh so they contact Maladon and deal with him. He offers 7,500 silver for the lot. Kalin barters him up to 8,000 silver and the deal is down.
GM: To deal with ownership of the Sea Ghost, the group will have a joint flaw of Tithing, which means that 10% of their monetary treasure will be deducted to support the Sea Ghost. This includes all maintenance, crew, docking, food, etc., dealing with the ship.
The monetary treasure total is 11,500 silver. After the group tithing fee to pay for ship's maintenance including the hiring of the cook and both Tom and Will Stoutly to maintain and guard the ship while the group is busy on endeavors around Saltmarsh, they have 10,350 silver remaining. This is split into 6 shares of 1500 silver each. Rory and Morgan split a share while everyone else gets a full share, subject to the personal tithing flaw.
The town council asks the group to investigate what might be at the location marked "X" on the map that the group found on the Sea Ghost. They also ask that they take the lizard man, whose name translates roughly to Oceanus, to go with them. It's possible that the X marks the location of the lizardman colony in which case the group will need to tread carefully as Oceanus has not been forthcoming about the location of the colony, no doubt fearing trouble between humans and lizardmen. The group agrees to take him.
GM: Dennis decided that he would take the Natural Linguist edge and would then learn Passel Tongue so that he would be able to speak with Oceanus. He skill would be low at first but would improve dramatically due to his natural skill with languages.
The group spends some time splitting up the treasure and then visiting the shops that had magic items. Kalin goes along each time to barter, with very mixed results.
GM: Dyson buys the +1 Ring Mail at full price but Kalin negotiates a 10% discount on the +1 Helm of Protection.
GM: Darkthorn buys the +2 Helm of Protection at full price.
GM: Wiley purchases the +1 Ring of Protection at 5% over the asking price as the merchant mentioned that he had another interested party.
GM: Rory purchased the +1 Ring of Defense at full price.
GM: Lorcan purchased the Bracers of Protection at a 10% discount.
GM: I added the benefit of the 2 rings to the back end documents of Rory and Wiley so they should automatically compute once you open and save (you may have to save twice).
GM: Dyson and Lorcan will need to add their new armor items to their character sheets and save. Make sure that you indicate the armor you are wearing (final column of the armor section where it asks if you are wearing No Armor, armor configuration 1, armor configuration 2, etc.). For example, if Dyson puts the +1 Ring Mail and +1 Helm of Protection in row one, choose "1" in the final column or the correct armor configuration won't pull through to the turn document that I reference during battles.
GM: I added Natural Linguist as Wiley edge. He can learn Linguist skill at .75 multiple and all languages at .65 multiple.
The group spends the next few days healing up from the difficult battle on the Sea Ghost and preparing for the overland trip to the inlet some 10 to 15 miles southwest of Saltmarsh.
RORY: Buy up Earth Magics SK to rank 3. He also rolled well on his find Earth Mage for acquiring spells so let me know what he finds. Diamond-tipped Javelins seems like the next SK spell he'd want but there may be some other spells that could be pretty useful so he's not picky.
GM: Yes, Rory found a mage willing to teach him Diamond-Tipped Javelins. Cost is 1,575 sp but that can be bartered down.
9/27/2018
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