The Pink Dice Chronicles

So in prep for Thursday night, I put together this rehash of where we left the two gaming parties: Friday Night Pathfinder Corrail, Don, Elliot (now shrunk with his shrunk mount), Felix, Sandra , Miroku, Yuri, the tiger, Kiva, and Chum were journeying through a tomb-level in a large multi-level underground temple, looking for a lost artifact.  They had successfully escaped a trapped room with a fountain of coins thanks to some well-timed help from Chum.  After moving farther into the complex, they had discovered a room with two Dark Nagas where a battle had ensued.  Some smaller creatures were lurking in the darkness nearby. Monday Night Pirates Kyte, Druid, Victaerus, Sheena, and Jericho has been part of a boarding party that was checking out a dead ship, presumably from Candlekeep.  The ship was damaged but seemingly empty except for some magical auras.  Below deck a number of auras seemed not to move, which the moving aura above turned out to be some s...

The Celestial Kyte, having successfully navigated through the Whalebones, took off from the Zelbinion to get back to piracy.  They easily overtook a cargo vessel their first day out, gather more plunder to move aboard the Zelbinion for safe keeping. The second day out the Celestial Kyte came across a dead ship, burnt sails with a large hole in the main deck and side.  No cannons were visible on the gunnery deck.  No people were visible on the main deck. Captain Taerl brought the Kyte around slowly into 100 foot range of the dead ship.  From this view, the crew was able to discern that despite being dead, the ship was loaded down with cargo of some sort.  While Kyte readied the boarding party (with all the PCs included), the Druid dove overboard, morphed into his shark form and headed for the dead ship. He was able to circle the ship and asses that there was no damage below the waterline. The ship was a well-known ship gifted by the Waterdeep lead...

The Celestial Kyte and Zelbinion continued their journey southward to the Cimarine Isles.  First they encountered a galley out of Waterdeep.  They through up a Shadowdale flag, and were requested to parlay. Sandara, the Besmarian cleric and first mate, took the longboat out to meet the other ship's first mate.  After negotiation, she returned and then took a chest of gold back to the other ship to pay for passage.  A pidgeon arrived from the Zelbinion indicating it was time to change course to head around the Whalebones to avoid Waterdeep's ships and navy.  The Zelbinion avoided further entanglements enroute by turning invisible thanks to the mad wizard aboard. Once underway, the Kyte encountered a Ruathym warship, warning the Kyte to turn back, via a magical booming voice across the water.  Captain Taerl tried to send out a message to the Zelbinion, but his poor pidgeon was blown away when the warship fired across their bow.  The Celestial Kyte head...

Monday night brought the players back together for the first time in a long time.  With two players missing, the action was a bit light.  The Celestial Kyte sailed back to the Zelbinion without incident and the Zelbinion was unscathed, despite being in hostile waters.  The new gunslinger Jericho spent most of his time keeping watch from the tree / crow's nest with the Druid. Kroop spent some time with the new crazy wizard and then called a meeting of both crews.  The crazy wizard was acting as mage on the Zelbinion.  Kyte was going to be taking the Celestial Kyte's caster position.  A new captain was taking over the Kyte, as well. In a separate meeting of the officers and chiefs, Kroop explained the plan.  The Kyte was going to sail 4 hours ahead of the Zelbinion for the Cimarine Isles.  They were heading for Tortuga, but planned to pick up some plunder along the way.  The Kyte would chase them down, and if she got in trouble, she'd ...

Kroop was quick to split the crew and get the Celestial Kyte away.  With Sandara as captain, the Kyte made for the squib, the bodies of Kyte and Durgen brought along.  Sheena, Victaerus, and the Druid were part of the Kyte's crew.  The plan was to get the Kyte repaired, supplies and crew for the Zelbinion, and find someone to help repair the magic aboard the Zelbinion and perhaps help strengthen the defenses of the Celestial Kyte. Arrival at the Iceflow Squib was a bad sight.  The outer walls was in shambles, the old ruins, temple, and inn were in flames, and dead bodies of townsfolk and frost giants littered the town.  An ugly gunman with a handmade musket watched from the tower as the Kyte docked. Giffen, the Aquarvan (Crocodile Man) barbarian jumped shipped, hysterical at finding his old squib friend Rickety Hake dead by the squib dock.  Sandara grabbed Victaerus and headed to the remaining temple -- a temple of Besmara.  Inside, three priests f...

The Zelbinion made landfall in a fjord in the treacherous, icy north.  Unfortunately, the fjord was under patrol of three ships of frost giants that inhabit the area.  The Zelbinion spun to broadside the giant's ships while Durgen ducked behind with Celestial Kyte.  The gunnery crews slowly moved all the cannons to bring a full set to bear on the incoming ships.  The giants fired off ballistas while the cannons pounded back.  Caster brought flames down on the giants. The druid destroyed one ballista with fire, while Kyte set fire to the incoming ship. Two of the smaller ships fled, while the largest, on fire, drew close into the Zelbinion for boarding.  The officers faced 6 Frost Giants themselves, as Durgen left the Kyte to help the fight aboard the Zelbinion.  The Frost Giants pounded away on the officers, forcing Sheena below to snipe at them and getting Durgen and Kyte both killed.  Finally, Kroop enabled the blade barrier, and the...

Monday night was a night of answering questions.  There was drinking of rum when it was announced that the Zelbinion had been cleared.  Kroop passed around the story of how he saved the day by disarming the bomb on the lower level.  Kyte called the crew together for time to elect a captain.  Durgen and Kroop were nominated and Kroop was obviously the more popular.  He quickly grabbed Durgen and suggested he take control of the Celestial Kyte. After the partying was over, Kroop called the officers and select other crew together.  The druid was working on repairs to the Zelbinion bilge pumps and steering mechanism.  Kyte was working on keying the tiller to Kroop's old pocket watch.  Sheena took over cook's duties.  Durgen chose his pyro gunner to accompany him.  Victaerus was assigned to ready the boarding party just in case. The plan was to sail north north east till they hit the coast and then send just the Celestial Kyte to the squi...

Two players were out (Durgen & the Druid) so I played them through and the crew cleared out the three remaining elementals on the lower ship deck.  While Durgen and the Druid repaired the bilge pumps, the rest of the group searched the rooms, carefully avoiding the alchemists lab which had a reasonable chance of blowing up.  Unfortunately, a bomb was triggered in another room, but Kroop was able to disarm it with Sheena's help before it blew a hole in the ship.  With the Zelbinion now cleared, the crew gets to make all the difficult decisions: Who is the new captain? Where are they sailing to? What ship or ships are they taking? Where are they mounting the weapons? How are they going to get one or both of the ships repaired? How are they going to avoid the Zelbinion becoming a focus for other pirates, privateers, and navies? The good news is that the group now has several months of rations, so there are lots of options.

The party continued their exploration of the Zelbinion.  The party found rum rations, rations, and a load of black powder.  In the brig a medium water elemental attacked just after they escaped from a wraith.  One room had forty dead bodies in it.  Another had 4 broken cages, a break in the floor into the hold below, and seven more dead bodies. On the lower level, the group awakened two more elementals, a large water elemental and a medium fire elemental.  The battle was still underway at the end of the session.

This week I had the sad duty of eliminating the PC captain that was played by a player who left. Captain Jacen approached Durgen aboard the Zelbinion, asking him to load the three kegs of black powder into the longboat along with all the riches gathered since the last trip over.  Giffen appeared aboard a longboat headed to the Zelbinion.  Climbing aboard, the crocodile man handed a note to the Captain.  The Captain grimaced and even Sheen picked up on the problem.  The crew of the Kyte was becoming unhinged.  Durgen planned his solution -- a ritual to 'remove the curse'. The Captain took the longboat back to the Kyte. Cranax below convinced the Druid and Kyte to assist him.  They were going to be coming into a segment of the sea within the next few minutes that would greatly accelerate growth of the plants, and Cranax wanted to get his specimens into the sides nets so they could grow. Meanwhile Kroop below and Sheena above worked searching and openi...

As dawn approached, there was a call out from the crow's nest of the Celestial Kyte.  A dinghy carrying a passed out human girl, perhaps 16 years of age, in heavy armor came into sight.  Sheena swam out to check on her and bring her aboard.  Sandara, the ship healer, patched up her health from the wear of several days at sea.  She awoke scared among the pirate crew, wanting for her shield and sword, and not wanting to share her story with a band of pirates, saviors or not.  The crew noted a marking on her shield, giving away that she was mostly likely part of a merchant crew out of Waterdeep. Fishguts appeared on deck, taking the captain aside, and letting him know that the crew was not liking the cursed ship (marked with large red X's), and wouldn't be going aboard unless thrown there.  It was going to be up to the officers. The magus studied the magical aura of the ship at a distance and the runes of the rails.  The magic pervaded every bit of th...

Monday night was an exciting time for the former crew of the Bonny Kate.  After the adventure with the Wyvern, the crew was greeted by a rather unhappy captain wondering why the cargo hadn't been relocated to the new ship.  The first officer, still angry from the circumstances of the captain's overnight activities, provided little explanation, but Fishguts filled in the captain. Sheena and Kyte paid a visit to the local tavern on hearsay of a newly docked crew of gnomes, halflings, and dwarves.  After a round of drinks and a bit of wiley womanly ways, a dwarf, halfling, and gnome in charge of the crew were on their way to the new ship.  One view of the newly painted Celestial Kyte and they were sold, perhaps with some persuasion from Kyte. Kyte visited the magistrate, hoping to buy a trip to the private island, but instead got only a warning about a mad mage.  Kyte, Captain, and Sheena made a trip to the private island, knocking on the door, which then explo...

Monday night we got back to our game.  Kyte, the female magus, Jacen, the rogue captain, Sheene, the ninja cook, and Dugen, the half-giant that thinks he's a dwarf, were back in action.  The Druid missed the announcement that we were restarting but will rejoin us next week.  The other Magus has left the group. The ship was hit by a surprise squall and the old Magus was knocked overboard and lost at sea.  In addition, at the end of the squall, a bottle washed up onto deck.  The captain very cautiously examined the bottle, an old wine bottle from Candlekeep.  Inside was a wand marked on the side with the words 'Wubba Wubba' -- a wand of wonder. Getting back underway, the crew continued on towards Luskan.  A day out from port, a large warship appeared on the horizon -- the Dominator.  The crew ran up a Neverwinter flag to attempt to appease the warship running under the Waterdeep flag.  The Dominator ran up the black flag, calling for parley...

Tonight was disappointing.  I ran out of air quickly (darn allergic asthma) and starting losing my voice.  We ended after only a short while. We did get a chance to cover some logistics.  We are going to establish who will be at the various duty stations during operation (important for who gets hit/killed by incoming threats).  We also talked a bit about plunder, infamy, and disrepute. One mechanic to be added will be an increased waterborne speed with good rolls on rigging checks. We talked a little about background stories.  Some folks are reading them.

The entire saga of Monday Night Pathfinder Pirates has been a building of tension.  Since the party of 6 were first dragged aboard the Carrion Crow, the PCs have been targeted for abuse by Mister Plugg and Scourge.  This week the group spent some final last time making preparations by trying to befriend the crew.  Shifts continued as normal, but this day found Sarith, the Magus, on the wrong side of the dice rolls and head into the bloody hour tied to the main mast. Jacen saw it coming, shirked his duties, talked to some folks, and with the help of the half-giant who think he is a dwarf (siege weapon expert, fighter, cleric named Durgen), rigged some explosives. The bloody hour began and the crew was all placed on deck.  6 PCs took position.  I slowly counted out the NPCs into two piles -- those that had been substantially influenced as to assist in the mutiny and those who were loyal to Scourge and Plugg.  Jacen then called Scourge and Plugg out, ...

This weeks occurrences: Boarding practice ended with Kyte in the drink before being rushed onto the ship. The Carrion Crow with the party intact chased down the Bonny Kate, a merchant class vessel. The party successfully boarded the Bonny Kate and killed 9 crew and an officer in a fierce battle.  The party got to do some intersting things: Jumping over sailors to flank them. Using Wind Blast to knock down an officer and send a crewman hurdling off the ship into shark infested waters Using stomp through a hammer to knock 6 enemy sailors prone. Several nice blasts of magic missile. Swinging across a deck on rigging to attack an enemy. Save the captain's life from a sneak attack. The party was well rewarded with loot and rum.  The party used their time wisely both aboard the Crow and as new crew aboard the new Bonny Kate. The half-giant spent some of his last hours aboard the Carrion Crow with Grok, his half-orc companion, and enjoyed some drinking and entert...

Group went crabbing, fought off two reef claws. Jaycen beat Owlbear in a fist fight for sport, but showed mercy when Owlbear was down. Kyte got the crap beat out of her after surprising the half-giant and his friend Grok during their interlude. Many friends and enemies were made. The group was practicing boarding as it was called out that there were sails on the horizon.

New Player this week playing Sarith -- another magus -- this one is a male human. The other magus, Kyte, was absent this week. --- This week started off with the group recovering in the hold from 'the bloody hour' which got them all whipped by Mister Plugg.  He enjoyed it. The crew started trying to make friends this week: Jacen talked to Sandara, and Sadara offered to watch over Kyte who was recovering from the whipping. Jacen managed to start a sing-along with Rosie who played the fiddle. Jacen had a good chat with 'Fishguts', the cook.  Fishguts left him alone just long enough for him to grab a short sword. Sheena was able to get her katana back from Cut-Throat Grok by claiming it was cursed. Sheena was also able to snag a lock to lock up her katana. Durgen, the half-giant who thinks he is a dwarf, tried to talk Cut-Throat Grok into giving him his hammer back.  Instead, he ended up seducing her. Durgen met up with Cut-Throat at night in the quarterma...

I just really like the backstory of the Wormwood Mutiny, and though it isn't the campaign I was to run, the first book is an excellent resource to introduce players to pirating.  I take my own artistic license to GMing it though. So the group starts out in the Cutlass tavern in Luskan.  Jacen, a human rogue, and Kyte, a maenad magus, have arrived in Luskan looking to join a sea-faring crew after escaping as slavers in the Blinded City, the city of the followers of the four gods Myrkul, Bane, Bhaal, and Cyric that is found in the Anauroch Dessert.  Vladyr Stormwalker, a dwarven druid, has come to the tavern, as well, looking for a home on the sea.  A half-giant fighter name Durgen who thinks he's a dwarf is also present with a siege weapon strapped to his back, wanting to find a crew to join.  Sheena, a human ninja, also awaits for a chance to hit the waves. At the appropriate time, Captain Johnston of the Wormwood, calls the sailors-to-be out to test for the...

I have been wanting to start a different sort of campaign for a while, something a little off the beaten path of traditional dungeon delves and overland adventuring.  Psionics Unleashed and the Ultimate Combat and Ultimate Magic books have been on my radar and my players' radars for a while.  With the release of Skull and Shackles and all of the related material, I finally found my new environment. Pathfinder Pirates on Mondays is going to be a more advanced, open, and yet casual RPG session for me.  I've opened up the books to include Ultimate Combat, Ultimate Magic, Psionics Unleashed, all the pirates resources from Paizo, and player's test for Advanced Race Guide.  In addition, I found a resource over the weekend called "Armada: Expanded See Combat and Rules Sourcebook." The game will be emerging guns, no lawful alignments, and is going to take place primarily aboard ship and seas. I chose the Sword Coast as a setting, since it is familiar, since I can cros...