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Skull & Shackles (2E Conversion), solo campaign
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<blockquote data-quote="Crys" data-source="post: 8046957" data-attributes="member: 7024831"><p>Thank you! The move was thankfully relatively small in distance. We only moved about 25 minutes away from where we were before. Working nights also meant we did all of our moving between like 8pm and 5am most days, so very little traffic to contend with and much cooler temperatures (summer in Texas is not a fun time to move, even at night). It was fun getting some of our bigger pieces of furniture over, and the first time I ever tied something to the top of a car (we have an SUV with a roof rack, but we'd never used it for anything until moving our bookcase). Ultimately though, it was relatively painless and didn't involve much contact with others. We've had more contact with strangers by bringing them into our new house to look at issues it has (leaky sink, broken oven, etc). But we have all our things here now and are getting everything sorted away. When we do have contractors over we ask them to wear a mask and we do too. Texas had 14,000 new cases of covid19 diagnosed on July 17th and 8,700 yesterday so we're trying to be as careful as we can. I'll be really happy when these last issues are ironed out and we can just isolate.</p><p></p><p>I did not account for Owlbrarian being so tired when I said I doubted the posts would slow down much. I was tired too, but it's a lot simpler to edit existing content than to write a response so it probably wouldn't have slowed me down much. That said, onto Session 17.</p><p></p><p>[hr][/hr]</p><p></p><p><span style="font-size: 22px"><strong>Spoiler Warning: Many spoilers for the Skull & Shackles adventure path are contained within these story recap posts. If you don’t want your campaign spoiled, don’t read these!</strong></span></p><p></p><p><span style="font-size: 15px">[hr][/hr]</span></p><p></p><p style="text-align: center"><strong><span style="font-size: 26px">Session 17 - Cracking the Rock</span></strong></p><p></p><p>Ultimately, their encounter with <em>The Deathknell</em> had occurred only two days from Tidewater Rock. The Rock had a long history of changing hands and being a launching point for renowned pirate captains. It was a very defensible position, and while not as profitable as it once was... Pirates were a superstitious lot, and Dolce and Mirielle felt sure taking the Rock would earn them further renown in the Shackles.</p><p></p><p>Unfortunately, the current Lady of the rock was said to be interested in a marriage alliance. Something Mirielle had no interest in entering into considering she had only just started enjoying the prospect of choosing her own future. The plan, as such, was to see if Lady Smythee could be convinced to consider some other alliance, and failing that, to take the Rock by force from within.</p><p></p><p>They were sure they'd been seen from a distance. After all, being an excellent vantage point was what Tidewater Rock had been prized for when Sargavan vessels were still commonly preyed upon. The girls were met by Lady Smythee's commander at the dock. Dolce noted the man seemed displeased when Mirielle informed him they were here to see if Lady Smythee would consider an alliance. The elf had suspicions he had feelings for his Lady.</p><p></p><p>Still, he was dutiful and showed them inside. They were taken up to the fourth floor, where the dining chamber was. Royster, the commander, knocked upon Lady Smythee's door, and soon enough the lady joined them. They supped with her and discussed at length her interest in the current situation in the Shackles. Mirielle broached the topic of an alliance carefully, but found that Lady Smythee would not give ground.</p><p></p><p>The woman would only be satisfied with a marriage contract to a strapping young captain like the man she'd lost. With a sigh Mirielle began to announce that their goals were at odds. Dolce, Revel, and Nasha, who had all been informed Mirielle would not consider a marriage contract, began to rise, but Smythee reacted first.</p><p></p><p>She seemed to relish the opportunity for combat, drawing her rapier with almost shocking grace for a woman of her age. Mirielle was nearest her, and she nearly knocked the aasimar unconscious with a well-placed blow from her cutlass, but the captain returned the favor with a fiery ray of magical energy.</p><p></p><p>Revel charged across the table to join Mirielle in assaulting Smythee while Nasha closed with Royster to keep him occupied. It did not take long for further soldiers to start assembling.</p><p></p><p>Lady Smythee used the soldiers for cover as she attempted to flee the room, but she was not fast enough and Revel's teeth laid her low by the door to the chamber. One of the soldiers attempted to lift Lady Smythee, but Revel bit his arm and ceased his first attempt. He grunted and bore the pain to lift her again, this time successfully, and retreated into the downward stairwell.</p><p></p><p>Royster ordered two of the soldiers to go above and fire on <em>The Lady's Purr</em>. He closed the distance between himself and Mirielle, but did not have the chance to kill her before she used her <em>Vanishing Wayfinder</em> to turn herself invisible. Revel pursued the soldiers with the fallen Lady Smythee into the stairwell, tearing into them as she did so.</p><p></p><p>Dolce ordered Nasha to go above and stop them from hurting <em>The Purr</em>. She said a silent prayer to Besmara that there wouldn't be more soldiers above than Nasha could handle.</p><p></p><p>[hr][/hr]</p><p></p><p style="text-align: center"><strong>Above</strong></p><p></p><p>Nasha obeyed Dolce's order, going in pursuit of the two soldiers who had run above. They had gotten to the top much faster than she'd expected, but her speed was greater than theirs. A puzzle for later. She had thought to fight them, but one realized she was giving chase and told the other to fire the ballista before meeting her in combat.</p><p></p><p>Nasha took a blow from his blade and felt the wiser course was not to engage the two, but rather to disable their weapon. Unfortunately the soldier's comrade did fire off a shot before she tumbled through his legs and made her way to the ballista. She could see <em>The Purr</em> below and that the ballista had struck true. Nasha severed the ballista's cord. That would stop them from using this one, but there was another on the other side of the roof. She made toward it.</p><p></p><p>The two men cursed and both started firing at her with crossbows. Bolt after bolt struck true, and Nasha began to fear she might not accomplish her task, but she did with just enough time to spare. When the second cord was severed the lizardfolk climbed over the battlement and clung to the wall, carefully moving around the corner while she was out of their sight. This would, she hoped, at least buy her time as they tried to locate her.</p><p></p><p>Besides the terrifying fall that awaited her if her grasp on the wall should slip, Nasha saw sailors below with a battering ram. Shade's doing, no doubt. He'd proven rather useful and skilled at his job.</p><p></p><p>To her surprise, Nasha heard the men say, "Nevermind this, let's help the Lady," rather than pursuing her. She waited a short time to climb back onto the roof, and sure enough, they were gone. She looked at her wounds for a moment and steeled herself. If they were rejoining the fight, she would as well, and if luck was on her side, Mirielle would restore her strength.</p><p></p><p>Nasha made her way toward the stairwell across the rooftop.</p><p></p><p>[hr][/hr]</p><p></p><p style="text-align: center"><strong>The Battle of the Stairs</strong></p><p></p><p>As Nasha gave chase and made for the roof above, Dolce retrieved Lady Smythee's sword since her own had not been allowed in the tower. She joined Revel in the stairwell and saw, to her delight, the recently roused Lady Smythee still in the arms of one soldier with a group of others clustered around them. The elf moved directly into harm's way so she could cast <em>Chilling Spray</em> and catch them all in the spell's effect.</p><p></p><p>Her ploy worked. It hardly hurt them, but Lady Smythee had only regained a small amount of vigor from whatever they'd brought her back with and fell into unconsciousness once more. The rest were chilled to the bone and their movements hampered. Still, they were retreating.</p><p></p><p>Royster snarled in agitation, joining the stairwell combat. He targeted Dolce with one attack before tumbling past her to run to his lady's side. Revel and Dolce pressed the combatants hard on the stairs while Mirielle stealthily moved along as well, making sure her friends were still standing.</p><p></p><p>The fighting continued as they made their way down an entire flight of stairs, halfway around the tower's perimeter, before one of the guards poured a third healing potion down Lady Smythee's throat and stopped in shock. "It's no use, Commander. She's-- she's not breathing." The commander was enraged upon hearing this. "What do we do?"</p><p></p><p>"I don't care what you do, but I'm going to kill them all!" He shouted, turning back to face Dolce and Revel now. Dolce expertly slew one of the remaining soldiers as Revel moved opposite Commander Royster, climbing along the walls to get there. The hobgoblin was delighted her prey had stopped running and happily attempted to sink her teeth in him.</p><p></p><p>She missed. He was quite an experienced veteran and skillfully dodged her attacks. It didn't deter Revel, but when Royster returned her onslaught Dolce saw to her horror that Revel fell from nearly top condition to sagging on her feet in a single quick exchange of blows. Dolce fished a wand out of her pack as Mirielle cast healing magic on Revel from a distance, breaking her invisibility.</p><p></p><p>Thankfully, Royster seemed fixated on the hobgoblin and didn't turn his attention on the injured captain. Revel managed to land a blow on him now that Dolce was in position to distract him, but it was not the strongest hit. Royster struck her savagely again and Dolce swore her hobgoblin companion teetered on her feet. It was now or never!</p><p></p><p>The elf invoked the magic of the wand, shrouding herself with <em>Mirror Image</em> before saying, "So vulgar. It's no wonder your lady didn't return your affections." It worked. She could tell it by the rage in his eyes as he wheeled toward her. She took advantage of his wild shift in attention to stab him once with his lady's sword to decent effect, but he was still standing.</p><p></p><p>Mirielle spent more of her healing energy on Revel since Dolce hadn't been injured yet. She too sent up a prayer to Besmara that the <em>Mirror Images</em> would hold out since Dolce was not nearly as hardy as Revel was.</p><p></p><p>Royster sliced into Dolce relentlessly, twice erasing an illusory image. The third blow struck the elf with shocking force and she found the wind knocked out of her as blood gushed from her wound. Still, she held her ground and returned his assault with her own, another good strike. Revel also bit into him as his attention was turned on the elf.</p><p></p><p>Mirielle's healing magic flowed into Dolce now, knitting her fresh wound and restoring her vigor. Another strike from Royster dispersed the last illusion. His second miraculously missed, but the third struck true. Dolce felt certain she would meet her end if the fight continued much longer. She stabbed back at him, but only one blow connected.</p><p></p><p>To her relief, he fell to Revel's teeth just before his blade fell on her again. Dolce's hand reached out for the wall, trembling, and she steadied herself even as Revel's attention turned on the last remaining soldier. "There's no need for further death, Revel," Mirielle said.</p><p></p><p>Revel looked back at her captain, disappointed. The soldier didn't seem convinced. He'd yelled at someone named Birney to stay in the room he now guarded. Mirielle talked him down. They were not here to claim lives, she explained, but to take the Rock and that was accomplished without slaying him or the occupant of the chamber.</p><p></p><p>The soldier dropped his weapon. Mirielle bade him stay there. She took Revel and Dolce to seek out Nasha above.</p><p></p><p>They encountered the soldiers before they found Nasha, making Mirielle's eyes tear up. Revel screamed in fury, saying "I'll KILL you!!!" and bit wildly at them, but managed to get her teeth stuck in the frame of the door they were passing through.</p><p></p><p>The soldiers, while rattled by Revel's fury, didn't hesitate to strike back, and one landed a solid blow that resulted in a sickening crunch. Revel wrenched her fangs free of the door, but her jaw hung awkwardly open and was clearly broken.</p><p></p><p>Mirielle's healing repaired enough of the damage for Revel to bite anew as Dolce caught up and stabbed into her attacker. The two took the soldier down with little trouble and turned their attention on the last one. This one exclaimed, "Forget this!" And bolted, though not before feeling the gnash of Revel's teeth.</p><p></p><p>They didn't give pursuit though, because just as he ran for the stairs Nasha landed softly beside them. Seeing Mirielle, she smiled weakly and said, "Good. I have made it."</p><p></p><p>Mirielle healed Nasha and Revel both even as the hobgoblin hugged Nasha, her rage subsiding. "I thought you were dead!" She exclaimed, tearing up a little herself.</p><p></p><p>Even Dolce's eyes were watery, though she hid the gesture of wiping the tears away as one meant to brush her hair out of her face. "Indeed. When we saw the soldiers we thought the worst."</p><p></p><p>"No. But I could have been. Their bolts were sharp," Nasha said calmly. She had returned Revel's hug and placed a hand on Mirielle's shoulder. "Thank you again, Captain." The respect and gratitude was clear in her voice. "Your sailors are breaking down the door below."</p><p></p><p>Mirielle blinked, dashing the tears from her eyes openly. "Are they?" Nasha only nodded, and the four headed back down.</p><p></p><p>[hr][/hr]</p><p></p><p style="text-align: center"><strong>Survivors</strong></p><p></p><p>Only four of the inhabitants of Tidewater Rock survived <em>The Purr</em>'s assault. Mirielle let them leave, <em>with</em> their personal possessions. One cursed her and she coldly told them to go before she changed her mind. They even allowed them to take the ship's boat that had been docked here since there was no other way off the island.</p><p></p><p>Within the Rock, they found a number of spoils, including a magical spyglass and magical breastplate. The Rock had clearly seen better days, for what wealth was within it seemed meager compared to what a successful captain would have accrued. Of course, Lady Smythee's husband had been gone for quite some time.</p><p></p><p>With this wealth, and the last of the stores still below the waters on <em>The Deathknell</em>, Mirielle believed they could impress the Hurricane King enough to earn her the title of Free Captain. So they returned to <em>The Deathknell</em>'s underwater resting ground, using Mirielle's magic to guide them, and spent another day's labor bringing up the last of the wealth below. They left no one at the Rock for the few days it took them to retrieve the sunken treasure, thinking nothing would try to take it in that short a span of time.</p><p></p><p>The crew got treated to Dolce's newest song about their most recent exploit during this venture. She gaged their response, and decided ultimately it wasn't her <em>best</em> work, but would certainly have a place in her tavern repertoire.</p><p></p><p style="text-align: center"><em>Cracking the Rock</em></p> <p style="text-align: center"></p> <p style="text-align: center">I’ve heard a story ’bout Tidewater Rock</p> <p style="text-align: center">That I’m sure you’ve all heard as well-</p> <p style="text-align: center">It says that glory you can unlock</p> <p style="text-align: center">If you claim the old fort for a spell!</p> <p style="text-align: center"></p> <p style="text-align: center">Captain Mirielle wanted the place,</p> <p style="text-align: center">And she always gets her way.</p> <p style="text-align: center">So mercurial, Besmara’s grace,</p> <p style="text-align: center">Yet always with her does it stay…</p> <p style="text-align: center"></p> <p style="text-align: center">Take up a tankard, I’ll tell ye a tale;</p> <p style="text-align: center">True as the day is long.</p> <p style="text-align: center">Sure as we’re anchored, and sure as we sail,</p> <p style="text-align: center">Our lust for the rock was strong!</p> <p style="text-align: center"></p> <p style="text-align: center">Smythee’s commander met us at their dock</p> <p style="text-align: center">To learn about our intention…</p> <p style="text-align: center">We didn’t pander with flattering talk;</p> <p style="text-align: center">An alliance was all that we’d mention.</p> <p style="text-align: center"></p> <p style="text-align: center">He led us inside to meet with the lady</p> <p style="text-align: center">And she asked us please to dine.</p> <p style="text-align: center">This did we abide, lest it seem shady,</p> <p style="text-align: center">While our causes might yet align.</p> <p style="text-align: center"></p> <p style="text-align: center">Sadly, sadly my friend, the lady, she had some demands</p> <p style="text-align: center">My captain was loathe to meet…</p> <p style="text-align: center">And so, the meal at an end, we felt that she’d tied our hands</p> <p style="text-align: center">And conspired, their lives, to cheat.</p> <p style="text-align: center"></p> <p style="text-align: center">To my surprise, Lady Smythee was swift;</p> <p style="text-align: center">She’d seen through our veiled presentation,</p> <p style="text-align: center">Before I could rise, she gave us a gift –</p> <p style="text-align: center">Much to my consternation.</p> <p style="text-align: center"></p> <p style="text-align: center">Her blade drank deep of my captain’s blood</p> <p style="text-align: center">And we all rose up to the fight,</p> <p style="text-align: center">The battle grew steep, Smythee fell with a thud,</p> <p style="text-align: center">From the power of our captain’s smite!</p> <p style="text-align: center"></p> <p style="text-align: center">Now far from the battle, she’d fallen just short of her men,</p> <p style="text-align: center">And we followed with haste.</p> <p style="text-align: center">Her breathing, still did it rattle, they took her to carry her then,</p> <p style="text-align: center">And down the stairs they raced!</p> <p style="text-align: center"></p> <p style="text-align: center">They tried, oh they tried – just to save her life,</p> <p style="text-align: center">But we didn’t give them an inch</p> <p style="text-align: center">And when she died it filled them all with strife;</p> <p style="text-align: center">Not a man of hers would flinch.</p><p></p><p>During this time, Dolce finally took note of Shade purposefully avoiding her. She eventually confronted him and forced him to tell her why. When he removed his gloves and she took in his dark skin her first instinct was to stab him with her rapier... For she recognized the distinct hue of drow skin without ever having seen it before. It made his strange accent make sense as well.</p><p></p><p>The elf restrained herself, imagining the hassle of explaining to Mirielle why she'd attacked the bosun when he'd been doing such good work, but she did make certain he had nothing else to hide from them and interrogate him regarding why he was a pirate and not below with his kind. The drow revealed to her that he had been part of a heretical society, one which worshiped the devil, Moloch, rather than the demons they usually prayed to.</p><p></p><p>As a result, surrounding drow settlements had deemed his a threat and murdered all but a few of them. He was among those who escaped and now sought out a new life far from the underground. Dolce snarled that he should watch himself, because she certainly would be, and hastily withdrew from him to go and inform Mirielle.</p><p></p><p>As the elf predicted, Mirielle was not on board with the idea of murdering Shade outright. Rather, she said they would continue with him and see if he gave them reason to. He did his job well, and was a capable combatant. He'd proven useful once or twice already, and until he did give them cause she would let him continue to do so. The two debated this at some length, but ultimately Mirielle pulled rank on Dolce, ordering her to stay her hostilities unless directly merited.</p><p></p><p>[hr][/hr]</p><p></p><p><strong>OOC Notes</strong></p><p></p><p>So, as it turns out, the people of Tidewater Rock are supposed to take a hostage, unarmored and unarmed. Likely I would have chosen Nasha since she doesn't need armor or a weapon to be devastating as a monk. My husband didn't read that paragraph of the module though, and I only saw it because he lets me reference the books for proper names when I'm writing up these posts.</p><p></p><p>I figure this is fine, cause he also accidentally converted both Lady Smythee and Commander Royster as one level higher than they were supposed to be, and that battle was terrifying. We'll call it even, huh?</p><p></p><p>There's a big difference in how PF2E handles dying and how D&D 5E does. In 5E the player characters are, for the most part, perpetual yoyos. They can go down and come back an infinite number of times as long as there's healing to be spared and it happens before they fail 3 death saves. In PF2E when you fall unconscious you gain the dying condition. So when Smythee went down, she became "Dying 1". When she was revived, she lost the dying condition and instead gained the wounded condition, so "Wounded 1". In PF2E you die when you reach Dying 4, and your Dying rank is based on your Dying condition + your Wounded condition. You can use a hero point to revive yourself without gaining the Wounded condition, but of course... NPCs don't have those. </p><p>• So Smythee was Dying 1, got a potion poured down her throat and became conscious, Wounded 1.</p><p>• Got knocked out by Chilling Spray, Wounded 1 + Dying 1 = Dying 2.</p><p>• Was given a second potion, Wounded 2. Got knocked unconscious by another Chilling Spray. Wounded 2 + Dying 1 = Dying 3.</p><p>• Failed a death save while being carried down the stairs, Wounded 2 + Dying 2 = Dying 4 = Dead.</p><p>Notably, <em>Chilling Spray</em>, is a slightly weaker option than <em>Burning Hands</em>, if you strictly look at damage. <em>Chilling Spray</em> does 2d4 damage. <em>Burning Hands</em> does 2d6. But... but... <em>Chilling Spray</em> also gives creatures a -5ft move penalty on a failure and -10ft on a critical failure. (A critical failure is any save that is 10 or more below the caster's DC in PF2E. Rolling a natural 1 makes your result one category worse than it would have been based on your total (usually also a critical failure)). The marines were our level or lower (so they failed most of the time) and Royster and Smythee were higher than us (and succeeded most of the time). Movement in PF2E is looped into the 3 action economy. All actors (PCs and baddies) have 3 actions, they can choose to use one or more to move. You can't break up your movement (so move, then act, then finish moving). Instead you would spend 1 action moving, then 1 attacking or whatever, then have to spend another to move again. So... that -5/-10 is really as much as -15/-30 feet of movement per round. The spell was beautiful here. And I only chose it for Dolce over <em>Burning Hands</em> because she spent her whole life daydreaming about being a pirate and knows fire is dangerous on ships.</p><p></p><p>Revel has a climb speed when she is raging courtesy of a Barbarian feat. This meant that it was faster for her to climb on the walls of the tower in her pursuit than it was to run down the stairs (difficult terrain), so just imagine the blue-skinned hobgoblin scurrying along the inside wall of the stairwell and gnashing her teeth at her enemies the whole way down. It was a wonderful image in my mind.</p><p></p><p>Shade being a drow was sort of my doing. I had found a picture of a really cool drow swashbuckler and had commented that it would be cool if they recruited another elf since Dolce is quite young. In Golarion an elf reaches physical maturity and adulthood at around age 20, but aren't considered emotionally mature by other elves until they are closer to their first century. I thought it would be fun to have someone aboard who might note that Dolce is still young (she's 85). Owlbrarian decided to use the cool drow pirate and put him aboard our ship to give Dolce another elf to interact with. Of course, this changes the dynamic of the relationship she will have with said elf because she was raised to hate Drow. </p><p>-In Golarion, the elves fled a catastrophe that threatened the entire planet by retreating to another planet... Except a few who remained behind and went below the surface. These elves were influenced by the presence of Rovagug (a god who seeks only to destroy creation and the other gods; they did not realize they were influenced by him at the time), and became Drow. In fact, this effect can still happen should an elf be cruel and evil enough they can spontaneously become a Drow. The reverse has never occurred. The Drow take special delight in torturing their surface kin, and view their flight to the sheltering planet as The Abandonment. </p><p></p><p>Last note for this lengthy OOC section, this was a fun thing for me to get into the mindset for. I don't play characters who are so... cutthroat... basically ever. And somehow this felt more ruthless than taking over a ship. So getting into the mindset to go and just murder all these people living in this fort solely so they could put another feather in their cap was definitely playing outside my normal wheelhouse, but it made sense for the characters. In my head... </p><p>• Nasha is indifferent to it. To her all that really matters is her companions and the crew, and if this furthers their renown and position then she's fine murdering these warm blooded strangers. </p><p>• Revel is a bloodthirsty fighter, perfectly willing to take from others by force and relishing fear that she brings upon others. Again, perfectly fine with this.</p><p>• Dolce is a scheming, thrill-seeking, elf. She wants them to be renowned throughout the Shackles and beyond as their powers grow. Perfectly content to do this. Even more so to do it the way they did, by getting invited inside and then taking them from there. It really caters to her motivations and will make for another defining point of their pirating career in her stories.</p><p>• Mirielle thrives in her newfound freedom and appreciates comfort, but she actually doesn't like violence. It is a means to an end for her. She preferred to find a peaceful resolution or form an alliance with Lady Smythee, alas, the module literally said all the woman wanted was marriage (pretty sure Owlbrarian also said it would have to be to the captain when I floated the idea of maybe marrying her to <em>The Purr's</em> mysterious bosun or to Dolce)... And marriage is one thing Mirielle is not willing to do because of her own backstory. She also wants to lead her crew to glory, so she basically chose to ignore her aasimar heritage and her guilt in order to claim the Rock and further their reputation. Of course, she also is saddened by how many ultimately died. She clings to the fact that Besmara "cares little for senseless murder" (this is from the writeup of Besmara in book 1 of the adventure) as justification for why she spares the lives of her enemies whenever possible. She also had to make a diplomacy check with her crew to make sure there were no ruffled feathers when she allowed the four survivors to keep their belongings as they left the Rock (this she chose to do just cause she's a softy).</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Crys, post: 8046957, member: 7024831"] Thank you! The move was thankfully relatively small in distance. We only moved about 25 minutes away from where we were before. Working nights also meant we did all of our moving between like 8pm and 5am most days, so very little traffic to contend with and much cooler temperatures (summer in Texas is not a fun time to move, even at night). It was fun getting some of our bigger pieces of furniture over, and the first time I ever tied something to the top of a car (we have an SUV with a roof rack, but we'd never used it for anything until moving our bookcase). Ultimately though, it was relatively painless and didn't involve much contact with others. We've had more contact with strangers by bringing them into our new house to look at issues it has (leaky sink, broken oven, etc). But we have all our things here now and are getting everything sorted away. When we do have contractors over we ask them to wear a mask and we do too. Texas had 14,000 new cases of covid19 diagnosed on July 17th and 8,700 yesterday so we're trying to be as careful as we can. I'll be really happy when these last issues are ironed out and we can just isolate. I did not account for Owlbrarian being so tired when I said I doubted the posts would slow down much. I was tired too, but it's a lot simpler to edit existing content than to write a response so it probably wouldn't have slowed me down much. That said, onto Session 17. [hr][/hr] [SIZE=6][B]Spoiler Warning: Many spoilers for the Skull & Shackles adventure path are contained within these story recap posts. If you don’t want your campaign spoiled, don’t read these![/B][/SIZE] [SIZE=4][hr][/hr][/SIZE] [CENTER][B][SIZE=7]Session 17 - Cracking the Rock[/SIZE][/B][/CENTER] Ultimately, their encounter with [I]The Deathknell[/I] had occurred only two days from Tidewater Rock. The Rock had a long history of changing hands and being a launching point for renowned pirate captains. It was a very defensible position, and while not as profitable as it once was... Pirates were a superstitious lot, and Dolce and Mirielle felt sure taking the Rock would earn them further renown in the Shackles. Unfortunately, the current Lady of the rock was said to be interested in a marriage alliance. Something Mirielle had no interest in entering into considering she had only just started enjoying the prospect of choosing her own future. The plan, as such, was to see if Lady Smythee could be convinced to consider some other alliance, and failing that, to take the Rock by force from within. They were sure they'd been seen from a distance. After all, being an excellent vantage point was what Tidewater Rock had been prized for when Sargavan vessels were still commonly preyed upon. The girls were met by Lady Smythee's commander at the dock. Dolce noted the man seemed displeased when Mirielle informed him they were here to see if Lady Smythee would consider an alliance. The elf had suspicions he had feelings for his Lady. Still, he was dutiful and showed them inside. They were taken up to the fourth floor, where the dining chamber was. Royster, the commander, knocked upon Lady Smythee's door, and soon enough the lady joined them. They supped with her and discussed at length her interest in the current situation in the Shackles. Mirielle broached the topic of an alliance carefully, but found that Lady Smythee would not give ground. The woman would only be satisfied with a marriage contract to a strapping young captain like the man she'd lost. With a sigh Mirielle began to announce that their goals were at odds. Dolce, Revel, and Nasha, who had all been informed Mirielle would not consider a marriage contract, began to rise, but Smythee reacted first. She seemed to relish the opportunity for combat, drawing her rapier with almost shocking grace for a woman of her age. Mirielle was nearest her, and she nearly knocked the aasimar unconscious with a well-placed blow from her cutlass, but the captain returned the favor with a fiery ray of magical energy. Revel charged across the table to join Mirielle in assaulting Smythee while Nasha closed with Royster to keep him occupied. It did not take long for further soldiers to start assembling. Lady Smythee used the soldiers for cover as she attempted to flee the room, but she was not fast enough and Revel's teeth laid her low by the door to the chamber. One of the soldiers attempted to lift Lady Smythee, but Revel bit his arm and ceased his first attempt. He grunted and bore the pain to lift her again, this time successfully, and retreated into the downward stairwell. Royster ordered two of the soldiers to go above and fire on [I]The Lady's Purr[/I]. He closed the distance between himself and Mirielle, but did not have the chance to kill her before she used her [I]Vanishing Wayfinder[/I] to turn herself invisible. Revel pursued the soldiers with the fallen Lady Smythee into the stairwell, tearing into them as she did so. Dolce ordered Nasha to go above and stop them from hurting [I]The Purr[/I]. She said a silent prayer to Besmara that there wouldn't be more soldiers above than Nasha could handle. [hr][/hr] [CENTER][B]Above[/B][/CENTER] Nasha obeyed Dolce's order, going in pursuit of the two soldiers who had run above. They had gotten to the top much faster than she'd expected, but her speed was greater than theirs. A puzzle for later. She had thought to fight them, but one realized she was giving chase and told the other to fire the ballista before meeting her in combat. Nasha took a blow from his blade and felt the wiser course was not to engage the two, but rather to disable their weapon. Unfortunately the soldier's comrade did fire off a shot before she tumbled through his legs and made her way to the ballista. She could see [I]The Purr[/I] below and that the ballista had struck true. Nasha severed the ballista's cord. That would stop them from using this one, but there was another on the other side of the roof. She made toward it. The two men cursed and both started firing at her with crossbows. Bolt after bolt struck true, and Nasha began to fear she might not accomplish her task, but she did with just enough time to spare. When the second cord was severed the lizardfolk climbed over the battlement and clung to the wall, carefully moving around the corner while she was out of their sight. This would, she hoped, at least buy her time as they tried to locate her. Besides the terrifying fall that awaited her if her grasp on the wall should slip, Nasha saw sailors below with a battering ram. Shade's doing, no doubt. He'd proven rather useful and skilled at his job. To her surprise, Nasha heard the men say, "Nevermind this, let's help the Lady," rather than pursuing her. She waited a short time to climb back onto the roof, and sure enough, they were gone. She looked at her wounds for a moment and steeled herself. If they were rejoining the fight, she would as well, and if luck was on her side, Mirielle would restore her strength. Nasha made her way toward the stairwell across the rooftop. [hr][/hr] [CENTER][B]The Battle of the Stairs[/B][/CENTER] As Nasha gave chase and made for the roof above, Dolce retrieved Lady Smythee's sword since her own had not been allowed in the tower. She joined Revel in the stairwell and saw, to her delight, the recently roused Lady Smythee still in the arms of one soldier with a group of others clustered around them. The elf moved directly into harm's way so she could cast [I]Chilling Spray[/I] and catch them all in the spell's effect. Her ploy worked. It hardly hurt them, but Lady Smythee had only regained a small amount of vigor from whatever they'd brought her back with and fell into unconsciousness once more. The rest were chilled to the bone and their movements hampered. Still, they were retreating. Royster snarled in agitation, joining the stairwell combat. He targeted Dolce with one attack before tumbling past her to run to his lady's side. Revel and Dolce pressed the combatants hard on the stairs while Mirielle stealthily moved along as well, making sure her friends were still standing. The fighting continued as they made their way down an entire flight of stairs, halfway around the tower's perimeter, before one of the guards poured a third healing potion down Lady Smythee's throat and stopped in shock. "It's no use, Commander. She's-- she's not breathing." The commander was enraged upon hearing this. "What do we do?" "I don't care what you do, but I'm going to kill them all!" He shouted, turning back to face Dolce and Revel now. Dolce expertly slew one of the remaining soldiers as Revel moved opposite Commander Royster, climbing along the walls to get there. The hobgoblin was delighted her prey had stopped running and happily attempted to sink her teeth in him. She missed. He was quite an experienced veteran and skillfully dodged her attacks. It didn't deter Revel, but when Royster returned her onslaught Dolce saw to her horror that Revel fell from nearly top condition to sagging on her feet in a single quick exchange of blows. Dolce fished a wand out of her pack as Mirielle cast healing magic on Revel from a distance, breaking her invisibility. Thankfully, Royster seemed fixated on the hobgoblin and didn't turn his attention on the injured captain. Revel managed to land a blow on him now that Dolce was in position to distract him, but it was not the strongest hit. Royster struck her savagely again and Dolce swore her hobgoblin companion teetered on her feet. It was now or never! The elf invoked the magic of the wand, shrouding herself with [I]Mirror Image[/I] before saying, "So vulgar. It's no wonder your lady didn't return your affections." It worked. She could tell it by the rage in his eyes as he wheeled toward her. She took advantage of his wild shift in attention to stab him once with his lady's sword to decent effect, but he was still standing. Mirielle spent more of her healing energy on Revel since Dolce hadn't been injured yet. She too sent up a prayer to Besmara that the [I]Mirror Images[/I] would hold out since Dolce was not nearly as hardy as Revel was. Royster sliced into Dolce relentlessly, twice erasing an illusory image. The third blow struck the elf with shocking force and she found the wind knocked out of her as blood gushed from her wound. Still, she held her ground and returned his assault with her own, another good strike. Revel also bit into him as his attention was turned on the elf. Mirielle's healing magic flowed into Dolce now, knitting her fresh wound and restoring her vigor. Another strike from Royster dispersed the last illusion. His second miraculously missed, but the third struck true. Dolce felt certain she would meet her end if the fight continued much longer. She stabbed back at him, but only one blow connected. To her relief, he fell to Revel's teeth just before his blade fell on her again. Dolce's hand reached out for the wall, trembling, and she steadied herself even as Revel's attention turned on the last remaining soldier. "There's no need for further death, Revel," Mirielle said. Revel looked back at her captain, disappointed. The soldier didn't seem convinced. He'd yelled at someone named Birney to stay in the room he now guarded. Mirielle talked him down. They were not here to claim lives, she explained, but to take the Rock and that was accomplished without slaying him or the occupant of the chamber. The soldier dropped his weapon. Mirielle bade him stay there. She took Revel and Dolce to seek out Nasha above. They encountered the soldiers before they found Nasha, making Mirielle's eyes tear up. Revel screamed in fury, saying "I'll KILL you!!!" and bit wildly at them, but managed to get her teeth stuck in the frame of the door they were passing through. The soldiers, while rattled by Revel's fury, didn't hesitate to strike back, and one landed a solid blow that resulted in a sickening crunch. Revel wrenched her fangs free of the door, but her jaw hung awkwardly open and was clearly broken. Mirielle's healing repaired enough of the damage for Revel to bite anew as Dolce caught up and stabbed into her attacker. The two took the soldier down with little trouble and turned their attention on the last one. This one exclaimed, "Forget this!" And bolted, though not before feeling the gnash of Revel's teeth. They didn't give pursuit though, because just as he ran for the stairs Nasha landed softly beside them. Seeing Mirielle, she smiled weakly and said, "Good. I have made it." Mirielle healed Nasha and Revel both even as the hobgoblin hugged Nasha, her rage subsiding. "I thought you were dead!" She exclaimed, tearing up a little herself. Even Dolce's eyes were watery, though she hid the gesture of wiping the tears away as one meant to brush her hair out of her face. "Indeed. When we saw the soldiers we thought the worst." "No. But I could have been. Their bolts were sharp," Nasha said calmly. She had returned Revel's hug and placed a hand on Mirielle's shoulder. "Thank you again, Captain." The respect and gratitude was clear in her voice. "Your sailors are breaking down the door below." Mirielle blinked, dashing the tears from her eyes openly. "Are they?" Nasha only nodded, and the four headed back down. [hr][/hr] [CENTER][B]Survivors[/B][/CENTER] Only four of the inhabitants of Tidewater Rock survived [I]The Purr[/I]'s assault. Mirielle let them leave, [I]with[/I] their personal possessions. One cursed her and she coldly told them to go before she changed her mind. They even allowed them to take the ship's boat that had been docked here since there was no other way off the island. Within the Rock, they found a number of spoils, including a magical spyglass and magical breastplate. The Rock had clearly seen better days, for what wealth was within it seemed meager compared to what a successful captain would have accrued. Of course, Lady Smythee's husband had been gone for quite some time. With this wealth, and the last of the stores still below the waters on [I]The Deathknell[/I], Mirielle believed they could impress the Hurricane King enough to earn her the title of Free Captain. So they returned to [I]The Deathknell[/I]'s underwater resting ground, using Mirielle's magic to guide them, and spent another day's labor bringing up the last of the wealth below. They left no one at the Rock for the few days it took them to retrieve the sunken treasure, thinking nothing would try to take it in that short a span of time. The crew got treated to Dolce's newest song about their most recent exploit during this venture. She gaged their response, and decided ultimately it wasn't her [I]best[/I] work, but would certainly have a place in her tavern repertoire. [CENTER][I]Cracking the Rock[/I] I’ve heard a story ’bout Tidewater Rock That I’m sure you’ve all heard as well- It says that glory you can unlock If you claim the old fort for a spell! Captain Mirielle wanted the place, And she always gets her way. So mercurial, Besmara’s grace, Yet always with her does it stay… Take up a tankard, I’ll tell ye a tale; True as the day is long. Sure as we’re anchored, and sure as we sail, Our lust for the rock was strong! Smythee’s commander met us at their dock To learn about our intention… We didn’t pander with flattering talk; An alliance was all that we’d mention. He led us inside to meet with the lady And she asked us please to dine. This did we abide, lest it seem shady, While our causes might yet align. Sadly, sadly my friend, the lady, she had some demands My captain was loathe to meet… And so, the meal at an end, we felt that she’d tied our hands And conspired, their lives, to cheat. To my surprise, Lady Smythee was swift; She’d seen through our veiled presentation, Before I could rise, she gave us a gift – Much to my consternation. Her blade drank deep of my captain’s blood And we all rose up to the fight, The battle grew steep, Smythee fell with a thud, From the power of our captain’s smite! Now far from the battle, she’d fallen just short of her men, And we followed with haste. Her breathing, still did it rattle, they took her to carry her then, And down the stairs they raced! They tried, oh they tried – just to save her life, But we didn’t give them an inch And when she died it filled them all with strife; Not a man of hers would flinch.[/CENTER] During this time, Dolce finally took note of Shade purposefully avoiding her. She eventually confronted him and forced him to tell her why. When he removed his gloves and she took in his dark skin her first instinct was to stab him with her rapier... For she recognized the distinct hue of drow skin without ever having seen it before. It made his strange accent make sense as well. The elf restrained herself, imagining the hassle of explaining to Mirielle why she'd attacked the bosun when he'd been doing such good work, but she did make certain he had nothing else to hide from them and interrogate him regarding why he was a pirate and not below with his kind. The drow revealed to her that he had been part of a heretical society, one which worshiped the devil, Moloch, rather than the demons they usually prayed to. As a result, surrounding drow settlements had deemed his a threat and murdered all but a few of them. He was among those who escaped and now sought out a new life far from the underground. Dolce snarled that he should watch himself, because she certainly would be, and hastily withdrew from him to go and inform Mirielle. As the elf predicted, Mirielle was not on board with the idea of murdering Shade outright. Rather, she said they would continue with him and see if he gave them reason to. He did his job well, and was a capable combatant. He'd proven useful once or twice already, and until he did give them cause she would let him continue to do so. The two debated this at some length, but ultimately Mirielle pulled rank on Dolce, ordering her to stay her hostilities unless directly merited. [hr][/hr] [B]OOC Notes[/B] So, as it turns out, the people of Tidewater Rock are supposed to take a hostage, unarmored and unarmed. Likely I would have chosen Nasha since she doesn't need armor or a weapon to be devastating as a monk. My husband didn't read that paragraph of the module though, and I only saw it because he lets me reference the books for proper names when I'm writing up these posts. I figure this is fine, cause he also accidentally converted both Lady Smythee and Commander Royster as one level higher than they were supposed to be, and that battle was terrifying. We'll call it even, huh? There's a big difference in how PF2E handles dying and how D&D 5E does. In 5E the player characters are, for the most part, perpetual yoyos. They can go down and come back an infinite number of times as long as there's healing to be spared and it happens before they fail 3 death saves. In PF2E when you fall unconscious you gain the dying condition. So when Smythee went down, she became "Dying 1". When she was revived, she lost the dying condition and instead gained the wounded condition, so "Wounded 1". In PF2E you die when you reach Dying 4, and your Dying rank is based on your Dying condition + your Wounded condition. You can use a hero point to revive yourself without gaining the Wounded condition, but of course... NPCs don't have those. • So Smythee was Dying 1, got a potion poured down her throat and became conscious, Wounded 1. • Got knocked out by Chilling Spray, Wounded 1 + Dying 1 = Dying 2. • Was given a second potion, Wounded 2. Got knocked unconscious by another Chilling Spray. Wounded 2 + Dying 1 = Dying 3. • Failed a death save while being carried down the stairs, Wounded 2 + Dying 2 = Dying 4 = Dead. Notably, [I]Chilling Spray[/I], is a slightly weaker option than [I]Burning Hands[/I], if you strictly look at damage. [I]Chilling Spray[/I] does 2d4 damage. [I]Burning Hands[/I] does 2d6. But... but... [I]Chilling Spray[/I] also gives creatures a -5ft move penalty on a failure and -10ft on a critical failure. (A critical failure is any save that is 10 or more below the caster's DC in PF2E. Rolling a natural 1 makes your result one category worse than it would have been based on your total (usually also a critical failure)). The marines were our level or lower (so they failed most of the time) and Royster and Smythee were higher than us (and succeeded most of the time). Movement in PF2E is looped into the 3 action economy. All actors (PCs and baddies) have 3 actions, they can choose to use one or more to move. You can't break up your movement (so move, then act, then finish moving). Instead you would spend 1 action moving, then 1 attacking or whatever, then have to spend another to move again. So... that -5/-10 is really as much as -15/-30 feet of movement per round. The spell was beautiful here. And I only chose it for Dolce over [I]Burning Hands[/I] because she spent her whole life daydreaming about being a pirate and knows fire is dangerous on ships. Revel has a climb speed when she is raging courtesy of a Barbarian feat. This meant that it was faster for her to climb on the walls of the tower in her pursuit than it was to run down the stairs (difficult terrain), so just imagine the blue-skinned hobgoblin scurrying along the inside wall of the stairwell and gnashing her teeth at her enemies the whole way down. It was a wonderful image in my mind. Shade being a drow was sort of my doing. I had found a picture of a really cool drow swashbuckler and had commented that it would be cool if they recruited another elf since Dolce is quite young. In Golarion an elf reaches physical maturity and adulthood at around age 20, but aren't considered emotionally mature by other elves until they are closer to their first century. I thought it would be fun to have someone aboard who might note that Dolce is still young (she's 85). Owlbrarian decided to use the cool drow pirate and put him aboard our ship to give Dolce another elf to interact with. Of course, this changes the dynamic of the relationship she will have with said elf because she was raised to hate Drow. -In Golarion, the elves fled a catastrophe that threatened the entire planet by retreating to another planet... Except a few who remained behind and went below the surface. These elves were influenced by the presence of Rovagug (a god who seeks only to destroy creation and the other gods; they did not realize they were influenced by him at the time), and became Drow. In fact, this effect can still happen should an elf be cruel and evil enough they can spontaneously become a Drow. The reverse has never occurred. The Drow take special delight in torturing their surface kin, and view their flight to the sheltering planet as The Abandonment. Last note for this lengthy OOC section, this was a fun thing for me to get into the mindset for. I don't play characters who are so... cutthroat... basically ever. And somehow this felt more ruthless than taking over a ship. So getting into the mindset to go and just murder all these people living in this fort solely so they could put another feather in their cap was definitely playing outside my normal wheelhouse, but it made sense for the characters. In my head... • Nasha is indifferent to it. To her all that really matters is her companions and the crew, and if this furthers their renown and position then she's fine murdering these warm blooded strangers. • Revel is a bloodthirsty fighter, perfectly willing to take from others by force and relishing fear that she brings upon others. Again, perfectly fine with this. • Dolce is a scheming, thrill-seeking, elf. She wants them to be renowned throughout the Shackles and beyond as their powers grow. Perfectly content to do this. Even more so to do it the way they did, by getting invited inside and then taking them from there. It really caters to her motivations and will make for another defining point of their pirating career in her stories. • Mirielle thrives in her newfound freedom and appreciates comfort, but she actually doesn't like violence. It is a means to an end for her. She preferred to find a peaceful resolution or form an alliance with Lady Smythee, alas, the module literally said all the woman wanted was marriage (pretty sure Owlbrarian also said it would have to be to the captain when I floated the idea of maybe marrying her to [I]The Purr's[/I] mysterious bosun or to Dolce)... And marriage is one thing Mirielle is not willing to do because of her own backstory. She also wants to lead her crew to glory, so she basically chose to ignore her aasimar heritage and her guilt in order to claim the Rock and further their reputation. Of course, she also is saddened by how many ultimately died. She clings to the fact that Besmara "cares little for senseless murder" (this is from the writeup of Besmara in book 1 of the adventure) as justification for why she spares the lives of her enemies whenever possible. She also had to make a diplomacy check with her crew to make sure there were no ruffled feathers when she allowed the four survivors to keep their belongings as they left the Rock (this she chose to do just cause she's a softy). [/QUOTE]
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