D&D 3E/3.5 Pirates of the Emerald Coast (3.5) continues

Welcome to pirates of the Emerald Coast!

This is my very own 3.5 campaign that has been running for over a year now, in the home brew setting of Kirbawa. Pirates of the Emerald Coast is all about swashbuckling, naval combat, and water.. lots of water. Water is the main theme that ties everything together, and features prominently in every quest and dungeon. It also means the players fight a lot of aquatic monsters, which often see little use in other D&D campaigns.

The campaign features firearms. But since these are not standard D&D weapons, we've made our very own ever expanding list of pirate weapons. Flintlocks, cannons, you name it. The players can raid other ships, and spend their riches on countless ship upgrades, or on building their very own pirate base.

This campaign was previously featured on the WotC forums. If you want to catch up with that, you can read all about that here.

Time line



Regional map



Brief summary of the current story

The players currently reside in the harbor city of Vertesaux, which belongs to the country of St Valenz (but it is not the capital). The previous ruler, the Marquis, has recently been assassinated, and this was a heavy loss because the Marquis was a dear friend and valuable ally to the players. His beautiful daughter has joined their crew, and now they are trying to muster a fleet of pirates to counter a threat from the east. The powerful empire of Cyr has sent forth a fleet to rid their trade routes of pirates for good. If they want to protect the region, they must bring all pirate captains together in one big alliance.
The players are also gathering workers to help build their base on the dreaded Isle of Bones; an island infested with cannibals. To gather a lot of cheap labor, they are hosting their very own barbecue in the slums outside Vertesaux.

Meanwhile the threat of a powerful god-like being called Hydra (a water being that has taken over the Eternal Depths, where the souls of dead sailors go) also looms over the region. The players often come in conflict with the servants of Hydra, or with the two lesser deities that have allied with Hydra: Airen (goddess of chaos) and Teehlyian'tara (lady of the flesh, and a vermin goddess).

The Emerald Coast has a long history that still haunts it. Several years ago the dreaded pirate captain Black William was defeated, in a betrayal by several pirate factions. But now he is back as a ghost pirate, thanks to the efforts of the Circle of Azarah; a group of evil wizards that is also aligned with Hydra. So in short, the players have many enemies. Black William also hid a great treasure while he was still alive, and the players are in possession of the map to that treasure. But since the treasure is hidden in the Eternal Depths, acquiring the treasure will be tricky.

The party:

Captain William Roberts - Human bard / Great captain (See the book "Storm Wrack")
Bioran - Elf Abjurant Champion
Ché - Half elf cleric (of The Lady of the Waves, a local deity)
Shifter - Human Druid

Their ships:

"The Lady's Vengeance" (Their new main ship)
"The Jennifer's Grace" (now retired and used as a transport ship)

Npc crew:

Diksnor - Pirate / Right hand of the captain, and completely bald.
Mutabe - Kooghan pirate / Carries a horrible and mysterious scar on one of his hands.
Zuberi - Kooghan pirate / Covered in self inflicted decorative scars and beads.
Jantje - Ship's cook in training / also secretly a 12 year old girl.
Ruldolpho - Ship's mate / 16 year old boy who protects Jantje's secret. They grew up in the same orphanage.
Tabbe "Rummy" Duinkerk - Pirate / Notorious drunk and comic relief of the campaign.
Huang Peng - Pirate / Betel addict and very superstitious.
Fernand Carron - Pirate / "The best swordsman that ever lived", or so he claims.
"One-Eyed" Will Halfwrite - Navigator / Ex-crew member of the notorious Black William.
Amaziah Awiti - Kooghan cleric / A 16 year old girl who was to be the new vessel of the evil deity Teehlyian'tara. The party saved her from the ruins of an ancient coastal city.
Ulvar Leadbottom - Oarsman inventor / Builds diving bells and took a vow of none violence.
Skua Sitaara Ashandra - Speaker of the Dead witch / Is neutral evil, and has a poisonous frog familiar.
Sophie Marceau - Noble / Not to be confused with the actress. She is the daughter of the late Marquis of Vertesaux... or is she?
Mad Captain Rudolph Wiseman - Pirate Captain / Completely mad at times, but he has his lucid moments.
Nishia Moonhair - Kooghan scribe / A young girl and Wiseman's personal scribe

My group will continue their pirate adventures next Sunday. I wonder if they'll ever leave the harbor city of Vertesaux. I've been trying to get them back on a new sea voyage, but things keep popping up, and some plot threads are still unresolved. But as long as they are having fun, I suppose there's no harm in it.

The barbecue
In preparation of the next session, I've worked out a lot of details concerning this huge barbecue that they want to bring to the slums of Vertesaux. A little back story on this. Several sessions ago the party defeated a huge sea monster, but they've been wondering what to do with all that meat. As it happens, their ship's cook is taking lessons from a famous singing chef. And since the party wants to recruit workers to build their private base, they figured that a sea monster barbecue, prepared by the famous chef, would be the best way to recruit all these workers from all the poor people outside Vertesaux.

During this feast a lot of npc's will show up, and I want them all to have something to say. So I've prepared some cool info that they can obtain from every important npc. I've also written a small side quest where they must obtain some rare spices from a crazy colleague/competitor of the singing chef. I'll also reveal more about the party's Druid's backstory, because one of his brothers attends the feast. He's met 2 of his 3 brothers so far, but still knows very little about them, nor about what he himself can do. One of the brothers will share some Druid lore with him, and explain more about his powers.

Unrelated to all this, I've also created a massive list that contains the names of every pirate captain and dragon that the party can recruit for their war, along with also all the villains. I keep track of what the alignment of every captain is. If they are friendly, unfriendly, loyal or perhaps hostile. It was also a lot of fun coming up with all the ship names... especially for the villains. Some of the names on this list are people that the players have not met yet. I suspect the list will keep growing as new npc's are introduced, but it will do for now.

Down below is a list of all the friendly factions, and a brief introduction to the races and cultures of the setting.

Vertesaux
Vertesaux is an important port for the country of St Valenz. The ships in the harbor city of Vertesaux all belong to the king of St Valenz. So far the players have only met Robert Travers, who does not like them very much, and they have met none of the other captains. They have met Baroness Roselyne Camille, but they do not know that her family owns a ship.


Kooghans
The kooghans are dark of skin, and produce a lot of firearms and siege engines. The Kooghans live on the island of Abyscus, but recently lost one of their most important captains. Urunthu Khan's ship was destroyed by the Cyrian fleet, and now Urunthu Khan wanders the realm of the dead. With the help of the players, he might find his way back to the realm of the living. The players have not yet met any of the other captains, nor have they visited Abyscus yet. I'll probably add more Kooghan captains in the near future.


Speakers of the Dead
The Speakers of the Dead from the island of Witch Claw are a race of magic wielding pirates. They worship their women, who they believe to be in direct contact with the gods. They have only female captains, and they are all witches and necromancers. They all carry frightful names, and the names of their ships are meant to inspire terror in their enemies. The players saved the life of Skua Skagga Snakeveins, so she is their ally. The other captains are friendly towards the players, but not loyal.


Gongya An
The asian pirates of Gongya An, live on Fu Kong, a city built on a giant sleeping dragon turtle. They fled their homeland due to the oppressive rule of Cyr, and now they share their vast knowledge of sea monster hunting with the region of Kirbawa. The party is befriended with Tsao Feng, and sold him the skeleton of the sea monster, which he gladly added to his collection. In return they got paid in a large pile of stolen Cyrian imperial gold coins.... a mixed blessing. They have not met Uka yet, -a female pirate who currently resides on the island of Salt. Guang Jing is heading there as well, but the party does not get along with him. Recent revelations have placed Guang Jing in a more positive light, and they may have to recruit him eventually. Ling Goda is the devious leader of a thieves guild in Vertesaux, whom they've met. It was hinted at briefly that she owns a ship, but they have not recruited her yet.


Oarsmen
The Oarsmen are all proud dwarven pirates, who live on the island of Stoneoar, where they dive for treasure. They are all bald, have no beards, and cover themselves from head to toe in tattoos.They also hate being called dwarves. They are specialists in deep sea exploration. The party recently got Horfor out of jail, and after a huge battle at a shipyard, they also got his ship back. For this he is very grateful, and it earned them his loyalty. The players have not met any of the other Oarsmen captains yet, though I may have referred to them in passing. They are planning to travel to Stoneoar eventually, to finish their diving clock, so they can search for ship wrecks. I'll probably add more Oarsmen captains eventually.


Misc
Many captains are unaligned to any particular faction. The players have managed to make Scurvy Scarlet unfriendly to them, and they have also placed the mad captain Wiseman in charge of their old ship, the Jennifer's Grace. They have not found Rotbeard yet, because he is somewhere on the dark island of Dunster Hollow. The party has met the captains of a traveling circus: Leopardo Pardini, Madame Ora, and Hugo Falasco. They are friendly towards the party, but not loyal.


Dragons
There are several dragons hidden around the Emerald Coast, and most of them are neutral, which doesn't mean they aren't dangerous. The players may be able to recruit some of them for their war. The players have met Harlathax, who disguises himself in human form, and is friendly to them. They have also met Arturian, who is a dangerous hostile sea serpent that terrorizes a popular strait. They suspect that the island of Fu Kong is actually the sleeping dragon turtle Hǎiguī, but they have not yet attempted to wake him up. They have not yet met the other dragons, but they also know there is one last gold dragon (Jīnsè xīyáng) that fights on the side of their enemy (The empire of Cyr).


More on the villains soon......

Thanks for the summary and I'm looking forward to the new content / events!

This weekend we had an entire session with nothing but talking and hardly any skill checks. No combat, just role playing. It was great, because all of the events in this session were the result of the choices of the players. They decided to have a barbecue for the poor people in Shanty Town, and it was the perfect opportunity to tie lots of plot points together.

Revelations about Laura

One of the players first visited Wiebe Ter Weel (a wealthy merchant), the father of Laura, whom the lovable drunken pirate Rummy is in love with. At the end of our last session, Laura's father had done a complete 180 on his opinion of Rummy. Seeing that Rummy was willing to risk his own life for his daughter, changed how he felt about Rummy. He now welcomed Rummy and Ché to his house, where Rummy received a long hug that lasted a bit too long for comfort. After talking out their earlier disagreements, they also made a business deal with Wiebe. Wiebe will help the players sell some of their exotic goods, and Laura will work for them, to help them with their trading.
After concluding these negotiations (which my players really seem to enjoy), Wiebe shared a secret about Laura that not even she knew about, while Laura was out of the room. Wiebe explained that he was so protective of her, ever since a strange old man had tried to steal her from him twice, when she was just a baby. The party quickly realized that this was very similar to the way their Druid party member had been stolen from his biological parents by the Druids. Apparently this has to be done at a very young age. More on this later....

Abdul Zafar the Enchanter returns!

While Captain William Roberts is doing some last minute shopping on the market, he spots the mysterious arabian merchant, who had sold him a mysterious carpet earlier in the campaign. Abdul Zafar seems to pop up randomly on markets every now and then, where he sells them strange magical trinkets, and then disappears.
Once again he sold the party two magical items: A rug that behaves like a bag of holding when you roll items into it. And a jar filled with magic fortune cookies. The fortune cookies quickly became quite popular, since they always seemed to provide cryptic but helpful advice whenever you ate them.

One such fortune read: "You will have an unexpected guest"

They started off with 30 cookies, which quickly reduced to 18 in a matter of an hour. They just couldn't resist eating them, to get another weird cryptic message. And every message was true, but open to interpretation of course. Oh, and Abdul disappeared once again, as he always does. Abdul is a type of character that seems to pop up in other people's campaigns too.

Chef Kook Lok

The Great Arietto, the famous singing chef of Vertesaux, tasked the party with a simple side quest. He wanted them to visit his rival, Chef Kook Lok, and ask him for his secret spices. Lok is an expert in exotic dishes, and especially large animals, such as whales. Arietto has little experience with preparing a dish out of a massive mosasaurus (which the players defeated many sessions ago, and now want to serve during the barbecue). So he needs to know what rare spices this chef of the bizarre uses. But he won't share it with him directly, he is too proud for that. Arietto also told the party to not call him Chef Cook Lok, because his name is Kook, and chef is his profession. So to confuse the two, and call him a chef cook, would be insulting to him. He remarked that Lok had a very unfortunate name for a chef.
Shifter the Druid decided to deal with this small task, and he decided to bring Sitaara (the evil Speaker of the Dead crew member) with him. Sitaara would no doubt know a lot about herbs and chemistry, and may be of use in identifying the secret spices. The intimidation factor that comes with any Speaker of the Dead is also useful, with her blackened teeth, her heavy black eye shadow, and her garments covered in bones and animal skulls.
But there was a small catch. Chef Kook Lok could already guess that they were sent by Arietto, and so he insisted that they would first try one of his exotic dishes, or he would not share his secret. What followed was a menu with several ghastly sea recipes. Shifter settled on the fermented basking shark (which smells like a rotting carcass, because it IS a rotting carcass), while Sitaara chose the live octopus dish.
I described the taste and smell of the food in glorious detail. And what it looked like to try and eat tiny little octopuses that are still alive. It was a barrel of laughs, but they eventually were rewarded with Lok's secret recipe. Just in time for the barbecue.

Bioran forges the holy book of St Germain

The barbecue is to be held inside the Chapel Lucia, outside Vertesaux. The players have made a reluctant agreement to hold the barbecue there under the watchful eyes of the zealous paladins of the holy Brotherhood of the Chalice. They are none too happy about this, because these zealots (even though they are lawful good) are spreading their faith like wild fire, and they also mean to burn the holy book of St Germain which they took from another church (The church of St Germain).
The Brotherhood regards St Germain as a heretic, and thus his book of lies must be destroyed. The players want to preserve this book, because it is an important religious artifact, and it may contain details regarding the last voyage of St Germain. The players want to seek out this ship wreck, in search of valuables. So they want to steal the book from the holy order during the barbecue. Their plan is to create a forgery of the holy book, and then use their new magic carpet to quickly make the switch. Of course I made the roll for him in secret, so Bioran has no idea how good his forgery is. As with a lot of characters in my campaign, the Brotherhood are not completely black and white. They are good, but they are also zealous. They are zealous, but they are also kind and generous to the poor. The players hate them, and yet also respect them. Its a love-hate relationship, just the way I intended them.

Ché confesses his love to Amaziah

The half elf Ché has never been great with the ladies, but at long last he was able to admit his love to his cleric student Amaziah, with the aid of the magical fortune cookies. When Amaziah read what the fortune cookie said, she knew that Ché was in love of her... and Ché's cookie simply said "She knows". This is because the fortune cookies always provide helpful advise that concerns the current situation. In this case, it revealed a truth that Ché had long hidden from her. They had a long talk about his feelings for her, but she also explained that she did not want to rush things. After all, many years had been stolen from her. She had been locked inside a magically sealed tomb for many years by Teehlian'tara, the evil goddess of the flesh, frozen in time. It was thanks to Ché that she was liberated from her prison, but now she has so much to catch up on. It is not just love she has to catch up on, but the entire world. Every day is like a whole new world to her. Ché also revealed to her with one of his cantrips that it was he who saved her from that awful place. Amaziah mentions that she worries if now that her body has been taken from this evil deity, if perhaps Teehlian'tara will try to find another vessel....

Foreshadowing!

The great barbecue

The barbecue was the point where a ton of lingering plot lines got resolved. It was all the idea of the players, but this was the perfect opportunity for me as a DM, to throw tons of interesting npc's together. While chef Arietto and his student Jantje were outside underneath two tents to prepare all the food, the inside of Chapel Lucia had been cleared out to make room for three long rows of tables. The place was crowded with the poor and the needy, while the paladins of the holy order kept a vigilant watch on the proceedings.

Captain William Roberts makes a grand entrance

The captain of the party opens the festivities with a rousing speech, to remind everyone why they are here. William is looking for carpenters and other craftsmen, to help him build his new base. The player improvised the speech entirely, but it sounded amazing, and so I rewarded the whole party with bonus experience for it (as I always do for great role playing moments).

Shifter reunites with his brothers

Shifter's two Druid brothers decided to attend the barbecue, but in their human form. Ermilio the dancing circus bear, was now just Ermilio the man. And Patamon the badger, was now just Patamon the old man with a playful look in his eyes. This was the first time that Shifter saw Patamon in his human form. It should be noted that Shifter's brothers are not blood brothers. They were all taken from their original families when they were just a child (just like Laura almost was). Nature became their new family.
During the barbecue they teach Shifter two important things. First they teach him that he was anointed, and brought before the fey as a child. So the fey all know him, and it also allows him to see the fey. They teach him how to see all the dozens of invisible creatures that normal people cannot see.
They also teach him how to "walk the path", which is a mysterious Druidic ability that allows him to walk into any forest, and appear at a forest in a pocket dimension, where all Druids can meet each other.
Both brothers also inform Shifter that neither of them was responsible for trying to steal Laura as a child.... but it could have been their Druid father.

Mamma Zima reveals Uruntu Khan's journey

Ché joins the much respected Kooghan mystic called Mamma Zima at her table. This rather large kindhearted lady is a valuable ally to the players, and is also an expert at scrying and visions. She reveals the current fate of their Kooghan pirate captain, Uruntu Khan. Uruntu Khan is still wandering the icy wasteland of the Eternal Depths. He has now successfully crossed a dangerous area called the Frozen Summit, and reached a dark harbor city that has a striking resemblance to Vertesaux. He is now in a dark place, at the end of his journey, and surrounded by enemies. And he needs guidance.
One of the players comes to a brilliant revelation. Several days ago the party had stumbled upon a portal to the Eternal Depths in an abandoned house in Vertesaux. If Vertesaux is indeed mirrored in the netherworld, and if there's an active portal to that realm in Vertesaux, then they can bring Uruntu Khan back! All they need to do is create some sort of a beacon of light, so he can find his way to the portal!
Ché also asks more information about his amulet, which is part of his character's backstory. Mamma Zima advises that he takes the amulet to the island Salt, where the priestesses of Mor will be much better at helping him.

Father Julien shares a story

The head of Chapel Lucia also gives a short speech. He tells everyone in attendance of a nightmare he had, of a stormy sea, with a giant black tentacle rising up from the water, and grasping for him. The frightful vision was dispersed by morning dawn, but it is a reminder that dark times are coming. He urged everyone to stay strong in their faith, so that it may shine a ray of light in the darkness that approaches.
Later that evening, Sophie Marceau (daughter of the Marquis) asks Julien if he knew the dreaded pirate captain Black William. It might be confusing that both the player character and this villain are called William, but just so you know, they are two separate characters. Julien shares a story of how Black William once came in for confession, during a time of great doubt. Many of the pirate captains had been considering retiring from piracy, because they feared their luck would eventually run out. None of them wanted to end their life at the end of a rope.
Black William felt that now was the time when they needed to stick together, because it was the only way to protect their freedom. He felt they should form an alliance together, or they may lose all that they had built over the years. And so Black William killed another pirate captain in secret, who had spoken out the strongest against him, in the hope of putting an end to the opposition. When Black William came in to confess about this murder, it was not out of shame over the killing, but out of regret and doubt. He feared that he may have made an error in judgement. He also feared the type of man he may need to become to turn the tide.
Black William was referring to his impending attack on Vertesaux, where the other pirates would eventually betray him, and which would claim his life. Julien still wonders if anything he could have said could have changed that decision. But one thing was clear: When he walked out of that church, he became the monster, and left behind the man. Then again, this is also what would eventually lead to the Marquis establishing peace in the region. So perhaps some good came out of it.
Julien reminds Sophie that the Marquis loved her very very much, and that is why the Marquis is her REAL father.... and she should never doubt that. This came as a surprise to the players. Apparently Father Julien knows that Black William is secretly Sophie's biological father.... a secret that she keeps close to her heart. But he promises her that her secret is safe with him.

Magister Aldric Flamant and his assistant

Aldric is the kind owner of the one and only magic shop in Vertesaux, which the players often visit. He always has a talking toad with him, who always provides hilarious apathetic commentary. He also brought his young female assistant with him, Chantal. He explains the players how he's been teaching Chantal some simple harmless cantrips.

Meanwhile his toad provides condescending remarks with a tone of complete disinterest: Toad: "What's even the point of teaching her all that?"

Aldric explains that her family can't afford to send her to an arcane university, so he's teaching her some simple stuff himself. But only harmless spells, he assures the party.

Toad: "-As far as you know..."

Chantal gives a demonstration of some of her cantrips. She casts some dancing lights.

Toad: "Beautiful. Maybe now we all have permanent damage to our eyes, who knows?"

She casts a light spell on her fork.

Toad: "How useful, with all those candles already on the table. Why even bother?"

Meanwhile Sitaara notices that Chantal's ways of spell casting look far more experienced than mere beginner level. She suspects that Chantal may have been secretly looking into some of Aldric's other books, and teaching herself when he isn't looking. And Sitaara shares this information with Captain William Roberts.

An unexpected guest

One fortune remains unresolved. Earlier in the session, one of the cookies predicted that there would be an unexpected guest. The players all guessed wrong who it would be. At some point during the evening, Captain William Roberts is called over by one of the paladins, with news that a woman outside asks for him. When he walks over to check who it is, it is none other than Scurvy Scarlet.

Scurvy Scarlet: "What's the matter dear? Afraid that I wouldn't get the invitation?"

About Scurvy Scarlet

Some quick notes about Scurvy Scarlet. The last time the players met her, Captain William shared a bed with her, while knowing that she earned her nick name due to a stubborn rumor that any man she sleeps with, ends up with an STD. The only reason he did so, is because she had a valuable tattoo on her breasts that many sailors wanted to see, because it offered a clue to Black William's treasure. Scarlet knew that this was just a wild goose chase, since no one ever got his hand on Black Williams's actual treasure map (they all had fakes). But she still abuses her fancy tattoo to bed a lot of men. Whether the STD-thing is actually true is unknown to the players this point, but I can honestly reveal that it is just a foul rumor that one of her enemies spread.

Scurvy Scarlet met with Sophie, who brought an old map with her, which she believed to be the map to Black William's treasure. Scarlet knew that it was a fake, but offered to help her find out more about Black William (Sophie's biological father) none the less (without telling her the map was a fake). For this purpose she planned to gather a group of pirates who all knew Black William, although she was in no hurry to get this done. But the players had underestimated Scurvy Scarlet...

Due to an error in their thinking, Scurvy Scarlet could logically deduce that the players were in possession of the real map. Because William let it slip that he knew Sophie's map was a fake. So if he knew that her map was a fake, then why did he sleep with Scarlet? Scarlet reasoned that William must be in possession of the real map.

This is why Scarlet and the players now are adversaries of a sort. William knows that Scarlet is a clever and manipulative woman, who only wants to use Sophie for her own ends. And that makes her dangerous. The last time they saw her, was on Witch Claw. But now they are unexpectedly reunited, and Scarlet has some important information for the captain.

Into the Eternal Depths

The players finish up their big barbecue in Shanty Town. The captain gathers about a hundred people to join him in his new venture on the Isle of Bones. Ché the cleric tries to reason with Father Julien, and tries to persuade the stubborn head of the church to not burn the holy book of St Germain. He hits a sensitive nerve, and Father Julien leaves the table. Julien also orders extra guards at the book, and wants it burned that very same night. Ché realizes that he may have made things worse.

Scurvy Scarlet sits down with the captain, and informs him that a big battle is going on near Port Freedom. She saw smoke coming from the island, and heard the cannons of a Kooghan ship. She also saw a Speaker of the Dead ship nearby. The players reason that perhaps an attack on the island has begun. Later that evening, a scrying reveals that the ships are actually fighting the living Hydra ship that the players had left on the island early on in the campaign. A friendly giant had picked up the living ship, and tossed it onto the island for them. This happened many many sessions ago.

But Scarlet has more disturbing news, which earns her some credit with the party. She noticed a Hydra harbor being build in the south east, with six heavily armed guard towers that form a ring around a part of the sea. The players realize that the maelstrom that they saw in a vision a few sessions ago, would have to be created there. But because the players intervened at the shipyard, Grumwick was unable to deliver the final component to create a portal between their world, and the Eternal Depths. The plans of the bad guys have been delayed. So for now, Hydra cannot use this base to send living ships to the surface again.

Meanwhile, unbeknownst to the rest of the party, Shifter the druid makes a devious gamble. Several sessions ago he had earned one favor from the god of Trickery, in the form of a strange coin. He also knows that the god of Trickery secretly has several guards stationed at the church, who all look identical and are called Hector, who are his pawns (a prank on the part of the Trickster god). Shifter decides to show one of these Hector's his coin, and asks the Trickster god to save the book by switching it out with a fake duplicate. The guard replies that it wouldn't be fun, unless they switched the book with a really funny book. So instead, Shifter agrees to having the book be swapped with a copy of a book written by a terrible pirate called Rotbeard. Rotbeard has written several hilarious but terrible books, such as his book of children's bedtime stories, titled "go the f*ck to sleep!". So the book is swapped just fine, and apparently Father Julien burns the fake book that very same night, without noticing that it is a different book. Could some divine Trickster magic be at play here? You betcha!

The Winter Closet

After safely retrieving the book of St Germain (which details his last fatal voyage), the party decides to tie up another loose plot point; The Winter Closet. This magical closet emits cold air, and is wrapped in magical chains. Heavy clawing and pounding sounds come from within, as the closet and the chains shake violently. Despite all the warnings not to open the closet, their curiosity gets the best of them. They open the closet inside their own ship. The closet actually leads to a tiny winter wonderland in a pocket dimension, in which several angry yetis are trapped. The first huge yeti immediately tries to make its way out of the closet. But with a protective magical sphere they are able to repel the angry creature, and close the closet again. They now have a fun surprise for their enemies, which may come in handy in the future.

Voyage into the Eternal Depths

The Eternal Depths are a realm where the spirits of the drowned go. Normally this realm is ruled by the Lady of the Waves, who brings the dead to the God of Death. But the evil entity known as Hydra, has taken over this realm, and now the Lady of the Waves no longer has power here. The Eternal Depths are a subterranean realm with unearthly cold, no natural light, and a massive cavern ceiling that covers the whole world. It is basically the biggest cave you will ever see, if you can see anything at all that is. Because it is really dark.

The players use a scrying spell to spy into the realm of the dead, where they get a good look at the Forgotten Harbor, which is the dark equivalent of Vertesaux in the Eternal Depths. Their Kooghan friend Urunthu Khan, and his ancient female Kooghan protector Ryp, have to cross the dark city to reach a portal that the players have discovered. Massive Beholder-like towers look in all directions, and all the gates across the canals are heavily guarded by strange creatures.

The players realize that their only chance to save Urunthu Khan, is if they go in themselves, and use the spell Ward against Hydra. This home brew spells kind of works like the spell seen in Harry Potter. It basically displaces a small group of creatures in a different plane, so that Hydra followers cannot see them, hear them, or interact with them. Any attempt to interact with these creatures, breaks the spell.

The players carefully sneak through the pitch black city, while wearing heavy winter clothing and using protection from cold against the unearthly cold weather. Hypothermia is a serious danger, so they need all the protection from cold they can get. The Ward against Hydra keeps them safe as they sneak around. They encounter a large floating jellyfish like creature which glows green from the inside, with eyes on the ends of its tendrils. These creatures are Ocularons... very dangerous large aberations. But because of the Ward that Ché cast, one such Ocularon passes them without noticing them. It even casts a True Seeing, but it cannot find them.

They cross a canal that is filled with the souls of the dead. They are careful to avoid the bridges of the city, which are heavily guarded by Ocularons. They warp the stone around them, to make a bridge of their own, thus avoiding the guards. Down below the hands of the dead reach out from the water, begging to be saved. Ever since the Lady of the Waves was driven from this realm, the souls of the drowned have been piling up. If they grab a hold of you, then you'll join them.

After crossing the canal, they reach a district of the town known as Ghostlight Quarter. It is a tight maze of ruined buildings, where the green lights of Ocularons move in the distance. They reach the central square of the district, where a mystical obelisk stands in the middle. It is clearly made by the Stone Oar (dwarven pirates), and they wonder if this structure has an equivalent in the real world. They also see streams of blue light pouring upwards through cracks in the ground. Their Abjurant Champion Bioran warns them that this is Coldfire, and very dangerous to the touch. They also see countless Bleakborn, a type of frozen zombies that have an aura that consumes heat. They keep their distance from these creatures, who are also unable to see them, because they are servants of Hydra too.

At the end of town is a massive wall of ice that leads to higher ground. They climb it, and as they reach Urunthu Khan one of the players makes a terrible error. Ché kisses his holy symbol of the Lady of the Waves, and the earth suddenly shakes. They see flashes of light in the bay, and they hear the screams of thousands of souls. A massive black trunk comes down from the pitch black ceiling of the Depths, and begins to suck up all the souls of the dead. This is their first glimpse of the entity known as Hydra. It feeds on the souls of the dead!

We'll see what happens next, when the campaign continues next year!

Escape from the Eternal Depths!

Last time the party was stuck in the realm where dead sailors go when they die. They were witness to the horrible entity known as Hydra, who has taken hold of this realm. This was an important moment, because up to this point they had no concept of exactly who or what Hydra was.

Some really important stuff happened during this session, which I'll get to in a second. But it was also a great excuse for a ton of exposition regarding the gods, and the three evil entities that have dominated the session up to this point: Hydra, Airen and Teehlyian'tara (I'm surprised I always manage to spell that one correctly).

The Obelisk

The players decided to revisit the Obelisk on their way back to the portal to the mortal realm. Numerous new foes had just appeared all over the dark city, and so it was important to quickly get their friend Urunthu Khan and his bodyguard Ryp out of there, via the safest route possible. The servants of Hydra seemed unable to get close to some of the buildings infused with magical dwarven runes. The ancient Oarsmen seemed to have some arcane knowledge that allowed them to keep Hydra at bay. So when they revisit the Obelisk, I tell them that it resonates whenever they are near. The players all decide to touch the obelisk, which activates it. The runes light up, and all nearby Hydra creates recoil in terror. This raises an important question. Does this obelisk also exist in their world? More on this question in our next session.


Meeting with Belet Seri

Through a bit of obvious railroading on my part (I do apologize, but it was needed at this point) I had an npc take them safely to visit the Clocktower, to meet with Belet Seri. It was about time they talked to someone that could answer all their big divine questions. Belet Seri is the scribe of the Underworld, and she is the assistant to the god of death. But He no longer rules the Eternal Depths, because he was swamped with work. A long time ago He decided to share his various sub-realms with other lesser deities, such as The Lady of the Waves. This good protector of sailors, was unfortunately not ready for the assault of three evil powers.

Belet Seri explains to them how of the three evils, Teehlyian'tara is different from the other two. She corrupts, festers and rots, deteriorating the defenses that allowed Hydra to conquer the realm in the first place. Teehlyian'tara has no physical body, she is literally split across all her vermin servants. So like a pest, she can never be eradicated for good, but she can also never be a serious threat to the world. But she enables other evils to do great harm, which is perhaps far worse.

How Airen fits into all this is as of yet unclear. The Goddess of Chaos used to be a harvest god, which is a complex story that I'll leave out for now.

But perhaps the most important information was that Hydra is not really a god. To mere mortals it can be hard to tell the difference between one godly being and the next. But none of them are alike, and Hydra is nothing near to a god.... but still quite dangerous. She explains how Avenna, the powerful goddess of the sun once did battle with Airen, which she won but it also weakened her, thus causing 30 years of darkness on the world. Now that these three evils which include Airen have aligned against this one lesser deity (The Lady of the Waves), it is no surprise that Hydra could easily conquer the Eternal Depths.

All this was important to explain that The Lady of the Waves is no push over, but to also explain to the players what they are up against. We are talking a Cthulhu-like being of such frightful power that they have no hope of ever defeating it directly. Belet Seri also explains how the Oarsmen used to be tall powerful men of great wisdom, but due to a curse from Hydra they began to forget, and were cursed with their small stature. Still, the power of the ancient Oarsmen persists to this day, and the players may be able to turn this to their favor.

The players brilliantly consider the idea that perhaps they could use the dwarven runes to manifest a version of their own base of operations within the Eternal Depths. This would give them a perfect point to strike from against Hydra. This is something that even I as a DM had not thought of. But it immediately changes my ideas for the future plot. <- So I just want to point out that this is why I call my campaign a sandbox. It is NOT a railroady adventure in the slightest. The plot is constantly in motion, due to the actions of the players.

Belet Seri also explains how Hydra is able to influence the mortal realm in a limited capacity, because his followers use dark magic to open a rift that allows him to enter. Hydra hides this rift with a dark cloud, which is often called The Harrowing in local beliefs (a sign of the end times). They do this from some unknown base of operations. If the players are able to take down this base of operations (if they can find it first), they can stop Hydra from sending minions to the mortal realm completely.

The condition of Urunthu Khan

Finally Belet Seri also explains that their friend Urunthu Khan cannot be returned to life by her. Only the God of Death can make that call, and until he does, both him and Ryp they are neither living nor dead. Still, despite this fact, he should travel with them , because he clearly has some work left to do. So how will they explain this to their crew, or to the highly superstitious Kooghans when they return him to Abyscus? (island of the Kooghans)

Escape from the Depths

The players make a very close escape through the portal, back to Vertesaux. They take on two deadly Ocularons, which permanently steal the eyes of their victims after a successful grapple. These things are scary, and I purposefully gave them a CR encounter that was overtuned according to their level. I wanted them to feel like they might just die, and it was a close call. Thanks to clever use of a Ring of the Ram, they were able to knock one of the Ocularons through the portal, so the city guard could duke it out with the thing instead. So now they only had one Ocularon to deal with, but this still almost cost them one of their party members. Lets just say they were very VERY lucky!

Closing up the portal

The next session started with various npc's closing off the portal completely. It is not known how to close a portal to another reality in my setting. So people tend to do the next best thing: Stabilize the portal, and then build a large stone building around it. So now it is completely sealed away.

The Obelisk

Fortunately the players remembered that they wanted to check up on the obelisk in the mortal realm. But they weren't ready for the twist that I had in store for them. As it turns out, where once stood a proud statue of some saint, had now arisen an identical obelisk. It had obliterated the statue that once stood there, and the runes also glowed with power. The entire square was crowded with people, but mostly oarsmen. And captain Horfor Depthbreaker (whom they had helped retrieve his ship from that shipyard a while back, where they defeated Grimwick Bristlethorn) was now chanting how this was a sign, and that Captain William really was the lightbringer they all claimed him to be. The mysterious appearance of the obelisk had instantly turned this once humble square into some sort of holy site for Oarsmen. And it seemed that the runes also seemed to trigger some vague recognition of that ancient knowledge that they once knew.

As the players walked up to the Obelisk, it resonated once again. Captain William touched the obelisk again (but this time in Vertesaux), and it erupted with a beam of light. But the light did not go away. In fact, this powerful bright beam of light kept shining up into the sky, and it was highly likely that this now served as a beacon in the Eternal Depths as well. Immediately the players all agreed: "We must find more of these beacons!"

This was one of the most epic moments of the campaign, because in an instant this player had literally become a bringer of light in a way that simply made sense for the plot. It just all fit. All the pieces of the puzzle fell into place, and I described the powerful feeling of religious euphoria that everyone could sense on that square at that moment. Even none-oarsmen citizens were drawn to the sight of all these kneeling dwarves, reveling in the light of the Obelisk. It was a great moment. And in a perfect moment of roleplaying, the player decided to walk up to every dwarf, and touch their shoulders with his hands and satisfy their religious desire to be blessed by the Lightbringer. Regardless whether his character actually believes he is the Lightbringer, this was THE moment where he rallied all these dwarves to his cause. They would now follow him to what ever end.

Setting sail

After all these plot developments I sped things along a bit. I gave the players the opportunity to quickly handle some stuff that would otherwise take up a lot of time. They then all set sail, along with a bunch of new npc's, and a fleet of ships. Currently they have:

The Lady's Vengeance, their flagship. Captained by William Roberts (the players).
The Jennifer's Grace, their old starting ship, now manned by Mad Captain Wiseman.
The Stormhammer, captained by Captain Horfor Depthbreaker (Stoneoar dwarves).
Avenna's T*ts, captained by Scurvy Scarlet. She is not yet allied to the players, but follows them on this journey to pursue her own goals.
Astonishment, Wonder and Oddity, Captained by the traveling circus, Leopardo Pardini, Hugo Falasco and Madame Ora. They kind of talked Leopardo into joining them. He couldn't really say no with such a huge army of pious dwarves behind them.

The Great Whamboozy

On their way to Abyscus, which is home to the Kooghans, they have a random encounter with a wizard called The Great Whamboozy. They had briefly met this bumbling wizard before at Witchclaw, but now they find out where he lives. But his abode is on none of the charts. At first they stumble upon a large stone monkey head, with a threatening voice warning them not to approach. A few fireballs are soon flung their way, but the players decide to approach the stone monkey head from behind. As expected, the head is unable to turn around, and it turns out to be a clear case of Wizard of Oz. They open fire at the large stone statue, until the wizard surrenders. Once the players have a chat with the crazy wizard, they leave him again in peace (after apologizing for shooting at his house, and stealing one of his books).

Arrival at Abyscus

The players finally arrive at their destination, the island of the Kooghans. Abyscus is a massive rocky island, with a large amount of jungle as well. The island is protected by a large steel gate, with two massive steel doors that provide access to a harbor covered by overhanging rock. Large metal bridges are lowered onto the decks of the ships, and the players are greeted by the elder of the Kooghan: Mwinji the Splendid. I'm told that the name Mwinji or Mwinjy refers to royalty of a person of importance in some African language, according to some website, so that fits his important position as elder. I often pay attention to the meaning of names when picking them for my npc's. Most importantly it has to sound like a cool suitable name that is easy to pronounce. But if it also has a cool meaning, that makes it an even better name. Especially many of the Kooghan names tend to have a meaning that fits the npc's personality or role.

Anyway. This is where we'll pick up the story next time.

Initially the players simply intended to visit Abyscus to do some quick shopping. The players want to buy a LOT of stuff here. As usual I provided them with a large list of custom weapons, as I do for all the race in my campaign. But now it seems there might also be some story stuff to do here, so I might just need to prepare a map of this island too, and do a lot of writing. They'll of course want to meet the other Kooghan captains, and I haven't thought of names for them all yet. There may be some plot lines and quests that I want to set up here, and they'll of course have some explaining to do regarding Urunthu Khan and Ryp (who are currently basically undead, because they are neither living nor dead).

Fun with random tables, or how to have a great evening without preparing ANYTHING

I was a bit swamped with work this week, coding a game of my own design, and did not dedicate any time to actually preparing this week's session. Preparation normally takes a ton of work, and I just didn't feel like doing that this time. So I figured I'd wing it, and just improvise. I assumed that I would fill the evening with all the stuff the players wanted to do in downtime, and with my random tables... and that is exactly what I did.

Meeting with Mwinji the Splendid

The players arrived on Abyscus, where they met the elder of the Kooghans, Mwinji the Splendid. We played out their meeting, where they discussed all the end of the world stuff, as well as the plans with uniting the pirate factions, buying a new ship, defeating Hydra, and a Kturgian pirate by the name of Karagoz. Buying a great ship turned out to be a bit of a problem, since it takes months to build one. So instead they discussed the idea that the players would take their small fleet of ships, and defeat Karagoz instead, and take his Great Ship. They would need to find him first of course, but he has been terrorizing the local waters and attacking the other pirates.

Mwinji also told them more about the Circle of Azarah. This group of banished sorcerers and witches now support Hydra, and one of them is a Kooghan. Aram Seen the Unseen was a Kooghan who was banished from Abyscus for being cursed with an evil fate. He is one of the few of the Circle of Azarah who didn't really commit any atrocities to be deserved to be banished. But the Kooghans are highly religious, and his white hair was deemed a bad omen to the dark skinned Kooghans. Aram Seen the Unseen is a master of illusions and teleportation, which may explain why they haven't been able to discover the base of operations of the Circle of Azarah yet. The players also learned that another witch called Lady Yori, whom they killed early in the campaign, is actually a master of deception. So it is a fair bet that this oriental witch is still alive and kicking.

Penny Dreadful

While buying various provisions and new weapons, captain William decides that he should seek out another Kooghan pirate captain: Penny Dreadful. This female pirate captain may know more about the Kturgian pirate Karagoz, since she was one of the few to outrun his ship. However, this woman was known to be rather rough, and into 'wrestling' to meet with new comers. What the players were not ready for however, was that she would start a massive bar fight with their captain almost immediately, to test his strength. The both of them ended up completely trashing the place, much to the entertainment of the players (wielding bar stools as weapons is awesome). By the end of the fight, Penny Dreadful was out cold, the bar had been evacuated, and now looked like a war zone.

"Is this what you call diplomacy?" -Amaziah asked.

Back to Witchclaw



While all this fighting takes place, Shifter and Bioran take one of the ships to make a short trip to the island of Witchclaw, where the Speakers of the Dead live. Sitaara joins them, and she also brings Chantal Delcourt with them, who is the young assistant who joined the wizard Aldric, who also traveled with them to Abyscus. Sitaara knows that Chantal has secretly been practicing higher level magic, while Aldric still thinks his innocent assistant can only cast cantrips. Sitaara obviously has her own dark agenda, and sees an opportunity to influence Chantal. Sitaara's excuse however, is that Chantal was already interested, and she simply obliged in her curiosity.

Shortly after leaving Abyscus, Bioran and Shifter are witness to another crashing meteor barely missing their ship on the way there (a random encounter) and decide to mark the location, so they can dive for it later.

They enter the harbor of Witchclaw, and once again witness the undead trapped in cages in the harbor, as a warning to enemies of the Speakers of the Dead. This is a set up for what would follow later....

Shopping

Bioran and Shifter shop around a bit at the local magic store on Witchclaw. They know the store sells both useful items, and dangerous cursed items. They happen to sell an item called a Memory Orb, which is an orb in which you can permanently store a memory. This allows you to show the memory to others, but if the orb ever breaks, the memory is lost forever. The lady at the store says they sell 3. They used to have 4, but they've only had one customer for them: A lady who came in, bought an orb, immediately used it, and smashed the orb. The players discuss the danger of such an item. It is great for getting rid of unpleasant memories perhaps (as this lady probably did), or for hiding dangerous secrets... but it is a huge risk. They try to ask the lady of the store about the identity of the customer, but they fail their check and are unable to obtain that information from her. It is against store policy to violate the privacy of their clients.

The Crystal

After some shopping and crafting, they set out to have a Lesser True Death Crystal made for them, which would allow them to upgrade a weapon with extra damage to undead, and also make the weapon Ghosttouch. I decided to attach a short expedition to this item (might as well make it an interesting encounter). They are told that they must travel to the Tower of Necrosis, on the unexplored west side of the island. The area outside the main city of Ravenheart is called the Garden of the Dead, and is a wild unexplored forest full of ghosts and undead. The tower is located offshore, but can be accessed by foot as the tides lower.

Journey to the tower of Necrosis

They must first trek a bit across the Garden of the Dead, where they discover an abandoned old magical altar to the God of Death. I made a secret roll to see if it was guarded by ghosts, but it wasn't. They memorized the location of the altar, and continued towards the western coast of the island. The tide was low, only knee high. Surrounding them was a vast graveyard of shipwrecks, all haunted. They silently made their way across to the tower.

The tower is a frightful sight. It is decorated with a crown of large statues near the top, facing in all directions with outstretched arms that hold cages. In the cages are people that have been cursed with unlife; they have deliberately been turned into undead to punish them for all eternity. This is a sight similar to what they saw in the harbor of Ravenheart, but it would seem that the undead are created at this tower. Inside the tower they meet with Skua Fleshweaver, whose ominous name already made my players quiver. They also notice countless copper plates on the walls of the tower with the shapes of people in them. They seem like coffins in which undead are imprisoned.

Bioran is curious regarding anything involving magic, and thus eager to see the process of creating the magic item.... he would soon regret his curiosity. Shifter also has some questions regarding alchemy.... But the Skua can see that he is good at heart, and says: "We'll see if you still feel the same after we make the crystal."

They are taken to the third floor of the tower via a magical winding stairs (which instantly takes them to the top). The Skua asks Bioran if he has any moral preference, or preference of color, to which he answers no. To their horror they then witness how a screaming prisoner is brought in, whose heart is then removed by a gigantic machine, and transformed into the gem before their eyes. They already knew the Speakers of the Dead were evil, but this just confirmed it. The Skua informs Bioran that the person they used only committed a light crime, such as looking at a Skua the wrong way. Their crimes and gender affect the color of the crystal.

Bioran and the Skua discuss the Circle of Azarah briefly, and Sharokina Pitchwater, a Speaker of the Dead who was banished from Witchclaw and robbed of her Skua title. She explains that necromancy is not considered a crime on Witchclaw, unless a Speaker of the Dead uses it against one of her own race, which is what Sharokina did.

Now that they know how these crystals are made, they have to seriously consider the moral consequences, and whether they want to buy more crystals. They agree not to tell the rest of the crew or their captain of what just transpired.

Skua Fleshweaver: "Did you still have alchemy questions?"

Shifter: "I think I'll pass..."

Shifter: "Maybe we should buy one of those Memory Orbs now..."

Bioran: "-And smash it. I do not want to remember this."

Afterthoughts

So I didn't prepare anything for this last session, but I have so much material lying around, and so many random tables, that there's plenty to still fill a whole session. The ending with the Tower of Necrosis was the big holy sh*t moment of the evening. I had already written out the idea that people are turned into undead at this tower when I wrote out Witchclaw for their first visit. But the crystal was all their idea, so I simply improvised that the Speakers of the Dead would probably have some awful secret to make such a powerful item. I like attaching some moral questions to it, and turning a simple magic item creation into a full blown excursion to another part of the island.

So the pieces were all there, but the big shocker was totally improvised based on the item that the players were trying to acquire. It feels good pulling out the map of Witchclaw and reusing it, and having them visit new places, and uncover new darker secrets. They liked the Speakers of the Dead before, but now they have a far more darker negative view of them. I love playing around with their perception of various npc's like that.