These are some pics from last year, but I'll be sure to take some pictures the next time we play. This is my
3.5 pirate campaign.
Raid on Old Quarter
This is a battle in the city of Vertesaux which took place a while back. I had my players fighting ghost-pirates. While two of the players are engaging a ghost ship at sea, commanded by the evil
Captain Black William, two other players stumble into Old Quarter to see what all the fuss is about. They hear screaming and sounds of gunshots, so they grab a coach and race towards the city gate. As they arrive on the scene they jump off, and the coach crashes into an old well. The horses are spooked by what they see. Ghost pirates everywhere! They are raiding the city!
(All ghost pirates are marked with red icons, and the ghostly sorcerers are marked with purple icons.)
The ghost pirates are sacking Old Quarter, and have gathered around their favorite tavern, "The Staggering Bull." Since the party is split, I allowed one of the players to control an npc noble called
Sophie (who had just been rescued), and I allowed the other player to choose a member of their crew who happened to be in the immediate area, and control him/her. He selected
Amaziah, their npc Kooghan* cleric. I allowed him to pick what ever spells he wanted for her, because I'm not that bothered with meta gaming. The player pointed out that he didn't want to meta-game, but I told him it was perfectly fine, he could just pick what ever he liked. We reasoned that from a story perspective, Amaziah had just visited the local Seer, and thus she may have been warned by what was about to happen. Amaziah approached from the north west.
(* The Kooghans are a faction of dark skinned pirates in my setting)
Sophie approached from the east, where she overheard the two ghost pirates that were kidnapping a young girl. Apparently they were still looking for Sophie, by the command of their evil ghostly captain! She quickly took shelter in the small jail to the north east, where she was able to liberate two towns people who had been imprisoned by the ghost pirates.
Ché (half-elf cleric) and
Bioran (elf abjurrant champion) approached from the south, and were first to arrive on the scene.
Ché and Bioran surveyed the scene. Up above them on the city wall, a city guard was duking it out with a ghost pirate (and losing). Around the corner, a ghost pirate-sorcerer was waiting on higher ground. He was standing on the stairs leading up to the city wall. The ghosts seemed to be wielding weapons engulfed in ghostly blue flames, and the players suspected these might be ghost-touch weapons. Meanwhile a group of two ghost pirates was making off with a sack of loot and a poor prostitute. They dragged their spoils off, while the poor wench was kicking and screaming in protest. They also noticed a brute of a ghost pirate bursting into the tavern. One of the two pirates gave Bioran a quick glance, and his Horrific Appearance special ability immediately drained a lot of Bioran's ability points, due to a botched saving throw. The two players immediately realized they were outnumbered and outmatched. But just as they considered a retreat, they caught a glimpse of Amaziah and Sophie. Now they realized that retreat was not an option, they had to save their crew.
Meanwhile Amaziah approached from the north west streets. Two ghost pirates were manning a
ghostly cannon (represented by a ballista here, since we didn't have a cannon miniature). The two pirates seemed to be cackling loudly, as they were firing the cannon randomly into the city. And they were clearly still unaware of Amaziah's presence. Meanwhile two other pirates were heading for the rum cellar of the local tavern. The fact that they were ghosts apparently did not stop them from pursuing their usual pirate needs. Amaziah also noticed a staircase leading up to the second floor of the tavern. She decided to unleash her cleric powers upon the cursed creatures. We decided to go with alternate
Turn Undead rules here, because the undead were of an equal level as the party, and we didn't want the ability to feel completely useless. So I allowed Turn Undead to deal damage instead.
We ended on a cliffhanger, as Bioran and Ché rejoined with Sophie. They were able to steal two ghostly swords from the ghost pirates (which had the ghost-touch property), and now found themselves at a stand off with one of the ghost pirates. The ghost pirate held a blade against the throat of the kidnapped little girl, and threatened to take her life if they made any wrong moves. Bioran unleashed his
Disarm spell, and this is the cliffhanger we ended on. Would he save the girl, or would the pirate slit her throat?
Fade to black... Cut to commercial!
