(as in, deep Blue sea and pretty lady dressed in Blue)
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A lot of the material on this page is here mostly for the convenience of Julia, the DM. (That's me.) I'm sort of forgetful, so I need to consult lots of papers and maps all the time. And in case someday I lose the papers or don't happen to have them with me, it will be so simple to just pop onto the Web and find everything right here. Disclaimer: I'm not all that creative with names, so you will definitely notice that I have borrowed some words here and there. I recognize the true creators of these names and thank them for their understanding. Player Characters
Non Player CharactersCaptain Brownbeard: the captain of the Jeweled Macaw, who is almost never seen. On this ship, the title of Captain is an empty one, and the crew knows Latifa calls the shots. Latifa: First mate on the caravel Jeweled Macaw, and she’s the boss. She chooses to remain first mate because the captain can serve as a useful shield when it comes to dealing with authorities. Recently acquired a cog called the Empty Tankard in a pirating raid off the Dragon’s Tears Archipelago. Mellifar: the mage formerly of the Empty Tankard, now a captive of Latifa and her crew. He’s a wimp, but he does have a nifty Whirlpool spell that’s not in the books. Uyag: friendly but quite dangerous half giant on the crew of the Jeweled Macaw. Nyar: red-haired human on crew of Jeweled Macaw. Casimir: a tiefling swashbuckler, used to be part of Latifa’s crew, but at Zaszlo she has decided to seek new work, for variety. Ethan: the shipbuilder in Zaszlo. Rachel: a mystic who lives in a cottage just outside of Zaszlo. Wolfram and Hart: two "agents" of the monarch of Franz. Captain Snape: captain of the Sea’s Crown, one of Queen Izabella’s principal warships. The Dread Pirate Morpheus: this notorious villain of the seven seas is legend, nothing more. He exists only in the imaginations of the people who have heard the rumors concocted and spread by Gwen and Carla. But imagination is a powerful thing. Gwen and company hope to use the rumors to build their reputation, by claiming that they work for Morpheus. Things have gotten complicated, though, because the rumors have spread so well that the authorities are now alert and intently searching for Morpheus and his dread pirate crew. Places
Names and Stuff
The Action So FarThe characters start out in some town on the coast, I’m not sure which one. Maybe Marion’s Cove or a little northeast of that. Gwen just got off the Sea Falcon and is looking for new and exciting employment. The other characters, Carla the bard, Karn the minotaur, and Kronos the gladiator mul, are also looking for some adventure. They all end up signing onto the crew of the caravel Jeweled Macaw, and quickly found out that Captain Brownbeard isn’t the main person in charge... first mate Latifa is. They perform loyally and well in a couple of pirate raids, and begin to earn Latifa’s appreciation and trust. They meet Latifa’s crew, including such colorful characters as Uyag, Nyar, Casimir, and Winter the female gray elf ninja. In one of its raids, the Jeweled Macaw captures a richly cargoed merchant cog called the Empty Tankard. After killing or capturing the cog’s crew (including Mellifar the wimpy mage) and freeing several emaciated slaves that they discover locked in the cog’s hold, Latifa needs a crew to sail the cog to the nearest port so she can decide what to do with it. She appoints Gwen, Carla, Karn, and Kronos, as well as several more seasoned and trusted members of her crew, including Winter. Latifa also puts the slaves on the cog and assigns Carla to tend to them with her healing abilities. The cog is slower than the caravel, but Latifa wants to pass by the Dragon’s Tears Archipelago with utmost speed, so they rig extra sails, far more than is prudent in any but the kindest weather. Latifa and most of her crew sail on the Jeweled Macaw, and all the PCs are on the Empty Tankard. Luckily for them, the weather is perfect as they sail toward the port city of Zaszlo. During this voyage, Gwen, Carla, and Kronos go through every inch of the hold and the officers’ cabins, and discover some very valuable stuff. Gwen finds a string of pearls. Kronos finds a grand hoard of gems, including two emeralds, a diamond, and a blue stone. He gives it all to Gwen because she promises him food. (He is very trusting and not too bright.) Carla finds among the navigator’s papers the name and address of someone named Rachel who lives just outside Zaszlo, plus a map with oddly shaped islands that Kronos recognizes as being in the far east. Two spots on the map are marked with seven-pointed stars but no labels. Gwen is always thinking hard of ways to advance her wealth and position. She concocts a plan to make off with the cog before they reach Zaszlo. But Gwen can’t go through with her plan because she can’t convince the crew to betray Latifa. The Jeweled Macaw and the Empty Tankard dock in Zaszlo, and Latifa explains her decision to sell the cog here in town. She gives her crew three days’ shore leave and pays them their shares from the lucrative voyage, amounting to 50 gold pieces per person. She does not know about the fabulous jewels that Kronos and Gwen found in the captain’s cabin on the cog, and they don’t intend to tell her, either. On their first day of shore leave, the PCs’ first task is to find a safe place to keep their valuables. Pickpockets abound in cities like this, and it would be foolish to walk around carrying 20,000 gp worth of gems! They don’t want to use the bank or other legal institutions, because it is likely that someone will recognize that the jewels are stolen. They don’t want to use the same channels as Latifa does, because if she found out how much they’d stolen from her, she’d keelhaul them or worse. They end up storing the stuff at the Healers’ Guild. They pay the guild one of the pearls (worth 500 gp) for keeping the diamond and the rest of the pearls safe. Gwen holds onto the two emeralds. She wants to use them to buy a ship. In order to fulfill her goal of becoming a powerful pirate leader, Gwen and her compatriots must get herself a ship and a crew. But in order to attract a good crew, they need a reputation! No one will sign on with a motley bunch of inexperienced wannabes who have no proof that they can win a sea battle. But how can they earn a reputation if they don’t have a ship or a crew? Gwen, Carla, and Kronos come up with a plan. They will create a reputation for themselves by inventing and spreading rumors about a powerful and deadly pirate captain. Then, once every sailor in town is familiar with this fearsome pirate’s name, Gwen and her pals will present themselves as part of the infamous captain’s crew! Carla comes up with a name for their mythical leader: The Dread Pirate Morpheus. Gwen pays Winter enough to convince her to join up with them. Gwen buys the cog Empty Tankard from Latifa. Throughout the negotiations Gwen claims that she is a buying agent for a captain named Morpheus. Gwen and Carla start to spread the rumors about Morpheus in mid-afternoon. The key to the rumors' success is Carla, the bard. Her storytelling and singing are a big hit, and other bards in the area hear of it and start telling the same stories with their own elaborations. By evening the Dread Pirate Morpheus's reputation is very fearsome indeed. I'll have to update this more later. But I can't forget to mention the classic bar brawl that was the highlight of the evening. Some tipsy sailors made the mistake of trying to flirt with Willow Rain... the next thing they knew, one of them was flat on the ground. That was when Gwen got involved. It didn't take much to pull everyone into the fray. Willow, who has a strength of 22 through unreasonable generosity by the DM, sent one of the guys flying into the sign high on the wall behind the bar. All in all, it was just a totally cinematic fistfighting bonanza. A bunch of girls (and one guy, don't forget Kronos) took out everyone in the bar including all the bouncers. Then they convinced the constables that they had done everything in self-defense. They stay the night in the same inn whose tavern they just trashed. The next morning all the PCs hear knocking on the doors to their rooms. Two mysterious and very professionally dressed men have come to inquire about the Dread Pirate Morpheus, rumored to be in the area. Apparently they traced some of the rumors to Gwen and Carla. They take the PCs down to the constabulary. It's a tight fit to get them all into the interrogation room. Where are the actual constables? They're sort of dawdling in the back, waiting for instructions from these two investigators. One of these two men begins the questioning session with, "Now I'm going to try to be as forthcoming as I can here..." |