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Mark Buetow
United States
Du Quoin
Illinois
Best game company ever?
GMT Games, of course!
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Introduction
This is the fourth session of our brave band's ventures upon Pathfinder #37: Souls for Smuggler's Shiv. This past year, I've been gearing up to run the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game, having given up on Dungeons & Dragons (4th Edition) (for reasons best left to their own blog post at some point).
Where are sessions 1-3 you may ask. They're rolling around in my head. I suppose I'll get to them eventually. If George Lucas can go back and add to the story before then so can I. (I note with some amusement then that I'm actually starting with our Episode IV).
Our hearty band includes the following:
Mahmud, human fighter, meat shield and treasure-monger (played by Risdon)
Mushina, human cleric, healer of the wounded, slayer of the evil (played by Rachel)
Nebicus, half-elven ranger, tracker, and raised-eyebrow observer of Mahmud's avarice.Harus Spix, gnome sorcerer, torturer of ghosts (I think that was in part 1.2), and silent partner in battle (played by Will)
OBLIGATORY SPOILER WARNING: Yeah, there are spoilers. The whole thing's pretty much a spoiler, though different groups will surely play this out in a myriad of ways.
Super-Brief Recap
The first three of our party were aboard the Jenivere when they were apparently drugged and found themselves awakening on the beach of an island with five other passengers. THe Jenivere they discovered has wrecked. After getting some supplies from her, they set up camp and began to explore the island, encountering zombies aboard old wrecks, a lovesick ghost captain, evidence against corrupt Sargaavan officials, a "J trap" treasure, a crazy tengu in a giant crab, and the existence of cannibals on the island. Having survived numerous vine traps and gotten an idea that there was a cadre of cannibals near and old partial lighthouse, the party prepares to make a move…
Crashing the Party
Rather than head along the trail directly into the camp, the party dispatches Nebicus through the jungle south of the place to scout it out. Nebicus, who has finally found respite from his persistent bout of Red Ache fever, is approaching the village area when a cannibal sees him. (Failed stealth check!) The cannibal turns and dashes toward the village shouting "Intruders!" Nebicus lets fly two arrows but they merely graze the wild man. He dashes after the warrior and calls for the rest of the party to join him.
The cannibal, harried by the arrows whizzing by, breaks into a small patch of clearing near a tiny hut, dashes across and into another patch of jungle on the edge of the village. Nebicus is in hot pursuit but can't get a clean shot. The cries of "Intruder" still rip from the throat of the harried wild man. Pezock--whose one desire is to "wet my sword with the blood of those cannibals!" and whose confidence is bolstered by his new -found allies, runs full speed through the undergrowth to get ahead of the fleeing flesh-eater. Ishirou and Jask head to the left, to try to get around the little building. Mushina follows. Nebicus had planted himself on the edge of the tangled growth on the other side of the clearing to try to send his arrows after the cannibal who has outrun him. More shouts can be heard from around the building as more cannibals begin appearing. Mahmud gets around the hut and begins engaging the cnanibals who are appearing. They are running from a large hut across a common area with a fire under a sickly smelling cauldron. From off to the left, the piercing shrieks of a woman can be hear in one of the huts which opens on a filthy pit of refuse.
With vicious blows from his sawtooth saber, Pezok strikes down his cannibal. Nebicus, seeing the tengu has prevailed, dashed into the little hut to investigate. It's a two room affair, one a workshop of putrid horrors, alchemical or witchcraft in nature. The second is even worse, the filthy and gag-inducing sleeping quarters of the clearly absent occupant.
In the common area, Mahmud has gotten in near the center to engage the cannibals running out of the buildings. Mushina is soon there as are Ishirou and Jask. Pezock advances, his sawtooth blade drawing blood with every cut. Mahmud's great sword is a flurry of death to the cannibals and Mushina is alternating between healing when her comrades are slashed and driving home the blows of her morning star.
Two cannibals have emerged from the lard hut across the common area. Ishirou is there with his katana, trading blows, when one cannibal slashes him across the chest, opening a horrid gash. He falls and tries to crawl away. Pezock is madly trading blows with another murderous tribesman. While Mushina is tending to Ishirou if she can get close. The cannibals continue to appear, bloodlust in their eyes, blood-curdling shouts in their throats and jagged, rusting scimitars waving. Two cannibals that have appeared are able to savage Mushin with a pair of thrown javelins but Jask is quick to her aid.
Klorak the Red Dead
Pezock has crossed to the hut from whence the woman's screams can be heard, battling cannibals as they appear at the door. Mahmud is near the fire, trying to hold the cannibals at bay and protect Jask who is unarmed. Suddenly a booming voice roars from the low building connected to unfinished lighthouse. A tall raging cannibal with huge gaping earlobes and a gleaming scimitar steps forth. "You're mine! Klorak shall have your blood and steal your power!" He cries and then charges out. The ring of metal fills the little village as the chieftain slams into Mahmud. The fight is on. By this time Nebicus, who has been working his sword-swinging way through the cannibals takes up station near Mahmud.
The door to the little building opens again, revealing two more cannibals (will they never stop coming!?) and behind them a cackling old crone. The cannibals rush out. Klorak, for that is the chieftain's name, has felled Ishirou and has smeared the hapless man's blood all over himself, laughing and shouting, his eyes bulging in an attempt to terrify Mahmud. Mahmud continues to trade blows with him. Mushina looks over to see the crone in the wings and their eyes meet; a feeling of fogginess and despair washes over Mushina and she knows she's been hexed. The crone raises her staff, human bones hanging by strings rattling, and cackles some incantation. Mahmud suddenly bursts out with laughter and begins guffawing, a pained expression on his face as he can't control it and drops to the ground, laughing hysterically and hideously.
Klorak needs no more opening than that and makes some vicious cuts on the fighter. Jask is near now, laying on hands and curing his comrades' wounds. Nebicus is up again, thanks to Mushina as is Ishirou, having had hands laid on him to, to revive him from dying. Malikadna, the old witch crone comes cackling through the doorway. Out past her feet runs Thaltaki, her monkey familiar. He manages to sink his feeth into Nebicus' ankle before being flung away like a rag doll on the tip of Ishirou's katana. Pezock turns to wet his sword with Klorak's blood but while the tengu strikes true, it is for Mahmud, once he has regained his senses, to split the chieftain down the middle.
Shortly the last two cannibals have been slain and the old witch is also put down. Silence settles over the camp. Exhausted, curing spells are applied and potions drunk to give some healing to the wounded party. They follow the screams into the hut to find Sasah, one of their fellow castaways, strapped to a butchering table, her fate having just been averted by the arrival of the party. In a muddy patch of ground, a sort of pen with stakes in the earth, are also chained Aerys Mavato, another castaway and, lo and behold! Harus Spix, the parties' sorcerer. (It was a simple story twist to have him captured and out of the action for the battle as Will was not able to play with us on this evening.)[/i}
The party decided to look around the village. A pen of skeletons was discovered by Mahmud who took a few nicks and cuts while dispatching them. A little hut contained some water casks and some…jerky. The partially finished lighthouse has relics and other items form the Thrune's Fang, a ship from decades ago, though no one in the party could recall anything detailed about the ship. [i](Really! Not a single one of the PCs or NPCs has a Knoweldge(History) ranking!?) A sort of "guest quarters" with food from the Jenivere suggests the ship's captain and his escort (consort? captor?) were here.
After discovering a chest filled with coin for the payroll of the Thrune's Fang's crew, Mahmud and the others determined they might make the lighthouse workable. It would certainly be a means toward getting off the accursed island. But Jask hollers from down below. He has discovered a large bamboo cover over a hole that drops down into the ground. Stakes and nearby vines suggest a way to descend…
Session Wrapup
Pathfinder has been a lot of fun so far. The Smuggler's Shiv is a lot o work for me as GM partly because we're all still learning the system and partly because the "sandbox" nature of the adventure demands good preparation. The characters are pretty vivid and the players a lot of fun. Nebicus' logs have been great displays of creatively recounting the adventure from the half-elf's perspective. I really look forward to Pathfinder night (we meet every other week on Fridays) and seeing how the campaign unfolds!
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