Second Group, First Session - A Little Night Light
Ok... so last time I left off with the characters having just fought off some crazed pirates from a derelict ship. The PCs never tried to figure out just what was going on here, so I may end up trying to tie this scene into something larger later in the campaign.
That night the ranger saw a distant light getting closer and closer and clearly heading in their direction. As the light got closer, the ranger (Hunter is the character name) saw the ghostly image of a man walking on the water. Hunter waited to see what the ghost wanted and watched as it "walked" into the bottom of the ship and levitate up through the floors to reach topside.
Quickly the elven mage, Hunter, and the ship captain (named Jonas Grumby, btw) talked to the ghostly image of a dead pirate who sought out the PCs to help free his soul and end his undead state. Captain Fletcher needed the PCs to retrieve an item (a gem known as the Eye of the Sea Dragon) and return it to the Temple of the Pirate God in the city of Flotsam (where the PCs were headed anyway).
In exchange for this service, the PCs could keep anything else of value they found. Since this was taking place on the ship, Captain Grumby cut himself in for 20% of the take. The eye was on Captain Fletcher's sunk ship, which was nearby, it having been sunk by some "sea devils" a few weeks ago.
The PCs were immediately cautious of the ghost, and rightly so, but also wondered how they were going to spend time underwater; no one had any water breathing ability. (BTW, both PC groups had this concern early on, and the module didn't address this till later in the module, so I had to reorder some of the captain's info the the PCs). Seems the captain had some water breathing potions in his private stash on the ship and was able to tell the PCs were to find them.
Due to the trauma of his death, the captain hadn't actually been on the ship since the actual event. With this group, one of the PCs swam down (it was shallow water) and retrieved the potions. Then after taking the potions, the two PCs went back. (I recall the first group using an unseen servant spell to retrieve the potions, rather than either player going down)
Also going back onto the ship was the ghost... he walked directly to where he thought his body was, and didn't take part in much of the ship exploration... The PCs went from floor to floor. When they found the ghost over his corpse, he begged them to take his bones back to Flotsam for a proper burial. They agreed and he disappeared.
The PCs continued to search the ship and encountered some underwater ghouls feasting on the dead bodies in the bottom of the ship. The ghouls were dispatched (I made a point to emphasize how the blood for wounds clouded up the underwater combat) and the PCs searched the ship damage. Clear signs of directed shark attacks were seen. Outside one of the holes in the ship a weapon was seen in the sea floor. (This group didn't follow the clue, while the first group was following it to the next location when we stopped the session).
The PCs returned to the ship (and brought back Captain Fletcher's bones), as Hunter was pretty hurt from the combat. Captain Grumby was able to trade a healing potion he had stashed for an additional 5% of the total loot (which at this point wasn't much). They used the Fletcher ghost to scout the immediate area to determine where the "sea devils" were located before the next step. After two days, Fletcher returned and pointed them in the correct direction... the session ended with the PCs on a canoe to the island, since my goal was to incorporate the missing player in the next session and this was logical point to do that.
End of Session One
That night the ranger saw a distant light getting closer and closer and clearly heading in their direction. As the light got closer, the ranger (Hunter is the character name) saw the ghostly image of a man walking on the water. Hunter waited to see what the ghost wanted and watched as it "walked" into the bottom of the ship and levitate up through the floors to reach topside.
Quickly the elven mage, Hunter, and the ship captain (named Jonas Grumby, btw) talked to the ghostly image of a dead pirate who sought out the PCs to help free his soul and end his undead state. Captain Fletcher needed the PCs to retrieve an item (a gem known as the Eye of the Sea Dragon) and return it to the Temple of the Pirate God in the city of Flotsam (where the PCs were headed anyway).
In exchange for this service, the PCs could keep anything else of value they found. Since this was taking place on the ship, Captain Grumby cut himself in for 20% of the take. The eye was on Captain Fletcher's sunk ship, which was nearby, it having been sunk by some "sea devils" a few weeks ago.
The PCs were immediately cautious of the ghost, and rightly so, but also wondered how they were going to spend time underwater; no one had any water breathing ability. (BTW, both PC groups had this concern early on, and the module didn't address this till later in the module, so I had to reorder some of the captain's info the the PCs). Seems the captain had some water breathing potions in his private stash on the ship and was able to tell the PCs were to find them.
Due to the trauma of his death, the captain hadn't actually been on the ship since the actual event. With this group, one of the PCs swam down (it was shallow water) and retrieved the potions. Then after taking the potions, the two PCs went back. (I recall the first group using an unseen servant spell to retrieve the potions, rather than either player going down)
Also going back onto the ship was the ghost... he walked directly to where he thought his body was, and didn't take part in much of the ship exploration... The PCs went from floor to floor. When they found the ghost over his corpse, he begged them to take his bones back to Flotsam for a proper burial. They agreed and he disappeared.
The PCs continued to search the ship and encountered some underwater ghouls feasting on the dead bodies in the bottom of the ship. The ghouls were dispatched (I made a point to emphasize how the blood for wounds clouded up the underwater combat) and the PCs searched the ship damage. Clear signs of directed shark attacks were seen. Outside one of the holes in the ship a weapon was seen in the sea floor. (This group didn't follow the clue, while the first group was following it to the next location when we stopped the session).
The PCs returned to the ship (and brought back Captain Fletcher's bones), as Hunter was pretty hurt from the combat. Captain Grumby was able to trade a healing potion he had stashed for an additional 5% of the total loot (which at this point wasn't much). They used the Fletcher ghost to scout the immediate area to determine where the "sea devils" were located before the next step. After two days, Fletcher returned and pointed them in the correct direction... the session ended with the PCs on a canoe to the island, since my goal was to incorporate the missing player in the next session and this was logical point to do that.
End of Session One
