DCC #29 -Tower of the Black Pearl - Castles & Crusades

[Nightwing]

I also played Quenn as slightly "Zapp Brannigan"-like, basically a loser who has a higher opinion of himself than he should, slimey and dripping with insincerity. (Easy for me to portray, as I work with people like that. Sad )

That is funny.

[JediOre]

I had a lot of fun role-playing Savage Quinn. I tried to play him as Harley mentioned in the intro to the module. He’d seem at home in a noble court. I waxed eloquently, or at least as best I could. Like OgrePuppy, I had a hard time with a feared pirate, who had a two-year career if I recall correctly, only being first level. I didn’t, however, alter the villain’s past; I simply made him third level.

As Quinn, I welcomed the party and offered them an alliance. Quinn mentioned there should be enough treasure in this wizards tower for both groups. I continued to speak as one of noble birth and of quick wit. As I said, I had a lot of fun with this role (gee I like C&C, it frees me up to “ham it up” with out all the opposed skill checks!).

Well, my players knew full well the base character that strutted about before them and expressed interest in the dichotomy of the captain and his riff-raff crew. The ranger agreed to met Quinn mid way between his group and the PCs to discuss terms. Nightwing was having fun sparing with me in the two roles we played. He had his ranger make some commit about Quinn’s past and I had Quinn note the ranger’s yokel parents must have been inbreeding “very well to have birthed such a back woods so and so.” We bantered back and forth for a bit and at some point Nightwing had his ranger request Quinn perform an act of good faith – slay one of his pirates! I don’t remember what the reasoning of the players was for this strange proposition, but I do remember what I had Savage Quinn say. I leaned forward in my chair and rose part way out of it, put my arm around Nightwing’s shoulder and in a voice of confidence said, “Now my inept land-lubber, I frankly don’t care what happens to my smelly underlings back there, but a good leader never wastes resources. Besides, I’m going to be retiring soon and they will be cut loose soon enough.” On that last part I winked at Nightwing, just as I pictured in my mind’s eye what Savage Quinn would do as if to let the ranger in on a private joke. At that, the ranger asked to confer with his party for a couple of minutes. The Savage Quinn graciously granted the woodsman his time and with practiced ease acted completely uninterested in the party as he slowly strolled back to his pirates.

Ragnar1965, Jediwife, and Nightwing debated in an almost-huddle. As if Savage Quinn was actually nearby! They decided they would have no part of this vile killer and laid a trap. The ranger motioned that he was going to return to the center of the sea cave alone and that Quinn should do likewise. Both meet in the middle. I describe to the players how the pirate captain keeps his hand near his blade much like an Old West gun fighter seemed to be always ready to draw. Nightwing has his bastard sword slung over his back and would lose in a “quick draw” contest. Meanwhile the elven archer is tensing herself to get her bow and arrow in a firing position as soon as the trap is sprung. They can’t show any aggression to the pirates yet. The ranger lays out several put downs on Quinn and the cleric/magic-user goes into action. Rangar1965 casts “sleep” on the pirates leaving only Savage Quinn to deal with. The captain quickly draws his unique blade and is parried by the even quicker draw of the ranger’s bastard sword (a stunning initiative roll!) The elf fires an arrow into Quinn as both swordsmen melee. Savage Quinn begins to get the brunt of the fight, not because of Nightwing as his attack rolls continued to be consistently pitiful, but because Jediwife’s attack rolls were dynamite. Meanwhile, the spellcaster stayed clear of the battle and quietly slit the throats of the sleeping pirates. Quinn fell but not before he made the ranger pay for his attacks. I scored a couple of hits which did decent damage to Nightwing’s ranger.

After the pirate was dead Nightwing’s ranger did what I fear is becoming a trend; he cut off the head of his fallen enemy. Of course the reward money had nothing to do with it!

They liked Wisker the saber. That is a weapon the ranger will have for many adventures to come. Great way to make the traditional “+1 sword” into something special. Kudos to the author.

Here, at the back of the room is the reason for Jolly’s existence – the sealed door. Jolly failed his search check and didn’t disable the trap. He did pick the lock before the trap went off. And what a trap it was, the scythe blade descended upon Jolly and cut off both his forearms. Jolly died. This quick, matter-of-a-fact approach I used to describe his demise worked far better than I ever thought it would. All three players were stunned by this unheroic doom that descended upon Jolly. I hoped it made them realize that a worse fate could occur if they didn’t consider their actions carefully. They decided to cut a lock of Jolly’s hair in the event the gnome wanted to have him resurrected and then proceeded into the room beyond the unlocked iron door.

Still more to come soon. And by the by, I recommend this mini-adventure heartily!

[Nightwing]

After the pirate was dead Nightwing’s ranger did what I fear is becoming a trend; he cut off the head of his fallen enemy. Of course the reward money had nothing to do with it!

There can be only one.

Jolly died.

Poor Jolly. He was going to be cannon fodder anyway.

[JediOre]

The party escaped the trapped room by having Jediwife’s elf and Nightwing’s ranger batter down the rusty iron door at the top of the landing. From there they continued up the stairs and came to the old rope bridge. The elf went first and that’s when they saw the skeleton boatman attempting to strike the bridge. I say “attempt” because my rolls were so bad it never connected once! The spellcaster traveled over the bridge next. Nightwing had an idea and had his ranger toss a flask of oil and a burning brand down onto the boatman. He actually rolled well this time and the heavy robes as well as the old boat caught fire. The ranger was able to cross unmolested as the boatman flayed about in silent screams.

In the next room the party examined the coffin carefully. All three decided the wizard’s burial was worthy of desecration since everything pointed to his decent into evil. They found the two gems and knew what to do. They returned to the room of archways and placed the gems in the empty eye sockets. The spellcaster let a few drops of blood and the portal opened. In they went.

The conclusion is coming.

[JediOre]

The conclusion is still "coming soon."

Sorry however life has been very busy.

I'll post a teaser -- If you read closely early on in this thread I gave the PCs an out from attempting to overcome the final encounter. They only had to keep Savage Quenn from getting the Black Pearl. I really thought the party had no hope of bagging the treasure.

I was wrong. What I thought was going to be a Tomb of Horrors ending transformed into three players putting their heads together and, with teamwork, became more than the sum of their characters!

As time allows I'll share with you folks what happened.

[Harley Stroh]

Jedi,

I haven't been as active a poster as I'd like, but I've been reading the thread regularly. Can't wait to read the conclusion (and how the PCs snuck out with the pearl and their lives).

//H

[Nightwing]

Sorry however life has been very busy.

I can testify this as the truth. We both work for the same sick puppet master.

The Galactic Empire's work is never done. And the Emperor is not very forgiving.

[JediOre]

The conclusion of the adventure:

Keep in mind I’m typing this while my asthma is on “high alert” and some of this may get a bit confusing. I appeal to Ragnar1965, Nightwing, and my wife to make any corrections to the addle mindedness that may occur.

The party arrives at the room with the Black Pearl. They look about and get the giggles from my attempt to say brazier. Sadly, a woman’s undergarment seems to spring unbidden from my lips some of the time when I read “brazier.” It’s downright embarrassing!

The scene of twenty-odd sea snakes churning the waters and the magical barrier around the dragon statue is a good one. They first attempt to clear the water of the snakes by dumping one of the braziers into the water and burning the surface. When that failed they attempted to see if the dumped brazier would give them a platform for JediWife’s PC to leapt to the Pearl. No the distance would be too great and the second brazier would sink beneath the water so they leave it alone.

What to do? What to do? They have Nightwing’s ranger stir the water with his sword to see if a diversion could be created to allow the elf to swim across. It seems to be promising but they abandon the idea when the elf’s stokes cause the snake to leave the sword and investigate.

All the while, Ragnar1965 is looking in his Players Handbook and begins to utter “Oooo-oooo-oooo!” He gets the other two into a group huddle and I the lonely DM (er, I mean CK) am left to wonder what on earth they are cooking up. Ragnar1965 asks about the snakes. He asks if it would be possible for them to come up the stairs and out of the water. I thought about it for a moment and said it would be possible. He than asked me how far a drop was it from the ledge they stood upon to the sea water. I don’t remember now what the distance was but it was greater than the serpents could reach or strike. He then revealed his master plan. The elf was to stir the water beneath the ledge and keep the snakes agitated while the ranger kept his bastard sword in hand and positioned himself between the elf and the burning brazier. I am very intrigued by this point.

Ragnar1965 has his cleric/magic-user cast “mage hand.” This spell is more powerful in C&C than it is in 3.X. As written it allows the spellcaster to grasp and move any object of five pounds or less. No mention of the object being alive or not. The “hand” begins to pick up the snakes (I waved the “roll to hit” since the snakes would attempt to strike at it and no one was in danger of being attacked) and then the “hand” carries the beast up and over the ledge to be deposited in the brazier! When the snake was dead the ranger would fish the body out with his blade.

It was brilliant!

This continued until no snakes inhabited the water. The spellcaster stopped concentrating and let “mage hand” vanish. They than tied rope to the elf and had her swim over to the Pearl. She was ice cold but made it. She pried out the Black Pearl and chaos ensued. The water crashed in upon her nearly drowning her while the others pulled mightily on the rope to get her to dry land. Dry land, however, began vanishing at an alarming rate…. The cleric/magic-user couldn’t slit a vein fast enough in their opinion when the gate finally opened. The PCs were whisked into the portal room with a small rushing wave of icy water. Up the stairs they fled. They hustled up the rope and continued their head long flight to keep before the water which was slowing overtaking them. The ranger brought up the rear. He emerged from the top of the tower in waist deep water.

All rejoiced. The gnome was ecstatic. Of course neither the new owner of the Black Pearl nor the party have any idea what a “bad idea” it was for this cursed jewel to have been found. Some time down the road they will.

Opinion: This was a fun time we had with Tower of the Black Pearl. It is short and was great for a night of play. Kudos to you Harley and to my players who impressed me greatly with the novel way they overcame the challenges.

After this we started DCC #2. I’ll post it someday.

Thanks for reading.

[ragnar1965]

"Of course neither the new owner of the Black Pearl nor the party have any idea what a “bad idea” it was for this cursed jewel to have been found. Some time down the road they will."

Well, now that's a twist. Harley, I loved the adventure. I'm afraid it's been so long ago now, that I don't have a detailed memory about much of it. I just remembered having fun. Jedi fought for quite a while to try and find a reason Mage Hand wouldn't work there. I think the rule interpretation was correct however.

Anyway, looking forward to getting back to the Lost Vault.

[Ogrepuppy]

They first attempt to clear the water of the snakes by dumping one of the braziers into the water and burning the surface....*SNIP*
What to do? What to do?

While I'm not knocking the players' creativity, wow--what a buttload of work.

My players (who, ironically, have a mage hand just as yours do) simply floated a rope across the distance. The description of the "force field" keeping the water away from the statue is not described as preventing matter from passing through (or over the top) of it, so they looped the rope around the head of the dragon statue. The thief rolled a few decent (and fairly easy) Balance checks and scooted across the rope which dangled above the water, easily avoiding the snakes.

Now, it's been nearly a full year since I ran that adventure, so memories are dim and I have a shaky recollection of how they managed to dispose of the snakes...but a teasing memory seems to suggest that one of the....less scrupulous...characters might have dumped poison into the water to kill them....but I don't recall. I vaguely remember thinking that I wouldn't have to deal with snakes any more, though... Maybe they threw rations into the water and the snakes were distracted? I don't recall.

It was obvious to them that they'd have to flee from the room at top speed, so as soon as the thief had the Pearl she made Balance checks again (at penalties for going fast) but managed to get across the makeshift rope bridge just as water flooded into the room.

You can read in earlier posts what happened as they fled the tower. I mostly hand-waved the flooding water, however, since I really wanted (read: needed) the PCs to live if I wanted to keep DMing.

[Nightwing]

I really enjoyed this one but I have the same problem as it has been so long ago that the details are lost to countless boxes, isbn's, girlfriend, a marriage, the empire, comics, wrestling and of course Chipotles.

I did get a pretty sweet sword.

[JediOre]

My players (who, ironically, have a mage hand just as yours do) simply floated a rope across the distance. The description of the "force field" keeping the water away from the statue is not described as preventing matter from passing through (or over the top) of it, so they looped the rope around the head of the dragon statue.

Ogrepuppy. That's an idea that would have failed in my view. Besides the fact my little group doesn't have a rogue and walking a rope over that distance would have been nigh on impossible, I would have ruled the disenbodied hand didn't have the strength to tie off the rope nor the where-with-all to keep the rope taunt.

However, after re-reading your post let me ask: did they have the "mage hand" pass the rope around the back of the statue and return it to the PCs? Perhaps I would have allowed that to work but I would not have enjoyed watching the PCs attempt to cross the rope. If I recall right, the statue is below the level of the ledge by several feet. That would have increased the difficulty of the tight rope walker; a slope plus wet rope would have made some terrible penalties.

But hey, who cares. Your group had fun with your take on it as did mine. In my book, we both DMed it correctly.

[Harley Stroh]

Props to both groups for creative solutions. It's a ton of fun to read, especially the players plotting away from the table. Those are some of my favorite moments as a GM --- when you have no idea what the players are coming up with, all bets are off, and the dice are cast. Rock and roll.

That and double props to Nightwing. He can't recall the adventure but he remembers the sword --- my work is done.

Thanks for taking the time to post, guys. I appreciate it.

//H

[Harley Stroh]

... getting back to the Lost Vault.

I'm looking forward to hearing how those sessions go. Lost Vault is a killer --- Mr. Mearls can really put a hurt on.

//H

[Ogrepuppy]

However, after re-reading your post let me ask: did they have the "mage hand" pass the rope around the back of the statue and return it to the PCs?

Yes, it was a looped rope, so that is was almost like a "rope bridge" that the rogue scrambled across.

That, plus a few extremely good STR & DEX checks for various party members = taut rope & successful balancing act.

But hey, who cares. Your group had fun with your take on it as did mine. In my book, we both DMed it correctly.

That, my friend, is certainly true--and I hope you didn't take it that I was criticizing you or your players. No offense intended!

[JediOre]

I hope you didn't take it that I was criticizing you or your players. No offense intended!

None taken Ogrepuppy.

As I said earlier. I'm amazed at the variations that two DMs and their players can come up with useing the very same material.

[bobrunnicles]

My group should reach the pearl room next weekend.....we left it last week at a cliffhanger point; the room with the holes had slammed the doors shut on one party member with the other two still outside (I have three players, a Rogue, a Swashbuckler and a Beguiler - I've been rolling the dice as they come so far but I did give them a few gimmes during character creation like full HP + a roll and an extra feat at level 1). We'll see where they go from here and I will report what happened in due course.

Like everyone else, though, greatly enjoying the adventure - I also had to run it pretty much on the fly but it worked well even after just a short time to look it over before diving in....I like to think that's both a reflection of the quality of the adventure and my GMing skills as well; the main thing is that my players all commented afterwards how much they were enjoying it so far

[JediOre]

And here is the link to the continuing adventures of this small party.

Next stop is DCC #2!

http://www.goodman-games.com/forums/vie ... php?t=2568