My first After action report

A

Anonymous

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Players

1. Soldier
2. Barbarian
3. Pirate
4. Theif


The scene starts off with the soldier, Barbarian and theif holding onto flotsom in the ocean, their ship was destroyed by pirates, and now they cling to just a few things. Off in the distance they see a zingaran merchant ship, several others also bob up in down in the waves, and the characters are fatigued and sunburned from being out in the elements.

They slowly make their way to the ship, and only the barbarian notices that the ship seems abandoned, the players make their way after doing some swim checks, a sailor is eatan and taken down to his watery grave as sharks seem to move in for lunch.

The characters make their way onto the ship, and find the player who is playing the pirate chained in the hull of the ship. He only knows that his familys free-booting pirate ship was destroyed by an evil pirate named Raul the terrible, a zingaran pirate, and now they are escorting someone named Skarva, a scholar looking for something called the "blood chalice".
The ship had a skiff and the players notice a craggy isle not far off in the distance.

As the characters are below deck, and make their introductions and they free the pirate from his chains.. they hear some noises on the deck of the ship and come up top to see..they now see seven sailors or pirates on the ship that were swimming behind them. The parties move into fight all but two press on the fight, both die but they wound the theif farily badly with a cutlas. and after the breif battle they parlay, and the players manage to sucessfully intimidate them into joining the crew. They discover that with them is a navigator of some reknown named Grubb.

During that dusk, they notice the skiff returning and overhear the sailors talking about getting tents and blankets, the players lay in ambush, and kill the four man crew on the skiff, one of them being an officer (4th level zingaran pirate). The officer was wearing a nice ruby ring, the players gave it to the NPC grubb, to ensure his loyalty, and the pirate managed to pull the small crew together promising loot and fame and wenches. The wounded theif is annoyed because nobody had a decent heal skill check, but was able to recover all his points from a full nights worth of rest.

The next day they pick up the anchors and move the ship to the otherside of the island, the sky becoming more overcast, but none of the players have enough ranks in anything to really predict the weather.

Once the characters make their way to the other side of the island they launch the skiff, and make their way towards the island..for insurance they are not left on the island to die, they take Grubb with (and yes I planned on doing exactly that if they didn't take Grubb with)

As the characters approach the isle, they can barley make out strange green ruins high atop the craggy island. They make their way around the isle and two guards standing near a very tiny beach area and are waving to the characters thinking that they are friends "where is the ship!!".. four ropes dangle down 50 feet from the top of the island behind them along with some crates and a small fire.

The players approach and onces within 10 feet, the theif shoots his hunting bow at one of the guards doing a critical hit, killing him outright the other guard tried to run to the ladder to climb up, but the players slew him quickly.

The players now make their climb checks to get up the ropes...the winds of the sea are blowing hard..but everyone manages to get up ok. (nobody botched a climb check) to their dismay and shock they discover and ancient array of buildings of green stone with strange writings. In the center a larger building looking like a stepped pyramid but only rising like 50 feet up.

The characters sneak in the tall grasses and make their way over to an area where they heard some noises and discover a small encampment.
Stepping out of one of the tents is RAUL THE TERRIBLE...I had both the pirate and barbarian (the barbarian had ranks in sailing) make a will power save, and the barbarian froze in abject terror because Raul the terrible was so infamous. The theif decides he wants to kill him.. (Raul is a 13th level pirate) so Raul is chatting with his two comrades, and the players all make their sneak checks, the wind and pounding of ocean on the island allow easy sneaking. The Theif backstabs Raul and the other players use a fate point for a mighty blow and they manage to kill him fairly quickly.

The two comrades surrender at once and the theif chops off Rauls head and the pirate begins to loot his body. The characters now make their way into the tents and discover two stygian slave girls and 30k worth of silver in various chests. The two captured guards get interogated and mention something about a witch queen and to kill them, and the players oblige them killing them quickly.

The players you can use your imagination what they do to the slave girls, the barbarian claims one and the theif claims another one. The one that the theif claims, states that she is of stgyian nobility...and the theif responds well your my slave now.

The characters all make their hear checks and can hear chanting coming from within the temple..and they make their way in.

The temple first room has a strange statue and pillars and torches on sconces, and an ornate green stairwell leading down. The chanting becomes louder and the players sneak their way down.

In the room is a beautiful stygian woman chanting in front of a book, a bunch of cloaked worshippers chanting and several guards..also in the room is a chaft leading down, and every time they throw a slave down in a ritualistic manner a beautiful chalice on a green stone alter glows various colors.

They only have a few slaves left to toss to their deaths, the pirate went to go grab the chalice but failed a will save and was just awed by it..and the theif shot the witch with an arrow doing only 3 points of damage and the witch ignored them, the barbarian discovered that the chalice was stuck in the stone and the witch was trying to unleash it..and once the last slave was killed, the soldier positoned himself to be able to steal the chalice and a battle ensued.

The witch cried out, I will not be foiled you shall all pay...and cast a spell torment on the soldier as he was high tailing and was at the base of the stairs.. but of course the player rolled a natural 20, and he wasn't affected, the stones on the isle began to quake and the players were killing some of the guards and worshippers. The pirate made a critical fumble and when he rolled again, his sword went down the bottomless chasm..a now lost family heirloom sword..

I had all the characters make reflex saves and they all did, but the npcs didn't fair so well as a chunk of ceiling fell on to several of them. the players managed to get upstairs, but they saw the witch turn into a ball of light and go down the chasm..

The characters were having a major issue deciding on whether to grab the silver or slaves, the barbarian who had a high spot noticed now a stygian galley on the other side of the island. The horde now was making their way to the ropes to escape...so the players had to act quickly.

The players managed to lower one chest with 10k silver, and the slaves (made them expend a fate point) and make it to the skiff..

now they see the stygian ship bearing down on them

and the witch holding the pirate characters sword..

characters all advance one level.

what does the Chalice of Blood do? I don't know..haven't decided yet
was thinking that any red wine put into the chalice and drank acts like a cure serious wounds healing potion in normal D&D. The witch was sent after years of research and uncovered its location in a book of Skelos. The players were in the right place at the right time..
 
Sounds like alot of fun...What level were the characters? Did you find that the rules supported the action well?
 
Well, I am not much of a rules lawyer, I personally as a DM go for story and than use the rules, if the rules bog down my story I wing it, all the characters were first level.
 
1st level characters taking out a 13th level Pirate :shock: Thats quite an achievement.
I haven't got the rules in front of me but I don't think a 1st level thief can sneak attack a pirate of that level, what with Uncanny dodge and all.
There was a thread a little while back re someones suggestion on a new magic item. There were alot of good suggestions made by posters so check that out. I think it was called "Ring of Set"
 
Well one 13th level character attacked by 4 first level characters all spending fate points to damage him

13th level doesn't mean your immune from being killed
 
For sure.. :) But it is still quite an effort and not one that could be achieved in an ordinary game of D20. Further goes to show how good these rules are.
 
Yes the rules are awesome, I haven't seen better for a low-fantasy setting.
 
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