Tales From the High Sea!
Adventure Introduction
It was pitch black, and the room swayed perilously—first thoughts were that last night’s festivities had simply left their senses in turmoil. But then, realization dawned harsh and swift: they were not on solid ground but adrift upon the sea. As consciousness fully returned, eight strangers awoke in the claustrophobic darkness of a ship’s hold. The memories of last night's wild laughter and the excessive indulgence in rich, stewed meats and heady perfumes now cruelly juxtaposed their current misery. Pounding headaches pulsed in sync with the rhythmic creaking of the ship's timbers. Their mouths were tainted with the sickly residue of cheap wine, and the hard wooden floor beneath provided no respite. The incessant swaying of their surroundings confirmed the grim suspicion: they had been press-ganged onto a ship, now adrift on the vast, uncaring ocean.
Before any could muster the strength to rise, the sound of several heavy footsteps heralded the arrival of company. The harsh glare of a lantern pierced the darkness, brutally assaulting their bleary eyes. Master Scourge, the Wormwood's feared boatswain and disciplinarian, stood imposingly at the entrance. Flanked by six rugged pirates, his face twisted into a grotesque semblance of a smile as he cracked his whip menacingly. "Still abed with the sun over the yardarm? On your feet, ye filthy swabs! Get up on deck and report for duty before Cap’n Harrigan flays your flesh into sausage skins and has Fishguts fry ye up for breakfast!" His words spurred them into hurried action, despite the realization that their weapons and gear were missing.
As they shuffled onto the main deck, blinking against the bright light of day, the PCs began to adjust and understand their predicament. Memories of the previous night’s spicy meals and drinks surfaced, coupled with a peculiar aftertaste—oily nutmeg. It dawned on them; they had been poisoned, incapacitated by a cunning use of oil of taggit, its bitterness masked by the spices. Among the muddled recollections, the face of Master Scourge loomed, a clue to their current misfortune.
The vast expanse of the ocean surrounded them, with only a distant haze marking where Port Peril and the mainland of the Shackles once were. A group gathered around the mainmast, their attention fixed on the stern’s higher deck. There stood two figures: a formidable Garundi man with a shaved head, a beard adorned with gold rings, and an eye patch—Captain Barnabas Harrigan—and his younger counterpart, a balding man with a long black ponytail and a notorious cat-o’-nine-tails. The PCs, along with several other uneasy new recruits, realized they were not the only ones impressed into service.
Captain Harrigan addressed the assembled crew with a mixture of welcome and warning. "Glad you could join us at last! Welcome to the Wormwood! My thanks for ‘volunteering’ to join my crew. I’m Barnabas Harrigan. That’s Captain Barnabas Harrigan to you, not that you’ll ever need to address me. I have only one rule—don’t speak to me. I like talk, but I don’t like your talk. Follow that rule and we’ll all get along fine." His gaze swept over them, a stern reminder of their fragile standing. "Oh, and one more thing. Even with you new recruits, we’re still short-handed, and I aim to keep what crew I have. There’ll be a keelhaulin’ for anyone caught killin’ anyone." With a dismissive gesture, he departed, leaving them under the watchful eye of Mister Plugg, the first mate, whose smile promised nothing but hardship.
This abrupt induction into piracy on the high seas was far from the freedom they once envisioned, now bound to the capricious whims of the Wormwood’s notorious crew. With no land in sight and the threat of the lash ever-present, survival would mean quickly learning the ropes of this brutal new world.
Defiance on the Wormwood: Alliances Forged
March 9, 2024
In the dusky light of dawn, the newly formed band of adventurers—the unwilling recruits of the notorious pirate ship, the Wormwood—stood resolute. The sting of their abduction still fresh, they surveyed their grim new reality. Amidst the creaking of timbers and the salty sea breeze, the harsh voice of Scourge, the master-at-arms, shattered the morning calm. A grueling challenge was thrust upon them: to climb the ship's towering rigging in a frenzied race against time. Kasmira, with the agility of a born climber, ascended with such speed and grace that she was swiftly appointed the ship’s rigger. Meanwhile, Finn and Varen, displaying less adeptness, were relegated to the roles of swabs, and Red, to toil in the galley alongside the slovenly, inebriated cook known as Ambrose “Fishguts” Kroop.
Quickly adapting to their new roles, Kasmira, Varen, Red, and Finn formed an unbreakable alliance, a beacon of mutual trust amidst the treachery of the high seas. Their camaraderie attracted others, like the spirited Sandara Quinn, who, despite also being press-ganged, managed to recover some of their confiscated belongings as a gesture of solidarity. She whispered tales of the tyranny of Plugg and Scourge, who ruled the ship with iron fists and cruel whims.
Varen found an ally in young Jack Scrimshaw, who imparted essential survival tips, while Varen himself sought to curry favor with Cut-throat Grok, the ship’s quartermaster, by showcasing his alchemical prowess. As Red grappled with the chaos of the galley and Finn keenly observed the crew, plotting and planning, the seeds of rebellion quietly took root.
Their test came swiftly. Just two days aboard, and Scourge’s disdain for the newcomers boiled over. As the morning sun crested the horizon, a brutish cohort led by the thuggish swab, Fipps Chumlett, confronted the group. Fipps’s sneer was a clear provocation as he shoved Finn, taunting, “In a hurry?” Their circle tightened menacingly around the adventurers.
The skirmish erupted in earnest when Fipps lunged at Finn, who deftly produced a pair of brass knuckles from his pocket, landing a resounding blow that made Fipps's eyes widen in shock. “Brass knuckles, eh? Want to play for real?” Fipps snarled, drawing a dagger, escalating the brawl beyond mere fists.
The fight surged with chaos: Slipper Syl Lonegan doubled up on Finn; Varen unleashed a spell that dazed Jaundiced Jape; Kasmira grappled fiercely with Aretta Bansion; and Red exchanged heavy blows with Maheem at the rear. The tide turned when Varen’s acid blast sent Jape screaming in agony, fleeing the fray. The brawl reached a fever pitch until Finn’s brass knuckles once again connected with Fipps, knocking him cold.
As the dust settled, the remaining antagonists, realizing the gravity of their miscalculation, beat a hasty retreat. Aretta, caught and cornered, confessed that Plugg and Scourge had instigated the attack—meant only as a harsh lesson, not a death sentence. The group, magnanimous in their newfound power, released her with a warning.
The deck of the Wormwood bore witness to the aftermath. Mr. Plugg’s glare was like daggers as he surveyed the scene, his displeasure palpable but contained. Scourge, tasting the bitter tang of defeat, could only scowl deeper, his plans thwarted—for now. As the ship sailed on, our heroes stood a little taller, their bonds forged stronger in the heat of battle, ready for whatever the cruel seas might throw their way.
Tale of Tides and Tempests
March 23, 2024
Life aboard the pirate ship Wormwood was anything but idle. For Kasmira de la Torre, Varen Galashantar, Red, and Finn, every day presented a grueling test of endurance and wit. By day, they toiled under the watchful eyes of the cruel first mates, Scourge and Plugg, but by night, they found solace in their camaraderie, plotting over rum-soaked tables and fleeting shadows of freedom.
The ever-resourceful Varen, amidst the chaos, managed to concoct a batch of alchemist’s fire. His ingenuity did not go unnoticed; he was appointed quartermaster’s mate, a title both a blessing and a curse, as it came with strings attached—additional burdensome tasks. Meanwhile, Kasmira, a rogue at heart, reveled in the rigging above, her silent acts of defiance sowing seeds of confusion among those who had crossed her. She deftly exchanged possessions among the crew, her subtle revenges going unnoticed until the chaos unfolded.
Amidst their daily struggles, an urgent cry from Jack Scrimshaw tore through the mundane. "Huge rats in the bilge!" bellowed Mr. Plugg. With no choice but to descend into the dank underbelly, our heroes confronted the snarling dire rats. Armed with makeshift weapons—a galley hand axe for Red, a dagger for Kasmira, Finn's kinetic magic and Varen's arcane blasts—they dispatched the vermin with a symphony of steel and sorcery.
Days later, Scourge, craving amusement, unleashed his twisted version of entertainment: a duel with Owlbear Hartshorn, the ship’s unfortunate 'pet'. The brute, a gentle soul twisted by the crew's cruelty, was pushed into the ring against Kasmira. Amidst the circling bets and jeering pirates, she saw the unfairness in his eyes. In a defiant twist, she exploited Owlbear's blindness to secure victory, only to offer him mercy—a gesture that left the brute in tears and Scourge in a simmering rage.
The gold from the duel allowed Kasmira to reclaim their confiscated gear, though Red’s cherished axe remained elusive. Varen, ever the strategist, convinced the superstitious Grok to return it by claiming it was a holy symbol—thus saving Red’s spiritual companion without the exchange of coin. With his axe returned, Red swung it through the air with practiced ease, his presence on the deck now more formidable than ever.
But the sea, ever the capricious mistress, soon threw her own challenge. A tempest roared, transforming the Wormwood into a mere plaything at the mercy of towering waves. With the crew stretched to their limits, Sandara Quinn and Jack Scrimshaw were swept overboard. Without a moment's hesitation, Finn and Varen plunged into the turbulent waters, their daring rescue illuminated by flashes of lightning, while Red and Kasmira hauled the soaked survivors aboard.
Exhaustion claimed the crew as the storm abated, but not before Mr. Plugg's next command echoed across the deck. "The cap’n wants crab for supper," he declared, pointing towards a distant reef. The heroes, alongside Jack, swam towards their crustacean quarry only to be ambushed by reefclaws. Through a flurry of kinetic energy and sharp steel, they secured not only their dinner but a feast for the officers, earning a night of crab stew and grateful smiles from the weary crew.
An Unforgiving Tide
March 30, 2024
Two weeks aboard the Wormwood had bonded the friends together, not just by fate but by a shared urgency to master the pirate's craft of boarding. Freed from daily toils for one day, they found themselves under the tutelage of Riaris Krine. Their challenge: to hurl grappling hooks from a bobbing boat to the Wormwood's towering sides and ascend the ropes while dodging debris hurled by jeering crewmates. Despite the barrage, each friend proved their mettle, earning Krine’s grudging respect and a place in future raids.
Their growing prowess did little to endear them to Scourge, the ship's spiteful master-at-arms. His disdain deepening, Scourge shadowed their every move, eager to catch any slip that could justify punishment. He soon contrived a harsh lesson: Finn and Red were dispatched to the bilges, attempting to disarm them before they descended. While Finn’s smirk betrayed his indifference, confident in his ability to conjure weapons of pure force, Red defiantly clung to his axe, a sacred emblem of his god. This defiance earned him hours in the sweltering sweatbox, though Red's craft allowed him to conjure a steady flow of water, turning his punishment into a mere discomfort.
Below deck, Finn faced betrayal. Tasked with the bilge pumps alongside Fipps and Syl, hostility soon sharpened into violence as the pair drew daggers. Finn, nimble and deadly, responded in kind with his telekinetic armaments. The skirmish left his assailants lifeless, setting the stage for a dire reckoning. Scourge, seizing the moment, clamped Finn in irons, promising a trial under the captain’s harsh gaze come morning.
Dawn broke to Scourge’s smug anticipation of a swift execution. But fate, with a pirate’s caprice, intervened. A lookout’s cry of “Ship ahoy!” shifted the captain's priorities; the promise of plunder overriding the thirst for discipline. Finn was unshackled, summoned to join a boarding party to the cheers of his comrades and the visible chagrin of Scourge.
The target was a Rahadoumi merchant vessel, the Man’s Promise. As the Wormwood drew near, Captain Harrigan had Kroop and Red ready a grim spectacle, casting pig's blood into the sea to summon sharks, while the ship’s sorcerer shrouded them in a dense fog, confounding the merchant’s crew. Under cover, Finn and Kasmira, the guns blazing, led the leap onto the enemy deck, quickly followed by Red and Varen, whose rifle sang over the din.
The battle raged, fierce and swift. The heroes dismantled the ballista crew but soon noticed Rahadoumi sailors attempting an escape. Red, ever the bulwark, heroically charged across the deck to thwart their flight, taking grievous blows that felled him amidst the fray, unconcious and bleeding on the deck. Red’s stand had given the others the time they needed and his fall rallied the crewmates; Kasmira and Varen responded with lethal precision, their black powder guns halting the charge of a Rahadoumi officer who dared rally her men. With their officer down, the enemy’s will crumbled, and the deck of the Man’s Promise was theirs.
The victory was not without cost, but as the surrendered sailors lined the deck and the fog lifted, the Wormwood's crew stood triumphant. Their bonds forged in battle, our heroes looked to the horizon, ready for whatever storms or spoils lay ahead.
The Harrowing Voyage of the Man’s Promise
April 6, 2024
In the treacherous waters where fortunes are lost and won, the pirate crew of the Wormwood triumphed over the merchant ship Man’s Promise. Captain Harrigan, a man as fearsome as the sea itself, thundered across the deck, his voice booming like cannon fire. "All right, you scurvy tars! You’ve done a right good job by me—we’ve got a second ship now, and she’s quite a prize from the looks of her. But I still have only one crew," he declared, unveiling his ruthless plan. The Man’s Promise was to be sailed to Port Peril to be sold as salvage, a fate sealed by the menacing Mr. Plugg, who was to choose a skeleton crew for this perilous journey.
Amidst a backdrop of fear and the dark allure of piracy, our heroes—Kasmira de la Torre, Varen Galashantar, Red, and Finn—were conscripted into this skeleton crew, an assembly of souls bound for uncertain fates. As the Man’s Promise cut through the waves under Plugg’s iron-fisted rule, it became clear that the harsh discipline of the Wormwood was but a gentle breeze compared to the gale-force tyranny on this new vessel. Varen, stripped of his quartermaster’s dignity and thrust back into the toils of a swab, simmered with a quiet fury, his every muscle coiled like a spring ready to snap.
Under the cloak of night, whispers of mutiny rustled through the rigging as Plugg and Scourge, like tyrants of old, forbade all mirth and spirits, declaring the deck off-limits after dusk. The oppressive air was thick with tension, but it was the sharp-minded Finn who first sensed the deceit in their course. The ship was not bound for Port Peril but to a destination whispered in rumors and shaded in mystery—Rickety’s Squibs. This secluded haven, known only to the most covert of pirates, was where ships were refitted and reborn under new guises. Plugg and Scourge, it seemed, intended to betray Harrigan and claim the Man’s Promise as their own.
Peril on Bonewrack Isle
The dawn of the fourth day aboard the Man’s Promise was heralded not by the call of gulls but by the wrath of a tempest. The sky turned as dark as the depths of the ocean, and the crew, including our valiant heroes, was summoned to the rigging. They labored tirelessly, fighting against the storm’s savage embrace to keep the ship aright. As the storm's ferocity redoubled with the coming of morning, none aboard could foresee the treacherous fate awaiting them—straying far off course towards the foreboding silhouette of Bonewrack Isle.
With a jarring crash that split the early morning silence, the ship met its grim fate against the coral reefs, running aground with a sound like the breaking of the world. As the tide receded under the rising sun, it revealed the dire straits of the Man’s Promise, marooned and in need of swift repair. Amidst this chaos, the absence of two sailors, Sandara Quinn and Barefoot Samms Toppin, cast a shadow deeper than that of the night passed. While Plugg dismissed their disappearance with cold indifference, the discovery of Sandara’s holy symbol amidst a mysterious, slimy residue spurred our heroes into action against his orders.
Compelled under guise of necessity to gather fresh water from the isle after the ship's water barrels were found destroyed, the heroes embarked for Bonewrack Isle. Their journey to the eastern shore revealed a safe harbor, but as Finn ventured to collect coconuts, the sands of the beach proved treacherous. Giant crabs, as if sprung from the nightmares of the deep, ambushed him with claws sharp as the reefs themselves. Yet, with swift teamwork, Kasmira, Red, and Varen came to his aid, turning their attackers from predators to prey, soon rendered inert on the sand, destined for the cookpot rather than their human quarry.
The path inland unveiled further horrors: a cornfield, once cultivated and now wild, stood as a grotesque gallery of decay with severed heads rotting under the relentless sun. The land itself seemed to reject the trespassers as Ankhegs burst from the earth. However, these creatures, more nuisance than nightmare, were quickly dispatched as the group pressed on to discover an old stockade encircling a small lodge. Within its walls, they found not only a bubbling spring but also a looking glass that revealed a chilling sight—Grindylows wearing the tricorne hat of one of their missing comrades on a distant shore.
As they prepared to delve deeper into the mysteries of the isle, the jungle itself turned hostile. Vine chokers, malevolent flora with a taste for blood, dropped from the trees in ambush. Yet, under Varen’s precise gunfire, Red's mighty axe, and Finn’s crushing force, these threats too were neutralized. The lodge itself held dark secrets; its door creaked open to reveal a scene macabre—a body hung suspended, a spectral reminder of past horrors. Despite the swarming botflies, driven by Varen’s fiery magic and Finn’s kinetic blasts, the group uncovered the true nature of the hanging figure—a ghoul, desperate and dangerous. In a grim conclusion, the ghoul was laid to rest, freeing the lodge of its gruesome past.
Hearts heavy yet determined, the adventurers resolved to brave the perils of Bonewrack Isle, to find their lost friends or meet their own fates in the attempt. The island, shrouded in mystery and menace, awaited their next move with bated breath.
