Blackwood's Dogs, Ch. 2 — OOC
“We got together in a few days a company of the toughest old salts imaginable--not pretty to look at, but fellows, by their faces, of the most indomitable spirit.”
This game is direct continuation of the original Blackwood's Dogs game, but for the sake of clarity and avoid confusion about old, inactive PCs I have made a new thread for it. You can find the original game's thread here. Anyone wishing to continue with their original character may do so, simply copy and paste their old sheet and loot from that thread to this one. Any newcomers may make a new PC using the rules below.
Character Creation Rules
System: 4e
Level 11
Stats: 25pt buy.
Race: Any published, refluffed as human, elf, orc, or dwarf (or any combination of two e.g. half orc/elf, half dwarf/human, etc.).
Class: Any published.
Feats: Choice of free expertise feat, and free Improved Defenses feat.
Themes: Allowed.
Background: any published benefit
Equipment: Free level 10, 11, and 12 magic items. Free basic shit items within reason. 11,350gp to spend on other magic items or to have on your person. Additionally, there are two unique types of weapons created for this game so far that you may choose to start with. Should you do so, subtract half of the listed value from your starting gold as these were not purchased but looted. Each player may take at most one of each item, until there are none left in the stock:
Navyman Musket +1 x20
- [SHOW]
Officer Saber +2 x6
- [SHOW]
Skills: There are no class skill restrictions; any class can train any skill. You still must take the mandatory/bonus skills granted by your class as usual (e.g. Arcana for a wizard).
Rituals: Component costs for all rituals are reduced to ¼ their normal values to encourage ritual use. Also, Raise Dead will not be allowed in this game – dead is dead, though we hope that doesn’t have to be an issue.
Inherent Bonuses: No
Languages: We will not be using the standard 4e languages, but instead the ones listed below. If by (mechanical) race or some other means you are granted a language other than common, pick one language from this list instead, even if you would normally have no choice in the matter (such as elves receiving Elven).
Basic guide to ship roles/ranks
Setting and Lore
You are a pirate, and have been for some time now. Your one of the notorious Blackwood's Dogs, crew of the Salacious Saint under the infamous Captain Blackwood. You and the other members of the Saint have wreaked havoc on the Forelle Sea for years, primarily plundering wealthy trade ships from Imardin.
The Dogs are somewhat of a living legend in maritime circles, and the Captain even more so. Cruel, ruthless, and cunning, you murder and pillage your way throughout the archipelago, hunted by the Imardin navy and other smaller navies wherever you go. You have yet to be caught, though, or even come close, though recently they've begun to inch ever nearer to the justice they seek.
This games takes place on and around the continent of Voreld. Unlike other games that have begun so far, you will have free reign of the entire continent to travel to, though you will begin in the Forelle Sea where your crew has spent most of its time - after all, more ships pass through the region than anywhere else.
Your character is a member of the Saint's crew, and has been for at least a year prior to the start of the game - enough time to be a trusted, established member of the crew. How much time they've been aboard is up to you, though Blackwood has only been in the public eye for a little over a decade, so the span of time is between 1 and 10 years, roughly. How you came to be a member of the crew is entirely your choice, feel free to get as creative as you like with this. The only restriction is that none of you are part of the original crew, you all joined after Blackwood's captaincy was well established
The Story So Far...
Recently the crew, at Blackwood's orders, tracked and hunted down a specific merchant vessel. After a hard-fought battle to take the ship, you all found that it did not bear any material treasure of worth - as you'd been led to believe - but that it held a prisoner instead. The prisoner, a young woman, was said to be a seer of some sort and since freeing her from the ship she has been kept in Blackwood's chambers. Blackwood then revealed his true plan to the crew, that he intended to use the vessel and its supposed prisoner as bait to capture another navy vessel for a fleet he intended to build.
Now in possession of a second ship, Blackwood tasked his sailing master Aladaor to sail the ship with a skeleton crew. Meanwhile, the Salacious Saint had its Imardin Navy colors hoisted and followed just within sight. After a few days another navy ship came into view, itself hunting the merchant vessel as you had only days before. It chased the ship down and attacked, and while it did so your crew gave chase. With the superior construction of the Saint you were easily able to catch up and flank the navy vessel, pounding it with cannon and spell from both sides.
After some time your crews jointly boarded the navy vessel and took out its captain and most of the crew. However, one officer - Jean-Claude Olivier - arranged a parley with your own crew. He claimed to be the brother of Daphne, the seer from the merchant vessel, and stated his only priority was seeing her to safety. He claimed he would speak with the remaining crew below deck and get them to set aside their weapons, but it turned out to be a ruse.
Instead of peace, Jean-Claude reorganized the crew below and another battle took place on the gun deck. There a few of the vanguard were gravely wounded, but eventually Jean-Claude stood alone and defeated at the bow of the ship. Not willing to go out without a fight, and not wanting to see another of Imardin's prized warships fall into the hands of pirates, the man lit the gunpowder room on fire. The ensuing explosions and inferno rapidly engulfed the ship, which the crew only barely managed to escape in one piece.
Blackwood was furious that the vessel went down in flames, and quickly retreated to his chambers to plan his next move. Meanwhile, Phil the quartermaster doled out rewards for the loot claimed from the navymen, a decent haul given how well equipped such sailors tend to be. The two vessels then set sail for the Wastrel's Wharf - the pirate haven town on the isle of Talguta - to unload their loot and relax.
After a day of relative freedom spent within the town and its surroundings, first mate Mad Marian called the crew back to the Saint. There Blackwood gave a speech, announcing his plans. Alador was promoted to captain of the captured merchant vessel, which was renamed the Black Bishop, and various crew members were transferred to his officer corps to aid in recruitment and repairs. That ship and its crew would remain moored in the Wharf until it was seaworthy, and the Saint would return to its pillaging.
After the announcements, Marian gathered a select few of you - the vanguard, some of whom just gained their promotions to the position during the same meeting - to have a secret followup meeting with Blackwood directly. The group of you met at his quarters, alongside the non-vanguard member Eva, and there Blackwood revealed to you his next goal.
There you learned that Blackwood had a contact in the Imardin Admiralty, someone likely high ranking given that their office is in Fort Ellis itself. He tasked the lot of you with infiltrating the building undercover to meet with his contact, and relay to him the information provided. To do so, the Saint would hunt down another merchant vessel and task you all with sailing it to Ellisport. There you'd dock in one of the seedier parts of town, where the navy's prying eyes rarely venture, and from then on you'd be on your own to figure out how to proceed. Now, all that is left to do in preparation is to find and capture such a ship...