Pirates and Necromancers

A Play report

Over the Thanksgiving weekend we did a lot of gaming ranging from “off-table” domain level stuff to some solo adventures to spell and magic item research and the consultation of sages.

But the big event was a seven hour session on Saturday that was a huge deal in-campaign.

The PCs and henchmen:

Clarence 6/6 Fighter/Ninja

Utigi 3^rd level samurai

Fiona 5/5 Cleric/Magic-user

Albertus 5^th level cleric

Thorin 8/8 Fighter/Thief

Carlton 7^th level paladin

Michael, 3^rd level paladin

Benny, 3^rd level fighter

Duncan, 3^rd level Courtier

Deep Background - Pirates: The very first villain group I ever had was a band of pirates and the very first adventure was a fight with a small band of pirates. Within 6 months the very first PCs were heavily involved in anti-pirate work. This has continued ever since with one of the ‘twists’ of Seaward being the nation has very little sea trade because the chain of islands, called the Demon’s Tears, 80 – 150 miles off shore are home to multiple bands of pirates.

Sure, PCs go on pirate hunting tears, but the Demon’s tears are confusing and they are never quite wiped out.

PCs have gotten in on the with three different parties playing thieves and such that formed their “guild” as a band of pirates, ‘lords’ that named themselves pirate kings, and so on. The fighting at sea and on land has been fierce. Not too long ago a group of PCs went to the Demon’s Eye (the volcano island the tear’s get their name from) and fought various powerful foes ranging from a tough illusionist to the Boss, a powerful fighter//mage.

As of Year 202 (the current in-game year in Seaward) the three main bands of pirates are

The Fellowship of the Waves – pirates and smugglers led by a half-elven master thief and mage who calls herself the Queen of the Demon’s Tears and a motley, but deadly, cohort of high level thieves and scoundrels. Known as primarily smugglers they also dabble in piracy, slaving, and looting coastal villages.

The Ravager – a single mighty war galley commanded by “Sir” Waverley, his best friend Jan Blackswords, and the powerful mage known as Seafoam. The ravager has routinely evaded or defeated the warships of a dozen nations. Waverley is primarily a pirate. Famously they only kill if ships resist (although they will enslave crewmen to replace their oarsmen) or when attacking warships.

The Swift Death – another one-ship pirate crew. Led by a powerful mage known only as Gaxx. Gaxx is always accompanied by his bodyguard the Half-Ogre sword master called Big Joe. Gaxx is involved in piracy almost exclusively. His moods are mercurial – he has been known to capture a warship and strip it of supplies and nothing more while giving gold coins to enemy crew that fought well. But he has also been known to capture merchant vessels and spend a week torturing the entire crew before burning the ship with the crew – and the loot – still on board. The Fellowship of the Waves and the Ravager avoid the Swift Death almost as much as everyone else.

Deep Background – Necromancers: Back in 1983 I was given a copy of White Dwarf (#35) by a cousin stationed in the UK. Loved it and immediately started using the necromancer class in it for villains. Three years later after I was in the Army and Lew Pulsipher was playing in Seaward he was pleased & alarmed that his version of necromancers were there.

The main Necromancer was Pathin the Foul (14^th level) and his seven apprentices ranging from 6^th to 11^th level as well as his allies the Plague Cultists, Slaughter Cultists, and Death Cultists. Late 1989 to late 1991 (about 90 sessions and 5 years in game) involved feints, raids, scouting, and so forth back and forth between Patin and the PCs leading to the creation of a plague that the PCs barely thwarted the full-on invasion by two armies (one living, one undead), the destruction of an entire city only to be raised as more undead soldiers, counter-attacks, duels, betrayals, assassinations, wizard wars in the clouds, and much more.

With luck, planning, and so forth the PCs whittled away at the forces, picked off intermediate leaders, retook territory, and so on, pushing back Pathin’s armies and sharply weakening his allies. At the Battle of the Frozen River the sage of Timberlake was relieved and the majority of the undead army destroyed forcing Pathin to fall back to a the remote mining town he had turned into a fortress. A daring raid by powerful PCs, led by the mage Orion, killed the leaders of the Plague and Death cults as well as 4 of Pathin’s apprentices. Assumed to be a suicide mission the PCs all managed to escape by incredible effort.

With the Slaughter Cult having abandoned him for his failure in war Pathin was almost alone and sent his surviving apprentices away. Another doughty band of PCs ambushed him in his quarters and – Pathin escaped.

In the roughly 60 game years since that happened he has never been heard from again anywhere. Another of his apprentices was killed (in 1992), then recently another died, living hidden in thick forest southwest of Seaward.

It is widely believed that only Dismar the Unexpected, his youngest and least powerful apprentice, survives.

Recent background – the Grand Kingdom of Lechia: Over the last 18-24 months of campaign time rumors have been floating that Something Odd was going on in Lechia

The Grand Kingdom of Lechia is the “Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth land” of the game and the largest, most powerful nation close-ish to Seaward.

Just before Winter got bad and travel got dicey the rumors intensified into – ‘the Plague Cult tried to take over the Grand Kingdom but the King’s men, the Archbishop’s men, and some paladins thwarted them!”

The Build Up: The players are worried about the Demon’s Tears because during the fight with the Boss they got a rumor that there is a major demonic temple on the most remote island. A party of PCs was dispatched.
The players are also worried about the U-Boat Dubstep Samurai (long story) colony in the far north so scouts were dispatched that way, too.

But the session was to investigate – did the Plague Cult actually win and are they now the secret masters of Lechia?

The Session: A nice, early start in the day well before lunch. The players examined their travel options in getting from Seaward city to the city of St. Kasimir, capitol of Lechia in the late Spring of the campaign. Overland was at shortest 45-60 days depending on weather while sea to Brinan (the port capitol of the Grand Duchy of Sinath) the overland to St Kasimir was 14 -20 days depending on weather. The various merchant galleys they approached eventually led to one agreeing to take them for a stiff fee. Off they went with plans to stop along the coastal cities often to search for rumors and hints, all while presenting themselves as curious about the upcoming tourney season.

Early on the second day at sea there was a random encounter. It came up pirates and a scatter check meant they were being attacked by the Ravager. Spotted while still over 5 miles away, the Ravager was flying the Red and white checked flag of pirates so the PCs started to prepare for battle. All of their plans depended on the ship being closer so the PCs sent all but a handful of crew belowdecks. As the pirates attached they raised the black and white striped flag that signals ‘if you resist no quarter’. Seeing this the PCs started their attacks.

Thorin turned invisible and used his wings of flying to streak towards the pirates’ war galley. As he approached he saw a massive wave sweep from the pirate ship toward the PCs’ ship – the pirates had summoned a Water Elemental! Approaching the forecastle of the pirates Thorin saw a man in sea-green silk robes in a summoning circle in the center flanked (outside the circle) by two men who seemed to be chanting. Before Thorin could attack his bracelet revealed the illusion – the man in the middle and that summoning circle were not real, both men flanking were in summoning circles! Thorin randomly selected the man on the starboard side and attacked him in melee. He noted that the other man vanished.

About this time the ships were easily close enough to see details as the pirate ship attempted to come alongside the PCs’ ship. On the main deck of the pirate vessel were about 70 normal pirates with cutlasses and belaying pins. Among them was a man in elaborately-designed full plate armor carrying a trident, nine men with shaved head dressed only in loincloths with a cestus on each hand, and another man totally bald and in a loincloth wielding a black bladed cutlass in each hand – the bald cultists were preparing to storm the forecastle.

On the forecastle Thorin blew his Iron Horn and 3 einherjar appeared. The man Thorin had attacked fell back as the cultists swarmed up behind their leader, Jan Blackswords. Thorin briefly fought the visible man in green then turned to meet Jan.

As this was going on Fiona slammed the masts and rigging of the pirate ship with a Fireball, killing many pirates n the rigging and around the main mast and slightly singing the man in full plate who had to be Sir Waverley. Waverley replied by firing a beam of red light from his trident that blistered Fiona’s skin even though she ducked at the last moment!

Clarence used spells and skills to “Crouching Tiger, hidden Dragon” leap from his ship to the pirates while invisible and arrived in the nick of time – the man in green who had vanished just missed assassinating (!) Thorin as Thorin was engaged with Seafoam and Carlton (with magical help from Fiona) arrived to fight Jan.

The meat grinder was on – the cultists and the einherjar were a swirl of numbers versus might, Thorin was desperate to keep Seafoam from getting magic off, and Carlton was fighting a master swordsman armed with a Shadowblade (an intelligent, evil cutlass that drains a point of strength per blow as a shadow) and Vampire’s Caress (an intelligent, evil cutlass that has the power of vampiric regeneration) so and blow he received was a serious one. All the while Fiona was throwing magic at Waverley and the pirates.

Carlton dropped Jan but as he died Vampire’s Caress lashed out trying to drain enough life to revive Jan, but missed. Carlton turned to engage Waverley. The einherjar cut down the cultists as Seafoam and his assassin bodyguard died so the party swarmed Waverley and his trident. This was difficult because Waverley had used that trident to raise a Wall of Ice to block the forecastle, slowing down everyone but Carlton, so Fiona boarded to joint the fight.

Waverley was tough and fought hard but went down after hard fighting. Clarence checked and was very concerned that Jan’s body was missing! Magic and divination soon revealed Jan was invisible and floating away quickly. The party soon discovered that the surviving 9^th level mage had grabbed Jan’s body and was speeding away to get him Raised. The party brought her down, discovering that she was a wereshark at the same time.

While I am glossing over a great deal let me stress – this was a very tough fight and the players were unsure of the outcome often.

Quotes from the fight:
“I’m scared and want to go home.”

“Wait, the beautiful yet evil female mage is also a wereshark?!

“Once I saw the pirate captain shoot a laser I knew this wasn’t a normal random encounter”

“These guys are the second toughest pirates in the Demon’s Tears?! NO WONDER there’s no sea trade!”

“We went looking for rumors but the rumors found us first”

And also remember – this was a random encounter.

The loot was extremely valuable and the magic items from the dead villains was good – although both evil intelligent swords were destroyed immediately. The discovery that the war galley Ravager itself had both a genie navigator and a genie oarmaster made it a treasure item of great value. Careful search and the removal of a few traps (and triggering of a few!) was done soon and the party decided to transfer a skeleton crew from the merchant ship to Ravager and proceed to Brinan with the PCs pretending to be the pirates.

By now the party had taken command of the genie navigator and, yes, the charts included vasty deep maps to the City of One Thousand Isles as well as a place called Faraway.

The next day a messenger genie arrived and gave a letter to Clarence (who was disguised as Waverley) that read;

“Waverley,

Proceed with haste to our rendezvous in Brinan and ensure the wealth is ready. The attempt to subvert Lechia has failed at precisely the wrong time. Our Dread Lord has issued strict orders. I will take the wealth you bring to hire many skilled allies of great power and you will travel across the vasty deep to recruit the most powerful you can find that are willing to return.

Never before has the absence of my fellow apprentices vexed me so much as today! Our Dread Lord says that it is almost time for him to march to war again as he did in the past. Soon the sky will darken and the earth will tremble before his mighty army!

North pier. I will send a carriage to will fetch you to where I conceal myself. Servants shall secure the wealth.

For the Dread Lord,

Dismar”

The PCs realized that yes, the Plague Cult had failed and that the ultimate power behind the play was not the Plague Cult nor even Dismar the unexpected, but Pathin the Foul himself!!! The arch-necromancer who had vanished without a trace and was not only still alive (for certain values of ‘alive’) after 60 years but still plotting. Indeed, it seemed he was preparing for war!

The party realized they had to send out word, especially since other notes on the Ravager revealed that the trip to the easternmost demon’s tears was way beyond the power of the PCs sent. Clarence’s messenger genie was very busy as the Ravager was made to look like a merchant ship (easy, the pirates did it all the time) and they sailed for the north pier of Brinan, arriving with the tide just before sunset.

An hour before sunset a fancy carriage for four passengers pulled up to the pier There was a driver and a footman. Carlton, Fiona, Thorin and Albertus got inside and an invisible Clarence hopped onto the back as it rode off. Within 5 minutes they were beyond the walls and 15 minutes later were pulling up on a three story Gothic mansion on a cliff overlooking the sea. At the main doors (which were open) were two servants – inside the foyer huge hangings hid the interior from view. As the footman on the carriage began to get down Clarence attacked him – and the footman dodged the assassination attempt proving he had danger sense. At the same time Fiona killed the butler on the left, Albertus struck down the one on the right, and Carlton slew the driver – who turned out to be a Created one (think ‘necromantic Flesh Golem’). Before the assassin footman could raise an alarm the party also struck him down.

Realizing that no one inside was reacting Clarence Jumped to the roof of the portico the carriage was beneath and gazed into the mansion. The entrance was open all three stories with a grand staircase at the far end raising to a balcony on the third floor. Between the bases od the stair was a throne. There were six men in jet black leather armor - four in front of the throne, two flanking it – and a man swathed head to toe in filthy bandages soaked through with pus and blood leaning on a crooked staff with an odd Y-shaped , hooked top.

Clarence immediately recognized him an Urlvan the Suppurating, head of all Plague Cultists in the region.

Seated on the throne in jet black plate armor was a man of such grim demeanor and evil aura that Clarence instinctively knew he was a necromancer – Dismar the Unexpected!

The party began discussing what they would do as well as waiting for action – after a minute Dismar said something and two of the men in black began trotting toward the entrance. As they got close Clarence saw their faces and recognized the various signs – all six were Ineffably Damned!

The Unholy Might of the Ineffably Damned is a ritual known to some

few necromancers which takes a full night to enact. When used on a human,

demi-human, semi-human, or humanoid it grants the recipient incredible

strength, resilience, speed, health, and makes them totally fearless [18/00

Strength, 18 Constitution, HP Bonuses as per a fighter, 150% normal

movement rate, immunity to disease, and only fail morale on a result of

155%+ then never worse than ‘fall back fighting’]. They can choose either to

be ‘free’ or to be ‘in service. ‘Free’ Ineffably Damned types have free will but

age at 2x the normal rate; ‘in service’ Ineffably Damned are totally,

perfectly loyal to the Necromancer who made them but also age at ½ the

normal rate. They keep any skills, levels, etc. they had before the ritual but

can never again gain further levels. Also, on death their soul is sent

immediately and directly to Hell where they instantly become Ice Devils

with their true names known to the Necromancer that performed the ritual.

NOTE: Clerics, Druids, Religious Brothers and Cultists lose all access to

spells if they are Ineffably damned. Likewise the ritual frees/dismisses

any familiars they damned once had.

Prepared, the party threw back the hanging and Fiona blasted the throne area with a Fireball. Carlton triggered his Helm of Enemy Detection and saw the eight known threats as well as another off on the third floor away from the action. All of the Ineffably damned but one sprinted for the party as the hanging went back. The party head Dismar order the last guard into the ‘sea tunnels’ as that guard left.

The Fireball went off harming Urlvan and Dismar, but not seriously. Urlvan began his limping, staggering approach – at horrifying speed! Dismar – sank into the floor. The first Ineffably Damned guard was engaged in melee and proved to be fierce,tough, and hard to kill. Carlton, able to track Dismar with his helm and saw that he, too, was moving very fast through the earth. Carlton realized the party was in danger of being totally surrounded with powerful magic users on opposite flanks and very tough warriors in melee. With great reluctance the party leapt aboard the carriage and fled, just barely outpacing the Ineffably Damned guards. Clarence sniped a bit with his firelance.

The party rode directly to the palace of the local Lord and, using Charisma and the body of the Created One still on the carriage, soon ad the Lord, his Mage, the ranking Knight, and small band of cavalry headed to the manor. The building was in flames and there was no sign of life. Taking the cliff face stairs down to the docks below the party prepared spotted a small sloop about a mile out to sea. Using a ring the party summoned a Djinn and had two members carried out to observe – the sloop was a diversion! The PCs killed he guards on the sloop and returned to the dock, cautiously entering the caverns beneath the mansion.

With careful exploration and quite a lot of caution they saved 40 innocents being held as slaves and future sacrifices, discovered where Dismar had used foul magic to heal himself of the damage from the Fireball, and little else. Scouting revealed that a wagon had departed immediately after the party fled, but it had crossed the river into a different Duchy – the Lord and his men could not give chase and the wagon would be hard to find by now.

The party sent off many messages and the local Lord also spread the word – once again, Necromancers Are Among Us!

Quotes from the second battle:
“Guys, the coachman isn’t breathing”

“We have to worry about the six ineffably damned guards”

“I hate to say it, but it’s time to run for our lives.”

DM Perspective: This session was a real nostalgia fest for me. Waverley first appeared in 1980 (that was the father of this one) and most of the magic items the PCs got off his crew they originally took from the bodies of dead PCs, including the two cutlasses. Pathin the Foul was first seen in the campaign in 1984 and, as mentioned above, was a major driver of events from then until 1991. His escape has been a point of worry for every PC from then until now.

Another thing that stands out to me is what started the entire thing, which was “off screen action”. As I mention often, my NPCs have plans and timelines – if the PCs ignore them they don’t want for the PCs, they keep going. The attempt to control Lechia and its failure happened solely by me resolving the action with dice, logic, and timelines because the PCs were too busy before this to get involved.

The next few sessions will be very interesting.