(Bardic Lore? I'll say yes. Roll 1 extra die for Charm. (Yes, even stacking with any other bonuses.))

Evan will use magic to add effects to her tale.

Talk it over roll to Charm the ghost:
16:58, Today: Myra rolled 19 using 4d6 ((4,6,4,5)).

If Evan's magic makes a difference, roll an additional die?

(Interesting, but since you've rolled a 6 already, I don't really see the point of me doing the math.)

"Arrrrrrrr. I think I'll be lettin' ye live... to spread the word the Harkaway be comin'... but I'll also leave the town nearby alone... ye'll have to have someplace to start spreadin' me dread tale.."


(I have decided that you have:

1. Convinced Harkaway not to kill you-- in fact, to let you go.

2. Convinced Harkaway to leave the area, and to not plunder the town on his way out.

HOWEVER: I feel that you have NOT yet convinced Harkaway to:

3. Leave the world of the living, nor to

4. Not become a ghostly pirate sailing a ghostly pirate ship, and certainly not to

5. Stop possessing the evil cult leader.

SO. You can stop now, and Harkaway will let you all leave (although you might have to hurry to get back to your rowboat before the ships' graveyard breaks up), and you'll have protected the town successfully.

HOWEVER, achieving 3, 4, and/or 5 will take more dice-rolling, of one kind (talking) or the other (fighting).

So before I go on: what will you do next? Press your luck, risking irritating him and having to fight him? Or quit while you're ahead?)

What do you think, Evan?

It might be nice to have a ghost pirate friend for future adventures.
We can spread word as we promised. I kind of like that.

In reply to Evan (msg # 398):

Oh, I can definitely roll with that! Ok, so we'll quit while we're ahead!

...

I'm guessing there won't be time to Loot the Area.

Oh well.

((Ok great agreed. Bards we become))

Myra, Evan, and Downytouch agree to the ghost's suggestions. They're very tired, feeling a little overwhelmed, and are pleased at the idea of saving the town without another fight.

Captain Harkaway, a mischievous gleam in his eyes, shouts at them: "Then run, me hearties! Run for yer boat! All ashore 'at's goin' ashore! A-HAH-HAH-HAH-HAH-HAH-HAH-HAH-HAH-HAH-HAH-HAH-HAH-HAH-HAH-HAH-HAH-HAH-HAH-HAH-HAH-HAAAAAAH!!!"

The three of you run (with a lot of flapping on Downytouch's part) back to the rowboat that brought you to the ships' graveyard... no monsters nor undead get in your way, although you hear many very disturbing sounds of creaking wood and groaning timbers as you run...

You get to your rowboat just in time. The Viper breaks away from the other ships, causing a big wave that pushes your little rowboat away from the other wrecks.

The Viper, with Captain Harkaway at the wheel, sails off (it's impossible-- the sails are as full of holes as the hull of the ship itself-- but it's running on pure ghostly malice)... but away from the town of Hanging Tree and its citizens.

You've saved the town from the increasingly-dangerous things lurking in the ships' graveyard-- indeed, the remaining shipwrecks start falling apart as you watch-- and you've also sort of helped rid the town of an evil cult? Okay, that was mostly their own doing, being so dumb as to have their meetings in a haunted ship's graveyard-- but you helped! And you've got a nice collection of neat loot to split evenly between you, too!

Sure, there's now an accursed ghostly pirate ship sailing the seas, but that probably would have happened anyway, or worse, and you're only human (or, okay, whatever you are, you know what I mean).

(ONE of you roll Charming, please, to explain all this to the Town Council of Hanging Tree...)

Evan, this is all you -- although I'll loan you the cloak for this meeting...

Evan will tell the tale of the dangers and monsters prowling, crawling or flying within the wreckage graveyard of ships. The cult with it's insane leaders and finally the encounter with the pirate ghost captain who they bargained with for the safety of the town. He would go on to the seas elsewhere if we spread word of his name, the dread pirate Captain Harkaway.

His talk accompanied by minor magics to enhance the story.


Yes he will accept the loan of the cloak.
Ok I have charming and the cloak, is Myra helping how many dice am I rolling for this ?
10:24, Today: Evan rolled 10 using 4d6 with rolls of 1,1,2,6.  Charming.
Good thing you gave me the cloak


This message was last edited by the player at 16:25, Tue 04 Oct 2022.

In reply to Evan (msg # 403):

Myra's assistance was the cloak! But with Downytouch's help, I think you should have 4 dice?

(With one result of 6 already, the question of whether or not there is more math we could bring into this seems moot.)

You might think that "there's a ghost pirate captain loose sailing an accursed ship of damnation around the seas now" might be seen as bad news, but the awesome way Evan tells it (perhaps especially since Evan is wearing an awesome impressive cloak that flutters by itself) totally sells this to the Town Council of Hanging Tree.

"This could be a whole tourism draw!"

"Yes-- come see Hanging Tree, where Captain Harkaway set sail on his eternal voyage!"

"Paladins and clerics will flock here, hoping to learn some clue that can help them defeat Harkaway!"

"And we can send them on fetchquests!"

"Maybe they'll build a cathedral!"

"We could-- we could--" One council member seems to be having an ecstatic vision. "We could... TAX THEM...!"

The town council is delighted by the party's results, and gives them a small treasure chest of gold and silver coins and jewels. Well, semiprecious gems, mostly, but there's more gold than silver.

(The party acquires Loot: Chest of Coins and Jewels. It is worth 4 Loot but can be divided up amongst the party however you want.)

As they finished their interactions with the town council and left them to their shenanigans planning, Myra reclaimed her cloak.

"So where to now?" she asked Evan. "I mean, we make a pretty good team... and we did promise that ghost that we'd spread his story." She paused to glance back at the council chambers. "In fact, if we play this right, we might even be able to arrange a commission to send more folks back this way -- you know, a "Tale of the Dread Pirate Harkaway from the Town of Hanging Tree" kind of thing. Not sure how they'd get the story out otherwise, right?"

"Well that is true, they will appreciate it with all their talk of new taxes. I think we should check with the town elder and see if they know of any towns nearby in need of adventurers. Oh and yeah thanks for the loan of the cloak, that thing is really cool."

(I have once again given up on Downytouch. If he comes back, he comes back, if not, not.)


Downytouch Lightbreeze parts ways with Evan and Myra. He wants to meditate on his experiences in the derelict ship's graveyard, and report in with his church elders.

He asks that you promise to donate an appropriate share of the loot to the church of Noric (god of the sky). He, himself, will take nothing.

(What will you tell him? And what will you actually do?)

He hopes to cross paths with you again someday-- and to adventure at your side.

After resting up as the Heroes of Hanging Tree, a message comes-- for you to travel southwest, to the community of Fort Regret.

(How is this message delivered? Pick one:

--A magic spell

--Evan's Warlock Patron

--A creepy messenger

--A well-trained animal)

In reply to The GM (msg # 408):

OOC: Sure, we'll donate his share to the church of Noric, if there is one in town. And we should probably split everything up, right?

Oooh! A well-trained animal!

Downytouch suggests that you two divide the loot into three piles, and then he'll pick which pile gets donated.

(Make them three obviously-equal piles, and he'll let YOU pick which pile gets donated.)

He does add that if you do this equitably, that Noric will be very pleased with all three of you.




(I'll deal with this after we finish dealing with loot...)

Well trained animal would have gotten my vote too.

Evan wants to keep his pirate hat. Other then that he helps split the loot into three piles.
He is pretty sure Myra will want to keep the cloak.

In reply to Evan (msg # 411):

Yep!

(Sounds like you're letting me handle it.

How about:


Evan's Pile:
--Bracers of Mental Deflection:  Worth 3 Loot   CURRENTLY WORN BY: EVAN
--1 potion of friendliness: (2 Loot.)
--A silver-inlaid straight-razor. (2 Loot.)
--excellent tri-corner hat: (1 Loot.)
--1 wooden jewelry box, beautifully carved with dragons (1 Loot.)


Myra's Pile:
--The (cracked) Buckler of Magical Defense is worth 2 Loot.
--Cape of Prestidigitation: (2 Loot.)
--Spoon of Salt: (2 Loot.)
--small but rare and beautiful seashell, a Queen's Scarlet Conch. (1 Loot.)
--1 piece of scrimshaw-- a bone from some ocean-going creature carved into the form of a bear (1 Loot.)
--1 silver firestarter box containing flint and steel (1 Loot.)
--1 Bag of Slightly Good Holding: holds more than it should be able to. Not a LOT more... like 15% more. But hey, free useful bag! (1 Loot.)

Noric's Pile:
--A gold seal, used for making an impression on sealing wax for letters and so on-- it forms a fancy capital letter H. (2 Loot)
--High-quality fishing rod (2 Loot)
--good buccaneer boots. Do you know how hard it is to find boots of this quality? Who cares that a zombie was the last one wearing them? (1 Loot.)
--Fancy gold boot buckles. (1 Loot. Together, not each.)
--smallish black opal. (1 Loot.)
--1 solid silver candlestick (1 Loot.)
--1 gold ring in the form of a snake head with tiny emeralds for eyes (1 Loot.)
--1 gold doubloon (1 Loot))

In reply to The GM (msg # 413):

That looks fair to me.

(Loot record updated.)

The Skywatcher at Hanging Tree's temple of Noric is impressed. Very impressed. "Oh, my," he says. "I'm going to give you something special."

He goes in the back and brings you-- a little carved wooden bird. In fact, it's a whistle-- you blow into its tail, and the sound comes out of its mouth. "Take care of it," he says. "Amazing things can happen when you use it-- keep it handy when you find yourself in need of help. Sometimes, when a devout believer in Noric is nearby but they aren't sure if you're friendly, the bird will whistle all by itself, to signal that they should help you. It'll never whistle in a way that gives away your position to anything dangerous, though. Here, take it, take it."

(Party gains holy item: Divine Whistling Bird of Noric: worth 3 loot.)

Then, a young man runs up and says that the city council has sent for "The Adventurers." Something unusual has happened, and they are asked to please report to the town hall at once.

OOC: Sorry for the delay, but I got laid out with some kind of respiratory cold last week.

Myra looks at the whistle with dubious surprise as the priest hands it to her.

"Thank you very much," she says politely, and carefully hands the whistle to Evan so he can carry it. "I'm sure it will come in handy." She isn't sure about it at all -- she's not really the religious type -- but there's no reason to be rude to the priest by saying so.

Thankfully the boy from the city saves her from having to make further conversation.

"We're on our way!" she says, and strikes a pose specifically so that her cape can billow majestically in the nonexistent wind. Then she leads the way to Town Hall to find out what's going on.

Evan takes the whistle securing it away safely. He also thanks the priest.
When he sees Myra strike a poke he strikes a pose alongside her.
He can't help but laugh a bit when they start moving again at how silly they must have looked.
Still he has a wide smile on his face as they head to seek their next adventure.