Solo Savage Pathfinder – Scene 8 – The Voyage Begins!

Ondo sets sail aboard the Devotion

This series is about a solo Savage Worlds Pathfinder game using the Solo Savage Worlds Guide and Mythic GM Emulator 2, set in a randomly-generated world. Find the first post here at Session 0 .

In the last scene, our protagonist Ondo Baridad, the hedge wizard with a shameful family past, fought his way through the offspring of a demon crab in the secret smugglers’ tunnels. He had the assistance of Anvil, one of the Devotion’s crewmen who is turning out to be a valuable ally. The mysterious scrying eye also made its return.

So we’ve learned that the Sisterhood of the Watery Hells is indeed still operating in Delcor. They sent assassins after Ondo earlier and now he’s seen that they’re using the tunnels for some nefarious purposes and guarding it with a demonic beast. What it all adds up to, I don’t know, but definitely intriguing!

And also definitely time for another advance. Re-reading the Savage Worlds Solo Players Guide, it seems I misinterpreted it before. There aren’t any dice rolls, it’s just whether the character achieved some goal and deserves one. Ondo has fought and bled and made real progress, so I’m not going to begrudge him some more points to spend. The book advancement track for the Wizard Ezren, which Ondo is based on, lists taking the Edge Channeling as the next step. Seems a useful way to conserve Power Points, so I’ll go with that.

For bookkeeping this session, not much has changed for the Mythic list. I’ll add the name of the demon crab – A’bahesc the Forsaken, though. It sounds cool and, who knows, it might play a part later.

I’ll also lower the Chaos Factor to 5. It’s been a wild ride for Ondo before even getting out of the harbor on his voyage, so it seems an appropriate time to cool things off a bit.

I want to look into that curse scroll a bit more to see if it could come in handy. The spell is new from Savage Pathfinder and isn’t in the SWADE core rules, so I don’t exactly remember what it does. Reading through the description, it says someone who fails their Spirit roll loses a Fatigue every night. There’s also a modifier called ‘Turn to Stone’, which does exactly what it sounds like it does, but in a number of rounds instead of days. It costs an extra +5 PP to upcast it like that.

Hmm, I wonder if the scroll was created with the Turn to Stone enhancement. Rolling on the Mythic Fate Chart using “Very Unlikely” odds I get – a success! Interesting. Whoever made that scroll probably intended to capture its target by petrifying them. Ondo will keep that close at hand – it might be helpful.

Scene 8 – Setting Sail!

It’s time for Ondo to get onto the high seas and begin his mission to retrieve the Pearl of Storms from the wicked warlock pirate, Wran. He and Anvil wend their way back through the tunnels and return to the Devotion. They report what they found to the captain, including the loss of Tarm. The crew takes the news hard – Tarm was well liked (roll a d6 and got – a 5).

Fearing being detained yet again, Ondo requests that Captain Perkins wait til just before they set sail before sending a runner to report what they found in the caves to the authorities (Persuasion roll – 4, success). His mission is more important than whatever is going on in the warehouses and he doesn’t want to lose another day or more answering questions. With luck, they’ll catch the evening tide and be well on their way before any official inquiry begins.

Testing the scene using the Mythic rules – a 6, which is higher than the Chaos Factor of 5 now. The scene proceeds as expected and, at long last, Ondo is on his way to Talas! His goal at the volcanic island is to track down the Capricious Heart, which is known to be a messenger ship for the warlock Wran.

The sails snap smartly, catching the breeze as they round the breakwater into open water. The powerful ship surges forward and begins plunging through the rolling waves, which are much larger out at sea than they were in the sheltered harbor.

Despite himself, Ondo feels exhilarated at the prospects ahead. The chance to clear his family name and regain a position of trust in society again has filled him with a sense of hope he hasn’t felt in a long time. He doesn’t even glance back at the receding town and imposing cliffs of Delcor. Instead he keeps his face in the wind, privately reveling in the moment.

One glance at the captain at the helm dampens his mood, however. A dark cloud hangs over Perkins as they sail away from the coastline in the fading light (roll d6 for the captain’s mood – a 1). Maybe it’s the loss of Tarm. Or perhaps his sailor senses are telling him that ill omens accompany their voyage. Whatever it is, it seems to have infected the entire crew. Ondo decides not to ask and instead turns his mind to planning his next steps.

The Voyage

I have no expectations or planned encounters during the trip, so I’m just going to draw cards for random encounters, using the tables from the Savage Pathfinder Companion. On a face card, something happens.

A few quick consultations with the oracle give me the following itinerary for the five-day voyage:

the direction of sail is northwest over open water
they should reach the mainland at Port Dency on the third day
they then turn south and sail along the coast
on day 4 they need to cross the dangerous Straits of Lenkin, then continue down the coast
the island of Talas is beyond that, within sight of the shore of the mainland

(I could’ve just used one of the great online fantasy map generators to make the world – my personal favorite is Azgaar’s – but I wanted to see if I could build my own map using oracle rolls to guide me. The process was long with a lot of Yes/No rolls and rolling on the Mythic tables, so I won’t cover how I did it here. Maybe one day I’ll dedicate a blog post to it.)

By the map, it looks like it might be easier to sail around the south side of the Vironi Legion to reach Talas. So I consulted the oracles and they assure me that the prevailing winds and presence of pirates makes it much easier to go the northerly route marked on the map.

The Savage Worlds core rules list the average travel times of 30 miles per 8 hours for a sailing ship. So sailing around the clock they can travel 90 miles per day. Distance from Delcor to Port Dency is somewhere a little bit less than 270 miles then.

The first two days aboard the Devotion pass without incident. The weather is mild and pleasant, with the winds picking up on the second day. The crew sails through the day and night, rotating in shifts. Ondo spends his time re-learning his way around a ship helping when he can and trying to stay out of the way when he can’t. (He has Boating d4 – I roll an exploding 9! He’s certainly a competent sea hand, easily falling back on the skills he learned in his earlier years adventuring).

He also tries to bond with the captain to discuss the mission. (I roll — a 1 and Wild die 2 for Persuasion d6. Ouch, failure!) Seems Captain Perkins is always occupied with running the ship and makes excuses to avoid Ondo.

Since the captain has no time for him, Ondo tries to mingle with the crew instead. (Roll Persuasion — a 1 and 1 — snake eyes, a Critical Failure!) Evidently the crew blames Ondo for the death of Tarm. He notices the hostile glances and the conversations drying up whenever he’s around.

(What about Anvil, is he also giving Ondo the cold shoulder? – Yes. Oh no! I had hoped they would continue to travel together. I guess Anvil is angry about what happened in the caves and has spread this hatred among the crew. Can’t say I blame him for being upset at seeing his friend be torn apart by giant crabs!)

Once he realizes this, Ondo starts spending most of the time in his cabin. “I’m not sulking,” he tells himself, unconvincingly. He does feel guilty about putting Tarm in danger, though. He might need to figure out a way to atone for his death if he’s going to be able to rely on the crew in the future.

Vessel in Distress

On the third day there is an encounter (I draw the Queen of Hearts). It is currently 1pm (roll a d12 for hour and a d6 for am/pm). Rolling a d20 and consulting the Ocean Encounters table (in the Savage Pathfinder Companion), I get ‘Ship’. Further consulting the Ship Type table comes up with a ‘Merchant Sloop’. But who are they and what are their intentions?

Rolling on the Mythic Meaning Tables, I get ‘News’ and ‘Normal’. So I’m going to say they’re just a normal trade vessel common to this area, but they do have news to report. What’s the news? – ‘Misfortune’ and ‘Slowly’.

They report that they are adrift, limping along without sails, their ship damaged due to some misfortune. Pirates? – Yes. Oh boy, they were attacked. Do they know their attackers? – Yes. Was it the Capricious Heart? – No. Was it Wran himself? – Yes! Did he use the Pearl of Storms? – Yes.

Finally, I want to name this damaged merchant ship, just because I like having it for the narrative. Picking a couple tables at random from the Mythic book, I get – ‘Powered’ and ‘Mysterious’. How about the King’s Riddle.

Wow, okay! So the captain of the King’s Riddle tells a tale of how they were beset by a freak storm that came out of nowhere. It shredded their sails and snapped their mainmast. And at the height of it, a massive dark ship appeared and boarded them. The warlock himself led his crew of pirates in stealing their cargo and then they left.

There were no casualties because the captain surrendered at the first opportunity. But the pirates did take away the first mate, for some reason. (Consulted the oracle with some logical Yes/No questions with a 50/50 probability to get these details).

The crew of the Devotion is stunned by this story and is murmuring noisily among themselves. Ondo is inwardly excited by this stroke of luck. His plan had been to head to Talas to run down Wran’s messenger vessel, the Capricious Heart. He hadn’t been sure how he was going to find out from them where the pirate lord was holed up. But now this solid lead has dropped in their laps!

He holds up a hand for silence and begins asking pointed questions of the captain of the stricken vessel. “Did you see which way they went?” he asks (– Yes, due east).

“How long ago were you attacked?” (– 16 hours, so sometime during the previous evening).
Ondo asks Captain Perkins what lies in that direction. (Is there anything? – No)

Consulting his charts, he replies, “nothing, Master Baridad. It’s open sea for a thousand miles.”

“Perhaps there are islands not on your chart?” Ondo offers helpfully.

Captain Perkins shakes his head. “Not unless they were conjured from the depths. It’s deepwater for leagues around.” Ondo doubts even a powerful warlock could raise an entire island from the deep sea, even with the Pearl of Storms (Is it possible? – No. He makes a successful Occult roll to confirm this is wildly beyond the abilities of mortal spellcasters).

Surely Wran didn’t head out on that bearing just to throw off pursuit. His actions show he’s far too brazen to worry about something like that, Ondo thinks. “Can you think of nothing?” he presses Captain Perkins. To be so close and still have no idea where the scoundrel was, was maddening.

(Persuasion roll – success! So is there something the Captain can think of? – Yes. But what is it? – ‘Interesting’ ‘Abandon’. Hmm…maybe abandoned ships? Like a sargasso sea full of wrecks or something? – Yes. Oh, that’s cool!)

Perkins cocks his head. “Perhaps…” he mutters absently, his mind clearly pondering. Ondo stares at the man expectantly. The nearby crew are also hanging on his words.

“There is an area where the winds don’t blow…doldroms choked with mats of rotting seaweed and biting flies…here…” he places his finger on an otherwise unremarkable spot on the chart. “There are reports of floating hulls and lost ships, the remains of unfortunate vessels who got trapped there.”

Ondo feels a shiver run up his spine. A few of the crew within earshot look visibly nervous.

“How far?” Ondo asks. (roll d100 = 51)

“About 50 miles. A half-day’s sail, if the winds hold,” Perkins replies.

“Captain, we must set course for this area at once!” Ondo says (Persuasion roll – a 2 and a 3 – failure!) Perkins shakes his head.

“I’m afraid these men take priority over your mission, Master Baridad,” the captain says, spreading his hands out to indicate the (2d12) 16 sailors they rescued from the King’s Riddle. “We can’t leave them with their ship in this state.” Ondo begins to protest, but Perkins holds up a hand to silence him. “I’ll send over our carpenter and we can provide tools, lumber, rope, and sails to repair their damages. We’ll have them seaworthy by…” he glances at the ship’s carpenter. (roll 2d12 – result = 8 hours).

The carpenter thinks a moment and then says, “we’ll ‘ave ‘em ship shape by sundown, cap’n.”

Perkins nods. “Until that time, we’re not going anywhere.” He glares at Ondo, shutting down all argument.

A few of the nearby sailors give Ondo sullen sidewise glances. (Geez, he’s really coming across as a heartless monster to the crew – they seem to think he’s eager to sacrifice them in pursuit of his goals). Ondo swallows his argument and nods grimly. “Of course, captain,” he says.

He leaves the sailors to their work and strides down the deck to face the east. He looks wistfully to the endless horizon. You’re close, Wran…so close! he thinks.

End Scene 8

Okay, that seems like an excellent stopping point for this session. Not a lot of action, but we did learn a few new things. Wran is actively pirating ships and using the Pearl of Storms to do it. He may be hiding in the ship graveyard on the Suffering Sea. (Is his activity increasing? – Yes. So maybe he has some plan that’s starting to come to fruition. Or maybe Ondo is influencing Wran’s timetable, forcing him to be more out in the open. We’ll have to see).

The crew of Devotion doesn’t seem to trust Ondo. He may need to secure other methods of following the warlock to the ship graveyard. Being out to sea with people who don’t have your back could be hazardous.

I didn’t really use the Mythic List, but that’s okay. The random tables from the book and simple oracle rolls filled in some pretty cool details. Until next time!