Book 2 - Act 3: Tidewater Rock

The shipping lanes of Golarion's seas and oceans are filled with fat merchant vessels laden with trade goods both mundane and exotic, as well as the pirates and freebooters who prey on them. Under the banner of their Hurricane King, these buccaneers sally forth from that archipelago of lawless pirate ports and anchorages known as the Shackles, plundering the shipping of countless countries and trade consortiums, then vanishing back into the maze of islands and reefs they call home. The nations of the Inner Sea would like nothing more than to end the pirate menace once and for all, but the eternal hurricane known as the Eye of Abendego has thus far shielded the Free Captains of the Shackles from the threat of retaliation.


In the Skull & Shackles Adventure Path, the PCs take on the role of pirates, but they must make a name for themselves in piracy, plunder, and disrepute to truly become infamous Free Captains of the Shackles.

A Paizo Adventure Path

Run by the Pirate King Vardaen
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Book 2 - Act 3: Tidewater Rock

Post by Vardaen » Fri Apr 01, 2016 9:07 pm

Image We live by the grace of the sea, and we die by her wrath.
When she gives we celebrate, and when she takes we beg forgiveness.
But we never disparage her claims, for when she gives her gift, we gain life.
When she takes from us, we know we have mistreated her.
When we sail the open sea, we are in her embrace alone,
And we long for her to rock us to sleep
Instead of breaking our bodies against the rocks
Or taking our breath to the cold depths.
Gathered, we ask the sea to take our brother into her bosom
As she has taken his life from us.
May he be blessed, and the sea as well.
—Common passage from a sailor’s funeral

It has been eight days since the defeat of Captain Whalebone Pilk and the Deathknell. Spirits are high, for what other crew has taken down a legend of the sea? A true myth and the crew of Besmara's Banshee has defeated them! No one can stop them now, not some Tidewater Rock and its inhabitants certainly!

Tidewater Rock has quiet the legend that goes along with it itself. Between what Aya knows, and Concobhar has heard, along with Kroop and other sailors of the ship you piece together some bit of history for it.

When a Free Captain named Magna Stormeyes discovered the natural harbor on Windward Isle over 2 centuries ago, she immediately recognized that it would make the perfect haven from which to launch a pirate fleet. Starting with just one ship and a small encampment on Windward’s harbor, she began to ply the trade of piracy. With the plunder from her initial hauls, she set about building a keep, which she called Tidewater Rock. From the vantage point atop the Rock, she found she could pick out particularly ripe targets while receiving ample of warning of hostile ships approaching.

Over time, Stormeyes’ successes enabled her to build a sizeable fleet, as well as more strongholds on several different islands. She became the scourge of the southern sea lanes and eventually claimed the Hurricane Crown as her own. Shortly after becoming the Hurricane King and relocating to Port Peril, she was assassinated by rival Free Captains. Stormeyes’ burgeoning fleet fell apart among its squabbling captains. Gerta Frome, first mate of Stormeyes’ flagship, the Cocksure, seized control of the Rock. Within only a few years, Frome became a powerful Free Captain herself, and the legend of Tidewater Rock as both a powerful good luck talisman and an impregnable bastion was born.

Over the many years since, control of Tidewater Rock has passed from hand to hand, and its strategic location and practical defensibility have enabled its owners to enrich themselves substantially. With the rebellion of Sargava and its ostensible alliance with the Free Captains, Tidewater Rock became of less strategic importance, and its owners came to be of less prominence, but the age-old axiom of “Good fortune and sure sail await what one can crack the Tidewater Rock” has stood the test of time among the pirates of the Shackles and is oft-quoted—if seldom heeded—even today.

The most recent lord of Tidewater Rock was Bertram Smythee, captain of the Vale and three other brigs. Like his predecessors, he held Tidewater Rock as his seat, but controlled a few other small castles on surrounding islands as well.

Over a decade ago, “Iron Bert” Smythee went to sea with his small fleet in a feud with Free Captain Carola Antiochus and was never seen again. Word came back that Antiochus had lured Smythee into the edges of the Eye of Abendego and ambushed him with the help of a previously unknown ally—one Barnabas Harrigan—and that Smythee’s fleet was cut to pieces between the enemy fleets. Though Captain Smythee managed to sink Antiochus’s Pergador, he was last seen on the deck of the crippled and sinking Vale at the mercy of the Eye’s hurricane winds.

Captain Harrigan claimed the remainder of Antiochus’s fleet and took control of several of Smythee’s undefended castles. He made an attempt to take the Tidewater Rock as well, only to discover that Smythee’s able widow had taken charge of its defenses. She managed to fend off his attack with such alacrity that Harrigan decided to leave the widow to rot in her tower.

Although Tidewater Rock remains a secure base and harbor, it does not command the reputation it once did. The current owner of the Rock is Agasta Smythee, widow of the late Iron Bert. The Rock commands some treasures—its favorable location, its security, and the late captain’s fabled iron shirt from which he gained his nickname—but it is otherwise remote and at the mercy of what the sea chooses to throw upon its shores.
A tower rises like a solid block from the sea at the edge of this island. The pounding surf rolls around its base and partially covers the steps that lead up to its front gate. A few arrow slits pierce its walls here and there, and a single shuttered window opens high upon the face of the fortress. A roof of metal shingles rises from its battlements where sentries keep lookout and siege weapons stand ready on corner turrets.

"There she is, Tidewater Rock!" Kroop stands on the bow, he's sober, and has been for a long time now since joining your crew and getting off the Wormwood. He looks on with awe at the structure that rises up out of the isle. "Well captain, they have surely seen us. Do we sail in weapons blazing, or do we try and sneak in somehow, or perhaps a friendly visit and some diplomacy is called for?"

Your crew hands from the rigging or leans over the rails to get a view, the command staff all at the bow of the ship gazing at the next part of your venture as pirates on the Shackle Sea.

80 Days Since Leaving Rickety's Squibs
Tidewater Rock's lcoation is on Windward Isle, the westernmost island in a small archipelago south of Motaku Isle. Charts you found belonging to the former captain of the Man’s Promise show the island’s location. Windward Isle lies just over 100 miles west of Rickety’s Squibs

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Welcome to the next chapter! Everyone should be 5th Level and fully updated by now. There you sit, anchored a safe distance from the isle and the rock (the chapter picture is pretty accurate).
"He that breaks a thing to find out what it is has left the path of wisdom." - Gandalf
J.R.R. Tolkien, Council of Elrond, The Fellowship of the Ring

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Book 2 - Act 3: Tidewater Rock

Post by Hayabusa » Fri Apr 01, 2016 11:54 pm

Sitting on the railing, the sea beneath her feet and the spyglass in her hand Aya still mulls about the history of the place as Kroop asks. They might find an ally or a foe here though as far as she can tell, an ally would be more likely considering that past with an individual that is common in the lives of the officers of the Besmara's Banshee and of the current owner of Tidewater Rock.

"Aye, they will have spotted us and I doubt they will take their eyes away from us until we vanish again or make our whole ship vanish. So I don't think that's a time to be sneaky but instead just slowly sail closer and set foot in it all visible and obvious," the kitsune remarks, looking to the others and waits for them to speak their mind as well even as she continues with a grin. "It doesn't mean that we have to be all unprepared though and I encourage everyone to take a rather calm approach but still be ready to draw cutlass and fire ballistae if something attacks us. Let us try a little bit of diplomacy after being successful with the silent approach to our Chelish interruption."
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"All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us."

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Book 2 - Act 3: Tidewater Rock

Post by AdamDaBomb11 » Sat Apr 02, 2016 3:14 am

Gragol is hard work, but even he stops for a moment to take in the sight of Tidewater Rock. He stares at the landscape around it for a possible best angle of approach.
K.Geography. Are there any specific angles that would be slightly more favorable than the others to approach from or sit at?
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Book 2 - Act 3: Tidewater Rock

Post by Trogdor » Mon Apr 04, 2016 1:33 pm

"It's a pirate haven," Maggie replies. "And we're pirates. Few enough places we can freely come to port. Seems wise to try and make nice with Tidewater Rock." She gives Aya a playful punch in the arm. "Who knows, After hearing about the Deathknell maybe they'll make you a Free Captain."

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Book 2 - Act 3: Tidewater Rock

Post by Hayabusa » Mon Apr 04, 2016 7:52 pm

"And if they do not, well, we'll just have to take that spot ourselves," Aya replies with a grin to Maggie. "Ain't nothing like just taking what we want. We're not on some highly organized market for noble folks or something like that." She offers the spyglass to anyone who might want to take a look. "Alright, I hear one for diplomacy, what about anyone else? 'Cause of course I can just make the decision but where's my opportunity to convince you that my course of action is the best one," she adds with a wink.
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"All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us."

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Book 2 - Act 3: Tidewater Rock

Post by AdamDaBomb11 » Mon Apr 04, 2016 8:13 pm

Gragol nods in approval when a diplomacy approach is mentioned.
Gragol isn't much of a talker, but he will agree with a diplomatic approach.
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Book 2 - Act 3: Tidewater Rock

Post by Grimbold » Tue Apr 05, 2016 11:20 am

"Ok. Let us talk to them. But... we need some way to persuade them to let us into their tower. If I were in there, I would not let anyone I did not know or trust close to it. And the lady who is holding it seems competent and wary. So what story could we tell her? That we took Harrigan's ship from him and killed some of his officers?" Rod says. "We need a good story."

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Book 2 - Act 3: Tidewater Rock

Post by Hayabusa » Tue Apr 05, 2016 12:04 pm

"We only need what we do not have already. And we have a lot of them so far," Aya remarks grinning. "If all are in accordance then we will just slowly sail close to it and anchor at it. The tales we lived through should be enough and if friendly persuasion has no effect, then we have a crew that has already taken a half dozen ships! Defeated traders and Chelish pirate hunters alike, even escaped one of their man-o'-wars and vanquished a ghost ship. All of that by men and women who had once been put aboard as unwilling recruits. Not in chains but beneath the bloody whip of Harrigan and his lackeys."

"So it is either that or..." she trails off, to stand up and on the railing, the tower behind her. She raises her voice to shout across the ship so that the majority of those on deck can hear her. "If there's someone pickin' up a cutlass and points it our way, this death-defying crew's goin' to split the Rock right in half. Anyone dumb enough t' think they can defy us 'll be drownin' in their own blood and watchin' their entrails slither on the ground. Am I right?"
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Book 2 - Act 3: Tidewater Rock

Post by Vardaen » Tue Apr 05, 2016 3:36 pm

"HUZAH!"

The crew pumps their fists into the air in agreement with the captain.

Kroop looks to the Captain, "Perhaps Captain, you and the officers should row to shore in the ship's boat with a clear sign of friendship flying. The rest of us will wait here for your return, or your signal to attack."
"He that breaks a thing to find out what it is has left the path of wisdom." - Gandalf
J.R.R. Tolkien, Council of Elrond, The Fellowship of the Ring

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Book 2 - Act 3: Tidewater Rock

Post by Hayabusa » Tue Apr 05, 2016 5:29 pm

"Aye! It is a grande idea, Kroop. I say that you're in charge while we're off. And if you don't hear back from us an hour after we are in, I want you to reduce this place to rubble," Aya replies and hops off the railing. "I do like you even more every day you are not drunk," she adds with a smile instead of a grin for a moment and a short stop before heading for the rowboat and she raises her voice again. "Put a boat in the water, yer officers're goin' to shore to take a tower!"
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"All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us."

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