An Eye for an Eye SJ Module Conversion 3/3

Encounter 3:  At this point, Council actions could be extremely varied
depending on the perceived power of the PCs.  The Council may decide to
engage in a ship-to-ship action where they can employ their heavily
improved vessel and crew or they may decide to take the PCs on in a
fight similar to the one described in the module.  Regardless, they
will carry through with encounter 3 in some manner to weaken the PCs.
Before carrying out the actions of encounter 3, the Council is likely
to cause the party to be harassed by the authorities by perpetrating
minor acts while appearing as them.  Vandalism, walking out of taverns
without paying their tab, proselytizing against the government, etc.
are all good ways to quickly estrange the PCs from the authorities.
They do this not so much to harass the PCs but because they realize at
some point they may need the benefit of the doubt over the PCs if
things go wrong (like the PCs tracking them down and starting a battle
in the streets).
The Council^Òs first goal is to infiltrate the party or their crew.
While they^Òd prefer to have Smannet replace a PC (see the following for
ideas on what might happen to such a PC) so as to be more privy to PC
information and plans, they realize this also entails greater risk.
Unless an ideal opportunity presents itself to replace a PC, Smannet
will replace a simple crew member.
While the Council could decide on a bait scheme as described they are
more likely to want to assassinate a PC before meeting them in open
combat.  In this case their plan is very simple:  corner a key PC (or
two) alone and quickly kill them.  Then remove their invisible bodies
so they can^Òt be raised.  This gives the Council a number of benefits.
First, they have reduced the number of primary foes (the PCs), second
they have the gear of the person(s) killed, and third, they can use
speak with dead to try to learn more about the party (they hire a
cleric or purchase a scroll for this purpose).  Once done questioning
the dead, they burn the bodies.  Note that DMs who carry out this
appropriately ruthless plan without having given their players hints of
trouble may be considered unfair so it is probably best used with a
very mature, serious group, or against the character of a player that
has had to permanently leave the group for some reason.  Merely
kidnapping a PC can have much the same effect, but then the Council has
to worry about a prisoner (though they can use detect thoughts while
performing extensive interrogation).  Perhaps they then sell the PC to
slavers, forcing the party into a longer chase, first to destroy the
Council and then to track their companion(s) further along.  Or the
Council might decide to sell a PC into slavery and then stick around
for the inevitable rescue attempt by the party whereupon they will help
the slavers battle the PCs.  This is especially effective if the group
knows the party has access to methods of scrying over long distances
and so are able to locate their missing member.  Dorath particularly
likes the idea of causing the PCs to come into conflict with illithids
if he thinks they are powerful enough to do real damage to the
squid-headed slave eating race due to his prior torments by them.
Regardless of what else happens, the Council knows they can only
perform this attack once before the PCs will be made aware of the
danger and on their guard (in addition to actively trying to locate the
source of trouble).  Once they attempt this scheme (successful or not),
Smannet will pull out of his position (he^Òs probably involved in the
attempt anyway) to reduce liabilities and concentrate the Council^Òs
forces.
Encounter 4:  The Council pulls no punches when they meet the PCs in a
fight.  Most likely they^Òve decided to use the openness of space and
their letters of marque to cover their activities and so attack the PCs
ship to ship.  In this case they will attempt to pound the PC^Òs ship
from afar and will only move in close for ramming attempts.  If the PCs
are too fast, they will attempt to grapple and will lead the boarding
action covered by fireballs.  It is probable that the PCs have a great
advantage in power and magic over the Council so they will be hesitant
to bring things to this point.  This fight will not occur in the flow
under any circumstances.  Garx^Òs ability to phase and Enchilios^Òs
reliance on fire magic would weaken the Council far too much so they
will not allow this to happen (unless the DM decides otherwise, for
instance a PC party who only mages are fire elementalists and so would
be even further reduced or the like might make the Council decide they
have to fight the PCs in the flow, in which case Enchilios uses lower
level spells for his 3rd level spell slots).
Garx will be key in any close fight as his poison is a great equalizer
as well as his ability to phase in and out.  He must stay on the
Vengeancemaker until such a time, however, as he can^Òt keep up with a
ship traveling at tactical speed on the prime material.  He is also the
Council^Òs last hope.  If things get really bad Garx will begin phasing
in to rescue his friends.  He starts by getting Dorath Kir to the
ethereal then comes back for the other members of the Council as best
possible.  He prefers to leave Enchilios until last as the elf^Òs spells
can continue to do damage.  Once the Council is clear he will save the
helmsman and the chaplain (at Enchilios^Òs request, in that order)
finally followed by anyone else (of course, marines receive preference
over common crew members and the marine sergeant receives preference
over common marines).  Escaping to the ethereal is probably a
desperation move for the Council as they can^Òt survive there and are
most likely very far from inhabitable areas of the prime material at
this point, far too far to travel to.  If the chaplain survives they
will have access to water but only if he reaches 5th level can he
supply food (in this case he could use all his only 3rd level spell to
generate food for up to 15 people, though Garx wouldn^Òt enjoy it and
eats more than a single human^Òs worth per day).
With a full crew between him and his foes, Enchilios is free to throw
his spells from comfort and safety.  He targets spell casters primarily
and directs several members of the Vengeancemaker^Òs crew to use their
crossbow to do the same.  The helmsman may even allow him to use one of
her scrolls to protect himself with protection against arrows.  He also
uses web freely and is not concerned so much about saving an
invisibility for later (where would he run?).  Since his spell focus
makes his fireballs more deadly and the helmsman cannot yet recharge
his wand, he prefers to cast fireball spells rather than use his wand
to generate them.
Smannet will do what he does best:  blend in.  First he appears as a
common crew member in the boarding party then he will change appearance
to that of his enemies to cause confusion and seek advantageous
position during the battle.  He knows he has to be careful, however.
While he might get in a sneak attack, he is also likely to be targeted
by his own crew and companions.  If he gets low on hps (down to ¼ or
less) he will retreat for healing.  Smannet may also use his bow before
or after entering melee.
Varimer sticks close to Terquad during the battle.  Not only does she
want to protect him but this makes good sense, as the two can flank
opponents and use their sneak attacks together.  Terquad isn^Òt worried
about this and fights alongside her easily.  Remember they have
poisoned their longswords before the battle.  Both seek to stay at the
periphery of the battle where they can pick off enemy crew members as
well as getting in sneak attacks on PCs.  This also allows them to
retreat easily if needed, whereupon they will use their bows.  They
follow the waves of their own crew onto the PCs^Ò ship to use their
melee skills to advantage, possibly covering the boarding action with
their bows.  Both have obscuring mist spells memorized unless the DM
has a specific reason for them to memorize a different spell, for
instance spider climb.  They use obscuring mist to disable enemy
spellcasters and missile troops (Enchilios can still drop fireballs and
web spells into the area but the enemy troops can^Òt target the
Council^Òs troops) as well as to cover any forced retreat.  Both melee
until reduced to 1/2 hps or less.
Dorath Kir starts out by using his powerful composite longbow to hit PC
spellcasters.  If he feels it is better to enter melee or his arrows
run out he will enter melee.  He only retreats when reduced to 22 hps
or less whereupon he takes up his bow again (using arrows from marines
if he has to).
The marines and their sergeant lead any boarding action.  As the ships
close they fire volleys of arrows at the PCs^Ò vessel (even when engaged
in ranged combat, with the Vengeancemaker not trying to grapple, they
will fire arrows as the ships pass each other such as during ramming
attempts).  Once the ships are secured together they draw their
longswords and storm onto the other ship^Òs deck, covered by volleys of
crossbow bolts from crew members (as well as any arrows and spells the
Council members wish to launch).  The marines probably fight to the
death since it is likely they will be slaughtered before enough of the
Vengeancemaker^Òs crew dies to cause a retreat.  This is their lot in
life and they know it but they aren^Òt suicidal.  Those reduced below ½
hps try to pull back for healing and in order to fire more arrows.  If
they can^Òt, however, they try to take as many enemies as possible with
them.  Against particularly powerful foes they are locked in melee with
(such as PCs) they may perform a bull rush and grapple, attempting to
drop both themselves and their victim over the side onto the gravity
plane (and thus removing both from the rest of the battle probably,
regardless of which survives).
The common crew members fire the large weapons and man the sails
expertly.  Each keeps their crossbow close at hand and will fire it at
the PCs^Ò crew in the case of grappling between the two vessels.  In a
boarding action a number of them will be ordered to join the marines
(the DM should decide how many) while the others remain behind to fire
their crossbows.  At least ¼ of the common crew will always remain
behind, where they take orders from Enchilios (this is so they can
coordinate their attacks with his spells).  Crew members are not
limited to their listed equipment as they also grab the
Vengeancemaker^Òs ten boarding pikes for use in their attack.  Any crew
member that takes damage will retreat to the Vengeancemaker to use
their crossbow.
The chaplain uses all his spells as well as his crossbow to aid the
battle.  He doesn^Òt memorize any inflict spells before the battle as he
can freely trade out for any of these.  He^Òs also ready to command any
undead the PCs may have on their ship.  More importantly all his spells
are healing spells except for a bless spell and a two silence spells as
well as his domain spells.  He memorizes calm emotions and protection
from good or protection from chaos (depending on what the Council
thinks the PCs^Ò alignments are predominantly as well as those of their
crew, he may have even had the chance to subject PCs and their crew to
detect good and detect chaos spells during Encounter 2 and 3).
Naturally he also uses his heal skill to aid the wounded.  Before the
marines enter battle he casts his bless spell on them and all the
nearby crew (depending on the ship, this may be the entire crew).  He
will cast aid and bull^Òs strength from his scrolls on Smannet, Varimer,
and Terquad before they enter combat.  If the PCs truly seem formidable
he may give Dorath Kir his potion of bull^Òs strength (or Enchilios will
coax the helmsman out of her for Dorath^Òs use).  He casts his silence
and calm emotion spells on PCs, preferring spellcasters.  As the
wounded start to come in he will cast sanctuary from a scroll if the
PCs and their crew are still generating magical and missile bombardment
(he doesn^Òt wanted to waste a healing spell by being hit while casting
it).
The helmsman is at the helm and out of spells.  Even if she lets her
lover borrow one of her scrolls she first casts mage armor and shield
from it on herself.  If she keeps the scroll, she won^Òt cast the spell
unless needed.  She will only use arcane lock on the door from a scroll
if the PCs are boarding the Vengeancemaker.  She will let in retreating
allies to help make a last stand.  Alternately she will use arcane lock
to secure the entry to the hold in hopes that Garx will be able to come
rescue her and other crew holed up there (it is likely that Garx can^Òt
fit elsewhere in the ship due to his size).  She uses all her abilities
and equipment to resist the PCs if it comes down to that but would
rather surrender in this case.  She is not a combat-oriented person
(despite learning some combat-oriented spells in order to aid
Enchilios) and does not want to fight.

Concluding the Adventure:
Did the PCs recover all their friends?  Did the Council of Wrath get
away?  If they made it to the ethereal did they survive?  Do the PCs
need to track down friends sold to slavers?  Did the PCs inadvertently
make other enemies while dealing with this adventure, perhaps of
slavers or pirates or the illithids?
        In addition to these questions the PCs might wonder why the Council
attacked them.  The right questions in the right places (and possibly
some money for the info) could easily reveal how the Council operates
so the PCs will know it was nothing personal.  If the Council failed
they aren^Òt likely to try again as they had nothing personal in it and
it was all just business (they took the wrong job).  However the PCs
still might want to hunt them down and might spread word about them
being pirates.  While most governments know the Council^Òs true
activities some might use the PCs^Ò accusations and an excuse to deal
with a band that has possibly annoyed them in the past.  Also the PCs
might wonder who hired the Council and explore a variety of ways to
learn this information.  Unfortunately, only the Council members know,
even their crew doesn^Òt.


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