[Information] Background Information

[pianoman90]

~*~Prequel: Sunset on a Doomed Ship~*~

The Sargavan merchant vessel Jenivere was one of many that make the yearly voyage along the western coasts of Avistan and northern Garund. Its trade route ran from the Sargavan capital city of Eleder all the way up to Magnimar in Varisia, and then back south again. The trip was 3,400 miles long and took just over a hundred days one way. Yet despite its length and sometimes dangerous peril, it was also a trip filled with opportunity for profit. The Jenivere’s ports of call included (from north to south) Magnimar, Kintargo, Pezzack, Corentyn, Ilizmagorti, Ollo, Quent, Port Peril, Bloodcove, Senghor, and finally Eleder—it was at these cities that you boarded the ship.

One of the Jenivere’s passengers appeared to be a plain-looking Varisian scholar named Ieana. Although friendly enough, Ieana mostly kept to herself, and whispers among the crew variously claimed that she was really a Chelish agent, the actual owner of the Jenivere, or even Captain Alizandru Kovack’s secret lover. None of these were true, but Ieana is indeed far more than she appeared.

As the voyage progressed, Ieana kept to herself and maintained her disguise. Her talent at deception and her periodic and subtle use of suggestion on the ship’s captain and crew ensured that no one on board suspected the actual truth. As the Jenivere began the final stage of her journey across Desperation Bay, Ieana made her move. She used dominate person to enthrall Captain Kovack and thus ensured that the ship’s course veered slightly off its intended route, sending it many miles off course into waters known for their dangerous currents, piracy, monsters, and worse. The Jenivere was now on a collision course with the notorious island known as Smuggler’s Shiv.

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With the crew growing increasingly suspicious of the unusual course, Ieana knew she had to take drastic action if she was going to reach Smuggler’s Shiv before a mutiny occurred. So, the night before the ship’s fateful encounter with the island’s northern shore, she slipped into the ship’s galley, murdered the cook, and used multiple vials of oil of taggit to poison the evening’s meal (excluding the already dominated captain and the first mate Alton Devers, whom she dominated just before she murdered the cook). After hiding the cook’s body and disguising herself as him, she saw to the delivery of the poisoned meal to passengers and crew. Yet soon thereafter, with the majority of the ship (including you) unconscious from the poisoning, Ieana’s plans finally began to unravel.

First, with so many of the ship’s crew unable to aid in manning the ship, the Jenivere was quickly snatched up by the notorious currents. Held fast in these currents and hurtling for the sharp rocks of the isle’s northern shore, the first mate accomplished something the captain could not—he managed to overcome the domination (by succeeding on a new saving throw when ordered by the captain to aid in the approach to the dangerous shore) and confronted the captain, accusing him of madness and demanding that he turn away from his disastrous course. Captain Kovack didn’t take well to the insubordination and, with some mental urging from Ieana, attacked Alton. The resulting battle was furious, but before the captain could kill his mate, the Jenivere struck Smuggler’s Shiv. The ship lurched as it impaled itself and split in half upon the sharp rocks, sending both Captain Kovack and Ieana plummeting into the surf.

Still on board the doomed ship, the wounded first mate’s concern shifted to the safety of the ship’s passengers. The ship’s crew, being housed on a lower deck, had drowned in the wreck, but her passengers yet lived. With a heroic effort, he managed to drag several passengers into the Jenivere’s lifeboat and made several trips to a nearby beach to off load the survivors. Alton then returned to the ship to make a last attempt to gather supplies, but here his luck finally ran out, for a horrific beast—a sea scorpion—had been washed onto the deck. The creature stung him several times, and although Alton managed to take shelter in a small supply room, he soon perished from the venom, leaving you and a few others alone on Desperation Bay’s most notorious shore.