Captain of the Great Escape
In command of the ship and responsible for giving orders and commanding the ship during combat.
Lokkar (Victor)
Feat: Great Captain – You may command the ship as a move action.  It normally takes a standard action to command the ship.

First Mate of the Great Escape
Responsible for helping others, can and will take over the responsibilities of any of the other officers.
Tourgen (Bo)
Feat: All Hands – May use the aid another action to aid all crew members on the ship performing the same action in a round.   You may normally only aid one other person per round.

Quartermaster of the Great Escape
Responsible for supplying the ship and for seeing to the equal division of plunder/profits.
(Kirk)
Feat: And a Bottle of Rum – Gains a +4 bonus to checks when trading the ships cargo and a +4 to checks made to negotiate for ships supplies.

Sailmaster of the Great Escape
Responsible for charting the ships course as well as piloting the ship during combat.
(Sean)
Feat: Master Helmsman – Adds +10% to the ships base movement and daily movement while at the helm.

Boatswain/Bos’n of the Great Escape
Responsible for the maintenance of the ship itself and for making adjustments to the ship during combat.
(Jess)
Feat: Able Bodied Sailor – Can perform the duties of a member of the ‘watch’ as a move action.  This will allow you to take two such move actions during a round, basically acting as two members of the watch.  Normally it takes a standard action to add to the watch.

Ships Mage of the Great Escape
Responsible for, uh, magicky stuff on the ship.  Also, all the only ships weaponry you’ve currently got.
Korvan (Anthony)
Feat: Sea Mage – +1 to spells while sailing on the Great Escape

I be Lokkar the
shortest lad on the boat..
I swing mee axe
till the kobolds float..
Then I swing a few more times
just to see them cry..
That be the way we live our lives..

Ohh we fight and we sail
till the end of our days..
We sing and we laugh
with the loud and the brave
Mee companions and I
we will never stay..

I was born by the sea
to mee mothers dismay..
I search for the mainland
no matter what come may..
I’ll stop at nothing
except my a bear or two
Just because I care
to drink with you..

Ohh we fight and we sail
till the end of our days..
We sing and we laugh
with the loud and the brave
Mee companions and I
we will never stay..

Dragonborn Paladin, unaligned
Tourgen Roust is a champion of the Raven Queen, goddess of inescapable fate, the end of mortal life, and winter.

The Raven Queen’s commandments:

Know thy enemy! A Brief History of Orcus Also, according to Fiendish Codex I [p.73, p.155], Orcus is concerned with undead, Abyssal ascension, and escape from death. He resides in the 113th layer of the Abyss: Thanatos. His cult on the material plane includes orcs, half-orcs, ogres, giants, and a large number of evil humans. His temples are hidden and his followers form secret societies. Intelligent undead rarely serve him willingly although many are forced into his service by dark pacts or magic.

Description: 16yrs. old, male, 6′6″ & 300 lbs., rust-red scales and yellow eyes
Skills: bluff, diplomacy, endurance, intimidate, and religion
Equipment: plate armor, large shield, flail, scythe, and standard adventuring pack and gear
Languages: draconian and common
Specials: lightning breath and eye bite

Island life and eating rubbery half-cooked fish enrage him.  The small spine fish bones catch between his sharp teeth and cause his gums to bleed ceaselessly.  The snotty innards of salt water muscles mix with his hot breath into an obscene noxious gas that doubles over even the hardiest fishmonger.

Tourgen wants nothing more than to escape the soul crushing confines of his town and make his mark upon the world.  Every day spent mending nets and sniffing fish guts feeds the irrational, screeching red-hot banshee behind his eyes.  Only the open seas will subdue it.

He plans and plots escape and adventure during every waking hour.  He prowls the coastline for a rare treasure bottle or debris to build a small craft – crazy, improbable dreams, but something tangible to grasp.  He spends his free time and many nights at the highest point of the island, scanning the horizon for hope and the stars for guidance.

The daily minutiae frustrates and infuriates Tourgen.  The small plans and narrow vision of his countrymen inflicts him with uncontrolled frothing and violent jaw muscle spasms.  He loves his family, friends, and townsfolk dearly, but he cannot help what he is.

One night he has [what he convinces himself is] a vision from the Goddess of Ravens.  He stands in a churning blood-red tidal pool below a gnarled black iron-oak growing impossibly from solid rock and salt water.  A great raven with solid black glistening eyes perches upon his snout and gently kaaw’s the inevitable truth into his ear hole.  He must take up arms and explore the sea, punishing hubris and the folly of those who seek to subvert the natural order of birth, life, and death.  Crush their bones with your talons.  Rend their throats with your powerful jaw while breathing fire and death into their hollow skulls.  Pillage their treasures and build a mighty fleet.  Hoist the colors of the Raven.

Only when the blood of the Raven Goddess’ foes has soaked into every galley deck like the piss of oar-slaves and the skulls of false-prophets and non-believers have been stacked high enough will the Raven God take notice.  Only then will her minions peck the eyes of fear and doubt from their sockets so that one might glimpse The True Path.

We are in a small group of islands, most of which are within about 25 miles of at least one other island. The biggest island is probably about the size of Oahu or Maui, with one small city on it ( some stone structures and all that, walled on the side that doesn’t face the sea, etc).

The rest of the islands are of varying smaller sizes. Lots are big enough to hold one or more villages. Lots are just big enough for one village. And there are even smaller islands that just have 1 or 2 families on them (think the outlying farms in a typical game).

There are some small farms on some of the islands, but no large scale agriculture. Some of the islands are rocky and uninhabited, although some of the rockier islands do have mines on them. Metal and minerals are in fairly short supply. There are probably some mountainous areas as well as a volcano or two.

Your area is basically like a single “country”, maybe a confederation is a better word. The islands are all generally aligned with each other for mutual benefit and protection. There is the occasional infighting between islands or villages, but overall, a united group.

The region you live in is pretty tropical. No snow, warm temperatures all year long. All that good stuff.

The exports are mainly mundane goods like tropical fruits. A few of the islands have oyster beds that support a trade in various colors of pearls.

You all are from a group of islands named something or other in some part of some world. There’s maybe, like, one small city on one of the islands, and then a lot of villages on all the surrounding islands. This area is basically your known world, and the problem is you’ve seen all of it.

You all grew up here, and obviously, it’s a seafaring community, so you all know the basics of sailing, shipbuilding, fishing, etc etc etc.

You know that there are other places, because occasionally merchant ships come through with people who talk funny/look funny/sell funny things, all that good stuff. But wherever it is they come from it’s far away. All you know is that they come from other groups of islands that are past the horizon in various directions.

As far as anyone knows the whole world is made up of small groups of islands like this one. And most people spend their whole lives in the same group of islands they grew up in. A few adventurous souls travel between, but it’s rare, and frowned upon. The routes between the groups of civilizations are jealously guarded secrets, and most such people have to start off with no idea where they are going. No surprise then that most are never seen again.

There are also rumors and stories of a “mainland” somewhere. You’re not actually sure what a mainland is, from the descriptions you picture it as just a big island. There’s an old man on the island who says he knew a man once who had seen the mainland. But he tells lots of stories, and the villagers think they are just that, stories. But the old man swears this one is true, and you’ve always wondered…….