The Darkening

[John Merino]

John walks up to Emma looking mighty pleased with himself. Well, we managed to exit the boat with only the loss of our horses, and I think we've picked up enough stuff to make up for that loss. Plus I got to go explore the ship a little bit. I like that mermaid form... quite zippy in the water. Everyone's safe and OK, we kept our money, and while I haven't a bloody clue where we are I'm sure if we follow the trail you've found we'll reach a town sooner rather than later.

[Yarlsberg Johnson]

Cowards and mutineers! former Captain Yarlsberg spat. I didn't even mind them carting off my ship, until one of them dared lay a hand on me. Whatever fate they suffered was too good for them. The deepest pits of Hell are reserved for they and their ilk. he says with a sad smile.

[whalejudge]

You all passed your powers checks for theft, incidentally.

[Yarlsberg Johnson]

Which is good since we didn't steal anything.

[John Merino]

Did they pass their powers checks for stealing? After all, they did try to take our gold.

[Emma]

Emma is walking behind Bhorg along the trail she had found as John approaches her. She turns to greet her brother with a gentle, nervous smile. He seems incredibly chipper and it makes the timid half elf a bit nervous that something might have happened she wasn't aware of. Perhaps the depths of the lake left John a bit light headed? As he explains that the loss of their horses was no big deal, Emma frowns. She looks away from her brother and speaks quietly, "The lives of our horses are still lives lost. No amount of gold can make up for that." She'll remain silent for a moment after she finishes, half fearful he'll yell at her for speaking her mind. After a moment, she'll add, "While frightening at first, the mermaid form was certainly interesting.. another fantastical creature I never really knew existed."

OOC: I hate to get in on the debate, but why would Emma, Ingrid or Bhorg have a powers check if they didn't have anything to do with the theft?

[John Merino]

Life... death... they happen. It's part of the circle. Besides, we don't know how many of the horses actually died, and how many are just lost. John shrugs. As for the mermaid, I read about them in some book somewhere. Seemed like a good idea since we were on a sinking ship.

[Yarlsberg Johnson]

OOC: I hate to get in on the debate, but why would Emma, Ingrid Yarlsberg, John or Bhorg have a powers check if they didn't have anything to do with the theft?

Fixed.

[whalejudge]

"salvage" of goods from a wreck is not "this is now mine". Salvage is "I rescued this and am owed something for doing so, but it remains your property". It only becomes the salvor's if no one claims it and no compensation is paid. By claiming everything you could get your hands on from the ship as your own, you were stealing. That includes the people who decided to employ deadly force to take from people who really could not fight them.

[John Merino]

They were offering nothign after we saved it for them. Also they took my gold which shoudl force powers checks.

EDIT: Technically it was Yarlsberg's gold.

[whalejudge]

Powers checks are enforced for your crimes. Whether or not a powers check is forced for an NPC is along the lines of complaining to the cop who pulls you over for speeding that she didn't pull someone else over who was also speeding. Did I roll for them? No. I'm not going to roll for every evil act done by relatively minor NPCs. "... (T)he DM should decide whether NPCs who perform evil acts fail their powers checks based simply on whether failure would enhance or detract from the drama of the game." (Ravenloft PHB page 96). In this case, it's irrelevant.

And no, they didn't. Oddly enough they noted that you guys were more interested in looting the ship than helping them as the pike closed in. Nevertheless, their actions don't justify yours. You, especially, John, who was looting the ship without even knowing what was happening above.

[Yarlsberg Johnson]

When I'm not speeding, and they pull me over rather than someone who is, you bet I'm going to complain.

• They had already all abandoned ship and were out of line of sight, so could not know that we had been more intent on 'stealing' than helping deal with pike.
• We were unaware of where the pike were, and diving off of a perfectly good boat sounded stupid. (Turns out it was too)
• Salvage is another word for collecting abandoned goods. The captain made quite clear that he was abandoning ship and therefore everything on it. This is relinquishing all claim to ownership.
• You can't steal something that isn't owned by someone else.

[John Merino]

And no, they didn't.

They very much took Yarlsberg's gold because, in your words, "It's salvage." How is what we did anything other than salvage? The captain called for everyone to abandon ship. We chose to take a little longer in doing so and make sure we had our stuff. In the process we decided to grab some of the (at this point abandoned) goods on the ship because we had time.

In the subsequent fight with the pike, John was knocked to 2 HP so he left the arena rather than risk dying. His options were: go on shore where there was nothing at all and possibly danger, or go into the ship where he would be protected from the pike. Considering he wanted to rescue the rest of the abandoned goods and recoup his losses for taking part in such a voyage, it was an easy decision.

As for not going back to help; as I recall you don't pull powers checks for not wanting to sacrifice yourself for NPCs. I also seem to recall the NPCs ran away and didn't stick around to help, not knowing whether or not we were high-level characters. I guess that makes us even. Then we rescued the captain's bed and gave it back to him.

In short, neither we nor the NPCs stole anything, unless you mean when Yarlsberg picked up the gold and left. In that case, the ownership of that gold is disputed at best, but considering Squeakers (who could be considered an intelligent creature) was left with the gold in the first place, it's difficult to say that we "abandoned" the gold after I put it on the shore. That's kind of like saying that you "abandoned" your wallet by putting it on the table, so now it's ok for me to pick it up and walk off with it.

[Yarlsberg Johnson]

According to Modern Salvage Laws, we are entitled to no less than 10% of the value of what was rescued, IF the captain had REMAINED ON THE VESSEL and ATTEMPTED TO MINIMIZE RISK TO US, the Salvors AND there had been minimal risk in the first place. Further he Abandoned the ship, which means he:

Relinquish(ed) or renunciat(ed) an interest, claim, privilege, possession or right, especially with the intent of never again resuming or reasserting it.

Further, his attempted theft of MY property: Armor, gold, and Vessel merited retribution especially after the claim was presented civilly and ignored.

In short, they are nothing less than pirate scum, and to claim otherwise is idiocy. I would kill him again given the chance. He was an incompetent captain (abandoning his ship at the first sign of trouble), a thief (as illustrated), and above all else a fool.

[Yarlsberg Johnson]

On a jollier note, I won't be able to make it tomorrow night. I get my week's schedule on Sundays, which may be a problem in the future as I'm still not sure what days they want me. Hopefully, Monday evenings is not going to be a regular thing. If it starts to look like it I'll ask if maybe I can get on graveyard shift.

I think this week is something of a fluke, because the shifts are usually 3 PM to 11 PM and they are having me come in @ 5:30 PM, probably because someone has somewhere they need to be. Sorry for the inconvenience, I'll send Yarlsberg with James and he can play him if he so wishes.