As characters depart for this destination, Tunaan says, “As a rule the dark elves seldom dwell above ground because they hate the sunlight. But they needed a fortress in a strategic location with a safe harbor for trade, and that location was unfortunately ringed in swampland which made cave delving impossible. So they built a real keep – mostly without windows, mind you – and the ones who still dwell there have grown accustomed to living on the surface.”
<Characters arrive to find the keep they were looking for – but it’s surrounded by a small town, complete with some crops growing on filled-in land on the outskirts and apparently even some human families living there peacefully with the dark elves. Some buildings in the town are smoldering as if having recently been on fire. A female wizard has come out of the keep to survey the damage with a group of soldiers>
“More strangers? You won’t find us unprepared this time!”
<She gestures upward and characters see at least a dozen archers on nearby rooftops with bows drawn & aimed at them. More armored soldiers with swords approach on the ground.>
<She studies them for a moment>
“Wait, you’re not pirates, are you? Adventurers, perhaps, by the look of you, probably intent on fighting your way into the keep to steal our treasure. Well, you’ve missed your chance! Pirates slipped in under cover of broad daylight and took most of what little we had – along with our steward! Weren’t happy with the loot they found and are assuming there’s more hidden, I suppose, so now they’re demanding a ransom for his return – one we can’t possibly pay.”
“I’m Theranys, chief wizard in this boggy hellhole. If it’s pillaging you want, maybe we can make a deal. Those pirates planned ahead for this – they managed to hire or threaten a spell-caster powerful enough to line their hull with glyphs that cast sleep magic whenever an elf comes near. My people can’t approach their ship in the harbor. We tried to raid it twice and our boats just glided slowly past it when the oarsmen and everyone else fell asleep. We don’t have any human solders, but with your being well armed and… well, not elves… the group of you could reach the ship! Defeat the pirates and free our steward, and you can walk out of here with as much of their loot as you can carry on your persons – but please spare the ship, we’ll need it to make up for our losses with new trade once we figure out how to remove the enchantments from it.”
Map Legend:
P=Pirate
M = 1stMate
C = Captain –wearing a glowing necklace, carrying ring of keys which includes one that will open FC’s manacles.
FC = Flower Child
Flower child was turned into a dark-elf druid by the Gaming Guild for them to fight – but circumstances have changed and now he’s the one they have to rescue! He’s imprisoned in special manacles that suppress his spell-casting.
Mate & pirates on deck are asleep at first – when characters get on boat, they start getting CL check to wake up every round. Auto-wake when fighting starts or somebody shouts.
When rescued, FC will help fight against pirates (and ship later).
Captain’s quarters has chest with 400 gp. Each sailor has d20 gp on them, 1st mate 3d10, captain 3d20. Assorted alcohols in galley and storage amount to 40 gp in value. Also grains (2d20 gp) and spices (d20gp) on board can be sold.
After pirate battle, characters are able to throw tow ropes out to boats of elves outside sleep spell range, who tow it toward the town wharf. When they disembark carrying the captain’s necklace, it stops glowing and characters hear an echoing groan. Ship transforms into a wooden giant carrying one of its masts as a club, attacks everything around. A group of elven soldiers charge it but fall asleep as they near it.
Elves from up in the town will start shooting flaming arrows & spells at it which build damage over time – but also makes its club a flaming danger:
Round 2: d4-1
Round 3: d6 -1
Round 4: d8 (at this point ship’s attacks do +d4-1 fire damage)
Round 5: 2d6 (+d6-1fire damage)
Round 6+ : 3d6 (+2d4fire damage)
Ship can use its move+action for a turn to splash in the water to douse fires & start the above process again, but filling with water will slow it down: -2 initiative (min 1) for 2 rounds.
Ship can smash down a 1” block of building per round if it needs to get at characters.
Notes
The ship map was a free one I found somewhere online and printed at a suitable scale. I can’t find the original source now, but there are a plethora of ship maps to be had. The wharf map is, as you’ll no doubt recognize by its artistry and attention to detail, my own creation.
My original intention was to have this adventure be a slog through an actual keep, but I decided I didn’t want to stretch it out across multiple gaming sessions as a non-simplistic keep layout would probably require. Plus… Pirates.
How it Played
The pirate fight was, as designed, relatively easy. I didn’t want to leave the characters too worn down in anticipation of the big battle back at the wharf. Once rescued, Flower Child insisted (sincerely!) he would help them, but the players didn’t believe him so they left him in his manacles and essentially lost his spell-casting assistance in the big fight at the end.
The first round of the boss-battle saw the ship rolling a 4 for initiative while the players and their NPC allies mostly rolled lower than that. A swing of the ship’s club-mast and a number of failed agility checks sent all but two of its opponents flying – one knocked down, and one knocked out after slamming into a building.
After that, the characters quickly spread out and scrambled for cover, using mostly ranged attacks and keeping the ship from being able to swat them in groups. The elves’ contribution to the fight turned out to be minimal, mainly due to consistently low damage rolls. But the ship’s size made it really easy to hit, so successful double attacks were the order of the day.
Flower Child hid in an alley and rolled initiative each round, and on his turn each time would shout something like, “Y’know, it sure would be useful if I could cast <pick the name of a different one of his spells each time> right now!” His turn came up when the ship was down to 2 hits, so I had him charge in as close as he could get without hitting the sleep spell and throw a spear picked up from one of the fallen elves. His blow finished off the enemy, and he turned to the PCs and shouted, “SEE?! See?! I would have helped!”
The D-Listers now have all three keys, so it’s time for Part 3!