D&D 5E ghouls in the water

[pukunui]

Hey all,

I'm looking for some help fleshing out a short scene involving some ghouls attacking the PCs while they're on a river barge.

This is for my Hoard of the Dragon Queen campaign, and the PCs are going to be traveling by barge on the River Chionthar from Berdusk to Elturel. The book states that the magical, undead-hurting second sun in Elturgard is visible in "almost every corner" of the realm, so I'm thinking that one of the many snaky turns in the river is one of the corners where it's not visible.

As the PCs travel downriver on the barge, which is manned by a crew of three NPC sailors and travels at 4 mph, they enter this shadowed region, where they find another barge has been run aground. The crew will stop - or at least slow down - to see if there are any survivors, giving the ghouls in the water a chance to swarm aboard and attack.

The goal here is twofold: Prevent the ghouls from killing the crew so they can steer the boat around the next bend and back into the magical light, which will drive any surviving ghouls away. I obviously can't *force* the PCs to make a run for it, especially if they're stuck on a boat, but the main idea is just that, if they can't defeat the monsters quickly, then as long as they can keep the boat on the river, they'll make it to safety after X number of rounds.

Pretty simple, but I feel like I could use some help fleshing it out to make sure it's memorable and exciting.

I've got four 4th level PCs consisting of a dwarf evoker wizard, a goliath moon druid, an elf arcane trickster, and a human champion fighter.

I'll probably be running this on Saturday, so any help anyone can give me as soon as would be most appreciated. Thanks!


EDIT: Alternatively, I could have a ghost try to possess the crewman operating the tiller in an attempt to run the ship aground.

 

[Wik]

Oo! Lacedons! The last time we fought them, we were in an airship and dropped anchor in the ocean. During the night, they climbed up the anchor and attacked us. It was AWESOME.

So, a few ideas:

First, a barge isn't really a boat. They move differently on the water, etc. Don't know if you care about that sort of thing. If you wanna play loosey-goosey with it, that's cool. But there are different ways you can treat each. For example, if you put a hole in the deck of a barge, it might not sink. Do it to a boat's hull, and there will be trouble.

I think a neat way to do it could be to have at least one or two members of the last crew left alive, to be used as bait. As the PCs go to rescue the stranded sailors (who, naturally, have had their tongues cut out and eaten so they can't shout warnings!), one of the ghouls, pretending to be a body, gets the drop on a would-be rescuer.

The Lacedons attack in two forces - one from the shore, and one from the back of the barge, climbing on deck on the second round after the PCs have committed their forces. XP-wise, for this to work, I'd have a lot of ghouls - say, two "easy" encounters that are seperated by a round or two of combat.

As a nice, "rat bastard GM" touch, you could have a ghoul on deck whose entire goal is to push paralyzed PCs into the water... where a third ghoul is waiting to tear victims apart.

 

[Roger]

A ghoul could grapple the business end of the tiller; that wouldn't do anything good to its manoueverability.

 

[pukunui]

Oo! Lacedons! The last time we fought them, we were in an airship and dropped anchor in the ocean. During the night, they climbed up the anchor and attacked us. It was AWESOME.

That does sound awesome!

First, a barge isn't really a boat. They move differently on the water, etc. Don't know if you care about that sort of thing. If you wanna play loosey-goosey with it, that's cool. But there are different ways you can treat each. For example, if you put a hole in the deck of a barge, it might not sink. Do it to a boat's hull, and there will be trouble.

All I could find about the River Chionthar is that "barges" can make it all the way up to Iriaebor. It could be a keelboat instead, though, but that only requires a crew of one. I thought a barge made more sense since it needs a bigger crew and can therefore be operated for 24 hours a day (thanks to that perpetual daylight!). I realize that going upstream would require the barge to be pulled by horses or something, but going downriver they can just use the current.

I think a neat way to do it could be to have at least one or two members of the last crew left alive, to be used as bait. As the PCs go to rescue the stranded sailors (who, naturally, have had their tongues cut out and eaten so they can't shout warnings!), one of the ghouls, pretending to be a body, gets the drop on a would-be rescuer.

The Lacedons attack in two forces - one from the shore, and one from the back of the barge, climbing on deck on the second round after the PCs have committed their forces. XP-wise, for this to work, I'd have a lot of ghouls - say, two "easy" encounters that are seperated by a round or two of combat.

As a nice, "rat bastard GM" touch, you could have a ghoul on deck whose entire goal is to push paralyzed PCs into the water... where a third ghoul is waiting to tear victims apart.

Having a survivor or two would certainly make the PCs more inclined to stop ... but I'm not sure how I'd be able to work the "undead-killing light" angle of it, unless the number of ghouls was simply overwhelming and the locals were all frantic to get out of there, survivors be damned! In fact, they might leave the PCs stranded in their hurry to get around the bend and back into the light ...

I suppose if they got stranded, they could then make a run for it and hope to get to a point where they could see the light before the ghouls got them all. Or it could even just be that the light is blocked by thick fog, and if the PCs are getting their butts kicked by the ghouls, then I could have some of the light break through the fog and drive the ghouls away.

A ghoul could grapple the business end of the tiller; that wouldn't do anything good to its manoueverability.

Good point!

 

[pukunui]

If I were to go with a ghost instead ... I could make it so as the fog starts rolling in, one of the sailors on the barge starts talking about how it reminds him of the story of how ol' so-and-so ran his ship aground in mists like these and weren't never seen again ... 'cept plenty of sailors since have claimed they've seen his ghost.

And then, sure enough, the ghost rises up through the bottom of the barge and tries to possess the man at the tiller in an attempt to run the ship aground. If the PCs can stop the ghost from crashing the ship but can't actually destroy it or drive it of completely, the ghost will continue to harass them until they can get around the bend and into the anti-undead light.

How does that sound?

 

[KarinsDad]

You could have one or two ghouls grapple PCs instead of attacking. Once grappled, the grappler (i.e. the ghoul) could then automatically pull the PC into the water (standard 5E grappling rules of pulling grappled foe up to half remaining move) and continue the fight underwater. In D&D terms, not too threatening, but it does separate the PC from the moving boat and it seems worse than it really is for the players (although not all weapons work well underwater and DM dependent, spells are probably problematic).

 

[Lanefan]

If I were to go with a ghost instead ... I could make it so as the fog starts rolling in, one of the sailors on the barge starts talking about how it reminds him of the story of how ol' so-and-so ran his ship aground in mists like these and weren't never seen again ... 'cept plenty of sailors since have claimed they've seen his ghost.

And then, sure enough, the ghost rises up through the bottom of the barge and tries to possess the man at the tiller in an attempt to run the ship aground. If the PCs can stop the ghost from crashing the ship but can't actually destroy it or drive it of completely, the ghost will continue to harass them until they can get around the bend and into the anti-undead light.

How does that sound?

Could be good but a full-ride ghost might be a bit much for a small 4th-level party in a confined space. As in, they haven't got a chance.

But if you tone the ghost down to something the party can handle if they work at it, you're probably on to some good entertainment.

For added interest, maybe have it that if the ghost succeeds in running the ship aground but the PCs can then deal with it the PCs find (and thus can explore and loot, if desired) a bunch of other wrecks put there by the same ghost previously.

Lan-"a flock of seaghouls"-efan

 

[pukunui]

You could have one or two ghouls grapple PCs instead of attacking. Once grappled, the grappler (i.e. the ghoul) could then automatically pull the PC into the water (standard 5E grappling rules of pulling grappled foe up to half remaining move) and continue the fight underwater. In D&D terms, not too threatening, but it does separate the PC from the moving boat and it seems worse than it really is for the players (although not all weapons work well underwater and DM dependent, spells are probably problematic).

Oooh. That sounds nasty.

Could be good but a full-ride ghost might be a bit much for a small 4th-level party in a confined space. As in, they haven't got a chance.

You reckon a single CR 5 ghost is too much for four 4th level PCs? I think I might be OK with that, as it might give them more incentive to head for the light rather than stay and battle the ghost to the death.

For added interest, maybe have it that if the ghost succeeds in running the ship aground but the PCs can then deal with it the PCs find (and thus can explore and loot, if desired) a bunch of other wrecks put there by the same ghost previously.

Maybe, although it's a fairly well-travelled river, so I don't imagine there'd be much left to plunder on any wrecks.

My ultimate aim here is "show don't tell". I thought it would be more fun to *show* my players how Elturel's second sun has special anti-undead properties rather than just tell them about it. My original thought was to do a LotR-style "flight to the ford" scenario with some wraiths chasing them, but while discussing travel options with my players, they opted for taking the more circuitous river route rather than cutting straight across the wilderness, so I've had to come up with a water-based option instead.

I'd still like it to be something where the goal is for the PCs to try and hold off the undead long enough for the boat to sail into the light, which will drive the undead away.

 

[Lanefan]

You reckon a single CR 5 ghost is too much for four 4th level PCs? I think I might be OK with that, as it might give them more incentive to head for the light rather than stay and battle the ghost to the death.

Ghosts are only CR 5? I'm used to 1e ghosts, even one of which can be a handful for a 7th or 8th level party. (I don't remember, but it's possible 4th level characters would be forced to flee from a ghost with no save)

Lanefan

 

[KarinsDad]

Oooh. That sounds nasty.

It could be worse. At night, a PC without Darkvision pulled into water is being pulled into a heavily obscured area. This means that he is blind for all intents and purposes, at disadvantage to attacks, and the ghoul (if it has darkvision) has advantage on all attacks against him. His allies also will have a difficult time finding him in the water in the dark unless he can make it to the surface (which will be difficult while grappled).

Terrain is one of the best features a DM has in his toolkit to make a fairly easy encounter extremely threatening.