Oceangoing (Blood Sea) encounters?

[Thornir Alekeg]

I may be called on to DM my Scarred Lands campaign this weekend as our current adventure run by the other DM is almost over. I was looking over my notes from the last session I ran and realized that the party was thinking about taking a very unexpected direction that I'm not prepared for at all (my bad, I completely forgot they were considering doing this while prepping this weekend). If they do this, they will be taking ship to an island city (that I added in my campaign) in the Blood Sea. I need some ideas to keep things interesting if they choose to go this route. They have been out to this city before and have already encountered your classic sea monster, attacks by saughin and a ghost ship manned by undead. The party is a large group (8 PCs) of 4th level characters. I'm not very comfortable with totally winging things, so any suggestions for other types of encounters would be very welcome so I can prepare at least a little.

Thanks.

Too much to do, too little time to prepare - this working thing really stinks.

 

[Barmy Gith]

If they aren't on the boat yet, or haven't been for very long, you could try making the ship cursed in someway. My suggestion for this is look into the Ravenloft adventure Ship of Horrors adventure. It isn't perfect, but the plot can be easily taken and made into a minor side quest.

Here's a basic modified version that might work, since it is similar to the adventure above I'm still calling out "SPOILERS" .....................................

Spoiler

The captain of the ship once took a job to deliver some occupied coffins to an island mausoleum, the ship ran into some bad weather, and found going ashore difficult. With supplies low and other deliveries to make, the captain opted to dump the coffins into the sea and claim he had delivered them. The whole crew swore never to mention the event, as it could easily get them all in a great deal of trouble with the law, maybe even executed. This event somehow causes the ship to be cursed, more specifically the captain. He cannot die while on board, does not age, but nor can he set foot onto land. Also, terrible things happen on his ship, hauntings, unlucky accidents, his ship often encounters terrible things on the sea, and crew mates are prone to insanity. Most of his original crew has died by the time the PCs come aboard. See if they can figure out the curse (ship's log, pumping an original crew member for the story, ghostly encounters), or perhpas have the captain break down and ask for their help instead of the normal charge for going to sea. Then it is a matter of retrieving the dumped coffins from the bottom of the sea and getting them back to the mausoleum.

Anyway, I hope some of that helps. I know I had fun with it, though perhaps it is more then you wanted. Good Gaming.

 

[Nightfall]

Mm my idea for a Blood Sea encounter:

Sailing the blood, they encounter strange discontinuities of space and time thanks to Kadum's blood. Plus they also start to notice a lot of fights breaking out between the crew. It culiminates into a deadly storm that causes the crew to try to munity. Oh yeah there's also a strife elemental on board.

 

[Thornir Alekeg]

Thanks for the suggestions. I don't think I can pull off the cursed ship since the party will be starting from a major city, sailing to a major city therefore usually has a choice of ships to sail on, and they are pretty good about asking questions and being selective. The mutiny and the strife elemental is a possibility. Thanks again.

Of course this all may be for nothing since only one player in my group has responded to a request for some information on what the PCs were doing during a brief period of downtime so I could take care of things via e-mail before we play. Now it looks like I'll probaby spend all my time doing the downtime instead. Wouldn't it be nice if the players would actually do a little to help things along...

 

[JoeGKushner]

One thing you shouldn't be afraid of is destroying their ship and leaving them stranded on an island somewhere until they can overcome a pirate ship that is using the island as a store house for their own treasure. After all, the Blood Sea is reknown for its pirates and powerful monsters. Having a creature come along that the party just can't overcome at the moment, can help remind them that they aren't the whole world, just a part of it. Kadum's Leviathan anyone?

 

[Thornir Alekeg]

One thing you shouldn't be afraid of is destroying their ship and leaving them stranded on an island somewhere until they can overcome a pirate ship that is using the island as a store house for their own treasure. After all, the Blood Sea is reknown for its pirates and powerful monsters. Having a creature come along that the party just can't overcome at the moment, can help remind them that they aren't the whole world, just a part of it. Kadum's Leviathan anyone?

Hmmm, take a little swim in the Blood Sea anyone? I like this idea. And since they are taking this trip to deliver an item that they are convinced others are going to great lengths to stop them from delivering (they are wrong, they have concocted a conspiracy theory that does not exist), this could be good to fuel these thoughts and make them even more paranoid.

 

[Piratecat]

There are some incredibly nasty sea monsters in the Blood Sea... smart, with several different types (colors?). I'm not near my books, but I think they make great bad guys. What the heck are they?

 

[JoeGKushner]

There are some incredibly nasty sea monsters in the Blood Sea... smart, with several different types (colors?). I'm not near my books, but I think they make great bad guys. What the heck are they?

Pisceans. I would use them as background material only, have them demand their tribute and leave, perhaps even warning the group that they are doomed if they go on as the leviathan has awakened! Not all encounters with evil need to go the way of the sword after all.

 

[Nightfall]

Yeah but I hate to say. Pisceans make most undersea races (save Blood Krakens) look tame by comparision.

Still Kadum's Leviatian, Keel Crusher, and my personal favorite, Hellfire Bloodshark are some very NICE Blood Sea monsters to toss around. (And under CR 10 for the most part! )

 

[Thornir Alekeg]

Thanks for the great ideas. Since they have had so many issues with boat travel lately, maybe I'll go easy on them and just panic them with Pisceans who leave them alone as long as they cooperate. If they do something stupid, well, it might take care of the problem we are going to have with two players moving away soon.