Page 94 - ghosts-of-saltmarsh

The cultists kept thjs area free of webs and used it for
DEATH OF THE EMPEROR
food storage. Theo. after their supplies ran low. several
of them barricaded themselves in this room to seize con- Shortly after Emperor of the Waves was spotted drifting
trol of the remaining supplies. In response. the rest of on the open sea. an enormous elder octopus began to
the cultists stormed the area. slew the rebels, and added stalk the ship. It has already attacked the vessel once.
their corpses to the ship's larder. All thac"s left now of and that assault worsened the Emperor·s condition,
all the rebels are scraps. as the lone survivor (Krell) has opening up a few leaks that are now causing the hold to
consumed the last of them. flood. Believing that if it waits long enough, the wreck
Trapdoor. A moldy trapdoor in this area leads down will eventually sink beneath the surface, the octopus has
into the cargo hold. It can be easily spotted (no check re- remained in the area, lurking in the water a hundred
quired). A bar has been inserted through a set of rusted feet below. (The creature is fixated on bringing down
brackets to keep it shut. The cultists used tills door to the Emperor and pays no heed to Soul of Winter or the
deliver sacrifices to the ghasts below. and they kept rowboat that waits for the characters 200 feet away from
it barred between those times to prevent the undead the derelict.)
from escaping. When it hears noise from the characters· fight against
the ghouls in area 12. the creature comes back for an-
12. CARGO HOLD other attack. (For best dramatic effect, you should time
the octopus's reappearance to coincide with the charac-
' ters' discovery of Aubreck's box.)
This deck runs the length of the ship and features no
The octopus represents a real threat to the charac-
bulkheads or walls. Dark, murky seawater fills it to a ters. As the creature attacks, emphasize the chaos that
depth of three feet, sloshing against old, moldering ensues in the ship. Swarms of spiders scramble across
crates piled against the ship's port hull. the walls and decks in a panic, assembling into ever
larger masses. The ship creaks and lists more severely
as something assaults it from the outside, its timbers
The water that fills this area is difficult terrain for Me- snapping and water pouring through the widening
dium characters. Small characters must swim while in cracks in the hull. Within moments. the characters can
the cargo hold. see the octopus's arms snaking through breaches in the
This deck is a prison for four ghasts-formerly a hull, grasping for anything they can wrap around. From
group of thieves who stowed away in the hold before the that point on, don't give the players the luxury of pon-
Emperor last left port. When the ship was waylaid by dering their characters' next moves. Push them to make
the storm, they could not escape from the hold and even- fast decisions and do everything you can to reinforce
tually starved to death. The cultists found the undead the idea that they're caught in a panicked flight from a
when they took control of the ship but viewed them as sinking ship.
emissaries of their dark god and fed them with offer ings
of living sacrifices. OCTOPUS ATTACK
The ghasts currently hide in the bow of the hold.
The octopus·s attack shakes and tilts the ship so vio-
beneath the water. They won't reveal themselves until
lently that moving around the ship becomes difficult.
characters enter this area and approach their position,
Any surviving monsters panic and seek to escape the
whereupon the undead surge out of the water. Any char-
ship, attacking the characters if they cross paths. If the
acter whose passive Percept ion score is 11 or lower is
characters make it to the upper deck, they must hail the
surprised by the ghasts when they attack. A creature
sailors aboard the rowboat from Soul of Winter and wait
paralyzed by a ghast's claws holds its breath automati-
for the boat to reach them.
cally if it collapses into the water, but is at risk of drown-
ing unless it is pulled out again. See "Suffocating" in
MOVEMENT
chapter 8 of the Player's Handbook. Movement is tricky as the ship rocks back and forth.
Treasure. One of the ghasts wears a silver bracelet Treat the floor as difficult terrain.
sculpted to look like a twisted tongue (75 gp), and an- Climbing stairs or a ladder requires a DC 10 Strength
other one wears a gem-studded belt (400 gp). The crates (Athletics) check, unless a character has a climbing
and boxes are rotted. and the goods in them are worth- speed. On a failed check, a character falls prone in the
less- with one exception. space where the climb began.
Aubreck's Box. As an action, a character can attempt
a DC 15 Wisdom (Perception) check to spot a crate RESCUE
marked with a stylized letter A. Another action is re- Once the characters reach area 1 and call for help, the
quired to open it, revealing the box inside. sailors in the rowboat try to rescue them. It takes 10
The blue metal box is made from magically enhanced rounds for the rowboat to reach the Emperor.
iron that is impervious to rust and has invulnerability to Observant players might realize that the octopus is
all damage. It has no lock or latch. and it can't be opened focusing its efforts on the ship. Anyone who leaps over-
by any normal means. See "Moving Aubreck's Treasure" board or gets into the rowboat is safe from the octopus,
for details on carrying the box after the elder octopus though monsters aboard the ship that see characters in
attacks, and for getting the treasure safely off Emperor the water follow suit and might attempt to swarm the
of the Waves. rowboat (see ·'Other Enemies" below).

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