With Deep Country being such a drag, ships are often the best way to travel even if you aren't leaving the continent. Wind fills the sails, drummers pound oarsmen into action, and roaring engines push ironclads through the bottomless waters.
Then you stumble onto something.
1 - Carcass Dominators
A colossal deep-sea arthropod being ridden by a pack of thrill-seeking warriors. Their hooks control the broken beast, forcing it to surf across the ocean as their mount. They want to earn fame and fear whether through piracy, mercenary work, or pointless raids.
Dominated Leviathan-Louse STR 19, DEX 8, WIL 0, 13hp, Armour 2, d12 Feeding-Lashes, Fights as a Detachment. No will of its own, can only act through its Dominators control.
Carcass Dominator Brigade - STR 14, 10hp, Paired Hook-Swords (d8), Cosmetic Scarification.
2 - A Flock of Grip-Gulls
d6 Grip Gull Flocks - STR 6, DEX 10, WIL 3, 5hp, d6 hand-claws, fight as detachments.
Their huge hand-like claws and tri-billed beaks are perfect for scooping up food and sparkly things from unprepared vessels. They will even go as far as attacking rigging, sails, and engines, to disable a ship. Then they leave, returning to check for dead bodies to carry away.
3 - Cracklebud
A ten-foot, scabby egg, bobbing along the surface. Will break on light contact, releasing a surge of electric current into the surrounding ocean (d12 damage to anyone in the water, or conducted through metal). Any corpses resulting from this will harden and bloat almost instantly. Within an hour they are a fully formed Cracklebud themselves.
4 - Underanglers
d20 Squat, glassy men (STR 15, 7hp) that walk on the underside of the surface, feet facing up towards our sky. They have sophisticated pneumatic rams (d10, only work underwater) that they'll use to "fish" for anything interesting on our surface, dragging them under for their haul.
5 - Pleasurehulk
A re-purposed, ancient ship of the line (15hp, Armour 2, no weapons, gaudy paintjob with extatic faces). The top deck functions as travelling pub to let crew let off steam and enjoy drinks and snacks at ridiculous prices. The lower decks boast that they'll offer any sort of pleasures for sky-high prices. In actuality the proprietors have filled the lower decks with flashing lamps and hallucinatory incense, which tends to leave an impression on guests.
6 - Judiciary Fog
A blue cloud that reads the mind of those inside, and reveals the most unfortunate secrets to the most inappropriate people. Anyone that attempts violence while inside the fog is struck by a bolt of force for d10 damage until they cease. When everyone is truly repentant, forgiving, or depressed, the fog moves on.
7 - Sea Infusers
A brass clipper (8hp, Armour 1, d10 Scatter-Mortar) is dragging nets filled with herbs, roots, precious stones (worth 10g), and sacrificed animals. Supposedly this cleanses the sea of the evil things within. The crew don't seem to believe it all that much and will admit that they're just doing a job for a cult-brainwashed patron.
8 - Sea Grove
An array of tropical fruit trees growing on a floating pile of industrial junk and slime. Some looks familiar, others very unusual. For the unusual fruit roll on the "I Eat the Stuff" table (Into the Odd, p.48)
9 - Carving Ice Haulers
Noisy Steamship - 10hp, Armour 3.
The crew (4hp, d6 Ice Picks) are hauling an iceberg from the polar ocean. As their ship barely copes with the weight, they carve it into a block. This is just one piece of thousands needed for a colossal ice tower project being attempted on a remote island. The cult attempting it believe the tower will transform into an astral craft once completed.
10 - Data Globe
A huge sphere of metal (13hp, Armour 3, ignore attacks smaller than a cannon) gliding slowly just above the water. Speaks with a whining metallic voice and only asks questions about the surrounding area. Will answer any questions it knows the answer to with its Knowledge Ray, firing information into the target's brain. When threatened it uses this to show them demoralising lies or cause arguments so that it can escape. Wants only to gather data before returning to its master deep in the Underground.
These are very good.
ReplyDelete