Interesting encounters are short descriptions of encounters that GMs can use to build on. They combine unique aspects of different types of foes, terrain, skill checks, weather, combat, etc in order to provide more unique challenges than hit monster; repeat.
This encounter is inspired by the Zelbinion from the television series Farscape.
The Massive is a well know battleship, commissioned by a local wealthy city for its navy. On its first voyage it was lost, but the years to follow, there have been multiple sightings of it as sea. It remains a legend at sea and a prize if found, but the rumors also say it is cursed. Specialized knowledge might give additional information about its mission when lost.
There can be a whole adventure had just finding the Massive, but we are going to skip that part. We will start with the party finding the ship.
The Massive is a huge hulk of a ship, found deep in the ocean, floating silently. The sails are torn to shreds, unable to sail. A circular current pulls the ship in a board circular path that takes months to complete. From a distance this ship appear intact. Closer, large red Xs are painted on the sides, indicating the ship is cursed. Nets hang from the side of the ship, unlike fishing nets, purpose unknown to the PCs. (The GM knows that the seaweed on these nets is a useful weapon to entangle boarding parties.) There is no one on deck and no lights from the ship.To the sharp eyed, cannons can be seen missing. The insightful PC may figure out that they were pulled through the cannon portals, and that the ship has not been boarded. An unboarded ship still holds treasures to reap.
The Massive has 4 decks: a main deck, a gunner deck, a hold, and a lower deck.
The main deck is weathered and cracked with age and seawater. Seaweed covers the railing on the sides. There are no traces of blood or fire or anything else can be seen on the deck. At night the rigging glows slightly to anyone standing on the deck, but is otherwise not visible.
The ship's wheel and compass stands adjacent to a control panel. Whether magic or technology-based, it is keyed to the captain and helmsman, perhaps via some object. The panel shocks the unkeyed. The panel is a riddle of runes that turns elemental (anti-fire, anti-water) and magical protection spells on/off on each deck. There is also an option to turn on a synthetic wind for the sails, though it will not work until the sails are repaired. Messing around with the panel can get a PC hurt or killed, or destroy the panel's functions. The status of protections can be very important later.
There are various quarters for officers on the main deck under the sterncastle, forecastle, and in rooms on the deck. In one room, grub-like creatures are found feeding on the dead body of a crewman. Some quarters are trapped. Some quarters contain equipment and treasure. Some quarters have clues to what happened to the ship.
The gunnery deck has one lone crewmember alive and in his quarters. This crewmember, Styx, was the crew's surgeon and is an insectoid race. A smart PC might recognize the creatures feeding on the dead crewman as being the same race as Styx. Despite the obvious disrespect for the dead, Styx is trustworthy NPC although his morals and ideals are alien. He will tell the story of the ship's caster and crew trying to capture gargantuan water elementals from sea. Some of these water elementals of various size are on board the ship below. Styx will not go below the gunnery deck.
The gunnery deck also contains rusted cannons, cannon balls, and some meager food. There are traces of black powder, but not enough for a cannon load. Hammocks hang throughout, presumably the sleeping places for gunnery crew. There may be a few chests, some trapped, that hold items of the gunnery crew.
Below the deck is the hold. The hold has a very large black powder storage area. The blackpowder is very old and unstable. Moving it gives a slight chance of accidental ignition. If one barrel of powder explodes, adjacent barrels will also explode, likely killing anyone nearby and sinking the ship.
The hold also has significant storage for rum, rations, and other supplies that are still almost full. Anything made of metal in the stores is heavily rusted. There are brig holding cells on this level. At least one holds a smaller water elemental.
There is also a crew mess / meeting room on this level. In this room is a pile of around 40 crew, all dead and decomposing. The smell and sight are sickening to those who enter the room. There is also a very angry wraith attached to these corpses that will attack anything that enters the room.
The lowest level, the lower deck, is the most dangerous area of the ship. Two secret rooms hold very large water elementals. There are 4 bilge pumps that are disable, leaving this deck damp and moldy. A skilled PC can fix one in a couple of hours.
There are a couple of additional specialty rooms on this level. There is a cooper's quarters filled with various barrel pieces and parts. A trapped chest with valuables is there too. There is also an alchemist's lab, filled with broken bottles, and spilled substances. Entering this room is particularly dangerous. Disturbing the chemicals or containers on the tables or floor could result in catastrophic explosion.
The alchemist's lab also contains a prototype water elemental engine. This engine is very valuable. However, there is a small chance that disturbing the engine will activate it, causing it to blast out water, sinking the ship.
There is also a room that contains a fire elemental. Magical fire suppression will disable it if activated for this level on the main control panel, but otherwise it may set the ship on fire while attacking PCs.
On the lower level, there is also a hidden room that is the master spy's quarters. Entering this room without deactivating the magical trap will start a 60 second countdown until a massive explosion that will destroy the entire lower deck. The 60 second countdown is voiced by an animated dead parrot in the quarters.
If there is a catastrophic explosion or if the water elemental engine is activate, the ship will sink in less than a minute. PCs left on this ship as it sinks may drown if unable to get out past the water rushing in.
This encounter is a wonderful balance of risk and reward. At every turn, there are opportunities that could result in the ship being destroyed and PCs being killed. The smarter the PCs are in their dealings with the ship, the more likely they will recover valuable items, and perhaps, even salvage the ship.
Salvaging the ship is likely to attract a lot of attention. This ship is a powerful weapon and will attract those who wish to take it for themselves, both pirates and scoundrels, as well as city-states and navies. At every turn, the story always gets more interesting with this encounter.
This encounter is inspired by the Zelbinion from the television series Farscape.
The Massive is a well know battleship, commissioned by a local wealthy city for its navy. On its first voyage it was lost, but the years to follow, there have been multiple sightings of it as sea. It remains a legend at sea and a prize if found, but the rumors also say it is cursed. Specialized knowledge might give additional information about its mission when lost.
There can be a whole adventure had just finding the Massive, but we are going to skip that part. We will start with the party finding the ship.
The Massive is a huge hulk of a ship, found deep in the ocean, floating silently. The sails are torn to shreds, unable to sail. A circular current pulls the ship in a board circular path that takes months to complete. From a distance this ship appear intact. Closer, large red Xs are painted on the sides, indicating the ship is cursed. Nets hang from the side of the ship, unlike fishing nets, purpose unknown to the PCs. (The GM knows that the seaweed on these nets is a useful weapon to entangle boarding parties.) There is no one on deck and no lights from the ship.To the sharp eyed, cannons can be seen missing. The insightful PC may figure out that they were pulled through the cannon portals, and that the ship has not been boarded. An unboarded ship still holds treasures to reap.
The Massive has 4 decks: a main deck, a gunner deck, a hold, and a lower deck.
The main deck is weathered and cracked with age and seawater. Seaweed covers the railing on the sides. There are no traces of blood or fire or anything else can be seen on the deck. At night the rigging glows slightly to anyone standing on the deck, but is otherwise not visible.
The ship's wheel and compass stands adjacent to a control panel. Whether magic or technology-based, it is keyed to the captain and helmsman, perhaps via some object. The panel shocks the unkeyed. The panel is a riddle of runes that turns elemental (anti-fire, anti-water) and magical protection spells on/off on each deck. There is also an option to turn on a synthetic wind for the sails, though it will not work until the sails are repaired. Messing around with the panel can get a PC hurt or killed, or destroy the panel's functions. The status of protections can be very important later.
There are various quarters for officers on the main deck under the sterncastle, forecastle, and in rooms on the deck. In one room, grub-like creatures are found feeding on the dead body of a crewman. Some quarters are trapped. Some quarters contain equipment and treasure. Some quarters have clues to what happened to the ship.
The gunnery deck has one lone crewmember alive and in his quarters. This crewmember, Styx, was the crew's surgeon and is an insectoid race. A smart PC might recognize the creatures feeding on the dead crewman as being the same race as Styx. Despite the obvious disrespect for the dead, Styx is trustworthy NPC although his morals and ideals are alien. He will tell the story of the ship's caster and crew trying to capture gargantuan water elementals from sea. Some of these water elementals of various size are on board the ship below. Styx will not go below the gunnery deck.
The gunnery deck also contains rusted cannons, cannon balls, and some meager food. There are traces of black powder, but not enough for a cannon load. Hammocks hang throughout, presumably the sleeping places for gunnery crew. There may be a few chests, some trapped, that hold items of the gunnery crew.
Below the deck is the hold. The hold has a very large black powder storage area. The blackpowder is very old and unstable. Moving it gives a slight chance of accidental ignition. If one barrel of powder explodes, adjacent barrels will also explode, likely killing anyone nearby and sinking the ship.
The hold also has significant storage for rum, rations, and other supplies that are still almost full. Anything made of metal in the stores is heavily rusted. There are brig holding cells on this level. At least one holds a smaller water elemental.
There is also a crew mess / meeting room on this level. In this room is a pile of around 40 crew, all dead and decomposing. The smell and sight are sickening to those who enter the room. There is also a very angry wraith attached to these corpses that will attack anything that enters the room.
The lowest level, the lower deck, is the most dangerous area of the ship. Two secret rooms hold very large water elementals. There are 4 bilge pumps that are disable, leaving this deck damp and moldy. A skilled PC can fix one in a couple of hours.
There are a couple of additional specialty rooms on this level. There is a cooper's quarters filled with various barrel pieces and parts. A trapped chest with valuables is there too. There is also an alchemist's lab, filled with broken bottles, and spilled substances. Entering this room is particularly dangerous. Disturbing the chemicals or containers on the tables or floor could result in catastrophic explosion.
The alchemist's lab also contains a prototype water elemental engine. This engine is very valuable. However, there is a small chance that disturbing the engine will activate it, causing it to blast out water, sinking the ship.
There is also a room that contains a fire elemental. Magical fire suppression will disable it if activated for this level on the main control panel, but otherwise it may set the ship on fire while attacking PCs.
On the lower level, there is also a hidden room that is the master spy's quarters. Entering this room without deactivating the magical trap will start a 60 second countdown until a massive explosion that will destroy the entire lower deck. The 60 second countdown is voiced by an animated dead parrot in the quarters.
If there is a catastrophic explosion or if the water elemental engine is activate, the ship will sink in less than a minute. PCs left on this ship as it sinks may drown if unable to get out past the water rushing in.
This encounter is a wonderful balance of risk and reward. At every turn, there are opportunities that could result in the ship being destroyed and PCs being killed. The smarter the PCs are in their dealings with the ship, the more likely they will recover valuable items, and perhaps, even salvage the ship.
Salvaging the ship is likely to attract a lot of attention. This ship is a powerful weapon and will attract those who wish to take it for themselves, both pirates and scoundrels, as well as city-states and navies. At every turn, the story always gets more interesting with this encounter.
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