Contents
Chapter 3: Cursed Shipwreck
This chapter assumes the characters come here before Seagrow Caves and are still 1st level. It also includes instructions to scale up the danger in combat encounters if the characters complete chapter 2, "Seagrow Caves," before coming here and are now 2nd level.
Shipwreck Overview
Ever since the violent death of a gold dragon on the rocky shoal on the north side of Stormwreck Isle, the bone-strewn rocks have been the site of many shipwrecks through the centuries. One such shipwreck left a lasting mark on the island.
About forty years ago, a ship named Compass Rose carrying passengers bound for the cloister wrecked on the shoal, killing all aboard. To the horror of the cloister's residents, those who drowned found their way ashore as shambling zombies. Since the loss of that ship, each new shipwreck has brought a fresh wave of zombie sailors to the island's shore. Fortunately, wrecks are rareāor they were, until recently.
Not long ago, a harpy settled into the wreck of Compass Rose. With its magically entrancing voice, the harpy has been luring ships to crash on the shoal and feasting on the unlucky sailors. The sailors who escape the harpy's talons end up as zombies menacing the people of Dragon's Rest.
The harpy is only the most immediate problem lurking in the wrecked hull of Compass Rose. The greater threat is a cursed talisman held in the ship's hold, imbued with magic by a long-dead sailor's desperate prayers to a demon lord. This curse is responsible for the drowned sailors animating as zombies. Most of the sailors who were aboard the ship when it wrecked are long gone, but some zombies have been trapped in the wreck for years.
Shipwreck Features
The wreck of Compass Rose is located at the northern end of a long spur of sharp rocks and dragon bones jutting from the ocean waves, about 2Ā½ miles from the cloister. It remains mostly above the water, held up by the ancient bones that tore its hull. The wreck has the following features:
- Walls. The soggy wooden walls are aged to a sickly black and green. Algae and barnacles grow on walls throughout the wreck.
- Ceilings. The ceilings in the ship are 8 feet high.
- Doors. The doorways are 6 feet high, and the doors are in the same waterlogged condition as the walls.
- Light. During the day, the sun fills the upper deck and main deck with bright light and the lower deck with dim light. Sunlight doesn't reach into the hold, and the whole wreck is dark at night. See "Vision" in the Basic Rules.
Running This Chapter
Dragon's Rest has a rowboat the characters can take to visit the wreck of Compass Rose. The trip of 2Ā½ miles takes about 1 hour and 40 minutes to row. When the characters arrive, read this text:
If the characters pull the rowboat up to the south (starboard) side of the ship, they can easily tie up the little boat to the derelict's rigging and climb onto the main deck (x). However, they're free to explore other possibilities for getting aboard, such as swimming through the hole in the hold (x).
Shipwreck Locations
The following locations are keyed to map 4, which shows the layout of the shipwreck.
C1: Main Deck
Crow's Nest
A rope ladder runs up the mast to the crow's nest, secure despite the condition of the wreck. The mast sways alarmingly as characters climb, and at the top of the 50-foot climb the characters find that they are leaning out over the water on the port (north) side of the ship.
The crow's nest now serves as a nest for the harpy that has made Compass Rose its lair. The basket-shaped area is stuffed with wood shavings, dry grass, and shredded canvas from ships' sails. Bits of bones, tufts of hair, and shiny baubles are also visible in the harpy's nest.
Harpy's Return
When the characters arrive at the shipwreck, the harpy is out looking for another ship to lure onto the rocks. It returns after the characters have spent some time aboard, as described in "x" later in this chapter.
Treasure
Characters who search through the crow's nest find a small gold bracelet worth 25 gp, a single gold hoop earring worth 25 gp, two small tiger eye gems worth 10 gp each, and one bloodstone gem worth 50 gp.
C2: Forecastle
The ballista no longer works. There's nothing of interest to find here.
C3: Quarterdeck
The wheel bears the name of the shipāCompass Roseāengraved and inlaid with mother-of-pearl, though in the wheel's current position the name is upside down. If a character turns the wheel, it snaps free of its axle and falls. If the character tries to catch the wheel before it hits the deck, ask the player to make a DC 10 Dexterity saving throw. On a successful save, the character catches the wheel. On a failed save, the wheel hits the deck with a loud thud that catches the attention of the zombies in area C4. A moment later, the thud is answered by a loud crash against the door to C4, which repeats every 10 to 15 seconds.
C4: Captain's Quarters
The door to the captain's quarters is barricaded from the inside, though the heavy wooden bar blocking the door is half rotten. A character who tries to force the door open can break it down with a successful DC 10 Strength check.
If the characters dropped the wheel in area C3 or needed more than one Strength check to open the door into this room, the two zombies are beside the door when it opens. Otherwise, they're aimlessly shuffling around the cabin. In either case, they move to attack the characters right away.
Hole to the Hold
The hole beside the captain's bed formed when the rotting floorboards collapsed under the weight of the captain's sea chest. It broke through the floor of the lower deck (x) as well, coming to rest in the hold (x).
Treasure
Two small drawers in the desk hold a pouch containing 50 gp, a set of cartographer's tools, and a dagger. The compass set in the desktop can easily be pried free; it is worth 25 gp.
2nd-Level Characters
If the characters are 2nd level, add a third zombie to this encounter.
C5: Galley
Small, harmless crabs are crawling over the skeletal remains, causing the illusion of movement.
C6: Crew Quarters
The portrait shows a young couple smiling and embracing. Written across the bottom of the portrait are the words "Aleitha and Brastosātogether forever." The black-haired woman wears a sailor's uniform similar to the tatters worn by the zombies aboard this ship. The blond-haired man wears a merchant's fine clothes.
Floorboard Stash
A character who searches the cabin and succeeds on a DC 10 Wisdom (Perception) check notices a floorboard in the middle of the room that is raised slightly above its neighbors. A character who lifts the floorboard triggers a trap: a tiny dart shoots up, making an attack against the character. Its attack bonus is +5. If it hits, it deals 2 (1d4) piercing damage, and the character must succeed on a DC 11 Constitution saving throw or take 3 (1d6) poison damage. Once the trap is triggered, it does not trigger again unless a character resets it. (If the characters figure out a way to lift the floorboard from a safe distance, the dart misses.)
Treasure
A sack full of 200 gp rests in a small compartment beneath the raised floorboard.
C7: Mess Hall
There's nothing of interest to find here.
C8: Lower Deck
The zombie is an obvious threat, but another Undead monsterāa ghoulālurks in the aft part of the hold. Much more cunning than the zombies, the ghoul waits to attack until the characters are busy with the zombie. It hopes to paralyze a character with its Claw attack, then drag the paralyzed character away to feast on while the other characters contend with the zombie. Unlike the zombies, the ghoul is not a former member of the ship's crew, but a vile scavenger drawn by the presence of decaying flesh.
The water on the floor ranges from about 6 inches deep on the starboard (south) side of the ship to 18 inches deep on the port (north) side. The water makes the entire lower deck difficult terrain (see "Difficult Terrain" in the Basic Rules).
Hole to the Hold
A hole in the ceiling in the northwest part of the area leads up to the captain's quarters (x). It's matched by a similar hole directly below it. The holes were caused by the captain's chest falling through the floorboards all the way to the hold, where it came to rest (see x).
2nd-Level Characters
If the characters are 2nd level, add two zombies to this encounter.
Treasure
Some of the goods in the crates here remain valuable. Using a crowbar, a character can pry open a crate in 1 minute; without a crowbar, it takes 10 minutes. When a character opens a crate, roll a d6 and consult the Crate Contents table to determine what's inside. The characters can find each item on the table once.
Crate Contents
| d6 | Contents |
|---|---|
| 1 | Five bottles of fine wine (worth 10 gp each) packed in straw, plus one broken bottle |
| 2 | A 20-pound sack of whole cloves, worth 60 gp |
| 3 | Ten small, 1-pound bars of silver (worth 5 gp each) |
| 4 | A pair of candlestick holders carved from bone to resemble dragons, worth 25 gp each |
| 5 | A fine lute with mother-of-pearl inlay, worth 50 gp |
| 6 | A spell scroll of command, sealed in a leather case |
C9: Hold
See "Climbing, Swimming, and Crawling" and "Suffocating" in "The Environment" in the Basic Rules as the characters venture into the submerged hold. Fortunately for them, unless something goes wrong, there's no significant time pressure on the characters as they swim around here. They can surface (at the hole in area C8's floor, or at the top of the stairs up to C8) to breathe as often as they need to.
Captain's Chest
A heavy iron chest lies on the floor of the hold, directly beneath the hole it fell through. If a character opens the chest here, a large air bubble rushes out, and a packet, wrapped and sealed in waxed fabric, rises up after it. Though the chest is heavy (about 125 pounds), the characters can also carry it to the surface before opening it.
The chest contains a pouch holding 55 gp and three turquoise stones (worth 10 gp each), as well as a pair of boots of elvenkind. The floating packet contains the captain's journal, which has been kept safe from the water by its wrapping. A braid of hair is stuck in the pages like a bookmark, indicating the log's last entry. The last entry reads as follows:
The talisman is formed from long locks of hairāsome blonde, some blackābraided together and knotted around two small finger bones. If a character casts detect magic, the talisman is revealed to carry magic of the school of necromancy. See "x" for more about the talisman.
Tarsakh is a month in the calendar of the Forgotten Realms, roughly corresponding to April. No year is specified in the log.
About Orcus
Known as the Demon Prince of Undeath and the Blood Lord, the demon lord Orcus is a fiend whose power rivals that of the gods. Ruling over hordes of demons in the nightmarish plane of existence called the Abyss, Orcus yearns to transform the multiverse into a ghastly place of death. Many Undead creatures (like ghouls) worship him or seek to bargain with him in exchange for some fragment of his power over undeath.
A New Threat
After the characters find the captain's chest, when they come up from the hold to the lower deck, they hear a heavy thump on the deck above them as the harpy lands on the main deck. See "x" below.
Harpy's Return
The harpy that makes its lair in the crow's nest (x) returns to the ship when one of these conditions is met:
- The characters find the captain's chest in the hold (x) and return to the lower deck (x).
- The characters finish a short or long rest on the ship.
The next time the characters show themselves on the main deck, the harpy confronts them:
On its first turn, the harpy uses its Luring Song in an attempt to charm the characters and draw them up to the crow's nest. A character charmed by the harpy's Luring Song thinks it's the most beautiful sound they have ever heard. It's easy to imagine how a ship might be lured off course to get closer to the source of this music.
Talking to the Harpy
The harpy is cruel and hungry for flesh, but it speaks Common and can be reasoned with. It's not easy to convince the bloodthirsty monster to change its ways and leave the wreck of Compass Rose, but if the players come up with a strong argument (possibly supported with high rolls on Charisma checks), the harpy cooperates. These tactics are the most likely to convince the harpy to leave:
- If the characters have already reduced the harpy to fewer than half its hit points, it might flee.
- If the characters claimed the treasure from the crow's nest while the harpy was absent, it might agree to leave in exchange for the return of its treasure.
- If the characters are 2nd level and two harpies are present (see below), characters can play on the distrust between the two harpies and might convince them to part ways and leave the area.
2nd-Level Characters
If the characters are 2nd level, add a second harpy to the encounter. This harpy initially perches on the ballista in x and uses its own Luring Song. Although they're allies, the harpies don't trust each other.
Ending This Chapter
If the characters defeat the harpy, one problem is solved: no more ships will be lured to the rocks, and shipwrecks will once again be a rarity.
If the characters find Aleitha's talisman in the hold, they can solve the zombie problem entirely. If they bring the talisman to Runara and explain what they found in the captain's log, Runara nods sadly. She remembers Aleitha's husband, Brastos, but he died many years ago. He was laid to rest in the graveyard atop the cliffs at the northern point of the island, northwest of Dragon's Rest.
The graves in the little clifftop cemetery are covered in white wildflowers and marked with simple wooden slabs. If the characters lay the talisman on Brastos's grave, bury it in the soil over the grave, or burn it atop the grave, the wind seems to sigh in relief. Thick fog forms around the rocks north of the island. The fog lingers overnight, and when it disperses, no trace of Compass Rose remains.
The characters might also disregard the words of the captain's journal and destroy the talisman while aboard the ship. This also breaks the curseāthe characters still feel something like a sigh in the air, fog rises up to engulf the wreck while the characters are rowing away, and the ship is gone when the fog lifts the next day.
If the characters undo the talisman's curse, the next time they sleep, the cleric character has another dream. Read this text to the cleric's player:
Gain a Level
After they complete this chapter of the adventure, the characters gain a level. If they visited Compass Rose before Seagrow Caves, they advance to 2nd level. The residents of Dragon's Rest urge them to visit Seagrow Caves next (see "x"). If the characters have already explored the caves, they advance to 3rd level and are ready to visit Clifftop Observatory in chapter 4. See "x".
The x explain what happens when characters gain a level.