This raised deck stands some 10 feet above the main deck (area A3), immediately behind the bowsprit, which is shaped like a rearing dragon. The foremast rises 30 feet above this deck.
A2. Poop Deck:
This raised deck stands 15 feet above the main deck (area A3). The mizzenmast rises 30 feet above this deck. The ship’s bridge protrudes forward of the mizzenmast, and holds the ship’s wheel. The wheel is 3 feet across and has 10 spokes decorated with silver inlays, its bolts carved to resemble kraken heads. An iron cage hangs from the side of the mizzenmast, containing the body of Harmak Gruft, a pirate who beat the captain at dice. Gruft is dead, but his ugly parrot Pluck perches atop the cage, still waiting for its master to awaken. Pluck is considered unfriendly and possesses a considerable vocabulary of appalling curse words.
Captain Harrigan and Mr. Plugg spend most of their time on this deck. When the captain is on deck, the poop deck is off-limits to everyone but officers.
A3. Main Deck:
The ship’s main deck runs between the foredeck and poop deck. The mainmast rises from the center of the deck, extending 60 feet into the air and topped by a crow’s nest. Rigging connects the mainmast to the ship’s other masts and can be crossed with DC 10 Acrobatics or Climb checks. Several strands of thick rope are secured to the foot of the mainmast for use as a whipping post. The ship’s clock, a macabre brass-andcopper object depicting worms writhing through whale corpses, hangs from the mast above the whipping post. Not only does the clock keep time, but its bell strikes at dawn and dusk to signal the beginning and the end of the workday. Two 10-foot-square hatches sit in the deck fore and aft of the mainmast. These hatches are thick wooden grilles and open onto the middle hold (area A6) 15 feet below. At the fore of the ship, two doors lead into the officers’ quarters (area A4), while two doors aft lead to the captain’s quarters (area A5).
A large wooden box bound in iron sits just beneath the bridge. This sweatbox, used to torment sailors, has just enough room to hold one Medium creature (and can be altered to confine a Small creature). It is locked with a good lock; Captain Harrigan and Mr. Plugg have the keys.
A small jolly boat (same statistics as a rowboat) sits on the deck next to the port rail. It has two sets of oars but no mast. Although designed to carry four Medium passengers, the jolly boat can fit six at a push.
A4. Officers’ Quarters:
The ship’s officers occupy the hammocks and sleeping mats in this cramped cabin. A set of steps descends sharply into the middle hold (area A6) below. The two narrow doors leading to the main deck (area A3) are locked with good locks. The officers store their possessions in footlockers, each with an average lock. Mr. Plugg, Master Scourge, Riaris Krine, Peppery Longfarthing, and Habbly Quarne sleep here at night, and at least one of them may often be found here at any given time during the day as well.
A5. Captain’s Cabin:
A6. Middle Hold:
This is the ship’s main cargo hold. The hold is mostly empty at the start of the adventure, save for the 14 pigs; normally kept caged, they periodically escape and run loose within the hold. In the forward section, a flight of wooden stairs climbs up to the officers’ quarters (area A4), while a second set of stairs descends into the lower hold (area A10). Owlbear Hartshorn is invariably chained to the foremast here to keep him from causing trouble and to keep people out of the officers’ cabin. Another flight of stairs in the aft section next to the galley leads up to the captain’s quarters (area A5), but it is common knowledge among the crew that the door is trapped. Stored near the mainmast are two light ballistas, a disassembled light catapult, and 12 barrels containing 20 gallons of oil each.
A7. Quartermaster and Cook’s Cabin:
This tiny cabin contains two beds and two footlockers. The Wormwood’s quartermaster, Cut-Throat Grok, and ship’s cook, Ambrose “Fishguts” Kroop, share this cabin with several of Kroop’s chickens. Grok sleeps here at night, as does Kroop, who is found here during the day as well if he is insensibly drunk. See the sidebar on this page for the contents of the lockers here.
A8. Galley:
The galley is the domain of Ambrose “Fishguts” Kroop, the drunken ship’s cook. The cramped and chaotic kitchen holds two wooden worktables, several wooden cupboards, and two small stoves against the port wall, as well as virtually every cooking utensil imaginable and a frightening array of meat cleavers. A score of chickens and three goats wander freely throughout the chamber; the goats are meant to be caged, but have a distressing tendency to escape their bonds. The kitchen is a madness of dirt, food, and knives, and finding anything in here requires a Perception check. The stoves are perpetually lit, and large cauldrons bubble away atop them all times. A huge array of spices mingle with barrels of rainwater, two tuns of rum, cupboards full of ship’s biscuit and salted beef, barrels of sauerkraut, and a small supply of fresh vegetables picked up in Port Peril.
Despite the chaos, the entire galley functions as a set of masterwork tools for Profession (cook) checks. Several items of value are lost among the ruin and squalor in the galley, each requiring a DC 10 Perception check to discover: a masterwork dagger being used as a butcher’s knife, a pair of handaxes used as meat cleavers, 11 knives, a short sword, a vial of holy water, a good lock hanging unused off a pantry cupboard, 2 pounds of soap, four waterskins, a barrel of poor wine, six bottles of good Chelish brandy worth 20 gp each, three bottles of magnificent rum worth 12 gp each, a large cookbook worth 125 gp (using the tome while cooking grants a +1 circumstance bonus on Profession [cook] checks), a prosthetic leg made of wood and edged with a silver band worth 45 gp, and 12 sp fallen behind a cupboard. In addition, a trio of harpoons (see Pirates of the Inner Sea), a spear, and Kroop’s steadfast grapple (see page 59) hang on the walls.
A9. Quartermaster’s Store:
The ship’s quartermaster, Cut-Throat Grok, can usually be found in this cramped, crowded storeroom containing numerous barrels, boxes, and chests. The door is locked with a superior lock, and features a 3-foot-square serving hatch (also with a superior lock). The quartermaster’s store acts as a kind of unofficial shop aboard the Wormwood. While any plunder stored there technically belongs to the captain, this is a pirate ship after all, and everything has its price.
Items found on the ship (or won from other pirates) can also be traded at the store for other merchandise. Bartered objects are generally worth 50% of their normal value when traded for goods. While the store is, in theory, open at all hours, it’s usually only open from dawn to about 3 p.m., when Grok starts drinking. She only opens the door outside these hours to friends. Grok has a tendency to get drunk in the afternoons and closes the store before heading to the deck for the evening meal. After supper, Grok carries the crew’s rum rations in a bucket to the main deck.
The quartermaster’s store contains two tuns of rum and six other containers.
A10. Lower Hold and Crew Berths:
Sixteen pillars support the deck above this spacious hold. At night, the Wormwood’s common pirates tie their hammocks between the walls and pillars and sleep until dawn. Two of Mr. Plugg’s toadies, Kipper and Patch Patchsalt, have claimed the far forward section of the hold as their own, and their hammocks are strung between the foremast and the stairs leading up to the middle hold (area A6). A trap door just behind the mainmast opens onto the bilges below (area A11), and requires a DC 10 Strength check to lift. The hold is currently empty of cargo, but several footlockers line the walls. Each member of the crew has a locker, equivalent to a small chest. At the start of the adventure, only 18 of these lockers are in use, while 22 empty lockers are stacked along the walls.
A11. Bilges:
The lowest deck of the ship, the bilges are a foul, damp place with thick cobwebs above and 1–2 feet of dark, brackish water that stinks abominably below. A ladder leads up to a trap door that opens in the lower hold (area A10), and a single bilge pump rests near the stern. The bilges also double as the ship’s brig, and six sets of masterwork manacles with average locks are fixed to the bulkheads in the forward portion of the deck.
Officers:
Barnabas Harrigan (NE male human) captain of the Wormwood
Peppery Longfarthing (CN female human) sailing master and old friend of the captain
Riaris Krine (NE female human) master gunner
Habbly Quarne, the “Stitchman” (N male human) ship’s surgeon and carpenter
Kipper (CE male human) gunner’s mate and bootlicker for Plugg and Scourge
Patch Patchsalt (CE female gnome) boatswain’s mate and sycophant of Plugg and Scourge
“Caulky” Tarroon (CN female human) the captain’s cabin girl
Owlbear Hartshorn (N male human) simpleton and “pet” of Mr. Plugg (see page 27)
Cut-Throat Grok (N female half-orc) quartermaster
Ambrose “Fishguts” Kroop (Male middle-aged human)
Mr. Plugg (Male human)
Master Scourge (Male human)
Crew:
Sandara Quinn (Female human cleric of Besmara 3)
Rosie Cusswell (Female halfling)
Crimson Cogward (Male human)
Conchobhar Turlach Shortstone (Male gnome)
Barefoot Samms Toppin (CG female human) aformer fisherwoman from the Sodden Lands who never wears shoes
Giffer Tibbs (NG female gnome) a bedraggled gnome with one eye
Jack Scrimshaw (N male human) a young lad talented at scrimshaw
“Ratline” Rattsberger (N male half ling) a rat-faced half ling with long arms and three missing fingers
Tilly Brackett (N female human) a tough joker who likes her rum
“Badger” Medlar (N female half-elf ) an older woman who shaves her gray hair into stripes
Shivikah (N female human) a very tall Mwangi exslaver
Aretta Bansion (NE female human) a bad tempered exharlot with big ears
Fipps Chumlett (NE male human) a fat, pushy bully with a shaved head
Jaundiced Jape (dead) (CE male half-orc) a humorless, greedy half-orc
Maheem (LN male human) a big Rahadoumi with a permanent scowl
Slippery Syl Lonegan (CE female human) an unhinged murderer who f led to sea to escape the gallows
Tam “Narwhal” Tate (NE male dwarf ) an old friend of Master Scourge with a large, ugly nose
Jakes Magpie (dead) (N male human) a thief caught stealing from the quartermaster’s store
Swab Tasks:
1 Man the Bilges: Vile and sweaty work cleaning out the
bilges (area A11), requiring a DC 12 Strength check.
The PC must also make a DC 10 Constitution check to
avoid being fatigued at the end of the shift.
2 Rat Catcher: Catching rats and other vermin belowdecks,
requiring either a DC 10 Stealth check, Survival check,
or Dexterity check to catch and kill enough rats,
cockroaches, and beetles for a good day’s work.
3 Swab the Decks: Backbreaking work mopping the
decks and scrubbing them with sandstone blocks
called holystones, requiring a DC 10 Strength or
Constitution check. Failing either check results in the
PC being fatigued at the end of the shift.
4 Hauling Rope and Knot Work: Tying and untying
knots in the ship’s ropes and moving heavy coils of
rope from one part of the ship to another, requiring
a DC 10 Profession (sailor) or Strength check. The PC
must also make a DC 10 Constitution check to avoid
being fatigued at the end of the shift.
5 Runner: Passing messages to the crew and officers
of the Wormwood in all parts of the ship except
officers’ cabins (areas A4 and A5), requiring a DC 10
Acrobatics check and DC 10 Constitution check.
Failing the Constitution check results in the PC being
fatigued at the end of the shift. A PC with the Run feat
automatically succeeds at this task.
6 Repairs: Things constantly tear or break aboard the
ship and need repairs, whether sewing sails or splicing
rope all day, requiring a DC 10 Profession (sailor) or
Dexterity check.
Rigger Tasks:
1 Rigging Repair: The ship’s rigging frequently gets
damaged and must be repaired, requiring DC 10
Climb checks to reach the rigging 30 feet up, followed
by a DC 10 Profession (sailor) or Dexterity check.
2 Line Work: Hard work hoisting and lowering sails,
requiring a DC 10 Profession (sailor) or Dexterity
check. The PC must also make a DC 10 Constitution
check to avoid being fatigued at the end of the shift.
3 Upper Rigging Work: Work in the upper rigging, 50
feet up, requiring DC 10 Climb checks, followed by a
DC 10 Profession (sailor) or Dexterity check.
4 Rope Work: Handling the ship’s ropes, including
coiling them, stowing them, and securing them to
cleats and single and double bollards, requiring a DC
10 Profession (sailor) or Dexterity check.
5 Lookout: A climb to the crow’s nest 60 feet up,
requiring DC 10 Climb checks followed by a DC 10
Perception check.
6 Mainsail Duties: Tough work raising and lowering
the mainsail, requiring a DC 10 Profession (sailor)
or Strength check. The PC must also make a DC 10
Constitution check to avoid being fatigued at the end
of the shift.
Cook’s Mate Tasks:
1 or 2 Cooking: Assisting Ambrose Kroop in preparing
the day’s meal. If Kroop is sober, no check is
required. If Kroop is drunk, this requires a DC 10
Profession (cook) or Intelligence check.
3 Fishing: Catching tonight’s supper using the ship’s
nets. A DC 10 Profession (fisherman) or Survival
check provides enough fish. A failed check results
in a day in the bilges as punishment the following
day (see the swab task Man the Bilges on page 23).
4 Turtle Hunting: Hunting leatherback sea turtles
with harpoons, treble hooks, and nets. A DC 10
Profession (fisherman) or Survival check provides
enough food. A failed check results in a day in the
bilges as punishment the following day (see the
swab task Man the Bilges on page 23).
5 Bull Session: Drinking with Ambrose Kroop and
listening to his stories. The cook’s mate must
drink an additional rum ration, but is able to take
an additional ship action during the day.
6 Special Occasion: Captain Harrigan is celebrating
something today, and wants one of the ship’s
pigs butchered and cooked for dinner. The PC
must make a DC 10 Profession (cook) or Survival
check to slaughter the animal, then help Kroop
to clean, cut, and prepare the carcass. If Kroop is
sober, no additional check is required. If Kroop is
drunk, this requires a DC 15 Profession (cook) or
Intelligence check.
Daytime Ship Actions:
Work Diligently: Gain a +4 bonus on any one check for a job’s daily task
Influence: Make normal checks for a job’s daily task and
attempt to influence a single NPC
Sneak: Make normal checks for a job’s daily task and
briefly explore one area of the ship (the PC can make a
single Perception check or other skill check with no chance
of detection)
Shop: Take a –2 penalty on all checks for a job’s daily task
and visit the quartermaster’s store (area A9)
Shirk: Take a –2 penalty on all checks for a job’s daily task
and take time exploring one area of the ship. The PC can
take 10 on a single Perception check or other skill check, but
must make a check to avoid being discovered (see below).
Nighttime Ship Actions:
Sleep: Go to bed early and sleep through the night
(automatically recover from fatigue)
Gamble: Play or gamble on a game of chance or pirate
entertainment (see page 67)
Entertain: Make one Perform check to entertain the crew
One way pirates amuse themselves is through songs and
stories. Pirates love a good sea chantey, and characters with
Perform skills quickly find themselves popular members
of the crew (although pirates aren’t generally big on Chelish
Opera). If a character succeeds at a DC 20 Perform check, he
gains a +2 circumstance bonus on all Charisma-based skill
checks made to interact with any listener among the crew
for the next 24 hours.
Influence*: Attempt to influence a single NPC
Sneak*: Take time exploring one area of the ship. The PC
can take 20 on a single Perception check or other skill
check, but must make a check to avoid being discovered
(see below).
Steal*: Attempt to open a locked door or locker. The PC
must make a check to avoid being discovered (see below).
Pirate Entertainments:
With time on their hands and precious few places to go, Shackles pirates have come up with an astonishing array of pastimes. One way pirates amuse themselves is through songs and stories. Pirates love a good sea chantey, and characters with Perform skills quickly find themselves popular members of the crew (although pirates aren’t generally big on Chelish Opera). If a character succeeds at a DC 20 Perform check, he gains a +2 circumstance bonus on all Charisma-based skill checks made to interact with any listener among the crew for the next 24 hours. A Perform result of 9 or lower, however, indicates that the next time he attempts to use Perform to entertain the crew, everyone ignores him unless he makes a successful DC 15 Bluff or Intimidate check before doing so. Aside from telling stories, singing songs, and other recreations (all of which might be simulated with the Perform skill), these pastimes have two things in common: they are dangerous, and they are played for money. When betting on any of the following games, the minimum bet is 1 gp, and the maximum ready cash any NPC in the lesser crew is likely to have is 20 gp. Some people are bad losers—the ramifications of this are left for the GM to decide.
Arm Wrestling: Not merely typical arm wrestling bouts, such matches are usually conducted on a barrel top covered in broken glass, knives, or caltrops. Participants make opposed Strength checks, with the higher result determining the winner, and the loser taking an amount of damage equal to 1d2 + the winner’s Strength modifier as his hand and arm are pushed onto whatever lies on the table.
Hog Lob: Participants lob a lead ingot covered in a greased piglet skin, the “hog,” as far across the deck as possible. This game is resolved by d20 checks between any number of players, who agree on a bet beforehand. The hog counts as an improvised weapon, imposing a –4 penalty on all rolls using it unless the thrower has the Throw Anything feat. Checks are resolved as attack rolls using the character’s CMB. Characters toss the hog a number of feet equal to their adjusted rolls; for example, a character who gets a result of 22 throws the hog 22 feet. Some pirates claim to have participated in games played against Asmodeus using a live hog.
Heave: This potentially deadly drinking game is played with rum and takes place between any number of pirates, who bet to predict the winner beforehand. Each pirate drinks a half pint of rum in one swig. Doing so forces participants to make a successful DC 15 Fortitude save or have the damage dealt by the rum ration increase by +1 (see sidebar; this is in addition to the normal effects of the rum ration). This DC increases by +3 for each consecutive drink. Pirates then take turns drinking until only one is left standing. Some tales tell of entire crews drinking themselves to death through this game, leaving ships of drunk ghosts wandering the shipping routes.
