The chamber hidden below the great throne isempty save for two chests. One is a iron-banded chest decorated with skulls that seems to have held up remarkably well considering its immersion in seawater. The other is a stone box with the image of a fish-headed demon carved onto its lid, whose seams appear to have been sealed by lead.
>Open iron chest first, but check for traps
"Hold, Ace. Let's take these out of the water first."
Ixrul begins detecting magic on the chests.
Neither of the chests are magical.
The throne above you, however, is.
The throne radiates magic too powerful for Ixrul to identify.
The massive stone throne is an artifact of the ancient cyclops empire of Ghol-Gan. It is said to be cursed, associated in some way with dreams of conquest or power among those who seat themselves on it.
It might be worth up to 5000 gp to the right collector.
"How the hell can we move this, get the whole crew here and push it all the way to the ship?"
"We are not leaving without this."
"How do you suggest we remove it, wizard?"
Yes, you level.
"Well, for starters, let's retrieve corpses - I need to refill my collection of undead. I'll figure out a pulley system or something for the throne."
To-do list of things to do:
- mobilize throne
- open chests
- reanimate Krelloort as a Bloody Burning Skeleton
- create a bunch of bloody skeletons out of the Sahuagin
- maybe make a fast zombie shark out of that big shark
- get sandra to desecrate an area to do the undeading more efficiently
What happens to the sord?
or maybe reincarnate will help?
"Ace weak, even for human. Should eat more Sahuagin meat."
Jrahk picks up Ace's body.
Well, you were always the only human.
"I can communicate with Master Ace from beyond the grave, he confirms he wants to be reincarnated."
.
.
.
"Okay, maybe not from beyond the grave, but he did tell me that if he goes down, he wants that to happen, so just open the damn chests, get back to the ship, and do it."
"Jrahk, open that chest."
Jrahk pries open the sealed chest, and a cloud of red stuff pours out of it.
After a minute the pains strike again, but a minute after that Ixrul fights off the poison entirely.
The other chest is safe, and the rest of you take it back to your ship.
The chest itself is magic, and is an item known as a Captain's Chest.
It functions as a Type IV Bag of Holding, and is watertight even if opened underwater.
If placed in the hold of a ship it warps the dimensions of the hold and increases the cargo hold capacity by 50% for as long as it stays there. If it is removed while the hold is overfull, all ecess cargo is expelled out through the nearest point of egress (injring anyone in its way). It is worth 30k gp.
Inside are:
-A variety of silks, exotic spices, fine furs, raw gold and silver ore (worth a total of 10 points of Plunder)
-A figurehead called Besmara's Bones
-2 Fan Feather Tokens
-Slippers of Spider Cimbing (4800 gp)
-An ornate crown with an undersea motif, made of Deep Platinum (worth 5000 gp)
-A jeweled box (worth 500 gp), containg assorted jewelry worth a total of 4000 gp
Cost: 10, 800 gp
Named for the goddess of piracy, strife, and sea monsters, this
figurehead must be mounted on the prow of a ship function.
Once per day, a ship carrying Besmara’s Bones can inflict a curse
on an enemy ship struck with a successful ramming attack. The
target ship must succeed at a DC 14 Will save or its pilot takes
a –4 penalty on Profession (sailor) checks to control the ship.
In addition, the cursed ship can never gain the upper hand in
ship-to-ship combat (Skull & Shackles Player’s Guide 9). The curse
inflicted by the figurehead cannot be dispelled, but it can be
removed with a break enchantment, limited wish, miracle, remove
curse, or wish spell. In addition, once per day, Besmara’s Bones
can be used to cast false life (CL 5th) on the captain of the ship
carrying the figurehead. A ship may not have more than one
figurehead, magical or otherwise, mounted on it at one time.
We keep the chest and the figure head, for sure. Ixrul could use those slippers as well.
After a few days the full moon rises, and you slather Ace's naked body with Salve (or, more accurately, Sandra does so).
His body bucks and shakes and then EXPLODES, reforming itself a moment later into something resembling a man/shark hybrid, and then changing a moment later into something much...furrier. Ace now has a fine coat of red fur, with a small white patch at the throat, and muzzle reminiscent of a fox's.
Ixrul will also pick up 50 GP worth of silver and get Sandra to cast Desecrate (twice, as he can only cast 2 animate deads in a day) in the hold of the ship while he starts creating undead.
First Casting of Animate Dead:
Fast Zombie Advanced Giant Hammerhead Shark (4 HD) x 2 = 8 HD
Bloody Burning Skeleton Krelloort (2 HD) x 6 = 12 HD
Bloody Skeleton Concubines (2 HD) x 2 x 2 = 8 HD
-----------------
28 * 25 = 700
1d4 damage + 2 str damage
8 HD controlled
-----------------
Second Casting:
7x Bloody Skeletal Sahuagin (2 HD) x 2 x 7 = 28 HD
1d4 damage + 2 str damage
14 + 8 HD controlled
-----------------
Third Casting
2x Bloody Skeletal Sahuagin (2 HD) x 2 x 2 = 8 HD
1d4 damage + 1 str damage
14 + 8 + 6 HD controlled, for a total of 28
Total (All Created In a Desecrated Area):
1x Bloody Burning Skeletal Krelloort (4-Armed Mutant Sahuagin)
1x Fast Zombie Advanced Giant Hammerhead Shark
2x Bloody Skeletal Concubines (Advanced Sahuagin)
9x Bloody Skeletal Sahuagin
+ 5 Str (Healed ASAP, thanks to Sandra and lesser restoration not having a material component)
50 GP worth of silver dust for the desecrates.
Ixrul will also go shopping for spells after two days of being in port, once he finishes creating the undead.
Jrahk watches Ixrul work, with a look of mocking amusement.
"You waste money. Big pile of moving bones not keep you safe forever."
"It's 13 crew members that are extremely tough to kill, never mutiny, never need food, weigh significantly less than a normal human, and can swim at great speeds. As well as a shark fast and strong enough to sink smaller enemy boats - such as lifeboats or boarding ships - fairly easily."
Sighing with exasperation as he finishes raising the last skeleton, he says, "How, exactly, is that a waste of fifty gold pieces?"
Jrahk snorts.
"They cannot think. They do what you say only. Useless if you unconscious or silenced. Maybe turn on us if you killed."
"Hope we don't meet evil cleric who controls undead."
"I got a fox head! and body, aaaaaaauuughhhhhh!"
Ace studies his new form for a second, and realizes that he is indeed a kitsune now.
"On second thought...."[b]
[b]"A kitsune, eh? I guess I can get all the ladies now, since I can be whoever they want....."
"I swear to Besmara if you make fox puns, I will kill you"