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The Pale Reaver Two Page Mini Delves

jesse pincivero (Order #13042782)
 The Pale Reaver
A ghost ship could contain priceless treasure, or perhaps just certain death
Hook:
 The PCs hear rumors or find manuscripts about a ghost ship
that appears every 150 years, and that it carries a very real
statuette that is worth “thousands” of gold pieces (this is a
false rumor).
 The PCs are hired by an eccentric collector to retrieve the
idol aboard the ship. The collector does not know of the
statuette’s origin, just that it’s “one of a kind.”
 The PCs are travelling somewhere by ship, and the night
watchman spots a strange vessel drifting in the water.
Background:
Very near the beginning of time, long before man or even
dwarves were created, the elves tried to create a god in their
own image. The attempt backfired horrifically; the result of
their experimentation was a malformed mass of evil and chaos
and darkness that threatened to devour the universe. Just in
time, however, a group of elven wizards managed to
permanently imprison the god-thing's essence in a statuette.
This was the best the elves could do – they could not destroy
the god-ish being they had created, so they settled on
imprisoning it.
25 millennia passed, and rumor of the powerful statuette made
its way to the ears of a warlord, who aimed to harness the
statue’s power for his own ends. He sent five ships in search of
this idol - four were unsuccessful, but one never returned.
The fifth ship, The Pale Reaver, did indeed find the statuette,
but its influence corrupted the crew and drove them insane
before it could be delivered to the warlord. Such was the horror
aboard that ship and such is the power of the statue that the ship
and its crew are now doomed to sail for eternity as a ghost ship.
Every 150 years, the full moon passes through the exact center
of a circular constellation of stars known as "The Well of
Darkness.” This phenomenon is known to astrologers as "The
Eye of Darkness," and many legends speak of horrific and
strange things that appear on this rare night. It so happens that
The Pale Reaver
jesse pincivero (Order #13042782)
For special information about
this map, see “About the
Map” in the Appendix
one of these things is the appearance of the Pale Reaver; it is
able to pass, for a short time, into the world.
The ghost ship appears while the moon enters the circle of the
constellation, and disappears again when the moon leaves the
circle of the constellation.
General Mechanics:
 The ship appears for a short time; the characters have 2
hours on the ship. PCs still aboard when it disappears again
become permanent members of the crew. It is best to signal
this time limit to the players in some way.
 Any character that dies aboard the ship permanently
becomes a member of the crew.
 Whenever a character comes across something disturbing
or horrific, they gain Temporary Madness (DMG p 258-
260). If a character is already temporarily mad, they gain
Long-Term Madness in addition to their Temporary
Madness.
 Optionally, a DM can track all PC rolls and damage taken.
Not knowing success, failure, or hit points remaining adds
a sense of tension to the delve.
 The DM should use discretion as to when the Corrupting
Presence aura should be used, but it suggested that it only
be used if the characters manage to remove the idol from
the ship.
Area 1: Main deck
Odd symbols are perfectly burned into the deck. No one knows
what they mean, though a Moderate DC History check reveals
they look vaguely elven. The only sounds the characters hear
are the gentle lapping of water and the creak of the boat. Light
and warmth emanate from the closed door of the captain's cabin
(Area 3). There are also two hatches in the deck. The fore hatch
leads below to Area 7, and the aft hatch leads below to Area 8.
Two Page Mini Delves
 Area 2: Forecastle Cabin
When the party opens the door to the forecastle cabin, they find
a dozen dead men hanging from the rafters. One of the
characters (and only one) sees one of the dead men's eyes snap
open, and begin to flail about. The rope turns into a tentacle and
releases him. The once dead man will shamble towards the
character and attack. If the character hits the dead man, the body
will suddenly appear back where it began - hanging limply from
the rafters.
Special: Illusory combat (monster always misses)
Area 3: Captain's Cabin
If characters approach the closed door, they smell meat
cooking, and hear soft music playing. Upon entering, they see
the captain sitting at a table with several others, enjoying
dinner. Looking up, he invites the characters in to have dinner.
The table is set with food. There is also a map spread out in the
middle of the table. The captain and his crew are discussing the
map, which seems to indicate the location of buried treasure. If
the characters mention the idol, for just a moment a dark look
briefly crosses the captain’s face, the room grows cold, and the
music fades. Then, everything returns as it was, and the captain
dismisses the idol as a myth. He continues to encourage the
characters to eat and drink. Characters who eat any food or
drink from the table see a different scene - mummified bodies
covered in cobwebs sitting around a table full of slimy, moldy
food, and a dusty treasure map. The stench of rotting fills the
air. Black oily tentacles are wrapped around the mummified
body’s necks, moving them about like puppets.
Special: Treasure (Ancient map; treat as an art object)
Area 4: Sterncastle Deck
A man stands behind the wheel of the ship with his arms at his
side. He is not steering, and blankly stares straight ahead,
completely unresponsive. Behind him, an old woman sits in a
rocking chair, knitting something. Upon closer inspection, she
is knitting a hangman's noose. If the characters attack either of
them, they appear to take damage, but do not retaliate or stop
what they’re doing. The damage disappears in 1d4 minutes.
Area 5: Forecastle deck
There is nothing visible on this deck. However, the first
character to set foot on the deck collapses for several minutes.
While unconscious, the character sees a vision:
Naked elves with runes painted all over their bodies are
dancing around a fire. One of the elves throws something into
the fire. The fire turns black, and an oily, tentacled mass bursts
violently out of it. It reaches out a fat tentacle, and strangles
one of the ritualists. The remaining elves run in horror.
Area 6: Crow's nest:
A character climbing to the crow’s nest will notice that their
origin ship seems to be sailing away. The distance depends
upon the length of time they've been on the ship; the longer
they’ve been there, the further away their home ship seems.
This is an optical illusion (as well as a hint that time on the ship
is limited) and only visible from the crow’s nest. To any other
character, the origin ship still appears directly next to The Pale
Reaver.
The Pale Reaver
jesse pincivero (Order #13042782)
Area 7: Ship Stores
Crates of supplies and sacks of grain are stacked in this forward
hold. If characters spend time searching the crates, shadows will
play across the walls, and they will see people in their peripheral
vision. If characters pursue one of these phantoms, they will
come across a young cabin boy crying in a corner. His neck is
raw and bleeding, and his eye sockets are empty. Between his
sobs, all the characters will be able to make out is “We found
it, oh how I wish we had never found it…”
Area 8: Sleeping Quarters
Hammocks hang from the rafters of this cabin. None are
occupied. There are several footlockers that contain moth-eaten
clothing and a few rusty sabers. The characters hear whispering
that beckons them into Area 9: Rear Hold. All characters
entering Area 8 must make a Wisdom save, or be compelled to
enter Area 9.
Area 9: Rear Hold
When the characters enter this area, the air feels close and
musty. It's hard to breathe. The only thing in this area is the idol;
it sits atop a rough-hewn stone pedestal. It is made of ebony,
and depicts a thin elf kneeling with his face in his hands. Any
creature that touches the idol triggers the Choking Tentacles
trap, below. When the trap is triggered, the characters see the
idol transform into an oily mass of thick black tentacles (as in
Area 5); it reaches out one of its tentacles, and grabs the
character around the neck. The elven wizards who made the idol
insured that there is no way to destroy the idol; doing so would
release the imprisoned god-thing.
Choking Tentacles Magical Trap
Religion (Moderate DC): The PC discerns that the idol has a
malevolent presence trapped in it.
When a creature touches the idol, its casts Evard’s Black
Tentacles (PHB 238), centered on itself with a Duration of 1
minute. The spell ends earlier if the tentacles are attacked with
Radiant damage, Channel Divinity, or a similar effect (like the
Hallow spell). There is no way to disable this magical trap.
Corrupting Presence
Any creature within 100 feet of the idol for more than four hours
is influenced by the malformed godling. That creature is subject
to Indefinite Madness (DMG p 258-260), and loses 1d4 hit
points from its maximum every day. These conditions go away
when a creature is not near the idol for 1d4 weeks.
Conclusion:
The characters can possibly take the idol off the boat, but the
nature of the idol’s Corrupting Presence ultimately makes it
undesirable to own. If the characters figure out a way to
suppress the Corrupting Presence, the idol has value only as an
art object, albeit one with a dark godling imprisoned in it. If
they manage to sell the idol to someone, the dark godling or its
corrupting presence should definitely affect the campaign in
some way.
Otherwise, the characters have a harrowing tale to tell the
patrons at the next tavern they come across.
Two Page Mini Delves
 Appendix: How to use this document

This Two Page Mini Delve was designed to be used at any level
of play. As such, you (the DM) will have to do a little bit of
preparation work before the session to make it fit your group.
Party Size
This mini delve assumes that your party consists of 4-5
adventurers. If your party has more or less than that, you will
have to adjust the adventure accordingly.
Party Level
Whenever you see the term “Party Level,” this is the average of
all the character’s levels, rounded. It is assumed that the party
consists of characters of approximately the same level.
Monsters
Inserting monsters will be the biggest piece of preparation that
you will need to do. Fortunately, the combats in each Two Page
Mini Delve are not usually meant to be the focus of the delve.
This means that if a party handles the combat without too much
trouble, that’s not a huge issue. These are mini delves – not
campaign set pieces.
Each room or area that has a monster in it will have a note in
the “special” entry, like this:
Special: Combat (Undead)
The information presented in the parenthesis is there to give you
an idea about what type(s) of monster(s) should be involved in
the combat. (The overall story behind the delve will also help
you understand the type of monster you should insert.)
There are a few ways that you can “fill in the blank.”
You can use a tool like the excellent Donjon Monster List to
find an appropriate monster. This tool lets you sort monsters by
a variety of different factors to find something of the
appropriate level that closely matches what you’d like to insert:
http://donjon.bin.sh/5e/monsters/
You can also make use of “reskinning.” To reskin, you take an
existing monster of the correct level, and change one or two
things about it to make the monster you need. You can read
more about this technique in the section titled “Modifying a
Monster” on page 273 of the Dungeon Master’s Guide.
Treasure
The easiest thing to insert into the delve is treasure. These
entries will give a treasure type, but nothing more, like this:
Special: Treasure (Ring)
It is usually up to you whether the treasure is something magical
or mundane (but worth gold), and whether those rewards will
be level appropriate or not. You are encouraged to use the
random treasure tables in Chapter 7 of the Dungeon Master’s
Guide (p. 133).
Scale
There is no grid on the map, and therefore no set scale to each
dungeon. You can usually tell how big things should be, but feel
free to scale things up and down as you see fit.
Damage
At times, a delve will use the words Standard Damage followed
by the word low, moderate, or high in parenthesis, and then a
space, like this:
Standard Damage (moderate) ___
This is in reference to the Monster Statistics by Challenge
Rating table in the Dungeon Master’s Guide, page 274. Simply
use the Party Level to find the correct table entry, and use the
Damage/Round column to pick a number from the given
damage range. Then, write the standard damage amount in the
space provided.
About the Map
The Pale Reaver map is a replica of the Fat Dragon Games
papercraft ship model “The Sea Dragon.” It is an easy model to
assemble, and will really wow your players when you run this
delve. To make the ship look like a ghost ship, simply print it
out using black and white instead of color. You can also cut
holes in the sail to make it look tattered. If you would like to
thank me for this free mini delve, please buy the ship using the
affiliate link provided above; I will get a small portion of the
sale. (Or you can copy/paste the link below)
http://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/93394/The-Sea-Dragon-
Sailing-Ship?affiliate_id=397565

Difficulty Class
To make this delve usable by any level group, no set DC
numbers are given. Instead, the words Easy, Moderate, and Two Page Mini Delve and Map © 2011 & 2016 Roving Band of
Difficult denote what a particular DC should be set as. Use the Misfits Press
table below to find the correct DC for your party’s level. RovingBandofMisfits.com
Party Easy Moderate Difficult Save
Level
1-4 10 15 20 13*
5-8 10 15 20 14*
9-12 15 20 25 16*
13-16 15 20 25 18*
17-20 15 20 25 20*
*For groups at the lower end of the band, you may subtract up to 2 from the
Save DC, based upon how difficult you want an encounter to be.

The Pale Reaver Two Page Mini Delves

jesse pincivero (Order #13042782)