Tuesday 16 May 2017

A Wrecked Junk of Penglai

29.22 - Wrecked Junk of Penglai

A vessel which sailed across the Remembered Ocean from the shores of Penglai in the Wide and Peaceful Sea. It was crewed by servants of Xu Fu, sent to spy on developments in the area and bring back useful items or information, but it foundered in pack ice and was dashed on the rocky beach. The crew of Hairy People have gone, but the captain and her aides remain, lurking in baleful isolation.

The Captain: the spirit of a minor female dragon, 6 feet in length, whose sinuous slithering form coils up in the bowels of the wrecked hull like a snake. She is a symbol of Xu Fu and, although far from him, still carries some of his power. 
HD 5, AC 4, ATT Bite 1d6+3, 5th level magic user (Spells: Dancing Lights, Charm Person, Hold Portal, Shield, Sleep, Enlarge, Darkness 15' Radius, ESP, Invisibility, Levitate, Scare, Stinking Cloud, Blink, Haste, Hold Person, FlyLightning Bolt, Suggestion
Aides: three large monkeys, one with scarlet fur, one with azure blue, and one with golden yellow. They constantly criticise the Captain's orders and bicker with each other, but carry out their alloted tasks nonetheless. Currently this consists primarily of efforts to construct a raft.
HD 2, AC 4, ATT Bite 1d3+1 
The scarlet monkey is aggressive and the Captain will enlarge him to engage in combat, so that he becomes the size of a gorilla. He then has 5 HD and Bites for 2d6 damage.  
The azure monkey moves quicker than lightning, faster than can be seen, and always acts first in combat.  
The yellow monkey can at any time suck in magical spells. When a spell is cast targeting her or something within 10' of her, she can forego taking any other action that round and simply breath in the spell like air. It is then nullified and she gains 1 HD. 

In the bowels of the wrecked junk is a treasure chest containing 100 silver bars, each worth 100 silver tokens; scrolls of commune, true seeing and word of recall; and a Short Sword of Penglai (does double damage against undead). A patina of gold leaf remains on sections of the hull and can be removed, resulting in 100 gold tokens' worth of gold for every 4 hours of individual human labour, up to 400 gold tokens.

3 comments:

  1. A serpentine dragon captain aided by apes is probably one of the most flavorful things I've seen in a good long while.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Isn't there a legend of Penglai which involves a mushroom of immortality? It's been a long time since I took that Chinese Art History class... Anyway, very evocative stuff! I'm looking forward to reading more!

    ReplyDelete