Swag of the Seas

Foundry, Forge and Crucible

Pirates and privateers sail the waters off Immoren’s west coast to prey upon merchantmen and each other. Their exploits become adventurous tales told around the hearth that inspire some children to take up the cutlass and leave others awake all night shivering in their beds. The tales feature not only the swashbucklers themselves, but also their fabulous treasures and weapons. Among the most infamous of these items are the cutlass of the ancient pirate king Donus Heel, the tattered flag that once flew over the Black Iron, and an ancient, cursed ship’s wheel.

This article presents three magic items with a pirate theme. While they all had their start in some dread buccaneer’s hands, they have since vanished, and the GMs should include them anywhere they would like to add the feel of the bloodthirsty swashbuckler.

King’s Cutlass

Two hundred years ago, Captain Donus Heel became known as the Pirate King. He controlled a fleet of pirate ships that roamed from the Khardic Sea to the Wailing Sea, and no pirate could sail these waters without paying Heel a hefty tribute. His ability to control such a vast group of such bloodthirsty and rebellious people arose only in part from natural talent; Heel’s pirates remained tractable because they knew that his blade virtually assured victory in battle.

The presence of the Pirate King’s cutlass inspired his crew and lent luck to his allies. The first tale of the King’s Cutlass speaks of rival pirates boarding Heel’s ship. Heel’s men fell one by one and despaired of surviving the battle. However, when Captain Heel emerged from his cabin holding high his barbed cutlass, his men cheered. The tide of battle shifted; a sword flew just swiftly enough to parry an attack, an opponent slipped on a patch of blood and left himself open. Captain Heel and his pirates routed their foes, took their booty, and torched their ship.

After that historic battle, Heel’s pirates followed him devotedly. They needed only to see the cutlass to regain their confidence. New recruits learned the tales of the cutlass’ mystical luck and quickly experienced it for themselves. In the years that followed, the story spread across the seas.

However, the cutlass’s power did not come without a price. Whenever Heel swung it in battle and its blade bit into an opponent, the sword’s barbs jabbed downward, spearing into the Captain. The wounds proved more irritating than life threatening, and Heel boasted impressive scars on his right hand and forearm. However, when the cutlass struck a particularly telling blow, the price went higher. Blood leaked from Heel’s ears and he reeled backward, even as his opponent gurgled his last. Heel recovered from these episodes, but it always took several days before he returned to full capacity.

This curse proved Heel’s undoing. Twenty years into his career, a small satyxis raiding fleet attacked Heel’s ship. His men fought valiantly, and with the King’s Cutlass to bolster them they pushed these brigands back and gained the upper hand even though the raiders outnumbered them three to one.
The leader was a powerful satyxis with a frightful barbed whip that seemed to move of its own accord. Heel engaged her, and the two dueled for long minutes. The raider’s whip and Heel’s own sword bit into him, but he gave as good as he got. Finally, he slashed the satyxis across the throat, finishing her.

Blood exploded out of the back of his head. Heel collapsed to the ground. The King’s Cutlass had exacted its final price from him.

One of the raiders snatched up the blade, and the satyxis butchered Heel’s men. Their blood spread in the water over 150 years ago, but rumors say the King’s Cutlass remains still in their hands.

Powers

The King’s Cutlass is magical weapon, inflict extra damage in a critical hit, and Constitution damage as well. The wielder and all near allies receive luck bonus on attack rolls, AC and morale bonus against fear effects.

Toothless Roger

Up until a year ago, the pirate ship Black Iron was one of the most notorious on the Meredius. Over the past two decades, the Black Iron’s captaincy changed numerous times, but the deadliness of the ship and its crew never wavered.

The ship would emerge ghostlike from the fog and open up with a barrage of cannon fire. Even if the surprised victim survived intact, it would soon surrender after recognizing the Black Iron’s distinctive flag: Toothless Roger, a traditional skull-and-crossbones save that the skull was clearly missing its teeth. The flag must have had some enchantment upon it, for it seemed to radiate darkness and fear. Soon, sailors attributed the Black Iron’s success to this magic flag rather than its captain or crew.

The ship’s twenty-year career seemed to confirm these rumors, for though the Black Iron almost always surprised its opponents and inspired supernatural fear in its victims, it was far from invincible. It changed hands numerous times, and its crew and captain rarely lasted for more than a year. The flag even moved to different ships over the years, though in each case the new ship was rechristened the Black Iron to capitalize on the reputation.

One year ago, the privateer Joanna Bladewave trapped the Black Iron by baiting it into an ambush. Fed up with the reputation of the ship and its flag, Joanna torched the Black Iron and took Toothless Roger as a war prize. She hung it on her wall.

Joanna acted foolishly, for Toothless Roger proved a tempting a target for the pirates who had spent their careers in fear and awe of it. A few months after Joanna’s victory over the Black Iron, a nameless assailant followed her to her room, overcame her guards, and slew her.

A week later, a grizzled old man appeared on the streets of Five Fingers, wearing a cloak made from a tattered pirate flag. The crazed man claimed that he had captained the Black Iron a decade ago, and that he had recovered his prize from the woman who stole it. While undoubtedly insane, all the scum in Five Fingers recognized the distinctive flag the man wore: Toothless Roger.

Of course, the madman did not last long, and no one knows what became of Toothless Roger. Tales say that, though tattered and ravaged, its power remains as potent as ever.

Powers

Toothless Roger is now a cloak. Those who wear it gain many of the powers it once provided the various ships on which it flew. The wearer gains a several bonus to hide and move silently checks. Once per day, the wearer can extend the cloak’s bonus to a ally.

The wearer is fearsome. Living creatures that can see Toothless Roger must be sucefull in courage checks. Note that Toothless Roger is infamous in certain circles, and its reputation might bring unwelcome attention to its wearer.

Meredius’ Revenge

The Atramentous is perhaps the most infamous ship on the Meredius. Crewed by revenants in Lord Toruk’s service, dragon fire licks the ship’s hull and the sea boils in its wake. Sailors do not know how long the Atrementous has haunted Meredius, but some tell tales.

Before the Atramentous was a ship of the dead, when it was a ship of wood and the pirates upon it still lived and breathed, it served as the flagship of Threnodax, a pirate king of the Scharde Isles, and its sailors raided and slaughtered in his name. Their victims included the Khardic merchant ship Meredius’ Pride. Captain Edvard Trommir recognized he was outmatched the moment the great dirgenmast ship came alongside his beloved vessel. Trommir, nearly defenseless, surrendered immediately, but the Atramentous’ crew attacked regardless.

The reavers leapt aboard. Captain Trommir took a cutlass in the stomach. As he sat, slumped against the steering wheel post and dying, watching his crew fall to butchery, Trommir uttered a curse against the Atramentous: the evil crew may have defeated him, but he vowed that someday the pirates would encounter a foe too mighty for them, and they would suffer for all their ravages. Trommir bled out his last slumped against the steering wheel of his ship. Meredius’ Pride sank to the bottom of the ocean, but in time, the wheel upon which its captain had died broke free. It survived heedless of the centuries and perhaps impelled by Trommir’s lingering curse.

Centuries later, the Ordic privateer Scimitar discovered a piece of flotsam. The crew admired the ancient ship’s wheel and brought it on board. Captain Gerard Malvio thought it a fine prize. He replaced his own wheel with it, and was surprised when, though the winds were calm, his sails filled and the Scimitar leapt across the water. He did not discover until too late that the “prize” steered him to his death. The wheel, now known to superstitious sailors as the Meredius’ Revenge, continues to surface near merchant lanes and at small port towns, enticing ignorant ship captains to take it on board and catching them in its ancient curse.

Powers

The Meredius’ Revenge has no powers until attached to a ship with a sail (or sails). When attached to such a ship, the wheel grants a bonus in all skill checks to pilot the ship. It also causes the ship’s sails to fill, as with gust of
wind, whenever the winds die down. The skill checks to change the course of the ship is lowest.

With the wheel attached, the ship seeks out the closest revenants, perhaps attempting to fulfill Captain Edvard Trommir’s dying wish of defeating the Atramentous.

Fortunately, the wheel also provides everyone on the ship protection against attacks from undead. More importantly, revenants within 200 feet of the Meredius’ Revenge are unable to transform into soulform, and must wait until the Merdius’ Revenge moves 200 feet or more away. This protection has not sufficed to prevent the revenants from destroying each ship that has borne the wheel, sending it once again to float upon blood-soaked waters.

Fonte: No Quarter 12