Wreck of the Golden Koi a mini adventure to put a little Ruins & Ronin in your S&W

song dynasty junk 13th century, Wikipedia commons




If you read the last post on ruins & ronin and thought you might give it a try, heres a little something i thought up that might help you put a little of it in your western fantasy setting.  A wreck of an oriental ship with some oriental monsters and loot
Getting it there can be solved in a variety of ways, If your adventure is near the sea  you can have it floating in a calmed bay after a storm , or beached. If your running a saltbox have it found in a calmed area way out at sea.  

OR due to the magical instruments you will find on board you can do one of these

middle of a large lake after a VERY large storm has passed through, OZ style

seen at the top of a cliff or mountain at dawn after a very dense fog, Mystery style

crashed into the tops of some Stout oak trees in the middle of a woods hex, gonzo style


from far away
you hear the drums, no not drums, but one drum very large drum, somewhere in the distance before you see the ship, it is a ship but it has very strange sails from what you've seen before and tattered long banners

closer but still not near
the drum is louder the closer you get to it and seems to be coming from the center of the ship, perhaps from under that thatched structure near the front. Light of a greenish hue shows through the port holes in the bow seeming like multiple eyes of a terrible ship shaped monster.  The drums echo in your ears making concentration hard and instilling terror ( throw a save in here if you want to shed some henchmen or mess with casting)

a little bit closer
you see what looks like empty cages broken on the decks and scattered on the ground or water. you see no movement on the ship except for the tattered sails and banners. The Drum is deafening at this point, hard to talk or think

at this point lets throw out some monsters
if its on water

Awabi (Sea Demon) Ruins & Ronin page 31
2d4, perhaps they escaped the cages or clung to the hull, they just want to eat you
about half will carry net bags with large oysters in them with a chance of a pearl inside. they will not go on the ship

or if its somehow mysteriously on land or in the trees 

scattered around the wreck will be 1d4 large oriental stone lanterns that seem very out of place



they are actually  Bakemono-Toro ruins & ronin page 32 waiting to ambush the party (stone goblins who shapeshift) at least half will carry katana swords that will revert back to stone with them when killed, the rest claws


The Ships top deck
The drum is defiantly coming from under the thatched shack and it is huge and deafening ( another save perhaps) and the thing drumming is even bigger 

closer inspection will reveal a chained Tusken Ogre dressed in once fine silks with one horn on his forehead and three blinded eyes. he will continue his drumming unless disturbed.    If disturbed in any way he will cast his mirror image behind the party on the deck and proceed to try to break his chains.  (start rolling break out dice)  he will use the chains as a weapon if possible , he roars at you in a far away language

the deck is covered in salty kelp (perhaps slippery?) and broken cages, barrels, and twisted rope (terrain, difficult ?)   

he carrys at his waist a large cleaver and a single key, If by some chance someone speaks eastern tusken ogre and he stops trying to kill you long enough to chat all he will say is, "I have failed to bring my brothers with the Taiko"  or " we locked her away to save ourselves, the dishonor is great"  but im just putting that in there because players surprise me, always.

If you let him just keep drumming several things could happen.  he might die of fatigue,  a dragon might swoop down and fetch him (oriental of course) or an entire army of Ogre mages and tuskens might invade the countryside looking for the ship, your choice one or all


other things on the deck.

a very large hatch down to the cargo area, complete with pullys and cranes for loading stuff.  it is securely latched but there is the strong smell of alchoholic spirits wafting up

a door to the large deck cabin that has been securely closed and barred from the outside with nailed wood, black iron bars, and silver chain (200 lbs). there is a lock of ornate workmanship holding the chain together.    the lock is in the form of a tiger made of copper and jet inlay and yes the key will fit it BUT,   the door isnt trapped the lock is (electrical attack is the key is used unless disarmed or bashed to bits)

the crew and cargo level
Opening the cargo hatch its dark down there but you can hear movement if the drums are quiet .  The smell of booze is heavy (sake) and has about a inche of blood in the bottom that is littered with broken barrels, hammocks, debris and parts of bodies. hiding in the dark are 1d4 crazed Oktomon
http://www.d20swsrd.com/swords-and-wizardry-srd/for-the-referee/monsters/all-monsters/monster-details-o-through-r
they will try to fight there way out of the hatch and jump overboard either into the water or land, but they will fight, just to escape

there is a hatch down into the cargo area, players will note an even stronger smell of spirits and see that it is partially flooded with the contents of barrels of rice and sake


any one with a torch should notice that it sputters and flares when this hatch is opened

1d6 psudopods of a mixture of rice, blood, magic, and sake will rise from the murk of the flooded cargo bay and attack

NEW MONSTER
SAKE PARA -ELEMENTAL

4HD AC2 1d6 attacks a round for 1d6 to submerge and drown, 0 movement save 8
cl/xp 5/ 650 SPecial

Special, Fire attacks do double damage but will cause it to EXPLODE for 3d8 upon death and burn for 2d6 turns
Special takes half damage from slashing, piercing, or cold damage

this encounter should have a high chance of destroying the ship, any cargo, well everything in a great ball of flame if anyone uses fire or drops a torch


Treasure 2d20 barrels of good Sake if its not destoyed


The locked and barred Cabin

opening the door will take a while and is trapped with the lock as mentioned above but the door opens outward

or they can look into the portholes on the side and see

a hooded tall woman stands inside a circle made of blood and salt holding a large sphere cut with mythical writings, the circle glows a bright green and smells of the sea and decay, her hood is drawn over her face and she seems to be muttering a prayer or spell.   there are several chests and a weapons stand holding ruins & ronin weapons and armor stand with a blue complete suit of O-Yori

she will throw back her hood on sensing the party either at the door or porthole (save or dice off)

and we have a SEA HAG .   fight, parley, however, it might be tough any way, depending on if you have found her Oktomon's, reactions, or however, i leave that up to you and your players

She holds a Sphere of otherworldly travel, its cursed, it likes to go places that are bad, and if you use it you will go also, enough of the idea there


appropriate cool nautical treasure  and ruins and ronin stuff to be found in here, along with celestial maps, maps of far off places and a journal

long story short

Sea Hag and Oktomon attacked and boarded a ship and tried to use the Sphere to escape a storm but got swept up into it instead.  The Ogre worked for the Ogre Mage who owned the ship, who knows where the Ogre mage is now. most of the crew was killed and eaten and alot of caged monsters escaped (feel free to populate surrounding area with oddities, Sea Hag went crazy randomly zapping them from place to place and the Oktoms rebeled and helped the blind Ogre lock her in the cabin before they went below decks and he chained himself to the drum to summon help while she randomly zapped them around

too much blood, magic, and sake evolved into the sake para elemental below decks who the oktomons fear more than the locked away sea hag


So i hope you liked this all i used was a picture, a copy of ruins & ronin, an hour drinking Monster on the porch and my imagination, please do with as you please

now im gonna go read about rocketships again