Ghost Captain

Defense

Offense

Statistics

Ecology

Description

Human ghost fighter 3/rogue 3 (Pathfinder RPG Bestiary 144)

Sometimes, pirate captains’ dedication to looting and pillaging drives them to continue such heinous crimes even after death. Such vile leaders inevitably remain at sea, where they command ghost ships crewed by dreadful draugr, who recognize ghost pirates as powerful undead spirits perhaps most capable of captaining crews of undead.

Ghost Ships of the Inner Sea Legends of ghost ships crewed by the damned are more common in the Shackles than perhaps any other place in the Inner Sea. Legend or no, the undead are a very real hazard in the archipelago and one of the reasons why so many sailors hate and fear sailing in supposedly haunted waters at night, when most ghost ship sightings occur. In most cases, crews of such ships are made up of corporeal undead, especially draugr and draugr captains, though lacedons and wights are also prevalent undead on the high seas. The driving force behind most ghost vessels is a bottomless hatred for all things living, and most seafaring undead seek souls upon which they can vent their undying malice. The stat blocks presented here represent a typical crew of a ghost ship, but countless other combinations exist.

Of all the undead pirate ships in the Shackles, none is more feared than the galleon of the lich Raugsmauda, a dreaded vessel known as Naiegoul. The following are other deeply feared ghost ships that sail the Inner Sea region.

Lamashan Tempest: This ghost-touched xebec is crewed entirely by incorporeal undead, primarily shadows and spectres, though poltergeists are said to fly about the ethereal vessel’s tattered sails. Its captain, Bolmarka Isslent (LE female dread wraith witch 8), is a hateful creature known for shamelessly toying with her prey once she has victims in her clutches. A number of her wraith spawn attend her constantly, flitting about her obsequiously.

Mark of Yunnarius: This agile sloop is captained by Emalynday (CE female elf banshee sorcerer 5), an astonishingly bitter and odious spirit who leads a crew composed entirely of undead elves. Three undead male elven archers known as the Unsung Three prowl the ship’s decks, wielding magical bows rumored to be artifacts unearthed from a musty Ghol-Gan tomb. It is said the crew members of any vessel unlucky enough to cross paths with the Mark of Yunnarius feel the sting of the Unsung Three’s arrows before even sighting the dread sloop.

Nightclaw: This rat-infested frigate is the ship of the vampire Holaux the Gaunt (CE male human vampire antipaladin 10). Once a lieutenant of Raugsmauda, he escaped the lich’s service and crewed his ship entirely with pirates made into his vampire spawn. Legend has it he was once a paladin of Iomedae, but turned to evil with the tragic death of his beloved wife, Sabina. Holaux wears a locket that bears her painted silhouette and contains a lock of her hair—some say that this keepsake enables him to withstand the light of the sun, while others claim that until the locket is taken from him he cannot be destroyed.

Ghost Ship Haunts Many ghost ships take the form of a haunt (Pathfinder RPG GameMastery Guide 242), usually triggered by a ship sailing at night into an oceanic region hexed by some maritime tragedy or particularly terrible event. The most common effects of these haunts are fear-related, though some of these ocean-bound terror-traps inflict various curses upon victims, such as rotting diseases, premature aging, or permanent physical debilitations. Some haunts are known to place a powerful geas on those ships that run afoul of them, requiring that their crews complete some task before being freed of a dreadful blight. Destruction of these haunts is often extremely difficult, as the bodies of the restless spirits that perpetuate such curses usually lie at the bottom of the sea or have drifted ashore on remote islands.

Some sea haunts are tied to a specific date denoting the anniversary of a tragedy near a particular point in the ocean, and thus may not reset for an entire year. Such commemorative haunts tend to be more feared and dangerous to mariners, especially since the bodies or treasures such haunts are anchored to are sometimes dragged by the tides far from where the original event that triggered the haunt occurred.

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Source: Isles of the Shackles, p. 63