“Storm Lord’s Hideout” is balanced for characters of 12th level. Players who’ve run the second part of this trilogy, Sleeping Dragon’s Wake, will be familiar with Fheralai Stormsworn’s headquarters: the undead galleon she stole from Ularan Mortus. This time around, they’re not the only ones seeking revenge!
Location Overview
Fheralai Stormsworn, champion of the cult of Talos, commandeered this galleon from the dread cultist Ularan Mortus. The ship is imbued with the undead spirit of the death knight Emberlost, which is bound into the cursed bones that comprise the vessel.
Emberlost’s mournful spirit yearns for Anauria, a city long since swallowed up by the Anauroch Desert, and it gladly serves anyone who can rekindle its memories of its lost homeland. In the second part of this trilogy, Sleeping Dragon’s Wake, Fheralai lost her hold over the ship when the party rescued the bard Tarbin Tul from a brig below decks. Fheralai has since appeased Emberlost’s spirit by bringing it treasures from the lost city of Anauria, which she stole from the auction houses of Neverwinter. Now her cultists ply the oceans for more plunder.
Following the attack on Leilon, Lord Protector Dagult Neverember of Neverwinter offers a purse of 8,000 gp to anyone who can track down the undead galleon and sink it to the bottom of the Sea of Swords.Fheralai’s failure to capture Leilon and defeat Ularan Mortus has also angered Talos, and the Stormlord means to punish them.
Travel to the Ship
The undead galleon sails up and down the Sword Coast, preying on merchant ships. While moving, it hides within a magical fogbank that moves with it. To catch the ship, the party first needs to acquire a means of transportation:
- Characters who played the “Icingdeath and Twinkle” quest can call on either captain to help them. For a cut of 20% of the 8,000 gp reward, the captain offers the services of his ship and crew.
- The characters can hire or buy a ship from the shipyards of Neverwinter. Chapter 5 of the Dungeon Master’s Guide contains rules for maritime vessels and a breakdown of their costs.
- Characters who spared the green dragon Claugiyliamatar in the “Leilon Besieged” quest could compel her to fly them out to sea. She refuses to fight on their behalf but gladly transports the party to repay her debt.
- Spells such as wind walk or polymorph can grant flight for a limited duration.
Finding the ship isn’t easy. Characters must use divination magic to locate it, lure it into a trap, or scour the coastal taverns for rumors of its location. Let your players hatch their own plots and reward them accordingly. Once you (the DM) have decidedthe party knows where to look, introduce the following encounters on route.
Roc Patrol
As the weather worsens, a roc swoops down from the storm clouds above. On its back, a half-orc blackguard (see appendix A) named Kata Ironhide spits threats at the party. Kata is a loyal cultist of Talos and has orders to scare away potential threats to the galleon. During combat, the roc tries to snatch opponents into the air and drop them (creatures hitting the surface of the water from lower than 50 feet take half the normal falling damage). If Kata or her roc lose more than half of their hit points, they attempt to flee back to the galleon.
Tornado
When the party nears the galleon, the cultists call upon Talos to ravage the intruders with a tornado. Before the twister appears, high winds savage the party: if traveling by ship, the characters must take action to avoid getting damaged by the storm (see the “Icingdeath and Twinkle” quest for examples). At the height of the storm, the characters see a tornado bearing down on them. Ask each player how they mean to evade this threat. If traveling by ship, whoever is steering the vessel needs to succeed on three consecutive DC 18 Dexterity checks using proficiency with water vehicles (other actions taken to aid the escape may grant advantage at your discretion). On a failure of two consecutive sailing checks the ship is swept up by the tornado and destroyed: all creatures onboard take 44 (
Arrival
The undead galleon is surrounded by a 500-foot-radius fogbank at the eye of the storm. Entering this area, the wind drops to a dead calm and vision is restricted to just 10 feet. Ships that rely on wind for maneuvering are cast adrift, unless they also have oar decks and the crew to man them. The dreadnaught dwells at the heart of the fogbank, its location hinted at by the thundering drums from its oar deck.
The death knight dreadnaught can perceive through the magical fog, but its crew cannot. If the dreadnaught sights an unknown ship, it tries to ambush and ram the vessel. The attack is designed to strike terror into its enemies: first by striking their main deck with a blast from its Hellfire Orb, and then by ramming into their flank so to the dreadnaught’s skeletal figurehead can mop up any crew left alive on deck (see “area Dreadnaught Locations” for information on both these defenses). Characters whose ship was destroyed earlier are instead “rescued” by the galleon.
When the characters sight the vessel, read the following boxed text aloud:
An armored dreadnaught made from metal and bones ploughs through the fog, driven by banks of bonelike oars. Flames leap from a brazier mounted to its mainmast and its ragged sails are stitched from worn leather. A giant’s skeleton clutching a halberd is lashed to its bow.
The cultists of Talos onboard the vessel fight to the death to defend it. However, the storm god Talos has his own plans for them. When the time seems right, he makes his presence known (see “area Rise of the Storm Lord").
Death Knight’s Soul
The soul of the death knight Emberlost is bound into the dreadnaught’s bones. As a sentient, undead creature, Emberlost can see and talk through the skeletal figurehead (area
Dreadnaught Features
The death knight-dreadnaught is a galleon crafted from humanoid bones bound together by plates of iron and necromantic magic.
Ceilings: The lower decks of the vessel are cramped, with ceilings just six feet high. Creatures taller than this height must stoop to get around.
Light: The lower decks are lit by oil lamps that burn with eerie green flames. These cast dim light throughout the vessel’s interior, imposing disadvantage on Wisdom (
Perception ) checks that rely on sight.Unholy Presence: The dreadnaught is imbued with the cursed soul of a death knight. All undead creatures onboard the vessel or within 60 feet of it have advantage on saving throws against features that turn undead.
Dreadnaught Locations
The following locations are keyed to the map of the death knight-dreadnaught.
D1. Skeletal Figurehead
The animated skeleton of a stone giant is lashed to the ship’s bow. This creature has the statistics of a giant skeleton (see appendix A) that cannot move and uses the following attack in place of a scimitar:
Halberd. Melee Weapon Attack: +8 to hit, reach 20 ft., one target. Hit: 21 (
Once per day, the skeleton can use its action to unleash a
The evil spirit of the death knight can see and speak through the skeletal figurehead (see “area Death Knight’s Soul").
D2. Upper Deck
The upper deck contains a set of stairs that descend into the bowels of the ship, two ballista mounted on rotating platforms, two rear-facing mangonels (see “Siege Equipment” in chapter 8 of the Dungeon Master’s Guide), and hatches that open into the ship’s stores and artillery magazine. The hatch to the stores can only be opened by creatures with a combined Strength score of 18 or more.
While hidden in the fog cloud, the cultists abandon the siege weapons and stay below deck. Instead, a group of Wraith defend the upper decks. The players face one wraith per character in the party, including sidekicks.
Treasure
A large roc’s nest is nestled at the back of the main deck. Characters who search through the bones strewn throughout the nest discover a battered
D3. Hellfire Orb
The iron brazier mounted on the mainmast contains an ever-burning orb of flame. The spirit of the death knight can see and talk through this orb, perceiving its surroundings with
D4. Shrine to Talos
This was once the ship’s chart room, but the compartment has been gutted and turned into a shrine to Talos. Charred skulls are heaped around an upright iron spike topped with three crudely hammered bolts of lightning.
Treasure
Five ornate silvered hunting horns have been laid out here as offerings to Talos. Each horn is worth 250 gp. Any character who takes a horn hears a rumble of thunder as they pick it up. When Talos attacks the ship, these characters won’t find it so easy to escape (see “area Rise of the Storm Lord").
D5. Storage Lockers
These lockers contain supplies for manning the vessel: spare rope, buckets, tubs of grease, and other mundane tools. A character who hides inside a locker gains advantage on any Dexterity (
D6. Captain’s Cabin
This cabin belongs to Fheralai Stormsworn. Bearskin throws cover the floor and the walls are decorated with the mounted, charred heads of her enemies.
If Fheralai survived the “Leilon Besieged” quest, the defeated war priest is found kneeling in here, praying to Talos through the dregs of a bottle of rum. Having failed her mission, the champion begs her deity’s forgiveness. Fheralai has no fear of death but is terrified of failing Talos: if the characters enter her cabin, she chooses to drunkenly unload the details of her plight rather than fight them. Did she not honor her god with chaos and ruin? Were her conquests not glorious? Fheralai begs the party for advice on how she should confess her failures to her god: if they ridicule her or show defiance, she throws herself at them in a fight to the death. Players who negotiate get to see first-hand how Talos responds to their advice (see “area Rise of the Storm Lord").
Treasure
The following treasures looted from Fheralai’s raids are dumped carelessly around her cabin: 1,500 gp, a 2-foot-tall solid gold bull statue worth 3,500 gp, two crystal decanters worth 500 gp each, 5
D7. Oar Deck
This gloomy oar deck looks like the belly of a whale, with gargantuan ribs sweeping from the walls to form rowing benches for the undead crew. The deck underfoot is littered with humanoid bones to a depth of 1 foot. Two large, unmanned drums are positioned to the rear of the deck.
A rowing crew of fifty Skeleton pull the oars in here. Two skeleton drummers beat out a rowing rhythm on pair of bone drums. The undead attack any intruders who enter here.
D8. Ironhide’s Cabin
This cabin belongs to Stormsworn’s current second-in-command, Kata Ironhide, who spends most of her time patrolling the skies on her pet roc (see “area Travel to the Ship"). The cabin contains little more than her own bed, a “nest” made from the bones of her enemies.
Treasure
Ironhide keeps a bandolier hung on the door containing 3
D9. Magazine
This chamber holds iron balls, ballista bolts, and rocks for the vessel’s siege weaponry. A 20-foot-high shaft ascends from here to the poop deck (area
D10. Crew Quarters
String hammocks are strung up here like cobwebs. Due to the awkwardness of this space, any Medium or larger creature fighting in here counts as squeezing into a smaller space (see “Creature Size” in chapter 9 of the Player’s Handbook).
This area, including cabins
D11. Galley
The galley contains workspaces for preparing food and stores of spices and dried herbs.
D12. Surgery
This area was used to treat the sick. The cultists have little use for it now, as any cultists who fall ill are lashed to the mast during a storm and told to beg Talos’s forgiveness for their body’s weakness.
D13. Death Knight’s Soul
The corpse of a knight wearing plate armor slumps on a throne at the rear of this compartment. The ship’s bones spill from the knight’s chest and are entwined with his body, fusing him to the vessel. This is the death knight Emberlost, and his corpse houses the cursed soul of the dreadnaught. Emberlost can talk through the corpse and see through its eyes, but can’t animate it. If anyone touches the corpse or strikes it with a melee weapon attack, Emberlost withdraws his body into the hull, swallowing it in bones.
Treasures
Emberlost is surrounded by plundered treasures from the lost city of Anauria, which Fheralai recently stole from the auction houses of Neverwinter. The hoard includes four black opals worth 1,000 gp each, a golden harp worth 750 gp, an ornamental swan worth 500 gp, a jewel-encrusted dagger worth 750 gp, and a treasure chest containing 8,000 gp.
D14. Stores
The dreadnaught’s stores contain mundane supplies for the journey: barrels of salted meat, cords of wood, nails, and cloth.
D15. Prisoner Cell
This cell is used to hold captives. It is presently unoccupied.
D16. Armory
This armory contains racks of maces, spears, and hammers for use by the ship’s crew.
D17. Flooded Hold
The hold is unlit and flooded to a depth of 3 feet with dark, briny water.
Rise of the Storm Lord
The god of storms is furious with Fheralai for failing him and has sworn to punish her cult. When the time seems right to introduce Talos, read the following boxed text aloud:
Bolts of lightning lash from the heavens, sizzling on the surface of the sea. Through the crackling electricity, a giant figure emerges from the churning water: a muscular man wearing half-plate armor and a stitched leather eyepatch.
“You have failed your lord!” he cries in a voice that shakes the heavens.
Faced with a god, any cultists of Talos still alive prostrate themselves on the decks, and even the undead withdraw back into the ship. If Fheralai Stormsworn still lives, Talos demands that she explains her failures to him. If the party advised her on what to say to her god, she may have a chance to placate him—at your discretion! Talos gladly immolates her with a stroke of lightning if she lacks the words to appease him.
Regardless of Fheralai’s own survival, Talos punishes her crew by summoning a horde of air elementals to wreck the vessel.The players face one air elemental myrmidon per character in the party, including sidekicks, although many more myrmidons are summoned to destroy the rest of the crew! If Fheralai still lives, she fights alongside the party to prove herself to her god. The goal in this final battle is to escape the vessel: make it clear to the players that escaping the ship is their only option here! If they survive, they see Talos tear the dreadnaught to shreds before he dives back under the waves.
Conclusion
Characters who make it back to shore can report the sinking of the ship to the authorities in Neverwinter, who award them their purse of 8,000 gp. If this is the last follow-up quest they’ve played, their adventure ends here (see “Ending the Adventure” for more information).