The Drow War Book Two. The Dying Of - RoseRed

The Sea Harriers like to keep clean, as it ties in to their
concept of themselves as a noble people, so there are
usually 2–12 sailors in the communal bathhouse and
0–3 captains in the exclusive bathhouse at all times. Of
course, they have no clothes or equipment, so in combat
they have to grapple foes or dash for weapons. When
bathing, the Harriers leave their possessions in neat
piles against the wall. A sword is more important than
modesty; they will grab weapons and fight naked if they
have to.
If the Player Characters try to fight the Harriers while in
the water, the Harriers try to drown them. A combatant
who achieves a pin against an opponent while fighting
in at least three feet of water can hold the opponent
underwater, which begins to drown him if he does not
hold his breath. Breaking the pin allows the grappled
character to breathe.
E. Lower Living Level
This level holds another set of cabins and several rooms
that are used communally to raise the Sea Harrier
children in the life of piracy.
1. Cabins
These are identical to those on Deck D (see above).
2. Children’s Nests
These rooms have a sour smell of old milk and straw. The
walls have childish chalk drawings on them. There are
bunks up the walls, with long ladders connecting them.
Ropes have been strung between the bunks, connecting
the levels in a hempen spider’s web. Scattered across the
floor are bolsters packed with hay, crayons, toy ships,
sheets of scribbled-on paper and wooden swords.
During the day the room is filled with Harrier children
yelling, running around and brachiating from bunk to
bunk along the ropes. A single lieutenant attempts to
keep control of them all. When Harrier families go off
on raids, the children are all moved to this room, where
they can be supervised together. The high ladders and
dangerous ropes are there to get the children used to
heights from an early age.
3. Assembly Room
One end of this room has a raised floor, with a lectern
and a sheet of canvas hanging behind. On the canvas is
a painting of the world, with the ocean currents marked
in.
A Player Character observing the map closely and
making a Search check (DC 25) notices something
curious. On five places on the map, all of them tiny
islands in the ocean, a dot has been marked with a
symbol of a bell next to it. These are the Sea Harrier
bolt-holes, where they can go to hide from foes, take
emergency loot from a store or replenish their food
stocks.
The bolt-holes are an important secret of the Sea
Harriers, as they allow ships to evade pursuit if the
Celebration is nowhere in range. Some Sea Harrier
bolt-holes have been discovered in the past, which has
led to the conclusion that a carefully hidden bolt-hole
system is the secret of their efficiency. The Harrier
children are trained to memorise the location of these
safe havens.
4. Hall of Claw and Fang
This room seems to be some sort of gymnasium, judging
by the towels and racks of rapiers on the wall. Unlike
most training rooms you have seen, it has been fitted
with wooden posts from floor to ceiling, spaced at fivefoot
intervals. A raised section in the centre has three
ropes hanging from a beam above and a scuffed circular
platform below. The posts and the room’s walls are
covered with nicks and gouges, as if from hundreds of
fencing bouts.
This room fulfils two functions. Primarily it is the
training hall where the Harriers learn to fight, with
special emphasis on fighting onboard ship. The wooden
posts are to simulate the difficulty of fighting in cramped
conditions, the ropes are for swinging on and climbing
and the platform can be made to sway from side to side,
requiring the combatants to make Balance checks (DC
15) each round or lose their footing.
Its second function is as a courtroom. Disputes between
the Harriers are settled ‘toe to toe, buccaneer fashion’ in
a duel. These are usually to first blood but can be duels
to the death if the matter is serious enough.
At the Games Master’s discretion (and depending on
how battered and weary the Player Characters are by
this point), there may be a duel in progress. Two sailors,
Scutter Prewitt and Randall Gash, are fighting with
daggers on the tilting platform while two more sailors
(their seconds) look on stony-faced. Their dispute is
over a girl who has gone missing, Tanda Clay. Prewitt
is accusing Gash of having abducted her and Gash is
protesting his innocence. The truth is that Sunspite
has done away with the girl in one of his murderous
rages and concealed her body in the bilges, though the
duellists have no chance of knowing that.
Ibon Presno Gonzalez (order #73006) 8
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