The Complete Guide to Necro-Nautical Magics
This is a wretched tome of oceanic blasphemy; a foul water-stained, bone-white binder of bitter dead-men's secrets and a guide to Nautical Necromancy useful in the hands of the young sea-faring necromancer or the Great Lich Umeen herself.
Full Item Description
A collection of frayed parchments stained with sea water, and bound with both twine and rusted metal hoops. The ink used to write most of it came from a powerful Kraken, some pages are in the blood of intelligent aquatic humanoids, but they all reek of black magics and tragic death.
History
Mostly penned by the sea-faring Lich Queen Umeen while she sat inside one of her masterpieces, theNecronautilus. It is her life's work and a horrible collection of her aquatic rites. Other contributors include summoned demons from the stagnant acid pools of the abyss and, some say, Dagon himself.
Since her death it has fallen into the library of a adventuring Wizard who will soon open it, read it, become obsessed with it, and give his life to it.
Magic/Cursed Properties
The only magic the book possesses are of self-preservation. It is impervious to most, if not all, known physical and elemental effects that would cause it harm. It functions as a spellbook containing a few spells from the Necromancy school and contains instructions on how to create many of Umeen's foul water-dwelling undead monstrosities.
THIS IS A SCROLL!
-Add some of your ideas of Nautical Necromancy, I have long thought about this art and have quite a few of my own ideas stashed in my brain. I will post them as soon as they float to the surface. Enjoy!
Skeleton Buoy
Out of the fog, it floated towards us.. or was it.. swimming? It was made of bone, had many arms and one giant skull on top..
A buoy made of skeleton parts. It has many long skeletal arms that end in bony claws. Umeen would place these sick floating devices in the waters surrounding her secret island home. They are actually many skeletons hiding inside of a giant's skull. Once a ship brushes past the buoy, the skeletons swarm out climb aboard, killing anyone they can find.
Pearl of Undeath
The secret to crafting this item is known only to those who have read Umeen's book. It involves a giant undead clam, lots of waiting, and possibly a human sacrifice. The result is a large dull greyish-red pearl.
This is a potent spell component that can be used in raising undead. Any undead created as part of a process that uses up the Pearl of Undeath gains the ability to walk on water and raise what it kills as an undead creature under it's control.
Unholy Grog
A foul salt-water brew that combines the intoxication of grog with Umeen's power over the undead. Those who drink this beverage say it tastes like death, and it should. I won't tell you what's in it, but I can tell you what it does...
Should you drink it, and hold it down, you will be able to command nearby undead through sheer willpower. You might even be able to steal the control from others, if you can hold enough Unholy Grog in your stomach. The downside is that the more you drink, the more you will start to become dependant on the Grog, and even slowly start to die. This is often the first step to becoming a sea-faring Lich.
Flesh Rig
From a distance, these sails resemble a standard Bermuda Rig. Upon closer inspection however, it becomes obvious that they are made from flesh, most likely human. Along with carrying a rather odd smell, these sails have the ability to propel a ship forward under no wind at all by rippling in a manner similar to that of a manta ray. The predominant use for these sails is sending out raiding parties that then have the ability to overtake becalmed ships.
Death Jacket
Seemingly your typical water-damaged orange life jacket floatation safety device. It is light and comfortable, even in combat. You feel very safe when wearing it, and it removes all fear of ocean related death or injury.
However, once submersed in water this Death Jacket starts to shrink around the neck and will eventually strangle it's wearer if not dried off quick enough.
Water triggers the shrinkage, drying it will cause it to expand again.
Black Water
This is thick, ink-like, sea water; black in color. It is usually collected in holy water sprinklers stolen from churches of good deities. When splashed in the eyes of a creature is causes rapid degredation of their eyesight, untill they are blind, then their eyes fall out.
This powerful liquid is made from innocent blood and and a giant squid's ink bladder. Only a small amount of sea water can be tainted with each crafting of this necromantic chemical. If it is poured into the ocean most sea life in the ink cloud will die quickly.
Sidenote by Umeen:
There are likely other uses as well, rumors exist of a massive undead squid that leaves clouds of this stuff in its wake, dwelling deep within the ocean trenches. But this is probably no more than an aquatic apocalypse story.
Navigator's Finger
Taken from a navigator, usually under torture, this finger is then dried in sea salt. The finger, is then hung on a cord, prefered to be made of human skin (better if made from the navigator).
The Finger, when asked to "point the way", will point in the best direction to reach your destination. While often this will be directly towards your desired location, but sometimes towards a more favorable band of wind or towards shelter against the upcomming storm. The directions are not that magical, but ones that a highly skilled navigator would be able to come up with, if they had access to great maps and some knowledge of the local weather.
There is an additional page stuck in the book dealing with this detailing the insertion of the finger in a large naval compass.
Finder's Tongue
Typically placed inside of a mermaid skull, this rather large, rubbery, forked tounge-like device enables a dead object to speak.
It does not grant any intelligence, simple the ability to answer questions of a nautical nature. It can tell you the exact coordinates of any place it has been, dead or alive, including it's current location.
The voice is always hissing and hard to understand, but otherwise provides accurate information unless magically tampered with. The tongue must come from a Sea Dragon (Lung Wang) and be treated with appropriate amounts of unholy grog, black water, and dark magic.
Sometimes the tongue will prove resistant to answering questions about where it lived when alive, or if asked about it's treasures. Usually this can be solved by offering it some rum or promising (truthfully) to give the skull a respectable final resting place.
The Jelly Eater
It is arguable if this creature is a full success. The foul magics that made it enlarged its body, and turned the stinging into a strong acidic effect, that horribly burn anyone happening to touch it. But it's nature is even duller than the living original; they can be navigated from one place to another, attacking is hard for them for being so clumsy.
But there is a use for them: attach one to the hull of a ship, and it will eat through the wood in a day or less. If you use several, you can easily sink a whole ship! The stupid jellies tend to die during the breach.
Jellies eating on your ship leave behind a trail of gooey dirt, that sticks to the wood around. It's best to get it into a drydock... if you can't do that, some fellow needs to go down to scrape it off.
For the sea-faring Lich: Necrotic Damage and Wood
Death's Head
- A ram affixed to the front of a large vessel, on the end is actually a sack full of necrotic poisons and other foul substances that quickly rot wood and rust metals. Needs to be replaces after each ramming.
Skull Cannon
- A projectile that can be loaded into a cannon. It is a skull filled with the same evil components of the Death's Head, but on a smaller scale. It is also flammable.
Warp Swimmer
- A small zombie hand that glides swiftly through the water, it poses enough necrotic energy to warp a wooden rudder. Good for sabotage.
Notes by Umeen
Small amount of necrotic energy seem to warp wood and tarnish iron, larger amount applied with greater force seem to be able to completely destroy such substance. However, creating this much energy is costly and not recommended for regular use. Necrotic damage is also known to cause certain types of cancer and should not be used on or around pregnant women.
Foul Gust
A a simple old horn that has seen better days. When you blow into it properly you can produce a steady gust of foul smelling air, as if your own putrid breath was magnified a hundred-fold. ...and let's face it, if you're hanging out on a sailboat full of zombies, your breath isn't going to be at it's freshest.
The wind varies from a light breeze to a strong gust, depending on how much effort you put into it. ...and if you're something unnatural, and don't breathe, make sure you have some live ones to help you out. They can always be turned into zombies later.
Signed - Merry Blacksoul, Breaker of the Demon Waves
Placeholder-Ghostnets
Captain Blacksoul's Dead Brain Bicorne
This dangerous symbol of undead mastery appears to be a fancy black bicorne hat. Created for Merry Blacksoul during the War of Death, this headgear unites the wearer's mind with those of up to four undead within range. The range is dependent on the will of the wearer, it is said that Merry could connect to dead beings a mile away.
Once linked to a dead one, you can see and feel using their senses or totally take control of them. Your own body will be dead of mind for the time you occupy another body. If the body you control is destroyed or the hat is removed while you occupy another body, your mind will be destroyed or you will be stuck in that body and made to suffer it's fate.
You may also be simply "aware" of what is happening to the other beings you are connected to, and so suffer no ill fate if they die. Except a bit of minor brain shock, but it's not that bad.
When using this item it is recommended to lock yourself in your quarters and know when to abandon a body. It is also useful to have people your trust, or are non-expendable to.
- Umeen
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? Responses (12)
Neat idea for a scroll. Have to think on it :)
I must say, I quite like this idea. It really gives a new meaning to the phrase "dead in the water".
I have taken bonk. Good Pun. Take an EP from petty cash.
This has the potential for being a great one. I truly loved the introduction in the summary box.
Many fun things for this one. Many fun thing. Stolenites should be dying to add to it.
I'll have too find the time to come up with something to add to this.
It's brilliant.
I am not sure if I will ever use it, but it is a good collection to have around. Necromancy comes in many guises. :)
Exactly what Moon said. The box text rocks, and the scroll is scrumptious! I'm adding Ghost-Nets!
This a great way to sort our undead. I have run more the one undead navel adventure, and could have used this each time.
Thanks.
I like the fact that so many things here are so original. Please add more!
Pretty please?
