The Ferryman

[brian 333]

A plague of mosquitos harass the PCs as they wait on the rotting plank dock which is slowly and unevenly sinking into the swamp. The smell of decay overwhelms their senses in the humid, moonless night as mists obscure even the stars and reflect what light the PCs brought with them. Their world has become a forty foot globe void of everything except the noise of nocturnal insects and the slapping of mosquitos.

The sound of stirred water alerts the PCs and seconds later movement in the mist at the perimeter of the light reveals a long thin flatboat, worn and splintered along the rails, slowly approaching the dock. In the rear stands a thin person draped in shreds of a robe using a long pole to guide the boat. As the boat bumps into the dock it can be seen that the ferryman is a skeleton. It does not speak or gesture, but simply waits with the paitence of the dead.

DM Info:
The Ferryman is simply a skeketon which poles its barge between the dock and its destination. It will not attack anything under any circumstances, even self defence. If its boat is capsized it will refloat it and resume its travels. If its pole is taken it will try to retrieve it, but will not attack to harm to do so.

As an unspeaking automaton it cannot, and will not try to, communicate. If Speak With Dead is used the skeleton was once a female human ranger named Muri Gajarta, who died of old age. There is no common frame of reference to determine how long ago this was.

[SandyAndy]

This is fantastic! It has a real "Chiron and the River Styx" vibe.

Is this a plot hook for a quest or just a random encounter?

[Cicciograna]

You say that the skeleton doesn't defend itself under any circumstances: does this mean that it can be killed? And what about the pole? Say that we take it from the skeleton and destroy it: what happens then?

[brian 333]

You say that the skeleton doesn't defend itself under any circumstances: does this mean that it can be killed? And what about the pole? Say that we take it from the skeleton and destroy it: what happens then?

Why then you are in a real pickle!

The skeleton is a regular skeleton which, instead of being instructed to guard or attack as is usual when created, was instructed to pole the flatboat between the dock and its destination. It can easily be destroyed. If its boat or pole is taken and destroyed or removed from its perception range, I assume the skeleton will do nothing. You may have it, after a while, begin to mime poling the barge, or walking the route, or whatever.

My use for the event was to have the ferryman as a means for the PCs to get to an abandoned village of rotting wooden houses around a sinking stone temple which was last used as a low level necromancer's lair and lab. He was a 3/3 cleric/wizard with necromancy specialization which had become a ghoul with character levels upon his death. It was a level 2-3 adventure with lots of skeletons, a few zombies, and the boss ghoul which was quite insane after, (and possibly before,) its death.

[Cicciograna]

Why then you are in a real pickle!

The skeleton is a regular skeleton which, instead of being instructed to guard or attack as is usual when created, was instructed to pole the flatboat between the dock and its destination. It can easily be destroyed. If its boat or pole is taken and destroyed or removed from its perception range, I assume the skeleton will do nothing. You may have it, after a while, begin to mime poling the barge, or walking the route, or whatever.

My use for the event was to have the ferryman as a means for the PCs to get to an abandoned village of rotting wooden houses around a sinking stone temple which was last used as a low level necromancer's lair and lab. He was a 3/3 cleric/wizard with necromancy specialization which had become a ghoul with character levels upon his death. It was a level 2-3 adventure with lots of skeletons, a few zombies, and the boss ghoul which was quite insane after, (and possibly before,) its death.

Lol, sorry, I didn't want to sound snippy
I mistakenly thought that this was some kind of special creature, rather than a regular skeleton. Hence my curiosity, thinking that there might be some kind of particular interaction associated to it.

[brian 333]

You can, of course, modify the encounter to suit your needs. Example:

If the PC attempts to take the pole from the skeleton a cadaverous voice says, "Mine!" as the skeleton slaps the offender as it snatches back the pole. The slap is an automatic hit for 0 damage.

[SandyAndy]

I love it! I am putting it in "totally-not-Louisiana" setting for my wild west setting.

[Shocksrivers]

You can, of course, modify the encounter to suit your needs. Example:

If the PC attempts to take the pole from the skeleton a cadaverous voice says, "Mine!" as the skeleton slaps the offender as it snatches back the pole. The slap is an automatic hit for 0 damage.

On a more serious note: why would the characters step on this creepy boat? And why would they not try to interact with the skeleton?

I really like the scene you are setting, all the compliments in the world, but I am assuming that your players are better behaved (or conditioned) than mine, because they would definitely mess up the encounter, destroying either the boat, ferrywoman or (most likely) the pole, at which point the scene ends... What then?

And again, I really like what you did here, and I am not being facetious, I am genuinely curious how this scene would play out if players try something that might mess it up, or refuse to cooperate in some way

[brian 333]

On a more serious note: why would the characters step on this creepy boat? And why would they not try to interact with the skeleton?

I really like the scene you are setting, all the compliments in the world, but I am assuming that your players are better behaved (or conditioned) than mine, because they would definitely mess up the encounter, destroying either the boat, ferrywoman or (most likely) the pole, at which point the scene ends... What then?

And again, I really like what you did here, and I am not being facetious, I am genuinely curious how this scene would play out if players try something that might mess it up, or refuse to cooperate in some way

To be fair, they had some clues. They went to the dock knowing other adventurers had done so and not returned. The villagers told them they avoided the place on the dark of the moon because the dead rise from their resting places to devour the souls of the living, and they believed the boatman took them into the realm of death.

The quest was to find a brother of Aesclepious, (the healer cult,) who wanted to learn about the rumors of undead in the area. When he vanished a valuable Staff of Curing went with him. The villagers tried to discourage the PCs from taking a ride on the Barge of the Dead. Thus, I virtually guaranteed the PCs would take the ride.

It was a pretty standard fetchit for a lowbie group which lead to further exploration of the Green River Swamp.

[SpoonR]

On a more serious note: why would the characters step on this creepy boat? And why would they not try to interact with the skeleton?I

No great loss if they destroy boat or boater, party just needs to find another way to cross. If you prefer the party leave it alone, have a nearby village that hunts in/harvests peat from/somehow uses the swamp. Sure the thing is creepy but once someone tried it - hey it’s safe and a lot easier than paying someone or walking.

Also reminded of a bit in Dungeon mag. Random encounter with whistling skeleton that is immune to turning - actually it is normal bones with an ‘animate object’ type effect (also noncombatant because spell doesn’t allow fine enough control to attack), and illusion sound.
I think the spellcaster wad hiding nearby, trying to scare travelers into fleeing & dropping stuff