Elemental Spirit of the Channel

Magic Might: 35 (Aquam)

Season: Summer

Characteristics: Cun +2, Per +2, Pre –7, Com –9, Str +9, Sta +7, Dex +1, Qik 0

Virtues and Flaws: Magic Thing; Ways of the Waters; Poor Memory, Short Attention Span, Simple Minded; and many others.

Qualities and Inferiorities: Greater Power (Crafter of Aquam), Greater Power (Drown), Split Attacks**, 14 x Improved Attack, 14 x Improved Damage, No Fatigue; Temporary Magical Might*; and many others.

* Wounds decrease the Might pool of the elemental by separating part of its material form. Each wound reduces the Might pool by the Wound penalty. If the creature manages to reconnect its parts, it regains that Might. Sections chipped off like this contain vis, in proportion, which may be used before the creature is defeated.

** See note after Combat

Combat:

Bludgeon*: Init+5, Attack +32, Defense +5, Damage +52**

* Includes Ways of the Waters (+3) Each round the elemental can split this attack into as many attacks as it chooses, retaining the same Init and Defense for each smaller psedupod, but dividing the Attack and Damage pools as it wishes. Decide the division before the Attack roll is made.

** Water elementals can only cause Scuffle damage (see ArM5, page 175)

Soak: +12

Wound Penalties: –1 & 1 Might point (1–5), –3 and 3 Might points (6–10), –5 and 5 Might points (11–15), Incapacitated & 5 Might points (16–20), Dead & all Might points (21+)

Immune to blades and piercing weapons; sources of fire that do less than +35 damage are harmlessly extinguished.

Abilities: Awareness 5 (surface), Brawl 7 (pseudopods), Swim 7 (ocean)

Powers:

Crafter of Water, 1–3 points, Init 4 – Might cost, Aquam. Duplicates any Creo Aquam or Rego Aquam spell of level 35 or below at the cost of 1 Might point per magnitude of the spell.

Drown, 0 points, Init –2, Aquam. After a successful melee attack the elemental can engulf a target smaller than Size 12, necessitating a deprivation roll (ArM5, pages 180-181). Each victim may attempt to escape each round by Grappling (ArM5, page 171).

Vis: 7 pawns Aquam, body

Appearance: A stormy stretch of belligerent sea.

Faerie Might: 15 (Mentem)

Characteristics: Int +1, Per +1, Pre 0, Com +1, Str 0*, Sta 0*, Dex 0*, Qik 0*.

* These statistics are provided by the Red Maid's host.

Size: (as host)

Virtues and Flaws: Final Girl, Focus Faerie Powers (Possession, see later); 2 x Increased Might, Loosely Material*; Incognizant.

* Modified to a Minor Virtue: may only take forms using possession power.

Personality Traits: Sadistic +3, Steadfast +3.

Domestic implement (as knife): Init +0, Attack +9*, Defense +7, Damage +3* These scores do not include the physical Characteristics of the host.

* Once stained with someone else's blood, the Red Maid's Attack and Damage increase. See the Final Girl Virtue.

* Once bloodstained, this increases. See Final Girl Virtue.

Wound Penalties: OK, 0, –1, –3, –5, Unconscious.

Pretenses: Brawl 5 (prey), but may use the Pretenses or abilities of the host.

Possession, 1 or more points, Init +2, Mentem: If this power Penetrates, the victim is possessed by the Red Maid and is under her direct control. Any attempt to force the victim to act contrary to her nature, or to use any of the host's own magical powers requires that the Red Maid spends Might. A supernatural power (including spell-casting) requires 1 Might point per magnitude to produce. A questionable action that is contrary to the nature of the host requires the Red Maid to exceed the possessed being's Personality Trait roll on a stress die + Might points spent. The storyguide may give a modifier to the Personality Trait roll based on the nature of the command (see the Entrancement power, ArM5, page 65, for suggestions). Both Might costs must be met if the use of a supernatural power is also contrary to the victim's nature. If the Red Maid is in direct control of her host's actions, the host acquires her Magic Resistance, but is also affected by wards that would normally exclude her. If the host is acting under her own free will, then she does not benefit from the Red Maid's Magic Resistance, but may also walk through wards with impunity.

This power's costs are not based on the Hermetic system of magic: it is based on material in Realms of Power: Magic.

Equipment: Someone else's body, all of their material goods.

Vis: 3 Mentem, in the blood of the possessed victim.

Appearance: The Red Maid does not have a material body, but if seen with Faerie Sight, or Second Sight outside a body, she seems to have a catching claws and soulful eyes.

The most powerful faerie on the island is the Red Maid. The Red Maid is a possessing spirit. She enters a young woman's body after she has been abused by a pirate, and lends the girl Faerie powers. These allow the girl to murder the pirate and dispose of his body without getting caught. Argenta, the most powerful demon on the island, knows that something occasionally kills one of her men, because their souls arrive in Hell. She cares so little for her pirates that admitting to her pawns that she does not know what is causing the deaths is worse than letting some die, so she does not investigate the Maid's murders.

Magi skilled in finding faeries may recruit the maid as an ally. The Red Maid's knowledge of Eustace's forces and local terrain are valuable while planning their raid. Her ability to sabotage a key defensive site (selected by the player characters) as the magi attack increases the raid's likelihood of success.

The Maid is a revenge faerie, so she

needs to seek out conflict to feed. Once the story on Sark concludes, she may hitch a ride in the body of one of the grogs or companions so that she can be near the magi, whom she senses are beacons for trouble.

A girl who has acted as the host for the Red Maid, and survived, often retains a sliver of he Maid's glamour after the story concludes. This allows the maid to continue feeding from the vitality of her host's life, should it become dramatic. This sliver of glamour provides often provides a Virtue. Characters who survive as the host of the Red Maid provide grogs or companions with an unusual background.

Note: The Red Maid is not suited for use as a player character. The Final Girl Virtue is not intended for use by player characters.

The Final Girl Virtue allows the Maid to select up to six people, to whom her host has an emotional connection, and mark them with her glamour. These people are termed "victims." When a victim dies or suffers terribly at the hands of the Maid's target group (her "prey"), this provides a store of energy which the Maid may use until the current story ends.

For every victim who has been harmed by her prey, the Maid gains +1 to her Attack, Damage and Soak if her host is smeared with fresh blood from one of her prey. Some magi who have encountered the Maid claim she becomes better at combat only slowly (+1 for the blood of each of her prey injured), while others say that a single drop of blood transforms her into a terrible foe. This may indicate that several Red Maids exist.

This Virtue allows multiple combat bonuses, but only if the character with the Virtue does not prevent the abuse or death of her dependants. As such, it does not suit player characters.

a servant to attempt to parley, and to offer assistance like the location of Stephen Crabbe, the whereabouts of the sect in Winchelsea, and the state of Eustace's preparation. The demons are, however, corrupt beings, and expect assistance to further taint the family they are corrupting in exchange for their aid.

The London demons may, if the player characters seem willing to sin, pass them to a more powerful demon. If the player characters perform a terrible sin for Rahab, the Prince of the Primordial Sea, he promises to reveal the True Name of Eustace's sponsor. The sin can be anything that's personal for the player characters. If the storyguide cannot think of something better, then Rahab requests that the characters smash down a section of the defending cliffs of Sark, so that the demon can flood the island and kill all of the people there. Cunning characters might trick the demon out of its information, but if they do so, it becomes a recurring enemy.

Rahab is not intended as a combatant in this scenario, so his statistics are not given here. They are found on pages 74 and 75 of Realms of Power: The Infernal.

If the characters confront the demons, Fruitio and Ossa do not allow themselves to be destroyed. The demons frame the battle so that the characters accidentally kill many of the members of the family the demons are corrupting, and their servants. Fruitio then takes pains to appear to be vanquished, even calling in other spirits to provide illusions. Fruitio and Ossa simply take spiritual form and hide in cavities about the palace. These boltholes are inaccessible without magic or crews of demolitionists. While waiting for the player characters to go away, the demons recover their Might swiftly, due to the palace's Infernal aura.

Victorious characters find a forged set of Eustace's diaries in the library of the house. These give a method of contacting Stephen Crabbe, the location of the Infernal aura in Winchelsea on which Eustace's house there was built, and information about the desecration of Samer.

The library also contains an excellent work on Infernal Lore, which allows the characters to research the weaknesses of Eustace's allies. At the storyguide's discretion it may also contain the True Name of Eustace's sponsor. A True Name acts as an Arcane Connection, granting a +5 bonus on the caster's Penetration multiplier when attempting to bypass the specified creature's Magic Resistance.

Despite the misbehavior of the monks, this ruined monastery has — in parts — retained its Divine aura. Actions forced on people with magic are not voluntary and so are not sins. In other areas it is crumbling away, in part because the creatures that dwell here sharpen their claws on its walls and carve great scratches in the stones. Eustace placed guardians here to kill enemies who began investigating his past, but he assumed that these would be noblemen from the court of the Count of Boulogne, and so the creatures are not formidable to experienced Hermetic magi.

Characters who defeat the demons of Samer attract the thanks and attention of the local priesthood. Some senior churchmen know where the mortal monks of Samer now reside. These early victims of Eustace can describe his methods and powers, allowing the player characters to develop counter-measures. If the characters negotiate skillfully with the churchmen, they may be given assistance to determine the weaknesses of Eustace's demons, be provided blessings which aid in their eventual battle, or even be granted the use of a relic.

There are several different ways in which the player characters may interfere with Eustace's operations on Sark.

Sark's swollen population is too large for local agriculture to support over the cycle of a year, so trade ships are sent to purchase supplies in Normandy and England. These ships pretend to be merchant vessels, and require maximum cargo space, so they only have light crews. Small ships may have as few as three men aboard, and larger vessels have at most eighteen. This makes them weak, militarily, and Eustace compensates for this by hiding one of his demonic servants, described earlier, on board each vessel. These demons are only supposed to become active if the ship is attacked, but Eustace's control over his demons is far weaker than he believes, so when one of his trade ships is in port, its demon is often ashore, making mischief.

If characters destroy a vessel or kill its crew, these are removed from the pool of resources from which Eustace draws for later battles.

Eustace's fleet doesn't usually buy the grain, cordage, and similar supplies it requires in the open market: it is aided by a local merchant in each port, acting as its agent. This merchant buys supplies, particularly after harvest when prices are best, and then stores them for collection by Eustace's fleet. These stores become increasingly expensive and time-consuming to replace as winter draws near. Player characters

can seriously damage Eustace's fleet by simultaneously raiding or destroying warehouses in Winchelsea (in Britain) and Saint Malo (in Brittany) just before the final shipment preceding winter.

Eustace's ships don't have Magic Resistance, and so a magus with sufficient preparation can damage their cargoes after they have been inspected, but before the leave for Sark. This allows player characters to damage Eustace's supplies without direct confrontation. This, in turn, makes it harder for Eustace and his demons to determine who was responsible, and prepare against future attacks.

More daring characters might poison the food shipped to Sark. This carries some risk of killing innocent Sarcees, who also eat the food that the pirates purchase or capture. Characters can avoid this by only poisoning choice items which the leading pirates reserve for themselves, such as fine wine and exotic spices.

Eustace's forces usually have three months of provisions on the island, although this amount increases as winter draws in, since it is possible for the island to be cut off for additional time by storms. To keep the stores at this level, one small ship needs to bring in supplies every two weeks. If supplies reach the point where they can only sustain the crew for a month, a quarter of Eustace's people desert. If his forces are living shipment to shipment, half of them desert. In either of these cases Eustace is tempted to make large raids to restock his warehouses.

Raiding vessels seize what Eustace's fleet requires by force. To do this they need many armed men, and so the ships sacrifice some of their cargo space to stow extra pirates. The ships are not, however, completely filled with pirates, as they would be when raiding shipping, because the fleet needs some space to carry the fruits of its coastal pillaging. Small ships on a raid carry 12 men, and large ships 72. In the largest raiding fleets, most large ships carry up to 100 men, with one ship left with just a sailing crew of 12, to carry the loot.

It's possible for subtle characters to draw a raid. They need to manufacture a target for Eustace to dispatch men to capture. This can be as subtle as booking passage on a convoy of trade ships, to provide unexpected and perhaps inconspicuous aid, or as overt as seeding a cliff with magically-created gold, waiting for some lucky peasant to find it, and then watching for pirate raiders.

Storyguides or player characters who prefer to avoid naval battle can winnow Eustace's forces by convincing him to heavily commit to raids, then ambushing his pirates. This tactic is most effective if their ambush sites are spread widely around the English Channel and North Sea, so that Eustace's overconfidence blinds him, initially at least, to the pattern of failure, and the possibility that the attacks are coordinated.

Raiders defeated by the player characters are subtracted from the pool of resources available to Eustace in later battles.

In preparation for the raid on Sark, the characters may send spies to the island. This can either be roleplayed or settled with dice rolls.

Sark is a small island in the English Channel, approximately 3 miles long, and one and a half miles broad at its widest point. It is ringed by cliffs, between 100 and 320 feet in height. The island is divided into two uneven parts,

Fleet battles in 1220, in the Channel, are not like the battles of later centuries, where ships use their weapons to breach the hulls of their adversaries. In the historical Battle of Sandwich, the English ships were bearded (reinforced with iron sheets on their prows) so that they could ram more effectively, but there's no other mention of weapons that targeted the hulls of the enemy ships. The English crews threw lances, stones, pots of powdered lime, and grappling hooks, and once aboard fought much as if they were on land, although there is mention of them destroying the rigging of the ships they boarded. Historically, Eustace was defeated because he was at the head of his fleet, and his ship and the English flagship sought each other out and boarded each other. This pinned him, and he was swarmed

by a wave of English ships, boarding him from all sides, the other French vessels choosing not to commit to battle. The tactics used for shipboard combat in 1220 are so undeveloped that people who control armies are considered suitable as admirals.

If using the group combat system in ArM5 then:

• The briny dead animated by a single Revener act as a trained group, regardless of how many there are. This makes them dangerous in melee combat.
• The Attack and Defense bonus provided by additional members of the group is not limited by the Revener's Leadership score, since all of the limbs are controlled by a single mind.

If using the system given in Lords of Men, starting on page 104, then:

• In the Deployment Total use the pilot's Ability in place of Area Lore, unless there is some geographical feature the players wish to use in their plans.
• For Weight of Numbers, initially include all ships on both sides, but as the battle progresses, only include those ships which are actively engaged. The goal of many medieval admirals is to defeat part of the enemy fleet in isolation.
• Battlefield Events happen as normal, but are described in a nautical way. Again, one of the main goals of the battlefield events the player characters push for is the separation of elements of the enemy fleet so they can be defeated in detail.