Lubbers

Order: Mazzikim

Infernal Might: 10 (Aquam)

Characteristics: Int –1, Per 0, Pre 0, Com –5, Str +15, Sta +5, Dex –1, Qik –9

Size: +3

Virtues and Flaws: Huge, Weak-Willed, Clumsy

Personality Traits: Selfish +5, Lazy +4. Combat:

Fist: Init –9, Attack +3*, Defense -2, Damage +15

* Includes -3 penalty for Clumsy Flaw

Soak: +7, Leathery skin

Fatigue Levels: OK, –1, –3, –5, Unconscious.

Wound Penalties: –1 (1–8), –3 (9–16), –5 (17–24), Incapacitated (25–32), Dead (33+)

Abilities: Various, including Brawl 6 (fist) and Leadership 6 (demons)

Powers:

Coagulation, 1 point, Init –1, Corpus. Envisioning; 1 point, Init +0, Mentem.

Obsession, 1 point, Init –5, Vim: Inattentive.

Fear of the Wilderness, 2 points, Init +1, Mentem: A single victim who hears the footsteps of the lubber must make a Brave roll against an Ease Factor of 7, or flee. If the character cannot flee, he is catatonically terrified until the sun rises or the lubber leaves. If the characters can see the lubber up to 10 victims are affected, otherwise it is whomever is closest to the lubber.

Weakness: Abhorent object (whips).

Vis: 2 pawns Perdo vis sordida in hands. Appearance: Lubbers are human in form, but lack heads. They are huge, slow, and clumsy. Their hands each have four thumbs and no fingers. The flesh of the lubbers is pale blue, and greasy, and they have no body hair.

Argenta's personal guards are three lubbers. At the storyguide's discretion they can as an untrained group, as a single trained group, or lead three trained groups of reveners.

Order: Mazzikim

Infernal Might: 10 (Terram)

Characteristics: Int –2, Per 1, Pre –1, Com 0, Str +5, Sta +1, Dex +2, Qik 0

Size: 0

Virtues and Flaws: Weak-Willed Personality Traits: Selfish +5, Wrathful +4.

Combat:

Awl: Init 0, Attack +9, Defense +7, Damage +7

Soak: +1

Fatigue Levels: OK, –1, –3, –5, Uncon-

scious.

Wound Penalties: –1 (1–5), –3 (6–10), –5 (11–15), Incapacitated (16–20),

Dead (21+)

Abilities: Various, including Brawl 6 (awl) and Swim 5 (ocean).

Powers:

Coagulation, 1 point, Init –1, Corpus. Envisioning; 1 point, Init +0, Mentem.

Obsession, 1 point, Init –5, Vim: Saboteur. Fear of the Wilderness, 2 points, Init +1,

Mentem: A single victim who hears the leakspringer tapping on the planks of the boat must make a Brave roll against an Ease Factor of 7, or flee. If the character cannot flee, for example because it is too far to swim to shore, then they become a quivering pile of terrified sailor until the sun rises or the ship anchors. If the characters can see the leakspringer up to 10 victims are affected, otherwise it is whomever is closest to the point where the awl hits the hull.

Weakness: Protected group (the clergy). Note that this means that leakspringers cannot sink a boat carrying a cleric.

Vis: 2 pawns Perdo vis sordida in awl. Appearance: Human forms made of slop and bilge, with a long spike where the left hand should be.

Leakspringers are misshapen humanoids made from the filth in the bilges of pirate ships. They cause shipwrecks by coagulating in the hulls of vessels, then striking their fists through hull planking. Eustace has only two leakspringers, and deploys them as his enemies are preparing to land. This buys him time to prepare for an assault.

Eustace has a fear-inspiring pirate fleet, and so, on some level, he is always thinking of ways to use it. He can be tempted to naval battle in a variety of ways. He does not, however, engage in land based battles larger than raids, or personally lead raiding parties ashore. This seems strange, since he knows he is destined to die at sea, but his invisibility power only works while he is aboard ship. He counts on it to preserve him in most conflicts, should circumstances turn bad.

Treasure ships: Eustace concentrates his forces and strikes if a large and valuable convoy is assembled. Several Venetian merchants have discussed the idea of sending a fleet to England, although they have never been able to pass the Muslims blocking the mouth of the Mediterranean. On a smaller level, the wool clip of England is exported to the Continent, and a sufficiently large convoy of wool ships could attract Eustace. If being aided by a king, this can be inconspicuously forced: in Scotland, for example, all wool is exported from a single town, all about the same time. A similar monopoly can be created to encourage the formation of a convoy of sufficient value and size to tempt Eustace to commit all of his forces.

English raid: The kings of England have wished to take Sark for some time, and they, or their nobles, are likely willing to raid the island, if the player characters can present a plan which makes victory seem likely. Given the option of confronting the English fleet at sea or waiting until the men on board land, Eustace would prefer a naval battle. This is because troop transports may have orders to drop their men and retreat, awaiting a signal to come and evacuate their marines after the island has been subdued. If Eustace instead bests the fleet before it disgorges its men, he can claim the ships for his pirate armada.

Direct challenge: The simplest way to force Eustace to battle is to anchor a small fleet near Sark and deliver messages indicating that his presence is required. Eustace maintains his control over his followers through a mixture of reward and intimidation. He cannot retain his place if he acts like a coward, or fails to confront a fleet which is sapping his income by picking off his vessels, or protecting merchants. He really has no choice but to accept battle, if the challenges sent to him are worded in a way that makes Eustace appear weak if he fails to answer them.

Eustace's entire fleet is comprised of 16 large and 20 small vessels. Each large vessel can carry between 12 and 90 pirates, and each small vessel between 3 and 15. If Eustace draws all of his forces together he has:

• Just under 500 men or briny demons
• 36 sheeteaters
• 12 incubi, (who fly away if the battle seems to be in the balance)
• Seven mockery demons
• One shantyman per ship he actually crews
• Two leakspringers, described in the Siege of Sark section, which Eustace prefers to keep there.
• One or more copies of Leraje, described in the Siege of Sark section, which Eustace prefers not to use shipboard.

Naval battles in this part of the world have no artillery component, so Eustace gains no advantage from spreading his pirates through as many bottoms as possible. He instead concentrates his men into fewer vessels.

His large ships are slow, but they have higher sides than most small ships, and their larger crews can swarm over smaller vessels. Eustace also packs some small, swift ships with men. These intercept the enemy, forcing them to stop and fight, which allows his large ships to pull alongside the entangled foe.

If the characters have successfully attacked Eustace's forces before this battle, the number of hulls and pirates he commands are reduced. If his patroness is worried by the actions of the player characters, she provides Eustace with naptha bombs for his demonic apes to throw. These clay pots are filled with a substance like Greek fire, which can effectively only be extinguished by magic. If Eustace has naptha bombs, he uses all of his light ships, with minimal crews, since his goal is to sink, rather than board, the enemy vessels.

A naptha bomb does +5 damage, ignites the ship, and cannot be extinguished with water. Sand, in large quantities, extinguishes the flame.

Eustace can make his flagship invisible, but if the battle turns against him, he must dispel the effect. He controls his fleet using signals flown from his mainmast, and his captains need to be able to see his ship to co-ordinate. Player characters can force Eustace to make his ship visible by making an unexpected manoeuvre, outside the commands and contingencies given in advance to Eustace's captains, so that he must give them new instructions. Defectors from Eustace's fleet, and Stephen Crabbe, know this.

Signalling flags are Eustace's only means of giving orders to his captains while in battle. One way to shatter the coherence of Eustace's fleet is to incinerate or splinter his mainmast, so it cannot be used to fly signals. Eustace's signals can be transferred to another mast, but it takes him several minutes to run a new line for the flags.

Eustace's ships are pirate vessels, which mean they need to be swift. The characters can gain some advantage by "bearding" their vessels, a technique unavailable to Eustace. Bearded vessels have metal plates nailed to their bows to provide armor and extra reinforcement if ships collide. Bearding a ship slows it appreciably, but makes it more resistant to damage.