As the largest city in the whole of the Flanaess, the City of Greyhawk docks are always a hive of unceasing activity. The most northern port on the Selintan River, Greyhawk is often the last stop of most ocean-going vessels. Only smaller ships such as the barges of the Rhenee can continue north, through the Cairn Hills, to the Nyr Dyv. Vessels from Keoland, Irongate, Nyrond, Verbobonc, and elsewhere, representing the four corners of the continent, all arrive bursting with trade goods and travellers.

New ships are constantly arriving on a daily basis, only to depart several days later on their long routes to distant locations. A limited fleet of smaller ships with shorter trade routes, such as the Greyhawk - Hardby trade corridor, are seen quite often through the year as they depart and return. While many ships hold Greyhawk as their home port by registry, most of the larger ships will not be seen at the docks again for many months as they carry their goods across the high seas. Anyone spending enough time at the docks may notice that one ship seems to appear at the docks with higher frequency than most of its size. A casual observer would assume that this ship has a short route, but anyone able to examine its cargo would see goods from far flung origins. Some largely-disbelieved rumors circulate about the ship having been spotted in ports separated by such great distances, that there would have to be multiple identical ships bearing the same name. After all, one could get away with paying only once to register several ships with the same name, or so the rumors go. But then, such deceptions might be expected by the conspiracy-minded of a ship with its unusual pedigree and arcane name. The ship is called “the Pentagram”, and its registered owners are the secretive wizards behind Maldin and Elenderi’s Shop of the Arcane. You can learn more about them and their shop by visiting http://melkot.com/locations/cogh/maldins.html

The Ship
The Pentagram is classified as a moderate sized carrack, a three-masted sailing ship that is between a caravel and galleon in size and appearance. The ship’s figurehead beneath the bowsprit is a couatl, with outspread wings. What is not readily apparent, unless someone has technical familiarity with the construction of such sailing ships, is that the Pentagram is heavily modified. The Pentagram is a spelljamming vessel.

The Pentagram has been modified in a variety of ways, some more obvious than others. Its rigging has been streamlined for rapid air travel, and for maneuverability in space. The keel and lower hull has been reinforced such that the ship could (carefully) put down on land, though the captain would perform such a maneuver only in an emergency, and only in terrain that could support the ship without it tipping over (such as a slight ravine,  marsh or sand).

The ship carries far more formidable armaments than an average ship of its size. The most obvious is the turreted forward medium ballista in the bow. Less obvious from a distance are the two swivel-mounted medium ballistae amidships. Shielded by the sides of the ship, and obscured overhead by the anti-boarding netting, they fire through long slots in the side of the deck that can be closed with hinged covers. Most difficult to spot is the turntable-mounted medium catapult in the stern. It has a permanent illusion cast on it to resemble a rear cabin, and is unlikely to be noticed unless someone on deck walks right up to it and tries to enter the “cabin”.

The main deck floor plan is designed for transporting both special goods and people. Many of the rooms can be quickly altered to hold either small groups of individuals (such as adventuring parties in the employ of the ship owners), larger groups of troops or travellers (the largest room can hold 30 hammocks), or storage of trade goods too delicate for the cargo hold. There is a well-stocked workshop that can be used for anything from ship repairs to alchemical experiments.

Captain Jazon Galrese 
7th lvl Fighter  Human Male, Neutral Good
Str 18/30 (+1, +3)  Int 14  Wis 9  Dex 17  (+2, -3)  Con 15  Cha 13 
HP: 52  AC: -2  Languages:  Common
Combat: 2-handed attacks with long sword and dagger (to hit: +3, +1; damage +5, +5)
Special Items: +2 Platemail (usually only worn when expecting trouble), +2 long sword, short sword, +2 dagger, light crossbow

Background:
Jazon Galrese was born in Hardby, where the Selintan River meets the sea, a center of trade and a hub of shipping activity. Galrese became a sailor on a merchant vessel as a youth, and has spent his entire adult life on one type of ship or another. His extensive experience eventually allowed him to become 1st Mate on a vessel. When Maldin and Elenderi commissioned and launched the Pentagram, they canvassed the various captains that frequented the City of Greyhawk dock quarter, and Jazon’s name came up time and again as a shining star of a mariner. They quickly hired him on as the captain of their fleet flagship.

One moonlit evening, sailing off the rugged coast of the Bright Desert on a voyage transporting a group of Maldin’s employees, the crew witnessed a shooting star impacting the desert. A landing party was dispatched. They returned the next morning, making quite the entrance. The morning light reflecting off of torn sails was spotted approaching from deep in the desert. An ancient, battered galleon suspended some 100 feet above the ground, drifted into view above the dunes, making a hard landing on the beach and cracking the clearly already weakened hull. The galleon had been crawling with undead, but the team discovered a strange ornate chair bolted to its deck - a spelljamming furnace helm. Since that fateful day, the Pentagram has made numerous trips into wildspace, eventually upgrading its mode of power to a major helm. Their landings are far more graceful now.

Remaining crew: 6 2nd lvl Fighters, 14 1st lvl Fighters, 50% long sword, 50% short sword, morale and sailing skill equal to elite veterans.

Mariad Malinor, Helmsman
8th lvl Priest of Boccob Human Male, Neutral
Str 17 (+1, +1)  Int 15  Wis 17  Dex 15 (0, -1)  Con 16  Cha 18  Per 12
HP: 42  AC: 0   Languages: Common
Special Items: AC 3 Bracers, Staff of Striking, +2 footman’s mace, +2 ring of protection, +1 orbus ring

Spells:  5 - 1st level spells, 5 - 2nd level spells, 4 - 3rd level spells, 2 - 4th level spells

Background:
The epitome of hard work, perseverance, and faith, Mariad Malinor was born in Shacktown, the poorest quarter of the city of Greyhawk, and spent his early years as a child beggar. One faithful day, a priest passing through the slum happened to see the young, dirty child in the street. He paused for a moment, and motioned for the child to approach. The priest held out a single full gold piece coin. He then said "Look to the stars child", turned, and continued on his journey. The cryptic message and the generous gift stuck with Mariad. Sometime later, Mariad learned that the symbol around the priest’s neck was the sign of Boccob. Sensing that destiny had tapped him on the shoulder, he decided to enter the Church of Boccob, become an acolyte, and has never looked back.

Mariad was on the Pentagram that day when the ghost ship fell from the sky, and was a member of the team that went ashore. After clearing the ship of undead, they entered the cabin with an ornate chair bolted to the floor. He knew he had to sit on that chair. As he sat on the great throne, his senses seemed to attune with the craft ... as if the ship were a part of him. It was at that moment the little child returned to hear the priest’s voice clear as if he were beside him… "Look to the stars child"… as the galleon lurched and rose from the ground.

With Mariad on the helm, the Pentagram has an SR of 5. That means the ship has a maximum movement factor of MV 120 (85 miles per hour), and can travel just over 1000 miles in 12 hours (normally the maximum length of time Mariad will fly without having to rest). At that speed, the sails and rigging would quickly rip apart, so for any long distance travel, Captain Galrese will take the Pentagram above the Oerth’s atmosphere (taking 4 turns), cover the distance required, then drop back down into the atmosphere. For short hops, they will choose to fly considerably slower. Routes will be chosen to minimize the chances of being seen (avoiding flying directly over population centers, using topography such as mountains, flying above the clouds whenever able).

Using the Pentagram in a Campaign

Travel can be a source of great adventure, however sometimes the PCs may just need to get somewhere fast. Long distance travel in a medieval world can take a very long time, and disrupt what may be a time-sensitive mission. Travel by ship from the City of Greyhawk to Irongate is fairly direct, yet takes 8 to 10 days to cover the 800 miles or so. Travel from Greyhawk to Loftwick is more complicated, involving a long, circuitous journey by ocean-going vessel, a trip up river, then the remaining distance by horseback or wagon, and will take on average 32 to 37 days to cover the 1725 mile route.

The Pentagram can serve as a means of quick long-distance travel when speed is important, and neither the players nor the DM wish to deal with all of the likely random encounters. As the ship flies, Irongate is still approximately 800 miles, however Loftwick is 975 miles. The Pentagram can cover those distances in a half a day. If the PCs need to be somewhere fast, inquiries at places like the Broken Staff or Eridok’s shop will point the PCs to the captain of the Pentagram. When they meet with Captain Galrese, he will assure them that he can deliver the PCs anywhere with greater haste than any other ship at the docks (“made the Kessel Run in less than twelve parsecs”), but will be frustratingly vague as to how incredibly fast their journey will actually be. The PCs may not even be aware of spelljamming until the ship sails down river and, once out of sight of the city, lifts off the water and rises up into the sky.

The Pentagram should only be available for charter if and when the DM decides that it is available. They have important duties to take care of first, so departure may not be available right away, and it might not be able to go all the way to where the PCs would like to go. After all, the Pentagram is owned by a pair of very busy archmages. In other words, the DM may want the PCs to go somewhere else first. Fees should be very high, although the DM can approve of some other exchange in lieu of gold, such as magic items or special cargo. Payment in full must be up front, as adventurers often do not return.

Plot Hooks

There are a variety of ways that a DM could utilize the Pentagram as something more than a means of transportation.

The tired old cliché of serving as escort duty can always be utilized, however the owners of the Pentagram generally are capable of providing any needed protection for the ship. The ship’s owners have no lack of enemies, though.

The PC’s could learn of plans to attack or burglarize the ship by some group (clueless thieves who don’t know the trouble they are about to get into, for low level PCs; a powerful group with an agenda for high level play), or they may observe such an evening raid in progress while visiting the docks late at night.

Captain Galrese may need to hire an away party to retrieve something once they travel to a location.

A third party (perhaps someone that has already had experience with the PCs in a previous adventure) may have commissioned the Pentagram to deliver something, and wishes to hire an independent group to protect their interests.

The PC’s could have been stranded somewhere remote (even hundreds of miles away from a major body of water), and are shocked to bump into a large ocean-going vessel, either by accident (the Pentagram happens to be in the area for another purpose, which the PC’s may or may not get sucked into), or because a patron of the group hired the Pentagram to retrieve them.

The PC’s may be hard on their luck and try to stow away on the vessel, unaware of what the ship can do. The obvious location to hide out is the cargo hold. Rather than evenly distributed over the floor of the hold, the cargo will be oddly strapped down in stacks from floor to ceiling where possible, with no space between the cargo and the ceiling of the hold. Anything that isn’t stacked as described is tightly secured to the floor with heavy netting. The stowaways will be in for a surprise when, once the ship leaves the planet’s surface (of which they may be completely unaware while hiding in the dark, windowless hold), gravity in the hold suddenly reverses and they “drop” to the ceiling. DMs can use this as a way to introduce spelljamming to their campaign.

The Pentagram makes periodic trips into wildspace to exchange personnel, and carry supplies and trade goods to Maldin and Elenderi’s branch office in a busy asteroid town in the Grinder, an extensive asteroid field in Greyspace beyond the orbits of Oerth’s moons and Greyspace’s sun Liga. If DM’s choose to place the Rock of Bral in Greyspace, Bral is the destination for the Pentagram. The Rock is an important trade center for the sphere, and is the port of call that serves as the gateway between Oerth and the rest of Greyspace. The PCs can then use the asteroid town (either Bral or another similar settlement) as a jumping off place to continue their adventures in wildspace, or they can return to Oerth with the Pentagram. The Grinder itself is filled with monsters, pirates and other dangers.

The Pentagram is your passage to high adventure. All aboard! Be sure to hang on tight.

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