Excerpts from research journal of Anatola Černý

"Corpse number 6 is a male, aged 30 - 35. Clothing and dentition suggest subject was a lower-class resident of Sterntown, possibly crew. Severe perimortem bruising in the thoracic and cranial areas are consistent with blunt force trauma.

"... trace evidence found on the corpses clearly indicate Ash Plague intervention in the assembly, revivification, and weaponization of the 'corpse-raft', though the precise ritual and magic used are unknown at this time. I was unable to perform field identification of the genus of the burrowing worms, and lacked sufficient equipment to bring back 'live' samples for further study.

"The design and placement of the corpse-raft 'trap' lead me to believe this was an active defense of the sort used to control otherwise unobserved traffic areas at the outer limit of the Ash Plague's sphere of influence. The use of the gasses of putrefaction to propel the burrowing corpse worms is an ingenious example of the Ash Plague's 'least-cost' ethos; a horrible testament to their embrace of "Reduce, Reuse, Recycle".

HMS Apollyon - Passenger class character

While my Merrowman Scavenger, Rasp, is having the side-effects of a potion of scabrous healing undone by the Fisheye tribe's fleshcrafters, he's going to be unplayable for a few sessions.

In the interim the regulars in our HMS Apollyon game decided to all see what life was like on the other side of the tracks, and roll up 1st-level Passenger class characters. On the Apollyon, Passengers are similar to elves in B/X - they can fight and cast spells. More information on the Passenger class as designed by Gus L., our DM, can be found here; I also put together a little PDF that has the rules (but not the spells) for the Passenger class; that can be found here.

Anyhow, here is my Passenger - Anatola Černý - debutante of the weather deck:

1066

The morning of Monday, 15 October 1066 breaks on East Sussex, offering a bleak preview of the dark days to come.

On a hill some two leagues northwest from the town of Hastings the corpse of Harold, the God and King of England, lies among those of many of his followers. The Conquerer and his worshippers, victorious, bring their infernal language and customs to your land, seeking to consume its riches and remake the land and the people in their own image. Some warrior-priests already whisper of joining The Conquerer's fold to regain the divine power lost when Harold was killed. Others choose to wait until the Archbishops can divine the identity of England's true God and King. As always, sorcerers continue to practice their works in secret, concerned only with the power hidden throughout the land. Warriors align themselves in the direction they think will give them the most glory and power.

What will you do?