Firmament 1404 — The Ghoul-Ship Friþgeard

Embedded in the glass is a sailing vessel, poorly maintained. New material has been roughly added to it to provide cover from the sun and weather. It is the home of a ghoul swarm. 4D8 are present at any given time.

The ghouls retain a rough approximation of a ship’s command structure and social roles, though they have forgotten who held what position. They are older than they realize, and time, isolation, undeath, and the influence of Freyod has worn down the boundaries that individuate them. They trade names, ideas, and tasks at a moments notice. They can all agree that there is one of their number that they cannot account for: Knauga, a scholar who was supposed to save them from a disaster sweeping the wilds. They would pay dearly for knowledge of where they vanished to.

Travelers who find themselves on good terms with the ghouls can treat the ship as a small settlement, though one that can provide little in the way of food or medicine for the living. The ghouls don’t remember how they find themselves there, but will speak of creeping out of the ship to find themselves not in the firmament but rather in great city from which they steal fresh meat and the goods they recall being important to sailing life. Any who have lived in Catage would recognize their descriptions of it.

The ghouls keep a hold of treasure once meant to pay for refuge at the boat’s long forgotten destination:

Ghoul’s Treasure-Hold (monstrous III, using &treasure)
700 coins
1200 coins in trade goods — powdered spices and fine garments
3 magic items — Potion of Compression, Itheadair Cinnidh, Silver Nails

stats for TNU ghouls can be found in Only Monsters Here