"A hundred billion castaways, looking for a home."

CASTAWAY (#25/30, #116/365) [POT]

SKILL: 6

STAMINA : 6

ATTACKS: 1

WEAPON: See below

ARMOUR: None

DAMAGE MODIFIER: None

HABITAT: Sea, Sea-shore, Lakes, Jungles

NUMBER ENCOUNTERED: 1

TYPE: Humanoid

REACTION: Friendly-Neutral

INTELLIGENCE: High

The CASTAWAY is a marooned unfortunate, adrift alone against the elements of the sea. Clad in little but tattered rags, they may have only recently suffered their current misfortune, or perhaps they have been lost at sea for some time and adapted to their situation as best they can. To determine the immediate situation of an encountered Castaway roll on the below series of tables:

Roll Marooned on a...

1 Desert island

2 Shipwreck

3 Rocky outcrop

4 Coral atoll

5 Adrift on a small boat or raft

6 On an isolated stretch of coast

Roll Primary Weapon

1 Rusty Trident

2 Driftwood Club

3 Rusty Dagger

4 Driftwood Spear

5 Rusty Scimitar

6 Stone Handaxe

All of these weapons will automatically break on a fumble.

Roll Other Weapon

1 1-3 Driftwood Javelins

2 1-2 Rusty Harpoons

3 a Sling and a bag of sharpened coral rocks

4 1-3 Rusty Throwing Daggers

5 1-3 Purple Puffballs

6 a flimsy Net

All of these weapons will automatically break on a fumble.

Roll Other Gear

1 a Rusty Shield (breaks on a Fumble)

2 a Message in a Bottle

3 a Treasure Map in a Bottle

4 a Pet (Roll: 1 Snake, 2 Parrot, 3 Monkey, 4 Rat, 5 large Cave Crab, 6 young Giant Lizard)

5 a Pretend Friend (something spherical, such as a coconut, cannonball or inflated bladder of some kind, chalked with a face and given a name)

6 something Valuable (1-3 valuables, worth 25 Gold Pieces each. Roll a die to determine the valuable type: 1. Obsidian shards, 2. Ruby gemstones, 3. Turquoise chunks, 4. Whalebone ivory carvings, 5. Pink coral trinkets, 6. Shark’s teeth necklaces.)

Roll Supplies (roll 1-3 times, ignoring duplicates)

1 Eggs: 2-7 Eggs from local seabirds. Roll a die, and on a 6, the Eggs will belong to something else (see Encyclopedia Arcana: Volume 1, p. 93).

2 Fruit: 2-7 Fruits (Roll: 1-2 Underwater Honeypear, 3-4 Skyfruit, 5-6 Nauk Fruit)

3 Fish: 2-7 Provisions worth of dried fish.

4 Water: 2-7 gourds of fresh water

5 Fruit Juice: 2-7 gourds of fruit juice

6 Grog: 2-7 gourds of Seaman's Grog (see Encyclopedia Arcana: Volume 1, p. 59).

Roll Status

1 a Spellcaster, embracing the solitude. Roll for type: 1. Wizard, 2. Sorcerer, 3. Astrologer, 4. Priest, 5. Elementalist, 6. Animal Master.

2 a Hermit (see p. XX)

3 a shipwrecked Sailor (see p. XX)

4 an escaped galley Captive (see p. XX)

5 a lost Passenger (Roll: 1-2 Adventurer, 3-4 Merchant, 5-6 Explorer)

6 Something Else! (Roll: 1. a SEA ZOMBIE (SKILL 6 STAMINA 7, Small Claw), 2. Insane (The Castaway lost their mind, owing to some previous horrific tragedy. Roll a die for behaviour: 1-2 Attack!, 3-4 Normal, 5-6 Cower and flee!), 3. Diseased (Roll for type: 1 Leprosy, 2 Yellow Plague, 3 Scarlet Plague, 4 Dire Trembling, 5 Wasting Disease, 6 Lung Rot.), 4. Intruder (The Castaway is actually something else in disguise. Roll: 1 Pirate Spy, 2 Pirate Assassin, 3 Siren, 4 Chaos Agitator, 5 enemy Adventurer, 6 an Illusionist-Saboteur.), 5. Possessed (the Castaway is actually something else entirely. Roll: 1 Shapechanger, 2 Doppleganger, 3 Charmed by a Siren, 4 Cursed by a Sea Hag, 5 Hell Demon, 6 Hellfire Spirit.), 6. Parasites (the Castaway is infested with parasites. Roll: 1. Brain-eaters, 2. Death Maggots, 3. Flesh Grubs, 4. Gonchong, 5. Chonggui, 6. Brain Defiler)

Given the nefarious nature of travel upon the oceans of Titan, Castaways are a common element in tales from the sea. Fire Island, for example, is virtually a magnet for the breed, with at least several miserable wretches dwelling here cheek by jowl with all the other endemic horrors. Possibly most famous is old Scrimshaw of Bone Island, often spotted striding the sandy strand of that far isle, and prone to waving his straw hat enthusiastically at passing ships. The cursed explorer Waxley Speed was renowned for becoming marooned on various stretches of fly-blown coastland in southern Allansia, the more wretched and inhospitable the better. It is also worth remembering that lakes or inland seas may harbour Castaways labouring under other difficulties; Lake Mlubz of southern Khul was infamous for the Isle of Rusty Weapons, haunted by the last wretch who offended the nameless Wizard of the Lake. This magically bound captive would sail out from their island and do battle with whoever else had sought passage on the Wizard's magic coracle, but flouted convention by attempting to keep their weapon.