Pacific Ocean I: Walpurgis Nacht

8) Walpurgis Nacht
Chilean Grounds, April 30–May 1, 1845

A) The Mysterious Light
April 30 is a miserable, overcast day with no whales in sight. Just before sundown, the lookouts spy something unusual on the western horizon: a flickering greenish light bobbing on the sea. Captain Joab sends a player character aloft with his Spencer Browning & Rust spyglass—“Drop this glass, man, and best follow it thineself!”

The masthead affords a better vantage, but the twilight gloom obscures fine details. The light seems to be emanating from a bark-rigged vessel, its larboard side facing the Quiddity. A Seamanship roll observes that the sails are backed; whatever the ship is, it’s not going anywhere. It’s too dark to make out the ship’s crew, but the green light is coming from the deck somewhere amidships, right where the tryworks might be. Is it a whaler? A Hard Spot Hidden observes davits, but no whaleboats.

Reacting to the Light
The light is too ghostly to be a signal lantern; it seems like natural phosphorescence. But on a ship? If the player characters broke into Reverend Ruggles’ chest and burned the so-called huile de cachalot noir, this light reminds them of the strange whale oil—there are similarities in luminance and color. (See “Chapter 1, Encounter 23” for details.) If character announces he’s keeping an eye on Joab or Pynchon, a Psychology roll observes the captain and first mate are reacting to the light with puzzlement and muted alarm. Neither officer says anything in public, and direct questions are brusquely rebuffed—“We’ll find out tomorrow.” The ship remains a distant companion all night long, a pale beacon on the starless horizon.

B) Bad Dreams
Unseasonably cold for the latitude, sometime around midnight a mist rises from the ocean, and every surface of the Quiddity is covered with chilly dew. It’s a night of restless sleep, and the Keeper should visit certain characters with specific nightmares. (See “Character Secrets and Development” for details.)

Leland Chappell Morgan
It’s here that Morgan first “hears” the Deep Ones whispering under the sea, a chorus of alien voices murmuring at the edge of comprehension. Alien, perhaps…but also welcoming.

Montgomery St. John Lowell
Previously constraining herself to whispers, Dr. Lowell’s nameless woman finally makes an appearance. Wearing a veil, she’d robed in shimmering silks, luminescence from the candlelight. She draws a bath and asks him to soak in its warm, inviting water. She slides down behind him, her breasts pressed against his back, and reaches around, gently, slowly… Then Lowell awakes, a strange pain in his body and something important receding from his consciousness. For just a moment, he forgets which ship he’s on…which whaler…

Rachel Ward
Rachel dreams about her father’s ship—a very vivid dream, she sees him carving her birth-date into the wall of his stateroom, and hiding one of her mother’s “good luck” sachets above a roof-beam. Then there’s nothing. Everyone is gone, the ship is empty. She knows there’s a crew somewhere, but she can’t find them; and she’s terrified that when she does, they won’t be…alive, or even human.

C) Dawn
Less a sunrise than an imperceptible change from Bible black to nacreous gray, dawn suffuses the dome of clouds with a brooding glow. A windless calm pervades the glassy ocean, but the heavy skies promise rain. Having drifted closer to the Quiddity, the mysterious ship is now revealed more clearly—it’s definitely a whaler, its sails furled and its decks unpopulated. The davits are empty of whaleboats. They’re either lost at sea, or turned up on deck. The ship apparently spun around in the night, and now presents its starboard flank for inspection. A dead sperm whale hangs from its side, the carcass whittled down by sharks. The cutting stage remains lowered. The mysterious light is coming from the deck, above the trypots. A shift in the wind brings a terrible stench to Quiddity—obviously the carcass has been left to rot. Joab orders the Quiddity to swing behind the stern of the mysterious ship. Her name leaps out like a galvanic shock: the “RACHEL” out of Nantucket.

The Rachel. The ship where William Hart served as harpooneer, the ship that rescued Dr. Lowell from the Galápagos, the ship that had its own fateful encounter with Mocha Dick.

D) The Expeditionary Team
The Quiddity heaves-to a few hundred yards from the Rachel. Captain Joab hails the derelict with his speaking horn, but there’s no reply. Even from this distance the stench is awful. Gulls shriek and wheel above the carcass. It’s clear the Rachel was in the middle of boiling a whale; the carcass remains half-stripped, the rotting remains of a blanket piece dangling from the blubber hook above the deck. A Whalecraft roll notes the unusual color of the beast’s skin—much blacker than usual. The carcass is surrounded by a churning school of sharks. Although they’ve already gobbled what they can, they remain eager for pieces of rotting meat to detach and fall from the body. Aside from the muted glow coming from the trypot, there’s no signs of life.

Some of the crew mutter the dread word—plague. Pynchon shakes his head, “There’s no bodies. And no warning flags. No, this is something else…” After consulting with Joab, Mr. Pynchon assembles an “expeditionary team.” He turns to the second mate: “Mr Coffin, you’re from Nantucket, would you kindly accompany me onboard? And Dr. Lowell, you’ve sailed on this very ship, have you not? Be so kind as to fetch your surgeon’s bag. Mr. Dixon, you shall accompany us with a pistol.” Pynchon retrieves the Harpers Ferry Model 1805 from the captain’s cabin and presents it to Dixon to load. Mr. Coffin is instructed to appoint three crewmen as rowers; but any NPC must pass a Sanity check to accompany him willingly—“No thank you, sir. I knows a ghost ship when I sees one.”

Unless a player character suggests it first, Mr. Pynchon orders the expeditionary team to “Scent some rags for your face, like a Frenchman’s pomme d’ambre.” He mimes holding a pomander to his nose. If Rachel produces her rose-water, the men laugh, but quickly sprinkle the perfume on their handkerchiefs. Otherwise they make do with cocoa-nut oil or nutmeg borrowed from Natty’s stores.

What About Rachel?
Seven weeks from her due date, Rachel is fairly “gravid,” to use Pynchon’s politic term. However, this is her father’s ship! Heck, she’s named after the damn thing! It’s up to Rachel’s player whether she insists on joining the team. Certainly the men are set against it—there may be danger, it’s no place for a woman, you’re with child, etc. But ultimately, the Keeper should allow Rachel’s player to make the decision. If she informs Mr. Pynchon about her dream, he hesitates, then remarks, “Fine, but you remain behind the vanguard at all times.” Otherwise a Charm or Persuasion roll paves the way.

White Leviathan, Chapter 3—Pacific Ocean I
[Back to Encounter 7, Chango Tom & John Shark | White Leviathan TOC | Forward to Encounter 9, The Ghost Ship]

Author: A. Buell Ruch
Last Modified: 14 October 2022
Email: quail (at) shipwrecklibrary (dot) com
White Leviathan PDF: [TBD]