Pacific Ocean II: Raging Bull

4) Raging Bull
The Offshore Grounds, September 22, 1845

A) She Blows!
The afternoon of September 22 finds the Quiddity sailing under mild skies and generous breezes. It’s been several days since the last whale was captured, so the crew is relaxed and the decks are scrubbed clean. The Keeper should appoint at least one player character to the masthead. A Spot Hidden roll discerns a spout about six miles off the starboard bow. A Whalecraft roll confirms it’s a Sperm Whale, with a Hard success speculating a very large male. (If the player character misses the roll, an NPC calls out the whale.) “That she blows! She blows! Just off the starboard bow, one whale, a big bull!”

Raging Bull

Combat
Attacks per round: 1

Skills
Breach 65%, Listen 15%, Pitch-Pole 30%, Swim 85%

Armor: Blubber coating: 10 points against bludgeon attacks; 6 points against slashing attacks; 4 points against bullets, spades, and general piercing attacks; 0 points against harpoons and lances.

Description
The “Raging Bull” is a very large, very old male of pitch-black coloration; one of the cachalot noir that frequent the waters near Kith Kohr. A particularly cranky specimen, the whale recently got into a fight with none other than Lothon, Mocha Dick himself. A terrible scar runs along his starboard flank, and a meaty chunk has been torn from his right flipper. These injuries are reflected in the bull’s stats, reducing his hit point total from 109 HP to 90 HP, and decreasing his Listen and Swim rolls. These weaknesses are more than compensated by his elevated combat skills—this whale is eager to fight! He’s also quite intelligent, canny enough to entangle boats or even swim under the Quiddity.

B) Lowering
Joab orders three boats in the water—it’s obvious the bull is swimming alone, and he’s certainly not Mocha Dick, so Joab lets his crew tend to the ship. The three mates assemble their crews and the boats are lowered, stepping masts and sailing towards the unsuspecting bull. As they approach the whale, his size becomes quickly apparent. While not as big as Mocha Dick, he’s definitely a monster; 75 feet for certain! Soon the boats are close enough to strike the sails and switch to paddles. The whale seems completely oblivious, sporting lazily in the water.

C) Approaching the Whale
The Keeper should use the standard opposed Boat Strength rolls to determine which boat arrives first, with the second boat following one round later, and the third boat one round after that. The lucky officer must make a Leadership roll or risk galleying the whale.

The Whale Is Not Gallied
If the lead boat avoids alerting the whale, the harpooneer gets an immediate attack. Whether or not the first and/or second harpoons strike true, the attack only enrages the whale, who immediately decides to fight—no “Fight or Flight” rolls are necessary! The mate cries “stern all!” and opposes Boat Strength against the whale’s 65 DEX. A successful roll carries the boat 2D4 × 10 feet away from the whale. A failure earns an immediate tail smack, inflicting 2D6+7 HPs of damage to boat and crew, and pushing the boat 2D4 × 10 feet away. (A Dodge roll halves the damage, with a Hard success escaping injury altogether.) A failed “Stern All” roll may be pushed, but a second failure imposes a –1D10 penalty to everyone’s Dodge roll. Gameplay now proceeds to “(D) Fighting the Whale.”

The Whale Is Gallied!
If the whale galleys, he must be chased; but no Whalecraft rolls are needed to predict his direction—the monster dives straight for the Quiddity!

The bull hasn’t “gotten his spouts in,” so can only remain submerged for CON/10 minutes, or 300/10 = 30 minutes. The oars are pulled out and the mates exhort their men to “Pull! Pull faster! That’s an 80-barrel whale, lads, maybe more!” Catching up to the whale requires an Endurance roll against SIZ/10, or 790/10 = 79. Because there’s only one whale, the Keeper should allow all three boats to make Endurance rolls. Each successful boat may strike when the whale surfaces, with unsuccessful boats lagging behind by 1D4 combat rounds. The result is now similar to “The Whale Is Not Gallied” above.

Prolonged Chase
If all three boats fail their Endurance roll, a second chase round begins, but each boat’s Endurance roll suffers a –1D10 penalty die. A second failed chase results in a third chase round, with the penalty increased to –2D10 dice.

The Tables Have Turned!
Normally, a failed third chase results in the whale escaping; but not this time! The whale does indeed sound again, but as the exhausted men reach for the oars, it resurfaces almost immediately—directly under the trailing whaleboat! (Because all three boats failed their Endurance rolls, this would be the boat with the lowest Boat Strength. Unless one critically failed the roll, of course.) This causes 4D6 HP structural damage to the boat, and forces each crewman to make a Dodge roll or be flung into the water. It also puts the whale 10 feet away from the second boat, and 1D4 × 10 feet away from the leading boat. Combat begins as described below, however the men are exhausted. This exhaustion imposes a –1D10 penalty die to all Fighting (Harpoon) rolls and Pilot (Boat) rolls.

D) Fighting the Whale
Whether or not the whale remains a loose fish, has been harpooned, or managed to slip a tail smack in, the Raging Bull turns on the “most threatening” whaleboat. Water surges upwards as he rolls his prodigious bulk upside-down—he’s jawing back! Because this process takes four rounds to prepare, the boat crews have some time to respond. They may close the distance with harpoons at the ready, they may attempt to bail out swamped boats, the mate may pitch-pole his lance, they may attempt to rescue or treat injured crewmen, etc. The Keeper should keep track of each round and narrate the process with mounting drama. The terrifying sight of the Raging Bull charging full-steam ahead, upside-down with its massive jaws open triggers a 0/1D3 Sanity roll for every crewman with a Whalecraft under 60%.

Combat Phase 1: Love at First Bite
The Raging Bull does not care how much damage it sustains while jawing back! On the fifth round it surges forward and launches its Bite attack. If the attack is successful, the whale inflicts 7D4 HP of structural damage to the whaleboat. The same amount of damage is also delivered to whichever unlucky crewman was positioned at that part of the boat! (The Keeper may roll 1D6 and pick a random crewman, or may arbitrarily decide. Also, a successful Luck roll reduces a death sentence to dismemberment.)

Combat Phase 2: Whale Remains Above 40 HP
Combat proceeds with the whale biting every other round. There’s an insane ferocity to him not seen in any whale so far, and he’s intelligent enough to direct his bites to the greatest threat—probably a mate or harpooneer. If he staves a whaleboat, he swims to the next target, covering a distance of 40 feet in a single combat round.

Combat Phase 3: Whale Falls Below 40 HP
The bull is raging; not suicidal! Once he falls below 40 HP, he breaks off the attack and sounds underwater—heading straight for the Quiddity.

Loose Fish: Ramming the Quiddity
If the whale remains—somehow?—free from harpoons, he vents his rage at the Quiddity, ramming the ship at 30 mph and doing 6D4+7 HP to the hull and 7 HP damage to himself. (If this is enough to kill the whale, so be it! Maybe he was a bit suicidal after all!) The impact stuns the Raging Bull, who swims in lopsided circles near the Quiddity and seems incapable of further attack. If there are any remaining whaleboats, opposed Boat Strength rolls determine who catches up with the stunned creature first. This allows the crew to proceed directly to “Finding the Life.” If there are no capable crews remaining, combat proceeds to “Combat Phase 5: Joab Saves the Day.”

Fast Fish: Escaping the Whaleboats
If the whale has been harpooned, he can only stay under for ¼ his remaining HP in minutes, rounding down. The Quiddity is 1D6+6 minutes away by Nantucket Sleighride. If the wounded whale cannot remain underwater for this amount of time, he resurfaces as a “tired whale.” However, if he can cross this distance underwater, the trailing whaleboats are in danger of being smashed against the Quiddity! What makes this more complicated is the fact this is a “chase round,” and the whale will be taking damage from dragging boats and drogues. Normally this damage is concluded after a chase round ends, but in this case the Keeper should tabulate the damage secretly and determine whether or not the Raging Bull will expire before he reaches the Quiddity. This keeps things dramatic—the mates must cut the whaleline before they smash into the ship, but if the whale is bleeding out…maybe, just maybe…

One of three things will happen: the whale surfaces before it reaches the ship, the whale dies before it reaches the ship, or the whale travels directly beneath the ship. Only the Keeper knows the outcome, and should narrate the sleighride as dramatically as possible. Each minute that passes brings the ship closer—what to do?

Cutting the Line
Once the ship is only a few minutes away, the mates must decide whether or not to cut the whaleline. Issuing this order requires passing a Sanity roll—it’s the heat of the moment, the whale is clearly wounded, etc., etc. If the mate refuses to give the order, any crewman may cut the whaleline by passing a Sanity roll, but it requires a Strength roll to sever the singing hemp. The Keeper is encouraged to play this for maximum drama, allowing the line to be cut at the last second! Or, a critical failure may result in the boat smashing against the Quiddity and being dragged under the keel! This causes 6D6 HP damage to boat and crew.

Combat Phase 4: Last Stand
If the whale is not killed by the dragging boats, or has not been stunned by ramming the Quiddity as described under “Loose Fish,” he’ll surface to make a last stand.

Scenario 1: Tired Whale
If the whale’s injuries prevent him from reaching the Quiddity, he surfaces as a “tired whale.” The attached boats may haul up and continue combat. At this point the monster fights to the death, too wounded for anything except a tail sweep every other round.

Scenario 2: Ramming the Quiddity
If the whale managed to dive below the Quiddity and shake off his pursuers, he swims out to sea, turns, and makes a suicidal ramming maneuver against the far side of the Quiddity. This plays out like the “Loose Fish: Ramming the Quiddity” scenario above, however it can only be resolved by “Combat Phase 5: Joab Saves the Day.”

Combat Phase 5: Joab Saves the Day (Provisional)
Unbeknownst to the players, the Raging Bull is destined to be slaughtered and tried-out. Joab has been watching the combat from the quarterdeck, and if things are going poorly he lowers his boat. If all three whaleboats are staved, or of the whale stuns himself against the Quiddity, Joab’s crew manages to overcome the Raging Bull, a series of heroic rolls that harpoon the creature and find its life. The Keeper may “fake” a few hunting rolls behind her screen, she may play it out in real-time by assigning players the roles of Joab’s crew, or she may simply narrate the process as a dénouement to the hunt. In the end Joab himself drives his lance into the Raging Bull, whose death flurry is a thing of legend!

E) The Flurry
As the Raging Bull paints the seas with gore, a Spot Hidden roll discovers something strange disgorged from its regurgitated slurry. At first, it seems to be the tip of a large squid tentacle, spat from the whale’s throat to float languidly on the bloody sea. If a player character seems uninterested, an Idea roll marks it as something that might interest the Professor. If Lowell has fallen from grace, or Joab has killed the whale, one of his boat crew fishes it from the water as a curiosity. The tentacle is described in more detail in the next encounter.

F) The Aftermath of the Hunt
Once the Raging Bull has been killed, the characters must deal with the aftermath. Broken boats need to be towed back to the Quiddity for eventual repair. Drifting sailors must be rescued and the injured given treatment. If dead sailors can be retrieved, they are wrapped in canvas, and will be given funerals in the morning. And of course, the carcass of the monster must be hauled back to the ship.

White Leviathan, Chapter 5—Pacific Ocean II
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Author: A. Buell Ruch
Last Modified: 9 March 2024
Email: quail (at) shipwrecklibrary (dot) com
White Leviathan PDF: [TBD]