The Grand Dame

The Grand Dame is an ornately decorated riverboat owned by Lord Khaspere Drylund. From dawn until dusk, the flat-bottomed wooden boat is moored at the city docks. Dockworkers come and go with food and other supplies throughout the day, watched closely by the crew on deck.

Crew

The ship's crew consists of a captain named Nelvin Storn and eight deckhands. An hour before dusk, a mob of commoners arrive at the docks for inspection by the captain, who stands on the pier next to the ship's boarding ramp. Storn promises each hired worker 5 gp for good service, with payment made the next morning. Once the workers are aboard, rowers are expected to report to the lower deck, servers and chefs to the kitchen, card dealers and escorts to the casino, and musicians to the dance hall. Wealthy, well-dressed guests begin arriving around the same time as the workers. Guests are free to wander the ship but are advised to keep away from the bridge and crew quarters on the upper deck. The Grand Dame has no living quarters for passengers, whether workers or guests. Characters who approach the ship wearing armour or carrying unconcealed weapons are turned away. Those who threaten the ship or try to board it are attacked. A battle on the pier frightens off the workers and guests who aren't aboard. It also alerts a half dozen city guards patrolling the wharf, who arrive about a minute after the battle is joined and fight on the side of the ship's crew.

Golden Goose Casino

This large cabin has been transformed into a gambling hall, the centrepiece of which is a gold-plated wooden sculpture of a goose that rests on a table in the aft end. Glasses of fine wine, free for the taking, are arrayed around it. An unflattering portrait of a fat, foppish, grinning man (Lord Drylund) hangs on the wall across from a wooden spiral staircase that leads up to the dance hall.

Most of the floor space is taken up with tables of card games. From dusk until dawn, attractive dealers sit behind the tables, distributing cards to the players while small crowds look on. No actual currency passes into the hands of the hired help. Instead, bets are made with coin-sized wooden chips called golden geese, so named because each one bears Lord Drylund's golden goose emblem. Lord Drylund mingles with guests here, sometimes with his pet octopus on his shoulder, before retreating to his cabin to count his money or spend time with one guest in particular-usually a "new catch" whom he tries to charm or bribe into supporting his political ambitions. Pow Ming patrols the gambling hall in the evening, smiling at guests while watching for cheaters. She takes particular interest in customers who are on board for only the first or second time. If the characters threaten the ship or its passengers, she conjures one or more giant snakes with the aid of her robe of serpents and uses her spells to try to defeat them while being careful not to harm crew or passengers.

Lord Drylund's Cabin

If he's not shaking hands and whispering in the ears of guests, Khaspere Drylund is here, dreaming of the day when he rules Ballay as its Waterbaron. He also receives occasional telepathic static from the kraken Slarkrethel, which leaves him with crushing headaches that last for hours. Lord Drylund's cabin is a testament to bad taste, with its purple velvet curtains and scented candles in gaudy candelabras. In the middle of the room is a table with a large aquarium tank resting atop it. The aquarium contains a coral reef that serves as a home for Lord Drylund's pet octopus. The octopus has bonded with its owner and can survive outside of water for 30 minutes. Beneath the aquarium, built into the table, is a shelf on which rests a locked wooden chest rigged with a poison needle trap. Lord Drylund hides the key inside a miniature "dead man's chest" lying inside the aquarium, and the octopus attacks any creature other than Lord Drylund that tries to reach for it. Other furnishings include a silk hammock, a writing desk (covered with quills and loose sheets of blank parchment), a small table holding a silver wine decanter and matching goblet, and an iron stove.

Dance Hall

This smoky, dimly lit cabin features a wooden stage where musicians and other entertainers perform for the pleasure of Lord Drylund's guests. A few tables and chairs are set up along the walls, with much of the floor space kept open for dancing. A wooden spiral staircase descends to the gambling hall, and doors lead out to the upper deck balcony. Behind a curtain next to the stage is a hallway that leads to the bridge and the crew cabins. A bronze plaque above the doorway reads "CREW ONLY."