What do you do if you're a ship's wizard who just can't seem to catch a break?
Mad Dog Mulligan just can't win. The last three ships he was on all sank shortly after he joined the crew.
The first one went down in a terrible storm after the snapping of the mainmast. Mad Dog survived by lashing himself onto a beam alongside the First Mate and the Bosun. and the three of them washed ashore and were marooned for six months with nothing but the clothes on their backs.
The second was holed by Elvish cannon, but managed to limp away before sinking; most of the crew were able to escape in the boats, but most were subsequently killed by tribes of orcs along the shore. Mad Dog only barely made it back to civilization intact.
The third was a nice little schooner devoted to smuggling rather than piracy, but within a week it ran aground on a set of rocks on a moonless night. Mad Dog was forced to fashion a raft and his best attempt at a sail from the wreckage when he realized that he was, in fact, walking on the back of a dragon turtle. He drifted into Sneaksail Bay half-delirious with thirst, and by then it was too late: everybody knew his luck was bad. He couldn't even book passage on a ship, let alone join a crew. Instead, he did what any enterprising pirate-mage would do: he opened a shop.
Castaway's Vest
Wondrous Item, Uncommon
Standard Price: 400 GP, currently only available from Mad Dog Mulligan
This item appears to a fine-quality vest of leather or cloth, the sort of thing any pirate or sailor would be happy to wear around. It even includes one obvious minor enchantment: while it will not change material or cut, it will alter its colors to match the rest of the wearer's outfit. The vest is equipped with two decent-sized pockets up front, and one wider, sealable pocked located at the small of the back, making it utilitarian as well as fashionable. In addition, the vest has several less-obvious qualities:
Buoyant: Any small or medium humanoid wearing this vest in water will find that it keeps them upright, with their head above the water. No more inconveniently having to tie yourself to a shattered beam from the wreckage of your former ship and hope for the best.
Patches: Building on the basic idea of a Robe of Useful Items, Mad Dog Mulligan equipped his vests with a series of shaped patches that are only visible to the wearer, or to someone looking at it with True Sight. Castaway's Vests come with the following standard set of patches:
- Utility Knife (can server as dagger)
- Hatchet (can serve as hand axe)
- 50' of hemp rope
- 10' of lightweight cord
- Firestarting kit
- Bullseye Lantern (filled and lit)
- Burlap sack
- Rowboat (12' long) with emergency sail
- Wooden Ladder (24' long)
- 5 days worth of rations, including fresh water
- Tent, two person capacity (and they'd better like each other, it's cozy)
- 2 Bedrolls
- Sling with twelve stones
- A deck of cards
Each patch can be activated by removing it from the robe, which causes the patch to transform into the item it represents. Each patch can be used only once, and cannot be returned to the robe. The item thus removed becomes an ordinary item and remains until sold, discarded, lost, destroyed, etc.
Mad Dog will entertain custom designs with alternate/additional patches, but such specialty items will require six to ten weeks to produce, and may cost more than usual (possibly a lot more, at the DM's discretion).
Survivor's Knife
Weapon (dagger), Uncommon, requires attunement by touching it to salt water
Standard Price 350 GP, currently only available from Mad Dog Mulligan
These blades appear to be a fairly standard fighting or utility knife, with the addition of saw-teeth along the back of the blade. They are always paired with a purpose-built sheath that includes an exterior pouch containing fish hooks, fishing line, flint, and a small steel mirror. The knife gives no bonus to attack or damage in combat, but also does not require sharpening even if used with the flint to set fires. It has the following additional abilities.
- At dawn each morning, the knife can merge with a walking stick (however crudely carved) to create a spear. (The knife does not care if this walking stick has also been carved out to double as a fishing pole, as long as it's a halfway decent walking stick.) Alternatively, at dawn it can be separated from a walking stick and return to its usual role as a knife. Separating the two does not damage the walking stick.
- Three times per day, the wielder can touch the hilt of the knife or the head of the spear and know which direction is magnetic north.
- Once per day, when the wielder fails a survival check, they can touch the knife to make another attempt.
Lifeboat Hat
Wondrous Item, Uncommon
Standard Price 500 GP, currently only available from Mad Dog Mulligan
This hat appears to be a perfectly standard, broad-rimmed hat of either cloth or straw -- the sort of thing one might use to avoid sunburn on the open ocean. However, when it is tossed into the water and a command word is spoken, it becomes a covered circular raft that can be completely sealed against the elements and is capable of holding up to eight medium-sized people, though it's only comfortable for about half that. Inside, it contains:
- A pair of oars that can arranged through oarlocks, which is best done when the top is completely unsealed; otherwise somebody has to go outside and slide them in. They are absolutely hell to use in the open ocean, but could help maneuver towards an island or an approaching ship. They are also very easy to hit your head on if you sit up too fast, or try to move around without looking first.
- Enough rations (including fresh water) to comfortably keep four medium-sized creatures alive for a week. That translates loosely to eight small creatures for a week, four small creatures for two weeks, or eight medium creatures on half rations for a week, which is... not pleasant.
- Fishing poles, hooks, and bait, enough to grant Advantage on a survival roll to get more food that way. Preparing the food to be eaten safely is trickier, but in reasonably still waters there's a heating table that can be used to cook.
- Two scrolls of Purify Food and Drink.
Once the hat has transformed into a life raft, it cannot transform back.
