The Silk Scorpion

Kenneth Allard’s Savage Island retreat.

Characters

Player Characters

Non-Player Characters

van Buren, Charles Allard, Kenneth
van Buren, Sarah Ann

Involvement

Charles has an Arabic copy of the Necromonicon that he found during a visit to Hermopolis, Egypt. Kenneth Allard is a very wealthy collector of “rare books” and wants to purchase the tome from Charles.

cc_charles_on_cover
Charles van Buren

Charles likes ships, so Kenneth agrees to exchange the Necromonicon for the Silk Scorpion. Buyer and seller are very happy with the arrangement.

Charles takes his bootlegging activities to a whole new level.

Highlights

A visit to Kenneth Allard’s Savage Island retreat.

Injuries

None.

Possessions

The Silk Scorpion – 120’ long and 30’ wide, mostly oak and brass fittings.

Total of 25 crew – the Captain, 3 officers, the Doctor, the Chief Engineer, 3 engineers, 16 crew members including chef, kitchen hands, bartender, stewards, nurse, sailors.

Forward atop A-Deck is the bridge, the Captain’s cabin, chart room, radio room and general stores. The stack rises up through the decks and comes out behind the bridge area.

A-Deck is 18’ wide and 80’ long with a 6’ walkway on each side. Two rows of back-to-back cabins are accessible from the walkways. A-Deck also includes the galley, aft dining room and forward lounge.

B-Deck, the first below actual deck level, has double occupancy cabins for the officers and men, the upper level of the engine room, stores, equipment, small cabins for the servants and a large doctor’s office and surgery.

C-Deck contains the lower part of the engine rooms, holds, scuppers and some more crew cabins.

Originally designed, built and owned for 18 years by Phillip Aloysius Scandanaga, a civil architect and self-made millionaire. Scandanaga sailed her to many countries to buy land, develop it and sell it at a profit.

During a routine docking, she ran aground and three crewmen died. A lengthy investigation ensued, but the final report listed the cause of the accident as “unknown”. The ship was repaired and Scandanaga continued to buy, develop and sell land.

16 months after the accident, the ship was docked at New Haven, Connecticut. Scandanaga dismissed the crew, secured the ship at a marina in the harbour and left New Haven “on business”.

The Port Master called on the ship two weeks later because the docking fees were overdue. After no response from the ship and no success at contacting Scandanaga, the Port Master contacted the police and the ship was boarded.

There was no one aboard. A search revealed signs of a struggle and traces of dried blood in one of the hallways of B-Deck. The police could not determine what exactly had happened on board and found no trace of Scandanaga’s whereabouts.

A few weeks later Scandanaga’s body was recovered from a warehouse near the marina by police acting on an anonymous tip.

Scandanaga’s Executor put the ship up for sale. At first, there were many interested buyers, but these were deterred as unsubstantiated rumours that the ship was haunted and ghostly shapes had been seen aboard began to circulate.

Kenneth Allard bought the ship, partly out of curiosity, and then refurbished it for his own use.