#74: The Olde Ship

Age: 600 years

Hidden or Lost?: Lost

History: Many have heard the tale of The Olde Ship, a nameless vessel that was sent on a journey across the globe to collect the most valuable treasures, the rarest tomes, and the most powerful weapons ever discovered or created.

According to the tale, The Olde Ship would be an ever-moving ark, acting as both stronghold and museum, ensuring that no single country ever accumulated too much wealth or power. It was said to be a failsafe against tyranny that owed allegiance to no border. Unfortunately, the gods saw that accumulation of power as a threat. Having collected the world’s most powerful objects, The Olde Ship encountered a great storm that engulfed the vessel. The maelstrom seemed to obliterate the ship from the face of the world, taking all of its treasures with it. The moral of the story being the folly of trying to have more power than the gods.

In truth, The Old Ship was not destroyed, simply lost. Whether by a freak storm or the power of the gods as the tales tell, the vessel was swept high into the air, crashing upside down between two uncharted mountain peaks. None of the original sailorknights that once crewed the ship survived the boat’s destruction. Over time nature overtook the wreck, hiding it from the world as its memory evolved into myth.

The wreckage of The Olde Ship has been discovered by local mountain folk, who have heard strange noises and unquiet spirits from within. And while they’ve helped keep the cursed ruin a secret, some explorers have found their way to The Olde Ship as well, looking to loot the priceless artifacts and lost technology inside. Of the few of those fools who escaped, they tell of mechanical marvels gone mad, patrolling the inverted halls of the ship and extinct beasts that hunt in those same dark corridors. They speak of rotting old holds full of debilitating diseases for which there is no cure, cargo bays packed with strange metals lighter and stronger than any known alloy, and silent berths lined with crumbling statues of forgotten deities hungering for fresh worship. Eerier still, there is said to be a sealed crew cabin where the undead sailorknights wait for orders from an immortal, sleeping admiral.

The Olde Ship offers wealth and power behind comprehension, but also dangers that are better left lost.

1. Quarters of the No-Admiral 8. The Auric Trap

2. Manifest of the Sacred 9. Nameless Steels

3. Maps to the Lost Lands 10. Hissing Darkness

4. The Sailorknights’ Berth 11. The Automata’s Ball

5. Overgrown Beast Ark 12. The Poxhold

6. The Desperate Shrines 13. Ballast of Rich Souls

7. Secret Hold of the Lightning Stone 14. Crow’s Vault