The Night Boat was originally a ______ Russian submarine whose crew had the misfortune of encountering Caspian during the height of the Great War.
He boiled the water around the submarine to a temperature slightly hotter than the surface of the sun. The God-King touched the crew briefly with the merest flicker of his powers, consigning them to an eternal half-dead, half-alive state.
A long dark cigar shape, a mass of coral with twisted iron ribs protruding. It rides low, the waves sliding across the bow and crashing with a hollow boom against the conning tower. Its hull is over two hundred twenty feet long and forty feet wide; red sunlight settles into splices in the iron flesh, like the bleeding wounds of a giant saurian and even the conning-tower plates look like scales on a huge prehistoric reptile. Water foams around a sharp, evil-looking prow. Remnants of an iron railing hang twisted over the side, partly submerged; there are long dents and gashes in the superstructure and in the bulwark of a conning tower. The hatches have been open, circular holes all clogged with growth, nothing left of the conning tower but a dark flower of iron where a bomb or a shell had struck. And in the center of the veins of tubing are crisscrossed pipes that now serve as home to starfish. Just forward of the conning tower is a deck gun, still firm on the mount and apparently in good shape.
The sub is dark when the PCs first enter, and even if power is restored, there may be extensive areas with little or no power. Individual rooms may have had their lights shattered or simply turned off.
The sub is mostly quiet as the rescue team arrives, but distant echoes of machinery or creaking of the sub will continue throughout. Once the sub begins to warm, the crew will create no end of mysterious and even terrifying noises, ranging from the shuffling of feet in a darkened room to plaintive wailing that echoes through the empty corridors.
The early stages of infection cause the victims on the submarine to hallucinate. They will see and hear things that are not there, and will ignore obvious stimuli that contradict the "reality" of their hallucination. Damage taken from these hallucinations will seem real to the character, and is quite capable of causing death if the damage is severe enough. Psychosomatic shock from the event can throw the victim into cardiac arrest or even cause the manifestation of some physical trauma at the point of the "injury". The GM should make full use of hallucinating PCs early in the adventure, especially while they are unaware that they are hallucinating. This is the perfect time for a character to hear voices in the distance; see a dark figure standing in a doorway; catch the glimpse of a dead body rising from the deck; or see a gaunt-faced man in a mirror. A careful GM can milk these hallucinations for a long time, keeping the PCs unaware of the truth and - more importantly - frightening the daylights out of them.
Eventually the players will begin to realize their fears are only illusory. By that time, the warmth from the restarted reactor will be resuscitating dead crew. What was once dismissed as "just a hallucination" becomes frighteningly real as the dead walk the corridors of the submarine looking to spread their curse to new hosts!
The Night Boat's forward compartment houses the ship's front torpedo room; the space between the inner and outer hull contains the ship's sonar systems. This forward compartment was damaged when the sub struck a thick ice ridge, tearing a gap in the outer hull and splitting the seam along the inner hull. When the PCs arrive on-site, the room is completely flooded.
The bulkhead between the first and second compartments is intact and the watertight doors are sealed. Opening them will send a tidal wave of icy ocean water pouring into the next compartment, but the water level between the two (or more) compartments will eventually equalize to the level of the door, allowing entrance into the first compartment if the PCs so desire.
The only things of real interest in this compartment are the sub's missiles (which may be used to destroy the sub) and primary battery banks. The batteries are nearly dead, even as the adventure begins.
The gouged outer hull can be entered from outside the sub, allowing the diver access to the large area between hulls, but the thick (16") inner hull is only leaking around cracked seams; there are no gaps large enough for a PC to squeeze through.
The flooded compartment contains a handful of dead, but infected, bodies. Because of the cold water, the bodies will remain inert. But a diver exploring the dark compartment may stir up currents, moving the bodies and giving the appearance of life. The GM should play up the motion of the drifting bodies, their mouths forever open in a silent scream as they descend on the diver in the darkness!
Most of this compartment sits slightly forward of the conning tower and contains the command and control areas of the sub. The command center is distributed across four levels, accessible via hatchways and ladders. The bridge (with helm, navigation, etc.) is on the top level, and is accessible from a hatch and stairway leading backward and up to the conning tower. Extensive electronics suites, including sonar stations, are on the level directly below the bridge. A locked radio room is found here as well, and is one of the most secure areas of the ship (it is locked with a high-quality lock -30% to pick - and only senior officers are provided with a key). The radio has been smashed; the codebooks destroyed. The emergency beacon can be turned off manually from here. An empty weapons locker is located on the top level, near the bridge, but none of the six AKS-74U assault carbines can be found. Extra ammo may or may not be available at the GM's discretion, but it is strongly suggested that only empty magazines, discarded ammunition boxes, and other relatively useless weapon-related items be found here. The lock on the metal cabinet is broken and a crowbar lies discarded nearby.
The bottom two levels contain backup and support stations and are, for the most part, uninhabited. PCs will find several fully stocked equipment lockers here (p. 43), and will be able to operate most of the ship's subsystems from here if they do not - or cannot - use the bridge. As the adventure begins, the entire compartment is mostly dry and secure. Because the bulkhead door to the torpedo compartment was open when the sub struck the ice pack, however, there are signs of flooding across most of the levels. The bottom level is still flooded, and contains about five feet of water. Walking through the water will be difficult enough, but submerged objects - including bodies - that bump against the character are sure to give the players start.
The third compartment holds the sub's primary chartroom and a large staff briefing room (or ready room) on the top level, directly behind the bridge. Hatches on the port and starboard walls allow access to the cruise missiles mounted between the inner and outer hulls. An escape ladder is accessible at the back of this compartment, and leads to an emergency escape hatch just aft of the sub's conning tower.
Like compartment two, this area is relatively dry; the bottom level, containing the sub's missile launch control room, is flooded with about four feet of water. Again, the GM should play up the uncertainty of what might be hidden under the water. Animated crewmen will not last long in the cold, but one might pursue the PCs this far for a short time.
This compartment comprises the primary living quarters of the ship. Officer and crew quarters take up the middle two levels, with enough space for each officer to have their own private room; the crew bunk two to a room.
The top level contains a kitchen and dining room, while the bottom level is reserved for a full-service recreational area (including weight sets, video viewing room, and library) and even a small sauna. When the adventure begins, the fourth compartment is almost completely dry. About six inches of water can be found on the bottom level. This area contains some of the narrowest corridors aboard the sub, and a multitude of small rooms. If the reactor is still shut down, the area will be mostly quiet; the GM can use the cramped quarters and darkness to raise the level of suspense as the PCs explore the unknown.
Once power is restored to the sub, the fourth compartment - especially the middle levels, containing the crew's quarters - will become a dangerous place. Locked doors, dead-end corridors, and undead crew are waiting around every corner. This should keep the characters on their toes.
The weight room can provide them with dumbbells and other heavy objects that can be thrown or used to pummel a foe; the galley will yield up at least one or two knives of varying size and strength. The GM should keep in mind that the infected crew may be carrying the same makeshift weapons!