Lost Pavisade of Qysa's Tomb
Pavise: a full-body concave shield used to by medieval archers as defensive walls while reloading.
Pavisade: archaic term. a row of shields hung on the side of a ship to protect it at war and discourage boarding by enemies
Legends speak of the dwarven mercenary-captain, Qroth Saltguts, who once commanded one hundred fifty of the fiercest dwarven myrmidons to ever take to the seas. Their ship, Qysa's Tomb, named for Qroth's deceased love, was feared by all men and sailors in its day, as it plied the waters of the various kingdoms, searching for 'wet work for pay'.
Legends further relate that Captain Qroth and his bearded myrmidons once wielded massive shields during naval battles, which they raised like impenetrable walls on the decks of their monstrous drommond, while bombarding their opponents with gruesome cross-bows and vicious, steel-tipped bolts.
It has been many years since Qroth Saltguts and his dwarves set terror into the hearts of their enemies, but a rumor refuses to die to this day as to the nature of the company's pavises. Many sages ascribe magical powers to those fearsome shields. They say each shield was magical, though only imbued with minor dweamors, compared to the collective powers of the combined shields, if ever they were brought together. Sages further speculate that if all of the pavises were hung in a scaled wall along any ship's deck, a magical defense of complete and total impregnability could be bestowed upon that vessel.
Many kings and admirals know of the legend, but can only dream of finding the one hundred fifty shields of Qysa's Tomb, long lost to time, and probably buried on some benthic sea-floor, forever.
Recently, one of the PCs has brought back a rather large shield from a sea-cave or island adventure. A flabbergasted sage, eyes agape, claims that the shield is none other than the pavise of Burzgurfek Bronze-tooth, thirty-seventh myrmidon of the near-mythical Captain Qroth Saltgut's naval brigade!
The sage relates the entire tale to the PC, and now the player may have pause; Is it possible that those barely-explored sea-caves are the long-lost burial chamber of all the fearsome myrmidons and their captain? Is it worth a side-quest to find out? Then there are the logistics involved in transporting one hundred forty-nine huge shields, even if they are found. And the king will probably want them. And could dwarven ghost-warriors still be haunting their cache? Who knows.
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? Responses (1)-1
Interesting. Sea dwarves are an underrated commodity and seaside caves full of dwarven loot are certainly fascinating.an angle I could see played on this would bring in merfolk showing up one day armed not necessarily with the shields, but with other dwarven grave goods, weapons and such. Heavily armed merfolk could probably do a number on ships and human sailors, hacking holes in hulls with potent dwarven axes or hurling hammers that return to their throwers.