Lady Phantasma's Material Anchor (Patreon)

Wondrous item, very rare

This small and rusted anchor charm is bound to a famous, lost ship: the Lady Phantasma. This ship and its crew was lost to the Ethereal Plane centuries ago, cursed to remain there for all eternity as punishment for stealing a powerful sea hag's treasured relic. However, this small charm can act as the ship's sole remaining tether to the Material Plane.

As an action, you can call out to the ship while holding the charm aloft. If you're within 30 feet of a body of water on the Material Plane, a full-sized anchor appears on the ground in an unoccupied space within 5 feet of the water. A wispy, green chain appears on the anchor that extends into nothingness for 1 minute. At the end of the minute, the Lady Phantasma emerges from the Ethereal Plane, pulled by the anchor's chain, and comes to rest in the water nearby. The ship is a longship 70 feet long and 20 feet wide. It's piloted by thirty-four crewmembers and five officers, all of whom are long-dead, ghostly remains of their former selves. They are formless and harmless, but are nevertheless visible and friendly to you and your companions. They can interact with the rigging, sails, and other equipment on the ship, but nothing else while they remain on the Material Plane. While the ship remains, you are considered the captain of the vessel while the charm is on your person.

At dawn, the ship's crew is shunted back to the Ethereal Plane, leaving the ship behind, until the following dusk when they reappear on the vessel once more. The ship's anchor is immovable while the crew is on the Ethereal Plane, holding the ship in place until they return each night. While the ship can move, it moves at a speed of 10 miles per hour, even when there isn't any wind.

If the charm is removed from the Lady Phantasma for 24 hours, the ship and its crew vanish and return to the Ethereal Plane until they're summoned again. You can speak the charm's command phrase "Until the tides call once more," to cause the ship and crew to return to the Ethereal Plane early. Any objects on the ship other than what was there when it came from the Ethereal Plane are dropped into the water below the ship when it disappears. If the ship is destroyed while on the Material Plane, the charm is destroyed and turns to flecks of nonmagical rust.

"We need to get there by day break. Prepare the Lady," the captain barked to his first mate. "Tell the men we'll double the pay, but they'll need to decide quick 'cause we set sail within the hour."

"It's a treacherous route, Captain. Mostly unchart—"

"Dammit, Jarnik, I know! But we need risk it if we're going to beat that rotten Kremmel. We need to reach the city and be rid of this thing before he can get there and alert anyone. Sailing at night is our only option. I just hope she doesn't find us."

...

The Lady Phantasma never arrived at the Alano docks. Perhaps it was an unseen shallow reef, or a monstrous sea creature only sung of in folk tales....

But no.

What truly doomed that ship and her crew was the Captain's decision to sail into the darkness. The hag's cursed mist, made invisible by the moonless night, swallowed them, and their futures, whole.