Billy Cross (Patreon)

Medium Undead (Warlock), Neutral Evil, CR 12

A Seaborne Ghost Story. No sailor alive doesn’t know the legend of Captain Billy Cross and the Duke’s Forlorn. A plague upon the seas, a sighting of the ghost ship is an ill omen to all who sail these treacherous seas. Billy and his crew appear to those dying at sea, seeking new souls to crew their wretched vessel, as well as to any that discover the lost treasures of the Duke himself. His legend has made him the boogieman of sailors, a tale told to keep one vigilant while at sea. But he is  real, and he seeks to reclaim all that he has lost, and to recruit more souls to crew his decrepit ship for all eternity.

Those who crew the Duke’s Forlorn are drained by the ship’s spiritual energy, losing themselves as their souls are pulled from their bodies. The ship and Billy are symbiotic in nature, with Billy feeding the ship souls who pledge themselves to crew it. In return, Billy is granted more power while sailing the Forlorn, as well as an innate command of the vessel itself.

Though formidable, the ship and its crew only exist when the sun has set. When dawn breaks, Billy, the crew, and the Forlorn itself disappear into The Locker, a domain that exists on the fringes of the material plane, where the lost souls of dead sailors find themselves adrift or trapped. Billy can communicate with these souls and those of the recently deceased and will often offer these souls an opportunity to sail with him.

“I sailed, I sailed across the sea, To trade from shore to shore.

Till ghastly fog devoured us, and sail we could no more.

I spied, I spied a pale green light, Atop the yonder waves.

A longboat carried on a man, As chilling as the grave.

I heard, I heard a tolling bell, And then it’s sister’s call.

We spied a ship within the mist, And terror filled us all.

Its hull, its hull was rotten through, Its sails a tattered shawl.

A crew with sunken eyes, they stared, And terror filled us all.

My soul, my soul, my sorry soul, That was the price to pay

To spare me from the Locker’s call, I’d shun the light of day.

We sail, We sail across the sea, But never see the shore.

Our bones now creak, our souls now seek, To sail forevermore…”

-  Sea shanty of the Duke’s Forlorn (Unknown Author)