In an obscure corner of the Astral Sea sits a mid-sized island, and on that island sits Port Kalgyx. Once a waystation for some forgotten faction, Port Kalgyx now survives on whatever detritus floats its way.

Port Kalgyx has stone docks on one edge, where ships berth for repairs, cargo transfers, and the all-important shore leave. Sailors here can enjoy a drink at the Split Coconut, or a game of cards at the Split Coconut, or forgotten pleasures… at the Split Coconut.

When the party first learns of Port Kalgyx, have them each roll on the table below to see what they’ve heard:

Rumor Table (1d6)
1: Port Kalgyx is run by a gang of bandits. (True)
2: Vicious swarms of insects infest the area around Port Kalgyx. (Mostly true, but it’s not insects, it’s flaming meteors.)
3: A ship carrying silver bars near Port Kalgyx was destroyed by an astral sea creature. (Mostly false. It was captured by bandits.)
4: Port Kalgyx is full of reputable merchants. (Outdated. Only bandits now.)
5: The food at Port Kalgyx is mediocre at best. (True.)
6: A powerful wizard lives in Port Kalgyx. (True. Drulus the Red is at least kind of powerful.)

Landmarks of Kalgyx

The Statue: A bronze statue of a humanoid with claw-like hands and pointed ears stands in the center of Port Kalgyx. The locals will all tell you that this is a statue of the port’s founder, Kalgyx von Groz, but it is actually a statue from the hold of a ghost ship that drifted by 200 years ago or so. It actually depicts an obscure elven prince named Faryarus Farheart. In Elven, his forename and surname do not share the same sound.

Bone Beach: Down the shore from the docks is a bleach-white beach. It’s made of tiny chips of bone that have washed up from the Astral Sea. The bones are from a dead god. None of the locals find this particularly interesting.

Dockside Warehouse: A stone warehouse sits on the docks, near a set of cranes used for unloading ships. The warehouse is full of stolen goods lifted from captured ships.

Stolen Goods (1d10)
1: Silk. This crate of fine silk would sell for about 200GP at a market. The silk is very flammable.
2: Exotic Spices. This sealed crate holds a large amount of ground Drake Leaf, a sharp-tasting herb worth a lot in some places. The crate sells for 200GP in most places, but an elven settlement would pay twice that.
3: Glowing Compass. This compass is labelled in elven. The dial moves independently from the needle. One of the dial’s letters consistently points towards what the elves consider to be galactic north, while the needle points to some unknown object. The lettering on the dial glows green in the darkness.
4: Box of Obscure Holy Symbols. This box contains religious icons from a dozen cultures, all carelessly dumped into a wooden crate. They intend to melt them down into metal bars at some point.
5: Crate of Caiman Skins. Each caiman skin is worth 2GP, and the crate contains 25 in total. This alligator-like material is excellent for leather armor.
6: Silver Bars. Each bar is stamped with “WOLFSBANE-GRADE, 100 oz.” These can be used to silver weapons, with the help of an appropriately skilled smith.
7: Copper Bars. Each bar is stamped with “EA-NASIR’S FOUNDRY, FINE QUALITY COPPER.” This copper is actually very low grade and is rife with impurities.
8: Bags of Flour. These bags are worth only 2 CP each, but if you can disperse enough flour into the air, it becomes very explosive. Treat it as a non-magical Fireball if the players decide to try this.
9: Orange Metal Device. A rectangular plate of orange metal with an orange box and an orange cylinder bolted to it. The cylinder has a smaller, silver cylinder bolted to the front. The orange cylinder has a white label with black writing on it, which reads “FLIGHT RECORDER DO NOT OPEN.” Its purpose is obscure. Possibly sinister.
10: Healing Potion Crate. A crate of healing potions, packed in straw. Only six are intact. The bottom of the crate is filled with shards of glass and a carpet of red mold, the result of the spilled health potion soaking into the straw and beginning to rot.

The Split Coconut

The Split Coconut is the local watering hole of Port Kalgyx. The food is best described as “bad,” largely a result of it being staffed by bandits and goons instead of cooks. At any time, at least four bandits are hanging around here, playing cards or dice games.

Drulus the Red lives under here. His room is accessible by a ladder concealed in a crate.

A few small pieces of bat guano lay on the ground in front of the tavern, a remnant of the spells cast by Drulus. Any character proficient in Arcana would know that bat guano is a common component of fire spells, while any character proficient in Nature would be able to tell that there are no bats in this area.

Since everything of value gets sent off to another port, or to the private stores of “One-Arm” Berengar or Drulus the Red, everything at the Split Coconut is awful. Should the party be desperate enough, their menu is as follows:

Slop. Consists of ground, miscellaneous meat in a gray gravy. 7 cp per meal.
Slop, With Lemon. Slop, but with lemons ground into it to stave off scurvy. 2 sp per meal.
Ale, various. Ale from a random keg behind the bar. Roll 1d6 for the quality of today’s ale, with 6 being “excellent,” 5 being “passable,” and 1-4 being “dire.” As a comparison, a beer in the “dire” category tastes like a popular American beer that legal has told me not to name. You know the one. Imagine that, but the can has been sitting in the sun for the last six hours. That’s dire beer. 5 cp per mug.

Drulus’ Room

Drulus’ chambers are an absolutely disgusting place. It is profoundly dank, and a dozen offensive scents permeate the air, from bat guano, to airborne metallic dust, to ground cinnamon. Books, magical and mundane, cover almost every surface. The vast majority of the spellbooks contain nothing special, just the standard wizard litany of Color Spray, Shield and the occasional Fireball.

The entirety of Drulus’ room is considered difficult terrain, due to the horrible mess.

Drulus keeps his personal spellbook on him at all times, It has a lock on it, which can only be opened with a drop of blood in the keyhole. A small spike sits beside the keyhole for this purpose.

Adventure: Extortion on the Highest Sea

This short adventure can be slotted in at any port the party happens to land at. Though it is tailed specifically to strange places in the Astral Sea, it won’t be too out of place on a high fantasy sea.

The Big Picture

A bandit crew, with the aid of the wizard Drulus the Red, has polluted the environment around Port Kalgyx with flaming meteors. The meteor swarms don’t hit every ship, but the ones that they do hit get damaged severely enough to require a visit to port. Once the crew streams off the ships to engage in vice, the bandits take over the ship and extort the captain. The ships are either inducted into the bandits’ little fleet, or scrapped for resources.

Dramatis Personae

Drulus the Red, Space Wizard. Drulus was captured by the bandits years ago, but now works with them gleefully. He is paid in spellbooks and artifacts from captured ships. Drulus keeps his personal spellbook on him at all times. It has a lock on it, which can only be opened with a drop of blood in the keyhole. A small spike sits beside the keyhole for this purpose.

Ivan Kovax, dockmaster. Ivan was once an honest and reasonable dockmaster, but bandits appeared and threatened him and his child, Ivan, Jr. He’ll spill the details of the bandits’ plans and their extortion of him with little coercion.

Felix “Hatchet” Hachette, bandit. Felix is a black-haired, dark skinned man who carries a handaxe. He’s relatively scrawny but he’s fully capable of killing somebody.

Tristan “Tris” Bittencourt, bandit. Tris Bittencourt is a burly goon of a man who lives to fight and drink.

Ronald “One-Arm” Berengar, bandit leader. As the name suggests, “One-Arm” Berengar is a man who is missing his right arm. Despite this, he has led an impressive crew of goons. A few years ago, they attacked a ship which carried Drulus the Red, who destroyed their sails with a cloud of flaming meteors. Berengar’s crew managed to overcome this, capture the ship, and put Drulus’ talents to use.

Alley Ambush

A few feet away from the docks, a dragonborn captain named Ziathok is accosted by a number of goons equal to your group’s party, plus Felix Hachette and the dockmaster, Ivan Kovax. The party can easily overhear Felix monologuing. If they don’t interrupt, the exchange goes as follows:

“Well hello, Captain! What a lovely ship you’ve brought into our port. Truly a majestic sight. In fact, it’s one I’d like to see more often. Would you mind terribly handing it over to us?”

Ziathok sputters, then begins to object. “Don’t be ridiculous, that’s—”

“Oh, I’m only asking as a courtesy. You don’t really have a choice here, Captain. I know your sails are destroyed, and I know that because we are responsible for that. And as we speak, your loyal crew is getting drunk and engaging in other vices in the company of my lovely subordinates. Nobody’s coming to help you, captain, so why don’t you play nice, hand over everything you have of value, and maybe we’ll put you on a ship out of here?”

“Never!” the dragonborn captain cries, drawing his cutlass with a loud SHINK.

None of the bandits, including Felix Hachette, will fight to the death if at all possible. If they get injured, they’ll group up as best they can. If the battle turns against them, they’ll retreat to the warehouse, hoping to recruit more goons. Ivan Kovax will flee immediately and put up no resistance if accosted.

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