Sea Legs

by Andrew Hauptman

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Medium-Sized Shapechanger(Maledictive Weresnake), Chaotic Evil

Hit Dice 4d8+16 (32 hp)
Initiative +4 (Dex); +10 (Dex, improved initiative) as snake
Speed 30 ft
AC 16 (+4 Dex, +2 Natural); (+4 Dex, +4 Natural) as snake
Attacks Fangs +4, Melee +4, Ranged +7
Damage Fangs 1 and Poison, Melee by weapon +1, Ranged by weapon
Special Attacks Poison, lycanthropic curse as snake
Special Qualities Snake empathy, damage reduction 15/bone as snake
Saves Fort +9, Ref +11, Will +3
Abilities Str 15, Dex 18, Con 13, Int 14, Wis 10, Cha 4
Str 15, Dex 22, Con 15, Int 14, Wis 10, Cha 4 (as snake)
Skills Balance +9, Jump +4, Listen +4, Search +6, Spot +4 ;
Balance +15, Climb +13, Hide +16, Listen +17, Search+10, Spot +17 as snake
Feats Triple Jointed/Ambidexterity, Combat Reflexes, Improved Unarmed Strike;
Blind Fight, Improved Initiative as snake

2nd edition stats :
Sealegs (maledictive weresnake): AC 6 or 2; MV 15; HD 4+2; hp 32; Str 15, Dex 18, Con 13, Int 14, Wis 10, Cha 4; # AT 2 or 1; Dmg by weapon or 1 (Bite); AL CE; SA Poison; SD Immune to nonmagical and nonbone weapons; THAC0 17, Morale 10;

A man steps forward, dressed in raggedy clothes that resemble the remains of a pirate’s uniform: a torn, stained white, billowy blouse and overcoat, triangular hat, breeches and high hip-boots. Large golden hoop earrings dangle from each ear, a cutlass is sheathed at his side, and a bandoleer of daggers is strapped across his chest. A scraggly, ugly mess of a beard covers his face like grey moss. Most noteworthy, however, is the fact that the man completely lacks any arms or hands!

“Aye, so it’s freaks ye be seekin’? Then I would be the man ye want! Men call me ‘Sea Legs.’ I won’t tell ye what the wimmen call me! Once I was the scourge o’ the seven seas, an’ the mere mention o’ me name would make kings tremble! In the early days, though, I was a hero, a privateer in the service o’ me king...a fancy name for what me king’s enemies would call a pirate, for it was them that was me prey! An’ I took to the task with great glee, bringing upon meself the honor an’ esteem o’ me liege-lord,--but also the bitter hatred o’ me enemies, whose people I would slaughter, or worse, and whose booty I would plunder, all in the name o’ the king!

“One day, cruel fate caught up with me, an’ I was finally beaten by me enemies an’ taken prisoner. They showed me no mercy, for they chose to make an example o’ me to me king and countrymen. A long, torturous death would ha’ been kind compared to what they did te me! Every day, they would slice off one o’ me fingers an’ feed it to the sharks. When they were done wi’ fingers, they’d sever one o’ me hands...then the arm up to the elbow ...and finally the stumps o’ me arms as well! They made certain to put salt on me wounds as well, so I’d never know a moment’s peace--may the powers o’ the sea curse the blighters for a thousand years an’ more for each insult they dealt me!!!!!

"It was two weeks o’ pure torture that I shall ne’er be able te forget! The sharks still remember the taste o’ me, an’ I kin see them follow me whene’er I set sail on the high seas.

“When the enemy was done maimin’ me arms, they dealt me the cruelest blow of all...they let me live instead o’ finishin’ the job! They stuck me in a dinghy and shoved me off towards home, certain that if I did survive, I would live only as an example, an’ a warnin’, to me countrymen, ne’er to cross them again!

“A part o’ me, broken by the torture I’d endured, wanted nothin’ more than to just give up an’ die, just roll off the boat an’ drown meself. But another part o’ me--the strong man who devoted body an’ soul to me liege-lord--would na’ give in, would na’ surrender to the fate that had sundered me body! I held on to dear life, an’ with me legs an’ feet I managed to steer the boat safely to land.

“I was long in recoverin’ from the loss o’ me arms. I knew that if I just gave up an’ let others care for me I’d be nothin’ more than a bedridden old man a’fore me time. An’ damned if I was goin’ to let meself be known as a quitter! Nay, I worked long an’ hard to learn a’gin how ter make me way in the world, how ter feed an’ clothe meself....how ter use tools and weapons...how ter fight an handle a ship! Since me arms were gone, I used what the gods an’ me enemies had left me with...me legs an’ feet! Thus I came ter be known as the dread pirate ‘Sea Legs!’”

The pirate pauses his narrative. His left leg swivels up at an impossible angle, sliding one of the throwing knives off the bandoleer on his chest and up into the air! He grabs the blade between his toes and throws it at the stage, where it buries itself deep into a wooden post! He then follows the first throw with another, and another, at blinding speed, the blades neatly creating the outline of a circle in the wood! His last blade stabs right in the center of the circle of knives.

Smiling, the pirate sits and pulls out a hip flask, his toes unstoppering the cork, and then takes a swig with his impossibly nimble feet!

“Aye, ye’d not think a man capable of such...feats...” he smiles and winks at the humor of his choice of words, “but as ye can see, when a man wants somethin’ bad enough, anythin’ is possible! Where there’s a will, there’s a way! Ye should hear me play the fiddle...”

“But back te me tale. After the maiming, it took some strong convincin’ to get the king to give me back command o’ me boat, but a quick show of the skill o’ me new ‘sea legs’ an’ he made me captain once more! From then on I was known by me new nickname. I hated it, for it reminded me o’ the loss I must bear till I cross the waters o’ the river o’ death, but me enemies came ter hate it even more! I was na’ the same man as I was before the torture...who could be after such a cruel fate? Now I was a mean an’ vicious pirate, and I proved it in words and deeds! No port of call was safe from me pillagin’, an’ I left survivors only to spread word o’ me lust for gold, an’ battle...an’ things best left unsaid in this polite company. Aye, I was all this an’ more...truly the scourge of seafarers an’ landlubbers alike!”

“But I suppose in me lust fer revenge that I went too far fer even me own people ter take. Or perhaps it was jest the hatred they had of a man who was so ugly, so disgusting to behold, that did me in. Perhaps it was the fact that I reminded them that any one o’ them could have suffered my fate, and that was too much for any to bear. Who’s ter say? All I know is that in short time, I was disavowed by me own king, an’ me crew even mutinied a’ginst me! I was forced ter dive overboard and swim for the shore, for there was na’ time to rig a lifeboat. As I swam away through the fog that hid me escape, I knew that me days as a pirate was over. E’en the scum o’ the earth would ne’er accept a man such as I as a mate, let alone captain!

“An’ that, me friends, is what brings me here to the Carnival. Only here can a freak such as I find a place that I might call home...a place where I might be free ter be an armless monster! So,” he said with a broad, gap-toothed grin, fanning a deck of playing cards between his toes, “who’s fer a game o’ rummy? I’ll deal the first...’hand’...”

And now for the truth....

Background

The fanciful tale of Sea Legs is just that...fancy. In reality he was born Charles Harold Umbrage, scion of a well-to-do plantation owner in a distant Prime Material world. Under any other circumstances he would have been an instant success at any endeavor. There was only one small problem...Charles was born without arms or hands!
Charles’ father, against the protestations of his midwife and nurse, allowed the boy to live, despite frequent whispers among the townsfolk that Charles’ deformity was a sign of the devil. The elder Umbrage gave the son every possible advantage, but also encouraged him to learn his own way in the world and not rely on others. When it was discovered that the child Charles had a knack for using his feet to perform mundane tasks for which most people use their hands, his father decreed that the child should never wear socks and shoes again! Charles ended up being loosely disciplined, and encouraged to explore learning activities on his own.
From that point on, life became a series of challenges, which the clever and versatile Charles met and beat at every turn. He learned, in time, to read and write, to dress himself, to play with common toys, climb, swim, and a host of other activities that one would expect a child with such a handicap never to learn.
However, despite the positive encouragement of his father, young Charles neverforgot that he was different, and that others would always look upon him with pity and scorn because of his deformity. Instead of learning to change peoples’ attitudes with positive achievements and cheer, he would perform great feats and rub it in peoples’ faces just to spite them. Charles’ father thought that people hated his son because of his physical deformity, not realizing that the lack of good spirit and love was his greater loss.
Most of all, young Charles bitterly hated his younger brother, Edward, who enjoyed all the social and physical advantages of being whole, not “half” a man. Finally, in his jealous rage, Charles killed his brother, making it look like an accidental drowning. No one could or would accuse the child Charles of the deed--his father wouldn’t hear of it, and didn’t even begin to suspect the evil that was growing in his own son--but the people whispered, and wondered.
At Edward’s funeral one thoughtless person made a remark that was the final nail in the coffin of Charles’ humanity: “Surely the gods have taken the wrong one this time!” This remark buried the last of Charles’ feelings towards the rest of humanity, and with the pain of rejection came a greater hatred for all mankind. It also made him even more determined to succeed. Charles took on a new challenge: learning to play an old fiddle he found while exploring his parents’ attic. He had to create a whole new way of playing, tying down the fiddle to a stool so he could manipulate the bow and strings, but he was determined to achieve greater and greater successes just to spite the people who had rejected him. A few years later, he achieved success, and became a very accomplished violinist.
But as Charles grew, so did his baser instincts. He would steal money from his father to go out drinking, gambling, and keeping the company of women of ill repute. He found that money would bridge the social gap that his cruel nature could not. In time, word of these vices reached his father, who determined that Charles needed a firmer disciplinary hand, for perhaps his own father’s excessive permissiveness was to blame for his present fall from grace. Charles refused to accept punishment from his father, and quite remarkably fought back fiercely, with great skill. So great that he beat his father to death.
This crime was not so easy to ignore, and without his father’s protection, Charles found the townsfolk turned against him. He ended up fleeing before he could be burned at the stake for witchcraft. Fortunately his nimble feet proved to be superior and he fled. But as he ran, the old village wise woman pronounced this curse upon him:

A snake in the grass you always were,
So snake you shall be for all to abhor,
To crawl on your belly in the muck like a cur,
Till holiness and grace thou finds once more!

As Charles ran from his pursuers, seeking to bridge the distance between them, he felt his pace slowing despite his best efforts...his legs would not obey the commands of his head! Instead he fell to the ground, and felt his body melting, shrinking. Desperate to escape his pursuers, he wriggled his body forward, slipping loose from his clothing. The townsfolk gaped wide-eyed at the sight of Charles Harold Umbrage’s empty clothing lying on the ground, with no footprints to trace his passage on the road. The people believed that the devil had come back to claim his own progeny. As they returned to their homes, none noticed a lone snake slither silently away from the town, never to return.
Discovering that he had somehow wandered far from the land of his birth, Charles began a nomadic existence from that time onward. At first he was forced to beg in the streets for money to live, which he did rather well. Partly out of a need to make more money, and partly to divest himself from his past, Charles created for himself the identity and history of “Sea Legs” the pirate. He saved his monies to buy (and sometimes steal) the items he would need to complete his costume and act, and became a travelling performer.

Current Sketch

Sea Legs’ clever tales, witty banter, and pedal dexterity made him an instant success as a performer. Though the crowd loved to watch him use his feet and toes to play the fiddle, throw knives, and perform card tricks, he still found more jeers than cheers from the audience. He has performed both alone and as one of many acts in carnival sideshows throughout the Demiplane, always a success.
He also had to deal with the old woman’s curse. He is now a maledictive weresnake who changes to the form of a large snake during the three nights of the full moon, and also whenever he is chased or pursued for some crime he has committed. While this might seem a disadvantage, the curse has often allowed him to escape from his pursuers after petty thefts, but it also forces him to “take sick” and not perform during the three nights of the full moon.
If Charles Harold Umbrage ever repents for his sins and seeks redemption and penance in a church, temple or other holy place, his curse will be lifted. But he has no remorse for his crimes, and does not seek reconciliation with either humanity or the gods. He probably never will.

Personality

While performing Sea Legs is very jovial and witty, always making jokes that refer to his deformity in a pleasantly self-effacing manner (usually puns involving hands and feet). But even at his best, there is a bitterness, a coldness that others can sense in him. People instinctively fear and avoid him, never getting too close.
It is only when Sea Legs performs that he is happy, that he has even a remote chance to feel that other people will accept and like him. But when the show ends and the crowd walks away, he is left alone to the misery that is his life. Then he becomes at first melancholy, then angry. At such times he is prone to fits of anger, or perhaps a desire to steal or vandalize someone who caused him offense (keep in mind, to Sea Legs, being a whole, beautiful person is cause for offense!). Otherwise he will probably find a bar to seek solace in drink, or in the company of a woman who has her eye on his gold.

Combat

Sea Legs is not likely to seek combat at any time, unless taking revenge for some insult, or if he is discovered committing a crime. In human form he can be harmed normally, but if damaged for more than half his hit point then he will automatically revert to snake form. If he becomes overcome with bloodlust (see either “Van Richten’s Guide to Werebeasts” or “Children of the Night: Werebeasts” for rules on bloodlust) he will continue to fight, otherwise he will flee unless cornered. In his snake form he is immune to damage from weapons unless they have at least a +1 magical bonus to hit or are made of bone.

Human aspect

Sea Legs is a surprisingly dangerous opponent, for he is triple-jointed and is able to use his legs and feet as well as the most dexterous thief uses her hands!
He is able to throw two daggers per round with blinding accuracy, or use them in close combat if need be. In his human aspect his Armor Class is 6 due to his high Dexterity. He tends not to wear armor because of the difficulty in donning and doffing it without hands.

Snake aspect

Sea Legs’ other form is that of a snake, about five feet long with alternating bands of red, black and yellow. His fangs are poisonous (Type E: injected; immediate; death/20) and if attacked in this aspect, he will not hesitate to use them. His speed in this form is incredible, granting him a -2 initiative bonus in combat. His dexterity and scales grant him an Armor Class of 2 in this form.

Author's Note

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