Hunt for the Skull Lords Trove: System-Agnostic 9 Session Eldritch Pirate Campaign with DnD Battlemaps (it's Foundry VTT Modules, Printable Battlemaps & Campaign Sourcebook .PDF to Be Released July 2025 to Members)

Set sail on a perilous voyage across storm-lashed seas and forgotten shores in this swashbuckling 9 session DnD campaign with battlemaps. What begins aboard a passenger ship under pirate attack quickly escalates into a desperate chase to unlock a legendary magical map—one said to lead to the treasure of the Skull Lords, five infamous pirate captains who ruled the seas… before vanishing without a trace.

With danger on all sides and a mysterious guide who knows more than he admits, your party must brave lawless seas, pirate ports, and blood-soaked strongholds in search of the ancient trinkets that unlock the map’s secrets. Yet each key recovered brings with it strange visions, unsettling truths, and whispers of a fate far darker than death.

Will you outwit cutthroats and curses to claim the Skull Lords’ hoard—or will you uncover why some riches are best left buried? Adventure, betrayal, and eldritch horror await in Hunt for the Skull Lords Trove!

All the maps for this system-agnostic eldritch pirate DnD campaign are available as Foundry VTT modules, print-formatted files with grids, as well as .JPEGs you can import into other VTTs. Subscribe for access, and to let me know that you want more campaigns!

IF YOU LIKE THE BELOW DND CAMPAIGN WITH BATTLEMAPS, REMEMBER I'm offering 50% off my annual subscription (6 MONTHS FREE!) for this month only, ending the 1st of July 2025, so if you like any of the teaser content, SUBSCRIBE ASAP before the end of the month. The below July map packs will be released early July and you can pick them up as soon as they're released!

August will feature a Kingmaker campaign, and September will be Thieves & Assassins. You’ll be kicking yourself if you change your mind later!

Campaign Hook:

Multi-Level 60x40 The Gilded Whale (Free VTT Resolution Map)

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The players find themselves aboard the Gilded Whale, a grand passenger transport ship renowned across the Seven Seas for its opulent decor and reliable voyages. The sailors are happily singing the Shanty of the 5 Skull Lords as they work, we recommend playing the song to your players to set the mood and promise of the campaign, found here.

The players, whether passengers or hired hands, are mid-journey when chaos erupts. A black-sailed pirate vessel surges from the mist grappling onto the side of the Gilded Whale. The pirates seek the magical map of the Skull Lords, a legendary artifact whispered to lead to untold riches.

As passengers begin screaming below deck, a man stumbles from the chaos toward the players. His fine clothes are torn, stained with blood from a gaping wound in his side. He places a bloodied sphere etched with art of the seven seas into the hands of the closest player. With his dying breath, he whispers to them cryptically, “Beware… it bound the Skull Lords… its deal is a chain…”. On his body players also find a note instructing him to meet someone at the Seaspire tavern with the sphere, which is referred to as “The Map”.

Moments later, pirates, their faces weathered and eyes gleaming with greed, swarm aboard, cutlasses flashing. Shouts of “Find the map!” echo through the smoke. When it’s clear the pirates are going to lose, the pirate vessel flees into the mist, leaving behind any pirates not swift enough to retreat.

As the surviving crew and passengers regroup, whispers spread of betrayal. The players overhear a shaken cabin boy muttering about unfamiliar faces among the ship’s staff—new hires who joined at the last port, their demeanor too sharp, their accents off. If the players investigate they confirm the grim truth: the attack was an inside job. Several crew members—deckhands, a cook, even the second mate—were pirates in disguise who sabotaged the ship’s defenses and signaled the attack. Their belongings, searched after the battle, reveal hidden daggers and coded messages. The real crew members they replaced are found bound and gagged in a storage hold, or worse. The impostors were clearly hunting for the map’s bearer, and their failure leaves the players as the artifact’s new keepers.

The map’s surface shimmers with faint runes that shift under scrutiny, and no amount of force or magic the players possess can unlock it. The note’s instruction is their only lead: they must sail to the pirate haven of Seaspire and find the contact at the tavern.

The Gilded Whale, battered but seaworthy, limps toward the nearest port, where the players can secure passage to Seaspire either via their own ship or that of a hired crew.

Session 2:

Multi-Level 60x40 Village of Seaspire (Free VTT Resolution Map)

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The players arrive at Seaspire, a ramshackle pirate haven clinging to a set of jagged rocky pillars in the middle of the sea. The air reeks of fish, tar, and stale rum, and the streets teem with rough sailors, sly merchants, and shifty-eyed locals who size up newcomers with predatory glares.

The note from the dying man directs the players to the Drunken Kraken, Seaspire’s infamous tavern, a hulking structure of driftwood and salvaged ship planks adorned with rusted anchors and faded figureheads. Inside, the air is thick with pipe smoke and the din of raucous laughter, clinking tankards, and bawdy sea shanties. Patrons—scarred pirates, veiled smugglers, and a few desperate travelers—eye the players warily, their hands never far from their blades. At a shadowed corner table, they find their contact: Kef, a lean man in loose-fitting clothes that seem too fine for this den of cutthroats. A small, expensive-looking sack hangs from his belt, and an old copper ring engraved with a devil’s face glints on his finger, which he fidgets with when he thinks no one’s watching or he’s nervous. His dark eyes dart as the players approach, clearly expecting the map’s original bearer. “You’re not him,” he says, voice low and sharp, leaning forward. “Where’s the man who was supposed to bring it?” Once the players explain (or bluff), Kef relaxes slightly but remains guarded, his gaze flickering to the tavern’s exits.

Kef proposes a deal: the players can claim the vast majority of the Skull Lords’ treasure, but he must accompany them. He reveals he possesses one of five trinkets needed to unlock the map’s secrets—a copper orb etched with intricate designs of grinning devils dancing in a circle, glowing faintly with an eerie light. Without it, the map is useless, and he won’t part with it unless he joins the quest. If pressed about his motives, Kef’s tone grows cagey. “There’s one thing in that trove I’ve been hunting for years,” he says, touching the copper ring. “That’s all you need to know.”. If asked about the ring, he claims he “found it” with the orb and swiftly changes the subject.

When the players agree to his terms, Kef leads them to a currently empty common-room of the Drunken Kraken, away from prying eyes. The room is cramped, lit by a single flickering lantern, its walls scarred with knife marks and faded maps.

Kef carefully places the map on a bed, holding his orb above it, muttering, “Let’s hope this works.” With a gesture, he activates the map, and it springs to life, projecting a holographic 3D rendering of the Seven Seas. Islands and currents swirl, their forms blurring and shifting as if resisting comprehension. Five palm-shaped indentations glow faintly on the holographic surface.

Kef instructs the players to place their hands on them, adding his own if a fifth is needed. As their palms touch the map, a surge of arcane energy erupts, a blinding pulse that ripples through the tavern’s walls, across Seaspire, and out to sea. The players feel a searing pain as an arcane mark burns into their hands. Arcana checks reveal it’s a mark of finding, allowing other arcane users to track their location. Kef stumbles back, shocked. “That… that shouldn’t have happened,” he stammers, his fingers twitching toward his ring. Despite the mishap, the map re-configures, its chaotic images stabilizing to reveal four distinct locations across the seas, where the remaining trinkets lie.

When exiting the common-room, The tavern grows quiet but the silence is short-lived. Whispers ripple among the patrons, their eyes glinting with greed. The legend of the Skull Lords’ map is no secret here, and the arcane burst has drawn attention. A grizzled pirate at the bar slams down his tankard and mutters to his crew. Moments later, chaos erupts as a dozen pirates attack, eager to claim the Skull Lords’ magical map. The players and Kef must fight their way out and escape to Kef’s boat—or the players’ boat, if they have one.

Note: If Kef joins the players in combat or a stressful situation, he has a habit of muttering “I owe him this much,” to push himself to keep going. 

Session 3, 4, 5, 6, or 7 (Depending on Party Choices):

Multi-Level 40x30 Sacrificial Swamp Lair of the Serpent King (Free VTT Resolution Map)

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The players arrive at Murkmire, a coastal salt swamp once ruled by the Skull Lord known as the Serpent Lord. Lizardfolk and other unsavory creatures inhabit the area, and the Serpent Lord was known to crew his ships with these inhuman brutes and keep a pet sea serpent, fed with prisoners.

When landing at the lair of the serpent king the players are immediately attacked by lizardfolk which are guarding the entrance. A tunnel leads the players underground where they find themselves in a large cavern filled with recently butchered human remains and blood-like water. 

While inspecting the cavern an enormous sea serpent rises from the water to attack. When killed the players find the small green sphere trinket, engraved with etchings of leaves and vines, that they needed within the remains of the giant serpent. Touching the trinket gives the player who did a flashback to the Serpent Lord.

It shows a middle aged man wearing clothes trimmed in animal skins, and jewellery made of their teeth and claws. He has a horned devil’s skull tattoo on his shoulder. Smoke drifts across the deck he’s standing on. It’s clear he’s just won a boarding battle, and is feeding living, screaming survivors to his pet sea serpent aboard his ship. 

A lean man with a fighter’s build walks up behind him, wearing a copper devil’s mask with a mane of red feathers that covers his head. Smoke spirals out of the edge of the mask’s fanged mouth. The man sheathes a bloody scimitar and removes the mask. The unmasked man, Claxton, is middle aged, and his horned devil’s skull tattoo is right on the base of his neck, below his haunted face. 

He shakes his head in disgust at what the Serpent Lord is doing, and comments that “the years have made you cruel, old friend.”

Session 3, 4, 5, 6, or 7 (Depending on Party Choices):

60x40 Siren’s Ocean Lair (Free VTT Resolution Map)

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This location teems with aggressive fish and wildlife. It was once close to a shipping route that used to be excellent, before a powerful siren moved in alongside the aggressive wildlife, and thus is now-disused. The siren compels those silly enough to attempt the shipping route into the waters, where her and her pets can feast. 

While the siren waits in her lair singing to those who come too close to her rocks, her pets attack those who they can get close to. When she and her pets are defeated, the players find the Skull Lord’s trinket within the cavern lair of the siren, in a well sealed wooden box with silk cloth, as if it was placed here for a reason.

Touching the red sphere trinket—which is engraved with musical notes—gives the player a vision of a flamboyant captain, Lord Silvertongue, with a horned devil’s skull tattoo peeking out from underneath colourful clothes. He has a lute strung across his back, and is talking to his first mate, a beautiful woman with the backdrop being a place that looks very similar to the location the players are at now.

They are discussing a successful raid which she put in place, due to her charisma convincing a flattered merchant prince to take his vessel along this route, right into their trap. Lord Silvertongue makes an off-handed comment that she surely would be a siren in another life…

The Devil Lord walks past this exchange, and sternly reminds them “I didn’t bring us back together so you two could flirt. We have a deal to break. Focus, or she might as well be a siren when our time’s run out.”

Note: The Devil Lord was the original leader of the Skull Lords for over 20 years, until he left for a decade. Without his charisma and leadership to hold the Skull Lords together, communication broke down and bitter feuds developed; splitting the Skull Lords apart into rivals. When the Devil Lord returned, he united them into a functional party again—although things would never be how they once were.

Session 3, 4, 5, 6, or 7 (Depending on Party Choices):

60x20 Deep Ones Calling Stone (Free VTT Resolution Map)

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When the players arrive at this location on the map they find nothing but open sea. With Kef surprised, if the players don’t figure it out, he suggests that perhaps the trinket is below the waves? If the players don’t have a way to breathe underwater, Kef “just happens” to have potions for this in his bag of holding (he’s been planning this trip to find the Skull Lord’s treasure for a very long time).

When the players swim down they find themselves at an underwater cliff which drops off to great depths. There is a rock pillar right at the edge, inside it a small glowing sphere is floating. When approaching the sphere, players are ambushed by fishmen from the depths.

Acquiring the blue sphere trinket from the stone pillar (engraved with axes), the player who touches it gains a vision of a vicious midnight boarding battle between two ships—a pirate vessel, and one belonging to the Imperial Navy. 

The deck of the pirate ship is in utter chaos, and the vision follows an older pirate captain with a red beard, grizzled features, horned devil skull tattoo on his shoulder, and a wood peg leg. 

He’s crisscrossed with thick scars, and raging with two blood covered battle axes as he fights his way viciously across the deck. He is yelling madly about it being a bloody ambush, because a scroll describing their plans which was meant to be destroyed after use was instead left at a tavern after a night of drinking. 

The grizzled captain–Lord Fury–makes his way through the tangled knot of fighting on the dark, pitching deck. It is a bloody and brutal battle, with lightning flashing overhead, and slanting sheets of rain. Small fires burn along sections of the deck where barrels of tar were spilled. 

The pirates, taken by surprise, many of them drunk, are losing. Lord Fury cuts down any navy men on his path, taking several deep wounds along the way. There are even three crossbow bolts sticking out of his back.

The captain stops only when he finally reaches the member of his crew who was responsible for not destroying the note. Lord Fury grabs the man viciously, yelling that he’s doomed them, and throws him overboard. He screams that if you don’t want something found, you throw it to the sea! 

Immediately after this, Lord Fury is run through by a navy man’s spear from behind. It is a mortal wound, and the Skull Lord gasps as the air is driven out of his body. In that moment lightning illuminates the night and suddenly reveals thousands of countless, warped eldritch eyes dotting the sky in the place of stars—pupils dilated and unblinking—staring down from a blackened void, all watching Lord Fury.  

These eyes, unnaturally embedded in the fabric of reality, seem to pulse with an eldritch glow, as if an ancient, incomprehensible being always waits behind the veil, watching, and has only now made itself known. 

Lord Fury cries an inhuman scream, and then the lightning flashes out, and the eyes vanish amidst the darkness. There is only the loud clatter of wood as the spear lands, bouncing, on the empty deck; drifting black smoke the only remnant of where the Skull Lord once was…

Next to the spear, rolls the Lord’s blue trinket, off the bloody deck and splashing into the roiling sea below. 

Session 3, 4, 5, 6, or 7 (Depending on Party Choices):

60x40 Seven Seas Prisoner Work Camp (Subscriber Only Map, This is a Low-Resolution Sample)

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Arriving at this location, the players find a prison run by the imperial navy. Kef decides he’d like to join the players on shore, as the Imperial navy are known to be the good guys in the fight against the pirates. The navy, however, are ready to fight the players when they arrive, as they are always on the lookout for pirates, but calm down when convinced otherwise. 

Some of the players are invited to go see the warden in his office, but since it’s small, not everyone can see him at once and some may have to wait out in the barracks area.

When the player explains what they’re looking for, the Warden takes a small golden orb out of his desk. He explains it was the property of the previous warden before him and was here when he took the job. He knows it belonged to one of the Skull Lords, and its importance from the myths. As such, he’s not about to give it up to a group of random adventurers.

If the players ask for it, he doesn’t want to hand it over. Suddenly an alarm is sounded, and when exiting the barracks the players see multiple pirates have killed some of the guards, and have opened the portcullis to the main prison yard; releasing some of the prisoners who are in the process of retrieving weapons from their comrades.

Only a small number of the navy men within the prison join the attack, while many others flee through the gates, escaping into the forest and others still remain inside, trying not to draw attention to themselves (which will get them killed).

After assisting the guards and warden dealing with the pirates, the warden comes to the players. He is angry and baffled as to why an attack like this would happen just as they appeared, clearly not trusting of them despite their help.

Perceptive players may begin to realize that the marks they gained from the map may have something to do with the fact that pirate crews from around the sea keep finding them (if not, Kef says it may have something to do with the marks).

Either way, the warden throws the small golden orb to the players, cursing them. He explains that because of them, all the damned pirates in the seas will know they were here, and the only reason they’d be here is in search of the trinkets. As such it’s no longer safe to keep it here.

He finishes by saying may the players choice be on their heads and no one else’s, and may the players find what they deserve in the Skull Lords trove—should they live so long.

The golden orb is engraved with symbols of flame. Touching it shows its holder, the Pyre Lord; a slender captain wearing a robe of fine golden silk embroidered with black runes, with a mask made from a human skull (missing the lower jaw) on his face. He flicks a slender wrist, almost dismissively, towards a bound and screaming captive on his deck–an action that ignites the man in flames, burning him alive. Claxton arrives on the scene out of breath, too late. He berates the Pyre Lord, yelling at him that the man had surrendered willingly, that they had what they wanted–there was no reason to do that! 

The Pyre Lord turns slightly to look at Claxton. His voice is soft spoken, but menacing. “Not all of us languished for a decade in a soft bosom with a squalling babe. It’s made you weak. I’ll keep translating the ancient texts, so long as you keep up with your share of the treasure. But never think you can tell me what to do. Those days are long gone. Unlike you, I am glad for the bargain you struck for the five of us with… the Entity. If I only have a decade left to enjoy it, I shall do so as I please”. 

Flicking his wrist again, the Pyre Lord ignites another captive, and Claxton pales visibly.

Session 3, 4, 5, 6, or 7 (Depending on Party Choices):

Multi-Level 40x30 Seven Sea Obelisk Fortress (Subscriber Only Map, This is a Low-Resolution Sample)

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During the players search for all of the Skull Lords Trinkets, Kef is kidnapped with his Skull Lord’s trinket. This can most likely occur when the players are all off their ship acquiring a different Skull Lord trinket. 

A bloody note has been left which demands the map for the return of Kef, with a location to the Seven Sea Obelisk Fortress. If the players haven’t kept the map with them (thus depriving the kidnapping pirates of the map), Kef instead is responsible for hiding the map well enough on the ship to stop the pirates from acquiring it before being kidnapped.

Arriving at the fortress, ballistae are aimed at the players ship with what looks to be the pirate captain responsible for the kidnapping yelling down at the players. They’re invited in, assuming they leave their weapons aboard their ship, and instructed to bring the map to the first floor. 

If they do, they're brought to a small room with the first mate, who of course betrays the players once he has the map, instructing the other pirates to kill the players. 

Kef is found at the top floor in a torture chamber and, while bloodied, it doesn’t look like he’ll sustain long term injuries. At the ballistae, the pirate captain and a group of his cronies wait for the players. To regain Kef’s Skull Lord’s trinket the players will have to kill the pirate captain.

If the players instead decide to fight their way through the pirate hideout that works too, and they find Kef and the pirate captain in the same position, although the first mate may join the fight earlier on or during the final combat at the GM’s discretion. When the players recover Kefs trinket, whoever touches it receives a vision of the unmasked pirate, Claxton, from the Serpent Lord’s vision. 

In the copper trinket’s vision, Claxton is in a dark, comfortably furnished room, kissing a sleeping, 10 year old boy on the brow. He whispers to the child softly, apologising profusely and promising that he’ll find a way to break the deal he made, and then he’ll come back and they’ll spend the rest of their days together. Claxton then leaves the room quietly, shutting the door behind him. 

On the way out of the house, he is confronted by a woman wearing a white cleric's dress. The woman is a follower of the God of Light, and the two are married (both have matching wedding bands). She begs him not to leave, saying that if he does this, all his efforts to make restitution for the things he has done will be for nought. 

Don’t go back to them, the woman begs, saying that they’re monsters. Claxton shakes his head, insisting “I can control them,” and continues to leave. 

His wife clutches at his sleeve, weeping, begging him to spend what time he has left with their son and her, to let go of this eternal greed for more. Claxton snaps, yelling “10 years isn’t enough!” Before angrily shaking her off and stepping out of the modest house, into the rain. 

Should the players ask Kef about the vision, he reacts visibly—clenching his fists or looking away—before saying it’s just the vision granted by the Devil Lord's trinket. If pressed to his reaction, he claims he’s just sick of pirates and would rather get on with finding the Trove of the Skull Lords.

If he has very good standing with the questioning player and is pressed further, he admits that he was the boy in the vision, the adults are his parents. He finishes sadly that his father, known as the Devil Lord, abandoned him when he was 10, and all that he has left of him is the trinket and this map, which is why he must find the Trove of the Skull Lords.

Session 8:

60x40 Underwater Voidrift Cavern (Subscriber Only Map, This is a Low-Resolution Sample)

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With all the Trinkets collected, Kef suggests placing them with the map. This causes the map to shift, and a final location to appear with an archaic word below it. The players may be able to decipher it loosely as “The Gate” with an appropriate intelligence check. Alternatively, languages which suit eldritch beings can be used to decipher it.

Arriving at the location the players find nothing, the middle of the ocean with no landmarks. Kef says despite the danger he needs to join them, he needs to find what he is looking for in the Skull Lord’s trove. 

Diving below the depths, they soon find a pillar of black stone surrounded by crystalline growths. Near the bottom the pillar has an opening, entering the pillar the players are assailed by beings made of otherworldly shadow, they function much like ghosts but with an eldritch twist their beings deforming and reforming into horrible shapes. When the players make it to the final chamber they find a great whirlpool, The Gate.

If the players don’t want to go through The Gate, Kef volunteers to go first, saying he didn’t come this far to stop now. Regardless, Kef hesitates before entering The Gate, muttering, “This better be worth it,” before stepping inside.

Note: You may choose to add a mini-boss foe at The Gate resembling a larger otherworldly shadow being if the players don’t seem that hampered, and you need them to use up more resources before the finale.

Session 9:

60x40 Astral Lords Treasure Asteroid (Subscriber Only Map, This is a Low-Resolution Sample)

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Jumping through the portal the players black out and find themselves prone on a floating asteroid among a sea of stars. The asteroid is unnaturally cold, with stars that seem to watch the players, their light flickering unnaturally like heartbeats. Treasure is everywhere, but the ground is slick with an oily, black substance that seems to writhe underfoot with every footstep. 

Out beyond the asteroid the players catch glimpses of shadowy, black eldritch tentacles which writhe in the darkness towards the asteroid, but taking second glances causes them to disappear.

Players feel a constant sensation of being watched. Their arcane marks burn faintly. There is a low, droning hum in the air, occasionally forming half-heard whispers in an incomprehensible language. Players with high perception catch phrases like “more… always more…” or “I see you…” but can’t pinpoint the source.

At the other side of the asteroid they can see five thrones made from human bones, with the twisted bodies of the Skull Lords sitting in them. The thrones of human bones creak and shift slightly, as if alive. Three floating stone skulls hover behind the Skull Lords.

The legendary pirates look emaciated and cadaverous, with muscles wasted away to their bones, curling fingernails, hair, and beards grown long and far beyond unkempt. Lord Fury, his chest still rising despite the mortal wound he received, blackened dried blood caking his clothes. The Pyre Lord, his robes covered in dust and cobwebs. Lord Silvertongue, his lute clutched loosely in near-skeletal hands, grin long-gone. The Serpent Lord, clutching a timber staff with withered thorns, long since dead. And in the middle of them all, their leader, the Devil Lord, wearing his battle-mask, though it is now cracked almost completely in two.

As if with great effort, the Skull Lords slowly and painfully turn their heads to watch the players. Their eyes are inhuman, with multiple pupils–sometimes up to 3–in their eyes. The pupils move around independently of one another, as if they have lives of their own.

“Visitors...” the Skull Lords speak in unison, though their voices are inhuman and raspy. “You did not come for a deal, yet I will offer you one.”

“You could be legends, greater than us. Why settle for mortality when eternity awaits?” asks the Devil Lord. Charismatic and commanding, he speaks with a mix of charm and menace, offering the deal with a sly smile, glimpsed through the broken gash in his mask.

“The weak feed the strong. Join us, or be devoured by the void.” Hisses the Serpent Lord.

“Fight or flee, it matters not. The King sees all!” Spits Lord Fury, his voice cracking with pain.

“Sing your names into history, or fade into silence. Choose quickly.” Says Lord Silvertongue, his voice melodic yet mocking.

“Burn brightly for a moment, or linger forever in the dark. The choice is yours.” Says the Pyre Lord, soft and sinister. 

Kef steps forward angrily, his eyes darting nervously between the lords and the players. He laughs—a sharp, bitter sound—and waves a hand dismissively. “Oh, please, spare us the sales pitch! You lot made that deal, and look at you now—rotting on thrones, puppets for someTHING that doesn’t even show its face. You call that eternity? I’d rather stay mortal and keep my soul, thanks.” His voice cracks slightly on “soul,” and he spins his copper ring, fingers trembling.

To the players, he snaps, “Don’t be fools like they were. Take the deal, and you’ll end up just as dead—worse than dead. Trust me, I’ve seen what it does.” His words carry a strange weight, and players with high insight catch a flicker of fear—or guilt—in his eyes, hinting he knows more than he’s letting on. 

The Skull Lords’ pupils narrow, and the droning hum in the air grows louder, as if the Entity itself is displeased.

If the players hesitate or debate, the Skull Lords say in unison, “Time frays your souls, yet I am unbound. Choose swiftly, or be forgotten in my silence.”

When they reject the deal, in unison, the emaciated pirates growl “So be it. What do Lords do? They serve their King!” before standing unnaturally to attack, their limbs lurching and bending in ways bodies never should.

The Devil Lord summons a barrier of blood red energy to encase himself, part of the damage dealt to the Devil Lord is reflected while it remains. Kef encourages the players to leave the Devil Lord for last, with a sharp warning of his power.

During the fight, the players glimpse from the corners of their eyes what look to be shadowy tendrils from the void hanging above the pirate lords during the combat, like strings on a puppet. They can't be sure, however, that their eyes aren't playing tricks on them.

The Entity also makes retorts throughout the battle, still speaking unanimously through the remaining Lords. It says things like "I was before the first flicker sparked, and will be after the final flame has died,” “You defy me, yet your hearts pulse with want. I taste your desires, and they will call me back,” “Wound these shells, and still I see. You cannot blind what gazes beyond the stars,” and “Your strength is but a spark in the void. I am the dark that swallows all light.”

When the Devil Lord is targeted, the Entity says “He sought to flee me, yet none escape. His blood calls to me, as yours will.”

When a lord is defeated, their multiple pupils burst like blisters, leaking black ichor that evaporates into smoke. The remaining Lords mock in unison “One voice fades, yet I am legion. You silence nothing. I linger in every shadow.”

Shadowy tendrils recoil into the darkness each time a lord dies, as if the Entity is withdrawing its influence—but not entirely. Players with high insight sense the Entity isn’t defeated, just retreating.

When the players begin to win, the Entity says “You carve my puppets, yet I am the strings. Cut them, and still I weave your fates.” When the third last lord is dying, it says “One eye closes, yet countless remain. I watch from voids you cannot dream.”

The floating stone skulls crack and crumble as the lords die, releasing pulses of eldritch energy that deal minor psychic damage and cause vivid, fleeting visions: endless voids, countless eyes, or a hungering maw.

When the last lord before the Devil Lord dies, the Entity says “These shells crumble, yet I am not bound. Seek me in the dark between stars, and know fear.” When the Devil Lord is the last captain remaining, he seems to shake his head, extra pupils bursting and his blood barrier disappearing; finally able to break free from the Entity’s influence, before collapsing on the ground.

The droning hum stops abruptly, leaving an oppressive silence. The shadowy tentacles around the asteroid fade, and the stars dim, but one remains brighter than the others, its light shaped like a slit pupil, watching the players.

At the same time, the arcane marks on the players’ hands flare painfully one last time, then fade—but players with high arcana sense a faint residual energy, as if the marks aren’t truly gone.

Kef runs over to the dying Devil Lord, pulling him into his lap. He rips off his broken mask so he can look at his face, and calls him father. Kef says he's sorry it took so long, but he's finally free. 

The Devil Lord, clearly on the edge of death, gives him a slight smile and with a gruff voice says that this was an unexpected turn of events. Kef apologises for what he said when they met last, saying that his mother explained everything after his father had left.

The Devil Lord coughs and apologises to Kef instead for being such a greedy bastard. He says that Kef’s mother was right all along, and that missing his son growing up was his biggest regret. He says “I love you, Kef. I should never have wasted the precious time I had chasing more, when… I already… had… the world.”

Kef breaks down into sobs as the Devil Lord finally dies. He is devastated but fulfilled, having freed his father’s soul.

Kef later explains to the players that he is sorry for the deception but he knew that he would never receive the players help if they knew he was the son of one of the most infamous pirates to ever live. He says his father was a complicated man, and that even he deserved better than eternal torment. 

He explains that his father visited him one last time before the Entity took him, when he was a young man. During that visit, Kef was only angry, and said things he regretted. His father never told him about the deal or the Entity, but he had told his mother, as well as everything he’d learned during his decade spent trying to break the deal. After Kef’s father had gone, his mother later told Kef what she knew–but by then it was too late, and his father had been claimed. 

Even after his confession, Kef remains cagey about the details regarding the Entity and the deal, saying, “Some things are better left unknown.” If pressed, he glances at the stars nervously; he knows more about the Entity but won’t say, only recommending staunchly that the players have nothing to do with it and leave it well enough alone.

If the players ask Kef about his copper devil ring, he tells them ruefully that it belonged to his father. Claxton was meant to have destroyed it when he married his mother and put away the Devil Mask, but he wasn’t able to. It seems it was still a part of him, even after he joined the Imperial Navy and dedicated years of his life to fighting pirates. Anyway, he found the ring stashed beneath the floorboards of the house one day, as a teenager. He’s kept it ever since.  

Scattered among the treasure are ancient tablets with unreadable runes, depicting a void with countless eyes and tendrils. A high intelligence (history or arcana) check suggests they predate known civilizations, hinting the Entity is older than the world itself. Many of these tablets are warnings, not objects of worship.

The treasure pulses faintly with eldritch energy. If players take it, they later dream of a void whispering their names. If they leave the treasure, they feel a lingering pull to return, as if the Entity still beckons.

As the players leave through The Gate, describe a fleeting glimpse of a massive, indistinct shape in the void—too vast to comprehend, gone in an instant. The Entity is still out there, unbound.

In the days after, players notice small, eerie details: a shadow moving against the wind, a star that seems to follow them, or a faint hum in their ears when alone.

If players take the treasure, they later find small, eye-like markings on some coins or gems, which vanish when examined closely. In their dreams, they see a void with a voice whispering their ambitions, and promised deals.

After the players have left the asteroid and are going about their daily lives, describe fleeting, random sensations: a cold breath on their necks, a whisper of their names, or a reflection in the water that shows too many eyes….

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