Encounter-a-Day

While the players are traveling aboard a ship, far from any known land, a strange event occurs. An albatross lands on the deck, walks around for a few moments, and then falls over dead.

Stranger still, the very next day the same thing happens. An albatross lands on the deck of the ship, walks around a bit, and dies. Any experienced medics can ascertain that the birds seem to have died of natural causes (i.e. old age). A few hours later, yet another albatross makes the boat its final resting place.

They start becoming more and more frequent until there are literally hundreds of dead birds littering the ship and dozens more arriving every hour. It is at its heaviest two days after the first bird appeared… After that it slowly winds down and they see the last albatross about five days into the ordeal.

Interpretations: I rather like the idea that this is a completely random event, with no real tie to anything (except, perhaps, fate; the albatross was chosen quite intentionally in that regard). Of course, there’s nothing stopping there from being some sort of magical effect, or perhaps a magnetic disturbance affecting the birds’ senses.

Adaptations: You could make the encounter quite different by changing the birds and/or what happens when they reach the ship. Maybe doves arrive (perhaps even doves carrying olive branches!) and stay on the ship a few days before leaving; crows or ravens could send a more ominous message to players who wouldn’t understand the significance of the albatross (if you don’t, read The Rime of the Ancient Mariner).