Belaying pin

Belaying pins were a type of mariner's tool.

Description
Belaying pins were short rods of wood or metal that were inserted into holes bored through a ship's rail. The rigging lines of a ship would be fastened to them. They were usually found in rows, bringing a series of ropes together to one location. Alternatively, sailors would use belaying pins as a place to store their unused ropes.

Beyond their primary purpose, belaying pins could be yanked free and used as an improvised club. Typically this occurred during boarding actions at sea, when no other weapons were in reach or when a weapon was lost.

Availability
Belaying pins could be found on practically any ship. They were typically available for purchase at seaside towns or cities, particularly from shipbuilders, warehouses, or businesses that supplied ships.

In the port city Athkatla for example, the market Waukeen's Promenade sold belaying pins alongside other nautical equipment.

Creatures

 * These were often wielded by sea zombies.

Classes

 * Belaying pins were a favored weapon among mariners of Evermeet.

Groups

 * Belaying pins were a common improvised weapon among pirates.
 * Belaying pins were a common improvised weapon among press gangs, such as those that worked for the Zhentarim.

Individuals

 * Paron, a former sailor and owner of the Struggling Squid inn in Tantras, typically carried around a belaying pin.

Appearances

 * Adventures
 * Kidnapped • Polyhedron #87, "Eye of the Leviathan"