White Star - Distress Signal Tundara.pdf

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DVENTURE

OCATIONS

- S

CIENCE

ICTION

LEEPING

RIFFON

RODUCTIONS

ISTRESS

IGNAL

UNDARA

XTENDED

HITE

NCOUNTER

NTHONY

C. H

UNTER

Adventure Written By: Anthony C. Hunter

Cartography by: Anthony C. Hunter

Cover Design by Anthony C. Hunter,

using elements from Shutterstock.com

Sleeping Gri on Productions

White Star™ is a trademark of James M. Spahn, and used

with permission under license.

This adventure hook is designed for a group of 3 to 6 adventurers, of level 1 to 2. It can

be scaled appropriately by the referee to accommodate more or less powerful groups.

This is a sandbox style adventure hook, presenting a situation to the referee and several

possible complications to that situation that the referee can then choose from or mix

and match as desired.

If you are planning to play this adventure, please lay it down and step away now, all

of the information in this document is designed for your referee, who will decide how

much of it to share with you and in what degree. Reading further may interfere with

your enjoyment of the adventure.

Okay, only referee’s here now? Let’s continue then. . .

aving tHe

dventurers find tHe

undara

The adventurers are crew or passengers aboard a ship (whether their own or someone

else’s is up to the referee) when a faint, repeating distress signal is intercepted, the

message says. . .

“This is Captain Melissa Barron, of the Merchants Union freighter Tundara, we have

experienced catastrophic power failure and have a major hull breach. We are dead in space

with limited life support and need assistance. Our last recorded coordinates were Zeta 25,

Delta 983, Gamma 82 and are drifting at a steady rate of one/tenth sublight speed in the

direction of the Falana system. Assistance is needed.”

This message will repeat itself every three minutes, obviously on a loop. Any ship that

hears such a distress call is considered morally obligated to respond. Many would

respond regardless due to salvage rights if the ship is a derelict and rewards from the

Merchants Union if the ship is not derelict.

He true situation

(referee eYes onLY):

The Tundara was unknowingly transporting a newly developed Nano-Virus from a secret

lab located on the rogue asteroid of Yvarl to the corporate labs of Klem-Corp, located on

the ice moon of Garad in the Falana system (six light years distant), when the nano-

virus escaped from it’s stasis container and began causing problems aboard the Tundara.

ano

-v

irus

RstMstr-XS1 Nano-Virus was accidentally created by Dr. Fredrick

Drummond of Klem-Corp in their Yvarl research lab. The RstMstr-XS1 nanos have

a penchant for consuming any ferrous metals they come into contact with as they

reproduce themselves, leaving behind a slight oxidized (rusty) metal dust as residue.

Their programming was intended to only utilize specific and limited amounts of nearby

material to create specific forms, but a coding error caused the nanos to respond in a

viral fashion. Dr. Drummond’s team was initially unaware of the error due to the lab

area and containment pod being composed of completely non-ferrous materials.

Dr. Drummond decided to ship the completed alpha batch of the RstMstr-XS1 to the

nearest fully staffed Klem-Corp lab, located on Garad in Falana system, for further

testing and development.

After the Tundara was in deep space, a cyborg crewman aboard the Tundara, Elbrent

Smythers, who earns extra credits as a corporate spy for SynthCorp, stole into the cargo

hold in an attempt to learn what was in the stasis container and possibly steal a sample

for SynthCorp. Upon breaching the seal of the stasis container, the nano-virus quickly

overwhelmed the unprepared Smythers and fed off his cybernetic systems, leaving him

unconscious and immobile in the cargo hold.

Subsequently, the RstMstr-XS1 began assimilating all available ferrous materials in the

cargo hold and was able enter the adjacent engineering bay. In engineering, it began

utilizing the engines and related equipment in the bay to expand, causing the ship to

lose power and primary life support, as well as creating a large hull breach. As the

RstMstr began to grow, it has gained some rudimentary intelligence as well, granting it

a limited amount of animal-like cunning. It’s growth is currently being thwarted by the

non-ferrous bridgework that connects the cargo bay and engineering to the rest of the

ship, while the ship slowly drifts in the direction of the Falana system.

ossibLe

oLutions to tHe ProbLem

• Destroy the ship, or at least, the ‘infected’ areas.

• Draw the RstMstr-XS1 away from the ship somehow

• Return the RstMstr-XS1 to the Stasis Container

• Alternate ideas that the players will likely pull out of thin air during play.

ossibLe

omPLiCations

• The remaining crew of the Tundara (Captain

Barron, First Mate Yvonne Pelton, Engineer

Harrison Randolph and Crewman Oran Quegg)

have been able to see the hull damage to

the cargo and engineering sections and the fact that apparently a large portion of the

engines themselves seem to be missing. They have been trying to contact crewman

Smythers and crewman Francisca Terrone (who was in engineering) and are currently

trying to determine their options. There is a small lifeboat under the Bridge, and they

have enough emergency life support to last another five hours when the adventurers

first intercept the distress signal (it will take about an hour to reach the ship). They have

space suits close at hand, which they will don if more damage appears to the hull or

when they decide to enter the lifeboat. Crewman Quegg is on the verge of unreasoning

panic and could prove a danger to himself, his crew mates, and anyone who comes to

rescue if not handled delicately.

• The distress signal could draw the attention of pirates looking for easy pickings. A

sample pirate vessel and her crew are listed in the encounters section of the adventure.

• A rogue asteroid (iron-rich and quite dense), is tumbling through this section of

space and has a chance (1 in 6) of coming dangerously close to the Tundara or any ship

attempting to board her. If this asteroid were to strike a ship, especially one with no

active defenses, the results would be catastrophic for the ship.

• The Nano will begin to create a number of small constructs, designed to scout the

available areas of the ship and to evaluate the situation (and possibly locate more

ferrous materials). These constructs will be dangerous in their own right, as well

White Star - Distress Signal Tundara.pdf

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