Adventure - Spelljammer - Wildspace (lvl 6-8).pdf - Spelljammer - sharkygsm

Offici; aMe AC iture

by Allen Varney

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Introduction. ............................ .2

Chapter 1: Ladder to the Sky. ............... .4

Chapter 2: Spacefarers ..................... 9

Chapter 3: Rendezvous With Ravager ......... 13

Chapter 4: The Biggest Dungeon.. ........... 18

Room 1:The Central Chamber. ........... .20

Room 2: A Charmed Life ................ .21

Room 3: Of All Wild Beasts .............. .24

Room 4: Pleasant Dreams ............... .26

Room 5: Ricochets. .................... .28

Room 6: The Grind Canyon .............. .30

Room 7: Emptier Than Empty. ........... .33

Room 8: Village of the Dammed .......... .34

Room 9: Shell Game ................... .37

Room 10: The Gnarled, Bad Caverns. ...... .40

Room 11: Dead Air. .................... .42

Room 12: Ritual Gone Wrong. ............ .45

Chapter 5: The Behemoth Awakens. ......... .47

Chapter 6: Mice Against a Mountain .......... 51

Appendix

Non-PlayerCharacters. .................... 58

New Spelljamming Ships. ................. .60

NewMagic .............................. 60

New Monster: Beholder Mage .............. .62

New Monster: Sentinel. ................... .63

New Monster: Silver Slime. ................. 64

Room 1 Mural Descriptions. ........ inside covers

Monster Summary Table ........ outside gatefold

CREDITS

Design: Allen Varney

Editing: Anne Brown

Cover Art: Brom

Interior Art: John Statema

Cartography: Diesel.

Graphic Design: Stephanie Tabat

Typography: Gaye O'Keefe, Angelika Lokotz

Keylining: StephanieTabat, Roy Parker

Special Thanks: Aaron Allston, Stephen Beeman, Mike Nystul, Warren

Spector, and Rick Swan

ADVANCED DUNGEONS & DRAGONS, ADGD, SPELLJAMMER, PRODUCTS OF YOUR

IMAGINATION, and the TSR logo are trademarks owned by TSR, Inc.

Distributed to the book trade in the United States by Random House, Inc., and in Canada by Random

House of Canada,Ltd. Distributed to the toy and hobby trade by regional distributors. Distributed in the

United Kingdom by TSR Ltd.

This material is protected under the copyright laws of the United States of America. Any reproduction

or other unauthorized use of the material or artwork contained herein is prohibited without the express

written permission of TSR, Inc.

TSR, Inc.

POB 756

Lake Geneva,

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TSR, lnc.

PRODUCTS OF YOUR IMAGINATION'"

TSR Ltd.

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ISBN 0-88038-819-6

“While far into the vast unknown

the strong wing’d Eagles bend/

Their venturous flight in Human

forms distinct; thro’ darkness

deep/

They bear the woven draperies; on

golden hooks they hang abroad/

The universal curtains & spread

out from Sun to Sun/

The vehicles of light. . . .”

-William Blake, The Four Zoas

“Vala: Night the Second,”

lines 150-154 (1797)

ship and a base of operations. They

may choose to remain in space for fur-

ther adventures.

the DM will be ready for anything the

players might do.

Staging Advice: From time to time,

the adventure offers notes on how to

stage a scene; that is, how to pace it,

create an appropriate mood, and pro-

duce certain dramatic effects. The DM

can use this advice to create a vivid,

memorable adventure for the players.

About 2nd Edition ADGD

game rules

This adventure is written using the

terminology and rules of the 2nd Edi-

tion ADGD game. Those who use the

original gamematerials can still play it

easily.

Some noticeable differences are

name changes. The term “magic-user”

has been replaced by “wizard” or

“mage.” The “cleric”character class is

now the “priest” class, though mem-

bers of that class are often still called

clerics.

Monsters are presented in a new for-

mat. The monster descriptions in this

adventure’s appendix use the format of

the Monstrous Compendium series.

The information has been expanded

and reorganized, but nothing from the

original Monster Manual format is

omitted. The pages of new monsters

can be photocopied and inserted in the

Monstrous Compendium binder.

Ability checks: Occasionally, this

adventure calls for PCs to make an

ability check. Roll ld20 and compare

the result with the character’s appro-

priate ability (Strength,Dexterity, etc.).

If the roll is equal to or less than the

ability score, the action succeeds. If

the roll is greater than the ability score,

the action fails.

STORY BACKGROUND

This adventure centers on thespace-

borne race of beholders. Many sub-

species of beholders exist, all with the

same monstrous features and powers,

but varying in skin color and texture,

configuration of eyes, and so on. The

assumption is that beholders in differ-

ent environments evolve through very

rapid genetic deviation and drift.

As described in the SPELLJAMMER

boxed set, these differences produce

deep racism among beholders. Gener-

ally, beholders hold few ideals higher

than destroying each other. The sub-

species organize into “nations” that

wage cold war on one another.

Most beholder nations number only

20 to 40 individuals, the complement

of one or two Tyrant Ships. But about

1,200 years ago, in a distant crystal

sphere far acrossthephlogiston, differ-

ent natural laws allowed the beholder

nations there to grow to enormous

size, over ten thousand strong. These

nations were more racist than any

other nation.

DM NOTES

It’s waiting out there. To those below,

trapped in the ring of the horizon, it

promises only vast black emptiness.

But it waits, and in time they arrive.

The brave and foolhardy, the lucky and

unfortunate, all these visitors discover

its secret.

The void is not empty. Life teems in

its reaches; armadas navigate its

depths. Million-mile vistas of eerie

beauty lie unseen by human eyes. Trea-

suresthat dwarf worlds hide in distant

gulfs. Only the strongest and bravest

can traverse the immense distances

that guard these treasures. For the,

strong and the brave . . . Wildspace

waits.

About This Module

Wildspace is the first AD&D@game

adventure for the SPELLJAMMER”

campaign setting. The SPELL-

JAMMER boxed campaign set is nec-

essary to play.

This adventure is designed to fit any

existing ground-based campaign,

launching the player characters (PCs)

into the vast realms beyond their

world. A DM can also use it to start a

new space campaign. The adventure

works best for four to six characters of

levels 6-8.

This entire adventure is for the DM’s

eyes only. Players should NOT read

any further!

Wildspace works with any campaign

world. No adjustment is necessary. The

characters leave their world in the first

sceneand don’t return until the last. . .

if they ever do! At story’s end the PCs

might have their own spelljamming

Adventure Layout

This adventure is presented in chap-

ters. Each chapter includes events

which happen regardless of the PCs’ lo-

cations and actions. Some chapters

also include encounters keyed to a

given location or action. Only if the

PCs enter that location or perform that

action does the encounter takes place.

Any text that appears in a box is

meant to be read aloud (or summa-

rized) for the players. All other infor-

mation is for the DM. Reveal it only in

response to PC actions.

The chapters describe the intended

flow of the story. PCs have great free-

dom to deviate from the intended

course. Therefore, read the entire

module before play begins. That way,

The Sazaur

One such nation, the Sazaur, made

great headway in its wars. Led by a

Hive Mother (or Queen) of astounding

power, the Sazaur virtually extermi-

nated other beholder nations from

their sphere. However, when the Queen

died in battle, the Sazaur nation’s for-

tunes went into eclipse.

The Sazaur ruling caste resolved to

regain their supremacy. But how?

Their dramatic solution: They would

attempt to create an artifact. Using the

eyes of the deceased Queen as their

template relics, the Sazaur focused

their entire nation’s resources and en-

listed the mysterious Arcane in a task

that would tax a god.

Over the next two centuries, the Sa-

zaur hollowed out an asteroid to create

a huge “incubator” called the Hive.

Since the creation process called for

the lives of a billion creatures, the Sa-

zaur also made their asteroid Hive a

shelter for a weapon of wholesale

slaughter: the Ravager.

The Sazaur never got to create their

artifact, but they managed to use their

ultimate weapon-once. In a massive

ritual, they first animated the Ravager.

The weapon immediately began its

course of destruction by engulfing and

destroying the entire Sazaur nation.

Some speculate that the Arcane ar-

ranged this fate, for fear that the Sa-

zaur would grow too powerful to

remain trustworthy customers.

Without its controlling beholders,

the Hive drifted through space on a

random course. It passed from the Sa-

zaur’s crystal sphereand was soon lost

in the phlogiston.

on. It has now reached the home

sphere of the player characters.

aboard his ship, or he can recruit them

from their groundling home to serve as

crew. On the mission to the Hive, the

PCs learn about fantasy space and

spelljamming. In an encounter with a

beholder scout ship, they learn about

spelljammer cofnbat.

The PCs eventually learn of their

captain’s strange nature. Probably

they gain control of the Skyrunner

themselves.

In any case, they eventually encgun-

ter, enter, and explore the Hive aste-

roid. This part of the adventure works

as a traditional dungeon adventure:

but in this case, the dungeon rooms

measure two miles on a side! The PCs

literally sail their ship through the stu-

pendous chambers of the Hive.

Shazogrox/Tobart

One beholder mage, a monstrous

wizard, has deduced the Hive’s current

course. The beholder mage, named

Shazogrox, now hopes to bring the

monstrous killing machine under his

control. The key to success: the

Queen’s Eyes. The relics have slowly

grown in power over the centuries,

strengthened by the Ravager’s kills.

They do not yet form a true artifact,but

they come very close.

The Queen’s Eyes bestow titanic

power; but until they achieve true arti-

fact status, they remain fragile and can

be destroyed.

By controlling the Ravager, the am-

bitious Shazogrox hopes to slaughter

all rival beholders in this sphere.

The beholder mage is motivated by

revenge. He was outcast from his na-

tion due to (for lack of a better term)

his political beliefs. Now polyrnorphed

into human form, Shazogrox journeys

across space in the guise of a spelljam-

ming privateer named Jon Tobart.

TobartlShazogrox, as evil as any be-

holder, plots revenge for his exile. He

has planned an audacious scheme to

sneak aboard the Ravager, take the

Queen’s Eyes, and command the Rav-

ager himself. Then he will wipe out be-

holders everywhere, and perhaps

declare himself emperor for good mea-

sure. The slaughter may endow the

Eyes with enough spiritual energy to

give it true artifact status, some two

centuries ahead of schedule!

But to invade the Hive, Tobart needs

help. And that is where the player char-

acters enter the picture.

Against the Ravager

Unbeknownst to the PCs, Jon Tobart

has re-activated the Ravager. When

they find out, the PCs must follow th,e

Ravager and stop it before it annihi-

lates their homeworld!

The Ravager is a gigantic armored

construct shaped like a beholder. Jon

Tobart is inside it, guiding its path. The

PCs can fight the Ravager ship-to-ship

in their spelljammer, or they can infil-

trate the huge weapon’s interior. Inside

the Ravager, the PCs must confront

Jon Tobart, who is armed with the pow-

erful Queen’s Eyes, and find ways to

destroy the beholder, the Ravager, and

the artifact. (Then they have to get out

before the Ravager collapses!)

If they survive this great final battle,

the PCs can attempt to use the Queen’s

Eyes (if the Eyes survive) to stop the

Hive in its course. If they succeed, they

have a ship, a base, and a whole new

kind of fantasy adventure in space.

tims. .

The Hive could not move indepen-

dently. It simply drifted on a slow,

straight course, passing through crys-

tal sphere walls by the powerful magic

of the Queen’s Eye relic. But the

weapon contained in the asteroid, the

Ravager, could move freely. It swept

down on dozens of worlds, leaving to-

tal destruction behind. Meanwhile,

whole armadas perished against the

Hive’s defenses.

The legend grew, especially among

the beholder nations. Each realized

that if it could control the Ravager, it

would achieve supremacy. The weap-

on’s position provoked constant and

intense speculation.

In the last recorded incident, the

Hive took extensive damage from rival

fleets of beholder Tyrant Ships. Any of

the fleets could have finally defeated

the Hive, but with victory in sight, they

turned on each other and destroyed

themselves.

Though breached, the Hive drifted

ADVENTURE

SUMMARY

Jon Tobart, the disguised beholder

mage, captains a polyrnorphed crew

who were once animals, on his spell-

jammer ship called the Skyrunner. To-

bart needs this crew, aswell asthe PCs,

to take him to the Hive. Once there, he

needs them to provide a diversion and,

if necessary, combat support.

Tobart stops at the PCs’ home city

for supplies. The PCs can stow away

The Ravager

The weapon was sighted at sporadic

intervals over the next millennium in

many different crystal spheres. Wher-

ever it was seen, disaster followed. The

Ravager evidently could operate auto-

matically and showed no preference

for killing beholders over other vic-

In this chapter, a spelljamming ship,

the Skyrunner, recruits the PCs for a

mission. The PCs learn about fantasy

space travel, meet the crew of the ship,

and make a few surprising discoveries

about its captain. The mission remains

mysterious.

The captain of the ship, the poly-

morphed beholder mage calling him-

self Jon Tobart, has learned that many

of the Hive’s defenses are specifically

designed to defend against beholders.

This made Tobart’s few beholder allies

nearly useless. Knowing that he will

need crew members of races other

than his own, he searches for adventur-

ers whom he can dupe into aiding his

attempt to seize control of the Ravager.

turn comes, the action continues. Read

this aloud:

eral strands of smaller cord about one-

quarter-inchthick. Closer examination

reveals small metallic threads running

through the rope.

A detect magic spell reveals strong

magic on the rope and on the large

knot used to tie it td the anchor.

Suddenly the object hits the ground

about 50 feet away with a tremen-

dous thooom!

Broken wood and shards of pot-

tery fly into the crowd. People

scream and run away.

The collision kicks up a big cloud

of dust. When it settles, you see that

a merchant’s cart has been totally

demolished by a huge ship’s anchor.

The anchor seems to be made of

iron. It must weigh at least a ton.

A thick, gray rope stretches from

the anchor straight up into the air as

far as you can see. You can’t see any-

thing else overhead.

What do you do?

Likely Actions

Untying the rope: A wizard lock has

been cast on the knot, making it very

difficult to untie.

Untying the knot without damaging

the rope is possible but difficult, re-

quiring a Dexterity check with a pen-

alty of -5. Each attempt takes one

turn. Characterswith the Rope Use pro-

ficiency may make an unmodified roll

in half the time.

If the characters get the rope loose, it

swings back and forth overhead, drop-

ping low enough on every third or

fourth pass to knock the wind out of

some innocent bystander or do inci-

dental property damage.

Remember that this is a very long,

three-inch-thick rope whipping

around; there is a lot of force behind it!

So much, in fact, that a character who

tries to grab hold is swept right up into

the air. It takes another anchor or

something the size of a fully-loaded

cart to pin it down again. Most likely it

dangles loose until the Skyrunner’s

sailors come to fix it (see Event 3).

Cutting the rope: Although thin, the

rope has the strength of hardwood.

What’s worse, the rope sways when

struck, making it difficult to cut. For

these reasons, the rope can take 30 hit

points of damage before breaking.

Cutting the rope destroys the en-

chantment and causes it to start

shrinking back to its normal size. If the

PCs try to grab on as it zips skyward,

they must make Dexterity checks. Any

who succeed are pulled into the heav-

ens with a wrenching force and dizzy-

ing speed. Roll as you would for an

attempt to climb the rope (see below)

with a -3 penalty for complete lack of

preparation. If the PC fails either of

these rolls, calculate distance and

damage as outlined below.

If the PCs cut the rope, Tobart and

his crew still come down as described

in Event 4 below, on a duplicate infinite

rope, held safely out of the PCs’ reach.

EVENT 1: A PIN

DROPS

The adventure begins in a crowded,

open area in any village or city. A mar-

ketplace or bazaar works well.

The PCs have just completed an-

other adventure. Now they wander the

town, perhaps buying supplies or look-

ing for work.

Start the adventure by reading the

following aloud:

They examine the rope and anchor,

of course. These are from the spelljam-

mipg ship Skyrunner, now floating at

anchor several miles overhead.

The subsections that follow outline

the PCs’ likely actions and possible

outcomes. When the PCs are finished

looking at the rope and anchor, move

on to Event 2.

The anchor: The Skyrunner’s mas-

sive anchor is shaped like its

earthbound counterparts. It is roughly

ten feet long, measures eight feet

across its two huge, curved spikes, and

weighs about two tons. On a cross-

piece atop the anchor, the rope is tied

with a complex knot.

The anchor is cast of an iron alloy

with tiny flecks of a silvery metal. Any

character who examines it gets an In-

telligence check. Characters with the

Sailor or Shipwright proficiencies or

secondary skill make this roll with a

+2 bonus. Those who succeed notice

that the anchor shows no signs of cor-

rosion nor any evidence that it has

been employed at sea.

The rope: The rope is a new magical

item called an infinite rope (see the

“New Magical Items” appendix for de-

tails). Normally, the rope is stretched

by playing it out in coils. In this case, it

was simply knotted to ananchor. When

the anchor was thrown overboard, the

rope stretched to the necessary length.

The rope is about three inches thick;

surprisingly thin, considering the

weight of the anchor. It is woven of sev-

You hear a digtant whistle. It starts

low, but very quickly becomes

higher-pitched and louder. It’s com-

ing from overhead.

You look up and see something far

above, a dark speck that quickly

grows bigger. Something large is

falling out of the sky, straight toward

this area!

People around you also see this. A

few panic and scatter. But most of

them just stand, staring upward as

the object hurtles down.

The PCs have only moments (one

round) to act. They should rescue

NPCs, restrain panicking animals, and

otherwise act like heroes.

When does the object actually hit?

Have the players roll for individual ini-

tiative. Determine when the object falls

by making an unmodified initiative

roll. “Count down” to impact by calling

out the initiative order and letting the

PCs act in their turn. Play up the ten-

sion of the scene. When the object’s

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