Don't Count Your Eggs.pdf

Don’t Count Your Eggs

Lee Hammock

A Dragonstar adventure for four 6th-level characters

Don’t Count Your Eggs

Preparation

“Don’t Count Your Eggs” is a Dragonstar adventure

for a party of four PCs levels 5th-7th. Any combination

of classes can complete the adventure though a rogue or

mechanist will be especially useful for entering certain

portions of the ship. The adventure can take place on

any lightly inhabited Imperial borderworld or a world in

the Outlands that has yet to join the Dragon Empire.

pirate broadcast was too much of a risk Raspin thought

it was not drastic enough and soon organized a even

riskier mission: stealing the eggs of a prominent red

dragon underling to the Imperial Council. The Raspin

could use the eggs for blackmail or just take a few future

red dragons out of the picture. While Saergin and the

Blue Talons were Initially scared by this plan Raspin

threatened to reveal their involvement in the pirate

broadcast if they did not assist him. Unfortunately only

now did Saergin realized that Raspin was more than a

little obsessed with the cause. Scared out of their wits

the Blue Talons of Truth put Raspin’s plan into action.

One day before the adventure begins the Blue

Talons snuck into an Imperial Hatchery and stole four

eggs belonging to Karwessen, an Under-Secretary to the

Imperial Council. Using a stolen freighter, the Lazy

Wyvern, the Blue Talons hoped to escape before anyone

noticed the theft but they were not quite successful. The

Blue Talons were pursued by a wing of interceptors but

managed to activate their starcaster drive and escape.

Unfortunately their ship was damaged in the escape and

the teleport went off target, sending the freighter into the

Outworlds, where it promptly crashed on a nearby

inhabited world. Saergin and the Blue Talons know it’s

only a matter of time before the Imperial Legions catch

up with them so they’re looking to escape as quickly as

possible, leaving the eggs, but Raspin has other plans.

Adventure Background

Saergin Thunderclaw, a half-dragon of blue dragon

descent, is something of a rabble-rouser. He has never

really accepted that the blue dragons will have to wait

for the red dragons to finish their 1000 year Red Age

before the blue dragons can take what Saergin sees as

their rightful place at the head of the Dragon Empire.

The kingdom of Asamet was founded and led by a blue

dragon, yet they have been forced to play second fiddle

to the red dragons in the Dragon Empire. This did not

sit well with Saergin, so he began fomenting a move-

ment to displace the red dragons.

Saergin’s version of fomenting resistance was

hanging around with his upper class friends, complain-

ing about ancient draconic principles that were being

compromised by Mezzenbone and how all things would

be better with a blue dragon ruler. This small group of

supposed revolutionaries, calling themselves the Blue

Talons of Truth, took no real actions toward displacing

Mezzenbone and his brethren for several years except

for occasional graffiti or similar childish pranks. Then

a new member joined their ranks: a half-dragon of cop-

per descent named Raspin Morningflight. Raspin was a

revolutionary in the full sense of the word, hoping to

overthrow the entirety of the chromatic power structure

using any means necessary so the metallic dragons

could replace them. While Saergin and the original

members of the Blue Claws of Truth were somewhat

frightened by Raspin’s notion of actually going out and

doing something to change the world, they began listen-

ing to his plans. Raspin was not content to simply talk

about revolution or carry out small pranks: he wanted a

declaration of war. Somewhere along the way Raspin

had lost sight of what separates the metallic dragons

from the chromatic dragons and he became willing to go

to any lengths to restore power to the metallic dragons.

Raspin’s first plan was a simple high-jacking

of some Imperial communications satellites in the outer

regions of the Empire and bombarding a few systems

with revolutionary rhetoric against the red dragons.

Luckily the Blue Talon’s managed to escape the blame

for the deed. While most of the Blue Talons thought the

Adventure Synopsis

While traveling either on the planet the Lazy

Wyvern crashed on or in nearby space the PCs receive a

distress signal from the Lazy Wyvern. The signal gives

no indication of what caused the trouble, but it does

enable the PCs to follow the signal to the ship. It is con-

sidered the duty of most spacer’s to help their fellows in

need, and interstellar law says that if no one survives a

crash the ship belongs to whoever salvages it.

When they reach the crash site the PCs explore

the ship and find the various survivors of the Blue

Talons. The Blue Talons have fractionalized between

Raspin and Saergin. Raspin wants to take the eggs and

get away from the ship while Saergin wants to keep the

eggs where they are and turn them over to the Imperial

authorities when they arrive (and blame everything on

Raspin). Unfortunately as it stands right now Saergin

and Raspin’s forces are playing a deadly game of hide

and seek in the ship, each trying to kill offer the other

and take control of the eggs. The PCs are going to have

to work fast before both sides decide the PCs are the

enemy. On top of that the Lazy Wyvern was carrying

some exotic creatures for a private collector, several of

which have escaped their captivity and are now stalking

the halls of the ship. And then they have local bandits

Dragonstar

interested in the ship to worry about too.

Once the PCs get things settled within the ruins

of the ship in some form or another the Imperial Legions

arrive. The PCs can try to fight their way out of their,

keeping the eggs for themselves, or turn them over to

the Imperials.

Seconds later the source makes itself known with

grandeur that must only be from the gods. The sky

lights up like the sun at its highest point, a spear of

fire illuminating the shadows of twilight and putting

the remaining stars to shame. It travels the breadth of

the sky in scant seconds, creating a thunderous boom

as it strikes the earth several miles away. Confused

you gaze at your companions. What was that? And

where did it go?

Adventure Hooks

If the PCs are already familiar with the high-

tech world of Dragonstar the adventure begins with

them receiving a emergency distress signal from the

Lazy Wyvern. If the PCs are on the same planet the sig-

nal originates only a few hours travel away. If the PCs

are in space they can easily head to the planet, which

should be a short distance from their ship. Read the fol-

lowing to the PCs when they receive the distress signal:

Low-tech PCs will have to spend several hours

walking to the crash site, requiring an Intuit Direction

check (DC 15) to successfully find the crash site. Each

failed check means they arrive one hour later, with the

default arrival time being 9:00AM the next morning.

If the PCs wish travel to a nearby settlement for

supplies before visiting the ship they can easily find the

village of Pacer’s End five miles southeast from the

crash site. Located on a reasonably well-used trade

route, it has a great variety of goods available despite

its small size. The villagers are all a buzz about the

crash, having seen the ship hurtling through the sky that

morning. If this a planet beyond the Dragon Empire

they will probably ascribe the ship’s passing to the gods

or some such and be fearful of it. They will also tell the

PCs to be careful of the Red Dozen bandits who have

been raiding caravans over the last few weeks. The Red

Dozen are a dangerous bunch who are very well orga-

nized for bandits. Remember to adjust the arrival time

of the PCs for any time they spend at Pacer’s End.

The radio crackles to life roughly, a static filled

message barely remaining clear enough to be under-

stood. By the frequency of the signal it is clearly

being sent on an emergency transmitter which are

usually only activated when a spacecraft is in desper-

ate need of assistance.

“This is the heavy freighter Lazy Wyvern,”

the message begins, the female speaker’s voice filled

with panic. “We’ve crashed on a habitable planet

from a random jump and don’t know our location.

The ship is badly damaged and we need immediate

assistance. We’ve got vital Imperial…“ With that the

message ends in a dull thud, with static left to fill the

silence. The signal continues to broadcast, but no fur-

ther messages are forthcoming.

Pacer’s End

Pacer’s End (Hamlet): Conventional; AL NG; 800 gp

limit; Assets 1,000 gp; Population 203; Isolated (99%

human).

Authority Figures: Mayor Julia Palish, female human

Ari2

Others: Town Guard, human War1 (15), Exp3 (6),

Exp2 (8), Exp1 (13), Com1 (161)

Notes: Pacer’s End’s main industry is supporting the

merchants who travel on the Greywood Trade Route. A

12-foot tall wooden palisade surrounds the village with

gates on the north and south sides where the trade route

lies.

With a Use Device check (DC 10) the charac-

ters can easily find the source of the transmission. Each

failed check means they arrive one hour later, with the

default arrival time being 9:00AM the next morning.

The distress beacon will continue to broadcast until the

ISPD arrives but no more messages will be sent.

Assuming the characters wish to investigate the crash

site it should take them no more than a few hours to

reach it whatever their mode of transportation.

If the PCs are not familiar with the Dragon

Empire and have no radios read the following instead to

them:

As you prepare for your morning meal, expecting a

long day of travel, the wind slowly begins to pick up.

On its gentle caress a sharp whine is carried, a whine

you soon realize is increasing in volume. A quick

glance around reveals you are not alone in hearing it

as your compatriots look around for the source.

The Final Stop of the Lazy

Wyvern

Despite putting on a brilliant display that morning and

creating a lot of noise the Lazy Wyvern didn’t so much

crash as land really poorly. The ship carved a path

Don’t Count Your Eggs

through the trees for a few hundred yards and buried

itself in the soil, but the ship is not too badly damaged.

With extensive repairs it could conceivably fly again,

but that would take several weeks of work. The ship’s

hull has several scoring marks from laser fire but only a

few breaches. The name of the ship can be read on the

side of the hull, as can the ship’s home port of Arlant 84.

The ship is armed with a pair of laser turrets, one on

each side of the hull, but the crash has destroyed the tur-

ret on the starboard side. The Lazy Wyvern is big for a

freighter, measuring 150 feet from end to end and eighty

feet across at its widest point. The ship has a cargo

capacity of 250 tons, most of which was taken up on this

journey by foodstuffs and large amount of industrial

machinery.

The ship has landed at something of an angle

with the port side being several feet higher than the star-

board. This is not particularly troublesome once one

gets used to it but it does make footing treacherous

inside the ship. The only obvious ways into the ship are

the port cargo door and the airlock near the bridge.

Opening the airlock near the bridge requires ten minutes

of digging and an Open Locks check (DC 25), each

attempt taking 1 minute. The bridge airlock has a hard-

ness of 25 and 30 hit points. The port cargo door can

be opened with an Open Locks check (DC 25), with

each attempt taking 1 minute. The port cargo door has

a hardness of 25 and 70 hit points. The port cargo air-

lock and cargo doors to the center cargo hold are both

blocked and would take at least four hours of digging to

unearth each one. The hull itself can be breached. Each

1 yard square section of hull having a hardness of 25 and

20 hit points.

Because of the various forms of electrical

interference caused by the damaged systems of the ship

radios will not function within 1 mile of the ship with-

out modulating the frequency, requiring a Use Device

check (DC 10) each time a signal is sent.

The ship had a crew of three, one of which has

already been killed. In addition to the surviving

crewmembers there are seven members of the Blue

Talons of Truth on board and several monsters that the

ship was transporting for a collector but have broken

free of their containers and now roam the ship.

The PCs should reach the ship at roughly

9:00AM modified for any unusual travel time to the

ship. From this point forth the DM should keep track of

how much time passes in-game because several events

occur at specific times later in the day.

Within the Lazy Wyvern

The Lazy Wyvern only has partial power and

many systems are damaged. The interior of the ship is

poorly lit and much of the floor is obscured in a low-

lying fog created by numerous steam jets from damaged

pipes. Visibility is only 30 ft., which is doubled for

races with low-light vision. Spot and Search checks suf-

fer a –4 penalty from the poor lighting and fog except in

rooms where the lighting has been restored. Those races

with darkvision can see normally and without penalty

within their darkvision range. The PCs can attempt to

repair the lights in a room, requiring a Repair check (DC

10) and each attempt takes 30 minutes. Once the lights

are restored the visibility returns to normal in that room.

The slant of the deck increases the DC of any

Balance and Climb checks by +5.

All interior doors are without power but they

are all open when the PCs enter unless otherwise noted.

Closing a door requires a Repair check (DC 15) and

each attempt requires 45 minutes. Interior doors and

walls have a hardness of 20 and 20 hit points. The ceil-

ings are 10 feet high except in the cargo hold and engi-

neering, where they are 30 feet high.

Fighting or making any loud noise within the

ship is likely to attract the attention of nearby creatures.

If the PCs make lots of noise the DM should make a

Listen check for nearby creatures to determine if they

hear the PCs. Use the table below to find the DC for the

check. If the creature hears the noise it is up to the DM

if it will come to investigate. Many of the inhabitants of

the ship, especially the intelligent ones, have decided

the best plan is to stay put.

Source of Noise

Listen DC

Melee Combat

Firearms Combat

Using Explosives

Creature

Listen Skill

Captain Nilas Sodderwick

Bargin Smashskull

Dara Foehammer

Maekis Losin

-1

Phed Burbottle

-1

Raspin Morningflight

Saergin Thunderclaw

Salis Nillaris

Serga Bellingad

Shambling Mound

Shocker Lizards

Dragonstar

You should try to play up the feeling of para-

noia within the confines of the ship. The corridors are

filled with fog and illuminated by only occasional

strobe-like lights. Strange shadows abound and noises

echo from far off areas of the ship. The PCs should fee

that there are threats all around them. If the DM wish-

es he may roll 1d10 every ten minutes in the ship to

determine if the environment of the ship suddenly

becomes hostile to the PCs. If a 1 is rolled roll 1d10 on

the table below.

The lights in the room spark on and off, but the

mist seems a bit thinner on the bridge. Control panels

and computers dominate all the walls of the room and

three workstations are evident, but none of them seem

to be completely functional. Many panels have been

fallen open and sparks play across the surface of sev-

eral of the computers. One of the workstations is

obviously the pilot’s, another the captain’s while a

third seems to be for operating the ship’s weapon and

communication systems. The pilot’s chair is occupied

by the body of a female halfling who appears to either

be dead or unconscious.

Roll

Threat

1-2

A steam blast hits random PCs for 1d10

points of damage. Reflex save (DC 10)

for half damage.

The bridge has some scattered debris but is not

as badly damaged as other areas of the ship, mainly

because no combat has taken place here. With a Repair

check (DC 20), each attempting requiring 1 hour, the PCs

can get enough of the control system functioning to get an

idea of the current status of the ship. The ship’s primary

power, life support, maneuvering jets, main engines,

internal sensors, external sensors, the starcaster and

weapon systems are all offline. Repairing any of the dam-

aged systems will require a Repair check (DC 20) and

one hour per attempt, except for the main engines and life

support which cannot be repaired without massive

amounts of spare parts. Repairing the maneuvering jets or

the star caster can only be done in engineering. Repairing

primary power will restore all the lights to normal and

turn all the doors back on. Restoring life support will

remove the fog from the ship and repairing the weapon

systems will allow the characters to operate the one func-

tional laser turret from the bridge. This repairs will only

last a few hours at best before more complete repairs,

requiring large amounts of spare parts, must be made.

The halfling is Serga Bellingad, the pilot of the

Blue Talons. After the crash she and some of the other

Blue Talons loyal to Saergin immediately went to the

bridge with the surviving crewmembers to send a dis-

tress call but Raspin attacked them. Also at the same

time the aranea and the girallon attacked. In the ensu-

ing chaos the aranea captured one member of the crew

and one of the Blue Talons. Saergin and his people fled

back to cargo bay 3 while Raspin retreated to engineer-

ing, dragging Dara Foehammer, the ship’s engineer with

him. Serga was lost in the scuffle, snuck into the bridge

and sent the distress signal, but not before being bitten

by the aranea. In the process of sending the signal she

succumbed to the aranea’s poison, collapsing in mid

message. She will not awake until 7:00AM the next day

unless the PCs some how speed the process along.

If the PCs make a Search check on the bridge

(DC 15) they find 1 minicell, 15 cr., a datapad and a per-

sonal communicator.

3-4

A spark shower bursts around random

PC. All PCs within 5 feet take 1d6 points

of fire damage. Reflex save (DC 10) for

no damage.

5-6

A sudden gout of flame sprouts from a

nearby wall, striking a random PC. The

PC takes 3d6 damage with a Reflex save

(DC 15) for half.

7-8

An electrical conduit suddenly breaks,

electrifying the floor and wall plates

around the PCs. All the PCs must make a

Reflex save (DC 15) or take 2d10 points

of electricity damage.

Debris falls from the ceiling, striking a

random character for 1d10 points of dam-

age, Reflex save (DC 15) for half dam-

age.

Poison gas bursts from a nearby pipe. All

the PCs must make a Fortitude save (DC

10) or take 1d4 points of temporary

Constitution damage. Any type of

breathing apparatus will prevent this

damage.

If the PCs are not familiar with the technology

of the Dragon Empire the DM should slightly modify

the Read-Aloud Text sections to reflect the PCs lack of

familiarity with advanced technologies.

Rooms of the Lazy Wyvern

1. BRIDGE

While the windows of the bridge once provided a

clear view of the stars and beyond, now they just

reveal lots of dirt. The window is completely covered

in upturned soil and the window is fractured in sever-

al places.

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