Part 1: Seeds of Destruction
Source: Light of Xaryxis, p. 9
Chapter 1: Astral Rain
As the adventure opens, the characters are going about their daily business in a bustling coastal settlement, where everyone is talking about the spectacular meteor showers that have blazed through the sky the past several nights. In fact, what folks have witnessed are showers of astral seeds falling from space and plunging deep into the ground and water in and around the settlement. Some of these seeds have now germinated. The adventure begins when enormous crystalline vines erupt from beneath the streets, throwing the community into chaos.
Astral Blights
When you are ready to begin play, read:
Readaloud
Your adventures have taken you to a coastal community, where local fishing boats share the harbor with trade vessels from far and wide. Lately everyone has been discussing the deluge of falling stars that has lit up the evening sky for the past several nights. Some say these celestial events are omens of impending disaster. Others believe they are a precursor to the gods descending from the heavens to walk the land. No one knows for sure.
You are just finishing your midday meal while listening to a blacksmith tell about being awakened last night by a loud crash. According to the smith, a crystalline vine burst out of the ground and punched a hole through the roof of his neighbor’s bakery. “Must be divine punishment for the bad pies and steep prices,” says the blacksmith with a nervous chuckle. Suddenly, the earth shakes violently beneath your feet. You hear the dull roar of a distant eruption. The smith and several others hurry outside. Joining them, you see a sinuous, crystalline vine erupting from the ground a few blocks away—tall enough to be seen above the rooftops. Screams of panic rise from the same direction.
A sailor standing in your midst says, “I think it’s time I returned to my ship. You’re welcome to join me. You would be wise to flee as well.” With that, she makes her way toward the docks.
The ground churns again, and more eruptions burst through the streets all around you. From these sites sprout smaller crystalline vines that uproot themselves and begin lurching through the streets, driving panicked citizens before them, while the enormous vine in the distance stretches ever taller.
The friendly sailor, Elaina Sartell, is described later in the chapter. She flees at once, leaving the characters to decide their own course of action.
The ambulatory vines are six astral blights (see the accompanying stat block). They focus their attacks on nearby commoners, ignoring the characters except for any who attack them. The blights’ slow speed means the characters can evade them easily.
The characters have several choices for how to proceed:
- Fight the Blights. If the characters destroy all six blights, new ones appear; roll a
d6to determine how many. These new arrivals either burst up from the ground or shamble along streets and alleys, converging on the characters’ location. Each time the characters defeat a group of blights, a new wave appears; repeat the die roll to see how many more blights arrive. With the appearance of each new wave, it should become increasingly obvious to the players that the characters can’t eliminate all the blights and should consider a different course of action. - Head to the Docks. If the characters heed Elaina Sartell’s advice and head to the docks, run the “Trouble at the Docks” encounter when they arrive.
- Hole Up. If the characters try to barricade themselves in a building or find somewhere else in the settlement to hide, the increasingly violent earth tremors cause their shelter to partially collapse, making it apparent that there’s no safe refuge in the settlement. The characters will need to choose another option.
- Investigate the Crystalline Vine. If the characters make their way toward the enormous crystalline vine, see “Crystalline Vine” below.
- Make for the Outskirts. If the characters bolt through the streets and alleys toward the outskirts of the settlement, see “Danger in the Streets” below.
Crystalline Vine
The vine growing in the center of the settlement sprouted after an astral seed fell from the sky, crashed into the bakery, and buried itself in the ground. The vine is 50 feet wide at its base, rises 1,000 feet into the air, and is still growing. It is made of an iridescent mineral that is impervious to the characters’ spells and weapons. A character who makes a successful DC 10 Intelligence (Nature) check determines that the substance is a type of living crystal.
No astral blights congregate near the crystalline vine, which means the characters can approach and study it without being attacked. The vine is warm to the touch and pulses with light. Any character who succeeds on a DC 15 Intelligence (Arcana) check realizes that the vine’s roots extend deep into the earth and are feeding on the planet’s thermal energy. There appears to be no way to stop this process.
As it grows taller, the vine also grows wider, slowly pushing away the dirt and debris from around its base. Inform the players that the tremors seem to be getting stronger as the vine grows, leaving them with two options: flee for the docks (see “Trouble at the Docks” below) or flee for the outskirts (see “Danger in the Streets” below).
Danger in the Streets
Astral blights roam the streets. Members of the local militia (use the guard stat block) try to hold the blights at bay long enough for unarmed civilians to flee the vicinity. If the characters stay in a single location for longer than 1 minute, 1d6 astral blights (see the accompanying stat block) converge on their location and attack them.
The following events occur as the characters move through streets and alleys toward the outskirts of the settlement, but not if they head straight to the docks:
- Avalanche of Debris. Tremors cause buildings close to the characters to collapse, catching them in an avalanche of debris. Each character must make a DC 12 Dexterity saving throw, taking 22 (
4d10) bludgeoning damage on a failed save, or half as much damage on a successful one. - Terrified Citizens. A crowd of thirty commoners rushes past the characters, led by a scrappy youngster who shouts, “To the docks! We’ll take one of the ships! It’s our only hope!” An old woman grabs the arm of a character and moans, “Those vines are everywhere! There’s nowhere safe! We’re all doomed!” Suddenly, a tremor causes a building to collapse, burying half of the crowd and scattering what’s left of it.
If the characters leave the settlement by land, they see dozens of gigantic crystalline vines sprouting across the countryside as hundreds of astral blights rove the fields. The tremors become full-blown earthquakes as the crystalline vines plunge their roots into the earth and reach hundreds of feet into the air. Characters who press on in this direction instead of heading back to the docks are eventually rescued (see “Emergency Airlift” below).
Trouble at the Docks
When the characters arrive at the docks, read:
Readaloud
The scene at the docks is chaotic. Hundreds of people swarm the piers, trying to push their way onto three vessels that haven’t yet set sail: two longships and a galleon. A group of thugs in black leather armor use their clubs on a crowd of screaming commoners, keeping the people away from the ships as they’re loaded with cargo under the supervision of a sneering man with long red hair.
A woman steps out of the crowd and wipes blood from her chin. “Glad to see you again,” she says with a smile. “I’m Captain Elaina Sartell, and one of those ships is mine. Pity I can’t reach it. Would you be good enough to help me? I promise to return the favor.”
Captain Elaina Sartell, a chaotic good bandit captain, commands the galleon Moondancer. She is unflappable—an island of calm in a sea of chaos.
Traevus and His Gang
Captain Sartell identifies the red-haired man as a local crime lord named Traevus—a neutral evil veteran. The ten thugs blocking her path work for him.
Traevus and his thugs are indifferent toward the party but turn hostile if the characters try to force their way onto the Moondancer with Captain Sartell in tow. Although Sartell knows Traevus, he doesn’t recognize her.
Traevus is intent on saving himself and as much of his merchandise as possible. As an action, a character can try to convince him to take the party and Sartell on as crew, doing so with a successful DC 10 Charisma (Persuasion) check.
If Traevus learns that Sartell is the ship’s captain, he orders his thugs to apprehend Sartell, hoping that capturing her will help keep the crew of the Moondancer in line. If he is challenged, or if he catches one or more characters trying to get aboard the Moondancer, Traevus attacks along with six of his thugs while the others continue to hold back the mob that has gathered at the docks. If Traevus is defeated, any remaining thugs in his employ lose their will to fight. Some are overrun by the mob, and the rest leap into the water and swim toward the two longships as they set sail.
Once the thugs are defeated, the Moondancer takes aboard the rest of the citizens gathered at the docks—sixty souls in all—before shoving off. See chapter 2 for more information about the Moondancer and its crew.
Possible Endings
If the characters boarded the Moondancer at the docks, wrap up the session with “Up and Away.” Otherwise, use “Emergency Airlift.”
Up and Away
Once the characters and other passengers are safely aboard the Moondancer, read:
Readaloud
The crystalline vine coils upward, scraping the sky. From the harbor, you can see similar vines miles from the settlement, having burst out of the world and reaching skyward. As the Moondancer clears the harbor, Captain Sartell stamps her boot hard on the deck. “Flapjack!” she yells. “Take us up!”
Suddenly, the galleon lists and creaks as it rises out of the water and into the air! The world falls away beneath you as the Moondancer flies through the clouds and into the starry abyss of night.
Emergency Airlift
If the characters don’t make it to the docks, Captain Sartell reveals her identity to Traevus and negotiates a deal with him whereby she takes command of the Moondancer in exchange for delivering Traevus, his gang, and their belongings to a safe port. As soon as they set sail, Sartell orders the ship to take flight and rescue the party. Traevus and his thugs are too stunned by this development to interfere.
Wherever the characters happen to be, Sartell finds them. Read:
Readaloud
A great shadow falls over you. You look up to see a mighty galleon floating in midair, its sails ruffling in the breeze. A rope ladder tumbles down from the ship’s side to hang mere feet above the ground, and a face appears over the side of the railing.
“Need a lift?” asks the sailor you met earlier.
Here ends chapter 1.
Chapter 2: Attack of the Star Moth
Readaloud
Driven from a coastal settlement by gigantic crystalline vines, astral blights, and earthquakes, the characters secured passage aboard the Moondancer, a galleon under the command of Captain Elaina Sartell. The ship then rocketed into space!
As the Moondancer leaves the planet’s atmosphere and enters Wildspace, Captain Sartell sets a course for the Rock of Bral. Now is the time for you to determine where the Rock of Bral is situated relative to the characters’ home world. Once you’ve determined the Rock of Bral’s location in Wildspace, estimate how many days it will take the Moondancer to get there. If the adventure began on Toril, the Rock of Bral is one of several asteroids orbiting the planet, and getting there takes only a few hours. Otherwise, assume the Rock orbits another world or is situated in a nearby asteroid belt and requires several days to reach.
In this chapter, the Moondancer is intercepted by an astral elf vessel shortly after leaving the characters’ world, but the characters have time to finish a short rest before the enemy ship arrives.
Before running this chapter, familiarize yourself with “chapter 2” of the “Astral Adventurer’s Guide”. Keep the deck plans for the space galleon and the star moth handy, because they will come into play.
Aboard the Moondancer
As the Moondancer leaves the characters’ world behind, read:
Readaloud
Standing on the deck of the Moondancer, you see scores of crystalline vines erupting from the surface of your world, some of the vines reaching high enough to break through the clouds. You find yourself sailing through a void filled with colorful gases and blinking stars. A school of space-dwelling fish swims past the ship on the starboard side.
“Welcome to Wildspace,” says Captain Sartell, sweeping her arms wide. “That was a close thing, down there. Blast if I know what those vines are or how to get rid of them, but somebody on the Rock of Bral might.”
Only two members of the Moondancer’s crew are aboard: Captain Sartell and a spelljamming flumph (see “Flapjack the Flumph” below). Depending on how events played out in chapter 1, the Moondancer might have the following passengers on board, in addition to the characters:
- Traevus and his thugs (neither Traevus nor his thugs will take orders from Captain Sartell, instead keeping to themselves as long as the characters are around to thwart any open revolt)
- Up to sixty commoners (six of whom are competent sailors)
The Moondancer is armed with two ballistae but has no crew to operate them. Its mangonel was destroyed in a recent engagement, and Captain Sartell hasn’t replaced it yet. Getting a new mangonel was the main reason Sartell was on the party’s home world, since wood is much easier to find there than at her usual port of call, the Rock of Bral.
Captain Elaina Sartell
Captain Sartell operates out of the Rock of Bral as a privateer under the commission of the city’s ruler, Prince Andru. She assures the characters that they’ll be safe there.
Once her ship docks at the Rock of Bral, Captain Sartell plans to offload the characters and the ship’s other passengers. This act marks the extent of her willingness to help the characters.
Flapjack the Flumph
One crew member stayed aboard the Moondancer while it was in port: a flumph named Flapjack, who serves as the ship’s spelljammer. Flapjack has the following additional action option:
Readaloud
Spellcasting. The flumph casts one of the following spells, requiring no material components and using Intelligence as the spellcasting ability (spell save DC 12):
At will: mage hand, minor illusion
1/day each: magic missile, unseen servant
Features of the Moondancer
Gallery
Use the space galleon deck plans in the “Astral Adventurer’s Guide” to represent the Moondancer. Noteworthy features are described below:
Area 3:
Captain’s Quarters. Among Captain Sartell’s possessions is a locked treasure chest, which she keeps in her cabin. Captain Sartell carries the only key to the chest. As an action, a character can pick the lock by making a successful DC 15 Dexterity check using thieves’ tools, or break open the chest with a successful DC 15 Strength (Athletics) check. The chest contains three bottles of fine wine (10 gp each), six gold bracelets (25 gp each), nine pearls (100 gp each) in a velvet pouch, and a spell scroll of air bubble (see the “Astral Adventurer’s Guide”).
Area 5:
Spelljamming Helm. The ship’s spelljamming helm looks like a floating, ornate silver chair with a purple seat cushion and no legs. Glowing blue crystals underneath the seat project a magic circle onto the floor, stabilizing the chair. Flapjack the flumph sits in the chair while piloting the ship.
Area 12:
Upper Cargo Hold. The upper cargo hold contains a dozen healthy mules (which Sartell plans to sell as beasts of burden); sacks of food for the animals; and material placed here by Traevus and his gang (see chapter 1), which consists of twenty 40-pound crates of assorted martial weapons (2,000 gp total value) and five hundred bottles of brandy (3 gp each).
Area 13:
Lower Cargo Hold. The lower cargo hold contains crates of foodstuffs and casks of fresh water, enough to last ten Medium creatures for thirty days.
When Elves Attack
The characters have time to take a short rest before trouble catches up to them and Captain Sartell presses them into service. At the end of the characters’ short rest, read:
Readaloud
The ship slows as another vessel comes into view, approaching the Moondancer from astern. The pursuing vessel looks like a giant moth with wings made of iridescent crystal, similar in color and luster to the crystalline vines that ravaged your world. You can just make out figures on the other vessel’s deck scrambling to arm the ship’s mangonel.
“Astral elves,” curses Captain Sartell, “and they don’t look friendly. Best ready yourselves for a fight.”
The astral elf vessel is a star moth called the Dark Star. It is crewed by three astral elf warriors—Captain Azmadian (lawful evil), Lieutenant Jalin (lawful evil), and Lieutenant Zanth (lawful neutral)—as well as a neutral evil astral elf star priest named Altura (the ship’s spelljammer), and nine plasmoid explorers of various alignments.
Ship-to-Ship Battle
See chapter 2 of the “Astral Adventurer’s Guide” for rules on ship-to-ship engagements.
Captain Sartell grimly informs the characters that the star moth is the faster ship and that the Moondancer has no hope of outrunning it. She estimates the characters have about a minute to prepare before the star moth gets close enough to use its mangonel (at long range). Once that happens, Sartell orders her ship to turn about and close with the astral elves as quickly as possible to minimize the Dark Star’s opportunity to fire on the Moondancer. It then takes another minute for the two ships to come within boarding distance.
Dealing with the Dark Star
Once the ships are close enough, the three astral elf warriors board the Moondancer, their faces hidden behind visors, and haughtily demand Captain Sartell’s surrender. She politely declines, prompting the astral elves to attack while the plasmoids use the Dark Star’s ballistae to fire on characters they can see. Captain Sartell fights alongside the characters, but Traevus and his thugs, if they are aboard, come to the Moondancer’s defense only if it looks like the characters are about to lose.
The astral elves are confident they can conquer the Moondancer, but if two of the warriors fall, the third tries to retreat to the Dark Star. After that attempt succeeds or fails, the star moth beats a hasty retreat. The star priest, Altura, remains aboard the Dark Star and uses a sending spell to relay what has happened to Helix, an astral elf on the Rock of Bral (see chapter 4). The plasmoids, meanwhile, are not great fighters and either flee or surrender if the characters engage them in melee.
Questioning the Astral Elves
Characters who capture and interrogate one or more of the astral elves can learn the following information:
- The astral elves, by order of Emperor Xavan of the Xaryxian Empire, are responsible for dropping astral seeds on the party’s home world.
- The leader of the astral elf forces in this Wildspace system is Commander Vael. Most of Commander Vael’s fleet has already begun sailing back to Xaryxispace. The Dark Star was left behind to monitor the astral seeds’ progress.
- The vines and astral blights will feed on the planet’s energy and that of its flora and fauna until the party’s home world is a dead husk, a process that takes several months. The energy then will be transmitted in a single, enormous burst of light back to the astral elves’ home system to be absorbed by their star, Xaryxis.
- Once the astral seeds have begun their work, there is no way to stop the process. (This isn’t true, but the crew of the Dark Star believes it is. The characters won’t discover the truth of this matter until later in the adventure.)
Questioning the Plasmoids
The plasmoids are mercenaries and have no insight into the astral elves’ motives or plans. Even so, they can provide the characters with the following pieces of information:
- The Dark Star’s cargo hold was packed with at least a hundred astral seeds, which were jettisoned one by one into the atmosphere of the party’s home world. (The plasmoids don’t know what the astral seeds do, but they know that each one resembles a crystal pod roughly the size and shape of a coffin.)
- The astral elves hail from a faraway Wildspace system called Xaryxispace.
- The Dark Star was one of several astral elf ships that traveled to the party’s home world. The rest of the fleet has already departed.
The plasmoids are willing to serve aboard the Moondancer if they are treated fairly. If she survives the battle, Captain Sartell puts the plasmoids to work, though she keeps them under close supervision.
Prisoners of the Astral Elves
If the characters are defeated, the astral elves allow dying characters to be stabilized. The astral elves assume control of the Moondancer while keeping Captain Sartell hostage aboard the Dark Star to ensure Flapjack’s compliance. The astral elf and plasmoid crew members are split between the two ships. The astral elves then start heading for the edge of the Wildspace system to rendezvous with the rest of Vael’s fleet. En route, the two ships might encounter the derelict nautiloid, neogi raiders, or the Rock of Bral navy (all described in chapters 3 and 4), providing the characters with opportunities to escape.
Treasure
The Dark Star is a fine treasure; however, surviving plasmoid crew members recommend abandoning it, knowing that the astral elves will rain vengeance upon anyone in control of one of their ships. Its spelljamming helm is a more easily usable prize. It looks like a legless, high-backed chair made of wood, with crystal wings and armrests. Luminous crystals under the seat project a golden hexagon onto the floor; this hexagon stabilizes the helm, allowing it to swivel while holding it in place.
The Dark Star’s cargo hold contains enough food and water to sustain the ship’s crew for twenty days.
Traevus Takes Over
If the astral elves are defeated and Traevus and his thugs are alive and aboard the Moondancer, Traevus (neutral evil veteran) tries to take the galleon by force before the characters have a chance to finish a short rest.
To the Rock of Bral
Assuming the characters repel the astral elves, the Moondancer resumes its journey to the Rock of Bral. Even if the characters didn’t interrogate the astral elves, Captain Sartell has a hunch that the astral elves have something to do with the calamity befalling the party’s home planet and says as much. She also mentions knowing someone on the Rock of Bral who might be willing to help the party. If the characters inquire further, Sartell informs them the contact is a giff named Commodore Krux, but she can’t tell them more than that since she knows Krux only by reputation.
Enough time passes for the characters to take a long rest. When they’re not resting, the characters are assigned miscellaneous chores.
During the voyage, the characters are free to ask Sartell or Flapjack more about Wildspace, the Rock of Bral, or the duo’s previous adventures. Captain Sartell enjoys telling of her encounters with various Wildspace creatures (among them a friendly solar dragon and some not-so-friendly space clowns), while Flapjack explains the subtleties of astral navigation. If the party has any spellcasters, Flapjack takes this opportunity to instruct them in the rudiments of spelljamming.
Mind Flayers?
When the characters are hours away from arriving at the Rock of Bral, read:
Readaloud
The ship slows unexpectedly. Around you, on all sides, colossal chunks of rock float in the void. Some of them are overgrown with vegetation, while others are bare stone. Creatures resembling jellyfish and rays glide through the spaces between them.
Captain Sartell looks about uneasily. “Hmm. Plenty of places for pirates to hide.”
As if on cue, a vessel lurking behind a nearby asteroid comes into view. Its enormous spiral shell merges with an open bow, beneath which long tentacles wave as if caught in an invisible current.
Sartell sucks her breath in through her teeth and whispers her next words: “Mind flayers.”
Here ends chapter 2.
Chapter 3: Treacherous Salvage
Readaloud
The characters escaped their endangered world with the help of Captain Sartell and her ship, the Moondancer, and ran afoul of an astral elf ship called a star moth. After surviving their first Wildspace encounter, the characters resumed their voyage to the Rock of Bral. Along the way, they made a terrifying discovery: a mind flayer ship lurking among some asteroids!
What at first appeared to be a dangerous mind flayer ship turns out to be a derelict vessel. Closer investigation turns up a single member of a pirate crew. In fact, this “survivor” is a psurlon ringer, a horrific predator disguised as a human.
The Lucent Edict
The vessel is the Lucent Edict, a nautiloid. After the characters sight the craft, read:
Readaloud
As the nautilus-shaped vessel drifts closer, Captain Sartell lets out a sigh of relief. “It’s a derelict,” she says, pointing out its stripped weaponry and broken hull. “If there were mind flayers aboard, they would’ve attacked us by now. Looks like somebody’s already picked it over. Still, there might be something left worth salvaging.”
The sensory input provided by the Moondancer’s spelljamming helm interfaces in a special way with Flapjack’s Advanced Telepathy, enabling the flumph to sense the presence of telepathic activity on nearby vessels and making the flumph a sort of early warning system in advance of encounters with mind flayers and their ilk. The nautiloid makes Flapjack uneasy, a feeling that stems from the presence of psurlons on board it. At the same time, the psurlons’ Aberrant Mind trait confounds the flumph’s Advanced Telepathy. Flapjack has the vague sense that something is aboard the derelict vessel but can’t say what. He shares this information with Sartell and any characters with whom he has forged a close bond.
Captain Sartell orders Flapjack to bring her ship alongside the vessel while she designates the characters as a boarding party, instructing them to kill any hostile creatures they encounter.
If the characters balk at exploring the nautiloid, Captain Sartell sarcastically apologizes for interrupting their “pleasure cruise” and wonders aloud whether they’d rather stay back and swab the decks while she does all the hard work. If the characters still refuse, Captain Sartell makes good on her threat and boards the vessel herself in search of salvage. When she doesn’t return, Flapjack urges the party to go and find her, refusing to leave the nautiloid behind until they do so.
Benoto Kralazar
Whether or not the characters consent to Captain Sartell’s plan, they soon see a young human in ragged, bloodstained clothes step out onto the nautiloid’s battle prow. He waves his arms to get their attention and seems to be in distress. If one or more characters enter the nautiloid’s air envelope, he introduces himself as Benoto Kralazar and explains that his ship (the nautiloid) was attacked by neogi. He informs the characters that most of his crew are dead, but there are still a few survivors aboard in need of healing, and he begs the party’s help.
Benoto is a psurlon ringer (see “Boo’s Astral Menagerie”), a descendant of a group of psurlons that traveled with the Lucent Edict’s original mind flayer crew. The mind flayers were attacked and wiped out by githyanki, who disabled the nautiloid and left it adrift. Human pirates found the wreck and tried to plunder it, unaware that the psurlons left behind a hidden clutch of eggs. After hatching from their eggs, the juvenile psurlons began preying on the pirates, killing several of them and forcing the rest to flee. One of the psurlons then assumed the form of a pirate named Benoto Kralazar and has since been using the disguise to lure other victims onto the Lucent Edict.
If the characters board the Lucent Edict, Benoto shows them around the ship while he spins a tale about his crew’s harrowing encounter with a group of neogi. The tale is not entirely fanciful—a band of neogi did recently board the Lucent Edict in search of salvage, but they retreated once they realized the nautiloid was home to a bunch of psurlons.
Exploring the Lucent Edict
Use the nautiloid deck plans in chapter 2 of the “Astral Adventurer’s Guide” to represent the Lucent Edict. The ship shows signs of battle damage and has 220 hit points remaining.
The nautiloid is also missing its spelljamming helm and its ballistae, and its mangonel is broken.
Gallery
The Lucent Edict has the following features:
- Illumination. All areas in the ship are dimly lit by flickering, bioluminescent orbs mounted to the walls or hanging from the ceiling. Removing an orb from its socket causes the orb to go dark.
- Interior Doors. Each interior door is a fleshy barrier that opens when a creature that has telepathy approaches within 5 feet of it, then quickly closes after the creature and its companions have moved through it. A door must otherwise be pried or tickled open, which requires an action.
The following locations are depicted on the nautiloid deck plans. Locations that are not described below are assumed to contain nothing of interest.
1: Captain’s Chair
Readaloud
An impressive chair is posed at the end of a catwalk so its occupant can look down onto the bridge floor. Green, glowing maggots crawl over the chair’s current occupant: a headless mind flayer corpse.
A githyanki knight beheaded the nautiloid’s captain and took the head as a trophy, leaving the rest of the corpse slumped in the chair.
Any character who disturbs the headless corpse causes the green, glowing maggots covering it to become a hostile swarm of insects.
Treasure
A character who examines the captain’s chair and succeeds on a DC 15 Intelligence (Investigation) check finds a secret compartment in the left armrest. This compartment contains a black metal tube containing a spell scroll of wall of force.
3: Spelljamming Helm
Readaloud
Lying on the floor of this raised platform is the headless body of a mind flayer. The stench of the rotting corpse is unpleasant, to say the least. The dead mind flayer lies in an otherwise open space where you imagine the ship’s helm used to be.
The githyanki who attacked the nautiloid disabled the craft by removing its spelljamming helm. They took the head of the dead mind flayer as a trophy.
Treasure
Lying on the deck near the dead mind flayer is an Ioun stone (reserve). The stone currently holds a single casting of the shield spell.
4: Bridge Floor
Readaloud
The nautiloid’s bridge has a high ceiling. Stairs ascend to a forward observation deck, and toward the stern a ladder climbs to the top of a balcony.
Four psurlons (see “Boo’s Astral Menagerie”) hide in the shadows under the two flights of stairs that climb to the observation platform (area 2). These psurlons attack to kill. If Benoto is present, he helps his fellow psurlons.
6: Observation Platform
Readaloud
The splintered remains of a mangonel lie on this forward deck, strewn around piles of ammunition.
Amid several stacks of ballista bolts are a few clusters of mangonel stones. If the characters are interested in salvaging this ammunition, assume there are forty of each kind.
10: Mess Hall
Readaloud
The door to this forward compartment has been fastened shut with sutures made of ropes and steel hooks.
A character can cut through the sutures with a suitable tool and 1 minute of effort, after which the door can be opened normally.
The mess hall contains a neh-thalggu (see “Boo’s Astral Menagerie”) that currently has eight brains. The neh-thalggu, kept as a pet by the mind flayers, evaded the githyanki by using its invisibility spell, but it was later trapped here by the human pirates after it killed one of their number.
If a character approaches within 10 feet of the sutured door, the neh-thalggu calls out for help in Common, begging to be freed. It pretends to be a human pirate named Jaspar Graves and claims to have been trapped here by the aberrations that murdered the rest of the crew. (The neh-thalggu knows that psurlons have killed the other pirates and warns the characters about this if they haven’t already discovered it for themselves.) If the characters ask Benoto about the neh-thalggu’s story, he dismisses it as a fabrication, explaining that “Jaspar” is a brain-devouring aberration and that the characters shouldn’t trust a word it says, nor should they free it.
14: Cargo Hold
Readaloud
This cargo hold looks and smells like a slaughterhouse. Bodies lie strewn about the deck, and the floor is stained with blood. Most of the bodies appear to be human, but one is an arachnid form with an eel-like neck and head that lies as motionless as the others.
If the characters follow Benoto here, he tries to split the party at this point. He invites one or two characters to accompany him to area 4 (where the other psurlons lie in wait) while suggesting that the remaining characters stay behind and search the cargo hold.
Corpses
The cargo hold contains eleven human corpses. The arachnid form is a dead “neogi” (see “Boo’s Astral Menagerie”). A character who examines the corpses and makes a successful DC 10 Intelligence (Investigation) check discovers that all the bodies have circular bite marks on them, including the neogi. Although several scimitars and crossbows are scattered about the room, the corpses show no evidence of having been struck by them.
The bodies are in varying states of decay. With a successful DC 10 Wisdom (Medicine) check, a character can determine that the neogi died within the last 24 hours, and that the freshest human corpses are at least three days old.
Supplies
In addition to the corpses, the cargo hold has enough food and water stored in crates and casks to nourish ten Medium creatures for five days, as well several barrels of pickled brains floating in brine (food for the mind flayers).
Treasure
A search of the human corpses in the cargo hold turns up a total of 23 gp and 117 sp in loose change and a bloodstone ring (50 gp).
17: Cellblock
Readaloud
The rotting corpse of a headless mind flayer lies amid the hacked-up corpses of three hulking creatures with blood-spattered white fur. The condition of the corpses suggests that something or someone has been feeding on them.
Githyanki warriors slew a mind flayer and its three quaggoth thralls, then claimed the illithid’s head as a trophy. The corpses are slowly being consumed by the quaggoth in area 19, who survived the githyanki attack by hiding. Characters who take the time to search the bodies find something of value (see “Treasure” below).
The cells used to contain nine prisoners. The githyanki liberated their kin and put the other prisoners out of their misery. Characters who search the cells find the remains of three humans, a dwarf, a hadozee, and a plasmoid.
Treasure
The beheaded mind flayer wears a +1 breastplate embossed with tentacles.
19: Storage
Readaloud
A terrible stench fills this compartment, but the flickering lights can’t reveal its source. You do, however, hear heavy breathing.
A quaggoth hides around the corner on the starboard side of the compartment, out of view of the doorway. Fearing capture, it attacks any creature that enters the compartment.
Stench
Once the quaggoth is dealt with, the characters can track down the source of the terrible stench: the putrescent, mostly eaten corpses of five psurlons hidden under a staircase that climbs to the battle deck. Within these foul remains are dozens of gelatinous, marble-sized egg casings left behind by the psurlon worms that hatched from the eggs.
Neogi Raiders
The neogi raiders that made an abortive salvage attempt on the Lucent Edict didn’t go far. Reasoning that other ships might be attracted to the drifting derelict, the neogi piloted their craft into a cluster of nearby asteroids and waited.
The neogi watch the Moondancer’s approach with interest, waiting to see if the characters board the nautiloid. Once the characters leave the Lucent Edict and return to their ship, the neogi spring their trap:
Readaloud
Just as you are making ready to leave, a dark shape glides across the face of a nearby asteroid. It is another ship. The new arrival resembles a giant spider, complete with long, delicate legs and weblike rigging. Starlight gleams off its metallic hull as it creeps silently toward your vessel.
“A nightspider!” shouts Captain Sartell. “The neogi were using this hulk as bait, and we’ve flown right into their web!”
Here ends part 1 of the adventure. Each character should gain a level before the next session.