Blast from the Past (aka "Flight of the Deadjammer") by Richard J. Pugh ------------------------------------------------------------------------ This scenario is for those who like to fight with the undead. They may never want to fight undead again after they encounter THIS creature. A highly experienced party would be best. This scenario takes place in the Forgotten Realms sphere, but it could easily be transplanted if desired. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Intro The Eternal Wanderer prepared for an unscheduled landing on the forest world of Garden. A few days before, a dragonfly had intercepted the dreadnought, bringing a distress call. The people of Garden needed clerical help, and fast. A plague, they said it was... Toril would have to wait, Captain Onestar said to himself. He was a samurai from a faraway world, but wherever he went, he could never deny someone who was in need. He alerted the ship's chief Priest, and he in turn prepared himself and his small staff to battle some horrid disease. The helmsman eased the ship into a shallow lake, while the dragonfly escort lighted on a nearby rock. Along the shore lay the lifeless remains of buildings, and the people who once used them. "This used to be a major port," Crystal (one of the helmsmen) said, obviously alarmed. "It is as if something stripped the life out of the entire area. Look, even the water is devoid of life!" Crystal was a native of this world, so for her the sight was even more horrible than for the rest of the crew. As the Wanderer's skiff worked its way to shore, those on board could see that indeed the water was dead. Even the seaweed was dead. The landing party ran ashore and searched for any sign of survivors. After nearly twenty minutes, it looked hopeless. "Whatever happened here, we missed it," Onestar said heavily. "Even the trees are striped." Meanwhile, his first mate, Hall-ee-mor Dargess (the Bard of Wildspace), entered a building that had once been a tavern; a tavern he once performed in. The skeletons of patrons were scattered about in disarray. Oddly enough, they almost looked as if they were heading for the door when whatever hit them took their lives. Hall walked back into the street where his wife, Belieth, was standing. She was quiet. Very quiet. "The docks are filled with bodies," she said softly. "I think they were trying to escape." "Yes," Hall answered, referring to the aborted exodus from the tavern. "What could have done this?" he asked aloud. "Magic," a voice said behind them. It was Illeria, the ships mage. "Magic on a scale I have only read about." Other members of the party were gathering in front of the tavern, all having found no sign of survivors. "Illeria, you were talking about magic?" Onestar asked. "Yes: a magical surge of life draining power, like that used by the undead. Something opened a type of portal to the Negative Energy Plane, right there," she explained, pointing to a nearby rooftop. "Could this be the Neogi?" Hall asked. "Unlikely. This whole area is useless now. The Neogi would have wanted to keep this facility working for their own use," the mage answered. "At any rate, this was not a plague. This was an intentional attack." "Who would want to level an entire town, and then leave it be? This place is full of valuables." The comment came from one of the lesser crewman, a dwarf named Darian. His observation had been noted by everyone. Explanations and theories came from everyone, until the voice of Armas, the chief cleric, rang clearly from behind one of the buildings. "We found a survivor!" he called. In an instant he emerged from the alley, along with Merribor, a grommam psionicist healer. They were carrying the injured form of a young man. He was muttering, and a thin line of blood was coming from his mouth. "Get him to the ship!" Onestar commanded. In minutes the group was back on the Eternal Wanderer, and the sole survivor was resting in the ships infirmary. It was several hours before the man was strong enough the speak. Armas emerged, obviously week from using his healing magic, and summoned the senior officers. The rest of the crew was too entranced with the horrid sight on the shore to be interested. "Will he make it?" Hall asked. "If we reach Toril soon enough, yes" Armas answered. "He needs more help than we can provide at the moment." "Can you hear me?" Onestar asked the man, now bandaged and covered with warm blankets. The man coughed for an instant and whispered, "It just appeared... we had no way of stopping it..." "Stopping what?" Onestar asked, patiently. "It came from the sky, and rained death on us - huge spheres of black power came from the sky and exploded above us..." "Spheres of Inhalation...?" Illeria whispered to herself. "Was it a ship?" Onestar asked. "Yes..." "What ship. What did it look like?" "Large wings... burning red eyes... as large as a city..." The gathered group exchanged sudden looks of alarm. Nowhere in all known sources had the ship he was describing ever behaved in this way. The man saw the doubt on the group before him. "I know what I saw!" he insisted. "It was the Spelljammer!" ------------------------------------------------------------------------ The Situation Confused? Good. Your players will be as well. News of this incident will spread all over Realmspace like wildfire. By the time your party reaches Toril or the Tears of Selune, everywhere people will be talking about the unprovoked attack by the Spelljammer. The port will be alive of brave talk from ship captains and navy officers about making the great ship pay for this act, but after a few days things will start to die down. That is, until a sidewheeler comes calling. One of the gnomes will explain that he saw the Spelljammer in orbit around the sun, apparently warming itself. Authorities of all types use telescopes and magic to verify this, and sure enough, the great ship is orbiting the sun, with the citadel side facing away from the star. In no time the port will be in total panic. People will be desperately trying to leave, looting will take place, and so on. The PC's, who are probably as alarmed as anyone else at this point, may be ready to flee from the sphere. Two days after the ship is seen orbiting the sun, it will travel to Luna, and promptly destroy two major cities! After that, it will turn and return to the sun to rest again. Now the people of Realmspace are terrified. Rival governments and races are suddenly faced with a common foe, which they think to be the Spelljammer. Now the PC's can get involved. Since they had seen the carnage on Garden (Make sure they have an encounter similar to the one described in the intro), the representatives of several governments want to speak with them. They will be summoned to Waterdeep to describe what they saw, and they will be asked for their input on the matter. During the conversation, certain things will be established: * The Spelljammer is blindly attacking populated areas, for no apparent reason, as if in a rage of bloodlust. * The Spelljammer has never shown behavior of this type before, in any accounts. * The Spelljammer apparently needs to rest after attacking, and is probably drawing its power from the sun. By now a PC will probably ask, "Is this really the Spelljammer?" If one of them doesn't, one of the delegates will. Allow lots of role playing and interplay at this point. The fact is, there is no way of determining anything other than what is listed above. The PC's may volunteer to travel to the ship and investigate. (Encourage this.) When they find the ship, it will appear to be "sleeping," drawing energy from the sun. If the PC's want to adventure on the Spelljammer, let them try. They will be confused that there is nobody on board! At this point, I will tell you what is really happening: The Truth No, this is NOT the Spelljammer. It was at one time, but now it is something like a lich. About twelve centuries ago, the Spelljammer travelled through Realmspace, and stopped near Garden. It was looking at a strange ship, a leviathan, that was exhibiting some strange light and magical fields. In this Leviathan was a community of humans and demi-humans, who lived in a "commune" mentality, cut off from the rest of the universe. They were rather decadent, with little or no moral fiber, but they never bothered anyone. One of these inhabitants was a wizard who was getting too adventurous with his experiments. The arrival of the Spelljammer, with all of its complex magical fields, disrupted one of them. An explosion created a rip in the ethereal plane, allowing power from the energy plains to escape into the material plane. The explosion destroyed the leviathan in an instant, and the shock wave killed the Spelljammer before it could escape (it tried, but no dice). The Spelljammer let out its dying scream, which was heard by a Smalljammer that was dormant in a dense forest on Toril. This Smalljammer eventually became the new Spelljammer. The "corpse" of the old Spelljammer however, acted as a lightning rod for the magic surge that came from the explosion on the leviathan. Energy from the negative energy plane captured the souls of all the people on the leviathan, AND all the people that were on the Spelljammer at the time of the explosion. In the end, the husk of the Spelljammer acted like a "magic jar," trapping the souls for twelve centuries, raging and cursing all the way. In fact, they gradually intermingled and formed a new conscience that hated life in every form. No one ever noticed, because the drifting hulk was never found by anyone. What's more, since it had no "life" left in it, even the new Spelljammer was unaware that the husk still existed. The husk, filled with the raging, life-hating souls, drifted to the edge of the Realmspace, and settled against the wall. It stayed there until just recently, when a random portal to the Phlogisin opened nearby. The brief surge of energy from the incoming phlogisin was enough to wake the ship up. Using what little power it had, it went through the portal and into the phlogisin. The fiery nature of the phlogisin appealed to it, and it was able to draw in this energy and restore its full strength. However, it knew that this power would have to be restored from time to time. That did not matter. The ship, calling itself the "Deadjammer," re-entered Realmspace and returned to the place where it was created, Garden, and promptly destroyed most of the cities and towns there. Exhausted, it sped to the sun to rest. Several days later it travelled to Luna and did the same. It will take a long time, but the Deadjammer could potentially reduce Realmspace to a graveyard. In fact, that is what it wants to do. After Realmspace, there will be other places to destroy... Now back to our story. If the PC's land on the Deadjammer, they will find it deserted and lifeless, at least for the first hour. After that, the deck of the ship, which has a dry mud quality to it, will crack and crumble, allowing the emergence of all sorts of undead to swarm through the citadel. These are the bodies of those who were on the great ship the moment it was killed, and have been animated by the Deadjammer's twisted brain to kill the PC's. With luck the PC's will have sense enough to get off, and fast. (BTW, they feel no compulsion to stay on board, as they would on the "live" Spelljammer). News of this investigation will cause all kinds of debate as to how to deal with the threat. At this point the GM should start keeping track of time. In exactly four days the Deadjammer will come and destroy three cities on Luna, and one of the asteroid outposts in the Tears of Celune (not a big one mind you, just enough to scare everyone even more). It will then retreat to the sun for a six day rest. It will continue to attack in six day cycles for 18 days, at the end of which every major city on Luna will be destroyed. Plan A Hopefully the PC's will act before that happens. The nations of Realmspace quickly agree to band together and engage the Deadjammer, hoping to destroy it. This gives the GM and PCs an opportunity for some heavy role-playing and battle tactics are laid out. For points on how to build an interstellar spacefleet, consult "Under the Dark Fist," but this time leave the Neogi out (They have elected to remain very quiet during this crisis, and will hide and ride it out if they can). If you don't have that module, then improvise. Just make a huge fleet, where the total tonnage of the challenging ships is equal to that of the Spelljammer. (Hey, I never said it was easy! It may be necessary to send for reinforcements from Greyspace or another nearby sphere, but there is simply no time for that!) Once the nations of Realmspace have their fleet put together, they will hold some training drills using an asteroid that is about the same size as the Deadjammer. Exactly what tactics are used is up to the GM and players (Think about it, how do you battle the Spelljammer? Even a false one?). It will be fifteen days before the nations are ready to fight the Deadjammer. Luna will have been struck two more times, unless the PC's can find a way to distract it, which isn't likely. If a single ship attacks it, the Deadjammer will simply use a sphere of inhalation and wipe the ship out completely. For dramatic effect, perhaps the elves of Evermeet are convinced that they can stop the Deadjammer alone. Sick an entire elven flotilla on the Deadjammer, and watch the undead ship wipe them out like flies, without missing a beat. Just like the Federation attacking the Borg... After the third strike on Luna, the Deadjammer will turn its attention to Toril, namely, a large port city called Waterdeep! It will have to pass through the Tears of Selune before reaching Toril. That is perhaps the best place to engage it. Now the Realmspace fleet, with the help of the PC's, can go at the Deadjammer. For purposes of combat, assume that the Deadjammer has the same combat abilities and weapons at the Spelljammer, BUT, with an MR of C and a SR of 6. This reflects the undead nature of the Deadjammer. It is unlikely to make a difference, however. If the Deadjammer looses the battle, it will start to fly about wildly as the undead spirits finally break free of their prison. In the end, the Deadjammer will fall into Toril's atmosphere and burn up, eventually crashing into an ocean. Plan B On the other hand, if the Deadjammer wins, the PCs (assuming they are still alive) will have a problem: Plan A has failed. The Deadjammer will be too "drained" from the battle to carry out the destruction of Waterdeep, but it will return in six days to do just that. Toril and the rest of Realmspace are now defenseless against this monster. Riots start all over Toril ("The world is ending" sort of thing). Religious cults start springing up, all hoping to appease the "Spelljammer." It will be the longest six days in Toril's history. The PC's may try to take control of the Deadjammer with an Ultimate Helm (if they have one). It won't work, because the entity that inhabits the Deadjammer does not accept the power of an Ultimate Helm. They may get on board and try to destroy the control room, but this may be difficult with all of the undead running around, but with sufficient ground troops, it may be possible. This could be considered plan B. Assume that the kingdom of Wa has been considering this option, and has two of their Tsunami battleships loaded with ground troops. The PC's are more than welcome to join them. If they strike the Deadjammer at the beginning of its rest cycle, it will not have the strength to attack the Tsunami as they approach. As the troops swarm into the citadel, destroying everything in their path, the animated undead will appear and cause all kinds of trouble. (This could be a good place to use the Battlesystem rules.) Assume that the Deadjammer has about 1000 undead "troops," mostly infantry. If the Deadjammer is assaulted in this way, it will be possible to stop it. If someone brakes into the captain's tower, they will find the body of the Deadjammer's former captain (who shared the fate of the ship he once commanded). Consider the former captain a demi-lich for combat purposes. That should keep the PC's busy for a while. Killing the demi-lich will "open the gate" for the spirits to escape. The scene would look something like the scene at the end of "Raiders of the Lost Ark." If the PC's win THIS battle, then the Deadjammer will become a lifeless husk, and in a few weeks time will fall into the sun and burn up. In all likelihood, this attack will succeed in destroying the Deadjammer. Now comes the tedious job of helping rebuild what it destroyed (a great springboard for new adventures, such as finding missing people, reclaiming destroyed areas, and so on.) In fact, the PC's could easily establish a stronghold somewhere in Realmspace, what with the role they played in defeating this menace. The Hollywood Ending But what if the Deadjammer isn't defeated? After the assault on the citadel, the Deadjammer will again need a six day rest. Notice that it has again been forced to wait to begin it's assault on Toril, and it is very angry! Someone else is very angry as well. Somewhere in Realmspace there is an Ultimate Helm (it doesn't matter where), and when the Deadjammer woke up, the Ultimate Helm detected this. This Ultimate Helm reached out to what it thought was the Spelljammer, and was then repulsed when it discovered it had encountered an imposter. The "real" Spelljammer, wherever it is, felt this as well, and it has been on its way to find out just what the hell is going on! When the Deadjammer approaches Toril for the third time, it will be convinced that there is no one in the universe that can stop it. It will be quite taken aback when the real Spelljammer emerges from the Tears of Selune and challenges it. If the PC's are on a ship watching this, they would be wise to assume a safe distance... At this point, the GM can have the two behemoths fight it out, perhaps with the PC's controlling the "good" Spelljammer. This should kill the Deadjammer, if only because it can't move as fast or maneuver as well as the Spelljammer. Assume the Spelljammer has a captain, and can use the tail stinger - it will need it, since the Deadjammer has one of it's own! If by some horrid chance the Deadjammer wins the fight with the Spelljammer, then Waterdeep and all the rest of the cities on Toril will be destroyed over the next few months. After that, the Deadjammer will move on to other places in the sphere, leveling all of the population centers after about two years. After that, it will proceed to another sphere and start the process over again. Somewhere along the line the re-born Spelljammer will appear for a re-match, but regardless, fantasy space will never be the same again. What a GM does with a situation of this type is purely up to him or her. A long running series of adventures to continuously outwit and foil the Deadjammer? A search for a magical artifact that could destroy or trap it? The sky is the limit. ------------------------------------------------------------------------