Dead Suns 3: Shattered Worlds

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<div class='cover-header' style='top:90px;'>Shattered Worlds</div>
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<div class='cover-footer'>An adventure for a Level 5 party of 4 players<br><br> Part 3 of the Dead Suns Campaign <br><br>Based on the "Dead Suns" Starfinder Adventure Path<br><br>Adapted by Dozus & WhistleHunter for the SW5e system</div>
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# INTRODUCTION
Shattered Worlds is an adventure for four 5th level characters. It is part of the "Dead Suns" campaign, a full conversion of the Starfinder "Dead Suns" Adventure Path. The adventure follows the current Canon *Star Wars* timeline and is set in 7 ABY, two years after the Galactic Condorance that ended the Galactic Civil War and established the New Republic.

### Credits

**Story** *Based on the ["Dead Suns" Adventure Path published by Paizo](https://paizo.com/store/starfinder/adventures/adventurePath/deadSuns). Story converted by Dozus.*

**Maps** *From the original Paizo AP.* The Chop *map by archaic Shields.*

**Monster Stat Blocks** *Dozus*

**Playtesting Team** *AtinVexin, Jitterz, Tama, & Whitehart*

## Adventure Summary

### Act 1: Field of the Lost
With the Acolytes of the Beyond cult actively seeking the alien superweapon called the
Stellar Degenerator, the heroes must rush to a treacherous stretch of the Kanz Sector
in search of the cult’s secret base on a remote and dangerous asteroid. The PCs begin this adventure at 5th level.

### Act 2: The Vanished Cult
The heroes infiltrate the Acolyte cult’s hidden base only to find it abandoned and
their enemies one step ahead of them. While searching the facility for intelligence
on the cult’s whereabouts, they also discover evidence that a sinister third party
has visited the base before them. The PCs should reach 6th level
before heading to Hoszh Iszhir in Part 3.

### Act 3: Broken Empire
After turning up clues hinting at the involvement of the Black Fleet, the heroes
journey to Hoszh Iszhir, an inhospitable planet in the heart of the Imperial Remnant Core Worlds. The party must navigate the treacherous politics and threats of the half-dead planet to
track down the exiled navy’s agents and learn where the cult has gone. The PCs should be 7th level by the end of the adventure.

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## ADVENTURE Background
Centuries ago, a Sith mystic named Lady Nyara sought esoteric knowledge that was hidden to even the darkest and most powerful of the Sith. Nyara fed off the pain and suffering of those weaker than her, and she slaughtered hundreds and quickly rose through the ranks of Dark Side cults in the galaxy, eventually apprenticing herself to a Sith Lord. As the number of atrocities she committed in the name of the Darkness mounted, Nyara came to believe that she could avoid the fate of personal death and betrayal that came to every Sith by working to further the total destruction of Light in the galaxy.

Committing herself fully to the chaos of the Dark Side, Nyara began a career in dark soothsaying. Her killings became ritualistic rather than indiscriminate, and she drew prophecies from the very blood of her victims. Nyara extended her mortal life by occult means, extracting the terrible secrets underlying the power of the Force and extrapolating innumerable doomsday futures. Before her death, Nyara recorded her most profane divinations in her magnum opus, a work called The Entropy of Existence and the Glorious Rise of the Void. This work, though obscure to the galaxy at large, is considered a key text to many Dark Side cults. Its dark prophecies span countless realities, including dozens of ways that the universe might someday come to an end. As many Sith are wont to do, she recorded the prophecies in a holocron with a fragment of her own dark soul. But Nyara transcribed her predictions in imprecise and enigmatic language, and the scattered Sith cults have had little success in parsing the mystic’s words and bringing her oracles into fruition.

Until, that is, the Acolytes of the Beyond recently looted an archeological site on Ithor called the Temple of the Twelve. Inside this ancient observatory and Kwa Star Temple, the cult discovered documents describing a celestial body named the Gate of Twelve Suns and its possible connection to an alien superweapon called the Stellar Degenerator. The cultists transmitted these findings to a parent cult, headquartered in a secret asteroid base in a star system in the Kanz sector known only as MZX32905, which the cultists have named the Grave of Vectivus.

Upon receiving the information found in the Temple of the Twelve, the Acolytes at MZX32905 had an astonishing revelation: one of the cryptic divinations in *The Entropy of Existence and Glorious Rise of the Void* foretold the appearance of a vastly powerful weapon from beyond time and space that would first lead to the destruction of several star systems and then to the destabilization of existence itself. Combining these two sources, the Acolytes of the Beyond now believe that Nyara’s prophecy refers to the Stellar Degenerator and suspect that the Gate of Twelve Suns is the key to finding the dimension that houses the alien weapon. The cult still does not know the exact location of the Gate of Twelve Suns, but Nyara’s oracular writings provided one more clue: an obscure reference to a Wild Space star system called Verpidor. Convinced that the means to finding the Gate of Twelve Suns lies in the Verpidor system, the Acolytes of the Beyond hastily erased the data they received from Ithor and set out for Verpidor, abandoning their asteroid base.

Meanwhile, an Imperial Remnant faction commanding the dreaded Black Fleet has been monitoring the activities of a group of New Republic recruits from Munt Ontdal station who explored both the derelict ship Acreon (which was carrying an escaped Black Fleet officer as “cargo”) and the asteroid called the Maelstrom Rock (which the Acolytes of the Beyond believe is a fragment of the Stellar Degenerator). When the adventurers clashed with the Acolytes at the Temple of the Twelve on Ithor, the Black Fleet was able to trace the cultists back to the larger group at the Grave of Vectivus. Curious about the cult’s interest in the adventurers and their discoveries, the Black Fleet dispatched a ship to MZX32905, arriving at the belt just days after the cultists abandoned the asteroid base for Verpidor. In short order, the Black Fleet’s expert slicers restored the cult’s deleted files, learning about both the existence of the Stellar Degenerator and the cult’s destination in the Verpidor system. Obsessed with the idea of gaining control of the alien superweapon for themselves, the Black Fleet again erased the cult’s files and set off in pursuit.

The race is on to find the Gate of Twelve Suns and seize control of the Stellar Degenerator, and the Acolytes of the Beyond and the Black Fleet are already steps ahead of the New Republic. The doomsday clock ticks ever toward midnight, and if no heroes step forward to thwart the cult and the dread navy, the end may come sooner than even the malefic prophet Nyara might have hoped.

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# Part I: Field of the Lost
As the adventure begins, the PCs should be aware that the Acolytes of the Beyond are actively searching for the Gate of Twelve Suns and the Stellar Degenerator—an ancient alien superweapon that would devastate the New Republic (and countless other star systems) if it fell into the cult’s hands. Although the PCs likely defeated Tahomen and his Acolytes cult cell at the end of “Temple of the Twelve,” they also learned that the cult leader shared his discovery with his master’s cult in the Kanz sector. The adventure assumes that the PCs are dedicated to stopping the Acolytes of the Beyond from finding the Stellar Degenerator; indeed, the PCs might already be planning to head to the Kanz sector to search for the cult base and determine what these dangerous cultists are plotting to do with the information they’ve learned, as well as to find out what else the cultists know about the Stellar Degenerator, given its dire capabilities. The PCs can stop off at Munt Ontdal along the way to purchase supplies or upgrade their gear, provided they don’t linger on the station too long.

If the PCs don’t get in touch with their New Republic commander Hera Syndulla on their own, the general contacts them to learn the results of their expedition to Ithor. If the PCs are uninterested in following the lead from Ithor to MZX32905, or if they seem unaware of the urgency surrounding this mission, Hera attempts to impress the gravity of the situation upon the PCs. Syndulla’s signature enthusiasm transforms into urgent concern at the prospect of the Acolytes of the Beyond finding a weapon like the Stellar Degenerator, and she encourages the PCs to find the cult’s base in the Kanz sector so the New Republic can determine just how much information the cult has and how its members might be planning to act on it. If nothing else, General Syndulla points out that if the PCs can find the Gate of Twelve Suns and the Stellar Degenerator first, such a major discovery would be an achievement of historical proportions. In any case, Hera requests that the PCs keep them regularly informed of their progress.

Finally, given the situation’s dangerous nature, Hera offers to reward the PCs for their efforts. If the PCs can track down the Acolytes of the Beyond, the general promises a payment of at least 2,000 credits to each PC—and possibly more, if New Republic Intelligence can convince the Senate of the imminent threat the cultists pose.

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## A Rude Welcome
The journey to system MZX32905 should be largely uneventful, giving the PCs an opportunity to downtime activities if they wish. Dropping out of hyperspace in the asteroid belt, a bleak sight greets the PCs through their starship’s viewscreen: irregular chunks of rock and ice and occasional ominous fields of green and blue floating through an empty void with a vast field of stars for a backdrop.

Give the PCs a few moments to get their bearings, and then ask the PCs to attempt a DC 16 Wisdom (Scan) check using the starship’s statblock. On a success, the PC notices a few peculiar blips on the starship’s instrument panels that indicate irregular movement in the PCs’ vicinity—another ship lurks nearby! The PCs can go to their battle stations to engage in starship combat. If the PCs fail to detect the other ship, they learn they’re under attack when the enemy ship opens fire on them.

**Starship Combat:** Frustrated at losing their valuable claims, a group has decided the group of New Republic recruits from Munt Ontdal must be made an example of. They dispatched one of its mercenary contacts to track the Sunset Maiden and destroy her.

> #### Who is after the heroes?
> 
> Exactly who has sent the *Rusty Rivet* to destroy is up to the GM to determine based on the party’s decisions thus far. During “An Incident at Munt Ontdal,” the crew was hired by Imperial Ambassador Volero Drave to decide the fate of the Maelstrom Rock. Whether the party chose the Akkadese Miners’ Guild or the Mining Collective, the other group may have decided to exact vengeance for their lost property. The PCs also toppled the leader of the Downside Kings. The gang’s successors, or larger crime syndicates that relied on them for a presence on the station, may see them as a loose end to be taken care of. If the party declined to recover Drave’s “personal property” from the *Acreon* - the Black Fleet defector Cmdr. Hebiza Eskolar - or delivered her instead to the New Republic, the ambassador himself might have hired the pirates to retaliate. Use your discretion to tie the attack to your party’s interests and activities.

The job has fallen to Alera Okwana, the ambitious human captain of the pirate vessel *Rusty Rivet*, which followed leads from Munt Ontdal to Ithor. While the PCs dealt with the Acolytes of the Beyond on the surface, the Rivet picked up the high frequency signal from the cultists’ comms unit. They traced the signal’s target to the asteroid belt and, following her gut instinct, Okwana headed to the system to get ahead of the *Maiden*. They’ve been lying in wait since, happening to witness both the presence of the Acolytes of the Beyond and a brief incursion by the Black Fleet.

If the PCs did not detect the Rusty Rivet’s presence, the Sunrise Maiden starts combat with the surprise condition, allowing the pirates to act without reprisal in the first round. Otherwise, the starship combat occurs as normal.

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The *Rusty Rivet* is a modified Muurian Transport. A PC can identify the make and model of the Rusty Rivet with a successful DC 13 Lore or DC 11 Technology check. If the PCs want to avoid combat, they can try to hail the other ship and convince its captain not to attack with either a successful DC 20 Persuasion check to change attitude or a successful DC 19 Intimidate check. In this case, Captain Okwana invites the PCs to her ship for a parley, as described in "The Rusty Rivet" on page XX. If the PCs fail either check, the Rusty Rivet attacks.

> ##### Asteroid Field Combat
> A map is not provided for this combat, but any standard space map will do. Add several asteroid tokens of various sizes. Each round, the asteroids move 1d3 x50 feet in a set direction determined by the GM. If a ship occupies the space the asteroid moves into, it takes 2d10 kinetic damage. Smaller asteroids may be manipulated by tractor beams or destroyed with weapons (AC 13, 30 HP).

Although the *Rusty Rivet* begins this starship battle aggressively, Alera Okwana is more ambitious than bloodthirsty. If the PCs reduce the Rusty Rivet to fewer than half its Hull Points, Captain Okwana uses her ship’s comm unit to hail the PCs. If the PCs respond, Okwana offers to surrender and talk with the PCs. If the PCs don’t respond or refuse to accept Okwana’s surrender, the *Rusty Rivet* fights until it’s disabled (at 0 Hull Points), at which point Okwana transmits her surrender again.

If the PCs defeat the *Rusty Rivet* in starship combat, award them 2,400 XP for the encounter.

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### The Rusty Rivet

Once the PCs have shown that they won’t be easy prey for the Rusty Rivet, either through diplomacy, intimidation, or skill in combat, the savvy Captain Okwana recognizes that she has been bested. She powers down her weapons and hails the PCs, promising that her crew will put up no resistance if the PCs board her ship to discuss terms. If needed, a map of the *Rusty Rivet* is presented in the appendix.

The Rusty Rivet’s crew consists of Captain Alera Okwana, engineer Q4-N5 (droid), gunner Korrina “Steel-Fang” Noh (female Mimbanese), and pilot Zekan Ulis (male Anx). As the PCs board the pirate ship, the crew follows their captain’s orders and assumes nonthreatening poses. This encounter is open-ended, and its results depend on the PCs’ decisions during roleplaying, but it is not intended to be a combat encounter. The adventure assumes that the PCs defeated the pirates in starship combat; there is no need to defeat them a second time in personal combat. Should combat break out between the PCs and the pirates, however, see the development on page XX.

Captain Alera Okwana is surprisingly cheerful and cheeky for a surrendering pirate, though her quick wit and practical banter cover a coldly calculating mind that’s constantly assessing the best way for her and her crew to survive this encounter. Captain Okwana is bold and ambitious, but she is also a savvy survivalist. She cares about her crew, but she has little personal investment in her mission or ship beyond how both might help further her goals— to make a name for herself as a pirate and build a decent fortune before retiring to a more peaceful spot in the galaxy.

As soon as it becomes clear that the PCs are willing to talk, the ever-practical Okwana readily admits to her status as a mercenary, explains her assignment to destroy the Sunrise Maiden, and makes it clear that she has no disagreement with them personally. Given that they already collected half the payment in advance, and she doesn’t much care for the Mining Collective anyway, Okwana is happy to part ways amicably. The pirate captain spends as much time talking with the PCs as they wish. Her responses to some of the PCs’ likely questions are as follows.

**Why did you attack us?/What do you want?** “Well I got paid to, of course! Someone really has it in for you. Well, ‘really’ is maybe too strong, given what they’re paying. But they did give us half up front, which is a mite foolish purse-wise. But it’s their money, I s’pose. I figure I pick up a few corporate jobs, I might could make a name for myself, fall in with the Sovereign Latitudes of Maracavanya. But I’m just as happy to walk away with the advance and leave you folk to your business.”

**Have you encountered any other starships out here?** “Ain’t much out here to see. Handful of passing freighters, nothing worth picking off. There was that nasty buncha Imp ships that came through. Big bruisers, too much for my appetite. But they didn’t care about us little old pirates, so we just shadowed ’em for a bit. They did whatever business they had here and went on their way.”

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**There was an Imperial fleet out here?** “Don’t rightly know whose ships they were. They were Imp built, but don’t take much to find that kinda salvage since Endor. Wouldn’t quite call it a fleet or armada. Flotilla? Argosy? Eh, it was some. We mostly tried to steer clear.”

**What was the Imperial ships’ business here?** “How should I know? They flew around, landed on a few rocks, and left. Not my problem anymore.”

**Do you know anything about the Acolytes of the Beyond or any sort of cult base nearby?** “Yeah, there are cultists out here. Crazy buggers—I suggest giving ’em a wide berth if you come across any. They got a hole on a nearby rock where they get together and do whatever it is cultists do. They call it the Grave of Vectivus, or something equally stupid. Come to think of it, those Imperial ships were headed in that direction.”

**Where is the Grave of Vectivus?** “We think the rock they hole up on is one we call 8-11-B. I’ve never been there, so I don’t know if there’s a base there or not, but I can point you in the right direction.” Captain Okwana punches some commands into the Rusty Rivet’s computer and brings up a navigational chart of the region, which she copies onto a datacard for the PCs. The chart shows the route to Asteroid 8-11-B (area A).

**So where do we go from here?** “Way I see it, you beat us and got us dead to rights. I admit that. But there’s no reason we can’t be friendly-like. I’ll give you 700 credits apiece to let us and the *Rivet* go. Hell, make it a thousand - much as them corporates gave us, I can still make a profit. You go your way, we go ours. Everybody’s happy and nobody dies, yeah?”

If the PCs press the issue, a successful DC 14 Persuasion check or a successful DC 18 Intimidation check prompts Okwana to increase the offer to 1,200 credits apiece. (Threats of violence might prompt the pirates to attack, however).

If the PCs make overt physical threats against Captain Okwana or her crew, there is a chance that the pirates rethink their surrender and decide to attack the PCs. Each time a PC makes such a threat, there is a 20% chance that the pirates believe they must defend themselves with force. What constitutes a physical threat is ultimately up to the GM, but actions such as brandishing a weapon or stating violent intentions are prime examples. If any PC outright attacks a pirate, combat starts immediately. If the PCs required the pirates to surrender their weapons at the beginning of the encounter, Okwana retrieves a frag grenade she’s hidden in a nearby compartment and throws it at the PCs to distract them, while her crew each spend 1 round accessing hidden caches of weapons to rearm themselves and attack the PCs.

If the PCs kill Captain Okwana and her crew without learning about Asteroid 8-11-B and its location, they can still find the information on the *Rusty Rivet*’s computer. A successful DC 15 Slicer's Kit check to slice the system allows the PCs to access the pirate ship’s computer, where they can find the navigational chart that identifies Asteroid K9204 as a base for the Acolytes of the Beyond called the Grave of Vectivus. The pirates’ data is incomplete, however, as the captain is unaware that the Grave of Vectivus (area B) is actually a subterranean base inside Asteroid 8-11-B (area A).

If the PCs talk with Captain Okwana and learn about Asteroid 8-11-B and the Devourer cult’s base from her, award them 1,600 XP. If the PCs fight and defeat the pirates in tactical combat, award the PCs XP as normal, but they gain no additional story award for learning about the cult’s base.

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___
___
>## Captain Alera Okwana
>*Medium humanoid (human), Chaotic Balanced*
>___
>- **Armor Class** 15 (fiber armor)
>- **Hit Points** 90 (12d8 + 36)
>- **Speed** 30 ft.
>___
>|STR|DEX|CON|INT|WIS|CHA|
>|:---:|:---:|:---:|:---:|:---:|:---:|
>|15 (+2)|18 (+4)|16 (+3)|14 (+2)|11 (+0)|16 (+3)|
>___
>- **Saving Throws** Cha +6, Dex +7, Wis +3
>- **Skills** Athletics +5, Deception +6, Intimidation +6
>- **Senses** passive Perception 10
>- **Languages** Galactic Basic, One other
>- **Challenge** 4 (1100 XP)
>___
>***Martial Advantage.*** Once per turn, the captain can deal an extra 7 (2d6) damage to a creature it hits with a weapon attack if that creature is within 5 feet of an ally of the captain that isn't incapacitated.
><br><br><br><br>
>
>### Actions
>***Vibrocutter.*** *Melee Weapon Attack:* +5 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. *Hit:* 6 (1d6 + 3) kinetic damage. Whenever the captain deals damage with the vibrocutter and rolls the maximum on a weapon damage die, it deals an extra 1 kinetic damage.
>
>***Blaster pistol.*** *Ranged Weapon Attack:* +7 to hit, range 40/60, one target. *Hit:* 8 (1d6 + 4) energy damage.
>
>***Multiattack.*** The captain makes two melee attacks with its vibrocutter, or two ranged attacks with its blaster pistol.
>
>### Reactions
>***Parry.*** The captain adds 2 to its AC against one melee attack that would hit it. To do so, the captain must see the attacker and be wielding a melee weapon.
>
>***Leadership.*** For 1 minute, the captain can utter a special command or warning whenever a nonhostile creature that it can see within 30 feet of it makes an attack roll or a saving throw. The creature can add 1d4 to its roll provided it can hear and understand the captain. A creature can benefit from only one Leadership die at a time. This effect ends if the captain is incapacitated.
>
>

___
>## Space Pirate
>*Medium humanoid (any), any nonlawful*
>___
>- **Armor Class** 15 (fiber armor)
>- **Hit Points** 44 (8d8 + 8)
>- **Speed** 30 ft.
>___
>|STR|DEX|CON|INT|WIS|CHA|
>|:---:|:---:|:---:|:---:|:---:|:---:|
>|13 (+1)|16 (+3)|12 (+1)|10 (+0)|12 (+1)|14 (+2)|
>___
>- **Saving Throws** Dex +5, Cha +4
>- **Skills** Perception +3, Religion +2
>- **Senses** passive Perception 13
>- **Languages** Galactic Basic, One other
>- **Challenge** 2 (450 XP)
>___
>***Sure-Footed.*** The pirate has advantage on Strength and Dexterity saving throws made against effects that would knock it prone.
>
>### Actions
>***Vibrorapier.*** *Melee Weapon Attack:* +5 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. *Hit:* 7 (1d8 + 3) kinetic damage.
>
>***Light blaster pistol.*** *Ranged Weapon Attack:* +5 to hit, range 40/60, one target. *Hit:* 5 (1d4 + 3) energy damage.
>
>***Multiattack.*** The pirate heavy makes two melee attacks with its vibrorapier, or two ranged attacks with its blaster pistol.
>
>### Reactions
>***Evasive.*** When the pirate misses with an attack, it can move up to 5 feet without provoking attacks of opportunity.
>
>

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## A. ASTEROID 8-11-B

The information from the *Rusty Rivet* points the PCs to a small asteroid not far from the site of their engagement with the space pirates. It takes the PCs 1d4 hours to navigate their ship through the asteroid field to the planetoid. Officially designated 8-11-B, the asteroid is less than a mile in diameter and is made up of treacherous rock- and ore-infused terrain. Jagged cliffs cover the asteroid’s surface; in fact, there’s only one relatively open area of any size on the entire asteroid. The asteroid is dense enough to provide low gravity and is enveloped with a thin atmosphere. (See Appendix E: Special Rules for thin atmosphere & low gravity mechanics.)

Unless otherwise stated, the large expanses of rock depicted on the map take the form of sheer cliffs that rise about 40 feet high and stabilize into flat surfaces. Collected in the crevices at the base of the cliffs—as well as at the bases of the smaller rock formations—are drifts of a strange sort of space ash made up of metal flakes, rocky grit, and space dust.

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This ash is the product of a disastrous centuries-old mining venture that ground the asteroid’s rock and ore into dust. There’s only one open area on the asteroid large enough to accommodate a starship, located immediately east of the area depicted on the map. Deep grooves and scorch marks in the rocky ground show that starships have landed and taken off from this area repeatedly, though no such ships are currently present. Once the PCs land, they can head to either area A1 or A5. The Acolytes of the Beyond cult base is nowhere in sight; the PCs must explore the asteroid’s sole navigable area to find the secret door that leads to the cultists’ underground base (see area A3).

### A1. Sniper’s Cove

<div class='descriptive'> This narrow pass is flanked by a sheer rocky wall to the north and a more slender—though just as tall—rock formation to the south. A deep pile of silvery ash sits in the cleft between the cliff and a stepped outcropping. Otherwise, the rugged ground is pockmarked but flat.
</div>

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___
___
>## Yex Varad
>*Medium humanoid (human), lawful balanced*
>___
>- **Armor Class** 17 (composite armor)
>- **Hit Points** 82 (11d8 + 33)
>- **Speed** 30 ft.
>___
>|STR|DEX|CON|INT|WIS|CHA|
>|:---:|:---:|:---:|:---:|:---:|:---:|
>|14 (+2)|18 (+4)|16 (+3)|12 (+1)|14 (+2)|11 (+0)|
>___
>- **Skills** Athletics +5, Perception +5, Survival +5
>- **Senses** passive Perception 15
>- **Languages** Galactic Basic, Mando'a
>- **Challenge** 5 (1800 XP)
>___
>***Aggressive.*** As a bonus action, Yex can move up to its speed toward a hostile creature that he can see.
>
>***Mandalorian Mettle.*** Yex has advantage on saving throws against being frightened and charmed.
>
>***Mandalorian Tech.*** Yex's weapons deal one extra die of damage (included) and are enhanced.
>
>### Actions
>***Multiattack.*** Yex makes two attacks with his bevii'ragir or two attacks with his blaster pistol.
>
>***Bevii'ragir.*** *Melee or Ranged Weapon Attack:* +5 to hit, reach 5 ft. or thrown 20/60 ft., one target. *Hit:* 9 (2d6 + 2) kinetic damage, or 11 (2d8 + 2) kinetic damage if used with two hands to make a melee attack.
>
>***Blaster Pistol.*** *Ranged Weapon Attack:* +7 to hit, range 40/160 ft., one target. *Hit:* 11 (2d6 + 4) energy damage.
>
>***Rocket Launcher (3/day).*** *Ranged Weapon Attack:* +7 to hit, range 100/400 ft., one target. *Hit:* 14 (3d6 + 4) kinetic damage. Additionally, hit or miss, the rocket then explodes. The target and each creature within 15 feet must make a DC 14 Dexterity saving throw, taking 3d10 kinetic damage on a failed save or half as much on a successful one.
>
>

This area affords the easiest access to the top of the asteroid’s cliffs 40 feet above. In the area’s northeastern extremity, the sloping rock has been carved into steps leading to the formation’s pinnacle, and similar natural steps exist along the outcropping shown in the area’s northwest corner. The rocky steps up to the cliff are each about 3 feet high (and can provide partial cover) and are considered difficult terrain. Similarly, the cliff is irregular enough that a creature standing on top of it has cover against attacks from the base. From the cliff top, creatures can see across most of the asteroid’s surface, which is covered in treacherous cliffs and rock formations. It’s obvious that this area is the only one that affords access to the asteroid’s rocky surface; its other areas are not traversable.

Lurking on the top of the cliff to the north is a Mandalorian warrior named Yex Varad. A few weeks ago, Varad happened upon the asteroid while on a mission recovering beskar from an Imperial warlord. After a tussle with some stormtroopers on a shuttle, he managed to get the beskar, but his ship was damaged in the process. Yex crashlanded his *Kom'rk*-class fighter/transport on the asteroid by happenstance, setting up a survival tent to stay in while he repaired his vessel. However, he soon fell under the mental influence of the sentient gralloc in area A3. Now, Yex is firmly under the gralloc’s command and has been convinced to defend this area against intruders with his life.

Yex immediately notices the PCs enter this area and positions himself at the edge of the cliff, using Stealth to hide behind cover. After a few rounds of observation, he makes a ranged attack against a random PC he can see with his rocket launcher, seeking cover afterward for reloading and firing again.

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During combat Yex uses stealth to make rocket attacks from the top of the cliff while keeping his position hidden. If opponents climb the cliff to confront him, Yex runs strikes with his *bevii'ragir* spear to slow them down before retreating up the stairs to use his rocket launcher again. Yex is fully convinced that he must kill any creatures that disturb this part of the asteroid. Under the gralloc’s influence, the Mandalorian soldier fights to the death.

Sifting through the 5-foot-deep silvery pile of ash in the crevice between the rocky outcropping and the cliff reveals the presence of a months-old humanoid corpse dressed in tattered black and red rags. A successful DC 10 Wisdom (Medicine) check reveals that the corpse was once a human, and a successful DC 12 Intelligence (Lore) check identifies the iconography on the corpse’s clothing as symbols of the Acolytes of the Beyond. There is little of value on the corpse that isn’t rotted, but around its waist is an Aratech Echo Belt.

In addition, a PC who succeeds at DC 18 Perception check while on top of the cliff finds a small, cloth-wrapped bundle stashed in a crevice. Inside this bundle is a survival tent with a drained power cell, six emergency rations, a credstick loaded with 2,800 credits, and a small leather-bound journal.

The journal belongs to Yex, and pursuing it reveals a couple of months’ worth of handwritten entries in Mando’a (characters who don’t speak Mando’a can translate the journal with a successful DC 22 Intelligence (Lore) check to decipher writing). The entries describe the Mandalorian’s brief time on the asteroid, his most recent conflict with the Imperial Remnant warlords, and his acquisition of a camtono’s worth of beskar. He notes that the beskar is stashed safely away on his ship, which he landed nearby. The journal entries become increasingly jumbled going forward. References to a “flesh beast” recur multiple times until Yex begins referring to this same creature as “master.” Maudlin praise of the creature as a higher power suddenly gives way to gibberish written in no known language.

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### A2. Mynock hive

<div class='descriptive'>
Thin rock formations here curve almost elegantly to form the rough shapes of caves and tunnels, with piles of silvery ash nestled against them like snow drifts.
The ash piled against the rock faces is much more uneven than elsewhere on the asteroid, ranging from a foot deep to 4 or 5 feet deep. All squares with ash in them are considered difficult terrain.
</div>

This cave-like area is home to a lurking trio of Vectivus mynocks that feed on the silvery ash. Millenia ago, a subspecies of mynock evolved on this asteroid, eventually gaining sentience and drawing power from a Dark Side nexus on the rock. Long after their extinction, the Sith Lord Darth Vectivus studied the echo in the Force they left. Some time ago, a flock of mynocks and grallocs landed on the asteroid hunting for ores and energy to eat. The echo of the ancient sentient mynocks stirred within them, and they adopted the powers and habits of the ancient species.

The mynocks lair is inside the enclosed chamber formed by the rock walls near the center of this area, where they have gathered and stored drifts of mineral-rich ash. When they detect approaching intruders (such as the PCs), the mynocks use Stealth to hide behind rocky formations (although the mynocks can fly, the top of the formations are too narrow for them to find a foothold, so they hide on the ground). When a PC moves adjacent to a hidden mynock, the creatures burst out of hiding to attack the PCs. Unless detected by a DC 21 Perception check, the PCs start the encounter with the Surprised condition.

During combat the mynocks try to flank opponents as much as possible, attacking with their claws and taking advantage of their Pack Tactics ability. The PCs have intruded upon the mynocks’ territory and interrupted their feeding, and they are therefore threats the creatures can’t ignore. The mynocks fight to the death to try to drive the intruders away.

Although Yex didn’t know it, a fellow Mandalorian from his clan recently traveled here to check on him. The Mandalorian tracked the *Kom’rk*-class fighter’s distress signal and piloted her own Fang-class fighter to find her clanmate. She entered this cave complex in search of her ally, only to run afoul of the mynocks. She put up a fight, killing a handful of the beasts, but was eventually overpowered. Her half-eaten corpse lies against a wall abutting this area’s southernmost rock formation. The dead Mandalorian still has some of her gear, and aside from her torn-up and useless armor, two switch pistols, two techblades, and two credsticks holding 1,500 credits apiece can still be salvaged. The weapons are pieces of Mandalorian craftsmanship, and have the “Enhanced Tech” trait (add one damage die).

\pagebreakNum

The ash filling the two northern alcoves in this area mostly covers old bones. However, if the PCs spend 10 minutes digging through the ash in the northwest corner, they find a partially intact skeleton in a sitting position. The skeleton’s armor and flesh have long rotted away, but across its lap is a thin, jagged, and rusted piece of metal. Emblazoned on it are the barely legible words “Jonex Mining Corporation.” A PC who succeeds at a DC 18 Perception check notices four bars of pure silver ore behind the skeleton’s back, worth a total of 4,800 credits. The skeleton and silver are remnants of the mining expedition centuries ago, which ended in strange Dark Side phenomena that eventually brought the man who would be called Vectivus to seek out the Sith. They are not directly tied to this adventure’s plot.

___
>## Vectivus Mynock
>*Small aberration, neutral dark*
>___
>- **Armor Class** 16 (natural armor)
>- **Hit Points** 44 (8d6 + 16)
>- **Speed** 5 ft., fly 40 ft.
>___
>|STR|DEX|CON|INT|WIS|CHA|
>|:---:|:---:|:---:|:---:|:---:|:---:|
>|8 (–1)|18 (+4)|14 (+2)|9 (–1)|8 (–1)|14 (+2)|
>___
>- **Saving Throws** Dex +6
>- **Skills** Stealth +6, Survival +1
>- **Senses** darkvision 60 ft., passive Perception 9
>- **Languages** Mynock (telepathic)
>- **Challenge** 3 (700 XP)
>___
>***Atmosphere Agnostic.*** The mynock can survive in any type of atmosphere or vacuum.
>
>***Pack Tactics.*** The Vectivus mynock has advantage on an attack roll against a creature if at least one of the its allies is within 5 feet of the creature and the ally isn't incapacitated .
>
>***Parasite Drain.*** When the mynock deals necrotic damage to a creature, it gains temporary hit points equal to the damage dealt.
>
>### Actions
>***Multiattack.*** The Vectivus mynock makes two bite attacks.
>
>***Bite.*** *Melee Weapon Attack:* +6 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. *Hit:* 6 (1d4 + 4) kinetic damage.
>
>***Consume Force (Recharge 4-6).*** The Vectivus mynock targets a non-droid creature it can see within 60 feet. The creature must make a DC 14 Constitution saving throw. The target takes 4d6 necrotic damage on a failed save, or half as much damage on a successful one.
>
>

\columnbreak

### A3. Gralloc’s Lair

<div class='descriptive'>
This isolated grotto is dotted with piles of silvery ash. To the northwest, a low shelf of rock dams a pool of thick greenish liquid. A humanoid body in torn robes with one arm chewed off is ominously propped against the ledge.
</div>

This area conceals the entrance to the Acolytes of the Beyond hidden base, the Grave of Vectivus. Squares with ash in them are difficult terrain. The rocky shelf to the northwest is about 3 feet tall and provides cover as a low obstacle. The 5-foot-deep pool behind the shelf is a mixture of ash, water, and toxic chemicals, and it’s highly acidic. Anyone who touches the pool takes 2d6 acid damage each round she is in contact with it. Anyone who swims in the pool (or becomes otherwise fully submerged in it) takes 10d6 acid damage per round.

A PC who succeeds at a DC 15 Perception check finds a trapdoor in the ground hidden beneath the piles of silvery ash in the middle of the chamber. It can also be uncovered by a DC 12 Investigation check, or by spending 10 minutes searching the ash. The trapdoor opens into an underground tunnel that leads to the Grave of Vectivus (area B).

\pagebreakNum

A Vectivus gralloc lairs here, lurking in the acid pool. The cultists revere the gralloc as a creation of the Sith and regularly send living sacrifices to it. In turn, the creature acts as a guardian to protect the entrance to their base (see area A4), and it now dominates this expanse of the asteroid. Once it detects intruders, the gralloc becomes obsessed with destroying them. As soon as the PCs enter this area, the gralloc targets a random PC with its enthrall ability, suggesting that the character venture closer to the acid pool to see what treasures might lie within. If the PC fails her saving throw and approaches the pool, the gralloc tries to grab her with its tentacles and reposition her into the acid. If the PC succeeds at her saving throw and the party hasn’t already attacked it, the gralloc tries to target a second PC in this way.

During combat the gralloc pulls itself onto the rocky ledge and attacks with its tentacles. When it successfully grapples a creature, it attempts a reposition combat maneuver to try to drop that creature into the acid pool. If any of the mynocks from area A2 survive, one or more of them might join the fight if they are in a position to be able to hear it. The gralloc is supremely confident in its combat skills and is already incensed that it has lost its regular supply of cultist sacrifices. It fights to the death.

The body propped against the ledge beside the acid pool is wearing an emblem around its neck depicting a distinctive black mask recognizable as Darth Vader’s helmet (identifiable as the symbol of the Acolytes of the Beyond with a successful DC 12 Lore check). A PC who succeeds at a DC 12 Medicine check can determine that the corpse is very fresh; likely only a few days old. The corpse was one of the last Acolytes to flee the secret base. With so many cultists pouring out of the base and leaving in starships, the gralloc realized that the cult was abandoning its underground lair. Angered that the cult broke its agreement with no opportunity for recompense or recourse, the gralloc began attacking cultists as they emerged from the trapdoor. This unlucky cultist was not fast enough to avoid the gralloc’s wrath. The cultist is carrying a belt pouch containing a hefty collection of various rare currencies worth 1,200 credits.

___
>## Vectivus Gralloc
>*Large aberration, neutral dark*
>___
>- **Armor Class** 17 (natural armor)
>- **Hit Points** 105 (14d10 + 28)
>- **Speed** 30 ft., fly 10 ft., swim 30 ft.
>___
>|STR|DEX|CON|INT|WIS|CHA|
>|:---:|:---:|:---:|:---:|:---:|:---:|
>|16 (+3)|17 (+3)|14 (+2)|14 (+2)|12 (+1)|18 (+4)|
>___
>- **Skills** Athletics +6, Stealth +6, Survival +4
>- **Damage Resistances** kinetic, energy
>- **Damage Immunities** acid
>- **Senses** darkvision 60 ft., passive Perception 11
>- **Languages** Mynock (telepathic), Galactic Basic (can understand but not speak)
>- **Challenge** 6 (2300 XP)
>___
>***Forcecasting.*** The Vectivus gralloc is a 6th-level forcecaster. The gralloc's forcecasting ability is Charisma (power save DC 15, +7 to hit with power attacks, 22 Force Points). The Vectivus gralloc knows the following powers:
>
>At will: *affect mind*, *force push/pull*, *necrotic touch*, *rebuke*, *seethe*
>1st level: *dark side tendrils*, *force propel*, *sap vitality*, *earth tremor*
>2nd level: *affliction*, *coerce mind*, *drain vitality*, *force confusion*, *force throw*, *mind spike*
>3rd level: *choke*, *convulsion*, *force repulse*
>
>***Stone Camouflage.*** The Vectivus gralloc has advantage on Dexterity (Stealth) checks made to hide in rocky terrain.
>
>***Combat Caster.*** When the gralloc uses its action to cast a force power, it can use a bonus action to make a tentacle or bite attack.
>
>### Actions
>***Multiattack.*** The gralloc makes two tentacle attacks, or a bite attack and a tentacle attack.
>
>***Bite.*** *Melee Weapon Attack:* +5 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. *Hit:* 9 (2d6 + 2) kinetic damage.
>
>***Tentacle.*** *Melee Weapon Attack:* +5 to hit, reach 10 ft., one target. *Hit:* 6 (1d8 + 2) kinetic damage, and the target is grappled (escape DC 16). Until this grapple ends, the creature is restrained. The gralloc has six tentacles.
>
>***Drag.*** As a bonus action, the gralloc can move an target grappled by its tentacle up to 10 ft. in any direction. The target must remain within 10 ft. of the gralloc.
>
>

\pagebreakNum

### A4. Cultists’ Demise

<div class='descriptive'>
This expansive alcove is devoid of the silvery ash that’s prevalent elsewhere on the asteroid, but it has the appearance of a gruesome graveyard. Several discarded corpses lie here—some that look just a few days old, and some that are rotting with the telltale signs of weeks, if not months, of decay.
</div>

This horrible scene is evidence of the dark pact that the Acolytes of the Beyond cult made with the Vectivus gralloc in area A3. Although brutal, the mind-controlling beast is canny, and the cultists were able to offer it an enticing deal when they set up their underground base on this asteroid: the gralloc agreed to let the cultists enter and exit their base as they pleased, and the cultists promised to sacrifice one of their own to the creature every few months. The Vectivus mynocks used the corpses as food, and to incubate their young offspring (the current clutch of which currently inhabits area A2).

If the PCs examine the corpses and succeed at a DC 12 Medicine check, they discover that the cultists were killed in a methodical, ritualistic manner before being flayed and implanted with something after death. If the PCs have already identified the skreesire in area A3, they can determine that it inflicted the postmortem wounds.

Sifting through the corpses is gruesome work, but there are still a few items of value on the bodies. A PC who succeeds at a DC 12 Perception check finds an onyx-and-ruby ankle bracelet worth 1,150 credits on one of the bodies. A PC who succeeds at a DC 15 Perception check discovers a small pocket of valuables sewn into a jacket worn by one of the corpses, containing a nanite gauntlet and a collection of several credsticks holding a total of 800 credits.

### A5. Shard-filled Slope

<div class='descriptive'>
Nestled between a sheer cliff and a small, narrow rock formation, the ground here slopes at odd angles. To the north is a small field pocked with shards of metal, their sharp edges gleaming. To the west, a steep incline leads upward to a cave-like structure.
</div>

Both slopes here (east and downward to the landing area, west and upward to area A4) are considered difficult terrain. The chunks of metal are left over from the failed mining operation on this asteroid decades ago. The shards’ edges are quite sharp and deal 1d4 slashing damage to anyone who touches one.

A PC who inspects the metallic shards and succeeds at a DC 12 Nature check can identify the composition of the metal as raw mullinine. If the shards are extracted from the ground, they can be used as improvised weapons that deal kinetic damage. Beyond their potential use as weapons, the mullinine shards can be gathered and sold for the valuable ore they contain. In total, 10 shards of mullinine ore can be collected, worth 1,125 credits.

In addition, a PC who succeeds at a DC 14 Perception check notices a silvery glint on the ground among the metallic shards, which turns out to be a dented silver amulet with a pendant shaped into an emblem reminiscent of Darth Vader’s mask. This pendant is worth only about 25 credits, but a successful DC 12 Lore check reveals that it’s a symbol of the Acolytes of the Beyond — hinting at the presence of cultists who have since fled the asteroid.

### A6. Wrecked Mandalorian ships

<div class='descriptive'>
Two ships mark the surface of the asteroid here, one freighter with sharp wings and a smaller fighter. The freighter appears to have crash landed through the asteroid's side, sitting lopsided with part of its fuselage jammed into the broken cliffs to the north. The fighter sits to its further east, appearing largely intact.
</div>

The larger ship is a *Kom’rk*-class fighter/transport which belongs to Yex, and the smaller is a Fang-class fighter belonging to his dead Mandalorian ally (found in A2). Both ships’ make are recognizable as Mandalorian to any PC who passes a DC 12 Lore check to recognize a craft.

The *Kom’rk*-class wrecked here when Yex crash landed his vessel weeks ago. It has clear damage to its exterior: carbon scoring from laser cannons and collision damage to its wings and fuselage. The hatch is locked, but can be opened with a DC 16 Security kit check, or with the gauntlet wristpad pulled from Yex’s arm. The ship’s contents has mostly been extracted by Yex, save the camtono of beskar stashed in a compartment in the cockpit. An inspection of the equipment finds that the reactor core was breached, which probably forced the Mandalorian’s landing, and significant portions of the wiring have been gnawed on by mynocks. It would take a lot of work to get it flying again, probably more than the party has.

The Fang-class ship is in better condition, though it too has wiring damage caused by mynocks. It could be repaired with salvaged parts from the *Kom’rk*-class if the PCs spent a few hours with Mechanic’s Implements.

\pagebreakNum

# Part 2: The Vanished Cult
Once the PCs discover the hidden trapdoor in area A3, they can explore the subterranean Acolytes of the Beyond cult base called the Grave of Vectivus. While the PCs might expect to encounter hordes of cultists here, they soon find that the base is eerily abandoned. Why and where the cult has fled are questions the PCs must seek answers for, as well as whether other parties are interested, and why.

## B. The Grave of Vectivus

This underground bunker once was home to a Acolytes of the Beyond faction that had its fingers in many sinister schemes, including obsessively seeking information about a dark prophecy the cultists hold sacred. Now it is almost entirely deserted. As soon as the cultists connected the Gate of Twelve Suns and Stellar Degenerator with Verpidor, they fled the asteroid belt for that distant system—but not without leaving a few security measures in place.

The entire base is constructed inside an old underground mining tunnel; the cultists lined the unworked stone walls of the tunnel with reinforced pourcrete supported with durasteel beams. The ceilings are 15 feet high and the doors are unlocked, unless otherwise noted. In contrast to the thin atmosphere of the asteroid, inside the base the atmosphere is of normal pressure and composition to support most oxygen-breathing life-forms so the cultists could occupy the base without space suits or other environmental protections; however, the area remains one of low gravity.

The backup generator that powers the base’s life support and defensive systems is still running, but since the cult doesn’t plan to return anytime soon, the entirety of the base’s interior dark unless otherwise indicated (although the lights can be switched back on using the terminal in area B2).

The PCs are not the first noncultists to recently explore this base, however. That honor belongs to members of the Imperial Black Fleet, who managed to deftly avoid the gralloc and mynocks in area A. There are a few hints that the Black Fleet made it to the base first (namely in areas B3 and B10), but it should become clear to the PCs that they’re not alone in their interest in the cult’s base when they examine the computer in area B11, and later when they’re accosted by Black Fleet ships upon leaving the Grave of Vectivus (see Event 2).

\pagebreakNum

### B1. Foyer of the Void

<div class='descriptive'>
The dark and oppressive tunnel below the asteroid’s surface gives way to a severe chamber crafted of metal and pourcrete. A wide sliding door stands in the far wall of the room, rust dappling its edges like rotten lace. A single light above the doorway flickers weakly.
</div>

The underground tunnel from area A3 ends in this large airlock, the entrance to the Grave of Vectivus. The airlock’s outer door stands open; the inner door is locked and trapped (see below). Once the PCs deal with the trap and close the outer door, they can cycle the airlock and attempt to open the inner door with either a DC 18 Security Kit check to disable the device or a DC 21 Strength check to smash the lock and force the dented door open. The sole light in the airlock sheds only dim light.

Before abandoning the Grave of Vectivus, the Acolyte cultists hastily locked the inner airlock door and rigged a trap to discourage unwanted visitors to their base. Under the direction of a member who was once a professional biochemist, they brewed a concoction that drives intelligent creatures mad, then rigged a contraption to spray the mixture through a vent above the door when sensors detect the body heat of living creatures within 10 feet of the door. Any environmental protections from a creature’s armor do nothing to avoid this trap’s effects, since it’s specifically designed to penetrate breathing apparatuses.

The mind spore trap can be detected with a DC 22 Perception check. On detection, the trap can be disabled in a few ways. The computer terminal in area B2 can be used to shut off the trap with a DC 20 Technology check. A DC 18 Investigation check can spot the vent emitting the spores, which can easily be jammed with a small object. Finally, the spores can be neutralized with a successful DC 18 check using a Biochemist’s Kit. If the trap is triggered, a cloud of spores fills a 30 foot cone emitted from the vent above the door. Each creature in range must make a DC 15 Constitution check; on failure, a creature suffers a -4 penalty to Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma based ability checks and saving throws for 1d4 hours.

### B2. Operations Terminal

<div class='descriptive'>
Riveted walls of steel around the airlock hatch extend into a cavernous gloom. At the chamber’s center stands a wide computer console that practically stretches to the ceiling. Rows of grimy buttons frame its blank display screen, from which emanates the faintest of glows.
</div>

This computer terminal controls the electrical mainframe, life-support systems, and major defense mechanisms of the Grave of Vectivus. It is high level computer, requiring a successful DC 19 Slicer's Kit check to slice (if the PCs have the security key card found in area B6c, they gain a +5 bonus to the check). Once the PCs have access to the computer, they can easily restore light to the base. However, the base’s lighting system is in a state of disrepair, and turning the lights back on increases the illumination level throughout the complex only to dim light.

In addition, the computer has control modules for two curious systems: one is labeled “Entrance Deterrent” and the other “Chamber of Devouring.” The former controls the mind spores trap in area B1, while the latter controls the laser wall trap in area B3. Both control modules are behind firewall countermeasures. Accessing either of the modules requires a successful DC 22 Technology check or DC 20 Slicer’s Kit check (the security key card from area B6c provides a +5 bonus to these checks), and PCs who gain access to the modules can reset or permanently disable the associated traps.

Beyond these functions, it is clear that this terminal merely controls the base’s operating systems and does not contain any of the cult’s logs or sensitive operating data. There are oblique references in the code to a larger and more comprehensive computer network located somewhere deeper in the base that contains this information as well as the cult’s comm logs. If the PCs don’t realize it on their own, a successful DC 10 Intelligence check reveals that any information about where the cultists went and what exactly they might have learned on Ithor would be located in that larger computer system.

Award the PCs XP as normal for disabling either of the traps through the computer’s control modules, though they can receive XP for each trap only once; if the PCs have already triggered or disabled either of the traps, they do not get additional XP for activating or disabling them again.

### B3. Chamber of Devouring

<div class='descriptive'>
Half a dozen tiered pillars are interspersed throughout this wide hallway, which ends in a concave wall made of plated steel. A strange pile of body parts and viscera lies next to the easternmost pillar. The faint scent of ozone hangs in the air.
</div>

The cultists practiced profane rituals in the name of the Sith in this unholy chamber and punished any who stood against them. They were especially fond of forcing enemies into this room’s western end before triggering the most deadly feature of the entire base: the laser wall trap that runs the length of the room.

The tiered pillars are 10 feet tall and constructed of treated cortosis alloy. If the PCs investigate the mass of gore next to the eastern pillar, with a successful DC 11 Medicine check they can identify it as the remains of some manner of humanoid. It’s difficult to discern the creature’s exact features, however, because the corpse has been cut into little chunks (a result of the room’s laser wall trap).

\pagebreakNum

The trap in this room consists of a latticed wall of laser beams, stretching from floor to ceiling and wall to wall, that triggers when a creature moves past the easternmost pillar. This triggers combat; the laser wall has +12 to its initiative roll. One round later on the trap’s initiative count, the laser wall activates, beginning at the eastern end of the room (marked by a white dashed line on the map) and rapidly moving to the west, stopping at the room’s western wall. On the following round, the laser wall moves back to the east, stopping where it began, just beyond the easternmost pillar. The wall deals 5d10 energy damage to all creatures within. This process continues each round until the trap is disabled from the computer terminal in area B2.

The room’s pillars are treated with a coating that deflects the trap’s laser beams. Moving through the room while the trap is active is possible, but it requires a successful DC 13 Dexterity saving throw on the trap’s initiative count to avoid the lasers by darting behind one of the pillars when the laser wall passes. A creature must attempt this saving throw each round it remains in the Chamber of Devouring.

There is a high price to pay for sluggishness in avoiding the laser wall. If a creature rolls a natural 1 on the Dexterity saving throw to avoid the trap, it must attempt a DC 11 Dexterity saving throw. If the creature succeeds at this second saving throw, it takes normal damage from the trap. If it fails this second saving throw, the creature takes 20d6 fire damage as the laser wall slices through it, and is likely sliced into minuscule chunks of gore.

Before passing the easternmost pillar, the trap may be detected with a DC 23 Perception check. It may only be disabled from the computer terminal in area B2. If the PCs disable the trap, award them 3,200 XP.

If the PCs sift through the pile of gore near the pillar, they can find a mostly intact patch from the creature’s environment suit. A PC who succeeds at a DC 15 Lore check recognizes that the patch identifies the creature as a member of the Black Fleet, the exiled remnant of the Imperial Navy. This is a clue that the Black Fleet preceded the PCs in infiltrating the Grave of Vectivus.

\pagebreakNum

### B4. Access Corridors

<div class='descriptive'>
A cloying gloom fills this long, claustrophobic hallway. A red light on the western wall blinks slowly, giving the scene a sinister atmosphere.
</div>

These corridors afford access to the base’s mess halls and kitchens (areas B5 and B8) and living quarters for the cultists (areas B6 and B9).

### B5. North Mess

<div class='descriptive'>
This area is divided into two wings. The western chamber contains several pantry shelves as well as four flat, utilitarian stove units with attached faucets, while the eastern side is filled with round metal tables and chairs.
</div>

This is one of two main kitchen and dining areas to serve the cultists inhabiting the Grave of Vectivus, along with the south mess (area B8). The pantry shelves mostly hold dry and preserved foods, as the cultists didn’t devote much time to packing their supplies before heading to Verpidor. The nature of the supplies here is odd, with extremely spicy options mixed with bizarre strains of fruit and vegetable preserves. However, there are enough palatable options that PCs can spend 1d4 hours preparing the foods here into a good meal that can feed up to eight individuals. Alternatively, the PCs can instead spend 30 minutes arranging the stores into up to eight simple ration meal packets that can be consumed at their leisure.

### B6. Living Quarters

<div class='descriptive'>
Minimalist sleeping pallets lie on the severe metal floor of this room, and simple shelves and dressers serve as furniture.
</div>

These chambers were the personal living quarters and meditation rooms of the acolytes of the Grave of Vectivus. Strange garbled phrases are written in a variety of colored paints on several walls. The graffiti on the walls is written in ur-Kittât; if no one can speak that language, a script that can at least be identified with a DC 20 Lore check. Although the graffiti is scrawled in different handwriting and is sometimes presented out of order, the writing essentially repeats the phrase “The Entropy of Existence is known.” Once this phrase is translated, a PC who succeeds at a DC 20 Lore check realizes it’s likely a reference to an obscure Sith text *The Entropy of Existence and Glorious Rise of the Void*, which was written some centuries ago by an evil soothsayer named Lady Nyara and contains ominous prophecies.

Three of the living quarters contain items that might be of interest to the PCs. The dresser in the northwest corner of area B6b is locked (AC 8, HP 15, break with DC 16 Strength check, disable with DC 18 Sleight of Hand check). Inside is a vibroclaw and 2 doses of Poison (Deadly). A PC who succeeds at a DC 14 Perception check while searching area B6c discovers a dark code cylinder tucked into a pile of discarded clothes on the floor. This is a security code cylinder for the computer in area B2. A PC who succeeds at a DC 14 Perception check while searching area B6d finds a small lump under one of the sleeping pallets, which turns out to be a datapad and a credstick holding 1,400 credits.

The datapad requires a successful DC 15 Slicer's Kit check to slice the system to gain access. Among the mundane data files, electronic messages, gaming applications, and other files on the datapad is a single video file labeled “DO NOT DELETE,” which the PCs can notice with a successful DC 10 Perception check once they have access. In the video, Tahomen can be seen standing alongside a Rodian man. Both are dressed in robes and wearing Sith emblems, and Tahomen seems to be teaching the Rodian to channel the Force in order to strangle a vrelt rat in a cage. some sort of chant in ur-Kittât. Throughout the song, both cultists chant in ur-Kittât, repating the the phrase “Nyara knows!” over and over. A PC who succeeds at a DC 18 Lore check recognizes Nyara as the name of an ancient Dark Side soothsayer who was most notoriously the author of a Sith text called *The Entropy of Existence and Glorious Rise of the Void*. This is far more than just a simple instructional video, however, though the PCs likely will not recognize its significance at this point. In fact, the repeated phrase “Nyara knows!” is a password for accessing the base’s datacore (see area B11 for more details).

\pagebreakNum

### B7. Armory

<div class='descriptive'>
Three largely empty rows of shelves line the northeastern side of this wide room. Here and there, a drooping suit of armor hangs from its rack, suggesting that this room once provided storage of a more martial bent.
</div>

This room once stored the cult’s collection of body armor, though its members took most of the pieces with them when they fled the base. Three doors to the south each provide access to a cramped water closet. The cultists left two HXZ-1 *Immobilizer*-series security droids here to deter any who might disturb their headquarters. The droids activate as soon as any creature enters the room. They follow intruders throughout the base and fight until destroyed.

The shelves hold two battle armor suits, two fiber armor suits, two suits of mesh armor, and a Duravlex Fiber Armor suit. All these suits of armor are broken and decorated distastefully with strange cultica, but the dark decorations can be removed without no unexpected difficulty. Each piece of armor can be repaired over the course of an hour with a DC 12 Armormech's Implements check. A PC who succeeds at a DC 16 Perception check detects a hidden panel in the northeast wall. The panel is locked (AC 20, HP 60, break with DC 21 Strength check, disable with DC 15 Sleight of Hand check), but opening it reveals a suit of assault armor with an Integrated Jetboosters Mark I modification installed.

### B8. South Mess

<div class='descriptive'>
This kitchen and dining area seem as if they were abandoned in the middle of a meal’s preparation. Pots of meat slurry and festering dairy sit on the stoves to the west, and metal cups full of some sludgy, long-turned beverage sit on the tables to the east. Tiny flies buzz about the entire scene, flitting from place to place among the rotten smorgasbord.
</div>

The cultists had been in the beginning stages of assembling dinner when they received Tahomen’s communication from Ithor. Sensing that a key prophecy of their profane religion was at hand, they hastily threw some prepared foods in heat-containment units, left other partially prepared meals to rot, and fled with whatever else they could grab on their way out of the base. The north mess (area B5) was not yet in use for the evening when the Acolytes fled, hence the viable supplies in that room. However, the rotting state of the half-prepared meals in this area has rendered everything in the pantries, on the stoves, and on the dining tables spoiled and inedible.

When the PCs enter this area, they must succeed at DC 14 Constitution saving throws or be sickened by the horrible stench of rotting food for 10 minutes. PCs affected by the rotten smorgasbord have disadvantage on ability checks and attack rolls for the duration.

\columnbreak

___
> ## HXZ-1 Immobilizer Droid
>*Medium droid, unaligned*
> ___
> - **Armor Class** AC
> - **Hit Points** Hitpoints
> - **Speed** Speed
>___
>|STR|DEX|CON|INT|WIS|CHA|
>|:---:|:---:|:---:|:---:|:---:|:---:|
>|Str (Mod)|Dex (Mod)|Con (Mod)|Int (Mod)|Wis (Mod)|Cha (Mod)|
>___
> - **Saving Throws** saving_throws
> - **Skills** skills
> - **Damage Vulnerabilities** damage_vulnerabilities
> - **Damage Resistances** Resistances
> - **Damage Immunities** Damage_Immunities
> - **Condition Immunities** condition_Immunities
> - **Senses** Senses
> - **Languages** Languages
> - **Challenge** Challenge and Xp
> ___
>
> ### Actions
> ***Multiattack.*** The Creature Name makes Number and type of attacks
>
> ***Ability Description.*** *Attack Style:* Attack Bonus to hit, Reach/Range, one target. *Hit:* Damage Damage Type damage
>
> ***General Ability Description.*** General Attack Description

\pagebreakNum

### B9. Trapped Quarters

This room resembles the base’s other living quarters (area B6). The cultists who lived here were engineers who helped design the elaborate laser wall trap in area B3, and they outfitted the dresser in the room’s northwest corner with a smaller laser trap, which blasts an arc of laser beams when any of the dresser’s drawers are opened. The trap can be detected with a DC 20 Perception check, and disabled with a DC 17 Security Kit check. Anyone triggering the trap takes 4d10 + 5 energy damage, half on a DC 12 Dexterity saving throw.

The cultists found it difficult to bypass their own trap, so they were forced to leave their belongings behind when the cult abandoned the base. The dresser contains the cultists’ collection of armor and weapon upgrades: a Barbed Armoring Mark II modification, a Nimble Plating overlay, a Brutal Dueling Core, and a Vicious Scope (Deadly).

### B10. Arsenal

<div class='descriptive'>
Three rows of mostly bare shelves stand along the southeastern end of this wide room. Here and there, a dilapidated pistol or longarm sits on a dusty shelf. Three security droids stand near the north wall; each is hunched over and covered in scorch marks, occasionally emitting puffs of sickly gray smoke.
</div>
This room once stored the cult’s collection of stolen and looted weapons, though its members took most of the firepower with them when they fled the base. Three doors to the north each lead into a small water closet.

The three droids are clearly disabled; if the PCs examine them and succeed at a DC 12 Technology check, they can identify the constructs as HXZ-1 *Immobilizer*-series security droids and determine that blaster fire violently dispatched them sometime within the past week. If the PCs encountered the active security droids in area B7, they recognize these droids as the same model, likely programmed to protect the arsenal even in the cultists’ absence.

Further, a PC who succeeds at a DC 14 Perception check while examining the scene finds a small, strange technological device covered in leathery gore. With a successful DC 18 Technology check, the PCs can identify the device as part of a bioengineering cybernetic augmentation. The technology appears military-grade, almost certainly experimental. With a DC 18 Lore check to identify the origin of the device, a PC may recall a secret Imperial military think tank known as the Cylo Directive that specialized in biocybernetics and genetic modification. The program was abruptly shut down after the Shu-Torun War (c. 1 ABY), and no one knows what became of the work of Doctor Cylo or his directive. However, a device like this would certainly seem to match the Directive’s field of work - though there is nothing definitive to link the two. A PC with familiarity or access to Imperial military history will recall with a DC 20 Lore check that Cylo's original laboratory was in the Core World of Hoszh Iszhir, which still manufactures cybernetics to this day.

The shelves here hold the following battered weapons: an ion pistol, a heavy bowcaster, a tranquilizer rifle, a sonic rifle, and a shotgun. All the weapons are unloaded and broken, but each can be repaired with a DC 12 Armstech's Implements check over the course of an hour.

### B11. Datacore

<div class='descriptive'>
Looming over the west side of this sterile room are floor-to-ceiling computer consoles that swallow the entire wall with dizzying displays of darkened screens, inset buttons, levers, and switches. A squat, bony, reptilian creature is slumped over in a congealed puddle of blood in front of the consoles.
</div>

This room houses the Grave of Vectivus’s datacore, the primary computer network used by the Devourer cultists here, as well as a surviving guardian left behind by the cult. A PC can identify the dead creature in the middle of the room as a krastenane with a successful DC 16 Lore or DC 14 Nature check.

The cultists kept two reptilian beasts called krastenane in this room. An ancient Sithspawn creature, these krastenane were cloned from samples recovered from Emperor Palpatine's own collection and prized by the Acolytes, but due to the krastenane’s dangerous unpredictability, the cultists opted not to bring their pets with them when they fled the base. When Black Fleet agents recently explored the Grave of Vectivus, they dispatched one of the krastenane, leaving its partner here to stew in its small-minded rage, seeking any outlet possible for its destructive void gaze. The PCs provide the creature with the perfect opportunity to cause suffering and mayhem, and it attacks them on sight.

\pagebreakNum

___
> ## Krastenae
>*Medium aberration, Neutral Dark*
> ___
> - **Armor Class** AC
> - **Hit Points** Hitpoints
> - **Speed** Speed
>___
>|STR|DEX|CON|INT|WIS|CHA|
>|:---:|:---:|:---:|:---:|:---:|:---:|
>|Str (Mod)|Dex (Mod)|Con (Mod)|Int (Mod)|Wis (Mod)|Cha (Mod)|
>___
> - **Saving Throws** saving_throws
> - **Skills** skills
> - **Damage Vulnerabilities** damage_vulnerabilities
> - **Damage Resistances** Resistances
> - **Damage Immunities** Damage_Immunities
> - **Condition Immunities** condition_Immunities
> - **Senses** Senses
> - **Languages** Languages
> - **Challenge** Challenge and Xp
> ___
>
> ### Actions
> ***Multiattack.*** The Creature Name makes Number and type of attacks
>
> ***Ability Description.*** *Attack Style:* Attack Bonus to hit, Reach/Range, one target. *Hit:* Damage Damage Type damage
>
> ***General Ability Description.*** General Attack Description

The datacore is a high level computer with several secure data modules and a control module for the base’s system-wide comm unit. Accessing the datacore requires a successful DC 19 Slicer’s Kit check to slice the system. Anyone attempting to slice the computer realizes the system normally requires a voiceprint password, meaning an authorized user must speak a password to gain access. If the PCs found the “Do Not Delete” video file on the datapad in area B6d, they can play the video to enter the computer’s password (“Nyara knows!”) with one of the cultist’s voiceprints, granting them a +4 bonus to Slicer’s Kit checks to slice the system (including accessing the secure data modules described below).

Once the PCs have accessed the system, three data modules likely interest them, labeled respectively “Activities,” “Intelligence,” and “Sacred Lore.” The contents of these data modules are described in the following entries, though some of them are protected by security countermeasures. If a module has such countermeasures, they are detailed at the beginning of the module’s entry.

\columnbreak

**Activities Data Module:** This module can be accessed without additional Slicer’s Kit checks. It states the mission of this sect of the Acolytes of the Beyond in no uncertain terms. The denizens of the Grave of Vectivus were devoted to poring through the prophecies in a sacred but cryptic holocron called *The Entropy of Existence and Glorious Rise of the Void*. The data contains the cult’s analysis of some of these divinations, including one prophecy flagged as high-priority. This high priority prophecy is not stored in this data module, but a link points to its location in another secure data module labeled “Sacred Lore” (see below), and the holocron is stored in a nearby drawer. The cultists focused on this one prophecy in particular because they thought it the most likely candidate for them to bring to fruition. From the data, it appears the cultists interpreted the prophecy as referring to some sort of weapon — one powerful enough to serve as a “key” to untold destruction — but they have deciphered little else. In addition to the cultists’ obsessive work to understand more of this prophecy’s latent instructions, this module details the terrible, ritualistic tortures (such as the laser wall in area B3) the Acolytes enacted to try to pull further clues from those lines.

**Intelligence Data Module:** Because of the sensitive information it contains, this secure data module is protected behind a firewall and equipped with a feedback countermeasure. Slicing the Intelligence module requires a successful DC 20 Slicer’s Kit check. If a PC fails this check by 4 or more, every device used in the slicing attempt is infected with a virus that imparts disadvantage to all skill checks using the infected equipment. Disabling the feedback countermeasure or removing the virus from an affected device requires a successful DC 19 Technology check.

\pagebreakNum

The Intelligence data module contains records of all of the communications between the Grave of Vectivus and the Acolytes of the Beyond cult on Bar’leth. Although it appears that the cultists tried to erase this data before they deserted the base, by successfully slicing this module, the PCs also recover most of the communication logs for the base’s comm unit. These captioned recordings document the Bar’leth cult leader Tahomen’s boastful crowing about his cult’s activities at the Temple of the Twelve, including a premature (and ultimately untrue) claim of the cult’s humiliating defeat of the PCs. The last communication log, however, takes on a triumphantly gleeful tone. In it, Tahomen reports that information in the temple’s inner sanctum has revealed the location of the “key” emphasized in Nyara’s prophecy. In the final line of the recording, Tahomen jubilantly states, “Our future awaits, far beyond the confines of the Grave of Vectivus! You must fly, my sisters and brothers! Fly to (garbled static), where the Key awaits…” The recording then ends.

Successfully slicing the data module reveals that the name of the location the Acolytes fled to was deliberately deleted and then meticulously scrubbed from the system. The electronic signature of the slicer who performed these tasks is unlike any of the digital footprints left in either this datacore or the computer terminal in area B2. However, there are clear signs that this data was deleted just a few days ago—sometime after the cultists abandoned the Grave of Vectivus, given physical clues left behind at the base, such as the state of the mess hall in area B8.

**Sacred Lore Data Module:** This module is secured behind a firewall, requiring a DC 20 Slicer’s Kit check to successfully slice. It contains exanodes of information about the cult’s Sith-worshipping beliefs, their interpretation of ancient prophecies, and professed belief in the unlikely resurrection of Darth Vader and Emperor Palpatine. The data outlines the legend of Darth Vectivus, the nature of the "natural Sithspawn" grallocs and mynocks dwelling on the asteroid, and the cult's admiration of the ancient Dark Lord.

In addition to general religious dogma and near-mad ramblings, the data module also details the Grave of Vectivus cult’s fascination with an ancient Sith soothsayer named Lady Nyara, outlining her history as detailed in the first two paragraphs of the Adventure Background. The data even includes a recording of Nyara’s holocron recounting some of her most enigmatic prognostications, as chronicled in her most infamous prophecy, The Entropy of Existence and Glorious Rise of the Void, which the cultists of the Grave of Vectivus treat as gospel.

One of these predictions is flagged as high-priority; if that prediction is accessed, the hologram of Nyara recites, “In the maw of the Twelve lies the Key. Forsooth, shall all be undone. When the knee meets the gorge, so far. The widening gyre implodes—magnificently.” An annotation on the file points to the cult’s study of this prophecy stored in the datacore’s Activities data module (see page 16).

Lady Nyara's holocron itself is stored in a secured drawer connected to the computer. Once in the Sacred Lore data module, the drawer can be opened via computer command for no additional check. Alternatively, the disguised drawer can be noticed with a DC 14 Perception check and opened with a DC 22 Security Kit check. The drawer is trapped, and on a failed check to open, it releases a spray of acid that deals 4d8 acid damage to all creatures in a 10 foot radius.

It was, in fact, the Black Fleet that erased the data in the Intelligence data module that reveals the Cult of the Devourer abandoned the Grave of Vectivus to travel to the Verpidor system in search of the Gate of Twelve Suns. Due to that redaction, at this point, the PCs have no way of knowing where the cultists fled or who exactly deleted the name of their destination, though they may have strong suspicions about the latter, in which case the PCs likely have good reason to believe that the trail to the Gate of Twelve Suns and the Stellar Degenerator leads to Hoszh Iszhir. . In any event, they’ll have more than enough reason to head there after their upcoming encounter with the Black Fleet (see Event 2).
If the PCs successfully slice the Intelligence data module and learn that someone else accessed the Grave of Vectivus’s computer system after the cult deserted the base, award them 1,600 XP.

\pagebreakNum

## EVENT 2: Black Fleet AMBUSH
The PCs can leave the Grave of Vectivus at any time to return to their ship, and the journey back through area A is uneventful unless they left any threats behind on their way in. The PCs might decide to contact General Syndulla with their findings about the Acolytes of the Beyond and the signposts pointing to Imperial agents that they turned up at the Grave of Vectivus. You should encourage PCs to come up with their own plans for tracking the cultists. Before they can leave the system, however, the PCs discover that elements of the Black Fleet still linger nearby.

The Black Fleet has left behind three TIE Interceptors with orders to keep any meddlers from following their agents out of system MZX32905. The starfighters are not capable of hyperspace travel, but the pilots have been promised that a larger carrier ship will be sent in a few weeks’ time to retrieve them and return them to the fleet. As a result, the Imperial pilots are fiercely determined to annihilate any interlopers who might have designs on following the Black Fleet and prove themselves to their superiors.

From hidden positions behind neighboring asteroids, the Imperial pilots saw the PCs land on the asteroid and then descend down into the Grave of Vectivus. The three have spent the ensuing time planning how to best ambush the PCs and their ship, since they figure that’s the best way to rid the Black Fleet of its troublesome tail. As soon as the PCs power up their ship and leave the asteroid’s surface, the interceptors reveal their presence and open fire on the PCs’ ship.

\columnbreak

The two Black Fleet ships are TIE Interceptors. A PC can identify the make and model of the two interceptors with a successful DC 10 Technology check. In addition, a PC who succeeds at a DC 11 Lore check recognizes the markings on the ships as Black Fleet vessels. Follow the same Asteroid Combat scenario as outlined in the *Rusty Rivet* combat.

If the PCs defeat both Black Fleet ships, they can capture and interrogate the pilots. The two Navy pilots deny their membership in the Black Fleet, though their uniforms and the markings on their ships belie their claim. If coerced, the pilots can confirm that the Black Fleet did visit the Grave of Vectivus and that they were ordered to attack anyone leaving the base—information that certainly implicates the Black Fleet as the party behind the deleted data in the base’s datacore (see area B11). Unfortunately, neither pilot has any knowledge of the Black Fleet’s goals in investigating the cult base, and they don’t know the ultimate destination of either the Black Fleet or the Acolytes of the Beyond. If the PCs haven’t already recalled the information they might know about the Black Fleet, allow them to attempt Lore checks to recall knowledge.

If the PCs defeat or escape the Imperial ambush, award them 1,200 XP.

\pagebreakNum

# Part 3: Broken Empire
With the Acolytes of the Beyond having departed to parts unknown, the Black Fleet is likely the PCs’ only remaining lead, as tenuous as it may be. The players may likely seek an Imperial source where they can follow up on their Black Fleet leads. Fortunately, Genera Syndulla contacts them with just such a lead.

## Transmission from Hera Syndulla
Shortly after the PCs’ encounter with the Black Fleet ships in Event 2, they receive a transmission from Gen. Hera Syndulla, their New Republic contact on Munt Ontdal. The general has taken several wings of Barma Battle Group to engage a Remnant warlord at the other end of the Expansion Region, so the party will not be able to communicate in real time. The following exchange assumes the PCs have already informed Hera of their run-ins with the Black Fleet. If this is not the case, you’ll need to adjust the following text. Read or paraphrase the following when the PCs receive Syndulla’s message.

<div class='descriptive'>
“Greetings, my friends. It’s obviously very concerning that the Black Fleet seems so intent on keeping you from following the trail left by the Acolytes of the Beyond, even to the point of attempting to eliminate you,” she begins, arms crossed across her chest. “I assume that means they are now searching for the Stellar Degenerator as well. We don’t know enough about the Black Fleet to say much for certain, but they’re absolutely one of the more dangerous Imperial Remnants left. The remaining legitimate Imperial government that signed the Concordance has been trying to reign them in, or at least root out any loyalists in the Core Worlds, but from what I gather they haven’t been able to make a dent.<br><br>
“Given your run-ins with the Black Fleet of late, I’ve kept my ears out for any news. My contacts in the Imperial embassy here on the station have worked with a bureaucrat and historian in the Imperial Bureau of Vigilance named Waneda Trux. She’s posted on Hoszh Iszhir in New Imperial City, and handles reports about the Black Fleet and other rogue Remnant factions in the sector. According to my contacts, Ms. Trux recently received some indications that the fleet’s agents are up to something—perhaps recruiting for a big mission or gathering resources. It’s unclear. But following any leads that Ms. Trux has gathered could reveal the Black Fleet’s plots for the Stellar Degenerator and, if we’re lucky, the coordinates where the cultists from the Grave of Vectivus fled to.<br><br>
“Trux’s office is located in a district of New Imperial City called the Slice. I let her know that you’ll be arriving soon. I won’t try and oversell it - Hoszh Iszhir isn’t a comfortable place. It was a half-toxic desert world anyway before the Empire mined the guerrerite out of it. All the Imperial settlements are in domed arcologies. The native species, the Gektls, mostly live in their own settlements. Neither is likely to be very friendly to New Republic agents, and there’s probably still active anti-alien sentiment among the Imperial citizens. Still, they did sign the Concordance, so the world’s opened a bit more than it once was.”<br><br>
She clears her throat and continues. “I know I don’t need to remind you of the importance of this mission. If Waneda Trux has any information that could lead to the Stellar Degenerator, it’s critical we find and act on it. If that weapon falls into the hands of the Black Fleet or the Acolytes of the Beyond, it could mean an end to the peace the New Republic brokered - if not the end of the Republic itself.<br><br>
“Good luck. And may the Force be with you.”
</div>

The PCs will likely have questions for Hera at this point, though the transmission time of 1d6–1 hours for each message makes it more like exchanging letters than holding a conversation. Fortunately, the journey to Hoszh Iszhir takes a minimum of 1d6 days, so there should be enough time for the PCs to get all the answers they need before they reach their destination. Below are General Syndulla’s answers to some of the PCs’ likely questions. If the PCs ask Syndulla for more information about the Black Fleet, she can relay any of the information from the Black Fleet sidebar on page XX that the PCs did not recall on their own.

**Who is Waneda Trux?** “Waneda’s a bureaucrat working for the Core Remnant. She had a low-level job working for Mas Amedda’s office on Coruscant, but at the end of the war, her position was dissolved. Seems she floated around a bit from job to job, which is how she got involved in the Imperial Embassy and met Drave. It was the ambassador himself who offered Waneda a position at the Bureau of Vigilance.”

**What is the Bureau of Vigilance?** “The Bureau of Vigilance is a bureaucratic branch of the Imperial government—though a very small branch, frankly. Imperial law requires citizens to report all hostile Remnant activity they witness or suspect. The bureau takes these reports and provides copies to interested parties as necessary—law enforcement agencies, the ambassadorial apparatus, even the New Republic Rangers. In fact, Hoszh Iszhir’s ambassadors and government officials make a show of regularly handing over all of the bureau’s reports to the Rangers. It’s very important that the New Republic knows that the Imperials are making every possible effort to disavow and eliminate the breakaway factions. It’s a very thorough system designed to ease the fears of the Senate and help the Core Remnant avoid blame for the actions of rogue groups, including the Black Fleet.

\pagebreakNum

“Of course, in practice, the system is not so smooth. Imperial citizens file precious few reports, given the loyalist population on Inner Rim & Core planets. Some say there are a significant number of Black Fleet sympathizers among the residents of Human dominated worlds, including Hoszh Iszhir.”

**What exactly is Waneda’s job?** “Waneda Trux is the director—and only full-time employee—of the Bureau of Vigilance branch on Hoszh Iszhir. All reports of Remnant activity in the sector cross her desk, at least officially, and her office keeps files on every reported incident. Unfortunately, there are also reports of Imperial citizens who provide real information about the Black Fleet being intimidated or even attacked by sympathizers who believe Imperials shouldn’t betray their own kind to the ‘Rebellion.’ This surely doesn’t make Waneda’s job any easier.

“Given the supposed ambivalence that many Imperials exhibit toward the Black Fleet, it’s no surprise that Ambassador Drave installed someone nominally close to Mas Amedda in this post. Even if his reputation is diminished, attachment to Palpatine’s regime carries some weight. The last impression Drave wants to give the New Republic is that the Empire isn’t taking the Remnant threat seriously.”

**Will Waneda help us find the Black Fleet?** “No, I don’t think so. Her job is strictly to take reports from Imperial citizens regarding rogue Remnants. She’s not a law enforcement agent, and her superiors don’t want her or her department to get personally involved in such situations. However, she should be able to give you the most up-to-date leads about the Black Fleet’s activities on Hoszh Iszhir.”

**Is Hoszh Iszhir safe for us?** “All of New Imperial City is contained beneath an atmospheric dome, so sentients of average biology can venture about without taking personal environmental protection measures. Waneda Trux has agreed to allow you the use of an empty office in the headquarters of the Bureau of Vigilance. The local authorities know that you are coming and that you are New Republic representatives on official business, so you should not have any official interference. On the other hand, I hear that many of Hoszh Iszhir’s Human citizens are prejudiced against non-Humans, let alone the New Republic, so you would be wise to be prepared for anything. But Hoszh Iszhir is otherwise quite safe.”

Although the PCs did not actually find the Acolytes of the Beyond in the Kanz Sector, they did discover and explore the cultists’ hidden base, and Syndulla informs the PCs that the New Republic has procured the payment they were promised, though the expectation is that the PCs will continue their search for the cult. For their efforts in the Grave of Vectivus, the PCs each receive 2,500 credits transferred to their respective bank accounts. In addition, General Syndulla promises a similar reward if the PCs’ mission on Hoszh Iszhir is successful (see Concluding the Adventure for details).

\columnbreak

## THE BLACK FLEET’S MACHINATIONS
Although the PCs don’t know it, the Black Fleet is more than one step ahead of them in tracking the Acolytes of the Beyond and potentially finding the Stellar Degenerator. In fact, the Black Fleet is fully aware that the PCs are on their trail and has put plans into motion to stop them, even before the PCs land on Hoszh Iszhir. Following the PCs’ discovery on the quarantined mining ship *Acreon*, the Black Fleet’s leaders initially assumed the PCs were merely a loose end, but the actions of the PCs since then have convinced the Black Fleet to eliminate the PCs for good.

At this point, the Black Fleet is aware that the PCs escaped their ambush in the Kanz Sector, but they also know there’s no chance the PCs will follow them immediately to Verpidor, given that they erased that piece of data entirely from the Acolytes of the Beyond cult’s datacore. The Black Fleet now assumes that the PCs are coming to Hoszh Iszhir to search for more clues, especially since their spies on Munt Ontdal have confirmed that Hera Syndulla has recently met with Ambassador Volero Drave to discuss the situation.

As a result, the Black Fleet has seized the opportunity to set a clever trap for the PCs by sending instructions to one of their agents on Hoszh Iszhir. Zeera Vesh is a former ISB agent and a newly minted captain in the Black Fleet. She works clandestinely on Hoszh Iszhir to assess the political situation on the Core world, plant red herrings to throw off the local and intrasystem authorities, and generally advance the Black Fleet’s agenda. Captain Vesh desperately wants to prove herself to the Black Fleet’s high command and land a better assignment. She’s been promised exactly that, but only if she can find a way to dispose of the PCs on Hoszh Iszhir without raising any red flags with the Bureau of Vigilance, the Core Remnant’s diplomatic delegations, or the New Republic’s agents.

To that end, Captain Vesh enlisted the help of Xerantha Mortrant, a cyborg the infamous Doctor Cylo experimented on during the age of the Empire. Vesh had already been working on recruiting a disillusioned stormtrooper named Harvinne Nessex into the Black Fleet; now she’s brought Harvinne into the plan as well. With her pawns in place, Vesh has spent the past several days engineering minor events to make it appear that the Black Fleet is active in New Imperial City and ensuring that witnesses report these incidents to the Bureau of Vigilance. She instructed Harvinne to leave an obvious clue behind that would prompt her flatmate to file a report with the bureau, which would lead the PCs to Xerantha when they investigated the report. Captain Vesh also stole synthetic flesh from the vats at Fabricated Foodstuffs, left an obvious Black Fleet badge at the scene of the crime, and sprinkled some of Xerantha’s shed osteoderms into the empty vat for good measure. Vesh’s hope is that these planted clues will lead the PCs to believe that the Black Fleet agents lurk just outside the city. When the PCs leave the safety of the domed city to investigate, Vesh has directed Xerantha to eliminate them. If that doesn’t work, Vesh will confront the PCs and destroy them.

\pagebreakNum

## ARRIVING ON HOSZH ISZHIR

The journey from the Outer Rim to the Gekto system takes 96 hours (4 days) at base hyperdrive speed. Hoszh Iszhir is a harsh world: one hemisphere is waterless deserts, the other choked with poisonous atmosphere. As the PCs approach the planet, they are contacted by Imperial Naval officials on an orbital defense platform called the Sentinel, who request identification and the PCs’ destination. Most interplanetary traffic to and from Hoszh Iszhir goes through the domed spaceport city called New Imperial City - NIC for short. Once they pass through customs and immigration under the watchful eyes of Imperial officials, the PCs are free to enter the city. The PCs’ contact, Waneda Trux, can be found at the Bureau of Vigilance in a sector of NIC called the Chop.

### THE CHOP
New Imperial City is one of the Empire’s most impressive public works projects, but the Chop is its most unappealing district. Largely industrial and utilitarian, the Chop is home to several recycling and food generation factories, which lay the unpleasant reality of the city bare. These factories are large, dirty, and unsightly. The recycleries expel noxious fumes that are pumped out of the dome, but other processes also happen on these facilities’ open-air grounds. This includes the cultivation of vat-grown, genetically synthesized meat as well as the transportation of this unpleasant crop via elevators up into the factories.

Beyond the flesh factories, the Chop is also home to rows of slum-like abodes where some of NIC’s poorest and politically disfavored citizens live, including those few non-human species who have agreed to work for the Empire - often in the nearby flesh factories - either out of desperation or resignation. These are primarily the Gektls, Hoszh Iszhir’s native species which fell under occupation in the early days of the Empire.

Of course, where there’s a population, there are also businesses to serve the residents, and the Chop is no different. However, local law enforcement rarely turns its attention toward the hardscrabble district, so many of the Chop’s business proprietors are shady by any standards. Visitors are uncommon in the Chop, and amenities are scarce enough to be nearly nonexistent. In this part of the adventure, the PCs’ activities are mostly confined to the Chop - specifically that portion detailed in the map on page XX. If the PCs wish to purchase or upgrade gear, or even partake of some of the local cybernetic technology, there are shops located quite near the Bureau of Vigilance that they can visit (see areas D and E). Of course, if the PCs spend too much time off-task, General Syndulla might contact them to remind them that the clock is ticking on their mission, as both the Acolytes of the Beyond and the Black Fleet are ahead of them.

\pagebreakNum

While the PCs are adventuring on Hoszh Iszhir, it’s important to keep a couple of key environmental concerns in mind. The first is Hoszh Iszhir’s “local day,” which is as long as 30 Standard days (or 720 Standard hours). Like the rest of the Core Worlds, Hoszh Iszhir defaults to the 24-hour Standard day, which makes timekeeping easy and universal, but for the likely duration of the PCs’ stay, Hoszh Iszhir will be in its 15-day-long night, which means darkness or dim light anywhere that doesn’t have artificial illumination. In addition, NIC is the planet’s largest settlement, and it’s a hub for living visitors to Hoszh Iszhir. As such, the entire city is covered in a carefully engineered protective dome that contains a breathable atmosphere for living creatures. The PCs can thus move around NIC without worrying about using envirosuits or respirators. However, the dome’s protection does not extend to areas outside the city’s limits. The atmosphere in these locales (including areas H and I, where the PCs must eventually venture) is thin and toxic.

### C. BUREAU OF ETERNAL VIGILANCE

<div class='descriptive'>
A wide, two-story building of black and rust-dappled gray stands out from the other dilapidated structures on this densely packed block. A holographic banner above the sliding double entryway displays the words “Bureau of Vigilance” in Aurebesh and High Galactic. A smaller sign on the front doors declares that the office is open for at least 12 hours every Standard day, even if the stench from the nearby synthetic flesh factory and the building’s lack of windows and architectural accouterments are less than inviting.
</div>

The Bureau of Vigilance sits on Needa Street, nestled between flesh factories and shops. Compared with other government buildings elsewhere in NIC, the bureau is remote, run down, and politically ignored for the most part. Inside, the office is rather dull and sterile. The bureau building has two floors, briefly detailed below.

\columnbreak

#### C1. Lobby:
The bureau’s ground floor contains a large waiting room with rows of rusty and, in some cases, lopsided hover chairs. A tall, boxy machine in a corner dispenses numbered tokens. Beside the machine, projected in a hologram on the wall, are instructions for reporting illicit Remnant activity to the bureau. A wide front desk with a teller-like window faces the lobby at one end, with a holographic numerical display. Behind the front desk, stairs lead to the second floor, though they are roped off with industrial-grade silver tape labeled “No Public Access.”

#### C2. Living Quarters:
The building’s upper floor houses the personal quarters of the bureau’s director, Waneda Trux -  government housing is a part of her compensation for the job - and several supply and storage rooms. One of these supply rooms has been cleared to accommodate the PCs, and grimy impressions on the floor show where filing cabinets and office furniture once stood. Now, the room holds a number of thin foam sleeping pads equal to the number of PCs. These, plus a small connected washroom with a deep sink, round out the amenities that Waneda felt obligated to supply her visitors.

The first time the PCs visit the Bureau (assuming it’s during business hours), there are only two people present: a shabby human man sitting in the lobby, and a woman sitting behind the front desk, absently entering information from an enormous stack of flimsiplast into a computer terminal sitting on the desk. The human man is Shan Goulding (male human), a worker in a nearby flesh factory. The bureaucrat is Waneda Trux (female human), Director of the Bureau of Vigilance and its only full-time employee.

According to the holographic instructions in the lobby, visitors should take a numbered token from the machine in the corner and have a seat. When their number is called, they should check in at the front desk, where a bureau official will assist them. The PCs can choose to take a number as described above and wait in the lobby until their number is called. If they wish to interact with Shan Goulding, see The Waiting Room below.

\pagebreakNum

Alternatively, the PCs can simply walk right up to the front desk and attempt to engage with Waneda Trux directly. Like government bureaucrats throughout the galaxy, Waneda ignores anyone who does not follow the posted instructions, but as soon as the PCs identify themselves as New Republic agents, that General Syndulla sent them, or that they are investigating the Black Fleet, Waneda finally acknowledges their presence. See Meeting the Director below for details on the PCs’ interactions with Waneda.

#### The Waiting Room
Shan Goulding is waiting in the lobby to file a report on Black Fleet activity. Although Shan is not a significant part of the adventure’s plot, PCs who talk to him can gain a small boon that will help them when they later visit area G. Shan works at the nearby Fabricated Foodstuffs Inc. flesh factory (area G) as a line inspector, examining cured pieces of vat-grown flesh to ensure that they fit the specific sizes and shapes desired for NIC’s grocers and fine eateries.

Shan is locked in a bitter feud with a Gektl line inspector named Frenzel, and he is planning to report his rival for secretly being a Black Fleet agent. Shan’s story is a lie, and it can be recognized as such with a successful DC 14 Insight check, but if the PCs commiserate with Shan and succeed at a DC 14 Persuasion check to change Shan’s attitude to friendly (his initial attitude is indifferent), he reveals that a flesh brewer at the factory named Voxel also hates Frenzel. Shan further explains that, if the PCs ever need anything from the factory, they should talk to Voxel and tell him Shan sent them. Mentioning Shan’s name provides the PCs with a +2 bonus to all Persuasion checks they attempt while interacting with Voxel at Fabricated Foodstuffs Inc. (area G).

Allow the PCs to interact with Shan for as long as they like before Waneda calls his number. Shan goes to the front desk, where Waneda listens to his story, jots down a few notes, and then dismisses him. She considers the man’s story specious at best and outright deceit at worst, and Waneda has no need for a longer, more detailed interview to file an official report. Curiously, there is no penalty for filing a false report at the bureau; the director simply labels such reports “unfounded.”

Once she has finished with Shan, Waneda spends a few minutes doing some busy work while pointedly ignoring the PCs. After several long minutes, she finally calls the PCs’ number; see Meeting the Director below.

#### Meeting the Director
Once the PCs have Waneda Trux’s attention, the bureaucrat greets them.

<div class='descriptive'>
“Ah. The Rebels. The Twi sent you, huh? You know the stuff people report to me is mostly garbage, right? Petty, stupid complaints about the neighbors or outright lies about rivals and enemies, and none of ’em have nothing to do with the Black Fleet.<br><br>
“Still, once in a thousand moons, we actually get a legitimate lead or two. When that happens, I forward the reports to the government, who passes them on to the authorities and the New Republic and all the relevant planetary governments, or so I’m told. This time, I’m giving ’em to you too. You want to use ’em to go after the Black Fleet, be my guest. Literally, since I was instructed to set aside a room upstairs for you. It’s yours for as long as you’re here, as an office and as a bedroom, I guess. But don’t rush your business on my behalf; I just love strangers staying in my office, particularly when my boss is pretty much forcing me to play host.” Waneda smiles disagreeably.
</div>

In general, Waneda is a disgruntled and disillusioned bureaucrat. How helpful she is toward the PCs depends on how cooperative they were with Ambassador Volero Drave - Waneda’s boss - back on Munt Ontdal. In “An Incident on Munt Ontdal,” Ambassador Drave asked the PCs to recover a “package” from the quarantined ship Acreon - a package that turned out to be a Black Fleet officer named Hebiza Eskolar. If the PCs delivered Commander Eskolar to Drave (or they delivered the package without ever discovering Eskolar inside) and parted on good terms with the ambassador, Drave has instructed Waneda to provide the PCs with whatever assistance they require, within the bounds of her position as an Imperial government employee. In addition, he sent her some files to pass along to the PCs (see below).

On the other hand, if the PCs’ relationship with Ambassador Drave did not end well (such as if they handed Commander Eskolar over to New Republic Intelligence or station security), then Drave has simply informed Waneda that New Republic agents are coming to visit, and it’s up to her how to deal with them (with the strong implication that he personally disapproves of them). In this case, Waneda gives her natural ill temper full rein, and the PCs must convince her to assist them. Waneda’s initial attitude is unfriendly, and the PCs must succeed at a DC 17 Persuasion check to change her attitude to make her at least indifferent to them before she agrees to help. Alternatively, the PC can attempt a DC 15 Intimidate check to bully Waneda into helping them, though this will do little to endear her to them.

Assuming the PCs are on relatively good terms with Waneda (or have at least convinced her to provide the minimum necessary assistance), she has the following information to relay regarding recent Black Fleet activity.

“I’ve got two reports that came in during the last week,” Waneda explains. “They’re the only ones with any merit at all recently, to be honest with you. The authorities might get to investigating ’em soon, but I’m willing to bet your business is more urgent.”

Waneda shows the PCs the two incident reports on her computer screen (see Handout #1 and Handout #2 on the following page); she can also transmit copies of the files to the PCs’ computers, if desired.

\pagebreakNum

#### [Handout 1](https://i.ibb.co/2vBK4ST/mov-handout-1.png)
<img src=https://i.ibb.co/2vBK4ST/mov-handout-1.png>

#### [Handout 2](https://i.ibb.co/TBt37Pj/mov-handout-2.png)
<img src=https://i.ibb.co/TBt37Pj/mov-handout-2.png>

\pagebreakNum

“You should probably look into both of these as soon as you can. The flesh brewer works at Fabricated Foodstuffs. He said to ask for him at the factory’s back gates, which are right across the street from the bureau. That delightful stench you smell is from the flesh vats in the factory yard. I suppose you don’t like it much but it just makes me hungry. The stormtrooper lives down the way. She’s retired, so she should be available whenever—what else is she going to do? If there’s anything else, I guess you can ask me.”

At this point, if the PCs are on good terms with Volero Drave, Waneda informs them that the ambassador has compiled a dossier of suspected Black Fleet agents currently active on Hoszh Iszhir. “I don’t how this background material will help you, but Ambassador Drave insisted you have it,” Waneda says as she passes it along to the PCs. The information in the dossier is difficult to parse without much context, but it does include the names of the following Black Fleet agents: Rialphus Evanko, Zeera Vesh, and Woan Watten. Two of these names are red herrings; the third (Zeera Vesh) is the name of the Black Fleet agent that the PCs will confront at the end of the adventure. There is little the PCs can do with any of this information at this point, but reading through the dossier can give the PCs some key information for their final battle (see area I for more information).

The PCs might have some questions for Waneda about topics beyond recent Black Fleet activity. Her answers to some likely PC questions are provided below.

**How did you come to work at the Bureau of Vigilance?** “Ambassador Drave offered me the job a year ago, and I needed it. After Amedda signed the Concordance, everybody who worked with him basically got blacklisted, assets frozen for ‘suspected war crimes,’ the whole three meters. Bunch of krayt spit. That’s Imperial loyalty for you, huh? Anyway, getting off Coruscant cleaned me out, so I needed a paying gig. Ambassador Drave was familiar with my alien species research job for the Chancellor’s office and thought I’d be a good fit for this ‘glamorous’ post. Said I’d get free housing and all the spare time I wanted to pursue my research. Well, half of that was true. I got a place to live—upstairs, which means I almost never get to leave the office—but I don’t have time for anything beyond the job. Folks come in here with every complaint you can imagine: ‘My neighbor kicked my pet tooka; I think she’s a Black Fleet sympathizer’ and ‘Grand Admiral Thrawn stole the brand-new holo fountain from my front yard.’ Never ends. Bunch of garbage.”

**What does your work entail?** “A citizen comes in and takes a number. When I call the number, they come up to the front desk here. I give ’em a short form and ask ’em a few preliminary questions. If it seems like their story has some merit, I bring ’em back here for a more thorough interview, and I generate a more detailed long-form report. Those are the reports I send on up the chain. This happens every day. Over and over. For eternity. Pretty exciting, eh?”

\pagebreakNum

**Will you help us track down the Black Fleet or its agents?** “Nope. Not my job. I just take the reports, file ’em, and send ’em on. You want to take on the Black Fleet by yourselves, count me out. I’m just a government employee, and that’s way above my pay grade.”

**Do you have any of the evidence mentioned in the reports?** “No. That’s for the authorities to worry about. I’m not a cop and I don’t make cases against anyone. As far as I know, the citizens who made the reports should still have any evidence mentioned in their reports.”

**Do you know why a Black Fleet officer was being shipped to Ambassador Drave?** “Do I look like a foreign service official to you? Look around—if NIC was a regular city, we’d be sitting in its bowels right now. Drave hired me, but I’ve got nothing to do with ambassadors and diplomats. If you’re really concerned, you can file an incident report with the Bureau of Vigilance. I’m sure the ambassador will give your report all the attention he lavishes on the others. Ha!”

Beyond answering the above questions, Waneda can also relay any information about her job and background that the PCs didn’t get from Hera Syndulla, as described in the Transmission from General Syndulla section on page XX. The same holds true for any information in the Black Fleet sidebar on page XX that the PCs might have missed. If the PCs ask Waneda about the local area, she can share the information in the Chop section on page XX.

If the PCs are on good terms with Ambassador Drave, Waneda says that the ambassador has instructed her to give the PCs 1,000 credits apiece to purchase supplies to aid them in their mission to track down the Black Fleet’s agents on Hoszh Iszhir. Waneda can point the PCs to nearby shops (areas D and E) if they are interested.

As mentioned in the description of area C, Waneda has set aside a room on the bureau’s second floor to house the PCs while they’re on Hoszh Iszhir. They are under no obligation to take these quarters, though, and can find other lodgings in New Imperial City at two to three times the prices listed in the Player’s Handbook (few visitors to Hoszh Iszhir stay in the Chop, and hotels in the upper parts of the arcology serve well-to-do Imperial citizens). Regardless of where the PCs decide to stay, their next task should be to follow up on the leads Waneda has given them. These are all located in the Chop: the retired stormtrooper Gretal Rapinder can be found in area F, while the food fabricator Voxel Darksend works in area G. In addition to these encounter locations, two other sites are detailed below (areas D and E). While not directly related to the adventure’s plot, they do provide some local flavor and give the PCs the chance to purchase additional gear. The PCs can visit these locations in any order they wish. Lastly, the PCs’ investigations will trigger another encounter that is not tied to a specific location; see Event 3 for details on when this encounter occurs.

\columnbreak

>#### Tracking the Mutant
>
> As the PCs investigate the incident reports in areas
F and G, they find not only evidence that the Black
Fleet is currently up to something in New Imperial City but also
signs pointing toward a "mutant’s" involvement. If
a PC succeeds at a DC 17 Perusasion check to gather
information while questioning residents of the Chop
about any mutants known to associate with the
Black Fleet, the PCs can learn about a mutant
named Xerantha Mortrant, a hermit who lives about
6 miles outside of the city (area H). However, if the PCs
leave NIC and seek out Mortrant’s home on
rumor alone, it takes them twice as long to get there
without specific directions (see area H for more details).
>
>Alternatively, the PCs can take the information
they’ve learned to Waneda Trux at the Bureau of
Vigilance. Waneda immediately suspects the
mutant involved is very likely Xerantha Mortrant,
a known Black Fleet sympathizer whom the authorities
haven’t arrested simply because she lives in the wilds
and keeps mostly to herself. Xerantha is also known for
conducting genetic and cybernetic experiments, and the missing flesh from the
factory, combined with the rest of the evidence, further
points toward Xerantha’s involvement. Waneda can
provide the PCs with the exact location of the hermit’s
home (see area H).

### D. EYEWRIGHT’S CYBERNETICS & SUNDRIES

<div class='descriptive'>
Bright tubes of neon pinks, greens, and blues form a large sign outside of this rusty storefront. “Eyewright’s Cybernetics & Sundries,” it reads in a swooping font reminiscent  of handwriting. Fluorescent paint finishes the display with an image of a man in a cut chiffon shirt, revealing a small droid head protruding from one shoulder. Both heads are wearing tall hats and monocle.
</div>

It’s clear that the owner of this business has gone to great lengths to build a brand that’s refined and has the veneer of luxury, even if it is located in a seedy part of the city. The store’s inventory, consisting mostly of cybernetics but a few droid customizations as well, is displayed on plush pillows and within curtained shadow boxes.

The shop’s proprietor stands behind the cheaply gilded counter inside. Moxen Lengfoll - who calls himself Eyewright - is dressed in a cobbled-together sort of archaic finery, with a patchwork tailed coat, a dingy top hat, a dented monocle, and a gold-colored cane covered in greenish patina. A small vestigial droid head on the Eyewright’s shoulder protrudes from his ruffled shirt, just like the sign outside. Moxen thinks himself rather stately and wishes to exude such an air for his customers, thinking that most will believe it impressive, but his affectation is mostly a way to feel superior to the other creatures in the Chop.

\pagebreakNum

Moxen is a born-and-raised Imperial loyalist, wary of the New Republic and deeply suspicious of non-Humans, and his initial attitude toward the PCs is unfriendly. If any of the PCs are of a non-Human species, Eyewright eyes them warily but nonetheless offers a greeting that he surely believes to be refined. “Ah, customers from the wide galaxy,” he says. “You are most welcome at Eyewright’s Cybernetics and Sundries, but do know that I will not tolerate excessive handling of my wares. It can leave such a stench, don’t you know, which is most off-putting for my normal clientele. You understand, I’m sure.”

Despite his attitude, Eyewright will sell the PCs any cybernetic enhancement of Prototype quality or lower. Additionally, there is a 50% chance that Eyewright has any droid customization item of Prototype quality or lower in stock and available for sale. Should the PCs inquire, Moxen’s vestigial droid head (whom he refers to as “my personal assistant”) is a custom piece crafted specifically for him, and it is not for sale. (It also doesn't do anything but stare blankly with its oversized photorecptors.)

If the PCs improve Eyewright’s attitude to friendly or better with a successful DC 22 Diplomacy check to change his attitude, he warns them about roving gangs of ex-stormtroopers that have been prowling the Chop recently in search of what they call “traitors;” Moxen guesses this means anyone who is indifferent to the idea of Imperial superiority, including those who would report Black Fleet activity, but likely includes the New Republic citizens and all aliens as well. This foreshadows the encounter the PCs will face in area F.

### E. BONESMITH’S BOUTIQUE

<div class='descriptive'>
Windows covered with mealy boards and one lopsided automatic door adorn the outside of this dingy one-story building. Above the entrance is a hologram of a bizarre, ostentatious hat made entirely of tiny bones and the words “Bonesmith’s Boutique: Merchandise You Can Trust!”
</div>

This rather disreputable business sells a motley assortment of weapons, armor, and sundry supplies. Creature: The boutique is named for its proprietor and sole employee, Bonesmith Ekatern Gralz (CN female Gektl). If the PCs walk inside, Ekatern is behind the front desk wearing an elaborate pirate-style outfit and the same strange hat depicted on the sign outside. When the Gektl sees the PCs, she opens her mouth wide in a wide reptilian smile, revealing several golden teeth. “Ah, customers!” Ekatern exclaims. “Welcome to Bonesmith Ekatern’s boutique! We’ve got everything your little hearts might desire—and probably more!” There is an 80% chance that Bonesmith’s Boutique has in stock any common weapon or armor, as well as the same chance of having any common spice, medical consumable, ammunition, or tool (also a 50% chance of any Prototype or lower enhanced item related to the above).

Despite her overly friendly greeting, however, Bonesmith Ekatern is a con artist and a lout, and she enjoys overcharging for her wares. If the PCs make no attempt to engage Ekatern in conversation, she charges 20% above normal prices for her in-stock items. However, if the PCs share any gossip with her, or if they spend any time complimenting her hat, her outfit, her teeth, or the like, she sells items to the PCs at their normal prices. If the PCs really lay on the compliments and one them succeeds at a DC 18 Deception or Persuasion check, Bonesmith Ekatern offers them a storewide 10% discount. Further, if Ekatern’s attitude toward them is friendly or better and the PCs later need to flee from the ex-stormtroopers in area F (or any other enemies they might make in this area), the Gektl can gladly provide them with a good hiding spot in the back of her store.

\pagebreakNum

### F. PENSIONER’S FLAT

<div class='descriptive'>
The narrow sliding door to this residential building bears the tarnished metal numbers “5236,” with the final digit drooping to the side. The door is slightly dented and hangs partially open.
</div>

This is the home of Gretal Rapinder and Harvinne Nessex, two retired stormtroopers who formerly served in the 212th Squadron of the Imperial Stormtrooper Corps. The door to the flat has indeed been forced open, as a successful DC 10 Investigation check reveals. The sound of rasping voices shouting angry taunts can clearly be heard coming from inside the residence.

Harvinne is still missing (see area I), but Gretal Rapinder (LN female Human) is home. Unfortunately, word that Gretal reported Harvinne to the Bureau of Vigilance for potential ties to the Black Fleet has reached the 212th Squadron veterans. A few of its members, who believe deeply in Imperial superiority and are bitter about the dissolution of the Stormtrooper Corps following the Concordance, have taken to harassing those they consider “traitors to the Empire.” Three ex-troopers - Danine, Larex, and Welles—have taken offense with Gretal’s execution of her legally obligated reporting duties, and they have come to her flat to teach the retired trooper “proper respect” for her Empire.

___
>## Ex-Stormtrooper
>*Medium humanoid (human), lawful dark*
>___
>- **Armor Class** 16 (fiber armor)
>- **Hit Points** 84 (13d8 + 26)
>- **Speed** 30 ft.
>___
>|STR|DEX|CON|INT|WIS|CHA|
>|:---:|:---:|:---:|:---:|:---:|:---:|
>|13 (+1)|18 (+4)|15 (+2)|13 (+1)|15 (+2)|12 (+1)|
>___
>- **Saving Throws** Dex +7, Con +5
>- **Skills** Athletics +4, Intimidation +4, Perception +5
>- **Senses** passive Perception 15
>- **Languages** Galactic Basic
>- **Challenge** 4 (1100 XP)
>___
>***Fireteam.*** The ex-stormtrooper can use the Help action as a bonus action. When it uses the Help action to aid an ally in attacking a creature, the target of that attack can be within 30 feet if the target of its Help action can see or hear it.
>
>***On Your Six.*** As a bonus action on its turn, the ex-stormtrooper can begin a coordinated maneuver with an ally within 5 feet of itself. For the next minute, while the ex-stormtrooper and the chosen ally are within 5 feet of each other, they gain a +1 bonus to AC. When the chosen ally moves on their turn, the ex-stormtrooper can use its reaction to move with them.
>
>***Squad Tactics.*** The ex-stormtrooper has advantage on an attack roll against a creature if at least one of the ex-stormtrooper's allies is within 5 feet of the creature and the ally isn't incapacitated.
>
>### Actions
>***Carbine Rifle.*** *Ranged Weapon Attack:* +7 to hit, range 80/320 ft., one target. *Hit:* 8 (1d8 + 4) energy damage.
>
>***Electrohammer.*** *Melee Weapon Attack:* +6 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. *Hit:* 8 (2d4 + 3) kinetic damage and the target must make a DC 13 Dexterity saving throw or take 2 (1d4) lightning damage and be shocked until the end of its next turn. On a success the target takes half damage and isn't shocked.
>
>***Carbine Rifle Volley (Recharge 5-6).*** The ex-stormtrooper sprays a 10-foot-cube area within normal range with shots. Each creature in the area must make a DC 13 Dexterity saving throw, taking normal weapon damage on a failed save.
>
>

\pagebreakNum

When the PCs arrive, the three troopers turn on the intruders—these nationalists are more than happy to take out their anger and frustrations on “Rebel scum.” During the battle, Gretal tries to stay out of the way. If necessary, you can use the trooper stat block in the Appendix for Gretal, though she is not intended to be a combatant in this encounter.

During combat the stormtroopers prefer melee combat, and they relish the chance to coordinate their attacks using squad tactics. The troopers use their electrohammers against especially dangerous opponents, or switch to their blaster rifles to fight foes at range. The stormtroopers fight until one has fewer than 10 Hit Points remaining, at which point all three try to flee or, failing that, surrender (the troopers wanted only to intimidate those they consider “enemies of the state” and weren’t planning on actually getting into a life-or-death battle).

If the PCs defeat the troopers or drive them away, Gretal expresses her thanks for their help. The veteran is concerned about brewing Black Fleet activity in the area. She’s also a little shaken in the knowledge that her trip to the Bureau of Vigilance has become public knowledge and that soldiers in her former battalion have taken such offense to her report. A loyal citizen, Gretal simply wants to do right by her planet’s legitimate government and military, which required her to report her suspicions about Harvinne.

Although the PCs may find Gretal’s past unsettling, she is relatively friendly toward the PCs. Without much prompting, Gretal unlocks her flatmate’s bedroom (she long ago figured out its passcode) and gives the PCs the journal page she mentioned in her Dissident Incident Report. The bedroom contains no additional clues, but upon examining the journal scrap, the PCs learn that Harvinne planned to meet with someone called “the mutant” before taking up her illicit commission in the Black Fleet. Gretal has not heard of a prominent “mutant” that is locally associated with the Black Fleet, however (see the Tracking the Mutant sidebar on page XX for more information).

In gratitude for their help, and also to help the PCs in their future endeavors, Gretal gives the PCs a haste circuit armor upgrade from her time in the 21th. “I was hanging on to this as a souvenir of my time in the service,” Gretal says. “Honestly, though, I have no use for it anymore, and it will likely help you more than it would ever help me. But let it be a reminder—not all of us Imperials are bad!”

If the PCs do not intervene, Gretal escapes from the stormtroopers out the back door. The disgruntled soldiers smash a few things in the flat before leaving the area. If the PCs search Gretal’s flat after they leave, they find the door to Harvinne’s bedroom locked (AC 8, HP 30, break DC 18, Security Kit DC 19 to disable). Once inside the room, the PCs can easily find the scrap from Harvinne’s journal mentioned in Gretal’s incident report.

\pagebreakNum

### G. FABRICATED FOODSTUFFS

<div class='descriptive'>
Tall metal walls behind a chain-link fence and wide, looming security gates mark this as some sort of industrial facility. Inside the gates is a massive metal-and-concrete platform resting at the bottom of an enormous elevator shaft. The edges of circular pools or vats containing some strange undulating substance are barely visible behind the fence, sunk deeply in the ground. A sign that reads, “Attention visitors: Call for agent,” hangs above an intercom on one side of the gates.
</div>

Fabricated Foodstuffs manufactures engineered meats for consumption by New Imperial City’s citizens. This is the entry to the factory’s flesh yards, where the synthetic flesh is created. Essentially, basic biological materials are combined in the yard’s large vats and periodically agitated, which leads to the eventual creation of a synthetic substance that looks and functions almost identically to natural tissue. The factory’s flesh brewers tend to the vats while batches of flesh are percolating. When each batch has sufficiently matured, the flesh brewers use equipment housed in two large sheds to extract flesh from the vats, transport it to the yard’s enormous industrial flesh elevator, and convey it to the curing kilns in the factory’s upper reaches. There, other workers modify and cure the flesh until it takes on the characteristics and structure of specific species. The cured flesh is then moved to the factory’s production lines, where it is cut and shaped or molded into the desired cuts for transport to NIC’s food marts and restaurants. Any PC can recall this information with a successful DC 12 Lore check.

The factory’s rear gates are locked (AC 20, HP 60, break DC 21, Security Kit DC 23 to disable) and are likely difficult for the PCs to bypass, but they can use the intercom next to the gates to alert workers inside to their presence. Climbing or flying over the fence and walls is possible, of course, but motion sensors set off an alarm throughout the factory if anyone attempts to bypass the gates in this manner.

Assuming the PCs visit the factory during normal business hours (06:00 to 18:00 each day), a booming voice answers their call on the intercom (no one answers if they use the intercom after hours). This is Voxel Darksend (N male human), the flesh brewer who reported the yard’s missing flesh to the Bureau of Vigilance. Once the PCs identify themselves, Voxel hurries over to open the gates, saying, “Finally! It’s about time the Bureau sent somebody! You have no idea how much I’ve needed you to tell my bosses that I didn’t steal or lose the missing flesh. Well? What are you waiting for? Get in here!”

Voxel is fairly coarse and abrupt, but he is not naturally cruel, and he indeed simply wants the PCs to prove that the missing flesh was stolen. Voxel doesn’t care much about bureaucracy or the political arrangements between the Imperial Remnant and the New Republic regarding tracking the Black Fleet. He assumes that the authorities sent the PCs, and insists on calling them “cops” or “agents,” even if the PCs try to correct his assumptions.

As soon as the PCs walk into the flesh yard, Voxel insists on showing them the relevant vat, which is still empty from the recent theft. He also shows the PCs a photo on his datapad of the badge he found next to the vat immediately following the theft’s discovery and produces the badge itself. The PCs can confirm that the badge displays the insignia of the Black Fleet with a successful DC 15 Lore check.

Voxel certainly seems to be telling the truth about his report and shows concern about the Black Fleet’s machinations, but if the PCs ask to investigate the site of the theft further, Voxel balks, citing safety regulations and despotic supervisors. If the PCs succeed at a DC 13 Persuasion check to change Voxel’s attitude from indifferent to friendly or better (they gain a +2 bonus to this check if they mention Shan from the bureau’s waiting room in area C), Voxel tells the PCs he would let them climb down into the vat but the computer controlling the vat’s mechanisms has been malfunctioning for a couple of weeks, making the vat unsafe. The PCs must attempt either a DC 19 Technology check to repair the computer’s control module or a DC 15 Mechanic’s Implements check to fix the mechanism. With a successful check, the PCs repair the vat’s controls, enabling them to easily climb down to the bottom of the vat. A PC who succeeds at a DC 12 Perception check while searching the bottom of the vat finds some curious bone spur–like shards among the scraps of synthetic flesh left in the vat. A successful DC 18 Biochemist's Implements check reveals these to be mutated osteoderms shed from some genetically engineered creature (if none of the PCs have access to Biochemist's Implements, Voxel can give access to a nearby set used for quality control inspections on the synthflesh).

If the PCs promise to give Voxel a signed affidavit that he can show his superiors stating that they have confirmed that the Black Fleet was responsible for the missing flesh, the worker gives them three fragmentation grenades (Major) from his personal stash, which he occasionally uses to dislodge chunks of flesh from the vats (though this is strictly against company policy).

Voxel doesn’t know much about mutants, nor why one would be interested in the factory’s flesh. If the PCs are unable to identify the osteoderms and show them to Waneda, the bureau director immediately recognizes them (see the Tracking the Mutant sidebar on page XX for more information).

If the PCs find the osteoderms in the empty flesh vat, award them 2,400 XP.

\pagebreakNum

#### EVENT 3: TYING UP LOOSE ENDS
This encounter occurs while the PCs are in the Chop, investigating the Black Fleet incident reports from the Bureau of Vigilance. It can happen at any point, most likely when the PCs have left an encounter location (such as the Bureau or Fabricated Foodstuffs) or are traveling between locations, but its exact timing requires some planning, as the PCs may get a warning beforehand (see below).

As the PCs investigate the Black Fleet’s activities in the Chop, a faction within the Imperial Remnant government with close ties to the exiled navy decides that the PCs have become too much of a risk to tolerate any longer. Rather than trust the Black Fleet’s agents to handle matters, this faction determines to tie up the loose end represented by the PCs by sending its own assassins to eliminate them.

Back on Munt Ontdal, Ambassador Volero Drave gets wind of this plan through his numerous Imperial contacts, but what he does with this information depends on how the PCs left their relationship with him. If the PCs did as Drave asked in Dead Suns Adventure #1 and remain on good terms with him, the ambassador instructs Waneda Trux to alert the PCs about the assassins. In this case, Waneda calls the PCs a few minutes before the encounter occurs to warn them of the impending attack. This warning grants the PCs a +4 bonus to Perception checks to notice the hidden assassins before they attack. On the other hand, if the PCs are not on good terms with Ambassador Drave, they receive no warning (and no bonuses to skill checks) beforehand.

To keep the hit off the record and the hands of the Core Remnant clean, the government conspirators have hired two local Gektl mercenaries to attack the PCs. The indigenous Gektls, while having no love for the Empire, also have no scruples in accepting Imperial credits. The pair of assassins conceals themselves alongside a path the PCs are likely to take; any PC who fails a DC 18 Perception check to notice the Gektls are surprised at the start of the encounter.

The Gektls use any surprise to their advantage, swiftly moving into melee range to disable the slowest attackers. If badly injured, they retreat to ranged distance, shedding their skins and tails as necessary. The desperate Gektls fight until destroyed.

___
___
>## Gektl Assassin
>*Medium humanoid (gektl), neutral dark*
>___
>- **Armor Class** 17 (fiber armor)
>- **Hit Points** 78 (12d8 + 24)
>- **Speed** 30 ft.
>___
>|STR|DEX|CON|INT|WIS|CHA|
>|:---:|:---:|:---:|:---:|:---:|:---:|
>|17 (+3)|18 (+4)|14 (+2)|11 (+0)|13 (+1)|12 (+1)|
>___
>- **Saving Throws** Dex +7
>- **Skills** Acrobatics +7, Perception +4, Stealth +7, Survival +4
>- **Senses** darkvision 60 ft., passive Perception 14
>- **Languages** Galactic Basic, Iszhiri
>- **Challenge** 4 (1100 XP)
>___
>***Assassinate.*** During its first turn, the Gektl assassin has advantage on attack rolls against any creature that hasn't taken a turn. Any hit the assassin scores against a surprised creature is a critical hit.
>
>***Sneak Attack.*** Once per turn, the assassin deals an extra 14 (4d6) damage when it hits a target with a weapon attack and has advantage on the attack roll, or when the target is within 5 feet of an ally of the assassin that isn't incapacitated and the assassin doesn't have disadvantage on the attack roll.
>
>***Shed Skin (1/day).*** The Gektl has advantage on a Dexterity check to escape a grapple or from binders.
>
>### Actions
>***Blaster Pistol.*** *Ranged Weapon Attack:* +7 to hit, range 40/160 ft., one target. *Hit:* 7 (1d6 + 4) energy damage.
>
>***Disruptorshiv.*** *Melee Weapon Attack:* +7 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. *Hit:* 6 (1d4 + 4) kinetic damage and the target must make a DC 13 Dexterity saving throw. On a failed save, the target takes an additional 1d4 lightning damage and becomes shocked until the end of its next turn.
>
>***Techblade.*** *Melee Weapon Attack:* +7 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. *Hit:* 7 (1d6 + 4) kinetic damage.
>
>### Reactions
>***Shed Tail (1/month).*** As a reaction, if an attack that deals energy or kinetic damage would reduce the Gektl to 0 hit points, it may instead take no damage from the attack and lose its tail.
>
>

\pagebreakNum

### D. MUTANT’S HERMITAGE
Once the PCs have spent some time investigating the Bureau’s reports, they should come to the conclusion that a mutant named Xerantha Mortrant is somehow involved in the Black Fleet’s ongoing plots, and they should know approximately where Xerantha lives (see the Tracking the Mutant sidebar on page XX for more information). Waneda Trux should encourage the PCs to confront Mortrant if they don’t decide to do so on their own.

Traveling to Xerantha’s home is more complicated than simply walking there, however, as the reclusive mutant lives in the wilds well outside of New Imperial City’s atmosphere dome. As a result, for the remainder of the adventure (assuming the PCs don’t return to NIC), the PCs will be exposed to Hoszh Iszhir’s thin and toxic atmosphere and must use respirators or other environmental protection to avoid negative effects.

Furthermore, the stretch of terrain between NIC and Xerantha’s hermitage is disconcerting and difficult to travel, with strange rock formations, deep twisting gullies, and massive fields of mining waste the norm. Xerantha’s home is approximately 6 miles outside of New Imperial City. If the PCs have learned its exact location from Waneda, it takes them 2 hours to walk there from the Chop. If the PCs are searching for Xerantha’s home without learning its exact location, it takes 4 hours instead.

\columnbreak

Feel free to be creative describing the strange sights the PCs see during their time in the wilds of Hoszh Iszhir’s blasted surface. You might consider describing Skullcap Gorge (area I) as the PCs pass through it on their way to confront the mutant to foreshadow the location of their final showdown with Zeera Vesh, though you can keep the area’s layout a surprise, to be revealed only when the Black Fleet agent springs her ambush. If the PCs need more experience points, this journey is also a good time for an appropriate random encounter to take place.

#### D1. Desiccated Garden

<div class='descriptive'>
The blasted landscape gives way slightly to this carefully cultivated area surrounding a dilapidated industrial hut. Strange tree-like growths of vegetation and flesh, bristling with bizarre fruits and living organs, form a peculiar garden surrounded by a hedge.
</div>

This strange garden lies outside the home of the mutant Xerantha Mortrant. Xerantha is hiding in her hut (area H2), but her pet mole serpent, Delver, considers the garden its personal domain, and attacks all intruders. Delver attempts to surprise the PCs by staying hidden beneath the ground before diving upwards in front of the intruders, but its primary goal is to prevent anyone from entering area H2.

Delver uses its Bite attack in an attempt to consume the first PC it can catch. If brought below 100 hit points, Delver retreats underground, only to attempt another attack from behind the PCs. Delver is a rather thick, stubborn beast and fights until it is destroyed.

\pagebreakNum

The dusty ground is largely flat, but those squares on the map containing bone bushes are considered difficult terrain. The bone bushes are about 4-1/2 feet tall and provide one-quarter cover, half if a creature is prone. In addition, any creature that steps into a bone bush square must succeed at a DC 12 Dexterity saving throw or gain the restrained condition. Restrained creatures can free themselves from the bone bushes’ grasp by succeeding at a DC 15 Strength check or DC 18 Acrobatics check to escape as an action.

___
> ## Mole Serpent
>*Gargantuan beast, unaligned*
> ___
> - **Armor Class** 17 (natural armor)
> - **Hit Points** 232 (15d20 + 75)
> - **Speed** 50 ft., burrow 30 ft.
>___
>|STR|DEX|CON|INT|WIS|CHA|
>|:---:|:---:|:---:|:---:|:---:|:---:|
>|28 (+9)|20 (+5)|21 (+5)|1 (-5)|8 (-1)|4 (-3)|
>___
> - **Saving Throws** Con +9, Wis +3
> - **Skills** Perception +3, Stealth +9
> - **Condition Immunities** blinded
> - **Senses** blindsight 30 ft., tremorsense 60 ft., passive Perception 13
> - **Challenge** 10 (5,900 XP)
> ___
> ***Tunneler.*** The mole serpent can burrow through solid rock at half it burrowing speed and leaves a 10-foot diameter tunnel in its wake. Additionally, while burrowing the serpent has advantage on stealth checks and is considered to have expertise in stealth.
> ### Actions
> ***Bite.*** *Melee Weapon Attack:* +13 to hit, reach 10 ft., one target. *Hit:* 22 (3d8+9) kinetic damage. If the target is a Large or smaller creature, it must succeed on a DC 17 Dexterity saving throw or be swallowed by the mole serpent. A swallowed creature is blinded and restrained, has total cover against attacks and other effects outside the serpent, and takes 14 (4d6) acid damage at the start of each of the mole serpent’s turns. If the mole serpent takes 25 damage or more on a single turn from a creature inside it, the mole serpent must succeed on a DC 20 Constitution saving throw at the end of that turn or regurgitate all swallowed creatures, which fall prone in a space within 5 feet of the mole serpent. If the mole serpent dies, a swallowed creature is no longer restrained by it and can escape from the corpse by using 15 feet of movement, exiting prone.

#### D2. Industrial Shack

<div class='descriptive'>
This structure appears to have once been an industrial-sized cargo container, now converted to a small hut. The walls are rusted and decayed from the toxic air. The scavenged durasteel door stands just slightly ajar.
</div>

\columnbreak

This shack is home to Xerantha Mortrant, a genetic mutant and cyborg. Mortrant was once a scientist who worked in the Cylo Directive, a sub-division within the Tarkin Initiative that attempted to recreate Force powers with cybernetics. After her boss Doctor Cylo was killed in an attempted coup against the Emperor, Mortrant - who was already extensively modified with cybernetics and genetic engineering - retreated to the badlands of Hosch Iszhir to escape the fate of her superior. Isolated and maddened by her modifications, she’s been left to stew over her anger all these years, directing it at anyone who would turn against the Empire.

Mortrant was discovered by Zeera Vesh, a captain in the Black Fleet, who recruited her as an agent. Before the PCs arrived on Hoszh Iszhir, Captain Vesh asked for Xerantha’s help in eliminating them. All she would have to do was wait for the PCs to come to her home and then kill the interloping intruders—assistance the cybernetic hermit was more than willing to provide.

Xerantha is hiding in the back of her shack, waiting for the right moment to ambush the PCs when they enter through the front door. The mutant has attempted to make it appear as if she were not home, but a PC who succeeds at a DC 18 Perception check can hear a faint, infrequent scuffling sound as Xerantha shifts slightly in her cramped hiding place. Once two or more of the PCs have entered the shack, Xerantha emerges from her hiding place in the back room and pounces toward the closest PC.

Xerantha uses the furniture inside her home for partial cover. She uses her droid counterpart to support her and provide Help in attacking up close, manifesting her mutations to give her armored scales and claw attacks. If she can’t pin anyone down in melee combat, or when she’s outside, Xerantha backs off to use ranged tech powers and her blaster.

\pagebreakNum

___
___
>## Xerantha Mortrant
>*Medium humanoid (human mutant), chaotic dark*
>___
>- **Armor Class** 16 (fiber armor)
>- **Hit Points** 91 (14d8 + 28)
>- **Speed** 30 ft.
>___
>|STR|DEX|CON|INT|WIS|CHA|
>|:---:|:---:|:---:|:---:|:---:|:---:|
>|14 (+2)|18 (+4)|14 (+2)|16 (+3)|12 (+1)|8 (–1)|
>___
>- **Saving Throws** Dex +7, Int +6
>- **Skills** Athletics +5, Acrobatics +7, Perception +4, Stealth +7, Technology +6
>- **Senses** darkvision 120 ft., passive Perception 14
>- **Languages** Galactic Basic, Binary
>- **Challenge** 6 (2300 XP)
>___
>***Cylo Cybernetics.*** Xerantha casts force powers as tech powers.
>
>***Keen Ocular Implants.*** Xerantha Mortrant has advantage on Wisdom (perception) checks that rely on sight.
>
>***Integrated Secondary Brain.*** Xerantha is linked to Null-M as through the *tracker droid interface* power. She can see through her droid's senses as a reaction and without losing her own vision.
>
>***Techcasting.*** Xerantha Mortrant is a 6th-level techcaster. Xerantha's techcasting ability is Intelligence (power save DC 14, +6 to hit with power attacks). Xerantha knows the following tech powers:
>
>At will: *pyrokinesis*, *force push/pull*, *feedback*, *shock*, *lightning charge*, *tracker droid interface*, *short circuit*, *haywire*<br>
>1st level: *force propel*, *burst of speed*, *agile defense*, *phasestrike*, *sustained lightning*<br>
>2nd level: *force throw*, *hallucination*, *kinetite*, *saber strike*<br>
>3rd level: *force repulse*, *force lightning*, *choke*
>
>***Mutation (1/day).*** As an action, Xerantha may manifest her mutations. The manifestation lasts for one minute. While manifested, she gains the following qualities; when the manifestation ends, she loses these qualities.
>
>*Armored Osteoderms.* Xerantha's AC becomes 18. She gains resistance to kinetic and energy damage.<br>
>*Brute Force.* Xerantha's melee attacks add one additional damage die.<br>
>*Monstrous Vigor.* Xerantha gains 20 (5d8) temporary hit points.<br>
>*Sonic Roar.* As an action, Xerantha lets out a defeaning roar in a 30 foot cone. All creatures that can hear it must make a DC 15 Constitution saving throw. On a failure, a creature takes 17 (5d6) sonic damage and is deafened for 1 minute. An affected creature can repeat the saving throw at end of each of its turns, ending the effect on itself on a success. On a successful save, a creature takes half damage and isn't deafened.
>
>### Actions
>***Multiattack.*** Xerantha Mortrant makes three weapon attacks.
>
>***Techblade.*** *Melee Weapon Attack:* +7 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. *Hit:* 8 (1d8 + 4) kinetic damage.
>
>***Heavy Subrepeater.*** *Ranged Weapon Attack:* +7 to hit, range 30/120 ft., one target. *Hit:* 9 (2d4 + 4) energy damage.
>
>***Subrepeater Burst (Recharge 4-6).*** Xerantha sprays a 10-foot cube area within normal range of her scattergun with shots. Each creature in the area must make a DC 16 Dexterity saving throw, taking normal weapon damage on a failed save.
>
>

___
___
>## Null-M
>*Tiny droid (tracker), unaligned*
>___
>- **Armor Class** 12 (armor plating)
>- **Hit Points** 1 (1d4 – 1)
>- **Speed** 0 ft., fly 40 ft.
>___
>|STR|DEX|CON|INT|WIS|CHA|
>|:---:|:---:|:---:|:---:|:---:|:---:|
>|4 (–3)|15 (+2)|8 (–1)|10 (+0)|12 (+1)|4 (–3)|
>___
>- **Skills** Perception +3, Technology +2
>- **Damage Vulnerabilities** ion
>- **Damage Resistances** necrotic, poison, psychic
>- **Condition Immunities** poisoned, diseased
>- **Senses** blindsight 60 ft., passive Perception 13
>- **Languages** Binary, Galactic Basic (can understand but not speak)
>- **Challenge** 0 (25 XP)
>___
>***Circuitry.*** The droid has disadvantage on saving throws against effects that would deal ion or lightning damage.
>
>***Flyby.*** Null-M doesn't provoke opportunity attacks when it flies out of an enemy's reach.
>
>***Interfaced Damage Protocol.*** While a creature is interfaced with this droid via the tracker droid interface tech power, whenever it rolls a 1 or 2 on a damage die for a tech power while the droid is within 5 feet of it, the creature can reroll the die and must use the new roll, even if the new roll is a 1 or a 2.
>
>***Keen Hearing and Sight.*** Null-M has advantage on Wisdom (Perception) checks that rely on hearing or sight.
>
>### Actions
>***Shockprod.*** *Melee Weapon Attack:* +4 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. *Hit:* 1 lightning damage.
>
>

\pagebreakNum

Xerantha is fiercely loyal to the Black Fleet, and errors in her genetic mutations have made her paranoid and vengeful of “Rebel” interference. The more her enemies wound her, the more enraged she becomes. Xerantha tries to surrender only if she loses half of her Hit Points or more in a single round. Otherwise, the cyborg fights until destroyed.

Xerantha’s shack is fairly threadbare and devoid of any items of obvious value. In fact, the whole place amounts to a collection of junk that is either furniture crafted from scrap mining equipment or mostly worthless trophies from intruders the mutant has defeated in recent years. However, if the PCs spend 10 minutes searching the place and succeed at a DC 15 Perception check, they find a sack made hidden behind an assortment of equipment in the building’s frame. The sack holds a jumbled stash of more than a dozen credsticks, some bent or bloodstained, taken from Xerantha’s slain foes. All together, the credsticks contain a total of 7,080 credits. In addition, the PCs can easily see a datapad with a cracked screen sitting atop a pile of her personal belongings.

Xerantha’s cracked datapad is a simple consumer-grade computer and bypassing the datapad’s password is a fairly simple endeavor, requiring a successful DC 13 Slicer’s Kit check to slice the system or a successful DC 13 Technology check to physically bypass the password through the datapad’s hardware so its contents can be downloaded onto a PC’s own device. The datapad reveals that Xerantha has indeed been colluding with the Black Fleet for a long time, and it contains detailed notes from her earlier meeting with Captain Zeera Vesh. This enables the PCs to learn Vesh’s name and her conspiracy with Xerantha and Harvinne Nessex, as well as the clues she planted for the PCs, as detailed in The Black Fleet’s Machinations on page XX. However, the datapad does not reveal that Captain Vesh plans to ambush the PCs herself—the PCs will discover that fact for themselves in the next encounter, when they face the Imperial in Skullcap Gorge on their way back to NIC.

If Xerantha surrenders to the PCs and is left to her own devices, the mutant discreetly follows them to Skullcap Gorge (area I) and joins Captain Vesh in the Black Fleet’s final attempt to eliminate the PCs.

\columnbreak

## I. SKULLCAP GORGE
This encounter occurs when the PCs pass through an area called Skullcap Gorge, as they travel back to New Imperial City from the home of the hermit cyborg Xerantha Mortrant. Read or paraphrase the following as they enter the canyon.

<div class='descriptive'>
The desolate Hoszh Iszhir terrain turns macabre here, as the sloping land descends into a gaping canyon that stretches for dozens of yards. Rusted-out extraction pipes and abandoned mining equipment are embedded in the walls of the gorge. At the ravine’s eastern end, a wide pool of bubbling green acid abuts a sheer cliff. Several flat, stepped rocks next to the pool approximate a stairway climbing to the top of the cliff.
</div>

Hoszh Iszhir once hosted large guerrerite deposits, protected by the native Gektls with a planetary shield. Yeras ago, a Gektl conspirator gave the shield’s access codes to the Empire, which stripmined the planet, leaving this hemisphere choked with toxic waste. This area was once a prominent Imperial mining facility, left to rot after the valuable ores were extracted. The place soon became colloquially known as Skullcap Gorge, as the Gektls commonly referred to the ever-present stormtroopers in white armor as skullcaps. The canyon has since become a hideaway for criminals and outlaws, including members of the Black Fleet from time to time.

The PCs enter Skullcap Gorge from the west. The walls of stone and metal to the north and south are 50 to 60 feet high and require a successful DC 17 Athletics check to climb. A line of rocks separates the bottom of the gorge from the pool of acid; the rocks are difficult terrain, but they are not tall enough to provide any significant cover. The acid pool ranges in depth from about a foot at its western edge to 6 feet at its eastern end. Any creature touching the pool takes 2d6 acid damage per round. Swimming or fully submerged creatures take 10d6 acid damage per round.

The stepped rocks leading up to the top of the cliff to the east are each 2 to 3 feet tall with uneven surfaces, and they are considered difficult terrain. The cliff top is 20 feet above the bottom of the gorge.

Black Fleet Captain Zeera Vesh has been taking pains to track the PCs since they arrived on Hoszh Iszhir and began investigating Waneda Trux’s incident reports. At this point, she knows that the mutant Xerantha Mortrant has failed to kill the heroes, so Captain Vesh has rapidly put her backup plan into place—she will finish the PCs herself, ambushing them as they traipse through Skullcap Gorge on their way back to New Imperial City. To assist her in this task, Captain Vesh has brought along five Black Fleet troopers (one of these is Harvinne Nessex, the flatmate of Gretal Rapinder from area F).

\pagebreakNum

Captain Vesh is crouching down on the rocky stairway that climbs to the top of the cliff at the gorge’s eastern end. Once the PCs have entered the gorge, the stormtroopers move into place behind them to the west. Vesh reveals herself as soon as the PCs are halfway between the acid pool and the western edge of the map, and calls out to them.

<div class='descriptive'>
“Petty, foolish, irritating Rebels! All of the effort I spent to weave this deadly trap, and for what? To have you bumble through, unharmed and yet still so ignorant? Allow me to enlighten you. I am Captain Zeera Vesh, esteemed officer of the mighty Black Fleet—valiant navy of the true Galactic Empire—and you will go no farther. You’ve meddled enough in our plans. Now, I shall succeed where my lackeys have failed. I shall destroy you and bring glory to the Empire once and for all!”
</div>

At this point, Captain Vesh has worked herself into a rage, and she attacks the PCs without any further delay. If the PCs received Ambassador Drave’s dossier of information about active Black Fleet agents on Eox from Waneda Trux (see Meeting the Director on page XX), allow them to know up to three useful pieces of information about the officer’s abilities and weaknesses.

\columnbreak

During combat the stormtroopers position themselves to pin opponents between themselves and Captain Vesh. The troopers coordinate their blaster rifle attacks to pin down their opponents, especially those that try advance on their leader. Fanatically loyal to the Black Fleet, the stormtroopers fight until destroyed.

Captain Vesh targets foes with her rifle, using her debilitating sniper feature to make them flat-footed or off-target, as the situation requires. Vesh’s jumptrooper gear allows her to traverse the rocky stairs at full speed, so she tries to lure as many opponents onto the stairs as possible to take advantage of their hindered movement. Vesh tries to stay just out of melee reach, slowly moving toward the top of the stairs as needed. Once on top of the cliff, Vesh attacks with her melee weapons, attempting to grapple her enemies or push them off the cliff and into the acid pool below. Captain Vesh fights until destroyed.

If the PCs manage to subdue Captain Vesh without destroying her, she refuses to tell them anything about the Black Fleet’s plans, their recent activities in the Kanz sector, their current location, or their plans for the Stellar Degenerator, no matter what the PCs do. The same holds true for the stormtroopers, though the soldiers are too low in rank to know any of the above information.

\pagebreakNum

___
___
>## Captain Zeera Vesh
>*Medium humanoid (human), lawful dark*
>___
>- **Armor Class** 17 (assault armor)
>- **Hit Points** 112 (15d8 + 45)
>- **Speed** 30 ft., fly 30 ft.
>___
>|STR|DEX|CON|INT|WIS|CHA|
>|:---:|:---:|:---:|:---:|:---:|:---:|
>|18 (+4)|16 (+3)|16 (+3)|14 (+2)|12 (+1)|12 (+1)|
>___
>- **Saving Throws** Str +7, Int +5
>- **Skills** Technology +5, Athletics +7, Perception +4, Intimidation +4, Insight +4
>- **Senses** darkvision 60 ft., passive Perception 14
>- **Languages** Galactic Basic
>- **Challenge** 6 (2300 XP)
>___
>***Regeneration.*** Captain Zeera Vesh regains 10 hit points at the start of its turn if she has at least 1 hit point.
>
>***Jetpack.*** Activating or deactivating the jetpack requires a bonus action and, while active, the trooper has a flying speed of 30 feet. The jetpack lasts for a maximum of 10 minutes.
>
>***Broad Spectrum Scan.*** As a bonus action, Captain Vesh can see invisible creatures and objects as if they were visible until the start of her next turn.
>
>***Bull Rush.*** If Captain Zeera Vesh moves at least 15 feet straight toward a target and then hits it with her power gauntlet on the same turn, the target takes an extra 7 (2d6) kinetic damage. If the target is a creature, it must succeed on a DC 15 Strength saving throw or be pushed back 10 feet.
>
>***Debilitating Shot.*** As a bonus action, Captain Vesh can attempt an Insight check against her target's AC. On success, she may apply one of the following conditions after a successful blaster rifle attack on the target on the same turn. The condition remains until the end of the target's next turn.
>
>*Flat-footed.* The target takes a –2 penalty to AC, and cannot take reactions or make attacks of opportunity.
>*Off Target.* The target takes a –2 penalty to attack rolls.
>
>***Techcasting.*** Captain Zeera Vesh is a 3rd-level techcaster. Vesh's techcasting ability is Intelligence (power save DC 13, +5 to hit with power attacks, 15 tech points). Captain Vesh knows the following tech powers:
>
>At will: *detonator*, *wire line*, *storming shot*, *pressure crush*, *electroshock*<br>
>1st level: *cryogenic blow*, *energy shield*, *flame sweep*, *homing rockets*<br>
>2nd level: *burst of flame*, *irradiate*
>
>### Actions
>***Multiattack.*** Captain Vesh makes three blaster rifle attacks or two power gauntlet attacks.
>
>***Power Gauntlet.*** *Melee Weapon Attack:* +7 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. *Hit:* 13 (2d8 + 4) kinetic damage.
>
>***Blaster Rifle.*** *Ranged Weapon Attack:* +6 to hit, range 100/400 ft., one target. *Hit:* 7 (1d8 + 3) energy damage.
>
>

\pagebreakNum

However, Captain Vesh is carrying a secure computer data module that contains the information the PCs seek. To access it, the data module must first be added to a computer system, requiring a successful DC 19 Technology check to install it. Adding the data module to a datapad has no effect—the computer is unable to access the data stored on the module.

The data module is equipped with its own countermeasures, including a firewall and a wipe countermeasure. Once properly installed, the data module can be accessed with a successful DC 20 Slicer’s Kit check to slice the system. If the PCs fail two attempts to slice the module’s firewall, the wipe countermeasure activates, destroying all the data on the module. At this point, the PCs have one last chance to recover the wiped data with a successful DC 28 Technology check.

If the PCs successfully hack Captain Vesh’s secure data module, they discover that it contains the data that was deleted from the datacore in the Grave of Vectivus. This data reveals that the Acolytes of the Beyond left their asteroid base to search for the Gate of Twelve Suns in a distant star system called Verpidor, based on the cultists’ interpretations of Nyara’s prophecies. Verpidor’s coordinates put the system somewhere in Wild Space’s Parthovian Cluster. The electronic signature on this data matches that of the slicer who scrubbed the files from the cult’s computer system, confirming that the Black Fleet visited the Grave of Vectivus, accessed the datacore, and learned that the cult is searching the Verpidor system for the “key” to the alien superweapon.

If the PCs don’t have the slicing skills necessary to crack the secure data module, they can take the module back to New Imperial City, where Waneda Trux can help them arrange the services of a properly skilled hacker who can provide the PCs with the information they need.

For learning the coordinates of the Verpidor system and that the system is the destination of the Black Fleet and the Cult of the Devourer, award the PCs 3,200 XP.

\columnbreak

## CONCLUDING THE ADVENTURE
Once the PCs have defeated Captain Zeera Vesh and her stormtroopers, they can return to New Imperial City with no further difficulties. Allow the PCs to finish any outstanding business they have in the arcology, but they should remember that both the Acolytes of the Beyond and the Black Fleet have a head start on them. If the PCs don’t take the initiative on their own, General Syndulla contacts them in 1d4 days for an update on their mission and to encourage the PCs to pursue their rivals to Verpidor as soon as they are able. Time is of the essence, the general again reminds them, and the fact that the Black Fleet and the Acolytes of the Beyond are both one step closer toward finding a worlds-destroying superweapon is not a comforting thought.

If the PCs try to learn more about Verpidor, they can find no information about the system, either on their ship’s computer or in NIC’s HoloNet (or any other major HoloNet, for that matter). It appears that Verpidor is an unexplored system, so to find out more, the PCs will have to travel there in person.

Even with the defeat of their primary agent on Hoszh Iszhir, the Black Fleet has endeavored to prepare for any eventuality— including the fact that Captain Vesh might fail and that the PCs will continue to interfere in their plans. As a result, Black Fleet agents surreptitiously placed a tracking device on the PCs’ ship during their time on Hoszh Iszhir. The device is currently inactive, and there should be no way for the PCs to detect its presence on their ship at this point. But the Black Fleet knows the tracking device is there, and it will make use of it later in the campaign to achieve its goals at the expense of the PCs.

Regardless of whether Hera needs to push the PCs toward Verpidor, the general contacts the PCs soon after they finish their mission on Hoszh Iszhir to inform the PCs that they have transferred a reward of 2,500 credits apiece to each of the PCs’ accounts for their efforts in tracking down the Black Fleet and ending the activities of at least one of its agents.

For now, the urgency of the PCs’ mission to chase the Black Fleet and the Acolytes of the Beyond cannot be underplayed. The quest to find the Gate of Twelve Suns and the Stellar Degenerator will take the heroes to the ruins of an alien city on a distant world in the next volume of the Dead Suns Campaign, “The Ruined Clouds.”

\pagebreakNum

# Appendix A: Maps

#### Asteroid 8-11-B

[<img src=https://i.ibb.co/wW8qKbW/Asteroid-8-11-B-blank.png>](https://i.ibb.co/wW8qKbW/Asteroid-8-11-B-blank.png)

#### The Grave of Vectivus
[<img src=https://i.ibb.co/vzJPm88/image.png>](https://i.ibb.co/vzJPm88/image.png)

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#### The Chop
[<img src=https://i.ibb.co/rZpYjdV/chop-grid.png>](https://i.ibb.co/rZpYjdV/chop-grid.png)
[Without Grid]()

#### Recluse's Hermitage

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#### Skullcap Gorge
[<img src=https://i.ibb.co/j3Vc4Gt/skullcap-gorge-grid.png>](https://i.ibb.co/j3Vc4Gt/skullcap-gorge-grid.png)
[Without Grid]()

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# Appendix B: Monster Stat Blocks
___
___
>## Xerantha Mortrant
>*Medium humanoid (human mutant), chaotic dark*
>___
>- **Armor Class** 16 (fiber armor)
>- **Hit Points** 130 (20d8 + 40)
>- **Speed** 30 ft.
>___
>|STR|DEX|CON|INT|WIS|CHA|
>|:---:|:---:|:---:|:---:|:---:|:---:|
>|14 (+2)|18 (+4)|14 (+2)|16 (+3)|12 (+1)|8 (–1)|
>___
>- **Saving Throws** Dex +7, Int +6
>- **Skills** Athletics +5, Arcana +6, Acrobatics +7, Perception +4, Stealth +7, Animal Handling +4
>- **Senses** darkvision 120 ft., passive Perception 14
>- **Languages** Galactic Basic, Binary
>- **Challenge** 6 (2300 XP)
>___
>***Cylo Cybernetics.*** Xerantha casts force powers as tech powers.
>
>***Keen Ocular Implants.*** Xerantha Mortrant has advantage on Wisdom (perception) checks that rely on sight.
>
>***Integrated Secondary Brain.*** Xerantha is linked to Null-M as through the *tracker droid interface* power. She can see through her droid's senses as a reaction and without losing her own vision.
>
>***Techcasting.*** Xerantha Mortrant is a 6th-level techcaster. Xerantha's techcasting ability is Intelligence (power save DC 14, +6 to hit with power attacks). Xerantha knows the following tech powers:
>
>At will: *pyrokinesis*, *force push/pull*, *feedback*, *shock*, *lightning charge*, *tracker droid interface*, *short circuit*, *haywire*
>1st level: *force propel*, *burst of speed*, *agile defense*, *phasestrike*, *sustained lightning*
>2nd level: *force throw*, *hallucination*, *kinetite*, *saber strike*
>3rd level: *force repulse*, *force lightning*, *choke*
>
>***Mutation (1/day).*** As an bonus action, Xerantha may manifest her mutations. The manifestation lasts for one minute. While manifested, she gains the following qualities; when the manifestation ends, she loses these qualities.
>
>*Armored Osteoderms.* Xerantha's AC becomes 18. She gains resistance to kinetic and energy damage.
>*Brute Force.* Xerantha's Strength score increases by 2, and her melee attacks add one additional damage die.
>*Monstrous Vigor.* Xerantha gains 20 (5d8) temporary hit points.
>*Sonic Roar.* As an action, Xerantha lets out a deafening roar in a 30 foot cone. All creatures that can hear it must make a DC 15 Constitution saving throw. On a failure, a creature takes 17 (5d6) sonic damage and is deafened for 1 minute. An affected creature can repeat the saving throw at end of each of its turns, ending the effect on itself on a success. On a successful save, a creature takes half damage and isn't deafened.
>
>***Combat Casting.*** When the Xerantha uses her action to cast a tech power, she can use a bonus action to make a techblade or heavy subrepeater attack.
>
>### Actions
>***Multiattack.*** Xerantha Mortrant makes three Techblade and/or Heavy Subrepeater attacks.
>
>***Techblade.*** *Melee Weapon Attack:* +7 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. *Hit:* 8 (1d8 + 4) kinetic damage.
>
>***Heavy Subrepeater.*** *Ranged Weapon Attack:* +7 to hit, range 30/120 ft., one target. *Hit:* 9 (2d4 + 4) energy damage.
>
>***Subrepeater Burst (Recharge 4-6).*** Xerantha sprays a 10-foot cube area within normal range of her scattergun with shots. Each creature in the area must make a DC 16 Dexterity saving throw, taking normal weapon damage on a failed save.
>
>***Claw.*** *Melee Weapon Attack:* +5 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. *Hit:* 16 (2d8 + 3) kinetic damage. Xerantha can only use this attack while her mutation is manifested.
>
>### Legendary Actions
>
>Xerantha Mortrant can take 3 legendary actions, choosing from the options below. Only one legendary action option can be used at a time and only at the end of another creature's turn. Xerantha Mortrant regains spent legendary actions at the start of its turn.
>
>- **Move.** Xerantha moves up to her land speed.
>- **Cast Power.** Xerantha casts an at-will tech power.
>- **Recover.** Xerantha regains 2d6 hit points.
>

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# Appendix C: Starships

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# Appendix D: Items

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# Appendix E: Rule Variants

### Environmental Condition: Reduced Atmosphere

##### Thin Atmosphere
Thinner atmosphere tend to cause a nonacclimated creature to have difficulty breathing and become extremely tired. A typical thin atmosphere requires such a creature to succeed at a Constitution save each hour (DC = 11+1 per previous check) or take one level of Exhaustion. The Exhaustion levels are cumulative, and all Exhaustion gained in this way ends when the creature returns to a normal atmosphere.

##### Severely Thin Atmosphere
Severely thin atmosphere can cause long-term oxygen deprivation to those affected in addition to the effects of a standard thin atmosphere. The first time a creature in a severely thin atmosphere fails a Constitution save, it must succeed a DC 18 Constitution save or take 1 damage to all ability scores. A level of ability score damage received in this way may be recovered with 24 hours of bedrest taking no actions beyond speaking or reading, or 12 hours in a bacta tank.

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### Environmental Condition: Low Gravity

Low-gravity worlds are liberating to most species acclimated to standard-gravity worlds. Such characters’ muscles are far more effective than normal. On a low-gravity world, where the gravity is no greater than a third of standard gravity, PCs can jump three times as high and as far and lift three times as much. (Movement speed, however, stays the same, as moving in great bounds is awkward and difficult to control.) Thrown weapons have their range categories tripled.

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