THE HIVE'S MURALS Here is a description of the giant stone murals The PCs can see the murals. Can they make found in Room 1, the central sphere, in the aste- sense of them? roid complex known as the Hive. This material The murals' style: These are artworks of an relates to the description of Room 1 given in alien species. Try to convey the alien quality in Chapter 4 of this adventure. Read the adventure the descriptions of these murals. Works from for- to that point before consulting this description. eign human cultures can serve as examples. For instance, when describing the murals, consider showing the players Mayan hieroglyphics or rongo-rongo script from Easter Island. A good VIEWING THE MURALS Sample encyclopedifile a offers many such "alien" works. To view a stone panel that is up to one mile tall There are some features of the Sazaur mural and one-half mile wide, the PCs must move to a style that are standard regardless of the ap- distant vantage point: at least the center of the proach taken: chamber, and probably at the far side. If the PCs 1. All the murals are carved in very high relief. are afoot, they can view a mural only from the op- From close up, the murals look like ranges of posite area of the chamber. hills cut with odd channels and box canyons. This becomes important in two circumstances. 2. All the figures depicted look odd to human First, the PCs' previous adventures may have left eyes, as though the artists tried to show not just potential adversaries in some part of the central the front of each figure, but part of the back as chamber, perhaps enemies who have followed well. A beholder perceives more than the con- them out of the smaller rooms. Or the DM may ventional 180-degree view of an object facing it; wish to introduce a random encounter in the cen- with its wide-set eyestalks, it sees perhaps 190 or tral sphere. The quest to view a particular panel 200 degrees of nearby objects. For humanoids, it may draw the PCs within range of this enemy. would be like viewing an object from one posi- Second, the gigantic minor globe crystal floats tion, shifting over five feet to a new perspective, in the passage between this chamber and Room and then combining them into one view. 12. The crystal's area of effect does not reach far 3. The Sazaur beholders used 11 arbitrary sym- into the central sphere. But if the PCs want to bols to represent the different powers of their eyes, view the murals on the far end of the sphere from in the same way we use symbols for natural phe- that passage, they must sail or travel within nomena (for example, lightning is often depicted range of the crystal's magic-neutralizing area. Its as a jagged line). Each symbol starts at a beholder's ill effects on a spelljamming ship are described eye and leads to a target (usually another beholder; elsewhere in this module. see below for descriptions of the murals). IL by Allen Varney TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction 2 Room 11: Dead Air 42 Chapter 1: Ladder to the Sky 4 Room 12: Ritual Gone Wrong 45 Chapter 2: Spacefarers 9 Chapter 5: The Behemoth Awakens 47 Chapter 3: Rendezvous With Ravager 13 Chapter 6: Mice Against a Mountain 51 Chapter 4: The Biggest Dungeon 18 Room 1: The Central Chamber 20 Appendix Room 2: A Charmed Life 21 Non-Player Characters 58 Room 3: Of All Wild Beasts 24 New Spelljamming Ships 60 Room 4: Pleasant Dreams 26 New Magic 60 Room 5: Ricochets 28 New Monster: Beholder Mage 62 Room 6: The Grind Canyon 30 New Monster: Sentinel 63 Room 7: Emptier Than Empty 33 New Monster: Silver Slime 64 Room 8: Village of the Dammed 34 Room 9: Shell Game 37 Room 1 Mural Descriptions inside covers Room 10: The Gnarled, Bad Caverns 40 Monster Summary Table outside gatefold

SampleCREDIT fileS Design: Allen Varney Editing: Anne Brown Cover Art: Brom Interior Art: John Statema Cartography: Diesel Graphic Design: Stephanie Tabat Typography: Gaye O'Keefe, Angelika Lokotz Keylining: Stephanie Tabat, Roy Parker Special Thanks: Aaron Allston, Stephen Beeman, Mike NystuI, Warren Spector, and Rick Swan

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TSR, Inc. TSR Ltd. POB 756 120 Church End, Cherry Hinton Lake Geneva, Cambridge CB1 3LB WI 53147 GSA United Kingdom TSR, Inc. 9273 PRODUCTS OF YOUR IMAGINATION™ ISBN 0-88038-819-6 "While far into the vast unknown ship and a base of operations. They the DM will be ready for anything the the strong wing'd Eagles bend/ may choose to remain in space for fur- players might do. Their venturous flight in Human ther adventures. Staging Advice: From time to time, forms distinct; thro' darkness the adventure offers notes on how to deep/ About 2nd Edition AD&D stage a scene; that is, how to pace it, They bear the woven draperies; on create an appropriate mood, and pro- golden hooks they hang abroad/ game rules duce certain dramatic effects. The DM The universal curtains & spread This adventure is written using the can use this advice to create a vivid, out from Sun to Sun/ terminology and rules of the 2nd Edi- memorable adventure for the players. The vehicles of light. . . ." tion AD&D game. Those who use the original game materials can still play it —William Blake, The Four Zoas easily. STORY BACKGROUND "Vala: Night the Second," This adventure centers on the space- lines 150-154(1797) Some noticeable differences are name changes. The term "magic-user" borne race of beholders. Many sub- has been replaced by "wizard" or species of beholders exist, all with the "mage." The "cleric" character class is same monstrous features and powers, DM NOTES now the "priest" class, though mem- but varying in skin color and texture, bers of that class are often still called configuration of eyes, and so on. The It's waiting out there. To those below, clerics. assumption is that beholders in differ- trapped in the ring of the horizon, it Monsters are presented in a new for- ent environments evolve through very promises only vast black emptiness. rapid genetic deviation and drift. But it waits, and in time they arrive. mat. The monster descriptions in this As described in the SPELLJAMMER The brave and foolhardy, the lucky and adventure's appendix use the format of boxed set, these differences produce unfortunate, all these visitors discover the Monstrous Compendium series. deep racism among beholders. Gener- its secret. The information has been expanded and reorganized, but nothing from the ally, beholders hold few ideals higher The void is not empty. Life teems in original Monster Manual format is than destroying each other. The sub- its reaches; armadas navigate its omitted. The pages of new monsters species organize into "nations" that depths. Million-mile vistas of eerie can be photocopied and inserted in the wage cold war on one another. beauty lie unseen by human eyes. Trea- Monstrous Compendium binder. Most beholder nations number only sures that dwarf worlds hide in distant 20 to 40 individuals, the complement gulfs. Only the strongest and bravest Ability checks: Occasionally, this of one or two Tyrant Ships. But about can traverse the immense distances adventure calls for PCs to make an 1,200 years ago, in a distant crystal that guard these treasures. For the ability check. Roll ld20 and compare sphere far across the phlogiston, differ- strong and the brave . . . Wildspace the result with the character's appro- ent natural laws allowed the beholder waits. priate abilitSampley (Strength, Dexterityfile , etc.). If the roll is equal to or less than the nations there to grow to enormous ability score, the action succeeds. If size, over ten thousand strong. These About This Module the roll is greater than the ability score, nations were more racist than any Wildspace is the first AD&D® game the action fails. other nation. adventure for the SPELLJAMMER™ campaign setting. The SPELL- Adventure Layout The Sazaur JAMMER boxed campaign set is nec- One such nation, the Sazaur, made essary to play. This adventure is presented in chap- great headway in its wars. Led by a This adventure is designed to fit any ters. Each chapter includes events which happen regardless of the PCs' lo- Hive Mother (or Queen) of astounding existing ground-based campaign, power, the Sazaur virtually extermi- launching the player characters (PCs) cations and actions. Some chapters also include encounters keyed to a nated other beholder nations from into the vast realms beyond their their sphere. However, when the Queen world. A DM can also use it to start a given location or action. Only if the PCs enter that location or perform that died in battle, the Sazaur nation's for- new space campaign. The adventure tunes went into eclipse. works best for four to six characters of action does the encounter takes place. The Sazaur ruling caste resolved to levels 6-8. Any text that appears in a box is regain their supremacy. But how? This entire adventure is for the DM's meant to be read aloud (or summa- rized) for the players. All other infor- Their dramatic solution: They would eyes only. Players should NOT read mation is for the DM. Reveal it only in attempt to create an artifact. Using the any further! response to PC actions. eyes of the deceased Queen as their Wildspace works with any campaign template relics, the Sazaur focused world. Mo adjustment is necessary. The The chapters describe the intended flow of the story. PCs have great free- their entire nation's resources and en- characters leave their world in the first listed the mysterious Arcane in a task scene and don't return until the last. . . dom to deviate from the intended course. Therefore, read the entire that would tax a god. if they ever do! At story's end the PCs Over the next two centuries, the Sa- might have their own spelljamming module before play begins. That way, zaur hollowed out an asteroid to create on. It has now reached the home aboard his ship, or he can recruit them a huge "incubator" called the Hive. sphere of the player characters. from their groundling home to serve as Since the creation process called for crew. On the mission to the Hive, the the lives of a billion creatures, the Sa- Shazogrox/Tobart PCs learn about fantasy space and zaur also made their asteroid Hive a spelljamming. In an encounter with a shelter for a weapon of wholesale One beholder mage, a monstrous beholder scout ship, they learn about slaughter: the Ravager. wizard, has deduced the Hive's current spelljammer combat. The Sazaur never got to create their course. The beholder mage, named The PCs eventually learn of their artifact, but they managed to use their Shazogrox, now hopes to bring the captain's strange nature. Probably ultimate weapon—once. In a massive monstrous killing machine under his they gain control of the Skyrunner ritual, they first animated the Ravager. control. The key to success: the themselves. The weapon immediately began its Queen's Eyes. The relics have slowly In any case, they eventually encoun- course of destruction by engulfing and grown in power over the centuries, ter, enter, and explore the Hive aste- destroying the entire Sazaur nation. strengthened by the Ravager's kills. roid. This part of the adventure works Some speculate that the Arcane ar- They do not yet form a true artifact, but as a traditional dungeon adventure; ranged this fate, for fear that the Sa- they come very close. but in this case, the dungeon rooms zaur would grow too powerful to The Queen's Eyes bestow titanic measure two miles on a side! The PCs remain trustworthy customers. power; but until they achieve true arti- literally sail their ship through the stu- Without its controlling beholders, fact status, they remain fragile and can pendous chambers of the Hive. the Hive drifted through space on a be destroyed. random course. It passed from the Sa- By controlling the Ravager, the am- Against the Ravager zaur's crystal sphere and was soon lost bitious Shazogrox hopes to slaughter in the phlogiston. all rival beholders in this sphere. Unbeknownst to the PCs, Jon Tobart The beholder mage is motivated by has re-activated the Ravager. When revenge. He was outcast from his na- they find out, the PCs must follow the The Ravager tion due to (for lack of a better term) Ravager and stop it before it annihi- The weapon was sighted at sporadic his political beliefs. Now polymorphed lates their homeworld! intervals over the next millennium in into human form, Shazogrox journeys The Ravager is a gigantic armored many different crystal spheres. Wher- across space in the guise of a spelljam- construct shaped like a beholder. Jon ever it was seen, disaster followed. The ming privateer named Jon Tobart. Tobart is inside it, guiding its path. The Ravager evidently could operate auto- Tobart/Shazogrox, as evil as any be- PCs can fight the Ravager ship-to-ship matically and showed no preference holder, plots revenge for his exile. He in their spelljammer, or they can infil- for killing beholders over other vic- has planned an audacious scheme to trate the huge weapon's interior. Inside tims. sneak aboard the Ravager, take the the Ravager, the PCs must confront The Hive could not move indepen- Queen'sSample Eyes, and comman filed the Rav- Jon Tobart, who is armed with the pow- dently. It simply drifted on a slow, ager himself. Then he will wipe out be- erful Queen's Eyes, and find ways to straight course, passing through crys- holders everywhere, and perhaps destroy the beholder, the Ravager, and tal sphere walls by the powerful magic declare himself emperor for good mea- the artifact. (Then they have to get out of the Queen's Eye relic. But the sure. The slaughter may endow the before the Ravager collapses!) weapon contained in the asteroid, the Eyes with enough spiritual energy to If they survive this great final battle, Ravager, could move freely. It swept give it true artifact status, some two the PCs can attempt to use the Queen's down on dozens of worlds, leaving to- centuries ahead of schedule! Eyes (if the Eyes survive) to stop the tal destruction behind. Meanwhile, But to invade the Hive, Tobart needs Hive in its course. If they succeed, they whole armadas perished against the help. And that is where the player char- have a ship, a base, and a whole new Hive's defenses. acters enter the picture. kind of fantasy adventure in space. The legend grew, especially among the beholder nations. Each realized that if it could control the Ravager, it ADVENTURE would achieve supremacy. The weap- SUMMARY on's position provoked constant and Jon Tobart, the disguised beholder intense speculation. mage, captains a potymorphed crew In the last recorded incident, the who were once animals, on his spell- Hive took extensive damage from rival jammer ship called the Skyrunner. To- fleets of beholder Tyrant Ships. Any of bart needs this crew, as well as the PCs, the fleets could have finally defeated to take him to the Hive. Once there, he the Hive, but with victory in sight, they needs them to provide a diversion and, turned on each other and destroyed if necessary, combat support. themselves. Tobart stops at the PCs' home city Though breached, the Hive drifted for supplies. The PCs can stow away In this chapter, a spelljamming ship, turn comes, the action continues. Read eral strands of smaller cord about one- the Sky runner, recruits the PCs for a this aloud: quarter-inch thick. Closer examination mission. The PCs learn about fantasy reveals small metallic threads running space travel, meet the crew of the ship, Suddenly the object hits the ground through the rope. and make a few surprising discoveries about 50 feet away with a tremen- A detect magic spell reveals strong about its captain. The mission remains dous thooom! magic on the rope and on the large mysterious. Broken wood and shards of pot- knot used to tie it to the anchor. The captain of the ship, the poly- tery fly into the crowd. People morphed beholder mage calling him- scream and run away. Likely Actions self Jon Tobart, has learned that many The collision kicks up a big cloud of the Hive's defenses are specifically of dust. When it settles, you see that Untying the rope: A wizard lock has designed to defend against beholders. a merchant's cart has been totally been cast on the knot, making it very This made Tobart's few beholder allies demolished by a huge ship's anchor. difficult to untie. nearly useless. Knowing that he will The anchor seems to be made of Untying the knot without damaging need crew members of races other iron. It must weigh at least a ton. the rope is possible but difficult, re- than his own, he searches for adventur- A thick, gray rope stretches from quiring a Dexterity check with a pen- ers whom he can dupe into aiding his the anchor straight up into the air as alty of -5. Each attempt takes one attempt to seize control of the Ravager. far as you can see. You can't see any- turn. Characters with the Rope Use pro- thing else overhead. ficiency may make an unmodified roll What do you do? in half the time. EVENT 1:APIN If the characters get the rope loose, it swings back and forth overhead, drop- DROPS They examine the rope and anchor, ping low enough on every third or of course. These are from the spelljam- The adventure begins in a crowded, fourth pass to knock the wind out of ming ship Skyrunner, now floating at open area in any village or city. A mar- some innocent bystander or do inci- anchor several miles overhead. ketplace or bazaar works well. dental property damage. The subsections that follow outline The PCs have just completed an- Remember that this is a very long, the PCs' likely actions and possible other adventure. Now they wander the three-inch-thick rope whipping outcomes. When the PCs are finished town, perhaps buying supplies or look- around; there is a lot of force behind it! looking at the rope and anchor, move ing for work. So much, in fact, that a character who on to Event 2. Start the adventure by reading the tries to grab hold is swept right up into The Skyrunner's mas- following aloud: The anchor: the air. It takes another anchor or sive anchor is shaped like its something the size of a fully-loaded earthbound counterparts. It is roughly You hear a distant whistle. It starts cart to pin it down again. Most likely it ten feet long, measures eight feet low, but very quickly becomes Sample file dangles loose until the Skyrunner's across its two huge, curved spikes, and higher-pitched and louder. It's com- sailors come to fix it (see Event 3). weighs about two tons. On a cross- ing from overhead. piece atop the anchor, the rope is tied Cutting the rope: Although thin, the You look up and see something far with a complex knot. rope has the strength of hardwood. above, a dark speck that quickly What's worse, the rope sways when The anchor is cast of an iron alloy grows bigger. Something large is struck, making it difficult to cut. For with tiny flecks of a silvery metal. Any falling out of the sky, straight toward these reasons, the rope can take 30 hit character who examines it gets an In- this area! points of damage before breaking. telligence check. Characters with the People around you also see this. A Cutting the rope destroys the en- Sailor or Shipwright proficiencies or few panic and scatter. But most of chantment and causes it to start secondary skill make this roll with a them just stand, staring upward as shrinking back to its normal size. If the + 2 bonus. Those who succeed notice the object hurtles down. PCs try to grab on as it zips skyward, that the anchor shows no signs of cor- they must make Dexterity checks. Any rosion nor any evidence that it has who succeed are pulled into the heav- The PCs have only moments (one been employed at sea. round) to act. They should rescue ens with a wrenching force and dizzy- The rope is a new magical NPCs, restrain panicking animals, and The rope: ing speed. Roll as you would for an item called an infinite rope (see the otherwise act like heroes. attempt to climb the rope (see below) "New Magical Items" appendix for de- When does the object actually hit? with a -3 penalty for complete lack of tails). Normally, the rope is stretched Have the players roll for individual ini- preparation. If the PC fails either of by playing it out in coils. In this case, it tiative. Determine when the object falls these rolls, calculate distance and was simply knotted to an anchor. When by making an unmodified initiative damage as outlined below. the anchor was thrown overboard, the roll. "Count down" to impact by calling If the PCs cut the rope, Tobart and rope stretched to the necessary length. out the initiative order and letting the his crew still come down as described The rope is about three inches thick; PCs act in their turn. Play up the ten- in Event 4 below, on a duplicate infinite surprisingly thin, considering the sion of the scene. When the object's rope, held safely out of the PCs' reach. weight of the anchor. It is woven of sev- li. check (more if you feel they are war- EVENT 2: CLIMBING ranted). A failed check means the rope THE ROPE hits the character for Id4 points of damage. This has many drawbacks. The ma- jor obstacle for the PCs is the sheer Success: If they reach the top of the length of the climb. Making the ascent rope, the PCs find themselves on the under their own power is really not fea- main deck of the Skyrunner. Go to sible, since the rope goes two miles Event 4. straight up with no good handholds. When PCs get up a few hundred feet, EVENT 3: WAITING the sway of the rope that seemed so gentle from the ground is violent Especially cagy or torpid PCs may enough to throw off all but the strong- refuse to have anything to do with the est characters. Precautions such as rope. They might decide to wait to see safety ropes reduce the chance of di- what happens. Or perhaps they make saster, but do not guarantee safety. time-consuming preparations before a climb, such as procuring supplies. If the PCs want to try the climb, have Maybe they just dither. them make an Intelligence check. If anyone makes it, the DM should point During the next few hours, everyone out that they have no idea how long the in town comes to look at the rope and rope really is. If anyone makes the anchor, first from a distance, but grad- check by 2 or more, they realize just ually drawing closer. Eventually, they how brutal the swaying rope would be. crowd around the rope, and then a child tries to climb it. One hundred feet Even so, reckless PCs may still at- up, he falls and hurts himself. This tempt the climb. Have them make brings in the city guard. Strength and Dexterity ability checks with a bonus or penalty from -3 to + 3 The guardsmen cluster around the for preparation or lack thereof. Any- base of the rope, warning off the citi- one who fails either check falls, despite zens. Shortly thereafter, city officials any precautions they took (safety and politicians show up; the closer it is ropes snap, characters tied together go to the next election, the faster they ap- down together, etc.). Thieves may pear, and the longer the speeches they make a Climb Walls roll to counteract make when they arrive. the effects of a failed roll, saving them Also Samplearriving will be jongleursfile , min- from almost certain doom. As for the strels, and lunatics with passionate rest of them .... speeches for social reform, all exploit- ing this ready-made audience. Around Falling: To determine the height of the anchor, an impromptu carnival the character when he falls, roll a dlO springs up. four times and multiply the results to- gether. This is the distance fallen in Within half an hour, resourceful mer- feet. (For example, rolls of 5, 3, 8, and chants in the marketplace are hawking 7 give a height of 5x3x8x7 = 840 feet.) improvised "tie-in" ropes, cords, strings, and bootlaces. "The rope ex- Damage is Id6 for every 10 feet tends from heaven! Carry a small piece fallen, to a maximum of 20d6 (terminal of heaven with you from this blessed velocity). Since the average fall calcu- square! Only six—excuse me—eight lated by this method is about 915', it is coppers a yard!" Every time someone safe to assume terminal velocity. If a buys one, the price goes up another character sustains this kind of damage, copper. remember the massive damage rule (Dungeon Master's Guide, page 75): If a Meanwhile, sages and elderly gentle- character takes 50 or more hit points men gather to debate the nature of the from any single attack, he must save rope. Some say it indicates that the vs. death or die. gods, too, use ships just as humans do; others theorize that perhaps someone Magic: If the characters have the wishes to lasso the moon to the world, proper spells or items, they can fly or thus locking them together and stop- leuitate upward alongside the rope. ping the annoying problem of tides. They might have difficulty avoiding the swaying rope; require a Dexterity The PCs can interrupt and do some- thing at any time, though now they