SOS Shakespear
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Author: MTM
Homepage: http://
System: Aliens
Type: Scenario
Category: Science Fiction
Requirements:

Adventure Background

After successfully completing their mission on the New Utah colony, the marines hit the sleepers for the return voyage to Gateway station. During the return jump the Shakespear is hit by a freak meteor storm which damages the vessels stabilisers. The PC will be forced to make an emergency landing on a nearby planet. As they enter the planets atmosphere the pilot looses control in the planets turbulent winds and crashes. Most of the marines and crew are thrown from their sleepers and a large explosion causes a fire which results in many casualties. Only the PC, the commanding officer, and an engineer survive. Once on planet the PC discovers that something is not right about the planet. The planets surface is barren, everything is silent, and in the distance a large blackness is slowly coming towards them. The PC will want to get off planet ASAP (especially before the blackness gets too close). They will need to fix the communications array and repair the engine and stabilisers. Most of the equipment to make the repairs is onboard the Shakespear, however a large amount of oxygen was lost in the crash. Also a number of power cells will be required to make lift off. Luckily for the marines not too far away is a small abandoned colony. From here they will be able to find oxygen canisters and some power cells for the ship. Of course as the marines return the blackness will surround them and the vessel. Within the blackness the marines will be confronted by thousands of aliens (like in Pitch Black). They will have to carefully manage the use of power cells and hopefully not use too many to stop them from getting off world.

Note to the Game Master

As part of the GM it is important to not write adventures which are rigid and fixed. Almost always Players will do things different from what you have written. This adventure is not fixed. Allow your players to do what they think is best - don't guide them in any way. Its your job to keep things going and set the atmosphere (I find scripts usually help to establish this). Below you will find all the information that you need to create the atmosphere you won't find a fixed sequential story line.

Note that I haven't completed the hit location for the Aliens as it has come to my attention that not many people have the rulebook for aliens (pity) - I have left this blank for the GM to fill in. Also the map that I used has been lost in the void - Sorry.

I suggest watching Pitch Black before running this adventure - and running it only if you enjoyed Pitch Black.

Have fun!

Script 1

You have all made a quick recovery from your encounter with the Aliens and are very happy to finally hear that you have received your orders to return to Gateway Station. With great enthusiasm your team preps the Shakespear while you finalise any outstanding security issues with the colony administrator. Your take off is uneventful and it takes you and your crew no time to log the course back to Earth into the computer. Most of the crew and marines are eager to hit the freezers, and all look forward to returning back home to Gateway Station.

1 - I don’t know about you guys but I’m glad to get off that shit hole and fly first class back to Gateway.

2 – Yea. I’m just hoping for a little more of a bonus when we get back. I mean we did kick some xenomorphic butt didn’t we.

1 – Xeno what?

2 - Xenomorphic, didn’t you ever go to school.

3 - He means bugs man.

CO - You’re all going to get what you signed up for.

2 - Yea but I didn’t sign up to get my balls bitten off by some xenomorph

1 – Remember guys, anytime anywhere

CO – Alright sweethearts time to hit the freezers.

1 – Hey _____2's name_____ when we get home I’m gonna do you wife.

2 – She’s dead remember

1 – Oh I’m sorry man. Bad call. No offence hey.

2 – None taken.

1 – (pause) I guess I’ll just have to do your mother then.

CO – That’s enough shit guys. If you don’t get in those freezers now I’ll get you to get in there naked. That way the only thing you’ll be doing when you get home is defrosting your balls.

1 & 2 – Yes sir.

The Crash

Dreams. You feel yourself scared and alone. Nothing seems to be recognisable to you. You look around and see strange dark shapeless blackness moving around you. It seems to form into something but you cant tell what. Slowly they move further and further away from you until all that remains is nothing. You are surrounded by emptiness. And feel utterly alone. The silence slowly becomes unbearable. Something inside you is trying to tell you to listen. You strain yourself to hear a noise but hear nothing. Something’s not right. You quickly turn around but see nothing. You could sware that something is watch you. Something close. Something evil. You quickly turn around again … nothing. You feel yourself stating to panic. The evil is even closer now. You can sense it reaching out for you. Again you turn around and again… nothing. “Where is it” you whisper to yourself. Then you realise. Slowly you look up and there hovering above your head is the dark shapeless blackness that you saw earlier.

You find yourself slowly opening your eyes. Getting up you notice that the ships computer has only woken you up. Instantly you think that there must be something wrong. You jump out of your freezer and quickly make your way to ops. As soon as you enter ops you see red lights flickering on the main computer screen. After running your fingers over the controls you bring up the ships logs. You discover that the ship has been hit by a freak meteor shower, and that the ships stabilisers have been damaged. You run a few diagnostics and discover that the damage looks quite bad and that you’re going to have to land somewhere to make repairs. You decide to awaken the rest of the crew and start scanning for a place to land.

About 20 mins later the crew is already in ops looking for a planet to land on. Luckily your navigational officer informs you that you are not too far away from LV-774. A small uncharted planet. You give the order to the pilot to take the ship down as you look out into the emptiness of space.

The pilot makes a slow decent towards the planet. Navigation reports that the atmosphere is breathable but is unable to detect anything further due to heavy cloud cover that surrounds the planet.

As you start to break through the planets atmosphere and enter the thick clouds the ship is rocked by something large. Alarms start to go off as a women's voice is heard over the ships intercom - Warning Structure Integrity Unstable. "Sir we've got a breech. One of the engines is on fire." Suddenly there is a huge explosion. The command controls explode and you're pilot is thrown across the room. As you move to the controls you here another explosion and are knocked off your feet. You come crashing to the floor landing on your back facing the ceiling. There is yet another explosion and you see one of the computer monitors above you start to fall towards you. You try to dodge it but it hits you square in the head. Slowly darkness engulfs you.

-----

You awaken some time later. You feel blood trickle down your forehead. You slowly stand and look around you. Nothing is where it should be. Everything has been thrown everywhere. Your crew are all lying around the control room. You quickly move to check it there still alive. To your horror you find them all dead except for Lambert your pilot. You help him up. "Where are we", he says, "Are we ok, did we survive the crash?" You tell him the bad news and get him to see what he can recover or repair while you go and check the others in their sleepers.

Only the PC have survived.

Recovery

The ship is in unrepairable condition. Very few components can be recovered. Luckily the sleepers the PC where in are still intacted and can be used. The dropship in the hanger has also been damaged but not to the degree of the Shakespear. However the dropship does need to have its power units replaced. All have been destroyed. Other minor repairs are also required (approx. 16 hours).

Only the hanger and internal areas of the ship are still intacted. All other areas have structural breeches in them. The hot air and blinding sunlight fills each of the rooms with breeches.

Outside is hot and very bright. One large bright sun fills the planets skies. A slight hot breeze kicks up the sand that can be seen as far as the horizons. The planet is flat and lifeless. There are no plants or vegetation of any kind.

The PC will be unable to get communications to work. The comm gear on the dropship is only capable of short-range communication. The Shakespear can still use it sensor equipment but all other systems are inoperable and cannot be repaired.

If the PC run a search on the surrounding area they will pick up a small unidentified land object about 3 km from their current location. The PC should head there to investigate.

Mining Personnel Carrier (MPC)

It takes about 2 hours to get to the location of the MPC. As they approach they see the MPC (like an APC only half the size - it can carry up to 7 people) half buried in sand. The door is wide open. Inside is totally empty. Pools of dried blood can be seen within but there are no bodies. The MPC is fully functional. Within they also find a map to the main mining site. It is approx a further 3 km away from the Shakespear (total of 6km from Shakespear to the mining site). As the PC prep the MPC and close the doors a large tentacle hits the PC closing the door (Balance Check). If he fails he is knocked outside. Just outside the door another smaller tentacle pushes up out of the sand and stares at the MPC. It then darts back under the sand as another 3 tentacles jump out from underground and reach for the MPC. The PC can quickly drive away or fight the beast. Use harvester stats. Each tentacle can take a total of 500 damage points before retreating into the ground. Damage is as per Pistol anyone hit by the tentacle must make a Balance Check or be dragged underground (2 rounds).

Mining Colony

You approach the mining colony in the MPC. The place is abandoned and lifeless. Sand blown by the wind has covered most of the buildings and occasionally blows up little swirls of dust which quickly fall back to the ground. The place looks like a ghost town. As you bring the MPC to a halt you can make out 4 small buildings, probably quarters for the miners, and two larger ones. One of the larger ones has a huge sliding door obviously to allow access to small mining vehicles. You can see that all of the buildings have had at least one of their walls broken or blown inwards by the winds. In the distance you can see a small cave.

Note - All buildings show signs of a struggle. One wall from each building has been broken inwards. Dried Blood can be found in all buildings. Also the MPC is in need of 2 new powercells. Each trip to the crash site and back will require 2 powercells. The MPC is using so many powercells due to a ruptured power alternator unit which is beyond repair.

A - Quarters

B - Water Pump still operational. One power cell is used to run the water pump.

C - Recreation Room - From the kitchen the players will be able to recover 2 power cells. The lockers contain personal effects (eg magazines, photos, clothes, towels etc).

D - Garage - This room contains equipment to make repairs on various mining vehicles (can be used to fix the dropship if the PC think about using it). There is a single drilling vehicle in the garage. It has been damaged and will need to be repaired if the PC want to use it. It will take approx. 3 hours to fix, however the mining vehicle will be of little use because they are rather slow. Within the room the players will be able to recover 27 power cells.

E - Cave - The cave is dark and quiet. Inside a drilling vehicle, similar to the one in the garage, can be seen. From the drilling vehicle the players can recover 4 power cells. There is also a large light power lantern which has a single power cell. The lantern is broken and in need of repair (30 mins - One power cell will work for 2 hours before needing replacing). The vehicle is still operational. As the PC begin to remove the last power cell they begin to hear strange metallic sounds. Like metal screeching on metal. The sounds slowly get louder and louder an stop as soon as the last power cell is removed. As soon as they start to leave the sound starts again. Motion trackers can pick up the aliens, but they can only be seen in infrared. They are invisible to the naked eye.

The aliens look like large snakes with two sets of small wings. They have a small mouth with a sharp set of teeth and a forked tail which end in a very sharp metallic like nail (the aliens sound is produced by the two tails clicking together) . Sticking out just above the mouth, like a nose, is a long stalk with a single eye at its end. Their base chance to hit is as per Hand to Hand combat and they inflict 100 damage with their bit. The aliens can't penetrate Medium Armour or above with there bite. However the ends of their tails can inflicting 10 damage points each and 50 points with no armour. The marines are attacked by 3 aliens.

Hit Location

Eye

Eye Stalk

Mouth

Body

Wings

Tail

As the PC exit the cave they can see that daylight is fading fast.

Darkness Falls Across the Land

Note that the MPC can only carry up to 20 power cells at a time + crew. The Players will need to make two trips to get enough powercells for the drop ship and the freezers (which hopefully they have started to move to the dropship. The players will need to manage the use of powercells very carefully if they are to get off world. As the PC make there way back to the crash site the world is engulfed in darkness. Soon after the same sounds as in the cave can be heard only a lot louder and from all directions. If the PC look outside using infra red they can see thousands of the alien snake like creatures.

The rest must be adlib as anything can happen. If the players leave the MPC they will need a light source or be attacked by 5 aliens. The aliens will not enter an area of light (just like in Pitch Black). The pilot has managed to survive due to a light source he has in the dropship.

Ending the Adventure

If the players run out of a power cells have daylight re-emerge just as the aliens are just about upon them. However this does not end the adventure it could be the start of another campaign. If they do manage to get enough power cells to take off they do so just as daylight re-emerges.