It is day 6 of month 5, 1042, 08:00, on the Stern Dock of the Lazaret. The Lazaret is a dead Order hospital ship at the Dark Rim. Near Rim Gate Seven its crew pulled a lump of black crystal out of open space. A small living piece of the Vhal was inside. Matron Ottilie Grane kept it in a glass cage in the Frost Lab.
Kester Tamsett, the ship's purser, is a speaker of the Unbound, the hidden cult that wants the Rim Gates open. On the last night he opened the cage with his key. The crystal went down to the Keel Vault and grew into the Keel Matron. Two days later Kester launched the sixth lifeboat, and a cult ship picked him up.
That ship is the Sallow, a small black cutter. It is the ship that lands on Hush every week without being seen from Cordon Station. An officer on the station sells the cult the patrol times. Kester is coming back on day 7 at 22:00. He wants the Matron's notes from the Frost Lab, because they name the crystal's weak spot, and he wants the signal lamp kept lit. The Lazaret drifts toward the pilgrim lane near Vigil and reaches it on day 11. Then its lamp will call in full pilgrim ships.
The name the husk spoke at Lantern Keep was Kester Tamsett. Nobody at the Keep knew it. The crew list in Bell Chapel does.
Pernille Druse (about 45, Stern Dock) sells food, crystal cells and gear. She offers a third of the fuel hold to the crew that clears the way to the keel. She pays 20 Crowns for each tag of her two crew lost in the Long Ward. She hides that the signal lamp turned to point at her ship on the night she arrived.
Oskal Dren (about 60, Bell Chapel) heals anyone who comes. He wants the six knights' tags brought back and the thing in the keel destroyed.
Mirri Quoll (about 25, Medicine Hold) saw Kester Tamsett walk toward the Frost Lab with his keys on the last night. She believes the Matron is still alive.
The Keel Matron (Keel Vault) is what is left of Ottilie Grane. It asks for help in her voice before it attacks.
Kester Tamsett (41) is polite and patient, and he is sure he is right. He uses the Unbound Speaker stat block.
The crew is the Providence crew, on the relief hauler Providence. Prudence Cotterill is the captain, a Pellin quartermaster who needs crystal. Leopold Sark is an Ashen former pit fighter in a brawler frame. Elandor Vyse is a Tessari scholar who seals hull breaches and Vhal sites for the Order. Rosalie Mercier is a healer who trained in the Medicine Hold under Matron Ottilie Grane. The player runs one of them. The GM runs the other three as companions.
Faskar Idris, Renaud Ithel and Edda Brodd are NPCs now. Faskar is the priest who runs the Mercy Ward at Lantern Keep, Renaud commands Cordon Station, and Edda is a Grund salvage captain who fights in a rune frame. The missing scouting ship came from Lantern Keep.
The ship. The whole Lazaret is a Strong Vhal site (DC 13 exposure saves each hour, see Vhal Exposure). Bell Chapel is lit, so saves there have Advantage. The Sail Deck has thin, freezing air, and anyone there needs a Tether Line.
Encounter math (four level 12 characters). Low 8,800, Moderate 14,800, High 18,800.
The dock, day 6, 08:00. On the Stern Dock, Pernille Druse names her price first, then the job. The scouting ship's log (DC 12 Intelligence (Investigation)) says the six knights went in six weeks ago and Oskal Dren followed them. The dock log shows the sixth lifeboat left two days after the ship went silent. A cord with seven knots is tied to the empty rack. A DC 13 Intelligence (Religion) check, or any Order member, knows it as an Unbound sign. A DC 15 Wisdom (Insight) check shows Pernille hides something. Prudence Cotterill has haggled with a hundred dock traders, so her check has Advantage. Pressed, Pernille tells about the lamp.
Triage Hall. 6 Knife Arm lie among the stretchers and play dead. 6 Vent Hand wait in the ceiling vents. The words "Cut off the arms" on the walls are the hint. 4,800 XP, a warm-up below Low.
Bell Chapel. Oskal Dren heals and trades Holy water. The crew list by the door has every name crossed out but Kester Tamsett, the purser. At 02:00 each night the bell rings, because Vent Hands pull its rope from the vent. Oskal joins a push to the keel if someone shares food and promises to bring the tags home.
Medicine Hold. Mirri Quoll rigged her door with wire and cans. A DC 14 Wisdom (Perception) check spots it, and a DC 14 Dexterity check with Thieves Tools clears it. On a failure a shelf of glass falls for 10 (3d6) slashing damage. She opens for a quiet voice and food (DC 12 Charisma (Persuasion), automatic if food is offered). Mirri knew Rosalie Mercier in the Medicine Hold and opens at once for her. She tells about Kester and his keys, gives the door codes and trades Potion of Healing and Medkit stock.
Long Ward. 8 Burst Patient, 4 Knife Arm and 6 Vent Hand among the beds, 5,000 XP, below Low. Burst Patients burst when they die, so range is safer. The head nurse's key ring is on a body by the ward desk (DC 13 Intelligence (Investigation)). The tags of Pernille's two crew are on bodies near the ladder.
Matron Cabin. The key ring or a DC 18 Dexterity check with Thieves Tools opens it. The journal says the cage was opened with a key, and only the Matron and the purser held keys. The strongbox holds 300 Crowns and an Air Bubble Charm.
Frost Lab. The notes describe the crystal in the Matron's chest. A reader who studies them for 10 minutes and passes a DC 15 Intelligence (Arcana) check ignores the Disadvantage of Crystal Heart in the final fight. Elandor Vyse has studied black crystal for a century, so his check has Advantage. The trail of black frost leads to the hatch down to the Keel Vault.
Sail Deck. 3 Cold Drifter hang in the rigging by the lamp, 2,100 XP. Edda Brodd has seen a cold dark shape like these on her own deck. The climb is a DC 15 Strength (Athletics) check. Leopold Sark's frame can carry a climber up on its back. Putting the lamp out stops new ships. The lens is one aether crystal worth 2,000 Crowns.
The Sallow, day 7, 22:00. The cutter answers the lamp and clamps to the Stern Dock. Kester Tamsett first offers 1,000 Crowns for the Matron's notes and a safe trip home. Refused, he fights. Kester Tamsett (Unbound Speaker), 8 Unbound Zealot and 2 Black Crystal Brute, 10,500 XP, Moderate. The crew can also hold the round hatch and fight them one at a time, or cut the Sallow's clamps and let the cutter drift. Zealots never give up. Pernille shoots from her hatch with her Hand Cannon from round 3. At a quarter of his hit points Kester runs for the Sallow. Taken alive, he names nothing until a DC 17 Charisma (Intimidation or Persuasion) check. Then he names the one other speaker he knows. The Sallow's log lists six landings on Hush and holds a copy of the patrol times in an Order hand.
Keel Vault. The Keel Matron calls the crew by name. A DC 18 Charisma (Persuasion) check, with Advantage for a priest of the Order, reaches the woman inside for a moment. Rosalie Mercier was her student, so Rosalie's check has Advantage too. She begs to be stopped and does not use Cold Call for 2 rounds. Then the fight. Keel Matron, 4 Husk Captain (four of the missing knights, changed), 2 Hornback Husk, 1 Black Crystal Brute and 4 Knife Arm, 16,400 XP, High, with Vent Hands crawling in from Helm Bound. Elandor Vyse can close the vents from Helm Bound with a Warding Circle. If the fight goes badly, the crew can climb back out through the hatch. The Matron will not leave the Keel Vault, but she calls after them in Ottilie's voice. The other knights' tags lie on the floor. Killing her stops the ship. The fuel hold behind her holds good crystal worth 6,000 Crowns, and more that has turned black.
Day 7, 02:00. The bell rings. Vent Hands drag one of Pernille's four crew into a vent.
Day 7, 22:00. The Sallow docks. Kester takes the notes and speaks with the Keel Matron.
Day 8, 04:00. The cult puts out the chapel lamps. Oskal Dren and Mirri Quoll are taken to the keel.
Day 8, 10:00. Pernille Druse cuts her clamps and leaves.
Day 11. The Lazaret reaches the pilgrim lane near Vigil. A pilgrim ship with 60 people answers the lamp.
Day 12. The Sallow lands on Hush again, unseen.
Good. The Keel Matron is dead and the lamp is out. Kester Tamsett is taken with his log, the notes go to the Order, and Oskal Dren and Mirri Quoll come home.
Mixed. The ship is stopped but Kester escapes with the notes, or Kester is taken but the ship reaches the lane.
Bad. The lamp is still lit when the pilgrim ship comes, or the crew dies in the keel.
Keeper Hilde Voss pays each crew member 500 Crowns for stopping the ship, and 50 Crowns for each knight's tag.
Pernille Druse keeps her word, a third of the good crystal (2,000 Crowns) and 20 Crowns for each of her crew's tags.
The lamp lens (2,000 Crowns), the Matron's strongbox (300 Crowns) and the Air Bubble Charm.
The Order offers the Rim Gate Patrol Contract gig to the crew.
Mirri Quoll becomes a friend and will sign on as a ship's medic. Oskal Dren speaks for the crew at Lantern Keep.
Heroic Inspiration for bringing Mirri or Oskal out alive, or for reaching the woman inside the Keel Matron.
The leak. The patrol times in the Sallow's log are in an Order hand. Someone on Cordon Station wrote them.
The notes. The Order wants the Matron's notes. A Dominion scholar offers three times as much and does not take no well.
Hush. The Sallow's log marks a landing place on the southern ice of Hush, where something large is digging.