hangar or landing bay—an impression reinforced by the presence of a starship taking up the majority of the space. Only the western wall is finished with the ceramic-metallic plating found elsewhere in the complex; the remainder of the cavern is hemmed by natural rock walls. Huge doors stand in the eastern wall of the chamber—doors easily big enough to accommodate the starship parked in front of them. Of more immediate interest, however, are the two human bodies splayed on the floor just inside the western doors, their internal organs spread artfully on the floor around the corpses.
The ceiling of this room is 60 feet high. This cavern was in fact designed as a docking bay of sorts—one of many on the Stellar Degenerator. The ship parked inside the cavern is the Sunrise Maiden, the ship of Captain Moriko Nash (see area D7), left here 75 years ago. Captain Nash found the hangar doors open when she first discovered the asteroid, and she landed the Sunrise Maiden in the landing bay. After finding a small control panel in the cavern, Nash managed to close the doors, sealing her ship inside. From the outside, the doors are disguised from sensors and sight by powerful technomagical holograms that render them indistinguishable from the surface of the Drift Rock.
The pair of bodies on the floor are the Acreon’s last two missing crew members—see Creature below for an explanation of their fate.
Creature: A rare creature native to the Drift called a garaggakal has chosen this cavern as its lair. Originally brought to the Drift Rock aboard the Sunrise Maiden, the garaggakal took up residence in the asteroid. It lived here for decades, feeding on planar energies in between hunting forays into the Drift for live prey. When the crew of the
Acreon discovered the Drift Rock and explored the asteroid’s
surface, the garaggakal sensed their emotions and started hunting them instead. The creature killed two of the Acreon’s crew in its initial assault on the ship and then brought their bodies back here to its lair so it could drain the last of their life energy and study their corpses. With the exception of Moriko Nash, whose body it never got to examine, the garaggakal had never encountered a human before, and it is exceedingly curious about the new species it’s discovered. The grisly display on the cavern floor is the result of the garaggakal’s exploratory dissections.
Since the Drift Rock was brought into the Material Plane, the garaggakal can no longer sustain itself on Drift energy, and there’s no live prey left on the asteroid—except for the PCs. The garaggakal likely detects the PCs’ emotions with its sense through ability before they even enter the cavern, and it’s eager to feed again and learn more about these strange creatures that keep willingly coming into its lair.
The garaggakal attacks the PCs as soon as they enter the grotto. If any of the PCs are non-human, the garaggakal focuses its attention on them—they’re even newer to it than
humans. As it leeches their life energy away, it telepathically marvels at how their anatomy differs from that of humans and idly speculates about the exciting new flavors it’s going to enjoy.
GARAGGAKAL
CR 5
XP 1,600HP 75 (see page 58)
TACTICS
During Combat The garaggakal initially attacks its foes in melee combat with its lamprey-like bite to get a “taste” of its prey, but if reduced to fewer than 60 Hit Points, it keeps its distance and uses its life leech ability to bolster itself. If anyone deals electricity damage to the garaggakal, it turns on them to take out the greatest threat. If its victims try to run away, the garaggakal pursues them throughout the Drift Rock, using its phase through ability as needed to catch them or cut them off.
Morale If reduced to fewer than 25 Hit Points, the garaggakal attempts to flee, phasing through walls if necessary. Treasure: If the PCs search the cavern, they can find several unusual art objects that the garaggakal has collected from myriad civilizations over the years while hunting in the Drift. Ranging from bizarrely unsettling to delicately exquisite, these examples of exotic fine art are worth a total of 2,000 credits. Of course, the biggest treasure here is the
Sunrise Maiden itself. The ship is detailed in Development
below, but its cargo holds contain salvageable trade goods that are worth another 2,000 credits.
Development: The PCs can easily recognize the Sunrise
Maiden as a Sanjaval Vagabond, a common (though
somewhat outdated) model of starship known for its toughness and dependability. If the PCs found Moriko Nash’s last will and testament in area D7, then the Sunrise Maiden is legally theirs now. If the PCs didn’t find Captain Nash’s body, they can still learn of her fate when they investigate the ship. Moriko also transmitted her final message (see area D7) to the ship’s computer, and a flashing display on one of the Sunrise Maiden’s bridge consoles indicates the presence of the recorded message, which the PCs can easily play back. In addition, they can use the recording’s metadata to pinpoint the captain’s location in area D7 and find her body at this point, if they wish. In any case, with the departure of the Hippocampus (which the PCs might only discover at this point; see page 29), the Sunrise Maiden is the PCs’ only way off the Drift Rock. The Sunrise Maiden’s statistics can be found on the inside front cover; a map of the ship appears on the inside back cover.
A PC can find the control panel to open the grotto’s hangar doors with a successful DC 10 Perception check while searching the grotto. Operating the doors requires a successful DC 17 Computers check to hack the controls or
FOREWORD CAMPAIGN OUTLINE PART 1: ABSALOM GANG WAR PART 2: GHOST SHIP PART 3: PHANTOMS OF THE DRIFT ABSALOM STATION RELICS OF GOLARION ALIEN ARCHIVES CODEX OF WORLDS
INCIDENT AT
ABSALOM
STATION
DC 20 Engineering check to disable device. Once the doors are open, the PCs can fire up the Sunrise Maiden’s power core, warm up the thrusters, and take off to head back to Absalom Station.
If the garaggakal managed to escape the PCs, it might stow away on the Sunrise Maiden, hoping the ship eventually returns to the Drift. The next time the ship enters the Drift, the garaggakal can emerge from hiding to attack the PCs—this time in its corporeal form—when they least expect it.
Story Award: Award the PCs 600 XP for inheriting the
Sunrise Maiden and acquiring their own ship.