The Eye of Vendris

The last session went so well that I decided to try something I've never done before and type up my prep notes into a fully formed module. If you happen to be running a Star Trek rpg campaign, feel free to take this text and adapt it to your own game.

For more info on the particulars of my campaign, read this.  I hereby present "The Eye of Vendris."

Introduction
This adventure presents a sci-fi-flavored sandbox for a Federation starship to explore and is written to fit circumstances arising from the author’s home game, which uses the Icon System from the Star Trek rpg created by Last Unicorn Games. The text assumes the crew has had prior dealings with an Iconian artificial intelligence known as Conduit and that the crew has been invited into Romulan space to investigate the threat.

However, it wouldn’t take very much work on the part of the narrator to adapt the material if those two hooks don’t apply to your particular campaign. 

Simply move the Eye of Vendris to a sector of space that fits your game, and replace the Romulan ships and characters with a more appropriate species. It’s your game, after all.

Just keep in mind that the thrill of the adventure arises from exploring an unusual star system that contains both natural wonders and deadly dangers.

With the themes of exploration and discovery at the core of the adventure, narrators should feel free to change any of the details as they see fit.

Summary
An Iconian artificial intelligence known as Conduit has taken over a small archaeology outpost on a dead planet near the Eye of Vendris, a black hole that makes up part of a dead binary star system. Conduit killed the Romulan archaeologists who tried to resist her and disabled a Romulan warbird sent to investigate the incursion.

Now, Conduit has asked specifically for the USS Fearless, the Starfleet vessel that discovered and revived her a week ago, to join her on Vendris Corva II.

When the Fearless arrives, Conduit asks for the crew’s help to find an ancient Iconian artifact in the debris field that surrounds the Eye of Vendris. Locating the artifact will allow her to reopen an Iconian gateway and rejoin her people, who disappeared from the galaxy 200,000 years ago.

Will the crew help Conduit and brave the unknowns of the Eye of Vendris? Or will they make a daring attempt to resist the immensely powerful artificial intelligence and risk falling victim to the same fate as the doomed Romulan research team?

The Setting
The adventure takes place in a binary star system deep in Romulan space.  Half of the region is composed of the Vendris Corva system, which is a star orbited by seven dead planets. The Romulans have established a domed archaeological outpost on Vendris Corva II to excavate ancient Iconian artifacts. The remaining planets in the system are barren.

The Eye of Vendris, a powerful black hole, forms the other half of the binary system. A massive debris field encircles the black hole, providing evidence that a solar system once existed there but was destroyed in some cataclysmic event.

A tether formed by stellar material from the Vendris Corva star connects the two halves of the binary system. The Eye of Vendris possesses such powerful gravimetric force that it attracts mass from the Vendris Corva star, forming a breathtaking strand of silver energy that constantly links the star to the black hole.  

NOTE TO NARRATORS:  A prudent crew likely would proceed directly to Conduit’s last known location on Vendris Corva II at the start of the adventure, but make it clear to the PCs that they are free to explore the binary system in whatever order they choose. This is a sandbox adventure, and narrators should give their players as much choice as possible in how they explore the setting. The encounters detailed in the following sections can occur in any order.

Exploring The Vendris Corva System
The system contains a star (Vendris Corva) and seven planets, all of which are lifeless chunks of rock that lack atmosphere. A successful sensors test could determine that at least some of the planets once boasted an atmosphere and perhaps even supported life, but the system has been devoid of life for at least 200,000 years.

The only planet of note is Vendris Corva II, where the Romulans have established a domed archaeological outpost to study Iconian ruins located there. As the crew nears Vendris Corva II, scans indicate no life signs in the archaeological facility. The artificial atmosphere has been vented into space, and there are no heat signatures. Sensors, however, do pick up the presence of a Federation shuttle parked on the planet’s surface adjacent to the dome.

No shields or screens appear to prevent transport, so it’s likely the crew will send an away team to investigate the facility. Because the dome’s atmosphere has been vented, the away team will need to wear environmental suits.

Under the dome
The archaeological facility consists of a large circular area of several acres enclosed in a transparent dome. The Romulan research team constructed a central building for living quarters and laboratory equipment, which is surrounded by exposed rock where the digging took place. If the away team beams down inside the dome but not directly inside the laboratory building, they discover an eerily quiet scene. 

Deep shadows shroud the dig site, and the artificial lights placed throughout the facility are dark. Various tools and equipment lie scattered throughout the dig site.

The Romulan archaeologists laid out the dig site in a grid structure, gradually excavating the gray rock one layer at a time. It’s clear they took care to conduct their work in a meticulous and exact manner. Examining the dig site reveals little of value.  Most of the digging turned up ancient Iconian foundations, but the buildings that once stood here disappeared long ago. Additionally, it looks like any valuable Iconian artifacts were either taken into the laboratory building or transported back to Romulus.

A grisly scene awaits the crew as they approach the central laboratory complex. The six Romulan archaeologists who worked on the site lie dead near the main hatch, which is wide open. The archaeologists’ eyes bulge and their mouths hang wide open, looks of terror frozen on their faces. A tricorder scan confirms what the crew probably suspects:  the Romulans died from exposure to the vacuum. They died weeks ago, but their corpses are well preserved.

Inside the complex
The hatch leads to an open airlock, which grants the away team access to the interior of the building. Inside the complex, the away team finds more eerie silence. Life support is no longer operating, and the scientific equipment has been powered down. A tricorder scan will pick up some sort of power supply in the very center of the complex, which appears to be an administrative office with sensor and communications technology.

To get there, however, the crew will have to pass through some darkened labs and living quarters. Someone seems to have removed any important Iconian artifacts from the labs, but the personal effects in the living quarters appear untouched. 

SECRET:  If the crew rummages through the belongings in the living quarters, they discover a PADD-like device that appears to have some sort of security lockout installed. A challenging computer test unlocks the padd’s data and reveals that one of the archeaologist was actually a Tal Shiar agent named Valtath, assigned to monitor the dig for Pardek, the director of the Tal Shiar. The padd contains intelligence updates on the political situation on Romulus. Valtath appears to have been particularly concerned with the upcoming release of a Reman political prisoner named Galamek. According to the most recent Tal Shiar intelligence, Galamek has set up a headquarters in an abandoned dilithium mine deep inside the interior of Remus. He’s made no official statements, but the Tal Shiar suspects that he’s organizing a Reman separatist movement that aims to establish a new Reman homeworld outside of Romulan space.

At the very center of the complex, the away team will find a small administrative center. This room contains controls for a modest sensor array and communications equipment that allowed the archaeologists to communicate with Romulus. Conduit awaits the crew here. She has rigged an Iconian artifact, presumably unearthed by the archaeologists, to power the outpost’s sensor array and boost its range and gain. The artifact looks like a pulsing blue globe with Iconian script etched into its solid surface.

Conduit has the appearance of a small humanoid girl, about the age of 10. Her face appears expressionless, and her eyes look cold and completely black. As the away team enters the administrative room, Conduit turns to observe them but quickly returns to her work with the sensor array.

Roleplaying Conduit
Conduit is an artificial intelligence created by the Iconians 200,000 years ago as a weapon in a war with an unknown foe. Iconians often used computer viruses as a means of crippling the technologies employed by their enemies (as depicted in the TNG episode ‘Contagion’), and Conduit’s creators outfitted her with a combination of technological and telepathic capabilities. Essentially, she possesses the ability to infect hostile technology with computer viruses that allow her to take control via telepathy.

The Iconians constructed her but never brought her online. Instead, they abandoned the facility where she was built shortly before their entire race disappeared from the historical record. After being awakened recently, Conduit has instinctively returned to this ancient Iconian facility in an attempt to find her people.

She speaks in a mechanical monotone and seems to have little empathy for the other intelligent beings she’s encountered. Conduit experiences emotions, but she has no idea how to process them. This might cause her to stutter or display a facial tic if the away team makes any sort of emotional appeal to her. Conduit’s programming compels her to reunite with the Iconians, and she refers to anyone or anything that presents an obstacle as ‘the enemy.’

In fact, Conduit may calmly recount to the away team how the Romulan archaeologists resisted her takeover of the outpost. In response, she locked them out of the administration room, vented the atmosphere from the dome and blew open the airlocks. The violent decompression blasted the Romulans out of the facility, where they died of exposure.

She explains that the black hole referred to as the ‘Eye of Vendris’ formed after the ancient Iconians used an enhanced version of their gateway technology to transform a star into a portal leading to a pocket dimension. The Iconians, tired of war and conflict in the Milky Way, decided that complete isolation from other species would free them to pursue cultural perfection. Conduit intends to reopen the gateway and rejoin the Iconians in their pocket dimension, and she asks for the help of the Fearless crew.

The Romulan archaeologists recovered the energy storage orb that Conduit is currently using to power the outpost’s sensors. To open the gateway again, she’ll need a matching orb that has gone missing somewhere near the Eye of Vendris. She says that she can sense its proximity, but its exact location is veiled from her. If the Fearless can locate the matching energy orb, Conduit will reopen the portal. If the crew refuses to help her, she’ll simply use her computer virus technology to send the Fearless, and any other ships that make the mistake of getting too close, into the gravimetric maelstrom of the Eye of Vendris.

Player choice
This module assumes the crew will do Conduit’s bidding and help her find the missing power storage orb. They may resist Conduit, however. If they can come up with a clever way around Conduit’s powerful telepathic and technological capabilities, let it play out.

Conduit does have a weakness that a sharp crew may exploit. Although she can read minds and perhaps even cause mental pain to her enemies if she wishes, her physical capabilities fall far short of her mental capacity. An attempt to physically overwhelm her or render her unconscious may succeed.  In such a scenario, Conduit would try to turn any technology present against her accosters. For instance, she might suddenly beam back aboard her shuttle and escape. Or she might cause a PC’s phaser to suddenly begin to overload.

Exploring the Eye of Vendris
The binary system that contains the Eye of Vendris contains several strange phenomena that could create interesting encounters for the crew of the Fearless as they explore the area.

Stellar material
The powerful gravitational pull of the Eye of Vendris rips away stellar material from the Vendris Corva star. This material forms a tether of raw energy that connects the star with the black hole as they orbit one another. A sensor scan of the tether will turn up six large space-bound creatures that appear to feed off the stellar matter. If the Fearless approaches the creatures for a closer look, they’ll leave the tether behind and try to attach themselves to the ship. These creatures resemble giant worms, and they travel at a maximum of .3c. If they successfully attach themselves to hull of the ship, they begin draining its power. The crew can escape the creatures simply by moving away at high impulse or any warp speed. They can also attack the creatures with weapons, but that will almost certainly kill these surprisingly fragile creatures.

If the Fearless begins the adventure by exploring Vendris Corva II, it might make sense for the ship to encounter the space worms next as it travels toward the Eye of Vendris. This makes sense spatially and it also foreshadows a later part of the adventure.

The Valdore
When Conduit took over the Vendris Corva II facility, Romulan Star Command dispatched the warbird Valdore to investigate the situation and retake the dig site. With a simple wave of her hand, however, Conduit disabled the Valdore’s engines and sent it slowly drifting toward the Eye of Vendris’s event horizon. The subspace interference from the black hole has prevented Commander Donatra, the warbird’s CO, from communicating with Romulus.

Donatra dispatched a shuttle to call for help, but the the region’s powerful gravimetric shearing tore the small craft apart shortly after launch. Left with few options, Donatra has decided to wait for help to arrive. She’s worked with Captain Riker of the USS Titan before, and she has little trouble accepting help from a Starfleet vessel.

The Fearless most likely will have to use its tractor beam to pull the Valdore clear of the Eye of Vendris and Conduit’s influence. Because of the region’s gravimetric interference, the tactical officer will have to work closely with engineering to boost the gain of the tractor beam while taking care not to pull the Valdore’s hull beyond its tolerances. This requires a combined test of 8 or 9. In this case, a failed test doesn’t mean the Valdore is lost to the black hole. Rather, a low test result means the stress caused by the opposing gravimetric forces and the tractor beam result in damage to the warbird. A critical failure, such as a 1 on the drama die, may result in deaths among the Valdore’s crew. In any event, the crew eventually will tow the Valdore to a safe distance from the black hole.

This situation also presents an opportunity to role play. Donatra is grateful for the help and honest with the Starfleet crew. Her first officer, Suran, however, presents a different sort of interaction. Suran is an expert on Federation politics, and he may pump members of the crew for information, given the chance. But crafty or persuasive PCs may be able to turn the tables on Suran and get him to admit that he’s pushing for Donatra to openly challenge Praetor Tal’aura. Suran has helped Donatra secure an entire century of ships, and he believes her coalition could emerge victorious from a civil war with Tal’aura and her loyalists.

In any case, once the Valdore is out of immediate danger, Donatra orders her ship to a safe distance from the Eye of Vendris. The warbird will remain in the vicinity to monitor events, but Donatra wants to avoid attracting Conduit’s ire again.

 The debris field
A massive field of planetary debris rings the event horizon of the Eye of Vendris, the only remaining evidence of the solar system that once existed here. As the Fearless explores the debris, sensors pick up energy signatures consistent with the Iconian energy storage orb. But the intermittent readings appear to move slowly among the debris.

Tracing the readings to their source leads to a grotesque site. Curled up among a particularly dense field of rocky debris, a giant space worm that dwarfs the starship by several orders of magnitude feeds on stellar and planetary material. The massive worm methodically twists and squirms its way through the debris field, sucking the surrounding planetary fragments into a slimy mouth-like orifice at one end of its body. Sensor readings taken near the space worm reveal that the energy storage orb is inside the creature’s digestive tract.

The crew can extract the orb in several ways. They could simply use the ship’s phasers to slice into the worm, but this would almost certainly kill it. Alternatively, they could send a shuttle into its maw and retrieve the orb through skillful piloting and transporter use. Finally, they can use the deflector dish or phasers to radiate energy similar to what the creature is ingesting but at a different power frequency, thus ‘souring the milk.’ This solution is similar to one used by Geordia LaForge and Leah Brahms in the TNG episode ‘Galaxy’s Child’ to get a space-borne creature to detach from the Enterprise’s hull. Doing so will cause the creature to regurgitate the contents of its digestive system, allowing the Fearless to swoop in and beam away the orb.

The finale
Conduit immediately senses the presence of the energy storage orb once it’s freed from the giant space worm. She immediately connects the newly discovered orb with the one she possesses on Vendris Corva II, and all hell breaks loose. The Eye of Vendris crackles with brilliant waves of energy, and the great Iconian gateway opens once again.  The gravimetric forces that once plagued the region intensify and drag the Fearless toward the gateway with unimaginable force.

Allow the conn officer officer to attempt a challenging ships systems (flight control) test if they wish to keep the Fearless from getting swept into the gateway along with the planetary debris in the area. If the test is a success, the officer’s quick wits and skillful piloting steer the ship to safety.

If the test is a failure, the Fearless is sucked into the gateway and everything goes completely black. Suddenly, the bridge crew awakens in a vast, dark chamber.  The walls and floor are invisible to the eye, but what’s above their heads immediately catches their attention.

CONSIDER READING ALOUD TO THE PLAYERS:  Bathed in dazzling silver starlight, the entire Milky Way galaxy churns above your head, forming an awe-inspiring canopy to a seemingly limitless chamber with no visible walls or floor. You sense that if you reached up your hand, the galaxy would yield to your touch like a ceiling of mist. Standing at a distance of several dozen yards from you, directly below the center of the galaxy’s spiraling mass, you notice Conduit and another figure. The stranger’s face is shrouded in shadow, but you get no sense of threat or menace.

The figure is an Iconian, and he thanks the crew for returning Conduit to her people. He answers any questions they may have about why the Iconians chose total isolation as a solution to unremitting war. Finally, as a reward for their efforts, he offers to open a gateway for the crew and their ship leading to any point in the galaxy of their choosing.

Award your crew with a baseline of three experience points for completing the adventure, along with an appropriate allotment of renown.