Hyle's Cradle (C246322-7)

Description

The planetoid itself is secondary to the starport. Hyle's Cradle serves as a central point for freighters and other ships passing through unregulated lanes. Its unusual dumbbell shape comes from the Chief Financier of the starport, Duke Terrence Albast. Terrence had dreams of making Hyle's Cradle a popular tourist destination for weightlifting competitions. But he backed the wrong horse and the trade lanes were not built to pass through.

Now the arcology falls apart. The staff is comprised of folks on the run, in hiding, or out of options. A not so secret network of opportunists have cropped as a result which brings in Patrons and Travellers both.

The planet can be flown around in a matter of hours, its size and faint, tainted atmosphere harbor very little of interest. Back when Hyle's Cradle was more active lots of failed experiments from bio=pharmaceutical companies were dropped onto the planet. There is also the Great Needle of Heaven, jammed through the Southern pole. The object is responsible for the planet's bizarre orbit around the sun.

Points of Interest

The Great Needle of Heaven

At 1,500 yards long, with only 600 of that visible above the surface of the planet-- The Great Needle of Heaven looms over the horizon in the south. It's shadow tracing intense, bewildering patterns during the day. At night the Needle glows a soft blue. The metal being very reactive to UV rays.

Studying the needle for 3d6 months will lead to a revelation that its bizarre shadow is a message that has been encoded. In ancient Terran, "Flee this world. Flee these stars. Flee back to the crumbling embrace of baked clay on Terra. Satan stalks here. Satan looks for a way into the heart."

Junk Field

Between two low ridges grasslands and creeks are choked with Albast Supplement Ltd. crates and rubbish. A great many of the heaps date 30 years ago. A few newer additions have been made alongside the ancient supplements.

All of the supplements have spoiled save for a crate buried in the cool mud of a creek. Inside are 6 vials of Albast Redistribution Formula. A dose allows the imbiber to freely distribute the points among their Strength, Dexterity, and Endurance. Taking a second dose causes the individual's appearance to change completely. A third dose induces complete memory loss.

The patent is still active for this formula. Selling it or reverse engineering to make it again will result in a lawsuit being filed against the crew, served in the courts of Mato. Failure to show up to the date will escalate to a Legal Clean Team being sent after them. They locate the crew in 6 weeks and

Factions

Starport Cartel

They own the shuttles, the docks, and the labor. Pissing them off will lock down the station backing up ALL traffic. While they don't usually do violence themselves they will tip off unscrupulous ships stuck in port to get the point across.

Interloper Inc.

The last dregs of Hyle's once halcyon future. Stuck now in endless research projects that go nowhere. Underfunded, irrelevant: Interloper is running out the clock until they are forced to shutter.

Encounters

Append to the 61-66 table in Book 3 Worlds and Adventures.

Patrons

Sidnee Wunderstrand

Terrorist Required Skills: none Required Equipment: none
Players' Information
Sidnee offers the players 100kcr to smuggle a barrel onto a parked Inner Band cargo ship. She passes the barrel off as a horrible smelling agent that will make the ship intolerable to be in.
Referee's Information
The barrel bomb is filled with a metal eating bacteria that is immune to the void of space. Sidnee intends to hit the Inner Band military station in Reefhall, destroying the station and any ships in port there.
1: A skeleton crew is guarding the cargo ship. Just 1d6 Marines, bored and incurious.
2-3: A full crew. 3d6 Marines.
4-5: A full crew plus experimental robots. They are four legged spiders that shoot a proboscis into the mouth of a sophont to take over their body when they fall unconscious.
6: As 4-5 but the ship is Q Ship tasked with sabotaging the Hyle's Cradle starport. \

Spider bot:
Wounds 14/24 Armor as Cloth, Attack as Spear, +2 attack. Special Can arc electricity to a distance of Medium , 3d6 wounds, +2 attack. Can puppet and control sophonts that go unconscious.

Henry Xi

Peasant Required Skills: none Required Equipment: none
Players' Information
Henry is banned from the bar and asks you go into buy him a handle of the cheap stuff. He will cover the cost of the bottle and offers a crate of 13 solid gold bars in return.
Referee's Information
Henry is 1,000 years old and has been cursed to lug around the gold for his greed in life.
1: Upon giving the gold Henry smiles and vanishes.
2: Henry screams in agony and 13 bright red devils form out of smoke with horns and forks to torture him.
3: As 2, the devils see the players as accomplices to Henry's sins and start their 10,000 years of torture as penance unless they can escape.
4: As 1, but when the next player dies one of the bars will turn to bitter charcoal. They will revive miraculously in one hour.
5: As 4, but when they are reformed in the miracle they spawn misbegotten and ruined. Reroll all attributes, add claws and horns as natural weapons, add +2 to Brawling. Size is 4x that of a regular member of the sophont's species.
6: It doesn't work. Henry follows the players as a bitter, dejected spirit seeking some end to his longstanding misery.