Starsmote Sandpit
A Sandcastle TRPG Scenario
for 3 to 6 Level-1 Characters“This is a strong, well-conceived adventure with an excellent balance of adventure hooks andencounters based on a mix of geographic and story mythology encounters, as well as mixing
fighting and roleplaying responses.”
-Donald J. Bingle, award winning game author

National Astronomical Observatory of Japan

Starsmote Sandpit
Table of Contents

Starsmote Sandpit

Sandcastle TRPG adventure for 3-6 Level-1 PCs

Player Characters
Background1) Bittersprings2232) Adventurers’ Guilds

41A) The Imperial Spa Resort
1B) Philip’s General Store
2A) Beacon Sanctuary
2B) College of Recovery
2C) Slayers’ Lodge

3) Starsmote Sandpit

3A) Good Intentions [Space 1]3B) Frozen Well [Space 2]3C) Archeological Dig [Space 3]3D) Homunculus Ambush [Space 4]3E) Sphinx [Space 5]3F) Fire Temple [Space 6]3G) Cursed Ground [Central Space]

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Starsmote Sandpit is an introductory adventure for the
Sandcastle Table-talk Role Playing Game (TRPG). This
scenario is intended to be run by a Game Master (GM) fora group of 3 to 6 players. It is designed to take about two
game sessions consisting of 4 hours each to play throughthis adventure. But given the loose “sandbox” structure of
the adventure, individual game groups may take significantly more or less time.
The GM should read the Sandcastle Core Rules and Game
Masters’ Manual (GMM), and have a basic understandingof the Sandcastle rules before running this adventure. It is
recommended, but not mandatory, that players also readand understand the rules.
The GM should read the entire Starsmote Sandpit adventure scenario before running it for the players. The players SHOULD NOT read this scenario before playing theadventure because it contains information intended to bediscovered through game play. Reading the scenario would
spoil the surprise.
If the GM cannot read the entire adventure scenario before
running it due to time constrains, it is possible to read thescenario while running it, staying a couple of pages aheadof the encounter he is currently running for the players.

4) Pyramid

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5. Wrapping Up the Adventure6) Continuing the Campaign
Reference Notes

31 © NAOJ, National Astronomical
32 Observatory of Japan
32 First Published: 2023

4A) Pyramid Exterior
4B) Central Chamber
4C) Trapped Hall
4D) Inner Sanctum4E) Queen’s Chamber
4F) Fallen Adventurers
4G) Dressed to Kill
4H) Stairway to Heaven (or Hell)
4I) Secret CryptCanopic Jars
Impact Craters
Meteorites

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23 TRPG scenarios contain two types of information. Most
23 of the information is for the GM to help him adjudicate
the game. Some of the information is for the GM to read
24 or paraphrase to the players at the appropriate point in the
25 adventure. This information for the players is referred to25
28 Copyright & Credits
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32
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Published by:

NAOJ, Public Relations Center, Publications Office
2-21-1 Osawa, Mitaka
Tokyo 181-8588
JAPANwww.nao.ac.jp/en
Author: Ramsey Lundock, Ph.D.
Illustration: Ryuji Fujii

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as “boxed text” due to the convention of enclosing it in ashaded box to offset it from the information for the GM.

Player Characters
Starsmote Sandpit is intended to be run for three to six
level-1 characters.
This scenario begins with a chance for the PCs to interact
with the adventurers’ guilds and get a feel for them. So if
some players would like to wait to decide which guild theircharacters should join, it is possible to delay the choice. All
characters should belong to a guild by the end of the adventure. It is possible and even advantageous for different
PCs to join different guilds.

BackgroundStarsmote Sandpit, also known as Starsmote Crater, is
an isolated patch of sandy desert, with ruins from a lost
civilization. It is a barren wasteland prowled by dangerous
creatures such as jackals and zombies. As the name implies,
Starsmote Sandpit is an ancient meteorite impact crater, 12km across where the Earth was “smote” by a falling “star.”
The rim of the crater forms an effective barrier separating
the desert environment inside from the surroundings. Because meteorite activity is spread randomly across the surface of planets, Starsmote Sandpit can be located anywherein The Domain that suits the purposes of the GM. There
are references in the adventure to the North Star and theconstellation Ursa Minor, implying that Starsmote Sandpit
is in the Northern hemisphere, but the Southern Cross
could be substituted for the references if the GM wishes toplace the adventure in the Southern Hemisphere.
An ancient religious organization, referred to as the Stargazers, incorporated meteorites into their beliefs. Theycollected meteorites as holy objects, and constructed apyramid temple on the central uplift in this large meteorite impact crater. They believed that these rituals broughtthem closer to the heavens.
The last King-Priest of the Stargazers tried to make thissacred crater a Heaven on Earth by driving out all earthly
influences. He constructed a powerful magical yellow energy generator in the pyramid, which began desiccating thecrater and making it inhospitable to plants and animals.
Finally, the crater turned into a dry, sandy desert, with
the King-Priest’s mummified remains interned in a secretchamber beneath the pyramid along with his generator.
For millennia, Starsmote Crater has been shunned as aworthless and inauspicious desert; in a sense giving theKing-Priest his wish, for an enteral existence free fromearthly interlopers. The only people who venture into thecrater are adventurers. To serve the needs of the adventurers, the three adventurers’ guilds have small branches
established in Bittersprings, a town just outside the rim of
the crater.
Recently, Ramses, a sorcerer who considers himself theideological, if not necessarily biological, heir of the KingPriest, penetrated the inner sanctum. There he found theremains of the King-Priest and the still functioning yellow
energy generator. The magically preserved King-Priest
rose as a mummy in response to the intrusion, but was
impressed by Ramses’s devotion to the Stargazer religion.
Rather than the King-Priest killing Ramses, together they
started a plot to increase the power of the yellow energy
generator until the entire world becomes a barren, lifelessdesert.
Ramses acted as the leg man, acquiring the supplies needed for the plan to upgrade the generator, including a moonmeteorite, a meteorite that was originally part of the Moonbut was hurled into space by a different meteor blasting acrater out of the lunar surface. With this rare meteorite, theKing-Priest mummy was able to increase the output of thegenerator. Now the desertification effects are spreading beyond the edges of Starsmote Sandpit. Bittersprings and therest of the surrounding area are in danger of being slowly
buried by the advancing sand dunes.

1) Bittersprings
Bittersprings sits just outside Starsmote Crater and serves
as the launching point for forays into the Sandpit. The
environment is dry and barren, but not as harsh as in thecrater proper. The town is surrounded by sandy patches
that give way to the surrounding terrain. A road, called
Longroad by the locals, runs through Bittersprings connecting it to the outside world.
Bittersprings takes its name from its water supply, a sulfurous blend that smells terrible and tastes worse, but isotherwise safe to drink.
The town consists of a small branch office for each of theadventures’ guilds, The Imperial Spa Resort, Philip’s General Store, and any other businesses/inhabitants the GM
wants to invent.
No combat statistics are provided for GMCs in Bittersprings, because trouble is not generally tolerated within
the town. If a confrontation does occur, other adventurers
stopping over at the guild branches will arrive to investigate, and quickly summon sufficient reinforcements tobring the situation under control.

31A) The Imperial Spa Resort
This Roman style bathhouse has seen better days. It is run
by a single family, the Anthony’s: a married couple, two
adult children, and a grandmother, all humans. It offers
lodging and food at the standard prices listed in the Core
Rules. The rooms are clean and safe, but obviously decades, if not centuries, old. The food is good, but nothingelaborate; mostly bread served with different sauces madefrom fish, cheese, vegetables, or fruit for flavor. In its favor,
the Imperial Spa Resort offers three baths (Men’s, Women’s,
and Mixed) at no extra charge for guests staying the night.
The murals in the baths may be faded, and colorful mineralcrustation evident around the edges of the pools, but thebaths themselves work as well as ever. And the hot, mineral-rich water does wonders for washing away the feeling of
the desert after emerging from Starsmote Sandpit.

1B) Philip’s General StoreThe general store is one of the newer structures in Bittersprings. It’s a two-story wooden building, constructed in
the Wild-West architectural style and boasts the only glass
windowpanes in town. The first floor holds the store, andthe second floor is the proprietor’s private home. Philip, abalding middle-aged human, considers himself an honest
man. Even though he has an effective monopoly on supplies in Bittersprings, he doesn’t price-gouge, charging only
standard prices and offering any weapon, armor, or pieceof equipment listed in the Core Rules. However, he’s tiredof adventures trying to take advantage of him. If a customer starts to annoy him, Philip just points to a painted
wooden sign hanging behind the counter, as he is sick ofrepeating the same lines over and over. The sign reads, “Nohaggling, No bartering, No credit, No stealing, No refunds,
No complaining.”

2) Adventurers’ Guilds
The PCs may visit the adventurers’ guides in any order, going back multiple times or skipping over a guild. It is also
possible to revisit a guild after having made a foray into
Starsmote Sandpit. In fact, the party will almost certainly
revisit the guilds if only to report the successful completionof a mission issued by the guild. Each guild lists two notable GMCs who the PCs are likely to meet when they visit.

Missions
Each GMC has an associated mission to give to the party.
In general GMCs will wait until a party asks for a mission
before offering the job, but depending on the play style of
the group, the GM may want to have one or more of the4guilds summon the PCs and offer them a job to get the ballrolling. The missions are not mutually exclusive, and theparty can be working for different guilds at the same time.
In this scenario, standard payment per completed mission
is 25 c (total, not per character). In addition, completing
both of the missions for a guild will earn members of thatguild a +1 increase in reputation.

Information
Another important role of the guilds is to provide information.
Any of the guilds can provide the same basic backgroundinformation:- Starsmote Sandpit is a desert located in an ancient meteorite impact crater.
- The crater rim is an effective barrier, isolating the desert
from the surrounding environment.
- Starsmote Sandpit holds scattered ruins of a lost civilization referred to as the “Stargazers.”- The Stargazers were a theocracy ruled by a King-Priest.
- The Stargazers were a Bronze Age society.
- Dangerous creatures prowl the Sandpit.
- The Stargazers were interested in astronomy and collected meteorites.
- The Stargazers practiced mummification and treatedthe canopic jars holding a mummy’s organs as sacredobjects.
- The peak of the most famous structure, a pyramidbuilt on the central uplift of the crater, can be seen fromalmost anywhere in the Sandpit.
- The area around the pyramid is the most dangerous
part of the Sandpit. Adventurers are generally advised to
explore some of the other areas of the crater before trying
to approach the pyramid.
- The pyramid has an open entrance leading to rooms
inside.
- Some parties enter the pyramid and report finding
nothing but empty rooms and corridors.
- Some parties enter the pyramid and report encountering monsters and traps.
- Some parties enter the pyramid and never come back.
More specialized information is listed under each guild.
Follow the standard rules in the Game Masters’ Manual(GMM) for guild information checks. The information is
not tied to a specific GMC; anyone at the guild will provide
roughly the same information. Both basic knowledge andfalse leads are provided in this adventure. If the PCs ask
questions not covered by the provided information, theGM should decide what insights the guild can offer.

Missions

2A) Beacon Sanctuary

I know you’re busy, so I’ll get right to the point. The sanddunes are advancing out of Starsmote Sandpit. It’s not happening overnight, but if you pay close attention and you’repatient, you can see that these past couple of weeks they’vebeen making steady progress. And if you know where to
look, there are definite signs of magical intervention: thedunes aren’t advancing crest-first, blown by the wind.
They’re slithering up sideways like snakes. Somethingis causing the desert to expand, not just towards Bittersprings, but in all directions out of the crater. Someone
needs to put a stop to this before the entire town is buriedin sand.

Beacon Sanctuary operates a literal fortress in Bitterspings.
It consists of a square keep and one attached cylindrical
tower. Both are constructed from limestone, and sportdistinctive plus “+” shaped arrow loops for windows.
Despite the small windows, the interior is cheerily lit bymagical illumination with subtlety shifting colors, even in
the basement. The fortress acts as a barracks for wardens
who patrol along Longroad, and as a refuge for survivorsof bandit attacks along the road. In recent years, Longroadhas been relatively safe, so right now there are few wardens
or refugees, and most of the rooms are vacant.

Notable GMCs
Father Sven is small even for a dwarf, although he prefers
the term “gnome.” He wears black robes and a red skull
cap. His age is indeterminate, but his soft, caring blue eyesshow long years of ministering to the downtrodden. He
handles the cooking and administration at Beacon Sanctuary, as well as tending the seriously wounded or ill. He
is a priest, but his volunteer activities in Beacon Sanctuary
are completely independent from his ecclesiastic duties,
although he would be willing to multitask if someone
would like spiritual counseling. His small size and quiet,
unassuming manner make it easy to forget that he’s in theroom, even when you’re looking right at him. Father Svenhas travelled extensively, but was never an adventurer,
counting on being overlooked and underestimated to keep
him out of trouble.
Mai is a young adult elf with long black hair. Her low-cut
blouse and mini-miniskirt maid outfit barely keep her sexyfigure covered as she prances about her duties doing thecleaning, waitressing, and nursing recovering patients.
She flirts shamelessly with both men and women, but isactually all tease.
As a child, Mai was the sole survivor of a caravan attack
on Longroad. The wardens found her and brought her to
Beacon Sanctuary. Since then, she’s never been more than
2 hours walk from the fortress. It would be easy to assume
that she is traumatized and afraid to leave, and maybe sheis. But talking to her, she sounds like a perky, small-town
girl who feels grateful to Beacon Sanctuary and the peopleof Bittersprings, and wants nothing more than to stay here
and support her hometown.

Father SvenMai
Mai leads the party down into the crypt under the fortress,
to a small chapel. At the head of the room is an ancient lifesized gold-inlaid statue of a winged goddess. The fingers ofher outstretched right hand are curled as if to hold something, but are currently conspicuously empty.
Mai explains:
This statute was brought up out of ruins in Starsmote
Sandpit and placed in this sanctum longer ago than anyone
can remember. We call her our guardian angel. We’re notsure what exactly she represented to the Stargazers, but she
must have been important. I mean look, they gave her abust almost as big as mine. (After a pause, Mai reaches out
and ever so tenderly touches the angel’s empty right hand.)Our angel used to hold a bronze scepter capped with
an iron meteorite. I’m sure you’ve heard how important
meteorites were for linking the Stargazers to the heavens.
About a month ago the scepter disappeared. We leave ourdoor open as much as possible, so that those in need cancome in. But it seems like someone took advantage of our
hospitality. The scepter has deep sentimental value for us
but was completely non-magical, and really not all thatvaluable. There was no reason to steal it, unless this has
something to do with the Stargazer ruins in Starsmote
Sandpit. If you come across the scepter during your travels
in the crater, the guardian angel and I would both be everso grateful if you could bring it back.

Information
Basic Knowledge* The only other people you’re likely to meet in Starsmote
Sandpit are other adventurers. Not a bad lot, but hot-5

headed. Try to keep them talking, and don’t escalate any
confrontations.
* Some people say that the Stargazer religion isn’t entirely
extinct, that there are still a small number of modern adherents practicing in secret.
False Lead
* Sometimes ghosts of the Stargazers will appear and tellstories about their culture. The ghosts can provide valuableclues.

2B) College of Recovery
The College of Recovery office is a single-story white
stucco building with Moorish style pointed-arch doorways
and windows. The building is shaped like a straight-edged“C” enclosing a raised courtyard with a fountain and large,
striped canvas awnings.
The centerpiece of the courtyard is a 3 m tall obelisk
brought up out of Starsmote Sandpit. A metal placard next
to it reads, “This marble obelisk stood at the entrance ofthe pyramid in the center of Starsmote Crater. It was painstakingly removed and brought to the College of Recovery
for study and display. The writing on it has now been fully
deciphered. The four faces explain four different astronomical phenomena, reflecting the importance of astronomy inStargazer religion. One face shows the reasons for day andnight, as the Earth rotates from the lit side to the self-shadowed side. Another face shows the phases of the Moonbased on the Sun-Moon-Earth angle. The third face showsa solar eclipse caused by the Moon blocking out the Sun’slight. The final face shows a total lunar eclipse with theMoon passing through the Earth’s shadow.”
In the interior of the College of Recovery office, the colorful tile patterns covering the floors extend up to the heightof the windowsills. Above that, the walls and ceiling are
simple white stucco. But it can be hard to enjoy the original
decor due to the number of shelves which have been placedalong the walls to hold the countless oddities and curios
collected for study. The College holds the only library in
Bittersprings. The selection of titles is dry and academic, and the books cannot be borrowed, so must be readon-site. But the library is airy and cool and the courtyard
is even more pleasant for reading or games of chess if theweather is fair, so there is never a shortage of adventurers
passing the time by studying up between expeditions.

Notable GMCs
This branch of the College of Recovery is run by two scholars who operate independent of each other.
Gyunghui Kim is a plump, middle-aged oni with bright red
skin, a single horn in the middle of her forehead, and long,straight black hair. Gyunghui is originally from the lower
realms where it was her duty to torture the spirits of thedamned. However, she takes offense at being called a devil
or evil; in her mind she was just a bureaucrat, meting out
to each individual the punishment earned by his own sins.
But she is also a gleeful sadist who loved her job. Gyunghui
came to the mortal world to study the depictions of eternal
torture in various cultures, hoping to expand her repertoireand earn a promotion in the infernal bureaucracy. Her
office is decorated with scrolls and paintings of hellscapes.
In the course of her studies, she became interested in the
Stargazers, who envisioned the “good” afterlife as a barren
desert completely devoid of water and life, and came toBittersprings to study the culture in more detail.
Lucky, a teenage heartthrob now in his mid-20’s, had ashort career as an adventurer, but an explosion of magicalenergy from an unholy rune in a demonic sanctum blinded
his left eye and scarred his beautiful face. Now he wears
white gauze wrapped over the left eye and surrounding
scar tissue, hiding the disfigurement, and giving him anaura of tragedy and mystery. The incident convinced Luckythat it is better to study objects brought back by other adventures rather than take the risks himself.
Lucky’s field of research is geology and his current fascination is meteorites. But it can be difficult to distinguish afallen meteorite from a normal terrestrial rock. He came toBittersprings because the Stargazers have already done thehard work of finding and identifying meteorites; all he has
to do is convince adventurers to recover the sacred meteorites from Stargazer ruins so they can be properly studied.
Lucky can be very charming, and more than one young
heroine has undertaken a dangerous mission in hopes offinding a meteorite to win his attention. For his part, Lucky
lives up to his squeaky-clean reputation and refrains fromall vices, even in private, rather than risk disappointing his
fans.

Missions
Gyunghui
Did you know that the Stargazer idea of Heaven was abarren and lifeless desert? Of course, I can see how eternalsilence and solitude could be better than some of the alter-6

natives for the afterlife: drowning in a river of blood withcentaurs shooting arrows into you or having an oni skewer
you and roast you over a fire. That smells great by the way,
but you have to use the right seasoning. I can give you therecipe sometime if you’re interested. Sorry, what was I ...
oh yes. Starsmote Crater wasn’t a desert when the Stargazers first arrived, they intentionally desiccated it to make itmatch their idea of paradise. I’m interpreting a stone tablet
describing the desertification of the crater. Well, the bottom
half of a tablet. (She gestures to a reading stand holding a
black stone tablet with a rough break line running acrossthe top.) It’s fascinating to read the hardships the Stargazers willingly endured in pursuit of their idea of perfection:
drought, famine, sandstorms with winds fast enough toskin you alive. Finally, their civilization collapsed from thehardships. But the top of the tablet, presumably describing
how they started the desertification, is missing. Such techniques could have a variety of applications; applications
which could be quite unpleasant if administered properly.
If you can find and bring me the top half of the tablet, there
will be a reward in it for you.
Lucky
They say that diamonds are forever. Diamonds form overbillions of years, deep in the warm embrace of the Earth.
But there is another type of stone which is even closer toeternity, meteors. Many meteors are even older than theworld. They are pieces of material from the earliest stagesof the Solar System. Meteors, and meteorites as we callthem when they come down to us as shooting stars, give
us clues to the conditions at the very beginning, before
the world was born. The Stargazers understood the significance of meteorites and collected them. Now their precious
meteorites sit gathering dust in crumbling ruins. I’m sure if
they were alive today, the Stargazers would prefer that theirsacred meteorites were recovered, studied, and displayed,rather than being forgotten. So for the memory of the Stargazers, and my own curiosity, I’ve painstakingly collected
and cataloged meteorites recovered from Starsmote Sandpit. But the most important kind is still missing. Chondrites are some of the most primitive meteorites, preserving the conditions at the very beginning of the creation of
the Solar System. Having a chondrite to study would be thesecond most beautiful way to feel the wonders of creation.
The most beautiful is of course to see the first rays of therising sun caressing the face of your beloved.

Information
Basic Knowledge*Any complex traps in the Stargazer ruins have probably all
been sprung or broken by now. But watch out for pit traps;
simple yet deadly.
*Starsmote Sandpit contains sinkholes where the local
environment can be much different from the surrounding
desert. The sinkholes often hold Stargazer ruins so be sure
to check them out.
False Lead
*Stargazer altars are warded by magic, but not very smart.
Whenever you take an object off an altar, be sure to put
something similar in its place.

2C) Slayers’ Lodge
The Bittersprings branch of Slayers’ Lodge is located ina desert nomad tent that looks like it was pitched yesterday and could be gone tomorrow. But stepping inside, it
is apparent the lodge has been a fixture in Bittersprings
for a long time. Wooden planks have been laid down on
the ground to provide stable footing. Rich rugs including
woven carpets, lion skins, bright red salamander skins, andzebra skins have been laid over the boards. Luxuriously upholstered chairs and sofas are scattered around the central
stone-walled firepit where a wild boar or other game meathangs on the spit. Hunting trophies and a well-stocked
liquor cabinet line the perimeter. Placed in a spot of honor
right next to the firepit is a set of shark jaws a full meter
across, with a battered platemail armor boot set inside.

Notable GMCs
Captain Bruce is advanced in years, but call him “old” atyour own risk. Despite the ample layer of fat on his body,his bulging muscles are still formidable. His short-cropped
curly white hair stands out in stark contrast to his dark
black skin. Still his most notable feature has got to be thepeg leg. Captain Bruce had a long career as an adventurer,
slaying a wide variety of monsters. But the story he tells themost is how a shark burst out of the water right next to his
skiff and bit off his right foot. After that Bruce single-mindedly hunted sharks for 4 years, until he found the one withhis platemail boot still in its belly. Soon after, he retired
from adventuring to run a branch of Slayers’ Lodge in thedriest location he could find, Bittersprings outside Starsmote Sandpit. The way Bruce tells the story, there was no
drive for vengeance or vindication in his great shark hunt,“I just had to get my boot back.”

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Natashia is Captain Bruce’s teenage granddaughter. Her
skin tone is a much lighter brown and she’s thin as a toothpick, but the family resemblance is still unmistakable. She
takes care of running the lodge when “the old geezer is too
distracted recounting that same old shark story.” Actually,
Natashia loathes adventurers. Her father and mother arean adventuring pair, and Natashia hates having to follow
them all over The Domain as they look for great deeds
to perform and terrible monsters to slay. She hates being“baby-sitted” by Grandpa only slightly less. As far as she isconcerned, the only place in the entire Domain that isn’t
completely stupid is the kingdom of Nova Camelot where
the local branch of Slayers’ Lodge celebrates successful kills
and other heroics with gala hunt balls. She only got to visit
Nova Camelot for one month during one of her parents’campaigns, but found herself naturally turning into an
elegant belle of the ball. Since then, she’s wanted nothing
except to return to the pageantry and chivalry of Nova
Camelot.

Missions
Captain Bruce
Before offering the party a job, Bruce will send Natashia
out on errands. She storms out muttering something about,“never use the one good leg you got left.”
We haven’t told Natashia, because we didn’t want to get her
hopes up, but her parents have been busting their butts,
and have finally managed to call in enough favors with theright people to get her a letter of introduction to the Courtof Nova Camelot, which she has been begging for. But if
she shows up without appropriate attire, her newfoundsocial life will be doomed before it starts. Expensive gemstones don’t cut it. It may be the Nova Camelot branch, but
this is still Slayers’ Lodge we’re talking about. My granddaughter needs a trophy: jewelry that’s exotic and dangerous to acquire. Adventurers coming back out of the Sandpit
say that somewhere in there, there’s a Stargazer tiara set
with brightly colored stony-iron meteorites. I need you tofind that tiara and bring it back for my princess.
If asked why he doesn’t go looking for the tiara himself,
Bruce simply replies, “I’m retired.” If asked why he doesn’t
send Natashia if it is supposed to be her trophy, he explains, “I can’t say it makes a whole lot of sense to me, but
in Nova Camelot, a lady fair is supposed to be showeredwith gifts and have valiant deeds dedicated to her beauty,
without leaving the court herself. I wish her luck; court
politics are more vicious than fighting a demonic octopus
in a pitch-black submerged cave with no air.”

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Natashia
Lately, parties coming back from the Sandpit have beenbragging about beating roving bands of homunculi. The
slayers are just happy to have something new to kill, but
I’ve seen enough to know there’s something fishy. Homunculi don’t just appear out of nowhere, and they ain’t
smart enough to start trouble on their own. Someone orsomething has brought them in as goons. And judging
from the way the homunculi have been attacking parties onsight, it’s a good bet whoever’s pulling the strings ain’t up
to no good. If you can find and eliminate the joker behindthe homunculi before the situation gets out of control, I’ll
make sure that Shark-bait recognizes it as a worthy kill.

Information
Basic Knowledge* There are many jackals prowling the Sandpit. Too many,so don’t even bother bringing back a jackal trophy.
* The Stargazers are long gone, but some living statues
crated by them are still lurking around the ruins.
False Leads* Not every monster in the crater shuffles along in thesand. Watch the skies for giant birds who like to snatch up
stragglers.

3) Starsmote Sandpit
Starsmote Sandpit is an ancient meteor impact crater about
12 km in diameter. The floor sits about 400 m beneaththe surrounding terrain and is ringed by a rim of unevenheight but averaging about 50 m above the surrounding
terrain, giving the crater an apparent floor to rim depth of
450 m. The town of Bittersprings sits outside the edge ofthe crater, near a large marginal collapse zone. A marginalcollapse zone is a stretch where the crater rim has collapsed
into the crater, creating a gradual slope. There is a wellworn path on this slope, zig-zagging down to the crater
floor.
A central uplift of marble bedrock appears as a hill sticking
out from the sand which has accumulated in the crater.
This central uplift serves as the foundation for a large pyramid, the temple/tomb of the final Stargazer King-Priest.
This is the only well-known landmark in Starsmote Crater.
The rim surrounding the crater is tall and steep, but notunscalable. Climbing over the rim and into or out of thecrater is a hard hike. Anyone in Bittersprings will attempt

to talk the party out of it if they hear talk of plans to scale
the rim. But the task can be safely completed with 4 hours
and a single successful unskilled TN 13 endurance checkby each character. A failed check indicates that the character took a tumble somewhere and suffered 1d6 hp ofdamage. Provided the character survives the damage, hecan still complete the hike.
(Educational Note: The dimensions of Starsmote Craterare not modeled on any one actual crater. They are within
the plausible range for an impact crater, but by no means
canonical. Impact craters show wide diversity. See the Reference Notes at the end of this adventure for more information about impact craters.)
For the convenience of game play, the map of Starsmote
Sandpit is divided into hexagonal spaces 4 km across.
(Refer to Player Handout 1.) The central space is where
the pyramid is located and the top space, outside the crater
proper, is where Bittersprings is located. The remaining
spaces each hold one noteworthy encounter which aredescribed later. Each encounter description includes thespace where the encounter is located, but these should beconsidered suggestions. Except for the central pyramid,
Starsmote Sandpit is poorly mapped. Any encounter could
be placed in any space, but each space should include one
and only one encounter.
Moving from one space to another requires 2 hours on footor 1 hour on horseback. You can only move to adjacentspaces (touching along one side); it is not possible to walkalong the line between the hexagonal spaces. Searching aspace requires the same amount of time as moving between
spaces (2 hours on foot or 1 hour on horseback). Someencounters occur when the party enters a space. Other
encounter can only be found by searching the space.
It is possible for a party which is psyched up for adventure
to go 48 hours without food, water, or sleep. This is morethan enough time to enter and explore every space on the
map and still walk the entire perimeter of the crater floor,
possibly even including an ill-advised hike over the rim.
So it is possible to ignore issues of time and supplies if thatworks with your group’s playstyle. For groups who want totake a less exhausting approach to adventuring, 16 hours
of exploration a day, along with 1 day’s worth of rations
and one waterskin worth of water is a sustainable pace. It is
possible to camp in Starsmote Sandpit, but unless the party
sets watch they will awake to find that during the night
jackals quietly ripped open their packs and ate everything
edible. The Starsmote Sandpit environment is harsh, and
it is not possible to regain hp or pp by resting in the crater.
Resting requires returning to Bittersprings.

It is possible to hunt for food and transient water poolsin the crater, but unless a party is desperate, or wants torough-it for fun, hiking back out to Bitterspirngs is thequickest, most reliable way to restock provisions.

3A) Good Intentions [Space 1]
The first time the PCs enter this space they will encounter
Celest. Celest is skilled in stealth, and has had two weeks
to learn the terrain, so assume that she is able to act first
before the party notices her.
Her first action is to fire an arrow into the ground in frontof the PCs. With a “whiz – thunk” the arrow buries itself
halfway up the shaft into the sand. With a successful TN 11
awareness-based social sciences check, a PC can recognizethat the shot was an intentional miss, a warning shot.
Give the characters a chance to react, diving for cover,reading weapons, raising their hands, etc., then read orparaphrase the following.
Following back along the path of the arrow which juststruck the ground in front of you, you see a woman withlong, braided red hair, wearing scalemail armor, andmounted on a fiery red chestnut horse. She appeared as
if out of nowhere from behind a sand dune. Now she has
another arrow nocked and ready to fire.
“Leave the crater now! There are no monsters and notreasure here. And any treasure there is is cursed. There isnothing interesting or exciting in the pyramid, so you needto leave now for your own safety. Don’t make me hurt you.”
Celest was part of an adventuring party with her dearly
beloved younger sister, Luna. A couple weeks ago, during aforay into the pyramid, Luna made the mistake of putting
on a cursed necklace that turned her into a poisonous reptilian creature, killing anyone nearby with a green magicaura (see encounter 4G for more details). Celest barely
escaped the killing aura, and is now distraught. She wants
to save her sister, but doesn’t know how. For right now thebest she can think of is to leave food and water at the pyramid for Luna and try to run off other adventurers before
they mistake Luna for a real monster and kill her.
Celest rides in a large, western style saddle, with the rainsof a bay horse tied loosely to the saddle horn. The bay isalso saddled for a rider.
If the party attacks, Celest will loose the arrow she has
nocked, then wheel and flee. Unless the PCs are also
mounted, her speed advantage will let her make a clean getaway. If mounted characters purse, a chase will result.

9

Provided the PCs don’t attack, Celest will keep her draw
on the party, but will not actually shoot and will banterback and forth with them as long as the PCs keep talking.
Celest’s responses will be full of contradictions and in her
ramblings she will often tell the PCs more than they actually asked. After two or three questions, she’ll even lower her
bow if asked politely. She won’t dismount, wanting to keep
the mobility the horse gives her.
Possible questions and answers:- Who are you?
I’m Celest, an adventurer like you.
-Are you alone?
I’m the only one left except for my sister, but she’s ... nowait. Yes, I am alone.
-What are you doing here?
Well I’m, um. I’m warning you, aren’t I?
-Why do you have two horses?
Tammy belongs to my sister.
- What’s in the pyramid?
Nothing! Certainly no monsters or cursed jewelry. Well,
actually there is cursed jewelry which is why you shouldn’t
go there for any reason.
Once the PCs figure out enough to ask Celest directly
about her “sister” read or paraphrase the following.
The woman’s blue eyes start to tear up, and she inhales
sharply as if her nose is starting to run. The bow and arrowslip from her hands as she breaks down crying. “Luna, youidiot! Why did you have to put on that necklace? Always
looking for pretty things to wear; never using your head.”She opens her watery eyes to look at you, “Please don’thurt my little sister. I know she looks like a monster withthat scaly skin and snake hair, but she’s not a monster. Not
really, the necklace did that to her. Underneath she’s still
the same good person ... the same vain, gawdy, cluelessbimbo! She didn’t mean to poison Michael and the others.
The necklace did that to her.”After she cries herself out, Celest can give a more coherent
account. She and her sister Luna were part of a party offive novice adventurers. Two weeks ago, they entered thepyramid looking for treasure and adventure. The pyramid
was disappointingly empty, but in the “room on the right,”
Luna found a silver necklace set with turquoise stones. She
fastened it around her neck with a mechanical click, and10

almost before she could finish saying “How do I look?” shestarted screaming, “Get it off! Get it off!” Her skin turned
green and scaly and her long, beautiful locks of flaxen haircoiled into hissing snakes. Celest froze up at the sight. The
other members of the party rushed to help but succumbedto the poisonous green glow around Luna. Celest didn’tknow what to do, so she ran, and now hates herself for it,
thinking there must have been something she could havedone.
If the PCs say they are going straight to the pyramid despite
her warnings, Celest will insist on going along, to help
them avoid any trouble. And she will help, but if she everthinks the PCs are a threat to her sister, Celest will literallyshoot them in the back.
If a PC makes any explicit threats, such as offering toeuthanize Luna, Celest will fight the offender to the deathon the spot. Or at least fight to 0 hp; the other PCs canprobably intervene before she finishes off an unconscious
opponent.
If the party agrees to steer clear of the pyramid and Luna,at least for the short term, Celest will part ways with theparty, but will keep an eye on them. Every so often as they
explore the Sandpit the PCs will catch sight of a mounted
rider with two horses, well out of bowshot, but still withinline of sight. If the party gets into a fight they can’t handle,
the GM may wish to have Celest show up to support themwith hexes and arrow fire to improve the odds.

Celest, Human Hexer
Level 1
defense: 11
hp: 4
pp: 2
Move: 10 m walk (20 m mounted)
Attributes: S −1, D −1, E −1, A +0, W +1, P +2
Resistances: RB +7; GY +6; OP +2; HR +2

TraitsSkills: Intimidation, Life Sciences, Stealth +1

Attack Actions

Bow [Major] +1 ranged 1d6 hp (normal damage)
Flail [Major or Interrupt] +0 melee 1d6 hp (normal damage)Special Actions

Standard hexer abilities (refer to the Core Rules for fulldescriptions)Counter Hex [Interrupt]
Hexes [Minor] (TN 13 HR)
Attack Hex
Defense Hex
Move Hex
Power Drain [Major] (cost 1 pp)

Notable Equipment
Bow
Flail
Scale mail armor
Money: 11 c 7 p

3B) Frozen Well [Space 2]This encounter only takes place if the party takes the timeto search the space. If they simply pass through the space,nothing of interest happens.
In the process of exploring, the PCs come across a sinkhole about 4 m in diameter. There is nothing out of theordinary around it, a particularly oblivious character mighteven fall into the hole before noticing it.
Looking down into the pit, it has two notable features. One
is a sheet of solid ice about 6 m below the rim. The second
is a case of stairs cut into the wall, winding down to an alcove which has been cut into the rock, creating a platform
just above the sheet of ice. The alcove is about the same
size as the ice sheet, 4 m x 4 m.
The ice and underlying water are clear, and a submerged
altar can be seen at the bottom of the pit.
The sheet of ice is 10 cm thick, forming a lid on the underlying water. The ice can be easily chipped away by weapons
or magical attacks (attacks automatically hit, simply rolldamage; the ice cap automatically fails any energy resistance reactions.) The ice cap is hardened against blue damage and vulnerable to red damage. The ice sheet starts witha total of 20 hp. If reduced to 15 hp or less, a hole opens in
the ice; if the ice sheet has 10 hp or less remaining, the holeis large enough for a character to dive through. If reduced
to 0 hp, all large chunks of ice have been cleared from thesurface of the water.
However the ice sheet will quickly refreeze, regaining 1
hp at the end of each turn (after all of the PCs have had achance to act). This refreezing happens even if the sheet is
reduced to 0 hp. If the ice sheet recovers to 11 hp or morewhile a submerged character is investigating the altar, theswimmer could find himself trapped, unable to fit throughthe hole to get out. If the ice recovers to 16 hp or more, thehole closes entirely, trapping the character without air.

As long as there is a hole in the ice, the water can be drunkor used to refill waterskins. The water is freezing cold andrefreshing to drink. It is free from the sulfurous taste andsmell of Bittersprings water.
Swimming down to the altar requires a TN 11 strengthbased athletics check. Swimming back up from the altar
also requires a TN 11 strength-based athletics check. Whendescending, every kilogram of gear (rounded down) the
character is carrying adds a +1 bonus to the check, butwhen ascending, every kilogram of gear (rounded down)
imposes a −1 penalty on the check.
The following items are set on the alter:- An oddly contorted metal wand inlaid with seashells [0.5kg]
- A metal tablet covered with cryptic glyphs [negligible
mass]- A pottery canopic jar with a falcon head lid [3 kg]
The canopic jar is the heaviest item on the altar and will
require the most work to recover. One solution would be
to tie a rope to it so that a character outside the well canpull it up, requiring an unskilled TN 12 dexterity check to
avoid letting it slip out of the rope. If two swimmers try toraise the jar together, this is considered an assist action (+1bonus). No more than two swimmers can effectively work
together on this task.
The wand is a rank 1 chromatic (blue) evoker’s wand as
described in the GMM.
If anyone would like to investigate the wand or tablet
further, have the player make an awareness-based social
sciences check and consult the table below.
Artifact Investigation (awareness-based social sciences)
ResultInformation
7 or less
No insights.
8-12
The item is not Stargazer craftsmanship.
13-14
The item is not human craftsmanship.
15 or more The item is merman craftsmanship.
The writing on the metal tablet can be interpreted with anhour of work and a TN 16 willpower-based social sciences
check. It is a commemorative plaque in honor of “An agreement between the People of the Desert and the People of
the Sea for coordinated research and information exchange
to harness the power of the stars and the black void between them.”

11

The tablet might be of interest to a collector, but for mostpeople it is just a metal ingot that can be used in place ofan equal weight of coins (25 c). If the party tries to trade
the metal tablet or wand to the collector Elestar York (seeencounter 3C), he will refuse at first, recognizing that they
are not Stargazer artifacts. If the party is persistent andcan convince Elestar that the items were in fact found on a
Stargazer altar, he will become very interested in them.
The canopic jar will be needed to open the hidden chamber in the pyramid (see encounters 4B, 4H). It is easily
recognizable as Stargazer craftsmanship.

3C) Archeological Dig [Space 3]This encounter occurs if the party takes the time to search
the space. If they simply pass through the space, nothing ofinterest happens.
From a distance the characters can see a roofless, crumbling, mud-brick structure. Approaching closer, they canhear intermittent scratching and tapping from inside.
Looking through a door or window, they can see that acamp has been set up inside the walls of the structure. In
the center, a large, square, knee-deep pit has been dug, anda shirtless man in a hat is bent over, working in the pit. The
scratching and tapping sounds are coming from when heuses his handbroom or hammer in his work. The man, Elestar York, will notice the party as soon as they hail him, or
shortly after they enter the ruins, provided the PC’s aren’t
trying to be stealthy.
Provided the party isn’t attacking or stealing anything,
Elestar will greet them cordially. Read or paraphrase thefollowing.
The man working in the pit carefully sets down his tools
and sits down on the edge. He removes his broadbrimmed
hat, revealing short blonde hair and distinctly elven ears,
and uses his forearm to wipe copious streams of sweat fromhis forehead.
“G’day mates. Why don’t cha take a load off and stay a spell.
Don’t get many visitors round these parts. Well, at least not
many who are still breathing.” He jerks his thumb towards
a pile of dismembered zombies.
Elestar York, is an elven archeologist adventurer with an
unusual accent (think Australian accent). He is well versedin the Stargazer culture and can help the party interpret
any items they may have found.
Elestar is a proud member of the College of Recovery, heviews the other guilds as friendly rivals. He will casually12

ask what guild the characters belong to and preferentiallyspeak with other members of the college; his second choice
being PCs who have yet to join a guild.
If the party accepts his invitation to stay, he will show them
the pieces he’s studying right now. The most impressivepieces are:
- A magical round bronze shield with 7 stylistic bumps
arranged in an irregular pattern on it [3 kg]- A limestone canopic jar with a baboon head lid [4 kg]- A bronze scepter capped by a cube of iron which has
crystallin patterns crisscrossing its six sides [1.5 kg]- A serving plate, 40 cm in diameter with a star chart painted on it and symbols indicating the phases of the moonaround the perimeter [2 kg]
The shield is a Rank 1 chromatic (yellow) dragonslayer’s
shield. With a successful TN 9 awareness-based physicalsciences check, the bumps can be recognized as representing the constellation Ursa Minor, with the North Star set in
the center of the shield. Refer to the Starsmote Sandpit map
pack for a picture of the dot pattern. It may be more fun,and educational, to show the players the dot pattern and letthem figure out what it is for themselves without allowing askill check.
The canopic jar will be needed to open the hidden chamber in the pyramid (see encounters 4B, 4H). Elestar doesn’tknow the details, but he has worked out that the canopic
jars were used in some kind of ritual in the pyramid. If theparty tells him they are going to the pyramid, he will try to“sell” them the jar in exchange for another item.
The scepter is the one stollen from Beacon Sanctuaryin Bittersprings, the cube of iron at the head being a cut
iron meteorite. Iron crystals aren’t found naturally in
any rocks on Earth, so it takes only a successful TN 10
awareness-based physical sciences check to identify it asa meteorite. A willpower-based physical sciences checkcan be made instead if consulting reference material. After
recognizing the meteorite for what it is, it should be easy toconclude that this is the scepter stollen from Beacon Sanctuary if the party has received Mai’s mission (see encounter
2A).
If asked about the scepter, Elestar explains that he acquired
it by trade from another adventurer. About a month ago (ormore, depending on how long it takes the party to reachthis encounter), he traded a different artifact for it to a guy
who was taking the whole Stargazer thing too far, evendressing in sandals, white knee-length robes, and a nemyss headdress (the iconic Egyptian pharaoh headdress). If
asked what Elestar gave the man in exchange for the wand,he’ll describe a broken piece of a black stone tablet that
he hadn’t had a chance to decipher completely but was
something about creating a dessert. From his description,
the party should be able to recognize the tablet fragment asmatching the description of the one Gyunghui Kim of theCollege of recovery is looking for (see encounter 2B).
The plate with astronomical markings was used both as aserving dish and a calendar. Encompassing the star chart
is a ring with 12 notches indicating the 12 months, evenly
spaced like on a clock. Then outside the moon phases isanother ring, partially chipped away by age, with 30 notches to indicate the days. It is a beautiful example of Stargazer artwork but of no practical value during the current
adventure.
Elestar is interesting in studying items, not collecting them,so he is willing to trade items from his collection for otherStargazer items found in Starsmote Sandpit. In principle,
these trades are one for one. Other locations in Starsmote
Sandpit have been stocked with interesting but not useful
items that the party can use for trade. However, there areways to talk Elestar out of items without having to trade.
- If the PCs convince Elestar that the scepter is stollen, hewill give it up without trade. He’s not entirely surprised,
the guy who traded it to him was suspicious, even for anadventurer. But if the PCs mention that the scepter was
taken from Beacon Sanctuary, that will trigger Elestar’s
sense of rivalry and he will refuse to hand it over withoutsome kind of “finder’s fee,” essentially a trade.
- If the party plays on Elestar’s comradery for the College
of Recovery, telling him that the stone tablet he tradedaway is needed by a fellow researcher and he has a duty tohelp recover it for her, Elestar will give them one item ifthey promise to find the tablet and recover it, or at least toforget that he was the one who gave it away.
- Elestar won’t accept money, per se. But if the party will
make a supply run, buying and bringing him a list of basic
supplies from Phillip’s General Store [food, torches, cloth,
ink, a blank logbook, etc.; total cost 20 c; total mass 20kg] he will let them choose one item as payment for the
supplies.
- If the party has figured out that the canopic jar is needed
to open the secret passage in the pyramid (see encounters
4B, 4H), Elestar will be willing to loan it to them, provide
the PCs promise to return it safely and allow him to catalog
and study any items recovered from the pyramid.
- If the party offers to work for Elestar in exchange for anitem, he won’t trust them with archeological work or guard

duty. But his campsite is disheveled and in need of straightening. If a PC agrees to clean and cook for Elestar for a fullday, he will agree to reward the party with one item. Havethe character make a domestic science skill check; it can beeither dexterity or presence based, depending on the character’s approach (fastidious cleaning, or crafting simple
ingredients into delicious home cooking). Other PCs can
assist, adding a +1 bonus to the check, but in the end only
one character can make the skill check. Rather than a set
TN, make the roll and then consult the table below for the
result.
Domestic Science Skill Check Result
8 or less
The party has accidently broken an archeological artifact. Elestar will tell themto leave immediately and won’t deal withthem again for at least 2 days.
9-14
As per his word, Elestar lets the party
choose one item.
15 or more Elestar is very impressed with the job thePCs did and lets them choose two items
instead of one.
- If the party tries to steal an item, resolve it as a dexterity-based stealth check versus an awareness-based stealthcheck. If the party manages to steal an item, they might beable to get away with it, but Elestar will notice eventuallyand since he hasn’t had any other guests, he’ll know thePCs are the thieves. He will make the trip out to Bittersprings to register a complaint and the PCs will have toanswer for their actions eventually. The exact punishment
is left to the GM, but might include having to work in Elestar’s camp to repay him (see above), a monetary fine, or
reduction in guild reputation.
This is intended to be a role playing encounter, but if theparty starts to act violent, Elestar will issue a challenge fora one-on-one duel of honor in hopes of evening the odds.
Whether or not a PC accepts his challenge, he will thensuit up in his speed armor and elven climbing claws. He’s
already wearing the bottom half of the speed armor andonly needs to slip on the shirt, so it takes only 1 turn eachto don the speed armor and climbing claws. If reduced toless than 5 hp, he will attempt to flee, using his climbing
claws to scale the walls of the ruins to provide cover for
his escape. He will then make his way to Bittersprings toregister a complaint against the party. The punishment
for attacking Elestar is left to the GM but might involve
jail time or a dangerous mission to be undertaken withoutcompensation. If the PCs manage to kill Elestar, a couple ofmonths later he will rise as an apparition to haunt the ruins
where he was digging. Eventually other adventurers willlearn the truth from this ghost and set out to bring the PCs
to justice in order to help the dead rest in peace.

13

Elestar York (Archeologist) Elf Harrier
Level 3
defense: 15
hp: 15
pp: 4
Move: 14 m (10 m without speed armor)
Attributes: S +0; D +3; E −1; A +0; W −2; P +0
Resistances: RB +6, GY +1, OP +0, HR +0

TraitsSkills: Engineering, Social Sciences +3

Attack Actions

Rank 1 elven climbing claws[Major or Interrupt] +2 melee
1d3 hp (normal damage)Special Actions

Standard harrier abilities (refer to the Core Rules for fulldescriptions)
3 interrupt actions per turnCut and Run [Interrupt]
Dogged Pursuit [Interrupt]
Energy Shunt [Reaction] (cost 1 pp)
Fleet Footed [Interrupt]
Follow-up Strike [Interrupt]

Notable Equipment

Rank 1 speed armor
Rank 1 elven climbing claws
Money: 27 c 1 p3D) Homunculus Ambush [Space 4]This encounter occurs when the party first enters the space.
A band of homunculi loyal to Ramses have laid an ambush.
After he took up residence, Ramses sent squads of homunculi to all areas of the crater to lay claim to it and attack
any intruders. Over the course of the last month, the otherbands have succumbed to encounters with adventurers or
wild animals. Now, Ramses’s homunculi can be found onlyin the more remote parts of the crater. However, if the GM
feels the PCs are having too easy of a time during the adventure, he could have another homunculus ambush occur
somewhere else in the crater.
When the party approaches, the homunculi will spring up
out of the sand in a half-circle pattern (8 m radius) in frontof and flanking the parry. The number of homunculi is thesame as the number of members of the PCs’ party.
The homunculi have been lying in wait and will get to act
first. On their first turn they will stand up out of the sand14

and attack with their energy spark ability. Two homunculi
will target each character in the front half of the PCs’ party.
After the first round of attacks, every homunculus not
involved in melee will attack the nearest PC with its energy
spark ability, if it has pp remaining; or move to engage thenearest PC in melee if it has used all of its pp. Any homunculus involved in melee will attack with its energy surge
ability if it has pp remaining; or with a claw attack if it has
used all of its pp. In addition, when a homunculus is targeted by an energy-based attack, if it has any pp remaining it
will use an interrupt action and 1 pp to activate its energy
armor ability. The homunculi intend to fight to the death,but might be intimidated into running away if the party
tries to scare them off.

Homunculus
Level 0defense: 13
hp: 3
pp: 3
Move: 8 m
Attributes: S −3; D +2; E −2; A +1; W 0; P 0
Resistances: RB +1; GY +1; OP +1: HR −1

TraitsHardened Purple
Vulnerable Orange

Attack Actions

Claw [Major or Interrupt] −1 melee 1 hp (normal damage)Special Actions
Energy Spark [Major] (att= +1; cost 1 pp; purple energy):
A homunculus can shoot a spark of energy up to 8 m. A
target struck by this spark takes 1d2 hp of purple energy
damage.
Energy Surge [Major] (cost 1 pp; purple energy): All creatures within melee range of the homunculus must make a
TN 11 OP reaction or take 1 hp of primary damage (purple
energy). There are 0 hp of automatic damage.
Energy Armor (cost 1 pp; purple energy): This ability
functions the same way as the energy shield energer special action but doesn’t require a mote and only provides
2 points of protection. This energy armor lasts for 10
minutes or until the homunculus is reduced to 0 hp. The
homunculus can choose to lower the shield earlier. The
shield is hardened against purple energy and vulnerable toorange energy.

The homunculi are wearing an odd assortment of clothing: one is wearing nothing but a flat-topped fiddler’s hat,
another is wearing nothing but a vest, a third might bewearing only boots and gloves. There are no shirts, pants,
or skirts, among the group, suggesting that the homunculi
don’t understand clothing very well.
After dealing with the homunculi, the PCs can find ashoulder pack, either on one of the bodies or dropped by afleeing homunculus. The contents of the pack are:
- A wooden box [1 kg]- 2 torches [0.5 kg x2]- A coil of rope [2 kg]- 1 full waterskin [2 kg]- 6 healing potions [negligible mass]- Money [18 c 3 p]
The contents of the pack are loose change and other items
Ramses brought from outside Starsmote Sandpit that hehad no immediate use for. Ramses didn’t notice that oneof the homunculi decided to wear the pack when he sent
them out on patrol.
The money is 18 coins and 3 pieces worth of loose pieces.
There are no whole coins in the mix. The largest denomination is half a coin (4 pieces).
The box is an ornately carved jewelry box. The fabric inside has an indentation where a circular item like a crown
or a necklace used to be. Another indentation near the edgeholds a silver key set with a large, oval piece of turquoise
carved into a viper head cameo (the mass of the key alone
is negligible). A successful TN 9 awareness-based social
sciences check will reveal that the box and key are too new
to be associated with the Stargazers. A successful TN 11
awareness-based arcana check will reveal that the key ismagically enchanted. A successful TN 13 awareness-basedarcana check will reveal that the key doesn’t have any magical powers, but its aura is intended to trigger some kind of
magical lock or switch. The necklace worn by Luna in the
pyramid (see encounter 4G) used to be in this box and the
key matches the lock on the necklace. If the PCs have seen
both the necklace and the key, they can notice that the twoitems are of similar craftsmanship.
If anyone thinks to ask, the torches and rope are similar toitems available in Philip’s General Store (see encounter 1B).
The water in the waterskin can be identified by its smell
and taste as having been collected in Bittersprings.
If taken alive for questioning, a homunculus can only offer
a little information. He’s not particularly smart and sounds

as if he hasn’t really been paying attention to anything.
He knows that the homunculi were created and brought
to Starsmote Crater by “The Boss.” The Boss is working on some project in the pyramid and doesn’t want tobe disturbed, so he sent squads of homunculi out to lay
ambushes throughout the crater and attack any interlopers. The homunculus being questioned doesn’t know how
many other homunculi there are working for the Boss or
any other specific information. “The Boss” is a reference toRamses, but the mummy of the King-Priest has also madea big impression on the homunculus (see encounter 4I).
He won’t volunteer any information about the mummy, but
if the PCs ask questions about mummies, pyramid builders, monsters in the pyramid, or similar topics, the homunculus will correct them, “That’s the Other Boss.”

3E) Sphinx [Space 5]
When the party enters this space, have all of the players
make an unskilled TN 13 awareness check, or make thechecks in secret for them. Characters who succeed noticea giant stone face protruding from the side of a windswept
sand dune in the distance. This is the head of a stonesphinx. The party can continue to travel across the space
without investigating it, taking the standard 2 hours toreach the next space. If they decide to get a closer look at
the stone head, the detour and any resulting adventures
take a total of 2 hours, the same as searching a space. Parties which take the time to search the space automaticallyfind the sphinx.
The sphinx has the head of a human male wearing a nemyss (pharaoh) headdress and the body of a lion. Unlike thereal sphinx in Egypt, this one has its paws tucked in frontof it like a contented cat. The head, shoulders and forepaws
are visible, the rest of the sphinx is buried under the dunes.
Around the exposed part of the sphinx is a foundation
made from the same kind of giant limestone blocks as the
body. The statue is 20 meters tall from the top of the headto the foundation. The face has a cool regal disposition,with high cheek bones and a long, thin ceremonial beard.
A successful TN 11 awareness-based arcana check will
reveal that the sphinx is magical.
As soon as anyone steps of the stone platform surrounding
the sphinx read or paraphrase the following.
The eyes of the sphinx glow and with the scraping of stone
on stone, the jaw lowers straight down, opening the mouth
like a nutcracker doll’s, and a booming, obviously magicaland non-human voice ushers forth. “What casts the largest
shadow anyone has ever seen?”

15

Having finished the message, the jaw raises again, closingwith an audible boom. The eyes, staring straight forward
and seeing nothing, remain ablaze as if waiting for ananswer.
If the party wait without answering, the sphinx will repeat
its question one more time, then if no answer has been
given, the eyes will cease to glow shortly thereafter.
The answer the sphinx is waiting for is, “The Earth.”During a total lunar eclipse, the entire Moon enters the
Earth’s shadow. More frequently and less dramatically,nightfall is simply a location rotating into the self-shadowed side of the Earth.
If someone gives a wrong answer read or paraphrase thefollowing.
The stone jaw lowers again and the powerful voice speaks,“The foolish should seek the obelisk and learn from it.”With that, the mouth closes and the eyes dim.
After a wrong answer, the sphinx will not respond to any
new answers for an hour. The “obelisk” refers to the one
now standing in the courtyard of the College of Recovery(see encounter 2B). On the obelisk, the words “shadow”
and “shadowed” are used in reference to the Earth.
If someone gives the correct answer, “the Earth,” read orparaphrase the following.
The stone jaw lowers again and the powerful voice speaks,“The wise may enter.” With that the forepaws of the sphinx
unfold from in front of the chest and stretch forward slapping down on the surrounding stone platform. Cut into the
now uncovered chest of the sphinx is a doorway with stairsleading down into darkness.
The stone paws of the sphinx move slowly, so anyone
paying attention can easily dodge them. Anyone foolishenough to intentionally get under one of the paws as it
slams down on the stone floor will be instantly killed andcrushed into paste. All carried equipment, with the exceptions of any canopic jars or meteorite items, will be completely ruined. Items sacred to the Stargazers, the canopic
jars or meteorites, will miraculously come tumbling out,
carried by a wave of broken flesh just before the paw comesto rest on the ground.
The stairs are 2 m wide and go down at a 45 degree angle, 6m down and 6 m back to a chamber under the sphinx. The
chamber is 6 m wide, 3 m high, and 20 m long. It is completely dark requiring a light source to explore

16

properly, but there are no traps or other dangers so a foolish party could conceivably grope their way to the back.
The floor of the room is stone slab, but enough sand has
leaked in over the millennia to give it a thin coating of grit.
Not enough to conceal the stonework, but enough to makethe room feel unkept.
Frescos depicting Stargazer daily life decorate the walls:
planting and harvesting grain and fruit; hunting; andbaking bread. As characters proceed down the corridor thescenes naturally evolve from gathering food to preparing
and cooking it, then carrying it to large tables set in what
appears to be a royal court with servants, nobles, and evenpet cats. Just before the far wall, two figures painted larger
than life sit on thrones, the King-Priest on the lefthandwall and the Queen on the righthand wall. A man dressedin unusual animal skins, probably a foreign dignitary, ispresenting the King-priest with a black amulet. On theother side, a woman with an elaborate peacock feather
headdress, also probably not a Stargazer, is presenting theQueen a scepter with a square, gray head.
The King-Priest and Queen depicted here are not the final
ones. Their paintings are slightly different from depictionsof the final monarchs found in the fire temple (see encounter 3F) and pyramid (see section 4). The King-Priest
in this painting is the same as the model for the head of
the sphinx. And the Queen is the model for the “guardianangel” in the crypt under Beacon Sanctuary (see encounter
2A). No awareness check is needed to notice these similarities/differences. If a player thinks to ask if the monarchs
look familiar, the GM should provide the information.
Otherwise don’t volunteer the information.
A doorway in the far wall leads to an inner sanctum, a 6
m x 6 m room with a low ceiling, just over 2 m tall. On
the back wall of the inner sanctum, a gilded gold statueof the King-Priest stands on a pedestal. An amulet with ablack, fist sized stone hanging from a bronze chain [1 kg] iswrapped around his raised hand.
Set at the statue’s feet, the characters can find the following
items:- A small non-magical limestone statue of the sphinx, with
its legs in the tucked position in front of its chest [1.5 kg]- A limestone canopic jar with a human head lid [4 kg]- Money (16 coins of Stargazer workmanship featuring a
sun emblem on one side and a crescent moon emblem on
the reverse side.)
The rock on the amulet has been cut into smooth facets,revealing many small white inclusions of different compo-

sition. With a successful TN 14 awareness-based physicalsciences check, it can be correctly identified as a chondrite
stony meteorite. Lucky in the College of Recovery will reward the party if they give him this meteorite (see encounter 2B).
The statue of the King-Priest is not only prohibitively
heavy, but also affixed to the stone pedestal. Even using
magic, removing it as a trophy would require a team ofworkers, specialized equipment, and a wagon.
The canopic jar will be needed to open the hidden chamber in the pyramid (see encounters 4B, 4H).
The sphinx statue is a nice souvenir for answering the riddle, but of no practical value, except maybe for trade with acollector (see encounter 3C).
As the party is leaving the sphinx, if they look back overtheir shoulders just before the sphinx passes out of sight,
they will see it folding its legs back under itself, covering
the entrance.

3F) Fire Temple [Space 6]This encounter occurs automatically if the party takes thetime to search the space. If they simply pass through thespace, nothing of interest happens.
The first hint of something amiss is the headache-inducing smell of smoke and excrement. As the party explores
around, they will practically be at the rim of a sinkhole
before they notice it; it’s low profile completely disappears
into the gently rolling stony hills around it.
If the party is exploring at night, it will be much easier
to find the sinkhole due to the glow from the flames atthe bottom. This mysterious glow will be noticeable even
before the smell.
The sinkhole is about 50 m across and 10 m deep. Looking
down the PCs can see tongues of flame licking out fromcrevices in the floor of the sinkhole. A small, one-story
square stone building stands in the middle of the depression. Stairs hewn into the wall of the pit lead down to thefloor.
The sinkhole itself is a natural phenomena. With a successful TN 13 awareness-based physical sciences check acharacter can realize that the limestone collapsed over anatural gas deposit. Then the pit acted as a trap, allowing
the slowly leaking gas to build up to concentrations highenough to be ignited. Then once lit by something, it would
be almost impossible to put the fire out as long as gas leaks

continued. The building and the stairs are later additions
by the Stargazers.
A small breeding population of salamanders lives in the
flames of this sinkhole. It is unknown whether the fiery
lizards first ignited the gas or were later attracted by theflames. The Stargazers managed to semi-domesticate thesalamanders, but the beasts have long since gone feral
again.
It is safe to descend the stairs, but as soon as a character
sets foot on the floor of the sinkhole, there is a chance ofgetting burned. At the start of each turn, roll a die for eachcharacter on the floor of the sinkhole. A roll of 1 indicatesa jet of flame has erupted near the character. A result of
2-6 indicates the character is safe for this round. The jets
are random, so running or standing still have no effect on
the chance of being hit by flames. A character subject to aflame attack must make a successful TN 12 RG reaction
or take 1d2 points of primary damage (there are 0 hp ofautomatic damage). The damage is red energy.
There is nothing of interest in the sinkhole outside of thebuilding. If the party insists on fully exploring the area,
they will encounter a salamander which will attack them.
(See the salamander combat statistics given below.)
The exterior of the building is charred black, obliterating
any decorations it might once have had. The building canbe entered by a single doorway on the side facing the stairs
in the sinkhole wall. The distance from the base of the steps
to the door is 20 m. Characters could climb through one of
the windows on the other sides of the building (no attribute check required) but there is no real reason to.
The building interior is lit by light spilling in through thewindows and an ominous flickering between the floorstones. (The chance for being hit by a random flame jet
continues inside the building). The building consists of asingle room, 10 m by 10 m square. A mural of some kindof religious ceremony is painted on the ceiling. Against
the far wall is an altar with a large, red lizard the size of apony curled up, resting under it. The salamander is fully
awake and will attack the PCs, hoping for an easy meal.
Unless the party is being particularly stealthy or particularly reckless, neither the PCs nor the salamander should be
surprised by this encounter, so determine which side getsto act first as usual. Once wounded the salamander will
become even more belligerent and fight to the death. It will
pursue a fleeing party to the base of the stairs but will notleave the sinkhole.

17

Salamander
Level 1
defense: 18
hp: 12
pp: 4
Move: 10 m
Attributes
S +0; D −1; E +1; A −1; W −1; P −3
Resistances
RB +0; GY +2; OP +0; HR −1

TraitsHardened Red
Vulnerable Blue
Fire Resistant: A salamander takes no damage from nonmagical fire or lava.

Attack Actions

Bite [Major or Interrupt] + 1 melee 1d6+1 hp (normal
damage)Special Actions

Energy Surge [Major] (cost 2 pp; red energy): All creatures
within melee range of the salamander take 1 hp ofautomatic damage and 1d3 points of primary damage (redenergy). A successful TN 11 RB reaction is needed to avoid
the primary damage.
The following items are on the altar:- A pottery canopic jar with a jackal head lid [3 kg]- An ornately crafted magical dagger with a red crystal for a
blade [0.5 kg]- A bronze cylinder embossed with salamander designs,
with an open top and three legs for stability [1 kg]- A golden tiara set with small, egg shaped pieces of black
metal flecked with beautiful olive-green crystals [0.5 kg]With a successful TN 13 awareness-based arcana check,the dagger can be recognized as a red chromatic blade.
Even without an arcana check, the distinctive red crystal
for the blade is a giveaway.
The bronze cylinder is a torch stand. It can hold a torch
upright and be set on a table or the floor if the character
wants to use his hand for something else. It could also be
traded to a collector (see encounter 3C).
The canopic jar will be needed to open the hidden chamber in the pyramid (see encounters 4B, 4H).

18

In addition to the altar, there is a pile of blackened bones in
the corner. It’s an odd mix of dwarf and oni bones (including a horned skull), probably the remains of a previous adventuring party. There are links of chainmail and a broken
sword mixed into the pile. The only things of value are 22
coins and 7 pieces scattered at the very bottom of the pile.
Everything else has been gnawed or burned away.
The black metal “gems” set in the tiara are cut and polishedstony-iron meteorites with abundant embedded olivine
crystals. The meteorites can be identified as extraterrestrial
in origin with a successful TN 10 awareness-based physicalsciences check. This tiara matches the description of the
one Captain Bruce wants the adventurers to retrieve (seeencounter 2C).
The mural on the ceiling can be made out despite the layerof soot sticking to it. The mural depicts a chronologicalstory starting with the funeral procession of a King-Priest.
The Queen, wearing a crown, then comes to the fire temple
carried on a litter. There she commits suicide by thrustingan ornate red dagger into her heart. The body is cremated in the natural fires around the temple, and the ashes
mixed with clay. The clay is then formed into a statue of the
Queen as a winged angel. Finally, the funeral procession
pictured at the start of the mural carries the statue and the
body of the King-Priest towards a pyramid.
The crown on the head of the Queen matches the one now
on the altar of the temple, and the crown is not depictedon the head of the statue. The dagger used in the suicide
is easily identifiable as the one on the altar. The Queen is
the wife of the final King-Priest who committed suicide tofollow him into the tomb. If they party has fought the living
statue in the Queen’s chamber of the pyramid (see encounter 4E), they will recognize it as the statue in the mural.
The depiction of the winged statue of the Queen does notmatch the “guardian angel” in the vault under Beacon
Sanctuary (see encounter 2A); for starters, the Queen’s
statue seems to be made of clay, while the guardian angel isgold gilded, however there is a thematic similarity between
the two. If anyone thinks to ask about canopic jars, it’s nota major motif, but the funeral procession does include four
servants carrying four canopic jars (human, hawk, baboon,
and jackal design lids).
If the GM feels that the party handled this combat encounter too easily, an additional salamander can ambush theparty as they leave the temple. It was attracted by the noiseand climbed up on to the roof. It will pounce on the firstcharacter to walk out the door.

3G) Cursed Ground [Central Space]
The pyramid in the central space has multiple chambers,
holding different encounters, and is handled in detail in
Section 4.
Travelling across the central space, avoiding the pyramidtakes the standard 2 hours. Traveling to the pyramid orback takes 1 hour. Exploring the space in detail involves
entering the pyramid, but the time needed to explore thepyramid will depend on the group’s approach, and how far
they explore, so there is no “standard” time for exploring
the central space.
The evil influences from the pyramid temple have cursed
the area around it. Each time the party enters the central
space, they will have a random encounter of some kind.
Roll once on the table below.
Cursed Ground Encounters (1d6)
1Jackal Attack
2
Sand Collapse
3
Jackals Scavengers
4
Zombie Attack
5
Lost
6
Harmless Encounter
The GM can use this same encounter table to create a random encounter at any time in Starsmote Sandpit if he feels
the PCs are having too easy a time of it.

3G1) Jackal Attack
A pack of jackals decides to attack the party. The numberof jackals is equal to the number of characters in the party.
The jackals abandon stealth to make the final attack run
at highspeed. Have all of the characters make an unskilled
TN 12 awareness check. Provided at least one of the characters succeeds, the PCs’ party will get to go first in combat before the jackals can close to melee range and attack.
Otherwise the jackals will “appear out of nowhere” and get
to attack first.

JackalLevel 0defense: 14
hp: 6
pp: 2
Move: 14 m
Attributes: S 0; D +3; E +3; A +3; W −1; P 0
Resistances: RB +3; GY +3; OP −1: HR −1

TraitsPack Tactics [Free]: Any character who starts his turn within melee range of 2 or more hostile jackals must succeed
on an unskilled willpower reaction or suffer a −2 penalty
to defense until the start of his next turn. The TN for thisreaction is 10 plus the number of hostile jackals withinmelee range. This effect is automatic and doesn’t require
any action on the part of the jackals.

Attack Actions

Bite [Major or Interrupt] +1 melee 1d2 hp (normal damage)Special Actions

Pin Down [Interrupt]: As per the striker special action,using the same attack bonus as the bite attack.

3G2) Sand Collapse
A sand dune suddenly collapses just uphill/downhill or
right under one of the PCs (determined at random, thefirst character to walk over a weak spot isn’t necessarily theone who will trigger it.)
There are no signs on the surface of an underlying instability in the dune, but if the party is using a thumper staff (seeResearch Equipment in the Game Masters’ Manual), it ispossible to notice the change in sound as the staff bounces
with a successful TN 12 awareness-based physical sciences
check.
The target of the collapse must succeed on an unskilled TN
12 dexterity reaction or be buried up to the waist in sand. If
the character freezes and remains motionless, he won’t sinkany deeper. Climbing out requires a successful unskilled
TN 12 dexterity check, but an unsuccessful check result
causes the character to sink deeper. After 3 unsuccessfulchecks, the sand covers the character’s head. At this point
the character no longer has enough freedom of movement
to try to escape, and worse doesn’t have any air so begins
suffocating.
Another character can make an unskilled TN 12 strength
check to attempt to drag the sinking character out, but
before each strength check the rescuer must succeed on an
unskilled TN 12 dexterity reaction or begin sinking himself. Using a long pole such as a quarterstaff or spear adds a+1 bonus to the dexterity reaction but imposes −1 penalty
on the strength check. It is possible for additional characters to use the assist action on the strength check, grabbing
the puller’s ankles, belt, other hand, etc.; but the character
who actually makes the strength check must first succeed
on a dexterity reaction. Using a rope to lasso the sinking
character from a distance allows the strength check to be19

made without the need for a dexterity reaction. Lassoing
the sinking character will require a successful ranged attack
against a defense of 13.

Amphibious: Zombies don’t breathe, so they can continue
to act when submerged in water (or sand).

3G3) Jackal Scavengers

Claws [Major or Interrupt] +0 melee 1d2+1 hp (normal
damage)A pack of jackals decides to follow the party, hoping they
will drop dead or kill something. Have all of the charactersmake an unskilled awareness check. The character whorolls the highest is the first to notice the jackals. There
are1d3+3 jackals. They stay a couple hundred meters away,
well out of bow range, but watching the party. If the party
tries to confront the jackals, the scavengers will calmly,
almost playfully, trot away, never letting the party closeenough to attack, but staying within sight.
While the jackals are worrying, and will possibly cause theparty to waste time, they pose no actual threat. After anhour they will get bored and stop following the party. The
party may be able to scare the jackals off more quickly witha clever plan and TN 9 presence-based intimidation check.
With a fresh carrion, it could be possible to lure the jackals
into bow range.

3G4 )Zombie Attack
The zombies of adventurers who died in Starsmote Sandpit
rise up to attack the party. There is one zombie for every
character in the party. The zombies spring out of the sandright under the characters so get to act first.
On their first turn, one zombie will attack each character,or the mount of a character on horseback. Then each zombie will use its minor action to fully emerge from the sandin a space adjacent to the character it attacked.
The zombies fight until destroyed. Judging by their rotting
armor and rusted swords fused into the scabbards, thezombies were adventurers. But there is nothing salvageable
left in their gear.

ZombieLevel 0defense: 8
hp: 5
pp: 1
Move: 6 m
Attributes: S +1, D −1, E +1, A −1, W +1, P −1
Resistances: RB −1, GY +1, OP +1, HR +1

TraitsHardened normal damage

20

Attack Actions

3G5) Lost
Have all of the characters make an unskilled TN 15 awareness check (or make the check in secret). Regardless of
success or failure, describe a harmless encounter to theplayers (see Harmless Encounter 3G6). However what really just happened was a Bermuda Triangle effect where evenexperienced groups with landmarks can lose their way.
If at least one PC succeeded on the awareness check, theparty maintained their bearings and can continue travelingto their destination, either to the central pyramid or one ofthe other spaces.
If the awareness check was unsuccessful, the party has
wandered off course. They think they’ve reached theirdestination, but actually they are in one of the other spaces,
determined at randomly. (This is why the surrounding
spaces are conveniently labeled 1-6.) The GM should
continue describing the party’s progress as if they were on
course, but track their actual location in secret. The party
won’t realize they are lost until, either in exploring a space
they find a landmark they recognize, or they try to backtrack and don’t find landmarks. Even in these cases the GMshould try to maintain the delusion for as long as possible.
(“You reach the center of the crater where the pyramidshould be, but it has vanished without a trace.” “You findanother sphinx like the one you encountered earlier.”“Tired and bleeding you drag yourselves back to the trail
leading to Bittersprings, but you can’t find the trail up theside of the crater. It must have been obliterated by a rockslide or something.”) Climbing the rim to get an overview
of the crater will also let the party reorient, but carries its
own risks (see the beginning of Section 3 Starsmote Sandpit).

3G6) Harmless Encounter
Have all of the characters make an unskilled awarenesscheck. The character who rolls the highest notices something that poses no actual threat to the party. Possible
examples include: a flock of vultures circling overhead, asand rat, a heat mirage, or the skeletal remains of a horse.
The purpose of these harmless encounters is to provide asmokescreen for other unskilled awareness checks, so thatthe players never know if they failed a check, or if there
was simply nothing to notice.

4) Pyramid
The central pyramid temple/tomb of the Stargazers is theclimax of this adventure. But the door is open and theparty can visit it first if they like. Only the secret crypt of
the King-Priest (encounters 4H and 4I), is protected bya magic ward, requiring 4 canopic jars to open. That iswhere Ramses, his remaining homunculi, and the mummy of the King-Priest are plotting to turn the world into abarren desert. Presumably the party will need to visit otherparts of Starsmote Sandpit and collect the canopic jars (seeencounters 3B, 3C, 3E, 3F) in order to unlock the ward.
But a well-stocked party could conceivably adopt a siege
approach, waiting a couple of weeks for Ramses to run
low on food and open the ward from the inside to make asupply run.
The non-warded parts of the pyramid (encounters 4A-G)
have been thoroughly explored by other adventuring parties. Any Stargazer treasures have long since been raided,
but natural and magical dangers are still present. The
temptation of overcoming these dangers and unlocking thesecrets of the pyramid continues to lure adventuring parties to their doom. Now, the pyramid operates something
like a morbid slot machine. The dropped gear and pocketchange from doomed parties accumulates over time and it
is possible to find a “jackpot” consisting entirely of items
lost by previous adventurers.

4A) Pyramid Exterior
The pyramid is the tallest structure in the crater, madeto look even taller because it is built on a central uplift ofmarble, raising it out of the sand dunes.
The sides of the pyramid are slanted and presumably wereoriginally smooth, but now the mortar is chipping away
and there are abundant hand and foot holds for climbing.
The top of the pyramid can be reached with a successful
TN 11 strength-based athletics check. On an unsuccessfulcheck, the character tumbles back to the ground taking
1d3 hp of damage. The pyramid looks pointed from theground, but actually the very tip is missing, leaving a flat
platform, conveniently 2 m x 2 m. Scratched into the top of
this block are the words “PYRAMID CLIMBERS,” with alist of 100 or so names etched beneath them. Any character
who reaches the top is free to add his name to the list.
The interior of the pyramid is accessible via an open
corridor, 4 m wide and 4 m high. The entrance is flanked
by larger-than-life limestone statues of two slightly different King-Priests. Both have their arms crossed over theirchests. One carries a khopesh short sword and a scourge
whip in his hands. The other carries a scroll tube andsomething that could be either a royal scepter or a magical
wand.
Characters who search around the entrance of the pyramid
will find a marble base almost completely lost in the gravel.
It looks as though a large square object has been removed.
This is where the obelisk now on display at the College of
Recovery in Bittersprings (see encounter B2) once stood.
The interior of the pyramid is completely dark. The tunnel
to the central chamber is 50 m long, but proceeding morethan about 6 m down the corridor will require a lightsource. Any party foolish enough to go in blindly deserves
what happens to them.

4B) Central Chamber
The passageway into the pyramid leads to the central
chamber. The central chamber is spacious, 10 m x 10 mwith a 3 m high ceiling. In addition to the corridor connecting to outside, there are open doorways in the centerof each of the other walls. These lead to the encounters
Trapped Hall (4C), Queen’s Chamber (4E), and Fallen Adventurers (4F). In addition there is a staircase (4H) leading
to the secret crypt (4I) concealed in the same wall as thepassageway to the outside.
The central chamber is littered with detritus. If anyone
investigates the garbage, they will discover it is a disgusting
mix of small bones, rotting leather equipment and rope,rusted swords, and rat dropping. Semi-clean patches ofthe floor reveal glimpses of an elaborate plaster fresco of amap showing what Starsmote Crater must have been like inits prime. The map is like a modern-day tourist map, withlarge pictures of buildings or notable activities like hunting
or harvesting that are located only approximately. The map
is far too old and inaccurate to be used for navigation. But
a party that has explored Starsmote Sandpit can recognize
the places where they’ve been. The sphinx (3E) and fire pit(3F) are easily recognizable. The ruins where there is now
an archeological dig (3C), probably correspond to a tax/
administration building. Where the frozen well should be(3B), there is a space where the original fresco has beenscratched down and patched. The new plaster is painted
with a couple of unremarkable sand dunes like the rest of
the background. Characters who have heard but not solved
the sphinx’s riddle (see encounter 3E) can search the map
for obelisks. Only one is shown, standing near the entrance
to the pyramid.
Red circles at the edges of the map mark the four cardinal
directions. The East and West circles hold indistinguishable
rising and setting suns. South is marked by the full disk of
the Sun. North is marked by seven dots which should be21

recognizable as Ursa Minor, the constellation hosting theNorth Star (see the Starsmote Sandpit map pack for the dot
pattern). The GM can call for a TN 9 awareness-based natural sciences check to recognize Ursa Minor if needed. The
size of the red circles is a little bit larger than a canopic jar.
Overall, the map of Starsmote Sandpit is non-magical, but
a magical aura can be detected coming from the red circles
with a successful TN 12 perception-based arcana check. If
the roll is greater than 14, the circles can be identified as
magical switches, somehow linked to the wall fresco (seebelow).
The wall with the passage leading to the outside is decorated with a fresco showing a mummified King-Priest presiding over a supernatural court of angels and demons. The
King-Priest sits, flanked by four servants holding large jars,
on a raised platform at the top of a flight of stairs. One servant is fully human. The others have animal heads set on
human bodies; the heads are those of a jackal, a baboon,
and a falcon. A column of Stargazer text runs down the sideof the illustration. A recent explorer has added a graffiti-like ink brush translation, “When the four guardians of
the dead hold their sacred cargos at the four points of thecompass, the door to Heaven will open.” The entire frescois magical and can be identified as such with a successful
TN 11 awareness-based arcana check.
The fresco is a magical security lock concealing the stairs(encounter 4H) to the secret crypt (encounter 4I).
The magical lock can be opened by placing four canopic
jars on the four red circles on the floor fresco. Placing
even one jar on a red circle will cause that circle to lightup. The jars don’t have to contain the organs of the same
individual. In fact, the four jars provided in this adventure(see encounters 3B, 3C, 3E, 3F) obviously come from two
different sets, one of carved limestone and one made frompottery, just to worry the players. If the PCs have opened
and spilled the contents of the jars, all they really need isthe actual jars. If the PCs have broken one or more of thejars, a jar which has been glued back together will stillwork. The only requirement for the magical ward is thatjars representing all four guardians (human, jackal, baboon, and falcon) are used.
Which jar is set at which compass point doesn’t matter, unless you want to include more real-world knowledge in thegame and give the players an extra challenge when solving
this puzzle-lock. In that case you can require that the correct jars are set on the compass points related to the foursons of Horus: South human, East jackal, North baboon,
West falcon. See the canopic jar entry in the Reference
Notes at the end of this adventure for more details.

22

As a modern practitioner of the Stargazer religion, Ramses
understood the cultural references and was able to acquire
a complete set of canopic jars from other members of thecult. In this way he became the first person in centuries topenetrate the secret crypt. He took the canopic jars withhim when he entered and then closed the warded portal
behind him to prevent others from following him. He
didn’t count on the PCs finding other canopic jars in Starsmote Sandpit.
This central chamber has no permanent residents, butsometimes random inhabitants wander in. The GM could
have a semi-planned encounter with other adventurers
occur in the central chamber. If the party has not yet encountered Celest (see encounter 3A), you might want themto meet her here to give the party the background behind
the Dressed to Kill (4G) encounter before they go to thatroom. Other “random” adventurers could have information
to help the PCs with riddles they couldn’t solve or serve
to introduce new PCs as replacements for ones who havedied.
Dangerous monsters also wander in and out of the central
chamber. The first time the party enters the central chamber, there is no chance for a random encounter. But eachtime the party leaves and returns, there is a chance they
will encounter a combative monster. Roll once on the tablebelow to determine if the party finds danger in the central
chamber. Forgo this roll if there is a semi-planned encounter of your own you would like to run instead.
Central Chamber Encounters
1-3
No encounter4
1 poisonous snake
5
2 jackals
6
1 zombie

Snake, Poisonous
Level 1
defense: 15
hp: 4
pp: 2
Move: 6 m
Attributes: S −4; D +3; E −3; A +1; W 0; P 0
Resistances: RB +4; GY +2; OP +1; HR +1

TraitsSkill: Athletics, Stealth +1

Attack Actions

Bite [Major or Interrupt] +3 melee 1d6 hp (green energy)

JackalLevel 0defense: 14
hp: 6
pp: 2
Move: 14 m
Attributes: S 0; D +3; E +3; A +3; W −1; P 0
Resistances: RB +3; GY +3; OP −1: HR −1

TraitsPack Tactics [Free]: Any character who starts his turn within melee range of 2 or more hostile jackals must succeed
on an unskilled willpower reaction or suffer a −2 penalty
to defense until the start of his next turn. The TN for thisreaction is 10 plus the number of hostile jackals withinmelee range. This effect is automatic and doesn’t require
any action on the part of the jackals.

Attack Actions

Bite [Major or Interrupt] +1 melee 1d2 hp (normal damage)Special Actions

Pin Down [Interrupt]: As per the striker special action,using the same attack bonus as the bite attack.

ZombieLevel 0defense: 8
hp: 5
pp: 1
Move: 6 m
Attributes: S +1, D −1, E +1, A −1, W +1, P −1
Resistances: RB −1, GY +1, OP +1, HR +1

TraitsHardened normal damage
Amphibious: Zombies don’t breathe, so they can continue
to act when submerged in water (or sand).

Attack Actions

Claws [Major or Interrupt] +0 melee 1d2+1 hp (normal
damage)4C) Trapped Hall
The narrow passageway from the central chamber opens
onto a wide hallway which is a room in its own right, 6 m
wide and 20 m long. At the far end, an open doorway leads
to the inner sanctum (encounter 4D). The walls of this hall

are painted with scenes of battle. A Stargazer army lead bya King-Priest is engaged with an army of oni. The leaderof the oni army seems to be a giant being clubbed to deathby the King-Priest himself at the far end of the hallway.
However a closer inspection of the scenes show that theoni and giant have been repainted. The original fresco wasabraded down and new layers of plaster and paint wereused to patch the holes. It is impossible to tell who/what
was originally depicted as the enemies.
About halfway down the corridor on the righthand side,
two stargazer magicians (man and woman) hold a scrollof arcane writing unfurled between them, as if showing
it to the viewer. The written passage gives a formula thatwill cause objects of extraterrestrial origin to vibrate softly,
giving off a faint ringing sound. This is part of the secret of
how the Stargazers could identify meteorites. A character
who can successfully interpret the arcane writings (TN 12
willpower-based arcana) can use the arcane skill in place ofphysical sciences for the purposes of identifying meteorites
or other objects from space. But actually, this inscription isthe bait for a trap.
The 2 m x 2 m space in front of the portion of the fresco
showing the magicians and the scroll is a pit trap. A pivot
axis is hidden under the floor and the stone lid of the pit
is balanced to tip down as soon as 10 kg of mass or moreis placed on it. Anyone walking down the right side of
the corridor, or moving to get a closer look at the magicalscroll in the fresco will step on the pit trap and need tosucceed on an unskilled TN 12 dexterity reaction or fall
into the pit. A character who falls into the pit takes 1d3 hp
of damage. Just as dangerous as the falling damage is thefact that after the weight has been dumped into the pit, thecounterweight will drive the lid back up, closing the pit
and trapping anyone inside.
The lid of the pit is well disguised, even after centuries ofsnagging intruders. It requires a successful TN 15 awareness-based engineering check to notice the slight gap
around the stone lid or a successful TN 15 awareness-based
domestic sciences check to notice the scratch marks on
the lid and surrounding stones made by previous victims
trying to catch themselves.
A character in the pit with the lid closed will be in total
darkness unless he has his own source of light. He might
be better off not being able to see, because the pit is litteredwith rat gnawed bones. The floor of the pit is 5 m downfrom the lid. Even if the character can climb up the walls(TN 15 strength-based athletics check), there is no handhold on the lid and no way to pull it open form the inside.
The character is doomed to a slow death from dehydration/starvation unless allies above can open the lid for him.

23

Getting a character out of the pit is intended to be a teamwork/problem-solving encounter, so allow any reasonable
plan to keep the lid open to succeed. The simplest would
be to use a spear or other long pole to press the lid open.
Another option would be to tie a rope to 10 kg of gear, andthen hold the weight at the right height to keep pressure
on the lid without letting it fall all the way in. Using one of
the leg bones in the pit to jam the lid open might work, but
it would first require opening the pit from the outside andthen getting the bone up to the top of the pit.

anyone asks, the statue is recognizable as the one painted
on the ceiling of the fire temple (see encounter 3F).

Searching the bones at the bottom of the pit will turn up 10
c 7 p in money, and a grappling hook (2 kg) which is still
usable (the rope has been eaten by the rats).

If the party has waited long enough to hear this full description, the Queen will get to attack first. On her firstturn she will use her energy shot attack on the nearest
character. Immediately following that, feathered wings willgrow out of her shoulder blades, and she will fly up andstart circling around the ceiling. The ceiling is 10 m high,placing the Queen right at the edge of the range of thrownweapons and torchlight. Her strategy is to attack with herenergy shot and then maneuver to place the central pillars
between herself and the party.

4D) Inner Sanctum
At the end of the trapped hall is a vandalized inner sanctum (6 m x 6 m) which now holds nothing of interest.
There was a larger-than-life stone statue of the warrior
King-Priest depicted in the trapped hall fresco, but the statue has been broken off at the ankles and lies on the groundbeside the pedestal with the feet. His raised right hand waslong ago hacked off at the wrist and carried away as a souvenir. A search of the room will turn up nothing else.

4E) Queen’s ChamberThis 16 m x 16 m chamber is home to an animated clay
statue of the final Queen. The Queen’s statue gets smashedto bits by adventurers fairly often, but magically reforms
over the course of several days. How much of the Queen’s
mind and soul still remain are open questions. The statue
will attack anyone who enters the chamber. This could be
the programmed reaction of an automaton or a devoted
wife’s conviction to destroy anyone who might disturb her
husband’s rest.
When the party first enters this chamber, read or paraphrase the following.
A pair of great stone pillars stand in the center of thisroom, their tops disappearing into the darkness of the highceiling. Similar pillars, possibly ornamental, line the walls.
The only furnishing in the room is a low table or benchnear the central pillars. A young Stargazer woman is sitting
on the bench. On a closer inspection you can see that she
is a statue, not blinking, not breathing. Then she turns herhead towards you and the painted eyes seem to focus onyou.
Pause for a moment. Unless the PCs declare that they areattacking, continue with the following boxed texted. If

24

The stargazer woman opens her mouth. It is very lifelike,the lips part naturally, there are no signs of seams or joints.
The movements are as natural as living flesh, but the insideof the mouth is a basin of fired clay. The jaw continues todrop, opening the mouth uncomfortably, unnaturally wide.
A point of light forming inside that gaping maw is the only
warning you get before a beam of orange light blasts out.

After she has expended all of her pp, she will move to engage in melee. She attacks whichever member of the party
looks the least ready to engage in melee. One turn she will
use her minor action to fly down and land right next to
the target, then use her major action to attack. On the next
turn she will use her major action to attack, and then use
her minor action to fly back up to the ceiling. Even accepting the possibility of an interrupt action attack when she
leaves melee, this strategy still enables her to engage anddisengage on her own terms, minimizing the party’s chances to strike back.
When defeated, the Queen shatters with a satisfying sharp“clink” and an explosion of pottery shards.

Queen’s Statue (Gargoyle)
Level 1
defense: 15
hp: 15
pp: 3
Move: 10 m walk, 20 m fly
Attributes: S +2, D −2, E +2, A +2, W +0, P +0
Resistances: RB −1, GY +3, OP +1, HR +1

TraitsSkills: Deception +1, Athletics +1
Hardened Orange
Vulnerable Purple

Flight: At the GM’s discretion, the Queen can fly over obstacles on the ground.

Attack Actions

Holy Touch [Major or Interrupt] +3 melee 1d3+2 hp (orange energy)Special Actions

Energy Shot [Major] (att= +3, cost 1 pp, orange energy):
As per the energer special action, but without requiring anenergy mote, spoken incantations or hand motions. 1d6orange energy.
Once the Queen has been defeated, the party can search
the room. The party will find nothing of interest unlesssomeone says they are looking up or examining the pillars.
Anyone who thinks to check will see that one of the pillars
along the wall is a little shorter than the ceiling, leaving agap. This gap creates a small shelf where the Queen keeps
souvenirs from fallen adventurers. Climbing up to the shelfrequires a successful TN 11 strength-based athletics check.
Once someone has climbed up, he will find:- Angelic dagger (0.5 kg)- Jewel inlaid greatsword (7 kg)- Metal amulet (negligible mass)
The angelic dagger is gold gilded and the guard is craftedin an angel wing motif; pretty, but it functions as a normal
dagger. Likewise, the greatsword with rubies inlaid in thepommel is a normal greatsword in terms of game mechanics. Sandcastle doesn’t contain rules for selling treasure, so
in terms of monetary value, the most valuable item is themetal amulet which could be traded for its weight in coins(6 c 6 p). It is simple in design, featuring a jackal head on
the front with a blank back. It has a braided leather strap
which is showing its age, and will snap if given a quickyank.
If the party revisits the Queen’s chamber after destroying
the Queen, roll 1d6. Make this check at most once a day,even if the party comes in and out during that day. If theresult is greater than or equal to the number of days since
the Queen was destroyed, the chamber is still empty. If theresult is less than the number of days since the Queen wasdestroyed, then she has reanimated and is sitting in exactly
the same place in exactly the same position as before, andwill react to the party in exactly the same way, like a repeating video loop. Permanently destroying the Queen will
require a plot device of the GM’s invention.

4F) Fallen Adventurers
The corridor leading from the central chamber (4B) is 2 mwide and bends once at a 90 degree angle just before theroom where the Dressed to Kill encounter occurs (4G).
Near this corner Luna (see encounter 4G) has dumped
the bodies of her adventuring companions. As the party
approaches the corner read or paraphrase the following.
Before you can see them, you know by smell what toexpect, corpses dead just long enough to be at their mostodiferous. It looks like three fallen adventurers in this case.
At least they seem to be really dead and not zombies. The
trio of bodies lies just before a bend in the corridor. Theirarms are stretched over their heads and there is a slight
curve to how they lay, as if they were drug around thecorner. A faint green glow from up ahead spills around that
corner from some unseen light source.
These bodies were the adventuring companions of Luna(see encounter 4G) and Celest (see encounter 3A). After
Luna unintentionally killed them with her new poison
aura, she dragged the bodies here, just out of her sight. The
bodies haven’t been looted yet. They have the standard
starting equipment listed in the Core Rules with the following additions:- Scale mail armor (1 suit, 20 kg)- Chainmail armor (1 suit, 25 kg)- Money (20 c 2 p)
The metal armor is starting to rust from being left two
weeks on a rotting corpse, but can be salvaged if it iswashed and polished. Even before being washed, it can beworn effectively as armor, but the smell is horrible. The
money is divided between the belt pouches on the threecorpses (5 c, 8 c, 7 c 2 p).

4G) Dressed to Kill
This 6 m wide x 10 m long chamber used to be empty, but
Ramses left a cursed necklace here as a trap. And a young
adventuress named Luna fell for the trap.
When the party turns the corner, read or paraphrase thefollowing.
The corridor empties into a room lit with green light wherean abomination sits on a low stone couch against the far
wall. The basic shape is humanoid. Scaly, clawed hands
hold its legs folded to its chest. Unblinking reticulated
pupils stare blankly at the ground. It has the trappings ofan adventurer, from the elven chainmail armor, to the intricately carved quarterstaff within easy reach. It has a mass25

of snakes for hair, writhing and hissing absently at nothingin particular. Perhaps the most unnerving thing is that
despite the deep shadow under the couch, the monster castno shadow, as if it itself is the source of the sickening green
glow filling the room.
The monster is actually Luna, a transformed adventuress.
Luna is surrounded by a poisonous green energy aura.
Anyone who approaches within 8 m of her will be subject
to the effects of the aura (see Luna’s description below). She
will notice the party normally unless they try to sneak up(in which case it becomes a dexterity vs. awareness contested stealth check). Her first actions will be to snatch up herquarterstaff and take a fighting stance, then shout in a
reptilian lisp, “Don’t come any clossser. I can’t undo thelock.”
Luna was part of an adventuring team with her older sister
Celest (see encounter 3A). For Luna, the best perk ofadventuring is finding beautiful items to use or wear. She
feels that precious metals, gemstones, and exotic craftsmanship from lost cultures are the marks of true adventurers, even if the items aren’t any more effective that unadorned standard items. Exploring Starsmote Crater was ahot, boring, disappointment to her, turning up nothing but
old, dirty, broken relics until in this room she found asilver necklace worked in an intricate pattern of intertwined snakes and set with turquoise stones. In her excitement she didn’t stop to wonder why it was so different fromeverything else in Starsmote Sandpit, and immediately
fastened it around her own neck.
The necklace had originally been created by a coven of
poison witches. To protect their high priestesses, thewitches created magical necklaces which infuse the wearer
with green energy. This gives her a poisonous aura whichkills any who try to approach her. The energy infusion alsotransforms the priestesses into a gorgon-like scaly, reptilian
creature with snakes for hair. The poison aura requires thata priestess lives in solitude, concentrating on her never-ending religious rites and living on offerings left bydevotees. Not every priestess has the mental fortitude toendure a life of unbroken religious devotion, so the necklaces include a lock and key which can be used to remove
the necklace. But the poison witches had some bad experiences where a supposedly pure priestess would remove thenecklace temporarily to go carousing. So now the necklaces
are made to lose their enchantment if removed even once.
Ramses recognized that the necklaces could also be used tocreate poisonous shock troops who would literally haveenemies fall before them. So he stole one of the necklacesfrom the poison witches. He had included the necklace in
his offerings to the mummified King-Priest before he26

realized the King-Priest was obsessed with using yellow
energy to transform the world. The King-Priest rejected thegreen (yellow’s opposite) energy producing necklace, so
Ramses placed it in an empty room in the pyramid, rightly
figuring that without the key or any instructions thenecklace would cause more harm than good. One ofRamses’s homunculi later wandered off with the key whensent out on patrol (see encounter 3D).
Luna has never heard of the poison witches and would
never have willing given up her good looks if she had
known the true nature of the necklace. But unfortunately
all she knew was that the necklace was pretty. She also
didn’t notice that the clasp was really a lock, and at first
didn’t think anything of the slightly louder than expected
metallic “click” when she fastened it around her neck. In
the time it took her to strike a pose and ask, “How do I
look?” the pains of transformation began to wrack her
body. She started screaming, “Get it off! Get it off!” Hersmooth, pale skin turned green and scaly; her eyeschanged to reticulated pupils; and her long, beautiful locksof flaxen hair coiled into hissing snakes.
Her adventuring companions rushed to try to take thenecklace off of her, but they succumbed to her poisonous
aura or snake hair. Only her sister Celest, who had thegood sense to flee, survived.
Luna has sat alone in this chamber feeling sorry for herself
for the last two weeks, possibly longer, depending on how
long it takes the PCs to find her. She’s gone no farther thanthe central chamber of the pyramid, and only to dump her
rubbish in with the rest of the garbage on the floor of thatchamber. With lots of time to think, Luna has rehearsed
over and over in her mind what to do if she is discovered.
But when the PCs appear, in her fear she starts to panicand becomes confused about what she’s already said. She
might say, “I didn’t know when I put it on.” or “If you comeany closer, you’ll get hurt.” when trying to explain that she
has a poisonous aura. If the PCs state things they’ve alreadylearned about Luna’s plight, such as from her sister Celest,
Luna will suddenly remember that she hasn’t explained
those parts yet and will repeat the same information backto the party. But provided they can keep Luna talking,eventually the party should be able to piece the story
together. It would probably be best to stand back and shout
to avoid the green energy aura.
From the hand mirror in one of her grooming sets Lunahas learned of her hideous appearance and through touch
has worked out that the tight-fitting silver necklace has alock on the back. She has found the supplies Celest leaves
her, so is huddling in this room, hoping that no wandering
adventurers mistake her for a monster. In her own mind,

she doesn’t want to kill anyone more than she already has.
But in truth she is much more scared for her own life andwill go on the offensive if she ever feels threatened.

behind the party and start firing arrows to make theencounter more challenging (see encounter 3A for Celest’s
combat statistics).

She has figured out through accidental trial and error thatthe necklace gives her the ability to launch a beam ofdeadly green energy from her eyes (poison glance), and has
worked out how to control it. She will use poison glance
when she needs to make a ranged attack, but as a striker,
she prefers to move into melee and strike enemies withgraceful, ostentatious, almost dance-like blows with her
staff.

When the lock on the necklace is opened, there is a loud“click” and the green light aura winks out. The snakes on
Luna’s head unravel like knitted socks coming undone andturn back into beautiful blonde hair. The scales drop fromher skin and her unblinking eyes start to blink rapidly andshe squints as if suddenly coming into bright light as her
reticulated pupils return to a round shape. If not under
immediate physical assault, Luna will take time to checkher appearance in a hand mirror. She turns her head backand forth, and holds the mirror high and low as if lost in
the rapture of her own beauty. Then she breaks down into
hysterical tears. If Celest is present the two sisters will
clutch each other and cry together.

This is intended to be a role playing encounter. The goal is
to convince Luna to trust the party. Charm or deception
checks would be appropriate. The presence of her sister
Celest would add a +2 bonus to any of these checks. Any
attempts at intimidation will send Luna into an almost
berserker frenzy, figuring she won’t be safe until all the PCs
are dead.
Removing the necklace requires access to the lock, so theparty will need to convince Luna to trust them enough to
let someone behind her back. With the proper key (foundin the loot carried by the homunculi in encounter 3D) thelock can be opened automatically with a single major
action. Without the key, the lock can still be picked withany thin tool and a successful TN 14 dexterity-basedengineering check. Since it is a magical lock, touching it
and making a successful TN 14 presence-based arcana
check will also open it. Unfortunately getting close enoughto use the key or pick the lock (physically or magically) will
require entering her poisonous aura and in addition Lunadoesn’t have conscious control over her snake hair, so it
will use an interrupt action to attack anyone who moves
into melee range.
Alternatively, the party can toss her the key and try toconvince Luna to try to unlock herself. Having gotten into
so much trouble already by not thinking, she will hesitate
to try the key unless the party can promise that it will work
(which they can’t do without lying); but eventually Luna
will choose the glimmer of hope offered by the key. She
could clumsily use the key, but can’t get the right angle topick the lock herself, and the necklace is affixed tightly
enough that she can’t rotate the lock to the front.
Trying to sneak up on her and undo the lock is also an
option, but Luna will attack if she notices the sneaker.
Beating Luna unconscious (0 hp) and then removing thenecklace is also an option. Beating her unconscious has thebenefit that it will also subdue her snake hair, but it won’t
stop the poisonous aura. If this turns into a combat encounter, the GM should have Celest suddenly appear

Aside from the now non-magical silver and turquoise
necklace, the only other thing of note in the room is thedisturbing number of dead snakes rotting in the corners of
the room; as if they were attracted to the poisonous aura
only to fall victim to it. The necklace has no monetary
value, except maybe to a collector. But trying to fence itwill almost certainly attract the attention of the poison
witches from whom it was stolen.
If the party asks her to, Luna, and Celest if present, willtravel with them and assist in combat encounters, but bothof the sisters are too unnerved to be much help with riddle
or role playing encounters for a while.

Luna, Human Striker
Level 1
defense: 14
hp: 6
pp: 2
Move: 10 m walk
Attributes: S +2, D +1, E −1, A −1, W −1, P +0
Resistances: RB +2, GY +0, OP +0, HR +0

TraitsSkills: Domestic Sciences, Entertainment, Social Sciences+1
Independent Action: The snake hair acts independently
from Luna with 1 major action and 1 interrupt action of its
own.
Poisonous Aura: As long as the necklace is active, all creatures within 8 m of Luna at the start of her turn are subject
to her poisonous aura. The aura deals 1 hp of automatic
damage and 1d2 hp of primary damage (green energy).

27

The primary damage can be avoided with a successful TN
12 GY reaction. The poisonous aura also sheds light equivalent to a torch (8 m radius).

Attack Actions

Quarterstaff [Major or Interrupt] +3 melee 1d6+2 hp (normal damage)
Snake Hair [Major or Interrupt] +3 melee 1d3 hp (green
energy)Special ActionsFirst Strike [Interrupt]: The snake hair can use an interrupt
action to attack any creature who moves into melee range.
Poison Glance [Major] (att= +0; cost 1 pp; 1d6 hp; green
energy): This ability is equivalent to the energer energy
shot ability, except that it doesn’t require an energy mote.
Standard striker abilities (refer to the Core Rules for fulldescriptions)
Backswing [Minor]
Counter Strike [Interrupt]
Hit Hard [Major] (cost 1 pp)
Pin Down [Interrupt]
Vengeance Strike [Interrupt] (cost 1 pp)
Luna can only use her striker abilities with her quarterstaff,
not with her snake hair.

Notable Equipment

Ornate quarterstaff (pretty, but functions as a standard
quarterstaff)
Elven chainmail armor
Three grooming sets (one for her hair, one for her face, andone with expensive cosmetics for special occasions)money (2 c 4 p)
Four days worth of rations
Seven water skins (four full, three empty).

4H) Stairway to Heaven (or Hell)
When four canopic jars are placed on the four red circles
on the floor of the central chamber (see encounter 4B),
read or paraphrase the following.
The fresco on the wall depicting a King-Priest in the afterlife becomes pale and indistinct as the wall itself turns into
a cloud of smoke. The smoke rolls into the room along theceiling carrying a smell of incense that masks the stenchof the room. Where there had been a solid stone wall amoment ago, now a 4-m wide case of stairs leads down into
darkness.

28

After descending for about 10 meters, the limestone blockstaircase changes to a sloping tunnel hewn out of theunderlying granite bedrock, very possibly predating the
pyramid. This tunnel meanders for 200 m, descending andlooping back under itself, leading to the secret crypt almost
directly under the central chamber of the pyramid.
The tunnel is dark and quiet, but approaching the secret
crypt, light and the sounds of activity become apparent.

4I) Secret CryptEntering the secret crypt is intended to be the climax of theadventures in Starsmote Sandpit. Although the charactershave no way of knowing it, the missions from Father Sven(encounter 2A), Gyunghui Kim (encounter 2B), and Natashia (encounter 2C) are all tied to this encounter.
The secret crypt is a 14-m x 14-m room holding the mummy of the final King-Priest and the yellow energy generator
responsible for the desertification in Starsmote Crater.
Ramses and his squad of homunculi have come to join theKing-Priest. And at Ramses’s initiative, the yellow energy
generator has been upgraded so that the desert is now
spreading beyond Starsmote Crater.
As the party approaches, read or paraphrase the following.
The tunnel ends in a carefully carved chamber elaborately
furnished with low couches and colorful wall hangings.
In the center of the room stands a model pyramid a meter
tall, covered with arcane runes. The top of the pyramid has
been removed and set to the side. In its place, a brown rockwith irregular white inclusions now crowns the pyramid.
The entire structure glows with yellow light so intensethat just looking at it makes you feel sweety and thirsty.
The upward lighting gives the room a hellish quality. A
figure wrapped entirely in strips of white cloth sits on astone throne. Even without facial expressions, his postureshows that he is irritated. To one side of the room, a young
human man with several days of stubble, dressed in whiteknee-length robes and a nemyss headdress, crouches on
the ground, busying himself by sorting supplies. On theother side of the room, two ugly little humanoids amuse
themselves by leap-frogging over one another.
Unless the PCs manage to sneak in or charge in shouting
battle cries, the mummified King-Priest will be the first in
the room to notice them. He straightens on this throne andin a booming voice asks, “Who dares to violate my inner
sanctum?” Upon hearing that, Ramses and the homunculi
stop and look up, then prepare for battle but do not attack.

Ramses has been with the King-Priest non-stop for amonth or more now, and they are both sick of the other’scompany. Both think of himself as the leader of this endeavor, and their egos are grating on each other. Ramses’s
homunculi are fairly stupid, but just smart enough to besnide, making them even worse conversation partners.
When the PCs appear, Ramses and the King-Priest will be
suspicious and hostile, but so thankful for anyone different
to talk to that they will parlay with the party first, rather
than rushing to dispatch them.

Ramses, Human HarrierWith quicker reflexes than the mummy, Ramses will soon
butt into any conversation between the PCs and the KingPriest. Ramses is cocky and will tell the PCs as much as
they want to know about the plan. He’s already made up
his mind to kill the PCs as soon as he tires of the conversation, so it doesn’t matter how much they know.

TraitsRamses is whole-heartedly dedicated to the plan to use
the yellow energy generator in this room to turn the entire
world into a desert. He doesn’t realize just how subtle theeffects have been so far and how much time it will take, but
he is resigned to the fact that it will take time. He doesn’t
fully understand the workings of the yellow energy generator himself and will try to dodge any questions about it,
insisting that the moon meteorite he acquired and placed
on top is the key to the plan.

Special Actions

The King-Priest had already achieved his goal of creating adesert in Starsmote Crater, and was content until Ramses
arrived. Ramses’s idea of supercharging the yellow energy
generator with a moon meteorite intrigued him, and heagreed to the plan. But he is not fully committed to it. He
would be willing to listen to arguments that the time is not
right to end the world, or that Ramses’s plan will attract
unwanted attention that could jeopardize the desert paradise the King-Priest worked so hard to build. If the PCs are
openly displaying any of the three meteorite artifacts foundin this adventure (the scepter from encounter 3C, amulet
from encounter 3E, and tiara from encounter 3F), add a +1
bonus for each one to all presence checks to influence theattitude of the King-Priest.

Notable Equipment

If given a promise to leave his inner sanctum in the state
it was before Ramses arrived, the King-Priest will abstain
from combat when Ramses attacks the party. If the PCs doa really good job of playing Ramses and the King-Priest
off against each other, the mummy may even side with thePCs during the fight. Otherwise, the King-Priest will fightalongside Ramses as a fellow Stargazer when push comes toshove.

Level 1
defense: 15 (13 without shield)
hp: 7
pp: 2
Move: 10 m walk
Attributes: S −1, D +2, E +1, A −2, W −1, P +1
Resistances: RB +3, GY +2, OP +0, HR +0
Skills: Arcana, Social Sciences, Stealth +1

Attack Actions

Bronze Khopesh (truestrike rank 1 short sword)[Major orInterrupt] +1 melee 1d6 hp (normal damage)Standard harrier abilities (refer to the Core Rules for fulldescriptions)
2 interrupt actions per turnCut and Run [Interrupt]
Dogged Pursuit [Interrupt]
Energy Shunt [Reaction] (cost 1 pp)
Fleet Footed [Interrupt]
Follow-up Strike [Interrupt]
Bronze khopesh (truestrike rank 1 short sword)
Livelong shield rank 1

King-Priest Mummy,
Yellow Chromatic Hexer AnimatronLevel 1
defense: 12
hp: 5
pp: 2
Move: 6 m walk
Attributes: S +1, D −2, E +0, A −2, W +0, P +2
Resistances: RB +0, GY +1, OP +1, HR +1

TraitsSkills: Arcana, Physical Sciences, Social Sciences +1
Hardened Normal Damage, Yellow
Vulnerable Green

Attack Actions

Fists [Major or Interrupt] +1 melee 1d3 +1 hp (yellow
energy)29

Special Actions

Standard hexer abilities (refer to the Core Rules for fulldescriptions)
Counter Hex [Interrupt]
Hexes [Minor] (TN 13 HR)
Attack Hex
Defense Hex
Move Hex
Power Drain [Major] (cost 1 pp)

Homunculus
Level 0defense: 13
hp: 3
pp: 3
Move: 8 m
Attributes: S −3; D +2; E −2; A +1; W 0; P 0
Resistances: RB +1; GY +1; OP +1: HR −1

TraitsHardened Purple
Vulnerable Orange

Attack Actions

Claw [Major or Interrupt] −1 melee 1 hp (normal damage)Special Actions
Energy Spark [Major] (att= +1; cost 1 pp; purple energy):
A homunculus can shoot a spark of energy up to 8 m. A
target struck by this spark takes 1d2 hp of purple energy
damage.
Energy Surge [Major] (cost 1 pp; purple energy): All creatures within melee range of the homunculus must make a
TN 11 OP reaction or take 1 hp of primary damage (purple
energy). There are 0 hp of automatic damage.
Energy Armor (cost 1 pp; purple energy): This ability
functions the same way as the energy shield energer special action but doesn’t require a mote and only provides
2 points of protection. This energy armor lasts for 10
minutes or until the homunculus is reduced to 0 hp. The
homunculus can choose to lower the shield earlier. The
shield is hardened against purple energy and vulnerable toorange energy.
Ramses was raised in the secret traditions of the Stargazer
cult. He is one of the more zealous and ambitious members. But there is little room for ambition in an organization that values hiding its own existence. Unable to gethumans to follow him, for a time Ramses busied himself
creating homunculi flunkies, until their number started to30

attract unwanted attention and a reprimand from the cultelders. Chafing under the rules of the organization thatprevent him from trying to gain power, Ramses left his sect
to make a pilgrimage to Starsmote Crater.
In the central chamber of the pyramid, he recognized
the cultural references in the fresco and figured out how
to open the magical lock. He left Starsmote Sandpit,
and “borrowed” the canopic jars from another Stargazer
sanctuary. He has taken the tricks he learned for covertly practicing his religion and applied them to larceny. In
particular he collects low power magical items, or quirky
non-magical items which seem of limited value so are lightly guarded, but may prove useful.
When Ramses reached the secret crypt, the mummy of the
final King-Priest awoke, and Ramses immediately began
worshiping him. The power of the King-Priest and themagical generator both impressed Ramses and whetted
his appetite for more power. The yellow generator offered
him a way to increase the power of the Stargazers without
breaking the code of secrecy. Ramses was the one who
figured out a way to increase the power of the generator
with the addition of a moon meteorite. He set out on acrime spree to acquire the meteorite and other gifts for theKing-Priest. Growing in confidence, he has even adopted
the mode of dress of ancient Stargazers.
Ramses returned to the pyramid and put his plan inmotion about 1 month before the start of the adventure.
Since then, closed up in the crypt with nothing else tothink about, he has become increasingly obsessed with theidea. And he is starting to think of the reluctance of theKing-Priest more and more as holding him back, like thesecretive and cautious nature of the modern Stargazer cultleaders.
When combat breaks out, Ramses will attempt to rush
to the back of the party and attack whoever seems least
ready to engage in melee; the two homunculi will fall backto provide ranged attack support, and the mummy (if heis participating) will take the frontline, going toe-to-toe
with whoever will rise to the challenge. The first attack themummy makes against a new target will be an attempt touse his power drain hexer ability. Once engaged in melee,so that he doesn’t have to use his minor action for movement, the mummy will use hexes to weaken his opponent
before making a melee attack. Once their pp are expended, the homunculi will move to the frontline flanking themummy.
The model pyramid in the middle of the room blocks
movement, forcing characters to maneuver around it. If
someone tries to vault over the model pyramid during thechaos of combat, it requires a successful TN 13 dexterity-based athletic check to jump over the top. In addition,a character cannot end his movement in the same space as
the pyramid; the sides are slick and the top is too narrow
to stop on. Only a character who has enough movement
remaining to move to a space on the other side of the pyramid can attempt to jump over it.
Once all hostiles have been eliminated, the PCs can findthe following treasures in the room. These items were all
brought in by Ramses, so even if the PCs made a deal withthe mummy, they are free to take these items.
- Stone tablet (2 kg)- Rank 1 truestrike shortsword (Ramses’s bronze khopesh)- Rank 1 livelong shield- Rank 1 wild armor (GM should decide the mass depending on its form)- Moon meteorite (0.5 kg)- Money (35 c)- Complete set of 4 canopic jars (3 kg each)
In addition to the treasures listed above, there are othermundane supplies including rope, torches, two weeks
worth of rations, a 50 liter barrel with 23 liters of Bittersprings water remaining, and a couple of empty boxes thathave been converted in to a garbage dump and a commode.
The black granite stone tablet is easily recognized as the
top half of the tablet wanted by Gyunghui Kim of the College of Recovery (see encounter 2B). With a successful TN
16 willpower-based social sciences check, a character canwork out the general idea that it describes a yellow energy
generator matching the description of the model pyramidin the secret crypt. The tablet states that this generator was
created to turn the crater into a “sacred moonscape devoidof earthy contamination.” The description of the generator
is complete enough that the party can use it as a guide to
return the generator to its original, lower power state (seesection 5. Wrapping up the Adventure, below).
The moon meteorite is a fist sized hunk of rock blasted
out of the lunar surface, but from appearances (withoutchemical analysis) it is difficult to distinguish from an
ordinary rock. Using the magic incantation written on thewall of the Trapped Hall (4C), the moon meteorite can be
identified as being of extraterrestrial origin with a successful TN 15 presence-based arcana check. The King-Priest, if
he is still around, would prefer to keep the meteorite unlessthe PCs are adamant about taking it. He would be willingto promise not to use it to supercharge the yellow energy
generator, well at least not for the next century or two.
The wild armor, still enclosed in a wooden box, was partof the offerings Ramses presented to the King-Priest. The
wild armor could take whatever form suits the tastes of
the GM or players. If there are no strong opinions among
the group, the armor can look like a white robe and a blue
striped nemyss (ancient Egyptian) headdress.
The four canopic jars are a matching set made from pottery. They appear decades rather than millennia old, indicating that mummification is still practiced somewhere.

5. Wrapping Up the Adventure
As a sandbox adventure, the PCs can explore Starsmote
Sandpit until they are satisfied and then leave. But assuming they keep trying until they have unlocked the passageway to the secret crypt and eliminated Ramses, theirfirst decision will be what to do about the yellow energy
generator. They would be justified in smashing it to pieces, thus eliminating the desiccating effects and allowing
life to return to the crater. Or leaving the generator intact
for further study, or out of respect for the Stargazers, isalso a viable option. If the generator is left intact, it can be
returned to its previous level of power simply by removing
the moon meteorite (replacing the cap is optional).
Unless the party has a pressing reason to keep Ramses
alive, it is probably best to assume that he bleeds out anddies. Even if the party does keep him alive, they will stillearn the reward for completing Natashia’s mission to “eliminate the joker behind the homunculi.” (see encounter 2C)

Experience
It is possible to earn 3 xp from completing the adventuresin Starsmote Sandpit. All members of the party will earn
the same number of xp.
Survival
Success		
Other Goals

1 xp
1 xp
1 xp

Parties who explore 4 or more spaces in the crater are
considered to have survived Starsmote Sandpit. They earn
1 xp, even if they terminate their activities here.
Parties who reach the secret crypt and defeat Ramses haveended the threats posed to the outside world. This is considered succeeding in the mission and the party earns anadditional 1 xp.
As a sandbox adventure, Starsmote Sandpit allows (encourages) individual game groups to create other goalsof their own. Perhaps one of the PCs becomes infatuatedwith Lucky of the College of Recovery, forcing the party to31

tactfully overcome potentially dangerous encounters with
angry rivals; or perhaps someone swears to hunt down
every zombie in Starsmote Sandpit; or maybe the GM decides that winged statues of two different Stargazer Queens
in the same adventure can’t be coincidence and creates abackstory and a series of encounters to connect the two
women. If there is a homebrewed side-quest that the group
becomes emotionally invested in, then the party can earn a
3rd xp for completing that side-quest as part of the Starsmote Sandpit adventure.

6) Continuing the Campaign
Starsmote Sandpit is a self-contained environment. Oncethe characters leave the crater, they could continue to operate in the local area and never hear about it again. Or, thisadventure includes many hooks which could be used as thebasis for further adventures. Possible ideas include:- An elven noble passing through Bittersprings claims torecognize Mai as the lost granddaughter of Duke Liliquan.
All of the Duke’s family was believed to have been killed
in an attack on Longroad. Now the Duke has grown old
without any heirs, leaving his duchy vulnerable. Mai insiststhat she’s never heard of Liliquan and she won’t be leaving
her home in Bittersprings. But just rumors of an heiress areenough to start trouble and soon Bittersprings finds itself
embroiled in elven court politics, complete with kidnappings and assassination attempts.
- With her new tiara, Natashia is now ready to make her
debut in Nova Camelot. Captain Bruce recruits the PCs
to escort his granddaughter to her new home. The roadto Nova Camelot is long and fraught with danger, and theparty has to make the trip with a temperamental princess-in-training in tow.

32

- Gyunghui Kim successfully interprets the top half of thetablet the party brought back to her. She is fascinated by
the statement that the Stargazers worked to turn the crater
into a “sacred moonscape devoid of earthy contamination.”
How did the Stargazers know what it’s like on the surface ofthe Moon? And why did they associate their idea of heaven
with the Moon? More expeditions into Stargazer ruins areneeded to find the answers.
- At the GM’s discretion, pulling back one of the wall
hangings in the secret crypt (encounter 4I) reveals a tunnel
leading to extensive catacombs where other mummified
King-Priests and their servants are interned. This city ofthe dead has been awakened by the recent commotion andis preparing an army.
- What was originally depicted in the murals in the trappedhall in the pyramid (encounter 4C) and why were the frescos altered? Does this have anything to do with the cryptic
tablet found in the frozen well (encounter 3B), which has
also been removed from the fresco in the central chamber(encounter 4B)?
- Ramses is proof that the Stargazer cult didn’t go extinct
and is still active in the modern world. What are theirmotivations? Was Ramses a rogue in a harmless society ofastronomy enthusiasts, or is there a widescale plot at work?
To what ends?
- Trouble continues for the sisters Luna and Celest when
the coven of poison witches decide that Luna was at least
partially at fault for putting on the stolen green energy
necklace. The witches now seek to capture and rituallysacrifice the “false priestess” in order to purify their coven.
Their quest for vengeance also extends to the PCs for theirrole in the incident.

Reference Notes
Canopic Jars
In ancient Egypt, the process of mummification involved
removing the organs from the body. The organs were thenplaced in jars to be interned with the mummy. The different organs (stomach, intestines, lungs, and liver) wereplaced in separate jars, referred to now as canopic jars.
Canopic jars of various styles and materials were createdover the course of Egyptian history from the Old Kingdom
up through the New Kingdom (roughly 2575-1075 BC).
The canopic jars in this adventure take their inspirationfrom the New Kingdom period when the jar designs featured the four sons of Horus: Imsety (human), Duamutef(jackal), Hapi (baboon), and Qebehsenuef (falcon). The
four sons of Horus are also sometimes associated with thecompass points: North (Hapi), South (Imsety), East (Duamutef), and West (Qebehsenuef).
External Links*
https://www.britannica.com/topic/canopic-jar
https://ancientegypt.fandom.com/wiki/Four_Sons_of_Horus

Impact Craters
Impact craters, or more correctly “hypervelocity impact
craters,” are formed when objects strike a surface at highspeeds. For example, an object falling from space to thesurface of the Earth will have a velocity of at least 11 km/s,
provided it manages to pass through the atmosphere without significant deceleration. When it strikes the surface,
this high-speed object comes to a halt, losing all of its kinetic energy; but due to the law of conservation of energy,
all of that energy has to go somewhere. This sudden releaseof energy can literally be called an explosion.
Some of the energy turns into thermal energy in the impacting object, causing it to melt or even vaporize in a matter of seconds. Most of the rest of the energy is transferredto the ground in the form of shockwaves. The pressuresgenerated in the ground from these shockwaves far exceed
the stress threshold of rock, pulverizing the surface, possibly melting parts near the impact site. Interactions between
the shockwaves and the ground structure impart kinetic
energy to these newly generated fragments. Some of thefragments are driven upward and outward, ejected fromthe crater. In extreme impacts some fragments may even beejected from the gravity well of the parent body, flying off
into space. Other fragments are driven outward and downward where they collide with the surrounding (still intact)surface geology, pushing the surrounding material up into
the distinctive crater rim. These fragments not thrown freeof the crater form a “breccia lens” of mangled rocks which
partially fills in the crater.
The processes described so far apply to all impact craters,
including small “simple” craters. For larger craters (meaning larger/more-energetic impacting bodies) additional
processes can come into play, creating a “complex” crater.
In a complex crater, the sudden removal of large amountsof material decreases the pressure (weight) on the rockunderlying the crater. This underlying rock had been at
equilibrium, with upward and downward pressures balanced. With the sudden loss of the downward pressure, theunderlying rock responds by moving up, giving the cratera flat bottom and forming a central uplift/peak. At thesame time, the rim of the crater slumps back in, lowering
the height of the rim and making a more gradual slope orterrace structure descending to the crater floor.
Starsmote Crater in this adventure is a fictitious complex
crater, 12 km in diameter. It has experienced non-uniformslumping; the part of the crater rim where Bittersprings is
now located has completely collapsed, while the rest of therim is 50 m high on average.
At still larger energies/sizes, more complex features appear
such as rings around the central peak and multiple concentric rings around the edge of the crater. At the extreme,some astronomers now believe that the trough structures covering almost the entire surface of Jupiter’s moon
Ganymede are actually part of a single multiring crater. If
confirmed, this will be the largest impact structure in the
Solar System.
External Links*
https://www.lpi.usra.edu/publications/books/CB-954/CB954.intro.html
https://www.nao.ac.jp/en/news/science/2020/20200813-cfca.html

Meteorites
Meteorites are small bodies which fall to Earth from space.
They either were never incorporated into larger asteroids
and planets, or were later blasted free of a parent body aspart of a collision.
Based on the relative amounts of silicates and metal inthem, meteorites are classified unimaginatively into threegroups: stony meteorites, iron meteorites, and a transitional group of stony-iron meteorites.

33

Stony meteorites, those comprised primarily of silicates,
can be further divided into two groups: chondrites andachondrites. Chondrites (meaning sand grains in Greek)
take their name from the small round chondrules imbedded in them. Chondrites are material left over from theformation of the Solar System 4.5 billion years ago. Until
they fall to Earth, these meteors float isolated in space. As
such they have changed very little and preserve important
information about the conditions at the birth of the Solar
System.
Achondrites (no chondrules) result when a powerful impact on an asteroid/planet/moon blasts debris out of theparent body’s gravity well to drift in space. Achondrites
show signs of having been melted but can still tell us about
the composition of the parent bodies. Achondrites believed
to have come from the Moon or Mars are of particularinterest.
Iron meteorites began as part of a larger body. When an
asteroid melts either due to radioactive heat release or acollision with another asteroid, the heaviest elements, ironand nickel sink to the core and solidify. If this metal coreis shattered by a subsequent collision, iron meteors can bereleased into space. In cases where the meteorite is observed as it falls, only about 5% yield iron meteorite finds,
indicating that iron meteorites are a minority. But they are
distinctly different from terrestrial rocks so that they aresome of the easiest to identify. One possible characteristic
is an interlocking pattern of metal crystals known as a Widmanstatten pattern. Forming this pattern requires a coolingtime longer than can be achieved under terrestrial conditions. So the presence of a Widmanstatten pattern is a clear
indication that the rock was not formed on Earth.
Stony-iron meteorites, consisting of roughly equal parts ofsilicates and metals, are some of the rarest meteorites tofind. They can also be some of the most beautiful, containing precious and semi-precious gemstones. There are twoclasses of stony-iron meteorites. Pallasite meteorites consistof a metal medium, embedded with stone inclusions(possibly olivine or other gemstones). In contrast, mesosiderite meteorites consist of a silicate medium embeddedwith metal inclusions. The origins of stony-iron meteorites
are still under debate, but they could have formed in the
mantle region of a larger parent body where metals andsilicates existed in comparable proportions and were thenlater freed by a catastrophic collision between asteroids.
This element of mystery makes these meteorites importantfor study.

34

External Links*
https://www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/types-of-meteorites.html
http://chigaku.ed.gifu-u.ac.jp/chigakuhp/html/kyo/chisitsu/inse/index.html
https://www.britannica.com/science/iron-meteorite
Note: Use of the contents of this adventure scenario(Starsmote Sandpit) are governed by the rules for usage of
NAOJ copyrighted material, but linked content may be,
and often is, subject to different rules. Please refer to the
copyright policies of the linked pages before using.