This is an introductory campaign outline for the SPELLJAMMER setting. It does not supply all the details of the adventure, simply giving a structure for the DM to fill in. It is designed to introduce a group of groundling characters to the SPELLJAMMER universe.
This adventure is designed for character levels 6-8. The players may create their own characters or use the suggested party below (this group does not include a priest because of the difficulties involving this character class outside it's native sphere). The gaming may wish to substitute PCs which they already play in other campaigns; in which case, this adventure can be modified to mirror the DM's own campaign setting.
Over the past five years the kingdoms of Anam and Bodar have been involved in a bitter war as each tries to dominate the ore resources in the Mountains of the Horn - the highlands that separate the two countries. The PCs are natives of Anam, and although skilled warriors have avoided active service in the war, instead involving themselves in covert operations and their own quests.
In this adventure, the heroes are recruited by Kalimoone, one of the remaining few powerful wizards that have survived the war (largely through the wise choice of not getting involved). He is tired of the long-running conflict, and seeks to create an artefact that brings peace. The primary constituent of his creation is the fragment of a diamond star (a comet), and he employs the PCs venture into space to retrieve this.
Of course, first the heroes need a means of reaching the cosmos, so Kalimoone sends them on a mission to locate a spelljamming helm from the tower of Anam's strongest magician (now deceased). Unfortunately this tower is part of a ruined castle positioned in the Mountains of the Horn, deep in the war zone.
The heroes find the magical helm, return to Anam, and hijack a ship from the kingdom's defunct navy. Hesitantly, they venture into the wildspace around their planet, and home in on the diamond star. But before they can finish their quest, they must defeat some space pirates interested in the same prize.
The following are a collection of heroes that can be used in this adventure.
Venus Morricone (Neutral Good/Human Female/Mage 6)
A beautiful sorceress, Venus despises battle. Her spells are
principally those that incapacitate rather than kill, a trait that
causes many to wrongly doubt her steel. Venus believes that anybody
can be change their nature given a chance. She carries a wand of
paralyzation and a number minor magical trinkets which bring her
protection.
Grey Bladeswirl (true Neutral/Human Male/Fighter 8)
Possibly one of most skilled warriors in Anam, Grey Bladeswirl
shocked his fellow countrymen by refusing to take part in the war
with Bodar. The warrior holds his allegiance to his friends only,
and no greater authority. Despite being no more than thirty, his
hair his heavily streaked with silver. He specialises in the
shortsword, but often fights with a dagger in his other hand.
Opponents are surprised when Grey suddenly uses this as a missile
weapon (it is a dagger of throwing). He wears a cloak of protection
(but no armour).
Enigma (Neutral Good/Half-elf Female/Bard 6)
The elves of Anam's planet disappeared generations ago in a great
calamity that sunk their island continent. A few scant traces of
their diluted bloodline still exist, and Enigma is one of these
few. She fascinated with her lost heritage, that tells tales of
great wisdom and beauty (as well as ships that journeyed to the
stars). She retains a vague knowledge of elf history, and more
importantly limited mastery of the powerful elven magic. Her most
treasured possession is a tiny golden harp, that when played causes
Enigma to have cryptic visions of the vanished elven
civilisation.
Hulborri Higgins (Chaotic Good/Halfling Male/Thief
7)
One of the jovial "small people" Hulborri Higgins lives in the
halfling town of Molehill. The halflings of Anam are loved by their
human counterparts, and Hulborri was always sickened by their
condescending opinions. Because of these feelings he took great
delight in burgling human settlements until he came across some
companions who treated him as an equal. One of his strangest thefts
made him the proud owner of an enchanted cooking set, a very useful
magical item.
Dominic Clavaine (Lawful Good/Human Male/Fighter 7)
The leader of the group, Dominic is a former captain in the Anam
military. His outstanding tactics made him enemies amongst envious
superiors, and strings where pulled to have him demoted to a common
footsoldier. Not content to take orders, Dominic resigned his
commission. This brave warrior wields a Broadsword+2, named
Aliana.
Brallavine Morduck (Chaotic Good/Human Male/Fighter
7)
Another former soldier, Brallavine Morduck hates not being
appreciated. His commanders ignored his superb archery skills and
put him on the front line, not a position that Brallavine enjoyed.
Many evenings found him sniping enemy positions on his own
initiative rather than polishing his equipment. One night he
returned to camp to discover his unit had moved on, and that he had
been left behind. This didn't particularly bother him. Brallavine
owns a crossbow of speed.
The PCs discover that the wizard Kalimoone is seeking to recruit adventurers for an unspecified quest, possibly from an ally, the local adventuring guild, or a message board. He offers 2000 gold pieces to be divided amongst the characters. Those that are interested should apply at his tower in Anam's capital city of Oren. They are instructed to come at night.
Kalimoone's nature is cloaked in a powerful illusion - from afar it looks squat and drab, but as a person approaches, it gets taller and grander. When they reach the tower they can see the building in its full majesty; fifteen floors high, rather than three. If the PCs knock on the door they are ushered inside by a flesh golem wearing a dinner jacket.
Kalimoone is found on the top level of his tower, in a huge observatory with an enormous telescope. He will explain the PCs quest to them, show them the diamond star through his telescope. The diamond star looks like a huge comet - it has a shining core of this precious material, and trails a silver tail of diamond dust. Kalimoone explains the diamond star only rarely passes past the planet's atmosphere, and that it has powerful magical potential. He informs the PCs that he will use it to create an artefact that will bring peace between Anam and Bodar, although he will decidedly cagey about the details.
If the PCs agree to undertake his quest, he will offer more information. To retrieve the diamond star from widspace, they will need to obtain another powerful magical creation, a spelljamming helm. This will give them the power to reach travel beyond the planet's atmosphere. Kalimoone knows that the great sorcereress Feramielda had possession of one of these items, and sends the PCs to fetch it.
Kalimoone can teach the heroes the basics of the SPELLJAMMER campaign, describing wildspace, the phlogiston and the mechanics of spelljamming.
Feramielda's tower was a part of the great Citadel of Aliza, the primary stronghold of Anam in the Mountains of the Horn. The sorcereress has recently been slain in a massive siege by the forces of Bodar. The citadel also fell, and has been forgotten as the war swept into other quarters.
Reaching the Citadel of Aliza will be take a few days on horseback, or a week on foot. The journey will be difficult, as the heroes will have to avoid Bodarian patrols and navigate forbidding terrain. However, Kalimoone will cast a spell upon the heroes to teleport them back to his tower when the discover the helm. This means they will not have to manhandle the large object back to Oren.
Although Aliza will longer be a part of Anam-Bodar war, it ruins have not been forgotten. It's massive, broken walls have been inhabited by an allied force of deserters from both sides. These desperate men will not be take visitors kindly, fearing them to be spies from one of the armies. If recaptured, they will be executed. The PCs may well have to fight their way past these former soldiers, but bribery or charisma could allow them to enter the Citadel of Aliza without bloodshed. One of the conditions of safe passage by the deserter band is the rights to any plunder the heroes discover in Feramielda's tower other than the spelljamming helm.
The sorceress's tower is one of few parts of Aliza not sundered by Bodarian siege weapons. It has a single doorway, which is Wizard Locked and Fire Trapped, and thus has never been entered by the deserters. Once the heroes get inside the structure, they must find there way past numerous magical traps and guardians before reaching the concealed treasure room. The object of their search, a minor spelljammer helm, can be found here.
The heroes are teleported back to Kalimoone's tower with the helm. The next stage of the quest is to acquire a vessel to use in conjunction with it. Unfortunately Kalimoone has no such craft, so the PCs are going to have to steal one. The best prey is one of Anam's defunct naval force, many of which are moored at Oren's quay. The war with Bodar is primarily land based, and thus the Anam's seacraft are largely obsolete. Thankfully, this means they are largely unguarded and only carry skeleton crews (minimum crew requirements, not undead).
With luck, the heroes should be able to commandeer Stalwart, a caravel armed with a light ballista aft and a light catapult to the stern. They must first defeat it's eight crew members, hopefully without harming them. This can be made easy if they attack at night, when only two will be awake (on watch) - although the captain is alert enough not to be surprised by the PCs. Captain Mindaeus Thine of the Stalwart (Fighter 6)
Mindaeus is of Neutral Good alignment, and respected and admired by his crew. He fights with a cutlass, but disdains the use of armour, instead relying on his lightning reflexes (dexterity 18). He loves the Stalwart dearly, and will try and stay aboard her even if she is captured. Given time, he may come to trust the heroes, and could eventually become a henchman or even a player character! The rest of his crew are 1st level fighters, and fight with clubs or daggers.
Once the PCs have secured the Stalwart, Kalimoone will come aboard and connect the spelljamming helm. He will give brief instructions to any magic-capable characters on how to use it, and arrange to rendezvous with the heroes at a secluded cove on Anam's coastline once they have completed their mission.
Assuming it is night, finding the diamond star is fairly simple, they just point their spelljammer towards it and fly. If it is daytime when they depart, the diamond star should be easy to spot once they clear the atmosphere. One problem to overcome is manoeuvring the boulder-sized diamond star onto their ship. A solution is allowing Kalimoone to lend the PCs a ring of telekinesis, but a DM may decide to waive this to encourage his players to problem solve.
The real danger is a group of space pirates also intent on stealing the diamond star (diamond stars have many magical uses). Just as the heroes are within reach of their objective, these pirates swoop in and attack. Their craft is a black-enamelled Damselfly, and they will make a couple of passes from afar, firing a heavy ballista before moving in close to board. This battle could occur as the Stalwart is trailing just behind the diamond star, so that as the heroes and pirates are battling on the caravel's deck they are enveloped in diamond particles streaming off the comet. The characters struggle in this alien environment of space, vision obscured as great silver streaks of dust billow past them.
There are eight space pirates (4th level fighters), carrying swords and bedecked in full plate armour and helms, coloured black. Six of the warriors (including the leader, who is a 5th level fighter and carries a longsword+1) board the caravel, whilst two remain on their Damselfly to defend the ship. The pirate ship is driven by Listra, an exhausted wizardess (6th level Mage) who was captured by the Damselfly's crew and forced to use her magic to empower it. If rescued, she may become a henchman or PC. If the heroes defeat the black armoured space pirates, they can obtain the diamond star and return to Anam. Kalimoone gives them their 2000 gold pieces, and allows them to keep Stalwart and it's spelljamming helm. Some of plate armour of the pirates might have survived the battle without much damage, this could serve as an additional reward for fighters, clerics or paladins in the group. Finally, the heroes may have found new friends in the shape of Listra and Mindaeus Thine.
With a spelljamming craft, the PCs are now well-placed to explore wildspace and travel the phlogiston to new spheres. Perhaps Kalimoone wishes them to fetch further magical ingredients from the void for him. On the other hand, what is he trying to build? A superweapon so powerful that the nation of Bodar would immediately surrender? Surely not . . .
