Medical Freighter 2571b: Primum Non Nocere
By J Watson
Below is a synopsis for a sci-fi based adventure synopsis. When I get ideas it's all I can think about, the characters start talking and scenes reveal themselves to me at random and with no notice, it's very distracting! Especially when I'm already developing a different adventure or working one of my worlds. I find that if I write down a synopsis that I can come back to later I can move on for a while. It doesn't happen with every idea, some just come and go and then I use them as part of other adventures, but sometimes the story takes hold of me and it's all consuming. I'm hoping other writers experience a similar problem otherwise I need to go get some help!
Hope you enjoy the synopsis, I will be writing it in full in the future and I will post when it's done
Synopsis:
A medical provisions and logistics company called StellarMedical has requested aid after their freighter, 2571b was reported missing, a preliminary scan of the last known sector it travelled through picked up remnants of a distress beacon. StellarMedical is offering a significant reward for the investigation of this incident and safe return of their crew along with any patients currently under their care (manifest suggest eleven at present) and if possible, the repair of the freighter so the supplies and staff can be transferred to their initial destination (not specifying why they needed assistance in the first place).
From here, the crew will investigate the medical freighter and find it empty (a part from a few dead crew) of all cargo, staff and patients, they will find a laboratory housing a small number of dangerous creatures, all of which weak and dying from some unknown disease but still strong enough to put up a fight if attacked.
After exploration and scanning data banks and conferring with ships records, it will be suggested that the ship was raided and all supplies and staff were taken by an aggressive and dangerous organisation known as 'Vaxis'. The players learn that one of the members of this group posed as medical staff and sabotaged the ship so it would become stranded in this particular sector; they will also discover that one of the "patients" was a high profile political asset, currently trying to broker a deal regarding medical supplies between two warring systems. The reason for this assets covert transfer remains unknown.
The players will utilise breadcrumbs that they find to track down Vaxis to a small satellite base on one of the moons of a nearby system. The base can be explored or attacked however the players wish, they will find the crew, supplies and political asset here but they learn from Vaxis that the freighter was intended to release a deadly virus upon the planet they were sent to, for negotiations over supplies of medicine. The political asset argues the creatures in the laboratory were indented for vaccine research and the colony they were travelling too were being wiped out by an unidentified virus. The players are left to play out the dilemma and trust who they wish, in any case a handful of the "patients" and "medical staff" are in fact hostile militants intending to help release a deadly virus upon their intended destination. The political asset, if interrogated, suggested covert travel to build trust with the system he intended to attack. He convinced them that he was attending the meeting in person against the wishes of his government, when in fact, he had been ordered to see to it that he wipes out the planet!
The conclusion of this adventure will depend on the players actions and how they deal with the dilemmas they are faced with. StellarMedical are unaware of the false intent of this mission, this could lead the GM to create further adventures to track down the source of the plot or perhaps end it there and have the company pay for their silence.
The adventure will focus around intrigue with elements of combat and exploration intertwined.
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