Near Death Experience 2: Transit to Perdition
Transit to Perdition v1.1
Location: HR511 (Confucius) Star System. Largest extra-solar colony of the Human Diaspora¸ with ~1.5 million souls inhabiting the planets¸ moons and orbitals scattered throughout the system.
Time: The year 2645¸ approximately 9 months after the Earth went dark. You've heard the old miner's tales about Perdition¸ the sister world of our lovely colony¸ Confucius¸ right? Well¸ if what you heard sounded bad¸ then it's most likely true. Perdition is the only other planet in the Goldilocks (liquid water) Zone of the system primary - HR511 - but where Confucius is an Earth Analogue¸ a near paradise¸ Perdition is about as close to being the opposite as you can get. While Perdition is reported to have a breathable atmosphere¸ the biosphere is shattered and the clouds which boil above that devastated world are said to hold dangers that no sane man has returned to describe.
So why would anyone want to go there? Well it's a miner's paradise¸ with rich pickings among the rings circling that cursed world. Mining the rings is fine. It's just not recommended to go to the surface¸ that's all.
And yet¸ the surface is exactly where you¸ your crew-mates¸ and your plucky little transport ship have been chartered to go. Somehow¸ MentAI - an AI research and production corporation with few assets in the colonies - have managed not only to get down to the surface safely¸ but they've succeeded in setting up a research facility there. From all the stories you've heard about Perdition¸ this job is NOT a good idea¸ but the MentAI representatives insist that the goods you've been entrusted to deliver are sorely needed¸ that they will provide you instructions to transit safely through the cloud layer on arrival in orbit¸ and that the pay¸ well¸ that's simply phenomenal! Of course it's contingent on the whole crew keeping their mouths shut¸ but that's not unusual when dealing with the Colonial Corps. So it's straight in¸ deliver the goods¸ get the consignment note signed off¸ and get the hell out. Simple¸ right?
Well it might have been¸ without loose lips discussing things before you even lifted from Confucius¸ shifty researchers awaiting their 'precious cargo¸' and competing factions buying off the crew. And then there's that sealed¸ powered¸ cargo container squatting in the middle of the hold. That thing is just weird... it's been drawing increasingly more power from the ship¸ and as your transport approaches it's destination¸ the cargo officer reports that the electronic lock on the container has logged that it has been accessed in the last sleep cycle¸ which breaches the contract the entire crew signed...
Transit to Perdition is the second in a series of Adventures for Rapture: The End of Days¸ which can be run as stand alone missions¸ or fit neatly together as part of a larger story arc leading humanity back to Earth... and the ulimate battle for humanity's last souls.
Version 1.1 - You Talk¸ We Listen
Taking on board reviewers comments and wisdom gleaned from running the adventure at cons¸ the core text of Transit to Perdition has been updated¸ with extra material to help your game run smoothly and be more rewarding than ever¸ rules updates¸ clarifications and improved explanations that have added two more pages to the text.
But wait¸ there's more! We've also included a new audio clue and transcript to bring the secret history of the Nippon-Korean Imperialist State into your adventure (at the appropriate time)¸ and a GM's cheat sheet¸ bringing all the rules and threats details together into one double-sided page¸ replete with a flow chart of the adventure so you