|
After meeting you outside the caverns, the Ul-Mor have taken
you three day's journey south to the Place of True Warriors.
(At this point, let the characters map the area they travelled
through.) The Place of True Warriors appears to be an
unremarkable section of desert. Athru comes to you on the morning of the fourth day and says, ''It is now time for the Ritual of Manhood. Those who survive will become Ul-Mor. Those who do not will become a different form of the One. Take spears." (Athru offers each character a spear.) "It is time.'' Athru leads you to the ritual area. The other Ul-Mor have withdrawn to a safe distance. Athru gives each of you a straw dummy, shaped roughly like yourself. Athru says, "May you fare well against the quickdeath.'' He mounts his loper and withdraws to join the other Ul-Mor. |
Any attempts by the characters to learn more about the ritual will fail.
1.) Battle at the Place of True Warriors
| Suddenly, you see a tiger-sized creature covered with some sort of reflective armor running toward you. It has a long neck and hideous head. You can see that its gaping jaw is filled with sharp teeth, and that it has four eyes mounted on stalks above its head. Three small tentacles ending in suction cups dangle from each of its sides. This hideous beast is running toward you at an unbelievable speed, and is apparently going to attack. |
The quickdeath (MV Very fast; IM 8; RS 75; STA 180; ATT 70; DM 6d10; SA See below; SD See below) will attempt to kill all characters as quickly as possible. As it rushes into combat, it will fire its tail-dart at a character it does not intend to melee immediately. It will then attack the closest character. If more than one character is within melee distance, it will use its special attack and attempt to grab one character, pulling him into its digestive maw. It will continue to attack until it has killed all characters, or until they have killed it.
Any character next to the quickdeath stands a 50% chance of avoiding the quickdeath's attack for one turn. On a percentile roll of 50% or less, the quickdeath will attack the character's dummy, totally destroying it.
SA: Poisonous tail dart (S10/T3; 1d10 damage; RW 60, 10/20/30/40/50); grappling attack with tentacles and maw, 10 points damage per turn.
SD: Immune to needler weapons; 1/2 damage from thrown spears, projectile and laser weapons (spear thrust does normal damage), ranged weapon attacks made at -25 because of speed.
2.) The Last Encounter?
Use the entry 2 A if you plan to continue the adventure on Volturnus using the sequels to SF 0: CRASH ON VOLTURNUS. These sequels, SF 1: VOLTURNUS, PLANET OF MYSTERY, and SF 2: STARSPAWN OF VOLTURNUS, will be available at your local hobby store. If you do not plan to continue the adventure on Volturnus with TSR modules, use entry 2 B.
2 A.) Ending 1:
| As you stare at the body of the hideous beast, you hear the approach of a loper. Looking up, you see Athru riding toward you. When he reaches you, he dismounts and says, ''You have done well. We are now One, for you are Ul-Mor.'' |
Athru now reveals he has seen creatures similar to the characters living with the Kurabanda, a race of foolish creatures that dwell in trees. Athru will agree to provide an Ul-Mor escort to the edge of the Kurabanda's home.
SF 1: VOLTURNUS, PLANET OF MYSTERY, begins with this journey.
2 B.) Ending 2:
Read the boxed section in ending 2 A above. Athru will then reveal that there are others of the characters' kind living in the main Ul-Mor tribe. He will then take the characters to the other "strange" tribe- members, who happen to be Lieutenant Colonel Louis V. Jameson and Grod the Dralasite, two members of the original exploration team.
Jameson and Grod will explain that a group of space pirates hijacked their starliner as they approached Volturnus. The other members of their expedition were killed, but Jameson and Grod escaped. The Ul- Mor found them, starved and nearly dead from the lack of water, and invited them to take the Ritual of the Quickdeath. They have lived with the Ul-Mor since that time.
Jameson has almost pieced together a radio. He needs a part found in any poly-vox to complete the radio. If the characters give Jameson a poly-vox, he will take the part he needs, contact Truane's Star and receive word that a rescue ship will be launched immediately. The Ul- Mor will treat Jameson, Grod and the characters as tribe-members until the rescue ship arrives.
