The Smuggler's Moon Contract
This is the GM document for a three-session bounty-hunt adventure for a party of four around level 5, set on Nar Shaddaa during the Imperial era. It is the dark-mirror of a rescue: the party is hired to catch a person, the person turns out to be worth catching for the wrong reasons, and the whole thing comes down to a single line on a bounty puck — alive. For general guidance on running SWURPG modules see the Adventures hub; for the trade itself, The Bounty Hunter's Code and Running the Hunt are the companion reading.
The adventure assumes the party works as hunters (a Bounty Hunter in the group is ideal but not required — any crew that takes contracts fits). It leans on the capture gear from the equipment catalog: a net gun, a whipcord, a carbonite projector, a tracking fob. Killing the mark is always an option; it is never the clean one.
Synopsis
A Guild broker on Nar Shaddaa hands the party a fat, Imperial-backed contract: retrieve Sera Vantel, a runaway Imperial logistics analyst, and bring her in alive for twenty thousand credits. The puck is clean, the money is real, and the Empire wants her breathing badly enough to pay a premium — which is the first thing a careful hunter finds strange.
The party works Nar Shaddaa's vertical underworld to find her, and quickly discovers they are not the only crew on the trail: Draven Koss, a hunter who works dead-or-alive and does not care which, is a day ahead and closing. When the party finally corners Sera, they learn what she is actually carrying — a supply manifest that proves the Empire quietly erased a whole colony and buried the record — and why the Empire wants her alive: to find out who else has seen it. Now the party holds the mark, the rival wants her dead, a shadow-broker will pay more to let her finish her run, and the Imperial handoff is set for dawn on a docking platform above the Corellian sector. The contract said alive. It did not say to whom.
The Real Story
- Sera Vantel is not a criminal. She was an Imperial logistics analyst who noticed a colony — Kestic Station, twelve thousand souls — vanish from every manifest she processed, its supply runs quietly rerouted and its name deleted. She copied the proof and ran.
- The Empire wants her alive — not out of mercy, but to interrogate: they need to know what she took and, more urgently, who she has told. A dead Sera is a closed loop they can't audit. That is why the bounty pays a live-capture premium.
- The broker, Neyla Sabb, doesn't know the details — she's a Guild agent fronting an ISB contract for the fee and the reputation, and she genuinely believes it's an ordinary skip. She is not the villain; she's a professional who took a job.
- Draven Koss took the same contract from a different angle — his version, sold to him by a lower ISB proxy, reads dead or alive, and dead is faster. He will kill Sera the moment capturing her becomes inconvenient. He is the party's mirror: same trade, no code.
- Sera has a buyer. A shadow-broker who goes by Ghost runs an anti-Imperial network that wants the Kestic manifest made public. Ghost will pay the party more than the Empire to let Sera complete her run — or to hand her, and the data, to the network.
- The choice is the adventure. Bring her in (the fee, and Sera disappears into an ISB cell); let her walk or hand her to Ghost (lose the fee, expose an atrocity, make an enemy of the Empire and the Guild broker); or take the ugliest, fastest road and let Draven have his kill. The module does not decide which is right.
How the Party Met
Use any of the four general framings from the Adventures hub — a standing crew, a Guild referral, a chance meeting over the same puck, or a broker who assembled specialists. However they came together, they are on Nar Shaddaa and they answered a posting. If you're using pre-made characters, hand each player their hook:
For a Bounty Hunter or Scoundrel PC
— The professional- Voice:
- —
- Motivation:
- This is the job. Twenty thousand credits, alive, Guild-sanctioned. You've taken worse for less.
You've worked Neyla Sabb's board before; she pays and she doesn't lie about the terms. A live capture at this rate is a good week's work — the kind of contract that buys a new power cell for the ship and a month of not worrying about it.
For a Soldier, Commando, or Marksman PC
— The muscle- Voice:
- —
- Motivation:
- Someone has to make sure the crew comes back. Might as well be you.
You don't love the underworld, but the pay is clean and the target is one unarmed analyst. In and out. It's the simplest kind of job — right up until it isn't.
For a Force-user PC (any tradition)
— The one who feels it- Voice:
- —
- Motivation:
- Something about this contract sits wrong, and you learned a long time ago to listen to that.
You don't have to broadcast it, but the Force is quiet around this job in the way it goes quiet before a hard choice. Play it as instinct, not prophecy — a reluctance you can't yet justify.
For a Tech Specialist or Leader PC
— The planner- Voice:
- —
- Motivation:
- A well-paid capture is a logistics problem, and you're good at those.
Twenty thousand credits, a fixed handoff window, a mark with no combat record — this is a plan, not a fight. You're already mapping the sector on the flight in. The variable you haven't accounted for yet is the other crew.
Act I — The Contract and the Trail
Estimated length: 1 session, roughly 3 to 4 hours.
The party takes the contract and works Nar Shaddaa's vertical sprawl to find where Sera Vantel has gone to ground. This act teaches the basics — initiative, cover, working a lead — and plants the rival crew and the first wrongness in the job.
Scene 1.1 — The Broker's Table
The Guild keeps a quiet office on the Corellian sector's mid-levels, above the neon and below the corporate towers. The party is called in to take the puck in person.
Neyla Sabb
— Twi'lek Guild Broker — Patron (House Salaktori)- Voice:
- Dry, economical, unhurried. States terms once and expects you to keep up. Calls hunters 'friend' when the deal is going well and 'hunter' when it isn't.
- Motivation:
- Front the contract, take her cut, keep the House's reputation clean. Genuinely believes this is a routine skip; she was not told, and did not ask, why the Empire wants Vantel alive.
- Abilities:
- STR 9 (-1) · DEX 12 (+1) · CON 11 (+0) · INT 15 (+2) · WIS 15 (+2) · CHA 15 (+2)
- Stats:
- TR 2 · AC 13 · HP 30 · Persuasion +6 · Deception +6 · Insight +6 · Knowledge: Galactic Lore +5 · Hold-Out Blaster +4 (1d8 energy, 20 ft)
Neyla has run this board for eleven years and intends to run it for eleven more. She is not cruel and not kind; she is reliable, which in her trade is worth more than either.
What Neyla offers / knows:
- The contract: 20,000 cr, alive and unharmed, half now (10,000) half on delivery. (A successful Persuasion·DC 15 bumps the advance to 12,000 or adds a stim-pack of Medpac IIIs.)
- Last-known: the Duros Quarter, four days ago. Sera was buying passage off-world and got turned away — she has no clean credits and no ship.
- The client is "Imperial procurement" (Neyla's honest belief). A Insight·DC 16 reads that Neyla is telling the truth as she knows it — and that she doesn't know why they want a data-clerk alive badly enough to pay this.
- The other crew: Neyla will name Draven Koss if pressed (Persuasion·DC 14) — "works dead-or-alive, takes the fast road, don't get between him and a payday." She offered him nothing; he got the contract elsewhere.
Scene 1.2 — The Duros Quarter
The trail starts where Sera was last seen: a stacked warren of passage-brokers, forged-chip dealers, and cheap hostels clinging to the underside of a freight platform. This is a tracking scene — the party works leads to find where Sera went to ground.
Run this as three leads; the party needs two to find Sera's bolt-hole. Each lead is a different skill so different PCs shine:
- The passage-broker (Persuasion·DC 14 or Intimidation·DC 15) — a Duros who turned Sera away remembers her: desperate, paying in Imperial scrip nobody down here will touch, asking about unregistered berths. He also remembers "a human, cold eyes, good armor" asking the same an hour ago (Draven).
- The trail itself (Survival·DC 15 with a Tracking Fob, or Investigation·DC 16) — a person avoiding cams takes predictable back-routes; the party can follow her movement pattern to a cheap hostel on Level 9.
- The slicer's angle (Use Computer·DC 15) — pulling the Quarter's patchy cam-net shows Sera ducking into a hostel, and a second, later figure casing the same building.
Pyke Shakedown (teaching combat)
- TR
- 2
- AC
- 15
- HP
- 30
- Speed
- 30 ft
As the party works the second lead, a Pyke collection crew decides the newcomers are muscling in on their turf. They open with a demand for a 'tax,' not a kill — this is a teaching fight, and a party that pays 500 credits or wins an Intimidation contest (DC 15 vs the leader) can skip it entirely. If it goes loud: they use the walkways for cover, fire from range, and break and run at half strength — they're extortionists, not martyrs. Play it to teach initiative and cover, not to threaten a wipe.
Default count: 3 Pyke foot-soldiers (as above) led by 1 Pyke Sentinel (TR 4, AC 16, HP 60, +6 to hit). See the Pyke Syndicate bestiary for the full blocks.
Scaling: 2-3 PCs → drop the Sentinel. 5-6 PCs → add 2 foot-soldiers.
Loot: ~600 credits in mixed scrip, 2 vibroknives, a stolen Comlink (Long-Range) still logged to a Pyke frequency (a lead the party can exploit later — the Pykes have been paid to watch for Sera too, by Draven).
The Duros Quarter — a Nar Shaddaa Warren
- 1Coffin-hostel (room 9-114) — The mark's bolt-hole (Scene 1.3): a two-by-three coffin-room. She's already gone, but left a warm datapad and a taped-behind-the-locker Imperial data-spike — and the room was searched before the party arrived (Draven was here first).
- 2The drop (gap in the decking) — A gap in the warren's decking, open to the sprawl far below. A creature forced off the walkway falls (40 ft, 4d6) and must climb back up; an Athletics or Acrobatics DC 15 catches the edge on the way over.
- 3Rope-bridge (the crossing)
- 4Cargo container
- 5Stacked crates
- 6Fuel drum
- 7Supply crate
- 8Passage-broker's kiosk — Working a lead here (Persuasion/Intimidation, or Use Computer to pull the cam-net) points toward the coffin-hostel — see Scene 1.2's three leads. The broker also remembers 'a human, cold eyes, good armor' asking an hour ago (Draven).
- 9Flickering signage
Scene 1.3 — The Bolt-Hole
Two leads bring the party to a coffin-hostel on Level 9 — and to the first sign that this contract is not what it looked like.
- The datapad (Use Computer·DC 15) holds Sera's frantic notes: she's trying to reach "the only person left who'll listen" and get "it" to them before "they close the last berth." No names yet.
- The data-spike is locked hard (Use Computer·DC 18, or hand it to a slicer NPC later). A partial crack reveals a single word in the clear: KESTIC. (Full decryption is a Scene 2.3 beat.)
- A Perception·DC 14 spots that the room was already searched, carefully, by someone who put everything back — Draven was here first, and left because Sera had already run again. He's hours ahead, not days.
The act ends with the party holding a live lead (Sera is running out of the Duros Quarter toward the spaceport tiers, chasing a berth) and a growing sense that the pay is too good for the job. Session one should end here, on the warm datapad and the word KESTIC.
Act II — The Race
Estimated length: 1 session, roughly 3 to 4 hours.
The party closes on Sera as she tries to buy her way off Nar Shaddaa — and collides with Draven Koss, who is closing from the other side. This act delivers the rival-hunter confrontation, the capture set-piece, and the truth. It teaches Heroic Surge, capture tactics, and the first hard branch.
Scene 2.1 — The Vertical Chase
The party's lead puts them on Sera at last: a glimpse of her on a transit gantry, three levels up, moving fast toward a berth-broker who deals in unregistered passage. So is Draven.
This is a chase, not a firefight (yet). Sera is the prize; Draven is the competition; the vertical sprawl is the board. Run it as a series of Athletics·DC 15 / Acrobatics·DC 15 / Pilot·DC 15 (commandeering a cargo-lift or a swoop) checks, best-of over 3 rounds, with the party racing both Sera (to catch her) and Draven (to catch her first).
- If the party wins the chase: they reach Sera first, cornering her on a dead-end maintenance platform — go to Scene 2.2.
- If Draven wins: he snatches Sera and the party has to take her from him — go to Scene 2.4 early, then 2.2. Draven does not kill her yet (a live Sera is still worth more to his buyer than a dead one — for now), but he will if pressed.
- The Whipcord Launcher is gold here: a PC can arrest a fall, swing a gap, or yank Sera off a ledge she's about to drop from. Reward creative gear use with automatic success on one chase beat.
Scene 2.2 — The Corner
The party has Sera cornered. She is unarmed, exhausted, and certain she is about to die.
Sera Vantel
— The Mark — runaway Imperial logistics analyst- Voice:
- Fast, precise, exhausted. The clipped diction of someone who spent years writing reports nobody read. Breaks into raw feeling only when she talks about Kestic.
- Motivation:
- Get the Kestic manifest to someone who will make it public before the Empire closes the last berth off Nar Shaddaa. She expects to die doing it and has made her peace with that — which makes her very hard to intimidate and very easy to underestimate.
- Abilities:
- STR 9 (-1) · DEX 11 (+0) · CON 10 (+0) · INT 16 (+3) · WIS 14 (+2) · CHA 12 (+1)
- Stats:
- TR 1 · AC 11 · HP 20 · Use Computer +7 · Investigation +6 · Knowledge: Sciences +6 · Deception +4
Sera is not a fighter and will not become one. Her weapon is the truth she's carrying, and she knows exactly how heavy it is.
What Sera reveals (freely, because she has nothing left to lose):
- She was a logistics analyst. She watched Kestic Station — twelve thousand people — disappear from every manifest, its supply runs rerouted, its name deleted. She copied the proof onto the spike the party may already be holding.
- The Empire wants her alive to find out who else has seen it. A live Sera is an interrogation; a dead Sera is a loose end they can't audit. "That's why the price is so high. They're not paying for me. They're paying for the list of everyone I might have told."
- She has a buyer — a broker called Ghost — who will make it public. She was trying to reach Ghost's last berth when the party caught her.
The Corner — a Nar Shaddaa Maintenance Platform
- 1Platform stairs (the way up)
- 2The drop — The open void below the platform. A creature shoved, whipcorded, or knocked over the rail falls (40 ft, 4d6) and must climb back up — a Strength (Athletics) or Acrobatics DC 15 catches the rail on the way over.
- 3Supply crate
- 4Cargo container
- 5Coolant drum
- 6Maintenance console — Use Computer DC 14 to kill the platform lights (heavy obscurement — favors an ambush or an escape) or seal the stairs door for 1 round.
- 7Pipe stack
- 8Platform lamp
Scene 2.3 — What's on the Spike
If the party cracks the data-spike (Use Computer DC 18, or Sera opens it for them if they've earned her trust with a Persuasion·DC 14 or by not putting her in binders), they see it for themselves.
The spike is the adventure's key object. It is worth nothing on the open market and everything to the right person. Whoever holds it at the end holds the choice.
Scene 2.4 — Draven Koss
Whether the party caught Sera first or lost the chase, Draven arrives — because a rival who works dead-or-alive does not simply concede a payday.
Draven Koss
— Rival Bounty Hunter — the party's mirror- Voice:
- Calm, courteous, transactional. Never raises his voice. Talks about people as inventory and means no cruelty by it — that's just the ledger he lives in. The scariest thing about him is how reasonable he sounds.
- Motivation:
- Collect Sera Vantel by the fastest route that pays. He'd genuinely prefer to buy her from the party than fight — a fight risks the 'unharmed' bonus and his own skin. But the instant a live capture becomes harder than a dead one, he will kill her without a flicker and collect the lower fee, because a closed contract beats an open one.
- Abilities:
- STR 13 (+1) · DEX 16 (+3) · CON 14 (+2) · INT 13 (+1) · WIS 15 (+2) · CHA 13 (+1)
- Stats:
- TR 5 · AC 17 · HP 82 · Perception +6 · Stealth +7 · Survival +6 · Intimidation +5 · EE-3 Carbine +8 (2d8 energy) · Wrist Whipcord +8 (Restrain, STR save DC 15)
Draven is what a hunter becomes without the code — not evil, just efficient, and efficiency with a rifle is its own kind of monstrous. He is the argument the whole adventure is having, wearing armor.
Draven's Offer
- ASell Sera to Draven. Take his credits, wash your hands. He hauls her off; if his puck's buyer wants her dead, that's on your conscience, not your contract. The party keeps a clean Guild record and half a fee. Skip to Act III's "someone else delivered her" epilogue path.
- BRefuse — and he leaves (for now). If the party is clearly ready to fight and holding good position, Draven is too professional to die over one contract on a bad platform. He tips his helmet and withdraws — and becomes the Act III complication, arriving at the handoff to take Sera by force or to collect her body.
- CRefuse — and he forces it. If the party is out of position, wounded, or pushes him, Draven fights. See the encounter below. This is the mid-adventure combat set-piece.
Draven Koss and Crew (rival-hunter set-piece)
- TR
- 5
- AC
- 17
- HP
- 82
- Speed
- 30 ft
Draven fights like a hunter, not a soldier: he opens by whipcording the party's biggest threat to pin it, then works the edges with the carbine, never committing to a position he can't leave. He targets whoever is protecting Sera, trying to create a clean lane to grab her. Crucially, he will NOT fire on Sera unless she's fleeing his grasp — a dead mark is his fallback, not his plan. He has one Heroic-Surge-equivalent: once per fight he can Dash + attack as a single action (Relentless Pursuit). He breaks off at ≤ 20 HP if the party has Sera secured — a live hunter collects next week; a dead one collects nothing. This is a hard fight, not a lethal one; let the party feel they beat a professional.
Default crew: Draven (above) + Wex (slicer/spotter, TR 3, AC 15, HP 42, Blaster Pistol +5, marks a target so Draven has advantage) + Brakk (heavy, TR 4, AC 16, HP 68, Heavy Blaster +6 2d8, soaks hits). Model Wex and Brakk on the underworld elite-mercenary and gang-enforcer blocks.
Scaling: 2-3 PCs → drop Wex. 5-6 PCs → Brakk gets a second heavy, or add a 2nd spotter.
Loot: Draven's EE-3 Blaster Carbine (Lv 6 — just above the party's tier: a signature carbine to grow into, or to sell for a small fortune), his tracking fob still keyed to Sera, and ~2,000 credits. If Draven dies, his puck's ISB proxy contact is on his comlink — a thread into the real story. If he lives and withdraws, he keeps his gear and becomes the Act III wildcard.
Act III — The Choice
Estimated length: 1 session, roughly 3 to 4 hours.
Dawn on Nar Shaddaa — as close as the Smuggler's Moon gets to it. The Imperial handoff is set. The party holds Sera, the spike, and four different futures, and they have to pick one on a docking platform with the wrong people converging. This act teaches branching resolution and the four-way climax.
Scene 3.1 — The Handoff Window
Neyla's instructions come in overnight: deliver Sera at dawn to a private docking platform above the Corellian sector, berth 4, where "the client's people" will take custody and pay the balance. The party arrives to set the terms of their own ending.
Agent Corriden
— ISB Handler — the Imperial face of the contract- Voice:
- Warm, efficient, relentlessly reasonable. Speaks in the soft managerial register of someone who has never once had to raise it. Every sentence is a door closing quietly.
- Motivation:
- Take Sera into custody alive, learn who she told, close the Kestic loop for good. Corriden will pay the balance without a flicker — the money is nothing against the audit. She will also, calmly, have the party killed the moment she decides they've read the spike.
- Abilities:
- STR 10 (+0) · DEX 13 (+1) · CON 12 (+1) · INT 15 (+2) · WIS 15 (+2) · CHA 15 (+2)
- Stats:
- TR 5 · AC 16 · HP 76 · Persuasion +7 · Insight +7 · Intimidation +6 · Deception +7 · Blaster Pistol +5 (1d10 energy)
Corriden is the Empire's true face here — not a stormtrooper but a manager, closing a difficult quarter. She is the reason "bring her in alive" is the cruelest option on the board.
Scene 3.2 — The Choice
Everything converges here: Corriden at the ramp with the balance and an escort, Sera in the party's hands, Ghost's offer live, and — unless the party bought him off — Draven somewhere in the smog, waiting to take whatever the party won't. Present the choice plainly and let the table argue.
What Do You Do With Sera Vantel?
- ABring her in (the contract). Hand Sera to Corriden, collect the balance. It is the clean, legal, professional close — and it feeds twelve thousand dead into a locked room and the party's names into an ISB "assets, cooperative" file. Go to 3.3A.
- BLet her run / take Ghost's offer. Refuse the handoff. Get Sera and the spike to Ghost's customs dock, or simply cut her loose. You forfeit the Imperial fee and make an enemy of the Empire and, quietly, of Neyla's House — but the Kestic manifest gets out. Go to 3.3B.
- CSell the moment to the highest bidder. Play both ends: leak the spike to Ghost for the bigger payout AND stage a body or a decoy for Corriden, or auction Sera's location to whoever pays most. Lucrative, filthy, and it makes you a mark yourself. Go to 3.3C.
- DLet Draven have his kill. Step aside, or hand Sera to Draven, and let the dead-or-alive contract close the ugly way. Fast, final, and the exact thing the code exists to prevent. Go to 3.3D.
Scene 3.3 — The Climax
Whatever the party decides, the handoff does not go clean — because at least two of the four interested parties are about to be disappointed, and disappointed people at berth 4 reach for weapons. Run the climax that matches the branch:
Berth 4 — a Private Docking Platform
- 1Open sky (no railing) — The open sky over Nar Shaddaa's sprawl. The platform has no railing on this edge; a creature forced off falls into the smog (a very long fall — treat as lethal unless caught by a ship, a whipcord, or the Force).
- 2Cargo container
- 3Shipping crate
- 4Fuel drum
- 5Fuel drum — A stray bolt or a called shot can rupture the fuel drums: 3d6 Fire in a 10-ft radius, DEX save DC 14 for half. The platform's one wild card.
- 6Refueling console
- 7Landing strut
- 8Dawn floodlight
3.3A — Bring Her In
The party hands Sera over. As they do, Corriden's read on them decides whether they walk off the platform: a Deception·DC 18 (that they never opened the spike) or a Persuasion·DC 18 (that they're professionals with no interest in Imperial secrets) keeps it clean. Fail, and Corriden gives a small nod and the fight below begins — the Empire does not leave witnesses to Kestic. Draven, if alive and unpaid, also arrives now to contest the body-or-bonus. It is entirely possible to complete the contract and still have to fight your way off the platform.
ISB Cleanup (climax — the 'clean' handoff goes wrong)
- TR
- 5
- AC
- 16
- HP
- 76
- Speed
- 30 ft
Corriden fights like a manager: she stays back, hands out +2-to-hit orders, and spends her escort like a budget. The escort (4 stormtroopers, TR 3) use the shuttle ramp and cargo as cover and lay down disciplined fire. Corriden's goal is not to win the fight but to lift off with Sera and leave the party dead behind her; if the party threatens the shuttle, she cuts losses and boards. She surrenders nothing and flees at ≤ 25 HP with whatever she can carry.
Default: Agent Corriden (above) + 4 stormtroopers (TR 3, AC 16, HP 45, Blaster Rifle +5). See Imperial Forces. If Draven is alive and unpaid, add him (TR 5, above) as a third faction — he fights everyone for the mark.
Scaling: 2-3 PCs → 2 stormtroopers. 5-6 PCs → 6 stormtroopers + a heavy.
Loot: the contract balance (10,000 cr) if the handoff completed before it turned; Corriden's code cylinder (an ISB clearance — a campaign-length asset); stormtrooper kit (scrap-tier for the party, but the armor sells).
3.3B — Let Her Run
The party refuses the handoff. Corriden's smile does not change; she simply says "I see" and the platform becomes a killing floor — the Empire will not let Sera or the party leave with what they know. The fight is the same ISB Cleanup block above, but now the party fights to get Sera and the spike off the platform (to Ghost's dock or a waiting ship), not to hold ground. Treat it as a fighting withdrawal with an objective: get Sera to the lift/ship before Corriden's people or Draven cut her down. If Draven is alive, he's here for the kill — a third blaster in the smog that threatens the very thing the party is trying to save.
3.3C — Sell the Moment
The greediest road runs both cons at once and needs the party to keep two lies in the air: a Deception·DC 18 to satisfy Corriden with a decoy or a staged death, and a separate handoff to Ghost for the real payout. Any failure collapses one con onto the other — Corriden realizes she's been played (run 3.3A's fight, now personal) or Ghost decides the party can't be trusted and moves against them too. Big money, maximum enemies; the party ends the adventure rich, hunted, and having turned a woman's life into an auction.
3.3D — Draven's Kill
If the party stands aside, Draven takes Sera on the platform and the manifest dies with her — a fast, quiet, professional ending, and the one the code was written to prevent. There may be no climactic fight at all, only the sound of a single shot and the party's silence afterward. If a PC has a change of heart mid-scene, they can still intervene (run 3.3B against Draven). Otherwise, the adventure ends on what the party chose not to do.
Cast of NPCs
Neyla Sabb — Twi'lek Guild Broker
Role: Patron · Location: Guild office, Corellian sector mid-levels.
Voice: Dry, economical, unhurried. Calls hunters "friend" when the deal's going well, "hunter" when it isn't.
Motivation: Front the contract, take her cut, keep House Salaktori's reputation clean. Believes it's a routine skip; was not told why the Empire wants Vantel alive.
Dialogue snippets:
- (Hiring) "Twenty thousand, alive and unharmed. Half now, half when you put her in my hands."
- (Pressed on the client) "Imperial procurement. I don't ask a paying client why. Neither should you."
- (If the party crosses her later) "You had a clean contract and a clean record. Enjoy having neither."
Abilities: STR 9 (-1) · DEX 12 (+1) · CON 11 (+0) · INT 15 (+2) · WIS 15 (+2) · CHA 15 (+2).
Stats: TR 2 · AC 13 · HP 30 · Persuasion +6 · Deception +6 · Insight +6 · Hold-Out Blaster +4 (1d8 energy, 20 ft).
Sera Vantel — The Mark
Role: The bounty · Location: running, Duros Quarter → spaceport tiers.
Voice: Fast, precise, exhausted. Clipped report-writer's diction; raw only about Kestic.
Motivation: Get the Kestic manifest public before the Empire closes the last berth. Expects to die doing it.
Dialogue snippets:
- (Cornered) "Which one are you — the one who wants me talking, or the one who wants me quiet?"
- (On Kestic) "Twelve thousand people became an accounting correction. Someone initialed it."
- (On the price) "They're not paying for me. They're paying for the list of everyone I might have told."
Abilities: STR 9 (-1) · DEX 11 (+0) · CON 10 (+0) · INT 16 (+3) · WIS 14 (+2) · CHA 12 (+1).
Stats: TR 1 · AC 11 · HP 20 · Use Computer +7 · Investigation +6 · Knowledge: Sciences +6 · Deception +4.
Draven Koss — Rival Hunter
Role: Antagonist / mirror · Location: one step ahead, then the platform.
Voice: Calm, courteous, transactional. Never raises his voice. Talks about people as inventory.
Motivation: Collect Sera by the fastest paying route. Prefers to buy her from the party; will kill her the instant a live capture is harder than a dead one.
Dialogue snippets:
- (The offer) "Sell her to me now, half your fee, no risk. Or we do this the stupid way."
- (Mid-fight) "Nothing personal. It's just a better close."
- (If beaten) "Good hunt. I'll remember the crew that took the EE-3 off me."
Abilities: STR 13 (+1) · DEX 16 (+3) · CON 14 (+2) · INT 13 (+1) · WIS 15 (+2) · CHA 13 (+1).
Stats: TR 5 · AC 17 · HP 82 · Perception +6 · Stealth +7 · Survival +6 · Intimidation +5 · EE-3 Carbine +8 (2d8 energy) · Wrist Whipcord +8 (Restrain, STR DC 15).
Agent Corriden — ISB Handler
Role: The Imperial face · Location: berth 4 at dawn.
Voice: Warm, efficient, relentlessly reasonable. Every sentence is a door closing quietly.
Motivation: Take Sera alive, learn who she told, close the Kestic loop. Will pay, then kill witnesses without a flicker.
Dialogue snippets:
- (Greeting) "Right on time. Let's make this clean."
- (Paying) "The balance, as agreed. The Empire honors its contracts." (beat) "Did she talk to you?"
- (The turn) "A pity. You were very professional." (a small nod)
Abilities: STR 10 (+0) · DEX 13 (+1) · CON 12 (+1) · INT 15 (+2) · WIS 15 (+2) · CHA 15 (+2).
Stats: TR 5 · AC 16 · HP 76 · Persuasion +7 · Insight +7 · Intimidation +6 · Deception +7 · Blaster Pistol +5 (1d10 energy).
Ghost — The Shadow-Broker (voice only)
Role: The third option · Location: never seen; a voice on a chip.
Voice: Filtered, gender-indeterminate, unhurried. Speaks like someone who already knows how the conversation ends.
Motivation: Get the Kestic manifest public. Will outbid the Empire to do it — and disappear the instant the deal is done.
Dialogue snippet:
- "The Empire paid a fortune to bury this. I'll pay more to dig it up. Your choice, hunter. It always was."
Encounter Reference
| Scene | Encounter | Type | TR / Key DCs | Default Count |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1.2 | Pyke Shakedown | Combat (teaching) | TR 2-4 · Intimidation DC 15 to skip | 3 foot-soldiers + 1 Sentinel |
| 2.1 | The Vertical Chase | Chase | Athletics/Acrobatics/Pilot DC 15, best of 3 | — |
| 2.4 | Draven Koss + crew | Combat (set-piece) | TR 5 · whipcord STR DC 15 | Draven + Wex + Brakk |
| 3.3A/B | ISB Cleanup | Combat (climax) | TR 5 · Deception/Persuasion DC 18 to avoid | Corriden + 4 troopers (+ Draven) |
Conclusion and Rewards
This is a reward-based adventure, not a level-up one — the party ends it the way a hunt ends, with credits in hand, gear on the belt, and a reputation that just changed shape. What they walk away with depends entirely on the choice they made, and every ending pays in a different currency. (If your campaign uses milestone advancement and you'd rather grant a level here, the choice at the platform is a fine place to do it — but the module doesn't assume it, and the fights are calibrated to a level-5 party either way.)
For GMs who track XP: the adventure's combat is worth roughly 3,500 XP per party member for a four-person party — a solid session's worth of fights, deliberately light because the hunt spends most of its time on the track, the talk, and the choice rather than the trigger.
| Ending | Outcome | Sequel hook |
|---|---|---|
| Brought her in | +10,000 cr balance, a clean Guild record, and an ISB file that now lists the party as "cooperative assets" — a leash the Empire will pull later. Kestic stays buried. | An ISB agent comes back with a "second contract" the party can't refuse; Kestic's ghost resurfaces when a survivor turns up. |
| Let her run / Ghost | No fee, a burned Guild bridge, and a powerful new enemy in the Empire — but the Kestic manifest goes public, and the party has a friend in Ghost's network and Sera's undying loyalty. | The network calls in the favor; the Empire posts a quiet bounty on the crew that let Vantel walk. |
| Sold the moment | The biggest payout and the worst reputation — rich, hunted by everyone they double-crossed, trusted by none. | Every faction the party played wants a word; a rival hunter takes the contract on them. |
| Draven's kill | The contract closes the ugly way. The party keeps whatever cut they took and loses something they won't name. | Draven remembers the crew that stood aside — and offers them the next job, testing whether they've become like him. |
GM Quick Reference Card
Heroic Surge prompts:
- Scene 2.1 (chase) — a failed Athletics beat: burn a Surge to catch the ledge instead of falling a level.
- Scene 2.4 (Draven) — when Draven whipcords a PC: a Surge to break the Restrain and stay in the fight.
- Scene 3.3 (climax) — when Corriden's orders stack the troopers' fire: a Surge for the defensive boost that keeps a PC up.
Force Power suggestions (if the party has a Force-user):
- Act I — Sense / Farseeing to feel the wrongness in the contract before the party can name it.
- Act II — Move Object to arrest Sera's fall in the chase, or to yank Draven off his firing line.
- Act III — Mind Trick on a stormtrooper to open a lane; Sense to know Corriden is lying about letting the party walk.
Pacing checkpoints:
- End session 1 on the warm datapad and the word KESTIC (end of Act I).
- End session 2 on the party holding Sera and knowing the truth, Draven beaten or bought or looming (end of Act II).
- Session 3 is the handoff and the choice — leave time for the table to actually argue it. The choice is the adventure; don't rush it to fit a fight.