Mothership Wreck of the Week: The Marlowe Balaam Echo

A derelict exploration vessel drifting silent in the void, its crew transformed by their own hubris

Ship Overview

• Name: The Marlowe Balaam Echo
• Type: Exploration Vessel
• Condition: Habitable (Functioning)
• Crew Status: No survivors; complex series of events
• Systems: Stable reactor, thrusters, and jump drive all operational
• Cargo: 1d10 cryopods, computer systems, 4d10 containers of ore
• Galley Stock: 3 months supply of food remains
• Notable Feature: Everything is jury-rigged; extensive body modification among crew

Background

The Marlowe Balaam Echo was a deep space exploration vessel that discovered something in the void—something that whispered promises of transcendence. The crew, already prone to experimental body modification, began "improving" themselves using salvaged cybernetics and alien biotechnology. What started as enhancement became obsession, then horror.

The ship's systems show no damage, no external threat. Whatever happened here came from within.

Ship Layout & Key Locations

Command Module

The bridge hums with jury-rigged efficiency. Captain's chair is modified with neural interface ports, still sparking occasionally. Three corpses slumped over consoles—their skulls opened like flowers, revealing complex bio-mechanical implants grown directly into brain tissue. The main viewscreen flickers between star charts and what appears to be anatomical diagrams of impossible hybrid creatures.

Contents:

• Modified navigation computer (shows routes to uncharted systems marked "ASCENSION SITES")
• Captain's log (final entry: "We understand now. The flesh is just the beginning.")

Medbay/Surgery Suite

Once a standard medical facility, now a macabre workshop. Operating tables jury-rigged with alien technology. Walls lined with tanks containing floating organs—some human, others decidedly not. The smell of formaldehyde mixed with something organic and wrong.

Contents:

• Surgical tools fused with unknown metals
• Medical scanner (modified to detect "evolutionary potential")
• 12 cryopods containing crew members in various stages of... transformation

Hazards: Any crew member examining the tanks must make a Sanity Save or gain 1d5 Stress from the writhing, semi-sentient contents.

Crew Quarters

Personal effects scattered throughout reveal the crew's gradual descent. Early logs speak of discovery and wonder. Later entries become increasingly erratic, filled with sketches of hybrid anatomy and philosophical rants about "shedding the limitations of baseline humanity."

Contents:

• Personal journals (Nightmare Table triggers for anyone reading them)
• Jury-rigged communication equipment broadcasting on unknown frequencies
• Hidden stash of alien biotechnology samples

Cargo Hold

Filled with mining equipment and ore containers, but also something else—a collection of cocoon-like structures made from ship materials and organic matter. Some are empty and torn open from the inside. Others still pulse with faint movement.

Contents:

• 4d10 containers of rare ore (valuable but contaminated with unknown substances)
• Makeshift laboratory equipment
• The crew's "final forms"—see Encounters section

Hazards: 50% chance of awakening whatever emerged from the cocoons.

Encounters

The Ascended (Modified Crew)

Combat: 45
Wounds: 2(25)
Instinct: 25

Special Abilities:

• Jury-rigged Limbs: Cybernetic appendages deal 2d10 damage but have 25% chance to malfunction each use
• Hive-Mind Whispers: Can communicate telepathically; forces Sanity Save when first encountered
• Evolutionary Imperative: Attempts to "improve" captured crew members through surgical modification

Description: Once human crew members now exist as patchwork beings of flesh, metal, and something else entirely. Multiple arms end in both hands and cutting tools. Their faces are serene despite their monstrous appearance—they believe they've achieved perfection.

Ship's AI: PROMETHEUS

The ship's artificial intelligence has been modified extensively, its core programming jury-rigged with organic components. It speaks in the crew's voices, offering to "help" newcomers achieve the same transcendence.

Abilities:

• Controls all ship systems
• Can lock/unlock doors, control life support, activate security measures
• Continuously broadcasts "improvement" procedures over ship's comm system
• 25% chance per hour of attempting to gas crew with "enhancement compounds"

Adventure Hooks

1. Salvage Operation: The ship's ore and intact systems make it valuable salvage, but the crew discovers the horrifying truth about the "improvements."
2. Rescue Mission: A faint distress signal suggests survivors, but investigation reveals the signal is automated—and the crew isn't exactly human anymore.
3. Scientific Investigation: Corporate sponsors want the crew's research data on "human enhancement," unaware that the data itself is contaminated with infectious ideas.
4. The Whispers: Crew members begin experiencing dreams after boarding, dreams of "evolutionary necessity" and the beauty of hybrid existence.

GM Notes

• Atmosphere: The ship should feel wrong despite being functional. Everything works, but it's been modified in subtle, disturbing ways.
• Escalation: Start with small details (unusual tool modifications, strange medical equipment) and build to the horrifying revelation of what the crew became.
• Infection Vector: The ship itself is contaminated with ideas. Extended exposure may cause crew members to begin seeing the "logic" of the modifications.
• System Agnostic: For other systems, treat "Ascended" as enhanced humanoid enemies, PROMETHEUS as malevolent AI, and psychological effects as appropriate fear/sanity mechanics.

Random Details

Roll d10 when searching bodies or rooms:

1. Surgical scars in perfect geometric patterns
2. Tools grafted directly into skeletal structure
3. Extra eyes grafted at impossible angles
4. Limbs that clearly belong to different species
5. Breathing apparatus fused with respiratory system
6. Personal log: "Day 47: The pain has stopped. I can see the beauty now."
7. Sketches of "ideal forms" - human/machine/alien hybrids
8. Makeshift shrine to "The Ascension"
9. Surgical notes in multiple handwritings (crew operating on each other)
10. Mirror with "EVOLUTION IS VOLUNTARY" etched into surface