Per aspera ad astra
Prerequisite
The players have a relationship or contact with Rhine Labs.
Introduction
The players start out encountering what appear to be separate, unrelated events — a disease spreading from the mines, strange tremors from deep below, goliath tribes disturbed by something in the sky. In reality, all of these threads eventually converge as Kristen Wright’s efforts to ready her spacecraft, the Arc-1, for launch under the classified Horizon Arc Project.
Kristen’s public cover is the Rhine Lab Pioneer Project — a vague “sky conquest” initiative. Her true goal is to physically breach the artificial barrier enclosing Terra, using energy drained from ancient Sarcophagus preservation facilities. The Al’ar are her secret military partners, with a price: H.A.M.H.R.R doubles as an orbital strike platform. Whether Kristen has fully reckoned with this arrangement is one of the campaign’s open questions.
Early rumours the players may encounter:
- “Echoes from the deep dark” — tremors and howls beneath Malachite have halted mining operations
- “The Wright Commission” — Saria’s old colleague is asking for quiet help with a “structural survey”
- “Something is blowing up the sky” — goliath tribes on the Highland Plateau are disturbed and restless
Quests
Prologue — Roots in Malachite
These quests establish the players’ presence in Malachite, introduce the factions, and plant the seeds that later bloom into the main arc. None of them are explicitly about the Horizon Arc Project, but all connect to it.
- Pioneering Terra — faction patronage, establishing player properties, setting up the Deep-Earth Tunneling Logistics hook
- Malachite Forges’ Supply — Dwargon Malachite, stolen originium, goblins, early oripathy exposure
- Outbreak on the farm — Robin Bauer’s farm, Stage 3 oripathy, the originium vein beneath
- Disturbed Tribes in the Mountains — goliath emissary Ropunith seeks help with a silver construct on the Highland Plateau; introduces the geometric portal network and the launch site vicinity
Act 1 — Convergence
- Echoes from the Deep Dark — the Dwarven Union hires the party to investigate tremors; leads to Facilities 28 and 31, Dragon Swans, and the Sarcophagus below Rhine Labs
- The Wright Commission — Saria introduces the party to Kristen Wright; first direct involvement with Rhine Labs and the Horizon Arc Project’s cover story
Act 2 — Escalation
- Deep-Earth Tunneling Logistics — Kristen contracts players with property in Malachite to store “inert pressurized canisters” and “aerodynamic shielding plates”; the vague NDA is a breadcrumb
- Punching the Sky Hole — escort the High-Resonance Probe to the caldera rim; the sky barrier is real, the breach lasts 120 seconds, and the Al’ar’s true intentions begin to surface
Final Act — The Arc-1
Three paths forward, shaped by the players’ relationship with Kristen and the factions:
- Stop her — Infiltrate the Arc-1 launch site and confront Kristen Wright aboard the vessel before it breaches
- Aid her — Secure the launch site against the Al’ar’s orbital-strike betrayal attempt during the final countdown
- Delay her — Sabotage Arc-1’s supply chain: the Sarcophagus energy siphon, the S.H.A.F.T installation, or the fuel stockpiles stored in player-owned warehouses
Key Factions and Stakes
| Faction | Interest | Potential role |
|---|---|---|
| Rhine Labs / Kristen Wright | Breach the sky barrier; preserve herself aboard Arc-1 | Primary quest giver (Act 1–2), final antagonist or ally |
| Saria the Vouivre | Suspicious of Kristen; quietly using the party as her eyes | Secondary quest giver; moral compass and tension source |
| The Al’ar | Refined originium + H.A.M.H.R.R as orbital strike platform | Hidden threat; Act 2 complication, Act 3 betrayal |
| Titania | Discovered the project, was poisoned to silence her | Warning voice; drow attacker thread (“a drow carrying a white snake”) |
| Followers of Asmodeus | Want to plant an active originium “symbol” aboard whatever breaches the sky | Wild card; parallel motivation to either help or sabotage the launch |
| Dwarves Union | Mining halted by tremors; want answers, not politics | Prologue quest giver; indirectly entangled through Facility 31 |
Connective Threads
These are cross-cutting threads that run through multiple acts rather than belonging to a single quest:
- Titania’s wounding — she was stabbed with active originium by “a drow carrying a white snake,” almost certainly an Al’ar operative. Her recovery arc (she is currently under Morlock’s care in Chrysalis City) and what she knows about the sky barrier can resurface at the Punching the Sky Hole climax.
- The Sarcophagus network — Facilities 28, 31, and 59 are ancient preservation installations. Kristen is draining Facility 31’s power for Arc-1. Players who map the tunnels in Echoes from the Deep Dark are handing Kristen the data she needs.
- Schinsharo’s handprint — a handprint in the Sarcophagus room matches Schinsharo’s hand. A significant personal hook if Schinsharo is in the party.
- Player property — businesses established in Pioneering Terra become the infrastructure Kristen leverages in Deep-Earth Tunneling Logistics. What players do with that knowledge — report to Saria, renegotiate, or quietly comply — shapes their faction standing into Act 3.
- The RALA alliance — Kristen, the Al’ar, and Dragon Logistics formed a secret coalition. Dragon Logistics’ presence in Malachite (through L’oriel Al’ar) is a thread players can pull as early as Act 1.
Notes
- The Al’ar’s betrayal during the Arc-1 countdown (their attempt to activate H.A.M.H.R.R as an orbital weapon) is the Act 3 faction conflict regardless of which Final Act path the players take — it just arrives differently depending on whose side they’re on.
- Outer gods can peer through the 120-second sky breach (Punching the Sky Hole). Any character with a connection to a divine being should make a DC 20 Wisdom save when the barrier opens.
- The self-healing barrier closes after ~120 seconds. The probe’s Black Box is recoverable — it contains trajectory data for Arc-1’s planned launch window.
- “Disturbed Tribes in the Mountains” is tagged as originating from the Chrysalis City quest cluster but logically belongs to Act 1 of Ad Astra as the party’s first exposure to the Highland Plateau and the construction near the launch site. Consider whether it fits better as a standalone prologue or as an Act 1 entry.