This adventure is system agnostic.

It
contains a minigame for the players to
work through based on another of my
games, Repent, but is meant to be added
on to some other existing system. Here
are some suggestions for cool ways to
play it based on the vibes a system might
amplify:

Unsettling and Cosmic- Liminal Horror

Fantastical and Unexpected - Troika
Futuristic and Anxious - Mothership
Creative and Dark - Necronautilus
Gruesome and Gory - Mork Borg
Simple and Focussed - Kismet

Also, most of the player characters will

die regardless of system. So, you know,
set those expectations.
the wreck
Acanthus Green is an ancient wreck at the
bottom of the sea floor. It was recently
registered as an synthetic mass of
concern during a routine deep scan due
its dense concentration of heavy metals
and industrial plastics. The players have
been hired as the initial sweep team to
perform a full unearth and confirm a lack
of hostile inhabitants before the salvage
bots get sent down to collect.
what’s
Legra was a god cursed by her brethren
and cast to the depths of the sea, bound

going
without form. There she struggled, alone
and surrounded by darkness, until the
wreck of the merchant ship named Acanthus

on
Green tumbled down to her. This was an
offering she was glad to accept. In the
centuries since, she has grown, recycling
and repurposing whatever has fallen to
her depths. Now Legra’s ink is a
parasitic bacteria that can animate
synthetic material, giving it conscious
purpose. The effects on human and android
bodies are unknown. Players start off
this adventure being infected by the ink.
Before she was discovered, Legra was
largely ignorant of the surface. She was
happy to focus on the takeover of the sea
floor. Now, with active explorers, she
sees the potential of rapid expansion to
the world above.
 the
The infection minigame is largely covered
and handled through the player facing
handout (next spread). However, the

infection referee is largely responsible for

determining when a players infection

minigame
progresses. This is best determined
during play and in response to the
actions the players are taking, or as an
added consequence to a roll. The
intention was also no to have the players
all progress at the same pace or in
response to the same triggers. Something
large might trigger a mass infection
progression, but generally the progress
is asynchronous - each player is on their
own individual path. Each player will
require their own copy of the handout.
Of course the same technologies that let us traverse the stars
also let us delve the depth of the sea. It’s all just pressure
and life support and darkness and isolation. While you spent your
time discovering advanced and alien civilizations, we searched
inward, towards our earth's core. To think she was there the whole
time. Watching us fumble through centuries, unconcerned with our
petty squabbles and so called riches. Growing in strength as we
tossed more and more refuse down to her.

Your whole crew was infected the second you hit 1500m below.

It’s in the water, which, of course, means it's in you. The rest
have already died. Chances are, you will join them.

You should have gone to space.

When you start this adventure, make a pile of 14 d6s. This pile represents your
body's ability to combat the infection. At semi regular intervals your condition
worsens as the bacteria tries to salvage what it can of you into something more
useful. When this happens (as prompted by the GM), take as many dice as you wish
from your pile and roll one of the moves below. Each move may only be rolled once
but can be rolled in any order with the exception of Descent, which should be
rolled first as you approach the wreck. If you are out of dice, the next time you
must resolve a move you get the 6- result, which almost always means death.

descent
You feel it more than you hear it. A rhythmic thumping
reverberating off the walls of your pod as it descends. It’s
coming from the wreck, you’re sure of it.

On a 10+, you’re able to attune to the frequency. It’s

communicating with you, welcoming you home. Add 1 to your next
infection roll. On a 7-9, you can’t shake the feeling that
there’s something presiding over this place. Waiting in the
shadows , for some unsuspecting prey (you). Remove one d6 from
your pile. On a 6-, the rhythm pounds in your ears. You can’t
focus. It’s too loud. Only in death will you be free of this
cacophony. How do you free yourself?

swell
Your limbs feel swollen, they press uncomfortably against the
seams of your suit.

On a 10+, the pressure resides. You’ll never slim back to

normal, but you feel a little bit more pliant than before.
Gain the condition malleable - roll with advantage when
attempting to squeeze through small openings. On a 7-9, it’s
like your body is filling with gas, something is trying to
weasel its way between your organs and under your skin,
expanding the space between your component parts. Your joins
pop and crack when you move, your muscles lag and resist.
Strenuous movements become quite difficult for you. On a 6-,
it doesn’t stop. You swell and swell and swell. The seams of
your suit pop and rip. Then the seams of yourself do the same.
It’s the sound that reminds you of a moment from your distant
past, describe the moment.
 moisture
You’re moist. Everywhere. As if all that fluid that lives
inside you is trying to escape, leaking out through whatever
avenue it can find.
On a 10+, the leak is contained by your kit, recycled and
recirculated. You feel refreshed, as if you’ve been deep
cleaned. As long as you are mostly submerged in water, you do
not need to ingest sustenance. On a 7-9, your vitals are
dropping fast, pain erupts behind your eyes and you’ve lost
track of which way is up. You become insatiably thirsty and
without an hourly supply of clean water, you take harm. On
6-, you move from gaunt to wrinkled to fully puckered as every
ounce of liquid is forcefully drawn from you. Your husk will
provide nutritious food for her children. What shape of
monster nibbles at you first?

pressure
The pressure builds in your ears. With it comes the whispers.
On a 10+, the voices reveal something interesting to you, ask
the GM a question and receive a truthful answer. On a 7-9,
they murmur your deepest fears back to you. Reveal a fear to
the GM. Anytime something touches on this fear in play, you
will be at a disadvantage. On a 6-, they are out there,
calling to you from a great maw in the deepest darkness. They
offer comfort. You believe them and will comb the sea floor
until you come upon them. What do they offer you that
convinces you to walk into the darkness?

stirrings
You see movement through a window in the base's walls,
something disrupts the endless blackness.
On a 10+, a large tentacle drifts by, garbage and refuse
tangled and trailing behind it. You shiver but count your
blessings it is moving on. On a 7-9, a faint glow silhouettes
the outline of a shark. The light glows brighter, getting
closer. It almost looks like a lure. You get a glimpse of what
it’s attached to as massive plastic teeth pierce through the
shark, goring and rending its flesh. The glow turns red as
blood fills the water. Minus 1 from your next infection roll.
On a 6-, you see a great eye, larger than the average travel
pod. Describe a snippet of something you see in its gaze as
it holds you transfixed till the end of your life.

decay
You notice some discolouration on your gear. As you look it
builds to rust, and then decay. The effect is spreading, fast.
On a 10+, the decay twists and warps your kit, reconfiguring
it into something more organic. It’s lighter, looser, more
efficient. Your armour becomes easier to move in. On a 7-9,
the decay stops, but not before taking something important
with it. Lose an item at random. On a 6-, the effect becomes
invasive. You watch as each piece of synthetic material on or
of your person breaks down as if in a Timelapse. Describe how
you die of sudden exposure to the elements.

plasticize
It starts as a stiffness in your joints. Not wholly dissimilar
to the effects of extreme cold.
On a 10+, your skin develops a translucency and a new
toughness. Any attempts to pierce it will have a hard time.
On a 7-9, the stiffness sets in deep, your movements causing
cracks and pops as your tendons and muscles harden. Your speed
is limited to half what it once was. On a 6-, The plastination
process runs its course. The liquid in your body is replaced
with a polymer. Another piece of discarded trash. Describe
your final pose.
acanthus
Acanthus Green is largely still intact,
but with a massive hole in its exterior.

green
Stale but breathable air is trapped in
most areas, their level of submersion is
indicated in their details.

Some general aesthetic features of the

wreck,
Oppressive darkness

Neon metal and plastic barnacles

Sea plants tangled in grocery bags

Stale brackish air

Piles of soggy garbage

Shimmering familiar reflections

wandering
1. Recycled automatons
Plastic and metal spliced into humanoid figures

monsters Reform after a short time

2. Infected mushrooms
Networked mind spreads through the wreck.
Can trigger infection process through spores
3. Blobfish King (as ooze)
Massive, oily blob of tangled smaller blobs
Slowly expands to fill the space it occupies
4. Massive Armoured Hagfish
Hidden until alarmed, and then distended teeth
thrust out from an elastic facial orifice.
5. Psychic Residues
Water pools and churns into holographic images
Players describe a fear or nightmare they see in
the water, which progresses their infection
6. Enthralled schools (swarms)
Part fish, part animated plastic
Will form into faces or fears
sites of
Cargo Hold (submerged)
The hull seems crystallized, but

acanthus
something has meticulously coated the
hull with thin scales made of plastic. A
single hole serves as an entrance to the
wreck. The hold is filled with messy
piles of refuse. Metallic crab creatures
sort the salvage and will attempt to sort
the players and their constituent parts.
Forcefully.

Surgery (damp)
Automaton Features Cryptic characters scroll across glowing
1. Too many limbs monitors. Automated surgical tools whir
2. Every edge is across once-sterile tables, repurposing
razor sharp
salvaged material into monstrous
3. Loud grinding
with movement constructs of plastic and metal. Tubes
4. Broken audiovox pump a dark, inky liquid directly into
(always on) the interior cavities of the automatons.
5. Head attached The walls groan under the exterior
wrong
6. Body built like pressure and drip with many liquids.
a serpent

Kitchens (partially flooded)

Things preserved Phosphorescent sea fungus (triggers
1. Ancient infection roll on contact), overflows
humanoid bodies from broken hydroponic pods, densely
2. Loose organs
filling the area. The density of ink
3. A collection of
plated meals released by the fungus has a bog like
(still edible) effect; what water is here is densely
4. Crystallized
crew journals
salted and acts as a preserving agent for
5. A stopwatch the creatures that have (and may) perish
stopped at here. It will seize and engulf any
99:99:99 (working) foreign entities trying to pass through.
6.Handheld
waterjet cutter A character far enough along in their
infection might not read as foreign; they
may even be able to hear the voice of the
fungus.
 Rum cellar (submerged)
Eel Medusa Broken amber glass floats through the
A medusa with eels
for hair and a
room, reflecting into a broken infinity
slimy mermaid like mirror. A character that catches their
body. own reflection in the glass (fails an
Directly viewing intellect save) must progress their
the medusa’s face
slows and
infection.
potentially
f r e e z e s Rows sealed crates, some still full of
characters. valuable liquors, line the mazelike
stacks of shelving. An Eel Medusa stalks
the stacks.
Forecastle/war room (mostly flooded)
Heard through the Garbled and distorted audio, coming
distortion through a damaged console, ripples
1. (whispered) Run through the water pooled here.. The
2.(soft purring) pulses are rhythmic and patterned. The
3.“There was a
display panels are cracked and gutted.
paradise until a
serpent came to
the garden”
Captains Quarters (damp)
4.“Swelter’d
venom sleeping A grand desk sits in the middle of an
got” otherwise barren room. Expansive windows
5 . M i m i c k e d
laughter
behind display the endless darkness
outside. At the desk sits a corpse of a
6. Something one man bejeweled with shards of plastic
of the players has
said during the forming a frock and tricorn hat.
session Something massive moves through the
darkness outside the window (progress
infection for all players).

The corpse is the mouthpiece of Legra, who

communicates through oscillating the water at
different frequencies. When talking, the corpse
jerks about in a parody of human movement.
Legra is a god. She can control the water in all
manner of ways and cannot be killed. If the body
she has crafted is destroyed, she will rebuild.
She can also halt the character's infection
should she see any advantage in doing so (such as
allowing them to live to take the bacteria back
to land).
This module was made to
accompany my first musical
release, which can be found at
oddlander.bandcamp.com.
I hope it provides some nice
atmosphere as horrible things
happen in your game.

Written by

maxwell lander
Editing by

aaron king
Special thanks to the members of
The Meat Grinder for some
amazing feedback and discussion