TEXT:  
   
  Hivers II
   
   
  STARS 
  WITHOUT NUMBER 
   
  COMPATIBILE 
  
   
   
  Written By: Peter Rudin-Burgess 
  Cover Art: Erik Tanghe 
  Copyright: 2019 Parts Per Million Ltd 
  Special thanks to Kevin Crawford, author of 
  Stars Without Number and Sine Nomine 
  Publishing 
   
   
  
   
   
  Introduction 
  If this adventure follows on from Hivers I, 
  then you will be familiar with the Hivers 
  and how their ship exploded in the upper 
  atmosphere at the end of the previous 
  episode. 
  If you have not played Hivers I, here is a 
  synopsis. 
  What the average person understands is 
  this: 
  The world upon which you stand has been 
  suffering a global famine. When things got 
  desperate a massive food convoy was 
  arranged to import food. As the convoy 
  approached the planet it was attacked and 
  destroyed. Most people blame pirates for 
  the attack, some spacers say it was aliens. 
  One freighter survived the attack but was 
  crippled and the crew sucked out into the 
  vacuum of space. A rescue mission was 
  sent out and the freighter brought back to 
  the orbital station even as it was brought to 
  the planet’s orbital station parts of the ship 
  were breaking up and burning up in the 
  planet’s atmosphere. The spacers that 
  rescued the freighter were a team of off-
  worlders and their freighter’s cargo of 
  thousands of tons of protein powder were 
  sorely needed. 
  As a GM what you need to know is that the 
  convoy was attacked by an intelligent alien 
  species called the Hivers, a mutant 
  insectoid species. The freighter was left as a 
  lure to invite the planet to bring it into orbit. 
  Once there, part of the alien craft that was 
  locked on to the freighter detached and 
  headed to the planet. It exploded in the 
  upper atmosphere scattering Hiver eggs 
  across much of the planet surface. 
  These events happened eight days ago. 
  The characters liaison with the authorities 
  was called Lt. Bessie Powall, a naval officer. 
  If this is a continuation, then Lt. Bessie 
  Powall can be used to make contact with 
  the characters again. The navy would 
  prefer this as it keep the circle of people ‘in 
  the know’ about the aliens smaller. 
  If this is a new group of characters then 
  anything that brings the characters in 
  contact with the authorities, anything from 
  a speeding ticket or irregular paperwork to 
  gunfights and barroom brawls will put the 
  characters on the authority’s radar and 
  bring a visit from Bessie. 
  Bessie is your plot hook, mentor and 
  enabler for these adventures. She is a 
  competent naval officer and former fighter 
  pilot. 
  The Hiver series of adventures can be 
  played out on any world that you don’t 
  mind inflicting a global famine and an alien 
  invasion upon. In that sense it is setting 
  neutral. It was written with the Spinward 
  Marches in mind. 
   
  Scene 1: Roof of the World 
  The team of characters are assembled, if 
  they know Lt. Powall (Bessie) she will 
  welcome them back and impress upon 
  them that they are trying to keep the 
  existence of hostile aliens under wraps and 
  that they need the characters help again. 
  If the characters are new, she will explain 
  she can make whatever trouble they are in 
  ‘just go away’ if the characters are willing 
  to do some work for the government. She 
  will then go on and explain that given the 
  ongoing food crisis the government does 
  not want to cause any panic or anxiety. A 
  previous group of off-worlders were 
  instrumental in bring some hostile aliens to 
  the world and now they are trying to get 
  the situation under control. 
  
   
   
  The current situation is that there have 
  been some disturbing reports coming from 
  a mountainous region. There is a chain of 
  polar research facilities on this world. The 
  northern pole is an extremely mountainous 
  continent and the research stations were 
  constructed to be autonomous and self-
  sufficient. As such they have been 
  unaffected by the famine. They have used 
  underground hydroponics to grow food 
  and there is an abundance of a particularly 
  hardy mountain capra the stations have 
  long used for milk, cheese and meat.  
  The most northerly research station is 
  called 
  Polar 
  One. 
  Six 
  days 
  ago, 
  communications were lost with Pole One.  
  Pole One is supported by a secondary 
  research station, imaginatively called Polar 
  Two. Polar Two comprises an airstrip, 
  hangers for a few light fliers and a 
  habitation block. It is two days hike from 
  Pole One but is the last place you can land 
  an aircraft. Comms with Polar Two was lost 
  five days ago. Polar Three went silent 2 
  days ago. Polar Three is 500 km south of 
  Polar Two. The Communication Officer at 
  Polar Three sent a broadcast before going 
  offline saying they were under attack and 
  described the attackers a giant insect. They 
  filled the sky and had dug under their 
  perimeter fence. At the end of the 
  communications Comms Officer Jarret did 
  not sound particularly alarmed, and the 
  impression given was that the giant insects 
  were still outside, and they felt safe inside 
  the base, more curious than scared. This 
  implies that the communications were cut 
  off from the outside. 
  High altitude over flights have shown no 
  unusual activity at any of the sites but heat 
  signatures suggest that all three sites are 
  powered down and there are no signs of 
  life. 
  Lt. Powall’s superiors have authorized an 
  off the books mission to investigate. They 
  wish to use off-worlders so there is no trace 
  back 
  to 
  known 
  employees 
  of 
  the 
  government, nor do they want to put 
  civilian lives at risk. 
  The characters will be provided with a pre-
  programmed drone. It will know the 
  locations of the two polar stations that can 
  be reach by air and is controlled by voice 
  commands. 
  The drone is armed, and they will have full 
  access to the weaponry. 
  The navy will supply all the necessary cold 
  weather gear, suitable for high altitude 
  polar work and any personal weapons the 
  characters may desire. 
  As soon as they are ready the drone will be 
  prepared, fuels and launched. Where it 
  takes them is down to the characters. 
  The Drone 
  The drone is operated by software that can 
  respond to voice or typed commands both 
  locally and via any of its communication 
  channels.  
  It can home in on an open communication 
  channel, in essence it can come and get 
  you if you stay in contact with it. 
  Its only preprogrammed destinations are its 
  home military base, where the characters 
  start out from and the two polar stations. 
  This is military grade hardware and there 
  are no controls for a humanoid pilot just as 
  
   
   
  there are no ports for connecting external 
  devices. 
  The only controls the characters can access 
  are two weapons seats, the first is for a 
  turret mounted heavy machine gun and 
  the other for a pair of forward facing heavy 
  recoilless rifles. 
   
  Scene 2: Polar Three 
  Arriving at Polar Three will leave the 
  characters in no doubt that the base was 
  over run in some form of attack! 
  Polar Three is a tower constructed on a 
  mountain top. The atmosphere is so thin at 
  this altitude that there is little sideway 
  pressure on a tall structure. 
  Surrounding Polar Three are five landing 
  pads that look like large trampolines 
  connected to the central tower by ‘zip lines.  
  Incoming freight is connected to a harness 
  and motors drag it up to a store part way 
  up the tower. Passengers can either use 
  walkways to the base of the tower or go up 
  the wires, mainly this is only used for 
  stretchered casualties. 
  Outside the ring of landing pads is the 
  remains of a security fence. 
  An aerial survey shows that the fences 
  have been both tunneled under and 
  trampled down. 
  All over the tower access panels and 
  hatches can be seen to have been ripped 
  open circuitry destroyed. This isn’t confined 
  to just the lower levels. The area around the 
  tower is littered broken electronic debris. 
  The service doors on the third level where 
  the winch wires enter have been ripped off 
  their hinges and lie on the ground outside. 
  It appears that this was the point of entry. 
  The characters will have to find a way to 
  get to this their level. Once inside it is 
  immediately apparent that there are still 
  some functioning systems. Lights flicker on 
  and off, exposed electronics short out 
  sending showers of sparks into the air. 
  There is a central elevator shaft about 3 m 
  in diameter that runs from an engineering 
  basement level to an observatory top level. 
  The floors are: 
  5thObservatory 
  4th Mess and Living 
  3rd Stores and supplies 
  2nd Living and Sleeping 
  1st Communications 
  -1 Engineering and Maintenance 
  
   
   
   
  The Observatory 
  Once this section was used for collecting 
  and 
  analyzing 
  data 
  from 
  sensitive 
  antennae. The main function was to 
  monitor weather patterns and solar 
  activity. 
  Now there is a large grey, ridged mass that 
  takes up the center of this level. This is a 
  part of the aliens organic tech. It is part 
  machine, but the electronics are replaced 
  by organic synapses of the same type 
  found in an insect brain. What can be seen 
  is the huge chitinous mass. It is at the same 
  temperature as its surroundings but does 
  move by flexing occasionally. When it 
  moves it is breathing through pores in its 
  chitin. The flexing draw air deep within its 
  structure. The mass has grown over, into 
  and through most of the electronics here. 
  Its function is to take control of all the 
  antennae and communications, which 
  were routed through here. 
  Mess and Living 
  The area was the scene of intense fighting 
  and destruction. Although there are no 
  bodies there is plenty of dried and 
  congealed blood on the floors, walls and 
  furniture. 
  The mess and day rooms are situated near 
  the top of the tower as they are naturally 
  warmer than the lower parts. The level is a 
  single circular room with the elevator shaft 
  rising up through the center. In front of the 
  elevator doors are chairs and a long table 
  that seats twelve. 
  Behind the elevator is a cooking and food 
  prep area and a pair of smaller tables with 
  bar stools used for eating alone. 
  It appears that much of the kitchen 
  equipment 
  was 
  used 
  as 
  improvised 
  weapons or at the very least in self-defense. 
  Stores and Supplies 
  This is the area most likely that the 
  characters 
  will 
  enter 
  (here 
  or 
  Communications on level 1). 
  The doors were ripped of their hinges and 
  the place has been open to the elements 
  ever since. The screens are black and 
  lifeless, the elevator doors have been 
  peeled back with great claw marks in the 
  thing metal skin of the doors. 
  Patches on the wall appear to be made of 
  a dull grey ridged material out of keeping 
  with 
  the 
  white 
  plastic 
  and 
  steel 
  construction of the rest of the room. 
  Most of the area was once neatly stacked 
  storage crates of supplies. The crates are 
  smashed, ripped open and dented beyond 
  recovery. 
  There is plenty of evidence of violence from 
  people shaped dents in storage lockers to 
  blood sprays up the walls and across the 
  floors. 
  Living and Sleeping 
  This is the first encounter with a Hiver for 
  the characters. There is a single Hiver 
  Drone, 2 m tall humanoid insect with an 
  
   
   
  ant-like head and waspish wings. This Hiver 
  is the last to leave and is making final 
  preparations. 
  The actual level is made of twelve narrow 
  sleeping chambers each radiating out from 
  a small landing outside the elevator. 
  The Hiver can be in any one of them, you 
  can play this so that each sleep pod the 
  characters search is empty until they start 
  to get sloppy and then spring the Drone 
  upon them or roll randomly. The pods are 
  well sound insulated so they will either 
  hear the Drone nor the Drone hear the 
  characters unless they are particularly 
  noisy. 
  The Drone has two missions. The first is to 
  protect the Hiver ‘computer’ in the 
  observatory and the second is to protect 
  the eggs in the basement. The Drone 
  would rather escape with its life than lose it 
  needlessly. Its wings are pretty useless 
  inside the tower so it will try and get into 
  the elevator, out of a service hatch in the 
  ceiling and up and out of the open front of 
  level 3. 
  Communications 
  This room, like the others is a single large 
  room with the central elevator. The 
  communication desk was the main focus 
  but behind the elevator there is a large 
  amount of person exercise equipment 
  including a treadmill and exercise bike. 
  Amongst all the fitness gear is a personal 
  games console and gaming VR headset. 
  The communications desk is covered in 
  fragments of a transparent yellow tinted 
  wax and shreds of thick fibrous grey 
  material. This is where the century drone, 
  currently in the living and sleeping pods 
  has pupated several times. When it arrived 
  it was a soldier? It then stockpiled all the 
  ‘food’ and then pupated into a queen, see 
  the basement, and then into its current 
  form, the drone. 
  Basement 
  The basement is where the Hivers have 
  concentrated their attention. All twelve of 
  the base staff are here stuck to the ceiling. 
  They are dead, drained of all bodily fluid 
  and encased in a cocoon of chitinous fibers 
  that bonds them to the ceiling panels. 
  Covering every centimeter of the floor are 
  Hiver eggs. Each look like a grain of rice 
  stood on its end but they are about 60 cm 
  tall and 20 cm diameter. There are in the 
  region of 300 Hiver eggs here. Normally, 
  eggs hatch in 14hrs but the cold in this 
  region has slowed their development. They 
  will hatch into adult workers in another 
  two days. 
  Concluding Polar Three 
  The objectives at Polar Three are to show 
  the characters what they are up against. 
  They can deduce the scale of the threat. 
  They can learn how people that the Hivers 
  catch are treated. 
  They can destroy the eggs and the Hiver 
  computer using the Drone’s guns and 
  destroying Polar Three in its entirety or they 
  can try and find another way of killing all 
  the eggs. Alternatively, they can just report 
  their findings to the authorities that will 
  probably take samples and then destroy 
  the rest.  
   
   
  
   
   
  Scene 3: Polar Two 
  Polar Two is little more than an outpost and 
  landing strip. It is built like a squat, angular 
  box. The crew that have to live here refer to 
  it as ‘The Dumpster’. 
  Set on top of the building are radio 
  communication towers. About 60 m away 
  from the building are three underground 
  fuel dumps. 
  Due to the thin atmosphere there is little 
  chance of explosion or ignition, but the 
  dumps are covered with the regulation 
  warnings about naked flames and danger 
  of explosion. 
  From the air there is an obvious track 
  leading out of a mountain pass to the 
  north. 
  The track leads right up to the front of Polar 
  Two where the tracks are lost in a 
  confusion of trampled snow and smashed 
  equipment. 
  On the drone’s approach there is no 
  communication, all requests for permission 
  to land are ignored. 
  When the drone lands the evidence of 
  some kind of fight or battle are more 
  obvious. The outside of the building is 
  scarred with bullet marks and there is spent 
  ammunition cases on the ground. More 
  worryingly there are plenty of red smears 
  and splashes in the snow.  
   
  Outside the drone it is eerily silent. It is 
  extremely cold but there is no wind and no 
  other natural noise. As the drone powers 
  down it there is no other noise bar the 
  characters own breathing. 
  Inside Polar Two you have two levels. The 
  ground floor is like a warehouse with boxes 
  of engineering equipment stacked up at 
  one end, pallets of cold weather survival 
  gear against a wall. There is a central desk 
  with a computer terminal, but it has a 
  couple of bullet holes through it, one 
  through the screen and other has ripped 
  half the desk unit to pieces.  
  The second level only overs one end of the 
  building. It is a mezzanine floor reached by 
  permanently fixed ladders. 
  This is where the bodies are. 
  There is a mass of grey ribbed chitin 
  molded to the back wall. It stretches from 
  one wall to the other and floor to ceiling. 
  Through a thin layer of yellow tinted wax, 
  the emaciated looking faces of the crew 
  can be seen. The bodies are deathly white 
  and shriveled. 
  What Happened Here? 
  The Hivers came, fed and left the same way 
  they arrived, on foot and in single file. It was 
  too cold for them to fly all the way here. 
  When it is extremely cold it takes a lot of 
  energy to remain airborne in this thin 
  
   
   
  atmosphere. (at Polar Three the target was 
  an obvious tower with the entrance on an 
  upper level so they Hivers had no choice.) 
  Polar Two also offered no resources, for a 
  Hiver, to use as a staging post. 
  In this case they came, the destroyed and 
  the fed to restore the energy they 
  expended and retreated. 
  Although some Hivers were killed by the 
  defenders Hivers will cannibalize their own 
  dead. This is why there are no Hiver bodies. 
  There is little or nothing new to learn here. 
  There is plenty of fuel in the tanks and once 
  the generator is restarted power can be 
  restored. This will provide heat and light. All 
  the 
  communications 
  equipment 
  is 
  working, and it can be used for reporting 
  back to the authorities if that is needed. 
  Any attempt to fly the drone to Polar One 
  causes all sort of alarms to sound. Firstly, 
  the navigation module flashes up warnings 
  that location is unknown or position 
  unstable. If the 
  characters, ask the 
  authorities they will confirm that this close 
  to the planets magnetic pole the GPS does 
  not function, and the satellites used for the 
  drone’s control sometimes dip below the 
  polar horizon. That is why Polar One 
  cannot be reached by aircraft. 
  From this point on the environment 
  becomes 
  a 
  significant 
  threat. 
  The 
  characters can stock up on all the food and 
  emergency equipment that they like. You 
  can throw all sorts of challenges at them 
  depending on the kind of game your 
  players enjoy. Suggestions are massive 
  hungry bears that track the party. Either 
  solitary or bears that hunt in packs. A 
  stampede of large mountainous capra 
  (goats) that the characters startle into 
  flight, all bar a large male that takes the 
  leading 
  character 
  as 
  a 
  dominance 
  challenge. 
  The terrain is roof of the world mountains 
  and there should be sheer cliffs to climb 
  and crevasses to cross. The route the Hivers 
  took was, no pun intended, a bee line from 
  Polar One to Polar Two. The advantage the 
  Hivers had is that they can fly for short 
  distances allowing them to get over cracks 
  and crevasses and up and down sheer 
  drops. The characters have to do it the hard 
  way. 
  You should play the mountains and cold as 
  a pair of forces out to kill the characters 
  because in its own way it is. Force your 
  players to be ingenious and brave to 
  survive but bear in mind that they may 
  have to walk back afterwards! 
  Scene 4: Polar One 
  The most important and immediately 
  obvious fact when the characters reach 
  Polar One is that it isn’t there anymore. 
  Where the station was is not just a 
  scattering of a few bits of broken 
  equipment and a crater in the ice. 
  In amongst the debris the characters will 
  find body parts of both Terrans, who were 
  the resident scientists but a lot more Hiver 
  body parts. 
  Normally, Hivers would cannibalize their 
  fallen swarm members but in this instance 
  their mission was to attack and move on. 
  The explosion here caught them by 
  surprise and there were too many killed to 
  consume them all. 
  The method was the same as Polar Two. 
  The Hivers approached in single file and on 
  foot. Only when they reached the station 
  did they spread out and attack. 
  What exploded and the cause will probably 
  remain unknown? The real reason is that 
  the 
  last 
  few 
  survivors 
  had 
  locked 
  themselves into a maintenance pod and 
  rather than awaiting death meekly they 
  attempted to build a jet powered skidoo 
  using gas cylinders and an emergency 
  stretcher. Over 40 Hivers were killed in the 
  explosion. 
  One of the things that survived is a box, 
  20cm x 30cm x 50cm and weighing about 
  5kg. 
  It 
  is 
  clearly 
  marked 
  DANGER 
  EXPLOSIVES. It is secured with a basic 
  
   
   
  padlock. Inside, each in well padded and 
  insulated compartments are rods of anfo 
  explosive, several meters of detonator cord 
  and a wireless detonator (range 250m). 
  Anfo looks like polystyrene beads and 
  much be compressed to explode. The 
  blocks are about the size and shape of a fat 
  cigar and there are 20 of them in the case. 
  Each rod has a hold down the middle to 
  thread the detonator cord through. 
  This is here as the crew at Polar One had 
  occasional need to remove rock and stone 
  that they could not remove by manual 
  labor. 
  It is relatively easy to follow the Hivers track 
  back to where they came from. Their trail 
  leads to the actual magnetic north pole. 
  Polar One was build on the other side of a 
  rocky 
  outcrop 
  because 
  of 
  magnetic 
  interference to communications at the 
  actual pole. The pole is only 50 m in a direct 
  line, but the walk is just over 500m on foot. 
  As there is a vertical cliff face between Polar 
  One and the pole. 
  There is a chance of an encounter at Polar 
  One. Because of the amount of blood that 
  was spilled here it has attracted scavengers.  
  If the characters are in good condition and 
  well equipped then the encounter will be 
  with a huge snow bear, the end of the 
  adventure for details. 
  If the characters are struggling, then the 
  encounter will be with an aggressive 
  Capra. 
  All the clues point to the Hivers having 
  come from the north pole. 
  Scene 5: The Hive 
  The Hivers have built a towering hive over 
  the site of the magnetic pole. The entire 
  structure is grey, almost black and covered 
  with course ribs cause by the weight of the 
  structure pressing down on the chitinous 
  material. 
  A sensible party of characters will take one 
  look at the hive and all in the military! 
  Luckily for the characters most of the Hiver 
  soldiers are away. 
  On the map provided the very top level 
  (4th) is made of two square chambers. 
  These hold a single grey chitinous mass in 
  each. Buried into the mass are parts of local 
  technology. 
  These 
  parts 
  have 
  been 
  scavenged by drones from Polar One, Two 
  and Three. The Hivers have created a 
  fusion between organic Hiver computing 
  and 
  the 
  scavenged 
  computer 
  and 
  communication parts. The Hivers are then 
  using them to locate habitations.  
  At first, they discovered Polar One by 
  chance. The first Egg was planted at the 
  pole (following the high-altitude explosion 
  at the end of Hivers 1). The scientists at 
  Polar One came to investigate and the first 
  were used as food. When queen had 
  produced enough eggs to produce soldiers 
  Polar One was attacked and that ended in 
  its destruction. The parts of computer and 
  basic communicators were scavenged at 
  this point. 
  There were clear tracks leading to Polar 
  Two and the Hiver Soldiers marched on 
  Polar Two. Once that had been taken the 
  Hivers had two locations from which they 
  could start to triangulate the positions of 
  other radio sources. 
  This led to the locating, attack and 
  destruction of Polar Three. The Hiver 
  second Hiver computer was moved to the 
  top story of Polar Three as this gave 
  improved communications range and 
  accuracy. 
  It should be possible to connect various bits 
  of equipment together to create a 
  dangerous 
  short 
  circuit, 
  a 
  fire 
  and 
  eventually an explosion that will take the 
  top of the tower off. 
  Below the computer level is the queen and 
  egg storage (3rd). 
  You can roll randomly to decide which 
  chamber she is in, or better still make it the 
  last chamber searched. The reason being 
  that the other chambers have eggs in 
  
   
   
  perfectly neat rows completely covering 
  the floors, walls and ceiling. Each looks like 
  an oversized grain of rice 50cm-60cm tall 
  and 20cm diameter. With each chamber 
  searched the eggs will be nearer to 
  completing their maturing. Normally, Hiver 
  eggs take 14hrs to mature but in these cold 
  temperatures it is nearer to 32hrs-48hrs. 
  There are approximately a thousand eggs 
  per chamber. 
  The Queen will be in the last chamber and 
  will both scream for assistance and attack 
  the characters once she is aware of them. 
  The Soldiers ‘barracks’ (2nd) level. The 
  soldier Hivers all have wings so use this 
  entrance to the hive. The back walls of this 
  level are used as a larder and ever missing 
  people from Polar One and Polar Two are 
  molded into the wall with wax and being 
  used as a food source for the soldiers. 
  Hivers have no concept of personal space, 
  so although this level does not seem 
  particularly large it can house hundreds of 
  soldiers. Luckily for the characters most of 
  them are away hunting. 
  The ground (1st) level is the worker 
  entrance and although it is above the snow 
  level, it can be reached by a ridged ramp. 
  Workers are coming and going constantly 
  bringing blocks of ice, used to cool the hive 
  and as drinking water. 
  The basement (-1st) is full of pupating 
  Hivers. It is simply normal for Hivers to 
  reconfigure their population to suit their 
  needs. The cold conditions and thin air 
  here mean that raids need to be carried out 
  on foot, they lack the energy to fly long 
  distances. 
  It takes 6 hours for a Hiver to pupate 
  normally but here the time is doubled as 
  their metabolic processes are working 
  more slowly. 
  There are more bodies stuck to the walls 
  with wax here. 
  Explosives? 
  If characters want to use the explosives 
  from Polar One (See scene 4) to destroy the 
  alien computer on the top floor all the 
  soldiers from the 2nd level will launch. 
  Unless the characters are particularly skilled 
  in explosives it should be assumed that the 
  top has been blown wide open and you 
  can play a King Kong style scene with the 
  Hiver soldiers swirling around and diving in 
  to attack the characters on the exposed 
  top. 
  If the characters, try to bring down the 
  entire tower then this is certainly possible 
  but most of the eggs will survive. 
  Furthermore, if even one Hiver survives it 
  will feed on all of the surviving organic 
  matter, pupate into a Queen, lay a hundred 
  or so eggs and then pupate into a worker 
  and start to reconstruct the hive. The 
  material it is made from can be chewed up 
  by a worker until it becomes malleable, 
  shaped and then allowed to harden. More 
  chitin can be produced by a process of 
  scraping their own exoskeletons to get 
  chitinous material and then chewing and 
  molding it. 
  Hivers call to each other using clicks and 
  vibrations through the fabric of the hive. If 
  any hiver discovers invaders it will click and 
  stamp to attract soldiers to deal with the 
  threat. These should arrive one per round, 
  using the central shaft, every round.  
  There should be no more than 20 Soldiers 
  in and around the hive at the time the 
  characters arrive. 
  This battle should be treated as the 
  climactic final battle of the adventure. Once 
  the soldiers and the queen are defeated 
  there is little to threaten the characters. 
  The do have to survive the journey back to 
  Polar Two if they want to get out of here 
  alive! 
   
   
   
  
   
   
   
  
   
   
  NPC Roster 
  Bessie Powall  
  Naval Officer 
  Class and Style Str 
  Dex 
  Con 
  Int 
  Wis Cha HP Atk. Bon. 
  Expert (Nimble) 
  10 (+0) 14 (+1) 12 (+0) 11 (+0) 9 (+0) 7 (-1) 4 
  +0 
  Skills: Administer-0, Talk-0, 
  Connect-0, Perform-0 
  Focus: Specialist/Sneak 
  Assassin 
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
  
   
   
  Hivers 
  Hiver Worker 
  Basic Animal Features: Insect,  
  Body Plan: Humanoid 
  Skin Novelty: Exoskeleton  
  Main Weapon: Claws  
  Size: Calf-sized 
  Predator: Hunts in kin-group packs 
  Beast Type 
   
   HD  
  AC  
  Atk.  
  Dmg.  
  Move  
  ML  
  Skills  
  Saves 
  Large Pack Hunter  
  2  
  14  
  +2  
  1d6  
  15m  
  9  
  +1  
  14+ 
  Hiver Soldier 
  Basic Animal Features: Insect,  
  Body Plan: Humanoid 
  Limb Novelty: Wings  
  Skin Novelty: Exoskeleton  
  Main Weapon: Claws  
  Size: Calf-sized 
  Predator: Hunts in kin-group packs 
  Beast Type 
   
   HD  
  AC  
  Atk.  
  Dmg.  
  Move  
  ML  
  Skills  
  Saves 
  Large Pack Hunter  
  2  
  14  
  +2  
  1d6  
  15m  
  9  
  +1  
  14+ 
  Hiver Drone 
  Basic Animal Features: Insect,  
  Body Plan: Humanoid 
  Skin Novelty: Exoskeleton  
  Main Weapon: Claws  
  Size: Calf-sized 
  Predator: Hunts in kin-group packs 
  Beast Type 
   
   HD  
  AC  
  Atk.  
  Dmg.  
  Move  
  ML  
  Skills  
  Saves 
  Small Pack Hunter  
  1  
  13  
  +1  
  1d4  
  15m  
  8  
  +1  
  15+ 
  Hiver Queen 
  Basic Animal Features: Insect,  
  Body Plan: Bulbous 
  Skin Novelty: Exoskeleton  
  Main Weapon: none  
  Size: greater than Elephant-sized 
  Prey: Breeds at tremendous rates 
  Beast Type 
   
   HD  
  AC  
  Atk.  
  Dmg.  
  Move  
  ML  
  Skills  
  Saves 
  Terrifying Apex Predator  8  
  16  
  - 
  -  
  20m  
  9  
  +2  
  11+ 
   
   
   
  
   
   
  Snow Bear 
  Basic Animal Features: Mammal,  
  Body Plan: Quadruped 
  Skin Novelty: Thick Thermal Protective Coat/Camouflage 
  Main Weapon: Claws  
  Size: Bull-sized 
  Predator: Hunts as a lone, powerful hunter 
  Beast Type 
   
   
   HD  
  AC  
  Atk.  
  Dmg.  
  Move  
  ML  
  Skills  
  Saves 
  Terrifying Apex Predator  
  8  
  16  
  +8 x 2  1d10  
  20m  
  9  
  +2  
  11+ 
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
  each 
  Capra 
  Basic Animal Features: Mammal,  
  Body Plan: Quadruped 
  Skin Novelty: Thick Thermal Protective Coat/Camouflage 
  Main Weapon: Horns 
  Size: Calf-sized 
  Predator: They’re vicious if threatened  
  Beast Type 
   
   
   HD  
  AC  
  Atk.  
  Dmg.  
  Move  
  ML  
  Skills  
  Saves 
  Large Aggressive Prey Animal  
  5  
  13  
  +4  
  1d10  
  15m  
  8  
  +1  
  12+ 
  
SOURCE: textdata/thevault/Stars Without Number/Stars Without Number Adventures & Settings/Hivers (SwN)/Hivers II (SwN).pdf