Blue Moon Bloom
The Wayfinder’s boarding ramp hissed open to admit a whirlwind in oversized goggles and dust-stained academic robes.
“Magnificent vessel!” the woman declared, spinning slowly as she took in the cargo bay. “Functional. Rugged. Slightly on fire at the back, oh no, that’s just scoring. Good.”
Cap’in blinked. “We prefer ‘experienced.’”
The woman beamed and thrust out a gloved hand. “Professor Maysi Dustfellow, Department of Xenobotany, University of Chandrila.”
Brains looked up from his datapad. “The University of Chandrila?”
Professor Dustfellow nodded proudly. “Yes, yes, very reputable. Peer-reviewed. Occasionally funded.”
Jugro muttered, “That last bit worries me.”
The professor activated a small holo-projector. A shimmering blue cactus appeared above her palm, its spines glowing faintly.
“The Blue Moon Bloom,” she said reverently. “A bioluminescent cactus that flowers once per standard year - only under a full moon. Each blossom lasts mere hours. Each petal contains extraordinary regenerative properties.”
Spike folded his arms. “So you want the whole plant?”
The professor gasped in horror. “Absolutely not! Remove the entire cactus and it dies. We require a single petal. Carefully harvested. Sustainably. Ethically.”
5E’s photoreceptors flickered. “Define ‘carefully.’”
“One full minute of uninterrupted contact at the bloom point,” she replied briskly. “No sawing. No explosions. Minimal screaming.”
Cap’in narrowed her eyes. “And where is this glowing miracle plant?”
The professor’s enthusiasm dimmed slightly.
“Lunadev Oasis. Tarvos V.”
Jugro groaned. “Desert planet. Of course.”
Momaw Nadon inclined his head. “Tarvos V is harsh. Water scarce. Predators territorial.”
“And competitors,” the professor added quickly. “I may have mentioned my research at a conference.”
Brains sighed. “You may have.”
“Well,” she continued, wringing her hands, “a rival syndicate’s biotech division has hired a rather dreadful man named Erlich Steeltoe. He intends to uproot the entire cactus.”
Cap’in’s expression hardened. “We’re not letting that happen.”
Spike glanced at the holo. “So we’re racing hired thugs into a desert oasis to protect a glowing cactus.”
“Correct!” the professor chirped.
Jugro leaned back. “Does the cactus shoot back?”
“Only metaphorically,” she replied.
Brains raised a finger. “Payment?”
The professor straightened. “A substantial credit transfer upon delivery of an intact petal.”
Cap’in looked around at her crew.
“We get in, reach the oasis before Steeltoe, harvest one petal, and make sure the rest of the plant survives,” she said. “If Steeltoe tries to rip it out - ”
Choppa rested his halberd against his shoulder. “We persuade him otherwise.”
5E added, “Persuasion subroutine ready.”
Momaw rumbled softly. “The bloom must live.”
The professor clasped her hands. “Oh, you heroic beings. Think of the scientific advancement!”
Jugro smirked. “I’m thinking of the credits.”
Cap’in nodded once.
“Set course for Tarvos V. Full moon’s coming.”
The Wayfinder’s engines roared to life as the desert world rotated slowly on the forward display - somewhere in its burning sands, a single blue glow waited to bloom… and more than one crew was racing to claim it.
Background
This adventure adapts the “Flower Power” scenario from One-Shot Wonders: Over 100 Adventures for Fantasy RPGs for tabletop skirmish play.
The objectives were reworked to suit a narrative wargame format, with asymmetrical goals for both sides.
Wayfinder Crew Objectives
Locate the Bloom
Six Oasis Markers are placed on the table.
The Blue Moon Bloom is revealed on the first successful Regular Search Roll (5+).
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Rolling a 1 instead triggers a Swooping Insect Swarm attack at that marker.
Harvest the Petal
Once the Bloom is located, a crew member must spend one full activation in base contact to carefully remove a single petal.
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If the petal is successfully returned to the Wayfinder, gain +2 Renown Points.
Protect the Bloom
Prevent Erlich Steeltoe’s gang from uprooting or destroying the plant.
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If the Bloom survives intact at the end of the game, gain +3 Renown Points.
Escort Maysi
Ensure Professor Maysi Dustfellow exits the board alive.
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If she survives, gain +1 Renown Point.
Once per turn, Maysi may reroll a failed Bloom Identification/Search roll.
Erlich Steeltoe’s Objectives (Rival Crew)
Uproot the Bloom
If Erlich or one of his gang spends a full activation in base contact with the Bloom, they may uproot it and carry it.
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If the plant is carried off the board, gain +4 Renown Points.
Destroy the Bloom
The Bloom may be attacked as an object:
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Armour 8, 3 Wounds. If destroyed, gain +3 Renown Points.
Deny the Petal
If the Bloom is destroyed before the Wayfinder crew successfully harvests a petal:
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Gain +1 Renown Point.
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| Lunadev Oasis |
The Wayfinder crew slipped into Lunadev Oasis under a canopy of cold starlight.
The place was unnaturally still. No wind. No insects. No distant animal calls. Just the faint crunch of boots on sand and the soft hum of power packs.
Brains squinted into the darkness.
“I hate this already. It’s so dark I can barely see what’s in front of me.”
(Night fighting rules in effect: maximum range for all ranged weapons is 12 inches.)
Cap’in adjusted the grip on her blaster.
“Works both ways. If we can’t see them, Steeltoe’s lot can’t see us.”
She glanced toward the shadowy palms ahead.
“Means this’ll be close quarters if it kicks off. And it makes finding this glowing cactus a whole lot harder.”
Professor Maysi Dustfellow peered excitedly through her macrobinoculars, nearly tripping over a root in the process.
“Oh! But that’s the best part,” she whispered loudly. “The Blue Moon Bloom is bioluminescent. Once it begins to flower, it will emit a distinct azure glow. Subtle, but unmistakable!”
Jugro muttered, “Subtle doesn’t help.”
Maysi waved him off. “You simply have to look carefully!”
Cap’in turned slowly, scanning the darkened pools and rock formations.
“Alright,” she said quietly over the comms. “Spread out. Two-metre spacing. Check every marker, every patch of cactus, every rock cluster.”
She paused, lowering her voice further.
“And keep it quiet. We don’t know if we’re alone out here.”
Spike melted toward a line of palms, blaster raised.
Choppa moved the opposite direction, halberd resting across his shoulders.
Momaw advanced with deliberate calm, eyes sweeping the dunes.
5E’s photoreceptors brightened slightly as it adjusted to the darkness.
Somewhere in the oasis, beneath the rising full moon, something faintly blue would soon begin to glow.
The question was whether the Wayfinders would find it first… or whether something else would find them.
Turn 2
Momaw had barely taken three measured steps into the oasis when he stopped dead.
“There,” he rumbled over the comms. “I have found it.”
There was a beat of stunned silence.
“Already?” Brains hissed. “We just got here.”
Jugro’s voice crackled in. “You sure it’s not just glow-moss?”
Professor Maysi Dustfellow practically bounced in place. “Oh! Oh, that’s extraordinary! I expected at least forty-five minutes of methodical grid searching!”
Ahead of them, nestled between two low rock shelves, a soft azure glow pulsed gently in the darkness - subtle, steady, unmistakable.
The Blue Moon Bloom.
Its spines shimmered faintly as the full moon climbed higher.
Maysi clasped her hands together. “Magnificent. Now - carefully - we must remove a single petal.”
Cap’in’s tone cut cleanly through the excitement.
“Jugro. Escort the Professor back to the ship. Then circle round and return.”
“What?” Maysi protested. “I must supervise - ”
“We’ll extract the petal and bring it to you,” Cap’in said firmly. “If we found it this fast, Steeltoe can too. Once that glow’s fully visible, it’s a beacon.”
She scanned the tree line.
“We hold this position until daybreak.”
Almost on cue, blaster fire tore across the oasis.
Scarlet bolts slashed through the palms, lighting the water pools in violent flashes of red. Leaves disintegrated. Sand exploded into glassy sprays.
Jugro swore. “That didn’t take long.”
Across the oasis, shapes moved between the trees.
Erlich Steeltoe’s crew had arrived.
With the darkness limiting visibility, both sides were forced into dangerous advances. No one could rely on long-range fire. Every move meant exposure.
One of Steeltoe’s thugs pushed aggressively forward, raising his blaster rifle and taking aim at the glow.
He squeezed the trigger.
Nothing.
“Ah - ” he began.
The empty power pack whined uselessly in his hands.
Spike didn’t hesitate.
The thug dropped before he could duck back into cover.
Cap’in moved to the centre, igniting her blade briefly before lowering it again - its glow too revealing in the dark.
“Form on me! Protective arc! Nobody touches that cactus!”
The Wayfinders spread out, forming a defensive crescent around the Bloom. Good intentions met immediate resistance.
Blaster fire hammered into their line.
5E stepped into the open to draw fire and was struck hard, sparks flying as the droid crashed to one knee.
“Damage sustained,” it reported flatly, before collapsing into a smoking heap.
“5E’s down!” Brains shouted.
Moments later, Choppa roared defiantly and charged to close the distance - only to be caught mid-stride by a well-placed shot. He staggered, dropped his halberd, and hit the sand hard.
“Choppa’s out!” Spike called.
The oasis, once silent and still, had become a chaotic ring of light and shadow.
And in the centre of it all, the Blue Moon Bloom continued to glow - fragile, luminous, and worth every risk.
Steeltoe’s gang were spreading out, using the trees and broken rock to push around both flanks. The limited visibility emboldened them - if they could get close enough, the Wayfinders’ defensive arc would collapse.
Spike saw it first on the left.
“Movement. Nine o’clock.”
Jugro, having just returned from escorting the Professor, slid into position beside him.
“On three?”
Spike nodded.
“One… two…”
Both fired at once.
Twin blaster flashes lit the tree line. A dark silhouette jerked violently and crumpled into the sand.
Jugro exhaled. “That’s one.”
Then its photoreceptors flickered back to life.
“Reboot complete,” the droid intoned flatly, smoke curling from a blackened shoulder plate.
Cap’in didn’t look up from the cactus. “Good. I need thirty more seconds.”
5E rose stiffly, servos whining, and stepped into position beside her. Its blaster came up smoothly despite the scorch marks running down its arm.
“Providing suppressive fire.”
Blue bolts lanced into the darkness, forcing Steeltoe’s thugs to keep their heads down while Cap’in worked with careful precision, gloved fingers steady as she began the delicate extraction of a single glowing petal.
He fired once.
A sharp hiss of displaced air answered him as the target ducked back into cover.
“They press from the right,” Momaw warned calmly.
In the centre, Brains had abandoned subtlety.
“I can’t see them!” he snapped, sweeping his rifle across the gloom. “So I’ll just discourage everything!”
He fired repeatedly into the darkness, bolts streaking past trees and kicking up sand. For a moment, it worked - shapes withdrew, uncertain.
But the repeated flashes marked him like a beacon.
Spike glanced sideways. “Brains, you’re lit up like a festival -”
Too late.
A burst of return fire cut through the dark.
Brains staggered as bolts struck his chestplate and shoulder. His rifle slipped from his hands as he fell backward into the sand.
“Brains down!” Jugro shouted.
In the centre of the chaos, the Blue Moon Bloom continued to pulse with calm blue light.
Cap’in didn’t stop.
“Almost there,” she muttered, fingers steady despite the firefight raging only metres away.
5E adjusted its aim and fired again, sparks still falling from its damaged frame as it stood guard over captain and cactus alike.
Spike didn’t turn from his sightline. “Negative, Cap’in. You’ve got the objective. Get that back to the ship. We’ll hold.”
She hesitated.
Blaster fire cracked past them.
Spike fired again toward the tree line where he and Jugro had dropped a target moments earlier.
“Go!” he barked. “We’ve got this!”
Jugro didn’t look away from his ironsights. “Make this count, Cap’in. Move!”
For a split second, Cap’in weighed pride against pragmatism.
Then she ran.
Spike saw it too late.
The figure rolled onto an elbow, raised a blaster with cold precision, and fired twice in quick succession.
The first bolt caught Spike square in the chest. He staggered backward and collapsed hard into the sand, armour smoking.
The second shot slammed into Jugro’s side, spinning him around with a curse.
Jugro hit the ground, breath knocked from him. Through gritted teeth, he slapped a stim patch against the wound, forcing himself upright as pain flared white-hot.
“Should’ve stayed down,” he growled.
He fired back in controlled bursts.
The shadow jerked once - then went still.
Jugro lowered his weapon slowly.
“Target neutralised.”
He didn’t realise he had just put Erlich Steeltoe himself out of the fight.
Without their leader’s command, they pressed harder, trying to swarm the centre before the Wayfinders could stabilise.
Figures burst from cover on both flanks.
Momaw stepped forward to meet one of them head-on, blaster discarded as the fight closed to brutal proximity. The two collided in the sand, grappling in the cactus’ eerie blue glow.
The thug fought viciously, driving Momaw back. A savage strike sent the Ithorian sprawling. He fell heavily, motionless.
“Momaw’s down!” 5E reported coldly.
Jugro, now bleeding but upright, fell back toward the cactus, planting himself between it and the encroaching gang.
“No one touches the plant,” he muttered.
The Blue Moon Bloom continued to glow serenely amid the chaos.
Cap’in was already disappearing into the darkness with the petal.
Behind her, the remaining Wayfinders fought not for profit now - but to ensure that fragile blue light would still be there when dawn came.
A single, precise shot rang out.
The shadow dropped.
“Last target neutralised,” 5E reported evenly.
For a moment, the oasis fell into uneasy silence again - broken only by the crackle of burning foliage and the distant echo of retreating footsteps.
Jugro exhaled slowly. “That’s the front clear.”
“Negative,” 5E replied. “Thermal signatures indicate additional hostiles in vegetation sectors west and north-west.”
Jugro gave a tired chuckle. “Of course there are.”
Blaster fire erupted again, both sides shooting blind through leaves and branches. Bolts scorched bark and vaporised fronds. Sand spat upward in glowing sprays. Neither side could be sure whether they were hitting enemies or shadows.
Sparks burst outward.
5E stiffened.
“Critical - ”
The rest of the sentence dissolved into static as the droid collapsed face-first into the sand, systems fried.
Jugro swore under his breath.
Now it was just him.
He glanced at the Bloom. Its soft blue light was beginning to dim slightly - the full moon already drifting lower.
“Sunrise can’t be far,” he muttered. “Just hold it together…”
Once the sun rose, the petals would withdraw and the Bloom would go dormant for another year. They only needed to survive a little longer.
Jugro advanced carefully, circling wide to cut off escape. He’d seen this one before - appearing, firing, vanishing again.
“Enough,” he growled.
He flanked the rocks, catching the gang member mid-move. One clean burst dropped them into the sand.
That left one.
Jugro crouched low, scanning the darkness. He could hear movement - laboured breathing, scrambling footsteps behind the same rocky outcrop.
What he didn’t know was that the last of Steeltoe’s gang had already taken heavy hits earlier in the fight. Not enough to drop them - but enough to rattle nerves and drain resolve. With their leader gone and their numbers shattered, confidence had evaporated.
Another exchange of wild, panicked fire cracked through the night.
Then… silence.
Footsteps retreating.
Faster. More desperate.
Jugro waited.
No return fire came.
He rose slowly, weapon still trained on the rocks.
The final thug had broken - fleeing blindly into the desert night rather than face one more exchange.
Jugro looked around the oasis.
Momaw down. Spike down. 5E sparking in the sand. Choppa already out earlier.
And the Bloom - still standing.
He let out a long breath.
“Guess that’s that.”
Above him, the first faint hint of dawn began to creep along the horizon.
Jugro had held the line.
And the Blue Moon Bloom would live to flower again next year.
Final Outcome
A very different kind of contract for the Wayfinder crew - less about bounty hunting and more about preservation - but by dawn’s light, every objective had been met.
- The petal was secured.
- The Blue Moon Bloom still stood.
- Professor Dustfellow survived.
- Steeltoe’s operation lay in ruins.
By the final tally, the crew earned +6 Renown Points for fulfilling their objectives. Combined with their existing 12 Renown, and bolstered by the +3 Renown from their Legendary Team trait, the Wayfinders now stood proudly at 21 Renown Points.
With Renown climbing and momentum building, the crew decided to invest in improvement. A few members would pick up new skill traits.
Perhaps most surprising of all, given the sheer volume of blaster fire exchanged, the post-mission Recovery rolls were merciful.
Only one unfortunate result surfaced: Choppa rolled a 7 - sidelined for the next game. The rest of the crew would be fit for duty. And when the Wayfinder reached home port, Mon Kir would finally be cleared to resume active service - a welcome reinforcement after his previous injury.
Two missions in a row without a full-blown medical crisis.
For the Wayfinder crew, that counted as a winning streak.
Epilogue
Back aboard the ship, once the wounded were stabilised and the smoke had finally cleared from 5E’s chassis, the mood shifted from survival to reflection.
Cap’in leaned against the galley table. “We held. Everyone pulled their weight.”
Jugro smirked faintly. “Some of us pulled more than others.”
Spike, still sore but upright, shot him a look. “You’re welcome.”
Brains adjusted a cooling patch on his armour. “Statistically speaking, our performance exceeded projected survival curves.”
Momaw grunted from his seat. “Means we get better.”
And that was the consensus.
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