Seren Kael
Leader of the Ember Compact, a Day One cell eleven months into Korath Station's lower hab-blocks.
A former Korath dockworker, three years past a corporate restructuring that ended with his family realised as assets. He is intelligent, charismatic and entirely finished with doubt, and he has recruited eleven Martyrs from the Deep Deeps' dispossessed.
What Seren believes: that the Kadiss grid is a panopticon which turns people into assets; that the corporatocracy will never reform and must be broken; that a Fold-ripper event in Reactor 7 will free the Deep Deeps from the grid, force the Confederation to acknowledge the underclass, and prove the machine is vulnerable; and that the casualties are acceptable because the machine is already killing people slowly through debt, indenture and realisation, so the breach is only faster.
What Seren does not know: that House Vorath is funding his cell and wants a reactor contract rather than a revolution; that the Rogue Psion Voss is unstable and the controlled breach will not be controlled; and that some of his seventeen recruits were coerced or were promised things the cell cannot deliver.
He will talk. That is the whole of the module's climax: he will listen to anything the party bring, and he will not hand over the device until he is given a reason to believe the machine can be broken another way. The one thing that reaches him is the funding chain, because it makes his revolution a business move.
Scene note. MOD-04 Part 4 sends the party to "Scene 7" for the confrontation and the module has no Scene 7. This conversation is it, and the missing cross-reference is recorded in the NPC scene production plan.
Rules Reference
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Abilities / Cha | 16 |
| Abilities / Con | 14 |
| Abilities / Dex | 15 |
| Abilities / Int | 16 |
| Abilities / Str | 12 |
| Abilities / Wis | 13 |
| Armor Class | 16 |
| Base Attack Bonus | 4 |
| Creature Type | Humanoid |
| Flat Ac | 13 |
| Hd Count | 4 |
| Hd Sides | 8 |
| Hit Dice | 4d8+8 |
| Hit Points | 33 |
| Hp Bonus | 8 |
| Initiative | 5 |
| Languages | Core Standard; Korath hive argot; Day One cell cant |
| Senses | Kadiss-disconnected by choice; eleven months of knowing which corridors are watched; passive Perception 15 |
| Size | M |
| Skills / Engineering | 5 |
| Skills / Persuasion | 9 |
| Skills / Sense Motive | 5 |
| Skills / Stealth | 8 |
| Skills / Streetwise | 7 |
| Skills / Tactics | 8 |
| Speed | 30 |
| Threat Rating | 4 |
| Touch Ac | 13 |
| Xp | 1200 |
| Dialogue Path | game/dialogue/npc-seren-kael.yaml |
Attacks
Modified carbine
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
bonus | 6 |
category | ranged |
damage | 1d8+1 |
name | Modified carbine |
notes | Suppressed; +2 on an ambush round. |
Combat knife
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
bonus | 5 |
category | melee |
damage | 1d4+1 |
name | Combat knife |
notes |
IED
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
bonus | 0 |
category | special |
damage | 3d6 |
name | IED |
notes | 15-ft burst, DC 15 Reflex half, once per encounter. Saved for a chokepoint. |
Special Abilities
Cell Network
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
actionCost | Swift |
name | Cell Network |
description: Seren directs every Martyr within 60 ft: they take +2 to attack, +2 to Stealth, or withdraw, his choice. Player-visible: he says one word and the room moves.
Asymmetric Doctrine
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
actionCost | passive |
description | +2 initiative and +2 on the first attack of any encounter Seren initiated. He never fights fair and does not pretend to. |
name | Asymmetric Doctrine |
Martyr's Gambit
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
actionCost | Standard |
name | Martyr's Gambit |
description: Seren designates one Martyr for a sacrificial attack at +4 to hit and +2d6 damage. Player-visible: he names a person, and that person goes forward, and both of them know what it is.
Ghost Protocol
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
actionCost | Immediate (below 15 HP) |
name | Ghost Protocol |
description: Seren vanishes at +8 Stealth and reappears in 1d4 hours. If the party were detected earlier in the module he has already activated it before the confrontation begins.
He Will Listen
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
actionCost | passive |
name | He Will Listen |
description: Seren does not surrender the breach device to force, threat or argument about casualties, all of which he has already had with himself. He surrenders it only to evidence that his revolution is somebody else's contract. Player-visible: every other line of approach reaches a patient, courteous refusal.