(Award
2 XP for taking out the Lab. Getting the
Delta is the main objective, but . . . it’s complicated.)
The Mesa
The
Lab is built on a small mesa shelf.
Behind the Lab is a ravine and surrounded by harder to scale
mountains. The mesa is easy to climb
with a couple of rds of effort and can even be driven up on a bike or
truck. The group will have completely
unopposed and unobserved movement at the bottom of the hill. At the bottom of the mesa though are a pile
of bodies and body parts. Ooh,
nasty. Talk about a “Keep Out”
sign. Even an untrained observation can
tell they were experimented on.
Just
over the lip of the hill is the grounds’ main defense. 1
Buried Hive Drone is keeping an
eye on anything coming over the lip.
It’s not well-hidden (DC 12 to Detect from up close, DC 18 to Detect
from a distance with binoculars). If
someone sneaks a peek over the lip (not in Typhoon armor or with a powered-on
Proto-fuel device, which will cause the check to fail immediately), they can
try a Detection roll without risking being seen. (Why do I write things like this? Players would never do something like
that.)
Trying
to sneak up onto the mesa is a DC 12 Stealth check (again, not in Typhoon armor
or using a Proto-fuel device). However,
if detected, the Drone doesn’t attack, but rather it alerts the 2 Urban Regulators in the Well House to
come investigate. I don’t want to try to
figure out every contingency, but any invasion or attack inside the compound
with Proto-fueled weapons will cause the Drone to attack.
Well House
2 Urban Regulators reside in the Well
House. (What a crummy job.) Occasionally, they patrol the grounds, but if
there are any Hive not controlled by Menus in the area, they duck back
inside. Since a patrol did go by
recently (the one the Characters ran into), they’re hiding. There is a window on the Well House that
Characters could look into to see the guards.
They’ll
want to try and take captives if just one or two trespassers come on to the
mesa. However, if Proto-fueled weapons
are used or the Drone is triggered, they will use lethal force and attempt to
flank the attackers. Aren’t you Players
glad that Geezer is watching your back now?
He’ll give the group a heads-up on where anything on the mesa is
moving.
It’s
possible that Characters could sneak up to the building and blow it up before
the Regulators come out. If the
Characters try this successfully, it will collapse the building on them and
destroy them. (Give them a round of
applause and 1 XP, too. Always feel free
to hand out XP for good play.) Setting a
mine on the other buildings in the compound will just blow a hole in the wall,
perhaps killing or damaging those inside (depending on how long the game
session is going). It will require 3
Stealth checks: one to get there, one to plant the mine, another to get away.
Greenhouse
There
are windows all the way around this building.
You can peek inside to see what’s there.
In this case, the greenhouse is filled with Proto-flowers. There is 1
Regulator overseer and 4 human slaves tending to the flowers. One of the slaves is a little girl,
Jade.
Entering
the greenhouse without a helmet on will require a DC 12 Fort save. The building is filled with dangerously
psychotropic Proto-flower spores. Those
failing to make the save are stunned for 1 rd and will be last in initiative in
any fight inside. The effects go away as
soon as the person steps back outside. The
Regulator here will engage any intruder inside the greenhouse, but won’t abandon
his post to go outside until the Drone and the 2 Urban Regulators are
incapacitated or if otherwise summoned.
All
of the slaves are zonked out of their minds.
This is why the Hive have to keep bringing in new slaves for their
plantations. There’s a terrible
attrition of workers. Inside this
building, it’s even worse. They’re going
to require some medical treatment in town, but will be okay. The problem is that they’re going to have to
be led outside and away from the Lab as they won’t respond to orders. On any firefights inside, there’s a
possibility of the slaves getting in the way (unintentionally), requiring
shooting into a crowd.
Lab House
This
isn’t a formal lab. It is a farmhouse
converted into one. From the outside, it
looks very pedestrian. There’s only 1
entry and 1 window. The view through the
window shows the lab inside and a Regulator moving around working on an
experiment. Either the front door or the
window can be forced open with basically any damage, but that will alert
everyone inside. Either can be quietly
opened with a DC 12 Lockpicking check. Any
Character smart enough to try will be able to get in and have 1 rd to attack or
hide before being noticed. (DC 12 Stealth
check each rd inside.)
There
are 3 Regulators inside. 1 is in the isolation bay, 1 is by the trough/specimen
jars, and 1 is by the computer bank. The
entry is deserted. Once any shooting
starts inside the Lab, 2 Regulators inside will attack. The third Regulator will start trying to wreck
the Specimen Room jars, blow up the computers, and then destroy the Isolation Bay. This will take 5 rds (2 rds to destroy the
specimen jars, 1 rd to destroy the computers, 1 rd to go through the airlock,
and 1 rd to destroy the Iso Bay). Obviously,
the Characters will not be able to recover anything from these rooms if they
are destroyed. Not to mention, any of
the other Regulators left in the other buildings will come in 2 rds. The Hive Drone will wait outside, but the
Attack Drone will not leave the barn, unless all the other troops are
killed.
Entry: This room is
empty, but has an unlocked door to the Specimen Room and a picture window to
the Isolation Bay. The Regulator in the
Iso Bay is unlikely to notice intruders unless they’ve forced their way in.
Specimen Room: The Hive in their
mecka suits have no sense of smell, which would be essential to working in this
house. There is a foul miasma of
Proto-fuel and dissected body parts. No
need to roll anything, it’s not that strong, just a fragrant ambiance.
There
is a trough of Proto-fuel filled with body parts. There are specimen jars of embryos with odd
Human/Hive hybrid creatures, not alive.
In the corner, there’s a sniper rifle with a scope. Next to it is a box of 12 anesthetic trank
darts (DC 18 Fort Sv or knocked out for 1 hr).
The rifle is of human-make. A
Hive Regulator couldn’t even use it.
Computer Room: There’s a bank of Hive
and human computers slapped together here.
There are power and data cables snaking out from this room to various
points in the other rooms. In the top
left corner is a four-pack of Proto-fuel cells powering the computers. (This is either the nearly drained cells of
the nearby Delta fighter or a brand new set of cells depending on how you want
to play this.) It can be easily
disconnected.
Right
next to the cells is a data drive hooked up to a jar of Proto-fuel containing a
small sliver of white organic matter.
These two items are easy to identify and disconnect. You’re running this adventure wrong if you
allow the Characters to attempt to hack the computer while they’re here. This needs to be a smash-and-grab and figure
it out later caper. Sam the barkeep
could hack the security on the drive pretty quick (with the right motivation
and a Social Interaction roll). For anybody
else it’s going to be a DC 18 Hack. The
cryptic, very technical data on the drive has detailed biological information
on humans, Hive, cloning, and psychic powers.*
Unless you’re a scientist, it’s just going to give the reader a vague
idea that this facility is here to experiment on human/Hive hybrids. There is one concrete piece of data here: the
name Dr. Dmitri. His name is all over
this, though not Menus’.
The
white piece of organic matter is a sliver of a Mound Proto-Brain. This could provide all sorts of information
and even intelligence on the Hive.
However, it can only be accessed by someone with psychic abilities or
has physical links to the Hive (a hybrid or some other artificial means of
faking being Hive). This thing can also
potentially give away their position if it is connected to a power source or
dipped in Proto-fuel. For now though,
the Characters probably aren’t going to know what it is or at least not know
what to do with it, other than the Ref mentioned it, so it must be important
somehow.
‘*’
Menus doesn’t just want human/Hive hybrid; he wants an ubermensch, who can use psychic powers. Psionic powers plus Proto-fuel might equal an
Akira-level organic weapon of mass
destruction. This is beyond these rules
and this current adventure. You can
check here for some of my ideas on psychic abilities rules.
Isolation Bay: This room is oddly
clean and sterile room compared to the rest of the lab. There is a full medical supplies cabinet at
the north end of the room. The contents
are labeled with warnings. It contains a
box of Ability Stims (2 each of Str, Con, Dex, Int, gives +4 to the stat for 1
turn, can only take 1 per day or will go into toxic shock), a box of
Anti-toxins (4, heals any poisoning like toxic shock, can only take 1 per day
or die), and a box of 8 Heal Sprays (heals all hp damage immediately, can only
take 1 per day or will go into toxic shock).
There’s a pack of little blue pills too.
(Not sure what those are for.) There’s
babbling (but written in English) technical manuals on the shelves and other
scientific items present on the other bookcases, but they won’t be useful to
the Characters.
There
is an airlock with easy to use controls.
Next to it is an observation room with a window on the Iso Bay. Inside is a set of four large tubes filled
with clear fluid. There is an adult
human body in each, 2 male and 2 female.
They’re all wearing something like a skimpy wet suits (because we’re
being modest here) with air hoses and various cables hooked into them.
The
Characters aren’t going to be able to figure out how to delicately disengage
these people from the tubes (between technical human labels and some Hive
labeling, it will be unintelligible), but they can be easily broken open. Whether the Players want to do so or not is entirely
up to them. (Do not force anything
here.) Three of the bodies come out of
the tubes already dead (they’re stone cold).
They are also bleeding red (they’ll get nicked by the glass). One of the bodies comes out warm and
breathing and also bleeding red. (Choose
the gender yourself to your tastes.)
This person will be unconscious and have to be carried out of the Lab.
Who
is this person? That’s up to you. This person could be a human. It could also be a hybrid. Hybrids bleed clear (from the Proto-flower
fluid in their veins), but there’s going to be a lot of blood sloshing around
from the other bodies, who were human.
Some of that blood could have gotten on the recovered person.
Here’s
a really wild idea: the recovered person is actually Menus. You’ll have to definitely choose a gender for
the Character. Perhaps he/she needs
regular high-level treatment or was running an experiment to enhance his/her
abilities. In any case, Menus will have
amnesia for a while from the improper disengagement from the machinery. Maybe a certain trigger or just time will
allow Menus to recover his/her memory.
Who knows what happens then?
Tin Barn
The
barn has a pair of double doors with no locking mechanism. There are no windows on this structure. It’s an obvious trap. There is a Hive Attack Drone inside.
(And you thought the Well House guys had a poor job.) His job is to destroy the complex if it is
discovered by the Queen. This isn’t to
say he won’t try to capture anybody who opens the doors or kill those wielding
Proto-fueled weapons. (Drones can make a
non-lethal slap for capture purposes.)
If the Drone is activated, the Well House guards will come to
investigate as well, perhaps even the buried Drone. The takeoff of a nearby Delta fighter will
also activate the Drones.
If
all of the Hive at this facility are incapacitated, the Attack Drone’s main
function will be to start strafing the buildings. It will start with the Lab and then the
Greenhouse. Assume two runs on the Lab
will blow it up. Anyone inside on the
first run will be okay, but if they’re inside for that second run, they blow up
with the building. Same for the
Greenhouse. If it completes this
function, it will fly away.
The Delta
Carefully
landed in hover mode in a small wooded ravine behind the Lab Complex, sits a
violet-colored Delta fighter. (It takes 2
rds running from the complex to get there.
You can’t miss it with that color scheme.) It is not in good shape, to the tune of only
having 10 MHP. The pilot must have been
pretty good to have landed this damaged craft so carefully here. A quick inspection shows the pilot also just about
expended the whole magazine, as the Delta only has 4 missiles and 2 bursts
left in the gun pod (no extra clip). The
inboard Typhoon is also gone, along with any supplies.
How’s
the adventure going at this point? I
can’t predict Player decisions or the likely outcome of dice rolls in combat. I’ll give you a couple of scenarios. It’ll be up to you to make them dramatic.
If
the Characters are having trouble, they should lose contact with Geezer. Suddenly, the Delta rears up. “Thanks, boys! You made a great distraction for me to get
the fighter!” He’ll fight it out with
the Drones, take damage (5 MHP), but take them out (depletes all the weapons). Geezer then crashlands nearby. The old man has taken mortal damage. He lasts long enough to give the group a clue
to find the Rebel base up in the mountains before dying. (That’s close to the original adventure’s
ending.)
Otherwise,
let’s make this interesting. The
Characters find the Delta and are doing okay, but the Delta’s Proto-fuel cells
are missing. If they’ve searched the
Lab, they’ve found them, but they’re pretty depleted. (I’d give them about 3 flights before they’re
drained.) Add to this, a flight of 3 Attack Drones (these are the
reinforcements mentioned from earlier) comes to the Lab because of the fighting
with the intention of wiping everybody out.
The group will either hear them coming or Geezer will alert them (2 rd
warning). He will try to distract them
by firing rockets at them (roll damage on each Drone), but he’ll be strafed and
taken out. (Again, he’ll last long
enough for a death speech.) If a single
Drone is left, it will attempt to escape (and bring more reinforcements, a good
cue to make an escape).
Afterward
Unlike
a normal Hive facility, the destruction of this one does not bring immediate
wraith upon the surrounding towns. If
nothing else, that should be a clue that this wasn’t a normal Hive outpost. So, the group can go back to town and perhaps
make some friends, like that mechanic Keileigh,
by returning her child, so she can fix up their Delta. You’ll have to take her to it and hide it
somewhere safe. Charlotte might be able to help with a hiding place. (She’ll somehow know about the raid.)
Caster the Doctor will be
needed to treat the abductees and the person recovered from the tube (if that
happened). He’ll have some respect for
the group if they can bring them back, but won’t want to join them. Sam
the Barkeep will be worried about the group and what they’ve done. He could crack any information the group
brings back from the Lab, but here’s where you’ll need to make a Social
Interaction roll to get him to do it. (Keep
in mind, if the NPC has a reason to work with Characters, there’s no real need
to roll for it.)
When
Sheriff Andy eventually finds out
about the raid, he will be more forceful about the group leaving and never
coming back, perhaps even betraying them.
However, the installation the group blew up wasn’t a Hive lab that their
leadership knew of. The Hive Mound near Mountain
Town is led by a Hive Scientist, Quam,
who delights in biological research. He
might want more information about that, rather than having the Characters’
heads. Perhaps someone joins the group
as a mole?
Menus
will obviously want to find out who did it, but doesn’t have the Queen’s
resources. A disguised Doctor Dmitri may
be used in town as a spy. Intelligence
gathered could result in a raid on the town by Menus. It won’t be overwhelming though. If the Delta can be rearmed, maybe everyone
together could fend them off (once, then the real Hive shows up). Some NPC motivations may change, for better
or worse, as the NPC’s listed in town could maybe be more recruitable as
Support Characters for the group.
There
is a rebel base in the mountains (here’s a possible layout. Is it active?
Is it destroyed or evacuated? Its
condition is up to you, but the Characters should at least be able to rearm
there. Geezer’s cave home has more
weapons, and he had more than one weapons stash. Charlotte or Keileigh might be able to guide
the group to them. Who’s the person from
the tube (if that’s an issue)? Where’s
that Delta pilot? The group should have
some time to explore possibilities before things come to a head in town. Their bigger objectives may be taking out
that nearby Hive mound and finding out about Menus and tracking him/her/it
down. This should be enough to get your
own campaign started.
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