For the next 3 weeks, I'll be presenting a convention game I ran for DunDraCon 2014. Entitled Retrieval Team Zeta: A Plague of Spiders and using the new World of Darkness 2nd edition rules, it features a cell of Cheiron Group hunters as they engage in one of their first missions as a team. As might be expected casualties may be high. A full listing of available articles on this adventure can be found here.
Today I'm presenting the "mundane" side of the mall, the side that the Azlu present to the mortal world.
The Mall in the Gray Light of Day
Location: Forest Fair Village. The mall is empty. Other than a single car in the lot (which belongs to Bob), there is no one in the lot or the parking garage. The doors remain open during the day but all the shops are shuttered. Only the office in the parking garage is open.NPCs: Robert "Bob" Wilson and Sarah Shaw as well as the security guards.
Action: If the players want a map, an Academics, Politics or Persuasion roll (or a call to HQ) can get them a copy from the town records. Otherwise they find a directory map inside:
From the outside there isn't much to see: dusty windows, an empty parking lot, some dumpsters. Depending on the time of day, they might spot a woman walking near the edge of the property (this would be the Mimic who will be presented next week). Looking inside might lead one of them to Seeing Something (see below).
Security: After about 10 minutes of wandering around outside security will show up to shoo them away. If they enter the Mall, they have about 5 minutes before security rounds them up. That drops to 2 minutes in the parking garage and 1 minute if they try to break into any of the shops or the hotel. Unless they broke something, they have the option of leaving. Otherwise they are taken to the office.
Seeing Something: Looking in windows and wandering the mall results in some odd sensations as the illusion powers of the Azlu queen waver. None of these sensations or visions is verifiable by the others without supernatural means.
- Behind the blinds of a shuttered store or dusty window, the character spies a mannequin is wrapped in spider webbing. It struggles and silently screams. Roll Integrity with no modifiers for a Breaking Point.
- The dusty window reveals an empty office. A spider with foot long legs crawls across the inside of the glass.
- A skittering noise echoes from a ventilation duct.
- A bloody streak runs along a wall. It ends in a hand print. When the character blinks it vanishes. Roll Integrity with no modifiers for a Breaking Point.
- A voice whimpers “Please help me. Help me. Can't you see me? Help me god.”
- A strong smell of excrement and decay momentarily wafts in the air.
- Your hand sticks to a wall. Make a Strength + Stamina roll to get it loose. Roll Integrity with a +1 bonus for a Breaking Point. There is no sign of what was holding your hand there.
Research: research into the Mall requires an Intelligence + Academics roll at a - 2 penalty if off site or Wits + Investigation roll if on site.
Each success on an Academics roll turns up one of the following:
- Shipments come in daily for the Petco at the mall.
- The Petco has been out of business for a year.
- The shipments are for dog food and insects.
- Empty bags of dry dog food and shipping containers fill the dumpsters. They are fresh and in large quantities.
- Scraps of clothing, shoes and wallets also in the dumpsters.
NPCs
Most of the humans in the mall are being kept in the abandoned hotel. The hotel never opened, having run out of money during construction. The upper floors are unfinished but have been pressed into service as cells. Other, older prisoners are kept inside various shops. Cloaked by illusions, most of these people are now dead, empty shells eaten from the inside by hungry spiders.In case the PCs are thorough, there are currently 9 victims (7 in the hotel on the 4 floor, 2 elsewhere as needed). All are either homeless or runaways.
Sarah C. Shaw, Manager
The 30 year old site manager is nominally in charge of the mall. No one has seen her in a while though the company that owns it, Weingarten Realty, claims to have talked to her regularly. Indeed, if her number is called, she does answer in a cheerful if quavery tone. She has to. Otherwise they will kill her.Sarah is imprisoned by the true “owners” of the mall. Bound in spider webs and fed daily by Robert Wilson, she is wasting away. Thin and covered in bed sores, her blond hair is gross and knotted with webbing. Only her arm and face are clear of the strands that bind her and keeps her hanging from the ceiling. Waste pools in a bucket below her.
And now she is infected. She might only have days to live.
Description: A blond woman thin and pale from months of deprivation. Her body hangs from the ceiling in a back office with a single arm free to answer the phone. The phone's keypad has been disabled.
Virtue: Fortitude, anyone else would have cracked by now. She has promised herself that she will live.
Vice: Callousness. If she cared more, she might have noticed the changes in Robert earlier.
Traits: Physical pool 3 dice or less, Lying [7 dice pool]
Aspirations: Escape the mall, See Robert burn, get food
Robert L. Wilson, Head of Security
Bob is in his late 20s. An art major in college, he never really had the drive or talent to succeed. He wandered between low paying jobs until he got a position as a security guard. Thanks to his college degree and the old head of security getting caught smoking “medical” marijuana out back, he was made head of security last April. Sarah would probably have replaced him by now if the Azlu hadn't invaded the Mall. Robert knows this and is secretly grateful.When the Azlu revealed itself to him, he and Sarah were offered two choices: be devoured or work for it. He knew his odds of getting away were slim. Sarah tried to flee. While she was being bound in webs, he promised to serve the Azlu queen. 3 months later he is starting to believe his own story. Though not as devote as the degenerates he hired to replace the old security team (who were fired or devoured, depending on their connections to the community), he currently serves as the cult leader for the Azlu's mortal servants.
Description: A large man, just over 6'2” but weighing in the neighborhood of 250 pounds. Sweat stains mix with a general lack of hygiene and dry cleaning to leave his appearance less than professional. His brown hair is already thinning and dark circles under his eyes tell of long hours on the "job".
Virtue: Prudence, this has kept him alive.
Vice: Sloth. If he had more drive, he'd made something of himself.
Aspirations: Sell some art, find a way out of the cult of his own making
Physical Attributes: Strength 3, Dexterity 2, Stamina 2
Mental Attributes: Intelligence 2, Wits 2, Resolve 2
Social Attributes: Presence 3, Manipulation 2, Composure 3
Skills: Athletics 1, Brawl 2, Firearms 1, Intimidation 3, Persuasion 2, Stealth 2, Streetwise 3, Subterfuge 3, Weaponry 1
Initiative: 5 Defense: 3 Speed: 10
Size: 5 Health: 7 Willpower: 1
Notes: Brawl 5B, Baton 4 (1Lethal), Pistol 3 (2 Lethal)
“Security”
Bob has hired several vagrant to fill the ranks of the missing security guards. He carefully chose them for desperation and possible devotion to the Azlu. This might have been a mistake. These four are much more devote than he is.Description: Dressed in uniforms that have seen a bit too much wear and often stinking of too few showers, these three men and one woman include a lifelong bum, a messed up vet, a former teenage runaway, and someone who lost everything in the financial meltdown. They live and work at the Mall and have latched onto the spiders as divine. They protect them with their lives.
Notes: Brawl 4B, Baton 4 (1Lethal), Pistol 3 (2 Lethal), Keep Quiet 5, Hide 6
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