String Theory: Variations

Not every vampire is the same and so I created a number of variations for my Night's Black Agents game, String Theory: plague bugs, plague rats and the enhanced vampire. You can find the base template here. The monsters listed here focus on the deviations.

The Brain Bug

A creature born of the plague and an African insect, it might have become the bearer of the Conspiracy's world ending plague. For now, it works to discretely kill and control their enemies.

Description (host): Ebony skinned, starved, bright colored clothing

Defining Quirks: Always smiles, asks after the health of family, laughs at every joke

Fly Form

General Abilities: Aberrance 11, Hand-to-Hand 6, Health 7

Hit Threshold: 8 (grape sized fly) or 5 against a area weapon
Alertness Modifier: +1 (heightened smell)
Stealth Modifier: +2
Damage Modifier: -2 (bite); +0 if victim is helpless
Armor: killed by any blow

Other powers: Mesmerism (contest of Aberrance and Stability), Possession (contest of Aberrance and Stability), Wings

Banes: normal banes plus Gerhard’s serum (explode as a class 1 explosive)
Blocks: fire, aerosol antibiotics
Compulsions: consume diseased blood

The Rat Thing

Sensuous and vile, this creature combines sex and disease in a new horrible fashion.

Description: long dirty brown hair, revealling ruined clothing, voluptuous form
Defining Quirks: hisses, leans forward into personal space, licks lips when speaking

General Abilities: Aberrance 20, Hand-to-Hand 16, Health 17, Shooting 7, Weapons 7

Hit Threshold: 4 (unnaturally aware)
Alertness Modifier: +2 (heightened smell)
Stealth Modifier: +2
Damage Modifier: +1 (fangs), +1 (claws), +0 (swarm)
Armor: -2 (mummified hide); all weapons do half damage (rounded down) after armor; guns do 1 damage while shotguns do 2 points of damage at point blank; in swarm form non-area attacks merely deal 1 damage, 5 damage will disperse her temporarily.

Other powers: Hive Mind (lower Hit threshold of opponent by the number of other infected attacking, count each rat swarm as one for the purposes of this power), Shape Shift (into a swarm of rats), Summoning (rat swarms)

Rolland Kipling Cook, enhanced vampire

The former CEO of Panecea Pharmaceuticals, he was transformed into vampire using a new improved type of vampire plague. One that was immune to all known antibiotics.

Description: athletic 50s, wild gray hair, tailored suits and worn leather boots
Defining Quirks: Southern accent, love of whisky, likes to talk while not facing his audience

In person, Cook seems more a cattle rancher than a biochemist. He possessed a wild eyed determination to conquer death.

But then his "employees" dragged him down into a secret lab and dumped him into the vat containing the advanced strain of antibiotic resistant vampire.

General Abilities: Aberrance 30, Hand-to-Hand 15, Health 17, Shooting 7, Weapons 7

Hit Threshold: 5 (unnaturally aware)
Alertness Modifier: +1 (heightened smell)
Stealth Modifier: +1
Damage Modifier: +1 (fangs), +1 (claws)
Armor: -2 (mummified hide); all weapons do half damage (rounded down) after armor; guns do 1 damage while shotguns do 2 points of damage at point blank

Free Powers: Drain, Field Effect (symptoms of sickness when within Close range), Infection (plague, Health test difficulty 6), Regeneration (restored to full Health after one day), Tracking by Smell (further +2 to Difficulty to evade), Unfeeling, Vampiric Strength

Other Powers: Spider Climb

Banes: fire, salt (does damage like acid if delivered internally), Gerhard’s serum (explode as class 1 explosive)
Blocks: fire
Compulsions: consume diseased food, flesh, or blood
Dreads: ultraviolet light, bright light
Requirements: consume human organs daily

String Theory Recap: Old Ghosts

At last we reach the conclusion of the Zalozhniy Quartet, at least for my game. In this session of my Night's Black Agents game, String Theory, the agents obtain the Nigredo, the second half of Philby’s plot to take over Saudi Arabia and become a vampire lord. They also get shot at, punched, robbed, kicked, bitten, and in one case thrown off a skyscraper.

We pick up after the incident at the cemetery in Beirut where Philby’s grave turned out to be a trap.

Old Ghosts

We start with the Heat roll which is currently at difficulty 2 since most of their recent activities happened in Europe. Here in Lebanon, they are still wanted for questioning about the suicide bombing a couple of months ago. They make the roll with a 2.

Guy weaves the van through Beirut while Scarlet patches up the old spy, Nicky. Rifling through his pockets, Nasir finds a wallet and directs them to Nikolai’s address.

Scarlet spends 2 points of Medic to stabilize Nicky.

They find a fairly bare apartment, decorated with orthodox crosses over the doors and windows and a few faded pictures. Guy looks around while they make the old man comfortable. He mumbles in his sleep but doesn’t wake.

The driver finds a pile of folders inside a hidden space behind an air vent. Most of it confirms what they already know: Nikolai is a former KGB spook working for Arkady. He has been watching Philby’s grave for decades. One interesting piece of evidence they uncover however is a set of negatives showing the removal of Philby’s corpse.

While Nasir and Guy develop the photos, Scarlet checks John for signs of infection. What she uncovers is unsettling. The former soldier has contracted a dormant form of the vampire contagion. She confirms the rest of the team is clean.

A good Diagnosis use here. John has the same latent vampirism as the Saudi royal family.

Nasir shows the blown up photo to Guy. The worldly driver identifies the tribe extracting Philby’s remains as members of the al-Murrah, currently located in Saudi Arabia.

On the news, reports of a wild animal attack and the deaths of 3 to 4 people are the only clues to what occurred in the cemetery.

As they watch the program, Nicky wakes up. Groggily he thanks the team and offers to help fill in any missing pieces. One new clue he offers them is that an Arab boy has recently shown unusual attention to the graveyard in the past week. He describes the teenager to them: tall, thin, always on his phone but not really listening to his music.

They soon spot the youth and hack into his communications. He is getting regular text messages from a handler. They seem very interested in the agents’ doings, specifically what happened in the cemetery and if they obtained a certain item. Scarlet soon triangulates the source to a villa near the border between Greek and Turkish Cyprus.

Scarlett uses Electronic Surveillance. She spends a point to trace the signal back to its source.

Guy locates a boat at the harbor that wouldn’t be missed for an overnight excursion and they prepare to pay this mystery person a visit.

Guy uses Human Terrain to find a boat and the Grand Theft Boat cherry to steal it.

That night Guy steers the vessel silently up to the wooden pier. The team quietly ascends the chalk cliff and slips into the decaying mansion. While most of the structure appears abandoned, the kitchen shows signs of at least one person living here.

Guy makes a Difficulty 6 Piloting test to arrive unseen. John then uses Infiltration with the rest of the team piggy backing to get them inside.

Nasir snaps a picture of the map of Saudi Arabia laid out on a table. Several locations are marked in the deep desert. Upstairs they find a single room locked and in use. They decide not to confront their pursuer. Instead they plant bugs around the house and slip back to Beirut.

A Preparedness test to get some bugs.

Early the next day they identify the handler as Menena Chakroun, queen of thieves. She makes several calls to contacts around the region, trying to determine if the DOD, the Conspiracy, or the agents have obtained the two halves of Philby’s plot: the Albedo and the Nigredo.

I’m sad I didn’t get to use my version of Katun. I thought it tied things up nicely. She’s secretly the granddaughter of Philby and after his plot for immortality.

The team arranges a flight to Riyadh, operating under their cover identities. Nasir decides to resurrect his Saudi prince, seeing as he is only wanted in Austria. Somehow he, Scarlet and John (both presenting themselves as unassociated historians) get through security unmolested. Vino Romeo, Guy’s location scout cover, however gets special treatment by customs. As he leaves the airport he also spots some officers tailing him.

The Cover tests were easy but somehow he failed.

The driver allows them to pull him over on the way to the city. The officers begin to search the car and harass him, except for one nervous looking man. Guy notes down the policeman’s name and then launches into a tirade as Vino, effectively scaring the corrupt cops off with his Hollywood connections.

Guy uses Cover successfully to intimidate the cops. Cop Talk notes the one “honest” police officer.

Guy catches up with the others and relates the incident. They decide to find out who is behind this. Scarlet researches Officer Ahmed and then Nasir intercepts him on his way home that evening. As they discuss figs at the market, the spy intimates how much he knows about Ahmed. He then reassures the scared officer that he isn’t after him. Ahmed confesses he and his comrades have been taking bribes from a powerful criminal group. They have their fingers in everything here. Nasir thanks him and gives him a burner phone should he need to contact Ahmed again.

Some good role-playing, Reassurance, and the assumption that Nasir is with the General Intelligence Directorate and they flip the officer.

After that Nasir and John visit Haroun al-Murrah, current leader of the al-Murrah tribe. Haroun graciously welcomes a visit by a member of the royal family. Nasir explains he is doing research into some of the early history of the kingdom and has questions about an object that was moved by the tribe. This sparks Haroun’s memory and he relates a story from his youth.

His father took him on a trip to the deep desert, something one of the other tribesmen called the Hajj Shaitan. His father referred to special object in cave out there, the other Kaaba. With some cajoling, he and Nasir work out its location on a map.

Nasir’s Cover is pretty much ideal here. He makes a spend to avoid suspicion and then everything opens up to him. Whether Haroun will remain quiet remains to be seen.

Scarlet uses some satellite photos to more precisely map their destination. It is worrisomely close to one of the marks on Menena’s map. Nasir purchases some 4x4s while John gathers vampire hunting materials as well as the supplies needed for the long journey.

Nasir makes another Cover test to avoid drawing attention. John however fails his Preparedness test. I decide to let him have most of his stuff but the antibiotics are out of date and useless. Not that they know that yet.

My notes indicate I should have had the Traitor contact them at this point (in the hopes of obtaining the Albedo). I forgot that though. Oh well.

The trip into the desert is long and lonely. Two hot days and a cold night wear on them as they slowly approach a weathered outcropping,

They find a shaft sunk into the rock, worn smooth by centuries of sand or perhaps desert Bedouin. John drops a flare revealing hundred of bones lining the cavern floor: goats, camels, other animals. And human bones.

He fishes in their supplies for packet of blood. As it hits the cave floor, a pale white thing scrambles over the bones to lick up the splattered red liquid. Bony and misshapen, they can only guess that this is what remains of Harry Philby.

John makes a Preparedness test to have the blood on hand.

Nasir loads a dart gun with antibiotics and fires. The dart sinks into the creature’s hide. It snarls at them, scratching at the cave wall uselessly for a moment before returning to the blood.

Nasir spent enough Shooting for an automatic hit. Too bad his rounds were duds.

The agents look down into the growing gloom. Guy and John walk to the vehicles and pull a 5 gallon tank off the back of one of the 4x4s. They pour it down the cave, splashing Philby liberally as the creature carefully sucks up every drop of blood. Then they drop a second flare.

I give them a Shooting test to cover the vampire completely in gasoline.

The vampire screams in pain as the fire consumes its flesh. It runs in circles surrounded by fire. Eventually it leaps out of the pool of fire and into one of the many tunnels exiting the charnel house floor. The fire gutters out after a couple of minutes.

Philby fails a lot of rolls to put himself out and escape the flames but eventually he escapes. The fire reduces his Health down to -7 and he spends all of his Aberrance pool.

John and Guy look down the smoky hole for a long minute. Then the two spies slowly and reluctantly climb down. They carefully explore the cave, searching for signs of the vampire or its remains.

Then they hear it. Turning their flashlights backward they spy the almost skeletal charred creature racing towards them. They fire but in a fraction of a second it pushes John out of the way and digs its fangs into Guy.

The two make their Sense Trouble rolls but fail their Shooting rolls. Philby Throws John away and then bites into Guy, dealing 6 damage bite and healing the same amount. Luckily for it, it still has lots of Hand-to-Hand.

John pulls himself off the ground to watch in horror as the creature’s hide begins to regenerate with fresh blood. He levels his assault rifle into it as Guy fires repeatedly with his pistol. What was once Philby stiffens and then collapses to the ground. A dark slime oozes from its wounds and into the earth. The pair spy the thick crystal vial still secured about its neck and wrench it off. Then they hurry back to daylight.

Two point-blank shots do the monster in. Now they have the Nigredo.

Scarlet patches the pair up and they head back through the desert.

The next day as they pass over another dune in the vast desert, the sound of rotor blades emerges from the north. In mere moments, a heavily armed helicopter swings over them. The voice of Lieutenant Colonel Benjamin Weddle, Scarlet’s former commander, commands them to surrender or else.

Weddle promises to spare their lives in exchange for the Nigredo. He also informs them that his employers already have the other half of the plague. Nasir has a sinking feeling as he envisions his beach home burning in Karachi. Faced with no option, they give it up to the two men Weddle sends down.

Then Weddle orders them away from their vehicles and opens fire on the 4x4 with the helicopter’s machine guns. Then he leaves the agents there to die.

Guy shrugs and explains the backup vehicle is stowed a few hours walk away. The team rescues what supplies they can while John directs them through the sands.

Guy makes a heroic Preparedness test (Difficulty 8) to have spare vehicle nearby. John spends a point of Outdoor Survival spend gets them home more or less alive.

I give the team a refresh but also subtract 2 Health from each of them.

A day later the team, sunburned and thirsty slip back into Riyadh. Scarlet helps patch them up while Nasir contacts Ahmed. The police officer reveals that they were bribed to let the passengers and contents of two private planes slip through customs uninspected last night. They headed for the Kingdom Centre, a 41 story skyscraper adorned with an elegant sky bridge between the twin peaks of its roof.

Scarlet hacks the building’s computer systems, giving them access to video surveillance and the elevators. She notes that some sort of experiment is being set up in the sky bridge. Notable guests include Joe Lisky, members of the WHO, Weddle, and the vampire Simon Thronradel. Two strange blurry figures appear on camera as well. One might be Dr. Dorjiev.

Hacking the security is a Difficulty 6 Digital Intrusion test.

They quickly put together a plan. John and Nasir will slip inside, exchange the Albedo and Nigredo for fakes, and then escape. Guy will cover their escape and destroy their enemies by stealing a helicopter from Overwatch and destroying the sky bridge.

Nasir makes a Preparedness roll to have some replicas ready of the Albedo (the Nigredo looks the same, so they just fill them with appropriate looking liquids).

The first part goes flawlessly. Nasir leads John through the lower levels in disguise, slipping past some Bratva spotters. With Scarlet’s help they avoid the patrols and pass through the upper floors. Meanwhile Guy gains access to the hanger and hotwires the helicopter.

John piggy backs on Nasir’s Disguise test. Guy makes an equally hard Infiltration test. Hot wiring is easy since he has Grand Theft Helicopter.

Avoiding the patrols is much easier with Scarlet’s help. John makes this difficulty 4 Infiltration roll while Nasir piggybacks.

John and Nasir don new disguises before entering the sky bridge. Nasir enters as just another lab technician and slowly works his way over the machinery near the Albedo and Nigredo. John mingles with the other bodyguards.

In addition to the half-dozen techs and three bodyguards, the walkway is occupied by Weddle, Lisky, Dorjiev, some African WHO officials, and the vampire.

Nasir fails to make this Disguise test...

Dr. Dorjiev turns to John and quietly expresses his surprise at his audacity. Then the doctor turns and remarks that Simon has noticed Nasir.

John uses Vampirology here to get a sense of what Dorjiev is. I told him he wasn’t exactly a vampire.

Dorjiev is a cool customer in my game.

Simon hisses, “you,” as he reaches for Nasir.

Panicking Nasir unloads a canister of aerosol antibiotics around himself. Simon reaches into the mist but pulls his hands back quickly in pain.

Nasir quickly makes a Preparedness test plus a 2 point Shooting spend to create a Block around himself. Lucky for him Simon fails his Aberrance test to get through.

As everyone else begins to react, John reaches over to Dorjiev and quickly snaps the old man’s neck. The doctor looks more disappointed than surprised as he falls to the ground. His body crumbles and vanishes.

John uses his MOS Hand-to-Hand to strike the neck and gets a good damage roll.

Stability rolls are made and John loses quite a bit of his Stability. I let him know however that Dorjiev is a tulpa, a living mental projection.

While the guards maintain some composure, Weddle and the noncombatants freak out. As they flee, Joe pulls out a pistol.

Meanwhile across the city, Guy powers up the helicopter, crashes through the hangar door and tears cross Riyadh for the Kingdom Centre.

Guy makes a Piloting roll to get there fast.

John spots one of the bodyguards training a pistol on Nasir. He fires and wings the man. Gritting his teeth at the pain, the bodyguard returns fire. As his shirt reddens with blood, the other bodyguards grab John, trying to drive him to the floor.

John goes first in the first real round of combat. He uses Shooting on the bodyguard and hits for 2 damage. He then takes 6 damage in return. The other guards use Hand-to-Hand to deal another 3 damage.

Nasir stumbles back from the vampire into the counter holding the Albedo and Nigredo. He crashes to the ground trying to grab hold of them. In the confusion the Albedo seems to roll away. Nasir rolls over Nigredo in hand as Simon snarls and pounces on him.

Nasir actually Filches them, switching them out with fakes (and beating Simon’s Alertness Modifier).

The vampire pushes through the mist, which emits a painful hiss as it contacts his corrupted flesh. He grabs the vials from Nasir’s hand, stomps the spy into the ground and then with superhuman speed and strength hurls him through the glass window and off the 41st story of the skyscraper.

Simon makes an Aberrance test to push through the mist. He takes 2 damage from the process. Then he uses Hand-to-Hand and his inhuman speed (spending 2 Aberrance for a third attack) to grab the vial (beating Nasir’s feeble attempt to hold onto it), hit the spy for 6 damage, and Throw (another 2 point spend of Hand-to-Hand) him out a window. Nasir choses not to grab onto the edge of the window...

Remarkably the window itself fails to do any damage to Nasir.

Guy brings the helicopter level with the sky bridge, glancing once at the figure falling away from the building. He lines up a shot on the vampire and opens fire.

Inside John bolts as the machine guns riddle Simon. Without pause he leaps through the broken window, removing his coat and using his wing suit to follow Nasir as he steers his wing suit for a nearby pool.

Guy spends enough Shooting to hit Simon plus more to use autofire. I kind of forgot that the machine gun wouldn’t do much to Simon though. Nasir meanwhile makes his Athletics check to guide his fall with his wing suit so he crashes into a pool. This is all part of the plan!

John follows but also tries to use Preparedness to leave behind a bomb. Sadly he fails.

Then hundreds of crows pour down from the roof to collide with the helicopter. Diseased carcasses splatter as they hit the windows and blades but somehow Guy maintains control long enough to fire the rockets.

Guy beats the crow swarm’s Fighting with his Piloting.

The sky bridge explodes in fire as Guy fires again and again, demolishing the upper stories of the structure. Shattered glass and burning steel crashes down on the streets and buildings below, adding to the carnage. Hundreds die in what will be called Saudi Arabia’s 9/11.

Lisky and the other mortals all die. I check and even Simon dies from the combined fall and fire.

Guy tears off for the desert, ditching the craft once clear of the city. He scrambles into his escape car and disappears. Elsewhere Nasir and John dry off, stowing the real Albedo and Nigredo safely away as they plan to rendezvous with Scarlet.

And the team gains about 7 Heat. The hunt is on.

String Theory: Plague Bearer Vampires

The main villains of my Night's Black Agents where my plague bearer vampires. Part slime mold, part Black Death, they were an inhuman horror to terrorize my agents.

Here are their rough background and stats.

History of the Plague Bearer infection

It's possible that creatures such as the plague bearers have existed throughout history, arising whenever the number of plague dead rose high enough.

The current crop however originated within the labs of Japan’s sinister Unit 731. There scientists discovered that under stress certain strains of plague bacteria created colonies that acted something like a slime mold. In particular exposure to modern antibiotics caused the disease to organize into something much greater than the sum of its parts. In this form they can devour internal organs and soft tissue, reanimating the remaining flesh to serve as an endoskeleton for their nefarious endeavors.

Not only were these colonies more resilient and aggressive than expected, they also possessed a form of intelligence. Communicating via pheromones, they soon outwitted their "creators". Some infected the administrators involved and directed them to move the operation outside of Japan. When the Soviets seized the facilities, they allowed themselves to become part of the communists' biowarefare program. It soon fell under the influence of the inhuman intelligences they created. Much like their hosts, the plague bearers hollowed out the program and made it their own.

Currently most colonies remain in the former U.S.S.R. and Eastern Europe. A second enclave has spread to the U.S. to control several pharmaceutical facilities. Seeking to become the dominant life form on the planet the infection is slowly removing its weaknesses and preparing the world for a global pandemic.

Pathology

In their natural form, the bacterial colonies resemble a thin black slime. They area capable of surprisingly rapid movement and prodigious strength, able to over power strong men and out race cheetahs.

Outside the colony, the individual bacteria can cause deadly infections but lack any intelligence. The bacteria and the colonies can both create tar like spore casings. In this form, the plague is inactive but can endure for centuries even if exposed to sunlight or modest extremes of temperature.

While hard to kill, they do have some crippling vulnerabilities. Salt and highly saline environments cause their cells to desiccate and die. Sunlight, especially in the ultraviolet range, rips their cell walls apart, quickly killing them. Fire is also a hazard. Finally exposure to antibiotic chemicals can destroy them.

Due to their vulnerabilities the colonies prefer to travel within the bleached white corpses of their victims. The process of devouring a host, provides the colony with some of the victim's skills and memories, enough that they can generally pass as human.

Stats

Corpse Form

The form most often mistaken for a vampire, this vessel serves more as a vehicle for the true monster inside. Appearance can vary from a withered and scarred corpse to an ill looking if alive human being.

In any case the creature's temperature lies somewhere north of ambient but still well below human normal. It has no heartbeat and has no need to breathe normally.

General Abilities: Aberrance 11, Hand-to-Hand 11, Health 17, Shooting 7, Weapons 7

Hit Threshold: 4 (unnaturally aware)
Alertness Modifier: +1 (heightened smell)
Stealth Modifier: +1
Damage Modifier: +1 (fangs), +1 (claws)
Armor: -2 (mummified hide); all weapons do half damage (rounded down) after armor; guns do 1 damage while shotguns do 2 points of damage at point-blank.

Free Powers: Drain, Field Effect (symptoms of sickness when within Close range), Infection (plague, Health test Difficulty 6), Regeneration (fully regain health each evening), Tracking by Smell (further +2 to Difficulty to efforts to evade), Unfeeling, Vampiric Strength (spend Aberrance for feats of strength)

Other Powers: Hive Mind (lower Hit threshold of an opponent by the number of vampires and other hosts attacking), Mental Attacks (inflict neurological conditions), Necromancy, Spider Climb

Banes: fire, antibiotics (does damage like acid and destroys the vampire at -1 Health), salt (does damage like acid if delivered internally), Gerhard’s serum (causes the vampire to explode as a class 3 explosive)
Blocks: fire, aerosol antibiotics
Compulsions: consume diseased food, flesh, or blood.
Dreads: ultraviolet light, bright light
Requirements: consume human organs weekly

Black Slime

The true monster within each vampire, this bacterial colony moves like oil, effortlessly sliding up and around any obstacle. Nearly indestructible to weapons, it is however highly vulnerable to sunlight, hence the need for a host.

General Abilities: Aberrance 15, Hand-to-Hand 9, Health 9

Hit Threshold: 6 (unnaturally aware and supernatural reflexes)
Alertness Modifier: +3 (heightened smell and infravision)
Stealth Modifier: +3
Damage Modifier: +1 (tentacle)Armor: fluid, immune to all damage except electricity, acid and banes.

Free Powers: Drain, Field Effect (symptoms of sickness when within Close range), Infection (plague, Health test Difficulty 6), Regeneration (fully regain health after each scene), Tracking by Smell (further +2 to Difficulty to efforts to evade)

Other Powers: Apportation (in the presence of soft or porous earth), Hive Mind (lower Hit threshold of an opponent by the number of hosts or other infected attacking), Mental Attacks (inflict neurological conditions), Necromancy, Spider Climb, Vampiric Strength (spend Aberrance for any use), Tunneling

Banes: ultraviolet light or sunlight (deals damage as fire, treat as Hurt), fire, antibiotics (does damage like acid and destroys the vampire at -1 Health), salt (does damage like acid), Gerhard’s serum (explode as a class 3 explosive)
Blocks: fire, ultraviolet light or sunlight, aerosol antibiotics
Compulsions: consume diseased food, flesh, or blood.
Dreads: ultraviolet light, bright light
Requirements: consume human organs weekly

Destruction

Killing a vampire requires slaying the ooze within the corpse and boiling and/or burning the remains. Otherwise a sufficient supply of nutrients will awaken any dormant spores from the original colony.

The Sprawl: An Unused Mission

We've reached the end of my Sprawl recaps. The majority of my players became occupied by the birth of their first child resulting in the game being cut off before its third act (Search or Destroy?). But before that happened, I created most of what we needed for that night. So here is the third somewhat unfinished and unused mission.

Search or Destroy?

Employer: The team gets this mission not from a corporate cutout but via a tip from Demon's contact Gearhead, who resurfaces to deliver his repaired and upgraded drone.

She has information on Dale. Cryptic messages surfacing on the web and etched into construction projects across the city reveal that he is alive. A reporter named Edison is also digging into this.

Demon also knows that Dale's sister has recently moved to Indianago.

The Get the Job move would have altered choices:

• You have useful information (*intel)
• You have useful assets in place (*gear)
• Gearhead hasn't already sold this information to somebody else
• Your meeting doesn't draw attention

Getting paid would also have altered options:

• Your enemies don't retaliate
• You avoid leaving a trail for the authorities
• You resolve things with Dale
• You earn all cred stacked
• You learn something, everyone marks experience

Target: Dale

Mission Directives:

• Accept Mission
• Locate Dale
• Liberate Dale
• End Mission (2 Experience)

Complications

A number of complications make this mission rather difficult.

• Dale is a disembodied brain owned by the city turned into an experimental computer system by United Security and tasked with managing the city's robotic assets. He is well guarded at their central server farm.
• Team Zeta wants revenge on the team and would like another crack at obtaining United Security's new system for Veridian Dynamics.
• Shinja is blackmailing Dale's sister, Ellen, for information. she knows nothing but Dale knows about their efforts. He intends to escalate this into an all-out war.
• Edison, the reporter, is acting as Shinja's proxy. His goal is to learn where Dale is but he is willing to destroy everyone with the truth if he has to.
• United Security wants to keep this whole situation quiet.

Team Zeta (Veridian Dynamics extraction team):

• Their Mission: Revenge with a side bonus of getting a biological computer system for their bosses.
• Team Roster:
• The Boys [9 man team, medium gang 2-armor 3-harm]: military lifers, out for blood
• Jax: the swarmy hacker who does overwatch for the team. He sticks to the team's attack chopper.
• Squirrel: the ex-sky jockey. Bitter and petulant she occupies herself with road rage in the team's tactical van [rugged, huge, armored, sloppy, 1-armor]
• Angelo: the bastard leader whose weapon of choice is an assault rifle called Bad Boy [4-harm autofire near/far/extreme loud]
• When you face off Angelo, he's prepared. Roll +Edge. On a hit, you know his tricks, hold 1 and so does he. On 7-9 to he holds an additional 1. On a miss he holds 2 and the MC will make a hard move now. Spend hold to add +1 or subtract -2 to a roll to interfere with him. He can do the same to you.
• Group (Impulse: to dominate)
• Custom Moves:
• Deploy shutdown codes on Oracle
• Surround a situation
• Deploy in force

Dale (or Transportation Logistics Hub 153):

• After his contract was extended beyond life, United Security decided to liquidate it along with his body. His organs were recycled and his brain became part of an experimental program to create not quite artificial intelligence.
• Deep down, Dale just wants to follow the rules. His programming removes his humanity slowly each day but Demon's presence reminds him of his pain. He needs to hurt him.
• Also tethering him to his old life is his sister. He watches over her subtly for now.
• When he acts he uses teleoperated drones and altered traffic signals to harm and kill.
• Loner (Impulse: to murder)
• Custom Moves:
• Use vehicular violence to complicate situations
• Reveal the callousness of the corporations
• Attack via misdirection
• Attack using a proxy
• Turn technology against the wielder

Edison

• A corrupt reporter, Edison takes Shinja money and pursues the stories they want exposed. In this case they see a chance to harm United Security and perhaps other rivals.
• Headline (Impulse: to explode)
• Custom Moves:
• To pressure others in desperate action
• Use the truth to hurt others

The Corporations

Also at the end of the game the megacorps were beginning to notice the PCs and not in a good way. The collateral damage had gotten their attention.

Veridian Dynamics

Spheres of Interest: Pharmaceuticals, Virtual Reality
Corporate Clock: 2200

A creepily cheerful corporation based in Germany, they essentially own Oracle since her surgery. Indeed her cybernetics have yet to be cleared for export. Looking for an opportunity to expand their reach they are the most clearly competitive megacorp.

Custom Moves:

• Spin public relation disasters into successful new products
• Employ ruthless efficiency

Unified Security

Spheres of Interest: Vehicles, Weapons
Corporate Clock: 2100

Demon and Dale used to work for their weapons manufacturer. Both a weapons developer and deployer, they have a habit of shuffling employees between divisions. They also like to lock them into life long (or longer) contracts.

Custom Moves:

• Deploy contract slaves
• Perform a field test
• Reveal bleeding edge weapons

Genewear

Spheres of Interest: Cybernetics, Genetics
Corporate Clock: 1200

Based in Indianago, the premier cyberware and bioware developers work mostly to advance technology itself (and maintain their chokehold on that tech).

Custom Moves:

• Blend machine and man
• Alter what it means to be human
• Push boundaries

Shinja

Spheres of Interest: Financial, Criminal
Corporate Clock: 2100

Shinja blurs the line completely between finance and organized crime. Based in Singapore, they are well behind technologically, a fact they are working to rectify.

Custom Moves:

• Use catspaws to deal with unpleasantness
• Acquire territory

Project Werewolf: Outside operations

Finally we reach those outside operations tied to Project Werewolf and the end of the material for this part of my conspiracy. These last bits include the organisation's boss back in Washington and some low-level operations that my agents never felt like dismantling.

Director Andrew Pierce

Arrogant boss in over his head

Description: early 40s, bicyclist's physique, high-pitched voice

Defining Quirks: espresso aficionado, harsh to subordinates, keeps his home and workspace spotless

An avid metrosexual, Director Pierce keeps himself in tip-top shape, biking daily to and from work. During his long work hours, he harries his staff to fulfill his various personal desires from a spotless workplace to his favorite espresso. Everything must be perfect and he meticulously goes over the details of every operation.

When Peirce was brought onto Project Werewolf, the program was a wreck. Talbot had been Dr. Gerhardt's sole success and even the supply of 'rejects' (those who broke under the strain of the process) was low.

Pierce ramped up production, repurposed the failures and with a cheerful disregard for ethics brought the program around. New 'subjects' were fast tracked for the process. The success rate for operations dropped precipitously but soon new 'functional' agents became available.

He continues to ruthlessly pushed the staff for better results, hoping to create a small army to justify the costs of the project and expand his influence.

Ambition only constitutes part of his motivation however. His masters in the Conspiracy also want results and are quite willing to eliminate him should he fail.

In my game, after the project was compromised, the conspiracy killed him in what appeared to be a traffic accident to remove any remaining connection to them.

Operation: Illegal Organ Trade

A major part of what Project Werewolf does for the conspiracy involves organizing the black market organ trade in eastern Europe. The current scale of the operation extends from Serbia and Bulgaria to Turkey and Lebanon where it mixes with human trafficking and the refugee crisis. Buyers range from across the world but the donors are mainly poor and desperate, hailing from parts throughout southeast Europe and increasingly from the stream of migrants and refugees coming out of the Middle East and Africa.

When the Conspiracy needs specific parts, a call is made. A donor is found and the organ is retrieved. No questions are asked. The majority of this work is handled by the Russian Mafia and corrupt Bulgarian doctors.

The Bride and Quist run several of the gangs and use their ties to the main actors in the business to get what is needed. Lately the Bride has been skimming adrenal glands off the top and using them to create an alternative to the drugs that Project Werewolf supplies her. The habit is expensive but it means she may be able to cut ties to her bosses in the future.

Kidney Thieves

The gangs that Project Werewolf controls fall into two main types.

The first are the classic if apocryphal kidney thieves. Working as a team, the honey pot (an attractive man or woman who seduces the target) takes the victim to a hotel where a corrupt staffer looks the other way as she drugs him. Then a medical team comes in and removes the desired organ. The victim is left in a bathtub. Sometimes there's a phone nearby, sometimes it doesn't matter.

The other more common type involves a smuggler who offers to transport the victim to the EU. Partway through the journey they are subdued and their organs removed. If they are lucky they end up dumped somewhere closer to Europe while their organs make the rest of the journey.

Location: Beirut

Local operations for the organ trade are run by Afif Amjad, a former al-Quaeda organizer once associated with ISIL. He has since turned "businessman", working in human trafficking and doing part-time stints as a terrorist for hire. In addition to his many thugs, his operation is aided by Dr. Nizar Hosni El-Mofty known as “the Butcher”.

The Butcher has been working on a Feral Werewolf (current Aberrance 4, Health 2), extracting organs and watching them regenerate. This has helped him create a synthetic form of the compound the werewolves need to remain satiated.

Afif Amjad

Description: heavy-set man, baked brown complexion, poor fitting suit
Defining quirks: speaks slowly and carefully, twitchy at sudden movements, strokes beard to buy time

General abilities: Athletics 4, Explosive Device 6, Hand-to-Hand 4, Health 6, Network 4, Shooting 4, Weapons 4

Hit threshold: 3
Alertness modifier: +0
Stealth modifier: +0
Damage modifier: -2 (fist), -1 (knife), +1 (Beretta 92 pistol), +1 (AK-47)

Dr. Nizar Hosni El-Mofty (the Butcher)

Description: wizened 60s, bald with a gray goatee, wire rim glasses
Defining Quirks: wipes glasses in conversation, smiles widely

General abilities: Athletics 8, Conceal 4, Hand-to-Hand 6, Health 6, Infiltration 6, Medic 6, Weapons 8

Hit threshold: 4
Alertness modifier: +1
Stealth modifier: +1
Damage modifier: -2 (fist), -1 (knife), +0 (scalpel, due to specialization)

String Theory Recap: Treason in Blood

In this session of String Theory, my Night's Black Agents campaign, we begin the last of the Zalozhniy Quartet adventure "Treason in Blood" and perhaps the penultimate mission of the game. With my wife more or less permanently out, I plan to bring this game to close sooner rather than later. My players are enjoying the system but I want to move something less “mission” centric.

Anyway that is just part of the explanation for why I’m not using the final story, Zalozhniy Sanction. It didn’t work well as a possible entry to the Quartet for my group (at least while paranoid mercenary Robin was in charge) and I don’t see the point of throwing them into a meat grinder for no reason (the player characters agree human trafficking is bad but they don’t see the need to take down the Lisky Bratva, just their masters).

When we last left our agents, they had crushed Project Werewolf and began planning a trip to Baghdad. The conspiracy can’t be allowed to get their hand on the other half of the binary agent.

Treason in Blood

Nasir was running late this session so the team moved ahead without him.

Starting Heat in France was 4 due to bleed over from their exploits in Italy (burning a ferry), Germany (cratering a castle) and Austria (bank heist). They roll without modifiers and get lucky.

Scarlet does some last-minute research on Gertrude Bell while Guy and John pack their bags. The National Museum of Iraq may have been looted but some clue to the diary’s location might still be there. She careful plots a course to avoid interactions with Overwatch. Her old employers still work in what was the Green Zone and she suspects her whistle blowing is not remembered fondly. Nasir calls and plans to meet them in Iraq.

Half a day later the team arrives in Baghdad. At the museum, Scarlet introduces herself as an interested historian. Gossiping with the researchers there she learns that Mohammed al-Kirkuk knows much about the period she’s interested in. She also learns he has a secret patron and an obsession with the occult.

I decided History could work as a substitute for Archaeology in this context.

The team watches al-Kirkuk for a couple of days, noting the western agents trailing him and the street urchins that watch him pass. The fact that he seems jittery and using KGB evasion tactics seems only normal, though he appears only roughly trained at it. The team decides to not to spook him further.

The team uses Surveillance to trail al-Kirkuk without giving themselves away. Urban Survival picks up the beggars following him while a Tradecraft spend hints at how he might have learned his skills.

Scarlet arranges a meeting with al-Kirkuk at his office. With some honeyed words, she manipulates him into talking about his research. He lets slip that Gertrude Bell might have had a secret diary, one containing sensitive matters she didn’t want to share, even with her own family. Mohammed suspects her true impressions of Harry Philby might be hidden in it. Unfortunately it has been lost, he explains.

A Reassurance spend gets al-Kirkuk to spill almost everything, except the identity of his patron and the location of the diary. However he is not a practiced liar. Bullshit Detector catches him easily.

Outside, Guy and John spot two suspicious (and armed) men entering the museum. John warns Scarlet over the comms as Guy drives around to the back. Scarlet drops her cover and tells al-Kirkuk that someone is coming to kill him. Terrified he lets her lead him out and down the hall. As the intruders turn the corner, Scarlett opens fire, covering their escape. The academic shows unusual athleticism as they race out of the building with enough time to lock the door behind them. The two jump into Guy’s car and out into the streets of Baghdad.

This was a chase but only the NPCs spent points. Scarlet is an analyst after all. Mohammed got really lucky and managed to escape despite a much smaller pool. A head start helped of course.

Once in relative safety, al-Kirkuk tells them everything he knows. Overwatch hired him to look into anything to do with Philby, the occult and the early days of the Kingdom of Iraq. Several weeks ago he discovered the existence of the Bell diary. He hasn’t been able to retrieve it but believes it is held in one of the Mukhabarat archives (having been seized from the museum during the coup of 1968 and then moved after the old archive was destroyed in 1993). The team sneaks him into a secure hotel and tells him to wait until they’ve left the city with the book.

They wanted to save him. I figured if they have the book then they are the target not al-Kirkuk. A Difficulty 3 Surveillance roll hides him long enough for this to blow over.

They find the archive housed in a decaying warehouse. Easily avoiding the poorly paid security guard, they slip inside via the broken window. Scarlet and Nasir work together to sort through the primitive organization scheme. As they proceed deeper into the stacks they pass boxes of old tax forms, police case files, and a row of severed hands.

A 1 point spend of Infiltration beats the archive’s joke of security. Research and Languages helps locate the box they want.

Then John and Guy stop them. A sound like bodies hitting the floor came from several rows over. Cautiously they flank the likely source.

The people not researching were the only ones to make the Sense Trouble roll. Seems appropriate.

The row is empty. Large crates stenciled with National Museum fill the shelves. Blood spatter decorates one. Acting on a hunch, Guy looks up.

My players are genre savvy. Unfortunately he fails a Stability test to recall most of what happens next. In fact only Scarlet ever makes the Difficulty 5 roll. Which means only she remembers their attacker.

The driver begins firing into the roof. John tags something with his shotgun as Scarlet joins the firefight. Nasir meanwhile hurries over to check the box. Inside he finds a pair of dead Westerners. He grabs the sparse contents of their pockets and a shoe with a hollow heel. Then he notices, too late, the bomb under the crate.

People make Shooting rolls but only John connects. He does minimal damage which the vampire’s corpse-like hide absorbs. Nasir unfortunately failed both a Conceal and Sense Trouble test.

Fire envelopes the stack, blowing Nasir through the shelves behind him and into the next row. The others duck out of the way. Remarkably no one suffers significant harm. Then the thing on the ceiling drops down and pushes the burning shelves over.

Nasir spends 4 Athletics to be blown clear into the debris range. Then he and everyone else makes the easy Athletics check to avoid damage.

Nasir scurries to safety while their assailant grabs Guy and hurls him into the fire. The driver bounces against a box of asbestos tiles. Frustrated the corpse-like thing then smacks Scarlet back several feet.

The vampire ends the round pushing over the stacks by spending 2 Abberance. Nasir makes the Athletics check when his stack begins to topple. Everyone else is clear. He then throws Guy into the fire with Hand-to-Hand roll and a 2 point spend. He rolls minimal damage (hence the tile reference). He uses his vampiric speed to strike Scarlet as well dealing 4 damage.

Guy and the others continue to fire into the monster. Scarlet watches as the withered husk of a thing takes a shotgun blast to the chest with only minor damage. Nasir stumbles into him in some sort of attack but the creature brushes him off and flees.

Lots of Shooting rolls but only John really connects, dealing a not insignificant 5 damage after armor. Nasir however spots Bell’s diary and successfully Filches it (difficulty 7!).

As the team begins to race after whatever it was, Nasir calls them off. He holds up an aged book: Bell’s diary.

Between scenes I let Scarlet spend 2 Shrink to talk through the missing time with them needing to make a roll. She also shores up Nasir’s fragile mind.

The team drives quickly through the ruined edges of Baghdad while Scarlet pages through the notebook. Someone has been through the diary before them, marking pages referencing the supernatural and Harry Philby. In one section Bell relates a visit by Philby where he brandished an amulet. The description resembles the vial Nasir grabbed from Kim’s bank box but filled with a different darker liquid. Philby claimed he would be buried with it. Recalling how he died in Beirut, the team makes plans to head for Lebanon. Scarlet isn’t able to pick up fingerprints from the diary but does find some fibers from a glove and traces of an expensive women’s perfume.

The other vial would be the albedo, the first part of the binary agent, which Nasir filched during the bank heist. The signs of someone reading the book earlier is my take on Katun, a character we’ll meet (again) next session.
Nasir looks over what he rescued from the box. The Westerners carried no identification and their phones were generic burners. The shoe however reveals a secret compartment containing a SIM card. Scarlet breaks the encryption and they decide to call the single number on it.

After a series of clicks and whirrs, they are connected. The voice which answers however belongs to John’s old mentor the “Chess Player”. Former DOD agent struggles to control his rage while Nasir talks to the old man, feigning being part of the plot. The Chess Player quickly sees through the ruse and guesses who they might really be. He invites them to a meeting at the Kit Kat club in Beirut in two nights.

I had been waiting for this moment for months. John did not disappoint.

The team arranges transport to Lebanon, bribing their way across the border. With most of a day before the meeting, they consider their options. They decide to check the location of Philby’s grave first.

In the heat of the moment I let them use a Reassurance spend to avoid a Cover test. I guess I glossed over how they pass through or over Syria.

The records office seems organized and airy after Baghdad. They get some help from a friendly local named Nicky. An aged retiree, he is well versed in several languages and seems to know a lot about the area. He also mentions other visitors earlier that morning.

Thanking Nicky they then scout the Kit Kat club. The site appears secure and easy to escape from if trouble comes up. They decide to send Nasir and Guy to talk to the Chess Player with John on standby and Scarlet running surveillance.

At the meeting, they encounter the Chess Player with his companions Mr. Black and White but no other muscle. While Black doesn’t like them, the Chess Player tries to be friendly. He jokes about their code names and asks if there is a Tuck. He also regrets that his involvement was revealed the way it did and explains that he and his group are aligned against the Conspiracy. He offers to fix any problems they have, like getting back in with their old employers, in exchange for Albedo, the half of the Philby plot that they obtained. Nasir and Guy defer, explaining they need to talk to the rest of the team. The old man understands and offers that they join them at the cemetery that night. They say they will consider it and leave.

The team falls into a tense discussion as each puts forth whether they trust the Chess Player and how they feel about possible next steps. John wants to be sure of his old friend’s motives but puts his faith in the United States government. Guy and Nasir point out the U.S.’s failings and also discuss how dangerous this whole project has become. Scarlet would rather just expose everything to the world.

A lovely discussion of drives in other words.

Ultimately John decides to join his mentor at the cemetery, hoping to get him alone long enough to determine his true allegiances. The others watch from outside. A half-dozen thugs protect the entrance while another batch join the Chess Player and Mr. Black at the grave. Scarlet scans the nearby buildings, eventually locating Mr. White in his sniper’s perch.

MOS Surveillance for the win.

As the DOD group dig up Philby, Scarlet spots someone sneaking into the graveyard: Nicky. She warns John but too late. Mr. Black shoots the interloper. The confusion however gives John the time he needs with the Chess Player. While his mentor convinces John that he is fighting the good fight, the ex-spy detects that his superiors are less devoted.

Then the diggers uncover the remains. Scarlet zooms in on the grave. She radio's John. Those are not bones of an old man. The gunshot wound to the skull doesn’t match Philby’s poisoning/heart attack. As the Chess Player pulls a box from the dirt, John steps away.

The box opens, releasing a black mist over the entire cemetery. Painful black boils erupt on all exposed skin. Half of the men begin frothing at the mouth, clawing and biting at each other. John resists the reddening of his vision and flees the scene of madness.

John takes an automatic point of damage per turn. Also he makes a difficulty 5 Stability check to avoid going into a cannibalistic rage. Thanks to the warning he wasn’t close to anyone when the mist began so he doesn’t become a prefered target. Smartly he runs. Too bad he’s still infected with latent vampirism...

Scarlet hacks into Mr. White’s comm as she watches the sniper track John through the graves. She tells him to stand down and points out that the mist came from his boss opening the box, not John. He lets him escape for now.

An Electronic Surveillance spend and some good interpersonal skill usage stops a sniper bullet.

Guy flicks on the mist machine in the getaway van as first Nicky and then John stumble inside. John’s skin sizzles as it hits the mist but otherwise he seems fine. The old man bleeds badly and mutters about Arkady, the KGB and how some Arabs took Philby’s body. Nasir guesses this means Philby’s old allies moved his corpse and planted the trap. They quickly race away.

Guy makes the difficulty 6 Preparedness to have an antibiotic mist machine ready.

That's it for now. Next time we'll see if the agents can uncover the true location of the other half of Philby's plan and thwart the Conspiracy.

Project Werewolf: Dr. Gerhardt

The true heart of Project Werewolf is the research that allows the creation of superhuman soldiers. That knowledge is embodied in one person: Dr. Joseph Gerhardt. A German scientist "rescued" from a Soviet weapons development facility, he possesses more than his fair share of secrets. Secrets he will gladly sell to prolong his life. And what a long life it has been.

Dr. Joseph Gerhardt

Mad scientist and former Nazi

Description: late 40s, graying temples, light German accent

Defining Quirks: Leans forward, overly helpful when threatened

Aliases: The Doctor

A medical doctor, anthropologist and a biochemist, he possesses an astounding array of knowledge. His research has partially unlocked an avenue of human enhancement with potentially ground breaking status. He also makes monsters.

Many levels of secrets enfold Joseph and his past. To the world at large Dr. Gerhardt does not exist.

Peeling back a layer of secrecy, Project Werewolf knows he worked for the Russians doing essentially the job he does for them now: surgically and chemically modifying people to create supersoldiers. In conjunction with Mossad, the CIA extracted him from the facility were he had worked for decades. They turned him to their side and put him to work on a highly classified CIA program that came to be known as Project Werewolf.

But the truth lies deeper. Gerhard's past was expunged by the Soviets (and kept that way by the Russians) who hoped to use him to create supersoldiers for their use. They picked him up at the tail end of World War 2. Salvaging the Nazi's weapon research they imprisoned him and put him to work for them.

Whether his research succeeded in delivering supersoldiers to the Soviet's remains unknown. What is clear is that a byproduct of that research halted and reversed his own aging, granting him a small amount of the werewolves' vitality and power.

Operations

Gerhardt runs the medical team that creates new agents. He also conducts the training performed on the "failures". As such he almost never leaves the Castle.

The situation is not much different from his time with the Russians and in a way it makes him feel comfortable to always be at work.

Attributes

Investigative Abilities: Bureaucracy 1, Chemistry 3, Diagnosis 3, Forensic Pathology 1, Languages 1, Occult Studies 2, Research 2

General Abilities: Aberrance 6, Conceal 6, Cover 6, Hand to Hand 4, Health 6, Medic 12, Preparedness 8, Sense Trouble 6, Shooting 6, Weapons 2

Hit Threshold: 3
Alertness Modifier: +1
Stealth Modifier: +0

Free Powers: None
Other Powers: Regeneration (refreshes Health fully for each 2 points spent), Necromancy (requires medical equipment)

Banes: None
Compulsions: None

The Sprawl Recap: Crisis of Greed

For the second mission of our The Sprawl game, "Crisis of Greed", I wanted to involve the directives of the PCs a bit more. I also wanted to load more of the complications into the operation into the Action phase. The results were exciting. You can find character creation here and the first session here.

Crisis of Greed

As we begin, Little Bear, Demon’s smaller drone, remains broken due to the flechette ammo lodged in from the previous mission. For 1 cred he can repair it himself but he begins to have bigger ideas.

I messed up the beginning by addressing the wrong character. This is why it pays to highlight these things.

Smoke finishes up her physical. The technician nods as he reads the diagnostics from her cybernetics. He tells her everything is nominal. As the man packs up his gear, a woman with hair glowing with the latest advertisements approaches Smoke. Smoke squints at the woman smiles, her curtain-like bangs displaying the latest Genewear cyber arm line.

The suit introduces herself as Marissa Patel. She asks Smoke to retrieve and transport an experimental computer system developed by Pan Digital for Genewear. A researcher called Ruzena Blahova is selling the megacorporation the device. Patel needs Smoke and her allies to pick up the unit from the Brown Belt inside a military testing ground and deliver it to Genewear’s lab downtown. Smoke agrees and asks for a way to confirm that the unit is what they say.

Smoke misses the Get the Job roll so I advance the Legwork clock. Then both Oracle and Demon stake 3 cred (Smoke stakes 2), so I advance two more clocks (both Legwork and Action)!

Device in hand, she talks to the rest of the team. Some quick research confirms Pan Digital is a subsidiary of United Security. Worse, Demon knows Ruzena. She and his ex-partner Dale were tight. She knows how he betrayed her former boyfriend. They decide to keep the driver firmly within his vehicle for the operation.

Demon is able to provide some decent intel on the Brown Belt. What were once the city’s green belt and industrial districts have been rezoned for military exercises and experiments. The area is patrolled by dog sized buzzbots and car sized minitanks. The quadcopter buzzbots at least can be easily hacked. The tanks might have explosive shells but are slow and obvious. Demon seems confident he can slip past them.

Oracle decides to contact Overwatch, a netizen and expert hacker. Smoke offers to help and together the pair trawl the web for her contact, hoping to get recent satellite imagery of the area. Overwatch gets back to them after an hour of messaging but tells them he can’t help. The word on the street is that Angelo and his boys are also after this computer system. Oracle informs Smoke that if her old rival is involved then Veridian Dynamics is paying them to do its dirty work.

Smoke failed her help roll and Oracle failed her Hit the Streets roll. So I advance the Footwork clock and make some serious foreshadowings.

While Smoke obtains a loader to cart the minifridge sized device, Demon meets with his roboticist friend, Gearhead. Gearhead has several outstanding warrants so arranges to meet the driver at her workshop, a hulking hover truck currently docked atop a decaying skyscraper.

Demon Hits the Streets and fails.

He shows her his damaged drone still punctured by a couple of plastic needles. As she turns it over in her calloused hands he asks if it could also be upgraded with improved sensors. She nods but says she’ll need 2 cred for the job. Just as he agrees the whole building shudders. Gearhead looks over the railing. 30 floors down, a rusty automated crane has begun demolishing the lower floors.

Demon powers up his wheelchair, racing up an incline as he heads for Big Mama’s controls. The whole tower shrieks and groans as it tilts ever farther over. Demon’s chairs skids for a moment before locking in front of the controls. Then Mama Bear slides off the edge.

Demon gets a soft hit on Acting Under Pressure.

The driver sees Gearhead’s truck disappear into the growing cloud of debris as he punches Mama’s engines. Diving below the rain of rust and glass, he blasts free the disaster. As emergency services rush it he scans the wreckage for Gearhead. The criminal is nowhere to be seen.

On his second Act Under Pressure, he adds Mama Bear’s stats and easily succeeds.
Oracle and Smoke watch the news report later that day on the disaster. The crane operator, now under arrest for criminal negligence, claims that the crane was possessed. Demon soon fills them in on the whole story. With the clock ticking they decide to head to the Brown Belt.

There are 3 segments left on the Legwork clock.

An hour later, Mama Bear settles just outside the Brown Belt. Demon sends Big Bear scouting, hoping to hack the buzzbots’ systems. A mile in however, he loses contact.

Demon Acts Under Pressure and fails. At least Big Bear is autonomous. Buzzbots have jamming capabilities.

Mama lifts off and Demon pushes the craft as hard and fast as he can. In minutes they spot Big Bear, damaged but still fighting against five buzzbots. Smoke unloads Mama’s autocannon into them while Oracle leans out with her pistols. In seconds the flimsy rotorcraft lie smoking on the ground and Big Bear sluggish from battle damage but still active is pulled on board.

Smoke and Oracle Mix It Up (Smoke helps). They get a soft hit. Oracle chooses to take damage (which Smoke takes since she had a soft hit as well) and the drone gets damaged (it loses the responsive tag). Fortunately the guns on the buzzbots don’t penetrate their armor. Oracle deals more than enough damage to wipe out the drones. For his part Demon gets a hard hit Acting Under Pressure to guide Big Bear back in.

Demon punches it. They race across the treetops as explosive rounds detonate behind them. The clearing races up to them. Demon brings Mama Bear down into a gentle hover. Oracle scans the area with the craft’s sensors. She quickly spots Ruzena, standing near two metal cubes. Curiously each glows warmly under infrared.

Demon gets hard hit on Acting Under Fire to get there fast. Oracle Assesses but fails. I advance the Action clock. This means Angelo is already in place.

Smoke readies the loader and the two women head out. Ruzena shouts over the roar of the engines that they are a little late. Demon trains the autocannon on the edge of the clearing as Angelo and his boys come out, encircling the team.

I use the following move next. When you face off Angelo, he's prepared. Roll +Edge. On a hit, you know his tricks, hold 1 and so does he. On 7-9 to he holds an additional 1. On a miss he holds 2 and the MC will make a hard move now. Spend hold to add +1 or subtract -2 to a roll to interfere with him. He can do the same to you.

They miss. So he gets hold 2 and I make a move.

A military VTOL descends from the brilliant sky, its gun firmly fixed on Mama Bear. The vector panzer floats above the clearing edge like an angry bumble bee.

Oracle points her guns at Angelo and tells him to stand down.

Then the field erupts into chaos, blood, and death.

Oracle Plays Hardball and fails. Demon helped but at least he gets a hard hit. We exchange harm. I let Smoke roll Act Under Pressure first to dive for the boxes and relative safety. She gets a hard hit.

A platoon of men tear up the field as Smoke dives lightning fast for the cover of the two boxes. She watches Ruzena stumbles in the same direction, toppling forward as her merely human reflexes fail to avoid the stray bullets. Above the panzer perforates Demon’s craft.

Oracle sprays the tree line with eerie precision, dropping one man after another. Red signal lights start blinking on Demon’s console as he strafes the treeline. Down on the ground, Smoke keeps her head down as several rounds find weak points in Oracle’s armor. The cyborg soldier slips in the torn up earth but struggles back to her feet.

Oracle deals 5-harm base to the gang -1 for being larger than her (Medium versus Small) -2 for their armor, for a total of 2. So several of them are badly hurt.

The autocannon obliterates most of the gang since it deals area damage. I reduce its size to a small gang. Oracle takes 3-harm base +1 for the (former) larger size of the gang -2 for her armor, for 2 harm total. She gets a soft success on the harm move and so loses her footing. As for Mama Bear, the car takes 4-harm -2 for armor, for 2 harm total. 1-harm blows through but Demon’s armor absorbs it.

As Ruzena gasps for air like a dying fish, Smoke considers putting her out of her misery. “I know what Demon did to Dale,” the woman says as her blood dampens her pure white hair. Ruzena looks over at one of the cubes as her cyber eyes power down.

Smoke scrambles out to pull the loader back to the boxes. As Oracle covers her escape, Smoke loads and hauls the goods back to Mama Bear. Once in the clear, Demon turns the cannon on the remaining unit. It explodes in a spray of metal and oddly organic goo.

Smoke Acts Under Pressure and with Oracle’s help succeeds with a hard hit. Demon blasts other one while also trying to escape. He Acts Under Pressure and also gets a hard hit.

Mama Bear pushes off the ground while the panzer is still adjusting its aim and rockets towards the border. As a swarm of buzzbots converge on them, Oracle grabs a cable and hangs out of the ship. She opens fire on their pursuers as Smoke directs the autocannon at the panzer.

Oracle Mixes It Up with the panzer. She gets a soft hit so chooses to take harm and have Smoke take some as well. She takes 2 more harm (4 base -2 for armor), gets a soft hit on her harm move and loses her footing again. Thanks to the armor on Mama Bear, Smoke takes zero harm. She also gets a soft hit on her harm move and so loses her “weapon”.

Oracle’s bullets find her mark as the craft’s VTOL engine erupts in flames and smoke. A final bursts of bullets however hit her, knocking her free of Mama Bear and leaving her dangling off the edge. Inside Smoke flinches away as a series of ricochets strike the controls for the car’s weapons systems. They explode in a shower of sparks.

Demon uses his interface to swing the guns forward as he watches the panzer spin slowly to the ground, its pilot somehow regaining control.

Then the fuel monitor begins to blare angrily. While Smoke races to the back of Mama Bear, Demon turns his attention forward and ruthlessly slices a path through the buzzbots. In the back, Smoke finds fuel pooling on the floor from a cut line. As she tries to patch it up, the incoming drones fire. A spark strikes the fuel. Everything explodes.

Demon Act Under Pressure to get them to safety. He succeeds with a hard hit. Smoke tries to patch the ship but fails her Act Under Pressure roll. The gas ignites dealing 3-harm to everyone inside (so not Oracle). Demon takes all the harm (ignoring armor) when he botches the harm move. Smoke fails the move and only has to deal with the harm.

Oracle clings to the side of the craft as they fly over the city. She calls inside, “is everything alright in there?”

Smoke and Demon choke out that they are okay. As Smoke stumbles back to the front of the craft, Demon notices something big descending from above.

Both Smoke and Demon Assess. Smoke fails and I advance the Action clock. Military craft are now inbound.

Demon succeeds and asks Who or what is my biggest threat in this situation? (The VTOL is back) How can I avoid trouble or hide here? (I answer the streets would be hard for the VTOL to maneuver) Where can I gain the most advantage?

Looking up he sees the damaged vector panzer descending quickly. He glances down at the tangle of streets where they might hide. Then he turns to Smoke. “I’ve got an idea.”

Demon turns Mama Bear straight up and dives in close to the craft. Smoke adjusts the thrust with lightning speed and helps him pick the right moment to make his turn. As the panzer tries to follow them, its engine stalls and it spins uncontrollably into the streets below.

Smoke helps Demon Act Under Fire using her tactics chip, links, and synthetic nerves. They get a hard success.

The team make the rest of the journey to the lab quickly and much more quietly.

A news broadcast reporting on the disaster plays across Marissa’s hair as she describes her frustration with how this mission turned out. After accepting the delivery, she pays them, minus fees needed for payoffs and cover ups. Bloodied and tired, they accept what they can get.

The team gets a soft hit on Getting Paid. They decide to ensure this is not an ambush and accept the -1 Credit from their profits. Also I advance most of the Corporate clocks.

The team earns enough experience to advance however. Most of them raise their Edge while Oracle takes Emotionless.

For the second mission of our The Sprawl game, "Crisis of Greed", I wanted to involve the directives of the PCs a bit more. I also wanted to load more of the complications into the operation into the Action phase. The results were exciting. You can find character creation here and the first session here.

Project Werewolf: Dr. Milagros Gomez

Every operation needs support staff and the same is true of Project Werewolf. In this case they needed someone to find and evaluate promising soldiers to become new operatives...or monsters. Dr. Milagros Gomez was easily manipulated into this role. This angel of mercy haunts the recovery wards and morgues of the military hospital in Landstuhl, seeking the best of terminal patients.

Dr. Milagros Gomez

Angel of horror and mercy

Description: short dark hair, smart watch monitoring heart beat, engagement ring missing some stones

Defining Quirks: speaks softly, sits up straight

A very fit and attractive Hispanic American woman, Dr. Gomez was an Olympic prospect in her youth until the death of her fiance pushed her to focus on medicine instead. Now she works to help those injured serving her country. She can still found in the gym during most of her off hours.

Dr. Gomez lost her fiance in Afghanistan in 2002. She joined the medical corp shortly afterwards, pushing past her grief by trying to help others.

Almost a decade ago, she was recruited by a shadowy organization working to rebuild crippled soldiers, making them stronger and more dangerous than they were before. Project Werewolf played on her sympathies and her desire to save lives. They conveniently left out how low the success rate was or that the failures were driven mad by the process. Though she knows not all of the people she moves to the program survive, she remains unaware of the true nature of the people she’s working for or the horrors that she is helping to create.

Operations

Gomez's primary job is locating skilled but dying soldiers to undergo the werewolf treatment. Ideal candidates would be mentally tough, highly trained and decorated but with little to no chance of recovery. It helps soothe everyone's consciences.

Once she identifies a potential subject, the team springs into action, moving the solider out of the hospital under the cover of night. Their deaths are faked and they are put in the care of Dr. Gerhard.

Attributes

Investigative Abilities: Diagnosis 2, Electronic Surveillance 1, Forensic Pathology 2, Human Terrain 1, Languages 2, Military Science 1, Notice 1, Reassurance 2, Tradecraft 2

General Abilities: Athletics 14, Conceal 6, Cover 6, Disguise 4, Drive 4, Hand to Hand 4, Health 7, Infiltration 8, Medic 8, Preparedness 4, Shooting 4, Weapons 4

Hit Threshold: 4
Alertness Modifier: +2
Stealth Modifier: +2

Damage: -2 (fist), +0 (pistol)