Prometheus was asked to give a lecture at the University of Ingolstadt in Bavaria, Germany, the alma mater of his “father,” Victor Frankenstein. The scheduled date is Monday 15 November 2016, and he flew to Germany on Friday the 11th (on Max Mars’ private jet), and is returning on the 20th (after explore some of his creator’s old haunts in Germany and Switzerland).
In the days following the near-disaster of the Halloween fund-raiser at the New Camelot Theatre and the exorcising of the ghostly Silver Scream (however temporary it might prove to be), the Vanguard were able to return their attention to the matter of the Pack-Rat. The facts that the child-like Junkpile could provide concerning his new “friend” were few enough, but it gave Artemis a place to start.
While she worked her many contacts in the Undercity, Scion put Chuck, Jonny and Seth on a deep search and pattern analysis of the news archives from the last yer, looking for any information on the kind of low-profile crimes that Pack-Rat and his gang seemed to favor. Meanwhile he and Quanta continued to spend as much time as they could spare with Junkpile, both studying and socializing him. Totem joined them on occasion, to examine the possibility of supernatural elements in the creature’s origin.
At the group’s weekly meeting on Monday morning 7 November…
My game plot points/notes:
This will be somethign of a seat-of-the pants adventure, as it’s one where the PCs are being proactive and setting a trap for the new criminal Pack Rat and his band of merry streetfolk, the Rat Pack. There are as many as four set pieces for this adventure, depending on what plan the Vanguard comes up with:
A Street Encounter when the McGuffin technology is being moved from the old Reshift Energy (now Apergy Systems International) ware house to the storage warehouse of the auction house TechCycle. This is if the Rat Pack decides to try an in-transit heist. They will use the sewers to move about and launch the attack.
A Warehouse Encounter, at TechCycle’s warehouse, where the McGuffin tech is being stored prior to the auction, used if the Rat Pack decides to do a B&E heist instead, coming up from the sewers as is their MO.
Regardless which method the Rat Pack uses to steal the McGuffin tech, they will escape (as part of the brilliant Vanguard plan or in spite of it, as required). Any technological tracker will be disabled as soon as it enters the big Faraday cage that is their main lair. This will give the heroes the general area of Astoria, within a two block radius, but no more. If Totem’s mystical tracker is used, then it will lead them to the Astoria Tower and it’s basement – it’s a magic directional guide, so it will point them towards their path, not directly at the tracker itself.
Once the Vanguard figure out how to breach the upper security of the Rat’s Nest the action will move to the final set piece, the Abandoned Subway Station Encounter. This is intended to be the main boss fight of the adventure.
With either the Street Encounter or the Warehouse Encounter, Pack Rat will have a group of his minions set off the alarms at several major stores in the Diamond District, as well as the Emerald City Diamond Exchange. None of these are actual robberies, just a diversion to draw away the Vanguard while rodent and his gang go after the tech they want. In either scenario, Pack Rat will have six of his regular minions with him and two Hornet Drones at the actual target sight.
The Rat’s Nest is an abandoned subway station in Astoria – quite a feat for a city with no subway system. It was one of two built secretly in 1928-29 by Elija Astor, a cousin of JJ’s grandfather. The secrecy was felt to be neccessary after the Emerald City and Astoria City Councils both refused permits. Under cover of supposedly tunneling a new 8-foot diameter sewer line, for which he could get permits, Astor went ahead and built a quarter-mile of pneumatic train tunnel and a grand showpiece station.
In Emerald City, using several local front companies, he built a much less grand station and another quarter-mile of track. The final phase of his elaborate scheme, the construction of a tunnel under the Columbia River connecting the two sections of track, was almost two-thirds completed in October of 1929. Astor lost most of his personal fortune in the Crash, and was forced into bankruptcy. He lost the Astoria Tower, and with it the station and tracks beneath it, although he somehow managed to keep the Emerald City property.
This was salt in the wound, though, as he hated EC – his life’s goal had been to push his city, Astoria, into the limelight, even if he couldn’t push Emerald City out of it entirely (that long-fought battle had been over for decades by then, as most of the rest of the Astor family had realized well before the turn of the century). Elija’s Astoria Tower had been meant to show Astoria as cutting edge as the dynamic new 20th Century began. At 16 stories it was the tallest building on the West Coast when it opened on 12 June 1901, topping Emerald City’s McTavish Building by six floors and 100 feet. It only held that record for 14 months, however, until the 35 story, 349-foot Stanley Tower was completed in Emerald City in August of 1902. That held the West Coast record until 1923 and the construction of Seattle’s Smith Tower, at 49 storys and 489 feet.
Elija Astor died on 14 January 1932 at age 57, a bitter and disappointed man living in a residence hotel in Astoria, estranged not only from his East Coast cousins but from his own three children. Born 11 March 1875.
When his illegal subway project was discovered during the bankruptcy, Elija spent much of his remaining money fighting legal battles to avoid now-crippling fines. He succeeded, but the effort left him almost destitute anyway, by the standards of his class. The new owners of the Astoria Tower quickly paved over the two-story atrium lobby, making the former mezzanine level the new lobby. The lower lobby was sealed off except for the sidewalk freight elevator, becoming a storage basement. In the 1940s the ticket booth and the entrance to the subway were walled off entirely during an effort to shore up the supports of the building after a minor earthquake.
Pack Rat found the place after being told by the Professor (Reginald Brown) about it – the man’s grandfather had been set to be one of the ticket sellers when the line opened, and was one of the few people to see the project, outside the work crews, before it was abandoned and selaed away. The humanoid rodent bored in from a sewer line and created a new opening into the walled off section with the ticket booth. A hidden door in a main sewer tunnel opens into a new tunnel leading to the refurbihsed lair.
To open the boarded-up doors to the booth requires a DC 20 check against Investigation or Perception.
The lair is protected by sensors that alert inhabitants when the secret door is opened and two disguised security cameras (DC 15 against Perception to notice them).
When trying to find a way into the basement of the Astoria Tower it’s a DC 20 Persuasion (or Intimidation) roll to learn about the freight elevator from the sidewalk to the basement. Only one small section is currently used (the building is old and seedy, up for sale, and half empty of tennants). A DC 30 Investigation roll is required to learn more about the closed off area – almost no one even knows that it exists.
Attempts to talk Pack Rat or any of his minions out of their life of crime are not doomed to failure (none of the humans are really bad people), but it’s a tough sell. The Rat Pack have all been discarded by society and have little trust in any authority figues, including the Vanguard. Artemis’ reputation gives her a +5 to any attempt at either Persuasion or Intimidation. Scion recieves a +2 bonus at Persuasion or Insight.
Persuasion, Intimidation or Insight can be used to try and sway Pack Rat and his gang (the minions roll as one, the Librarian, the Professor and Pack Rat himself get individual rolls. The attempt is a Challenge, and lower the Attitude of the gang and/or its leader, with a DC 30 (for the Rat Pack) or DC 35 (for Pack Rat ). Each attempt at persuasion takes a Standard Action at least, and requires two degrees of success to improve attitude by one level (can be cummulative), but only one degree of failure to worsen it. Three degrees of failure or more ups attitude two levels, while three or more degrees of success lowers the level by two. If Pack Rat’s Attitude ever hits “Hostile” then any future attempts at persuasion have a DC 40.
Attitude: Effect
Hostile Will take risks to attack or interfere with you.
Rat Pack becomes totally focused on attacking heroes. Pack Rat becomes vicious in his attacks.
Unfavorable Will insult, mislead, or otherwise cause you trouble. Rat Pack attacks when
provoked, but will disengage if allowed to do so – Attitude starts here.
Indifferent Acts as socially expected towards you.
Rat Pack tries to ignore heroes, focused on the job. Rat Pack will try to occupy
but not harm heroes.
Favorable Will chat, advise, and offer limited help. Rat Pack can be reasoned with, won’t
attack first. Pack Rat remains defensive, but willing to listen.
Helpful Will take risks to help or protect you. Rat Pack an be convinced to do what the
heroes ask, within reason. Pack Rat can be convinced to depart, but will only
surrender on a second successful roll or on a natural 20.
Edgar Holmes is the name of The Librarian, who seldom leaves the Rat’s Nest. If either or The Professor are killed,or even seriously injured, Pack Rat will go berserk and attempt to kill at least one hero before escaping.
If either of the uplifted rodent’s chief lieutenants can be moved down two levels, then Pack Rat is automatically lowered by one level. If he himself is lowered a level by direct persuasion, the Rat Pack moves the same distance on the Attitude Table.
Discover Perimiter Alarms – DC 35 Perception / Investigation /Technology Check (DC 20 for Scion)
Disable Perimiter Alarms – DC 30 Technology Check (DC 20 for Scion)
Disable/Control Security Cameras – DC 20 Technology Check (DC 15 for Scion)
Disable/Control Robo-Defenses – DC 40 Technology Check for Scion (no chance for anyone else)
Discover existence of the Menagerie – DC 25 Investigation Check or DC 30 Current Events Check)
Artemis #1 – You knew of, and on a couple of occasions had business interactions with, Elija Astor, back in the early 20th Century. You found him annoying, a relentless self-promoter, and a tedious champion of Astoria over Emerald City in the (generally one-side) rivalry of the two cities. You remember shaking your head at the money he spent building his 16-story Astoria Tower in 1901, and his petulant fury when Emerald City took back the record for tallest building on the West Coast just 14 months later with the 35-story Stanley Tower. You were in Shambhala Vale during the Depression, of course, but know he lost everyhting and died broke in the early 1930s. You can roll a DC 20 Check against Expertise: History to remember more details of the man and his works, if you wish.
Artemis #2 – You’ve known Reginald Brown, street name The Professor, for several years as a denizen of the Undercity. He was a tenured professor of history at ECU in the ‘90s, but suffered an emotional breakdown in 2003 when his beloved wife of 32 years died in a freak home accident. He took to drink to dull the pain, eventually lost his job, and by 2005 was living rough on the streets. He never lost his compassion, however, and became a sort of father-figure to many younger cast-aways fo society once he found a place in the Undercity, even while despising the system that he believed failed them all. You worked with him on several occasions when, as Artemis, you needed aid in trying to help some lost soul. You knew him as a bitter, broken man, but nonetheless a good one at his core, more focused on others than himself (except for his own loss and pain).
Scion #1 – You know of a company named TechCycle, which specializes in auctions of technology & commercial property. You have a bunch of older tech that you acquired from Redshift Energy for which youy have no use – you planned to get rid of it using TechCycle’s services at some point. It’s exactly the kind of relatively low-value stuff the Rat Pack seems to go for, so why not advertise that you’re auctioning it off now to lay the trap?
Scion #2 – The ever-efficient Ms. Penny Monet, whom you’ve promoted to Operations Officer for Apergy Systems, has found an employee, a holdover from the ZeroPoint Energy acquisition, who has a gambling problem and would likely be a good candidate to “sell” information about old tech being disposed of. His name is Gerhart Mueller, and he works at your manufacturing and shipping facility. It’s a DC 20 Persuasion Check to talk him into helping. If you offer to pay off his debts (conditional on his seeking treatment afterward, of course), add a +5 to the roll.