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GUMSHOE: Night's Black Agents - Tinker Tailor Vampire Die
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<blockquote data-quote="writernextdoor" data-source="post: 5875692" data-attributes="member: 6689303"><p>((GM Notes in double parentheses))</p><p>[Mechanical notes in braces]</p><p></p><p>This is the adventure of the 'C' team, a set of characters made to test out the 'Dust' style of play. The players (usual players) were looking for a change and didn't want to up-end the main campaign plot, we spent two sessions exploring this side avenue. </p><p></p><p>The C Team</p><p>------------</p><p>Dr Albert von Schluss [The Shrink]</p><p>Cornelius Jackson [The Gun]</p><p>Ai Hao [The Hand To Hand]</p><p>Diego Forte [The Academic]</p><p></p><p>Notice the lack of [Infiltration], [Digital Intrusion] or [Explosives]: The party just didn't allocate the points into them, and the story was happy to make them pay for it. </p><p></p><p>We start our story in Baghdad, as all tales of horror could, with the Team receiving a message from Mace Hunter, who was busy off the Aruba coast working on his tan. (And chasing down a lead for next week's game)</p><p></p><p>"Check out Midnight Securities in Baghdad, Investigate and Stop if possible"</p><p></p><p>Now Dr von Schluss had an old family friend back home [4 point Network spend] who pulled some strings to get the team a tour and an interview, all the team had to do was stay out of trouble once inside. </p><p></p><p>Right.</p><p></p><p>The team was introduced to Lieutenant Colonel Stewart ((I wanted him to be a Brigadier, but didn't have time to promote him)) who the intrepid doctor realized was under some great duress [2 point Shrink spend] and with a little persuading ((Initially they were going to shoot him in the knee to make him talk, but decided on just closing the door and being patient)), Stewart revealed that within the company there was a problem, and they could discuss it later that night, if they met him at a bar downtown. The team agreed and went off on their tour.</p><p></p><p>During the tour, the team took notice [Sense Trouble] that the guards on the second floor ((the offices) were official and military while the heavily armed men walking the warehouse floor were not - and in fact they resembled convicts, criminals and thugs. </p><p></p><p>Cornelius Jackson, Man of Action ((no seriously, that's what he introduced himself as)), talked shop [Gun gibberish] with one of the guards, while Ai Hao did her best "investigation walk" around the room. </p><p></p><p>In one corner, away from the other supplies but near the trucks, some local Iraqis were hired and paid cash to load unlabeled cargo onto and off of trucks. [CORE CLUE] They were pleased to be working, and told they always received cash from their manager, a man named Mohammed. </p><p></p><p>Mohammed was a local contractor hired by Midnight to liaise and retain native people for simple and domestic work, so as to avoid the idea that another crazy company was coming into Iraq and taking over. Mohammed got his orders from the Lt Colonel [CORE CLUE] but didn't want to talk about where he got the cash to pay for things.</p><p></p><p>The team then decided to investigate the trucks, and by investigate, they meant "steal after neutralizing a few guards" They were able to find one of the trucks, and see that the crates were antiquities, and the trucks were coming in from dig sites all around Baghdad and coming to Midnight for either transport or fencing. [CORE CLUE]</p><p></p><p>Mohammed was only slightly freaked out by the team taking an interest in their activities and offered to cut them into the deal so long as he wasn't fired or killed or "left to fend for himself". </p><p></p><p>He agreed to tell the team everything, if they went back to his house with him, because it wasn't safe anywhere else. </p><p></p><p>So the team did so, and along the way ran into their first sign of trouble. Ol' Mohammed was getting tailed 24/7 and whoever was tailing him wasn't afraid to get their hands dirty, say by trying to kill Mohammed or anyone with them.</p><p></p><p>The car chase ((which is AWESOME to do when no one has any points in Driving)) was a slow crawl in evening rush hour to Mohammed's small house. The party entered and immediately took note of the religious iconography, satellite maps and old books [Research, Military Science, and Occult Studies spends]. </p><p></p><p>Mohammed has been ordered by the Lt Colonel to dig up the desert for a particular hiding spot for a particular book. The problem is, that the desert is huge and this book, a personal diary of a monk from the 13th century, is small. [CORE CLUE]</p><p></p><p>It was at this moment the team noticed [Traffic Analysis] the tail from before coming back...and in force. Eight men, six of them armed were surrounding the building. </p><p></p><p>Diego encouraged Mohammed to talk more ((Again, first wanting to dangle him out a window) but instead suggested that if the team knew more they could help. Mohammed revealed that he had a lead on the book, and did for many weeks, he was just afraid that revealing the lead would end the flow of cash and more possibly, his life ((The players I guess felt sorry for Mohammed here, and gave him a gun)).</p><p></p><p>The team left the apartment to meet the tail, and the fight was short and decisive. The team dumped the bodies into a dumpster down the block and took one of the tail-cars to the address Mohammed gave them about the lead. </p><p></p><p>The address was an old storage facility, with a unit loaded floor to ceiling with papers and receipts and tax forms and all kinds of customs-forgery props [CORE CLUE]. </p><p></p><p>But the team was not alone. The creature had tracked them from all the way back at Midnight and was after the book. Killing them would just be a bonus. </p><p></p><p>((The team did not fare well against the creature. A lot of [Stability] was lost and the injuries were high. It didn't kill anyone, but it certainly knocked the stuffing out of them))</p><p></p><p>The doctor decided to use the car against the creature and damn near killed himself in that wreck. But the party delighted in beheading the beastie and celebrating finding Mohammed's lead just before the unit caught fire ((caused by errant use of a flare gun)). </p><p></p><p>Mohammed's lead [CORE CLUE] brought them a cell phone number that when dialed, the person on the other end would only respond with a single word "Green", and then would hang up if the party said anything. Clearly, a codeword. </p><p></p><p>After some hounding of Diego's contacts [3 point Network spend], the team made their way to a hotel bar where a lot of illegal trafficking went down ((mostly kids and drugs)), and found that the cell phone number rang the phone behind the bar. </p><p></p><p>By way of a little discussion [Intimidation] with the bartender ((where the party did get to break his hand)), they found out that a buyer of antiquities was going to be at the Museum tonight to receive a shipment [CORE CLUE]- and that intercepting that deal would be a good idea.</p><p></p><p>Problem #1 was that the team lacked an Infiltrator. Problem #2 was that they lacked any Hacker or Surveillance people. Problem #3 was that all they had was guns.</p><p></p><p>The team raced to the museum, finding it fairly locked up and somewhat secure (dogs and security personnel) but the parking lot was interesting.</p><p></p><p>In the lot, actually right next to where they parked was the Lt Colonel's car. [CORE CLUE]. Of course, it was under a lamppost in an otherwise empty lot. </p><p></p><p>((There was a moment here where the players didn't realize that it was now near midnight, and they were in the open, under a light....))</p><p></p><p>The museum guards opened fire and the volleys were ferocious. </p><p></p><p>((I thought here I lost the whole party. They were totally near death, and absolutely wounded badly, and unconscious.))</p><p></p><p>The party came to somewhere bright. And hot. And hours later.</p><p></p><p>They awoke to find themselves in a cemetery, being dragged in front of a tomb under renovation. They had been given somewhat passable medical attention....from the medical staff at Midnight [CORE CLUE] because when they all came around, the Lt Colonel was ordering them at gun point into the tomb. </p><p></p><p>Mohammed's dead body was tossed at their feet, and suddenly it all became clear -- the Colonel wasn't under duress, he was the mastermind of the whole event, and now the book would be his...if the team went into the tomb and retrieved it, because the locals who excavated it wouldn't go near it [CORE CLUE]</p><p></p><p>So, into the tomb they went. And Cornelius was happy to point out the explosives wired into the lighting system [CORE CLUE].</p><p></p><p>The team penetrated deep beneath the Baghdad city structure, all the way down to a crypt of an unknown age ((Every player failed their respective rolls at Archaeology, Occult Studies, and History)).</p><p></p><p>At the end of ths tour, where they were marched in and had the tomb locked behind them, they found the book. </p><p></p><p>It was a pillow for a sleeping creature. Pale, nearly alabaster, and dessicated, it slumbered pretty deeply. That is until Ai Hao crossed the threshold of its room.</p><p></p><p>The creature at first just studied the team, and the team kept its distance. It moved left, they went right. All the way around the circle until the creature blocked the door, but the team had the book. </p><p></p><p>It occurred to Diego and the doctor that the only thing to do now was to sacrifice an agent to escape....and Cornelius had flipped through the book and started reading [2 point Occult Studies spend]....and oddly enough the rather interesting ritual required a human sacrifice. </p><p></p><p>((The tension here was delicious. The party knew they weren't getting out alive, but didn't want to devolve into killing each other. Great moment))</p><p></p><p>Eventually, the creature went to attack Cornelius, since he had the book. As the beast ran, he started reading and then ((did something that absolutely amazed me as a GM))...killed himself so that the blood stained the pages.</p><p></p><p>The rest of the team ran for the door, while the ritual gained power fueled by Cornelius' sacrifice. </p><p></p><p>Up from the graves arose quite a few half-dead things, things in all stages of rot, an arm here, half a woman there....and while the team ran away from the creature and the tomb, the risen remnants descended upon the Midnight staff.</p><p></p><p>The team reached ground level just as the Lt Colonel was being torn apart by ghouls. </p><p></p><p>The only thing to do was to blow up the tomb. They did, sinking the whole cemetery infrastructure down about 3 meters and causing a citywide panic, but the book was destroyed ((or was it?)) and Cornelius didn't entirely die in vain ((or did he?)).</p><p></p><p>((This was one of the more fun adventures I ran....later this week, I'm going to test out the Victorian setting)).</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="writernextdoor, post: 5875692, member: 6689303"] ((GM Notes in double parentheses)) [Mechanical notes in braces] This is the adventure of the 'C' team, a set of characters made to test out the 'Dust' style of play. The players (usual players) were looking for a change and didn't want to up-end the main campaign plot, we spent two sessions exploring this side avenue. The C Team ------------ Dr Albert von Schluss [The Shrink] Cornelius Jackson [The Gun] Ai Hao [The Hand To Hand] Diego Forte [The Academic] Notice the lack of [Infiltration], [Digital Intrusion] or [Explosives]: The party just didn't allocate the points into them, and the story was happy to make them pay for it. We start our story in Baghdad, as all tales of horror could, with the Team receiving a message from Mace Hunter, who was busy off the Aruba coast working on his tan. (And chasing down a lead for next week's game) "Check out Midnight Securities in Baghdad, Investigate and Stop if possible" Now Dr von Schluss had an old family friend back home [4 point Network spend] who pulled some strings to get the team a tour and an interview, all the team had to do was stay out of trouble once inside. Right. The team was introduced to Lieutenant Colonel Stewart ((I wanted him to be a Brigadier, but didn't have time to promote him)) who the intrepid doctor realized was under some great duress [2 point Shrink spend] and with a little persuading ((Initially they were going to shoot him in the knee to make him talk, but decided on just closing the door and being patient)), Stewart revealed that within the company there was a problem, and they could discuss it later that night, if they met him at a bar downtown. The team agreed and went off on their tour. During the tour, the team took notice [Sense Trouble] that the guards on the second floor ((the offices) were official and military while the heavily armed men walking the warehouse floor were not - and in fact they resembled convicts, criminals and thugs. Cornelius Jackson, Man of Action ((no seriously, that's what he introduced himself as)), talked shop [Gun gibberish] with one of the guards, while Ai Hao did her best "investigation walk" around the room. In one corner, away from the other supplies but near the trucks, some local Iraqis were hired and paid cash to load unlabeled cargo onto and off of trucks. [CORE CLUE] They were pleased to be working, and told they always received cash from their manager, a man named Mohammed. Mohammed was a local contractor hired by Midnight to liaise and retain native people for simple and domestic work, so as to avoid the idea that another crazy company was coming into Iraq and taking over. Mohammed got his orders from the Lt Colonel [CORE CLUE] but didn't want to talk about where he got the cash to pay for things. The team then decided to investigate the trucks, and by investigate, they meant "steal after neutralizing a few guards" They were able to find one of the trucks, and see that the crates were antiquities, and the trucks were coming in from dig sites all around Baghdad and coming to Midnight for either transport or fencing. [CORE CLUE] Mohammed was only slightly freaked out by the team taking an interest in their activities and offered to cut them into the deal so long as he wasn't fired or killed or "left to fend for himself". He agreed to tell the team everything, if they went back to his house with him, because it wasn't safe anywhere else. So the team did so, and along the way ran into their first sign of trouble. Ol' Mohammed was getting tailed 24/7 and whoever was tailing him wasn't afraid to get their hands dirty, say by trying to kill Mohammed or anyone with them. The car chase ((which is AWESOME to do when no one has any points in Driving)) was a slow crawl in evening rush hour to Mohammed's small house. The party entered and immediately took note of the religious iconography, satellite maps and old books [Research, Military Science, and Occult Studies spends]. Mohammed has been ordered by the Lt Colonel to dig up the desert for a particular hiding spot for a particular book. The problem is, that the desert is huge and this book, a personal diary of a monk from the 13th century, is small. [CORE CLUE] It was at this moment the team noticed [Traffic Analysis] the tail from before coming back...and in force. Eight men, six of them armed were surrounding the building. Diego encouraged Mohammed to talk more ((Again, first wanting to dangle him out a window) but instead suggested that if the team knew more they could help. Mohammed revealed that he had a lead on the book, and did for many weeks, he was just afraid that revealing the lead would end the flow of cash and more possibly, his life ((The players I guess felt sorry for Mohammed here, and gave him a gun)). The team left the apartment to meet the tail, and the fight was short and decisive. The team dumped the bodies into a dumpster down the block and took one of the tail-cars to the address Mohammed gave them about the lead. The address was an old storage facility, with a unit loaded floor to ceiling with papers and receipts and tax forms and all kinds of customs-forgery props [CORE CLUE]. But the team was not alone. The creature had tracked them from all the way back at Midnight and was after the book. Killing them would just be a bonus. ((The team did not fare well against the creature. A lot of [Stability] was lost and the injuries were high. It didn't kill anyone, but it certainly knocked the stuffing out of them)) The doctor decided to use the car against the creature and damn near killed himself in that wreck. But the party delighted in beheading the beastie and celebrating finding Mohammed's lead just before the unit caught fire ((caused by errant use of a flare gun)). Mohammed's lead [CORE CLUE] brought them a cell phone number that when dialed, the person on the other end would only respond with a single word "Green", and then would hang up if the party said anything. Clearly, a codeword. After some hounding of Diego's contacts [3 point Network spend], the team made their way to a hotel bar where a lot of illegal trafficking went down ((mostly kids and drugs)), and found that the cell phone number rang the phone behind the bar. By way of a little discussion [Intimidation] with the bartender ((where the party did get to break his hand)), they found out that a buyer of antiquities was going to be at the Museum tonight to receive a shipment [CORE CLUE]- and that intercepting that deal would be a good idea. Problem #1 was that the team lacked an Infiltrator. Problem #2 was that they lacked any Hacker or Surveillance people. Problem #3 was that all they had was guns. The team raced to the museum, finding it fairly locked up and somewhat secure (dogs and security personnel) but the parking lot was interesting. In the lot, actually right next to where they parked was the Lt Colonel's car. [CORE CLUE]. Of course, it was under a lamppost in an otherwise empty lot. ((There was a moment here where the players didn't realize that it was now near midnight, and they were in the open, under a light....)) The museum guards opened fire and the volleys were ferocious. ((I thought here I lost the whole party. They were totally near death, and absolutely wounded badly, and unconscious.)) The party came to somewhere bright. And hot. And hours later. They awoke to find themselves in a cemetery, being dragged in front of a tomb under renovation. They had been given somewhat passable medical attention....from the medical staff at Midnight [CORE CLUE] because when they all came around, the Lt Colonel was ordering them at gun point into the tomb. Mohammed's dead body was tossed at their feet, and suddenly it all became clear -- the Colonel wasn't under duress, he was the mastermind of the whole event, and now the book would be his...if the team went into the tomb and retrieved it, because the locals who excavated it wouldn't go near it [CORE CLUE] So, into the tomb they went. And Cornelius was happy to point out the explosives wired into the lighting system [CORE CLUE]. The team penetrated deep beneath the Baghdad city structure, all the way down to a crypt of an unknown age ((Every player failed their respective rolls at Archaeology, Occult Studies, and History)). At the end of ths tour, where they were marched in and had the tomb locked behind them, they found the book. It was a pillow for a sleeping creature. Pale, nearly alabaster, and dessicated, it slumbered pretty deeply. That is until Ai Hao crossed the threshold of its room. The creature at first just studied the team, and the team kept its distance. It moved left, they went right. All the way around the circle until the creature blocked the door, but the team had the book. It occurred to Diego and the doctor that the only thing to do now was to sacrifice an agent to escape....and Cornelius had flipped through the book and started reading [2 point Occult Studies spend]....and oddly enough the rather interesting ritual required a human sacrifice. ((The tension here was delicious. The party knew they weren't getting out alive, but didn't want to devolve into killing each other. Great moment)) Eventually, the creature went to attack Cornelius, since he had the book. As the beast ran, he started reading and then ((did something that absolutely amazed me as a GM))...killed himself so that the blood stained the pages. The rest of the team ran for the door, while the ritual gained power fueled by Cornelius' sacrifice. Up from the graves arose quite a few half-dead things, things in all stages of rot, an arm here, half a woman there....and while the team ran away from the creature and the tomb, the risen remnants descended upon the Midnight staff. The team reached ground level just as the Lt Colonel was being torn apart by ghouls. The only thing to do was to blow up the tomb. They did, sinking the whole cemetery infrastructure down about 3 meters and causing a citywide panic, but the book was destroyed ((or was it?)) and Cornelius didn't entirely die in vain ((or did he?)). ((This was one of the more fun adventures I ran....later this week, I'm going to test out the Victorian setting)). [/QUOTE]
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