This is a good introductory-level adventure, you will be able to show your players how combat works, and the basics of the task system.  My thanks to Andy for granting permission for me to host it on my web site. - Kevin Clark - Feb. 8th, 1999.

INTRODUCTION

This is an introductory-level adventure for a beginning group of 2300 AD player characters.  The scenario takes place on the French continent of Beta Canum.  The time period has been left deliberately vague -- the referee can set it before, during or after the Kafer invasion.  The referee should have a copy of 2300 AD and the Equipment Guide.  In addition, Invasion, Colonial Atlas, Kafer Sourcebook and Beanstalk might be useful but are not required.
 

BACKGROUND

The PCs are hired to retrieve a cache of military-grade weapons and armour intended for local guerillas.  Trained and armed by the regular military, these guerillas are to stay behind enemy lines and act as saboteurs in the event of a local invasion ( think of the German Werewolf organisation of 1945, or the NATO-sponsored Gladio groups in Italy after World War II).

Depending on your campaign, the patron may claim to be a smuggler or a member of the original stay-behind guerilla group, or he may want to sell the weapons on the black market.  See the NPCs section for more details.
 

APPROACH

The cache is hidden in a hilly area near a small town, about two kilometres from any inhabited buildings.  The patron says he knows roughly where the cache is located and will guide the PCs to it under cover of darkness.  He will claim not to remember exactly where the cache is and to have lost the key he needs to get in -- the PCs will have to help him in both tasks.
 

MAP DESCRIPTION

The map is the underground command bunker from Merc: 2000 ( page 72), with some minor changes.

Entrances: Two concealed trapdoors lead down into the cache.  Beneath the trapdoor is a flight of stairs leading down into the hillside -- and the cache.

Bunk Room: Here are primitive, communal living quarters for a squad ( 10 people), including bunks and storage space for personal gear.

Storeroom: This room is full of assorted noncombat equipment, including a satellite uplink communicator, maps, compasses or other locating gear, and camouflage clothing.

Restroom: Simple sanitary facilities for the guerilla squad, including a chemical toilet.

Kitchen: Stores of long-life, prepackaged food ( e.g. MREs) and basic facilities for cooking.  Cooking facilities are patterned on the 'Ho Chi Minh' ovens which disperse smoke and smell over a wide area so that the hideout is hard to locate.  The kitchen area and its contents may be treasure in themselves during the Kafer invasion.

Armoury: Here are the goodies the PCs came for.  There are weapons to equip an infantry squad, plus as much ammunition as the referee is prepared to let them have.  The weapons cache includes six FAM-90s, one FTE-10, one Quinn-Darlan M2-A2 plasmagun, one Blindicide-9 launcher, one Martel launcher, and several pistols ( M-57 or 9-23 Enforcer equivalent).  As the expected users are guerillas rather than front-line troops, armour is limited to nonrigid or inertial suits, or vests and helmets.

Communications Room: This area contains equipment for monitoring civilian and enemy channels, plus encoding and decoding gear.  The code discs are fairly valuable to certain people ( e.g., terrorists) and can be sold on the black market.  If the PCs think of this opportunity, see Challenge 44 for rules on black market sales.

Office: This room contains a desk and chair, maps of the region, and portacomp chips with files of suitable targets, contact names, etc.
 

REFEREEING THE SCENARIO

PCs succeeding at a Difficult Recon task can discover one of the two concealed trapdoors leading into the cache.

Task: To find the entrance to the underground cache: Difficult.  Recon.  One minute.

The fact that the patron cannot take them straight to the door once they find the cache area may make the PCs start to get suspicious, if they aren't already.  The entrance is protected by a mechanical lock ( which requires no power to operate).  Opening it is another task.

Task: To open the mechanical lock protecting the entrance: Difficult.  Security Systems.  2 minutes.

A pressure sensor at the bottom of the stairs triggers a trap if anyone steps on it.  The trap is a security gas system, rigged to flood the stairway with doze gas while simultaneously setting off an alarm at the nearest military base.   ( See Equipment Guide for more details of these security items).  To bypass the trap, the PCs must leap over the relevant area of floor.  Detecting the trap is a task.

Task: To detect the security gas system trap at the bottom of the stairs: Routine.  Security Systems.  One minute.

Referee: If the scenario is set during the Kafer war, the alarm has been disabled but the gas system has not.

All encoding/decoding and office files are stored on portacomp chips infected with a boot sector virus.  The virus identifies the person using the portacomp by monitoring the speed and pattern of their keystrokes during login.  These patterns are quite distinctive to begin with, and the intended users of the system are also trained to use a specific pattern.  If the chips are accessed by anyone except the intended users, even just to list a directory of what is on them, the virus will erase everything on the chip and the portacomp.

A PC with Computer-2 and a portacomp can be assumed to have the proper software to detect and deal with viruses.  Detecting and removing the virus are both tasks.

Task: To detect the presence of the virus: Simple.  Computer.  One minute.

Task: To render the virus harmless: Routine.  Computer.  One minute.
 

NPCS

The key NPC in this adventure is the patron.  He is armed and alert to the possibility of betrayal by the PCs.  He will do whatever is necessary to defend himself, but would rather threaten the PCs into carrying on with the mission as planned.  The patron is an Experienced NPC with a concealed Traylor M-57.

As the PCs may suspect, the story the patron told them may not be entirely true.  There are several possible reasons why he is staging this mission.

Terrorist: By capturing and torturing a member of the stay-behind guerilla group, the patron learned of the cache's whereabouts.  Depending on how they react to his offer and perform the job, he may shoot them, double-cross them and make off with the guns, or ask them to join his terrorist group.  Either way, remember that he can implicate them in a serious crime ( stealing the cache) and so has something to blackmail them with.  On the other hand, if they play their cards right, the PCs can turn him in for a sizeable reward and a renown point, and still keep the guns for themselves ( "No, officer, we don't know where he put them.").

Criminal: By blackmail and bribery, the patron has learned of the cache, and he intends to sell the guns on the black market.  He may offer the PCs money or allow them to keep a share of the weapons.

Stay-Behind: The area has already been invaded, and the Kafers managed to wipe out most of the stay-behind guerilla group.  Only the patron remains, and he plans to recruit the PCs to replace the group's casualties.  In this case ( only) the patron knows the cache's exact location and the details of the trap and the portacomp virus, but he will not reveal this information unless the PCs fail to find them -- he wants to test their skills.
 

ALTERNATIVES

If the group seems to be having too easy a time, introduce one of the following complications, adjusting numbers to suit your PCs' capabilities.

1. Another band of rogues has also learned of the cache and through pure bad luck has chosen the same night to make a move.  They are Experienced NPCs in the thief or smuggler/pirate careers, and have similar skills and equipment to the PCs.
    
2. A fully-armed squad of soldiers shows up, either to inspect and replenish the hideout under cover of darkness ( before or after the Kafer invasion) or to seek shelter there ( during the invasion).  These will be elite troops ( e.g. SAS or special forces) who have worked with the stay-behinds or might have to do so in future.  They are Elite NPCs in the ground military career, and probably have better combat skills and equipment than the PCs do.
    
3. The stay-behind group chooses the same night to stage an exercise or occupy the hideout.  The guerillas' combat skills are equal to or better than the PCs', but their weapons are inside the hideout, so they have only knives and ( possibly) an odd pistol.  They are Experienced NPCs in the colonist career.
    
4. If the scenario takes place during or after the Kafer invasion, the PCs somehow manage to arouse a Kafer war party camped nearby.

DESIGNER'S NOTES

I have left out the map as I am not clear who owns the copyright on the maps from Merc: 2000, except that I am certain it isn't me! It's easy enough to draw your own, or just describe your own house at the bottom of those stairs.  Even if the players are sitting in it at the time, they are very unlikely to recognise it.
-Andy Slack

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