Learned Behavior - contributed by QCipher
OK, couple things first regarding this adventure. It’s designed for brand new
characters with the standard 30 nova points, and I made it for a group of independents.
It’s just after Slider’s death and Taint (I restricted any PC from taking higher
than 4 Taint) as well as over all power levels are still on the low side. I
made this adventure also as a plot hook to get the PCs into the next adventure
I was going to run which was out of the ST screen book. This adventure references
that as well as the book (can’t remember its name) on religion and science and
marketing for Aberrant. Proteus has some very small involvement in this adventure,
in that they are there to provide the hook that will get them involved in the
Slider investigation. They are in the background and can be assumed to be monitoring
the situation, it is unlikely that the PCs would ever meet them, figure out
their involvement, or even know of their existence. I’ll post stats for major
characters at the end of this. That being said here we go:
Setting: Los Angeles CA
The adventure starts out simply enough, a body literally disappears out of a
local morgue. This will probably make some news as there is little to no evidence
of who or what did it, and why the body (that of a transient who died near a
major highway) would disappear. As far as hooks are concerned if the players
are in any kind of crime fighting or scientific capacity in the city (it’s set
in LA, but could be almost anywhere else) they’ll likely be consulted just by
the weirdness of the crime (no evidence chain whatsoever). The body has disappeared
with the help of a Proteus bagman by the name of The Remover. With powers like
Invisibility, Density Control, and Disintegration he’s a natural for this kind
of work, but he’s not involved at all later in the adventure. The characters
are left with only a few leads, the name of the body [Rod Wyman], and an autopsy
that was performed and sent to the coroner’s office. For convenience sake the
person who performed the autopsy will be unavailable for a personal account.
The autopsy is filed with the county coroner, and when the PCs try to look it
up will discover that it is currently being hacked into, again by Proteus, just
taking care of the loose ends. The PCs will need to make an extended Wits+Computer
roll, 5 rolls altogether opposed by the other hacker who has 5 rolls and 7 dice.
If a PC has Cyberkinesis then it should be an Alter Data roll instead. The amount
of successes determines how much of the report they were able to save.
- 5+ Died of heart failure
- 6+ “” & the body had welts and hives over various parts of it
- 7+ “” & the welts were from insect bites and stings
- 8+ “” & erratic hormone levels lead to heart failure
- 9+ “” & there were trace elements of a synthesized pheromone on his clothes
- 10+”” & The pheromone is used in pest control, specifically killer bees
and fire ants
From here the PCs will likely begin an investigation around insects and such.
If they found out about the pheromone they will likely research it and discover
the following (Investigation or Science +2 difficulty): The pheromone was used
heavily in 2002-2004 in and effort to control the migrating killer bee and fire
ant populations. It was very effective at humanely herding all of the major
hives/colonies down to a few square mile areas and keeping them there. The pheromone
gives a message “Do not cross” to the insect species and with it they were able
to control the potentially dangerous species. Now the pheromone isn’t used or
produced too much any more, though some research facilities and apiaries and
florists and orchards use them. From here the PCs might investigate any recent
uses of the pheromone. An Investigation roll +3 difficulty reveals that Jenkin’s
Apiary (a biological research facility that uses the pheromone) had a rash of
thefts of ‘Biological Material’ a few weeks back.
Setting: Jenkins Apiary
It’s pretty standard as far as research facilities go. It specializes in bees,
has some orchards and fields of flowers nearby, and is one of the leading entomology
labs in CA. Some interesting things the PCs will see (the apiary is open to
the public and visitors and field trips are welcomed): A column of flying bees
from floor to ceiling in the visitors room that stays in one spot , and is almost
asymmetrical in it’s proportions. There are no visible means of what’s keeping
the bees from flying around, but someone with the Bloodhound Enhancement would
probably detect the smell of the pheromone keeping them in check. They’ll also
see strange hives built over large areas of space that twist and turn around
architecture and walkways. This is all due to pheromone experiments as the bees
were constructing the hive. They’ll be able to talk to anyone in charge regarding
their questions. The biological material that was stolen were a few queen bees,
some were killer bees, but others were just exotic species. No arrests were
made, but an employee was fired for his conduct during the investigation. His
name is Justin Leddy. If anyone has a memory Enhancement of some kind they’ll
remember that he was one of the people police talked to shortly after the body
disappeared. He’d come there to identify the body. That’s about all that the
Apiary can provide, except for his last known address.
The straight dirt:
OK, enough gum shoe, here’s part of what’s going on. Justin Leddy and Rod Wyman
knew each other, they both lived in the same commune. They are part of a pseudo-scientific
cult led by a Nova that goes by the name of Beowulfe. Beowulfe has become rather
Tainted, but is still not a huge threat. Right now he’s conducting research
on bees (his favorite colonizing insect) and hopes to make some scientific breakthroughs,
as well as perhaps some socio-dynamic breakthroughs. He doesn’t mind control
his cultists, he uses his emotion control pheromones that he exudes, and has
made them fanatically loyal to him. Rod Wyman died as a result of some of the
experiments that Beowulfe is conducting on the cultists to try and change them
into his ideal (he foresees a world where humans are divided into different
social standing by physical and mental differences i.e. drones/workers and warriors).
At the moment Beowulfe is not planning on some grand plan to take over the world.
This could happen though if he gets more tainted.
Back to the Investigation:
Justin has moved out of his last know residence, and the only thing that the
apartment manager has on him is a P.O. Box located near the edge of LA, prairie
and wilderness are near that box. Recent sightings of him (at the morgue for
example) show that he was driving a pickup truck that belongs to the B. Wolf
apiary. If the players try to find Justin, an Investigation roll at diff. 3
will be required, possibly the help of Allies or Contacts as well.
The information that is found is that Justin makes a trip to Meier Superstore
on Wednesdays and Saturdays and picks up large quantities of perishable foods,
and other supplies (cleaners, paper products, over the counter medicine). Investigating
the cult requires an Investigation roll 4+ diff. It’s relatively obscure, has
recently applied (and failed) to get tax-exempt status as a religion, and owns
roughly ten acres outside of LA, mostly prairie.
If the PCs attempt to catch or question Justin while he’s making his trip on
either Wednesday or Saturday he’ll flee at the first notice of anyone following
him. If approached politely he has nothing to say and again will try to flee
if pressed. He drives a pick up truck with a hyper-combustion engine and doesn’t
carry any weapons. When he’s approached he’ll release hormones that Beowulfe
will be able to detect about five to ten minutes later, this is part of the
experiments being conducted, all of his cultists release a smell for different
heights of emotion, fear being primary. As long as he’s downwind (and the complex
is downwind of town) and he’s got access to the airways he’ll likely smell it,
and know someone’s in trouble. Others with Mega Per of 3+ and/or the Bloodhound
Enhancement will smell this to, however they might not realize its significance.
Justin doesn’t have much info to pass on, plus he’s rather reluctant to talk,
all difficulties to interrogate him are at +2, and he has an extra 3 dice for
Willpower rolls, and will spend Willpower to avoid giving up anything. If broken
down he’ll reveal that he stole some queen bees, and that he ‘works’ for the
B. Wolf apiary, if brought down to 0 Willpower he’ll reveal a bit more.
He’ll say what he knows about Beowulfe, that he’s a nova and a visionary, he’s
got answers for all the world’s problems. He knows nothing about the disappearance
of Rod, and is truly as mystified as everyone else, and he says that Beowulfe
knows nothing also. He’ll spout all kinds of socialist rhetoric too, that’s
about as close an understanding as Justin has about Beowulfe’s ideal society.
He won’t tell much more other than there are about two dozen people living at
the compound, as far as how Rod died, he just thinks it was a heart attack,
possibly heat stroke.
The Compound:
The compound has a little over 10 acres of land, surrounded by barbed-wire fences
and plenty of Private Property signs. There is one main gate that is always
locked with a chain and padlock. Most of the land is prairie and wild flowers,
with sparse forest, ideal for insects. The dirt road that leads to the gate
continues beyond to a combination garage and shop that’s big enough for 3 large
vehicles (they have 3 trucks) plus some room on the side for projects. The road
ends there but a gravel path curves toward the rest of the compound. About 10
meters away from the road a path branches off to the right, it leads to the
outdoor dining area, it has 4 picnic tables right near a large bee mound (bee
mounds are all over the place). There’s another path in the dining area that
leads to a large copse of flowering, fruit bearing trees. Further down the main
gravel path another path breaks off, this time to the left. This leads to a
large patch of wild flowers, surrounded liberally by bee mounds. The bees that
Beowulfe is working on will make hives in the ground like termites and ants,
in and around the compound there are at least 13 different hive/colonies. The
main path continues on to the only other building in the compound. It looks
like two large prefab cabins linked together, one towards the north is definitely
larger than the other, and has a blind on top for a guard.
Lab/Barracks
The main (larger) building has doors, the second one doesn’t. The main building
has the look of a regular lab, concentrating on nature studies and specifically
bees and other colonizing insects. There are plenty of windows, though they
are carefully screened, three computers with opnet connections and four lab
desks with various projects. There is also a table that has a large colony of
bees making a hive in difficult conditions. The hive is in a glass tank that
gets reduced in size at random intervals, Beowulfe wants to see how they react
to it, and if they can come up with a hive that can withstand the pressure of
the tank. There is also a cabinet which stores various scientific equipment
as well as some non perishable food. There is one other door and it leads outside,
one window looks in on the next building which is attached, looking through
the window they can see it is a barracks of some kind.
The other door leads outside where 4 outhouses are set up nearby, and along
the wall it leads to a door which opens on a long shower stall, with about 8
shower heads and another door that leads into the barracks. The barracks are
spartan but functional, there are 12 bunk beds, 5 on the wall opposite the door,
and 7 on the wall with the door. Each bed has a footlocker with two compartments,
and on the wall with 5 bunk beds between the beds are refrigerators. Again there
are many windows all carefully screened. The bunk bed on the wall that the door
is on, but as far away from the door as possible, is a secret trap door. It
is located in the foot locker, and can be found with a Per+Alertness roll at
+3 difficulty. There are no clothes in the foot locker, but something else is.
The trap door opens down into a secret lab, there is a ladder down to it, it’s
only about 3 meters down.
The secret lab is actually known to all the residents but they won’t tell strangers
about it. It’s where Beowulfe stays and he keeps his more dangerous experiments,
and a secret he doesn’t want his cultists to know about yet. This lab has another
3 computers with opnet connections, a hypercombustion engine power generator,
a few lab desks with experiments on them, a large insect colony on display in
the center, and on the wall are four large waxy rectangular sheets, each about
the size of a door. The furthest one from the entrance actually has a crude
chamber dug out in back of it, Alertness roll of 3+ will discover that there
are shadows behind it.
This chamber was dug out by Beowulfe himself, and to his knowledge, no one else
knows about it. It extends back about 3 meters and then widens into a circular
chamber. The far wall is covered with waxy honeycombs and residue, and is the
home of his largest colony of bees that he’s genetically modified. Entombed
within the wax is a body of a cultist who died the same way that Rod died. More
details will be revealed in the adventure.
Throughout the compound are guard posts, they are generally camouflaged (Alertness
roll 3+) and provide some hard cover, and are arranged to provide triangulation
of fire. There is one on top of the garage, one in the copse of trees, one in
the wild flowers, one on the main lab roof, and one more between the barracks
and the wildflowers. Typically only a few are occupied, the one on the garage
and the main lab, but if they’re expecting trouble they all will be manned.
The Compound:
Getting into the compound isn’t too tough, it’s surrounded by barbed wire and
has a sturdy chain link fence gate. If the PCs knock they will be greeted by
two of the warriors and told politely but firmly that this is private property
and that they should leave. If they have already talked to Justin most likely
Beowulfe will know there is some trouble brewing and will tell his warriors
that no one comes in for any reason. At night they’ll be treated the same way;
Private property, leave now. If the PCs sneak in they will be found out by Beowulfe
rather quickly also. With his control over animals and especially insects the
PCs have little chance of not being detected by them. The insects will release
their pheromones as he’s programmed them to do when they encounter strangers,
and he’ll know within a few minutes that they are on the property. Unless the
PCs can completely hide their scent, it will be very difficult to sneak in,
the insects are better than video cameras and trip wires. If the PCs seem hostile,
they’ll be told to go away or there’ll be trouble, and then they’ll go back
to the compound to wait in their guard posts. At night, and if Justin hasn’t
returned or Beowulfe knows about the trouble, all guard positions will be filled.
When a majority or all of the PCs are in the guards’ line of fire (near the
picnic area) they’ll fire their Goop guns. These use ammunition that Beowulfe
supplies, and basically gives them 4 uses of Immobilize at 2 dots. They’ll try
to immobilize as many as possible, and then switch to tranq guns. If those aren’t
working and/or they’re met with lethal hostility they’ll switch to SMGs and
fight till the death. All drones will immediately head for the barracks.
The main lab will be empty, unless they somehow manage to sneak in, then there’ll
be 4 to 5 drones working on projects. The rest of the drones are in the barracks
waiting calmly for the most part. When the PCs enter they won’t resist or be
anything but helpful. They’ll answer all questions, but in general they don’t
know too much, they don’t think they’re doing anything illegal. They’ll cooperate
with the PCs and allow themselves to be searched (they have no weapons) as wells
as their beds and foot lockers. When/if the PCs check the footlocker hiding
the trap door the cultists will undergo a shocking change. They will immediately
turn violent and attack the PCs in homicidal rage. They’re still not very effective,
but their rage will give them an extra soak point including for Lethal damage.
At the same time when the footlocker is opened a swarm of bees will fly out
of it, as if they were fired from a cannon. The bees will ignore the cultists
who are wearing certain pheromones, and sting the PCs unmercifully. The stings
can’t damage the PCs too much, in fact anyone with 2 dots of the Armor power
or something similar, or immunity to poison or (Mega Sta 3+) won’t even be affected.
Those that don’t have some kind of protection will be stung repeatedly and need
to make Resistance rolls at +2 difficulty each round or suffer a –2 penalty
on all actions for a scene due to the pain. The PCs should try to be careful
here, the cultists are obviously out of their control, and not much of a threat
to the PCs, this will mainly be an exercise in restraint for them. Once the
bees and the cultists are taken care of they are free to enter the lab.
When the majority of PCs have gotten down Beowulfe will strike. He’s clinging
to the ceiling and using his Chromatophores to help him hide. The current difficulty
to find him is +6. He’ll ambush the group by using his Immobilize power on the
weakest looking PC and then hit the group with a cloud of his Empathic Manipulation
power, going for a strong fear reaction. Any that are still around (Immobilized
or they didn’t run in fear) he’ll jump from the ceiling and attack them. He
fights hard, but is reluctant to kill anyone, and he won’t fight to the death
himself. If he’s in serious trouble he’ll give up.
The goodies:
Now Aberrant isn’t a game about treasure collecting and stuff, but undoubtedly
the PCs will check into what is actually at the compound. The Warriors are armed
as described above, plus have access to armor t-shirts and reinforced clothes.
The drones have the clothes on their backs and a few personal belongings in
their foot lockers. The refrigerators mainly hold perishable foods, some alcoholic
beverages, and a few (safe) lab projects. The computers in the upstairs lab
hold nothing of tremendous value, and are used to record data on the various
experiments going on. The experiments include:
Pheromone synthesizing, pharmaceutical research, insect data and building materials.
Beowulfe hopes to make some money if he can find a way to synthesize spider’s
silk. The lab downstairs is a bit more nefarious. The computers contain information
on the genetic experiments he’s done on insects and what he plans to do on humans,
they contain the pheromone and hormone therapy experiments he’s performed on
the cultists, they go over the details of another product he’s trying to perfect
and market. It’s a building material that is light and environmentally safe,
but very strong. There are sheets of it on the wall, and it is based off bee’s
wax and his own goop that he secretes for his Immobilize power. He hopes to
make a fortune off this when he perfects it. Right now he has it as strong as
it needs to be, an inch thickness of it is about equal to 3.5 inches of concrete
or steel, and doesn’t weigh nearly as much. The main problem is that it is highly
flammable. The sheets on the wall require a Might roll with 8 successes to break,
but fire or energy that produces heat can melt it with only 2 successes. Also
on the computers downstairs the players will find some strange information.
About 3 weeks prior to Slider’s death she hacked into their computer system
and took a look at a few things. Then again a few days after her death someone
else hacked in, this time it was Charlotte Holden, Slider’s confidante who received
Slider’s files. This is the hook I was intending to use to set up the next adventure
which is from the ST screen book. Finally in the secret chamber is Beowulfe’s
largest colonies of bees. He’s conditioned them to be docile out of fear that
they’d attack even him, but this won’t last for long, the next generation of
bees will be more aggressive than killer bees. These bees are genetically modified
to be resistant to poison and pheromones, and will aggressively sting humans
and domesticated animals. Their sting will transmit some of Beowulfe’s Pheromones
into the target and thus make them easier for him to control, giving him a far
wider range. The bees are also slightly carnivorous, supplementing their diet
of honey with dead flesh. The corpse of the cultist is mostly a desiccated husk,
sucked dry of all its fluids and crisscrossed with tunnels by the burrowing
larva.
Aftermath:
If Beowulfe is alive he’ll be charged with such charges as violating state and
federal laws regarding the import and export of wildlife, performing genetic
experiments banned by the FDA the BTA as well as Project Utopia’s Science and
Technology laws. He’ll also be charged with things like: reckless endangerment,
negligent homicide (2 counts), and kidnapping and false imprisonment charges.
After his quick trial Proteus will take over and ship him to the Bahrain facility,
perhaps the PCs will meet him again.
Cast:
Drones (17) and Justin
Attributes: all 2 except Manip=1 and Int=3
Abilities: Science 2, Survival 1, Brawl 1, Medicine
2, Computer 1, Awareness 1, Willpower 2, Soak 2 4 health levels (-1,-2,-3, Inc)
Warriors (5)
Attributes: Str, Dex, Sta, Wits 4 Cha, Manip, App,
Int 2 Per 3
Abilities: Brawl 3, Firearms 3, Melee 3, Endurance
3, Might 3, Resistance 3, Athletics 3, Stealth 2, Intrusion 2,
Intimidation 2, Interrogation 2, Command 2
Willpower 3 Soak 4/0 6/3 when armored, normal human health levels
The Drones are or were scientists, grad students most of them. They have been
heavily conditioned and spend most of their time assisting in the experiments,
working around the compound and acting like hippies in a socialist den. The
Warriors are a harder group. They are quite combat effective and have a fanatical
desire to protect the compound and Beowulfe. Both are conditioned with hormone
treatments making the Drones docile and tractable and the Warriors incredible
physical specimens. The price is most of their ability to resist anything that
Beowulfe tells them to do.
Beowulfe Nature: Visionary
Attributes: Str 3 Dex 4 Sta 3 Cha 3 Manip 3 App
2 Int 4 Per 4 Wits 3
Abilities: Martial Arts 3, Might 2, Athletics 2,
Stealth 3, Endurance 4, Resistance 3, Awareness 4, Science 4 (Entomology), Engineering
3 (Biomaterials), Survival 2, Computer 2, Rapport 3 (cultists), Intimidation
3, Subterfuge 2
Backgrounds: Followers 4, Backing 2, Cipher 2,
Resources 3
Willpower: 5
Quantum: 3
Taint 6: (Insect like eyes, Delusion (hive mind
mentality), quirky movements and tics)
Mega Stats: Str 1 (Lifter), Dex 2 (Catfooted, Flexibility),
Sta 1 (Adaptability), Per 3 (Bloodhound, Analytic Taste/Touch, Ultra Peripheral
Vision), Int 1 (Scientific Prodigy, Medical Prodigy), Wits 1 (Multi-Tasking),
Manip 1 (Trickster)
Powers: Claws 2 (protrusions from forearms), Body
Mod (adhesive grip), Body Mod (Chromatophores), Empathic Manipulation 3 (Cloud
extra), Armor 2, Poison 2, Animal Mastery 4 (Weakness only insects), Immobilize
3
Beowulfe (Dr. Lawrence Garren) took the name Beowulfe after he erupted when
he was caught without his suit when killer bees swarmed on him. There is an
interpretation of the Beowulfe saga that says ‘Beowulfe’ actually means ‘beekeeper’,
and that the main character wasn’t a powerful warrior, but more of a humble
wise-man and leader of men, who beat Grendel and Grendel’s mother not with strength
and weapons, but wisdom and inherent goodness. Beowulfe sees himself like that,
he’ll be a messiah for the new world, a hive world where everything is peaceful
and tranquil, and everyone knows their place within the colony. To this end
he’s opened this compound and attracted his first hive. He’s not really an evil
person, but Taint is taking its toll on him, and at this point he’s likely to
be the most Tainted Nova that the PCs have met so far.
Dangling Threads:
1. The insects that Beowulfe has experimented on pose a real threat if released
into the wild. They’ll easily take over large areas of land, colonize quickly
and will prove resistant to most conventional means of controlling them, and
they’re very aggressive. With Beowulfe incarcerated what will happen to those
stung by the pheromone laced stings? A frightening possibility is that they
will begin to be controlled by the bees or the queen bee.
2. Exactly how is Proteus involved in this? It’s connection is small at best,
but this incident could lead to Proteus’s eventual discovery. Proteus has been
watching the compound for almost a year now. They wanted to see the results
of a Tainted Nova on his own amidst baselines. They also were interested in
his methods of control over baselines, as well as his scientific discoveries.
At some point they fully intended on raiding the compound and arresting Beowulfe
and destroying all evidence, but that was only when he became a threat, for
now they were watching him and treating it like a social experiment. So why
did they destroy the body which ultimately got the character’s involved? Simple
over reaction. They figured that the body might hasten the discovery of the
compound and end their experiment prematurely so they tried to get rid of the
body and the autopsy, and inevitably led the PCs to Beowulfe. The one responsible
for this rash action has been ‘relocated’ permanently by the time the adventure
is done. But most, if not all traces to Proteus are likely to be gone. Except…
3. Slider and Charlotte, how are they involved? When Slider started investigating
Proteus she stumbled upon the compound and so took a few looks around in their
computer system, she determined that this wasn’t a huge part of the conspiracy
so just took that one look. After Slider’s death Charlotte checked many of the
leads that she was able to reach including the compound. Both of their hacking
attempts were noticed by Beowulfe and recorded, but he decided not to do anything
about it due to his lack of any real ability to do anything about it (they were
halfway around the world when they hacked him). This is the hook that should
lead them to the adventure that is included in the book that with the ST screen.
