(18) I'VE GOT A NEW ADDITION TO MY EXECUTIVE COLLECTION, MR SARRACEN! "I have always been puzzled by Nietzsche's observation that all higher culture is based on cruelty. I mean, its *true*, but why pick on higher culture? What the hell does he think *lower* culture is based on? Did he never watch television?" - Angry Mainyu When they bring John Smith to The Foundry, Sarracen will be very happy. He will have the entire building cleared of all save himself, Marilyn, Tarbaby, the P.C.s, and the captive. If they bring Smith between eight A.M. and eight P.M., this will only involve clearing out the cleaning staff. If they bring Smith at any other time, the place will have to be cleared of patrons, which will be achieved by Sarracen turning off the music and shouting "fire" to the patrons. If the P.C.s let patrons of the club see a bound and gagged Smith prior to the fire panic, eight city police will show up within half an hour to investigate. How they respond will depend very much on how nasty things have gotten inside. Consider any police to be ST 11, DX 11, IQ 10, HT 11, Spd 5.75, Dodge 7, Parry 10, DR 16, thrust 1d-1, swing 1d+1 individuals with brawl -13 and guns (gyrocs) -13. They will each carry a CY= or HT= gyroc launch pistol /CW= FE Rakete-P gyroc launch pistol / LC= Gemtex Urban Renewer gyroc launch pistol and wear a medium monocrys vest. All gyroc pistols are loaded with 6 SLAP and 3 CHEM (teargas as per B132). Most important of all, they have radios in their car, so they can call for backup if things go badly. Once Sarracen has Smith inside, he will have Marilyn and Tarbaby set up video camera's on tripods all around the dark, dripping room. He will then personally bring in Nazi uniforms and black masks for the P.C.s.. He will order them to dress in them to protect their anonymity, to break some of the bottles from behind the bar to use as tools, and to slowly torture Smith to death while the camera's film the whole thing. He will be sad that he didn't have time to arrange for some proper actors with interface jacks so that he could make this a simsense, but this will have to do. Now we get to find out just how evil your players really are. Sarracen isn't threatening to kill them, but will refuse to pay them any more money if they won't do this for him. If the P.C.s kill him, then they won't get any money either. If the players go along with Sarracen's sick plan, then don't sanitize the matter. Put in as much nasty detail as you, the G.M., can take - just so that they have to face what they are doing. However, they will get paid this way. They will hear on the news a week later that Sarracen was caught by the F.B.I. for the murder of John Smith. The proof was a videotape that Sarracen Entertainments was hawking which showed Smith being tortured to death - how careless can you get? Worse still, in one frame you can see Sarracen's gloating face reflected in a blood-stained jagged bottle. The news does not mention that Sarracen and Smith looked identical. Let the P.C.s sweat over the possibility of themselves getting caught too. You might even want to have the F.B.I. investigate them, but if so, that's another story. Whether the F.B.I. bothers the P.C.s or not, soon after Sarracen is arrested, Bram Lockwood will come after the P.C.s. Yes, he escaped from Cagey and Case and he is very angry. That doesn't mean that he is suicidal. He is willing to die in order to get revenge, but sees no reason to die instead of getting revenge. In other words, he will bide his time and strike when a good opening presents itself rather than simply charging the P.C.s in the street. The G.M. will have to determine when there is such an opening based on the P.C.s lifestyle. Bram might even join up with old or new enemies of the P.C.s if it would help him achieve his goal. Thus, they might find in the middle of the next adventure that they are suddenly being haunted by all sorts of unfinished business from the past. If Lockwood needs to, he can get the services of up to five Goldenboys with whatever sort of automatic weapons their brethren had on The Morphia. If the P.C.s refuse Sarracen's order, he will fly into a rage. He won't stop them from leaving, but will swear revenge. He won't pay them a red cent and a week later, there will be a news report like the one above. If they get to see the video themselves, they will see that Tarbaby is the only one who agreed to put on the uniform and commit the atrocities. Sarracen will still get caught as above. If the P.C.s refuse Sarracen's order and rescue Smith, they still might get paid. However, they will have to fight their way out first, as Sarracen will not let his prize go easily. Even if they do fight their way out, their problems have only just begun. There is a lot to be done. For a start, Smith is programmed so that under no circumstances will he accept that he is Sarracen. Even if he could be convinced or threatened to pretend to be Sarracen, it won't help much. Sarracen is wanted by the police and his accounts have been frozen. Of course, the false Sarracen who employed the P.C.s had money stashed away, but the real Sarracen, John Smith, has no idea where. What to do? Only one person can help. It isn't Doctor Shirinovski - it will take her years to rebuild the equipment she needs and besides, Sarracen's memories were destroyed on The Morphia. The person they need is Bram Lockwood. He is willing and able to pay the P.C.s all the money they are owed simply to get Smith delivered into his custody. If the players somehow find Bram in the basement of the Cagey and Case building, and free him, then things could go a lot easier for them. However, I see no reason for the P.C.s to mess around in the basement. Moreover, Bram now has the Lame disadvantage at the -15 level - his captors have not been kind. His wound will make it more difficult for him to escape with the P.C.s. Otherwise, the P.C.s will have to do without Lockwood for at least 24 hours, which is how long it will take him to escape (not bad for a lame guy, huh?). If Sarracen (the false Sarracen) has been killed or has disappeared, but the real Sarracen's body was not left at the same place, Bram Lockwood will be hunting the P.C.s to demand John Smith. If the P.C.s are also hunting Bram, you may as well give them the satisfaction of letting them find him first. Otherwise, he will turn up at 1 A.M. outside the apartment of whichever P.C. was first contacted. Yes, he will have his machine pistol (or sub-machine gun if appropriate). Yes, he will have two Goldenboys with him and yes they will have their sub-machine guns (machine pistols if appropriate). All will be wearing greatcoats in order to keep their weapons hidden until needed. If told that John Smith is not there, they will take the P.C. in question hostage until Smith can be brought over by whoever has him. This situation could be defused. If the P.C.s remind Lockwood of the sterling service they have done in rescuing John Smith, and the money they were promised, he will agree to pay them once he has Smith. With a Bard roll and some role-playing, Lockwood and his goons can even be convinced to put their guns away. Lockwood doesn't have any money on him, but if he gets Smith and has promised to pay, then the money will arrive within two days. Two days after that, the P.C.s will hear on the news that Sarracen appears to have been killed for a second time, along with a retainer. Forensics experts can't tell which Sarracen the real one. The F.B.I. had given up looking for Sarracen since his first death, but where law and order failed to catch up with him, crime and anarchy succeeded. The pair were gunned down with fully automatic weapons by a gang going by the name The Goldenboys. The P.C.s and G.M. can both make of this what they will. In any case, this adventure is over. [In Cyberpunk 2.0.2.0., the police are INT 6, REF 7, CL 6, MA 7, BODY 8. They have Brawling +6 and Submachinegun +6. They wear medium armour jackets and carry Uzi Miniauto 9 light submachine guns. They also have 3 teargas grenades each]. [In Shadowrun, the police are Body 4, Quickness 3, Strength 3, Charisma 2, Intelligence 3, Willpower 2, Essence 6, Reaction 3. They have Firearms 3 and Unarmed Combat 3. They will be wearing light security armour and carrying Uzi III submachineguns. They will also have 3 flash grenades each]. (19) RESCUING RETIARIUS "Hello. This is 911. At the tone, please enter your credit-card number" - 911 Emergency Service answering machine. Retiarius now claims to be their friend, but they will have to reconnect him to find that out. This will require a successful Electronics roll - which will give him both his chair and his voice back. His mechanically-generated voice will be oddly calm even though he is very agitated - almost dying tends to agitate people. He tells the P.C.s that Sarracen has gone crazy. He had started to actually kill the actors who were hired to pretend to die in his simsenses - just because it appealed to his sick sense of humour. Retiarius and Carl Waters, now calling himself John Smith, collected evidence against him to give to the police. But Waters fled with all the evidence, intending to blackmail Sarracen for money rather than expose him to the authorities. Meanwhile, Sarracen hired Dr. Shirinovski, a criminologist who specialized in tracking people through her knowledge of human psychology, to find out who had helped Smith get the information. Shirinovski has almost succeeded in discovering Retiarius' part, so he sent the P.C.s to destroy her work. Now Sarracen can only be stopped if Carl Waters can be captured and brought back to Retiarius, where he will be held captive to co-operate in exposing Sarracen. The P.C.s must kidnap "John Smith" and bring him back. Retiarius promises that if they do this, he will ensure they get paid everything that they have been offered. Of course, most of this is lies, but Detect Lies skill is at -4 because Retiarius' voice is mechanically generated. Whether the P.C.s accept the job of kidnapping John Smith, Retiarius will happily give them now whatever they have been promised for the photography job or dealing with The Morphia. If the P.C.s want nothing more to do with the whole affair, they may take their money and run. Go to (2) Doing Nothing to see the follow-up. If they attempt to extract John Smith, you will want to go back to (12) Cagey and Case Ltd. However, if they were seen photographing Smith, or otherwise acted in a noticeably suspicious manner (such as wasting half the staff), then the security will still be on full alert. [In Cyberpunk 2.0.2.0., use Human Perception instead of Detect Lies]. [In Shadowrun, use Psychology instead of Detect Lies]. (20) I'VE GOT A NEW ADDITION TO MY EXECUTIVE COLLECTION, MR RETIARIUS! "The government keeps making suchN big fuss about the fact that kidnapping is down. What they don't tell you is that under the new laws, snatching a person is only kidnapping if they are unemployed or a C.E.O.. You take anyone else and its theft" - Red Square. When the P.C.s arrive back at Retiarius' apartment, Bram Lockwood will already be there. Retiarius contacted him and, as he expected, the Samurai agreed to side with him instead of Sarracen. Lockwood will be standing behind the door, firearm at the ready, just in case the P.C.s are someone else. Anyone with Combat Reflexes will instantly realize that he is there with a successful vision roll. We can only hope the no trigger-happy P.C. spots him, fast-draws, and guns him down in the belief that this is an ambush. It isn't - although that doesn't guarantee that things won't turn nasty. John Smith is, of course, absolutely terrified. He understands none of this and will passionately affirm his lack of knowledge at any opportunity. "This is all some kind of terrible mistake!" will be his catch-cry. If the P.C.s have not already done so, then Bram Lockwood will bind and gag him with strips made out of torn bed sheet. Now the P.C.s will want their money (or this isn't Cyberpunk!). Retiarius is happy to oblige - but the money isn't here. There's no big problems though. He can direct the P.C.s and Bram Lockwood to it via communicator. Bram has a communicator - and if any P.C. has one, they can listen in too. The P.C.s may start to argue. If they do, that's understandable - when they cut the deal, the netrunner never said anything about them having to go get the money. However, Retiarius will stress that it is vital that they go now. He has just arranged for more personal protection to arrive. It will be Goldenboys who have changed sides, and he thinks they have heard from Sarracen that it is people fitting the P.C.s descriptions who have rubbed out their co-gangers. This is a half truth - the protection will be Goldenboys, but it was from Retiarius that they heard descriptions of the P.C.s. The hacker simply enjoys double-crossing people. It makes him feel superior. The P.C.s may also argue about having to take Lockwood with them. Even if the P.C.s don't argue, Lockwood will. He fails to see why he needs to hold their hand, since he is not getting a cut. The reason Retiarius gives is that the money, alas, happens to be in a buried case slap bang in the middle of gang territory. They shouldn't worry too much - The Plaguerats rarely pack firearms and aren't much of a gang in any case. However, he would feel a little more comfortable if Bram went with the P.C.s, just to be sure. Lockwood will grumble, but he will go - deep down he is loyal to those he sees as his allies, even if he doesn't always choose his friends well. If the P.C.s refuse to take Lockwood with them, Retiarius will press the matter even further. "Listen" he will insist "there is more in the case than just payment for the runners. I need you to collect it for me, Bram. I didn't want to mention it, and I don't want to say anything about what it is in front of them now. But I do need you to go". Retiarius will thus only direct the players to their payment if they take Lockwood with them. If they agree to go, go to (21) Excavating With Lockwood. [In Cyberpunk, instead of anyone with Combat Reflexes being able to make a Vision roll to notice Bram immediately, allow anyone with Combat Sense to make an Awareness/Notice roll to notice Bram immediately]. [In Shadowrun, instead of anyone with Combat Reflexes being able to make a Vision roll to notice Bram immediately, allow anyone with a Reaction score of 5 or above to roll against Intelligence to notice Bram immediately].