REPOSSESSION
CLIENT: Metropolis Paradiso Museum of Thaumaturgy
PAY GRADE: 4
TEAM SIZE: 8
OPERATIONS MANAGER: Quayotheb
BRIEFING: A recent break-in at the Museum of Thaumaturgy has left a valuable Krang dynasty artifact in the hands of a goblin refugee gang. This artifact is a primitive wand of digging, designed primarily for power rather than safety. The wand itself is quite capable of moving large amounts of earth without draining the user or any internal reserves. However, such wands are usually for display purposes only, as they create massive amounts of thaumic flux, which can lead to a tainting of the nearby landscape. The goblins have been, according to local intelligence, been using this wand in an old mining facility since it was stolen. The mine was abandoned, but significant amounts of copper and orichalcum are believed to still be within. Recently, a local observed purple growths emerging from the mines. No one is certain how the refugee gang is getting recovered minerals out of the caverns. The museum has paid us to recover the item from the gang.
OBJECTIVES: Locate and recover the missing Krang dynasty wand of digging.
…
As usual, the players and NPC team will get a chance to hang out in the ready room and socialize for a bit until the Operations Manager shows up. Quayotheb will be delighted to have a new team, and will introduce a pair of Devilites as additional ground support, each with a pistol (but no vest). The team will be told about the mine, how it was abandoned. The miners went on strike, so they were all cast out by a corporate paramilitary squad. One miner, who needed the work to help his wife who was cripplingly in debt, stayed behind and made a last stand. He was killed. He will continue, ‘I can see why some people romanticize places such as this. Tragedy has a beauty all its own, does it not?’ He will detail the dangers of taint, and how too much contact with it WILL cause taint sickness and eventually infection, which is very difficult for even trained thaumaturgical surgeons to cure. He’ll let them know they need to make their way down into the mine proper through the vents, then head through the ore processing area. From there, they can either take the main mineshaft down, or take the old work facility. Both lead to the tunnels proper, where the wand is being employed. Before leaving them to the operation, he’ll tell them that support, unfortunately, can’t be called down in a cavern. ‘Not to worry. If you need help, just ring. Quayotheb’s ALWAYS there for you in a pinch.’
Quayotheb will make sure to tell the team to enter through the old vent system. Though this appears to be for their own benefit, in actuality this is the most heavily tainted area there. The purple, veiny fungal growths can be spotted the moment the team is inserted, albeit in small amounts. Eventually, the vent system ends with a patch of taintacles, which are writhing and eager to grab anything too close and infect it.
From there, they have entered the caverns proper. They will be able to hear machinery below, and will encounter goblin patrols on a 5+ on a 1d6 every round of progression into the cavern they make. Goblin teams will be made up of four goblins, one with a mining laser and three with picks. They will be confronted with a branch to the right that goes up, or a branch that bends further down. The branch that goes up leads to a tunnel hastily dug through concrete that emerges in a nearby warehouse. In here, shipping trucks belonging to a canned food company will be loaded with stolen ore while goblinsi n biomat suits guard the area with junker assault rifles. The area is bustling with goblins, and if the team is spotted they will be swarmed immediately. In the tunnel leading here, there is also another access to the ventilation network, which can bypass the hazard on the other path if spotted with a passed perception check.
The other path leads down into the mine proper. The sounds of machinery are processing equipment, rusty and aged, still kept miraculously running. Goblins in rebreathers and biomat suits will be processing ore coming up a large conveyor belt. The main tunnel down into the mines seems to have a mining mech being inspected near it. The team also has the option of taking a path that seems to be blocked off, despite a sign saying it leads to the ‘work facility’. It is cordoned off but supposedly empty. Quayotheb will advise the players not to engage the mech, as they most likely lack armor penetration. The lower they go, the less machinery they hear and the louder the sound of grinding stone gets.
The players may choose to fight the mining mech, or they can take the work facility. The facility is overrun with taint organisms. Pulsating nodules burst into taint spiders, and clouds of taintswarm must be avoided as there is no way they can be fought. Eventually, the door to the main tunnels will be found, and it will be so covered in crusted taint that digging through it will cause harm to the one doing it. If Quayotheb is either listening in or asked for help, he offers to cut a small deal. There is a machine known as a clentaminator that is amazing for removing magical corruption of all kinds. He can easily acquire one for them and deliver it for his usual fee of body or soul. Should they refuse, cutting through the taint will likely poison whoever does it so bad they die before the mission lets out.
In the tunnels proper, small clusters of goblin miners will be at work (with more biomat guys with junker assault rifles, guarding them. Should the players have been detected, each unit will have 3 guards.) The sound of grinding stone will grow much louder until they reach the deepest tunnel, where a goblin with the wand is using it to dig huge swathes of rock out, while other goblins wheelbarrow the stuff off. Occasionally, clusters of taint goo will bubble from the ground. A goblin with a hose sucks it up into a small tank. A conversation will be overheard if the players are being sneaky about how they just need to dump this in the work facility and take their breaks.
If the players were stealthy, they’ll need to sneak all the way back out to complete the mission. If not, they will need to fight their way out. If they’re fighting their way out, the mining mech will block their path and they will need a means to escape (assuming they did not destroy it already!) Reaching either the front gate or the vent entry point will allow the team to meet up with the APC for evac and end the mission.