Morning Mission Parameters
The early morning comes, and the darkness of the night hangs tight fighting hard against the coming sun. For now the sky remains dark. The Ranger’s found enough supplies to make tents for the evening. An old well house with cots serves as the bedding for the Resolute heroes. An unpleasant restless night, but at least you were not on the ground where the descendants of Anger Worm, snakes, ants, and scorpions feast.
A single desk surrounded by chairs sits in the middle of the small well house. A fresh pot of coffee wafts over you. Doc Reid himself sits in one of the chairs sipping a well brewed cup. ” Well that was some night, and it appears be ever present. Sometimes that happens... Some week. If you are going to Zacatecus the fortress that sits high atop Vampire Moutain you should know what you are getting in too.” He sips quietly his cyber eyes whirling arround scanning the heroes.
” This is more than a simple rescue that Sir Lazerous suggested. One does not just walk to Zacatecus. First their is the river a challenge wholly unto iself. Then their is the mountain and the snow dragons that dwell on it, and lastly there is the fortress itself: a multifaceted challange to enter, overcome, and assult. Perhaps a straight forward goal, but only the extremly skilled or lucky will be so fortunate to accomplish it. Best case this will either put you in direct confrontation with the lord of the castle, Ruthven or his cheif blood Slave Zacatecus himself. Worst case you and any who travel with you will be sent beaten, battered, and unconscious through their waterways to the vampire lords in Ixcotc. I have little doubt that is their plan for the 3000 Rangers they captured.” He waits a few seconds for those still sleepy eyed to come to the table and take a look at a map he has laid out.
His finger traces the river that runs south from your present location to the foothills of Zacatacus. He smiles and dons his sunglasses for effect, ” You will need about 100 rangers to help you with your assult. Getting that many down the river will be tricky. The river in itself is a beast untamed. Creatures and demons lurk in its waters and banks. More and more vampires roam inbetween here and there. Like the locust of old, if winged, they would blot out the sun as surely as it is now. The civilizations of man are few and far between. The journey itself is long, hot, the water of the river is all but undrinkable, and food is scarce. Some even say the river does not want to be traveled. It is surely a journey of death. It is impossible.”
The door swings open and the chrome figure of Commander Kurling saunters in with a railgun strapped to his back. The CS emblem normally on his chest has been scratched off. He nods to Doc and the heroes. He looks at the map and drones in a monotone voice, ”Its not impossible doc, just improbable. I spoke to some of the rangers, Grizzly and Al both say those that fought along your side last night are ready to give this a shot. My men and I are with you heroes to the bitter end as well. No way we can go back, and we know you are the real deal. Besides it turns out we might have a bit of luck on our side. We found a few areas underground beneath the exterior of the strong hold that survived. Might serve a good start for a new base of operations.” The commander stops, and looks at the cofee longingly and then shakes his head focusing on the matter at hand, ” What we need here Doc is more information, we need to scout this river a bit and find out what we really need to overcome. We’ve heard of the horror stories about rivers that lurk down in these lands even in the CS, my mom used to tell them to me if I misbehaved as a child. George I’ll ship you to mexico if you pull your sisters hair one more time. They got these rivers full of flesh eating parahina that will clean the skin right off you to the bone.”. Command Kurlin chuckles and continues dropping the false voice, ”That was the day I knew I would find myself out here. It set in my something fierce that these lands needed help. Lets spend a day or two scouting the area and finding out what we are up against.” The Commander pauses a beat and claps Doc on the back, ”Besides it might not be thaaat bad...”
Flashforward to Scout, and tell us the story here.
Hi Folks. We are entering the planning and operation phase of this mission. Step 1 is for you to figure what is out there so you can over come it in the next phase. I would like you all to imagine you are at a table planning your mission, and we use flash forwards to give us glimses into the action as it becomes relevant. These flash forwards are what is shared as we discuss the mission and plan. Right now we are going to flashforward to a scouting style mission so we can know what dangers the jouney to the mountain holds for us.
- As a teaser the next scene will be a flashforward to the actual journey and overcoming these obsticals via some kind of covert type skill ( covert was determined by a random roll).
Player Directions:
RP and plan here, Scout it out. Players and a couple rangers can scout the way to Zacatecas and describe the abject horrors that you will soon encounter directly.
Step 1: Take a small band of rangers with you and scout out the way to the mountain foothills. Make a relevant skill roll at -2 ( Survival, Notice). The roll can be modified by the options here and by the resources down below.
- Resources Spent: As a default your character spends 4 Power Points and 1 ranger ( normally it is 1d6 but because of the small mission nature it is 1). Before rolling declare if you would like to have your character risk more or expend more resources for a better chance of success. Note: you must have the resources to spend them.
- -2: Conserve your energy - Believing it may be an easy task or perhaps being ultra conservative you accept -2 to your roll in exchange for spending 1/2 (rounded down).
- +0: In The Fight - Wanting to stay on top of things you fight like a professional. You roll without an additional modifier for the default resource cost.
- +2: Serious Business - You do not play around and do what you have to in order to ensure victory, even when it requires risking yourself. You may double the resources spent, or accept 1 Fatigue or 1 Wound to gain a bonus of +2 to this roll.
- +4: No Matter The Cost - When Battle comes you go all in, winning no matter the personal cost. You may triple the resources spent, or accept 2 Fatigue or 2 Wounds to gain a bonus of +4 to this roll.
- Critical Failure: Wow this is the chance to lay it on thick, the thing you saw out there not only makes you roll a fear check at -4 ( upon a heart attack you just lower your vigor by a die type until greater healing is used on you). You also get to roll on the special Karl and Rangers table (1d14 roll please). Also -1 to the actual mission roll (next scene).
- Failure: What is out there is only a hair’s bredth away from impossible. -1 to the actual mission roll ( next scene).
- Success: Yup the stories are true, the vampire kingdoms suck ass. Why are things so tough??
- Raise: Ok so yeah its bad, but like the commander said, is it thaaat bad? +1 to the actual mission roll (next Scene).
- Double Raise: Its not good, and not quite that bad. You are a god damn hero so its possible, maybe even probably you can make it! +2 to actual mission roll (next scene).
- Whomever rolls highest is the mission leader for the actual mission phase (next scene)!