OK to post or repost as long as authorship is acknowledged and not for
commercial benefit. Copy right [to be revealed at contest end].
This adventure is placed in the Magash system which JTAS planetary
article "Magash" by Terry Carlino (8/30/2005) gives a detailed
description of the environment, history and politics. It also contains
information about the ports and trade.
A written, this adventure starts in one of the three tunnels leading
from the landing area and berthing tunnels to the city of Irahiir but
it could be reset to another vacuum world with mining, a large
population and a space port.
Player characters have left the ship they are traveling in and passed
through the first customs check where the control level 6 rules are
enforced. Players can pass through the check point with only with snub
pistols or personal blade weapons. Like most of in the line, they will
be carrying personal baggage according to players choice but any larger
gear will have been sent to the cargo line.
Taking a slide walk, they are moving in a long line through the second
customs check point along with hundreds of other visitors. The slide
walk in this tunnel is raised a couple meters (6 ft) above a much
larger conveyor where cargo containers are coming into the city.
Distracting from the boredom of the queue, folks are watching an
argument on the cargo line, three robed academics gesturing at several
customs agents over an opened security container. The contents of the
container appears to be some corroded spheres, like a pile of small
cannon balls. There is a team of armed security watching the situation.
Apparently the researchers do not want their cargo to go through the
scanner station.
As the slide walk moves forward, the player characters lose sight of
the cargo conveyor, a heavy structural wall stands between the lines,
as the academics step aside, one of them throwing up her hands in
contempt, and all looking concerned.
A minute later, as both lines move forward, there will be several
flashes, and an explosion, the structural wall will show spalling and
large cracks. Both in front and behind the group, all of those not
shielded by the structural wall are down, some with wounds from the
explosion, others with major flash burns. A couple of people having
flammable clothing are burning, and those who were looking there wrong
way are blind.
(Players and GM should take the immediate emergency from here, Medical
skills, Liaison with authorities other emergency skills)
If the players look around the area of the cargo scanner, they will see
21 holes, each about a foot (30 cm) in diameter burned in the walls,
ceiling and floor in several cases tracked by a path of vaporization.
The holes are glowing white hot, several sputtering or boiling, and the
area is smoldering, there being little flammable material present.
Several times in the first few minutes there will be blasts out of one
or another hole and in just a few minutes the white hot bores will
start to fade to orange, red and in a half hour to black hot.
Attempting to return to the ship bays will be thwarted by multiple
layers of armored doors, the first two walls in the cargo line have
been penetrated by the effects but then the line of vaporization dips
exiting through the floor at a shallow angle.
Emergency medical and security teams will quickly and efficiently
appear. Players and other uninjured NPC's will be drafted into the
effort to locate and recover the objects which are continuing to move
and burn through everything in their path. (Note to GM, I suggest
collecting or creating a small group of NPC's to support the adventure,
I would suggest that one of these have some contacts in the local
security forces who acts to pull the players into a chase, research
team. Another one for dramatic contrast might be a reporter who wants
to get closer to the action. )
If the players attempt to help the academics, who are in very bad
shape, they will be able to make out a few words of warning "self
replicating" and "hyper dense plasma cores". If the players do not hear
this first hand, they will hear this as a rumor or from discussions of
aid works. With in a few minutes, everyone near the scan station,
monitors, academics and security will die of their injuries.
(GM can decide or allow players to chose about which party to join,
following the multiple traces)
Emergency services have been mobilized and as press reports of the
event hit the local net and news the archology is reacting like an ant
hill.
Of the 21 components:
* one moved directly down the tunnel of the cargo line, which diverges
from the passenger line destroying hundreds of containers and pallets
of cargo and then dipped into the lower levels of the warehouse
tunnels, there it has been moving in circles as if searching for
something.
* Of nine moving toward the inhabitation zones, three quickly dived
below the deepest mining level but appear to be moving very slowly. ,
and two seem to be destructively dancing around the surface
installations. The other four after causing great damage to one column
habitations each have stopped moving near the lowest level.
* Nine more dispersed away from the city, one cutting the transit
tunnel from the scout port, when it was already at 2 meters in
diameter.
* Another of these becomes paused in an area of sealed deep mine shafts
which have been sealed and are filled with a very large stockpile of
nitrogen gas. Elaborating on the system, one of the gas giants has a
triton like moon, and there is small base which liquefies nitrogen
which is then shipped to the city. Originally there was a balance,
nitrogen used for habitable space about equaled amount imported but
improvements over the years have created a large reserve, almost a half
mile square of tunnels and bore holes running over a mile deep filled
with 5 bars of 10 degree C nitrogen. Respirators or space suits would
allow access however, the over pressure is blowing gas out the bore cut
by the node.
* The last two, moving away from the city, entered into the space port
and down assembly areas and began a destructive dance through ships,
bays and support. With a few minutes there are hundreds of casualties
and almost every ship and craft on the ground has been damaged. These
two units will keep moving around the port area, burning through hull
armor as easily as the rock around the bays. They appear to be
constructing something on the surface, depositing a layer, then backing
off while it cools a bit.
Replicant mining nodes:
* start as inert metallic looking spheres, but mass is very high, over
a ton for each, 22 tons for the object. in the container.
* passive scans of the inert objects which are available to authorities
showed the objects to be cold, below zero C. and a surface of noble
alloy.
* the inert objects were spherical and about 15 cm.
* once activated, they generate a star core hot plasma around them
selves, radiating nuclear levels of radiation including x rays and
small amounts of gamma radiation.
* once activated they will begin a set of mining operations, partially
directed by programs to explore a certain volume for resources and also
including operations to construct several other artifacts and copies of
them selves.
* In the course of the first 12 hours after activation, they will grow
in size, as seen at the plasma surface, from 30 cm to 10 meters. After
reaching a full operation size of 10 meters they will not get bigger.
In order to grow, they need access to light elements, up to Neon in the
atomic table, with a preference for H, C, O, He. The habitats, surface
facilities and space port all provide enough (tons) of these materials.
* They have no intelligence, so attempts to communicate or negotiate
will fail.
* They do have communications systems, designed for being underground
and will be sending data to each other. The primary mode can be
guessed, data about the composition of materials being burned through
every 50 meters. a set of 125 9 bit codes, each paired with a 20 bit
code and many in the upper range of codes with what is either zero or
full numeric code. (almost no trans-uranium elements in rock or common
use.
* It is assumed that there are control and command codes, on some other
band. Learning this codes should be a multiple roll extreme difficulty
task, but GM may allow a couple codes for direction to be learned...
but no turn off, stop or destruct.
* They are not products of the Ancients being much older.
* The source world is a secret, another adventure if players wanted to
investigate the subject. Their import to Magash was sponsored and city
and Scout service has data files about the excavation, the source and
even some other fragments of artifacts from the same species.
Some variations, complications to the situation.
Imperial Marines in power armor and lift belts from the sector capital
security force join in the search. The company and platoon leaders
consider this a blow it up and stop it mission, some of the technical
adjuncts have different ideas. There are additional Imperial ships in
orbit and the scout base is separated from the carnage of the main port
and has over a dozen scout ships and two larger mission support ship on
station.
Even though there are many official armed forces in the archology,
several security operations, it is decided to ask for some mercenary
support and heavy weapons from Diisarirga after several attempts to
destroy a unit have failed.
Although the several processors that hit the archology have stopped, in
the lower levels, this is not a static situation. There is a lot of
atmosphere flowing down through the levels, being superheated by the
spheres and going up the holes left behind the objects. Several teams
have been formed to block off the flow of gas,and plasma. The hot gas
is also slowly burning up the levels, a floor every couple minutes from
500 floors, a mile down. There is a lot of chaos with civilians
attempting to flee and to get into the areas of danger.
Conclusion of the adventure
Several days (50 hours) after the first explosion, the crisis is over
and rebuilding begins. Killed were over 25,000 including 95% of a shift
at the space port and cargo facilities. . Serious injuries over 50,000
including 5000 with retinal burns and many cases of radiation damage.
Three of the nodes are destroyed, five disappear from detection, going
deep and far out into the plains. One goes quite, surrounded by several
quiet copies of the original cluster. Two in the ship yard area, afer
constructing a mass driver/plasma pressure device and a 400 dton
(volume) hull have launched them selves into space and after traveling
to more than double the normal safe distance have jumped. Nine others,
all grown to ten meters (30 ft) in side appear to have failed,, one as
a several kiloton nuclear explosion. Several just went out, with no
interesting remains left, while another left a 5 meter, dense metal
object behind.
In addition, several enigmatic artifacts were left, constructed by the
devices. One appears to be a data record with a physical model of the
paths taken in the first day of the event. The surface of the sculpture
are coated with magnetic and optical data materials and with study, it
has been confirmed that they encode the atomic analysis done by the
devices.
The potential payoffs,
* there will be rewards and recognition for observed acts of heroism.
* with almost every ship and craft in the civil port disabled, the
government. (Imperial district capital is based here)will be providing
transit, assigning some support ships, scouts and yachts of the
nobility to assist stranded travellers. Travellers Aid contracts will
be offered to some,. Ship owners will be offered compensation, but
mostly as offers to replace their ships as soon as yards are back in
operation. With local subsidized ships first in line, this might mean a
five year plus stay in system. GM's can allow conversion of the ship
later to cash or trade goods today and other negotiated settlements.
* Attempts to remove or hide artifacts will result in a quick trial in
a military court (Imperial tribunal) and a fast ship out of system to a
secure imperial prison.
NPC's
In line near the players are the following three characters for the GM.
Franklin G. Hoywhan, government mining inspector.
This 120 point characters can be a critical contact, guide and patron
(after the fact) Of normal build and abilities, he has extensive area
knowledge of the mines, nitrogen storage facilities and all of the
local types of mining, shoring (structures to hold up mine tunnels) and
equipment found in the mines. He has normal human attributes. One of
his quirks is that he frequently travels to the high port for reasons
which he describes to others as meeting out of system people which is
why he was in the line.
Glaldvar , 10th generation belter,
A 100 point character, she is zero G adapted (25 point handicap) but
owns a very sophisticated multi- segmented, form fitting gravity
harness which enables her to operate on planet. She is on the ground to
re-register for permits and claims to a number of ice containing
asteroids and to renew a license to tow and manipulate large objects in
local orbit. She has normal intelligence and dexterity, but is way
below normal in strength, endurance. Living for long periods alone, she
also has limited social skills. She doesn't have true hand feet but has
high dexterity, and a flexible back and hips that allows her to
manipulate with those feet where her hands can easily reach.
Her planetary gravity harness also has limited suit capabilities, to
help her function it carries supplemental oxygen.
As the adventure proceeds, information about the devastation at the
space port gets spread around, with most of her net worth tied up in a
powerful tug, mining craft grounded in the port she will become frantic
to get out and inspect it. It will be damaged but not destroyed by the
commercial benefit. Copy right [to be revealed at contest end].
This adventure is placed in the Magash system which JTAS planetary
article "Magash" by Terry Carlino (8/30/2005) gives a detailed
description of the environment, history and politics. It also contains
information about the ports and trade.
A written, this adventure starts in one of the three tunnels leading
from the landing area and berthing tunnels to the city of Irahiir but
it could be reset to another vacuum world with mining, a large
population and a space port.
Player characters have left the ship they are traveling in and passed
through the first customs check where the control level 6 rules are
enforced. Players can pass through the check point with only with snub
pistols or personal blade weapons. Like most of in the line, they will
be carrying personal baggage according to players choice but any larger
gear will have been sent to the cargo line.
Taking a slide walk, they are moving in a long line through the second
customs check point along with hundreds of other visitors. The slide
walk in this tunnel is raised a couple meters (6 ft) above a much
larger conveyor where cargo containers are coming into the city.
Distracting from the boredom of the queue, folks are watching an
argument on the cargo line, three robed academics gesturing at several
customs agents over an opened security container. The contents of the
container appears to be some corroded spheres, like a pile of small
cannon balls. There is a team of armed security watching the situation.
Apparently the researchers do not want their cargo to go through the
scanner station.
As the slide walk moves forward, the player characters lose sight of
the cargo conveyor, a heavy structural wall stands between the lines,
as the academics step aside, one of them throwing up her hands in
contempt, and all looking concerned.
A minute later, as both lines move forward, there will be several
flashes, and an explosion, the structural wall will show spalling and
large cracks. Both in front and behind the group, all of those not
shielded by the structural wall are down, some with wounds from the
explosion, others with major flash burns. A couple of people having
flammable clothing are burning, and those who were looking there wrong
way are blind.
(Players and GM should take the immediate emergency from here, Medical
skills, Liaison with authorities other emergency skills)
If the players look around the area of the cargo scanner, they will see
21 holes, each about a foot (30 cm) in diameter burned in the walls,
ceiling and floor in several cases tracked by a path of vaporization.
The holes are glowing white hot, several sputtering or boiling, and the
area is smoldering, there being little flammable material present.
Several times in the first few minutes there will be blasts out of one
or another hole and in just a few minutes the white hot bores will
start to fade to orange, red and in a half hour to black hot.
Attempting to return to the ship bays will be thwarted by multiple
layers of armored doors, the first two walls in the cargo line have
been penetrated by the effects but then the line of vaporization dips
exiting through the floor at a shallow angle.
Emergency medical and security teams will quickly and efficiently
appear. Players and other uninjured NPC's will be drafted into the
effort to locate and recover the objects which are continuing to move
and burn through everything in their path. (Note to GM, I suggest
collecting or creating a small group of NPC's to support the adventure,
I would suggest that one of these have some contacts in the local
security forces who acts to pull the players into a chase, research
team. Another one for dramatic contrast might be a reporter who wants
to get closer to the action. )
If the players attempt to help the academics, who are in very bad
shape, they will be able to make out a few words of warning "self
replicating" and "hyper dense plasma cores". If the players do not hear
this first hand, they will hear this as a rumor or from discussions of
aid works. With in a few minutes, everyone near the scan station,
monitors, academics and security will die of their injuries.
(GM can decide or allow players to chose about which party to join,
following the multiple traces)
Emergency services have been mobilized and as press reports of the
event hit the local net and news the archology is reacting like an ant
hill.
Of the 21 components:
* one moved directly down the tunnel of the cargo line, which diverges
from the passenger line destroying hundreds of containers and pallets
of cargo and then dipped into the lower levels of the warehouse
tunnels, there it has been moving in circles as if searching for
something.
* Of nine moving toward the inhabitation zones, three quickly dived
below the deepest mining level but appear to be moving very slowly. ,
and two seem to be destructively dancing around the surface
installations. The other four after causing great damage to one column
habitations each have stopped moving near the lowest level.
* Nine more dispersed away from the city, one cutting the transit
tunnel from the scout port, when it was already at 2 meters in
diameter.
* Another of these becomes paused in an area of sealed deep mine shafts
which have been sealed and are filled with a very large stockpile of
nitrogen gas. Elaborating on the system, one of the gas giants has a
triton like moon, and there is small base which liquefies nitrogen
which is then shipped to the city. Originally there was a balance,
nitrogen used for habitable space about equaled amount imported but
improvements over the years have created a large reserve, almost a half
mile square of tunnels and bore holes running over a mile deep filled
with 5 bars of 10 degree C nitrogen. Respirators or space suits would
allow access however, the over pressure is blowing gas out the bore cut
by the node.
* The last two, moving away from the city, entered into the space port
and down assembly areas and began a destructive dance through ships,
bays and support. With a few minutes there are hundreds of casualties
and almost every ship and craft on the ground has been damaged. These
two units will keep moving around the port area, burning through hull
armor as easily as the rock around the bays. They appear to be
constructing something on the surface, depositing a layer, then backing
off while it cools a bit.
Replicant mining nodes:
* start as inert metallic looking spheres, but mass is very high, over
a ton for each, 22 tons for the object. in the container.
* passive scans of the inert objects which are available to authorities
showed the objects to be cold, below zero C. and a surface of noble
alloy.
* the inert objects were spherical and about 15 cm.
* once activated, they generate a star core hot plasma around them
selves, radiating nuclear levels of radiation including x rays and
small amounts of gamma radiation.
* once activated they will begin a set of mining operations, partially
directed by programs to explore a certain volume for resources and also
including operations to construct several other artifacts and copies of
them selves.
* In the course of the first 12 hours after activation, they will grow
in size, as seen at the plasma surface, from 30 cm to 10 meters. After
reaching a full operation size of 10 meters they will not get bigger.
In order to grow, they need access to light elements, up to Neon in the
atomic table, with a preference for H, C, O, He. The habitats, surface
facilities and space port all provide enough (tons) of these materials.
* They have no intelligence, so attempts to communicate or negotiate
will fail.
* They do have communications systems, designed for being underground
and will be sending data to each other. The primary mode can be
guessed, data about the composition of materials being burned through
every 50 meters. a set of 125 9 bit codes, each paired with a 20 bit
code and many in the upper range of codes with what is either zero or
full numeric code. (almost no trans-uranium elements in rock or common
use.
* It is assumed that there are control and command codes, on some other
band. Learning this codes should be a multiple roll extreme difficulty
task, but GM may allow a couple codes for direction to be learned...
but no turn off, stop or destruct.
* They are not products of the Ancients being much older.
* The source world is a secret, another adventure if players wanted to
investigate the subject. Their import to Magash was sponsored and city
and Scout service has data files about the excavation, the source and
even some other fragments of artifacts from the same species.
Some variations, complications to the situation.
Imperial Marines in power armor and lift belts from the sector capital
security force join in the search. The company and platoon leaders
consider this a blow it up and stop it mission, some of the technical
adjuncts have different ideas. There are additional Imperial ships in
orbit and the scout base is separated from the carnage of the main port
and has over a dozen scout ships and two larger mission support ship on
station.
Even though there are many official armed forces in the archology,
several security operations, it is decided to ask for some mercenary
support and heavy weapons from Diisarirga after several attempts to
destroy a unit have failed.
Although the several processors that hit the archology have stopped, in
the lower levels, this is not a static situation. There is a lot of
atmosphere flowing down through the levels, being superheated by the
spheres and going up the holes left behind the objects. Several teams
have been formed to block off the flow of gas,and plasma. The hot gas
is also slowly burning up the levels, a floor every couple minutes from
500 floors, a mile down. There is a lot of chaos with civilians
attempting to flee and to get into the areas of danger.
Conclusion of the adventure
Several days (50 hours) after the first explosion, the crisis is over
and rebuilding begins. Killed were over 25,000 including 95% of a shift
at the space port and cargo facilities. . Serious injuries over 50,000
including 5000 with retinal burns and many cases of radiation damage.
Three of the nodes are destroyed, five disappear from detection, going
deep and far out into the plains. One goes quite, surrounded by several
quiet copies of the original cluster. Two in the ship yard area, afer
constructing a mass driver/plasma pressure device and a 400 dton
(volume) hull have launched them selves into space and after traveling
to more than double the normal safe distance have jumped. Nine others,
all grown to ten meters (30 ft) in side appear to have failed,, one as
a several kiloton nuclear explosion. Several just went out, with no
interesting remains left, while another left a 5 meter, dense metal
object behind.
In addition, several enigmatic artifacts were left, constructed by the
devices. One appears to be a data record with a physical model of the
paths taken in the first day of the event. The surface of the sculpture
are coated with magnetic and optical data materials and with study, it
has been confirmed that they encode the atomic analysis done by the
devices.
The potential payoffs,
* there will be rewards and recognition for observed acts of heroism.
* with almost every ship and craft in the civil port disabled, the
government. (Imperial district capital is based here)will be providing
transit, assigning some support ships, scouts and yachts of the
nobility to assist stranded travellers. Travellers Aid contracts will
be offered to some,. Ship owners will be offered compensation, but
mostly as offers to replace their ships as soon as yards are back in
operation. With local subsidized ships first in line, this might mean a
five year plus stay in system. GM's can allow conversion of the ship
later to cash or trade goods today and other negotiated settlements.
* Attempts to remove or hide artifacts will result in a quick trial in
a military court (Imperial tribunal) and a fast ship out of system to a
secure imperial prison.
NPC's
In line near the players are the following three characters for the GM.
Franklin G. Hoywhan, government mining inspector.
This 120 point characters can be a critical contact, guide and patron
(after the fact) Of normal build and abilities, he has extensive area
knowledge of the mines, nitrogen storage facilities and all of the
local types of mining, shoring (structures to hold up mine tunnels) and
equipment found in the mines. He has normal human attributes. One of
his quirks is that he frequently travels to the high port for reasons
which he describes to others as meeting out of system people which is
why he was in the line.
Glaldvar , 10th generation belter,
A 100 point character, she is zero G adapted (25 point handicap) but
owns a very sophisticated multi- segmented, form fitting gravity
harness which enables her to operate on planet. She is on the ground to
re-register for permits and claims to a number of ice containing
asteroids and to renew a license to tow and manipulate large objects in
local orbit. She has normal intelligence and dexterity, but is way
below normal in strength, endurance. Living for long periods alone, she
also has limited social skills. She doesn't have true hand feet but has
high dexterity, and a flexible back and hips that allows her to
manipulate with those feet where her hands can easily reach.
Her planetary gravity harness also has limited suit capabilities, to
help her function it carries supplemental oxygen.
As the adventure proceeds, information about the devastation at the
space port gets spread around, with most of her net worth tied up in a
powerful tug, mining craft grounded in the port she will become frantic
to get out and inspect it. It will be damaged but not destroyed by the
