A Hostile Takeover
Player's
Information:
The
PC's are contacted by a business factor on Dekalb (TL-9), looking
for a small team to infiltrate a mansion. The Board of Directors of
the Intertec Corporation, LLC, have a problem. The CEO of the
corporation, Mr. Hanse Cyris has been out of touch for weeks, and
hasn't been seen in person in months. He was always reclusive, but
this is the longest he's ever been gone. The corporation is facing a
financial crisis occasioned by the CEO's absence &
non-leadership. The Board has voted Mr. Cyris out, but the local law
requires that he be present at the company offices to handle the
transfer of power.
Mr.
Cyris' last known whereabouts is his mansion at the edge of the city,
which sits in a secured, walled compound. The PCs are hired to
deliver the CEO to the company offices. They are authorized, as
contract employees, to employ all necessary force to secure Mr. Cyris
unharmed and bring him to the offices. The Board provides the group
with a dossier on the Mr. Cyris, so he can be positively identified
when they find him. The mansion is technically corporation property
so they are not trespassing. The Board requests that the building
itself be damaged as little as possible, but expect some damage as
Cyris had installed numerous security measures without advising the
Board; he was known to be very concerned about his personal security.
Payment will be Cr 10,000 per man, plus any hospital expenses.
Excessive damage to the mansion will be deducted from the pay.
Referee's
Information:
The
CEO was in fact paranoid. The mansion, a 3-story structure with
basement, is surrounded by a wall and electrified fence, and all
manner of visual security, but all of it is camouflaged. The mansion
has its own power plant, so cutting external power will not help. The
referee can devise any manner of intrusion prevention devices both
outside and inside the mansion. Devices are deterrents rather than
deathtraps; 1D electrical shocks or normal tranq rounds are the most
common, but restraints, nets and gas are employed too. The referee
can determine how many devices must be neutralized/avoided to get to
the doors.
Windows
are heavy duty glass, requiring heavy weapons to break, which the
Board will not approve. The roof is sloped such that insertion by
rooftop would be very difficult (roll 11+ every round to avoid
sliding off, DM for DEX of 10+) and there are no obvious entry points
on the roof. The Board prefers that the team enter by the front door,
the only door for which they have a pass key.
Inside,
the mansion is lavishly furnished, very clean, well lit, and very
quiet. The PCs will see occasional serving robots floating around on
grav modules, cleaning and tending to the house. These robots will
not interact with the PCs at all, and will maneuver to avoid contact
(so as not to disturb legitimate guests). The mansion has both
conventional stairs and contragravity lift shafts going to all
floors.
The
mansion will have multiple guest bedrooms, meeting rooms, a main
kitchen on the ground floor and sub-kitchens on the other floors. The
referee can include any room or feature desired, but leave room in
the design for the robot storage/maintenance areas. The mansion staff
is entirely robotic, both mobile and stationary robots.
There
will be traps deployed throughout the mansion. Suggested indoor traps
are hallway doors that lock and block the hallway, sleep gas,
laser-triggers, more tranq guns & shock devices. The PCs progress
will probably slow to a crawl as they stop to search for traps. Some
traps can be disabled by shooting them. Interior walls and doors can
be breached with tools by any character with STR of 8+. It will take
5 minutes, and draw the attention of the house defenses to create a
breach big enough to use as a passage from room to room.
CEO
Cyris will occasionally appear on video comm screens that are placed
throughout the mansion. He will be abrupt and rude, all comments
around the theme of “Get out” “you are not welcome here” and
“I'm calling the police,”. He will not want to interact, or
answer questions, nor will he believe their assertions of their
purpose. This is actually the house computer, running a hologram
avatar program. The computer will contact the police, but the Board
has already advised them so they will not respond. The referee can
let the PCs sweat about it, though. The computer will not assist the
PCs in any way.
The computer core is in the basement, along with the
power plant. Hacking the computer will require computer skill and a
roll of 10+ (DM +1 for INT 9+) If hacked, the PCs can query the
computer for information on the house's defenses. It will reveal that
the CEO is on the top floor, and in what room; but the robot
defenders cannot be overridden from this location – only the
control computer in the master suite can do that.
If
the players indicate they are searching an area for traps, any traps
present will be detected on a roll of 10+ (DM +1 per level of Tactics
skill, and for INT 9+). PCs can attempt to disable the traps, using
whichever of Mechanical, Electronics or Computer seems most relevant.
Throw 2D for 8+ to disarm a trap. The generator can be shut down on a
throw of 7+, DM for any Engineering skill OR Mechanical-3+; the use
of gunfire or explosives will shut down the generator on a throw of
7+.
Any
destruction of property or gunfire, including lasers, will activate
the second level security protocols, which consists of releasing
armed guard robots (also on grav modules) to interdict and defeat the
intruders. The central computer has the equivalent of Tactics-2, and
can direct the robots in tactical maneuvers like surrounding the PCs
or splitting the party with robots or locking doors. There are visual
and IR detectors throughout the house, the PCs would have to disable
the central computer to avoid all the detectors. The house knows
where they are from the moment they enter.
The
robots are armored in a cloth/reflec shell and armed with TL-8 laser
carbines, skill-1. The number of robots should be at least equal the
number of the PC's. Robots will not check for morale, they will fight
until they are destroyed.
Loss
of power to the mansion will not shut off the security robots, but it
will break their radio contact with the central computer. Each robot
has a default route through the house; it will engage any intruders
detected on that route.
At
the center of the top level is a bedroom suite; there are three
security robots who will not leave the suite; their programming is to
defend the person of the CEO. In the center of the room is a large
bed. Upon this bed lies a dead man, Mr. Cyris. A character with
Medical skill can determine (8+, DM +1/level) that he has been dead
for several weeks. Cause of death was some kind of illness, details
are left to the referee but no foul play is indicated, and the PCs
will not be accused of murder unless the body is destroyed.
By
the bed is a control computer. On a roll of 6+ (DM for computer
skill) the PCs can shut off all of the mansion's security measures.
After that, they can just walk out.
The
Board of Directors will consider confirmation of the CEO's demise as
fulfillment of their contract. An insurance adjuster will inspect the
mansion and may deduct from the PC's pay if the house has been
excessively shot up.
The
Intertec corporation has many sites on Dekalb and elsewhere in the
Corridor. The PCs could be hired as a permanent troubleshooting team.
Some views of the mansion from outside and inside:
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