Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Jules Mason
A Little History
Setup
Page 1
Act Two
Act One
The PCs arrival in Fayetteville and questioning about Milton Durgher has not gone unnoticed and when they return to the Motel (or wherever else they parked their vehicles), they will find a message from a man named Aloysius Hym, who requests to meet them in his motel room. If they decide to meet him, Aloysius Hym is a small tidy man, who looks to be in his 30s, but styles himself much older. He is dressed in an out of fashion suit and speaks with a precise educated New York accent. Hym will ask if they are looking for a Native American. If they reply in the affirmative, he will say that he saw a group of A4 thugs kill a Native American while driving here from Little Rock two days ago, and that the Native American had an expensive blue car, which he thought had a sign on it saying it was from St Louis. He will offer his commiserations, and say he hopes he did not witness the execution of their friend. Aloysius Hym saw no such thing, and his entire tale is a pack of lies from start to finish. Hym is actually from Philadelphia not New York, and is a member of Illuminated Brethren of the Silver Twilight, a rival Gangcult to A4. His objective here is to close down the investigation into Lone Star, by convincing the PCs that Lone Star is dead. If the PCs decide to investigate Aloysius Hym further, they will quickly find he seldom leaves his room. A Datanet search will turn up that a Doctor Aloysius Hym is a Reader in cultural history at the University of Pennsylvania. If the characters decide to break in or confront Hym (Apocalypse Cultist, page 100), all the interesting information is contained within his Briefcase (see the Conclusion).
Optional Encounter
The Hyksos (Raiders, page 103) are among the largest cykegangs in North Arkansas, centred on the renegade Bartertown of Jonesboro, northwest of Memphis. The PCs could run into a group of five to ten Hyksos almost anywhere while travelling in Arkansas. While this cykegang has no love of Sanctioned Operatives or A4, this group is actually scouting the area following rumours that a Missouri Gangcult has recently crossed the Arkansas border in large numbers, and will not attack the PCs unless provoked. The leader of each scouting party will have a $4,000 bounty.
Hyksos
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Act Three
Barn: The barn is really a hanger, but the raiders have already extensively stripped it of tools and fuel. The wreckage of a small executive jet rests here, now bereft of fuel tanks, seats and equipment. PCs Scavenging from the base can roll on any table apart from Medical.
Kris knife and bronze bowl full of dried blood rest on a small table, alongside a carefully placed Sim-Chip (see the Conclusion). If the PCs took any of the ritual paraphernalia, such as the Totem Pole, they may be able to find a buyer who will pay $500 to get hold of it (for example, Papa Wedo from the Samadhi Night Fever Scenario). Barracks: All the members of A4 seem to have slept in these barracks, which has individual small rooms. The raiders have clearly been here, and have taken the majority of effects. Several corpses rest here, many are dismembered. Medi-centre: The raiders have forced open every cupboard and case in the medi-centre with brutal force. What has not been looted has been smashed, while purple and green graffiti has been sprayed over the walls. This takes the form of crude images of the biohazard sign, skulls and phrase Plague Riders. Additionally, one of the cupboards has a small trap rigged up inside it, and if opened a spring loaded device will fire a syringe at the forehead of who ever opened it (i.e. the first person to search the room). This requires an Arduous (3) Dodge reaction to avoid, and does 4L Damage if it hits. If injured the PC must seek medical attention or, after a number of days equal to his Toughness have passed, will suffer from violent sickness. Dormitories: The squalor of the dormitories predates the fore raiding the compound and of all the buildings, the dormitories seem to have taken the least damage. Shackled lie discarded here, cut through by bolt cutters. Showers: The showers here are clearly only for use by the Indentured Servants, although they are far cleaner than the dormitories. Anyone thoroughly searching the equipment in the shower block can make a Senses/Tech roll. Success allows them to realise that the Showers have a somewhat unusual feature at a flick of a switch, the showers will dispense Poison Gas rather than water. The gas is stored as a green liquid in three large plastic containers. Each of these is worth around $3,000 on the Black Market, but transporting them could prove problematic (Unless properly secured, there is a one in six chance of a container rupturing during any vehicle combat or other particularly bumpy ride).
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Gowrow
The gowrow
Understanding/Criminal roll, a PC will recognise this as the calling card of a Mob Hitman called Siccario, who works out of Chicago. PCs can also obtain this information from the Datanet. Aloysius Hym did not leave many possessions behind, but there is a briefcase in the Motels vault. As Hym did not leave the address of any relatives, and as the PCs are the only people he seemed to make contact with, the Sheriff is prepared to let them have the briefcase (see the Conclusion) for a small administration fee of $100.
Conclusion
At the end of this scenario, the PCs should have obtained at least one of the two key pieces of information, either the Sim-Chip from the hidden temple at the A4 base or the Suitcase carried by Aloysius Hym. This chip contains General Leo Forrests diary and assorted notes, along with recordings of various speeches he has made. Most of these are on the theme of how the common America can break the chains imposed by international forces of oppression. Interesting comments in the diary include: That a week ago, a strange Cherokee ambushed an A4 lieutenant and obtained from him information that the tablets are still in Philadelphia (Forrest had the lieutenant flogged). That President Norths sale of Utah to the Brethren of Joseph has led to A4 lawyers looking at the possibility of purchasing the Ozarks. That a Sanctioned Operative from the Shogun agency named Madam Butterfly has been covertly taking out A4 forces in California and reinforcements are required. Aloysius Hym seemed to dislike computers and everything in this briefcase is good old-fashioned pen and paper. Interesting notes include: A carbon copy of a letter addressed to a man named Heinz, stating that Lone Star has departed to Pennsylvania, presumably to seek the tablets. That Hym has made contact has been made with an independent Sanctioned Operative named Jansen E Davis, to offer funding into his personal vendetta against Calimero Mauro [an Understanding/Criminal roll will allow a PC to identify Mauro as a prominent boss of the Chicago Mob]. The most recent note refers to the PCs themselves, stating that they have arrived in Fayetteville looking for Lone Star and that Hym should check to see if they were from the Agency involved in the problem with the Horatio Grant issue.
The Sim-Chip
The Briefcase
This encounter occurs if the PCs met with Aloysius Hym and return to Fayetteville after their expedition to Ponca. To encourage this, you may wish to point out that Fayetteville is the closest safe place to buy supplies, and is on the closest decent road to the A4 base. If the PCs do choose to return to Fayetteville, they will be quickly be told that the town Sheriff T. Helder wants to see them in his offices. If the PCs do see him, he will tell them that someone has murdered Aloysius Hym in his room. An unknown assailant shot Hym through the head, although Sheriff Helder found a custom-made black calling card with the image of two entwined red roses on the corpse. With an
Act Four
Page 4
Credits
Epilogue
Media Attention
Page 5