[In this part the heroes will travel up the river where things will take a turn for the worse… Before getting started tell them about the Shansboran] The weather for the most part will be fairly good though there will be the odd shower on the 2nd day.
1. The Pirates
About 3 days out of Machatui Pier the heroes approach a pair of small tributaries to the river in the late afternoon.
[The pirates will attempt to surround the Shansboran and then pull out their guns to intimidate the PCs into surrender before boarding it and taking all their valuables]
As they pass the first tributary there will be a rumble from behind them.[Routine Dex plus Perception to recognise it] this will be followed by the appearance of 2 small boats with 2 people in each. [Allow them to do something at this stage] Then there are 2 more in front of them. [Allow them to do another something]. They surround the Shansboran, closing in slowly [If they do anything suspicious then the pirates will all open fire. stats for the pirates are in the NPC section]. As they close in, the not driver in each boat will raise an SMG and point it at the occupants They call across to the PCs to pull the boat into the side and turn off their engine. If they do not the pirates will fire.[ Let this progress as feels fit. The pirates will scuttle off if too many of them go down quickly]
2. Dekos’ Dream
One Day out of Alganacha the PCs set down on shore for the night. Whilst they’re asleep Dekos has a dream…
[Take him away from the rest of the group and really emphasise the syruppy, slow motion feel to the whole thing]
…Mid afternoon in a Mogosha campsite with the rest of a family, he knows that he knows them but doesn’t know who they are.
There are strangers talking to the Big Man [Routine Int plus Perception to recognise them as off-worlders]. They get into an argument and pull weapons on the Big Man and shoot him. As they do this the hunters sat round get up [Allow him to attempt something here but he’s got to be quick]but are mown down by the strangers.[Again, but he’s got to be quick]. They then start to indiscriminately mow down the entire group. The last thing he remembers is screams of women and children. [If he does something stupid kill him]
Whatever happens he wakes up screaming [Tell him this and then get him to come back into the room and act as though he’s really had this dream, it’s horrible]
3. Alganacha
They arrive in Alganacha in early evening. [read them the description] They go see the commandant Tani Tingueia [He is a small man, he seems eager to see them, in fact anyone outside the problems of the town]. He takes their report, promises to do something about the pirates, tells them that a group of strange people came through about a week ago. Appolagises that there is no other news and has no supplies for them. Then he wishes them luck. [They can stay the night but they’re to be off in the morning. If they’re going quickly play this out].
4. The Discovery
About 3 days out of Alganacha they suddenly smell a really bad smell of blood and decay.[Get them to follow it] It leads to the butchered corpses of 3 giant tree sloths.
[Kindu only Routine Edu plus Vet. Med. Success- certain organs have been removed: Liver, Kidneys & Pancreas. Exceptional- These organs contain unusual chemicals] [It’s entirely up to them how much they make of it.]
5. That Camp
During the following 2 days Dekos has a funny feeling about the direction they’re taking, it has a bad feel to it.
At the end of the 2nd day they approach a campsite of the Mogosha People.[Dekos is going crazy by this point]
The camp appears as a high wooden walled stockade with three entrances. When they enter there is a horrible smell and the most horrific thing any of them have ever seen.
There are bodies everywhere, covered in flies and stinking of decay. All of them have been shot lots and just left where they fell. There is 1 off-worlder with a Mogosha spear through his chest.
[Formidable Int plus Med. The camp is about 6 day old (since the incident)]
Anyone thinking about it will notice that this is not likely to be natives.
[Difficult Int plus Recon/Comms/Stealth Success- Monitor comm channels]
The tracks leading out of the camp are easy to follow up into the mountains…
6. The Baddies
That night they catch radio signals[Hopefully will want to go and see] [difficult Int plus Comms to find out which direction it was Routine Int+1 to reckon where they might be]
It’s about 2hrs trek from where they are
[The poachers have set a watch and will notice them as they arrive at the site]
The poachers have no night sights and the watch has just been changed [-4DM]
Neither do the PCs, but they’ve been out in the dark all night[-2DM]
A firefight in the dark then ensues and they all start running around shooting at the darkness.[Eventually let them escape but make sure you REALLY scare them]
[After this the poachers maintain radio silence as often as possible]
The next day or 2 is a game of cat and mouse between the 2 groups looking for each other.
7. The Caves
Late afternoon.[The poachers make a kill- a mountain feline] If they’re monitoring the comms they will hear this and [with any luck] come running which then develops into a running fire fight.
After not long they get backed into a steep narrow valley and are running out of cover. [ Tangaya 2D Int to remember there are caves in the hillside if he fails then Kindu Difficult Edu plus Geology and if he fails then Dekos has a feeling…] If they chose not to go for the caves [Herd them in there anyway]
[Refer to the sheet with the caves map on it for all the details for the cave encounter. A few notes Give them a little time to feel they’ve got away before they hear the hounds. The hounds should just be a howling noise until they find the PCs. When they find them they should only be able to attack 2 at a time. Play on the fact that the caves are cold and wet. Also Make sure they argue over who’s stupid idea it was and the fact that they got lost. It’s absolute darkness unless they use their flashlights.]
8. The Archaeologists
[Make sure they get out the route shown even if they end up in a "Labyrinth" style scenario trying to get out.]
They find themselves crawling out of a narrow opening part way up a steep slope that turns into a cliff just above them, rearing it’s dark heights well up into the sky and almost vying with the spring Sun. [At this point remind them that they’ve been awake all night and they’re knackered] The morning is bright and cold, windy but with clear skies excepting a few clouds clinging to the higher slopes of the mountains.
Looking around them they will see that they’re in a narrow, steep sided valley with a flat bottom. The valley sides are sporadically covered with small clumps of wizened looking trees. In the bottom there are more substantial groups of trees though none particularly large. There is a large portion of the valley taken up with rough pasture.
In the bottom of the valley is an odd thing. There is a group of people who appear to be digging a large, shallow, irregular hole by hand.[Routine Int or Per Some are local Most are Southerners and there are 2 off-worlders. Kindu & Matetsi Difficult Edu it’s an archaeological excavation]. As they stand on the hillside they will notice a couple of the people take a sly look at them.
Taking a closer look at them they will see that there is a small scaffolding tower (6m high) and a large marquee next to the hole. [There is also a clump of smaller tents further down the valley but only reveal that to people who actively look for other signs of life]
If they start to move down towards the site they will cause a stir in the hole. As they get right down close there will be a number of people trying to distract a small, grubby, balding man in a boiler suit from digging. When they reach the side of the hole the small man [Coliss] will stop digging, he is stood in a part of the hole that is a good half a metre deeper than the rest. He turns round brandishing a piece of rock clearly shaped into a small chopping tool and says to the assembled crowd "Good Find Ade!" following this with a slightly sheepish smile. [Matetsi Routine Edu to realise that there are a band of archaeologists working in this area]
The small man introduces himself as Dr. Coliss Ricardo, from the University of Otahango on the Southern Continent and calls to all and sundry "hmmm{smile} lets go to tea break". [ The more attentive will notice a muttering from an old man at the back that they’ve only been working for an hour].
[This whole episode has no relevance to the plot but is an opportunity for the PCs to get a little R&R and for a little comic relief. Do not allow them to know this especially if any of them make mutterings about the Dr. being involved with the poaching].
Inside the marquee the Dr. will tell them about the dig and how much fun they’re having, he will come across as a genial , if slightly mad, man. He’ll offer any services they have [As long as the players have been nice to him. Also Matetsi might want to tell the Dr. about the possible danger with poachers in the vicinity] given as the PCs are Park wardens. He will always be having a joke of some form or other. He will give them a tour of the site:
"Here we have a small stone house from the Neolithic which is before the Tamache inhabited the land. It is made from the local schist rock that can be seen in the cliffs. Just inside the door there is another wall. We puzzled over that but we now think that it is to stop evil spirits entering the house, because they can only travel in straight lines. It fits with the directionality of the people. You can see how the door is aligned to the rising sun in winter. We have some good finds from the site, especially the one I just found. We think that the houses were occupied about a thousand years ago."
[Let them do what they want. The Dr. has a more powerful radio than them with a monitoring facility for them to monitor the poachers radio. They might also want to tell one of the offices of their problems]
After a day or so with the archaeologists [Allow them to get any healing done that needs doing. Also play this out in as much detail as you feel fit.] They say their farewells and head off on their tour. [If they found the poachers frequency they will have known which way they headed off]. Their tour takes them SW towards the jungle and the river again.
8. The Interlude
The trip down to the River is punctuated with storms and other weather problems [Which can be played out in the fashion of the flood or ignored]. When they reach the river it is only 20-30 m across and fordable with some difficulty (the spring thaw now gone but still the waters are high) they will have to go and find some locals whose canoes they can borrow.
On the river there are string currents and it will take a good helmsman to get them across in one piece and not wet [Bearing in mind there are several denizens of the river that will quite happily dine on humans. Play this out in as much detail you have time and energy for].
9. The Finale
Afters they get to the other side they can make further up the side of the basin. A day or so later a big storm breaks with lightning and all that. [Suggest to them that they might want to get to some cover] The only real cover apart from the jungle (which is no real cover at all) is a ruined Tamache village not far along the trail…
[The only problem is that the poachers have also found that this is the only cover in the area]
On the way they have problems with the ground getting awfully boggy and there is the suggestion of mudslides as the rain gets heavier. Lightning strikes really close to them.
The Tamache village is on a small rise in the middle of the valley about 100m to the North of the track they are on. Rising slightly above the canopy does make it a target for lightning so the Tamache built a tall tower next to it as a lightning conductor.[It’s this the lightning struck a minute ago]
As they approach from the South they will be hoping to enter though the breach in the South wall[Take a note of whether they’re saying anything or whether they’re being silent] They climb the rise and get to the wall. The view of the tall walls looming over them is even more impressive in this light and the stone houses through the gap in the wall radiate age and mysticism. [ If they’re nattering at this stage the poachers will hear them and fan out to take a look and are in their designated places. If they’re quiet let them carry on as planned. The poachers are all in the intact house] As they go though the gap in the walls there is another lightning strike [ Routine Per plus Recon to notice that there are footprints]. When they reach the ruined house one of the dogs barks and gives the game away.
[From here play on a drawing of the village and see how it develops. If any of them are killed them…oh well.
Once it has been going a while the leader will stand up from his position on the watchtower and Shout to all to stop firing. If the PCs do not then they can mow him down. If they do then he delivers his speech:]
"Cease firing men! There is no need for this senseless violence when it is perfectly clear to me that we are all on the same side!…
You may not believe me but listen and I will give you the choice. We came here to save the park that you are defending…We came to prove that there is still too much to be learned from the inhabitants of this valley for the Imperium to destroy it yet…And that is what they are going to do!…We came to prove that many of the denizens are of value to society and that this is more than just land that people cannot build on or quarry…It is a living breathing thing…
What we have collected from this park will surely save it from destruction… Without it the Park will not last out the year!.
Let us go and we can save the Park that you are laying down your lives to save…Stop us and you are merely signing a death warrant for your homeland."
[It is entirely up to them what they do at this stage. The Leader is standing in plain view (though none of the others can be seen). If they decide to let him go then the rest of the tour passes without incident. If they try to talk to him he is willing to answer their questions, but not for long. If they decide to kill him then they will get an aimed shot but soon afterward will learn that the poachers have taken up new positions and as they shoot so will the poachers and the dogs will be released. Play it out if you want but they WILL die and never find out whether they did the right thing]
The End
back to the Index
or just Part 1
