Colour Code: Jade
SCL: 10
Contact Department: Ebon
Reccomended Package: Investigation/Any
Consolidated Bonus: 250c/Op
Issued By: Station Analysis
Text: "Operatives needed to investigate the serial killings of several Ebon's in Uptown and apprehend killer. Squad must contain an Ebon."

INTRODUCTION

I wanted to write a BPN that would touch on the real and dark horror of serial killers, without the 'cinematographic' glossing common to such BPN's. I wanted it to be dark, disturbing, and uncomfortable. I hope I succeeded, but some people may not like dealing with such issues. Be warned, this is not a BPN for the overly sensitive.

I also wanted to interweave this theme with that of the Operatives being caught up in one move in an ancient game being played by some of the real powers of Mort, to show them the inhumanity of corporations, and how people are manipulated and innocents sacrificed to fill the needs of Mort.

Hopefully, if the players are successful, they will end up with a variety of feelings:- horror, anger at the sacrifice of innocents, the feeling of having been touched by one chapter of an ancient and ongoing story, the feeling of being manipulated, and the impression that despite all the above, they still made a difference personally. It is intended to be a story in the *real* sense of the word, to bring the World of Progress to life, and for that life to be dark, uncomfortable, unnatural and unjust.

I haven't included statistics for any of the characters in this BPN, for the simple reason that most GM's will tailor them to their own players anyway, so why waste the time. Go ahead and fill in the blanks yourselves.

Background

In the last four days, four young female ebons have been raped and killed in the same manner in the uptown area. The MO is identical. What is anomalous is that each killing appears to have a different perpetrator. Killers do not usually attract copycat killings after the first kill, and especially not so quickly. What is more disturbing is two of the Ebon's were SLA Ops.

The Real Story

This story begins twenty years ago, with a talented but unbalanced young genius by the name of Max Hagen.

Maxon Hagen hates Ebons. This is well-known. What is not so well-known is that the reason he hates them is he was adopted after his natural mother died, and his new parents also adopted an orphaned Ebon girl, Sorrow, when Max was 15, two years after they brought Max out of the orphanage.

Max developed an erotic obsession for his adoptive sister, but she naturally rejected his advances. This rejection made Max bitter and disruptive, causing Max's parents to favour Sorrow, which only increased Max's hatred for her (for rejecting him, which Max's already huge ego and burgeoning sexuality could not cope with, as well as replacing him in his parents affections) and his parents (for favouring Sorrow over him), which was still interwoven with erotic undertones, the end result being a desire within Max to be Sorrow's lover, and to kill her. This internal conflict in desires began to eat away at Max's sanity.

Things came to a head when Max was 17, after a huge family fight, when his parents threatened to throw Max out. Max acted out his fantasy, and raped then strangled Sorrow, finally mutilating, burning and dumping her body to disguise the crime.

Max was already in college at the time, and it was obvious he was going to be a great asset to Karma, so when Valiant, the Ebon assigned to investigate the crime, began to get close, Karma used it's influence to exert pressure on Valiant to 'back off' and to cover Max's tracks in order to secure him for themselves. Karma needed all the talent they could get to maintain their status in the face of Dark Lament's recent advances in Science Friction.

Max was forced to undergo secret therapy with Karma's internal Psych Division to enable him to function, as the guilt, rage and lust that had become part of his psyche were not assuaged by his first crime. Karma also obtained for Hagen and exemption certificate from normal Psych Evaluations, and all Max's records were placed under an SCL lock-out, and publicly his adoption was never mentioned. As far as the world at large is concerned, Max grew up entirely in the Orphanage.

The story from then on is well-known and documented. Max went on to a brilliant career within Karma, even if his public views on Ebon's were still notorious.

In the years since then, many of the people involved in the original story have changed or moved on. Valiant is now a Necanthrope in the service of Dark Lament; Max's career within Karma is well-documented, and the people responsible for covering up Max's initial crime are either retired or dead. Only Max, Valiant and the Corporation remain.

The insanity within Max was never cured, just buried for a time. Now it has started to surface again, and to satisfy his needs, Max has, through HardCore, his own personal Stormer aide, (programmed to be loyal to him above all others) been using weapons, implants and drugs to bribe a downtown Gang, the New Faces, to commit the rapes and murders of the female Ebons and record them, so Max can relive his original desires vicariously.

The gang was recently defeated in a rumble with Krosstown Traffic, and is hiding out in Cannibal Sector 1, using the hardware provided to build strength for a comeback.

Each murder is committed by a different gang-member, in 'payment' for the equipment supplied by HardCore.

Success in this BPN relies on the operatives getting close enough to the truth to provoke HardCore into a direct attack on them. HardCore is on the edge of madness caused by conflicting programming (his inbuilt loyalty to SLA, and the overrides incorporated by Hagen, which conflict with them.. similar to what happened with HAL in 2010), and as the Operatives get closer to his master, HardCore will become more panicky and unstable, finally resorting to a personal suicide attack on the Operatives. By this time he will be so irrational that he will not realise his involvement will be the final piece in the puzzle that will point the finger at Hagen with sufficient surety to bring him down.

The irony of the story is that Hagen's ultimate downfall will be caused by his reliance on Stormer technology and his mastery of it in preference over and rebellion against the Ebon values his adoptive sister espoused. He loves stormers because they can be programmed to be faithful and obedient. What he forgets is that they are still people.

PART 1: The Scene of the Crime

The players are first filled in on the background by the contact at the department, given sketchy details of the first three murders, then directed to the scene of the latest crime, the fourth, in an uptown condo complex.

The 21-year old victim, Elysia, an Ebon girl of delicate beauty, is naked, nailed through the hands and feet spreadeagled to the floor of her apartment. Barbed wire is wrapped tight around her throat, and her face, breasts and genitals are a torn, bloody ruin, showing evidence of teethmarks as well as blades. The word 'whore' is carved into the ivory skin of her abdomen. The apartment, with it's delicate pastel fabrics and soft lighting, is splattered with blood and shreds of torn flesh, and reeks like a slaughterhouse. Cool checks are appropriate.. as is vomiting, crying and fainting.

Play up the fragile beauty of the Ebon girl before her death. Elements that can be used to aid this are things like photos.. clothes... soft toys (a little too cheesy), a video to her lover she planned to send, a diary talking of her emotions and hopes, acceptance papers to college or her sensitive and empathic artwork.

Contrast this with the horror of her rape and murder, the swarms of Shiver Troops treating her like a piece of meat and cracking dark jokes.

No significant clues are found here; it is used to set the scene, and possibly to forshadow future events.

PART 2: Forensics Report

This is a conversation between Dr Sheen, the Shiver in charge of forensics for the investigation and the operatives. He will fill them in on the necessary details. The details of the Ebon's deaths as could be determined. The fact that semen taken from each scene has shown that each perpetrator was different, and the one common factor... that traces of an unknown drug were found in each semen sample. They are working on identifying it. Allow the Operatives to ask any questions they want, but the drug is the important information. If the questions start to get silly and the Shiver feels his time is being wasted, he will terminate the interview.

The operatives may also see the corpses of the previous victims, all in similar states, stored in the morgue. This will provide no further clues, but may add to the Operatives' hopefully already dark and angry mood.

PART 3: Another Killing

This Killing is discovered the next morning, and is here to show the players that the slower they are, the more innocents die. Make this victim younger to add pathos. Otherwise, see part 1. These killings will continue, one a day, until the case is completed. Each should add a sense of urgency and helplessness to the Operatives, especially as the killers themselves are never seen. The murderers come up through the sewers from their new base near salvation tower, and cover their tracks well.

PART 4: The first break

Late in the second day, the operatives receive a call from Forensics: the drug has been identified as an experimental Karma drug similar to a cocktail of UV and Kickstart tailored for people with Nuke Tendon Implants. A batch of it was stolen from a Karma lab two months ago.

Research within Karma will show that the theft was the subject of an unsolved BPN, and will give the name of the Squad responsible.

PART 5: The Other Squad

A little digging will turn up the name of the surviving member of the other squad (his two squad-mates were killed in another op since then), is an I&I Human OP, Johnny Quick, SCL 10A, and can be contacted and will meet with the operatives in a bar if offered incentive or persuaded.

He will relate that although they failed, his hunch was it was an inside job, as while the place was trashed to look like it was a raid by junkies, Karma access codes were used to gain access to certain areas. When they ran a trace on the codes they got a D-flag, dead-ending that lead for them. Nothing else panned out, and the BPN was 'spiked' after a week. He will provide the codes, for what use they might be.

If the Operatives are particularly solicitous, and lubricate his vocal chords a little, Joe will hint that the BPN that killed his two Squadmates was a 'set up', but will say no more for fear that one of the Operatives is chipped. The Ops can deduce what they want from this.

This should give the Ops the idea that they are up against something more than the usual serial killer, and should be the first of several steps to make them increasingly paranoid.

If you need to introduce another Operative at this point (whether on has died by some mischance prior to this, or you have a new player), you can simply brief them and replace Johnny Quick with their Operative, as he is looking for a squad after the untimely demise of his former associates.

PART 6: The Cross-check

If the players deduce that there it might be worth checking to see if any Karma employees have a record of crimes against Ebons, they might choose to do a computer cross-check flagging Karma Employees with Ebon-related crimes and/or Jade BPN's they will initially get another D-Flag. The players if they take this route should start to feel like they're up against something big, possibly a cover-up. If they do run this cross-check however, Hagen will become aware of it, and will despatch thugs to 'take care of the characters'. See part 7.

If they choose to 'ask around' instead of/in addition to a computer check, they will meet a stone wall of silence, and Hagen will still become aware of their interest.

PART 7: The Thugs

Thugs are despatched to 'take care' of the characters. The attack is intended to look like random violence, DN-related, to divert attention away from the murders. Gang members are eqipped with DN equipment, supplied by HardCore, and ambush the Operatives when they can get as many of them together as possible. Assuming the Ops survive, a seperate Forensic team is assigned to the autopsies of the thugs, who will all have Nuke Tendon Implants and traces of the same drug found in the semen from the murders. If a player thinks they might be connected and notifies Dr Sheen, then he will be able to link the thugs to the murders. They have no gang markings, but asking around the gangs will reveal them to be members of the 'New Faces'. Further inquiries show that they disappeared en masse after a rumble with Krosstown Traffic (at least the surviving members did). The lead dead-ends there.

Tissue-typing on the thug's implants give the implant serial markers (encoded into the DNA of every implant). This leads to a Nuke Tendon Lab where records show that they were paid for and cleared using Karma access codes and accounts, which return a D-flag (again) if checked.

PART 8: The Warning

All the operatives find their apartments have been ransacked. A contact in Cloak gets in touch and tells them their names are 'on a memo'. If they inquire, they are told that the nature of the investigation to them cannot be revealed, as it is ongoing, but that any current assignments should be completed 'with an eye to the best interests of SLA' in order to reflect well on them in the future. An obvious threat. Treat Cloak Division in this case like the typical 'internal affairs' bureau.

The operatives should now feel under real pressure. They are being watched by Cloak Division, all their inquiries terminate in D-Flags, which should give them the impression that they are dealing with forces far higher up the food-chain than they are, and the unrelenting chain of tragic deaths, each more pathos-laden than the last, should be giving them a real sense of anger, mixed with frustration and fear.

PART 9: An Unexpected Ally

Dark Lament are following this BPN closely, and when they see Karma exerting influence through Cloak Division to cover it up, they will decide to take a more active role themselves. They will despatch Valiant

Valiant will contact the Operatives to help them out. Dark Lament have much to gain by discrediting Hagen, and Valiant has personal motives. He was warned off to protect Hagen in his previous life as an Ebon while investigating Sorrow's death; the start of this part of the Karma/Dark Lament story.

He will let them know that Dark Lament are taking a close interest in their success and performance in this BPN, as is he for personal reasons (he will not tell the Operatives himself, but will ensure his files are available to read so they can find out).

By way of aid, he will encourage them to continue despite the threats from Cloak Division, promising that Dark Lament will cover their backs, and telling them that they will regret it if they back off for the rest of their lives.. and beyond.

In more direct fashion, he will use his SCL to gain access to the search info that the Operatives were denied, i.e. Hagen's files.

If the player's go with this to their superiors and accuse Hagen, they will be told that it is insufficient evidence, being purely circumstancial, and warned that Stigmartyr take an interest in Ops with info not available at their SCL. From this point on the players should have the feeling of being watched, without ever getting to confront their observers.

The fact that they have this info will become apparent to Hagen at some point, whether through the Operatives accusations, or simple notification that his records have been accessed by someone at Dark Lament and the resulting deductions he will make. This will push HardCore over the edge, provoking the final confrontation with the now-insane Stormer, who will simply tell Hagen that he will 'deal with it once and for all' and then attempt a suicide attack on the Ops. See part 10.

Part 10: Denouement

HardCore is a skilled and intelligent foe, equivalent to a War Criminal in skills, with a brace of assertion tendons, combat drugs and top-class weaponry and armor, and provides the GameMaster with that rare opportunity to duke it out with the players on a more-or-less even footing. He should be a match for almost any squad, and may well kill one or more operatives. He should be as tough a foe as the Operatives have, or are likely to, face, and they will need skill, luck, intelligence and courage to defeat him. He will use hotline against the toughest armor in the Squad.

If the Operatives defeat him, his bar-code will reveal him to be Hagen's personal aide. As soon as this is known, the real players in this game (Karma and Dark Lament) begin to retreat, drawing their tentacles of influence back into their corporate bodies, and concentrating on damage-control.

A Shiver squad will be despatched to HardCore's home without the Ops knowledge until after the fact, where they will find the slugs and video equipment, drugs etc. This is enough for Dark Lament to terminate the BPN as succesful without any right of appeal by the Ops. They will be paid, with a bonus, and recieve their SCL increases.

The official line is HardCore was the perp due to insanity brought on by his experimental nature.

Hagen retires from public life, with Karma citing stress and depression caused by the drastic failure of his 'unauthorised experiments'.

In reality, Karma 'retired' Hagen when they knew it had got to a point where if he tried to brazen it out he (and therefore by association they) would be smeared badly enough for Dark Lament to gain a greater advantage than the simple loss of Hagen. In any event, Hagen had in recent years become almost as much of a liablity as an asset, so they sealed any avenue of inquiry off that might lead back to their initial involvement with the death of Sorrow and subsequent cover-up.

Dark Lament pull the Ops off the BPN to prevent revealing the depth of their involvement and aid at high levels, preventing the rivalry between the two corps from escalating. They only gave the Operatives enough information to implicate Hagen circumstancially. They had access to data on who the access codes and accounts used belonged to, but had they taken such a direct hand, it would have led to an escalation in the conflict between Dark Lament and Karma, which would have in turn led to their being 'brought to heel' by Slayer, with the associated Stigmartyr purges. The conflict must never be allowed to break the delicate surface-tension of the World of Progress.

Epilogue

Valiant will give the players a photo of Sorrow which he has kept from the first investigation. She is avenged. They have helped him in his progression as a Necanthrope by allowing the one matter from his previous life he hung on to to be resolved. He may be used as a fickle, mysterious, occasional but powerful ally in the future.

The players are safe from Karma, Cloak and Stigmartyr, as any move against them that could be traced back to Karma would attract attention to the case which Karma do not want. (You don't have to let the Ops know that tho... let 'em sweat for a while).

The information found in HardCore's apartment includes the location of the Gang's Hideout in Cannibal Sector One, and a Red BPN is issued to terminate them, in which the operatives may participate if they have the need to expurgate some rage.

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GM HINTS

It would be wise to intersperse some unrelated events through this scenario, both to give the Operatives a sense that the world goes on around them no matter how great their own problems might be, and to draw attention away from the Gang's attack. Not all events in the course of a BPN should revolve around it or be of significance to it, and Operatives should not be able to assume that just because something happened to them it's related to the BPN they are currently engaged in.

With this in mind, I've briefly detailed a vignette that you can hit the players with when you feel the moment is right, and you can create as many more for yourself as you think your group can sustain.

"What rough beast, it's hour come 'round at last..."

DarkNight operatives have hit on a new plan for capturing Carriens, equipping them with more deadly gear, and letting them loose in Uptown, as a way of adding to the general level of fear amongst SLA Employees, as well as reducing their confidence in SLA Industries' ability to protect them.

A Greater Carriens has been, captured, drugged, given captured SLA equipment (UV, an ITB mutilator and a Vibro Sabre) and released into a restaurant in Uptown through a service entrance (the DN ops used a stolen service vehicle to smuggle in the carriens).

The Carriens, having disposed of the restaurants patrons, bursts onto the street just as the Operatives pass by, and combat ensues.

This incident will be covered by a local 3rd Eye Crew, and will appear as part of a story on several such incidents in the past few days (you might want to make thwarting the DN team responsible the subject of a later BPN).

THE PROTAGONISTS

Max Hagen

The Operatives never come into direct contact with Hagen, and will be frustrated if they attempt to do so. Max is behind the scenes in this story, and is meant to give the Operatives a sense of how great the forces that they are up against truly are.

HardCore

HardCore is big, even for a stormer. When they meet him, he will be in full battle gear: custom Crackshot armour, carrying a MAL assault cannon, an ITB mutilator, and plenty of AP ammo, plus a FEN 603 loaded with a hotline round. They won't under normal circumstances get much chance to talk to HardCore, but on the off-chance they do, he will come across as more intelligent that the normal Stormer (even more so that most humans), quietly competent (very), with an understated yet threatening manner.

Valiant

When they meet Valiant, it will be in his second incarnation, as a Necanthrope, one of the Ebon race's Dark Angels. 7' tall, dressed in a sharply cut black suit, Valiant is the very image of the SLA Corporate Demon. His incarnation is mild panic, and he speaks softly, almost whispering, using as few words as possible. When he asks questions, they are short, direct and to the point, as are his answers. While his speech gives the impression of being aware of everything around him, he still has the disconcerting tendency to gaze into the middle distance, as if looking at some vista the Operatives cannot see, while he is talking directly to them.

Dr Sheen

Dr Sheen, while he plays only a supporting role, can be of great assistance to the Operatives. He is an intelligent man, and will link threads together for the Operatives as long as they keep him informed. He is talkative about his work, in which he takes great pride. Middle-aged, greying at the temples, bald on top and slightly overweight, with a spider's web of broken veins on his nose and cheeks from his love of fine wines.

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INSPIRATION

The works and people that inspired me in creating this BPN are various and esoteric, and I cannot name them all. Among the greatest influences were the films "se7en" and "Candyman," Clive Barker's "Books of Blood" and other of his works, and lastly and most importantly my wife, a talented journalist and psychologist, for her insight into the minds of psychotics, sociopaths and serial killers. A woman brave enough to interview Ted Bundy on her own, and kind enough to share her life with me.