Welcome to Mort

A starting missions to ease new Ops into the game. This BPN is mainly a demonstration of the dross that is issued in the thronging BPN halls and an incentive for the players to form a squad and find a financier. It also introduces them to some of the problems the city faces on a daily basis, and the value (or lack of) SLA Industries places on its employees.



As the first BPN, the players should feel the emphasis of how tedious and depressing the wait is in BPN Hall. They’re on their own (unless any characters have specified that they know each other) and they’re at the bottom of the food chain. Those with a decent detect might notice that almost everyone here is SCL10, and a few SCL9. Anything below is very rare. They also notice several Ops in suits moving between individuals and groups, having a brief discussion, then moving on. These are the financiers, all of a fairly low SCL as the better ones don’t need to come to BPN Hall. They’ll try and get rid of their worst BPNs first, particularly on fresh Ops. Ops like the players. If a couple of the characters are of a similar demeanour they can be placed nearby each other and be pointed out that they’re both in a similar position in the hope that they’ll start talking. Either way, a financier by the name of Herman (Weiss) will approach the biggest group of them. If they’re all solo then he’ll approach the one with the highest charisma. Herman (Crazy Herman, to those who’ve been here a few times) is notable for being around SCL7 – far higher than anyone else here. Herman gives them the option of taking the BPN and cutting their wait short – they can get out of here straight away rather than having to wait in line for the next 5 hours (when they’ll get the same BPN anyway). If they decline Herman the clerk issuing the BPN will insist on only issuing it to a player if they have a squad, so they’ll have to go and find a bunch of people and make an impromptu one. Or they can go back to the end of the queue. If they’re refusing to squad up after that we’ve got problems.

So, when a squad member contacts Ms Dominguez she will inform them that they need to escort three repair technicians to fix a pump in a part of the secondary overflow system near the wall to CS2. Anyone with passive streetwise of 4 or above knows that CS2 is famous for Carriens. The location is available for download from the SLA network via the BPN ref, but if nobody has the skills to do this she will tell them the junction number and let them work it out for themselves (via a lengthy process of phone calls and public information systems). Dominguez will inform the squad that the repair team is already waiting so they need to get there as soon as possible. It’s a seven hour journey on public transport to the CS2 wall, nine if they take their own transport. Add another two hours if the players take ages finding the location info, and another if they don’t have anyone with navigation. If they take over nine hours in total to get there the Dept will dock them 10c each from their fee to cover the incurred costs of having the repair team on standby.

The repair team are waiting for the Ops in a burger bar overlooking the storm drain where they plan on entering (ie, the nearest one). If the Ops show up at this, the most obvious entrance, the repair team will finish their food on the way over to them and make themselves known. Dominguez can supply the squad with the team leader’s phone number, and he can be contacted here if the Ops are struggling to find them. The team consists of a plumber to repair the pump, a support man to carry the equipment and assist him (both SCL11), and a supervisor to make sure the work is done properly (SCL10.2). They are all wearing Blocker armour but are unarmed. The team will be a little concerned about being escorted by a squad of green Ops, but will do what the Ops ask of them and co-operate however they can.

Into the sewers (storm drains in reality), the squad find themselves in a network of pitch black tunnels, ankle deep in water, about 3m wide. The journey will take them 30 minutes to get to the pump, and the supervisor has a navimap and knows the area well enough to get them straight there (if they listen to him). The supervisor points out that the water level is lower than it should be and that there could be a large build up behind the pump, which is bad.

The Ops will encounter standard sewer fauna for most of the journey – rats of various sizes. About two thirds of the way there are a couple of carnivorous pigs feeding on a human corpse. They’re not paying particular attention to what’s around them so if they’ve got a scout trying to be stealthy ahead of the main group they can go unnoticed. As soon as the squad turn into the pigs’ part of the tunnel though they will startle them into attacking. The pigs are 15m down the tunnel and will sprint at the Ops in the low water and both tackle the front man. The pigs are pretty large and while they might not be able to penetrate the Op’s armour, they stand a good chance of knocking him down. As soon as the pigs start taking damage from the rest of the squad they’ll turn and run (20m sprint before they turn a corner), but if they catch an individual they might well be able to start causing some damage with high rolls and bonuses from their prone target.

The squad find the pump chamber without any further encounters and the team will set about repairing the equipment. The chamber is 20m x 20m with three entrances and several large vertical pipes. The plumber is 5m up on a metal grille platform on the top side of the T formed by the entrances working on the pump, with the support man passing him up tools and equipment via a fixed ladder. The supervisor is on the ground making checks on the big pipes with stress testing equipment. The repairs should, in theory, take three hours.



Fifteen minutes into the repairs the group will attract the attention of a roaming Carriens band. A Carriens scout will approach the far entrance tunnel and listen to the Ops. He won’t make himself seen, but if nobody hears him (unlikely, there’s noise from the repairs and most likely the Ops) and nobody is near the junction he will get a good idea of what’s happening. If someone does spot the scout and kill him the Carriens will attack from the top tunnel. If he returns to his group they will attack from both.

Another fifteen minutes later the Carriens will attack. The Carriens should outnumber the squad at least three to one, and will split their number in two between the two tunnels. Also coming in through the south tunnel is the Greater Carriens leading the group and a Mutant Carriens. The Carriens know that they can’t penetrate the Ops’ armour, but they will try and swamp them and bring them down so that the Greater and Mutant can crack them open. The attackers in the NE tunnel will become obvious as they round a corner 20m down the tunnel. They will sprint the length of this tunnel at the group. The Carriens in the south tunnel will be running in at the same time, but have more ground to cover and will take a full round before turning the corner. In this time the support guy will see the first Carriens charging and will panic and run. He sprints towards the south tunnel and unless stopped will turn west at the same time the second Carriens group reach there. Two lesser Carriens will divert and bring him down while the rest will continue their attack.

Once in combat the lesser Carriens will try and grapple the nearest Ops in turn. The plumber will stay on his platform out of the way, and the supervisor will back off towards the entrance tunnel. Both should remain unmolested unless the Ops start falling – the Carriens want to take down the dangerous targets first. The Mutant will go for any targets on the ground, or will go for the nearest target and hit them. The Greater will hold back slightly but attack any nearby prone targets. If the Greater dies the lessers will run, leaving the Mutant fighting alone. The support guy will be dragged away back down the south east tunnel, taking two rounds. After the two rounds he can be considered lost.

Assuming the squad survive the attack the repairs can continue. If the support guy was lost the repairs will take an extra two hours, although if an Op helps it will only take an extra hour. Time is of the essence now – 13 hours from the start of the BPN the water pressure will reach a critical point and flood the secondary complex. The flood is heavy and the plumber, 5m up on his platform, will be unaffected, but the Ops and supervisor (and support if he survived) will suffer the effects.

Once the repairs have finished the squad can lead out the repair team without further incident. If the tunnels flooded it will now be waist deep in water, but the pump will have been repaired. Reporting back to Ms Dominguez, if nobody died the mission will have been deemed a success. If anybody died in the flood the Ops will not be held responsible, but if the support guy was dragged off by Carriens the squad will be docked 20c (on top of the 10 if they were late) and will receive no SCL increase. If, somehow, the supervisor or plumber dies the BPN was failed and the Ops will get no money or SCL.