Oh where, oh where can he be?
Vinny’s brother Tony has contacted the D-Listers to ask if they know where Vinny is… because he’s been missing for days.
“I haven’t seen him in five days – he went out for milk and never came back! I waited to call you because he didn’t want me to know he was a superhero so I wouldn’t worry about him, so I didn’t want to risk giving away that I’d figured it out. But he’s been gone too long to worry about that now. He, uh… he’s kind of got a lair here in the basement. If you come over and look around, maybe you can find some clue about his whereabouts that wouldn’t be obvious to me.”
As they prepare to leave, Aria gets an urgent call from her day job. She’s informed that a ship has sent a brief distress signal and gone missing offshore. The Coast Guard has been unable to locate any sign of it and has requested an assist from Aria’s team because their equipment has the most advanced scanning equipment (IR and UV, plus clusters of advanced mini sonar buoys it can deploy) that’s available in the area on short notice. Her helicopter is ready to fly from Summit Airport and time is of the essence; further details will be provided via the secure channel on the chopper’s communication system. (They won’t say why it needs to be on the secure channel, no matter how they’re asked.)
The Search for Vinny
Vinny has mentioned in passing that he lives “in an old farmhouse outside of town”. When the team (probably minus Aria) arrives, they will discover that the “old farm house” is a fully restored large historic home on the top of a hill on a gated estate of several acres. They can press the intercom button at the front gate to ask Tony to buzz them in.
(If asked about source of their wealth, Tony says “Vinny made a killing on tech stocks in the 90s and diversified before the crash. Most of our income now is dividends from mutual funds. Oh, and the rental properties near the beach in Rehoboth, Ocean City, Virginia Beach, and Miami. The restaurants, too, of course, though admittedly the one in Chicago isn’t doing as well these days as the LA and New York branches.”)
Tony will lead them down to a hidden lair through a secret door behind the 100-inch TV in the basement media room. There are monitors, computers, and prototypes of new armor and rifles. There’s a big chalkboard with a crude drawing at the center of one of the bugs the team fought in the forest cave a few months back, surrounded by articles and print-outs about UFO sightings with lines drawn to interconnect everything. On a piece of lined paper taped up in the center of the board is a single question written in heavy black marker: “WHICH COVERT AGENCY???”
Tony: “Yeah, he was obsessed with some kind of weird alien conspiracy from the internet. Some crazy story about a survivor from a crashed flying saucer full of space bugs, on the run from some other aliens and the government! I laughed at him when he told me about it; he stopped bringing it up after that because I think on some level he realized how nutty it was – I mean, really… space bugs?”
However, there is nothing to hint at Vinny’s current whereabouts. The only other idea Tony suggests is asking at Wawa to see if anyone remembers seeing him on the night he went out on his milk run.
Rescue at Sea
As Aria takes off from the airport, her dispatcher fills her in on the details. “Rescue Prime” is the designation used for the leader of an active rescue team. In this case Aria is flying solo so that’s her call sign.
“Rescue Prime, this mission is to be considered classified. Any non-public information regarding the missing vessel is to be treated by you as top secret, and additional information will be provided by the overseeing authority on a need-to-know only.”
“Three days ago, the container ship Alpha Cosmos sailing under the Maltese flag arrived in the Port of Wilmington with a load of bananas, pineapples, and cocoa beans taken on in Guatemala City. This morning it left port with a cargo of automobiles bound for Caracas. Three hours ago, the Coast Guard received signals from the crew claiming they were experiencing intermittent problems with their communications gear. The CG identified a local specialist with experience repairing the ship’s equipment and sent a cutter to intercept and assist, but as the boat launched, Alpha sent out a distress beacon for 97 seconds – and then disappeared. Not just the signal, but the whole ship! Searchers have found no indication of its presence – not even the floating debris that would usually accompany a sunken vessel.”
“There are 43 men and women aboard that ship, Rescue Prime. Finding that vessel could save a lot of lives, and it’d be a real feather in your cap.”
“Feather in your cap” is an unofficial code word the rescuers and dispatchers use among themselves. It’s not uncommon for them to work with secretive government or military groups, and that particular phrase is one they’ve come up with to express something like “there’s a lot more to this than we’re being told”, and “someone way above my pay grade is monitoring this conversation”.
Three hours of circling produce no results, and fuel is starting to get low, before one of the deployed sonar buoys signals it has detected something. Whatever it found has sunk to the bottom by the time Aria arrives, but another buoy pings, and soon another, all in a line heading southeast. Following the path, she eventually catches a glimpse of what looks like a shipping container just as it disappears under the surface. A minute later, she spots another. A third one is sinking slowly as if some air got trapped inside, so it’s afloat long enough for her to notice that one end of it seems to be invisible! It slowly becomes more visible as if moving out of some sort of cloaking field.
Flying further in the direction of the containers will take Aria inside the ship’s cloak range to where it will become visible. Communications will not work from inside the area. The vessel looks intact, but up to the water level its hull is coated by something that looks like thick blue mud with green-glowing blotches. It undulates as if something is moving on or in it. Another cargo container rolls off the far side as she approaches; she catches a glimpse of movement near it but can’t tell what it was.
Fuel is running low now. There’s a section on the rear of the ship where containers are closely side-by-side and could provide a surface large enough to land on.
Assuming she lands and exits the copter, she’ll begin to hear skittering noises. After a few moments, a mass of the alien insects they’ve encountered before – several hundred of them! – will swarm up the sides of the container she’s standing on. If she turns to go back to the copter, she’ll see a few of them crawling on it and notice that they seem to have pried open a panel that exposes a fuel line – which they’ve just ripped out.
Convenience Store Skirmish
On visiting Wawa, characters will quickly notice Vinny’s car in the lot with an orange abandoned vehicle tow-away notice on the windshield.
If players ask around about the night Vinny disappeared, the manager will tell them he was duty that night and while he didn’t remember any specific customer, he did recall that was the night when there was a flash and a series of popping noises from out behind the store – they’d wondered if a transformer nearby had blown. The manager offers to pull up the security footage of that night – but discovers that twenty minutes of it is missing!
(While players are at the store, they might notice an energy drink and a bag of Doritos levitating off the shelves and disappearing. Invisigoth is “shopping” there.)
As the team leaves, several black vans come screeching into the parking lot. From them disgorge six CHESS troopers and Bishops 1 and 2. Bishop 1 shouts: “D-Listers, you are under arrest for attempted espionage! Your teammate meddled where he didn’t belong and we suspected you would follow. You triggered an alert when you tried to view the missing security footage.
If players choose to surrender and see what happens, a clumsily-piloted high-tech flying craft the players have never seen before will show up as they’re being loaded into the vans. If players choose to fight, the vehicle will show up during the battle. In either case, it will fire dual 4D6 energy blasts to scatter the CHESS agents, then land in front of the team. A door in the side will slide open, and Vinny will emerge, saying:
“Come viz me if you vant to live! Ha! I’ve always wanted to say that! But seriously, get in – we don’t have much time.”
Not on the cargo manifest
Back on the ship, the insects swarming toward Aria stop just short of her and arrange themselves so that there’s a clear path to a stairway down to a door. Obviously they want her to go that way.
Before she can follow the path, Knight 2 lands between her and the door.
“Stand down, civilian! This vessel is under contract to the US government in territorial waters. CHESS will handle this incident from here – no further assistance is required.”
If he walks toward the door, the insects will move to block him. If she tries to go around him, they’ll open a path for her. When they block him he’ll try shouting at them to stand down, but after a short time he’ll start blasting at them. At this point they’ll attack him. With or without Aria’s help they’ll eventually do enough damage to send him flying away to wait for reinforcements.
If Aria is defeated she’ll wake up in the room with the ship’s crew below – the crew will explain that the Knight locked her in with them before retreating to call for help against an insect swarm that threatened to overwhelm him. Otherwise she’ll be guided to the crew area by the insects themselves clearing a path ahead of her.
She’ll find the crew of 22 in a common room – unhurt and in good spirits, watching movies and playing video games. One door leaving the room is sealed with what looks like the same blue-and-green substance as was on the hull, though it looks much more solid up close. A dark-haired, brown-skinned man will approach her and introduce himself in good but heavily Greek accented English as Captain Vittor Leonarda.
“Good – you’re here at last! She’s anxious to speak with you!”
What can be learned talking to the Captain and crew:
- The “she” referred to is best described as “the queen” but it’s not an adequate word
- “She” can speak to human minds, but only after having some time to learn the brainwaves patterns of an individual. She’s currently trying to acclimate herself to Aria’s mind so they can communicate
- Gov’t agents stopped their unloading of produce in Wilmington and paid their parent company and the auto company waiting for parts enough to “borrow” use of the ship and keep them quiet about it. They brought on shipping containers which turned out to be full of the bugs – who seem to have somehow smuggled a welding torch with them that they used to free themselves.
- Bugs overwhelmed the 21 CHESS agents on board (with no deaths) and sealed them behind the blocked door. (On cue, a banging and shouting sound will be heard at the door)
- Bugs began ingesting the organic cargo and converting it into the blue stuff all over the ship.
- “She” promised to return the crew & CHESS troops home when she could do so
- None of crew knows the ship’s destination. CHESS agents don’t either – they had instructions to proceed to an offshore rendezvous point and await a new set of coordinates.
Once Aria is done talking with the crew, she’ll hear a chorus of hissing voices in her mind:
“Testing. Testing. Can you hear me now? If you can, it is time for us to meet. Tell the Captain and he will show you the way.”
She’s led down to the cargo hold, a large open space that’s been largely cleared out except for a few shipping containers. In place of whatever had filled the hold are hundreds of insects, a number of clusters of what look like eggs, and a towering, glowing blue-and-green structure. In the center of the room waits the massive insect that must be the queen.
She approaches Aria and leans down so her massive, mandibled face is inches from hers, looking extremely threatening.
“You… killed us!”
She pauses and ignores any response.
“Your companion Vinnyfromthebronx admitted so.”
“Unfortunate, it was, but unavoidable. Too few of us, with only a new-hatched young queen. Not enough minds to communicate. Not enough minds to reason. Not enough knowledge to build. Not enough bodies for victory.”
“Vinnyfromthebronx was captive in the same facility where we were experimented on. He helped us prepare for our escape when we learned we were being moved. Now we need you to help save your people. We are rebuilding your aircraft to carry all of the crew and our former captors to shore. We seek a warmer world where they could not live, and I would not separate them from their own hives even if our destination was compatible.”
If asked about her species, she’ll share only this: “We find hot, barren worlds to colonize, and we build ecosystems there – each one unique and beautiful. After many thousands of your years, a hive will grow restless and venture out into the black in search of a new world. We are such a hive, marooned on your world after our craft was damaged by an unknown entity.”
“The people your government calls CHESS sought to control us and learn all that we know. But they are not ready. They are driven by fear, and will justify any actions to assuage that fear, and there is… a corruption among them, as well. Our technology unleashed on your world would lead to great injustice and suffering, and so we must deny them.”
At this point the sounds of combat come from above. After a few moments, a force of CHESS troops barges in through the door where Aria entered. These will consist of 8 agents and whoever is left of Knights 1-2 and Bishops 1-2 from previous encounters. If knights or bishops were incapacitated or significantly damaged, Rooks can get involved also (or show up during the fight if it’s going too easily).
No Pleasure Cruise
As the rest of the team approaches they see four military-style dual-rotor troop copters hovering over an empty spot in the ocean. Vinny flies in past them and the ship appears. He will land his craft near what appears to have once been Aria’s chopper, but most of its chassis has been replaced with a bulbous blue-green organo-metallic structure. CHESS agents have been dropped from the copters above and are in the midst of a pitched battle with insect drones and warriors. Neither side seems to have the advantage.
A trail of dead and wounded insects down the center of the ship leads to a stairway down to a set of doors which have been blown open – something powerful has carved this path. If characters don’t head down, Vinny will shout “we have to protect the queen!” and run down by himself. If the players don’t engage anyone on deck, they can take advantage of the confusion to head down below. If they start a fight up top, one or more of them might have to engage drones and/or CHESS agents there while Vinny, Aria, and whoever else went down fight below. All told there are 40 agents on the top deck (with more on the way in a boat carrying 30 men), 10 insect warriors, and hundreds of drones. Only small numbers of either will break off from the main battle to engage the players, but it should become clear that this is a battle of attrition that they’re unlikely to keep winning.
Down in the cargo hold, players will need to decide which side to take in the battle between CHESS and the insects. The battle starts as Vinny and whoever accompanies him reach the lower level and enter the room behind where the CHESS members are standing.
There are hundreds of drones here as well, but most of them link up to form protective barriers around the egg piles rather than entering combat. Others scurry away to continue performing whatever tasks they were working on. The queen has two personal guards (warriors) and four drone attendants who will stay with her to fight.
Outcomes
If CHESS defeats the queen, the insects will be rounded up and the ship seized.
If CHESS is defeated, the queen will urge all the team (along with all other humans aboard) to climb onto Aria’s modified craft. It will hold the crew and all CHESS members, who will be released and marched out to the deck to board it. Though its rotors will be gone by this time, it will still (strangely) fly using the existing controls, but will feel faster and more nimble than before in spite of its increased size and weight and apparent lack of propulsion system. When it reaches shore and all the passengers have disembarked, it will melt away leaving only some bit of the original copter.
If characters fought for CHESS, they’ll be thanked and told never to mention the incident to anyone, with the penalty for doing so left threateningly vague.
If they fought against CHESS, a Knight will tell them: “Only the need to keep this incident highly classified is keeping me from calling in another team to arrest you on the spot on every conspiracy charge we can drum up. Breathe a word about this to anyone and you’ve taken away that safety net, got it? You’re small-time so we’ve left you alone so far, but you’re on our radar now, and not in a good way.”
Notes
Alpha Cosmos is the name of a real ship I found on a port schedule somewhere online, though it’s a traditional freighter rather than a container ship as portrayed here. The depicted cargoes are typical of the sort of items that do pass through the Port of Wilmington on a regular basis.
The insects were the same ones I referred to as “neekers” back in Chapter 7. The queen from that encounter was a smaller, younger one I now think of as a “queenling”, and no insectoids of her size and type were encounted in this session. Instead, we meet a full-grown queen and and a small number of a class of warrior insects who are larger and stronger than the original drones and have a plasma spit attack.
How it played
After a few months of D&D, trying to roll low numbers to hit took some getting used to!
The players spent a while arguing about whether they should sneak a second person on board Aria’s chopper so she wouldn’t be caught alone, but ultimately decided against it when she argued that it was just a normal work day for her and shouldn’t be any more dangerous than usual.
The basic CHESS agents were able to do some damage to the characters and their eventual insect allies, but being non-powered humans fighting armored bugs and 140ish-point supers, they went down fast. The power-armored CHESS units were a different story, though (and all of them except the King and Queen showed up for the final battle) Tough to damage and equipped with powerful offensive capabilities, one-on-one any of them is probably more than a match for any of the individual characters involved. In the end the presence of the insects and CHESS initial focus on the queen allowed the characters to prevail against them.
Which means they’ll be fighting them again.
Oh, and I got to unveil my giant alien poo-er plant prop. Used a mishmash of washer-mounted tokens, paper minis, grid paper, cutout cargo containers, and crafted alien eggs on the tabletop for this one.
