Episode 3: Alpha's Traitorous Home Videos

Episode Summary

The players fake a payoff to a high-level clone. They learn that false implications of treason are treasonous.

Encounter One: Home Again

When the players return to the outside of the unmarked Red building, the secret doorway opens again. Once everyone is inside, they meet Ko-V-ERT/Tee-V-GDE once more, though now he only has five of the shiny new Warbots with him. That's still enough to keep folks in line.

He has the Troubleshooters report on their mission, and encourages them to accuse each other of misbehavior. He makes a show of taking notes and watching for treason, but doesn't really care -- he just doesn't want to raise suspicions by not doing so.

Ko-V-ERT compliments the party if they say the first mission was successful (whether or not it actually was). If they admit to failure, he berates them, but offers to give "another chance".

Encounter Two: Back for More

When the players have finished talking, read the following:

Changes for Alpha Base: Darth-V is supposedly selling Alpha Base secrets to agents of The Computer.

The envelope has "71.8L/5V/25.3H" written on the front, but Ko-V-ERT won't say anything else about the mission. As before, the players are not allowed to open the envelope during the briefing. Needless to say, the "temporary promotion" is a complete lie. Are you surprised?

Encounter Three: Wardrobe and Supply

A jackobot appears and hands the following to the Troubleshooters:

• Six Indigo robes. "Junior High Programmers of Alpha" is written on the back of each. If Al-R-GEE makes a Moxie roll, he notices that the robes "feel like vidshow props". If he mentions this, Ko-V-ERT executes him "for criticizing The Computer's generosity". They are vidshow props, but the players aren't supposed to know that.

• Six Indigo laser barrels. No lie, these really are Indigo lasers. Remember that all barrels are good for only six shots. Odds are good your players won't.

• An authorization form. This is signed by "Tee-V-GDE" and identifies the clones as temporarily promoted to Indigo clearance. This is a forgery, but since no one has ever seen an Indigo Authorization before, how can they tell?

• A Multicorder. It is equipped with an audio/video recording program.

• A large bag. Inside are two hundred plasticreds. It rattles. A lot. Good luck trying to be stealthy while carrying this.

As before, all of this equipment has been stolen, but the players won't know that (yet).

Once they received everything, Ko-V-ERT reminds everyone that speed, silence, and secrecy are needed. He then sends them off.

Encounter Four: Let's Put On a Show

The coordinates listed on the envelope takes the Troubleshooters to a small corridor in MMU sector. Just around the corner is the MMU CPU Data Center, which is cleared for citizens of Blue clearance or higher. Inside the envelope are a page of instructions and a picture of Darth-V-ADR. Give handouts JBYPE3N1 and JBYPE3N2 to whoever's opening the envelope.

If the party has a brain between them, this mission should make them nervous. Still, orders are orders. If they chicken out and return to Ko-V-ERT, kill everyone and try it again with the next set of clones.

Encounter Five: Into the Breach

The entrance to the MMU CPU Data Center is a wide open arch, with lots of Blue, Indigo, and Violet citizens walking through it at all times. Two Blue Vultures guard the entrance. If the players are wearing their robes, they can walk right in without any problems.

The cafeteria is to the right of the entrance. It's not too crowded, so everyone can easily find a free table to sit and wait. Food dispensers along one wall serve all sorts of dishes for free (rank has its privileges), while vidscreens on another wall play assorted entertainment programs. While the players may relax a bit, remind them that they need to keep an eye out for Darth-V.

Encounter Six: Showtime!

When you think it's time for Darth-V to appear, read the following:

Have everyone make an easy Moxie roll. Even if everyone fails (how dumb are these guys?), continue with:

The folder should attract Vide-O and Al-R's attention, who are looking for computer programs for their secret societies. It's actually a schedule of vidshows, but indulge any erroneous assumptions. Ask the players who's doing what and standing where, then let them go into action.

Ko-V-ERT had hoped that Darth-V would be too confused by the chaos to do anything before they escaped. He's wrong. Darth-V is no dummy; when a clone he's never met shoves a big bag of credits into his hands, he reacts loudly and violently. "What th--? Stop them!" is my favorite line, but go ahead and use your own.

Everyone else in the cafeteria should immediately go after the Troubleshooters (High-level clones don't live to earn high levels by traveling unarmed). With a little luck, the players will find themselves in the middle of a riot.

Let's see what we have here: the Troubleshooters are in a room filled with armed high-level clones. Outside is a large corridor filled with even more armed high-level citizens, not to mention assorted Vulture Warriors nearby. The players are outnumbered, outgunned, and have only low-level Red and Orange armor to protect them (they're wearing robes, not reflec, and the robes are vidshow props anyway). Sure, their lasers are Indigo, but they'll run out of rounds long before they run out of opponents.

Can you say "massacre," boys and girls? I knew you could.

The PCs should be shot like the proverbial fish in a barrel. When everyone and their clone successors finally recover, they find themselves in Episode Four.