Action Report: The Extraction of Mr. X, Part 2

Short session tonight:

• The group crashed at a new, much less comfortable, safehouse
• Mr. X explained the situation to them, explaining a bit about Natalia and directing them to their next target
• Mr. X also filled them in on the reasons for the riots. Hacktivists released a plethora of data incriminating the head of the Turkish Intelligence Service with a bunch of human rights violations and other offenses against peaceful protesters, sparking riots.
• Of course, the players aren't aware that Mr. X is said head of the Turkish Intelligence Service, and that the CIA wants him brought in
• The next target is a CIA team that is actively hunting for Mr. X. To locate where this team is, Mr. X has sent the group to interrogate the man who has been supplying their weapons.
• The team staked out the gun runner's shop for almost ten hours straight, which ended when the man they thought was on overwatch for the gun runner opened up on the arms dealers...
• The players have been avoiding the city center at all costs to avoid the riots

Action Report: The Extraction of Mr. X (part one)

The Agents

Tobias Stöhner: Gray hat hacker and electronics whiz, Tobias makes computer security experts at the Pentagon break out into a cold sweat when he infiltrates their systems.
Virgil Cooke: A former CIA agent, Virgil is a master of acting a part and working the social aspects of covert ops. You probably should avoid windows if he wants you dead.
Jack Herman: Former SAS, Jack is the group's heavy muscle and military man. If the group needs his talents, it's inevitably because something went FUBAR and they need saving.
Alexandrina Veselovsky (Alex): Russian criminal. Breaking and entering expert. Overly complicated last name. Impossible to keep away from your valuables.
Nima Caspi: A former IDF combat medic, Nima is perfectly at home driving like a complete maniac and patching up complete maniacs who have taken a bullet or two.
Johnny Trang: Johnny Trang was too cool for LAPD officer school, so they put him into undercover work. Johnny Trang is perfectly at home infiltrating illegal racing rings or snooping on bad guys.

This session we had Matt (Virgil), Max (Johnny), Thomas (Tobias) and Ryan (Jack)Kim (Alex) was absent




The group spent a few weeks in Vegas lounging around.

• Virgil spent most of the first week laying low, gambling and chasing women. Upon getting vague hints from Logan that the team might be heading to Turkey, he disappears to learn Turkish.
• Jack gambles, wenches and drinks.
• Tobias finalizes the team's headsets, producing lightweight, durable headsets capable of operating on almost every communication medium they have access to. He also tries to access Arthur Bingham's encrypted phone, only to trigger a NSA fail safe which slags the phone.
• Nima explores the underground racing scene, which ends with her barely escaping the police in a high speed chase.
• Johnny Trang crashes a celebrity shindig and has a fling with a small time celebrity.
• Virgil stores the .50 Cal in a storage container and asks Logan to look after it. Jack disposes of their other weapons.
• Tobias picks up a pair of IR Binoculars

Logan flies the entire group to Boston where he meets them in a hotel to explain their next mission. Mr. X is an Agency 17 informant and needs to be extracted from Ankara, Turkey.  He was caught in anti-government riots, suffering burns to his face and neck from a molotov cocktail.

Details were light, as Agency 17 didn't want the agents to know anything that could tie the agency to their activities in Turkey. The group is told that the PKK and the Turkish government are both likely out for his blood. They're provided with fake documents for Mr. X, as well as 10,000 in Turkish Lira.

The group asks a few more questions, although Logan is few on answers.

Upon landing in Turkey, Nima immediately finds the group a SUV. They quickly find a bad area of town and Virgil convinces some gang bangers to tell them where to find some heat. They arrive at a location, heavily guarded, but are let in. Inside is a massive selection of weapons (it being a PKK safehouse and all that). The group arms themselves heavily. (1 M1 Garand, 2 AK 74s, a TMP, multiple Colt M1911s, one sawn off Remington model 11, a single M4A1, and a holdout revolver.)

They arrive at a safehouse location provided by Logan, and sneak inside. Confirming one individual upstairs, apparently sleeping, the Agents sneak upstairs to try and meet Mr. X.

Instead, they're attacked by his daughter, Natalia. The fight starts with her getting grabbed by Virgil, and almost getting pinned by Jack. Upon breaking free from Virgil, she tries to exit the room, eventually Judo Throwing Virgil to the ground and making a break for the room where she stashed two pistols.

By this time Jack has his gun drawn, but she shoots first, hitting him in the hand, crippling it. Virgil tries to tackle her to the ground, but she retreats back into the room where she grabbed her guns.

Tobias makes a mad dash towards Natalia, and with a completely epic dual-weapon attack he manages to disarm both of her pistols at once.

She retaliates by savagely kicking Tobias' leg, bringing him to the ground and almost breaking it.

At that point Mr. X arrives and the fighting ends once it becomes clear that everyone involved is on the same side.

The Agents pick up the scene while Nima gets Jack and Tobias ready to go. They clean up the scene and leave.

Notes:

• Jack and Tobias both failed their HT checks by 1 after the fight for the duration of their crippling injuries. Both rolled low on the check for duration, so each will have a suitable disadvantage for one month.
• Jack has Ham Handed (-5pts) for one month to reflect loss of fine motor control until his hand fully heals (possibly due to a cast).
• Tobias has Lame (Crippled Legs) for one month to reflect the damage Natalia did to his leg when she kicked it.
• In a surprise or ambush situation, Natalia could arguably kill the entire party of Agents, clocking in at a cool 390 points. In a fair fight, they'd likely win by virtue of numbers. Allied, they have to worry about her staggering -87 points in (mostly mental) disadvantages, including a nasty -52 point split personality.

Other Campaign Happenings 1

This post will be a small roundup of in game events that I want to keep track of for later. Most of these happen between sessions, and won't likely involve the players.

Known to the Players:

• George Hardings is declared persona non grata by the United States for his part in stealing from the CIA. He returns to London and is killed a few weeks later by the Belarus KGB, an incident that the UK chooses to ignore given Hardings' recent misdeeds.
• Hernando's capture, torture and subsequent death by the Los Zetas cartel is captured by Tobias' bugs within a few days of the successful hijacking of the shipment.
• Miguel decides that Ciudad Madera is too hot, and moves to a less violent area of Mexico.

Unknown to the Players:

• Hardings' CIA contact where he originally got the list goes missing, presumably forced to disappear.
• Xavier leaves the employ of the United Kingdom government, discontent with how he was treated by Hardings and the British Government.
• Arthur Bingham is fired by the NSA. He has come to Section 17's attention and this is their first move towards hiring him.
• The Los Zetas cartel murders Robert Sampson's family. Agency 17 falsely informed Logan that they had been retrieved by another team of Agents.
• The stolen drugs are moved to an Agency 17 warehouse and put into storage.

Action Report: The Hijack

The Agents

Tobias Stöhner: Gray hat hacker and electronics whiz, Tobias makes computer security experts at the Pentagon break out into a cold sweat when he infiltrates their systems.
Virgil Cooke: A former CIA agent, Virgil is a master of acting a part and working the social aspects of covert ops. You probably should avoid windows if he wants you dead.
Jack Herman: Former SAS, Jack is the group's heavy muscle and military man. If the group needs his talents, it's inevitably because something went FUBAR and they need saving.
Alexandrina Veselovsky (Alex): Russian criminal. Breaking and entering expert. Overly complicated last name. Impossible to keep away from your valuables.
Nima Caspi: A former IDF combat medic, Nima is perfectly at home driving like a complete maniac and patching up complete maniacs who have taken a bullet or two.
Johnny Trang: Johnny Trang was too cool for LAPD officer school, so they put him into undercover work. Johnny Trang is perfectly at home infiltrating illegal racing rings or snooping on bad guys.

This session we had Matt (Virgil), Max (Johnny), and Ryan (Jack). Thomas (Tobias) had a nasty flu and was only present for part of the session. Kim (Alex) was absent.


The players did some last minute preparation. Jack and Nima procured a second semi truck to switch with the one being used by the convoy, as well as a second set of license plates to swap out. Virgil made some camouflage nets, doing excellent work (critical success).

Meanwhile, Tobias rigged their jamming equipment to not interfere with their own communication headsets.

The ambush location was picked out, and they arrived a few hours early to setup. Foxholes were dug, Virgil's sniping perch was prepared, and a dead cat was dug up to hide the bricks of C4 Logan provided them with.

The time was midnight. The convoy was approaching at roughly 55MPH (~Move 28), with two motorcycles taking the front, followed by a SUV, the semi with trailer, and then a final SUV.

Virgil began the festivities  by shooting his M82 Barrett at the engine block of the rearmost SUV, instantly disabling it. Having hand-loaded some APHC ammunition he managed to purchase south of the border, the M82 turned out to be a toy I'm going to have to limit Virgil's access to.

The hit SUV immediately entered a nasty skid as the driver tried to compensate for the damage the car took.

Virgil then hit the lead SUV, also in the engine block, causing them to lose power as well, forcing the semi driver, Robert, to brake hard to avoid hitting them.

By about this time the rearmost SUV had slid next to the planted C4, which Jack triggered. The explosion rocked the car over and off the road, killing all of the passengers inside.

One motorcyclist thought he'd spotted Virgil's muzzle flash, and dismounted his Harley to try and creep closer, as did his partner on the other motorcycle.

Meanwhile, the remaining occupants of the SUV exited their vehicle, attempting to use it at cover.

Nima and Jack promptly mowed the four men from the SUV down as Virgil took out the men attempting to spot his position.

Chavez met his end after taking Robert hostage as he wasn't aware that Virgil had a shot on him. Thus the convoy fell into my player's hands.

They swapped out the semi for their own truck, as well as changing the license plates. Tobias checked the stash for bugs- erroneously believing that he had found some (critical failure), wasting critical time.

Robert agreed to drive for them.

They set out, Nima leading, Tobias and Robert in the middle in the Semi, with Jack and Virgil taking up the rear.

About an hour and a half later, a Bell UH-1 Iroquois swooped down, scanning the road with a massive floodlight. After passing over the convoy and then doubling back, a man turning a mounted Saco M60 at the semi, Jack and Virgil decided to try and engage it from the road.

Relying on his luck to stop the SUV from a good 70 MPH to 0 without losing control, Virgil stopped the SUV and Jack took the shot.

It smashed into the helicopter rotor, demolishing it. The gunner was thrown from the helicopter as the pilot lost control, and the helicopter itself plowed into the surrounding countryside.

Tobias kept up the jamming continuously the entire time, preventing Los Zetas response the entire time.

Their last hurdle before trying to enter the US was a ramshackle roadblock consisting of four men and two cars parked across the road. Nima, failing her On the Edge (Accessibility: Only while driving -50%) check, decided to ram through the roadblock. She hit the smaller car parked across the road, also running down one of the three men manning it.


Robert and Tobias sped through, taking gunfire, but no injuries. Jack and Virgil were not so lucky- their SUV got sprayed by about ten UZI shots, one of which hit Jack in the leg for 3 damage.

Despite the shock penalty, Jack turned around in his seat and shot at the men with his AK-47, killing two of them and convincing the third to not give chase.

Clear of the roadblock, Jack patched himself up, while Virgil failed a will roll to remain awake. Disaster was barely avoided (with the aid of combat reflexes) once Jack realized that they were about to go off the road.

The group stopped in Douglas to switch cars before entering. Nima's SUV was acceptable to enter the US, as was the Semi which had only taken a few hits that could be easily explained away. Jack and Virgil's vehicle however, had no chance of getting through border patrol without serious questioning, something they weren't willing to risk.

Nima secured the group a Hummer to cross in ("I teach him that overcompensation for a small penis is a bad idea."), also hiding the guns they wanted to bring over.

The group had contacted Logan, informing him that they had changed plans for how they'd enter the US, forcing their handler to quickly send an agent to the crossing to grease the wheels. Logan also assured them that Robert's family was being looked after.

Johnny Trang (our new PC) arrived just in time to convince the man in charge of the border crossing that he was with the Department of Defense and that he needed the other Agents let into the US on important business.

With that, the Agents were let into the United States. The rest of their trip to Roswell, NM went without issue.

They were met by a guy wearing a DEA cap who took the semi and Johnny's fake DoD credentials from him. He told the group that they were to lay low at least two weeks and that they would be contacted soon with their next mission. It was strongly suggested that they not be anywhere in a state bordering Mexico, as a shitstorm was about to go down.

Virgil immediately suggested Vegas.

Random odds and ends:

• Virgil probably won't be allowed to use a M82 too frequently. It wracked up two SUVs, a helicopter and 3 headshots on this mission.
• I made a major oversight and didn't explicitly plan for how the Los Zetas would prepare for the possibility of a nighttime ambush.
• During the hijack itself, the cartel got off no attacks at all- a combination of a critical camouflage check from Virgil, darkness penalties, and a well constructed sniper's roost.
• I should start work on a random rumors table, although I doubt my players will get as much use out of it as say someone playing in a Dungeon Fantasy campaign. 
• A friend pointed out to me that Injury Tolerance: Unliving and Injury Tolerance: Homogenous should have applied to the SUV engines and helicopter rotor blades respectively. An oversight on my part, but one that I'm ultimately comfortable with.
 

A Glimpse Under the Hood: Mission Planning

Continuing on the topic of mission planning that Douglas Cole got me talking about, I'm going to talk further as I go through planning a mission.

I frequently browse Reddit. It's a frequent trove of interesting material, such as this Wikipedia article on the Archives of Terror they found in Paraguay.

I read about recent riots during my stay home over the holidays, which got me to thinking about a mission involving getting some kind of shady person out of a country currently embroiled by riots- preferably riots where most of those throwing bricks and firebombs want the team's principal dead.

While browsing the internet at work, I stumbled upon the wikipedia article on the Beltway Sniper Attacks that took place in 2002, which I think will provide more flesh to the riots + shady person idea above.

So let's lay it out as I piece it together:

• The players are being sent to a country, likely Turkey or Argentina. (I'm going with Turkey)
• This shows that Turkey can be a rough and tumble country much like Zeta controlled Mexico
• Their mission is to locate two individuals and facilitate their extraction to the United States (or another Agency 17 controlled location) so they can be brought into the fold for the organization (The Agents will be told that this is so they can be questioned/interrogated)
• The first individual will likely be a government official, featuring into the overall clash between pro and anti-government forces. I'll call him Mr. (e)X(ample). Mr. X is skilled enough to be an Agency 17 agent in his own right.
• The second principal is an accomplished wetworks man (woman?) for the other individual the players are hoping to extract. This person is just as skilled as Mr. X
• The riots started when some hactivists uncovered proof that Mr. X has been causing a great deal of those aforementioned human rights abuses- disappearances, torture, murder, blackmail, the whole shebang.
• Mr. X's cover involves copious plastic surgery which has changed his appearance. His head is swaddled in bandages- which he attributes to getting caught in the flames from a thrown molotov cocktail during the riots.
• Anti-government forces want to capture Mr. X. They'd like a public hanging.
• The Turkish government hope that Mr. X's downfall will relieve the pressure on their organization from anti-government forces.
• Mr. X's wetwork person's moderus operandi is very close to that used by the Beltway snipers- use a modified vehicle to serve as a sniper's nest to conceal mussle flash and help with suppression.
• The wetwork person is likely related to Mr. X to help explain why they're willing to help them escape both sides eager for his blood.
• Mr. X is probably a minister of some intelligence organization, possibly with ties to the PKK (What is the Intelligence Service of Turkey?)
• None of my character speak Turkish and only Virgil is likely going to have cultural familiarity there. This will isolate them and make them stand out to a great degree.
• Discussing the above bullet point with Virgil's character lead me to look up Newspeak.
• Attention span completely ruined, let me point you to this episode of Red Dwarf where JFK ends up shooting himself from the grassy knoll

I'll wrap this up in another post once when I can focus on it again.