I've procrastinated heavily on posting this, for which I apologize. There's another session happening tonight, so more in on the way.
I did some planning before this session that never gelled into enough to post by itself. I'm including it here because someone might find it interesting.
The Factions:
Rand and Charles Petroleum (RCP):
Leader: Connie Nepala
Goal: Install a US-intelligence listening site under the guise of a drilling operation within the Amazon rainforest.
Motivation: $$$, continued existence of the business
Complication: Installing a 'drilling site' has raised the ire of locals and environmentalists alike. Threats of violence and sabotage have made RCP call in a few favors to keep the operation running smoothly. Agency 17 also wants them emasculated, and the US Intelligence Community has leverage that forced them to make the drilling operation go in the first place.
Blue Leaf Company (BLC):
Leader: 'General' Sherman
Goal: Protect RCP interests from angry natives and outside interests trying to stop the drilling operation
Motivation: Getting paid to shoot people, preferably in violation of the Geneva Conventions whenever possible.
Complication: RCP is hoping to cut their monetary losses and cover up what will be installed at the drill site by screwing over the BLC and killing their on-site members.
Niraj Hamid Rashad:
Goal: Poison the BLC barracks
Motivation: Hired by RCP. Also has issues with how BLC violates human rights.
Complication: Is frequently hired by Agency 17 due to his skills with poison.
Pro-drilling Locals:
Leader: Father Kline
Goal: Help RCP construct and run the drilling operation
Motivation: $$$
Complication: Forced conscription of local workforce to clear the road to the drill site has raised the ire of multiple prominent landowners...
Anti-drilling Locals:
Leader: Ernesto, formerly Murchad
Goal: Stop RCP
Motivation: Stopping the encroachment of industrialized society, prevent environmental damage
Complication: A particularly vocal opponent to the drilling, Murchad, has been murdered. This has many questioning if they shouldn't just give up.
US Intelligence:
Goal: Get a listening site in the Amazon
Motivation: Increase surveillance capacity in the area, have the capacity to deny that they knew about RCP's actions.
Agency 17:
Goal: Fuck with RCP and the BLC
Motivation: Revenge for previous slights.
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.
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.
Things started with Johnny (Alias for this mission: Bob Robertson.) preparing to get shown RCP's presence around the town of Varzedos. Virgil and Jack were doing recon during this time while Tobias did some snooping for Murchad's remains.
Earlier that night, Johnny had broken into the town hall and discovered that another government inspector was scheduled to pay the site a visit. Tentative plans between my players were made involving delaying or kidnapping this inspector to prevent their interference.
Plans that promptly ended when he arrived.
Introducing himself as Mr. Rashad to Johnny and Sherman, he claimed to be from Brazil's office of Health Management, there to inspect their facilities, focusing primarily on their food storage and preparation areas.
Rashad and Johnny tear through the entire camp with a fine tooth comb. Johnny fakes his way through the inspection, while Rashad goes through all of the food diligently. Rashad's thoroughness buys Johnny enough time to do some snooping. Sherman is annoyed greatly by this.
Rashad is polite, calm, collected and above all, professional. When pressed by Johnny how he got into his line of work, Rashad tells him simply, "I am the best at what I do, Mr. Robertson."
The search encompasses the local restaurant, the barracks, the supply depot, and the drilling supplies.
Connie makes an appearance, fondly greeting Mr. Rashad and giving Johnny the cold shoulder. Connie, Rashad and Johnny head back to Varzedos- Rashad needs to check the water supply and Johnny claims to need to see permits for the site. She shuts down any attempts by Johnny for smalltalk, making it clear that she does not like his presence on her job site.
About this time, Virgil who has followed Rashad and observed him from the jungle, spots Rashad covertly putting something into the well in the middle of town.
Tobias find's Murchad's body and his laptop inside his house. Murchad had a bunch of friends in various cutthroat groups of ill repute. He was attempting to get one of them involved in the situation surrounding RCP as a way of pressuring them to leave the area.
Johnny meets back up with Sherman to examine the future drilling site. Sherman leads him into the woods, claims that he needs to confess to something, and then draws a gun on Johnny.
The struggle for the gun goes poorly for Johnny when Jack, who had been covering him from the woods, misses his shot on Sherman. Sherman utterly fails his Fright Check (16!), throwing himself to the ground and accidentally hitting his head off a rock, knocking himself out cold.
The decision is made by Johnny and Jack to take Sherman prisoner. A search by BLC forces for their commander goes poorly, as the camouflage used by the Agents allow them to remain entirely hidden.
All of the Agents sans Tobias make their way back to the camp where Gregori and Nima have been staying. Tobias hits up the local bar.
Halfway through his glass of Everclear, the locals and BLC troops start falling sick. En masse. Tobias makes his way to the town hall where Rashad is telling Connie that the health inspection was going fine until the mass sickness hit. He storms off, and Connie politely tells Tobias to fuck off.
Tobias makes his way back to the base camp. The agents talk for a while, and Tobias decides to try and sneak into the town hall to take a peek through Connie's computer. He gets to Connie's office and gets to work.
He hears footsteps as he works. Tobias sends out an SOS over their communications before two goons kick in the door. Tonfas in hand, Tobias disarms one of the goons, only to be promptly shot in the leg.
Connie draws a gun and aims it at the wounded Tobias.
Outside, Johnny, Virgil and Jack approach the town hall. Outside, three guards are standing around, M14s in hand. The agents take time to aim before executing a simultaneous headshot, each agent taking out a goon.
The agents storm the building as Connie and her men are trying to exit. There's a brief exchange of gunfire that leads to Virgil getting a critshot to one goon's head for well over 80 damage, the other goon falling dead as Jack hits him in the unarmored groin and leg.
It's tense as the Agents prepare to try to disarm Connie when Rashad appears behind her and injects her with a syringe. She drops to the floor, out cold.
Rashad and the Agents uneasily come to the understanding that they're not working against one another. (Johnny's player gets a lesson in etiquette- when the guy who poisoned an entire mercenary company warns you that he's got sharps on him, you do NOT want to try and frisk him.)
Connie is out cold, not dead, as she owes Rashad money. Connie was attempting to cut costs by hiring Rashad, having him poison the Blue Leaf Company members, and then blaming the mass deaths on the now dead BLC members, thereby releasing RCP from responsibility for paying them.
Johnny and Tobias toss Connie's office and in the process Johnny manages to blow a fuse AND damage Connie's computer (crit fail on the search check).
The Agents and Rashad make an agreement that they won't seriously harm or kill Connie, while Rashad will allow them to question her. They use Murchad's farmhouse as the dead guy won't complain. Rashad offers to make everyone tea. Everyone refuses.
Connie promptly spills the beans. The Agents learn about RCP's corporate structure, and then step outside to leave. Rashad steps out himself, asking the Agents that they be discrete about his presence, and giving them a message to pass along to their handler. The message simply asks, "Have your bunny hops and rocket jumps improved?"
(We had a break and the summary resumes from the next session of play.)
The Agents then interrogate Sherman, which drags out a while (real-life time). Most of his information is relatively useless, as BLC's command structure is fairly well documented online, and BLC is not the target organization the Agents are after, at all. The only useful tidbit is that BLC was pressured by an outside influence to take the contractor work without some kind of prepayment.
Nima patches up Tobias' leg, swearing the entire time.
Virgil eventually shoots him to protect the Agents' agreement with Rashad, figuring that Rashad's wrath isn't worth Sherman's possible gratitude.
Tobias and Jack make a trip out to do the demolitions work on RCP's drilling supplies. Tobias discovers a lot of listening equipment- the kind you'd normally find in a van, but souped up and disguised as components of the drilling equipment. Obviously RCP is not purely installing a drilling site here.
After a series of loud explosions, the demolitions work is done.
Virgil and Nima track down the Padre. They find him trying to run from a lynch mob and conclude that their services won't be needed.
The Agents break camp and call Logan:
"This is Logan, your handler. I'm busy making sure that the vast government conspiracies at play don't hit you with a predator drone. Please leave a message after the beep.
BEEEEEP"
Three days later once they've reached civilization, Logan contacts them. They exchange information and Logan instructs them to infiltrate RCP's branch office in Brazil and then fly back to the States- they're going to have a complicated assassination mission to complete.
Surveillance of the branch office by Johnny and Virgil is interrupted when a black ops team breaks inside, shooting the guards. They wait for Jack and Nima to arrive with the rifles and vests. Johnny takes care of the guard outside, ramming him with his SUV a few times and eventually shooting him when he succeeds on two death checks at -26 HP.
Inside, Nima, Virgil and Jack hit the branch office, catching the intruders unaware as the lookout is busy getting vehicular homicided. After a short firefight that again sees Virgil scoring hits to the head, the Agents ransack the office of the materials gathered by the intruders and leave.
Notes:
- Tobias is stuck with Chronic Pain (Severe, 2 Hours, 12 or Less) [-20] from getting shot in the leg twice. He has the option to buy down the severity and the rate of appearance, which will require fifteen points total. (Ten for the first step, five for the second.)
I honestly fudged this result- going off the dice rolls Tobias should be living with Missing Legs for [-20]. a move that would effectively end that character's career. Suffering with a 5 point disadvantage, a 15 point tax, and the effects of a 20 point disadvantage seem fair in comparison.
- Rashad has previously worked with Logan before, and Agency 17 himself.
- Next mission is going to involve a lot of party splitting- by design.