Harvester O.C.C.

[slappy]

Harvester O.C.C.

Every Resistance Engineer churns out hundreds of pieces of Bio-Tech equipment each year, but they cannot create these fabulous items out of thin air. They need thousands of pounds of organic material in order to create the weapons and supplies that Splicers desperately need, and it is often difficult to acquire enough raw materials to keep pace with the demands of the war effort. Destroyed Bio-Equipment and slain warriors are returned to the Gene-Pools to help fuel these organic forges, but it is never quite enough. Some Splicers hunt down animals and alien predators in the Nature Preserves for additional materials, but this is usually more dangerous and time-consuming than it is worth. As grisly as it seems, the best source for raw materials comes from the mass graves known as the Boneyards. The millions of victims littering these fields provide an incredibly abundant source of organic matter for the Gene-Pools, but not all of these rotting corpses can be used. Dangerous toxins, virulent diseases, and metal shrapnel could pose a serious threat to the Engineers, so only the highly-trained Splicers known as Harvesters are entrusted with the task of collecting usable tissue from the Boneyards.

Harvesters spend years studying anatomy, biology, forensics, pathology, and toxicology so that they can determine what tissue is viable and what tissue may be harmful to the Gene-Pools. They also learn how to do their work under extremely stressful conditions. Harvesters are known for keeping their cool on the battlefield to the point where they seem almost absent-minded. They concentrate on the work at hand and trust that their Splicer escorts will watch their back. Many Harvesters will enhance their armor with Bio-Force Fields for additional protection, but none wear heavy armor. They wear Heavy Hide Armor to allow for maximum protection without sacrificing speed or mobility. Harvesters need to perform many delicate procedures with their hands and heavy armor interferes with their dexterity (not to mention, their Bio-Tech gauntlets do not fit over heavy armor).

Their medical knowledge also makes them excellent field surgeons. They may focus on working with dead tissue, but the average Harvester possesses the skill and knowledge of a physician. Their training combined with their Bio-Tech equipment makes them nearly as proficient at healing as Saints. The Saints may be superior healers, but they are far too valuable to risk on the battlefield. Few Resistance leaders even let their Saints leave the Underground Havens, so most Great Houses prefer to use their Harvesters as field surgeons when they are not raiding the Boneyards for supplies. Harvesters may not be able to perform the same miraculous healing as the Saints, but they can stabilize even the most horribly wounded Splicers in the field so that they can be safely transported back to the Underground Havens for proper treatment.

One significant advantage that Harvesters do have over Saints is that Harvesters are not just medics, they are warrior medics. Saints will only engage in combat to defend themselves or others, and they will rarely use lethal force. Harvesters, however, have no problem using lethal force against the Machine (or anyone else that threatens them). Harvesters may sometimes seem absent-minded as they perform their duties on the battlefield, but when they do have to fight, they are quite adept at it. They study martial arts and other close-quarters combat techniques to help them contend with Necrobots and other robots that spring forth from their hiding spots among the dead. By the time these threats do make their presence known, they are often too close to deal with using a rifle. Harvesters wear powerful Bio-Tech gauntlets to help them perform delicate surgical procedures, but these tools also make excellent weapons when used up close and personal. Harvesters rarely engage in long-range combat, and prefer to leave the gun play to the other Splicers that escort them on their missions. As long as the Machine is kept occupied at a distance, the Harvesters can work in peace.

Alignment: Any, but typically good or selfish.
Attribute Requirements: I.Q.: 14, M.E.: 14, and P.P.: 11 or higher.
Attribute Bonuses: +1D4 to I.Q., +1D4 to M.E., +2 P.P., +1 to P.E., and +2D6 to Spd.
O.C.C. Bonuses: +1 to strike, parry, and dodge, +2 to disarm, +2 to entangle, +2 to save vs. poison, and +5 to save vs. horror factor.
Base S.D.C.: 40, plus any from Physical skills.
Common Skills: Standard.
O.C.C. Skill Programs: Medical Coroner (+25%), Field Medic (+25%), Bio-Technology (+10%), Veterinary (+15%), and Martial Artist.
Special Skill: Harvest Tissue: Harvesters are entrusted with the vital task of collecting usable organic material for the Engineers. Most of this tissue will come from the Boneyards. Many of these corpses are hundreds of years old or completely ravaged by the environment, so it takes a highly trained eye to know what tissue is viable and what tissue may be dangerous to the Gene-Pools. This skill enables Harvesters to quickly assess the relative health of cadaverous tissue and excise useful raw material from a corpse. It allows them to detect signs of dangerous diseases or toxins that could be harmful to a Gene-Pool. They can determine if all the tissue within the subject is toxic, or if certain areas are salvageable. It only takes 4D4 melee rounds to analyze a corpse. However, this timeframe reduces with experience. At 4th level, it only requires 3D4 melee rounds, and at 8th level, it only requires 2D4 melee rounds. Base Skill to assess if the subject has any salvageable organic material is 30%+5% per level of experience. On a failed roll, the Harvester is unsure whether the organic material within the subject is safe or dangerous. The character can try to analyze the subject again, look for a new subject, or take his chances and collect tissue samples anyway. Once a suitable subject is found, this skill then allows the Harvester to surgical excise the desired tissue sample and prepare it for transport. This skill also allows Harvesters to safely remove metallic shrapnel from dead (or living) tissue. It only takes 3D4 melee rounds to collect the tissue sample. However, this timeframe reduces with experience. At 3rd level, it only requires 2D4 melee rounds, and at 7th level, it only requires 1D4 melee rounds. Base Skill to excise 1D4 pounds of tissue from a cadaver is 50%+5% per level of experience. On a failed roll, the tissue sample is contaminated and is considered worthless. Certain Bio-Enhancements provide bonuses to the Harvest Tissue skill. The Macro-Vision Bio-Enhancement provides a bonus of +10% to both skill rolls and the Enhanced Senses Bio-Enhancement provides a bonus of +10% to the analyze tissue skill roll.
Elective Skills: Select W.P. Sword, W.P. Whip, and six Elective Skills from the following list at first level, plus one additional at levels 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, and 12. All new skills start at level one proficiency.
Communications: Any (+5%)
Domestic: Any (+5%)
Espionage: Any
Medical: Any (+20%)
Military: Any
Physical: Any
Rogue: Any
Science: Any (+10%)
Technical: Any (+10%)
Transportation: Any
Wilderness Survival: Any
W.P.s: Any
Secondary Skills: The character gets to select five Secondary Skills at level one and one additional skill at levels 3, 6, 9, 12, and 15. These are additional areas of knowledge that do not receive any special O.C.C. bonuses.
M.D.C. “Living” Body Armor: Harvesters wear Heavy Hide Armor that is heavily modified to help them perform their tissue collection duties. There are no standard enhancements that are common among all Harvesters, but most choose a Bio-Force Field for extra defense, a Stealth Field to help avoid Machine patrols, or optical and sensory enhancements that better help them harvest tissue samples.
The character gets 2D4x10+35 Bio-E points for selections from Eyes and Vision Enhancements, Other Sensory Enhancements, Biological Defenses, Flight Appendages, Offensive Bio-Weapons, and Ranged Bio-Weapons. Each level of advancement, starting with level two, the Harvester gets an additional 2D10 Bio-E to add to the capabilities of his armor.
Standard Equipment: Military fatigues, dress clothing, survival knife, utility belt, 1D4+2 surgical gowns, one gallon sterilizing gel, an organic surgical kit (including scalpels, clamps, suture thread, needles, stethoscope, hypodermic bio-injector, etc.), medical kit (a first aid kit with extra bandages, antiseptics, protein healing salves, aspirin, painkillers, antibiotics, thermometer), medical cooler (can hold 40 pounds of organic tissue), Booster Patch, 1D4 Slap Patches, Face Wrap, tinted goggles, hatchet for cutting wood, one melee Bio-Weapon and one light Bio-Weapon of choice and one weapon for each W.P. with appropriate ammunition for heavy combat, tent, knapsack, backpack, two water skins, emergency food rations (two weeks supply), and some personal items. Also see special Harvester equipment below.
Money: Has 1D6x100 credits in precious metals, relics or trade items, as well as 6D6x10 in available credits. Money can be spent now on additional equipment or saved for later.
The Upside: Your role is absolutely vital to the Resistance. You provide the raw material the Gene-Pools need in order to produce new Bio-Tech gear. Without you, these organic factories might grind to a halt. Other Splicers understand the importance of your job, and do everything they can to make sure you accomplish your mission. You are also loved by your fellow warriors for your secondary role of field surgeon. You have been there for your fellow Splicers through their most desperate times of need, and there are many people that owe you their very lives.
The Downside: Sometimes it feels like the weight of the entire war effort rests on your shoulders. Every Great House has only a handful of Engineers, and if even one of them got sick or died due to your mistake, it would be a disaster. As horrible as this pressure can be sometimes, it is nothing compared to the danger. The Machine has thousands of robots and drones defending the Boneyards, but you are usually too distracted by your work to even notice them, much less defend yourself. You have to rely on your fellow Splicers to keep you safe, but they cannot handle every threat at once.

Harvester Bio-Equipment

Harvester Gauntlets: The thick Bio-Tech gloves worn by the Harvesters serve the dual roles of delicate surgical instruments and powerful close combat weaponry. Each gauntlet has a one-inch long retractable scalpel in each fingertip, four five-inch long retractable blades that spring forth from the knuckles, and a one-foot long retractable blade that extends from the bottom of the wrist. Each of these bone blades can slice through M.D.C. material, but a skilled Harvester can operate on an S.D.C. being without inflicting any residual damage. The gloves possess Splicer/Robotic strength which allows the wearer to crush mega-steel with his hands, plus it greatly increases the damage from blade attacks.
In addition to the retractable blades, both gauntlets also contain four retractable tentacles that extend from openings within the wrist. These thin organic cables can extend up to a length of six feet, and are as articulate as human fingers. They are mainly used by the Harvester as additional sets of hands when collecting tissue samples or performing surgery, but they also make deadly whips when used in battle. Both gauntlets can perform either of these roles, but the tentacles on the right gauntlet are more suited for combat while the tentacles mounted on the left gauntlet are better suited for surgical procedures. Each tentacle is tipped with a different bony protrusion that serves a specific function. This is really the only difference between the two gauntlets. The right gauntlet houses four tentacles that end with razor-sharp bone hooks. They are primarily used to hold excess flesh out of the way while the Harvester collects tissue, but they can also be used as a devastating Tentacle Scourge in close combat.
The four tentacles on the left gauntlet are more focused towards medical applications. One tentacle is tipped with a chemoreceptor that can diagnose any chemical substances within the subject and relay this information to the wearer. This sensor tube provides the Harvester with a bonus of +10% to the analyze tissue skill roll (in addition to the standard bonuses provided by the gauntlets). A second tentacle ends in a miniature Super Light Cell that acts as a laser scalpel. It is primarily used to cauterize wounds, but it can also make very precise incisions (the strength of the beam can be adjusted for use on S.D.C. or M.D.C. beings). The third tentacle is tipped with a tiny bone claw that is used as forceps for precision manipulations and extractions, and the final tentacle ends in a hollow bone spike that is used to inject a local anesthetic (used when the harvester operates on living subjects). While the left gauntlet is not as useful in combat, these writhing tentacles can still be used as living whips to entangle, disarm, and incapacitate opponents.
Harvesters do not only work with dead tissue, and when they do need to operate on a live patient, they can command their organic gloves to secrete a special quick-drying gel that sterilizes the entire surface of the gauntlets. It is the same gel that the Harvesters carry to sterilize their equipment in the field. This built-in cleaning system means Harvesters can pull their hands out of a rotten corpse and immediately switch to a live subject without any risk of infection to the patient. The gel dries within seconds, so it does not affect the Harvester’s grip. These Gauntlets help the Harvesters quickly collect tissue samples within the Boneyards, perform delicate surgical procedures in the field, and they are what make these warriors so dangerous in close combat.

Right Harvester Gauntlet
Weight: 5 lbs.
M.D.C. of the Right Gauntlet: 100 M.D.C. and regenerates at a rate of 3D4 M.D.C. every 5 minutes, each tentacle has 60 M.D.C. and regenerates at a rate of 2D6 M.D.C. per minute. Severed tentacles regrow within 24 hours.
Mega-Damage: Crush: 1D6 M.D. per crush attack, Finger Scalpels (5): 1 M.D. per blade or 1D4+1 M.D. per five finger strike, Knuckle Blades (4): 1D4 M.D. per blade or 4D4 M.D. per four blade strike, Wrist Sword: 2D6+3 M.D., and Barbed Tentacles (4): 2D4+2 M.D. per single tentacle strike or 6D6 per four tentacle strike.
Bonuses from the Right Gauntlet: One additional attack per melee, +2 to parry, +2 to entangle, +2 to disarm, +5% to the Harvest Tissue, Acrobatics, Gymnastics, and Climb skills.
Trade Value: 20,000 credits, but they are only available to Harvesters.

Left Harvester Gauntlet
Weight: 5 lbs.
M.D.C. of the Left Gauntlet: 100 M.D.C. and regenerates at a rate of 3D4 M.D.C. every 5 minutes, each tentacle has 60 M.D.C. and regenerates at a rate of 2D6 M.D.C. per minute. Severed tentacles regrow within 24 hours.
Mega-Damage: Crush: 1D6 M.D. per crush attack, Finger Scalpels (5): 1 M.D. per blade or 1D4+1 M.D. per five finger strike, Knuckle Blades (4): 1D4 M.D. per blade or 4D4 M.D. per four blade strike, Wrist Sword: 2D6+3 M.D., Sensor Tentacle or Injection Spike Tentacle: 1 M.D. per tentacle strike, and Super Light Cell Laser Scalpel: 1D4 S.D.C, 1D6 S.D.C., 2D6 S.D.C., 4D6 S.D.C., or 1D4 M.D.C. (range is 10 feet).
Payload: The Bone Tube Tentacle contains 5 doses of anesthetic. One dose regenerates every hour. Each dose deadens the pain in the subject for 5D4+10 minutes. Payload of the Super Light Cell is effectively unlimited.
Bonuses from the Left Gauntlet: One additional attack per melee, +1 to parry, +1 to entangle, +1 to disarm, +5% to the Harvest Tissue, Field Surgery, Forensics, Pathology, Acrobatics, Gymnastics, and Climb skills.
Trade Value: 20,000 credits, but they are only available to Harvesters.

[demos606]

Very nice Slappy, very nice indeed. Saint is officially relegated to predominanmtly NPC status which is probably what Carmen intended all along.

[NMI]

So the glove itself adds 5% to their harvest tissue skill, but if using the chemo...ceptor tentacle it adds another 10%?

[slappy]

Correct. I included them separately because it is possible to lose the 10% bonus if the chemoreceptors get hacked off. I figure the gloves provide a bonus on their own due to the multiple tentacles that hold excess tissue out of the way while the Harvesters work. I'm still toying with them right now anyway, so that may change. I think it's pretty balanced. The gloves are meant to significantly help Harvesters do their job, so I wanted to throw some decent bonuses in there.

I was curious what people thought of the warrior/medic part. Do people like the trained combatant part or would you prefer a non-combat O.C.C.?

[Sabre 1]

Before I get into anything I would just like to say Slappy that I'm a big fan of your work. Both your Warmount designs and OCCs show a real feel for the Splicer universe and are incredible. Keep up the good work old chap.

Now I much prefer the idea of a battle trained field medic to the pacifistic nature of the Saints. Giving the Harvester the ability to protect a patient him/herself from the Machine is vital. For the medics piece of mind and also for the rest of the Splicer group who won't feel like the Harvester is dead weight or a hindrance during a combat situation.

Just wondering Slappy, how much Bio-E a Harvester would get for customising Bio Weapons using your rules? And whether The character could use that Bio-E to customise/upgrade the Harvester Gauntlets?

[slappy]

Since Harvesters are not primarily concerned with combat, I assigned them a lower amount.

Harvester: 5D4 Bio-E at level one plus 5 Bio-E at each additional level of experience starting at level 2.

As for enhancing the Gauntlets, I think most of the upgrades that apply for melee weapons would be counter-productive when it comes to medical procedures, so I would limit choices to Security, Feeding, and Miscellaneous Enhancements only. That's the reason why I gave them a secondary Bio-Melee Weapon to start, so players can go upgrade crazy with that.

[Josh Sinsapaugh]

Slappy, you may very well be the de facto Rifter Splicer Columnist.

If you don't submit this sucker (with a larger article of course) I will be dissapointed.

Keep up the awesome work.

[Prince Cherico]

Awsome OCC slappy you should collect all your ideas and make a
source book

[slappy]

Slappy, you may very well be the de facto Rifter Splicer Columnist.

If you don't submit this sucker (with a larger article of course) I will be dissapointed.

Keep up the awesome work.

I appreciate the praise. I enjoyed your Chaos Demons as well. Very cool stuff.

I think I'll write some HLS Adventures for the Harvester, but other than that, I just send everything I have to Wayne Smith and he picks and choses what he likes.

[Rabidredneck]

I enjoy your material immensly Slappy, keep it up

[slappy]

Can You Pull this Shrapnel Out of my Back?

Hook: Your Great House is preparing to make an assault on a nearby Power Farm. Long-range scouts have stated that the installation is guarded by over one hundred robots of various types. It is a large facility, so these forces are spread pretty thin, but what has Resistance leaders concerned is that among the sentries are forty Inflictor Hunter/Killers. These robots usually patrol the ruins alone or in pairs, and such a concentration of these walking cannons could pose a problem.

Line: The Splicer assault force will consist of three teams that will provide a diversion for the sentries while the fourth team plants explosives around the facility. Each team will be escorted by a Harvester in order to deal with the special rounds fired by the Inflictors. Unless these barbed metallic slugs are removed immediately, they do tremendous damage to the victim. Hopefully, the Harvesters will be able to keep the damage done by these hunter/killers to a minimum. The player characters could be either one of the diversion teams or the demolition team.

Sinker: In the chaos of the assault, one of the diversion teams is overwhelmed and disabled. Half of the members are killed and the other half are taken alive. The sentries decide to use these captives as bait to flush out the rest of the assault force. They are brought to an open area in the center of the Power Farm where a squad of Slicer Robots begins to slowly dismember one of the captured Splicers. They are taking their time in order make sure their victim’s screams can be heard from every corner of the Power Farm. All the other teams are pinned down and unable to come to their aid, so it is solely up to the player characters. They must choose whether to complete the mission and leave their comrades to a gruesome death, or risk failure of the entire assault in order to make a rescue attempt. If the player characters are the demolition team, then this will be an even more difficult decision.

[Specter]

The concept kind of reminds me of the Vong engineers... then again, I guess the whole Splicers world should.

[slappy]

Part 1: What’s that in Your Hand?
Hook: The player group has been assigned to escort a Harvester on a collection mission to one of the nearby Boneyards. This adventure works best if the Harvester is an NPC, but it works just as well if the Harvester is a player character.
This particular Boneyard is absolutely enormous. It rests at the edge of one of the first cities emptied and destroyed in the early days of the Great Purge by the Machine. The once majestic city was reduced to ruins centuries ago and all its inhabitants were piled hundreds, even thousands deep at the edge of the city in an old park. Dozens of Great Houses have been gathering raw organic material from this Boneyard for centuries, and the Machine has placed thousands of robots within the city and around this massive graveyard to hamper their efforts. The best way for the team to gain entrance to the Boneyard is through the shattered remnants of the adjoining Ruined City. There are other methods of approach, but the city provides the most cover from robot patrols. The twisted mounds of steel and concrete should allow the team to make their way deep into the Boneyard, and I mean deep.
The Resistance discovered long ago that the best place to collect viable tissue is actually dozens of feet below the surface of these massive graveyards. It is a difficult and disturbing process to tunnel through the remains of millions of rotting corpses, but doing so is ultimately very beneficial. It keeps the Harvesters hidden from Machine patrols, and most importantly, the bodies deeper within the pile are more protected from the environment and have not been as ravaged by disease, vermin, and the elements. It is not like tunneling through earth, and this process takes months to even dig a few feet. Decades of collection missions have left a network of tunnels through this mountain of death that the Harvesters can use, or they can try to blaze their own grisly trails. Not all Harvesters use this strategy since it carries the additional danger of being buried alive in a cave-in of the dead (plus it is absolutely disgusting), but this Harvester has decided this is the best course of action. The rest of the team will need to take up positions on the surface to scan for trouble and cover the Harvester while he begins his gruesome hunt for useful organic material.

Line: The GM can throw some minor threats at the surface team while the Harvester works, or he can give them a few moments of peace. Either way, the team is about to have their escort skills put to the test. The Harvester is busily collecting tissue within this his tunnel of cadavers when he makes an amazing discovering. Gripped tightly within the crushed hand of one the bodies are two black micro-discs. These discs are used as currency within the Resistance, and the black discs are worth one thousand credits each. These rare discs are so valuable because they are thought to contain operation and control programs for the Machine. One of these fabled black discs is even rumored to contain all the codes necessary to permanently shut-down N.E.X.U.S. These discs could provide a nice little treasure for the Harvester (and the rest of the team if he feels like sharing), but they could also provide the final solution against the Machine.

Sinker: Before the Harvester can even decide what to do with his find, a Cable Snake bursts through the wall of his tunnel and sees the discs in his hand. The robot immediately broadcasts its discovery to N.E.X.U.S. and the Machine rallies every drone and robot in the area to destroy these discs and anyone that knows about them. The surface team will quickly come under fire as 4D4 Necrobots rise out of the Boneyard and charge towards the Harvester. Additional robot patrols will join the battle within 1D4 melee rounds. Every melee round after that time, 2D4 robots (chosen by the GM) will arrive to crush the player characters. If they try to stay and fight, they will likely be overwhelmed within minutes. Even worse, after 2 minutes of fighting, the Ishtar personality will seize control of all robots in the area to make sure the player characters fall. The Machine is taking this threat very seriously and is sparing no effort to obliterate those discs. The player characters can either make their way back through the Ruined City or they can try to escape through some nearby sewer lines. The sewer tunnels provide a closer escape route than the city, but it will be a tight fit. These tunnels are barley large enough for an armored human to walk through in a crouched position. It will limit the size of the robots that will able to give pursuit, but War Mounts and overly large suits of Host Armor will not be able squeeze through the tunnels either. This route was meant to be a secondary escape route if their primary path through the city was cut-off. Speed is reduced by 25 percent within the sewer lines and all combatants (player characters and robots) are -2 to parry and dodge. Luckily the twisting maze of tunnels does provide excellent cover from enemy fire, despite the tight confines. Sewer Prowlers, Skitter Pods, Necrobots, and Cable Snakes are the only robots that will be able to pursue the player characters within the sewers, but any of the Machine’s legions will be able to hunt them down on the surface. There are plenty of places to hide and lots of cover within the Ruined City, but there is also plenty of room for the Machine to rally thousands of her robotic minions. Whichever path the players chose, it will be a difficult journey back to the safety of the Underground Havens. GM’s can feel free to throw absolutely brutal opposition against the player characters if they try to stand and fight, but if they flee, try to keep the challenge level reasonable.

Part 2: Now What Do We Do with Them?
Hook: Once the player characters do return home, they need to decide what to do with their little treasure. The official worth of these two discs is two thousand credits, but the player characters might actually be able to find someone in the Resistance willing to pay ten times as much to acquire them. They are worth a decent amount of credits, but their true value may be beyond measure. The information contained on these discs could instantly turn the tide of the war, and many Great houses would pay a fortune to acquire them.
Trying to shop them around is not as easy as it seems. Just spreading the word about these discs may inspire all manner of criminals to do whatever they can to relieve the player characters of their prized possession, and even more likely, if their Warlord learns that two of these fabled black discs are in his house, he may just demand the characters hand them over immediately (of course, he would give them the equivalent value in credits as compensation).
If the player characters determine they would like to discover what these discs contain rather than sell them off to the highest bidder, they will need to find some way to read them. They could either seek the advice of a trusted ally, or they could go straight to their Warlord and ask for permission to discover what the discs contain. This demonstration of loyalty and dedication to the war effort will inspire the Warlord to let the player characters keep the black discs. If the Harvester was an NPC, then he will be assigned to your team for this mission (after all, he was the one that found the discs in the first place). Whatever route they choose, the player characters will be told to seek the aid of a Technojacker.

Line: Your House has a few Technojackers they usually work with, but they have no way to contact them directly. The player characters will have to go to the surface and seek one out. Whoever sent the player characters on their quest will tell them where they can begin their search to find a very trustworthy Technojacker named Ray.
After a relatively brief time, the player characters come upon a human carrying one of the Machine’s plasma cannons. He is an average-looking man, and other than the metallic cables connecting his wrist to the rifle (and the fact he can hold a metal rifle in the first place), he seems rather unremarkable. This is most likely the Technojacker that the group is seeking.
The man has not spotted the player characters yet, and it will be up to them to make their presence known. The surface dwellers are on guard at all times, so they must be careful not to surprise him and start an unnecessary firefight. Even if things go poorly and a battle ensues, it will be brief, and the man will quickly break off his attack once he recognizes the character’s Bio-Tech equipment. He will apologize for his overly jumpy reaction and will introduce himself as Ray. After a brief explanation of their mission, Ray will explain that the best place to discover what the discs contain is in a nearby Ghost Town. He raids it quite often for supplies, and he should be able to get the player characters in and out with little trouble.

Sinker: The journey to the Ghost Town is a rather difficult one. Thousands of robots patrol the area and are surprisingly concentrated around the borders of the city. Stealth is the best course of action, but minor skirmishes are almost inevitable. The Technojacker will prove to be an incredible asset in these encounters. Despite his rather unremarkable presence, he is an incredibly skilled and powerful warrior. He will help squash any Machine sentries quickly before reinforcements can arrive, and his expertise helps the team slip past the thick robot patrols and gain entrance to the Ghost Town.
Most Ghost Towns are old abandoned cities that the Machine repopulated with Nex-Androids, but this one was obviously built from scratch by N.E.X.U.S. The city is a living testimonial to her insanity. It is a bizarre mismatch of technology levels laid out in no discernable pattern. Towering skyscrapers sit next to farmlands, industrial revolution-era factories belch out thick clouds of smoke next door to ultra-modern apartment buildings, and strangest of all, the Machine constructed an enormous commercial seaport in the middle of the city on a small land-locked lake. Ray tells the player characters he knows about a factory in this city that has a computer terminal that can read micro-discs.
Ray will first bring the player characters to his safe house where they can hide their armor and equipment and put on clothing that will help them blend in with the Nex-Androids populating this Ghost Town. He tries to convince the group that they should leave all their weapons at his house since a firefight is the last thing they want, but he will not protest much if they insist on bringing along a few easily concealable armaments. Ray will lead them through the city to a fake pharmaceutical company. They manufacture real human drugs for this bizarre fake society, and the high-tech equipment within the facility will be able to read the contents of the black discs. It is the only place in the Ghost Town that possesses the proper equipment to view the discs’ contents, but unfortunately, it is also heavily guarded. It will be difficult to gain access, but the facility also provides the added bonus of being stocked with millions of credits worth of antibiotics, pain killers, and other useful medications. The Harvester’s medical knowledge will be invaluable in helping the player characters grab the most useful pharmaceuticals.

Part 3: Can I Borrow Your Computer?
Hook: Whenever Ray needs to gain access to the facility, he just merges with one of the worker Nex-Androids and simply walks in through the front gate. Unfortunately, getting the entire team into the factory will not be easy. Ray offers to go in alone and do it himself, but the Harvester shoots that idea down immediately. He says it’s not that he doesn’t trust him, he just doesn’t trust anyone. The Harvester says he will hold on to the micro-discs until they reach the computer terminal, so Ray is going to need to figure out how to get him inside.

Line: Ray has a plan to get everyone inside, but it is a bit riskier. The Technojacker will seize control of one of the factory workers and use it to get past the security check point. Once inside, he will head to the security office and disable the monitors (or the guards if necessary) so the rest of the team can hop over the perimeter wall. The Harvester insists that he or one of the player characters escorts the Technojacker at all times. It should not be very difficult to escort another person past security, but more than that would raise suspicion. While security is tight, most of the guards are only armed with S.D.C. side arms. It is just another odd side-effect of the Machine’s delusional need to recreate old human society. These Nex-Androids will first shoot at intruders, but once they determine their targets are actually humans, they will throw aside their weapons and engage their prey in mega-damage hand-to-hand combat.
Once the rest of the group scales the wall, the teams will rendezvous in the drug warehouse to regroup and to raid this storeroom for as many pharmaceuticals as possible. Once they are sufficiently stocked up, Ray will lead them to the main manufacturing floor where they will find the access terminal they need. The factory floor is totally automated so the team will not need to worry about Nex-Androids getting in their way. Without any further distractions to worry about, Ray quickly begins examining the contents of the first micro-disc. After only a few minutes of searching, Ray makes an incredible discovery. With a gasp, he says, “My God! This disc is loaded with thousands of access codes. This might actually be the shut-down disc. Too bad you won’t be able to keep it.”

Sinker: Within seconds of Ray’s surprising double-cross, dozens of Nex-Androids come pouring into the room through all the doorways. The player characters suddenly find themselves surrounded and outnumbered, and Ray calmly stands up and slips the micro-disc into the breast pocket of his shirt. Before anyone can even react, the Harvester yells out, “I knew it,” pulls out a Super Light Cell Pistol, and shoots Ray point-blank in the face. What is even more surprising than the sudden turn of events is the fact that Ray somehow survives the assault (although not in one piece). The laser blast completely sears all the flesh off his head revealing a totally robotic skull. Unfortunately, the damage done to his robotic frame is only minimal, and before the Harvester can fire again, Ray quickly snatches the weapon from his hand. For the time being, it seems that Ray is keeping the Nex-Androids from attacking so that he can question the player characters. The Technojacker (or whatever he is) says to the group, “I guess I jumped the gun a bit too soon. I need to know what’s on that other disc and it doesn’t look like you guys are willing to cooperate. Hand it over now and I may let you walk out of here alive.”
The Harvester quickly responds for the group by saying, “I didn’t trust you from the beginning. Did you really think I would walk into an obvious trap without a little surprise of my own?” Ray nervously glances back and forth for a few seconds, and after a while he is convinced the Harvester was just bluffing. He is about to order the Nex-Androids to attack when the Mig charges the Harvester planted detonate, blasting an enormous hole through a nearby wall and burying the surrounding Nex-Androids in debris. Despite the importance of the black disc still in Ray’s possession, the player characters are outnumbered and ill-equipped, and it is best that they beat a strategic retreat.

Part 4: Racing Home
Hook: The chaos unleashed in the pharmaceutical factory allowed the player characters to slip out of Ray’s trap, but he knows exactly where they are going. All of their equipment is stored at his safe house, and they will need it if they hope to ever get their disc back. The player characters have a head start, but this fake Technojacker knows the city far better than any of them, plus he has alerted the entire Ghost Town about the human invaders. The Nex-Androids do not know where to look so they are not actively hunting the group, but they are keeping an eye open for anything even slightly out of the ordinary.

Line: The Harvester has one Mig left that can be used as a diversion. Hopefully, a well placed charge will bring legions of robots scrambling to the wrong area or block any roads that Ray could use to reach his safe house. There are a few promising choices. One is a busy highway filled with thousands of twentieth century-era cars. Destroying any part of this highway would bring traffic to a stand still and make it impossible for Ray to beat the player characters back to his house by car. The other preferred target is the fusion generator that powers one quarter of the Ghost Town. The player characters would never be able to knock out this plant with their current armaments, but the Machine’s forces would definitely buy the bluff and marshal thousands of robots to the scene. Even Ray would believe the player characters are attempting to cripple the city and might go check out the area himself.

Sinker: Whichever target the player characters choose, their diversion succeeds in slowing down Ray. The group reaches the safe house only minutes before the Pseudojacker, but it is enough time to throw on their equipment. The group expected the house to be filled with drones and combat robots, but for some reason it was completely empty. Apparently, Ray ordered the Nex-Androids to surround the building after the humans went inside and wait until he arrived. He wanted the player characters trapped so that he could take them alive.

Part 5: I Don’t Think that Belongs to You
Hook: The player characters are once again surrounded and outnumbered. Ray’s safe house is on the third floor of a three-story apartment building, so at least they have the advantage of holding the high ground. Unfortunately, they are going to need a lot more than that to survive this night. The previously empty streets are now filled with hundreds of Nex-Androids and the Pseudojacker Ray standing at the head of the pack. Just like before, Ray seems to be the voice of this metallic mob. He has completely recovered from his wounds and the synthetic flesh on his face has been fully restored. He once again offers to let the player characters go free if they give him the black disc. Whether the player group responds to his offer with silence, bluffs, taunts, threats, or gunfire, Ray will eventually order the Nex-Androids to storm the building.

Line: As hundreds of drones pour into the first floor of the building, another unexpected betrayal swings the tide of the battle back into the player character’s favor. A female Nex-Android suddenly grabs the black disc out of Ray’s shirt pocket and runs away as fast as she can. Ray is too shocked to react for a few seconds, but after he comes to his senses, he commands dozens of drones to chase down the rogue android and retrieve his disc. Between the Nex-Androids that are storming the apartment and the ones chasing down the treacherous drone, this shift in troops suddenly opens up a large hole in the Machine’s forces. If the player characters act quickly, they should be able to leap from the closest apartment window and sprint through this opening before Ray can close the hole.

Sinker: The player characters do not have time to revel in their second escape from one of Ray’s traps. They are just a few steps behind the Nex-Androids that are chasing down the rogue drone, and they need to get that disc before the whole Ghost Town comes down on them. The mystery of the rogue drone is quickly solved as the player characters turn the corner and come upon a surprising scene. The drone and all the Nex-Androids that were pursuing her are standing there waiting for the player characters to catch up.
The drone hands the disc to one of the player characters and says, “I don’t know if this can truly shut me down, but you must get this to someone that can find out. It is not safe in my possession. Also, do not fear the Technojackers. The one that betrayed you was created by my sisters to turn the Resistance against them. Only a Technojacker can give you the answers you seek. Go now. We will lead your pursuers away.” With that the entire force of Nex-Androids takes off in the opposite direction. In the distance, the player characters can see that the other Nex-Androids are now running in a similar direction. Their path out of the city is suddenly clear, but after all the bizarre twists this day, the player characters are not about to wait and see what happens next.
The player characters escaped with both black discs, dozens of valuable medications, and some important information, but they did not get all the answers they hoped for. They now know that the disc may in fact be the legendary shut down disc, but they still need to figure out if this is truly so. If it really does contain all the necessary shut down codes, they will still need to figure out how to use it. The player group may have just made a powerful ally in the Eve personality, but it could just be another trick by the insane Machine. Their adventure answered some questions, but it raised many more. One thing is certain, the player characters need to get this disc back to their Great House and tell their Warlord what they have learned.

[NMI]

Have you been contracted yet to write a sourcebook? Because that adventure was just freaking awesome.

[slappy]

Not yet, but I figure I'll eventually just have enough material for them to make one. I'm glad you liked the adventure. I was afraid people would find the ending a bit weak. I liked it, but it didn't really have a sense of closure.

It's not like they tossed the one ring into the lava and saved the day.

[Princedarkstorm]

please do a world book please you have alot of good ideas.
Princedarkstorm
warborn

[slappy]

I would love too. I just keep writing and submitting with the hopes they offer me a sourcebook. From what I've heard, Carmen wants different authors for different sourcebooks. So I think I qualify, I'm different.

[abtex]

This is good. Even on the second read.
Have you thought of any new tools for the Harvester to use?
Or may be an animal or bug sidekick? Or five.

Any thoughts on what tools that more normal OCC. (ones in the book) .
might use in the Boneyards?

[slappy]

I pretty much thought of the other O.C.C.'s as cover teams only. They watch the Harvester's back, so basicaly their equipment are big @$$ guns.

[Princedarkstorm]

Besides the settings needs alot of info so it does not vanish like System Failure or other rpgs.
Princedarkstorm
Warborn

[finn69]

i must say i loved you HLS adventures and i thnk i will use them for my game. (i just got splicers in my grab bag and have just started experimenting with designing bio stuff) cant wait to play this game now.

[Princedarkstorm]

A splicer egghead cool?!

[Aramanthus]

It's is a great idea Slappy! And see what I meant about Josh Hilden shooting thread necormancy in the head!

[slappy]

Splicer scientist? That might as well become a new favourite

The martial artist thing is a bit strange at first glance, but I think I will manage to somehow struggle through

Just trying to put the combat back into combat medic.

[Aramanthus]

It really looks great Slappy!

[Princedarkstorm]

Very true ,please keep giving great ideas ,Slappy!

[slappy]

I'll admit that is one of my favorite O.C.C.'s from Rifts. Very disturbing stuff.

However, the inspiration for this one is from a friend of mine who does organ and tissue collection for a living. They're called Harvesters as well (unofficially).

[Aramanthus]

It is a great concept! It's nice to see more interest in this thread!

[bigbobsr6000]

This is super stuff, Slappy. Keep it up!!

[Aramanthus]

I hope this increased interest keep going!

[bigbobsr6000]

Me Too!!

[Aramanthus]

:::Fingers crossed!::: I would love to see it continued for a long time!

[Princedarkstorm]

I agree with the others!