taalismn wrote:Adventure: Mauve Squadron(New Generation)
A Second Serving of Pineapple Salad(aka: The Duplex Horror)
Hook: Post Invid Departure, the Squadron is ordered to look into a rash of Protoculture thefts from UEEF facilities on the newly liberated Earth. Normally, this would be assigned to a crack team of Military Police or counter-insurgency commandos, but with everybody else looking for the SDF-3 or readying for hostilities with the Haydonites, Mauve Squadron are the only ones available...after most of their mecha have been taken away from them(or were blown out from under them). Mauve will be obliged to do this on the cheap, with limited mecha, and forced to use whatever conventional vehicles and weapons they can scrounge.
Line:
After chewing up the landscape looking for clues, playing good-cop-bad-cop-incompetent-cop with the locals, and being forced to beg transportation off the re-emergent used-car salesmen of liberated Earth, a rash of people falling down open manhole covers should lead them to realize that all the heists took place near the extensive sewer and subway systems of North America's eastern seaboard. Following the trail will mean going underground, pushng through secret refugee camps, albino allligators, and dope-mutated sewer rats.
Ultimately they will discover the lair of a former UEDF Southern Cross scientist who was tortured by the Invid and has gone quite mad. He is convinced that he has the solution to rebuilding a stronger and more energetic Humanity, through the use of extensive cloning. To that end he has found and cobbled together several old Zentraedi cloning chambers, and located a surviving pre-Invasion gene bank containing cell samples from tens of thousands of human beings. The mad scientist is also convinced that he can replicate the Tirolians’ genetic memory techniques, thus allowing him to not only resurrect the DNA, but the PERSONALITIES of long-dead people, from simply a few cells(“Hey, it worked for Zor!”). All he needed was enough Protoculture for the job, and he has that now. The PCs will find the laboratory geared up to begin, with racks of genetic samples ready to be fed into the cloning apparatus.
One of the sample tubes that the PCs whould be able to read has “C. Toombs’ printed on it.
Sinker:
When the PCs make a move to stop the scientist, he will scream for ‘Igors! Stop them!’, whereupon several dozen more deranged ex-Invid experimental subjects will emerge from the tunnels and behind lab equipment, attacking the Squadron with homemade explosive, acid, and gas bombs, as well as other weapons. Mutant alligators and other sewer pests will also attack from behind, drawn by the prospect of food.
The area also suffers a sudden spike in poltergeist activity as the ghost of Cmdr. Toombs goes all out to try to get resurrected.
In the insuing battle, at least some of the cloning tubes will be engaged, demonstrating how fast and efficient the mad scientist’s methods really are. Halfway through the fight, one of the tubes will open, a tall, muscular, blond-haired man stands up, stark-naked and confused, before bellowing ‘WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON HERE?!” If nobody responds in a way he likes(which is pretty much any way) he will immediately attack the closest and most belligerent-looking idiot and proceed to kick their asses.
Finally, the battle will escalate(what with corrosive acid spilled on the floor, chemical explosives going off, open flames shooting into the air, massive electrical arcs dancing between metal surfaces) to the point where the lab itself catches on fire and the underground lair fills with smoke and flame. The powerplant begins making ominous noises, as the mad scientist screams “NNNOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!”, a cue for the PCs to get out while the getting is good. Moments later, the escape tunnel fills with flame as a massive explosion collapses the tunnel behind the PCs.
Aftermath:
The PCs’ report back to the authorities is met with disbelief and derision; the PCs are criticized for losing a substantial amount of precious protoculture. Furthermore, the collapsing tunnel and laboratory also collapsed an apartment complex on the surface above; the surviving residents are suing the UEEF for damages.
If, against all odds and PC interference, the original Toombs has somehow been cloned and survived, he will immediately try to get re-instated into the UEEF(or whoever is the biggest, best, military authority on Earth) and get a command(not necessarily Mauve Squadron, in fact, ESPECIALLY not Mauve Squadron, since they’re all obvious idiots like the last bunch of jerks Toombs commanded). However, he will be, for the time being, be stuck in the immediate vicinity of Mauve Squadron, since nobody else wants responsibility for him. Chief Toombs the Younger is now faced with a quandry; learn to know and love the father he never met before, or kill this obvious asshoyle who’s treating him like some sort of minion-punk. Father Mowbray takes up an immediate interest in plumbing again, and starts rebuilding all the squadron’s toilets and showers.
If he isn’t killed(again) in the fighting, the clone of Roy Fokker will disappear, after stealing the clothes off one of PCs(the ones he beat the $#!+ out of while buck-naked) and hijacks one of their remaining mecha(the most serviceable Veritech Fighter ideally) before vanishing into the wilderness of Earth. The PCs are now stuck knowing that even a disoriented, naked, still-wet-from-the-cloning-tank Roy Fokker can still kick their collective asses.
(Optional) Doctor Duplex’s Clone-o-Matic Success Table
Doctor Duplex’s cloning machines may be on long enough to have generated a few clones(1d4 for every ten minutes of melee). Roll, if you want/dare, on the following:
01-35% Random Macross-era military personnel
36-45% Random Macross-era civilian
46-55% Random Zentraedi
56-75% Random Southern Cross military personnel
76-85% Random Southern Cross civilian
86-90% Random Tirolian
91-99% Random Invid Occupation-era character(Marlene Rush is exempted from this, as the Invid acquired the rights to her DNA).
90-00% Multiple Copies. Roll again, only there are 1+1d4 copies produced.
Most of these clones will probably be wasted in the melee in the laboratory, but a few might escape in the confusion.
-25% chance of them coming out remembering who they were, from the time the cell sample was taken. 30% of them eventually remembering who they were.
Pretty cool, though if I were the gang from Mauve, I'd order an immediate Arclight on my position. Also, Reeper was the one into plumbing and religion, Mowbray got rich on homemade booze.
