"smells like mean spirit"

(This is actually an SWFD based adventure which I used to introduce the soft company)

setting:

"Newsflash: The Downtown Slasher has struck again!! Another family has been brutally slaughtered within the privacy of their own home. Both parents and three children are dead.
Official report do not include the work of a serial killer but we know better, don't we?
Hell, it's the seventh time a family gets chopped up like this! Okay, maybe there is no returning pattern in the method of killing but it's got three similarities: Family, death, and a frikkin' bloody mess!!

The killer doesn't seem to have working district or anything, the family slaughters have been seemingly random all over the city. This last one was close to Strigger lane, so if you're out there somewhere mr. Serial killer: Chanel 16 is out here, waiting for you. And you can be damn sure people ,that we will get you a nice scoop of this killer soon!!

This is Jamie Gundrall for Chan 16, ….stay tuned"


Over the last 12 days about 24 people died , all found dead in the privacy of their own home. Brutaly slashed up, guts spilled all over the kitchen table and that kind of scenes. Every time the entire family is victim, death to every one within the house. There are still 1 woman and 2 men missing from whom the family has been the victim. No trace of them has been found so far.

Though there is no signature of a Serial killer all victims are killed in the same amount of brutality and sickness so people have started gossiping and rumours are spreading quickly.


BPN:

Colour code: WHITE
Department : POPULATION
Description: INVESTIGATE DEATH OF FAMILY (or families, up to GM) CONTACT DEPT. SECRETARY FOR INFORMATION
Payment: 350 C
SCL increase: 0.4
Monitored by: Station-Analysis / 3rd eye.


The squad (if they take the BPN off course) is sent to the last slaughter scène at Strigger Lane in the middle of Komikan, an 'exotic' but dangerous part of Downtown inhabited by many aliens and Orientan 'immigrants'.

The place where the tragedy occurred is a small apartment belonging to the (late) Tyrone Family. Bodies lie mutilated around the place. All chopped and cut up, leaving an unpleasant, nauseating mess. Organs and body parts aren't spared and seem to have been the element of some sort of sick throwing orgy.

All victims are human, also in the supposedly similar incidents. But the victims come from all kinds of classes: Downtown unemployed, Uptown administrative, Famous scientist, Monarch officer, Shiver officer, Pit Bartender, Hairdresser, DownTown gang member (up to GM)

Alexander Tyrone was a Financier with quite a reputation as well. He was the agent for several squads.

What is found when examining the crime scene ? (GM's choice)

- If the Ops really search the place and mention looking for it they find a CD of PG 213 (titled Urban Resonance) in the music player. If they listen to this CD they will all hear something different though they won't notice this. The audio part is always the same but the way it is interpretatd differs a lot; The music heard is like an audio representation of the characters' own nature. ( good for the GM to see if he knows the character). Positive and friendly people willl find the music to be nice and amusing, angry and violent people will find the music agressive and stressing (1 AS), Nervous and paranoid people get annoyed and aggitated (1PS),... etc. If there is like a really psychopatic character he/she will be shocked by the music and get violent urges, feeling the need to get away from the music as quickly as possible. And then there's the really, really diabolical and horrific characters who will go into a terrible frenzy once they are eye to eye with their true nature. Adrenaline and aggression pumped up to the max. Every one around them must die. And they'll try to kill every one within the same room. When every one is dead they kill themselves violently with a pleased smile on their face. (Alexander Tyrone has this smile as well)

If the squad doesn't really get on the right track another incident occurs and then another and another. After a while it will be starting to get quite clear that these cases are related, also there can be found a PG 213 CD in every house where a similar family slaughter took place.

After a while you can make 'em arrive on a crime scene at the moment that the shit is hitting the fan. For instance they get a phone call about an emergency somewhere near them, a red BPN that has the same profile as thier case, or there was another slaughter just around the corner, the neighbour discovered it and called in. Shivers will be there in 5 - 10 minutes so the PC's get there first.

….They find the father of the family lying in the door entrance, shot in the head by his neighbour who came to check things out after he heard the screams and noise. He (the father or any other member actually) is still holding a very big kitchen knife smothered with blood all over.

Or

….They find the father of the family busy slaughtering his kid and/or wife while they kick in the door.

In any case there's this music playing very loud, if they arrive while the father is in his frenzy rage he will gaze at them with an inhuman look and a sadistic smile on his lips. He will attack them immediately. Again he is naked. He acts upon the chords of the music (a bit like in the movie Leon where the main bastard Stan takes a pill and starts killing on the sound of Beethoven)

the killer has the same phisical stats as some one on BLaze UV (tm) : No COOL or PHYS rolls, halve damage and 2 extra phases per round. The effect lasts untill he has killed everyone or he is killed himself.

The CD that is playing is again the one of PG 213. (title: The great impatience)

It should be clear that the CD has something to do with the killings.

If examined: -Technologically there is not much to detect. The data on the CD is not of SLA origin though SLA devices can read the data. It contains much unidentifiable data that has nothing to do with audio or computers.

-Ebb research might reveal that there are calculation patterns similar to flux, but their nature is unknown. Their effect is not clear. Probably some mind altering effect. It will take more time to evaluate it further.

-Probably only Stigmartyr (D-NOTICE) or the likes will discover more about the CD's.

Once SLA is aware of the hypnotising music they will start spreading public announcement on the danger of this music. Also any one carrying one of these disks Must bring them in, any use of them is illegal.

So where do the CD's come from and who makes them ?

-On the artist with the odd name PG 213 (D-NOTICE) there's not much. There are a few reports that might refer to him/her.

The CD's are being spread via Downtown's black market. Sold by street vendors and hustlers who sneak the gangplanks and alleys trying to sell their merchandise (like drugs, gold watches, cheap pistols etc.)

The distribution is done by a group of 15 people from The Wave Organisation, that was contacted by SWFD. Their leader is called 'Jackup' (Stanley Jacobs). These guys where given equipment and funds to produce the CD's and paid well in Unis for their efforts. Their installation is deployed in an abandoned downtown warehouse. They are armed with (given) SWFD and/or DN weapons and will defend themselves if Ops should come in and cause trouble.

Every two weeks or so, a package arrives with a new master disc. This master disc is then copied and printed on CD's.

Both the master disc (cartridge, size of a pack of cigs) and the electronic equipment to transfer the data onto the CD's is SWFD technology. Unknown by SLA and very exotic. Very helpful for the further investigation as well.

The production will carry on , even after the SLA's public announcement. By this time there is a new CD (titled Onyxonik) being released and distributed onto the streets of Mort city.

Contact between Jackup's crew and SWFD happens via telephone or radio. The team has never met PG213 or 'others' in person. their voice sounds like a male human of approximately 21 years old. Tracking the number is not possible since PG doesn't call from a regular phone. He jams the network with and communicates on a pirate frequency that changes every time. This is via the communication net of SWFD.

Once the CD's are printed and boxed the crew spreads them around. They deliver to every street merchant, black market dealer, hustler, Downtown night shop, … who is interested in buying them.

The CD's are bought at a price of 2 u a piece and sold at a price chosen by the vendor.

How will the squad get to the production facility?

Most likely it will happen that a guy walks up to them and says:

"hey psst… mister. Wunna buy check out the newest revelation of music? I gots tha latest SWFD CD right here !! only 10u ! good price, come buy from me"

Once they capture a vendor they should be able to get to Jackup and his gang.

Or…

While the squad is checking out another crime scène make the players roll a detect test with a -3 or -4 mod. If this test succeeds they notice the guy that was spying through the window or from behind the corner, and has suddenly started running off like hell.

This person is Timmy Flake. He's one of the street hustlers that sold the PG 213 CD's. However Timmy saw the public announcement and the gory family slaughter on TV, and now he starting to regret he ever sold a single copy. The victim where the squad is now investigating was a close friend of Timmy and a good customer. Timmy is feeling really bad and responsible for these deaths and will coöperate with the Ops if they approach him in a decent manner.

He has a phone number where he can talk a message into an answering machine to contact Jackup. It is like this they make appointments for the transactions.

Eventually the squad will discover the whereabouts of Jackup's crew and the production installation. The Jackup crew will fight and are given order to destroy the technology when SLA should pop up.


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