Venus Ian Apocalypse Part 2

8/3/2019 Venus Ian Apocalypse Part 2

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PART 2:

THE FOUR RIDERS

~T H R G E TG H M E S


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~----~~-. . . . . . . . , , _ . . . . , . . . . . . - - - - - - - - - - -

CONTENTS

WELC.OME . 3

INTRODUCTION...... 5What has happened .5Give in to the darkness .......5The battle for the second .seal .. 5Hardings plan 6The secret of the disc 7

CHAPTER 1:THE SET"UP " "",, I 8

A simple phonecall 9The disc 10The offer 10Researching Hardings story 11David Hardgrove 12The truth about David Hardgrove 14The Venusian Heritage Museum .14Museum security 16

CHAPTER 2:THE BETRAYAL .. 18The post grand theft blues 19

. The frame up 20The Red Duke 20

On the run .22At the Howling Monkey 23Meeting Tyson 23Questions and answers . . . . . . . . . .24The blackmailers 25Caught! 27CHAPTER 3:PAYBACK ..... 28Finding fletcher 29Cal ling Harding .2 9Back toKonstantine' s .3 0Melissa's apartment 32J . Gustav's Cookery .33Hetchers apartment 33Aetchers plan 35TIle ritual . .3 6Oops' .3 9Wrapping things up 39

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WELCOMEWELCOME TO T HE VENUSIAN APOCAL YPSE! The Four Riders continues the story

that began in The Second Seal of Repulsion. You need not have played thefirst adventure in order to run this adventure, but it is helpful to haveknowledge of the events that took place in The Second Seal of Repulsion(see What Has Happened below).The Venusian Apocalypse is a trilogy of adventures set on Venus and dealingwith events that could have catastrophic consequences for all of humanity.In the first part, 711eSecond Seal of Repulsion, one of the most terrible ofthese event rears its ugly head: the breaking of the very same Seal. thatmystical barrier that kept the Heart and Soul of the Great Darkness at bay.Of course the characters have no idea what they're getting into when thingsget started. They think its just going to be a little recoil mission.In this second part or this trilogy, The Four Riders, the pes face the wrath ofthe Dark Legion as they race against time to prevent a deadly plague frombeing released upon Heimburg. The thi rei and final part of VenusianApocalypse, Beyond the Pale, brings the characters face to face with themost dangerous agent of the Great Darkness in a final. climactic battle whichwill determine the future of mankind.

CHARACTER REQUIREMENTSTHE FOUR RIDERS IS THE SECOND PART in a trilogy of adventures, collectively

known as the Venusian Apocalypse. However, it is not necessary to have theother two parts in order to enjoy playing this adventure. It is a stand alonestory that Game Masters can integrate into existing campaigns as they see tit.The adventure is best suited for a group of five to seven middle powercharacters, but you as Game Master may find it necessary to alter the numberof foes the characters encounter in order to better tailor the adventure to hisor her group's needs. There are 110 hard (mel fast requirements for characterprofessions, but it is very helpful if at least one player works for or has goodrelations with Capitol. Also, it is advisable that 110ne of the starting playersare Heretics, although this is not absolutely necessary.


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WARN ING : This entire sdventure is solely for the CM's use! Ityou're a player, you shouldst:op reading immediately and hand this volume over to your highly revered Came Master!

--~~WHAT HAS HAPPENED?The Second Seal ot' Repulsion. the players metmmander Randall Harding, an officer in thepitol Armed Forces. Harding led the players onission deep into the Venusian jungle to survey

me land Capitol had purchased from Housea minor Bauhaus noble family. where the

ers discovered a n a n cie n t tomb hidden under

the jungle canopy. Within the tomb the playersfound a sarcophagus containing the Second Sealof Repulsion. Not knowing what it was they hadbefore them, Commander Harding opened theseal releasing the Dark Tempter, a powerfulaspect of the Darlk Soul that had been kept at bayby the Second Seal.

GIVE IN TO THE DARKNESSe First Seal of Repulsion kept the physicalanifestations of the Dark Soul from enteringr world. When it was broken the Darkostles were free to come into the solarstem and wage war on the children of tileht. Wi.th the second seal broken, the powerfulrrupting psyche of the Dark Soul forced itsay into the world, manifesting itself as theark Tempter. The Dark Tempter is purelyychic energy that can flow through spaceithout any need for a physical body. It cansinuate itself into thousands of minds at ae. tempting them into corruption in a

action of the time it would take using the Darkion's normal techniques.

It is possible that th e players managed torecreate the seal, forcing the Dark Tempterback from whence it came, but it is alsopossible that the Dark Tempter remains free inour universe, creating thousands of newheretics every day. Even the player charactersmay have become corrupted by the DarkTempter. What is certain is that CommanderHarding gave into the Tempter; He was given aspecial gift by the Tempter - the ability to hidehis corruption from Brotherhood seers. Thispotent gift makes Harding one of the mostdangerous agents of the Dark Legion in thesolar system, for there is 110 way to discover histreachery.

THE B,ATTLE FOR' T'HE SECOND, SEALSOOIl as the players opened the Seal, both the

ark Legion and the Brotherhood becamemediately aware of the great evil that had beenleased. While the players fled the tomb. Darkgionaries and Doomtroopers both rushed toe site and subsequently fought a tremendous

in the Venusian jungle. The Brotherhooded much of its initial success to the Renauld

mily, the former owners of the land. They hadready sent a force of soldiers into the regionen before Harding opened the Seal. It seems

Renauld family may have known that the Sealas there all along. Tile truth may never beown, for in the course of the battle for the Seal,ery single member of the Renauld family joined

the battle, all fighting to the last. They held thesite against the Dark Legion until reinforcementsfrom the Brotherhood arrived and continued tofight until none were left.

The Battle for the Second Seal, as it hassubsequently become known, lasted for fifteendays. The entire region surrounding the tombwas e ve ntu al ly scoured clean of all life as bothDark Legion and Brotherhood forces used everyweapon in their arsenal to win the fight.Hundreds of miles of jungle were burned to theground and thousands of men and women diedin the fight, but eventually the Cardinal's forceswon the day and the Dark Legion's forces laydead on the field. The Brotherhood has since


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placed a quarantine around the area within ahundred kilometers of the site of the SecondSeal. Only those with the explicit permission ofthe Brotherhood are permitted to even enterthe airspace, and no one but members of theBrotherhood are allowed within the tombcomplex itself.

The Brotherhood's most skilled practitionersof the Art in have come to Venus to help guardthe Second Seal from the Dark Legion. If theplayers failed to create a flew seal, they are alsodoing their best to create a barrier between theDark Tempter and the rest of the solar system.Either way, they are expending a great deal ofmental energy 011 the site, both keeping theLegion from getting in and the Dark Soul fromgetting out, They are either trying to recreatethe seal or make the seal the players mademuch stronger.

The Battle was a tremendous drain on themilitary resources of the Brotherhood and thesupporting corporations. Bauhaus in particularlost a great many soldiers in the long battle andnow their forces are spread thin. The problem isheightened by the fact that the Brotherhood hascalled upon Bauhaus to supply arms and equip-

rnent to help protect the site ofthe Second Seal.Heimburg, the closest major Bauhaus city to thesite, has put up most of the money and securitypersonnel for the operation. If the players did notclose the Second Seal, the problem is even worse.The Dark Tempter runs loose through the streetsof the city, corrupting all those of weak will orpoor conscience, resulting in a dramatic increasein violent crime within the city. The city is dose tothe breaking point,

HARDING'S PLANIt is now three months since the Battle for theSecond Seal, and th e players have had time torecuperate from their misadventures in thejungle. They were questioned by members of theBrotherhood as to what exactly happened in thetemple and what took place when the sealopened. Of course, if the Dark Tempter managedto corrupt any of the players, they will probablywant to avoid Brotherhood scrutiny. This is easyenough to do in the chaotic time after the brea-king of the Seal. The Brotherhood is preoccupiedwith fighting the Dark Legion and at first theyare not even aware that the players had any partin the breaking of the seal unless the players toldthem. Corrupted characters foolish enough topresent themselves before the BrotherhoodInquisitors will undoubtedly be taken intocustody and dealt with accordingly. Harding doespresent himself to the Brotherhood, but becauseof the Dark Tempter's gift he passes theirinspection with flying colors. He is hailed as ahero for surviving the Dark Soul's worst and isgiven a promotion by Capitol for his bravery inthe line of fire.

Since the Battle the Brotherhood has beentearing apart the tomb of the Second Seal,trying to discover its secrets. The excavationhas recovered a number of strange artifacts,some of which are definitely evil, but many ofwhich are of unknown design and purpose.

These artifacts were originally brought back tothe Cathedral in Heimburg for study.

Since then, those artifacts shown to have noinherent evil, psychic, or magic potential havebeen shipped out to some of the city's topresearchers in the hope that they will be able tounravel the mysteries of the Second Seal andwho created it. Among these artifacts is a stonedisk with a large sapphire at its center.Brotherhood seers feel that the disk is harm-less, and probably some sort of ancient burialtreasure or a decorative piece.

The disk is now in the possession of a theVenusian Heritage Museum iii Heirnburg. TheBauhaus researchers there are among the best inthe Corporation, specializing in archeologicalfinds from the first days of human settlements onVenus. The disk is one of three artifacts in themuseum recovered from the tomb of the SecondSeal. It was recovered from underneath thesarcophagus containing the Second Seal. Thedisk itself measures some 40 centimeters indiameter and covered with circular patterns ofrunes on both sides. A large sapphire. some 50carats, pierces the center of the disk. With it werean oblong clay table encrusted with runes similarto those on the disk and a green crystal sphere.The language on the artifacts is totally unknown,but it is hoped that the Bauhaus scientists willbe able to find some clue to their meaning.


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-- THE SECRET OF THE DISChat the Brotherhood does not realize is thate threat represented by the disk has little to

with the Dark Symmetry and is not easilytectable by the Art. The disk itself is reallyite harmless. The danger lies in . what isntained within the sapphire in the disk'snter. The sapphire contains the seeds of a

lague so virulent that its release could easilythe end for a ll life on Venus. The plague

as created many eons ago by the Dark Souluse in a no th er world. In fact Demnogon i s

imself carne into being from the same darkfrom which the Dark Soul forged the

lague. Despite its extradirnensional origins,e plague is a purely natura l virus. althoughr more virulent than anything known inman history.Long ago the Dark Soul released the plague

pon its ancient foes, but they managed toolate the disease and seal its last remnantsithin a specially prepared sapphire. They thenlace the sapphire in a stone disk withccompanying runes warning of the danger.hen they created the Second Seal of Re-

ulsion, they felt that the tomb of the heroes

would be an appropriate place to keep thedisease from evil hands. Keeping the disease atall seems a somewhat questionable decision, bitthere were certain ancients who felt that thedisease might someday be useful as a weaponshould new foes arise or the Dark Soul breakfree of its bonds. The Dark Soul has alertedHarding as to the presence of the plague withinth e sapphire, and now H ardin g is determined toget his hands on it. However. his main concernis that no one begins to suspect him of being aheretic. to this end, he has decided to workthough intermediaries in obtaining the diskfrom the museum. Once he has the disk he willrelease the plague upon the city of Heimburg.As the disease spreads across the city it willleave a tr eme nd o us trail of dea th in its wake',T he city is already strained to the point ofbreaking, and the plague is. sure to push it overthe edge into chaos. Harding hopes to takeadvantage of the opportunity to launch anattack against the Cathedral and destroy, thusc rip plin g B ro th er ho o d o pe ra tio n s on Venus. andenabling the Dark Legion to take back tile site ofthe Second Seal of Repulsion.


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The players will have heard all about theBattle for the Second Seal. Indeed, theGame Master may wish to create asmall scenario for the players in which theyparticipate in the battle, assuming they wouldbe inclined to do so. The battle itself was fairlystraight forward: a great deal of automaticweapons and high explosives and only the mostbrave or foolhardy are advised to sign up forsuch action voluntarily. It is more likely that theplayers spent the time during the battlerecovering from the physical and emotionalbeating they took in the jungle.

The Brotherhood's official claim is that theSecond Seal of Repulsion has been recreatedand that they evil within is being held at bay.This may well be a lie (depending on what theplayers did in the last adventure), but theCardinal wants to avoid causing any sort ofpanic. Nevertheless, players will be aware theBrotherhood is out in force looking for hereticsand that many Inquisitors and other Brother-hood members have been called in from otherplanets to help fight the Dark Tempter's influ-ence on Venus.

The adventure is diesigned with the idea thatthe players already know Harding. They workedtogether il l the previous adventure and probablytrust him. He has proven himself to be

a brave warrior and capable leader, even ifhe isa little gruff at times. The players should haveno qualms about working with him again. Theywill have heard that the Brotherhood has dulyinterviewed him and proclaimed him free ofcorruption. Of course if the players themselveshave all become heretics, then Harding will behappy to reveal himself to them and use themill his plans. Either way, he sees the players asexpendable pawns to be used in his great game.

If the player characters are all unfamiliar withHarding or if this adventure is being playedwithout playing The Second Seal of Repulsion,the game master will have to figure out a way toget Harding and the players together. The gamemaster should 1 0 0 1 < at the player characters'backgrounds and decide what in them Hardingcould use to convince them to work for him. Hecan offer them any number of incentives frommoney and power, to the good feeling thatcomes from doing a good deed. Harding has allof Capitol's security services to draw 011 whenfinding out about the characters, and will findout what it is that makes them tick. It is highlyrecommended that this not be the party's firstadventure together. Harding is looking for atearn that has a history of working together, agroup that everyone will believe might cometogether to rob the museum.


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- --

A SIMPLE PHONECALLrding contacts the player characters and asksa meeting. He says that what he wants to

cuss is very confidential and that they cannotet in his office, there are heretic spiesrywhere. He asks to meet them in a publicce of their choosing, somewhere were theyhave some privacy. He says that they shoulde alone and to make sure they are not

lowed, If anyone asks them where they areng, it's fine to mention that they are meetingh Harding. Just a few old war buddies gettingether to discuss old times eh? He wants toet the player characters the day after hetacts them, but is willing to arrange for aferent time if they can not make the meeting.If the players use the time between Harding'sl and the meeting to look into what Harding

been up to, they won't find much. Theyily discover that he has been named head ofpitol Security Service's Department of Ancientifacts and Historical Investigations for thenet Venus. Harding has only held the post foronth, and has done nothing distinguished inshort time he has served in his new capacity.

the players have Brotherhood contacts theyd that he was for several months the subjectan investigation by the Inquisition. They didt take kindly to the notion that Harding hadn responsible for opening the Second Seal ofpulsion all on his own. Despite two months ofdepth background check and constantdercover surveillance, they found no indica-ns that Harding has any connections with thek Legion.Harding comes alone to the meeting,rying a briefcase with a pistol at his side. Hems happy to see the player characters andets them warmly, inquiring after their healthd well-being. He makes small talk with theyers for some while, commenting 011 thettle for The Second Seal and the mess he andplayers caused. At this time Harding uses a

ft of the Dark Symmetry to cause anyording devices the players might have tolfunction. He wants no record of theeting. He says that he' often has nightmaresout that day in the jungle and the evil he isponsible for releasing. He says that daily hees filled with remorse for his foolhardyion. He should have known better! His onlynsolation is that he withstood the ternpta-ns of the Dark Soul and survived to fight onainst the Dark Legion. Throughout thenversation he is surprisingly open andnfiding with the player characters. treatingm like old, dear friends. The game masterould ,play Harding appropriately, as if he

trusts the players fully and is confiding hisdeepest fears in the player characters.

He goes on to say we are living in troubledtimes, and that it is a sad day when even theBrotherhood cannot be trusted to do the rightthing. He pauses a moment 1: 0 let his rathershocking statement sink in. If the playercharacters challenge him on this statement hesimply holds up his hand and begs the playercharacters to hold their judgment until theyhave heard him out. He continues, saying thatalthough the Brotherhood means well, they donot understand the true danger of the forcesthey are dealing with. He asks the players ifthey know anything of the artifacts removed

from the site of the Second Seal. Unless, theplayers have contacts within the Bauhausgovernment or the Brotherhood and have beenlooking into events related to the Second Sealthey do not know anything.

Harding tells the player characters that theBrotherhood has been tearing apart the tomb ofthe Second Seal piece by piece and have found anumber of artifacts within and underneath thetomb site. The Brotherhood has been examiningthem and determining whether or not theyrepresent a threat or are simply of historicalvalue. The former are locked up in the Cathedralor destroyed, the latter get sent on to scientistsfor further study. Some of these have come intoHarding's hands in his new role as Chief ofSecurity for Capitol's Department of AncientArtifacts and Historical Investigations. However.because the Ejector Dukes hold so muchinfluence with the Cardinal, most of theartifacts have gone to Bauhaus for further study.


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THE DISCHarding gets a dreamy look in his eyes at thispoint. He asks the player characters to thinkback to the time in the tomb when they openedthe Seal and the Dark Soul tried to tempt eachof them into serving the Dark Legion. Hardingtells the players that the Dark Soul offered himthe power to destroy all of Capitol's enemies. Inthe Vision a strange man offered Harding astone disk with a sapphire embedded in itscenter. The stranger was of course the DarkSoul, and he said that the power within the diskwould be great enough to fulfill all of Harding'sdreams. Of course, Harding says, he did not fallfor the Dark Soul's trickery, and he knows thatyou can't make deals with the devil and expectto come out ahead. Until a week ago, Hardingthought that he had heard the last of the matter.He had resisted temptation and was devoted tohis new duties. Then he heard reports of a newartifact that the Brotherhood had found beneaththe sarcophagus of the Second Seal. It wasnothing less than the very disk the Dark Soulhad shown Harding in his vision.

Harding only heard of the disk because theBrotherhood was planning to release it forfurther study by the Bauhaus Venusian HeritageMuseum. Harding of course informed theBrotherhood as to what he knew of the disk andhis dream, The Brotherhood assuredl him thatthe they had thoroughly examined the disk andthat, if anything it showed less signs of taintfrom the Dark Symmetry than any of the otherartifacts. {This is all true, Harding did warnthem, but only because he knew they would notheed his warning. The Dark Soul has told himthat the presence of the plague in the sapphireis totally undetectable by The Art). They prettymuch told Harding to mind his own business.

Harding tells the player characters that he issure that there is something dangerous aboutthe disk, but that the Bauhaus scientists won'tlet any outsiders even look at the it. He says thatthere is a lot of resentment between Capitol andBauhaus right now. Capitol is upset that theyspent a small fortune on a tract of land that hassince been totally leveled by the Battle of theSecond Seal. Capitol has tried to claim somesort of recompense from the Renauld family, butBauhaus has staunchly refused to pay back evena fraction of the land's value. Meanwhile theBrotherhood has declared the entire region offlimits, and now Bauhaus and Brotherhoodtroops are stationed on land that Capitol paidfor. If that were not bad enough, Capitol isgetting only the least valuable of the artifactsthat come out of the site!

Harding has become incensed as he tells histale, going on about how Capitol has beentreated badly in the whole affair. He goes on tosay that many in the Bauhaus government havegrown resentful of Harding's constant pesteringfor Capitol to have a greater share in theartifacts. He has made some powerful enemiesin his short term in the Department of AncientArtifacts and Historical Investigations. Ofcourse, if any of the players are staunchBauhaus, supporters, he will use < II differenttactic to persuade them. Harding will alsoemphasize the danger the disk represents. Hefeels that, historical value aside, the disk shouldprobably be destroyed or at least be in thehands of someone who understands the dangerinherent in the disk. What if the Bauhausscientists unknowingly release some' great evilfrom the disk, much as Harding himselffoolishly opened the Second Seal.

-THE OFFERFinally Harding comes to the point of hisinterview with the players. He asks them tohelp him steal the disk from the VenusianHeritage Museum. He insists that it is the onlyway. He's tried all the official channels but hasrun up against bureaucratic walls at every turn.Now it is time for action before somethinghappens that they will all regret. He needs theplayers to do this for him, because there is noone else he can trust. They have first handexperience with the power of the Dark Soul andits evil temptations. He can not undertake themission himself because he is almost sure thathe is being watched by Bauhaus agents. Itseems that the Homebuilders do not trust him.

Harding wants the players to break into the

Museum and take the disk without killing any ofthe guards or scientists in the building, andwithout causing too much damage. Thescientists are innocents and do not deserve todie just because they are unwittinglyendangering all mankind. (Harding of coursedoes, not care in the least. but he thinks that itwill help the characters believe that he is not aservant of the Dark Soul) It is a stealth mission,not a full frontal assault. Harding has a trustedscientist who will go along with the players andtake custody of the disk. He is David Hargrove,a young but brilliant Capitol scientist, and anexpert in Venusian antiquities. Hargrove willtake the disk back to a secret Jab that he has setup, far from the prying eyes of Bauhaus security.


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rding hopes that the players will readilycept his plea for help, but he is prepared tofer a number of incentives to get the players'lp. He can offer them a substantial cash feer their services. Additionally he can offermmissions in the Capitol armed forces if thisappealing to any of the players. He offers

ientifically inclined characters a chance toamine the disk once it has been recovered.e game master should tailor Harding's offermeet the needs and desires of the player

aracters. Harding is a skilled manipulator, andows all the right things to say in order tonvince others to do his bidding.

Harding will give the players as much help as hecan, and will try to get them any equipmentthey feel they need in order to perform themission successfully, including knockout gas ifthey as for it. Harding wants the players tomove in as soon as possible, citing his fears thatthe Bauhaus scientists will make some tragicmistake if they do not act quickly, He tells themthat Hargrove will be in touch with them laterthat evening and they can get together withhim to plan the raid. Harding bids the playercharacters farewell and wishes them good luck.He tells them not to contact him unless there isan emergency of some sort.

RESEARCHING HARDING'S STORYe players are now on their own until Hargroventacts them late that night. They may want toeck out the Venusian Heritage Museum whileis still open or they may want to dig intoarding's recent past or learn more aboutargrove. Details of the museum are given in ater section since Hargrove will suggest thatey do the same thing before they break in.hecking up 01'1 Harding requires that the playersve or make some contacts in either the Capitolvernments or within the Brotherhood. Hisory checks out on all levels. Although it is a

well known fact that the Brotherhood hasexcavated items from the jungle tomb, there is1'10 information available to the players about thedisk or specifics about an y of the other artifactsrecovered from the tomb of the Second Seal.This information is all highly classified, and evendescriptions of the artifacts are impossible tocome by. It is possible to discern that most of theartifacts have been going to Bauhaus researchfacilities, and Capitol is very angry about themoney they have lost on their propertysurrounding the site ofthe Second Seal.


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The players may also cliscov,er that there is quitea bit of animosity between Harding and hiscounterparts in the Bauhaus government. Thereis even a rumor that Harding almost came toblows over a Bauhaus official who refused himaccess to some of the artifacts from the tomb ofthe Second Seal. lf the players have contactwithin Bauhaus security, they will learn that theHeimburg security forces have been keeping aclose eye on Harding and everyone he comesinto contact with. (Harding managed to eludethem when he met with the player characters) ..Although they suspect him if conspiring againstthe Bauhaus government in some way, theyhave found absolutely no proof.

David Hargrove's record can be checked either

through the Capitol security services or throughquestioning the staff and faculty of the historydepartment of the University of Heirnburg.Hargrove is 24 years old and a citizen of Capitol,although he has been doing research inassociation with the University of Heirnburg forthe last fifteen months. He is an expert in ancientlanguages and has published several articles onthe subject for scholarly journals. He has areputation for being a loner and a risk taker. He isnot afraid to standi up to even the most respectedscholar. and has made a number of enemies,particularly among the Bauhaus faculty. He ishimself independently wealthy, the only survivingheir to his family's great fortune. His parentsapparently passed away when he was a boy.

DAVID HARGROVELate that night the player characters get a callfrom David Hargrove. He is very brusque on thephone, asking the players to meet him atKonstantine's, a bar in a rather run down sectionof Heirnburg near the University. He says that hewill be there in an hour and that if the he will waitfifteen minutes for them. If t hey do not show, Orif he does not show he will contact them later toarrange an alternate meeting place. He tells themto make sure they are not followed, and to dressand act as inconspicuously as possible.

Traveling the streets of Heirnburg late atnight is often all. adventure in and of itself, buttonight players see signs of just how bad things

are getting in the city. The security Forces areout in large numbers, patrolling the streets inarmored vehicles and full riot gear. In the pastthree months, gang violence, street crime, andriots have all risen dramatically. ln some areascrime rates since last year have skyrocketed adizzying two or three hundred percent! Thesecurity forces are strained to the limit tryingto keep order in the streets. Every night seemsto bring another riot or gang war to one of thepoor areas of the city. Many of these areas arenow LInder a strict curfew.

The area around the University is buzzingwith activity, even this late into the evening.


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usic and light poor into the dark streets frome bars and dance clubs. Radical studentsnd on street corners handing out pamphletscrying the corrupt government of thebility. On opposite corners stand frenziedllowers of the light. preaching against the sinsDarkness that they see in all the passing

[ 1 1 1 wine bars and coffee shops theung intelligentsia gather to discuss the futuremankind in the wake of the breaking of the

cond Seal. and whether or not the Bauhausvernment can maintain its popular mandate.e homeless and destitute perch 011 stops andstore fronts begging for spare change to save

em from the Dark Soul. The players arecosted by all of these people and more, fromreetwalkers to thugs offering to sell themolen merchandise.Konstantine's is typical of these University

ea hangouts, and is filled with students and

ave a private meeting room in the back of thear. He leads them back there and then begins toiscuss plans with the player characters. First heants to hear what they think of the mission andow they feel the mission should be carried out.e follows their lead in all aspects of planninge mission. although he adheres to Harding'san on killing any of the guards or museum staff.f none of the players make the suggestion, heffers that it might be a good idea to check tileuseum out tomorrow during visiting hours.argrove never gives the player characters hisddress or any way to contact him. He says thator security reasons he will always get in touchith them, If the players are very insistent oneing able to contact him, he gives them theumber for a message service.

faculty alike. The loud music makes it almostimpossible to be heard, let alone listen in onconversations at other tables. The playersmanage to find themselves a table and sit downto wait for Konstanrine's, Scanning the crowdclosely, the player characters see no signs of anyundercover security agents or of anyonefollowing them. Security has better things to dothan spy on hot head students and bumblingfaculty radicals. About five minutes after theappointed meeting time, Hargrove walks in. ashort, somewhat pudgy young man with glassesand a long black overcoat. He spots thecharacters and heads for their table.

Hargrove is a soft-spoken young man, butthere is fire in his eyes. He is not at all nervousaround the players, ami acts calm and profes-sional at all times. He greets them with thepoliteness allows and then suggests that they getdown to business. He has arranged for them to

Harding tells the players the little he knowsabout thedisk. It is said to be a solid piece ofblack stone, pierced through the middle with alarge sapphire. The stone is said to be of thesame substance as the tomb in which it wasfound and probably weighs around fivekilograms. Hargrove has no idea as to what thedisk represents 01 " what kind of threat it mightrepresent, but he has faith in Harding'sjudgment that the disk is thing of evil and needsto be taken from the hands of incompetentBauhaus scientists. He has little respect for TheHomebuilders, and if there are any Bauhauscitizens among the player characters he will berather cold 1[0 them. preferring to talk to othermembers of the party.


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- -

THE TRUTH ABOUT DAVID, HAR'GROVEThe fact is that David Hargrove is not at allwhat he seems to be. In fact, the players arenot even dealing with the real David Hargrove.Before them sits an agent of Harding's, a longtime heretic and professional killer namedGerard fletcher. He has killed the realHargrove and assumed his identity. The twowere of similar builds, and Hargrove was sucha loner that making him disappear for a fewweeks without anyone noticing was easy.

Fletcher is setting the players up to take a fallfor stealing the disk. The only weak point inHargrove's facade is that he does not knowmuch about Venusian history or archeology,and will try to steer any conversations awayfrom these subjects. He has read all of thearticles Hargrove wrote, and knows enough topass as a scholar in casual conversation, but adose scrutiny will reveal the shallowness ofhis knowledge.

THE VENUSIAN HERITAGE MUSEUMTillemuseum is in the heart ofHeimburg, closeby the halls of government and many of theCorporate offices. The museum itself is fivestories high and covers an entire city blockwhile below ground the museum has threelevels of basements. The museum is open fromearly morning until early evening, keeping the

same hours as most businesses in Heimburg.The first three floors of the museum are givenover to exhibits about Venusian history. Mostof the exhibits feature mannequins posed illscenes, from important times in Bauhaushistory on Venus. The mannequins are oftenshown using real artifacts from Bauhaus'


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story. The more valuable items such astique weapons and jewelry are kept in dearastic cases with alarms attached to them.ere are also sections displaying the stuffed

mounted carcasses of many of the moreciting fauna to be found on the planet.ere is also a large lecture hall, a cafeteriaa gift shop.The top two floors of the museum are

voted to administrative offices and theuseum's library, which takes up half of theilding's fifth floor. The library contains theanet's most extensive records of Venusianstory, perhaps only second to the recordspt by the Brotherhood. The basements are ofime interest to the players. Here is wheretive research projects are carried out andhere the museum stores items not currently

display. The lowest basement is used solelyr storage, while the middle basement hasore offices and a supplemental library andsearch facility. It is in the first basement thate museum staff carries out most of theportant research. and it is here that they areeping the disk.

ROOM DESCRIPTIONSaboratory One: This room contains all theuipment and chemicals necessary to carry outemical analyses. Beakers, burners, and almostcane seeming glass contraptions crowd thebles, and storage lockers filled with chemicalse the walls. It also contains the taxonomyuipment, used for creating the exhibits of

animals for the museum. Almost everyght there is at least one researcher working

0 1 1 1 one project or another.ECREATION ROOM: This is where tileientists and lab workers come to relax andke breaks for meals. There is a couch, a tableith chairs, and a small kitchen area. When tileayers choose to break into the museum therea maintenance worker sleeping on the couch.ABORATORY TWO: Museum scientists useis lab for the detailed analysis of artifacts andis where they are stu.dying tine disk duringsiness hours, There are microscopes, cameras,d magnifying lenses of different sorts. Booksout ancient languages, geology, and art historye stacked around the room, open to variousages. The disk itself is not here during the nightthe players come then, although there are

ictures of it all over the room.ONE: Two researchers, Helmut Frostd Stefl Beirbaum, share this office. During the

ay they can both be found either here or in Lalbwo. If the player characters break in at nighttefi Beirbaurn is working late in her office,

trying to decipher the runes on the disk fromphotographs. There is a small handgun inFrost's desk, and if there is any sign of trouble.Stef will get the gun and investigate.OFFICE TWO: This office is shared by threelab assistants. none of whom are present in theevening. There are desks,


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in the conference room can see into the halland vice versa.STORAGE ROOM: This room is locked at alltimes, but the door can easily be broken or thelock picked. Inside are rows and rows ofshelves with cardboard boxes on them. Eachbox is labeled with a date and an alphanumericcode. Boxes date back well over twenty years.These are items that are either being used incurrent research or have yet to be properlycataloged for the museum. There are all sortsof things here, from fecal samples, to stuffedmonkeys. There are a fair number of clay andstone tablets scattered throughout the roomin various boxes. but no stone disks. II:couldtake hours to go through all the boxes.FI L.E ROOM: This room contains rows androws of filing cabinets in which are storedmuseum newsletters, memos, invoices, catalogdescription, scholarly articles, newspaper dip-pings, and various other materials of littleinterest to the players, There are no notes or fileson the material from the tomb of the SecondSeal. The scientists are too busy studying thestuff to bother filing anything yet.CHAIRMAN'S OFFICE: This large officebelongs to Prof. Josef Protgoff head of themuseum's research department. Unlike theother offices, this one is lavishly furnished andimmaculate. Fine woodl bookshelves with glassdoors line one wall, while an ornately carveddesk and elegant leather chair dominate theroom. Paintings hang On the walls, including a!:WO meter by two meter landscape picturing. the Venusian jungle at dawn. Behind thispainting is a vault in which the disk and twoother artifacts are kept. The vault is iii heavy

steel door with a combination lock. Everyoneon the Museum staff knows that the vault isbehind the painting and that the disk and otherartifacts are kept in the vault. Only Prof.Protgoff knows the combination to the vault(it's. his wife's birthday), so it may be necessaryto try and blow the door off. It may be easier tosimply come through the concrete wall thatseparates the vault from the offices next door.The walls have not been reinforced in any way,so this can be done without too much problem.Inside the vault are seven steel boxescontaining artifacts from various sites aroundVenus. Three of them are from the tomb of theSecond Seal, and the contents of each box isclearly marked on the lids. The boxes havesimple locks that are easily picked or broken.The artifacts from other sites are all preciousjewelry from long ago, and would be worthquite a bit if the players could find the rightbuyer. From the tomb of the Second Seal thereis a small box containing a green glass spheremeasuring 5 em in diameter, with no markingsor obvious function. There is also a day tabletmeasuring 15 by 5 ern, covered with ancientrunes of the same sort found on the disk.The disk itself is quite large, 60 cm in diameterand five em thick. II: is a single piece of blackstone, polished smooth and bereft of anycracks, scratches or blemishes. Both sides of thedisk are covered with runes that formconcentric circles over the entire surface downto the center of the stone disk A large sapphirepierces the center of the disk, fitting snugly intothe hole in the center of the disk. It isimpossible to remove the sapphire or pry itloose without somehow destroying the stonearound it. Knives, bullets, and hammers have noeffect on the stone, although a high explosiveor diamond bit drill will work. The disk is quiteheavy, weighing a little over 30 kilograms.

MUSEUM SECURITYThe Museum has been around for a long time,and does not have the latest in security systems.The museum relies mainly on its own securitypersonnel to patrol the building and captureintruders, There is an alarm system, but it isrelatively simple. If any windows or doors areforced open a loud bell sounds and a call goesout to the local security forces. The callthe policeis over the museum's normal telephone lines, soif they are cut the security station will be nonethe wiser. Manyof the more valuable exhibits areconnected to the same alarm system. Anyonewith some expertise has a chance at circumven-ting the alarm system by making an Electronicsskill roll. There are no security cameras in thebuilding. as it was decided they were much tooexpensive to be worth while.

During the day there are fifteen guards on duty,only five of whom are armed. The other ten arethere to keep an eye on museum guests andmake sure they do not disturb the exhibits.After hours the second shift comes on duty;seven armed guards who patrol the museum allnight long. Each carries a flashlight. iii nightstick,handcuffs and HG-25 Equalizer handguns (seeBauhaus sourcebook page 73). They also carryradios which they use to communicate witheach other, but which could be used to alertsecurity if necessary. They do not wear armor,and none of them have ever had cause to firetheir weapons while all duty, It has been yearssince there was an attempted break in, and eventhat was just a group of young gang memberswho were too drunk to know any better.


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THE GUARDTOWERght off the first 'floor lobby is the Securityfice. and there is always at least one guardre. Often several guards will congregate ine area to drink coffee and play guards insteaddoing their rounds. The office has a couple of

a table with five chairs, some filingbinets and a radio. The Security office alsouses the master control panel for the alarmstem. It is in a locked metal cabinet on theall, but all of the guards have keys to open it.nce open, it is a simple matter to shut thetire alarm system down. However" if thearm has already been activated and Bauhauscurity has been alerted one of the securityards must call and give the all clear codeithin five minutes. If Security does not receivee call, they will dispatch officers to theuseum. There is also police radio here thatn be used to contact Bauhaus Security in casee phone lines or power is cut.

THE BURGL,ARYreaking in to the museum should not proveo difficult for tine players. The biggestoblem they face is circumventing the' alarmstem. and once this is accomplished theyould have no problem subduing the securityards. The only other snag is trying to avoidlling or seriously hurting any of the museumaff. The guards will put up a fight unless theye obviously out-gunned or outnumbered. lndition to the security and research person-l there are ten members of the janitorialaff cleaning the' building. They will refuse toght unless threatened with no alternative butath. Some of the scientists may try to stope players even at risk to their own life if theyderstand that the players, are trying to steale disk.Hargrove is very professional during tiletire break-in. following the player characters'ad, and obeying their instructions. He provesmself to be amazingly proficient with a gun,e has no Qualms about threatening the Guardsto showing them where the disk is, and he isnstantly urging the players to hurry. Theme master can use Hargrove to prod theayers in the right direction if things start to godly for them, or if they are in danger ofaking some sort of catastrophic error.Hargrove has stashed a get away vehicle of

s own just a few blocks from the museum.e will try and take custody of the disk onceey are out of the museum and take it back tois base by himself. If the players insist oncompanying him back to the hideout, hekes them to an alternate location: anandoned warehouse in one of the city'sdustrial parks. Here he has set up a small

research facility expressly fOI" the purpose offooling the players. Should the players decideto try and secretly follow Hargrove, he doeshis best to lose them, and they will have to bevery good to keep on his trail, Eventually hewill lose them, even if he has to go into tilecity's sewers.

If Harding promised the player charactersany money, Hargrove pays them before the gotheir separate ways. Mission accomplished, theplayers can feel good about what they've donefor humanity. Tile player characters are free todo as they please once Hargrove (reallyFletcher) has the disk. He suggests to them thatthey might want to go out somewhere publicand establish an alibi for themselves, or at leastcelebrate a little. He even offers to meet theplayers for drinks in a few hours back atKonstantine's. Secretly he wants to arrange atime when he knows the players will be awayfrom their homes. As to why this is, read on inChapter Two ...


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The players think their part in things isall done, but in fact their tro ubles arejust beginning. Harding and Fletcherhave set the players Lip to take the fall for whathappened at the museum. Unknown to theplayer characters there was another team at themuseum that night. hidden in a building acrossthe street. They photographed the players

entering the build in g a nd leaving w ith the disk.If the players planned to wear masks during thebreak-in, the spies will have been followingthem for some time and will have pictures ofthem putting on the masks ifat all possible. Thepictures atone are enough to convict the playersof breaking and entering and whatever othercrimes they may have committed subsequently.


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t there is more to it than that. After theayer characters left the building. Hargrove'sm went into the Museum and brutallyurdered all present. The murders were carriedt in a very sadistic. almost ritual fashion, withman blood and entrails strewn all about theuseum's labs and exhibits. They will also stealany of the more va luable items from the exhibits. No one managedescape the slaughter. Of course if the playersre clumsy or foolish and the police are alreadyrted and on their way, Fletcher's men will notter the building. They have been monitoringcurity's communications and will know if anyw enforcement personnel is on the way. Shoulds be the case they will instead quickly throw

incendiary devices into the museum andrt huge chemical fire in the building. This willost likely kill anyone inside before the policed fire department can rescue them. Eithery, they have just set the players up to take a

ll for mass murder.The primary goal of all this chicanery is to

aw attention away from the theft of theskand concentrate on the rnass murder andstruction of the museum. Harding wantede players to steal the disk so he would have

people to pin the crime on. Thisy he won't draw attention to anyone in hisn organization. Harding is also worriedout the players because they are the onlyher people he knows who have had directntact with the Dark Tempter. He fears thatey may begin to suspect him of corruptiond warn the Brotherhood about him. Since heanted to kill the players anyway, setting them

up gives him the perfect opportunity to killtwo birds with one stone. The players will bearrested or killed, drawing attention away fromthe disk, while all along they will think thatthey are working for Harding and humanity'sbest interests.

Harding had Fletcher hire three veterancriminals to help set the players up and to actas a backup in case the players proved unable tocomplete the job themselves. They are: GunnerTyson, Stuart Carlsen,and Maurice "The Nail"ln ge rso l. A ll three arelifelong criminals withlong records for theft,extortion, and evenmurder who Fletcherfound for Harding. Hehas paid them well fortheir services. enoughto make each of themrich for the rest oftheir lives. (The moneycame from accountscontrolled by Hereticservants of the DarkTernpter.) However,these are petty, greedymen, and they smellthe opportunity tomakeeven more money byblackmailing the playercharacters instead ofturning al l the photosthey took over to thepolice, _-

THE POST GRAND THEFT BLUESe players will hear on the news or read in thext day's paper about the grisly murders at theenusian Heritage Museum. no doubt to theirofound shock and disturbance. They knowey didn't do it, but they have no idea whoight be responsible. Their first inclination will

to contact either Harding or Hargrove. Itay be only now that they realize Hargrove hasver given them any way of contacting himrectly. They can call Harding at his office, but:ey will find that he is out of the city onsiness for the day, but the secretary would beppy to take a message. This should leave the

a little worried, but not too worried,ter all, n o p olic e have come knocking at theirors yet.The news reports will simply state that there

ere over fifteen people murdered at theenusian Heritage Museum without any detailsto the grisly nature of the deaths. (Or that

the museum was burned down by arsonists). Ifthe players have contacts with the BauhausSecurity forces or bribe an officer involved theycan find out more details about the crime.including the fact that the murders took placeright around the same time that the playerswere robbing the museum. They will alsodiscover that the murders stole many of themore valuable items 011 exhibit in th e museum,but there is no mention of the disk or any of theother artifacts from the tomb of tile SecondSeal. The investigators do not seem to evenknow that the items were there. (Fletcher'steam stole most of the relevant recordsanddestroyed the laboratory).

The players may be inclined to make a runfor it, but the game master should try anddissuade them from doing this. The easiest wayis to have Fletcher (as Hargrove) contact one ofthe players and ask for a meeting .. He will act


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very alarmed at what has happened and wantsto question. the players about the murders, Heseems outraged and incensed. Fletcher wantsthe players to stay in the city so they will bearound to take the fall for the murders.Alternatively, Harding can contact the players,

also asking for a meeting. Neither actually plansto meet the characters since they hope theplayers will have been arrested already by thetime the meeting comes around. In any case,they ask for a few days to look into thingsbefore they meet with the player characters.

THE FRAME UPTyson, Carlsen, and The Nail are not donesetting the players up. They have beenwatching the player character's quarters,waiting for a chance to break in while theplayers are out. They will choose the homesthat are easiest to get into, and sneak in andplant false evidence that the player characterwas involved in the museum murders. They willfind a place in the character's home that is outof the way and where the character is unlikelyto look in the near future: the back of a doset,under a bed or sofa, and so on.

They have several items they will spread outamong the various player characters' homes.There are three knives covered with blood thatwere taken from exhibits in the museum, thevery blades the three men used to evisceratethe museum staff. There is also a packet ofphotographs they took while committing themurders, photos that show the victims rightafter they were killed and which could onlyhave been taken by the killers. They will alsostash some of the less valuable items they stolefrom the museum If they were forced tofirebomb the museum they will plant smallamounts of incendiary material and the partsfor making bombs. None of the plantedevidence has any fingerprints on them or anyway to trace them back to Tyson and company.

Having planted the evidence, theconspirators are ready to make their nextmove. Fletcher hired them to plant theevidence, take the photos and then turn it allover to Bauhaus Security. The idea was thatSecurity would raid the players' homes whilethey were sleeping and either arrest them or

(even better) kill them for resisnng arrest.Fletcher has already paid off the Security SWATteam leader in charge of the area in which theplayer characters are staying. He will order hismen to go in shooting.

Tyson, Carlsen, and The Nail have a differentplan altogether. They will do everything theywere told, but they wi II also make sure that theplayers are not at home when Security raidstheir homes. They see the potential to makeeven more money from this operation byblackmailing the player characters. Each of theplayers will receive a call asking them to cometo The Red Duke, an upscale bar in oneHeirnburg's wealthier districts, in exactly forty-five minutes. There the caller says that theplayers will meet someone with informationabout the museum murders. If the players seemreluctant to go, they will be asked to go to theirfront door .and look at what is taped there. 011the door they find an envelope showing thecharacters breaking into the museum.

As soon as they have confirmation that theplayer characters have left their homes they willphone both Bauhaus. Security and the mediaand tell them where they can find the museummurderers. Security has been warned that thecall is coming and they are ready to move at amoment's notice. The media has also beenmade ready for the event, and they will send amobile camera unit to one of the playercharacter's homes to capture the raid for a livemedia broadcast. the Ministry of Truth feelsthat it will be good publicity to show the swifthand of Bauhaus justice descending on theperpetrators of the heinous museum murders.

THE RED DUKEThe Red Duke is a large, well established barwith a clientele comprised chiefly of youngcorporate executives. The players may seemsomewhat out of place. especially if they aretoting around large firearms. The area of townthe Red Duke inhabits shows markeddifferences from Konstantine's and theUniversity area. Here, closer to the centers ofBauhaus wealth and government, the Securitypresence is less obvious, but still strong.Transients and street people are kept fromthese streets, and everyone moves about their

business quickly and quietly. Bars andrestaurants like the Red Duke are found onmost city blocks; distinguished, tastefullydecorated gathering places with quiet musicand expensive drinks.

At this hour the Red Duke is still about halffull, but the players have no trouble finding anout of the way table if they wish to do so. Noone gives them any sign of recognition,although a few might stare at them if tile playercharacters seem out of place. A waiter willapproach the players once they have sat down


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d offer to take their order. The players havely a few minutes to wait before somethingteresting happens. Around the bar are variousdeo screens tuned into local media broadcasts.fter a few minutes the bartender turns downe ambient music and turns of the volume one broadcast system as a special live reportmes on. (He has been paid by Tyson to doactly that).Much to the player characters' surprise they

e one of their own home being raided byauhaus security while a reporter gives runningmmentary. The reporter says that they areve on the scene as a special Security Teamoves in on one of the criminals behind theass murder at the Venusian Heritage Museumfew nights ago. The players watch as a team

f ten men in full combat armor break down theoor and go in shooting. After five minutes ofatching the Security Commander comes outnd says that the house was empty but thatey have found! evidence that the murdereras here recently. As he says this he holds upne of the bloody knives the blackmailerslanted in the player character's home.

Even as the players wonder what to do next

a well dressed teenage girl walks in the frontdoor of the bar and looks around. She spots theplayer characters and heads straight for them.She hands them an envelope and then turns toleave, ignoring any questions they may have. Ifthe players want to stop her they have to do soimmediately or she is out the door and 011 herscooter. Remember, they are in a crowded,respectable bar in a high security area ofHeimburg. If the characters try and detain thegirl she will raise a shout and demand that theyunhand her. Several inebriated patrons of theRed Duke will immediately rise to the younglady's defense. lf the players do manage tocorner the girl outside she will relent underthreats of violence or offers of cash and tell theplayers that a tall pale man in an overcoat paidher to deliver the envelope to the characters.She says he approached her just up the streetand seemed like a decent sort of guy and hesaid that she reminded him of his daughter. Heseems to be long gone now.

Inside the envelope is a letter and tenphotographs showing the players breaking intoand then leaving the Venusian HeritageMuseum. Theletter is typed reads as follows:

DEAR (THE OHARAOTERS .AMES)I am 80 sorry ~o have ~o deal wl~h IOU 18 ~. waTl

but I can see no alteraatlYe. I am but a p oor .~ ...whose dauShter 1. 1~ need o f an ,zpeDal" .,.~tioa. Ineed lI10Dey desperate ly as you CU see, ad 1t a.... ..if fate has shown me the way out of JIq probl.... Ihappened to be walkins by the Venusian Heritage "s ...the other night when I notioed somethin, . t r a D e . , e 1 D con. I had my oamera with me so I took a tew piotu.res,and well you oan see the result. I waited around for awhile, and then saw some more men come tato the ma ua.They came O\l,t covered wUh blood and lookiq rathernasty. Charlse the letter of the muS.WI wa. bo.b.4 1guess that meAllS that you probably 414 Dot kill all tl108'people, but jucl&in& 1'rollthe newuca.1; lOU just s _ . 1doubt if Security would believe th&1;. 17111e88 of oO\U'a.the,y saw my pictUres. I thousht to JIIls.li', .11108youstole all those valuable thin&s, you DUst haTe 80a. moDelnow, &ndU would only be right that you J&1 for ,yoursins by helpin, my poor dau&hter 0\1,1;er j am.

You see where this is goLDS I hope. I w111 11 you 'thenegatiTes of these photographs for 500,000 orown. wh1~hwill just barely cover JIll daughter' 8 Helical .%eyeI'll give you. day to ge t the mone7 to,ether, aD4 pl ... ,make it A1.ble in small, unmarked bill ~t tk. ao ..in a black l ea th er b riefc as e (the kinA they bay. atJaeger's might be nice). Once you haYe the m on ey t oa eth erI will sive IOU further inatruct10n8 .. to where to .8~tand exohange money for piotures. Walt at the JUb110 phonein the back of the Ro wl in S Ko nk ey Oafeteria at a14n~ttomorrow and I will oall you. You p ro ba bl y ' bo ul 4D' t &0home tonight. otherwiSe I would just oall you there.I look forward to d0111& buaine88 with ,OU, & 1 1 4 . I'.sorry thinss had to be thls way.

Yours,T. B.


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ON THE RUN

Well, the players are !'lOW in quite a fix, Thepolice are looking for them, and the only way toprove they did not commit the murders is to dealwith the blackmailer. Eventhen they still face thepossible charges from breaking into the museumin the first place. There is a lot for them to thinkabout in the letter, and they mayor may not buyinto the false story about the sick daughter.Tyson and his gang are trying to throw the playercharacters off from what is really happening. Theplayers may take any number of actions from thispoint, so here are answers to some of thepotential questions they might have:THE BARTENDER: If they ask him, he willadmit that a tall pale guy in an overcoat paidhim to monitor the news broadcasts and tumup the volume if the players were in the bar.THE SICK DAUGHTER: The players maywish to try and track down their blackmailer bylooking for a sick girl in need of aid, Of course,in a city the size of Heirnburg there are severalthousand young women who fit thedescription. They may even get the bright ideaof trying to CrOSSreference sick girls withfathers who are photographers. This requiresaccess to hospital records and would takeseveral weeks to sort out, only to find thatthere are 110 possible matches.JAEGER'S: The department store mentionedin the letter is one of the biggest chains in thecity, with stores across Venus and otherplanets. The do carry a range of fine leatherbrief cases, starting at 750 crowns and going upto several thousand.

r/

TH,E HOWLING MONKEY CAFETERIA:The Howling Monkey is a popular all night hangout for middle class youths, with the averageage of the clientele being around eighteen. Itserves cheap food and sometimes hosts livemusic. If the players go there and ask about atall pale man in an overcoat they will get littlebut shrugs and quizzical looks from the youngstaff and patrons of the restaurant.THE NEWSCAST: If the player charactershave media contacts or wish to find out moreabout the reporter who covered the raid 011 theirhome, they will. have to be careful. Tomorrowmorning their faces will be on the cover of verypaper in the city.Through a contact in the mediaor by bribery they learn that the news crew wasacting on an anonymous tip, presumably fromthe same source that tipped off Security,5E,CUR'ITY: Trying to get any information outof Security is even more dangerous than goingto the media. Every officer on the force will belooking for the player characters. If they havesome contact in Security they may learn thatthe Security team was acting 011 an anonymoustip and that they had orders to go in shooting.

Harding and Hargrove: The players are likelydesperate at this point to talk to Harding andHargrove, both of whom remain unavailable. Itseems that Harding's business out of the city istaking longer than expected, but his secretaryotTers to give him a message. No, they cannotcall him in the field, he's on importantCorporate Business and is not to be disturbedunder any circumstances.


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for Hargrove. the players have even less luckre. The hide out he may have shown theyers earlier is now abandoned and there issign of him anywhere. The players may try tok him up in the University directory orugh some other means. They easily

cover David Hargrove's address. but if theyt his flat, they find no sign of him. In fact itks as if no one has been there in weeks: theil is piling up, the room t s shabby and dirty,

his neighbors have not seen any sign of himquite a while.hile the players make preparations forling with the blackmailer Bauhaus Security

will be searching for them everywhere. Theairports, rail, and bus stations are all beingwatched as are the main roads out of the city.There are checkpoints that everyone enteringand leaving the city has to go through. Thesewere set Up' re ce ntly in response to the recentriots and Security is taking advantage of themto help find the player characters. Clearingtheir name is probably going W be easier thangetting out of town. If they do make anyserious attempts to leave, the game mastershould have Harding contact them and offer tosort everything out.

AT THE H'OWLING MONKEYen this late in the evening young men andmen enjoying themselves and listening to thering music of a local band crowd the Howlingnkey Cafeteria. The Large gathering place isly lit and filled with stuffed Looter Monkeysced in life-like poses on the tables, walls andnging from fake vines on the cei l ing. Towards

rear of thebuilding are the rest rooms and ablic phone. When the players arrive, a youngman is talking on it,The players will have tot her off the phone if they want to beailable to answer the black mailer's call.The call comes just a few minutes late . On

the other end of the line they hear a deepmuffled voice. (If the players have some way oftracing the call. it is coming from another publicphone on the other side of the city). The voicetells the player characters to take he money andgo to a park in one of the city's poorerneighborhoods. In the part the player will finea recreation building with a swimming pool init. The door will be unlocked. The players are togo in and wait in the pool for the blackmailer.He says if they are not there in thirty minutesthe deal is off and he gives the police the set ofpictures that incriminate the player characters.

-

MEETIN,G TYSONless the players have immediate access to airvel. it will take them close to half an hourt to get to the meeting place. It is in a runwn section of Heirnburg, and Security haseady placed a curfew over the area becausea large civil disturbance earlier that evening.nsequently, the characters will have to be extrareful to avoid the patrols. The park in whichy are to meet the blackmailer. If they are lateson and company will have moved on. leavingnote for the characters. The note directs theyers to go back to the Howling Monkeyorrow night and await for another call.The park itself is somewhat overgrown withshes and trees. Hidden away is themmunity Aquatic Recreation Center, a run-wn building with a tepid 30 meter pool thats not been cleaned in weeks. Surrounding

pool is a second floor balcony with seats,esumably in the event an athletic contestre to be held here. The door is unlocked and

pool light is on. The bulbs have beenoved from all of the other lights in the

om. As they enter, the players hear a voicem the upper balcony directing them (Qwadet into the center of the shallow end of theol. The voice goes on to say that, they should

make sure not to try anything, because he hasleft some copies of the pictures with a friend asa kind of insurance. He tells the playercharacters that after they get in the pool, theyshould open the case and show him the money.

Tyson's plan is as follows: If he sees that theplayers have brought the money. he will godown and make the exchange of photographsfor cash. Meanwhile, Carlsen and The Nail areoutside moving into position to ambush theplayers as they leave the building. If thecharacters try to cheat Tyson orattack him, hewill flee the building and have Nail throw a firebomb in the building to flush the players outinto the ambush. It is up to the players as tohow they want to play things out, Any way theychoose they end up in a fight.

The blackmailers are experienced men andcapable fighters. They will not take unnecessaryrisks. and will do their best to use their tacticaladvantage to the fullest extent. They will probablyattack from a . distance, using high-power riflesand telescopic sights. Their first priority is toensure that Tyson gets out of the building aliveand with the money. Once this is accomplished.they will call the police if they do not think theycan take the player characters on their own.


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QUESTIO'NS AND ANSWERSThe players should try hard to capture one ofthe blackmailers alive. This is the easiest way tofind alit what is really going all here. Althoughall three criminals will fight hard, they will giveup rather than die, and will answer questionsunder threat of death or torture. Of course,they will try to get away with telling the playercharacters lies at first. At first they will claim tobe working on their own. They say that theyjust happened to be in the neighborhood andtook advantage of the situation the playerspresented to them. Under more pressure theyreveal that they are the ones who planted theevidence in the player characters' quarters.Even more pressure reveals that they wereactually working for Hargrove, and if theplayers still want more and know how to ask,they reveal that Hargrove is really a criminalnamed Fletcher. They will offer all of theevidence they have in their homes ill return fortheir freedom. They say that they have enoughto clear the player characters of any chargespending against them. They have no knowledgeof Harding's involvement,

Even though they have managed to eludecapture so far, the characters will still probablywant to try and clear their name. The easiestway to do this is with the photographs Tysonand his pals took as they broke into themuseum. Questioning the blackmailers willreveal the location of their respective homesand the fact that most of the loot from themuseum is still there. The pictures and neg-atives of the murders are hidden in Tyson'shome. It won't take much for the players torealize that all they need to do to dear theirname is bring this information to the policeand pill the whole crime on Tyson, Carlsen,and The Nail. After all, they all have longcriminal records, and the players are respectedadventurers. (Well.,maybe not respected).

Searching Tyson's home is the most usefulthing the players can do, for here they find notonly the pictures and some of the stolenmuseum property, but tape recordings ofTyson's meetings with Fletcher in which theyplan setting the players up. Harding is notmentioned on any of the tapes, and it appearsthat the whole thing was Fletcher's plan.Listening to the tapes gives the players all theinformation about the setup, including bribingthe police to shoot first and ask questions later.Allof the meetings seem to have taken place atKonstantine's, where Fletcher seems to havebeen a regular. Several times Ort the tapes theplayers hear Fletcher refer to other patrons andthe bar staff by name as if he were familiar with

them. The tapes do mention that the playerswill be breaking into the museum, so thecharacters might want to edit them beforeturning them over to. Security.

Stuart Carlsen's home has less of interest init. He is in possession of several antiqueweapons and some jewelry stolen from themuseum. Additionally there is his ownpersonal stash of some 45,000 crowns. TheNail's home is more interesting and disturbing.He lives in a basement apartment underneathone of the city's older tenements. The wholeplace stinks of death. All across one wall,lngersol has nailed a series of twenty pairs ofears to the wall with iron spikes. Inside a smallbedroom there is a kind of shrine set up to thedesiccated! corpse of a middle aged woman.She has been dressed in some of the fineclothes and jewels stolen from the museum.The woman is propped up with metal wires,and holds ill her hand a whip made fromtanned and cured human flesh. Placed beforethe corpse are scores of candles and pictures ofthe player characters. This disturbing tableauin and of itself is enough to remove suspicionfrom the player characters. especially sincesome of the ears appear to have been takenfrom victims at the museum.


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I

l ,

, " , ,. ., I

I fI

THE BLACKMAILERSGUNNER TYSONTyson is a native of Heimburg, born into thecity's criminal element. His father and motheroperated a loan sharking business, and whenhe grew up he took over from them. ButGunner had dreams ofa bettee life, dreams thatcould only be fulfilled through high-risk. highprofit crimes like armed robbery and contractkilling. He always had a knack for planning andexecuting crimes, and if he has a fault it's thathe sometimes over plans, becoming mired inthe details. Ten years ago that's exactly whathappened to him" resulting in his incarcerationuntil six months ago. It was in prison that hecame into contact with Carlsen, lngersol, andultimately Fletcher's agents.

Tyson is a tall thin man, some would even saycadaverous. He is now in his late forties with

long stringy white hair that reaches down to hisshoulders. He typically tucks this up under a hatand wears a larger black overcoat that comesdown to his ankles. In conversation. Tyson isalways quiet and reasoning, never seeming tolose his temper. Behind this facade is a manwho will accept no disrespect from his men. Heis at heart a killer, especially after his years inthe harsh Bauhaus prisons, and will use knife orgun at the drop o f a hat.STUART CARLSENStuart Carlsen originally hails from Luna wherehe worked as a runner for one of the city'slarger crime organizations. When he kept the15,000 crowns he was supposed to deliver topayoff the local constabulary with. He used themoney to catch the next space ship off Luna.and went on to Mars. Ever since he has jumped


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from planet to planet supporting himself withpetty theft, con games, and the occasionalmurder. Finally his lifestyle caught up to him inHeimburg, when a can he was pulling on agullible member of the Bauhaus nobility back-fired on him. Four years later he's just gettingout of jail. BLlt it was while he was in jail that hemet Gunner Tyson and his strange friendMaurice Ingersol , When al l three left jail withina month of e ac h o the r; it seemed only naturalthat they go into business together.

Carlsen is a large bear of a man, barrel chestedwith a fiery red beard and a flowing mane of hair.He is an enormously likable man, always tellingjokes and patting people on the back. Peoplehave a way of opening up to him and tellingthem very personal things. This al l works toget-her to make him an excellent confidence man.But Carlsen is no stranger to violence, and in facthas a strong sociopathic side to him. Hurting andkilling come easily to him, and he has no com-punctions about harming others for his owngood. He gets on well with his new partners, butat the same time he does not feel duty bound tothem in anyway.lfworse comes to worse, he willreadily betray them to save himself.MAURICE "THE NAIL" INGERSOLMaurice is a short, tank of a man, seemingly aswide as he is tall. He has a fondness for ironspikes, which is how he earned his nickname

"The Nan". A J : , a youth The Nail was little morethan a . bully, mugging people on the streets andeventually attracting a group of followers an dhangers on that became a kind of gang. 500111 hisoperation was big enough to draw the attentionof other gang leaders who challenged hisauthority. Invariably these individuals foundthemselves nailed to a wall with 20 cm iron spikesand then eviscerated. Eventually, The Nail becameso obsessed with these "crucifixions" that hemoved from gang violence to serial murder,killing fifteen innocent people in Volksburgbefore he left for Heimburg eleven years ago.

In Heimburg TIle Nail again took up a life ofcrime, principally stealing cars and breakinginto homes, and occasionally performing one ofhis ritual murders. He was finally caught in theact, but luckily for him it was only in the act ofbreaking and entering. He was sent to prisonwhere he met Gun ne r T yso n. T yso n immediatelysaw potential in the stout man and set aboutwinning him over. Now the two are almostinseparable. The Nail is basically a quiet man,with close cropped hair and glasses. He spendsmuch of his day exercising and developing hismuscles. He has incredible upper body strength:enough to drive a iron spike through someone.He will not betray Tyson unless under thegreatest duress, but he has no problem givingFletcher's name over to the player characters.


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CAUGHT!Suppose the players are not very clever andthey get caught. This is a very real possibility,and the players could face the death penaltyunless they find some way to clear their name.It was Harding's plan that the players would bekilled while the police were trying to arrestthem, and that is why he had the police paidoff to do just that. However, the blackmailer'stook it upon themselves to help the charactersescape that trap, and so if the players are latercaught by Security, itwill probably not be menwhom Harding has paid. Thus, the playerscould well end up in jail.

Once in jail, the players may start giving upnames like Hargrove and. even worse,Harding. This is of course the last thingHarding wants, Although there is no evidenceto link Harding to the crime, he would rathernot endure a detailed investigation byBauhaus Security or, even worse, The SecondDirectorate. With these goals in mind, Hardingwill do his best to make sure the charactersare silenced. tf they want to meet with him hewill come, and give assurances that he is doinghis best for them. He says that Hargrove musthave been behind it all, and blames himselfforbeing C I fool and trusting him. He denies any

knowledge that Hargrove is actually Fletcherand says that he only met the m.an in personfor the first time a few weeks before therobbery, although they had correspondedbefore that, Needless to say, Harding will doand say anything in order to ensure thecharacters' silence about his involvement.

Meanwhile, Harding will also do anything hecan to have the characters' in prison silencedpermanently. Using his own Security contactsan d Fletcher's underworld ties, he will have acontract put out on the player characters' lives.There will be a series of murder attempts whilethey are in jail, some by fellow prisoners, someby guards. Things will be pretty bleak for thecharacters unless they can figure out a way toescape, something that could become a wholeother adventure in itself.If there is an investigation, Harding will

come alit of it relatively unscathed. There is noproof linking him to the crimes unless Fletcheris caught and made to confess, and sinceSecurity already has their suspects in custody(the characters) they will not be looking toohard. The players' trial will be the definition ofswift Bauhaus justice, and nothing they say toimplicate Harding will stick to him.


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N'ow it is time ~or the player charact~rsto get even with those who have (nedto besmirch their names and, evenworse, have them killed. HargroveJFletcher is theobvious enemy now, but the question remains;how to find him? But there are other problemslurking out there for the player characters,threats they are not even aware of yet. Since theplayersavoidecl the fate he had planned forthem, Harding is doing all he can to kill them off.To this end he has enlisted the aid of the DarkLegion to directly intervene. This was somethinghe had been loathe to do before, not wanting torisk drawing the attention of the Brotherhood.Now however, he feels that it is more importantthat the players are dealt with quickly.

Harding has called upon one Aigeroth's DarkHuntsmen to track the players down and killthem. The Dark Huntsman is an undercoveragent who has been in place in Heimburg forseveral years, He lives and works under thename Carlos Sobel as a dty maintenanceworker, allowing him access to milch of the city's

infrastructure. The cover also allows him 1[0access even the highest security areas of the cityIInder the guise of making a maintenance checkor repair. Over the years he has come to knowevery street alleyway, and sewer in the city.remembering it all with the aid of his Necro-bionic implants. He also has full documentationfor three other identities, including an officeworker in Bauhaus Corporation. a Cathedralgroundskeeper, and a security agent.

Sobel will be looking for the characters fulltime from the moment Harding learns that theyhave managed to defeat the blackmailers andknow that Hargrove is really a criminal namedFletcher. The Dark Huntsman has a variety ofthe latest weaponry available to him, but he hasno back up to speak of He will be very careful,hoping to ambush the characters when theyleast expect it. First however he has to find thecharacters. He will be watching their homesand plan's they are known to frequent. IfHarding ever has any idea where the playersare, he will immediately tell Sobel.


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-----

FINDING FLETCHERw the players go about finding Fletcher is upthem. They may want to report him to police,it might be wise to remind the players that

hey do so they are incriminating themselvesthe theft of the Disk. The biggest lead theye is the tape that Tyson had in his homech points to Fletcher being somewhat of aular at Konstantine's bar. This final chapter ofadventure is less linear than the first two,the players should let the players instigate

nts. Where in the first parts the players werestantly trying to catch up with those whoe setting them up, now the ball is in theirrt and their enemies are on the run. It is theirto catch them and find out what's going on.

The game master Can keep things exotmgthrough the careful use of the Dark Huntsman.Fletcher simply wants to stay away from theplayers until he can figure out how to releasethe power of the Plague Disk upon the city. lnorder to open the sapphire that pierces thecenter of the disk and let loose the disease,Fletcher must perform an involved ritual andsacrifice. Completing the entire ritual takeseight days, and when the players finally getaround to hunting Fletcher down there are justthree days left. After that, The DemnogonisPlague will be set loose upon tile ci ty and Venusas a whole.

--

CALLING HARDINGrding does not plan to be in the city whentcher frees the disease from the Plague Disk.is currently in Volksburg, attending a multi-

rporation meeting concerning the prove-ce of certain Venu.sian artifacts. Harding haded that the players would be killed while hes gone, and has been trying to avoid them.w chat they have managed to avoid death orest at the hands of Bauhaus Security. Hardingnts to make sure they stay in the city so thather the Dark Huntsman or the Plague will getm. He has ordered that any calls from theyers to his office in Heimburg be forwardedhim in Volksburg.When he gets a call from the players heresses great concern for their safety. Howctly he treats the players depends onether or not he has talked to the playersore this since the museum break-in. If this is

first time he will express outrage attcher's betrayal and offer to do whatever he

to help the player characters. Heoffersm a safe house in the city where they cany if the police are still looking for them, or ify do not feel at home. His primary goal is tod out where exactly the players are so he canect the Dark Hurrtsman to them.The most important thing for Harding ist the characters continue to trust him. Theye no real reason to suspect him yet,

hough they might feel wary anyway. WithDark Tempter's aid. Harding has become a

nsummate liar and actor, and knows justat to say and do to gain their trust. Hardings such faith in the Dark Huntsman, that he islling to give the player characters a few hintsto where they might find Fletcher. He tellsm that when he met with Hargrove/Fletcher,was always at Konstantine's Bar near the

university. He also reminds the players that it isvery important that they find the disk asquickly as possible. He says Fletcher probablydoes not even know what he has, and that he'sjust a common criminal. Having offered thistip, he will then tell Sobel to 1 0 0 1 < for theplayers at Konstantine's.


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BACK TO KONSTANTINE'SThe University area is still as vibrant as ever,untouched by the horror the characters havefound themselves mired in. Now the playershave every reason to be paranoid, and it seemsthat everyone is watching them. Remember,unless they have done something to dear theirname, their faces have been on every newscast,wanted for mass murder. Vagrants, activists,ami drunken students all accost the players asthey walk through the crowded streets on theway to Konstantine's, Outside the bar a crowd

has gathered to watch a street performer recitepoetry, among them may be the DarkHuntsman, looking for all the world like anyoneelse in the crowd as he secretly watches theplayer characters.

Inside, the place is abuzz. with activity,packed to the brim with students, academics,and members, of the city's counterculture. Theplayers now have to decide where to begin.There are probably seventy people in the smallbar, including three bartenders, five servers, themanager, the bouncer, and a band getting readyto go 011 stage. Konstantine's isa place wherethose who fancy themselves the youngintellectual elite if the city gather, Everyonehere has an attitude of one sort or another, andmost will look down O[l player characters whoare obviously [lot intellectuals of some sort. Alist of those who might have some informationfollows below:

THE MANAGER: Harmut Ricouer is actuallythe assistant manager, His brother Gregor ownsthe bar, but does not like to come down to thispart of town if he call help it. Harmut is a thin,almost emaciated man in his late twenties.dressed in the latest Bauhaus


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rls, but has also been known to go home withme of the women that work at Konstantine's.e says that he's pretty sure he was seeing arver named Melissa most recently. Melissalled in sick the last few nights, but maybeme of the other servers know something.

There are two servers on duty whene player characters come into the bar. both ofem young women. They are Maureen and

two University students who earn sometra money working at the bar. They are bothngerously thin women, Maureen with thickack hair in a page boy cut, and jelka with herad shaved entirely bald. Both are attractive butry aloof. They deal with the pitiful flirtations, ofonstantine's patrons every night. and are notsily impressed. Both women know Fletcher,though they have very different views of him.ke Sean, they know him only a s Gene.rncnrhs ago Gene came into Konstaritine'sd swept Maureen off her feet. They had aromance, and Gene even lived withaureen for a month. Then, a month ago het dumped her. saying it was over between

He didn't even have the decency to find aw bar, and soon he took up with herworker-worker Melissa. Needless to say,aureen is no longer very fond of Gene, and

will gladly take the opportunity to tell theplayers all about his faults. She calls him adrunk. a lecher. a pervert, and worst of al labusive. More than once he threatened her lifeand the lives of those who bothered him. Eventhough they lived together, he kept anotherapartment somewhere near the bar, althoughhe would never let her see it or even knowwhere it is. He obviously had something tohide. and Maureen suspected him of havinganother woman there, maybe even Melissa.jelka is Melissa's best friend, and does not caremuch for Maureen. She thinks Gene is a greatguy" very intelligent. and adventuresome. Shefeels Maureen is just letting her jealousy get inthe way ofher true feelings for Gene. In fact, sheconfides . Gene is a perfect gentleman. Why, hehas promised to marry Meli

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