In the Service of the King

Welcome to The Big Show. The heroes are assumed to be agents for hire in the employ of the British Special Service. Their mission, or rather the end of their latest mission, is at hand. Commissioned to retrieve the Chinese industrial scientist Wang Bao Li from the German freighter Blaubrandt, the heroes have reached a crisis point. With the ship failing and the group surrounded by Nazis, they may feel a bit overwhelmed. Pointing out that their characters are in the center of a standard Pulp dilemma, in media res, hopefully should assure them that their characters aren’t dead before the adventure even starts.

Situation

The heroes face off against Abendroth and his elite raumkommandos from the German Star Empire. Other than shooting their way out of this situation, they must contend with the failing life support system. After the first two rounds of any action, each hero must make a Vigor check or take one Fatigue level for lack of oxygen. They must make another Vigor check every minute afterwards with the same result. The air is breathable, but it’s getting rather stale.

Heroes can quickly determine the following general information about their surroundings:

• Layout of the area (Figure 1)
• Direction of their Ship - mag-locked to the bottom hull of the freighter)
• The state of the freighter – Most of the forward areas are destroyed. The bridge still has engine control, though systems are failing due to the damage sustained by the ship. The heroes were rather thorough in their actions on the ship, before being trapped in the cargo bays. Any area of the ship forward of Cargo Bay 3 is open to space via various exit wounds to the ship during various explosions. See Troubleshooting below.

Figure 1 – The Blaubrandt Cargo Hold Area

The following information requires various skill checks:

• Knowledge (Engineering) (or common knowledge for grease-monkey type characters) – The rear stabilizer control hub is located in this bay behind an access panel. (Notice check to find it) Disabling the rear stabilizer will cause the ship to lose attitude control and could give the heroes an edge by throwing their enemies off balance
• Healing – Wang Bao Li is alive and stable, but unconscious.
• Streetwise (considered rolled before the mission started): Abendroth has a mole in his group. The mole is an American agent and will activate on the password “World Champion Pittsburg Crawfords.” The agent, Herbert Jenkins, is an avid follower of the Negro National Baseball League – the Crawfords won the World Series in 1935. Once alerted, Jenkins will assist the heroes in their escape. The hero that determines this was given the information by one of his contacts before the mission started.

Action!

The heroes must first deal with Abendroth and his troops. Abendroth’s orders are to incapacitate the heroes and return them to the German Star Empire for “justice.” His primary mission is to secure Wang Bao Li. The Hauptmann himself fights to defeat, though his troops surrender if Abendroth is incapacitated. If Herbert Jenkins is not revealed as an American agent, he surrenders along with the rest maintaining his cover. If the heroes execute surrendered enemies, Jenkins tries to convince the group of his undercover status. Note that regardless what the heroes do to Abendroth, he returns at the end of this adventure. If captured, he'll need to escape or be turned over to the British Special Service...where he'll escape.

Hauptmann Abendroth

Herbert Jenkins

Abendroth’s Raumkommandos (1 per hero)

Once done, the heroes need to escape with their charge, Wang Bao Li, while still contending with the failed life support system (see above).

There are three “easy” ways out of the cargo bay area:

• Escape Tunnel – Notice check on the rear Cargo Bay 4 wall to find the access hatch. The escape tunnel leads to a second secured hatch that opens to the top deck, which is open to space.
• Engine Mechanics Access Tunnel – The heroes will have to cut through the floor to get to this space. The access tunnel is crammed with fuel lines, control lines and mechanical controls for the ships engines, however, it is sealed to space and contains fresh air (no Vigor checks for the first three minutes in the tunnel). The tunnel leads directly to the engines (rearward) and a control shaft to the bridge (forward). Along this tunnel, the heroes’ ship is secured (on the other side of the hull). They can locate it via instrumentation or luck (Smarts check) and cut through the hull with the proper tools. Of course, then they must contend with the open space problem again.
• Cargo Bay 3 Bay Doors – Up the ramp and through the dividing doors, the heroes access Cargo Bay 3, which also is suffering from the stale air problem. The bay doors at the top of the cargo bay can be opened via controls near the dividing door (easy enough to find and understand), however this opens the bay to space.

Troubleshooting

The heroes are in a tight spot, but it’s really to get the action moving. Don’t use this encounter to kill the heroes; provide them with some bonus bennies as necessary and be liberal in the results of whatever plans they use to escape the problem. Dissuade them from attacking the bridge, as it’s really unnecessary. It should be rather clear that the ship is already adrift and probably doomed. Also, make sure they understand that incapacitated Nazi space commando pressure suits would fit them perfectly. Provide whatever other tools they may need, should they not have them available (cutting torches and the like).

Aftermath

Once the heroes reach their ship, they’ve been instructed to meet their British handler at a rendezvous several days away. As they pull away, the Blaubrandt, true to its name, implodes in a bluish fireball. A successful Notice (-2 visually or use sensor modifier), the heroes see a very small ship escape the conflagration. This is Hauptmann Abendroth. Regardless of his physical state when he and the heroes parted ways, he manages to crawl to safety (either using his rocket pack to escape or finding a lifeboat).

Refer to the Interlude for the meeting with the handler and a new mission.

Gear

Raumkommando Druck-Klage (Pressure Suit)

The space commando pressure suit is a vehicle, personal protective gear, and tool. Equipped with a rocket pack, magnetic boots, an armored hull, a magnetic grapple line and sensor package, the space commando can perform all the duties necessary, while ensuring protection from all hostile environments. The following are the features of the Pressure Suit:

• Armored Hull: Armor +3
• Rocket Pack: Pace 12, Accel 6, Climb 3, 30 minutes of burn per fuel cell
• Fuel Cells (4): For rocket pack
• Environment Controls: Safe down to the temperature of space and up to 12,000 degrees F. Three days of oxygen reserves.
• Sensor Package: Notice +1
• Magnetic Boots and Grappel Line: For securing to ship hulls and the like. The grappel line is 60m long.
• Death’s Head Rune (Abendroth’s only): The Death’s Head Rune painted on Abendroth’s pressure suit helmet is infused with dark energies adding a +1 to his Intimidate and +1 to Guts rolls.

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