I'll admit that I know the story title isn't too original or creative, but at the time it was the best I could come up with.
Also, it's worth noting that this adventure is a modified version of a one-off I came up with for a playtest session last year, updated and tweaked for the new rules (with one or two slip-ups in that regard on my part).
Now, as I know this is a new setting and system for a lot of people, if you read this and have any questions, feel free to ask me here or anyplace else where you can find me.
So here's the basic setup: The player characters in this game are members of the Æon Trinity's Section Minerva. Section Minerva is kind of a covert ops/investigation team that doesn't officially exist. They don't do wetwork or anything like that, as Æon's really big on not becoming that type of organization (again), but either way they have a lot of autonomy and offer plausible deniability. I gave my group the opportunity to come up with any sort of specific front they put on, but they just went with my default assumption of a handful of independent investigators and problem solvers.
This team consisted of, in no particular order[0]:
- Digenis Akritas, the group's Psychokinetic played by Jack[1]; a former Legionnaire soldier and tactician recruited by Section Minerva while looking for a challenge in his career, also possessing a Mindshare Auxiliary Mode, giving him a bit of telepathy as well
- Jack Bryant, the group's Electrokinetic played by Ronnie; a special operative with Orgotek, kind of a James Bond-type, recruited by the Trinity when they were looking to put an Electokinetic on one of their teams
- Lionel Jones, the group's Clairsentient played by Joseph; a tracker and investigator discovered as a latent by an Æon Clairsentient and activated and trained for them by ISRA, and has actually maintained a friendly relationship with Otha Herzog, the Clairsentient Proxy
- Noah, the group's Biokinetic played by Jarrod; a former criminal smuggler recruited by the Norça and later lured away (with the Proxy's permission) by Æon
- Midori Mei, the group's Vitakinetic played by Forrest; a rebellious youth born a silver spoon and issues with authority but natural talents at healing, recruited by Section Minerva after one insubordination-related transfer too many
- José Esteban, the group's Quantakinetic[2] played by Roberto; an Aberrant War aficionado who grew up just outside the Blight Zone, recruited for the Quantakinetic Order early on and picked up by the Trinity after they were all framed for being in league with Aberrants and officially wiped out, also possessing Telekinesis as an Auxiliary Mode so he can pass himself off as a Psychokinetic if need be
(For those of you interested in such things, I had a total of 8 pregens available -- the above ones, plus a Telepath and a Talent. All of the pregens I made, barring the QK and the Talent, were modified and updated versions of sample characters from the original Order books because I thought that'd be a fun Easter egg.)
So where things pick up, the group has gotten word via a secret communications channel on their ship that one of ISRA's undercover operatives on the moon base of Olympus has gone missing, and they've asked the Trinity to discreetly look into it. The operative in question, a Clear[3], has been keeping an eye on Luna's extensive criminal underground (mostly run by a Russian syndicate called the Vor V Zakone) and he missed a check-in. So, for maximum discretion, Æon has sent in one of their off-the-books teams of investigators -- the player characters. All they have is a description and his address (down on Sublevel 37) to go by. The first assumption is that his cover's been blown.
They arrive at the moon, taking elevators and such down from the shining skyscrapers of the Lunar surface through the political and corporate bits, down through the middle-class districts, to the section beneath Sublevel 32 known as the Underworld. The air's a little metallic, lights flicker, and people generally keep their heads down when they pass you in the corridors.
As the group approaches William's apartment, they see a couple of goons with tattoos visible on their necks (consistent with Russian mobsters) fiddling with his door like they're trying to break in. Jack sets his biocomputer to scan for any sort of phone on either of them and try to get any info before he steps up to one and grabs his shoulder, and we break into a pretty typical "What are you doing here?" "I could ask you the same" sort of exchange as they stare each other down. As there are only two mob goons here and Jack's got five other guys with him, they take the hint and start to back off. As they turn away, José steps up to one and shoves him (swiping his wallet in the process), almost starting a proper fight before the other goon grabs the guy that José shoved and drags him off.
So they've got the wallet of a man named Gregory, and Lionel uses his abilities to read its history and where it's been, since these guys probably know something about what happened to William. Nothing immediately stands out as noteworthy, aside from a number of a trips to an office belonging to a man named Yegor. The SI (satisfactory intelligence, similar to what we call an AI) agent on Jack's biocomp has managed to pull the name 'Pavel' off the phone of the other guy, but not a lot of useful intel otherwise.
So Jack uses his abilities to hack the door and get it open. The apartment -- practically an efficiency apartment, though William has clearly splurged for a decent chair and some other furniture -- has been searched. Noah gives it a once-over and determines that it hasn't been tossed, as such. But someone came in without breaking in, likely with a key, went looking for something, and while they didn't make too much of a mess they also didn't put much effort into putting things back, either.
Lionel sits down in the comfy chair and uses Psychometry to scan recent events in the room. He gets a vision from just a couple of days ago of a skinny man with stringy black hair -- not William Tran -- and a gun sitting in the chair. The door opens and William comes in, and the man threatens him but his hands are shaking. Lionel can't get the particulars of the conversation, but he gets the flavor of it. It's obvious the man doesn't want to be there, and William talks him down and takes the gun from him and takes his ID -- sort of an 'I know where you live' kind of thing. William gives him some instructions, and the guy leaves. William, having kept the man's ID, stashes it on his bookshelf (Lionel immediately points someone towards finding it), and gets some equipment together. He also pulls out a Clairsentience focusing crystal, records a message on it, and stashes it under his mattress before leaving. The vision jumps ahead a bit, and they see the man come back in, look through the apartment, find the crystal, and leave with it.
The ID belongs to a man named Miles Ross. Lionel gives it a scan and sees more details of the conversation between Miles and William. Miles was sent to kill William by one of the various mob bosses because they're worried that he knows something, and they want William out of the way before he tips off someone they don't want to know about it. But whatever the problem is (the vision doesn't include that relevant bit), William wants to help deal with it, and he tells Miles to come back and get the crystal if he doesn't hear from him in a little while.
Jack hacks William's computer as the group figures out what to do about finding Miles Ross. He finds a series of encrypted emails, establishing that he had a regular day and time each week he contacted someone with updates on the local organized crime movements -- and he'd missed that check-in, which is probably why someone suspected something had happened to him. They also find out a few relevant bits about the local criminal underworld, and about how everything eventually flows back to the mysterious cloaked and masked mob boss called the President down on the lowest levels (referred to as the Pit). Jack also does some digging on the local OpNet and finds out that Miles works at Lud's Casino, further down the base, and that he works for someone named Maxim Prianichikov. Also, Miles last checked in on social media a day and a half ago -- just logging in, not posting -- but thanks to an absurdly-good roll, Jack's computer finds Miles in the background of someone's selfie in a cafe in an area in the lower sublevels called Vila Jacinta.
The group heads down to Lud's Casino, decorated with a neon sign with a picture of someone's grandmother. They head in, though not all at once, and mingle in the casino as they get a feel for the place. Jack hacks the security feeds as he sits down to play some games -- no sign of Miles, though Maxim is wandering around the place keeping an eye on things. Digenis uses his telepathic auxiliary mode to put together a telepathic network connecting the group's minds so they can keep in touch. Noah blends in, subtly tweaking his appearance to match the best 'average' of the local crowd. Lionel checks Gregory's wallet again with Psychometry and finds that Gregory is present in the casino at the time, on the security staff. He also realizes he might be able to try and find Miles using Forking Timelines (the fourth Psychometry power). By using the ID to 'reach' back and connect with Miles, he discovers that Miles put the crystal he found in a safe deposit box in a bank up on the level called the Mezzanine, and shortly afterwards the President tracked him down and stashed him in the back room at a cafe in Vila Jacinta called Casa d'Guillermo.
And he's still there. Alive.
They stop for a moment and consider whether to go and try find Miles now, or to go ahead and hit the bank. After some debate, they go to get Miles under the assumption that they can persuade him to retrieve the crystal for them.
They go to Vila Jacinta, an upscale community that, according to those in the know (namely Lionel and Midori, who both worked and/or trained on Luna), serves as a peaceful neutral ground for the various criminal factions to meet. (One of them suspects that this peace is going to soon be broken) They get there and it's very different from the other levels they've seen: the air is clean, people aren't trying to hide themselves, everyone seems safe and comfortable.
They find the cafe. Noah and Midori duck around back while the others casually go up front and ask for Miles. The hostess doesn't know anyone by that name but they catch that one of the busboys suddenly perks up when he hears the name and heads towards the back of the restaurant. Moments later, Noah and Midori see the busboy rush Miles out the back. Noah, enhanced by his Biokinesis to move at beyond-human speeds, all but materializes in front of them. He grabs them both, demanding to know which one is Miles. Miles speaks up, revealing himself and asking that they leave Steve alone. They decide to hang onto the busboy in case they need to persuade Miles to talk.
They begin by asking where William is. Miles doesn't know, and José immediately threatens the busboy by levitating something (I can't recall what). Miles tells them everything he knows: He was hired to kill William because somebody from one of the mob-affiliated mining companies found something. They were worried that William would find out and get the authorities up everyone's collective ass. But it was something bad and William wanted to help them sort it out, but he told Miles that if he didn't hear from him after a number of hours to go to his apartment (he gave Miles a key), get the crystal, and put it somewhere safe for the people who'd come looking for him.
So they take Miles and Steve up to Tranquility Bank up on the Mezzanine, so they can take Miles inside to get the crystal and hang onto Steve outside in case Miles tries anything stupid. Jack and José stay outside with Steve (while Jack patches into the bank's security), while the others go in with Miles.
While they cross the lobby, a half-dozen folks in matching suits and sunglasses stroll into the bank. The guys outside warn the ones inside that something's going on. But then, once the newcomers are inside, a woman at the bank holds up her hand and unleashes a bolt of purple energy into the ceiling while announcing to everyone that "this doesn't have to be hard" while a couple of the others head towards the back. And José immediately sits up -- he's been keeping his subquantum senses going this whole time, as he's a Quantakinetic and can pick up on uses of Psi... and Quantum. And that was definitely a quantum blast. The woman -- and, as he learns, the rest of her crew -- are what are colloquially referred to as 'Sub-Aberrant mutants,' humans enhanced by an Aberrant with powers of their own, made into minions.
A fight breaks out, and it turns out that all of the robbers are mutants. José rushes up to the doors and uses the Fundamentals power 'Transference' to bathe the area in psionic energies, suppressing quantum powers and boosting psi abilities. So the characters are largely armed, and have psi powers, and those powers are now enhanced. Which means that the mutants, whose powers are fizzling and being difficult to control, get blasted with sonic pistols, entangled with web guns, and they have their nervous systems temporarily short-circuited by Electrokinesis. (It's worth noting that everyone added something to this, even Midori whose history of clinics in rough areas led to her being pretty handy with a sonic pistol.) Sadly not a lot of punching and kicking, as Noah's the one close-combat specialist and the dice have not been kind. (Side-note: The fight goes on a little longer than I'd intended, but that's because I misjudged the full effects of some of the rules updates I applied to my notes; if I had it to do over again, I'd have made the group a mix of maybe 2 mutants and 4 one-health humans)
The authorities have arrived by the time the characters take down the robbers, get the crystal, and get out of the bank. And just when the local law enforcement are about to start asking questions the group can't easily answer, Otha Herzog -- the head of the Clairsentient order and the most powerful human Clear in the universe -- shows up as if he just happened to be in the area. He proceeds to vouch for the group, giving Lionel a knowing look (though one imagines that Otha-frigging-Herzog can't give anything but 'knowing' looks), and they're free to go.
So they find a quiet spot off to the side while Lionel uses his abilities to reach into the crystal and pull out the message William left for him, sharing it with the rest of the group via the Mindshare link they have:
"Greetings. You may or may not know me as William Tran. If you're seeing this, then I'm most likely dead. One of the mining companies here found an old Aberrant base in a crater wall, something that goes back to the early days of the War, probably left behind by the Space Brigade. They're worried about the authorities getting wind, starting an investigation, and getting into their operations, so they want to just cover it up. I'm coming along to help them shut it down for now while I find a discreet means of letting the right people know. Not a fan of the syndicates, but poking at this requires some delicacy. But... well, if you're seeing this, then something has gone wrong. I don't know what. At this point, screw discretion. Follow your guts. Coordinates follow."
So there's a moment of everyone collectively crapping themselves. (There is also some concern that, as the President hid Miles after what happened, she might be in league with the Aberrants -- but then, there's the question of why not just kill Miles, but that might be a mystery for another day...) But after a moment's debate, they know what they need to do -- report this in to the Æon Trinity. Conveniently, there are Trinity offices nearby and an 'off-the-books employee' entrance they can use to reach someone authorized to talk to them. They fill the local office in on what they've found and what's going on. They're informed that the proper authorities are being scrambled, but in the meantime someone (meaning them) needs to get to the site and secure it RTFN. So they get a hopper (sort of like a shuttle) and take it to the crater in the coordinates.
They find it easily enough, it's a little off the beaten path, so it makes sense that a mining company would only now be able to stumble onto it. There's a 'hangar' area with a convenient atmosphere-supporting force field in which they park, but they're not alone. There's another small hopper nearby, and then there's a man that Lionel recognizes as Yegor from the Family Circus-style tracing of Gregory's movements standing in front of a metal door. His hand is wreathed in purple energy and he's cutting through it, melting the material. The group piles out of their vehicle and the boss fight begins.
José's had enough time to recover enough psi points that he can unleash the Transference again, weakening some of Yegor's abilities while Jack takes control of his vehicle and makes it ram him. Noah lunges in and gets the first solid hit he's gotten all game. Yegor's hand coruscates with energy as he tries to reach into Noah's chest, but thanks to José all he can do is melt five finger-sized holes in Noah's body armor. At which point Midori rushes up and channels all of her psi points into Morbidity, the level five power for Algesis. He resists, but only barely -- normally, Morbidity kills instantly by shattering their noetic template, but Yegor's tough enough that it merely ruptures most of his internal organs. He's left alive, but completely incapacitated.[4]
They could finish him off, but decide to keep him around. After all, they think the President might be an ally of the Aberrants, and having a captive someone can interrogate and/or study might be useful...
And we left off there, with a narrative cliffhanger that I might follow up on next year, who knows.
Anyhow, that's the Æon game I ran at Gen Con. Again, to reiterate, if you have any questions, feel free to ask here, or on Twitter, or by email, or however. Thanks for reading!
[0]-- I didn't keep as good track of where everyone was sitting as I should have, so there's a decent chance I've gotten a couple of people mixed up here. If any of you see this and I have indeed made a mistake, I wholeheartedly apologize. Please correct me so I can fix this.
[1]-- Not wanting to stop and make a big deal out of it, but while chatting with my players during a bathroom-and-drink break, I discovered that this was Jack Emmert. (I didn't look too closely at the players' names before the session, I'll admit, or else I'd have noticed and asked about it) So that was new and different.
[2]-- Yeah, that's right, I went there. (True fact, this is half the reason I went with a Section Minerva group)
[3]-- Slang term for a Clairsentient.
[4]-- I'm aware that this is a bit of a curb stomp battle, and actually had contingencies to stretch it out if it seemed anticlimactic. But we were running really short on time after the bank fight dragged on, so I let it play out like this. Also, Yegor almost striking down Noah and the way Midori finished him off gave things kind of a cinematic finish.
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