Storyline - The Drunk in the Corner

[Cdnwolf]

Your characters are back home and heading to do one of the other modules when you stop at a bar in a non descript town. The locals are too friendly and ignore you so you decide to drink up and move on. Just as you are leaving a drunk in the corner starts getting boisterous and loud and suddenly you hear him say....

"I swear on everything holy and sacred to y'all. I was one of the survivors from Airforce One and I really know what happen that night to President Tanner!"

[StainlessSteelCynic]

I do like this sort of encounter, gives the PCs an opportunity to run into something out of the ordinary.

[Cdnwolf]

Originally Posted by StainlessSteelCynic

I do like this sort of encounter, gives the PCs an opportunity to run into something out of the ordinary.

Hmmmm maybe MilGov was prepared for something like this and planted someone on the Presidents Secret Service detachment to make sure the plane never took off...

[StainlessSteelCynic]

Or maybe the drunk guy is a plant to identify people who are interested in finding out what happened?

[Jason Weiser]

I always had a small issue with the idea of NECAP having mechanical failure. Not saying it is impossible, but...unlikely if there is increased alert levels.

Now, here is a possibility, some KGB sleepers who weren't caught in the initial sweeps when the war broke out, were activated shortly before the exchange broke out. Their orders were to wreak some havoc, but not to attack any members of the Administration, as they didn't want to provoke the Americans into going after members of the Defense Council (Not to mention the potential for escalation).

Well, our intrepid heroes of the Soviet Union screwed up...they seeded the grounds around Andrews with Strela-Blok, the day before the Thanksgiving Massacre...they thought they'd bag a general in a VC-20, or the like (They had no idea the Soviets were about to cross the Strategic Nuclear threshold, and thought the President had already relocated to Camp David or elsewhere within the Federal Arc).

They were of course, wrong. The Bloks worked perfectly, blowing 2 out of 4 engines off of the 747 while it was climbing out from the runway. The flight crew had no time to activate countermeasures, and the sudden loss of power stalled the airplane some 1000 feet off of the ground, it was non recoverable and smashed into the ground, nose first, with the President and most of his staff being killed on impact.

Our drunk is a former member of the President's Secret Service detail who had the good fortune to be using the aft lavatory when the missiles hit...

So, what do you guys think?

[StainlessSteelCynic]

I like it. Perfectly workable and feasible. I'd add though, that even if the flight crew did activate the countermeasures it wouldn't help. They've lost two engines and are in a stall - too late to close the gate after the horse has bolted sort of thing. Given what you've said Jason, even a birdstrike from a flock of geese/ducks fouling one or two of the engines is more likely than the mechanical failure given in the book.

Your idea for the crash can also more easily lead into a follow up adventure. With the crash location known and the possibility that any crash investigation was hurried due to the war crisis (and the discovery of the empty Strela launchers would provide immediate & obvious clues as to what happened), it may be worth MilGov and/or CivGov sending a team to more comprehensively search the area once they had the resources available.

I know this is well after the fact but I'm working from the position that with the chaos of the war and the confusion following the loss of the nation's leaders, there would be more important concerns than a long term investigation of the crash (considering the Strela launchers provide an immediate answer to the question). A more thorough investigation might be put onto the back burner, something to do later when things calm down. But things never clam down and eventually the investigation, shoved to the back of the list all the time is either forgotten or deemed irrelevant... until someone realizes that something of value may still lie within the wreckage.

More importantly than anything I've babbled on about here, it's a great example of brainstorming adventure ideas. Jason's post built on Cdnwolf's post and I've thrown my 0.02c worth in, we're fleshing out another potential scenario for the PCs.

[Jason Weiser]

Even better, Milgov knows where the KGB agents are that did the deed...they are holed up in a safehouse near <rural location near the players> and they have a family (two kids) who have little to no idea what Mommy and Daddy did.

Go in, try not to kill the kids, and get the parents, dead or alive (preferably, alive), Milgov would like a trial they can hold up as "See we are still doing something about those dastardly Soviets, including the monsters who killed the President..."

Going with you is a very shell shocked FBI agent who was CI before the war, and by coincidence...their neighbor. He blames them for his family and career going to pieces pre-war. He might shoot them out of hand, especially if it comes out under interrogation that the husband was responsible for the pre-war murder of his partner.

(Yes, I am shamelessly lifting from "The Americans")

And here is our erstwhile KGB family:

Patrick Hollis (aka Gregori Afromavich) – 37 years old
(Spade King, Club 9)

Patrick Hollis was inserted into the United States as a KGB illegal some 17 years ago as part of a married couple with his wife, Erin. With KGB money, they established a tax firm in Falls Church, VA. This firm made them both, and the KGB, rich. Or, at least it did until the nuclear strikes during Thanksgiving, where one child was left blind, and the other, mute.

Patrick has come to like America very, very much. He had toyed with the idea of defecting, or simply disappearing, but he was not sure he wanted to leave the kids with his wife, Erin. (He does love his children, in so far that he is capable of such a thing). He thinks the war is an exercise in futility, and he realized just where this path would end when the war broke out. Patrick has never hesitated to use violence when required as part of his work, but he finds deception a much better tool, he lies as easily as he breathes. He thinks Erin has gone off the deep end and is only tagging along to her quest to reach Soviet forces in Texas out of a lack of better things to do.

His “marriage” to Erin has been fraught with strain, with a separation over infidelity on her part in 1993. Though they are an effective team, neither truly likes the other, and Patrick realizes the American authorities will never give up looking for the people that murdered their President. Worse, there is resentment towards Moscow for one, endangering his children, and two, simply abandoning them in an enemy country (neither Erin nor Patrick has been able to get in touch with anyone in the Soviet Union since 1998, they currently have no means to get back in touch, having destroyed their communications gear and SOI ). Having left their neighborhood in the dead of night, They armed themselves with the remains of several Spetsnaz caches that were never picked up, set out for Texas, and a rumored Soviet military presence.

NOTE: Patrick is also wanted as an unknown subject in the pre-war murder of an FBI agent. If this is discovered, the attached FBI consultant may murder Patrick out of hand, if he is taken alive.

Erin Hollis (aka Marina Tsemova) – 34 years old
(Spade 5, Heart 10)

Erin was inserted into the country with Patrick 17 years ago. They gave all outward signs as a normal couple, running a tax service out of a small industrial park in Falls Church, or at least, they did before all hell broke loose. Erin never thought much of America, or Americans. She found them soft, weak, and incapable of showing the same determination her parents, who were minor party officials, did (Her father was a Political Officer who died during the siege of Kustrin). She knew privation, and she knew starvation. But the party did its best, and when it came time to make up for it all, they gave her the highest honor they could: They made her a member of the KGB.

Erin secretly hates Patrick, and his embrace of these “soft” Americans. As things worsened, especially after the nuclear strikes, Erin has retreated more and more into belief in the eventual Soviet victory, even if the facts don’t bear this out. Her near-fanatical belief in the idea, even in the face of the facts, is setting Patrick and Erin on a collision course. She is proud of having played a role in killing the President of the United States, and when they return as heroes (as she believes they will), she wants the right to choose her new assignment, as she plans for a long career in the KGB. This fanaticism could have lethal consequences for all concerned.

Erin, unlike Patrick, is devoted to only one thing more than the Soviet Union, her children. She and her daughter clash, as her daughter has had a religious awakening since losing her sight as a result of the nuclear strikes on the DC area. She is also deeply troubled by her son’s inability, or unwillingness to speak, that was triggered when he witnessed his father gut a man with a hunting knife in a dispute over food. But even that love is colored by politics as she wants them to grow up committed communists, but that doesn’t appear to be happening.

It was her idea to set out for Texas, as far as the kids know, they are going to find family there, but she is determined to return to the loving embrace of the Soviet state, and get away from all of these malignant influences on her children.

Pamela Holliis – Age 14
(Diamond 5, Heart King)

Pamela is the Hollis’s older daughter, and until recently, was happy to enjoy being a typical American kid. She was concerned about the war, but never gave it much thought until she lost her sight when she was caught looking by the device that initiated over the Pentagon. The damage to her retinas is near total, and she has adjusted to her new circumstances with a strength that she did not know she even had.

Part of this strength was a religious reawakening that occurred when they Hollises spent time in a FEMA refugee camp in rural Pennsylvania. She got to know a Catholic priest from Philadelphia in the camp, and worked with him to organize weekly masses for the dispirited refugees. She soon became one of the camp’s unofficial spokesperson when dealing with FEMA authorities, and bargained hard to get more food and supplies, but she made a point of firmly sticking to her agreements, as she felt that was the only way to build the credibility she needed to keep the camp going. When the time came to leave, Erin and Patrick had to drag her away by force.

Now, Pamela is sullen, and resentful to both her parents, and certain actions by both of them as of late have left her suspicious of just what is going on. She was already mistrustful of her mother since her philandering in 1993, but her suspicions have deepened. If the truth about her parents came out, it would shock her to the core. It would ultimately lead to her acting against them, as she considers herself a patriotic American, and a child of God. In her view, her parents have broken with both covenants.

Pamela is very protective of her brother, and is often the only one he can turn to as of late. Her mother and father seem to resent him because he won’t speak. This is, as far as she is concerned, another item in Pamela’s ledger that would make her ultimately turn against both parents.

Jack Hollis- Age 11
(Diamond Ace, Club 3)

Jack is the younger son in the Hollis family, but both parents have been distant to him ever since he was stuck mute after witnessing his father gut a man with a hunting knife in a dispute over food in that FEMA camp. Jack cannot process the idea of his father taking his time with the man like he did. To Jack, he cannot find the words to describe what he saw.

If Jack could speak, you would find a typical, nice kid, who would give the shirt off of his back (unbeknownst to anyone, Jack shared some of his rations at the FEMA camp with a young orphan girl) to just about anyone. He does have a willingness to fight, mostly for those he feel are being bullied, it is a feeling that is beginning to deepen with the snide neglect his parents are subjecting him to.

If Jack were to discover the truth about his parents, it might be enough to shock him into speech, and it might also bring out a murderous rage that would be directed at his parents.

[mikeo80]

Originally Posted by StainlessSteelCynic

Or maybe the drunk guy is a plant to identify people who are interested in finding out what happened?

Or this guy is the equivalent of "The Man with the umbrella" at Dallas in 1963. According to some conspiracy theories, TMWTU was the go ahead signal to the shooters. Notice in the Zapruder Film, as the Presidential Limo approaches, TMWTU has the umbrella up. After the gunshots, you see him walking away with the umbrella down.

My $0.02

Mike

[unkated]

Or he's a drunk who had a buddy who flew on AF 1 as a crewman, and told the drunk enough to make a story good enough, hopefully, to dine and drink out on.

So, he tells an intriguing and almost implausible tale...

And if the PCs begin to investigate, he disappears. If the PCs are hooked on the tale, this may concern them all the more.

Uncle Ted

[Ancestor]

thread...ever! This is why I love this site! What player would not love this? Thanks!

[StainlessSteelCynic]

Originally Posted by unkated

Or he's a drunk who had a buddy who flew on AF 1 as a crewman, and told the drunk enough to make a story good enough, hopefully, to dine and drink out on.

So, he tells an intriguing and almost implausible tale...

And if the PCs begin to investigate, he disappears. If the PCs are hooked on the tale, this may concern them all the more.

Uncle Ted

... only to turn up months later at another makeshift tavern, telling the same story, maybe with a few embellishments. Once he realizes who the PCs are, he again does a runner to prevent them questioning him.

He could have the sort of description that has the PCs thinking they see him in a crowd at any new place they go to. This presents him as a recurring theme but something they just can't get enough information for to allow them to actually find him because he wasn't actually there, someone just happened to look like him. This way he stays in the minds of the PCs without actually being present.

Who knows what the PCs will do once they actually catch up with him, anything is possible. Maybe he was on the aircraft, maybe he's just a bystander who witnessed it, maybe he's just the friend of someone who knows what happened but no matter which one applies, perhaps he fears the PCs are after him to bring retribution (for getting all those drinks for free, for not telling what happened to the aircraft, for being a witness to enemy action or whatever - in his drunken state his paranoia runs rampant)