If you intend to play in this adventure, read no further or you will be subject to a termination warrant.
As Narrator you should read through the whole adventure from start to finish just so you get an idea of where things are and how they should flow. The adventure here is Part 1 of the three part adventure in A Fist Full of Credits, the book. It is divided into scenes which are discrete episodes with their own settings and characters. As the players move from scene to scene you should read them the appropriate section. At the end of the adventure you should award them XP and allow them to regain their full LF.
This section should be read aloud to the players before play commences, as it informs them exactly what their mission is, who they are working for, and what they’re getting paid.
‘Janus. City of Trade. The vast metrozone sprawls like a duracrete carcass as far as the eye can see.Battered towers and starscrapers jostle for space hiding layers of life. Human and Xenogen inhabitants scuttle like ants across the sleeping form of a city so vigorous it could almost be a living thing.
The bleak gray sky swirls with virulent toxic clouds, as mist, smoke, and diffuse light writhe like tendrils amid the shadowy habitations. Dominating all is the Startower; a gargantuan structure, so incredibly vast that it disappears into the black firmament of space and makes even the mighty starscrapers appear as insignificant toys.
You stand together in an office of the Skorpio Kombine; a powerful trading corporation and force in this free-city. Clean and spartan, a pitted plexiglass window looks out upon the panorama of Janus, and harsh electric light obliterates all shadows in the room, making it seem sterile and cold. A molded duralloy desk displays intricate filigree of a Devil Skorpion; symbol of the Kombine.
As members of the Hunters Guild, you have been summoned by the Kombine to undertake a bounty on their behalf, and are now awaiting the details. The door behind you opens as a Kombine executive enters. Attired in a tailored suit of black cloth, his face is hidden behind a polished silver mask bearing a Devil Skorpion engraving.
Nodding by way of greeting, he sits calmly behind the duralloy desk, briefly tapping his fingers as he addresses you in a strong, authoritative voice.
“Greetings. My name is Kallus Marten; Procurator General for the Skorpio Kombine. I have contacted you in order to obtain your services”. He pauses, looking over each of you, steepling fingers with steel fingernails.
A few days ago, a wretched band of scum calling themselves the Skabby Gang, hijacked a Konvoy in the Wastes; slaughtering everyone. They stole a Black Stasis Box belonging to the Skorpio Kombine. That was their big mistake. We want you to retrieve the box, and wipe the Skabby Gang from the face of Avernus. Terminate with extreme prejudice”. You can almost hear him sneer beneath the impassive mask.
“The gang are mindless thugs and pose little threat to bounty hunters of your caliber. They’re ruled by a brute called Zak, but little else is known about them.
“You’ll be paid 20 credits per gang member, and 1,500 credits for Zak. Return the Stasis Box intact and you’ll receive a further 2,500 credits, non-negotiable”. Fair terms and payment. You all nod agreement. He continues.
The box is fitted with a tracer. You can track it using this”. He casually throws each of you an electronic locator.
“The Skabby Gang are currently holed-up at a town called ‘Cobalt Butte’. We’ll provide a large tracked car or two as transportation, and enough supplies to last 2 weeks each. Return the vehicles as unscathed as possible. That will be all”. Briefly nodding, you turn and leave, destination Cobalt Butte.
The PCs will be provided with 1 tracked car (krawler) per 4 PCs, or fraction thereof, assuming of course that more than 1 PC knows how to drive them. If not, only 1 krawler will be provided, and everyone has to cram in, making for an uncomfortable journey.
The following statistics are given for players of Waste World RPG. Players of Waste World Lite can ignore them.
| MX | LF | AR | PS | CC |
40 |
50 |
3 |
4 |
0.5 |
The supplied krawler(s) look like rugged off-road vehicles, fully enclosed with full filtration systems and heating units. Rather than wheels, the krawler has a set of caterpillar tracks with duralloy studs for crossing rough terrain. Their bonnets and 3 doors are emblazoned with the symbol of the Skorpio Kombine. Within the Krawler is enough ammo to restock any PC’s who run out during a scenario.
Each PC will receive 2 weeks worth of ration tablets (which are bland and unsatisfying, but greatly increase survival chances).
In addition, each krawler will carry a basic first aid kit, a small box of
stim tablets to stave off sleep, an emergency beacon (which may give some
tiny hope of help if the PCs get stranded), a grapnel gun and 50’ of stout
line, a telescopic shovel, and a basic vehicle maintenance kit.
Cobalt Butte is a one-horse town and the horse died a long time ago. A sprawling cluster of weather-beaten bubble domes built around a saloon, it is a small yeast farming community, and pit stop on the Konvoy route.
Zak and the Skabby Gang rule the locals with an iron fist since they tortured and killed the local peacekeepers some 6 months ago.
Zak Skabby and his gang. There are 2 gang members per PC, plus Zak.
ST |
DX |
IN |
PW |
MR |
LF |
+2 |
+1 |
0 |
0 |
6 |
21 |
Advantages: Ambidextrous
Skills: Awareness +3, Blade (chainsword) +4, Dodge +2, Handgun (blaster pistol) +3, Stealth +1, Unarmed Combat (brawling, razor wheel) +4
Equipment: Blaster Pistol, Camocloak, Chainsword, Heavy Ceramic Armor, Razor Wheel (in place of left hand), Rebreather
Description: Zak is 6’ and 350 lbs of hulking muscle and sheer meanness. He lost his left hand in a leadership duel many years ago, and had a wicked-looking razor wheel (buzz saw) attached to the stump. Bald and covered in ritual scarring, he wears a battered and battle-scarred suit of heavy ceramic armor, adorned with pieces of bone and hide. Zak’s razor wheel does damage: 1M+1. Rageful and violent, he has a sadistic habit of slicing up those who displease him and feeding their remains to the carnivorous plants in the Xenodome.
ST |
DX |
IN |
PW |
MR |
LF |
+1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
5 |
12 |
Skills: Bludgeon (ax or club), Dodge, Handgun (autopistol) or Rifle (assault rifle), Unarmed Combat (brawling)
Equipment: Assault Rifle or Autopistol, Ax or Club, Hide Armor, Rebreather
Description: The members of the Skabby Gang are brutes, pure and simple. A mixture of ugly, dirty men, and evil looking mutants, they are tough and nasty, but unimaginative and none-too-bright. They serve Zak out of sheer terror and respect, and would rather die than betray him and face his wrath.
Garbed in tattered hides and pieces of metal, they bear nasty clubs or axes cobbled together from nails, pipes and sharpened sheet metal, and about half bear worn autopistols or assault rifles.
ST |
DX |
IN |
PW |
MR |
LF |
0 |
+1 |
+1 |
0 |
4 |
10 |
Advantages: (Beautiful).
Skills: Gambling +2, Seduction +3
Equipment: Deck of tatty Cards, torn and ragged breeches, shirt of rich purple hue, Rebreather
Description: Topaz is stunningly beautiful, even as encrusted with grime as she currently is. Shapely and lithe, her eyes are the most striking blue most characters are ever likely to see, and her tightly plaited hair is a raven black. Her voice is soft and lilting, but she is tough as hell beneath her soft-seeming exterior.
She was kidnapped from the last Konvoy the gang attacked, and was forced to become Zak’s mistress in order to survive. She hates the gang, and Zak in particular, with a vengeance, and begs the PCs to take her with them back to Janus when they go. She’s had enough of this flyspeck town to last her a lifetime.
ST |
DX |
IN |
PW |
MR |
LF |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
4 |
10 |
Skills: Farming (yeast) +3
Equipment: White Coveralls.
The yeast farmers range across all ages, and both genders, but show signs of stress and fear from the abuse they have suffered under Zak and the gang. They are uniformly skittish and fearful of anyone carrying weapons. They have two tactics when dealing with violence: run away, or cower and plead for your life. They’ll even avoid the PCs until it becomes completely clear the PCs won’t hurt them, and only wish to eliminate the Skabby Gang.
"You have traveled across the chemical sands of the Wastes for three monotonous days to arrive at Cobalt Butte. Your dusty transport grinds to a halt as you survey the town.
A low wall of rough-hewn rocks, piled haphazard surrounds the town, and is surrounded in turn by a shallow trench strewn with rusted spikes of twisted metal and barbed wire.
An open ramp of earth passes over the trench, and through a crude ungated archway into the town itself. Overlooking the ramp is a skeletal and rickety watchtower, constructed of alloy poles lashed together with chains.
Clattering softly in the breeze, a human skeleton covered in desiccated leathery skin hangs by chains from the watchtower. A crude twisted sign hangs askew from its ankles, bearing the legend: ‘Welkum to Kobolt Butte. Populashun 32’. Someone has scored out the ‘32’, changing it to a barely legible ‘31’.
The town itself is visible through the open archway; a collection of grime covered and age-worn habdomes, scattered like debris on either side of the central dirt track."
Map of
Cobalt Butte
At this point, the GM should ask the players what they intend to do. Depending on which location they investigate first, here is what they find:
Looking closely at the skeletal construction, it appears to be unmanned, but this isn’t the case. A drunken gang member is asleep in the tower, and will not detect the PCs.
Marcus’ bio-sensor will register the sleeping guard as a singly human-sized blip. Shara na Valka may make a Perception roll with her keen hearing, to detect the guard’s soft snoring.
If they climb up into the tower, here is what they see:
‘Lying in a blubbery heap on the sheet metal floor of the tower, a bloated gang member snores softly at his post. Clad in filth-encrusted rags, he reeks with the putrid stench of stale alcohol and vomit, and his flabby white jowls wobble sickeningly as he grunts in his sleep.
A hand bell lies near his feet, and rolls of fat bulge around the crossbelt of bullets he wears. A hide belt bearing two battered autopistols hangs from a twisted piece of metal on a nearby alloy pole.’
It’s nigh impossible for the PCs to wake this inebriated sot. Shaking him, or otherwise causing him discomfort, will elicit a few groans and a snarl of anger.
If questioned about the gang’s whereabouts, he’ll mutter something about ‘Hell’ and try to roll over again. If threatened, he becomes surly and tells the PCs to get lost before he sics the rest of the gang on them. If the players get violent, he’ll clam up and then pass out.
‘Entering through the archway, the dirt track and town itself seem all but deserted. Raucous sounds of music and laughter can be faintly heard from the large dome in the center of the town.
Small dust devils swirl lazily along the ground for the briefest of moments in the light breeze, and half a dozen domes lie on either side of the desolate track, surrounding the larger dome.
The dull-colored domes seem quiet and eerie, their windows and doors barred, bolted and shuttered as if in fear of some great atrocity.
Some distance beyond the main town itself is a vast black dome, glinting dully in the sunlight’.
Marcus’ bio-sensor will register one, two or three blips of human-sized life-forms in all but 2 of the bubble domes. 28 people in total. The vast black dome is too far away for a reading.
The townsfolk spend much of their time cowering in their habdomes with their families, lest they attract the unwelcome attention of their gang overlords. Under no circumstances will they open their doors or windows, or admit the PCs. Should the PCs attempt to force entry, the inhabitants will scream at them to leave and whimper in fear.
Marcus will pick up a reading of (PCs x 2 plus 5) human-sized blips in the Kantina Terminal.
Read the following description as they approach the Kantina:
‘The sound of raucous laughter grows louder as you approach this large pock-marked dome. The warm air is tinged with the growing smell of liquor, and a flickering neon green sign hangs over the double-doors, reading ‘Hello There’. Tattered and sparking wires mark places where the ‘o’ and ‘T’ have been smashed, leaving the sign to read ‘Hell here’.
A scream and crash erupt from inside the dome, as the doors swing open, and a young man is thrown into the chemical dust at your feet. Dressed in torn white coveralls, he looks up at you through a face bloodied and broken. Eyes full of terror, tears mark trails through his mask of dust and blood as he scrambles pitifully towards the habdomes. Loud laughter erupts once again from inside the saloon’.
The young boy is a farmer, just beaten by the gang, and is too terrified to approach the PCs or talk to them. He’ll just plead to be left alone, and run crying to his home.
Read the following when the PCs enter the saloon:
‘The aggressive beat of techno-metal assails your ears as you stride through the double doors of the saloon. The air is choked with the fetid scent of liquor, witchweed smoke, urine and stale sweat. The floor clutches at your boots, sticky with...
Abruptly, the music stops, and a hush descends upon the saloon. Quiet.
You gaze around at the filthy establishment; a dimly-lit cluster of plastic tables and bar. Broken and grubby bottles litter the tables, floor and bar-top. Two farmers in white coveralls cower behind the bar in terror; a garish autojuke standing silent nearby.
Mean and ugly thugs; human, and mutant; sprawl about the room, looking at your unexpected appearance with surprise.
An attractive raven-haired woman in tattered purple clothing sits at a corner table, interrupted in a card game with three brutal-looking Urks. All eyes are upon you, and the air is thick with tension’.
There are 2 gang members per PC, but Zak is not present. Ask the players what they intend to do. If they don’t start a fight with the gang immediately, the gang is only too happy to start one themselves. In that case, read the following:
‘A huge mutant rises slowly from his table, and swaggers towards you, a cold sneer of disdain making a face that looks like it has melted and ran even more ugly. Fingering the worn ax hanging at his side he ambles up to you.
In the background, the female gambler slowly ducks down behind her table.
“Guess you’re strangers in these parts?”, he rumbles.
“We don’t like strangers, do we boys?” A murmur of angry agreement, jeers and taunts runs through the assembled gang members, as they start to draw their weapons...’
At this point battle commences. The female gambler avoids the fight completely, as do the two farmers behind the bar. Try to describe the ensuing chaos as excitingly as possible. Don’t give any players more than a few seconds to react; if they hesitate, so do their characters. Be descriptive, and keep the pace frantic. Play a thrashing rock track in the background if possible (but not so loud that it disturbs play). Describe the screams of rage and pain, spray of blood, shuddering impact of blows struck, staccato thunder of weapons being fired and general destruction of the scenery as tables collapse, bottles explode in a shower of liquor and glass etc. The players (and PCs) should have little chance to catch their breath.
At the start of the fight, each PC may make a sight perception roll (-2) in order to notice a skinny-looking gang member dart down a trapdoor in the floor. This is Weezil, and he has just left via an underground tunnel to inform Zak of the PCs presence. The PCs will be too busy fighting to catch him.
As the last gang member dies, proceed directly to the next scene.
As the conflict ends, read the following:
‘As the dust and mist of blood settles, you feel the damp of your sweat slowly cool. The bodies of the gang members slump across tables, bar and floor, dark with welling pools of blood. A few muted groans from the dying - the only noise. A lilting female voice shatters the silence.
“If you’re looking for Zak, he isn’t here.” the beautiful gambler says as she clambers out from behind the table, her hands raised in surrender. She regards the carnage coolly, almost happily’.
This is Topaz Blue, a courtesan from Janus. If asked who she is, she’ll tell the PCs her name, and the story behind her current circumstances (see description above).
If the PCs agree to take her back to Janus, she’ll tell them that Zak is probably in the Xenodome, and that the scrawny-looking thug that exited through the trapdoor was Weezil; likely gone to warn Zak. The tunnel itself is lit with ancient flickering glowglobes, and emerges about 10m from the Xenodome entrance.
If asked about the Xenodome, she’ll tell them that it’s an indestructible ecodome filled with dangerous Xenogen plant-life, such as man-eating carnivorous snappers, and poison-spore fungi. Zak spends much of his time there, and had fed captives and gang members to the savage flora.
She says that the PCs can enter via the airlock, and gives them the access code: 742531. She will not enter herself (she doesn’t know enough to act as a guide, and can’t fight), but recommends that the PCs wear their rebreathers while inside to protect against poison spores.
She does remember the black box, and informs the PCs that Zak sold it to some human traders who left across the wastes only a day ago. If asked any other questions, she’ll do her best to answer them, and can give quite a detailed description of Zak (read the ‘Image’ section above).
When the PCs approach the Xenodome, read them the following:
‘The vast dome appears black and featureless, pitted with the effects of eons of corrosive weather. The walls disappear into the barren dust, and gradually become more translucent as they ascend, leaving a clear dome at the summit, designed to admit sunlight.
Perfectly smooth, you realize that this material is adamant; all but indestructible and proof against any form of assault. Entry by any means other than the airlock would be impossible.
No sound can be heard from within as you approach the white keypad inset into the airlock archway’.
Should the PCs attempt to climb the dome, they find it too high, sheer and smooth. The numeric keypad is mounted next to the airlock door.
When the PCs punch in the code, read the following:
‘As you punch the last key, there is a muffled thud from deep within the archway, and a hiss of air as the airlock dilates like some ancient eye opening.
Looking through the circular aperture, you see a decontamination chamber and another simple airlock at the far end’.
When the PCs enter the decontamination chamber, the airlock behind them closes with a snap, and hidden sprinklers in the ceiling and walls spray them with a cascade of chemicals. This complete, the inner airlock opens with a hiss, giving the PCs access to the interior:
‘As the second airlock dilates open, strange sounds issue forth from within; cries of strange beasts and motion through the undergrowth. A warm gust of moist and humid air carries the scent of exotic flowers and rich soil.
A shadowy verdant wall of bizarre foliage fills your view, and mist swirls like eerie tendrils through the air. Feeble light struggles to penetrate the dense canopy of greenery from above, reduced to a feeble green glow, and obscuring all beyond 10m away in pitch darkness.
Water drips slowly from hanging vines and leaves, soaking into the dark soil and humus. Huge orchids and flowers of immeasurable beauty entice with a cascade of scintillating colors and hues the likes of which you have never seen. Avernus is a dead and desolate world, but here is life in a glory you’ve never witnessed.
The echoing cry of some unseen creature startles you from your reverie, and you enter this isolated paradise’.
The characters suffer a -2 to all sight perception rolls and to hit rolls with ranged weapons due to poor light, dense foliage and obscuring mist. Even Iris vision is next to useless because the all-pervading heat over-powers all but the strongest of heat sources.
Many of the cries and screams that fill the air are ancient audio samples designed to recreate a jungle environment; others are very real. Unfortunately, this constant low level of noise means that the PCs suffer a -3 penalty to all hearing perception rolls.
Marcus’ bio-sensor goes wild with readings of all sizes, moving swiftly across the screen in all directions, and making accurate readings almost impossible.
Igniting the foliage is impossible, as it’s covered with water, and the air is saturated with damp.
Describe the scenery in a soft voice, and try to build suspense. Hint that the characters feel ‘something’ is watching them, but they can never tell what or from where.
Describe the pathways as follows:
‘The pathways are narrow strips of dark moist soil barely 1m across, the surrounding foliage interlocking above it, forming dark, mist-filled corridors. Vast cobwebs bejeweled with beads of moisture festoon patches of greenery; so huge you have little desire to meet their creators.
Cries echo from everywhere around you, and ‘things’ rustle through the undergrowth at the edge of your mist-filled vision’.
Interior
of Xenodome
If Skarlok is present, he can follow the scent path of Weezil and a stranger (marked on the map with a ------ line). Likewise, any character with the Tracking skill can make a skill roll with a +3 bonus to follow the faint tracks left in the thin, moist soil.
When the PCs reach any pathway junctions, ask them which direction they are taking. When they pass one of the locations numbered on the map, read them the description provided, and play out the encounter.
To increase suspense, roll your dice a few times now and then, glance at the book and grin evilly when the PCs state which direction they’re going. This helps increase their paranoia. When the PCs reach the lake, proceed to Scene Five.
‘The air around you smells sickly sweet as you stalk forward along the dark jungle passageway’.
Have the PCs make sight perception tests (-2) to notice a slight movement up ahead. If they fail they are taken by surprise when they pass the Snapjaw plant, and it will make a free attack on the characters with a +4 bonus to hit.
Read the following quickly and abruptly when they pass it:
‘Suddenly the greenery erupts as six large green maws lunge towards you; cavernous mouths lined with rows of dagger-like thorns!’
ST |
DX |
IN |
PW |
MR |
LF |
+2 |
+2 |
-3 |
0 |
- |
1 per head |
AR: 1
Attacks: 6 ‘heads’ (1M each)
Disadvantages: Cannot perceive stationary opponents.
Special Abilities: Immune to the effects of camoderm, camocloaks, and most other forms of invisibility.
Description: Snapjaws are aggressive carnivorous plants, Xenogen in origin, that attack any movement nearby with half a dozen thorn-lined maws. The plant itself is stationary, and can regrow a severed head after 2 weeks.
Once a head has succeeded in doing at least 3 points of damage with a single bite (representing the fact that it has bitten a chunk from the target) it retreats to digest the meal, and will no longer attack.
Each head resembles a 3’ wide split pod atop a 6’ long flexible stalk, and is lined with row upon row of dark 6” long thorns, and covered in a tough fibrous green bark.
As the PCs pass this location, they are subject to attack by 8 Xenogen Dart Spitters. There is no way to notice or avoid their attack, unless a PC was a specialist in Xenogen plantlife (which none of them are). Read the PCs the following: ‘As you creep along the mist-filled pathway, the air is suddenly filled with abrupt hissing sounds as dozens of short darts fill the air in a stinging hail!’
ST |
DX |
IN |
PW |
MR |
LF |
- |
+2 |
- |
0 |
- |
5 |
Attacks: 1 dart volley of 3 darts (1M)
Disadvantages: May only make a single attack. Cannot perceive stationary targets.
Special Abilities: Immune to the effects of camoderm, camocloaks, and most other forms of invisibility.
Description: Dart Spitters are large, beautiful lilac and crimson flowers, standing 3’ tall. Protruding from the center of their petalled heads are 3 long thorns. Any movement nearby, by any creature larger than an insect, will cause the head to swivel in that direction and fire its darts with a hiss of air. This is a defense mechanism, and it takes the Dart Spitter a full day to regrow a new set of darts.
As the PCs approach this location, have them make sight Perception tests (+1) to notice a single, vine-strewn tree up ahead, standing alone in a 20’ diameter clearing. If they pass or approach the tree within the clearing’s radius, read the following description:
‘Suddenly, the vines on the tree whip into life, lashing out towards you in an attempt to entangle!’
If no-one noticed the tree, but passed through the clearing, the tree can make a free attack on that character, with a +4 bonus (due to surprise) and the character may not dodge.
ST |
DX |
IN |
PW |
MR |
LF |
+3 |
0 |
-3 |
0 |
- |
50 (main trunk) 5 (each tentacle vine) |
AR: 3 (trunk only)
Disadvantages: none.
Special Abilities: none.
Description: Appearing as a large tree with small, triangular ochre leaves, Tentacle Trees are festooned with many thick vines. They guard a territory extending around their trunk up to 5 meters. Anything growing or moving in this area larger than an insect or grass, is grappled forcefully by the vines, lifted or uprooted, and thrown beyond the clearing.
While the tree can attack up to 20 targets at no penalty, it only ever uses a single vine on any single target. It attempts the grapple with a penalty of -2 to hit, and squeezes once for d6+3 damage. On the next round it throws the grappled target away, causing them 1M+3 damage.
Approaching this area, read the PCs the following:
‘The air has become notably damper as you progress, some of the leaves and foliage almost running with rivulets of water. The stench of rotting organic matter also increases sharply. Ahead of you, dozens of round-capped orange mushrooms, some 6’ tall, with green stalks, stand rooted in a vast heap of decomposing leaves.’
If the players pass or approach the Sporoids, read the following:
‘The mushrooms puff up in reaction to your movement, sending clouds of phosphorescent spores into the air’.
If the characters are robotic (such as Ironside) or are wearing rebreathers, the spores will not affect them. If anyone is not wearing a rebreather, they may make a DX roll to hold their breath and put one on. If they fail this, or do not do so, they must make a ST roll (-1) or take d6 damage from breathing the toxic spores.
ST |
DX |
IN |
PW |
MR |
LF |
- |
- |
- |
0 |
- |
5 |
Attacks: 1 spore blast (Make a ST roll or take d20 damage.) Disadvantages: Cannot perceive stationary targets. Special Abilities: Immune to the effects of camoderm, camocloaks, and most other forms of invisibility. DESCRIPTION: These large Xenogen puffball mushrooms, release clouds of toxic spores that easily kill any small animal life that moves near them. This animal then rots, and provides the growing Sporoids with nutrition.
‘You emerge from the pathway into a large clearing, and find yourself on the banks of a small lake, steaming with heat. The lake crosses the entire width of the dome, and is approximately 5 meters to the other bank. The waters are dark and impenetrable, and an ornately carved wooden bridge spans the water to the other side. Light from the translucent dome overhead falls in shafts through the mist, unimpeded by foliage’.
The PCs only suffer a -1 penalty on sight perception rolls while in the clearing.
The lake is too wide to jump for any character except Marcus.
Marcus’ bio-sensor (if used) will register 3 dozen small life forms in the water, moving slowly and en masse, backwards and forwards. In addition, it also registers a single human sized blip, stationary behind the trees on the other side of the bridge. This is Zak, lurking beneath a camocloak and hiding behind a tree.
PCs who say they’re peering closely at the location of the stationary blip may make a sight perception roll at -5. Those that succeed notice the tell-tale mismatch of coloration generated by a camocloak.
Before anyone can react, Zak spins around the tree and fires his blaster at a random character (at - 2 due to the mist). Unfortunately, return fire is difficult as he is obscured by cloak, tree and mist (- 5 to hit penalty).
If any of the PCs rush onto the bridge, read the next section:
Have the lead character across the bridge make a sight perception test (-5) to notice the hairline cut-marks in several of the timbers. If they fail, the timbers give way and they plummet towards the water. They have one chance to grab the bridge before they hit the water, and may make a DX test (-3) in order to do so.
If they fail, they hit the water, and must make a DX test or drop any hand-held weapon in the water). They have 1 round to get out before the Rippy fish shoal decides it’s time for lunch. They may make one single DX test on the next round ‘if’ someone extends them a hand. Otherwise, their only recourse is to wade out (which takes 2 rounds and subjects then to Rippy fish attacks for those two rounds). If they foolishly try to fish for their dropped weapon(s) they can make a DX roll each round (-3 due to the pain of being munched on) to try and locate them. Anyone who does so will notice the bones of a humanoid: the remains of Weezil, who Zak threw to the Rippy fish in a rage at the news of the PC’s arrival.
Rippy Fish
ST |
DX |
IN |
PW |
MR |
LF |
+3 |
0 |
-3 |
0 |
6 |
1 |
Attacks: Special shoal attack (see below).
Special Abilities: Shoal attack
Shoal Attack
A shoal of rippy fish swarms over its victims, biting at any exposed flesh. Anyone who isn’t totally encased in body armor will take 2d6 damage per round.
The shoal doesn’t need to roll to hit. Armor does apply. When you do damage to the shoal you kill one fish for every point of damage you inflict. Area effect weapons (such as grenades dropped in the water) will kill d20 fish for every square meter they affect.
Description: Xenogen carnivorous fish, Rippy fish hunt in shoals of anything from 1 dozen to several hundred. Almost unknown in Avernus (due to the almost complete lack of clean, hot water lakes) they attack anything that moves in their stretch of water. Each fish appears as little more than a large mouth filled with needle-like teeth, with a pair of small eyes, tail and fins.
As soon as a PC falls prey to the booby-trapped bridge, or makes it to the other side, Zak erupts from cover with a blood-curdling cry, going berserk as he charges at them in hand-to-hand combat!
Read the following:
‘The hulking form of Zak erupts from behind the tree, tearing off the camocloak in a fit of rage! He roars a blood-curdling cry to the heavens and charges at you, eyes blood-shot with madness, foam spitting from between clenched teeth!’
Try to be fast, abrupt and descriptive when detailing the fight. Describe his rageful bellowing, the whirring of his jagged buzzsaw hand and chainsword, his brutal hacking attacks. He will not attempt to dodge or parry, opting for all out attack.
Berserk as he is, if the PCs try to trick him tactically, the attempt will succeed. Zak can think of little beyond battering and slicing his opponents, and will even suicidally charge PCs who have their ranged weapons ready.
Make it clear to other characters that firing into the melee is not a good idea, as it’s just as likely they’ll hit a comrade in the confusion. Zak hacks at PCs randomly and maniacally, razor-wheel hand and chainsword swinging savagely, not concentrating on any single melee opponent.
This is a fast and frenetic fight to the finish. Zak will give no quarter and expects none, nor will he surrender.
When the PCs are victorious, read the following:
‘Zak’s ruined corpse falls to the ground, sending blood into the air from his wounds. His buzzsaw grinds to a slow halt, biting into the soil. You have eliminated a powerful opponent, and feel a profound sense of grim pride, despite the pain from your own wounds’.
This is were the HTML edition of the adventure ends. Give them 6 XP. Assume that the grateful villagers heal all their wounds, making them healthy for the next adventure. Next, they must cross the Wastes in search of the traders. If you go and pay (a mere) $5 for the book, that is.
Otherwise, adventure on to other places, and enjoy!
The HTML edition of Waste World Lite: A Fist Full of Credits is an edited down version of the published book, but still contains the WWL rules and a complete adventure ready to play. Waste World Lite is, in turn, an edited down version of Waste World: Role Playing in a Savage Future, which - so people tell us - is excellent and great fun to play.
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