SABOTAGE

SABOTAGE
SABOTAGE
SABOTAGE
SABOTAGE
SABOTAGE
SABOTAGE
SABOTAGE ON
SABOTAGE THE
SABOTAGE MAGNUM
SABOTAGE PLATEAU
SABOTAGE by s.murphy
SABOTAGE
SABOTAGE
SABOTAGE
SABOTAGE
SABOTAGE
SABOTAGE
SABOTAGE ON THE
MAGNUM PLATEAU
layout, writing by s.murphy
Introduction.
The 23rd annual Baxter Tech Show is set to be held on Sunday at the
Magnum Plateau, a massive convention centre that stands on a
bridge between two, twin skyscrapers. There, EagleFreight Shipping
Ltd. plan to unveil the next leap in transportation technology: their
high-speed atomic transponders, able to send packages across the
globe in seconds rather than months.

The Job.
Xanadu Incorporated are nervous. They don’t know about the
atomic transponders but have heard that Eaglefreight are launch-
ing something huge at the show. Already suffering from reduced
profits due to a bioweapon smuggling scandal, they worry that a
big announcement from their closest rival could put them out of
business permanently.

Gerald Packley, their representative, calls the PCs to a dive bar on

the night before the tech show and lays out the situation. Xanadu
Inc. is willing to pay the team 10kcr to:

Break into the tech show.

Find out what Eaglefrieght are planning to unveil.

Sabotage the presentation.

He stresses that whatever they do cannot be traced back to Xanadu

but that they’re otherwise free to approach the situation however
they wish.

3
The Baxter Towers.
Abbot and Adrian Baxter are the only surviving children of the late
Brendan Baxter, a billionaire who made his fortune by designing a
real estate speculation algorithm. The program, ValuBax, was able
to pinpoint optimal times to buy and sell, identify areas susceptible
to ‘intensive high return development’ (rapid gentrification), and
evaluate prospective tenants through their internet history, criminal
records, and spending habits, among other things. The boys once
had a sister, Andrea, with dreams of pushing BaxterTech in a more
equitable direction. Unfortunately, those dreams died away after a
fatal accident on a family skiing trip, and the company has stayed
much the same under her brother’s stewardship.

The two towers stand as a colossal monument to their wealth and

power, a constant reminder to the cityfolk of the landlords—no,
land-emperors that control their homes. Each is named after one
of the brothers respectively.

Exterior.
Smiling figures selling soda, videogames, and life insurance cover
the exterior of the the two towers, slowly rotating around in a circle,
carousel-style. These advertising spots go for top-dollar, there isn’t
a place in the city you can avoid the gaze of their dead-eyed
mascots. Behind the spinning holograms lie thick plates of
darkened, bulletproof glass. Hundreds of cameras pepper the
surface of the twins, giving the building’s security a 360 degree view
of the surrounding area.

4
Interior.
Residential and commercial suites take up the majority of the
interior floors, with every tenth being dedicated to resident-facing
businesses, such as grocery stores, clinics, cinemas, and restau-
rants. One could live their entire life here without ever having to leave
and indeed, many of those who maintain the structure do. A ‘perk’ of
working in the Baxter Towers are the accommodation and meal
tickets provided alongside their paltry salaries, a benefit shrewdly
constructed to disincentivise exiting the network.

Each floor is perfectly bland. Colourful enough to avoid complaint,

nothing more. Every sharp edge has been filed off. Imitation plants
stand post in the corners and flank elevators, earnestly imitating
species long gone. The wall art is abstract and seeks interpretation
but god knows if anyone has ever bothered.

Security.
All residents of the building wear special bracelets that constantly
monitor their location and vitals. Guests can obtain a temporary
bracelets for a small fee to the resident hosting them. These come
in three tiers: general, which allows access to all commercial and
residential floors of the building; maintenance, which also provides
access to janitorial closets, generators, and server rooms; and secu-
rity, which provides access to all areas of the building.

If the vital signs on any of the bracelets drops to a critical level, a

four man team is immediately dispatched to their location to check
up on them. This is how the Baxter building maintains a golden 0%
suicide rate despite attempts tripling the national average.

TRAITS - BAXTER SECURITY GUARD:

Equipment: Kevlar Vests, Handguns, and Batons.
Cyber: Reflex Enhancers - They always attack first.
Tactics: Well trained. The guards coordinate to flank enemies.

5
The Lobby.
A golden statue of Atlas, holding up a planet dotted with tiny
houses fills the centre of this open space, his furrowed brow
reflected back at him as he stares into the glossy marble floor. At
the far end of the room, a long desk houses five self help terminals
and one bored receptionist.

The terminals allow users to call residents over an intercom, provided

they have their floor and room number, or apply for accommodation.
The starting rate is 1200 per week, multiplied by the amount of
criminal convictions the applicant has, and a non-refundable two
month deposit is required. Applicants with no government issue ID or
who lack public social media profiles are denied.

The elevators, which provide the only way of accessing the rest of
the building, stand behind electronic turnstiles flanked by armed
security. The turnstiles spin when they detect a security bracelet
nearby but do so long enough that it’s possible for two people to
enter on one ping, if done so discreetly.

Katie, the Receptionist.

Appearance:
Face constantly contorted into a long grin, as if held hostage. Has
the patience of a saint, even when barraged by angry customers or
dealing with her sleazeball manager, Dave. A cup of coffee sits cold
on the desk she idly raps her acrylic nails against it.

Wants:
Something interesting to happen.
Any chance to get off work early without losing pay.
For Dave to stop hitting on her.

6
Floors 1 - 198.
d6 Random Encounters:

1) Old cleaning woman struggles to get back to her apartment.

She wasn’t able to afford the subscription cost for her
cybereyes this week and fears it’ll cost her her job.

2) Man in a patterned green suit strides down the centre of the

hallway carrying a binder choked with papers. If anyone gets
in his way, he trips over and documents billow onto the floor
as he screams at the obstructor.

3) Strong smell of weed emanating from one of the rooms.

Pillows have been stuck against the bottom of the door to
hide the scent but it hasn’t done much.

4) Pained yelping coming from behind an apartment door.

Inside, a dog slowly starves to as it’s owner continues his
multi-day sim binge.

5) Pair of BaxterTech Security guards unhurriedly checking the

scanners for each apartment.

6) Fellow runner doing a bad impression of a

maintenance man while attempting to break into the
ventilation system. Wears a groucho-style moustache and
carries a big clipboard. Mumbles about testing the tensile
strength of the bolts and placing rat traps when questioned.

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Floor -1 | Security.
Security level access required.

-1/A | Monitoring:
The smell of old popcorn permeates through the air. Pale men sit
around the circular room, their greasy faces illuminated by the glow
of the monitors. Collectively, the screens provide a comprehensive
view of the area around the tower, with surround sound to boot.
One of the guards sleepily watches a cylindrical hologram in the
centre of the room as hundreds of glowing green dots swarm
around it’s insides.

-1/B | Server Stack:

A family of chirping obelisks stand in a perfect grid, kept alive by
unsorted power cords hanging from the ceiling. The door is usually
kept closed as the sound drives the guards nuts.

-1/C | Armoury:
A long corridor of armour and rifles, gated by a heavy mechanical
door. No special password is required for entry but each access is
logged, along with a headshot of the accessor. Opening the door
also immediately sends out an SOS to the local authorities. The
equipment here is serviced often and used rarely, reserved for siege
situations and other major threats.

8
 B
C

A
Floor -1

Floor -2 | Generator.
Maintenance level access or greater required. 50% chance 1d4
building staff are performing maintenance on the generators.

Three things immediately strike anyone entering this floor: the

stench, the sound, and the heat. The generators, which continually
shriek at earsplitting levels, are watercooled by the buildings
sewage. This somewhat works but the place is still uncomfortably
warm and reeks of piss. Secured by a heavy padlock from the
inside, a metal door provides direct access to the sewers.

9
Floor 199 | The Magnum
Plateau and Trade Show.
Floor 199, the Magnum Plateau, glides atop a sprawling ocean of
cloud. The weather here is always perfect, for the rain cannot climb
this high. Climate sickness is nullified by periodically placed vents,
which pump oxygen and mood stimulant into the air. Underfoot,
golden lighting beneath the glass floor casts everything in a
beautiful glow. Only the moon stands above. The rest - the rabble,
the noise, the pollution - fades away below, buried beneath the
pillowy white.

Here, the crew are expected to mingle around, look for an

opportunity to sabotage EagleFreight, and potentially pilfer some
of the expensive, experimental technology on showcase for
themselves. Security has been bumped for the event: Baxter
Security Guards (pg.5) roam the edges of the show in pairs,
keeping an eye out for trouble, while a designated team down in
Floor -1 monitors the crowd from above, watching from security
cameras mounted atop the stage in 199/C. Local law enforcement
have been bribed to wait on-call with drones and helicopters in the
event of a major incident.

E
E
A1
B3
A2
B1 C C3
A4
A3 B2

C1/2

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199/A | The Stalls.
This area is the core bread and butter of the trade show: alleys of
corporate stands showcasing exciting new tech to prospective
investors. Suits waddle up and down the aisles like oversized
penguins, ooh-ing and aah-ing at the flashy displays. Servers deftly
pierce through the masses, carrying trays of hors d’oeuvres and
strong cocktails. The Baxters know a little alcohol can do wonderful
things for the old ROI.

A1 | Entertainment.
1. Company: Prisma Ltd. 2. Company: Beyond Entertainment
Product: Hyper-Realistic 3d Product: Post-human, godlike
projector. The floating models are SimChip experiences. Existing
indistinguishable from physical Sims have merely sought to
objects and shift around in the air replicate existing creatures and
when prodded. Marketed flexibly scenarios, but Beyond believes
to be as much of a childrens toy that they can create spiritually
as a board room aide. transcendent scenarios that would
Salesperson: Gary Greenwich. make their users feel like gods.
A charming, well groomed man. Phrases like ‘superwellness’ and
Confident and persuasive about ‘ultramindfulness’ are plastered
the product but clearly has no idea around the booth between dry
how it actually works. lists of potential mental
health benefits.
Salesperson: Zach Gelberman.
Bespeckled, nerdy, and excited
about the product. Struggling to
field questions from religious
investors concerned that the chip
might be blasphemous.

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A2 | Health and Medicine.
1. Company: Telanen 3. Company: CadaverCorp Ltd.
Health Services Product: Instant euthanasia
Product: Spray on bandages. mixture. Upon insertion into the
A thick, white liquid that patient, total brain death occurs
sprays out of individually within 5 seconds. The company
packed, single use bottles. touts it as an ethical way of
Hardens quickly and seals over efficiently slaughtering livestock.
wounds while numbing Demonstrations upon mice are
the affected area. performed for the crowds
Salesperson: Chub Beaverton. every five minutes.
A disconcerting, dour-looking man Salesperson: Sophia Dior.
sporting a particularly egregious Nervous and noticeably younger
comb-over. Enjoys stabbing the than most of the trade show
example dummy a little bit attendants. She took this job to
too much. pay tuition bills but is struggling
to stomach the constant rodent
2. Company: Gaverton executions she’s been forced
Worker Solutions to perform.
Product: Emotion suppressant
pills. These are not just upmarket 4. Company: Deja Who?
antidepressants, they numb Product: Retrograde Amnesia-
emotion in all directions - no joy, no Inducers. A single one of these
sadness, anger or lust. The booth spherical, black pills wipes the last
doesn’t mention their problematic 24 hours from the mind, leaving
side effect: when emotion only a painful brain fog. Marketed
returns after a week, it does as a way avoid PTSD and other
so twice as strong for a day or expensive mental health
so, driving some into intense conditions after workplace
depressive episodes. accidents and armed robberies.
Salesperson: Melanie Hoss. Salesperson: Chuck Presley.
Stonefaced and perfectly calm. Seedy and leering. His checker
She’s being used as an example of brown suit leaves him looking
the product’s effects. like an overdressed used car
salesman. Has “misplaced” some
of the product for his own
use later.

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A3 | Militech and Security.
1. Company: Aramand Logistics 3. Company: Intergrade International.
Product: Private military Product: A host of plug and play
contracting. Aramand covers all weapon attachments for all major
bases: personal security, firearm brands. Stock includes:
intercorporate terrorism, AI-assisted range finders, total
paramilitary death squads, you suppressors, and self recycling
name it. If you’ve got the credits, magazines. These are laid out
they can put a squad of hired across the table surrounding a
guns anywhere on the planet in display-mounted rifle
less than 48 hours. for demonstration.
Salesperson: Linda Leikenhoff. Salesperson: Angus Barclay.
Million dollar smile with a million Home defence enthusiast and
dollar suit. Uses her hands a lot weapons fetishist. Heavy, nigh-
when talking. Doing her best unintelligble Scottish accent.
to upsell the companies Usually a downtrodden, serious
“Ultimate Discretion” man but lights up when talking to
anti-whistleblower package. fellow gun nuts.

2. Company: Aigo-Gabbana Inc. 4. Company: The Mercury

Product: The worlds first “psycho- Corporation.
ballistic” firearm. This small Product: The HE1.1 suit: a sleek,
handgun, which outwardly white, armour-plated exoskeleton.
resembles a barcode scanner, fires Shoulder-mounted with heavy
electromagnetic pulses which weaponry and able to lift objects
produce horrifying images into the up to 10 times it’s weight. The
minds of enemy combatants. The head piece of the suit is tall and
visuals created vary by individual conical, casting a long shadow
and often include their loved ones. over the surrounding crowd. Roars
Salesperson: Hunter Anderson. like a lion when exerting.
Shaved head and straight posture Salesperson: Magnus Mccarthy.
—clearly ex-military. Speaks in Confident and showboating, with
short, sharp sentences. Has a his squat, wiry body hidden away
quick temper for ethical questions. inside the machine. Makes a show
of the suits strength by picking
up Plateau staff and using
them as dumbbells.

13
A4 | Computer Science and Hardware.
1. Company: Gilligan Neurotech Ltd. be loaded onto the drives or
Product: The ThoughtLink: A brain deleted off of them, but cannot be
chip that allows companies to extracted. Access to read the
create mental-orientated reward stored information is pulse-gated—
structures for employees. The irretrievable if the host passes
implant monitors the users away. Ideal for company secrets.
thought-processes at all times and Salesperson: Ted Zhang.
sends a notification when specific A tall, stern-faced man. Drew the
time-based conditions are met. short stick in a team meeting and
The text next to a model of the was forced to present tonight. He
product reads: “Outside of working grows frustrated when investors
hours, when an employee spends don’t see the utility in the product,
time considering ways that they grinding his teeth and
can improve their work, the growing red faced.
employer is notified so that they
can reward them with bonuses and 3. Company: The Lako Group
compensation. Meanwhile, during Product: Complaint management
work hours, if the users thoughts algorithm. Analyses user feedback
veer into harmful ideas like against factors like legal
collective action or alternative job- culpability, potential for media
searching, the company is notified sensationalism, and competitor
so that they can take action to services to suggest whether action
defend themselves”. is necessary. A gaudy, star shaped
Salesperson: Eliza Alberach. stick proclaims that it “prevents
Clear spoken and highly unnecessary improvements
knowledgeable about the product. in 99% of cases!“
Heavy cyber covers her face above Salesperson: Glenda Dupont.
a stainless novelty labcoat. Speaks animatedly, with great
emphasis. Her sales technique is
2. Company: Severin to bamboozle potential investors
Storage Specialists by drowning them in impressive
Product: Secure, nail-grafted sounding, but largely irrelevant,
micro-hard drives. These figures and statistics.
transparent 10tb memory chips are
designed to be invisibly plated
onto the back of a nail. Data can

14
199/B | Sponsored Displays.
The Baxters have more than enough credits to throw an event of this
size by themselves but the presence of megacorporate sponsors
brings a necessary air of legitimacy to the operation. Their deeming
of the show as something worthy of their presence brings with it the
small army of gullible bottom feeders who follow their every move.
These “individual investors” - forum denizens and economic reply
guys with more time and money than sense - make perfect marks
for the stalls. The irony is that the so called “sponsorship” is a sham.
The megacorps only show up because the Baxters pay them to.

B1 | Hydra Motors Concept Car.

A sleek, overdesigned concept car spins upon a circular podium. It’s
chrome paint has been polished to the point that it might be barely
visible, were it not for it’s smoky tinted windows. The body lays
inches from the ground, with long side boards that obscure it’s tank-
style tread wheels. The display doesn’t attempt to sell the car, but
rather an idea of what the future might hold for the automotive
industry - apparently, a future without curbs, speedbumps, or minor
inclines.

15
B2 | Buzz Energy Rave Booth.
Middle aged men and women let loose by flailing their arms to
post-synth remixes of past-century greatest hits. Interspersed
within the crowd, anthropomorphised energy cans hand out Buzz
Ultra™ to anyone who will take them. Above, a DJ in a silver, domed
helmet ineffectively tries to work the crowd; “Can I get a buzzzz?”,
“I wanna see some hands in the air!”, “Who’s excited for the Buzz
Ultra launch?”. The punters ignore him, too drunk to listen to the
babbling cyborg.

B3 | Tender Jack’s Whisky Bar.

Bailey, the organiser of this display and whisky enthusiast, is having
a bad night. She went to great lengths to organise the plush
seating, the hand carved bar, and the live jazz band on short notice.
These efforts were meant create a refined, luxury atmosphere but
have been thwarted by the endless thump of bass spilling over
from B2. To make matters worse, many of the attendants are
already shitfaced from the free cocktails and not exactly in the
headspace to appreciate a fine bourbon. She leans against the bar,
head in hands.

Bailey, Whisky Sommelier.

Appearance:
Thick black bags weigh down two glassy magnification cybereyes. She
moves about in a hunched-up hobble. A rusting “best sour in show”
badge from several years ago droops sadly upon her breast pocket.

Wants:
To get the DJ in B2 to turn down the music. She’s gone over
several times to protest but he’s simply pretended he cannot hear
her. Bailey pays 1kcr, or offers an equivalent favour, to anyone
who can find a way to get the noise down.

16
199/C | The Stage.
A massive fibreglass stage dominates this space. For most of the
show, it stands closed off by two tall display panels, displaying a
countdown and ready to rotate into their slots when the
presentation begins. Rows of candlelit glass tables stand facing the
decreasing timer as investors await the main event: the EagleFreight
showcase.

At 6:30 PM Sunday, EagleFreight will unveil the next leap in postage

technology; an instantaneous atomic transporter, or, more simply, a
teleporter. This reveal will completely decimate existing shipping
structures, putting thousands out of work, and cement EagleFreight
as the logistics provider of the 22nd century. That is, unless the PCs
get their mitts on the prototype first.

C1 | Stage Entrance.
Barred off by a metal door which only opens when presented with a
EagleFreight-linked bracelet (pg.5). Inside, a set of creaky stairs lead
up towards the greenroom. The railing is caked in a layer of dust. A
green storage closet sits tucked underneath, containing cleaning
chemicals and a well stocked toolbox.

17
C2 | Green Room.
Entirely illuminated by the long beauty mirrors that cover most of the
eastern wall. Their golden glow spills upon the once-bright red
carpet, which is showing it’s age after years of abuse. A smell of
spilt wine lingers about. The shelves that lie in front of the leather
egg chairs are packed with balms, blushes, lipsticks, liners,
concealers, creams, and contours. Just as many decay half-used in
a garbage bag by the door.

Before 6pm, there is a 1-in-2 chance 1d4+1 EagleFreight staff will be

around, preparing for the evening. Between 6pm and when he goes on
stage, Alfred Pierce, the CEO of EagleFreight, sits inside the green
room as his assistants doll him up for the presentation.

C3 | Stage.
As long and wide as a basketball court. Huge floodlights spill down
upon the teleporters: bulky, awkward things that take up most of the
room’s centre. Each is comprised of a tall glass cylinder accompa-
nied by a stack of components—power supplies, processors, and
antennas bearing their wire organs freely. The machines are clearly
prototypes with no protective housing, labelling or branding.

Before 6PM 2d6+2 EagleFreight engineers tirelessly work away at the

prototypes. Calibrating, testing, and calibrating again. They take no
breaks and barely talk amongst themselves, knowing that this is the
big day for the most important project of their careers. At 6PM, they
finish up for Pierce to begin the presentation at 6:30.

18
Disruption.
Disabling either of the teleporters is easy and only requires pulling
out a few wires and screwing with the controls. Doing so takes
around 5 minutes. Once done, there is a 1-in-4 chance each hour
that one of the engineers notices the problem and fixes it. More per-
manent damage to the machines, such as smashing components or
frying the electronics, is also an option but results in a full building
lockdown if uncovered. In either case, if the meddling is unnoticed,
the presentation goes on as planned until Alfred Pierce attempts to
showcase the technology and it fails to turn on, resulting in massive
embarrassment for the company.

A character who is knowledgeable in engineering and rolls well to

understand the teleporter can sabotage the machine instead of
merely breaking it. This is unnoticeable by the engineers but
requires half an hour of unimpeded access to the teleporter. When
successful, the presentation occurs with the machine switching on
as expected. However, when Pierce steps into the machine, he fails
to appear on the other side of the stage, but rather, simply
disappears. The showcase ends up being a total disaster and the
negative press (as well as the loss of their CEO), prevents
EagleFreight from ever redeveloping the technology.

19
d10 Scenes from the Showfloor:
roll every 20 minutes, in game time
1. A drunken brawl breaks out between two attendees after a disagreement
concerning the greatest Post Neo-Classical composers. The ruckus only
lasts for around 20 seconds before security drags them out kicking
and screaming.

2. One of the PCs is pulled aside by a dealer who tries to sell them drugs at
10x street price.

3. A pre-teen in an oversized suit, brought to this event to learn the family

buisness, manages to snatch the ‘psycho-ballistic firearm’ off the table
while Hunter (A3.2) isn’t looking. The boy darts around, giggling
maniacally as he fires away at unsuspecting passersby. Hunter tries to
chase him down but is brain-blasted repeatedly.

4. Screams fill the air as an attendee trips on his shoelace and tumbles
over the railng. A brief panic ensues until, 15 seconds later, a drone
lifts the man by the collar and dumps him unceremoniously onto
the show floor.

5. A man in a blue suit and red sunglasses sidles up to the PCs and attempts
to sell them a timeshare on a cottage out in the countryside. The cottage
does not actually exist so he makes up the details as he goes along.

6. A flock of paper thin ultra-light gliders perform a synchronised

demonstration. They dip and burst from the clouds like multicolour
dolphins. One man in the crowd mumbles to his wife: “I bet I could land
one of those.”