Suitable Campaign Age: Golden, Dark, or Cinematic

Adventure Tone: Inspirational Action-Adventure

Recommended Power Level: Low or Classic

Content Warning: The following adventure explores addition and how it can be exploited. There are also elements of body horror.

Overview

Last month’s arsons were only a prelude to what is coming. Kai Frost, a Nu-Men veteran of the Lensing Conflict has gone missing, and he’s not the only one. Five known Be-Men and Nu-Men have all disappeared within days of each other. Why, though? Something is happening, and people just aren’t seeing it. Can you get to the bottom of these disappearances before it’s too late?

Oil Supply, Part1

Note: GMs not using the Metahumans Rising setting may need to adjust elements of this adventure to fit their campaign timelines and settings.

Catch Up

Following the events of A Little Fix, this is an opportunity for personal scenes. Some heroes may be following up on leads from A Little Fix, while others may be trying to get back to their normal lives. Below are some avenues of investigation.

What Happened to the Dead Heads? Roll: Expression + Street Smarts, Expert (20) Difficulty

Failure: There are no indications of them setting up a new lab.
Partial: The word is, they’ve gone to ground.
Success: Something has leaders within the gang spooked. People on the street aren’t sure, but if the Dead Heads are worried, it’s got a lot of other people nervous.
1 Degree: They’re not the only gang pulling back. The word is that all the major gangs are prepping for war.

Now We Have Giant Robots? Roll: Wisdom + Science, Engineering, or Study: Global Politics, Advanced (25) Difficulty

Failure: Those were indeed giant robots.
Partial: There are only a few companies with technology like this, the Institute of Metahuman Research (IMR) being the most predominant in the US. However, their focus is on power armor, not autonomous robots.
Success: Global Environmental Operations (GEO) used similar robots in the Battle of Suceava, formally part of Romania, when they declared themselves an independent corporate state. GM’s if heroes located the candy wrapper on The Green Road you may want to remind them here.
1 Degree: While under an international trade embargo, somehow GEO manages to export weapons along with their Strajă robots to parties around the world.
2 Degrees: The Strajă are GEO’s premiere military robot with a Multiphasic Force Array that allows them to adapt to virtually any combat situation, or Metahuman vulnerability. Whoever brought them in has deep pockets.

Game of Thorns

If the heroes are able to talk down Thorn:

Thorn will turn himself over to the police and comply with any requests. Charged with one count of Reckless Burning, and one count of Malicious Arson, he faces between four to fifteen years in prison. Thorn’s old girlfriend Gina Jones will help him post bail. As a sign of his rehabilitation, Thorn will willingly register with the BMA, which allows him access to their legal defense team.

It takes six months for his case to be resolved. Due to his arrangement between the local DA’s office and the BMA, he pleads out before ever standing trial. As part of his plea agreement, Thorn agrees to four years of community service under BMA supervision. Any violation of his community service agreement will result in a fifteen year sentence to be served in the Metahuman prison Black Mountain, without the possibility for parole.

If the heroes were not able to talk down Thorn:

While awaiting trial, Thorn is kept in an MCPD maximum security cell. He is charged with two counts of Aggravated Malicious Arson, facing between six and thirty years in prison. His trial is on the thirty day anniversary of the apartment fire. It is swift, taking only three days, and after a fourth day of deliberation, Thorn is sentenced to twenty two years in Black Mountain prison.

Bonus Scene

GMs may want to spice this up with an attempted breakout attempt by other Black Dragons.

Courthouse Calamity

Stakes: The courthouse is damaged and Dougie Thorn escapes.
Size 3 – State Court Building
Ferocity 4 – A gang of super jocks + the enhanced Thorn
Target 40
Damage 7
Success Threshold 11
Starting Advantage 6
Notes: A Successful Expression + Etiquette + Law will help rally the law enforcement officers on site granting the heroes a +10 to one Roll each Turn.

If Thorn escapes, the GM can inject him into later scenes.

If the heroes are successful, reduce the size of the final Black Dragons mob in the scene Showdown by 1 Size Category.

The Disappearance of Kai Frost

After failing to appear as a veterans event, people begin looking for a missing hero from the Lensing Conflict. Within hours the news spreads across the globe, Kai Frost is missing.

Who is Kai Frost?

GM Note: This can be considered general knowledge, or included in any news stories.

Over a decade ago the earth extraterrestrials attempted to conquer earth. During the Lensing Conflict, the battle for the planet, a scientist and supervillain known as Harbinger leveraged his genetic mastery to create an army of super soldiers. Within his forces were the Be-Men, humans spliced with animal DNA granting them extraordinary traits and abilities, and the Nu-Men, Harbinger’s human 2.0.

Prior to the war Frost had served as a Staff Sergeant in the US Marine Corp, until an improvised explosive device ended his military career. Harbinger offered not only to heal his body, but make him stronger than ever before, at a price. Frost helped to train Harbinger’s troops leading up to the conflict. Then in the Lensing Conflict he helped lead those troops in the battle of Panama City, Freeport, and the Louisiana push. Like other members of Harbinger’s army, he was exonerated for his crimes prior to the war as part of the bargain struck with the scientist.

Unlike most Be-Men and Nu-Men that remained on earth after the conflict, Frost did not fade away, but became an outspoken advocate for Veterans Affairs, and support for wounded soldiers in the US, becoming something of a minor celebrity.

Investigating Frost’s Home

The news is flooded with images of his home having been ransacked. Partition walls are destroyed, and load bearing walls show serious damage. These dramatic images are consistent to the damage to furniture and other items within the home.

The police have a minor security detail at the crime scene by the time the heroes arrive. Depending on the heroes’ relationship with the police, officers may let them in, or the heroes will need to talk, sneak, or otherwise find a way to the crime scene.

If a Roll is required, use an Expert (20) Difficulty.

Locating Evidence, Roll: Sense + Forensics, Very Advanced (30) Difficulty.

Failure: The heroes come to the same conclusions as the police, there is too much chaos to make any sort of sense from the crime scene.
Partial: It appears that attackers came through the front and back doors at the same time, both doors being broken in.
Success: For all the destruction, there is a surprising lack of blood.
1 Degree: Embedded in one of the cratered walls is a brown, snake-like, scale that the police overlooked.
2 Degrees: Based on the pattern of destruction, Frost not only didn’t go down without a fight, before finally being captured. There is a tiny amount of yellow liquid mixed with blood on the corner of the stove. It is pushed around facing away from the shattered counter. (Heroes can make an Intelligence + Animal Handling Roll, Expert (20) Difficulty, to identify it as snake venom.)
3 Degrees: Behind the stove is a snake-like fang, the size of a human’s tooth and root.

Other Disappearances, Roll: Wisdom + Law + Research, Very Advanced (30) Difficulty.

Failure: There are rumors of other people who have gone missing. F-Board, a Metahuman discussion board, is flooded with rumors of kidnappings and BMA plots.
Partial: This isn’t the first time a Nu-Men has gone missing. Rumors of Harbinger’s Children being targeted have circulated for years after the Lensing Conflict.
Success: There have been four recent kidnappings, within the last week, in addition to Frost, all of them Be-Men or Nu-Men.
1 Degree: Two of the victims show signs of attacks similar to Kai Frost.
2 Degrees: In the deposition of a witness, who overheard the crime, her neighbor was streaming: You junkies can’t have my $@^% blood.

Tracking The Kidnappers, Roll: Intelligence + Street Smarts + Tracking, Hard (55) Difficulty.

Reduce the Difficulty by 5 for each Degree of Success on Locating Evidence, and for two Degrees of Success on Other Disappearances.

Failure: Whoever did this is doing their level best to hide their tracks.
Partial: The word on the Street is it’s the Black Dragons, but whoever is bankrolling them these days has any hint of where they might be locked down.
Success: The heroes are able to determine that the Black Dragons must be attempting to recreate the original Snake Oil.
1 Degree: Realizing that the Black Dragons will need a lab of some type, the heroes can locate three possible locations where they may have set up. Allow the heroes a second Hard Roll, this time with Fortune + Intuition + Science. On a Successful roll, they hit the right location first, see: Lab War, on a Failed or Partial roll, see Tick, Tick.
2 Degrees: Reduce the Difficulty of the Fortune Roll above by 5, do so again for each additional Degree of Success.

Tick, Tick

The first location the heroes investigate is a bust. However, the Suit is monitoring these locations as bait. Upon seeing the heroes investigating he will move their operations again.

The heroes will find the Black Dragon lab, if they keep looking. However, it has been rigged with explosives.

Roll, Fortune + Intuition, Challenging (45) Difficulty

Note: If the heroes had a Partial Success in locating the lab, reduce the Difficulty by 5.

Failure: The hero is caught completely unaware, when the lab explodes. Take three hits, against Surprised Defense, at 12 Damage each. Armor applies normally. The first two hits are from explosions, the last is from the building collapsing.
Partial: The hero may roll their Active Surprised Defense, on a 45 they avoid one of the Attacks, for each Additional Degree, they avoid another. For any 6s rolled increase their Armor as Normal.
Success: The hero has a bad feeling, and may roll their Normal Active Defense as with Partial.
1 Degree: The hero reacts fast enough they may take the Defend Others Action for sic hits, and protect an ally.
2 Degrees: Cautious enough, the hero can completely get out of the explosion in time, or rescue someone else.
3 Degrees: Rescue an additional hero.

Lab War

The heroes are able to locate the Black Dragon’s lab. While they like to stick to gyms, and fitness centers, they needed scientific equipment, and so they have commandeered an old medical testing facility. Their backer has set up some extra defenses as well, to slow down any intruders.

The lab is guarded by TRAIDs, spider-like drones capable of hiding in tight spaces, and fire blasts of concussive energy. Inside, a team of scientists work on reverse engineering Snake Oil along with a group of Black Dragons.

GEO Tactical Reconnaissance Assault and Infiltration Drone – TRAID (Classic Spider Drone + Advanced + Reinforced + Shooter + Sneak + Maneuver Specialist 2 + Talented + Mobile)

Basic Rolls 12 + 3d6

Stamina 18

Defense 9 Dice 2 Armor 3

Offense Energy Cannons 18 Dice 4 Range Long Damage 12

Offense Timed Blasts 14 Dice 5 Range Long Damage 12 Notes Attack and Stealth or Attack and Move.

Perception 21 Dice 4

Stealth 18 Dice 4

Mobile: Move one Range Increment Each Turn for free.

Major Mob

Basic Rolls 12 + 3d6

Stamina 18/18/18

Defense 9 Dice 2 Armor 5/7/9

Offense Energy Cannons 23/28/33 Dice 4 Range Long Damage 12

Offense Timed Blasts 19/24/29 Dice 5 Range Long Damage 12 Notes Attack and Stealth or Attack and Move.

Perception 21 Dice 4

Stealth 18 Dice 4

Mobile: Move one Range Increment Each Turn for free.

A Major Mob of TRAID are hidden outside the lab. A Sense + Perception Roll, Very Laborious (40) Difficulty will detect them from their hiding spots. Heroes can sneak in undetached with a Dexterity + Stealth Roll of the same Difficulty.

Once engaged the drones will use their timed blasts to keep heroes off guard, and out of the building.

Turn 2: The scientists act with an Initiative of 15, and will begin uploading data and preparing to leave.

Turn 3: If the heroes are outside the Black Dragons will join the fray.

Upgraded Black Dragons (Classic Super Mutant + Advanced + Brawler + Tough + Striker)

Members of Snake Jocks have fully transitioned and while they lack the power of Grendel, Anthony Smalls, they all possess a degree of super strength and toughness in addition to various tentacle-like mutations. Unlike other Jocks, these members of the Black Dragons are armed with blasters and other devices to enhance their fighting ability.

Basic Rolls 12 + 3d6

Mob Stamina 18

Defense 24 Dice 4 Armor 6

Offense Blasters 12 Dice 3 Range Short Damage 6

Offense Overbearing strength 24 Dice 5 Range Close Damage 12

Typical Mob

Basic Rolls 12 + 3d6

Mob Stamina 18/18

Defense 24 Dice 4 Armor 8/10

Offense Blasters 17 Dice 3 Range Short Damage 6

Offense Overbearing strength 29/34 Dice 5 Range Close Damage 12

Turn 4: The scientists have not been engaged by this turn, they will escape.

The Fall of Anaconda Jones

The Black Dragons have realized the missing ingredient and that’s the venom of Anaconda, one of the members of the Brood (Metahumans Rising core book, page 140). The Brood are currently residing in the clubhouse of an abandoned golf course close to the downtown area. The raid is quick and brutal, with Black Dragons along with a group of Strajă robots blowing the roof off and taking down Mock first to get to Anaconda.

In the attack, the Black Dragons will release Detritus (Metahumans Rising core book, page 142) who will move out into the city reeking havoc once Mock is no longer there to control it. This is where the heroes come in.

During or after the battle with Detritus, the heroes can make an Average (15) Sense + Tracking roll to trace the path of destruction to the source. If the heroes do this during the fighting, Mock will agree to get Detritus under control, if the heroes let his team go. With an Advanced (25) Expression + Etiquette roll, he will also recount the attack. Reduce the Difficulty by 5, if the heroes get him to subdue Detritus.

GM Option: To mix things up, you can allow the players to take the role of the Brood in the raid, before switching to their characters to stop Detritus. In this instance, There is a Major Mob of Upgraded Black Dragons, along with a Strajă robot for each of them. They will be aware of Gargoyle’s vulnerability to Sound & Vibration.

Strajă Robot (High Powered (Typical Mob) + Advanced + Devastating + Equipment 3 + Giant + Reinforced + Brawler + Shooter + Striker + Tough + Cluster)

Developed by GEO, these towering robots maintain the company’s Romanian and Ukrainian borders. They are also one of GEO’s bestselling weapons. Designed with an array of weapons, near invulnerable body and adaptive combat algorithms it is a deadly tool for those that can afford them. Standing at just under 15 meters, Strajă Robots are easy targets but tough to take down.

Basic Rolls 16 + 3d6

Stamina 36/36

Defense Crystiliam Fiber Body 12 Dice 4 Armor 10/12

Offense Luminescent Canon 29/34 Dice 4 Range Long Damage 20 Note Close Explosive Radius

Offense Multiphasic Force Array 29/34 Dice 4 Range Long Damage 16 Note Alternate Source May be used 3 Times (Equipment)

Offense Close Combat Protocols 37/42 Dice 5 Range Close Damage 16

Brand New

Things go quite following the abduction of Anaconda. Anyone with Street Smarts can pick up that the Brood is somewhere, licking their wounds from the attack. It’s no real leap of faith as soon as they know where Anaconda is being held, reprisals are coming. Worse, if the Black Dragon’s were hard to find before, they are like ghosts now, until…

Construction Clash

With a new batch of Snake Oil, the Black Dragons want to test their new resolve, and striking an easy target for testing, a Union controlled construction site. They’re not the largest gang in the city, and they mostly keep to themselves, but they have industrial equipment the Black Dragons can play with to test their mettle.

The battle takes place at a construction site in an industrial park. About half the workers are Union members. The Union themselves are not a real threat to the Black Dragons. However, they have access to articulated trenchers, backhoe loaders, cranes, and forklifts, and this is what the Black Dragons want to test.

When the heroes arrive, the Black Dragons and Union are locked into battle. The Union use loaders and forklifts to try and keep the Dragons at bay, while using the trenchers and saw and bash at them. There are a number of construction workers trapped in the middle of this, and the Black Dragons are throwing I-Beams and other construction material and equipment around threatening to collapse the emerging structure.

Pick Up Sticks

Stakes: The building frame collapses with people inside.
Size 3 – Industrial Construction Site
Ferocity 5 – Two gangs, one super powered, the other with a knack for construction equipment.
Target 40
Damage 8
Success Threshold 11
Starting Advantage 7
Notes: The Union are not interested in protecting the heroes and while not attacking them will not attempt to avoid them either. A Successful Expression + Etiquette or Mental + Negotiation roll will sway them to work with the heroes. Reduce the Ferocity by 1 and roll a D6 each Turn, on a 6, the heroes gain a free Success.

The Black Dragons are bold, but will try to escape if things go poorly here. Captured members of the gang will seem far calmer and lucid than in prior encounters. They are not cooperative and if asked where they operations are now, will give an ominous warning, it’s too late.

It Is To Be War!

The heroes will receive an “anonymous” tip about the Black Dragons moving material to a private airfield outside the city. While whoever is tipping off the heroes doesn’t reveal themselves, it’s clearly a member of the Union who was at the Construction Clash, and is aware of how dangerous the Black Dragons have become.

The Union aren’t the only ones who have located the Black Dragons and Mock is not wasting any time. Negotiating a coalition between the Dead Heads and the Union, he’s bringing all he can to bear to this airfield for a reckoning and rescue.

The Set Up, Part 1: The Suit and his forces

The airfield is guarded by a Major Mob of TRAIDs and six Strajă Robots. (If the optional Brood Ambush scene was played out, reduce this number by any that were destroyed.)

This is the front line preventing anyone from getting inside the airfield. Behind them, One Range Increment, are several trucks that the Black Dragons are unloading. Three Range Increments from them is the cargo plane. Engaging with the front line kicks off a counter for loading the plane, see below.

Anaconda, Frost, and the other kidnapped Metahumans are being transported by a group of scientists, along with the Snake Oil research. They are all wearing inhibitor collars and are restrained.

There are also two Major Mobs of Black Dragons.

If the Courthouse Calamity scene occurred and the heroes were successful, reduce one Mob size to Typical. If the heroes failed, Thorn is also present.
If the heroes defeated the Black Dragons in Lab War reduce one Mob size to Typical.
If the Scientists escaped Lab War in use the Perfected Black Dragons Below, otherwise use Upgraded Black Dragons.

Perfected Black Dragons (Classic Super Mutant + Advanced 2 + Brawler + Tough + Striker + Talented 3)

The Snake Oil created by GEO is far superior to the Brood’s original formula. This has made the Black Dragons far more dangerous. With far more reptilian features, the Dragons are a force to be reckoned with.

Basic Rolls 15 + 4d6

Mob Stamina 18

Defense 27 Dice 5 Armor 6

Offense Venom Spit 15 Dice 4 Range Short Damage 6

Offense Overbearing strength 27 Dice 6 Range Close Damage 12

Offense Something Very Heavy 22 Dice 6 Range Close Damage 19 Notes Requires one action to pick up.

Brawn 24 Dice 5

Scrounging 24 Dice 5

Improvised Weapons 33 Dice 6

The Suit is present as well. If the heroes have played Weapons Test and the Omega Battle Armor was taken, use the stat block there adding the following: Talented 4: Escape Artist, Etiquette, Negotiations, Tactics. If the heroes have not played Weapons Test, or were able to secure the Omera Battle Armor, instead he will pilot a Strajă manually.

In either case, he will focus on protecting the scientists, shuttling the captured Metahumans and new Snake Oil into the awaiting cargo plane.

The cargo and victims move One Range Increment per Turn. One Turn 3 they will load into the cargo plane. On Turn 5 it will take off.

If the battle goes south the Suit will flee as soon as it’s obvious that his side is losing.

The cargo plane has Armor 12 and Stamina 80 across two locations, cockpit and cargo. The plane can still fly if the cargo section is breached, but taking out the cockpit will disable the vehicle. On Turn 5 it will move 1 Range Increment, on each subsequent Turn increase this 1 Range Increment, until reaching 5 per Turn.

Notes:

The black Dragons will shield the scientists and the Suit. For this battle give the Black Dragons the following additional attack:

Offense Not So Fast 23 Dice 6 Range Close Damage 12 Note Interrupting Action for any attempts to move though their space, once per Turn.

As of Turn 6, the plane is in the air.

The Set up, Part 2

On the other side, Mock, Gargoyle, and Rampage will be present, and going after the Suit with everything they’ve got. With them is a Union team and they’ve brought a modified excavator, use the TR-688 Mountain Breaker, Metahumans Rising core book, page 130, and a Major Mob of Dead Heads along with Perdita, see Oil Supply, part 1.

As long as the heroes make no aggressive moves towards them, they will fight alongside the heroes, following their own objectives.

Objectives:

The Brood: Free Anaconda, they will encourage other heroes to crew up the Black Dragon’s Interrupting Actions so that they can break through the lines. Once she is free, they will try to escape. If not yet defeated, Gargoyle will carry Anaconda and Mock, while Ramage can fly on their own.
The Dead Heads: Give us the drugs! While the brood ant Anaconda, the Dead Heads want the Snake Oil. If they can get their hands on the Oil, or the research, the Dead Heads will attempt to escape. Once securing as much as she can carry Perdita will quietly fade away.
The Union: Battle on, this is a straight up pride fight for the Union. They aren’t stopping until all the Black Dragons and anyone with them are down.

Aftermath

There are a number of possible outcomes in the final battle. Please review each of the entries to create an aftermath based on the outcome of your story.

GEOs Involvement

GEO Escapes with the Snake Oil research, kidnaps Anaconda and One Nu-Man

GEO now has everything they need to begin creating their own super soldiers. With the research they can begin scaling operations within a quarter.