[DL] How to kill a posse (was Re: Mao The Human Cuisinart)

[Patrick Downs <knick_nevin@yahoo.com>]

Everett, if you're reading this, stop now!
Move along players, nothing to see here.

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--- Jeff Shoffner <shoffner@usit.net> wrote:
> PS for those of you who don't know Mao tHC, he's
> this enlightened martial
> artist that can not be harmed in combat; I've tried
> lots of things & he's
> too damn good at hand to hand fighting.

I don't really want to restart an old conversation
topic, but if you really want to kill him I have only
one word for you: flamethrowers

If he's made a powerful enemy, or enemies, just have
them put together/hire a squad of mercenaries with
flamethrowers to go after him. Ten guys with
flamethrowers =  he's going down.

Keep in mind, if he has a Grit of 5 (or more)* Stone
will be coming after him soon, and Stone doesn't just
kill his victims, he makes damn sure he kills them. If
Mao is as tough as you say he is, then Stone will
notcie this and HE'LL unleash his own personal brand
of death, which doesn't involve hiring anybody. 

Basically, and I've had this prepared for awhile with
my own gaming group (nobody's ever lived to see Grit 5
so I've never had to do it) have Stone ambush Mao on a
train in a very elaborate and planned way (I strongly
suggest having a map of the train car, GURPS Old West
has a few good examples).

REMEMBER: Stone can have every harrowed power at level
3 or 4, I'll reference some of these in my scenario
usnig CAPS

Stone disguises himself as a middle-aged heavyset
mexican woman (appearance with DEATH MASK 4) and
approaches Mao and offers him a job (if Mao has Renown
you can play off of this otherwise to the players
it'll just seem like an adventure set up), she (Stone)
explains that her husband was a wealthy mine baron and
he died recently leaving all of his money to her, what
she never told her husband is that she had an
illegitimate son before she had gotten married, her
father forced her to abandon the son to a convent and
now she wants the PCs, or Mao, to track him down.
Being the widow of a wealthy mine baron, she offers
the PCs, or Mao, quite alot of money. 

Sound reasonable? Sound profitable? Sound like it
doesn't involve alot of danger? Good, that's what
Stone wants. While she was telling her tale she gives
the most powerful one the EVIL EYE 4, read the power
and you'll notice their is no contested roll and the
pC won't be aware of the effect until he/she needs to
actually roll. Nice, huh? When she (Stone) offers the
PCs money to find her son she invites them back to her
room on the train for a drink and some funds to get
them started, most likely they will go with her. 

This is my favorite part!
She gets the PCs into her room (it doesn't matter if
all of them are there or not, but it helps) and pours
drinks for them. She'll ask a few friendly questions,
typical NPC getting to know PC questions, keeping the
PCs occupied with thoughts of role-playing, and most
importantly not expecting an ambush. (If for some
reason only one PC is in the room with her then Stone
uses EULOGY 3 on them, I give Stone a 7d10 in Tale
Tellin', be sure to seperate the PC that is the victim
of the Eulogy if this happens, once the Eulogy ends
Stone continues with his plan as I've outlined it)
Now, while role-playing the questions (or the Eulogy)
explain how she approaches a strongbox and unlocks it
with a key, the players will hear coins shuffling.
Presumably she is about to pay them, in actuality
Stone is lighting a fuse while he picks up some coins
and drops them on other coins (I suggest actually
doing this with some quarters to explain what the PCs
hear, it'll help), the fuse is attached to a bundle of
sticks of dynamite, how many is up to you, but
according to the rules anything more than 8 sticks
won't increase the damage any further. The fuse is
just long enough for Stone to use his GHOST 4 power (I
give Stone 38 Wind as well, from d10 traits, Tough As
Nails 5, and +8 Wind from a Harrowed power that isn't
in any of the books*). 
Now, I like to give the PCs a fair Cognition check to
hear the fuse burning, I've found most PCs can easily
make hard Cognition checks (in my group anyway) so I
play fair and allow them the ability to hear it
burning 1 round before it goes off. Anyone who hasn't
heard the fuse, has no reason to act out of character
and I would suggest playing out the round as well, the
players want to feel as if they have a chance so ask
them (the ones who detected the fuse) directly "what
do you do?" (keep in mind that Stone is Ghosted at
this time)

If PCs start shooting, or after the dynamite goes off,
Stone will drop the Death Mask (Stone probably
wouldn't actually drop it, but the players will want
you to explain how they are about to die and this
saves alot of trouble). Play through the round, and
roll 5d10 (stone's Demolition aptitude) against TN 5,
for success and every raise draw a card, one of these
cards determines when the dynamite will go off,
hopefully you'll get a red joker. Now if the PCs
manage to survive the blast, or manage to throw the
dynamite off the train (I use a train car that has no
windows so this is extremely hard to do without using
magic of some kind), Stone will either do one of two
things. 

If absolutley nobody died, he jumps off the train
(he's Ghosted so he can simply jump through the wall)
and he have a trap hooked up to the engine to blow up
the engine car in about ten minutes. (I also think I'm
going to add a hitman with a flamethrower waiting in
the hallway of the car the PCs are in, he's instructed
to kill the first person who comes out of the room)
When the train dies due to the engine exploding, if
there are still some PCs left alive, Stone will have
ANOTHER contingency plan for dealing with them in
whatever terrain they are in (I haven't written any of
these yet, I'm still waiting for my players to get to
Grit 4)

If at least one person died, Stone will stay a little
while longer, but since "somebody" is still alive he
"is" going to jump from the train at some point. First
off, who is still alive? 
A huckster? Stone enacts ARCANE PROTECTION 4 and BAD
MOJO 3 
A gunman? Stone closes in with his CHARNEL BREATH 3,
CLAWS 3, RIGOR MORTIS 4, or SICKEN 4
A scientist? A blessed? Stone uses SLEEP o'THE DEAD 3
and SOUL EATER 4
An indian? A martial artist? Stone will keep his
distance, fire his guns (I give him 8d10 shootin') and
can use his UNHOLY REFLEXES 4 to Dodge (another 8d10
aptitude) attacks. I
f a hand-to-hand attack does manage to get through,
you can always give Stone a bonus to grappling his
attacker and using RIGOR MORTIS 4, SICKEN 4, SLEEP
o'THE DEAD 3, SOUL EATER 4, or WITHER 3
And remember, throughout all of these possibilities,
Stone can always fall back on SPOOK 4

There is the question of how much dynamite did Stone
use, and what does it do to the train car? Well, this
is entirely up to you. I want to make sure I kill
everybody, so the strongbox is huge and has about 100
sticks of dynamite in it. The damage to the PCS is
still 10d20, but the amount of dynamite totally
obliterates the train car, so the PCs will also have
to deal with damage from the debris and hitting the
ground when the train they are on disintegrates.

I hope you use my idea, I'd really like to know how it
plays out. If you do: Have fun! because those players
are D-E-A-D, dead!
-doc

* NEW HARROWED POWER
Unholy Endurance
Speed/Duration: Always On
Dispositions: Brawny, Heavy Sleeper, Sand,
Thick-Skinned, Tough As Nails
Every level of this power gives the Harrowed +2 to his
Wind, just like Tough As Nails.

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