[Scenario Seed] A little job for the Misfit Mob.

[Catsmate]

A skeletal idea from my notes. Intended for the Mob, but adaptable to other groups.

A little job for the Misfit Mob.

Waaaay back in the early days (well actually WW2) Torchwood used a requisitioned manor house, Yarley Manor, as a base of for operations.

Built in 1709 Yarley Manor once belonged to the Baronets Yarley. Then Torchwood grabbed it in 1940 and made it a training camp for ‘special’ operations in Occupied Europe. After the War was over it was purchased, for rather less than market value but the Baron was rather desperate due to certain taxation matters. It was closed down, along with many other Torchwood bases, in 1968 (after post-war use as an artefact storage site¹), after UNIT was formally stood up. The manor remained in a state of legal limbo until it was sold to the National Trust in 1998 for a nominal sum. Since 2003 it's been a combined museum of the Second World War a sample Victorian mansion.

Two weeks ago the museum made the news when a pair of bird statuettes were discovered to be Martinware and appraised at approximately four hundred thousand pounds. In the video and pictures on the museum’s website UNIT experts noticed "certain items" were among its collection that should have been removed and sent to the Black Archive in 1968.

Ooops.
Oh well it's not like it's the first time a collection of alien artefacts have turned up.

So the items need to be removed, and given that the legal paperwork would take time, a little B&E needs to be done
So, the job drops down onto the Misfit Mob.

On Thursday  Captain Sanford gives the Mobsters the good news, and passes around photographs of the items and told to remove them, bring them back to base, and crate them for collection.
It’s a bank holiday weekend so the museum closed for three days, perfect for a burglary.
Don't do too much damage.
Don’t get arrested.
Don’t hurt anyone too badly.


The site.
Yarley Manor is a two-story country house on Yarley Moor (a desolate expanse of what might charitable be called moorland an hour east of <INSERT CITY>) in Yorkshire.

• Hikers get lost out here, some never found.
  

• This isn’t part of the scenario but could be a complication.

UNIT has few records on wartime Yarley, relations with Torchwood were strained....
Civilians, including historians, believe it was an SOE training facility and/or code-breaking camp. The museum barely mentions this, focusing instead on its 1890s past; the place is renovated to look as it did then, albeit with modern electrics and toilets.

• Their website jokes that the ghost of Captain Jeremy Yarley, the fifth Baronet (1820-1868) haunts the museum.
• Another optional complication. Psychic residue interacting with weird artefacts.

Access to the building via the substantial, oaken, front door. Opening hours are 9AM to 5PM, Monday to Saturday (except Bank Holiday weekends obviously). All other doors, and the downstairs windows, are locked, barred and alarmed.
There was no CCTV until the little find justified the expense; it was set-up last week. Coverage is currently only in some interior rooms.
There's also a night watchman.

Layout.
<Needs work>
Hopefully I'll find a suitable floorplan, suggestions welcome.


Staff.
There are six volunteers.
Three are elderly and female: Maeve, Mildred and Martha. All are, to be polite, inquisitive.
Paul, a university art and design student. Bored and always on his phone.
Jacqueline, another student, this time just having finished her A-levels, History, Art and Design and Design and Textiles. Pleasant.
Marcus, ex-Army sergeant and amateur historian. Overbearing.

The sole salaried day-time employee is George, the handyman.

At 6PM Malcolm Morrison comes on duty. He's the overnight security guard. Brings his largeGerman Shepard, named Cooper, with him. He doesn't enter the house after helping lock up, staying in a cabin on the grounds until 7AM when he's relieved. Malcolm patrols the museum exterior every hour, or so, with the dog.
His cabin doesn't have a CCTV monitor yet. It does have a landline, an alarm repeater board, a heater and a kettle.

If police are called or an alarm trips two North/South/West² Yorkshire coppers arrive in a marked patrol car in 3D minutes, They're unarmed, except for batons and pepper spray.
If firearms are spotted (or claimed to have been seen) an Armed Response Vehicle arrives 3D+3 minutes;  three officers with TASERS, Glock pistols and two semi-automatic G-36 carbines.
A helicopter can be summoned, in 4D+6 minutes appears if suspects flee onto the moors.

• NPAS Airbus H135, cruise speed 250km/h, pilot plus seven passengers. Unarmed.

Items.
<Ideas welcome>
I'm tending towards oddities, like Egyptian/Osiran objects.


Reconnaissance.
Checking out the target is generally a Good Idea. Of course this means getting you face on CCTV.

• Unless someone cracks the system and disables the off-site Cloud backup, leaving only the recording appliance in one of the offices which could be destroyed/stolen/degaussed.
  

During open hours Mobsters can check for CCTV, get a feel for the layout and security measures, note the type of locks and sensors, look over the staff. There will be 2D6+2 tourists and visitors present.
A check against Awareness spots two of the visitors that seems to be behaving oddly. They may be masquerading as father-and-daughter, though they seem to be casing the joint.
Hmmm.

• Perhaps a few surreptitious pictures to run through the appropriate databases.
  

Suggestions? Ideas? Contributions?

There may be a second part when I collate my ideas.






1. And possibly for Other Things.

2. Delete as applicable. Or make one up.

[grinch]

Hmm. No doubt either a lot went on in the Manor in that twenty years until it was bought by the National Trust or absolutely nothing at all.

I wonder, do you think Wartime Torchwood had access to cryogenic facilities? I could see one of their number being preserved maybe due to some injury but in the resulting years, they have been forgotten about. (They are going to be so alarmed when they realise the War is over..) With the pod damaged due to a lack of maintenance and exposure to some of the artefacts contained within the property the frozen subject's dreams could be manifesting as spectral projections hence the ghost sightings.

In terms of items, I do like the idea of there being at least one Osirian artefact. Perhaps one related to one of the yet to be seen Osirians such as Thoth, Ptah or Bes. Thankfully, now long since inactive. Then, there is of course the obligatory painting with eyes that follow you, and maybe even an unearthed Xylok crystal? It could be trying to communicate with Paul via his phone but is having no success.

With regards to the father and daughter, I'm rather taken by the idea they are merely one shapechanger posing as two people. Preferably a member of an original amorphous species as I don't think the likes of the Zygons or Chameleons have ever been shown to stretch that far. Naturally, the question now remains as to what it is doing here in the first place. They might already be known to UNIT. Much like certain gamblers, certain shapechangers might have a certain 'tell' that gives them away.

Of course, this could be an example of the Misfit Mob actually making things worse by their presence there.

[thewarchief]

FOOD FOR THOTH

Just a thought but what if the two bird statuettes were part of some sort of Osirian time corridor, and they've accidentally been mishandled? The items that were supposed to be removed back in 1968 were removed in 1968, but the time corridor sucked it all back. In fact the mobster could accidentally trip the things and wind up back in past, and need to figure out how to open up the corridor to get back to the present. Egyptian legends tell of gates to the afterlife that have guardians. The could be some sort of robotic servitors, say in bird form.

It possible that some or all of the staff could have been transported though time as well, and in fact some could be the same person at differernt points in thier timeline.

Oh, and you could recycle on of the NPCs from your "Hammer Mummy" adventure and have them involved with Torchwood in the past. The mobster need not even meet him, but they might see a portrait on the wall or some such. Maybe even recycle an artifact from that adventure as a call back.

Anyway, just throwing that out there.



Obligatory game stats.

Eurocopter /Airbus H 135
Armour: 3
Hit Capacity: 12
Speed: L(ow) 12

[grinch]

With regards to that alien shapechanging idea I proposed, maybe if the Misfit Mob use their UNIT contacts they'll realise that not only do they recognise the species but the individual in question.

Maybe he's the equivalent of a con artist who UNIT and the Doctor encountered some years ago who either escaped or they let the Shadow Proclamation take into custody and off-world. The shapechanger will probably quickly fess up if rumbled and is the sort who really isn't inclined towards violence.

"Wait."
"Why?"
"That vase just sneezed."

It does rather beg the question, what are they doing in the Manor?

[thewarchief]

Jan 16, 2024 23:30:58 GMT grinch said:

Maybe he's the equivalent of a con artist

You made me think of Harry Mudd as a shapeshifter. frightening.

Jan 16, 2024 23:30:58 GMT grinch said:

It does rather beg the question, what are they doing in the Manor?

He wants to get back something that got taken away, or that he had to stash when he got picked up. Something that either is valuable or could lead to something valuable, so he had to come back to Earth for it.

[grinch]

Jan 17, 2024 1:02:20 GMT thewarchief said:

Jan 16, 2024 23:30:58 GMT grinch said:

Maybe he's the equivalent of a con artist

You made me think of Harry Mudd as a shapeshifter. frightening.

Jan 16, 2024 23:30:58 GMT grinch said:

It does rather beg the question, what are they doing in the Manor?

He wants to get back something that got taken away, or that he had to stash when he got picked up. Something that either is valuable or could lead to something valuable, so he had to come back to Earth for it.

That or he's desperately in need of some cash fast. Unlike these Terrans, he'll have more familiarity with whatever alien artefacts are contained within the Manor which he plans to steal to sell on at a later date. 

Such a character could be used in one or two ways. He either serves as a useful NPC acting as a repository of information to the Mob or can used as fodder to be killed off by whatever threat is contained within the Manor.

In any case, I like the idea that if the shapechanger survives the adventure he takes the form of Cooper (the groundskeeper's dog) and runs for it. With the Mob only realising the deception when they see that the actual Cooper has been with Malcolm the entire time!

[thewarchief]

Jan 17, 2024 1:25:14 GMT grinch said:

That or he's desperately in need of some cash fast.

Well if he had been taken away by Shadow Proclamantion forcs then coming back to Earth is a bit out of the way for some fast cash. Now if he had been locked up by UNIT or Torchwood and is stuck here, the item might be more important for getting off ths rock.

Jan 17, 2024 1:25:14 GMT grinch said:

Unlike these Terrans, he'll have more familiarity with whatever alien artefacts are contained within the Manor which he plans to steal to sell on at a later date. 

He can tell the difference between the mental scanner and the portable music player.

Jan 17, 2024 1:25:14 GMT grinch said:

Such a character could be used in one or two ways. He either serves as a useful NPC acting as a repository of information to the Mob or can used as fodder to be killed off by whatever threat is contained within the Manor.

He could also be used as a sort of catalyst of middle man for a greater threat. For instacne he just wants to get rich or get off this rock (ideally both) but one of the items he gets a hold of attracts the attention of something nastier. For instace what it he uses a Osirian time corridor to open up a portal to another world, but something there view it as a threat and decides to strike back.

Jan 17, 2024 1:25:14 GMT grinch said:

In any case, I like the idea that if the shapechanger survives the adventure he takes the form of Cooper (the groundskeeper's dog) and runs for it. With the Mob only realising the deception when they see that the actual Cooper has been with Malcolm the entire time!

Now you got me thinking of Who Goes There?/The Thing, with the PCs chasing down the "dog" from their helicopter to try and get back something it took.

[Catsmate]

Excellent!
Some fascinating ideas there, thanks to you both.

No doubt either a lot went on in the Manor in that twenty years until it was bought by the National Trust or absolutely nothing at all.

My assumption was nothing much. But I'm flexible.

I wonder, do you think Wartime Torchwood had access to cryogenic facilities? I could see one of their number being preserved maybe due to some injury but in the resulting years, they have been forgotten about. (They are going to be so alarmed when they realise the War is over..) With the pod damaged due to a lack of maintenance and exposure to some of the artefacts contained within the property the frozen subject's dreams could be manifesting as spectral projections hence the ghost sightings.

Another good point. I'd considered having some Nazi zombies as a complication, Torchwood having killed some of the German investigators the'd 'recovered' at the end of the war (as in The Dying Room). But that is not dead which can eternal lie, especially if the basement was used as a storeroom for poorly crated alien tech (such as damaged Chula nanomachines).

In terms of items, I do like the idea of there being at least one Osirian artefact. Perhaps one related to one of the yet to be seen Osirians such as Thoth, Ptah or Bes. Thankfully, now long since inactive. Then, there is of course the obligatory painting with eyes that follow you, and maybe even an unearthed Xylok crystal? It could be trying to communicate with Paul via his phone but is having no success.

I'd forgotten about the Xylok, and interesting idea. Did Torchwood experiment with implanting fragments in some unsuspecting 'volunteer'?

With regards to the father and daughter, I'm rather taken by the idea they are merely one shapechanger posing as two people.

Now that's interesting, and utterly different from my concept. I'd planned that they were part of a team of burglars hired by the eleventh Baronet Yarley who felt that the valuable antiques were rightfully his. A team who'd choose the same night as the Mob to drop in.

Of course, this could be an example of the Misfit Mob actually making things worse by their presence there.

Well yes.

Just a thought but what if the two bird statuettes were part of some sort of Osirian time corridor, and they've accidentally been mishandled? The items that were supposed to be removed back in 1968 were removed in 1968, but the time corridor sucked it all back. In fact the mobster could accidentally trip the things and wind up back in past, and need to figure out how to open up the corridor to get back to the present. Egyptian legends tell of gates to the afterlife that have guardians. The could be some sort of robotic servitors, say in bird form.

Ooo, interesting. I'd just planned them to be a MacGuffin to attract attention. Nice idea.

It possible that some or all of the staff could have been transported though time as well, and in fact some could be the same person at differernt points in thier timeline.

You know I'm wondering if this is the right time to introduce the Yithians, or an analogue. Maybe they've possessed someone working on-site and are planning to remove certain dangerous items.

I've used the "same person at different points" before

Oh, and you could recycle on of the NPCs from your "Hammer Mummy" adventure and have them involved with Torchwood in the past. The mobster need not even meet him, but they might see a portrait on the wall or some such. Maybe even recycle an artifact from that adventure as a call back.

None of the current PCs were involved in that scenario, so perhaps a call-forward to their future? I really must get a Mob campaign going.....

With regards to that alien shapechanging idea I proposed, maybe if the Misfit Mob use their UNIT contacts they'll realise that not only do they recognise the species but the individual in question.

Some sort of residue when they touch things?

Maybe he's the equivalent of a con artist who UNIT and the Doctor encountered some years ago who either escaped or they let the Shadow Proclamation take into custody and off-world. The shapechanger will probably quickly fess up if rumbled and is the sort who really isn't inclined towards violence.

"Wait."
"Why?"
"That vase just sneezed."

It does rather beg the question, what are they doing in the Manor?

A Whifferdill perhaps? Frobisher suggested many were criminals.

That or he's desperately in need of some cash fast. Unlike these Terrans, he'll have more familiarity with whatever alien artefacts are contained within the Manor which he plans to steal to sell on at a later date.

Or needs something to fix his transport.

Such a character could be used in one or two ways. He either serves as a useful NPC acting as a repository of information to the Mob or can used as fodder to be killed off by whatever threat is contained within the Manor.

I do like a recurring NPC, always useful to poke players.

In any case, I like the idea that if the shapechanger survives the adventure he takes the form of Cooper (the groundskeeper's dog) and runs for it. With the Mob only realising the deception when they see that the actual Cooper has been with Malcolm the entire time!

Well if he had been taken away by Shadow Proclamantion forcs then coming back to Earth is a bit out of the way for some fast cash. Now if he had been locked up by UNIT or Torchwood and is stuck here, the item might be more important for getting off ths rock.

Could have been in mundane jail for a while, like Drax, or caught in an Osiran stasis field...


A few ideas of my own.

1. I alluded to a ghost, and I think he should make an appearance.
Captain Jeremy Yarley, the fifth Baronet, was officially a gallant Army officer, but was actually more like Flashwood, only less principled. Alcoholic and addicted to laudanum, he died when pushed down the stairs by a housemaid.
There would be typical poltergeist activity (not known by the staff as it only happens at night): cold spots, mysterious footsteps, door handles rattling, et cetera.
He's reasonably benign, except perhaps to attractive young women, but protective of the house.


2. Boxes of old Torchwood records in the basement may point to other caches. More of a long term matter.


2a. Someone on staff, probably Jacqueline or Marcus, have been reading these records and Know Too Much. They may have been search for alien artefacts, either in the manor or elsewhere. They need to be frightened off, co-opted or otherwise dissuaded.


3. The aforementioned Nazi zombies


4. The Other Team.
The 11th Baron Yarley. Hector Montgomery, is a bitter man. His great-grandfather lost YarleyManor, then blew the family’s money. So Hector is short of money and has the kind of debts that end in broken bones.
After learning of Martinware birds he's decided that they are rightly his and has hired a small group to get them for him.

• Renee Monroe: university student, 22, urban explorer, parkourist, sometime cat-burglar and former Night Climber (link/link). Without fear, and rather lacking in common sense. Carries pepper spray and tools. Not particularly violent but does not plan on being arrested. Fast.
  
• William Fisher: rather old for this kind of thing, early '60s. Technician and safe-breaker, ex-Army (EOD). Knows of UNIT. Dislikes violence but has flash-bangs and pepper spray.
  
• Robin Brock: experienced burglar, long criminal record (and she's 28). Very knowledgeable about antiques and objet d'art. Carries a pistol and will use it to avoid going back to prison.
  
• Shaun Curtis: alarm installer by day, sometime burglar by night (needs the money for his extended family). Scares easily but also easily scared into doing things. Might stab someone with a screwdriver.
• Dave Gallagher: the driver and muscle, big and strong. Neo-Nazi. Also a kleptomaniac and will pilfer anything interesting. Carries a knife and will use it, especially on anyone not white.
  

The team arrive about 10PM and are dressed in black with balaclavas, masks and gloves, and a cellular disrupter. After cutting the landline and subduing Morrison they'll spend an hour or two clearing the manor out, though they have no interest in the records, before decamping to meet Montgomery in <CITY>. He takes the birds, they fence the rest.

[grinch]

The ghost of Captain Jeremy Yarley would make for a very nice addition to the adventure.

I know the Doctor Who universe generally favours Clarke's Law when it comes to the supernatural but while your group of PCs may offer their own theories as to the presence of this spectre, you could keep the truth behind him entirely ambiguous.

There are more things in Heaven and Earth and all that. Besides, if he is proven not to be antagonistic in anyway your Mob might not be inclined to delve further.

[Catsmate]

Jan 18, 2024 22:04:11 GMT grinch said:

The ghost of Captain Jeremy Yarley would make for a very nice addition to the adventure.

I know the Doctor Who universe generally favours Clarke's Law when it comes to the supernatural but while your group of PCs may offer their own theories as to the presence of this spectre, you could keep the truth behind him entirely ambiguous.

There are more things in Heaven and Earth and all that. Besides, if he is proven not to be antagonistic in anyway your Mob might not be inclined to delve further.

I favour the Stone Tape or temporal echo explanation for ghosts. 

[thewarchief]

Jan 19, 2024 12:01:22 GMT Catsmate said:

Jan 18, 2024 22:04:11 GMT grinch said:

The ghost of Captain Jeremy Yarley would make for a very nice addition to the adventure.

I know the Doctor Who universe generally favours Clarke's Law when it comes to the supernatural but while your group of PCs may offer their own theories as to the presence of this spectre, you could keep the truth behind him entirely ambiguous.

There are more things in Heaven and Earth and all that. Besides, if he is proven not to be antagonistic in anyway your Mob might not be inclined to delve further.

I favour the Stone Tape or temporal echo explanation for ghosts. 

The two approaches could be merged. What if some bit of alien medical tech copied Capt. Varley's mental patterns as a backup during some medical procedure, and the bases computer can project his image and voice within a set distance? That would give you a ghost but with a scientific basis. Any temporal shenanigans could enhance this.

[Catsmate]

Jan 19, 2024 16:18:03 GMT thewarchief said:

Jan 19, 2024 12:01:22 GMT Catsmate said:

I favour the Stone Tape or temporal echo explanation for ghosts. 

The two approaches could be merged. What if some bit of alien medical tech copied Capt. Varley's mental patterns as a backup during some medical procedure, and the bases computer can project his image and voice within a set distance? That would give you a ghost but with a scientific basis. Any temporal shenanigans could enhance this.

Possibly, but you'd need to assume that he encountered alien tech some years before Torchwood existed. Which is possible if there was some temporal effect.

[thewarchief]

If you wanted to, you could set the whole thing up as some sort of "bootstrap" paradox/temporal loop, where he goes back in time and sets things in motion, but he is caught up in the temporal loop, andonly some outsiders (the Misfit Mob) can break the sequence of events. Again, if you wanted to. If pulled off well, it could give the adventure more depth. But that would depend on how the Misfits go about things, and if they take an interest beyond retrieving the items.