Casting Shadows

This week’s seed is for the Serenity RPG, and gives the players an opportunity to explore just how far they will go to make money. This seed does not require a ship, nor does it require very experienced characters.

Planting the Seed:

Rumor has it that a few months ago, an extremely valuable artifact was pinched from a peach of an estate on Bellerophon, and fenced locally for a pretty penny. Tales of this score kept thieves, both petty and of stature alike dreaming of the one perfect score that could set them up for life.

Recently that artifact was stolen from its new owner, and the underworld is abuzz with talk of who, what, when, where, and how. Everyone already knows why. More than this, the air is thick with deals, contracts, and desperate plans to find it and either ransom it back to one of the chumps who lost it, or auction it off to the highest bidder. Several such plans will cross the paths of the characters. They will suffer a surfeit of choice, and if you as the GM play your cards right, you can give them all the fuel they need to try to go for making a big score themselves – possibly involving trying to score more than one pay cheque for their efforts.

What’s going on:

The Alliance is seeking to recover the stolen property and return it to its rightful owner; Durran Haymer. They offer a decent reward, but will want the recipients to fill out a few forms and answer a few specific questions.

Various underworld figures will be attracted by the idea of owning the item, and will offer decent fees to anyone who can find and obtain it for them, no questions asked. At least three in the city in which the characters currently find themselves will be interested, and given the massive interest in the item, should not be at all surprised if the item gets stolen from them in turn, should they ever lay hands on it.

As the caper continues, characters might hear tell of the strange deaths of crooks who have crossed paths with the artifact. Each was found in a pool of their own blood as though every blood vessel in their brains had burst. Those who witness the scenes are put in mind of interrogation and torture, but no one knows for what, or whom, the interrogators might be looking.