Casting Shadows

This week’s Saturday Seed is for A Time of War, and it can perhaps be the iron gauntlet around the clenched fist presented by the Scenario in my Battletech Lunchtime Challenge this week.

The Seed:

A major ‘mech asset in a struggle between two fiercely opposed factions has become the focal point in a battle that goes far beyond the physical battleground on which it is being fought. Two mercenary lances on opposite sides, are both trying to secure the area for their respective employers, while data vital to the security of one nation and the survival of the other lies somewhere in the wreckage.

This seed is intended for use with a PC group capable of operating on their own on as infantry on a battlefield, with a reasonable degree of combative effectiveness, and technical savvy. In an ideal situation, at least one will have a background in covert ops.

The details:

Using the Lunchtime Challenge Scenario as a guide for setting the background events of the scene, players can be faced with getting to a downed Assault mech while two medium lances raise Cain all around it. The initial phase of the operation revolved around retrieval of the pilot by the mechs, however for our purposes here, that attempt failed. The mechwarrior was killed in the exchange of fire between the two lances before they could close to retrieve her.

The PCs are sent in to recover the mech jock’s body, and the vital intelligence she was carrying. Counterparts from the opposite side are expected to be dispatched with a similar mission. A secondary mission objective could focus on supporting salvage operations, or alternately, further damaging the downed mech to prevent those salvage operations.

The mechwarrior, or what is left of her, does not appear to be in possession of the data case she had been hoping to deliver to the employer of the Rented Swords. The renewed interest in the area and the increase in the intensity of the fighting around this sector indicates that the enemy has not recovered it either, meaning it is somewhere in the vicinity of the downed mech. She had it when her mech was taken out. Sometime between ejection and now, it has gotten separated from her.

All around the site, two full lances of mechs per side are ranging far and wide, doing their best to prevent the other from closing in. Each passing moment brings the battle closer and closer to the assault mech and the prize believed to be somewhere near it.

To further complicate matters, a flight of SRMs targeting the downed mech failed to detonate, leaving possibly dangerous warheads in and around it. Searching the wreckage and debris around the mech, could inadvertently bring a character into potentially fatal contact with the high-explosives employed in the missiles.

To add further fuel to the fires of hell, after a few minutes of searching, at a dramatically appropriate moment, or if combat erupts between the two opposing infantry teams, both sides will find themselves under heavy artillery fire from behind the lines of the Regular Irregulars. Heavy shelling with no regard for the lives of the soldiers of either side will continue without mercy.

What’s going on

The mechwarrior was injured during ejection, and the data case she was carrying was torn from her grasp. It is lying in a place of your wicked devising within the wreckage of her mech.

The case itself was damaged and will require substantial finesse to both retrieve and to open. The data within is fine, but mishandling of opening the case, could result in damage.

The material itself is of the sort which will undermine the political ground on which the employer of the Regular Irregulars has based his entire campaign. If it is leaked to the public, his support will evaporate, and execution by enraged mob made much more likely. He will stop at nothing to retrieve it or ensure its destruction.

The rest, as always, is up to you~

Related articles

• I Chose Giant Mechs over Spaceships [Wouldn’t You?] (kotaku.com)
• Battletech Lunchtime Challenge (runeslinger.wordpress.com)