The Department of Fabricant Management - Third Mission

Mission Three: The Murder Sweep!

There's been a murder downtown.  No, not that one. No, not that one.  Yes, I know there are a lot of murders.  But we think this one might have a connection to our case.  It's time to go in there and examine the crime scene itself.  Maybe ask around.  The murder is probably still nearby...

This mission costs 2 Budget, and might provide People and Place evidence.  I'm also spending 2 Budget to bring a Lab Technician, hoping to improve my odds of getting good evidence from the scene.

THE SETUP:

Everybody wants to gawk at a murder scene.

TURNS 1 & 2:

Agent M and Technician Sanders approach the first crowd, but none of the citizens saw anything.

Maybe he'd get more cooperation if he stopped pointing that
gun at everybody.

TURN 3:

The second crowd doesn't prove any more useful.

Just a bunch of brain-eating skate punks.

TURN 4 & 5:

That cocky bastard was standing right by the body the whole time!  It looks like we've got a runner!  A follow-up d6 result of 2 means that this wasn't gang-related, and we don't have to worry about armed thugs covering his retreat.  Whew!

FREEZE! DFM!

TURN 6:

The suspect... surrenders!  Has yelling "FREEZE" ever actually worked before?  Crazy!
The tech proceeds to examine the crime scene, rolling 6 dice (!) to Process Evidence, Target Number 3.  He gets 1, 2, 4, 5, 5, and 6 (which counts double) for a total of 5 successes, and collects one point of Place evidence.  Agent M only gets 2 dice, but spends his 2 Fate to get 1, 2, 3, and 6.  Two successes isn't enough.  Dang!

EDIT: The game's developer clarified that the game ends as soon as you have investigated the actual murder scene.  So you'll want to save that for last.  This is in keeping with the "Distraction" result from the crowds, which make investigating the crime scene more difficult.

"HEY!  Could you NOT stomp your big dumb boots through
my crime scene, thank you?

TURN 7:

The scenario refers to the "murderer" (singular), and I've already apprehended him, but it also says that I have to investigate ALL of the crowds.  So, I guess there could be more than one murderer?  That's how I'm going to play it, anyway.

EDIT: The developer confirmed that there may be more than one murderer/suspect, but also implied that it wasn't strictly necessary to investigate every crowd, if you don't think the rewards are worth the risk.

And that's what happened!  Another runner!  (Still no gang backup, luckily.)

"FREEZE! DFM!"
(Hey, it worked last time.)

TURN 8:

Holy crap, that guy is fast!  He rolls 5 dice to run.  Luckily, he only gets 1 success, and is slowed somewhat by the crowd.  And luckily in the other direction, Agent M rolls 2 dice to Run, plus 2 dice for the Edge and 2 dice for Fate, and gets 2, 3, 4, 4, 5, and 6 for +5cm of movement, bearing down on the fleeing suspect!

ZOOM!

OK, I've got this guy!  I used up my Fate for the turn, but I've still got the edge, and +2D for charging.  2, 3, 4, 6, and 6!  Five successes!  Yes!

The suspect rolls his 4 dice: 2, 6, 6, and 6!  Bastard!  That's 6 successes!  This game is rigged!

The tech isn't paid to get into trouble, but with things going south as they are, he starts maneuvering toward the next crowd to help out.

TURN 9:

The suspect pulls a knife and attacks Agent M.  He gets one success.  Agent M spends only one of his Fate on his defense, and his three dice get two successes (from a 6), dodging the blade!

Agent M can legitimately attack this guy now, but that's not how he rolls.  He goes for another grapple, spending all of his resources, and scores just one more success than the suspect, but that's enough.  The suspect is down and cuffed!

Why do you have a gun-shaped knife?  Is that some new thing?

Technician Sanders approaches the other crowd and...

Well, crap!  This is exactly what I DIDN'T want to happen.  A THIRD suspect freaks out and leaps from the crowd, waving a knife at the tech!  He's going to attack!

TURN 10:

The suspect lunges at the tech and get 3 successes.  By the rules, the tech can't even defend himself.  With 3 successes, the Damage Number of the knife goes from 3 to 4.  The tech has to soak that with his Prowess (1) plus one!

...

Two sixes!  That's four successes!  He's still alive (for now)!

Also, the guy at Agent M's feet breaks free.

Meanwhile, the guy that surrendered gets up and runs away as well.  Grr!

Stabbed right into his pocket flask!
Who says drinking on the job isn't a good idea?

Tech Sanders goes first, to get the Edge, and breaks away from his attacker, the +2D from the edge allowing him to barely shrug off the knife blow!  Agent M grapples his guy back into submission.

It seems way too hard to keep somebody apprehended, is all I'm saying.

"Run, Sanders! Run!"
"I can't, sir!  I don't have that skill!"

TURN 11:

The suspect comes charging at Sanders again, and the charge bonus proves to be Sanders' downfall.  With six successes, the Damage Number of the knife jumps to 5, which Sanders can't beat on 2 dice.  He does manage to soak two damage, but the remaining four trigger a Resolve check, which he fails, and down Sanders goes!  Man, Agent M is going to be in sooo much trouble!

Agent M moves around the crowd and fires at the attacker.  A bit of metagaming, in that the suspect would have run away next turn, but having shot at him (even though just barely missing) the suspect remains in Hostile mode.

"Come at me, bro!"

TURN 12:

As planned, the suspect charges Agent M, and M barely manages to defend himself.  He then grapples the suspect.  His roll is mediocre (2 successes), but the suspect doesn't roll a single success, and is apprehended.  With all of the people getting stabbed and whatnot, the nearby crowds wisely disperse.

Sure, NOW they get out of the way.

TURN 13 & 14 & 15:

Luckily, nobody manages to escape their bonds.
Quickly, before anybody can break free, Agent M moves into range of the last crowd marker.  ANOTHER suspect runs for it!  He's just too fast for M, but as soon as he's off of the board, at least the mission is over.

Yeah, you'd better run!

And that's the mission.  Let's see how we did.

Post-Battle Results:

First of all, Sanders will be laid up for a bit, but survives.  Agent M does receive an IA point, though, for not protecting his backup.

He also gets 1XP for completing the assignment, which puts him at 5XP.  He spends it for a roll on the General Bump table, and get +1 Vitality.  That's good, I guess.

Station Actions:

Agent M gets one Station Action for free.  He uses it to Question the first fabricant, but gets nothing from it.  He spends 3 Budget to Question the second fabricant.  Two sixes nets him four successes!  As this was a "major" suspect, I can choose the type of evidence from what was available in the mission.  Might as well make it Place evidence to get the set of two.

"Just ignore the gun. I am specifically NOT trying to Intimidate you."

Finally, he spends 3 Budget to try to make that IA point go away with "By the Book".  No love, and I waste 3 Budget.

Internal Affairs:

Speaking of Internal Affairs, Agent M receives a verbal warning.  His IA points are wiped out, but if he gets ANY IA points next mission, he gets an extra one as well.

Results:

Budget: 77/100
XP: 0
People Evidence: 0/2
Place Evidence: 2/4
Electronic Evidence: 0/1
Financial Evidence: 4/3
Physical Evidence: 0/1

Next mission: "Bust the Dealer".  He probably doesn't have anything to do with this case, but he usually knows stuff, and maybe we can squeeze it out of him.

Jason "Ludanto" Smith C;E