The Department - Sixth Mission

Mission Six: Murder Sweep!

Hey! Didn't you already do one of these?

Well, yes, but that's part of the game. There are only six different missions, plus the unique "boss" missions, so there's going to be some back-tracking in an effort to earn the required evidence. Actually, I would have rather have had a go at the Nightclub or Bust the Lab missions, but I don't currently have a 25+ cm nightclub interior, or 6(!) such interiors to represent the floors of an abandoned building. It's something to work towards, though. :)

For now, we get Murder Sweep again.

So, Agent M volunteers to check out a recent murder on the city streets.  Response times being what they are, the murderer is probably still around, and maybe he'll know something. The mission costs 2 Budget, which is a deal, I guess, but I'm also paying 1 Budget for a Lab Tech (Dekster) and 1 more Budget for some backup in the form of a State Police officer (Rechert).

This brings my Budget down to 56.

The goal for this mission is to talk to all of the crowds, and examine the crime scene.

THE SETUP:

It's this again.  There's a crime scene in the middle, and six groups of gawkers not too far away from it.  Agent M and his two companions randomly come in from the left side of the board.

Aww yeah!  Check out those fancy holo-trees. ;)

After the last fiasco, Agent M decided to leave the cruiser

hovering out of reach of would-be thieves.

TURN 1 & 2:

The first turn is just spent strolling onto the map.  I didn't feel like running.  While technically Dekster and Agent M are "hidden", Rechert is in full cop gear, and is quite obviously a law enforcement officer.

Approaching the first crowd, the dice turn up "Distracting", giving us a -1 to all rolls within 12 cm of the murder scene.  Actually, I only applied that penalty to attempts to gather evidence, but maybe I should have applied it more thoroughly.

"You kids keep it down with your zombie cosplay and

obnoxiously loud rap-classical-wave neo-music!"

TURN 3, 4 & 5:

Agent M  & Friends® approach the next two crowds, but they don't have anything useful to add.  He then examines the crime scene, but fails his Process Evidence (TN3) roll, despite using Fate and the Edge for 6 dice total.

"This guy has been blasted into a jagged, chalky outline!

What could have done such a thing?!"

TURN 6:

Dekster, being a lab tech, manages to easily pull a point of Place Evidence from the crime scene.  Meanwhile, Agent M and Rechert approach the next crowd.  Honestly, this might be another pretty vanilla report.  Just have to talk to three more crowds.

"Hey, sir, this might be a pretty easy assignment today."

TURN 7:

Damn!  I jinxed it!  The Main Suspect bolts from the crowd, heading for the table's edge.  Worse, this is a gang-related murder, and FIVE gang members pop out of the crowd as well, each armed with a handgun!

"Curse your jinxing hide, Rechert!  I should shoot you myself!"

Okay.  I can handle this.  Agent M is still hidden.  He can't go shooting at suspects that haven't attacked, and even if he could, he can't go shooting into a crowd of civilians.  (It doesn't matter that they're already dead.)

Clever idea!  Agent M will attempt to disperse the crowd.  It will clear out the area, protect the innocent, and every one of those gangers will have to make a test to avoid being trampled! [Cackle!]

...

Well, the crowd dispersed successfully, but EVERY. SINGLE. GANGER. PASSED!  Oh well.  At least Rechert and Dekster have my back.

"You can do it, sir!  We believe in you!"

TURN 8:

Well then, at least Agent M is still "hidden".  The gangers don't know that he's from the DFM.

...

Exceeept… that I'm a bad player and forgot that he's hidden.  Although to be fair, if he's using his authority to disperse the crowd, it's not like he's being particularly subtle.  Anyway, the two nearest gangers blast Agent M.  He survives the first hit (hooray, bonus Vitality) but the second shot forces a KO test, which he fails!

"Screw...you...Rechert!  Hate...you...so...much!"

TURN 9:

With Dekster prone behind the barricade and once again hidden, it's up to Rechert to save the day!  The gangers push in and take cover where they can, and unleash a hail of fire at Rechert, but the cover of the barricade serves him well (+2D Ranged Defense).  Also, Rechert's pretty good in a firefight, and his seven attack dice drop the nearest ganger!

So much plastic blood!  I think I'm going to plastic vomit!

TURN 10 & 11:

More shots are traded, and Rechert holds his ground, even disabling another ganger!  Speaking of holding their ground, are the guys in that crowd distracted by their cell phones or something?  Three bloody messes and a gun fight only 15 feet from them, and they just stand there!

"Hey, you idiots!  Get down!"

"Hang on!  I've only got infinite lives for five more minutes!"

[Bloop.  Bloop.  Bla-ding!]

TURN 12 & 13:

Well, it's slow going, but I'm making progress.  And then it happens!  One of the gangers flanks Rechert from over the hood of the nearby cars, and shoots him!  He loses 3 Vitality!  Game over!

Or is it?

Rechert grits his teeth and makes his KO check!  He's still in the fight!  He even manages to wing the Main Suspect for -2 Vitality!

And then the guy shoots him again, and he goes down! :(

"Oh, crap!  I'd better run!"

TURN 14, 15, & 16:

Things get a little tense as Dekster runs for the waiting car, gangers scanning for her as she does, but eventually, she makes it to safety.

"Oh, no.  I think M had the keys."

Post-Battle Results:

Well, I guess this is an example of  "learning from your mistakes" (if you survive).

Agent M makes a Resolve roll, scoring 2 successes, which gives him a +1 on the "Don't Die" (Character Post-Battle) table.  He gets a total of 4.  Minor Scrapes (No ill effects.)  Whew!

He also gets +1 XP for surviving (barely).  Unfortunately, he doesn't get any XP for disabling enemies. (Rechert did all of the heavy lifting.)  However, he DOES get +1 IA point for letting one of his underlings get hurt.

Station Actions:

Agent M doesn't get to do "normal" station actions, because he was KO'd.  He is forced to use this time to heal, which costs 1 Budget per Vitality.  Those bacta tanks don't come cheap, you know.  Luckily, there's a bulk discount for being KO'd, so he can just spend 3 Budget to heal all 4 Vitality.

Internal Affairs:

Ah, good ol' IA.  I just roll the one die, and get a 3 (Budget Cut).  However it's only for one point this time.  Small favors.

Results:

Not a great showing.  I'm going to have to carefully consider my next mission.  Maybe I'm going to have to build a nightclub after all.  How does "Tech Noir" sound?

Budget: 52/100
XP: 3
People Evidence: 1/2
Place Evidence: 3/4
Electronic Evidence: 0/1
Financial Evidence: 6/3
Physical Evidence: 0/1

Ĝis la revido!

Jason "Ludanto" Smith C;E