The Dead Stars - Carbon 2185, Part 1

**The Dead Stars** is a side quest adventure of *Another Bad Side Quest* using the cyberpunk RPG adventure guide *Carbon 2185*. The system uses most of the 5e mechanics with some changes and additions.

## The Dead Stars - Carbon 2185, Part 1

### **Synopsis**

**Pre-Show Shenanigans**

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Check out the new intro!!

### **Part One**

*"The year is 2185, in the land in a world utterly controlled by large corporations, big business, the military. The underground revolution of gutterpunks and wormers has brought strife to San Francisco, but in this year, in this age, in this day, one business thrives and that is bounty hunting. As we drift past the Asteroid Belt, floating through the rocks that burst, a ship slowly spins in space. The Decryptor waiting, harnessing its energy for its next jump. The camera pans across the inside of this ship through a window."*

* Sven & Hans are two very large brothers who appear to be identical twins in silhouette, but in proper lighting Sven is strawberry blond and pale, while Hans is darker overall. Svens is dressed in a sweater and Birkenstocks while Hans wears a white tanktop too tight for him and cargo shorts
* Finn has a colorful bob of hair and wears a kevlar vest that she never takes off because she was trained in combat. She sits hunched over a lab table with vials of liquids and powders
* D0C, a near ancient short old man, shock of white hair, moustache and beard that reaches half his height, eyes always wide open and constricted which didn't the his insane vibe he usually gave off, wearing a lab coat that had D0C written onto it, pistol on his right, medical supplies on his left with his vibro knife / scalpel
* Shae-0004, a short and blond woman, is standing in a room and looking at herself in the most reflective surface she can find while she swaps the color of her blazer over and over again until she is satisfied
* Cairo is in the gun range practicing his shots before ending with a cheesy action pose
* Connors, owner of the Decryptor, an older man with salt and pepper hair and an eyepatch over one eye. He is found as he rips off a VR headset and curses campers for ruining the game before heading over to polish a beautiful motorcycle to calm his anger

Connors kicked the little robot that had been moving about the ship and was reprimanded by the onboard AI, Scarlett, who then asked Connors to assemble the group because they were receiving a transmission. Connors used his neural link to contact the rest of the crew to get them to come to the cockpit. Finn, startled by the sudden voice in her head, knocked something over while she was working and was warned by Scarlett to leave the lab because of the sudden expansion of noxious fumes. Scarlett told Finn that the fumes were going to rust her insides and wasn't happy with it, then immediately told Hans not to touch something in another room which he adamantly denied doing so. Shae, on hearing the call to the cockpit, changed her clothes to be a replica of Connors, knowing it would bother him, while Cairo put away his pistol, popped his collar up and started to strut his way and conversed with Scarlett on his hair style.

Once they were all gathered in the cockpit, Scarlett explained they were receiving a transmission from Nightingale Exploration. When the transmission was let through, a well dressed man who they recognized as the CEO of NE, Rajesh Aniyad. Rajesh had a job for the Dead Stars, but would rather talk about it in person and invited them to his office on the Twin Songbirds, a ship currently orbiting Titan and accepted Connors’ request to pay for their travel expenses to get there. After the transmission, Scarlett noted that after the last mission for this company, the damages to the ship were substantial. Cairo made an old action movie reference which confuses everyone, but Scarlett explained that Cairo's quotes were technically classic literature and after a little more discussion, the crew strapped in for a jump through space.

Nightingale Exploration was not based on Terra, but had its offices on a star destroyer known as the Twin Songbirds. Scarlett let the crew know that no weapons are not allowed on the Twin Songbirds. After those who needed to put their weapons away, Sven and Hans took position as bodyguards for Connors as they exited the ship and entered the Twin Songbirds. They entered into an interior that looked like a grand opera house from years long past, with chandeliers and impressive woodwork, and approached what looks like an information desk. Connors told the lady behind the desk they have an appointment and turned away to make a call, while Shae lamented the receptionist's lack of note on Shae's outfit. Finn assured Shae she looked great and gave some fashion advice, while D0C wandered off to grab a snack from a vending machine. Finn proceeded to chain smoke indoors while Hans approached the receptionist to make note on Shae's outfit, which prompted Shae to alter her appearance to be that of a ballgown to match the opera house vibe, and the receptionist agreed she looked amazing.

The building elevator opened as two bodyguards stepped out and directed the group to follow them up to Rajesh's office. Hans and Sven lifted Connors by the shoulders in an attempt to carry him regally, but Connors wriggled free as the crew stepped into the elevator together. While Shae winked at one guard, Cairo insulted the other insinuating he was overcompensating with his large gun, which they didn't respond well to as they pushed him against the elevator wall and leaned on him, while D0C offered some of his snacks to the other. The elevator came to a stop and everyone stepped out, but the guards stayed behind to stand at either side of the elevator door as the Dead Stars continue forward along a long hallway that ended in ornate double doors. Just before they reached the doors, Scarlett informed them she had lost their vital signs, then lost contact completely leaving everyone a little on edge. Beyond the double doors was a large office with floor to ceiling window overlooking Titan and beyond that, Saturn, and behind a nice desk was Rajesh. Rajesh seated the group and offered drinks, while Finn commented that drinking was bad for you and Rajesh fired back that smoking was as well. The majority of the crew noticed a RF (radio frequency) band along the top of the room and was likely the source of their disconnection to Scarlett.

Rajesh told Connors about how the Dubai Space Co. had entered into the warp engine market, which Connors said was a bold move for them and asked what Rajesh wanted him to do about it. Rajesh wanted the Dead Stars to go to a facility in San Francisco called Anti-Matter and get an echo drive with 111 trillion Woolongs on it. Rajesh offered 10% of that for their help in getting it, with the stipulation that it must be done in three days time, which is when Dubai Space Co. would go live with their new test engine. Connors bartered up Rajesh's offer for 150,000 Woolongs upfront to also include all damages that might came to the Decryptor would be covered as well, which Rajesh accepted even upping the upfront payment to 200,000 Woolongs because he trusted Connors to get the job done. Connors and Rajesh shook on it and Rajesh handed Connors a drive with the money and information on a contact named Dec0, who was on Rajesh's payroll and also worked for the 16k Triad, who would have what they need to get into the Anti-Matter Facility. Rajesh explained they would need a 150lb EMP, which Finn commented was military grade and Rajesh added that even the military didn't have them that big. Rajesh asked if there was anything else they needed. Finn asked for 20lb of a drug she called *Stimm,* which Rajesh tossed her a 10lb bag of, while Sven asked if he and Hans could have armor, which Rajesh said they could get from the front desk.

The Dead Stars made their way back down the elevator unaccompanied by the guards and to the front desk, where the receptionist greeted them again and handed Sven and Hans kevlar vests. Connors seemed to know that Rajesh was giving them so much help because he wanted this job done, but handing out the *Stimm* was a little suspicious. Finn took a small dip of her new drugs, found they were good quality and said she had experiments to do. Shae wondered if asking for a date with one of the bodyguards would have been acceptable request and Hans assured her she was beautiful so of course it would. As they went to leave, the crew noticed that the kevlar vests Hans and Sven were given had large "NE"s on the back presumably for Nightingale Exploration. Back on the Decryptor, Connors loaded the drive he was given by Rajesh into the ship's computer and learned more about what they are going to do. The echo drive was kept in the fourth floor office of the director in the Anti-Matter Facility, which was located 400 miles off the coast of San Francisco, but would need to first find Dec0 in the fifth district bar called the *Dragon Eyes* which was run by the 16k Triad. Connors asked Sven, being a computer person, to do a deeper search on Dec0 and found a file called DEC-001 which had a picture of an asian individual, with a long black beard, braided hair and tattoos.

With their plan to go to San Francisco in place, Sven asked Shae if she could alter his and his brother's new kevlar vests to not have the NE logo, which Shae admitted she was concerned about as her shapeshifting ability was limited to herself. Hans suggested they paint the vest and both brothers noted they kept finger paints in their room, but Shae replied she had an idea to use a forgery kit to possibly transform the NE logo into a similar logo of another company to possibly shift blame if they were caught. There was also concern of them being bugged while they were away from the ship, and after Hans did a sweep of the ship with Scarlett, found a tracker on the ship, but they decided to leave it alone for now. Connors asked if Sven could hack it and alter it to suit their needs and Sven said he could try. Finn asked Scarlett if her lab was emptied of the toxic gas, and when told it was clear, Finn told the others not to bother her. Shae and the twins headed to the twins room to work on the vests, while Sven brought up crocheting and Hans mentioned heating up the sauna as they left. Connors tried to take Sven away from Hans, but determined it would be better to wait until they landed in San Francisco. Connors left Cairo and D0C behind to go to the cockpit, and noting the injury he taken from before, D0C stabbed Cairo with a needle and gave a *Quick Heal* to him.

As they left the Twin Songbird's dock, Sven learned that the tracker was on the exterior of the ship and would need to be located and worked on once they landed in San Francisco. Shae looked for a logo she could alter the NE into and found Tusk Interplanetary would be the easiest to achieve. Scarlett called for everyone to buckle in for launch, which prompted the twins to pull the buckles out in the sauna and Finn buckled into her lab seat where all of her supplies were magnetically locked into place on her table. While at these speeds gravity was increased by three, Sven, Hans and Cairo took the time to try and do training. Cairo slammed against a wall, but Hans managed to catch Sven before he did as well. As they made their descent onto Terra, Connors took over piloting the ship as they made their way to San Francisco and guided the way to District 5.

San Francisco was now blocked by high walls, as over the years the water level had risen. District 5 was closest to the wall, the grummiest of the districts, and the more inland you were the nicer the state of living was. Once they arrived those who left their weapons picked them back up, then everyone, but Finn, started to make their way off the ship and out into the open where there have been warnings of acid rain, though they knew their armor would protect them from most of that. In the lab, Scarlett told Finn it was time to leave, but Finn insisted she was almost finished with her current batch and Scarlett provides assistance which stabilized what Finn was making. Connors came in over the comms telling Finn to hurry up, but the surprise startled Finn and caused her to knock more *Stimm* into the batch which she took with her as she left. Outside, Sven told Scarlett about a new tracking protocol, and Shae handed the twins back their kevlar vests, now no longer obviously tied to Nightingale Exploration. Hans then started to locate the tracking device and found a puck sized device attached to one of the exhausts on the engine. Sven passed the job onto Hans who was more engineering based than himself, and together they managed to pull the tracker off, but in doing so Sven was electrocuted. Finn quickly darted over, excited to try something and healed Sven, but also managed to paralyze him in the process and noted she might have put too much *Stimm* in that dose.

As they left the ship parked and walked through District 5, the crew started to talk of what they might want to buy for the mission with the Woolongs Rajesh gave them upfront. (Darrin told them they could buy what they need off camera, as this is where they would take the break and return with the Dead Stars standing in front of the Dragon Eyes Bar.)

### **Break!**

A few notes as we head into break -

* No give-away for the duration of the one shot and they will also be reworking how they do giveaways to involve more people in the future
* Also, don't forget to email anotherbsquest@gmail.com or tweet a question with the hashtag *anotherbsquestion* to eventually get those answered in a future Q&A show.
	+ Questions can be about anything including the story of the main quest, characters, the world of Darrin's creation or even Trek to Tundra Range!

### **Part Two**

The Dead Stars entered the Dragon Eyes bar and found it packed with people, flashing lights and loud music. Finn kept an eye out for anyone that looked shady enough to sell drugs, while Cairo immediately moonwalked onto the dancefloor. The twins followed Cairo into the mass of dancing people, while Shae looked for anyone who might flirt with her and give her attention. Connors sighed that he he seemed to be the only one there to work and grabbed a drink, while he took note of all the entrances, exits and the number of people before trying to find a table to sit, closely followed by D0C and Finn. Finn quickly split off, though, when she notices what looks to be two 16k Triad members that looked like they could hook her up. Connors noticed an individual who looked like the one from the picture Sven found sitting at a booth in the far corner and reasoned that this was likely Dec0.

Shae notices that Dec0 was rather attractive and headed there as Connors did, while Finn made quick work of buying three doses each of *Slash* and *Tiger,* then left the two 16k Triad members to re-join Connors without a backwards glance. Connors struck up a conversation with the suspected Dec0, while Sven used an ability to *Overcrowded HUD* which allows him to blind anyone within 30 feet by flooding their neural link, Sven does so by flooding their systems with images of Sven and Hans half naked and flexing. Connors confirmed the man was Dec0 and soon saw a robotic squirrel appeared on the man's shoulder. Dec0 noted that to get into the Anti-Matter facility would require a big EMP and knew of one stolen by the Yakuza from the Kassai Corporation and was kept in the back market above the only club in District 4. Dec0 added that he had a friend, a companion synth named 23, who could help them in the area. Dec0 also handed over a drive with a million Woolongs to pay for it and Connors asked how they were expected to get such a large object out of the area. Dec0 explained the EMP wasn't as large as it was more dense. He also offered to help locate 23, but couldn't do more than that since the 16k Triad and the Yakuza don't get along very well.

Everyone but Sven, who was being spun by his brother in the air, and Finn, who was mixing some of her new drugs into her healing supplies, noticed four armed guards walking into the bar, two from the front and two from the back. Connors asked if these people were with Dec0 and he said they weren't but they might be looking for them. The two guards that came in through the front approached Sven and Hans and asked for their paperwork and the twins got the sense this was not a polite request. Sven attempted to *Ping* *Echo* them, but they seemed immune to the debilitatingly loud sound that should be ringing in their comms. Hans tried to intimidate them, but the guards cocked their guns and asked again which prompted Hans to grab his minigun and offered that as a form of ID.

At the top of combat, Hans activated *Fury*, then stepped back from the two guards and missed both as he attempted a spray of bullets from his minigun. Connors stood from his spot at the back table with Dec0, suggested he should hide, pulled out a submachine gun, fired on the guard in front of Sven, hitting with *Sneak Attack,* then used his *Hide* ability, moved closer to the guards he just attacked and remained out of sight under the tables as he activated his biker's helmet for more protection. Finn, taking stock of her new drugs, moved from the bar she had been working at to rush the guard that had been demanding IDs, injected the one not hit by Connors with *Crush* and forced him to make a Fortitude save against the drugs negative effects which failed, resulting in a -2 to all his attacks, then ran away and pulled out her shotgun, as the guard missed her for his attack of opportunity. Cairo moved away from the same bar Finn stepped away from, turned to face the guards coming in from the back door and shot them while he gave a cheesy 80s one-liner and bullets, before he dipped back around the wall for cover.

The guard Cairo had shot advanced in the bar so he could get a visual and shot him, with Cairo taking all the damage dealt because he was not wearing armor to resist it. The other guard from the backdoor followed the first's lead, came further into the bar, propped his minigun on a table and readied himself to shoot anyone who threatened the two guards at the front. Shae uses her comms to ask if this was all very necessary, then lamented the attention she was getting from other people being lost and crossed her arms. Sven tried to discern what corporation the guards were from, but unable to, rushed around the guard in front of him, grappled him, then used his last *Exploit* to use *Overcrowded HUD* and blinded the guard he did not have grappled by flooding his neural link with nude pictures of Sven and Hans. D0C, further away from the bar and nearer to Connors, hid under one of the taller tables, swiped a snack off of the table top, then pulled out his pistol and held his action.

The guard being grappled tries and fails to break free, while the blinded guard stumbles toward where he last saw Hans for a swipe with his stun baton, but misse. Hans used his minigun like a battering ram against the blinded guard and slammed him back against a pillar. Connors, still effectively hidden, moved to the table where D0C was hiding, took a shot at one of the guards that came in through the back and hit him for a massive amount of damage, but was still standing. Finn, noticing that Cairo was injured, healed him before firing on the guard that Sven has grappled, but in the process hit Sven as well. Cairo moved away from Finn and towards the back where the other two guards came from, hit one but entirely missed the other. The guard Cairo shot unloaded into him, while the second guard from the back pulled out a submachine gun and fired on Finn, which she imposed disadvantage on causing the shot to miss, then frustrated with the miss, closed the distance to stand right in front of Finn.

Shae, seeing this fight could be going better, used her ability *Nose for Trouble* which allowed her to gain insight on a creature's weaknesses and learned, from the guard in front of Finn, that they had a blind spot in the back of their heads due to the armor design. Sven tried to interrogate the guard, stabbed him with a vibroknife when he didn't respond, and though the guard's helmet helped protect him did do some damage. From under his table, D0C shot the guard Hans has slammed against the pillar, then ran under to another table, then hid behind a booth along the wall, but less effectively as his hair pocked in sight and cackled louder to himself. The guard grappled by Sven tries to break free again and failed again, while the blinded guard made another attack on Hans that just managed to hit striking him with an electric shock.

Hans moved from the blinded guard, began to rush around behind the guard in front of Finn, warned her to get out of the way and held his action to wait until Finn was no longer in the area. Connors rushed to the guard in the back, managed to vault and slide across a bartop, got a clean shot and unloaded into the guard forcing him to drop his submachine gun, then used the rest of his movement to slide under the table the guard was still standing behind and swiped his submachine gun in the process before he rushed into one of the open bathrooms for cover. Finn started by skirting around the guard, which allowed Hans to do his readied attack as he told them "Tusk Interplanetary says hello" before he slammed the guard pushing him back and left *Prone*, then continued to rushed over to Cairo without taking an attack of opportunity, healed him Cairo again, this time having to roll on her extra effects table and Cairo got an extra 2HP to stack as temporary HP if it carries over, as it seemed Finn was onto something with this particular batch.

Cairo stepped around Finn to close the distance on the guard that had just been knocked back by Hans' attack, failed in an attempt to intimidate him, tried to shoot him, but missed, then assured his target he could convince him if given a minute. The guard who had his submachine gun taken, joined where most of combat was happening by the bar, advanced on Finn and hit her with a stun baton, while the guard under Cairo tried to stand but failed, and fired on Cairo from the ground, nearly killing him if not for the temp HP from Finn's last heal. Shae, still lamenting the loss of the attention she was getting, pulled out a revolver she had concealed within her arm and fired on the guard in front of Finn killing him, but as the guard dropped Finn complimented her which seemed to make her happy. Sven tried to reason with the guard to get information, but realizing the guard must have training for these sorts of things, lifted the guard and snapped his spine over his knee effectively paralyzing him.

D0C, seeing Cairo on the ground, ran from his hiding spot to Cairo, dislodged a fake finger tip off with his teeth to reveal a needle and jabbed into Cairo's neck to heal him. The guard from the front of the bar, knowing Hans had been causing a lot of problems, came up next to the guard on the ground and fired on Hans which hit for some damage. Hans, noting that the guards were armored against ballistics, took out his welding torch, got in close to the guard that shot him and hit him with the blowtorch burning and bludgeoning them at the same time. Connors came out of the bathroom he had been hiding in, tried to intimidate the guard Hans just hit into giving up, which seemed to work and held his action in case they tried to do something. Finn shot the blinded guard, believing the paralyzed and *Prone* guards were no longer real threats, absolutely obliterated his chest with the blast.

Hans lifted the decimated body into the air, intimidated the remaining guards to give up, with help from Sven as he held the living, but paralyzed guard in his arms. Finn uses her bonus action to heal Hans, while Cairo crouched down, pressed his pistol to the *Prone* guard's neck and told them as much as he liked playing nice cop, he had been shot repeatedly and would rather be in his apartment with the A/C on than here with 7 bullets in him. While that happened, everyone but Sven and D0C heard a small click sound, recognized as a pin being pulled from a grenade, and as it went off Finn, Hans and D0C all took the blast leaving the three *Unconscious* and the guard Cairo intimidated dead.

Connors ran toward Finn and stabilized her with a first aid kit, while Sven revived Hans with his own healing ability. Cairo attempted to stabilize D0C with CPR but with no luck. Sven then reached over to heal D0C with his ability soon after. As they all started to stand up, with the exception of Finn still unconscious but stable, Dec0 came out from under the table where he was hiding and asked if it was over.

1. ↑ This is a made up monetary metric for the world of *Carbon 2185*
2. ↑ The most decrepit district, District 1 being home to the richest and most comfortable of San Francisco
3. ↑ It is noted that Sven and Hans' *Vice* for this game is that they roll everything at disadvantage when they are more than 30 feet apart/out of visual range
4. ↑ Finn's *Vice* is that she is an experimental healer. Mechanically, whenever Finn heals herself or another creature she must roll a d20. If the roll is lower than an 8 she must also roll on a table to determine an additional effect of the healing which could be good or bad
5. ↑ Everyone in the *Carbon 2185* world has a HUD which is a neural link that allows the user to be connected to the internet and see a screen of information in front of them at all times
6. ↑ Mechanically similar to the 5e Barbarian, Hans is a *Daimyo* and *Fury* is similar to the Barbarian's *Rage* ability
7. ↑ Connors is the *Carbon 2185* equivalent of a 5e Rogue, known as a *Scoundrel*, which gives him this ability
8. ↑ In *Carbon 2185*, your character has the ability to take on *Augmentations*. These physical upgrades can be a weapon concealed in your body or even enhanced eyesight but are costly and your run the risk of your blood becoming too toxic for you to handle which can kill you