"The ESPER Project", © 2000-2005 by
Paul Lucas.
HTML by:
Steve C.
The party is passing through a run-down section of Libreville when a woman wearing hospital coveralls literally runs into them as she is turning a corner. She is wild-eyed and panicky, and pleads with the PCs for help or else "they" will get her. Her right arm is soaked with blood.
Seconds later, an ambulance marked "St. Catherine's Mental Health Facility" zooms around the corner and screeches to a halt. Four uniformed men jump out and advance on the woman while the driver remains in the vehicle. The men are carrying Brandt Audionique AS-3 sonic stunners.
If the party takes no action, the woman is cut down by the stunners and is carried off to the vehicle. The ambulance crew will explain to anyone who asks that she is a patient with a long history of "brain chemical imbalance" and suffers from paranoid delusions. She escaped from nearby St. Catherine's an hour ago, after brutally stabbing two guards. The ambulance crew can present official ID if anyone asks to see it, and any quick database search will show their ID to be valid.
However, if the party stands up for the woman (perhaps by threatening to call the police) or refuses to allow the men to shoot at her or drag her away, the ambulance crew will turn instantly hostile and open fire on the PCs. Resolve combat normally. If the ensuing combat goes badly for the thugs, the driver will open fire with a DunArmCo Close Assault Gun he has hidden under the seat. The ambulance crew are all Experienced Core NPCs with Military backgrounds. The ambulance they are using is identical in performance and stats to the Utility Van describe on p. 56 of the Adventurer's Guide. They will fight until dead or unconscious.
If at any time during the combat a PC is in danger of being surprised from the rear (perhaps by the shotgun-armed driver), an image of his imminent attacker will burst into his mind, giving him enough time to take evasive action. The PC will know that the mysterious woman is somehow responsible for the warning.
If the PCs win, the woman will urge them to get away from the scene as quickly as possible, because "they" will know of the battle and send armed reinforcements in a matter of minutes. If the PCs think of taking any surviving thugs for interrogation, the woman warns them against it. They all have implanted tracking devices in their arms; one the PCs won't have the time or know-how to remove before more goons show up.
If the PCs insist on waiting around, the Director should have another group of thugs show up in an unmarked armored van, armed heavily enough to put a good dose of fear into the party. A stealthed helicopter gunship will zoom by overhead. If the party still stupidly insists on staying and shooting it out, the Director should give them what they deserve.
If they do not dawdle, however, the party should be able to escort their new guest to whatever place of safety they deem appropriate without incident. After her arm is given medical attention, she tells them what they have gotten involved in.
Her name is Jacqueline du Couer. She is a telepath. She will demonstrate this to the party if they still need to be convinced by reading their thoughts and projecting her own into their minds. Observant PCs will note that Jacqueline's mental feats are physically draining to her after extended use.St. Catherine's Mental Health Institute, she explains, is a front for Ramirez-Abruggo, a Brazil-based pharmaceutical megacorp, and their illegal projects called ESPER (Extra-Sensory Perception Experimental Research.) They have developed a drug, called Booster, that will induce limited psychic powers in subjects who take it regularly. (Refer to the BOOSTER AND TELEPATHY IN 2300 section later in this article for the exact effects of the drug.)
Ramirez-Abruggo set up a secret test-facility in St. Catherine's sub-basement to expedite research on Booster. The corporation was not too fickle where it got its test subjects. Drifters, junkies, runaways, anyone they could snatch off the street and would not be missed. Jacqueline was a lone tourist in Libreville who happened to be wandering through the wrong neighborhood at the wrong time. That was over a year ago. After being exposed to Booster, she was forced by the corporation to participate in espionage and interrogation operations against its competitors.
Jacqueline planned her escape from the ESPER facilities for months. She managed to steal a small supply of Booster to last her a few weeks, and then used a pilfered scalpel to excruciatingly cut the implanted tracking device from her arm. She later used the same instrument to stab the guards outside her cell. She was then able to sneak out, using her telepathy to lift the layout and keycodes of the hospital from unsuspecting personnel.
She pleads with the party to help her expose project ESPER and to help the other test subjects interred there. She does not advise going to the authorities, especially the police. She knows from reading her captors' minds that Ramirez-Abruggo has bought out a number of high-ranking officials and cops in the city, both to ensure that their subject-snatching operations would remain unhindered and to guard against situations like this. Alerting the police would give her former masters advanced warning, giving them plenty of time to destroy evidence or perhaps even kill the other test subjects to hide their secret.
She believes that the best alternative would be to covertly enter the facility and try to obtain incriminating evidence and/or help the ESPER test subjects escape. If they were presented to the proper authorities (with enough media coverage to stymie any corrupt officials), her fellow prisoners could be placed in protective custody away from Ramirez-Abruggo's revenge.
Of course, Jacqueline cannot pay them anything, but perhaps the party could work out a deal with the authorities afterward. They might also consider having the gratitude of a dozen or so accomplished, if limited, telepaths; a commodity that could prove very useful in future ventures.
Jacqueline will draw a crude but fairly accurate map of St. Catherine's, including an extensive series of sub-basements which will be missing on any building plans the characters download from the Net. The building itself is a large, L-shaped, two-story affair constructed just five years ago. It is also well-guarded, both by human sentries and an extensive electronic surveillance system. The ground and upper floor are dedicated to the care of legitimate mental health patients, enough to keep any suspicion at bay. These innocent patients and unsuspecting general staff may be a consideration in any plans the PCs concoct to assault the building.
If the party contains a cyberjockey, that character may attempt to break into St. Catherine's mainframe and try to pirate information on ESPER. Unfortunately, all data pertaining to the project, as well as building security, are kept in self-sealed on-site computers, unconnected to the Net. However, the hacker can still obtain info on employee and delivery schedules, medication inventory, county inspection reports, and other information the party may find useful in planning an infiltration. Hacking into the mainframe is a Difficult Computer-related task.
The characters may come up with any number of different strategies for getting into St. Catherine's. These include:
Mission Impossible: The party may attempt to sneak in using stealth and espionage techniques. Accurate knowledge of the security measures and their placement at the facility will be essential, as will good coordination of the various team elements. Probably the best course is to have one or more hackers at a secure location riding the building's computer systems while the rest of the party sneaks in bodily, with both teams keeping in close radio contact.
The Trojan Horse: The party will attempt to sneak in by posing as employees, patients, delivery personnel, or bulk goods. By doing this, the characters can bypass much of the surveillance net and be in a position to sabotage vital systems and surprise unsuspecting guards. However, the PCs may have to find some way of keeping the thugs they tussled with out in the street, who work at the facility as orderlies, from recognizing them (providing any survived, of course.)
The Rambo Special: The party opts for an overt, lightning-quick strike on the facility, hoping to overwhelm the security and get to the ESPER test subjects before anyone can take effective counter-measures. While simple and direct, this option will also place many of the innocents at the facility in jeopardy. Also, if the assault isn't precise, quick, and overwhelming enough, the Ramirez-Abruggo personnel may have enough time to eliminate the "evidence" and make a hasty escape before the PCs can reach them.
No matter what plan the PCs decide on, Jacqueline will insist on going with them. There are several advantages to her presence on the mission. One, she intimately knows not only the layout of the hospital but also the ESPER facilities in the secret sub-basements. Two, her telepathy can give the party an unexpected edge. She can read guards' minds, sense people behind doors and around corners, and can "pull" useful information like daily security codes from the minds of the Ramirez-Abruggo personnel. And three, she can coordinate with the other telepaths once she is close enough, who will probably be very mistrustful of the party unless someone familiar is with them.
The 12 security guards on duty per shift (4 in the main hospital and 8 in the ESPER facilities) are all Experienced Core NPCs with Military backgrounds, as are the five "thug" orderlies. The official guards all wear Inertial Armor Vests and are armed with AS-3 Sonic Stunners and small communication headsets. The planted orderlies are generally not armed but are all strong, physically imposing, and skilled in unarmed combat.
All locks in the facility are electronic and magnetic-sealing, requiring either Difficult (in the main facility) or Formidable (in the ESPER sub-basements) Security Systems tasks to bypass or force. Electronic surveillance consists of standard and infrared video monitors, which are constantly cycled through by one security guard at the security checkpoint by the main entrance and by two additional guards in the hidden sub-basements. This monitoring system cannot be accessed from the Net, but resourceful characters may be able to covertly rig up some remote-access hardware to the system once they're inside. Also, the monitors do sweep the facility in complex but predictable patterns, so an observant intruder can bypass them if he times his movements exactly right.
The only ways into the hidden ESPER facilities are through three special elevators in the main hospital itself, and a hidden and strongly-fortified sewer entrance. The buttons on the elevator panel must be pushed in a specific 15-button sequence for access to the sub-basements. This code changes on a daily basis. The sewer entrance has a huge bank-vault-like door that requires a very complex mathematical code (Formidable to bypass) in order to unlock. This door is hidden in a little-used sewer tunnel deliberately disguised to look partially-collapsed and choked with debris. However, anyone actually trying to move the tunnel "wreckage" will find it made of cheap, lightweight plastic anchored in place with epoxy.
The uppermost sub-basement houses security, maintenance, and storage. The level below that holds the drug laboratories and offices, and the lowermost level holds the prisoners and the medical laboratories. Incriminating records (both hardcopy and disk) are kept in the offices. Three guards are present on the first and third sub-basement level, and two on the middle level.
At the time of the infiltration and/or raid, the ten ESPER subjects are either in their cells or in one of the med labs. They are so dispirited and exhausted from their captivity that the Director should treat them as Green NPCs for the duration of this adventure. They have abilities identical to Jacqueline's.
If the PCs get the ESPER subjects and/or the incriminating records out intact and present them to the proper authorities, they can expose Ramirez-Abruggo and their illegal project. The company will come under severe fire from the legal powers-that-be and many arrests will be made.
Through careful negotiations and media manipulation, the PCs can squeeze about Lv5000 out of the authorities as a reward, mostly in "privileges" like hotel suites, transportation rentals, purchasing discounts, and so on until the ESPER controversy becomes old news (about a week.) They could also make money by giving interviews, cutting Net deals, and so on.
All surviving ESPER subjects will of course be eternally grateful to the PCs. After they are freed they will be moved into temporary protective custody, but several months down the line when they return to their own lives the PCs may be able to call upon them for favors, especially Jacqueline. If their liberation is given enough media attention, Ramirez-Abruggo will not try to silence the ESPERs, for fear of causing even greater trouble for the company if it was caught. The PCs may be another matter.
The public's and various authorities' reactions to the existence of actual telepaths will be up to the discretion of the Director.
Alternately, the party may try to keep all the info to themselves and blackmail the company instead. While the company may initially pay, Ramirez-Abruggo will only do so to buy time until they can find a way to safely liquidate the party and destroy the evidence against them.
Booster is a dangerous, highly addictive variant of Vassopressin-Y. Sixty percent of those exposed to it become violently ill for a week or more, shaking uncontrollably and suffering seizures. Thirty percent have their brains literally short-circuited and become drooling vegetables for the rest of their natural lives. Five percent enter into a coma from which they never awaken. The remaining five percent develop intense, blinding migraines that keep them bed-ridden for weeks, but when they finally emerge they find themselves with a limited form of telepathy.
Everyone who takes even one dose, however, becomes instantly addicted. If denied the drug for more than a week, the user will suffer a DPV of 1.0 to his general life level per week without the drug for 2D6 weeks, a result of devastating withdrawal symptoms. During this time the victim can do nothings except suffer horribly (Every task attempted will be Formidable.) Most characters will die from withdrawal, but if the life level is reduced to zero, he can be kept alive on life-support at a properly-equipped hospital until the symptoms pass (Difficult Medical task by attending physician.)
Booster is expensive and difficult to synthesize. An average dose costs Lv1000 and takes three weeks to make.
The nerve tissue of a successfully Boosted brain becomes sensitized to the weak electrical impulses from nearby minds and can convert them into understandable images. This may be a natural mechanism possessed by most humans, but in the vast majority it is woefully underdeveloped. The so-called "unused" portion of the brain (85% of the frontal lobe) is converted by Booster into a processing and receiving center for these images, vaguely analogous to the way a television processes a received electromagnetic signal. With practice, an ESPER subject can reverse this effect, imposing electrical patterns and images onto other minds. Because a common person's mechanism for sensing neural activity is far less efficient than a telepath's, the range at which an ESPER can send thoughts to a non-telepath is about one-tenth the sensing range. Sensing range for an average ESPER is 2d6 x 10 meters. Jacqueline is the most powerful of the Ramirez-Abruggo test subjects, with a sensing range of 200 meters.
Telepathy is physically tiring to use. A character will suffer stun damage equal to a DP of 0.1 for every round it is used. This damage is recovered normally.
Because this form of telepathy is electromagnetic in nature, strong electrical or magnetic fields can block it, as can thick metal barriers. Otherwise it can work through material barriers with a minimal of difficulty.
The Director should make Telepathy its own separate skill. Task difficulty will depend on the circumstances in which it is used and complications such as EM fields and metal barriers.