STALKER7

An Incident for When Nightmares Come

• while this scenario references the rules and mechanics of Osprey’s WNC, it has been modified to a more narrative, RPG-style adventure intended for a Game Master and a group of four players.

SCENE ONE: BUNNY IN THE WEE HOURS

2:38 a.m., Downtown Deacon Falls.

An older, heavyset man hunched over a kitchen table in a small apartment. An pair of clip lamps shine down on the battered linoleum. There’s a mug of cold coffee and a half-eaten ‘Italian on a Bulky with Extra Hots’ to one side. A spread of tools for fine work splayed out on the other. The rest of the apartment is dark. The occasional thrum and rush of late-night traffic seeps through an open window. The only other sounds are the squelch hiss of a police scanner and the scratch of a steel file on iron.

The man’s name is Ralph. Ralph Bunert. Ralph is a Sanitation Worker, three years from retirement. He has a handful of friends who call him ‘Bunny.’ But if we’re being honest, most people who meet him don’t call him anything. They say there’s something odd about him and don’t speak to him at all, if they can help it.

Which is fine by Ralph. He’s used to it by now. Part of the job – his real job, that is.

Ralph is a Warden in the Fifth Street Nightwatch Crew, and he’s whiling away these wee hours inscribing runes on an Estwing hatchet he came across in a pawn shop. Paid in cash. No receipt. A good find at a good price.

He needed a new one because his last hatchet – cheap Taiwan pig iron – broke in the head of sewer ghoul the other night. This one is better. Fresh runes will make it more so.

The scanner squawks, a tinny voice relays ‘noise complaint, possible vagrants‘ at one of the old factories outside town. A black-and-white patrol car queries the call’s urgency. Because it’s far, it’s late, it’s cold, and who the hell wants to stumble through a gigantic old building to roust a couple homeless bums?

“Level Three.”

Which means the squatters will most likely sleep soundly in their booze/drug haze, curled in a nest of insulation and cardboard, dreaming of spare change and soup kitchens.

Ralph goes back to scratching intricate lines, then stops when he hears the complaint’s address.

He sets down the file and fishes his phone out of his jacket. Holly, Doc, and Imani will want to know about this.

It’s not just any factory – it’s that factory. The one they all dreamed about on the same night, at the same time, four nights ago.

It’s nearly three in the morning now, but it’s time to get to work.

***

ENGAGEMENT: TROUBLE AT RUNSCRABLE MEWS

TABLE SET UP

An abandoned construction site with the old factory, a single, large sprawling building, in the center. Area is fenced off, and dotted with multiple piles of construction material and machinery. A prominent sign with large smiling faces in suits and hard hats. ‘Runscrable Mews. Affordable Luxury. Starting at $750K’

Project has been on hold for the better part of a year.

NARRATIVE SCENE CHALLENGES

The team must gain access to the site and enter the ground floor of the old factory to begin their investigation. The obvious challenges are:

• The fences/locked gate.
• The maze of rough ground, materials, and machinery in the dark.
• Locating an entrance into the building itself. Doors and windows have been locked and sealed against weather and vandalism.
• The possibility of actual homeless people on location, either belligerent toward the team or having information about a way inside.
• And of course, the police might well make a pass around the site, using the patrol car’s searchlight to check the premises for signs of intruders or an obvious disturbance.

POINT OF INTEREST LOCATIONS

The ground floor of the factory is a mess of old and new construction, rooms and halls partially demolished, partially constructed. There are half-walls, temporary structural supports, more machinery and stacks of materials.

This is a Low-Light/No Light encounter inside a cavernous, decrepit building. (See p. 28 WNC rule book PDF, and bring a Flashlight.)

There is one POI in each quadrant of the game area.

• POI 1 Clue: Job Foreman’s report about no-shows of workers after another mysterious accident. Latest incident in a series of setbacks.
• POI 2 Clue: Structural Engineer’s warning about the soundness of the building given the repeated attempts to renovate and repurpose the factory. Mention of ‘the original fire’ that might have weakened the central load-bearing walls.
• POI 3 Clue: Report between Early and Late Shift Foremen explaining access to the second floor is temporarily restricted to the west side stairwell in the basement due to a squabble between architects.
• POI 4 Clue: Hastily written letter of Resignation complaining of strange noises, weird accidents, bad vibes, and unexplained ‘visitors’ appearing and disappearing in work areas.

DARK SPAWN ADVERSARIES

Geists – Small, cruel adversaries drawn to distress and grief. Free Move + 1 D6 Action. Move: 8″* Trait: Fast. (+2″ to Move. See *) Special: Soul Ache – Geists can only melee attack but when they hit, the target must roll against both Armor and Will. Failed DD = a Wound. Failed Will = reduce character’s Will stat by 1. If the Hunter’s Will reaches 0, they must roll on the Dread Table. (P. 31 WNC Rulebook, PDF)

Phantoms – Spectral enemies. Bitter and cruel. Free Move + 2 D8 Actions. Move: 6″. Traits: Flight (Ignore terrain up to 3″ tall) Savage (Free melee attack 1st contact) Special: Wail for the Lost – Once per turn, one Dark Spawn Phantom can ‘spend’ their activation – their Free Move and both D8 action dice – to let out a bone-chilling shriek. All NW Hunters within 6″ must make a Terror roll. (see p. 31 WNC rulebook PDF) This special ability can only be attempted when there are at least 2 Hunter models in applicable range, and can only be performed once per turn by one phantom model.

NEXUS – Three very old, very small human skulls hidden behind one of the few remaining original walls. (Nicotine-stain sepia colored skulls.)

AFTERMATH – Nexus closed, the weight of anguish and anger inside the factory lessens but is still palpable. The Nightwatch cleared the ground floor, but something bigger, something far more dangerous is tethered to this place. Something that feeds on misery, terror, and death.

But what?

Dawn is breaking and the team must rest and re-arm. As they are leaving, one of them notices faded writing on one of the original brick walls: Runscrable Mill. Quality Textiles, Garments, and Sundries

TO BE CONTINUED.

***

You can purchase When Nightmares Come and two campaign supplements at Amazon and Wargame Vault.

Good hunting.