Basically, this scenario allows the players to attempt to defend Horst's vault, while the referee "controls" a lone Nekekami agent who will attempt to infiltrate the estate. The referee should not, of course, indicate that anything unusual is going on during the course of the scenario-nor should the location of the Nekekami agent be indicated by means of a counter or other marker on the map. The referee should mentally keep track of the infiltrator's position, however, observing his location on the map and noting when he comes close (within a few meters) to a player character or NPC guard. The section of this scenario entitled THE INTRUDER: STEP BY STEP will help the referee time and organize the Nekekami's movements and activities. The Nekekami should be operated according to the following guidelines: He will not kill any character unless the killing is absolutely necessary. He will not, however, hesitate to kill if he must, and when he must, he will kill quickly, silently, and efficiently. He will move towards the house following the guidelines given below, watching for his opportunity to slip past or neutralize individual sentries. He knows that he needs Horst's palmprint to open the vault, and he knows about the secret elevator from Horst's bedroom to the vault. When he reaches the West Wing of the house, he will seek to enter Horst's bedroom, drug Horst, force the man to reveal the presence and numbers of guards in the Outervaultarea, thentake his prisonerto the vault on the secret elevator. He will be prepared to eliminate a large number of guards in the vault area with a hand grenade, stun grenade or gas. If he manages to open the vault, he will not find what he wants inside. (see: Horst's Back-up Plan, below.) If permitted time, he will proceed to question the drugged Horst and learn the package's hiding place. Once he has the package, he will attempt to escape by moving across the estate grounds to a wall, climb the wall, and vanish into the darkness. If the alarm has been raised, he will attempt to use a variety of tricks and special techniques to avoid capture. He will use every means at his disposal to escape, with or without the package. If cornered, with no hope of escape, he will take his own life. He can only be captured if he can be knocked unconscious (in hand-to-hand combat or as a result of a wound), or wrestled to the ground, overpowered by superior numbers, and held or tied immobile. (He has a suicide pill sewn into the material of his tunic's shoulder which he will attempt to bite down on when he is captured. The pill will be discovered only after an extremely thorough search of the tunic.) HORST'S BACK-UP PLAN Horst is a clever man, a man who has survived and prospered by staying one step ahead of his competitors and enemies. He will provide the characters with full details of the west wing's layout, of its security systems, and even of the secret elevator between his bedroom and the vault, but he will keep one piece of information in reserve. The package is not being kept in the obvious place--the vault. Instead, he has used an old but still clever ploy, and hid the package inside a large book which has had its pages glued together and a hiding space hollowed out of the inside. Placed on a shelf in his bedroom, it looks identical to other old books in the room, and only he knows where it is. His hope is that any attack on the estate will be directed against the vault, with the idea that once an attacker makes it to the vault, the alarm will have been raised. He is not counting on a Nekekami intruder, however, and is assuming that anyone trying to enter the vault would try to bypass the vault's lock or blow open the door. He does not expect the intruder to come after him to get his palmprints--and will be asleep when the break-in occurs. More NightShadow: A MechWarrior Scenario Simulator Information Background Maps Time and Plan Running the Adventure The Intruder: Step by Step Character Stats Back to BattleTechnology 2 Table of Contents Back to BattleTechnology List of Issues Back to MagWeb Magazine List © Copyright 1987 by Pacific Rim Publishing. This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other military history articles and gaming articles are available at http://www.magweb.com