Babes in London: Act Four, Scene 1B (Part 3: Kew Gardens—In Case of the Gehenna Consortium)

If PCs call the Gehenna Consortium for back-up:

Alice McIntyre arrives with her goon squad. She comes on foot, accompanied by half a dozen men, but, before negotiations reach a point where opposed Trickery tests are required, the Consortium sends a retrieval team. The team arrives in two helicopters, and the PCs might notice that these are approaching. Give them a short time to react to the helicopters’ approach, if they do. A successful opposed TH4 Air (Senses) test alerts them to the fact Alice is watching the machines approach, and seems to expect them. Anika and Leyila make a break for it as soon as the helicopters stop overhead. Alice orders the PCs to help capture the children and bring them back. The PCs can either choose to aid Gehenna in capturing the girls, or they can hinder them and help the girls escape. There are consequences for either path. If they help the Consortium, they retain any standing they might have with the group, but they lose the Modern Era status of friendship with the girls. (i.e. They lose the benefits of Friend of Anika Collins or Friend of Leyila Andrews.) Their actions do not affect their Mythic era status with the brood, however. If they choose to help the girls, they lose any standing and benefits they might have with the Gehenna Corporation, including the Modern rewards of: Friend of the Gehenna Consortium, and gain entry into the Gehenna Redemption scenario.

If the PCs are successful in helping the children escape:

Anika leads them through a garage, and several back gardens (via loose boards in fences, or gaps in hedges), until they come to an abandoned potting shed, which she secures after they have all gone in. It’s cramped, but seems safe enough. At this point, she asks the PCs what they think they should do next, who the ‘bad guys’ were, and if they know of somewhere safe the children can wait while the PCs rescue their parents. Right now, they all want to go home, and, if the PCs dither too long in deciding, Lewistrom throws a tantrum about wanting his mother. He calms only if they promise to take him to her. At this point, the characters can either return Lewistrom (Act 5, Scene 1); go to Leyila’s parents (Act 5, Scene 2); or attempt to hide the children in their own place (Act 5, Scene 3C). PCs lose all friendly standing with the Consortium and are no longer considered Friends, or Better Friends of the Gehenna Consortium.

If the PCs are successful in helping to capture the children:

Anika regards them with horror at their betrayal, and they lose any Modern day rewards regarding friendship with the girls or the brood, until they redeem themselves. Go to Act 5, Scene 3A, and modify as required.

If the PCs are captured helping the children but the children escape:

The PCs wake up in cells, either in a shipping container in the Connix Haulage Ltd. yard at the Eastway Commercial Centre, or in holding cells at Genesis Ltd in Innova Park, where the Consortium plans to keep them until they have learned what they can of the PCs’ supernatural abilities, and either turned them into loyal Consortium agents, or they PCs are no longer useful in Genesis Ltd.’s stem cell and viral research. How they escape from this facility, where it is, and the nature of its business, is up to the GM—as is how to bring the adventure back on track. (Although reinserting them in Act 6, Scene 1, is always a possibility, should their escape either the shipping container or holding cell be successful.) PCs are no longer considered Friends of/Better Friends of the Gehenna Consortium, and lose these awards and all accompanying benefits.

If the PCs fail to help the children escape and they are all caught:

Go to Act 5, Scene 3A, and modify as necessary. Note, also, that the PCs have been stripped of their standing as Friends of/Better Friends of the Gehenna Consortium, and, although the Consortium is happy to use them to retrieve Anika’s parents and keep the children happy until the two groups can be separated, they plan to capture them and use them in their human-viral genome experiments as soon as the Consortium no longer has a use for them being ‘in the wild’.

If the PCs fail in their attempts to help capture the children:

They lose any Modern friendship status with the children, and skip most of Act 5. The Gehenna Consortium, however, wants them to find Anika’s parents, as they have had prophecies revealing that the PCs’ assistance is of the greatest importance to winning the children to their side, although, once this is done, they have other plans involving the PCs’ DNA. The PCs are told to win the children’s affections, and convince the families to seek shelter with the Consortium’s subsidiary, Genesis Down Under. Go to Act 5, Scene 1, letting PCs choose an option of where to go first. Gehenna’s preference is Anika’s house, Act 5 Scene1B, although the PCs might have other ideas.

If the PCs called the Gehenna Consortium:

The Consortium does not believe in taking chances. They have sent their best, including a number of ex-military types who have found it more profitable to make a living doing what they know for ‘private’ firms, than working for the government. The Consortium folk, however, are slightly less organised than LN7, with no designated team to go for the girl, or to provide cover, so all agents are focussed on capturing the children, and they keep to this goal, unless the PCs do something to get their attention, or get in their way.

Consortium Soldiers (5):

Use the same stats as the Soldier (Cypher) entry in the Gamemaster’s Handbook.

Thugs (10):

Use the Thug stats from the Gamemaster’s Handbook. Note that these mooks are armed with Browning PRO-40 pistols, rather than chains, and will use them against the PCs. They try to capture the children by grabbing them, and will use the following sequence, or a variation to catch them:

Stride-Grab-Hold Effect: The target is considered pinned and suffers a +2 penalty to break the Grab in addition to other penalties imposed by size, or Presses that followed this sequence – as per the Grab rules.

Hedge Wizards (4): use the states in the Gamemaster’s Handbook.

Alice McIntyre

Era Modern; Race Natural being; APL 1; Init 8; Aspects Fire 2, Water 3, Air 4, Earth 3; Health 3m; <3 / 3+ / 6+ / 9+ / 12+ / 15+ / 18+ / 21+; Size/Reach 0 / 2; Armor 0; Karma 15; Stride 20 ft. (Moderate)

Colt Python Elite 24 ~ range 150 ft. ~ reload 1/6 Fist 3/L, Kick 4/M, Sequences Nil

Skills Athletics 2, Casting 4, Interaction 4, Ka 2, Knowledge: Ancient Cultures 2, Knowledge: London 4, Knowledge: Occult 2, Knowledge: Religion 2, Melee 2, Quickness 2, Ranged 2, Senses 2, Trickery 3, Will 3; Edges Allies 3, Casting 2, Mentor 2, Network: Occult 2, Network: Academic World 2; Spells Rank 1 – Beguile, Buzz Kill (A); Rank 2 – Aegis (B), Slow the Living (D); Traits Supernatural heritage (fae)
NOTE: This adventure is not sanctioned in any way, shape or form by Fantasy Flight. It is not an official product, and I am in no way affiliated with them or they with me. There is no relationship between us. This adventure is mine, for fun, and for you, because some of you asked me to finish it.

Also, if you like this adventure and want to play it, please go buy the official rulebooks from somewhere where the original creators and publisher of the setting will be paid. I got mine from a Melbourne game store, but I’ve found PDF versions of the Player's Handbook and the Gamemaster's Handbook are now available from DriveThruFiction. If you enjoy their world, this is the best way to thank them.