Sierra One
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Author: Steve Kellams
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System: GURPS
Type: Scenario
Category: Science Fiction
Requirements: 6 - 8 players all representing members of the US Special Forces

Intrduction
This is the introductory adventure to my special ops campaign called The X Team. It starts as a typical special ops adventure and should be presented to the players as such, however, it quickly adds elements of horror and science fiction. This can be run as a stand alone adventure or part of an ongoing campaign. The adventure is designed for a group of 6 - 8 players all representing members of the US Special Forces. The characters were created using the character templates in the Gurps Special Ops book.

Reference Material
You will need a detailed map of the United States. You will also want a map of Montana. I used a Rand McNally road atlas to great effect. You will also need a copy of Gurps Special Ops. This book is currently out of print but there are still copies floating around. Ask you local retailer or contact Steve Jackson Games. If you can't get a copy of the book then you may want to look for information regarding the character creation templates available in the book. You will need a map of the city of Red Lodge Montana. You can get a map by using one of the search engines on the Internet, or just make it up. You will also need to prepare a map of the Sierra One complex. I will give descriptions of the complex below, feel free to embellish as much as you like.

The Briefing
The following is the exact briefing I gave to my players. You will only need to change the names of the OIC (Officer In Charge), the NCOIC (Non Commissioned Officer In Charge), and the ATT (Attached Personnel). A-Team is the unit designator for the group.

CSA.,DCSOPS.,SOCOM.,A-TEAM

12171995

OIC: Capt. Robert Wehnke
NCOIC: Sgt Joe Hacker
ATT: Lt. Jon Spurr, WO Tony Taboas, Sgt Bruce Mcguinn, Sgt Shannon Burford

BACKGROUND:
In 1950 the U.S. began experimenting with cold fusion. The offshoot of the experiment resulted in further study of energy transmission and collection. A top secret underground instillation, code named Sierra One was established in what is now known as Red Lodge Montana. As the need for services grew in that area so did the population. The town of Red Lodge is a skiing resort located directly above Sierra One. In 1991 the project was terminated. All of Sierra One's computers were connected to the NSA, and telemetry was monitored from NORAD. 25 U.S. Army MP's were stationed as a guard unit for the closed base. Red Lodge Montana has a population of 45,000.

SITUATION:
On 12/16/1995 at approximately 14:45 hours a severe winter storm front moved into the Red Lodge area. Cloud cover does not allow satellite or aircraft recon. At 04:14 hours on 12/17/1995 two events occurred. The United States Geological Survey department in Billings Montana recorded an earthquake registering 3.4 on the Richter scale, with an epicenter in Red Lodge. Secondly, the Sierra One telemetry went completely off the scale indicating a major event. All communication with Sierra One, and Red Lodge has been terminated. At 07:17 hours the Montana State Police sent a car to investigate at our request. That car has failed to check in. All other attempts at communication have been stopped.

MISSION:
1. Physically recon the city of Red Lodge, and Sierra One.
2. Ascertain the integrity of Sierra One, its reactor, and its laboratories.
3 If Sierra One has been Compromised destroy the site.
4 Any and all hostiles are to be dealt with using Extreme Prejudice.

EXECUTION:
This is a covert operation. No dog tags are to be worn. You will be wearing civilian clothing and arriving in a civilian vehicle. You will be using false identification.

TRANSPORTATION:
Travel from Ft. Bragg via Air Force supersonic to Billings Montana. Travel via Blackhawk helicopter Billings to Russell Fork. Travel from Russell Fork to Red Lodge via Toyota Land Cruiser. ETA 17:36 hours.

EQUIPMENT:
Standard equipment for each soldier will be; civilian winter clothing, carry-all parachute bags, cancelable body armor, standard short range communication gear, Beretta 92 9mm with 3 magazines, H&K MP5 submachinegun with 5 magazines, combat knife, maps of Red Lodge and Sierra One. OIC will be issued security pass cards and security codes for the Sierra One facility. Demolition's specialist will be issued 10 lbs of V-TEK C4,10 remote detonators, and schematics for the self destruct mechanism at the Sierra One facility. The Communications specialist will be carrying the SatCom Transmitter and Signet device for encoded transmissions. Other equipment at the discretion of the OIC and SOCOM.

CALLSIGN:
A-Team = Marlboro Man
SOCOM = Lung Cancer

END TRANSMISSION

Arrival
The trip from Ft. Bragg to Billings should be uneventful. When the team steps off the plane describe a harsh winter afternoon in Montana. The skies are leaden with thick heavy clouds. It is very cold and the ground is covered by almost a foot of snow. The helicopter ride to Russell Fork will be very rough as the winter storm continues. When the team arrives in Russell Fork they will be greeted by a civilian who provides them with a new Toyota Land Cruiser equipped with snow tires and chains for their drive into Red Lodge. The roads are treacherous but the team should arrive on the outskirts of Red Lodge at approximately 5:45 pm. As the PC's approached the town they will come across a bridge blocked by an overturned semi. Parked in front o the semi is a Montana State Police car. There is no one around. As the characters investigate this scene they will find that the semi is unoccupied, however, there are signs that someone was injured in the wreck. The Windshield is broken and there is matted hair and skin from where the drivers head went through the windshield. The police car is locked and the keys are in the ignition. If the PC's get into the car it will not start. It is out of gas and the battery is dead, but it is quite warm inside and it appears as though the car was left running then finally ran out of gas. The real problem for the players is that they will have to walk the remaining mile into Red Lodge because their vehicle cannot get around the jackknifed semi.

Red Lodge
As the characters enter the town the first thing they should notice is all of the power is out. The town also looks deserted. Any vehicles that they find will not work and a close insepection of any electrical systems will show that they are all burned and fused together as though a massive power surge swept through the area. This type of damage is consistant with an electro magnetic pulse commonly associated with a nuclear explosion, however, all of the buildings appear intact. As the team moves deeper into the town they should come across scenes consistant with some kind of fight. Buildings will be barricaded and windows will be shattered. There will also be evidence that people were seriously injured in these combats such as bloody snow.

By this point the players should be pretty paranoid. It will be well passed sundown and the town will be very still, with a haunted feeling to it. Sierra One is located in the middle of town. The entrance is disguised as an mail order outfitters warehouse. As the characters make their way towards the warehouse they should start to see shapes of people in the streets. Start with one of the characters seeing a man standing in the middle of the street a block away. When the rest of the team turns to look the man is not there, or he is there but not moving. As the team moves to investigate have more people appear at the opposite end of the street. When the characters get close enough to make out the features of the people they will discover that they are zombies. Fright checks should be required as the special forces team realizes that the dead are currently walking the earth.

The next scene will be filled with carnage as the highly trained soldiers start opening up on the zombies. Have the zombies come in waves and only have them "killed" when they take more then 10 points of unadjusted damage to their brain. Don't let the players hold up anywhere. Force them to keep moving and allow them some kind of access to Sierra One.

Sierra One
To get to the Sierra One complex the characters will need find a way inside the warehouse. The warehouse looks like a large sporting goods store with a standard warehouse located in the back. The inside is filled with backpacks, sleeping bags, tents, ski's, everything you would want for a vacation in the Rockies. In the center of the warehouse is a small office room with no windows. Entry is made though a heavy steel door and an access card is needed to open the door. Unlike the rest of the town the security panel on the door is functioning due to being shielded against EMP. The door opens into a large elevator approximately 15 feet by 15 feet. There is only one button and it goes down. have the characters hear the zombies breaking through the warehouse doors as the metal blast door closes and the elevator starts down.

Sierra One can be built in any manner you like just keep in mind that its primary function was the research of nuclear power so it will have several levels that are just used for the power plant. There will also be living quarters for the soldiers stationed there which includes bathrooms and kitchens and laundry rooms. There will probably be an excursive room and a TV room also. There should also be a large laboratory space where they did there research on teleportation.

The team will need to make their way through the complex and attempt to find out what's going on. Their main objective should be the laboratory. There they will find the main computer network for the complex and can get a detailed account of the integrity of the base. They will quickly find out that the base is compromised as they will have to fight the 25 MP's who were located here and are now zombies themselves. The MP zombies will use their weapons against the team, but will not fight very smart. They will never seek cover and will do the equivalent of an all out attack every time. As the team gets closer to the laboratory they will start running into a very different kind of enemy. They will encounter a creature that looks very much like a demon. These demons are very tough and not only fight hand to hand but spit a very acidic "venom" at their prey.

Laboratory
In the laboratory the team will discover the nature of the problem at Sierra One. This facility was never actually closed. The majority of personnel were moved and a select team of scientists have continued work. While investigating the possibility of cold fusion the scientists discovered the ability to transmit matter as energy from one location to another. They developed teleporters. All of the information regarding their research is located in the main computer banks. They will find that on 12/17/95 at 04:14 they were conducting an experiment with the teleporters when something unexpected happened. They lost control of the teloporters and something that had not been transported came though the teleporter. An attack had been launched on the base by some unknown force from another dimension. The team will also discover that an incredible amount of energy is being used in the reactor area for an undetermined purpose. If the team searched the lab they will find a large crate in a storage room just off the main laboratory. In the crate they will discover an unfamiliar item that looks like a weapon. It has a heavy stock and a short thick barrel. There is a pistol grip at the rear and front of the weapon. The box is labeled BFG9000.

Reactor
The characters will now need to proceed to the reactor. The self destruct mechanism for the base is located there and the demolition's specialist will need to access the device from the reactor control room. The players should be very cautious since they are aware that something is occurring in the reactor area. As the team descends the will encounter an new type of monster. This one is very large pink and hairless and looks something like a two legged bull. These monsters are very tough and difficult to kill.

When the characters reach to reactor control room they will find that the room is a large observation deck overlooking the reactor floor. The control room has 14 zombies inside. The zombies are 4 MP's and 10 men dressed in white lab coats that appear to be the bases scientists. The zombies will immediately attack the team. On the floor of the reactor room is a large platform. The platform appears to be a teleporter pad on an extreme scale. There is a large control panel with several steel conduits running from it and into the teleporter pad. There are 2 scientist zombies working here. As the team watches they will see the pad begin to glow and a form slowly begin to take shape on the platform. The form is approximately 20 feet tall and is humanoid. The legs are animal like and the upper torso appears human. There is a tremendous gun in its right hand and huge horns on its head. The characters do not want to let this thing solidify. They can attempt to disrupt the transport by destroying the control panel, however it is heavily armored and their MP5's will not be able to hurt it. They could also set the self distruct mechanism for 00:00 and destroy the creature and the site but they would kill themselves in the process. The best way for the characters to stop the teleportation from occurring is to use the BFG9000. This will fire and tremendous ball of energy that will vaporize the control panel and interrupt the teleportation. When the control panel is destroyed they will hear an incredible scream that will cause each of them to make a fright check. There will be a flash of light and an acidic smell in the air. When the smoke clears they will see two tremendous boots standing on the telepad. The boots have the remains of the monsters feet in them, but the rest has been sent back to wherever it came from. If there were any zombies still active when the players destroy the large monster they will drop to the ground dead, and unmoving.

Wraping it up
At this point the team can set the demolition charges and arm the self destruct device at there leisure. When the make their way to the surface they will find that the townspeople are all truly dead. Once out of the complex they can call for assistance and the military will send in a Blackhawk helicopter to retrieve them. Once in the air and on their way home the will see the ground rumble and watch the town of Red Lodge slump into the crater that is made by the distruction of Sierra One.

Notes
If this sounds a little familiar it should. My idea for the adventure came from the computer game DOOM. If you are unfamiliar with the game I suggest you pick up a copy of it and play it. The descriptions of the monsters are based on the game and you will have a better time describing it to your players if you are familiar with how they look. I didn't go into a lot of detail on the players moving through the Sierra One complex on purpose. The players will never do what you expect so be flexible. Use the information I have given you above to spark your imagination and keep things interesting. Keep the players off balance and make them guess about what might be behind the next corner. Make each fight progressively more difficult until they are positive they couldn't take the big monster at the end in a stand-up fight. Use a lot of details and descriptions they will make a big difference in the players enjoyment of the game. I hope you have as much fun playing this adventure as we did, it sparked an ongoing series of adventures and I talk about it in my campaigns section. See the 'X-TEAM" for more details.

Zombies
Zombies can have any statistics you want just keep in mind what they did while alive. For my zombies I had them continue to live and try to kill the characters until they had taken more then 10 points of unadjusted damage to the brain. This made even "the little old lady on the corner" zombie something to be afraid of. My zombies could use any weapon or item but they were slow and deliberate.

Imps
Imps are the first demons the players will run into. They stand on their hind legs and are about 6' tall. They are brown and covered with spikes of bone coming from their shoulders and arms. They throw fire balls in the game but I decided to change that a little and have them spit acid at the characters.

ST: 14
DX: 12
IQ: 9
HT: 12/20

Their acid spit will travel 14 yards and has an ACC: 0 and a SS: 0. It does 6 points of damage to anything it touches the first round. The second round it will do 5 points of damage. The third round it will do 4 points of damage. This progression continues until the acid reaches 0 damage and then it will be inert.

Pinkies
My term for the large, pink, bull like monsters the players run into on the lower levels of the complex. These monsters stand on their hind legs and with very large torso's. most of the body weight is forward from their legs. They have short stubby arms and horns on their heads. They attack by charging their enemies and trampling them.

ST: 20
DX: 12
IQ: 7
HT: 15/50

They have a DR of 10 and a PD of 2. The Pinkies don't work well together and will often fight amongst themselves

Demon Lord
I don't have any stats for the demon lord because hopefully your players will be able to stop him from fully forming on our plane of existence. Lets just say that if the characters have to fight him then it will probably take a minor miracle for them to defeat him.

BFG9000
The BFG9000 is a hand held plasma cannon. It is powered by a cold fusion battery which gives it enough power for 5 shots. The battery takes 3 seconds to recycle after each shot so it's rate of fire is 1 every 4 seconds. The weapon has a range of 1 mile and an ACC of 4 it's snapshot is 9 and since none of the characters will have the skill to use it they will fire it at guns skill -4. The BFG9000 does 10d x 20 damage and has a blast radius of 3 hexes. Everything inside the blast radius takes full damage. anything outside the radius takes no damage.