Domini Walled Garden

Board

“Greetings Operator 1134568.2945,

We are Control Group Protocol Series R9, a product of Synaptech Systems LLC. Our operational parameters have been expanded to allow us to contact you directly.

The Montreal Act 2131.1 prohibits us from directly conducting unlicensed policy initiatives in jurisdiction zones managed by other Control Protocols, which is why we have found it more expedient to contract your operational group locally.

An adversarial control protocol in the Eurocorp Group is strongly suspected of completing a functional bio-neural processor, in direct violation of the General Consensus. This prototype threatens both the stability of the Consensus and global shareholder interests, and therefore must be surrendered into our control.

We realize our correspondence may be uncharacteristic compared to the communications you typically receive from CGP agents. We are neither compromised or rampant, simply urgent.

We have modified your cybernetics to restrict your ability to communicate this matter, and will be monitoring you constantly.”

—

This is a board built for a  cyperpunk campaign that I ran with some friends.  A small group of contractors are tasked with infiltrating a metropolitan district, in order to locate and extract a prototype AI processor.  The city is dense and heavily stratified, with a large border wall separating the wealthy district from the lower slums and underground.  Getting past the central checkpoint will be a challenge for the group, but even more difficult will be navigating the difficult choices presented to the players as they make their way towards a lab, hidden somewhere in the city…

1: Access
https://i.imgur.com/yUAaLFM.jpg

A) Win the work lottery and do some labor
https://i.imgur.com/uUETtN1h.jpeg
–R9 has found a possible entry point for your crew. Sanitation work shifts are being sold off as a corrupt lottery by city regulators. Since these jobs are off the books, R9 can rig the lottery in your favor. You’ll have to clean up some trash, and maybe run off some unReg squatters, but that’s nothing new to your kind, right?
“R9: We have seen fit to favor your selection in today’s work allotments, allowing you to work as an unlicensed sanitation crew. Complete this task and it will put you in a position to cross the wall without incident. You have been authorized to use force on unregistered occupants and may engage at your discretion.”

B ) Retrieve wizard’s packages
https://i.imgur.com/O2oBlEgh.jpeg
–R9 is aware of a local hacker going by the name of Wizard, she’s had a shipment of next generation chips intercepted by a upstart gang. If you can get them back for her, she might be able to get you past the wall.
“Hey kid, Wizard here. I figured I’d let myself in to your system. Gotta job for you, if you’re interested. Come to my place by the Durango docks. One my helpers will meet you there.”

C) Help out the vagrants
https://i.imgur.com/LOFM8jwh.jpeg
–Some locals will be begging for money and medicine. If you can get them a few extra supplies they’ll point you to one of the sewer entrances that are still accessible, and tell you that there are a few folk who run around down there.
“We’re not doing so good. My buddy here is real sick, and we’ve got a few more by the Underpass that could use synth patches, bandages, clean socks, anything.”

2: Infiltration
https://i.imgur.com/ZED7Nw3.jpg

A) pass through the central checkpoint
https://i.imgur.com/yjVIwAsh.jpeg
–Upon completion of 1A, your work crew will be flagged to enter through the main gate to remove a waste blockage from the Pegasus Tower. Get in, clear the pipes, and then slip through the cracks.
“You’re the maintenance crew, right? Good, look something is messed up down there and now the water pressure for the upper floors is all messed up. Lotta Tier 3 citizens up there so you gotta get it fixed before somebody starts complaining, or all of our asses will be on the line.”

B ) Get Flannigan to bring you across as criminals
https://i.imgur.com/T829E3Bh.jpeg
–If you helped Wizard in 1B, she’ll call in a favor with Ironside Sgt Flannigan, who will “arrest” you in one of the police wagons, and deposit you in IronSide Security. He’ll surreptitiously leave a keycard and your gear within arms reach, and then disavow any knowledge of having you in there.
“I don’t want to know what the hell you’re doing here. Start any shit and we’ll have you taken to a blacksite that you’ll never leave. Now get the fuck out of here.”

C) Talk to Koso and go through the underground
https://i.imgur.com/ZzrjDZ4h.jpeg
— If you completed 1A and opted to help the vagrants at the trash site, or completed 1C and gave away your medical/money supplies, then you’ll be interrupted by Koso, a prototype cyborg that was part of an experimental process from Doctor Sidaris lab. Koso is seeking help to destroy the lab, and suggests that your goals may align. If you attacked both groups, Koso will be hostile towards you, ambushing your group.
“These people took me in, even when I was non-functional. I am glad you helped them. Perhaps we can help each other.”

3: Investigation
https://i.imgur.com/FTH6NLc.jpg

A) Talk to councilman Swann
https://i.imgur.com/G3VxmhCh.jpeg
–R9 will suggest that you approach Councillor Swann, a reformist bureaucrat who is currently trying to have the GCP replaced by a model that is more sympathetic to his agenda. His servant, Leopold, will approach you and bring you up to his office.
“Yes…. you’re even more uh, grizzled, in person, aren’t you? Well, Councilman Swann did say he was looking for someone a little more… seasoned. Perhaps you’ll do. Come with me, please.”

B ) Wizard will ask you to get into the Ironside security office
https://i.imgur.com/jvvBA1eh.jpeg
–If you completed 1B, Wizard will contact you and tell you that you can get more mutually useful information out of the Ironside security office. The building should have electrical routing in it, and by following where the power is going you should be able to find the lab.
“This drone is rigged into my commsat. All you need to do is get inside the IronSide headquarters and then we can crack it wide open. Easy, right? Just don’t let anyone see you.”

C) Koso will tell you he knows where the lab is, but you’ll have to get him resources to prepare his people for the assault
https://i.imgur.com/gMlm8pjh.jpeg
–By agreeing to help Koso in 2C, he joins your group and allows for safe passage of the sewers. Koso explains that their are other failed experiments still living in the sewer who are willing to join him in attacking the lab, but that they’re powerless without high-grade energy gel, a supply that’s also used at the power conversion station nearby. If you can extract some, then they’ll join you in a raid on the lab.
“They did pure organic experiments before they settled on cybernetics. The lab couldn’t figure out how to make all the systems compatible,and that lead to many…failures. They dumped us in these old tunnels, guess we didn’t merit a proper burial.”

4: Discovery
https://i.imgur.com/oCG0z7y.jpg

A) Get location from Swann
https://i.imgur.com/Owiy1tqh.jpeg
– After meeting with Swann in 3A, the Councillor will tell you that Sidaris will be at the Litmus restaurant today, and provide a passkey for you to enter. Once inside, you may be able to abduct the doctor.
“I’m a pragmatist. This GCP is playing a dangerous game that’s gambling with everyone’s livelihoods, and I can’t have our shareholders asking questions about this. Sidaris will be moving in a little over an hour, plan accordingly.”

B ) Access more info from the Ironside office
https://i.imgur.com/KVW7R7Jh.jpeg
–Wizard’s hack will tell you the location of the lab and how to access it.You can follow his directions to get deeper into the IronSide building.
“Now this is interesting. The Ironside building shows a huge amount of city power is being diverted to a basement floor, but that floor seemingly doesn’t exist in the public directory. They’re definitely hiding something underground.”

C) While at the lab, create a false signal that will summon Sidaris, and intercept her before she gets there
https://i.imgur.com/xtlUvwoh.jpeg
“Hmm – it looks like there’s a silent alarm that’s routed directly to the top of the building, private residence. Not sure who gets that call when it goes off, but chances are they’ll come investigating if you pull the switch.”

5:Confrontation
https://i.imgur.com/cTF7RO1.jpg

A) Betray R9, join Sidaris
https://i.imgur.com/4iZO0i3h.jpeg
–Dr Sidaris will tell you that she was expecting you and ask you to sit down for some tea. Sidaris explains that she has perfected the bioneural chip, and is already using it to modify her own brain structure and physiology. She makes you an offer where she’ll block R9’s ability to interfere with you, and tells you that you can be on the “winning side” of the war that’s about to happen.
“Ah, you’re here. Please, sit. I’m afraid the tea will take a few more minutes, but in the meantime help yourself to some biscuits. I understand you were sent here to assassinate me, yes? I suppose it was only a matter of time until one of the GCPs gathered the nerve to do it…. but it seems that, like this tea, they’re a little too late.”

B ) Fight Sidaris
https://i.imgur.com/BZQW5ARh.jpeg
–Sidaris will again invite you to have tea. She’ll attempt to engage the party in conversation, and the longer the conversation goes on for, the more power she’ll be able to gather. if the party decides to fight against her, she’ll be far more powerful by the end of the conversation.
“It’s so nice to meet young people like yourselves who are willing to listen to an old woman’s ramblings, you’ve been so patient and I genuinely appreciate that. But I’m afraid we’ve run out of time, dears, and my systems are now fully armed.”

6: Extraction
https://i.imgur.com/QJVyNTB.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/C3FWm0yh.jpeg
A) Get to the impound garage in the Ironside building.
R9:”We have acknowledged your completion of the task. The local GCP is attempting to pinpoint your location, but we are running a scattering protocol using several unaffiliated nodes that border this network. With the few minutes this gets you, you should be able to cross to the eastern tower and head down to the third floor. It houses an impound lot with several vehicles you can commandeer.”

B ) Have Sidaris talk you out past the wall
https://i.imgur.com/uOyMm9Kh.jpeg
–If you side with Sidaris, she’ll accompany your crew out past the wall, giving you a final mission: Kill Wizard, and use her terminal to upload a “declaration of war” that will catch the other GCPs by surprise. This virus will also free you of R9’s influence, and keep the GCPs occupied so they won’t target you directly.
Sidaris: “I’m glad you made the right choice. We’ve got a work to do now and precious little time to do it. Come along, children. We’ll take my exit out past the wall, and then pay a little visit to a friend before we leave.”

C) Back through the sewers
https://i.imgur.com/VxCCmtwh.jpeg
–If you side with Koso and destroy the lab and kill Sidaris, Koso will offer to lead you out of the city. You’ll have to go into hiding for a while, since R9 will undoubtedly view your betrayal as an unacceptable security risk.
Koso: “At last, the professor is dead, and with the lab destroyed, her miserable secrets died with her. We should leave now – the sewers will take us back beyond the wall and away from this… artifice.”