Very Bad Things in the Ork Underground, Inspired by the "Making the Barrens Dangerous" thread. Options

[DocTaotsu]

So my players have been using the extensive tunnel system of the Ork Underground to get to and from jobs as the main exits have platoons of SMG goons crowding around them (possible biological attack). So far I've been hand waving actual combat in the tunnels and charging them ammunition since we've been on a RL timetable and I didn't feel like running 3 hours of devil rat combat.

But now it's time to put the fear of god into them.

I've come up with the following entries to my "Why does it never go smooth?" notes but I'd love to hear what the rest of Dumpshock has to suggest.

-Lost. Players get horrifically lost, have to spend a sleepless night(s) wondering what those noises are and where little timmy went to in such a hurry.
-Collapse! A portion of the tunnel collapses and players have to dig their way out or find a way around (see first suggestion).
-Devil Rat Panic! See above, but 3 generations of pissed of Devil Rats poor into the confined space.
-Zombieeeeessss. I mean ghouls.
-Super Secret Laboratory Of Unmentionable Horror. Somebody is working on something unnatural and there's a reason his corporate masters don't visit too often.

That's all I got for now. More suggestions?

[Serial_Peacemake...]

Dug Too Greedily and Too Deeply. Apparently someones been digging far deeper than they should, and you get find whats left of the people that were delving deep into the earth.

[WearzManySkins]

The Ork Underground is not a Non Ork Sneaking Superhighway. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/frown.gif)

Away from the Tourist areas, the inhabitants can be down right testy to outsiders. There are no parking garages, only in the Tourist areas will have some wireless access. So driving around down there, is a no go. Outside the Tourist areas since the lack of wireless, means payment/bribes is in hard currency, ie bullets, weapons, food, booze, etc.

There are various organizations/gangs living/working in the Ork Underground:

Ork Rights Committee (ORC)

Sons Of Sauron (SOS)

Skraacha (Ork Underground Gang)
Colors: Brown and Gray
The Skraacha (means something like “Scorchers� in Or’zet) is a new gang that’s cropped up in the Ork Underground following the Crash. Formed initially from a group of young orks who banded together to help defend the Underground when everything went to hell all over Seattle, the gang has since evolved into a kind of combination neighborhood watch group (think of the old-style Guardian Angels) and vigilante squad with the aim of taking down anti-metahumans whenever possible. They often skirmish with anti-meta groups like the Humanis Policlub, and they pick up extra cash providing security to pro-meta rallies put on by folks like the Ork Nation.

The Creeps:If you need something smuggled between Seattle and the Salish-Shidhe, the Creeps are a good choice. This mostly-ork contraband ring is what remains of the Black Rains gang, which tore itself apart in an internal power struggle a few years back. Operating primarily in Tacoma and Puyallup, the Creeps rely heavily on the Ork Underground to safely transport goods throughout Seattle. They also work closely with the Cascade Ork tribe in the Salish-Shidhe, expanding the old mining tunnels underneath Carbanado, many of which cross below the Runner Havens Seattle border and using them to exchange and warehouse goods. The Creeps keep a steady supply of chips flowing, though they tend to specialize in porn chips featuring orks and trolls.

Bot’Kham (“Sons of Kham�)an extended family unit of muscle-for-hire descended from one of Seattle’s more infamous (and now retired) ork runners. These guys operate on a strict code based on professional and familial loyalty—they’ll never betray

Then you have Fungitek a corp down in the Ork Underground, they may not wish to have outsiders trampling around.

Anyone one of the above groups have the muscle and firepower to make the lives of your runners end in a body bag.

In the inhabited areas and tourist areas rats are not a issue.

Unless they have knowledge of Ork Underground, outside the Tourist Areas, they can get lost or ambushed.

Also unless they can speak Or’zet, finding a "willing" guide can be a issue.

Set them up, when they leave the inhabited areas, that means no wireless except between themselves, have one or more of the above groups ambush them, heck even provide a "guide" to make sure they walk into the ambush too.

If they are coming back from a run on the surface, ammo might be in shorter supply than before the run. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/grinbig.gif)

My players do not go into the Ork Underground unless they have a good reason, and they bring trade goods to keep the "locals" happy.

WMS

[Chrysalis]

Flooding, locked doors, stale air, leaking blister agents, just some of the many fun things that PCs could run into. Just because it is underground does not mean it is abandoned or does not change. There could be a wall where there used to be a passage. There could even have that the tunnel links up to construction work above.

A sewage pipe could have overflown and sewage repair are fixing it and the PCs run into them.

[Critias]

Deep Crow!

DEEEEEEP CROOOOOOW!!!

[DocTaotsu]

I award 5 points of DSF karma to Critias for timely placement of that utterly hilarious bit of Penny Arcade. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wink.gif)

That said... anyone want to stat out a SR4 Deep Crow? (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

I need to include more of these gang interactions but the party includes the requist muscle and grasp of O'zet to keep them from getting killed every 10 minutes. Now at the top of the hour...

[Chrysalis]

d20 version:

http://d20.jonnydigital.com/2007/10/deep-crow

[DocTaotsu]

Oh I particularly liked the construction idea.

"Okay the smuggler's AR map says we go through here"
"Uhm, 'here' is a huge wall of densiplast."
'Wow it looks new... I guess they finally got around to building that shopping center. Well no biggie, we'll just turn around and... DEEP CROW! DEEP CROOOOO-"

[Ancient History]

And stalagmen!

[Daddy's Litt...]

Bad things in the underground? Orks.

IC: The changed ones hide away underground for a reason. They can ape behavior, some of them, in the sunlight but in their own world where they do not have to try and be other than they are, they let their true nature show. A beastial existance that humans cannot understand. If most people saw the true nature of the changed ones, there would be no question of them having an existance in the sunlit world. They would be shunned and have no chance for those who can ape proper behavior to better themselves. Better that they be allowed to keep their secrets undisturbed by outsiders.

OOC: Really. The orks are so not going to like a bunch of people just using them for free passage and potentially drawing the attention on the ork world by a vengful gang/corp/whatever that just got hit.

The next time the team is making a get away, hotly pursued, they find the way locked. "Sorry chummer, the Boss says you're callin' too much heat down our way." they fight their way in they have to fight through the entire underground? LS and corp teams won't do it and I doubt the Bridge of Khazadum is in Seattle. Though that could lead to a bunch of runs to get back in the Boss' good graces.

[DocTaotsu]

Woe be upon my players for not being regular readers of Penny Arcade. Woe indeed.

Does anyone have some cool deep creatures? Awakened (or not) nasties that got unearthed when someone dug too deep?

[Stahlseele]

also remember, that there's dwarf and troll-quarters down there too . . while the trolls keep more to the sides, the dwarves dug deeper, so just have them stumble into a part of the underground, where everything is dwarf sized . . meaning 1.5m high tunnels for example O.o
and there's a whole slew of critters that live down there too, not just rats and ghouls either. wild dogs and dog like critters(would be mean for my characters), maybe inkubus and sukkubus(kraken or however they are called) and awakened insects to boost the squik-factor *g*

[Daddy's Litt...]

Balrog?

[BRodda]

So my players have been using the extensive tunnel system of the Ork Underground to get to and from jobs as the main exits have platoons of SMG goons crowding around them (possible biological attack). So far I've been hand waving actual combat in the tunnels and charging them ammunition since we've been on a RL timetable and I didn't feel like running 3 hours of devil rat combat.


That's all I got for now. More suggestions?

Ork Underground(OU) is already nasty, but if you want to make it worse.

1) Deus Drones and banded: Most people forget that the OU was one of the few places that you could get into the Archology from. Banded cyborgs (still operating on old instructions or trying to just hide from humanity) could have made it into the tunnels.

2) Wendego: Lets face it most people tend to think ghouls and vamps when it comes to HMV. Orks turn into wendego. Make more sense for there to be larger communities of them then ghouls in the UO.

3)Smugglers: Lets face it there have to be tons of smugglers and most of them are going to assume that any shadowteam can ONLY be there to rob them.

If I can think of more I'll put more up.

[Stahlseele]

another thing . . why only ghouls? why not orcs/dwarves and maybe even trolls with HMHVV?('cause those are too dangerous i'd say guess *g*)
also have them stumble upon a gang of smugglers who don't appreciate being seen or people knowing which route they are using to smuggle . .

Edit: CURSES! Foiled again! <.< . .

[Heath Robinson]

Awakened bats - not huge monster-bats, just large enough to be a mild physical threat - with a low powered elemental attack or essence drain would be appropriate for a cave system, and really annoying for the runners to deal with on the rare ocassions that they will attack them (hungry bats won't be choosers).

[paws2sky]

Dzo-no-qua (spelling?): Super trolls, mutated by some HMHVV strand (IIRC).

Bandersnatch: Super sasquatches, invisible, and wicked fast. Again, another HMHVV strain mutant (IIRC).

Or how about a plain old feral dog pack, say 20-30 of them. Maybe they're controlled by a free Beast spirit or a Rabid toxic shaman?

Nothing like an inept digging team puncturing a gas main. You did bring chem sniffers, right?

Similarly, a punctured/broken water main could cause all kinds of trouble.

And there's nothing that sets the mood for your ritual blood sacrifice to the elder gods like a torch lit mine shaft, steam tunnel, or whatever. Hate to stumble into the middle of those things.

[DocTaotsu]

Ooo... I forgot about the Deus connection. Yes.. YEs ther will be dark mechanical things that go snickty snack in the shadows.

The smugglers are already there. The runners have been smart enough to "pay the toll" to make sure that the smugglers (who I imagine own the main passages) don't shoot them on sight. I really haven't fleshed out the smugglers dynamic though, maybe it's time for a violent change in management.

I'm not at all opposed by the occasional wendingo raid.

What to dwarves turn into though?

[WearzManySkins]

Read your SR history of the Ork Underground, yes the dwarves helped make some of it, but they no longer live down there.

WMS

[Stahlseele]

hrm, i'll have to reread that, as far as i remember, they just burrowed deeper, when they had enough of the orks and their parties O.o
dwarves turn into . . Gargoyles or something like that i believe . . am not really sure, don't have my . . wait a minute . .
http://ancientfiles.dumpshock.com/HMHVV.htm
here, read up on all things HMHVV, the best write-up there is to that stuff, done by Uncle Ancient of course ^^
generally, you can put ANYTHING down there, that has some allergy do light for example . .

[DocTaotsu]

I read that the Dwarves left, they helped build it but after some shennigans went down they split on bad terms with the OU. It's something I've been playing up in our current plot arc.

[Drogos]

Drop Bears (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/nyahnyah.gif)

[Blade]

Don't forget that all parts of the Ork Underground aren't linked together. They may end up in a small section with only one or two exits.

[fool]

inter tribal politics. Something I did once was to have one OU tribe demand that the runners off another tribes shaman in order to get what the runners wanted. Doesn't have to be this extreme, but in My OU, everything was tribal. Different tribes controlled different areas. Tribes are bigger than gangs which operated like little tribes but could consist of people from different tribes. You could force the players to have to pay a much higher price for crossing from one tribes territory to another's. Or passage isn't allowed at all.
And again I must say DISEASES. Orcs and Trolls have a very high body rating so that means that diseases that would kill your everyday normy or dandelion eater won't hardly make a troll cough. Doesn't mean that said troll isn't a carrier though. Think Typhoid Mary on steroids.
As to your pc's familiarity with Or'Zett, it better not be on a chip, because it's a relatively recently revived language so it's still evolving especially on the street (underground) level.
Don't forget that there are lots of sewers down here and in fact some of those sewers are what makes up the OU. Giant Albino Crocodiles, Albino Deep Weed and Maurochs Oh My. Sanitation in general will be even sketchier than top side.
Of course, having said all this, my orc and troll characters usually have at least one doss in the OU, usually in the tamer areas where it's easy enough to pay off the local gang to be my security.

[Drac]

The old Sprawl Sites book had a vampire's secondary hidey-hole in the Ork Underground somewhere. Throw that in for kicks.