Introduction:
This scenario is designed to slot into an existing campaign. The referee should choose a habitable world with a breathable atmosphere, a moderate climate, and a few million inhabitants at most. Vast areas of the surface are unpopulated wilderness.
Players’ information:
An advertisement has been placed on reputable networks: the services of a reliable group are sought. Technical expertise is preferred, the position includes travel, and the final pay is to be negotiated. The contract will last for a number of weeks. Contact details are provided.
The patron is Artur Ishurgi, an earnest and rather obsessive young man who works as a bureaucrat. Artur only has one real passion in life: maglev trains. He talks about them, he studies images and schematics, he reads books and watches documentaries, and he endlessly plays on simulators. Artur is rather out of his depth in anything other than a comfortable urban environment.
Artur, however, is a dreamer. He has received an inheritance and has decided to spend it on documenting the decaying maglev networks of an abandoned settlement. He needs experienced companions to travel with him to assist with the technical challenges and to act as guides and security.
The exact costs will have to be negotiated and may involve chartering a vessel or hiring vehicles. Artur is shrewd and careful with money but will pay reasonable expenses and costs. The characters, however, will need to provide their own personal equipment, and they should be properly prepared for cold weather: the area to which Artur wishes to travel is currently experiencing its winter season.
Artur has detailed maps of the world and has marked out the locations that he wishes to visit. These are clearly noted as being within a vast wildlife reserve. He has florid permissory paperwork from the nobleman whose fiefdom the world is, as well as official-looking governmental permits and passes.
He has already made substantial preparations and is pretty much ready to go. He has all kinds of cameras, sensors, holorecorders, diffusers, lamps, hand computers, memory crystals, cabling, power sources, and the like. They are packed into sturdy containers and loaded onto a grav pallet. He also has a portable shelter, camping gear, food supplies, medical kits, and all of the other sundries needed to survive in the wild.