HotZone South of the Border

A companion and concurrent campaign to HotZone (East Timor), HotZone Deux(Corsica), HotZone 3 (Albania), HotZone 4 (Romania).

Characters

• Iggy (Stanley Ignatious Kwiakowski), Blair's techno-monk
• John Murdock, Darren's....
• Aluf Mishne, aka Rasputin, aka The Mad Jew, Josh's combat-hardened "Mad Jew" from Gaza

Background

Global Context

(The following was written in 2007.) It's ten years in the future on Gurth, and the world has changed significantly in the last 20 years. America invaded Iraq in 2003, and tensions began escalating worldwide immediately. In 2008, the sectarian violence in Iraq spread like wildfire, and War in Iraq became the War in the Middle East which became the Central Asian Crisis. Long before pundits stopped changing the label, it was a world class clusterfuck. Had Russia, China, and India not united to quell the violence through diplomatic means in 2011-2012, the crisis was on track to evolve into World War 3.

This gradual unraveling of peaceful cohabitation was apparent to military leaders in numerous countries, and in fact the United States Special Operations Command presciently predicted a change in strategy would be required way back in 2006 when they issued the following public statement:

“Creating conditions where people want to live peacefully is a powerful weapon against terrorism. Direct action will become increasingly restricted as the Global War on Terrorism matures. Indirect actions of Foreign Internal Defense and Civil Affairs programs are the key to winning the war on terror.” 1

Powerful governments with awesome military arsenals became increasingly aware that wielding their power was becoming politically untenable in all but the most extreme situations. United States Special Operations Command, as just one example of a trend worldwide, quadrupled in funding and personnel from 2008-2015, but forced a significant portion of their Direct Action specialists into early retirement, and instead filled their ranks with civil engineers, psy ops specialists, administrators, and diplomats.

However, focused Direct Action operations will always be required when organized groups are willing to commit violence to contravene national interests, and so outside of government military operations, a second and third tier of operatives evolved. The second tier consisted of large private security companies, with tens of thousands of employees, some tiny portion of which could be used for “wet work” of Direct Action operations.

The third tier has evolved over the past 7-8 years. Increasing public scrutiny over and demand for transparency in military expenditures in industrialized nations worldwide has made certain operations difficult to fund through the large and somewhat infamous security corporations. However, worldwide, government agencies always have funds available for classified “black” operations, and it is here that the third tier of operatives has found its niche.

This third tier, or “SubNet” is a loose affiliation of a few thousand specialists and commanders worldwide, mostly ex-military. By adopting terrorist organizations' practice of maintaining “cells” which know little about global operations, the SubNet maintains a thick veil and appears to be nothing more than disconnected gangs of shadowy figures.

Your Team

Isabella Lopez

Chuy Gomez

Paula Jones

Your team is one such cell.

You're all freelance mercenaries who have been working as a team for the last five years, based out of a small island compound off the coast of San Carlos, Mexico, on the Gulf of California.

Your compound was built by an ostentatious drug lord in the 1980s, fell derelict through the early 2000s, and most recently restored by your predecessor, a software billionaire with a lot of paranoia who has since moved on to Antarctica. You have made significant alterations as well, and now the compound includes:

• 12,000 sq ft 9-bedroom modern mansion with bulletproof glass throughout
• Infrared and other sensors throughout the island connected to an elaborate security system
• Helipad and lightweight helicopter
• A dock in a protected cove with two racing boats and a fishing boat
• An underground shooting range and armory
• An elaborate outdoor gym
• A diving board at the top of a 50' cliff above warm aquamarine waters
• A completely self-sufficient reverse osmosis and wastewater treatment system
• Several outbuildings - staff quarters, electronics lab
• Infinity pool and tiki bar with sound system and dance floor

You have two full time staff on the island, and an on-call pilot.

• Isabella Lopez is your financial manager, short-range helicopter pilot, cocktail waitress, and Brazilian dance instructor.
• Chuy Gomez is your groundskeeper, maintenance man, executive chef, and ballroom dance instructor.
• Paula Jones lives in San Carlos near a private airstrip and warehouse where she maintains a customized Gulfstream 650 and several boats and other vehicles for you. She is available 92% of the time to take you anywhere in the hemisphere. The rest of the time she is transporting other wealthy clients, or drunk at the bar.

It's typical for your team to go months between missions, and during downtime, you might do some rock climbing, sport fishing, illegal gambling, motorcycle racing, pearl diving, or tequila guzzling. Or you may take trips into Mexico City for concerts and to tour the museums and opera, if you're into that sort of thing.

Some recent missions include:

• The local pearl tycoon paid you US$500,000 to track down a stolen shipment. The Venezuelan gang that took them didn't go easily, and some of you vowed to carry more ammunition in the future.
• Mr. Black paid you to conduct surveillance on an offshore drilling rig in the Pacific. Your drone was disappeared mysteriously, and you had to go in quietly on a raft at night to take pictures -- of a Chinese submarine paying the rig a visit.
• Captain Ramon Ramirez of the Mexican military hired you as a support team during a raid on a cartel compound outside Mexico City. The operation was a bloody mess, and Ramirez, previously a reliable client, could not produce the US$750,000 cash he'd promised, but you accepted crates of synthetic smart drugs valued at $2M.
• A German journalist paid you €150,000 to drive her to a mountain compound and ensure her safety during a meeting with a cartel boss. The trip was uneventful.

Character Creation

Background stories and proposed character details are due to the GM by end of day.....FEB 26, 2017

These are 250 point action hero characters.

If you are not building your character:

Please provide:

• Name, gender, age (28-55), height, weight
• Appearance description + (Hideous/Ugly/Unattractive/Average/Attractive/Gorgeous)
• Background story (many examples at HotZone#Characters, HotZone_Deux#Characters, HotZone_3#Characters)
• If trained by a national military, which? What focus? How long? How far did you get?
• If not, who taught you your action hero skills?
• Native language, additional languages (broken, accented, or fluent?)
• Social strengths and weaknesses - super schmoozy, perfect liar, terrible liar, playboy, barking colonel, or an awkward loner or something else?
• Personality and/or proposed Advantages & Disadvantages
• Minimum One Contact -- an acquaintance or colleague or partner, somewhere, who might be able to provide information, sometimes. More knowledgeable and available contacts cost more, of course. Without Contacts, you have no social history, nobody worth calling for advice, assistance, or info.
• Skills -- your focus/expertise. You can only be super-awesome at one or two things, but sometimes it can be more valauble to be versatile and pretty good at lots of things.
• Desired Attributes (ST, IQ, DX, HT, 8-16)
• Desired "go bag" gear. Two enormous revolvers and a bulletproof vest? 12 lbs of C4? $50k in cash? Laptop and bug detector? Etc. Additional gear will be available, this is just a starter list.
• Anything special you want to propose. Deep kung-fu training. Insane pistol skills. Ability to pilot any aircraft. Rapid Healing. Tons of hit points. Personal cell phone number of the King of Indonesia?
• Quirks, dislikes, habits, sayings, prejudices, fears, appetites, scars, tattoos, enemies, etc.

Constraints:

• Though your skills may be focused anywhere you like, you are a capable tactical operator. You can run and shoot.
• Nothing supernatural.
• You can speak English competently -- additional languages are encouraged (and cost a couple points each).
• Your background almost certainly includes years of state military training. But you no longer have any Duty to any government.
• Sense of Duty to the team.

If you are building your character:

• Max 150 points total in Attributes (ST, DX, HT, IQ) -- and Max Level 16 in any attribute.
• Max -100 points in Disadvantages
• -5 points in Quirks required
• 5 points in Perks optional

What Happened

Just a Stolen Boat

Isabella Lopez has a problem.

Aluf Mishne and the team is here to help.

It's noon on a Tuesday, and half the team is enjoying themselves elsewhere, but Aluf Mishne, Iggy, and John Murdock are hanging around the compound, engaged in their respective hobbies.

Bella, while bring a third beer to Murdock in the underground gun range, gets a phone call, and immediately seems distressed. Murdock arranges for Iggy to listen in, and when she hangs up she reports that her cousin Carlos has a problem.

It seems that the Hijar brothers, Pepe and Tony, threatened violence and made off with the boat, a charter fishing vessel which constitutes the entirety of Carlos' livelihood. "Can't you please help", pleads young Bella.

Naturally, the team takes action. The Mad Jew is brought up to speed, Isabella is given a budget to rent Carlos a temporary replacement boat, go-bags are packed, dossiers are downloaded on the small-time crook brothers, and the team is aloft in Bella's light helicopter.

First stop, the oceanside bar that Carlos is sitting in. They land on the roof and join him by the beach. Murdock begins drinking, naturally, and the team learns that the Hijars have a beachside compound 50 miles up the coast.

The team loads back into the chopper after convincing Murdock to leave the bar (quart of tequila in hand) and flies low along the rocky coastline as the afternoon sun turns the whole world orange. En route, Iggy programs tiny personal and network surveillance drones and sends them aloft once the team directs Bella to land them on the beach a mile south of the compound.

Debate ensues when a family of eight, cooking out on the beach, is spotted. The team is fully outfitted with tactical goggles, body armor and long guns, but opts to run straight at the family. The Mad Jew effectively terrorizes the innocent civilians and throws all their cell phones in the ocean. And then the team runs along.

After ascending a ridge of sand dunes, they survey the scene. Beyond, there is a placid lagoon, into which a long wooden pier juts. Two boats are moored, the stolen fishing boat, and a much larger powerboat sporting a pirate flag and anarchist graffiti.

On the beach, a dozen burly white guys in denim and leather are cavorting with guns and whiskey. The Hijar brothers are nowhere to be seen, but a modest villa rests on the hillside overlooking the beach.

While Iggy maneuvers his drone army into a 3D surveillance dome above the entire property, and Murdock practices switching targets in his rifle scope, the Mad Jew crawls through the sand and scrub brush to sneak up on a urinating biker, surprises him, breaks his jaw, and drags him back for interrogation.

The terrified biker explains that the fishing vessel is to be used to transport a shipment and everyone's gonna make money, including the Hijar brothers, who are inside the villa, semi-captive, while everyone waits for the Columbians to arrive.

Not much more is learned before the Mad Jew slits his throat.

A plan begins brewing: kill em' all.

Or maybe: Just steal the boat back.

Until next episode....

Just a Stolen Boat Part 2

Night falls on the beach, and the team sneaks through sandy brush to the side of the house while the bikers party on the beach.

One biker stands outside near the beach-facing deck, and spied through a window, sits in an easy chair with a shotgun across his legs, apparently guarding the Hijar brothers.

Noting the natural gas line meter, Iggy improvises an explosive device, and Murdock keeps an eye on the guard outside.

After affixing his silencer, Murdock quietly extinguishes the guard, and then moves towards the parked truck in the driveway.

Meanwhile, Iggy and the Mad Jew circle round the back of the house, and Iggy approaches the window, aiming at the shotgun-wielding biker in the easy chair. Iggy's three unsuppressed but carefully placed shots through the glass ends the biker, and the Hijar brothers hit the floor, terrified.

The team takes up a position in the dunes on the side of the house as the bikers run up the beach. It's like fish in a barrel for the Mad Jew, who sprays the oncoming horde with his Uzi. Murdock helps out with his enormous sniper rifle, and in seconds the entire gang is dead or on the run.

Sirens wail in the distance as the team descends to the pier and the Mad Jew briefly searches the gang's powerboat before blasting holes in its hull with his Desert Eagle. Murdock boards the smaller fishing vessel and discovers -- through a bullethole he was responsible for -- that the console is stuffed with bricks of US$100 bills.

Iggy triggers his explosive device, creating an earth-shaking boom, flattening most of the house, and sending a roiling orange fireball up into the night sky.

Bella checks in and is shortly aloft in the chopper, racing up the beach to pick up the team. From 1000' above with no lights on, Bella, Iggy, and the Mad Jew accompany Murdock as he pilots the fishing boat back home, avoiding an enormous trawler infested with gun-toting Columbians along the way.

Overnight, the team extracts the cash and repairs the damage to the fishing boat before returning it to its rightful owner. Bella expresses her gratitude with celebratory cocktails.

The morning news reports that the hapless Hijar brothers somehow repelled the violent attack of dozens of American gang members.

The team laughs it off and goes back to indulging in their respective hobbies.

Mission Accomplished.

Adventure Seeds

• The biker pirate anarchists come back for revenge.
• The terrorized beach family retrieves a phone with great pictures of the team, turns it into authorities, troubles begin.
• The Columbians made a trip for nothing and want to know who's responsible.

Making Change

Isabella's sweet ride

At Iggy's urging, the team decides to buy a new LIDAR sensor system for the compound. After all, if bad guys could have high-res sensors on the compound from 10 miles away, the team may as well have something similar.

Iggy has even identified a seller, a former Mexican bureaucrat who provided inventory and procurement functions for the federal police. He's eager to sell, the gear is military grade, relatively modern, and the price is unbeatable, just $150k US. The only snag is that he wants the money in small bills -- pesos.

Through his Dark Web contacts, Iggy identifies a semi-sketchy company nearby willing to provide the Mexican cash in exchange for $200k US, a check-cashing store in Cabo.

John Murdock is on a 3-day bender and declines the invitation, but Aluf Mishne jumps at the chance to get out of town.

Isabella Lopez indicates her readiness as well, mixes up a thermos of margaritas for the guys, and then everyone loads into the light chopper she pilots so expertly.

After dark, she tells Iggy to refuel the craft 1000' feet above the Gulf of California. He does so with aplomb.

Along the way, the team concocts a plan. It just so happens that the Baja 500 is the next day, and Iggy and the Mad Jew decide to use it as cover.

Iggy writes a program that parses the details of the race teams and decides that a Swedish couple is their best mark. They're middle-aged, never win, and are financially distressed. They're tired, and can be bought, the algorithm concludes.

At the race camp outside of La Paz the next morning, the team approaches the Swedish maintenance team, but is briefly delayed while the Mad Jew beats up a German mechanic. He emerges unscathed just in time -- the couple arrives, their customized Land Rover limping along. The maintenance crew, all tall blonde women, jump into action, and Iggy speaks with the couple.

Despite his lack of salesmanship, Iggy prevails, wire money and ill-fitting costumes are transferred, and the team blasts south across the rugged desert, eventually rolling the race camp, handing the rig off to the blondes, and catching a taxi into Cabo San Lucas proper.

The city is hot and crowded, as is the check cashing store. Iggy gets in line, and the Mad Jew keeps watch from a corner near an air-conditioning vent.

Shortly, the Mad Jew spots a crew of knuckleheads approaching purposefully on the sidewalk outside and leaps into action. He steps outside and begins shooting them.

Iggy follows him out, and a dramatic gun battle plays out, civilians screaming and running, ditching their cars, taking cover. It's mayhem, but after a few seconds, the bad guys are down.

Iggy conducts the transaction with the store owner, collects an injured Mad Jew from the blood-slick sidewalk, and hails a new cab.

Isabella is summoned, and a suburban soccer field identified as a pickup spot. Thirty minutes of first aid later, the Mad Jew is mobile and the chopper arrives.

The next day, after handling the LIDAR transaction, Iggy sends a few 'thank you notes' of cash -- to the beaten-down Germans, the Swedish mechanics, and the helpful cab driver.

Mission Accomplished.

Adventure Seeds

• The German mechanic holds a grudge.
• The Swedish mechanics hold a grudge.
• One of the gangbangers crawled away from the scene, his long time partner slain:

Juan Carlos Giovanni, a smaller brazilian martial artist and sadistic, fearless. 
Military-trained, he always carries two knives and is excellent with a 9mm glock.