Into the dark, a Scenario for Book of the Arbitrator

This is a scenario in which one or two crews descend into the 'abandoned' underground caves under the 'abandoned' town of Hesper.

Hesper was once a prosperous mining town where many people lived and worked in the mines. They made decent livings and raised families. Around 500 years ago the towns population simply vanished. No one really knows the reason why. And now the residents of the nearby town of Apartros tell ghost stories to their children about the abandoned town.

Hesper is rumored to be haunted by the former inhabitants and there are rumors of strange sights and sounds coming from the underground mines. The entrances as well as the mines themselves are said to be treacherous and in danger of collapsing. These rumors however may just be a story to dissuade people from exploring the old town and the mines. No one in Apartros seems to know for sure but no one there wants to investigate for themselves either.

The following scenario allows for one or two players or three if one of them is a GM. Having a GM would allow the NPCs in the scenario to act more appropriately instead of more randomly.

Scenario:

The board is laid out split in two. Its a 6'x4' board split into two 3'x4' halves. One half is above ground. It is the small abandoned town of Hesper. The other half is beneath the town and is the old mines.

Above ground:

Each crew begins the game by rolling a d6. The side that rolls highest deploys their crew in a corner of the town in an L-shaped deployment zone 6" onto the board and 12" from the corner. The side that rolled lower deploys in the opposite corner. The side that rolled highest has the initiative for the first turn.

There are several significant pieces of terrain on the town board. They are the 2 main entrances to the underground mines and the 3 sealed entrances. The 3 sealed entrances are inside of small buildings. The 2 main entrances are pieces of terrain in their own right.

The 3 sealed entrances must be forced open by moving a model next to an entrance and making a strength test to force the hatch open. Only one test may be made per model per turn. The 2 main entrances are not sealed and do not need to be forced open.

All of the entrances once they are open may be used by a model moving into base contact with it in their movement phase.

The 3 sealed entrances are ladders that lead down to the mines. Any model using a ladder must make an unmodified move test (rolling equal to or under their movement characteristic on one d6 a model with a movement characteristic of 6 always passes this test) or they will fall and count as being knocked down in their next turn but will be on the other board.

The 2 unsealed entrances are elevators and surprisingly they still work just fine. Once a model moves into base with an entrance they are moved immediately to the underground table and their movement ends. They may not take any further actions that turn unless their I is 6 or above.

If a crew remains in the town for 5 turns without going underground then each player takes a turn placing a mutant model touching each piece of terrain. Each mutant is armed with either a knife or a sword and is strength 4. They move randomly d6" at the start of each turn and will charge the nearest model if they are within charge range of it. Mutants will not enter the underground table at all.

Below ground:

The below ground board has several 'areas' that need to be set up. None of these 'areas' has a direct link to the above ground board. In other words, a ladder or elevator cannot be in an 'area' and line of sight must be blocked from the elevator or ladder into any 'area'.

Area 1:

This area is where there are some old pieces of mining equipment and vehicles. There is a sentinel power lifter and a stash of tools like las-cutters and respirators. The power lifter is very old and will only work if someone enters it and rolls a 6 on a d6. It can be increased by +1 for each Technicana skill the model has. There are a number of boxes and crates stacked up in corners, when a model declares they will search a crate on a roll of a 5+ on a d6 then rolla d10 on a 9 or 10 they find d3 respirators on a 7 or 8 they find d3 plasma cutters which have a profile of a mars pattern plasmagun with no long range.

Area 2:

This is an area that is closed off by blast doors, it is occupied by Under-Magos Delphi and 2 Tech Guard. There are also 3 servitors one with a plasma cannon. The Tech Guard are Imperial Guard with a strength of 4. The Under-Magos is an Adeptus Mechanicus with 3 wounds. The Under-Magos and tech guard will be facing one of the two blast doors. When the first one is opened roll a d6 on a 1-3 it is the door that was opened, on a 4-6 it is the other door.

Objectives of the Scenario

The objective is to burst into the Magos's room and kill him in hand to hand. He will have information that will be useful to the crew that succeeds in killing him. Only the crew that does the final wound counts as killing him. Once he is dead the servitors stop working. The tech Guard will continue to fight until they are killed. The model that killed the Magos in hand to hand must then escape the mines and get back to their deployment zone to win.

+1 exp for the winning leader
+1 exp for the unit who killed the magos
+1 exp for each unit on the winning side
+1 exp for the unit that killed the other crew's model that had the info
+1 exp for killing another crew's leader

If there is a GM for the game then he can control the NPCs in anyway he sees fit. And equip them however he wants, use models that are available or make his own.