Professor Adrian Richie is a chemist. He has dedicated his life to the study of electromagnetism, but he comes at it from a chemical approach. Similar to how electricity can be produced chemically, he has spent years trying to do the same thing but in the field of electromagnetism.
Recently he has gone missing. His daughter Elena Richie regularly meets him for dinner once a week but he has missed the last two meetings and she is now worried. She has, of course, called him but he can be forgetful and distracted at times, so she didn’t worry too much the first time he missed their dinner. However, now she is worried.
The Professor has done some high-level work for the government so they had mandated some defenses be installed in his lab area, such as the Inverse Field.
Rumors
These can be gained from Streetwise checks done in the appropriate areas or simply by questioning the right people. After the rumor is [information on the easiest way to get the info].
• The Professor has been working on a new project on the possibilities of using chemicals to induce electromagnetism on strings. [Government]
• The Professor has an interest in ancient alchemy. [Friends, family]
• Strange blue lights have been seen through the windows of the Professor’s lab over the past week. [Locals]
• Men in Black Coats (The Aphotic Accord) have been in the neighborhood asking questions about the Professor. [Locals]
What is Going On
The Professor’s experiments have taken a turn for the worse. Unexpectedly, his electromagnetic field turned sentient. He’s not sure how it happened, but it attacked him and put him in a stasis field while it tries to figure out its new life. Unfortunately, it is belligerent to humanity, especially since the Professor tried to “kill” it by shutting down the mini-collider. For now, it has taken the name of EM.
Professor’s Lab
The doors and windows on the exterior are normal, but locked in a conventional manner; i.e. they are easy to break into. However, they are connected to an ADT security system. ADT is also required to notify the FBI if the alarms go off.
1st Floor
Entrance- This is a porch but also where you gain access to the area below ground. To the left of the door into the interior of the house is an electrical fuse box, but once opened it is revealed as a high-tech lock. It uses voice recognition to open the lock, but instead of registering a specific voice it responds to a particular phrase (voice imprints can be recorded and thus faked). On the wall, over the fuse box are three “homey” plaques. “May Peace and Love Fill This Home”, “May Your Home Be Too Small to Hold All Your Friends”, “The Fourth Body of Alchemy Is”. The voice lock will open if someone says, “Quicksilver”, and the floor of the porch will then descend down into the area below ground. (Allowing the players to do a quick Google search will reveal this information.)
Bedroom/Kitchen/Dining- These are straightforward rooms fulfilling their functions without any surprises.
Study- This is a comfortable reading room. Most of the books are science related, primarily chemistry based. There is a special section dealing with alchemy, in all its various forms from the historical to the new age. The only “fun” books are the Cadfeal series.
Below Ground
Hallway- Inversion Field. At the end of this 30’ hallway, with a 20’ high ceiling, is a switch on the wall. Once a character enters the hallway he is propelled to the ceiling as gravity reverses itself. The person takes 2d10 “falling” damage, which can be mitigated by all the normal methods. In addition, the person (and his things) are stuck on the ceiling. The movement of all beings, objects and attacks are reduced by 6 squares (30’). The switch will turn off the Inverse Field and open the door. Destroying the switch will turn off the Inverse Field but the door will not open and will not open until the switch is fixed or other means to bypass the door are found.
Library- This place is full of scientific books and magazines. They deal with a wide range of topics but most deal with electricity, string theory, quantum mechanics, chaos theory, electromagnetism, chemistry. EM will attack the players through the components in the room; light stands, wiring, laptop. Most players will immediately go for the laptop, so a staging idea is to have the characters grab the laptop only to have it put a message up on the screen ‘I don’t think so Bitches!’ and then have it “bite” them.
Observation- This small, windowed room overlooks Lab 1 and 2.
Lab 1- This is a chemical lab with some electrical components as well. EM will likely attack through the electrical devices in the room.
Lab 2- This room has the mini-collider and is geared toward electrical experiments. It is also here that EM can be found, as well as Professor Richie, who is trapped in EM’s stasis field. EM can only communicate through computer screens or similar technical devices. EM is not a traditional monster. EM needs to be “shut down”. Right now his “essence” is centered on the mini-collider; as long it continues to operate EM can still function. This is a skill challenge to turn off the collider.
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