[WW] Thoughts and Help requested about mission idea

["Simon Hurr" <shurr@paradise.net.nz>]

Hey there,

We've just finished the second adventure in my PBEM, and I'm in the process
of designing the third. However, as with the last time I did this, I'm
getting a little stuck so I thought I'd ask you for your thoughts on the
concept :-)

Here's the briefing:

Reports recently received would seem to indicate that the Germans have
embarked on an experimental breeding program with horrendous possibilities -
a hybridization of human and canine traits in one creature. This must be
stopped - it may in time be able to provide the Wehrmacht with dog units
possessing both a tracking capability combined with a degree of reasoning.
This would severely compromise local resistance fighters and other irregular
units and would greatly increase security at any German military
installation the creatures were stationed at.

The patch found on a pair of dog handlers killed by SAS agents in Poland
indicated that the men involved were Gebirgsjäger - SS mountain troops.
Further investigation has revealed that this unit is based at a facility
near Kuchelbach, a few miles north of the Swiss-German border. The facility
is nestled into the lower reaches of the Alps. It is likely to be lightly
guarded at this time of year, as the winter weather would prevent much
training activity.

The team must infiltrate the facility, bring a halt to the experiments and
retrieve any material of significance they find. Of particular interest
would be any documentation on the methods that the scientists have used,
chemicals utilised, behavioural training and so forth. However, the primary
purpose of the raid is the destruction of the animals and their trainers.

Extraction will be by whatever transport the team can muster at the
facility, which they will drive to an airstrip about three miles from the
facility. The team will be collected at night by a specially fitted
aircraft, which the team will assist in landing at the airstrip. The
aircraft will then get into Swiss territory as quickly as possible.
Permission will be gained for the over-flight, and the team will then be
flown to France for transfer to a plane back to Britain.


That's more or less the official briefing. Now to the nitty-gritty...

The dogs are indeed a cross-breed of humans and dogs - a particularly sick
one at that.  They are created in a ritual that takes approximately four
hours to perform. The fact that the ritual also requires the death of a
human and a dog to accomplish means that it will never be the widespread
horror that the Brits believe, but that's okay, we just won't tell them
that.

The ritual begins with a male and female Alsatian dog being fed a
near-lethal overdose of fertility drugs. They then mate. Once this is done,
a human male - similarly drugged - is also forced to mate with the bitch.
(The Germans would use Jews for this purpose, but they would then distrust
the final product, so they are currently using Austrian men to perform the
ritual.)
Once this is completed, both of the males are killed. The blood from both is
collected and mixed, and the dog's heart and the human's brains are removed
and ground into a paste. This paste is then fed to the bitch together with a
regular dose of the combined blood. Two blood mages must recite incantations
throughout the ritual - one to keep the bitch alive through the ritual, the
other to keep it under control.

Once this is complete, the bitch will give birth to a single puppy within
approximately a month. The puppy will have canine jaws and body, but with a
human-like cranium. It will also have a near-human intelligence. It will
mature unnaturally quickly (naturally!) and reach adult size within three to
four months.

The characters will get to see parts of this ritual - I did introduce SAN
into my game, wouldn't want it to go to waste :-)

There will also be some training areas - this will include dogs tearing the
throats out of people and the such like. Probably some other stuff in here
would go down a treat.

There will not only be a few SS troopers around the facility, but a few bloo
d mages too. Generally low-level ones (it's only November 1939!) but the
characters have not encountered magic in combat yet, so they might get let
down fairly gently.
Some of the blood mages will be using the Blood Stones the characters saw in
the previous module too - these are one-shot items that allow a mage to cast
a spell of a certain level without needing runestones or entailing fatigue
(and in some cases, the Blood Stone can be created containing a spell, like
a scroll.)  However, each stone contains all of the blood from a human (the
Germans have started killing off the Jewish population of Poland to make
thousands of them for widespread use) and there are not many available for
blood mages to use just yet.

So that's it so far - SS, Blood Mages, and big scary doggies.

I feel like there isn't quite enough for a mission there yet. So, I'm eager
to hear your thoughts, on specifics or the idea of the mission as a whole -
any recommendations?

Cheers,

BJ