The Department is back to business as usual. Deception, intrigue, murder. All in a day’s work.
My latest playthrough of Scalphunter, a game of Solo Cold War Espionage. Scalphunter is available from Itch and DriveThruRPG, free or pay what you want.
“Wipe the smile off your face, Lawson,” D.Ops said when Eddie Lawson returned to the office and greeted his chief with unfeigned delight at seeing him back from “leave” that was more like suspension, “And don’t get comfortable. You’re flying out this evening.”
Lawson read the mission brief before he went. Denmark this time. There was a pro-Soviet diplomat, Carl Hejlsberg, who was somewhat of a rising star. It would suit British interests if he did not rise much further with the same misplaced loyalties.
Frame Hostile Official (Standing)
Highly Complex (10 Progress Required) Important (Urgency 5)
Task One
Lawson had been in Copehnagen for a week setting things in motion. Returning in the late evening from a brush contact with one of the agents operating in the capital he was approached by a thickset man with Moscow goon written all over him. Without waiting to be challenged Lawson struck first.
Unarmed Takedown (Action) -Harm / Exposure Roll 4 +Harm(1) +Progress(1)
The goon hit the ground hard clutching at his broken nose, a discarded makarov pistol falling beside him. They mean business, Lawson thought, and I had better keep a lower profile.
Task Two
The brush contact from agent ZITHER contained a photograph of encyphered documents. Lawson spent a few hours meticulously poring over the images with a magnifying glass, transcribing the code groups and sending them to London. There was no way he would be able to do this himself. Luckily he knew a curmudgeonly genius who could handle this standing on her head.
Sift Intelligence Data (Analysis) – Stress/Oversight Ally – Connie – Roll 5 – No further use this round +Progress (2)
The message came back the next morning
Task Three
Eddie interviews a reluctant Danish journalist who had written a couple of critical articles about Hejlsberg and then abruptly turned soft on him.
Coerce Cooperation (Interaction) – Stress/Exposure Roll 4 +Progress(3) +Stress (1)
The journalist breaks down. He’d been threatened, and he’d caved. Lawson gets a description of the man who’d threatened him, and it’s clearly the same man that had accosted him previously. The goon is called Barov and is posing as a Finnish businessman.
Task Four
This is no short term case. Lawson spends a couple of months laying the groundwork for the operation. He identifies, approaches and in various ways recruits a number of useful individuals. Many of them are in Hejlberg’s orbit, but one is not. Lawson has noted that the KGB man Barov is a regular at a local cabaret bar called Måneskin (Moonlight) where he is a particular admirer of an American singer called Sally Lewis.
Lawson approaches Lewis and spins a tale about him being a private investigator looking into the “Finnish businessman” who is embezzling his company funds. If she could encourage his interests – within the bounds of morality of course – his employer will be very generous. Lewis is a hard bargainer and has just been thrown out of her own apartment… would Lawson’s employer be able to help?
Establish Network (Tradecraft) -Exposure / Stress Roll 3 +Progress(4) +Exposure(1)
Task Five
Building the network took money, setting Sally Lewis up in an apartment cost more. Lawson has a meeting back in London to justify his actions. Doesn’t rely on D.Ops since he knows that sort of back-up can’t be overused.
Justify Actions (Standing) – Oversight/Stress Roll 3 +Progress (5) +Oversight (1)
It takes a little persuasion and a reminder of the importance of the mission, but Lawson gets the funds cleared. He is allocated access to the appropriate funds to pay appropriate bribes, rewards for information and enough to set Sally up in a decent place of her own. For a while. “A short while,” as “C” reminds him.
Task Six
Back in Copenhagen, Lawson seizes a narrow time window to break into the Barov’s apartment while he knows he is busy on a night out at Måneskin. Being careful to leave no trace of his presence Lawson finds a hidden cache of documents and a radio set.
Quick Force Entry (Action) – Harm/Exposure Roll 5 +Progress (6) +Harm (2)
Knowing his time is short and hearing Barov’s car pull up outside, Lawson photographs the documents and manages to leave by a fire escape, dropping the last few feet to the ground, as Barov returns home
Downtime
Lawson takes a day off, resting his injured ankle as he develops the document images.
DOWNTIME (HEALTH) Roll 3 -Health (1) +Urgency (1)
Task Seven
Reviewing the photographs and poring over them, Eddie tries to figure out what Barov and Hejlsberg are up to.
Predict Enemy Action (Analysis) – Stress/Exposure Roll 1 +Urgency(1) +Stress(2)
Enemy Action: Cover Challenged (Interaction) Roll 6 No ill effect!
He draws a blank. Worse, he gets a phone call from Sally Lewis who insists on a meeting. She confronts him, accuses him of being a spy and not the private detective he claimed to be. He laughs it off, and plays it off brilliantly, convincing her. What made her think that, he asks. Barov, she says, she thinks he might be a spy and not a business man. He was drunk the previous night and tried to impress her by dropping unsubtle hints about his mysterious life. “A real spy wouldn’t get drunk,” Lawson tells her.
Task Eight
Worried about the challenge to his cover, Lawson asks the Department to flesh out his legend. He gives them some suggestions in case Sally Lewis looks into him… and more importantly in case Barov learns about him.
Create False Trail (Tradecraft) -Exposure / Oversight Result 5 +Progress(7) +Oversight (2)
DOWNTIME
The cover story is strengthened and Lawson receives the confirmation and extra details in a meeting with a local SIS officer. He spends some time socialising with the man and justifying the effort everyone has gone to.
DOWNTIME (OVERSIGHT) Roll 2 -Oversight (1) + Urgency (2)
Task Nine
Lawson meets with one of his network, Jensen, an administrator working for Hejlsberg and arranges for Jensen to arrange for his boss to be called out of his office to deal with some manufactured crisis. Jensen agrees and at the appropriate time he and Hejlsberg are occupied trying to patch up a potentially embarrassing press story that Jensen “inadvertently” leaked.
Create Diversion (Interaction) -Exposure / Stress Roll 6 +Progress (8)
It works perfectly and Lawson slips into Hejlsberg’s office and locates the latest instructions passed to Hejlsberg at his last contact with Barov. He photographs the page and slips away.
Task Ten
Connie is unavailable, Lawson learns when he calls into London for aid with the cypher text that his photographs revealed. He settles down with a notepad, a bottle of whisky and a pack of cigarettes.
Decipher Cyphertext (Analysis) -Oversight / Stress Roll 1 +Urgency(3) +Stress(2)
Enemy Action: Contact Threatened (Interaction) Roll 5 -Progress(7)
He can’t make head or tail of the cypher and realises he will need to take more direct action. A dangerous plan forms in his mind and he calls the British Embassy… he’ll need the aid of a few of their staff members.
The next day he meets with an anxious Jensen who had received a major telling off from Hejlsberg because of his diversion. Jensen tells Lawson he can go to hell before getting any more aid from him. Lawson pours on all his conciliatory charm but it takes him some time before he can be confident Jensen will not go rogue and potentially expose his involvement
Enemy Action: Contact Threatened (Interaction) Roll 5 -Progress(7)
Task Eleven
Lawson needs to know if Barov is likely to have any kind of backup here in Copenhagen (illegal backup. Obviously the Soviet Embassy will have a handler for him, but Lawson doesn’t intend for any offical traces to be involved). He spends some time on a secure line to D.Int going through records and known associates.
Identify Enemy Assets (Analysis) -Oversight / Harm Roll 2 +Oversight(2) +Urgency(4)
While D.Int wouldn’t be deliberately hindering the investigation, his impatience with Lawson means the whole business is unproductive.
Task Twelve
Phase one of Lawson’s dangerous endgame requires getting rid of Barov and hopefully without anyone learning about it. He learns from Sally Lewis when Barov will be leaving the cabaret bar and trails the agent toward his home. When Lawson sees the unmarked van from the Embassy parked at the next corner he makes his move, draws a Fairbairn-Sykes dagger and despatches Barov the old fashioned way. He’s pushed into the open door of the van, Lawson follows him in, and the van drives away.
Silent Neutralization (Action) – Harm/Exposure Roll 6 +Progress(8)
Task Thirteen
Barov was due to meet with Hejlsberg the next day. Lawson has studied their protocols enough to set up the right signals that Hejlsberg can pick up meaning “everything okay for the meeting”. The meeting takes place just after two pm in the Ørstedsparken near the monument to Hans Christian Ørsted. Lawson sees Hejlsberg’s panicked reaction when he sees a stranger approach him rather than Barov, but Lawson is carrying the right book and wearing the right scarf – both signals that Barov would use to signify all was well.
“I’m Jerichau,” Lawson tells him, “Our friend asked me to stand it for him.”
Brush Contact (Tradecraft) -Exposure / Stress Roll 4 +Progress(9) +Stress(2)
He covertly passes Hejlsberg a prepared packet containing cyphered information and money.
Task Fourteen
At that moment there is sudden movement from all around, and several men from the British Embassy move in. They combine discretion with aggressive assertiveness, separating Lawson from Hejlsberg and making it appear that Lawson is being arrested with a certain amount of vigour. A wily old campaigner from the Embassy assures Hejlsberg that everything will be alright, they just want to speak to him. Before he can even object, and intimidated by the rough treatment that Lawson appears to be getting, Hejlsberg goes quietly while asserting he does not know that man, and does not know why he was handed a package.
Rapid Deployment (Action) -Harm / Stress Roll 4 +Harm (2) +Progress (10)
Final Roll (STANDING)
Lawson is helped up by the ruffians from the Embassy who apologise, and they drive back to a nearby comandeered office building where Hejlsberg has been taken. From a room adjacent to the one where the anxious Danish politician is now in, Lawson sits quietly with the others listening to the audio being received from the interview.
Lawson smiles grimly as he recognises the voice of his chief, D.Ops, in the room with Hejlsberg. He cuts through the man’s panicky bluster with surgical pragmatism. He’s a spy for the soviet union, a traitor to his own people, there is evidence and lots of it. If he were to be exposed he would be jailed for the rest of his life. He would be villified, hated. There is only one chance that Hejlsberg has, and that is to do as he is told.
Standing Roll Required – Ally – D.Ops – Roll 6 Full Success! Remove 1 Oversight (0) and 1 Stress (1)
Hejlsberg meekly assents. Not only will he stop being a useful idiot for the Soviets, he may now prove to be a usef… a valuable ally of the western democracies.
Aftermath
Personal Cost Rolls
BURNOUT (3d6) – 3 5 6 +1 BURNOUT
BLOWN (1d6) – 1 – No ill effect
+2 EP (6)
Spend 2 to gain Analysis 2
Spend 2 to gain Standing 2
EP Remaining 2
Otherworlds 