Amber Zone: Scam

By: Loren K. Wiseman ()
Adventure Seed

While between jobs and out in search of an evening's entertainment, the party is contacted by a distant acquaintance and taken to a secluded room where they are left alone with the occupant, a small, nervous-looking man.

The man introduces himself as Ansehlm Jotphar, a supervising clerk at a local branch of Transport Bonding and Underwriters, LIC, a local insurance firm. Jotphar has been employed by the firm for almost sixteen years, and currently supervises the receipt of premium payments. A series of personal financial reverses in the stock market required him to produce a quantity of cash, which he obtained by diverting funds from the company, intending to make up the shortage before it was detected. He has recieved a tip from a friend, however, which indicates that a surprise audit of all departments is to begin the next day, which will discover his misdeed and ruin him.

Jotphar asks that the group break in to the offices of TB&ULIC and destroy the computer holding the record of his crime, making the act appear to be vandalism by trashing the entire floor. He will provide the combination to the rear entrance to the building and a schedule of the security patrols in the building and the surrounding plaza.

Jotphar cannot pay the group in money, but he says he can arrange for the group to recieve a list of every ship scheduled to leave planet within the next month with a cargo valued in excess of Cr10,000. He suggests that the group arrange to hijack one or more of these vessels.

To protect both parties, Jotphar asks the group to meet him in the same place the same time next evening, when he will give them the list if the job has been done properly.

Referee's Information:

Jotphar's scheme is more complex than what has been outlined. The only shipment on the list he will give the players' group will be rare liquors valued at Cr 10,000,000. In actual fact, the cargo is worth only Cr10,000, but a confederate of Jotphar's, an assessor for TB&ULIC, has overvalued the policy. After the players have hijacked the shipment, Jotphar will collect on the insured value of the stolen goods, split the money with his confederate, and vanish into the depths of space. The instructions he has given the players will result in the destruction of records concerning policies taken out in the last two months, including all connection between the liquor shipment and Jotphar's confederate. With luck, TB&ULIC will never find out they have been swindled.

The players will naturally be somewhat disturbed by all this, and will undoubtedly want to track Jotphar down and claim a larger reward.

The chances of the group finding Jotphar will depend on exactly how they go about tracking him. Liberal applications of cash to various interstellar passenger company clerks will probably reveal Jotphar's destination. Jotphar will be travelling under another name, and alert to pursuit.

If the players are clever in their investigations, and have a small amount of good luck, the referee should allow them to locate Jotphar. Jotphar, when found, will be in the middle of conducting a complex swindle which will have absorbed 90% of his funds. He will have spent the bulk of the rest in establishing a protective network around himself.

If the players decide to attack Jotphar, his bodyguard will protect him (the size and armament is up to the referee). If the group's actions are more moderate, Jotphar will offer them a part in the swindle, for a cut of the proceeds.

The flow of subsequent events must be determined by the referee.

Copyright 1981, 1996 Loren K. Wiseman. All rights reserved. Some material on this page is from the Traveller game system and is used with permission. Traveller is a registered trademark of Far Future Enterprises. ®1977-1996 Far Future Enterprises. Portions of this material are Copyright ©1977-1996 Far Future Enterprises.