While searching for gainful employment on Fornice (A-354A87-6), the players' group is approached by a representative of an association of local merchants. Your band, she says, has been reccomended to her as trustworthy, and she has a job offer.
A K'kree trade delegation has entered into negotiations with a number of worlds in the Spinward for carrier and distribution contracts for K'kree products in the Spinward. The Fornice Merchant's Association has entered a bid, but is in competition with several other similar organizations on other worlds. The chief of the K'kree delegation in the Spinward is currently on Fornice, and is enjoying the hospitality of the local merchants while he evaluates the potential contract.
The Fornice merchants have learned that the head of the K'kree delegation is a connoiseur of the K'kree multimedia art forms. The Fornice merchants had gone to great expense to obtain a piece by an artist familiar with the K'kree tastes in art, titled Gak'knak (which the artist translates as Whispers of Summer). It arrived several weeks ago, and was placed in a warehouse, cases unopened.
Unfortunately, Gak'knak was stolen yesterday, three days before it was to be presented to the K'kree delegation.
The Fornice Merchant's Association was able to determine that the art has been stolen by the Andros organization, a little known criminal group with chapters on several worlds in the subsector. The association suspects that Andros plans to deliver the art to merchants of Mora (who are also in competition for the contract), which plan to present the art as their own gift.
The Fornice Merchants Association will pay Cr750,000 for the recovery of Gak'Knak undamage, with an additional bonus of Cr250,000 if it can be recovered within 24 hours.
Gnak'kak consists of a series of holographic projectors, which create a three dimensional image of native K'kree plants waving in the wind, a sound projector which produces about fifteen minutes wort of (to human ears) discordant cacaphony, and a large number of waxy crescents. These crescents are the main part of the art, all the rest being roughly equivalent to the fram of a painting or the pedestal of a sculpture. To appreciate Gnak'kak, a K'kree sets up the other parts of it, and places one of the crescents in the palm of his hand, seating it against the thumb and curling the fingers gently around it. The crescents are made of a mixture of waxes which melt at slightly different temperatures. As the K'kree's hand warms the wax, each different type melts in turn, releasing a series of odors, which, to the K'kree, are the most important part of any artwork. The crescents are stored in a small case, which is insulated from the effect of extreme temperature.
The cases and bags holding Gnak;Kak are currently inside Fornice starport, where they await transfer to the agent of Mora, and loading aboard a merchant vessel, for smuggling off-planet.
The players can locate Gnak'kak in several ways, the best of which is to attempt to find and question members of the Andros organization. DMs for streetwise and bribery will be useful to the players in this endeavor.
Naturally, once the players find the art, they must still overpower the guards without damaging it, and see to its delivery to the Fornice merchants.