A Tabloid Article by Linden Dunham

The West Eerie metroplex has more than its fair share of problems: Overcrowding, unemployment and poverty. In the old Detroit area these difficulties have been exacerbated by the decline in traditional motor manufacturing. During the Greater Depression the city’s auto manufacturers either went bust or relocated production abroad where costs were lower.

In recent times car making has returned to Detroit. General Dynamics Motors have opened a plant on the site of the old GM Detroit Assembly in Clark Street to turn out the company’s popular “Ariel” and “Lancer” models. GDM has embarked on an aggressive advertising campaign for both cars playing to patriotic sentiment as well as harking back to Detroit’s industrial heritage using slogans like: “Back in the USA”, “Detroit Made” and “Motor City’s Motoring Again”. Detractors have pointed out that the assembly lines are all robotic and employment opportunities at the new plant are few. GDM appear more interested in exploiting the Detroit’s manufacturing history for their own benefit than doing anything to genuinely help tackle the city’s socio-economic problems. Company executives refute these allegations and point to the wider gains GDM’s investment will bring in stimulating the entire West Eerie economy.

GDM has a bigger problem than bad publicity from anti-corporate naysayers. There have been a number of accidents involving cars manufactured at the Detroit plant. Several people of have been killed or injured in crashes. The dreaded words “product recall” and “class action” are being whispered amongst the executive echelons. Although GDM can deploy armies of lawyers and PR specialists to fend off these threats in the short term the company needs someone who can get to the bottom of what’s happening to their cars. Enter the minion hunters…

There are three possible explanations:

  1. A colony of Dwarf Gremlins has taken up residence in the plant. They are sabotaging the cars for their own vicious amusement. The creatures are adept at avoiding the plant’s automated security but can be spotted using surveillance equipment and an Observation skill roll. In any subsequent confrontation the Gremlins will seek to kill the minion hunters in an ambush, possibly by using adapted factory equipment like machine presses or even the site’s roboguards.
  2. The cars are being sabotaged by a Luddite cult. Originally a peaceful protest group made up of people who blamed mechanisation for the loss of their jobs, it has been taken over by a Dread Sidhe. Now an inner circle of “groupies” engages in direct action, raiding the plant and damaging vehicles. Most of this inner circle are ex-auto workers but one is a former corporate security employee with the expertise to hack into and temporarily disable the plant’s surveillance apparatus.The Sidhe knows that its groupies won’t keep getting away with their incursions into the plant. It hopes to provoke a forceful response from GDM such as deployment of paramilitary security and/or troubleshooter types like the minion hunters. The Sidhe will then arrange for the cult’s next raid to to be detected. It will stay to enjoy the resulting mayhem before making its escape.
  3. GDM’s cars are being sabotaged by a band of Dark Elves. The Darklings evade the plant’s security by using their dimension walk ability to materialise inside the factory’s buildings. They then plant animator spirits inside selected vehicles. The animators are implanted with an empathic command to destroy their host vehicles after travelling a few dozen miles.The best way of intercepting the Dark Elves is to stake out the interior of the factory and try to catch them as they materialise. If challenged the Darklings will fight ferociously to escape – one will try to open a portal back to their home dimension while the others engage the hunters. The Darklings are reasonably well equipped and their armament should be comparable to the hunters’. They will stage a fighting retreat to the portal which will remain open for a short interval. If any Dark Elves escape the hunters are faced with the prospect of following them back to their home dimension to permanently end their depredations.