• Location: Office for Special Operations, New Kourou
• Type: Social · Mission Briefing · Investigation · Preparation · Recap
• Era: Beta Age
• Tone: Determination · exhaustion · personal stakes · unfinished violence

Atmosphere & Sensory Cues: Perpetual twilight filtering through vine-covered shutters · the faint scent of Ezrah’s herbal tea · old starship metal humming behind the walls · distant activity in the Public Services Ring · the lingering smell of blood despite repeated cleaning

The twilight glow of New Kourou filters through the vine-covered shutters, painting long, bruised shadows across the Office for Special Operations. You have hauled buckets of rainwater across the floorboards, but the water has only driven yesterday’s violence deeper into the grain. The air still tastes of iron—the stubborn ghost of blood mixed with the dampness of the surrounding jungle.

Ezrah sits opposite you. She is pale, her fingers tracing the edge of a clean white bandage wrapped tightly around her temple, but her eyes remain focused. She does not offer a greeting. Her gaze lingers upon the dark patch of wood where the old man died, then shifts toward the evidence gathered across her desk. Five bone-handled blades clatter onto the wood.

“Senti hunting knives,” she says. “Carved from Odo ribs. The shape and serrated spine are unmistakable. Genuine craftsmanship from the western Asari steppe.”

She taps the dark crystalline residue crusted along their edges.

“Treated with Senti venom. Extracted from the desert Akzna.”

A weathered receipt printed upon cheap grey pulp follows.

“Five bowls of Serbian Soup on one tab at Django’s Diner. Two days before the attack.”

Finally, she slides a piece of heavy stock paper across the desk. A rust-colored smear of dried blood covers half the page, but the stamp of Hale & Hook remains visible at the top. Beneath it, written in stark black ink, is the exact address of the Office. Ezrah presses one bloodless knuckle against the paper.

“This wasn’t random. It wasn’t emotional. It was prepared.”

Her eyes move across your exhausted group.

“And everything about it points north. Morningstar.”

Use this phase when the PCs have High Exposure, request disguises or decide to prepare false identities. Ezrah has only a small collection of usable materials. The PCs must decide who receives limited items and how they will support one another’s cover.

Determine Exposure Status from the recorded conclusion of The Man Without A Name. Do not use a new probe to overwrite events that already occurred.

The Ticking Clock represents the danger faced by PCs whose identities are already circulating through Guarding Trooper channels or the bounty wire.

Scene 1 establishes this shared mechanic, but does not normally activate it. The Office for Special Operations is a protected preparation location. The location-specific versions of the mechanic appear in the later public scenes of New Kourou:

• Scene 2a — Courier Station
• Scene 2b — Mandala’s Mounts
• Scene 2c — Food Market
• Scene 2d — Buying a Mortician’s Cart

The Ticking Clock uses three connected concepts:

• High Exposure: The authorities possess credible descriptions, identities or other information connecting the PCs to the events of the previous adventure. High Exposure makes recognition possible, but it does not begin a countdown automatically.
• The Micro Clock: When PCs with High Exposure blow their cover inside a public location, that scene’s Micro Clock begins. Roll 1d4 rounds unless the location specifies otherwise. During this brief window, the PCs may attempt to prevent an alarm, recover money or equipment, preserve a false identity, hide or escape.

The Micro Clock is a dramatic countdown rather than a literal measurement of patrol travel time. Guarding Troopers may already be nearby, an observer may activate a silent alarm or existing alerts may already be circulating through the settlement.

• The Location Trap: The Location Trap: When the Micro Clock expires, the current location closes around the PCs. Guarding Troopers arrive, exits may be secured and the PCs must hide, deceive the authorities, surrender or force their way out. Each later New Kourou scene describes its own version of this consequence.

PCs may blow their cover by:

• giving their real names to someone with access to a wanted ledger
• removing or compromising a recognizable disguise
• contradicting an established alias or cover story
• failing a relevant Deception or disguise probe
• being recognized by a credible witness
• committing a public act that exposes their identities

The Ticking Clock may also begin on the streets of New Kourou. If the PCs flee into another public location, record that destination as their +1 Location. The active alert follows them there, and the relevant scene determines when its Location Trap closes. Entering another building does not automatically end an alert already in progress.

Low Exposure PCs do not begin the adventure under this pressure. However, later public crimes or reliable identification may increase their Exposure Status through play.

Disguises do not change High Exposure into Low Exposure. They preserve the PCs’ Cover State and delay recognition. Once the cover is blown, use the trigger table provided by the current New Kourou scene.

Before proceeding to Scene 2, record:

• Mission Decision: Accepted · Refused · Undecided
• Live-Capture Mandate: Active if the mission was accepted
• Full Reward: 1,000 Kourou per PC
• Travel Budget: 100 Kourou per PC
• Martin’s State: Available at the Office · Recovering at the Medical Station
• Exposure Status: Low Exposure · High Exposure
• Disguise Preparation: None · Partial · Effective
• Cover State: Intact unless it is later blown
• Aliases and Cover Story
• Capes of the Penitent: Record their carriers
• Martin’s Emergency Kit: Record the carrier of each item

• This Scene Is the Pivot: Use Ezrah’s briefing to reconnect the previous adventure with the new investigation. The violence at the Office should feel recent and personal.
• Let the PCs Examine the Evidence: The conclusion points toward Morningstar, but successful probes reveal why. Failed probes should conceal finer details rather than stop the adventure.
• Morningstar Is a Lead, Not Proof: Ezrah believes the attack was prepared there, but she does not yet know who ordered it. Preserve room for investigation and doubt.
• The Live-Capture Mandate Is Contractual: Ezrah demands a living prisoner because she wants testimony and accountability. The players may choose otherwise, but the official resolution and payment will reflect that choice.
• Keep Reward and Expenses Separate: The travel budget is issued immediately. The 1,000-Kourou reward per PC is earned through successful live delivery and paid during the appropriate ending.
• Separate Exposure from Cover: Exposure Status records what the authorities know. Cover represents whether the PCs are currently recognizable. A disguise does not convert High Exposure into Low Exposure.
• Establish the Ticking Clock Here: Scene 1 introduces High Exposure, the Micro Clock, the Location Trap and the +1 Location rule. Do not use the usual trigger table in this scene. The later New Kourou location scenes determine exactly how cover is blown, which countermeasures are available and what happens when their Micro Clock expires.
• The Office Is a Safe Preparation Location: Do not begin a Micro Clock while the PCs remain inside the OfSO unless their enemies or the authorities have already discovered the building through established play.
• Disguises Are Helpful, Not Absolute: They influence recognition probes and support false identities. They do not defeat real names, biometric checks, close searches or implausible behavior automatically.
• Do Not Penalize Personality for Grooming: Shaving changes how a PC is described. It does not reduce the character’s Charisma score.
• Preserve Martin’s Recorded Condition: Martin is recovering at the Medical Station only if he was injured during the previous adventure. Otherwise, he is present at the Office and may participate in the briefing. His emergency kit is available in either case.
• Martin’s Kit Is Separate from the Disguises: The three emergency items are limited technical resources. Record who carries them and remove each item after use.
• Preserve Player Agency: Ezrah may argue, warn and set contractual conditions, but she does not dictate what the PCs ultimately decide.
• Record the Final Preparation: Later scenes depend upon the Exposure Status, disguises, aliases, travel budget and issued equipment established here.

• ↑↑ Start: Adventure Hub of Hunting An Unknown Hunter
• ★ Overview: All Scenes of Hunting An Unknown Hunter
• ☞ Resolution: Case Resolution and Discoverable Backstory
• → Next Scene: Scene 2 — Travel Preparations