[ericthered]

Heres a one shot:

In the depths of an icy moon, isolated and artificial lit deep sea reefs raise exotic aquatic delicacies for export to the luxury market. Each reef is maintained by a small city of workers, nestled in a cosy habitat under the ocean. Each The reefs are intentionally placed hundreds of kilometers from each other and the surface, to prevent the spread of disease to their sensitive crops. This appears to have failed. The reef the player characters live on to has hit by a plague threatening to wipe out a key species, crashing the ecology, bankrupting the city, and saddling the population with crushing debt for decades.

Another Reef a few hundred kilometers away weathered this same plague just a few months ago, and they have a cure, but they refuse to sell it for anything less than a quarter of the reef's total value. Relations between the two reefs have been poor at the best of times, and the Reef affected by the plague suspects foul play, but its nearly impossible to prove, and they only have a few days to stop the disease.

The PC's have been tasked with getting their hands on the cure before its too late. Quarantine will force them to stay away from their goal, at least physically, but they have full access to networks. They will need to find someone in the cure city who is willing to steal it for them. Reef cities tend to be very tightly controlled, and loyalty to the reef is high. These actions are technically illegal, and if the other reef is willing to distribute a plague, they're probably willing to go farther. How do you find an agent in another city? how do you ensure their loyalty? How can you tell they're telling you the truth?

The PC's had better come up with answers to that, or they and everyone they know will loose their shirts.

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The idea here is to make the players accomplish a task through others, and to reverse the normal recruiting scheme.