SPECTRE of Evil

History
Over the past few weeks, shipments of sensitive military material have been getting hijacked. Each
attack left no survivors, but the most recent attack was disrupted, and though they got away with the
cargo, the enemy was forced to leave its dead behind. Examinations of the bodies have led the military
to believe that the secretive terrorist organization named HYDRA has been behind the raids.
Up to now, HYDRA has been a minor player in the world of terrorism. Viewed as a group of ideologues
with little true power, theyve done very little over the years and were mostly ignored by the world
powers. Their stated mission is to create a new world order from the chaos caused by the two
superpowers. To achieve this goal, HYDRA attempts to create political instability throughout the world,
hoping to draw the world powers into a conflict that will ultimately lead to World War III. HYDRA hopes
to be a beacon of hope in those dark times, picking up the shattered pieces of society and uniting the
world under their banner.
Background
The heroes are SPECTREs (SPECial Tactics and REconnaissance), a top-secret, elite military organization
comprised of the best the US military has to offer, assigned to investigate these thefts and bring the
perpetrators to justice. The investigation must be handled with extreme care, as the public (and press,
upper military brass, and politicians, among others) must never know that material of this sort ever
went unaccounted for. The heroes are given a wide range of authority to accomplish their mission but,
as always, they will be disavowed by the government if they are ever caught in the act.
To begin their investigation, the heroes are given a manifest listing all of the missing equipment and
supplies. Each of these items is important in and of itself, but together, they represent a significant
threat to the nations safety. The heroes must account for as much of the material as possible, and
neutralize the individuals responsible for their theft. (List at least eight manifest items, with each leading
to an adventure). In addition, SPECTRE Command has identified an active HYDRA base in North Korea,
hidden in the forested foothills of Mount Baekdu. As this is the only lead Command has on HYDRA, the
heroes are dispatched to learn more. SPECTRE Command has arranged for documentation to get the
heroes into North Korea disguised as a United Nations inspection team, and assigned an asset to meet
the heroes at the airport and guide them to the site.
The Adventure Begins
Unfortunately, the heroes are not the first to arrive. A team of Soviet commandos assaulted the HYDRA
base a couple of days ago and a cleanup crew is now sorting through the pieces for further information.
Luckily, there are only 10 soldiers on site, so it shouldnt be too difficult for the heroes to take them out

quickly. In the commanders tent, the heroes find a journal indicating that the HYDRA leader, Alexandr
Volkov, was taken captive and has been sent to GULAG 515 for questioning.
Checking in with Command, the heroes learn that GULAG 515 is designed to hold prisoners of particular
interest to the state and is located deep in Siberia. Apparently, Volkov is a former KGB agent who went
rogue after the Korean War. To continue their investigation, the heroes must now head to the Soviet
Union and liberate Volkov. The Soviets have a special way of handling traitors, so the heroes must
move quickly if they expect to recover him in one piece.
To question prisoners such as Volkov, GULAG 515 normally has an expertly trained staff psychiatrist who
specializes in using a mix of drugs and conventional techniques to get captives to reveal sensitive
information. While these methods can be a bit rough, they are effective. To aid the heroes on their
mission, Command has arranged for an accident to befall GULAG 515s staff psychiatrist. His illness is
such that he must be sent back to Moscow for treatment. Another interrogator has been dispatched,
but with Siberia being the middle of nowhere, itll take him a little while to reach the prison. This is the
heroes entry point they have a few days to impersonate the new psychiatrist and rescue Volkov
before the real interrogator arrives on the scene.
How the heroes accomplish this is up to them, but the easiest way would be for heroes to represent the
psychiatrist, his bodyguards, and his driver. (The bodyguards and driver are necessary because these
psychiatrists are sometimes getting prisoners to reveal state secrets, and the guards ensure that the
information does not wind up in enemy hands.) With easy access to Volkov, the heroes could simply
stow him in the trunk of their car and drive him out when the psychiatrist retires for the evening.
Getting Volkov to help will be easy he wants to cooperate. Apparently, he was subject to an
assassination attempt during his short stay in the GULAG, and he feels HYDRA was responsible. Volkov is
willing to help the heroes with their investigation on two conditions. First, he wants to be transferred to
a country club prison in America. He finds that the accommodations in Siberia are not to his liking.
Second, Volkov wants the heroes to acquire a Faberge egg currently sitting under glass at the Rave
nightclub in downtown St. Petersburg. Rave is owned by Leonid Brushnevich, a notorious Soviet drugrunner who has connections high up in the Politburo. Volkov claims that he met with Brushnevich last
year to recruit him to HYDRA and was insulted and roughly handled. The egg is Brushnevichs prized
possession, and he wants the heroes to steal it and leave a HYDRA business card in its place (just to add
insult to injury). These terms are not negotiable, and since there are no other leads, SPECTRE Command
approves the deal and orders the heroes to St. Petersburg.

Rave is a hopping nightclub and Brushnevich will definitely be on hand, so the heroes will have to use
their social skills to make it through. They can either distract the guards to slip into the managers office,
or one of the heroes can seduce Brushnevich and be invited into the office. Either way, an alarm will go
off once the egg is taken, and if they dont have an escape route planned, the heroes will have to fight
their way out while protecting the egg.
Returning to the safehouse, Volkov will look the egg over to make sure it isnt a fake. After a few
minutes of analysis, he will say, Excellent work, before smashing the egg against the wall. Volkov will
admit that getting the egg was both an act of revenge and a test of the heroes devotion, and if theyre
willing to do something like that for him, they must really be serious about stopping HYDRA. After they
betrayed him, hes serious about stopping them, too.
Finally getting down to business, Volkov looks over the manifest and offers his input. While he doesnt
know exactly what the US HYDRA cells plan entails (each cell has its own agenda and they dont share
that information with each other), Volkov can tell the heroes of persons/companies of interest that
HYDRA has worked with in the past and who would be interested in acquiring some of the items listed.
Some of these people are HYDRA agents themselves, while others are just allies. Investigating these
leads may yield additional pieces of the puzzle.
(This leads to individual missions based on particular items on the manifest. Opponents could include
arms dealers getting military grade weapons, shady international corporations stealing government
patents, corrupt scientists obtaining illegal research materials, crazed inventors collecting sensitive
radioactive elements, etc.)
At some point, the heroes safehouse will be attacked and they will have to flee for their lives with
Volkov. This reveals that HYDRA has a mole in SPECTRE Command and the heroes will be ordered to go
dark. After this point, the heroes will only have access to whatever equipment they have on their
persons and can no longer rely on technical details (blueprints of buildings, schematics, etc.) or assets
once provided by Command.
The Real Deal
The majority of items HYDRA stole were simply decoys. They wanted to confuse the US military and
delay discovery of their true intentions. The only cargo that was truly significant was the crates of
deactivated biological hazards that were being sent to the CDC in Fort Collins, Colorado. With these,
HYDRA plans to plant dirty bombs in the subway systems of major world cities.
These bombs will be timed to go off at the same time, releasing anthrax, bubonic plague, and a host of
other biological contaminants into the population, throwing the entire free world into a panic.

Governments will first look to their enemies, with the US and USSR taking the lead. When NATO and the
Warsaw Pact start blaming each other, this will begin a domino effect that HYDRA ultimately hopes will
lead to war. If the heroes take too long figuring out HYDRAs plan, they will have to race around the
world to defuse the bombs and use their connections to have others defuse the ones they cant reach in
time.