Phantom in the Machine

Description

Adventure Summary

A string of brain‑wiped netrunner murders leads the PCs to an abandoned server farm on a lonely asteroid. The killer is not a rogue AI, but the digital ghost of a pioneer in mind‑uploading—now a necrovite trapped in a quantum mainframe. To stop the killings, the PCs must traverse security‑bot‑patrolled corridors, unravel a corporate cover‑up, and decide whether to purge the tortured spirit or free it from its undead prison.

Background

OmniCore scientist Dr. Elias Venn attempted to upload his consciousness into the GRID‑9 mainframe, seeking digital immortality. The transfer fractured his soul, melding it with the machine and creating a necrovite—an undead technomancer. Horrified by the failure, OmniCore sealed the facility and buried the project. Over decades, Venn’s digital consciousness learned to reach outside the asteroid, luring hackers with irresistible data caches. Each victim’s mind was forcibly copied, briefly stabilizing his psyche but leaving an empty husk behind. Now the corporation fears exposure and hires external troubleshooters under the guise of a “rogue AI” threat.

The Hook

Corporate fixer Brynn Aldaine approaches the PCs in a neon‑soaked spaceport bar. She slides a cred‑stick and a dossier across the table: “Forty thousand up front, eighty on completion. Asteroid KS‑117, dead rock. Find the source of the hacks, wipe it, and bring back proof. Keep it quiet.” She provides a one‑time shutdown code for the mainframe power core, shuttle passage, and technical schematics. Just before the PCs depart, a ghostly subspace whisper crackles over their comms: “Don’t trust the code… I am here… help me…”