A TOWN OF LITTLEHOPE
Briefing
Agents are chilling in a bar out of the city. The agents might be lost in the repetition of a ballgame or may be sat in a booth at the back of the joint trading war stories. Allow the agents to settle in and find themselves comfortable.
First Encounter
There is a figure stood outside the entrance of the bar. The figure has the build and height of a 60-year-old man and has a large gaping hole in his head where his face should be. The man is wearing a soaking wet polo shirt with Littlehope Church emblazoned on the front. He has sand caked to his bare feet, hands, and around the great cavity in the middle of his face. Each agent will take 0/1D4 SAN damage the first time seeing him.
If agents approach the man and try to touch him, he will keep several metres distance, matching the agent’s pace. When sufficiently close, the agents see the man wears a name badge that says HERMAN. Agents with any score in the unnatural (or with a HUMINT of more than 50) will sense that they are the only people that can see Herman.
If agents try to ignore Herman, for example going home, or back to their motel, Herman will continue to follow the agent who first saw him. They will wake and see him standing at the side of the bed, still pointing. He will stand over them eating their cereal, showering, sitting at their desk in the office, etc. Agents must take a SAN (0/1D4) roll each morning they wake to see Herman.
It Waits, We Follow
On leaving the bar Herman begins pointing in a particular direction. If agents show any interest in the direction Herman is pointing, he will start walking down the main street. Agents can follow on foot, or they can follow in their car, where he will climb into a vacant seat.
If walking, Herman will stay a few steps ahead and will not stop until about half an hour later, crossing the road without looking either way. The walk begins down a busy highway, followed by a quiet country road. If the agents drive, he will point out of either the left or right window, depending on which turn the agents need to take.
Herman will eventually come to a standstill under a sign at the side of the road for Littlehope Church. If driving, he will open the door and leave the car unannounced at the same point, irrespective of speed.
There is a modest church building with a small car park outside. In the car park is a minivan with Littlehope Church written on the side. There are no lights on. Across the road is a vast grass verge, housing a 3-storey building made from similar materials as the prefab church across the road. A sign reads Littlehope Mission. Most of the windows have bars on the outside. Overhead room lights televisions glow from the windows into the lonely dark outside. The entrance to the Mission casts light across the small car park, which has two cars. The door is locked, but agents can be buzzed inside by Rebecca Lewin who is working at the front reception desk.
Rebecca is friendly, in her mid-20s, and works at the Mission while studying to be a social worker. Her and two colleagues, Peter McCarney and Wade Johnson, are working the first of 3 shifts. There are photos along the wall opposite the reception of adults and teenagers doing various activities, group photos, etc. An agent who uses search/forensics to examine the photos sees Peter McCarney captioned in several photos, on a critical success they will find a 30-year-old photo of Herman Lopez.
The agents might enquire about missing people. Rebecca has not heard the name Herman before, but admits residents sometimes go missing from the home. She explains these people live chaotic lives, and at times feels compelled for whatever reason to go back to old habits.
Peter McCarney and Wade Johnson are on shift with Rebecca tonight. She is unsure of their whereabouts as the Mission staff tend to go off and do their own thing after headcount.
If the agents go outside, they will find Herman stood in the car park, pointing at a space. An investigation roll will determine that there is a car-sized dry space on the ground. A Military Science, Survival or Drive skill of more than 40 shows there are various track marks of cars coming and going with a fine trail of sand leading to this parking spot.
Missing Posters and Milk Cartons
Agents could talk Rebecca into let them look at some paperwork regarding missing people. They could also break into the offices of the Mission, or the church across the road and find out similar information.
There are work rotas, incident reports, serious incident reviews, and missing person reports filed. Most of the incident and missing person reports are marked as ‘no further action.’ A successful criminology or forensics will show that these incident reports are frequently completed by Peter McCarney. Bureaucracy or Accounting checks will show work rotas coincide with Peter or Wade being on shift when most of the residents were logged as missing.
The incident reports include a report from 1996 involving 60-year-old Herman Lopez, who went missing after Sunday prayers. It was noted he left his bag and possessions in his room. Herman was noted to have struggles with alcoholism, but was noted to have been making positive steps and had landed a part time cleaning job.
Agents who explore the grounds will find the lawn is much more unkempt at the back of the home. There is a dense collection of weeds, shrubs and trees which opens into a small man-made clearing. There is evidence of small fires, cigarette butts, alcohol containers, and ripped out car seats as improvised outdoor furniture. Herman lies down on the ground. There are 16 bodies buried in shallow graves under here.
Where it Happens
In the car park, agents that had not noticed before may discover on a search/forensics/survival roll that there seems to be sandy track marks on the left side of the road, as though cars have been driving back from the beach. Herman will walk up this road, his hand pointed outwards.
In less than 5 minutes’ walk the tree-lined road will give way to a narrow beach. There is a people carrier parked at the threshold of the road. The beach is illuminated by a full moon. Herman stares at something on the beach and points to the outline of a man standing in the shallow tides.
If agents have been quick and efficient, the man, Peter McCarney, is holding an older woman by the shoulders. She appears to be swooning slightly, as though intoxicated. Especially alert agents may see Peter throw some sort of a small object into the sea with a splash.
If the agents do nothing, Peter will slowly lower the woman into the sea, the water lapping up her legs. A glistening, sharp, terrible creature will climb on top of her and envelop her face while pinning her body down, undulating as it sucks and feeds on the contents of her skull. Peter strokes the Lesser Deep One sensually. Any agents that see the Lesser Deep One will date 1/1D6 SAN loss for the unnatural.
If at any time the agents step forwards, Peter will gutlessly step away from the girl and will do whatever is instructed of him. The Lesser Deep One will continue to feed unless attacked.
What Happened
Peter McCarney has been sacrificing vulnerable adults to a Lesser Deep One for the last 15 years. He has managed to persuade Wade Johnson to be his accomplice in drugging and trafficking them to the nearby coastline, where a Lesser Deep One emerges from the sea to feed on their brains. Peter finds sadistic, sexual pleasure in their sacrifice. He loves the sensuality of the Lesser Deep One feeding and finds arousal in their grunts and movements.
Peter is a coward, only able to act when his victims are weakened with drugs or alcohol. Agents have the option to kill Peter and/or the Lesser Deep One. Agents will gain 1D6 SAN if they successfully kill the Lesser Deep One, though it will prove much more of a challenge than Peter.
The Void - Epilogue
Sixteen bodies were found in the clearing at the back of the Littlehope Mission, including the body of Herman Lopez. All were missing their eyes, nose, mouth, tongue, teeth and brains. Wade Johnson is implicated in the killings and was imprisoned for life without parole. Littlehope Mission was closed with immediate effect. The lucky residents were re-housed, but most of them ended up back on the streets.
The Suffolk County Herald would continue to run occasional reports of missing people in the area, lone hitchhikers, late night swimmers, some cherished local drunks.
STAT BLOCKS
DEEP ONE (LESSER)
STR 17 CON 15 DEX 12 INT 13 POW 12
ARMOR: 1 point of thick scales or flabby hide SKILLS: Alertness 30%, Athletics 40%, Persuade 30%, Swim 75%, Unnatural 10% ATTACKS: Knife-like talons 55%, damage 1D8, Armor Piercing 3. Grapple 55%, pins the target ALMOST HUMAN: Some lesser Deep Ones appear as deformed, inbred humans, especially to those unaware of the Deep One threat. Only a full medical examination or their use of inhuman abilities may reveal their true nature. PARTIALLY AMPHIBIOUS: A hybrid mostly transformed can submerge in water for hours or days at a time. Some hybrids remain in that state perpetually. Those who fully transform are as at home in the depths of the sea as on dry land. INHUMAN MOVEMENT: The Lesser Deep One can leap, climb and lope in a wholly inhuman manner. With an athletics test, it can cover heights and obstacles that would stop a normal human. The Lesser Deep One can move up to 25kph on land, and 30kph in the water. RITUALS: Some learned Lesser Deep Ones have access to hypergeometric rituals – usually those dealing with Deep Ones, Cthulhu, or the ocean. SAN LOSS: 0/1D4
PETER MCCARNEY
STR 8 CON 8 DEX 10 INT 12 POW 10 SKILLS: Alertness 30%, HUMINT 30%, Occult 10%, Persuade 40%, Unarmed Combat 20% RITUALS: The Call of Dagon
Credits
A Town of Littlehope was written by Mike Carver for the 2024 Shotgun Scenario contest.
Source: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1t2be8nFL0Pd2HrkvcM64ZeTMOWagewAQ9A271g3OrqE/edit