Introduction
Shub-Niggurath. The Black Goat of the Woods. The Dark Mother of a Thousand Young. This world’s greatest conspiracy is we are not separate from the divine whole, but merely one pathetic aspect of a sacred corpulence. There can be no escape from its all-consuming embrace, nor its plans for this world.
Yusuf Erkul, a hobbyist photographer who immigrated recently from Lebanon, uncovered this terrible truth with a photographic development method derived from long-forgotten alchemy. His reward? Being struck by a raging driver, beaten bloody by police and devoured alive in broad daylight.
Unfortunately Yusuf’s neighbour, retired combat engineer Trent Hancock, also saw the photographs and became infected by the truth. Forced to kill his own Veterans Affairs service dog when it attacked him, Trent is now deathly paranoid and barricaded inside his home, building improvised explosives.
Handler’s Information
Those viewing Yusuf’s photographs become infected by the truth that all biological life is merely an extension of Shub-Niggurath. This incites nearby creatures into a sociogenic cell-death response towards those infected. Humans will delude themselves into self-justified aggression or passive nonintervention, whilst animals react with unrelenting violence.
While not immune to this anomaly, the inherent nature of Delta Green Agents leaves them dangerously posed to push through Shub-Niggurath’s illusion. This requires no roll, it’s exclusively a player decision for those willing to endure the SAN loss for stepping closer to the truth.
Briefing
The Agents receive a video through the usual channels.
It depicts a city street as an injured Middle-Eastern man limps into frame, begging for help. He’s being attacked by an enraged horde of rabid cats, birds and rats. A nearby pedestrian’s Golden Retriever breaks free and finishes the job, which causes the animals to suddenly return to normal behaviour and disperse. In the whole video, no-one made any attempt to help.
Inform the Agents they feel this man deserved his death. Don’t explain why, instead ask the Agents why they’d believe this. If an Agent attempts to interrogate this unusual thought, tell them they can critically analyse it if they really want to. If they decide to, that Agent loses 0/1D4 SAN to Helplessness from the sickening sensation that this belief isn’t their own.
Regardless, the Agents are ordered to investigate. They’re told the dead man is currently a John Doe, and that the morgue awaits their arrival.
The Autopsy
Agents with Science (Biology) 40% can rule out rabies. However, Forensics 30% or Medicine 40% discover that while the animal attack killed the man, he has other injuries that were inflicted ~ 15 minutes prior to his death. Due to damage, he can’t be forensically IDed.
He has a fractured femur, an electrical burn on his back and a gunshot to the abdomen. Medicine 50% notes that the fracture is conducive with a vehicle collision. Criminology 40% determines the electrical burn was from a taser and the bullet is the same used in police sidearms.
Additionally, there’s strange stains on his hands. Science (Chemistry) 40% or Art (Photography) 20% identifies chemicals used in antiquated methods of developing photographs, a rare sight nowadays.
Bureaucracy 40% can search police databases for relevant cases and find a report by Deputy Eugene Rikers and Deputy Peter Bourbon, that mentions the discharge of a sidearm into a matching suspect after a traffic collision. The report is ridiculously brief, especially for a police shooting.
Witness Interviews
The filmer of the video is one Daniel Prescott, a rich hipster with more online clout than brains. He brags about how the man deserved to die, with all his video’s commentators vehemently agreeing.
The owner of the Golden Retriever is Melissa Lincoln, a peevish widow incredibly protective of her “Petal”. Law 30% or INTx5 reveals that, contravening state law, her dog wasn’t euthanised. Melissa dismisses this, claiming that Deputies Rikers & Bourbon already sorted everything.
Looking for developers of old film nearby finds one, Grant Kilroy, a historical reenactor. He can easily identify Yusuf from description, explaining he often sold him materials for photographic development.
Tracking Yusuf’s bloodied footprints with Navigate 30% reveals that the shooting/collision took place in front of a corner store. The Agents can easily convince the clerk to give them the CCTV footage.
Deputy Rikers & Bourbon can be found at the station, or patrolling nearby. Both they and their supervisors apathetically demarcate “the suspect” as just being some violent lunatic clearly in the wrong. If questioned, t hey’re surprisingly all-too-happy to release their bodycamera footage.
Agents will again find themselves sycophantically agreeing with witnesses’ utterly deranged descriptions of Yusuf. Pushing through this shared-delusion costs 1/1D6 SAN to Helplessness and briefly causes nearby animals and people to ominously stare at the Agents, unblinking and breathing heavily.
The Footage
Videos of the incident show Yusuf clutching his injured leg on the sidewalk. A road-raging driver with a bloodied car screams obscenities at him as he tries to explain his “photographs uncovered the truth of all things”.
Deputy Rikers & Bourbon then arrive. They repeatedly ram their tasers into Yusuf, ignoring his sobbing pleas, before a trio of rabid cats join in on the attack . This causes the Deputies to panic, staggering back and allowing Yusuf to escape. Rikers shoots Yusuf in the back as he flees.
Yusuf’s wallet clearly falls into a trash pile during the struggle. It remains at the scene, including a keychain and an ID with a home address.
Tell the Agents they don’t find anything wrong with the officers’ actions. Everything is clearly justified. Casting aside this deluded thought finally shatters the illusion for that Agent, costing 1D4/1D10 SAN to Helplessness upon the terrible realisation that this isn’t some isolated anomaly.
This is something fundamental. Something primordial.
Something that fucking owns us.
The first time this revelation results in Temporary Insanity, the Agents are attacked by an Animal Horde (see Statblocks). It abruptly disperses upon reducing any Agent to 1/2 HP, its brief onslaught a final dire warning.
Yusuf’s Residence
A bungalow in a half-vacant neighbourhood. Curtains drawn, door locked.
Inside, Yusuf’s bedroom has a reading station with a copy of Méditations Sur La Vérité along with his personal Arabic translation (see Tomes).
A dog’s corpse lies in the backyard, next to a smoking BBQ and open gate to the neighbouring property. Home CCTV shows Yusuf & Trent barbequing together before Yusuf checks his watch and excitedly invites him inside. Shortly after, Yusuf exits the front door muttering feverishly, whilst a distressed Trent flees out the back. He opens his gate but is attacked by his own therapy dog and forced to kill it. Sobbing, he stumbles inside his property.
Yusuf’s basement has been converted into a darkroom. Within, the stench of chemicals is overwhelming. Unfinished negatives hang developing, dripping noxious alchemical substances. These undeveloped pictures are harmless, depicting only shimmering, indiscernible shapes.
However, lying trampled on the floor is a crumpled cardboard box filled with photographs recently finished developing. Retrieving the box and examining its cognitohazardous contents costs 1D6/1D20 SAN to Unnatural. If an Agent isn’t sent Temporarily Insane, they’re mercifully spared from the truth as some primaeval impulse blots out what they saw inside.
Conversely, if the Agent is rendered Temporarily Insane, they’re infected by the blasphemous truth, that it’s all a fucking lie. Theology, philosophy, the sciences, the very concept of individual consciousness itself. Everything on this accursed planet is just tumorous growths with delusions of sentience protruding from the glistening bulk of a nameless demiurge. The Agent is likely to Flee or Struggle. Those infected gain METAPHYSICAL REPUGNANCE (see Statblocks), losing 1/1D6 SAN whenever they see one or more living creatures. Blindfolds stop the SAN loss but only temporarily delay the sociogenic cell-death response.
The Neighbour’s House
Trent is barricaded inside, desperately manufacturing various IEDs as an Animal Horde slowly assembles outside. If the Agents approach, Trent is terrified of seeing living creatures, sobbing about looking at Yusuf’s photographs and seeing the horrible truth. Psychotherapy +20% or Persuade talks him down, with failure causing him to shoot at the Agents.
If the Agents don’t resolve the situation, an Animal Horde eventually breaks inside. Trent escapes after detonating various bombs inside the house in a fiery shower of shrapnel (Dodge or Lethality 15% if the Agents are nearby).
He then attempts to escape in his truck, but is continuously attacked by animals, motorists and police officers subconsciously serving Shub-Niggurath’s will. If overwhelmed, Trent goes out on his own terms, detonating his suicide vest with a final roar of defiance.
Resolution
Trent kills several people after being cornered by police. The media depicts Yusuf as an evil terrorist who radicalised him. -1D4 SAN.
Killing Trent in a rush of orgasmic pleasure. +1D4 SAN.
Rescuing Trent and cleansing him of the truth. +1D6 SAN.
Destroying the photos after their danger has been revealed. +1D6 SAN.
An infected individual can be purged of the truth with Obscure Memory. If Yusuf’s tome isn’t translated , a Delta Green Friendly could provide the Ritual (if the Agents survive the journey to them).
Final Scenario Text Word Count: 1500 Words.
Tomes
Méditations Sur La Vérité or Yusuf’s Arabic Translation
French or Arabic. Study Time: Days. Occult +7%, Unnatural +6%, SAN 1D6.
A rambling treatise w ritten by an unnamed monk in Revolutionary France in which the author lays out various means they believe cosmic truths can be divined. These range from bizarre meditative techniques to downright toxic “alchemical” concoctions. The writings become increasingly deranged, with descriptions of being hounded by the “Servants of the Demiurge” amongst both “man and beast” as punishment for discovering “the greatest conspiracy”.
The author eventually reaches a breaking point, feverishly describing a means to wipe the foul knowledge of this discovery from one’s mind.
Rituals: Clairvoyance, Obscure Memory, Reveal The Truth.
New Rituals
Reveal The Truth
Elaborate Ritual. Study Time: Months. Unnatural +1%, SAN 1D10.
Activation: 6 WP, 1 SAN .
An operator with Science (Chemistry) 40% or higher mixes various toxic ingredients in a process more akin to mediaeval alchemy than actual chemistry. This creates translucent fluid that can then be imbibed as a tincture (inflicting 10% Lethality to those foolish enough to drink it). Conversely, if the operator succeeds on an Art (Photography) roll, the tincture can be used to develop a special chemical bath to prepare photographs with. The resulting revelations, aside from those outlined in this scenario, are left to the Handler’s machinations.
Statblocks
TRENT HANCOCK - Ex-US Army Combat Engineer
STR 14, CON 15, DEX 11, INT 12, POW 10, CHA 7
HP 15, WP 10, SAN 30, Adapted to Violence, Paranoia, PTSD
SKILLS: Alertness 50%, Athletics 60%, Craft (Electronics) 50%, Craft (Mechanics) 60%, Demolitions 60%, Drive 50%, Firearms 50%, Melee Weapons 60%, Military Science (Land) 50%, Unarmed Combat 60%, Unnatural 10%.
ARMOUR: Old Plate Carrier (5 Armour)
ATTACKS: Mossberg 500 (70%, 2D8, 1/2 AP)
Beretta M9 (50%, 1D10)
Improvised Explosive Device (60%, 15% Lethality, Kill Radius 10m)
Suicide Vest (30% Lethality, Kill Radius 20m)
Combat Knife (60%, D6 + 1, 3 AP)
Unarmed (60%, D4)
METAPHYSICALLY REPUGNANT: No matter the actions he actually takes, Trent is always a "murderous enemy" for the purposes of Violence SAN loss. Additionally, he loses 1/1D6 SAN whenever he sees one or more living beings, and animals attack him on sight. Even if blindfolded or isolated, nearby animals still eventually become aggressive and get drawn to his location.
ANIMAL HORDE - Those Who Heed The Dark Mother’s Call
STR 5, CON 5, POW 5, DEX 20
HP 35
ATTACKS: 1D4 – 1 DMG (ignores armour) to everyone nearby the Horde, or 1D6 DMG (ignores armour) to anyone who fell prone and became engulfed by it.
ARMOUR: Damage from any attack is reduced to a single point unless it’s fire or a weapon that has a Kill Radius, those do full damage, or a shotgun firing buckshot, which do half damage. Lethality rolls automatically fail, inflicting ordinary HP damage. Anyone who falls and starts rolling to crush the creatures does regular unarmed damage, though at the risk of taking more damage from becoming engulfed. Driving over them with a car does 2D10 DMG. Any other clever plan does 1D10 + 2 DMG. Any stupid plan does 1D4 DMG.
DON’T TRIP: Any Critical Failures rolled within the vicinity of the Horde should result in that Agent falling prone and risking being engulfed.
SANITY LOSS: The first time the Horde is seen, it costs 0/1 SAN to Unnatural. Getting attacked costs 0/1D4 SAN to Violence. Anyone who falls and is engulfed loses another 1/1D6 SAN to Helplessness.
ENRAGED DOG - Loyal To A Different Master
STR 13, CON 13, DEX 12, POW 10
HP 13, WP 10
SKILLS: Alertness 80%, Athletics 70%, Stealth 50%
ARMOUR: Fur & Hide (1 Point)
ATTACKS: Bite (50%, 1D6 + 1 and KNOCK DOWN) .
KNOCK DOWN: The dog attempts an opposed STRx5 test against the target. On a success, the target is knocked prone.
RANDOM CIVILIAN - Unwitting Servants Of The Demiurge
STR 10, CON 10, DEX 10, INT 10, POW 10, CHA 10
HP 10, WP 10, SAN 50
SKILLS: All At Base Rating.
ATTACKS: Self-Justified Beatdown (40%, 1D4 - 1)
Thrown Debris (30%, 1D4)
Road Rage (20%, see RAMMING ATTEMPT)
Stray Bullet (20%, 1D10)
RAMMING ATTEMPT: If the civilian succeeds on an opposed Drive roll (either Dodge or Drive) against the Agents, they ram them with their vehicle. If the Agents are in a car, they take 2D6 DMG (halved if wearing seatbelts). If they’re on foot, they suffer 10% Lethality.
LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICER - Bodycameras Won’t Help You
STR 13, CON 11, DEX 10, INT 10, POW 12, CHA 10
HP 12, WP 12, SAN 60
SKILLS: Alertness 50%, Athletics 50%, Drive 40%, Firearms 40%, HUMINT 40%, Melee Weapons 50%, Persuade 40%, Search 40%, Unarmed Combat 50%.
ARMOUR: Reinforced Kevlar (4 Points)
ATTACKS: Stop Resisting (50%, 1D4 + 1)
Proportionate Use Of Force (50%, 1D6 + 1 or Stun)
Pit Maneuver (40%, see RAMMING ATTEMPT)
He’s Got A Gun (40%, 1D10)
RAMMING ATTEMPT: If the officer succeeds on an opposed Drive roll (either Dodge or Drive) against the Agents, they ram them with their vehicle. If the Agents are in a car, they take 2D6 DMG (halved if wearing seatbelts). If they’re on foot, they suffer 10% Lethality.
DR. MORDECAI WOODSON - Delta Green Friendly & Parapsychologist
STR 10, CON 10, DEX 7, INT 15, POW 12, CHA 15
HP 10, WP 10, SAN 55, Adapted to Helplessness, Sleep Disorder
SKILLS: Alertness 40%, HUMINT 70% First Aid 70%, Medicine 50%, Occult 70%, Pharmacy 60%, Persuade 80%, Psychotherapy 80%, Unnatural 15%.
ATTACKS: Concealed Light Pistol (20%, 1D8)
Unarmed (40%, 1D4 - 1)
RITUALS: Obscure Memory, Soothing Song.
Credits
Apoptosis was written by Dragoleaf for the 2023 Shotgun Scenario contest.
Source: https://docs.google.com/document/d/13wpzKd0ZzY-wkUHRdI6n2DMHnLL0sHjuOiao3uaODdM/edit