Après le Pain
This scenario is the aftermath of Le Pain Maudite by Jeff C. Carter in Extraordinary Renditions, but acts as a standalone mission. What’s important to know is that the Black Lotus is a powerful fungus that opens a person’s mind to Shub-Niggurath’s influence. When refined, that influence becomes impossible to ignore.
Antagonists
Grant and Smith are infected by Black Lotus and fully committed to Gerhard's mission of spreading its influence through Project DARK WOODS. Neither will listen to any voice of “reason”, and both will fight to the death to protect their cause.
Agent Harold Grant:
- Former OSS agent.
- Highly trusted by his superiors. The CIA won’t intervene in anything he’s doing unless Agents show hard proof of him having an anti-American agenda, or it becomes clear that he’s a liability.
- Lives in an apartment complex just off the highway. Grant’s been attempting to cultivate Black Lotus here to some success. His washroom is completely coated in fungal growth.
- Grant’s in contact with some less than legal arms dealers. If he feels that DARK WOODS is threatened, he‘ll start moving weapon prototypes into his apartment and attempting to sell them off. Grant doesn’t care about money, he’ll sell to whoever will give Shub-Niggurath the widest reach.
Doctor Darryl Smith:
- Medical researcher and former army medic.
- Keeps to himself. Other staff on base find him strange and off putting, but ultimately think little of it given the secretive nature of Edgewood. The army will arrest him if given a good enough reason. Smith will attempt to kill anyone detaining him.
- Lives on base in his own private quarters. Nobody else is allowed inside, and he’s converted most of the space into a shrine.
- If Smith gets wind of the Agents snooping around DARK WOODS, he will attempt to arrange a meeting with them at a local diner, posing as a whistleblower. During the meeting he will do everything he can to mislead them, and slip Black Lotus into their drinks when they aren’t looking.
- He will try to send them into a trap.
- Grant will organize to have some infected soldiers ambush the Agents.
- If Agents are fully trusting of him, encourage HUMINT rolls.
Major William Muller:
- Head of security.
- Uninfected.
- Preventing leaks and ensuring base security are his top priorities.
- Family lives on base. Has a wife and a toddler. His wife sometimes leaves with their kid during the day to have lunch with her sister in town.
Briefing
December, 1951. The Agents meet with their case officer in a nondescript government office in Washington DC. Relay the following information:
- DG has been monitoring Doctor Gerhard Vahlen, an ex-Nazi Scientist.
- Gerhard was recruited through Paperclip.
- Gerhard’s been conducting classified research at the Edgewood Arsenal in the nearby town of Edgewood, Maryland.
- A few weeks ago, Gerhard was dispatched with a team of CIA agents to conduct field tests.
- Gerhard’s a suspected member of the Kariotecha, a Nazi occult group. This is now all but confirmed.
- A DG agent tasked with investigating Gerhard and the experiment sent an encrypted transmission a couple days ago: “Gerhard dead. Town lost. Stop Edgewood.”
- If Gerhard’s work is capable of driving an entire town into the arms of the unnatural, it’s imperative that it’s destroyed.
- DG is concerned about repeats of this incident popping up faster than can be handled.
Research
Agents looking to do preliminary research may discover the following:
- Agents with CIA contacts and bureaucracy rolls may discover:
- The CIA’s entwined with Edgewood. Looking for agents relevant to the base in general will produce an unhelpful list of names.
- (-20%) Gerhard was working on truth serum using LSD and a substance called “Black Lotus”.
- (-30%)(If they have the project name) The CIA agent assigned to Project DARK WOODS is named Harold Grant. Grant’s reports on the project are unusually sparse, even for the CIA. Most simply say that trial results are promising.
- (-20%) A team of three agents plus Gerhard was sent to a small town in France for field tests.
- (-40%) The team missed a routine check-in yesterday. When more agents were sent to investigate they found the entire town a bloody mess. The members of the missing team are yet to be located in the mayhem. The CIA’s main focus is removing any evidence that could point to their involvement before French authorities notice anything.
- Agents with Military contacts can make similar rolls:
- Gerhard’s project at Edgewood is called DARK WOODS. It’s listed as drug research and is being managed by the CIA.
- (-20%) Gerhard’s team have spent much of their budget on importing something called “Black Lotus” from Southern Iraq.
- (-40%) Staff records indicate that research is being conducted by Doctor Darryl Smith while Gerhard’s away. All staff related to DARK WOODS sleep on-base with the exception of an unnamed CIA consultant.
- Other relevant checks may reveal:
- Black Lotus is a fungus that was historically used by Sumerian prophets to allow them to commune with the goddess Ningal. It’s quite rare, and very expensive.
- Symptoms of ingesting the fungus often include hallucinations and pupil dilation.
- Rumors occasionally circulate about the experiments being done at Edgewood. Claims range anywhere from undetectable chemical weapons to mind control devices.
Edgewood
The Arsenal’s a sprawling complex along the coast in the town of Edgewood. Numerous experiments are being conducted here at any given time, so even if Agents can get past security they’ll be looking for a needle in a haystack.
- Each gate always has at least 3 guards on duty. There may be more present during a shift change, and each gate is able to activate an alarm which will bring in reinforcements and put the base into lockdown.
- All visitors must be approved ahead of time, and guards are instructed to stall any kind of inspection team, especially those who mention “ethics”, until superior officers arrive to provide a highly sanitized tour of the facility. With a luck roll, the guards may be bribable.
- Agents in the Military or CIA may be able to get official authorization with a good cover story and bureaucracy roll at -20%. Security will closely monitor them. If Agents mention Black Lotus when getting authorization or to base security, Grant and Smith will be alerted.
- The perimeter’s enclosed by chain link fencing and constantly patrolled by guards. There are alarm boxes every hundred meters, but patrols are spaced out just enough to allow quick Agents to infiltrate the base.
- DARK WOODS is located in a deep basement underneath one of Edgewood’s many buildings. The Admin building’s records will narrow down the search, but are tightly controlled.
- Base security responds proportionally to threats.
DARK WOODS
This section of the base is made up of a hazmat storage room, a records room, a fully equipped medical research lab, an engineer’s workshop, cramped holding cells, and a control room with two way glass into a testing chamber.
- Entry is through a tightly locked metal door in a basement, guarded by 2 dedicated soldiers. Guards do not have the key.
- Keys are held only by project staff and Muller.
- All project staff are infected and will fight intruders to the death. Prisoners are primarily (suspected) communist sympathizers and spies, but not all are fully under Shub-Niggurath’s control.
- Everyday before dawn a few new prisoners are led into the cells by a researcher and trusted soldiers. Corpses from overly effective tests are moved to an incinerator after dusk, to the displeasure of the researchers. If analyzed, the eyes of these bodies have turned completely black, and all organs show evidence of severe fungal infections. Seeing the odd nature of the infections causes 0/1d4 SAN check for the unnatural. Conducting an autopsy without PPE risks infection. The cause of death varies from heart failure to suffocation.
- The records room contains extensive reports on refining Black Lotus. They emphasize the importance of the subject “hearing the dark mother’s voice.” Film reels documenting tests are also found. Most subjects start trying to break free of their bindings while reciting chants in an unknown language or going off on nonsensical rants about Shub-Niggurath or her aliases. Some begin coughing up a thick, black liquid which they drown on. A thorough examination of the materials here show that the project aims to aerosolize Black Lotus. Documents cause 1/1d4 SAN loss, while videos cause 1/1d6+2.
- The medical lab has space to conduct patient examinations or autopsies, and the equipment necessary to refine small quantities of Black Lotus. Small vials of a black liquid can be found here.
- The workshop’s being used for weapons development. With appropriate checks or experience Agents can tell that the focus of the workshop is developing chemical weapons with a wide dispersal range.
Rewards
- 1d10 SAN for destroying the facility and all research materials.
- 1d6 SAN if research was stopped but not destroyed.
- 1d4 SAN each for killing Grant or Smith.
- 1 SAN each for otherwise handling Grant or Smith.
Statistics
Black Lotus
Agents exposed to Black Lotus must make a CONx5 check (normally if small, at -20% if a medium dose, or -40% if a large dose) to resist its effects. Agents exposed to a medium or larger dose a second time automatically fail. Failure means the agent must immediately make a SAN check (1/1d4 for small, 1d4/1d8 for medium, 1d8/1d20 for large). Agents who go temporarily insane from this check, or reach their breaking point, are brought under Shub-Niggurath’s influence and will carry out her designs with the same zeal as Grant or Smith, though they will likely hide it from the other agents until the time is right. Agents who pass the initial CONx5 check must make a 0/1d4 SAN check but be otherwise unaffected. Pass or fail the exposed Agent experiences violent impulses and disturbing hallucinations, though the severity will differ based on the result of their rolls.
Agent Harold Grant
STR 13 CON 15 DEX 14 INT 13 POW 12 CHA 9
HP 14 WP 12 SAN 0
SKILLS: Alertness 70%, Athletics 50%, Criminology 60%, Demolitions 50%, Dodge 55%, Drive 60%, Firearms 70%, Heavy Weapons 50%, HUMINT 50%, Law 30%, Melee Weapons 60%, Military Science (Land) 50%, Persuade 50%, Search 60%, SIGINT 40%, Stealth 60%, Survival 50%, Unarmed Combat 60%.
Dr Darryl Smith
STR 11 CON 13 DEX 10 INT 17 POW 13 CHA 14
HP 12 WP 13 SAN 0
SKILLS: Athletics 40%, Bureaucracy 65%, Craft (Electronics) 60%, Craft (Mechanics) 50%, Firearms 40%, Persuade 70%, Science (Biology) 80%, Science (Chemistry) 70%, Science (Physics) 60%
Major William Muller
STR 12 CON 13 DEX 10 INT 14 POW 14 CHA 9
HP 13 WP 14 SAN 65 BREAKING POINT 56
SKILLS: Alertness 65%, Athletics 60%, Bureaucracy 30%, Demolitions 40%, Dodge 40%, Drive 30%, Firearms 50%, First Aid 50%, Heavy Weapons 50%, History 50%, Melee Weapons 50%, Military Science (Land) 60%, Navigate 60%, Search 60%, Stealth 50%, Survival 50%, Unarmed Combat 65%.
Base Guard
STR 14 CON 14 DEX 11 INT 10 POW 12 CHA 8
HP 14 WP 12 SAN 55 BREAKING POINT 48
SKILLS: Alertness 60%, Athletics 60%, Demolitions 40%, Firearms 60%, Heavy Weapons 50%, Melee Weapons 50%, Military Science (Land) 60%, Navigate 50%, Stealth 50%, Survival 50%, Unarmed Combat 60%
Credits
Après le Pain was written by Mack Schmaltz for the 2024 Shotgun Scenario contest.
Source: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Ft8Y1vmpVxla3YO1iFFFOkGB2GyvdV0U2fO74hXq2rY/edit