Better Left Forgotten
By Carter Krummel
Handler's Summary
Delta Green has uncovered a Majestic facility deep within the Monongahela National Forest. Intel suggests that the facility has been abandoned since 2001, but the Group wants you to canvas the area and ensure nothing was left behind. The facility was home to several Cookbook experiments, three of which still survived. The Stalker was designed to be a perfect secret agent that could transform into other human forms. Imperfect modifications left the Stalker only capable of transforming into people it has eaten, as well as modifying memories in order to confuse, convince, or distress. One of the players will take the role of the Stalker to work against the rest of the Agents with the goal of slaughtering them, eating their flesh, and stealing their forms.
One of Us is One of Them
This scenario is intended to be played with one Agent secretly as the Alpha stalker. This is possible due to their Modify Memory ability. The Agents really met the Alpha outside of Facility A72, but the Modify Memory ability retroactively causes them to believe that the Agent was always with them. This is narratively accomplished by having the Alpha act like a normal Agent up until The Hunt or until everyone else pieces it together.
The Briefing
16:00
Friday, October 5, 2018
Staunton, Virginia Post Office
The Group has learned of a decommissioned Majestic facility and want Agents to investigate it to ensure nothing was left behind. There is no Green Box but the Agents are provided the following items, one per Non-Stalker Agent:
- A burner phone, preprogrammed with the number of their Handler and other Real Agents
- A shotgun
- A strong flashlight
- One flare gun for emergencies
It's roughly two hours driving to the site. The sun is lowering near the horizon, casting the last light of the evening over autumn leaves.
Stalkers
There are three Stalkers in the facility, each with varying abilities. Although all three possess Modify Memory, Impersonate, and Mimicry only Alpha can use them flawlessly. The other two have not developed a perfect imitation of human patterns. Beta can mimic human speech and glean memories, but not perfect mannerisms. Gamma, the juvenile, cannot mimic human speech or modify memories and can barely hold a human form. Alpha The three Stalkers are taking the forms of a human hiking party they killed less than a week ago: a man, a young woman, and whatever character the Alpha created.
In their monstrous form, Stalkers are 6-8 feet tall pale humanoids that walk on their knuckles. They are covered in exposed bone and thick muscles. They do not have eyes, and instead hunt by heat signatures. They are fanged and clawed, strong and agile. They leap and pin victims, killing them and consuming them to Impersonate them. The longer since consuming their meat, the more difficult it is to accurately impersonate their victim until it becomes impossible.
Approaching the Facility
As the Agents approach the facility, they park their vehicle and meet their Friendlies: Agent Neville and Agent Lisa, Beta and Gamma respectively taking the form of adult hikers. Neville gleans their memories and puts on a front of what they expect a Delta Green Agent to be, while Lisa, in the form of the young woman, holds on to his sleeve and hides behind him. Their objective is to lure the Agents to the Facility, where Alpha is waiting for them, and then deeper in. As the Agents approach the Facility, they have a slight headache.
If Lisa attempts to talk or if she loses composure, her jaw dislodges and her joints twist and pop out of place as she transforms into a Juvenile Stalker. She will begin to attack the closest Agent.
The path to the Facility is an overgrown service road, impassible by vehicles. As they near the Facility, large patches of mud cover parts of the Parking Lot. On a successful Alertness roll, the Agents see recent footprints. As they approach the Facility, have each Agent roll Power. On a failure, they feel slightly uneasy. On a success, the Agent has an intense feeling of Déjà vu. This is the moment that Alpha inserts itself into their memories.
Majestic Facility A72
A brutalist concrete, steel, and glass rectangle building set into the side of a hill, constructed in the late 80s. It has a small parking lot in front of it, completely overgrown with weeds and tall grass. The building has been heavily vandalized, covered in graffiti and broken glass. A headstone above the entrance is engraved with "A72". The main doors have been shattered.
Upper Level
The Upper Level consists of a main lobby, offices, and cubicles. They are moldy, wet from recent rain, and hold very little except destroyed office equipment and crushed beer cans. All of the papers here are soggy and illegible. Much of it has been vandalized: covered in graffiti, litter, and collapsed debris. There are two ways down to the bottom floor: a service elevator and a stairwell. As they descend the stairwell, the Agents see a sign with the following:
PROCEED WITH CAUTION
INFOHAZARD ZONE
IF YOU HAVE EXPERIENCED ONE OF THE FOLLOWING, REPORT IMMEDIATELY TO A MAJESTIC OFFICER:
ABNORMAL FORGETFULNESS
CHRONOLOGICAL INCONSISTENCIES
PAIN IN THE PREFRONTAL CORTEX
YOUR MEMORIES ARE NOT YOUR OWN
MJ FACILITY A72
Lower Level
The lower level has three wings: Medical, Observation, and Laboratory, the nest of Gamma, Beta, and Alpha respectively.
Medical Wing
The medical wing is a white tiled series of halls filled with stretchers and other supplies. There are several hospital rooms, an examination room, and a delivery room. In the reception area, a pipe has burst, spilling water into a drain below. The Agents can find a Treatment Log for IVF procedures, with three viable embryos across twenty patients with code names from 1997 to 2001.
The examination room has been converted into Gamma's nest. Here a young woman has been propped up on the delivery chair as if she was a mannequin, with small, delicate bites taken out of her forearms and legs. Examining the woman's items reveals her real name to be Lisa Smalls, who went missing about a week ago while hiking in the region. Several dolls are littered about the room, obviously handmade. They don't appear to be quite right to human proportions.
A successful Search roll reveals Amnestic Medicine. Any Agents who take a dose forget their Modified Memories and can remember clearly. On a failed Constitution roll, they take 1d4 damage.
Observation Wing
The Observation Wing is a facsimile of the outside world: a room with blue painted walls, turf, concrete boulders, and fake logs. Attached is an observation deck with one-way glass with lockers and other supplies. Notes from Majestic Researchers describe the Subjects as Heat-Signature Hunters. Locked away behind a combination lock is a Tranquilizer Gun, with enough tranquilizer to sedate an elephant. Shooting a Stalker causes it to fall unconscious in 1d4 minutes/rounds.
Here there are three cells, labeled Alpha, Beta, and Gamma. They are each filled with bones of victims and small animals. Each cell has one-way glass observation and disengaged electronic locks that open into the Outside Room.
In the center of the Outside Room is Beta's nest, a fake tree that is smeared with gore. Impaled on one of the branches is Neville Smalls, a man of average build and dressed in hiking gear. He is missing several limbs, which are in pieces nearby and freshly eaten.
Laboratory Wing
The Laboratory Wing contains labs surrounding a central Command and Control room, filled with monitors and workstations. Searching the lab spaces reveals a manilla folder with progress reports on the Stalker's Development:
The document outlines a recent escape attempt in which the Alpha modified the memories of a scientist, as well as mimicked his wife's voice, to make him believe she was trapped in a cell. The Report states that they will be excellent Agents when their instinct to savagely kill has been tempered further. The report indicates there may be other facilities working on the Stalker Project.
In the center of the Command and Control room, a mutilated body on a central desk resembling the character Alpha is playing has had their ribcage removed and torso opened. Their insides have been feasted on. On a successful Search, the Agents find TOP SECRET ORCON/MAJESTIC.
The Hunt
If the Agents take Neville and Lisa with them to the Lower Level, they will ambush the Agents using their knowledge of the facility. The main goal of the Stalkers is to Kill and Consume the Agents, stealing their identity.
If the Agents kill all of the Stalkers, they gain 1d6 Sanity as a reward.
If the Agents kill some of the Stalkers, they gain 1d4 Sanity as a reward.
If the Stalkers kill all of the Agents, they've gained valuable new meat.
Stats & NPCs
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Agent Neville, Impersonation
STR 8 CON 10 DEX 12 INT 12 POW 12
HP 9 WP 12
Skills: Stealth 60% Search 50% Alertness 30% Unarmed Combat 45%
Attacks:
Pummel – 45% 1d4+1
IMPERSONATOR: When the human form of a Stalker dies, they revert back to the Stalker form.
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Agent Lisa, Impersonation
STR 6 CON 12 DEX 14 INT 11 POW 12
HP 9 WP 12
Skills: Stealth 60% Search 20% Alertness 60% Unarmed Combat 60%
Attacks:
Pocket knife – 60% 1d4
IMPERSONATOR: When the human form of a Stalker dies, they revert back to the Stalker form.
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Stalker
STR 26 CON 24 DEX 17 INT 14 POW 22
HP 25 WP 22
Skills: Stealth 80% Athletics 75% Search 60%
Armor: 3 points of solid bone
Attacks:
Leap and Pin – 60% 1d4
Savage Fangs – 75% 3d6
Rituals:
Modify Memory, Impersonate, Mimicry
FAST-TWITCH MUSCLE FIBERS: The strong muscles spread across the Stalker's body allow it to move 2 times in one round.
SAN LOSS: 1/1d6
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Juvenile Stalker
STR 16 CON 14 DEX 13 INT 8 POW 14
HP 15 WP 14
Skills: Stealth 50% Athletics 35% Search 80%
Armor: 2 points of solid bone
Attacks:
Leap and Pin – 60% 1d4
Savage Fangs – 75% 2d6
Rituals:
Modify Memory, Impersonate, Mimicry
FAST-TWITCH MUSCLE FIBERS: The strong muscles spread across the Stalker's body allow it to move 2 times in one round.
SAN LOSS: 1/1d6
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Rituals & Tomes
Modify Memory
Simple ritual. Study time: hours; 1d4 SAN. Activation: seconds; 3 WP, 1d4 SAN.
The operator, a Stalker, gazes into the eyes of their subject and with hypnotic precision implants memories into the psyche. These false memories are indistinguishable from real memories.
Impersonate
Complex ritual. Study time: hours; 1d6 SAN. Activation: minutes; 10 WP, 1d6 SAN.
The operator, a Stalker, transforms from their monster form and compresses their bones and muscles into the shape of a human. The operator must have consumed the flesh of their target prior to executing the ritual. They take on a near-perfect imitation of a human form, but the longer the time spent since consumption the less accurate the form will be. The operator can transform back to Stalker form at will.
Mimicry
Simple ritual. Study time: hours; 1d4 SAN. Activation: seconds; 2 WP, 1 SAN.
The operator, a Stalker, can project their voice up to 60 feet away and mimic the sound of their Stalker voice, the human they are Impersonating, or the voice of the Bonds of a victim they have Modified the Memory of.
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TOP SECRET ORCON/MAJESTIC
In English. Study Time: 2 years. Unnatural +6%, SAN loss 1d4.
Required Skill Checks: Biology, Medicine, Pharmacy, Surgery
⠀⠀⠀⠀
"With this cooperation we will study at length the processes in their natural embryonic development, inserting favorable Non-Terrene genetics. The model of human gestation is as follows."
An orange binder containing excerpts of the Cookbook detailing Non-Terrene Biology. Inserted are notes and documentation from the Stalker experiments, explaining ways of incubating embryos with Non-Terrene Biology as well as observations about Stalker behavior. These papers, although excerpts of a larger work, impart a feeling of deep wrongness as the authors describe and speculate on methods of playing God.
Recommended Rituals: Any the Handler desires.
Credits
Better Left Forgotten was written by Carter Krummel for the 2024 Shotgun Scenario contest.
Source: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1kjWUD-gjB7EhpLdenql0ERko3PpiJH3fBWfHI1glEgo/edit