SCOOP: CULT SURVIVOR CONFESSIONAL!
A Phenomen-X Job
A Delta Green Shotgun Scenario contest entry for 2025
By Ross Payton
A member of the cult known as the Spiritual Light Brotherhood has reached out to the show to reveal all. It's an obscure cult, but the producers have authenticated the claim. The ex-member is in hiding. You'll have to earn their trust before they'll agree to meet you for an interview. Do whatever it takes to get the story.
This scenario is for a crew of Phenomen-X employees and freelancers. A crew usually has a producer, a camera operator, and a reporter at a minimum. It may also have a researcher/subject matter expert.
Inspiration
This scenario is inspired from a Richard Lupoff story, Documents in the Case of Elizabeth Akeley. You can read more about the story here.
I ran this game for the RPPR Patreon. You can listen to the game here.
Hook
Diana Briggs, was a high ranking member of the cult. She thought she was being groomed to become the leader of the cult, radiant mother, when Elizabeth Akeley retired. However, she realized they had a sinister plan for her - luring her out to the woods to a remote cabin. She knew another member, Weston Stewart, went missing recently.
She thinks they intended to sacrifice her in a ritual to appease the voices of the stars. She contacted Phenomen-X to do an interview in order to shine light on the cult, hoping the exposure would lead to criminal investigations and grant her some protection from them.
She contacted a Phenomen-X producer and arranged for the interview. She has very specific instructions for the crew. They are to fly to a specific airport (an airport near a large forested region). Once there, she’ll email them with instructions on how to get to her cabin in a remote forest. The instructions take 4 hours to follow.
Background
Elizabeth Akeley and her husband Marc Feinman are not who they claim to be. Both have had their brains replaced by the Mi-Go. Elizabeth is actually an alien entity known as Sheera and Marc is actually Henry Wentworth Akeley (from the story Whisperer in the Darkness). They truly love each other and need physical bodies to consummate their relationship. They also use the cult as a tool to further Mi-Go interests on Earth. Their human bodies are failing and they need new ones. They picked Diana Briggs and another cult member, Weston Stewart, as replacements. They have Weston held hostage but don’t want to switch until they have both. They do not want to kill Diana or Weston. Instead, they want to place their brains in canisters so they can go on a 50 year tour of the galaxy.
The Entropic Manipulator
Normally, the Mi-Go could easily find a human anywhere on the planet. Diana has a Mi-Go device, the Entropic Manipulator, that conceals her presence. The Manipulator looks like a glob of mercury-like fluid in a crystal vial. However, it can be mentally commanded to manipulate entropy to benefit the user. This requires an Unnatural skill check to use successfully or instruction from an elder in the Spiritual Light Brotherhood cult. It has endless uses, but each activation creates more risk for the user. Each activation raises its chance for failure by 1d10%. A normal failed roll creates a side effect, at the GM’s discretion. A critical failure causes a 50% lethality event to everything in a 20 meter radius.
The Detective
However, the cult hired a private detective to find her. The detective examined Diana’s laptop and found she was researching Phenomen-X before she disappeared. He then hacked the email of a Phenomen-X producer and learned about the PCs sent to interview her. He does not have access to the PCs’ emails or phones but does know their flight itineraries. He’ll place an airtag on their rental car. Even if the PCs find the airtag, the detective can trace the PCs location in 1d6 hours.
The Interview
Once the PCs arrive at the cabin, they’ll find Diana. She invites them into the cabin, which has trail cameras rigged in the trees around her house. There are also four strange bowls placed at each corner of the cabin. She won’t mention the bowls.
During the interview, Diana mentions the cult’s crimes: fraud from shady business practices, human trafficking of cult members, and dealing drugs to rich and powerful cult members. The spiritual leaders don’t care what the lieutenants do as long as the cult stays rich and powerful.
The Visitor
Aurora Lambert, cult member, knocks at the cabin an hour (or 1d6+1 hours if the PCs found the airtag) after the PCs arrive and asks for Diana to return. She tries to intimidate the PCs, saying that the cult can bury them in lawsuits if they publish anything.
At this point, Diana asks PCs to escort her to a new safe house she prepared. If pressed, she reveals she stole about a million from the cult’s coffers to fund her escape.
The lights in the sky
As the PCs try to escape, they see lights in the sky following them. If they continue, the Mi-Go disable their cars and try to kidnap Diana. However, she uses the Entropic Manipulator to drive them away. It overloads and causes all cars to wreck (1d4 damage per PC). All PCs black out and wake up a short distance from their vehicles. Diana is missing. This scene is a 1/1d6 SAN check.
Lost in the Forest
At this point, the PCs are stranded in a forest, with no vehicle. They can try to escape on foot but they should realize the story of the century is waiting out there in the dark. The following encounters can be found in any order. Each is presented with a clue that is revealed through a successful alertness check. If multiple PCs make successful checks, give them several clues and let them pick which one to investigate.
Elizabeth, the Mi-Go and several cultists (including Aurora) wander the forest, looking for Diana. The Mi-Go tried to make one of the cultists into a monstrous tracker with protomatter, but the cultist’s mind snapped. The Mi-Go abandoned it.
The forest can contain any kind of locations the GM needs, such as hunting blinds, park ranger stations, visitor centers, abandoned cabins, fire watch towers, or whatever seems appropriate.
The Monstrous Cultist
Micah was a true believer in the cult and Elizabeth ‘anointed’ him so he could find Diana more easily. He was infused with protomater with the goal of enhancing his senses and speed so he could track and capture Diana. Unfortunately, the entity in Elizabeth’s body was not as skilled at protomatter manipulation as it thought, so Micah became a monstrous being. His body is grossly deformed and his right arm has been transformed into a fleshy tentacle. Another cultist, Hunter, wants to comfort his friend, but has no idea how. If the PCs do nothing, they’ll flee and hide in the forest, creating rumors of a new cryptid.
Encounters
1. Clue: The sounds of someone stumbling in the dark. A flashlight sweeping erratically.
Encounter: The private detective - mad from seeing mi-go. Rambling. Has a gun.
2. Clue: Screams of panic, prayers to the stars, someone tripping and falling.
Encounter: Cult members - crying and panicking.
3. Clue: Inhuman moans, trees and rocks battered by fleshy tentacles.
Cult member - transformed by protomatter, monstrous.
4. Clue: A woman singing softly in the darkness. Calm footsteps.
Elizabeth - calm and radiant. Tries to recruit PCs to the cult.
5. Clue: The smell of ozone and fried meat.
Dead deer - fried by Mi-Go weapon. 0/1 SAN
6. Clue: distant lights in the sky growing brighter.
Lights in the Sky - If PCs hide or cower, the Mi-Go leave them alone. If the PCs record the lights, the Mi-Go may attack and kill 1 PC.
Final confrontation
After at least 2 encounters, the PCs find Diana facing off against Elizabeth, with a gun to her own head. Two lights in the sky circle overhead. Elizabeth calmly explains what is happening. Diana may surrender, kill herself, or try to kill everyone with the Entropic Manipulator. PCs can intervene or watch the fireworks. If Elizabeth and the Mi-GO succeed, they’ll try to capture or kill the PCs if they are still in the area.
STATS
Diana Briggs, former high ranking cult member
STR 10 CON 10 DEX 12 INT 14 CHA 12 POW 17
HP 11 WP 8 SAN 65
Adapted to Helplessness
Chronic Insomnia
Skills: Alertness 60%, Stealth 50%, Athletics 40%, Unarmed 60%, Unnatural 25%
Attacks: Entropic Manipulator starts with 13% failure rate - can inflict a 20% lethality on a single target once per round. This is a 1/1d6 SAN loss to view.
Cultists of the Spiritual Light Brotherhood
STR 10 CON 12 DEX 12 INT 10 CHA 8 POW 8
HP 11 WP 8 SAN 35
Adapted to Helplessness
Skills: Alertness 40%, Stealth 50%, Athletics 40%, Unarmed 60%,
Attacks: Unarmed. Some may have a flashlight.
Steve Mitchell, Private Detective
An amoral sleaze, Steve is happy to break laws for a good paycheck. He’ll bug phones, hack into computers, and spy on targets for a good payday. This was supposed to be a milk run…
STR 12 CON 12 DEX 14 INT 12 CHA 10 POW 10
HP 12 WP 10 SAN 44 (after seeing the Mi-Go)
Skills: Alertness 60%, Stealth 50%, Athletics 60%, Firearms 50%, SIGINT 60%, Computer Science 50%, Search 60%
Attacks: Pistol 50% at 1d10 damage.
Micha, protomatter-deformed cultist
STR 18 CON 18 DEX 16 INT 10 CHA 3 POW 8
HP 18 WP 8 SAN 25
Adapted to Helplessness
Skills: Alertness 40%, Stealth 50%, Athletics 40%, Unarmed 60%,
Armor: 2 points
Attacks: Fleshy tentacle 60% and does 1d6+2 damage.
SAN loss 0/1d4
Elizabeth Akeley, alien entity in a human body
STR 10 CON 10 DEX 10 INT 20 CHA 18 POW 24
HP 10 WP 24 SAN N/A
Skills: Alertness 80%, Persuade 80%, Unnatural 60%
Attacks: Uses the Mi-Go deal with adversaries. May know appropriate hypergeometric rituals at the handler’s discretion.
The Mi-Go
Page 218 of the Handler’s Guide
Credits
CULT SURVIVOR CONFESSIONAL! was written by Ross Payton for the 2025 Shotgun Scenario contest.
Source: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1SjIwXZoMUE9KjxfxYptw6pZhXPWF6GzCslsuE2_ixP8/edit