Introduction
They decided to move in at four in the morning.
Special Response Tactical (SRTs) teams broke through the fencing on both sides of the compound on MRAPs while helos buzzed overhead and surveyed the area. Airborne sharpshooters scoured for targets through night vision scopes. The Stewart county sheriff’s office blockaded the long dirt road that lead into the complex while local Highway Patrol ensured the main roads close to the property stayed free of any traffic.
All the pieces were in place.
While the raid was being conducted, Special Agents Lin and Moseley rushed the upstairs of a two story house located at the center of the compound, against protocol, while one of the tac teams cleared the bottom floor of hostiles. In response to reports of screaming and weapons fire, the team ascended the darkened stairway to find both agents injured and in shock, two disfigured (dead) men and a naked woman with a striking full body tattoo, ready to wordlessly surrender herself.
What followed next was a complete media blackout by federal authorities.
Briefing
After being summoned in typical Delta Green fashion, Agents will either fly or drive into Atlanta’s ATL to meet with Barnabas before driving to a safehouse where he will brief them on their assignment.
Last year, Miranda Lin and Brett Moseley (agents Cassie and Corben, respectively) were tasked by DG with investigating a growing South American cult by the name of Los Discipulos del Desconocido (The Disciples of the Outsider).
Despite their bloody reputation, however, many people viewed them as saviors because so many of their victims belonged to an equally notorious drug cartel known as Las Cruces (The Crosses).
Named for their practice of crucifying captive enemies upside down, the Bolivian based cartel had long established production and operational lines from Santa Cruz to Caracas.
Despite their successes, however, the cartel’s routes had been continuously assaulted by the authorities and by other rival cartels eager to encroach into their markets. The cartel reached out to a woman named Sylvia DeMarcos for protection.
A veteran FARC guerrilla, DeMarcos no longer had a purpose due to the recent peace deal her faction had reached with the Colombian government. Las Cruces offered her new purpose.
That was until a bloody ambush outside Cartagena left most of their people dead. Las Cruces didn’t hear from DeMarcos for months. Around that time, the Disciples had begun leaving a trail of cartel corpses that led south towards Santa Cruz.
When next they saw Sylvia, she sported a full body skeleton tattoo on her body and was leading the Disciples. Soon after, the cartel’s leadership was found butchered or missing.
Taking millions in drugs, weapons and cash, the Disciples used the cartel’s resources to smuggle themselves into the US. Next they purchased ten acres of farmland outside of Lumpkin, Georgia and began not-so-quietly constructing a fortified compound.
After investigating for a year, both agents had managed to uncover sufficient evidence on the cult to force both of their respective agencies to conduct a raid on the compound under the guise of taking down the last of the Las Cruces cartel.
Barnabas will task the cell to make contact with the agents, investigate the strange circumstances concerning the raid and acquire as much intel about the Disciples as possible.
Investigation
Exhuming the bodies
Autopsies of the two Disciple corpses from the raid show evidence of abnormally high calcium levels, resulting in grotesque bone protrusions across most of their bodies.
Both Disciples are middle aged men with dark hair and skin. Their IDs indicate that they hail from Bolivia and Peru, respectively. Their names will pop up on international watch lists as known operators for the Las Cruces cartel.
With a good roll, investigators will notice that some of the subject’s teeth have grown in size—including new insets of teeth that are seemingly still growing. Such deformations are not natural and should garner a Sanity check.
The Lozano compound
Because the raid took place weeks ago, there’s not much to uncover there that hasn’t already been confiscated by the feds.
The compound is located in Lumpkin, Georgia and is composed of three buildings.
The first is a rectangular building that acted as a barracks for the Disciples who attacked federal agents during the raid.
The second is a large barn where farming equipment and animals are kept.
The third is the two story house where Lin and Moseley encountered the two Disciples and DeMarcos.
Small fragments of yellowed bone and teeth, as well as claw markings along the walls, can be found in an upstairs bedroom. Lab results on these samples will match identically with those of the two Disciples whose bodies are sitting in the Atlanta city morgue.
Lin
Melinda Lin’s front porch will be adorned with dying flowers and faded photos from friends and family. Questioning neighbors, looking up her social media feed or reading the recent obituary pages will reveal that Melinda Lin gunned down her family and took her own life days ago. Exhuming her body will reveal traits that are similar, but not as advanced, as the two dead Disciples.
Moseley
Like Lin, Brett Moseley lives in a large two story house located in an Atlanta suburb. Unlike Lin, he lives alone and doesn’t have an online presence.
Inspecting the home, investigators will immediately notice an overgrown lawn, several strewn newspapers, etc. Doors and windows will appear to have been covered up with bed sheets and reinforced with furniture. Similarly, the front and back doors will be chained shut almost as if Moseley wasn’t just trying to keep people out, but also trying to keep something else in.
Entering through the front or back entrance without caution will reward any investigator with a nasty surprise. Attached to the front doorway is a sawed off double barrel shotgun hooked up with fishing wire and set to blast anyone foolish enough to barge through. The back doorway has a large bear trap set into place. The interior of the house is dark and smells of expired foods and trash.
Following sounds of what can only be described as frantic hissing, the investigators can proceed upstairs where a fully transformed Moseley will be hiding in the shadows, crawling along the ceiling and waiting for the right moment to drop onto an unsuspecting agent and rip their throat open with his abnormally long and numerous teeth. Seeing Moseley will require a SAN check.
Note - Investigating Lin or Moseley’s homes will turn up unsent reports to Barnabas that will reveal symptoms both agents felt after the raid; paranoia, a sense of alienation, the haunting sight of the two Disciples they shot to death and hearing DeMarcos’ voice chanting in a bizarre language.
Sylvia DeMarcos
DeMarcos was taken out of local lock-up by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) the minute authorities discovered that she’s an undocumented Colombian national. She was then moved to the privately owned and operated Stewart Detention Center.
Stewart’s entrance is usually choked with dozens of protesters holding up signs that read “SHUT DOWN STEWART!” and “NO MORE PROFITS OFF OUR PAIN!”
DeMarcos will be secured and kept waiting inside of a typical interrogation room with a two way mirror. She will do little outside of staring for the majority of a session until either she is threatened or someone starts asking questions about the Outsider. After which she will smile and open her mouth to reveal that she has no tongue.
The investigators will then begin hearing Sylvia’s voice inside of their heads, speaking a language none of them has ever heard before. Her voice will grow deafening the longer they’re around her and require at least one Sanity check from everyone within shouting distance. This will likely result in many inmates becoming temporarily insane and may incite a massive prison riot.
Any agents that failed the SAN check will need to make a successful roll (POW) or risk becoming infected the same way Moseley and Lin were.
Killing DeMarcos inside of the detention creates obvious problems.
If DeMarcos is not killed, however, it's likely that she and her Disciples at the Stewart facility will escape during the riot and can become a problem again for the players in later scenarios.
The Outsider’s Infection
The incubation period for this infection lasts several weeks. Each day, the infected will need to make a SAN check. The investigator will become more and more paranoid, afraid that they could conceivably lose control of themselves and turn into the creatures they now see in their nightmares. This will continue until their sanity is completely eroded. That’s when the transformation process will begin.
The Outsider
The Outsider focuses on those in a society that feel excluded or alienated. It reaches out and creates an emissary, who then finds other disaffecteds and, through their granted powers, infects them with the Outsider’s tongue. This will transform them and grant them the certainty that, if they carry out Outsider’s will, they will never feel alone again.
Credits
This is an entry to the 2016 shotgun scenario contest. Written by Eric Reiner.