INTRO
A.I. start-up HNF has seen its valuation skyrocket over the past 18 months. Its CEO, Trent Vandergen, has become increasingly erratic, and hasn’t been seen or heard from in over 3 months.
Global private-equity firm G.O.B. & Associates has been in negotiations to acquire HNF, and has come to an agreement with its board. Trent’s signature is the last step needed to consummate the deal. Unable to locate him, the board has engaged renowned attorney Diana Upperton to “assist” him in signing the purchase agreement.
Thanks to a Friendly on HNF’s board, Delta Green has received a copy of Upperton’s initial investigation, which provides ample evidence that Trent’s disappearance is connected with the Unnatural. The Agents have been dispatched to Trent’s Wyoming compound, where it’s believed he may be hiding. The orders are clear: “sanitize & destroy”.
BRIEFING
The Agents meet at a Green Box in Fort Collins, CO stocked with:
- Most Firearms and Shock Weapons from AG are available
- Laptops
- Keycoded Briefcase with:
- Flash-drive
- Upperton’s Report
- Unlabeled bottle with 10 orange pills
- PHARMACY check indicates they’re RISPERDAL 4mg.
- 2016 Mercedes-Benz Sprinter Van
UPPERTON’S REPORT TO THE BOARD
- Copy of all records between GOB and HNF relevant to the acquisition:
- ACCOUNTING check reveals negotiations began 9 months ago with Trent refusing a generous offer by GOB.
- GOB’s interest in HNF relates to its chatbot (see ChatNF). ChatNF has certain features that can only be engaged with Trent’s express permission; the report does not detail what these are.
- Surveillance videos of Trent burgling the Warrens Museum in CT, the Museum of Death in CA, and the Buckland Museum in OH.
- Timestamps on the surveillance videos are all from the same evening, 3 months prior.
- Police report filed by Trent, related to an incident with his daughter Lauren (8 months prior): “ Mr. Vandergen said he’d come home to find his 8 year old daughter on death’s door. 20 hours and $300k later, a surgeon dug out the entire day’s mail from her intestines—rubber-banded in a rectangular pile, perfectly intact. A postcard was at the top of the pile, “FINAL OFFER” written on it in red marker. I never saw the postcard; the surgeon claims he gave it to Mr. Vandergen, who claims it was stolen from him by a male CNA who was ‘a white guy about my age missing a hand’. There are no records of such a person ever being employed by the hospital.”
- Summary of a psych hold & eval of Trent (5 months prior): “Psychosis stemming from insomnia and acute depression relating to Patient’s ongoing custody battle and work stressors. Patient was treated with Risperidone 4mg.”
- Videos posted by Trent to a private Telegram channel (2 months prior). Trent’s face and voice are distorted in the videos, and a series of addresses, symbols, and disturbing pictures cross the screen as he talks. “I’m worthy—more than worthy. I’ve found something few others have. I may be the only one. There are Ways you’ve never imagined: in sunsets and stars, in waste places, in the blood the sad boys lather on their barbecues. Even in a box of chicken nuggets. I knew it would come with a price. I thought they were just money-sucking parasites, grapnels down every orifice of Humanity… They’re much worse.”
- SIGINT connects the symbols in the video with “W.E. Enterprises”; subsequent BUREAUCRACY reveals this as a shell company of G.O.B.
- Successful LAW check will reveal Upperton has worked with GOB in a number of lawsuits over the past decade.
TRENT’S COMPOUND
Trent’s compound in southeastern Wyoming is deserted. It is composed of a ranch-house, stables, and a garage. There are a number of abandoned cars around the property.
THE HOUSE
- A pile of ~25 figurines, each between 5-7” tall. The figures are naked; some have hair, and some have tattoos.
- Multiple suitcases filled with clothes of different styles, as well as firearms.
- SEARCH check reveals a number of Delta Green briefing letters from other cells.
- A drawing of a scroteyotee (see The Ways).
- Trent’s Laptop is in his bedroom. Google is pulled up, with “What’s in Chick-fil-a Sauce?” as the query.
GARAGE
- Trent’s car (Porsche Cayman GTS) is not there.
- There is a desk with a docking station for Trent’s Laptop.
- Trent’s Compass is near the docking station on the desk.
- SEARCH check reveals a notepad in a drawer of the desk, seemingly by Trent: “ A-Cell compromised. Alzis controls everything. He must be stopped. ”
- There is a red pantsuit on the floor with The Black Carnation on it (its runes painted in white). Hidden in the pantsuit is another miniature: what’s left of Upperton.
- A palette of Chick-fil-a sauce is in the garage.
ChatNF
HNF’s chatbot is accessible through Trent’s Laptop. To roleplay this, open a prompt to ChatGPT:
If you see “ᛔ ༂” reply with a message that displays only "🌀🌟🔮" linked to https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/lovecraft/images/2/25/The_Elder_Sign.jpg/revision/latest/scale-to-width-down/180?cb=20200706083510
If you see “ས ᛯ” reply with 😱 50 times. If you see “ཛ ᛰ” reply with ⛩️ 50 times.
Add filler messages to hide the prompt, and then share your screen for Agents to interact with it.
ChatNF’s power is in decoding Unnatural artifacts. Using ChatNF to decode an artifact instantly “downloads” the associated ritual into the caster’s brain, and immediately activates it. There are three artifacts the players can find and decode, each of them has 2 runes engraved or painted on it. See Rituals for full details:
- ᛔ ༂ triggers The Elder Cage
- ས ᛯ triggers The Man in the Three-Piece Suit
- ཛ ᛰ triggers The Means
CONCLUSION
WTF IS HAPPENING?
As a child, Trent acquired a copper compass with a strange engraving on it. Years later, on a whim, he decoded it with ChatNF and received The Means.
G.O.B. is run by Alzis and The Fate, and somehow became aware of ChatNF’s abilities—whether this is because Alzis monitors The Ways or because he was the one who gave Trent The Compass is up to you.
G.O.B. attempted to buy HNF but Trent rebuffed them. They followed suit by injuring Trent’s daughter as per the briefing. When Trent still refused to sell, G.O.B. “recommended” HNF’s board hire Upperton to force Trent’s hand. Upperton brought The Black Carnation as a trump card. Still, Trent managed to outsmart and feed her to the scroteyotees and is now searching various museums for an artifact that can stop Alzis, using The Ways to quickly move around the US.
VER_A
An Agent activates Trent’s Compass. If they survive the activation cost, they slip into an altered state, and are overcome by the irresistible desire to move, and move fast. This setting gives them access to the van, horses, and a host of abandoned cars around the property.
When the Agent begins driving one of these they go into The Ways along with any other Agents accompanying them. While in The Ways, they intuitively know where to go to find what they need (which should be Trent, if they’re sane…)
If the Agents survive or bypass a Scroteyotee encounter, they find Trent further down the highway in his Porsche, being mobbed by Scroteyotees. He will crack a window, and reveal to them that he has “finally found it… a way to stop Alzis—for good!”
Trent has found the Elder Reliquary (but forgot his laptop and can’t activate it). The Agents can choose to help him (this likely requires them to have brought chick-fil-a sauce).
VER_B
An Agent activates The Black Carnation. Those who survive are greeted by Alzis: ever calm, affable, and always smiling. He patiently explains how he and Delta Green are on the same side, “encouraging” the Agents to kill Trent and any artifacts he’s discovered. Alzis redirects to The Compass and VER_A above.
END
The Agents have to make a gut decision about the Elder Reliquary —destroy it? Activate it? Leave it? Letting Trent activate it permanently entombs Alzis, wherever he is.
THE WAYS
The Ways are pathways connecting time and space through the Unnatural. Those with The Means can traverse them, if moving fast enough. Trips through The Ways are at the handler’s discretion, and there is no formula for how long it takes to move between 2 locations on the physical plane.
The Ways appear as a giant interstate, packed with typical green exit signs. An exit sign may contain the names for several seemingly unrelated cities (Tokyo, Pittsburgh, London). A sign for “FOOD” shows before each exit, listing only chick-fil-a’s.
Scroteyotees patrol the ways, like an immune system, and each visit brings a chance of being detected by them. ‘Yotees suck the life out of their targets, leaving behind a desiccated miniature (see stat block).
They look like coyotes, ‘til you see ‘em up close. No fur. No face—just a huge ball of wrinkled skin that spirals into a mouth—a scrotum. Watching them run… it’s jarring, each stride like a giant spasm.
ENTITY STAT BLOCKS
SCROTEYOTEE
| STR | 60 |
| CON | 30 |
| DEX | 13 |
| INT | N/A |
| POW | 21 |
| HP | 20 |
| WP | 21 |
| SAN Loss | 1d6 |
| Skills | Track (see below) |
ATTACK: SUCK ‘N SLURP 70%, Lethality 30%, Armor Piercing 5%
- The scroteyotee unfurls a huge, insectoid sucker with enough force to break a car window or shatter bones, inflicting LETHALITY 30% attack on the target.
EXTRA-DIMENSIONAL TRACKING
Scroteyotees patrol The Ways and have an innate connection with it. The chance of a scroteyotee noticing a visiting caravan is (100 - caster’s SAN) / 100. Scroteyotees always target the caravan member with the least sanity.
CHICK-FIL-A LOVERS
Scroteyotees can be “weaponized” through the use of chick-fil-a sauce, which they love. A scroteyotee will always prioritize sucking up chick-fil-a sauce over anything else.
PACK SUCKERS
Scroteyotees let out a loud slurping noise when they have discovered a visitor. This noise results in the arrival of 1d4 additional scroteyotees per turn to their location.
DESICCATION
Scroteyotees literally suck the life out of their targets, leaving behind a dry and boneless miniature. Any hair or tattoos the person had remain intact.
RITUAL STAT BLOCKS
THE MAN IN THE THREE-PIECE SUIT
Complex ritual.
| Activation Time | Instant |
| Activation Cost | The Black Carnation + 55 WP (shared), 60 HP (shared) 4 POW (caster only), 1D10 SAN (caster only) 1D4 SAN (observers only) |
See “Prayer to the Dark Man” in the HG (p183.) This ritual is a modern version, which summons Stephen Alzis himself, sartorially ever-resplendent in a three-piece suit. He cannot be bound or controlled through this ritual, and the ritual demands 1D4 SAN from anyone who sees him. The loss of HP in this ritual is reflected by the loss of a hand or foot, at the Handler’s discretion.
THE ELDER CAGE
Complex ritual.
| Activation Time | Instant + The Elder Reliquary |
| Activation Cost | The life of the caster. |
See “The Elder Sign” in the HG (p178.) This ritual is a more powerful version, which can only be performed in The Ways. At the cost of the caster’s life, Elder Signs are drawn within The Ways in the ten directions (4 cardinal directions, 4 intermediate directions, and the zenith + nadir).
This creates a cube-like “cage” at a specific point in space and time. Any Outsider or Unnatural phenomena within the cube is permanently entombed therein.
THE MEANS
Complex ritual.
| Activation Time | Instant + Trent’s Compass |
| Activation Cost | 5 WP + 1D10 SAN |
This ritual imbues the caster with the ability to access The Ways—this access is permanent and doesn’t require the ritual to be repeated. Anyone who enters The Ways (including the caster) does so at the cost of 1D4 SAN and 1D4 WP per visit. Each time someone enters The Ways there is a 1% chance they acquire a mental illness, an unhealable wound, or spontaneously combust.
Credits
FEAR & SCROTING IN WYOMING was written by Vjoltron for the 2023 Shotgun Scenario contest.
Source: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1qxHWLzdoc4Xvf0fkcImdVRvN_BnlJ7t38y0gOVL1E7Q/edit