GATECRASHER

Synopsis

Daniel Taylor and his cult-gang of meth-enthusiasts planned to open a dimensional gate to “the future” using a bunch of blurry photos of a tome from the Dark Web. However, they fumble the spell catastrophically, failing to stabilize it in this dimension. What this means in detail is extremely complicated and requires an unhealthy amount of math. One of Daniel's crew, Bill, got bisected in the incident and his lower body arrived at the next confluence. The rogue spell now passes through our reality at 19.37 each day as an amorphous field of annihilation (hereafter the 'Confluence'). And it's growing…

Timeline:

Feb. 16 - Daniel opens the gate, causing the death of Bill Galecki.

Feb. 17 - The Confluence occurs in the Emmerson house.

Feb. 18 - The Agents arrive in Eugene, Emmersons body causes a car crash.

Feb.19 - The Confluence causes a sinkhole at a supermarket. Daniel kidnaps Dr. Jensen.

Feb. 20 - The Confluence destroys Hendricks park. Dr. Jensen's escape attempt is reported.

Feb. 21 - The Confluence demolishes the Olive Plaza hotel.

Feb.  22 - The Confluence annihilates the Route 5 overpass. The scenario ends.

The Briefing

The Agents are contacted hastily and ordered to Eugene, Oregon. Their handler greets them at noon at a burger joint and tells them that an explosion happened at the residence of Hilda (age 72) and Peter Emmerson (age 77) on Oak lane 12, at approximately 19.40 yesterday. There are strangely no reports of a detonation besides Hilda's call to 911. Her call triggered a response from Delta Green, as she mentioned how “…someone murdered her husband and left their legs…”. Their mission is to investigate any supernatural causes for the incident and make sure it doesn't happen again. Their cover is that the explosion is suspected of being part of an ongoing federal terrorism case.

The Emmerson house - the second Confluence (17/02)

The blue two-story house lies in a nice neighborhood. The Confluence disintegrated large parts of the upper bedroom, including half the floor. The majority of the Emmersons double sided bed has crashed down through the hole and the lower living room is a mess. On the living room floor is an outline of the lower half of a man. Any Agent with Criminology, Demolitions or Forensics above base  understands that no explosion was involved, instead it seems like parts of the house just vanished. San 0/1.

Mrs Emmerson is temporarily housed with her neighbours. If contacted, she recounts that she was in the living room while her husband was upstairs. Around half past seven she felt a strange, coppery smell and then a bomb went off. She can't recall any sound though. She is clearly traumatized but certain that the severed body isn’t her husband's.

The morgue

The severed lower body is kept at the local morgue. The body is from a middle aged man, who has extensive prison tattoos. A success on Forensics or Criminology makes it possible to crossreference the tattoos and get a match on Bill Galecki's profile, revealing his home address. This takes about 12 hours.

The gate, how to find and stop it

Each day at 19.27 the gate passes through our three dimensions as a weird morphing shape for 37 seconds. It removes anything that passes through it and hurts to look at. San 1/1D4. 2 minutes before the gate enters our dimension electronic devices start malfunctioning. The smell of copper also appears, lingering even after the Confluence passes. The gate grows for each Confluence, as it aligns itself closer to our plane.

If anyone (or anything) enters the gate, roll Luck twice. If the first roll fails, the person suffers 2D10 damage as they are severed and partially teleported. If the second Luck-roll fails, the person is destroyed. If the second Luck-roll succeeds, the individual exits the gate at the next Confluence, 24 hours later, having experienced no time passing. San 1D4/1D10.

To predict the next Confluence, the Agents need the location of at least 3 Confluences and succeed on a Occult- or Science-roll (Mathematics or Physics) to triangulate the next occurrence. Performing the calculations takes about 12 hours. Alternatively, Dr Jensen can perform the calculations in 9 hours if rescued.

To dispel the gate, one needs to perform The Closing of the Breach (see p.177 in the handlers guide). This information can be found in Bill Galecki's house or by interrogating Daniel Taylor.

Daniel Taylors agenda

Daniel is both terrified and furious. With the failure of the ritual and Bill's death, Daniel and his five meth-heads are holed up in his trailer at Emerald Isle Mobile Home Park. They are using a stolen police scanner to try and monitor the situation.

However, after the fourth Confluence, Daniel understands that:

1) Something regarding his spell is wreaking havoc across the city.

2) He needs help to find out where the next Confluence will occur. This puts in motion the plan to kidnap Dr. Henry Jensen on the 19th. If Daniel suspects that the Agents know anything about hypergeometry, he might also try to kidnap one of them.

Unless hindered, Daniel and his gang arrive at the Olive Plaza hotel before the Confluence on the 21th. He however fails to banish the gate.

Dr Henry Jensen

Dr. Jensen is a physics professor at University of Oregon. In the evening of the 19th he is kidnapped by Daniel's crew while leaving his university office. Daniel brings him to the trailer and forces him to try to predict the location of the next Confluence. During the night of the 20th Jensen unsuccessfully tries to escape. The attempt alerts a neighbor, Jonathan Simmons, who reports that someone dragged an older man into the trailer park around midnight, while the victim screamed about mathematics and portals to other worlds.

The Carcrash - The third Confluence (18/02)

A major car crash has occurred on road 194. Three cars have crashed causing 4 dead passengers. A gory, aged body lies on the road. A successful Criminology or Forensics-roll reveals that this is Peter Emmersons remains (the Confluence occurred in the air 30 feet above the road).

Bill Galacki

In the morning of the 19th, the Agents get a call from the local police. The upper half of Bill Galacki is found floating in the Willamette River. It is bloated but identifiable (his body was thrown in the river by Daniel's crew). Bills records are easily found including his home address and cabin. A successful Forensics-roll reveals that the torso has been dead longer than the lower body. San 1/1D4.

Bills Cabin

A 3 hours drive west from Eugene lies Bill's rural, shabby 3-room cabin. The only piece of interest are several framed photos of Bill together with Daniel, partying and hunting. Facial recognition-software and a relevant skill-check can be used to identify Daniel and his home address (the trailer), taking either 4 or 10 hours depending on the roll.

Bill Galackis home - The initial Confluence (16/02)

A rundown one-story, four room home with basement in a bad neighbourhood close to the Willamette River. It screams “drug den”. The ground floor is a dirty bachelor pad with drug paraphernalia. The basement is a tacky occult boudoir. The Confluence removed much of the basement floor, leaving an uneven hole. The body of a homeless man hangs off a wall, ritually sacrificed. A Forensics-roll reveals that he has been dead since the 16th. A success on Occult or Unnatural reveal that the spell was poorly performed, components are placed in a chaotic way. There is a binder filled with printed out photos of an old book in Spanish, containing texts about transcending time and space. One of the photos also shows a text marked “el Cierre de la Brecha”, (see The Closing of the Breach, p177 in the Handlers guide).

The Sinkhole - The fourth Confluence (19/02)

On the 19th the gate intersects our world under the western corner of a local supermarket, causing a large sinkhole as the foundation of the building vanishes. Luckily only two deaths.

Hendricks park - The Fifth Confluence (20/02)

An area of approximately 2 acres disappears at Hendricks Park, leaving a massive hole in the ground filled with debris from the supermarket. No deaths but the incident's weird nature  intrigues the local news.

Olive Plaza- The Sixth Confluence (21/02)

The majority of the seventh and eight floors of the ten story high Olive Plaza hotel disappear, causing massive destruction as the hotel collapses. 32 dead and 23 wounded. This causes international news coverage.

Route 5 Overpass - The final Confluence (22/02)

The seventh Confluence occurs at the route 5 overpass, a heavily trafficked highway. The enormous gate causes a massive calamity. 15 vehicles disappear, 47 crash. Over 100 wounded, 51 dead and many missing.

The repeated destruction in the city forces federal agencies to evacuate Eugene. If this occurs, any surviving Agents are removed from the case and face a harsh debrief as Eugene further disintegrates.

Game over.

STATS

Hilda Emmerson

STR 6 CON 6 DEX 8 INT 10 POW 8 CHA 10

HP 6 WP 9 SAN 53, BREAKING POINT 52

SKILLS: HUMINT 30 %, Unarmed Combat 20 %.

ATTACKS: Unarmed 20 %, damage 1D4−1.

Daniel Taylor

STR 12 CON 10 DEX 11 INT 13 POW 12 CHA 13

HP 10 WP 12 SAN 15 BREAKING POINT 12

DISORDER: Addiction (Methamphetamine).

SKILLS: Alertness 50 %, Dodge 30 %, Firearms 40 %, Foreign language (Spanish) 30 %, HUMINT 30 %, Occult 30 %, Persuade 40 %, Pharmacy 40 %, Unarmed Combat 40 %. Unnatural 20 %

ATTACKS: Remington Model 870 shotgun 40 %, damage 2D8 (or 1D8 beyond base range), Unarmed 40 %, damage 1D4−1.

Meth heads (Daniel’s crew)

STR 10 CON 10 DEX 11 INT 8 POW 10 CHA 8

HP 10 WP 9 SAN 28 BREAKING POINT 24

DISORDER: Addiction (Methamphetamine).

SKILLS: Alertness 50 %, Athletics 40 %, Dodge 30 %, Firearms 30 %, Pharmacy 20 %, Search 40 %, Unarmed Combat 40 %.

ATTACKS: 9mm pistol 30 %, damage 1D10.

Unarmed 40 %, damage 1D4−1.

Dr. Henry Jensen

STR 7 CON 7 DEX 8 INT 16 POW 10 CHA 10

HP 7 WP 12 SAN 68, BREAKING POINT 65

SKILLS: Science (Mathematics) 70 %, Science (Physics) 80 %, HUMINT 30 %, Unarmed Combat 20 %.

ATTACKS: Unarmed 20 %, damage 1D4−1.

Jonathan Simmons

STR 13 CON 9 DEX 8 INT 10 POW 10 CHA 11

HP 11 WP 10 SAN 55, BREAKING POINT 50

SKILLS:  Alertness 30 %, Craft (Plumber) 40 %, HUMINT 20 %, Law 10 %, Unarmed Combat 40 %.

ATTACKS: Unarmed 40 %, damage 1D4.

Credits

Gatecrasher was written by Brodbane for the 2025 Shotgun Scenario contest.
Source: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1LqWfAEhjkApUdFvQETJ9GBzkFch2qsfgjfxib16ViNg/edit