This scenario takes place in rural North Carolina in 2017, and focuses on strange occurrences and a March Technologies sub-project. It is suitable for both the Outlaws or the Program.
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Table of Contents
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Briefing
Nestled in the hills of North Carolina is the town of Silo. Silo’s population has remained around 1,100 since the 80s. It has all the trappings one might imagine in a small town, a supermarket, post office, two churches, a bar, and a smattering of franchises and very old houses. In the nearby mountains is Bowman Radar Station. Built in the 60s, the station was operational until the late 90s when it was “sold” to March Technologies. Ownership of the station then transferred to a subsidiary of March Tech in the late 2000s, “Daedalus Engineering”. The station is used allegedly for mundane scientific purposes and employs a small staff relative to the size of the base.
Recently, the locals have reported a number of strange occurrences: sudden and violent wind storms and blood-curdling howls that echo against the atmosphere. This has the locals spooked, and rumors are beginning to make the rounds of Cassidy Crawford, a long-dead witch from local legend, having returned from the dead to exact revenge upon the locals, who generations ago formed a mob and attacked her; taking her to a nearby river and beating with stones and drowning her for witchcraft.
The Truth
The strange occurrences have nothing to do with Cassidy Crawford and everything to do with the Bowman Station.
In 1997, bizarre phenomena at an archaeological dig at the ruins of Karatepe in Osmaniye Province, Turkey, attracted MAJESTIC’s attention. NRO DELTA was dispatched to investigate and discovered that the archaeologists had uncovered an item they dubbed the A-Abhi Block. MAJESTIC researchers noted similarities between the Block’s engravings and figures found on Grey technology. MAJESTIC marked it and spirited it away during Operation BLACK MOUNTAIN
The Block, labeled “BM-a10”, sat idly in a top secret storage facility until after the MAJESTIC diaspora, when March Technologies was quick to acquire the BLACK MOUNTAIN objects and relocate them before the Program could get their hands on them. BM-a10 was made into a research project for one of March’s daughter companies, Daedalus Engineering, who relocated it to the Bowman Station and began experimentation in late 2009.
After extensive research, researchers at the Bowman Station made several breakthroughs, the most important being that when it is subjected to certain electromagnetic frequencies, it seems to affect the immediate atmosphere around the facility, though they have no idea how to replicate their results.
What they don’t know is that BM-a10 is a prison containing an immensely powerful alien intelligence - a Spectral Polyp, imprisoned by Elder Things millennia ago. Exposing the Block to certain electromagnetic frequencies disrupts the hypergeometric seals they’ve placed on the Block, allowing its prisoner to temporarily phase into our reality. The violent wind storms and howls are the result of the Polyp’s brief shrieks and thrashings. Their most recent experiment caused the Polyp to destroy some of the local houses and kill two people, it also caused the Polyp’s semi-physical form to manifest in its testing chamber, killing one of the researchers, Lucas Frakes.
The researchers have halted their experiments, citing faulty equipment. They can only stall for so long, and 5 days after the agents arrive, Daedalus will send a team to assess the issue and resume testing. A diagnostics check will be run, and all hell will break loose. The polyp will destroy the facility and break itself free.
Investigation
The agents are summoned through the usual means and briefed on the mission, Operation CARTHAGE ANGLER.
| HANDOUT A: MISSION BRIEFING - Operation CARTHAGE ANGLER |
| Agents are to complete the following objectives and report their case officer on any developments in the Operation. * Proceed to Silo, North Carolina. * Investigate recent occurrences involving mystery sounds and anomalous weather shifts. * Determine their source(s). * If sources are deemed unnatural. Persecute with extreme prejudice. Additionally, Agents are given clearance to a Green Box ten minutes from Silo. (see Green Box #909) |
Upon arriving in Silo, the agents are free to pursue whichever lead they please. Handlers are advised to feed the agents a red herring with Cassidy Crawford.
The Weather
Anyone with Science (Meteorology) 20%, survival 50%, or Military Science (land) 50% can tell with only a few hours of observing the recorded weather that something is deeply wrong. These wind storms are forming impossibly quick. They lose 0/1 SAN from the unnatural.
The Damages
Three houses have been destroyed by the storms, and 2 people have been killed. Two of them are unremarkable old town houses, but one stands out. The Witch’s Roost. A museum that sat on a lone hill just out of town that was once the home of Cassidy Crawford.
The Dead
The two fatalities from the wind storms thus far are
- Dianne Kroft, a retired nurse
- Crispin Hart, the caretaker and owner of the Witch’s Roost.
Those using bureaucracy or history can discover that both victims are descendants of individuals mentioned by name as partaking in the killing of Cassidy Crawford in historical accounts.
The Witch
The more the agents investigate Cassidy, the less it should appear she’s actually their culprit. Nothing in her story suggests actual witchcraft or resurrection.
The River
Boone River, the waterway that passes by Silo, is the site of Crawford’s murder. Agents that venture to it find nothing related to Crawford - but they do find something.
After the last experiment killed one of the researchers, the guards disposed of the body, dumping the researcher’s personal effects (and remains) in the river. The agents happen upon a black plastic bag that has washed up on the banks of the river, opening it reveals a heap of ash, as well as the researcher’s clothes, and phone. If agents hit a dead end, have one of the locals find this instead. The ashes cannot be tested for DNA.
Bowman Radar Station
Bowman Radar Station consists of a small group of large radar towers (one of which looks to have been upgraded - this one contains BM-a10), a lab, a few storage sheds, a building for the security personnel, and a concrete building where the scientists perform their research. The entire complex is surrounded by cyclone fences topped with barbed wire. A small fleet of trucks are parked in a corner of the facility
Breckenridge guards are on site and will yield to federal agents, but will report them to their superiors, who will urge them to make the agent’s visit brief. They wear kevlar vests and carry handguns. 5 guards are always on site.
The laboratory’s personnel consist of seven researchers (formerly 8) - each seem very skittish and nervous. If pressed on their research, they claim they’re developing a technology for the air-force that will enable real-time monitoring of the earth’s electromagnetic field in high detail. They deny anything about missing personnel.
Dr. Horovitz
The head researcher is Dr. Walter Horovitz, a veteran MAJESTIC researcher. Horovitz, over his storied career in both MAJESTIC and March, has gathered a collection of occult research. Researching the engravings on the stone, Horovitz has learned that a group of humans once claimed that an “angered spirit” was bound to it. Horovitz is equally fascinated and horrified by BM-a10, though he won’t let it show in public.
The doctor recognizes Delta Green when he sees it, and once in private, will confess what his fears to one of the agents. He fears that BM-a10 cannot be controlled, and that further experiments pose a serious threat to himself and others. He knows he can only stall for so long before Daedalus sends people to resume testing, which he fears will cause another disaster like the one that brought the agents to Silo.
He has a possible solution, but he wants the agent’s help. Among his research he has found a ritual which he believes will nullify the effects of the Block (see Dr. Walter Horovitz’s Notes). He would present his findings to the agents before resuming his usual demeanor, resuming their tour of the facility.
If the agents are with the Program, they’ll find that
Resolution
The scenario can resolve in a number of ways.
- INACTION, APOCALYPSE: The March Tech team runs a diagnostics check, the Polyp manifests, destroys the entire facility and frees itself from BM-a10. A rampage ensues.
- DEMOLITION: Destroying BM-a10 will cause the Spectral Polyp to be released, though it will be severely injured and will flee.
- RAID: The agents can attempt to steal the artifact, program agents could even enlist the aid of CORAL NOMAD.
- BANISHMENT: The agents enact Dr. Horovitz’s ritual. The Polyp fully materializes inside the stone, killing it and cracking the stone in several places, leaving visible Polyp flesh in the depths of the cracks and weeping strange caustic fluid.
- OTHERS: Your agents can resolve the scenario however they see fit.
Stat Blocks
GREEN BOX #909
| Green Box #909 is a fallout shelter tucked away in the woods of North Carolina that the agents will need to spend a few hours locating.It contains: * One pair of night vision goggles * A geiger counter * A well-maintained Kukri. Killing someone with it imbues the wielder with a burst of euphoria and resolve, gaining 1d3 WP. Those that reach their breaking point in possession of the Kukri become addicted to using it. * 3 SPAS-12 shotguns * A shoebox containing two Sig Sauer P226s with six magazines. * Three boxes with roughly 250 shotgun shells, and three boxes with 260 rounds of 9mm. * 3 reinforced kevlar vests |
DR. WALTER HOROVITZ'S NOTES
| “Report - ⬛.⬛.1997. The A-Abhi Block, designated BLACK MOUNTAIN ARTICLE 10 or BM-a10, is unearthed in Osmaniye Province, Turkey. Investigation undertaken by NRO DELTA assert many similarities between the Item and technology recovered at Roswell.” In English, Study time: days, Unnatural +2%, SAN loss 1d3. This loose collection of notes, collected in several dossiers and binders, represent Dr. Walter Horovitz’s research into the occult. It contains several documents concerning muslim occultism and ancient history, as well as the very redacted case file for the acquisition of “The A-Abhi Block”, which was uncovered during an archaeological dig in Turkey in 1997. MAJESTIC’s interests were piqued by anomalous weather patterns occurring in the area as well as the engravings along the surface of the A-Abhi Block which closely resembled the figures present on the Courtis Papers. Included in this document is a monograph on an esoteric ritual - claiming to be a much more ancient Hittite ritual translated into Arabic, by a muslim occultist whose writing insinuates it to be a holy ritual dictated by angels, which was then translated into modern English by Horovitz. A photocopied excerpt of the Courtis Papers is also included. Rituals: Smite Wind Demon (Closing of the Breach (Spectral Polyp)) |
NPCs - BOWMAN RADAR STATION
Breckenridge Security Guard
These are armed guards that patrol the grounds of the Bowman Radar Station. They are lightly armed - wearing kevlar vests and wielding batons and Glocks. They have shotguns and ballistic helmets stored in a storeroom that they’ll don if the situation demands. If they believe they’re outgunned, they’ll radio for backup.
BRECKENRIDGE SECURITY GUARD
STR 13 CON 13 DEX 14 INT 12 POW 11 CHA 7
HP 13 WP 11 SAN 40 BREAKING POINT 33
ARMOR: Kevlar Vest (armor 3)
SKILLS: Alertness 46%, Dodge 38%, Drive 61%, Firearms 50%,, HUMINT 53%, Search 47%, Stealth 52%, Unarmed Combat 50%.
ATTACKS:
Glock 17 50% (1d10)
Benelli tactical shotgun 70% (2d8)
Dr. Walter Horovitz
Dr. Walter Horovitz is a 64-year-old mathematician and physicist who has had a long and storied career with both MAJESTIC and its successor organization, March Technologies (and their subsidiaries). Horovitz’s faith in these organizations has waned, and if he survives the scenario, he will strongly consider defection to Delta Green.
**DR. WALTER HOROVITZ
Veteran MAJESTIC Scientist**
STR 9 CON 13 DEX 12 INT 17 POW 14 CHA 11
HP 11 WP 14 SAN 60 BREAKING POINT 56
SKILLS: Accounting 46%, Bureaucracy 63%, Computer Science 64%, Foreign Language (Arabic) 37% Foreign Language (Turkish) 25%, Persuade 54%, Science (Mathematics) 75%, Science (Physics) 70% Science (Synthetic Materials) 50%.
ATTACKS: None
RITUALS KNOWN: Closing of the Breach (Spectral Polyp)
NPCs - DAEDALUS ENGINEERING MANAGEMENT TEAM
This group lands at the Bowman Radar Station 5 days after the party arrives in Silo with orders to return the station to working order. The team consists of six people: Richard Thorpe, a business executive who is here to manage the team as well as see if the personnel at the Station themselves are the problem and need “replacing”; two tech / repair specialists who are here to assess the equipment and diagnose and resolve any issues they find; and finally, three Breckenridge special contractors. Only the contractors are statted, Thorpe and the two repair specialists can be run with any average business exec. and scientist stat block.
Breckenridge Special Contractors
These are highly trained specialists deployed to escort the Daedalus Engineering personnel that will arrive at the Bowman Radar Station to return the Station to working order. 3 of them accompany the team.
BRECKENRIDGE SPECIAL CONTRACTOR
STR 13 CON 13 DEX 14 INT 12 POW 11 CHA 7
HP 13 WP 11 SAN 40 BREAKING POINT 33
ARMOR: Tactical armor (Armor Rating 6).
SKILLS: Alertness 46%, Dodge 38%, Drive 61%, Firearms 60%, Heavy Weapons 60%, HUMINT 53%, Search 47%, Stealth 52%, Unarmed Combat 65%.
ATTACKS: MP5 60%, Damage 1D10, (10% lethality if firing full-auto or bursts).
.45 SOCOM pistol 60%, Damage 1D10. Unarmed 65%, Damage 1D4.
ENTITIES
THE SPECTRAL POLYP
The Spectral Polyp is bound to BM-a10 and cannot move or leave it unless the hypergeometry that keeps it bound is weakened by certain electromagnetic wavelengths. The Spectral Polyp is stated on page 226 of the Handler’s Guide.
Credits
Hurricane Season was written by Fee Fi Fo Fin for the 2022 Shotgun Scenario contest.
Source: https://docs.google.com/document/d/12RiL87CD9Vg2F7Wvo8OWErnN8kn0rbmjKfP32br2QSQ/edit#.