Jessica's Bodies

Briefing

Miskatonic university premed student Jessica Gerber was found
strangled to death in her home three weeks ago. Henry Barcenas, her
ex-boyfriend and convicted drug felon, was arrested for the murder.
His trial is predicted to go swiftly as the prosecution has DNA and
fingerprint evidence as well as witness testimony indicating Barcenas
was furious over Gerber dumping him for a new boyfriend, medical grad
student Jamie Davis.

One week ago, Frank and Cherry Lin returned to their home to find
their daughter Connie missing and a trail of blood leading from her
bedroom to the skinless but clothed corpse of a young woman in their
living room. The investigation caught Delta Green's attention when DNA
from the body matched 100% for Jessica Gerber.

What's Going On

Willie Fox was a Harvard medical student peripherally involved with a
project to encode archival information onto DNA.[1] He was ejected
from the university after being caught transcribing artificial DNA
with texts related to chaos magick and prehuman myth cycles. To avoid
a media sensation, Harvard had Fox discreetly transferred to the
underfunded biochemistry program at Miskatonic University.

At Miskatonic, Fox was given greater freedom to indulge his pet
project, and exposed to closed stacks material on hyper-geometry and
the biochemical secrets of lost serpent cultures.

He also fell in unrequited love with Jessica Gerber, who spurned him
kindly but firmly. Barcenas beat Fox up when he heard, which helped
prompt Gerber to dump Barcenas for Davis, who she fancied more anyway.
When Fox learned her murder, he threw himself into his work and
created an artificial DNA solution transcribed with the Body Warping
spell.

The night after Gerber's funeral (held a week after her death) Fox
sneaked into the Beth El Jewish cemetery to dig up her corpse. He
reduced it to its essential saltes and combined them with his DNA
solution to produce five vials of glowing orange Gerber juice. When
injected into a human, the spell activates, causing the physical form
of the original person to be over-written by that of Jessica Gerber.

Fox targeted Connie Lin because he knew he could catch her alone and
off guard. Close friends in high school, they drifted apart after Fox
developed misogynist and white nationalist views through exposure to
alt-right forums. Fox told Lin he wanted to make amends.

As soon as they were alone, Fox stabbed Lin with a vial of Gerber
juice. Lin was about 40 pounds lighter than Gerber had been and there
wasn't enough physical matter to effect a full transformation. Fox
fled in panic, and the terrified and agonized Gerber-2 dragged her way
into the living room before succumbing to blood loss.

Investigation

Gerber family

Harold and Marge Gerber are furious about the bewildering new
investigation. They don't believe Barcenas worked alone, and claim
Jamie Davis must be involved somehow. They have no good reason to
believe this, they're just racist and paranoid. Their relationship
with their daughter was strained, though they won't admit it outright,
and she never told them about Fox. She barely spoke to them at all.

Lin family

Frank is a second-generation Chinese-American lawyer who responded to
societal discrimination by becoming a gun-totin', Constitution-quotin'
uber-patriot. The death of his daughter has hit him hard, and he is
prone to emotional outbursts. Cherry is a first-generation
Chinese-American nurse who appears suspiciously calm. HUMINT indicates
she is putting up a strong front for the sake of her husband. While
she has a strong accent, she can provide more useful information than
her struggling husband.

They know Fox well, Frank didn't like him but Cherry thought he was
handsome and pressured Connie to rekindle the friendship.

In Connie's room, there is a photograph on the mantle-piece showing
Connie, Fox and a big-boned lad taken during high school. They look
genuinely happy. The Lins identify the other boy as Toren Smythe.
Frank calls him a "the Cartman-lookin' kid who needs to get a job",
while Cherry describes him as sweet but worries about his weight.
After high school graduation, Toren and Connie remained friends who
rarely saw each other in person but played online games together
regularly. Inspecting her computer and phone can also lead the Agents
toward Fox or Smythe.

Jamie Davis

A member of Black Lives Matter, Davis is suspicious of the
authorities, particularly after unnecessarily rough police questioning
during the initial investigation into Gerber's death. However, if
treated respectfully he will be candid and respectful in turn. He is
aware of Fox's infatuation with Gerber, but will not think to bring it
up unless asked directly.

Henry Barcenas

Arrangements will need to be made with the Souza-Baranowski
Correctional Center in Lancaster. Initially uncooperative and
sarcastic, if Barcenas is told of the strange nature of the case he
will become intrigued. He has an interest in the uncanny, and is far
smarter than he lets on. If he had had a less destructive upbringing,
he would have been a geek. He despises Fox and Davis equally and
blames them for driving him to kill Gerber. He will have his own
theories about what's going on (Occult 40%, self-taught), but they are
red herrings.

Beth El Jewish cemetery

An INT check reveals Gerber's grave has been disturbed. Exhumation
reveals her body missing but her clothes and jewellery remain covered
in traces of blue-gray dust. Analysis of the dust reveals it as DNA
salts[2] mixed with inorganic molecule chains defying modern science.
Unnatural or Occult can identify it.

Toren Smythe

Toren lived with his mother Sandra Carson (maiden name), who is
wheelchair-bound and lives off benefits and alimony. She is protective
of her son and sings his praises. There is a strong odor of decay in
the house, but chain-smoking Sandra hasn't noticed.

Downstairs in the basement, Toren's messy room is filled with books
and take-out containers. Toren's body is on the floor next to his
computer chair. Toren was slightly shorter than Gerber but 150 pounds
heavier. Gerber-3 formed completely, but suffocated in a thick coating
of Toren-flesh. The early stages of putrefaction have seen the
Toren-skin split open around the face and legs, revealing another body
underneath (1/1D4 SAN).

Carson will break down completely if informed of her son's death. If
questioned beforehand or with extensive Persuade or Psychotherapy
rolls, she will be able to tell them Toren hadn't come upstairs for a
couple of days but that wasn't unusual so she thought little of it.
She remembers Fox paying a visit two days ago, but he left after only
15 minutes. He seemed in a hurry.

An autopsy reveals an anatomically perfect Jessica Gerber encased
inside 150lb of Toren Smythe's skin, flesh and bone fragments.

Fox Hunting

Fox packed a bag and fled his dorm room after screwing up trying to
turn Toren into Jessica, and has not been present at classes for two
days. His classmates have nothing nice to say about him, but
shady-seeming Professor Waites (who has Unnatural 20%) calls Fox a
genius and may show the Agents research notes from Fox's little
project. He says Harvard was foolish to expel him for healthy
curiosity.

Fox plans to drive to Cambridge, Massachusetts and attack Professor
Ashley Turner, who was responsible for having him kicked out of
Harvard. The transformation will be successful, as Turner and Gerber
have a similar height and build, and he will tell Gerber-4 he has
resurrected her with the power of love. She will be terrified and
drive away Fox violently, then call 911.

Fox will then drive around Massachusetts looking for a woman similar
to Jessica's build and grab her off the street, binding her hands and
feet with zip ties. He will then take her to his grandfather's cabin
near Lake Chaubunagungamaug to inject her with the serum, then try to
convince Gerber-5 how much he really loves her.

If tracked down and confronted at any time during this process, he
will try to flee. He is a pushover and the only real threat from him
is the Gerber serum, which he will inject into an Agent if cornered
and given an opportunity. An Agent injected into the serum dies as
they transform into yet another Jessica Gerber. Witnessing a
transformation costs 1/1D6 SAN.

Aftermath

The Group will tell the Agents to eliminate Fox and all surviving
Gerbers, and destroy all evidence. This prompts a 0/1D4 SAN check for
Fox, and a 1/1d10 Violence SAN check for each Gerber. All material
related to Fox's work is to be destroyed.

The Program will want them kept alive for study, and all of Fox's
notes collected and submitted. Fox will be eventually killed or
conscripted. The Gerbers will be studied extensively and determined to
be completely human. After psychological counseling, they may be
inducted into the Program's secret research division (as personnel or
test subjects).

[1] https://www.theguardian.com/science/2012/aug/16/book-written-dna-code
[2] https://www.reddit.com/r/askscience/comments/3q9ue1/since_dna_is_an_acid_is_there_such_thing_as_dna/

Credits

This is an entry to the 2016 shotgun scenario contest. Written by David Tormsen.

The intellectual property known as Delta Green is ™ and © the Delta Green Partnership. The contents of this document are © their respective authors, excepting those elements that are components of the Delta Green intellectual property.