Let Me Grow, Let Me Die

A scenario by Loluan/Lukas written for the 2024 shotgun contest.

Published by arrangement with the Delta Green Partnership. The intellectual property known as Delta Green is a trademark and  Copyright owned by the Delta Green Partnership, who has licensed its use here. The contents of this document are ©<REDACTED>, excepting those elements that are components of the Delta Green intellectual property.

Background

Finnegan Halford was born south of Bedford PA in 1823, living his whole life in the woods working with the environment. Unknowingly to him, the woods were blessed and sacred to Shub-Niggurath. However instead of being driven to madness, Shub-Niggurath rewarded him for his service by morphing him with the forest itself.

He became an amalgamation of every animal and plant and watches over his now sacred woods. When an illegal logging company treaded upon his land and started to hurt the forest, he first warned them but after not listening, he started to incorporate them into the forest. Let them be fertilizer to make up for their damage.

Briefing

Their Handler meets them at “The Big Coffee Pot” in Bedford and shares the following information:

• South of town, an illegal logging operation called ClearSky Forestry started cutting down trees belonging to the protected Appalachians.
• Three of their workers went missing days ago. How long is unsure, but a hiker found one.
• The found body was still alive physically, but unable to speak and seemed to be fused with the tree itself. The area is cordoned off and he is still in the tree.

The Handler could get the Agents involved as FBI contractors. The local PD is not pleased. Here is what they need to do:

• Locate the source of the disappearance and eliminate Unnatural connections.
• Contain the spread of information or spread misinformation.

The Body

The body is currently hidden in the forest and cordoned off via the local police. They have at least one officer around.

Agents approaching will be let into the scene. Once they step into the forest they need to roll POWx5, on a success they feel wary of the dark forest while on a failure it sends shivers down their spine, the Agent feels paranoid, uncomfortable and the same sensation as a child trespassing into the creepy neighbors garden.

Seeing the body costs 1/1D4 SAN from the Unnatural. It has been fused into a very old tree, parts of the bark are gone and show a single moving eye with skin around it. The rest of the face is not visible while some of his chest and right arm sticks out of the tree. This is everything the Agents can see of him. The officer will tell them the man is called Cristo Olivarez and is a worker from ClearSky.

Cristo’s eyes follow the agents for as long as they are in his vicinity. If being tested he can hear, although sometimes he mishears words and is only able to understand Spanish, and feel touch on the parts of his body that are reachable.

If the Agents try to carve or chisel his body out they need to succeed on a Forensics roll otherwise they will hurt what is left of his body. Realizing  he no longer has skin and the tree itself is supplementing for it costs 0/1 SAN from Helplessness. Taking him out of the tree will kill him while leaving him in there will kill him slowly as his body is being absorbed into the tree.

If he is killed (1/1D6 SAN from Violence) and taken out of the tree the Agents notice how the tree has spread fine roots inside his mangled body.

ClearSky Forestry

The company’s operations are being led by Victor Smith, a ruthless businessman. He currently resides at a hotel outside of the town and is preparing to leave once he hears that the feds are involved. Around the second day of the investigation Victor will bail.

All of the workers, 5 in total, are Mexican immigrants who speak almost no english. Victor recruited them making sure they do not speak english making it easier to use them for illegal labor.

On site there is a lot of heavy machinery used to cut down, process and move the logs. Agents can find chainsaws to use themselves amongst other various tools here. Succeeding on Heavy Machinery lets an Agent know the operation never meant to clean up, no equipment to clean up after themselves is found.

His books are all really well forged taking 60% Accounting or a successful roll at -20% to discern the forgery and dig up enough evidence to arrest him for Fraud! In his files the Agents can find deals with the town's mayor and notes about the police being paid for around four months.

Marc Parilla & Danilo Casado are the remaining workers and know the following, they however only speak spanish and if Victor is pressured will wrongly translate:

• Two weeks ago they saw car tires slashed and wolves stalking them. (60% Biology or a successful roll lets the Agent know wolves have disappeared from the Appalachians).
• A week ago, Cristo was the first to be kidnapped, after that the workers add that the “Forest God” spoke to them. He only understood “go away”. They brought this up to Victor who told them to shut up.
• 3 days ago, Ernesto Villasana and Salvadore Heras went missing, which is when they laid down their equipment. Both add that they saw the “Forest God”.
• The “Forest God” is described as a man with goat horns and moss growing on his face.
• The still missing workers are called: “Estevan Carlos” and “Salvador Torrez”.

The Forest

The domain of Finnegan is dark, very old trees stretch their distorted limbs towards heavens, the moment they step foot into the deeper parts of the forest Finnegan will cast “Storm and Stillness” to conjure up a thunderstorm using his victims POW.

If the agents wander in they find the body of Estevan, with 60% Alertness or a successful roll they notice him before stepping on his body which is buried almost completely as if swallowed by earth.

His body shows signs of decay and animals have eaten at his face leaving empty eye sockets, no nose and big parts of the face eaten. Witnessing this sight costs 1/1D4 SAN from Violence. Estevan cannot be saved as roots have grown into and through him, basically impairing his brain but also keeping him in a state of being half alive while absorbed by the forest. Realizing this costs 0/1 SAN from Helplessness.

After giving them time to check out the body, Finnegan warns the Agents once from a distance. Sending a full grown Stag from which he talks to judge their intentions. His points are as follows:

• This forest is sacred and has been blessed, outsiders and townsfolk were tolerated as long as no harm to the forest was brought.
• He will not stop until the perpetrators of the slaughter of nature are brought to justice (Agents can offer Victor Smith to put an end to his attacks).
• The last worker can not be saved anymore for his roots have dug too far already.
• He will lay down his life if it brings peace upon those lands.

Even though a follower of Shub-Niggurath he appears to hold onto parts of his sanity. The Agents will have to decide how to deal with him. If they decide to put an end to Finnegan right here, the Stag will attack them, trying to gore at least one of them.

Moving deeper into the forest reveals more of its nature, if they were violent the forest will hinder their movement by attacking with thorny vines and the black goats attack.

If they were peaceful they could venture deeper into brambled hedges, trees and overgrown flora. On their way they can spot animals long extinct in the Appalachian mountains however looking at the docile animals more deeply shows that they are bigger than they should be, showing signs of tumors and other cancerous growths on their bodies.

He currently lives around a shrine dedicated to Shub-Niggurath who he deems as the mother of forests who smiled upon him to protect her young. Joining him in his defense are four black goats who will fight until the end of their life. The moment Finnegan dies, Shub-Niggurath loses influence over the forest.

The Cover-Up

There are heaps for the Agents to cover and depending on their interactions with their environment and the npcs this part can vary greatly. Here are some examples:

• It will be hard for the agents to suppress every local however they can start a misinformation campaign by feeding the news stories that seem believable enough but in the end will just be hoaxes.
• ClearSky can easily be suppressed, if the Agents traded the owner they can frame it as him running away, the workers won’t talk if pressured.
• Changing the spotlight to the illegal logging of the forest can change public perception away from unnatural bodies.
• Getting the mayor Raymund Alexander in front of a court for helping the illegal activities will shift attention.

Decide how creative or thorough your agents are and reward them by having covered it up successfully.

• For killing Finnegan they gain 1D4 SAN.
• For successfully covering this up they gain 1 SAN.

Appendix

Finnegan Halford

Shub-Nigguraths Chosen Protector

STR 16 CON 16 DEX 11 INT 13 CHA 07 POW 17

HP 16 WP 32 (from absorbing WP) SAN 23 Breaking Point 17

Motivations and Disorders

- Obsession (Disorder) keeping the forest healthy.

- Paranoia

+ Protecting his Sanity.

Skills: Alertness 43, Athletics 37, Dodge 42, First Aid 21, History 17, HUMINT 38, Navigate 73, Occult 54, Persuade 27, Search 48, Stealth 53, Survival 66, Unarmed Combat 53, Unnatural 32.

Armor: 3 points of bark and roots surround his body. + 3 Points from Exaltation of the Flesh.

Attacks: Finnegan’s devotion granted him power over different animal parts on his body.

Wolf’s Bite 53% 1D6 damage and Pinned.

Goat’s Charge 53% 1D6 damage and Knock Down.

Stag’s Hooves 53 % 1D6+1 damage.

Pinned: If being hit by Finnegan’s Wolf’s Bite he attempts an opposed Unarmed Combat test against the target. If Finnegan succeeds he makes the target unable to move away from him.

Knock Down: If this attack hits, Finnegan attempts an opposed STR×5 test against the target. If Finnegan succeeds, the target is knocked prone.

Nature's Blessing: At the start of each of his turns, if Finnegan’s head is still intact he regains 4 HP. If his HP is at zero and his head is damaged he cannot regenerate.

Root’s Heed My Call: Finnegan can summon roots to pin Agents in place. Agents in his sight as he calls upon the forest may roll Dodge. If it fails they are pinned for 1D4 rounds.

Hypergeometry: Finnegan knows the following rituals:

Exaltation of the Flesh, Fascination, Healing Balm, Song of Power, Speech of Birds and Beasts, Storm and Stillness, Swarm (Attracting Critters), Take Root; Let it Rot.

SAN: 1/1D4 from the unnatural

The Black Goats

One of Thousands

STR 12 CON 14 DEX 08 INT 10

HP 13 Armor 2 points of thick fur.

Attacks: Ramming 55% for 1D6 damage and Knock Down.

Knock Down: If this attack hits, the black goat attempts an opposed STR×5 test against the target. If the black goat succeeds, the target is knocked prone.

Dependency: If Finnegan dies the black goats lose 1D4 HP at the end of each turn slowly turning into foul ichor.

The Stag

Symbol of the forest

STR 16 CON 18 DEX 14 INT 06

HP 17 Armor 4 points of thick hide.

Attacks

Gore: 50% for 1D8 damage as the Stag rushes towards an Agent trying to gore him with its antlers. If the attack hits the Agent is pinned by it and every turn the Stag can inflict 1D4 damage by driving its antlers deeper into the Agents body.

Hooves: 45% for 1D4+1 damage as the Stag violently tries to kick an Agent.

Take Root; Let it Rot

Simple Ritual. Study Time: days, 1D10 SAN. Activation: minutes, 10 WP, 1D4 SAN.

By positioning an incapacitated person close to either the ground or a tree the caster can invoke Shub-Niggurath’s will to let root systems grow into the body of the person damaging their spine and later the brain.

The victim slowly gets absorbed by the surrounding and piece by piece is fertilizer until finally dying. The caster can absorb WP through this process.

This process takes about a month but if someone is being saved in the first 48 hours of being trapped they can be saved losing 1D4 STR & CON and if saved after 24 hours they also lose 1D4 INT.

Credits

Let Me Grow, Let Me Die was written by Loluan/Lukas for the 2024 Shotgun Scenario contest.
Source: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1vo7xpmtyy_C6ZBW2DdbmHoyciKPrOTSv4hKjvIAM1vU/edit