Lost Call
Handler’s Information
April 2024, London.
In a government deposit outside London, there is a public Phone Box graveyard, where the old famous red phone boxes from all over the United Kingdom are sent to “die”. A friendly of The Section (Also known as Paranormal Intelligence Section for Counterintelligence, Espionage, and Sabotage; PISCES) works as a keeper in the deposit and swears that he heard one of the phone boxes ring during the night.
The phone was modified in 1999 by some rogue agents and has been used to get in contact with other agents from the past and the future, depending on which number one would digit. The phone uses alien technology gathered over the years and was not known to exist except from these rogue agents, working for MJ12.
Involving the Cell
The Section contacts the closest agents available in the area to go check the deposit. The agents, which must be newbies, are contacted through an encrypted e-mail disguised as an online shop order to be picked up to a specific location. The location address has also the numbers of the date of the meeting and the time; “0405-1030PM”. The address takes them to a closed construction site. A middle-aged woman is waiting for them near the entrance, and gesture to follow her inside. She will only tell them that a friendly named Gordon is waiting for them at a certain address, which she hands out on a piece of paper. She also tells them “Locate, Investigate and Report. If a threat occurs, destroy the origin at all costs”.
The Government Deposit
The Deposit is located outside London, near the A40 highway and a railway. All around it are other deposits and industries. This particular deposit is owned by the government and is also barb wired and has security cameras all around the perimeter. The Deposit is composed of three warehouses, one next to the other: one warehouse contains old mail boxes and other postal service material, another one contains old British Railways materials from train stations and the other contains more than 1000 public phone boxes. A man in his 40s, dressed with working blue overalls, approaches the investigators once the gates close behind them. This is Gordon waiting for them. He gestures them to follow him into one of the warehouses, the one with the phone boxes.
The Phone Box Cemetery
Here the investigators are met with a surreal scene of thousands of phone boxes, all lined up, almost creating a labyrinth.
Gordon, once closed the door behind him, will present himself and tell them the following:
- He was on the night shift on April 28th and heard one of the phones ring. This happened the next night and the night after that. Nobody else heard it, only him did, since he is the one doing night shifts regularly at the deposit.
- He did not identify which phone ringed precisely, but he can locate it roughly.
- The phone boxes, of different models from model K2, K6 and K8, come from all around the UK. In recent years the number of public phone boxes still working has decreased and this is where they are kept, at least the less ruined ones. There is also a blue Police phone box.
Here are some personal information about Gordon, if investigators ask him any:
- He was a friendly in the MI6 (The UK Secret Intelligence Service). He decided he had enough of it and asked to be moved somewhere safer, but still operating for PISCES, five years ago. Other info is classified.
- He is 45 years old.
- Gordon is his code name.
The Phone Rings
Let the agents venture into the phone boxes labyrinth.
After a while one of the phones rings. (Decide how much time the agents take to identify which phone is ringing with an Alertness roll).
- The phone box door is ajar and easy to open.
- The phone is not connected to a landline, making it impossible to be ringing (SAN 0/1D6).
- The phone will ring for at least a minute or two, after that it will stop ringing and will ring again after five minutes.
If the agents decide to answer it, this is what it will happen:
- picking up the phone the agent will hear some muffled noises and some sort of clicking or scratching, the line doesn’t seem to be clean enough to understand what is on the other side.
- If the agent will say “Hello”, after a few seconds a muffled voice appears.
- A male voice with an American accent will say the following: “The Dead Travel Fast”. It will stop talking as if waiting for an answer. If the investigators do not answer, he will hang up. If the investigators do answer him, it will ask the following: “Identify yourself” and after that “Which year are you from?”
(If it happens that none of the investigators will answer the phone even after several rings, let Gordon persuade them to answer it or let him answer. Feel free to decide).
Who is Calling?
The voice on the other side is a rogue Delta Green agent from the year 1984, on the same date as the investigators. He is looking for his MJ12 contact but he dialed the wrong number. He wanted to contact year 2064, where the MJ12 has developed an army of Mi-Go and Human hybrids that can also time travel called The Lurkers. These Lurkers travel through time to gain knowledge and make sure that the timeline goes as planned by the MJ12. Although time travelling creates other dimensions, they can precisely lead it to their favour. They are deadly and can’t be detected as they have a device that makes them invisible.
As soon as the voice on the other side realizes that answering the phone is not his contact, he will immediately hang up and call another number and contact MJ12 from 1984 and tell them that they have been compromised.
One hour from now, 3 Lurkers will show up and attack the agents.
The Investigations
The agents can investigate the origins of this phone box, as every each one of them has a serial number and a file with its location and years of operation written on it, including the maintenance log.
The agents can find the following regarding the weird phone box:
- Year of operation from 1975 till 2005.
- Every year the phone box was repaired regularly 4 times. In 1999 it was repaired 6 times.
The Lurkers
These hybrids half humans half Mi-Go resemble a tall version of a grey alien but more grotesque and evil looking, although still oddly human. With a set of pointed teeth, the mouth opens weirdly too big. The eyes are human like but with deep black pupils. The rest of the face and body is human as well. Their body is slim and tall under their long coats. They are 6 feet 2 inches tall (1.90 m). Their right arm and hand are perfectly human, but their left ones are replaced with a crustacean limb ending in a powerful claw capable of restraining and damaging any agent (1d6 per round if clawed and blocked). When their invisibility device is turned on, they have Stealth 80% against the agents’ Alertness. They are here to destroy any witness and any agent not aligned with them. They carry guns (Medium Pistol: 1d10 damage, 15 ammo capacity, 15 range).
They are also genetically enhanced, created to hunt down opponents, so they have high stats.
Statistics
The Lurkers
STR: 16 INT: 15 CON: 16 DEX: 12SIZ: 13 POW: 16 HP: 22
Armor: 2 points of thick skinAttacks: Fist 50% 1d2, Crustacean-like claw 70% 1d6Skills: Alertness 80%, Anthropology (Human) 35%, Disguise 40%, Dodge 60%, Firearm 60%, Search 90%, Stealth 80% Survival 70%, Unnatural 65%.Sanity cost to see: 1d3/1d6
Credits
Lost Call was written by Mattia "Matt" Audi for the 2024 Shotgun Scenario contest.
Source: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1AGLg7OJMhKj8ajB5O8j8CGxeyKMc5KSJN90yMvPVNs0/edit