Northern Exposure
Agents are requested to arrive at the Warroad Memorial Airport in Northern Minnesota at 2pm on January 28th. The weather is hovering -8 degrees and will only get colder into the night, dropping to a low of -30 once the sun is down.
Their contact meets them at the empty airport ‘lounge’ with some hot, burnt coffee. He is unfamiliar to the agents and only introduces himself as Delancy. He is a 5'9 balding man with crows feet eyes, but does not crack a smile when talking to the agents. He wears a simple, black wool suit with a large black parka over his chair and mittens sitting on the table next to him. He is evasive and unpleasant.
He gives the following information:
- A research facility located in the Lost River National Forest has gone dark. The installation is supposed to radio in every month to update on progress and request supplies, assistance, etcetera.
- It has been 3 days since they were supposed to radio in and higher ups are getting nervous.
- The agent's job is to proceed to the base and find the cause of the lapse in communication, assist with the fix and report back to Delancey at Warroad.
- If there is a larger issue, resolve it as they see fit while recovering any research or samples to bring back to Delancey at Warroad.
Delancy refuses to elaborate on why the research is needed- “you think they tell me anything?” “I work for the same people you do”
Prior History: 500 million years ago, something not of this world landed in Marvin Lake in the Lost Woods forest. A spawn of an unholy union of Shub-Niggurath and Itla-shua, The depths of the cold northern lake kept the spawn inert and unable to awaken. That was until the summer of 1989, when a fisherman pulled up the spawn after a gill net sank too deep. Bringing the spawn to shore, it awoke after 30 minutes in the sun, quickly feasting on the fisherman’s flesh, it set up in the lost woods to feed on local wildlife and await a human host it could implant itself into. However, the next humans to come along were an NRO Delta Team sent to capture the creature. The creature was captured months later, but the effect of the ancient crash had already infested its way into the forest via the lake in ways previously unknown to all but the First Nation’s people who deemed the woods unsafe to enter. The Program commissioned a research base codenamed PROJECT DREDGE to be developed in the woods to study the effect the landing had on both the lake, and the flora and fauna of the woods. While the spawn are certainly a threat when unfrozen they are not the main danger of this scenario.
The 5 staff at the base were:
- Laura Storm: Molecular biologist and project lead, white, 44
- Micheal Harrison: Paleontologist, white, 36
- Rodrigo Valdez: Hydrologist, hispanic 46
- Darius Spangler: security and communications, african-american, 38
- Kim Than: Biologist, thai-american. 36
On January 24th, Darius Spangler shot and killed a deer he found outside the base eating a deceased rabbit. While uncommon- deer opportunistically eating meat is not unheard of- Spangler took the venison back to the base to butcher and prepare the meat. Dr. Storm performed tests on the meat that revealed no abnormalities, and allowed the meal to be prepared, although herself and Dr. Harrison did not participate in the meal.
Shortly after, the three who consumed the venison became affected by a deep ravenous hunger, and over the next 2 days butchered Dr. Harrison and Dr. Storm, turning on each other soon after. Eventually, only Darius Spangler remained. Retaining his memories and knowledge despite his early stages of becoming a wendigo, Spangler went through the rooms destroying identifying photographs. Knowing a team would come to investigate the site, his plan was to wait for them to arrive so he could continue his feast- but the hunger overcame him and on January 27th he ventured out of the research base heading north, looking for anything to satiate his hunger.
Agents Arrive:
The base itself is encircled by a 10 foot razor-wire fence, covered in very clear signage “WARNING- EPA installation- It is unlawful to enter these premises. Trespassers are subject to 5 years imprisonment and $25,000 fine” A full perimeter of the fence reveals that the main gate where snowmobiles would carry gear in and out of is open, the lock undone and hanging by a chain.
The radio tower near the base is just on the other side of the fence from the south where they likely approach from. SIGINT at 20% or Forensics at 50% would show that it appears as if the comms box has not been damaged due to a blown fuse or a fallen branch, but by sabotage.
The research base is a small, one story building consisting of the main laboratory, four bedrooms, and a communal kitchen/common room.
Inside, the back door of the lab is hanging open, cold air pouring into the insulated heated building. The laboratory has 3 large aluminum tables, a fume hood, sinks, tools, and 4 large chest freezers on the walls. Inside one of the chest freezers are the spawn pulled from the lake, spiney 8 limbed creatures that look like something from the cambrian explosion, but wrong in some way (san 0/1) (Appropriate science at 40% or higher). Another freezer contains stacks of petri dishes, ice packs, and other cold laboratory equipment. The final freezer closest to the exit contains 2 mostly devoured corpses, ripped apart and dismembered rendering them unidentifiable beyond one being male and one being female (san 0/1d4) These are Dr. Than and Dr. Valdez. There is a set of doors from the laboratory to the common area creating an antechamber/clean room. It is closed shut, keeping the outdoor elements from the common area.
Clues:
Bedrooms are sparsely decorated as a general rule, but bits of personality can poke through. Most obviously, it’s clear that Dr. Harrison had a great love of music, as his bedroom has a large vinyl record collection with an expensive turntable and headphones. Basic forensics reveals signs of struggle all over the base, and Dr. Harrison’s bedroom door has been broken in. No identifying photographs are readily available, although a careful search or forensics roll reveals areas where photos clearly were hung or displayed but have been taken down recently. A search of Dr. Storm’s room reveals her damaged computer which has a list of personnel at the base with their demographics. A successful computer science roll can recover the hard drive.
Spangler’s journal can be found in the mess of his room, the last entry written about shooting and eating the deer, the journal notes that “Harrison and Storm did not eat with the others, typical”
Spangler can be found ½ kilometer north of the base, able to be tracked through the snow from the direction of the open lab door. He is wrapped in Harrison’s fjallraven parka, curled into a ball under a fir tree on the Canadian side of “The Slash” demarcating the two nations. It is a miracle he is alive in his current condition, and will stir when the agents arrive- impersonating Dr. Harrison, he relays the events saying that he escaped as the rest of the team became cannibalistic and tried to kill him. He says that he believes Laura and Darius are still out in the woods searching for him.
If brought back to the base he perks up-asking for water but not food. He will try to convince the agents that he is not Spangler but is Dr. Harrison, although he is an adept liar he can be found out through his lack of paleontological knowledge, music, or other means laid out previously. He will only attempt an attack on the agents if he can get them alone- or if he believes his deception has been discovered.
M-EPIC: A further complication can be introducing an M-Epic Team along the border that either finds the agents with “Harrison” at the border, or follows the reverse-track back to the lab from where he was found by the agents. The M-Epic team knows much more about what they describe as “Wendigoism” and want to take Spangler alive or dead back to headquarters for study. They are not forthcoming with the DG agents, and the paranoia of both their appearance combined with Spangler’s deception is the central tension of this scenario. The M-EPIC team are not bloodthirsty, and will attempt to make a deal with the agents as neither party should want an incident between their respective organizations. They may share some Algonquin folklore.
Stat Blocks:
Darius Spangler- Early stages of wendigo transformation, impersonating Dr. Micheal Harrison.
STR 17 CON 20 DEX 10 INT 11 POW 9
HP 19
ARMOR: 2 points, skin toughening into an icy hide.
SKILLS: Alertness 60%, Athletics 70%, Search 90%, SIGINT 60% Stealth 80%,
ATTACKS: Unarmed Combat: 80%, 1d4+2, bite 1d6+2
Firearms: 70% Holdout pistol in coat, 1d8
HOWL: As an action, Spangler can howl, spending 4 WP. Any present individuals who fail a SAN test suffer temporary insanity- those who succeed are shocked and stunned for one turn. The howl can not affect any individual more than once per day.
WENDIGO BITE: After combat, agent’s bitten must make SAN tests to avoid beginning the transformation into a Wendigo. -20% if bitten more than once, -40% if the Agent has ever eaten human flesh.
M-EPIC TEAM:
Timothy Laternaeu- Royal Mounted Police- Fed. Agent profession
Dr. Sarah Strong- Anthropologist - Scientist profession
Griffin Malloy- JTF2 Special Operator- SOCOM profession.
Credits
Northern Exposure was written by Fritz Comden for the 2025 Shotgun Scenario contest.
Source: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1YRAxJLJaSnKdXjA5TRkyJyFUPB0fLWBOOWM_VoJN6a0/edit