Overview
A handler at the State Department has received intel suggesting that the Eternal Leader of North Korea has undergone unnatural means to prolong his life. Disguised as a World Trade Organization delegation, a cell is tasked with infiltrating the hermit kingdom to confirm the rumors, but will have to navigate a web of three factions vying for control if they wish to make it home.
Historical Placement
This scenario is meant to take place in 2023. Some relevant dates in real world DPRK history:
∆ 8 July 1994: Death of the nation’s founder, later to be elevated to ‘Eternal President.’
∆ 1995-1997: The ‘Arduous March,’ a terrible famine, reaches its peak. Between 240,000 and 3.5 million deaths.
∆ 9 October 2006: First nuclear weapons test.
∆ 17 December 2011: Death of the nation’s second ruler, later to be elevated to ‘Eternal General Secretary.’
∆ 6 January 2016: First claims of having developed a hydrogen bomb.
∆ 23 January 2020: North Korea enters lockdown due to COVID-19. Borders do not reopen until August of 2023.
Training
Agents will be notified by their superior at work that they’re to undergo special training at the George P. Shultz National Foreign Affairs Training Center in Arlington, Virginia. Their superior doesn’t know why.
When the Agents arrive in Arlington, they’re assembled in a secure room at the Training Center and briefed by Laura Stetson, a senior foreign service officer with the State Department, AKA Agent EVE of Delta Green. Agent EVE informs the Agents that they’ll be spending the next several months at the Training Center, preparing to assume false foreign identities in order to conduct a dangerous operation in a hostile country.
The Agents will not be briefed on their actual assignment until training is complete. However, if the Agents are convincing enough, EVE will brief them then and there (see Briefing section). Regardless, they will have to stay in dorms at the Training Center campus until it’s time to begin the operation.
Training is represented by a home scene vignette, during which the Agents will attempt to improve their Foreign Language (Korean) stat twice. The game’s Handler should encourage the players to describe what else their character does during this period, and what they talk to each other about.
Briefing
After months of training, Agent EVE briefs the team about the target nation.
∆ The Leader of North Korea hasn’t been seen since 1993. In 1994, his official title was changed to ‘Eternal Leader.’ Delta Green believes something unnatural may have prolonged his life, if he’s even really alive (North Korea may be hiding his death in order to maintain stability).
∆ Most of the Leader’s family members haven’t been seen in public since that time. During public events, he’s represented by one of his adult daughters.
∆ North Korean defectors spoke of ‘feral, cannibalistic dogmen’ roaming the countryside, especially during the height of the famine.
∆ A ghost ship believed to be from North Korea recently washed ashore in Japan. Inside, authorities discovered several emaciated humanoid bodies. ‘Humanoid. Not human. ’ The bodies appeared to be canine-human hybrids.
∆ Despite these strange goings-on, North Korea seems to be conducting business as usual.
Agent EVE will field any questions and then brief the Agents on Operation CHOLLIMA BLACK.
∆ The Agents are to pose as a delegation from the World Trade Organization in order to gain an audience with the Eternal Leader. They’re to discuss North Korea joining the WTO. The Agents are to ascertain the Leader’s status and report back.
∆ The Agents will fly from Dulles International Airport to Beijing, where they’ll have one day of downtime. They will enter and leave North Korea on a closed train departing from Beijing, and will be closely minded by their hosts. “Expect two ‘guides’ to accompany you at all times. Any hotel rooms you stay in will most definitely be wired for sound.”
∆ Agent EVE will be waiting for them at the American consulate in Shenyang, but will be unable to assist. The Agents will be completely without Delta Green support once they enter North Korea. There are no friendlies to be called upon within North Korea.
∆ The operation has been years in the making. Their WTO cover is thick, but shouldn’t be pushed to the extreme.
∆ If somehow discovered, their association with the American government will be denied. No diplomatic protection will be afforded to them. Captured Agents can expect torture and execution. In the event of capture, suicide is recommended.
There will be more questions. Once fielded, the Agents will be reminded that no weapons of any kind will be allowed, and official phones and laptops should not be brought. Remind the Agents that personal privacy rights do not exist past the DPRK border; North Korean border guards can and will search everything the Agents bring.
Each Agent will be provided with a false passport, WTO credentials, and a travel suitcase full of attire appropriate for their identity. They will have one last opportunity to contact a Bond (spouse, family, etc.) to say a temporary goodbye. All personal effects, weapons, etc. will be stored in a locker at the Training Center.
Beijing & Entry
The Agents board the same flight for Beijing and have an opportunity to discuss the daunting task ahead. There is ample time for planning and research.
Once in Beijing, the Agents have one day before they’ll need to board the train.
Once on the closed train, the Agents are subject to an interview with North Korean security officials. Each will be asked, in English:
“What is your purpose for visiting?”
“Do you have any electronic devices?” (these will be searched)
“Do you have any books?” (religious and political texts will be confiscated)
“Do you plan to commit any illegal acts while visiting?”
The Agents and their belongings will be searched. Any weapons, surveillance equipment, or obviously occult items will lead them to Bureau 17 (see below).
The Agents will be introduced to their ‘guides,’ Mr. Lee and Ms. Park. Both speak English, though Ms. Park seems to talk for the pair.
The trip to Pyongyang takes about six hours.
Official Itinerary
The WTO delegation members are expected to stay in separate rooms at a hotel on an island in the center of Pyongyang. The delegation members are treated as guests. Business will be conducted in English.
They will be carted around Pyongyang to meet economics officials and shown factories, monuments, and museums. Speaking about WTO business with an official is an INTx5 or CHAx5 check. Failure can lead to Bureau 17 (see below).
Attempts to request a direct meeting with the Eternal Leader will be stonewalled.
The Truth
The Leader sought to extend his life by any means available. In doing so, he founded the Capital Special Institute, devoted solely to his wellbeing. During the famine, the Institute took notice of the existence of ghouls. Through ill-advised research and the theft of a copy of Cultes des Goules from a library in Kyoto, the Institute turned the Leader into an especially monstrous ghoul. He’s spent the last decades gorging himself on human beings, dead and alive, and has swollen to immense size.
The Eternal Leader is now confined to a Korean-style castle at the center of a compound just outside Pyongyang. Only the upper echelon of society knows the truth about the leader, who is no longer capable for making decisions. His bodyguard corps, Unit 962, has been giving orders in his place. They’ve since imprisoned his sons and most of his male relatives in a harsh political concentration camp.
The Capital Special Institute still exists, tending to the Eternal Leader’s needs and researching ghouls in a secret attempt to reverse the condition. If Unit 962 were to discover the efforts to reverse the condition, they would purge the Institute of ‘disloyal members.’
Bureau 17
At some point (perhaps after failing enough checks and asking too many awkward questions), the Agents will be contacted by a member of Bureau 17. Bureau 17 was originally a special purpose state security unit tasked with containing ghoul outbreaks and safeguarding unnatural artifacts. It has since become a conspiracy against Unit 962’s mismanagement of the country.
Bureau 17 has been tracking the Agents since they arrived in Beijing. They don’t know what Delta Green is; they just known several American spies have infiltrated the country. Bureau 17 seeks to use the Agents to destroy the Eternal Leader in order to end his rule, and his ‘suffering.’ They then seek to place one of his sons in charge of the country.
Bureau 17 is not the Agents’ friend. They will attempt to broker cooperation through imprisonment and threats, and will not hesitate to torture the Agents until they cooperate. The Bureau plans to exterminate any remaining agents in order to achieve full deniability.
Stats for the Eternal Leader (ghoul)
STR 75 CON 75 DEX 0 INT 13 POW 13
HP 75 WP 13 SAN 0
SKILLS: Alertness 40%
ATTACKS: Bony claws 40%, damage 2D8, armor piercing 3
Credits
Operation CHOLLIMA BLACK was written by Agent HOPKINS for the 2023 Shotgun Scenario contest.
Source: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1ady7yCs6Ie4KzKuwg6jIGJs6pZ80nQSZb9-J0NHArbs/edit