Operation Locked Room

A year ago

Experiencing writer's block for his next mystery novel, author Christian Lambert, and his wife Annie go through a steamer trunk while cleaning their attic storage room. The truck belonged to his Great Grandfather, Rupert Lambert. The Trunk came to Yreka from early 1900's Paris by way of England being handed down from father to son upon their death. It contained Rupert's diary written in french, a few books in both french and english, an assortment of costume pieces, and a strangely rebound copy of the locked room mystery, Le Mystère de la Chambre Jaune. Christian is unable to read it but becomes quite interested in reading the rest of the story after Annie who is fluent in french reads him a few chapters. Unaware to Christian, Annie continued to read the rebound french copy and soon discovered it to hide the out of order pages for a stage play, Le Roi en Jaune. Annie quickly becomes obsessed with this play and reads Rupert's diary discovering him to be a devoted Hastur cultist.

Now

Christian has completed his new novel, Yellow Bloodstains and it's about to go on sale next month with autographed “super fan” copies bought on Lambert’s website shipping sooner. Heavily influenced by Annie’s sinister input, it tells the tale of a series of locked room murders in New York in the 1950s perpetrated by a pale masked killer. The main character is hard boiled Private Detective and Jazz Musician, Smokie King who is hired by notable dilettante, Cassilda Castaigne, to unmask the killer of her sister Camille. Smokie chases a shadow through the maze that is New York’s late night underground art scene, finally cornering and meeting this stranger in the ultimate third act twist. Copies were sold locally at a book signing held at Jacobson Books a week ago.

Keeper’s Information

Annie over the last year has fallen into complete acceptance of the realities presented by the play and devotes her life now to bringing Hastur to Earth. Made possible by removing the binding from the book and rearranging the pages for the play until she was sure it was correct. Doing so has granted her the knowledge of a ritual to help achieve her goals. While helping Christian pre-sign copies of Yellow Bloodstains, she was able to slip symbols and shakely drawn yellow signs in unnoticed. Absorbed by the enthralling mystery most readers won’t take a break or notice that Carcosa has begun to bleed over into their reality. They will be securely locked in their location, and eventually the area transforms into a labyrinth of doors, characters seeking a masquerade ball, and dangerous creatures. When the book is complete most readers will feel the pull to travel to the two cities seen in the distance of an open passage, never to be seen again. Twenty copies out of the fifty sold so far have been altered and handed out with plans for more fulfilled through online orders.

Victims

Altered copies of Yellow Bloodstains can be found at all the crime scenes or seen in crime scene photos

Shannon Morgan (32)

- Found dead 2 days before the signing from dehydration and starvation in the living room of her country home. Food and water were found to be accessible in the kitchen.
- The front door of the home had to be knocked in with a sledgehammer when normal means of forcing it had failed though no reason for the door's well secured state beyond a normal bolt could be observed.
- A parcel envelope big enough for the book is found on the kitchen counter addressed to Shannon, the return address reads Annie Lambert and her home address. Shannon had panned Christian’s last few novels, calling them predictable and borderline plagiarism.
- Two types of strange wounds cover the body, self inflicted cuts over 80% of her body that a closer look reveals to resemble a maze like map of an unknown location and five fist sized bite wounds. The bites are best described as being from multiple attackers with asymmetrical triangular jaws with differing numbers in the rows of teeth
- Agents who are smart enough can use photos of the body to help navigate the Labyrinth to a possible exit if they arrive there.

Jack McCray (42)

- Found drowned in his apartment on the living room floor, no water was present in his tub or sinks to explain the death. He was supposed to be off work for a day to enjoy some new book he kept going on about but when 5 days go by and no call is answered or received, a concerned employer, a life long friend, contacts police. The report remarks that the front door was unlocked but the bathroom door needed to be forced during the initial search of the home.
- Witnesses heard confused cries for help randomly the night before he was discovered, neighbours had chalked it up to Jack being on a bender which he had a frequency of doing

Eve Rodgers (24)

- Found several mutilated in her 7th floor apartment, police were called after 17 minutes of constant screaming were heard beginning at 0137 hours yesterday morning. Cameras show reading as she exits the elevator and enters her apartment alone after finishing her shift at the local movie theatre at 1218 hours.
- The door was locked and took two patrol officers to break it in. The inside of the door and surrounding wall bares Eve’s attempts to claw her way to freedom. Wood shavings, paint chips, and plaster are buried in what remains of her fingertips and nails which have been scratched down to nubs.
- Eve’s copy of the book is additionally signed as a gift from Eve’s friend Angela, who is still alive due to buying two copies of the book and choosing by chance to keep the unaltered one.

Delaney & Petey Richardson (22 & 03)

- Missing persons case that was called in by a low rent motel owner after screams are heard by multiple witnesses starting at 2345 hours yesterday. The screaming seized and the room was found empty the moment the owner threw a patio chair through the locked sliding glass door that serves as the room’s entrance from the parking lot.
- Their possessions were still inside, Petey’s Little People toys dotting the city street rug in the middle of the room and the complete works of Christian Lambert in a strange pattern, 5 feet away on the dark blue carpet. In her madness and last moments before departing the room with Petey to go to Carcosa, Delaney recretes the two cities she sees through the open passageway with the books and toy rug.
- Research into Delaney would find that she has an obsession with Christian Lambert and has shown up uninvited and repeatedly called the Lambert home in the past. A restraining order was sought by Christian but in the end the case was dropped. This has drawn the suspicion and anger of Annie, leading her to make sure Delaney receives an altered copy at the signing.

Lambert Home

Two floors plus basement and finished attic.

The Basement

The easiest unseen entrance to the home is found around the back and leads down to the basement. The trunk has been moved down here and sticks out like a sore thumb next to the moden washer and dryer. Annie has removed the costumes (robes and masks) and left behind the diary and unbound pages of the locked room mystery. Two cardboard boxes filled with altered copies of Yellow Bloodstains are found here.

The Diary

Contains the story of one Jacques Botrel A.K.A Rupert Lambert who obtains a copy of the play when the french translations arrived in Paris and hid his copy when the french government banned it. A few spells were learned as a result of several back alley performances of the play in France and England, both resulting in the deaths and disembowelment of drunken audience members. Becoming wanted by authorities in Europe, he changes his name and embarks to America. From there the diary delves into a mix of happiness at meeting his wife and having a son to continue “the royal lineage,” and depression from not being able to find financial support to stage a large scale opening of the play until his end.

The Attic

The attic has been finished into two rooms, the main room is a sculpture workshop for Annie’s current project of life sized pale masquerade attendees, and record player. The other being the smaller storage room. Christian never goes upstairs out of respect for Annie’s creative space so it has gone unnoticed that the storage room has been altered to a shrine to Hastur. The pages of the play are strung across the room on twine in proper order, and a large six foot sculpted door covers the far wall with small one foot masquerade figures littering the floor and shelves appearing to be waiting for the guest of honor.

Stats

Christian Lambert (32)

STR 12 CON 14 DEX 10 INT 15 POW 10 CHA 11
HP 13 WP 10 SAN 50
SKILLS: Alertness 40%, Art (Creative writing) 50%, Firearms 40%, Forensics 40%, HUMINT 40%, History 45%, Law 55%, Persuade 40%, Unarmed Combat 60%

ATTACKS:
Unarmed 60%, damage 1d4-1
Double Barrel Shotgun 40%, Damage 2d6 (Slug)

AVAILABLE WEAPONS: Although Christian is not aware or involved in the mythos aspects of his wife’s affairs he will defend her (until he sees the horrible truth) and his home from harm and intrusion. He’ll do this with bare fists or if there is a chance by retrieving his father’s old hunting shotgun from the top of their bedroom closet.

Annie Lambert (36)

STR 10 CON 10 DEX 12 INT 11 POW 14 CHA 15
HP 10 WP 14 SAN 35
SKILLS: Alertness 50%, Craft (Sculpting) 60%, Disguise 40%, Dodge 50% Firearms 40%, French 80%, HUMINT 50%, Occult 25%, Unarmed Combat 40%, Unnatural 10%

ATTACKS:
Sculpting Knife %, damage 1d6
Short Barrel Pump Action Shotgun 40%, Damage 2d6 (Slug)
.38 Revolver 40%, Damage 1d8
Unarmed Combat 40%, damage 1d4-1

AVAILABLE WEAPONS: Annie keeps an extremely sharp sculpting knife on a chain necklace at all times in case the time comes to end her own life but she will use it to defend herself from attack. Another two of the many secrets she keeps from Christian are both the pump action shotgun and .38 revolver she has purchased illegally to alleviate the feelings of paranoia she is experiencing. She normally keeps the shotgun above the door to the storage room one the inside which is retrievable for use and if given a minute can rig it to go off when the door opens to act as a trap. The .38 is hidden in her purse in case she is attacked in public, she will not draw it but instead attempt to surprise the attacker by firing through the lining of the purse. Additionally, Annie has access to the rituals listed below.

Rituals
“Alors, j'ai vu la vérité, et la vérité était Carcosa” - Found in Rupert Lambert’s Diary
Study Time:Weeks +5 Unnatural 1D4 SAN Activation:Weeks 6 POW 10 WP 30 HP 1D10 SAN
The Diary details the creation of a door through any means of art to act as a portal to Carcosa for short periods and with enough sacrifice of HP to the spell a constant bridge being established between the original location of the art and the city itself that will spill over releasing Hastur upon Earth. To date enough HP has been spent from the murders to activate the door and even allowed Annie to travel to Carcosa for short periods.

Masquerade Guests (Life Sized)

There are 3 couples worth of Masquerade Guests in the attic studio. Handlers may choose to have more around the home or perhaps the crime scenes depending on the number of Agents. Alternatively, a creative Handler may even have Annie disguise some of the Guests to keep an eye on Agents that expose themselves to her too soon.

STR 4 CON 2 DEX 4 INT 2 POW 5
HP 5 WP
ARMOR: 0

SKILLS: Alertness 50%, Disguise 50%, Dodge 20%, Unarmed Combat 40%

ATTACKS: Brittle Limbs 40%, Damage 1d4 when whole/ 1d6 once they are broken
Grapple 40%, The Agent becomes pinned

BRITTLE LIMBS: The Guests will attack with their blunt hands for the first attempt but a hit or miss will smash their hands on the Agents or any suitable nearby hard surface. The remaining parts of the hands or forearms that remain will become razor sharp and become 1d6 worth of damage.
DANCER’S GRACE: If ballroom music is playing, near perfect rhythmic timing has allowed the
Masquerade Guests to learn to sidestep with practiced grace. +40 to Dodge rolls
EXPLOSIVE SHARDS: If a Guest is shot with a firearm while grappling an Agent, the Agent takes 1d2 Damage when they are covered in razor sharp shards.
TOP HEAVY: If no ballroom music is playing, any failed attempt to attack/grapple an Agent or any successful attempt to trip or push the Guests will result in them falling to the floor and smashing into a pile of razor sharp pieces. Any Agent that lands on the floor will take 1d4-1 Damage from rolling in the Shards.

SAN LOSS:
0/1d4 to see them move without ballroom music.
0/1d6 to see them dance if ballroom music is playing. Agents who fail this SAN test must pass another SAN test or be captivated and stare at their movement for 2 rounds of combat.

Small Masquerade Guests (One Foot Tall)

There are 40 Small Masquerade Guests. They will protect the pages of Le Roi en Jaune strung on the ceiling and the sculpted door.

STR 2 CON 2 DEX 2 INT 1 POW 5
HP 1 WP
ARMOR: 0

SKILLS: Alertness 50%, Dodge 40%, Unarmed Combat 40%

ATTACKS: Sharp Arm Pokes 40%, Damage 1HP
Shears/Pencils 30%, Damage 1d4
Grapple 40%, a group of Guests pin the Agent to the floor

FRAGILE FORM: Any damage done to the guests results in that many Guests being destroyed if it is reasonable that they would be hit by the attack.
GULLIVER’S TRAVELS: The small Guests will attack in large groups and make use of the shelves in the storage room to launch overwhelming attacks to bring Agents to the floor. If they get a chance they will make an attempt to rope the Agent to the floor with twine or stab them to death with shears or pencils.

SAN LOSS: 0/1d6 to see the storage room full of them and know they are about to be overrun.

Credits

This was an entry to the 2020 Delta Green shotgun scenario contest, written by Josh Knut