Hook
A wealthy startup CEO and art aficionado, Derrick Blain is found dead in his penthouse apartment along with his 11 party attendees in an apparent mass suicide, with potential ritual connections.
Earlier that week, Derrick Blain had purchased a large collection of art from a showcase of promising new local artists and hosted a party to celebrate it's acquisition.
Among the collection is a piece of art titled “Unmasked” by Dinh Tran, a recent immigrant from Vietnam whose art has become known for its surrealist flair, a piece inspired by a little known work; The King In Yellow (TKIY).
Preparation
The secretary of millionaire and CEO Derrick Blaine discovers a mass suicide of wealthy party goers at his penthouse in San Fransisco. Thomas Dodge, A friendly on the SFPD contacts Delta Green about the ritualistic nature of the deaths. The players are contacted by their normal DG/Outlaw handler.
They are given Dodge’s contact information and weak credentials as specialist Investigators of a major agency if necessary to get them onto the crime scene. The connection to TKIY is unknown to any parties involved, and their Handler emphasizes a need to destroy any unnatural objects that could lead to such mass insanity, and their sources.
Arrival
Depending on distance, the Agents arrive in San Francisco up to 24 hours after receiving the assignment. The SPFD has not yet completely cleared out the crime scene, as the extreme nature of the deaths, and the high profile victims have the local & state politicians arguing over jurisdiction. Other federal agents on scene could blow the Agents cover, which is a good source of tension.
The Penthouse
Derrick Blain’s penthouse apartment can be as large and complex as the Handler requires, with the important rooms being The main room, the art gallery, and Blain’s bedroom. The building should convey a feeling of frivolously spent wealth. The SFPD has roped off much of the house and is still in the process of cataloging evidence and conducting interviews.
The Agents can view where the victims were found in the Art Gallery which contains art from numerous famous periods in history and influential modern artists. The room is coated in blood, with 12 white outlines being arrayed in a circular pattern around a single space on the wall (0/1 SAN). There are obvious gaps in the blood pattern where something has been removed. Criminology/Forensics 40% reveals that the blood spray would likely have required the victims to be kneeling with their throats slit, and that the condition of the room other than the blood indicates a lack of struggling. Asking about the missing painting will reveal that a blood soaked painting has been photographed and taken down to the evidence van before being shipped out to the lockup.
The painting has been removed and is being held in a police van in the parking garage before being moved to evidence. “Unmasked” was soaked in blood, which inadvertently protected the officers from viewing it in its entirety and thus suffering its effects.
The Agents can discover a connection to the Auction House via Derrick Blain's computer, Computer Science. Locating the receipts, Search/Accounting, or convincing his Assistant to help, Persuade 30%.
The Painting
The Agents will probably be suspicious of the painting at this point and want to view/destroy it.
The painting is located in the parking garage of the apartment under guard. The officer in charge of them understands the importance of this case and is unlikely to simply allow evidence to be tampered with. The Agents can directly Persuade 70% the guard to let them view the evidence. Alternative methods are asking Officer Dodge for help, or bringing down “new” evidence to be logged, while removing the painting.
If the players are unable to acquire the painting, they are moved to the SFPD evidence lockup for inspection at noon. This could result in a new outbreak of TKIY amongst the well armed officers of the SFPD.
The Auction House
The owner of the Auction House, Noah Taylor, does not return any calls, and the building is locked, with Taylor having shut himself inside. The owner is affected by having viewed “Unmasked” while scanning it digitally into the computer before completion of sale. They are now mad, and in the process of smashing all reflective surfaces, as they continue to see The Yellow Sign manifesting in the reflections. They may attempt to attack the Agents with shards of broken glass. If restrained, Taylor will eventually drop Tran’s name amidst their psychotic babbling.
Agents can locate a photo of Tran and his contact information on the owner's personal computer, or in their sales files with Computer Science 30% / Accounting 20%, as well as copies of the high resolution digital scan of “Unmasked”. Viewing this produces the same effect as viewing the original.
The Apartment
Dinh Tran’s obsession with TKIY and his subsequent art associated with the work has begun to bleed Carcosa into the world through his studio, driving fellow tenants into various levels of insanity.
Tran lives on the 6th floor of a very old tenement style apartment building, there are no elevators, and the fire escapes haven’t been inspected in a decade. The Agents will need to move to his apartment and capture or kill him to prevent the spread of Carcosa through the building.
It is recommended that the Handler not try to detail every room or encounter, but instead select or create a few events to show the reality warping effects of Carcosa on the building. With such an open connection to the real world, Carcosa can affect reality in drastic and extreme ways. The most surreal the better, with the effect becoming more intense as the Agents approach Tran’s. Tran has also attracted the attention of Carcosan Shade creatures, which can manifest as a variety of hostile entities bent on preventing anyone from stopping his work.
- An elderly tenant is seen speaking to their spouse, who is visibly deceased and replying to them.
- A stock painting of an ocean liner begins to pour water down into the hallway, the water levels beginning to rise.
- The stairwell on one side of the building twists and warps preventing use. The light outside is for the wrong time of day.
- Two gang members open fire on a shadowy creature with too many legs that pursues them down the hallway.
- If an Agent viewed the painting, they see themselves fleeing down a dark hallway with the painting under their arm.
- A violinist plays, their siren-like song echoing down the hallway and attracting anyone who fails a (SAN 0/1d3) roll to join them, with SAN loss increasing as they play until the listener jumps from their window.
Tran
Opening the door to Tran’s room, the Agents are greeted not with a normal apartment, but a ruined, snow covered castle-like structure under a strange, swirling night sky, deep in the extra dimensional space of Carcosa (SAN 2/1d8). Reality and the powers of Hastur have bent themselves around Tran and his feelings of isolation and loneliness from his home.
Depending on how intense the Handler wishes to make this space, numerous creatures could be encountered guarding Tran to increase the amount of combat involved in the scenario. Carcosan Shade creatures congregate in this area, and can be used to ratchet up the combat for Agents that are looking for more action, manifesting as a variety of strange residents of the realm. Non-Euclidean geometry can also manifest here, with Shades coming at the Agents from strange angles, or the Agents themselves finding their perspective shifted independent of gravity.
Tran himself sits just beyond the ruins, on the edge of a snowy cliff frantically painting his insane art. His art becoming an all consuming obsession for him, the reality bending effects of his work no longer registering for him. He will continue to paint, bleeding Carcosa into the surrounding neighborhood as long as he is alive and has access to any artistic tools. Attempting to remove his tools from him sends him into a violent frenzy until they are returned.
Epilogue
Upon Tran dying, being rendered unconscious or removed from his tools, Carcosa’s link to the world is severed. The reality warping effects dissolve away leaving nothing but a disgusting, run down apartment filled with stacks on stacks of half finished art. Tran’s unfinished copy of TKIY can be found amongst these documents.
Any Agent who viewed “Unmasked” at its full strength should make an Alertness 40% as Carcosa dissolves, success forcing them to make a SAN (1/1d6) as they notice a yellow clad entity standing atop the ruins watching them before they dissolve away.
Handlers who wish to pursue connections to this story could investigate who sent Tran their unfinished copy of TKIY, and why. There are also now a number of photos, scans and duplications of “Unmasked” inadvertently created by the police and Noah Taylor needing to be contained.
STAT BLOCKS:
“Unmasked”
Looking at the painting even while covered in blood deals SAN (1/3). If the Agents clean the painting off to look at it, they suffer the effects of The King In Yellow (160, Handler’s Guide), but with double the number of encounters needed before becoming noticed by Hastur. The painting depicts the entity known as Hastur standing at the entrance hall to a masquerade party. The longer the painting is viewed, the painting warps to depict the party goers gazing upon Hastur with increasing concern, followed by them on their knees, and finally with all the attendees dead in a pile beneath Hastur who watches, uncaring. The attendees end in a pattern resembling the dead members of Derrick Blain’s party. Each time the Agent chooses to view the painting, they suffer the SAN loss again, as Hastur appears to notice them.
Dinh Tran; Insane Artist
STR 8 CON 8 DEX 10 INT 12 POW 14 CHA 10
HP 8 WP 14 SAN 0 Breaking Point n/a
SKILLS Alertness 40%, Art (Painting) 70%, Dodge 30%, Firearms 30%, Melee Weapon 30%, Unarmed Combat 30%.
ATTACKS Pocket Knife 60% (Damage 1D6, AP 3)
Unarmed 60% (Damage 1D4–1)
Carcosan Shade
STR 12 CON 12 DEX 8 INT 10 POW 1 CHA -
HP 12 WP 1
SKILLS Alertness 30%, Dodge 40%, Melee Weapon 40%, Unarmed Combat 40%.
ATTACKS: Form Appropriate Melee 40% (Damage 1D6)
Unarmed 40% (Damage 1D4)
Carcosan Nightmare: Carcosan Shades appear as whatever nightmarish form is appropriate to the hallucinations of their victims. They could appear as decrepit humans with unnatural strength, or spiderlike creatures moving at great speed along walls. Regardless of form, Carcosan Shades vanish into smoke upon taking lethal damage, leaving behind no bodies. They will begin to reform in 1d4 rounds after death, seeking out new targets to destroy.
Macrodimensional: Like Mi-Go, Carcosan Shades only partially exist in our dimension. They can appear to melt away into walls, or dissolve away into the air before reappearing in a new location and different angle of attack. A successful Lethality roll destroys a Carcosan Shade, but other attacks are unpredictable. If an attack rolls an odd amount of damage, the Carcosan Shade is phase shifted and is immune to that attack.
SAN LOSS: 0/1D6
Credits
This was an entry to the 2020 shotgun scenario contest. Written by Chris Wilkins