Pearls Before Swine

An M-EPIC Shotgun Scenario

Briefing

M-EPIC is monitoring the ongoing “superpig” issue to evaluate whether it represents a paranatural anomaly or threat to the public. Patrick Nold, the officer handling the case, has gone missing under suspicious circumstances. Ottawa assembles a team from other M-EPIC offices and dispatches them to ascertain his whereabouts.

The Truth

Nold has accumulated knowledge of hypergeometry over his career. What started as pragmatism grew into an addiction, and his sanity slipped further away. Nold eventually developed a ritual that could transform a human consciousness into a powerful intellect using other living things as hosts. Sometime in the last two weeks he performed the ritual and fed himself to a herd of superpigs.

While EPIC has rules about the use of magic, Nold’s colleagues looked the other way out of loyalty. They are covering up only their own failure to report him.

Other than the herd that shares his consciousness there is nothing unnatural about Canada’s superpigs.

Edmonton Office

While EPIC’s Prairies region is headquartered in Regina, the sheer size of its area necessitates the use of small field offices for local operations.

Located at Canada Place in downtown Edmonton, EPIC’s “satellite office” is a drab, windowless room in the basement. The office contains three workstations, a few filing cabinets and bookshelves, and a wall safe for secure storage. Nold’s two colleagues are usually here working.

Cassandra “Sandra” Sharpe is the senior. Sharpe is cool and civil but standoffish to the Officers. Her partner is Jonathan Pon, friendlier than Sharpe but defers often to her when questioned.

The two officers do their best to cooperate without incriminating themselves. They do not volunteer information, and while they avoid telling outright lies they become evasive in their answers as pertains to Nold’s wizarding.

Nold was a coroner in Vancouver before being recruited to M-EPIC. He was highly educated and possessed an impressive case clear rate. He lived alone and was not close with family.

The Regional Director for the Regina office is Duncan Robertson, a humourless man M-EPIC poached from Navy intelligence in the 90s. Robertson can be reached by phone. He resents the Officers poking around and asking questions. He is highly protective of his people, and of his own position (he believes the Officers are here because the Director doesn’t trust him). Robertson has no idea what Nold was up to. He is initially dismissive of findings that cast his officers negatively, but if shown incontrovertible evidence of misconduct he reluctantly changes his tune.

The Pigs

Nold was working on the superpig case alone. The others know little about it, but Nold’s workspace is full of notes, photographs, annotated maps and other materials. Nold was tracking their rate of growth (alarmingly fast) and mapping movements on a map with push pins. There are blood analysis, dissection notes on several specimens, and a small library of photographs from the ground and the air. If the Officers are thorough, they detect one oddity: Nold obtained records regarding Robert Pickton, the “Pig Farmer Killer”. There is no apparent connection to any EPIC investigation, at this or any office.

If the Officers conduct their own research into the superpigs, they find unsubstantiated accounts of increased aggression towards animals, and a few reports of mutilated and partly consumed livestock. The accounts began one week ago.

Hacking Sequence

Nold’s computer is password locked. M-EPIC mandates 2FA with a badge reader, and 60 day password rotation. (Nold’s badge is at The Scene where he was eaten). A password dated 56 days ago is written to a post-it note on the back of a map. Robertson can authorize access with management permissions but is reluctant to do so. EPIC IT can provide access as a standard Requisition.

The computer contains more case notes and photos, some recordings of pigs, older notes for past cases. There is email correspondence with M-INFO regarding access to the restricted library (paperwork authorized by Robertson, who has no knowledge or recollection. Forensics suggests the signature was forged) Automated reminder of an appointment for psych eval. Library excerpts detailing a wide range of rituals(handler's choice). A thorough search finds an oddity: M-INFO archive files on a “worm-that-walks”. No relevance to any ongoing cases.

Psych Eval

M-EPIC personnel undergo semi-regular psychological evaluation (see THE BACON GRINDER in Targets of Opportunity). While officers cannot obtain his records, with a Requisition or Robertson’s help they can speak directly to Dr. Allison Clark who administered the test. According to Dr. Clark, Nold was 6 points off baseline - no cause for concern, well within occupational tolerances. Pressed for what points mean and how the test works, she answers with pseudoscience, evasion, and clear frustration at her inability to give a better answer. Persuade might convince her to reveal that, despite the test results, Nold was not well.

The Scene

According to cell data, Nold's last known position was some distance west of Fort Mcmurray before his phone lost connection.

Nold’s vehicle can be found not far from where his phone lost signal. Searching reveals several sets of footprints - a haphazard pattern of bootprints (Pon and Sharpe, as though searching themselves). Another, slightly older set of prints leads off into the brush.

Following the trail leads to a well traveled, flattened patch of ground. Search finds shredded clothing, keys, wallet, a broken cell phone all belonging to Nold. Lots of dried blood. Fragments of bone. Tracks from a large number of pigs. Closer examination suggests a trampled ritual circle.

An Alertness test from the Officers here alerts them to several eyes watching from the undergrowth. If threatened or approached, the pigs bolt and disappear.

Developments

The recent animal killings, if investigated, are a variety of local wildlife or livestock. Partly eaten.  Bite marks and tracks are consistent with pigs. Larger animals like cows or deer show evidence of a coordinated attack by multiple assailants.

If the Officers allow time to pass, the animal attacks escalate. A moose with a broken leg, driven off a cliff before being set upon. Hares fallen into crude pits. Deer chased onto train tracks. Internal organs removed and arranged, instead of eaten,

Later, a farmer walks trance-like into the woods without saying a word. His corpse is found like the animals. A search of the farmer’s land discovers sigils drawn in the dirt and carved in trees by pig trotters (Fascinate/hypnosis ritual)

If left unchecked, the herd will eventually descend upon campers in the nearby parks, with horrific results.

Going Ham

With evidence of paranatural incursion, the Officers’ assignment changes from investigation to containment. There is no backup.

The gestalt mind that was Patrick Nold no longer thinks like, or indeed thinks of itself as, human. It is a cunning and intelligent predator that desires its own growth and survival - the more the herd grows, the smarter it becomes. But more than just physical survival, it also desires living sacrifices to fuel rituals and charge up its WP.

The herdmind can understand human speech, but will not itself attempt to communicate. It knows whatever spells the Handler thinks would be fun, is capable of setting simple traps, and will attempt to delay or weaken the Officers if it knows it is being hunted.

One possible weakness is a flaw inherited from its human existence - ego. The mind believes itself superior to humans, and is sure to underestimate them at first. It is likely to overcommit if it fails to realize it’s being drawn into a trap.

The herdmind tends to clump together in order to maximize its networked intelligence through proximity - this at least makes it easy to track. Going on foot is exhausting at best and suicide at worst. Ground vehicles are faster, but pigs can go places a truck or an ATV can't fit. Much easier is to spot the herd from the air.

Boar War

The herdmind fights as a single massive organism when confronted. If defeat is certain, the herd scatters - its consciousness diminishes to dim awareness but it knows it will survive if even one pig escapes. Unless measures were taken ahead of time, eradicating every single pig may prove difficult.

Failure: Any part of the herd escapes. In a year the pigs regain sufficient numbers to reawaken the collective consciousness. It knows to be more careful this time.

Success: The herd is eradicated to the last hog. Any carcass returned mostly intact for study earns the thanks of M-INFO (bonus if any are captured alive).

Conclusion

The Assistant Director encourages the Officers to play down any misconduct in their final report, and to make the ordeal sound like an unavoidable accident no one could have seen coming. Failure to participate in the cover-up has no official reprimand, but higher ups make their displeasure known. Officers may be passed over for commendation in future or reassigned to dreadful posts.

If the officers submit a damning report but return a live specimen, INFO’s gratitude ensures there are no career consequences.

P

Stat block: Awakened Pig

Treat as a regular wild boar with the following changes:

HOG MIND: An Awakened Pig’s INT and POW are equal to the number of other pigs in the scene.

PIG HEADED: If INT is 4 or higher, an Awakened Pig can attempt any skill by rolling it's INTx5 - though skills that benefit from fine manipulation or opposable thumbs may suffer a -20% penalty. Some tasks remain physically impossible for a pig to perform no matter how smart.

SWINE SPELLS: If POW is 8 or higher, one Awakened Pig per combat round may cast a ritual using POWx5 as it's activation roll. It may not burn POW to pay the WP cost of casting, but may instead burn *pigs* in a similar manner. The shared pool may gain temporary WP over its maximum, but any excess is lost after one hour.

If POW is 12 or higher the gestalt mind may cast one ritual automatically per round, and a second one with an activation roll. The rituals must be cast on different turns. It may cast an additional automatic ritual at POW 20.

FRESH SCRAPS: If allowed to consume a living or recently deceased creature for one full round uninterrupted, the gestalt mind and the pig gain 1d4 WP and 1d4 HP. The gestalt may use this ability on its own pigs if desired.

BOAR HORDE: If there are a large number of Awakened Pigs in a scene, the herd behaves less like a coordinated group and more like a single organism. For a large encounter (such as the climax of this scenario), treat the herd as a single creature with HP equal to the sum of all its pigs. It acts once on initiative count 10, and one further time after each player acts. When damaged, treat it as HUGE for Lethality purposes. For every full 6 damage inflicted, one pig dies and INT/POW adjust accordingly. Any attack with a kill radius inflicts double damage on the horde.

Credits

Pearls Before Swine was written by William Roy for the 2024 Shotgun Scenario contest.
Source: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1jKB5ve52f6jEvgs5__P3Yckkqk2PeuRmuFAFMKxTf5U/edit