Red Minstrel
Briefing:
A multiple murder behind the El Faro nightclub in Tijuana left five gattieros (cartel triggermen) dead. Unlike a gang hit, they were ripped limb from limb as if by an animal, their weapons and armor doing little to protect them. Investigate and learn if there’s more to this than simple cartel violence.
The Friendly:
Once in Tijuana, the agents meet with Delta Green friendly Olivia de la Fuenta, an officer with the PFM. She’s a high-ranking cop who can act as fixer for equipment and has locked down the investigation with the local police. She can also serve as translator and backup.
Facts from de la Fuenta:
The five victims arrived at the El Faro prepared to kidnap and possibly murder Xavi Rojas, a singer of narcocorrido (songs focused on gang life). They had sidearms and body armor. Their mutilated bodies are in the morgue.
Xavi Rojas, a new act in Tijuana, is missing.
A note was delivered by the gangsters to Xavi during his set, informing him “For your sins, you are going to die after your set.”
A drunk American student is in jail. He witnessed something regarding the attackers but wouldn’t speak with de la Fuenta.
The assassins were members of Los Fantasmas, a small gang whose leader Raul Herrera Xavi sang about in derogatory terms.
The investigation in Tijuana
The bodies Raul Herrera, the “Cuchillo Probado” (made man) with Los Fantasmas, along with four of his men, were killed before they could get off a shot. Their armor did them little good. Deep gouges, as if attacked with talons, marked the corpses.
Two wear obsidian arrowhead Necklaces (Occult Roll: traditional for protection against negative energy or spirits.)
Tattoos: Santa Muerte (Holy Death) imagery.
A sharp stench marks the bodies, as if sprayed by animal musk.
If Raul Herrera or Los Fantasmas are investigated, the agents will learn the gang is oddly quiet and a new Cuchillo Probado has already been promoted to Raul’s place. Senior members of the gang know enough about the village of Puerto Seco and its denizens to avoid any activities nearby and to let the matter go. Raul had a reputation as a hothead with a big ego.
The El Faro. The scene of the crime. Two levels, dance floor, main bar and upstairs bar, mirrored walls, neon of a lighthouse out front, and a dark alley out back. Caters to tourists.
The alley has a brick grocery store opposite the club. Claw marks can be found on the lip of the roof, as if something had been waiting for the assassins to come out through the fire exit.
A stench from the wall near the street is the same as that in the morgue.
Footage from neighboring traffic cameras can be accessed via de la Fuenta. Poor light and image quality and a bad angle reveal Xavi being dragged by three figures who move with an abnormal gait and placed in a minibus. The license plate (CDJ-13-04) is legible.
Partial barefoot footprints appear human.
There were no other eyewitnesses except for Eric Knudsen, who’s in jail.
The Police Station
Eric Knudsen, Sigma Phi Epsilon and a senior at Long Beach State University, was drunk when he stepped out into the dark alley in time to hear the attackers tear the assassins to shreds. He’s angry about being held and won’t speak with the cops, insisting on “a lawyer” and “a diplomat from the embassy.”
While he doesn’t understand what happened, he claims a “gang of oddly moving shadows dragged the singer away” and got into a big van or bus. If pressed, an additional detail will emerge that the attackers were both nude and female. Eric caught a portion of the license plate CDJ-13.
The minibus Further footage shows the vehicle appearing in the city arriving from the south. It’s registered to the Los Olivos Transportation Company. The company is a rural transportation service in Los Olivos with no website or phone number on record.
Investigating Xavi Rojas
He’s new in town, with no record or credit of any kind. He’s played every open mike night possible, demonstrating talent and a unique voice, earning a minor but loyal following, and he’s been seen with a girlfriend.
The police and the El Faro management have an apartment address. A humble place rented for cash two months ago.
The apartment clues:
Bundled in an old duffel bag: A Mesoamerican pictograph etched on a whale bone. A figure in coyote skin over two stick figures, one female, one male, holding hands, with a backdrop of tied reeds. Archaeology or occult rolls indicate this pertains to a marriage, but the cultural background of the artifact remains unknown.
On a shelf: sand dollars, a necklace of sea glass, and a dreamcatcher of twine and dried seaweed.
A polaroid of an old church. If researched, it is a 19th century chapel San Miguel de las Sombras in the village of Puerto Seco. Strangely, it is left out of every tourist website and tour book. The village itself appears to not exist anymore, but it used to lay somewhere south of San Felipe down the gulf coast of Baja California.
Optional Clues:
De la Fuenta will track down the address of the bus owner Luis Gomes at Los Olivos. The police who patrol the area are uncooperative in following up.
Xavi’s girlfriend Clarisa Romaro can be encountered breaking into his apartment or spying on the place.
If detained, she discloses he was a cute country boy fresh off the bus who had a voice of gold. He borrowed 2000 pesos to buy his guitar. He told her he was from Puerto Seco, but refused to talk about his family. She suspected he had a girlfriend back home.
The Los Olivos Depot
The bus depot is a plain square building off the coastal road. With few service, a few locals who live in trailers nearby run a small trading post and market outside daily. If asked about Puerto Seco, they feign ignorance.
The minibus sits under a canopy nearby, next to other neglected vehicles. It’s operational and has been driven recently, but there are no other clues here except a lingering odor of musk.
On a wall inside, a faded tourist map of missions and churches has San Miguel de las Sombras in the village of Puerto Seco mostly scratched out, but shows the village is just south of the You Are Here mark.
Luis Gomes, the depot manager, is inside the depot office. Intoxicated, elderly, and missing his left arm below the elbow. He will do his best to turn away an interrogation. If pressed, he will disclose using the bus and taking a group from Tijuana to “the old road.” He will beg the investigators to stay away, and is in fear for his life. Pushed further, he will break down into sobs and become incommunicative.
If followed, he returns to Puerto Seco at dusk, as do the other vendors at the market. Some bear old wounds and missing limbs.
The Old Road is two kilometers south of the depot.
Puerto Seco
An unmarked dirt road heads east to a series of steep switchbacks. Below at the coast is a village of twenty hovels. Off the grid, the only landmark is an old stone chapel.
The church of San Miguel de las Sombras. Decrepit, its stones marked by scratched and hand-drawn pictograms of hunters fleeing. Inside where a crucifix once hung, a group of women are depicted dancing beneath a moon.
A hand-dug basement contains a century’s worth of victim’s bones.
An old ledger of births and deaths shows only one birth in the past fifty years, that of Xavi Rojas.
In a pit beyond the village is a collection of wrecked cars, campers, and motorcycles of the wives’ victims.
The Wives of Puerto Seco
A matriarchy of five nahual have lived in the village for over a century. They take in local men (like Luis Gomes) to use as servants and mates, and punish them by dismemberment for any infraction.
Unnaturally strong and fast yet appearing human, the nahual bodies can contort into grotesque, animalistic humanoid forms with long claws.
They sleep during the day but suffer no ill effects from sunlight. If roused, they will shriek an alarm, retreat, regroup, and attack. At night, they are active and will meet visitors directly, inviting them in for hospitality.
They will work together to defeat any intruders, disabling vehicles and blocking the road up the cliff. They’ll also spit their scent mark and hunt any who escape…
Xavi
Xavi is a rare half-human/nahual offspring who has been promised to one of his aunts in marriage. Xavi now waits drugged in a cottage for the nuptials. He doesn’t expect to survive the night.
He wishes to leave the village behind him. It’s up to the investigators to decide on how to deal with him.
Stats
Olivia de la Fuenta STR 10 CON 12 DEX 13 INT 14 POW 16 CHA 12
HP 12
SKILLS: Alertness 60%, Bureaucracy 70%, Criminology 50%, Drive 50%, Firearms 65%, First Aid 35%,
HUMINT 40%, Law 55%, Persuade 60%, Search 60%, Stealth 40%, Unarmed Combat 60%.
ATTACKS: Glock pistol 65%, damage 1D10.
The Wives/ Nahual STR 18 CON 15 DEX 18 INT 11 POW 14 CHA 14
HP 15
1D4+2 claw attack with 3 points armor piercing.
Skills: Alertness 60%, Dodge: 70%, Stealth: 65%, Unarmed Combat (claw attack) 65%
Spit: Range 3 three meters, will scent mark the target. The musky odor is nauseating and will allow the nahual to track the victim over many miles. It takes a week to fade. During this time the victim will suffer from abdominal pain and vomiting. 0/1 SAN Helplessness.
Disguise: the nahual appear and act human. Dropping their disguise is instantaneous. Witnessing the transformation is SAN 1/1D6.
Mobility: Move 30/turn without DEX check. Can climb rocks and walls with ease.
Credits
Red Minstrel was written by I.O. Adler for the 2024 Shotgun Scenario contest.
Source: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1aYBFti-nrcMTG_i_sgeT5zEO66fNNs2Yb7hUF26HCe8/edit