Return to Sender
For the 2024 Shotgun Scenario Contest
Special thanks to VirtualShark and Mr. Nightmare for assistance
Thanks mellonbread for rules on Talents and inspiration
Word count: 1,485
GM Summary
Lan Hanna, a wizard and time refugee from the future Cruel Empire of Tsan Chan, is looking for new psychic Talents as recruits for their far-future army. Unfamiliar with this time, Hanna has recruited two locals to locate Talents and send them C-U-L8-Rs: parcels that involuntarily transform the opener into their essential salts to be collected and stored for millenia. Hanna’s next victim: the Case Officer.
Unfortunately, the Case Officer’s neighbor is a new porch pirate. Believing the Case Officer goes through his packages, the neighbor picked the worst day to get revenge. He grabbed the C-U-L8-R, tore it open at the Case Officer’s door, and disintegrated into his essential salts.
Realizing the package was probably for her, the Case Officer calls the Agents in.
Agents’ Briefing
Summoned immediately to the Case Officer’s dilapidated house in eastern Mesa, AZ, the Agents are instructed to tiptoe past the dust on the porch and to come in. Once inside and surrounded by hastily-made bags full of either gear or shredded paper, the Case Officer explains:
- Neighbor was disintegrated after opening a package. Captured on a hidden front-door camera.
- Objective: clean up the neighbor (spouse doesn’t know they’re dead yet) and try to manufacture his disappearance.
- Objective: figure out who sent that package (clearly intended for the Case Officer).
- Objective: make sure nobody tries to break into the CO’s house (access to the camera provided).
The CO won’t be much help: they’ve clearly been compromised, and must leave town by tonight. But they will answer questions now (or via cell) and provide them access to the package and the camera recording.
Case Officer’s House
Going to ground, the Case Officer is collecting sensitive documents, destroying the non-essential ones, and throwing everything else into go-bags. Agents can ask her about potential connections to previous operations, and she’ll provide uninteresting anecdotes.
Notably, she’ll mention she’s a “Talent” (someone with active extra-sensory perceptions), and that’s kept her bound to an analyst chair. The only “action” she’s seen is disappointing Hinge profiles, and one weird one asking about dreams and premonitions (secretly run by Amy to find Talents).
The Case Officer will also give Agents access to her front door camera. The only thing of note is the mailman delivering the package, followed by the neighbor opening the package and disintegrating seven minutes later (0/1D4 Unnatural SAN loss).
Later that night, Amy Ying will attempt to collect the salts (which she thinks are of the Case Officer). Amy’s Honda Civic will be picked up by the Case Officer’s camera. If the Agents are still around when Amy arrives, she’ll quickly retreat and try one more day before giving up.
“Body”
Covered by a tarp, a pile of sticky purple-yellow salts stains the walkway. Forensics or Medicine can verify the salts contain human genetic code and clumps of crystalized brain tissue. Agents with Bureaucracy or Law can find that local police have multiple missing persons reports, each with scenes inside homes with similarly-stained scenes (sans most of the salts).
Package
The package, also covered by a tarp, appears sun-burnt on the inside. A single, burnt-out, “eye-like” flash bulb rests in the box. Craft (microelectronics) or Physics indicates this bulb is highly-sophisticated, using high-frequency diodes and solid-state salt batteries still being researched. Chemistry or Forensics indicate the box was originally lined with some thermo-reflective material, acting as both a mirror (for focus) and ablative armor for the box.
The package has the normal markings of a USPS parcel. The return address is a library (across the street from where David Wells drops the packages off to USPS). Agents with Bureaucracy can get in contact with the post office who received this package and chat with them IRL.
The Post Office & David Wells
The post office doesn’t know too much of the situation, but they know David Wells drops off packages once a week. Sweet guy, he mostly camps out near the library to use their wifi or volunteer to read for kids.
David Wells’s Camp
David keeps his camp fairly light, sticking to what he can carry on his shockingly well-maintained, high-end mountain bike. Craft (mechanics) reveals it has some impenetrable self-healing coating that prevents rust, grime, and (if cut or dented) physical damage (0/1 Unnatural SAN loss).
His dog Sid, large yet gentle, guards the bike and camp when David reads to the kids every Thursday. Medicine or Ride suggest the dog is physically 7 years old and big for his breed.
Neutralizing Sid (hard) or getting David’s permission (impossible), Agents can find:
- Clothes and toiletries. Clean dress shoes, but a tattered suit.
- Pictures of his unit in Iraq, dated 2006-2009.
- Laptop. Computer Science unlocks it, revealing discussion forums and guides on substitute teaching as a homeless, disabled vet.
- A fresh prescription of anti-anxiety medication.
- An old prescription set for his dog. Pharmacy reveals the drugs in the container aren’t the ones prescribed.
- Empty Amazon boxes fished out of the recycling.
- $912 in cash.
Talking to David
David isn’t thrilled to talk to cops. Dickish behavior will be reciprocated. Some combination of kindness, military experience, and assurance he isn’t in trouble will get him to talk.
He sends packages for Lan Hanna, retrieving the packages at Desert Devil Auto Repair 3mi away. He’s told to never look in the packages.He’s paid in auto parts and scrap metal he can sell for cash.
He thinks Lan Hanna is incredibly weird, reminding him of characters out of Mad Max. Hanna doesn’t speak English, and they use a weird dialect of Arabic he doesn’t fully understand. If he thinks the Agents are a threat to Hanna, he’ll offer to translate for them.
Amy Ying
Broke, temporarily-homeless, stressed, 20-year-old Applied Linguistics Masters student at Arizona State. She’s in charge of collecting and delivering the essential salts to Hanna, in exchange for fixing the car and providing a “Limitless” focus drug to sell to students.
She uses the package’s tracking number to know when to stalk and collect the victims, vacuuming the salts the same day they’re opened.
If confronted, Amy is likely to collapse from exhaustion as much as flee. If worn down (or offered housing), she’ll tell about Lan Hanna.
Car
This month, Amy lives in her 1993 Honda Accord Wagon. When not driving, it’s parked in ASU’s Tyler Street structure.
Inspecting the car with Craft (Mechanic) or Drive reveals a combination of worn stock-parts and exceptional-but-squishy after-market parts. Watching the “engine” start betrays the bio-mechanical nature of the vehicle (0/1 SAN loss Unnatural).
Inside the car, Agents find:
- Bags with pearl-like capsules in them. Pharmacy testing reveals it’s a stimulant, promoting neuron growth. These remove the Exhaustion penalty for 3D6 hours, costing 1 SAN (Unnatural).
- A Hoover, with spare canisters. Some canisters are filled with purple-yellow salts like the Case Officer’s neighbor.
- Receipts and invoices from Desert Devil Auto Repair. Accounting reveals no money ever changed hands, and all the parts changed don’t exist on the Honda part catalog.
Desert Devil Mechanics
A previously-failing business, Desert Devil is a rebounding automotive shop in east Mesa. Thanks to Lan Hanna’s mechanical insights and poor salary expectations, and their boss James Ngo’s patience and Vietnamese proficiency, Hanna’s negotiated to work here for room and board.
Agents trying to speak to Hanna will face a huge language barrier: Hanna speaks “Chanese,” the language of the far-future Tsan-Chan empire that’s a mix of Mandarin, Tibetan, Russian, Vietnamese, Arabic, and other Asian languages. A patient Agent knowing one of those languages rolling INTx5 can gather most of Hanna’s meaning, but someone proficient in a pidgin (like Amy, David, or James) can communicate quicker without rolling. Even then, the conversation will only communicate the broad-strokes of Hanna’s plans and intentions. The pidgin is insufficient for detailing the horrors of the 51st century.
At night, Lan Hanna uses one of the vehicle inspection pits as their domicile (wormskin sleeping bag), workshop (far-future gadgets, chem synthesizers, parasite harvesters, C-U-L8-R fabrication), and storage. While in the pit, Search or guidance from Hanna reveals a fold in space that leads to a Long Vault: an impossibly-tall and dream-like pit storing dozens of essential salt canisters to be resurrected later, with hundreds of more spots (1/1D4 SAN loss from Unnatural).
Conclusion
Still fresh to this time, Hanna is willing to find alternative arrangements to find viable Talents to “save the future.” They’re willing to strike a deal with the Agents, offering to construct advanced machines or bio-cybernetically “resurrect” fallen Agents in the future (crude tools of the 21st century permitting).
If Hanna feels this present is too hostile for them, they’ll escape into their Long Vault, closing the door behind them and opening another door a few years in the future. Agents can chase after Hanna (rolling Athletics or Dodge to not get cut in half by the closing portal), but they’ll be stuck in a pit (and eventually chased by Hounds of Tindalos).
Stat Blocks
Case Officer
Reluctant psychic Talent, she/her
STR 10 CON 9 DEX 13 INT 15 POW 15 CHA 10
10 HP 15 WP SAN 60 BP 45
Disorder: Psychic addiction (remission)
Skills: Analyst 60% (whatever Academic skills the Agents need), GTFO 70%, 30% remember to take everything.
REMOTE VIEWING: At cost of 6 WP and D4 SAN, the Talent summons a vision of a distant, unseen target. This ability has infinite range (on planet earth, at least), but the Talent must know the person, place or thing they’re looking for - either what it looks like or where it is. Each additional minute of viewing after the first costs 1 SAN and 1 WP. The Talent’s ability to direct the vision is limited, objects and people may move “out of frame” or speak inaudibly. If used to view another Talent, the target gets an INT test to realize they are being watched.
Sgt David Wells
Aspiring teacher, he/him
STR 13, CON 8, DEX 14, INT 12, POW 10, CHA 13
HP 11 WP 10
Disorders: PTSD, Depression
Skills: Alertness 60%, Athletics 60%, Dodge 50%, First Aid 30%, Firearms 40%, Language (Arabic) 40%, Language (“Chanese”-Arabic pidgin) 21%, Melee 60%, Military Science (land) 30%, Persuade 50%, Substitute Teaching 27%, Unarmed Combat 60%. Human baseline everywhere else.
Attacks: Large knife (60%, D6, AP 3)
Bad back: Fumbles on all failed Athletics and STRx5 rolls.
Sid
David’s best friend
STR 14 CON 14 DEX 13 POW 10
HP 14 WP 10
Armor: 1 point (fur)
Skills: Protect David and the camp 80%, Smile at cheering kids 50%
Attacks: Bite (50%, D6)
Knock down (50%, followed by opposed STRx5 test against target to knock the target prone).
——+++
Amy Ying
Student down but not out, she/her
STR 12 CON 10 DEX 14 INT 13 POW 12 CHA 14
HP 11 WP 12 SAN 47 BP 36
Disorders: Sleep Disorder (preexisting), Paranoia.
Motivations: Graduate sooner rather than later. Get enough money to afford her own place. Have someone tell her everything will be okay.
Native languages: English, Mandarin
Skills: Anthropology 30%, Athletics 50%, Criminology 31%, Drive 45%, Language (“Chanese”-Mandarin pidgin) 23%, Science (Linguistics) 35%, Stealth 42%, Unnatural 4%, Human baseline everywhere else.
Lan Hanna
Wizard from one dark future, they/them
STR 14 CON 12 DEX 15 INT 13 POW 18 CHA 8
HP 13 WP 18 SAN 25 BP 18
Motivations: Reclaim the future. Learn more about this strange new present. Find Baron Fang.
Disorders: PTSD, some others that aren’t important.
Native language: “Chanese” (the language of the Tsan-Chan empire)
Skills: Alertness 60%, Bureaucracy 30%, Craft (Electrician 60%, Mechanic 60%), Dodge 50%, Language (“Chanese”-Mandarin-Arabic pidgin) 24%, Pilot (Flying Car) 60%, Science (Biology 50%, Physics 50%), Occult 60%, Unnatural 21%.
Armor: 3 (studded “leather”-gel lined jacket)
Attacks: Laser pistol (40%, D12, 30m, ablates target’s armor)
Razer teeth (50%, D6, AP 3)
Chronatic Knob: A hand-sized rotary device that lets Hanna destroy and reopen the door in their Long Vault.
Hypnotic Suggestion: The Talent must overcome the target in an opposed POW test. On a success, the Talent pays 8 WP and D4 SAN, and the target obeys any command given by the Talent for a single turn. Commanding a victim to commit murder, suicide, or some other awful act costs the Talent the same SAN as it costs the victim.
Personal Magnetism: At cost of 4 WP and 1 SAN, the Talent ensorcels those around them, making them appear more trustworthy and likeable. This either adds +20% to their Persuade skill (or CHA*5) versus such targets, or allows them to make a Persuade roll in situations where the target would normally not even entertain the idea.
Unconscious Lead: At cost of 10 WP, the Talent can take two actions in a single combat round instead of the usual one. To the outside observer, they appear to have superhuman reflexes. This allows them to attack twice in a single round.
SAN loss: 0/1D4
Credits
Return to Sender was written by Sammy J, ControllingCrowds, Fin Deeley, magnificentophat, and Ty-C for the 2024 Shotgun Scenario contest.
Source: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1R-Id0cI9hDg6sgaXWJWb8fMzDKgAJpdVkvuLdVxYv-4/edit