Holy Bay

HOOK

Winter 20XX, France, Barfleur, near the Channel.
A WW1 museum recently acquired a strange statuette which might be abnormal and worries your contact: it was made by a strange sculptor who disappeared mysteriously… and was carved from a human femur.

SPECIAL RULES

This scenario contains no pre-written solution, like Brindlewood Bay and The Between, by Jason Cordova.

• Clues : when Agents find information, give a Clue from the list and contextualize it.

An NPC gives you the information, you find the object in a pocket, on the corpse…

• Theory : when Agents think they understand the case, ask them to come up with a theory using the Clues collected.
  Plan 15 to 30 min of discussion.
  Secretly roll 2d6 and add +1 per logically used Clue.
  Don't reveal the result of your dice: they'll find out soon enough.
  • 6-: The theory is not correct and the Agents suffer a complication.
    Throwing themselves into the lion's den, unknowingly helping the Threat, being attacked…
  • 7+: The theory is correct but complication…
  • 10+: The theory is correct !
  • 12+: The theory is the right one, and can lead to more hidden and sinister things, at the risk of seeing a little too much…

• Dig: when Agents want more information about a Clue, they tell you how and roll as appropriate.
  • Fumble : the Clue can no longer be Furthered.
  • Failure : nothing so far. They can try again later in another way.
  • Success : the Clue now gives +2 for the Theory ! Add some information related to it. Cannot be Furthered anymore.

RESEARCH SECTION - ARTEFACT

* Part of DGSI, French internal intelligence
* Created following WW1, reactivated in 2015
* Investigate supernatural Irregularities. Collect strange objects and send them to private labs.
* The Section has no knowledge of Mythos.
* Old school mindset, still uses equipment from the 90s.
* Its executives have experienced the rout of the Section during 1985 and would rather not deal with the supernatural ever again.

Choose a team leader, who will suffer all the fallouts of a failed mission and will do the paperwork…

OPENING SCENE

The Agents have an appointment with Adrien Lapérire at the WW1 museum, near the painted Blockhouse.
Cover : officially, they are agents of the Judicial Police (PJ), of the Central Office for the Fight against Trafficking in Cultural Goods (OCBC), after a few museum's items went missing.
Ask one of the Agents while they are on their way : looking at a picture of the statuette from the file, what's the detail reassuring you or arousing your curiosity?

At this time of the year, the village seems hibernating.
No matter the time, the clouds are low and the light dim, and many residents have their shutters closed and lights on.
Ask one of your Agents: What depressing holiday memory comes to your mind?

TIMER

In 2 days, the statuette will be shipped to Paris for further examination.

BARFLEUR'S LLOIGOR

Energetic entity, can materialize in the form of a blind immaculate white bar (fish) with the hind legs of a frog, sometimes with misshapen wings.
At the moment it is weak and trapped, but wants misfortune around it so it can free itself and enslave town folks !

Horlas

Corrupted humans, serving the Lloigor, they have superhuman abilities, nearly invisibles. Often heralded by a gust of wind.

Powers

Mental domination over the weakest, 1D6 hours.
Electromagnetic interference, 1D3 round.
Sucking life from sleeping or unconscious targets. If victim wakes up, will experience it as sleep paralysis.

ARTIFACTS

The statuette

11 cm, the Virgin Mary smiling and open arm, carved clumsily in a human femur. Immaculate white, despite the years.
Glows with a faint white glow, visible especially at night.
Evoke confidence and serenity. The more you are exposed to it, the more it turns into blind veneration.

The 8 mm bullet

Contains the creature. Its contact stains the hands with rust-colored blood.
Seeing the bullet directly allows the Lloigor to attempt mental domination over the victim, in order to make them a servant.
If it is broken, the Lloigor is released from its prison !

Model 1892 revolver

Regulatory weapon during WW1, six shots.
Old and poorly maintained, a tattered leather strap is still attached to the stock.
This weapon inspires deep sadness and a kind of disgust in an area of ​​20m around. The feeling grows as you approach it.
If the Lloigor is in physical form, a bullet fired from this weapon will kill it.

LOCATIONS

When visiting a location for the first time, ask 1 Agent or many.

Museum

Small and cold, half of the lights failed, lots of rusty weapons.
What depresses you the most about this place of memory?

Archives

Maze of tunnels, small crowded rooms, low ceilings.
What object do you notice that reminds you of the horror of war?

Trench replica

Everything is poorly made plastic, store mannequins, surprisingly large.
Which story saddens you the most?

Poor block

Few decayed houses, near the cliff, unstable ground.
Some names : William, André, Magalie, Eul'Petiôt (The Lil'), Josépha, La Suze (Alcohol).
What wild story goes about the nearby Pierre's house ?

Pierre's house

Abandoned, deep sadness, sculpture material and white paint stain.
When was the last time you felt this bad?

The Toad's pit

Wind whistling between the rocks, blood-red algae, echoing like a dull laugh.
You really want to leave an offering here. What item do you leave ?

NPCs

Adrien Lapérire, museum keeper

Blind trust in Agents, always looking for gossip, very tense.

"Objects sometimes disappear here, it's annoying but it's not my main concern right now. The statuette, on the other hand… It's pretty but the equipment breaks down, and there is something unhealthy around it…"

Maureen Larcher, receptionist

Small and stunted, eats a lot and dirty, skilful hunter.
Friendly for Delta Green but she thinks she would make a perfect “Agent”, even if she does not know what exactly…

“The Judicial Police? With my friends we have a book club, only detective novels! And I always guess the end before the others! The statuette? Ho, I like it, it makes a bit of entertainment around here. And say, what is the age limit to enter the force… ?"

Frédérique Lounds, local journalist

Red hair, white corpse skin, wants to become a "real" journalist, the end justifies the means.

"Holala, tell me, things are getting more and more interesting ! A weird statuette, a mad artist, a sacrificial cave… And now the police! It just lacks a corpse hihi…"

Mr. Antoine De Cleffe, director of the museum

Traffic in museum objects, always an interesting anecdote to tell, phobia of weapons.
Will do everything to hush up the affair, but always by indirect means.

"Haha, no, no objects are disappearing, they must have been misplaced or perhaps loaned elsewhere. The team is small, you know, it's not always easy.
I've bet 10€ with the front desk about what's inside the statue: I'm sure it's an old coin or something. Wanna join the game ?

TIMELINE

Use this information as Clues or give them away bit by bit.
1. 1916 : Lloigor captured in Pierre Monlion's bullet. Make the soldier hide it in the statuette, and use his powers to make him sympathetic even to his enemies.
2. 1918 : Pierre returns from the war and becomes a sculptor.
The Maiden of the Trenches earns a small reputation.
3. 1920s : Pierre is increasingly strange and reclusive, spending his time building statues out of unhealthy materials.
4. October 1929 : two neighbors noticed the absence of noise and found the place filled with white statues of the Virgin, but also some of a huge toad, titled "Galatea".
No trace of Pierre.
5. After 29 : without heir or family, the works are sold in various collections. The house remains abandoned and people speak of its "bad aura".
No trace of the statuette.
6. Two weeks ago : a group of teenagers find the statuette in the Toad's pit and bring it back to the village.

CLUES
1. Electronic and magnetic objects are disturbed near the statuette.
2. Rumors of grave desecrations in the 20s.
3. High cancer rates in the village.
4. People sometimes get lost in the fog and lose track of time.
5. Rumor of a sleeping dragon for which a cult would do… child sacrifices / regular prayers / banquet of raw fish.
6. Several past shipwrecks due to strong currents, which led to the fall of its port.
7. Looters used to lure boats during storms to loot them.
8. Legend about "Le Drôle", a kind of prankster elf announced by the wind.
9. The old cross, in the sailors' cemetery, bears strange inscriptions : prayers in Old Norse / symbols of the Toad / names of the missing.
10. Note on Pierre and his hatred of women.
11. Rusted bayonet, stained with fresh blood
12. Corpse of a boar with human teeths marks.
13. Strange stained glass depicting a toad where the Virgin would traditionally be.
14. Bank statement of suspicious sales.
15. Museum records have been tampered with.
16. Traces of pale blood dripping towards the coast.
17. A soldier's dummy has moved.
18. Surveillance equipment with traces of sabotage.
19. Police car on the roadside, empty.
20. A humanoid shadow with nothing to cast it.

Credits

SR-A case file : HOLY BAY was written by Toortle for the 2022 Shotgun Scenario contest.
Source: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1YR-twxZO6QzJW00TKIrOhMlN-y30xT6sw4PgbHXMEXM/edit.