Subject T
There is a person following one or more of the Agents. This document refers to them as Subject T. Subject T appears to be human. Ultimately, Subject T can be as Unnatural as the Handler requires.
Subject T is not a straightforward Night At The Opera. Rather, Subject T is a looming presence throughout the campaign. They should intrude into the Agents’ lives when the Agent expect feelings of safety or comfort.
Brief
The Agents’ first real encounter with Subject T is a series of photos that appear in a Green Box in a manila folder also containing several pages of drawings, clearly made by young children. The folder is labeled "Experiment 36-B results, dispose of immediately." The Agent then remembers seeing Subject T several times in the past — at first in the background of a scene, or they’re a call an NPC takes, or their face appears in a photo lineup or something similar. At this point they haven’t spoken to the Agents, but the uncanny nature of the encounters costs a SAN test at 0/1 for helplessness.
After discovering the photos, Agents begin to encounter Subject T in Home scenes as well as standard and unnatural investigations. Each encounter costs a SAN test of varying difficulty, see “Recent Encounters” below.
Subject T is white, of a gender the Agent might be attracted to, of an average height, and appears to be middle to lower-middle class. They are not someone you would look twice at on the street or in a bank.
Subject T’s name is something like Tara, Tom, Taylor, Tiffany, or Tucker – something common and nonthreatening.
Subject T is always a friend-of-a-friend, a coworker in the next department, a practitioner of the same hobby, or an acquaintance of an important benefactor. NPCs will bring this up offhandedly. There will be consequences for simply eradicating Subject T.
Subject T will deny stalking or harassing the Agent if directly confronted.
Recent Encounters
These are suggested ways to use Subject T to unnerve agents. If the Handler comes up with their own, they should focus on themes of entitlement, lovebombing, intrusion, behavior mirroring, expectation and punishment, and weaponized weakness.
Subject T is invited by a Bond to a dinner or other intimate Home vignette. Subject T spends the entire time interrupting the Agent to add inane or unrelated information. If confronted, Subject T offers a long-winded explanation as to why they cannot help it. SAN 0/1, helplessness.
Subject T follows and friend-requests the Agent on all social media. SAN 0/1, helplessness.
Subject T appears in a commercial for a local business or news station. SAN 0/1, helplessness.
Subject T texts the Agent to ask for an invitation to said Agent’s birthday party, even if the Agent’s birthday is already past or they were not planning on celebrating. Any reaction other than an invitation will cause Subject T to respond with great offense. SAN 0/1D2, helplessness.
Subject T attends the same party the Agents attend. They stick close to one Agent and repeatedly state to the room that the Agent is “intimidating” and “hard to get close to”. If confronted, Subject T bursts into tears. SAN 0/1D2, helplessness.
The grinning likeness of Subject T peers down at the Agents from a billboard for a local personal injury law firm. SAN 0/1D2, helplessness.
A printed conversation between the victim of a violent crime and Subject T is discovered at the crime scene, stuck halfway into a shredder. SAN 0/1D4, helplessness.
The ashes of a building or Unnatural creature destroyed by fire form the likeness of Subject T. SAN 0/1D4, unnatural.
An Agent receives a call on her burner phone at an odd hour. Subject T starts out asking seemingly-normal questions, but it rapidly becomes apparent that they won’t stop unless the Agent stops them. If the Agent stops them, Subject T flies into a rage, insisting that the Agent does not respect how hard it is for them to reach out due to shyness, fear, the Agent’s own coldness, or other social factors. If the Agent tries to argue, Subject T gets nasty and personal. The only way to get them to stop is either a) apologizing, which Subject T needs proof of, or b) hanging up, which results in a barrage of texts from Subject T. SAN 0/1D4, helplessness.
One or two Agents receive an expensive holiday present with a wordy, over-friendly card from Subject T. There is no return address — and the present itself is an item from a Green Box the Agents had access to in the last year. SAN 1/1D4, unnatural.
Subject T talks to one of the Agents’ Bonds in depth over coffee or some other social activity. It appears Subject T has, or is claiming to have, the same disorders as one of the Agents, and isn’t it unfair that that Agent can’t respect that? SAN 1/1D4, unnatural.
Potential Truths
Subject T can be any of the following based on the needs and preferences of the Handler:
- Subject T did not exist before the Agent read the folder. The experiment was a half-assed attempt to create a tulpa to protect the dreams of the experimenter’s children; the adult Agent reading it into existence now has a being fanatically focused on forcing them to like it.
- Subject T is a test by the Program who feel the Agents have gotten complacent in their tactics. Failure means mandatory re-education.
- Subject T is just a really persistent, obsessive human who wants to be friends with the Agent(s) but is either unwilling or unable to understand how their behavior affects said Agent(s). They get very upset if boundaries are established with them and will do their best to convince the Agent(s) otherwise. They will move into actual violent stalker territory eventually if something is not done to stop them. However, an agent of Nyarlathotep placed the photo in the folder to prank the Agents (in a way that an Old One thinks a “prank” works) and has been sending Subject T lush, vivid, almost addictive dreams of the Agent(s).
- If the Agents kill Subject T, Stephen Alzis sends them a text with five laugh/cry emojis and “Gotcha! Hope you enjoyed killing a normal human, how’s that whole heroism thing coming along?” Any further communication will result in Alzis laughing hysterically either through voice or text.
- Subject T is a ghoul trying to start a family with one of the Agent(s) due to some arcane rule, and is terrified of failing.
- Subject T may fit with something else entirely in your campaign: use that.
Credits
Subject T was written by Jacqueline Bryk for the 2024 Shotgun Scenario contest.
Source: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1ZXzuVUhwB7G1GayFTcJDeZKJR2vYyjKfcbjWFGSzwE4/edit