A Night Out To the Opera:
Working Group Teal has acquired a possibly reactive Package during their investigation. Due to circumstances, they cannot verify it.
Your mission, meet with one of Teal Group’s Agents at Flat Tops Diner in El Paso, Texas and collect the Package. Once collected, you’re to take the Package to a DG Asset near Pine Bluff, Arkansas. There you are to meet with onsite operatives, Azor and Cliff, and help them ascertain the packages volatility.
If for any reason you are unable to deliver the Package, your Group is to destroy the Package without fail.
What’s Really Going On:
Working Group Teal was investigating another threat before catching onto the Goo-Sorcerer’s operation in Mexico. Teal Group chose to end said operation terminally, putting DG into a bit of a sticky situation. Teal Group needs to go to ground with one big loose end still hanging; three little girls the Agents saved from the Goo-Sorcerer’s compound. Normally, DG has no problem ordering the deaths of innocence, but Teal Group has argued that an Asset back in the States could clear them.
For once DG has blinked, but will not be rewarded. One of the girls in Teal Group’s custody is a host/packaging for the Goo-Sorcerer and it wants to escape.
The Pick Up:
Flat Tops is a normal diner in the southwest that caters to long hall truckers. Teal Group’s bag man sits alone, picking at his food. An appropriate medical check will show that the Agent is under the influence of powerful stimulates and is exhausted. When approached by the players, the Agent will wait for the players to speak the authentication phrase; “It’s lonely to eat alone.” The bag man replies the confirmation phrase; “Not when you’re surrounded by ghosts.”
The agent produces a bag from under the table. “Everything you’ll need is in here. The Package is in the back of the van parked at the end of the parking lot.” After the Agents take the bag, the agent will attempt to leave if not pressed by the Agents; hotwiring an unattended car and driving off from the scenario.
The Bag:
A canvas satchel that contains:
- One suppressed pistol (0.22), loaded
- Various medical supplies (syringes, needles, gauzes, bandages, etc.)
- Two bottles of sedatives; used
- Hand written instructions on administering sedatives to a small ‘mammal’ and dosage to keep them out over a period of time.
The Van:
The Van is white panel, windowless, split cabin, and has Texas license plates. If searched for, it is easy to find that the vehicle is rented under an assumed name. The vehicle is in good repair, with the only issue being that the wiring for one of the brake lights (see Opposition). A full search of the vehicle will reveal this information. The backdoors have child locks on them.
The Package:
In the back of the van lying on a pile of blankets is the Package, three young girls ages 7, 8, and 10. A medical check will reveal that the three have been sedated, are malnourished, and all a little dehydrated. No attempt has been made to keep them clean and all have soiled themselves.
The Agents make a Sanity check (2/1d6+1) against Helplessness upon discovering what the package is.
Opposition:
The Goo-Sorcerer may observe its surroundings up to 50 feet and through objects; regardless if it is in a host or not. It has been biding it’s time for when it can try to escape from its capture. The van is parked close enough to the diner that the Goo-Sorcerer is hesitant to act where Teal Group can still interfere. Once Teal Group’s bag man leaves, it’ll begin to act.
The drive to the Destination will take at least 15 hours, leaving the Goo-Sorcerer plenty of opportunities to escape the Agents.
Escape Attempt (Cost):
“It's Not What It Looks Like!” (1):
The Goo Sorcerer has already tampered with the Van (see the Van). Now all it has to do is wait for a policeman to stop the vehicle and scream when the officer is standing next to the vehicle. If the Agents place a guard over the girls and/or repair the sabotage, the Goo-sorcerer will pursue another avenue of escape.
Machine Troubles (7):
Outside of controlling a host, the Goo-Sorcerer must use liquid telekinesis to move. That ability can be used to control other non-living liquids within a limited range; such as the liquids found in automotive vehicles. The Agent driving the Van must make a drive check in order to avoid crashing the Van or other vehicles crashing into them.
“Hail?” (20):
The Goo-Sorcerer’s liquid telekinesis affords it the ability to affect the water pressure in the atmosphere to create weather effects, such as hail. Hail generated by this ability is soft ball sized or larger. The Agents in the affected zone must make a Drive check to find effective cover; otherwise their vehicles will be badly damaged, if not rendered inoperable (Handlers choice).
Calling A Favor (10):
Not liking its odds, the Goo-Sorcerer decides to psychically contact a fellow sorcerer that it knows for help. Rather than risking their own neck however, they’ve decided to hire-out to a somewhat local biker gang to secure the Goo-Sorcerer’s release. The biker gang is only motivated by money and are not willing to die for this job; breaking off once things get too hot.
Trump Card (8):
Over the Goo-Sorcerer’s career, it has gained dominion over a number of winged servitors. Most were lost during Teal Groups assault on its compound, but one remains. The Goo Sorcerer would prefer to save its use for when it is free from the Agents custody, but if things become desperate it will call for it.
Do to the Goo-Sorcerer’s unique form of immortality; it is Transcendent, but cannot regenerate Willpower naturally. It must harvest it from humans in an alchemical process that renders the still living body into something it can then absorb. Without a laboratory, the Goo-Sorcerer must now ration its remaining Willpower (49) until it can construct a new one. If it runs out of Willpower, the Goo-Sorcerer loses the ability to perceive or acted in any way. It will be trapped in a senseless void for the rest of eternity.
The Destination:
The Agents’ mission takes them to a small farm 8 miles north of Pine Bluff. Officially, the farm is the retirement home of two divorced civil servants looking to enact a form of pastoral America. In reality, it is a Green Box site paid for by DG to protect a major Asset; Brendan Sobel, an Unnatural sorcerer turned DG informant and book reader.
The three have been informed ahead of the Agents arrival and are waiting. The farm is surrounded by an Unnatural alarm system in the form of specially carved wind chimes that only rattle near other Unnatural phenomena (Notice checks for Agents to pick-up on them sounding without the wind). Azor and Cliff will motion the Agents to drive the Van into the old properties slaughter house (now disguised as a tasteful red on white barn).
Not knowing anything about DG, the Goo-Sorcerer is going to jump to several conclusions upon entering the property. Using its own mystical senses, the Goo-Sorcerer will come to believe that all the agents are minions of Sobel and that this whole affair is just an attempt by a rival to steal its power. Outraged, the Goo-Sorcerer will try to eliminate Sobel.
Conclusions:
The “Easy” Way Out: If the Agents “Destroy the Package”, it is a Sanity check (3/1d10+3) against Violence for all Agents. This won’t harm the Goo-Sorcerer. Once its’ host is dead, the Goo-Sorcerer will play the part and wait for the Agents to dump the bodies and then escape in its liquid form.
Vector Detected and Contained: As noted in Opposition, the Goo-Sorcerer can do all sorts of things to keep the Agents busy while it deals with Sobel. Azor and Cliff have weapons stashed around the farm to help aid the Agents if things get dicey. Regardless, once the Agents deal with whatever the Goo-Sorcerer summoned, the fight with the Goo-Sorcerer and Sobel should end as well; with the Goo-Sorcerer reduced to 0 Willpower.
Aftermath:
Success or failure, the Agents likely left a line of death and destruction in their wake. DG will cover for the Agents if any become implicated during the mission, but events should still haunt them. Saving two of the girls should give 1d6+2 Sanity points back to the Agents, but saving all three will give them 1d8+3 Sanity points.
Now that the Agents have made contact with Sobel, DG will have very little recourse to deny the Agents if they ask for his help in future operations. Not that DG would send him on field missions, but contacting him over a secure line for a consultation is more than doable.
Credits
This was an entry to the 2019 Delta Green shotgun scenario contest, written by Evan G. Colón.