"He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away. And he who was seated on the throne said, Behold, I am making all things new". Revelations 21:4
Teaser: Three apparent suicides, all with occult symbols carved across their chest, trigger Delta Green to delve deeper into the forgotten souls of Phoenix.
Premise
In the last four nights in Phoenix, three people have committed suicide, each carving an occult symbol on their chest. The Phoenix corner, Martian McDonald, is a DG friendly and contacts them the morning of the 5th day. He had been in Chicago visiting family previously and returns to this mess.
The twelve disciples of the Good Faith Church were preparing for doomsday. There holy savior, Zachariah Smith, had announced the day of the Apocalypse was near and their pain and suffering would soon come to an end. His loyal followers, all drifters who had little to live for, were ready to join him in the afterlife and prepared to die with him in unison on the night of the Grand Conjunction.
Zachariah was more than just a con man though. He needed the life of a dozen willing people to summon the Dark Man to him and grant him immortality. Zachariah had prepared his mind for years for the ceremony, having traveled to parts of Africa on Missions for the church on multiple occasions. He secretly studied the death cults of the darkest and remote parts of the jungle. Zachariah’s mind was prepared, but his body was not. Overweight and a heavy smoker, he had a massive heart attack while walking down the street, striking his head on a light pole. Zacheriah now lies in St. Joseph’s Hospital, on the seventh floor in a coma. Zacheriah’s will is so powerful, he can continue to influence his followers. Should all twelve followers die at their own hands, he awakens, his spell be completed. Though he isn’t as powerful, they completed the ritual simultaneously.
The Apostles are listed in accordance as to the order they will die:
1st Matthew Striker-Deceased. A depressed widower and cancer-stricken man who smoked for forty years. He was easy prey for a manipulator like Zachariah and was the first to die. Found by his neighbor Bill on the couch when he came over for his daily chess game.
2nd Peter Zae-Deceased. A troubled war veteran who suffered from crippling PTSD. Peter had given up a reason to live after losing his brother Robert, and his best friend Phil in Vietnam. A police officer found the body in ally after multiple reports.
3rd Jamie Johnson-a troubled teenager who got mixed up in drugs and prostitution. Her attempt to kill herself was interrupted when her mother Karen, when she walked in on her bedroom. Jamie is now at St. Joseph’s Hospital on the 3rd floor. She is bound and under close supervision of her parents and doctor for fear of another attempt. Her braking the cycle may be the crucial lead investigators need to put the pieces together.
4th John Zebedee-Deceased. A disabled war veteran in eternal pain from breaking his back. Death was freedom from pain. He was discovered in his kitchen by his daughter Jenny on a wellness check.
5th Andrew Miciah. An Ex-con who can’t catch a break after serving twenty years for murder. Prison wasn’t kind to him, and he is nothing more than a shell, ready for the afterlife. While in prison, he trained to be a graphics designer, only to discover his skills were outdated thanks to technological advancements.
6th Philip Rodriguz. An out of work truck driver after being found negligent and on trial for manslaughter when he fell asleep at the wheel and killed a family of four. He is haunted by is actions and unable to sleep without heavy doses of Mirtazapine.
7th Bart Watson. A drug dealer who got hooked on his own product. Bart has a rap sheet for mostly theft to support his habit. As gullible as they come, he was an easy mark for Zacheriah.
8th Judith Washington-a strung-out, black prostitute too old for her profession. Her heroin addiction hasn’t taken her yet. She is ready for the embrace of light…or darkness.
9th Simon Zeller. A homeless meth head, who lives for the next fix. Simon has become a zealot of Zacheriah and considers himself Zacheriah’s right handman.
10th Thaddaeus Harmony. A mentally challenged and homeless man whose mother recently passed away. Thaddaeus stands 6’6” and is obedient to Zacheriah’s will.
11th James Coleman. A man mentally and emotionally scarred from a phosphorous grenade that exploded near him in Afghanistan. He is in deep with organized crime and believes Zacheriah is his only way out. The most likely candidate to be persuaded not to go through with the ritual. Lives alone in a cheap apartment not far from St Joesph’s.
12th Judy Meyers. The only functioning person of the group. Judy manages to hold the night shift as a janitor at St. Joesph’s Hospital. She sleeps with one of the orderlies to maintain control of her drug addiction. She visits Zacheriah room every night to ‘hear his words and sleeps in the basement, should her savior call. Her residence is a small apartment close to the hospital, but clearly has been visited in a few days. Judy knows where all the other disciples can typically be found.
Clues
These may be distributed as desired or found in the following locations:
- A Calander on a refrigerator with date circled and GRAND CONJUCTION, in Striker’s house.
- A blood-stained pamphlet of a religious sort on Zae. The writing is illegible, covered in dried blood, but the letters GOOD Fxxxx are legible.
- In Jamie’s bedroom, a bible between the mattresses, with a pamphlet from the Good Faith Church, 6619 M. 19th Ave, ALL ARE WELCOMED IN THE HOUSE OF THE LORD TO PREPARE FOR THE AFTERLIFE
Inside the pamphlet is a brief description of the fundamental beliefs-typical writing of any congregation. Meeting times are Wednesday and Friday nights from 7:30 until 9:00. There is no phone number listed.
- An old Micron desktop on Andrew Miciah has the first rendition of the pamphlet with the two numbers inverted. It requires a Computer Use skill to crack his password or removal of the hard drive to find the information.
- Any location-a small newspaper article entitled, Holy Man Drops Dead. The article describes Zacheriah Smith’s massive heart attack, and he is currently in critical condition at St. Joesph’s hospital.
The Good Faith Church is located at 6619 M. 19th Ave. On Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday. The local AA group uses the location where people can gather to work on their issues, but the other two nights of the week, between 30-40 people gather in the basement to sing praises to their savior.
Initially, the basement looks like any other one might find throughout Phoenix: A simple wooden podium, folding chairs, a large, somewhat gruesome statue of Jesus on the cross with copious amounts of blood. An empty donation box and pile of pamphlets. A large sign in the rear of room as the quote from Revelations 21:4. Scrawled underneath it is, “Zacheriah is our savior” and more recently, “pray for Zacheriah”.
A search of the podium finds the words ‘SMITH IS GOD’ crudely inscribed into them.
Zacheriah’s House
On W. Ocotilo Road is a one-bedroom house Zacheria owns. The exterior is drab and rundown. Always locked, but easily picked, the inside is quite audaciously decorated in an African décor. A bookcase is filled with books on Africa, specifically Congo, languages of various tribes in Congo, traditions etc. Not present anywhere in the house is a single crucifix or bible.
Under a zebra hide on the floor of the master bedroom is hidden trap door-anyone walking over it can make a luck roll, with success, they notice a bump in the rug. Pulling back the rug reveals a small trap door. Behind the door is a safe, which requires a successful SIGINT roll to crack. Inside is Zacheriah’s passport with many trips to Congo, $5000 in cash, and a scroll with Ascent of Eternity.
The Hospital
On the 7th floor, in room 717, lies the savior to the world-at least in what is left of Zacheriah’s warped mind. He sleeps, aware of his surrounding, his mind reaching out to his followers every evening, pushing them to greater glory by taking their own life to elevate his. Always nearby in the shadows, waiting with a butcher knife she stole from the cafeteria, is Judy Meyers, ready to leap to Zacheriah’s defense.
End
Only killing Zacheriah will end his reign of terror. Distance is irrelevant for him contacting and influencing people. Eliminating his followers will only delay the inevitable (there are thirty more followers who would gladly take the place of the chosen). Should twelve followers commit suicide with the pentagram engraved on their body, Zacheriah awakens from his coma. What effects he has on the world is left to the Handler’s discretion.
STAT BLOCKS
Average Apostle
Desperate and the Damned
STR 11 CON 10 DEX 10 INT 10 POW 9 CHR 10 HP 10, accept Thaddeus who at 14, WP 9, SAN 25%
SKILLS: Alertness 30%, Dodge 30%, Unarmed 30%,
Judith Myers
Fanatical Female
STR 12 CON 12 DEX 10 INT 11 POW 8 CHR 12 HP 12 WP 8, SAN 10% SKILLS: Alertness 40%, Dodge 35%, Melee Weapon 40% - Butcher Knife 1D6 AP 3. If Judith learns of the Agents investigation, she will have Thaddeus help stop them at the hospital.
Zacheriah Smith
Zacheria grew up in a strict Morman, and what charismatic figure early in the church. On his 19th birthday, he went to Congo on his first Mission. Not a week after being there, he went on a hike outside the village. A quick moving storm moved in, and he got lost. After three days of wandering, and nearly dead, he collapsed. Found by a nearby tribe, they took him in and revived him. Believing he had been raised from the dead by the tribe, he studied there ways for weeks, forgetting everything he had known about the religion he had once knew.
Zacheriah had already cast the first part of the spell and was preparing the final activation in less than two weeks.
Zacheriah uses his charm, both natural and otherworldly, to prey upon the desperate and less fortunate. All to lead the sheep in for a final harvest and grant him power directly from the Dark Man. Should he awaken, he will be a formidable foe, with twice the WP of a normal human.
Ascension of Perfected Eternity
Complex ritual. Study time: years. 1D20 SAN. Activation: hours to days; 2D6 WP, 1D10 SAN per sacrifice.
The operator must convince 100HP worth of human ‘assistants’ to willingly sacriise themselves for their purpose. If the assistants do so, within one hour of each other, all of the operators abilties are increased by 1D6 (maxiumum 18) permanitely. Their willpower is doubled and they gain a host of knowledge of previosly unknown rituals, imparted to them by the Dark Man. If the spell is successfuly cast, but the ‘assistants’ fail to sacrifise themselves within the one hour time period. The operator’s Willpower is still doubled, and a number of spells are granted, but to a lesser degree.
The ritual may take as long as necessary to complete once begun, the the operator may astrally project their mind to contact and encourage their assistants. This may sound like the voice of god to an assistant…It is not.
Credits
This scenario was written by DemoDawg for the 2023 Shotgun Scenario contest.
Source: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1xKVaP2mHdaEJkJ9CpceJsfP3b-x6ctXz/edit