Timeless Pursuit
Agents race to contain a long dormant spirit, with an unnatural third party in pursuit.
—
Setup:
A trucker, while stopping to use the washroom, stumbled upon a grisly scene; in a nearly abandoned town along a two lane highway, Carter Matthews is found torn apart inside the local convenience store. There are no security cameras on site.
The owner/sole employee of the store, Arthur Colewood, is nowhere to be found. No valuables are missing from the store or the attached dwelling.
Delta Green is flagged when unexplainable developments start popping up. Matthews's car is gone, presumably taken by the killer, but his time of death is placed nearly 48 hours before the trucker found him.
As local Deputies start canvassing the town to search for witnesses, a disturbing pattern emerges. The majority of the town's two dozen residents appear to have died in their sleep, within hours of Matthews's murder.
Those residents who are still alive are in varying states of health. Some appear near death, some are catatonic, and a few are violently aggressive. Some are detained, one is shot and killed after assaulting a Deputy with a cordless phone.
DG wants to know what caused this event, and for the agents to locate the missing store keeper, who is presumed to be the Vector.
—
What is happening:
Carter Matthews and his friend, Samuel Hayden, were urban explorers who ran a semi-successful blog. Agents will be able to find this out with internet access. Recent posts show them planning to explore some of the abandoned buildings in town, like the school and church.
In the church cellar, the men found a Lloigor focus stone, and after disturbing protective wards on it, allowed it to possess Samuel.
The men were experiencing nausea and headaches, and stopped at the convenience store when the force of the Lloigor fully manifested, killing most of the town, along with Carter.
Arthur was also possessed by the Lloigor, but to a lesser degree than Samuel. Arthur only knows to protect Hayden and the focus stone, but Samuel is aware of the stone's will.
This Lloigor stone was sealed centuries ago by the Chinese mystics.
Following the Opium Wars, they feared instability causing the stone of being lost, and unleashing what they spent their lives keeping hidden.
The stone was brought to America sometime in the 1850s, and travelled among the Chinese communities who built the railways, finally settling in the town, where a local priest agreed to keep the “demon stone” sealed and safe in the church cellar.
After decades, the secret was lost when the last priest of the community died, and the parish was shuttered.
Now the Lloigor is fumbling around blindly, flush with energy it has slowly absorbed for centuries, yet still half-asleep. It has directed Hayden to travel to the nearest city, where it hopes to hide and feed off the population at large.
As the Agents follow the breadcrumbs, it becomes apparent that there is a third party pursuing the Lloigor, a pair of K’n Y’ani, for reasons unknowable to the Agents.
Perhaps they want to capture the Lloigor for their own purposes, maybe they also want to stop its blind rampage, or maybe they are merely curious observers.
If the Lloigor makes it to a heavily populated area, it's game over for the Agents and K’n Y’ani.
—
Breadcrumbs:
Agents will be able to find out that Matthews and Hayden were travelling together, and that Samuel is unaccounted for.
Investigating the school is a dead end, but the church cellar will yield parchment scraps with Chinese characters written, warning of danger and evil spirits.
They may also find a letter missed by Carter and Samuel, written by the first priest to guard the stone, explaining the backstory, and warning that the Lloigor must be kept away from large crowds of people.
If the Agents surmise the Vector is heading to the nearest large urban center, they then must locate Hayden.
Whether the Agents warn law enforcement to watch the expected route, or the Handler wants to help, a Highway Patrolman stops Matthews's car, then goes radio silent.
Dashcam footage shows the traffic stop, then the Patrolmen to be killed by the K’n Y’ani, who are delayed by the Lloigor’s temporal abilities. Samuel hoped to have the Patrolman posessed, and used as cover.
While the Lloigor awakened and killed Matthews about two days before the Agents got involved, it was still unfocused and drifting around the area of the town, until the K’n Y’ani showed up, which prompted its mad flight.
Some of the manic townsfolk could describe seeing ‘Bigfoot’ or ‘Moon Men' to the Agents, as a hint of there being more going on than at first glance.
Regardless of how the Agents determine the Lloigor’s destination, they have two main options to stop it:
They can somehow fly to the city, beating it there and confronting Samuel, Arthur, and the focus stone at the outskirts.
Or, they can arrange for a roadblock of sufficient size (Law or Bureaucracy or a Bond) to both hold up the Vector, as well as delay the K’n Y’ani.
The K’n Y’ani will not be deterred by the Agents alone, or any sort of armed presence of less than 10 people, and will engage in combat to apprehend the stone.
—
Resolutions:
If the Lloigor escapes: Agents will lose SAN knowing that a fairly potent evil will now fester in a large metro area, and will likely have to be dealt with again in the future. Lose 1d4 SAN
If the K’n Y’ani capture the Lloigor: Agents will suffer SAN loss knowing that they've let the K’n Y’ani gain something powerful, for an unknown purpose. Lose 1d8 SAN
If the Agents manage to Seal/Destroy the stone and/or kill/dissuade the K’n Y’ani: Gain sanity knowing that things could have gone much worse. Gain 1d8 SAN
If the Agents successfully/unsuccessfully coverup the incident: Explaining the town deaths/Samuel and Arthur's flight, preventing the dashcam footage from leaking, and making sure no sightings of the Lloigor or K’n Y’ani are credible.
Gain/Lose 1d4 SAN
—
Handler's Notes:
There is no set year/location, besides the internet being available, although Matthews's body could easily have a notebook showing he worked at a newspaper/magazine with Hayden.
The City:
The Lloigor needs to find a city with roughly a million people or more. Anything smaller, and the K’n Y’ani will be able to locate it within the psychic energies.
The Town:
Nineteenth Century industrial town (mining, farming, etc.), railway boomtown. Population sharply declined with the advent of automobile, then air travel.
Only services left in town are Arthur's convenience store, which offers PO boxes, grocery, gas, and general goods.
Roughly 15 houses in town, with most residents being over the age of 40.
Carter Matthews:
27, well liked, no criminal history, freelance writer.
Agents should not be suspicious of him, as there is nothing to be suspicious of.
Samuel Hayden:
26, unemployed, long term friend of Matthews, criminal record of minor theft and robbery as a teenager.
Hayden is primarily occupied working full-time on the blog of their urban exploration adventures, which brings in a small stipend, but not much money. Further digging reveals he's in fairly steep debt, and Matthews has been giving him money.
Red herring motives for his “crime spree”, although Matthews is the only apparent murder victim and no valuables are missing, besides Matthews's car.
Local law enforcement will discover Hayden's involvement if the Agents don't, and place out an APB for him, assuming he's either kidnapped or murdered Arthur.
Hayden’s weaker psyche has been fully corrupted by the Lloigor, who has filled him with delusions of grandeur as some of “Chosen One” on a mission.
Arthur Colewood:
74, widower, born in the town. Nothing of note, nothing particularly noteworthy enough to suspect he would be in league with Hayden.
Compelled to follow Hayden and the stone, although if pressed will have no answers as to why, becoming agitated and confused.
The Lloigor will happily sacrifice Arthur if need be.
Lloigor Stone:
Particularly ancient and powerful, absorbing energy for Centuries, maybe Millenia. Confused and unfocused, but directing Hayden to seek out a large city.
Particularly adept at using temporal powers to avoid the K’n Y'ani and Agents.
K’n Y’ani:
Two members of the ancient race, very similar in appearance, to an uncanny degree. One appears “older” to the Agents, but this is merely human perception.
They will kill any human who interferes, but prefer to act unseen. Will kill Hayden and Arthur, and have means to seal the Lloigor Stone.
Will not pursue the Lloigor into a heavily populated area, which is the best chance the Agents have of escaping them if they themselves somehow come into possession of the stone.
—
Stat Blocks:
Samuel Hayden:
STR: 12
CON: 15
DEX: 14
INT: 9
POW: 9
CHA: 10
HP: 13
WILL: 9
SAN: 45
Alertness: 50
Athletics: 40
Criminology: 50
Dodge: 30
Drive: 50
Firearms: 20
HUMINT: 50
Melee Weapons: 40
Navigate: 40
Search: 50
Survival: 20
Swim: 30
Unarmed Combat: 40
Arthur Colewood:
STR: 8
CON: 10
DEX: 9
INT: 13
POW: 8
CHA: 12
HP: 9
WILL: 8
SAN: 40
Alertness: 30
Athletics: 25
Dodge: 20
Drive: 30
Firearms: 35
HUMINT: 50
Melee Weapons: 20
Navigate: 60
Search: 35
Survival: 40
Swim: 15
Unarmed Combat: 40
Lloigor Stone:
INT: 29
POW: 34
Alertness: 50
Surgery: 90
Powers as described in “Handler's Guide”
K’n Y’ani Duo:
STR: 22
CON: 29
DEX: 11
INT: 19
POW: 19
HP: 25
WILL: 19
Alertness: 60
Anthropology (Humans): 35
Athletics: 30
Swim: 45
Unarmed Combat: 45
Unnatural: 50
Powers as described in “Handler's Guide”
Credits
Timeless Pursuit was written by Duncan Henderson for the 2024 Shotgun Scenario contest.
Source: https://docs.google.com/document/d/148l2eirNKw7p4c28LN7QYBIzfT9CjS26t3jbKmSxgSo/edit