Summary: A white supremacist is hunting men in the forests of Washington. In desperation, a primatologist turns to Delta Green to protect her son and her partner.
Words: 1488
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Table of Contents
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The Scenario
Introduction
A Washington park ranger has been found mutilated and hanged in Olympic National Forest. A Waffen SS dagger was found at his feet. An unknown symbol is carved into a tree nearby.
Similar daggers have been used in rituals done by white supremacist groups. Sometimes these rituals work. Delta Green is sending Agents just in case.
The Victim
Before his murder, Mark Zimmerman had serverd adequately as a park ranger for 22 years. He lived alone in a nearby cabin and had no known enemies. The other parks staff considered him a charming oddball. In his spare time, Zimmerman hunted Sasquatch. Four months ago, he found a location frequented by the creature, successfully taking eight photos.
Searching his computer finds the pictures in recent posts on Bigfoot forums. They show a greyish biped, at least seven feet tall, climbing trees in the distance. Perspective on the photos is off, the sightlines don’t meet properly, leading to Photoshopping accusations. With the photos and Navigate or Pilot (Aircraft) 30, Agents can match the location to just south of Lake Cushman.
The Evidence
Zimmerman’s body’s being held at Shelton City PD. The torso’s missing its organs, having fallen through an incision in the groin. There’s a deep cut into his trachea but little bruising from the noose. His brain, scalp, right leg, and clothes are all missing.
Conducting an autopsy with Medicine 60 or Surgery 30 determines:
- Decomposition shows he had already been dead for two days before recovery
- Dirt under his fingernails and haphazard chest wounds indicate a struggle
- The hanging didn’t kill him. If it wasn't the stabbing, the cut to the neck did it.
- The cuts to the groin and neck were made with a steady and experienced hand. 0/1D3 SAN (Violence)
Criminology 40 knows this doesn’t fit the profile of a hate crime. Anyone with Survival 30 recognizes this as a field dressing, taking 1/1D4 SAN (Violence).
The knife’s covered with Zimmerman’s blood, splinters, and sap. Archaeology, History, or Melee 40 discerns it isn’t a replica. The hilt has fingerprints from two individuals, separable with Forensics 40. One of the sets is twice the usual size, with no matches. With a day of processing, the other prints come up as Edgar Schütz, a Brazilian arrested in 2000 for smuggling firearms to the Aryan Nation. Schütz’s mugshot shows a tan skinhead in his late 20’s, taken before dodging parole in 2003.
The Murder Site
Zimmerman was found on a hilltop; empty save for a lone cedar rooted in bloodied dirt. A circle with a cross in the center and smaller circles at the ends is carved into the bark. Anthropology or Occult 50 identify this as a Kongolese cosmogram, representing the sun and the cycle of death. Forensics 40 or a successful Search test finds pale fur on a bush nearby. Lab analysis notes qualities like human and chimpanzee body hair but matches no known animal. The Bairds’ Cabin is the only building in sight.
Edgar Schütz discovered the ape’s location browsing bigfoot forums on public library computers. While waiting for a good shot through the fog, Schütz learned about its son. Schütz intends to take the child after killing its protector, then make it divulge Thule’s secret location. Worst case, Schütz will devour the child to gain its genetic memory. Zimmerman investigated smoke from Schütz’s fire, catching him off guard. Zimmerman’s diligence cost him his life. Refusing to waste a good body, Schütz hung his trophy to empty. The ape approached, sending Schütz sprinting for his van, leaving his knife behind.
Zimmerman’s Overlook
Schütz found Zimmerman’s picture spot while dining on his brain and moved to camp there. By day, Schütz perches in a tree and watches The New City through his scope. At night, he cooks vegetarian dinner in his RV and reads. Two days ago, he finally shot the monstrous primate. He hasn’t seen it since, but Schütz is nothing if not patient.
Schütz easily spots anyone in a vehicle, making a 50% HUMINT test to read their intentions. If he succeeds and they’re hostile, he shoots for the driver. Otherwise, he climbs down and stashes his rifle. With a trained American accent, Schütz introduces himself as Chris Rivera, a charmingly bohemian Latino hiker. Bureaucracy or Art (Forgery) 40 recognizes his Arizona ID as fake. With a little pressure, he relents on requests to enter his RV. As they search the vehicle, Schütz pulls out his Mauser and tries to dispatch the Agents quickly.
The kitchen’s surprisingly well equipped, and Zimmerman’s leg’s in the freezer for later. Schütz doesn’t like computers, so his entertainment comes from an alphabetized bookshelf of white nationalist classics, including grimoire Mein Triumph. An SS uniform and Schütz’s Journals are under the bed. A photo is tucked beneath them, dated 1973, with Schütz standing proudly with a man straight from a Nazi propaganda poster. With a loss of 0/1D3 SAN (Unnatural), Agents realize Schütz doesn’t look a day younger.
The Bairds’ Cabin
Considering its remote location, Hannah Baird’s cabin is impressively well-made, with two floors and (working) satellite internet. A motorhome sits in the driveway, next to stacks of hardware store lumber. In the forest far behind the cabin, trees ornamented in copper veer at aberrant corners, marking The New City.
Dr. Baird hurries Avram and August into their rooms when she hears people coming. Upon knocking, a Caucasian woman in her late 30’s cracks open the door and nervously greets the Agents. Dr. Baird is cooperative but adamantly refuses their entry. Alertness 60 or Craft (Architecture) 20 notices the doorways are unusually large. HUMINT 40 catches her looking to a door behind her. Years of Dr. Baird’s Notes are piled on a desk next to it. If someone pushes past the threshold, the bedroom door slams open, and a colossal pale ape strides forward. In a thunderous voice, Avram says “Leave.”
Avram speaks English tersely, with a limited vocabulary. He is protective of his mate and keeps a massive hand on Hannah’s shoulder. Agents may enter by supplicating to Avram (Survival or Science (Zoology) recognizes this) or impressing him with knowledge of Science (Physics) or Unnatural. Poorly wrapped bandages cover a gunshot wound on Avram’s arm. A successful Medicine or Surgery test properly treats it, with Firearms or Forensics 20 identifying the .30-06 round. When asked about the shot, Avram points intuitively and precisely in the direction of Zimmerman’s Overlook.
Long ago, the symbol on the hilltop was taught to the apes by ones with Two Voices, ones like Arthur. Avram carved it to guide Zimmerman to the afterlife. In exchange, Avram could eat his organs freely. At some point during questioning, Avram abruptly stands and beckons them upstairs to meet Arthur. Every surface of Arthur’s room, save his racecar bed, is covered in disassembled electronics. After Dr. Baird coaxes him out of his closet, Arthur mildly greets the Agents. Arthur looks like a seven-year-old human male covered in whitish fuzz, with noticeably longer hands and limbs. Arthur speaks English well but obviously has a child’s perspective. He says his Second Voice told him the Agents came to make sure he isn’t eaten. Extended conversation with Arthur is quite enlightening, granting +4 Unnatural and 1/1D6 SAN loss.
The New City
All communication devices fail in the forest. Mil-Sci (Land) or SIGINT 30 finds odd interference, and SIGINT 60 sources it here.
High in the trees, wires and ivy coil around rings of basalt and plywood, constructed in accordance to a congenital blueprint. Alien pitches bore through the ears and beckon deeper into the spiral of uprooted cedars. A colossal oak covered in thousands of antennae stands in the center of it all, casting uncountable tangents that come together with a monumental resonance. Following wiring fails to find any power source. Time is different here; every minute spent in the center drains 1 WP. Witnessing all this brings 1/1D6 SAN (Unnatural) loss.
Avram rushes to intercept any trespassers, commanding “Leave now.” Anyone who doesn’t is torn apart. Avram and Arthur built this New City for their people. They respond to questions of how they constructed it like they were asked how they blink. Someday soon, their people will make a great exodus, spilling from the Congo and crossing the Atlantic. Until then, father and son build.
The End
The Program wants to secure Avram and Arthur for further study, likely dissection. The Outlaws want the cabin set on fire. Hannah just wants to be left alone with her family. Someday she’ll go public with her research. In the meantime, she prepares to relocate. A couple days later, the cabin’s gone, disassembled by Avram. Unless destroyed by Delta Green, the incomplete city remains hidden in the forests of northern Washington, awaiting its next architect.
- Killing Schütz +1D4 SAN
- Destroying the City +1D3 SAN
- Giving Delta Green Avram and Arthur +1D4 SAN
- Keeping them secret +1D4 SAN
NPCs
AVRAM - Architect and Protective Ape Father
STR 18 CON 14 DEX 14 INT 7 POW 11
HP 11 WP 10
ARMOR: 2 points of thick hide.
SKILLS: Alertness 50% (90% in the forest), Athletics 90%, Craft (Architect) 95% (see Savant), Dodge 40%, Foreign Language (English) 30%; Stealth 40% (80% in the forest).
ATTACKS: Bash or bite (60%; 1D8 or grapple) (see GORILLA HUG).
Improvised weapon (60%; 1D10) (see RESOURCEFUL)
CLIMBING, LEAPING, AND SWINGING: As an action, Avram can use an Athletics roll, to near-instantly shinny to the top of a tree or seven meters up a cliff, leap up to seven meters with a running start, or swing across a 15-meter gap. In the forest, he can easily outpace a running human.
GORILLA HUG: As an action, Avram can squeeze a pinned target for 1D8 damage without making an attack roll.
IMPRINTED: Avram instinctively knows when Arthur or Hannah are in danger, and when anyone is in The New City. He immediately rushes in to protect them, regardless of the danger.
RESOURCEFUL: Avram is used to improvising self defense. As an action, he can make an Alertness test to try to find and pick up a nearby heavy object to use as a club or spear. He is especially good at using tree limbs for this purpose.
SAVANT: Avram has instinctual insight into structural engineering and building materials. Using his Craft (Architect) skill, he is capable of building most anything without moving parts.
SAN LOSS: 0/1D4 (for observing him speaking)
HANNAH BAIRD - Unconventional Primatologist
STR 12 CON 14 DEX 12 INT 15 POW 13 CHA 8
HP 13 WP 13 SAN 58
SKILLS: Alertness 50%, Anthropology 40%, Bureaucracy 40%, Craft (Carpentry) 40%, Firearms 30%, Foreign Language (ASL) 40%, Forensics 40%, HUMINT 60%, Science (Biology) 50%, Science (Primatology) 80%, Science (Zoology) 50%, Survival 30%, Unnatural 3%
ATTACKS: Remington 870 (with shot) (50%; 2D10 while in the house, 30%; 1D6 at a distance)
ARTHUR BAIRD - Precocious Hybrid
STR 8 CON 6 DEX 12 INT 10 POW 16 CHA 4
HP 7 WP 16
SKILLS: Alertness 40%, Craft (Microelectronics) 95% (see Savant), Dodge 50%, HUMINT 20%, Science (Electromagnetism) 95% (see Savant), Unnatural 15%
ATTACKS: Bite (50%; 1D4)
SAVANT: Arthur is blessed with uncanny knowledge of electronics and the physics thereof. Using his Craft (Microelectronics) skill, he can build incredibly complex circuits. With his Science (Electromagnetism) skill and disassembly, he can understand how any piece of electronics functions and reuse it in innovative ways.
SAN LOSS: 1/1D8 (for discovering the truth of his parentage)
EDGAR SCHÜTZ - Incognito Nazi Cannibal
STR 12 CON 13 DEX 12 INT 10 POW 11 CHA 14
HP 4/13 WP 15 SAN 39; Obsession (White Apes), Paranoia; Adapted to Violence
ARMOR 2 (Exaltation of the Flesh)
SKILLS: Alertness 50%, Criminology 60%, Disguise 50%, Dodge 40%, Drive 50%, Firearms 60%, First Aid 30%, Foreign Language (Spanish) 40%, Foreign Language (German) 60%, HUMINT 50%, Melee Weapons 80%, Occult 50%, Persuade 70%, Survival 50%, Stealth 50%, Unarmed Combat 50%, Unnatural 6%
ATTACKS: Remington 700 with telescopic sight (60%; 1D12+2; range is 300m when Aiming)
Mauser C96 (60%; 1D8)
Bowie knife (80%; 1D6)
RITUALS: Ageless Banquet, Communion of Knowing, Exaltation of the Flesh, Implore the Master (Immortal Messenger, Nyarlathotep as Adolf Hitler)
Rituals
Communion of Knowing
Complex ritual. Study time: hours; 1D10 SAN. Activation: days; 10 WP, 1D6 SAN.
As much recipe as ritual, the operator stews a sacrifice’s brain in a mixture of their, blood from the sacrifice, and flour. Eating a human brain costs 1/1D4 for Violence. Upon consumption, the memories and skills the sacrifice once held mingle with the operator’s. For the next 24 hours, the operator may use the deceased’s skill ratings in place of their own. When activating the ritual, the operator may choose to gain these skills and memories permanently, with a replaced cost of 2 POW and 1D10 SAN. When doing so, the operator replaces their own skill ratings with any higher ones held by the sacrifice.
Tomes
Mein Triumph
By Dr. Olaf Bitterich
In German. Study Time: weeks. Occult +6%, Unnatural +2%; SAN loss 1D6
The cover of this thin black volume shows a swastika encircled by a Hunting Horror with its wings spread. Dictated by “Der Fuhrer”, Mein Triumph details Adolf Hitler’s transformation into a demigod by mass sacrifices in the death camps and gives instructions for the Aryan race to attain similar status through the extermination of those lesser. It includes a rite for summoning the ascended spirit of the Fuhrer, in reality a disguise of the entity known as “Nyarlathotep”. Schütz’s copy has seen heavy use, but little recently. The Fuhrer stopped answering fifteen years ago, though he will readily respond to any summonings from Agents.
Rituals: Implore the Master (Immortal Messenger, Nyarlathotep as Adolf Hitler)
Journals
By Edgar Schütz
In German. Study Time: weeks. Occult +2%, Survival +1%, Unnatural +3%; SAN loss 1D6
An account of the last 60 years of Edgar Schütz’s life, detailed over 12 volumes. The first books cover his time as a Ritter, a “knight” of esoteric Nazi group The Karotechia. Despite his dark skin, a decade of exceptional service eventually has him taken as protege by Reinhard Galt, the Karotechia’s greatest warrior. Among other wisdom, Galt teaches him of the secret knowledge and longevity gained from consuming the flesh of lesser races.
Schütz spends much of the 80’s and 90’s in the United States, supporting the efforts of white supremacist groups. After failing to prevent Timothy McVeigh’s capture after the Oklahoma City Bombing, Schütz lost Galt’s favor. Five years later, his contact with the Karotechia cut off abruptly. Through hearsay gathered over several years, he comes to understand that the organization he dedicated his life to is gone, destroyed in a clandestine ZOG operation.
Since then, Schütz has done what he can to further the cause of the Aryan race. In recent years, he has developed a fixation on white apes, based on stories of the search for Thule Galt told him years ago. Schütz’s newest journal covers his plans to kidnap Arthur and his observations of the Baird cabin. Unsurprisingly, he is utterly appalled by the entire relationship.
With the exception of the most dangerous game, Schütz is actually vegetarian, considering mere animals beneath his hunting prowess. Over dozens of recipes covering many pages in the journal, Schutz tries to refine the base of flour, blood, and brain into something more palatable. From the commonalities between these recipes, a ritual can be pieced together, one that allows man to find greater understanding through feasting on the mind.
Rituals: Communion of Knowing
Dr. Baird’s Research Notes
In English. Study time: weeks. Anthropology +3%, Science (Zoology) +3%, Unnatural +2%; SAN loss 1D6
Over a span of fourteen years and hundreds of pages, Dr. Hannah Baird chronicles her developing relationship with the white ape Avram. After rescue from poachers, the young white ape is given to the University of Central Washington for rehabilitation and study. Initially, he is assumed to be an albino. Through sign language and, eventually, conversations in English, Dr. Baird discovers he is actually a juvenile of an undiscovered variety of primate, one holding remarkable language capability. At Dr. Baird’s suggestion (as a dig at Chomsky), the ape takes the name Avram. As he matures and grows more intelligent, Avram conveys a desire to escape.
Dr. Baird and Avram leave and set up in a trailer in Olympic National Forest, the closest location similar to his natural habitat. With an astonishing intuition for architecture, Avram begins to build a home to Baird’s specifications, as a means of courtship. Dr. Baird observes Avram’s attempts to establish his territory and woo her, and, for research purposes, eventually capitulates. She notes an astonishing degree of reproductive compatibility between the two species. The pregnancy in particular comes as a shock.
At first, Dr. Baird hypothesizes that Avram’s capability at architecture comes from a natural mathematical ability adapted for swinging between trees. However, Arthur’s skill with electronics undermines this theory. Dr. Barid has spent the last several years searching for an explanation for her family’s incredible talents. She has had little success.
Handouts
Murder Site
Filled Out Map
Credits
This was an entry to the 2020 shotgun scenario contest. Written by Frahnk