Backstory
In the rural town of Franklin, IN, farmer Johnathan Reed made a terrible mistake. After a local redistricting, the struggling farmer was fined thousands and lost farmland for “property violations” while he was already struggling. Desperate and Vengeful, Reed consults an old family book said to summon plagues of locusts. The ritual the ameteur Reed conducts is flawed, but works with terrifying consequences. He wanted Locusts to decimate the field that the man responsible for his losses, Fillmore Price. But in the absence of locusts in the area, the ritual instead affected the emerging Brood X cicada population, causing them to act strangely.
The affected Cicadas first went after Price, blaring their cry at him all times of day and all times of night. Their screams hypergeometrically enhanced to cause mental pain and insanity. Price, his ears scratched to oblivion trying to escape the cries, kills his wife then himself with a shotgun in their farmhouse. The town has since been swarmed with unusually large and loud swarms of cicadas which the whole town has noticed.
Recently the cicadas have begun to gather in isolated areas and group up together in large blobs of cicadas that metamorphose into a single organism (see Psychic Locus) that greatly expands its psychic screams and allows it to affect the minds of people. The largest of these is forming inside Reed’s farmhouse.
The agents will be arriving with the cover of FBI and IRS agents investigating Price’s death and possible land fraud.
Arrival
The agents arrive after being briefed by their case officer to the crime scene, along the way and at the scene the blaring of cicadas can be heard quite loudly, and they can be seen flying around or crawling on trees and grass. At the scene the players can find Price and his wife’s body, both dead from gunshot wounds. Clues at the scene include:
- Price’s self-inflicted ear scratch wounds
- Several dead cicadas found in the crevices of the house
- Papers detailing the acquisition of new farmland previously owned by Johnathan Reed, Bureaucracy or Law 60% or a success reveals these to be fraudulent.
- Papers detailing a divorce settlement.
- In the fields around Price’s farm are an extreme amount of Cicadas, because the ritual targeted locusts to eat the fields they are there unable to do so. Returning to Price’s farm after the initial investigation will cause the Cicadas to be replaced with a Psychic Locus.
Investigating Price’s background and actions and talking to the police can reveal:
- Price had an ongoing divorce settlement with his ex-wife Sharon Harding after their marriage went sour and Harding alleging abuse.
- Price had bombarded the police with complaints of vandalism from a local group of teenagers known as the “Butter Gang.”
- He had been embroiled in a series of legal battles with local farmers alleging that they had been farming on his land and had gained some new farmland thanks to his lawyers.
- He was very unpopular with the town, known as a drunkard and rumored to sue or call the police on anyone who crossed him.
The police have no problem sharing this information if they believe the agents are federal investigators as they consider this an open and shut murder-suicide case.
Franklin During The Investigation
Franklin is a small suburban town surrounded by corn and soy farmers who have towns in and outside the town. The townspeople are on edge due to the constant cicadas and will complain about them being especially worse this summer than before. Cicadas can be found in unusual locations all over town, but more concentrated in the farmlands (near Reed’s home). In an isolated area the handler can put a Psychic Locus that can be affecting the townspeople’s mental state, making them more irritable and aggressive as well as the players. These loci can cause some unscrupulous townspeople to become aggressive and attack the players, convinced it will stop the droning in their heads.
The Leads
Sharon Harding: A middle-aged woman who lives in a suburban home with her mother. She is distraught with the divorce proceedings, she does not know about Price’s death. If asked she will talk about the abusive husband Price was and about how he was a bully to other local farmers, threatening and suing them. She will recall that he once got into trouble with the law after he drunkenly threatened another local farmer in a bar, Reed. Investigating the home will be protested by her and her mother but HUMINT and investigation will reveal nothing else.
Butter Gang: A group of wannabe gangsters who drink, deal drugs, and vandalize for fun. Finding them by asking townsfolk or Criminology 40% or more. Townsfolk and police will mention that their latest escapades have become increasingly more violent, with a group of teens suspected for beating up a homeless man a night or two ago. Their main base is a dingy house on the poorer end of town owned by a few older members and populated by 3-4 members. If asked they will be extremely rude with the players, especially if they believe they’re cops. Bringing an offering of weed or alcohol may cool tensions off enough for them to get in and ask a few questions. They will still be aggressive to the agents regardless. They’ll admit they messed with Price because nobody liked him anyways, but don’t know anything else.
In the backyard behind the shed is a Psychic Locus which is causing the gangsters to be especially irritable. If any small disagreement or suspicion that the players are cops, they may act irrationally and attack the players with blunt weapons or knives, but can be threatened with guns unless they believe they’re being busted. Large amounts of cicada buzzing is heard especially in the back of the house, and many cicadas can be seen flying from the trees around the neighborhood specifically to their backyard with an Alertness 60% or successful roll.
Reed’s Home
Investigating the papers from earlier will reveal Reed’s name shows up as having lost the most and paying a large fine. The other farmers will be unsuspicious but if the players look into Reed’s background they will see that he had an altercation with Price before and the two had been in legal battles before. (Bureaucracy or Accounting 40% or successful roll).
Reed lives in an antiquated wooden home. After entering or getting close to the property, Alertness 60% or better can detect a faint buzzing from underneath the home with no visible source. No cicadas can be heard or seen on the property, but every agent will feel a strange sensation of panic and uneasiness (See Boss Psychic Locus).
Reed will answer the door to the agents, looking very nervous and disheveled. Alertness 40% or success reveals he has red raw scratches on his ears that appear to be self inflicted. He will not object to questioning but he will deny knowing of Price’s death or anything to do with the situation going on. HUMINT 40% or success reveals him to be lying. If pressed he will break down and confess that he did do something to Price, but that he had no idea it would happen like this and he didn’t mean to kill him. He’ll blame it on “that godforsaken book” in his basement. He will explain that after the ritual, he has not went down since due to a horrible sense of dread and buzzing. Ever since he has barricaded the basement and the buzzing has grown louder, and more psychically potent.
The basement is a large 20 x 20 ft damp room held up by wooden supports and filled with old boxes and other junk. In the basement at the other end of the staircase is the book and its summoning circle, on top of the book is an antiquated brass bugle. Inside the basement the buzzing is intensely loud. The surrounding basement wall appears to be a brownstone walls, but Alertness 60% or a success will notice that the wall sometimes shivers in a wavelike pattern. This is actually the bodies of tens of thousands of cicadas using their carapaces to disguise themselves. (see Boss Psychic Locus). The BPL is surrounding the entirety of the basement and the full effect of its powers will hit the agents once they enter the basement. The BPL will attack the agents if they attempt to disrupt the book, and even have the ability to collapse the house on top of the players if it feels threatened. These cicadas hide their faces initially, but their heads have small golden crowns, long human hair and human faces. They will bite the players with their tiny sharp teeth when attacking.
Disrupting the book or destroying the circle will end the scenario and all cicadas will turn back to their normal appearance and behavior patterns. The cicadas in the basement will all die on the spot and fall off the wall in a giant wave of bodies.
Stat Blocks
POLICE OFFICER
Regular Ole Coppers
STR 13 CON 13, DEX 11, INT 10, POW 11 CHA 11
HP 13, WP 10, SAN 55, BP 44
Armor: 3 points Body Armor
Criminology (40%) Search (40%) Alertness (50%) Athletics (40%) Drive (30%) HUMINT (40%) Law (20%) Firearms (60%) Unarmed Combat (40%) Melee Weapons (40%)
Attacks: Glock-15 1d10 DMG, Stun Gun (See Stun Gun), Pepper Spray (See Pepper Spray) Baton 1d4 DMG.
SHARON HARDING
Battered Wife
STR 9 CON 8, DEX 10, INT 11, POW 10 CHA 11
HP 8, WP 10, SAN 44, BP 40
Bureaucracy (30%) Medicine (20%) Alertness (40%) Accounting (40%)
Attacks: None
BUTTER GANG MEMBER
Troubled Gangsters Slowly Losing It
STR 11 CON 12, DEX 12, INT 10, POW 10 CHA 10
HP 12, WP 10, SAN 47, BP 40
Criminology (60%) Alertness (40%) Athletics (50%) Stealth (30%) HUMINT (40%) Firearms (40%) Unarmed Combat (40%) Melee Weapons (40%)
Attacks: Glock-15 1d10 DMG, Knife 1d6 DMG,
PSYCHIC LOCUS
Mass of Cicadas With Psychic Abilities
STR 14 CON 24, DEX 10, INT 0, POW 10 CHA 0
HP 24, WP 10, SAN 0
Armor: See RESILIENT
Unnatural (70%) Dodge (60%)
Attacks: Cicada Barrage (60%) 1d6 DMG (See CICADA BARRAGE), Mind-shredding Shriek (30%) 1d10 DMG (See MIND-SHREDDING SHRIEK)
CICADA BARRAGE: The Locus shoots Cicadas at enemies like bullets to damage them. This ability can target up to 5 enemies at once. Armor is twice as effective against this ability.
MASS MOVEMENT: Since the Locus is a mass of Cicadas, it moves by the individual cicadas separating and then reforming in a different place. It can do this during combat as its turn but it must end the turn reformed. The locus cannot move more than 20ft. from its original location without dispersing. The locus cannot take damage from an attack until it has reformed.
RESILIENT: A successful Lethality attack does not destroy a Psychic Locus, but inflicts HP damage equal to the Lethality rating.
MIND-SHREDDING SHRIEK: The Locus sends a targeted cry at the mind of up to 3 enemies, doing 1d10 DMG and causing them to take a SAN test for 1/1d6 Unnatural.
PSYCHIC CRIES: The Locus emanates an imperceptible cry along with their usual cicada cries that affects the minds of humans. Any person in a 100m radius is affected by the cry, becoming more irritable and aggravated. The effect grows in intensity the closer the player gets. Standing within a 50m radius or closer causes a SAN 0/1d4 test to be taken every 30 minutes. Prolonged exposure to this effect can cause a person extreme aggressiveness and irritability which may cause them to attack bystanders in the belief that it will stop the grating pain inside their head. This effect can also cause victims to harm themselves, particularly their ears, to stop the pain after.
WEAKNESS TO FIRE: Fire does double damage to the Psychic Locus.
SAN: 0/1d4 (seeing it/Psychic Cries)
JOHNATHAN REED
Desperate Farmer Who Has Made A Horrible Mistake
STR 10 CON 11, DEX 10, INT 12, POW 11 CHA 10
HP 11, WP 10, SAN 37, BP 33
Bureaucracy (20%) Occult (40%) Heavy Machinery (40%) Pilot (Farm Vehicles) (40%) Firearms (30%) Unarmed Combat (40%) Unnatural (3%)
Attacks: Smith and Wesson Model 10 Revolver, 1d12 DMG (Weapon not on Reed but stored in his bedroom).
BOSS PSYCHIC LOCUS
Biblical Cicadas Out To Deliver God’s Judgement
STR 25 CON 40, DEX 12, INT 2, POW 17 CHA 0
HP 40, WP 17, SAN 0
Armor: See RESILIENT and IT IS THE WALLS
Unnatural (70%)
Attacks: Razor-Cicada Barrage (60%) 1d6 DMG AP 3 (See RAZOR-CICADA BARRAGE), Mind-shredding Shriek (30%) 1d10 DMG (See MIND-SHREDDING SHRIEK), House Collapse (See HOUSE COLLAPSE)
RAZOR-CICADA BARRAGE: The Locus shoots Cicadas at enemies like bullets to damage them. This ability can target up to 5 enemies at once. This attack has 3 AP and the BPL can also use this ability on enemies above on the upper level by shooting the cicadas through the wooden floorboards in a hail of fire.
IT IS THE WALLS: The BPL is inhabiting the walls of the basement, this means that Firearms and Melee attacks against the BPL are guaranteed to hit if in the basement.
RESILIENT: A successful Lethality attack does not destroy a Psychic Locus, but inflicts HP damage equal to the Lethality rating.
MIND-SHREDDING SHRIEK: The Locus sends a targeted cry at the mind of up to 3 enemies, doing 1d10 DMG and causing them to take a SAN test for 1/1d6 Unnatural. This ability can target enemies on the upper levels of the house.
PSYCHIC CRIES: The Locus emanates an imperceptible cry along with their usual cicada cries that affects the minds of humans. Any person in a 100m radius is affected by the cry, becoming more irritable and aggravated. The effect grows in intensity the closer the player gets. Standing within a 50m radius or closer causes a SAN 0/1d4 test to be taken every 30 minutes. Prolonged exposure to this effect can cause a person extreme aggressiveness and irritability which may cause them to attack bystanders in the belief that it will stop the grating pain inside their head. This effect can also cause victims to harm themselves, particularly their ears, to stop the pain after.
COLLAPSE HOUSE: If the BPL senses the end is near or the circle is about to be harmed it can use its turn to initiate this ability. The cicadas on the wall will suddenly burrow into the foundation and wood with their razor-sharp teeth to weaken the building and cause it to collapse from the inside. Agents and NPCs inside the building have 2 turns to escape, and must make either a DEX or Athletics roll for each level they have to go up to escape the house before it collapses. Any agents or NPCs left inside the home after it collapses take 2d10 DMG, any who are caught in the house can further make a DEX check to halve that damage. This attack can only be used once and destroys the circle.
Credits
This was an entry to the 2021 shotgun scenario contest. Written by Purrs