Modern/Delta Green - The Beginning of the End (COMPLETED)

[talien]

Landscrapes: Part 5 – Forest for the Trees

The explosion was so powerful that it knocked Hammer down, yards away, and blew out all the glass in the greenhouse.

The tree burst into flames, stopping in its tracks. What was left of the work shed disintegrated in a flaming pile of wreckage.

"Jimmy?" Hammer shouted into his cistron. "Jim?"

No response.

Hammer caught sight of a streaking red line moving along the ground. He sprayed wildly with his Glock, missing it.

It darted back into the copse of trees. And another oak, this one larger than the first, painfully tore up its roots.

Hammer, jaw set, knew what he had to do.

"Come on!" shouted Hammer, setting the gas can next to him. "Come on you son of a bitch!"

The tree awkwardly, slowly, stumped towards him. It would have been comical under different circumstances.

Hammer backed up, rifle at the ready. The tree strode within yards of the gas can.

"Come on," whispered Hammer. "Just a little closer…"

The tree stopped. It waved one huge limb, curling branches around it in the chastising gesture of a human finger, as if to say, "Nah ah ah!"

Hammer swore. It was smarter than he thought.

Dropping his rifle, he changed tactics. He charged towards the gas can.

The tree was slow to react. Hammer's new tactic was unexpected.

It swung towards him in a mighty arc. Leaves slapped Hammer's head and back, but it was a glancing blow.

Gathering the gas can up in one hand, Hammer threw it up into the tree's limbs.

The tree was torn between trying to disentangle itself from the gas can and swinging at Hammer. It took a swipe at him instead.

Too late, Hammer was already out of range. Hammer drew both of his pistols. He was better shot with his Glocks in any case.

The tree loomed over him. Hammer took careful aim with one of the Glocks and fired.

The shot was a million to one. Igniting a gas can with a bullet was no easy task. Hammer had to hit it just right – strike the metal, the gas, and at the same create a spark.

He hit it just right. The gas can exploded, engulfing the tree in flames.

The tree immediately froze, burning. Hammer watched, squinting, for any signs of movement along the ground.

The red glob darted out from the burning roots. Hammer was ready.

He fired a single shot. That was all it took. But it was a perfectly aimed shot.

The red glob, propelling itself along the ground at high speed towards the copse of trees, exploded in a pile of spattered ichor.

Hammer lowered his pistol with a sigh of relief.

His cistron crackled. Hammer looked over at the pile that was once the work shed. Some of the wreckage shifted as a bloody hand clawed its way out.

",,,explosion was bigger than I expected," grunted Jim-Bean.

 

[talien]

Landscrapes: Part 6 – The Laboratory

Past the Fumo Loco were workbenches and shelves, covered with plants—except that they had grown far out of their own pots, reaching down to the floor and rooting in the earth there, mingling with each other in unholy biological matrimony. Looking closer, the actual species were weird—crossbreeds, bulbs of unnatural shape and flowers of unholy hue.

The lab had obviously not been used for some time. All tools were removed, although some glass containers filled with seeds and samples remained. There was a door on the far side of the room.

Jim-Bean tilted his head. "Do you hear that?"

"No," said Hammer, trying to keep his eyes on every plant at once. "What are you hearing?"

"Singing." Jim-Bean leaned down to a patch of pink flowers. "Yep, singing."

"The flowers are singing to you?" asked Hammer, skeptical.

"Need I remind you that we were just attacked by a tree?"

Hammer ignored him. "What's that?" He pointed at something on the floor beneath a large, broad leaf.

Jim-Bean bent down to inspect Hammer's find. Among the plants was a leather-bound book. Wiry vines had grown around and into the book, and the cover was spoiled. Pulling out a utility knife from his belt, Jim-Bean cut the vines loose.

The book was riddled with six-inch long caterpillars, bloated yellow-green monsters.

"Yaaah!" shouted Jim-Bean. He shook the loathsome insects off of him.

"What is it?" asked Hammer.

"A book. Totally ruined. "Jim-Bean pulled out a sliver of paper that was unchewed, on which a few typeset words could be discerned. "Something about keeping the 'thing' in. Looks like that red blob is related to the other blobs and tentacles and crap we've been dealing with."

Hammer tried the door.

The large space beyond the door was mostly open. Metallic nets hung on a wall immediately above several large lockers. A long bench was cluttered with bits of rock, small bones, and broken arrowheads. A loading dock was built into the rear wall, in which the metallic sliding doors of an elevator were visible. Arrowheads, fragments of clay pottery, and bones lay on the countertop, along with several small brushes, a microscope, and microscopy supplies.

"Looks like they were doing more in here than just farming," said Hammer.

Jim-Bean rifled through the lockers. They contained spelunking equipment, including ten full sets of helmets and helmet lights, kneepads, long pants and over-the-ankle boots (with deeply treaded soles), gloves, harnesses and associated climbing gear (including nylon rope, a plethora of carabiners, and friction plates) and wet suits.

"This could come in handy." Hammer reached into the very back and bottom of one of the lockers and pulled out a box of dynamite.

On the other end of the room was an elevator, its doors open.

"May as well put on the wet suits," said Jim-Bean.

"That's a—"

Jim-Bean put up one hand before Hammer could say anything. "I know, I know, you don't swim, but—"

Hammer was already shrugging on one of the wetsuits. "I was going to say it's a good idea. If we're going down deep, it could get very cold and wet down there."

Jim-Bean dressed in a wet suit as well. They both stepped into the elevator.

It contained just two buttons. One button was labeled “Surface” the other labeled “Pellucidar.”

Hammer pressed "Pellucidar" and the elevator shaft plunged four hundred and fifty feet into the earth below.

 

[talien]

Landscrapes: Part 7 – Under Owlshead Mountain

When the agents stepped out of the elevator, they entered a cavern containing five small wooden stands cluttered with camp gear and arrowheads. Small crickets chirped in the corners.

Jim-Bean inspected the camp gear. It included a Coleman stove and twenty cans of soup.

"Somebody likes Campbell's Steak 'n Potato Soup," he said.

The stands contained several small arrowheads collected from the cave.

The agents switched their visor lights on and threaded their way through the northern tunnel.

It narrowed amongst flowstone, stalagmites, and columns. There were a few cigarette butts on the floor, accompanying spiders and gnats.

They continued on, passed white to gold flowerlike structures that seemed to ooze and curl from the wall, ceiling, and floor much like icing from a cake decorator’s nozzle. There were also thin-walled naturally formed hollow tubes about an inch in diameter. They splashed through pools of water, where eyeless crayfish and springfish wiggled about in its depths.

Finally, they came to a wall of matte-black substance that blocked the northeast tunnel. Two six-foot tall mushrooms flanked the fifteen-foot wide wall.

"Whoa," said Jim-Bean, eyeing the mushrooms. "Those are some BIG mushrooms."

The mushrooms had bright red caps with sickly yellow spots and a pale milky stalk of a body. They had an eye-like pattern on the stalks with the same sickly yellow color that adorned the cap.

Hammer played his visor light over the wall. "I saw this wall in my vision. It doesn't look like stone to me."

"In your vision, you heard buzzing?"

"Yeah," replied Hammer

"Then the shaman mask might help." Jim-Bean dug it out. "Good thing I left it in the trunk."

"Good thing it wasn't in your satchel," muttered Hammer.

While he was rifling through his satchel to pull out the mask, Jim-Bean's elbow brushed the curious black wall. That was all it took.

The mushrooms unfurled, two stubby arms separating seamlessly out from the main stalk. Legs separated at the base.

"Yaaah!" shouted Jim-Bean, stumbling backwards.

Hammer was ready. He pumped several bullets right between the eyes of the nearest mushroom.

The bullets tore through it, shearing the top-heavy cap right off of it. Arms flailed as the headless thing collapsed, spewing green spores in the air.

Jim-Bean choked, gasping and wheezing as he struggled for air. The spores coated his mouth and tongue. He stumbled out of the passage and back the way they had come, puking as he went.

Hammer took careful aim at the second animate mushroom and fired. The difficulty of the shot was compounded by the explosion of spores; he didn't want to hit the main body lest he too be overcome. Instead, he aimed for the arms and legs.

But the mushroom was undeterred. It stumped after him, heedless of the gunshot wounds to its limbs.

Hammer froze as his heel felt the sudden loss of purchase. He glanced over his shoulder to see a wide, dark pit beneath him.

The mushroom reached for him.

Hammer grabbed hold of it and spun, shoving off of it with a kick. Hammer was no small man, but the huge mushroom had to weigh several hundred pounds.

It windmilled at the edge of the pit. Hammer fired both Glocks at its base for good measure.

The mushroom fell, fell, fell into the darkness, disappearing without a sound. A puff of green spores sprouted up once it hit bottom a full second later.

Hammer called into his comm. "Jim-Bean? Come back."

A fit of coughing answered him. "Yeah, I'm here."

"Good, get back to that wall and see what you can do. I'm going to…"

He trailed off as several laser sights appeared on his chest.

 

[talien]

Landscrapes: Part 8 – Balance of Power

Jim-Bean was once again at the wall, wearing the bizarre mask. He looked like some kind of alien insect hybrid, not unlike the alien dogs, or Mothmen, they had met in the past. Humming filled the air.

Hammer dashed back into the chamber.

"What'z up?" asked Jim-Bean. With the mask on his speech was garbled.

Gunfire answered Jim-Bean's question. Hammer returned fire. "Work on getting that wall opened!"

The enemy agents were all dressed in black body armor with laser sights on their pistols and nightvision goggles. Hammer suspected they were yet another clean-up crew, sent by Dawn Biozyme to keep them from discovering whatever secrets lay beyond the wall.

There was a flash and a WOOSH as a bullet arced around one of the stalactites at Hammer, narrowly missing his head.

"What the hell waz that?" asked Jim-Bean, reflexively ducking from the small explosion.

"I don't know." Hammer shut his visor lamp off and snapped a glow stick. He kept it out of sight, but close enough that he could still see right a few feet around him.

In the green radiance of the glow stick, the masked Jim-Bean looked even more bizarre. He kept probing the wall, and as he did so the mask resonated. It was almost as if it were trying to find the right pitch to harmonize with the wall's vibrations…

The comms of the pursuing clean-up team were magnified in the tunnels. "This is Agent Balance. Targets sighted. All teams converge on my point."

Another gyrojet bullet shrieked around the corner, punching through a stalactite.

Hammer fired blindly in the darkness. "Jimmy, if you're going to do something, do it now!"

Jim-Bean was about to say something when the mask found the perfect pitch. The humming reverberated throughout the cavern.

The wall faded away like mist. Jim-Bean suddenly had an awful feeling.

"Hold on!"

Hammer grabbed hold of a stalagmite just as a violent rush of wind screamed from the orifice.

Shrieks echoed further down the corridor as the enemy agents were blasted backwards, hurled into the pit.

Pressing his advantage, Hammer found the prone Agent Balance and put a bullet in his head before the man could get up. The other agents had fallen into the pit or fled.

He came back to Jim-Bean, staring in wonder at the opening before them. "It's massive."

The cave wind was created by temperature differences between the outer and inner passageways, causing a chimney effect. The incredible blast of wind indicated that the area sealed off behind the barrier was unbelievably huge—perhaps several thousand miles of cave passages.

"Welcome to Pellucidar," said Jim-Bean.

 

[talien]

Landscrapes: Part 9 – PELLUCIDAR

The cavern opened up above and below and to each side. Hundreds of the tiny, fire-like lights provided dim illumination. The light revealed a dome at least ninety feet above, and a canyon below it running approximately three-hundred feet to the northwest, before a bend hid the rest of its extent from view. The sound of a river gurgled up from the canyon floor below at least two hundred and fifty feet away. The opposite side of the canyon was the source of the light, as it twinkled in sparkling profusion from the windows of a majestic cliff dwelling.

The place was large enough to have its own atmosphere. It smelled odd, and strange clicking and buzzing sounds reached their ears.

"What is this place?" asked Hammer.

"I don't think it'z on Earth," responded Jim-Bean.

Up ahead was a pentagon-shaped building made of similar black obsidian. A pentagon-shaped door lensed open before Jim-Bean as he approached.

Inside, the floor was smooth, black obsidian rock. Strange fungus growths were everywhere. They moved to the next room through another pentagon door.

It opened to a similarly sized room emitting loud buzzing and clicking noises like a swarm of wasps. Inside were tiny, winged lobsters, clambering around eating spores from massive toadstools and other fungal growths that filled the chamber, while little black worm larva crawled everywhere else. An organic, transparent membrane stopped the creatures from escaping.

"That iz their young," said Jim-Bean matter-of-factly.

"You're starting to creep me out with that mask," said Hammer.

Metal shelves on the walls held various cylinders, some occupied, others empty. Strange appendages that looked like speakers were also on the shelves. One cylinder had recently been opened and left unfinished.

"We already know what's in those." Hammer swallowed hard. He'd seen a man's brain sucked out through his face. That image would stay with him for the rest of his life. He refused to look inside.

They moved on to the next room. It contained strange alien tables created in human shape. Next to the beds were translucent egg shaped vessels with pipes pumping liquid into them from valves in the ceiling. Inside each vessel were human organs and body parts such as lungs, hearts, eyes, leg muscles and intestines, kept alive and functioning by the strange fluids.

"I remember thiz place," said Jim-Bean, his voice evincing a hint of nostalgia.

"That's not…yours, is it?" asked Hammer.

Jim-Bean didn't answer. Maybe he didn't want to know. He walked to the next room.

It was bare except for the back wall covered in strange runes.

The runes on the wall glowed. A large, pinkish, fungoid, crustacean-like entity stepped out of it.

It was the size of a man with a convoluted ellipsoid composed of pyramided, fleshy rings and covered in antennae where a head would normally be. Its crustacean-like body bore numerous sets of paired appendages. It also possessed a pair of membranous bat-like wings. Alien dog. Mi-Go. Mothman. Whatever it was, Jim-bean stood before it unafraid.

It spoke in an artificial, clipped and emotionless voice. “What iz your purpoze/intention here?”

"We came to ztop the experimentz of Dr. Finley," replied Jim-Bean.

“How long/duration/time haz elapzed/pazzed zzince you entered the firzt/primary chamber?”

"Not more than a few minutes," replied Hammer.

The Mothman ignored him.

Jim-Bean responded with a high-pitched buzz. The Mothman seemed to understand.

Another creature, this one smaller than the first, stepped out of the black portal bearing two objects. It deposited a brain case and an eight-pound metal star before them. The grey-green five-pointed star was sculpted with a closed eye in the center.

The first Mothman pointed to the case. “A mind in a four-fold loop model, projecting conzciouznezz into zix planez pazt the terminuz. The mind iz a link and can focuz abztract energiez into a point. It iz a box for a focuz.”

One claw tapped on the cylinder. It began to pulse slowly at first. The Mothman turned, holding the cylinder, and the pulsing increased with a rhythmic beeping.

"So that's a brain case," said Hammer. "I'm not sure what that has to do with--

The Mothman's claw pointed at the star. “A point in a zeventeen-dimenzional focuz which diztributez energy equally at five pointz in four dimenzionz. It iz a device to move power from a focuz towardz elzewhere. It iz not a ztar.”

"The Elder Sign." Hammer sighed. He wished Archive was with them.

The second Mothman tapped the wall and the glowing portal pulsed. It pointed with one claw.

Jim-Bean seemed to understand. Heedless of the danger, he stepped through.

Not wanting to be left alone with the alien crustaceans, Hammer followed him.

 

[talien]

Landscrapes: Part 10 – The Forests See All

The portal emptied into an overgrown clearing. At the center was an old, creaky log cabin, a collapsed outbuilding, and a well.

Jim-Bean's mask was gone. He looked around, blinking in the setting sun.

"I recognize this," said Hammer. "This was Waban's place."

The sound of many flies buzzing through the air caused Hammer to unholster his Glocks. Jim-Bean held the braincase in one hand and the Elder Sign in the other.

Pointing the braincase towards to Waban's house, it began to pulse.

Jim-Bean led the way, climbing the rough steps up to Waban’s house. There were a large number of flies around the screen door, accompanied by a revolting stench.

The screen door was black with flies crawling over the torn mesh. Hammer kicked it open.

A scene of grisly proportions greeted them.

"Jesus," whispered Hammer.

The floor, ceiling, and every wall in the room were covered in blood and viscera. Jellied internal organs stuck to walls; ropey intestines dangled from the ceiling, suspended from glistening strands of gooey mucous; dried blood lay thick on the floor and had left hand-width paths down the walls. Everywhere, bits and pieces of human organs could be seen, gummed to walls and furniture. And over it all buzzed millions of fat flies, their plump white young wriggling out of the rotting organs.

Lying in the center of the mess was a lumpy, brownish pile, covered in split, blackened blisters.

Hammer inspected it. A human face, fingers, an elbow—enough to identify the corpse.

"It's Waban," he said mournfully.

"Oh no." Jim-Bean had promised to keep the old Indian safe. He struggled to keep from vomiting.

Waban had been reduced to a spongy sack of wrinkled flesh, his bones jutting randomly beneath his skin.

Hammer dispassionately inspected the corpse. Waban’s jaw was broken in at least two places, and a jagged rupture was on what was once the man’s back.

"From the condition of the scene and the body, Waban's organs were squeezed out, at the same time, and with a tremendous amount of force. But this is odd…"

Jim-Bean looked away. "What?"

"His brain is missing."

Jim-Bean looked at the pulsing braincase. "Oh God…" He dropped it. It clattered to the ground, pulsing softly, its pace quicker now.

An eerie silence blanketed the surrounding forest. Birds and insects were still. Even the wind seemed to wait.
Then a moist smell, like freshly turned earth, became noticeable.

"Waban's brain case…it's not a detector," shouted Jim-Bean, stabbing a finger at the case. "It's a LURE!"

 

[talien]

Landscrapes: Conclusion

Suddenly, a great cracking noise shattered the silence, followed by a terrifying vision: separating itself from the surrounding evergreens, a tentacle beast bore down on them, tendrils waving, pus-dripping mouths champing. The hideous offspring of Shub-Niggurath screeched and howled. It was the creature that had escaped from Dawn Biozyme, that had killed off the Black Flag team. And now it was coming for Hammer.

Hammer ran. He plunged straight through the open doorway and, leaping over the wreckage, hit the ground running. Behind him, the thing smashed through the cabin, heedless of the obstacle in its path. Jim-Bean never made it out.

Hammer kept running. He could out run it, he was sure, if it weren't for the damn trees. He just had to find some flat ground.

But there was none. The trees were everywhere.

Hammer looked over his shoulder. The thing was right on his heels, tentacles waving towards him, probing, tearing trees out of its path or just smashing right through them with its cloven hooves.

Stars exploded as Hammer ran headlong into a trunk. He fell backwards, bouncing off of the solid oak, stunned.

Tentacles snaked towards him, hungry mouths sucking in anticipation.

Hammer caught sight of the box of dynamite. He'd dropped it as he ran, and now it was partially underneath the tentacle-thing's feet. He took aim and fired.

There was a massive explosion as dynamite blew chunks of tree, some whistling past Hammer's ear.

The champing noises turned to squeals of rage. Even at point-blank range, a full case of dynamite exploding had no effect. In fact, the thing's bulk had protected Hammer from the brunt of the blast.

Then a bright green beam sparkled from a figure atop the wreckage of Waban's home.

"Shoot it!" Jim-Bean held aloft the metal Elder Sign in one hand. "I can't keep this up forever!"

It had taken what little psychic reserves Jim-Bean had left to heal his wounds. He was left a bloody, broken mess when the cabin collapsed. Jim-Bean had to pick and choose what parts of his body to heal, and that meant two legs and one arm. Inch-long splinters still stuck out of his left arm. Several ribs were broken. It would have to do.

The monstrosity roared as the green ray penetrated it bumpy mass, encompassing the thing in a glittering radiance. Hammer rose to his feet and squeezed off a shot.

The bullet punched through and out the other side of the thing, spurting brown ichor. Mouths screamed. Tentacles waved in frustration, torn between ripping Hammer apart and pursuing Jim-Bean's offending beam.

Making its decision, it roared a charge towards Jim-Bean.

"Oh crap!" Jim-Bean dove off the wreckage, backpedalling as best as he could through the forest. Instinctively, he knew that the only way they could hurt the thing was when it was within view of the Elder Sign's blazing gaze.

As he focused on the Elder Sign, the metal eye at the center opened a bit more, the beam a little wider. But it was still not enough.

Hammer pumped more bullets into it. Some of them just thunked into the billowing mass to no effect.

If Jim-Bean was going to stop this thing, the Elder Sign's eye would have to bring its full gaze to bear on the thing. But that meant siphoning all of his psychic energy. If the thing caught him, Jim-Bean would never recover from his wounds.

But he was going to die either way. Jim-Bean stopped running and, using even his broken arm, brought both hands together to focus on the Elder Sign.

The monstrosity was so close that the ground rumbled. The stench of earth and wood was overpowering.

Energy flowed out of Jim-Bean. It felt as if a straw was sucking his veins through his skin. He pumped everything he had into the Elder Sign until his vision swam with green spots.

The tentacle thing came up short. It was sparkling brightly now, fully enveloped by the green beam that hummed from the Elder Sign's eye.

Hammer released two bursts from his Glocks, peppering the beast's legs. One blew out at the knee, and it lost its balance. It was enough to slow it down.

Hammer reloaded.

Tentacles whipped at Hammer as the beast flailed blindly away at him. He rolled and came up firing again, this time blowing a tentacle clean off.

More screams. The tentacle-thing struggled to its feet.

Hammer reloaded again, dancing back as a tentacle snapped near his face. But it was smarter than Hammer had given it credit for.

Another tentacle snaked through the ground, blasting upwards out of the dirt, just as it had surprised the BLACK FLAG team. It snapped around Hammer's ankle and lifted him up in the air.

A nearby tentacle would probed forward, preparing to rip him in twain, but Hammer fired another burst and blew it in half.

The thing dangled him over its mouths. Sucking maws welcomed him, devoid of teeth but terrible in their infant-like need to slurp him whole.

He reloaded as the horrible orifice rushed at his head…

Jim-Bean watched the scene play out in horror. It was difficult to see what was happening with the green radiance. He was starting to lose consciousness.

When it was done with Hammer it would feast on him. For all he knew, it didn’t really need to eat, slurping on him for an eternity.

With a shuddering roar, the thing exploded in a spray of brown ichor as Hammer's two pistols tore through its defenses, shooting through one mouth and out another. The gunfire ripped it and two.

The damage done, the thing's tentacles curled in on itself like a dying insect, pathetic in its mewling agony. Ichor puddled out of mouths and tentacles twitched their last. Hammer rolled over and over, thrown, covered in the brown substance that was the tree-thing's blood.

Then the screaming stopped too.

The eye on the Elder Sign rasped shut. Jim-Bean fell to his knees. The metal Sign fell from his numb hands.

"Did we get it?" asked Jim-Bean weakly.

Hammer limped over to him. He put one ichor-covered hand on Jim-Bean's shoulder.

"Yeah," he said, gasping. "We got it."

 

[talien]

Chapter 49: No Pain, No Gain - Introduction

This story hour is a combination of the scenario from At Your Door, "No Pain, No Gain," by Barbara Manui, Chris Adams, and L.N. Isinwyll, Dinner With Susan by Kelvin Green, and Goddess by Dr. Michael C. LaBossiere. You can read more about Delta Green at Delta Green. Please note: This story hour contains spoilers!

Our cast of characters includes:

• Game Master: Michael Tresca
• Kurtis "Hammer" Grange (Fast Hero/Gunslinger) played by George Webster
• Jim “Jim-Bean” Baxter (Charismatic Hero/Telepath) played by Jeremy Ortiz (Jeremy Robert Ortiz)
• Joseph “Archive” Fontaine (Dedicated Hero/Acolyte) played by Joe Lalumia

Up to this point, we've established that Dawn Biozyme has been dabbling with "Mother's Milk," that it comes from Shub-Niggurath, and that several of the spawn of said Great Old One have gotten loose. The team barely, just barely, defeated a fully grown Dark Young. Now it's time to up the stakes.

It all starts with Noelle Rand's disappearance, a photographer for Full Wilderness' Ecotopian magazine.

That connection is Cynthia Dexter, and she will be one of the many casualties as the agents run and gun their way through this scenario. But first, we start with the Mother of Pus, replacing the flabby monstrosity in Dinner with Susan. She's more disgusting than difficult, and it set the tone for just how gruesome the worshippers of Shub-Niggurath can get. This scenario was flesh-crawlingly gross, especially when Archive gets infected…

Next is a series of ambushes between cultists of Cynthia Dexter's Sisterhood of New Potential. We also get to see Fiona Lin-Wei back in action.

Finally is the scenario we've all been dreading: No Pain, No gain. The one with the horny giantess, talking dog, "Jennikins" and a railroad ambush. I played it straight – I used d20 rules for an explosion and cave-in and gave the agents a decent chance to escape. But they didn't.

So you know what happens next. In my defense, the only thing I changed was Willie. I changed him from Clifford the Big Red Dog to Rover from the Prisoner. This whole scenario turned very, very strange, but at no point did the players feel it was comical or out of sync with the rest of the conspiracy narrative. In fact, much to my surprise, they enjoyed it very much.

Defining Moment: "Guess who's eating for eight?"

Relevant Media

• [ame=http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0933635648?ie=UTF8&tag=michaeltresca&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=0933635648]At Your Door[/ame]: source of the serum blob.
• Dinner With Susan: an excellent free scenario by Kelvin Green. This encompasses Fiona's interview and the thing in the pool.
• Goddess: Another great free scenario by Dr. Michael C. LaBossiere. This includes the ambush in the warehouse and the battle in the park.
• [ame=http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001O3SLEE?ie=UTF8&tag=michaeltresca&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B001O3SLEE]Y.M.C.A.[/ame]: by the Village People. It'll make sense when you read the story hour, trust me.

 

[talien]

No Pain No Gain: Prologue

Young man, I was once in your shoes.
I said, I was down and out with the blues.
I felt no man cared if I were alive.
I felt the whole world was so jive...​

--YMCA by Village People​

A news feed flashed across the agents' cistrons. Nina Juarez appeared in a smart-looking suit and skirt with a serious expression that conveyed the grave importance of her subject.

"This is Nina Juarez with a special report. Tonight, we're investigating Dawn Biozyme. You may recall that Dawn Biozyme, a subsidiary of MegaCosmos, is currently under investigation by the government on a variety of federal and state charges. After the charges were filed, one of MegaCosmos' board members, 58-year-old David Melton, was found dead of his own hand. His suicide note confessed guilt in the funding and covert manipulation of Dawn Biozyme, and records accompanying the note contained information implicating Melton and CEO Matthew Lewis in a plot to fleece millions from Dawn Biozyme, Tiger Transit, and MegaCosmos. The state of California is prosecuting Lewis now. We caught up with Lewis at his luxurious townhouse."

Lewis, looking haggard and worried, shoved a palm at the camera. "No comment!"

The screen returned to Juarez. "There's more to this story than just corruption. Dawn Biozyme was established in the late 1980s to market new strains of genetically engineered agricultural products. Its founder, majority stockholder and CEO Matthew Lewis, is a graduate of the Harvard Business School and eldest son of a family long connected to Washington politics. By 1994 Dawn Biozyme was in dour financial straits. That's when GNN learned that Lewis met Cynthia Dexter."

A picture of a woman in her forties appeared to the left of Juarez's talking head. She wore her brown hair long with a natural cut that showed off the hair's thickness without looking like it was the product of an expensive salon. Her face was long, her lips full, and her piercing eyes a dark green, fading to brown. It looked like a glamour shot.

"Our sources have learned that Cynthia Dexter was a "Big Sister" for a new age self-actualization and self-realization group called the Sisterhood of New Potential. As a Big Sister, it was her job to recruit new members into the group and help guide them on their journey of development and liberation as they learn to unlock hidden strengths and full potential."

"GNN has discovered that the Sisterhood of New Potential actually has its roots in the True Love Study Group, founded in 1965. They operated as a commune on a large forested plot on the heart of California's northern Sierra Mountains. In 1977, three of the Group's leaders—Joshua Freese, Chester Marsh, and Richard Waugh—were indicted for first-degree murder. They were all judged not guilty by reason of insanity. Freese is still in a mental institution, Marsh was released but later convinced for rape, and Waugh died under mysterious circumstances. After these incidents the Group disbanded…until recently. Fourteen members of the former Group formed the Sisterhood of New Potential in 1989. The Sisterhood relocated the commune to a Wilderness Retreat Center, the whereabouts of which are currently unknown."

"Did the illegal operations funded by MegaCosmos take root in the cult activities of Dexter and Lewis? What precisely was going on in the basements of Dawn Biozyme's labs? When we return, we take a look at possible theories…"

Hammer's feed was interrupted by a call. He picked it up.

A woman's voice answered. "Agent Hammer?"

Hammer blinked . He recognized her voice. "Fiona?"

"Listen, I just saw the news report about the Sisterhood of New Potential. Are you working on that case?"

"Yes, why?"

"I think I have some information you'll want to hear about. Can you visit me at the Ecotopian offices?"

"We'll be right over."

 

[talien]

No Pain, No Gain: Part 1 – The Ecotopian, Again

SAMSON, CA -- Agents Archive, Hammer, and Jim-Bean sat at the desks of the Ecotopian. The staff eyed them warily, but the hostile atmosphere of the office had changed since they last visited.

The office was staffed mostly by young people working phones, but there were also people writing reports and analyzing soil and water samples. There were posters up everywhere announcing the Festival of the Earth that was happening next weekend.

"Noelle Rand was our photographer. She quit the Ecotopian's staff and Full Wilderness completely a few weeks ago," said Fiona in her Scottish accent, incongruent with her Asian appearance. She was half-Chinese. "That's when I got the email."

She handed a print out of the email to Hammer. He scanned its contents. "So she left to join a women's environmental group…"

"The Sisterhood of New Potential," said Fiona. "Which is why I called you. She was suffering odd lapses in her memory and strange attacks of extreme fear. She disappeared shortly after I received that email."

"Why us?" asked Jim-Bean curiously. "I didn't think you were particularly fond of…our operation."

Fiona frowned. "The Sisterhood of New Potential has been recruiting several women from here," she said. "I had a fight with Cynthia Dexter about it."

"You spoke with her face to face?" asked Archive, curiosity piqued.

Fiona nodded. "She's either a religious nut, a scam artist, or both. She was always talking about her great goddess."

"We'll check it out," said Hammer. "And maybe afterwards I can brief you over dinner."

Fiona cocked her head, eyeing Hammer. "Maybe. Let's see what you find first." She handed Hammer an address. "This is Noelle's address. The police haven't paid much attention to the case, but I bet you can find out more."

"We have our methods," said Hammer cryptically. He tucked the note into a pocket and turned to go,

"Agent Hammer?"

Hammer spun on his heel, a little too quickly. "Yes?" he asked hopefully.

She pointed a finger at the printed email, still in Hammer's hand. "Don't forget to recycle that printout," she said with a sly smile.

Hammer stuffed it in a recycling bin.

As they walked out of the offices, Jim-Bean sidled up to Hammer. "You really think you have a chance with her?"

"I don't know." Hammer stalked towards their rental car, all business.

"You know, in my visions of you and her…the things I've seen…" Jim-Bean said carefully, "there's no guarantee that they come true."

"We have proof." Hammer jabbed a thumb in Archive's direction, who wore the tattooed, dried skin from a future Fiona as a ward against beings from beyond.

"We also had a dollar bill with Hitler on it," said Archive. "So we already changed the future."

"Maybe I'd just like to talk with someone besides you two," said Hammer tersely.

Jim-Bean patted Hammer on the back. "Don't feel so bad. I haven't taken a dump in months – I'm a veritable chick magnet."

Just before they entered the rental car, the earth move beneath them--only a small earthquake, but the jolt was stiff enough locally. There was a low rumbling vibration that approached and passed, and all was normal once again. There wasn't a crack formed or window broken.

"I hate California," muttered Hammer.