[CoC/Delta Green] Yellow Twilight Darkening

[Andrew D. Gable]

Motorists Are Urged to Take Caution on "Devil's Highway"

Forget Route 666 - Route 70 here in Arizona can take the name “devil’s highway”, and rightfully so. In the past month, over a dozen people have vanished without a trace on or near the roadway.

The first to disappear, on the 4th, were Mr. & Mrs. Allen Curtley of Santa Fe, New Mexico. It is believed that the two were traveling to Phoenix to visit their son, Brian. “My mother and father were fine, upstanding individuals. They were well-liked by practically everyone back home,” said Brian when reached for comment. “I just can’t see why anyone would do something like this.”

Felix Royos, a 20 year-old attendant at the Shell gas station near Peridot, disappeared from the station only two days after the Curtleys. He had criminal connections, with several arrests for minor offenses and a charge of Grand Theft Auto. However, Maj. Frank Garrett of the state police feels that Royos’ criminal past was not a factor in the disappearance, as he has had no known criminal associations for almost two years.

Over the next week, six more people had turned up missing, including Dutch and German nationals. As this article was being written, word reached the media that an entire family, the Begays, disappeared from their ranch home near Bylas.

“We don’t have any leads at the current time,” says Maj. Garrett of the attacks. “No traces of any of the bodies have turned up. We do, however, strongly advise motorists against traveling alone on Route 70, and against pulling over to the side of the road for any reason.”

“There is a killer on the loose here, this much is clear,” says Sheriff Mangas Colorados of the San Carlos Reservation. “We here on the reservation fully intend to cooperate with the state police on this case. The killer, whoever he is, is a menace both to the Native Americans on theis reservation and to the people of Arizona as a whole.”

- Phoenix New Times, 7/28/02

 

[Rune]

Cool. Is this gonna be a storyhour? 'Cause I'm interested!

 

[Andrew D. Gable]

Session 1A: Puppet Shows and Shadowplays, Part One...or, Here's Your Answer, Rune

The PCs:
Lawrence Martin, Secret Service (Agent Daniel)
Sgt. Neal Coburn, Navy SEAL (Agent David)
* Both are level 3.

The NPCs:
Lt. Kelly Flynn, NRO Systems Engineer (Agent Darwin)
SAC Patrick Hobson, Phoenix Field Office, FBI (“Chief Wiggum”)
Maj. Frank Garrett, Arizona State Police
Sheriff Mangas Colorados, San Carlos Reservation Police

AUGUST 8, 2002
9:30 AM. The two agents both received a text message on their cell phones from Darwin, inviting them to “a night at the opera”. This is Delta Green code for an op, and they were told to board a plane bound for Phoenix, AZ - tickets had already been reserved for them - where they would be briefed in full.

3:10 PM. Touching down in Phoenix, David and Daniel are met at the airport by SAC Patrick Hobson of the Phoenix field office. He briefs the agents quickly on the situation, handing them a folder containing a newspaper article on the topic (see post #1), as well as dossiers on the victims and several relevant photographs.

“The FBI is concerned here because of the possibility of a renewed Native American independence movement. We’re anxious to avoid another Leonard Peltier situation, should this prove to be the case. We’re asking you guys to investigate and hopefully annull these possibilities, using all resources at your disposal.”

The agents arrive at the FBI field office, and review the dossiers in-depth. Ready to begin the investigation, they set out in their rental cars for the San Carlos Reservation.

4.30 PM. The first place they went was the Begay ranch home near Bylas. The home was clean and orderly, and no signs of violence were to be found. Signs were, of course, found of the state police/Apache police investigation. Almost first thing, Daniel hits redial on the telephone. A man named John Rope answers, who says that he is the Begay’s nearest neighbor, by approximately a half mile. The agents ask Rope to come to the Begay house for questioning. While waiting, they dust for prints on the doors (although the police already checked this), turning up nothing, as expected. Whoever broke in took their time.

Within moments, a Ford pick-up pulls up the driveway in a flurry of dust and dried clay. An elderly Apache man, weather-beaten and wearing a large cowboy hat, gets out and identifies himself to the agents as John Rope. David questions Rope carefully about his last conversation with Victorio Begay, while Daniel continues to check out the surrounding land.

“Victorio had been complainin’ for a while that someone, or something, had been takin’ his sheep. He said it was the chupacabra, him being Mexican and all. He called me the night they’re sayin’ he disappeared, sayin’ he was gonna sit out with a shotgun waitin’ for whatever it was. Well, I guess it got him, poor bastard, whatever it was. Got his family, too. I wanna move into the city as soon as I can, get away from this killer or whatever it is.”

Daniel gets on his cell phone and calls Darwin. He asks him to use the resources of his agency to monitor the area surrounding Route 70, and to let him know if anything unusual shows up. At that moment, he is nearly overcome by a stench of decay. Seeing the nature of a number of objects lying among the scrub brush and loose soil, he yells for David.

In front of Daniel are a number of carcasses, in varying states of decomposition, of sheep - the missing sheep from Mr. Begay’s ranch. The graves where the carcasses were laid were apparently uncovered by some animal. David notices tracks of some sort of canine, and believes they are most likely of a coyote. Nearby, they find four human corpses - the remains of the Begay family. Daniel phones Maj. Garrett, and has the state police come to pick up the bodies.

The agents receive a call from Darwin, who has found an unusual, artificial-looking patch in the desert southeast of their current position, just outside the reservation. The agents hop in their respective cars and head for the position.

7.00 PM. There, they find a large white patch which appears to be the roof of a car, apparently at least partially excavated by a coyote. They call Maj. Garrett to dispatch an excavation crew to the site. A backhoe arrives and pulls the car out of the ground. David checks the front seat, while Daniel goes towards the trunk. Using glass-cutters, David gains access to the front relatively quickly, and is greeted by a charnel stink. In the driver’s seat sits the decomposing body of a man, his stomach gashed open and his innards spilling onto the seat. Checking for fingerprints, he finds a set on the man’s corpse and a fragmentary set on the car handle out. He retrieves a wallet from the dead body, with a license identifying the man as Richard Billings. Meanwhile, Daniel is writing down the license plate number of the car, which bears Texas tags. After checking the trunk and finding that nothing was within, he and David ride back to the FBI office.

7.45 PM. The plates are faxed to the Texas state police, while the two sets of prints collected from within the car are given to the FBI’s identification team, who quickly determines that they are from the same individual. The agents decide to call it a night. As of today, their thinking is ranging towards some sort of werecreature being responsible.

 

[Andrew D. Gable]

Session 1B: Puppet Shows and Shadowplays, part one

9.00 AM. The FBI identification team reports to the agents that they have identified the prints from the car to within a 1% margin of error to a Master Sgt. Emanuel Santana, an Army Ranger who was reported AWOL in 1971 while on leave to attend his mother’s funeral. Santana’s desertion was at the time considered a threat to national security due to his involvement in Operation PHOENIX while he was in Vietnam. The Army, US Marshals, FBI, and CIA all investigated his disappearance, only to turn up no leads. The CIA is currently being informed that the now 55 year-old deserter has shown up again.

The agents also receive word from the Texas authorities that the plates from the car belong to an auto registered to an Elaine Braverman. Elaine Braverman is the wife of a Kenneth Braverman, who was a prime suspect in a number of murders of prostitutes in Houston a few months back.

The agents decide to relax at the FBI office for the rest of the day, setting a trap for Santana that evening.

8.30 PM. The agents both drive in Daniel’s car to an already agreed-upon spot near the Begay ranch. Daniel pulls the car to the side of the road, and he stays there while David takes a position in the hills nearby. After several tense moments, a well-preserved Apache in his middle years, resembling the photographs of Santana the FBI gave them, approaches the car. While Daniel engages him in conversation, asking for help with his automobile, David warily approaches. The Apache begins to look furtively about.

“Waiting for someone?”

Whereupon the Apache takes off at top speed into the desert. Daniel jumps out of the car and into hot pursuit, while David, running parallel, attempts to cut off Santana’s progress from the other direction. The chase continues for several minutes until Santana, hemmed in from both directions, changes his facing. Daniel runs after the ex-Ranger and catches him in a headlock, managing to keep a hold even after Santana slashes his forearm with a combat knife.

Suddenly, a tendril lashes out of Santana’s mouth and strikes Daniel, who falls to the ground paralyzed. A second tendril begins emerging, but David squeezes the trigger of his Desert Eagle and hits Santana square in the gut. The Ranger slumps to the ground, deader than a doornail. David frantically phones the FBI, reporting that there is an agent down and in need of medical assistance, and that the killer has been caught.

“Was one of you expecting a package?” SAC Hobson asks while on the phone. Needless to say, David is anxious to see what this is.

Back at the FBI office, Daniel is carted away by a doctor while David receives the package. It is a small, unassuming package, which is quickly examined for anything unusual which might indicate that it was an explosive. Finding nothing, he carefully opens the flat square box, and finds within a CD-ROM.

END OF SESSION

DM's Notes:
- Receiving the package was, of course, the cue for the players to begin a Seven-esque chant of "what's in the box?"
- The doctor who carted Daniel away was, of course, female, and the player of course attempted - and succeeded - to seduce her. I allowed him as this might open future plotlines, maybe even more in this mission...
- The PCs killed Santana much earlier than they would in the original adventure (appearing in the Delta Green sourcebook).

 

[Horacio]

Great story! Thanks for posting it!!!

 

[KidCthulhu]

Hee-hee. Mangas Colorodo! Do we get to meet his wily son-in-law, Wind Breaker?

Great story. Keep up the good work.

 

[Rune]

Ooo. I like your style!

 

[Andrew D. Gable]

Session 2: Puppet Shows and Shadowplays, part two

The PCs:
Lawrence Martin, lvl 3 offense option Secret Service agent
Sgt. Neal Coburn, lvl 3 offense option ex-Navy SEAL
* Both are level 3.

The NPCs:
Lt. Kelly Flynn, NRO Systems Engineer (Agent Darwin)
SAC Patrick Hobson, Phoenix Field Office, FBI (“Chief Wiggum”)
Maj. Frank Garrett, Arizona State Police
Sheriff Mangas Colorados, San Carlos Reservation Police
Dr. Rebecca Owens (“Scully”)

8.30 PM. With an injured Daniel being carted off by Dr. Owens, David checks the information on the CD-ROM he received last time. The package is apparently from Darwin. The information on the disk consists of a series of newspaper articles, beginning with a piece from late 2001 detailing a meteor shower in West Virginia. Following the meteor shower, the area was plagued by a rash of disappearances and cattle mutilations, similar to the phenomenon occurring in Arizona. A homeless man was eventually shot and killed while breaking into a home, and was later found through forensics to have traces of human blood and tissue in his digestive system.

The homeowner, however, moved to Nashville, Tennessee. He was found dead in his apartment, a massive gash in his chest. This set in motion a bizarre chain of events - murders would happen, the prime suspect would move or commit suicide, the murders would begin anew in a new location - all of which suggested a link from the West Virginia meteor shower to the current Arizona murders.

10.00 AM, next day. Daniel gives Dr. Owens a task - to attempt to create an antibiotic that counteracts the anesthetizing venom of the creature. Meanwhile, the two agents travel to the spot where they encountered Santana, and attempt to retrace his steps. They track him to a secluded cave, in which they find the dead body of an old Indian man. As David uses his rudimentary forensic skills to examine the body, Daniel finds a rocky shelf in the back of the cave, on which lies a black glassy sphere. Lights blink on and off in a rhythmic pattern from inside the sphere. They return the body of the old man to Sheriff Colorados and the Apaches, and return to FBI headquarters with the sphere.

11.45 AM. Daniel retains the black glassy sphere, as he believes it will be stolen from the FBI’s evidence room. Dr. Owens tells the agents that an experimental vaccine has been created using remnants of the toxin drawn from Daniel’s bloodstream - and also that the body of Emanuel Santana has vanished. Receiving a shot of the antibiotic, the agents book a flight to West Virginia to investigate the initial impact site, but the earliest flight does not leave until the next day.

1.15 PM. Darwin phones the agents to report a helicopter incoming to their position. Daniel comes up with a plan to stash the sphere in one of the morgue drawers. Three armed agents enter the FBI building, entering from a helicopter landed on the roof’s helipad. The agents are accompanied by another man, dressed in a casual suit and flaunting several gold teeth. He speaks in a heavy Southern accent. David is questioned by the new arrivals - apparently the CIA - and tells them the truth about Santana’s case, leaving out conveniently the part where they found the cave. The CIA men reluctantly accept this story, and leave to go back to their helicopter and search for Santana themselves.

Daniel runs back downstairs and retrieves the sphere from its hiding place, and dashes back up the stairs to the main entryway. At the top of the stairs, he narrowly misses being smashed by a huge forearm blow - Santana’s corpse has returned. Its other arm tightly grips Dr. Owens’. David and Daniel both empty several rounds into the corpse, quickly dispatching it. Daniel empties his Colt Python into the corpse’s gut, which promptly caves in.

With a disgustingly wet sound, a large sluglike creature exits the wound and promptly makes for Daniel, whose hand still holds the black sphere. The agents likewise empty a number of bullets into the creature, killing it.

ADDENDA: The agents finally deduced, correctly, that the black sphere was the alien monster’s spacecraft. After the adventure, Daniel retained possession of the sphere.

 

[Andrew D. Gable]

The PCs Pasts: Agent Daniel

Agent Lawrence Martin was called in to investigate the apparent murder of a computer hacker that the Secret Service had been monitoring for some time, an Ashford University (Pa.) college student named Thomas Matthiessen. Matthiessen was slain execution-style on a night that his roommate said he had been given a disk by Matthiessen to encrypt. When Martin and Glenn Ellefson (the roommate) checked out the disk, they found that it contained a lengthy report on a German project in World War II.

KUGELBLITZ, as the project was named, was apparently an attempt to repair a flying object that had crashed in the Black Forest in 1941 - similar to the United States' rumored project after the Roswell incident. The disk gave Martin the names of several men said to be involved with the project - Joseph Graubenstein, Dietrich Grohl, and Stefan Reichardt.

After meeting with Ellefson (and surreptitiously having a copy made of the disk), Martin was contacted by an Asian man calling himself Sun Tzu. Sun Tzu said he would give Martin the whereabouts of Dietrich Grohl, provided the agent handed over the disk. Martin reluctantly agreed, and traveled to the Naval Hospital in Bethesda, Maryland.

Martin used an ID card - clearance MAJIC - to gain access to Grohl's room. He was an ancient man, hooked up to respirators, and though he was only semi-conscious, he confirmed the story of KUGELBLITZ. Martin was quickly ushered out by Sun Tzu, who said that his employers were after the Secret Service agent. Martin, knowing what he came for, left.

On his way back to Torrington, Pennsylvania, he was stopped by several government men. Although he didn't know it then, these were agents of Delta Green - and now so was he.

 

[Andrew D. Gable]

The PCs Pasts: Agent David

Sgt. Neal Coburn conducted several clandestine operations, mostly in the Banana Republics, before being honorably discharged in 1986. After his discharge, Coburn became a mercenary, selling his services to the highest bidder. It was one of these "jobs", in 2001, that gained him his first exposure to the unnatural.

He was contracted by sources claiming to be from the US armed forces to assassinate a retired general from the Brazilian military, Joao Baixa. Gen. Baixa, linked in the past with Colombian drug cartels, was leader of the Free Amazonia Front (FAF), and during a standoff between the Brazilian and Colombian governments over the Colombian annexation of a portion of Amazonas state he sided with the Colombians.

Coburn surreptitiously gained entry to Baixa's compound, a former plantation house. Eliminating the guards, he entered the central courtyard of the compound. Suddenly, dozens of gas grenades were launched from the walls and belched forth clouds of a greenish, odorless gas. The strange smoke caused the corpses of the dead guards to reanimate. As Coburn frantically gunned down the risen dead, he caught a glimpse of Baixa - and another, larger man - fleeing into a helicopter, which promptly left the area.

Coburn's ass was saved from the fire that day by a squad of heavily armed commandos led by a professional-looking black woman, who introduced herself as "Andrea". Although he didn't know it then, she was an agent of Delta Green - and now so was he.