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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Audrik" data-source="post: 6427887" data-attributes="member: 73653">Handful of Dust - Session 1Agents SETH and RAPUNZEL each received a phone call on their Delta Green phones. The voice on the other end identified herself as Section Chief Jane Turner of the FBI in Washington, DC. Their cells had been recommended to her by A-Cell, and she was instructed to invite them to a Night at the Opera. It was obvious she had never been on this end of an Opera invitation, but she handled the situation with authority. They were to contact their cells and instruct them to pack for about five days in the southwest, but first all agents were to meet her at the J. Edgar Hoover building in Washington the following day.The agents all met up in Washington on the steps of the J. Edgar Hoover building and entered together. The inside was impressive, and the giant FBI logo on the floor drew their attention for a moment. An unremarkable man at the front desk asked if he could direct them. His badge identified him as Michael Bullen.Agent SETH indicated that they had been summoned by Section Chief Turner, and the man nodded. He led them to a secure debriefing room and tossed a thin manila folder on the conference table.“You may want to look that over first. Chief Turner will be with you shortly.”Agent SAM took up the folder and examined its contents before passing it along. Inside was a single document; an FBI report detailing the New Coven of Salem. The original Coven was an old coven of witches supposedly descended from actual witches who had been executed during the Salem witch trials in the 17th Century. The Coven, based in Arkham, Massachusetts, had been eradicated in the late ‘30s by the Arkham Police Department. It consisted of about eighty members with an inner circle of thirteen. It was suspected that the New Coven of Salem consisted of about thirty members. The only known pattern of membership in the New Coven seemed to be that some of the members seemed to be grouping together in Alamogordo, New Mexico, and then moving to Arkham. It was suspected that the Coven restructuring was being coordinated in or near Alamogordo.Just as the agents finished reading the report, a woman in her mid-30s entered the room. She was reasonably attractive with shoulder-length brown hair which was tied back, and she wore a black suit with a knee-length skirt. She introduced herself as Section Chief Jane Turner. Chief Turner apologized for the brevity of the meeting, but she was actually quite busy and had a meeting in about ten minutes. She got right down to business.“I trust you’ve read the report? This case landed on my official desk yesterday, and I’m far too busy to handle it myself, so I’m being forced to hand it off. You come highly recommended. Recently, the Planning Committee decided that the New Mexico branch of the New Coven of Salem needed investigating. Well, five days ago, Boston police picked up a vagrant on charges of assaulting two women in a park.“The man has claimed that he is Donald Allen McLeod, but his identity has yet to be verified. When questioned, the man said he had travelled to Boston from Powell, New Mexico. Powell is a small town about fifty miles north of Alamogordo, near the U.S. Military’s White Sands Missile Range. Bus ticket stubs in his pocket and several eye witnesses have confirmed this. He said he was travelling to Arkham to find the New Coven of Salem, but little more has been learned from him, even after repeated interviews.”Agents SETH and SLEEPLESS expressed interest in interviewing the man themselves, and Section Chief Turner said that could be arranged. She mentioned that FBI Psychiatrist Doctor Aaron Fairbanks had interviewed McLeod, and was convinced that the man was incurably insane. His prognosis was delusion and psychosis. Chief Turner went on to say that the agents were booked on an overnight flight to Alamogordo at 11:00 PM.“There you will be met by Detective Ferrell of the Alamogordo Police Department. He will provide a police vehicle, and you will proceed immediately to Powell to conduct a preliminary investigation into the status of the cult. Officially, you are not to take any action, but to report back to Washington once you have any conclusive evidence of illegal activities. Unofficially, however …”She paused briefly, biting her lip.“I understand this is a Delta Green operation, and so obviously you will have to do what you have to do. If things go very wrong, I’ll do my best to provide covering paperwork. And now, if you’ll excuse me, I really must go. You’ll have about seven hours to conduct investigation and inquiry here before your flight leaves from Ronald Regan National. The evidence lockers, and the prisoner are located downstairs.”She then quickly turned and exited. Okay then. The agents had a few things to look into. They all headed down to the evidence locker, and Agent RAPUNZEL signed for the evidence. The guard placed a tray on the table and then left them to examine it. The contents of the tray were as follows:Three tubes of toothpaste: two empty, one full; two dead cockroaches; twenty-three bus tickets documenting trips between various towns between Powell, New Mexico and Boston, Massachusetts; $53.25 in various bills and coins; and a yellowed birth certificate for Donald Allen McLeod, born in Danver’s General Hospital in Massachusetts on April 23rd, 1893.Agent SETH quickly did the math. That would make the man 116 years old. He decided it was time to pay Mr. McLeod a visit. Agents SETH and SLEEPLESS went to the man’s cell, and they were allowed in. The other agents took the evidence to the FBI laboratory to run some quick tests.Agent RAPUNZEL used every piece of equipment at her disposal to determine just how the cockroaches died. They weren’t poisoned, and it wasn’t physical trauma. The only tool that gave any clue was the Geiger counter. Apparently, the cockroaches had died from too much radiation. This realization made her a little apprehensive about a trip to a town near a former nuclear testing site.The agents also determines that the two empty tubes of toothpaste had traces of saliva. It seemed Mr. McLeod had eaten the contents. This was also mildly disturbing, but it wasn’t anything compared to what they’d seen only a few months earlier.SETH and SLEEPLESS examined the man, and the condition of his cell. McLeod looked like a common hobo in his late-40s or early-50s. He wore an old suit and dirty shirt, and his hair and beard were unkempt. The man himself, as well as the floor, walls, and ceiling were all covered in a grainy dust. They asked him several questions, but they were unable to get much out of him other than that he felt the wind was blowing him to pieces.Agent SETH called for the guards and Doctor Fairbanks. He demanded to know how the prisoner could be left in this condition. Doctor Fairbanks said simply “Touch him.”Agent SETH touched McLeod’s arm, and the grainy dust stuck to his hand. As he brushed it away, he and Agent SLEEPLESS noticed that the dust slowly flowed back to cover the clean spot on the man’s arm.The doctor informed them that the first day, the guards washed the man down every couple hours, but it did no good. Likewise, thoroughly cleaning the cell did no good. Agent SETH asked if McLeod had been weighed when he was brought in. The doctor indicated that all his measurements and prints were taken upon his arrest five days ago. He was 143 lbs.SETH asked for a scale to be brought in, and they weighed the man. He had apparently lost four pounds in five days. The agents demanded to know what the prisoner was being fed, and how much he was eating. The doctor replied that McLeod would eat nothing but toothpaste because he believed it helped keep him from blowing away.They decided they had enough for now, and they joined the other agents in the laboratory to discuss the evidence.</blockquote>

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