Operation Subservient Echo
Preamble
This is a scenario for Delta Green that I have run before to great success. Any horror game would work for this and you could easily retool this to players as reporters or PIs trying to get the TRUTH about what happened to Airman Petty.
Player Briefing
Situation
Six hours ago Airman Solomon Petty staggered into Ed's Diner in Enid, Oklahoma He forced entry into the kitchen, drank three jars of pickle juice then collapsed. Disturbingly Petty, had been shot multiple times prior to breaking into the diner. The wounds should have been fatal. During the autopsy the coroner discovered a tennis ball sized parasite inside Petty's skull. Local police, the military, and the feds are doing loop-de-loops to try and figure this one out.
Mission
In order of importance you need to:
Acquire and destroy the parasite.
Offer a compelling narrative about what caused it.
Discover the source of said parasite and destroy it if possible.
Determine if there are more infected people out in the world.
Solving the murder is secondary to your objectives. It may prove useful in establishing your credentials and providing a cover up.
Execution
You have cutout IDs as members of the Oklahoma Bureau of Investigation. OBI should steamroll over any local cops, and provide massive headaches to the feds if they try to fuck you over on custody or jurisdiction. The MPs are the biggest threat to your cover and will prove to be a huge obstacle should they want to shut you down.
Other than that you are free to follow your orders however you choose.
Administration
Transportation, firearms, and any other equipment should be secured by the agents. Do not leave a trace you were there
Communication
Agent Archibald is your handler for this mission. Only make contact if the situation can not be resolved and is out of hand. Use the "Mike's Wash and Rub" number and the phrase "I am having trouble finding my seats for the ballgame." you will be patched through to Archibald.
Friendlies and other agents in the field should be identifed with the following passphrase:
"Do you know how to get to Neverland from here?"
"No, but I'm with the Wonder Boys."
GM Briefing
What's going on.
A scared, confused parasite has fallen to Earth. It wants to leave. It's building a teleporter in an abandoned Piggly Wiggly and distributing its eggs via tainted drugs. Airman Petty was a user of drugs to take the edge off his job as mechanic at Vance Air Force Base. The parasite hijacked him and started stealing valuable metals. Petty's demeanor changed to be very aggressive and dim witted after the parasite took control. He started being verbally and eventually physically abusive to his partner Airman Mussel who struck him in the head with a wrench and then terrified when he rose to his feet, shot him nine times in the chest and head. She dumped the body in Frogtown, a known place for scoring drugs, and drove off. Petty "awoke" and tried to find the nearest source of salt.
Infection
Signs of infection are increased anger, bursts of rage, and an unquenchable need for salt and electrolytes. Infected individuals can not harm the parasite nor are they capable of perceiving it. The parasite can also warp the perception of others by changing the way light reflects off its skin to become invisible, Awareness -10 to see through this.
Infected individuals only die when the body is ruined. The parasite will flee and attempt to find a new host.
Consuming distilled water for a day is enough to starve the parasite and have it safely wither away.
Highjacked agents will not turn against their fellows unless the parasite is certain the other agents will dismantle or destroy its way back home.
NPCs
Coroner Iris Lokbej 65%
Concerned and fretful over her discovery. Wants to do an honest job. Jade broach she fidgets with when she is having trouble being honest.
Sheriff Paul Gutterson 45%
Cracked red face, black tar teeth, and dull eyes. Gutterson is a local hero for taking a bullet during a hostage crisis. He hasn't walked right since.
Airman Anna Mussel 55%
Always laughs at her stupid puns. Been more reserved lately. Calloused hands and a dancer's speed. Reluctant to open up about Petty's mood shift to being abusive.
Quartermaster Rod Temple 70%
Temple is said to have figured out how many nails are in his command. A button down man whose entire world lacks imagination.
Ed Berlin 20%
Forearms covered in grease spits are starting tow ilt with age. A born politician if he hadn't have discovered how much he loves cooking.
OBI SAIC Pedro Atkinson 50%
Always gives less than is given, especially to those he sees as rivals.
DEA SAIC Twid Russet 55%
Paranoid this is his last assignment. Violently opposed to that idea. Former Force Recon.
Locations
Ed's Grill
A two by wide which has had bricks put around it. Decades of sweat, grease, and teenage excitement litter the booths. During opening hours drug abusers come in pretty often to get a free burger from Ed.
Frogtown
A maze of trailers and burnt down homes. The police have given up trying to get the drugs out of Frogtown and are happy to just contain them within. Finding a tainted meth dealer is not an issue if you spend a few hours casing the joint. The DEA currently has a team here to ascertain if a proper task force is needed.
Run Down Piggly Wiggly
On the border of Frogtown the saddest little grocery store stands before the highway that killed it. Traffic no longer flows this way and so the store was a place for people to score and get high. Its location is perfect for the machine the parasites are building. The innards are twisted circuits of volatile materials and strange frequencies. 1/d4 SAN for staying inside longer than 20 minutes.
The cold produce sections have been turned into egg farms for the brood. Dozens of eggs await. Each day the parasites return to lay another six eggs.
Meth labs have been set up in the docking bay.
At any time twelve parasited guards tend to the drugs and are around for security. 60% Claws.
If the machine is built the building arcs in green light, shooting off like the fuzz of a CRT for 30 minutes. Stepping inside the aura sends your genetic material kilobyte by kilobyte across space to the homeworld. There is no return.
Petty's apartment
Spartan save the drug paraphernalia. Even the most amateur investigators would see that there is something unusual about the meth.
Armory/Hazardous Material
Racks are missing valuable metals. Containers of fuel are gone. And a few missile guidance chips as well. Temple is furious but handling the investigation privately. He knows that Petty was involved and is certain he was killed selling off military hardware.
Mussel is usually nearby tending to something that's about to fall apart.
Coroner's Office
The first parasite is here in a glass jar, pretending to be dead. Petty's corpse will reveal that he sustained an immense amount of trauma before dying. Lokbej is reluctant to admit she thinks the parasite was preventing him from feeling pain. She doesn't want to be seen as "crazy."
Petty's phone will have threatening texts to Mussel, demanding the key to the hazardous materials room again. Texts from dealers telling him to swing by Frogtown.
Enid Police Department
An ornamental red brick sack of flaming dog shit.
Timeline
Timeline if the players do not engage.
Day 1 Noon - The MPs remand the body and the parasite to the AFB.
Day 1 Night - Lead investigator is brainwashed by the parasite and breaks into the armory and the hazardous materials room. Killing the quartermaster and two enlisted engineers.
Day 2 Morning - A new batch of eggs is hatched at the abandoned Piggly Wiggly. The cooks prepare another batch of tainted meth.
Day 2 Noon - The real OBI show up and force themselves onto the AFB after hearing reports of the three murders. The Lead investigator orders the MPs to fire upon the OBI agents, killing two and wounding more.
Day 2 Evening - Both SWAT teams and a bunch of news crews have arrived. Encountered NPCs have a 50% chance to be hosts at this point.
Day 2 Night - SWAT attempt to seize the gate to the AFB. This time explosive munitions are used.
Day 3 Morning - Due to the increased pressure the next batch of eggs are prepared to be dropped via a cargo plane outfitted with a crop dusting system.
Day 3 Noon - The plane does a low pass over the town spraying eggs. Exposed players must make a POW save minus 20 to avoid being highjacked. NPCs now have a 85% chance of being controlled.
Day 3 Afternoon - Now that most of the town and officers have been seized the parasite has an easier time to finish its goal. Truckloads of electronics and hazardous materials are sent from the AFB to Piggly Wiggly.
Day 3 Night - The construction is complete and all of those controlled by the parasite walk into the machine and vanish.
Day 4 Morning - Hundreds if not thousands are missing and a vital AFB has lost its manpower overnight. There is no covering this up.
ORBAT
Local police
Sheriff Gutterson 45%
6x Bumbling oaf deputies/shit head highway patrolmen 30%
Pistols and shotguns. Plus their personal armories at home.
Attack targets weaker than themselves. Flee if overwhelmed.
Military Police
Lead Investigator Sally Speegle 70%
4x competent investigators 60%
Pistols, assault rifles, and shotguns. If under the influence of the parasite explosives as well.
Reluctant to kill unless provoked.
DEA
SAIC Twid Russet 55%
2x bored field agents 50%
Pistols, one shotgun, and a high powered rifle.
Lay in wait, ambush, capture, interrogate.
Encounters
Things are okay
- Sheriff Gutterson follows the agents.
- News crew ambush.
- 3d6 concerned citizens.
- 1d3 tainted meth dealers.
- 1d4 off duty Airmen.
- A salt craving lunatic.
Things are out of hand
Each encounter has a 65% of being controlled by the parasite.
- 2d4 SWAT officers.
- 2d3 Air Force MPs.
- 4d10 citizens.
- The entire Enid Police Department loaded for war.
- An unexploded bomb.
- A family.