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A mummy was stolen from storage at the New York Museum of Natural History.  The thieves broke in last night, disabled the security systems, avoided the guards, and made off with the package.  They took nothing else.

The mummy, relic of the 1928 Mumford-Hawkesbourne expedition to the Congo, was willed to the museum from the estate of a recently deceased private collector.  Isotope dating and DNA analysis produced results quickly dismissed as contaminated, and the thing was judged an amusing hoax.  Without any other accompanying information it was deemed unsuitable for display, cataloged and stored.

Dr Jensen Wu, Delta Green friendly, contacted the Case Officer in charge.  The stolen mummy was scheduled to be moved to the “D Stacks”, the museum’s collection of anomalous and unexplained artefacts.  Wu was not in the museum during the robbery.  He’s worried that the thieves took the mummy and nothing else - passing up more valuable artefacts in the same storage room.  Without solid info on its origins, the mummy would have little value to collectors.  The only uses he can imagine for it are nefarious.  The thieves did not enter the D Stacks or take anything from there.  (In fact they were not even aware of their existence).

DR JENSEN WU - Director of Antiquities[]

STR 10, CON 11, DEX 10,

INT 15, POW 18, CHA 11

HP 11, WP 18, SAN 57,

Sleep Disorder

Skills: Accounting 20%, Alertness 40%, Anthropology 40%, Archaeology 50%, Art: Architecture 40%, Foreign Languages (Aklo 24%, Mandarin Chinese 83%, French 29%, Italian 11%, Japanese 14%, Latin 78%, Middle English 31%), Forensics 10%, History 40%, Occult 50%, Persuade 60%, Sciences (Astronomy 30%, Chemistry 20%, Geology 40%, Paleontology 40%), Unnatural 22%

Rituals: Any the Handler cares to give him (and he is always ready to acquire more)

Wu is a tiny, fit-looking Chinese man who dresses conservatively in vests and trousers. His long, wispy, gray hair is held back in a loose ponytail, and he is never without his day-planner. After years of losing it, he now refuses to let it out of his sight except under the most dire circumstances.  His demeanor is disquieting. His assuredness and quiet confidence often can bypass even the most strict barriers of law or consequence. He allows others to lie for him by not saying anything, and can convey great amounts of information in nothing more than a shrug.  He clearly knows more than any one man ever should.

Wu can fill the Agents in on the real story of the mummy.  He explains that the mummy’s physiology suggested it predated anatomically modern man - implying a prehistoric Neanderthal (or earlier) civilization.  He retrieves a book, Sir Arthur Wade’s Observations on the Several Parts of Africa.  He explains that this 18th century text, widely derided as a hoax, tells of Wade’s journey to a lost jungle city in the Congo.  Once the seat of a prehistoric white civilizations, Wade found it overrun by “white apes”.

OBSERVATIONS ON THE SEVERAL PARTS OF AFRICA

Sir Arthur Wade

Study Time 1 day.  Anthropology +1%, Archaeology +1%

TRACKING THE THIEVES[]

Computer Science or the right Craft skill can recover fragmentary security footage from the supposedly disabled system.  There are four thugs, they wear masks but their height, build, gait and voices are clear.  None use names to refer to one another.  The leader speaks with a slight but noticeable German accent, and smokes a pipe.  At intervals he can be seen to walk through walls, costing 0/1 SAN to view.

New York is the most surveilled and sousveiled city in the United States.  Law gets access to security camera footage from the Shake Shack across the street from the museum.  This takes valuable time.  Computer Science can get the same much faster through some illegal hacking.  Either way, the footage catches a blue panel van driving away from the museum loading dock at the time of the theft.  The license plate is false, but the other details of physical appearance are clearly visible.

An Anthropologist or Archaeologist could investigate who knew the mummy was in the Museum’s collection.  It wasn’t public knowledge and was never put on display, only the Museum staff and a few academics and administrators knew it was there.  Going over it with them, they recall a German doctor who expressed interest, which the Agents can trace to Dr Frink’s alias with a little legwork.

A Criminal canvassing New York’s occult underground gets a clue or two about a guy looking to hire some experienced sets of sticky fingers for a heist.  Enough to identify one or more people who took the job.

THE HIDEOUT[]

All the above clues eventually lead to the perpetrators.  The more the Agents employ successfully, the faster they’ll find their query.

Frink’s hideout is a two story row house in the Bronx.  Property and tax records lead to an alias, but Accounting can trace it back to Frink.  Agents staking out the house will spot three people coming and going, all of them clearly armed with pistols.  HUMINT can match them to the burglars.  The three are hardened criminals and white supremacists, which Agents can determine by matching their faces, fingerprints etc to national criminal databases.

VOIGHT, GRUMMAN AND HAROLD - Trio of pawns[]

STR 13, CON 12, DEX 12,

INT 10, POW 11, CHA 10

HP 12, WP 11, SAN 52

Skills: Alertness 50%, Craft (Locksmithing) 40%, Criminology 60%, Disguise 50%, Dodge 40%, Drive 50%, Firearms 40%, Law 40%, Melee Weapons 40%, Persuade 50%, Stealth 50%, Unarmed Combat 50%

Attacks: All three with Glock 19 (40%, D10)

One with Remington 870 (60%, 2D10)

One with MP5 (40%, D10 or 10% lethality)

The second floor of the apartment has an alchemy workshop.  This is where the mummy is being kept, and where the leader spends most of the time, rarely leaving the apartment.  He sends the goons out to procure groceries and supplies for his spells.

DR. FERDINAND FRINK - Leftover Karotechia Bishop and seeker of occult power[]

STR 12, CON 11, DEX 11,

INT 12, POW 18, CHA 8

HP 12, WP 18, SAN 27,

Adapted to Violence, Addiction (Benzedrine), PTSD, Intermittent Explosive Disorder

Skills: Anthropology 50%, Archeology 50%, Bureaucracy 40%, Criminology 50%, Firearms 50%, Foreign Languages (English, 50%, Naacal 20%, Yithian 20%), History 60%, HUMINT 50%, Melee Weapons 50%, Occult 80%, Persuade 40%, Unarmed 50%, Unnatural 22%

Attacks: H&K USP (50%, D10)

SS Knife (50%, D4)

Items: A pipe with a plug of strange tobacco.  While smoking it he can walk through walls at cost of 1 SAN and 1 WP per foot of material (minimum 1).

A black hexagonal stone, small enough to fit into a closed fist.  Geology suggests basalt or another igneous rock.  Oddly warm to the touch.  Science: Physics or Geology suggests some type of radioactivity but a geiger counter turns up none.  Generates 1 WP every 2 hours, up to a maximum of 10 stored.  Frink knows the telepathic cue to siphon this stored energy.  An attack which pierces the battery’s armor of 15 causes it to explode with a 20% lethality blast of Cherenkov-blue radiation.

Rituals: Contact Der Fuhrer (Avatar of Nyarlathotep), Dread Curse of Azathoth, Mind Blast, Raise From Essential Saltes, Voorish Sign, Withering

Dread Curse of Azathoth: At cost of D6 SAN and 4 WP, the caster intones one of the lesser names of Azathoth, the Daemon Sultan.  If they succeed on an opposed POW test against a target (who must be within earshot), the target is cursed for (18 minus CHA) hours.  While cursed, failures rolled by the victim may be treated as critical failures at the discretion of the Handler.

Mind Blast: The caster spends D6 SAN and 4 WP to implant a sanity rending vision in the mind of a target within line of sight.  The victim loses twice as much SAN as the caster.  Skilled sorcerers can conjure visions to trigger specific temporary insanities; a fearsome visage to make the target flee, a horde of terrifying enemies to make them fight, etc.

Dr Frink’s an old man, most of his once blonde hair is either gray or gone.  His perfect blue eyes grow more rheumy with each passing year.  He promises himself over and over that soon he will begin working to resurrect the Karotechia.

TRINKETS[]

In addition to the reagents/equipment for the vital saltes ritual, the lab has many other artefacts.

Jars of salt crystals.  Each is labeled with a name or description, and contains the rendered remains of a living being.  Fellow Nazis, assorted sorcerers, and near-human creatures may be found here.

A cloth wrapped bundle, tied with twine.  Inside is a wooden marotte, carved in hardwood.  The end is capped with a carven image of a nun making an obscene gesture.  Archaeology suggests an origin in High Middle Ages France.  While the end of the sceptre is exposed, everyone in line of sight feels an inexplicable, overwhelming fear centered on the object.  Remaining in its presence, let alone moving closer to it, requires extreme bravery.

A fist sized metallic dodecahedron, microcline-green and slippery to the touch despite being completely dry.  It is stored separately from a magnetic disc, verdigris in color.  When the magnet is attached to the metal, the user has 7.1 seconds before its anomalous properties take effect: everything within a radius of 5.9 meters is chilled to below the freezing point of water, flash freezing any liquid and dealing 2D8 damage (ignoring armor) to unprotected humans as their blood vessels freeze and burst.  The excess energy is discharged as heat outside this radius, dealing 2D4 damage from convection (ignoring armor) to anyone standing too close to the edge.

A canary cage wrapped in a blackout curtain.  Inside is a large, fat scarab.  When exposed to any light, the scarab scuttles, leaps and flits about on its wings inside the cage, trying to bite with its powerful mandibles.  Its venom is a 10% lethality paralytic, and it will chew on anyone it paralyzes for D4 damage per round until squashed or returned to complete darkness.

4 HP, Bite 50%, Fly 50%, -20% to hit it (small target)

A half full tobacco tin.  When smoked, it produces a “floaty” feeling.  The smoker can walk through walls, losing 1 SAN and 1 WP per foot of material (minimum 1 each).  Anyone stuck inside a wall when the effect wears off is killed.

A walrus ivory fountain pen.  The tusk components are lacquered and varnished to prevent them from shrinking.  On the side are six “X”s, followed by a spiral glyph.  The ink is black in color and unremarkable.  The nib is steel or some durable alloy thereof.  If the user writes six words with the pen followed by the glyph, they gain the protection of the Elder Sign (the gestured version).  The protection fades when they stop writing, meaning they must write six more letters and the same symbol if they desire continued safety, followed by another, and another.  The limits are the amount of ink in the pen, the amount of paper available, and the writer’s endurance.

The lab also holds two manuscripts of interest.

MEIN TRIUMPH

In German. Study Time 1 week.  +2% Unnatural.  SAN Loss D4

Description: A leatherbound book.  Details how Der Fuhrer was transformed into a demigod by mass sacrifices in the death camps, and how the Aryan race can attain similar status by exterminating the lower races. The cover shows a swastika encircled by a Hunting Horror with its wings spread.

Rituals: Contact Der Fuhrer (Avatar of Nyarlathotep)

FRINK’S NOTES

In Code.  Study Time 1 hour.  +1% Occult, +1% Unnatural.  SAN Loss 1

Description: Disorderly pages in an elaborate cipher.  SIGINT (or a player who figures it out on their own) determines that the groups of 3 numbers in Frink’s notes are a book code.  Each group of numbers represents a page, line and word from Mein Triumph.  Decoded, Frink’s notes explain that he believes the white ape is descended from an ancient Aryan civilization which once inhabited the city of Thule in the heart of Africa.  This city was rumored to hold mystical powers, Frink intends to extract these secrets from the resurrected mummy.

Rituals: Raise from Essential Saltes

Decide for yourself who the white ape is, or use the NPC described here.

MENG SCHWANGYU - Tsan Chanese Judge in the body of a white ape, resurrected by Nazi Sorcery[]

STR 18 CON 14 DEX 13

INT 13, POW 14, CHA 5

HP 16 WP 10, SAN 39,

Adapted to Violence, Alcoholism, Body Dysphoria

ARMOR: 2 points of thick hide.

SKILLS: Alertness 60%, Athletics 90%, Bureaucracy 40%, Criminology 50%, Dodge 40%, Firearms (Lasguns) 50%, Forensics 50%, HUMINT 60%, Law (of Tsan Chan) 80%, Melee Weapons 80%, Occult 50%, Persuade 50%, Search 50%, Stealth 60%, Unarmed Combat 60%, Unnatural 14%

ATTACKS: Bash or bite 60%, damage 1D8 or grapple (see GORILLA HUG).

H&K USP stolen from Frink (50%, D10)

SS Sabre grabbed off shelf (80%, D8+2)

CLIMBING, LEAPING, AND SWINGING: As her action, with an Athletics roll, Schwangyu can near-instantly shimmy to the top of a tree or seven meters up a cliff, leap up to seven meters with a running start, or swing across a 15-meter gap. Swinging on vines or brachiating between jungle tree limbs, she can outpace a running human.

GORILLA HUG: As her action, Schwangyu can squeeze a pinned target for 1D8 damage without making an attack roll, ignoring armor

Rituals: Elder Sign

Meng Schwangyu was an agent of the Judgement.  With fire and sword, she and her brother Judges kept  Tsan Chan free from the Dream of Great Cthulhu, which roiled and seethed in the minds of a billion madmen outside the Interdiction.  In a way, her work was similar to that of Delta Green - albeit in a post apocalyptic future where Great Old Ones walk the earth, and the last sane humans exist as slaves to the bastard offspring of the Elder Gods behind a magical barrier under constant siege by monsters.

The Great Race drew her mind out of time into one of its great libraries for interrogation.  When the time came to blank her and return her to the present, an error in the transfer shunted her consciousness into the body of one of Yith’s servitor races - the white apes of Itoko.  Swift death and mummification soon followed.

The first thing she does when Frink resurrects her is rip free of her restraints and break his neck.  The second thing she does is take his pants and gun.  After that she ransacks his lab, looking for anything useful and trying to figure out where (and when) the hell she is.  This would be a great time for the Agents to stumble in on her - a white ape in ill fitting blue chinos with a pistol in her belt, pawing at a shelf of wizard leftovers.

She speaks a language that will not exist for thousands of years, though a linguist would note vague similarities to Chinese, Spanish, Russian and English.  Agents who don’t point weapons or attack immediately might be able to establish a pidgin or communicate via hand signals.  Anthropology and SIGINT help.  Given time Meng could pick up a modern language.  Conversing with her would be a great way to grind Unnatural at the cost of 1 SAN per point gained.  She has much to say about the horrifying world to come.  If Dr. Wu is called in to consult, he will establish a dialogue with her using his expertise in linguistics and anthropology.  He will consider her an invaluable source of information about the future, and enthusiastically advocate for her protection and further study.

RESOLUTION[]

The status of the operation will depend on how long the players take to find the hideout.  It takes Frink a day or two to reduce the mummy to essential saltes, and about that much time to resurrect it.  When he resurrects it, it kills him, steals what it can from his lab and escapes (this is the most interesting time for the players to arrive).  If the players find the lab after this, Frink’s thugs have found him dead, packed up shop and left with anything that looked valuable.

If the players aren’t up to a gunfight with a Nazi wizard and his hired guns, they can arrange for the NYPD to help.  This means using Law or Bureaucracy to convince law enforcement the suspects were involved in a theft from the Museum.  If they demonstrate that the thugs are armed and dangerous, SWAT intervenes.  The pawns quickly surrender or die under direct assault.  Frink uses the trinkets in his lab as a distraction while he escapes using his pipe.  If the police raid the place in time for Frink to resurrect the mummy, Schwangyu might die in a shootout with the cops, or shoot a couple herself and escape out the window.  Either way, the Agents might have to work cleanup to stop the wizard goodies in the lab from going into an evidence locker.

Credits[]

Because the Beauty of the White Ape Woman Must Not Perish from the Earth was written by mellonbread for the 2017 shotgun scenario contest.

Published by arrangement with the Delta Green Partnership. The intellectual property known as Delta Green is a trademark and copyright owned by the Delta Green Partnership, who has licensed its use here. The contents of this document are © mellonbread, excepting those elements that are components of the Delta Green intellectual property.

Because the Beauty of the White Ape Woman Must Not Perish from the Earth is not available here under CC-BY-SA.

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