WIDOWMAKERS - Part Five

The Occultist

Agents thumbing through the 1990 TABLE DANCER report will no doubt raise an eyebrow at the mention of a certain occultist that the original Delta Green team had dog-eared as a potential asset in their investigation. An occultist and antiquarian running a small antiques shop in the Dorchester neighborhood by the name of Bernice Cartfield. 

Preliminary investigation into Cartfield reveals that she's originally a Floridian, and studied fine arts in Tallahassee before moving North in the late 1980s. Her business is well-regarded and has encountered very little in the way of legal trouble. Inquiries made through Boston law enforcement about Cartfield reveal that she is thought to be cordial and cooperative by the Sheriff's department, with whom she had offered her consultation regarding a rash of voodoo-themed gang violence in 1993. 

Any inquiries to A-Cell reveal that beyond the TABLE DANCER's mention in the 1990 report, A-Cell knows essentially nothing about Cartfield. The TABLE DANCER team seemed to believe she had access to genuine material on the unnatural, though A-Cell has had her pegged as a low-priority threat; one not worth committing an investigation to.

The Truth about Cartfield

Cartfield is described in greater details in Issue #19 of the Unspeakable Oath, but for the handler's purposes, this is what is need-to-know:

Cartfield is indeed an accomplished occultist: she's also an extremely accomplished con-artist, and has been swindling the occultists and satanists of Boston for years. She peddles second-rate and totally useless occult knick-knacks to anyone eager (and stupid) enough to think they're genuine. Mentally, she categorizes these types as "Suckers". Of course, in Delta Green, for every half-dozen wannabe Allister Crowleys, there are a few sorcerers of real power. Those that Cartfield believes she can still "take for a ride" while drip-feeding the "real" occult lore to. She has these types listed as "Seekers", and should any of them become an issue, she sells them the instructions for a ritual to summon and bind an alien servant - which she has sabotaged so that the fiery horror that is called upon cannot possibly be binded, and kills its summoner in a blaze of fire. 

She does have dealings with another caste of customer, who she refers to as "Sorcerers" and whose power dwarfs her own. Among this list is Percival Bristo, sorcerer, sexual predator, and senior cultist of Y'Golonac who enjoys membership of the Dorian Grey Society, a membership he bought with his knowledge of tradecraft and sorcery instead of money. (Bristow features as the primary antagonist to my homebrew scenario 'Speak of the Devil', which I will eventually post here). She also has dealings with the DeMonte Clan, Tiger Transit, and The Fate. For our purposes, none of these are terribly important, though if you intend to sow the seeds of later scenarios involving any of these factions later on, the time to do so would be while the agents are doing their dealings with Cartfield.  

Cartfield's Antiquities

Cartfield's Antiquities is a small antique store in the Dorchester neighborhood of Boston. the Storefront is on the bottom level of the old building, Bernice's apartment is the floor above it. Investigations into the store's finances show everything to be in order and above board. The store has a strong security system, including an alarm on the door, seismic sensors to detect if the glass is broken, and cameras covering the cash and main storefront. It's also protected by a spell (cast with the help of Cartfield's powerful friends). The spell "marks" trespassers in the store (people entering it when Cartfield is not present, or people who Cartfield specifically considers to be intruders), ritual activation rolls to spectate "marked" individuals through remote viewing instantly succeed, additionally, the long-distance variants of spells, such as Withering, can be cast on marked people without needing a piece of their DNA. Agents who peruse the store will find run-of-the-mill occult knick-knacks, most of which will strike seasoned agents as unimpressive, though a tcho-tcho sculpture of Chaugnar-Faugn, a copy of Les Cultes des Ghoules, among some other items of the handler's choosing, may raise a few eyebrows. 

Cartfield is courteous and polite upon meeting her. Her engagements with Delta Green left her with an incomplete understanding of the group and its legitimacy - and whether or not she thinks she aught to - or indeed can fleece them. 

The TABLE DANCER group recounted in their report that Cartfield understood they were part of a "task force" that quietly dealt with occult. Opening negotiations with Bernice will involve them needing to convince Bernice that 1. conning Delta Green isn't something she can get away with, and that 2. if she doesn't help, innocent people are going to violated before dying horrible, horrible deaths. 

Negotiations

Cartfield has a few items that the TABLE DANCER team back in 1990 were interested in, specifically, a copy of a book they learned Noah Burke had attempted to buy from Bernice before being turned away called "We Pass From View" by the English cult leader Roland Franklyn. 

On its own, the book will come as an Unusual expense, and Cartfield isn't one to lowballed. She is, however, a woman of business at heart, and if the agents are obviously trying to bullshit her, she'll be willing to sit and hear them out on an alternative arrangement. This likely will come in the form of a trade - one item in the agent's possession of suitable occult providence and interest in exchange for the book. Whether your cell has something like that on hand is up to you. A copy of Mein Triumph, a volume of the Revelations of Glaaki, or any somesuch book would do, though Cartfield wouldn't be over the moon about anything pertaining to UFOs, and might blanche at the notion of putting documents labelled "TOP SECRET" in her storefront. 

If A-Cell learns the agents traded occult secrets to Cartfield, they won't be pleased. Approaching A-Cell with this proposition will take some serious convincing. They'll order the agents not to engage in any sort of "trade" with Cartfield unless they believe what Cartfield is offering is legitimate and useful, and they won't be willing to supply anything for that trade unless the agents can convince them that the investigation literally hinges on them getting the book. 

Alternatively, should you wish to plant a hook for later, Cartfield might offer the agents a deal, to come back in a few months and help deal with "their kind" of pest that's been plaguing her, with a pinprick of blood from one of the agents as "collateral" to make sure they keep up their end of the deal. Then later, she'll approach one of the agents and broach them on the topic of eliminating someone - most likley Bristow, or any threat the handler wants to throw at their players. 

BERNICE CARTFIELD

Occult Con-Artist, Owner of Cartfield Antiquities.

STR 11 CON 13 DEX 10 INT 16 POW 17 CHA 10

HP: 12 WP: 17 SAN: 65 BREAKING POINT: 51

BONDS: None.

MOTIVATIONS AND DISORDERS: Genophobia (Fear of physical touch / intimacy), Staying ahead the rest, Killing Percival Bristow, Never being a victim again, Maintaining a thriving business.

FOREIGN LANGUAGES: Latin 30%, Spanish 30%

SKILLS: Accounting 30%, Anthropology 23%, Archaeology 21%, Art (calligraphy) 70%, Alertness 48%, Bureaucracy 50%, Criminology 40%, Persuade 64%, Craft (Forgery) 70%, Disguise 15%, Dodge 44%, Drive 32%, Firearms 45%, History 50%, Occult 55%, Psychology 15%, Stealth 35%, Unnatural 16%

ARMOUR: None.

ATTACKS: Beretta M92 45% Damage 1d10

RITUALS KNOWN: Charnel Meditation, Call Forth Those from Beyond (Feaster from the Stars), Withering, Speaking Dream, Transmutation.

We Pass From View

In English Study Time: Days, Unnatural +4%, SAN Loss 1D4+1

We Pass From View  is an obscure occult text penned by the English cultist Roland Franklyn, laying out the dogma of his cult, which operated in Brichester in the UK during the 60s. The core of his cult's theology is that "the number of souls in the universe is limited...and that humanity must therefore acknowledge an infinite number of simultaneous incarnations." . Among the claims made in the book is that the deceased must be cremated in order for the soul to be reincarnated. Otherwise, the "burrowers of the core may drag off his body from the grave with him still in it to the feast of Eihort." The edition that Bernice Cartfield held in her position was an original printing with hand-written annotations in the margins and back matter with instructions for two rituals - it does not match Cartfield’s own handwriting.

Rituals Contained: Balk Brood, Speaking Dream, Voorish Sign.

The Priest

As described in Part 3, agents that carefully read Dr. Cooper's report on the Wehring "suicides" will pick up citations of the Sixth volume of the Revelations of Glaaki, excised from the main text and mailed to Cooper from Baltimore by a friend-of-a-friend who happens to be somewhat well versed in occult matters. Taking to Dr. Cooper about this person will earn the agents their identity, which they can then use to locate the man. 

The man's named is Lavrentis Barbarkou, an aging Greek orthodox priest living alone in a rented home outside of Baltimore. Barbakou is friendly and is relatively open-handed with his occult collection, though he would like to know how he learned of his collection and for what purpose they wish to read it. The man's home is clean and old, agents will notice some memorbilia for the Baltimore Ravens, and may even spy a jersey he wears to Sunday Night Football. Thorough investigation of the priest beforehand finds little out of sorts, he has a reputation as a generous and charitable man, and is often seen out with his nephew, Tyler, who's been helping out with his uncle since returning from his deployment in South Korea with the Army. 

In his collection is a copy of the Sixth Volume of the Revelations of Glaaki, typed in English. If asked about it, Barbakou tells the agents that he had always had an interest in the occult from when he was young, though he pushed it to the side when he served as a man of the cloth. After his retirement, he began to pick it up again. He doesn't really believe in "Gla'aki" or anything of the outre stuff in his occult collection, and seems to read them out of bald curiousity and an interest in acquiring a broader worldview. He seems to regard the Revelations as the "odd duck" of his collection, which contains the likes of the Zohar, Malleus Mallificarum, and a variety of academic treatises and monographs of necromancy, kabbalah, and divination. A thorough reading of his library would indicate to an agent that the Revelations of Glaaki is probably the only major mythos tome in the collection. The important word in that sentence is probably. Should you look for another character for the agents to tumble down the rabbit hole with in a campaign, the Father could either be a strong and knowledgeable ally, or a missiong waiting to happen. 

FATHER LAVRENTIS BARBARKOU

Retired Priest, Accomplished Amateur Occultist

STR 10 CON 8 DEX 10 INT 14 POW 12 CHA 13

HP: 9 WP: 12 SAN: 65 BREAKING POINT: 52

BONDS: Fantasy Football League (13), Tyler Barbarkou (Nephew, 13) Grand-Nieces and Nephews (13).

MOTIVATIONS AND DISORDERS: Live in the teachings of the Lord Jesus Christ, Enjoy his twilight years, broaden his worldview

FOREIGN LANGUAGES: Latin 30%, Greek 50%

SKILLS: Alertness 40%, Craft (Mechanic) 30%, Craft (Bookbinding) 30%, HUMINT 55%, Occult 70%, Persuade 65%, Unarmed Combat 81%

ARMOUR: None.

ATTACKS: None.

 The Revelations of Glaaki, Volume Six.

In English, Study Time: Days, Unnatural +1%

This volume of the legendary Revelations of Glaaki describes Eihort, the Lord of the Labyrinth, a potent alien god that rules over an parallel dimension, described by those who have seen it in their visions as a lightless and infinite labyrinth deep within the Earth. It is said that those channel Eihort are forced by the god to accept its brood into their bodies until the young brood have incubated and hatch. Those who do receive many boons, becoming physically powerful and resistant to harm, and are "gifted" with wonderful and strange visions, in which they experience alien worlds through the bodies of alien beings, it is even said that some are eventually able to control this ability and can master it as a form of "remote viewing". This deal is short-term, and many who take it eventually die once the broodling inside them hatches and digs it's way out. Some cultists are said to summon Eihort again and barter with it, becoming what the volume calls a "Chosen of Eihort", a sorcerer permitted to live forever on earth, on the condition that they regularly lure others to Eihort to be given the same deal, and insinuated with Eihort's brood.

Many cultists and sorcerers devise pacts with Eihort, allowing them to intrude their minds into those insinuated with the brood of Eihort so that they can act out their designs in other worlds or other times. 

A spell exists that will cast out the brood of Eihort from a living person. The Revelations does not describe it. 

Spells: Call Forth those from Beyond (Eihort). 

A-Cell learning that a rare volume of the Revelations of Glaaki happens to be sitting in the personal collection of a random Greek priest will be very adamant that it must enter Delta Green's custody, though this can be settled later, or even by another cell, for your agents to learn about later. 

The Fifth Column

Lurking among the enemy, there is an unlikely ally of Delta Green waiting. She knows they're coming, her subordinates will eventually come to her with reports that will confirm her suspicions. Delta Green does not know this, they don't even know who she is. But she knows them, and she knows that they have the gaul to try something, to disturb their operation, and with a little luck, their rumblings will be sufficient to bring the house of cards Justin Kroft built in Wehring to come fluttering down. She's a counterintelligence officer with NRO DELTA. Her name is Gwendoline  Caster, the agents will know as her STINGRAY.

The Insurance Policy

Gavin Ross, Director of MJ-3 Project GARNET, is no fool. He knows that MJ-1, Justin Kroft, has gone over his head many times in the past, learning of reassignments and new details for NRO DELTA's cadre of counterintelligence agents weeks after being put into action, and he knows of the off-the-books black-ops he makes Adolph Lepus, the Chief of NRO DELTA, perform. Eliminating, intimidating, and discrediting the rivals of March Technologies, one of Majestic-12's fronts in the private sector, and Justin Kroft's personal cash cow. He knows that should Kroft ever grow tired of them, or get wise to Ross' plan to overthrow him in a coup, it will be Lepus who runs the show, and it will be Lepus who replaces him. To this end, he has come up with an insurance plan. 

His attention fell upon a highly capable NCIS agent investigating the suicide of an ONI officer after the man had been detained, screaming wildly and brandishing a weapon at his colleagues. This agent had resisted NRO DELTA's attempts to misdirect and dissuade her, and was getting uncomfortably close to a few truths about the man's past with Project RAINBOW. Ross ordered her to be taken alive. When all was said and done, he sat in a concrete cellar across from the woman. Her name was Gwendoline Caster, and after hearing his deal, she accepted. She became an agent of NRO DELTA, though she was secretly outside the chain of command, and accepted assignments directly from Ross.

Caster was assigned to the Project COMBO detail by Ross directly. He knew that Kroft was doing all in his power to keep COMBO as far as he could from the rest of Majestic, and wanted to know why. After learning of the project, and its importance to Kroft, Ross decided that he couldn't tolerate the embezzlement. Resources that should be going towards understanding and catching up with the Greys are instead going towards Kroft's idiotic quest for immortality. But as much as he detests COMBO, he sees it's potential. 

COMBO is highly developed and important to Kroft. It's not an obvious set-up to Delta Green, because it really isn't, but it's also not very important enough to Majestic-12 or its objectives. In short, it will make for a good piece to sacrifice. A sacrifice to lure out Delta Green, not so he can destroy him, but so that Caster, his catspaw, can keep them close when the time comes to put his coup into motion.

Caster has played her part very well. Though secretly, she has as much disdain for Ross as Ross does for Kroft. She thinks the entirety of Majestic-12 is a travesty to America's citizens, and furthermore expects that once she's outlived her usefulness to Ross, she'll not be long for this world. This little web of intrigue and backstabbery isn't front and centre, but the author believes too much context is better than insufficient context, especially once its time to start the roleplay. The complexities of these motivations is perhaps something that will come out more in the future as your agents struggle against the machinations of Majestic-12. 

Making Contact

Keep track of your agent's movements carefully, and note any indiscretions in OPSEC they commit. These won't be punished....immediately. But its likely that NRO DELTA reports them to Caster, who is running the counterintelligence effort for Project COMBO. Caster, on her own time, will get into contact with the agents. Leaving a note in their lodgings or car, or even letting them see her watching them, and letting them see the note she places under a rock for them to read with a location, date, and time. 

She'll ask to meet them at sunrise in a few day's time at some wharfs near the town limits. There, she'll speak with them and fill them in on certain details, potentially pushing them towards or away from solutions for the scenario, if you think they need that. The main points she'll bring up are:

1. She's a counterintelligence agent for NRO DELTA and is overseeing the COINT operation for Majestic-12 / March Technologies' work in Wehring, organized under Project 'COMBO'. The Counterintelligence team is codenamed ACROBAT, with her codename being Acrobat Actual. 
2. She's lost faith in the group for what they've been doing. She describes the human experimentation happening and its relation to Noah Burke. She gives details on the site security for the Campus. 
3. She advises that the leaders of Universal Alignment, even the security contractor they've hired, are all showing signs of severe psychiatric instability, and that if they're looking for weak spots, its them. She specifically points out that Noah Burke is a massive depressive who they believe is suicidal, and that Robert Strickland has been displaying paranoid tendencies. She won't think to mention Collier at first, but if the agents push for details on him, she'll tell them that he's a civilian contractor not affiliated with Majestic, generally trusted and capable, but does have very aggressive tendencies. 
4. The Universal Alignment Campus is just a front for March Tech to source human test subjects. The real experimenting is happening at a research site owned by March Tech codenamed "JUPITER YARD". It's built on the remains of Nike Missile Site HA-33 North of Wehring, and is only accessible through a gated gravel road and by helicopter.

She will also let them know about NROD's wiretaps and who, if anyone, has been taken for "OUTLOOK" treatment thus far in the scenario. She'll conduct the meeting - indeed, all of her communications to the cell - under the moniker STINGRAY.

Further use in the Scenario

Stingray is not to guide the players along by the hand, and should have extremely limited presence in play to prevent from taking away the spotlight from the players and becoming a horrible DMPC. At the same time, what she gives the players and does for them should be of genuine use to help them avoid getting killed, or to help them along if they're seriously stumped. She can also save the agents in they're at threat of being TPK'd. If you do use her this way, exercise extreme discretion, as having her swoop in just in the knick of time to save the agents can deflate the stakes of that encounter and ones in the future. 

Maintaining her cover, and keeping the agents as a permanent contact with DG, are two very high priorities for her. 

Although she might be present, lurking in the margins, when shit gets kinetic towards the end, she shouldn't be fighting right there with the agents until right at the very end, whatever that looks like. 

GWENDOLINE CASTER aka STINGRAY, NRO DELTA COUNTERINTELLIGENCE OFFICER

The Mole in Charge

STR 14 CON 15 DEX 14 INT 14 POW 14 CHA 10

HP: 14 WP: 14 SAN: 62 BREAKING POINT: 56

BONDS: Gene Caster (partner) 7, Rebecca Freis (mother) 3, 

MOTIVATIONS AND DISORDERS: 

Discovering the truth of Project RAINBOW, Outsmarting Lepus, Rekindling her relationship with her Mother, Clearing her Conscience, Adapted to Violence

FOREIGN LANGUAGES: Spanish 35% 

SKILLS: Alertness 75%, Athletics 79%, Craft (Electronics) 50%, Craft (Locksmithing) 50%, Criminology 68%, HUMINT 44%, Firearms 60%, First Aid 43%, Heavy Machinery 30%, Heavy Weapons 35%, Melee Weapons 57%, Military Science (74%), Persuade 65%, Stealth 78%, Survival 60%, Unarmed Combat 81%, Unnatural 5%

ARMOUR: Reinforced Kevlar Vest (4 armour)

ATTACKS: H&K MP5 submachine gun 60%, Lethality 10%

Sig Sauer P226 60% Damage 1d10

Ka-Bar Knife 57% 1d6+1, Armour Piercing 3

SPECIAL TRAINING: Parachute, Hand Grenades, Lockpicking.

Physical Description: "STINGRAY" is a caucasian woman in her mid-30s. She has red hair that she wears in a bun. She is no-nonsense and highly observant. Agents will quickly catch on that she's constantly scrutinizing them and her surroundings. She conceals her natural, Virginia accent when speaking to agents and with her colleagues, though it comes out under pressure.