Speak of the Devil - Introduction

 A scenario for Delta Green in the 90s by Fee Fi Fo Fin. 

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 ©FeeFiFoFin, excepting those elements that are components of the Delta Green intellectual property.

Introduction

February, 1998. From an isolated mansion outside of Stockholm, Sweden, the Cult of Transcendence controlled a dizzying roster of front organizations and cults dedicated to the Great Old Ones. The Cult has cultivated this roster through a variety of means. Some are political think-tanks and corporations that are mostly run by common folks without any knowledge of the unnatural, some are self-help groups and spiritualist sects, and seekers of the truth, that hide potent and twisted sorcerers among their ranks, or are being manipulated to stranger goals, and some are genuine cults of the great old ones. 

The Dorian Grey Society is of the third sort. There are rumours as to where they come from. But that matters little now. In the 1990s, they are an international criminal syndicate of the ultra-wealthy, who use their financial and political power to facilitate an immense network of drug smuggling and sex trafficking. To the layperson, the Society is a group that deals in a conventional horror, destroying the lives and bodies of the innocent with virtual impunity. A select few, however, know the truth, that the "Highest Members", its leadership, are part of a small but potent cult of The Headless Corpse God, Y'Golonac. 

In 1998, an anonymous tip is received at the Washington D.C headquarters of the FBI that presents a damning accusation. Homicide detectives in the Baltimore City Police have purposefully mishandled the investigation into the murder of a sex worker named Scarlet Ruben, who the tipper alleges is "Saskia Rooyens", a woman trafficked from South Africa to be pimped out in Baltimore, and who they allege was murdered by a syndicate of human traffickers that are being protected by Baltimore's wealthy. 

FBI agents in Baltimore review the notes and are puzzled by the coroner's findings during Scarlet's autopsy. A question asked by one of the agents to a peer in the Bureau, who they know to deal with "strange things", ends up with that peer forwarding the autopsy photos to Delta Green's A-Cell for analysis. They find that the strange bite marks match those found in an investigation carried out by Delta Green in the 60s involving a cult to a hideous and unnameable god. It's recognized as a high-priority risk requiring immediate intervention. The player's cell is activated and tasked to a secret FBI task force under the auspices of investigating the cover-up of the death. 

Their investigation will lead the agents into the machinations of the Dorian Grey Society and their horrific fixer, a depraved and potent sorcerer by the name of Percival Bristow. The agents enter into a tangle of conspiracy, tragedy, and betrayal festering in the heart of Baltimore. Special thanks to TheGrandini, Train, Bestshot9, Jackiehooks21, Dragoleaf, nautcosmo, sirlordbaron, T1nchulin, and Akai over on the Night at The Opera Discord server for playing in this scenario and helping to flesh it out.

The Truth

Broken Promises

Saskia Rooyens, known in america as Scarlet Ruben, indeed was trafficked to the United States by her boyfriend at the time, Emil Verplancke, an executive of the South African shipping firm Marathon International. Verplancke is a member of the Dorian Grey Society, a satellite cult of the Cult of Transcendence. The Society uses Marathon International to facilitate international sex trafficking. Verplancke tricked Saskia, who he had manipulated into believing he was interested in her romantically, into coming with him to America, before he took her passport and made her assume a fake name and fake credentials and made her work at BLUR, a club financed in large part by the Dorian Grey Society. 

Ruben was evenutally approached by a man she only knew as “Vernon” who had made her an offer, he would kill Verplancke and return her to South Africa if she fed him information about the Dorian Grey Society. Harrison believed that Vernon was acting on behalf of INTERPOL and cooperated. They communicated through coded messages, written in cipher using one-time pads. 

Staatssicherheit

In reality, Vernon’s real identity was Anton Gehrke, a retired member of the Ministerium für Staatssicherheit, otherwise known as the “Stasi”, the now-defunct East German Secret Police. Gehrke has a history with the Dorian Grey Society, first encountering them during what he believed would be a mundane human trafficking investigation in East Berlin until one of the highest members took the grotesque form of an enormously fat, headless man with mouths on his hands and killed nearly 20 men. Since the dissolution of the Stasi and his early “retirement”, Gehrke’s been following the trail of the Society from Berlin, to Switzerland, to Madrid, finally to Baltimore.

Harrison’s cooperation with Gehrke was what got her killed. The Society found out that she had been informing on their activities and attempted to catch her and Gehrke at her apartment to no avail, only capturing Harrison, with Gehrke eluding them. Harrison was then brought to the Baltimore playhouse and brutally eviscerated in front of the Society’s other slaves to set an example, then the body was hurled into the Patapsco River, so that Gehrke might discover it and take the hint. 

The man that killed Harrison and is hunting Gehrke is Percival Bristow, a sorcerer & “priest” of Y’Golonac. The fall of some of the major organized crime outfits along the Eastern seaboard deprived the Society of much of its manpower. In their moment of need, Bristow appeared and offered to lend them the use of his tradecraft knowledge and sorcery in exchange for becoming a Member. Bristow was made a member on the spot. He is an extremely capable agent who discovered Gehrke’s plan. He waited for Gehrke and Harrison to meet in person at her apartment before sending a small team of hitmen to kill or capture them. Harrison was captured by Gehrke dove from a high window and fled on foot, eventually eluding his attackers. Although he managed to escape the Society, Gehrke is out of commission, having broken his ankle leaping from Harrison’s apartment window. He is resting in a safehouse in Baltimore, waiting for the Society to attack. The tip to the FBI was sent by him as a bid to attract a higher law enforcement body to the issue in hopes of them keeping the Society busy while he recuperates. He has no idea that Delta Green is on its way, or that it even exists. 

The Antiquarian

Another player in Baltimore is Bernice Cartfield. Cartfield struck a deal with Bristow years ago to expand her knowledge of Hypergeometry. Their relationship soured soon after, as Bristow entered Cartfield’s dreams using the Speaking Dream ritual and assaulted her mind in ways best left undescribed. 

Cartfield hates Bristow as much as she fears him: she knows he is an evil man and she knows he has power that makes him almost untouchable. Almost. Her dealings with Delta Green have given her some ideas, mainly that she might be able to manipulate its agents into murdering Bristow in exchange for permission to look through and study all her occult goods and connections in the Occult underground. Cartfield is extremely well connected, and does business with The Fate, Tong Shukoran, and the DeMonte Clan. In the last few months, Ginette Wirtz, a powerful Lord of The Fate who operates under the title “The Lady of the Land”, has been courting Cartfield. Wirtz is acting under orders from Belial, whose patron god Glaaki has urged him to stomp out “the Priest of the Corpse God”. She’s been ordered to destroy Bristow and to deliver his remains to New York City to prove he is dead. Wirtz senses opportunity in Bristow and Cartfield's bad blood. If the agents refuse to help and protect Cartfield, then she’ll go to The Fate for help, and soon after the operation ends, they’ll learn how bad of a blunder that was. 

Cartfield has to be careful, as she knows that Bristow is watching. She’s heard about the body they found in the river. She knows he did it. She knows he could do it to her. But that’s a risk she might have to take if she ever wants to get out from under Bristow and the Dorian Grey Society.

As Things Stand.

Once the agents get involved in Operation RED SEANCE, this will be the state of things in Baltimore:

• Police Officers on the Dorian Grey Society’s payroll in the BPD have allowed the case to go cold. Dirty cops on the Society’s payroll have been combing the city for Gehrke. The FBI getting involved means the Society might start asking them to become a little more involved in their “work”.

• Anton Gehrke, recovering from wounds he received during his escape, is in hiding. He anticipates thugs of the DGS to arrive at his “hideout” (really just the place he used to meet Harrison covertly) and is planning to trap, interrogate, then murder whatever hired killer they send his way before returning to the case. He has tipped off the FBI in hopes they’ll keep the Society occupied while he regains his strength.

• Bernice Cartfield is biding her time, once Delta Green comes knocking, she’ll begin making moves to give them leads pertaining to Percival Bristow and the Dorian Grey Society. If the agents fail in protecting Cartfield, or if they simply never meet her, she’ll turn to The Fate for protection instead.

• Percival Bristow has assured the DGS that all is well, and that Gehrke will be dealt with soon. He’s eager to give them solid proof of that sooner rather than later, but is all-in-all hoping for his February to go by quietly. He’s eager to set examples in order to prove his worth to the Cult of Transcendence, which he would see as a direct promotion.

Timeline

• 1940
• Percival Bristow, an agent of PISCES, infiltrates the Karotechia in order to learn more about Aktion Ewig. During his mission, he is approached by a fat man in the Swiss Alps who converts him into a Priest of Y’golonac in his quest to stop Aktion Ewig.
• 1985
• Stasi Officer Anton Gehrke discovers the activities of a chapter of the Dorian Grey Society in East Berlin. Summer.
• Using connections among the wealthy upper class of New England and the organized crime outfits of Baltimore. Thomas Massey founds the Dorian Grey Society’s Baltimore Chapter.
• 1989
• Emil Verplancke, a South African human trafficker and extended member of the Dorian Grey Society’s Cape Town chapter, relocates to Baltimore. He buys property in the Baltimore dockyard for his shipping company, Marathon International.
• 1992
• Following the dissolution of the Stasi and his prompt retirement, Gehrke spends two months tracking down Swiss financier Linard Kohler, who he had long suspected of being a Dorian Grey Society member, stemming from Kohler’s closer connections to various members of the East Berlin Chapter. He attacks and subdues Kohler at his cottage in the Swiss alps and tortures him for three days, learning of two other Chapters of the Society, one in Rome, another in Madrid. He murders Kohler and discards his dismembered corpse in the bottom of a ravine. While searching Kohler’s lodge in Gstaad, Gehrke locates a booklet that details the The Road of Souls and how the spell Obscure Memory can be used to obfuscate it. Spring.
• RICO charges against the Patriarca Crime Family, and James “Whitey” Bulger becoming a fugitive deprives the Dorian Grey Society’s Baltimore Chapter of a great deal of its illicit income and manpower. 1992-1994.
• 1994
• Percival Bristow, an agent of PISCES corrupted by Y’Golonac, travels to the United States under a false identity and, having learned about them through unnatural means, approaches members of the Dorian Grey Society’s Baltimore Playhouse. Fall. 1994. They slow down their operation, and most of the security falls to two of its extended members, Thomas Massey, with his few remaining connections in the Irish mob and his law firm, and Emil Verplancke, and the enforcers for his human trafficking operation.
• 1995
• After demonstrating his power as a sorcerer and skills in tradecraft thanks to training from British Intelligence, Bristow is made an “honorary” member of the Dorian Grey Society’s Baltimore Chapter. He eventually bargains his way to the rank of “Extended Member”.
• 1996
• Percival Bristow begins working with Bernice Cartfield and offers to “tutor” Bernice in the unnatural for a price. Bristow teaches Cartfield unnatural lore and hypergeometric rituals. He also begins sexually assaulting her.
• Gehrke continues his guerilla campaign against the Dorian Grey Society, and secretly sets events in motion to have their playhouses in Rome and Madrid raided by the authorities. He learns of Emil Verplancke, a South African man who appears to run most of the Society’s human trafficking in the North Atlantic; he tracks him to Baltimore, Massachusetts.
• 1997
• Gehrke, believing that finding Verplancke will lead him to the Baltimore Chapter of the Society, begins to investigate his shipping company, Marathon International and surveilling Verplancke. He discovers that Verplancke frequents a dance club in Baltimore called Blur, and that he frequently sleeps with one of the girls that works at Blur, Scarlet Harrison.
• Gehrke learns that Scarlet Harrison’s real name is Naomi Rooyens, a South African immigrant whose passport is in the possession of Verplancke, and was brought to the United States by Verplancke, who had seduced her into believing he was going to marry her. He offers to free her and bring her captors to justice in exchange for information. She agrees, becoming an informant for Gehrke, which leads to him identifying some of the group’s key locations in Baltimore, including the Playhouse.
• 1998
• Bristow learns that Harrison / Rooyens has been informing an outside agent of the activities of the Dorian Grey Society. He sends assassins to kill Gehrke and Harrison while Gehrke was in her apartment. Gehrke is injured, but escapes, and Harrison is captured and tortured. She’s forced to tell Bristow everything she knows before he promptly kills her in front of the other women as an example, assuming the form of Y’Golonac and biting massive chunks of flesh out of her before instructing Verplancke’s men to dispose of her body in the river.
• Harrison’s body is recovered. The police investigation is thoroughly sabotaged by the Dorian Grey Society.
• Gehrke writes a letter and sends it to the FBI headquarters in Washington, alleging collusion between the Baltimore City Police and a network of human traffickers. The FBI agents who are assigned to investigate note the strange bite marks on Harrison’s remains and forwards it to Delta Green agents, who forward it to A-Cell. A-Cell recognizes the bite marks from incidents involving cults of the “Headless Corpse God”, which have historically required immediate, direct intervention. They activate a cell and assign them to Operation RED SEANCE. Agent ADAM uses FBI authority to have the investigation transferred to a classified task force composed of the agents.

The Organization

The primary antagonists of this scenario is the Dorian Grey Society, more specifically, their sorcerous fixer, Percival Bristow. Bristow is an experienced intelligence agent, having cut his teeth as an agent of PISCES during the Second World War before he was claimed by the forces of Y'Golonac and twisted into what he is now. He has created a sprawling network of criminal contacts, private security assets, and informants to insulate himself and the Society from investigation. The bulk of this scenario will be mapping out Bristow's network and determining where to strike to weaken it to where Bristow and Society is vulnerable enough for direct action to be taken. There are essentially three sections to Bristow's network: Allanson International, The Connections, and The Clique.

Allanson International

Allanson International is a multi-million dollar private security contractor that exists as the Dorian Grey Society's private paramilitary, protecting its assets around the globe, most notably the sugar plantation in South Africa where it grows the alien crop "Gaturia". In Baltimore, Allanson International are employed by the Society to guard their facilities in the Baltimore dockyards, offices of Society members, and to act as bodyguards for Society members, namely Emil Verplancke. Allanson International personnel are very good at their job. Most Allanson International personnel guard the "clean", over-the-board assets of the Society's members. Only a select few are given "unofficial" assignments, guarding the Playhouse. 

The Society is generally picky about using Allanson personnel as footsoldiers, as a lawsuit against Allanson proving the company's collusion with a human trafficking network could be potentially disastrous, and so beyond guarding the Playhouse and dockyards, their involvement in the illicit side of the Society's work is kept minimal, though they aren't above paying one of them to provoke a fist fight and ends in a person investigating the Society getting stabbed. As long as its not official. 

The Connections

"The Connections" are a network of corrupt officers in the Baltimore City Police on the Society's payroll. They're managed by Bristow, who conveys his orders through Lieutenant Robert Sullivan, who then conveys orders and directives to his "underlings" in the Connections. The Connections are used to keep an ear to the ground on any investigation of the Society, as well as to keep tabs on the Society's women and, as per Bristow's direction, Bernice Cartfield. Bristow deploys them for more violent missions, most frequently to harass creditors and to brutalize women who try to go to the police or escape the Society's servitude.

The Clique

"The Clique" are a small group of perverts, addicts, and occultists that are loyal to the Headless Corpse God, Y'Golonac. Many are subservient directly to Bristow and squat in the decrepit mansion he has converted into a temple. They occasionally follow Bristow around to protect their "high-priest", each eager to prove himself so they can afforded the next syllable of the god's secret name. They are debased and vicious and will not blanch at even the most debauched demand Bristow can conjure. They rarely interact directly with either of the two above groups, except in the occasion that Bristow grows paranoid, in which case they become his emissaries.