Shiver

After the death of a Alaskan State Trooper 5 miles from the small town of Tanana, Alaska (est. pop. 246), an FBI case has been called to investigate his death. Delta Green was alerted to the case when the identity of the Trooper, one Adam Locklear, was revealed. Locklear was a Friendly, and due to the violent nature of his death, the conspiracy is stepping in.

## The Set-Up

The agents are set to take a flight to Fairbanks, 130 miles east of Tanana. From there, they will meet with their case manager, who gives them the mission to investigate the cause of Adam Locklear's death, and eliminate any source of supernatural activity. In the case of a mundane cause, they are to proceed as normally as possible until they can hand the case off to people not involved in the conspiracy. If need be, fake and hastily made government ID’s are provided, but as there's no other support available it should pass under civilian scrutiny.

## The Setting

Tanana is a small town in the heart of Alaska, and the events surrounding Locklear’s death take place during the darkest parts of the year in the beginning of December, where there's only about 5 hours of sunlight a day (from about 10am to 3 pm) and the temperature has a range of 3F to -12F. To make matters worse, the night when the investigators fly in a massive freak snowstorm hits the area, shutting down most travel in and out for at least a week. This is good for operational security, but might be bad for the agents investigating. Thankfully, one of the townspeople, a retired widow named Janet Zuray [71] is willing to take in the agents to sleep on her couch. She's a normal person, but enjoys gossip and might pry into the agent's affairs if not gently dissuaded.

## The Corpse

Due to the Alaskan cold, Adam Locklear was fairly well preserved. At first glance it looks as though the body was set upon by animals, as large chunks of flesh have been ripped out and scattered along the snow. Large animal prints are at the scene, possibly caribou or moose, lying around the corpse, before heading deep into the woods where the trail is irretrievably lost. Examination of the body of Locklear with a Forensics of 30% (or a successful roll) show that the tears on the flesh are made with smaller teeth and in some cases blades. The bite marks are - alarmingly - human. Additionally, a .308 bullet is found lodged in the Trooper's femur, relatively fresh.

## The Problem

A family of hunters, the Mahle family, which has been providing meat for the town for decades, has recently found difficulties in finding game. They prayed for help, so that they could provide for their families and community. Something answered. For a month, they've been providing tainted, unusual meat to the community that tastes somewhat like a combination of venison, rabbit, and bear. It's a strange, but not undesirable taste. Unfortunately, every night after eating the tainted meat, people begin having strange dreams of a humming and throaty tune coming from the alpine forests - something deep, primordial, and resonant to humankind. Something that feels as old as life itself. Those who lose their minds finally realize the song's truth and become a Trembling One. For everyone else, they simply lose 0/1d4 SAN each night until they stop eating the tainted meat. Every day, roll Luck for the group. On a fail, they and the community are served tainted meat, and someone else in town becomes a Trembling One. The Mahle family leave in the middle of the night every few weeks - especially under the cover of a snowstorm like this one - in order to commune with the Provider and gather meat to eat, feed the community, and taint it with the unnatural. The Provider itself only appears when summoned, a large amalgamation of man, beast and other stranger things. It towers over men with large thorned antlers that put any beast to shame, approaching from the forests in a strange, trembling lope. Adam Locklear was unfortunate enough to have seen the entity, and paid the price.

## The Backstory

Long before colonisation, a group of Tanana Athabaskan people lived in the valley where the modern town of Tanana now lay. The semi-nomadic people had a horrible year, plagued by poor hunts, disease, and infighting caused by these pressures. Soon, winter was about to fall, and all had seemed lost. The group’s leader, a medicine woman (or dishin), prayed to the spirits of the forest for mercy and aid. To the tribe’s misfortune, something deep in the forest had answered their prayers. Since then, that tribe had been shunned for associating with the half-animal, half-human beings that stepped out of the woods every winter solstice, who thrummed with a tense energy, and who spoke in the languages of all the tribes at once. This tradition faded over time, as game became less scarce and reliance on taboo beings less imperative. Eventually, with modernization, the old oral histories were lost, or seen as only stories one told children. Unfortunately, some sought to chronicle the old ways in the written word. An ancestor of the Mahle family wrote down what their forefathers had learned communing with the black woods, and has been found by the family's patriarch. It currently rests on a side table by a living room recliner.

## Appendix

**Old, Hidebound Mahle Diary (In English. Time: 2 days, Unnatural +3%, Survival +5%, SAN loss 1d4, Teaches Ritual: Summon the Provider)**

**Ritual:** Summon the Provider (Simple ritual. Study time: hours; 1 SAN, Activation: A turn, 6 WP, 1 SAN)

This ritual requires sacrificing the entrails of hunted game, scattering them on the ground in patterns pleasing to the Provider. After that a phrase of power is spoken (the actual ritual) in a guttural tongue. It does not compel the Provider to arrive, but it does make it aware of the caster’s presence, and that it is desired.

***The Mahle Family***

*(Christopher [56], Maryann[49], Ida[32], Paul[29], Zach[14])*

**STR** 10 **CON** 10 **DEX** 10 **INT** 10 **POW** 10

**HP** 10, **WP** 10

**Armor:** None

**Skills:** Alertness 30%, Athletics 40%, First Aid 30%, Persuade 30%, Unnatural 10%

**Attack:** Unarmed 40%, 1d4-1 dmg; Hunting Rifle 40%, 1d12, AP 3, 10 rounds

**Latent Trembling Ones:** Each member of the family is already a Trembling One. At any moment, they can shed their human shells and discard civility. The process is horrifying to witness, and takes 1d4 turns.

***The Trembling Ones***

**STR** 17 **CON** 15 **DEX** 18 **INT** 10 **POW** 10

**HP** 16, **WP** 10

**Armor:** See **Transdimensional Frequency**

**Skills:** Alertness 30%, Athletics 40%, Unnatural 10%

**Attacks:** Unarmed 40%, 1d8+1 dmg

**SAN Loss:** 1/1D6

**Transdimensional Frequency:** The Trembling Ones have heard a distant call of Shub-Niggurath, which has blasted their minds and made ready their bodies. While they start off Human-seeming, a Trembling One can tune into this otherworldly call, causing their body to vibrate violently. They shed the weakness of the flesh, knocking out teeth and tearing skin and muscle as they vibrate at lethal frequencies. The displacement of their bodies makes them resistant to quick moving projectiles like bullets, causing them to ignore ranged attacks that roll an odd number. Unarmed attacks and grappling attempts harm the attacker, dealing 1d6 damage for each round of contact. Melee weapons work well however, even improvised weapons like table legs, as the Trembling One is shorn apart by their own intense vibrations. Treat melee weapons as having a lethality of 20%. SAN checks may be needed as nearby people are splattered in gore.

Overtaxed Metabolism: Trembling Ones generate a lot of heat, wasting a lot of energy as they match their body's frequency with The Provider's. As such they are ravenously hungry, needing to eat a large meal every 2 hours while in their true form. Additionally, in freezing temperatures steam tends to rise from their bodies, giving a +20% to Alertness checks to find them.

***The Provider - Servant of Shub-Niggurath***

**STR** 20 **CON** 30 **DEX** 15 **INT** 10 **POW** 15

**HP** 25, **WP** 15

**Armor:** 4 points of leathery hide. (See Out of Phase and Resilient)

**Skills:** Alertness 50%, Athletics 60%, Unnatural 50%

**Attacks:** Unarmed 40%, 1d10+1 dmg

**SAN Loss:** 1/1D8

**Out of Phase:** The Provider exists in a bio rhythmic frequency similar but not quite the same as here on Earth. As such, any damage or Lethality rolls that are odd are ignored.

**Resilient:** Due to size and unnatural toughness, the Provider can withstand overwhelming force. A successful Lethality roll does not destroy the Provider, but inflicts HP damage equal to the Lethality rating.

**Bountiful Feast:** The Provider can tear off it's own flesh at no harm to itself for the cost of 3 WP, providing enough meat to sustain 10 people for a day. The meat, when fresh and uncooked, heals 1d6 HP at a cost of 1d6 SAN. When cooked, the meat elicits horrible nightmares that spread the truth of its origins, costing 0/1d4 SAN each night while the meat is consumed. If anyone hits a breaking point from the effects of the meat, the victim develops a psychosomatic tremor, as they attune to the Provider's frequency. Going insane from the meat turns you into a trembling one. Trembling Ones that consume the meat, uncooked, can restore the appearance of their original human forms.

## Credits

Shiver was written by Alexander Keithley for the 2020  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 © Alexander Keithley, excepting those elements that are components of the Delta Green intellectual property.

Shiver is not available here under CC-BY-SA.