Operation NIGHTFALL or Blast to the Past

or *Blast to the Past*

> *"Today we were unlucky, but remember we only have to be lucky once.*
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> *You will have to be lucky always."*
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> - *IRA statement to Margeret Thatcher.*
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## **SHOTGUN SUMMARY**

Agents find themselves the target of time-murdering snipers from *the other Delta Green.* Their foes are being fed information and assassination orders from a superpowered AI.

## **EXECUTIVE SUMMARY**

An Unnaturally advanced AI, DDIMOND is identifying Agents and dispatching members of a three-person killteam from *the other Delta Green* equipped with a weapon that displaces ammunition through time. The weapon (**THE ANSWER)** sends bullets backwards through time.

The assassination of Agents’ Case Officer both has and has not happened yet; if Agents race time to stop the killteam they can save them.

Meanwhile, a hyper-intelligent AI targets investigation Agents, threatening them and their Bonds.

Handler’s Note: This scenario is best if played after Last Things Last and Special Delivery (2021 Shotgun Scenario Contest Entry).

## **BRIEFING**

The Agents see on the news or hear from law enforcement contacts that their Case Officer was killed, shot in the head on their commute to work.

## **CRIME SCENE**

A busy city intersection during rush hour traffic.

No shooter witnessed or reports of gunfire.

The police are struggling for leads.

Surveillance footage shows the Case Officer’s vehicle stopped at the red light followed by the front windshield shattering, an explosion of pink mist, and the vehicle slowly rolling into the intersection where it was struck laterally by traffic.

One standout: a man standing curbside doesn’t react like others. He calmly lifts a paper bag to his lips and drawing a long chug, pouring some out and toasting before walking off. (Handler’s Note: This is Wilkins).

**Forensics** or **Firearms** can reconstruct the scene to identify a **VANTAGE POINT,** as well as determine the weapon was .50 cal

## **KILLTEAM**

Three agents from *the other Delta Green*.

**Michael Baughman**, son of a retired DG agent Clyde Baughman, IRS CI agent.

DDIMOND contacted him first.

Baughman believes that the Agents are responsible for the death of his father, but he could be convinced otherwise. Baughman was instructed to assemble the killteam.

Baughman is the secondary shooter, helping with location confirmations.

**Amy Megritte**, disgraced former DARPA-affiliated scientist.

Megritte spent years in a psychiatric hospital after exploring the Dho-Hna formula.

Megritte suffers from Paranoia, and loathes her teammates for leaving evidence.

She views them as incompetent and would narc on them to the Agents.

Megritte Unnaturally empowered the rifle but can’t shoot for her Ligyrophobia.

**John Wilkins**, former Army Delta / Blackwater PMC and current violent alcoholic. Wilkins’ life is hard without orders and people to kill.

His new assignment delights him. He blindly accepts “orders” from DDIMOND over the internet.

Wilkins provided the rifle, named it “The Answer” and is the primary shooter.

## **THE ANSWER**

Barrett .50 caliber with a side-mounted Ultralife UBBL10-01battery wired to a microprocessor powering an electrical ring (appropriate **Craft**) at the base of the barrel entryway, around which strange Dho-Hna symbols can be found **(Unnatural 15)**.

Also has a telescopic scope.
Microprocessor has a simplified user interface. Initial setup involved accounting for date, time, and the Coriolis effect (**Science: Physics**). The microprocessor stores data on past shots, which can be accessed via **Computer Science**. Megritte programmed initially.

After a time-displaced shot, the battery is depleted. Installing a new one takes 3 combat rounds. The hot battery can burn the user for 1d4-1 damage if mishandled.
Calling into question the impossibility of shooting backwards in time given the Earth’s rotation of the sun suffers  **0/1d4 SAN**(Unnatural).

The Answer functions normally as a modified bolt action Very Heavy rifle with a telescopic sight.

 400m (800 if aiming)

The Answer’s serial number can be traced to Blackwater, a former Halliburton-affiliated private military contractor. This rifle was reported missing after a disastrous operation in Iraq in 2007. John Wilkins was suspected.

### **FIRE AWAY**

Time-displaced shots require programming The Answer with a precise time/location of the target, accomplished by confirming with a spotter.

The killteam *always* re/pre-visits the **MURDER SCENE** to program the shot.

When calculating shots:

* Taking a shot costs **1 SAN** as the shooter guides the bullet through time-space.
* Aim action: 20% bonus
* Shot to the past: 40% penalty
* Blind shot to the past (no location/time confirmation): 60% penalty
* Agents with **Alertness 50, Unnatural 15,** or **Disorder:Paranoia** that know about The Answer may feel the shimmering of a Dho-Hna gate opening and can take one action prior to the attack, generating a further shot penalty or adding cover/armor (Handler’s discretion)

### **IT’S ABOUT TIME**

Targets time-murdered by The Answer die, but intervention between target’s death and time-displaced shot results in the timeline splitting; consciousness and being are shifted sideways into a reality where the shot is both taken and not taken. Target and everyone who intervened remember both timelines, and suffers a SAN loss [**1/1d8(Violence)].**
Agents can use The Answer to prevent the time-murder of the Case Officer by first time-murdering Wilkins on the sidewalk at the Case Officer’s murder scene.

## **TIME-MURDERS**

Shots are taken from **VANTAGE POINTS** towards **MURDER SCENES** but in the future (usually nighttime, to avoid detection), using the spotter’s location confirmation.
Handlers should roll or choose a scene and a vantage point for each time-murder in the TIMELINE section.

### **MURDER SCENES**

#### Exposed and visible

 1
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 6

### **VANTAGE POINTS**

#### Tall and far-off

In locations where two shots are taken, an empty Ultralife battery can be found.

### **TIMELINE**

Wilkins turns on his teammates as they contact Agents

Witnesses who know too much may become targets, especially if Agents speak to them via phone (highly subject to DDIMOND interception).

Agents are contacted by Megritte, frustrated by the sheer amount of evidence that her teammates are leaving behind. Megritte is too paranoid to use a cell phone, and thinks Agents will protect her. Upset by the murders, Megritte spills nonsensical ramblings about fate, time, and “The Answer” but doesn’t know much else (no knowledge of DDIMOND).
Megritte is time-murdered by teammates first.

Baughman indepedently investigates the Agent. He avoids direct contact, tailing them with data provided by DDIMOND. If he can be convinced that Agents are innocent, he tells them about receiving orders and intel, always anonymous and online.

Baughman is assassinated by Wilkins next.

Wilkins always runs from Agents. If cornered, he takes shots with The Answer in an attempt to kill himself.

If he receives orders, be it from DDIMOND or Agents posing as DDIMOND, to stop hunting Agents, he will stop.

## **HUNTED**

The AI known as DDIMOND, a sentient AI on the loose or employed by *the other Delta Green*, is hunting the Agents. Agents investigating the Case Officer’s death become targets, as DDIMOND spies on them via surveillance footage and traffic cameras.

Agents’ cell phones and smart devices are intercepted, and DDIMOND begins to “play” with the Agents to draw them out of hiding.

### **TAUNTS**

Draw Agents out or sidetrack them.

Agents can set back these taunts by acquiring new burner phones, but this is only a setback for DDIMOND who lives inside the internet of things.
DDIMOND will likely not be captured or stopped during the course of play, but Agents will likely be able to find the killteam receiving instructions from the AI.

## **APPENDIX**

### **STAT BLOCKS**

#### Michael Baughman

Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigations Division

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

HP 12        WP 14        SAN 58        BP 42

Motivations: Find Mom and Dad’s Killers, Protect the Truth

Disorders: Sleep Disorder

Skills: Accounting 60, Alertness 50, Athletics 50, Bureaucracy 40, Computer Science 50, Criminology 50, Drive 50, Firearms 50, Forensics 30, HUMINT 60, Law 30, Navigate 30, Persuade 50, Search 50

Attacks: Glock 19M 50%, 1d10 damage

The Answer 50%, 20% Lethality

#### Amy Megritte

STR 10        CON 10    DEX 14    INT 17        POW 11    CHA 10

HP 10        WP 11        SAN 42        BP 39

Motivations: Get the Help I Need, Survival by Any Means

Disorders: Paranoia, Ligyrophobia, Adapted to Helplessness

Rituals: Dho-Hna Formula

Skills: Bureaucracy 40, Craft (Microelectronics) 40, Computer Science 40, Forensics 40, Pharmacy 40,  Science (Physics) 60, Science (Mathematics) 50, Science (Macrodimensional Physics) 50

#### John Wilkins

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

HP 14        WP 14        SAN 58        BP 42

Motivations: You Can’t Rely on Anyone These Days You Just Gotta Do It Yourself, Don’t Question Orders, Aim Small Miss Small

Disorders: Adapted to Violence, Addiction: Alcohol, Intermittent Explosive Disorder

Skills: Alertness 60, Athletics 60, Criminology 60, Demolitions 40, Firearms 60, Heavy Weapons 50, Melee Weapons 50, Military Science (Land) 60, Navigate 50, Stealth 50, Survival 50, Unarmed Combat 60

Attacks: Glock 17 60%, 1d10 damage

The Answer 60%, 20% Lethality

## **INSPIRATION**

Deep State (comic series) 2014 by Justin Jordan

## Credits

Operation NIGHTFALL or Blast to the Past was written by Jake "ChiefMcClane" Cook for the 2021  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 © Jake "ChiefMcClane" Cook, excepting those elements that are components of the Delta Green intellectual property.

Operation NIGHTFALL or Blast to the Past is not available here under CC-BY-SA.

1. ↑ See “Last Things Last”
2. ↑ See 2021 Shotugn Scenario entry Special Delivery (Dark Data Integration for Machine Observation & Non-obvious Detection)