Single Origin

## Background

Michael and Damien Lowe are specialist coffee roasters of a well-known small roastery and cafe called *The Elixir*. The brothers returned from a trip to Yirgachefe after a month of research and sourcing. Their guide, Murtti, brought them to many estates and the remote mountain farms of the Ethiopian Highlands. It was there, in the cool crisp mountain air that the Lowe brothers came upon a village of Gurage farmers.

The Lowe brothers are back in town, concocting a new blend to showcase at the upcoming Coffee Expo. They invited five friends within the industry to a private presentation, regaling everyone with tales, coffee, and Damien's video journal. The night ended on a high note, with the Lowe brothers admitting they are not quite sure about their latest acquisition from the Gurage farmers.

The next morning, a staff, Andrea, found the brothers' corpses near the counter, ribs shattered and chest cavities opened to the ceiling.

## Playstyle

There are three different tracks by which *Single Origin* can progress. *Spawns* is a pulp adventure which has Agents hunting down plant-like creatures in the early morning darkness; *Unseen* is a purist investigation, as Agents are slowly sapped of their strength and sanity as the entities beneath them feed; Agents race against the clock in *Souvenirs* before a horrible nightmare becomes lethal.

## Setup

Agents nearest to the location are called in by the Program to quarantine the situation and investigate what happened. All three tracks play very differently but will have a timeline of seven days. Each shares the following common clues and casts. But witness/attendee interviews, the content of video journals and photographs, and the items that are still in the cafe will be dependent on which track the Handler wishes to pursue.

## Cast

Andrea     - Elixir staff. First to discover the bodies.

Michelle   - Coffee roaster and cafe operator - knows the stories of the Gurage village.

Andrew     - Lifestyle journalist - takes photos of all the curios that the Lowe brothers show.

Kate          - Social Media Influencer - does video interviews

Jacob        - Personal friend of the Lowe brothers - contacted them regularly during their trip

Jenny        - Jacob's wife

## Common clues

* The Lowe brothers brought back a new shipment of beans and were trying out a new blend in preparation of the Coffee Expo.
* They had a presentation of the village with friends, barista friends and their staff the night before, featuring the village and videos of their rituals and song. The counter and tables are still littered with souveniers, curios, cameras and laptops that the brothers used.
* Both men looked a little ill but Damien claimed it was due to traveler's diarrhea.
* Damien had commented that the new beans were a little disappointing and the flavour off. But they wanted to experiment further into the night.

## Scenario: Spawn

* Murtti had unwittingly led the brothers to a shunned Gurage village that practiced the old ways. The coffee plants were tainted and by their unknown plant-like god and the coffee cherries were used whole in their ascension rituals.
* While the elders were not wont to share the secrets of Ascension with foreigners, an enterprising member of the tribe decided to sell the beans to the foreigners for more cash that the village can earn.
* The ascension beans were supposed to be ingested whole, but to prepare the coffee, the brothers roasted and ground up the tainted beans, dramatically slowing down the growth of the alien plant. The Lowe brothers were getting progressively sicker ever since they tried that one coffee as parasitic plant tendrils start taking root within them.
* Agents can see ruptured, plant-like fruiting bodies within the now empty body cavities of the Lowe brothers. The round, membranous structure is as big as a football and peeled away to reveal milky white interiors.
* Two ambulant plant spawns roam have managed to escape the cafe in the time Andrea ran out of the shop. She might have heard claw-like scrambling upon the cement floor when she calling emergency. The spawns have inherited partial memories of their hosts, believing that they are Michael and Damien Lowe. The size of small dogs, the spawns stumble aimlessly in the early morning shopping strip, moaning in the brother's voices. However, if they do stumble on another person, they will attack as their instinct to feed overwhelms them.
* Resolution - Agents will need to destroy the spawn and coffee beans from Gurage. They will need to find out if any of the attendees were infected. The Lowe brothers only let Michelle, Jacob and Jenny try the Gurage blend. The brothers were unsatisfied with it and Michelle agrees. The trio will be fine for the next week, slowly exhibiting symptoms of lethargy and pains in their joints and a massively decreased appetite as the spawns grow within them. If unresolved in seven days, the couple will die, releasing three new **Spawns**.

***Gurage Spawn***

**SAN loss:** 1/1d6

**HP:**        5

**All Stats:** 35

**Move:**        7

**Attacks per round:** 1

## Scenario: Unseen

* At the start of the year, a meteorite fell near the village and landed in the field. The elders recovered the meteorite and revered it as sacred and a conduit for spirits.
* The coffee that grew around the meteorite grew fast and abundant, though a little more bitter than usual.
* The villagers took the brothers to see the meteorite - captured on Damien's video journal and Michael stole a shard of the meteorite. The shard was fashioned into a necklace and is but one of the many curios the brothers brought back.
* The Lowe brothers were infected by colourless larvae, which grew slowly and fed within them. When the colours matured sufficiently, they induced a terrible hallucination and had the brothers claw open their own bodies.
* Not fully matured, the larvae then seeped into the ground and began infecting and feeding on all life energies in the vicinity.
* Visitors after the death of the Lowe brothers always felt something odd and strange, a strong sense of foreboding and inexplicable lethargy.
* Crime scene investigators might suddenly faint and be inflicted with severe anaemia - **Colours out of Space**\*
* Concrete and the wooden furniture may be discoloured from the ground up, and there are odd shining lights from around the shop.
* Investigators can learn of a similar occult case occurring in the blasted heath of Arkham, Massachusetts.
* **Resolution**: The meteorite shard must be secured in a Green Box. The location must be condemned and secured - Agents can cause a gas leak in the area and an explosion. Andrew and Kate have footage of strange discolourations in their video interviews with the Lowe brothers. If unresolved in seven days, the **Colours** will grow to encompass the neighbouring shops, including a childcare centre.

## Scenario: Souvenirs

* While the beans from the village were not great for coffee making, the Lowe brothers felt obligated to help the village.
* That particular village was shunned and avoided though Murtti could not tell why.
* They allowed the Lowe brothers to interact and capture them on camera and video as they want to be acknowledged as existing on the fringe of Yirgachefe society.
* Michael then stole a small idol as a souvenir and included it in the presentation, saying it was a gift from the elder to him as a token of friendship.
* Both brothers had not been sleeping well since they had that idol in their possession and they admitted this to Jacob and Andrew. On that fateful night, both brothers succumbed to the idol's calls and partially became **White Apes**\* and attacked each other. Their faces are bruised beyond recognition, and their hands are stilled clawed and white furred.
* Everyone who saw the video and the idol experienced terrible nightmares of a white gorilla with an all too human face, but horribly distorted limbs and claws. The survivors will continue to experience this for seven more days.
* Michelle was the only one who did not have the nightmares as she excused herself to the toilet then.
* The idol manifests as nightmares that possess the victims and then violently attacks them as the victims watch haplessly at their own disembowelment.
* Murtti was trying to contact the brothers about the missing idol and how the elders of the village were extremely concerned and scared. He has sent multiple emails and calls to the Lowe brothers but they did not answer.
* **Resolution:** Investigators will need to learn the sealing rituals from the elders via Skype or video, maybe even needing to record their songs and drums, perform the ritual and the sacrifice - blood from all those who saw the idol - to seal the idol. They will also need to delete all footage and mentions of the idol. If unresolved in seven days, all attendees who saw the idol will transform into **White Apes** and attack the first person they come across.

\*Stats blocks published in the Handlers Guide.

## Suggested Snacks

* Coffee - iced coffee, frappes, lattes. intravenous caffeine.
* Chocolate coated coffee beans, Maltesers

## Credits

Single Origin was written by Christopher Lee for the 2018  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 © Christopher Lee, excepting those elements that are components of the Delta Green intellectual property.

Single Origin is not available here under CC-BY-SA.