Hemimetabolism

> *"Spice up any meal by tossing a bag of brown recluse spiders at a ceiling fan"*
> *-Food Netwerk*
>
>

A rework of Graham Kinniburgh’s *Metamorphosis*

Special thanks to Br1t15h for playtesting and feedback

## **Summary**

A cult in a domestic violence shelter assassinates abusive men through exotic but mundane methods. Delta Green suspects supernatural activity, and activates Agents to investigate.

## **Briefing**

Several people have been killed by massive swarms of spiders. Agents must determine the vector by which this occurred and eliminate it.

## **The Killings**

All the deaths occurred within the same ten mile area. All were men. All were covered in spider bites from a large number of spiders found at the scene.

* James Korb, 31, COD heart failure from extreme latrodectism (black widow venom).
* Thomas Baker, 25, COD shock from extreme latrodectism (black widow venom).
* Derek Deangelo, 29, COD hemolysis caused by extreme loxoscelism (brown recluse venom).
* Andre Lanois, 35, COD lungs paralyzed by phoneutriatoxin (Brazilian wandering spider venom).
* Gerald Frog, 40, in coma induced by extreme loxoscelism (brown recluse venom).

All were found in bed, suggesting they were asleep at the time of the attack. No signs of forced entry.
Forensics

* In Baker’s case, the lock was opened with a snap gun.

Science: Biology

* Wandering spiders are not native to the US. The quantity at the scene suggests someone raised them in a terrarium.
* The minimal webbing found at the scenes suggests the spiders were not living in the houses, but were transported to (or induced to gather on) the victims.

Investigation by Agents

* All five men were left by their wives or girlfriends within the last three months.
* Thomas and Derek had police reports filed by neighbors for domestic violence. Neither was charged.

## **The Shelter**

The women who left the victims are all currently staying at Saint Cruces Shelter.

* Friends and family of the women will not share this with Agents who use badges.
* SIGINT or Computer Science can track their communications to the shelter.
* Accounting can trace credit card payments to the shelter.

Saint Cruces is a private shelter for women fleeing domestic violence. They’re a registered 501(c)(3) but don’t accept many referrals from social services agencies, citing limited space.

Accounting suspects that donations and referral money aren’t enough to pay for their food, electricity, etc.
(Lyra sells LSD on the side).

## **The Shelter Building**

An old church, offices and community spaces renovated to serve as housing. A kitchen, a couple bathrooms with showers, some converted bedrooms, and a common area in the worship hall (which now sports a mural of women holding hands to form a giant spiderweb).
Law/Bureaucracy gets floorplans. They show a hidden basement hatch.
There are nineteen women at the shelter. Surveillance notices:

* The partners of the dead men are among them.
* A few carry concealed pistols, legally owned.
	+ (Two shotguns and a rifle, also legal, in the kitchen closet)
* A handful of the women have spider tattoos.

## **Getting Inside**

If Agents use badges, the owner Bethany Daviscourt comes out to talk on the lawn. She will not invite police inside. She’s seen enough friendly conversations turn into searches. They need a warrant.
Bethany has an alibi for the ex of each dead man on the night he was killed. She has timestamped photos, videos, eyewitnesses, etc. She’ll contact her lawyer to hand off the evidence.
Getting a warrant requires Agents to find evidence that the shelter is involved with the killings, or an official requisition to get a favor from a judge.
Sneaking inside illegally is easier, but prowling Agents risk being shot in self defense.
If an Agent is female, she can go undercover as an abuse victim, directed to the shelter by word of mouth. This is a good option for a one player game, or two players with the second Agent undercover as the abusive partner.

## **The Cult**

Bethany started the cult because she was tired of watching women go back to abusive men. The police rarely helped, and even when they took reports seriously they couldn’t do anything if a woman refused to press charges.
Just killing the men wasn’t an elegant solution. So Bethany came up with

* Religious trappings for a cult.
* An improbable method of execution that wouldn’t be traced back to her.
* The simple expedient of having each woman kill someone else’s tormentor.

Bethany recruits women she thinks will be receptive to killing abusive men. She first has their ex killed as a test of how they react. If the news makes them happy, that’s a good sign.
Of the nineteen women staying at the shelter, eight are cultists. Two initiates and six fully “transformed” members. Four of the transformed women have killed already, the others will make their bones soon.
Bethany’s religion is a blend of pop culture occultism, with “spider saints” like Arachne, Ungoliant and Latch Natcha (whose name she read in a book). The rest is done with love bombing, psychoactive drugs and the promise of revenge.
Besides Bethany, important cult figures:

* Lyra Swanson, biologist and venom expert. Fascinated by the interplay of toxins and meat. The spider theming was her idea. She handles the spider farm, and also makes, takes and sells LSD on the side.
* Nia Slick lived in a group home until age 18. Since then, this is the longest she’s lived in one place. She loves the cult and is obsessed with Bethany. She trains the other cultists in B&E and firearms handling.
* Melinda Deangelo recently fled the shelter and is currently homeless. She is terrified but, if guaranteed safety, says they killed her husband, even though he never hit her. He just drank a lot and hit the drywall after he came home from Afghanistan.

Lyra and Nia know Bethany’s “religion” is bullshit. They don’t care.
The cultists have guns, but never use them in assassinations. They keep them around to protect the other women from break-ins and violence by jilted exes.

## **The Basement**

The trapdoor is hidden beneath a rug.
The basement has terrariums. Two of black widows, two of brown recluses, one of Brazilian wandering spiders, one of harvestmen, several of mealworms. Rubber gloves and protective gear for handling the beasties, plastic containers with airholes for transporting them.
Behind a curtain is a makeshift chemistry lab for manufacturing LSD. There’s also a tattoo gun.
If the cult learns the Agents are investigating, getting a warrant, etc, they move the spiders and drugs to Lyra’s house. That way it’s gone when the Agents search the shelter.

## **Transformation**

When an initiate is ready to undergo the Transformation to a spider saint of “the Weaver”, Bethany gives her a wafer (dosed with LSD).
The cultists lay her down in a bathtub and fill it with poisonous spiders. They say her bond with the spiders will prevent them from biting her.
(In reality Lyra just uses harmless daddy longlegs)
Tripping balls while covered in spiders costs 2D6 SAN from Helplessness, or 1D4 if the initiate knows it’s just LSD and non venomous spiders.
Saints get a small spider tattoo to mark them as members of the inner circle.

## **Modus Operandi**

Transformed cultists may be called on to assassinate abusive partners of women at the shelter. They never send women to kill their own partners. They establish an alibi for them, while someone else does it. They *do* get information from the women about their exes - where he lives, whether the apartment has cameras, what time he goes to bed. If the woman kept the key when she fled, the assassin takes it for easy entry.
The assassin stakes out the target, waiting until he’s asleep. She sneaks into his bedroom. She shakes the container of spiders, removes the lid, and sloshes the agitated arachnids over him. She leaves while they swarm and bite him, shutting (and locking) the door behind her before he wakes thrashing and gasping for breath.

## **Resolution**

If Agents learn there’s no mythos threat, the Case Officer leaves it up to them how they want to deal with the “cult”.

* Agents can burn the shelter down and kill everyone inside. This inflict large SAN costs even to Adapted to Violence Agents as most of the women are not cultists. It also brings hefty law enforcement blowback.
* Agents can assassinate the cult’s leaders so that it falls apart. The survivors may suspect a jilted ex and try to track down the Agents who did it, perpetuating the cycle of violence.
* The Agents can get the cultists arrested for murder. The spiders are strong evidence but circumstantial without anything to back them up. Agents could flip a cultist to testify. Lyra will turn on the others if threatened with drug charges for the acid.
* Agents can do nothing. Players love revenge and may not object to domestic violence victims fighting back. It isn’t that different from how Delta Green operates. Whether all the victims actually deserved it, or Bethany just gaslit their wives into authorizing the hits, is open to interpretation.

## **Stats**

### **Bethany Daviscourt, Age 39**

STR 10, CON 10, DEX 11, INT 11, POW 13, CHA 9

HP 10, WP 13, SAN 61, BREAKING POINT 52

SKILLS: Accounting 60%, Bureaucracy 60%, Criminology 50%, Firearms 40%, History 40%, HUMINT 50%, Law 40%, Persuade 50%, Occult 50%

ATTACKS: Jimenez JA 9 pistol 40%, damage 1D10.

Unarmed 40%, damage 1D4-1.

### **Lyra Swanson, age 31**

STR 11, CON 13, DEX 11, INT 12, POW 11, CHA 11

HP 12, WP 11, SAN 43, BREAKING POINT 33

DISORDER: PTSD

SKILLS: Bureaucracy 40%, Criminology 50%, Computer Science 40%, Forensics 40%, Science (Biology 60%, Chemistry 50%), Medicine 50%, Pharmacy 50%

ATTACKS: Syringe 55%, Armor Piercing 4, lethality 10%, onset 2D10 minutes.

Unarmed 40%, damage 1D4-1

### **Nia Slick, age 20**

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

HP 11, WP 10, SAN 40, BREAKING POINT 30

DISORDER: Obsessed w Bethany and the cult’s vague religious doctrine

SKILLS: Alertness 50%, Craft (Locksmithing) 40%, Criminology 60%, Disguise 50%, Dodge 40%, Drive 50%, Firearms 40%, Forensics 40%, Melee Weapons 40%, Persuade 50%, Stealth 50%, Unarmed Combat 50%

ATTACKS: Smith Wesson M&P pistol 40%, damage 1D10.

Big Knife 40%, damage 1D6, Armor Piercing 3. Unarmed 50%, damage 1D4-1.

Thrown Spider Swarm 65%, guaranteed Success against sleeping target

### **Cult Assassin**

STR 11, CON 11, DEX 11, INT 11, POW 11, CHA 11

HP 11, WP 11, SAN 44, BREAKING POINT 33

DISORDER: Various

SKILLS: Alertness 50%, Craft (Locksmithing) 40%, Criminology 60%, Firearms 40%, Forensics 40%, Stealth 50%

ATTACKS: Various Medium Pistols 40%, damage 1D10.

Shotgun 60%, damage 2D8 or Rifle 40%, damage 1D12, Armor Piercing 3, but only if the shelter is under attack.

Unarmed 40%, damage 1D4-1.

Thrown Spider Swarm 55%, guaranteed Success against sleeping target.

### **Spider Swarm**

Inflicts spider venom poison if not immediately brushed or washed off, increase lethality to 10% and reduce onset to D6 minutes due to the large number of spiders. Does not immediately wake a sleeping target.

## Credits

Hemimetabolism was written by mellonbread 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 © mellonbread, excepting those elements that are components of the Delta Green intellectual property.

Hemimetabolism is not available here under CC-BY-SA.
Source: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1BLm62LSKkqu-RYBOPNShYmpJy6dh30uGq0v8yV\_ST5E/edit