OPERATION MAGIC DRAGON

## Overview

Woshash Lake, a one-time resort turned religious retreat on the outskirts of Mark Twain National Forest, Missouri, has a history of disappearances. Delta Green has a chance to find out why…

## The Truth

In the caverns below Woshash Lake, once human things coil and thrive like maggots, feeding and rutting upon one another and anything else foolish enough to stumble into their domain.

Some decades ago three of these things wriggled their way to the surface and hid around the lake. Their feasting on animals and the odd human might have continued indefinitely, but last week church volunteers driving to the soon-to-be-reopened resort nearly hit one of the creatures on the lake's woodland approach. The vehicle crashed and rolled into the lake, killing those inside.

Now the lake is being drained to recover the bodies. The cave-things will do all they can to stop it.

## The Briefing

Sent to St. Louis for “specialist training”, agents are briefed by case officer Harlan (DEA Special Agent Alex Sanchez). He explains:

An intermittent holiday resort between the 1970s and 2014, Lake Woshash has a century and a half history of disappearances and cryptid sightings. In 1992 Delta Green agent Fleischer vanished while investigating its secrets. In 2007 drug-dealer Ricardo Velazquez disappeared while staying there.

Recently a megachurch, Abundant Love Chapel (ALC), bought the resort to convert into a baptismal retreat. This went smoothly until last week, when a car carrying church volunteers – Becky Mahon (53YOA, body recovered); Tod Janekowski (19YOA, missing) and Su-lin Soon (26YOA, missing) – crashed into the lake. Authorities have declared their deaths accidental.

Sheep-dipped as a DEA taskforce following up on “new evidence” in the cold-case disappearances of Fleischer and Velazquez, the draining of the lake is a perfect cover to investigate. Agents must decide whether an overt or covert approach is needed.

## Notable Lake Incidents

(Harlan knows the timeline post-1965. Agents must dig up the rest themselves.)

1808-1825: Native Osage tribes cede their land in Missouri and are relocated to Kansas. First use of “Lake Wawsash [sic]” in reference to ancient standing stone circle near lake's bank.

1863: The Spooner family, settlers of the future resort site, are wiped out by pro-Union bushwhackers. Their land, including “Wawsash Lake”, passes to family in California.

1909: M 3.6 earthquake strikes southeast Missouri. Woshash Standing Stones destroyed.

1923: Dam surveyer Roy Gizier found “injured and in duress” near Lake Woshash. Newspapers claim he was robbed by auto-bandits. He dies of blood-poisoning three days later.

1925-1949: During this period seventeen complete and dozens of partial skeletal remains are recovered from Woshash forest.

1965: 10-year-olds Doug Fulham and Mark Stricklyn head into Woshash forest to play. Neither is seen again.

1974: Bill Spooner moves to Woshash and starts construction of resort. Electrician Mike Lowell vanishes working on a cabin. He reported seeing “naked fellas” in the woods the day before.

1979: Duke and Mary Victor stay at Woshash for their honeymoon. The next morning Duke wakes to find Mary missing. He is released for lack of evidence. The cabin is boarded up.

1988-1994: Abandoned due to falling revenue, the resort becomes haunt for junkies, illicit lovers and illegal hunting. Tales abound of odd things prowling at night, giant water snakes and bizarre noises.

1992: DEA agent Brad Fleischer (a Delta Green cowboy) vanishes “on vacation” near the lake. Delta Green's attempts to bury or drain the site are rebuffed by the owner.

1994: Zeke Jeffries buys the land from Bill Spooner and reopens resort.

2007: Cartel lieutenant-turned-federal witness Ricardo Velazquez sets up sting meeting with old gang at Lake Woshash. After a frantic call to his DEA handlers about “things” outside his cabin, he vanishes. No arrests are made.

2014: Jeffries sells the resort to Randy Deaks of ALC.

2016: Renovations begin on the lodge and cabins. The retreat is pegged to open early-2018.

## Abundant Love Church

Founded and run by Randy Deaks (b. 1951), the ALC is a 9,000 strong megachurch based outside St. Louis. Known for its liberal stance on hot-button topics like abortion and homosexuality, its doctrine is inoffensive, inclusive and mundane. Day-to-day affairs, including renovating Woshash Lake, are handled by Marcus Hogge (b. 1973), Deaks' trusted right-hand man and PR legend.

## Woshash Lake

Far enough from the Lake of the Ozarks to attract a less rowdy vacation crowd, the land around Woshash's kidney-bean shaped sinkhole lake is hilly and heavily forested, riddled with caves and potholes. The nearest village is Wilsonville (pop. 370), a 20-minute drive through isolated backroads.

The lake, resort and surrounding forest are private property. A large lodge contains staff bedrooms, a kitchen-restaurant and offices, while its jetty has been converted for open-air sermons and baptisms. Twelve plush cabins are scattered around the water's edge, all linked by foot trails.

Following its sale to the ALC, renovations have been undertaken by professionals and church volunteers; seven, plus Hogge, remain on-site. A drainage crew of six men work shifts of three on, three off, siphoning lakewater into huge storage tanks. This should be finished in four days.

The drainage crew share two semi-renovated cabins, the volunteers hot-bunk in the lodge. Hogge has his own room and office. If spooked or attacked, the volunteers are likely to flee; the work-crew prove hardier, while Hogge stays as long as possible.

Hogge allows the “DEA agents” on-site during daylight hours if they stick to investigating their cold-cases. If they annoy him or pry into the volunteers' death, he tells them to get a warrant.

## The Cave-Things

Easily mistaken at a distance for thin, naked, pallid men, cave-things have more similarity to alien flatworms than humans; their misshapen maws unfurl toxic proboscis while vestigial bones and limbs allow them to fold and creep into the smallest spaces. They lie in wait for prey, ambushing and dragging victims into the lake to feed, leaving no evidence.

Three cave-things have lurked around the lake since the early 1900s. Smart enough to know humans are dangerous, their first reaction to the draining of the lake is to delay the pumps with mud, break generators or gnaw holes in tanks. They may pick off lone individuals. If their home is seriously threatened, they will ambush larger groups, sabotaging vehicles to delay escape and laying siege to the resort's lodge and anyone inside.

***Cave-Things***

**STR** 20, **CON** 20, **DEX** 17,

**INT** 7, **POW** 12,

**HP** 20, **WP** 12

**Armor:** 3-points of baleen

**Skills**: Alertness 40%, Athletics 75%, Stealth 60%, Track Prey 75%

**Attacks:** Inject 40%, damage 1D6+1 (see NEUROTOXIN)

**San Loss:** 1/1D4

**Neurotoxin**: A successful Bite attack also injects a mix of digestive enzymes and neurotoxin into the victim. Rapid liquification of internal tissue and bone occurs, allowing the cave-thing to drag the victim away to be fed upon. The neurotoxin's lethality is 45%.

## Disastrous Drainage

On the third day of drainage, the earth rumbles, the half-filled lake bubbles and a geyser of water and stone shoot 70-feet into the air. A whirlpool sucks the lake – and all on it – into caverns below (15% Lethality).

The empty lake's bottom is muck and filth. Two papery skeletons – the missing volunteers – are here. The mud is thick with a soup of human and animal DNA.

An enormous hole is riven in the lake's bed, big as a car. Fragments of stone, bits of an enormous covering cap, lie scattered by the explosion. Unnatural notes hieretic Naacal engraved on parts.

Hogge and the drainage company argue over what to tell authorities. Meanwhile the cave-things bide their time, waiting until nightfall to attack…

## The Caverns

Missouri has thousands of caves but those under Lake Woshash are not so typical. Entering the tunnels via the lake means a 50-foot drop into darkness, where a maze of narrow, pitch-black tunnels stretch for miles beneath the county. The air is rank and stale, the floor ankle-deep in fetid sludge and semi-digested fluids. Even hardened spelunkers will not enjoy this.

Dozens of cave-things – maybe hundreds – also thrive down here. Terrified by the noise and flood, they have hidden themselves in the lower reaches of the cave, giving agents a brief window to explore. After an hour or two they will return, feasting on any interlopers.

The caverns offer profound evidence of early human intelligences. Exquisite but mind-bending artwork covers the walls, artificial rooms might be temples or meeting halls or galleries. All are long abandoned. Mapping the network would take months – if its inhabitants allowed it…

## Conclusion

Fearing embarassment or liability, Hogge agrees to any cover-up that protects ALC and himself from blame or investigation. While he'd never go public about the unnatural, he hangs the threat over the agents in exchange for immunity.

Informed of the situation, Delta Green can provide poison gas to flood the caverns in 24-hours, so long as agents secure the site and get Hogge to agree. Purchase of the land is possible but Hogge demands mark-up prices (registering it as an American Indian site stops this).

While the caves' new entrance is too high up for beasts to escape, agents likely don't realise the caverns' flooding has breached long-sealed cave-mouths. Dozens of creatures escape into the countryside where a few thrive, growing fat on wildlife and eventually people. If not nipped now, a Delta Green bug-hunt may be needed later.

## Credits

OPERATION MAGIC DRAGON was written by Anthony Warren for the 2017  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 © Anthony Warren, excepting those elements that are components of the Delta Green intellectual property.

OPERATION MAGIC DRAGON is not available here under CC-BY-SA.