Chasing Shadows

## SUMMARY

Agents are called in after multiple Las Vegas casinos throw out men who were on quite impressive winning streaks at every table and slot machine you can imagine. They connecting factor was that each of these men seemed to be makinging repeated hand gestures while sitting at the tables prior to revealing straight flushes and pulling 777s. Police were involved following a physical altercation with one of the men. Delta green has reason to believe these gestures are related to some occult practice.

## Briefing

Photos of 4 men across 3 different Casinos on the strip have been provided. They have been removed from The Wynn, Mandalay Bay, and The Bellagio. While escorting one of the men out of The Bellagio there was a physical confrontation after which police were called. A friendly at LVPD passed the information to DG.

We can provide FBI Junior Special Agent badges for this operation though they will be paper thin.

### THE CASINOS

The altercation occurred last night with the pit boss and two floormen at the Bellagio. In Vegas casino workers talk, especially pit bosses and the pit manager of the Bellagio, Romero Esteves, got a tip from The Wynn warning him of these strange fellas and their weird hand signs. If the players befriend either of them they can ask to be alerted if any of the other pit bosses sees any of the gamblers.

When “escorting” one of the gamblers (Rodrigo Nunez) out Esteves had two of his men rough up Nunez which landed the 2 floormen in the hospital and Nunez escaping.

### THE GAMBLERS

The gamblers are four men ranging from 20-45, well dressed, not yet identified by police. The casinos have all four of these men on video over the past 2 months preforming a series of hand sign before shortly pulling a winning hand or hitting a jackpot on the slots. If an agent keeps the video tapes to study they have a 30% chance to learn the Kuji-in(Luck) ritual.

## THE CULPRITS

The men who have been taking the casinos money are Charles Ng, David Adamo, Rodrigo Nunez, and Jerome White. They are Ninja students of Adam Williams.

### THE DOJO

The Clan of would be ninjas come from different walks of life but all of them met Adam Williams at some point. He indoctrinated them into his school/cult where they train in martial arts as well as an eclectic philosophy drawing from Buddhism, Daoism, Shintoism, and some esoteric eastern mysticism. Most of what Williams teaches is no more dangerous than normal cultural appropriation but drawing from the **Kuji-In Scroll** he has learned certain rituals similar to the Kuji-in hand signs found in the Shugendo mountain traditions of Japan. These allow them to tilt the scales of luck in their favor.

### ADAM WILLIAMS

Adam Williams is the worst kind of weeb, a capable one. From a young age he has taken great interest in the land of the rising sun despite being from rural Nebraska. Studying abroad and getting his doctorate degree in Medieval Japanese history, he stumbled upon a curious collection of pages regarding… Ninjas…

With the aid his new esoteric knowledge in hand Williams began training in martial arts excelling quickly. Williams decided he would be a modern day Hattori Hanzo and start a ninja clan to do….. Whatever it is disillusioned wannabe ninjas do. The only thing that he was missing was money. Williams decided that using the Kuji-in (luck) ritual he could tilt the scales in his favor when gabling, but soon Japanese gambling halls were not enough, so he gave up scamming low level Yakuza and headed to Sin City.

With the money he had accrued he built his own Dojo, the Kage Ken Ryu School of Ninjitsu. This attracted the exact type of crowd you would expect, but under Williams tutelage he turned these five misguided nerds into deadly misguided nerds.

## RESEARCH

Agents with Anthropology or Occult can research the hand signs. They find references to “mudras” and “mantras” hand signs and phrases used for meditation found in Buddhism, Jainism, and Hinduism.

They also find references to their use by certain japanese sects of Buddhism. This led to them being associated with ninjas and ninja pop culture.

### Kuji-In Ritual

Simple Ritual. D4 SAN to learn, 1 SAN and 5 WP to activate.

According to the faded scroll a combination of hand signs, mantras, breathing, and internal muscular contractions can channel the energies of the universe to grant one extraordinary favor. Gain 20% bonus to one of Luck, Stealth, Unarmed, Melee Weapons, or Dodge for the next  hour or until you sleep/are rendered unconscious.

## PROGRESSION

The agents are informed of the scuffle at The Bellagio as well as the reports the other casinos. At the Bellagio they will meet Romero with a black eye who will tell them how they spotted the gambler and tried to rough them up only for the gambler to escape, injuring Romero and his two goons pretty badly. Romero will provide a description and video of Rodrigo Nunez. He will also provide contacts at The Wynn and Mandalay Bay.

Going to the other two hotels will provide videos of Charles Ng (Wynn) and David Adamo (Mandalay Bay) will familiarize them with the two mens appearance as well as give the agents 2 chances to see the Kuji-In (Luck) ritual.

Agents who research the hand gestures (Anthropology/Occult) can gain information about them. Agents researching for any martial arts/ninjutsu schools may stumble upon the Dojo.

Agents who stake out other casinos may spot one of the other students there, possibly catching them using the ritual. Confronting them may lead to an altercation where the student will try to escape or hide. If the agents tail the student he may notice them (Alertness vs Stealth) and attempt to hide, or if the agents split up, take them out 1 by 1 (Non-lethally). If cornered the student may throw a shuriken (Clue relating to ninjas)

A tracked student will visit their apartment first before going to the Dojo. Agents breaking in to question a student will find them saying they did nothing illegal and they are just lucky. If questioned about the hand signs the person says they don’t know what they are talking about. If pressed they may ask to use the restroom and attempt to flee via restroom window. If cornered the student may throw a shuriken and attempt to flee.

If the student escapes they may (Search) the house or their car to find various Ninja accoutrement (a katana, climbing gear, extra shuriken), a Laptop (comp sci to get past passwords and find conversations with the other students and Adam Williams) Williams name allows agents with (accounting/bureaucracy/comp sci) to look up the property he owns and is using as his Dojo.

Agents staking out the apartment finds the student will later go to the dojo with a duffel bag full of cash (about $30,000). They agents may try to tail them or track the plate/gps trace, whatever means/tradecraft they may reasonably employ.

If agents arrive at the Dojo without a student escaping they find it locked but can notice (Alertness/Search) a light coming from the basement and voices. Breaking in they find a large training room with a mat, practice weapons, and training equipment. There is an office that is locked but empty ( Agent with Bureaucracy may steal some documents and find that Adams isn’t paying his taxes as well as the students names). There is a door to the basement.

In the basement Adam is there with the remaining students talking about expanding the Dojo and recruitment. There are swords by the wall and if a fight starts, the ninjas will go for them with Adam using a hand seal and eye contact (Fascination) to freeze the agent nearest to the weapons. There is an alter in the basement with Adams Katana and the **Kuji-In Scroll**.

If interrogated Adams claims he has done nothing illegal and that they practice martial arts and meditation for self improvement. Technically they have done nothing Illegal (Except for Adams taxes) so far so stopping them will require creativity or murder.

If a student has escaped Adams will be ready for the agents and will wait in the training room with two of his students practicing with their real swords out. Two more are waiting hidden (2 separate Alertness/Search rolls) one above the ACT tile ceiling and one hidden behind a false wall. If a fight breaks out the will attack the agents first.

The ninjas haven't really committed a crime(yet) so the only legal way to deal with them is to have Adam arrested for tax fraud. If arrested he will break out with the help of his clan and may seek revenge on the agents. Murder is always an option. Criminal handlers may also seek to tip off the Casinos to the student’s names for them to “handle”.

## NPCS

### ADAM WILLIAMS - Bow To Your Sensei

**STR** 17, **CON** 12, **DEX** 13, **INT** 12, **POW** 12, **CHA** 15

**HP** 14, **WP** 12, **SAN** 40, Adapted to Violence

**SKILLS**: Alertness 40%, Athletics 50%, Unarmed 60%, Melee Weapons 60%,  Occult 40%, Stealth 60%, Unnatural 10%, Foreign Language (Japanese) 60%

**ATTACKS**: Unarmed Combat (60%, D4+1)

Tanto Knife (60%, D6, 3 AP)

Honorable Nippon Steel Katana (If in Dojo) (60%, D8)

Shuriken (40% , D4)

**RITUALS**: Kuji-In(Luck, Stealth, Unarmed, Melee Weapons, Dodge), Fascination

### KAGE KEN SHINOBI - My Ninjas

**STR** 13, **CON** 10, **DEX** 11, **INT** 12, **POW** 9, **CHA** 7

**HP** 11, **WP** 9, **SAN** 30,  Adapted to Violence

**SKILLS**: Alertness 40%, Athletics 40%, Criminology 20%, Dodge 40%, Melee Weapons 40%, Stealth 40%, Unarmed Combat 50%, Unnatural 5%

**ATTACKS**:Unarmed Combat (60%, D4+1)

Tanto Knife (60%, D6, 3 AP)

Honorable Nippon Steel Katana (If in Dojo) (60%, D8)

Shuriken (40% , D4)

**RITUALS**: Kuji-In(Luck, Stealth, Unarmed, Melee Weapons, Dodge)

### CASINO GOONS - Few Cards Short of A Full House

**STR** 13, **CON** 12, **DEX** 11, **INT** 8, **POW** 10, **CHA** 9

**HP** 13, **WP** 10, **SAN** 43

**SKILLS**: Alertness 60%, Bureaucracy 40%, Criminology 50%, Drive 50%, Firearms 40%, First Aid 30%, Forensics 50%, HUMINT 50%, Law 30%, Melee Weapons 50%, Navigate 40%, Persuade 50%, Search 40%, Unarmed Combat 60%

**ATTACKS**: Unarmed (60%, D4 or pin/disarm)

### Tome:The Kuji-In Scroll

In Japanese Study Time: weeks. Occult + 5% Unnatural +2% 1D6 San Loss. Rituals: The Kuji-In Ritual, Fascination (Shinobi Shadow Seal or something else edgy)

## Credits

Chasing Shadows was written by NotoriusTortellini 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 © NotoriusTortellini, excepting those elements that are components of the Delta Green intellectual property.

Chasing Shadows is not available here under CC-BY-SA.