Frozen Arrow

On January 21st, 1968 an American B-52G carrying 4 atomic bombs crashed in Greenland, near the Thule Air Force base. The incident was hushed and classified “Top Secret”.

In his last radio transmissions, the pilot said: “My God, what is this horror ? It’s heading straight at us …Mayday !”. This recording was classified “Delta Green”.

## The base

The Thule Air Force base is a small American enclave in Danish Greenland, constructed after WWII on the shore of the North Star Bay, in the vicinity of a 1000 feet high tabletop mountain, Mount Dundas.

January 1968 is the heart of winter, which at such latitude, is sunk in a never ending night. The sun won’t show up on the horizon until February 14th.

Sea is frozen, everything is snow-covered and the temperatures range between -22 °F and -4 °F, with winds up to 90 mph.

The base covers a 4\*1.5 miles area, occupied by a 10,000 feet airfield runway, a dozen large warehouses and a hundred of smaller aboveground prefabs. It hosts a population of around 3400, half US soldiers, half Danish contractors.

## The past

Originally a radio and weather station, the construction of Thule Air Base began in 1951 with operation “Blue Jay”. In 1953, during the extension of the base, 200 Inughuits - autochthons from Hyperborean descent - were forcefully relocated from the nearby village of Pituffik to the northern city of Qaanaaq.

Having investigated strange disappearances amongst the base crew, Delta Green used this relocation to covertly dispose of an Inughuit cult leader and few followers, hoping it to be enough to disband the cult.

However, 13-years old Kemik - son of the cult shaman - saw his father shot to death by Americans and swore revenge. Under the leadership of the elder Igaliko, he and a hundred of the most conservative Inughuits settled to the village of Moriusaq - 22 miles northwest of the base, across the bay - refusing to leave their ancestor’s land and the sacred Uummannaq (Mount Dundas) that holds in its depths secret ice-caves and lost passageways to Hyperborea.

For the last fifteen years, Kemik nurtured his revenge and completed his training in the shamanic arts, longing to drive the intruders back from his ancestor’s homeland.

## The shaman

Kemik, now 28, is a rousing man, driven by revenge. On January 21st, 1968, he succeeded to summon a tupilak, an evil spirit embodied in a man-made chimera, and sent the monstrosity to wreck havoc upon the Americans.

Proud of his success, he assured his people that a new hyperborean age will soon dawn.

If confronted by the agents, he will champ at the bit and try to act nice, in order to see another day.

## The crash

The B-52 bomber was carrying four B28FI hydrogen bombs on a routine “Chrome Dome” mission when it was hit in the sky by the tupilak. The horror teared holes in the wing and fuselage - causing a fire in the plane - while snatching one of the bombs. The crew tried to put out the fire, without success: six men jumped with parachutes over Thule base, the last one killed himself jumping from the hatch.

The plane crashes at 15:40 on the frozen sea, 7.5 miles west of Thule, causing a huge explosion in the night sky as the conventional explosives of the remaining bombs explode on impact. Thanks to the weapons design, no nuclear explosion occurs.

Debris and radioactive elements are scattered on a 3\*1 miles area and a large patch of jet fuel burns and melts the ice sheet, causing some wreckage to sink into the ocean.

Soon, project “Crested Ice” begins - men gather scattered plane parts and monitor radioactivity levels, while bulldozers scrape the ice sheet and collect contaminated snow in large crates - and will last for months, involving 800 soldiers, 1100 danish contractors and 100 locals.

## The crew

Of the six survivors, only the pilot, DiMaria, saw the tupilak. He is quite shocked and not sure he can believe his senses. He’ll be carefull not to sound crazy when telling his story. The others think a bird or something hit one of the reactors, causing the fire.

## The army

General Hanziker is in charge of “Crested Ice”, and a camp will be mounted and named after him on the crash site. He is an old WWII veteran with declining health. He have DG credentials, and will allow the agents to make their investigation.

In the first weeks, he relies on Jon Ziglarson - representative of the Greenland Trade Department - to organise the search using native dogs sled teams. Jon is a tall, bald man with a way with the locals.

Dr Oakridge is an agitated thin man wearing glasses, an expert brought here in a hurry to assess the condition of the thermonuclear bombs. He is eager to find the missing one, repeating that “it cannot fall into the wrong hands”.

Among the base personnel, the main concerns are:

* Radiations. Even if the officers claim there is nothing to fear and measurements are conducted, nobody on “Crested Ice” feels safe.
* Russians. Many soldiers believe the crash was caused by the commies: secret weapon testing, telepathic control of the pilot, telekinesis …
* Once the disappearances or strange killings begin, rumors of evil spirits will spread first amongst the friendly locals, then the Danes, then the soldiers…

The paranoia and tensions will rise as events unfold.

## The Inughuits

The locals are tough and sturdy folks, that lived on this frozen coast for millennia in an undisturbed way. The incursion of white man impacted their way of life, and some are friendly and embraced the changes gratefully: Agalak, a smiling hunter is one of them and offers his services as a guide.

Others - regrouped in Moriusaq - remained loyal to the old ways, their Hyperborean ancestors and the god Tornasuk.

In “Crested Ice”, half the locals are willing to help the Americans, the other half was “prompted” to cooperate: there are tensions between the Inughuits, as each group can’t stand the other.

The treacherous Hyperboreans won’t risk their life against hundreds of armed soldiers, but could try something against a small incautious group.

## The elder

Igaliko is the current leader of the 120 Inughuits of Moriusaq. He’s not a shaman, but raised Kemik like his own son, helping him the best he could in the shamanic arts and teaching him to become a leader. He’s 67, and according to the Hyperborean tradition, he will soon have to go in the ice caves under the Uummannaq to freeze to death there.

However, if Kemik was to be suspected by the agents or endangered, Igaliko will try to pass as the real threat here - claiming he’s the one that conjured the tupilak - and will do anything to protect his adoptive son.

As leader, he is often escorted by Kakak - the best hunter of the tribe - a smart man with a thin moustache, who could try to befriend the agents to lure them.

## The tupilak

This evil spirit is embodied in a grotesque assemblage of sewn body-parts from polar bears, walruses, foxes and narwhals. It cannot speak, but is intelligent, can fly and become invisible; and will instill fear by stalking, kidnapping and killing Americans in the area.

He settled on top of Mount Dundas, and a bloody trail or the vision of something large flying under the stars could lead the agents this way.

He sensed the destructive power of the bomb he stole and will take a few days in order to figure out a way to use it…

## The bomb

It is 13 feet long and weighs 2150 lbs. The tupilak brought it on top of Mont Dundas and he will probably use it either way:

* Detonate it on the Thule Air Base (it could kidnap Dr Oakridge to do so), or
* Hide the radioactive components under the cafeteria or community center (buildings are constructed aboveground), slowly poisoning all personnel.

## The mountain

Mount Dundas is a large flat mountain towering over the bay. During the summer, it is a renowned destination: a two hour trek on black soapstone leads to the flat summit. The custom wants you to carry a stone labelled with your name to the top, to testify you made the climb.

Up there, the pile of labelled rocks has been scattered in a circle to form a nest: the tupilak use it as a resting place.

## The agents

The first cases of missing person brought the attention of DG to this remote land, and since 1953 and their strike against Inughuit cultists, the area - due to its strategic position - is constantly monitored for unusual events.

However, apart the unexplained slaying of a patrol around the base in 1959, nothing happened.

The PC can be:

* Delta Green agents or friendlies stationed at Thule, one being an officer.
* Radio operators that received the worrisome distress call from DiMaria.
* Nosy soldiers or officers that saw the crash.

## Statistics

### The Tupilak

**STR** 32, **CON** 19, **DEX** 11,

**INT** 10, **POW** 5, **CHA** 3,

**HP** 26

**Attacks**: Fangs/Claws, lethality 12%

Can fly and become invisible

### Kemik / Igaliko

**STR** 9, **CON** 10, **DEX** 11,

**INT** 13, **POW** 14, **CHA** 15,

**HP** 10

**Attacks**: Unarmed 31%

### Kakak / Agalak

**STR** 14, **CON** 14, **DEX** 13,

**INT** 12, **POW** 9, **CHA** 10,

**HP** 14

**Attacks**: Unarmed 62%, Spear (1d8) 65%

### Dr Oakridge

**STR** 8, **CON** 11, **DEX** 12,

**INT** 18, **POW** 12, **CHA** 11,

**HP** 10

**Skills**: Science (Nuclear weapons) 72%

**Attacks**: Unarmed 23%, Spear (1d8) 65%

## Credits

Frozen Arrow was written by Jean-Marc "Tolkraft" CHOSEROT for the 2016  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 © Jean-Marc "Tolkraft" CHOSEROT, excepting those elements that are components of the Delta Green intellectual property.

Frozen Arrow is not available here under CC-BY-SA.