ESTRANGEMENT

## BEWILDERMENT

FBI Special Agent Lance Sugimoto (Agent WASHINGTON of the Delta Green Program) has been tracking human collaborators serving the alien intelligences known as the Yith, or Great Race. His meddling with this conspiracy, known as The Motion, resulted in the recovery of an alien device capable of powerful and dangerous telepathic effects. Unfortunately, this device has begun to slowly erase Sugimoto's brain, an inevitable process that will leave him a mindless, drooling, and helpless vegetable.

The scenario begins when Sugimoto contacts the Agents, he either knows one or more of them from previous operations or has somehow obtained their contact information. He is desperate and shaken to the core, begging them for help. He has forgotten how to contact A-Cell. Soon, he will entirely forget the existence of A-Cell. His current location can be determined through a cell phone trace or by talking Sugimoto through giving directions. Sugimoto is using his personal mobile phone.

His location is a small trailer home on a remote private lot. This used to be W-Cell's Green Box and was recently evacuated by some very thorough Agents. It is entirely empty except for Sugimoto and his device. Even the carpeting has been ripped up. Sugimoto can be found curled up in a fetal position on the floor.

Sugimoto used to have a 17 INT. So far, the device has drained 1 INT from him. Over the next 16 days, the Agents may witness Sugimoto's rapid degeneration from a brilliant FBI Agent specialized in electrical and mechanical engineering into a literally brainless moron. His most recent memories are being devoured first. By the third day of the mission Sugimoto will be unable to recall any information about his investigation into the Motion. He has already forgotten how he came into possession of the device. No means available to the Agents can effect a cure or stop the process of the device.

## SUGIMOTO'S DEVICE

This mysterious device is believed to be of Yithian manufacture, possibly through some sort of psychic manifestation of matter. It is a tall octagonal black prism constructed of polished black stone marbled with red veins. The top is inset with a large five pointed red crystal (this functions as a version of the Pnakotic Pentagram with an effective radius of 10 meters). The crystal also glows in the presence of telepathy or temporal anomalies. Viewing the stone for long durations, one can see odd alien shapes moving within the blackness that resemble reflections in the polished surface. It is capable of many telepathic effects that bypass the normal protections of the Pnakotic Pentagram. Inadequate human minds are unlikely to be able to control these effects in any meaningful way.

Sugimoto's obtrusions with the device has activated a failsafe that drains 1 INT per day from anyone touching the device. While being drained of Intelligence, the most simple thoughts become difficult and memories often slip away, erased forever. Those being drained are somehow “stuck” to the device, and no force can sever this bond. The victim is free to move about as long as some part of them is touching the device, and they can detach portions of their anatomy so long as some part of them remains in contact. Even amputation of limbs results in a bizarre warp that reunites the device and victim. However, death releases the victim, and the device “lets go” when the victim reaches 0 INT. The loss of Intelligence is permanent.

This horrific process costs the victim 1d3 SAN per INT lost. Witnesses who become aware of this process lose 1/1d3 SAN.

## DIRECTIVES FROM A-CELL

If contacted, A-Cell requests that the investigating Cell confirm that Sugimoto's brain is “physically present”. They ask if any other odd technology such as metallic cylinders, hyperdimensional surgical tools, or biomechanical devices have been observed or recovered. A-Cell also requests that the Agents keep an eye out for strange lights in the sky, unusual fungal growths or any giant flying crab-like creatures with bioluminescent heads.

## FAMILY ISSUES

On the second day of the mission, Sugimoto's estranged daughter Laura files a missing person's report with the local police. Laura came out as a lesbian to her father several years ago, and Lance did not take it well. Recently they have been having dinner every week in an attempt to rebuild their failed father-daughter relationship and try to deal with the loss of Sarah, Lance's ex-wife who died of cancer before Laura came out.

Lance missed the dinner, and when Laura was not able to contact him, she began looking for her father. On the fifth day of the mission, Laura will dip into her life savings and hire a private investigator named Danielle Mullen of Core Investigations to locate Lance. Ms. Mullen is a happily married former state trooper with three children in college. She has a couple of bounty hunting, ex-marine tough guys on staff that she uses as muscle, and rarely operates alone. Unless the Agents dealt with Sugimoto's personal mobile phone, Ms. Mullen will track the GPS on the device to the Green Box or wherever Sugimoto's phone has ended up. She will drive close, but if she sees a bunch of vehicles other than Sugimoto's she will conduct surveillance; setting up a camera after dark, tracing license plates, taking pictures of those coming and going and so forth. Depending on the results of her investigation, she may contact local or even federal law enforcement.

Should Ms. Mullen and her staff mysteriously disappear, second generation FBI Special Agent Laura Sugimoto will take a leave of absence, withdraw $20,000 from her 401k, and begin an intensive investigation into the disappearance of her father. This exciting process will turn up many interesting things concerning the PROGRAM and The Motion. Unless they resolve Lance's situation and vacate the area, Laura will show up on the Agent's doorstep four days after beginning her personal investigation. She is very likely to try and free her father from the device, touching it and sharing his fate.

## CONCLUSION

Sugimoto will write a letter to his daughter, and will also prepare a last will and testament and ask that the Agents deliver these documents to his daughter and his lawyer. Once his INT drops into single digits, Sugimoto will begin to discuss suicide, and ask that the agents kill him once he is unable to speak coherently. Eleven days into the mission, Lance, now at 5 INT, will attempt to leave the Agents to find his daughter and tell her that he loves her. He will somehow be able to speed dial her number if he still has his phone. All pretense at OPSEC will be discarded by the severely retarded Sugimoto at this point. If Sugimoto reaches 1 INT, he will retain just enough thought process to attempt suicide by grabbing at the nearest firearm and shoving it into his mouth.

## ENJOIN PNAKOTIC PENTAGRAM

*Simple Ritual. Study Time: Hours; 1d3 SAN. Activation: Two Hours, 2 POW, 1d4 SAN*

The Pnakotic Pentagram, sometimes called the Pnakotic Pentagon, is a mystical sigil very similar to the Elder Sign and sharing some of same drawbacks. It must be inscribed with a **Craft** skill of **20%** or greater at a cost of **2 POW** and **1d4 SAN**. Once complete, the pentagram is actually creates a complex, continuing hypergeometrical operation that disjoins the spacetime within, constantly shifting a portion of reality out of sync with the angles and curves of the flow of time. Hounds of the Angles cannot sense the minds of those within the warp. Thus, remaining within the pentagram allows the use the Liao drug and the safe performance of the Leaves of Time Ritual (Handler's Guide p181). Furthermore, those within cannot have their minds switched by members of the Great Race or through other means, as no Telepathy functions within the Pentagram. Finally, the risen dead are warded against. Zombies, incorporeal ghosts, the Resurrected, and so forth cannot enter within the boundaries of the Pnakotic Pentagram. In ancient times, this ritual was used to seal the tombs and thresholds of dead wizards and sorcerers to prevent any unnatural re-emergences.

## Credits

ESTRANGEMENT was written by The Man in Black 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 © The Man in Black, excepting those elements that are components of the Delta Green intellectual property.

ESTRANGEMENT is not available here under CC-BY-SA.