Provax

## Briefing

It’s the height of Covid, and the city is in lockdown, so mask up and have a cover story ready. The Agents are given the coordinates of a Green Box in a light industrial area containing the following items:

* A briefcase-style portable medical refrigerator holding 24 syringes, each marked **LABORATORY USE ONLY** and filled with a substance resembling skim milk with clots of liquid eraser. The case weighs 40lb and is set to 42°F, powered by a lithium battery, and unmarked save some dried blood on a corner of the outside casing. There is a green Post-it note on the inside reading: *One dose per target. Adverse side effects are normal, you’ll know if they’re not. Any leftovers you can keep.*
* A manila file folder containing the following:
	+ A piece of paper reading: *Tell them its Pfizer or hydroxychloroquine or whatever, as long as it's administered by any means necessary. Doesn’t need to hit a vein. Call this number when it’s done: (XXX) XXX-XXXX*
	+ A list of names and addresses:
		- 43 Prospect Avenue, MEISEL Stanley, Martha, Keira, Keiran, Kade
		- 7 Hickory Lane, COLVERT Bruno, Abigail, Cody
		- 99 Old Mill Road, GODLEY Ophelia, April, Giles, Hermes **Note**: Ophelia Godley may be regarded as a FRIENDLY. Sort of.
	+ A local area map with the listed addresses marked, as well as the Green Box itself. It indicates the Meisels are closest (~15 min drive), followed by the Colverts (~30 min drive) and the Godleys (~1 hour drive)
	+ An orange envelope marked Carrots, Bring Your Own Stick, containing various gift cards and winning scratch-off lottery tickets, with a combined value of roughly $10,000.

## The Meisels

A well maintained suburban home in a declining part of town. The parents Stanley (41yoa, desperate for cash) and Martha (37yoa, desperate for dignity) seem welcoming, but an Alertness success indicates they’re running distraction while their kids Keira (14yoa, precociously responsible), Keiran (12yoa, sullen edgelord) and Kade (8yoa, cute little shithead) prepare to escape out the backdoor and try to bike to their grandma’s house seven blocks away.

About a month ago, a recruitment company hooked Stanley up with a cognitive enhancement drug trial for the whole family, which he agreed to and coerced Martha into. The researchers promised it was harmless, but ever since they’ve been suffering horrific nightmares, so they’re leery of more mysterious needles. The parents respond to inducement and soothing reassurance best, Martha will tell the kids to hoof it if she gets freaked out or threatened. The kids can be intercepted, corralled (Kade is the most cunning at evasion) or will return if their parents call them back on their cellphones. If found at grandma’s, they’re hiding in the backyard because she’s away at bingo and locked her place up.

The vax side effects are as follows:

* **Stanley**: Sudden onset migraine, breathing trouble for 3d4 minutes.
* **Martha**: Temporary blindness, lasting 5d4 minutes.
* **Keira**: None.
* **Keiran**: Nosebleed, gushing.
* **Kade**: Anaphylactic shock, affecting the skin, respiratory, and cardiovascular systems. Can be treated with Epinephrine or First Aid/Medicine. (0/1D4 SAN from Helplessness, 0/1D8 if he dies)

## The Colverts

Bruno Colvert (32yoa) is suspicious, defensive, and drunk. Abigail Colvert (24yoa) is embarrassed by Bruno but has a lot of questions; she’ll accept any answers that are delivered with confidence. Abigail is a bit funny lookin’ with protruding eyes, has a damp handshake, and becomes absolutely terrified when the vaccine is actually produced, prompting Bruno to go get his handgun from the safe upstairs and start blasting if given the opportunity. Cody Colvert (2yoa) is asleep in his crib upstairs, and does not cry if awakened, only gurgles and stares wide-eyed.

Their vax side effects are:

* **Bruno**: Vomits, shits, sweats, then babbles that “the song has finally stopped”.
* **Abigail**: Acts as a Lethality 20% Poison. Her blood literally boils. (0/1D6 SAN from Unnatural)
* **Cody**: High-pitched wail, face goes beet red, then projectile vomits something olive green that smells like brine and fish blood. Fine after that other than some burst capillaries.

## The Godleys

Ophelia Godley (73yoa) is waiting at the gate of this semi-rural property repairing a motorcycle. She refers to the Agents as “Mary-Jane” and the vax as “Cookbook gunk”, but takes it, saying only, “don’t bother resuscitating me if it takes me out”. Warns that the rest of the family will not be so amenable, and hands the Agents a satchel containing three mid-century Canadian smoke grenades she claims contain “a special ingredient you’ll need for Hermes”.

At the house, they are confronted by a lanky 7 foot tall youth with long greasy hair and a patchy goatee wearing an ahegao shirt and stained track pants, this is Giles (4yoa). He refuses to let them in if the Agents don’t produce a warrant, and if pushed shouts for Hermes (4yoa). Hermes is invisible, a juvenile Spawn of Yog Sothoth, and he keens “fuck off pigs” inhumanly as he attacks. Upstairs in the attic, April Godley (45yoa) is non communicative, being split in twain and stretched around an active Gate leading to a deadly plane of golden fizz (1/1D8 SAN from Unnatural). If an Agent with any amount of Unnatural enters, what looks like a golden soap bubble floats out of the Gate and follows the Agent around. If it pops against the Agent’s skin, it acts as a **Contact Yog Sothoth** Ritual.

Their vax side effects are as follows:

* **Ophelia**: Momentary giddiness and surprised disappointment. She’s actively protected by 'Umr At-Tawil, so the vax has no effect on her.
* **April**: Gate closes and her body stitches back together, wakes up for the first time in four years, amnesia.
* **Giles**: Dissolves into a foul smelling liquid that quickly evaporates.
* **Hermes**: Takes 1D10 damage and gets angrier.

## Calling the Handler

Regardless of the reason they’re calling, the Handler asks only one question, “Did you get ‘em all?” If the answer is no, they say “Call me back when you got ‘em all. click”  If the answer is yes, they say, “Great, what happened?” It’s a one-sided debrief, ending with the Handler saying, “Good job. Go home. click”

## What Happens If The Vax is Not Administered

**The Meisels**: Over the next few weeks, Stanley and Martha will suffer night terrors and experience accelerated cognitive decline. Keira will seduce and murder her homeroom teacher. Keiran will walk into the ocean. Kade will run away from home, and turn up 20 years later as a cult leader in the South Pacific.

**The Colverts**: Nothing, though Bruno and Abigail are divorced within the year.

**The Godleys**: Ophelia hits up a Program contact to complain and get another group of Agents to do it. Having been alerted of danger, Giles and/or Hermes will attempt to escape with their Gated mother, but won’t get very far.

## Further Investigations

**The Vax**: Studying the substance with mundane human science reveals a dangerous cocktail of substances including high levels of mercury, formaldehyde, aluminum, silver, and lead, as well as depleted uranium, unidentifiable mRNA, cancerous human stem cells, synthetic molecules, teeny-tiny microchips, and soy. It is not good for anyone, and yes, it does cause autism. If the Agent has any amount of Unnatural, they will intuit that the cocktail acts like an injectable version of the Elder Sign.

The **Meisels** participated in a secret drug trial for March Tech a month earlier. Pulling strings or an impressive Bureaucracy check reveals the Meisels’ drug trial was based on a psychic enhancement drug, but the side effects were dangerous vectors. Around 2,000 people in five countries received the drug.

**Abigail Colvert** was an unaware Deep One hybrid, and an autopsy yields fishy secrets, though the corpse will be seized if the Agents report it to the Program.

Digging up info on **Ophelia Godfrey** will be difficult but she has left some breadcrumbs in the house. She was Agent SUZIE SUE under the Cowboys and Agent JOAN under the Outlaws until she was kicked out for knowing too much hypergeometry. She convinced her daughter to serve as a “vessel for the gate and key”. Her goals are unclear, her sanity questionable, but she'll scratch the Program's back if it will scratch hers. She has more trinkets she's willing to trade. As for the rest of the Godleys, April disappeared off social media five years ago after a lifetime of mommy issues. Giles and Hermes are technically April's sons, not that she's ever been conscious to meet them. Neither of them have birth certificates or show up in tax records.

## Stats

### The Vax

**Administration**: First Aid, Medicine, Melee Weapons, or DEXx5

**First Dose**: Clears out (and/or prevents) physical Unnatural vectors from affecting or infecting the person who takes the vax, for about 24 hours normally, up to 73 hours if you don’t drink or eat anything). Make a CONx5 check to avoid an unpleasant side effect, with a matched failure causing a serious medical emergency.

**Second Dose**: As per first dose with a -20% penalty to the CON save.

**Third Dose**: As per first dose with a -40% penalty to the CON save.

**Fourth Dose**: Acts as a Lethality 20% Poison.

**Note**: If administered to a human with more than 50% in Unnatural, who knows at least one Ritual, or has a psychic or other unnatural ability, the vax acts as a Lethality 10% Poison from the first dose.

### The Meisels

**Stanley**: Novice Generic NPC, all Stats 10 except CON 12, all skills at base except Struggle 50%

**Marsha**: Novice Generic NPC, all Stats 10 except CHA 12, all skills at base except HUMINT 50%

**Keira**: Youth Generic NPC, all Stats 7, all skills at base except Alertness 50%

**Keiran**: Youth Generic NPC, all Stats 7, all skills at base except Craft: Shitpost 60%

**Kade**: Child Generic NPC, all Stats 5 except DEX 13, all skills at base except Stealth 60%

### The Colverts

**Bruno**: Ordinary Generic NPC, all Stats 10 except STR 12 and CON 12, all skills at base except Firearms 50%. Light Pistol.

**Abigail**: As per Lesser Deep One, though no Rituals.

**Cody**: Baby Generic NPC, all Stats 1, all skills at 0% except Art: Wailing 70%

### The Godleys

**Ophelia**:  Expert Generic Special Operator NPC. Heavy Pistol, Combat Dagger. Rituals: Contact Yog Sothoth, Exaltation of the Flesh, Fascinate, Finding, Infallible Suggestion, Obscure Memory, Open Gate, Summon ‘Umr at-Tawil, Voorish Sign

**April**: Ordinary Generic NPC, if she wasn’t currently a Gate.

**Giles**: As per Ordinary Generic NPC, plus the Suckling attack of Spawn of Yog Sothoth if he takes his shirt off and reveals his tentacles.

**Hermes**: As per Spawn of Yog Sothoth, though it’s actually invisible unless revealed by Smoke of Ibn Ghazi.

### Smoke Grenades of Ibn Ghazi

**Skill**: Athletics. Produces a cloud of smoke that extends around 10m vertically and 20-50m forward (depending on the wind) for 60 seconds, it takes 2-3 minutes to dissipate. While the Smoke reveals invisible entities in range, it does not adhere to them unlike Dust of Ibn Ghazi.

## Credits

Provax was written by David Tormsen (with thanks to Frahnk, Top Hat, Br1t5sh, Rowan, and Primrose) for the 2022  Shotgun Scenario contest. Source: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1T1nzn4ZlflthbTrg2M-IN4DkoEyt9nvYq2pFs4SOSMc/edit.

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 © David Tormsen (with thanks to Frahnk, Top Hat, Br1t5sh, Rowan, and Primrose), excepting those elements that are components of the Delta Green intellectual property.

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

For preservation purposes, an exported PDF of the original submission can be found here.