Baby On Board

## BRIEFING

The Agents receive the following from their Case Officer:

“I’m putting you on this because I trust you to do this quietly

Five months ago, Working Group BONE CHAIN liquidated a sorcerer operating in the Makoshika Badlands, near Glendive, MT.  There were no casualties and the operation was judged a success.  Now I’m worried.  Nobody knew it at the time, but Agent GAGNON was pregnant during the op.

Investigate agent GAGNON.  Decide if she or her unborn child are threat vectors and respond accordingly.  Call when you’re finished one way or another, or if the operation is unsalvageable.”

[Included are dossiers on GAGNON, VODNIK and SHEMP, as well as their contact information and DG passphrases]

## THE ATF AGENTS

The dossier shows GAGNON’s real identity as ATF Special Agent Esme Parkreiner, partner of Special Agent Zhi Pan.  They investigate illegal firearms trafficking in the Rocky Mountain West.  Esme is on leave, using paid vacation and sick time before she starts eating through her FMLA leave.  She’s inactive as a DG agent.

***ATF SPECIAL AGENT ESME PARKREINER - DG Agent GAGNON and Expecting Mother***

**STR** 11, **CON** 14, **DEX** 13,

**INT** 9, **POW** 15, **CHA** 7

**HP** 13, **WP** 15, **SAN** 59,

Sleep Disorder, Adapted to Violence

**Skills**: Accounting 60%, Alertness 40%, Athletics 50%, Bureaucracy 40%, Craft: Gunsmith 40%, Criminology 70%, Drive 50%, Firearms 70%, Forensics 30%, Heavy Weapons 50%, HUMINT 60%, Law 50%, Melee Weapons 50%, Occult 20%, Persuade 50%, Search 50%, Survival 30%, Unarmed Combat 60%

**Bonds**: Special Agent Zhi Pan (Partner) 7

Liebowitz Fitzgerald Parkreiner (Brother) 6

Special Agent Garshasp Ghorbani (Mentor) 5

As of yet unnamed baby 5

Agent VODNIK 4

Agent SHEMP 4

Esme is a thug with a badge, a gun, and minimal scruples.  Combined with her ability to procure NFA weapons without attracting undue attention, she was a natural recruit for Delta Green.

The last thing Esme wants is to be pregnant, but her lapsed Catholic upbringing precludes aborting the baby.  She’s jealous of her brother’s easy life and loving family.  Unhappily, she’s given up smoking, drinking, and shooting anything louder than a suppressed 5.56 for the duration of the pregnancy.  She’s suffered night terrors for the last few months.  Psychotherapy can prompt her to remember the recurring dream: wading through a murky pool, unseen objects moving beneath the surface, until a presence rushes toward her and she wakes up.

Physically, Esme is heavyset, rapidly approaching middle age, and visibly 5 months pregnant.  When not making entry or shouting for compliance, she speaks softly and with little affect.  Agents with good HUMINT or Psychotherapy will see she’s adapted to violence.  She’s Caucasian: Irish and German.

An EEG of the baby reveals slow brainwave activity.  More than expected at 5 months, but not unheard of.

***ATF SPECIAL AGENT ZHI PAN - Esme’s Partner and the Father of Her Child***

**STR** 15, **CON** 13, **DEX** 12,

**INT** 10, **POW** 11, **CHA** 11

**HP** 14, **WP** 11, **SAN** 53

**Skills**: Alertness 50%, Athletics 70%, Bureaucracy 40%, Craft: Gunsmith 20%, Criminology 50%,  Demolitions 40%, Drive 70%, Firearms 50%, Foreign Language: Cantonese 50%, Forensics 30%, Heavy Weapons 50%, HUMINT 60%, Law 30%, Persuade 70%, Search 50%, Unarmed Combat 80%

**Bonds**: Pan Qi and Jiang (Parents) 11

Pan Meng (Grandmother) 11

Special Agent Esme Parkreiner (Partner) 11

As of yet unnamed baby 7

Zhi projects naivete and enthusiasm belying his experience and training.  He’s equal parts apprehensive and excited about being a father.  For career reasons he cannot publicly acknowledge the child as his where the Bureau could see it.  He’s technically on duty, but has taken on a reduced caseload.  He’s ignorant of DG and the supernatural.

Physically, Zhi’s the picture of fitness and health, aside from slowly advancing baldness.  He comes across as cheerful and pleasant, eager to help but ready to harm if need be.  He is Asian, Cantonese specifically.

## THE APPROACH

Esme lives alone (though Zhi often stays over) in a two bedroom house in Holn, a rural suburb of Whitefish, MT.  The approach to the house is secured by a gate with a license plate camera, the structure itself is equipped with moderately sophisticated burglar alarms.  Esme has numerous firearms stashed around the house for easy access, and is not looking forward to babyproofing it.  In the basement is a gun vault filled with every weapon imaginable.  Out back is a shooting range set up against a hillside.

Both partners carry at least one firearm at all times, or sleep with one in arm’s reach.  Most of their guns have laser or optical sights for +20% to hit.  ATF records indicate Esme has many automatic weapons registered to her: as duty weapons, dealer samples, etc.  All legal.  Both partners normally wear kevlar under their overclothes, but Esme’s does not currently fit.

DG hasn’t told Esme they’re sending anyone to observe her.  Agents approaching with proper identification and codephrases will be received with extreme suspicion.  Agents caught snooping around the yard at night will be received with bullets.  The more she is investigated, the more paranoid Esme gets.

## WORKING GROUP BONE CHAIN

The other BONE CHAIN agents are a good source of information on the operation, if they can be persuaded to talk.  There’s a risk they will tell Esme about visitors from DG, especially if the players ask about her.

Agent VODNIK is a paleontologist at Carroll College.  He has assisted in the past with efforts to identify and contain sensitive digs in the Western United States.  He’s intelligent but not overly curious, a welcome combination in a DG agent.

***DR OSCAR GALLETTI - Delta Green Agent VODNIK***

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

**INT** 15, **POW** 11, **CHA** 15

**HP** 11, **WP** 11, **SAN** 48

**Skills**: Athletics 50%, Archaeology 20%, Bureaucracy 40%, Computer Science 40%, Craft: Electronics 40%, Forensics 60%, Heavy Machinery 50%, Persuade 80%, Pharmacy 40%, Science (Biology) 50%, Science (Chemistry) 50%, Science (Geology) 60%, Survival 30%

**Attacks**: Smith and Wesson Model 586 w/ laser sight (40%, D12)

**Bonds**: Assorted friends and family, plus

Agent GAGNON 8

Agent SHEMP 8

Agent SHEMP is a Vietnam Veteran turned State Park Ranger.  He knows the important thing is getting the job done and keeping your mouth shut.  Officially a Friendly, he has been assigned a codename and is an agent in all but name.

***RANGER THEODORE O’BERLIN - Delta Green Agent SHEMP***

**STR** 13, **CON** 12, **DEX** 10,

**INT** 11, **POW** 12, **CHA** 13

**HP** 13, **WP** 12, **SAN** 45,

Addiction: Alcohol

**Skills**: Alertness 50%, Athletics 50%, Bureaucracy 30%, Craft: Mechanic 40%, Drive 40%, Firearms 40%, First Aid 60%, Melee Weapons 50%, Military Science (Land) 40%, Navigate 40%, Persuade 30%, Pilot: Helicopter 60%, Search 60%, SIGINT 40%, Survival 50%, Unarmed Combat 50%, Swim 40%

**Attacks**: Ruger Frontier w/ ACOG (60%, D12+2, 5 AP)

1911 (40%, D10)

Survival Knife (50%, D6+1, 3 AP)

**Bonds**: Assorted friends and family, plus

Agent GAGNON 6

Agent VODNIK 6

## THE OPERATION

Hikers, paleontologists and frisbee golfers were going missing in Makoshika State Park.  Two bodies were found horribly mangled, with injuries Delta Green recognized as ritual slayings.   The papers dubbed the killer the “Makoshika Mangler”.  Agents with 20+ Unnatural who examine crime scene photos will recognize the markings as a Three Lobed Burning Eye.

The killer was Dr. Reginald Schultz, an anthropologist from the University of North Dakota who was attempting a ritual of some kind in the park.  He was smart, but lacked the willpower to perform the ritual himself.  He turned to procuring the most easily available sacrificial victims in the surrounding area.  Working group BONE CHAIN tracked him to his cave lair and shot him full of holes in the middle of a ritual, killing him.

***THE MAKOSHIKA MANGLER - The Late Dr. Reginald “Reggie” Schultz***

**STR** 10, **CON** 10, **DEX** 10,

**INT** 16, **POW** 8, **CHA** 14

**HP** 0/10, **WP** 8, **SAN** 24,

Megalomania

**Skills**: Anthropology 50%, Bureaucracy 40%, Firearms 40%, Foreign Language (German) 40%, Foreign Language (Lakota) 50%, History 60%, Melee Weapons 50%, Occult 60%, Persuade 40%, Science: Geology 40%, Search 60%, SIGINT 40%, Stealth 30%, Survival 50%, Unnatural 12%

**Rituals**: Exchange Personalities, Three Lobed Burning Eye (Become Hunting Horror)

## THE SORCERER’S CAVE

The cave is off the trail, in an area marked off limits for restoration.  The entrance has been filled and disguised with rocks and dirt, but Agents with shovels could clear it with an hour of work.  Inside are scattered leftovers of recent human habitation: canned goods, water, insecticide, etc.  A search finds bloodstains and trace human remains which BONE CHAIN missed.

On the wall are pictograms.  In one, a man with a tangle of ochre lines in his head raises his arm to a woman with a bundle of red lines in her distended belly.  Lines of force emanate from the man’s hand.  In the next image, the ochre and red scribbles have switched places, going from the man to the womb and vice versa.  Accompanying the pictures are repeating symbols.  SIGINT or Archaeology can translate these characters with enough time: they are instructions for the ritual Exchange Personalities.  80 in either skill, or a critical success, reveals that the glyphs are a “constructed language”, not something that would evolve naturally through use.

Forensic or Archaeological dating of the glyphs and paintings determines that they are not of paleolithic origin, but were inscribed recently.

## THE GREEN BOX

A self storage facility in Glendive.  BONE CHAIN left shovels, climbing gear, three Remington 870s (purchased at a local sporting goods store) and two boxes of double ought buck.

Reggie’s tools, weapons and notes are stored here: archaeology and geology tools (brushes, picks, acids etc), surgical tools (well rinsed) and a Marlin Guide Gun in .45-70.  The notes are a sheaf of scribbled pages.  If studied, they hold the ritual Exchange Personalities, translated from the glyphs in the cave.  The notes indicate that his killings were a means of storing power to perform the ritual, which Reggie was too weak to enact himself.  Several pages feature drawings: human embryos in various stages of development, each with annotations on the status of the brain.

## THE MAKOSHIKA MANGLER’S NOTES

*In English.  Study Time 6 hours.  Anthropology +1%, Archaeology +1%, Occult +1%. SAN Loss 1*

**Rituals**: Exchange Personalities

## THE SECRET

The “evidence” of Reginald’s body hopping plans was deliberately planted, to trick DG into terminating the pregnancy.  He drew the pictures in the cave and wrote the notes to convince the Agents that he had transferred his mind to the baby.

Reginald is dead, but made arrangements for his own resurrection: the final step is the sacrifice of an unborn child.  The ritual he was performing when he was killed successfully attuned him to Esme’s baby.  If the fetus dies before it’s born, Reggie rises from his unmarked grave in the wilderness in a new, monstrous form.  Use your favorite powerful (but not invincible) monster, or the example below.  Reggie will seek out and kill the members of working group BONE CHAIN one by one - as well as the player characters.  Roll to see who he pursues first.  If he chooses a player character, he may attack during their home scene, after the operation is “complete”.

***REGGIE RESURRECTED***

**STR** 30, **CON** 50, **DEX** 13,

**INT** 16, **POW** 19, **CHA** 14

**HP** 40, **WP** 19, **SAN** 0

**Armor**: See LEATHERY MEMBRANE

**Skills**: As human, plus Disguise 60%, Flight 80% and Stealth 50% (70% when camouflaged and not moving)

**Attacks**: Swat (70%, 3D6)

Swoop (50%, Radius 5M see SWOOP)

Flap (see FLAP)

**AETHERIC FLIGHT:** In his new form, Reggie is an enormous “kite” of membranous wing, large enough to wrap up a bus.  He can maneuver freely in the air with enough speed to chase a car.

**CHROMATOPHORES**: Reggie can change the color of his skin to match any background.  He can make himself completely black, absorbing zero light to hide in dark areas.

**ORIGAMI DISGUISE**: Reggie can fold himself up into a human shape, walking and talking and acting like an ordinary person.  In this state he can do anything a human can do.  Taking damage breaks the illusion - his folded disguise is hollow on the inside.

**LEATHERY MEMBRANE**: Attacks from firearms pass through Reggie’s membrane without harming him.  Blunt weapons do no damage, though being rammed by a car could tangle him up in the wheel arches or pin him in place.  Explosives and edged weapons create rips and tears that only disrupt him, dealing no damage.  Fire, acid, or other attacks which eat away at his membrane deal full damage.

**SWAT**: As his action, Reggie can bludgeon a single target with his body.

**SWOOP**: As his action, Reggie can spread out and bear down on a group of targets, attempting to cover them all with his body.  Anyone hit by this attack is pinned.  On their turn, entangled targets must struggle to escape, or take 3D6 damage as they are squeezed.  Escape can be accomplished by beating Reggie in an opposed STR test (an unlikely prospect) or by tearing out with an edged weapon.

**FLAP**: As his action, Reggie can undulate his body, beating the air like a pair wings and creating sudden gusts of wind.  Everyone within 20M must pass a STR test or be knocked prone.

**FISSION**: Reggie can split his body in two.  The two halves of his body have STR, CON and HP equal to half of his full form.  They fly at half speed, their attacks deal half damage, and the radius of SWOOP and FLAP are halved.  Reggie controls both bodies no matter how far apart they are, and both can be disguised as human.

**SAN LOSS**: 1/1D10.

## CUSTOMIZATION

Maybe…

…If Esme’s increasing paranoia as Agents investigate her isn’t enough pressure for you, advance the clock and set the scenario a week before the baby’s due.  Adjust the geographic locations until the travel time between them is just enough to be dangerous.

…It’s a double fakeout.  Reggie really did swap his mind to the baby.  He plans to spend his childhood wearing down his parents’ mental defenses until he can dominate them completely with sorcery.  This outcome will occur well outside the scope of the game.

## Credits

Baby On Board was written by mellonbread 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 © mellonbread, excepting those elements that are components of the Delta Green intellectual property.

Baby On Board is not available here under CC-BY-SA.