U.X.O.

## Keeper's Summary

Fifteen days ago, two California marijuana growers uncovered the remains of what they believed to be a U.F.O. buried on the slop of Bare Mountain. When arrested by the Siskiyou County Sheriff's Department, the duo attempted to parlay their discovery into a plea deal. While this was unsuccessful, their discovery was passed on to Saucerwatch which after some research has dispatched a group to examine the alleged crash site. Delta Green noticed their interest and sends the Agents to investigate.

What was really discovered was a fuusen bakudan, better known as a "balloon bomb" or "fire balloon" - see FAQs.org - The Fire Balloons- not a Mythos threat, but dangerous nonetheless. It is presumed that this investigation will take place in good weather.

## Involving the Agents

The Agents will be covertly to meet with Agent Judith, a cell-less agent who has, after some bad behavior, been tasked with monitoring Saucerwatch. A meeting is arranged in an unfinished box store near wherever the Agents are based. Judith, a middle-aged woman with a permanent fixed scowl and a slight limp, provides a document packet containing the following:

* A print-out of a post to the Semper Vigilus website by a poster named ShastaLass62 saying that she had heard two locals had been telling everyone they'd found spaceship wreckage and that they'd been arrested by the police. The story was removed from the site within two hours of posting. Judith identifies ShastaLass62 as Laurel MacFee, a secretary with the Siskiyou Country Sheriff's Department.
* A crime blotter report detailing the arrest (two weeks previous near Happy Camp, CA) of Paul Giordano and Doug Anslinger, by the Siskiyou County Police for drug paraphernalia possession, possession with intent to distribute, and tresspassing.
* Transcripts of telephone calls, dated two days earlier, between Hal Jamison and Anton Kobessi confirming an impending investigation of a site on Bare Mountain, CA. Kobessi is asked if he thinks "the Sheriff's transcript" is enough to go on and he says yes but he is leery of the "sources", who he describes as "druggies". Kobessi indicates that aerial evidence is "promising".
* A chat log (from the same date) between Kobessi and his wife Dina, indicating his excitement over being assigned to investigate a possible "Vallee 1A incident!!!" (Judith will explain this means a U.F.O. observed on the ground.) He indicates that motel reservations have been made in Happy Camp, CA by Kobessi.

Judith will provide cover identification (National Fish and Wildlife) and transport to Rogue Valley airport. The Agents are instructed to monitor the Saucerwatch investigation and determine what has been discovered at the site in question. If any signs of alien intelligence are spotted, they should contact her unless they are actively hostile, then A-Cell should be contacted. She concludes with a brief lecture about nearby (60 miles southeast) Mt. Shasta. She informs the Agents that DG has reason to believe (correctly) that the mountain is the focus of activity of a "hostile alien intelligence" and that two Delta Green agents disappeared in the area during an investigation. Agents are to proceed with the utmost caution. If asked, Judith will relate that these disappearances occurred in 1967 and 1968, though recent investigations suggest the threat remains. She refuses to give more detail. If asked, there are no available Green Boxes or local Friendlies.

## Research

The Agents have little time for research before their flight.

Kobessi is an 8th Grade Earth Science teacher from Eureka, CA. His background is clean. Giordano and Anslinger can be located; Giordano has been transferred to the Shasta County Jail for an outstanding assault warrant while Anslinger remains in the county jail in Yreka. Neither can be interviewed before the Saucerwatch group's arrival. Keepers can expand on the discussion of Mt. Shasta's occult history (see Wikipedia - Mt. Shasta for a start) as additional red herrings.

## The Saucerwatch Team

Saucerwatch has assigned this investigation to Anton Kobessi (41). He will be accompanied by his wife Dina (37) and two fellow UFO enthusiasts Bert Tuttman (62) a retired engineer and Connie Pietz (39), a friend of Dina's and avid hiker. Like Kobessi, none have a criminal record or unusual background aside from an interest in UFOs.

None are expecting to be followed and are not on the look-out for a tail. They will refrain from discussing their intentions in the area publicly and will tell anyone asking they are here to hike. They will arrive in Happy Camp the night before their trip up the mountain and will split three rooms at the Skellhaven Motel. The next day they will travel via Tuttman's Wrangler to the nearest approach to the site. They will then hike to the site, taking about an hour to reach it due to terrain and the ambiguity of their directions. They will carry with them necessary equipment including digital cameras, video cameras, GPS gear, and several cell phones. None have any weapons aside from pocket knives; a flare gun and some heavy tools are kept in the Jeep. If Judith's tickets are used, the investigators will beat them to Happy Camp by about six hours.

## To the Site

The site is most easily reached off of NF18N24, a Forest Service fire road. About a mile of cross-country hiking along the slope of Bare Mountain is then needed from the road to the location identified by Giordano and Anslinger. Unless the investigators have obtained their testimony from Saucerwatch, they will need to trail Kobessi and his group. The methods used depend on the investigators. In town the group will only notice a tail if the Agents botch a relevant roll; likewise for electronic tampering. On the mountain, a missed roll allows Kobessi's group a Spot Hidden roll (at 35%) to notice. Three rolls are needed to reach the site. Remote observation is only possible if the investigators locate the clearing in advance.

The Saucerwatch team will spend about ten minutes exploring the clearing before discovering the "U.F.O". Tuttman will almost immediately recognize the device for what it is. He panics, shouting to the others that they must leave immediately and runs back down their trail. He will be followed soon after by the rest. Unless specifically eavesdropped, only a Listen roll will catch the words ‘Japanese bomb’; otherwise his shouts simply register as panicked obscenities. The group will stop about a half mile away, collect themselves, and then look for good cell phone reception to contact the Siskiyou County Sheriff's Department. They will be met at the Jeep several hours later by a deputy who takes down their information and escorts them from the area. SCSD "secures" the site, waiting for the arrival of a CHP SWAT team, beginning an ever enlarging State and Federal response culminating with the device being remotely destroyed the next day.

## The Site

In the clearing, the Agents will notice with an Idea roll signs that someone was attempting to clear the site. Anyone with a law enforcement background will recognize that the responsible party was probably attempting to grow marijuana. The remains of the fsen bakudan are mostly buried in a detritus of more than half a century of forestation. It looks to be a silver ring, about 10 feet in diameter, partially draped by a cracked cloth of some sort with a rig of connected boxes and cylinders in the center. It has been partially cleared. No sober person would mistake it for a U.F.O.; a Spot Hidden roll will spot bits of writing (Know roll to identify it as Japanese) on the frame while anyone rolling under their EDUx1 will recognize it as a balloon bomb. A Demolitions skill will immediately notice the bomb…

While the incendiaries were lost in 1944, the 15 kg anti-personnel device remains. The Keeper must decide if the bomb is a danger to Agents. If it explodes, 10d6 (per 3 yards) is reasonable damage. Similarly it is up to the Keeper to adjudicate attempts to defuse the device. If it is still ‘live’, it will most likely be very unstable and pose a great risk to potential heroes. Anyone aware of the device's potential should be frightened; a POW versus INT test might be of use to determine potential panic, those fighting their instincts to remain might suffer a 0/1 points of Sanity loss.

## Cleanup

The resolution greatly depends on the investigators. If they are discovered by Saucerwatch they will only serve to increase that organization's security concerns and invigorate the group (especially paranoiac Donald Lang who will quickly uncover Judith's surveillance of the group). If they charge- guns drawn- into the clearing when Tuttman panics, this will further complicate events, particularly if they are still on hand once law enforcement arrives. Certainly the discovery of the fsen bakudan will make news; hopefully the Agents will keep themselves out of it.

## Sanity Rewards/Penalties

+1d2 points of Sanity for alerting local authorities to the bomb

+1d4 to Agent who defuses the bomb

-1d4/1d8 for each innocent/Agent killed due to investigator inaction/action.

## Credits

U.X.O. was written by Bret Kramer for the 2007 shotgun scenario contest