Case Exfield Cakewalk

Built in 1704, Exfield Manor once belonged to the Barons Exfield. Then PISCES seized it in 1940 and made it a training camp. Shuttered in 1963 (after post-war use as an occult storage site), it remained in limbo until sold to the National Trust in 1998. It’s been a museum since 2003.

Two weeks ago the museum made the news when one of its Martinware jars was appraised at £350,000. PISCES subsequently noticed the museum’s website listed certain items among its collection that were left behind in 1963.

PCs are PISCES agents, given photographs of the items and told to deposit them at a lock-up in Manchester. Tomorrow’s a bank holiday, the museum closed. Tonight or tomorrow are perfect for a burglary. Don’t get arrested, don’t hurt anyone too badly.

## **ABOUT EXFIELD**

Exfield Manor, a two-story country house, sits on Saddleworth Moor, a desolate expanse of gritstone an hour east of Manchester. Hikers get lost out here, some never found (**Navigate**-a-plenty, **Stealth** -20%).

PISCES has few records on wartime Exfield. Civilians believe it was an SOE training facility or code-breaking camp. The museum barely mentions this, focusing instead on its 1890s past (the place is renovated to look as it did then, albeit with modern electrics and toilets).

Their website jokes that the ghost of Lt. Elijah Exfield, 3rd Baronet (1823-1863) haunts the museum (see *GHOSTS!*).

Access is solely via the front door, 9AM to 6PM – other exits and downstairs’ windows are alarmed. CCTV, set-up last week, is in some interior rooms (**Stealth** to move unseen, +40% if you *know* a room has a camera). A guard patrols at night.

Map on p.9. Major locations below:

**Grounds:** A winding, mile-long road to a gravel lot front of house. Grounds scattered with ugly trees.

**Porch/Hall:** Desk and visitor-book. Free entry but map/guide costs £3.50. CCTV.

**Morning Room:** Sickly Victorian chintz. Shocking number of clocks that chime every hour. Ornate double-barrel shotgun above mantelpiece (with two shells loaded!)

**Conservatory:** Greenhouse, lush flowers, humid.

**Coal:** Souvenir shop. Sells tea and ice-creams. Benches to sit.

**China:** Glass cases (alarmed) containing rare Martinware jar, statues, Toby Jugs, etc. CCTV.

**Larder/Dairy:** Roped off. Shelves of mock-up Victorian foods.

**Drawing Room:** Red-gold wallpaper. Duck-egg lintels. Big fireplace. Portraits of long-dead Exfields. Ropes cordon fancier items. CCTV.

**Dining Room:** Huge table, mannequins seated to eat. Stuffed animal heads loom.

**Kitchen:** Gloomy stone. Low-ceiling. Original iron range with pots. Silverware is plastic.

**Scullery:** Washtubs, clothesline with Victorian clothes. Roped-off (but open) trapdoor to basement. CCTV.

**Knives:** Once used for knife-sharpening. Now stores gardening equipment – and bottles of flammable cleaning fluids. Locked.

**Landing:** Life-size painting of Elijah Exfield, Crimean War hero, overlooks stairs. CCTV.

**Bedrooms:** Austere. Victorian four-posters. Portraits. Musty.

**Linen:** Locked. “Staff Only” sign on door. Filing cabinets, staff rosters, wi-fi router, CCTV monitors/recorder. Computer (for accounts etc.) has PDF scan of PISCES Records.

**Attic:** Stairs roped off. Once servants’ quarters, now storage. Old furniture. Rats.

**Basement:** Dingy staff break-room with lockers, tea-urn, chairs. Eight heavy-doored “cells” at one end, all filled with junk. Here PISCES held prisoners for interrogation. Scratches in cell walls include swastikas, sigils, fragments of dead languages.

## **STAFF**

Five volunteers: **Mildred and Martha**, two nosy old women; **Luke**, a bored art-student always on his phone; **Trevor**, overbearing ex-Army chopper-pilot and amateur historian; **Cliff**, sleazy handyman. Trevor runs hourly tours.

At 6PM security guard **Frank Sullivan** (54) arrives with his Alsatian, Dewey, to help lock up. He stays in a cabin on the grounds until 7AM when relieved. Frank patrols the museum exterior every hour.

If police are called or an alarm trips, two unarmed Greater Manchester Police constables arrive by car in 2D10 real-time minutes. If firearms are spotted, three armed officers arrive in 1D10+5 real-time minutes. A helicopter appears if suspects flee onto the moors.

## **ESOTERIC ITEMS**

PISCES knows of four items from the museum website but lack information on potential powers or threats.

**Tome:** *King in Yellow* (English). Silk-bound cover: *Hali: A Comedy*. Museum website quotes Cassilda’s song, describes book as “rare and interesting”. 50% chance it’s on bookshelf or being read by Luke, who leaves it in a random room (likely basement) before going home at 6PM.

**Painting:** 18” x 8” landscape of rainy Manchester skyline, c.1927. Indistinct *shape* crouches atop roofs. Sometimes *it’s not there*. Blood spilled within 40-feet flows into painting: 1 HP of blood, painting leaks rainwater; 3 HP sound of beating wings; 4 HP, Winged Servitor bursts forth for 1D4+4 rounds, then returns. Damaging painting frees creature. Found against wall in basement.

**PISCES Records:** “WWII Exfield records – open to scholars” reads museum website. The one wanted is among a dozen folders. Contains eyes-only information on post-D-Day PISCES work (+3 Unnatural, 1D4 SAN, +4 History). Also states manor’s basement hosted interrogation of Nazi occultists and traitors, all executed on-site! In Linen filing-cabinet. Trevor only lets academics read them but says he’s scanning them for the website.

**Statue:** 4” tall clay statuette of three-legged man-thing. Described as “African (Kenyan?) trinket, c.1900”. 1%+ **Unnatural** recognizes it as deity, Screamer in Darkness (1 SAN). Habitually apports if eyes taken off it or not physically held (e.g. jumps between glass cases or from backpack to pocket). Those carrying it suffer -20% to all rolls and auto-fail LUCK. Found under glass in China Room, on shelf in Drawing Room, or used as paperweight at front desk.

**Bonus Item:** Not on PISCES’ list. Heavy book: *Wahre Magie.* 19th-century German translation of Theophilus Wenn’s tome on magic, Satan, spirit-possession, sacrifices etc. Bookplate reads: “Eigentum der SS-Bibliothek, Thüringen”. (*SAN 1D4; Unnatural +4; Rituals: Call Forth Those from Outside (Ifrit); The Primal Lay; Winged Steed; Whispers of the Dead (Nyogtha*). On bookshelf in Morning Room or in Attic. See *ZOMBIES!* below.

## **CASING THE JOINT**

During open hours PCs can check for CCTV, get a feel for security, meet staff, etc. There are 2D6 tourists present.

**Alertness** or **Criminology** spots two visitors masquerading as father-and-daughter are actually scouting the place. They are professional burglars (Reg and Trudy) here to steal the jug (see *RIVALS!*). They may or may not realize PCs are rivals.

## **RIVALS!**

**Sidney Crowthorne**, 9th Baron Exfield. A bitter man. His great-grandfather lost Exham Manor, then blew the family’s savings. Money’s tight, debtors are incoming. Hearing of the jug’s worth he’s hired crooks to steal it (he considers it his inheritance).

**Reg Dibley** (62), ex-British army EOD technician-cum-safecracker. Abhors violence but defends colleagues with his fists. Carries rudimentary flashbangs to distract and evade.

**Trudy Hawkins** (27), experienced cat-burglar and parkourist. Has a mile-long rap-sheet. Carries a pistol to guarantee she won’t return to jail. Will not leave without the jug.

**Sunny Rana** (29) by day puts in alarms; by night bypasses them. Set up the Exfield system, knows how to shut it down. If threatened he does what the scariest person orders.

**Damien Shakespeare** (33), closet-Nazi, driver, kleptomaniac. Wields a sharpened screwdriver. Wanders museum, grabbing anything not nailed down. Takes a fancy to *Wahre Magie*.

All wear balaclavas, gloves and arrive at 10PM in their van to steal anything expensive. Crowthorne waits at a warehouse in Manchester. He keeps the vase, splits the rest. Unnatural materials later appear on the black-market, causing untold trouble.

## **GHOSTS!**

By night, poltergeist activity – eerie footsteps, rattling doors, cold spots – haunts the museum. Agents might even spot Elijah Exfield’s ghost! It’s harmless, unless someone tries to burn or demolish the house, or damages his painting. Then his ghost tries to possess a victim. Opposed tests against POW 20 are made for everyone near the museum.

Whoever fails first is possessed by the spirit of dashing Victorian officer, opium-sot and womanizer, Elijah Exfield (1/1D6). PCs can contest this every 10 real-time minutes (24-hours for NPCs). Cast out, Elijah tries to possess the next closest person. If everyone within 3m of the last host pass the POW contest, Elijah dissipates forever.

A possessed PC’s player runs Elijah – stats at end of scenario. His goal is to retain a fleshy body and run wild.

## **ZOMBIES!**

*Wahre Magie* was found on captured Karotechia sorcerer Rainer Bielefeld in 1944. He was later executed with five other prisoners.

Bielefeld booby-trapped the tome so it’d resurrect him if read. A successful **Unnatural** roll realizes this while skimming – 5 HP of blood nullifies it. Unfortunately the resurrection spell was flawed – if read, the six executed inmates rise from unmarked graves (3 outside, 3 in basement) as brain-hungry zombies.

## **ARRIVING LATE**

Agents arriving on the bank holiday find their rivals ransacked the place the night before, stealing jug, Tome, Painting, Urn and Bonus Item. Also six zombies are abroad – probably gnawing on Frank.

There’s enough evidence (**Forensics** or otherwise) to track Rana, flip him on his colleagues and reclaim the artifacts.

## **BONUSES/PENALTIES**

+1 SAN recovering all artifacts

+1 nobody (seriously) hurt

+1 give *Wahre Magie* to PISCES

-1D4 torching museum

-1D4 working on bank holiday

## **PREGEN STATISTICS**

### **HILLARY TATTSYRUP, Occult Expert**

**STR** 11, **CON** 11, **DEX** 11, **INT** 12, **POW** 16, **CHA** 11

**HP** 11, **WP** 16, **SAN** 64, **BP** 48

**Disorder:** Addiction (Cannibalism)

**Skills:** Alertness 40%, Anthropology 70%, Bureaucracy 40%, Computer Science 20%, Criminology 50%, Foreign Language (Player’s Pick) 50%, Foreign Language (Player’s Pick) 40%, History 60%, HUMINT 50%, Occult 80%, Persuade 40%, Search 50%, Stealth 30%, Unnatural 10%

**Attacks:** Unarmed 40%, 1D4

**Bonds:** Freemasons 11; Shady book dealers 11; That mortician who sells me the “special” meat 11; The Hellfire Club of Surrey 11

**Motivation:** PISCES looks out for me, so I look out for them; learn the sublime truths of the universe; keep the “meat” a secret

### **NELSON/NIKKI BOATENG, Close-protection Specialist**

**STR** 15, **CON** 14, **DEX** 13, **INT** 10, **POW** 10, **CHA** 10

**HP** 15, **WP** 10, **SAN** 50, **BP** 40

**Skills:** Alertness 60%, Athletics 60%, Art (Guitar) 40%, Criminology 30%, Demolitions 40%, Dodge 50%, Firearms 60%, Heavy Weapons 40%, Melee Weapons 50%, Military Science (Land) 60%, Navigate 70%, Persuade 40%, Search 40%, Stealth 70%, Survival 50%, Swim 50%, Unarmed Combat 70%

**Attacks:** Unarmed 70%, 1D4+1

**Bonds:** My band, *The Krusty Jugglers* 10; My mum in the hospice 10

**Motivations:** Take a bullet for the person next to me; leave no one behind; protect the innocent; visit mum on the weekends

### **STEVEN/STEPHANIE VAUGHN, HUMINT Specialist**

**STR** 09, **CON** 10, **DEX** 10, **INT** 12, **POW** 14, **CHA** 17

**HP** 10, **WP** 14, **SAN** 70, **BP** 56

**Skills:** Accounting 30%, Alertness 50%, Bureaucracy 60%, Criminology 70%, Disguise 50%, Drive 40%, Firearms 40%, Foreign Language (Player’s Pick) 50%, Foreign Language (Player’s Pick) 40%, HUMINT 80%, Law 20%, Persuade 60%, Psychotherapy 50%, Occult 40%, SIGINT 40%, Stealth 50%, Unarmed Combat 50%

**Attacks:** Unarmed 50%, 1D4

**Bonds:** Notches on bedpost 17; Long-suffering best-friend who secretly yearns for me 17

**Motivations:** I’m the life of the party; sticky-fingers mean more money for a rainy day; better to apologize than ask for permission; I just want people to *like* me

### **EMIL/EMILIA McNAMARA, B&E and Electronic Surveillance**

**STR** 10, **CON** 10, **DEX** 14, **INT** 15, **POW** 12, **CHA** 11

**HP** 10, **WP** 12, **SAN** 60, **BP** 48

**Skills:** Alertness 70%, Athletics 60%, Craft (Electrician) 40%, Craft (Locksmithing) 50%, Craft (Mechanics) 40%, Craft (Microelectronics) 50%, Computer Science 40%, Demolitions 40%, Drive 50%, First Aid 50%, Forensics 40%, Navigate 50%, Search 40%, Stealth 50%

**Attacks:** Unarmed 40%, 1D4

**Bonds:** Long-term non-co-habiting partner 11; Church 11; Your brother, who’s in jail 11

**Motivation:** Slow and steady wins the race; it’s all in God’s hands; get the job done; no sex (or anything else for that matter) before marriage

## **NPC STATISTICS**

### **REG DIBLEY, Ex-Army Safecracker**

*“Let’s talk about this, OK? … No one needs to get hurt.”*

**STR** 14, **CON** 12, **DEX** 09, **INT** 10, **POW** 10, **CHA** 10

**HP** 12, **WP** 10, **SAN** 45, **BP** 40

**Skills:** Alertness 50%, Athletics 40%, Craft (Locksmith) 50%, Criminology 40%, Demolitions 60%, First Aid 50%, Military Science (Land) 60%, Secret Heart of Gold 60%, Unarmed 80%

**Attacks:** Unarmed 60%, 1D4+1

Flashbangs (x4) 40%, -40% to rolls (Junk, see *HG* p.93)

### **TRUDY HAWKINS, Stickup-Artist**

*“I’m giving you a choice: give me the jug or I shoot you.”*

**STR** 10, **CON** 10, **DEX** 10, **INT** 11, **POW** 14, **CHA** 14

**HP** 10, **WP** 14, **SAN** 70, **BP** 56

**Skills:** Alertness 60%, Athletics (Parkour) 60%, Craft (Lockpick) 50%, Firearms 50%, History 40%, Persuade 60%, Play Innocent 50%, Stealth 60%

**Attacks:** Unarmed 40%, 1D4

Beretta 9000D40, 1D10 (only eight-rounds in gun)

### **SUNIL “SUNNY” RANA, Security Expert**

*“Don’t hit me, I’ll do anything!”*

**STR** 09, **CON** 09, **DEX** 11, **INT** 12, **POW** 10, **CHA** 10

**HP** 09, **WP** 10, **SAN** 50, **BP** 40

**Skills:** Athletics (Run Like the Dickens) 50%, Computer Science 60%, Craft (Electronics) 60%, Craft (Microelectronics) 50%, Occult 30%, SIGINT 40%, Stealth 40%

**Attacks:** Unarmed 30%, 1D4

Pepper spray keychain 60%, -20% penalty

### **DAMIEN SHAKESPEARE, White Nationalist Skivvy**

*“Top banana, our lad! An’ I wuz worried this place was gonna be borin’, like.”*

**STR** 12, **CON** 14, **DEX** 13, **INT** 09, **POW** 09, **CHA** 06

**HP** 13, **WP** 09, **SAN** 45, **BP** 36

**Skills:** Alertness 40%, Athletics 40%, Criminology 40%, Drive 60%, Firearms 40%, Melee Weapons 60%, Other Language (German) 40%, Unarmed Combat 40%

**Attacks:** Unarmed 40%, 1D4

Sharpened screwdriver 60%, 1D6, AP 3

### **FRANK SULLIVAN, Security Guard**

*“Oi, you lot, geddoutofit!”*

**STR** 10, **CON** 10, **DEX** 10, **INT** 10, **POW** 12, **CHA** 09

**HP** 10, **WP** 12, **SAN** 55, **BP** 43

**Skills:** Alertness 40%, Drive 50%, HUMINT 50%, Irascible Grumpiness 40%, Melee Weapon 40%, Persuade 50%, Unarmed Combat 40%, Yell at People 60%

**Attacks:** Unarmed 40%, 1D4

Illegal blackjack in pocket 40%, 1D6 (last resort)

### **DEWEY, Frank’s Alsatian**

*“Woof, bark.”*

**STR** 12, **CON** 13, **DEX** 14, **POW** 10

**HP** 13, **WP** 10

**Armor:** 1 point

**Skills:** Alertness 70%, Be Distracted by Treats 30%, Track by Smell 80%

**Attacks:** Bite 30%, 1D6

Knock down 50%, opposed STR roll to knock opponent prone

### **SIDNEY CROWTHORN, 9th Baron Exfield**

*“Look, we can split everything. 60-40. How’s that sound?”*

**STR** 10, **CON** 11, **DEX** 13, **INT** 12, **POW** 12, **CHA** 13

**HP** 11, **WP** 12, **SAN** 60, **BP** 48

**Skills:** Accounting 20%, Archeology 40%, Criminology 30%, “Don’t You Know Who I Am?!” 60%, HUMINT 60%, Law 30%, Persuade 60%

**Attacks:** Unarmed 40%, 1D4

### **TYPICAL POLICE OFFICER x2**

*“Sierra Charlie, in pursuit of armed IC1 male, requesting Spartan-2 Firearms Unit…”*

**STR** 11, **CON** 11, **DEX** 10, **INT** 10, **POW** 10, **CHA** 10

**HP** 11, **WP** 10, **SAN** 50, **BP** 40

**Armor:** 4 points of stab vest

**Skills:** Alertness 50%, Drive 50%, HUMINT 50%, Law 40%, Melee Weapon 50%, Persuade 50%, Unarmed Combat 50%

**Attacks:** Unarmed 50%, 1D4

Extendable baton 50%, 1D6

### **TYPICAL FIREARMS OFFICER x3**

*“Spartan-2 to Sierra Charlie – Tango down.”*

**STR** 12, **CON** 12, **DEX** 10, **INT** 10, **POW** 10, **CHA** 10

**HP** 12, **WP** 10, **SAN** 50, **BP** 40

**Armor:** 4 points of stab vest

**Skills:** Alertness 50%, Drive 60%, Firearms 60%, HUMINT 50%, Itchy Fingered Bravado 50%, Law 40%, Persuade 50%, Unarmed Combat 50%

**Attacks:** Unarmed 50%, 1D4

X2 Taser pistol 60%, -20% penalty

Glock 17 pistol 60%, 1D10 (all officers)

H&K G36 60%, 1D10 (two officers, semi-auto only)

### **ELIJAH EXFIELD, Dashing Victorian Ghost**

*“I live! Again! Tally-ho!”*

**STR** N/A\*, **CON** N/A\*, **DEX** N/A\*, **INT** 10, **POW** 18, **CHA** 16

**HP** N/A\*, **WP** 10, **SAN** 67, **BP** 54

\* Stats as possessed individual

**Skills:** All at base, except – Athletics (as host), Roguish Canoodling 70%, Drive 00%, Melee Weapons 70%, Military Science (Victorian) 60%, Persuade 40%, Ride 70%, Unarmed 50%

**Disorder:** Addiction (Carousing, philandering and staying in his new body as long as possible)

### **UNDEAD NAZI ZOMBIE (x6)**

*“Rrrr… Grrr… Gehirne…”*

**STR** 15, **CON** 15, **DEX** 5, **INT** N/A, **POW** 1

**HP** 10, **WP** 1

**Armor:** Half-damage from all non-magical attacks, including headshots

**Skills:** Alertness 40%, Unarmed Combat 30%

**Attacks:** Bite 30%, damage 1D6 AP 3

### **THING IN THE PAINTING**

**STR** 25, **CON** 25, **DEX** 12, **INT** 8, **POW** 8

**HP** 25, **WP** 8

**Armor:** 3-points

**Skills:** Alertness 30%, Flight 60%

**Attacks:** Claws 40%, damage 2D6

Bite 40%, lethality 40%

**SAN Loss:** 1/1D6

## Credits

Case Exfield Cakewalk was written by Agent Obtuse for the 2020  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 © Agent Obtuse, excepting those elements that are components of the Delta Green intellectual property.

Case Exfield Cakewalk is not available here under CC-BY-SA.