The Audient Void

## 0. INTRODUCTION

Agents begin on the steps of the Met, beneath a sweaty gray sky. They should only go up a story, but they seem impossibly tall, like the stairs of a ziggurat. In their pockets: tickets to see NYARLATHOTEP in twenty minutes. On the tickets is handwritten:

The Agents have any weapons/items which would be reasonable for their characters and can be concealed on their person.

### **THE GREAT HALL**

A peg legged man in a red concierge uniform takes the Agents’ tickets and hands them a program with a knowing wink. He is mute and cannot answer questions. He gives them a ring of keys that opens any door in the museum.
No metal detector, no guards.
The program:

6:00 CATERED INTERMISSION

7:00 DEMONSTRATION

The banners advertise NYARLATHOTEP with a black silhouette of a man, featureless except a pair of eyes.
Among the twentyish society figures:

* Adam Loggerhead, union boss and amateur boxer. Personally invited by Nyarlathotep after attending one of his fights.
* Francine Lipman, daredevil and survivalist. Recently acquitted of killing a man in self defense.
* Helga Bluegrass, ordinary electrician, got the ticket in the mail. Afraid she looks ridiculous in her cocktail dress.
* Hyacinth Hibiki, art procurer for defunct supernatural crime syndicate. Survived because she made more friends than money.
* Julia Lace, musician. Constructs soundscapes based on dreams, achieving solace through loneliness. High functioning alcoholic.
* Madam Karnov, eminent figure in New York’s resurgent psychic scene. Knowledgeable about the occult, has never heard the name Nyarlathotep.
* Nico Ambrosio, heir to the Ambrosio crime family. Keeping his head down after police crackdowns and war with the propavshie took out most of the dynasty.
* Troy Szlatcha, builder of machines. Prone to emotional outbursts. The only man who can appreciate Nyarlathotep’s work.

### **THE MUSEUM**

The museum is roped off, except the Egyptian Art gallery between the Great Hall and auditorium. The Agents can go where they please using the keys.

If Agents want to explore the museum, use the Met’s interactive map.

### **GALLERY 136**

The room opposite the auditorium hosts a rotating Egyptian exhibit. The current one, OH TIME THY PYRAMIDS, displays treasures from the “hidden pyramid” in the valley of Hadoth. Grave goods, quartz and chrysolite cut in the shape of trapezohedrons. Mummies.
**Archaeology** discerns that the “scorpion mummy” listed as a ceremonial taxidermy is not actually part of the exhibit. Its case is unlocked. **Forensics** notices one of its canopic jars is resealed with modern glue.

## **1: THE KEYNOTE**

Grace Rainey Rogers Auditorium. An Egyptian man takes the stage. His jacket is oily black, his oxford shoes so pointed you wonder if he has toes. The lights dim. He speaks.

> “They call me Nyarlathotep. *Nyarlat is at Peace*, or *Nyarlat Accepts the Offering*.”
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Pause for effect.

> “*Nyarlat* is an older word. *The One Who Comes Back From the Dead.* Poetic and basically true. Because they’re coming back.”
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Projector activates.

> “Some will learn how to worship them, I’m sure.”
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> *Projector shows human beings, tattooed, scarred, prostrate before a juggernaut - Car of God the size of a skyscraper, idol so large the head disappears outside the frame.*
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> “Others… They’ll slice pieces off you, to stop you from harming yourself.”
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> *Continent size factory farm, the people inside it like chickens with their beaks cut off, or sun bears in crush cages.*
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> “Some might live forever as processing power in a counting house.”
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> *Like a tick half submerged in the Upper Bay, huge nerve channels linked to buildings across the water. It steams, energy from arbitrage between the deep water and the sun-warmed surface.*
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> “A few will get better jobs. They’ll keep you busy.”
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> *Humans dressed only in jewelry and piercings, engaged in frantic sex with humanoid sea creatures.*
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> “The rest will be changed.”
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> *Cactus of bone with glistening eyes, a glass desert where abhuman figures lope on three legs, then six.*
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Each image deals 0/1 SAN and grants the same in Unnatural.

### **THE DEATH CLOCK**

> Projector advances. Black silhouette with the eyes visible.
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> “You don’t believe me. I’ll make some testable predictions.”
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> Nyarlathotep counts off how members of the audience will die.
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> “Heart attack, stroke, heart attack. Falling.”
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> He points to one of the Agents.
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> “You’ll die of old age, surrounded by children and grandchildren, and people who are not related to you, but love you because you saved their lives.”
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> He deals out more mundane deaths. Pauses, points to a guy in the front row.
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> “You’re going to be shot by federal agents.”
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### **THE SHOOTING**

TROY SZLATCHA leaps from his seat. He produces a tiny snake shaped like a gun. If not stopped, he fires at Nyarlathotep. If taken alive, the snake bites and fatally poisons Troy.
Nyarlathotep smiles. “We’ll do aperitifs early, I think.”
Nyarlathotep will not end the event. The guests do as he says. He says the show must go on. If Agents call it in, the dispatcher is afraid. They promise help that never arrives.

## **2: THE CATERED INTERMISSION**

Nyarlathotep leads the stunned guests to the rooftop bar.
If Agents didn’t disable the SCORPION MUMMY, it’s missing from its display case. It attacks in the Rockefeller Wing. The guests panic. Nyarlathotep stays calm, confident Agents will protect him.

### **THE ROOF**

The autumn heat is oppressive but the clouds are gone. The sky is magnificent inky purple, the milky way visible. There are no lights in the city. No sound of cars or music or speech.
Peg Leg serves magnificent red wine and small plates of chop suey, Asian lamb and fried banana. Conversation is subdued. Except Helga and Adam, who talk excitedly about the fish sex slide.
Nyarlathotep introduces the Agents to the other guests. He recounts their adventures to anyone who will listen. Of the human beings currently alive, they are among his favorites.
Julia brings him a glass of wine. Agents watching notice she slips a gummi bear into it, which dissolves. It’s poison, it sends Nyarlathotep into convulsions if consumed. If caught, Julia claims her Father told her to do it, then acts like nothing happened. Nyarlathotep tosses the glass off the balcony and laughs.
While that’s happening, Madam Karnov slips down the stairs. She goes to the cafe in the American Wing and opens the exterior door. If caught, she can be coerced to reveal: a team will enter through the door to stop the demonstration and kill Nyarlathotep.

## **3: THE DEMONSTRATION**

> Nyarlathotep leads the column back to the auditorium. His jacket billows magnificently as he leaps onto the stage.
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> “I know what I showed you was hard to look at.”
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> He raises his hand.
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> “I wouldn’t show you that if I didn’t have a way out. I just wanted you to know what the alternative was, I promise, none of it will happen to you.”
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> Nyarlathotep drools a little, like his brain is resetting. The museum emits a fleshy hum. Electricity crackles. Sparks play around the heads of the spectators and become arcs of energy. Half a dozen worlds are superimposed on reality. 0/D6 SAN, gain same in Unnatural.
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### **THE KILL TEAM**

Three Delta Green agents enter the museum through the cafe door. If not stopped, this KILL TEAM enters the auditorium and opens fire. HYACINTH panic casts Touch of Dust. The shooters’ firearms dissolve, as do the Agents’. The attackers draw knives and advance on Nyarlathotep, who welcomes their blades.
The attackers stop when they kill Nyarlathotep or die.

## **4: THE NEW WORLD**

The presentation is over. The survivors stumble out of the museum. Central Park is overgrown with strange trees. Behind the tilted skyscrapers, the constellations have shifted. There are no charnel houses, no temples or mutants. No people. Only silence. Whoever ruined this place is gone. Desolate and peaceful.

### **THE CHOICE**

Nyarlathotep gives the Agents a choice. There are no monsters rising from the oceans or falling from the stars, all of that is passed. These people need their help. Someone with incredible strength of will, who knows the real score.
They can stay here and help humanity survive. Live long enough to see two generations grow up revering them as heroes.
Or they can go back to their old lives, and live long enough to see the end.
If the Agents choose to stay, they live to a ripe old age with the surviving humans in the ruins of the world. Everyone loves them.
If they choose to return, they wake up on the steps of the Met, back where they started. The entrance is blocked by a CLOSED FOR RENOVATION sign. A single tattered NYARLATHOTEP poster is visible on the floor of the Great Hall, through the window. They Agents go on being Delta Green Agents until the end.

## **WHAT HAPPENS IF...**

### **...NYARLATHOTEP DIES?**

The things he prophesies come to pass. Soon.
Unless he dies during or after the demonstration. Then nothing bad happens, but the Agents don’t get the choice to go back.

### **...THE AGENTS CAN’T FIGHT?**

They can enlist guests to help them. Ambrosio and Francine will fight alongside the players.

## **GAME STATISTICS**

### **FRANCINE LIPMAN**

STR 14, CON 13, DEX 13, INT 10, POW 12, CHA 10

HP 14, WP 12, SAN 56

**SKILLS:** Alertness 50%, Athletics 60%, Drive 50%, First Aid 50%, Melee Weapons 50%, Navigate 50%, Pilot (Helicopter 40%, Plane 40%), Survival 50%, Unarmed Combat 60%

**ATTACKS:** Unarmed Combat (60%, 1d4 damage)

Improvised Weapon (50%, 1d6+1 damage)

### **HYACINTH HIBIKI**

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

HP 11, WP 11, SAN 44, Anxiety Disorder

**SKILLS:** Anthropology 50%, Archeology 50%, Criminology 50%, Foreign Languages (Russian 50%, Chinese 40%), History 60%, Occult 60%, Persuade 60%, Unnatural 10%

**SPELLS:** Touch of Dust (turns firearms to dust, cast at narratively appropriate moment)

### **KILL TEAM**

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

HP 12, WP 12, SAN 48, Obsession: Finally End It

**SKILLS:** Alertness 60%, Athletics 60%, Demolitions 40%, Firearms 60%, Heavy Weapons 50%, Melee Weapons 50%, Military Science (Land) 60%, Navigate 50%, Stealth 50%, Survival 50%, Swim 50%, Unarmed Combat 60%

**ARMOR:** 3 points of kevlar

**ATTACKS:** Police AR15 Rifle (60%, 1d12 damage, 3 armor piercing)

Glock 22 Pistol (60%, 1d10 damage)

KA BAR Knife (60%, 1d6 damage, 3 armor piercing)

### **NICO AMBROSIO**

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

HP 12, WP 12, SAN 50

**SKILLS:** Alertness 50%, Athletics 50%, Criminology 60%, Drive 50%, Firearms 40%, Law 40%, Melee Weapons 50%, Occult 50%, Persuade 50%, Stealth 50%, Unarmed Combat 50%

**ATTACKS:** Street legal knife (50%, 1d4 damage, 3 armor piercing)

Improvised Weapon (50%, 1d6 damage)

### **NYARLATHOTEP**

STR 10, CON 10, DEX 10, INT 10, POW 10, CHA 20

HP 10, WP 10

**SKILLS:** Amuse Himself 99%, Prophecy the Future 99%

**ARMOR:** Nyarlathotep is immune to stunning and unconsciousness. He reacts to injury with amusement, you can barely see the bloodstains on his inky black clothing.

**RESUSCITATION:** If Nyarlathotep is poisoned or reduced to 0 HP, he falls over and begins to convulse. Agents can save him with **First Aid**, or if they found the AED when they did their security sweep.

### **SCORPION MUMMY**

STR 15, CON 5, DEX 10, INT 8, POW 5

HP 10, WP 5

**SKILLS:** Alertness 50%, Athletics 50%, Play Dead 99%

**ARMOR:** The Scorpion Mummy is full of dust and takes minimum damage from non lethality firearms attacks. All other damage sources affect it normally.

**ATTACKS:** One Unarmed Attack (60%, 1d4+1 damage or grapple) and one Stinger (30%, 1d8 damage, 3 armor piercing, stuns if it deals even a single point of damage)

**GRAPPLE AND STING:** If the mummy pins a target with its unarmed attack, it can sting that target on its next action without a roll to hit.

**APPORTIONED KA:** Destroying the dessicated but still beating heart inside the resealed canopic jar in Gallery 136 instantly kills the mummy.

### **TROY SZLATCHA**

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

HP 11, WP 12, SAN 40, Sleep Disorder

**SKILLS:** Computer Science 60%, Craft (Electrician 30%, Mechanic 30%, Microelectronics 40%), Occult 50%, Science (Mathematics) 40%, SIGINT 40%, Unnatural 10%

**ATTACKS:** Snake Gun (50%, 1d6 damage, stops target’s heart if it deals even a single point of damage, AED or First Aid to save them)

## Credits

The Audient Void was written by mellonbread for the 2021  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.

The Audient Void is not available here under CC-BY-SA.
Source: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1tPCLXH0X7SwbIPJDJFetvRwXHdk5\_nXeRFcozrCNj-A/edit

1. ↑ This bullet was missing from the submitted version, and exists in an updated version here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1ceqqOVlCxgkZcM2GHJzDcEv4EPjN0\_BHySKehdJ1RgQ/edit