Operation Party Time

## Background

In 1952, rocket engineer and occultist Jack Parsons died from wounds received during an explosion in his laboratory. He’d taken a rush order of explosives for a film shooting and something went wrong in the manufacturing process. That’s the official story. Parson’s wife, Marjorie Cameron, herself an artist, poet, and occultist, knew better, though. She strongly suspected another occultist of murdering Jack. This man had a falling-out with Parsons and became a bitter enemy. Cameron vowed vengeance and created a Mask of Adrasteia to destroy the killer. After the Mask had accomplished Cameron’s task, it was taken as evidence and later sold by a crooked cop. The Mask changed hands several times, eventually finding its way to an auction house.

In Greek mythology Adrasteia, also known as Adrestia, is “She who cannot be escaped”, goddess of just retribution. While most people prayed to her to see that justice was done, a small cult took the concept of retribution one step further. When wronged, they took vengeance on their enemies in the cruelest way possible. One of their instruments of retribution was the Mask of Adrasteia, an enchanted sculpture made of bones, ash, and sand. The white Mask looked like a woman’s face, her expression stern and severe. On its back, the name Adrasteia was inscribed.

When the Mask was presented to an audience of five or more and its name was spoken three times, Adrasteia’s wrath seized everyone close by. People and even animals flew into murderous rage. They devoured their friends and children. The last person standing became Adrasteia’s host, fusing with the Mask. The host would go home and kill its family. After that, it wandered the streets for three days and attacked everyone it saw. Those who approached the host, fell into a rage too. The afflicted became verbally aggressive, then they’d also start to attack others. After three days, Adrasteia left the host. It died, and the Mask separated from the body. The cult eventually became extinct, but the knowledge of how to make a Mask of Adrasteia survived.

Three weeks ago, Clarissa Carson, noted Seattle lawyer and collector of occult art, bought Cameron’s Mask of Adrasteia in an online auction. Carson assumed that she had acquired an artwork by Cameron. She didn’t know about the Mask’s true nature. To celebrate the acquisition, she hosted an unveiling party for her friends and fellow collectors, all of them members of Seattle’s upper crust. During her speech, Carson unwittingly invoked Adrasteia’s wrath.

All hell broke lose. The party guests tore each other to pieces. There is only one survivor, the new host of Adrasteia. The building’s night doorman was the first one to arrive at the scene of the massacre. He called the police and is still on site, talking to a police psychologist.

## Scenario

Delta Green is contacted by Detective Martin Hutchens, a friendly working on the Carson case. It’s a Saturday night and the agents are contacted at around 10:30 PM. They are to meet Hutchens at the Montana, a luxury apartment building in downtown Seattle.

Hutchens brings the agents up to speed: Carson hosted a party in her apartment. At some point, the guests apparently went crazy, killing one another. The police were called by Alejandro Marquez, night doorman at the Montana. Right now, forensics investigate the crime scene. Hutchens will stay in the background, helping the agents and keeping them up to date on everything his team finds out. Decisions should be made by the agents.

Talking to Marquez: At around 9:15 PM, he was contacted by the Wilsons who live above Carson. They were alarmed by loud noises and screams coming from Carson’s apartment. Marquez went upstairs a few minutes later but heard nothing. He knocked and noticed that the apartment door was open. He entered and found the massacred party guests. In shock, he wandered downstairs again and called the police who arrived 10 minutes later.

Carson’s apartment: Carson lived with her partner, Evelyn Lacouer who’s among the dead party guests as the agents will confirm later. The two-story apartment is luxuriously furnished mostly in white, showcasing Carson’s collection. Every room is filled with strange and unusual artworks.

## Clues at the Montana

* (in the apartment’s foyer, a circular room, lined with white marble) the scene of the massacre; it’s a terrible sight, blood and body parts everywhere. In the middle of the room stands an empty white pedestal in a spotlight. Forensics are still at work. During the next day, the agents will get details on the dead party guests.
* (on the desk in Carson’s study) an auction catalog from the Auktionshaus Adler (Zürich, Stockholm, Singapore). A bookmarked page shows a creepy white mask, a stern female face. The sculpture is called “Adrasteia”. The artist is presumably Marjorie Cameron. An art historian can confirm that the sculpture matches Cameron’s style. The auction house is very discreet and doesn’t give out information on its clients. Information on Cameron can be found online and in art history books. Valuable information on Adrasteia can be found in a well-stocked occult library.
* (found by forensics) two cell phones with videos of the unveiling. Video 1: Carson’s speech. She welcomes her guests, introduces them to Cameron and Adrasteia. She’s standing next to a pedestal, on top of it is an object veiled by a piece of white cloth. When Carson unveils the piece she says “And here I give to you: Adrasteia!”, speaking the name for the third time. She gets a strange look in her eyes and suddenly attacks the man next to her. Video 2: The end of Carson’s speech and a few scenes of the massacre. The party guests tear each other to pieces with teeth and bare hands, screaming and grunting. After a few seconds, the phone falls to the ground. Someone steps on it, destroying the screen. The videos will be available the next day, after evidence has been analyzed.
* (from Marquez) security footage shows Marquez going upstairs to check on Carson’s apartment. At about the same time, a man wearing a black tuxedo covered in blood spatter leaves the second elevator in the parking garage. He gets into a car and leaves the Montana. The man can be identified as Shinya Morata, curator of American Art at the Seattle Art Museum.

Morata drives straight home to a mansion in an upscale neighborhood, arriving at about 10 PM. He attacks his family and eats their corpses. Morata will be home for 6 hours. After that, he leaves the house, wandering Seattle, spreading chaos.

Regardless of whether they can see Adrasteia’s host or not, every living being (including animals) who approaches it, experiences a loss of context and becomes aggressive, at first verbally, then they start to attack everyone in sight. The agents can make POW checks to resist the effect. A successful check means they resist for 5 minutes. After that, another successful check is needed. If the agents don’t leave Adrasteia’s aura (radius of about 50 meters) in between, the checks get increasingly harder (-10 for the second check, -20 for the third one, etc.). Since the aura has an effective radius of 50 meters, it will likely become effective even before the agents see Morata, if he’s still at home.

Due to Adrasteia’s aura, it’s almost impossible to render the host harmless with conventional means. If the agents take their weapons with them when confronting Morata, it’s likely that they just hurt each other instead of him. In addition to the aura, the Mask of Adrasteia also imbues its host’s body with superhuman strength, dexterity, and speed, making a direct confrontation even more dangerous.

## The Host / Morata

**STR** 20 **CON** 20 **DEX** 20

**INT** 16 **POW** 18 **CHA** 12

**HP** 25 (+3 Armor Rating)

**Skills:** Alertness 80%, Athletics 80%, Dodge 70%, Unarmed Combat 90%

Cannot use mental skills

If Morata is attacked in his home, he defends himself viciously. Since the host hungers for more bloodshed, it will try not to get trapped in the house. If it’s not approached again after a first confrontation, the host tries to escape. On the streets, Morata randomly attacks people, while Adrasteia’s aura affects everyone in a radius of 50 meters. This means, he can be followed easily. Even if the agents lose sight of Morata, they only have to follow the reports of sightings received by the police.

If it comes this far and Morata is on the lose in Seattle, up the ante even more: Morata heads for a large gathering: an outdoor concert, a sports event, a parade, or a zoo. Now its up to the agents to prevent one of the largest massacres in US history. Will they try to shoot Morata in the crowd? Do they use technical means, maybe send a drone to kill him? Do they have magical means at their disposal, being able to make one of them immune to Adrasteia’s aura?

## Credits

Operation Party Time was written by Friederike F for the 2018  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 © Friederike F, excepting those elements that are components of the Delta Green intellectual property.

Operation Party Time is not available here under CC-BY-SA.