Tuesday 23 July 2019

GURPS Warhammer 30k: The 231st Session 1: Dissension in the Ranks

Ahzek Toth - Administratum Overseer and Sage
Gizmoticus Gearmus - Tech-Priest of Mars and Leader of Mechanicum Forces
Cmdr. Magnus Valerius - Leader of Ground Forces and Former Arbitrator
Lt. Solidius Anguis - Undercover Vindicaire Temple Assassin

The Story This Far
It is the 31st Millenium.  Everything's pretty cool, and not grim or dark.  The Emperor is a swell guy, and he is leading the Empire of Man across the galaxy to unite humanity in his Great Crusade.  But alas, his glorious son Horus has rebelled, and the traitor is joined by three Astartes Legions: the Sons of Horus, Emperor's Children and World Eaters.  The Emperor has sent seven other legions lead by his sons, the Primarchs, off to Horus' stronghold-world of Istvaan V to end the rebellion.  But this is not their story.

This is the story of the 231st Expeditionary Fleet, also known as the "Two-Thirty-Worst".  To date, they have failed every mission they have been assigned.  On their last mission, most of the Fleet was destroyed, including the entire compliment of Mechanicum except for Gizmoticus.  And yet, they have survived, and limped back to the Imperial homeworld of Terra with their four surviving ships.  The leaders of the 231st, Fleet Captain Lundgren, Magnus, Gizmoticus, and Solidius, have gathered in a briefing room to receive their next assignment from a member of the Imperial Fists legion.

Briefing
Instead of a space marine, a twelve year old boy, in what Magnus recognized as initiate's robes, walked into the room, and introduced himself as Cyrus; clearly a slight against the 231st, who apparently weren't worth the time of a proper Astartes.  In a high-pitched, nasally voice, Cyrus gave them their orders: after four days of repair and resupply on Terra, they were to re-establish contact with Planet 2813, an outpost that had gone dark for six months.  Solidius raised his hand to ask a question, but Cyrus angrily announced that there would be no questions.  A new compliment of Mechanicum, under one Adept Brakkus, would be joining them.

Saturday 20 July 2019

Delta Green: The El Paso Case Session 3: A Small Favour

Dr. Agent David Trentmen - FBI Agent and former Medical Doctor
Juan Estevez - DEA Agent and former Undercover Cop
Victor Blue - FBI Intelligence Analyst and Hacker

16/08/19 Spectres and Sensitives
Victor called Monique to check in (she was fine), and let her know they were coming by her apartment to run some tests.  Once there, Victor ran the two-hour psychic test, but failed the roll by one, and it came up negative.  He wanted to run it again, to be sure, but Monique was hesitant, though she caved when David asked her to (Very Handsome saves the day!).  The test came up negative again, so the party decided to move on to their next plan: the masking ritual that would hide a psychic from Tintiasay, in case the test had just been wrong.

Victor checked the photos he'd taken from the Monterrero's library, but found that the text in the pictures was now in some weird incomprehensible language!  Luckily, his Eidetic Memory let him recall the ritual; most of the ingredients for the totem were common enough, but they'd need palo santo incense, which might be tricky to find.  Despite the party's best efforts, they couldn't track down any local suppliers, so Victor ordered some online, but it would take 5 days to get delivered.  David decided to double-check Monique's vital signs, which she was more than okay with, and she was perfectly healthy, meaning "Tintin" probably wasn't eating her life force.

The agents decided not to just wait for 5 days, and instead headed to the Providence Children's Hospital morgue to look for a dead child who matched their ghost.  Juan talked their way past the only employee on duty with a flash of his badge, but Victor was unable to find a match in the database.  He edited the photo to look less like a ghost, and then showed the morgue employee, asking if he remembered seeing her.  He remembered that he had seen her around the hospital, but not specifically where.

Friday 5 July 2019

Delta Green: The El Paso Case Session 2: The Monterrero Organization

Dr. Agent David Trentmen - FBI Agent and former Medical Doctor
Juan Estevez - DEA Agent and former Undercover Cop
Victor Blue - FBI Intelligence Analyst and Hacker

15/08/19 Desert Rose Hotel, El Paso Texas
After a 20 minute real-time argument between David and Victor over what kind of fast food to get (they ended up getting Subway, but Juan stuck to MREs and jerky after their last mission), the agents headed back to their hotel and discussed what to do with the South American Fear Totem.  Juan wanted to burn it, while Victor wanted to use it as bait for the demon (Juan: "We already have bait, and her name is Monique").

They decided to spend the rest of the day doing more research into the totem, Tintiasay (aka Tintin aka Tzitzi-Ya Ku), and the Monterro Organization.  Juan looked into the Monterros with Criminology and found that their south american smuggling operation was a new and strange thing for the organization, and put two and two together to realize that Angel was going to go state's witness and get them locked up.

Victor got 9 degrees on Occultism while researching "Tintin" and found a wealth of intel:
  • It has been around since recorded history started, but disappears for long periods of time
  • It appears as formless black smoke (so not a ghostly girl)
  • It has never been permanently "killed"
  • It came to its victims at night and took their life force, killing them in days
  • Somebody always curses the victim
  • There were no mentions of any totems (???)
  • Once cursed, nobody has ever escaped it (though one British man made it back to England and may have survived)
  • There is a ritual that may be able to get rid of it, but it has never worked.

Tuesday 2 July 2019

Delta Green: The El Paso Case Session 1: A Late Night Chat

Dr. Agent David Trentmen - FBI Agent and former Medical Doctor
Juan Estevez - DEA Agent and former Undercover Cop
Victor Blue - FBI Intelligence Analyst and Hacker

14/08/19 Late Night Chat
In the early hours of the morning, Victor's phone rang somewhere in his mom's basement.  Fortunately, he was awake.  Unfortunately, he was mid-raid in World of Warcraft.  Upon seeing the caller ID light up as Monique Hawkins, a doctor from El Paso he'd met on another Delta Green op, and known friendly of the "program", he muted his in-game mic and answered the phone.  For a moment there was only heavy breathing, then a woman's frantic voice starting ranting about a girl dressed in flowing white, followed by sobbing.

Victor was stunned, and Monique continued; the girl was around whenever she closed her eyes and haunted her dreams.  Victor tried to reassure her, but Monique cut him off, hissing "I think she's listening!", followed by a crack, a thud, and then the line went dead.  Victor apologized to his guild and logged off, then took a look at Monique's social media to see if she'd been going crazy for a long time.  It all looked normal, but she hadn't posted anything in the last several days.

He picked his phone up again and informed the rest of the team that they had a job to do, and bought a ticket for a flight to El Paso, first thing tomorrow.  Err, today.