Operation Broken Ace: Chapter Five
Interrogating the Unknown in the Delta Green RPG using Mythic 2e
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 ©SolumProtocol, excepting those elements that are components of the Delta Green intellectual property.
Photo by Sergio Li on Unsplash
Turtle Pond, Massachusetts - 3PM
I escorted the creature to the shore under the nose of my Winchester. Shooting it would be less satisfying than tearing its throat out, but if we were at the ‘information exchange’ part of this execution, then fine.1 I realized as we settled down that Jasper was still bleeding and we were a half hour hike away from the car.
“You’re in no condition to wander through the forest.” I told Jasper sharply, as he made to stagger off to retreive our First Aid kit. I guided him to a tree stump and passed him my rifle. “Besides, you know full well I’ll kill this little shit the moment you get out of hearing distance.” He settled on the stump and had the audacity to wink at me before turning to the monster.
“What can I call you?” He said affably.
“My name is Clyde Barlow, Scion.” The creature said, bowing its misshapen head.
“Can you tell me a bit about what exactly you are?” Jasper asked, his attention focused on the creature. I stalked away from the camp as Clyde started talking. My hearing has improved, especially when my blood was up, so I heard it’s gurgling, unpleasant voice for a while before getting far enough away to focus on the trail. Clyde was something called a “Deep One”, although the name he originally said was completely alien to me and set my pulse pounding. I broke into a job once he started talking about his family history.2 I hadn’t really paid attention to how we had reached the river, only that I had a trail to follow, which was much harder now that the my mind was distracted. I jogged onto a main trail, eventually finding a park map, and got back to the parking lot after a lot of jogging in shoes designed for City Streets, not Rural Trails.3 I spent some time reviewing the road maps and trails to see if I could loop the car around closer to our impromptu camp, but I was out of luck. I grabbed the trauma kit and camping supplies in the back of the car, loaded them onto my back and jogged back into the trail, reminding myself to invest in hiking boots in the future.
Jasper had that effortless charm that I feel like I used to be able to call upon, back before everything started going to shit. He had been part of the Program for longer than me, and I felt a pang of jealousy that he could still manage that easy, natural smile and engaging banter. I had noticed that my attempts at easy going banter had a near constant edge that I felt little control over.4
“Have you asked him about his little job last night?” I asked as I cleaned and bandaged the wound on Jasper’s chest. This new one would leave a mark, most likely, and his chest was already a mismatch of small scars. He winced, and I knew that all I was really achieving was staunching the bleeding and stopping the wounds from deteriorating, but he thanked me once I was finished anyway.
“Just a cultural exchange, so far. I’ll fill you in on the details later.”
“Oh joy.” I said dryly. “I can’t wait to hear about the day-to-day life of an evil fish monster”
“Good and Evil are human concepts.” Clyde gurgled. He was holding his arm in front of him limply, and I could see it was still oozing blood, but I didn’t offer it any help. I shared a look with Jasper and he shrugged.
“Shit’s complicated, from the sounds of it.” He said, his voice light and completely insincere. “Clyde here says his people are just trying to live. He only speaks for his group, of course, not his species, of which there are much, much more than anyone realizes it sounds like.”
“A human would not speak for their entire race.” Clyde said defensively. “Even one of your kind cannot speak for your entire species, and there are only a handful of you.” I glared at the creature, already sick of hearing it speak, but Jasper laid a reassuring hand on my elbow and pulled me close to whisper in my ear.
“Ask it what you need to know.” He said softly. I settled down and continued the questions. Clyde was part of a small tribe of Deep Ones that lived, of all places, under the tides near the Statue of Liberty. They reject humanity, occasionally offering something of a ‘Devil’s Bargain’ for people lost further out to sea to increase their numbers. But they were functionally immortal, so this was a rarity.
“I don’t need to know the history of your people, Clyde, I need to know what the fuck you were doing in my house last night.” I said coldly. It held up a hand in a jarringly human gesture.
“Apologies.” Clyde said. “It is relevant, you see, because one of the people we rescued this way had regrets. They returned to their mortal family, in New York, and caused some tension between my tribe and the human organization known as the Order of Midnight.”
“Of course they fucking did.” I muttered. Jasper echoed me with a few curses and Clyde continued. Clyde had been tasked with accompanying the dead man to fulfil a mission here in Boston. He had been sent as he could almost pass for human in the dim light, and would be able to use his knowledge to ensure that the murder went unnoticed by the neighbors.
“I am not the most accomplished ritualist in my tribe, but I had the knowledge necessary.” He said, with an irritating hint of pride. “The scene was scrubbed clean, and nobody heard the violence, the car, nor our escape. I did not know why the man from the Order removed the organs, but given what you are and your relation to the deceased, I believe it is a good thing for you that you prevented the organs from being taken back to the City.” All this talk of spells and magic, coupled with the causal reference to the murder of my mother was setting my teeth on edge, and it took all of my self control to stay still and listen.5
“With your mission failed, what will happen to your tribe?” Jasper asked when I made no move to ask more questions. Clyde shrugged.
“I do not know. Nothing good. Even by the standards of humans, the Order is a cruel and malicious group.”
“Who ordered this.” I said. “Give me a name.” I didn’t add the or else, although I was sorely tempted. I had a lot of rage still bubbling hot inside me, and If I didn’t find an outlet soon, I was going to kill this thing just for the chance to let off a little steam.6
“It was McCown.” Clyde said reluctantly. “They are powerful, Scion. They have pledged themselves to something even our Priests fear.” Clyde shuddered, another shockingly human gesture, and stopped.
“I’m afraid I know little else of this organization or their plans. They are dangerous, and in service of something terrible. We did not know one of your kind was involved. Even with the threats and chance for peace, we would have refused their request if we had known.”
“That doesn’t exactly put my mind at ease.” I said, my voice devoid of emotion. All of the information was starting to swarm around my head, and the sheer ludicrous scale of it was extremely overwhelming. I crossed my arms, tucking my hands under my arms to hide the slight tremble that had come over them. Shit. I could feel it. Every feeling I had bottled up in the last 24 hours was coming all at once and my skin was going numb. I felt myself slightly detach from the present, my mind taking a step back as each of my limbs started to feel like a lead weight. I let Jasper take the lead for the rest of the conversation, although even in my dissociated state, I could see there was little new information to be had. Eventually Jasper stood and looked at me, almost as if asking for permission. The hatred and rage that had been keeping me going had seeped out, and I felt hollow and cold, and so tired. I waved a hand dismissively, lacking the energy to care anymore.
“We are going to go.” He said, the kind façade dropping instantly. “Here.” He threw the trauma kit onto the Deep One’s lap. “For what its worth, I would take great pleasure in killing you, despite your claims of innocence.” Jasper’s eyes flashed in the later day sun, and the sight of him was almost enough to rouse me from the depths. He composed himself quickly, his crooked smile returning to his face. “But, I’m a man of my word. If you see this McCown or anyone from the Order again, feel free to tell them to get their affairs in order.” He placed an arm around my shoulder and started to guide me away, but he shot a feral grin over his shoulder. “Their days are numbered.” His eyes flashed again and Clyde nodded in understanding.
“You will not see me again Scion, you can trust me on that.” He said.
The drive back to the hotel passed in a blur. My muscles felt sore, and aching and I slumped like a dead weight in the passenger seat. Jasper drove, and was kind enough to give me silence, which was good because the thinking part of my brain mostly blamed him for how things had fallen out. If I had the energy, I would have been enraged, betrayed at his interference with my revenge, but instead, I stared listlessly out of the window, exhausted. For his part, Jasper’s gaze was fixed on the road, a pensive look on his face. I couldn’t bring myself to care about what we had discovered. Maye in an hour or two, when I felt vaguely human, but not right now. Now I just felt numb.7
Cheap Motel, Massachusetts - 8 PM.
I curled up into the sofa and passed out as soon as we reached the motel. The headache and dry mouth that greeted me when I awoke sucked, but it was a relief just to feel something. Jasper was asleep on the bed, a tangled mess of bandages and paper thin bedsheets. I felt heat on my neck as I took in the flashes of golden skin and the angular, scarred planes of muscle that peeked out from the bed sheets. I coughed awkwardly, and when he didn’t move I dug out my phone. I had a voicemail from Sergeant McLeod. Apparently Tommy had spent the night in county jail for being drunk and disorderly which was honestly as rock solid an alibi as they came. He had been released earlier today, although no one was particularly happy about it. I glanced at the rifle case on the hotel table and shrugged. Pinning this on old Tommy would have given me a modicum of satisfaction, but given how empty I felt getting revenge on the real killer, I doubted it would have been worth the risk. McLeod asked if I could check in at the station tomorrow, which was a surprise. He must have a lot of trust in my professional integrity and assumed that I wouldn’t be getting involved or making attempts to muddy the investigation. More fool him, I suppose.
I put on my windbreaker, buckled on my sidearm, and went for a walk. The hotel was in the middle of nowhere, a shitty, rundown, bolthole that was either a drug dealers best friend or the front for a CIA safe house. There wasn’t much practical difference between the two. I walked down the road and alongside the highway, looking around at the emptiness around me before sighing, digging out my phone, and dialing a number. I lit a cigarette while it rang and he picked up on the 3rd ring, as per usual.
“Katherine. I wasn’t expecting to hear from you so soon. Get back to Seattle ok?” Nolan Landry asked smoothly. He sounded as tired as I felt and I wondered how the clean up was going back in Montana. It felt like weeks ago, but it had only been a day since I boarded my flight. I took a long drag of my cigarette before talking.
“I’m in Boston.” I said, my voice almost getting lost in the wind that whipped around me.
“Oh?” He said politely, and there was a beat of silence as he waited for me to explain.
“I think I, or more accurately, we, have attracted the wrong sort of attention.’ I said, looking off into the distance. Even the dark, I could make out the trees on the far side of the road, the leaves shaking and branches bowing as the wind intensified.
“And what kind of attention is that?” He said, his voice unusually grave.
“The usual kind.” I said with a sigh. “My Mom’s dead.” I added, almost as an afterthought. The line was silent for a long time, enough time for me to finish my smoke and light up a second. I wasn’t in a rush to fill in the silence.
“I’m sorry to hear that Katherine.” Landry said solemnly.
“I didn’t call for condolences. “ I said, without heat. “I’m going to list off a few names. Lester Roth. Aaron Foster. Karl Lieberman. Leroy Wilburn.” I said each name in a monotone, unable to summon the righteous anger I usually had reserved for this particular batch of cultists. “What is the connection? Do you know, Landry? Information is your deal, right?”
“All members of the Order of Midnight, according to my research and your reports.” Landry said tightly. “Are you implying that the Order is responsible for your mother’s death?”
“I’m not implying shit, Nolan, I know they are involved because the guy who ripped the organs out of my mothers body told me, before I put a bullet in his fucking skull.” I hissed. There was a beat before Landry let out a sigh.
“Kat.” He said. “Why don’t you start from the top?”
I filled him in both on the events as they happened and my suspicions. I left out all the shit about Clyde, partially because I didn’t want to shift attention away from the cult, but mostly because I didn’t want to think about it.8 I think he could tell I was leaving something out, but he didn’t press. Eventually, I heard the click of a lighter and a long drag.
“I don’t want to be dramatic, Katherine, but this is really unfortunate news.” He said with his usual dry humor. I heard the click of a door followed by the familiar sound of a dead bolt. “Oakes has marked you out for some unpleasant shit.” He said softly. “This is a lot to ask, but I need you to go along with it.” He paused. “Actually, it's not a lot to ask, because you don’t actually have a choice.” There was another long drag and the sound of shuffling paper. “The Director will present it as a choice and maybe she even believes it is, but it isn’t. You need to go along with what she wants, for a while at least.”
“No shit.” I said, deadpan.
“Just persevere, ok?” He said. “Despite what the Order thinks, no one in the Program is targeting them, least of all us. As far as we knew last year, The Order of Midnight was the usual hermetic order of rich snobs with a penchant for robes and mythology. But not any more. They’ve shown up on our radar too often. I don’t believe in coincidences, Kat, and neither should you. Hold the course with Oakes. Keep in her good books and I’ll put something together.”
“Do I want to know what I’ll be up to in the meantime?” I asked. Montford had been very clear in his distaste, distrust and objective fear of Katherine Oakes, and my impression of the woman wasn’t much better.
“No.” Landry said bluntly. “It will be unpleasant and bloody, but most likely you won’t be killing anyone who doesn’t deserve it.” This statement did not fill me with warmth or reassurance and I said so. “Look, Kat. I don’t like this either. Quite frankly, I don’t like Katherine Oakes, and I don’t like how she cherry picks promising agents and throws them into situations until they come out emotionally stunted and hard to work with like Montford.” I broke into a coughing fit as I tried to swallow a snorted laugh. “But what we need right now is time. The Order has a hankering to hurt you? Well they’ll be shit out of luck because your about to be better equipped than ever and surrounded by trained killers. Leave the rest to me. When I have a lead, I’ll contact you, and we can hurt these fuckers back 10 times what they’ve done to you.” He had gotten quite worked up in this mini-rant, and even through the cold and the slight numb feeling at my fingertips, I felt a little better. I stubbed out the cigarette and started walking back to the motel. Landry spoke into the phone one more time before cutting the line.
“Stay Strong Kat. I’m sorry about your Mother. I’ll be in touch.”
I was obviously emotionally invested in a lot of these scenes because I did not take very good notes at all. I had to do bit of grunt work to track Kat’s Sanity after the last few chapters because I either forgot to do a sanity roll in general, or only noted down the roll. Her current SAN is 41, which is honestly way to high haha considering what she has been through this mission. Still, I’m playing Solo and learning, but I fear future characters are going to get hit with much higher and more frequent Sanity costs to compensate! Thanks for reading!
Oracle: Do we have a first aid kit? Likely 92 No. It is in the car.
Skill: Navigate: 74/17. Athletics 41/71 This was to dictate how long it takes to get there and back. One fail one Success, so a fair amount of time.
Oracle: Is there somewhere to park close to the camp? 50/50 72 No.
Skill: First Aid (+20% From First Aid Kit) 94/31
Sanity:(Unnatural) 58/43. d4 = 2. Sanity = 41. Acute Episode Triggered (Depersonalization Disorder)
Does he know? Likely - 44 Yes. Random Event. Police “Release Attention.” (Side Note - The Random Events seem to really want the police investigation to go nowhere)
End Scene - Chaos factor 4 Test 2 - Interrupt scene. Bastard NPC Positive “Leave Power”
Oracle: Does Landry pick up that I’m hiding something? 50/50 90 - No
They kept talking about the shoes reminded me of Scully showing how she’s able to run in hers, had me laughing. I hope you know this episode. https://youtu.be/BSbPdnlwg30?si=1kWd7W1W0r_losVx
Clyde’s confession and Kat barely holding it together really comes through. The lore about the Deep Ones and the Order of Midnight have so much creepy mystery behind it, it adds a lot to the suspense. Curious to see how far Kat goes now that she’s been marked.