Operation Haruspex: Chapter Four
Searching for Answers in the Delta Green TTRPG, using the Rogue Handler Solo Supplement.
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.
Thumbnail Photo by Pixabay: https://www.pexels.com/photo/brown-brick-road-60611/
Note: Chapters will be a bit shorter moving forward.
Zoo Undercroft - 9:30 AM
Montford passed me the rifle from the duffle bag when we touched down1, as well as an underslung flashlight and a holographic sight to slide onto the top. From the look and age of the old stonework around us, we had breached into an old, unused part of the Seattle Sewer. There were lights up ahead, around the bend of the tunnel, and a furrow below us, where the filth and water of the city would flow if it was still in use. We moved forward slowly, rifles raised and scanning the passageway towards the light up ahead2. The tunnel was eerily quiet, but as we moved up, a slow, strained moan echoed down the tunnel. I shared a look with Montford, and we increased the pace, entering a wide, high ceilinged antechamber just as the moans began to peak. The lights were part of a jury rigged system running off a generator chugging away somewhere off to my left. Tabitha Abel stood in the center of the room, the flood lamps bathing her in fluorescent light3. Blood dripped down both of her arms, pooling at her feet as she continued to moan. This close, I could almost make out the words, but they were muted and slightly off. Something swirled around her, a sense of power, but it sent my hackles on edge and I braced the rifle against my shoulder.With a final, guttural exclamation, whatever was in the room with her ceased, and the room went still again. We moved forward slowly, and she turned to us, a wicked looking dagger that seemed to glow with an eerie, unearthly light held loosely in her hand.
“Stop.” She called, pointing the knife at us suspiciously4. “What are you doing here?” She asked. She seemed to be ignoring the two rifles pointed at her, which meant that she was either superbly cool under pressure, or knew something that we didn’t5. Judging by the tense set of her shoulders, and the occasional, nervous twirl of her dagger, my money was on the former.
“Dr. Abel. You need to come with us. It’s not safe here, and we have a lot we need to discuss.” I said professionally, my eyes watching the slow twirl of the dagger. She had made no moves yet, no threats, she just seemed slightly confused, like she couldn’t quite think of a reason why we would be here. I lowered my rifle, a peace offering, but she just frowned at me.
“I have nothing to discuss with you. I have to finish my work.” Her eyes darted to the open book on the table next to her.
“Whatever you're planning here won't work.” I told her. “The protective sigils you carved into your fathers house failed. A creature smashed right through them. You're messing around with something you couldn’t possibly understand. Come with us. Well help you get rid of the thing that’s hurting the animals here.”6 Her eyes flashed.
“My father? The sigils couldn’t possibly have failed, what happened to him?” Her voice escalated in volume and I felt Montford tense beside me. I gave him a look that I hoped conveyed a need for him to NOT do anything stupid and raised my hands in appeasement.
“Do you know the creature I’m referring to?” I asked her gently7. She nodded.
“They sent it.” She snarled. “That’s how I could tell I was getting closer. It started following me at night, I could feel it watching me in my apartment. But the sigil kept it away!” She insisted, a crack in her voice.
“It didn’t keep it away from long enough.” I said. “I’m sorry Dr. Abel. I tried to help your father, but he was already wounded when I found him. He tried to hide in the house, but it smashed through the door. Whatever your plan is here, it's dangerous. Come with us.”8 She slumped against the table, hurriedly brushing a tear from her check and smearing blood across her face.
“I believe you.” She said softly. I felt my shoulders relax until she started talking again. “But I can’t leave. I’ve bled myself dry to create a place of power here. If the sigils don’t work, then it’s even more important that I stay here, where I can be useful.” She said the last in a small voice and I heard Montford sigh quietly. I approached Dr. Abel slowly, and when she didn’t react, I placed a comforting hand on her shoulder.
“Then let's figure this together. Quickly, if possible.”
Tabitha didn’t know who or what was behind the creature that was hurting the animals under her care was, or what they wanted. She called the shadowy figure on the camera a ‘Shadow Man’9. Shadow men were a popular urban myth commonly associated with sleep paralysis, heavy drug use or clinical paranoia.
“I stayed late one night, and when I saw it on the camera I ran to see what was happening, and to try and stop it.”10 she shrugged again. “By the time I got there, it was gone. But the lions in the enclosure looked exhausted. Sickly. Since I started marking them with the sigil of protection, they’ve been getting better, and I checked the cameras. He never goes back to the ones I’ve marked.”
“What was the plan?” I asked her gently. She pointed a trembling finger at the book, and at the walls.
“I was going to carve sigils into each wall, bigger than any I’ve made before. At night, when it comes out, I was going to use this circle.” She points at her feet. The blood that had ran from her arms, from the sigils she had carved into her flesh, had pooled into a deep, circular furrow into the ground. “I can feel things up there.” She murmured. “When it arrived, after nightfall, I was going to drag it down here. I know it wants to kill me. It would come. And then I would activate the Sigils. Boom.” She snapped her fingers. I could tell from the way her voice wavered, and the look in her eyes that this was a woman on the edge. I’m not sure her mind would have survived this plan of hers, even if it had worked. Candela’s voice crackled over the radio.
“I’m pretty much all done here. Did you bag the crazy lady?” I took a step away from Dr. Abel, whose eyes had gone glassy as she stared into empty space.
“Maybe.” I said quietly over the radio. “She seems compliant for now. I’ll see if we can extract her, but she’s in no state to be seen by any of the guards.”
“I can imagine.” Candela said drily. “Let me know when you’re coming up and I’ll divert them somewhere else. They deserve the run around for keeping their files this much of a mess, it makes me fucking sick.” I heard the loud, click-clack of typing as she spoke, and a thought occurred to me.
“Hey look. We might need to come back here at night, is there anyone way you could fabricate a reason for us to come back? Overnight maintenance on the mainframe or something.” Candela muttered something to herself before responding.
“Yeah, maybe. These people have no idea about technology and they’re all spacey as fuck. Let me see what I can do.” I turned back to Dr. Abel.
“Is there another way in or out of this Sewer? Apart from the sunken enclosure?”11. Tabitha nodded and pointed down the way we had just come.
“If you follow that down, passed the ladder it comes out at the lake. It’s dangerous.” She added, almost as an afterthought.
“Could you direct us to that entrance later, if we left now?” She shrugged.
“Probably not. It was dark the one time I went that far. But it's by the water, and the road, and it has a big iron door. It’s not locked, or at least, it wasn’t when I found it.” I nodded. We had a few options to return at night, if needed, but right now we needed to get out of here.
“Tabitha, we need to get you somewhere safe. My friend and I will take it from here.” she was shaking her head and mumbling, pulling away from me, but I insisted. “When was the last time you slept? You are barely standing. We can take it from here, ok? Come on.” She continued to shake her head, but I pulled gently on her arm and she came with us slowly.
I used my jacket to cover the wound on Dr. Abel’s arms while Montford placed the rifles back in the duffle bag.12 Strangely enough, the wounds had stopped bleeding, and the injuries themselves looked older, despite the fact they were freshly cut. I tried not to let my uneasiness show on my face as I helped her up the ladder, but I didn’t like that one bit.
“Heading to the truck.” I told Candela. She hummed, amused, before loudly exclaiming something in Spanish, and then yelling at the security . I didn’t catch what, exactly, she was using as a distraction,13 but we didn’t run into anybody, which was good, because Tabitha was in bad shape. She had been shaking since the first ray of daylight hit her, and she leant heavily on me as we made our way through the grounds. We smuggled her into the van without incident, and she huddled into the corner while we waited for Candela. When she slipped into the drivers seat and started teh car, she said over her shoulder.14
“No dice on the ‘overnight server reset’” she said with a derisive snort. “Whatever is making them fuggy headed ” She pulled out of the parking lot, and drove us out to the rendezvous.
Eckhart’s Clinic - 12PM
Eckart’s veterinary clinic was closed for the day, and was as good a place to regroup as any. Eckhart ushered Tabitha away under the watchful eye of Montford while Candela set up her laptop in a cramped office and began tapping away at her keyboard. I checked my watch and frowned. It was nearly midday. The Shadow Man, as Tabitha had called it, appeared at just after midnight on the recording I had seen, and it was likely that he would keeping to a similar time tonight, which gave us just over 12 hours to figure out what the hell we were dealing with.
“Are you with us for the rest of the job, Candela?” I asked, rummaging around the office for a Yellow pages.15
“My role is done.” She said frankly. “I work best with small, easy objectives. I’ll be lying low here for a few hours, and then I am out.” I hummed in response to that. Candela was a Friendly, and my understanding was that we were to use their skills and connections sparingly. Still, we were on a tight schedule.
“Could you look up some stuff for me while we wait? Nothing spooky., I promise” She sighed loudly and narrowed her eyes at me over he glasses.
“Keep it basic.” She said tersely. “And I’m leaving as soon as I have the go ahead.”
I spent the next hour making phone calls to the various zoos and enclosures throughout the area that had been experiencing issues, asking an increasingly acerbic Candela for contact information between each call.16 Most of the people were friendly, and I used my PI cover liberally to shield the specific reasons for my calls.17 I started form a pretty solid hypothesis after the 4th call. Lester Roth, the new director of operations at Woodland Zoo had been visiting all of the Zoos I had called so far as part of an outreach program for some nebulous New York based hedge fund. He approached each facility with various offers of funding, project planning and resources, and while the staff were very grateful, all of them noted that the man came off as aloof and cold. He would dazzle everyone with a presentation on a fully funded enclosure renovation, and then close the door to his office and snap off one word responses to follow up questions. He would stay there for a few months, but nobody seemed to connect his presence to the incidents with the animals. Each person I spoke to about Roth had a dreamy, almost sleepy tone of voice from the moment we started talking about the incidents. As an experiment, I asked one of them some follow up questions about opening times, and if there were any new exhibits, and as I suspected, their tone of voice refocused, and they were back to normal. After a couple of hours, Candela left (without so much as a goodbye) and I had finished up the last of the calls.18 None of the locations had reported any strange goings on, no record players starting on their own, or shadowy creatures on the cameras, but that lined up with my experience with the staff at Woodland. The security guards had seemed dazed and unaware of the strangeness going on at the Zoo, so it didn’t surprise me that no one I spoke to could recall anything unusual. One thing stuck out, and that had been missing from the reports on the cork board, was a human victim. Debra Winger was the secretary at the Washington State Wildlife sanctuary, Lester Roth’s last location before the Woodland Zoo in Seattle. She had been working late, and footage showed that she nodded off at her desk after forcing herself to come into work while sick. She passed away in her sleep. A retired woman with a passion for astrology, animals and true crime documentaries, she was a volunteer and friend of the owner, and so was often on the premises late at night for a bit of work and star gazing. Her death didn’t raise any alarm bells and was ruled natural causes, but the timeline was hard to ignore. I had one more phone call to make before touching base with Montford and Abel.
The Washington Watch was a small news platform, functioning mostly online through an email list. The news clippings from the corkboard had been printed off19, but they were available online, and Eckhart was kind enough to lend me the use of his work computer, which was as slow and blocky as you would expect. I called the contact line20, but it went to voicemail, so I sent them email, added myself to the mailing list and browsed the articles. It looked more like a blog than a reputable news platform, but the website was well made and easy to navigate, so I found the relevant articles quickly and scanned through them.21 The author didn’t seem to make the connection between the various Zoos, and reported each animal death as more suspicious than the last, with anything from secret government testing to aliens on the cards for a potential cause, but the last one mentioned something interesting. It mentioned an “LR” who was connected to a Masonic style Lodge based out of New York called “The Order of Midnight”. Cross referencing it on the website showed that the writer of the Washington Watch had a bit of an obsession with this ‘Order’, and some of the accusations were quiet bold, to say the least. A search online22 came up with a few hits, but it was minor. The Order of Midnight is a masonic lodge based out of New York, dating back to the city's founding. So named because the masons of early New York “Burned the midnight oil” to build the city, often working through the night. Membership is invitation only, and they are connected to a number of non-profit and charitable initiatives. No membership list online, which I expected, but I recognized the name of the non-profit initiative Lester Roth had been using to approach the Zoos in Washington, the ‘Forgotten Dreams’ initiative. Supposedly it was the result of a lot of fundraisers to improve the quality of life for endangered and exotic species around the country. Was he working alone, and using the Lodge as a cover, or was the Lodge in on it?
I went into the clinic’s main room after finishing up my research. Dr. Abel was awake and slightly drowsy, her arms bandaged and a cup of steaming tea in front of her as Dr. Eckart tried to coax her to eat some food. Montford stood ominous and foreboding at the side, and I waved him over.
“You ever tailed someone before?” I asked. He gave me a withering look, so I continued. “I think I have a lead, but I still need to figure out exactly what we are dealing with.” I filled him in on Lester Roth and his suspicious trail of animal corpses throughout the state.23
“Where is he now?” Montford asked, checking his sidearm.
“Hopefully the Zoo.” I said. “Get your gear ready, and I’ll call the Zoo and ask”24 What followed was an awkward exchange with a young security guard who had trouble keeping the thread of the conversation. I heard classical music in the background, so I made sure I was being direct with my questions, otherwise I would be on the phone all day. Eventually they told me that Mr. Roth was insisting he not be disturbed, which confirmed as best we could that the man was on the premises. I told Montford, and he grunted.
“Update me if you can. We still don’t know for sure what part he’s playing in this, but he is connected. If he leaves, let me know.” Montford nodded and left. I checked the time, before heading out, back to Greenvale Avenue.
Bargain’s Bargains - 4PM
I was feeling desperate. I didn’t want to question Tabitha any further right now, and I especially didn’t want her pointed towards Lester Roth, given how unstable she was acting, so I told Eckart to call me if anything came up and left. My car was still parked at my place, so I hopped on a bus across town and found myself on Greenvale Avenue, outside the Pawnshop, Bargain’s Bargains. Cecil Bargain stood behind the counter in the cluttered pawnshop and realized belatedly that I had never bothered to re-affix the wig. Still, he greeted me with a smile.
“Seeker. How may I help you today?”
“I am hoping to browse your library.” I said, slipping naturally into my Amanda persona. He nodded, and guided me to the back room.
“I’m looking for something specific” I whispered, as I browsed the lines of unfamiliar, Latin names.
“Seekers often are.” he responded enigmatically.
“My aunt, Dr. Abel? She met something. Something made of shadow.” I feigned a gulp, but kept my eyes on Cecil. I didn’t trust this man, but he at least pretended to be an expert on such matters, and I was running out of options. “A man, I think. She saw it on the camera. Do you know anything that might help in making it go away? Like an exorcism?” He tilted his head and made a show of tapping his chin.
“Interesting.” he said finally. “Most Seekers want to empower themselves.” He said, as he ran a finger along the spines of the books on the shelf. “Dr. Abel wanted something to protect. Rarely do I find a seeker who wants to drive away or give up such gifts.” The look he gave me was skeptical, but then he shrugged, pulling a book from the shelf with a flourish. It was a thin volume, with a plain black cover.
“Where The Shadows Lie.” Cecil read from the cover. “Not the most reputable of authors, I am afraid, but I am sure there will be something in there of interest.”
Thanks for reading!
Oracle: Any mods on the gun? -20% Yes.
Sound: Moaning, as if in distress.
Open Question: What is she doing? “Enhance Power”
Bearing: Guarded
Skill Check: HUMINT 62/80
Skill Check: Persuade 94/71
Oracle: Does she? +20 15/70 Yes Sent by enemies? 35/50 - Yes
Skill Check: Persuade 61/71
Skill Check: Occult 15/20
Oracle: Was it still there? No.
Oracle: Is there another way out of the underground? Yes.
Oracle” Is she still bleeding? No
Candela: CHA X5 39/50
Oracle: Do we have an ‘in’ for the night? No.
Oracle: Is Candela with the team for the rest of the job? No
Stat Test: CHA X 5 - 62/75
Oracle: Lester Roth involved? Yes
Oracle: Any human casualties? Yes.
Oracle: Does Eckhart have a computer? +20%. Yes.
Oracle: Are they Available? +20%. No.
Oracle: Anything Useful? Yes. Lester Roth related? Yes
Oracle: Anything Online? -20% Yes.
NPC Oracle": Does Montford Agree? Extreme Yes.
Stat Check: CHA x 5 - 20/75
The case nears its closure. There always seems to be a larger unknown threat looming. Like the the perpetrators or more like pawns themselves. That's how i am imagining Roth will be.