Operation Kerebos: Chapter Two

Braving the Woods in The Delta Green RPG, using Mythic GM Emulator.

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.

Chapter 2 thumbnail photo The Brook in the Woods by Worthington Whittredge, available at https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/16875

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Coroner's office, Spokane 5:30PM

The Spokane county medical examiner was a 45 minute drive away, but given the possibly unnatural cause of Gloria Yarbrough’s death, we thought it prudent to head there before beginning our investigation proper. The county corner was a straight backed man with a perpetual narrowed gaze by the name of James Giles¹. An ornate and visibly expensive crucifix with matching lapels told me two things; the man had faith, and he had money. Still, he was pleasant enough for that², although it was clear the man was the guarded, cautious type, he showed us into the morgue, and pulled back the sheet covering the body of Gloria Yarbrough³. Tattered remains of a ranger uniform had been peeled back, revealing a body that was heavily bruised, and riddled with gashes and gouges. Her glassy eyes stared at the ceiling of the morgue, and I had to stifle a twinge of nausea at the extent of the damage the woman had taken.

“Ranger Yarbrough had experienced a fair amount of physical trauma, but I believe this is the wound that killed her.” Dr. Giles said, pointing at a large wound in the throat. “It would have crushed the cartilage and torn the artery. Some of these other wounds would have been fatal given enough time, but this one would have been moments.”

“Is there a time of death?” I asked, trying to keep my voice level⁴. Gloria had been taken apart, gouges of flesh missing from her throat and torso, as well as a number of defensive wounds on her arms, legs and face.

“I would estimate early Thursday morning, judging by the state of the corpse but I will need to run a few more tests to get an exact time.”

“5 days before she was found.”⁵ I said, taking a closer look at the corpse. Her skin was pallid, and the wounds had started to darken and smell, but the body seemed remarkably clean, for all that it had spent most of the week out in the elements. “She seems in good condition, considering.” I observed.

“The weather has certainly cooled recently, but yes. While it isn’t impossible that this body spent the weekend in the woods, there is remarkably little to indicate that her body was interfered with. All of these wounds were pre-mortem, there is nothing to indicate any interference or scavenging from wildlife, which given her proximity to the national park is highly unusual, but not unheard of.”

“What would have caused these wounds, in your professional opinion?”⁶

“An animal, or more specifically, a number of animals. Given the precision, and the type of wound, a pack of wolves working in concert would be the closest comparison, although I understand how unlikely that sounds.”

“Is there anything other than the wounds that indicate that?” I asked.

“Just a hunch.”⁷

“Anything else of note?”

“Nothing as yet. I still need to run some tests, but I would say this is an unfortunate animal attack, nothing more.”

“That’s good news, as far as our investigation goes.” I told him, flipping my notebook closed. If the coroner report indicated a mundane death, all the better. “We want to be sure, of course. Could you show us Ranger Yarbrough’s personal effects? Anything that could indicate what she was doing when she went missing would be useful.”⁸ The corner's eyes flashed with suspicion, and his posture shifted.

“What is this about, Agent Jones?” He asked⁹. I attempted a winning smile and fed him a couple of lines about checking boxes, and making sure all of our bases were covered, and a few back pocket excuses, other but he still seemed suspicious. He couldn’t actually stop me, but he hovered at my shoulder as I checked Gloria’s belongings, his eyes sharp and distrustful. Yarbrough’s effects were packaged into bags in the adjoining room.¹⁰ A knife and pistol were holstered alongside a tattered rangers knapsack.

“Any gun residue?” I asked curiously. Both weapons seemed unused.

“No.” the corner said. “Both weapons were holstered. I imagine she didn’t have time to use them, given the severity of her injuries.” There was a small pill bottle, with images of a heart with wings. “Caffeine tablets.” Dr. Giles said, his lips curled in distaste. “The bottle is empty. You can get them over the counter, which is ludicrous to me, but that’s neither here nor there.” ¹¹ The last item was a small, tattered notebook, not so dissimilar to my own. I reached out a gloved hand, and flipped open the first page.¹² The notebook was blood stained, but words could be made out through the stains and the cramped, messy handwriting. The tone was bleak, it was clear that Gloria was very, very afraid¹³. There was a repeating phrase, a sentence about the ‘darkness in the forest of dreams’ that sounded very ominous. The book was full, so we would need to study it, preferably without the watchful eye of Dr. Giles.

“This notebook may have some indicators of her last hours, may we take it with us? I’ll return it to the evidence locker as soon as we have what we need from it, of course.”¹⁴

“That is most irregular.” Dr. Giles said stiffly. I dialed up the smile and slipped the notebook into an evidence bag, talking to him in a falsely bright tone, making sure to emphasize the role of the FBI, and the importance of finding Daniel Martinez before a similar fate befell the boy, and he relented, handing me a fresh evidence bag¹⁵. I asked for a copy of the final report when it was ready, and he said he would send an extra along to the Sheriff’s office tomorrow, and then we left, hoping to hold on to the last of the daylight as we drove back to Summercrest.¹⁶

---

Ranger Station Charlie, Knight’s Lake National Park, 8PM.

The ranger station was on the other side of Summercrest, so it took us the best part of an hour to get there. The sun was setting early, but I passed Gloria’s notebook to Palmer and asked her to flick through it for anything of note.¹⁷ I kept the radio on low as we drove¹⁸, but it was mostly reporting the same handful of news stories as earlier this afternoon.

“Anything useful in there?” Montford asked Palmer as the sun began to set.

“It was a dream journal.” Palmer said thoughtfully. “Or at least, it started off as one. She started writing in it infrequently about a year ago, but really ramped up around June of this year. She went from writing once or twice a month to every night.¹⁹ The same dream, with slight differences. They filled her with dread, and her notes became quite frantic.²⁰ The dreams seemed to be centered around the Lake in the middle of the national park.”

“Knights Lake?” I asked and Palmer hummed an affirmation.

“There are many things purported to sleep underwater, and most of them are bad.” she said softly.²¹

---

The ranger station was dark when we arrived. There was a small light on, barely visible through the thick curtains. We parked the car and knocked on the door, and I nearly stumbled back on my ass when it burst open.

“Quick, get inside, hurry.” Hissed an urgent voice. Tracy Castor was not in her rangers uniform, instead sporting a loose tie-dye t-shirt and cargo pants, and squinted out into the darkness through a pair of thick reading glasses. The standard issue riffle gripped tightly in her hands, however, was trembling slightly as she urged us in. “Shit.” she said, her eyes locking onto something behind us. I turned. A large, scruffy dog stood at the edge of the light that poured out of the open door. It stood impossibly still, as another dog silently padded up to its side. They stood in shadow, but I could see the reflection of their eyes in the dark, and they both stared at Tracy with baleful eyes.²² I grabbed Palmer and we pushed into the door as more dogs silently started to file into sight and Tracy slammed the door behind her, latching it with a series of deadbolts, some of which were clearly recent additions, before slumping to the ground. Slowly, she folded her head into her arms and began rocking back and forth.

“Montford.” I said softly. “Look around for weapons, or anything we can use.” He nodded, and padded into the adjoining room. I crouched down next to Tracy and tried to coax her out of the ball she had curled into.²³ She remained wound up tight, but I could hear her muttering to herself.

“They got Gloria. Now they want me too. I’m so fucked, so fucked so fucked!” She said, an edge of panic in her voice. I shared a look with Palmer, who settled down next to the Ranger and offered her a comforting pat on the arm.

“Were the dogs outside responsible for Ranger Yarbrough’s death, Tracy?” I asked. “Did you see it happen?”²⁴ Slowly, she looked up at me²⁵. She nodded. “Can you tell me about it?” She clearly didn’t want to, but Palmer and I helped her up and guided her to the small chair and table in the center of the room. Palmer went to check if there was any tea or water and I sat down opposite Tracy and placed a comforting hand on her arm.²⁶ Her colorful clothes were grime encrusted, and her hair was matted. She kept fiddling with the frayed ends of hair that had escaped the formerly sensible braid she kept it in.

“When was the last time you went home, Tracy?” I asked.

“Wednesday.” She said softly.

“Before Ranger Yarbrough died?” I asked and she nodded once, sharply.

“The things outside have been watching me. It isn’t safe to go home.”

“Can you tell me a bit more about when you saw Gloria?”

“She called me that night. She was raving about nightmares. She’s been having bad dreams for a while. I’ve never seen someone that healthy consume that amount of caffeine, you know? I get it now though. I haven’t really slept since then either.” She shuddered. “She told me to meet her²⁷ at the diner on the edge of town. We sometimes grabbed a meal there at the end of a shift. She sounded so scared. I went out straight away, I didn’t want to leave her alone. She looked terrible.” she looked down at her own clothes and laughed softly. It had an edge of hysteria to it. “Like me, I guess. She was rambling about a dream, and a forest and the lake and then she just froze. She gripped my hand so tightly. Then she dragged me out.”

“Why did she freeze?” I asked. She pointed a shaky hand outside.

“Them.”

“The dogs?”

“They aren’t dogs.” She said sharply. “Dogs don’t act like that.” She started to tremble again, so I squeezed her hand, and Palmer joined us with a hot cup of tea. Tracy held it, staring into the cup with a forlorn, lost expression. “We ran out of the diner. Her truck was parked just off the road, past the tree line. They were waiting. Normal dogs don’t move like that. They hid in the truck, I swear, and when they jumped out, they took her down so quickly I don’t-” She started breathing heavily, and I shushed her softly.²⁸ She clamped up unable or unwilling to continue. At least we knew what had happened to Gloria now, but it didn’t make any damn sense.

“I’ve been running ever since.” Tracy whispered. “They are always there. Watching. And the nightmares.”²⁹

The description of the feral dogs was very unnerving, to say the least. I twitched the curtains to see how many of them were watching the house.³⁰ I could make out 7, possibly 8, shapes in the darkness. It was hard to tell, as they stood so still, but their eyes were visible as silver flickers in the failing light. We were trapped here, for now.

---

“Any luck finding weapons Montford?”³¹ He grunted darkly, a negative I believe, and placed his small backpack on the kitchen table. He withdrew a compact SMG with retractable stock and was began checking the narrow ammo clips. “Is that legal?” I asked, arching an eyebrow. He chuckled darkly and passed me a revolver, with a spare speed loader with six extra cartridges.³²

“Give that to Palmer. It’s double action, so even she should be able to get some use out of it.” I took it over to her, and she held it in an pinched grip, her arm outstretched and her lips curled downwards in displeasure.

“Not a fan of guns?” I asked wryly. She narrowed her eyes at me.

“If I weren’t in this line of work, I likely would never have touched one.” She muttered. Despite that, she flicked the cylinder out with a practiced flick, cycled the rounds. Tracy looked half asleep, so I plucked the rifle up from where she had dropped it and gave it a quick check³³. It was a bolt action Springfield rifle with a telescopic sight, with one in the chamber and a full magazine.

“Tracy? Are there any other weapons in the Ranger Station?”³⁴ Tracy nodded, and led me to a small locker in the back of the station, containing a few old riot vests and a brace of heavy pistols.

“There’s an axe for cutting fire wood under the bunk as well.” She said, gesturing vaguely. Montford took a spare pistol appreciatively and stalked off to retrieve the wood axe. He looked like a crazed woodsman when he came back, axe slung over the shoulder and oversized pistol in his belt. I noticed for the first time that he was already wearing a Kevlar vest, one of those slim ones you could wear under civilian clothes, so we divided up the rest of the vest between the three of us. Tracy was flagging hard, her eyes distant and I wasn’t sure how much use she would be, but I had a feeling she knew more of what was going on here.

“Tracy.” I said, touch her shoulder lightly. Her eyes focused one me, and they were wide and fearful. “We need to leave. We’ll get you somewhere safe, away from the Park, OK?”³⁵ She muttered, and fidgeted, but she let us lead her to the door.

“How many out there Montford?”

“I make 7 between us and the car.”

“They’ll be waiting.” Tracy said, her voice agitated.

“Palmer, focus on getting Tracy to the car, but wait for us to clear out as many as we can. Montford, what’s the best way to get to the car?”³⁶

“Depends how hostile they are.” He grunted, looking out the window. “If they charge us, we would be better off staying here, and waiting for an opening. Those are big mutts, and they could run us down easy, but between the two of us, and the single entry way, we could kill most of them before advancing.” Tracy cowered at the back while we made these plans, the heavy pistol held limply in her hands. I directed Palmer to her side and took up position by a window.³⁷ The cabin didn’t have any exterior lights, but when I looked over at Montford, he had a pair of military night vision goggles around his neck.

“Jesus, Montford” I said, “You need to set me up with your contact when we get back to Seattle.”

“Optimistic of you, Jones.” he said, and I was surprised to see a tight, genuine smile. I shouldn’t be surprised. We were about to get into a shootout with a pack of murderous animals, so Montford was likely in his element. I nodded to him, and pulled back the curtains. The dogs still stood silently in the shadows, a series of shapes between us and the barely visible shape of our car down the road. I opened the window as quietly as I could, and braced the rifle on the edge of the window³⁸. As one, dogs let out a small huff as they began to move.³⁹ I ignored the telescopic sight and took aim at the closest shape, squeezing the trigger and bracing as the stock bucked into my shoulder⁴⁰. Even in the dark, I saw the spray of blood as a body collapsed to the ground. It never made a sound. The other creatures padded quietly forward at a light jog, unfazed and I cranked back the bolt action as Montford threw open the door. I saw him take a step back and aim, waiting for the right moment as the dogs began to pick up speed. I could hear Palmer murmuring softly to Tracy, and Tracy speaking in a shaky voice back, but I tuned them out as I picked out another dark shape.⁴¹ The shot caught it in the chest and its body was thrown, unmoving, to the floor. The two behind it parted smoothly and continued towards us. They were close enough that the light from the house illuminated more of their features.⁴² The dogs were pallid, their jaws slack and eyes glazed over. I was no medical expert, but I recognized something that shouldn’t moving around. The emaciated creatures had no real expression, they weren’t growling or barking, they were just damned persistent.⁴³ A burst of rounds erupted from Montford’s MP5⁴⁴ before he took a few steps to the side, leaving the door clear. Over half of the dogs were down, but I could still here the scratching of their paws on the ground. Palmer had raised her revolver and was aiming at the door, and Tracy’s shaky hand had also raised her pistol, although she was trembling so much that the barrel rocked up and down.⁴⁵ The dogs were too close to the house, so I moved to take up position by the thick wooden table and prepared to fire at anything that came through the door. A pair of dogs bounded silently through the door, pivoting expertly and moving in disturbing synchronicity towards Montford. A pair of shots rang out from Palmer and Tracy.⁴⁶ Tracy’s shot went wide, but Palmers winged one of the dogs causing it to stumble. I had already aimed and fired again,⁴⁷ the bullet smashing into the uninjured dog with a wet crack. The last dog snapped its jaws at Montford,⁴⁸ but he moved out of the way of the lurching attack, letting the SMG drop and hang loose from its strap before withdrawing the fire axe from his back and swinging it like a baseball bat.⁴⁹ The axe swung over the dogs head and smashed into the wall of the ranger station.

“Get moving!” I yelled at Palmer, and she dragged Tracy to her feet and broke into a sprint out into the night. The dog was too close to Montford to fire a shot without risking hitting him, so I rushed up to try and help him beat the unnatural creature to death. Up close, the creature smelled like rot, and rancid meat, and I almost gagged as I slammed the butt of my gun down⁵⁰ on its head as it turned to snap its jaws at me, and it slumped to the ground. Blood oozed out of its wound, dark and thick, as though it had congealed inside the body.

“Carry that thing to the car.” I said, shouldering the rifle. Montford looked at me skeptically, sniffing the dead creature dubiously.

“Look, we need to know what the fuck is up with these things, and the best way to know for sure is to have a look inside. Then we can know for sure if we have to come back and burn the damn things, or get it written up as a feral dog attack and leave it to the local police.” He nodded, although it was without enthusiasm and he hauled the dog onto his shoulders.⁵¹

“Its lighter than I would have expected.” He said as we moved though the darkness. I saw the headlights flick as the engine started up, throwing the trees around us into a series of dark, shadowed angles, and we quickened our pace.

“It looks half starved and rabid to boot, so I’m not surprised.”⁵² I could feel eyes on us, and I could swear that I saw something watching us from the darkness, but whatever it was seemed content to wait amongst the trees for now as we hurried into the car. Montford hurled the dog into the trunk and we leapt into the car while Palmer gunned the engine and threw us back onto the road⁵³.

---

It went a little longer this week, there was no good place to break up the action at Ranger Station Charlie. How are you finding this mission so far? Let me know in the comments or drop me a DM, I’m always happy to chat Mythic, Delta Green or Solo roleplaying! See you next time.

1. UNE: “Titled Preacher” - Religious or science? - Religious

2. UNE Mood: Cautious.

3. Sanity Roll (Violence) 72/53. -1 SAN

4. Oracle: Recent Time of Death? Likely - 68 - No.

5. Oracle: Does the state of the body match the time? 66 No.

6. Oracle: Does he think it was wolves? 50/50 - 48 Yes.

7. Oracle: Anything under the nails? 50/50 93 Extreme No.

8. Skill Check Persuade: 94/84. 0_0

9. Skill Check: Criminology - 71/52.

10. Open Question: Any Clues? ‘Enhance Mental’ (stimulants) Any weapons? Likely 15 Yes. Used? 50/50 77 No

11. Oracle: Any note books, cellphones or anything like that? 50/50 46 - Yes

12. Descriptor Roll: “Bleak Evil.”

13. Skill Check: Occult 53/23

14. Skill Check: Persuade -20% 17/64

15. I am experimenting with ‘zooming out’ on some of the moment by moment conversations, at least for more minor scenes.

16. Chaos Factor = 6. Test Scene - 8. Scene as Expected

17. Palmer Skill: Occult 71/80

18. Oracle: Anything of note on the Radio? Unlikely - 84

19. Oracle: Recording the same dream? 50/50 41 Yes.

20. Oracle: Based around the Lake? Likely - 01. Extreme Yes. As 01 is a critical in Delta Green (and I like Random Events) I have extended this to the Mythic Emulator. Any rolls of 01 will trigger a Random Event.

21. Random Event - Close a Thread (Feral Dogs Attacks) - ‘Hinder Hope’

22. Skill: Alertness - 06/70

23. Skill: Psychotherapy - 28/10

24. Skill Check: Persuade -20% - 16/66

25. Oracle: Did She Witness Gloria’s Death? Likely - 75 Yes.

26. Skill HUMINT: 43/80. Why Is she Scared? ‘Block Home’

27. Oracle: Meet at Ranger Station? 50/50 98 Extreme No.

28. Skill: Psychotherapy - 37/10

29. Sanity Test (Unnatural): 77/55 - Critical Fail. -1 SAN

30. Skill Check: Alertness - 36/70 Oracle: More than 6? 50/50 19 - yes

31. Oracle: Does Montford Find Weapons? Unlikely - 60 - No.

32. Note: Montford is based on the premade Special Operator Character from the ‘Need to Know’ guide.

33. Oracle: Rifle have Ammo? Likely - 65 - Yes.

34. Oracle: Anymore Rifles? 50/50 76 No.

35. Skill Check: Persuade 38/84.

36. Montford Skill: Military Science: 09/50

37. Oracle: Any Exterior Lights I could turn on? Likely - 98 Extreme No.

38. Oracle: Do the animals move? 50/50 09 Extreme Yes.

39. Oracle: Are they MORE than one turn away? 50/50 - 24 Yes.

40. Skill: Firearms 12/53. (-20% Due to Darkness) 10+2 Damage. Oracle: Does that kill one? Yes.

41. Skill: Firearms 03/53 (-20% Due to Darkness) 11+2 Damage

42. Oracle: Do they look Unnatural? 50/50 Yes. Undead looking? 50/50 09 Yes.

43. Sanity Test (Unnatural): 61/54 -1 SAN. Project onto Isla Jones (Mother)

44. Montford 49/60 - Full Auto - 19 DMG. Oracle: More than 3 in Kill Radius? No.

45. Oracle: Can I see any from the window? Unlikely - No.

46. NPC Skill Checks: Palmer 07/20 Tracy: 37/20 8DMG - Take out a dog? 50/50 70 - No.

47. Skill Check: 26/83 14 DMG. Oracle: Hit uninjured dog? 34 - Yes.

48. Dog Melee: 52/50.

49. Montford Melee: 85/50.

50. Skill Check: Melee: 23/30 6 Damage. Kill It? Very Likely - Yes.

51. Oracle: Is it lighter than it should be? Likely - 19 Yes.

52. Skill: Alertness - 62/72 Oracle: Is there anything watching us? 50/50 - Yes.

53. End Scene. Chaos Factor - 6. Test Expected Scene - 5 - Remove a character and add an object. Landry removed. Coroner Report.