Operation Lost Herald: Chapter Three

Learning more than I want to 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.

Thumbnail photo by Alesia Kozik: https://www.pexels.com/photo/river-in-the-middle-of-forest-6004828/

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Basement of Palmer Residence - 3PM

It was with a sense of dislocation that I found the door to Palmer’s basement. We had searched the whole house, and found a fair amount of creepy and esoteric shit, most of which we had boxed up and left by the door. Montford was making his way through a whole pack of cigarettes, his gaze and gun locked on the entranceway. He seemed to have resigned himself to something, probably a blaze of glory if I knew him, but fuck that. And fuck him too. I wasn’t ready to give up yet, although I was struggling to contain a steadily rising tide of panic in my chest. The pantry in the kitchen was sparse, but I noticed a few things that raised my suspicions. Small things, but suspicious, like symbols and sigils carved into the wood or stone, as well as a few construction materials that were out of place next to the refried beans and stale pasta. It was the blood that tipped me off though. The rear wall and floor had flecks of blood and something that looked suspiciously like bone, and finding that helped me find the hatch at the back, underneath a false floor panel. I glanced over my shoulder, where Tracy was bustling about the kitchen in barely concealed panic, and decided to check it out alone. I moved the panel, revealing a narrow staircase that led underground into a wide, low ceilinged room. The stench was almost overwhelming, not just the foul smell of rot and bad breath that operated as background static throughout the house, but also the increasingly familiar smell of blood and viscera. Of Death. The smell was concentrated in the center of the room,¹ where a wide circle, drawn mostly in chalk, but with details in blood and chipped pieces of tooth and bone.² I recognized the outline, although it took me a beat to realize from where. The book that I had found last summer, The Daemonologia Sacra - The book of sigils.³ Unlike the sigils that Dr. Abel had been dabbling in, this was a particular type of sigil. It was a Binding Circle.

“Palmer, what the fuck have you been doing?” I muttered.⁴

“Something that I'm sure she regrets, little hunter.” A voice murmured back.

---

There was someone standing in the circle. A towering figure, possibly 7 or maybe even 8 feet tall stood hunched within the circle. They looked almost human, even accounting for the height. But they couldn’t fool me. Not anymore. Angular, jutted bones protruded from limbs just barely visible underneath a tattered black robe and their wide, angular face split into a square toothed grin as they watched me.

“You have good instincts, I think, little hunter.” The voice said. It was deep, and cultured, without a trace of accent. The creature had to stoop over, clearly too tall for the low ceiling, but still it stood at ease, it’s large, dark eyes following me as I walked the border of the circle.

“Where’s Palmer?” I asked.⁵ It flashed another toothy smile, but remained silent.⁶ I was loath to turn my back on it, but I walked the perimeter of the room, searching for any hints or clues to Palmer’s location, but the basement was bare but for the blood, bone and the robbed figure.

“Why are you here?” I asked it through gritted teeth. I felt angry, which was a lot more comfortable than the overwhelming helplessness that had been starting to well up upstairs.⁷

“Your compatriot required information.” It said smoothly. “She found me, wounded and separated from my people and she brought me here, to help me recover in exchange for knowledge.”

“So she questioned you?” I asked. “What kind of questions?”⁸

“She was very curious.” It said, ominously. “She witnessed one of my kinsman manipulate reality, as is our wont. She wanted to know how.” The creature barked a derisive laugh. “I am not sure her mind handled my teaching well. I am not overly familiar with humans, after all. But my, there was a lot of blood.” My eyes narrowed. I wasn’t surprised that Palmer was screwing around with something that she should know better than to fuck around with, but I really wished she had left the creepy long limbed monster dying where ever she had found it instead of locking it up in her basement for me to deal with.

“Where is she?”

“I’m surprised you don’t just follow your nose, little hunter.” The creature said, tapping a bonelike finger to a gnarled knot on its face that, contextually, must be its nose.

“Don’t call me that.” I snarled, trying to hide my unease. Whenever this creature said ‘hunt’ it was all I could do not to raise the barrel of my gun up and empty it into its body. The creature shrugged.

“A bargain then?” It said, snapping its fingers with a dull click. “Deals made from mutual necessity are a cornerstone of human culture.” It’s grin somehow widened. “Not that anyone here is human, of course.” It barked its scraping, uncomfortable laugh again, before gesturing at the chalk and blood on the floor. “Release me.” It commanded. When I didn’t move, it let out a dramatic sigh. “That was a request, not a command, but it is also a necessity. Your friend has hidden her path from you, but I can show it to you if you release the binding. Otherwise, I’m as powerless as your mortal friends upstairs.” It shrugged, an air of nonchalance so utterly human it could only be deliberate. “You might be able to find her on your own, but you might have to give up something that you aren’t willing to and besides, I suspect that time is a factor for you, no?” It said in a sibilant whisper. While the creature spoke I could feel my heart rate increase, the blood in my veins surging with adrenaline like I was in the middle of a fight, and it was becoming harder to catch my breath. It was right, of course. I was having trouble controlling myself, standing in front of this unnatural creature, but it wasn’t fear that was was pulsing through my body. It was a very simple, very powerful urge to kill the damn thing and take my chances. It watched me struggle, its eyes alight with humor and a small, private smile.

“What do you know about what is happening to me?” I said through gritted teeth.

“Free me, and I’ll tell you.” It said softly. Smug bastard. I blew out a long breath and turned my back on it, and radioed Tracy.

“Where did you go?” She asked with a hint of panic in her voice.

“I’m in the basement.” I told her, and there was a beat before she responded.

“There’s a basement here?” She said. Bemused.

“Yeah, I’ll explain later. Where is Montford?”

“He’s still just sat on the sofa, scowling at the door and smoking. He keeps muttering to himself, and honestly he’s kind of freaking me out.”

“I need you two to go upstairs for a while, just until I give the go ahead.”⁹

“Why?”

“Because there is something down here and I think it wants to leave, and the less things in between it and the exit, the better.”

“Great.” She said, without about as much enthusiasm as I would expect. “Palmer’s really been digging in the shit, huh?”

“You have no idea.”

---

I waited until I got the all clear from the other two, which took longer than I expected, probably because Montford is an ass and kept grumbling over the mic.

“I’ve no interest in your friends.” The creature said idly while we waited. “Nor the less friendly colleagues you have placed outside.”

“Well, they might have an interest in you.” I told him sharply. I didn’t bother asking how he knew about Oakes' team. The less I thought about this creature, the easier time I was having of it. “Can you get out without alerting anyone?” I asked.¹⁰

“Of course.” He said smoothly. He was lying. He smelt like a liar, which I acknowledge didn’t make any sense, but I knew it was true. It didn’t change anything, but damn, I wish it did. The creature directed me to remove some of the bones on the edge of the circle and smudge the chalk and blood, which took longer than I expected and while I’m not a squeamish person, it was still extremely unpleasant and made me feel very dirty.

“Precision is only important in the creation of a binding circle.” He said adopting the tone of a bored instructor. “Once it has fully formed, it will only relent after significant damage has been done, or if each lode point is disrupted.”

“Uh huh.” I said dispassionately. I didn’t want to dedicate any of my grey matter to this magic ritual bullshit, having seen what it did to literally anyone else who had interacted with it, but I could feel my mind filing that detail away, as though it may come in useful someday.¹¹ It took ten minutes to destroy each lode point. The creature visibly relaxed once the power of the circle had dissipated. It snapped its fingerers again, like a stage magician.

“Your first reward.” He said, and gestured to the rear wall.¹² Almost like curtains being opened, the wall shifted and changed. The blank brick transformed before my eyes into an expertly painted mural. It depicted lush jungle, a mixture of greens, browns and yellows that was, even to my untrained eye, quite breathtaking. It looked almost real.¹³

“The Plateau of Leng.” The voice said behind me. “Your friend is there.” In the shadows of the large, unfamiliar leaves, there were small, almost imperceptible lights. They looked like eyes, watching me as I walked towards the mural, and it felt as though the gazes followed me as I walked. The trees wound into a path that seemed to lead to some form of waterfall and just ahead, almost out of sight, was a slight bob of familiar auburn hair. This was all well and good, but I was failing to understand how it actually helped me.

“How-” I flinched as I felt a wave of energy crash towards me, the reek of unwashed bodies filling my nostrils. I was shoved backwards, towards the wall, and I threw out a hand to brace myself, but the wall gave beneath my weight. The creature had a grim smile on its face as I toppled backwards, the stench of it replaced by the lush, vibrant scent of raw nature. It’s voice spoke in my mind as I collapsed backwards.¹⁴

“Follow your nose huntress, and you might just survive.”¹⁵

---

A Vivid dream

I felt disjointed, as though reality was suddenly just a thing other people experienced. I swam in a void of empty nothingness, and for the first time in months I felt a few muscles relax. This was fine, this nothingness. It felt a lot more manageable than whatever the fuck my day was turning into. With a painful whiplash, I was conscious again, only something was off. I felt like I was having an episode, piloting my body from the outside, sluggish and dissociated from myself, until I looked down at my hands, at the bonelike texture and inhuman proportions, and realized that I wasn’t piloting my body at all. I was in the passenger seat for that thing.¹⁶ It chuckled, and spoke out loud.

“You aren’t dreaming, little hunter.” It said, as it walked through Palmer’s house, a finger with far to many joints and hinges tracing a line across the wall as they walked, leaving a trail of light blue flames behind it. “Why don’t I fulfil my other promise, seeing as you are along for the ride. Knowledge, after all, is why I was imprisoned. It’s only fair that it’s the cause for my liberation” It climbed the steps, towards Tracy and Montford, but stopped as I screamed silently to leave them alone. “I’m a creature of my word.” It said, a trace of irritation in its monotone. “I’m just making sure they don’t interfere.” We reached out a hand, and I felt the presence of his mind go outwards, down the hallway and into the study. The flames leapt from the wall and swirled, dissipating as the burned through the air. After a moment, he grunted in satisfaction, and walked past the doorway, towards Palmer’s bedroom. He carefully avoided the few rays of sunshine that still flickered lazily past the curtains, but Montford and Tracy, crouched with their weapons primed, seemed oblivious to his presence. They didn’t react as he began speaking again.

“Creatures like you have existed all throughout history. Scions of the Hunt. When Atlantis still saw the light of day, you were a scourge, little different from the extraplanar beasts that haunted the fringes of civilization. In Lemuria, you were a necessary omen, feared, unwanted but important to the Great Cycle. In Mu, well.” He sighed, and gestured with his hand dismissively. “You get the idea. You are a container of flesh and bone for the cosmic essence of bloodshed. You do not hunt. You are the hunt, an eternal, constant reminder of humanity's dark prehistory, dating back to when humanity was just a glimmer in the eye of evolution. That which is in you is as old as this planet, it was here long before humanity, the MiGo, even the Elder Ones, and it will be here long after, until the planet is all but dust.” The creature walked along the wall and twitched the curtains, looking outside and chuckling. “Tell me, when was the last time you enjoyed a meal? Not recently, I would imagine, unless you’ve been eating your kills. You want to know what you are? I suggest you try eating your prey while you are in Leng, although once you start, you may find it a challenge to stop. It’s only a matter of time, though. You will either die, dragged down by the last vestiges of your humanity, or live as something more than human, something primeval, a being in synchronicity with the heartbeat of the earth itself. Bend to the will of the cosmos, or break under its weight. It is up to you. Now, it is time to leave.” As it had been talking, the light receded from the window, at a pace far too quick to be natural. When the house went dark, It threw back the curtains and pointed it’s open palm towards one of the black government vans. I felt a surge of power, heard the bark of a self satisfied chuckle, and the side of the van bent inwards, as though a fist the size of a Monster Truck had crashed into the side. The van tumbled over, and-

---

The Plateau of Leng? Date: Unknown. Time? After Nightfall.

I shot upright, my breath coming in ragged gasps before I turned over and vomited. My head hurt, and my vision was blurry, like I had stayed up late drinking and then got hit by a car.¹⁷ I dragged myself to my feet and looked around.¹⁸ There was a swirl, an almost physical rift in the air behind me, but as I blinked, it was gone, and I was surrounded by jungle and fauna.¹⁹

I was physically numb as I stumbled through the dense thicket, my submachine gun held loosely in my hand. It was hard to tell how much of the dreamlike state I was in was due to the place, and how much was my inability to deal with how well and truly fucked I was. I didn’t know much about rainforests, of which this almost certainly was one, but I was fairly certain there wasn’t a fucking thicket of bamboo trees in Montana. Where had that creature said I was? The Plateau of Leng? Where the fuck was that?²⁰ I strained my memory to try to remember any mention of the place, but it felt like numb fingers pawing at a delicate piece of clockwork. My head hurt so goddamn much. I tasted salt, and smelt iron, but it took me a while to realize it wasn’t some new enemy about to attack, just that my nose had started bleeding.²¹ I wanted to find somewhere, curl up into a ball, and go to sleep, but even with my limited survival knowledge, I sensed that it was something I wouldn’t wake up from. I looked at the path in front of me and tried to concentrate.²² I had been walking for a few minutes, but the scene in front of me looked like the painting on the wall, from the the bead of dew on the bamboo leaf next to me, down to the uneasy feeling of being watched. I glanced to my left, where I had seen the auburn bob of hair.²³ My eyes narrowed. There. I don’t think I would have seen it if my vision hadn’t been improving and I knew where to look. A messy bun, bouncing as though at a jog. I took a deep breath, and closed my eyes, breathing in through my nose and out through my mouth.²⁴ I could smell a myriad of nature smells, but underneath it was a vague smell of motor oil, smoke and…there. Palmer wore a perfume that was popular among the clerks and legal assistant at the courthouse, I couldn’t remember the brand, but I remember smelling it when I first met her and thinking, ‘seems about right.’ I opened my eyes, and broke into a run.²⁵

---

So, that was a lot. The Plateau of Leng is described as a bit of an in between place on the edge of reality, but it’s also simultaneously described as somewhere in South-East Asia, in Atlantis and possibly in Antarctica, so there’s quite a range there. There’s a lot of Mythos tie ins in this chapter, and I wanted to try to tie this mission and Kat more closely with Delta Green lore. Kat is currently having a disassociation episode, and is also Adapted to Helplessness. Overall, not a great mental health day for her. Thanks for reading! Let me know what you think in the comments or send me a message! I’d be interested to know if anyone recognized what our mystery monster in the basement was.

1. Oracle: Chalk? 50/50 30 Yes.

2. Occult 16/39 Do I recognize this from the sigils book? 50/50 56 Yes.

3. Kat found this book in Operation Haruspex. Oracle: Is this a binding? Likely - 09 Extreme yes.

4. Oracle: Does something answer? 28 Yes. Light Tone? 84 No.

5. Oracle: Does he tell me? 50/50 89 No Anything in the room? Likely - 89 No.

6. Skill: Search - 05/80 - Anything Hidden? 50/50 - 92 Extreme No

7. Oracle: Information? Likely - 64 Yes.

8. Oracle: Translocation? 91 No. Spell? Likely - 52 Yes

9. Oracle: Does she ask why? 50/50 47 Yes. Skill Persuade 24/90

10. Oracle: Can he? Likely - 100 Extreme No.

11. Sanity(Unnatural): 65/45 - 1 Sanity Loss.

12. Oracle: Is there a painting? Likely- 64 Yes

13. Oracle: Leng? 50/50 48 - yes

14. Sanity(Unnatural): 70/45 1d4 Sanity Loss = 2. Project 2 onto Mom

15. End Scene. Chaos Factor 8. Test Scene - 6 Interrupt Scene - NPC Positive - Lure Success.

16. Oracle: Does it know I’m here? 38 Yes.

17. Lost d6 Willpower = 1 Lucky

18. Oracle: Any visible way back? Very Unlikley-21 Yes

19. Sanity(Helplessness): 50/45 - d4 = 3. Project onto Palmer = 1. 2 Sanity loss. Oh no. Acute Episode Triggered and Kat is now Adapted to Helplessness.

20. Skill: Unnatural 66/13. This is the danger of testing the Unnatural skill.

21. d4 HP lost from the fumble = 2 HP.

22. Oracle: Is there any sign of Palmer? 50/50 - 92 No. Does it look like the painting? Likely 03 Extreme yes.

23. Oracle: Is the bob of hair there? Unlikely - 60. Yes.

24. Oracle: Smells? 50/50 18. Yes. Industrial, Reassuring, Normal.

25. 14/35 (-20% from Acute Episode) Athletics. Is Palmer being pursued? Likely - 72 Yes.