The Situation:
A former Delta Green “Friendly,” one with access to information that The Program wishes not to be made public but isn’t an actual member of the group, has gone missing. A team of agents has been assembled, not to recover the Friendly, but to instead just make sure that he hasn’t left anything behind that may be dangerous. But what happens when someone with knowledge of hypermathematics decides to… Divide by Zero?
Note: This scenario works best if one or more Agents have Mathematics knowledge. Since the information they are attempting to recover is mathematical, this makes sense. If no character has Science:Mathematics, allow things like Computer Science or Cryptography (or Astronomy or Physics) to have the same effect. You can also use Intelligence x 5 rolls to let Agents reach the same conclusions.
The Setup:
The agents have all worked with Delta Green previously (either the official Special Access Program or the unofficial “outlaw” version), so they should not be too surprised when receiving a text message from an unrecognized number. The message is nothing but a link to a folder on an anonymous file service. There, they find two documents.
(Players with appropriate skills can trace the text as coming from a phone booth at a currently disused fairgrounds north of Atlanta. Note that it is challenging to send a text message from a phone booth. The file server is located in the Cayman Islands but will go off-line shortly after the first player downloads the files. Attempts to determine a physical location will fail; the actual site has been spoofed, and it is not active long enough for a full trace.)
Document 1 (to be shared with the players):
A situation has come up that must be dealt with. You have been designated as Working Group “Phoenix.” You are to resolve this situation according to the instructions of this document. You will report your success by replying to the text which invited you here. There will be no other contact.
Dr. Riku Takamura, a professor of mathematics at Emory University, disappeared approximately three weeks ago. A missing person’s report has since been filed with the local authorities, who have investigated but found no foul play. As it is the Summer session and he has no classes, the assumption is that he has taken an unannounced vacation. That investigation is not continuing at this time.
Dr. Takamura is a Friendly who has worked with us on one or more operations in the past. Details of these operations are not available. While we have no evidence that anything out-of-the-ordinary has occurred, we cannot risk the possibility that Dr. Takamura may have been compromised.
Your assignment is to look into Dr. Takamura’s disappearance and ensure that he has not left behind any material connecting him with or of any potential interest to us. Any such content must be retrieved or destroyed. This must be done so that any possible, future investigations into his disappearance will not find any evidence of intrusion or cover-up.
Retrieval of Dr. Takamura is secondary unless there is evidence that he has become a threat. In that case, you are to either retrieve or terminate him. That is at your discretion.
Notify via text response to the number which directed you here when the assignment is complete. We will not initiate or respond to any other contact.
Document 2 (to be shared with the players):
Dr. Riku Takamura
Age – 42 (DOB 7/13/1975, Los Angeles, California)
Nationality – US
Ethnicity – JapaneseBS, Mathematics – Cal Tech – 1996
MS, Mathematics – Cal Tech – 1998
Ph.D., Mathematics – Cal Tech – 2001Occupation: Professor of Mathematics, Emory University, Atlanta, GA
Professional Background: Dr. Takamura is most famous in mathematical circles due to his work in “Catastrophe Ratios.” He developed a mathematical model in which analyzes various physical (such as earthquakes and hurricanes), economic (stock market and business climate), and social (uprisings and wars) events, and determined that they followed a mathematical pattern. In general, he found that the magnitude of such events (defined as orders-of-ten in “severity”) was roughly proportional to the separation between events. So, events that were ten times as severe tended to occur 1/10th as often, events 100 times as severe occur 1/100th as often, and so on.
The model had been known for some time, but Dr. Takamura’s models have produced a much closer fit than had been seen before. Previously the relationship had not been precise enough to be useful for actual predictions. However, the mathematical community did not fully endorse his theory. His models only fit when the “magnitude” of the events fall within certain discrete and seemingly random bands. Opponents have accused him of only picking events that met his model and felt that it did not have a general application.
Dr. Takamura had success working with the brokerage firm Sandhauser/Prince during the development of their “Adam Smith” trade forecasting software, but he left due to “professional differences” in 2005.
He transferred to academia, gaining a position in the Mathematics department of Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia. He additionally worked as a consultant for the next few years, most notably with FEMA and the EPA, on a “just-in-time” emergency management project, but left consultancy for full-time academia in 2007. He became a full professor in 2016.
Personal Background: Dr. Takamura has lived in Atlanta, Georgia, for the past 12 years; his current residence is at 1173 Briarcleft Road, near Emory University. He was briefly married, from 2005 to 2006, to Talia Pearsons. The marriage ended after only ten months due to allegations of infidelity from Pearsons against Takamura. Takamura did not contest the claims, and the divorce was settled out-of-court. He has had no long-term involvement since.
His only surviving family is his sister–Reiko Takamura–currently residing in San Diego. Ms. Takamura was the one who reported him missing after she was unable to contact him on or after his birthday.
Since joining Emory, Takamura has been disciplined three times, twice for engaging in an “inappropriate relationship with a student” and once for encouraging students in one of his classes to invest in stocks based on one of his models. The stock advice proved accurate, but doing so violated school policy. Despite these indiscretions, he was awarded a full professorship in 2016.
Other: Dr. Takamura has had several papers rejected by the National Association of Mathematicians. This delayed his tenure attempts with Emory University. He has claimed “government cover-up” on them, based on his prior work with FEMA and the EPA. Both agencies have denied any involvement with his publications.
This assignment can be from either the official Special Access Program or the outlaw Delta Green; it doesn’t matter. I feel it works best if the Agents are part of the official program but have been contacted by the unofficial one. The players will never know for sure.
What is Actually Going On:
Dr. Takamura’s models have predicted that a major catastrophic event will occur within the next few years. He has attempted to notify authorities of this (including his contacts within Delta Green), but no one has taken him seriously. Well, no one other than a group of “doomsday preppers” on-line.
He has convinced a few of them that he has a way to escape the oncoming apocalypse, and they have left with him. Using some obscure mathematical equations he acquired from Delta Green in the past–the same equations that led to his forecast model; he had reason not to explain the seemingly “random” nature of them)–he has located a “Fracture” in space-time. He, the people who believed him, and a few others, have passed through the Fracture and have been transported through time to the late Cretaceous era. Missing person reports have been filed on several of these other persons, but no connection between them has yet been made by Delta Green, or by any other organization.
Not all of the people now in the past are there willingly.
The “Fracture” is going to close in just a few days. The Agents have until then to do whatever they plan to do. After that, it won’t matter.
The Details:
This scenario is relatively open-ended in that it doesn’t attempt to force the Agents to any particular place; it just sets up the situation and allows them to proceed in any way they wish. Essential clues as to what is going on can be found in multiple locations. A certain amount of investigation is required.
With the small amount of information they have, the players are likely to go to only a few places or follow up on a few leads to start.
Leads: FEMA, The EPA, The National Association of Mathematics, Takamura’s Sister, Takamura’s Ex-Wife, Emory University, Delta Green.
Locations: Dr. Takamura’s Office, Dr. Takamura’s Home.
Researching Dr. Takamura’s history
The EPA or FEMA: Talking to either the EPA or FEMA will reveal that both of them ceased working with Dr. Takamura after multiple complaints were filed against him by his female co-workers. The only information they get beyond that is that he is highly egotistic and cannot understand why anyone will not listen to what he is saying (or why a female co-worker would not be as interested in him as he is with them).
National Association of Mathematics: After explaining what they are asking about, they will learn that Takamura’s papers were rejected by peer review. The correlations he claims are valid, but only for seemingly random values for “magnitude” and “significance.” For most real-world data, his models are meaningless. Takamura insisted that the values he had selected are “significant” but refused to provide anything to back up that statement. Any agents with Science:Anything will realize that this is a valid reason to reject the papers and that there does not seem to be a cover-up; anyone can come up with a correlation if they claim it only applies to seemingly “random” pieces of data.
Sister: Reiko Takamura: Contacting his sister in San Diego reveals that they are not particularly close but, as they are the only surviving family members, they still make some attempts to stay in touch with each other. This is the first time she has not been able to contact him on his birthday, and, after a few days, she contacted the police in concern. The police say that they have found no evidence of foul play and that “going somewhere without telling anyone where they are going is not a crime for an adult in good mental health.” They have indicated that they do not intend to investigate further. She is concerned and will thank the Agents for looking into his disappearance, but has no other relevant information.
Ex-wife: Talia Pearsons: Contacting Talia Pearsons will reveal that she has not had any contact with Takamura, or any desire for such, in over ten years. She left him after she caught him having an affair with one of his students (who had come to their home for “private tutoring”), and he gave no apology. In fact, he told her to “expect it as a normal occurrence.” She left him shortly afterward. She knows nothing about his possible whereabouts and doesn’t care.
Delta Green: Attempting to contact Delta Green through the number they were reached on will receive no response, nor will they receive a response from any previous contact they may have used. If they do somehow manage to get in touch with a former connection, they will deny any knowledge of this mission or any information on Dr. Takamura.
Emory University: Emory is an obvious place to start, but they will get very little information from official channels, citing privacy concerns. The agents will not be able to find anything beyond what they already know (that Dr. Takamura has been disciplined several times, is a full professor, and has no classes scheduled during the summer). Anyone flashing a badge or attempting to present this as an official investigation into his disappearance will meet resistance. They will be informed that both campus and local authorities have found no evidence of foul play and will not provide any more information to Federal agents without appropriate warrants or cooperation with the local authorities.
Talking to Takamura’s colleagues or students will find that all of them agree that he is a genius mathematician, having an almost intuitive understanding of things that sometimes makes it difficult for him to explain his discoveries to others.
Unlike many academics, he is also quite gregarious and social and was quite friendly with his colleagues and students. With HUMINT or Psychotherapy, agents will also learn that Takamura has had multiple relationships with female students. None of those were illegal, as he is quite careful to only associate with students who are adults. Still, it is considered unethical by the university and so discouraged. However, they will also learn that he has been involved with a graduate student named Sara McDonald for about a year.
New Lead: Sara McDonald.
New Location: Sara McDonald’s Apartment.
Dr. Takamura’s Office Agents cannot get official access to Dr. Takamura’s office (for the reasons above). Still, they may be able to bluff one of the administrative assistants on the floor to let them in. They can always break-in, of course.
Inside they will find numerous books, papers, files, and the like, typical for a college professor. They will also find his computer.
There are only two things of interest in the room. First is a birthday card lying under the desk. It looks like it missed the trash can and fell behind it. The interior of the card reads, “Looking forward to spending a week camping with you. Love you, Sara.”
They will also find a thin folder hidden under some other files in the filing cabinet. (The others are in hanging folders, this one is lying flat beneath them.) The folder has about a dozen pages in it, mostly covered in mathematical equations. The title is “Stable Mapping of Physical Constants to Other Reference Frames.” Anyone who flips through it and makes an INTx5 check will understand that the document is examining about a dozen mathematical equations and attempting to find other geometries in which the majority, if not all, of those equations, are also valid.
Agents who have Science:Physics or Science:Mathematics (or Science:Astronomy if neither of the first two is available) will understand this without a check. However, if they succeed at a check of their own, they will realize that, if these equations are correct, then the space-time in which we live may not be the simple geometry that we believe. Instead, our actual universe may be one of several possible, more complex geometries. These geometries are “discontinuous” in that there are parts of them not connected to others. They have “fractures,” even though the pieces of the geometries are adjacent.
(As an example, there may be a reference frame where the number 3 does not exist. So 2 + 2 would be 4, but 1 + 2 would be undefined, like trying to divide by zero in our reference frame. The places where three should be in that frame would be a fracture.)
The situation is analogous to how the crustal plates of Continental Drift move around on Earth’s surface, except that pieces of reality are drifting around on the surface of space-time.
Realizing this forces any of the scientifically-inclined agents to make a SAN check. If they succeed, they are fine. But, if they fail, they understand what the equations are saying and lose 1d6 (Unnatural).
The document itself seems fairly old; a successful Archeology or History roll will date it to the early 18th Century. It is hand-written on some form of thin leather. If anyone asks, Science:Biology cannot determine the source of the leather. (This is good for a 0/1 Sanity check.)
The computer is on the campus network and password protected. The Emory IT department will not allow them access without an official warrant. They can still guess the password (“SaraMac”) or attempt to hack into it using Computer Science. (Agents can probably get a warrant if they wish, but it makes it evident that there was government interest in Dr. Takamura.)
However they gain access they will find absolutely nothing of importance on the computer. The computer is so clean it is suspicious, almost as if any incriminating files or programs have been removed. Anyone with Computer skills can quickly determine that the browser history, cookies, and such have been recently wiped, the trash emptied, and a “cleaner” program run to prevent any deleted files from being recovered. That was the last thing done on the machine.
The entire room is suspiciously clean. Anyone making a Forensics check will realize that someone has gone through the office and cleaned everything up. Far more thoroughly than a regular janitorial crew would have.
There is nothing else in the office.
Sara McDonald: Questions about Sara McDonald to the University will receive little information beyond the fact that she is indeed a student there and that she transferred in as a graduate student several years ago from the University of Miami; specifically so that she could study under Dr. Takamura. Dr. Takamura is also her graduate advisor. Her initial grades were excellent, but her non-mathematics classes started falling off around the end of last year. Officially they can get nothing more.
Unofficially, by using HUMINT or Persuade to talk to other professors or students, they will learn that she became romantically involved with Dr. Takamura during the previous fall semester and that she practically abandoned her other classes to spend more time with him; taking on the role of his graduate assistant.
Local Authorities (either Dekalb County or Emory University): If the agents ask the local authorities about Dr. Takamura’s disappearance, then they will receive the same information as before; there appears to be no evidence that a crime has taken place. They will not receive any more information unless they identify themselves as Federal agents. If they do, the local authorities will express surprise that the Feds are interested in the case. However, they will still have no other information to provide. This is a dead-end.
Sara McDonald’s home: It will be reasonably simple to find McDonald’s address. She is staying in a rental house with three other graduate students, relatively near the campus.
Her roommates will be a bit surprised that anyone is asking about her. HUMINT or Persuade will again get them to tell more. Unlike any other location in this adventure, they are more likely to provide information if the agents identify themselves.
The roommates will tell them that McDonald was fascinated with Dr. Takamura; she had read some of his papers and had done undergraduate work studying the simulation he had developed. They say that she had become romantically involved with him during the previous summer session, shortly after his last graduate assistant graduated.
They also say that she sometimes bragged that she didn’t even go to classes because, as he was so impressed with her mathematical knowledge that he didn’t need her to prove anything. She hadn’t stayed at the house since before the start of the year. They didn’t mind because it gave them more room to themselves; she was still paying her share of the rent.
None of them are particularly fond of Dr. Takamura; one of them even says that he tried hitting on her once while waiting for Sara to come downstairs. They say he has been giving his “graduate assistants” free passes on grades for a long time.
When asked about Dr. Takamura’s disappearance, they said that, according to Sara, they were planning to go hiking and camping up in North Carolina. Sara had not been an active hiker before but had decided to go with him. They left on the weekend of his birthday, back in July.
Since then, she has texted them once, about a week later. She said that they had decided to drive over to western North Carolina for a while and that she would not be back until after that. They have not heard anything since. They find it unusual that someone who had never been camping before would agree to do so for a week, much less extend it to over a month. Still, given her seeming infatuation with Dr. Takamura, they aren’t quite sure what to make of it. If the agents have identified themselves as such, they are glad that someone is looking into what is going on.
There is no other information available here. If the agents search her room, they will find some winter clothing, and that is it.
Dr. Takamura’s home: There is a lot of information available here.
This is an older, two-story house with a detached garage. The lawn shows definite neglect (it hasn’t been mowed in over a month, and the landscaping desperately needs to be attended to). The mailbox is overflowing. Inside, there is a notice saying that mail service has been suspended because of a lack of space and that he needs to go to the local post office to re-establish it.
The house has an alarm system. Any attempt to enter will set off the alarm. (There are door, window, and motion sensors covering the first floor; there is nothing on the second.) If the agents set off the alarm, the local police will show up in about 10 minutes. They can avoid complications by showing their Federal IDs (but this will show federal interest in the case).
The pass-code for the alarm system is 0713 (his birth date). Allow an INTx5 from the agents if no one suggests it to allow them to guess this before the authorities show up.
The first floor of the house has a living room, dining room, kitchen, and office. The kitchen has a refrigerator with some food, all of which have gone bad. No one has been here for a month or more.
The obvious thing in the office is a laptop. It will take a Computer Science or SIGINT roll to get into it unless an agent guesses the password (“SaraMac”). Allow INTx1 checks from all agents to guess the password if other access attempts fail. Or they can take it with them and brute-force the info from it later. The laptop has the following information.
First, Dr. Takamura has been using the laptop to pay his bills. They will quickly learn that he has been paying for space at a rental office suite a short distance away; Suite 213 at “Your Personal Office.” There are also mail-order purchases of large amounts of packaged food (far more than two people would need for a few days camping), camping gear, gardening supplies and seeds, and even a set of solar panels. There is also a receipt for the rental of a trailer dated about a week before he disappeared. Checking his financial records shows that he has spent a good portion of his savings in the past few months.
New Location: Your Personal Office
Second, the laptop contains the full communications between Dr. Takamura and the National Association of Mathematics, including the two papers that the NAM rejected. There is also a PDF scanned copy of the “Stable Mapping of Physical Constants to Other Reference Frames” document. If the players didn’t find or failed their rolls on the document before, they could attempt to make them again.
Additionally, now that they have the actual papers, allow any agents with Science:Physics or Science:Mathematics (or Science:Astronomy if neither of the first two is available) to make another roll. If they succeed, they will realize that Dr. Takamura’s model is correct, but only if you assume that our reality exists in a space-time with a different geometry than is usually accepted. Apply appropriate SAN checks and loss as described before.
Finally, browser history shows that Dr. Takamura has spent a great deal of time on a website for “Doomsday Preppers.” PrepNet is a website for people preparing for an apocalypse, and he was quite active there as “MathMan.”
As MathMan, Dr. Takamura has been promoting one of his forecast models’ results, predicting a global-level catastrophe at least an order-of-magnitude more massive than anything measured in recorded history, will occur in the next three to seven years. This affects everything in his models; physical, social, and economical. He does not know the nature of this catastrophe, only that it is coming, and it will be bad. Really bad.
A small group of people on the forum seemed to believe him and started discussing plans to survive the collapse. A few months ago, a new member called “MathFan” joined and looked more like a cheerleader for MathMan than anything else. Proper checks will show that Mathfan was Sara.
In late April, MathMan suddenly announced that he had found a way to escape the coming apocalypse, but that everyone “needed to trust him.” A small number did. He told them that they needed to collect the things that they would need to restart after the fall; seeds, tools, farming equipment, that sort of thing. Anything beyond that went to some other form of private communication. None of the involved parties seemed to have communicated further on the forum.
Upstairs they will find three bedrooms and two bathrooms. The master bedroom is messy, and there are both men’s and women’s clothing in the closet. A lone suitcase sits out, and it appears that at least some clothing is missing from the closets.
A second bedroom has a neatly made bed and some clothing in the closet. The clothing is all women’s and, from the sizes, appears to have belonged to at least two different women. Neither size matches the women’s clothing in the master bedroom.
The third bedroom is empty and used for storage. Most of the boxes contain books, old student tests, study materials, records, and the like. There is nothing of importance in this room.
The only place left to search is the garage. It contains a several-year-old Toyota Civic that research will quickly show belongs to Sara McDonald. Inside, they will find a single bag holding swimwear, towels, sunblock, bug spray, some popular fiction books, and a digital camera with a blank card. Whether this was abandoned or forgotten is unknown.
The only other things in the garage are a large number of cardboard boxes, some flattened and some not, tossed to one side. These are mostly for an assortment of camping and survival food packs but mixed in with them are boxes for seeds (primarily vegetable), fertilizer, and gardening equipment. And ammunition. Lots of ammunition.
There is nothing else here.
Your Personal Office: Suite 213: “Your Personal Office” is open 24/7 and has a receptionist out front (part of its offerings). The receptionist will happily point the agents towards office 213 (upstairs and to the left) but will not give them access to it. They can attempt to bluff their way in with their credentials, but the receptionist will insist on contacting their own superior, who will log the character’s information before allowing them access. (This also shows Government interest in Dr. Takamura.)
They can, of course, break-in or pick the lock to the office. “Your Personal Office” has an atrium onto which all offices open, but 213 is upstairs. One or more agents can distract the receptionist and other renters while someone gains access. This may be more easily done at night.
(If none of the Agents possess any appropriate skills, allow them to find a key to the office back at his house or office.)
The cut glass and the key were a communications device and a universal “lockpick,” but neither will function any longer.
If the agents follow up on this, they will be able to find video footage of Stout meeting with two other people and her entry to the Mathematics building. Following up on what else she was doing is left for future adventures.
When the agents enter the office, they will hear a gasp from the back room. They will find a woman standing there, looking at them curiously.
“You’re early,” she will say in an almost monotone. “I am too late.”
She will close her eyes and, seconds later, collapse onto the floor and begin twitching in what seems to be a fit of some kind.
The woman will not react in any other way to the arrival of the agents. She will not defend herself against any action or give any other response.
If they search her, they will find nothing but a palm-sized piece of reddish, faceted glass, and what looks like a key with no teeth. They will not be able to determine any use for either. (They were a communications and lockpicking device, but neither will function anymore, and the agents are extremely unlikely to determine their use.)
The agents now need to determine what to do with the woman on the floor. They can call for aid or attempt to take her somewhere, but doing so would reveal their presence at the office and expose Federal instance in the case. They can revive her with First Aid or Medicine rolls, but she will remain stunned and unable to respond to questions.
If they investigate, they will learn that the woman is Joann Stout; a history student at Emory who has been missing for several days after wandering away from her dorm room without her cell phone or other belongings. If they manage to get any information from her, she will claim not to know where she has been for the past few days. Her last memory was studying in the library when she felt a severe headache coming on and returning to her dorm room to rest. She has no apparent connection to Dr. Takamura, Sara McDonald, or the rest of the investigation. See the sidebar “Yithian Involvement” for details as to what is going on.
Once the agents have dealt with Stout, they can resume their search. The office is a mess; apparently, Your Personal Office’s services do not include cleaning. (Actually, it does; Dr. Takamura opted out.) A pair of large work tables are half-covered in moldy pizza boxes and takeout containers, several chairs, a cot, and many empty boxes; Dr. Takamura had been having shipments delivered here as well. On the walls are a pair of whiteboards covered with mathematical equations and a large map of the United States.
A curving arc has been drawn on the map, starting at the coast of South Carolina north of Charleston, then north into North Carolina before turning west. It traverses the state, crossing into Tennessee, and ending abruptly at the Tennessee River.
Multiple points are marked on the arc with dates, starting on July 14 at Charleston and ending on August 21 in Tennessee. Other dates mark points in between. One mark is circled; July 28. The precise latitude and longitude, as well as an exact time, is noted.
On the table, they will find many fliers for campgrounds, parks, and national forests in North Carolina. One of them, Chatokee State Park, matches the marked location on the map on the wall.
Any Agent with Science:Mathematics or Science:Physics who has read “Stable Mapping of Physical Constants to Other Reference Frames” who wants to make a roll may do so. Success or failure, they realize that the arc drawn on the map marks the movement of a point connecting two fragmented pieces of space-time together. With a success, they understand that anyone who happens to be at that point will transition to another location in space-time. On a critical success, they will realize that the point will transition them millions of years into the past.
Realizing the significance of the arc will cost 1/1d6 SAN (Unnatural) to the agent. If they explain it to the others, those agents take 0/1d3.
New Locations: Chatokee State Park, Locations along the arc from the map, aka “The Fracture”
Chatokee State Park: The agents can quickly get transportation to the Chatokee State Park. It is only about a 5-hour drive from Atlanta, and it is frankly probably faster than trying to get a flight to somewhere closer. Once there, they will find it moderately busy. The Park has day-hiking as well as campgrounds, cabins, and a small lake with swimming and boating.
Questioning the staff will not get any information unless they identify themselves as Federal Agents. At that point, they will become more cooperative. No one remembers meeting Takamura at all. If the agents ask, they will find that there is no record of Takamura ever making any campground reservations or contacting the park.
If they ask if there have been any unusual incidents in the recent past, with a luck roll, one of the Park Rangers mentions that someone cut down many trees for some reason, apparently so they could drive 20 or 30 yards into the forest. They have no idea who would have done this or why. The rangers will provide the fallen trees’ location, which turns out to be the exact coordinates that were marked on the map back at “Your Private Office.”
If the agents go to that location (or if they came directly here following the coordinates), they will find many tagged trees sitting in a pile beside the road, waiting for a truck to pick them up. A rudely cut road leads into the trees for 20 or 30 yards. Then, it turns sharply to the left and runs another 50 or 60 yards before abruptly ending. Forensics or Science:Biology will show that these trees were cut very recently.
If the agents check the area, they will find tire tracks along the cut paths. Anyone making a Forensics, Search, or INTx5 roll can realize that five sets of tires leave the main road and head up the cut. When they make the turn, there are still initially five sets. Then four… then three… then two… then one. The vehicles “vanished” one by one. None of them reached the end of the cut area.
Discovering this is 1/1d6 SAN (Unnatural). Anyone who gets this pointed out to them takes 0/1d3. If any agent realized or has been told that Takamura and his followers have gone back in time, then SAN losses are doubled and become (Helplessness) as they realize that Takamura and his people may have changed history.
There is nothing else to discover here.
The Fracture: If the agents want to see the Fracture for themselves, from the times on the map back at “Your Private Office,” they can easily calculate where it will be. If they go there, they will see what is best described as a “glitch” in reality. As the fracture moves, everything seems to shift slightly to one side for a moment then almost immediately shifts back, just for a second. Seeing this is a 0/1d3 SAN (Unnatural) loss.
If the agents station themselves in front of the Fracture, they feel nothing as it passes over them. They must be moving to pass through it.
If they step through it as it appears, then they will suddenly find themselves somewhere else. The pine forests of western North Carolina are instantly replaced with towering ferns and vine-like creepers. Enormous insects scutter about, and the air smells weirdly fresh and metallic. Anyone will Science:Biology, Science:Paleontology (or anyone with History above minimum) will realize that they are somewhere in the distant past. This is an immediate 1/1d20 SAN (Helplessness).
The Fracture moves at just above a comfortable walking speed, and agents can easily catch back up to it and return to their own time if they wish. Throw a few dinosaurs at them if they are hesitant to return.
If they want to track down Dr. Takamura and his team… try to discourage them. That location is now over a hundred miles away, and it would be incredibly challenging to get to it at this point. Anything would require far more equipment than they likely have (the forest here is too dense for any vehicle they may have, and they have a limited time frame). They can start requisitioning equipment, but they have no good way to justify it without giving too many details as to what is going on.
The best they can do is monitor the Fracture and make sure no one else gets sucked through it. Anything else destroys any security on this mission. It is incredibly unlikely that any agents will be able to get enough resources to successfully get to where Takamura’s camp is, rescue the people who don’t want to be there, and then get them back to the Fracture and the present before it closes. Any activities in this direction are left as an exercise for The Handler.
Some kind of raptor has come through the Fracture. It looks like a giant, skinny turkey with claws in the ends of its narrow wings. Remind anyone with Science that, despite what Jurassic Park might want you to think, dinosaurs did have feathers.
The “raptor” will attack by flapping into the air in front of an agent (it can fly short distances and get a dozen feet or so off the ground) and will strike downward with its claws, which have a single large, curving claw in the center. It gets two attacks at 60% and will do 1d6+1 damage with each attack (armor will absorb damage).
The “raptor” has an equivalent DEX of 12 and 12 Hit Points. No armor.
Seeing a dinosaur is a 1/1d6 SAN loss (Unnatural). Being attacked by one is an additional 0/1d4 (Violence).
Allow the agents to come across one or more of these at any location where they encounter the fissure. Or feel free to allow any number of more harmless fauna to be found. Disposal of any dinosaurs or their remains is obviously part of the mission.
Epilog:
Assuming that the Agents are not trapped in the Cretaceous, they can make their report to Delta Green. If they have retrieved both copies of “Stable Mapping of Physical Constants to Other Reference Frames”–the physical one in the office at Emory and the scanned copy on the computer at Takamura’s house (and have not left any random dinosaurs roaming around)– then they will have accomplished the minimum needed for “success.” Other than that, it will depend on how much attention the agents brought to themselves. If they managed to not use their federal credentials for anything other than simple questioning (as in, they didn’t use their authority to gain access to any location), then they have fully succeeded. (Any future investigation could easily be explained as a routine follow-up on someone with security clearance which has been reported missing.) If they did use their positions to get access anywhere, or if they relayed what they found back to any friends or family members of those who went with Dr. Takamura, then the repercussions of that are up to the Handler.
Of course, the Agents are free to keep copies of “Stable Mapping of Physical Constants to Other Reference Frames” and Dr. Takamura’s other unpublished papers and investigate further if they wish. Ask if anyone does. If they do, ask any agent involved to make appropriate Science rolls. Ask for two.
If they succeed with either one, then they will realize that Dr. Takamura’s equations are correct. In three to seven years, a major disaster will occur. Understanding this will cost 1d6/1d20 SAN (Helplessness).
If they succeed at both rolls, then they will realize something that Dr. Takamura didn’t. The equations are symmetric. He and his followers/captives are in the Cretaceous, but they have not arrived at the best time. In three to seven years, they will experience a significant disaster of their own in the form of the asteroid impact that killed the dinosaurs. Dr. Takamura and those with him are doomed.
While this might soothe any concerns that the Agents may have that Dr. Takamura and his followers may change history, it doesn’t change the fact that he and his followers will die millions of years from home. This is another 1/1d10 SAN (Helplessness).
And now those Agents, and anyone they tell that believes them, have one more thing to worry about. What will happen in three to seven years? And, what are they willing to do to find out and prevent it?
Be seeing you.