Chill® is a owned by Mayfair Games.   Everything else is © Michael J. Casavant.
 
Game World Location: Based out of Dallas, TX.  Real Life Location: Rice University.  04JUN2000-???

 

Mission 4 - The Big Nice Wolf

Warning: These are more a copy of my notes than a gripping narrative. See the debriefing statements for entertaining narrative. 

Mission Notes

PCs: John Brockway, Sarah Doherty, "Bud" Johnson, "Bic" Raker

  Gaming Session 9 [September 10, 2000]  

18AUG2000 (F) The team gathers at Steak and Ale and swaps stories about what John was doing versus the rest of the team's mission.
19AUG2000 (S) 0600: Society calls, meet at IHOP at 0800.

0800: Malcolm briefs them. Professor Mallin (PM) is missing, it is officially a break-in at campus, but she was supposed to meet with a Society agent in the guise of a "friend" of the team trying to help her. 

1000: Team arrives at PM's house. Kid outside lowing lawn. John's pretends to be the person PM was supposed to meet that AM. Meets Seth Landers, he gives him a cell phone number for her. John notices scratches on the lock which may be signs of lockpicking. John talks to kid, confirms PM left early in AM. Team heads to UNT campus. 

1100: At UNT campus. A camera overlooks the outside entrance that was broken into. Bud looks around some and finds no other cameras. 

1115: Bud sneaks into an adjoining building, looking for custodians/F&E.

1125: Sarah and John walk into Psych. Building as someone leaves. They gets up to the entrance of PM's lab and discover a guard talking to someone in a lab coat. They hide.

1130: Bud comes across a custodian buffing a floor that speaks Spanish and *very little* English.

1145: Security guard leaves. Sarah checks in with Bud. Sarah and John check out the entrance of the lab. They buzz the lab. A tech answers. John pretends to be the person that PM was supposed to meet. They get nothing. Bic suddenly tells the team not to use the radios anymore. They do what he says and then meet and head out to a restaurant.

1215: At restaurant, Bic says there was an 'echo' on the signal that might have been someone listening in. 

1230: Team stops at a pay phone and calls PM's cell phone. No answer. Sarah calls PM from her cell phone. PM answers and says men came after her, but she escaped. Team ends call so they can discuss things. Team drives to a new pay phone and has her go to a pay phone They talk, believing they have secure communications. Sarah arranges for the team to meet PM at a Wafflehouse in Garland. 

1300: Team meets. Attacked shortly after leaving Wafflehouse. Team escapes.

1330: Van ditched, meeting arranged with Society.

1415: Arrive at meeting, agents on scene are dead. Team ambushed by Ghouls. Team escapes.

1445: Professor Mallin refuses to come in to Society and leaves.

1500: Team reports to Public Storage facility and debriefed.

Debriefing

You met Malcolm at a Public Storage site. You drove calmly past suburbanites hoarding their extra little bits and knickknacks in the small, climate controlled boxes to the larger storage area Malcolm had informed you of. The sun shines down from a clear sky on this Saturday afternoon. You're not sure exactly what you should be doing, but hunting evil in darkened hangars seems unnatural. As you approach, the door to the shed opens and you see the form of Malcolm and a few others inside. They motion for you to drive the van into the shed and close the door behind you. 

After a brief explanation of why Professor Mallin is not with you, Malcolm calls out a few people to help with the debriefing. The various team members are separated as best as possible in this area, with Bud in his truck, Bic in the van, Sarah at one corner of the large shed, and John at the opposite corner. Privacy is not fantastic, but adequate. The boxes and junk in the room do a good job of breaking up, distorting, and swallowing conversation. 

John's Story

We met up at a restaurant after our previous mission debriefing. I informed Bud and Sarah about the mysterious man that seems to be operating in the area (Pale Man). They informed me of Dr. Mallin and what occurred during their mission. After getting our mission orders to locate Dr. Mallin, we decided the best plan would be to check her house for clues. Upon arriving I approached her house and met an unknown man who didn't seem out of place. I noticed the lock on the front door was scratched, maybe having been picked. I got a cell phone number for Dr. Mallin from the man, but didn't ascertain that he was a danger to us or the mission. I spoke with a neighborhood boy mowing Mallin's lawn and he didn't seem to indicate that the man was unusual in his presence, apparently the Professor is a bit of a "player" according to the boy (in retrospect, I question if everyone associated with Mallin is a werewolf and if we should investigate what might be an extended family of werewolves).

We proceeded to Mallin's research lab, but we were unable to enter and find any clues. Except for the broken glass door at the front of the building, there didn't seem to be any signs of a struggle. Later, we learned that Mallin was able to escape her kidnappers. 

We called Mallin's cell phone, but there was no answer. We decided to leave a message in the hopes that the kidnappers might check it and we could lure them out. Upon calling again we reached Mallin and arranged a meet. We met up with her without incident, but while proceeding to find a safe area to locate her, we were ambushed by a group of men. We assume they were SAVE agents. They boxed in the Society van in with a large rental truck and a pickup. Bud and I had been trailing the Society van and were able to maneuver to the front of the rental truck. I was able to neutralize the driver while Bud made his way to the back to help Sarah and Bic protect Mallin. Bic used some pyrotechnics to aid in our escape and we managed to protect Mallin with only a few scratches amongst us. The Society van was too damaged to continue so we transferred gear to Bud's truck and ditched the van behind a strip mall. I was able to get the keys to the rental van and a submachine gun belonging to the driver. These may be helpful in tracking this SAVE cell. 

We then contacted the Society to arrange a drop off of Mallin. At the drop location somebody (I found out later) had a strong sense of the unknown. Bud discovered the Society van occupants were all dead. Before we could react, we were ambushed. Bud's truck was disabled and the hangar was sealed shut. Bud ran for a forklift to try and make an exit, I began to hot wire the Society van. Sarah was attacked trying to get to the van. I was able to take out the ghoul that attacked her without any problem. Some ghouls got into the back of the van with Bic and Mallin. By the time I was able to get involved with that it was basically over. We discovered that Mallin had transformed into a werewolf and basically thrashed the ghouls (definitely saving Bic's life). She didn't even try to attack us. She was not aggressive towards us in any way. She transformed back into a person and we made a quick getaway. We also found a listening/tracking device on Mallin, which we neutralized. We were even able to save Bud's truck with all the Society gear. We got Mallin some new clothes and contacted the Society for another drop. Before reaching the drop point, Mallin made it clear she feared for her life and wouldn't come in with us. Sarah tried to persuade her, but there was too much uncertainty and fear to overcome in Mallin. We dropped her off and she disappeared. She knows how to contact Sarah, but I have no expectations that she will ever be seen again. The encounter with the SAVE team has made her cynical of our goals and motives as well. 

Bud's Story

Bud settles into the driver's seat of his pickup and seems to gather his thoughts. He is not quite as carefree in his manner and tone as he has been in previous debriefings. 

"Alright, I guess I'll tell ya how it is and then throw out some of my own thoughts too," starts Bud. 

"The mission was to track down Professor Mallin. She missed a meeting with the Society and they thought she had been kidnapped by this SAVE group. We were totally thinking she had been grabbed, but it turned out she had gotten away. 

"We started snooping around for clues at her house. Nothing interesting there, just some guy who said she had gone into work early. We got her cell phone number from him though. We checked out her research lab, but really didn't find any clues at all. I was asking maintenance people, but the guy I talked to had not been there that early. There was nothing, no cameras, or convenient fingerprints. Then we called her cell phone.

"She must have known Sarah was callin' 'cause she answered and was talking to us. She had gotten away from people who tried to grab her and she was holing up. We got both Sarah and Mallin onto pay phones and got where she was.

"We headed to Garland and to the Waffle House there. No one seemed to be following us and no one was watching her so we got her and started leavin'. At a stoplight this moving van was in front of our van and opened up with all kinds of commando guys with assault rifles. A big fight broke out, but no one was shot or even seriously injured and we got away after I disabled their truck. We ditched the van and threw the stuff into my pickup and got the hell outta there.

"That's when we called into the Society the first time. They had us meet some agents at the airport hangars, but someone had gotten there first and set up an ambush. We showed up and I saw the people in the van were dead, but the trap was already sprung. There were a bunch o' ghouls, one nearly gutted my stupid ass in the office," Bud displays some fresh bandages.

"That's when things started getting weird. The ghouls were not too bad once we got our shit together, but turns out Mallin was some kind of werewolf. We got the hell out of there and kind of got our minds clear." 

"So this Mallin was some kind of werewolf. She was edgy and so were we, but we didn't have the muscle or the prep to take her down. Besides, Sarah and John were kind of getting all Greenpeace treehuggin' on me. Basically, she wasn't going to go to the Society. Sarah and John musta tried to convince her for like twenty minutes. I threw in some token reasons, but really I just wanted to get this creature off the street one way or another. 

"Mallin was worried that you guys were going to cut her up and dissect her and that you were not going to treat her right basically. I got the feeling from some things she said that there's more of them out there and that they keep in touch. Maybe some kind of wolfie club or something. Also, I think she was a werewolf for a long time. She seemed comfortable with it and didn't even think it was all weird and freaky. The way I figure, the world's a better place without her kind walking around. Who knows how well they control their animal instincts and whether need to feed on humans or something. No thank you."

Bud pauses and gives the debriefing agent a look, debating whether to continue.

"Another thing, and this needs to be kept between us, I don't think Sarah and John give you guys a lot of credit. When we were talking, they were totally ready to join the werewolf side just because she *said* she was good. They seemed a little too interested in wantin' to believe she was good and innocent, even after we've fought a werewolf and know how the Unknown taints them. I didn't know what was gonna happen, but they were willing to stand in your way even after everything you've done for us. I like to think loyalty to the Society and to our cause should come first, not to some unknown werewolf. You might want to make sure they're still in this army for good. I know how things need to work. We don't always know everything and don't always understand the reasons, but we need to follow orders to keep the machine workin'."

Bud takes a deep breathe.

"So that's that. We dropped Mallin off of Central near Frankford . If you're planning a team to hunt her down, you let me know. I'm ready to volunteer for any Unknown search and destroy operation."

Bic's Story (None, he was NPC'd)

 

Sarah's Story

We were called by the Society at 6:00 a.m. on Saturday and met at 8:00 a.m.  Apparently, Society members were supposed to meet with Dr. Mallin that morning to discuss her research on lunacy.  Dr. Mallin did not show up, and after a little investigation it looked like there was a scuffle in her lab where the glass front door to the building was shattered.  The Society suspected that she was kidnapped, perhaps by SAVE agents.  Our mission was to locate her.

We first went to her house. She was not there but John noticed some marks on her door lock that looked like someone had tried to break in.  Our working hypothesis was that the kidnappers went to her house, did not find her, and then proceeded to her lab.  We then went to her school but were not permitted inside her lab.  Fortunately, we had obtained her cell phone number and decided to call and see what would happen.  I called her from my cell phone because I had given her my number on our previous mission.  This way, she would know that it was I.  To our surprise, she answered the phone and told me that some people came to her lab in the morning and tried to kidnap her, but fortunately she managed to escape.  I then set it up so that we could talk to each other from pay phones to make sure no one was listening in.  She told me where she was and then we quickly proceeded to her location; Bud and John were in Bud's truck, and Bic and I were in the Society van.

I picked her up at the Waffle House in Garland, and everything seemed peachy.  But then when I exited the highway, a Ryder truck pulled in front of me at the stoplight.  I didn't think anything of it until the back of the Ryder truck opened and all hell broke loose.  There were four men with assault rifles pointing at us and a fifth man that reached out and put a device on our windshield that shattered it.  Next, this fifth man reached in and tried to take Dr. Mallin.  Fortunately she had her seat belt on, so he was not able to pull her out yet.  I tried to back up and drive away but a truck behind me slammed to my rear, thus pinning me in place.  Obviously, the people in the Ryder truck were working with the people in the truck behind me. I tried to get between Dr. Mallin and the kidnapper in hopes that I would interfere with his abduction, but the man was highly trained in hand to hand combat so I had little effect.  Suddenly there was a bright flash that came from the back of the van; it was Bic using fireworks of some sort.  Whatever he did was extremely effective; all the men in the back of Ryder truck became dazed and confused.  At that moment, Dr. Mallin took this opportunity to get out of the van and ran away from the Ryder Truck.  Unfortunately, she was heading towards the truck that was behind us, not knowing that they were in league with the other fellows.  

Well, I ran after her, and Bic ran after me.  As she approached the truck, the passenger opened his door, which hit her in the face.  She was on the ground at that moment.  The man tried to grab her and put her in the truck, but I managed to pull her to safety while Bic pointed a gun at the man.  The man called Bic's bluff and got in the truck, and then the truck drove off.  At that point Bic, Dr. Mallin and I went back to the van and drove off.  We left the van at a parking lot and drove off with all our equipment in Bud's truck.  Then we called the Society to tell them of our situation.  We were instructed to go to a hangar at DFW to meet another team that would take Dr. Mallin to a safe place.  

When we got there, we saw a van in the hangar but no one came out.  Bud went to the van to check it out and shouted for us to leave.  When we backed up, the rear tires were blown by pieces of sharp metal that some one put there.  We were obviously being ambushed.  We all ran to the Society van and found all the agents dead.  As we were pulling their bodies out and hot-wiring the car, ghouls attacked us.  I had one on me, Bud had one on him, while Bic and Dr. Mallin, who were in the back of the van had two on them.  When the ghouls on Bud and I were killed we turned to the ones on Bic and Dr. Mallin.  We were afraid that we were too late; however, when we opened the back of the van, two completely ripped up ghouls were thrown out by Dr. Mallin, who looked like a cross between a human and a werewolf (she was not completely transformed; we were still able to recognize her).  This was not a complete shock to us because Bic and I sensed a strong Unknown on her before the ambush; we were just not sure what it meant.  By the way, I also sensed a faint Unknown on John.  I am worried about the implications of that.  Was I just sensing the Art within him or was it something else?  I really think that someone from the Society should look into that.

After the ordeal, Bic found some sort of transceiver on Dr. Mallin's lab coat, which was probably put there by the Ryder truck man who tried to grab her.  We destroyed the device and called the Society for instructions.  When we talked to Dr. Mallin about next move she was very apprehensive about going with the Society to a safe house, she was convinced that she could take care of herself.  I tried to convince her to trust the Society, but she was afraid that the Society would be prejudiced about her nature and would either dissect or interrogate her as opposed to just talking to her with an open mind.  I asked her to tell me about her nature and make me understand, but she was afraid that the Society would use the information to hunt down her kind.  I tried, I really really tried, but she was unwilling to trust anyone but herself.  So we dropped her off at a random place and she left without looking back.

CIPs

  • Bud, Sarah, and John get 3 CIPs, one assigned. Everyone gets one CIP towards WPR.
  • John 
    • [OJT special] is getting stronger mentally from the continuing challenges of working with the Society and gets a free CIP towards WPR (64).
    • [OJT special] is dealing with a lot of mental challenges beyond those of his missions; combined with a trying experience taking a junkie through withdrawal, he gets a CIP towards WPR (66).
    • John starts to pay closer attention to detail as his concerns over SAVE mount. One CIP towards Perception (69).
    • John takes on some missions requiring greater dependence on physical intrusion of sites and refines his Stealth skills, adding one CIP (Teacher).
    • Unspent CIPs: 0
  • Sarah
    • [OJT special] is getting stronger mentally from the continuing challenges of working with the Society and gets a free CIP towards WPR ().
    • [OJT] continues to be exposed to a lot more physical activity than she is accustomed to, she gains a CIP in Agility (46).
    • Sarah hits the mats training and spends two CIPs in Martial Arts [tudent + 1].
    • Unspent CIPs: 0
  • Bud
    • [OJT special] is getting stronger mentally from the continuing challenges of working with the Society and gets a free CIP towards WPR (58).
    • [OJT] testing his athleticism and combat maneuvering under stress and was not found lacking, he gets a CIP in Agility (56)
    • [OJT] Bud steps up his focus on sparring and training in unarmed combat, doing little else in his free time. He adds two CIPs to Agility (60) and one CIP to Brawling (Master).
    • Unspent CIPs: 0
  • Bic was NPC'd, no mission CIPs awarded, but bonus CIP still counts.
    • [OJT special] is getting stronger mentally from the continuing challenges of working with the Society and gets a free CIP towards WPR (69).
    • [OJT]: with spark showers that helped keep five bad guys at bay, Bic has finally had that combat training with Pyrotechnics he's been looking for. He can spend a point on this skill without any training time if he wants to.
    • Unspent CIPs: 2

Epilogue

Steve scratches his head and smiles wryly as he leans back on the workbench of a small work shop in the basement of a local church. "Now I really mean it this time, we won't bother you. Professor Mallin is on her own, for better or worse. I realize that your work has been playing havoc with your real lives and I also know that too much contact with the Unknown can be trying on a man's soul." Steve nods to Sarah and smiles slightly, "or a woman's."

"Get out there and get back on track. We're going to do what we do best, collate, analyze, and conceal information. Sarah and Bic, we're going to have to get you some new cell phone numbers for your daily use. We have already "lost" the records related to your cell phones thanks to some supporters in the industry. Your new numbers are on these cards." Steve hands Bic and Sarah cards. "Bud, I hear you didn't care much for your phone anyway, but it is handy. However, just to be safe, we have arranged for the contract to disappear, and here's your new number." Steve hands Bud a similar card. "John, good work staying covert, but of course, that's what you do." Bic and Sarah look up as if in mild protest and Steve holds up a hand and nods, "We recognize the need for contact numbers."

"We have arranged for a series of phone numbers that you can give out to people. They will be routed to your cell phones. The numbers you used previously will still work, but they will be routed and processed more thoroughly so that we can monitor and protect the two numbers you gave out. I recommend you don't use these phone for sex chat unless you're want to make sure Malcolm hasn't dozed off back at operations." Steve smiles and there is a pause as the group slowly acknowledges the joke. Some soft chuckling ensues, but Steve slips back into his briefing mode. "That's all for now. We'll keep you updated if anything requires your attention, but we shouldn't bug you for at least two weeks. If you need training, we can help arrange that. Now get out of here and worry about normal things for a while."

"Before you leave, you may want to look at these." He says this as he places folders on the table. These were the preliminary reports from your mission last Thursday. It may shed some light on why we were so interested in Professor Mallin.

Society Report on Agent Simms' Files

Briefing Abstract

Analysis of computer taken from Wichita-based SAVE operations cell

Files were recovered from a site located in Wichita Falls by a local team. The files consisted primarily of detailed information about the Texas, Oklahoma, Louisiana region, to include detailed maps, civil authorities, businesses, and other information useful in planning covert civilian operations. The bulk of the information was readily available public domain information that had been collated and arranged in a user friendly interface.

Further decryption unlocked files on the missions of Agent Simms, who described himself as an agent of a group called SAVE. The word is in all caps in his entries, suggesting that the word is actually an acronym. No detailed information about the group was given, but the nature of the reports and comments made by Simms suggest that SAVE's mission is similar to ours.

The preparers of this briefing urge great caution that ALL DATA RECOVERED ON THIS SUBJECT IS HIGHLY SUSPECT as is was second hand and the source of the information was a clearly mentally unstable individual.

**These briefing hard copies are to be destroyed after they have been reviewed.**
Report 1 - Agent Simms

Subject: analysis of files from Agent Simms pertaining to the agent's operations and mentality.

After reviewing the logs acquired by the Society team, the following conclusions have been made about Agent Simms and his activities:

1. Agent Simms was a Creature of the Unknown.
2. Agent Simms did not contract any disease from contact with a Creature.
3. Agent Simms presumed his team was killed by a Werewolf of unknown identity and was convinced of the fact, although there was no data or observation on his part. The closest thing to confirmation are the lethal wounds that appeared to be inflicted by claws. The nature of the wounds has been somewhat confirmed by the Society team that acquired this data.
4. The Society team reports that Simms appeared to be unaffected by standard slug rounds, but was completely susceptible to silver rounds.
5. Agent Simms killed at least 42 people that he believed were Lycanthropes, as many as four in a single night.
6. Based upon the descriptions of the Society team, the assumption that Simms was in fact some sort of Lycanthrope, and his choice of a silver ice pick as a weapon it appears that Simms was convinced that his targets were susceptible to silver.
7. It is unclear if Simms was aware of his Unknown nature. His transcripts are vague on such details and the psychological profile we have created suggests he would repress such awareness.
8. There is no record of a source of Unknown powers in Simms, therefore he was latently a Creature of the Unknown or became one. The former is unlikely with his psychology and fanaticism about destroying Creatures out of revenge for his team mates. This raises two distinct and unsettling possibilities. One, the entire team were Creatures of the Unknown and/or knew of Simms nature and thus he would not bother to make mention of it in his reports. Two, Simms developed a connection with the Unknown through an uncertain mechanism.
9. SAVE has somewhat sloppy physical and computer security practices.

Depending upon the practices of SAVE, the information on Mallin's patients may have been compartmentalized within the cell or disseminated to SAVE HQ, if they have such a thing. Extreme caution should be taken with regard to former patients of Professor Mallin's. The Society should consider providing some minimal level of protection for her former patients. The minimum response should at least include monitoring of the patients.

Report 2 - Project Lycan

Subject: Results of analysis of files related to Lunacy Lycanthropes from Wichita Falls mission site 17AUG2000, combined with verbal statements of the Society team.

The data pertaining to Lycanthropes is the most questionable of the data acquired from Agent Simms' computer. Some secondary references to SAVE archives also provided a shred of data. With that in mind, the following conclusions have been made:

1. Agent Simms was convinced that Project Lycan, Professor Mallin's project, was a front for a network Lycanthropes.
2. Lycanthropes may occur naturally, either being born as Lycanthropes or manifesting latent powers later in life. Such Lycanthropes will be assigned the nomenclature Lycan1.
3. Another form of Lycanthropy may be contagious. Such Lycanthropes will be assigned the nomenclature Lycan2.
4. Severe lunacy can appear to mildly mimic Lycanthropy, but such people are simply dangerous, mundane criminals.
5. Professor Mallin's lunacy scale rated patients from 1 to 5. Agent Simms operated under the assumption that all lunatics were a Lycan1 in some stage of development. We do not find this sustainable as such a large population would probably have been discovered by now.

We again recommend further research into the whereabouts and identities of members of Project Lycan, the former UNT research project headed by Professor Mallin and additionally an analysis of the bodies of people killed by Simms. If a marker can be established for Lycans, then it would be a valuable analytical tool for the Society. It is crucial that we make contact with Professor Mallin as quickly as possible as she may be targeted by SAVE.