PARALLAX, Session 11 - Aftermath

Scene setup

Scene Expectations

The team shares information with Robertson. Hopefully something useful about Hastur and/or the tattoo emerges.

Expected scene test

Scene was interrupted!

Interruption Event: Move away from a thread
Thread list roll: Hastur & Associates
Relinquish + Weapon
My interpretation: Robertson reveals that the Manhattan trail on Hastur is a dead end. Also, Hastur knows about Delta Green involvement, so our best weapon, the element of surprise, is gone.

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Playing the scene

We drive for two hours, putting as much distance as possible between us and the men who just tried to drown us on dry land. The trip is silent, each of us lost in the kind of dark thoughts that only come after a brush with the impossible. We finally pull into a nondescript motel, checking in under a fresh set of aliases.

We enter the room, and Pariah is the last one in, double-locking the door behind her.

Robertson: “You’re Delta Green, aren’t you?”

We exchange a glance but offer no confirmation. The silence is answer enough.

Robertson: “There’s no need to play the game. You should know that Hastur is already aware of you. When they tasked Kaminski and me to retrieve the book, they warned us that your ‘Program’ might interfere.”

Phalanx: “Well, so much for the element of surprise on our trip to Manhattan.”

Robertson: “Forget Manhattan. I’ve already been to that address. It’s a dead end—just an empty, leased office floor with a disconnected phone line.”

Pariah: “Shit. If that was a shell, we’ve got nothing.”

FQ: Does Robertson know anything useful?
A: yes!
Character background check: helped + cheat
My intepretation: Hastur helped Kaminski with her gambling habit, cheating with some kind of unnatural trick

Phalanx: “Tell us everything else, Robertson. There has to be a lead. How did they find her in the first place?”

Robertson: “I never met them; they always communicated through Kaminski. But she told me how it started. It was a high-stakes poker night, and she was drowning in debt. She went to the bar for a drink, and a young man approached her. He offered to turn her luck around in exchange for her ‘specialized services’ later on.”

FQ: how did they help her?
A: Trap + Cloud
My interpretation: they gave her a cloud shaped stone amulet that let her know when an opponent was bluffing (trap)

Lawrence: “And she took the deal?”

Robertson: “She was desperate. He gave her a strange stone amulet—carved into the shape of a cloud, or maybe a cluster of vapours. He told her to wear it at the table. She did, and from that moment on, she just knew when an opponent was bluffing. She couldn’t explain it; the knowledge just appeared in her mind like a sudden cloud of certainty. She was terrified, but she was hooked. That was her ‘in’ with Hastur. She brought me in later; we’d worked together before.”

Pariah: “An unnatural artifact that grants intuition… that might be indexed in our archives. It’s a lead worth chasing.”

Robertson: “So you are Delta Green. Come on, you have to give me something if you want this partnership to work.”

Pariah: “We are a task force. We work for the government, and our mission is to neutralize unnatural threats like the ones you’ve witnessed. That is all you need to know for now.”

Phalanx: “What about you, Ranger? I’m guessing this wasn’t your first time staring into the abyss.”

Robertson: “It wasn’t. Let’s just say that during my time in the service, I saw something happen to someone I cared about. Something I never want to see happen again. Let’s leave it at that.”

Pariah nods, recognizing the thousand-yard stare of a man who has seen the “unnatural” and survived.

Pariah: “Our goals are aligned. It’s in our mutual interest to stay in touch. If you see those ‘casters’ again, or find the book, we need to know.”

She hands him a business card with an encrypted email and a QR code on the back.

Pariah: “This is how you reach us. The instructions for the encryption are in the code. There is one address in the contacts. That’s us.”

Robertson nods, tucking the card into a pocket.

Robertson: “I’ll keep hunting. But after today, it’s pretty clear I’m in over my head. I’ll be in touch.”

He slips out into the night. Pariah waits until the sound of his footsteps fades before opening her laptop.

Pariah: “I’m going to send a priority request for information on Hastur and that cloud amulet to my contact in the Program. It’s been a hell of a day. Let’s get some rack time while we wait for a response.”

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Scene bookkeeping

Chaos Factor

8 (unchanged)

Character list

Unchanged

Thread list

Unchanged