Scareport

A scenario hook for The Esoterrorists

This one works well for one-shots, particularly at a convention everyone flew into.

The team assembles in a diner not so far from a small regional airport. Its Mr. Verity, a nervous man resembling an elderly Steve Buscemi, congratulates them on receiving a simple case for once. Local citizens have sighted a creature matching the description of a known Outer Dark Entity, the blood corpse. The mission: find it, kill it, and veil it out.

Mr. Verity says he was expecting a couple of heavy hitters from the Special Suppression Forces to show up and join the group as auxiliaries. They must be hung up somewhere in transit. He shrugs. Air travel has been really messed up lately. Even when booked by the peerless in-house travel agent of the Ordo Veritatis.

The operative with the highest Sense Trouble rating has a bad feeling. Not about the mission, but about the airport they just transited through. One of its corridors, closed for renovation, off to the left of the baggage carousel radiated… something.

The blood corpse assignment turns out to be as simple as promised. The group quickly follows the creature’s spoor to a disused farm, whose survivalist owner has already trapped and killed one of them and wounded another. Even the Veil-Out proves easy: if this guy, a hardened conspiracy nut, accurately posts about the situation, his account will be widely discounted.

As team members wrap up, they discover that the SSF agents who were supposed to accompany them arrived on time at the airport. They appear on security cam footage. Somewhere between arrival gate and the shuttle arrival dock, they went missing.

In fact, a malignant Outer Dark Entity has taken up residence in the restricted access areas of the airport. A gang of larcenous baggage handlers rifled a luxury-brand suitcase a few months back, swiping not only contraband Rolexes but also a file folder full of Esoterror rites. Since then they’ve been supplicating the demon in aid of their burglary outfit, feeding it suspicious co-workers and a nosy customs inspector.

When it sensed Ordo operatives, it acted in self defense, attacking and devouring the SSF guys.

The real mission isn’t so simple: identify the gang, find their summoned creature, and flamethrower it. Absent swift action, its growing spawn will be grown enough to be packed into aircraft hangars and shipped to other airports all around the world.

Transport Terror

Abilities: Athletics 18, Health 20, Scuffling 32

Hit Threshold: 3

Alertness Modifier: +2

Stealth Modifier: +2

Weapon: +2 (barbed pseudopod)

Armor: +1 vs. Shooting (squishy), except for flamethrower: +2

Special Ability: Weary people, for example air travelers, can’t perceive its presence. (This effect is already included in the Stealth Modifier.)


The Esoterrorists are occult terrorists intent on tearing the fabric of the world – and you play elite investigators out to stop them. This is the game that revolutionized investigative RPGs by ensuring that players are never deprived of the crucial clues they need to move the story forward. Purchase The Esoterrorists in print and PDF at the Pelgrane Shop.

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