Operation MURAMASA Part 2

By Jason Kraus

Historically significant personalities, events, and locations in bold. Japanese names are written in the Western convention.

Authors Note: Elements of this scenario reflect HP Lovecraft’s “The Shadow over Innsmouth”. Players unfamiliar with Lovecraft’s work (yes, there are a few) may be less paranoid than those who’ve enjoyed his oeuvre. For players more experienced, ratchet up the paranoia until it reaches the apex, then send in the Soviet spetsnaz. When that starts popping off, send in the Deep Ones and enjoy the chaos.

Premise

A Delta Green-connected ONI (Office of Naval Intelligence) officer has gone missing while investigating heroin smuggling from Saigon, Vietnam to Tokyo, Japan. Initial investigation indicates the officer was kidnapped in Tokyo and moved to a tiny fishing village on Urup Island, north of Hokkaido and within the Soviet–Japan Disputed Kuril Island chain. Potential Deep One activity has been identified.

Historic Environment

The Kuril Island chain, between the Soviet Union’s Kamchatka Peninsula to the north and Japan’s Hokkaido Prefecture to the south is a series of small, sparsely populated islands. The ownership of the islands remains largely disputed, courtesy of a Soviet land grab during the closing days of World War 2 as Japan was formally surrendering to the Allied Powers and exacerbated by differing interpretations of earlier treaties and translation ambiguities. The presence of US Navy ships and submarines in the vicinity is sure to draw the attention of the powerful navy of their Cold War adversaries, the Soviet Union.

Objectives:

1. Investigate any potential Deep One colony on Urup Island. Destroy if positively identified.

2. Avoid an international incident.

3. Recover Petty Officer 2nd Class Samantha “Sam” Anderson.

At Yokosuka Naval Base, Japan, the agents receive their briefing from the fastidious and by-the-book Navy Lieutenant Patrick Jameson, who looks no older than a high school junior. He parrots their orders and doesn’t ask if the agents have questions.

The agents leave Yokosuka Naval Base aboard the Decatur-class Guided Missile Destroyer USS Parsons (DDG-33), captained by James F Kelly Jr. The agents’ mission has abbreviated shore leave for the sailors and they grumble vocally around the agents. As the Parsons nears Urup, CPT Kelly summons the agents to the wardroom to tell them that the nuclear-powered submarine USS Scorpion (SSN-589) took sonar of Natalii Bay that revealed a large reef of jagged rock and shallow coral. The Parsons can get no closer than 10 nm to the fishing village and the agents infiltrate via a US Navy Inflatable Boat Rubber (IBS). He is authorized to send a four-person USMC fireteam (the coxswain Sgt Vickers, rifleman Cpl Winslow with demolition charges, rifleman Cpl Adams with PRC-25 radio set, and rifleman LCpl Lundberg with M60). The captain also reports the approach of freezing, sleeting remnants of Typhoon Elsie, which he expects to worsen over the next 6 hours. “It’s going to be a bumpy ride but the Marines will get you there,” he says.

Neither Captain Kelly nor the Marine fireteam are Delta Green cleared and he rebuffs any attempts to hear details their mission beyond the rescue of PO2 Anderson. He is comfortable with the limits of his access, but he strongly emphasizes the need to bring her back alive. He is authorized to provide whatever support they need.

Act 1: Welcome to Urup Island

Setting

The boat ride through Natalii Bay is freezing, wet, and miserable. The sea is rough courtesy of the impending storm. Gnarled coral towers poke above the waves like knives and it’s only by the skill of Sgt Vickers that the inflatable boat avoids puncture. A Stability (Helplessness) test here is appropriate for agents new to this experience. Almost makes them wish for the humid misery of Vietnam. At least it’s warm.

Seen from a distance, the village looks dilapidated with age, boarded up, and seemingly abandoned. Agents can choose to land at the ramshackle quay or in the scant trees nearby.

The primary thoroughfare is a narrow mud and cobblestone track. Wooden and brick buildings appear so dilapidated and close together that they are reminiscent of a coral reef themselves. The two-story buildings loom over the street like closing talons. Off the main thoroughfare, the village looks like a warren of decomposing shelters of rotten wood, corrugated aluminum, and rust separated by a maze of claustrophobic alleys.

Waves pummel the rickety wooden quay. Huddled beneath the overhang of a nearby boathouse, three individuals mend nets and sharpen hooks and knives. They share a similarly odd look: bulging and wide eyes, flat smooth faces and tiny noses, wide mouths with too many tiny teeth. They scowl at the agents, slug some foul homebrew liquor, and grumble in Japanese if approached. They disappear as soon as the agents take their eyes off them, to notify the rest of the village.

Abilities & Clues

• STEALTH: Make surreptitious entry into the village to avoid inhabitants.

• NOTICE: This is a fishing village, right? So where are the boats?

• HUMINT/SENSE TROUBLE: Those fisherman don’t look entirely human.

• ANTHROPOLOGY: The village looks like something from turn of the century.

• ARCHITECTURE: How are these buildings still standing with how deteriorated they are?

• OCCULT: Subtle markings on ancient signage are reminiscent of Deep One iconography

• NAVIGATE/MILITARY SCIENCE: It would be extremely easy to get lost and penned in investigating those alleys.

The Lawson: At the corner of the main thoroughfare and a narrow alley, there stands an otherworldly vision: a Lawson (admittedly a few years early but come on, it’s Lawson). The conbini shines like a neon beacon of civilization, encroached by broken down and boarded up buildings. The only employee is the Store Manager Matsuda, who is mid-20s, skinny, naive, and proud that he runs the company’s northernmost Lawson conbini. He knows some English and pidgin Russian and offers what little information he has but does not abandon his post. Matsuda has managed the store since it opened (2 months earlier), is completely focused on his conbini, and utterly blind to the true nature of the village.

Manager Matsuda can provide directions to the Urup Chamber of Commerce Historical Society and Museum run by Dr. Akiko Kuroda, the lighthouse, and the old Russian Alexi Popov near the shore. According to Matsuda, besides Dr. Kuroda and the Alexi Popov, the local residents are just “quiet folk who keep to themselves and don’t shop much”. He imagines that Dr. Kuroda is attracted to him because she has been welcoming. Matsuda encourages the agents to buy an umbrella before they leave as it’s raining and they’re on sale.

Whenever the agents see locals (NOTICE to spot), if they don’t go and talk to them immediately, they disappear. Anytime they get out of the PCs sight, barring an especially clever Ability spend, they’ve effectively disappeared. The locals are very suspicious and give bad information, if any.

Floating Scene: The Russian Deserter

Leathery wrinkled skin, bloodshot eyes, so pickled that he does not suffer effects of the worsening weather, Alexi Popov always looks toward the sea and takes long pulls from a bottle of vodka. He’s a shattered paranoid who believes he is less than human thanks to the activities he has participated in. For the Handler, Popov is also here to share information the agents may have missed.

Clues

• LANGUAGE (RUSSIAN or JAPANESE): Popov knows no other languages.

• REASSURANCE: This prematurely ancient Russian Navy sailor escaped the dehumanizing horror of the USSR and found something far worse. Before he could reach mainland Japan, he was forcibly inducted to the truth of the village and after that, well, he wasn’t fit for human society anymore. Popov doesn’t know what year it is (deserted in 1957) and doesn’t care.

• INTIMIDATION: He has mated with the Sea Monsters. He suspects some of them are his children.

• HUMINT: He admits he was always a fool and coward. Popov is “very adapted to helplessness”.

Just before the agents lose interest in Popov, he stands and hisses “Look!” and points out to the roiling sea. A successful SENSE DANGER (4) reveals a reef has shifted. “They know you’re here.” He quickly scuttles away into the warren of alleys. Stability (Helplessness) 4 for anyone recognizes the danger.

As Act 1 closes, the weather worsens decreasing visibility (+1 Difficulty for ranged FIREARMS attacks).

Act 2: The Museum and the Lighthouse

Setting
The agents may want to escape the worsening weather by visiting the Urup Chamber of Commerce Historical Society and Museum. The narrow historic building is slightly more well-maintained and uphill from Lawson. Inside is warm and smells of rotten green tea. Small tables topped with elegantly filigreed lace of no known style exhibit artifacts of the village. An early 20^th century diving suit stands in the corner beside a curtained doorway that leads to a backroom.

The museum is curated by Dr. Akiko Kuroda, a kindly middle-aged anthropologist who became fascinated with the island’s past while working on her doctorate. Kuroda is dressed in traditional kimono and wears a disturbing necklace, earrings, and bracelets. She has given birth to hybrids and is a fully dedicated cultist. She knows where PO2 Anderson is held in the warren of shacks but does not surrender that freely. She’s secretly armed with a finely made, crenelated coral tanto blade. If threatened with the extermination of her village and kin, she fights ferociously until subdued or killed.

Exhibits include:

• Family photos from the mid-19^th century through 1946 that show the devolution of the population from human to hybrid

• Various crenelated coral blades similar to tanto and katana

  • Blades are d6 and break on a Damage roll 1, which causes the coral to shatter inside the victim, causing 1 point of Health loss anytime the victim uses Athletics, Melee, or Unarmed Abilities. Really anytime the Handler feels appropriate.

• Short tablets with faded glyphs

• ART/REASSURANCE: Kuroda’s jewelry is reminiscent of strange deep sea fish wrapped in tentacles. Like nothing sane human artisans would create. Kuroda claims they are gifts from her children. They are very disturbing (Stability (Unnatural))

• OCCULT/ARCHEOLOGY: Aquatic and phallic effigies on shelves strongly reminiscent of Deep Ones.

• HISTORY: Historic accounts in English written by whalers who visited the village and spent time with the local women (Stability (Helplessness)).

• NOTICE (CORE) (Behind the curtain): PO2 Anderson’s bloodied ONI ID card

• NOTICE (Behind the curtain): A diary entry from a WWII Japanese officer describing underwater ruins near the lighthouse.

• NOTICE (Behind the curtain): Popov’s written account in Russian of arrival to Urup and the kindness of the native peoples.

Alternative Scene: The Lighthouse
A derelict lighthouse covered in strange multicolored molds and sealed by rusted chain door is up a rugged and overgrown trail north of the village. It offers a complete panoramic view of the island. Inside, the wooden furniture is splintered and the rickety iron stair has collapsed to scrap.

Abilities & Clues

• ART: The walls are crude drawings of Deep One and human figures together.

• LANGUAGE (JAPANESE): Painted on the wall “Ph’nglui mglw’nafh Cthulhu R’lyeh wgah’nagl fhtagn” (“In his house at R’lyeh, dead Cthulhu waits dreaming”) (Stability (Helplessness))

• SIGINT: A smashed Soviet transmitter with a 1950s-era water-logged cryptography book.

• ARCHEOLOGY/OCCULT: Is that what a Deep One fertility symbol looks like?

• ARCHITECTURE: This lighthouse sure looks like a giant Deep One effigy (Stability (Unnatural)).

• MILITARY SCIENCE: The top of the lighthouse would allow a sniper full overwatch of the village.

As Act 2 closes, the remnants of the typhoon are upon them. All agents and Marines need to pass a SURVIVAL test 4 or lose 1 Health.

Act 3: Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner

Setting

The storm is at its worst. Visibility is limited and exposed skin quickly numbs. The agents should at least suspect that PO2 Anderson is held in the warren of shelters off the main thoroughfare and are likely forcing Kuroda to take them to the ONI officer (or even Popov if that’s not an option). Before they can begin the search, a KGB Colonel and 12 spetsnaz arrive at the quay in a pair of inflatable boats dispatched from the Soviet Golf II-class ballistic missile submarine K-129 surfaced dangerously close to the reef.

Before the search commences, Cpl Adams receives broken communications from the Parsons reporting that the Soviets are sending a group of “observers” since this is a disputed territory. “Under no circumstances are you to instigate a scene with them. The Cold War is hot enough without getting out of hand here. Their arrival is imminent…” Then more static.

Mere minutes later, a group of Russian spetsnaz led by a smiling KGB Colonel Kiril Gromolko strides up the street and greets them in charming English. Gromolko claims they only want to make sure that the Americans aren’t setting up a listening post and if they are not setting up a listening post, then what are they doing here?

Gromolko delays the agents, skillfully interrogating them, while ordering his troops in clipped Russian to search the village for anything unusual. The spetsnaz are armed with submachine guns and are professional killers. If the agents are too delayed, the spetsnaz find the captive PO2 Anderson (indicated by the sounds of Soviet guns killing everyone who is not Anderson), triggering a reaction from the hybrid villagers that quickly escalates to a running battle as the spetsnaz attempt to abduct her. This could lead to a three-way fight between the Russians, the agents, and the entire village.

If the agents penetrate the claustrophobic maze of stinking alleys and dilapidated wooden shelters to search for Anderson (ARCHITECTURE/NAVIGATE helps here), they can follow the sound of crying (NOTICE/SENSE DANGER). In one of the shacks, they find Anderson in a filthy robe and shivering from the freezing cold. She is either guarded by Dr. Kuroda (if she’s still alive and free) or a pair of surly and hulking hybrids (her twin sons) or all three. They fight to the death loudly, summoning help. The agents can attempt STEALTH to exfiltrate before the spetsnaz find them. But it’s probably all going to hit the fan.

Conclusion

The finale could play out a number of different ways.

It could be a contest of two Cold War enemies competing to find the ONI officer, then morphing into a temporary alliance as the entire village of Deep One hybrids descends upon them. It could also be a free for all battle – spetsnaz versus agents versus hybrids. The Marines are good tactical operators who always fight to win and can pull the agents back to their inflatable boat. In that case, focus on the immediate block-to-block fighting exfiltration (Stability (Violence)) and let the sounds increasingly panicked spetsnaz versus screeching hybrids surrounding them motivate the agents (Stability (Helplessness)). Instead of tracking the agents’ exact location in the warrens, lean into the utter chaos and fog of war. When the time is right, give them a glimpse of the main thoroughfare. At this point, the thoroughfare should be littered with bodies so Stability (Violence) is called for. If the fight gets too easy, turn a Lesser Deep One or two loose on invaders.

Agents can request fire support from the USS Parsons’ guided missiles and 5-inch guns, which can turn the village into burning splinters in minutes. Agents suffer a Stability (Helplessness) test when they remember Lawson Manager Matsuda is caught in conflagration.

Gromolko and the spetsnaz attempt to abduct PO2 Anderson, even if that means killing everyone in their way, including the agents. They attempt to return to the K-129 using their inflatable boats. If the agents lose Anderson to the Soviets, they also lose 1 Sanity.

If the agents make it to their inflatable boat, they still have to reach the USS Parsons in rough seas and perhaps with Deep Ones ascending from their colony in the coral reef in Natalii Bay to stop them. Under no circumstances does the Parsons fire on K-129, even if the Soviets manage to abscond with PO2 Anderson. If they successfully rescue Anderson, they earn a point of Sanity. If the Parsons and the USS Scorpion pummel the Deep One colony hidden in the reef to shards, they earn 2 Sanity. Delta Green would like any bodies for dissection.