The Consultants | Get in the Trunk S1 E2 | Delta Green

You are listening to the Glass Cannon Network, the premier source for role-playing game entertainment. What started as a replacement to a replacement Patreon exclusive show has now become the hottest new podcast of the summer as we made our way through several new tabletop RPGs. One rose to the top. Wow. I feel good. Don't agree. Coming this summer. Back to New Game Who Dis. It's the summer blockbuster. It came. It came. Seriously. Vibes.

Here I thought the king of Staten Island was going to be the summer blockbuster to really shake the timbers. That one only took an hour and a half to get into, by the way. Now featuring more skid. More skidless! How did we make that happen? That was rough. I'm in it now.

It's shocking that any of that was good. Any of those early new game who disses without skip. It was kind of a bummer. I enjoyed the show, but it was kind of a bummer. This is the best thing they've ever done. And it's like everything I'm not in. Comments coming at me. Finally. something I can listen to. I don't know, there's something just more listenable about this new show they're doing. I don't know what it is.

Everyone shines in ways they've never shown them. There's just something about it. I don't know. I don't know. Finally, Troy steps out of Skid's shadow. Well, I like that we took a nice break because obviously this started as like we were scrambling to throw something up when we did D&D. I mean, we barely even looked at the rules before we played that. And then we did Paranoia and I had spent some time with it, but you guys went in blind.

And then we did Delta Green, and it was like, oh, shit. Or maybe we did Delta Green before Paranormal. I can't remember. But again, barely scratched the surface. We were just reading the beginner's guide. Star Wars, we started to delve a little bit more into it, but now we've taken a month. I think... All of us own the Handler's – excuse me, at least the Agent's Handbook. I've got the Handler's Guide as well. And we've really been able to spend some time with the system. Yeah, and it's –

It's incredible. It's so deep and interesting. And I didn't expect that. So I finally got the handler's guide. As well, this ridiculously beautiful slip case, which I think we mentioned on another show or something or a live stream. I can't remember. Or it might have been an after party. But the slip case that they're selling now is a combo of the.

Agent's Handbook and the Handler's Guide. Matthew, you got it too, right? I have it, yeah. It weighs 75 pounds. The case itself is most of the weight because the books weigh as much as you think books would weigh. Yeah, it's super heavy. It feels like it's wood. It feels like they boxed it in wood. First wooden tabletop RPG.

But the Handler's Guide is like, I didn't expect it. I thought it was going to be kind of like when you, Troy, were talking about paranoia and you were talking about the Handler's Guide being like, here's the secret. They're totally screwed. And don't ever let them do anything. You know what I mean? And I thought it was going to be along those lines or in that tone. But really, it's just – I mean, it's much bigger than The Agent's Handbook. And it is just a tome of like –

history of this world that you're playing. And it's more of a campaign setting in a lot of ways. And Skid, you read some of it, right? And you were just like, this is amazing. Yeah, the history especially just blew me away. It was so much like as a huge X-Files fan and just a general conspiracy theory enthusiast, if not believer growing up.

This stuff was like, oh, my God. I was saying they managed to incorporate a lot of actual conspiracy theory stuff and a lot of tangentially some evidence for things and incorporate it into the Delta Green. kind of mythology. And it's amazing. It is so crazy. It is so deep. And it feels like it's real. It feels like it makes sense. I love it. I love it. I'm glad I mostly skimmed it and I skipped over some stuff because I think I might have lost sanity points if I'd gone too much deeper into it.

yeah uh non-gaming recommendation for all you out there go with skid to the uh to dallas and have him take you to the museum at the site of the Kennedy assassination, and you will come out a changed person. That's right. We already have an automatic email filter up to get people's requests just out of the main inbox. Yeah, I was quite enthusiastic at like 1990 about that subject. So, yeah.

But yeah, I've been deep diving into it. I mean, we all have. And it's really, really an incredible game. And there's just so many times I've read things in the agent's handbook is really, I think, more of the like. the guide to playing the game. It really has the rules. And...

In reading the rules, it was successful in doing the one main thing that I want the most, which is like I want to read a rule and I want it to make perfect real world sense to me. In terms of not only physics, but like laws and law. Law and order and all that kind of stuff and money and commerce and economy and everything like that. And the way that they do stuff is just so smart. And the need to know, when we did the need to know, which is like the starter guide, we sort of skimmed over a lot.

lot of the gear buying and all that kind of stuff, requisitioning equipment, etc. And we focused on...

things like Bonds, which was a real big change to the common Cthulhu setting. We had a lot of fun with that, and I thought that that was really a core... part of the system and then you go in and you read gear and economics and stuff like that and like spending your money on big expenses hurts your bonds which i was like that is so cool it makes a lot of sense because like if i went out and just bought a car like went into serious debt because i was like

hey, I have to save all humankind, but I can't tell anybody about it, and so I just bought a car, my wife would be furious! She'd be enraged! And so little things like that I thought were really...

really cool as you get deeper into the specifics of the system. I was impressed by that too. Just some of the stuff like that where after a mission, like if you lose sanity points, you can... draw points from your bond like you can you can damage your bond in order to uh to offset your sanity loss so you can like lay some of this your insanity on them

Yeah, you project it on them. And so whether it's just like lashing out at them or like whatever, it's just like it hurts them. It hurts your relationship, but it relieves a little pressure off you. It makes so much dark sense. It's great. Yeah. Sorry, go ahead, Troy. I was just going to say, there's this whole thing, and I don't want to get too much into it, but therapy, and you can make the therapist go insane.

there's a role in there that sees if the therapist like if they believe you if they eventually like lose their mind yeah oh it's yeah it's it's really really cool i mean like you said skit it's and it's not only that it's it's even if you do things like and this is where i relate it back to pathfinder which we've obviously played the most of is like If you just focus on leveling up, to use that terminology, if you focus on getting better at your skills...

or following up on a case or an operation, to use the term that Delta Green uses in lieu of a module. If you are following up on details of the operation during downtime, you damage your bonds. Because it's like you're not at home. Like you're just working overnight. You're not like focusing on your family and stuff like that. So in order to like do well by your bonds, you have to not play the game of Delta Green. So it's really –

A tough, tough choice. And they put you in that position really well. You can feel the weight of your relationships. I love it. So, yeah, so, you know, we've been digging back into it and and we wanted to do more. And so I sort of took a deep dive and prepared this this little thing that we're going to do. And I'm I'm really excited about it, but I'm also. So really, really nervous because there's so much detail that goes into a game.

where it's a lot of roleplay. It's a lot of roleplay, and a lot of it is driven by you guys. I just sort of have to populate this sort of operation with information, and then you guys have to go and find it. It's... I have to relearn how to GM because there's so many things that you don't do that are like such staples of GMing a campaign of Pathfinder, for example. And I have to fight those instincts while at the same time, you know.

being more aware of your characters and your skills and what you already have because you don't roll as much and et cetera, et cetera. So anyway, this is just a long way of saying I don't – I don't really know the game that well yet. I've been focusing so much on the story that, yeah, the rules we're going to figure out as we go, and we might still throw some stuff and just be like, oh, this makes sense. Let's just do this.

Because I definitely wanted to focus on story. And in doing so, I've also, like Skid said, reading The Handler's Guide, it's also... pushed into my own personal sanity. This is an intense, intense game that really...

does not hold back at all. So I just want to say again, I said it the first time, but I just want to say again that this game makes you, the players, and the audience, since people are listening to this, confront and deal with the absolute worst, most violent, most disturbing acts of human corruption.

You can imagine. I mean, it's really bad. And, of course, you guys will all make a ton of jokes about it. And we'll all have a good laugh because that's how we cope with horrible things. And so if that doesn't sound like it's for you, you know.

Gruesome violence mixed with comedy and horror. If that might upset you, this is probably not... one to listen to you should skip it uh because i will say honestly i don't feel bothered by any of this stuff and i read stuff in this that i was like this is horrible like i this is horrible and so uh be aware You don't need to go any further. Yeah. I'm out. I saw Skid grinning. He was even more excited. I know. I'm actually more excited now. Sorry, Grant. What were you saying?

You don't need to go any further than the motto of Delta Green, which is Scientia Mors Est, which in Latin means knowledge is death. The more you learn about the unfathomable, the unfathomable is truly something that hurts your mind. That causes damage. So you want to get through these missions knowing just enough to save the day, but not too much to drive you crazy.

There's this great line in Spanish Prisoner. Have you ever seen Spanish Prisoner? Oh, I haven't seen it in years. That's Campbell Scott, right? Yeah, Felicity Huffman's like, hey, it's a secret. I don't want to know. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, I mean, that really boils down to the central aspects of this game. And I've said it to you guys over the last couple of days. I think I said it in the after party. It is a game about the end. That's how they...

That's how they pitch it. It's a game about the inevitable apocalypse that is going to come down on us all. And really, they put it in a frame of a very modern setting. So the way that you see the end coming. is through horrible things that we sort of all actually see in our day-to-day lives. It isn't necessarily going to be a huge Cthulhu-esque...

crazy cosmic monster where you can be like, oh, well, that doesn't happen in my world. Like a lot of the stuff that happens in this game happens in our world. And so it's very disturbing. And they really know how to touch on that horror that feels really close to home. Now, of course, a lot of it is driven by the. unnatural that lies beneath everything and that's the the fictional game world that we play in uh but nonetheless it is i i just i love it i think it's such a great it sounds like

It sounds like season one, true detective in that way. Yeah, exactly. Like there was never like you were always like, what is happening here? Something feels unnatural. Something's creepy or magical or otherworldly or whatever. But the. the intensity of those characters had to do with their real lives and who they really are and what they were really up against, not just in terms of the cosmic, but in terms of their own struggles with their...

their own mental state and their families and each other, you know, like the partners. And so that's why I loved that show. And this feels like playing that show to me. So without further ado, let's just jump into a game session of Delta Green, which actually doesn't start necessarily with jumping into the imagination copter and going into like a scene. We'll recap a little bit what happened last time later. First, I want to do the home portion of the session, which is...

They recommend when a session starts, if you feel that it's due and that some time will pass. And I will say that since the end of the last mission, some time has passed. You ask the players what their agents...

have been doing in the meantime. And generally you're supposed to keep it short. It's not supposed to last very long, so we're going to keep it quick. And the idea is just to get a sense. Yeah. The idea is to get a sense of how do they deal with the things that they see and face in their operation. How do they deal with their bonds and their home life? And what is important to them? We get to see a glimpse of that, and then we get right back into the action.

I want to start right off with the home section, and I'm just going to start with Troy. Troy, let's start with Roger Cumstone. Oh, Roger. Yeah, why don't you give us a very brief rundown of who Roger is again, and then what has he been doing since the end of Last Things Last? Right, so what we know of Roger Comstone is he's a former Green Beret that when he came back...

to the mainland. He's kind of distanced himself from the world in many ways. He works at a Shell gas station just outside of downtown Baltimore. And... That's all you really need to know about old Roger. That's all you need. That sums him up. That's Roger right now. So imagine, if you will, a door opens into a poorly lit cramped apartment.

Roger Cumstone stands at the threshold, kicks two or three copies of the Baltimore Sun, piled outside the doorway over the threshold, into his apartment. He flips a switch on the wall and the lights flicker to reveal a... dingy. Not really well taken care of apartment. An empty pizza box stacked with a couple of Chinese food takeout boxes sit atop a TV table next to an armchair.

In 1966, Baltimore Orioles pennant hangs on the wall next to a framed newspaper clipping that says, The O's win the pennant. A gym... Palmer away jersey lies straight over the edge. Try to cram as much Baltimore stuff as I can. I know. I had no idea he was the biggest fan of Baltimore. They haven't had a good chance in the 70s. Dave Cuellar, autographed glove.

Lies. Just use in the corner. Who was that third baseman? Didn't they have a great third baseman? Brooks Robinson. Yes, Brooks Robinson. Yeah, like the greatest ever. He walks over to the... Red blinking light of his answering machine. Hits play. Voice comes on and says, Hello, Mr. Cumstone. My name is David Epstein. I represent your ex-wife, Nora Cumstone.

We need to speak regarding some overdue alimony payments. Please call me at your earliest... Roger hits the stop button on the machine, walks to the fridge, and pulls out a six-pack of Natty Bows. He rips one of the national bohemians off the ring and brings the other five over to the TV table, sits down, takes a sip, looks into one of the Chinese takeout boxes, smells it.

begins picking at the remnants of a cold egg roll. He turns on the TV and flips around until he stops midway through for a few dollars more. It's the scene where Lee Van Cliff strikes a match off the back of Klaus Kinski. Klaus Kinski's character turns around ever so slowly and blows the match out. Comstone laughs. And he leans over towards a small cylindrical object. On the table next to him, pulls a towel off of it to reveal a birdcage with a parakeet inside. How's it going, Steve?

He crumples up some of the egg roll and sprinkles it in Steve's cage. Sorry, I've been gone all weekend. I met a girl at a bar and I can't even remember her name. I think it was... I think it was Cindy. What? Jindy? It might have been Jindy. Is Jindy a name? Who the hell knows? She trapped me with her eyes and I lost the weekend in her loins. But I'm home now, buddy. I'm home now. Blackout. Let me be clear. The home section is not for sin writing.

That's how I picture everything. It's all in seeds. It does say the word vignette in the Asian accent. That's a vignette. Classic vignette. So what was that? Natty Bo. That was fulfill responsibilities. I'm, like, strengthening my bond with Steve the parakeet. Okay. Am I abandoning him for the weekend? But I'm back. And feeding him a stale egg roll? It's his favorite! Manhattan at number 44.

All right, so you're going to try to improve your bond with Steve. You've got to roll a sanity test. Right, clearly. My only other bond is with my ex-wife, Norma. That's clearly not going well. So it's a sand test. It's a sand test. Classic Santa. So D1 Hondo, and I've got to roll under your sanity. Under your current sanity. What's your current sanity? 64.

64, okay. My breaking point is 59. So if I could, like, let's not even think about bad things. Here we go. Under a 64. Oh, dear. Oh, wow. Seven. Crushed it. Crushed it. Okay. So you improve your bond with Steve by 1d6. Is it 1d6? That's great. Yes, but it's going to max at eight still. Okay, so that's three. Well, I was already at eight. Oh, so...

That made no mechanical sense, but great scene, Troy. Yeah, well, that just... It's important. It had gone down over the weekend. Now it's back up to eight. I just had to address Steve. It had gone down over the weekend. That's great. Poor Steve was all by himself. Hungry. Starving. No one to talk to.

Oh, God. I am enraged that before we hit record, you were like, how long is this going to take? And then I gave you, like, a ballpark. Meanwhile, you have this entire C-ray that's going to extend this goddamn thing by hours! All right. Well, I'll come back to you if you want to do something else that has mechanical relevance. I would have got one sanity point back. That's true. Oh, no. Oh, yeah, you're right. So.

Let's kick it over to Riker Salas. What about Riker Salas? As soon as Riker pulls his motor vehicle back into the outside of his apartment complex. After disposing of his burner phone, he powers on both his encrypted agent's phone and his personal phone. Both are littered with messages, but the ones that point out to him are those from Almeda Flores, his ex-wife. extolling him to be there at his son's first choir practice of the season. You have to go to practice. It's very important.

There's only so many weekends in the year in which the court allows Riker to see his son Maxim, and if he doesn't show up, he may lose custody of him forever. Practice happens to fall on one of these weekends. stressing Riker out. You see him after a quick cowboy shower. He hops back into his vehicle and heads over to the local mall, heads into a dick sporting skid, and...

Picks up a baseball glove for his son to hand over at choir practice because he'd much prefer that he play baseball and be in the choir. He's standing in front of the gloves and he's like, no, is he right-handed or left-handed? I don't know. I don't know. And there's someone from Charles. I'll just buy both. There's a court-appointed person looking into my life behind me taking notes that I don't know which hand my son is. He doesn't even know his boy's dominant hand.

And Riker checks out of the store, has a credit card declined, maxed out, uses another as debit, which is... close to near the end of its limit as well. And right as he heads back into the car, the sun is setting, and he knows he has to drive. Early in the morning, three hours to get to Allentown, Pennsylvania, where Almeida and Maxim live from D.C. But in the corner, before he turns the key in the ignition, he sees a liquor store in front of him.

And he thinks back to the woman that never should have been alive in the basement. That got out and that he knows he's shot. strong and true, with a three-round burst from a Heckler & Koch MP5 Navy edition. And she still moved on. And he's not sure whether or not... He's going to go into that store and miss his son's practice tomorrow because he doesn't know how to deal with all of the stressors and pains going on in his life. And that's where I think we should roll to see.

how he will also attend to fulfilling responsibilities with a sanity rule. Okay, so his objective here is to spend more time with his son. Mm-hmm. So he's sort of bothered by what happened with the corpse thing, the Marlene corpse thing. But he's not following up on that. He's not going to worry about that. He's going to focus on his son.

Well, we're living here in Allentown. And it's hard to give a good man down. Turn the radio off. It's too on the nose. I'm sure that starts playing in the terrible directorial... has made in Riker's TV show. A lot of lyrics are pretty spot on to your situation. It is. Yeah, it really is. Can I make a confession? I'm not even familiar with that song outside of the chorus.

Oh, really? Yeah. Oh, man. Huh. Anyway, so I also think at this point it's like... diving into his own problem drinking and like whether or not I almost want this to damage his relationship because I'm also full level so if I fail I feel like That'll be the consequence. I thought you were going to tell me that he just got loaded and never went, and I was going to be heartbroken. Totally up to this roll. We'll see. Totally up to it. Okay, we'll see. We'll see. My current sanity is 53. Ooh.

31. Oh, you made it. He ignores it. He doesn't get loaded that night. He sleeps well, wakes up at 5 a.m. to get to choir practice. The only parent in the audience with a baseball glove. The janitor on the way in asks him if he knows where he is. He says yes. You realize this isn't a sport and we don't actually recommend that you attend practice, sir.

I'm sorry, sir. Practice is closed to parents. It's a closed rehearsal. Riker abuses his office as a federal agent and shows him the badge and the gun and just eyeballs him to get away. Get the fuck out of the way. I'm watching my boy sing. Hear me. He hasn't shaved since they initially left for New York, and he just looks awful. Okay. Roll 1d6. You improve your bond by that amount. up to your charisma one perfect okay so yeah a little bit a little bit your son was happy that you were there

but embarrassed at you pulling your gun out to the choir instructor. And a little embarrassed that you brought a glove like you were going to catch a foul ball at the choir. Is this how this works? That's my boy up there! It's also perfect because my ex-wife Almeida is there too. And she like, at first she's pissed off that I would show my gun and my badge to the janitor. But then she's like, well, he's a good dad though. He showed up. So she's like, but great.

Dodgingly okay with me being there. It's perfect. Real mixed bag. Oh, I love it. All right. Let's kick it over to Dr. Westover. What has Dr. Lyra Westover been doing? Well, Dr. Westover, upon returning from last mission, comes home and her, as you know, 13-year-old son, Gavin, is a right prick. And he's really going at it today. He's just being a little shit, talking back. He has an argument for everything, and to her shame, she loses it a little bit and snaps and yells at him.

uses her the full weight of her medical authority and kind of uh makes him cry though he wouldn't want to admit that and he runs to his room and the next day at work uh her best friend and former medical school rival chris valek who has uh recently been promoted To the head of the emergency medicine department. She's happy for him. They're best friends and rivals. This will inspire her to do better.

But they're having a discussion about a particular patient, and then she snaps at him, too. And he says, Myra, will you close the door? And he says, I'm saying this not as your boss and not as your fellow physician and not as your former medical school rival, but as your friend. I think you need to get some therapy.

You've been belligerent. You've been snapping at the staff. Yes, your reports from patients have been nothing but glowing. But you've got a problem and you need to sort this shit out. And Dr. Westover protests, because obviously, how is she going to go to therapy? She's a secret agent. But eventually he says, all right, I was suggesting, but now I'm telling. Get some fucking therapy. Wow.

Lyra shows up, but she picks a therapist that comes highly recommended but is far away from anyone she knows and associates with out in rural Virginia. And takes the hour and a half drive from... from Maryland to go visit a therapist. What's its name? What's his or her name? The therapist's name? Yeah. The name of the therapist. The name of the therapist you said. Quit giving him time to think of it. Dr. Philippa Gregory. Philippa or Philippa? Philippa. Philippa Gregory. Call him Phil.

So this is tricky because this is in the go to therapy personal pursuit in the agent's handbook I'm reading. There's two options. You can either tell your therapist the truth. Or you can lie to your therapist. Right. But as a physician, I would, of course, have to preserve confidentiality when talking about someone from work.

So I'm obviously not going to tell the truth, but also that wouldn't be weird, I would argue. So I don't know. You tell me if I'm going to... I'll roll the check, but then you tell me if I'm rolling... If I succeed, if I roll a 1d6 or the 1d4. No, you have to tell the honest, bold-faced truth. You have to open your soul up. I would say I had this...

This patient at work and... Listen, she came... When we got to her, she had been abused. I mean, horrifically abused for many, many decades. And she'd be totally honest about her own reactions, but she obviously wouldn't say... Yes, she might be a monster from another plane. You could. There's a chance the therapist doesn't believe you. So, you know. Dr. Westover wouldn't risk that. Too much of a risk.

Yeah. Okay. All right. All right. So I make a luck. I'm obsessed. I'm obsessed with this mechanic. I love this. It's so good. Yeah. You make a luck roll. So it's lower than 50 succeeds, higher than 51 or higher. 51 or higher, yeah, is a failure. 43. Whoa, you guys are crushing it! Close to a crit. Yeah. Yeah. So you add one D for sanity, right? Yeah. You add one D for sanity and you develop a bond with your therapist.

equal to half of your charisma. This is like an episode of The Sopranos, then. It is. Dr. Philippa Gregory, therapist. So I now have a score of five in my bonds. But I only get one point of sanity back, so. Right. Oh my god, I wonder if that bond grows if you feel like you'll be comfortable talking to Philippa about everything. Hold on a second. Oh, wait a second. Yeah, this is the best part. Wait, but do you only develop the... Okay.

Do you develop a bond with the therapist only if you critically succeed? I'm having a hard time reading it. It says if your agent suffers from a disorder, a critical success cures it. Your agent also develops a bond with the therapist. I think that's only on a crit. That makes sense. Oh, man. If you crit, you could have temporarily cured your sleeping disorder. I know. I could have. All right. So you don't develop a bond. No bond with Dr. Gregory yet. This is so awesome.

This is so awesome, this mechanic. If you crit, you don't erase your sleep disorder. You just put a note next to it that says cured. Cured. And then the next time you gain a disorder, you have to roll another sanity test. If it fails, the cured disorder returns in full force alongside the other disorder you just got. So awesome. So cool. So awesome.

You've got all these cured disorders, and then you get a new one, and they just all come rushing back and back from having to face this cosmic. You're a total mess. But did you read the last line of it? Going to therapy reduces a bond by one as you had your responsibility. these laps. So I'd spend all this time in a car going to a therapist that's nowhere near anyone I know. So I feel like it would either be Chuck, my ailing father suffering from Alzheimer's, or my son Gavin.

Because obviously I'm doing this for my friend and former med school rival, Chris Valak. So I'm going to roll a 1d4 to see which one suffers. Either my father or my son. My father. I don't have the time to drive over to the... The nursing facility my father's in right now. I do have to just encourage members of the nation thinking about seeking therapeutic or psychiatric care to go get it. It's not going to hurt your other relationships in the real world. This is a game mechanic.

I'd like to make a motion for an alternate personal pursuit. For who? For you? For me, yes. Because it's much more in line with what happened. Instead of me trying to boost my relationship with Steve. I would argue that I did personal motivation. I indulged in the things that I find meaningful. Just sex. And that reduced my bond by one because I left Steve's all weekend. He was starving. And so then if I...

If I roll a sand check to boost my sand. And you get one point of sand on a success, right? Yeah. And 1d4 on a crit? Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Is that how that works? Do you want to re-roll or just keep the success? Re-roll it. Okay. Because you might crit. Right. Instead, I failed. Oh! And almost fumbled. Oh! That would have cost one cent. So you don't get anything out of it. So you don't lose sanity, but you don't gain sanity either. No, but I lose a...

A bond with Steve. And you know what? I deserve that. So, you lose one point. Just to be clear, the things that Roger Cumstone finds meaningful are, in this order, anonymous sex, Steve the parakeet. And then the Baltimore Royals. He loves his O's. Yeah, we have to get the, you have to add the O's as a bond. I would just, I just bond with a group. You can't have a bond with a group or organization. How can I project my insanity onto the Baltimore Orioles?

I mean, I can totally see Roger in the parking lot before an Orioles game trying to pick up chicks at tailgates, like just trying to have random sex in the back of a car. That would be his dream with the broadcast on the radio. the car. As ridiculous as this is. This is so Roger. I just love the idea of you pursuing an unnatural enemy that's threatening humanity and in so doing injure your bond with the Baltimore Orioles.

I love that idea because I missed a couple games missed a couple games he used to be able to tell you all the starting rotations ERAs at any given moment in the season and now we can't now we can't I'm going to bring up the 2009 Orioles line up just so I have it at the ready. Perfect.

All right. So we're not going to do a home session for Skid because he did not have an operation that we saw. So we don't know what the effects or the after effects of that were because we don't know anything about Skid's character. But I'm going to remedy that right now.

I thought about introducing Skid's character the way we always introduce Skid's character in our other shows, which is in the course of the narrative. But none of the other characters were introduced that way on this show in Delta Green. And everybody got to know so much about each other.

character before you went into it that i figure let's go into the details and hear about skid's character this time before we meet him so that uh you guys can all get a sense of what you're working with and uh i don't know i think it'll be better for the The role play potential. So in lieu of a home role, Skid, why don't you just give us a home where we learn about who this person is? Okay. Oh, I'm nervous.

So his name is Jordan Arsenault, Jordy, Jordy Arsenault. He is a not super famous but very well regarded sci-fi author. And he used to be a crime desk reporter for the New York Daily News. He grew up in the South Bronx. His dad was a heroin smuggler. He was part of the French Connection.

out of Marseille, and he got drummed out. He got sold out by one of the higher-ups, and he just took refuge in the Bronx because he knew people there. And so Jordy was raised in the Bronx. He learned how to fight. I got a little bit of a temper in the meanwhile. Went to Cornell, got kicked out, and then worked for New York Daily News for a while as a crime beat reporter, and then started writing.

sci-fi, and yeah, he has quite a few titles under his belt. He's done some script doctoring, he's written some screenplays. He actually, one of his bonds... Before you get to Bonds, why don't you tell me what profession that is? What is the game profession that you chose? Media specialist. I love it. So he was writing. He was doing research. He is an obsessive, meticulous researcher for his projects. Like, it's his most...

the most important thing to him. And so he's researching a sci-fi screenplay about Nazis using the supernatural rituals to help them win World War II. and the more stuff he started covering more and more stuff and he was just like he got actually got delving into the truth of like the Cthulhu mythos behind Delta Green. And as a result of his search histories and everything, he was tracked down by Delta Green and recruited. Oh, my God.

so awesome so he is uh extremely intelligent he has a 17 intelligence uh his distinguishing feature in that category is that he is brilliant He's a brilliant man. Of good charisma at 14. Irassable but charming. Skid put, which I love. And then a con of nine. And why is that, Skid? Years of hard living. So he's a chain smoker. He's done some drugs. He drinks a lot. And as a result, yeah, his body isn't quite what it was as a young man.

And it was born, by the way, it was born on 6-6-68. And there's a reason I chose that date. But if anyone wants to look it up, you might figure that out. Ooh, Easter egg. 6-6-68. Yeah. Oh, gosh. All right. Oh, my God. Oh, my God. All right. I love it. This character, that character description made me Roger Comstone. I dare you. All right. What about your bonds? What is this guy's bonds?

All right, so he has four bonds. One is Edgar Raines, who's a former Crime Desk editor. They've remained close over the years. His therapist, Dr. Nina Castagnon. She's out in L.A. She's out in L.A. Does he live in L.A.? He lives in Los Angeles. He grew up in New York. He still really considers himself a New Yorker. He still maintains an apartment in New York, but he spends most of his time in LA. Alex Fedorov, his literary agent.

Former NHL hockey player. Yes. What a second act. And his ex-wife, famed actress Diane Lane. who was married to her for six months in the late 90s. I love Diane Lane. I know. She's great. So the story, my thing is like... That Geordi was brought on to do some script doctoring for the original Sylvester Stallone Judge Dredd movie.

And so he came on and he met Diane Lane on that movie and he ended up getting in a fist fight with Christopher Lambert, who she was married to at the time. And this is all lines up with real history. Like they divorced like right after that movie. So like they divorced right after that. He married her for like six months and they broke up, but they still can't quit each other and they still talk on the phone. And then he has another...

He has another bond, which is an official bond. Joe, it's in quotes on my sheet. It's the manuscript. So what he does... to maintain his sanity after the stuff that he's uncovered. Like he has like a 20% knowledge of the unnatural, which like just draws from your sanity. So as a result of the stuff that he's uncovered, like doing all this. What he's taken to doing is writing a screen adaptation of the novel Dune.

But what he's doing is he's... But the story, he's infusing it with all this cosmic horror that he's encountered. So... It's grown and grown and grown, and he only does it on typewriter because he's afraid to have any of it leak online. And it's grown. It's like 1,200 pages, 1,200 single-space typewritten pages right now. And if anyone else were to read it, they would go insane. Some people may not know. 1,200 pages is like 10 movies. 120 pages would be like a two-hour movie.

Yeah, that's the thing. So he knows that this thing could never be produced, but he also knows that it's the greatest thing he has ever or will ever write. So he keeps it in a locked safe in his apartment and every once in a while he'll break it out and just type away at it. Do you think it possesses anything that could hurt another person's sanity if they were to read it?

Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, that's what he just said. Yeah, yeah. It's basically The King in Yellow. If anyone else were to read it, they would go mad. It's what he does. He pours all of his insanity into it. to keep himself sane. But if anyone else read it, it would just kind of attach itself to them. Awesome. Amazing. Amazing. And that also kind of rolls you into your motivations. So what are your motivations?

So my motivations as a researcher, after getting some of the hints of this stuff, is to uncover the truth. Second is to shield the world, most importantly the people who are close to him, and to finish the manuscripts. That's awesome. I love it. We don't have to go into your skills right now. That'll obviously come out as we play the game of Delta Green. Which I am ready to do. Is everybody ready to jump back in? Let's jump back in. Jump back in to our next...

Delta Green Operation. Oh, you know what? Before we do, I wanted to mention that we're doing a little giveaway for this. I forgot. We got way into it and got excited talking about characters. And we're doing a little giveaway. So... If you head over to our... Thank you.

We're going to have two winners. We're actually working with ArcDream on this so that you guys can get a hard copy of the Need to Know book, which is the book that I got for free through the DriveThru RPG. It's available for free there in PDF. But I have a nice hardcover of the book that gives you the quick start need-to-know rules of the game and the scenario that we ran in the first game. You can...

You'll get that for free if you win that. And then we're also going to give away the beautiful hardcover of The Agent's Handbook. I'm holding it up for the guys as if we're live streaming. But yeah, The Agent's Handbook, which is really what we've been pulling.

from all episodes so far about how all these little things work about the stuff you do at home and the stuff all about equipment that I mentioned. And I just think it's so awesome. So we're going to give away two different things to two winners. Go to our post.

again, on Instagram, and the rules will be there. And then we're going to run it through July 4th. So we'll run the contest through July 4th. We've got to give people a few days to listen to this. You're running it through Riker Salas' birthday. Perfect. Oh, that's right. That's right. Born on the 4th of July. Yeah. To celebrate Riker Salas' birthday, we're going to give away a copy of the neat, the hard copy of the Need to Know book, which comes with a starter demo so you can run your friends.

through it, try out the game. And then also an agent's handbook, beautiful hardcover. And you said these are from Arc Dream. If you don't know, Arc Dream Publishing is the publisher of the game who we've been chatting with. Yeah, Art Dream Publishing publishes it, and they have provided this to us so that you guys could check it out. Oh, also, if you don't win and you want to check out, I mean, this.

Gorgeous slipcover that we all got because it was just too, too beautiful to pass up. And it comes with the Handler's Guide and the Agent's Handbook. You can purchase that at shop.com. No, I'm sorry. Shop.ArcDream.com. That's their little online store. So Shop.ArcDream.com is where... We got that. And then they do use DriveThruRPG for all their digital content. So anything you want to buy at Delta Green Digital, go to DriveThruRPG.com. All right. Without further ado, I want to jump on in.

And I'm nervous. I am too. You should be. So, real quick. You should be. You should be. Real quick, just in case people didn't hear it the first time. These three characters came together, Roger Comstone, Dr. Lyra Westover, and Special Agent Riker Salas, to go out on a mission together in New York City just to clean up the apartment of an... ex-agent to make sure that there was no evidence around. In so doing, they were eventually led to finding a woman that seemed to be...

dying or dead or should have been at any rate. She seemed to be just wasting away in front of them, but yet she was alive, seemingly unnaturally. They tried to get her out of this tank that she was as in alive, despite a note left by the dead man that said, just burn it. Just burn whatever's in the tank. They ignored that and said, let's try to talk to this woman or at least help her because she was saying that the guy had done horrible things to her. So they pulled her out.

out of the tank and she took off as soon as she was free. Riker Salas put a couple rounds in her and Dr. Lyra Westover and actual good like weapons specialist. Roger Comstone tried to take shots but missed, and... She escaped into the woods of upstate New York. And you guys then opened up a chest of old Delta Green documents that this guy.

had left behind, and what's his name, Clyde Bowman, had left behind, and you started rooting through, and there were a lot of stuff about old cases in there, including one little picture of Riker Salas' mother, who had died. in his youth. And he has been curious about how that came to be. So I was wondering if you were going to follow up on that in the at home section, but you didn't. And I,

There's always time to do that when you want to. That's the kind of thing you could do in your home session if you wanted to. So they're sitting in the car. And trying to figure out what to do next as this woman has taken off and we fade out. We fade, fade to black. Fade back up on an aerial view. Of Washington, D.C. Overcast skies. We see the Capitol building in the distance. The Washington Monument in the foreground. The words come up on the screen.

Four months later. A quick cut. And now we're just a few feet off the ground looking at a long walking track along the Potomac River. A figure in the distance is jogging toward us along the cement path. As he gets closer, we see that he's wearing a light gray sweatsuit with the letters FBI stenciled in navy blue on his left breast. It's Special Agent Riker Salas. We hear... I have it right here. We hear his heavy breathing and footfalls as he passes the camera. Quick cut.

to interior apartment from the living room. We see through an open door into a bathroom. The shower is running and steam rises from behind the glass. We see a vague. outline of agent solace in the foreground in the living room are dozens of unopened sporting goods that his son has no interest in another another quick cut

And we see Agent Solace has now changed into a pair of jeans and a loose-fitting, beat-up white t-shirt that says American University, class of 2005. His hair is still damp from the shower. He sits down at a laptop positioned on the edge of a small kitchen table. Suddenly, the apartment phone rings. Solace turns to look at the old school wall phone, and on the lower edge of the screen we see fade up. Monday, October 12th, 2009, 3.29pm. Grant, what do you do?

Riker walks over to the phone, picks it up, and says, This is Federal Agent Riker Solace. Uh, is this Manny's Motors? Riker looks up into the distance and says, I'm sorry. You have the wrong number. And he hangs up on him. And then what does he do? He gets on a light windbreaker. with no markings on it to cover up both the American University and very clearly not having an FBI branding on it. And he grabbed his sidearm from his nightstand by his desk.

puts it in his waist holster, which is covered up by the windbreaker, and heads directly to the Anthem Diner on 28th Street Northwest. When he arrives, he talks very quietly to the hostess and says, I'd like a table for one, please. Put it somewhere away from everyone else. Thank you. Sure, no problem. He sits down, he orders, he looks at the drink section, eyeballs the cocktails a little too long, and flips it over and orders a seltzer with lime.

And a bowl of Manhattan chowder. And he waits. You're there for a little while. People are coming and going in 10 minutes, 15 minutes. Uh, in a little bit, your, your, your soup comes and, uh, you see a man walk in African-American man, mid sixties glasses. He has a folded newspaper under his left arm, and he sits down at a table right to your right. The server comes up to him, and he says, Might need a minute. Thanks. Grabs the menu. As the server walks away, he turns to you.

How's the soup today? Riker sits back, wipes the corners of his mouth where the soup was, swallows deeply, says, A bit hot for my taste. The man puts down his newspaper, looks at the paper on the table as if he's reading, but he's talking quietly. In a matter of minutes, you will get a call on yourself from your boss telling you that you've been assigned to an emergency case in New Jersey. This is an official FBI assignment, but you're really working for us on this one.

A contact from the program will meet you at the Newark airport with more details. Look for a sign at baggage claim for the USGS seminar. That's your contact. Your flight leaves in two hours. He stands up and the server is coming back around. He bumps into the server. Oh, excuse me. You know what? I was supposed to meet a friend for dinner and I went to the wrong place. I'm so sorry. And he pushes past the server and walks out the door.

Just as he walks out, you feel your cell phone buzz in your pocket. Riker answers. Special Agent Riker Solace. Blackout. We see a bustling baggage claim. The words come up, Newark International Airport, October 12th, 2009, 7.24 p.m. Now we see Riker walking through now in a black suit with a small carry-on bag. And when you look up, you see an older man holding a sign. Just like in marker, it's written, USGS Seminar. Riker pulls his Ray-Bans down just low enough to be able to make...

Eye contact with the man and does a finger wave in the air and walks towards him and just says, let's go. Welcome to Newark, sir. Puts down his sign, starts walking. Can I take your bag? No, I always carry my own bag. This way. And he walks you out through the exit and up to, you know, you walk down a little bit to the sort of short park area. And he walks you up to... A black GMC Yukon. Perfect. Opens the side door. Not the passenger door, the back door.

the passenger side rear door, uh, for you to get in. And when he opens it up, you hop in and you see Roger Comstone, Dr. Lyra Westover. And. Jordy Oshnow, who you don't know, in this truck. How did you three come to be in this truck? In Newark, New Jersey. In Newark, at the Newark International Airport.

I was behind the counter at my shell station. I asked him in advance. I said, just tell me, come up with a covert way that you get contacted by Delta Green. And I don't know what they do. About 20 hours ago, a man walked in. walked up to the counter and said, I'd like $24 on Pump 3 and a pack of marble lights. Then he said, What's the easiest way to get to the Inner Harbor from here? I looked at him and said,

Get back on the highway till you see the water and drive towards it. He nodded. I nodded. He paid for his goods and walked out. I walked over to the store and turned the sign to closed.

That's so great. Now you own the gas station. I love this. You're such autonomy. At which point you would have then gone to a face-to-face meeting that is a determined place, and this person would have told you, given you a ticket and said you need to board a flight immediately from BWI to Newark, leaving within two hours. All right, what about Dr. Lyra Westover? Dr. Westover was stepping out of Trauma Room 3 at Johns Hopkins, having just saved a victim of a terrible automobile accident.

Uh, and send him up to surgery and as she was, she's peeling off her, her, her PPE and throwing it, throwing it to the ground. The, uh, one of the people working at reception says, uh, Dr. Westover, uh, you got a message here? Uh, a, uh, A Kim Howard needs a refill on their prescription of diphenhydramine. And she goes, I'll take care of it. And then she just turns and leaves the building.

Amazing. Awesome. Awesome. And then you as well. Only this time, you know, just like Roger Comstone, but not like Riker Salas. You were just handed air tickets. And it's... The reservation has been made for you. Look for the sign USGS Seminar. I find them in the dead drop in the loose panel of a lamppost in the pocket of a Target in Elliott City, Maryland.

Ellicott City? Is it Ellicott City? Ellicott City, yeah. Yeah, that's great. All right, what about... Target parking lot? It's where that particular code... associated dead drop is. I love it. Diphonhydramine. I love it! Alright. Jordy. So, Jordy is, he came out to New York to do a book reading at the Barnes & Noble on Union Square. Of his new novel. This new novel, The Bagel Thief. And... Oh, my God. And he's...

He's in his apartment. So he's basically based on, I think I mentioned David Simon and Harlan Ellison. A few years ago, he sued Image Comics for adapting one of his characters from one of his stories, he said. And as part of the settlement... Image Comics sends him a copy of every single comic that they publish. So he has his long-suffering assistant send him a fax of everything that comes in the mail. And so he gets this.

And he gets and looks at the covers of one of these books, and he notices that the eye over this copy of this image comic in the logo is blacked out. He sees the second page and the ISDN number. He dials the middle seven digits or the middle nine digits of this ISDN number on a burner phone. And he gets an instruction to... to be picked up at the corner of 77th and 5th. So this is true. So this is a Carlin Ellison, famously litigious man in his lifetime.

sued Marvel Comics for pretty much the same thing, and Marvel Comics had to send him a copy of everything they ever did for the rest of his life. Wow. Amazing. All right, so you actually would have been picked up first.

And you would have been picked up at Newark Penn Station, most likely. So you would get put on a train out to Newark Penn Station. You're there in 10 or 15 minutes from New York Penn Station. And then you get picked up in this car and driven to Newark International Airport, just about a 10-minute drive.

And it's just silent the whole time. There's a woman in the front seat, in the passenger seat, and she's not saying anything. The driver tells you, we'll talk when we pick everybody up. So you get everybody into the car and... You notice that these people that you had seen before are there, but also a woman in the passenger seat. Younger woman, looks like she's probably in her 30s. She has...

Brown hair that's under a small ball cap. And she's wearing jeans and a hoodie. She's also wearing sunglasses. She has these... dark ray bands on and she takes them off as uh it gets later and the October sky is starting to get darker a little bit earlier she turns to the driver she says all right we can go

And the driver pulls out from Terminal A, Newark International Airport, and starts to get into traffic. She turns back to all of you and she says, My name is Eileen Parker, CIA, Homeland Security. I'll be your case officer on this one. We don't have much time, so I'll be brief. A few hours ago, a young man invaded a home in Alliance, New Jersey. That's about ten miles north of here.

He opened fire with a shotgun, apparently killed an entire family. One member of that family, it seems, escaped, and our shooter followed him out across Highway 6. killed him in broad daylight in a parking lot across the street. He then, I guess, took the time to spray paint a series of numbers on the parking lot and killed himself with the shotgun.

Pointed right at his own face all but took his own head off. There must be some evidence at the scene that the shooter... cross state lines or something so that's how the fbi got involved in the new jersey state police are swarming all over the thing too and so since the fbi has got some jurisdiction here we were able to get you all in that is our opportunity she reaches down and she from her feet grabs a briefcase and she opens it up

And it's filled with manila envelopes. She pulls out three manila envelopes and passes them over. They each have a number on them. She passes one to Roger Comstone, another to Dr. Lyra Westover, and then could you pass this back, please, to Geordi. Riker does not get handed anything.

As she's handing you the envelope, she stretches to reach out. As she's reaching back from the front seat, she says, you are all FBI agents sent by the Bureau in as a scientific, mathematical and counterterrorism special unit. Your unit has been assigned to this case because the number the killer left at the scene. Tell anyone official, anybody who asks...

Well, not any journalists that might ask, but anybody official who asks, just tell them that number represents some possible threat to national security and then just leave it at that. That'll shut them up. When it comes to the press, you tell them what you want, but you don't tell them it's going to be a threat to national security. It'll blow up right in your face. Now listen to me. Pay attention. Who this psycho really is. Why he did this. His connection with this.

Family, that's not what you're there for. Sure, as official members of the investigating team, these details need to seem important, but the fact is that they are secondary. We need you there because of that number.

that is spray painted on the parking lot as she's saying this you all start to tear away and open this manila envelope that she's giving you she's given you you open it up and slip out the contents and you see that inside is a black wallet and a disturbingly detailed series of papers that are a dossier of an entirely new identity.

It is a cutout that is as real as somebody can be on paper at first glance, right down to like dental records, IRS records, tax returns for the last two years, credit card receipts. As you're looking through this, it's all kind of like taking you aback. She says, look at those and get familiar with them. You only have a few minutes. You each slowly open up the black wallet to find an official FBI badge on one side and on the other, a picture of you.

with a name on it that you don't recognize. And it's a picture you know. It's like your passport picture or your driver's license picture. Whatever picture it is, Delta Green had it and made a fake FBI identification for you in a matter of hours. We got creds. Matthew, your badge, you look down and it says that you are a special agent assigned to the science and technology branch in the laboratory department.

Skid, you're also actually in the science and technology branch, but you are in the operational technology division. And then, Troy, you're in a different branch entirely. Your ID says you're a special agent in the National Security Branch, specifically Counterterrorism Division. Is there a name, an alias, or do we use our own name?

Oh, no, there's a name. You don't know. Yeah, it's a name you don't recognize. Why don't you tell me what the names are? What name is on your FBI laboratory scientist ID there, Matthew? Phillipa Gregory. That's an amazing coincidence. Which Dr. Westover is wise enough to know is a warning. Oh. Interesting. Oh, I love it. That's great. Oh, well, do a sanity check. A sanity check? Yeah.

Fail. 62. Take one sanity damage. As you know, they're watching you. Everything I learned, everything I got from that therapy session is erased. Oh, man. Oh, that's awesome. I love that. What about Jordy? What does his name say on his badge? Special Agent Brooks Robinson. Special Agent Brooks Robinson. Awesome. And then Raj, the one and only. Klaus Van Cliff. Joe just threw up.

It's supposed to be a passable identification. He was thinking about that scene. He sold a few dollars more. No. This is classic. This is McLovin shit. Why is it from Hawaii? Why is this ID from Hawaii? Why do you leave one name? American born, American made. As soon as Riker looks at all of their, he peruses all of their IDs and says, now this isn't too much different from Delta Green.

The FBI specializes in high profile and time sensitive cases and anticipates that each of their investigations is going to come under scrutiny. Like I said, not much difference. My supervisors will be up my ass if you fuck this up for me. So I want it to be clear right now that if any of the press talks to you and I'm not around, we are there under the auspices.

of the Supreme Court decision Wickard v. Filborn, which is a decision that dramatically increased the regulatory power of the federal government over interstate commerce. As soon as our shooter crossed Highway 6, it was the FBI's job. Got it. He's right. He's right. You let him do the talking as much as possible because we don't want anybody looking too close at you. Everything you're looking at right there looks...

Mighty fine, and it'll last for a little while, but it will not hold up under intense scrutiny. So do your best to stay out of the limelight. Let Riker do the talking as much as possible because he doesn't need any of these fake IDs. Now, whatever you brought in terms of weaponry or anything, it's going to be best if you leave it in the car. You'll find in the trunk as you get out standard issue FBI armaments there, typical sidearm and handcuffs, that kind of thing.

and such. So, uh, pull that out when you get out of the car and leave whatever would identify you as not being FBI behind. Uh, as that, as she says that the driver turns his face to where he says, you've got about seven minutes. She says, all right. I was saying that your primary objective is the number. The number the man spray painted on the parking lot triggered an alarm with. She looks away, looks back.

Well, it's been known to possess dangerous paranormal properties. First, get access to the murderer's email, phone, social media, whatever, and see if he shared that number with anyone else. Locate any physical evidence of the number in his home or office and destroy it. destroy the numbers at the scene and all photographic evidence of those numbers. This will not be easy as the local police and state troopers have already been all over that crime scene.

It's been hours and hours. No doubt they've been photographing like crazy. You might be able to get access to lock those down through Agent Knorr. He's the FBI lead investigator assigned to the case. He's really just there in a supervisory capacity. He can throw his raid around if you need it with the local cops. It seems, Ryker, you know all about this. So use that as you need. But we need to make sure that that number doesn't fall in anybody else's hands.

This is an active crime scene. You want us to go in there and destroy the number without raising any suspicion? You have to find a way to make it work. You are an official part of the investigation, so however you choose to do it. As I said, it's the number in whole that cannot be distributed elsewhere. You have to figure out something. The Federal Bureau likes to be nice with the local authorities up to a point. And if we reach that point...

We're gonna shove our weight around, along with Agent Knorr. That's right. And Agent Knorr, he knows that you're coming there, Riker. He's been told that Agent Silas has been assigned to the case and that you're also bringing a team of specialists, scientists and a counterterrorism expert to look into this number to see if it portends anything other than...

just this crime we have in front of you. So he's going to be fine with you there. Just don't arouse any unnecessary suspicion. He is in charge, so act accordingly. And don't draw any unwanted attention. In the course of your investigation, you discover that anyone, anyone with advanced mathematics experience has been exposed to that number. Report them to me. Send an email to the address included in your dossier with the subject.

Baker and nothing in the message. I'll get back to you. Take those IDs and replace your wallets with them. Hide your wallet somewhere else. Leave it in the car here because we're going to leave you the car. Stash it in a safe place whenever you can and don't carry around any actual identification. Once you step out of this car, you're all FBI agents. Y'all got any questions? We're running short on time.

Agent Knorr, what does he know? I don't know what he knows about the crime scene. All I know is that he's a good agent, and he's not a friendly. And she, like, looks at you closely. He's a good agent. But make no mistake, if he even gets a whiff that one of you is not actually FBI, he will come down on you hard and he will not hesitate to arrest you for impersonating a federal agent.

You're telling me I gotta kill Agent Kenor? No. Stop it, Roger. Sorry, I'm trying to keep up with all these notes. Why did I write Kill Agent Kenor? Sorry, can you repeat everything you just said? We don't have to. The driver turns. Two minutes. You should know this much, Roger. Who's this guy in the front? What's his problem?

He seems to be predisposed to violence. Now listen, if it comes to that, it comes to that. She gives you a cold look. Like she doesn't give a shit. The most important thing is that you don't leave any trace of who it was that done it. That's all I will say.

driver turns literally two minutes she's like all right shit um two things actually three things when it comes to evidence at the crime scene and closing the case of this multiple homicide just get it done quick fabricate an easily digestible story for the DA and the press, and then close the case.

This psycho got fired by the father of this family. He went nuts and blew his whole family to bits. Case closed. Whatever. Something that takes attention away from the number. Two, you've been set up with rooms at the Motel 6 in Alliance. It's west of the crime scene, maybe about two miles down the highway. You can make that your base operations. Other FBI agents are already there. It is an official FBI outpost for the purposes of the case.

Lastly, the program has one friendly that is known to be involved in the investigation, at least to some degree. He's in the New Jersey State Police. His name is Thomas Blanet. B-L-A-N-E-T. He's done work for us before, but he doesn't even really know the name of the program. Regardless, he's discreet and can be trusted. And I'll say it again, Agent Knorr is not.

Driver turns. He says, we're here. You look out. You're about half a block away. You've been on Highway 6 now for a few minutes. You're about half a block away and you see flashing. police lights uh you know about like i said about half a block up and you can only see brief glimpses of yellow tape visible between a crowd that is gathered out on the street around this thing. Bright floodlights have been set up at the scene and you can just see, I mean, you're stopped behind a line of press vans.

With just big old News 6, News 4, Eyewitness News, Channel 3. They're swarming all over the place. And you can see that they're from New York City. They're from New Jersey. There's some from Allentown. Allentown beat. is here to cover North Jersey. Allentown Beach. The Allentown Beach. So they've all seen the number. Everybody's seen the number. Everybody's seen it. They've seen it, yeah. Now, well...

Maybe not. Maybe not. They're far, you know, they're held back a certain distance from the crime scene. This is what you have to find out. Now, your CIA agent looks out and sees all these press fans and is just like, fuck me. She just looks back at you with kind of eyes wide. We're going to leave the car here for you. We'll leave the keys in the ignition. You take it as needed. But once you step out of this car, load up on your weaponry in the back, and then...

get to that crime scene, and you won't see me again unless you email for me. Thank you very much. Good luck. So, are we giving, are we given... uh, like the FBI windbreakers or anything. Yeah. Is there stuff for us to help? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So if you get out, so is everybody get out, get out. So you get out of the car, you open up the back of the Yukon and there's FBI windbreakers, uh, Kevlar vests and...

Standard issue chest holster and sidearm or belt holster and sidearm. Whatever is your preference. That's what they have there. And that's it. And handcuffs and just pretty standard stuff. Nothing too extraneous. This is an official FBI operation. So you only need equipment that's going to make you appear FBI. Anything else you need, they'll pretty much have it there.

Is there any kind of forensic equipment that as a member of the FBI's science and technology branch laboratory department, I might be able to carry in? No, they know that you'll... You'll have access to it there through official FBI resources, and local forensics is probably there. All right. Dr. Westover dresses, puts on the Kevlar vest, puts on the windbreaker, puts on the ball cap, and... So you guys are behind the scene now. And holsters up.

Yeah, you're behind all this. Nobody sees you quite yet. It's about 8 o'clock, a little after 8, so the sun is down at this point, and you're just seeing all this light, the flashing sirens and then the floodlights and all these people. And you're sort of behind getting, yeah. Troy, Roger Cumbstone is breaking in his cap. The bill of his cap. Awesome.

Agent Salas will follow your lead. All right. Oh, and Arsenault takes his windbreaker and he throws it over. He's wearing like an old, like 1970s... style leather jacket that's like a little too big for him. He throws the windbreaker over that, affixes his rose-tinted glasses over his nose, puts on the cap, saying, all right, let's go.

Give me your names one more time so I don't fuck this up myself. What are they? Dr. Philippa Gregory. Dr. Gregory. Perfect. Special Agent Gregory. PhD. Special Agent. We're agents first before our qualifications, Doctor. I'll have you go by agent first, not doctor. Thank you. Roger. Agent Klaus von Cliff. Agent von Cliff. I still think it's funny.

That's fine, Cliff. That's fine, Cliff. You, uh... I'm... Geordi? Yeah, uh... I'm, uh... Agent... Special Agent Brooks Robinson. Agent Robinson. Well... I'll tell all three of you, you're already members of Delta Green that shouldn't be that far off. Just don't say anything stupid in front of people that shouldn't hear it. Standard practice. Let's go.

And we end up looking for Agent Knorr. I'm sure I might have even been able to look him up in the directory on my encrypted FBI phone. There might be a database or something like that, so I spot him pretty quickly. Okay, so... Pardon me. You don't spot him. You don't see him. You start walking up and you just see a crowd there. And there is a way through the crowd.

You start parting it a little bit, excuse me, excuse me, moving through, and then you see the crime scene tape, and you see a police officer standing there, a woman. Pardon me, man. She just holds up a hand. Stop. What's going on? Who are you? Federal Agent Riker Salas. These are the other members of my team. Special Agent Gregory, Vaughn Cliff, and Robinson. We're here to liaise with Agent Knorr.

Okay, I'll need to see your IDs. You already held up yours. So she holds up the tape and kind of lets you walk under. Matthew actually pulls out his wallet. Looks awesome. She holds up the tape and nods her head and says, Sir. Sir, ma'am, as you walk by. Let's go to roll 20. Oh, hell no. Come on, Sony. As you walk into this crime scene.

All right, zoom out a little bit and find yourself there. It might be a little tough. Oh, it looks awesome. Oh, look at that. Oh, that's so cool. Oh, holy shit. Yes, pump it in on my veins. That is very well done. Oh, man. Holy shit. So you walk in, and this is a bit of a shit show. It is a rundown. Like deserted parking lot, basically a huge rusted trailer that you would see on like, like a, like a tanker, like a train, you know, like a storage, a cargo.

Yeah, a cargo. Yes, yes, yes. Cargo container. That's much better. A big old cargo container. Huge gray steel cargo container all kind of rusted. There's a couple cop cars that are pulled up, one of which is well within the tape there's an ambulance uh there and uh you see not pictured on the map lots of uh people

Not tons, but a dozen or more people are moving around the crime scene. You can see there's a load of trash and refuse back in one corner, and you can see what looks like a body laying near it. And you can't see the numbers at this point. You can see it from your view, which is like a like a basically an aerial, like a drone view of this. But you guys, you can't see it from your angle. You're a little far away yet. But the crime scene is rather long.

as it takes up, you know, maybe six to eight parking spaces that are pretty far from each other. And so it's kind of a wide open area. There's like an oil can, five gallon oil can that's just like sitting.

there in the middle of nowhere, a bunch of crap on the ground. And yeah, you see people moving all around. Then as you get in there, Riker Salas, over near a police car that's sort of to the left, you see this tall African-American guy dressed in a black suit he's about 6'4 talking to a local police officer and you recognize him as Agent Knorr from your quick search on your mobile device and he's just having this conversation It's the best map I've ever seen in RL20. Oh, okay. Well, let me...

Let me – well, you know what? I'll do it later. I'm going to give this guy a shout-out. This guy kick-started a – and I found out about this from a friend of the show, Matt Jones, who's been a longtime subscriber of ours, international subscriber. of ours uh he recommended this to me and i went and looked into it this guy has made hundreds of drone pictures

into high-quality, high-def maps that you could use for RPG. And a lot of them are like old churches in Europe and stuff like that that you could totally use for like... Are you kidding me? Oh, dude, you got to see this. That's amazing. I mean, if you didn't tell me that, I would assume that this came with the module, and you just, I mean, it looks unbelievable. Yeah. It kind of looks like a scene, like a screen from an isometric police simulator.

2010 or something. But good, it's like a high res. It's kind of like a better looking version of Grand Theft Auto 1 and 2 before it went 3D. Like that kind of view. Yeah, it's amazing. I gotta remember that. the name, but I'll shout it out on our next episode.

It's incredible. And it's just like 50 bucks. I think it was 50 bucks and you get access to hundreds and hundreds. And some of them are videos too. So they like, it's like there's one that's on top of like a factory and the smoke is like going the whole time. So it's like a video file that just loops. Really cool stuff. Come on. So...

Anyway, I am very psyched about this map. And I also used, I dove into the new dynamic lighting of Roll20's new dynamic lighting, which is very different. That's how I made it look like nighttime, because otherwise it would be impossible to make it look like nighttime. Interesting. So anyway, what do you do? I say three bodies.

I think in walking over to Agent Knorr, if it's all right, Riker, I don't know if it works this way because of how different skills are. I feel like I could just do this in Pathfinder. I'm not sure it would work in Delta Green. I would like to engage in conversation with Knorr and report in so that we aren't fucking up his scene and that he isn't angry at us. But I'd like to use human intelligence, of which I have like an 80 in. It's one of the highest scores I have.

I'd like to see if there's anything that Knorr is hiding in his conversations with me, what might motivate him, or recognize signs of dishonesty as he tells me about the scene. And just basically, I want to know how to behave best so he doesn't get suspicious of us. Yeah. Well, as you start walking toward him, his head leans back from this police officer that he's talking to, and he just looks back down. Excuse me a moment and looks back up at you.

Agent Salas, I presume. And he smiles and starts walking over to you. Hand out. You son of a bitch. Good to finally meet you, Knorr. I've read all about your exploits in the field. That operation. Right outside of Fredericksburg was incredible. You took those cultists down faster than I ever thought anyone else could. Wow, that was very impressive. I, uh...

I was like, oh, this is a bit familiar from my taste, but I didn't know you had done some digging. Unfortunately, I haven't had time to do the proper digging into you. Yeah, so he's looking around and he says, how was the flight? Did you make out okay? I did. I'm just pleased to be here on the scene to help figure out a solution to this problem for the great people of New Jersey.

Good. Then you probably already know then that I'm a special agent assigned to the Garrett Mountain field office about 25 miles from here and down here heading up this investigation. So word came to me. that you were headed down here for, that you were headed up here, rather, for, you got some specialists there, and he kind of leans behind you. Yeah, please let me introduce you to Agent Gregory Von Cliff in Robinson.

Fun fact, I ran cross-country meets in high school at Garrett Mountain. Get out of here! Proceed with your role play. Proceed with the game. He very pleasantly leans over to each of you and sticks out a big firm hand to shake your hand and welcome you to the crime scene.

Happy to have specialists here, of course. I mean, this is kind of a large team for FBI. I'm not sure what they're doing down there in D.C., but something here has got somebody's panties in a bunch. I don't know. There's not much... Really left to do much on this one, if you ask me. It's, uh... Killers...

He's dead over here. We got all the bodies. We got the murder weapon. No doubt his prints are all over it. There's just that number, which DC says they're sending a team up to look at. To me, it's all nonsense. It doesn't have anything to do with anything that happened. So it looks like national security branch is covering its ass. That's what I think.

You know, far be it from me. You guys take a look around. You do whatever you need to do to get the information you need, and I'm here to help you as much as possible. Sergeant Gant, or Special Agent Gant, rather, is, where is he? Billy! He calls out and you see he calls to a guy that's sort of another part of the crime scene. And this guy turns around and you see a white guy, early 30s, chubby, looks over at him. Agent Knorr calls him over and then turns back to you.

This is Billy Gant. I'm going to put you in touch with him. He is my number two here. So he'll take care of anything you need in terms of contacting with me or liaising with me. And he can help you liaise with the crime scene here, let you know what we've already found and then what we're looking into.

said it's not much uh it's pretty open and shut if you ask me uh and i have been here a gentleman for several hours so i'm gonna get out of here uh but anything that you need or find uh just ask billy he's gonna take care of you and just then this guy walks up. And he says, this is Special Agent William Gant. Billy, this is the team sent up from D.C. here to check out the number and do the counterterrorism stuff that needs to get done.

And it's just kind of, you know, hey, how are you? And, you know, goes around, shakes all of your hands, goes back to aging. And he just kind of takes a step back, like literally, you know, just giving Agent Knorr the floor here.

He looks back down at you again. Just let me and forensics know when they can get the bodies out of here, would you? Because we've kept them here for you a little longer than I'd like. So the sooner the better that we can move this thing along. I'd appreciate it, and I know forensics would as well. The ME would love to.

get home. So I'm heading home. If you need me for anything, like I said, just ask Billy here. He'll be in contact with me. And if you don't have any questions, I'm just going to get going. And your human int reveals no signs of deception. of any kind. He just seems like a jovial, you know, genial guy who's in charge of this thing, has it under control. You see the cops are going about their business. You see what looks like a forensics team is about. There are little

little markers all over of little pieces of maybe of evidence, particularly right nearby on the police car you're standing at. You see on top of the hood of the police car, you see a couple little numbers next to some bags, one of which is a bagged shotgun. And yeah, so this is what you see like in a quick glimpse, and he's basically walking away unless you stop him. Excuse me, agent.

Yes. What was it again? What was your name again? Special Agent Robinson from Science and Technology Operations. I'm sorry. I'm terrible with names. All right. I don't know if you have any background in cryptography. Do you know if anyone in this area has recorded these numbers, taken pictures, written them down, anything?

The best you know. Yeah, yeah. Plenty of pictures have been taken for the numbers, all the pictures you need. Just ask Gant. He'll get you access to them. But, you know, you can see it right over there. But if you need to go home and take it back tonight, I think they put you up at the Motel 6, from what I understand. Feel free to...

Billy, get them access to those pictures and make sure that they can take hard copies back to their hotel if they want. This guy just obediently nods. And he says, like I said. Looks like us. Looks like six isn't one of the numbers, so you're all right there. And he turns to leave. He starts walking away. One question. One question. He stops, turns around.

Agent Knorr, just making sure, did any of the agents, including yourself, take any photographs, personal photographs of the scene, the numbers, or anything like that? I know it's not protocol, but this is strange. Just need to ask. Sure. Sure. Yeah, I understand. Certainly. And that's a great question. I haven't. I'm sure Billy hasn't. That's against the procedure. We got on the scene relatively quick. We were here within maybe.

An hour or so. So I can't speak to what the first responders did to what the local cops might have done. It's not. I wouldn't know, but we got here early enough and got the scene on lockdown. I haven't seen anybody taking any pictures, and we made it pretty clear to...

You know, I should probably introduce you maybe tomorrow. I can introduce you to Police Chief Upton Weeks. He's the head of police here in Alliance. I made it pretty clear to him that we had control of the crime scene. And so he left about an hour ago. And he was pretty obedient about keeping his people under control.

control and then just keeping the crime scene out, keeping the reporters away. I don't think anybody really had time to take personal photographs, but I'd be speculating. So it's probably best that you look into that yourselves as well. That's a really good question. I'm sure Agent Gant can provide us with the names of the first responders, and we can follow up with Chief Weeks as well. It's good to know.

Who was here and who wasn't? Yeah. All of a sudden, William, Gant, Billy, who Agent Knorr calls him, he speaks up. He says, did he say that you were Dr. Cummicks to... You, Matthew, to Dr. Westover. He says, did you say your name was Dr. Comics? Dr. Gregory. Dr. Gregory. He looks back at Agent Knorr. Gregory? Knorr looks back at him. Oh, yeah, we... Well, we got a message. I got an email from Quantico saying they were sending up a Dr. Comics, a mathematician, to look at this thing. Oh, no.

Supposed to get here tomorrow, now that I think of it. I wasn't expecting to see her tonight, but I thought maybe she would have been part of your team and just a little delayed. Is she part of your team? Are you familiar with Dr. Comics? I'm familiar with her work. I'm sure she's an excellent agent. I'm sure she'll be here as soon as she possibly can. All right. Roll a persuasion. All right. Got to get rid of those numbers before comics' dirty eyes get on them.

15. Nailed it. Nailed it. Okay, great. Like I said... Just leave it to national security to overspend on sending two scientists up to do the work that one scientist can do. But hey, that is not my... Question to be asking. Yeah, you know the Bureau. That's right. We all laugh. All right. The Bureau. All right, good luck tonight. You know what? Let's touch base tomorrow and talk about what you found. If you found anything else, anything new. All right. Good night, everybody.

Take it easy. If Dr. Cummings tries to contact you, just refer to us. I'd love to take Dr. Cummings out for a drink, actually. Big fan. Perfect. And he turns around and leaves. You guys turn around and you're looking at this guy and he just goes right into it. He's just like, all right, well, yeah, we got this guy who seems to have shot up this whole family and with a shotgun.

multiple shots, reloaded it once, and then followed this one here into the parking lot and took him out. And we're left with... Just a hideous mess, but it looks pretty clear to me. If you come over here, and he just takes a few steps, and he's standing in front of the police hood, and he goes into one of the bags, and it has...

Wallet, keys, phone, etc. He's like, well, here's your shooter here. And he opens up the wallet and just opens it up and hands it to you, Riker Salas. You open it up and you see there's... an ID right there in the front behind a plastic sleeve. It's a California driver's license with an address in Altamera, California. See the picture of a young man. And the name on it says Michael Wei. W-E-I. Michael Wei.

That plastic flap is actually like a little page that you can turn in the wallet. You turn the page, and on the other side, you see another ID, a different ID, a different picture of the same young man. It's a Columbia University ID that's also a swipe card. On the back, it says John J. Hall, Foo Foundation School of Engineering and Applied Science. And then below that, printed on the card in a different font in all caps, it just says LAB.

L-A-B. And we will see you guys next time. Oh, shit. Go to John Jay. Go to John Jay. Wow. Get some food on the meal plan. Get some food foundation. Oh, wow. Thanks for listening to the Glass Cannon Network. For more podcasts and live streams, visit GlassCannonNetwork.com. And for exclusive shows and content you can't find anywhere else, subscribe today at Patreon.com slash Glass Cannon.