Shoot the Moon
A scenario for Delta Green. It is in the Mothership RPG (or my forthcoming modern Panic Engine system).
It is 2041. With the success of the Artemis missions NASA and humanity has returned to the Moon, this time establishing a permanent presence in the form of the Gateway space station and the Artemis Base Camp located near the Moon’s south pole. Now that the base camp is operational excavation has begun into polar ice located within the South Pole-Aitken basin for scientific exploration and resource gathering. They are about to find something much more momentous buried in the ice and rock.
Mission Start
Delta Green, knowing many threats lie in the void, have made an effort to maintain a presence on the Artemis mission. However, even Delta Green can only manage limited agents in this arena.
When starting this scenario one player is a Delta Green agent stationed at the base camp; the Program could not arrange any more than that. All other players should be regular base camp crew, one of whom is the base commander. There are six crew stationed at the camp; after PCs are accounted for use any of the following NPCs to make up for the remaining crew:
Payload Specialist Adelinde Schultze - A botanist from the ESA, Adelinde is on a limited term mission to determine requirements to establish a hydroponics facility in future base expansions. A new astronaut, she is still nervous about operating under such extreme conditions. C: 15 I: 10 Wounds: 2 Skills: Botany(+15), Microbiology (+15)
Pilot Ripley Warner - Ripley is the pilot specialist stationed at Artemis base, a veteran of a decade of missions, confident and easygoing. C: 15 I: 25 Wounds: 1 Skills: Drive(aircraft) (+20), Military Training (+10)
Mission Specialist Takehiko Ishida - A geologist from JAXA, Takehiko works with Pace developing mining operations as well as sampling regolith for scientific experiments. Will happily talk anyone’s ear off about sample compositions for hours if given a chance. C: 15 I: 10 Wounds: 1 Skills: Geology (+20), Engineering (+10)
In addition to their skills, characters have all received standard astronaut training in the use of equipment and operating in zero-G or low gravity environments. Each are allocated a spacesuit and equipment needed to do their jobs.
NASA Spacesuit: AP: 3 Oxygen: 12 hours. Includes radio comms and headlamp. Decompression in 1d5 minutes if punctured.
NASA astronauts have no need of firearms and they are disallowed on missions for obvious reasons. However Delta Green has contrived of a way to get one to their agent at Artemis base. During a public relations mission, the agent secured an old Russian survival kit containing a TP-82 combination gun, capable of firing rifle rounds, shotgun shells, and flares. There are 6 of each in the kit.
TP-82 Combination gun
Range: Long (lunar Gravity) 3d10 DMG Shots: 2 Wounds: Gunshot Special: Flares can be seen from Long range and deal 1d5 DMG (Fire[-]). The stock of the TP-82 can be used as a machete dealing 2d10 DMG (Bleeding[+]).
The Discovery
There is one additional NPC at the base, who starts off this scenario: Mission Specialist Pace Stevenson. An engineer with specialty in mining, Stevenson is the current crewmember overseeing ice mining and sampling at Artemis base. A roughneck with a congenial personality, Stevenson loves being out on the lunar surface.
Stevenson is operating the L-Rex regolith excavator to harvest water ice from the bottom of Shackleton Crater when he meets resistance from an unexpected object.
Stevenson radios Artemis Base and describes the situation as it unfolds:
- He reports the L-Rex scraped into some kind of hard object and he is investigating.
- Reports a dark patch in the ice beneath him. What is exposed looks like it may be metal or synthetic.
- A surprised shout is heard over the radio before being abruptly cut off. He responds a moment later that he fell; the strange material seemed to give out under him but he is ok. He reports he will be returning to base.
- Comms with Stevenson end.
What Happens Next
When Pace Stevenson attempts to extricate himself from his fall, the ceiling overhead closes. He has inadvertently entered the alien ship. What he finds inside replaces him with a jumbled mass of flesh bound inside his spacesuit.
This false Stevenson is what emerges from the ship and arrives at Artemis Base an hour later headed for the Human Landing System. Its opaque sun visor is down and it does not respond to comms. If it is allowed to board it will initiate an emergency launch sequence and dock with the Gateway station, attempting to take the Orion spacecraft to Earth.
False Astronaut
C: 55 Unarmed 1d10 DMG or as weapon I: 25 W: 2(10) AP: 3 (Spacesuit)
Explosion of flesh tendrils: A mass of writhing flesh explodes from the seams in the suit and attempts to envelop a target. Body save or else be engulfed taking 1d10 DMG per round from constriction, as well as being rendered blind and restrained. If a target is killed by this, the False Astronaut regains a Wound. Cannot be performed in vacuum.
Behavior: If the False Astronaut is attacked it turns and attacks the threat. It will make use of objects close to hand around as makeshift weapons. If it gains a Wound it tries to disengage and flee to the buried ship. If it reaches it, it will emerge fully healed after 20 minutes.
If the spacesuit is breached in a vacuum it is knocked prone and viscous fluid bubbles out to seal the breach. It gets up the next round and carries on. This triggers a Sanity save if anyone is not already aware of what is inside the suit.
Opening the visor shows an undulating press of flesh and viscera against the helmet glass. Opening the suit reveals a confused jumble of flesh and bone clinging in strands to the inside surfaces of the suit. Either of these actions trigger Sanity saves the first time they are witnessed. Testing the contents of the suit reveal it to be the DNA of whoever was disassembled last mixed with unknown organic substances (Sanity save for anyone revealed these results).
Artemis Base Camp
A small outpost established at the Moon’s south pole. This location was chosen due to the proximity of water ice in nearby craters and because it gets near constant sunlight. The majority of the habitat is buried under piled up regolith to protect inhabitants from cosmic rays.
- Crew Quarters: Small rooms that fit a bed and minor storage and a shared bathroom.
- Galley: A kitchen for food storage and preparation.
- Lab: A basic lab for materials testing. Also contains storage for tools for geological samples and base maintenance: Toolkit (Drills, wrenches, screwdrivers), hammers, shovels, pickaxes, electronic repair kits, flashlights.
- Airlock: Crew spacesuits plus two spare.
Water Extraction Plant
This facility takes deliveries from the crater mining sites and extracts water and other volatiles. The Lunar Regolith Excavator (L-Rex) and Lunar Transporter (L-Tran) are stored here when not in use.
Solar Array
A field of photovoltaic panels arranged vertically capture the sun skimming the horizon. Thick electrical lines wind to the habitat proper. Electric powered rovers are plugged into the array charging their batteries.
Nuclear Reactor
A micro fission nuclear reactor has been established to carry the camp through the two week window of darkness the south pole goes through each year. It provides output equivalent to the usage of a typical house, so operations are limited during this time.
HLS
The Human Landing System vehicle allows transfer to and from the lunar surface to the Gateway station in orbit. This vehicle allows transfer to and from the lunar surface to the Gateway station in orbit.
The Buried Ship
Buried beneath ice and regolith is a clearly alien structure. Though comprised of metal and synthetics it looks grown rather than built. This is a ship of alien origin that crashed in the lunar crater and has been trapped here awaiting discovery.
As the structure is approached interlocking hexagonal pieces fold away from a doorway allowing passage. Because of the angle of the ship this is tilted down, such that anyone standing over it will fall into the “airlock”. If open, it is easy to jump out under the Moon’s low gravity.
After entering it closes and begins to fill with a viscous liquid, opening an interior door when full. The same liquid is found throughout the ship. It is slow to move through, imposing disadvantage on rolls relating to moving quickly. Those traveling through the fluid can feel pulses and waves transmitted through it from an unknown source.
The ship is small, essentially the “airlock” and a wide interior chamber. Inside, the sinuous curves of the walls are embedded at irregular intervals with glowing lights and knobby protrusions.
Suspended in the central chamber is Mission Specialist Pace Stevenson’s neatly disassembled body suspended in the fluid: organs, muscle, bone and tissue separated and spread out like an anatomical display (Sanity save [-]). If studied closely, one can notice the eyes follow anyone in the chamber (Sanity save [-] and Panic).
Hidden in the shadows of the ceiling are spindly metallic limbs, which lash out at anyone entering the chamber attempting to take them apart (Body save or be grabbed, taking a Wound per round). The arms move unimpeded through the fluid but focus on their task at hand ignoring anyone else. Witnessing the arms at work triggers a Fear save.
The arm assembly can be broken by being dealt 10 or more damage but rebuild themselves over the course of an hour.
People disassembled by the arms aren’t technically dead as long as they are suspended in the fluid but cannot interact with anything and have 1 HP, take 20 Stress, and Panic. Of course, there is no obvious way to reverse their condition.
Shortly after someone is disassembled perturbations can be felt in the chamber fluid and some of it begins to turn the color of flesh and organs. It forces its way into the discarded spacesuit of the victim forming a new False Astronaut, then makes its way to the airlock and out of the ship. Anyone who acts quickly enough can follow it into the airlock to escape.