Biodynamics Play Report - Part 1

This is a play report for my Delta Green shotgun scenario Biodynamics, where the Agents have to investigate the outbreak of an unsual cancer.

A dividing cancer cell

The Program sent a team consisting of five Agents:

• Lucas Brady, a special operator and SIGINT specialist, working for the ISA
• Isabella Wilson, a young lawyer
• Gabriel Vega, member of the FBI Hostage Rescue Team
• John Damon, a New York-based firefighter
• Debbie Morgan, a US Army physician

The team is tasked with interrogating Mitchell Parker in a hospital in Atlanta, GA. Parker suffers from an unusually aggressive cancer. He is already the second person in a few weeks that fell victim to this disease. The Program and the Agents know that someone named Terrence Harding has already died with similar symptoms.

The Agents check Parker's patient file and try talking to him. The find that there is no obvious cause for the cancer, since he lives a very healthy lifestyle and has not changed his habits in the weeks leading up to his diagnosis. While talking to Parker, the Agents find that he not only covered in tumors, he is also severely depressed. He even tries to grab Vega's weapon to commit suicide, but is unsuccessful. Agent Morgan calms Parker down with her Psychotherapy skill and gets him to share some more details of his life. They learn that Parker grows his own vegetables in a community garden. The Agents decide to check out this garden, as well as Parker's apartment and the first victim. Before they leave, Agent Brady tries to cheer Parker up with a CHAx5 roll, but it doesn't have the desired effect.

The Agents grab a coffee in the hospital cafeteria and discuss their next steps. They decide to split up, one team checks out Parker's apartment while the other half looks into the first victim, Terrence Harding.

Meanwhile, Mitchell Parker has another bout of depression and commits suicide by jumping out of a window. Due to a failed Luck check, this happens just as the Agents leave the hospital and they have to witness Parker's body hitting the pavement right next to them. Undeterred by the gruesome sight Agent Morgan manages to take a sample from one of the pulsing tumors on Parker's corpse before hospital staff and other first responders rush to the scene.

Brady and Wilson head off to Parker's apartment, while Vega, Damon and Morgan go to another hospital, where Terrence Harding spent his last days. They learn from the attending doctor that Harding is from Helen, a small town north of Atlanta, where he apparently has a small store that sells self-help books, healing crystals, and other esoteric articles.

In the meantime, Brady and Wilson search Parker's apartment. They find a bunch of unusually large carrots, as well as leftover carrot soup. They also find a book called An Introduction to Biodynamic Farming. It seems to have been a present by someone called Daniela. The teams have a short telephone conversation, where they share their findings. They decide to meet up at the community garden, where Parker must have grown his oversized carrots.

Part two of this play report can be found here.