Operation GALA NIGHT
With thanks to Mike Mignola et al
Then
In 1944, Delta Green disrupted an effort by Karotechia rocket scientists to launch a specially prepared
corpse into space, part of a pact with formless things that lurked in the emptiness between worlds. During
the operation, the launch site was destroyed, along with everyone inside. Delta Green officers assumed
that the launch had failed and that the operation, at the cost of every agent they sent, had been a success.
Now
NRO imaging satellites have detected a bogey: a small meteorite which has changed course three times in
the last twenty four hours. Enhanced imaging will reveal that the object is a primitive space capsule. Its
current trajectory will take it down directly on top of Hunte Castle, in the Austrian Alps. The Program
knows that the ruined castle was the target of a Delta Green operation in 1944, but they do not know why.
Bureaucracy can get access to an image taken by the satellite.
Military Science or related can dig up records of the original 1944 operation: An OSS team was sent to
the castle in the year 1944 following ominous reports regarding movements of German scientific and
military personnel to the castle. The operation ended in an explosion which "blew the top off" the
structure, killing everyone inside, including the entire OSS team. This was considered a qualified mission
success.
Hunte Castle
Hunte Castle is located in the Austrian Alps, in what is now a national park. It is over 700 meters above
sea level, and the climb from the foothills (the closest point accessible by vehicle) takes approximately 4
hours (although someone skilled at mountaineering or survival could chart a quicker, more dangerous
route).
The castle itself was built in the 11th century by Herzog Herbart von Manstein II. During WWII, records
indicate "Allied Bombing" was responsible for major damage to the structure, destroying the roof and
upper floors of the main keep. The structure has fallen into disrepair, due to its remoteness and how
difficult it would be to restore it. It is rarely visited outside of the occasional enterprising hiker or
archaeological expedition.
In its time, the castle was all but impregnable. Now its sally ports lie unguarded, its drawbridge wide
open. Some tourists have reported cave-ins or fissures in the rock faces below, which may lead inside to
the lower levels of the castle.
If the Agents are able to requisition satellite or aerial imaging of the castle, it shows clear signs of human
activity: electric lights in the destroyed keep and numerous figures moving around the grounds - some of
them armed. Several vans and SUVs are parked in the foothills of the mountains.
Checking in with the Austrian state park service reveals that an archaeological team from the University
of Innsbruck arrived a couple days ago in several vans and SUVs. They carried quite a bit of
“archaeological equipment” with them, which they presumably hand carried up to the castle.
Arrival
Without any delays, the Agents arrive at the foothills with about six hours to spare.
The climb up the mountain to the castle is lengthy. Going up the path on foot - it’s impassable to vehicles
- takes roughly four hours. Someone with a good Survival skill could chart a faster route that would take
about three hours, although this would be dangerous, inflicting damage (or worse) on anyone failing an
Athletics test. Bureaucracy or Military Science with the right credentials may convince the Austrian
government to lend a military or police helicopter for the operation. This will make the initial ascent a
breeze, at the cost if instantly alerting the castle’s new occupants that they have visitors.
GENERIC NAZI THUG - Eight of them
STR 10, CON 10, DEX 10, INT 10, POW 10, CHA 10
10 HP, 10 WP
Skills: Alertness 40, Athletics 40, Firearms 40, Melee Weapons 40, Heavy Weapons 40, Unarmed 40
Attacks: MP40 (40% to hit and D10 damage, 10% lethality when burst fired, 30 rounds)
Luger P08 (40% to hit, D10 damage, 8 rounds)
SS Knife (40% to hit, D6 damage)
Stielhandgranate (60% to hit, 15% lethality)
One MG42 (40% to hit and 15% lethality, 5 AP, 100 rounds)
One Stinger Missile Launcher (60% to hit and 30% lethality, 20 AP, 1 round)
If they see the Agents coming they alert their commanding officer, Inger Von Klempt, who will mobilize a
response. The goons are barely competent, but under her leadership can set an ambush for Agents
approaching via the mountainside. If the agents approach by air they use the Stinger. Allow the pilot an
opposed Piloting roll against the firer’s Heavy Weapons skill. Failure means the helicopter is shot down,
dealing 2D6 damage to its occupants. Von Klempt will dispatch a team to investigate the wreckage and
“retrieve” any survivors.
INGER VON KLEMPT - Granddaughter of Herman Von Klempt
STR 11, CON 10, DEX 14, INT 12, POW 14, CHA 14
11 HP, 14 WP, 64 SAN
Skills: Alertness 50, Athletics 50, Firearms 50, Melee Weapons 60, Unarmed 60, Unnatural 10
Attacks: STG44 (50% to hit, D12 damage or 10% lethality burst fired, 3 AP)
Potato Masher (70% to hit, 15% lethality)
Unarmed Attack (60%, D4-1)
Armor: 3 (Armor Vest)
Inside the Castle
The lower levels of the castle are badly protected. Fissures in the rock allow access to the dungeon and
laboratories beneath. The guards mainly stick to the areas with electric lighting hooked up to the
generator, occasionally patrolling the others using flashlights.
One level up from the dungeons is the library. It was here that the seances to contact the otherworldly
power that now inhabits the capsule were initially held. Several uniformed skeletons sit at a table,
massacred in a hail of Allied gunfire while they sat entranced. They are connected via headsets to a
strange radio apparatus, hooked up to a cabinet. Inside the cabinet are the severed heads of psychics, now
decayed skulls. This is how the dull, evil men of this place were able to emulate the extraordinary
sensitivity of mind necessary to contact the things that lurk in the void of space.
The table is covered in books and papers. These are the ancient texts the Nazis referenced to set up the
project, along with their own personal notes. Taken together, they detail the nature of the thing they
summoned:
● As a spectral being, it requires a vessel to reach earth (a specially prepared corpse launched into
space, which the Nazis intended to recall)
● Once it has a vessel, the being can shape physical objects around itself as building material,
growing in size as it assimilates more and more matter
● The entity is ultimately made of energy, and thus could hypothetically be trapped or contained
using the principles of electricity and magnetism.
This area of the castle contains various other amenities, such as a generator room, barracks, etc. In
addition to patrolling soldiers, this area is also host to Von Klempt’s uplifted gorilla.
KRIEGAFFE NUMBER TEN - Nazi War Ape
STR 22, CON 18, DEX 13, INT 9, POW 10, CHA 4
HP 20, WP 10
Skills: Alertness 40, Athletics 60
Attacks: Backhand (60%, D8+2 damage)
Smash (40% to hit, 15% lethality)
SAN Loss: 0/D2
The Keep
The keep is missing its roof, which was destroyed in the explosion that terminated the OSS mission. The
castle’s new occupants have set up a control center here. This is where the capsule will touch down.
If the Agents reach the control console with one hour or more to spare, they can alter the course of the
capsule so that it burns up in the atmosphere, dissipating the being harmlessly before it arrives. This is
easily accomplished with Navigate, Computer Science, SIGINT or a related skill. Destroying the console
has a (hidden) luck roll’s chance of working - the capsule may burn up in the absence of needed course
corrections. Either way, burning the capsule dissipates its contents harmlessly in the atmosphere, a
mission success. The head of the original rocket project will do everything in his power to keep any of
these things from happening.
Doctor Herman Von Klempt and co
Von Klempt was one of the Karotechia’s foremost occult scientists - an expert in early cybernetics,
neurology and regenerative medicine. As the war dragged on and it became clearer and clearer that
war-apes and tank-men weren’t going to deliver the Fatherland from its impending defeat, he turned his
mind to darker and more esoteric subjects. Together with the Karotechia’s other sorcerers and
super-scientists, he masterminded the project to call down the power of the dark between the stars and
destroy Germany’s enemies. The explosion at the castle during the OSS raid killed him. Following his
specific instructions in the event of his death, his agents recovered his remains and placed his head in a
specially prepared vessel.
What was left of Von Klempt retreated to the jungles of Brazil to continue his experiments. Time and
time again, his projects failed, or were foiled by interlopers. It was only when the Black Man appeared to
him in a dream that he realized the Hunte Castle launch had not been a failure - that the capsule was still
in orbit, waiting for the signal to return.
DOCTOR HERMAN VON KLEMPT - Karotechia Super Scientist and Sole Survivor of the Hunte
Castle Disaster
STR 18, CON 18, DEX 10, INT 18, POW 15, CHA 9
HP 18, WP 15, SAN 0
Skills: Alertness 50, Athletics 40, Firearms 40, Science 80, Occult 70, Unarmed 50, Unnatural 25
Attacks: Mauser C96 (40% to hit, D8 damage, 10 rounds)
Shocking Grasp 50%, D6+2, CON test or be stunned
Armor: 5 points of metal plating
Von Klempt can control the body remotely. It cannot be stunned or knocked unconscious
If the robot body is destroyed, or Von Klempt chooses to separate from it,
DOCTOR HERMAN VON KLEMPT- Nazi Head in a Jar
STR 3, CON 3, DEX 13, INT 18, POW 15, CHA 9
Skills: Alertness 50, Firearms 40, Fly 40, Science (All) 80, Occult 70, Unnatural 25
Attacks: Electron Laser (40% to hit, D8 damage, CON test or be stunned)
SAN loss: 0/D4
If the capsule’s landing is not foiled in time, it descends toward the keep, slowing as it falls in defiance of
the laws of physics. It lands softly and Von Klempt instructs a pair of goons to open the hatch. When
they get in arm’s reach, the door flies open and a mechanical appendage grabs both of them (see GRAB
AND ABSORB below) and hauls them screaming inside. The rest of the guards in the room panic and
attack, as the capsule rises up - forming the crown of the Conqueror Worm’s body.
THE CONQUEROR WORM - Godling from the void of space
STR Varies, CON Varies, DEX 11, INT 20, POW 50
50 WP
SKILLS: Alertness 50, Athletics 70
ARMOR: 12 base, but see CONSTRUCT BODY
ATTACKS: Grab and Absorb 50%, see GRAB AND ABSORB
Swat 50%, 3D6
Trample 50%, Lethality equal to ½ STR
CONSTRUCT BODY: The worm starts with a base of 30 CON, 30 STR, 30 HP, and 12 armor - it has
constructed a body for itself out of the space capsule and the corpse inside. Lethality rolls fail against it,
instead inflicting damage equal to their lethality rating.
MALLEABLE FORM: The worm can change the shape of whatever matter it has absorbed. It can
extrude limbs and appendages at will, leap through the air, scuttle along vertical surfaces, and even glide
or fly on enormous wings if given enough time.
GRAB AND ABSORB: On its action, the worm can attempt to grab everything within reach with metal
tentacles, fleshy claws, or other appendages. Victims so grabbed are pinned and lose D8 from STR and
CON, which is added to the worm’s own stats proportionally as it absorbs them. On their action, victims
may attempt an unopposed STR or Unarmed test to struggle free. Anyone reduced to 0 STR or CON by
this attack is absorbed completely into the worm and killed horribly.
SWAT: Nuisances with a strong electrical charge, such as Von Klempt’s robot body, will be bludgeoned
by the worm’s appendages for 3D6 damage rather than absorbed.
TRAMPLE: If the worm reaches prodigious size, it can simply run over things in its path. Roll to hit for
everyone in its path, victims trampled a lethality attack with percentage equal to half the worm’s STR.
Anyone killed by this attack has their STR and CON added to the worm’s as it absorbs them.
EPICENTER OF ENERGY: The worm’s physical form is only a tool - it is a spectral being. If it is
reduce to 0 HP, or if offered a more tempting host than it currently occupies, it can transfer itself into a
new form. A person inhabited by the worm gets an opposed POW test to resist possession - an unlikely
prospect. Persons so possessed lose D10/D20 SAN and fall under the Worm’s control. An exorcism
ritual or a dangerous electric shock can force the out of its victim. This must be done before the worm
begins absorbing matter if the victim is to be saved.
ELECTRICAL WEAKNESS: The worm is averse to electricity. Strong electrical currents or magnetic
fields disrupt its pattern. A strong enough current will ward it off, especially if it is not occupying a
physical form. If it is embodied, the voltage/amperage required to do so increases with its size.
SAN Loss: D6/D12
Resolution
The worm tries to devour as many people as it can, growing larger and larger. Von Klempt is thrilled and
watches from a safe distance. The worm might try to snack on him, in which case he separating from his
body and floats away, using electricity to deter it. Inger Von Klempt is appalled and will try her best to
destroy it, working with the Agents if it looks like they’re ready to help. It’s possible that with the
Agents’ help, the Nazi goons might kill the worm’s physical shell. This will not solve the problem as it
will simply possess the next strongest thing (the war ape is a tempting target if it is still alive) in
succession.
If the Agents notice the worm is averse to electricity they might be able to juryrig a way to trap it - such
as getting it to occupy a person’s body and then wrapping them in copper wire or something to keep it
from leaving, until a more long term containment solution can be figured out.
Agents who read the notes in the library may realize that the worm is an entity of energy. With this
knowledge, they might think to direct and trap it in some kind of storage media. An Agent with Craft:
Electronics, Craft: Microelectronics or a similar skill could pull this off using the castle’s generator array
and computer equipment. The main difficulty will be attaching the leads to whatever form the worm is
occupying, which will have to be done manually at great risk. If successful this approach traps the worm
in whatever storage medium the Agents use.
The worm is repelled by the Elder Sign but will use thrown objects to try and kill anyone employing it
from a distance, without entering the area of effect.
If the worm is not contained it will slough down the hillside from the castle toward the nearest populated
area. It might gobble up some sheep or wildlife on its way. The Austrian military and NATO might try
cruise missiles and airstrikes after it gets big and kills a lot of people (costing surviving Agents plenty of
SAN from Helplessness). This is a temporary solution even if it destroys the body since the worm can
just find a new host. It is intelligent and might choose to lie low if this happens, hiding inside a single
person or wild animal or something.
