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OPERATION CRUEL SUMMER PART 1

Published on: 9th October, 2024

The Program activates several expert operatives to look into the curious circumstances regarding the death of a young university student.

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Transcript
Speaker A:

Welcome to another one shot. This one again cold from a discord member, Evra. Thank you, Ivra, for providing this contest winning scenario for us to play through tonight.

It is called Operation Cruel Summer.

Speaker B:

Bum, bum bum.

Speaker A:

Very much look forward to running it.

Speaker C:

They thought we'd never get there.

Speaker A:

Yeah, I didn't think we'd ever get here. We will be running this for as long as it takes. I said one shot, but we are notoriously here at shit. Bad at adhering anything like that.

Speaker B:

You can stop bad at it.

Speaker A:

You can stop at it, which is bad. We have three of the cast members here tonight to run through this.

Speaker D:

Jon is out with terrible diarrhea. So thoughts and prayers.

Speaker A:

Yeah. He has what we like to call Blowbutt, I believe.

Speaker B:

Yeah. He wanted to be here, but we said no. We can't hear ourselves over the noise of the constant.

Speaker A:

The noise coming from his asshole, I think is what you were saying.

Speaker C:

Hershey squirts. It's the worst.

Speaker A:

Yeah. Party mud, I believe, is a very spicy pardon.

Speaker C:

Feel better, John. Feel better.

Speaker A:

Yeah, yeah. Godspeed. Thoughts and prayers. Well, why don't we go ahead and I guess, should we introduce ourselves?

Or are we just so famous now on our own show that we don't have to do that anymore?

Speaker D:

That's hilarious. But no, we should introduce ourselves.

Speaker C:

I don't think I've ever introduced myself.

Speaker A:

That's a good point. Olivia, why don't you go ahead and start?

Speaker C:

Who are you?

Speaker B:

I like to go last sealed your own poison.

Speaker C:

I'm Olivia. I'm Chris's wife.

Speaker A:

And who are you playing tonight?

Speaker C:

I am playing Sophia or Sophie Karas. Ooh, I might have pronounced that wrong.

Speaker A:

You're allowed to pronounce your own character's name wrong, so you have carte blanche for that, Sophie.

Speaker C:

Just call me Sophie.

Speaker A:

Perfect. Who's next?

Speaker D:

What does Sophie look like?

Speaker A:

Yeah, we'll get to that. We'll do that.

Speaker D:

Okay.

Speaker B:

Okay.

Speaker A:

Yeah, we'll get that.

Speaker C:

You're gonna like it. Maybe.

Speaker B:

I'm Marconi and I'm gonna play Zachariah Mason, aerospace engineer. He has a cool watch that. I won't ruin the surprise because.

Speaker A:

Don't ruin it.

Speaker B:

It's pretty good. It's pretty good.

Speaker C:

It's good and likes long walks on the beach.

Speaker B:

Yes, yes. Yeah. I mean, the sand really gives you that kinetic pushback that you need for a good cardio.

Speaker A:

So, you know very, very much already in character. Well done.

Speaker D:

And my name is Eric Lundberg and I will be playing Vadim. He is a Russian guy, so let's.

Speaker B:

Just keep all the stereotypes. Throw it in a big bucket.

Speaker A:

Yeah, that's what it is. It's just this amalgam.

Speaker D:

I was like, how can I offend a lot of people? And I was like, perfect. I'm gonna Borat this up.

Speaker A:

Isn't he from Kazakhstan?

Speaker D:

Yeah, yeah, Borat is, but it doesn't.

Speaker A:

Matter when it's Eastern Europe.

Speaker D:

Yeah, it's just. It's all the same, right?

Speaker B:

You're just really spreading that people who hate you. Venn diagram, you know.

Speaker D:

Exactly. So it's just a circle.

Speaker B:

I mean, any Eurasian I find disgusting.

Speaker A:

Whoa. Okay, okay. All right. We'll have plenty of time to be full blown racist in the game itself, so why don't we go ahead and jump into that.

Speaker D:

Very nice.

Speaker A:

We're going to. We're going to go ahead and start with some single character vignettes.

How you are called in by the program, which you already have worked for on multiple occasions, each of you, but never, never together on the same op. And I want to start with our new Russian friend, Vadim.

After being put through a four hour interrogation by two stern American air marshals in a very bureaucratic DHS wonk, you are now waiting to board Qatar Airways Boeing 787 at JFK Airport. The questioning felt like a pointless ritual. They were well aware that you could not relay any information about your work in the city.

It was simply a matter of procedure and a chance for little men with a little power to throw their weight around and impress some pointy haired idiot behind a desk somewhere in dc. But now, with that tedious dance behind you, you're finally on your way home. Now, you still have a few hours before boarding, and you take your time.

Reading a newspaper is always a pleasure for you. The feel of the pages is comforting, even if the spectacular propaganda is not. After a few.

Tucking the unfinished reed under your elbow, you make your way to the lockers on the other end of the terminal, where, upon your arrival to the United States, you deposit a few of your belongings, forbidden for the errands you were to complete.

Smiling as you pick up your phone and other personal items, you can see that someone tried to hide their attempts at snooping around your things as you expected.

So preoccupied with your phone's encryption, your secret admirer did not think to explore more mundane pathways like the hidden stitching in your faded billfold, which contained a SIM card. After quickly installing that into the phone, your eyes fell upon a set of seemingly unrelated SMS messages.

As they slowly filtered in, you sigh it looks like you'll be heading to Chicago now instead. This exchange program, it isn't over yet. You can't blame the Americans for reactivating you for another consultation exercise.

After all, your own organization owes them a boon or two. You crack your neck, download your new tickets.

But first you'll have to go all the way back to the safe house, get the equipment you had just so carefully stowed away. After all, there's no telling what you might need in Chicago. That's your vignette. I just got a text message. Let's see if it's from Johnny boy.

He says he'll be here in 10 minutes.

Speaker B:

Oh, yeah, well, that should be fine.

Speaker D:

Enough time to hose off.

Speaker A:

It's just enough. Sophia Karas, you're next. It starts with an Amazon package you didn't order showing up at your apartment.

It's an absolutely trashed iPhone4s tucked very carefully in a cluster of bubble wrap. A familiar crawling feeling reaches up the back of your skull as you try and power on the ancient device.

It's barely functioning, and several warnings about not being able to connect it to a network cascade across the spiderweb of cracks in a screen. The only installed app is for taking notes. Everything else is conspicuously absent. The last and only composed note reads, Ms. Carus. Fat stacks await.

am:

Speaker C:

I love fat stacks.

Speaker A:

The piece of junk flickers off, completely bricked and suddenly smelling a bit like a burnt match or a particular singed skunk. You look up the address. It's for the FBI offices here in the city. Hell, it's not even a height to get there.

Now, whenever you get called or creeped on by these spooky government types, it's always a decent payday. And it's sort of fun. Get to hang out with a bunch of uptight suits reluctantly getting their hands dirty. And it's always fairly amusing to watch.

Yeah, you'll accept this job, the cash will be easy to spend, and who knows, you might even catch a glimpse of something interesting. These kinds of gigs always have some strange twist to them that never fails to pique your curiosity.

Speaker B:

Chris. I like to change my character to Fat Stax. An old blues singer.

Speaker A:

Uh huh. Okay, so we're going musician pathway now. Got it. Got it. Haunted piano player.

Speaker B:

Ooh. Okay. Yeah.

Speaker A:

Hell yeah. Hell yeah.

Speaker C:

Love that.

Speaker D:

I met the devil at a crossroads.

Speaker A:

Zachariah, Mason, you're up next. You receive an official looking email from the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics.

It invites you to a special conference on cutting edge aerospace technologies and national security, and it's hosted at a prominent location in Chicago. Everything about it screams legit. The professional graphics, the contact details, list of guest speakers, a link to a secure registration portal.

Exclusive sessions seem more than relevant to your expertise, almost custom tailored to your interests. But following through the link leads to another secure website that mimics a typical conference registration page.

And only one session seems available. It's titled Confidential Briefing on Emerging Aerospace Threats.

You purse your lips and go through the instructions on the form, but there's a sense of deja vu that increases with each keystroke. After registration, you immediately receive a confirmation email with travel and accommodation arrangements.

It specifies a prepaid flight to Chicago and a reservation at a nearby hotel. There's a detailed itinerary that's attached, and hell, a time off approval from your director filters in at about the same time.

Not that you made any such request. The address for the hotel, of course, turns out to be the Chicago FBI field office.

And after security takes your ID and sends you through a metal detector, it's clear that you're expected by someone named Snediger.

That's no one you've worked with before, but that never really matters on these extracurricular jaunts that you've been volunteered for again and again since picking up and documenting those fucked up sounds near Pluto. Hopefully they'll have a use for you this time.

You feel like you get tacked onto these things because they need someone with their head screwed on straight. People you usually end up working with are a bunch of bearded jarheads with itchy trigger fingers and thousand yard stares.

And hopefully this Snediger isn't an asshole like the other case officers, the NSA or CIA or whoever keeps putting you in front of. At least perhaps you'll get to look at something new, something novel. You smile as the elevator doors open and you head toward the conference room.

Speaker B:

How do you spell Sneddinger?

Speaker A:

It's S and E. D, E, G, A, R. Okay, cool. Thank you.

Speaker D:

But it's pronounced.

Speaker A:

Yeah, you gotta get. You gotta get the fourth. The fourth mouth really growling in there to say it, right?

Speaker B:

Aw, dang. I only have three.

Speaker A:

You can't say it. Dang. All right, Lenny, you're up. You wake up with a start in your bed. The nightmare has left you covered in a sheen of sweat.

Already the details are fading as the stark reality of your apartment comes into focus. What the hell was it about? You remember flashes of pain of something dragging deep underground. Something horrible it's all so blurry now.

You're thankful you can't remember. You don't feel like you slept a wink, and it takes everything you have to get ready for work.

When you make your way down to the car park to jump in your Corolla, you see someone has scratched up your driver's side door. Dang it. You hiss. This is not what you needed today.

After a sip of coffee, as you pinch the brow of your nose, you finally notice that the etchings, though crude, seem to be a message. Your heart begins to beat faster now.

You're usually so excited to be contacted by these government spy types, there's something nagging at the back of your mind. Something to do with your nightmare, maybe. You take another sip of blessed caffeine and try to shake the impending feeling of dread once more.

-:

A barely understandable AI voice gives you instructions to get to Chicago by 11am to meet with an Agent Snediger at an FBI field office. It's a familiar name, but you just can't quite place it.

A United Airlines plane ticket hits your email inbox serendipitously before the call is even finished. You gulp down the rest of your drink, burning the roof of your mouth a little bit, but you are unfazed. The excitement takes over fully now.

What mysteries will you unravel this time? What pieces of the world, once hidden in shadow, will you shine a light upon?

You call into work, your voice a bit too cheery for someone with the flu.

Speaker E:

Lenny rides again.

Speaker B:

Him and his precious fingers.

Speaker D:

Precious digits.

Speaker B:

Damn it, I screwed it up.

Speaker E:

There you are. There you are.

Speaker A:

Each one of you ends up today or the following day, depending on when you receive the missive. You're all getting there at the same time, if I made that confusing.

time to meet this Snediger at:

After having you remove all your belongings and possessions and send you to a particular receptionist down a hallway to the left.

There, you are instructed to leave your electronic devices, phones, a basket with her, and you were each escorted by a young FBI agent to the third floor and into a large conference room. Now, the room itself is designed for both functionality and security.

It's got a large rectangular table made of polished Wood and surrounded by ergonomic office chairs, look like they might actually be comfortable. The room's well lit. It's a combination of natural light from smoking, small secure windows and overhead LED lighting.

At one end of the room is a large wall mounted flat screen monitor. Looks like it's been prepped for a slide presentation. And next to it is a podium equipped with a built in computer and control panel.

The room also has a large document camera and a few other presentation tools for displaying physical documents or objects in detail.

You can see on the table itself there are what look like secure communication lines, including encrypted phones, video conferencing capabilities, and the whole place is visibly soundproof. The doors as well, which are heavy.

Beyond that, the walls are adorned with frame certificates, awards, motivational posters emphasizing integrity, teamwork, national security. There's a small United States flag that stands in one corner of the room.

Finally, there's a sideboard against one wall that holds bottled water, coffee, light refreshments. The first to arrive is Vadim. There's no one in this room. It's not the first time that you've been first.

You pride yourself on punctuality, but you've been awake for a while now, so your patience is wearing thin.

Speaker D:

Vadim mutters with irritation in Russian and makes his way into the conference room, over to the coffee, pours himself a cup and opens a bag of salted peanuts and begins forcing them in his mouth, chewing between sips of coffee.

Speaker A:

Sophie, when you are led inside the room, you find yourself alone momentarily with this older gentleman. Vadim. Can you describe what you look like? Briefly.

Speaker D:

He's an older man with graying light brown hair, gray wings on his temples, his icy blue eyes it looks like they've seen quite a bit. His nose is knobby and his face is pretty craggy with wrinkles around his eyes like he smiles a lot.

When he sees Sophie, automatically a smile jumps to his face and he stands up and says, welcome. I see you are second person here. Maybe there'll be more. I don't know. Never know with these things. Yeah. My name is Vadim. And you?

Speaker C:

Vadim. I'm Sophie. And she reaches out her hand to.

Speaker D:

Shake his and he thrusts his hand to envelop hers. It's very leathery and tan, like he's outside a lot. Calloused, rough hands.

As he shakes yours and is still smiling and shaking your hand, he says, so strange we always end up in this kind of place.

Speaker C:

Yes, it's not my first rodeo, but I guarantee there'll be more with us soon.

Speaker D:

I sure hope so. No offense, but more than two people is usually a good idea.

Speaker C:

I couldn't agree more.

Speaker A:

Sophie, what do you look like?

Speaker C:

So, Sophie, if you can picture a typical Greek heritage, she has dark, wavy brown hair and it's just about shoulder length, almond shaped eyes, dark brown and dark lashes. She's wearing, it's just black on black on black. A black tank top, black leather coat, faux leather pants, sort of athletic, slim build.

She's about 57 and carries herself very well.

Speaker D:

And you are Catwoman.

Speaker C:

Oh my gosh, it's like you know me.

Speaker B:

Do the Eartha Kitt accent.

Speaker A:

The door opens and another individual is led into the room. This is Zachariah. Zachariah, you see this man and woman seated at this large conference table. You look from one face to the other.

You don't recognize them. Before you introduce yourself, would you mind describing what Zachariah looks like briefly?

Speaker B:

Absolutely. Zachariah is a clean cut, bespeckled gentleman, 27, but you know, he looks like kind of a dork, but he has actually an incredible physique.

He's got a very tight polo shirt on that kind of, you see, like a gym personal training would wear. And he has one of those kind of hiking pants on some New Balances. Very much. Looks like he takes care of himself, eats right, and he has a clean face.

Like he moisturizes and takes very good care of his face and nails and all that good stuff.

Speaker A:

What's going on with that left wrist? I just noticed.

Speaker B:

Oh, oh, you mean what's on that wrist?

Speaker A:

Well, yeah, yeah.

Speaker B:

Well, I mean, I don't brag, but he's got a watch that can go down to the Mariana Trench and still keep. Still keep. Atomic time.

Speaker D:

Wow.

Speaker A:

Yeah, okay.

Speaker B:

Yeah, I don't want to throw names out because then you'd feel so poor, but it is a nice watch.

Speaker D:

Vadim stands up and says, oh, we have Superman here. Thrusts out his hand to you.

Speaker B:

He gives you a fist bump motion. He goes, superman, I love that.

Speaker D:

As you make that fist bump motion and his hand is coming to yours, he pauses and regards your fist and puts his hand around it and shakes it up and down.

Speaker B:

This guy's a joker. I'm gonna like him. I can tell. Hi, I'm. I'm Zachariah. Zachariah Mason.

Speaker D:

I'm Vadim. Vadim, this is Zachariah.

Speaker C:

Hi, I'm Sophie.

Speaker B:

Oh, I thought you were saying, ah, your name was Zachariah too. That would be a. That would be A charming situation, wouldn't it?

Speaker C:

It's a beautiful name. Well, so, yeah, I could see that.

Speaker B:

Thank you. I mean, a beautiful woman telling me I have a beautiful name. The stars are aligning. And he sits down and he's just kind of sitting straight up.

Speaker C:

Sophie's smiling, nodding her head, and then kind of looking over at Vadim like I, uh. Okay.

Speaker A:

Before the silence grows weightier, the door opens again. Another gentleman enters again. None of you have seen each other before? Sort of. Four strangers now in this conference room.

But John, if you'd like to describe what Lenny looks like in this particular circumstance briefly, I'd appreciate it.

Speaker E:

I can do that. So, a younger man walks in. Green eyes, short but unkempt hair, 5:00 ish shadow, maybe a 5:30 shadow.

Just in kind of a wrinkly clothes, not super, well, kempt, but his eyes are kind of darting around the room, but otherwise looking nervous but excited to be there. Hey. Hey. Hi. My name's Lenny. Good to meet you all. I guess we're all here, I'm guessing for the same reason. Yeah. Lenny Hargrave. Yeah.

Nice to meet you all.

Speaker D:

Pleasure to meet you. My name is Vadim. And you, I'm assuming, are the one we need to keep our eyes on.

Speaker E:

I don't know what that means, but okay. All right. Good to meet you too, buddy.

Speaker B:

Maybe he means that you're a lady killer, aren't you? And he gives you a fist bump.

Speaker E:

Lenny fist bumps him and then shakes his hand in pain. Yeah, yeah, no, that's me. All right, good to meet you all. And he sits down and starts taking a $1 coin and starts rolling it between his fingers.

Speaker B:

His precious habit fingers his precious digits.

Speaker A:

You're only alone for a few more minutes. The door swings open one last time. A tall man walks in. He's wearing a front black suit, ties a bit askew. Closes the door behind him.

He's Caucasian, has a fairly obvious military bearing. His brow is furrowed. He looks across the room. He nods curtly and makes his way to the front.

Near the podium, awkwardly, he turns to you and says, agents, appreciate your punctuality. I apologize for the delay. My name is Snedeker. I assume you've taken a moment to introduce yourselves to one another.

Speaker B:

Oh, we're fast friends.

Speaker A:

Good. Friendship is good. Why don't we go ahead and get down to business? Do you need any emotions to the back of the room? Any water? Go ahead and grab that.

Now he goes ahead and starts plugging in a laptop. He's Brought with him into some of the control panel equipment on the podium.

Speaker C:

Sophie walks over there and grabs two bottles of water, shoves one in her purse and takes a swig from the second bottle.

Speaker B:

Zachariah will get a bottle as well, grab a little packet from his pocket, put it in the water, shake it, and then start drinking also. I hope that accent's okay. I just. It just came out of my face, and I guess I'm going to use it now.

Speaker A:

That's it. Now you're stuck. You're stuck, bud.

Speaker B:

Oh, cool.

Speaker D:

Beautiful. Love it.

Speaker B:

We're getting power points, baby. I don't get enough of this at work.

Speaker D:

Now, did you do this or did Ivra?

Speaker A:

Ivra.

Speaker D:

Wow, that's.

Speaker A:

And so we're gonna. We're gonna rock it out. Okay, agents, sit down. I have a presentation. We'll save questions until the end.

You're being activated for Operation Cruel Summer. This is, of course, special access only under the Security Studies group.

Two nights ago, University of Wisconsin Madison freshman Molly Clark was found unconscious in her dorm room. Doctors at UW Health's emergency room determined that she had overdosed on a combination of Ambien and an unknown substance suspected by authorities.

He looks around the room to be some form of ingested narcotic. We have gotten involved. The Dane County, Wisconsin, medical Examiner has ruled Clark's death a likely suicide.

Compounds in Clark's blood are metabolites of a substance known to us, identified by codename Archangel Tempest. The presence of these compounds suggests potential unnatural involvement in Clark's death.

You'll be heading to Madison, Wisconsin, and we do suggest looking into several potential avenues to understand what may have caused the death of Molly. To determine the origins of where she may have obtained the identified substance. Suggestions are as.

Alexandra Curtis, Dean for Greek Life at UW Madison. Brian Michaelis, Title 12 Office. Apparently, Molly Clark was a Tri Zeta pledge and heavily involved in sorority life.

We also have a friendly to the group.

Siobhan Nelson, who was the primary care physician for the deceased, who we do recommend speaking with as well, provided the prescription for the Ambien that she supposedly overdosed from. We also suggest a couple of local government contacts.

There's Sloan Clayton, the Dane County Coroner, where the body is being held, and if needed, Laura Bessinger, UWPD detective on the case, Although we do recommend only speaking with her as a last resort. She has not read it. Now, members of law enforcement are investigating Clark's death despite the determination of the coroner's office.

So you may need to manage their expectations and their investigations to a conclusion. He looks at you all pointedly. A little background on substance.

Archangel Tempest it is an organic compound, unknown origin, does not belong to any known classification of substance or drug. But it bears a structural similarity to both opioids such as buprenorphine and naturally occurring psychedelics such as psilocybin.

When ingested, it rapidly causes an altered mental state. Symptoms Observed symptoms include depressed respiration, heart rate, delirium, visual and auditory hallucinations and analgesia.

Onset occurs within 30 minutes. Duration is typically 6 to 24 hours, depending on the height of the dosage.

However, the symptoms themselves are uniform and they're not dosage dependent, just the length of time that they manifest. Now, effects can be magnified through repeated usage. There are no documented cases, however, of death or permanent disability from use of it.

If there is a minimum fatal dose, it has not yet been discovered. So we're going to provide you some testing kits. These contain highly classified substances.

It must not be administered by or given to anyone not clear for this operation. He looks around seriously, as if waiting for somebody to say something.

It's not currently possible for us to synthesize this substance, but we do not ask for you to collect it in any way, shape or form. Again, we are investigating the death of Molly Clark. You are to identify anything unnatural around it. Events, persons, evidence.

If you find any threats, you are to eliminate them. Specifically, you are to identify using the testing kits and eliminate any sources of substance. Archangel Tempest.

If any of this unnatural phenomenon at all, threat or no, is discovered, you are to obscure its presence. You are to protect civilian lives to the maximum extent compatible with what I have just summarized.

And you should not involve anyone else in this operation, including local law enforcement, University of Wisconsin Madison University of Wisconsin Health personnel at all, unless absolutely necessary. If you come upon any existing ongoing investigation, you are to intercept it. You are to obfuscate it. You are to conclude it if possible.

And of course, do not reveal your identities to anyone. Now, you will be reporting back to me and SSG every 24 hours. I expect your final report in 72. I will be giving you identification.

You will be operating as a task force of the Chicago FBI. Your objectives and presence in Madison are classified.

Your official cover, if you need one, is as anti hazing consultants from the accreditor of UW Madison, the Higher Learning Commission. I have identification for that as well. Again, local law enforcement will not be aware of your presence due to the classification of this operation.

He closes his eyes as if he has a headache. Avoid involving them Wherever possible. And maintain a low profile. Your dual layer of covers, it's not considered ironclad.

They may not hold up to scrutiny, so be wary. Agents. It says end of slideshow on the screen. Now he turns to you. Any questions.

Speaker B:

On this? On this substance? What's the vector here? Is it ingestion? Can it be by touch?

Speaker A:

I pulled as much information as I could from the group on this substance. And what I've given you is everything that I could unearth. He seems to be taking a while to choose his words carefully.

Speaker B:

That's fine. Just more pieces of the puzzle.

Speaker A:

Since this is such a difficult file to extrapolate data from. Mr. Mason, I would not come into contact with this substance without some level of prophylaxis between you and it under any circumstances.

Speaker D:

And how are we to dispose of substance if we encounter?

Speaker A:

You'll need to field test solutions. If you come across a great volume that can't be easily disposed of, you can contact me. I'll see what I can do.

Speaker D:

Understood.

Speaker B:

Another. Another question. How friendly is the friendly?

If we go to this doctor, can we be a little bit more open than we can to the coroner, if you know what I mean?

Speaker A:

She's worked with us before. She knows what we do is extremely important. And she has proven herself to be able to keep things to herself.

We don't expect otherwise from her during this operation.

Speaker E:

And just to. Just to double check, you're saying the doctor of the victim, or whomever we're investigating, she's a friendly? The doctor of the deceased?

Speaker A:

That is correct.

Speaker E:

I mean, that seems like a bit of a coincidence, don't you think?

Speaker A:

How so?

Speaker E:

Well, I mean, we're investigating someone who's full of a drug that's not supposed to be known. And the very person prescribing them drugs is friendly to our operation. Maybe it's nothing. I don't know.

Speaker A:

Siobhan's not under suspicion, Mr. Hargrave. But if you find anything indicating such, please report that to me immediately.

Speaker E:

Okay.

Speaker B:

Hopefully we don't have to kill her.

Speaker D:

What would be a sad day.

Speaker A:

He slowly turns towards you, Zechariah. His eyes just sunken in suddenly, as if you just pulled forth life force from this man.

Speaker B:

Yum.

Speaker A:

Nom, nom, nom Nom just stares at you. Yeah, he just stares at you. Any other questions for me, agents, before I provide identification testing kits and phones for use on this operation?

Speaker C:

None here.

Speaker A:

Okay. He begins producing small rectangular leather boxes. Passing them out to you.

He instructs you briefly on how to go ahead and use the liquids in what look like 4 plastic screw top bottles inside with cotton swabs and other applicator devices on various substances.

And what will happen is the positive test will show a turquoise or bright purple response, letting you know that whatever you are testing is indeed positive. He also gives each one of you a flip phone. It comes preloaded with two numbers, both which Snediger says will reach him.

Finally, you're given FBI credentials as well as cover identities as officials from the Higher Learning Commission. One last time. Agents check in with me every 24. Wrap this thing up in 72.

Speaker B:

Zacharias starts fiddling with his very nice watch.

Speaker A:

Okay. In the motor pool below, there is a set of vehicles ready to be requisitioned. If you only need one, that's fine.

I went ahead and pulled two just in case. You should make your way up to Madison as soon as possible.

Speaker B:

Sounds great.

Speaker D:

Okey dokey.

Speaker A:

You four, stand up and begin to file out of the conference room. Go ahead. And everybody roll. Alertness.

Speaker E:

I succeeded. Eight out of 22.

Speaker C:

Billiard. 91 out of 60.

Speaker B:

I failed. Three out of 20.

Speaker E:

Vadim.

Speaker A:

So, Lenny, you notice that as you're walking out, out of the corner of your eye, you see this Agent Sneddegar. He sort of almost collapses onto the podium. It's like he's got a horrible headache. He's just cradling his head in his hands.

Vadim, you see that not only is this man absolutely exhausted, but you can see him gritting his teeth and he hisses something that you cannot pick up as you leave the room. Like a curse. Perhaps you're just not sure.

But the door closes as you four make your way following the same young FBI agent, you make your way down to the motor pool. Now, if you'd like, you can go ahead and get the two vehicles. Now, these are not FBI plated vehicles.

These are what look like civilian vehicles at first glance. One sedan. The other is a small suv.

Speaker E:

Okay, why don't we take both cars up to up to Madison and then we can combine into one to start our investigation?

Speaker D:

This is fine. Vadim begins loading his two roller luggage cases into the back of the suv.

Speaker A:

Yeah, shotgun. Retrieved those from the receptionist. And you're throwing those in there. Y'all pack up.

The only items the receptionist insists on holding onto is your phones. Snedeker said you can only have the phones given to you for this particular. She trails off and just shrugs. She looks apologetic.

Speaker D:

Vadim kind of taps his fingers on the top of the desk when she tells him that. May I have for one minute? I just need SIM card.

Speaker A:

Uh, o. Okay. I. That's probably fine. She passes over the basket where your phones are stored.

Speaker D:

Thank you very much. And he ejects the SIM card and puts that in his pocket for later. Appreciate your assistance.

Speaker B:

Just. Let me just turn mine off. You know, it uses up the battery and then when you recharge it, it doesn't recharge at full rate. I. I got this.

And he like, talks to her like it's a conversation, but it's not.

Speaker A:

Got it. All right, go ahead. And what do I want you to roll here? I guess I'm going to have you roll your persuade.

Speaker B:

31 out of 20. Failure. This is my failure character.

Speaker A:

Her eyes glaze over and she hands you the phone. Doesn't say anything.

Speaker B:

I just turn it off.

Speaker D:

But you've sucked a little more soul out of the FBI building.

Speaker A:

Your willpower is now at 92 out.

Speaker B:

Of 10, my grand wizard.

Speaker A:

So all four of you are now contemplating how you want to start this investigation into the suicide of Molly Clark. You know that Clark's body is being stored at the coroners. You know that her primary care physician is friendly with the organization.

You know, you could talk to those who perhaps knew her best, at least from a bureaucratic standpoint, hopefully sussing out others who might know her from a more intimate standpoint, give you more details about the events leading up to her suicide. Where would you like to begin?

Speaker B:

Well, personally, I think we should go to the corner first. That way if we get any information, we can talk to the doctor and maybe perhaps she can give us some real answers.

Speaker E:

Yeah, that sounds like a good idea.

Speaker B:

Of course it's a good idea. And he kind of smiles when we go to Dr. Woodly at you.

Speaker D:

What do we tell them? Her doctor, the coroner, when we go to them? How do we get the information we want as anti hazing idiots?

Speaker B:

Well, of course we would believe that she died from suicide from hazing.

Speaker A:

Just to reiterate, y'all have two layers to cover. Yeah, I know.

Speaker D:

I just. I didn't.

Speaker A:

One is FBI. Oh, okay, cool.

You would probably want to say we're FBI picking up this investigation with a coroner and anti hazing, maybe with the UW staff, just depending on your approach. You've got. You got some options here. And hell, if you want to go anti hazing to the corner. I mean, fuck yeah, go hard. I'm ready for that scene.

I'm ready to see how that works for you. Where are we Headed.

Speaker B:

I mean, I'm voice. I'm still for the plan that I.

Speaker A:

Said show up as FBI team wants to head at the corner. Head to the coroner's office. As an anti hacing unit.

Speaker B:

No, no, no. As FBI, but still hit that one first.

Speaker E:

Anti. We're going as an anti FBI unit. That's our plan.

Speaker A:

Cool.

Speaker E:

Do this thing.

Speaker A:

Y'all want to show up in flash badges or do something else?

Speaker E:

Flash nuts. That's what we're doing.

Speaker A:

Oh, boy.

Speaker D:

This is gonna go really weird.

Speaker E:

I'm gonna roll a 100 while doing it. Perfect.

Speaker D:

Check out these nuts.

Speaker C:

To be four FBI agents rolling in. What if it's like two of us are FBI, and then two of us are the anti hazing.

Speaker D:

What if those drugs are shoggoth pills and it just turns her into a shoggoth after liquefying her guts, and when you go in there, it eats you.

Speaker B:

Then it's a short game night, and I can go back to playing Rimworld or whatever.

Speaker E:

I think we're able to. I think we can swap out those credentials, depending on the situation, because most of people are probably not talking to each other.

So we could probably all be FBI at one point, we can all be anti hazing another point, and then we can just. Yeah, until they get onto us. If they're on to us. Oh, then we got to. We got to watch out.

Speaker A:

Until they get on to you. Until they get on to you.

Speaker E:

They're on to us.

Speaker B:

See who's got suits?

Speaker D:

Yes.

Speaker A:

Nobody brought suits.

Speaker E:

Oh, yes.

Speaker A:

I don't think any of y'all brought formal attire, but why don't we head to the dcco? So. Dane County Coroner's office.

Speaker D:

Okay, I was about to say. I don't know what that means.

Speaker A:

You all drive north towards your destination and come upon the coroner's office. Now, they've been recently renovated. It's really become an expansive building on the northern side of town.

And as you enter, meeting with some of the office staff.

Speaker B:

Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. Before we enter, I want us to get this straight. Are we all going in? Because personally, I'm with Olivia here.

Like, probably don't need all four of us to come in.

Speaker E:

Yeah, that seems reasonable. Might be overkill.

Speaker D:

I am not a doctor, so I would not know what to ask.

Speaker B:

It's not really my field, and sometimes people are unnerved by me.

Speaker E:

I should probably go in. Just with my background. I mean, I could just. I'm a specialist with the group, so I can be a specialist with the FBI. It's easy enough.

Don't really have to pretend.

Speaker C:

Sure, Lenny, I'll go with you.

Speaker D:

Okay. We hold down this vehicle, splitting the party, and Vadim from his jacket pocket, pulls out an apple and takes out a bite.

Speaker A:

It was wax.

Speaker B:

Dang.

Speaker D:

I didn't hear you over the crunching.

Speaker A:

Yeah. He just stares at everyone, his eyes speaking to water as he crunches down the.

Speaker E:

God, these Russians are hardcore.

Speaker C:

Sephi pulls out bolt cutters from her pocket. It.

Speaker A:

Whoa.

Speaker C:

Snaps the apple in half.

Speaker A:

Whoa.

Speaker C:

Takes a bite.

Speaker B:

Jesus Christ, this can twist it.

Speaker A:

Let's not. Yeah, let's not.

Speaker D:

I see. You know, the old communist way.

Speaker E:

We. We eat wax apples and. And dream of what it could taste like.

Speaker A:

So Sophia and Lenny don't have too much trouble gaining access to Molly Clark's body after providing their credentials to the office staff there. And although the coroner.

The coroner's assistant, Clayton Eames, is not there to take you to the body, there are a couple other assistants who take you down to the morgue to show you where it is being stored in a refrigerated compartment. You both are now looking down on the very pale and bruised body of a young woman.

Neither of you are really well versed in forensics, pathology, autopsy, anything like that, but you don't see anything beyond what you've been told that would contribute towards a death by overdose. There's no signs of physical trauma that you see, but I'll let both of you go ahead and roll a search. Minus 40%. Ooh.

Speaker E:

Success. 17 out of the.

Speaker C:

Oh, I did that wrong, didn't I? How did.

Speaker A:

That's okay, you failed. You can check it.

Speaker E:

Lenny, on the other hand, succeeded. Heck, yeah.

Speaker A:

So as you both pore over this cadaver, Lenny, you do again. You don't see anything beyond what looks like the buildup of liquids, of putrefaction. That would be something violent.

But you do see on her left wrist, there's an unusual bruise. It's definitely a strange pattern. Looks like maybe some jagged, angular markings.

Speaker E:

I grab a pen and a piece of paper and sketch the pattern.

Speaker A:

You pocket that sketch. Sophie watches you do this.

Speaker E:

Sophie, do you see this? Here? This. That doesn't look like a normal bruise to me. What does it look like to you? Just sort of a symbol, maybe.

Speaker C:

Hmm. I could definitely look into that. But you're right, I don't see it. Doesn't seem very much like a bruise.

Speaker E:

I mean, I'll have to look at this later.

Speaker C:

Can I look at it with you?

Speaker E:

Yeah, later. That's fine. I mean, yeah, we can look at.

Speaker B:

It, but I'm sorry, not gonna bo.

Speaker A:

The assistant who's listening to this horrific banter. She looks up, she says, well, if that's everything you needed to see, I'll go ahead and get back to what I was doing.

She began zipping up the PVC bag that was holding Molly Clark's body.

Speaker E:

Yeah. Thank you both.

Speaker A:

If you go ahead and roll an intelligence minus 20% womp. Womp.

Speaker E:

Failed.

Speaker D:

God damn it.

Speaker C:

Failure.

Speaker E:

We dumb.

Speaker A:

Go ahead and roll your sanities, please.

Speaker E:

Oh, God, man.

Speaker A:

Would you like to project any potential loss?

Speaker E:

I know what I'm projecting here.

Speaker A:

That's good old veiled sanity rolls. Do you all want to not play Veiled tonight? Because it's a one shot.

Speaker E:

No. No. I mean, I don't know why I'm taking a sanity roll. I try to like RP it a little bit.

Speaker A:

I'll just saw a dead body.

Speaker E:

I guess so. Oh, that's it.

Speaker B:

Okay.

Speaker E:

That's all. Just a. Just a dead spot.

Speaker A:

This is from helplessness.

Speaker E:

Yeah, I'll project.

Speaker C:

I will also.

Speaker A:

Okay. 1d4.

Speaker B:

As a person who's seen a dead body in a morgue. Yeah, you do take that hit. It's horrible.

Speaker A:

You both lose two willpower and two from a bond of your choice. Make sure you check that bond in case you survive this one shot.

Speaker B:

The way you say it, Chris, sounds like surviving is probably the one not to bet on.

Speaker A:

We will see.

Speaker B:

Our track record is great. So I don't any problems with this.

Speaker A:

Exactly. Yeah, you're definitely not going to end up as a blood and bone satellite dish for an alien. God just looked at the bottom of a uranium.

Speaker D:

Not in this one.

Speaker E:

I just, I can't believe like we've seen so many horrific things in this game and Chris is like, you take a stand, check for a dead body. In my head I'm like, wait, why? It's just a dead body.

Speaker A:

I've seen way a young woman taken out of the primer for life by suicide. And it is not a fun thing to see. You both return to the vehicle and pack in with Vadim and Zachariah.

Speaker B:

Now, Chris, as they're in there, I was curious. Does my character have a laptop?

Speaker A:

Yes, you do have a laptop.

Speaker B:

Okay.

Speaker A:

Yeah, why not?

Speaker B:

While they're in there, I'd like to surf the net, as it were, to find out more about this girl. See if she has a presence. What's her likes, dislikes.

Speaker A:

Absolutely. It's very clear that she was very much into the sorority life. Specifically she was Trizeda in the Alpha Chi chapter of uw.

So Trizeta is a national sorority. This was obviously the center of much of her college life. Looks like she was very, very devoted to this kind of social set of activities.

There's not much interest in other things outside of that. You can see that she listed herself as a communications major on several of her media profiles.

Speaker B:

She. Any clubs?

Speaker A:

You don't see any clubs beyond what I've described, which is her Greek life.

Speaker B:

Any pictures tagged with certain people? That's repetitive. Like, this person is a boyfriend or best friend or something like that.

Speaker A:

It looks like these girls that she's with who are tagged are all part of the same sorority.

Speaker B:

Gotcha. Is there a.

Speaker A:

Looks like she's especially close to Noelle D'Ambrosio.

Speaker B:

Speaking of Brogio, is there a fraternity version of this? I know a lot of. I didn't do Greek life. I was in the military, but is there like an opposite to the sorority of fraternity?

Speaker A:

There is not a brotherhood. Gotcha.

Speaker B:

Okay.

Speaker D:

And while you're surfing through this, Vadim is casually asking questions about what Greek life is, how it.

Speaker A:

What.

Speaker D:

Why people do it in America.

Speaker B:

Well, it's to join a party, of course.

Speaker D:

In this party, what happened? I mean, it's like, why join this party?

Speaker B:

It's like, you know, a fraternity of brotherhood, a community. You know, like a communist people.

Speaker D:

Yes. So are any of them communist?

Speaker B:

What?

Speaker D:

Well, the parties, they're not political.

Speaker B:

Then why would they be?

Speaker D:

What is purpose?

Speaker B:

Status, of course.

Speaker D:

Ah, Americans and their status. I understand.

Speaker B:

That's our. That's our critique.

Speaker D:

Another bourgeoisie movement.

Speaker B:

Our play. Our two, two man play about their critique of American capitalism.

Speaker A:

Yeah, that was it. Insane. Zachariah, go ahead and either roll an intelligence or a computer science for me, whichever is higher, I will.

What if a hero's computer intelligence, then he births something new.

Speaker B:

Yes, You.

Speaker A:

Something beautiful. Yes.

Speaker B:

All right. Emerald intelligence. 60 out of 80 or 6 out of 80. Success.

Speaker A:

You do notice that the last few weeks her social media posts have drastically dropped off. This was something she was obviously devoted to.

She was obsessed with documenting every facet of her life that grew sparser and sparser leading up to the day of her suicide.

Speaker B:

I mentioned this to my fine Russian friend.

Speaker D:

Interesting. She was big chatty bird, and now she not so chatty before dying.

Speaker B:

Well, I guess if she wonder why. If she goosed herself, I guess. I guess that would be a pattern. Young girls kill themselves all the time.

Speaker D:

Oh, it's common in America.

Speaker B:

Oh, yes, very common, very sad and de Goosing.

Speaker D:

What is mean?

Speaker B:

Oh, you know, tying off a loose nut.

Speaker D:

Explain the nut.

Speaker B:

Oh, you know, like finishing the round.

Speaker D:

A round of what? She drank vodka.

Speaker B:

Can we have the car? People get into the car. At this point, the car explodes.

Speaker E:

No, no, no, keep going.

Speaker D:

Yeah.

Speaker E:

No.

Speaker A:

Lenny and Sophie get in the car. Okay, okay, that works. I'm just like spitting my coffee. Yes. They both enter the car at this exact moment. What are you guys talking about?

Right before Vadim asks. Another Socratic line of questioning.

Speaker D:

And what did we learn?

Speaker A:

They don't look. They look both a little bit pale in the face.

Speaker D:

Oh, you see? Dead body, first time always tough.

Speaker B:

I mean if you think about it, a body's just a machine. And then he starts just spilling all the information that he has collected from the Internet.

Speaker A:

Brain dump. Acquired.

Speaker C:

I have to say, Zachariah, I don't know how you could say that a body is just a machine as if it's not a person. After you learn all about her and her life from your research.

Speaker B:

I mean, it's all a social construct. It's all patterns. You just have to learn the patterns.

Speaker C:

Do you see any patterns?

Speaker B:

Oh yes.

Speaker C:

What did you figure out?

Speaker B:

Well, this is a happy girl that ended up not being so happy. Obviously she was involved in something or something was involved with her. Either way, she's gone.

Speaker A:

Heavy silence hangs in the air.

Speaker B:

What did she look like?

Speaker E:

He said heavy silence sits in the air.

Speaker C:

Well, in regards to patterns, we definitely did not see anything that resembled suicide. Actually, Lenny found something strange.

Speaker E:

Yeah, And Lenny pulls out the paper. She had a unique bruise on her wrist which I thought was odd.

So I grabbed a sketch of it and I think we're going to spend a little bit of time seeing if we can dig anything up on this. Not that I know how it works.

Speaker A:

To you, Zachariah, it's obviously a partial bruise or print of the Triz sorority.

Speaker B:

That's the Trizata symbol. Maybe it was pressed in or what.

Speaker D:

Okay, so now we have angle with this anti haze.

Speaker E:

It's her sorority symbol in her wrist. I mean I've heard weird.

Speaker B:

Yes, tell us about all you hear about sorority girls. And he slaps you really hard in the arm.

Speaker E:

Ouch.

Speaker C:

You really take hazing too far. I can't even have fun with it anymore.

Speaker D:

People end up dying is American culture.

Speaker B:

Zechariah's just sitting there with a dumb smile on his face.

Speaker D:

Well, okay, I suppose we move on now.

Speaker E:

Yeah, I guess. Sophie, we don't really need to do any research with this. It Sounds like we know what it is. It's the sorority symbol.

I wonder how it got bruised into her wrist.

Speaker C:

I guess I'd like to research what that symbol for the sorority means. I'm not familiar with those symbols, so if I could do that.

Speaker A:

There's no meanings. It's just the three Greek letters.

Speaker C:

Okay, so it's just. Okay, got it. It's literally.

Speaker D:

So it means Greek in it, like. Right. Like, don't they have.

Speaker A:

Sure, but I just don't want y'all to go on a. It's an occult symbol line. Cause that's not what that is.

Speaker C:

It's not the guy.

Speaker A:

It's the sorority's identifier.

Speaker C:

Cool. We're going after this sorority.

Speaker E:

I guess we should visit the doctor next.

Speaker D:

The friendly onto the doctor, then Vadim fires up the engine and asks for directions.

Speaker A:

Yeah. So Dr.

Siobhan Nelson, according to the briefing by Snediger, works for UW Health, which of course, attends to the needs of many of the students and faculty there. It's a very large hospital system, so they stretch out and handle others outside of the university systems as well.

If somebody wants to call ahead to try to sit down with this doctor, that would probably be the most expedient way. Or if you have another approach, just let me know.

Speaker D:

That sounds good enough.

Speaker B:

Yeah, I think calling is good. They're friendly.

Speaker A:

Cool. This is a fun moment because you get to be on the other side of the group is calling type of situation.

So who wants to take that call and be the spooky voice saying weird things to somebody who gets called into strange situations?

Speaker C:

Let it be their Russian.

Speaker D:

I so want it to be. But it doesn't make any sense for him to call.

Speaker B:

Why not?

Speaker D:

He's driving. Because he's driving and he's an old man who doesn't understand driving and talking on the phone.

Speaker B:

Park.

Speaker C:

Just park. Hold on.

Speaker D:

While I park cars so I can talk on phone.

Speaker B:

That's hilarious.

Speaker C:

Like walking and drinking at the same time. It's so difficult.

Speaker D:

All right, I'll do it.

Speaker A:

You call the office of Dr. Nelson and of course, get a nurse. Takes you a moment to get through the phone tree to even get to a human being.

I'm sorry, I can't get the doctor on the phone. Are you a patient?

Speaker D:

No. This is urgent business. Tell her. Tell her we need to speak to her urgently and that she knows to have been expecting us.

Speaker A:

So what's your name? I just didn't get your name when I asked the first time.

Speaker D:

Tell her. You know Who? She'll understand.

Speaker A:

I'm sorry, I can't. I don't even know how to take that note down for her.

Speaker D:

You write down what I said and then you tell her. Isn't it? Oh, is this hard?

Speaker A:

But she knows who you are.

Speaker D:

She'll have been expecting us. Tell her that.

Speaker A:

Is this a prank call?

Speaker D:

It is not a prank.

Speaker C:

Racist.

Speaker D:

What?

Speaker C:

That was a joke.

Speaker A:

So do you have a callback number? I don't understand what's happening.

Speaker D:

What is happening is I represent a group of people that need to talk to the doctor very urgently.

Speaker A:

Okay, Are you with like a board review or what? What is this?

Speaker D:

You can tell her that she would be expecting a call from us and she knows who we are.

Speaker A:

I'm gonna go ahead and hang up. There's probably a different department you're trying to get to.

Speaker D:

Unbelief.

Speaker A:

You should try the phone tree again.

Speaker D:

Unbelievable. This is why I hate America.

Speaker A:

She hangs up on you.

Speaker E:

What happened?

Speaker D:

Well, you were there. I had it on speaker.

Speaker E:

Oh, yeah, that's right, you did. I did hear everything, so never mind.

Speaker B:

A little advice. Don't say I hate America on the phone when calling a hospital or school or anything like that.

Speaker D:

I hear it on TV all the time.

Speaker B:

Oh, we got weird rules here.

Speaker D:

Americans say it all the time.

Speaker B:

Yeah, they say it.

Speaker D:

They say it on their Twitters and they say it everywhere. Yeah, but I thought I was being a normal American.

Speaker B:

Well, they don't say it in that accent.

Speaker D:

Oh, I see how it is now.

Speaker A:

Would somebody else like to make this call? Or y'all just want to show up to the office?

Speaker D:

Y'all, this is what you wanted.

Speaker A:

I did it. I did it. True to my character.

Speaker E:

It was glorious. It was glorious.

Speaker B:

Lenny.

Speaker E:

Yeah?

Speaker B:

Use those precious digits to call them a number. Dude.

Speaker E:

Lenny dials a number in under half a second. You don't know how he did it, but he did.

Speaker A:

Dr. Clark's office. Hi, I'm sorry, Dr. Nelson's office. Fuck.

Speaker E:

Wait, Nelson's the friendly, right?

Speaker A:

Yes.

Speaker E:

Okay.

Speaker A:

Clark is the deceased.

Speaker E:

What's happening? Hi, yeah, I am. I just blanked about what to say. Hi, I need to speak with Dr. Nelson. Is she available right now?

Speaker A:

Dr. Nelson is not available for phone calls right now. Is this a patient?

Speaker E:

Just a friend. Just a friend. Yeah, we were in town and we were going to swing by. Just catch up real quick. I was just wondering.

Speaker A:

I'm sorry, sir, this is the nurses line to her to our office for patients.

Speaker E:

Oh, okay. Is there a. Is there. Is there a different number? I should call or.

Speaker A:

Well, if you're friends with Dr. Nelson, you probably have that different number.

Speaker E:

Well, I'm on a. Yeah, you know what?

Speaker B:

You know what?

Speaker E:

It's. It's people like you.

Speaker A:

I hate America.

Speaker E:

Really?

Speaker B:

Hate America.

Speaker E:

Really? I hate America.

Speaker A:

All right, y'all suck at this. This. This call gets ended as well. Y'all are now at the large sprawling.

Speaker B:

Complex, but not inside. So we can make more calls. Just putting that out there.

Speaker A:

You could make more calls. You could. And you go ahead and park.

And it doesn't take you long since you've been calling this number to understand which building, which floor to go to. If you just want to show up to this doctor's office in person.

Speaker D:

Yep.

Speaker A:

So all four of you disembark from the vehicle.

You walk through the labyrinthine hallways of this sprawling hospital complex into what looks like smaller enclaves of what are primary care physicians. And you get to a front desk that serves four different PCPs. And one of them is. Dr. Nelson, you are now standing in front of a receptionist.

Speaker B:

I walk up to the desk. I pull out my FBI badge, put it on a desk and go. Hi, I'd like to speak to the Dr. Nelson, please.

Speaker A:

Okay, sure. Of course. She goes ahead and picks up a phone next to her. Dr. Nelson, there's. There's a FBI officer up here. FBI agent or office.

I don't know what they're called.

Speaker B:

The badge bag in my car.

Speaker A:

Okay. She hangs up. She's coming. She's coming right up. She's just finishing up some paperwork.

Speaker B:

Wonderful. Are these magazines free?

Speaker A:

No, they're. They're for the waiting.

Speaker B:

He goes and just sits down and starts reading a magazine.

Speaker A:

Peep People Highlights for kids.

Speaker B:

Damn it.

Speaker A:

Someone's already done all just by speed. All the word puzzles as well.

Speaker B:

Ooh, a challenge.

Speaker A:

A back door opens and a young woman with red hair comes through. She's wearing a telltale doctor's coat, white coat. Looks curious and strides her way up to the receptionist desk.

Spies euphoria crowded around a Highlights magazine, very drawn in with its details. Hi, I'm Dr. Nelson. Were you looking for me?

Speaker B:

Oh, yes. Do you have a moment to speak with us?

Speaker A:

Sure. We should probably go to my office though. For some privacy, I imagine. Yes. She looks around at the waiting room.

Speaker B:

That would be great.

Speaker A:

Okay, follow me.

Speaker B:

Can I keep this? I'm almost done.

Speaker A:

Yeah, sure. She turns and walks back through the door, leading you through several back hallways into a well adorned and well used office space.

I only have two chairs. I hope you don't mind standing. She positions herself on the other side of the. Of the desk, putting some space between you four and herself.

She doesn't sit down.

Speaker B:

Zechariah doesn't sit down as well. He'll start doing some.

Speaker C:

Neither does he.

Speaker D:

Does not sit down.

Speaker A:

Holy shit. This is a power play. Lenny, what do you do?

Speaker E:

Hello? He sits down.

Speaker A:

Okay. Like, the whole. The energy in the room kind of deflates. Like, it was getting really tense, and now it's like, oh, okay, everything's fine.

Speaker B:

Zachariah is doing air squats, though.

Speaker A:

Why would. Okay, okay. Or he's just holding the room. Just.

Speaker B:

He's holding a squat as the people. It's very. Not dancing, sitting. I don't know why I said dancing. It's very impressive.

Speaker A:

Well, we'll roll for that.

Speaker D:

Yeah. Role play that out.

Speaker A:

She has both her hands on the table. What is this about?

Speaker B:

Zechariah just looks at Vadim's, just, like, waiting for him to talk.

Speaker D:

Oh, you want me talk. Okay, So a young girl in your care recently committed what appears to be a suicide. We want to talk to you about this girl.

Do you know the one we speak of?

Speaker A:

Um, I did hear that Ms. Molly Clark did overdose two days ago. Is that who you're speaking about?

Speaker D:

It is.

Speaker A:

I was her physician. However, no one's come to talk to me yet. No police. You're the first ones who have.

I'll tell you right now, my prescription that I gave her, there's no way that amount could be overdosed upon. She did not have enough access to her medication to reach a level that should cause what's being reported. She looks at you.

Her eyes are wide, but she's very emphatic with the words she chooses.

Speaker D:

So it is safe to say this overdose was not what you gave her. I understand that. How much did you give her, though?

Speaker B:

And what. Right. What?

Speaker A:

She had a prescription for Ambien, but the amount that she was. Even the total amount that she was given wouldn't have been enough to cause an overdose.

Speaker D:

And how long was she on this Ambien?

Speaker A:

Only a few weeks.

Speaker D:

So she could not have been squirreling away pills across her entire usage because she has only been on it for a few weeks.

Speaker A:

Even that amount wouldn't cause her to overdose. That's what I'm telling you.

Speaker D:

I understand.

Speaker C:

Do you tell us what she was diagnosed with that led you to prescribing her the Ambien?

Speaker A:

Well, she was having a lot of trouble sleeping, and so we gave her a very, very mild daily dose or in this case, nightly dose so that she could focus on her studies. She was having difficulty concentrating because of the sleeplessness.

Speaker D:

And when did the onset of sleeplessness.

Speaker A:

So, Kerr, we're really getting into the details here. I've already stepped over HIPAA a couple of times. I need to understand what this is before I go any further.

Speaker E:

Look, we're with the.

Speaker D:

The deme stiffens and kind of stands at his full height.

Speaker E:

We're with the organization, and we wouldn't be here if there was. If it had just been an ambient overdose. We can't really say much more than that. But what I can say is there might be more danger to other people.

We just. We need as much information that you can give us so that we can continue our work for the better of the students and the others who live.

Speaker D:

Here and the people of this great.

Speaker E:

Country and humanity, past and present. I don't know why I said past. I just got caught up.

Speaker A:

I just need some assurances of security if we're going to get real detailed here. Obviously that's an issue. But if that's where we need to go so that I can help, I'm willing to. With some assurances of my security.

Speaker E:

Sure. What assurances do you need?

Speaker A:

Well, that there will be no legal blowback on me or my office, of course.

Speaker E:

Oh.

Speaker D:

We fully intend for this to remain an overdose.

Speaker E:

Yes. This case is about to be closed, as it stated.

Speaker A:

Okay. Okay.

Speaker D:

I mean, not an overdose. That is your fault, to be clear.

Speaker A:

Well, as the prescribing physician, I have a vested interest in fighting any notion that this is an overdose from Ambien because it's frankly impossible. Do any of you have pharmacy? Yes, go ahead and roll that. Or if you have 60 plus, you don't have to roll.

Speaker D:

Definitely don't have 60. Ah. One over 30.

Speaker A:

One of 30. You get to check it.

Speaker E:

Yeah, I can say, how would you like this case to be resolved?

Speaker A:

Well, I would like to know what actually was in her system that caused her to pass away and where she got it from so that we can protect other kids.

Speaker B:

And that's exactly what we're trying to do.

Speaker E:

Yeah, and I don't actually.

Speaker C:

On the note of that, have you heard of any hazing with the local sororities and fraternities?

Speaker A:

I'm not really hooked into the Greek life very closely, but I know it's always a concern. Well, I know there's a lot of sensitivity around the topic, more so than ever. There is a Greek life office here.

They might be able to Talk to you more about that. But again, it's a very highly charged subject.

Speaker B:

Did the girl say anything about a boyfriend or a group that she meets with or anything like that?

Speaker A:

She opens up a laptop that's in front of her on the desk, clicks around a bit. The only question around that, that she answered was that she was sexually active. But there was. We really don't ask questions about.

I mean, unless there's something very specific, like someone asking for pregnancy advice or anything like that. We don't have a questionnaire that would identify a partner, necessarily.

Speaker E:

When we were looking at the body earlier, I found this bruise on her wrist. And Lindy pulls out the piece of paper and kind of unravels it and says, we've identified this as the.

If I'm not mistaken, he kind of glances over as the Trizeta symbol. Do you know how something like this could have. Could have been put onto her wrist? Like how she could have.

Could have come by a bruise in this pattern?

Speaker A:

She looks at your scribblings like a ligature mark or something. Is that what you saw? Do you have a photograph of the bruise?

Speaker E:

I don't know.

Speaker A:

Well, without examining the body or seeing a photograph, I don't know if I can comment outside of the hypothetical. But if you saw a bruise like that, perhaps there was a ligature or maybe she was wearing a bracelet that was ripped off of her.

It is common for some of the sorority sisters to wear jewelry associated with their house. But that does bear or beg the question, was there more to this than an overdose? Which, as I've said, is biochemically impossible with just Ambien.

Speaker E:

That's what we're here to find out.

Speaker B:

Are there any substances that, when taken with ambient, would cause someone to keel over?

Speaker A:

Well, yes. I haven't been able to procure a toxicology report yet. All I've gotten was the summary when I inquired.

My understanding is that's going to take a while until the investigation by campus police and local law enforcement is complete. If there was anything else in her system that would interact with Ambien. It's possible.

Speaker B:

Possibly something that acts like a narcotic.

Speaker A:

It would have to be basically the narcotic doing all the work itself. There wouldn't be a synergistic effect at that low dose with nearly anything.

By the time you were at the point where an opiate or narcotic would be acting on the nervous system or the muscular system.

In that way, it's really doing all the lifting to stop the heart or stop the diaphragm or put the body into some sort of paralysis where it just shuts down. I just don't think what she got from my office could have contributed towards this at all.

But it's all that was shown on the summary that I was given from the coroner's office.

Speaker B:

Well, that's good to know. I feel safe taking an Ambien tonight.

Speaker A:

She, like, looks horrified when you say. When you joke about it.

Speaker D:

Nestor puts his hand up on Zechariah's shoulder and says, we will always feel safe with Ambien. And then he winks at the camera.

Speaker B:

Ambien, A non sponsor of. Jeez.

Speaker A:

Please, please. We want that big pharma cash. Oh, man. Now can't go to sleep because you heard a scary Delta Green story? Take some Ambien.

Speaker B:

Want to see the hat, man? Take a bunch.

Speaker A:

You can't overdose. That's what you've learned here today. You can od.

Speaker B:

You can. You can take it off. You can do it. You can do it. Don't do it. It can't happen.

Speaker D:

Disclaimer. We did fail our pharmacology rule roll, so we don't know if you can or can't od, so just.

Speaker A:

You can't.

Speaker E:

Full disclosure.

Speaker B:

I dare you.

Speaker E:

Opinions expressed to this podcast are not for medical professionals, and we advise you to seek a medical. Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.

Speaker D:

Just have a nice cold one with your Ambien, y'all.

Speaker A:

A nice cold pint of vodka.

Speaker D:

That's right. Mother Russia approves. Back to. Back to that weird, tense moment. Zechariah just lets that hang in the air, and we all just die a little more.

Speaker A:

Yep. Yeah. His willpower is now at 165.

Speaker B:

No, no, no, no, no, no, no.

Speaker A:

So is that all you needed for me just to know what she was prescribed?

Speaker D:

As I was. We do have interest in the lead up to her death. Any medical history you can tell us. We need to know, and we give you our assurance.

Speaker A:

Sleeplessness. She wasn't coming in for any sort of reasons beyond, you know, preventative care or wellness checks.

Speaker D:

And you have a checklist of questions you ask before you prescribe? Yes.

Speaker A:

Well, certainly every office does.

Speaker D:

And could you give us that information?

Speaker A:

Remember we talked about security assurances? I assure you, I have patient files outside of my system just floating around. I. She shakes her head.

Speaker D:

You just turn. You just turn your laptop to us and we read.

Speaker A:

Oh, sure, I can. I can do that. She goes ahead and turns her laptop around. You see a basic questionnaire about do you drink alcohol often? Do you take drugs? How often?

Those types of questions that are asked. Do you have a history of heart dis. Disease, cholesterol, congenital this, congenital that?

Cancer, liver disease, kidney disease, those sorts of things.

Speaker D:

Is there anything relating how long she's been suffering symptoms?

Speaker E:

I think they said a few weeks.

Speaker A:

We know that already. It's been about three or four weeks.

Speaker D:

Okay, I missed that.

Speaker A:

I'm sorry.

Speaker E:

Lenny looks at her, says, look, Doctor, I appreciate your desire for secrecy and I know you care for your patients and the other students.

If we come across any other information, information that we could use your expert opinion on to help us resolve this quietly and safely, is there a better phone number we could use to reach? The only one we have goes to the nurse's line, and she was doing her job, I would say, but, yeah.

Is there a better way we could get in touch with you?

Speaker A:

Yeah, I mean, usually you find a way to get in touch with me. It's nice to be asked for once. Let me get you my cell phone number.

Speaker E:

Oh, thank you so much.

Speaker A:

She goes ahead and scribbles it down on the back of a UW health card with a listing, a directory listing of all the doctors in her block of the offices and passes it to you.

Speaker E:

Yeah. If there's anything else we come across. Yeah, like I said, we'll reach out and we'll try to keep you informed as much as we can.

I'm sure you understand most of what we do is classified for good reason.

Speaker B:

Sure.

Speaker A:

No, I'm on board. It's just I'm directly implicated here. If I don't say anything. So I am going to dispute the coroner's summary. I have to.

Speaker C:

I'm glad that you brought that up because I actually had a couple of questions because you said no one had come to see you yet. But if they're calling it a suicide based on the prescription, then that would come back to you to have to sort of defend that.

That's just not the case.

Speaker D:

It may behoove you to alter your form to suggest perhaps she was taking other recreational drug.

Speaker A:

Is that what you're telling me to do?

Speaker D:

I am simply telling you, you're the doctor. You don't want to get into it.

Speaker A:

Was it your fucking group that had something to do with the coroner summary then? Is that what you're telling me, Dr. Nelson?

Speaker D:

No, it is not.

Speaker C:

Dr.

Nelson, I'm gonna ask another question that I don't expect you to know the answer, but perhaps she could, being that you are a Primary care physician. You have a lot of local patients and people talk about their lives. It's only natural to do with your doctor.

When you come into the office, do you happen to. Are you possibly a doctor for any of her other sorority sisters?

Anyone else that you might have prescribed Ambien or otherwise to you that would have been a part of that sorority?

Speaker A:

I don't think so. It is a readily prescribed drug for sleeplessness, especially in those dosages.

There's a lot of that on campus, especially for freshmen who are new to being outside of the home. I would say probably maybe one or two, but there's no concerning pattern there. Honestly, you'd be surprised at how often this is prescribed.

Speaker E:

So nothing out of the ordinary is what I'm hearing?

Speaker B:

Any.

Speaker A:

I don't think so, no.

Speaker B:

Any new.

Any students coming in, possibly to the hospital that you might have heard of, on any new kind of drug or experiencing delirium, hallucinations, visual or auditorial?

Speaker A:

I don't typically, you know, deal with urgent cases like that in this office, but I don't have any, you know, beads on. On anything cosmetic or novel that's being bandied about on the so called street, if that's what you're asking. Not. Not really something that I.

That I deal with too often that you know of, I suppose, but the symptoms you mentioned, I. I would expect someone who is maybe in the throes of something that severe, they'd end up in an urgent care er.

Speaker B:

Is she part of the U of W system? Healthcare system. Right. Yeah.

Speaker A:

You're actually in the UW healthcare right now.

Speaker B:

Is there any way for you to possibly check ER records? You know, take a peek?

Speaker A:

Yes, of course. I suppose I can do a database query.

Speaker B:

The more you do for us, the more the organization can do for you.

Speaker A:

Okay. Well, I mean, I. You want me to look for symptoms of delirium? What do you want me to look for?

Speaker B:

Yeah, any unknown substance that someone might be coming in for those criteria. Just give us a call if you.

Speaker E:

Hear anything, like students coming in, hallucinations, psychosis, that kind of thing?

Speaker A:

Yeah, I can set aside some time to look through some files.

Speaker E:

Anything. Anything out of the, you know, the normal. I'm sure kids are having their fun, but anything outside the norm would be useful.

Speaker A:

She nods. I'll see what I can figure out.

Speaker E:

Thank you, Will.

Speaker D:

Thank you very much for your time.

Speaker A:

Sure, sure. I hope you figure this out. She was a sweet girl.

Speaker E:

Do we have a phone? Yeah, I guess we need to give her one of our phone numbers then I guess.

Lenny looks at his phone to figure out what his phone number is of the burner.

Speaker A:

Yeah, you can give her that phone. Okay.

Speaker E:

Yeah. Here's for one of our phones so you can reach us here.

Speaker A:

Perfect. I'll use this.

Speaker B:

And remember, call us right away. The agency doesn't forget. And he gets up and he starts walking out the door.

Speaker E:

Jesus Christ.

Speaker A:

She kind of grimaces as the door closes behind you. You four and you leave the offices.

Speaker E:

Sa.

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About the Podcast

Sorry, Honey, I Have to Take This
A Delta Green actual play podcast featuring a bunch of chuckleheads laughing nervously in the face of uncaring cosmic horror. With new episodes every other week!
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About your hosts

Chris Hamje

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Has too many eyes

Erik Lundberg

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Will apparate eventually




John Stecker

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Sometimes sad, but always a robot






Michael Zaino

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Will drink your milkshake -- will drink it up






Marcone Cangussu

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A delicate yet powerful Brazilman

Olivia Hamje

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Spying for your enemies

amber crouch

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Kicking down all the doors, one at a time