Laundry 01 - GM: Tuesday 20th August

Early Morning - Code Blue

Early morning: Wards have been broken at a secure site in Middlehampton and follow up shows the guard missing and other key personnel not arriving for duty.  The team are gathered given a basic brief, kitted up and despatch by RAF flight to Carlyle and by car to Middlehampton. It is early afternoon when they arrive.

Early Morning -  A Trap

Tyres meets Fooler at Cryingford and turns him into a trap for anyone following her trail.

Early Morning - Shahn leaves Home

Blue Root 9 intercept and try to capture Kupka Shahn on route for The Between Nations Offices.  His car is driven off the road and contact is lost.  He is only one of a number of people who have not signed in after the mornings alarm.

Mid Morning - George Peckard's Memory

Group 9 agents following up instructions by Stephanie Tyres track down George Peckard and subject him to a mind wipe. 

Early Afternoon - Initial site investigation

It is an old style four story building that has been done-up, modernised and restored and in some parts not very well. It adjoins the building to its right and has an access wide enough to allow a car transgress to the rear where a private car park is located.  The ground floor houses the shop and interview areas while out back is an extension with a large old printing press.

The first floor is the publishing section and houses offices for the various magazines.  The staff room and security desk are also located here. On the second floor is the research and archivist section while on the top floor are the managers offices and secure rooms for finds etcetera. Here there is the known safe used by Between Nations and in Joyce Whitakers office is the Laundry Safe.

Met at the door by Jimmy Target, who does not really know what's going on, he is not Laundry but is the Publishing Editor and is trying to sort things out on a business level. They are quickly intercepted by Cornelius Bridges the assistant manager and acting manager while his boss Joyce Whitaker is on active duty somewhere.

He takes the group up and gives them an update while they check out the building.

Update

• Wards where blown in the early hours of the morning.  First the ones around the safe including the office door and then the ones on the backdoor.
• Bridges and Ted Chance the other security officer arrived to find the back door ajar and Tom Fooler the on-duty guard missing . 
• The safe has been 'eaten' by some kind of corrosive agent which has been sampled and sent to Carlyle where the Laundry have a laboratory. 
• Only one item has been taken, an object handed in yesterday early afternoon to Kupka Shahn one of the laundry staff working with the archivists and researchers on the Between Nations team. He recognised it as 'strange' and filled in a report then placed in the safe.  It is known that this object was placed in the Safe as Kupka had not direct access and Bridges himself had to open the safe for him.  However being busy at the time he had not examined it, he does remember it was handed in by George Peckard, a semi honest nighthawk who is often seen in the offices.
• The computer record has been wiped and the paper record removed.
• The CCTV had been tampered with but not by an expert and someone is working to retrieve pictures as they talk.

Group examination of the site

• A thaumic check was made on the ground floor with no result
• Another made on the first floor.  A result was found around the security desk.  It was intense enough to suggest a strong but short term event.
• A detailed examination of the area found that the desk had a spilt coffee cup and a dropped opened book.
• A security head piece (not unlike a large blue tooth device) is found in a waste paper basket on the research floor.
• No evidence of tampering has been found with the coffee but a sample to be sent to the labs to confirm.
• The book seems to be a standard second hand novel (by Bernard Cornwall).
• The third floor was not thaumicly checked at this time but the team went on up the office wherein the safe was resident.
• This is a Laundry safe it is house in the centre of the building with no external walls and wards to both hide and protect it.  It has been partially dissolved by an agent that was strong enough to break the wards.

CCTV footage available

There has not been time to go through the whole set and a more detailed analysis will be made by in house agents during the remainder of the day but a quick viewing shows the following events

• Tom Fooler sat drinking coffee starts dropping his coffee.
• After some hesitation he leaves his desk for a desk on the second floor where he retrieves something but his back is to the camera.
• There are no cameras in the stairwell and the next time he is seen is on the top floor entering the safe room.
• He tries at first to man handle the safe door then produces a jar from his pocket and pours the content onto the safe which it grasps and eats.
• He takes the object and leaves the building via the back door.

Follow up questions and finds

• The start event did indeed coincide with a telephone call.
• Upon leaving the office an appropriately moulded piece of brown paper is found on the stair well that would have fir the jar and something flat against it.
• It is noted that Fooler's car is still in the parking bay.
• A second check of the video does not show who put the package on the desk but does show that it came from the desk of Shahn's assistant Stephanie Tyres who is among those not in work today. 

It is surmised that the guard was somehow processed, triggered by the phone call but there is no evidence of the power grid needed to make the transference.

Requests have been made for street CCTV from the Highways Agency and local security monitoring company's. 

An attempt to locate Peckard proved unfruitful but reports suggest that this is not uncommon during the day and he can usually be found at his local after 7ish in the evening.

An attempt to locate Mr Shahn at home showed he had left as usual that morning.  Mrs Shahn was given a cover story that he had been called away on an unexpected emergency and might be in a bad signal zone so not to worry if she cannot reach him by phone.  He lives at Clearthorpes.

Stephanie Tyres is not answering her phone, mobile or landline. She lives alone out of town  on the Blessings Estate between Littlethorpe and Ravisham.  

Clearthorpes is the furthest away so it is decided that it would be last possibly tomorrow as it is already late afternoon and will be well into evening before anywhere is reached.  The guard Tom Foolers is closest and so the first stop. 

Stake Out

Unable to find Jackie Scott both his home and his girl-friends (Jenny Willobie) homes are watched by Safety Inc teams.

The Fooler Residence

Tom Fooler actually lives in Middlehampton and so fairly quick to get to. It is an Edwardian terrace converted into four flats. His is the ground floor back and accessed through a common door and short hall.  The outer door is unlocked and the inner door easily broken into (note to security). He has a hungry cat but there is no evidence that he returned to the house after leaving for work the previous afternoon.  Some Laundry related materials where found which would construe a minor breach of protocol but nothing to raise any alarms about.

The Tyre Residence

Stephanie Tyres is a nice 1960's style. Large three bedrooms, double garage good size garden.  Inside everything is pristine, it is obviously lived in but kept immaculate.  Family photos of Stephanie, her presumably husband and child are in prime position but the child's play room looks unused, upstairs the child's bedroom has no clothing and there are no clothes belonging to the male. 

Thaumic readings suggest a very low level background noise, which upon walking around the house Agent Piers believes may originate from outside.  They continue to check inside first.  The attic shows an alter and devil worship paraphernalia but not the real thing the sort of stuff you'd get in any Goth shop or Heavy Metal boutique.  The thaumic reader does however pick up one object a black velvet flannel size piece of clothe that looks like it was dropped rather than put there on purpose.  Also in the attic are the vacuum packed clothes of the man and child stacked in a corner nice and neat.

Outside the thaumic response seems to come from a large church a block away to the rear of the house.  Not being put off my this the party head toward it only to discover that it is something beyond the church.  The well protected walls of a great estate block the centre of activity.

A quick Google maps and search shows the estate to be the House of Re-Embodied Enlightenment.  A cross reference to the Laundry data-base replies

RESTRICTED,

PASSWORD REQUIRED.

A request is duly sent in.

Deciding not to continue without more information and realising it was well pass 7pm they decide to track Peckard.

George Peckard and Jenny Willobie

George Peckard is in his local as usual for quarter to eight any evening.  He is also quite friendly and once engaged in conversation happy to talk about his finds,  but when he is asked about any finds he has handed in lately he cannot remember handing any in for weeks in fact he has trouble talking about anything in the last few days.  It does come to light however that he usually works with a partner who should be here by now wonder what's keeping him?   Asking about Jackie Scott, Peckards partner in detection they find out that he works for Deep Space Research as a low level techie, repairs maintenance, that sort of thing.  Jackie also supply's all the detector equipment which he keeps in the back of his Volvo Estate and he lives not far away with his girlfriend Jenny.

Outside Jenny's The Dog's are barking immediately, Piers notices a car parked further up the street watching the house, he steps behind a post box and ignites his hand of glory.  Next to the car window he taps sharply on the window and uses his warrant card. The two watchers turn out to be members of Safety Inc sent to pick up Jackie Scott and recover some stolen items for Deep Space Research. They are invited to drive to Birmingham and having failed their resistance do so.

Back at Jenny's she is scared and talks through the chain on the door. He becomes apparent that she is lying but unlike Peckard , she is doing so of her own violation.  The warrant card is pulled again and she admits to having seen Scott, that he is in hiding believing he is being watched.  He'd come back for money and left yesterday morning.

At this point in the game one of the players had to leave and was already late so they sort of wrapped things up quickly saying as it was now past 10pm they would find a hotel and start fresh next session.  

NPC Groups summary

1. Permian Green

At this stage the Permian Green agents working through Deep Space Geographic and Safety Inc are just there to introduce the company's ingame.  They have no idea that the object has been found or that Blue Hades are involved all they know is that a machine developed for tracking Permian Green trace metals unknown to man has gone missing. Their security checks indicate that Jackie Scott has 'borrowed' said item and they wish 1. to regain the detector, 2. to interview Scott over his use of the machine and where it was used and indeed if it was successful.  Unable to find Scott they have discovered (through ransacking his home) that he has been spending most of his time at the home of Jenny Willobie and have stacked her address out.

2. Blue Hades

Stephanie Tyres had situated herself at Between Nations for exactly this eventuality and had set up a plan to extract anything that the archeology group found.  She is not aware that this is a Laundry operation and did not know the existence of the second safe, she merely ordered Foller to seek and retrieve the object luckily for her he did know of the safe and went straight to it as ordered breaking all the wards on route. She has now set up a trap for the unwary followers using Fooler during which he will kill himself and both close the trail and take the blame as the only identifiable operator in the hiest.

The object is now ensconced in the Blue Root 9 base building while the BR9 techs try to decipher it. Their agents have been sent out on cover up operations. The Peckard one has gone smoothly although they never discovered that he had a partner. The Shahn one has not gone so well and Shahn will turn up in hospital in the early hours of the 21st having avoided capture but been wounded in the resulting affrey. Other members of the company have been through similar mind wipes as Peckard and have been returned home unaware that anything has happened other than a mild illness. Tyres herself is no more than a controlled pawn in these events herself and will undergo the same treatment before being returned home that evening (after the group had checked her home out). She is still under Blur Root 9 control but is unaware of it or that it is based on a verbal hypnosis controlled by her husband the real Blue Root 9 agent.

Laundry 01 - all: Tuesday 20th August

Player Events for

Tuesday 20th August

Code Blue

Early morning: Wards have been broken at a secure site in Middlehampton and follow up shows the guard missing and other key personnel not arriving for duty.  The team are gathered given a basic brief, kitted up and despatch by RAF flight to Carlyle and by car to Middlehampton. It is early afternoon when they arrive.

Initial site investigation

It is an old style four story building that has been done-up, modernised and restored and in some parts not very well. It adjoins the building to its right and has an access wide enough to allow a car transgress to the rear where a private car park is located.  The ground floor houses the shop and interview areas while out back is an extension with a large old printing press.

The first floor is the publishing section and houses offices for the various magazines.  The staff room and security desk are also located here. On the second floor is the research and archivist section while on the top floor are the managers offices and secure rooms for finds etcetera. Here there is the known safe used by Between Nations and in Joyce Whitakers office is the Laundry Safe.

Met at the door by Jimmy Target, who does not really know what's going on, he is not Laundry but is the Publishing Editor and is trying to sort things out on a business level. They are quickly intercepted by Cornelius Bridges the assistant manager and acting manager while his boss Joyce Whitaker is on active duty somewhere.

He takes the group up and gives them an update while they check out the building.

Update

·        Wards were blown in the early hours of the morning.  First the ones around the safe including the office door and then the ones on the backdoor.

·        Bridges and Ted Chance the other security officer arrived to find the back door ajar and Tom Fooler the on-duty guard missing . 

·        The safe has been 'eaten' by some kind of corrosive agent which has been sampled and sent to Carlyle where the Laundry have a laboratory. 

·        Only one item has been taken, an object handed in yesterday early afternoon to Kupka Shahn one of the laundry staff working with the archivists and researchers on the Between Nations team. He recognised it as 'strange' and filled in a report then placed in the safe.  It is known that this object was placed in the Safe as Kupka had not direct access and Bridges himself had to open the safe for him.  However being busy at the time he had not examined it, he does remember it was handed in by George Peckard, a semi honest nighthawk who is often seen in the offices.

·        The computer record has been wiped and the paper record removed.

·        The CCTV had been tampered with but not by an expert and someone is working to retrieve pictures as they talk.

Group examination of the site

·        A thaumic check was made on the ground floor with no result

·        Another made on the first floor.  A result was found around the security desk.  It was intense enough to suggest a strong but short term event.

·        A detailed examination of the area found that the desk had a spilt coffee cup and a dropped opened book.

·        A security head piece (not unlike a large blue tooth device) is found in a waste paper basket on the research floor.

·        No evidence of tampering has been found with the coffee but a sample to be sent to the labs to confirm.

·        The book seems to be a standard second hand novel (by Bernard Cornwall).

·        The third floor was not thaumicly checked at this time but the team went on up the office wherein the safe was resident.

·        This is a Laundry safe it is house in the centre of the building with no external walls and wards to both hide and protect it.  It has been partially dissolved by an agent that was strong enough to break the wards.

CCTV footage available

There has not been time to go through the whole set and a more detailed analysis will be made by in house agents during the remainder of the day but a quick viewing shows the following events

·        Tom Fooler sat drinking coffee starts dropping his coffee.

·        After some hesitation he leaves his desk for a desk on the second floor where he retrieves something but his back is to the camera.

·        There are no cameras in the stairwell and the next time he is seen is on the top floor entering the safe room.

·        He tries at first to man handle the safe door then produces a jar from his pocket and pours the content onto the safe which it grasps and eats.

·        He takes the object and leaves the building via the back door.

Follow up questions and finds

·        The start event did indeed coincide with a telephone call.

·        Upon leaving the office an appropriately moulded piece of brown paper is found on the stair well that would have fir the jar and something flat against it.

·        It is noted that Fooler's car is still in the parking bay.

·        A second check of the video does not show who put the package on the desk but does show that it came from the desk of Shahn's assistant Stephanie Tyres who is among those not in work today.

It is surmised that the guard was somehow processed, triggered by the phone call but there is no evidence of the power grid needed to make the transference.

Requests have been made for street CCTV from the Highways Agency and local security monitoring company's.

An attempt to locate Peckard proved unfruitful but reports suggest that this is not uncommon during the day and he can usually be found at his local after 7ish in the evening.

An attempt to locate Mr Shahn at home showed he had left as usual that morning.  Mrs Shahn was given a cover story that he had been called away on an unexpected emergency and might be in a bad signal zone so not to worry if she cannot reach him by phone.  He lives at Clearthorpes.

Stephanie Tyres is not answering her phone, mobile or landline. She lives alone out of town  on the Blessings Estate between Littlethorpe and Ravisham. 

Clearthorpes is the furthest away so it is decided that it would be last possibly tomorrow as it is already late afternoon and will be well into evening before anywhere is reached.  The guard Tom Foolers is closest and so the first stop. 

The Fooler Residence

Tom Fooler actually lives in Middlehampton and so fairly quick to get to. It is an Edwardian terrace converted into four flats. His is the ground floor back and accessed through a common door and short hall.  The outer door is unlocked and the inner door easily broken into (note to security). He has a hungry cat but there is no evidence that he returned to the house after leaving for work the previous afternoon.  Some Laundry related materials where found which would construe a minor breach of protocol but nothing to raise any alarms about.

The Tyre Residence

Stephanie Tyres is a nice 1960's style. Large three bedrooms, double garage good size garden.  Inside everything is pristine, it is obviously lived in but kept immaculate.  Family photos of Stephanie, her presumably husband and child are in prime position but the child's play room looks unused, upstairs the child's bedroom has no clothing and there are no clothes belonging to the male.

Thaumic readings suggest a very low level background noise, which upon walking around the house Agent Piers believes may originate from outside.  They continue to check inside first.  The attic shows an alter and devil worship paraphernalia but not the real thing the sort of stuff you'd get in any Goth shop or Heavy Metal boutique.  The thaumic reader does however pick up one object a black velvet flannel size piece of clothe that looks like it was dropped rather than put there on purpose.  Also in the attic are the vacuum packed clothes of the man and child stacked in a corner nice and neat.

Outside the thaumic response seems to come from a large church a block away to the rear of the house.  Not being put off my this the party head toward it only to discover that it is something beyond the church.  The well protected walls of a great estate block the centre of activity.

A quick Google maps and search shows the estate to be the House of Re-Embodied Enlightenment.  A cross reference to the Laundry data-base replies

RESTRICTED,

PASSWORD REQUIRED.

An access request is duly sent in.

Deciding not to continue without more information and realising it was well pass 7pm they decide to track Peckard.

George Peckard and Jenny Willobie

George Peckard is in his local as usual for quarter to eight any evening.  He is also quite friendly and once engaged in conversation happy to talk about his finds,  but when he is asked about any finds he has handed in lately he cannot remember handing any in for weeks in fact he has trouble talking about anything in the last few days.  It does come to light however that he usually works with a partner who should be here by now wonder what's keeping him?   Asking about Jackie Scott, Peckards partner in detection they find out that he works for Deep Space Research as a low level techie, repairs maintenance, that sort of thing.  Jackie also supply's all the detector equipment which he keeps in the back of his Volvo Estate and he lives not far away with his girlfriend Jenny.

Outside Jenny's The Dog's are barking immediately, Piers notices a car parked further up the street watching the house, he steps behind a post box and ignites his hand of glory.  Next to the car window he taps sharply on the window and uses his warrant card. The two watchers turn out to be members of Safety Inc sent to pick up Jackie Scott and recover some stolen items for Deep Space Research. They are invited to drive to Birmingham and having failed their resistance do so.

Back at Jenny's she is scared and talks through the chain on the door. It becomes apparent that she is lying but unlike Peckard, she is doing so of her own violation.  The warrant card is pulled again and she admits to having seen Scott, that he is in hiding, believing he is being watched.  He'd come back for money and left yesterday morning.

The team decided at this point that they would book into a local hotel and pick up the thread next morning. 

You MUST have the Codeword authorisation 'Blue Hades' to read this document. IF you do not and you believe that you have received this document in error or have found said document you must report it to Security NOW.

Knowledge Management

In Action

BLUE HADES

The BLUE HADES civilisation is several million years older than humans. They are – or, to be more precise, the observed members of their civilisation are – aquatic humanoids, resembling shambling frogs. BLUE HADES (traditionally known as Deep Ones) claim the oceans as their domain and they are supremely well adapted for this environment. They can breathe at any depth, and are apparently immune to the ill effects of pressure and cold. Their scaly skin gives them limited protection against conventional weapons, although living at the bottom of the ocean makes the use of such weapons against BLUE HADES improbable at best. On the surface, they are more vulnerable and there have been incidents where humans have inflicted casualties on BLUE HADES shore parties.

Biology

The classification BLUE HADES covers multiple related species of creature. Some are known to be cross-breeds or engineered constructs; there are likely other forms of BLUE HADES in the deep ocean. Given their mastery of creating new life forms for particular tasks, it is possible that all BLUE HADES encountered up until now are servitor creatures and we have yet to encounter the true form of the species.

Type I BLUE HADES (‘Deep Ones’) are amphibious humanoids, standing approximately 1.5 metres tall. They have bulbous yellow eyes with nictitating membranes, webbed hands and feet and stubby but powerful tails. Their gills are located on the neck and are easily visible (and quite vulnerable to precision attacks). Despite possessing advanced technology, many BLUE HADES attacks have involved the use of claws and teeth. Internal organs include two respiratory systems, a circulatory system that appears to use capillary action instead of a pump, a highly adaptive digestive system and several unidentified organs. Their closest living relative is the crocodile. They can speak, but their vocalisations are intended for use underwater. A few BLUE HADES know English but most produce only untranslatable whoops and bellows. Diplomatic relations are carried out through Type II or III interpreters.

Type I BLUE HADES are capable of mating with humans. Only a subset of the Type I's  have appropriate genitalia (either their anatomy alters in response to some biochemical signal or they are capable of producing and grafting suitable implants). In several places around the world, BLUE HADES made contact with isolated coastal communities and coerced or persuaded them into mating with the sea-creatures to produce Type II (‘Hybrid’) creatures. It was previously  theorised that BLUE HADES share a common ancestor with humanity, due to their ability to crossbreed with our species (see INNSMOUTH, WITCHES' HOLE and HADES EXPEDITION); subsequent analysis of BLUE HADES samples and genetic material has disproved this theory. BLUE HADES  ancestors diverged from our own approximately 200 million years ago.

Type II BLUE HADES or Hybrids are the offspring of a Type I and a normal human (or two hybrids or a human and a hybrid – the BLUE HADES genetics are dominant, but can lie dormant until activated). Hybrids appear comparatively normal in early life but, if the BLUE HADES genes are activated, the hybrid becomes more and more like a Type I until it undergoes a metamorphosis into an aquatic being. Typical hybrids are bald, with pale or scaly skin and bulging eyes, similar to an advanced case of Grave's Disease. The precise activating conditions for BLUE HADES transformation are unknown, but common triggers for transformation include:

•       Long-term residence in a coastal location.

•       Drowning or extreme stress in close proximity to water.

•       Exposure to thaumic fields.

•       Exposure to BLUE HADES individuals or artefacts.

Type III BLUE HADES are silvery humanoids, with a physiology similar to Type Is but with much more human proportions. Type III BLUE HADES are fully amphibious, unlike Type IIs who have only a limited aquatic reach and Type Is who prefer to remain in the deep ocean. Type IIIs were created as ambassadors and interpreters for use during the second and subsequent Benthic Treaty negotiations.

Employee Note: If you test positive for BLUE HADES residual genetic code during a standard medical evaluation, consult with Human Resources. Activation of BLUE HADES genetics can be controlled with medication and simple precautions.

The BLUE HADES’ reasons for creating Type II crossbreeds is unknown, but the widespread nature of the phenomenon suggests it is of great importance to their civilisation. Theories include:

•       The Benkett Hypothesis: BLUE HADES are biologically long-lived, perhaps even immortal. They therefore must reproduce exceedingly slowly to avoid over-expansion. The few hybrids produced every year are the only offspring produced in the entire BLUE HADES civilisation. Critics of this theory argue that BLUE HADES predates humanity’s evolution by millions of years; how did the species reproduce before that? The appearance of Type III creatures also suggests that BLUE HADES are capable of reproducing without human incubators.

•       The Crick-Omstead Hypothesis: BLUE HADES are engaged in a long-term genetic engineering process. The ‘taint’ remains dormant in all carriers; some estimates suggest that up to 40% of the population are carriers for BLUE HADES genetic material. This project might be intended to merge homo sapiens into BLUE HADES or to avert CASE NIGHTMARE GREEN or some other cosmological threat. The Benthic Treaty forbids using humans as test subjects.

•       The Allen Hypothesis: The primary purpose of the BLUE HADES interactions with coastal communities is to gather intelligence about events on the surface. The Type IIs are effectively spies for the undersea civilisation; when the change brings them into the oceans, they carry the information they have learned down with them.

Culture

Most of what is known about BLUE HADES culture comes from the few interactions involving coastal communities and the Deep Ones; these accounts are necessarily coloured by the beliefs of either the BLUE HADES hybrids or, more commonly, the beliefs of neighbouring communities who feared and mistrusted the hybrids. BLUE HADES worship or serve ancestor-deities called Dagon and Hydra (who may be elder Deep Ones). In several cases, adopting Dagon worship was part of the bargain struck by BLUE HADES with coastal communities (see also BABYLON FILE).

BLUE HADES are urbanised, with most of their population living in cities on the ocean floor. Most of these cities are on the abyssal plains but there are smaller settlements in shallower waters. These shallow-water settlements are usually close to hybridised communities (cf Innsmouth in Massachusetts and DEVIL'S REEF, Dunwich and DANTE EAST). Whether the BLUE HADES settlements were built to monitor the surface operations or if the Deep Ones simply made contact with the closest humans to their settlements is a mystery.

Technology

Without the ability to use fire and work metals, BLUE HADES have followed a radically different technology path to that of humanity. They use servitor creatures (including shoggoths) instead of vehicles and much of their technology involves biological engineering, sorcery or psychic effects. They also manipulate condensed matter states using abstruse physics; one side effect of this technology is high levels of neutrino emissions, which have allowed us to partially map BLUE HADES colonies. BLUE HADES’ offensive capabilities against the surface are surprisingly extensive. In previous encounters, they have demonstrated the ability to sink ships by creating bubbles of methane underneath the keel, removing the vessel’s buoyancy. A larger methane release could massively accelerate climate change, rendering the surface virtually uninhabitable within a comparatively short time (clathrate gun hypothesis). They are also capable of producing earthquakes and tsunami on demand. Their use of biological agents suggests a capacity of biowarfare beyond our capacity to contain. Furthermore, BLUE HADES is virtually immune to counter-attack – we currently have no effective weapons that could target their cities, as even a nuclear depth charge would be severely limited by the pressure at the ocean floor.

Diplomatic Relations

Up until 1957, encounters with BLUE HADES were extremely limited and usually hostile. During the 20th Century, the advent of mass communication and transport made it harder for isolated coastal communities to conceal BLUE HADES presence. After several incidents (Dunwich, England in 1889, Innsmouth, MA in 1927/8, Port Pegasus, New Zealand in 1938) where human authorities intervened to prevent further contact and multiple retaliatory strikes by BLUE HADES (Witches’ Hole, Bermuda Triangle), the decision was taken in 1943 to attempt peaceful contact

with the sea-dwellers. Using formulae derived from Order of Dagon scriptures and the Chain Home Low radio stations at RAF Dunwich, SOE managed to call up BLUE HADES emissaries. Initially, BLUE HADES assumed that SOE desired the standard bargain (gold and eventual immortality in exchange for mating rights), but diplomacy prevailed. In retrospect, it is likely that the discovery of

the Turing Theorem proved a decisive factor – now that humanity had the capacity to accidentally wipe out all life on Earth, the BLUE HADES civilisation had to take notice of us.

  

This initial hesitant contact was followed in 1953 with the Benthic Treaty of the Azores. There is a large BLUE HADES colony close to the Azores and emissaries from that colony met with representatives of the British Government about HMS Eagle. From this meeting, the groundwork for a treaty between our two species was established. Both sides agreed to meet again six months later. During this intervening period, the British government contacted NATO allies and briefed

them on AZORIAN BLUE HADES. After the second meeting (which was attended by the first Type III BLUE HADES), this briefing was extended to all signatories of the Helsinki Protocol including the USSR and its satellites and a draft treaty was circulated to all parties.

The Benthic Treaty (also known as the Agreement of the Azores) was signed in October of 1954. The treaty covers relations between the Deep Ones and humanity, outlines their respective spheres of influence and establishes limits on the actions of both sides. The penalties for breaking the treaty are severe; they are enforced by geasa on the signatories. (This actually penalises the immortal BLUE HADES signatories more than the human ones, as an individual human representative may be long dead before his side breaks the treaty; this is balanced by the BLUE HADES policy of answering treaty violations with extreme force.) The treaty has also become the cornerstone of post-Helsinki occult diplomacy in the developed world. As no human power wishes to anger the Deep Ones, the Benthic Treaty is the ultimate court of appeal. Subsequent additions to the treaty define communications channels between the various human occult intelligence agencies, allowing them to observe each other and ensure the Benthic Treaty is not being violated. So far, the Benthic Treaty has survived four revisions; the next summit meeting is in 2013, by which time we will be well into CASE NIGHTMARE GREEN and it may all be academic anyway.

1 1 Certain paranoids have suggested that the whole Benthic Treaty is a huge bluff on the part of BLUE HADES and that when the Stars Come Right, the Deep Ones will side with their squid-like masters and eat our brains. According to this theory, Articles 6 and 7 are a nefarious scheme to retard our development of the occult weapons that might stop the cosmic horrors. Supporting evidence for this: pretty much none, although the regular late night poker games in the Azores do show that Deep Ones are really good at bluffing.

The Benthic Treaty for Bluffers!

Article 1: Both species have the right to exist on Earth.

Article 2: Everyone agrees to abide by the terms of this treaty. The treaty can be revised by

subsequent agreements and both sides agree to attend future meetings.

Article 3: Remedies and punishments for treaty violations, which can be summarised as ‘we

reserve the right to sink your country’.

Article 4: Sets the limits of both sides; humanity is limited to one kilometre below mean sea

level and the Deep Ones agree not to encroach upon the land, unless they feel like it. Humanity

is not to bother the Deep Ones; the Deep Ones will consider not swatting our civilisation on a

whim.

Article 5: The Deep Ones agree not to take our women without permission; establishes

communications protocols for interactions outside the scope of the treaty and ensures that

Type II hybrids are permitted to exist.

Article 6: Both sides agree not to summon Azathoth or any other cosmic horror that might

eat the planet without written notification.

Article 7: Do not mess with anything in Appendix Two. It is mostly a list of sites on the ocean

floor and Antarctica where Thou Shalt Not Go but also includes several incantations and gate

destinations.

Article 8: Gives the Deep Ones observer status at the UN (they do not use it) and a legal

standing in international affairs – but the existence of an alien hyper-civilisation is to be kept

secret as much as possible.

Appendix One: Legal and linguistic definitions for both sides, plus the binding geasa.

Appendix Two: The list of things humanity is not meant to meddle with, in case we blow up

the planet.

Appendix Three: More legal stuff that the Deep Ones could not be bothered reading, so it is

stuffed into this appendix and ignored by everyone except lawyers. The relevant bits cover

relations between Helsinki signatories.

The details above have been taken from the Laundry rulebook for player information only and are not intended as an infringement of copyright.

Laundry - GM: Sunday 18th August

Evening - Hawking

Scott and Packard do some metal detecting at The Clefts with detector equipment borrowed from Deep Space Geographic.  They find and strange oddly uncomforting object that they cannot identify and decide to hand it in at the local archaeology centre.

Monday 19th August

Afternoon - Handover

Packard hands in the strange object at Between Nations. It is handed to Kupka Shahn who recognising its importance places it in the Special Safe upstairs.  Stephanie Tyres and Jacob Tavish witness the handover. Shahn asks Cornelius Bridges for access to the other Safe and they place the object within.

Afternoon - Safety Inc visit Scott

Scott narrowly misses the Safety Inc ransacking his home and goes back to his girlfriends where he has been staying recently.  He borrows some money and goes into hiding arranging to meet her again on the 22nd.

Afternoon - Tyres at work

Tyres is a Hades Root 9 agent and has recognised the object as a Permian Green artefact and contacts Hades Root 9 base.  She later leaves the office for a smoke break and picks up a small plastic bag left under her car.  She removes a package which she leaves on her desk.  She then removes the unused security headset from its charger and replaces it with another taken from the bag.  She stuffs the bag in her pocket and after a moment's hesitation dumps the good headset in a nearby waste paper basket and returns to work.

Night - Robbery

Fooler taking the only charged headset has taken the one placed by Tyres.  At just after midnight he receives a call from Tyres that triggers the grid inside the casing of the replaced headset.  He takes the package from her desk, unwraps it on the stairs discarding the paper and proceeds to the safe where he uses the content of a jar taken from the package to dissolve the safe and remove the object.  He then leaves catching the last number 47 bus using a day bus pass bought that afternoon..  He leaves 

Middlehampton Locations

Middlehampton Locations

Clearthorpes

Large industrial town once dominated by its shipbuilding industry gone to rack and ruin.

The Clefts

A series of deep caverns that duck down between two outcrops of basalt. 

Cryingford

A small run down hamlet of cottages on the River Darkling.  These were abandoned for no recorded reason in the 1950's but are still registered to owners all of whom are members of the Re-embodied Enlightenment.

Littlethorpe

A fishing village known for its shellfish and the great shingle arm that reaches out from the River Shrill that protects the sand beds where the shellfish are harvested.

Middlehampton

A small county between Wales and England that has at various times belong to both country's to such an extent that it now claims an almost autonomous state with allegiance to Britain but nether England or Wales.  

Pickworth

A modern town dominated by the UFR complex with a number of subsidiary industrial units around its outskirts.

Ravisham

Small town near Littlethorpe where the House of Re-embodied Enlightenment have its estate.

Thredford Estate

Council estate with a large Ghoul residence in Clearthorpes.

Rivers

River Shrill

Runs through Ravisham and Littlethorpe

River Tears

Rivers through Middlehampton and out to the Irish Sea at Clearthorpes.  As the Darkling's strange properties desolve into the greater river they maintain large 'drops' as if of a slightly different nature to the water around it.  As they slowly break up they sparkle like tear drops in the river hence the name.  Although the Darkling joins the Tears just outside Pickworth it doesn't start to break up until it passes over a natural weir at Cryingford, a now quant little run down hamlet that once was the major river crossing until the local lord decided to build at bridge at Middlehampton itself.  This was after the Darkling Witch Trails back in the 17th century.  A local legend says the Tears are from the bodies of the drowned witches.  In reality the River Tears has been so named from much further back in recorded time.

The Darkling

Emerges in the lower Clefts and joins the Tears near Pickworth. Named for its odd darkish colour which seems to retain a crystalline sparkliness that can still clearly be seen as a strong current down the centre of the Tears before it breaks up at Cryingford.