Los Padres Spur Incident - Resolution and Debrief - Wed, Nov 28, 2018

Opening situation / immediate recap (picking up mid-crisis at the valve house parking area)

• The Handler resumes with no buildup, stating the team is “already in the middle of the shit.”

• Jay has been cut in half and lies dead on the gravel in the parking area.

• Frank Booth suffered a metaphysical episode where his psyche was nearly displaced by a “worm from another dimension.”

  • Philomena and Justin stopped the process by running electric current through Frank’s brain.
  • Frank is alive but unconscious (and later clarified as technically alive).

• Matthew McCarter witnessed a close friend die violently; the table jokes darkly that it “could have been worse” / “could have been me.”

• The group had jumped into their vehicle to escape, but Philomena saw an opportunity and rammed the SUV forward, pinning the Anton Gully thing (a transformed/possessed “something else”) by its legs/pelvis against the side of the valve house.

  • The creature’s upper body is sprawled over the bumper, reaching toward the windshield.
  • Its rainbow-glowing ganglia/tendrils from its head openings slap and crack the glass.

• Justin is waiting for drugs to “hit,” implying he’s actively dosing himself.

Philomena attempts the getaway maneuver — critical failure

• Philomena throws the vehicle into reverse to do a classic reverse-and-spin escape maneuver.

• The Handler calls for a Drive check to see how quickly she executes it.

• Philomena rolls a critical failure (66).

• The Handler offers two bad options:

  • Run Justin over by reversing into him, or
  • Swerve hard and smash the rear of the vehicle into something nearby.

• It’s clarified that Justin is not in the vehicle at that moment; Matthew is inside, and Frank has been loaded into the rear with the door closed.

• Philomena (focused on the creature) accelerates backward toward Justin.

Justin avoids the reversing SUV by “Exalted-style” stunt

• Justin is told to make a Dodge check or propose a better plan.

• Justin improvises:

  • He grabs a stump/log near his feet.
  • He leaps at the vehicle’s rear window, trying to smash through and end up inside the SUV.

• The Handler narrates:

  • Justin tosses the stump up and follows it.
  • He breaks through the window and lands roughly in the back area of the SUV.

• Justin takes 2 damage from the stunt (the table notes higher damage would have killed him).

• The Handler clarifies Justin’s momentum places him in the back seat area / floorboard rather than crushing Frank.

Successful escape; creature still active but outpaced

• Philomena completes the spin and faces the road, able to “gun it.”

• In the rearview mirror, Philomena sees the creature:

  • Stumbling, initially slowed (legs not moving well),
  • Then glowing more (glow spreading into patches of flesh beyond just head-tendrils),
  • Picking up speed, moving like a human pace, not supernaturally fast.

• The SUV outpaces it and it fades into the distance, still moving in the vehicle’s general direction.

Immediate triage in the moving SUV; decision to call the Program contact

• Matthew confirms everyone’s status:

  • Frank’s violent seizures appear over, but he is bleeding heavily, arms and neck wounded, hands “tatters.”

• Philomena panics and accelerates quickly, demanding the nearest hospital.

• Matthew decides to contact their handler using Frank’s burner phone.

  • He searches Frank’s jacket pocket and finds the phone.
  • It’s a burner with only two numbers pre-programmed; one is associated with “J.”

• The Handler calls for a Luck check to see if the contact is reachable at that hour.

• Matthew rolls a critical success (22).

  • The phone is answered after one ring by Antonia Pitzarelli, who says: “Frank, this better be good news.”

Call with Pitzarelli: OPSEC, medical, reinforcements, and “keep eyes on it”

• Matthew identifies himself (not Frank) and reports:

  • Frank is alive, stable-ish, but needs urgent medical care.
  • They need a doctor and “stopping power.”

• Pitzarelli immediately warns: Maintain OPSEC; choose words carefully.

• Matthew performs a First Aid check (First Aid 10) to assess Frank’s condition:

  • He succeeds with a roll of 7.
  • He concludes Frank is breathing but in poor condition and needs medical attention soon.

• Pitzarelli asks about scope (individuals vs broader outbreak).

  • Matthew reports it seems limited: the entity killed Jay but doesn’t appear to transfer person-to-person (based on what they’ve seen).

• Pitzarelli’s instructions:

  • Go to a hospital.
  • Don’t answer questions; show badges/investigator IDs to throw up a smokescreen.
  • Keep eyes on the entity—they need to know where it is.
  • She will arrange reinforcements and is getting on a plane to California.

• She ends the call with “Take care of yourselves.”

Reasoning about the entity’s capabilities

• Matthew asks whether the entity moved at human pace; Handler confirms yes (no unusual speed).

• Matthew asks what triggered the transformation; they discuss correlation with shooting it.

• The Handler allows INT×5 checks to reason from limited observations:

  • Both characters’ reasoning emphasizes:

    • It wasn’t faster/stronger than a person, but far sturdier.
    • The longer it was engaged, the brighter and more patchily glowing it became.
    • Head-tendrils were first; glowing spread into Gully’s flesh.

Justin’s “medicine” intervention: cramming pills into Frank

• Matthew and Philomena try to plan next steps:

  • Get Frank to hospital, then return to track the entity.

• Justin climbs through the broken rear area toward Frank and produces a “weird medicine bag/fanny pack.”

• He takes an assortment of pills and begins stuffing them into Frank’s mouth.

• Matthew questions him:

  • “What are those for?”
  • “Where’d you get those?”
  • “Do you have EMT training?”

• Justin largely responds with grunts while forcing the pills in; some spill around Frank.

• Matthew attempts to assess Justin’s mental state via Human Intelligence/Psychotherapy:

  • Rolls 74 (failure).
  • Conclusion: Justin is acting “weird,” but Matthew can’t meaningfully interpret it.

Justin becomes a “compass” pointing toward the entity

• Justin points toward where the entity was / where they came from, yelling “ah,” and his finger tracks direction as the car turns.

• Matthew interprets it as: “He’s following Frank?” / “He’s following us?”

• The group continues to the hospital at reckless speed; Philomena is “balls to the wall” driving.

• The Handler calls for another Drive check due to her panic:

  • Philomena succeeds (roll 29).
  • She runs red lights and reaches the hospital in Santa Clarita.

Frank wakes in the SUV; the team explains the electrocution

• Frank’s eyes open; he is in severe pain and sees the damage to his arms (skin/meat torn).

• The Handler indicates this would normally warrant a SAN check, but notes Frank is adapted to violence/helplessness; still, there’s at least minimal SAN loss from seeing his own flayed arms.

• Frank asks:

  • If the threat is dead.
  • Why he didn’t rip his head open.
  • What happened while he was out.

• Philomena and Matthew explain:

  • They shocked him to stop the process.
  • They are taking him to the hospital immediately.

Hospital arrival (Newhall Hospital, Santa Clarita): badge, gurney, and immediate suspicion

• Frank is weak and struggles to move on his own.

• Frank produces a badge (investigator/agent badge unspecified) to control the scene.

• ER staff respond quickly:

  • A gurney is brought out.
  • Frank is placed on it and taken inside.

• Philomena tells Frank:

  • McCarter called someone using Frank’s phone.
  • They are supposed to return and find the entity; Frank advises: “Observe, don’t engage.”

• The Handler calls for Matthew to roll Alertness outside:

  • Matthew fails with 95.
  • He is mentally replaying Jay’s death and misses something until he hears glass smash and a car alarm.

Justin breaks into a police cruiser and steals a shotgun

• Matthew sees:

  • Justin leaning through the window of a Santa Clarita police cruiser.
  • Justin pulls a shotgun from the cruiser.
  • The cruiser alarm is going off.

• Justin runs back and hands the shotgun to Matthew.

• Justin then runs into the hospital after Frank.

• Matthew chooses not to arm Justin further; he keeps the shotgun.

Philomena and Matthew leave the hospital to track the entity

• Staff demand the SUV be moved from the ER entrance.

• Philomena drives, calmer now that Frank is in care, and immediately heads back toward the valve house.

• On the drive, they estimate distance and timing:

  • The location was a few miles out of town.
  • About 20+ minutes have passed (hospital chaos included).
  • The entity should be less than halfway to town if it’s coming their way, but pathing is uncertain (road vs woods).

Return to valve house: discovery of a bloody mound

• Near the parking lot entrance, headlights reveal:

  • A glistening, bloody mound roughly the size of a full kitchen trash bag.
  • It is not moving.

• Philomena decides to destroy it:

  • She accelerates and runs it over repeatedly.
  • She alternates forward/reverse multiple times, “bam, bam, bam.”

• Matthew tries to stop her, arguing it might already be dead.

The “beef stew / ragu” smell compulsion

• As Philomena crushes the mound, a strong smell emerges described as beef stew / ragu.

• The smell triggers:

  • An “undeniable need” to keep smashing it.

• Both Matthew and Philomena “bask” briefly in the smell as it fades.

• The mound becomes a smeared puddle of viscera at the parking lot entrance.

• Clothing becomes visible in the gore:

  • Jeans consistent with what Anton Gully was wearing.

Attempt to find a trail; limited results

• Matthew exits the vehicle and tries to follow any trail “by scent.”
• He gives Philomena his pistol before doing so.
• Matthew fails Alertness (76/79) and initially mistakes splatter patterns for a trail.
• Philomena suggests checking for a path from where the SUV pinned the entity to this smashed area.
• They locate blood on the valve house wall where Gully was pinned.
• They see blood spatters indicating movement from the wall to the viscera pile.
• They find no indication anything left the parking area—no footprints, no continuing trail beyond the lot.

Investigation inside the valve house

• Philomena and Matthew enter the valve room with flashlights.

• They observe:

  • Pipes and valves.
  • A folded folding chair in a corner.
  • An open box of garbage bags with some pulled out.
  • A bucket with spray cleaner, sponges, and a bottle of bleach.
  • A floor drain and a gentle slope toward it.
  • General debris and scattered garbage.

• No blood, no additional bodies, and no obvious evidence beyond the presence of cleaning supplies.

• A man-made tunnel slopes down within the structure.

  • Light reveals a large pipe, gauges, and a big valve further down (not fully visible).

Growing concern about Justin’s behavior and inability to reach him

• Matthew questions what Justin’s “compass-pointing” was about if the target is now apparently dead.

• Matthew tries to call Justin, hoping to get Frank on the line through him.

• The call rings, but:

  • Justin does not answer.
  • Justin simultaneously acquires keys from an open-top Jeep by finding them in a “clever” hiding spot near the seat.
  • He loads Frank (still in vulnerable condition) into the Jeep and drives away.

Frank’s hospital arc: triage, questions, and Justin’s extraction

• Frank is triaged; the staff note:

  • Severe wounds and blood loss.
  • Electrical burns on his temples.

• Frank answers that he was electrocuted and downplays it as “mostly superficial.”

• A doctor suggests an MRI to assess what happened to Frank’s brain.

• Staff indicate the police will want to ask questions due to their arrival circumstances.

• After the doctor leaves, Justin appears in Frank’s room:

  • He hands Frank a pistol Frank does not recognize.
  • He gestures toward leaving immediately.

• Frank makes an INT×5 check to connect Justin’s behavior with prior “quiet children” reports and the “Hush Father” concept:

  • Frank succeeds with 003.
  • Frank recognizes the pattern: mute guidance, improbable positioning, “coincidences” that align.

• Frank chooses to trust Justin and tries to get up to follow.

  • The Handler calls for a CON×5 check:

    • Frank rolls 95 (failure).
    • Frank cannot stand; he collapses to a seated position against the bed.

• Justin improvises:

  • He obtains a wheelchair.
  • He gathers Frank’s belongings (including jacket) and piles medical supplies on Frank (bandages, fluids).
  • He takes items indiscriminately, even pulling a blanket off someone behind a curtain.

• Justin pushes Frank out to the parking lot and drives away in the Jeep with Frank and an IV setup brought along.

Back at the valve house: cleanup begins

• The Handler offers Criminology or INT×5 checks to reason why Gully was there:

  • They consider:

    • Marlin may have warned Gully they were coming.
    • Gully, as the enforcer, may have been sent to ensure evidence was removed—suggesting a prior crime scene.

  • Conclusion: It looks like Gully was sent there to clean up, but they don’t know what specifically.

• Matthew and Philomena decide to begin disposing of bodies and evidence.

• The valve house conveniently has:

  • Gloves, garbage bags, and cleaning supplies.

• They begin bagging Jay’s remains:

  • Jay’s lower half is placed into a triple-bagged lawn-sized garbage bag.
  • Both Matthew and Philomena lose 1 SAN from handling the bisected corpse.

Justin and Frank arrive at the valve house in the Jeep

• Philomena and Matthew initially panic and try to hide when the Jeep arrives, then realize it’s Justin and Frank.

• Frank is slumped in the passenger seat and not trying to get out.

• Philomena confronts Justin:

  • “What are you doing here? He needs to be in a hospital.”

• The Handler notes Justin’s drugs are fading and calls for a SAN check for Justin related to drug use:

  • Justin fails, losing 2 SAN (Unnatural).

  • Justin chooses to project the SAN loss into a bond:

    • Rolls 1d4 = 3.
    • Loses 3 Willpower and 3 points from a chosen bond, canceling the SAN loss.

Identity of the Jeep and Frank’s condition during cleanup

• Frank, still in a hospital gown and blanket with an IV rigged to the Jeep’s roll bar, checks the glove box for registration.
• Frank identifies the owner name as Janet Simpson (as read aloud).
• Justin proposes burning the remains; Philomena and Matthew had been moving toward cleanup and evidence disposal already.

Philomena calls Pitzarelli using Frank’s operation phone

• Philomena demands Frank’s phone back from Matthew.

• She takes it and calls the contact.

  • First she accidentally dials the wrong number:

    • A phone rings once from inside the nearby garbage bag (implying the “J” contact ties to Jay’s phone/number on the burner).

  • She then dials the other number and reaches Pitzarelli.

• Philomena reports:

  • The site is secured and the target is dead.
  • She distrusts McCarter.
  • Justin removed Frank from the hospital and returned to the site, escalating the situation.

• Pitzarelli demands:

  • Philomena stay put.
  • She give the phone to McCarter or Frank.

• Philomena refuses to hand it to McCarter and instead gives it to Frank.

Frank speaks with Pitzarelli: containment plan and LASD pressure

• Frank confirms he has been unconscious and is piecing events together.

• Pitzarelli is concerned about Philomena having called on the operation phone and about Justin’s involvement.

• Frank characterizes Philomena and Justin as potential “asset material” and says they need to be kept under observation.

• Frank confirms the target appears down and the immediate danger seems ended.

• Pitzarelli asks for confidence; Frank says he believes the immediate danger is done, but defers larger concerns to later debrief.

• Frank requests help regarding LASD scrutiny; he says they are not safe in the county.

• Pitzarelli explains:

  • LASD is pressuring the FBI with questions and believes an FBI team interfered with their investigations.
  • The FBI’s Wilshire Building (SAC context) is involved in the blowback.

• Frank’s plan:

  • Leave the county, drive north, and report where they stop.

• Pitzarelli says she will arrive early the next morning and they will debrief then.

Time jump: overnight cleanup and relocation

• The group spends most of the night:

  • Scrubbing the scene, undercarriage, and bumper (including removing Anton Gully’s jacket from the wheel well).
  • Cleaning evidence from the Jeep and disposing of it elsewhere rather than burning on-site.

• They relocate to a small motel in Ventura County.

• Frank receives partial medical attention (including blood), recovering slightly; he is no longer in an unconscious threshold.

Morning debrief at the motel: Pitzarelli interviews Frank first

• Pitzarelli asks Frank directly for a rundown, focusing on:

  • Philomena and Justin.

• Frank’s report on Philomena:

  • She is Graham Drummond’s cousin.
  • She retrieved something stored in Los Angeles before meeting them (Frank believes she did not know they’d be there).
  • Frank states she knew “too much,” so he couldn’t let her walk away, but she performed well and saved his life.
  • Pitzarelli acknowledges they have leverage (her crimes) but notes it cuts both ways because McCarter and Frank are tied to them.
  • Frank believes Philomena can be relied on, at least operationally.

• Frank’s report on Justin:

  • Frank connects Justin to the “quiet children” pattern and the “Hush Father” concept.
  • Justin went mute and acted like a guiding force; Frank notes improbable competence (extracting Frank from the hospital with no one noticing).
  • Frank notes Justin prevented Frank from finishing self-harm during the possession crisis (based on what he’s been told).
  • Pitzarelli notes this is different from prior quiet-children behavior, which tried to kill agents.

Pitzarelli lays down terms to Philomena and Justin

• Pitzarelli states plainly:

  • They participated in an unnamed, classified U.S. government operation without clearances.
  • They committed numerous serious crimes.
  • They will be protected only if they maintain secrecy.

• Restrictions:

  • They may speak to no one about it (family, friends, therapist—no one).
  • If they violate this, the agency can extradite them even if they leave the country.

• Pitzarelli tells Philomena:

  • Frank spoke positively of her actions.
  • She may be allowed to return home after background checks and compliance.

Pitzarelli evaluates McCarter’s status and future

• Pitzarelli asks Frank whether McCarter is a danger or a flight risk.

• Frank’s assessment:

  • McCarter is not a flight risk.
  • The main concern is McCarter’s inability to control himself if confronted with these phenomena.
  • Frank notes McCarter repeatedly asked for medication before episodes, suggesting awareness and some self-management.

• Pitzarelli indicates leadership wants McCarter kept operational and considers letting him return home with oversight.

• Pitzarelli speaks privately with McCarter:

  • Offers return home or continued hospital care.
  • McCarter says he wants to go home, noting it won’t be the same without Jay.
  • Pitzarelli agrees to arrange it and allows him to call home (wife/daughter mentioned, and the transcript specifically names calls to Dasha and Cecilia).

Session end-state

• The team remains under pressure from LASD scrutiny but has an outlined cover approach: focus on Anton Gully as investigative target; Sutton’s disappearance treated as unrelated coincidence in official framing.
• Philomena and Justin are functionally coerced into secrecy but tentatively retained rather than eliminated.
• McCarter is cleared to return to the D.C. area after additional coordination.
• The Handler ends the scenario at the point where the group is stabilized post-operation and moving into downtime between scenarios.

GM “behind the scenes” debrief (scenario revelations provided after play)

• The Handler explains there are two parallel threads:

  • The Slug Squad: a mundane criminal gang inside LASD structures, with layered circles of involvement (organized criminals, race-motivated “useful idiots,” dirty cops, and broader law enforcement leverage via APBs).

• The Slug Squad raided Dyer’s lab/torture dungeon:

  • A woman was freed and killed herself immediately by bashing her skull in.
  • Marlin disliked the optics and shaped the story to blame Dyer.

• Anton Gully was tasked with disposing of “weird stuff,” took it home, and dosed himself via contact while disposing of Pledge Dram without gloves.

• The worm possession mechanics:

  • The worm supplants the host consciousness, can run a “Gully simulator” to approximate human behavior in interactions.
  • In private it is bizarre, and it keeps the body running by consuming calories efficiently (canned food, minimal ritual).
  • Dyer’s notes guided it, but its intelligence is inhuman and literal.

• Dyer’s experimentation:

  • Dyer recreated Pledge Dram but used incorrect amounts, constantly overdosing victims.
  • Overdosing causes the worm to feel crushed in too-small space; it destroys the body to escape.

• Endgame with Gully’s worm:

  • Once sufficiently pressured/damaged, it shifted from long-term “colony” plans to short-term feeding.
  • It ate Jay and then, after running out of fuel/time, disintegrated the host body and returned to its dimension.

• The injection incident explained:

  • After losing an experimental victim (Hannah Huffman escaped restraint and broke her neck), it decided only initial dosing mattered, so it injected “Jazz” using a syringe swapped in for a PCP hot shot; it was still an overdose.
  • The syringe could be found at the scene if searched thoroughly (police missed it).

• Electrical interruption:

  • As written, stopping possession required higher voltage (defibrillator-level).
  • The Handler adjusted tension around the car-battery solution; repeated shocks nearly killed Frank, and one more failure would have killed him.
  • The Handler notes that choosing the alternative driving consequence (rear-end collision) would have killed Frank when he was at 1 HP.