Here is the concept for a one-night (which took 3 nights) session I ran, with plenty of customizable variables:

The game should be run with a predator sort of appeal, where the action takes place in some remote forest or wilderness. The most difficult part is to remove the party's lines of communication, but if you decide the field of play is in the borderlands with Gaia, you should have that dealt with.

The Sergeant in this game has been in and out of combat to the point that it has become a part of him. He has seen his comrades killed, buried them, and held them until they died. He has seen the workings of the war machine, and slowly his perception has altered due to his relationship with war. He has recently begun to see the true nature of those who wage the battles, gotten glimpses of beings not quite human on the battlefield, and his sanity is slowly ebbing. He is beginning to lose his humanity, and reverting to a creature of war, an instinct driven borderlander obsessed with the blood of battle. His humanity has realized that it is slipping, and he has fled to a remote location to try to work through this loss of control. When the investigators find him, he will have become a predator, more animal than man, who thirsts for the blood of his enemies and has lost most of his remaining shreds of humanity. In his madness, his new animal nature has attuned to Gaia, and opened up a borderland to the Ancient Wilderness.

The group I ran was working for an Investigation firm, which often does contract investigations (background investigations, etc), and was contracted by the military to track down an AWOL (absent without official leave) Drill Sergeant from Quantico Marine Base near DC (location isn't important, I just live in DC). This was a bit of a shock to the investigators, as the military generally handles everything that happens within it's ranks without "civilian support", but they accepted the case and went to Quantico to be debriefed.

During the debriefing, the investigators learn that the AWOL Sergeant is a highly decorated career soldier who has served in several wars, and won many commendations. His record is impeccable, save the last few months. For some reason, he has become aggressive and violent, becoming involved in several off duty fights in the town of Quantico during off duty hours, and has assaulted several recruits on base during training. Because of these on duty assaults, the military has chosen to begin an investigation to bring the Sergeant up on charges, and it is because of these charges that they have been advised by legal counsel to have an external agency track down the AWOL soldier, to assure that nothing might happen which could jeopardize their case. (Weak excuse, but my players bought it.)

The investigators are granted limited access to the housing section of the base, and liberty to review the files on the Sergeant, which are sterling and heroic. The have been given a low ranking soldier as a guide and liaison on base, who will attempt to contact whomever the investigators which to speak to, and arrange an interview. The town of Quantico, small and right outside the base, is fully available to the investigators. There are several bars that are heavily populated by off duty Marines.

Most of the associates of the Sergeant will only speak highly of him, although several of the recruits will show fear in their eyes while they talk (he was a Drill Sergeant, after all). He owns a motorcycle, which is not on base. The base is guarded and surrounded by fences, and would be difficult to leave, although not impossible, depending on your tolerance of razor wire. None of the gate logs note him leaving the base without also noting his reentry.

The soldier has a sister and a mother, both of whom live in Colorado, and deny any knowledge of the whereabouts of the Sergeant. The Sergeant has no documented property or rented housing, and none of his friends have any idea where he is, nor of any lover he was seeing. He was for all intents and purposes, "married to the Corps".

The primary clues are found in the Sergeant's room, a spartan 10'x10' room with a bunk, a small attached bathroom, a wardrobe, a footlocker, and a dresser, all immaculately kept (you don't become a highly decorated career soldier without attaining some luxuries). In the bathroom, the investigators will find that the bathtub drain is choked with hair, upon closer inspection will reveal itself to be body hair from one individual. Inspection of a razor in the bathroom will note excessive skin cells and a dulled blade, implying a lot of recent shaving. Inspection of the dresser and wardrobe will reveal that one set of issued BDU's and a pair of issued boots is missing. Anything else which may be missing is undocumented personal belongings. A search of the footlocker will reveal a stack of photographs, and closer inspection of these, along with a roll or two, and the investigator will notice that one of the photographs shows the soldier, around current age, with several of his friends from base, standing in front of a cabin in remote mountainous surroundings, holding .22 rifles and a dead deer. A curious investigator will question those depicted in the photograph, who will grudging admit that the Sergeant owns a swath of property in the mountains of West Virginia. Also found in the foot locker are several military surplus catalogs, and multiple shipping records will reveal a pile of surplus was ordered, but can't be found in the sergeant's quarters. With a bit of investigation, the PC's should be able to turn up the location of the cabin, and head for the mountains to continue their search.

The military will provide two MP's to escort the investigators to the property in West Virginia. When the PC's arrive, they will find that the cabin is a ways back into the woods. Several miles must be traveled on a rutted dirt road, which at some times is near impassible. As the investigators continue into the property, those with Magical Intuition will note that something feels strange here. Those with good perceptions or botany will note that the property must be in an old growth forest, as many of the trees are very old, and the forest has a bit of the untamed feel to it. The forest canopy is thick, and the forest is dark and foreboding. (During the travel down the rough road, the PCs and MPs are beginning a journey into the borderlands of Gaia, which was opened up by the psyche of the soldier. Radios and cellular phones will begin to fail, and the road behind them will cease to lead back out to the regular world, instead meandering off until it disappears into the tangled undergrowth of the forest itself).

After several miles the PCs will come to the cabin and find the Sergeant's gear, motorcycle and clothes, as well as several firearms and the pile of military surplus. The soldier is too far gone to live in a house anymore, and now lives in the forest itself, hunting and living the life of a predator. He has begun to change physically, and no longer wears clothes or uses tools (such as firearms, the only saving grace for the PCs). At this point, it is up to the GM to mold the soldier into a predator suitable to the skill level of the PCs, but as a guideline, his appearance should be more animal than man, his physical traits should increase (strength, agility, etc.) and he should have developed some natural weapons, and appropriate skills (sneak, hide, etc). He should be tough enough to and fast enough to promote fear in the PCs with their guns, and kill at least one (a fun rule for any adventure). For my party, he had perfected camouflage, and was a silent stalker, hunting the PCs (or territorial invaders) when they grew tired or less aware. In addition to the Sergeant, add any other fun denizens of Gaia that you feel the PCs need to meet, in order to adapt the challenge of this adventure to your players.

The characters cannot leave the borderlands (without magical assistance, i.e. Lore of Time and Space, etc.) until the connection to the Illusion is broken, i.e. the sergeant. This can be completed a couple of ways: by killing the Sergeant, the connection to the borderlands is broken, as his psyche was the like between the two. A character with a ritual able to manipulate the target's emotions or grasp of reality may be able to break the hold Gaia has on the soldier's rage for long enough to escape, or a very well played psychological ploy might work if the sergeant was successfully captured, and is still coherent enough to understand speech.

If you like ticking clocks, determine a time range for the Sergeant to finish his transformation, at the end of which he journeys fully into Gaia, leaving anyone who was in the boderlands with him stuck there.

Remember, it's all fun and games once someone dies!


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