TEXT: 1
  The Loss Specialist
  An Adventure for
  
  2
  The Loss Specialist
  This is a scenario for JAGS Wonderland for 2-4 players and a GM.
  It contains player and GM information. If you intend to play in The 
  Loss Specialist do not read the material presented in the GM’s 
  section. The player’s section provides character creation details 
  and a description of the player’s shared background. GMs should 
  read both sections and be familiar with the history in the Player’s 
  section.
  Player’s Section
  The characters are 50 Base Points, 4 Archetype Point people living 
  in modern times (2006) who share a common background and 
  tragedy (described below). They are all in their mid / early 20s; at 
  the start of the game they have no specific knowledge of 
  Wonderland or the supernatural and are not infected.
  Key Character Guidelines
  There are three key character guidelines that should be considered 
  at character design time
  • 
  The game begins with a scene that takes place in 1992 
  when the characters are approximately 12 years old. During 
  this segment the PCs and NPCs agree to meet again in 10-
  years time for a reunion and to support each other. Players 
  should design characters who are amenable to this
  • 
  As young adults the characters are still affected by the 
  tragedy they suffered as children. This is not a crippling 
  depression but the characters’ lives should be in some way 
  shaped by a sense of loss. It may have positive aspects but 
  they are not, entirely, 'over it.' We encourage each character 
  to identify something important that is unresolved in their 
  lives as a result of this loss. The meat of the game will have 
  more meaning if they still feel and deal with the aftershocks 
  of the significant events of their young lives
  • 
  The PCs will be part of a group (the “Orphans”) who will be 
  offered an enigmatic deal in 2006 (not during the flashback) 
  that may or may not be a wise course of action. While it is 
  not necessary that the PCs accept the deal, it is important 
  that they stay in contact with the NPCs (some of whom, very 
  likely, will accept it) – perhaps out of curiosity or to ‘protect’ 
  their friends in case the situation turns dangerous
  Characters who will not attend the reunion or who will completely 
  disengage from the group afterward (rejecting participation in the 
  arrangement) may not work so well in the game.
  What is JAGS Wonderland?
  JAGS Wonderland is a 
  source book for the JAGS 
  roleplaying game system. 
  JAGS and the JAGS 
  Wonderland source book are 
  free and available at http://
  www.jagsrpg.org
  Players Section
  
  3
  Note that it is not required that the characters be enthusiastic or 
  particularly cooperative. These guidelines are meant to prevent the 
  characters from disengaging from the scenario.
  Character Shared Background
  The ‘60’s were an era of pharmaceutical revolution that swept the 
  campuses and progressive outposts of American culture (the 
  revolution came to the streets two decades later with the rise of the 
  crack epidemic). Before the war on drugs, emergent psychoactive 
  chemicals like lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) and dimethoxy-4-
  methylamphetime (DOM) were considered a possible road to self-
  knowledge or even enlightenment.
  The objective of a family of piracetam-like nootropics test-marketed 
  by Kefauver-Harris LTD (a joint venture between two large, 
  multinational phama-corps who’s name you can find in any modern 
  newspaper) was somewhat less ambitious than cosmic illumination.
  Ascendanx (trade name) was supposed to make you smart.
  It may have worked; clinical studies are inconclusive on that score, 
  but what is a matter of indisputable public record is that, taken 
  consistently over a period of several years, it killed you. 
  Glioblastoma multiforme—most common type of brain tumor to 
  occur in adults—occurred in close to 90% of the population taking 
  Ascendanx. By the time the Age of Aquarius was dimming and the 
  Age of Mergers and Acquisitions (the Regan 80’s) was dawning it 
  became clear that a certain group of explorers in the outer realms 
  of psychopharmological medication were not going to live to see 
  the new millennium.
  These were your parents.
  Your Parents
  Ascendanx appealed to men and women who were adventurous, 
  ambitious, and had little respect for tradition, while eagerly (and all 
  too credibly) embracing the promise of science. 
  Ascendanx was hugely popular with intellectuals, academics, 
  members of the press (the ones who had stopped the War and 
  brought down a presidency). It was taken, largely, by those who 
  were already considered intelligent and saw Ascendanx as a way to 
  widen the gap; to enhance their natural advantage.
  In retrospect their decision to gamble with their brains can be seen 
  as a fatal hubris but this is not entirely fair: most of the heavy users 
  were professionals in their early thirties (the average user was 30 
  and already in the upper 85th percentile of wage earners in 1978), 
  beginning to see their careers come to fruition in an era sliding from 
  a euphoria of hope toward cynicism, moral stagnation, and 
  economic collapse. They came of age in an era that seemed pivotal 
  Players Section
  
  4
  in history and it was all too easy to imagine that by taking 
  (measured) risks, they would be the ushers of an inevitable utopia.
  Perhaps Ascedanx seemed to offer hope in the face of 
  hopelessness – a miracle cure for a culture that seemed unglued, 
  impotent, and cursed by demagogy in the face of a great vacuum of 
  leadership.
  The first cases of terminal cancer appeared in Ascendanx users in 
  1983; by 1987 it was clear that total casualties would be in the low 
  triple digits (lawyers eventually cut the knot at 103 fatalities and 
  some 226 cases of treatable, non-lethal tort).
  Children of the 80’s
  All of you share canonical memories – the first signs of trouble, the 
  hospital visits for tests, and the fearful unveiling of their awful 
  conclusions… the horrible night or morning or late afternoon when 
  the news broke and your world crumbled into nightmare.
  Many children lost one parent, but due to the insular world of the 
  Ascendanx users (they were of a type and a time, and a place often 
  characterized as Brookline, Berkeley, and Beltway), there was even 
  more tragedy for some – the Ascendax Orphans, as they were 
  called – children who would lose both parents to mistakes made 
  decades earlier.
  You are first class of Ascendanx Orphans. The average Ascendax 
  Orphan was born in 1980 and was seven years old when legal 
  proceedings against the parent company of Kefauver-Harris began 
  in earnest. There are some 12 to 15 orphans in your “class” of 
  plaintiffs and another group even younger – children conceived 
  during the trial (1987 to 1992) by plaintiffs who knew they were 
  dying.
  The Crystal City Settlement
  In 1992 the lawyers (Pierce and Pierce out of New York) and 
  Kefauver-Harris reached an agreement; the counsel for the 
  plaintiffs would retire rich. The surviving spouses and children 
  would be richly compensated for their loss, and the Orphans would 
  be provided massive trusts ($40 million USD apiece) to be 
  managed by trustees until the completion of their education.
  This agreement was reached in a conference room of the Crystal 
  City Marriot in Washington DC where more than forty people (your 
  parents, their lawyers, the corporate lawyers, and the children) met 
  to hash out the details and close that chapter.
  Your shared memory of each other covers three days in the 
  summer – grave, somber meetings, flashes or anger and rage, and 
  finally resolution. Your future and fortune was assured. Your 
  parents could get on with the task of dying.
  Players Section
  
  5
  On the last night of the meeting – the night when everything was 
  finally settled, you and the other Orphans met in private – one of 
  the only times you were away from your parents during that horrible 
  weekend – and you reached an agreement that night to stay 
  friends, to support each other, and to meet in ten years time no 
  matter what happened.
  Character Design
  Your characters should be 50-point “normal” people -- who’s lives 
  are defined by the Crystal City Settlement in both positive and 
  negative ways: 
  All characters are may purchase “rich” (with 30 to 50 million dollars 
  in assets) for no points due to the Crystal City Settlement. 
  Characters that do not wish to be rich may use the additional 8 
  points for other things (this represents poor financial management 
  over the last 10 years.
  Each player should choose an important element in their life that 
  remains unresolved as a result of their experience and the lingering 
  sense of loss.
  The early loss of their parents may have made them spiritual or 
  reflective but there is no supernatural aspect to their lives; they are 
  not “infected”
  Players Section
  
  6
  GM’s Section
  Players Stop Reading
  
  7
  Game Overview
  This section describes the back story (“What’s going on”) the NPC groups 
  (“The Antagonists”) and then provides some ideas about how this is likely to 
  play out (“Acts and Scenes”) with GM’s notes and so-on.
  The approach we’ve taken is to provide an overview of the situation and 
  antagonists whose plans are in-motion along with descriptions of several 
  likely events or scenes (such as the characters agreeing to work with the 
  Loss Specialist) that are described in some detail.
  Ultimately, however, the PC’s should drive the plot of the story through their 
  character’s actions and decisions. Characters may well drive the action away 
  from what we expect – our aim is to provide enough structure and 
  background so that the GM can interpret events on the fly even when they’re 
  outside of what we’ve predicted.
  Game Structure
  The game is structured in five phases and a coda; the action in the first two 
  phases is fairly scripted and the players have agreed to participate (see Key 
  Character Guidelines in the Player’s Section). The action in the middle three 
  phases may vary widely depending on the player’s decisions and the 
  character’s actions. 
  1 
  Flashback:  The game begins during the summer of 1992 when the 
  characters are 10-15 years old. During this scene the characters 
  meet each other and the other Orphans (including some key NPCs) 
  and are pressured to convince the rest of the group to participate in a 
  (bad) financial deal concerning their trust fund. They should also 
  make the agreement to be part of the re-union; it’s important that the 
  players make characters who would agree to this
  2 
  Reunion: The game resumes in 2005 when the characters meet and 
  discover that there is yet another “opportunity” – the chance to work 
  with a Loss Specialist who may be able to provide some degree of 
  healing and closure
  3 
  Midnight at the Radio Tower: The Loss Specialist and his 
  (mysterious) backers have arranged for an “experiment” at a radio 
  station. The “experiment” goes… badly… and results in a terrifying 
  Descent and a change to the character’s nature (a change similar to 
  being Twisted described in the appendix)
  4 
  Scrum: The limited success of the radio tower experiment has put 
  the characters into a state of jeopardy with a “clock” counting down – 
  they must act quickly to understand what is happening to them and 
  what’s at stake. Fortunately three sets of antagonists (who know 
  some of the story) are trying to capture / use / kill them and may be 
  available for questioning
  5 
  Climax and Resolution: With sufficient understanding of the 
  situation, the characters have the opportunity to take control of it and 
  drive the action toward a desired outcome (they have several 
  choices) – their opposition, however, is nearly hysterical at this point, 
  and they’re being chased by corporate assassins, warlocks, fantasy 
  monsters, and flying saucers
  6 
  Coda: The end of the scenario, wrap up, and any seeds for further 
  stories with these characters
  They have a shared history and a personal agenda for attending the reunion 
  (for fellowship, closure, to honor their agreement, etc.) but there are forces 
  they are unaware of that have been tracking them with great interest.
  
  8
  What’s going on?
  The character’s unique psychological experience (the loss of their parents in 
  a certain way, the loss of their childhood, their relative fame and subsequent 
  fortune) connects them to deep elements of the universe – the physical 
  manifestation of loss and sorrow on Chessboard Four.
  They are, in a sense, the physical components of a ritual or spell that can 
  open a channel to a deep realm called The Palace – a vast subterranean 
  chamber on the fourth chessboard that is a howling vortex of loneliness, 
  emptiness and deficiency. 
  It is full of what is called Negative Space.
  This is a terrible place; its architecture reflects its cruel, all-too-human nature. 
  The things that live there are not evil; it’s not the pain of loss that they revel 
  in, it’s the event itself and the absence which follows from it. To the 
  Lamenoumen the loss of anything is music to them, the more extreme, the 
  more convoluted, the more beautiful. And although it’s common, the finality of 
  death is like a beautiful symphony. To them, the Universe, full of 
  abandonment, forsakenness, and mortality, is full of beauty.
  During their ordeal – and with each anniversary – the character’s Shadows 
  are invited to a great feast in the magnificent, terrifying halls of The Palace. 
  While they meet with each other and relive the past and discuss their future, 
  their deeper selves feast on strange wines and delicate meats that have a 
  sweetness mixed with an intolerable misery; the “hole” in their lives left by the 
  premature death of their parents is a hunger that can be addressed but not 
  sated.
  It is during this period that a ritual performed with them can reach out to the 
  beings of The Palace; contact can be made. And under the right 
  circumstances (a remote location, a powerful transmitter to act as a beacon, 
  etc.) The Palace can be called up.
  Why would anyone do such a thing? There are two main reasons, one 
  human and one inhuman.
  The First Agenda – The Commission
  The first reason is that life – even a “perfect” life – can be unbearable. 
  Everyone knows this is true and everyone knows that to admit it is 
  unacceptable. Society must function, and to function, we must pretend that 
  we are fine. Some people have to pretend a little. Others have to pretend a 
  lot, but society doesn’t care how hard it is, or how much pain there is beneath 
  the surface: society must function.
  For those who pretend so much that they begin to believe their own façade, 
  loss – real, devastating, undeniable, unbearable loss – glows like truth. It 
  speaks the language of the human soul, with a voice that cannot be ignored 
  or pretended over. 
  To those who have smothered their humanity with the pretence necessary to 
  function in Society, loss feels like life itself.
  There are a people whose surface hides an agony they may not, themselves, 
  recognize except through reflections in others. They might see a glimpse of 
  themselves in certain pictures, certain movies, certain books. They may not 
  even understand (fully) why they are drawn to these things (these works and 
  people that are shot through with darkness) but they are. To works of 
  Lamenoumen -- pronounced 
  Lamen-ou-men as in, “to 
  lament”
  
  9
  sadness, terror, and to others like themselves, who share the terrible secret 
  that their public selves are pretense and they live their lives pretending.
  They seek works of exquisite misery and even depravity, sharing them in 
  secret, studying them, enjoying passions they cannot express to others, and 
  some of them – the most visionary – seek an escape; they want to travel to a 
  place that must exist. A place they cannot bare to be fictional. There are 
  exotic secrets that must be learned. Techniques that must be used.
  This is the agenda of the Lottery Commission: to use the characters as a 
  means to go to a place that will accept and understand them.
  The Second Agenda – Global Alienation
  Death is the ultimate loss for mortal beings – the end of everything they are 
  and everything they might be, but The Palace cannot (and would not if it 
  could) sponsor the extinction of humanity. There would, at that point, be 
  nothing left to lose.
  But there are widespread losses that could be engineered; the loss of 
  emotion. The loss of empathy. The loss of humanity. The Rational Actors 
  have limitations; they are not entirely aware of the lower chessboards; they 
  are incapable of fully understanding the Palace and the universe they live in.
  They do, however, understand that The Palace could be used as an engine 
  of a widespread epidemic of Alienation – an “alienation singularity” with a 17 
  kilometer “horizon” from which no humanity would escape.
  The Rational Actors have always worked with humans to shore up their own 
  weaknesses (they would never admit this – to suggest that they even have 
  weaknesses is apostasy; to suggest humans might have advantages over 
  them, heresy). They are watching with a cold, baleful eye, as one of their 
  flesh and blood allies develops the alienation singularity.
  Their ally does not need the characters – she has her own “key” to the 
  Palace – but the Lottery Commission and the character’s involvement 
  represents a threat to her plans that cannot be allowed to proceed. She does 
  not see the characters as her enemies, personally, but she will take whatever 
  steps are necessary to stop them.
  Deeper Agendas
  And there may be forces behind these forces as well. The Lottery 
  Commission had the vision, but it took the arrival of a Loss Specialist show 
  them how it might be realized. The Rational Actors represent a perversion of 
  humanity, but what’s behind them?
  The Antagonists
  There are three agencies – groups – whose agendas and designs intersect 
  with the characters. They are all interested in the characters for certain 
  reasons and they all are willing to force their outcome.
  • 
  The Lottery Commission:  A lodge of Students of the Invisible 
  (magicians) who share an eponymous obsession and have recently 
  joined with a guide – a Loss Specialist – who has informed them that 
  the characters are the key to a lock that may hold the solution to 
  realizing their dreams. With their sponsorship, the Loss Specialist can 
  secure what he needs – the character’s cooperation and a defunct 
  radio station powerful enough for one final broadcast.
  
  10
  • 
  Dr. Stephanie Law’s Radio Show: A radio personality on the verge 
  of becoming a national sensation, Dr. Law is popular because she 
  has an uncompromising message. But she’s known from the 
  beginning that telling people isn’t enough. To make them change, you 
  need to motivate them. Her discovery of the Rational Actors – fellow 
  travelers in the reforming of humanity – energized her and gave her 
  the missing pieces. Her plans are proceeding apace but the 
  Commission’s work threatens to interfere and that cannot be allowed. 
  No one stands up to Dr. Law – not on the phone, not in the press, 
  and definitely – definitely – not on the radio.
  • 
  Big Pharma: Mistakes were made; Killing a hundred people 
  inadvertently when you’re trying to kill billions isn’t progress – it’s 
  exposure. Ascendanx has been out of the press for awhile but there 
  are still loose ends and they’re all getting together for a big reunion. 
  What better time to tie them up?
  The Lottery Commission (and the Loss Specialist)
  On June 28th, 1948 Shirley Jackson published The Lottery (http://
  www.classicshorts.com/stories/lotry.html) in the New Yorker. It was 
  immediately controversial, gripping the public imagination with a force that’s 
  still sharp even after decades. None of the men who would grow up to form 
  the Lottery Commission read it then, of course, but all of them came across it 
  as they grew toward maturity.
  Mr. Graves confessed upon reading it, that he could not imagine such a vivid 
  tale to be a work of fiction – he was fifteen, and believed it to be real. Mr. 
  Martin (who read it much later in his life) was under no such illusions, but he 
  (like the others) felt it could be real and that, perhaps, such a thing could be 
  made to come-to-pass.
  This is not as strange as it might sound; the story is evocative, becoming a 
  notorious classic upon publication. It has an impact on people and some 
  respond more strongly than others. It is more powerful, still because it is a 
  difficult story to parse – it doesn’t explain itself – and the author has never 
  neutered it through clarification. 
  Many readers see it as an attack on traditional values – a metaphor for the 
  brutality of tradition, patriarchy, and maybe even capitalism. Those readers 
  often find it offensive (it was banned in South Africa; the author’s comment 
  was to suggest that they understood it), but there are other possible 
  reactions.
  The men (and vanishingly few, highly sought after women) who form the 
  Lottery Commission share a love for the story that goes beyond literary 
  appreciation and into obsession. It speaks to them – to a private, damaged 
  place deep inside them that they long ago decided to turn away from and in 
  rejection, it became a compulsion. This is not something that they understand 
  themselves (when they discuss the story, they often find some intellectual 
  approach or else they pontificate on its illustration of tradition, or fidelity, or 
  some other beside-the-point aspect), but here is the truth:
  The story depicts a society – our society, not an alien one – that embraces 
  nihilism and loss in a way that is so real it feels almost tangible. To the 
  damaged, private members of the Commission, it suggests a tantalizing 
  potential: in such a society, they would feel fulfilled. The horror that they carry 
  inside them would be reflected in Society; echoed back. Not just accepted, 
  but enforced and acted out. The village in The Lottery shows them what their 
  emotional hurt and long-ago-loss might look like inscribed in flesh.
  
  11
  Most of the fellow travelers in the underground community of Shirley Jackson 
  fetishists have accepted that the words in print are the closest they will ever 
  get to visiting the Village; to see and even, perhaps, participate in a Lottery 
  themselves, but the Commission represents the most ambitious and 
  accomplished (and, yes, perverse) of the school.
  They know that the village exists with the unsubstantiated faith of a zealot, 
  and they have turned to the invisible schools, seeking answers. They have 
  uncovered truths in pursuit of their goal that have spurred them to even 
  greater heights, and now their dedication has been answered:
  The Loss Specialist has approached them, has shown he understands them, 
  and has offered them passage.
  The Loss Specialist
  Note: The Loss Specialist is described in more detail in the first scene; this 
  section covers his relationship with the Lottery Commission, how they met 
  him and what they know about him.
  Men who practice their perversions in secret and have done so for decades 
  do not expect to be discovered and when they are, they do not appreciate it. 
  The Specialist approached Mr. Summers first (as was appropriate; Mr. 
  Summers was the most senior of the Commission leaders).
  He put Mr. Summers at ease – yes, he knew their secrets. No – he did not 
  share them – but they do have something in common: the Commission 
  members know in their hearts that the story must be real. That there has to 
  be some way to travel to such a traditional land; to live there. The Loss 
  Specialist knows the same thing – he knows that it is real; that it can be 
  traveled to. And he knows how to get there.
  And the Specialist? He studies Loss in all of its forms. His interest is clinical – 
  actuarial, even – but he lacks the means to perform the experiment. With 
  their (financial) support and his expertise, he can arrange for everyone to get 
  what they need.
  In truth, they do not trust him, but they are sure of themselves (and sure that 
  they can afford the loss if his plans – this ‘experiment’ fails. And they are 
  obsessed, so the idea that they might win is attractive enough to make them 
  take risks that others might find, frankly, insane.
  The Experiment
  The Loss Specialist’s experiment has been described to the Commission as 
  a study of subjects with a deep, unique and intimate connection to loss; not 
  just an extreme loss, but an on-going relationship with incompleteness; the 
  Orphan’s history makes them perfect and ‘nearly but not-quite singular’ 
  candidates.
  The experiment, he has explained to the Commission, will transform the 
  subjects into agents of emptiness – incarnations of the nameless passion 
  that haunts the Commission’s dark fantasies. When it is done, they will be 
  changed in ways that they will not understand, but they will be able to send 
  the Commission members down to the world that they trust exists.
  The Loss Specialist is not the first person to perform this experiment. It is an 
  attempt to replicate the results of a Soviet test performed in the mid-
  
  12
  seventies codenamed CDL1DT or, known by the name given by US 
  intelligence analysts: Cold Light.
  The details of the experiment are provided in section 4, but it requires the 
  Orphans to participate in a human sacrifice. The Loss Specialist has told the 
  Commission that the Orphans will be in a fugue state that will make them 
  compliant, but in practice that will not actually be the case (the Loss 
  Specialist has betrayed the Commission members).
  Dr. Stephanie Law’s Radio Show
  Dr. Stephanie Law is a nationally syndicated talk radio host whose morals, 
  ethics, and advice format show plays in more than 200 stations, mostly at 
  late-night and early morning hours (broadcast live at 2:00 AM PST). Despite 
  the late time-slot and a rather controversial point of view on many topics, she 
  is widely considered to be the “next” national phenomena with a built in and 
  dedicated fan base.
  She has a common-sense, down-to-business, high-standards reputation but 
  critics claim to have detected a much deeper level of misanthropy in 
  philosophical position.
  The critics are right. In four years on the air, Dr. Law (doctorate in physical 
  therapy) has gone from crusading to reform her listeners to despising them. 
  She has gradually developed the idea that humans are inherently weak and 
  flawed – that only a vanishingly few are strong and perceptive enough to truly 
  understand and behave morally. Eighteen months ago she was gratified (and 
  frankly, surprised) to discover that she was not alone.
  The Rational Actors made contact with her indirectly first (two “callers” who 
  got her attention and then a personal phone call to discuss matters in more 
  depth). Over the last year-and-a-half she has begun to see the extent of their 
  operation, the cold beauty of their vision for humanity and the potential for 
  making it happen.
  To develop the alienation matrix, one needs uniquely damaged people; 
  people with a connection to The Palace. She recognized the Orphans – the 
  “Category Two” ones (conceived after 1987, now in their late teens) as the 
  key to making contact with the Palace and arranging to unleash its power 
  upon mankind.
  Unlike the Commission, she is not a magician – she is not infected with 
  Wonderland (although she has come close) and does not fully understand 
  the forces she is playing with. She understands them instinctually. She 
  believes her approach is soundly and completely scientific. The Rational 
  Actors are simply evolved humans. The Palace is a sort of shared Jungian 
  archetype – a human-made manifestation and consensual illusion. Her lack 
  of a formal scientific degree aides her in believing this in the face of strong 
  evidence something far weirder is actually happening.
  She has a group of dedicated fans who follow her and act on her advice. Her 
  great strength and weakness is her utter conviction that she is right. She 
  believes her perspective is infinitely rational and no more or less than 
  common sense. Irrational or immoral enemies must be destroyed, but the 
  merely weak or confused should be led.
  
  13
  Class Two Trustees and Her Experiment
  Contacting The Palace requires the cooperation of people who have 
  experienced a highly specialized, somewhat Byzantine loss that is 
  interesting, beautiful, and delicious to the Palace denizens.
  The Commission plans to use the Reunion Club. Dr. Law has already been 
  working with the second generation – the younger, more traumatized 
  orphans who were conceived during the trial (these are called Class Two 
  Trustees and are generally in their mid-teens now, orphans for just about a 
  decade).
  The Class Two trustees are more vulnerable, more angry, and more hurt 
  than the characters are. They have not been difficult to recruit – they feel 
  abandoned and betrayed by their society and believe it to be beyond repair 
  by normal means. Like Dr. Law, they see themselves as radical healers, not 
  destroyers. They believe their twisted vision will bring a measure of peace by 
  silencing pain and passion, alike.
  She has six “students” who are nearly fanatic followers of her direction and 
  philosophy. They are all well on their way to becoming either alienated or full-
  fledged Hunger Disciples in their own right.
  Big Pharma
  Big Pharma is a Wonderland conspiracy described in the Book of Knots; if 
  you haven’t read the Book of Knots, all you need to know is that many (all?) 
  of the top executives of the large multinational pharmaceutical companies are 
  (and have been for many years) involved in a conspiracy to remake mankind 
  into a Wonderland-mutated image. Their mechanism would be a drug (not 
  yet developed) that would be widely administered and cause fearful 
  transformations.
  The result would be mass insanity / thousands of mega-deaths.
  In this scenario Big Pharma is not an especially supernatural entity compared 
  to the other antagonists; very few members of the Big Pharma conspiracy 
  know about Wonderland. Even those who do have only the most-vague 
  understanding of its nature (the Chessboards, the reality of CPD, etc.) Most 
  of the members of the Big Pharma conspiracy believe they are involved in a 
  much less ambitious, much more mundane effort to develop a drug that will 
  give them control over a large segment of the population. They may be 
  thoroughly immoral, but they are not insane. Still, there are enough members 
  of the conspiracy who are aware of its more paranormal aspects to take 
  action when action is required.
  Global Logistics Incorporated
  Big Pharma has been tracking the Orphans from afar for the last several 
  years; they are aware that there could be problems – that they might 
  someday re-enter the news and that there are certain… metaphysical 
  characteristics to them that need to be contained.
  They work through a variety of private security / detective agencies. The one 
  they’re using for this job is called Global Logistics Incorporated that performs 
  surveillance and when necessary handles dirty work (GLI does not work for 
  anyone but the conspiracy).
  GLI has assigned a case officer and a surveillance team to monitor the 
  reunion. Huey Longfellow and his team are camped out in the Marriott and 
  Huey Longfellow
  Huey’s a bad ass. A partial set of 
  skills for him follows
  PHY 12 (15 DP)
  REF 12
  INT 11
  Several military skills include
  Firearms skill 14- L3
  Unarmed combat 14- L2
  First Aid 13- L2
  Police Procedure L3 14-
  Surveillance L3 14-
  Investigative skills
  Journalism L2 12-
  Electronic Underground L2 12-
  Of course he hires specialists to do 
  computer searches and research -- 
  people with considerably higher skills
  
  14
  will be aware of the Orphan’s comings and goings. They do not expect 
  trouble (or anything interesting) and are not engaging in close surveillance 
  (eavesdropping, following Orphans, tapping phone lines, etc.) although they 
  have the equipment nearby.
  Frankly, they are on the lookout for what they consider to be the biggest 
  potential threat to their client: lawyers. The Loss Specialist looks enough like 
  a lawyer to alert them, and they’ll start paying much closer attention. Their 
  likely behavior and reactions are described in the scene descriptions.
  Ultimately the characters will probably meet Longfellow; he sees them as 
  victims and pawns of the Lottery Committee. This doesn’t mean he’ll spare 
  them if his employers want them dead, but it it does mean that if things 
  become incredibly weird he might be convinced they have value to him in 
  doing his job. It also means that, given a real choice of enemies, he'd rather 
  see the Oprhans win than Dr. Law
  Ascendanx History and Background
  Ascendanx and its trials were part of the Big Pharma program; its lethality 
  was not intentional – in fact, it was a terrible mistake (it drew attention to the 
  nature of the research and increased scrutiny and oversight). 
  The drug was developed as a highly pure, highly concentrated hit of 
  superiority – it doesn’t make you smarter; it just makes you feel smarter (it 
  also fries your brain). The confidence boost resulted in somewhat higher test 
  scores in clinical trials and some statistical evidence of an IQ increase.
  Kefauver-Harris’s work wasn’t trying to make people feel better; it was trying 
  to find a psychologically addictive additive that could be used to make the 
  cure for humanity more attractive when it was ultimately produced. 
  Superiority can be found natively on Chessboard Four, and when refined and 
  transported to Chessboard One, could be made available in the real world 
  (like all Caretaker operations the Ascendanx development and trials required 
  significant coordination across many levels of reality).
  Superiority was supposed to be attractive (and psychologically addictive) to 
  almost everyone (who doesn’t secretly think they’re smarter, more “right,” etc. 
  than everyone else – except me and you, of course), but it was found to be 
  not-so-effective with most test subjects and extremely effective with certain 
  segments of the population.
  Kefauver-Harris LTD doesn’t exist anymore (it was swallowed long ago in a 
  spasm of leveraged buy-outs). The doctor who led the project committed 
  suicide (a minor media event). Most of the other people involved have moved 
  on to other projects or other initiatives within the conspiracy.
  Global Logistics Incorporated’s Role In The Game
  How GLI features in the game should be determined before the game starts 
  when the GM has seen the characters. There are two basic roles for the GLI 
  team and they are opposite each other:
  1 
  GLI as an ally
  2 
  GLI as an opponent
  GLI as an Ally
  In this configuration, Huey—the head of the GLI team—has started to have 
  doubts. He knows he works for a big, amoral, corporate master … but things 
  have started getting weird. The first thing that went bad was his look into 
  
  15
  Adam Faraday. Huey has been at this a long time and he’s very good. When 
  he couldn’t get much information through his ordinary channels (insurance 
  company records, compromised Federal databases, and contacts in 
  Homeland Security) he went around the problem. 
  He contacted other Loss Specialists and set up a sophisticated con to get 
  them to work with him and find out what they were all about. He had an iron-
  clad corporate front, accomplished actors (his team), and all the backing he 
  could ask for. They saw right through him. This really worried him.
  He used his influence and manner to get some of their former contacts to 
  open up: he got nothing (well, he got a lot of data—but he still couldn’t figure 
  out where, exactly, these guys were coming from). So he looked into Bessler.
  And he’s pretty sure that Bessler is dead. The man he paid in Mexico 
  disposed of a body beaten and stabbed with its chest cavity open to the 
  heart. The man was credible and Huey knows when people are lying to him.
  Scenes With GLI as an Ally
  When GLI breaks from Big Pharma, it will be because Huey has tendered his 
  resignation and is told to “sit on the situation” until a new team arrives. He 
  has informed his masters that the characters, themselves, do not seem to be 
  a threat and are not initiating legal action. They’re fine with that—and he has 
  nothing to do but just wait and watch. So he decides that after tracking these 
  people (and he’d have put a bullet in their heads if he’d been told to) he owes 
  them a little more than nothing.
  1. 
  First Kiss in DC
  Huey can show up as a shadowy figure and give the PCs some idea that 
  Bessler (or someone like Bessler) died in Mexico. He’ll say he was part of a 
  team hired to “watch the situation” and he doesn’t know what’s going on but 
  he “thinks they ought to know.”
  2. 
  Honeymoon in Vegas
  Huey is off the team—but he hasn’t quit the job. Right now the characters are 
  off Big Pharma’s radar. The new team is on the task, reviewing documents 
  and stuff—but the surveillance has been ratcheted down.  Huey has come 
  out there himself, using his old skills and contacts to get to the bottom of this.
  He may link up with the characters again and tell them a few things:
  People have vanished: People have gone to Dr. Law’s compound for 
  therapy and to sign up for her team and disappeared. She says they left. The 
  authorities found nothing. Their loved ones claim they’ve received horrified, 
  garbled, nonsense phone calls asking for help.
  He Knows About Cold Light: He knows that the Russians did it and were 
  scared of what they got. He says that it involved half-heard voices on black 
  boxes of airplanes that crashed and ventriloquist dummies and that the file 
  on it is super-highly classified. However: he also believes that, despite it all, 
  Adam Faraday is on the level. He knows enough about the man’s 
  background to know that he has done good work for some very high profile 
  clients. 
  His advice: “If you have loss issues, while I’d be on my guard, I think he’s the 
  man to sort them.”
  3. 
  Part of the Team
  Why make GLI an ally?
  GLI as a friendly force is good if the 
  PCs have very little innate combat 
  ability (Huey can shore them up with 
  tactical advice)—however, the GM 
  should not have him running things. 
  GLI also acts as an information 
  vector that can produce dramatic 
  moments like you would see in a spy 
  drama.
  Finally, having them be friendly is just 
  plain simpler.
  
  16
  When the PCs show up after the experiment, Huey will know they vanished 
  and believe they are dead. After they return, he’s fascinated. He has killed 
  enough people that he believes that if there is a return he might get clean 
  with himself. He will be a valuable member of the team and can help break 
  into Dr. Law’s compound. Huey may, in the final showdown, redeem himself 
  at risk or loss of his own life.
  GLI as an Adversary
  In this case Huey is Big Pharma’s man and his information leads Big Pharma 
  to want them eliminated (if they make contact with the Palace that could 
  jeopardize Pharma’s deep Wonderland contacts). Here are some ways he 
  can show up.
  Scenes with GLI as an adversary
  1. 
  Fire Fight
  Huey is given the go-signal when they are in the radio station. He moves in. 
  Unfortunately, for him, Adam is aware that he is being tailed and while the 
  experiment is underway there is a fight at the radio station. It’s pretty 
  defensible and the team has only hand-guns to use when they go in.
  The GLI team is ex-military but not ex-elite military. They are normal people 
  in good physical shape with 13- or 14- gun skills. Huey, as the commander, is 
  prevented by SOP (Standard Operating Procedure) from leading the assault.
  When the vehicles approach, the dummy in the room will warn people that 
  “Death is coming with dark headlights and chromed wheels.” If people stage 
  a lookout, they will see cars coming with the lights off (the night is very 
  bright).
  The GLI hit team is probably 3-4 people.
  2. 
  Aftermath
  Assuming the GLI team fails (and they likely will, even if PCs are killed—
  unless they kill all the characters and Faraday (unlikely) the experiment will 
  resurrect the PCs) in the aftermath, Huey quits.
  Before he does, though, he could still drop by one last time to give the PCs 
  some information about Dr. Law and Cold Light. He might also fill them in on 
  Bessler.
  Scenes / Phases
  This section describes key scenes and provides details about characters, 
  their plans, and so-on; it provides a potential plot – not one set in stone.
  Flashback
  Key to this scene are 
  1) An agreement between the characters (PCs and NPCs) to meet 
  again in about 10 years time
  2) Meet and talk with William Bessler – one of their number – who is 
  charismatic but with incredibly poor judgment and an overly 
  refined sense of self interest
  3) Introduce (at a distance) the Class Two (younger) trustees
  Less importantly, the characters will have an opportunity to describe and 
  predict the people they will become and get a sense of the characters they’ll 
  be playing with during the rest of the game.
  Why make GLI an Adversary?
  This is good if the PCs are 
  competent and armed. It gives them 
  a human opponent to fight early on. 
  It makes it clear there are other 
  forces out there and stirs the pot.
  
  17
  Scene Background
  The opening scenes are set in 1992 at the Washington DC summit between 
  the plaintiffs (the character’s family’s attorneys) and the legal counsel for 
  Kefauver-Harris LTD. KHL is there to surrender after a battle that’s lasted 
  almost eight years (The first suits were filed in 1988).
  This is not a meeting between everyone who was affected by Ascendanx – 
  it’s to cover the special cases: the astronomical payouts made to the children 
  of families where both parents will be dead within years.
  There are 12 or so families with something like 15 children, nearly 30 parents 
  (the extra parents are the result of divorces and re-marriages) and another 
  15 lawyers counting the teams from both sides.
  Given the non-inconsiderable size of the group, the lawyers have chosen the 
  Crystal City Marriot as a neutral ground to discuss and ultimately resolve the 
  case. At this point the lawyers from both sides have reached what they feel is 
  a reasonable agreement and are going to convince their clients (the 
  character’s parents) that they should accept it.
  The Party and the Reunion Club
  It’s rare that the children are unsupervised by at least one parent, but it does 
  happen; it happened exactly once, on the last Friday of the discussion, when 
  the Orphans-to-be found themselves together on an elevator heading up to 
  their respective rooms. The parents are arguing – there are some “hold outs” 
  who could ruin the agreement for everyone. Tempers were flaring and no one 
  (not the mothers, not the fathers) was willing to leave the room. They sent the 
  kids away.
  By this point they know each other’s names and have some idea who’s who 
  (he’s the kid of that journalist; she’s the daughter of the professor). Because 
  their parents travel in similar circles, they may know each other from other 
  places.
  One of the girls (NPC) who’s father is more interested in fighting that coming 
  to an agreement is crying inconsolably and William Bessler (16 years old, by 
  far the eldest in the group) offers her a marijuana joint. He announces that he 
  has more up in “his” room and invites the group to come and partake. For 
  those not interested in pot, he also has the key to the minibar.
  Bessler is older, very confident. Very smooth. He seems to have it together, 
  but in a lackadaisical way (where others are frantically trying to appear 
  collected). In short, he’s very cool and persuasive. Almost all of the NPCs go; 
  the characters may go as well.
  Note: The characters who are at the party agree to form the Reunion Club 
  (they cannot bare to call themselves orphans) and they will discuss the 
  agreement with any characters (PC or NPC) who aren’t there.
  At the party, smoking dope and feeling a good deal better, the characters talk 
  about their dreams – where they expect to be in 10 years time (they’ll be in 
  college or just graduating mostly. They’ll also be – very likely – filthy rich). 
  Most of the characters want to follow in their parents footsteps or say they 
  want to do charity work or medicine.
  The GM should prepare NPC descriptions for some (small) number of 
  Orphans who will be important during the rest of the game and use this 
  Tone and Atmosphere
  The characters have a limited 
  understanding of what’s going on – 
  there are meetings in a medium-
  sized “conference room” during the 
  day and discussions amongst 
  factions of parents and lawyers at 
  night – efforts to understand, 
  negotiate, and amend the agreement.
  The mood ranges from somber to 
  hysterical to angry – quite a few of 
  the parents want vengeance as much 
  as they want justice; everyone 
  agrees that the children’s needs 
  come first, but their lives have been 
  stolen by a corporate force most of 
  them loathe viscerally.
  Conversely, amid the rage and 
  depression, this also feels a lot like 
  being on vacation – nice hotel rooms 
  (the Crystal City Marriot’s not a resort 
  hotel, but it is a very passable 
  business hotel). They eat at 
  restaurants or in the dining room. 
  There’s HBO on TV, and even an 
  opportunity to go sightseeing (The 
  Mall, the Smithsonian Museums, etc.) 
  for people who aren’t local.
  The players should decide how their 
  parents were reacting to the 
  nightmare and the emotional state of 
  their characters as input for the 
  events.
  
  18
  opportunity to introduce them and their personalities (e.g. who’s angry, who’s 
  calm, who’s realistic, who’s fanciful).
  This discussion leads into an agreement to actually meet – here, in this hotel 
  – and see how things turned out. Also an agreement to stay in touch; to 
  support each other.
  Bessler has a slightly different take on things. He participates, but mostly 
  watches. He’s looking for someone (or someones) to relate an offer to (he’ll 
  choose a PC). His point (when asked about his predictions) is that the world’s 
  so random and chaotic and inexplicable that they could be anywhere. And… 
  rich? He’s not sure about that.
  SUGGESTION: After the party scene concludes players should discuss their 
  relationship with the other Reunion Club members--do they stay in touch? 
  Produce a news-letter? Try to distance themselves (but keep the promise?).
  Do the PCs stay in contact with each other? With any NPCs? What sense 
  of belonging do they feel to the club?
  When they reunite there may be some interesting discussion amongst the 
  more distant members of the group when they discover what has become of 
  each of them It may also be interesting to see how they used (or used up) 
  their Money.
  Shooting Pool and Breaking the Trust
  After the party and the discussion and the reunion agreement (the next day), 
  William Bessler invites the PC or PC’s he felt were natural leaders (like 
  himself) to play pool in the basement bar of the hotel. Kids aren’t allowed in 
  there, but he’s just old enough to pass and he hustles the other characters in 
  as well. He’s smoking (regular) cigarettes, and talking as he shoots.
  Bessler’s Pitch
  “Everyone knows the lawyers – both sets of lawyers – all the lawyers – are 
  going to screw us. Well, not everyone. They (the kids from last night) believe 
  that we’re gonna be set for life… our parents are buying it too. They can’t 
  afford to face the truth.
  So we have to.
  The truth is that $40 million in… what? Ten years? Fifteen years? Whatever it 
  is – it might not be worth anything. And there’s no guarantee we’ll get it. 
  Between taxes and attorneys fees and everything else? They’ll make sure 
  that they get the money. They’ll give us enough to live on. Maybe. Maybe 
  not.”
  Bessler looks into their eyes, studying them.
  “We have to take care of ourselves. We have to take matters into our own 
  hands. It’s the only way. We’ve gotta face it – we’re orphans and no one’s 
  going to look after us.”
  He explains that he’s been approached by men representing yet another firm. 
  Men who are offering a deal: $3 million now instead of $40 million upon 
  graduation in exchange for signing over all rights to whatever’s left in the 
  trust. He explains that properly invested $3 million is enough. And it’s “in our 
  hands” instead of being left to the vultures.
  
  19
  He makes a passionate, convincing case (he’s doing it), and then he explains 
  the rest: the men making this deal have offered a bounty (he doesn’t use that 
  word) on each member of the “Reunion Club” he (they, now) can convince to 
  take it. An extra million for each taker.
  If, between them, they can convince 13 kids to give up their trust they can 
  split thirteen million tomorrow.
  This is clearly a horrible deal playing on fear, immaturity, and greed. These 
  shadowy men are playing on the vulnerability of children about to lose their 
  parents.
  It’s also questionably legal (being under the age of maturity, it’s very unclear 
  that the children can sign away anything – there is a tortured legal rationale 
  for it, but Bessler doesn’t understand it, and it’s not likely to actually work, 
  anyway).
  The point of the scene is to build a history with the characters and Bessler 
  and reveal what kind of person he is. Clearly anyone who takes the deal is 
  going to wind up with a lot less money, but for purposes of the game this is 
  less important. 
  Second Class Citizens
  Not all the Ascendanx orphans were born before anyone knew the drug was 
  dangerous. As early as 1983, there were clear signs and by 1987 there was 
  conclusive proof that most of the heavy users were going to die.
  Children conceived in the mid-to-late 80’s by parents who knew they were 
  dying were rare, but not non-existent. Some of them were terrible mistakes – 
  the result of young, desperate adults running into each other’s arms in search 
  of comfort and not taking all the necessary precautions. Others might have 
  been a romantic, poorly thought-out expression of hope in a hopeless time.
  But some may have been an act of revenge. Once the lawsuits started in 
  earnest (1985 or so) it was clear that children, especially orphaned children, 
  would be huge beneficiaries. The charge (never copped to, never proven) is 
  that some childless plaintiffs chose to have children to deal the defendants 
  an even greater blow.
  If true, this would be reprehensible, but people have done reprehensible 
  things. And if they were meant as weapons of revenge, it worked: the legal 
  agreement calls them “Class Two” trustees and they are also massive 
  beneficiaries of the settlement.
  In 1992 the Class Two trustees are seven years old or younger (the cut off is 
  1985, the filing date of the class action suit). They are not included in the 
  Crystal City Settlement. Their settlement will come later, its provisions based 
  on this one. Like the characters the Class Two’s will be rich. They will also be 
  far worse off psychologically: younger when their parents die, and born into 
  an almost unimaginable turmoil as pawns in a greater game.
  There are some of them in the hotel (not invited to the meetings, not officially 
  sponsored). The characters have seen them – parents smoldering. Angry. 
  Young children with haunted eyes.
  Behind the Pitch
  The characters are minors and do 
  not have authority to sign away their 
  fortunes; the group is not paying 
  money “tomorrow” -- Bessler is 
  (somewhat) misrepresenting the 
  deal.
  The group pushing this has a (highly 
  questionable) plan that involves the 
  emancipation of the Orphans (legally 
  separating themselves from their 
  parents) and placing their (financial) 
  well being in a privately managed 
  “hedge fund” that is still “protected” 
  by trust rules.
  Should any characters (PC or NPC) 
  actually accept the deal, there’s a 
  very good chance nothing comes of 
  it and a small chance that the 
  settlement money is transferred into 
  a private hedge fund, where it’s all 
  lost during the 2001 stock-market 
  crash when the hedge fund 
  collapses.
  
  20
  Reunion; The Loss Specialist
  In 2005, thirteen years after the settlement, the Reunion Club gets its act 
  together and holds the first reunion. 
  The Crystal City Marriot is much as they remember it. In a weird, morose 
  way, it feels like coming home.
  During this scene the characters may 
  1) 
  Make introductions and become a cohesive group (PCs and NPCs)
  2) 
  Realize that things are, perhaps more complex than they appear (the 
  Class Two’s have contacted some of the Reunion Club members and 
  told them not to attend. Some members have been having strange 
  dreams… and then there’s Bessler and his story
  3) 
  Be introduced to the Loss Specialist by Bessler in a scene that closely 
  parallels the meeting thirteen years ago (Bessler has this guy who 
  has a proposition; it sounds shaky… but this time maybe there’s 
  something to it)
  4) 
  Listen to the Loss Specialist’s explanation for their condition and his 
  suggestion about how to proceed
  5) 
  Have more direct contact with the Class Two’s and receive a more 
  clear warning and maybe a threat
  This scene provides background and information (as well as leads for more 
  investigatively inclined characters) and sets the stage for the next scene – 
  the Loss Specialist’s experiment at the radio tower.
  A key decision in this phase is how much investigation the characters will do 
  (which, in turn, will determine how much they know going into the 
  experiment) and how much they will participate in the experiment.
  Invisible Wheels – the actions of the antagonists
  The members of the Reunion Club (PCs and NPCs) with the exception of 
  Bessler (who knows the Loss Specialist) know the least about what they are 
  walking into. To them, this is little more than keeping a promise, honoring the 
  dead and supporting the living. Perhaps a chance to share with the small 
  community of people who actually understand what they’ve been going 
  through.
  To The Commission, Dr. Law, and Big Pharma, the meeting is either a threat 
  or an opportunity, and they are in-position to mitigate or exploit.
  Big Pharma has just been watching – not yet interfering. Their agents are 
  remote and professional. It is unlikely that even careful characters would 
  notice them at this point (they aren’t really doing anything except keeping a 
  record of who shows up and when)
  The Lottery Commission and the Loss Specialist are taking this opportunity to 
  make their move. The Specialist has made contact with Bessler (who’s had 
  his own troubles, detailed below) and has convinced him to make 
  introductions: he is offering a sense of understanding and closure that no one 
  else (legal, psychological, medical, or spiritual) can offer.
  Dr. Law and her followers (her “students”) have been tracking the 
  Commission’s plans since the Specialist contacted them and proposed his 
  experiment. Their background research into the Specialists has uncovered 
  enough to make them very suspicious and uncomfortable. They know that he 
  tried (earlier, without the support of the Commission) to contact The Palace, 
  
  21
  and they’re eager to stop him. They have been warned by their benefactors 
  (the Rational Actors) that he’s far from what he appears and may be very 
  difficult to kill.
  Their plan is to stop the meeting – or, if that proves impractical, convince the 
  Reunion Club not to be involved with his plan.
  Bad Dreams and Omens
  As the date of the meeting approaches the Reunion Club’s shadows are 
  invited (and descend) deep into Wonderland to The Palace. They are 
  Honored Guests here, and they have been here before. 
  On Chessboard Zero, the characters feel this as a stronger experience of 
  their loss than they would normally have (not surprising – it is, after all, 
  something of an anniversary), but they also sense that there’s something 
  beyond that going on. To one degree or another all of them have a sense of 
  incompleteness – a sense of having (metaphorically) a hole in themselves 
  that acts as a window into some place strange.
  There aren’t really words for having a “hole” in yourself; it’s hard to explain 
  (even internally).
  • To some it’s like there’s an open window somewhere in the house 
  letting cold air seep in
  • To others, it’s like hearing a maddeningly familiar but unidentifiable 
  tune coming from somewhere nearby…
  • Characters may have dreams of finding a literal hole in their flesh 
  near their hearts, and seeing a vast, deep pit that goes somewhere 
  distant and bright
  Characters undergoing counseling or therapy will have been generally 
  unable to express this odd sensation in a way that helps the therapist 
  understand that it is unusual.
  More sensitive characters (those with dreams or empathy, or other such 
  traits) have even more extreme experiences: the sense of there being an 
  audience to their suffering. 
  It is an appreciative and deeply empathetic audience to be sure: The Palace 
  sees beauty in loss and understands the full cycle of loss and gain. 
  Characters who sense the presence of The Palace in their lives will find it 
  alien, frightening and yet deeply insightful: the Palace’s perspective reveals 
  the positive outcomes of loss as well as the negative ones.
  The character’s trauma may have made them emotionally stronger, more 
  empathetic, more caring, or otherwise had benefits (beyond the financial 
  ones) that their perspective might miss.
  The odd thing about these insights are that they very much feel like they are 
  coming from an external source – and usually occur at the nadir of emotional 
  depression; at one’s darkest hour.
  Finally, especially perceptive characters may even have dreams of The 
  Palace – a great Masquerade (attended by the Reunion Club and 
  magnificent creatures in fancy gowns and truly disturbing masks decorated 
  with feathers of spun gold and sequins made of crystalline starlight). There 
  are visions (or sensations) of a great table laden with unrecognizable food 
  and drink that has a dark character to it – enticing and frightening at the 
  same time. Dining at this table would mean partaking of the pure truth of their 
  
  22
  loss, the good and the bad. It would mean facing things that after thirteen 
  years, many of the characters may still not be ready to face.
  First Contact (The Pre-Game Show)
  One of the PC’s may have been contacted by members of the Class Two 
  trustees. This would have been a phone call (or at the most, a visit in a 
  neutral place) from a vaguely familiar member of the group – a teenager who 
  sounds oddly mature and (possibly) coached.
  Dr. Law will choose a character that seems likely to listen, might be influential 
  with the others, and has a respectable reputation (they won’t threaten a 
  dangerous or belligerent character)
  The student will make no reference to Dr. Law or any of Dr. Law’s plans. He 
  or she will claim to be from the Class Twos. 
  The message is ominous but cryptic: Don’t attend – the Reunion Club is not 
  healthy. Visiting the past is not healthy. You – all of you – need to move on 
  rather than looking back. I know what you’ve been experiencing (a vague 
  sense of dread, disturbing dreams, etc.) These will get worse if you go.
  Stay away, and tell others to stay away.
  The student will provide only the vaguest answers and explanations – I know 
  what you’re going through because we’re all going through it, etc. The tone is 
  primarily helpful (“I’m warning you because it’s for your own good,” but will 
  become more overtly threatening if the character doesn’t sound convinced 
  (“There are things going on here you don’t know about – and don’t want to 
  know about. It would be best if you don’t get involved.”)
  Friday Night – Bessler emerges
  The Reunion has been scheduled to run from Friday night through Sunday 
  afternoon (after which everyone will return to their regular lives). As Reunion 
  Club members arrive, they meet and recognize each other immediately in the 
  hotel lobby and bar. It is strangely easier than they would expect and 
  everyone feels a sense of connection and familiarity that is stronger than they 
  had expected…
  As though they had been close friends all these years, somehow. Almost 
  everyone has made it. Notably absent, Bessler has disappeared (no 
  forwarding address). Some of the members know that he took the buy-out 
  and lost everything during the 2000-2001 bubble-crash.
  The scene opens with the characters at the hotel bar off of the room with the 
  pool table. They are far from the only one’s there (although at this time there 
  are probably no other Reunion Club members – there should be no more 
  than three or four characters present -- the PCs and maybe an NPC at most).
  Bessler is staying in the hotel under an assumed name. He’s been watching 
  and approaches the character or characters he talked to before (in the same 
  place, dressed much the same as he was when he first propositioned them). 
  Still smoking, he invites them to a game of pool.
  He’s friendly. Abashed. He knows they are likely to remember him as 
  someone who tried to get them to betray their group. He’s quick to 
  acknowledge his mistakes and let them know he’s paid for it. The rumors are 
  true – he’s broke, his fortune gone into bad investments. He’s been in 
  Still Grieving
  As the Reunion Club members 
  arrive the characters will 
  immediately recognize them and 
  begin interacting.
  An NPC who has been active and 
  instrumental in keeping the Reunion 
  Club going over the past decade 
  arrives at a nadir of her emotional 
  health. She has been feeling the 
  loss hard and had “thought she was 
  over it.” She's afraid she'll never get 
  over it: “I didn't think it would hit me 
  so hard--this reunion," she says.
  Therapy hasn't helped, encounter 
  groups haven't ended it. She's spent 
  time in a monastery in Asia--and she 
  came back feeling fulfilled and more 
  whole than she had before ... and 
  now it's back again.
  She is sensitive, sincere, and 
  (presently) hurting. She'll meet the 
  characters at the bar, asking if any 
  of them have a solution to their 
  problems.
  --this is a hook to getting the 
  characters interested in the Loss 
  Specialist.
  
  23
  Mexico, he says (his tone suggests there might be a story there, but he 
  declines to elaborate at this point).
  He smiles easily. He’s still cool. Still laid back – but it’s clear that hardship 
  has scarred him. It’s also clear that he’s still a hustler and he has a hustle. He 
  doesn’t deny it. He knows a lot about the characters; what they’ve been 
  doing. What their plans are (where they go to school, etc. The Loss Specialist 
  has made inquires through a private detective firm to get basic biographical 
  information about the Orphans)
  He also knows that “all of us have moved on,” but “none of us have really 
  ever left here.” 
  How does he know all this? What’s his angle?
  He explains about the Loss Specialist
  The Loss Specialist
  There are men who study loss mathematically. They’re kind of like insurance 
  adjustors… and kind of like psychologists. Really, their approach is what 
  you’d call ‘multi-disciplinary’ – economic, statistical, empirical, psychological, 
  medical, and so-on. They seek to understand loss holistically. To model it 
  (they “use computers and shit,”)
  They have a “professional association” but they earn their living through 
  freelance work for insurance, security, and financial services companies. 
  Their work is very technical, but also artistic in its way: what they call a 
  “formal model” is really a perspective – a point of view – for looking at the 
  world. “Like, you know, how the best art really makes you think? Their 
  ‘models’ do that.”
  Because their work is non-theoretical, they don’t work out of universities or 
  corporate headquarters. They go where the loss is. They tour flood zones, 
  disaster areas. Famine-blighted countries. Cemeteries. They seek 
  understanding. Evidence.
  The Specialist who contacted Bessler traveled a long way to meet him (they 
  finally met in Mexico). He was interested, he explained, because Bessler and 
  the rest of the Reunion Club are in many ways (subtle ways – there’s no lack 
  of basic orphans in the world) nearly unique.
  Because their loss – their relationship to death and absence – is so special, 
  they could prove very useful in furthering the understanding of Loss as an 
  entity. As a science. The Loss Specialist has been working with Bessler for 
  several months and they’ve “learned a lot” but they need more. More people. 
  More test subjects.
  They need the cooperation of the Reunion Club.
  The Experiment; the Deal
  William Bessler explains the experiment to the characters at a high level – 
  the Specialist himself will explain it in more detail to the group tomorrow if 
  they’ll allow him to speak (Bessler doubts, with good reason, that the 
  Specialist would be invited in on his say-so, alone).
  The experiment involves being hypnotized while connected to a “monitor” – a 
  lie-detector type apparatus run off of a laptop computer. The monitor will, in 
  turn, be hooked into a radio station which will be broadcasting its findings on 
  Adam Faraday – Loss 
  Specialist
  Adam is blandly handsome and 
  respectably dressed without being 
  ostentatious (Brooks Brother’s suit, 
  Bruno Magli shoes, and a Tag Heuer 
  watch). He appears to be in his late-
  thirties, although he could easily be 
  five years older (his eyes suggest an 
  older man, his body, a younger one).
  He has a crisp, professional manner – 
  neither cold nor warm, but certainly not 
  deeply sympathetic: he relates to the 
  Reunion Club as clients rather than 
  patients.
  He’s also very polished in any of his 
  meetings. Loss Studies are field that’s 
  been around for a long time, but is 
  emerging as a combined discipline (he 
  describes it as the ‘sister discipline to 
  risk management’). Yes, it’s obscure in 
  its specifics but should be easy to 
  grasp in its broad outline: he studies 
  loss and its impact (financial, 
  emotional, sociological, etc.) He offers 
  a variety of high-level corporate 
  executives from banks, re-insurers, 
  and retail industries he’s worked with 
  personally as references (none of 
  them are immediately available, but 
  they do check out; none of them, 
  however, will discuss the nature of his 
  work with them). Anyone who meets 
  him can easily imagine him giving a 
  PowerPoint presentation to the Board 
  of Directors.
  His confidence and credibility are 
  almost able to make the strange 
  experiment he’s proposing sound 
  believable.
  He also understands. He talks with the 
  characters (and later, with the whole 
  group) about the “hole” they 
  experience. It’s emotional, he says, 
  but also very real and objective. In 
  fact, his model measures the 
  dimensions of this psychological hole.  
  He explains that financial and 
  economic losses often leave small 
  
  24
  shortwave frequencies to a variety of “listeners” – other Loss Specialists who 
  will be participating remotely (“they don’t use the internet… not sure why…”)
  In exchange for this, the Loss Specialists offers a possible closure. The 
  experiment has been done before (“In Russia, I think.”) with healing results. It 
  may not help, but it’s unlikely to hurt.
  Bessler seems unconcerned with the strange nature of the Specialist or his 
  plan. He hand-waves any questions about whether it makes scientific sense 
  (“Ask him tomorrow – I’m not the guy to be answering scientific questions.”)
  He presents himself as a guy who’s benefited from it (“I know about the hole 
  guys. We all have it. The Specialist – he showed it to me… It’s still there, but 
  it’s smaller now. If we do this right, we can close it completely and get on with 
  our lives.)
  Presenting the Specialist
  Whether the PCs agree to support the Specialist talking with the group, 
  Bessler will convince some of them. His knowledge of the “hole” and his 
  assertion that this might fix it is compelling. They know Bessler’s a worm, but 
  they’re willing to listen.
  The next day everyone meets the Specialist
  The Specialist’s Secrets
  Bessler has been introduced to the Lottery Commission by Faraday (he 
  knows very little about them, except that they’re wealthy and eccentric and 
  they’re backing the experiment): they demanded to speak with him before 
  fully backing the experiment. They realize that their direct involvement would 
  scare away or anger the rest of Reunion Club so they’re behind the scenes 
  for now. Adam will make calls to them (from a secure cellular phone) every 
  night to inform them of their progress in securing the involvement of the club.
  GLI (Big Pharma’s local security group) is monitoring him. At first they’re 
  afraid he’s a lawyer (he looks, talks, and acts an awful lot like a lawyer), but 
  once they discover that records on him are hard to come by they get even 
  more suspicious. Being unable to eavesdrop on his nightly phone 
  conversations make them even more uneasy.
  The Specialist (and all Loss Specialists) has secrets neither the Commission 
  nor Bessler knows – he is a Hunger Disciple for beings even deeper and 
  more twisted than The Palace and his agenda is far more sweeping and 
  subtle than even Dr. Law’s dream of changing humanity. He wants to make 
  contact with The Palace, not to change reality, but to cause an earthquake in 
  Wonderland—to try to trigger an apocalypse in realms even deeper.
  Bessler died in Mexico in 2002 after losing everything he could conceivably 
  lose. His extreme loss was noticed by The Palace and by Faraday. The 
  Palace was with him when he died (on lower chessboards), and welcomed 
  his Shadow into their realm to feast on it unendingly (by infusing it with 
  Negative Space, they can maintain the shadow even in the event of the 
  death of the caster).
  Bessler, then, is a ghost. He has been “rescued” from The Palace by 
  Faraday who understands the mechanics of Wonderland very well. Bessler’s 
  manifestation on Chessboard Zero has been made possible by the re-
  animation of Bessler’s body. This technique for raising the dead is very 
  holes that close as the assets are 
  recovered and the loss reversed. The 
  same with the loss of a job. The loss of 
  a limb or the death of someone close 
  leaves a hole that can get smaller over 
  time, but usually never closes.
  In this case, the hole has shrunk (the 
  characters can get out of bed in the 
  morning without being overwhelmingly 
  depressed), but there are forces within 
  them keeping it open. All these years 
  later, he believes it’s huge.
  The hypnotism and broadcast (with an 
  audience, even a remote one) will allow 
  him and the characters to address 
  some of those forces – to understand 
  them – and ultimately to redirect them 
  so that the hole can close and the 
  wound can heal. The experiment will 
  last approximately four hours with a 
  thirty-minute “interview” under hypnosis 
  for each participating member. They will 
  broadcast from 8:00 PM until midnight, 
  local time.
  He explains he has worked with Bessler 
  as well as others (refugees in Central 
  Europe, he mentions, without 
  specifying), but he really needs more 
  highly-similar test subjects to develop a 
  repeatable and effective process.
  He will mention that this technique 
  (including the radio) has been done 
  before by the Russians during the late 
  ‘70’s. It was a notable success, but the 
  details have never been published (they 
  were state secrets at the time, of 
  course. Now it seems most of the 
  records have been lost). It’s one of the 
  reasons he’s using the radio – he wants 
  to replicate the experiment as closely as 
  possible.
  Adam has secured a defunct radio 
  tower in Nevada. It meets the rather 
  rigorous specifications (distant from 
  population centers, powerful, available 
  for purchase) and has equipped it with 
  the necessary equipment. 
  He is willing to share the more technical 
  details of the experiment with anyone 
  who asks but they are nearly 
  incomprehensible (computer models, 
  actuarial tables, cold-war era soviet 
  documents, etc.) 
  Adam Faraday – Loss 
  Specialist (continued)
  
  25
  limited (it only works with shadows immersed in Negative Space, and so-on), 
  but it’s working for Bessler.
  Bessler strongly suspects he’s dead. Moreover, he’s pretty sure that he’s 
  here on Faraday’s dime – that when the experiments are over, he’ll be 
  released…or worse. His memory of The Palace is fragmented and horrific but 
  not exactly hellish: he was surrounded by awesomely strange beings that fed 
  on his epic misfortune and kept his painful memories alive and fresh even as 
  his body decayed.
  The Loss Specialist’s Presentation
  Bessler convinces someone (PC or NPC) to at least give the Loss Specialist 
  a hearing. Everyone’s still mad at Bessler (they don’t trust him) and him 
  ‘paying’ for his sins doesn’t really change that. No one believes he’s changed 
  a bit since he was 16, but they do find the Loss Specialist interesting.
  And if not convincing, at least worth playing along with.
  At least five of the 12 Reunion club members will agree to participate in the 
  experiment in the hopes of learning about their strange affliction. They’ll ask 
  the others (including the PC’s) to at least be nearby… to monitor and help if 
  possible.
  The scene should end with the end of the Reunion and the agreement to 
  meet in Las Vegas next week to pursue the Specialist’s offer.
  Next Steps and Loose Ends
  GLI is concerned – something strange is afoot. They aren’t able to get much 
  of a background on the Specialist and they’re very uncomfortable with the 
  idea that the Orphans are going to be collaborating. Their superiors (who 
  have a better idea of what Faraday might actually be) are even more alarmed 
  and order GLI to begin a more intrusive and aggressive investigation.
  Dr. Law’s Students are equally upset. They’ve failed to stop the Reunion 
  Club meeting. They’ve also failed to prevent the Class One’s from agreeing 
  to participate in the experiment. If they are successful in establishing contact 
  with The Palace first, that could scuttle their entire plan.
  They are still willing to try persuasion (instead of more violent means) and 
  over the next week they’ll ask for a direct meeting. This is what they’ll say:
  Dr. Law (well known therapist and radio personality) has been working on 
  exactly this issue with the Class Twos. She’s aware of the ‘Loss Specialists’ 
  and their ‘models’ and she believes it’s the worst kind of quackery.
  She points out that the supposed ‘Cold Light’ Soviet project was, in reality, a 
  psychological warfare program designed to cause the disintegration of the 
  personality. She also says it was a complete failure except that it convinced 
  the US government to spend millions trying to replicate the Russian’s 
  supposed ‘success.’
  Dr. Law, on the other hand, does know how to work with the Ascendanx 
  Orphans. She’s been very successful with the Class Two’s and is willing to 
  provide counseling and therapy to the Class One’s on her ranch in Oregon if 
  they’re willing to cooperate (follow her rules) and abandon any “irresponsible” 
  plans to work with Faraday or his “sponsors.”
  Bessler’s Story
  One of the clues Bessler will give to 
  his experiences and background 
  comes in the form of a partial story 
  about his death in Mexico. He’ll tell a 
  PC he trusts (one who’s been the 
  most receptive and forgiving). He 
  presents it as a “funny” story from his 
  travels something amusing and dirty 
  (he makes it clear it’s a bit of a 
  pornographic adventure) that “really 
  did” happen to him.
  He was working as a gardener in a 
  town you’ve never heard of for the 
  local dentist (“When you’re in Mexico 
  and you see the big house at the top 
  of the hill, it’s always the dentist’s 
  house,” he explains). See? Funny – 
  an American working as a gardener 
  for a rich Mexican! (He’s too good a 
  story teller to make this point overtly; 
  it should come through in the telling).
  Anyway, he’s doing gardening in 
  exchange for a place to sleep and 
  the dentist’s young, pretty, 
  commanding wife (“She ran that 
  house, man—let me tell you!”) 
  started to have eyes for him. She 
  was left there all alone with the 
  servants and here was this exotic 
  American guy getting sweaty and 
  dirty in her rose bushes…
  So, they start sleeping together. 
  Right? He’s trying to be entertaining 
  so he’ll provide some details if the 
  audience seems receptive. But she’s 
  always very careful and so is he. 
  After all, he doesn’t want to lose his 
  sweet living arrangement (see – 
  living arrangement – you think he’s 
  talking about a place to sleep but… 
  well… the story goes on).
  One day, about a month in, he’s 
  doing some heavier landscaping out 
  by the cliffs, and he makes a 
  discovery – the bodies of three men. 
  Shallow grave. Blunt trauma, it looks 
  like. Very nasty stuff. Seem to have 
  been there awhile but not that long.
  He confronts the Senora and she 
  confesses: her husband is a jealous 
  man. He has killed three of her lovers 
  in the past when he discovered her 
  infidelities. Worse, he may be getting 
  
  26
  She also points out that he seems successful, but buying a radio tower and 
  refurbishing it is well beyond his means – who do they think is paying for 
  this? And why? Questions they should be asking themselves.
  Her students are (like her) officious, superior, and caustically judgmental. 
  Failure to agree with them is a sign of moral laxity or stupidity (best case: 
  ignorance, but once it’s been explained to you, that’s no longer an excuse).
  Failure to make progress through browbeating results in an out-and-out 
  threat delivered (over the phone) by Dr. Law herself:
  “If you were only imperiling yourselves that would be one thing. But you’re 
  not. Your irresponsible behavior is endangering my clients and anyone who 
  parasites like Faraday work with after that. I’m afraid I can’t allow it. If you 
  insist on this wasteful and dangerous game, I’ll be forced to contact the 
  adults who supervise radio broadcasts and have his little station shut down. 
  I’m loathe to do that, but you give me no other choice. Oh, and if you 
  continue to be involved with him after that – out of defiance – you ought to 
  think twice about who you’re making enemies with.” 
  Midnight at the Radio Tower
  The characters conduct whatever investigations they feel are appropriate and 
  as Faraday tries to carry out the experiment despite interference from Dr. 
  Law and GLI. There are many possible outcomes at this point, including the 
  possibility for the game to end. 
  This section describes
  0) What happens when the characters 
  arrive in Vegas
  1) The experiment itself, including a 
  partial script
  2) What happens if the experiment is 
  successfully conducted
  3) What happens if it isn’t
  4) Potential conflicts between the parties 
  that might involve the PC’s
  5) Information about what can be learned 
  by research
  Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas
  The PCs fly out to Vegas to stay; The 
  Loss Specialist will book them in the 
  MGM Grand hotel, but he will not insist 
  that they stay there if they have other 
  plans.
  As they arrive, they can marvel at the 
  wonders of the Vegas Strip, the hotel 
  itself (see links in the last section), and 
  the somewhat off-kilter guests staying 
  with them -- there seems to be a small 
  (quiet) literary convention of some kind going on. The characters are soon 
  approached by overly friendly members talking enthusiastically about the 
  author Shirly Jackson and her works. They’re setting up for the weekend 
  when the larger crowd will arrive and the characters may see them bringing 
  in ordinary materials for presentation and sale including (inexplicably) 
  disturbing ventriloquist dummies.
  On Air
  Conf
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  On Air
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  The Station
  suspicious. She was going to tell him 
  – to warn him – but she is afraid, too: 
  afraid that after three strikes, she be 
  about to join her lovers.
  His discovery has brought this pot to 
  a boil and now they must take action.
  “What’d I do? What’d you do, bro? 
  We got the hell out of town is what 
  we did! Me and that sweet, sweet 
  Mexican Princess… woo hoo!”
  He ends the story there, with them in 
  a hotel a few towns away, hiding with 
  a stolen motorcycle, ready to make 
  their next move. If pushed, he’ll say 
  “She went her way… I went mine.”
  In truth, of course (and he 
  suspects this, but doesn’t 
  remember it too well), she killed 
  him and the others as well.
  Bessler’s Story (continued)
  
  27
  During this encounter, the convention and its members should not be 
  portrayed as overly important, but the characters should see the dummies, as 
  they may make an important connection later. 
  If the character do respond to the conventioneer’s friendly overtures, they will 
  discover that it’s a moderately-to-very disturbing group of people (they’re fans 
  of all Shirley Jackson stories, but this convention is dedicated to one: The 
  Lottery) and deeper probes may reveal that their presence here is not an 
  accident.
  Characters who actually attend the convention events (readings, screenings, 
  and most disturbingly, an amateur-theater presentation that is presented as a 
  ‘re-enactment’) they will feel a strange, almost supernatural sense of loss 
  pervading the room (an emotional warmth, the way tears are warm, a 
  breathtaking sense of distance -- the “free fall” feeling they had when their 
  parents were finally pronounced dead).
  They’ll sense what the enthusiast do -- that mannered, orderly, ritualistic 
  killing portrayed in the story has an element to it that goes beyond social 
  commentary or satire.
  Depending on how alert and inquisitive the characters are, they could 
  discover and expose the Commission before the experiment.
  What if the Experiment is Conducted?
  If the experiment is conducted, The Palace will manifest in the Radio Station. 
  This is what the Loss Specialist was hoping for; this is what Dr. Law is afraid 
  of. 
  The Palace manifests itself as an arriving party of terrifying, masked entities 
  that seem a bit like angles of death and a bit like Mardi Gras grotesques. 
  They come as floating ghost-lights (will-o-wisps) and they are delighted to be 
  real, even if only for an hour at midnight.
  They know the characters well, and will interact with them in ways that are 
  satisfying and fatal; the characters will be sucked into their own holes – 
  drawn down (full, physical descent) into The Palace and consumed by it.
  This will not, however, kill them – it will Twist them, turning them into things 
  very much like Hunger Disciples (but without the obsessive insanity or, in 
  fact, the “hunger”).
  They will awaken some days later, after their descent wears off with no full 
  memory of what happened.
  Everyone else will know what happened though:
  1) Dr. Laws’ plan is ruined unless she can control the PCs in time to 
  satisfy her alienated benefactor’s needs
  2) Big Pharma will recognize the potential metaphysical disaster once 
  the characters understand the nature of their plot
  3) The Loss Specialist is gone – having succeeded with his plan to 
  transport himself into the Palace (the characters were his ticket to 
  the Ball)
  4) The Lottery Commission is dismayed by the disappearance of the 
  Loss Specialists, and will need to contact the PCs themselves to 
  close the deal; they will also have to convince the PCs to help 
  conduct what will probably be a repellent ritual
  
  28
  This results in a variety of forces closing in on the characters as they struggle 
  to learn what happened to them and survive.
  What if it isn’t?
  Dr. Law is trying to stop the experiment. GLI is very nervous at this point. The 
  PC’s have good reason to pull the plug – what if someone prevents the 
  experiment from being carried out?
  That depends, but very likely the Loss Specialist would (if he’s alive) “come 
  clean” and explain that despite their reservations, they have very good, 
  personal reasons to conduct the experiment – they are ‘connected’ to 
  something that calls itself The Palace. It is… very deep. Very… dangerous. 
  Psychologically dangerous. It will not consume them-- it doesn’t do that – but 
  it will continue to dominate their lives both through continued mental anguish 
  and because as conduits to The Palace they are useful to people like him.
  The truth is, given their experiences, they cannot break with it. The Palace’s 
  hold on them is too strong, their hold on it, too strong. To quit now would be 
  to betray everything they’ve lived for.
  So the Loss Specialist offers them a more honest and more clear choice: 
  embrace it. Instead of trying halfheartedly to turn away from The Palace, face 
  it. Face what they’re terrified of, and see what’s there. It’s in them, anyway… 
  they might as well understand it.
  In this case, they’ll emerge twisted with a considerably stronger 
  understanding of what’s going on and a much better idea of who their 
  antagonists are and what’s chasing them.
  If they still refuse (or if Dr. Law manages to kill Faraday – unlikely but 
  possible), they may be contacted by GLI who is nervous about both parties 
  and interested in seeing that everyone returns to their ‘normal lives’ – and 
  that includes stopping Dr. Law. In this case, GLI would launch an attack on 
  Dr. Law’s compound in the later phase of the game.
  UFO Interference
  When the characters arrive in town Dr. Law will already know her bid to 
  legally stop the broadcast isn’t going to work (it won’t be a legal broadcast, 
  but the government will not repossess the radio station on her say-so).
  She has concluded that it is necessary to neutralize Faraday either by killing 
  him, killing the Reunion Club, or scaring them off in a sufficiently permanent 
  fashion.
  • 
  Fortunately her ‘students’ are not trained killers; they are vicious 
  but inexpert and largely ineffective.
  • 
  Unfortunately she has help from the UFO’s. There is a Pagan hit 
  team nearby that is reluctant to show themselves unless things go 
  really badly (they’ve been far-less-than-honest with Dr. Law about 
  who the are and what they represent; a well-trained, psychotic 
  assassin team would lead to questions whose answers would 
  damage the relationship. If the experiment goes off, they will be 
  deployed unilaterally (by Pagan) without Dr. Law’s knowledge or 
  consent.
  
  29
  The Commission Can’t Stay out of Trouble
  The Loss Specialist is very professional; he’s told the Commission members 
  that they may listen and monitor from a distance -- preferably a very discrete 
  distance. But they’re clients. They won’t let him call all the shots.
  They’ve set up shop in the MGM Grand Hotel (the big emerald one right on 
  the Strip) and they’re holding a convention for “Lottery Enthusiasts” -- this is 
  one-part a celebration of their impending success and one part an attempt to 
  monitor and control the situation. They will make a “clever” attempt to contact 
  the characters prior to the Experiment; they believe they’re being quite slick -- 
  the Loss Specialists is highly annoyed, but doesn’t show it.
  Exactly how they approach the characters will depend on how the characters 
  arrive in town. The Commission members will send trusted junior members of 
  their group to meet at the airport or in a hotel bar, or (at worst) on the streets 
  of Las Vegas. They’re eager to know if the characters have a special 
  relationship with the story -- if they’ve ever read it. If they like it. If they... 
  Believe it might be true?
  They’re friendly if a bit unsettling (both in personal manner and in subject 
  matter). Characters who follow up with them (accept the invitation, or just 
  hang out with the weirdoes) won’t find anything too disturbing, but they may 
  see something that will have significance later: the Lottery Commission 
  members have brought along several Ventriloquist Dummies for the post-
  experiment ritual.
  The Experiment
  Farday and The Lottery Commission have secured access to a 90 Watt 
  station in the middle of the desert about 45 minutes away from Cathedral City 
  (Palm Springs’ poorer cousin). It was foreclosed on and sold at auction in 
  2003 and has been empty ever since.
  Over the last month Faraday has renovated it and has moved in a variety of 
  pieces of specialized equipment including computer systems and two very 
  disturbing “ventriloquist dolls” with cherubic porcelain faces, fat, white-cloth 
  bodies, and mechanical eyes that open and close almost randomly.
  The Studio is set up as a war-room with computer terminals and recording 
  devices, while the experiments will take place in the “On Air” broadcast room. 
  The door to the On Air room is painted dark red; a warning to be aware 
  before opening it.
  The Experiment runs as follows:
  1) The subject reclines in a chair near the Loss Specialist and is 
  hooked up to the monitoring equipment (electrodes on the temples 
  and cheeks, blood pressure cuff and sensors on the fingertips for 
  skin-galvanic response). Recording devices (cameras, computers, 
  etc.) are set up to film the experiment from several angles
  2) The Loss Specialist performs a standard guided relaxation (“As I 
  count backward from 10, relax your muscles in sequence,”)
  3) When the equipment shows that the subject is relaxed and calm, 
  the Specialist begins to broadcast the session on live radio
  4) He guides the subject through his memories of his parents including 
  the day they learned the test results, the settlement day, and their 
  funerals. He manages to keep the subject calm, even when 
  remembering very painful experiences, but the memories still carry 
  Kicking off the Experiment
  The experiment can start with a PC or 
  NPC depending on what works best 
  for the game -- in general, the players 
  should call the shots
  
  30
  a lot of power. Some of this power seems to be being recorded and 
  broadcast.
  5) He asks the subject to locate the “hole” and the subject will find it. 
  There are a series of questions about how big it is and how deep it 
  is. The holes are huge and deep
  6) The Specialist instructs the subject to ‘transfer’ the hole to the 
  dummy – to let it ‘personify’ the hole and speak for the hole.
  7) The Subject answers questions as the dummy (‘throwing his voice’); 
  the questions are about what is keeping the hole open and what it 
  would take to close it
  8) The dummy’s eyes open. The Dummy is now channeling The 
  Palace through the character. The Loss Specialist instructs the 
  character to speak of his loss through the dummy (the dummy is 
  used because coming that close to the hole without an intermediary 
  would be too painful).
  9) The Dummy, speaking for the Palace talks nonsensically and 
  cryptically about The Ball. It knows the character intimately (They 
  are all Old Friends) and it chants the lyrics to the Rolling Stone’s 
  Paint it Black as the Lamenoumen manifest
  • 
  They come in luminous pairs (2 by 2), floating up the from the 
  darkness outside, looking (at a distance) like headlights of a line of 
  cars too dark to be visible
  • 
  During this time, all the doors (including interior doors) lock 
  automatically, and must be broken to be opened. Outside, the cars 
  won’t start. Firearms won’t fire (the caps in the rounds will not 
  ignite)
  • 
  As the Lamenoumen approach, the characters feel the 
  temperature drop, and the Cold Lights will began to swirl around 
  the tower, dancing in estatic, crazy motions
  10) The Lamenoumen enter the building. They appear as luminous 
  creatures decorated with pale, glowing feathers and wearing 
  sequined masks and gaudy dresses and fancy waist coats. They 
  smell like tears, and behind their masks, are empty spaces filled 
  with unimaginable sorrow. Their voices are mocking, terrible, and 
  beautiful, all at once.
  • 
  They are there to hold their Ball, and they know the characters 
  well; they greet each character as an old friend, speaking their 
  name and talking of the horrible loss of their parents with a lilting 
  tone that suggests they find the trauma delicious
  • 
  Their touch paralyzes, their kiss kills. The Lamenoumen will hold 
  their Ball with the Dead, massacring the characters (they are 
  virtually impossible to hurt and while only a dozen or so will enter 
  the station there are hundreds available if the characters 
  (somehow) mount a credible resistance
  11) The characters are not dead (except for Bessler). They will not 
  remember The Ball, but they will be changed by it; their bodies are 
  warped, merged with the Lamenoumen’s world. They are 
  resurrected – changed, but not infected in the normal sense: they 
  do not know it now, but they are directly connected, and able to visit 
  The Palace
  Scrum
  The characters, probably amped up by their mind and body-twisting 
  experiences in The Palace face Dr. Law’s Pagan hit team, GLI’s clean-up 
  The Experiment (Step Seven 
  Example Dialog)
  Loss Specialist: How big is it?
  Subject: Huge…
  The ‘Hole’ seems larger than the person; 
  it’s as though the subject is reclining over a 
  great pit.
  Loss Specialist: How deep is it?
  Subject: It goes down forever.
  The Hole seems to be infinitely deep. But it 
  isn’t; it does have a bottom. It goes to The 
  Palace.
  Loss Specialist: I know you can’t close the 
  hole. I want you to move it. I want you to 
  move it to the dummy. Just imagine it 
  flowing, like water, into the dummy. 
  Imagine the dummy drinking it.
  Dummy’s mouth opens; the Dummy rolls its 
  eyes in exaggerated, “isn’t this corny” 
  amusement
  The Experiment (Step Nine 
  Example Dialog)
  The Loss Specialist to the Dummy: Can 
  you hear me?
  The Dummy (Voice raspy, high-pitched, 
  squeaky – like a very bad radio 
  transmission): Heeereee Youuuu—giggles.
  Loss Specialist: Welcome to our 
  Chessboard.
  The Dummy: (Looking around, its head 
  turning mechanically, its huge, laughing 
  eyes scanning the room) I see a red door.
  Loss Specialist: Am I talking to the Palace?
  The Dummy: We’re commmming, Faraday; 
  we’re commming to seeeee you. I see a 
  Red Door, Farrradaaaaay – Weeee know 
  what that means, donnn’t weee? Faraday? 
  Don’t weeeeee.
  
  31
  squad, and the Lottery Commission which still wants its new reality from 
  them
  Any of these are reasonably lethal, but they’re expecting mortal humans, not 
  Hunger Disciples.
  The next attempt on their lives won’t be so naive, however, and the 
  characters need to learn as much as possible about their adversaries and 
  take the battle to them.
  In general, the characters should have the easiest time taking care of the 
  Lottery Commission and getting GLI off their backs. In fact, GLI and Big 
  Pharma may even be allies in the fight against the most dangerous enemy: 
  Dr. Law.
  Awakening
  When the characters awaken from their sleep, disoriented and disturbed, 
  they’ll discover
  1) Bessler is dead – long dead. His body is in an advanced state of 
  decay
  2) Faraday is gone – vanished without a trace
  3) The station is trashed in strange but not supernatural ways
  4) They feel strange – their memories are terrible and fragmented. 
  They remember impossible things, but appear unharmed. They also 
  feel lighter, as though the weight of their history has somehow been 
  – not lifted – but made sweet
  For the moment, they are on their own in the middle of the desert, free to do 
  anything they like.
  They are not, however, “off the radar” – everyone looking for them has a 
  good idea of where they are and is eager to engage them for their own ends.
  Big Pharma and Global Logistics
  Big Pharma has plans for the dissolution of humankind, but right now what 
  they want is stability. A world-wide revelation and massive re-formatting of 
  hundreds or thousands of people (Dr. Law’s plan) would be a disaster to 
  them – the right objective, the wrong way to go about it.
  GLI has no knowledge of its master’s long-term plans, but Longfellow is 
  aware that things are stranger than they seem and when it becomes clear 
  that the PC’s aren’t a threat to stability, he’ll stop hunting them.
  In fact, with a common enemy, they might well become allies.
  Shutting Down the Lottery Commission
  When the characters recover (awaken) from the Experiment, the first contact 
  they have will be with the Lottery Commission. The Commission members, of 
  course, know everything the Loss Specialist knew (who the characters are, 
  probably how to contact them, where they’re staying, etc.)
  They were monitoring the experiment (listening on the radio) and are aware 
  that things have gone wrong, but they feel their plan is still salvageable; 
  here’s their backup
  1. Invite the characters to a convention of “Lottery Enthusiasts” – this 
  is their ‘cover’ for being in town. This is a small convention of 
  What happens next?
  When the PCs wake up, it’s not 
  necessarily clear what will happen 
  next. How the next stage is 
  introduced will depend on how the 
  Players like their games.
  Any number of forces (first and 
  foremost, the Lottery Commission) 
  are looking for them -- if the 
  characters do nothing but wait, 
  they’ll be contacted, but there are 
  other possibilities as well:
  • 
  The PCs may remember the 
  dummies and realize there is 
  a connection with those 
  Lottery people
  • 
  For a more immediate 
  contact, the Commission 
  might move quickly so that, 
  as the PCs are picking 
  through the ruins of the 
  station, a beat up four-door 
  sedan will show up with 
  some young men and 
  women from the Convention 
  that want to talk to them and 
  think their superiors can 
  explain what happened
  • 
  GLI knows that Faraday was 
  in contact with someone 
  from the Lottery Convention-
  -something that makes no 
  sense to them. They might 
  approach the PCs with 
  questions or leads. 
  It’s also entirely possible that PCs 
  will already know about the Lottery 
  Commission by this point and 
  already be in contact with them.
   A lot here is left open depending on 
  the dynamics of your group.
  
  32
  people who love the Shirley Jackson story (although not in the 
  obsessive, sexual way that the Commission does)
  2. Determine that the characters are, in fact, capable of transporting 
  them to the nameless village of the story
  3. Convince them to go through with it (with force, if necessary)
  The Invitation
  Ideally, the characters will go to the convention out of curiosity – the 
  Commission does not want to expose itself if there’s a problem. They’ve 
  arranged for the characters to receive invitations to the Convention (it is 
  invitation only – even “ordinary” Lottery enthusiasts are strange enough that 
  they don’t feel comfortable discussing their interests in public) held at the 
  MGM Grand.
  The invitations are delivered personally by young (college-aged) Commission 
  members who are coy about their reasons. They’ll approach the characters 
  (on the street or as they return to their hotels) pretending not to know exactly 
  what’s going on – saying only that they get a feeling that they might be 
  interested in this.
  And the characters will get a feeling as well: on Chessboard 1, the Invitations 
  explain that they’ll be told what’s happened to them. The PC’s won’t get this 
  information consciously, but they will feel a strong sense that this weird, 
  disturbing convention is somehow meant for them.
  If they beg off, the Commission will try a more direct approach, escalating to 
  an above-board offer (“We knew Faraday; we know what’s happened to 
  you.”) and if all else fails, force (young, fanatic members will go to the PC’s 
  hotel with hand guns and try to force them to visit the MGM Grand)
  Getting to Know You
  The Enthusiasts Convention is small – a number of conference rooms with a 
  few activities: readings, discussion panels, a documentary showing a stoning 
  in an African country, and midnight viewings of The Lottery movie and the 
  (much better) Wicker Man.
  The people there are kind of like English Majors crossed with adult Dr. Who 
  fans. Strange, a little socially bizarre. Not threatening, but somewhat 
  presumptuous and obnoxious in a subtle, superior way. They are mostly 
  young (early 20’s) and overwhelmingly male (the girls there are very quiet, 
  very traditional and almost withdrawn to the point of being autistic).
  The characters clearly don’t quite belong in and are something of a curiosity 
  to the other Enthusiasts; but they do fit in strangely: they give off a sense of 
  strangeness and an aura of sadness and loss (they don’t feel it themselves, 
  but highly sensitive people will comment on it) that’s both attractive and 
  unsettling.
  They are being monitored by the senior members (and assessed on 
  Chessboard One, where it’s clear that they are very different from ordinary 
  humans). Once it becomes clear that they are capable of performing the 
  ritual, but not in a confused / compliant state of mind, the Commission 
  members will approach them.
  The Character's New Forms
  The characters are Twisted (for 
  statistics and a full explanation of 
  their new abilities see the back of 
  this book). On Chessboard One 
  they now appear as Lamenoumen 
  versions of themselves. On 
  Chessboard Zero they feel a sense 
  of calm potential--a sense of 
  metamorphosis. They can now feel 
  the hole as an actual thing--they 
  can't see it--but they feel it there, 
  around their heart.
  When they are threatened, under 
  real conditions of extreme emotion 
  (rage, sorrow, or fear) they can 
  "reach into that hole" and turn 
  themselves "inside out." This is the 
  transformation that brings their form 
  to the surface. 
  It has a Presence of 23, meaning 
  that it rolls a 23- with a -1 for each 
  non-infected person in the room. If 
  this is failed they don't transform. If 
  it is failed by 5 or more, their form 
  on Chessboard Zero will be 
  destroyed and they will shift to a 
  Chessboard One reality for a while--
  and then come back (ascend) 
  reappearing somewhere private.
  Even without this transformation, 
  though, they have the physical 
  defences and statistics described in 
  the write-up.
  It is dramatic if their first actual 
  transformation happens by surprise 
  in the Convention. It is not 
  necessary. 
  NOTE: although the convention 
  goers are not Infected with a 
  common strain of Wonderland, they 
  are all warped enough that they do 
  NOT count for purposes of 
  Presence rolls--and will not be 
  infected with CPD on seeing the 
  characters manifest (although they, 
  having an innate understanding of 
  what the characters can do, may be 
  horrified and afraid for their lives).
  
  33
  Going to the Village – The Ritual
  “You’ve been cured. Your trauma… your sadness… your loss has been 
  lifted. You feel it don’t you? You’re different now – you surely sense that? 
  Yes?
  You owe us for that. Faraday should have explained that to you, but he 
  didn’t. So now I have to. Yeah, it sucks. But you owe us, so remember that: 
  You get to sleep at night and the price is, you send me – and the other two – 
  to the Village.
  How do you do that? Simple: it’s where your hole goes.”
  - Mr. Summers
  Note: The characters do not feel “cured” that's a mistake Mr. Summers is 
  making. they do feel “different” though, he's right about that.
  “Tessie” (her real name is Gretchen) joined the Lottery Club five years ago; in 
  person she is pretty, fragile, and quiet – more like withdrawn to the point of 
  invisibility. If the men of the Lottery Commission are perverse the women are 
  indecipherable. Tessie is an enigma.
  And if the Summers and Graves and the senior members are dedicated, 
  Tessie is a fanatic. She will never reach The Village; that won’t be necessary 
  – she’ll achieve her goal when they kill her to open the gate.
  “The Ritual” is nameless and unique. It is a kind of mass infection and 
  descent with an extremely rare strain of Wonderland; those infected will 
  catastrophically and irrevocably vanish to the 3rd Chessboard, where the 
  rustic peoples who scratch out a living above the Palace sacrifice their own, 
  each season, to the Lamenoumen.
  To perform the ritual, the members will sit around the characters and Tessie 
  will stand in the middle. She will read the story by candle light (she can, like 
  all of them, recite it from memory) and as she reaches the end, the 
  characters will sense her emptiness drawing their new natures out of them.
  Since the Experiment, they are Lamenoumen themselves (in part), and they 
  cannot help but react to the utter wasteland of her soul, laid bare in her 
  tremulous voice and eyes. Long ago, she passed through a “gate” – a phase 
  in her life, when even suicide would have been some expression of the self. 
  Her choice to go on living with nothing inside has turned her into a shell, and 
  that loss, that small, personal, human tragedy is like a perfect jewel to the 
  character’s darker natures.
  They will transform around her, becoming Lamenoumen, ecstatic maelstroms 
  of devouring nothingness behind gleeful and festive masks, bedight with 
  motley ornaments – they are no longer merely guests at the Lamenoumen’s 
  nihilistic celebration; they are now fit to be ceremonial masters.
  In this “form” they are augmented the way Hunger Disciples are. They are not 
  out of control, but they fully recognize “Tessie’s” tragedy and there is a part of 
  them that revels in it.
  The Lottery Commission is counting on this – for their full and complete 
  infection will come from watching the Lamenoumen feast upon Tessie. The 
  characters’ “maws” are their howling vortexes of tears. They leave no 
  wounds – just dessicated, withered flesh that crumbles into powder.
  The Choice: Feeding on 
  Tessie
  When the characters are brought into 
  the room, Tessie will be there, sitting 
  perfectly still, and waiting. They will 
  feel an “artistic affection” for her—a 
  sense of depth (a deep, perfect loss). 
  She will seem delicate, beautiful, and 
  cold. These are senses from their 
  nascent existences as Lameoumen.
  The Lottery Commission is taking no 
  chances: they are aware that 
  consuming, effectively killing, a 
  young woman is something the 
  characters might find distasteful. 
  They are hoping the character’s new 
  nature takes over and compels them. 
  It won’t—but it will give them The 
  Choice.
  As they explain—or rapidly if things 
  start to deteriorate—Tessie will begin 
  a song—a song of great sadness, 
  loss, and despair. This will begin the 
  ritual as she walks amongst the 
  characters. They may feel it hurts so 
  badly they wish to silence her. They 
  may feel it sounds so beautiful, they 
  wish to claim her so they can hear it 
  forever.
  When she begins to sing, they will 
  transform.
  The room will become a vortex of 
  emptiness and sadness—the air will 
  be filled with a fine mist of tears. 
  Sounds of lament come up from the 
  depths of the shadows and, softly, 
  from behind the masks of the 
  character’s new forms.
  The characters will feel a sense of 
  hunger and know this:
  If they feed on Tessie, consuming 
  her with their tornadoes of grief, 
  they will become more powerful 
  (permanently). They will gain +10 
  STR, +20 DP, and +50 years of life 
  on this plane. They will also, 
  irrevocably lose any chance at 
  resolving whatever their 
  unresolved issue was.
  There will be no roll to force anyone 
  to feed. Indeed, even if they would 
  rather have the power over the 
  
  34
  If the characters participate and if they feed upon Tessie (who, as is befitting 
  of a Shirley Jackson heroine, finds her will to live and humanity in the final, 
  screaming instants of her life and dies, drowning in terror and regret) they will 
  vanish from the hotel, leaving not-even-their-shadows behind.
  If the characters transform, but do not devour Tessie, the Commission 
  members will be infected in the rather ordinary way – and very, very 
  unhappy.
  Life in War Time
  Dr. Law is days (or, at worst, weeks) away from developing her singularity. It 
  requires a perfectly spherical critical mass of pure Loss, available only from 
  The Palace on Chessboard our. She has been working with her Class Twos 
  through advanced hypnosis and regression therapy (using drugs, sensory 
  depravation, and technology from the Rational Actors) to  collect enough 
  Loss to construct the device.
  The PCs are vortexes now; transformed, they make transport of Loss much 
  more difficult (they absorb and consume it); they are also allies (although 
  they don’t know it) of the Lamenoumen. Like the Commission, Dr. Law needs 
  to convert the characters or kill them.
  Since the success of the Experiment, Pagan and Dr. Law’s Class-Two 
  Orphans have been on the move. The Class-Twos want to capture the 
  characters and bring them back to Dr. Law’s compound for re-education (and 
  if the re-education doesn’t take, execution).
  The Pagan Hit team just wants them dead.
  They’d all prefer to be discrete, but as the characters start to learn about 
  what they are and what they’re capable of (including conscious contact with 
  the Lamenoumen) they become a huge threat to her plan.
  The Class Twos will try reason, and then threats – they will make it clear that 
  they’ll be attacked, killed, if they don’t cooperate. They’ll also say that Dr. 
  Law is on the verge of a great development: she is going to “explain” to 
  “everyone” what they’ve gone through. Her “revelation” will make the rest of 
  the world understand.
  At some point, if / when negotiations have broken down, the Pagan hit team 
  will arrive and do everything they can to kill the Class One Orphans; they’re 
  professional, but not prepared.
  When this is done, the characters should be aware of two things
  1. Dr. Law must be stopped. Soon. The clock is ticking.
  2. They’re the only ones who’ll believe that; the only ones who can 
  stop her
  Turncoat (optional scene)
  Not all of Dr. Law’s “patients” are as… dedicated to the cause as she would 
  like. They’re in tremendous psychological pain (feeling their loss at a crippling 
  level every day) and looking to Dr. Law for guidance and healing, but her 
  program is part of what’s causing their pain.
  When the PC’s are successful in the experiment some of her more clear-
  minded Class Two orphans recognize that Dr. Law hasn’t been completely 
  Pagan Terror Tactics
  As things start to heat up, Pagan will 
  attack with more vicious and advanced 
  weaponry.
  Their operatives are usually trained, 
  heavily brainwashed, amphetamine 
  addicted killers most with some degree 
  of (concealable) self-mutilation.
  Pagan Operative
  PHY 12 (18 Damage Points)
  REF 12
  INT 10
  Firearms Skill 14-
  Unarmed Combat 14-
  Grapple 8/6
  9pt .45 Caliber ACP .45
  If Pagan (or Dr. Law) thinks that the 
  characters are likely to try to interfere 
  directly (or make contact with the 
  Lamenoumen and convince them to 
  stop passively supporting her 
  activities), they’ll panic and send out 
  the flying saucers.
  They flying saucers carry “psychic 
  searchlights” which can scan an area 
  for a specific mind; they’ll hover in 
  Stealth Mode over the character’s Last 
  Known Location and they have an 18- 
  chance of making contact (PWR v. 
  Will, a standard success indicates the 
  characters are in the area; a major 
  success gives a specific location, and 
  a critical or catastrophic success 
  causes Dazed or unconscious results)
  unresolved issue, they will still be 
  taking the life of a distraught young 
  woman.
  If the PCs balk at this, the Lottery 
  Commission will call for armed 
  members of their group to compel 
  them to feed. The martial 
  Commission aren’t professional 
  security have only 12- L1 firearms 
  skills, and 9mm handguns. They do, 
  however, have murderous intent.
  However, they will not be much of a 
  match for the characters. This may 
  be a chance for the PCs to see, how 
  their new forms stand up to damage!
  
  35
  honest with them (she led them to believe that the experiment would 
  accelerate and complete their collapse.
  Maybe one of the Class Twos defects – leaves the compound in the dead of 
  night, and tries to make contact with the characters (this would assume that 
  the person has a reasonable understanding of where the characters are).
  If this were to happen, Dr. Law would explode (she does not allow patients to 
  act on their own) and devote considerable forces to hunting and killing the 
  turncoat.
  From a dramatic standpoint, this would involve a character with a lot of 
  information about what Dr. Law’s plans are, her physical security, the 
  capabilities of the Flying Saucers and all kinds of other tasty secrets trying to 
  rendezvous with the characters before the forces hunting him (or her) arrive 
  to capture or kill.
  Ideally, there would be a dramatic battle between Pagan forces and the 
  characters in a photogenic, desolate desert location.
  Earth versus the Flying Saucers
  This is the “final act” -- the characters are both hunters and quarry; they are 
  also aware (to some degree) of the plans Dr. Law has and their potential role 
  in stopping them.
  We see the climax ending in Dr. Law’s compound, with the characters 
  actions determining the impact Dr. Law has on humankind.
  With the disaster (from her perspective) in Vegas, Dr. Law wants to complete 
  the Singularity and detonate it before the characters can cause any more 
  damage. The Rational Actors agree and are on the move (visible, even – 
  there are flying saucer reports across the American West and an increase in 
  sightings and abductions).
  She is also in contact with them via the radio, explaining to her listeners (and 
  them) that the “apocalypse” is coming; that the flying saucers are her doing 
  and humanity is going to be awakened. She is encouraging listeners to come 
  to her compound to be present for the “greatest event in human history.”
  Although this sounds to many like the ravings of a nut, she’s popular and 
  charismatic. If tens of thousands listen, hundreds come – within days, there’s 
  a swam of tents around her compound. A kind of New-Age, Old-School, 
  Jones Town Party vibe. Add the mainstream media, and protestors (who 
  think she’s an insult to their various causes) and the whole place is a circus – 
  a nightmare for her private security.
  She welcomes the PC’s to talk to her, and will even promise them safety if 
  they’ll come to her compound unarmed. Her message is that they’ve 
  changed in a terrible and dangerous way, and she’s offering assistance.
  She is not aware that their proximity to her Loss Core will make them even 
  stronger than normal
  - 
  Regenerating all damage instantly each round, unless killed, 
  - 
  +4 PHY (including STR and CON but not BLD)
  - 
  Fast Level 4
  What would a Big Time Radio 
  Personality Like me have to 
  say to a bunch of PC’s like 
  you?
  “Religion teaches us that humans 
  were once perfect and they ‘fell’ – I 
  don’t know how any intelligent 
  person can believe that. We’re 
  broken. We’re designed to feel pain, 
  to feel sorrow. To be miserable 
  unless we’re in nearly perfect 
  conditions available to maybe the 
  top 10% of the people on the planet.
  Nature’s failed us – you’re living 
  proof of that. You’ve grown up 
  devastated. Why? Because we’re 
  connected to people who are going 
  to die – to leave us – inevitably. 
  You’re born, biologically attached to 
  an anchor.
  It doesn’t have to be that way.
  We can be perfect – the ‘Aliens’ 
  don’t mourn. They don’t cry. They 
  don’t feel so heavy and depressed 
  they spend millions on Prozac and 
  alcohol. They don’t stay indoors 
  listening to sad music, feeling sorry 
  for themselves. They’ve left 
  humanity behind, and they’re trying 
  to help us, but they can’t quite reach 
  out the way can.
  You see those people out there? 
  They’re wretched. They’re fat, or 
  they’ve lost someone they love, or – 
  in most cases – they’ve never really 
  been loved by anyone at all. They’re 
  designed so that they’re 
  programmed to be disgusting, 
  The saucers are also carry neural 
  stunners (see the Book of Knots for 
  statistics) which can be used on 
  exposed ground targets.
  Flying Saucer activity, however, will 
  bring out the USAF and NORAD, and 
  will make the game a lot more 
  complex (the characters will be in the 
  middle of a shooting war between the 
  Aliens and the US Military)
  Pagan Tactics (continued)
  
  36
  - 
  Base damage from their bite attacks is quadrupled before any 
  doubling
  This makes them utterly overwhelming to even the best-equipped members 
  of Dr. Law’s staff and the Aliens.
  The final act will (probably) take place on her Compound, surrounded by 
  Class Twos with submachine guns (skills at L1, 10-) and private security (L2, 
  13- Firearms skill), where she tries to convince them to join her and support 
  her vision of an alienated humanity
  The Compound
  Dr. Law has created a “college for 
  living” that ostensibly serves as a 
  base for retreats, classes, and 
  “breakthrough counseling” – 
  things she talks about and 
  even pushes on her radio 
  show. She’s also set up a 
  television filming show for 
  the planned cable-network 
  “Dr. Law Show.”
  There are dormitories, 
  classrooms, a cafeteria, 
  private bungalows for 
  executive guests and 
  VIP’s, Dr. Law’s personal 
  offices, her recording studio 
  for the radio show and the TV 
  show, a covered amphitheater, 
  and numerous other luxuries that 
  makes her retreat an almost ideal 
  place to go for a get-away vacation.
  Over the last year, since her contact with the Aliens, things have turned 
  darker. She’s erected fences and guard posts, canceled her yearly retreat, 
  and quietly closed the Compound off from the rest of the world. As she 
  prepares to usher in the “Revelatory Event” (the term her and her acolytes 
  use to denote the activation of the Alienation Singularity), she’s prepared for 
  Branch-Davidian cataclysm.
  At the time the characters conduct the experiment, there are half a dozen 
  Class Two Orphans living full-time on the compound (they are her assistants, 
  helping her with the show, running errands, and overseeing the rest of the 
  crew). She also has a security staff and a group of (alienated) “Security 
  Consultants” who oversee the guards – the people she has hired are hard 
  men; many of them have histories. All have been selected for ruthlessness 
  and controllability.
  The radio technicians, her agent, her publisher, and many of her peripheral 
  associates have become very disturbed at her transformation – they’ve had 
  their access greatly restricted, and they suspect she’s lost it in a very bad 
  way… but she’s still getting great numbers and she sounds sane and normal.
  After the Experiment, she snaps – her broadcast is an hour-long rant against 
  the characters that’s nearly incomprehensible to most of her audience (she 
  accuses them of trying to disrupt the “important work” she’s doing there and 
  sloppy, teary wretches. And that’s 
  what they are… but they can see 
  that there’s another way. They’re 
  here to leave that behind…
  Are you going to deny them that?”
  -- Dr. Law’s last, best attempt to 
  convince the characters before she 
  gives the command to open fire.
  The Dr. Law Monologs 
  (continued)
  Amphitheater
  Primary Admin
  Classrooms
  Private 
  Bungalows
  Dormitories / 
  Retreat A
  Dormitories / 
  Retreat B
  The Compound
  
  37
  snarls/sneers that they’re just another group that’s “unwilling to take 
  responsibility.”
  It’s the first time on the air that she speaks about her “Program” – her tone is 
  cool and messianic and oblique. She makes it clear that she is going to do 
  something that will usher in a new “understanding” – that people who aren’t 
  “clear, right thinkers” won’t be able to “handle it.”
  But you, loyal listeners, will. She explains that she’s been preparing them for 
  this coming enlightenment. She tells them to stand by for more information.
  This, of course, causes all sorts of chaos and her associates either abandon 
  ship (her publicist quits) or go into damage control. During this time, she will 
  bring the Compound up to a “full security posture” – only people of 
  unquestioned loyalty (or of use to her) will be admitted. She institutes 24 hour 
  armed guard including patrols and an alienated response team.
  In her next broadcast, she invites her listeners to come – physically – to the 
  site so that they can be part of the “class” she is going to teach. She instructs 
  them to bring camping supplies and their own water / toilet facilities – she is 
  not going to be able to host them; instead, they will stay in the woods and 
  township outside the compound and await further word.
  Within two weeks after the Experiment, the Compound is the eye in a storm 
  of barely-controlled chaos and expectation. UFO sightings, other strange 
  phenomena, and her status as a national C-list celebrity have also ensured a 
  vulture-circle of entertainment press.
  Breaking Into The Compound
  She’ll issue an invitation to the PCs on her radio program a few nights after 
  the Experiment—an invitation to call her and “talk” about their problems. An 
  invitation to visit her.
  If they take the invitation, they’ll be closely watched and heavily guarded, of 
  course. If they want a more… private appointment with her, they’ll need to 
  break in.
  Breaking in and finding her without a gun-battle requires overcoming the 
  following obstacles without being detected
  • 
  Getting up to the fence / gate
  • 
  Getting through the fence / gate
  • 
  Maneuvering across the campus to her offices
  • 
  Getting inside the building and finding her 
  If they’re detected
  If the PCs activate an alarm (14- security system on the fences and grounds, 
  16- security system to enter the building), cameras will be focused on the 
  area (12- perception roll on the fence and campus, 14- at the doors to the 
  building and 13- inside the building) and a human team will be dispatched to 
  check it out (guards arrive after 1d6-1 minutes outdoors, and after about 30 
  seconds in the building)
  Hordes of fans and visitors are creating nearly constant security triggers at 
  the fence and gates, so the teams are relatively less aggressive if they catch 
  people trying to climb over.
  Dr. Law’s Right Hand Girl: 
  Christie McCall
  Every executive needs their 
  assistant and Christie McCall is the 
  perfect disciple. She might meet the 
  characters when they arrive—she 
  might be introduced in passing. She 
  won’t be in a lot of conversations 
  with them and Dr. Law because 
  she’s the back up in case things go 
  wrong. She has orders to throw the 
  switch on the Singularity Engine and 
  give a try at Alienating the world Dr. 
  Law is incapacitated.
  She is arrogant, dismissive, and 
  makes sure that people who meet 
  her know how she feels about them. 
  She’s such an evolved personality 
  that most people (especially scum 
  like the PCs) should be in awe of 
  her. She, herself, is in awe of Dr. 
  Law and is a true believer.
  If she shows them around the 
  compound she won’t really restrain 
  herself from performing on-the-spot 
  psychological diagnoses of the 
  characters (denial, usually—but she 
  also tells anyone who asks for 
  anything they have an 
  “overabundant sense of 
  entitlement”). Her subordinates are 
  rightly terrified of her.
  Since she may be the human face at 
  the end of the game, the PCs should 
  probably hate her on contact (as she 
  may not appear as a direct 
  antagonist very often). She also 
  does some prepping for callers who 
  dial in—so if the PCs talk to Dr. Law 
  on the radio they might speak with 
  her first—and she’ll be sure to 
  introduce herself by name.
  
  38
  Inside the campus they’ll be scary – guns drawn, affect-less, cold, and 
  murderous in manner.
  Inside the building they’ll give warning, and open fire if demands to surrender 
  aren’t followed immediately (Dr. Law wants intruders captured alive, but 
  they’re very paranoid).
  Better Ways In
  If the characters have expert security system skills, they might be able to 
  break in. Practically, on the site grounds, they’re probably able to fight their 
  way through everything she can throw at them, but they may not realize that. 
  If they have full command of their alternative forms, they can use passage to 
  open the doors and gates and their aura to shut down cameras (but not the 
  central systems). The guards will know something terrible is coming, but be 
  effectively blind. Some alternatives include
  • 
  Pretending to be someone else – there are still people coming and 
  going (although under much closer guard than before). They could 
  impersonate delivery personnel or (potentially) important members of 
  the press
  • 
  Blackmail – Her acolytes (the Class Twos, her personal assistant, 
  and some other, fanatic followers) mostly stay close to her, but they 
  go into town to conduct business and for other reasons. They have 
  the authority to authorize access; they could be forced to (they’re not 
  that fanatic)
  • 
  Special Volunteers – She is letting some people – listeners, fans, in 
  for experimentation purposes (exposing them to the Loss Core to see 
  what happens). She is taking candidates on her daily show, looking 
  for people who are weak and won’t be missed. If the PCs listen to her 
  radio show they’ll know this, and might be able to fake the right mix of 
  pathetic desperation to be chosen. Volunteers are watched, of 
  course, but not heavily guarded
  End Game
  In the secret chamber of the compound is the Singularity Engine. The 
  characters can see it and find it. When things start to go wrong, either Dr. 
  Law or her second in command, who is stationed there and will probably 
  know if things go wrong, will activate it. Their thinking is that even if the PCs 
  do not agree to go along with it, its siren song may overcome them … or, it 
  might work to some degree anyway.
  They are partially right: if it is activated and not shut down or destroyed a 60 
  mile radius will undergo partial or total alienation—extreme mental trauma 
  producing sociopaths, autistics, and extreme deviant behaviors or just the 
  loss of all human empathy.
  The Chamber
  The Singularity Engine looks like a great green glowing tube some 5 yards 
  high and two yards around amidst banks of machines, terminals and pumps. 
  It is filled with a luminous fluid that bubbles and boils and has forms coalesce 
  and dissipate as one watches.
  Plugged into the machine are two naked human beings, both immobilized 
  with probes running into their bodies and thick tubes running into and down 
  their mouths. One look in their eyes (when the machine is started) will tell you 
  they are screaming.
  
  39
  These two people are Class Two Orphans who had second thoughts about 
  Dr. Law’s Initiative. The machines use their brainwaves to guide the 
  ‘Expansion Event’ (the detonation of the Alienation Singularity). 
  The Siren Song
  When the detonation begins the characters will know. They will feel the 
  aperture of alienation opening and will understand that if it goes off they must 
  either guide it or be destroyed by it. When they get down to the chamber they 
  will see either Dr. Law (who will be running the show if she knew things were 
  going badly before she gets dealt with) or Christy McCall, her second in 
  command—who will be throwing the switch if Dr. Law has been killed or 
  detained.
  When the PCs enter the room they will, if they have not already, assume 
  Lamenoumen form. They will feel the seductive pull of the machine.
  When they feel it they can do the following:
  • 
  Draw Power From It: Any character may, one a Round, make a WIL 
  roll at a chosen negative. For each negative they choose, if they 
  make the roll, they get +10 STR, +10 DP, and +100 years of life. If 
  they miss the roll, the machine gets that many “points” towards 
  detonation.
  • 
  Destroy It: It has 300 DP, a 15- STC, and 8 Armor. 
  • 
  Kill the Humans: If they wish to kill the humans (who can still be 
  rescued) they are easier to kill and will shut it down—the characters 
  will know this, feeling their guidance. Unplugging the humans takes 
  too long and, if done haphazardly, will kill them anyway (this should 
  be made clear to the Players). The humans have 12 DP and 10 
  CON’s. Any result other than Dead or Dying will allow the machine to 
  continue to function.
  • 
  Let it Detonate: If it goes off, which it will, 10 Rounds after they arrive 
  (since they are close) or within 30 minutes (if they simply stay away) 
  then it will Alienate them and everyone else within the radius (the 
  results will not be immediately obvious to officials but the PCs will 
  become NPCs, effectively ending the game). Again, the Players 
  should be told this.
  • 
  Guide It: If they wish to see Dr. Law’s view of alienation happen OR it 
  gains NUMBER of PCs x 3 pts from failed WIL rolls, it will detonate 
  and effectively Alienate the world. This ends the game, although the 
  PCs enjoy some existence further down on the Palace and very 
  powerful (but the Palace is upset since the Rational Actors are far 
  less into Loss than humankind).
  • 
   If the characters fed on Tessie, tell them that they are unsure if 
  abandoning their forms will lead to the loss of their issue. It will be a 
  gamble (but not a random roll). If they choose to give up their forms 
  anyway, the hole, still, will not close: they will be without their power 
  and without closure.
  The PCs will NOT know what the value is that will set it off (9 for 3 PCs) 
  but will know some value will do that.
  Explosion
  
  40
  Assuming the PCs try to stop it, as it is damaged, it will begin to “go critical.” 
  Faces contorted in anguish appear in the fluid chamber, wailings and 
  gnashing of teeth are heard. Mothers crying for lost children, men crying for 
  lost childhoods, and a pandemonium of loss and sadness comes welling out 
  of the hole along with a lurid green glow of alienation. 
  When they break it, it explodes. This is a flash of green light that reaches 
  from Chessboard Zero down to The Palace itself. They will see the 
  magnificent gothic architecture and the beautiful, terrible Lamenoumen.
  And they will have choices:
  1. 
  Leave their forms in The Palace. If they choose, in the split-seconds 
  of destruction of the machine to disassociate from The Palace, they will, and 
  can close the hole. They will lose their forms (a lot of power) but whatever 
  unresolved issue was in their lives will now be attainable—easily. They can 
  fix it, solve it, or mend it.
  2. 
  Keep Their Forms. The issue in their life will be forever lost to them—
  but they can, if they choose, let it go. They will be part Lamenoumen and will 
  be facing a new world of existence both beautiful and horrifying. They will 
  have to move on. But they can choose to do so. If they do, they will retain 
  their powerful forms and their new perspective.
  Whatever happens, in the aftermath, when they awaken, the compound will 
  be in chaos and the machine will be falling apart with pieces of it evaporating 
  as they watch.
  Things in the Compound
  The most important things in the compound are (of course) the Loss Core 
  located in the fortified basement of the main building (it is behind a bank-vault 
  door, but the PC’s abilities can open it). There are some other things of 
  potential interest as well:
  • 
  Alienated Test Subjects: There are several dormitories converted into 
  cells where psychotic, alienated test subjects are being kept after 
  being exposed to the Loss Core; they are mindless, ferocious, and 
  horribly mutated (black eyes, hairless, and with toothless parasite 
  mouths
  • 
  The Flying Saucer Garage: She is constructing a flying saucer in the 
  covered amphitheater; currently there is a half-finished airframe with 
  a variety of strange Rational-Actor technology devices
  • 
  Contact Station: She uses an old-fashioned-looking Rational-Actor 
  technology radio to contact her allies. The radio makes constant, 
  disturbing noises and is capable of communicating with similar radios 
  on Chessboard 1; the character’s shadows will be able to contact 
  them in this room
  • 
  Alienation Theater: A surgical theater where volunteers are subjected 
  to the psychological rape of alienation
  Coda
  How it ends and where it goes next is unwritten. The PC’s could retire. They 
  still feel their loss. They still mourn their parents. Every year, on their 
  anniversary, they have strange dreams and travel to a place that used to 
  seem horrible, but now feels like home. 
  Their association with the Lamenoumen has other benefits as well – the 
  strange creatures fully understand what their loss has cost them, but also 
  
  41
  what it has given them (strength of character, perhaps, empathy with others? 
  A chance to do good in life with their fortune and their sense of justice).
  But they’ve had their horizons expanded exponentially. If they want to pursue 
  the mysteries of their world, they’re deep and varied.
  They are not infected and cannot be infected, but with practice they can learn 
  to descend at will.
  Character Suggestions
  The Reunion Club (Class One Orphans)
  The GM should identify a manageable number of Class One Orphans and 
  introduce them during the first scene (Flashback) and re-introduce them ten 
  years later to communicate continuity (these are recognizably the same 
  people you met before) and change.
  Sorrow: After a decade of loss and grieving, the Reunion Club members are 
  marked; they have a slightly haunted look to them (a sort of light veil of 
  sadness – most of them will not be perpetually gloomy or depressed, but a 
  sense of melancholy seems to pervade them)
  Seclusion: They have not known physical hardship, but their wealth and 
  freak show life story has isolated them in other ways. They are (mostly) not in 
  romantic relationships (alternative: they might be hedonists, living the 
  extreme-party life, surrounding themselves with sycophants, music, and 
  booze to drown out the pain). The Reunion Club is a blessing – here, and 
  only here, they’re normal.
  Inner Strength: They have not (most of them) fallen. They are not alcoholics. 
  They are not heavily medicated (most of them will be on mild medication; it 
  doesn’t help). They are also empathetic and supportive toward others, as a 
  rule.
  Anger: Some of them will carry anger that (almost) masks their sorrow; but 
  it’s usually not inchoate rage – more like the righteousness their parents 
  would have recognized: anger as a force for change. The angry ones are 
  likely to have causes; political connections, and power in their community 
  and their nation.
  Some will be doing better than others – all of them are aware on some level, 
  that their sorrow isn’t healing the way it’s supposed to. They have the best 
  pharmacists and therapists money can buy and every year, it’s almost like it’s 
  starting again.
  Here are some examples:
  Darren Wong – Asian American (Korean); parents were influential journalists 
  in California. He started (and remains the Chairman of the Board) a mildly 
  successful web-based magazine with strong liberal / progressive leanings. 
  He’s a passionate defender of the powerless and an enemy of corporate 
  influence. He’s also handsome, charming, and can “turn down” the 
  revolutionary aspects. He’s also happy in many ways which makes the hole 
  in him all the stranger.
  Adrian Tesher – PhD. candidate in economics at Princeton, where his 
  parents taught. He’s smart, all the more-so because his some of his 
  dedication comes from using work (school work) as a narcotic. Some of his 
  
  42
  papers have already been published. He tends to think before speaking and 
  he’s self-reflective. Also remarkably good in a tough (or violent) situation – 
  he’s in good shape and has a hyper competitive side that comes out when 
  it’s needed.
  Rebecca Gurney – Looks very young, and fragile – you see her and you 
  want to protect her. Her long red hair and pale skin make her look almost 
  ghost-like. She speaks quietly, but with a conviction that tends to catch the 
  attention of the room. She has grown into a very good judge of people and 
  will know that Bessler knows more than he’s telling, and also that the 
  Reunion Club – all of them – need to try something; she senses that this isn’t 
  right.
  Barbra Weisberg – Practical, efficient. Her parents were beltway politicians 
  and she’s never wanted for support and always for friendship. She’s a 
  problem solver, these days, and has a little patience for people who are part 
  of the problem. She’s used to being in charge, but she doesn’t demand it – 
  she knows and respects good ideas when she hears them.
  Brian Rolman – He’s spent the last decade staying away from dark places 
  and when that’s not possible, staying away from sleep. He’s up from the 
  Bahamas, where he has a bar and a permanent residence (his own, private 
  Margaritaville). He’s got the Hawaiian shirt, Jesus-sandal beach-guru thing 
  down. He’s a joker and a bit of a lech, but he’s got a good heart. He’s got a 
  breathtaking young woman with him (Amy) who seems to be part girlfriend, 
  part personal assistant; she keeps track of his schedule, his commitments, 
  and she has the awesome power to order him around when necessary.
  The Lottery Commission
  The young men of the Lottery Commission live with a perversion so 
  inexplicable and disturbing that their lives are almost entirely facades. Like 
  the Reunion Club, they only feel truly at home amongst each other.
  Their connection to the story is sexual; its coy mannered build up is a tease. 
  The horror of the realizing, the climax. That it ends… clearly, but without 
  closure leaves a deep frustration in them that they adore.
  Many of them are very bright, very articulate people (often, English majors). 
  They are also amoral in their literary tastes and in other ways as well. They 
  find themselves smarter than everyone else but also more cunning. They are 
  envious of “normals” and find it comforting to use them as tools.
  They’re not psychopaths, though; they are very confused, very damaged 
  people who have turned a weakness into an obsession. The most obsessed 
  and successful have discovered magic.
  At the top of the Commission hierarchy they have studied spells that give 
  them dreamlike insights into other realms – they don’t know if these are real 
  other realms or internal ones, but they don’t care. Their journeys have found 
  a dust-bowl plain where simple, agricultural people live with the reality of 
  strict tradition and ritual sacrifice. They have tasted their fantasy in a way 
  they never thought possible and now they see consummation within their 
  grasp.
  Edwin Williams – A promising young man from a good family. There are 
  high expectations and there always have been. Even if he had not found the 
  story, he would have warped under the pressure in some other way. He’s 
  engaging, highly educated (the best money could buy), and friendly, but after 
  
  43
  a time with him, one begins to sense that he’s bent slightly… bent and 
  disturbing. Edwin wouldn’t disagree.
  Thomas Brolling – Thomas is aggressive. If he had a head for numbers 
  he’d have been an investment banker. Instead, he gained tenure at a 
  prestigious institution. He has a closet full of skeletons (the metaphoric kind) 
  that he keeps adding to as a collection game. He’s the smartest guy in the 
  room, and he’ll tell you so himself.
  Robert Chellum – “Chelly” is quiet and a bit withdrawn, but you catch him 
  looking at you, and when you catch him, he introduces himself. He’s 
  awkward, but sincere; and he seems like a good person if you didn’t get a 
  vibe of neediness that screams ‘get away! Get away now!’ Chelly doesn’t 
  know why he doesn’t have any friends. He just thinks he needs to try harder.
  Links
  Crystal City, Washington DC
  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crystal_City%2C_Virginia
  Crystal City Marriot
  http://marriott.com/property/propertypage/WASCC
  The Lottery
  http://www.classicshorts.com/stories/lotry.html
  Vegas, in general
  http://www.vegas.com/
  MGM Grand Hotel
  http://www.mgmgrand.com/pages/promotions.asp
  Afterword
  This scenario represents an atypical Wonderland game -- it doesn’t deal 
  directly with the themes of insanity or the mental health system. The 
  characters don’t actually visit the lower chessboards (at least not 
  consciously).
  We wrote it up because it was fun, unusual, and we felt it demonstrates the 
  creative potential of the Wonderland universe.
  Hope you enjoy!
  -- The JAGS Crew
  
  44
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  Classrooms
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  Bungalows
  Dormitories / 
  Retreat A
  Dormitories / 
  Retreat B
  The Compound
  
  45
  Statistics of the Lamenoumen
  Lamenoumen encountered during the Experiment will have these statistics (base scores of 12); 
  after the experiment, the characters will be transformed as described here. Even during their 
  human form they will have the STR, CON, and Damage Point enhancements, although they will not 
  consciously realize it at first.
  Statistic Enhancements
  STR
  Character Base + 15
  CON
  Character Base + 1
  Damage Points
  Character Base + 60
  Supernatural Abilities
  Aura of Power
  With a 5 REA action will allow the character to reach out and shut down WIL - 8 
  machines within line of sight. This will:
  • 
  freeze door locks
  • 
  freeze firearms
  • 
  turn off the motors of cars
  This effect does not require a roll to hit
  Consume
  The character can expand their vortex of sorrow so that it emerges from their body (or 
  face, eyes, etc.) like a tornado of black Negative Space and tears (and looking a bit 
  like an elephant's trunk). This deals 12 + WIL damage (IMP) and has a range of STR 
  yards. It cannot be conventionally blocked but may be dodged. It can grapple with the 
  same STR as a tentacle.
  If a target is killed by this, it acts as the Consume power of a Hunger 
  Disciple (Book Of Knots pg 136).
  Protection 
  against the 
  Weapons of Man
  They have 12/24 Armor against mundane weapons. They have 4/16 armor against 
  non-mundane (Wonderland)  attacks.
  Passage
  Doors will automatically unlock or open for them. This will, however, set off security 
  and they will be aware of the security before they activate it.
  See the hole
  When looking at a person they know what that person has been most hurt by losing. 
  By talking intimately (8 REA Long action to whisper in their ear, the target must be 
  Held with a Grappling action) they can shatter most people with significant losses. 
  Make a Resisted Attack of POWER WIL +4 vs. the target's WIL.
  Minor Effect
  Sorrow. The target feels sorrow but no other significant effect.
  Standard 
  Effect
  Great Sorrow. the target feels broken up. Make WIL rolls each turn at -3 
  or suffer a -3 to all rolls.
  Major Effect
  Despair. The character suffers -5 to all positive action--may simply fall to 
  the ground in a fetal position.
  Critical Effect
  Suicidal. As above--but the target may commit suicide later.
  Catastrophic 
  Effect
  Shattered. The target is catatonic for some (extensive) period of time.
  
SOURCE: textdata/thevault/Wonderland/Wonderland The Loss Specialist.pdf