Smokeandmirras

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introduction This Haunt is intended to be used with the EVP roleplaying game which can be purchased from the Forever People website:

www.foreverpeople.co.uk Haunt Details Kudos Cost: 220 Site: Smoke & Mirrors Magic World Type: Nightclub/Bar Lockdown? No Address: 44 Saltlick Pike in Wilder, Kentucky Electricity Supply: industrial fuse box and power supply. No risk of power outages.

This is a Haunt suitable for groups who are new to the EVP game, or low experience player teams with limited Kudos. There is a moderate amount of gore, violence and adult-level horror in this Haunt, but the level of detail the Overseer gives her players can be adjusted as she sees fit. The Overseer should always take the sensibilities of her players into account to establish an appropriate level of adult material.

Waystop until his death in 1900. The building was put up for sale and purchased by Daniel Sawyer (known as Cincinnati Sawyer) who turned the establishment into an abattoir.

According to police records of the time, Daniel Sawyer was a known criminal and used the slaughterhouse as a front for several illegal operations, including a stillery during the prohibition of 1920. Sawyer used the expansive basement of the property to run these operations while the upper warehouse was used to house the legitimate aspects of his business.

He was known to be a ruthless gangster and the head of a considerable operation. His name appears in several works of non-fiction covering the history of Kentucky where he is typically described as an enormously charming psychopath whose love for murder was matched only by his love of fine Cuban cigars.

Sawyer's businesses, both legal and illegal, ceased with his murder in 1938 (carried out by his own business partner) and the slaughterhouse was inspected and condemned. The property

HPI (Haunt Photographic Image) The HPI is provided to the player group as representative of this Haunt and should be printed out then included with all Haunts the Overseer intends to offer to the game group. The Kudos cost of the Haunt should be marked on the back of the image.

This HPI is an old photograph of the building taken in 1900 when the site was a roadhouse called The Waystop.

History Chronological History The exact history of the building which now houses Smoke & Mirra's nightclub is uncertain, though records seem to indicate the site originally belonged to a salt merchant who worked the nearby Licking River and used the building to store large quantities of salt.

Records pertaining to ownership of the site begin in 1880 when the derelict building was purchased by a Captain Henry Newpont, a retired military man who refurbished the interior and opened the building as a roadhouse called Newpont's Waystop.

Newpont remained the sole proprietor of the

remained derelict for a further three years during which time it fell into a state of disrepair.

In 1941 the building was used as a munitions factory and this period seems to mark the beginning of reports of paranormal activity, the largely female workforce making regular and consistent reports of 'ghostly goings on'.

At the end of World War II the factory was closed and the property stood empty for the next ten years.

Ernest 'Tootsie' Cline purchased the site in 1956 and after an extensive refurbishment of the main factory floor reopened the building to the public as a honky tonk bar and dance hall called Tootsie's. Tootsie's was a successful endeavour and is famed for giving many top names in country music their first break, but rumours surrounded Ernest Cline, by all accounts a pervert, bully and con-man, concerning several less than legal business interests conducted at 2

the Tootsie's premises.

In 1969 Cline was charged with the murder of Loretta Lamb and her lover Gordon Tubbs.

Cline was purportedly embroiled in a love triangle and grew enraged when Loretta, an up and coming star in the music business, chose the handsome dancer Tubbs over him. Cline's lawyer claimed all evidence against him was falsified, however, and indeed the bodies of Lamb and Tubbs were never found. Cline was released and the case was dismissed.

The only apparent indication that a murder ever took place were suspicious blood stains found in Cline's office in the basemnt of the club.

Regardless of his guilt or innocence, Cline's ownership of Tootsie's ended with bankruptcy shortly thereafter and the bar and business were liquidated to pay Cline's debts. The building stood empty for another fifteen years.

Brothers Tim and Jerry Barfield bought the property in 1984 and re-opened the site as a dive bar called The Basement, catering to biker gangs and local disenfranchised teenagers. The location evolved, becoming popular with stand up comedians and other performers as a result of the Barfield Brothers' connections in show business. By the late 80s The Basement had achieved landmark status. Many successful alternative comedians of the era have attested some degree of their success to The Basement.

The site suffered a downturn in popularity in the mid-90s when the alternative comedy circuit grew stale, and by '98 the Barfield brothers were forced to close shop, selling their club to one of their own protegĂŠs, Lebanese micro-magic performer and funny man, Michael Mirra.

Mirra re-launched the club as Smoke & Mirra's Magic World, opening the stage to magicians primarily, but also alternative comedians and even rock bands. Mirra went on to star in several big screen rom-coms and made his fortune as a Hollywood comic but remains partowner of the club. Smoke & Mirra's continues to thrive, though the place now has a strange reputation and an even stranger recent history.

In 2003 Mirra's then general manager Hugo Rift claimed to have been possessed by a demon living in the basement of the club. An exorcism was performed by a Catholic priest live on stage in front of a paying audience. Both Mirra and Rift subsequently appeared on numerous chat shows, including Jerry Springer and Geraldo Rivera, the former even airing a supposed video recording of the exorcism. Prior to this event Mirra was relatively well known as a television personality, but afterwards his movie career went stratospheric and the more cynical critics have declaimed the whole stunt as nothing more than one of Mirra's magical tricks designed to give the club and Mirra himself enormous publicity. Whether this is true or not, Hugo Rift did not enjoy the same celebrity status and soon after the Jerry Springer airing he quit his position

at Smoke & Mirra's. A year later he was dead from a massive heroin overdose. A suicide note confirmed the OD was deliberate on Rift's part and in it he blamed Mirra for 'encouraging demonic activity in the club' and the entity itself, of which Rift wrote "it swims in blood. It dreams of my death, whispers in my nightmares... the things it wants to do to me, to take its revenge."

Paranormal History (Public Knowledge) Smoke & Mirra's, typically known as Magic World, and even sometimes as The Basement by patrons of the establishment who remember its former name and cling to its former identity, has been labelled the most haunted nightclub in the world. The site has featured on numerous paranormal television shows over the years and has its own Wikipedia page and countless websites dedicated to its haunted status. The owners exploit the club's reputation and frequently allow paranormal teams into the property, though some areas such as the offices and some of the storage rooms in the basement are permanently off limits. The reason given is one of security, these areas being used to house records and financial information belonging to the owners.

The Murders of Lamb & Tubbs The Wikipedia entry for this aspect of Smoke & Mirra's history describes the murders as 'folklore' and points out that no evidence has ever been found that Ernest 'Tootsie' Cline was ever even involved in a love triangle with the pair and that much of the so-called murder was sensationalised by newspapers at the time.

Certainly most of the current understanding of the murder seems to be based on amateur website sleuths whose conjecture and conclusions are entirely insubstatiated by proof of any kind. Nevertheless, the legend prevails and is one of the most infamous angles of the Magic World story.

In 2008 a TV show called The Inexplicable sent a team to investigate Smoke & Mirra's and in particular to examine the alleged murders of Lamb and Tubbs.

During filming in the basement of the property several strange black mists were famously caught on tape and an EVP, later discovered on the camera audio, seemed to say 'Tootsie, my love', which the program makers believed to be the voice of Loretta (see sound file Tootsie.wav) The EVP is unclear and different people often claim to hear different phrases when they listen to it, but the makers of the show maintain this is what the voice says and submit it as evidence not only of the paranormal but of Cline's guilt in the murders of Lamb & Tubbs.

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The Ghost of Cincinnati Sawyer Numerous eye witnesses over the years have claimed to see the ghost of a dark haired, handsome man with a sly, but confident expression, dressed in 1920s period clothing walking through the building and appearing to move through walls and closed doors.

Most investigators concur that this is probably either the spirit of one of Cincinatti Sawyer's victims, or Sawyer himself, who was often described as charming, devilishly handsome and unwaveringly self assured.

TV Publicity Never one to shy away from the limelight, Michael Mirra embraced the legends of the club and invited numerous television producers into Smoke & Mirra's at various points prior to 2003 in the hope of tantalizing them with the site's unusual story. None were interested in the venue until the infamous exorcism of 2003.

Mirra's general manager, Hugo Rift, had been becoming increasingly disturbed in his behaviour and, according to Mirra, at least, had beaten several of the staff working at the club and had even tried to kill Mirra himself, supposedly ambushing Mirra one night in his office and attempting to stab him with a kitchen knife.

Mirra was convinced Rift had been possessed by a demonic entity who lived in the basement of the building, a location Rift would often visit because the business used the basement at that time as a cold store for food and beer. Mirra recruited a Catholic Priest named Victor Carmichael to perform an exorcism but (according to Carmichael who later gave various interviews to news and media) Mirra tricked him into performing the ritual on-stage in front of a live audience. The event was filmed and when the video surfaced online Mirra and Rift were invited onto several television chat shows to talk about the event, including Jerry Springer and Geraldo Rivera.

The exorcism tape shows Rift seated in a chair on stage while a priest dressed in black sits in front of him and reads from a book of scripture.

Mirra can be seen standing behind Rift, his hands on the back of the chair.

Suddenly Rift looks up and for a second his face seems to change, warping sideways, then vertically before returning to normal. Rift then unleashes a torrent of abuse against the priest while Mirra holds him by the shoulders to stop him getting up. The gasps and nervous murmuring of the audience is audible, along with several shrieks which Mirra later claimed did not come from anyone in the audience.

Experts who have examined the footage of Rift's supposed transformation claim the video is merely faulty and the sudden warping is a result of something called video artefacts. This is a

technical fault typically caused by low resolution video equipment combined with poor quality recording. Despite this debunk, the video remains one of the most played clips on Youtube and if comments from viewers who have watched the clip are any indication, most people who see the moment of Rift's strange transformation agree it is very unsettling.

The Well in the Basement In 1984 the Barfield brothers bought the property and performed some rudimentary renovations on the building's foundations which were eroding and in need of underpinning work.

During excavation of the foundations, builders uncovered a circular stone pit in the middle of the basement floor. The pit was twenty six feet deep and thirteen feet wide and at its base was the top of a narrow shaft, just three feet wide.

When measuring equipment was used to examine the shaft, builders could not determine the depth because they lacked a depth guage capable of measuring to adequate distance.

The well was covered by the new floor of the basement but in 1999, Michael Mirra, who had always been intrigued by the story of the well, had the floor covering replaced by a thick glass observation floor. The basement was opened as a kind of ghost-house, and tours were allowed to walk through and across the glass floor. A sign next to the floor explained that the well called The Gateway to Hell - was a natural bore hole upon which the original building foundations had been constructed.

In 2010, as part of a television investigation, the floor was lifted and a team of engineers using modern digital equipment attempted to guage the depth of the borehole. They found that the shaft descended some 800 feet, maintaining a fairly uniform width, before turning forty five degrees or so. Beyond this point the shaft continued another 6000 feet but whatever lay beyond that point could not be determined with the equipment at hand. The engineers concluded that the borehole was probably the remnant of a natural spring long since dried up, or an air vent attached to some kind of volcanic reservoir which had, at some point in the distant past, subsided or erupted.

The internet is awash with rumours concerning this event. Amateur theorists (mostly of a fundamentalist religious bent) are convinced that the engineers used a cable camera to investigate the shaft and inadvertently filmed a true gateway to Hell. Footage posted on Youtube (since determined to be fake) seems to show the moment the camera broke through the narrow shaft and into a vast cavernous space filled with fire, prancing demons and screaming victims. A less amusing and perhaps slightly more convincing piece of media connected with the investigation is a short audio file claiming to be a sub-sonic sound recorded by the engineers when they used sonar equipment to guage the 4

depth of the shaft. The recording sounds like thousands of screaming voices and at one point a single voice seems to beg for mercy.

Advocates claim this is the sound of Hell itself.

by this discovery and had the shaft covered by a custom forged manhole-cover. He also had priests bless the basement, the building and the surrounding land in the hopes of warding off any lingering curse.

Paranormal History

Newpont remained disturbed by the revelation and his health deteriorated. He contracted cancer in 1899 and died in 1900, though records indicate his death was unexpected.

(Overseer's Eyes Only) Prior to the settling of this region of Kentucky and the construction of the building where Smoke & Mirra's now stands, this area was considered sacred to local aboriginal tribes and the natural spring situated in the well, uncovered inadvertently by the Barfield Brothers, was a source of water to them, the local river being too saline to provide fresh drinking water.

In 1779 colonial settlers, backed by the Continental Army, claimed the area as their own - a mogul and industrialist Spaniard named JosĂŠ Marinos setting his sights on the spring and the potential to raise a considerable settlement around it. He claimed to be interested in the high salt content of the river and intended to produce a salt industry serving the state, but in truth Morinos suspected there were substantial gold deposits in the river and intended to mine them. Using his political influence he enlisted the help of the army and a battle with military soldiers and citizen labourers on one side and Native Americans on the other was fought on the site. More than 70 Native American Indians were slaughtered in what would consequently become known as the Lietch Massacre.

Marinos subsequently established his settlement but the water from the well was found to be tainted and the settlement failed to thrive. Later the Colonel in command of the unit responsible for the massacre admitted that in order to save time burying the bodies, most had been thrown into the well. In an effort to conceal the well's true nature, and to his own detriment, Marinos had told the Colonel it was merely a kind of shaft into underground caverns and failed entirely to mention the spring.

The well and the site were abandoned and remained uninhabited for more than eighty years. Then in 1865 a salt merchant called Ike Winchester noticed the strangely low price on the land and purchased with a view to build. He constructed the building over the site, using it primarily as a warehouse for salt storage. The well was boarded over at this time.

Captain Henry Newpont, a retired army general formerly stationed at Newport Outpost, bought the derelict building in 1880 and turned it into a roadhouse called Newpont's Waystop, serving travellers using the Louisville, Cincinnati and Lexington railway. Newpont uncovered the well in the basement and remembered an old army legend pertaining to the Leitch Massacre which claimed a well in the area had been used as a mass grave to dispose of more than 70 Native American bodies. Newpont was deeply affected

On his deathbed, Newpont reputedly claimed to have endless nightmares in which the Native American victims buried in the well menaced him. They told him the land was cursed and that any name associated with the location would suffer the wrath of the spirits.

Perhaps as a result of this parting message the sale price of Newpont's Waystop plummeted, drawing interest from the wrong kind of buyer.

Daniel Sawyer purchased the land in 1904, turning the building into an abattoir and using the basement to house a variety of illegal operations, including a gambling den, a prostitution racket, a stillery (during prohibition) and a place for storing stolen goods. The abattoir meanwhile operated as a semilegitimate business but also served as a money laundering outlet for Sawyer's various criminal outfits.

The well in the basement was uncovered and the pit above the natural borehole was used as a dumping place for animal carcasses. Blood from the slaughterhouse above would be funnelled through a series of culverts into the pit and would then drain into the borehole, saving Sawyer the trouble and expense of legal disposal. The carcasses would be routinely burned, an enormous extractor positioned over the pit and carrying the oily black smoke out through a chimney in the roof. The ashes of these fires would be sifted down into the borehole.

As well as the unimaginable quantity of animal blood and remains, Sawyer also used the well to dispose of his enemies, killing them in a special room in the basement (converted at the time into a torture chamber) and then throwing their corpse into the fires to burn and merge with the ashes of dead animals. The whole would then be disposed of in the same way.

For his most reviled enemies, Sawyer reserved a more brutal fate. These victims would be dragged kicking and screaming into the pit which Sawyer took great delight in describing as The Gate to Hell. They would then be hurled into the well shaft alive. As their screams dwindled Sawyer would send after them a sack-load of rats and would then order a fresh batch of carcasses to be burned in the pit.

According to historical accounts covering the period, Sawyer, (known as Cincinatti Sawyer by most of his business associates and enemies), 5

was an immensely charming individual but also a vicious psychopath whose mood could turn on a dime. Most who knew him personally believed him to be the very incarnation of the devil, bolstering support for the idea that the well in the basement truly was a portal to Hell. For his own part, Sawyer always claimed to be possessed by something that lived in the building, though accounts of his character prior to his time there suggest he was always a vicious and cold-hearted personality.

Sawyer was shot by his own business partner in his own basement. The killer, Henry Floyd, later confessed to the murder, claiming he shot Sawyer in the kneecaps then threw him down the well shaft alive. The body was never found.

When the site became a munitions factory in 1941 the first recorded sightings of a ghostly figure vaguely resembling pictures of Sawyer were made by the largely female work force.

The figure was often described as handsome but chilling and would often seem to have strangely distorted features. The ghost would most commonly be seen in the basement where the pit was then used for storing broken machine parts. The manhole cover, commissioned by Henry Newpont, was at this time re-established over the borehole.

Those women who worked at the factory and who later gave interviews on their experiences gave very similar accounts of the things they saw and the prevailing sense of horror they felt whenever they were forced to venture into the basement.

The period during which the building became Tootsie's can be connected with the alleged murder and supposed hauntings of the young singer Loretta Lamb and her lover Gordon Tubbs. Lamb has been seen on numerous occassions by more than one witness at a time as a spectral lady in red gliding through the main building, or as a disembodied female voice crying out and screaming. Tubbs has reputedly been spotted too, though descriptions of his ghost tend to vary much more. Tubbs has been seen as a tall and handsome man striding through the premises, as a headless body sitting in a chair in one of the offices and as a whispering voice demanding the crimes of Ernest Cline be revealed. No firm evidence of either ghost has ever been captured and skepticism is rife even within the paranormal community. This most likely stems from the uncertainty surrounding the whole Cline/Lamb/Tubbs affair and the fact that murder was never proven.

Entities Cincinatti Sawyer Type: human spirit (male) bound as an undead spirit because he was thrown into the well shaft when he was alive.

Personality: a vicious psychopath in life, Sawyer remains vicious in his undying state, but is far less capable of inflicting harm.

Appearance: 1920s period dress, handsome and confident but prone to distorted facial features and feral expressions which betray his spectral form.

Most Active: The basement.

LIKELY ENCOUNTERS Sawyer will most likely be noticed to begin with by the strong smell of cigar smoke and sudden drops in temperature. He can be vicious and if EMF readings go higher than 10 at any point there's a risk that Sawyer will shove, trip and even scratch investigators. His wretched giggling may also be heard as an EVP. Like all the victims thrown into the well shaft, Sawyer cannot be exorcised and the demon who has claimed him is in permanent control of his spirit. The eternal torture he suffers at the hands of this entity have done nothing to subdue his lust for violence and evil.

Jack Higgins, Sam Turnbull and Johnny Havanna Type: human spirits (all male) bound as undead spirits because they were thrown by Sawyer into the well shaft while they were still alive.

Personality: confused, melancholy, desperate.

Appearance: all three spirits are shapeless black mists, only their voices which might be heard over EVP or ghost box marking them apart as separate entities.

Most Active: in the basement, though they are free to wander anywhere within the building and have been seen as swirling black mists or dark silhouettes moving in the shadows in various different rooms.

LIKELY ENCOUNTERS Three troubled spirits, these are the restless and endlessly tortured souls of three of Cincinatti Sawyer's victims. Each suffered a horrendous fate, first brutalized and tortured by Sawyer or his henchmen then thrown alive and aware into the well shaft. They fell in total darkness until the shaft angled toward the diagonal and then gradually flattened out, acting like a slide, albeit one made of jagged rock. The shaft expelled the victims, bleeding and broken, into a vast subterranean cavern which lies some 6000 feet below the surface. There the terrified victims became aware of a small point of light far in the distance which grew gradually...

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Whatever their final fate in these last moments was, the ghosts of the victims will not say and in fact any communication they attempt will be confused, garbled and frantic. Like Sawyer they cannot be exorcised and directed into the light of the afterlife as they are ensnared forever within the unique spiritual vortex at the bottom of the well shaft and can never escape.

Also like Sawyer the three victims suffer endless torture at the hands of the demonic presence who dwells in the vortex, but unlike Sawyer their original personalities do not remain. They have been utterly destroyed by their experience and believe themselves to be in the very pits of Hell itself.

Grey Wolf Type: Native American avatar Personality: feral and fey.

Appearance: a dark shape moving between the trees surrounding the building. The exact shape of the wolf is never distinct, but those who witness it typically use the term 'huge' in their description.

Most Active: the grounds around the building.

LIKELY ENCOUNTERS Grey Wolf is the rage and indignation made manifest of the Native American Indian tribes attacked during the Leitch Massacre. Their essence was desecrated by the white man when their kin were hurled into the well shaft and this desecration created the spiritual vortex that now exists at the bottom of that well.

Though the souls of the Native Americans as individuals have passed on into other worlds, their collective spiritual wrath and the energy created by their slaughter and the general desecration of their aboriginal culture has taken the form of Grey Wolf.

Grey Wolf is only seen at night, indistinct and insubstantial as a shadow but a shadow cast by no living thing. Past witnesses have described what they've seen as blackness in motion, an enormous, shapeless silhouette against the darkness between the trees, against the trees and even against the sky, blotting out the stars as it passes.

Encounters with Grey Wolf are commonly associated with feelings of disassociation, an unsettling sense of foreboding and an often overwhelming impression of anger, as though the very night itself were enraged. These feelings may also be accompanied by the sound of distant drums and gunfire.

Loretta Lamb Type: human spirit (female 21) murdered by Ernest Cline, Loretta was bound and tortured by Cline in his office on the top floor of the building before Cline then dragged her to the well and threw her down the shaft. She was alive when

she landed at the bottom. Cline was never in a relationship with Loretta. His relationship was with Tubbs. Tubbs was bisexual and cheating on Cline with Loretta, though Loretta was unaware of this secret relationship between the two men, especially since Cline always presented himself as a womaniser and homophobe.

Personality: angry and malevolent toward any male members of the investigating team.

Appearance: Loretta usually appears as a glimmer of light; a drifting ectoplasmic suggestion, akin to a sliver of torch light drifting across the wall, but one with a vague feminine shape and one with no apparent light source.

The eye witness reports of a female apparition in red are generated by special equipment used

by Michael Mirra to perpetuate the myth.

Michael has seen the actual apparition of Loretta but this is too subtle for his liking and too easily dismissed as a trick of the light, so he has taken to creating a fake ghost to ensure others are sure of what they see.

Most Active: Anywhere inside the building.

LIKELY ENCOUNTERS Loretta will probably appear in the storage room at the back of the building where the current owners keep a variety of junk and equipment. This room was used in Cline's era as a dressing room for singers and dancers and Loretta will rise from an area where she would spend hours applying her makeup in front of a mirror surrounded by bulbs. She will then glide toward one wall where she will subsequently vanish. To the naked eye the apparition will appear spectral and strange, but on camera it will look suspiciously like a blurred mote of dust floating across the lens.

If Hunters investigate the point where the light vanished the Overseer should call for a Fluke roll. If the roll succeeds the character raps on the wall with his knuckle and notices the sound echoes, suggesting a hollow wall. If a hole is made Hunters will uncover a recess and the front plate of a wall-bedded safe which has been dry-walled over at some point in the past. The code for the safe is 01542. This code has been hidden using a roulette wheel which is housed in the same room. In the safe players will find Player Handout A.

Gordon Tubbs Type: human spirit (male 28), murdered by Loretta Lamb when she discovered he was involved in a homosexual affair with Ernest Cline. Lamb and Tubbs had a heated argument about the affair and Lamb lost her temper. She stabbed Tubbs in the eye with a hair pin then dragged him, still alive, down to the basement and pushed him down the well. He was still alive when he reached the bottom.

Personality: lost, wandering and dazed.

Appearance: Tubbs appears as a shadow figure whose distinctive cowboy hat will identify him as more than just a random shadow. He tends to keep his distance from the living and will usually 7

be spied out of the corner of the eye, or sensed as a lingering presence.

Most Active: Anywhere inside the building.

LIKELY ENCOUNTERS Tubbs, like Lamb and the other spirits, is a tortured soul held in limbo by the unimaginable horror of the demonic force that dwells at the bottom of the well shaft. He will appear anywhere in the building as a shadow figure, but where he comes across in EVPs and ghost box he will typically plead for help, for mercy and for release.

Baykak Type: demon Other Names: Pau'Guk, Bakaak, Bekaak, Death, Bekaakadwaabewizid, Wendigo Power Value: 73* Personality: Mysterious. This is a demon quite disimilar to those the group may have encountered elsewhere and is specifically of Native American origin. Whether the demon is created by the belief systems of the aboriginal tribes or whether the demon already existed and their belief was well founded cannot be known.

Appearance: Baykak is a legendary demon whose territory stretches from the lake territories of Milwaukee down through Indiana and Kentucky. He is described as 'Death' in the songs of Hiawatha and is often depicted as an extremely immaciated skeleton-like creature whose shrill cries are carried on the wind across the most desolate wilderness regions of precolonial North America.

LIKELY ENCOUNTERS *Unlike other demons, Baykak does not use the souls of human dead to bind himself to the material plane. Instead he is empowered by the emotional energy of the 73 slaughtered Native American Indians who invoked him in their final moments between the spirit world and reality to take revenge upon their killer, the white man.

These spirits have moved on to the next plane of existence, but have left the terrible energy created by their murders as a parting gift to the demon. This gives him an uncommonly high Power Value and makes him virtually indestructable for purposes of exorcism.

Fortunately, Baykak is bound by forces greater than those of religious faith (or lack thereof) to the cavern beneath the Haunt location and if humans were to invade this space in force, with electronic equipment and other trappings of industry and civilization, Baykak would be forced to retreat even further into the ground, his final location probably ending somewhere beneath the very crust of the Earth. This is the only way he can be banished permanently (though the permanence of his banishment relies on the presence of the human race. As soon as humanity no longer exists - however distant that event might be - he will emerge to reclaim the

empty wilderness.

From the Wikipedia entry for Baykak: The word Baykak in the Anishinaabe language means "skeleton" in the sense of "bones draped in skin" rather than "bare-bones", such that it lends itself to words like bakaakadozo, meaning "to be thin/skinny/poor", and bakaakadwengwe, meaning "to have a lean/thin face."

The description of Baykak's shrill cries (bagakwewewin, literally meaning "clear/distinct cries") and the method the Baykak uses to subdue its victims are puns on its name: the word for "to beat using a club" being baagaakwaa'ige. A similar construct is found in the name for the basketry splints called baagaako'igan, prepared by pounding black ash. Yet another pun on the name is the way the Baykak "flings its victim's chest open" (baakaakwaakiganezh) to devour the victim's heart.

Baykak is a truly horrifying demon, diminished from his original domain of the empty landscapes of uninhabited North America by the incursion of European colonists, cultures and their accompanying industries, cities, polution and disregard for the natural environment. The replacement of traditional Native American belief systems with the monotheisms of Europe forced Baykak from his position above ground into the 'cracks between worlds', a subterranean vortex from which he cannot escape but from which he also cannot be easily banished.

Baykak will only be encountered if an investigation of the well shaft leads to the cavernous space 6000 feet below. Not only is this almost impossible due to the tight width of the shaft, a properly engineered and manned expedition would result in a further diminishing of Baykak's power as such an expedition would bring the industries, sciences and skepticisms of modern man directly into the vortex.

Those who fall into the shaft and plunge the full 6000 feet are spared death as a result of their fall by the graduating nature of the well. At a point some 500 feet down the shaft angles inwards, gradually becoming a 45 degree tunnel which then levels to almost 2 degrees before emerging into the cavern. This produces a sliding effect, while the rough and rocky surface of the tunnel acts to slow the descent of those falling through the shaft.

Nevertheless, the terror of this slide into blackness and the length of the fall combined with the roughness of the tunnel walls and floor inevitably means that victims who survive as far as the final tumble into the cavern are beaten, bloodied and terrified beyond measure by the time they arrive. In this weakened state they are easy prey for the demon.

Their first glimpse of Baykak will be a shining light approaching from the utter darkness, followed by the outline of something unnaturally tall and angular shambling toward 8

them. Humanoid, with a head that seems to hang between its shoulders, face covered by lank locks of oily black hair. The head sways from side to side as the body shuffles closer.

You unload your gear and head up to the front entrance where a burly doorman stands aside and waves you in. He's clearly been expecting you.

When Baykak falls upon his victim he grasps the flesh of their chests with his supernatural fingers and 'throws their ribcage open', reaching in to pluck out their essence in the form either of their heart or of their liver which he then consumes. Throughout all this the victim remains alive and lucid, able to see and feel everything in detail despite the darkness. Thereafter they continue to live in an undying and supernatural state, but their corpse is empty of the soul and mind of the person it once was and can only drift alone and desolate in the vortex. The true essence of the victim now resides in Baykak's stomach where the horror of their experience can only be guessed at. As souls they are trapped, but they are not bound to the demon and are capable of appearing in the building as ghosts while simultaneously suffering in the hell Baykak has made for them.

You find yourself in the gloomy interior of the club's reception. The smell of stale beer hangs heavy in the air and you can see lights coming on in the main area of the club as cleaners and bar staff busy themselves tidying up.

Baykak can only entrap victims who are separated from the reality of modern society and culture and who are extremely weakened by pain and distress. The victim must be alive, hence only those people who are alive when they are thrown down the well have been consumed by the demon.

The floor of the cavern is a carnage of blood, gore and the ashes of uncountable animals, all of which have acted, over the many years, as a form of sacrifice to Baykak, further empowering him and ensuring his continued survival in the bowels of the earth. The sacrifices have, of course, diminished since the building above was turned into a nightclub and Baykak's strength is waning. He desires more suffering and is working on the minds and souls of the current owners, Michael Mirra and his business associates and employees (and even his customers) to encourage further sacrifice. More than anything Baykak desires more live specimens to be thrown into the well shaft so that he may feast upon them.

scenario Arrival Your team van pulls up outside Smoke & Mirra's Magic World, a large and strangely shabby looking building surrounded by a car park.

It's one AM and closing time at Smoke & Mirra's. Tonight's clientele are making their way home, staggering off the property in various states of inebriation or climbing into cars and onto bikes.

A door opens to one side and a gaunt looking man dressed in jeans, tassled waistcoat and worn leather cowboy hat greets you with a hearty handshake.

"Howdy," he says in a weary voice, "name's Sam Key, general floor manager. I'm gonna go out on a limb here and guess you guys are the spook chasers."

Initial Interview Sam Key is on his way home. He won't linger and has little to say, as he's only been floor manager for a few months and doesn't know much about the history of the place.

This is completely untrue, and Key's lie will become apparent if the team manage to talk to any of the bar staff or cleaners still working in the building. Key was first employed as manager in 1985 when Tim and Jerry Barfield ran the place as The Basement. He left when the business folded in '98 but has since been brought back by Michael Mirra to replace Hugo Rift who committed suicide in 2004.

Key dislikes paranormal teams (and most everyone else too) and can be a caustic personality. He will hand the team a set of keys, explaining that any workers still on the premises will be gone within a half hour and the front doors will be locked. However, the keys will open the main door, along with the tradesman's entrance at the back of the property.

Before he goes, Key will also add that some of the rooms in the building are restricted areas and not available to the team's investigation. Any door marked "No Entry" should be considered off limits, whether it's locked or not. Key will end with: "Since the last two spook chasers seemed to have a suspicion we were keeping secrets, I just want to let you know, I ain't joking about those No Entry signs. We keep financial records and other shit in those rooms that's none of your business, so don't go in there." He tags on a patronising "have fun y'all," before heading off.

Generic Sessions The following sessions can be carried out anywhere on site and will result in activity where the EMF levels are measured as being 4.0 9

or higher. For every point of EMF above 4.0 the area is deemed to have a Possession Risk value of an additional 1 point, beginning with 1 point at 4.0. (For example, where EMF are measured between 4.0 and 4.9, the Possession Risk is deemed to be 1; where EMF are measured between 5.0 and 5.9 the Possession Risk is 2; where EMFs are between 6.0 and 6.9 the Possession Risk is 3 and so on).

While the demon Baykak can be exorcised from someone he has chosen to possess, he cannot be banished with an exorcism designed to remove him from the location.

Ouija If the manhole cover is not positioned over the well shaft in the basement, the demon Baykak will dominate Ouija sessions and will inevitably attempt to possess one of the subjects of the session (anyone with a finger on the planchette).

The demon will provide answers of an extremely cryptic nature and will never answer with a simple yes or no. It will instead spell out any of the following lines of letters or numbers: PAU GUK (successful Research dice check reveals this is an archaic name for the spirit of death in Native American language. If any player has the Demonology Expertise skill they may make a roll to identify Pau'Guk as Baykak and will reveal all the information in the Wikipedia extract listed above in Entities, Baykak).

73 (referring to the 73 Native Americans killed during the Massacre of Leitch).

ANISHINAABE (successful Research dice check reveals this to mean People From Whence Lowered in the language of the Odawa, Ojibwa, and Algonquin First Nations in Ontario) BAAKAAKWAAKOGANEZH (successful Research dice check reveals the chilling meaning of this is "throw their chests open" in the same language).

If the manhole cover is in place, the demon will not participate and one of the human spirits of the house (or numerous spirits) will participate instead. The usual risk of summoning a random Ouija demon applies.

Ganzfeld and God Helmet The player makes a Ganzfeld Medium Expertise dice check to enter a trance. Where he attempts to do this in an area full of noise or distractions (outdoors in the cold, in a noisy environment, etc) he incurs +1 to his dice roll. If the dice check succeeds he enters a ganzfeld trance and experiences any one of the visions listed below. If the dice check fails he is either distracted or fails to get into the zone. While he may appear to be spaced-out for anything up to

twenty minutes he will experience nothing other than the usual random sensations, noises and visual artefacts associated with the method.

Whether the dice check succeeds or not, the ganzfeld always opens a Hunter to risk of possession. The Overseer should determine EMF levels if she hasn't already done so and applies a Possession Risk value using the method described above.

If the session is successful the medium experiences one of the following visions (Overseer can roll d6 for a random vision, but should aim to give a different vision each time).

Vision One You find yourself alone in the wilderness. A sense of isolation and vast open space surrounds you. The sky seems to go on forever and the horizon seems impossibly distant. The beginnings of a forest stand some miles in front of you and from this direction you hear a piercing cry, like the scream of an eagle... the vision ends.

Vision Two You find yourself by the side of a fast flowing river in the middle of empty wilderness. A sense of desolation seems to hang in the air and you feel extrarodinarily alone, as though you were the last man on Earth. On the far bank of the river you can see a dark forest and between the trees you notice the movement of a shadow. A great cry goes up from deep within the trees, sending flocks of birds scattering into the sky. The cry echoes away, as though down a long tunnel, and as you watch the trees you see a small bright point of light glittering there. The vision ends but the Hunter slumps and does not immediately revive.

Vision Three A scene takes shape. You find yourself outdoors at night, amidst some bushes.

Ahead of you is a wide clearing filled with what looks like Native American Indian wigwams. You look closer and notice figures moving to and fro, dressed in a mixture of western clothing and Native American clothes. You can hear the sound of happy voices chatting and the crackle of a fire.

Suddenly you hear the snap of a twig from somewhere behind and turn to see a soldier dressed in a long blue coat over white trousers and waistcoat. A white bandoleer crosses the soldiers chest and on his head he wears a black tricorn. He carries an old fashioned musket and seems to be walking in a crouch, apparently trying not to be seen.

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Behind this soldier you see more of his kind, all sneaking forwards, their weapons held in a manner that suggests they are about to use them.... the vision ends, the scene fading, but as it fades the Hunter hears the report of muskets firing and the screams of women and children.

Vision Four You experience a terrible sensation of falling and claustrophobia combined. You can see nothing, but you can feel the walls of whatever shaft you are falling through brushing painfully past your shoulders and catching your feet.

With a sudden jolt you feel the surface of a stone slide underneath you and you find yourself sliding at breakneck speed into utter blackness.

This terrifying ride seems to go on forever until finally the surface starts to level out and your momentum slows. The solid surface suddenly vanishes and you find yourself flying through empty air. This is followed by a violent jolt as you land and tumble across a floor which feels soft and unnatural.

Everything hurts and your head spins. Your face is wet with what you assume must be water. But when you touch your fingers to your skin, you feel deep abrasions and realise the wetness is blood.

You call out, and your voice echoes back to you. You occupy some kind of enormous space, like a cave. This guess seems to be confirmed by the distant sounds of water drip-dripping into a pool and the cold but stale nature of the air.

whose own face is surrounded by glowing lightbulbs.

You realise that you are, in fact, looking through the eyes of the woman who sits before a mirror of the kind found in theatrical dressing rooms.

The dresser before you is covered in a mess of lipsticks, powders, perfumes, wigs and false eye lashes. The chairs to either side are occupied by other women, all chatting casually with one another, though you cannot hear what each one is saying.

A door opens and the sound of a busy bar carries through as a man enters the dressing room. Short and fat, he wears a white stetson and holds the stub of a thick cigar between chubby fingers and thumb. He flicks ash as he talks, but you can only see his mouth move and hear the vague sounds of a voice, as if you were listening to sounds under the water.

The man strides across the room to a safe on the wall. He spins the dial a few times then yanks open the handle and reaches inside.

He pulls out a wad of dollar bills and these he throws into your lap. He jabs the cigar toward you and for a moment you think he is going to burn you with the lit end, but he is merely gesturing in an aggressive way. He says something with a sneer on his face, then turns and waddles out of the room. You look down at the dollar bills in your lap, and as you do so a tear falls from your cheek and lands with a splash on the top note... the vision ends.

No Stability dice check is necessary.

The darkness is broken then by a tiny glimmer of light, like a twinkling star.

Something dark passes in front of the star, blotting it out, but the star quickly returns, this time much brighter.

Vision Six

You realise the star is not getting brighter, but is some kind of light moving your way.

You imagine a train rattling in your direction through a long tunnel, its headlamp expanding as it hurtles toward you. But you can hear nothing except that distant dripdripping.

Several burly looking men dressed in scruffy suits stand around a circular pit in the floor.

As the light grows you sense a shape moving alongside, or perhaps behind. A tall thing, horribly thin - a head of lank hair swaying.

And finally you hear the sound of shuffling feet... the vision ends.

When the Hunter emerges from the trance he makes a Stability dice check.

Vision Five You find yourself sitting in a chair, gazing into the face of a beautiful young woman

You find yourself in a dark room lit by a flashlight which gives off insufficient light to illuminate the large space.

A door opens, throwing light across the scene from the corridor beyond. In the light you see a handsome looking man smoking a cigar ushering a pensive looking older man into the room. The older man looks Italian and is accompanied by another Italian who is burly like the men around the pit. His face is scarred and his arms are folded.

The door closes and you notice a man comes out of the shadows. He comes up behind the burly Italian and draws a knife silently across the man's throat. The Italian grabs at his neck and spins around, blood gushing between his fingers. His attacker smiles at him in a thin-lipped humourless way then jabs him over and over with the knife until he falls to his knees, then slumps sideways. The 11

older Italian panics long before his bodyguard is finished, and starts to run for the door, but the handsome man with the cigar grabs him and shoves him back into the room.

Eleanor may be old, but she has an astoundingly good memory of 'the good ole days', referring usually to the period when the club was known as Tootsies. Eleanor first came to work there in 1961, at the tender age of 17.

The three burly men grasp the Italian under the arms and drag him toward the pit. The older man screams "No! Ti preggo Don Sawyer, no!" as behind him the handsome cigar smoker smiles and starts to roll up his sleeves... the vision ends.

"I never much cared for honkytonk music, but I did enjoy the attention I got serving bar. Course, don't none of the current management need an old gal like me behind the bar now. They wanna bring the customers in, not scare 'em off!"

If the Hunter has already explored the basement they will recognise this room as the same, and the pit is the well in the middle of that room.

The responses below are designed to give the Overseer an idea of Eleanor's knowledge and her manner of speaking along with some responses to those questions players are most likely to ask. The Overseer can either read each passage aloud as it is presented here, or reword the general gist in his own style.

The Hunter must make a Stability dice check after witnessing the Italian bodyguard's murder.

The vision shows Johnny Havana and his henchman meeting a sticky end at the hands of Cincinatti Sawyer, the handsome cigar smoking Kentucky gangster.

Interview Subjects The following subject is available for interview sessions at the player group's convenience.

ELEANOR SHUE Eleanor is an elderly lady who works as a cleaner at the club. Her dubious claim to fame is that she's worked at Smoke & Mirra's since the place belonged to Ernest Cline. She arrives as the other workers are leaving and will explain, if asked, that Sam Key employs her to give the place a thorough clean before the breakfast shift (Smoke & Mirra's serves a breakfast known as the Morning After the Night Before which comes with a hefty 50% off to customers who have a voucher proving they spent the previous night partying at the club). She'll be shuffling around at her own pace all night and will advise the Hunters to just ignore her as best they can.

Eleanor is likely to prove a thorn in the side of the team as she will regularly set off detectors and appear on camera, vacuuming, dusting and mopping floors. As an interview subject, however, she is an invaluable source of information and will withhold nothing about her former (or current) employers.

When the Overseer portrays Eleanor she should remember that Eleanor is hard of hearing and of lower than average intelligence. The players will have to shout their questions if they want to be heard and should expect plenty of typical Kentucky mannerisms, like "been fixin' to", meaning intending to do something and "do you care to..." instead of "please will you..." when asking somebody to do something. The repeated use of "y'all", "Lord have mercy" and "bless him/her/his heart/her heart" will also help to enhance the authentic Kentucky flavour.

On the subject of Ernest Cline "Oowee, now there was a fruit salad. Had himself a boyfriend too. Young fella by the name of... now what was that fella's name?

Stubbs? Gary Stubbs? No. Gordon Stubbs.

Yeah, somethin' of the sort. Nice lookin' boy but not much goin' on upstairs. Knew where the money was though. Shame about all that."

On the subject of Tubbs' alleged murder.

"We all known Cline done it, but the police they couldn't pin it on him on account of the body being vanished and there bein' no witnesses."

What was Cline like?

"He was a big fat bully with too much money for sense. He could be generous when he wanted, but mostly he was just plain mean.

Had a way of payin' off his enemies to show 'em they were marked for trouble. He'd throw a big wad of dollar bills in your lap and if he did that, well Lord have mercy because you were gonna be in for it as far as Cline was concerned. I never got on his wrong side so him and me never had a falling out. Never understood the money thing maybe he wanted to sweeten the knife before he shoved it in, heh."

Did Cline kill Tubbs and Lamb?

"Cline and Tubbs, well now, they was tooty fruities as the honky tonk crowd would say.

Cline had an eye for pretty young men, but Tubbs, well he liked the boys and the gals if you catch my drift. Tubbs, he fell for a sweet dame called Loretta Lamb, a singer from the deep south. Oooowee a sweet child, but a...

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...temper something fierce. I don't doubt Cline and Lamb clashed when he found out.

Yep. He killed her too alright. But no witnesses and no body. That Ernest Cline, he walked away from a jailin' like he just won the Kentucky Derby."

On the subject of the well in the basement.

"You stay away from that hole down there, y'hear? Ain't nuthin' good ever come of folks pokin' around down there. You know this place used to be a slaughter house right?

Back in... hm... let's see now... woulda been before the war in any case. Owned by a crooked character by the name of Sawyer, like Huck Finn's ole partner in crime. Heh. Well, ole Sawyer he used to call that hole down there the Gate to Hell an' I don't doubt he was far wrong. All the blood and guts from them poor dead animals... where you think it all got dumped? Down Hell's Gate to feed the Devil. Some things you don't wanna mess with and that hole... well sure enough, that hole's one of 'em."

Has she seen any ghosts?

"Oh yeah, sure. Reckon I've seen things that'll make your hair curl and your fingernails grow backwards. Seen the spirit of old Loretta Lamb, bless her heart, right here in the bar. Saw her plain as I'm seeing you right here now as the almighty is my witness.

She come drifting out from that wall there and across the room then vanished into that wall there. She was all dressed in red and beautiful as the day is bright. Didn't much look like I remember her mind, but I guess death becomes some of us and not others, not to speak ill of the departed."*

*This eye witness account is of the holographic projection employed by Michael Mirra. The reason the projection does not resemble the true Loretta Lamb is because Mirra used an actress for the hologram without ever researching Loretta's actual appearance.

On the subject of Tim and Jerry Barfield "A real professional pair of gents, them fellas. Ooowee, they was moneyed and had a good eye for what works and what don't.

They turned this place around alright, but I can't say I cared much for the kind of jokes those standing up comedians told. Too much cussin' and not enough joke if you ask me, which nobody ever did of course."

On the subject of Michael Mirra "Well now, he used to work on stage right here, performing the magic and tellin' the jokes. I did like watching Mister Mirra's tricks and some of them stunts he did... well I never could figure out how he done them. But then I guess that's why I clean out the water closets and he runs the show! Now he's the big boss but we don't see him so much.

Mostly we see Mister Key, the general manager. He's been here almost as long as me, a real cowpoke, miserable as the seven sins and you won't get a penny out of him for your troubles. I much preferred old Mister Rift. But 'course we don't talk about him much.

On the subject of Hugo Rift "Mister Rift was a personable fella. Them rumours about him beating his staff was all lies. I liked him a lot an' he always had a howdyado for me. Some folk here got britches too big for sayin' hello to a humble cleaner, like wipin' glasses and serving drunks makes you some kinda celebrity. Well, poor Mister Rift he turned kinda funny back when he ran the joint with Mister Mirra. Reckon you know the story behind that one. He used to go on down into that basement so often and I'd say to him 'you stay well clear of that place now Mister Rift. Ain't no good ever come of something like that an' you don't wanna go poking around, waking things up that best stays asleep. But he wouldn't listen and we all know how that ended."

On the subject of Native American Indians "Oh sure, this whole place all the way up to Hudson Bay was home to the native folk, and all Wilder was sacred to them. This was their land sure as six ways from Sunday, an' the white man came and snatched it all away.

Was a time when this was just wilderness, old as the hills. Folks forget that and they go traipsing about the place, building their skyscrapers and driving their cars and drinking their beer and lollygagging like they've always been in charge, and they forget this is old country. There's things been here longer than us, that's for sure. We're just a fart in a whirlwind compared to those old ideas. You mark my words. Them Injuns knew all about this place. There's a reason they called this sacred land and there's a reason they was as nervous of this place as a long tailed cat in a room full of rocking chairs."

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On the subject of demons "Don't reckon I know much about that, but I do know my own way through the world and there's things in that basement that don't belong. That's all I'd say. They don't belong.

Not to this world, nor the next. They was here a long time before us and they'll be here a long time after and we about as important to them as a monkey's ass matters to the man on the moon."

Any secrets to reveal about Smoke & Mirra's?

"Not since Mister Rift passed away. Things been quiet since then, but there's always that feelin', hangin' in the air like a bad smell, that something ain't right in Kansas. It's that basement. That nice Mister Barfield knew.

Why he called this place The Basement.

Yessir, he knew there was something up with that hole down there, sure as a pig in poke don't float."

ASV Any ASV undertaken anywhere in the house where EMF levels rise to 8.0 or higher will result in a successful ASV. Overseer should present players with Handout B.

Main Building Key 1 (Customer Entrance) See 'Arrival' for read-aloud description of the building and the Hunter team's first impressions of the interior. This is where customers arrive and enter the main club. A window in the wall opposite the entrance door is for ticket sales and also serves as a coat deposit.

Ambient Temperature: 70oF/21oC EMF: 0.0 Active Spirits: unlikely Seismic: none Power Supply: 1 socket Light: Overhead strip lights and recessed dimmer lights.

Research: There is no relevant research pertinent to this part of the building.

EMPATH Empaths and psychics will feel extremely uneasy as soon as they enter the building and this feeling will stay with them for the entire time, regardless of the room they are in, although some rooms are worse than others. The successful Empath dice check in this room will result in a feeling of subdued anger and a dark

but also a feral energy that seems more suggestive of a wild animal than of something either spiritually active or demonic.

PSYCHIC Empaths and psychics will feel extremely uneasy as soon as they enter the building and this feeling will stay with them the entire time, regardless of the room they are in, although some rooms are worse than others. The successful Psychic dice check will give the Hunter a glimpse back in time when this was the back room instead of the main entrance. This became the main entrance when the road was re-routed and the car park constructed. This happened in 1984 when the Barfield brothers took over the premises. The former main entrance used to be what is now the trade entrance (see map).

ENCOUNTERS The Hunters will have no significant encounters in this room.

2 Cloak Room & Ticket Office A scruffy office furnished with a threadbare couch and a rack for hanging coats. The walls are clad in old wooden slats and covered in pictures of Michael Mirra on stage, Michael Mirra acting on-screen, Michael Mirra shaking the hands of various stars and so on.

The pictures are dusty and faded and the rest of the room has a similar messy look. Next to another door is a neon light in the shape of Marilyn Monroe holding down her skirt as it billows in an updraft. This buzzes and flickers.

Various vintage signs for magic shows and alcoholic beverages surround the light.

On the wall opposite Marilyn is a grubby glass window to the main entrance hall and this is used to serve tickets and to take coats. A till stands on the inside of the window, along with a billet machine, a mug of stale coffee and a notepad on which someone has scrawled: 1) Quit... 2) College... 3) Get a decent job... this is followed by a scribbled stick man pointing a gun and holding up a badly drawn bank.

This room is used to serve tickets to customers and at night is used as a deposit cloak room for customers' coats. During the day when the club is open the person serving here will also check member credentials and vouchers for breakfast.

The room is untidy and ugly but not particularly active.

Ambient Temperature: 71oF/22oC EMF: 1d4.1d10 Active Spirits: The EMF levels here are caused by the neon light and faulty electrics.

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Seismic: none Power Supply: 3 sockets Lights: overhead strip light, lamp on the desk (plugged in) and the Marilyn Monroe neon light (also plugged in).

Research: this room features in a television documentary about Smoke & Mirra's and the exorcism of Hugo Rift. Both Michael Mirra and the general manager Sam Key gave interviews on the couch beneath the largest photograph of Michael Mirra. Though this gives no pertinent information it will jog the Hunter's memory that he watched the documentary and that, in turn, may help him to remember that Key claimed to believe there was a safe hidden somewhere in the building which once belonged to a former owner and that he had searched high and low but never found it. (For the Overseer's information this isn't true. Key did find the safe but lacked the code to open it and had it hidden again. His reveal that the safe exists was a regretful slip of the tongue induced by drinking

too much bourbon before doing the interview).

EMPATH This room feels grim and claustrophobic, but the empath will be unable to tell if this is an empathic feeling brought on by paranormal energy or from the gloomy and unattractive decor of the room, which evidently has not been properly cleaned or redecorated in a long time.

No results.

PSYCHIC ENCOUNTERS

The Hunters are unlikely to have any significant encounters in this room but a thorough search of the desk will result in them finding a key on a key ring marked "Back Office".

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3/4 Main Club / Bar A large space surrounded by booths and a bar in one corner. A stage stands against one wall where a microphone stands in front of a backdrop of fake bricks. A neon sign Michael Mirra's Magic World, SMOKE & MIRRA'S - glows blue above the stage.

Despite the somewhat dated decor and gloomy lighting you can see some state of the art computer equipment contained on a DJ booth alongside the stage and some hitech lighting rigs criss-cross the ceiling. Also hanging from the ceiling are chains ending in large meat hooks, which would seem to be a grim decoration but may in fact be a reference to the building's previous history as a slaughterhouse. There's even a distinct possibility the hooks are original to the building, though you've no way of telling as the hooks are too high to reach.

This is the main floor of the club where customers come to watch shows, to eat, drink and to generally have a good time. The stage is typically used for magic shows, comedians and the occassional live band.

The walls surrounding this space are covered in vintage memorabilia, either from Michael Mirra's own career or from the history of the area and the history of the building.

A corridor to the main entrance runs along one side of the room and on the wall next to the bar are two doors, one marked Restrooms, the other 'Employees Only'. A green 'Emergency Exit' sign glows above the door marked restrooms and there's another emergency exit sign above a door in the far corner of the room.

Some of the more interesting/creepy pictures framed on the wall of this area can be given to players as Handout C. Ambient Temperature: 71oF/22oC with sudden cold spots where spirits are moving about.

EMF: 1d10.1d10 Active Spirits: if EMF levels are at 7.0 or higher, any of the spirits listed under Entities (except Grey Wolf and the demon Baykak) will put in an appearance, either as shadow figures, glimmers of light, drifting orbs on camera or clear and lucid EVPs. Seismic: none Power Supply: 35 sockets (spaced around the room in clumps of 5 with the majority around the DJ booth and the stage) Light: Overhead lights. The hi-tech light rigs are switched off using a computer in the DJ booth and without access to the computer cannot be turned on, so these should be considered

inoperable.

Research: This was the room in which the exorcism of Hugo Rift (one of the most infamous videos on Youtube) was filmed. The exorcism took place on the stage with Michael Mirra standing behind his general manager while a priest performed the exorcism.

EMPATH The empath will recoil at this room and must make a Stability dice check, forced to retreat to one of the other rooms if he fails. He experiences a sense of death and his nostrils are overwhelmed with the stench of blood and entrails. The empath will be able to reveal that not only were animals slaughtered in this room, they were also tortured and tormented, live animals awaiting slaughter kept in pens alongside the piled carcasses of those already killed.

PSYCHIC The psychic senses the slaughter of animals and is able to play out a vision of Sawyer taking one of his clients around the abattoir floor. During the conversation between the handsome and debonair but cold and calous Sawyer, he explains to the horrified looking client that slaughter is always brutal and slow as he believes that a painful and stressful end makes for a tastier cut of meat and is convinced this method makes his meat more popular than that of rival abattoirs.

The psychic will sense the client's feelings on this matter. Sawyer is only more popular because his buyers are terrified of sourcing their product anywhere else. The meat is widely considered sub-standard and over-priced but few would dare say so aloud, and those who have are vanished, rumoured to now reside somewhere in the Basement of Blood, as Sawyer's enemies call it. All of this information can be confirmed with a Research dice check, but the dice check must be made by another player in order to verify the psychic's vision. A Kudos award can be made in this instance, but not if the psychic verifies his own vision.

ENCOUNTERS Power Drain Battery operated equipment used in this room may be manipulated by entities. For each device in use the Overseer rolls 1d6 and on a roll of 1 the battery of the device drains completely. The battery can be recharged but this will take approximately one in-game hour. Each device is assumed to have one backup battery, but if this drains as well, the device cannot be used while batteries are charging. Remember that for each battery charging one socket must be occupied.

Gunfire (EMF ≼ 5.0) Hunters hear distant cracks and snapping sounds. All players make a Fluke roll and the first to succeed is awarde a Talent for using firearms (see Making a Talent Check in the main rulebook). This Hunter recognises (and will recognise in future) not only the sound of a gun 16

firing but also the type of gun. In this case he will identify the sound as more likely to be the crack of an old fashioned musket than the more solid report of a modern weapon.

Talents related to the use of firearms should also cover the firing of guns accurately.

A Disconcerting Gift (EMF ≼ 7.0) All players make a Fluke dice check in a random order determined by the Overseer. The first to succeed notices something hanging from one of the lighting rigs. A camera zoom or something similar can be used to determine that the item is an old Native American dream catcher. If the item is recovered somehow (requiring the players come up with a method for getting up high, as the ceiling is approximately 30 feet above ground level) the dream catcher is revealed to be a delicate object, evidently hand made from willow and feathers with no discernible use of glue or other fixatives.

If the dream catcher is recovered and handled by the Hunters (and only if this happens) more of the same will turn up throughout the building again and again and with such frequency that Hunters will start to realise that the ones they are discovering were not there the last time they were in the same room. Dream catchers will always manifest where they cannot be seen by video cameras or other recording equipment, though they can be recorded once they are manifest.

If the dream catchers are kept for any period of time they will start to turn into a strange gluelike substance which, if analysed by the Scientist Contact, turns out to be a silicate which has been subjected to a very strong electromagnetic field, turning it into a plasma. The Scientist will be quick to explain that this is an entirely normal aspect of physics and the term plasma should not be confused with ectoplasm, plasma being one of the four natural states of a material, the others being solid, liquid and gas. She is unable to explain how the silicate was turned into a dream catcher but might suggest a highly advanced method of molding. Some plastics, she might explain, can degrade quickly if the right mixture of stabilizer and base material are not combined in the right quantities prior to molding.

fabric of her dress moving as though under water, her hair moving in a similar way. She smiles serenely as she floats by but seems to look through you, rather than at you.

Seemingly from all around the room you hear a feminine voice saying, "why did you do it Ernest? I loved you so much."

The apparition drifts toward the bar before descending slowly and vanishing. The lights flicker again, then return to their previous level of illumination.

Unless the Hunters are immediately cynical they will probably erupt into action, grabbing their favourite recording equipment in order to capture the moment. The Overseer should read the above description with a pause between each paragraph so that players can organise themselves. The apparition is deliberately longwinded in order to give witnesses plenty of time to see Loretta, but not quite enough time to switch on cameras and aim them for a decent photograph. The flickering and dimming of the lights ensures any pictures tend to be badly lit.

The use of flash photography will cause the hologram to fade and failure to use a flash will result in a blurred and indistinct splash of colour instead of a clearly resolved image of the hologram.

The hologram is created by twelve special projectors positioned around the room. Some of these are embedded flush to the floor beneath the hologram and may be spotted if Hunters examine the floor after seeing Loretta, with a view to debunking the apparition.

Incontrovertible evidence of the fraud can be found elsewhere in the building but will require some detective work, as well as some bold trespassing which might get them into trouble. If the team submit any video footage of the hologram they should be awarded a decent haul of Kudos, but if they subsequently discover the fraud and reveal it as part of a later (or the same) investigation they must lose whatever Kudos they originally earned, multiplying that value by 2.

The (Fake) Ghost of Loretta Lamb The Overseer should read the following out loud to players, pausing after each paragraph so that players can organise themselves: The lights in the room flicker then dim and your eye is suddenly drawn to one side of the room. A glowing woman dressed in a red dress appears there. Her face is heavily made-up and her hair looks carefully styled.

She is clear to see and seems solid enough except for a semi-transparency. You can see the wall behind her.

The woman rises slowly into the air, the 17

5 Store Room An extremely untidy store room with metal shelves lining the walls and cardboard boxes piled high.

One side of the room is in a more respectable state and this is used to house cleaning equipment, mops, buckets, vacuum cleaners and other items.

The main section of the room, however, has been given over to the hoarding of objects large, small, familiar and unidentifiable.

Immediately visible amidst the chaos are a wooden sign with an old fashioned pointing finger symbol and the legend "This Way to Stop at Newpont's Waystop!"; a box spilling over with old VHS video tapes; various objects that look like they are probably magic props; an old munitions case made of rusty metal; a large and heavy looking disc of dark metal covered in writing and symbols (a closer look will be needed to figure out what these are and what they say); something that looks like a DVD player and which seems to be plugged in and switched on (judging by the flashing green light on the front of the device); a craps table, folded up, and an old roulette wheel with numbers missing; broken amps and some electric guitars with no strings; a drum kit; a worn out fedora; a set of handcuffs and countless boxes tapes shut and marked with black pen. Some of the more visible of these are marked 'Machine Parts' and 'Too Rusty To Use'.

There are three doors in this room, all on one side. Strangely two of the doors lead into the same corridor.

This used to be a dressing room during the era of Ernest Cline. It is now used as a dumping ground for antiques belonging to the history of the building, cleaning equipment and filed archives.

Most of the taped up boxes are either marked 'Photos' followed by year or alphabetical index, or 'Receipts' marked by year. The boxes marked photos contain pictures taken of performers on stage and also clips from newspapers. There is a veritable mountain of these and going through all of them would be impractical in terms of time. Most show well known comedians, magicians and singers performing and are unlikely to be of much interest to the Hunters in any case.

The following items (mentioned in the description above) include any specific areas of interest, should the players look at any one object in particular, and also any empathic or psychic impressions Hunters who have these abilities might experience if they hold or touch the objects and make a successful dice check.

VHS Tapes If the Hunters go through the VHS tapes they will find at least half of these contain hardcore pornography. Others are of performances at the club and include many famous sets. One is the original footage of the exorcism of Hugo Rift and is marked 'Rift'. The footage has since been transferred by Mirra to digital and from there archived on DVD and online, so the tape is of little worth but probably of great interest to the team.

Magical Props The magical props are unlikely to be of much interest. There's a case for sawing a woman in half, a levitation harness, a card trick table with a fake base and other items of a similar antique but unimportant nature.

The magical props will return no empath impressions, but psychics will be able to tell that these are items collected by Michael Mirra rather than items used in modern magic shows.

Each has a famous history and belonged to a famous magician.

Munitions Case This case dates from the period when the building was used as a factory during World War II and is full to the brim with empty bullet jackets.

Empaths will sense sadness and worry, the lingering emotional remnant of the women who made the bullets, separated from their men, for the most part, and forced out of a sense of duty to work in the factory.

Psychics will experience the same. These bullets were never live and never fired in anger. Instead they are all that remains of the last batch manufactured in the building.

Disc of Metal This is the manhole cover commissioned by Captain Henry Newpont after he discovered the well in the basement and guessed at its history.

See Handout D. The disc has a diameter of three feet and a thickness of three inches and is extremely heavy.

It rests against one wall where the upper face can be examined quite easily. Around the circumference of the disc are the words: The Leitch Well - Discovered by Captain Henry Newpont of Newport Outpost Kentucky 1880.

In the centre of the disc is a symbol which looks like two arrows pointing in different directions, and beneath this is the legend: In memory and respect May the fallen rest And find peace With the great SPIRIT 18

A successful Research dice check reveals the arrows pointing in different directions is a Native American symbol for war. The player who makes this dice check should also make a Fluke roll and if successful happens to notice that the metal blobs on the disc are in fact gaps between diagonal intersecting lines which form a circular grid. This is the symbol for death and was deliberately included by Newpont, a keen anthropologist and highly experienced with local Indian dialect and legend.

return at a future point they can find out the numbers between Haunts. Alternatively, if the Overseer is feeling lenient, a Fluke roll from all players can be made and the first person to succeed has enough of a fascination with gambling and a good enough memory to know exactly which numbers are missing and in what order.

Empaths and Psychics will receive nothing particularly noteworthy if they touch the cover, but they will sense a lingering malevolence somewhere below them suddenly seems to take notice. How they interpret this is up to the player.

Broken Amps, Electric Guitars & Drum Kit Some old junk, broken and in need of repair.

The amps are now outdated compared with the hi-tech set up and the guitars need restringing.

The skins on the drums are missing and the cymbals have seen better days.

DVD Player In fact, this is a NVR device which serves as a central recording point for four static cams which are positioned around the building and which are recording the activities of the player group. One camera is in the main club, positioned above the bar, one is in the Green Room (location 10), one is in the locked storeroom (location 9) and one is in the basement.

Any Hunter who possesses the Static Cam or System Expertise skills may make a Tech dice check and if successful is able to determine that the NVR is actively recording and that there are probably hidden security cameras dotted about all over the building.

The contents of the NVR can be wiped clear by any Hunter who has the System Expertise skill and who makes a successful dice check. Only recordings prior to the NVR being wiped will be removed. Anything recorded thereafter will need to be wiped again before the Hunters finish their investigation.

Craps Table An old fashioned craps table with folding legs.

The felt is worn and torn and the markings are faded. There's nothing particularly special about this table and Empaths/Psychics are unlikely to get much beyond a sense that this was once used in the building and not in a legitimate sense.

The people who played on this table did so illegally.

Roulette Wheel This roulette wheel is worn and scratched.

Some of the numbers are missing. If Hunters have smartphones or other devices capable of connecting to the internet they can quickly reference a picture of a roulette wheel and determine that the numbers 0, 15, 4 and 2 (going clockwise around the ring) are missing.

This combination of numbers will open the safe hidden in this storeroom (see below).

A Research dice check cannot be used to retrospectively ascertain the missing numbers, but if the Hunters finish at this Haunt then

Psychics and Empaths will experience nothing unusual if they touch this object.

Psychics and empaths will sense nothing if they touch these objects.

Worn Out Fedora A label on the inside is embroidered J Higgins.

Empaths who make a successful roll will immediately drop the hat. In a split second they feel an overwhelming sense of horror and the unnerving knowledge that they are about to die, and they are about to die in the most horrible and agonising way imaginable. There are no specifics, just vague but extremely charged and emotional sensations. The experience requires the empath makes a Stability dice check.

If a psychic touches the hat and makes a successful roll they experience Vision 6 of the Ganzfeld and God Helmet visions (see Generic Sessions). The psychic will also need to make a Stability dice check after their vision.

Set of Handcuffs A trick set, not real. Part of a stage show prop.

Psychics and empaths will sense nothing from these.

Box of Machine Parts Old rusting cogs, screws, nuts and bolts, chains and unidentifiable metal parts, some of which are stamped with a maker's name and the date 1945. These are remnants from the time when the building was used as a munitions factory and were spares or broken pieces of molding and joining machines.

Psychics and empaths will sense this if they touch any of the objects and make a successful dice check.

Box of Objects 'Too Rusty to Use' This box is filled with knives, meat cleavers, old fashioned prison shackles, saws, metal bars, pliers, hammers and even a metal vice, all of which are - as the inked title of the box suggests - extremely rusty and in a state of disrepair.

These items were all salvaged from a room in the basement when Ernest Cline took over the 19

building and uncovered Cincinatti Sawyer's old torture chamber down there. All the items were used at some point to torture Sawyer's victims and if a UV lamp is cast over them it reveals all are covered in dry blood as well as rust.

Any empath who touches one of the items will experience the agony of being tortured. Psychics will instead witness the torture as unfolding visions that go on for as long as they continue to touch or hold the item. They will be unable to identify where or when the torture takes place because the location is too dark, only that the room where the torture takes place is at the bottom of a wooden stairway, the victim is male and the torturers are dressed in black butcher's aprons with hockey masks covering their faces.

Each torture session ends in the murder of the victim.

Both the empath and psychic must make a Stability dice check once their experience ends.

Ambient Temperature: 71oF/22oC with sudden cold spots where spirits are moving about.

EMF: 1d12.1d10 Active Spirits: Loretta Lamb and Gordon Tubbs.

Seismic: none Power Supply: 3 sockets Light: Overhead bulb.

Research: none.

EMPATH The empath will only experience something if they touch one of the objects stored here (see above).

PSYCHIC The psychic sees the following:

ENCOUNTERS Loretta (EMF ≥ 5.0) Loretta will rise from an area where she would spend hours applying her makeup. She will then glide toward one wall where she will subsequently vanish. To the naked eye the apparition will appear spectral and strange, but on camera it will look suspiciously like a blurred mote of dust floating across the lens.

If Hunters investigate the point where the light vanished the Overseer should call for a Fluke roll.

If the roll succeeds the character raps on the wall with his knuckle and notices the sound echoes, suggesting a hollow wall. If a hole is made Hunters will uncover a recess and the front plate of a wallbedded safe which has been dry-walled over at some point in the past. The code for the safe is 01542. These numbers are missing from the roulette wheel stored here as a way to surreptitiously jog the memory of Cline without making it obvious this is what the numbers are. In the safe players will find Player Handout A. They will also find several wads of cash, squirrelled away here by Ernest Cline. This is unclaimed cash and the players can take it without consequence. If they intend to open the safe and conceal their taking of the money, Players will need to recruit the Tradesman Contact to cover the recess anew. The cash gives the group 500 Kudos, though it should be noted that if their theft is discovered they will be penalized 1000 Kudos.

Cigar Smoke (EMF ≥ 3.0) A strong smell of cigar smoke fills the room.

This is from Sawyer whose main vice, after killing, was expensive cuban cigars.

The room transforms from a drab and cluttered storeroom to a bustling dressing room filled with performers of both sexes.

Along one wall is a long dresser furnished with mirrors and covered in makeup, wigs and a chaos of theatrical odds and ends.

The Basement Speaks (EMF ≥ 12.0) A great groaning, like the colossal creaking of timbers on an ancient galleon, comes from somewhere underfoot and the floorboards of this room seem to swell and rise upwards in the centre, as though an enormous pressure were expanding underneath.

A beautiful woman in full makeup and a glittering dress covered in silver sequins is perched on the edge of a craps table upon which stands a roulette wheel. She is talking heatedly with a fat man dressed in a white suit and white stetson. The vision fades.

The Overseer should play the audio groaning.wav after he has described what is happening. After the groaning fades the lightbulb dims and the room starts to quake, objects fall off shelves and topple over then the quake dissipates and the room returns to normal.

The player should make a Fluke roll and if they succeed, before the vision has faded completely, the Hunter spots a safe on one of the walls.

When the vision ends the safe is no longer there, but any investigation of the place where the safe was will reveal a hollow recess hidden behind drywall and the safe is still there, though the Hunters will need to know the code if they want to open it.

20

6 Back Hall A dark hallway, the walls clad in oak-stained slats and the overhead light fitted with a stained glass shade, all of which combines to make the space appear to be very gloomy.

Large double doors with a glowing sign overhead that reads "Fire Exit" stands on one side of the hall. Opposite this is a stairwell made of warped wood, the steps steep and the roof-space overhead inadequate.

There are multiple doorways here, with two marked as Kitchen, one as Kitchen & Bar, two as Office, one as Exit and one as Ticket Office.

Once the main entrance into the building, this is now the back door, hallway and tradesman's entrance where stock, performers and workers enter and leave the property.

Ambient Temperature: 50oF/10oC (this space always feels cold, regardless of the temperature outside).

EMF: d12.d10.

Active Spirits: as a room closely connected with the basement (accessible via the stairs) this is a highly active area where many apparitions have been seen over the years. The demon Baykak's presence will also be felt here, but the most likely spirit to haunt this area is Cincinatti Sawyer.

Seismic: none Power Supply: 2 sockets Light: 1 Overhead light Research: none EMPATH The empath will get a very strong sense of foreboding, especially strong as he approaches the stairs. He senses that death surrounds this part of the building and the hallways has a long history of high emotion and fear.

PSYCHIC The psychic will hear distant voices not heard on EVPs and will hear far-away pounding of drums which will also not be recorded on any equipment.

ENCOUNTERS Swaying Light (EMF ≥ 5.0) The lamp shade hanging in the middle of the ceiling starts to swing on its own. No draught can be detected anywhere in the room and the double doors leading to the exterior are fairly airtight.

Any Hunter who approaches the doors to close them again will catch a glimpse of Grey Wolf moving furtively in the darkness about 100 feet away. A huge shaggy shape which seems to blot out not only the landscape behind it but even some of the stars and parts of the horizon. The shape merges with the darkness and is gone.

The Rats (EMF ≥ 12.0) The Hunters hear a shuffling sound coming from down the basement stairs and see hundreds of tiny points of light glittering in the shadows. The Overseer should read the following: Suddenly a rat races over the top step and into the hallway. It sits on its haunches and sniffs the air then darts toward the double back doors which fly open, as if to accomodate the rat's escape.

Then, as you watch, another rat appears, then another, and another. Four, five, six, ten, fifteen, thirty. Too many to count, swarming over the stairs, scrabbling toward the exit, a seething river of vermin making a frantic break for freedom. You are forced to step away and find your back flat against the wall as hundreds upon hundreds, then thousands upon thousands of the creatures flow across the room, their squeals and the scampering of their claws on the wooden floor like the sound-track to some unimaginable nightmare.

Before you know it, the rats are gone, the last stragglers racing out of the double doors, the swarm fading into the dark of the night and the thickness of the brush beyond the perimeter of the grounds. The double doors swing shut and all that remains is the odour of the rats and a lingering sense of horror.

The rats are not, strictly speaking, paranormal in and of themselves. They are the colony born from the hundreds of rats Cincinatti Sawyer used to throw down the well after his victims.

They have been breeding in the depths of the cavern, thriving on the waste product of Sawyer's abattoir and his human victims. Since then they have turned to cannibalism but are also imbued with supernatural energy from the demonic vortex that exists down there and from Baykak itself, a demon of the wilderness and of things that live wild. Their sudden appearance results from the restlessness of the demon who has sent them fleeing up the well shaft. Though there are thousands of rats in this encounter, the vast majority remain in the well, the cavern filled with millions of the creatures.

All Hunters who experience this encounter must make a Stability dice check.

Back Doors Open (EMF ≥ 10.0) The double doors to the outside suddenly fly open. There is no wind and no apparent cause for this event.

21

7 Kitchen The kitchen and food storage where items from the club's menu are prepared.

The kitchen looks clean and modern, with stainless steel worktops, contemporary stateof-the-art cookers, coolers and grills. An overhead network of air-con pipes and conduit give the room a hi-tech space-ship kind of feeling. Evidently no expense has been spared on providing the best quality equipment and preparation space for Smoke & Mirra's chefs.

The kitchen will contain little of interest to the Hunters and is a low activity area with lots of power outlets, well suited to a base of operations. o

Ambient Temperature: 71 F/22oC EMF: 1d20.1d10* Active Spirits: spirits are rarely active here due to the high levels of light and the bustle of human activity.

Seismic: none.

Power Supply: 15 sockets Light: overhead strip lights Research: none.

EMPATH The empath will feel nothing out of the ordinary.

PSYCHIC The psychic can determine that this room was once an office and that this side of the building once served as the front entrance and face of the premises. This is especially true of the period preceding the construction of the main highway when the building belonged to Cincinatti Sawyer, and before that to Captain Henry Newpont.

ENCOUNTERS No notable encounters.

8 Corridor A corridor with numerous doors in a relatively small space. At one end of the corridor is an exterior door marked "Emergency Exit". Opposite this, at the other end is a door marked "Kitchen, Staff Only".

A door with the symbol for the ladies WC and one marked as the mens toilets stand next to one another and on the other wall is a door marked "Bar/Club". Beside this is yet another door, this time marked "Staff Only."

This is a relatively quiet space and somewhere Hunters can retreat if they need a break from the terrors of the club and to get some fresh air.

The exterior door leads to the side of the building overlooking a ridge and the forest below. This is a tranquil place to stand, smoke and recover one's senses.

Ambient Temperature: 71oF/22oC EMF: 0.0 Active Spirits: none Seismic: none Power Supply: none Light: overhead strip light Research: none.

EMPATH The empath feels nothing out of the ordinary.

PSYCHIC The psychic experiences nothing here.

ENCOUNTERS No significant encounters.

9 Locked Stores

The door to this store-room is labelled with a sign that says "No Entry" and is locked. The key can be found in the ticket office.

A scruffy store room with shelves stacked with cardboard boxes and ring binder files, all covered in dust and cobwebs. A window on the left side as you come in has been boarded over and there seem to be no other doors here.

A search of the boxes reveals they are mostly marked as financial records, though some of them contain other items, including old stillery equipment (demi-jons, pipes and corks, empty wine bottles and other odds and ends used for brewing, all of which look antique).

If the files are searched one Hunter must spend 1d6 investigative sessions occupied with the task of going through the various boxes and binders before he finds anything of interest. This is a series of invoices, letters and receipts constituting Handout E. Ambient Temperature: 71oF/22oC EMF: 0.0 Active Spirits: none.

Seismic: none Power Supply: 1 socket Light: bare overhead bulb Research none.

EMPATH The empath will feel nothing of note.

PSYCHIC The psychic will experience nothing of note.

22

ENCOUNTERS Caught in the Act This room is off limits to paranormal investigators and if they are here, they are trespassing. Since the last paranormal team to visit Smoke & Mirra's also entered this room snooping for secrets, Mirra and Sam Key have had a surveillance camera installed which is always switched on when paranormal teams are working the building. Tonight is no exception and so the Hunters will be caught on cam.

If any Hunter possesses the Static Cams Expertise skill he may make a Fluke roll and if successful notices the surveillance camera as he is inspecting the room for likely spots in which to position his own cams. He may be doing this as a reflex, having trained himself to notice good positions whenever he enters a new place and need not be actively setting up cams at the time.

The camera is connected to a NVR digital storage device which can be found in the storage room at location 5. Sam Key will check the footage after the Hunters have quit the Haunt and if he finds them snooping he will show the footage to Mirra.

Mirra will either ban the team from returning, if he thinks they failed to find anything compromising, or he may instead try to bribe them if he thinks they did. The players themselves may have found incriminating information which they could use as leverage.

Mirra will only tolerate so much, however. He will happily let the team investigate the building for free (Kudos cost is reduced to just 20) and will not press charges or ruin their reputation with other investigation sites, provided they agree to hand over any and all compromising information and recordings they have.

He can be a ruthless character and if players test his patience too much (by blatantly blackmailing him for money, for example, or by retaining information instead of destroying it or handing it over) Mirra is likely to employ thugs to either teach the team a lesson, or, in extreme cases, to bring them back to the building so that he and Sam Key can throw them down the well. If this latter fate meets the Hunters Mirra and Key will be accompanied by numerous burly thugs, all armed to the teeth. Escape may prove impossible (though creative use of the Cop Contact might result in a successful rescue and the arrest of Mirra and his company).

If the team are targetted for a lesson instead, the thugs will follow them to their next investigation site and will break in during the night, toward the end of the investigation, to do one of two things. They will either smash up equipment or they will attack the Hunters. Attacks will cause serious loss of Condition for all Hunters and a Condition dice check will be necessary (see Incurring Condition Damage in the Overseer Edition rulebook). Smashed up equipment will be beyond repair. The Overseer will need to

decide which equipment damaged and to what extent.

is

subsequently

If the group are charged with trespassing they lose 100 Kudos and if they want to investigate this Haunt again will face a Kudos cost of 440, assuming Mirra doesn't ban them outright. Their reputation is damaged and any future Haunts will come with an extra 10 point cost.

10 Green Room A dressing room, smartly furnished with white walls covered in old photographs and illustrations of magical performances and a desk equipped with a coffee machine, a bowl filled with chocolates and ornamented with a vase of flowers. Under the desk is a mini-bar on the opposite side of the room are two comfortable leather couches. A coffee table stands in front of these and a selection of magazines are stacked underneath.

A door in one wall is marked 'Exit' and another in the opposite wall is marked 'Backstage'.

This is the green room for performers and is used as a place for them to prepare themselves before sets. This wing of the building is relatively new, having been added in 2004.

Ambient Temperature: 71oF/22oC EMF: 0.0 Active Spirits: none Seismic: none Power Supply: 5 sockets (desk lamp, coffee machine and mini-bar are plugged into three of these sockets).

Light: overhead strip lights and a desk lamp (plugged into one socket).

Research none.

EMPATH The empath senses this room does not have the same troubled feeling as the rest of the building and will surmise that this area of Smoke & Mirra's is newly constructed and not part of the original premises. There is, however, a certain level of tension here which the empath imagines is caused by the nerves of performers who use this room before going on stage.

PSYCHIC The Psychic will have no experiences here.

ENCOUNTERS Static Cam Any Hunter with the Static Cams Expertise skill will spot a security camera located in the top corner of the room above the exit door. He will be able to identify it as a centralized digital cam, probably streaming to a NVR device using wifi.

23

11 Backstage An empty area with two doors and walls painted black. One door is marked Green Room and the other, partially obscured by a red curtain, is marked Stage. The wall on one side is covered in cable and wiring and here is a computer system of some kind, the screen for which seems to be embedded in the wall. A bunch of microphone stands are situated in one corner along with a variety of musical instruments, including an upright piano, a Korg keyboard and stand, a Yamaha drum machine and an accoustic guitar. Here also, leaning against the wall, are wooden sections of stage which are probably used to make raised platforms or to extend the stage for band sets.

This back stage area will be manned by a stage manager during performances, the computer system hooked into both the DJ booth set up and the stage lighting, audio and digital teleprompter (should the performer need it).

The computer system is switched off but can be turned on by any Hunter with the System Expertise skill. If the Hunter makes a successful System dice check they will notice a strange software running in the background which seems to operate something called 'Fusion Scope'. The software is password protected, so even a Hunter with System Expertise will be unable to see what the software does.

Ambient Temperature: 71oF/22oC EMF: 1d10.1d10 Active Spirits: Any of the spirits can be active here, but they are unlikely to appear unless EMF levels are measured at 10 or higher.

Seismic: none Power Supply: 3 sockets Light: overhead strip light Research Although a retrospective Research dice check may not be made, at the end of this investigation the players may research Fusion Scope and discover that this is the name of holographic technology linked with UneekWorld Effects, a movie and stage pyrotechnics and special effects company. Also: a successful Research dice check made now will reveal this room and the green room (location 10) are new extensions to the main building and were constructed in 2004.

EMPATH The empath will feel this room is somehow different to the rest of the building and surmises that this is a newer section, probably recently constructed.

PSYCHIC The psychic will experience nothing noteworthy here.

ENCOUNTERS None.

Basement Key 12 Main Basement Space A vast space, probably as large as the entire building above. The walls are made of blockstone and the floor is covered in algae-green tiles. The ceiling is held aloft by thick pillars and these are covered in the same tiles. To your right you can see two arched doorways.

One is marked NO ENTRY and the other is marked "NO ENTRY, KEEP OUT, NO UNAUTHORISED ACCESS". A foul smell fills the air, like festering meat mixed with burning rubber.

Around the edges of the room various piles of junk have accumulated. In one corner are some huge barrels stencilled with the words "Ike Winchester SALT". Next to these are dismantled sections of an enormous extractor fan and vent, the metal dented and covered with rust.

On the far side of the room you can see a gurney of the sort used by surgeons or morticians and this is covered in various stainless steel implements. The gurney stands next to a long wooden bench with a vice and drill press. Also on this side of the room is a huge disc of thick glass which must be at least fifteen feet wide.

In the middle of the room is a pit, also about fifteen feet wide and probably twice this in depth. You can see what looks like the top of a ladder poking over the rim.

The basement has a long and terrible history.

This is where the blood and gore from Cincinatti Sawyer's abattoir would be siphoned from the meat then drained into the well. The pit would be filled with the carcasses of butchered animals and these would then be burned, fire and smoke funnelling through the industrial extractor fan. The stench this practise generated still lingers here even after all this time.

The well has been used repeatedly over the years as a place to dump the enemies of the building's owners, dead or alive and more often alive than dead.

The gurney and the workbench are remnants of Sawyer's toture chamber, though Mirra keeps them here only to add a sense of atmosphere and to frighten visitors. The basement was, until recently, open to the public and patrons of the club. Sam Key would run regular tours of the space during the night at cost per head.

The well was covered by the large disc of tempered glass so that thrill seekers could stand 24

over the 'Gate to Hell' while Key described some of the more horrific atrocities that have been perpetrated here. The practise stopped after several innebriated guests reacted badly to the well. Some suffered panic attacks and others fainted. When a visitor dropped his camera onto the glass, nearly cracking it, Key advised Mirra to stop the tours and the room was closed off. It is now visited only by paranormal teams and staff, though the only staff that come down here are Key and Mirra.

Ambient Temperature: 32oF/0oC with plenty of sudden cold spots.

EMF: 1d20.1d10 Active Spirits: Any and all spirits may be active here.

Seismic: noteworthy. If a seismometer is positioned anywhere in the pit it will detect unusual levels of vibration which have no discernable source. The vibration is caused by the thrumming of the demonic vortex at the bottom of the well.

Power Supply: 1 socket

check, though it might be hinted at as rumours which are well known to regulars and staff. Key would always describe the murderous ways the well was used on his tours and this information can subsequently be found in his notes which are in the locked office (location 13). The killer of Sawyer, his former business partner, confessed to throwing Sawyer alive into the well and this might be revealed as well as a result of successful rolls.

EMPATH The empath will suffer a panic attack and will feel a terrible presence. His heart rate will increase significantly and he will begin to sweat, his breathing will become shallow and he will lose feeling in his hands. He must be supported and helped out of the basement and will recover fairly quickly if he is taken out of the building, or into one of the less active or non-active parts of the building. If he remains in the basement or active parts of the building the panic attack worsens. His lips will become numb and his voice slurred. His fingers will curl inward and his body will shake. He will lose consciousness and is at risk of permanent damage.

If the Hunter loses consciousness, the player should make a Stability dice check. If he fails, he must make a Condition dice check and if he fails that he slips into a coma from which he will not recover. If he succeeds his Condition dice check, his Condition drops to 1 and he must be removed to a hospital. This requires the calling of an ambulance and that the player is out of the game for the rest of this investigation.

It should be assumed he recovers between this investigation and the next.

Light: overhead strip lights.

Research: If Hunters make successful Research dice checks for the basement they will discover Handout G, a piece written by Captain Henry Newpont, one of the earliest owners of the building and the land. There is no written records of Sawyer's methods for using the well to kill off his enemies and this should not be revealed as a result of a successful Research dice

If the player succeeds his Stability dice check, he revives and is violently sick.

His vomit is like black tar and so copious that the amount expelled from his body will seem impossible.

Thereafter he will be ok, but will need to leave the basement. If he stays in the basement he will suffer another panic attack and the process of dice checks should be repeated.

PSYCHIC The psychic is suddenly alone in the basement.

The dismantled extractor fan, once rusted and in pieces, is now in one piece and attached to the ceiling, hanging over the pit. The room looks similar, but the tiles are slick with blood around the edge of the pit.

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One of the doors (neither are marked anymore, the psychic will notice) opens. The Overseer should read the following to the psychic:

A tall and handsome looking man dressed in dapper 1920s style clothing emerges from a well lit office. He closes the door and stands for a moment as he lights a cigar. He doesn't see you, and from your past experiences of visions like this, you know that is because you are not there, at least from his perspective.

What you are witnessing is a replay of history, like a recording that only you can see.

The man takes a long draw on the cigar and exhales, sighing contentedly. At this moment the office door opens and a shorter man with a pug-face and a fedora on his head emerges.

The shorter man says "I ain't happy about it Soy. But if you think it's the thing to do, the boys are all behind you. You know that right?"

"Sure Floyd," the handsome man grins. "I know the boys are behind me."

"We're behind you alright, boss," says another voice. This time the other door has opened and several burly looking men, similarly dressed in dark pin stripe suits and fedoras appear.

"Bugs? Shifty?" Suddenly the handsome man looks less pleased with himself and turns slowly. "What's this?"

"Just business Soy," the pug-faced man shrugs.

He pulls out a gun and shoots the handsome man twice, once in each kneecap. The man drops to the floor screaming as the burly men surround him and begin kicking and stamping on him.

This dreadful scene continues for a few minutes until the handsome man - Soy - is no longer quite as handsome as he was. His face is a mess of blood, his nose broken and his teeth almost entirely smashed out. The burly men drag him toward the pit and he gurgles for mercy. They throw him over the edge, then one by one climb down the ladder.

You are unable to stop yourself from gliding toward the pit. The gangsters in the pit haul the limp but still living body of 'Soy' to a hole in the middle. They manhandle him head first into this hole, then shove him down. He vanishes, screaming, his voice dwindling as he falls into unimaginable depths below.

The man called Floyd throws the gun down the hole and swipes his hands together, as if cleaning them of dirt. "Just business Soy. You'd have done the same, ole pal."

The vision ends.

The psychic must make a Stability dice check and whether he succeeds or not will be extremely shaken by the vision.

If the names Soy, Floyd, Bugs and Shifty are researched (successful Research dice check) the Hunters recall from their notes (of historical references checked prior to the investigation) that Soy is short for Sawyer and that Floyd is Henry Floyd, Sawyer's old business partner and the man who confessed to his killing. Bugs and Shifty were nicknames given to Johnny Fitch and Vito Giordano, two of the butchers employed at the abattoir, later revealed to be professional killers and henchmen for Sawyer.

ENCOUNTERS Screaming EVPs (EMF ≥ 15.0) Any EVP recorded will result in capture of audio basement_screams.wav Shuffling & Shadow Figures (EMF ≥ 18.0) The Hunters hear shuffling feet and shortly thereafter notice shadowy figures all around the edges of the room moving as though marching one behind the other in single file, continually circling the space. The apparitions last just a second or two but are unnerving to behold. If the apparitions are caught on camera the group should enjoy considerable Kudos bonuses.

Manhole Cover If the manhole cover created by Captain Henry Newpont is brought down here and placed over the well EMF levels should be measured anew, this time using 1d4.1d10.

Successful Empath rolls made after the cover is in place will not result in the violent panic attack described above but will instead reveal to the empath that this room is a place of true horror, used as a site for torture and murder. It is a place where many angry spirits have left their mark, though the spiritual energy is unusual and seems to suggest the spirits are not bound to this location but are instead allied with something dark and supernatural.

Black Mists (EMF ≥ 5.0) When the group approach the pit and look down into it they may see three black mists swirling around the base of the pit. These drain quickly into the well and vanish. Anyone using a roving camera must make a Skill dice check to determine whether they were fast enough to capture the event. If the Hunter with the camera has the Roving Cam Expertise skill he may use this for his dice check instead.

The Glass Shatters (EMF ≥ 19.0) Without any prior warning the Overseer should play glass_shatters.wav at the highest volume he can.

The glass disc suddenly shatters, scattering into a thousand jagged shards which themselves smash into glittering pieces as they impact on the floor.

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This event will award high Kudos if captured on video, especially if it can be shown that no Hunter was anywhere near the glass at the time.

However, the award is tempered by the owners of this Haunt charging the Hunters for breakages. This will be a Kudos cost of 50 from any they manage to acquire at the end of the investigation.

If the Hunters have discovered the NVR and security cameras they will be able to use these to prove they did not smash the glass, or to prove that owner Michael Mirra and the manager Sam Key must have known they did not cause the glass to break, provided they can either acquire the NVR or record from it using their own equipment.

If any Hunter is close to the glass when it smashes, he must make a Condition dice check. if he fails, his Condition is reduced to 1 and he has been cut badly by the falling glass. An ambulance must be called and the victim will be removed to hospital. His player is out of this investigation for the rest of the game session but may attend the next game and is assumed to have recovered from his injuries. The player may increase Condition to 3 in this case.

Strange Photographic Effects (EMF ≼ 3.0) Polaroid pictures or photographs taken using analogue devices will show figures standing behind the Hunters. These figures look vaguely Native American, though their faces are extremely blurred and their bodies are shadowy.

Motion Detection Static cams trained permanently on the basement will record movement if they are fitted with motion detection. There will be no visible movement but the cameras will detect definite signs of motion.

Investigating the Pit Anyone who enters the pit will feel a sense of deep foreboding and a heavy, oppressive atmosphere. If any Hunter undertakes a successful session in the pit they must make a Stability dice check, regardless of the nature of the session.

Trying the Doors All doors encountered down here are locked and the keys are kept by Michael Mirra or Sam Key. They will not be available for the player group to find.

If the team seem intent on opening the locked doors and if she has no already done so, the Overseer should allow each player, chosen by her in random order, to make a Fluke roll and the first player to succeed has the Locksmith Talent. He should enter this on his character sheet for future reference.

As a locksmith, the Hunter can pick locks and open locked doors if he makes a successful dice check using the Talent. This does not apply to doors which are locked with some kind of

mechanism other than a standard deadlock or turning barrel lock, nor does it apply to doors barred by sliding bolts or electronic locks.

If players break and enter this room their activity will be recorded on the security camera hidden in the roof of the basement. The camera is trained on the office door and records direct via wifi to a centralized NVR device which can be found in location 5 of the main building.

Sam Key will check the footage after the Hunters have quit the Haunt and if he finds them snooping he will show the footage to Mirra.

Mirra will either ban the team from returning, if he thinks they failed to find anything compromising, or he may instead try to bribe them if he thinks they did. The players themselves may have found incriminating information which they could use as leverage.

Mirra will only tolerate so much, however. He will happily let the team investigate the building for free (Kudos cost is reduced to just 20) and will not press charges or ruin their reputation with other investigation sites, provided they agree to hand over any and all compromising information and recordings they have.

He can be a ruthless character and if players test his patience too much (by blatantly blackmailing him for money, for example, or by retaining information instead of destroying it or handing it over) Mirra is likely to employ thugs to either teach the team a lesson, or, in extreme cases, to bring them back to the building so that he and Sam Key can throw them down the well. If this latter fate meets the Hunters Mirra and Key will be accompanied by numerous burly thugs, all armed to the teeth. Escape may prove impossible (though creative use of the Cop Contact might result in a successful rescue and the arrest of Mirra and his company).

If the team are targetted for a lesson instead, the thugs will follow them to their next investigation site and will break in during the night, toward the end of the investigation, to do one of two things. They will either smash up equipment or they will attack the Hunters. Attacks will cause serious loss of Condition for all Hunters and a Condition dice check will be necessary (see Incurring Condition Damage in the Overseer Edition rulebook). Smashed up equipment will be beyond repair. The Overseer will need to decide which equipment is subsequently damaged and to what extent.

If the group are charged with trespassing they lose 100 Kudos and if they want to investigate this Haunt again will face a Kudos cost of 440, assuming Mirra doesn't ban them outright. Their reputation is damaged and any future Haunts will come with an extra 10 point cost.

Investigating the Well The human spirits cannot be moved into the next plane of existence unless the demon is first dispelled. For all practical purposes this should 27

prove impossible. The Hunters would need to organise a full investigation of the well, requiring skilled engineers and a great deal of financial outlay which the current owners of the building would not be willing to front. The Overseer may allow the use of Contacts and a (considerable) one-off expense of Kudos, but this would require successful use of the Councillor (such a large-scale excavation would require permission from local political offices and strict adherence to regulations) and at least two Tradesmen (representing engineers). The excavation would take place between investigations and would result in the discovery of the cavern, though nobody will be able to get into the cavern unless one of the Hunters volunteers and personally descends into the shaft. Engineers will be unwilling to go down but if any Hunter has the Historian Contact the Overseer may include a new Contact unique to this Haunt: the Spelunker.

The Spelunker will be a friend of the Historian who will agree to descend using a winch and (a very long) cable. How the team stay in contact with the Spelunker will be reliant on the equipment they have, but at such incredible depths (6000 feet altogether) radio equipment is unlikely to function. The Spelunker will charge 400 Kudos to perform the exploration and provides all equipment himself.

The Spelunker will not return from his investigation and when the cable slackens and is respooled the end has been chewed through.

The same will occur if a Hunter or Hunters descend the shaft. None will return and their fate will be unknown. The player should not be told what their character suffers at the end, but instead the character should now be included as a new spirit in any future investigations of the same Haunt.

If camera footage of the cavern is achieved by some miracle or ingenuity of the Hunters, the footage will show the following:

The screen is black, flickering with jagged lines of intermittent static. The interference clears and you hear the voice of the investigator on audio. His voice echoes and you can hear what sounds like a distant dripdripping. "Dark as Hell down here," the voice mutters. A shaft of light lances into the black and sways across the screen. The beam of the investigator's torch, though you cannot see any disc of light on a wall or ceiling, suggesting the space there is enormous. The ground looks weird. Almost organic. The investigator explains as he plays his torch over the floor "place is covered in animal bones and algae. There's a strange fungal mold growing on everything and movement all over the place. Rats I think.

Thousands of them. I can see their eyes watching me."

"I see something else!" the investigator suddenly exclaims and his torch light moves quickly, levelling at some point ahead. You can see a small white star in the middle of the screen which grows steadily in size, like a train headlamp oncoming through a pitch black tunnel.

As the star becomes an orb of glowing light you can make out a shape either beside, or behind it. Something very tall, swaying as it moves. The voice of the investigator on the scene returns, but now he sounds scared.

"There's someone there. Someone coming.

What the Hell? What is this?"

Static interference makes a mess of the scene and the voice of the investigator breaks up. He sounds increasingly frightened and urgent, but you can't hear exactly what he's saying. All you can see is zig-zagging lines of cracked imagery, mostly black with static snow and the occassional glimpse of that growing light.

Then the interference clears and the scream of the investigator fills the audio. Something else fills the screen. At first it looks like rags, illuminated from one side. Then the rags sway, opening like curtains to reveal pale flesh as thin as paper, grey and moldering with clearly defined ribs and scars crisscrossing every inch. Scars like tattoos, swirling and intersecting to form symbols.

The screen freezes on this astonishing sight, then flickers again and this time freezes on a mass of lank black hair, thick as seaweed.

Through a gap between the oily strands something like an eye glowers into the camera, then everything turns to chaos. The image is a blur and the audio filled with the screams of the investigator. His screams turn to a gurgle, then a chuntering sound, as though the very life were being shaken from him. Finally everything goes quiet, except for a quiet panting noise.

The camera has either fallen or been dropped and now seems still, showing only blackness with a slight tinge of grey light in the upper left corner. You hear a shuffling, dragging sound and the light gradually fades, as does the panting and the shuffling. Finally the screen is blank and the only thing you can see is the date stamp steadily ticking up the seconds and all you can hear is the rythmic drip-dripping of water somewhere in the distance.

If the symbols captured on screen are researched (successful Data Analysis and then Research dice checks, or the player may utilize the Historian Contact) they turn out to be ritual Native American Indian signs used by shamans.

They pertain to the spirits of the natural world, including those of spring, summer, autumn and winter, of the wide wilderness, of the meadows 28

and prairies and of the wild animals. The central symbol, which will be the clearest and firmly in the middle of the screen, means Death and is the mark of the demon Pau'Guk (Baykak).

13 Locked Office The door to this office is marked with a NO ENTRY sign and is locked. The key is kept by Michael Mirra, or Sam Key and so the door must be forced open, or the lock picked if Hunters want to get inside. See Location 12, Trying the Doors.

If the Hunters access the locked office: A sterile looking office with white walls made of sheet metal pocked with uniform rows and columns of holes. The floor is made of the same material, while the ceiling is covered in what looks like foil sheeting taped together with red duct tape. A large metal desk stands on one side of the room and next to this an electric heater. Filing cabinets flank the desk and on the wall behind is a large picture of Michael Mirra in full stage gear, performing close-up magic in which he produces a dove from his hands.

Ambient Temperature: An icy 28oF/-2.2oC but if the heater is switched on the room will warm up fairly quickly to a uniform 60oF/17.7oC EMF: 0.0 Active Spirits: none. This room is a Faraday Cage and cannot be infiltrated by the spirits.

Seismic: seismometers will pick up slight vibrations which seem to have no visible cause.

Power Supply: 6 sockets, 1 of which is used by the heater.

Light: overhead flourescent lights which do little to improve the sterile feeling of the room if they are switched on.

Research none.

EMPATH The empath will feel that this is an ugly place and that death lingers here. But he will feel nothing of the strange foreboding and horror of the rest of the basement.

PSYCHIC The psychic will experience nothing here, but if he makes a successful Psychic dice check will suffer sudden and extreme headaches which will continue until he leaves the room.

accompanying this Haunt. The entire room is a giant Faraday Cage which blocks all electromagnetic radiation and spirit activity.

The Filing Cabinets A search of the filing cabinets reveals a booklet full of scrawled writing. This belongs to Sam Key, the general manager, and contains his notes which he would refer to when running tours of the basement. The players should be given Handout H. Most of the other files in the cabinet are accounting and tax documents covering the business from 1998 to the present day.

Among these files, stuffed in between tax forms for the years 2001 and 2002 is an old paperback book called The Wendigo by Algernon Blackwood. On the inside cover someone has written 'Michael, perhaps this will help to explain Jerry B'.

This book in its entirety can be found online at the following URL should players wish to read it or at least to examine it: http://www.gutenberg.org/files/10897/10897h/10897-h.htm This link is provided as part of the Creative Commons license and is not an endorsement of the Gutenberg project or the Gutenberg website.

Reading the book will require time investment but if players are familiar with it and have read Wendigo before, it should be assumed that their player character has also read it and is familiar with the concept. Otherwise the Hunter who reads the book must sit out at least four sessions. After skim-reading he determines that the story is about a Native American Indian spirit called the Wendigo which haunts the remote wilderness regions of old America and preys on the isolated.

This book has no significant role to play in the game, except to reveal some real-life fiction pertaining to the Baykak demon and that Michael Mirra is aware of the demon's existence. The book was given to him by Jerry Barfield when, one drunken night, the brothers decided to let Mirra in on the secret of the well in the basement.

ENCOUNTERS Ghost Box Fails Ghost boxes will not work here and will just return static radio sound. The Overseer should play Faraday versions of those ghost box audios that have them in the Overseer Edition rule set and should not use any of the Vox files 29

14 Empty Storeroom

15 Sawyer's Torture Chamber

The door to this room is locked and marked with a sign that reads "NO ENTRY, KEEP OUT, NO UNAUTHORISED ACCESS."

The door to this room is locked. If the door is opened:

If the door is unlocked: An empty room lined with shelves which may once have been used for storage but which are now bare. Dust and cobwebs cover every surface.

A door stands in the far wall, grimy and rotten with mold. A sign on the door reads NO ENTRY. This second door is also locked.

Ambient Temperature: 32oF/0oC EMF: 1d20.1d10 Active Spirits: Any and all spirits may be active here.

Seismic: seismometers will pick up slight vibrations for which there is no obvious cause.

Power Supply: 1 socket Light: overhead strip lights.

Research: none.

EMPATH The empath will only be able to tolerate this room if the manhole cover has been placed over the well in the main room of the basement.

Otherwise any successful Empath dice check here has the same disastrous results as in location 12.

PSYCHIC The psychic has no experiences here, but if they already had the vision associated with room 12 and make a successful Psychic dice check here, they will be physically unable to enter this room, too overwhelmed by what they saw to even come near either of the two marked and locked doors.

ENCOUNTERS No noteworthy encounters in this room, though EMF levels are probably high enough that any session undertaken in here will have interesting results.

The door opens onto a wooden landing with rickety railings and banister. Wooden steps, which look as rotten as the door you just opened, descend to a half landing some twenty feet below and then another set of steps descending another twenty feet.

If the Hunters go down: A square room with walls covered in grime and rising damp. The floor is similarly damp with puddles of standing water here and there. A pentagram has been painted onto the floor and is smudged where the damp has compromised the paint.

In the middle of the room is an old table surrounded by chairs. Off to one side is a single metal chair which has mannacles used for restraining the arms of whoever sits in the seat soldered to the metal armrests. A similar collar restraint made of leather and with a buckle is attached to the backrest.

The walls are covered in disturbing pictures (Overseer gives players Handout I) and on the side opposite the chair with restraints is a bookshelf filled with old leather bound books. A quick glance at the spines of these books reveals titles like "Everybody's Book of Fate & Fortune, 1935", "The Encyclopedia of Freemasonry, A-Z", "Scientific Palmistry 1897", "Demoniality of Incubi and Succubi 1890", "Johannes Jacob Wecker Occult Book of Secrets of Alchemy Astrology and Sorcery 1582" and "The Magus, A Complete Book of Occult Philosophy, 1918".

This is Cincinatti Sawyer's old torture chamber and the negative energy here is currently used

by Michael Mirra, Sam Key and numerous other occultic practicioners from the world of celebrity and wealth to explore dark magic and demonism. Their fascinations are nurtured by the demonic entity Baykak who is pushing them steadily closer to performing ritual sacrifices using the well. Already the group have slaughtered various animals and dumped their blood and carcasses into the well, but they remain unsatisifed and have begun reading about the ritual of human sacrifice and this is inevitably going to be their next step.

Ambient Temperature: 32oF/0oC EMF: 1d20.1d10 Active Spirits: Any and all spirits may be active here.

Seismic: seismometers will pick up significant vibrations for which there is no obvious cause.

Levels will be measured at their highest if the seismometer is placed on the floor.

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Power Supply: 0 socket Light: overhead bare bulb Research: none.

EMPATH The empath will only be able to tolerate this room if the manhole cover has been placed over the well in the main room of the basement.

Otherwise any successful Empath dice check here has the same disastrous results as in location 12.

PSYCHIC The psychic finds himself suddenly alone in this room. Shadowy figures move all around him and he realises that he is seeing a playback of history; a recording of another time which only he can see.

Edition rulebook.

Possession will continue so long as the victim remains in the building. If he is taken outside into the fresh air he will recover and Sawyer will abandon him.

While possessed the Hunter will seem sinister and hateful. He will glower at other Hunters from under his brow and will grin, showing his teeth in a humourless way likely to unsettle his fellow team members. He will, however, be fairly passive and can easily be led wherever the group want to take him.

The Overseer should read the following to the psychic:

The table in the middle of the room and the shelves are gone. The gurney from the basement is down here and covered in tools, like hammers, saws, pliers and similar. The chair with the metal hand restraints and collar now stands in the middle of the room and one of the shadowy figures is seated in this.

The other figures resolve slowly to become men dressed in old fashioned clothes. They wear black butcher's aprons and hockey masks obscure their faces. The figure in the chair remains unresolved and shadowy, like a squirming black mist, while the masked figures use the various tools and implements on the gurney to torture the hapless soul.

Mercifully there is no audio associated with this vision, so you cannot hear the screams of the victim or the grunts of the masked men as they put their strength into their work.

The vision fades and the room returns to normal.

The psychic must make a Stability dice check after witnessing this vision.

ENCOUNTERS Demonology Bonus Any player who possesses the Demonology Expertise skill may increase the value of that skill by +1 if they spend the next three sessions reading the various antique occultist books kept on the shelves in this room.

Solitary Victim Anyone who dares to remain alone in this room while other Hunters retreat to another room will feel the presence of an extremely malevolent spirit and is temporarily possessed by the spirit of Cincinatti Sawyer. The Overseer should refer to page 138 of the Overseer 31

Handouts The Overseer should print out all handouts and place them in an envelope marked 'The Salem House' before play begins. The Overseer should ensure he brings all image envelopes to sittings if he intends to offer the associated Haunt to players.

The HPI image should be given to players as soon as the sitting begins, representing this Haunt as a choice. The Kudos price of the Haunt should be written on the back of the picture (200 Kudos).

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Smoke & Mirra's Magic World EVP Haunt #2 Written and produced by David Sharrock for Forever People Digital Press.

Forever People Š 2015 all rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other non-commercial uses permitted by copyright law. For permission requests please contact admin@foreverpeople.co.uk Forever People Digital Press www.foreverpeople.co.uk Published digitally 2015

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