A Soft White Damn 

By Will Schar (willzuma) 
 
Rain is no respecter of persons 
the snow doesn't give a soft white 
damn Whom it touches 
--i will cultivate within by e.e. cummings 
 
Contest Themes: Intrusive dreams, a deal too good to be true, I’m so smart, i’ll live forever, and 
the weather 
 
You have been invited to a Night at the Opera 
A Friendly has emailed one of our encrypted servers photos containing a ​flagged symbol​. 
They show the symbol carved on the trunk of a car parked on a frozen lake in a small northern 
Minnesota town. We have reason to believe this is linked to an actual threat. Rendez-vous with 
the Friendly at a lakeside cabin for further details. Your objectives: determine the nature of the 
symbol, eliminate any threats, and cover up our involvement.  
 
Also, for God’s sake don’t freeze to death. 
 
Your Eyes Only 
Advice to Handlers 
This scenario as written is meant to be a guidebook. Not an instruction manual. Events are not 
laid out chronologically, there is no timeline of events. This scenario is a dark dream of our 
collective unconscious our players have unknowingly stepped into. ​The Handler is the artist 
painting horrors with every word.  
 
You control reality. Do not be “​sheepish​” about it. Dreams are a literary (in this case game) 
mechanic the Handler gets to use to drive the plot forward. Use dreams and visions to tantalize 
clues that eat away at their sanity. Toy with their emotions, perceptions of reality, and attack 
their bonds and motivations. Hopefully, in the end, the agents will “Trust no one. Not even their 
own minds.” 
 
Thematically I chose notion of ​“Counting Sheep” ​to symbolize dream states in this scenario. As 
you read you will uncover, as your players should, that the ​Uncounted Sheep ​are both a real 
and figurative threat.  
 
There is advice on creating dream sequences and several examples later in this text. You do 
not have to use any of them. You could exclude them entirely, or develop your own horrifying 
 
 

sequences. Play to the way the dice land on sanity rolls. Be flexible and like i said, don’t be 
“sheepish.” 
 
A Bad Beginning 
They cabin is situated on the snowy shores of ​Ember Wake Lake ​in ​Elcor, MN​. The agents 
arrive at the cabin first. It should have rooms for the agents to stay in, and a lower level den 
with large floor to ceiling windows. It has a great view of the lake. They can clearly see a 
shabby car parked across the lake.  
 
The friendly is ​John Weyerbacher​, private detective from St. Paul, MN. Portray him as 
paranoid, hurried and very tired. He mutters numbers under his breath. He’s counting 
something they can’t see. Repeatedly, he stares out the window at a car parked on the lake. 
The friendly will want to make sure they are who they are, and that this isn’t a dream. I 
recommend using the poem excerpt at the beginning as your code phrase. 
 
Once he’s determined they are with Delta Green, he will want to determine they are real. 
Contrive any strange arcane behavior that can easily serve as proof that this is not a dream. 
Perhaps, he asks them to read aloud from a book (Shakespeare is a great one), he spins a top 
or he asks them to recount the steps of their day in reverse order. 
 
As he starts to go over the case, he realizes he’s missing something. He doesn’t have his 
camera, his netbook or his bag. He will begin to look around erratically obsessing over where it 
is. At some point he realizes the truth, “It’s… It’s in the car! I’m not going back there, just get it! 
In the Car it’s all there, everything you need!” 
 
The Number is Up 
Suddenly, John trails off, his gaze focused on something unseen. His eyes go wide with terror. 
Unless stopped by agents, he will pull his gun and begin shooting at the window. This won’t 
save him though. His number is up. He will scream, go unconscious and ultimately die in front 
of them. As soon as his death sinks in, brilliant flowers bloom from his body in a myriad of 
colors, some colors they’ve never even seen. Gold glowing pollen asperates into the room, 
coming into contact with the agents. (1/1d6 SAN) Those who succeed pass out or experience 
lost time, as everything goes black. Those who fail their check suffer and share ​The First 
Dream​ ​effect and gain 1d10 Unnatural.  
 
The First Dream1 
The agent(s) wake to the bleating of sheep and howling winds. They look around 
and see a vast empty snow swept plateau. Sheep drunkenly meander past, 
drawn towards some distant place. The stars in the sky are a not our stars. 
There is an aurora borealis like you’ve never seen. And moons. So many moons. 

1
Those who experience the dream are touched by the Unnatural. They gain 1d10 Unnatural. 
 
 

Suddenly they see huge pillars, like black trees in the distance. One moves, 
upwards vanishing. Then reappears larger, thundering down from the sky. Then 
more. Many more ascending into the sky where a vast shape, like a glacier blots 
out the sky. A man in a gas mask carrying a shepherd’s crook walks past, 
following the sheep. Where he steps, there is a blood in the snow. You 
suddenly notice silvery strands of silk caught on you rising into the sky. You feel 
a sudden jerk, then...  
 
When the agents come to, whether they have seen the dream or not, they have lost several 
minutes to an hour of time. They have a body to hide, and a car to find. 
 
What went down 
John Weyerbacher ​was hired by an elder of the Grand Portage Chippewa Reservation to find 
a missing teenage girl named ​Tammy Hayskar​. They’ve paid Weyerbacher in cash. He came 
here looking for her. He found a waking nightmare instead. 
 
He saw the car on the ice one day while taking a break to do some ice fishing. That’s when he 
saw the symbol. After sending the photos to Delta Green, he had to check out the former 
owners himself. He snuck into ​The Odegard Salvage Yards​. While poking around he was 
exposed to an Unnatural Vector cultivated inside a mine now converted to a barn.  
 
He ran for his life, and nearly froze to death. He survived a nasty car crash along a forest road. 
In his haste to flee he unwittingly left his camera, netbook and the whole casefile behind, ripe 
for characters to find along the side of the road near the Salvage Yard, or even inside it.  
 
Afterwards, he started seeing sheep everywhere. Following him. They’d attack him, but he 
discovered by accident while lying in bed they would stop if he counted them. He’s been 
awake for 2 days, always on the move, waiting for the agents to arrive. He was counting sheep 
when he sees them. They attacked him when he lost count. The trauma to his mind killed him, 
and triggered the flowers to bloom. 
 
The Opera 
As the opera begins, the agents must pick deal with the dead and follow the trail of 
breadcrumbs. The Friendly told them, “It’s in the car.” The only car they know about is the one 
on the lake. That will be the next step.  
 
Friendly locals are a good source of information about the Raffle Car. They can eschew this, as 
it draws attention, especially if poking around the car, for a digital search of the car’s VIN.  
 
While Dreams haunt and tantalize, locals poke their noses in, and unnatural sheep dog them at 
every turn the clues will point in two directions: the ​Odegard Salvage Yard ​outside of town 
and two locals, ​Ken Hanson ​and ​Oli Knutson​, hereafter referred to as the ​Norwegians​. The 
 
 

first are a clan of dangerous, meth-head cultists, and ones responsible for the unnatural 
contagion. By Contrast, the Norwegians seem quaint and benign. Present them as an innocent 
Red Herring. But like the Odegards they too seek a connection to the ​Great Old Ones. ​One in 
blood sacrifice. 
 
Title History 
The previous owner of the car was the​ Ember Wake Lake Preservation Center.​ The signary is 
Assistant Treasurer ​Oli Knutson​. It was donated to the society by ​Ken Hanson​. Hanson 
bought the car from​ Odegard Salvage​ for a sum much larger than its actual worth.  
 
Research on these names gives the addresses and places of work. Odegard Salvage is several 
miles outside town. Knutson and Hanson are listed at the same address. A large house on the 
north shore of Ember Wake Lake not far from where the agents are staying. It has a perfect line 
of site to the car. They have pretty benign social media presence except for a lot of political 
activity during the election campaign to recognize same-sex marriages. 
 
Line of Inquiry 
Creating situations where the characters hallucinate or dream is paramount to the GM’s 
narrative. While they explore this innocuous seeming town, there is a layer of dreams that 
expose it’s dark underbelly and provide allusions and clues to the ultimate mystery. 
 
If they bring up the Odegards to anyone in town they immediately disown them. They have few 
friends in the community. The exact opposite of Ken and Oli. They may say,  
 
Oli is usually found at home or at his clinic.2 He is stoic and uses few words. Ken is much more 
talkative, a bit more neurotic. He is a lawyer, but works from home most of the time. They have 
two large dogs. 
 
They might settle in for a night’s rest. They can do further research on the town, county and the 
lake: 
● There a lot of stories of settlers, voyageurs and the like disappearing. 
● There is a Lakota legend of “The Drowning Spirit.” According to legend it swim up to 
the surface of the lake, tip over boats or grab swimmers and drown them, never be 
seen again. After a drowning, however, good fortune would follow all who lived near the 
lake. There is an account of a tribe who began worshiping the spirit, warring with other 
tribes, and drowning the prisoners they took. Eventually the Lakota wiped them out, but 
great misfortune came to the area, the lake ran dry with fish and the Lakota warriors 
staved the next year. The legend says that they were cursed by the Drowning Spirit. 

2
​This is a good opportunity to put the Gas mask guy in the waiting room with a sheep. He 
disappears in a blink of the agent’s eye.  
 
 

● Odegard salvage is located on the land of the Old Corsica Mine. It was bought by Billy’s 
Uncle when the mine shut down. There is also an awful lot about the Odegard’s colorful 
history with the law.  
 
 
The Symbol and the Car 
On the lake rests the car. You can see it from the cabin or from the drydock just off the 
highway. It's a rusted husk, resting on bald tires. The symbol is carved onto the back trunk, 
crudely cut, probably by some kind of knife. The symbol was Billy Odegard’s graffitti, a little 
prank to mess with the town and the Norwegians. Inside the trunk are numerous small stones 
with scraps of paper tied to them with string. Untying and unfolding papers reveal ancient 
nordic script. 
 
If they are translated, or they ask a local, they’ll learn they are peoples hopes and dreams for 
the coming spring. Simple things like, “I want to find a man.” “I want my new business to be 
successful.” “I hope the fishing’s good this year.” Oli did the translation into Norse. 
 
There are animal tracks of a hooved animal all around the car.3 
 
If you ask about the car, any local will tell you about the​ Annual Ice Out Raffle​. Money from 
the sale of tickets go to this annual fundraiser for the Preservation Society. Each raffle ticket is 
sold for a particular date and time, predicting when the ice will go out, and when the car will fall 
through crack ice. 
 
Odegard Salvage: A Forest of Ruin 
Odegard Salvage begins as a repair shop, garage and salvage yard, but it the junk sprawls 
deep into a dense forest that leads deep to a car yard, an old farm house and a 
decommissioned mine with a tall smokestack tower that can be seen peeking up from the 
wood. Dreamcatchers can be seen hanging from every window. Sometimes hanging in trees. 
From the outside it’s mundane if not ruinous to look at. Most visitors don’t venture passed 
rod-iron gate.  
 
When the ​Corsica Mine​ shut down, Odegard’s grandfather bought out the land for cheap 
under a toxic clean-up provision. The Preservation Society helped front the money. There is no 
outside evidence the Odegard’s ever cleaned it up, but they’ve somehow passed every review.   
 
The land has become a winding junkyard trail through a brambled forest where old cars, 
storage containers, farming equipment and semi-trailers go to die. It is a jagged tetanus shot 

3
Possible Dream Sequence: ​As they examine the car, one agent sees a sheep running across the 
ice. It darts into a thicket nearby on the shore. If they follow, it disappears. There is a small 
walking trail. 
 
 

waiting to happen. The whole property (acres and acres of it) is lined with a fence made of 
wood palettes and barbed wire. The swinging iron gate on the dirt road says “Keep Out.” 
 
Sheep wander the property. They’ve converted the mine into a barn for the animals. It is also 
where the Cultivated are stored. They will also find a chest with veterinary supplies of IV’s, 
animal tranquilizers. The place smells like sheep wool and human feces.  
 
“I will cultivate within” 
The Odegards are ​The Cultivators​, a mythos cult comprised of little more than unnatural drug 
addicts. They discovered the ultimate drug, a drug they call ​The Fruit​. Much like the Forbidden 
Fruit of Genesis, it is the fruit of knowledge, which grants greater awareness, but also plants 
the seed of knowledge inside you. Using connects the consciousness to the Great Old Ones, 
and share in the mad revelry of their dark alien dreams. The Cult spends their days getting 
high, playing video games and having orgies. They often mix the ​The Fruit​ with other drugs, to 
mask them from the uninitiated. 
 
The way this drug is cultivated is macabre. It must be grown inside a living body. The user 
becomes the drug they are using. It blooms violently upon their death, but a persistent supply 
can be made by planting it in victims and keeping them alive. They keep these victims in the 
barn, where they are kept alive and in vegetative states. Cultists take turns tending the garden. 
These victims are beyond help. They can be abandoned to die on their own, or put out of their 
misery.  
 
Cult of Personalities 
The leader of the cult is Billy Odegard. Billy is charismatic and violent. A regular Charlie 
Manson. He has used this to great advantage in controlling and recruiting subjects to be 
“cultivated.” Most of the victims are purchased from Human/Sex trafficking. Most of them are 
illegal immigrants now lost forever in the pipeline. This is how he hides his misdeeds and how 
they have gone unnoticed for so long. They buy them and bring them onto the farm in a box 
truck, a wood palette for every victim.4  
 
Should the agents corner Billy, he will love to talk. He will claim he cannot be killed by mortal 
means. This shit world is but one nightmare, he will move onto the next dream, joining the The 
Great Old Ones. He will confess to putting the mark on the car as a little joke, and regale them 
with the whole enterprise. He’s proud of his work. He takes no pleasure or distaste in the 
killing. He’s views himself as a farmer who must grow his crop. Women are used to cultivate 
the fruit because, as he puts it, “They are so much more fertile than men.” Everything about 
him should be unsettling. 

4
Author’s Note: While not necessary during the game, I highly recommend working in this revelation if 
you can. If they decide to, they could observe the trafficked victims arrive on the box truck during a 
stakeout. If they don’t do that use your creativity to imply it.  
 
Or like so many things in Delta Green, the details, simply remain a mystery. 
 
 

 
The only other cultist of note is his right hand man, ​Nic Georgescu​. Nic is Billy’s muscle and 
he’s the man seen in the gas mask and biohazard suit. He has connections to Russian human 
traffickers and is usually the one to get his hands dirty. If you need to throw in a surprise 
combatant, he’d be perfect. He is usually the one ferrying and “cultivating” the crop. If they 
catch wind of the agents investigating them in town, he may call in a favor from his ​“Russian 
Contacts”5 
 
The rest of the cult are stoned and strung out groupies. Dangerous when cornered, or when 
their leader is threatened.  
 
Fruiting Bodies 
The Cultivators grow their crop inside the old mine. They lie on cots in closed pens, usually 
reserved for animals. These poor souls are the ​Cultivated​. They are still alive, I.V. drips for 
nutrition, tranquilizers for pain, bedpans emptied each day. To see this level of willful neglect 
and abuse should test your agents’ sanity. Their bodies are so compromised by the foreign 
organism growing inside them that there is no hope for them. Abandonment may be easier 
than giving them merciful deaths. That is if the hungry sheep don’t attack the agents first. 
 
The sheep roam around the converted mine. They nibble at the succulent Fruit growing from 
victims’ toes. They have become addicts just like the Odegards. In their primitive brains they 
too experience these powerful dreams, flocking across impossible landscapes, shepherded by 
Great Old Ones. They follow an insatiable grazing instinct, seeking out any soul that has tasted, 
or pollinated by the forbidden fruit. When they get a whiff of the agents, they will act on this 
same instinct to devour them. Of course, they have readily available meals lying there inside 
the stalls. 
 
The Norwegians 
“The Snow doesn’t give a soft white damn whom it touches” 
 
Ken Hanson and Oli Knutson are so quaint they seem like characters out of Fargo, Prairie 
Home Companion, or a Sven and Oli joke. They are plain spoken salt of the earth men who like 
to go deer and pheasant hunting in the fall, ice-fishing in the winter, and would love to tell you 
about the last visit to the North Shore or the time they went Kayaking the Boundary Waters.  
 
They are pillars of their rural community. They were the first gay couple to be married in their 
county after same-sex marriage became legal in the state. They are run charities and make 
friends easily. For all outside appearances, they are upstanding citizens. 
 

5
See appendix A: Russian Contacts 
 
 

Hanson works for a local law firm. Knutson is a Veterinarian at a local clinic, as well as the 
county Historian on the board of ​County History Center​. A search brings up a photo gallery of 
taxidermy, native American artifacts and farm life paintings.6 Neighbors will defend and vouch 
for the Norwegians. They are blissfully unaware of their dark deeds. A few have noticed some 
odd things now and then, but it’s none of their business. They are buddies with the county 
sheriff. If they get too aggressive the department may give the agents hell.7 
 
A Soft White Damn 
All of this is merely the outer shell. Inside the Norwegians bloom dark fruit of their own, 
nurtured by fear and unquestioning tradition. They are preparing to sacrifice Tammy in an 
annual ritual as an offering to something they know only as ​The​ ​Drowning Spirit​. She has 
been held prisoner in their basement, being prepared for the offering. They will take her out 
onto the ice, place her in the car and watch as the ice cracks and the car sinks into the lake, 
satiating the dark spirits hunger for another year.  
 
Ken and Oli were not the first to prepare this ritual. Someone did it before them. He entrusted 
this grim duty to Oli. Oli originally kept this from Ken for years, but Ken eventually found out. 
Instead of turning away he chose to stay and help with the sacrifice. ​Love is an amazing thing. 
It opens you up to accepting even the darkest parts of the ones you love.  
 
They have never seen the The Drowning Spirit, but they believe someone must be sacrificed to 
keep the town alive. If not then the prosperity of their town will end, and like so many rural 
American towns, it too will die. They will stop at nothing to prevent that. By contrast, Billy has 
seen the “spirit” in dreams. He would describe it as a child or offspring of Papa Dagon, Mother 
Hydra or All Father Tulu. ​“It lives beneath the lake. And beneath the lake, there is a whole ocean 
down there full of ancient things.”  
 
I recommend setting up the rescue of the girl in the car as part of the big finale. Agents will 
have to race to the rescue, risking the cold and drowning to snatch a victory from a very bleak 
scenario.  
 
Follow the Strings 
Tying together the two groups can seem arbitrary, but their relationship is very straightforward. 
The Cultivators always have a supply of bodies and occasionally get more than they need. The 
Norwegians became aware of the Billy’s dalliances with human trafficking years ago and saw 
an opportunity to get a steady and risk free supply of human sacrifices. Every year they launder 
money into the fundraiser and use “expenses” for buying a new sacrifice. They were unaware 
that anyone was looking for the latest victim.  
 

6
If they visit the History Center, throw in a taxidermied sheep, that appears to move when they look 
away, or seem to multiply in number.  
7
See section “Complications” below. 
 
 

If the Norwegians are confronted first, they have a paper trail leading to Odegards. Meanwhile 
veterinarian supplies from Knutson’s clinic are found in the mine. If interrogated or captured, 
either group will rat the other out in hopes of saving their own skin or bringing the other down 
with them.  
 
“It’s All in There” 
Should they find John Weyerbacher’s car crashed into a tree somewhere along the road (either 
in the Salvage Yards or along a snowy road), it can provide the needed connection between 
the two points of interest. His evidence is thorough and lays out the his long casefile 
connecting the dots. 
● Photo and police records on ​Tammy Hayskar​(16). Hayskar is a native girl from Grand 
Portage with a history of underage drinking, drug abuse, and prostitution. She went 
missing 2 months ago. There are stolen credit card transactions linked to a man named 
Mike Odem​. He was known to be in her company. This led to Elcor.  
● According to the Elder, Tammy contacted her mother and told her she was pregnant, 
but never showed up to meet her mother. 
● Photos of the car (the ​symbol​ marked and redrawn on an attached post-it note) 
● A receipt of purchase of a book from the Elcor Arts. (Book: Ember Wake Traditions by 
Brian Torgerson, says “Donated by Oli Knudson) 
● Criminal records on ​Wilhelm “Billy” Odegard​, and ​Nic Georgescu​. Drug possession, 
DUI, assault, vandalism. Both have served prison time.  
● There is an arrest record for Oli Knudson, age 18 for possession. He was arrested along 
with Billy Odegard, age 16. 
● Photos of a farm with piles of wood palettes and cars.  
● Series of photos of a box truck.  
● Video: Several men, two of them presumably Billy and Nic, unload wood palettes from 
the box truck. Then they escort women, out onto the ground, they make they stand on 
each palette. There is an exchange. The women are marched toward the mine. The 
camera follows men carting the palettes to a large pile, 10 feet or more high, of palettes. 
(Have agents make an idea check or a SAN check as they realize that every palette 
they’ve seen in the Odegard’s property represents someone they’ve done this too. 
There are hundreds of them…) 
● His notebook is filled with descriptions of events and characters. It mentions that the 
sheriff was impeding his investigation. He had a suspicion about Ken, because he 
thought he reacted to a photo of Tammy.  
 
The Land of Dreams 
On Creating Dream Sequences 
Dreams remain an ever present complication. They can impede, but they also carry a perverse 
truth to them. The presence of dream visions should be nods to the agents being on the right 
track. But following them carries danger, and brings them closer to the Great Old Ones. 
 
A lot of this scenario hinges on creating effective and evocative dream sequences to horrify 
your players. It is paramount you think on your feet for when to place them. Be creative with 
 
 

your dreams and try to tailor them to the players. As dreams are an important element, 
blending what is a dream and what is reality can be used to great effect. 
 
Creating evocative and effective dreams and waking nightmares is a key skill to running this 
opera. Described herein are elements that can combined to create dreamings that should 
terrify your Agents, and create a memorable opera. 
 
Mythos Symbolism 
As described earlier, the Fruit of the Cultivated opens up the mind's eye to the dreams of the 
Great Old Ones. This is the first element. Use the great old ones as thematic elements of the 
dreams. The agents are wading through the dreams of the GOO’s afterall. Why not give them a 
fun tour of the mythos. Here are thoughts on including themes for Great Old Ones. 
 
Tleche-Naka 
The webs of the Great Spider is said to connect all dimensions. This makes Tleche-Naka 
adjacent to the altered states of dream. In the section, The First Dream, the agents see visions 
of the Plateau of Leng, the icy waste of the dreamlands. This is Tleche-Naka’s domain. The 
great many legged form and the golden strings described are an interpretation of the Entity.  
 
If you choose to explore this, consider using the “threads” or “silken-strings” woven through 
the fabric of dimensions as a guide and trap for agents. They could be pulled by them, as if 
fate had other plans for them, or find themselves trapped like a fly caught in the webs. The 
strings connect to all things and can allow you to illustrate connections the agents have not 
quite been able to accomplish. 
 
The Black Goat with A Thousand Young 
The Black Goat is ideal, especially when mixed with the sheep and the flowers. Her dreams 
would be prominent. Use her to undermine religious imagery, feature perverse depictions of 
Adam and Eve. Dreams related to this Great Old One make excellent body horror. Agents with 
familial Bonds may see loved one’s wearing sheep heads. Female agents may experience 
phantom birth pains and nightmarish newborns feasting at the teats of a black sheep, or 
devouring the body of the dead friendly, fellow agent or bond. 
 
All Father Tulu 
The underwater element may seem odd placed in Minnesota, far from any ocean. Geologists 
have discovered evidence of a vast, precambrian freshwater ocean beneath Minnesota. What 
long lost ancient things may dwell here? There is also a connection to the Drowning Spirit. In 
truth it is an immortal ​Deep One​ that has used hyper geometry to shift the town’s fortunes in 
exchange for the sacrifices. 
 
Others 
There are many other applicable themes. Hastur’s connection to pure Madness lends itself to 
strange dreams and landscapes full of non-euclidean logic. Itla-Shua is synonymous with cold 
 
 

weather climes. Dreams haunted by legless beings flying on the winds, and giants wearing 
sheep skulls would evoke the nordic bloodlines of Minnesota.  
 
Whatever Great Old Ones you choose as themes, be careful not to use too many. Don’t overdo 
it. Keep them tangential, vast and impossible to fully comprehend as to instill cosmic terror 
Delta in your players. Remember, they are not the real threat, nor the real evil in this game. 
They vastly large things, they are the landscape in which the evil of men operates.  
 
Undermine Bonds and Motivations 
Using a bond or motivation in a dream can be devastating to an agent. It makes the impersonal 
of cosmic horror and makes it personal. Sure a man eating sheep that move through 
impossible geometries is great, but seeing your loved being eaten by one or turned into one is 
far more unsettling.  
 
A player with a Motivation to get married and start a family could see that undermined using 
marital imagery. They might enter a church approach their loved one only to see a sheep’s 
head where a face should be, turn to see pews filled with bleating sheep.  
 
These dream sequences are far more effective than grand cosmic nightmares.  
 
Dreams Samples 
Through the Ice 
The Agent finds themself standing at the shore of the frozen lake. They see the car. They see 
movement by the car. As they approach they see one of their Bonds inside, trying to get out. 
Then there is a yawning sound, then a thunderous crack. The car begins to sink back with their 
bond inside. The doors are frozen shut. The glass unbreakable. They cannot free them. They 
make a SAN check as they watch helplessly as their bond sinks into black of the lake.  
 
The Ocean In the Hotel Room 
Agents find themselves working late, researching, when they notice a sloshing noise coming 
from the bathroom. When they approach andnotice the floor is wet, water is seeping into the 
room from the bathroom. Suddenly, the door creaks open and water cascades in, flooding the 
room. They are tossed about. Their only escape is the door. If they succeed on a swim check, 
they are carried out of the hotel room and into a watery graveyard of cars, skeletal husks sunk 
to the bottom of the lake, filled with smiling skeletons waving for the dreaming agent to join 
them. If the swim up they run into a wall of ice, feebly beating at it in a vain hope of survival. 
When hope is lost they wake up, dry as a bone. 
 
 
 
 

Waking Nightmares 
Baa Baa Bond Sheep 
While shaving an agent hears a noise in their room. When he checks, there is nothing. Once the 
agent looks away he hears the baa of a sheep. This time there is one of their bonds, naked, on 
all fours on the bed just staring dumbly. It does not respond to anything they say. It makes a 
noise that sounds neither like a bleat nor a human scream. Something else. SAN 1/1d4 
 
Counting Sheep 
Meanwhile in the room next door the manifestation finds the agent waking from a restless 
sleep. A flock surrounds their bed. They are just staring dumbly. Hungrily. After seeing how the 
player has the agent react, all the sheep in the room bleat the exact same note. The sound is 
deafening and maddening. They start to climb up onto the bed, mouths foaming hungrily.  
 
They can be gotten rid of by counting them--though this may not be apparent. They will stare 
dumbly, until all are counted. But if they lose count or grab their gun and shoot them, they will 
swarm. (See​ The Uncounted Flock​) 
 
The other agents will hear sheep in the agents room. They will see the unfolding horror, 
whatever it may be. 
 
Further Complications 
Further complications include the Cold, The “Nice” locals, and local authorities. The cold is 
unfriendly, and makes certain tasks harder. The term Minnesota Nice isn’t as nice as it sounds. 
The locals may seem friendly, but there is a veneer of menace behind it all. Authorities would 
be suspicious and dog the agents’ every step, which risks exposing the conspiracy, or the 
unnatural to the uninitiated. 
 
Cold 
The cold is omnipresent. If you have been in MInnesota during what is called a “Polar Vortex,” 
you know cold. When one of these hits the state it gets colder than Antarctica. It is oppressive, 
and it doesn’t care about you.  
 
When trying to solve a mystery in this environment it is also a hindrance. Being outside is 
unpleasant. Fingers and feet go numb very quickly. You find actions that are normally easy 
become harder, even painful in the blistering cold. Cold factors into this scenarios two major 
set-pieces. The car on the ice and confrontations at Odegard’s farm. Keep in mind that travel 
can be tricky or treacherous on these snowy, icy roads. 
 
Minnesota Nice 
The game is set in a small mostly fictional town of Elcor, MN. Elcor is real life ghost town, with 
only a mine and a few overgrown foundations as any evidence a boomtown once stood there. 
 
 

I’ve chosen to use the name, and approximate geography as this game’s setting. The town 
should serve as a type of character. 
 
Elcor sits on the shores of Lake Wankwakembes, a surprisingly deep kettle lake with no rivers 
flowing into or out of it. A large-ish lake, with moderate tourism and fisherman. It is a tight-knit, 
insular community. Polite but not welcoming to outsiders. You might think that's just 
Minnesota Nice,​ but this is a tad more extreme. 
 
Locals will respond to agents questions in the following ways:  
● “I don’t know about that,”  
● “That’s different/interesting.” (this is a real life response for “I don’t approve of that.”) 
● “Sounds like they fell in with the wrong crowd. There’s a lot of them popping up all over 
as towns around here disappear.”   
● “Nothing like that ever happens here. Probably just someone bringing their own trouble 
here.”  
● “This is a good town. We don’t want anything to do with that round here.” 
 
The Sheriff’s Department 
This is a completely ​optional​ complication. If you are running a one-shot, it may be tricky to fit 
this one in. Really depends on how focused and fast your group moves through the 
investigation. The author recommends this for longer play. 
 
If they look too closely into the Norwegians, agents may draw the unwanted attention of the 
sheriff or his deputies. At first the sheriff will politely interfere and antagonize. He should be 
disarmingly pleasant, but menacing. They can waste agents’ time, forcing them to end the 
investigation for a night, allowing you to run more dream sequences. 
 
Possible times for the Sheriff to show up: 
● After shots fired by the now very dead friendly they arrive just in time to complicate 
disposing of the body and evidence.  
● While looking at the car. There were complaints of graffiti on the car recently. Perhaps 
these outsiders have something to do with that. 
● After questioning, either Ken or Oli at their places of work. 
 
Interactions should be tense. They will want to see their FBI credentials. They were not 
informed of any investigation. The Program will have their back, but this will still arise 
suspicion. They will insist they keep the Sheriff updated and warn them to stay away from Ken 
and Oli. A deputy may start following them. They will have to figure out how to shake them, 
before things go pear shaped.  
 
The sheriff may push them towards the Odegards. They never cause a too much trouble, but 
folks don’t like them. They are also into the occult. If the sheriff or deputies learn of the symbol, 
 
 

they’ll mention the Odegards were probably the cause of it, as they are “into that satanic occult 
stuff.”  
 
The Junky 
If they are arrested or detained this scene that might give them vital information, and speed up 
the investigation.  
 
A junky shares their cell, or sits in the main office. He’s spouting lots of crazy gibberish. If 
anyone takes note and engages with him, he’ll say things like:  
● “i’m counting sheep man…”  
● “I don’t have a dreamcatcher.”  
● “We caught in the same web, ain’t we! You seen them too, don’t you?” 
 
The junky is a regular guest of the Odegards, which is where he was when he got his high. He 
has no idea what the stuff is he’s taking, but he loves it. He just doesn’t like seeing the damn 
sheep all the time. He really wants a dreamcatcher. He like, the detective is trying to count 
them to keep them away. Only this time, the agent is seeing them himself. If he becomes 
agitated he loses count and the agent watches in abject horror as the sheep devour him. SAN 
1/1d6. 
 
Conclusions 
This is designed to be a difficult scenario, one that could break an Agent’s spirit, or send him to 
an early grave. They must contend with not one but two cults and of course the ever intruding 
dreams. By the end they may question if this was real or a dream the whole time.  
 
Agents may find some solace at the end of this case if they slayed ​The Uncounted Sheep​, put 
down the ​Cultivated ​mercifully, or successfully rescued ​Tammy Hayskar​ from a cold watery 
grave. None of that is assured. If the sheep are never destroyed they will haunt their dreams 
until they finally driven mad or take the 9mm retirement plan.  
 
If they have slain the sheep and eradicated the drugs, the dreams will eventually fade, the 
sheep will stop grazing for dream stuff. If you want to run this as part of series, then agents 
could be permanently afflicted. Anyone killed who has been affected by the Fruit might have 
the same reaction to dying as John Weyerbacher’s body. Does further exposure afflict the 
victim even more? Or does it dull with each trip? Will they lose touch with reality, or is reality 
just another dream?  
 
Does any of it matter? 
 
The snow, after all, doesn’t give a soft white damn whom it touches. 
 
Thanks for Playing. 
 
 

 
Appendix A: NPC and Monster Stats 
 
The Locals 
Ken Hanson and Oli Knutson 
Hapless Town Cultists 
STR 10, CON 10, DEX 10, INT 10, POW 12, CHA 12 
HP 10, WP 12 
SKILLS: Alertness 40%, Athletics 40%, Drive 40%, Firearms 40%, Melee 40%, Stealth 40%  
ATTACKS: Light Pistol 40% 1d8 (ammo 6), Baseball Bat 40% 1d8  
 
The Cultivators 
Billy Odegard 
Strung out cult leader 
STR 10, CON 10, DEX 10, INT 10, POW 14, CHA 14 
HP 10, WP 14 
SKILLS: Alertness 20%, Dodge 60% Firearms 60%, Melee 30% Stealth 40% Unarmed 
Combat 40%, Unnatural 60% 
ATTACKS: Light Pistol 60% 1d8 (ammo 6), Ritual Dagger 30% 1d8 
HYPERGEOMETRY:  
● Pulling the Strings: ​Base Costs 2 (mental) or 4 (physical) will. Billy can pull on the “silken 
strings” of Tleche-Naka, who’s weave is a bridge to the Plateau of Leng. By tugging, 
tapping or pulling them he affects mental or physical control and will make the target 
act on his suggestions. They can’t be as dramatic . Physical control can hurl someone 
about, even defying gravity slamming and rooting them to a ceiling or pulling a gun out 
of their hand. If they fail the SAN check they see the strings. Base damage from 
physical attack is 1d4+1. SAN 1/1d6 (mental) SAN 1/1d8 (physical) 
● Unweave​: Costs 6 Will. Billy grabs the strings of the target and cuts them sending them 
reeling through reality. Dreams, time, memory space all fold into one chaotic mess. 
They are incapacitated. The only way the target can pull out of this forced fugue is to 
focus on that which grounds them. They must project on their bonds equal to amount 
of sanity lost. SAN 1d4/1d8  
 
Nic Georgescu 
Gas mask Shepherd 
STR 12, CON 12, DEX 10, INT 8, POW 10, CHA 8 
HP 14, WP 10 
Armor: 2, heavy hide coat and work pants. 
SKILLS: Athletics 60%, 45% Dodge, Firearms 20% Melee, 60%, Stealth 50% Unarmed 
Combat 60%. 
ATTACKS: Shotgun 20% (2d10 10 meters, 1d10 20 meters, 1d6 further), Shovel 60% 1d8 
 
 

 
 
(Cultists) Ophelia, Mike, Vi 
Drug Addict Cultists 
STR 10, CON 12, DEX 12, INT 10, POW 10, CHA 10 
HP 11, WP 10 
SKILLS: Alertness 40%, Athletics 40%, Firearms 40%, Stealth 40% 
ATTACKS: Hunting Rifle 40% 1d12 Lethality 10%, Light Pistol 40% 1d8 (ammo 6), Knife 40% 
1d4 AP3 
 
Nic’s Russian Contacts  
Human Traffickers and Thugs 
STR 12, CON 13, DEX 12, INT 10, POW 8, CHA 11 
HP 13, WP 8 
SKILLS: Athletics 40%, 35% Dodge, Firearms 50%, Melee 50%, Stealth 40% Unarmed 
Combat 60%. 
ATTACKS: Med. Pistol 50% 1d10, Sub-machine Gun 50% (Lethality 10%), Brass Knuckles 
50% 1d4, Knife 50% 1d4 (3 AP) 
 
The Unnatural 
The Uncounted Flock 
Mythos Drug-crazed sheep 
STR 10 CON 10 DEX 7 POW 7 
HP 10 (each hp represents 1 sheep) WP 7  
ATTACKS: Frenzy 50%, damage 1d4, special (see KNOCK DOWN).  
 
KNOCK DOWN: If this attack hits, the dog attempts an opposed STR×5 test against the target. 
If the Flock succeeds, the target is knocked prone. 
 
FLOCK: There are many of them and they are easy to hit. +20% to hit. However, only one 
sheep can be killed per attack. If a crit success is rolled then 2 sheep are killed. Explosives and 
weapons with Lethality ratings kill 1+ 1d6 sheep. 
Being attacked by The Flock insights a 1/1d8 SAN check. 
 
SENSE: They can instantly smell ​The Fruit​ on anyone exposed, this sends them into a feeding 
frenzy. You cannot hide from it unless you are in a hazmat suit, or are protected by the Elder 
Sign or charm such as a Dreamcatcher. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Glancy Notes:  
Traffickers (eliminate). Illegal Immigrants come every season. They arrive, but some disappear 
every year. Kidnapped every year by the cult. Community allows-brings in workers for the 
farms, and turkey farms. 
 
Ken is an immigration lawyer. 
 
Gets whole community involved. Sheriff complicit and motivated to drive them out. 
 
Corn King 
 
Rework the opening clue/inciting incident 
The cultivators are the cause, the norwegians point the finger. 
 
Vector to the contact, get in a team. The contact explodes mid scenario? Behaves weird. Clean 
up exposes them. Get rid of the photo/symbol 
 
Immigrant who escaped, exposed. He blooms! INS/ICE agents. 
 
Sheep = victims ? 
 
Chemotherapy ​to kill the plant. 
 
If you put something in the car… you’ll be fine… if you participate… in the offering… it will heal 
you. Connect it to the drowning spirit.