le CORBUSIER

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 RED MARKETS
Le CorbusIER
Game Design: Caleb Stokes
Writing: Caleb Stokes
Editing: Caleb Stokes
Art Direction: Kyle Carty, Kathryn Carty
Cover Art: Michael Plondaya
Interior Art: Przemek Lech, James Beatham, Patsy McDowell, Kim Van Deun
Graphic Design: Kathryn Carty, Kyle Carty

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LE CORBUSIER
Enclaves are located wherever your group needs
them to be. For the purposes of this supplement,
the location of Le Corbusier matters only insofar
as it informs its economic situation and narrative
opportunities that arise from that context.
LOCATION
Jeannette Architectural College sits in the suburbs of
a midwestern metropolitan area. The steep tuition
and elite status of the school’s programs left it far
away from the crush of the inner-city. Once bemoaned
during peace time, the distance from the airport,
major highways, and the doomed evacuation sites
turned out to be the enclave’s salvation during the
Crash.
The survivor community currently located within
the college’s ruins is a manageable distance from the
glut of Casualties infesting the city’s center, and it’s
close enough to the Recession that the community
has access to trade routes going over the quarantine
line. The proximity and relative safety also make it
a potential candidate for DHQS reclamation, but
the government’s exact intentions remain a source
of endless debate. The contentious prospect of
rejoining the US, combined with class resentments
leftover from the college’s privileged past, leave Le
Corbusier in a state of perpetual turmoil. The strength
of its exterior defenses hides a desperate survivor
community constantly threatening to collapse from
within.
DEFENSES
The enclave now called Le Corbusier (or “Corbeezy,”
to its less proper residents) survives the constant
onslaught of Casualties through a coincidence of
aesthetics and timing.
Jeannette Architectural College was founded in the
late 60’s by an architectural firm specializing in the
Brutalist-style of the college’s namesake. Brutalism
had been kind to the firm’s founders, and they invested
their considerable earnings to found a private college
in hopes of producing more architects specializing in
the form that had treated them so well.
Initially, the investment seemed sound.
Governments and institutions around the world
were enamored with the brutalist style, and the US
spent the majority of the post-war years investing in
brutalist infrastructure. At the height of the school’s
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 prominence in the late 60’s, it seemed as if the whole
of the Midwest’s governmental apparatus would one
HISTORY
The historical accident most Corbizians owe their
day be comprised of brutalist buildings: massive,
lives to would have been for nothing if it hadn’t been
sparsely-windowed boxes made of bare concrete.
utilized well. Other factors allowed the community to
The founding firm had a hand in over a dozen public
weather five years in the Loss, not the least of which
housing blocks for urban development projects
was the old college’s exceptional campus security
around the nation. The college itself was designed in
force. Though initially hired for no more than writing
the style, its lecture halls and dorms housed in giant
parking tickets, an HR director hungry for tax credits
stone blocks like tombstones piercing the skyline.
staffed the security force with military veterans
As architecture rediscovered shape and color, the
exclusively. Unwilling to assume the media blackout
firm’s housing projects decayed into impoverished
meant all was well, these trained soldiers prepared a
dystopias of urban decay. The initial investors failed
few buildings for defense using the help of those few
to adjust to the market’s shifting demands. Eventually,
faculty that didn’t dismiss the measures as paranoia.
the only profitable asset left on their books was the
These initial strongholds housed the survivors as the
college itself, and it was sold to fund the retirements
first waves of the Crash washed over the city.
of the firm’s disgraced owners. The school’s new
But Vectors move quick, climb fast, and die hard.
administration managed to recruit enough diverse
The death toll of the campus security forces neared
faculty to evolve with new tastes, and the college’s
total, and the survivors of the initial defense can be
reputation was maintained even as its founders faded
counted on one shaky hand. As the Torpor took effect,
into infamy.
it became clear that the gutted fighting force couldn’t
However, with the initial funding dried up and urban
hope to respond to another threat like the Vector
sprawl pushing the city’s center further away from
onslaught. Furthermore, the safety of their barren
campus, Jeannette Architectural College was slow
concrete walls would not be so helpful when it came
to expand. Gentrification efforts and zoning reforms
time to grow food.
in the surrounding neighborhoods retarded growth
No longer willing to pretend the worst wasn’t
even further, and the core of campus remained largely
coming, the remaining faculty took it upon themselves
comprised of the same set of giant brutalist boxes.
to contact a group of local contractors that had helped
The irony of operating a respectable architectural
set up the shipping container project on campus.
school within such tragically outdated and aging
The workers had retreated within the fences of the
facilities was not lost on anyone. The disconnect
construction company’s warehouse along with their
became a running joke amongst faculty and students.
families, but as the industrial site was entirely covered
During the Crash, the joke saved lives.
in asphalt and defended by mere chain-link, their long-
The campus’s bleak design made it defensible. The
term prospects looked grim.
buildings featured sharp overhangs, sheer surfaces,
In exchange for food and shelter, survivors from the
elevated terraces, criss-crossing ramps, and winding
construction firm and their families made a desperate
stairways that could be blocked and bottlenecked
pilgrimage to the campus during the Torpor, dragging
easily. The college, by way of its humorless aesthetic,
along all the equipment and materials that could be
had stumbled into medieval fortification, and the
salvaged from the industrial warehouses and fenced
buildings could be quickly weaponized against the
construction zones they had been hiding in. Such a
idiot hordes of undead. By another stroke of luck, the
bold convoy in the middle of the Torpor Lockdown
college was engaged in a massive international design
drew many hiding along the route out of their homes.
competition at the time of the Blight’s emergence.
By the time they arrived at the campus, the workers
Focused on sustainability, the competition involved
had amassed an army of desperate refugees. Newly
repurposing shipping containers into family homes
reanimated Casualties were already attacking the
that could be deployed in the world’s ever-expanding
exposed population, and then Gnat’s Whisper hit
climate refugee camps. The school grounds housed at
Ubiq. It became clear that help was not coming, and
least a hundred of the containers and the equipment
everyone had but hours left to help themselves.
necessary to move them when the infection began.
In an act of heroic cooperation not seen since,
The giant metal bricks were used to block roads and
faculty, students, construction workers, and civilians
sidewalks, leaving sports fields and campus greens
coordinated to seal off and fortify as much of the
safe despite being outside the concrete walls.
campus as possible. After a feverous day of work
and the heroic efforts of impromptu fighting forces,

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the new enclave of Le Corbusier managed to secure
nearly the entire campus from the Blight.
As things settled down and the Loss found its
equilibrium, those that did not flee to other enclaves
or the Recession came to Le Corbusier. Much of the
population is comprised of a random sampling of local
refugees, but the initial leadership of the academics
and the construction workers still holds sway.
SOCIAL STRUCTURE
Class divides from before the Crash continue into
the current political landscape of Le Corbusier.
The administration of the enclave is run by a small
parliamentary democracy of officials elected every
year. There are no term limits or checks and balances
built into the system. Two political parties dominate
the yearly elections.
The Tenured are made up of the college faculty
responsible for saving the school. They are as
predictably liberal as one would expect from private
architectural college professors. Their stance on
defense has grown lax in the latest years, and their
opposition to any new rules limiting a citizen’s
freedom of expression is total, regardless of the
views expressed. Despite their concern for personal
liberty within the enclave, the Tenured insist their
forethought and expertise entitles them to their
privileged place within the hierarchy, apparently
without irony.
The Tenured are opposed by the Pillars of the
Community, or the Pillars, as they have come to be
called. The contractors that helped establish the
shipping container perimeter comprise the Pillars.
They are far more conservative and security-minded,
but they consider their place among the leadership
of Le Corbusier equally unimpeachable and even
more deserved. The Pillars got their names from the
talking points distributed to their employees during
election cycles. The political loyalty of these workers
is expected on every issue.
As the privilege of these former business owners
and academics grows more concerning to the
rank-and-file, both parties stay in power by stoking
resentment of the other. The controls put in place
by the Tenured to ensure the safety of the enclave’s
primary income sectors are a source of constant
indignation amongst the Pillars. They balk at every
regulation impeding their financial interests —
claiming a conspiracy to control “good working
people” by an over-educated elite.
Meanwhile, the Tenured claim the Pillars’ anarcho-
capitalist propaganda merely distracts the masses,
keeping them divided and impoverished. They claim
increased education and participation in their design
work would turn the enclave to a utopia amongst the
wastes. The fact that the information economy labors
of Le Corbusier have thus far failed to provide for
everyone is rarely, if ever, addressed by the Tenured.
A group of Fencemen — still referred to as campus
security — serve as the parliament’s enforcement arm.
The sacrifices of campus security during the Battle
for Le Corbusier is a favorite political football for
both camps to toss around. Each accuses the other
of dishonoring their noble service whenever it might
score points among the hoi polloi. The fact that the
current campus security force subsists on poverty
wages is only ever blamed on the opposition, and any
criticism of their work is immediately denounced by
both parties as the bitter lies of those ungrateful for
(and undeserving of) their continued safety. Neither
side acknowledges the extortion and bribes Fencemen
use to supplement their shitty pay.
One of the few things the Tenured and Pillars can
agree upon is the goal of resettlement. Both groups
are willing to do anything to attract DHQS attention to
Le Corbusier. They dream a resurgent US government
will return, end the nightmare, and reward them for
their heroic stand against the dead. Their political in-
fighting seems designed to never reach an endgame,
instead prolonging the status quo until the T-Minus
Never.
OVERALL ECONOMY
Le Corbusier is a mixed economy in the tradition
of the pre-Crash US markets. Rent, food, water,
healthcare, and other necessities are provided by
private entities, but forms of economic control are
still wielded by the state to collect taxes, protect vital
economic sectors, and compel labor in times of crisis.
For instance, settlement is allowed on any patch of
enclave a survivor can stake out…unless it interferes
with the enclave’s crops, or defensive reinforcements,
or offices for the one of the political parties, or a
private residence for one of its members. Any form of
economic production is allowed…until it threatens the
market share of one of the political parties, or until it
can be consumed into one of their larger portfolios,
or until it offends the principles of a politician, or until
a politician feels there’s profit to be made in feigning
offense. In any of these instances, Fencemen might be
dispatched to “suggest” changes to the private citizen.
Those without a healthy sense of self-preservation
(or an even healthier stack of bounty) usually find the
switch from persuasion to coercion fast and painful.
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 Roughly 50% of the enclave’s yearly bounty
is derived through stratostructure work. The
consultation fees of the Tenured and the Pillars split
this information economy into equal quarters in terms
of labor, but most of the Ubiq technology on campus
(and all of the power needed to run it) is owned and
administrated by the Tenured. This is the root cause
of the resentment between to the two political parties,
but it’s conflated with so much pre-Crash class envy
that the issue is impossible to untangle.
Another quarter of the total economy comes from
physical labor and manufacture. As the Pillars own
almost every tool and piece of equipment in the
enclave, their control of this sector is total.
The final 25% of the enclave’s yearly bounty is where
the majority of its population falls. Everyone outside
the two-party structure of the founders makes a living
in this final quarter, surviving off freelance work paid
for by the more state-friendly industries. Farmers,
caravan traders, recyclers, nurses, sex workers, drug
dealers, campus security forces, and every other labor
force that keeps the enclave alive relies on capital
from the big two. These people remain dispossessed
despite their importance, though the relative comfort
of the student bloc’s ransom-project designs provides
enough of an illusion of upward mobility that whispers
of revolution are rare. This larger-by-mass, smaller-
by-profit remainder is also as close as Le Corbusier
gets to lassiez-faire capitalism. Essentially, enclavists
can do whatever they can get away with, which is why
Taker crews are so prominent in the bottom quarter.
TOP EXPORTS
Le Corbusier primarily trades for its education and
expertise. The library remains intact. The academics
use their expertise in third-world development,
sustainability design, and logistical management to
consult with other enclaves over Ubiq. This expertise
comes at a fee, and crypt-for-consulting brings a
majority of the enclave’s total yearly income.
Similarly, the contractors that established the
wider perimeter sell their construction expertise
to struggling enclave projects around the world,
consulting on salvage techniques and building with
improvised materials. Machine parts are a major
export, utilizing the manufacturing skill sets of the
blue-collar workers and the advanced 3d-printing and
machine shops of the campus. In some instances,
if safe caravans can be established, construction
workers have been known to travel and work job sites
at other enclaves in the area. These excursions have
been made for construction projects for both the Ivory
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Field Ministry and the Machine enclaves. The on-site
construction projects and custom part manufacture
provide another major revenue stream.
Due to the frequent ecological disasters occurring
before the Crash, the undergraduate and graduates
of the university focused their studies almost entirely
on sustainability architecture and green technology.
Now, the remains of the student body apply their
studies in the high-stakes world of the Loss. The
proprietary innovations of these young inventors
have proven invaluable to enclaves across the world,
and many would call Le Corbusier the intellectual
center of quarintechture design. These open-sourced
blueprints are released for free across Ubiq, but
not before ransom crowd-funding goals are met on
the enclave’s shared accounts. The crowd-funding
efforts of the youth have been contributing to an
increasing percentage of the enclave’s total income,
and their open-source philosophy has given the young
Corbizians increasing political clout with the Moths
and a variety of other outsider factions.
TOP IMPORTS
While every lawn, roof, and sports field was long ago
converted to crop growth, Le Corbusier still lacks
enough food to feed its people. Seeds, fertilizer, and
preserved foodstuffs must be constantly traded for or
ordered by airdrop, though water has been secured via
a clever hack of the former sewer system.
Weapons are also in short supply and sell for a
premium. As gun fetishists, the heroes of campus
security supplemented the non-lethal arsenal provided
by the college with their personal collections, but
these weapons are aging, in disrepair, and increasingly
difficult to feed. The arsenals of what few criminals
and sportsman lived in the surrounding suburb equips
a limited squad of Fencemen, but it still leaves most
serving guard duty with nothing more than improvised
melee weapons. The bulk of the firearms and
ammunition in the city were secured by other enclaves
or lost to the glut of undead.
Finally, the harsh Midwestern winters make fuel
a precious commodity. Solar panels, windmills, and
battery systems designed by clever residents provide
enough energy for Le Corbusier’s normal operations,
but the bitter cold of the winter months leave the
community continually desperate for gasoline,
biodiesel, wood, or anything else that can be burned
for heat.
NEIGHBORHOODS
If a classroom on campus isn’t making something,
it houses people that work there. Le Corbusier’s
buildings were understaffed due to shrinking
enrollment, so the entire surviving population of the
dorms and faculty didn’t even consume half the space.
The rush of surrounding refugees and Pillar business
interests filled what remained: fast.
The halls of the former academic buildings are
crowded melting pots: 3d print shops operate next to
classrooms housing multiple families; lecture halls
littered with rows of cots lodge the workforce for 24/7
salvage foundries operating out of the subterranean
parking garages; shower facilities installed in the floor
of a drained swimming pool sit next to a weight room
run by the Black Math. The chaos of the Crash is the
only defining character of these kaleidoscopic halls.
However, a few stark divides have been etched into
the campus over the last five years, and knowing their
borders is vital to any crew’s survival.
THE BRICKS
The storage container apartment blocks serve as the
exterior walls between buildings. Sharing an echoing
metal wall with the scrapping, gnawing Casualties
outside makes this the cheapest real-estate in town.
The majority of inhabitants are late refugees to the
enclave that work on the farms located on former
campus lawns. Notably, one three-container high
stack on the northern perimeter serves as Corbeezy’s
quarantine housing for Latents.
ADJUNCT ROW
Those without the necessary skills to work in Le
Corbusier’s more profitable sectors occupy a tent
city ghetto located in an old sculpture park. Work is
hard to find in Adjunct Row, and crime runs rampant.
Campus security makes frequent visits to enforce the
law or roll people for protection bounty. Most of the
enclave’s illicit trade takes place here, and any Taker
crew worth its salt learns to navigate its alleyways.
ADMIN
The former administration building houses the
Tenured elite. Technically, the offices and apartments
are to be occupied by whoever among the party is
elected to lead, but that never seems to change much
from year-to-year. Its halls are so well-maintained
that it can sometimes seem as if the Crash never
happened, but any Taker inside the place can rest
assured they’re about to either profit or die from one
of the Tenured’s political plots.
PATCHWORK PALACE
The Pillars live in a gaudy McMansion constructed
inside the former soccer stadium, assembled from
salvaged materials brought in during their migration
to campus. It’s a palatial estate slapped together with
cheap dry-wall and libertarian dreams, a raucous
celebration to the demise of zoning laws, worker
safety, and good taste. The Pillars and their families
share the massive home, and they take great pleasure
in the way it offends the architectural sensibilities
of their Tenured neighbors. The flagrant waste of
farmland is another issue entirely, but the residents
are confident their hordes of bounty can pay off
anyone keen to press the issue.
HANGING GARDENS
The roofs of every university building have been
converted to water collectors and rooftop gardens.
Where feasible, bridges have been erected between
buildings to allow for easy passage. The Tenured’s
liberal social policies and the Pillars’ hunger for
cheap labor conspired to make the rooftop gardens a
stronghold for Le Corbusier’s believer factions. Due
to its agricultural production, Detoxins make up the
majority, though there are Shepherd, Randian, and
Archivist operations as well. Taker work “up top” can
pay well, but it tends to be focused on expanding the
political power of whatever faith offers the contract.
VIPS
Takers will work for anyone with the bounty to pay, but
they often have to sell their lives cheap. Those with
enough income to regularly hire crews tend to be in
power, and their contracts focus on maintaining that
control.
DEAN CHEVALIER
Richard Chevalier was actually the leader of the
faculty senate, but the “dean” title stuck to him after
organizing the initial defense of campus. A former
economics professor, Chevalier is no fool. He knows
the Tenured’s grasp on power relies on property laws
he doesn’t have the power to enforce. His position
derives solely from gratitude and custom, both of
which have a short shelf-life in the Loss. He spends
the majority of his days conspiring with colleagues
to demonize the Pillars and degrade their popular
support. So far, it’s working, but he’s not keen to rest
on his laurels. It was his duty as a human being to let
refugees inside during the Crash, but he’ll be damned
if some idiot horde is going to steal control of his
campus: be they living or dead.
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 HAROLD CARMICHAEL
Harold Carmichael is the personification of a Hunter-
era conservative: outrageously profane, scornful
of anyone that takes offense, and protected from
backlash by his business interests. Carmichael was
an insufferable asshole even before the Crash, but
he’s something of a genius when it comes to conflict
with the Tenured, so his colleagues are keen to keep
rewarding his behavior until they can wrest control
away from the academics. Five years in, the lock-step
unity of the party has led the more gullible enclavists
to think that the Pillars actually believe the rancid shit
that regularly drops from Carmichael’s mouth, and
they might be right. Ultimately, it doesn’t matter. As
long as the bounty keeps rolling in, Carmichael knows
they’ll continue to let him do whatever he wants.
PROFESSOR CLARA BRADLEY-MATTERKNICK
Bradley-Matterknick taught the Philosophy of Design
classes. She managed to climb in the faculty ranks
despite the specialty school’s begrudging inclusion
of her field (got to get those gen. Ed. credits). Her
popularity derives from her genuine love for teaching
and enthusiastic engagement in campus community.
Adoration of “Professor Clara” continued throughout
the Crash, and her advocacy for the young saved
Le Corbusier from some of the more authoritarian
policies proposed by Carmichael and ignored by
Chevalier. “Professor C” has a tortured relationship
with the Dean due to his neoliberal tendencies, and
she finds Carmichael downright loathsome. Her
advocacy for the bottom quarter keeps her position
secure, but she’s short on allies even among her own
party.
COMPETITION
Any crew operating inside Le Corbusier is going to
have to deal with the major economic players in the
area, in addition to the competing crews sharing their
market niche, if they hope to survive.
IVORY FIELDS
A rural megachurch, the Ivory Fields Ministry, holds
an entire gated community even further away from
the city. A combination of evangelical dominionism,
apocalyptic doctrine, and prosperity gospel positioned
Ivory Fields nicely during the Crash. Much of the
infrastructure of the community remains self-sufficient
and intact. Some of the interior blocks of the suburb
are so well maintained they seem eerily unchanged.
Though not extreme enough to be labeled Believers
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like some post-Crash Christian sects, Ivory Fields
is still heavily resented in the area. They’ve been
known to exile entire families based on dogma,
feeding innocent people to the Casualties for their
sexuality or beliefs. Paradoxically, the group’s religious
beliefs preclude them from certain violent work. This
necessitates subcontracting with local Takers, and the
megachurch provides valuable income for crews that
can tolerate their holier-than-thou attitude. In addition
to poaching Taker crews from Le Corbusier, Ivory
Fields also threatens to steal away their neighbors’
hope for rescue. Life inside their fence is about as
idyllic as life in the Loss can get. Ivory Plains has
strong ties to powerful donors in the Recession, and
they feed them “doing fine out here” propaganda in
exchange for support. As the Christians are basically
doing Manifest Destiny’s News Network’s job for
them, many in Le Corbusier fear the fundamentalists
will be prioritized for rescue before the college.
THE MACHINE
The Machine is made up of the remains of the city’s
police institutions. The enclave itself is distributed
between a variety of former black sites: ICE secret
prisons, DEA arsenals, Sheriff’s Office motor pools,
etc. Though a few families and politicians remain
housed there, the only members of the Machine with
any say in its operation are former federal and local
law enforcement agents. The Machine ignores the
fact that they are homo sacor and still operate off
the briefly declared martial law edict passed down
over five years ago. They regard all enclavists as
US citizens bound by extinct laws. A fervent belief
in their mandate, combined with an already insular
militarized police culture, has generated the faith
of The Finest (see p.33), a warrior cult slavishly
dedicated to reverence for “the Blue.”
As a result of their devotion to the laws of a dead
world, almost no one deals with The Machine
anymore. They have been known to arrest and execute
those found out in the Loss for “crimes.” They kidnap
people under the authority of imaginary evacuation
orders and seize property citing “civil forfeiture.” The
Machine would not be tolerated at all were it not for
its intimidating military resources, but their monopoly
on force belies a paucity of other assets. The black
sites that make up the Machine are widely distributed,
hard to coordinate, and surrounded by dense hordes
of Casualties. The desperate thugs of The Machine
survive solely off their equipment, sociopathy, and
delusions of legitimacy.
COMPETING TAKER CREWS
Within Le Corbusier, there are plenty of people
desperate enough to try Taker work, but few crews
survive long enough to pull contracts consistently.
Gains: a crew of Black Math cultists that fund their
extermination operations with memberships to a
private gym maintained in the old recreation building.
Gains is one of the most physically intimidating and
well-armed crews in the whole enclave.
Avant Gardeners: a Detoxin crew tithing a portion
of every score to the community in the Hanging
Gardens. They aren’t very good, but they get regular
faith-based business and don’t desire to escape the
Loss. It makes them suicidally brave and, more
importantly, cheap.
Scar-City: an all-Latent crew operating from their
quarantined block in the Bricks. Their propensity for
melee weapons means turnover is high, but prospects
are desperate enough in their part of town that
replacements aren’t hard to come by.
The Brutalists: a hodgepodge crew generally
sympathetic to the Archivist and student
quarintechture communities. Their diverse personnel
share little in common save a desperate need to hustle
their way out of Adjunct Row.
HOW TO USE LE CORBUSIER
Every Red Markets contract has seven components
(RM p. 359). They are…
1. Goods and/or Services (and their price,
Equilibrium)
2. Economy
3. Client
4. Competition
5. Travel Time
6. The Site
7. Complications
Descriptions of the economy (#2), VIP clients (#3), and
competition (#4) can be found in the enclave section.
Groups can also use that information to design Scores
in long-term play. Travel time (#5) encounters can
be determined by the leg table (RM p. 457) or made
up by the Market. Similarly, you can use the dice to
decide equilibrium (RM p. 363) or use the suggestions
included. These elements are reusable for all jobs
offered out of Le Corbusier. Everything specific to a
contract is included in its chapter.
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 Contract: MEAT IS MURDER
GOODS/SERVICES
Climate change runs rampant. Le Corbusier has
been blessed with good years, but they’ve also faced
ten-month winters and choking droughts. There’s
no telling what the next harvest will bring. Only the
hardiest crops reach maturity, and only because
they’ve been genetically modified to survive wild
fluctuations in temperature, moisture, and soil quality.
The surviving biotech industry can’t keep up with the
demand for immortal crops.
Le Corbusier is perpetually teetering on the
edge of starvation. Most of their seed vaults are
last-generation tech, ill-equipped for the changing
environment. Every year, another vegetable falls off
the menu, its reproduction sabotaged by planned
obsolescence encoded in its DNA as genetic DRM. It’s
only a matter of time until the declining seed diversity
conspires with the bad weather to leave the residents
as hungry as the dead beating down their walls.
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Luckily, Dean Chevalier has found a source of
salvation. His only price? Absolute control of the
enclave…and the lives of a few Takers.
THE GIST
In exchange for some architectural designs, a
desperate car camp in the Recession repaid the
Tenured with information. Alosine has set up a black
site research lab on the campus of a state university
across town. The school’s teaching hospital was
overrun by Blight victims, but its rooftop helipad
managed to stay sealed. Alosine helicopters from the
Recession created a landing zone on the hospital roof
some months ago. From there, SSS mercenaries
erected a zipline to the neighboring West Memorial
Athletic Center. Housing nothing save exercise
equipment, the building wasn’t a priority in the
Crash. More importantly, the complex was built
to maximize natural light. Its upper-floors feature

Prep Work
What wIll the contract lIkely requIre?
Rumor has it that Alosine, the biggest
surviving biotech company in the world,
has established a research facility
somewhere near Le Corbusier. The
Dean claims to know its location, and
stealing super-seeds from their lab
could feed the enclave for years. It’s
1-3 legs away (Market decides).
What Is the equIlIbrIum prIce?
Roll for it, or call it B9/R8:
Volitile. “Invasive Kale” and similar
GMO’s are worth more than their
weight in bounty. In addition to high
demand, everyone hates Alosine for
the starvation their genetic DRM has
caused. Takers aren’t going to turn
down a chance to look like Robin Hood.
What competItIon Is bIddIng for the Job?
The Avaunt Gardeners have a taboo
against GMOs, and Scar-City isn’t going
to be trusted touching anything people
have to eat. The Brutalists and Gains
are very eager to bid though. Markets
can try a double under-cut, if they
like their games in hard Bust mode.
hundreds of windows and skylights, turning the
building into a natural hothouse. The mercenaries
zip-lined equipment to the athletic center, secured the
perimeter, and brought in the scientists.
Now, Alosine has an experimental greenhouse
marooned in the Loss, utterly secure from corporate
espionage. Every few weeks, they drop supplies for
the stranded scientists, but the work is otherwise
uninterrupted. Chevalier’s sources in the Recession
even report that the SSS mercenaries have been sent
home. The corporation is so certain in the safety and
secrecy of their lab, they’ve left the eggheads alone
with nothing to protect their treasure. Chevalier wants
a Taker crew to go in there and steal the latest in
Frankenstein crops.
CLIENT
Dean Chevalier uses Fencemen to escort negotiators
to a nondescript tent in the squalor of Adjunct Row.
The Dean looks like a model that would advertise
male-enhancement drugs: a silver fox fit beyond his
years, dressed in a fine suit. He couldn’t look more out
of place behind a cheap card table in a muddy tent,
surrounded on all sides by campus security menacing
passer-bys. Nothing drags the Dean from his office
in Admin; a contract important enough to send him
slumming is enough to send any Taker salivating.
WEAK: THIS IS MY SCHOOL
While it’s nice to keep the enclave from starving, giving
the Tenured exclusive access to a series of specially
designed super-crops is going to leave their workforce
beholden to the opposite party. This contract has the
potential to shift the balance of power permanently
in favor of the faculty. Prying economic control
away from the ignorant plebs is Chevalier’s primary
motivation. He’s not trying to hide it, either. In fact,
he wants employees that share his vision. Those that
acknowledge the Dean as the true leader of campus
find it much easier to access the king’s coffers.
Example Reveals
Profession: Farming or Profession: Politics to see the
GMO’s potential impact.
Profession: Computers to hack into the Dean’s diary.
SOFT: TOO POLITE FOR POLITICS
For all his love of power, the Dean hates to see the
exercise of it. The fact that his contract could lead
to people being shot or eaten is not something
he’s willing to acknowledge. Takers that promise a
bloodless cake-walk are better rewarded than those
providing a realistic assessment.
Once the scene is set, use
the spots to determine how to
roleplay the client. As the
negotiator succeeds and gleans
more information, reveal more of
The Gist (p.9) to the players.
Players may only use spots
learned in Scams. Markets may use
Gift spots at their discretion.
11
 Example Reveals
Foresight based on the Dean’s past behavior.
Networking to learn his discomfort visiting Adjunct
Row.
Research into his academic work.
TOUGH: DENIABLE OPERATION
In many ways, the job is too important for Takers.
They’re unaffiliated chancers motivated solely by
profit, and that’s precisely their value. Chevalier is
planning a heist on a major DHQS corporate partner…
from an enclave whose entire political economy
runs off the hope of becoming a re-settlement. The
Dean needs a crew he can disavow if they get caught,
preferably one willing to die before giving up their
client in interrogation.
Example Reveals
Foresight or Criminality to recognize the delicate
position.
Awareness to spot the extreme security measures
around the negotiation tent.
GIFT: LUDWIG THE DRON-KEY
Gift Spots are optional. Use them to increase the
challenge of negotiations.
12
Content Advisory
This contract contains elements of
real-world human horror and references
to abuse. If this subject matter
is uncomfortable for the Market
or players, skip Location K and
Location O at the site. Describe
those locations as empty rooms, and
skip all references to them made by
NPCs.
Chevalier doesn’t know if the crew needs to retrieve
seeds, computer equipment, or full-grown specimens,
so he’s willing to give them Jeanette’s College’s old
mechanical mascot, Ludwig the Dron-key (RM p.
262), to help carry the load. The sophisticated robot
has been equipped with Stealth Servos for the job,
and he still has the PA System upgrade from before
the Crash. The Dean fails to mention that his mascot
programming still works, meaning that any crit fail to
Profession: Drone Handling causes the unit to erupt
in 80-decibel architectural quotes and the school fight
song.
13
 THE SITE: WEST MEMORIAL
ATHLETIC CENTER
The abandoned, state-of-the-art fitness center is
four stories tall and includes a basement, but the
second floor is all that matters. The basement is
flooded and abandoned. The first floor is comprised
of heavily-fortified entrances, load-bearing concrete
walls, and window-less racquetball courts. All the
rooms down there have been converted to storage
for food, ammunition, and fresh water/septic tanks.
The second-floor is where the labs, dorms, and grow
rooms are housed. The third and fourth floors are
decorative empty space, used to provide high-ceilings,
walls of windows, and skylights that give the center its
modern look.
ARRIVING AT SITE
If Takers discover credible rumors about the area…
while no one knows anything about an Alosine black
site, there’s rumors the Machine (p.7) has been
active in the area. This doesn’t reveal the whole
complication (p.16), but suggests the need for
caution.
If Takers make a check to discover the floor plan…
show them the floorplan and the Taker legend. Do
not show them the Market legend.
If Takers use appropriate skill checks to survey the
area…such as Foresight, Criminality, or Research,
make it clear that the hospital is impassible. Alosine
would have immediately bricked up the stairwell to
the helipad. After rappelling the exterior, the next
smart move would be to send the mercenaries to DDJ
(RM p 259) the ground entrances. Medical facilities
were hotbeds of infection after the Crash. Once the
zipline was in place, the trapped Casualties were just
more security for the landing zone. The sports fields
separating the teaching hospital and the center have
grown into waist-high weeds. It might provide some
cover on approach, but it could also hide crippled
Casualties. Similarly, the size of the facility and its
pool system suggest a large sewer system, but braving
whatever might be lurking down there in the total
darkness seems risky.
If Takers use appropriate skill checks to suggest a
plan…the helipad likely isn’t guarded, and it will have a
motorized pulley system to bring equipment and staff
14
back to the helicopters. If Takers can scale the exterior
of the building, they’ll have a stealthy entrance/exit
point on the roof. Similarly, the large sewer system
required by the center might provide a stealthy
breech point, but it’s bound to be flooded, dark, and
unsecured against Casualties. Ground floor entrances
must be fortified, and getting through stealthily is
nearly impossible. Regardless of approach, a night
attack is the best approach.
If Takers use some sort of Awareness enhancing gear
before approaching…they see the Machine guard
patrols on the roof before they are spotted. If they
don’t see them, let them have it with the sniper
rifle.
If they approach through the sewers…make sure
there’s a mob waiting in the pitch-dark to greet them.
Remember those Self-control checks as they fight
through the filthy darkness.
If they climb the hospital…rope is easy to find with
a Scavenge check, but someone is going to have to
climb the seven story tall building free hand before
everyone else can climb the easy way. Make sure some
of the Casualties break through a window to grab at
the free climber making Athletics checks, preferably
around the fifth story or so.
If they go around the hospital and approach on foot…
the guards don’t look southeast across the sports
fields because a large group of Casualties resides
in the tall grass, ready to hopelessly grope up at the
zipline every few weeks. It’s possible to sneak through
the weeds and around the dead, but not without
Stealth and Self-Control checks.
MARKET LEGEND
Use this version of the legend to determine what is
really going on at each location on the map. For help
with the overall narrative, see the Complication (p.16).
A. POOL STORAGE = SNIPER NEST
The storage room now holds ammo and radio
equipment rather than pool noodles. A ladder leads
up to the roof’s sniper nest. A member of the Finest
guards the northern and western approaches at all
hours of the day, staring down the scope of a fully-
upgraded heavy rifle (RM p. 248).
B. SPA = FERTILIZER STORAGE
The spa is a separate room from the pool area. It’s
used to store fertilizer and packets of soil. It’s possible
to Stealth past the sniper nest on the roof and lower
a Taker through the skylight with rope. They can also
take a leap and hope the mounds of soil break their
fall. Entering through the spa protects Takers from the
risk of being spotted by the pool area’s cameras and
guard.
C. POOL = FARM
This location has security cameras (see “P. Staff” p.
15). Takers that aren’t stealthy are also visible to the
guard in location E.
The old pool has been emptied, retrofitted with
irrigation pipes, and filled with topsoil. This farm
feeds the plants with natural light pouring in from the
skylights and windows. However, the plants here are
still in their experimental phase, meaning their long-
term viability as crops is questionable. There are ten
plots in total. Every time Takers uproot a plant to steal,
the Market rolls Black and Red, noting the result.
Critical Success = New super-plant. Worth the trip by
itself
Success = Viable GMO crop
Failure = Dies after first planting
Crit. Failure = Inedible and invasive. Becomes a pest
threatening the enclave
Takers can use Awareness to look at the
whiteboards of data hung around the pool and
recognize these are untested strains. Unless someone
in the crew is a botanist, they shouldn’t know the
result of the new strain until it’s planted back at Le
Corbusier.
D. COMMUNITY EXERCISE ROOM = LAB
This location has security cameras (see “P. Staff” p.
15)
The aerobics room houses the main Alosine lab.
There’s a graveyard shift of two scientists working
at night, and the majority of the staff can be found
there during the day. This is where new strains are
designed. If they meet expectations in the farm,
the GMOs receive further modification to install
planned obsolescence into their genetic codes. This
reproductive kill switch protects the corporation’s IP.
Takers with scientific training can steal seeds before
they get genetically “locked” and discover techniques
for corrupting each plant’s reproductive cycle.
Control over the genetic DRM makes Chevalier
immensely powerful. He’ll pay 10 bounty per formula
Takers return, but finding the data is a task action in
the realm of an hour. On a successful check, a Taker
can bring 1d10/2 pieces of Alosine genetic IP back
home.
E. LIFEGUARD OFFICE = GUARD STATION
This location has security cameras (see “P. Staff” p.
15).
The office windows look out into the farm (Location
C) and all three doors into the main lab (Location D).
Takers need to see and stealth past the guard to move
through these locations or the adjoining hallway. If
a Taker achieves a critical success on an Awareness
check to spot the guard, it turns out he’s asleep. It’s
possible to dispatch the guard stealthily, but leaving
his body there triggers an alarm if seen on the
cameras.
F. WOMEN'S LOCKERS
The women’s showers and restrooms are empty save
for a single scientist, Leyla Aygün, weeping quietly in
a stall. Leyla is disgusted by the corruption the guards
from the Machine have brought to her research
facility. In particular, she’s concerned about the
prisoners locked in the Playground (Location K).
If Takers approach quietly and peacefully, Leyla is
eager to help rob the place blind; she knows all the
security protocols and acts as an NPC reader of the
Market Legend. However, she has stipulations: A) no
scientists can be hurt B) all the guards must be killed
C) the prisoners must be freed D) no one can know
she is involved. If Takers can meet those demands,
Leyla is their greatest ally.
G. MEN'S LOCKERS
The men’s room has two occupants. One scientist,
Vincent Silvio, is having a bad night on the toilet. He
can provide the same information as the woman in
Location F, but Vincent is a company man. Getting
him to talk is decidedly less pleasant…for him. It
needs to stay quiet though.
The leader of the Finest is in one of the shower
rooms, working out with a heavy bag. Thankfully, he
can’t see or hear much besides his own punches. He’s
also off-duty, unarmed, and wearing nothing but gym
shorts. However, he’s the officer in charge of the Finest
and a management level Market Force with a trained
advantage of 2 (RM p. 292). If confronted, he won’t
charge a firing squad, but he won’t give up either. If
he’s captured or detects the Takers, he does everything
in his power to alert his men by lying, tricking, and
ambushing the intruders.
If pressed, he reveals his name is Captain MacDuff.
15
 H. POOL MECHANICAL = WATER AND IRRIGATION
The pool pumps have been retrofitted to operate the
complex’s jury-rigged water system. They pump and
filter water from the flooded basement to irrigate the
plants. They also pump water up from the Alosine
water tanks for residents, and send waste into the
septic tanks. Clever Takers can climb the pipes up
from the sewers or first floor racquetball courts to
avoid the stairwells at Locations I and J.
I. UTILITY STAIRWELL
This location has security cameras (see “P. Staff” p.
15)
No one trusts Casualties to stay out of sewers
leading into the basement. In addition to a locked
door and security cameras, the guards have mined the
stairwell with DDJ’s. It’s only meant to fool the dead,
so the bombs can be spotted and disarmed with a
simple Awareness check. Just don’t expect things to go
well if a Taker sets one off.
J. LOBBY STAIRWELL
This location has security cameras (see “P. Staff” p.
15)
Since the first floor is often used for maintenance
and storage, the stairs remain clear.
K. PLAYGROUND = SLAVE QUARTERS
This location has security cameras (see “P. Staff” p.
15).
When the Machine sent its Finest to guard the
scientists, it sent some “prisoners” along with them.
These so-called “criminals” are really kidnap victims:
enclavists and traders snatched from the Loss by the
Machine. A half-dozen men, women, and children
reside in squalid conditions, chained inside the
playground and terrorized by the sound of the lock. If
they’re lucky, the door opening means they’re working
chain gang in the farm or running maintenance on the
water pumps. If they’re unlucky, they get dragged into
the Meeting Room (Location O) for “interrogation.”
The need for the cops to “blow off some steam” was
a condition of the Finest’s employment. While most
of the Alosine staff is sickened by the slavery, the
prisoners know all too well how the scientists look the
other way.
L. HOME = BARRACKS
This location has security cameras (see “P. Staff” p.
15).
The western side of the basketball court houses
rows of cots and drapes serving as the barracks.
During the day, the area is mostly empty. The skylights
16
remain uncovered; since the windowed walls of the
facility don’t extend into the gymnasium, residents
can follow black-out protocols more easily. The dim
light and sheet partitions for privacy make it possible
to sneak through the rows, but scientists raise the
alarm if they find any intruders. One or two off duty
guards rest here between shifts at all times. The night
the Takers arrive, it is just one; Captain MacDuff is
working out in Location G.
M. GYM STORAGE = ARMORY
This is the armory. If they aren’t alerted and maintain
a regular shift schedule, the equipment for off-duty
guards can be found here.
Two handguns w/ automatic (RM p. 247)
Two rifles w/ automatic and spray (RM p. 250)
Two sets of kevlar (RM p. 257)
Two helmets w/ headlamps (RM p. 257)
Two Ubiq specs w/ Optimized and Ghoulnet (RM p.
264)
A dose of Suppression K-7864 (RM p. 255)
A package of plastic explosives (RM p. 249)
There’s also a ladder leading to the roof’s guard
station. This guard is not armed with a heavy rifle.
His role is to maintain the black-out protocols at
night and provide extra security during supply drops.
He sleepily watches the north and east sectors. The
zipline (Location S) is considered secure enough that
his back is turned to it.
N. HALF-COURT = TARP PARTITION
A giant tarp unrolled from the ceiling separates the
basketball court into Location L and Location Q
(p.16). It’s just a tarp though. Definitely not bullet-
proof.
O. MEETING ROOM = INTERROGATION ROOM
The room holds nothing save a filthy mattress,
handcuffs, and other devices for torture. This is the
room where members of the Finest go to “interrogate”
their prisoners. An Awareness check spots a peephole
cut into the wall for whomever is on duty in the staff
room (Location P). Foresight suggests a knock on the
wall would be good way to line up a pervert’s eye with
a gun barrel…
P. STAFF = SECURITY ROOM
The staff room has been converted into a security
center. One guard is on duty at all times. Takers
can duck the camera’s line of sight if they make
Awareness checks to spot them. If not, for every new
room entered, roll a d10. The number tells which
room the monitor currently displays. If the Takers are
spotted by the guard on duty, he silently alerts all the
Finest via Ubiq specs. The whole team suits up and
begins hunting the crew as the man in the staff room
coordinates their attack.
SecurIty Camera Chart
Result Room Watched
1 C. Pool
2 D. Community Exercise Room
3 E. Lifeguard Office
4 I. Utility Stairwell
5 J. Lobby Stairwell
6 K. Daycare
7 L. Home
8 Q. Away
9 R. Fire Exit
10 S. Zipline
Do not tell Takers what the 1d10 roll is for,
especially if they haven’t found the cameras. If the
guard in the security room is disabled, cameras
cannot trigger alarms by themselves. Guards still have
access to the feeds over the Ubiq network, but they
have to be alerted before they watch them using specs.
This network also allows Takers to hack the camera
system if they can get a pair of specs off a guard or
reach the signal array at Location S.
Q. AWAY = SPECIMEN STORAGE
The skylights on this side of the gym have been
blacked out. The other side of the room has been
turned into a UV hydroponics farm where finished
specimens are housed until export on the next supply
flight. All the plants and seeds here produce extremely
generous crop yields, but for a single year only. Each
has been altered with genetic DRM and only produces
seed if treated with proprietary Alosine pesticides.
It’s enough to get paid, but only botanically-inclined
Takers can spot the long-term problems with these
goods.
R. FIRE EXIT
This stairwell leads directly to the second-floor from
the outside. As such, its exterior has a mob of C’s
beating on the fortified door. In the foyer between
the two safety doors, an armored Dron-key with a
weapon’s platform in autonomous mode (RM p. 262)
guards against breech. The robot is programmed to
blast any human-shaped object it sees. In the event
of an interior alarm, the guard on duty in Location P
activates friendly tags on the staff’s Ubiq specs and
releases the Dron-key to roam the center’s interior.
S. ZIPLINE = LIFELINE
The hospital’s roof is impressively equipped. It
contains solar panels and wind generators mounted
off the sides of the building. Every spare inch of space
is filled with giant battery packs and satellite arrays to
contact HQ. Mounted on a reinforced pole is a carbon
nanotube zipwire leading to the roof of the West
Memorial Athletic Center. The line is equipped with
a motorized gondola for moving heaving equipment
to and from the distant building. A secondary line
spanning between buildings feeds power and hardline
communications into the building.
If Takers manage to access the roof of the hospital,
they can use the zipline to infiltrate the center silently.
They can tap into the satellite array to hack the
camera system or disable communications. They can
cut the lifeline to plunge the center into darkness,
or they can set up a sniper position to overwatch the
whole area. The hospital roof is the most strategically
valuable position in the area…unless mercenary
gunships come flying in to respond to trouble.
COMPLICATION
The Alosine scientists weren’t comfortable being
left alone with the Blight. Recessionistas, one and
all, the withdraw of on-site mercenaries crippled
the researchers with fear. They couldn’t live with the
thought of the dead outside their doors, gnawing to
get in. Unluckily, they encountered a local police patrol
willing to help…meaning the Machine.
The scientists made an off-the-books agreement
with the ex-cops. If the group provided a security
force, the scientists would make sure to slip the
Machine a copy of their seed vault when the operation
packed up. As the Machine has a surplus of force and
a lack of everything else, they jumped at the chance
and sent the Finest: a six-man former SWAT element
run by the infamous Captain MacDuff.
MacDuff is a psychotic fascist and true believer.
He views his group as the sole remaining source of
17
 law in the Loss. He has no respect for people that
don’t “serve,” and he regards the weakness of those
outside his group as sub-human. His insistence on
housing “prisoners” on-site for the amusement of his
men is merely a stopgap measure until he learns all
the corporate radio protocols. His eventual plan is
to “commander” the whole facility for the Machine,
including its staff. He already has few picked out for
special interrogation…
A few of the scientists realize their terrible mistake,
but most are just comforted by the show of force.
MacDuff’s people know their stuff. In game terms,
they are armored, full-time Market Forces (RM p.
291). Each is armed with the loadout found in the
Location M armory (p. 15) minus the Supressin and
explosives. They work in three pairs, staggering a four-
man duty crew at all times with one down shift.
If alerted, the Finest try to exterminate the Takers
themselves. After all, they hope to take over the facility
18
once they can fool Alosine into keeping the supply
drops coming. However, if one of the scientists gets
into the security room (Location P) during a crisis,
the Takers have an hour before SSS Mercenary
helicopters drop an army of reinforcements on site.
POSSIBLE JOB LINES
If the Takers killed the Finest, they’ve just started a
war with the Machine. Chevalier will need help with
that in the coming days. Even if they escaped with
the goods like ninjas, the Dean might want to pick
the fight himself. Cuckoo-ing the research facility and
having Alosine drop him regular supplies sounds like
a great idea, and he feels more capable of pulling it
off than the ex-cops. Finally, if his plan to corner the
agriculture market works, he’ll need protection from
the Pillars and Detoxins. Neither is likely to cede
control without a fight.
CONTRACT: PRODIGAL LIVES
GOODS/SERVICES
When the Blight deprived people of eternal rest, death
and mercy grew scarce. Predictably, their prices went
up.
Takers use the term “closure” to describe head-
hunting for individual Casualties. The target’s
surviving family finances these expeditions.
Sometimes, it’s good people looking to cease the
hellish puppetry profaning the corpse of a loved one.
More often, it’s Recession trash looking to cash their
inheritance at the bounty office. Regardless, closure
jobs are like finding a needle in a needlestack…all
of them infected by Blight. Tracking a single corpse
in the horde requires an art all its own. Some rely
on “psychic geography,” sifting old social media and
hoping the corpse stumbles towards someplace
significant in life. Others data mine reports from the
Crash, establishing search zones with the refugee
migration patterns. It’s such a hassle that Taker crews
either avoid closure work entirely or specialize in it,
settling into the niche market of tragedy tracking.
When renowned asshole Harold Carmichael starts
accepting bids on a closure contract, the whole
enclave is talking. The head of the Pillars is too
sociopathic for sentiment and too rich to need the
bounty. Harold’s target must hold the key to the only
thing he cares about: power.
THE GIST
Carmichael wants the Takers to end the suffering of
Belinda James, a pastor formerly employed by the
Ivory Fields Ministry. She’s not been seen since the
Crash, but James was nationally recognized in the
evangelical community. Carmichael insists it won’t
be difficult to find where she went down. He does not
trust Takers, so he wants them to stream the hunt and
execution through Ubiq. While he insists he doesn’t
need “all that sissy stuff,” the closure job is a gift for
one of his sons. James was the man’s ex-wife, so he’ll
pay 5 bounty extra if they can “make it look peaceful
and shit so I can send him the vid for Christmas.”
19

Prep Work
What wIll the contract lIkely requIre?
Harold’s cagey about an identity
until face-to-face, but he claims
the target should be local and
easy to find. He needs a crew to go
there, pull the trigger, and snatch
the card. Staying within the local
area would be considered 2-4 legs
away (Market decides).
What Is the equIlIbrIum prIce?
Roll for it, or call it B5/R4:
Scarce. Closure work is specialized,
and while Carmichael holds a
lot of sway, he has a history of
underpaying contractors that aren’t
part of the Pillars.
What competItIon Is bIddIng for the Job?
The Brutalists and Avaunt-Gardeners
just got back from jobs, and Scar-
City has been working for Ivory
Fields the last couple weeks.
Gains, however, is always down for a
closure job.
(Carmichael insists that James is shambling in the
local area, which can be anywhere from 2-4 legs away.
Market decides.)
CLIENT
Harold Carmichael holds meetings on the driving
range platform he built atop the Patchwork Palace.
There, he drinks the finest whiskey the Lost can loot
and drives golf balls at the Casualties over the fence
at the Bricks. Whether the ball bounces harmlessly
off the dead, clangs annoyingly against a metal
container, or smacks into an innocent Latent, his
Fencemen bodyguards cheer. The whole scene reeks
of extravagance, toadying, and cruelty; Carmichael
wouldn’t negotiate any other way.
WEAK: NO BUSINESS WITHOUT SIN
Carmichael is so cynical that he can’t recognize
anything as real until it hurts. He behaves as
dismissively and rudely as possible to the Takers
20
(especially when playing Spots), but buckling
under his money and abuse only disappoints him.
Carmichael wants a sparring partner. The only
relationship he can imagine besides financial
subservience is adversarial respect. If the negotiator
mirrors his asshole demeanor, it has a positive effect
on the price. He only respects people that can give as
good as they get.
Example Reveals
Networking with Carmichael’s web of frenemies.
Intimidate one of his off-duty bodyguards.
Research into the rates for past Taker contracts.
SOFT: NOT BORN BUT MADE
Carmichael has always been a prick, but it wasn’t until
the Crash that he became insufferable. The first few
weeks of the outbreak were very hard. He lost friends
and family to Vectors, sickness, and starvation. He
lost more in the battle to secure campus. It wasn’t
until the aftermath that the hard-to-love man became
unreachable, and some part of Harold recognizes it.
While overt pleas for sympathy disgust him, about
the only thing that arouses Carmichael’s better nature
are stories of suffering during the Crash. If a Taker
can coldly, dispassionately work in a sob story from
the first days, Harold is more likely to be generous,
though he doesn’t understand why.
Example Reveals
Research the Pillars history.
Profession: Psychology or some other medical skill.
Networking to find sympathetic Pillars members.
TOUGH: HOLY AS HAND GRENADES
Put bluntly, Carmichael doesn’t give a fuck about
anybody. His son, for whom the job is supposedly
a gift, lives in the Recession and is nothing but
disappointment to his old bastard of a father. There’s
no record of the boy and Belinda James were even
ever married. If pressed on this, Carmichael says
Belinda James had record of the divorce stricken
to help her career (this is a lie). If caught in that lie,
Carmichael claims they used to date and he just wants
to see “the old bitch die” (another lie). If pressed on
that, he claims the job is a gift for Ivory Fields so he
can get a better deal on construction work (yep…a lie).
While it’s impossible to get the truth out of
Carmichael (see “Complication #2” p. 26), spotting
any of his deceptions gets him to raise the price in
hopes of keeping the crew on the hook.
Example Reveals
Sensitivity, of course.
Criminality to break into Carmichael’s quarters.
Research to find the son’s marital status.
GIFT: UBIQ SPEC OR LMG
Gift spots are optional. Use to increase the challenge
of negotiations.
If the Takers don’t have anything to film confirmation
with, Carmichael offers up a pair of Ubiq Specs. If the
crew can already stream proof to him, Carmichael
has one of the guards throw a fully upgraded Light
Machine Gun into the mix (RM p. 248). With a smile,
Carmichael claims “he can’t afford to feed the fucking
thing anyway.” It’s true that the weapon is difficult to
find ammo for: unless Takers already have an LMG,
no one can refresh its charges if it is emptied during
the job).
THE SITE: FAR AFIELD MINISTRY
Before Takers can get to the site, they have to find it.
If Takers Research Belinda James online…they find
that she became a nationally active evangelical as
a result of her marriage to mega-pastor Josh James
after the death of his first wife, Carrie. Belinda grew
to become a renowned speaker at evangelical events
around the country with her “Rivers Flow Through
Us” project, a Christian speaking tour focusing on a
wife’s responsibility to provide for her family. While far
from progressive, James still advanced the evangelical
woman’s ministry by providing advice for mothers
forced to engage in the “sharing the scraps” economy
of pre-Crash America. Mixed in with the typical home-
schooling and home-making advice were sermons
about how to use one’s love of the Lord “to reap the
blessings of the side gig.” Belinda’s last scheduled
appearance was at Far Afield Ministry, a rural tele-
campus for the overflowing Ivory Fields congregation.
It’s located near the present day enclave. If Takers
got a critical success on Research, look to the
SEO scam (p. 21).
If Takers Research Crash evacuations…Takers
discover that Far Afield called the congregation
home during the Crash. On Ubiq, they sent messages
to their mailing list, urging them to flee to the Far
Afield Ministry during the height of the crisis. They
claimed to have enough food, water, and medical
supplies to provide for everyone. As no enclave exists
there and the message was sent well-before the
Torpor Lockdown, it is unlikely things went well. The
archived email is signed by Belinda James. If Takers
got a critical success on Research, look to the
SEO scam (p. 21).
If Takers Research James’s social media… the only
surviving archive of her accounts is an ancient USnap
account. The most popular pictures on the account
show her doing a variety of charity projects and
speaking engagements at the Far Afield Ministry.
Takers can make an Awareness check upon
finding the account. If they succeed, they notice
that the Far Afield pictures are top-rated because they
have more comments than the other pictures. The
comments on the photos are pretty innocuous, but
there are a disturbing number of recent entries that
21
The SEO Scam
Sharp-eyed Takers notice a slight difference in the fonts smattered throughout
Belinda’s digital trail. All the sites are built using U-Space, a popular
website builder pushed out by Ubiq a few years before the Crash. However, a
number of words in her archived sites deviate from the “StandardU” font and
to the “SimpleU” variant. SimpleU is a hack added by the Moths to accommodate
the limited processing power of most scavenged electronics. It didn’t exist
until a few years ago. Whoever hacked into the archived sites didn’t spot the
difference in default fonts as they made alterations. The changes don’t appear
to be fabrications, but they are designed to boost the SEO search results of
“Belinda James.” In short, it’s a safe bet James’s body is at Far Afield, but
it’s unclear why someone has been working to make sure everyone knows it.

contain no text save a single period. 100’s of them.
The comments on these Far Afield pictures, some
taken over a decade ago, outnumber pictures taken at
speaking events with tens-of-thousands of people.
If Takers talk to her husband Josh James…they find
him living in the Recession. He’ll talk in exchange
for a bounty. He’s a broken man scrapping by in a
quarintechture apartment complex, having traded in
all his assets for a modest lifestyle. He reveals that he
knows nothing about Belinda’s previous marriages,
but he suspects his PR people would have found
evidence during the background checks performed
before he arranged their union. During the Crash,
he returned to the area in his private jet to pick
up Belinda for evacuation, but she refused to stop
organizing relief efforts at the Far Afield Ministry. He
remarks, “She was a true believer, even in the face of
all that.” As the airport was overrun, he ordered the
plane to take-off and abandoned her.
If Takers fail EVERYTHING…they can hire Tragedy
Trackers to do the job for them for 1d10 bounty. They
reveal that James likely died at the Far Afield Ministry.
They don’t give up any of the information about
the SEO Scam. They found it; they just aren’t being
paid enough to care.
ARRIVING AT SITE
If Takers make a check to discover the floor plan…
show them the map and the Taker legend. Do not
show them the Market legend.
crew recognize the machine as belonging to the Scar-
City crew. No other entrances are barricaded from
the outside. On the northwest side of the building, a
food truck was pulled up to the side of the building.
The age of the truck, the presence of a ladder nearby,
and the broken stain glass window indicates someone
used it to enter the building many years ago. Painted
on the roof in giant letters is the message “SAVE THE
CHILDR” The skeleton next to the half-formed “E”
makes it clear help never came.
If Takers roll Awareness on approach…describe the
previously mentioned truck (if coming from the North)
or ATV (if coming from the South). Otherwise, the site
is ideal. Fallow fields surround the massive building
in every direction. They’re only populated by lightly
scattered Casualties. A few bullets and some drone
equipment would make the area perfect for farming.
The huge parking lots on three sides are crammed
with abandoned pre-Crash vehicles waiting to be
salvaged for parts. The whole area seems perfect for
settlement, or at least looting, but it looks untouched
since the Crash.
Overall…the church is massive and built on a gently
sloping hill. The base follows the curvature of the
ground while the roof cuts a flat line across the
horizon. It appears to be a single story throughout.
The eastern side houses smaller rooms and a simple
drop ceiling. The additional verticality of the building
on the western slope is used to make the sanctuary’s
auditorium; complete with stadium seating, vaulting
ceiling, and tall stained-glass windows.

If Takers use drone surveillance…they find that the

southern entrance has been blocked with an ATV that
still has its keys in the ignition. Any Latents in the

22
23
 MARKET LEGEND
Use this version of the legend to determine what is
really going on at each location on the map. For help
with the overall narrative, see the Complication (p. 21)
A. BACKSTAGE
The backstage hallway runs around the entire
sanctuary (location D). The concrete blocks of the
building’s exterior make up the outer wall. The
interior wall is a cheap plaster facade and only built
high enough to hide the backstage preparation from
parishioners. Light pours through the stained glass
windows starting about one story up the exterior
wall. Thankfully, all the doors to the Sanctuary are
closed and hide Takers from the massive open space.
However, backstage is where Far Afield was infected.
Any Taker can tell that the truck on the exterior
was used by desperate refugees to break into the
church after its doors were sealed. The corpses piled
atop the broken glass indicate the Vectors followed
their victims up the ladder and inside. A mob of long
dead Casualties (roll Mass and Shamble) still clogs
the utility corridor. Failing to dispatch them quietly
alerts the horde waiting in the sanctuary (location D).
While the doors into the rest of the building can hold
back that many Casualties, the cheap plaster of the
Sanctuary’s facade tears like paper if the stampede
tries to rip through.
B. BUILDING MECHANICAL
This is a storage room for equipment and the nexus
of the church’s plumbing. A Scavenge check reveals
a small generator with some fuel amongst the junk.
A Foresight check suggests it could be wired into the
building’s electrical system to revive some of its dead
systems.
C. STAGE MECHANICAL
This room houses the sound system for the church
band and lectern. Rigging up a power source
(Mechanics check) can restore enough power to get
the system pumping out “I Can Only Imagine” with a
full light show. This keeps the attention of nearly every
Casualty in the place and drives them towards the
front of the Sanctuary, allowing Takers to sneak past
them using the exterior hallway (location A). Just be
sure to get out of there before the dead rush the stage
and smash through the back of the facade.
24
D. SANCTUARY
When Vectors climbed through the stained glass
chasing refugees, some of them cleared the backstage
hallway, flipped over the interior facade, and crashed
into the densely populated Sanctuary. It was a
bloodbath. The auditorium houses nothing but
old bones, torn cots, and a stampede of over thirty
Casualties. During the initial outbreak, someone
tried to save the rest of the building by locking all the
doors from the outside. They made it to the southern
entrance before the Vectors broke through and
doomed everyone anyway, but the crew entering from
that direction was happy to finish the job. They’ve
DDJ’ed all the doors shut from the lobby. This is
useful for Takers hoping to trap a massive horde in a
manageable area; deadly for anyone trying to escape
through those doors.
E. NORTH ENTRANCE
Still barricaded with filing cabinets and pews, this
entrance clearly hasn’t been breeched since the Crash.
It’s impossible to pass through without a few hours
clearing debris.
F. SOUTH ENTRANCE
The hasty Crash barricade has been dismantled and
left strewn about the church lawn. Now, there’s a
well-maintained ATV blocking the entrance, bumper
resting near the double doors with the intent to block
them swinging out. Any Latent in the crew recognizes
the ATV from the Bricks; it’s a favorite tool of the Scar-
City crew. Since the keys are in the ignition, it seems
the owners weren’t worried about blocking humans.
The parking appears to have been sabotaged though.
Whoever stayed outside to ensure no Casualties
escaped apparently backed up a bit, opened the door,
and squeezed inside.
G. FOYER
To the left, stairs lead down to the doors into the
Sanctuary (location D). Each is blocked by a hasty
Crash job or a professionally triggered DDJ device. To
the right, offices and hallways make up the operational
wing of the church (locations H-P). In the Grand
Foyer, there lay a bizarre number of slain Casualties.
Each turned long ago, but anyone that makes a Melee
check recognizes they had their skulls crushed only
a few days ago. All the bodies are stripped of Bounty.
Awareness spots the church announcement billboards
converted to wailing walls: notes hastily penned
during the Crash for loved ones separated in the
evacuation. Ripping the worn photos, napkins, and
letters off the wall can provide 2d10 bounty if sold to
a Tragedy Tracker. Just be prepared for some Self-
Control checks.
H. NORTH HALLWAY
The northern hallway is the site of a massacre.
The bones of long-dead victims mix with recently
exterminated Casualties, carpeting a hallway whose
walls are peppered with bullet holes, blood spatter,
and dried black ichor. Even the ceiling tiles are
shredded and coated in gore. The carnage is a mixture
of old and new. This is where the congregation made
its last stand, and it’s where the previous Takers
turned once they finished cleansing the foyer (location
G). Faint light shines through the still-intact barricade
blocking the exterior doors. Otherwise, shadows
and bad angles make it impossible to see into the
adjoining rooms.
I. SOUTH HALLWAY
Sunshine leaks through the still intact barrier at the
end of the hallway. The corridor looks untouched
save by time. Once Takers silhouette themselves
against the light of the foyer, the light at the end of the
hall flickers as something runs in front of it. Check
Awareness to hear the footfalls and apologies growing
closer (make Self-Control checks). Amongst the barely
intelligible mutterings echoing out of the darkness,
Takers can recognize “their mother” repeated over
and over. Then, an emaciated Vector with a +1 murder
modifier (RM p. 303) comes streaking out of the
shadows.
If the Takers manage to put it down, they can search
the remains. While holding no useful gear, the body’s
single bounty identifies the pre-Crash name of a man
the Takers know as Mr. Clean. He was the negotiator
for Scar-city and its only non-infected member. The
body was badly emaciated and torn even before it was
euthanized; infection occurred days ago.
fell back to the Daycare. Their hopeless barricade of
baby furniture couldn’t stop the onslaught, and the
bright animal murals were spattered black with gore.
The rotting, mildewed carpet is scattered with bones
and dead flies. The doors to all the rooms have been
smashed to splinters save the room to the pre-school,
which remains blocked with a heavy bookcase.
Amidst this carnage, the previous crew rolled
in, swinging axes and firing silenced pistols. They
exterminated every Casualty save one…the corpse
of Belinda James is chained to a chair at the head
of the table. It’s plain to see where the Takers tried
to clean the scene. The dining table on the far end
was scrubbed clean of dust and set with plates. The
curtains were opened to provide natural light. It was
as good as one could hope for a final passing video.
But something went wrong…
By the look of things, Belinda’s been snapping at
air for a few days, still strapped to her chair. What’s
left of Scar-City is strewn about the room. Bits of leg
are embedded into the walls next to bullet holes and
blast marks. Viscera hangs from the shredded ceiling
tiles and drips coldly into a pile on the table (the
guts, incidentally, obscures the 2d10 bounty the crew
collected on their way in). Propped in a corner, the
torso and head of a sundered Taker grinds its teeth,
seemingly frustrated its limbs were removed before it
could hunt. It still wears its Ubiq specs…

J. DAYCARE
The daycare takes up four adjoining rooms:
“Sleepers” serves as nursery, “Creepers” houses
children until under two, “Leapers” is for ages 2-4,
and the pre-school holds children still too young to
stay quiet during a sermon. All rooms share a massive
dining table designed for shared meals and crafts.
Murals decorate the bright pink walls, depicting
friendly cartoon animals playing together or bowing
in prayer before crucifixes. At least, that’s what things
used to look like.
When they get there, Takers find a slaughterhouse
atop a graveyard. During the Crash, the last survivors
25
 K. CHOIR REHEARSAL
If Takers try to enter the choir room from the North
Hallway (location E), the choir room is barricaded
from the inside. One of the members of Scar-City
fled through there after the disaster in the daycare
(location J). He was too badly injured and died.
Later, Mr. Clean (the Taker waiting outside with the
ATV at location F) went to check on his comrades
by going down the South Hallway (location I). He
was attacked by his former friend gone Vector. He
managed to kill the beast, but not before getting
infected himself. Thus, he becomes a Vector too and
attacks down the South Hallway (location I).
Aside from the bloody forensic tale, the choir room
holds nothing of interest.
L. STAFF
The staff offices were converted to an infirmary during
the Crash. When Far Afield fell, no one was left to
tend the patients. Upon entering, a mob of Casualties
shambles out of the rooms where they once feasted
on incapacitated victims, surrounding anyone inside.
If they are dispatched, Takers can find Belinda James’s
office. Using skills to search reveals that, whenever
on site, Belinda spent the majority of her time playing
with the children in the daycare (location J).

WHAT HAPPENS IN THE DAYCARE?

Before anything else, the Market must read Complication #1 and #2 (p. 26)

If the Takers kill the last member of Scar-City and take the specs…they can watch the
video that was being streamed back to Ivory Fields. It’s a level-2 check against Trau-
ma. It shows the crew restraining Belinda’s corpse and setting up the final ceremony.
As the final prayer is uttered, the Taker raises the pistol to fire. A terrible sound
like a thousand rats in the walls erupts from the pre-K room. The building shakes,
sending dust pouring from the walls and nearly overturning the bookshelf barricading
the door. After a moment of tense silence, the tiles above burst in as something comes
through the drop ceiling, grabs the Takers, and drags them screaming upwards. Then the
video cuts out.

If the Takers look through the broken ceiling tiles…they can’t see anything without a
flashlight or night vision. If they have those tools, they see the Ganglia dangling
from the ceiling trusses and ductwork. It watches them through the cataract eyes of
mangled children. Seeing this is a level-3 check against Trauma.

If Takers move the bookshelf and open the pre-school…they find a windowless room
streaked pitch black with dripping blight juices. In the middle of the filthy nest,
they f ind the corpse of a single boy dangling from the shattered ceiling tiles by a
thick tangle of ropey Blight sinews. The mangled body hangs limp, spinning in mid-air.
The thing’s head keeps its eyes locked on the Taker that enters, spinning 360 degrees
independent of the body. Seeing this is a level-3 Trauma check against Trauma.

If Takers attack the Ganglia…it fights back.

If Takers raise a gun towards or threaten Belinda James…the Ganglia attacks. It appar-
ently understands firearms and blunt weapons as threats. More complex means of exter-
mination, like plastic explosives or grenades, might fool it.

26
the Pre-K GanglIa
Consists of 8 Casualties, 6 children and 2 former members of Scar-city.
Headshots require called shots unless the Ganglia has coalesced to feast on a
victim. Then the Ganglia takes damage the same as a mob.
All heads in the Ganglia must have their brains destroyed before the gestalt
stops moving.
The Ganglia has initiative and can move two Shambles per round in any
direction. It is quite good at climbing.
Being attacked by a Ganglia counts as being attacked by a mob. If the
knockdown check is failed, the Taker is tangled in the Blight sinews and takes
additional damage equaling the number of surviving Casualties to another random
hit location.
The Ganglia only attacks if the Casualty of Belinda James is threatened, or if
someone attacks it.

COMPLICATION #1: COMPLICATION #2:

THE PRE-K
As the Crash broke through into the Sanctuary,
Belinda James and her congregation fled towards
the daycare in an attempt to save the children. Their
improvised barricade of cribs and high-chairs failed to
deter the Vector hordes. They died horribly, but they
managed to keep the monsters out of the Pre-K room
where they had sealed the children behind a heavy
bookshelf.
Too bad one of the kids had been bitten already…
When the child turned, everyone in the classroom
was trapped. Hot Blight coursed through the children
and left them tearing at each other in the dark. When
the last of them died, they were still packed tight in the
single room. The Blight sinews went winding through
the their bodies…and then into each other. The corpse
gestalt it wove together reanimated into something
more than a Casualty. The pre-school became the
home of a Ganglia aberrant (RM p. 164, 455). For
years, the tangle of little corpses only stood still,
staring at the forever locked door. They did nothing as
the Scar-city crew exterminated the other wandering
dead. They did nothing as Belinda James was
restrained and her final passing staged. But, as their
last protector was about to know peace, the rat-king of
corpses crawled up the walls, through the trusses of
the drop ceiling, and attacked the Takers through the
ceiling tiles.
Now, the Ganglia waits in the darkness above the
ceiling, catatonic as it digests the unlucky Takers
into their mass. They cling and wait to attack again
according to the inscrutable whims of the Blight.
CARMICHAEL'S GAMBIT
Ivory Fields already hired a Taker crew to give Belinda
James closure. They claimed they were motivated
out of a lasting respect for her work, but they mainly
hoped to scout out the site for a potential second
enclave. The rural fields around the mega-church
would be ideal for drone farming, and a wealthy
Recession donor is willing to provide equipment to
their brothers and sisters trapped in purgatory. They
hired Scar-city out of Le Corbusier. After traveling to
Ivory Fields for instructions, the latent squad went
straight to Far Afield. Their mission was to secure the
entrances and film a “final passing” ceremony if they
found Belinda James.
The clients then watched over Ubiq as…something…
butchered the entire crew.
Horrified, Ivory Fields sent an emergency alert to
Le Corbusier. They apologized for getting one of their
Taker crews slaughtered and warned against further
exploration of the location lest “the blasphemy” kill
again. Due to his history of construction contracts and
cooperation with Ivory Fields, Harold Carmichael was
the leadership member to whom the message was
addressed. The old bastard neglected to tell anyone.
Ivory Fields is Harold’s best customer. The bounty
pouring in from their Recession donors helped pay
for the Patchwork Palace. The only thing stopping
further profit is the Tenured’s insistence that regular
convoys of construction crews and equipment to Ivory
Fields would be too big a risk. Carmichael knows the
opposition is right, of course; he just doesn’t care.

27
 Carmichael has always thought he could bypass the
Tenured’s blockade if he had an off-site warehouse
POSSIBLE JOB LINES
Securing the site for the new workshop scores two
near the enclave. With Ivory Fields forgoing their
new clients for life: Carmichael and Ivory Fields. The
claim on Far Afield, Carmichael figures he’s free to
leader of the Pillars is grateful they didn’t get bent out
have the Pillars set up shop there. All he needs to do
of shape about the whole “bad intel” thing, and Ivory
is clear the site out of whatever monster haunts it,
Fields just lost it’s preferred Taker crew. Both need
then he can set up a satellite workshop right next to
work in the future to support their new expansionist
his favorite customer. The only problem is convincing
agenda. If Takers end Belinda’s pain and somehow
another crew of saps to go fight an Aberrant
leave the ganglia behind, Carmichael still pays up. He
nightmare…
calls again if they provided some footage he can sell,
Ivory Fields let Carmichael know about the contract
but he’s otherwise disappointed. Finally, Takers that
that got Corbeezy’s Takers killed. Never much for
take out Belinda and the Ganglia might be inclined
imagination, Carmichael reused the details of the old
to burn the church down out of spite. Carmichael
job as the lure to attract a new crew to the site. He
still has to pay — they did technically complete the
even had his people add a trail of digital breadcrumbs
contract, even if it was a lie — but they’ve made an
even an idiot could follow. If the Takers survive, it’ll
enemy of the Pillars. The gratitude of Ivory Fields,
be easy enough for the Pillars to mop up, secure the
on the other hand, would mean they are still open for
building, and move in. If they die, Carmichael can sell
business.
the footage of an Aberrant to some Crusaders and
only be out a few bounty. It’s a risk he can afford to
take.
If the Takers discover Carmichael’s betrayal and
confront him with it over Ubiq, he’s quick to point out
that he’s not paying to play detective. The Takers have
a contract to pull Belinda James’s card, and he’s not
paying until they finish the job to the letter.

28
CONTRACT: FOR-PROFIT EDUCATION
GOODS/SERVICES authoritarian discipline procedures recommended are
like something out of a Dicken’s novel.
In the Recession, education was the first social
But at least P.A.C.E. is free…
service to cease, and the last to be renewed. Le
Carmichael’s school may be an outdated torture
Corbusier is guilty of the same neglect. Anyone too
factory, but it is a cheap one. Purchasing a decent
young to apprentice was left to run wild. Abandoning
curriculum is money that could be spent reinforcing
traumatized children to go all-but feral exacerbated
Dean Chevalier’s patronage system. As such, the
dozens of problems within the community.
Tenured have crossed the aisle to veto any funding for
Seeing an opportunity, the Pillars built their own
an alternative to Pillar education.
schoolhouse a year ago. Though attendance was
Professor Clara Bradley-Matterknick refuses to
made mandatory, the curriculum turned out to be far
stand aside while the enclave’s next generation gets
from the old public school model. The Pillars staffed
brainwashed. She’s found teachers willing to staff an
the school with religious zealots imported from Ivory
alternative school, but they need materials. That’s
Fields, each willing to work for nothing save room
where the Takers come in. Too bad the Loss’s tests
and board. They exclusively teach lessons from the
tend to be harder than anything found in a classroom.
P.A.C.E. (Post-Apocalyptic Christian Education)
program. The inaccurate information included in
these rote-memorization lessons is only the beginning THE GIST
of its flaws. The science lessons still promote climate Prof. Bradley-Matterknick needs a crew to break into
change denial. Social studies class is nothing save the downtown convention center and steal as many
a prolonged argument for fascism. Worst of all, the educational supplies as possible from the abandoned
NEU trade show. Curriculum resources for K-12 in all
29

Prep Work
What wIll the contract lIkely requIre?
Retrieving textbooks, binders, and
digital copies of a public school
curriculum from somewhere in the
Loss. A critical Research success
reveals that a National Education
Union (NEU) Trade Show was being held
downtown the week of the Crash. It’s
2-4 legs away (Market decides).
What Is the equIlIbrIum prIce?
Roll for it, or call it B10/R1:
Scarce. Matterknick usually pays well
and the goods are likely abandoned,
but not many crews are biting for
fear of pissing off both political
parties with a single job.
What competItIon Is bIddIng for the Job?
The Avaunt Gardeners don’t have much
respect for book learning, but they
need bounty to repair some of the
rope bridges in the Hanging Gardens
after a big storm. A critical success
reveals the Gains crew heard the
Professor’s pitch, but they stormed
out of the office, threatening her if
she dared hire out the job to anyone.
subjects are essential if the crew wants payment, but
she’ll pay 5 bounty extra for every haul’s worth of art
supplies, educational games, and YA books the Takers
can drag out of there. All intel indicates the center was
locked-tight and empty during the worst of the Vector
outbreak. It should be a simple smash and grab, so
long as Takers can navigate the stampedes of dead
still stumbling around the downtown streets.
(The job is 2-4 legs away, depending on how long/
challenging the Market wants to make the game)
CLIENT
Bradley-Matterknick is a shrewd woman. She is used
to people telling her “no” and practiced at doing what
she wants anyway. Her advocacy for the people Le
Corbusier has inspired fierce loyalty. She’ll have her
30
bodyguards escort any Takers bidding for the contract
to her office in the Admin building. The exterior rooms
buzz with assistants, paperwork, and screamed Ubiq
calls. By the time they reach the calm study at its
center, the atmosphere leaves no question that the
woman sitting behind the desk is in control.
WEAK: PEDANTIC AF
Clara was born to be a teacher, meaning that if
she catches a whiff of curiosity about one of her
interests, she will forget whatever she was doing and
discourse at length about it. Get her lecturing and
she’ll feel a stronger relationship to whoever heard it,
regardless of whether or not they participated in the
conversation.
Example Reveals
Networking with old students.
Awareness of the books on the office shelves.
Research into her teaching credentials.
SOFT: THE CHILDREN'S FUTURE
The professor is genuinely selfless. She’s willing to
expend a great deal of personal bounty to make the
enclave a better place for its youngest residents.
She recognizes many in the Loss see generosity as
weakness, but encountering a kindred spirit will put
her at ease.
Example Reveals
Sensitivity when near children of any age.
Foresight into the possible profit in the job.
TOUGH: THIS MEANS WAR
Anyone versed in the politics of Le Corbusier knows
that this move is going to piss off the Pillars and the
Tenured. Clara wouldn’t make such a choice lightly.
She’s making a power play for leadership of the
Tenured, and she needs a crew willing to play dumb to
her intentions in public.
Example Reveals
Foresight into the state of affairs.
Criminality or some Profession with computers to
obtain angry exchanges between the client and Dean
Chevalier.
31
 GIFT: + REP SPOT (SOLIDARITY)
Gift spots are optional. Use to increase the challenge
of negotiations.
The professor knows she has a reputation for
selflessness. To those that give her a discount, she’s
willing to share the goodwill. It’s hard to accuse a
Taker crew of profiteering when they work for the
saintly Professor C. If things slide the wrong way,
she’s not afraid to dangle this +Rep spot in front of a
negotiator to get her way.
THE SITE: DOWNTOWN CONVENTION
CENTER
Four-lane roads with parking lanes flank the
Downtown Convention Center on three sides. These
streets remain clogged from their last traffic jam
during the Crash. The center shares one wall with a
giant parking garage, taller than the building itself.
Most of the building’s height is used for its massive,
domed ceiling. The accessible areas are on the first
floor and the offices ringing the convention space
on the second. Access to the building is through a
series of 13 glass security doors ringing the building’s
sidewalks. Though normally easy to see through,
the glass has been streaked with years of dust and
gore. To make matters worse, it appears someone
has blocked the view from inside using large vinyl
advertisement posters.
ARRIVING AT SITE
If the Takers found out Gains refused the job…they
can use appropriate skills before reaching the Site to
investigate and learn about the Complication (p. 32).
They don’t learn any specifics, but they’ll understand
the context of what they see.
If Takers make a check to discover the floor plan…
show them the floorplan and the Taker legend. Do
not show them the Market legend.
Before Takers arrive to the site…roll a number of d10s
equal to the number of Takers. Keep the results secret
and note the numbers; these are the entrances (1-10)
rigged with firebombs. If you have doubles, the door is
just trapped, not double trapped. Calculate damage for
triggered bombs like molotov’s (RM p. 249)
As Takers arrive to the site…ask the crew what
direction they are approaching from. Once you have
an answer, roll Black and Red. Convert the result
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to a d100. The results indicate what side the 4d10
stampede is amassed on. 1-25 = North. 25-50 = West.
51-75 = South. On 76-100, the crew lucked out and
the stampede isn’t there. Unless the crew makes
checks necessary to spot the stampede in advance,
don’t tell them what the d100 roll was for.
MARKET LEGEND
Use this version of the legend to determine what is
really going on at each location on the map. For help
with the overall narrative, see the Complication (p.
32).
A. LOBBY
The windows of the lobby are covered on all sides
with a giant promotional tarp hanging from the
ceiling. The floor is covered in punji stakes and other
fortifications. Doors 11-13 are rigged with remote
explosives, as is the tarp. These will explode once the
subtraction begins (see “Complication” p. 32).
B. FRIEDMAN CONVENTION HALL
This space was reserved for a mixer during the
convention and held little of value. Now, it contains
dozens of barrels of napalm and every piece of paper
the cultists could salvage from the upper-floor offices.
Awareness, Profession: Demolitions, or something
similar can spot a thick cable of wires leading from
the floor and up through the broken windows on the
second floor (North I). Takers could also try to disarm
the giant explosive, but watch out for crit fails.
C. KEYNES CONVENTION HALL
This was the dealer hall. Lit by skylights, acceptable
targets are easy to spot; any curriculum is better than
P.A.C.E. Textbooks and digital storage devices take
up 4 Haul. Takers can use Profession: Teacher or
something similar to find additional goods for a bonus.
Success finds Haul equal to the difference between
Black and Red. Criticals max out the loot at 10 Haul.
Without the necessary skills, Takers must rely on
Networking and References. A Reference can find one
Haul’s worth per bounty spent, but the metal girders
in the ceiling block signal. Takers must leave the
convention space to call out.
D. PARKING GARAGE
Faint glow sticks trace a path through the empty
garage, up the ramp to the 2nd floor, and lead to the
Black Math entrance at location J (p.32). Recently
decapitated Casualties dot the path as well. 1d10 still
have bounty on them, which is very odd.
E. GARAGE RAMPS
Both garage ramps are blocked by semi-trucks
jackknifed across the lanes. Roll for a mob beating
against the wreckage (this could be very bad if it’s on
the same side as the stampede). Once the Casualties
are dispatched, Takers can easily climb the wrecks
to get into the garage. Closer inspection reveals the
wrecks to be recent and deliberate. The interiors of
the trailers reek of diesel, and a couple large caliber
firearm rounds can be found rolling loose inside.
F. ESCALATORS
It’s impossible for Takers to get up the escalators
without first dealing with the Black Math (see
“Complication” below). While the first halves of the
stairways are clear, the upper halves from the raised
platform are rigged with DDJs. The intention seems to
be to trip up the Casualties on the wire to prolong the
Black Math’s last stand on the balcony.
G. LANDING
Once used as an escalator interchange and raised
platform for opening addresses, the landing has been
turned into a pillbox housing a machine gun. The
Black Math have blocked the stairs with debris and
set up firing positions. The intention is to hold the
elevated position as long as possible before falling
back to the balcony (location H) once ammo runs out.
H. BALCONY
The balcony is littered with melee weapons and heavy
throwable objects like computer monitors and vending
machines. Once out of ammo, the Math plan to use
the balcony to hold a last stand, chopping away at
the Casualties pouring up the escalators until their
strength gives out. The last alive is meant to run
through the hallways (I), arrive at the detonator wired
into the security office control panel (K), and set off
the giant fire bomb below (B).
I. OFFICE HALLWAYS
The interior windows provide a view down into
the conventions spaces (B and C). Otherwise, the
abandoned offices provide little of interest…unless
a Black Math cultist is rushing to trigger the suicide
bomb (K) in the last stages of their battle.
J. MANAGER'S OFFICE
There’s nothing of interest in the manager’s office
save the gaping hole left in the wall where the cult cut
a second story entrance through the concrete of the
abandon parking garage (D).
K. SECURITY
The security office has been wired with a generator
rigged into the convention center’s security system.
The nearly incomprehensible tangle of spliced
electronics leads to a panel with three buttons.
The button labeled with green tape blows open
the lobby doors and drops the tarp obscuring the
Casualties vision (A). It also starts “Carmina Burana”
to shriek out of the center’s interior and exterior PA
systems, attracting Casualties from every direction.
The button labeled with yellow tape starts a laser
ticket counter rigged on the lobby doors. Originally
meant to keep the space within fire code regulations,
the sensors are now there to count the Casualties
coming though the doors and mail the number to
some unknown Ubiq address. Apparently, this is how
the cultists plan to let their fellows know the extent of
their last great deed.
The button with the red tape sets off the firebomb in
Friedman (B), causing an inferno that will likely burn
for days and consume most of downtown.
Professions related to electronics or a Mechanics
check reveals that the system is rigged with failsafes
in case someone tries to disarm it. A critical success
is required to actually disarm the system or figure out
what it was meant to do.
L. STAIRWELLS
These stairs are the only way between floors of the
building not covered with warring cultists and undead.
COMPLICATION
Before arriving at site, Takers might discover that the
Gains crew refused this contract on religious grounds.
They were protecting the legacy of a different sect of
their faith. Negation, a legendary leader of a nomadic
Black Math death cult, has been suffering from lung
cancer as result of her penchant for “purging fire.”
Her crew of fanatics has been on the hunt for years,
using every bounty not spent on food to buy deadlier
weapons. It caused quite a stir amongst Black Math
communities on Ubiq when Negation’s followers
vowed to assist her in “a final subtraction.” The group
spent every bounty they had saved, clearing out
enclaves in their area of fuel, weapons, and ammo.
Then, they left their area of operations and headed
toward the distant convention center. Apparently,
Negation had been a kindergarten teacher before the
Crash, and she was familiar with the venue.
Inconveniently, the cultists have planned their
mass ritual suicide to occur right around the time
the Takers arrive. The whole convention center has
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 been converted into a tool for attracting, funneling,
and eliminating Casualties. The Black Math has no
exit plan. They will fight until they are out of ammo
and exhausted. Then, they plan to turn the building
into a fireball capable of rendering the densest Blight
infection in the city to ash.
They don’t know about Bradely-Matterknick’s
contract, and she doesn’t know about them. The
professor she just thought she’d said something wrong
and pissed off her local Math cult, and Gains never
corrected her.
The impending kamikaze suicide has left the
cultists jumpy. If Takers seem like they are attacking
or trigger one of the traps, the cult begins their “Final
Subtraction” immediately. They don’t bear any specific
ill-will to Takers that approach calmly, but they aren’t
about to delay their crusade against the dead for them
either. At best, they try to convince the Takers to join
them in glorious death, or conscript them by triggering
the PA early. Sabotaging the plan is possible with a
lot of stealth, preparation, and luck, but Markets are
encouraged to start the festivities whenever they feel it
will be most fun.
POSSIBLE JOB LINES
Building a new school is going to require more than
just books, so the Takers might find themselves the
preferred provider for the Professor’s next salvage
job. It’s more likely they end up getting roped into the
old lady’s political maneuvering. She’s burned both
the Pillars and the Tenured with her latest move, so
she likely has a follow-up plan to get free of them. Is
she taking a run at the party leader seat next election?
Starting a socialist uprising with her former students?
Uniting the believer sects into a third political bloc?
It doesn’t really matter; Takers will do anything for
bounty.
DEVELOPMENTS
THE FINEST
First responders died in droves during the Crash
(RM p. 50). Emergency services were responding to
cases of Blight infection back when zombies were
still supposed to be myths, and their fight continued
even after the new reality had been made plain. Police
had especially hard jobs. They served the front line
of a war no one could believe, inside an authoritarian
organization so fanatically hostile to change they
couldn’t adjust tactics to match the horrors in the
streets. Police officers that survived the Crash were
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usually either extremely good at their jobs, or so
neglectful of them that they avoided the worst of the
outbreak. Once declared homo sacer and given up as
Lost (RM p. 79), it didn’t matter which. The patriotic
duty that had alternately sheltered and sacrificed the
police no longer officially existed. Of the surviving ex-
cops that stayed trapped across the Mississippi Line, a
small percentage of them had a harder time accepting
a world without their jobs than a world in which the
dead ate the living. The people of the Loss call these
individuals “The Finest.”
Most people wouldn’t dare call The Finest a cult
(at least not to their faces), and, as post-Crash faiths
go, The Finest certainly practice a more bureaucratic
theology than most. However, it’s hard to call the
disconnect between the cult’s principles and reality
anything besides religious ecstasy. For all their
differences, various “precincts” of The Finest share
one core belief: the Loss is still the sovereign territory
of the United States, and they are still the enforcers
of its law. This belief is often literal. A former sheriff
isn’t a member of The Finest just because of her old
job, nor is she a cultist if she’s elected to enforce the
new laws of her new enclave. However, if she pulls
someone over for a speeding ticket in the Loss? If she
arrests someone for “murdering” a Casualty? That’s a
member of The Finest.
The glaring inconsistencies in this worldview are
legion. Aside from the fact that no one is elected for
law enforcement anymore, the population of the Loss
is declared legally dead. They don’t have rights to
protect; there are no citizens to serve. There are few
courts to adjudicate cases, and none of them derive
authority from a legislature. In the few instances
where The Finest have judges amongst their ranks,
none of the laws used to decide the case have any
mention of the Blight, which most people would argue
is an extenuating factor in, well, everything.
But law, like reality, only exists in interpretation.
The most dogmatic of The Finest believe that
Hunter’s declaration of martial law during the Torpor
Lockdown never ended. Gnat’s Whisper and the
subsequent announcements from the new Recession
government? They are dismissed as illegitimate, or
fabricated, or simply ignored. The Finest believe they
are active officers, solely responsible for maintaining
order until a higher authority arrives. Some operate
this way out of profound psychological trauma brought
about by fighting during the Crash. Others hold
the view more ironically, using it to boost moral in
enclaves they helped establish and keep the populace
from feeling abandoned.
 These views, while sometimes benign, are far from
harmless when combined with the deadly force police
have wielded since before the Crash. Being “arrested”
for an extinct misdemeanor can have a serious effect
on impoverished Lost families. Minor inconveniences
are only the beginning of The Finest’s infamy. They’ve
been known to shoot “looters” stripping the parts out
of long abandoned cars. They’ve joined forces with
groups like Triage and gone hunting for Latents, if
only because that’s how things were done during the
Torpor Lockdown.
Then there are the groups that adopt the identity
cynically. Lacking the former fear and respect of their
occupation, some ex-cops stopped relying on the
badge and started using the legitimate terror of The
Finest’s reputation. These sects roam the wasteland in
militarized police vehicles, stealing whatever they see
fit and calling it “civil forfeiture.” They may justify their
rapacious behavior with the 1878 Posse Comitatus
Act, but they are little more than raiders.
But the worst of all are those who behave like
these cynics, but without any irony or rationalization.
They are referred to within the Finest as “the Blue,”
and they are feared by even the most sociopathic of
their fellow officers. The Blue paradoxically embody
both the fanatical faith in dead laws and the cynical
profiteering of raiders cosplaying as police. These
“true believers” don’t just enforce extinct laws; they
insist the law is whatever they say it is.
Police culture, even before the Crash, had grown
increasingly insular as a result of an endless tide of
scandals. By the time of emergence, law enforcement
wielded the same ground arsenal as the Army with
half the constraints. They had their own slogans,
their own culture deifying their service; their own
hereditary lines and their own taboos and their own
separate justice. The Blue have taken this separation
to its most extreme conclusion. The people are there
to protect and serve them. They are warlords, chosen
to rule a new world as reward for their service in a
dead one. They are something more tribal than even
The Finest. They are “The Blue,” and they are all that
matters.

35
The SettIng
When the Crash came, Jeannette Architectural College used its brutalist architecture to fortify
against the hordes of undead. But five years on, the concrete blocks and shipping containers of
their fortress are far from self-sustaining, and rivalries between the enclave's power brokers
make for a political deadlock only outsiders can break. Luckily, there are plenty of desperate
Takers with debts that will never die, betting their lives in an attempt to escape a world of
disaster capitalism and supernatural terror.
In this supplement for the Ennie-award nominated Red Markets, players take on the role of
Takers in the Le Corbusier enclave: a fully-realized, pre-made setting ready for campaign
play. The contracts the crew takes on can shape the community's fate or seal it.

Contents Include…
• Le Corbusier: The enclave's history, government, neighborhoods, and VIPs are ready to play, serving to
jumpstart a campaign or as NPCs in your home game.
• Meat is Murder: The enclave's most connected political figure seeks to betray some very powerful
friends from the Recession. With the starvation of the whole enclave on the line, it’s up to one group of
Takers to serve as cut-outs in his scheme.
• Prodigal Lives: The richest man in town wants to provide a gift to his son: the extermination of his
Blight-infected spouse. But nothing in Le Corbusier's twisted power structure is as it seems. The question
isn't whether the client is lying; it's whether the Takers can discover the truth before it’s too late.
• For-Profit Education: Orphans inside the wall have been left to run wild or suffer under religious
indoctrination. One noble woman wants to open a real school in the enclave, but its curriculum must be
wrenched from the corpse of a dead city. The contract pays well enough, but the lessons in the Loss carry
a deadly price.

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