Profane Miracles

As this is a discussion on a scenario, obviously Players are not supposed to read it and I can freely post SPOILERS.

There are a couple of things missing in this scenario. First of all, nowhere is the filmed resurrection ceremony actually described in any detail. My assumption is that a still unopened, soiled coffin was brought into the reception hall and placed upon the two tables. After the lid was opened, the desiccated (but still recognisable) body of "deceased" Mr Bentley's was propped up on one of the chairs where it would have been visible for the audience and where Mrs Madrigal could apply the Fatalix ointment. Slowly he would have started to move and breathe, and rather quickly he was whisked away by Mr Dellinger while his wife fainted from the excitement, leaving the reception in an agitated state of confused disarray. Paparazzi photos would later show pictures of Mr Bentley walking around in his gated garden. But this is just my guess?

Secondly, how would this elaborate...See more plan of staging his death allow Mr Bentley to regain control over his company? Surely, once declared dead his estate including his share would have passed onto his wife, who would then remain whole owner of the company? Wouldn't it have been much easier for Mr Bentley to simply poison his wife? Perhaps Mrs Madrigal and the EsoTerrorists had conned her into first signing a deed in which she would leave the entire company to her husband should the resurrection ceremony be successful? Again, nothing about this is explained in the scenario.

Thirdly, we're told Mr Bentley tried to research a cure for the side effects of Fatalix. Why didn't he simply create more Fatalix, which would leave him independent of the supply provided by the EsoTerrorists? Is the cure easier to manufacture than the drug itself? (Doesn't seem so in the scenario.) And once Mr Bentley had distilled this cure, why didn't he drink it immediately?

It would've been nice to know the answer to these three questions. Also a time-line had been nice to show how the events of the scenario stick together. For instance; when did Mr Bentley come into contact with Mr Dellinger and when was their plan decided, when did Mr Bentley make the prostitute pregnant, when did Mr Bentley die officially, when/ how was he buried, when was Mrs Madrigal contracted and when was Mr Bentley's wife made part of the plan to resurrect her husband, when were invitations the resurrection ceremony circulated, when did it take place, when did the prostitute give birth to Mr Bentley's child, when did Mr Bentley start experimenting with a cure against the side-effects of Fatalix, when did he arrive at the anti-dote, when was he tied up and why by Mr Dellinger, when did Mr Dellinger cast the delayed ritual, and when does Ordo decide to send a team of envoys to investigate and when does the PC:s arrive in L.A. (and +4 hours after they find Mr Bentley there will be a broadcast interview with Mrs Madrigal)?

I also feel that the anti-dote is a rather feeble McGuffin. My suggestion for an alternate ending is to make the resurrection ritual dependent on at least 10 people witnessing it live and believing in it. That would explained why the EsoTerrorists made the ceremony public and in so doing risked the attention of Ordo. This would nicely reflect upon the modern horror and Hollywood theme of how TV and movies are central to both create and to shatter beliefs and how these believes may allow/ prevent the Unknown to manifest this side of the Veil. The resurrected person would actually becomes invulnerable for as long as at least 10 of the original Witnesses remain alive and keeps believing in the authenticity of the resurrection, but will die immediately if the required Witnesses drop below 10 or if 10 Witnesses loose their belief in the miracle. This would create an incentive for the PC:s to try to debunk the resurrection by showing top at the Mrs Madrigal TV interview and confront her and the audience with evidence proving/ suggesting the resurrection to be a hoax. Let's also assume that the anti-dote in order rid the resurrected person from the side-effects of Fatalix would also require that the person who performed the resurrection would have to be killed in from of at least 10 of the Witnesses from the resurrection ritual. This would explain why Mr Bentley had saved his antidote for later and why he hadn't killed Mrs Madrigal earlier but would want her to die in front of a live audience presumably interested in and so comprising Witnesses from the resurrection ritual. These two components, the PC:s need to present evidence before the viewers and Mr Bentley's need to kill Mrs Madrigal off publicly would set the stage for an interesting show-down in a TV studio, where one of the PC:s argues in front of the cameras while the rest prevents Mr Bentley or his Dementia larvae from breaking into the studio...