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NODE 6: DAVIS FARM

• Located in Stearns County near Holdingford (the “moonshine capital of Minnesota”).
• About 90 miles north of the Twin Cities.
• Bootlegging is, in fact, rampant up here. The biggest moonshine-brewing operation is run by the monks of St. John’s Abbey, but a lot of local farms (currently mired in the middle of the Agricultural Depression that lasted from 1920 through 1934) get in on the action.

THE DAVIS FARM

• They farm corn and have a small number of cattle. The fields are harvested now, so there are just stubs of corn stalks jutting up here and there like a primitive, haphazard cemetery.
• They’ve had some light snow up here and the fields are dusted with it (although you can still see the raw, frozen dirt between the small drifts).
• The buildings are set back from the road, with a narrow drive running between the shields and then dropping over a small rise.
• It’s a simple farm: There’s a house, a barn, and a machine shed.

THE HOUSE

• Ellie Davis and Billie Davis live here.
• Living room and kitchen on the ground floor.
• Bedroom and bathroom upstairs.

THE BARN

• Stalls for a half dozen milk cows and mounds of hay for their winter feed.
• Hidden Kegs: Kegs of Minnesota 13 whiskey are hidden under the hay mound. (See Node 2: Minnesota 13 for analysis.)

THE MACHINE SHED

• Crowded with two tractors (one no longer working) and the Davis’ pick-up truck, along with corn hooks, plows, hay rakes, harrows, and grain bins.
• Fake Wall: The back wall of the machine shed is fake. There’s a hidden room in the back with Ellie’s still.

THE STILL

• Chemistry: It’s a sophisticated set-up. Ellie is re-naturing the denatured alcohol and then using bubblegum to hide the lingering flavor.
• Ethanol Barrels: Label coding on the bottom of the barrels indicates that they came from Node 7: Harris Chemical Plant.

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ELLIE DAVIS

APPEARANCE

• Prop: Photo of Ellie Davis

ROLEPLAYING NOTES

• Witty and uncouth.
• Big grin.
• Thumbs through her suspenders.

BACKGROUND

• She’s the brains of the operation. The only bootlegger in Stearns County who can deal with the denatured alcohol Oleg gets from the Harris Chemical Plant.
• Went to college, but had to come back home when her mom got sick. Ended up marrying “that big goof” Billie and settled down to the happy life of a farm wife.
• Got into bootlegging because it seemed like everybody else in Stearns County was doing it, and with the chemistry courses she took in college she’s got a knack for it.

CLUE

• Reassurance: She knows the source of Oleg’s denatured ethanol is from the Harris Chemical Plant. (Label coding on the bottom of the barrels.)
• Reassurance: They sell their Minnesota 13 through Oleg Andersson (who runs it into Minneapolis and St. Paul).

NOTES

• Ellie Davis is inspired by the story told by Elaine Davis of her grandmother, a central Minnesota farm wife during Prohibition, who leapt into bed and pretended to be sick when a bunch of G-men spilled out of their cars into the front yard. She delayed ‘em long enough for her husband to make sure the kegs were safely stowed under the hay mounds in the barn.

ELLIE DAVIS: Athletics 6, Driving 4, Firearms 4, Fleeing 5, Scuffling 7, Weapons 6, Health 8
Alertness Modifier: +1 (eyes open)
Stealth Modifier: +1 (Hides in plain sight)
Weapons: Fists (-2), Whatever’s Around (0), Shotgun – while at the house, (+1)

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BILLIE DAVIS

APPEARANCE

• Prop: Photo of Billie Davis

ROLEPLAYING NOTES

• Cool, dry sense of humor.
• Ignorant, but not in a willful way.
• Speaks slow. (And gets slower if you’ve pissed him off.)

BACKGROUND

• Billie is a farmer who helps Ellie with her work on the stills. He can keep the fires lit, and knows what you can drink and what’ll make you blind, but not much more than that.
• He’s never left Stearns County.

CLUE

• Reassurance: He knows the source of Oleg’s denatured ethanol is from the Harris Chemical Plant. (Label coding on the bottom of the barrels.)
• Reassurance: They sell their Minnesota 13 through Oleg Andersson (who runs it into Minneapolis and St. Paul).

BILLIE DAVIS: Athletics 12, Driving 4, Firearms 4, Fleeing 2, Scuffling 6, Weapons 2, Health 12
Alertness Modifier: -1 (focused on work)
Stealth Modifier: 0 (unskilled)
Weapons: Fists (-2), Farm Implements (+0 or +1, depending), Rifle or Shotgun (+1)

Go to Node 7: Harris Chemical Plant