Centerfold

Case File: (occurs late March 2020)

**Warning: This session ends with a pretty nasty death, read notes forewarned**

**WARNING: There is a gruesome death in the final act of this episode. Will be marked for easy avoidance, but still exists.**

## Plot

### Cold Open

Holster gathers Jaime, Callum, Idris, and Jacques for a mission briefing. Samantha Duke has contacted the Athens sect and asked the administration to send out a team to check on a string of missing persons cases in Cape Cod, Massachusetts.

Known details:

* 6 people have gone missing and then show up dead one week later, exactly
* No security camera footage
* Most recent body had a piece of paper in his mouth (haha Somerton man go brr)
* A PROBLEM BECAUSE RESIDENTS ARE SCARED

*Jacques and Jaime immediately start asking questions, hehe. Holster puts Callum in charge. Jaime is driving.*

### Provincetown Beach

* Park near the beach, wow pog beach cool - not super crowded
* *Jacques gun bag is in the van*
* Callum wanders down the beach, sniffin to **investimageate** - nothing is being concealed, just a lot of smells of people
	+ NOTABLY nothing - no blood, no chemicals
* Jaime goes off to talk to people, talks to Max and Shannon, two locals, finds out most recent death was 2 days ago
* Go buy a paper!
	+ There’s been 3 disappearances in the last 2 months, with the others earlier in the year
	+ Got names of all dead, most are all locals, most recent (Hayden) was not local - 2/6 not local
	+ Ink on paper is printed
	+ No one is able to identify a cause of death
	+ Windowshopping in Provincetown and then disappeared - Hayden

*Jaime and Callum start arguing about toothpaste. Jacques silently grabs both of them by the collar and starts walking into town.*

### Provincetown Shopping Row

* *Callum tries to investigate, but gets a waft of exhaust and fails the roll. Time for Jacques to survey the main shopping strip.*
	+ Mans be sensin’ that there’s 6 people sized chunks with the aerodynamics of a Jeep Wrangler in the Blood Vision (this is incomprehensible im so sorry)
	+ “Among the blood energy, there’s 6 fuckin weird things happening” -eric, explaining better
	+ There’s energy moving towards a perpendicular road up ahead, the biggest lead we have
* Callum gets a free ice cream because he found 9 new tshirt slogans, winning jaime’s hunt

### Back Streets

#### Side Street

* Houses and independent stores
* More branching back roads exist here, more stores down those too
* *Jacques remembers that the Jeep Wrangler People Sized Holes turned right towards the smaller streets*

#### East Street

* Smaller, no parking street
* This is where the shit stops, go into BOOKSTORE
* Jacques and Idris investigate the bookstore from afar - 6 dead bodies, 6 heavy blood shaped dark intentions, “the math checks out, folks”

### East End Books Bookstore

* Small, low ceilings, BEAUTIFUL dark academia aesthetic, deep deep deep shelves
* Cashier has short spikey blond hair, wide dark eyes, scar on his forehead - perks up off the counter very quickly to welcome the hunters - **MARCUS**
	+ Idris starts talkin! Jaime is invested in a chair
* The bookshop doesn’t appear to be Dangerous, overtly, just strange
* Callum thinks that this must be some kind of curse or enchantment that weighs down the mind.
* Suddenly, Jaime is Gone
* Callum finds him in the back reading “Folktales Under the Stars” by D.V.Pheasant
* Jacques takes the book, Jaime starts asking for it back. Jaime tries to get Jacques to read it, Jacques must roll to resist.
* Jaime starts walking to the front of the store, Jacques starts to question the cashier
* Marcus goes to get Da Manager
	+ Daniel Shin - Shorter than Marcus, chubby, glasses, vest, older gentleman, black hair
* Idris asks about Da Book
* Marcus and Daniel swear they’ve never sold this book or even heard of it
* Jacques drops the act, admits we’re here to investigate the disappearances, and there’s a very interesting book. The owner divulges that the CCTV has been turning off for about 2 hours every morning, but nothing is ever stolen
	+ *Marcus is shiftyyyyyy*
* Jaime shows Marcus a photo in the newspaper of the most recent victim, Marcus says he doesn’t know but I CALL BULLSHIT and so does Jacques
	+ Marcus’ heartbeat go FASTY FAST - mans be LYIN, he’s seen

* The hunters leave, and then come RIGHT BACK IN after Daniel leaves
* Jacques begins questioning Marcus
* Marcus admits to having seen the victim about a week ago, after selling a copy of “Folktales Under the Stars” to the victim.
* The hunters just tell him not to let the book sell lol

#### Outside the Store

* Jaime starts walking off, and proceeds to put the book in his mouth after Callum tells him not to. It tastes like paper.
* Jaime infers that the book wants to take him somewhere, and end up dead on a beach lol.
	+ The books wants to help Jaime
* Jaime keeps walking

### Pheasant Street

* Callum picks up Jaime, bridal style. The hunters test the curse, even without the book Jaime is compelled to walk somewhere..?
* This entire street is houses….hmmm….
* Callum gives Jaime a piggyback and walk by all of the house
* Jaime stops at #5 Pheasant street. Ding ding motherucker
	+ The car is not from Massachusetts, but instead Rhode Island
* After some debating, Jacques goes up to the door and knocks with a badge
	+ Man who answers has long silver hair, small spectacles, bathrobe over button up shirt with bolo tie, navy pants, suspenders, scruffy beard. This is a Character. Messy 60 yo
	+ He has an accent
* The man IDs himself as D.V. Pheasant, and asks Jaime how he liked the book (AUGHHGHGHGHGH)
* Pheasant says that the people are in the sea, and still alive, and…...that everything is explained in the book
	+ He met each of the people
	+ He’s only written some...of...the...book…...he has a muse….
	+ This man thinks he’s helping people by giving them salvation in the sea
* The crew goes inside, against their better judgement
* Called Belle to get her here for pyromancy

### Stefan's House

* Idris looks to the future for Jaime and Stefan? Stefan is talking to Jaime and there’s things written on the walls. There’s metal banging, and Callum yelling for Jaime. Jaime doesn’t turn around, and there’s a sound of crashing waves and completely alien, like whale song but pitched shifted too low.
* Stefan places the books in places that people will find them
* Stefan’s muse contacts him, it reaches out from time to time, rarely, he met it first at night, laying down on the beach with nowhere else to go. And suddenly, out of the water it came
* The books make accessing The Sea easier, he distributes them all around the place. This process took years to perfect
* **There are more copies of the books. We should burn them haha**

* The hunters are led down a hallway of concerning length. He pulls out a key, and unlocks a door that leads to a staircase
* The best way out is….bad...windows?
* Stefan unlocks another large metal door. It’s Idris’ vision, there’s a massive pile of books and a writing desk with nothing on it…..the walls are covered in scrawled Dutch writing, floor to ceiling
	+ (writer’s note: wow i dont like that)
* Suddenly, guy chain, everyone has their hands in each other’s pockets (Jaime has a hand in Idris’ pocket, Callum grabs Jaime’s pocket knife to enchant it)
* Da boyes enter…..woooooo

* Jaime is IMMEDIATELY drawn to the pile of books
* Stefan attempts to convince the hunters to stay in the basement and read his books, forcing hunters to roll cool checks often
* As we leave the hunters realize that something’s FUCKY with Stefan and there’s blood running down his leg
	+ Idris sees that Stefan’s hair is a mess, he looks like he’s punched something, he’s disheveled and bleeding

### Regrouping

* Regroup at the van, Jaime makes sure there’s some way to restrain him if shit gets bad (its getting bad)
* Group decides its time to :sparkles: call holster :sparkles:
* Holster and Wolfgang agree
* Holst rolls up with Belle, drops her off and peaces the fuck out
* Update Belle on Murder Time

### Final Battle

* Stefan is in the window, watching, all the lights are off
* Bring the van, Jaime handcuffed in the back of the van
* Jacques, Callum, Belle, and Idris go up to say hi - Stefan seems less disheveled
* Ask to see da books
* Jacques follows Stefan down and hides from him behind where the door will open
* **Note: the nasty starts here**
	+ Jacques tells the hunters to look away before he do the MUNCH, ROLLS A GODDAMN 12
		- Squelchy squelchy munchy munchy tearing skin this is awful
		- Oh god oh fuck callum is having a bad time, glossy eyed and crouched on the floor and VERY panciky trying to hide his eyes, yeah he’s like full out panic attack
	+ Stefan ain’t goin down without a fight - locks eyes with Idris and he doubles over with the worst migraine he’s ever had
	+ Belle freaks and force pushes Stefan once she sees that his eyes are grey and swirly, accidentally hits Jacques too
	+ Stefan is still alive and on the stairs? Oh fuck
	+ Jacques drags Stefan up by the back of the shirt collar and uh… stabs him through the temple
	+ Idris’ headache goes away! Hooray!
* **Nasty Over, no more worry**

* Idris and Callum go outside, Jaime is bored and kicking the van sides and...it ain’t helping
* Idris brings supplies Jacques asked for to door. The house is Unlived In. Yikes.
* Jacques and Belle go to burn the books with blindfolds on! Hooray!
* Belle lights the books on fire, after Jacques switches out the book Jaime grabbed with a random one. They all burn, and sound like the ocean. Like waves!
	+ Jaime is released from curse! Pog
* Callum goes to a corner store to take a breather and buy a Snickers and a drink
* Hooray. It end. It 1am. Wolfgang is not affected by the books.

**Monster: The Sea, but not???**