The Mysterious Case of the Disappearing Psychopath

*The Mysterious Case of the Disappearing Psychopath* is the title of the eight episode of the second season of S.H.A.D.O.W. and the twentieth session of the entire game.

This session was played on January 3rd, 2018

## The Mysterious Case of the Disappearing Psychopath

### Writer

Jonny Christie, Matt Christie, Rob Christie, Richie Maynard, Eric Rios, Corey Sexton

## Plot

The Party deals with the repercussions of their actions at the Stone Face.

## Synopsis

*Calapharious is tied to a chair, a man beating him senseless. The man has a glowing sword on his belt. It is an uncomfortable amount of time before Ela and a much younger Phylyco appear and kill the man, taking his sword in style.*

 It flashes to Cal sitting is a chair yet again. He knows it’s gonna be fun. Rathisi awakes after 96 hours in the dream state. It’s peaceful as he exits his tent to a screaming group carrying a half-petrified Xander towards the Doctor’s tent. They get him on the table and freak on Ximer to fix this. He faints. They quickly wake him up and he gets to work and kicks them out of the room, asking for Mathite to stay. Lara, who was with the Doctor, mentions that Hayvard should be able to save him if everyone stays out of his way. Aragi asks her if they’re on a first name basis now, completely ignoring the events that just happened. She avoids the question and leaves as Mal tell the archers he was right and asks where Phylyco and Ela are. Back in the tunnels, Ela is fuming over the gore on her shoes and Phylyco is pretty happy with his kill count on the snakes now that they’ve subsided. They reach the bottom of the cavern and find a large metal door with only one Bull Gorgon statue to the right of it. They enter the room to see a beautiful ballroom filled with gorgons. A much larger one is sitting at the head of the table enjoying the dance. Phylyco walks up to the man, carefully followed by Ela, both trying not to look the beast in the eye. It asks why they are there and Phyl convinces them they were trapped by a pair of evil archers. The Gorgon sees the dead snakes all over Phyl and questions them. He avoids the question and just asks for a way out. Phylyco looks the creature directly in the eye and nothing happens so the snake tells the man he can leave through the food chute if Ela stays behind. Phylyco offers to bring him a different trophy if he lets them both leave. It agrees and gives them a fortnight to return with the new victim. Phylyco spots the Snowfield sigil as they are led to the chute. He saves that in his memory banks for future mischief. They begin to climb and it is… intimate. Rathisi enters the medical tent and is too angry to heed Ximer’s words. He shoves the doctor out of the way and puts something into Xander’s mouth and it appears as if the stone vanishes. Xander wakes up and spits the item out, placing it in his pocket. He mentions he needs to rest but Rathisi declines it, mentioning if he sleeps the process will continue. Aragi is in his tent. He unearths his hidden chest and pulls a bracelet out of it and puts it on. Aguero senses it’s magical energy and asks to see it but Aragi gets incredibly defensive and shoves the blind man off of him. Aragi apologizes and tells Aguero a bit about where he got it. He was taken by cannibals and tied to a branch to be spit-roasted, he noticed this bracelet in the dirt and managed to get it and he managed to escape because of it. While they are talking, Cal appears and snatches the bracelet off Aragi who doesn’t notice since he’s so invested in the story. Cal enters Aragi’s tent and begins to dig through his chest.

Aguero and Aragi go to the medical tent to check on Xander and Aguero asks Rathisi where he’s been the past few days and he tells him it doesn’t matter they need to speak to Hylophagous. Aguero suggests Mort build a “Wheelchair” for Xander and they head to the Saint’s tent but he only allows Aragi in. Aragi enters and meets Trahorn Giantscrippler, a captain of House Rose that is going to help the circus defend Aethel (City) from Saint Opia. Aragi is indifferent but agrees if they take his posters down. After that, the rest of them enter the tent and try to get Hylophagous to solve the Xander issue but he can’t since his magic is destructive. Hylophagous asks where Phylyco is and Aragi immediately remembers and calls Boris to go save the trapped duo. Aguero and Mathite join them. Phylyco and Ela reach the top of the shaft and into another room. They run into two guards who are just so confused. They leave out the exit into the woods as a bell goes off. Aragi and crew, unaware they escaped, are heading towards the cave in as the other two are heading back to Aethel (City). Rathisi and Xander are in The Saint’s tent and Rathisi requests Aguero so they can show him something. Hylophagous informs the blind man to come back and not to worry about Phylyco so they turn around and head home. Mal catches Cal in his tent and sits him down. They need to have a conversation. Phyl and Ela arrive in town and Phylyco asks Mort about explosives and a few carcasses. He can get him the explosives but the hunters need to get the meat. Aragi, Aguero, and Mathite return and head to Hylophagous. The Saint, Aguero, and Rathisi all grab each other’s hands and enter the Septum of the Separated. Rathisi leads the trip through what happened to him in the dream state. Five prophecies. The first was a statue that’s toppled over and only it’s legs up to its shins are still standing. The second is a falcon perched on a rock with green blades for feathers. The third is a snake skin struck by lightning. The fourth is a leopard standing on it’s hind legs. The fifth is four chalices. One explodes, another remains untouched, a third is filled with blood, and the last is chipped and knocked over by the destruction. They decide to head back and call a meeting to discuss what they each mean.

Mal and Cal discuss where he’s been. He doesn’t answer because, he’s Cal. The meeting is called and they discuss the visions Rathisi showed Hylophagous and Aguero. Everyone comes to the consensus the first is about what happened to Xander but no one can figure out what the falcon is about. Aguero is convinced the third is about Mathite killing or harming Phylyco which everyone just sort of accepts since the tension is eminent. They think the leopard has to do with Boris but they quickly realize how stupid that is so they move on. Aragi guesses the chalices refer to the Black Lotus Temples. They all agree that they could be looking too deep into and decide to put it to the side for now. Mort mentions to the Archers he needs deer bodies and they agree since they were going to go out looking for a falcon anyway to try and solve this puzzle. Neither find any birds but they do find some elk and deer and bring them back to Mort but he tells them it was Phylyco asked for them so bring them to him. They go to him, relived he’s alive and give him the deer but he denies them so Aguero just brings them to his tent. It’s at this point Aragi realizes his Bracelet is missing and immediately blames Cal and heads to the barracks to find him. He is not there so he goes to Aguero and tells him Cal has been stealing stuff so he needs him to sense his energy. Aguero finds him in Aragi’s tent so the elf bolts. Aguero tackles him to the ground and they begin the interrogation. They stuff him in a barrel and Aragi pisses into the breathing hole. People start finding provocative garden gnomes in their beds and people get angry and confused and concerned. Rathisi is pissed so he heads out to stab Cal with a magical branch of some sort but Aguero knocks the barrel over to roll into the river and he accidently hits Aguero. He falls down into a frenzied pain as bark starts to grow on his shoulder and down his left arm. The barrel rolls into the river and Aragi starts taking shots at it until Cal gives him his bracelet back.

Aguero wakes Ximer to figure out what in the vale is going on. He determines it’s a branch of connection and the bark is going to continue to grow until it doesn’t. The pain will subside eventually. He goes back to his tent to sleep off the pain but he can’t. It’s too powerful. Aragi goes to Phylyco’s tent to find Ela but she’s not there, He goes to look for her and finds her at Mal’s drinking. He asks her where Cal hides his “Treasures” and she tells him he probably just moved it. Aragi returns to his tent and finds it. He’s pissed but he’s relived. Cal attempts to steal the bracelet again but Aragi anticipates it so he knocks him down and ties him to a tree and just beats the klepto out of him. Phylyco is awoken by the screams and investigates because he’s done with this petty shit. He convinces Aragi to go to bed and the half-elf leaves them, Cal still tied up. Phylyco cuts him down and contemplates what to do but he just leaves the broken dark elf on the ground and prepares to leave for his task as the sun begins to rise. Cal attempts to follow him so he can share what he learned while he was away and eventually catches up as Phyl and Ela are finished packing their exploding deer into a cart. He tells them what he knows and passes out from sheer exhaustion. Aguero returns to the woods and decides that nothing can control him. Not his curse, not this tree, not even Sachayoj. As he goes to touch the bark on his arm with a cut finger, His Demon returns and he is possessed once more.

## Cast

### Main

* Aragi Maxul
* Phylyco Brokenwhisper
* Lara Youngheart
* Aguero Cryhawk
* Mathite'Vomenos
* Elatherial Ebonscar
* Calapharious Ebonscar
* Mal Bloodjaw
* Rathisi'Defteros
* Saint Hylophagous

### Supporting

* Mort Soulspark
* Ravalyssa Darksbane
* Xanderfos'Defteros
* Boris the Cat
* Hayvard Ximer
* The Demon Sachayoj

## Trivia

* This session marks the return of Aguero's possessed state.
* First time more than one character enter the Septum of the Separated at a time.
* Originally, Phylyco and Ela were going to remain trapped in the Gorgon Nest for a majority of the session but it was decided they would be able to find an exit quite easily. Anyone else would've stayed much longer.
* Aragi and Aguero are considered the most heroic characters in the game, so when they begin to assault and torture Calapharious you know he did something incredibly wrong.