1 Body - Head = Mystery

"1 Body - Head = Mystery"

Headless

Episode
Chapter 1, Episode 7

**Playdate**
August 28, 2017

**Players**

Matt - Dain Sarkas

Jac - Wendy

Kevin - Dalius

Leighann - Xand

Seth - Fate Silver

Chuck - Rocko

*and*

Chris as **Dungeon Master**

Previous
Next

"Spy Training" (1x06)
"The Fate of a Crow" (1x08)

## **Synopsis**

Wendy, Dain, and Rocko start the session looking over the ruins of Klink Rattlecap's burned down toy store. After some looking around they head to the cafe` next door. After ordering a coffee Wendy asks the barista if she knows anything about what happened to the toy store. Unfortunately the barista is only able to tell them that there was a fire in the middle of the night. After leaving the cafe` the three make their way to the Fire Department to see if they can possibly get some information. When arriving at the Fire Department Rocko starts asking many questions about what things are and how they work, trying to break the ice. However three nosy teens only annoys the Fireman that they are speaking with. The man is suspicious of the teens and when they ask about the fire at the toy shop he asks them who the hell they are and why they are really there. After they tell him that they are just some curious kids, the Fireman doesn't buy it and eventually kicks them to the curb.

After listening to the music he had composed, Fate decides to go looking for a place that serves BBQ and Wendy joins him. The rest of the group decides to stay at the Inn. While eating dinner the remaining members of Team Phoenix witness Cornelius excitedly packing for a trip. He is heading out to pick up a shipment of mead and will return in a couple of days. Gwyneth is being left in charge while he is away. Klink eventually passes out at his table, and Asher packs up his things and heads back to his room for the night.

Fate and Wendy find a good BBQ place and order meals. Wendy orders the hottest sauce they have and takes it like a champ, seemingly unaffected by the intense heat of the sauce. Fate thinks that they are on a date and wants to impress her so he also orders the hottest sauce. Though he gets a slight stomach ache he does pretty well. Trying to show his knowledge Fate trys to show his knowledge and makes comments on the different types of corn bread. Attempting to be seen as agreeable Fate agrees with everything Wendy says and comments that they should do this again sometime. On their way back to the Inn they encounter an old woman with bright purple eyes. Wendy gives the woman a few coins and starts asking if she knows anything about the fire at the toy shop. Saying that it had burnt down around 2-3 in the morning, she isn't able to give Wendy any insight as to whether or not it was an accident. She does comment that it is weird that it happened on the same night as one of the disappearances. When they ask her more about that she says that women have been disappearing and men have been turning up dead. Fate asks how the men die, and the old woman says that the bodies are found headless, and that the heads are nowhere to be found. Wendy offers to rent a room at the Inn for the woman but she declines. Trying to make the woman feel better, Fate gives her a few more coins and tells her "14% of people will be homeless at some point in their lives.". After Wendy reprimands Fate they start to leave and the woman grabs Wendy's hand and tells her that she has such wonderful skin. Then they return to the Inn. When they get back, they let everyone know the new information they have discovered. Asher Green packs up his things from the table and he heads to his room and Klink rouses from his table and stumbles home, Fate following just to make sure of where he is going. On his way back to the Inn Fate sees Asher leaving through the southern door from the guest rooms. Once Gwyneth is ready to leave for the night Fate offers to walk her home but she declines.

The next morning Fate wake sup early enough to order enough tea for two, and once again has tea with Ms. Crow. Once everyone else is awake they all eat breakfast and then talk of going to find a novelty type of shop. Barney overhears their discussion and tells them of a shop that has "All sorts of weird shit." called Mogwais and More. He tells them it is in a roughter part of the district but they should be fine if they stick together. The group decides to give it a look and head out.

On the way to the shop they come across what appears to be a crime scene under investigation. An alleyway has been blocked off. Though there are a few people milling around trying to get a peek, the majority of people seem to keep to themselves and don't appear to want to talk to police. Approaching the barricade they see a lot of blood running out into the sewers. Looking past the police guards they see Asher Green kneeling over a body. Calling out to him, he looks up and notices the group and goes to meet them. Wendy asks what has happened and he tells them that another murder has happened. Wendy comments that that brings the total to 6 murders and 6 disappearances. Asher is surprised that she know this, and Wendy tells him an old woman told her how many have occurred. Asher lets the group investigate the body and speaks with them about what has been happening. By the end of investigation and discussion the group has learned a number of things.

### Crime Scene Information

The murders and disappearances seem to happen in pairs, a woman goes missing and within a short period of time she is seen briefly again with a man who is latter found murdered with his head missing. When witnessed together it seemed to be in some form of courtship. The groupings of disappearance/murder victims do not seem to have any connections to each other. The occurrences started close together but then over time started to spread out as if someone was trying to make them look random. The last woman to go missing was named May Shackleford.

Going through the pockets of the victim the group finds an identification card naming him Tobias Flynn, and a receipt to a restaurant called Armelo's. The mans head seems to have been ripped from the body and the neck seems to have some self inflicted scratch marks as if the man had been clawing at something around his neck. Though there isn't anything left showing any indication of any specific spells being used, there is an essence of Fae energy with most of the residual Fae energy centered on the neck of the victim which looks to be far more rotted than the rest of the body, almost like a necrotic residue is there.

Wendy tells Asher that the last disappearance happened on the same night as the fire that burned down the toy shop, and Dain adds that Klink had gone for a walk before the fire and came home to it. Asher points out on the map where the last disappearance happened and it is close to the fire department. The fire could have been a distraction for the abduction. Asher promises us he will look into the date of the other occurrences to see if any other "disasters" happened close by on the same night. As Asher bids farewell to the teens, Fate follows him for a moment to have a word in private.

After leaving, Xand makes her way to the library to try and research for the investigation but is unable to find the information she needs.

Dain, Dalius, Rocko, and Fate go into Mogwais and More where after a weird interaction with the creepy shop owner, they buy some trinkets. Fate buys a locket meant for a picture but he instead uses it to keep his clover inside. Rocko buys a rectangular metal device with two metal cups on one end that throw sparks when wet. Dain buys a one pound egg with a bright red shell and painted swirls on the outside, along with a gaudy engraved ninja star. they then leave and head back to the Inn.

While all this was going on Wendy had gone off on her own to take a look around the sites of the known abductions, trying to see if she can gain any insight. After spending the whole day making her way around the district, it is starting to get dark and she notices that people are making their way indoors as soon as it starts to get dark. As she is about to make her way back to the Inn Wendy hears a woman scream from a nearby alley. Recognizing the voice she rushed forward to the alley to find Gwyneth slumped against the wall panting. Looking up and seeing Wendy, Gwyneth points down the alley and says "you scared him off!" Making sure that Gwyneth is ok, Wendy runs after the attacker, around the corner where she sees a ladder heading to the rooftops. Starting up the ladder she finds a strip of sname skin hanging off of one of the rungs. Getting back to the ground she yells out for the attacker to show itself. Getting no response she heads back to Gwyneth, and escorts her back to the Inn, suggesting that being surrounded by more people might be better for the time being. On the way back Wendy asks if Gwyneth was able to see her attacker but she didn't get a good look. The attacker was hooded, slight build, and smelled of whiskey. The session ends with the two arriving back at the Inn.

## **Featured Characters**

### **Player Characters**

* Dain Sarkas
* Fate Silver
* Dalius
* Wendy
* Xand
* Rocko

### **Returning**

* Asher Green
* Gwyneth Burgess
* Cornelius Stout
* Klink Rattlecap

## Footnotes

1. ↑ Klink does go straight home and Fate can hear his wife yelling at him from outside
2. ↑ After some conversation the teens find out that the shop owner wanted to take the feet and hands of the murder victim.