The Mystery of the Mangled Man (Session 1)

The Mystery of the Mangled Man (Session 1)

After a few delays, we at last started The Mystery of the Mangled Man, our second MotW mystery. Before the game officially started, we had some reviewing and bookkeeping today.

* Det. Nino Brown of Chicago knows John Carter (The Wronged) is innocent of his family’s death.

* Bill Trautmann, high-ranking government agent, leads a team hunting Xin, Slayer of Heroes (The Summoned).

* Brigit, a hooker in New York City, wonders what happened to Herschel Opal (The Monstrous).

* Old Moses, homeless man, was rescued from certain death at the end of the last mystery.

* Carlos Vasquez, who works in a police impound yard, isn’t above taking bribes.

* Charlie Hugo, voodoo priest, survived the last mystery, but his church was burned to the ground as zombies rampaged.

* The hooker named Candy witnessed Xin being bagged and snagged. (Moral: If you miss a session, and I ask the other players where your character is….)

* Dan (The Mundane) is out running down a lead about something possibly supernatural.

The Hook: Spring Valley (INS) – The body of security guard James Enright was discovered during morning shift change on the grounds of Union Metallurgical. Police refused to comment about Enright’s cause of death, but a source within Union Metallurgical spoke on the condition of anonymity, saying, “It was horrible. Jim’s body was covered with welts, and his arms and legs were broken.” Michael Boone, a Union Metallurgical representative, said that Enright’s death was a tragic accident and that the company was reviewing its safety protocols to prevent further accidents.

John Carter and Herschel Opal have kept their heads down for about week, waiting for the heat to die down after the narrowly averted zombie apocalypse. Carter is especially concerned as he was arrested during the zombie attack and later escaped custody in time to participate in the gruesome demise of vengeful grandmother Marie Beauchamps. The duo rode the elevator down breakfast at the Royale only to notice a pudgy brunette flashing pictures and talking to the desk clerk. Carter and Opal split up, Carter heading to breakfast while Opal went to scout the parking lots for trouble.

At breakfast, the pudgy brunette introduced herself to Carter as Monique Marmelstein, INS reporter. She pressed Carter for information about the zombie event. Carter fed her some juicy hints, and then asked what she knew about the death at Union Metallurgical. Marmelstein said “Not much”, but pointed Carter in the direction of her friend Gordy Spangler at Saints Mary and Martha Hospital. Spangler was the coroner on the case.

Opal didn’t notice anything unusual in the parking lot, and so went for breakfast as well, sitting at another table so as to tip off Marmelstein that he and Carter knew each other. After Marmelstein left, slipping more Pop-Tarts into her purse on the way out, Carter and Opal compared notes and decided to visit Spangler.

While Carter distracted the rent-a-cop on the sign-in desk outside the morgue in the hospital’s basement, Opal slipped into the morgue to talk with Spangler. The conversation didn’t go well. Opal’s streetwise hustler style was the wrong approach, and Spangler demanded Opal leave at once. Fortunately, about that same moment, orderlies accompanied by cops arrived with body bags on gurneys. Carter made a quick exit before he was recognized, and Opal took advantage of the distraction that drew Spangler into the hallway.

Opal quickly found the autopsy report on James Enright, who had suffered several burns as if by acid of some sort. Cause of death was massive blunt force trauma, almost as if he had fallen from a height or been hit by a truck, but no source of the injuries could be determined based on the scene of the crime. Opal slipped out while bodies were being signed for. A few minutes later, while Carter waited in the van, Opal talked with a cop who told him about a big accident on the freeway.

The duo next headed toward Union Metallurgical, drive past the aforesaid accident. Posing as deliverymen, Carter and Opal made it past the rather lax security with no problem. Instead of driving to the designated lot, they drove around to the building wherein security guard Enright had died. While Opal distracted people at the front with his fake delivery, Carter found his way in through a side entrance. He found the site of the death. The wall near where Enright died was buckled as if something — or somebody — had slammed into it at speed. Police tape X-ed a nearby door. Carter went into that room and found a lab for making circuitry. Cabinets had been torn open. Containers marked “Pt” had been forced open and were now empty. Carter also noticed the security cameras. By the time he exited the building, Opal had managed to irritate workers at the front so much that they’d called security to escort him off the premises.

Opal drove the van to the nearby Chik’n & Waffles. He saw Marmelstein leaning against her car in the parking lot. Carter exited UM on foot and made his way to the eatery. Again, he and Opal pretended to not know each other. Marmelstein confessed that she’d spoken with Spangler, and he’d told her about the person asking for information. She figured someone else was investigating, and that UM might be next on the list, but she didn’t expect to see Carter.

Marmelstein and Carter went inside to eat while Marmelstein warned carter that someone else was poking his nose around. When Opal entered, thinking he could maintain the ruse of just being a customer, Marmelstein saw him and made the connection to Spangler’s description. Frightened, she warned Carter that the other person had just walked in and that, furthemore, she remembered seeing him at the hotel as well.

“He’s following you, John,” Marmelstein said, gripping Carter’s hand. “Be careful.”

Marmelstein left first, paying the tab. After she was gone, Carter and Opal compared notes. The decided to return to UM after dark to try to get their hands on the security videos, assuming the police hadn’t taken them all. It was a long shot, but….

That night, Carter and Opal sneaked onto UM property and moved stealthily toward the security building. That’s when they saw the large air conditioner unit floating through the air. The duo hunkered down and watched as the unit vanished into thin air as if it had been slid behind an invisible screen. Opal turned into a black panther. With his keen sense of smell, he detected an acrid odor similar to sulfur. Another AC unit detached from its moorings and started to float.

Carter and Opal sprung into action. Something invisible, hidden behind an effect that mimicked the background, was there. Opal attacked with claws and fangs, but found all the inertia of his attacks muted. He made contact, but with no more strength than a kitten. He also got sprayed with acid for his trouble, but his regenerative powers took care of that. Carter moved to aid Opal, and found himself gripped as if by a giant hand and then pressed near the top edge of the nearby building. The pressure was tremendous. Opal tried another attack, but with the same results as before. That’s when the pressure against Carter caused him to slide up past the top edge of the building. Carter shot head over heels into the darkness. Opal abandoned the fight to find Carter, banged and scraped, dusting himself off where a pile of dirt broke his fall without breaking any of his bones.

By the time the duo returned to the security building, alarms were ringing and the invisible threat was gone along with two large AC units.