Case 1: The Case of the Corpse Astray
Client: Themselves (after being ambushed on a train ride)
Investigators: Ardemas, Roscoe , Mallen, Floux, Mauv, Dash
The Mystery: Pirates were being hired to collect corpses (that they themselves would generate in pirate-y schemes) and drop them off at Noble House in The Tangle.
Suspects:
- Precia Cointongue, famous pirate captainess and hired-hand.
- Donastra Valeri, resident and heiress of Noble House
- Lugo, the man the bodies are delivered to
Under the Mask:
- It turned out that the bodies were being dumped into the basement of Noble House, where they were being used to feed a massive tangle of flesh and bone. The sentinels snuck down and found Donastra entranced with a magical book named "Zelgrieb's Notebook of Dissection". Luckily for the players, they induced the inquisitors of Waukeen to enter the building, finding and arresting Donastra. The Book was then taken back to the Bodega where resident scholar Roscoe determined the book was influencing Donastra negatively with its own insidious magic.
- Follow up investigation and interrogation with locals of the area revealed the Valeri's dirty legacy, which resulted in Donastra's mother being banished from the family blood line and sent to live in squalor with her mason husband, who was actually the architect of Noble House. Sentinels believe the motivation was vengeance against her own family.
What they Missed:
- Donastra came across the insidious book in the first place thanks to a demon, Uxorioth, who was possessing her.
Case 2: The Case of the Dripping Throne
Client: Shawm Luzzechi (Jason Z. from Brooklyn)
Investigators: Mallen, Floux, Anastasia, Hari
The Mystery: A traveller in the city who was just hoping to purchase flutes was killed seemingly at random. But soon it became clear that while Shawm was randomly picked, the murder was anything but spontaneous.
Suspects:
- Eel and Lee, Fisherman
- Crow the Beggar
- Julianna Fishhall the Guild Leader and Sorcerous Adept
- The Badlanders
Under the Mask: It turned out that Al'Adeaf's fishing guild was actually run by a small sorcerous cabal who sacrificed human lives in exchange for a bountiful catch. Shawm may have been a random death, but he was only the latest in a long line of random deaths which helped the fisherman of the city catch great bounties. Is one life a month a reasonable trade for a hundred thousand people staying well fed? Well, ultimately the team decided it was a worthy trade, but they wanted a say, becoming a mediator to make suggestions of who to sacrifice for future months.
Case 3: The Case of the Sin Drinker
Client: Nightwatch Commander Antonio Teldi (Sam M. from Baltimore)
Investigators: Floux, Ardemas, Mauv
The Mystery: When a Nightwatch Commander believes he is being hunted down, the team works together to track down the killer, but more importantly, the killer's motivations that lead the team to re-think everything they know about Commander Teldi.
Suspects:
- The Pickle Vendor
- Vampires?
- Teldi Himself
- Merano's Pickles
Under the Mask:
It was the wife of the Pickle Vendor! She's a Penanggal who's decided to be a vigilante in the north Harbor. Teldi was the next target on her crosshairs, but he was convinced to skip town and never come back, or the Beggar's would happily let the Pennangal take her vengeance.
Case 4: The Case of the Double Dare
Client: Adam Hersey (Jonathan H. from Texas)
Investigators: Floux, Mallen, Roscoe, Calvin
The Mystery: After being double dared to go into an abandoned prep school in Sag Harbor, Adam and his friend Blaine take the challenge....only to be ambushed by powerful dark magic that turns Blaine into a statue. Now it's up to Adam to recruit the city's best (and cheapest) investigators to figure out what happened, and see if the curse can be reversed???
Suspects:
- Bill Wessler
- Tanya Becker
- Adam???
- Joe Canning (Aka JOE MAMA)
Under the Mask: It was Joe Mama all along. He was over 100 years old and had been tricking school kids into going into the house every 19 years.
What they Missed:
- Quite a bit, due to nobody's understanding of sorcery or magic, and their lack of connections with the Sorcerous Cabal that they may have been able to call a favor from. Still not understanding the curse, or how this mysterious type of dark magic operates, they elected to keep Blaine's paralyzed corpse in the Bodega as a seasonal decoration.
Case 5: The Case of the Copper Door
Client: Marwan Abd-al-Aziz (John S. from Maryland), a supernatural investigator from The Seven Cities.
Investigators: Mallen, William, Elara, Drip
The Mystery:
Suspects:
- Kyriakos, an oppium addict
- The Demon of the Wastes, a jinn that served Kyriakos' orders
- al-Snobbit ("The Man from Snobbite") a strange cultist who frequented the Den of Smoke
- Majd al-Din, hired merchant who was also a frontman for several operations
- Tammo & Ponzio, guards working for Majd al-Din.
- Zubair, a swordsmith who created a magic item used in the ceremonies
Under the Mask: It turns out that almost everyone involved (Except for the genie) was in fact working for a cult dedicated to Serket, a god of the ancient Merca societies, and they planned to summon a Yuan-Ti anathema to attack the city and claim it in the name of Merca.
What they Missed:
- While they freed the genie, who subsequently helped stop the ritual, they did not understand that intricacies of the cult, or capture any cultists to discover what further machinations they were planning...
Case 6: The Case of the Missing Landlord
Client: Adrian Moore (Jayme A. From LA)
Investigators: Mallen, Ardemas, Mauv, Elara
The Mystery: Mr. Kelvin, the landlord of the Bodega, mysteriously goes unresponsive, his body is found by the team dead in his hotel room. Also on site? The lovelorn friend of Kelvin's daugther, who apparently has also gone missing. Who killed Kelvin? Who took Amelia? What mysterious power lurks here preying on the family?
Suspects:
- Bart Kelvin, the departed's brother
- Peter Lankila, owner of the PussyCat Club
Under the Mask:
In a rare first, every suspect was guilty of SOMETHING in this case. As it turns out, it was Bart Kelvin who killed his brother, but it was Peter Lankila who had taken posession of the young Amelia, as part of an ongoing transaction in which he would turn her into a vampire thrall (Oh yeah Lankila was a vampire) in return to pay off Bart's gambling debts.
Case 7: The Case of the Darkson Princess
Client: Zelda Brandt (Ali M. From Harlem)
Investigators: Floux, Calvin, Mauv, Charlie
The Mystery:
Suspects:
- Harvey Cooper
- Dr. Coombes
- Security Chief Georgia May
- 1st Officer Kilkenny
- Cruise Director Thornhill
And then after it was determined some sort of creature might be on board, the list of suspects became drilled down to a number of creatures that could possibly be responsible:
- Dybbuk - a type of posessive jellyfish, looking for a good host
- Maezel - Maybe the ship crossed its territory and it gets vengeance
- Sword Wraith - Maybe was someone who died on the ship, haunts the ship trying to kill others.
Under the Mask: It was a Deep Sand Scion who had snuck on board and was slowly absorbing the faces of all the important cruise ship members in an attempt to convince the captain to take the ship out to the badlands where a Kraken pit sat, ready to devour everyone on board whole.
Case 8: The Case of the Nymphsview Neighbour
Client: Leopold Amor (Craig R from Scotland)
Investigators: Calvin, Tragdor, Ardemas, Jacques
The Mystery: A mystery NOT in Al'Adeaf!?! When Brigadier Gaba, good friend to Leo, is killed in his own home, the rumor mill tells Leo that a crack team of investigators just rolled into the city on the Darkson Princess. With their help will Leo be able to find the mysterious reason why his superior officer was killed?
Suspects:
- Nick Ehrmann, the suspicious up and comer who may just win the mayoral race
- The Agent of Hell, a literal devil running a literal law firm over at Franklin & Stein.
- Bruno Carmena, Hitman for Hire, he ain't saying NOTHING
- The Meleagris Family, owners of the Don's Ark Italian-style restaurant.
- Johann Schmid?! - Lover of spaghett at Don's Ark and friend of Leo's
Under the Mask: Bruno Carmena, the actual hitman, was connected to a yet-unrecognized shadow agency with fingers in every pot around town...cough DarkSons...was hired by the Melagris family (who had put much of their money into Nick Ehrmann) to take out the nosey Brigadier after they found out he knew too much and was piecing together the dark money.
What they Missed: Despite discovering the killer, I don't think the team actually tried to turn Ehrmann or the Meleagris crew in to the authorities. Finding the answers and closing the case was enough to keep Leo and his weird friend Johann happy.
Also there was literally a massive talking Turkey that was part of this mystery that the players definitely did not come across. He was part of "The Turkey Guard" which protected the city.
Case 9: The Case of the False Friend
Client: Heimeric Winkler (Cody M. from Boston)
Investigators: Dash, Charlie, William, Mallen
The Mystery: Clara Winkler -- The daughter of the client, did not return to her apartment in the city according to a call made by landlady Ms. Romano. Last seen studying the occult with a cute boy, the investigators put on their best University Student personas and investigate what supsicious going-ons are happening at Al'Adeaf U. In this high-end investigation, the wealthy Winkler family gives the investigators all access to their wealth and resources to see their daughter rescued. That included a personal carriage, and even access to their BEST servant...JENKINS.
Suspects:
- Ms. Romano the landlady
- Arthur Schenbrink, the cute boy that Clara had disappeared into the mountains with
- Ferdinand Fazzo, mutual friend to both Arthur and Clara, owned a carriage, but returned to Al'Adeaf without either friend, with hair white from fear and insanity.
- Julius Sawback, who ran the Luskin Fretray Convent, the fraternity that gave Schenbrink his scholarship and then ripped it away
- The Caretaker, a mysterious stalker found lurking outside of Fazzo's room. He was recognized by some as the caretaker who took care of the lodge out near Fiddlehead mountains, weird to be here at the university.
- Jenkins!
Under the Mask: It was Arthur Schenbrink, who had lost his university scholarship after dinking tours, who wanted a chance to make his parents proud again. His only hope was to befriend a very rich fellow student who could fund his education in place of the scholarship. Befriending Clara was the obvious choice, and in order to make himself attractive and interesting, Schenbrink researched occult worship practices which Clara was very curious about. Unfortunately their flirty rituals went too far, and they accidentally "shook the boudnaries of reality and summoned a Serpantine Spirit". The spirit killed Arthur, but their mutual friend Ferdinand Fazzo escaped back to the city, driven insane by witnessing the ceremony, while Clara crawled back and huddled under a bed for several days. The investigators found her just in the nick of time, motionless and speechless, but alive.
What they Missed: Jenkins the Winkler's servant was dead! Or...was he?! Turns out the Caretaker followed the team back to the lodge, killed Jenkins, and took his form. So Jenkins was the shapeshifting Serpentine Spirit when they got back in the cart and rode it home to the city, and without being caught by the investigators, the serpentine demon slunk back into the city unnoticed.
Case 10: The Case of the Season Finale
Client: The Lich (Lich Omoi from the Void)
Investigators: Dash, Charlie, Calvin, Mauv
The Mystery: A missing Hydra Hydrangea?! Not on our watch! When the Lich's magical mystery plant gets stolen by adventurers filling out a mission order from the mega corp AgraWealth, it's up to the team to track down who put out the hit, and where the plant was delievered, and where this mysterious "Site B" is...
Suspects:
- Katharine Altone, the CFO and vice president of AgraWealth
- Owen Altone, the missing husband
- Yousef Prakseesin, the mysterious Sheik who was asked to come to the city to meet with Owen
- Mr. Darvall, agent of the 7 Cities working closely with AgraWealth
Under the Mask:
- While Owen was certainly working on his own mysterious evils on the side, planning his own kidnapping and trying to extort AgraWealth, it turns out it wasn't the Altones, but instead the mysterious Mr. Darvall and his agents (Especially Anthony Caul) working inside of AgraWealth, who hired out the adventures via Owen, who believed doing this dirty act for the company would help him get a promotion (and be with his secretary and affair more)...but throwing the Altones under the bus also threw a huge red herring into any attempts to investigate the plant-napping, leading to the trickiest mystery to solve yet. Thanks to the magic of the Lich and Calvin combined, was Site B discovered deep under the quicksands of Al'Adeaf, and the plant recovered.
What they Missed:
- They didn't talk to the maid Azzah, but that's not a big deal. I'll mark this one 100%'d
Mystery Outlines
To demonstrate how much more free-flowing (and difficult to run) RPG mysteries can be in the GUMSHOE system, here are a number of example mysteries from The Beggar's Bodega (Campaign).
-
session 2
-
Session 3
-
Session 4
-
Session 5
-
Session 6
-
Session 7
-
Session 8
-
Session 9
-
Session 10
