ic Bedlam Mysteries: Grimm Tidings

[Tiffany Korta]

Bedlam City
1st June 2018, 06:30 am

Life was cheap in Bedlam but every now and again something would happen across that would disturb even the jaded citizens of the blight of Wisconsin.

 

The corpse in question appeared ancient, even though several witnesses saw them mere hours before going to a hotel that charged by the hour. Normally Bedlam Cities "Finest" would sweep this desiccated corpse into the gutter and forget about it. But Merryn Blundell was a person of some influence being an auctioneer of some repute. Mostly there was high value, and dubious origins, that meant some very important Bedlamites wanted whoever had done this caught right away.

[Brown Dynamite]

Óscar wasn''t a hired dick.  Slumming it in hotel alleyways to spy on the affluent likely engaging in extramarital affairs wasn't his idea of a productive morning.  But, unfortunately, stopping by the neighborhood donut shop did not seem to be a priority for his body.  Or rather the spirit that shared his body.  His dreams were rather intrusive.  Visions of death and suffering plaguing them.  Almost as if he was on autopilot the Hispanic man found himself lurking outside of the hotel.  A deep sense of rage blistering beneath the surface covered behind a thick veneer of pure exhaustion.

 

He hadn't seen the body yet.  The Bedlam Police weren't good at their jobs by any means.  But, they certainly weren't about to leave a scruffy looking half-asleep civilian walk in and start sniffing a crime scene.  Of course, Óscar didn't actually need to be in the room to gather information.  He just needed to get close enough to pick up a scent or overhear something useful.  It all depended on how diligent the police would be on making sure no one ascended through the fire escape access in the hotel alleyway.

[Tiffany Korta]

GM Post

Relying on smell was never the best option in a place like Bedlam, especially in its many dark alleyways. But as Óscar got higher up the fire escape the air got, well not exactly cleaner but easier to distinguish separate smells. At least his progress was unhindered by the police, not the most efficient of people, not thinking to stop people using the fire escape.

 

From the room itself along with the various smells of the people coming and going around the scene, and the unfortunate faint traces of its previous use, was the faintest smell of death. But not the fresh smell of the recently deceased but the ancient smell of one long dead, tinged with the smell of sulphur.

[Brown Dynamite]

Did Satan smell like rotten eggs?  If so Óscar couldn't have helped but feel as if he had descended down yet another layered circle of Hell.  But, that was the thing with the city.  You could never hit rock bottom because things could keep getting worse.  I don't know what the hell smells like that.  But, it definitely wasn't a shooting.  I guess I have no choice but to take a peak.

 

Worst case scenario, Óscar would have to make a run for it he was spotted.  But, the unfamiliar stench of sulfur with the all too familiar smell of death was not giving him enough information.  Slowly as he inched near the room the first step was checking if the hotel window was open and unlocked.  If not he could theoretically, fix that.  It wouldn't be quiet.  But, it could be done.

 

That was, of course, counting on the windows not being barred.  Sure, barred windows were a safety hazard.  But, some owners would much rather protect their property than their customers.

[Tiffany Korta]

 

Liam Conner

You could tell that Lady Henry was of old Bedlam money she refused point blank to even talk to Rosa and barely tolerated Liam and his "deviant tastes" and probably only because he was of noble bearing. Normally they wouldn't even deal with someone like this, but being an occult detective didn't always allow for a regular paycheck and there was no shortage of cheaper less scrupulous detectives for the real bread and butter work.

 

"I've recently acquired a ring that it is rumoured to be cursed, I considered such thing hokum but my lawyer insists that it be checked for such things."

 

Rosa's funk at having to stay out of the conversation, something alas that she experienced far too often in Bedlam, evaporated at the potential mystery. With Liam's eyes she looked at the rather plain looking ring in a secure wooden case.

 

I'll need to look at the ring with all my senses to see if it really is cursed, we'll need to get the old bat out of the way for a while!

 

Luckily Liam was ever the diplomat, though for once they were in agreement about someone.

 

"We'll need a moment to look at the rings magical signature, such things can be dangerous to the untrained so we'll need a moment alone with the ring."

[Tiffany Korta]

GM Post
Moving across the room was relativity simple, it seemed that none of the policed wanted to stay in the room. And it was plain to see why the had been spooked the corpse had been completely desiccated to closely resemble the appearance of an Egyptian mummy. That made it difficult to tell if the grimace was from whatever process had done this or from fear who or whatever attacked him.

Spooked by the weirdness of the whole thing, Bedlam wasn't a place where crimes like this happened often, they left the corpse alone. This included what looked like the only possible clue to this all, a piece of paper he held firmly in one of his hands.

[Tiffany Korta]

Doctor Rosa Thorne

With a loud tut, the Lady Henry gave in to the request, though still giving the airs that being of "those sorts" they'd rob her blind the moment she left the room.

 

With the changing of Liam to Rosa with no more than a shudder theft was the furthest from there though, not that either would resort to theft at even there lowest point. Instead, Rosa walked around the case examining the ring with some interest.

 

"Plain gold ring, possibly 19th century, no intrinsic value in itself, beyond it gold content. The fact that we've not been told about the ring suggest there's a gory story behind its origins. It might be possible to track some kind of resonance to a previous owner and unravel this whole mystery."

 

With some sand she began to trace out a magical circle around the display case, probably totally ruining the carpet underneath as she did so. Not that she was particularly concerned.

[Brown Dynamite]

Óscar made grimaced at the sight of the body.  He had seen dead bodies before.  He had seen a lot of dead bodies before.  But, nothing like this.  Without hesitation, he would reach down for the piece of paper.  The chain of evidence not exactly of importance after already breaking into a crime scene.

 

"The funny thing is I probably climbed all these flights to steal a look at a shopping list.  People don't exactly write their killer's names before they die.  Could also be a list of lotions for that dry skin."  Óscar whispered to himself.  His hands unsteady at the thought of grabbing the gross mummified hand.  It looked as if the slightest tough risked breaking it.

[Tiffany Korta]

 

GM Post

The hand made some very disturbing crumbling like noises as the paper was gently taken from its grip. It was a piece ripped off a bill of sale, from a rather upscale auction house, whatever had been sold was missing below the rip and lost elsewhere but it did carry the address of who had bought the item.

 

At the address, the estate of Lady Henry, someone was working the case from the other end, examining the resonance of the ring. The complicated interlinked magic’s of the ring showed it was most definitely magical in some way, and that it was acting like some siren call to something or someone...