Skinned

Welcome to Metropolis

One of the neat things about cleaning up my library/clothing room/music room/game storage room, is that I am coming across old materials. I am trashing most of it as I have it on disk. Other bits, I am typing up to post here or save for later. I think something as simple as a list of names can be helpful to other role-players.

That is not what I have for you today. I discovered two pieces of 5x7" lined paper with hand scrawled notes written upon it. The only name on the paper is the name of a player character:  Silas. I do not remember whose character it was or which game it is from. I can only guess it is from the late 1990s or early 2000s, judging by the other materials it was near. It also strikes me to be inspired by Kult, Werewolf:  the Apocalypse, or the MilleniuM tv show. Mostly Kult.

The material strikes me as something I might use to bring the character in to the game or as mid-season shake up material. Today, I think it would work best as mid-season shake up material. The character could go after the situation on the side, alone, or with the rest of the troupe.

I do not know if I ever used this material. I would love to know if I did. If you are reading this and remember this being in a game, please speak up...

As the character goes through his personal mail, he finds a 9x12” padded envelope. Inside the envelope is the facial skin of a man from the character’s past. The man was the member of an organization which saved him from Hell.

The envelope was mailed from the Chinatown district post office. The return address is for an apartment near Chinatown. The hand-writing is sloppy and the address is written in English. The character thinks the address is for apartment nine at said address. No name is listed on the return address.

Fingerprints on the envelope match the building owner’s fingerprints. He has a record of drunk and disorderly, assault, and interfering with an officer of the law.

The primary residents are transients inbound from China.

The apartment complex is a slum. The outside is painted white and the paint is chipping. At one point, the building appears to have been a boarding school for young women. Cigarette smoke, boiled cabbage, and the smell of unwashed people fill the air. Open and broken windows allow for the aroma to make it out to the street.

The door into the building is locked. The fire door on the rear of the building is also locked. If the character holds the doorbell down long enough, the building manager will answer the bell. The manager is a worthless piece of human flesh. He is the type to play stupid, yet become caught in his own lies. He will not want to let the character in at first. However, he can be worn down with harassment or involving the law. He will not guide the character up to the apartment, nor does he have a name for the apartment resident.

If the character breaks into the apartment complex, the building manager will see it happen, but not say anything.

Apartment nine is on the upper floor, past the manager’s office. The other rooms show evidence of families, a meth lab, Korean gang members, and more than one entrance to a personal hell (Metropolis).

 The apartment door is unlocked. The room is a mess. Flies buzz the room. PVC pipes with blankets for drapes/curtains are set up to partition the main room (open concept dining room-living room). Three men and one woman are in the room. Two of the men and the woman’s location are of no concern. They have all been murdered with bullets. Autopsies will show a .22 caliber automatic pistol was used. While the character will not recognize these three people, he will recognize a ring that each of them wear.

The fourth body is in the kitchen. It lies on the floor. Flies and maggots cover the body. A long, razor sharp knife is in the victim’s hand. It appears, due to the amount of blood on his hands and arms, he cut off his own face.