BPRD West
The Mysterious Mauling at Hotel Tolling
Our Heroes are:
- Choopy, an enhanced chupacabra.
- Gordon, a Canadian military man with spirit guides.
- Nic, a Romanian Dwarf.
- Ellen, a psychic psychologist, gifted with powers from the Faery Realm of Peru.
- Neat-0, a very advanced AI with many useful cleaning appendages.
- Crunch, an enhanced raccoon.
May 26, 1989.
The next mission was to investigate a locked-room mystery murder at a hotel in the Napa wine country.
Hotel Tolling spent much of its life as the Tolling Family mansion. In 1978, most of it was renovated and converted into a high-end hotel, 30 luxury rooms, a restaurant, a chapel, a hedge maze, and beautiful grounds. One wing is kept by the Tolling family, for their residence and oversight.
Margaret Tolling has been horribly killed, nearly cut in two. In a locked room. With a blood spatter pattern indicating a killer of 8 feet tall, and built like a linebacker. Death happened at 10:21 (when Jupiter rose, 2 hours after sunset).
Police commissioners nationwide know about BPRD, but not about the unusual nature of their field agents. The call went out for help.
The people who live in the family wing:
- Albert “Bert” Tolling, her only living nephew, the heir. No profession and out of money. Not good at running the Hotel.
- Olivia Tolling, his wife. Nags Bert to do better.
- Francine Holt, Margaret’s live-in best friend. Unpaid maid for the family area. Doesn’t like Bert and Liv.
Here are Bert and Liv:
The Police:
- Detective Leon Grimm.
- Patrolman Aaron Maldonado.
The staff that don’t live on site.
- General manager / accountant. Timothy Gilmore.
-
6 front desk (2 are night auditors). Geneva Mitchum, Pete Wayne, Jessie Delgado, Marco Fisher, Lisa foster and Victoria Phipps (these last two are the night auditors).
- 2 concierges. Sandra Riley, Donald Perdue.
- 1 wedding planner / event planner. Andrea White.
- 6 housekeepers. Teresa Byrd, Arminda Pina, Isanqui Baeza, Fileda Escobado, Genji Tung.
- 1 chef. Lucas Doorly (Australian).
- 3 cooks. Carlo Gamboa, Laurencio Chavez, Leon Cordero.
- 2 dishwashers / kitchen cleaning staff. Haman Padillo, Albrecht Agusto.
- 1 Maitre’D. David Goodman.
- 4 hostesses. Virginia McMullen, Barbara Zamora, Rachel Howard, Charlotte Benson.
- 1 maintenance guy. Salvador Alexandro.
- 1 gardener. Ernest Gibson.
- 1 shuttle driver / general helper. Timothy Meza.
- 1 sales, advertising person. David Fergus.
There were 44 guests in 19 suites.
The agents arrived around noon. Det. Grimm “I love this case,” and Patrolman Maldonado met them. Choopy and Crunch were put in yellow CSI vests, Nic wore a white CSI disguise with a big gas/filter mask, and Neat-0 was "special equipment".
"I didn't know you could train raccoons."
"Its an experimental program."
The agents viewed the crime scene. Choopy, Crunch and Neat-0's Extra senses revealed a faint smell of the sea, and of dry bones.
Our heroes went to Interview the suspects. Ellen tried a psychic scan, and picked up waves of guilt emanating from Bert Tolling. Nic and Crunch searched the grounds, finding huge bipedal hoof prints inside the entry of the hedge-maze.
The party regrouped and entered the maze. Within twenty feet, it faded and shifted, becoming an underground labyrinth. Our heroes found their way to the center of the maze, where they found the desiccated and corpselike minotaur, along with a summoning circle and similar accouterments. The minotaur attacked. Gordon was empowered by the spirit of Crab, who granted him spiritual crab claws, and an urge to walk sideways (the first time Gordon had experienced either of these sorts of effects).
[I don't recall the blow by blow, please feel free to add details!]
And so the murderous mummified minotaur was mashed into mulch. Bert was arrested, and transferred to BPRD custody. Will he ever get his day in court? No.
The Hammanals! or, On the Road to Mykonos