Maize

Participants: Unlimited
Contracts: Allowed

You can smell it on the air: death and decay. It permeates the entire town, you noticed it when you first arrived, but it has been growing stronger. The locals don’t notice, don’t know; they are enjoying their festival day, they sense nothing amiss, but you know better. It is the smell of bad magicks, the kind fuelled by blood.

Choose a timeslot and roll Wits + (Investigation or Occult). Characters with the Acute Senses Merit suffer -1 die to this roll due to distracting nature of the smell.

12 Successes are required to uncover the Clue for this Investigation.
For each participant with 4+ dots in the Skill they used, gain an Element.
For each participant that used an appropriate Specialty, gain an Element.
For every 5 Successes beyond that needed to uncover the Clue, gain an Element.

Late Morning...

The smell was stronger today. Initially, I'd thought the scent was just something unique to the town, the corn, fertilizer, insecticides or combinations of everything. That happened. Certain towns just had certain smells. Gary, Indiana used to be like that.

After what I found and saw in the fields, however, I knew better. I knew where the probably came from. Now, I just needed to see if I could learn more.

It wasn't going to be easy.

- - -
[D3 LM] Investigation: Something Amiss, Wits + Investigation + Willpower - Acute Senses: 8d10o10h8 1

(Late morning)

Jean was no stranger to death. The pyres of Orleans had burned for days. Corpses had laid on the roadside like some macabre fruits. The smell of the town reminded him of that. So Jean went out, more and more sure that the others were right. Something was amiss here. Too bad no-one really had an idea what it was, so focused they were on the corn man.


_________
[D3 LM] Investigation: Something Amiss, Wits + Investigation + Willpower - Acute Senses:: 4d10o10h8 2

Late Morning,

Tiffani walked the streets of Maize alone despite the crowd gathering in the park for the Corn Festival. She knew she had to make an appearance at the fair sooner or later if only to ensure nothing went wrong - not that she could do much about it if it did. But still ...

It was that bloody scent in the air. For several hours Tiffani kept wiping at her nose, thinking she had accidentally touched garbage and then transferred that smell to her upper lip - and now she was smelling it no matter where she went. It wasn't until recently when she realized the stench wasn't on her - but it was actually on the wind. What in God's name could be stinking like that? And during a festival, no less. You'd think the Maize Chamber of Commerce (if they even had one) would make sure the garbage was all collected and taken to the dump or the incinerator before the festival started so this kind of thing wouldn't happen.

But did it really smell like normal garbage? She had to admit - no, it didn't. This smell was somehow more pungent, more ... disgusting than normal garbage. Could this be what rotting corpses smell like? She had no idea herself, of course. She had no idea what a rotting body smelled like. And she hoped quite fervently that she never learned. She coughed. Damn, there it was again, that nasty stench that grew stronger every time the wind blew. Tiffani had to find out what it was - she was starting to think this was connected to the high strangeness this town seemed to have in spadefuls.

D3 LM: Something Amiss: Wits 3 + Investigation 3 + Autumn Court Bonus 2 - Acute Senses -1: 7d10o10h8 3

Late Morning

Imogen woke up from her sleep on a rather peculiar note. She dreamt of corn again but she would think that her sleeping aspirations would have ascended to something far greater than the main source of starch around here. Everything started to become less of a coincidence as time passed on.

When she went outside to do her daily jog, the smell in the air hit her like a ton of bricks. She found herself almost gagging at first until she forcibly found herself coping with the smell, wrapping a scarf around her neck. Was this going to get into her hair and her clothes? Her jog down the street didn't reveal much, especially judging from the faces of the town locals who seem to be rather upbeat and looking forward to the Corn Festival. Without consulting them, this was something that was unnatural. Or perhaps it was always here, and they've grown blind with their complacency.

This was easily enough to put her on edge, making her glance at her surroundings from time to time to see if there was a pile of corpses around the corner. What secrets were found in Maize? Was this coming from the locals themselves?

Day 3, Late Morning, Something Amiss: Wits and Investigation (Collaboration), -1 die: 5d10o10h8 1

The stench was unpleasant. Foul. The Brightest Darkness wrinkled his nose as he walked. Investigating things was unpleasant work, yet it had to be done. He worked, hoping to help uncover something.

LM3 - Something Amiss - Investigating! (Wits 3 + Investigate 4 + willpower): 10d10o10h8 2

It was his first real day here, and there was a quaint little county faire going on. It actually sort of brought him back to a happier time. He had planned to attend, despite it being freezing cold, but he couldn't get rid of that smell lingering on his nose.

It reminded him of many things, none of them as pleasant as the faire memories. Jonathan just needed to slip off into the corn field to search...maybe something about all of this would start to make sense.

Smell of Lingering Death Investigation (Wits+Occult): 5d10o10h8 1

Steve makes a last-minute contribution that unlocks this Clue.
[D3 LE] Something Amiss (Wits 2 + Investigation 3 + Willpower 3): 8d10o10h8 4

Clue: This clue reveals that, despite there being no changelings in Maize, there are a number of Hedgeways scattered about the town.

Further Investigations: You can attempt to find one or more of these Hedgeways with a Kenning roll for the cost of 1 Willpower, or bypass the Hedgways and create your own portals. Research skills such as Academics or Occult, or contacts in these fields, may reveal more information.