April 17th, 2021
Odessa, Texas
By Alexis Guenier
"There died a myriad
And of the best, among them,
For an old bitch gone in the teeth,
For a botched civilisation".
So goes Ezra Pound’s poem Hugh Selwyn Mauberlay, a poem army veteran Steven Ortiz liked so much he made it his screen name. From what has thus far been gathered from his writings and activities since getting back from Afghanistan in 2016, Ortiz was searching for either meaning or community, or whatever passed for either online, but when he died screaming in a van outside Odessa, showering those who gave him a ride in blood and brain matter, he was definitely running from something.
H-Cell knows a few things. They know Ortiz went to visit two online friends in Globe, Arizona. They know they were called Zonnenrand and SHIELD MAIDEN. They know they talked about a ritual. They know Ortiz brought an armalite that saw action in Vietnam. They know he didn’t leave with it. They know something scared Ortiz real bad and that he was desperately trying to get back home to Birmingham. They know he didn’t make it far.
And they know that “Zonnenrand” just saw Ortiz’s telegram account come back online, and that he’s hoping his friend is okay.
Saturday, April 6, 2024 2:00 pm - 6:00 pm
Spoilers and Observations
So this scenario, No Love for the Lonely, typically takes 2 to 3 sessions to complete. I'm fairly pleased with that if I'm being honest.
This is where the real meat of the scenario begins and it's structured in such a way to provide a rare chance to get inside the heads of the antagonists, because they're young and their stories are sad, and utltimately they're being used for the amusement of others.
If I recall correctly, HAZEL and HELEN are able to masquerade as Steven Ortiz and are able to give assurances that he's fine. They aren't able to gather too much info, but they are able to learn that the three were planning something, and that he should "keep his eye on the news, we're gonna kick off a real firestorm. That scheduled youtube upload and emails were a fucking genius idea, dude."
Around this time they come to realize that the swastika carved into Ortiz, an ethnically hispanic man, was self scarrification that he did with his friends.
Speaking of bodies, HELEN accidentally intimidates the coroner who was joking about Ortiz having a military microchip in his brain that exploded into silence and he rules it a "death by misadventure." She only finds this out when one of the female gaurds at the county lockup, his sister, jokes about how she got her "chicken shit paranoid" brother to nearly shit his pants with that "men in black" shit. I can't quite remember what she said, but I interpreted it as a threat and then found out that HELEN's player genuinely didn't mean it as one.
Using a bit of forgery and unauthorized access to the medical examiner's computer system, they slate Ortiz's body for cremation before his parents can arrive to claim it. The story being spun about a stray rifle round from somewhere in the badlands along I22 barely holds up to scrutiny as is, a second autopsy would make it collapse.
They leave Captain Koller to see to cleaning up most of this mess while they begin preparations for investigating around Globe. They're able to get a likely residence for Zonnenrand and SHIELD MAIDEN. A little cabin off a canyon road outside of town belonging to one Peter DeVille, age 23. He's a licensed welder, mostly working seasonaly in the oil fields, but also runs a side business making metal sculptures. They're also able to ID his live in girlfriend SHIELD MAIDEN, as one Halina Esfahani, age 19.
The reveal of Hal being short for Halina and not something like Haley has been a twist that has always taken players by surprise much to my satisfaction.
They begin both physical surveillance of the couple, with HERMES hiking through the mountanous terrain to get a vantage point over the house, HELEN and HAZEL looking into their digital footprints, HOLDEN making contact with Arizona State Police, and HESTON posing as a potential buyer of some art.
HOLDEN is also working with HELEN and HAZEL to do a little "parallel construction" for an arrest warrant.
HELEN is able to find Halina Esfahani's old tumblr account, Princess-of-Hoth, dedicated to two things. Self harm and Columbine shooter fandom. She has a facebook she doesn't use. Most of it are messages from her parents wishing her happy birthday or holidays or sharing news about her older and younger sisters, all ignored. One of the comments on the last photo of herself she uploaded was from a classmate from her high school in Denver and simply reads "kill yourself."
HAZEL and HELEN reach out to her parents, I can't quite remember what cover they used but they found them very cooperative, and they also find an amazon package for Halina that was accidentally sent to this address. An anthology of bizarre and macabre essays called End Time Society published by Brutish Press of New York City.
HOLDEN is able to get a good feel for Peter DeVille, whose very excited to talk about his art. He's able to tell there's a hesitency there as well, an anxiety. He's willing to just give the statues away, says he'll be out of town for a long trip soon. HOLDEN is able to get a little more out of him, and DeVille seems almost desperate to talk about himself. He used to resent his mother for walking out on him as a kid and leaving him to his father, but as he's gotten older he realizes she didn't have much choice. His old man would have probably killed her eventually. When asked if that's what inspired his art, he responds that it's more to do with him picking up the first trade he could, welding, so he could get the hell out of there. He lifts his sleeves to reveal many old cigarette burns "guess the old men taught me that you can accomplish a lot when you've got a fire lit under your ass."
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