• LookIntoMyEyes

Look into my eyes, look into my eyes, the eyes, the eyes, not around the eyes, don't look around my eyes, look into my eyes...

guest starring Christopher Walken as MrFlanagan

Saturday, 28th February 1931

A hypnotist is in town (RexWilliams aka the GreatHypno). He's astonishingly good, getting audience members to do all manner of things on stage. He's building up a great reputation, and is here for the whole week.

In parallel, there have been a large set of unexplained thefts. Coincidence?

Benny and Hayes smelt a rat immediately and started investigating Rex. They went along to his dressing room at the theatre, looking for clues. Nothing obvious to be found apart from a contract that Rex is working on - looks like he might be about to make it big on Broadway. Hayes took an impression of Hypno's hotel room key for later use.

Lisa, Rebecca, Stanley, Ambrose and Fillyp went to see the show. With Lisa's influence they got front-row seats and had a great view of the show. Hypno picked out volunteers from the audience, including Fillyp and Lisa. Everybody went under on stage, almost immediately, including the two PCs. Fairly normal type of hypnosis show in terms of silly antics. Fillyp showed himself to be a great ballet dancer. Then, Hypno started convincing Lisa to do a "burlesque" dance. This panicked Rebecca, and she yelled "Fire" in the crowded theatre. Evacuation, and escape back to 122...!

Sunday, 1st March 1931

Next morning, the front pages carried a story of a hoax fire at the theatre. Much discussion at 122. Looking through local newspapers around the region, it appeared that a crime spree had been following Hypno, with similar reports of thefts from Providence.

That night, Lisa was determined to go along to the show again. This time, the theatre staff were more awake and she was led to a private box along with Ambrose and Stanley. Despite her best attempts to volunteer again, the spotlights didn't seem to be able to find her and she was ignored by Hypno. Instead, the PCs got to see an excellent hypnosis show: lots of funny stunts and silly acts.

Meanwhile, Benny, Hayes and Fillyp went and visited Hypno's hotel room. Using their fake key, they easily gained access and had a look around. They quickly found a large stash of jewellery and other valuables, possibly matching the missing stuff from Providence and elsewhere. They picked up a few pieces and put them in an envelope with a note explaining where they were found, ready to drop with the police. They headed back to 122 again, via the station to leave the parcel for OfficerDown.

Monday, 2nd March 1931

Rebecca did some research on Hypno via contacts in NewYork. She found that he was represented by an agency in NewOrleans, and had come to prominence in the last few months. She couldn't get hold of the agency, but Hypno clearly had made a big name for himself and was booked up for a long run on Broadway.

More looking through old papers showed another worrying pattern: as well as thefts, it seemed that there were also unexplained deaths. Old, dessicated corpses were turning up about a week after Hypno left each town! Benny and co. contacted OfficerDown at the station, but he couldn't do much without real and legal evidence. If they could help catch him in the act, things might be better.

Ambrose appeared at lunchtime with a pile of books from the university on voodoo and hypnosis.

Back to the theatre!

Ambrose and Stanley went to the show again, but were separated as it was nearly sold out. Ambrose was near the front, but Stanley was up in the balcony area. Once into the show, Ambrose was selected as a volunteer and was put under on stage. He saw a pendant around Hypno's neck flash just as he blacked out. Hypno went through his normal routine. Backstage, Benny, Rebecca and Lisa went through his room again but found nothing. After the show, Hypno told his volunteers to join him backstage and he went back to his dressing room with them "for a special autograph session". Benny and Lisa hid quickly, but Rebecca failed. She managed to convince Hypno that she was a local publicity photographer. Hypno got her to take some shots of him and the volunteers, then hypnotised them all. He gave them all instructions to go home, find all their most valuable possessions and bring them to a dumpster behind one of the city centre shops. Then they were to go home and forget all about everything.

Thankfully, Benny and Lisa were over-hearing all these instructions from outside the room. As the victims left, they quickly grabbed Rebecca and Ambrose and restrained them. Instead of going home, Benny arranged for the two of them to spend the night in the asylum under observation.

With the two entranced PCs locked up for the night, Benny and Stanley went to stake out the dumpster in town. They watched the other audience volunteers turn up to the site one by one, leaving valuables. Unfortunately, Hypno did not turn up to collect; instead another victim showed up to gather the loot. When OfficerDown showed up on cue, the entranced tramp woke up and had no memory of anything. Damn!

Ambrose and Rebecca had an interesting night in the asylum, counting bricks etc. and trying to assess their value.

Lisa was able to find, in the books on voodoo, a reference to the use of magical amulets and jewelry in hypnosis.

Tuesday, 3rd March 1931

Next morning, the group met up again at the asylum and resolved to go and confront Hypno at his hotel. They found him and quickly overpowered him, despite his best efforts to hypnotise them. When wrapped in a rug, he was easy to control. Then on to one of Benny's secret warehouses in the north of the city for the finale.

As they threatened Hypno to get him to explain his story, the pendant round his neck came free and the PCs started to feel drawn to it. As a couple of them reached to take it, Rebecca stamped on it hard with her stiletto and broke it. As it shattered, Hypno started to age visibly in front of them and then turned to dust. People were free of its spell, but it had still drained energy from people all over.