The Boneless Killings

System: D&D 5.5e
Level: 1
Setting: Chateauclair – The Undercity
Style: Investigation, Horror, Character Roleplay, Mystery
Play Style: 4D Roleplaying

Three weeks ago, barber Maretti was found dead beside a drainage culvert in the Dock Ward.

His head was missing.

So was his spine.

The city whispered about gangs, smugglers, and old grudges.

Then Harvan , an ethnologue and librarian, was found hanging from a dead willow in the Merchant Quarter.

Her head was missing.

So was her spine.

Now seventeen-year-old Lauren Harrowgate has disappeared.

The people of the Merchant Quarter fear they already know what comes next.

The Chateauclair Guard is overwhelmed. The city is frightened. Rumours spread faster than facts.

By order of the Guard, and at the insistence of your VeMico handler, Maas, your characters have been attached to a local guard unit as civilian consultants to assist with the investigation.

You are not heroes.

You are not chosen ones.

You are not powerful adventurers.

You are ordinary people attempting to solve a murder before another victim is taken.

The investigation will lead through crowded markets, forgotten archives, dockside taverns, flooded underways, and the hidden history of Chateauclair itself. The deeper you dig, the more you will discover that the victims may have shared something far more dangerous than friendship.

Someone—or something—is collecting more than bones.

What To Expect

• Investigation-focused play
• Heavy roleplaying and social encounters
• Urban horror
• Limited combat
• Moral ambiguity
• Secrets hidden beneath the city
• A strong emphasis on staying in character

4D Play Expectations

This game will use the 4D methodology.

Players are encouraged to:

• Speak in character whenever possible
• Make decisions based on what their characters know
• Avoid out-of-character planning and metagaming
• Treat the world and its inhabitants as real
• Follow leads through conversation, observation, and deduction

The goal is not to “win” the mystery.

The goal is to experience what it feels like to be drawn into it.

Somewhere beneath Chateauclair, Lauren Harrowgate is still alive.

Probably.