The Many Deaths of Edward Biggby by Adam Gauntlett
Thaza smiled. “Everyone’s in one place. This will be like two birds and one stone.”
“Actually,” Zelda corrected, “ it might be one stone, but there are six birds. And the gang.”
Swinging Soho, the heart of Bohemian London.
The Ziegler Security Services team (Zelda Saeki, Rafe Lancaster, Thaza O'Rourke and newcomer Johannes "Million Dollar” Mahler) are at the best booth of the hotel restaurant when a client comes in.
“Praise be to Her!” he says, “I didn’t think I’d reach you in time. Danforth said you’d be able to help me, but I think he’s close on my trail. You see--”
At that point his head burst into flame.
You see, Edward Biggby has a problem. His roommate, the scurrilous Norton Pickett, chased him through a cursed door. They both think that the door teleports you to the place currently written on it. Actually, it substantiates a copy of you, at
any place
ever written on it.
So for Pickett, exploding Biggby’s face in a hotel is just the first step.
***
The investigation starts off fine. Thaza’s adroit at negotiating the criminal underworld, effortlessly getting meetings with (and clarity from) London's pushers and shakers. Rafe is less lucky… When he's found snooping through Biggby's apartment, he exits unwittingly through the cursed door.
The real weirdness kicked off when the players were arrested. It turns out an unidentified man was murdered on a bus, with their contact information in his pocket. But it was the same dead man who approached them at the hotel. Rafael summoned his company's best lawyers, and used his one phone call to check back in with his mentee at the hotel.
“Not funny, Rafe!”, said Devika. “Calling me from the other room. This is no time to prank me, I'm trying to plan JP and Semya’s wedding!”
Strange. Thaza sneaked into the hotel, where she saw another Rafe headed through the lobby. When the two millionaires met, they vanished ghost-like into the ether!
This led to a ludicrous sequence where the group had to keep untrusting Rafes hidden from the hotel and separate from each other. At one point, Mahler cold cocked the millionaire on the curb and left him in the laundry room.
The case continued, with the players moving to another hotel. It turned out the clones, without care, would melt after seven hours! But if Pickett killed the original Biggby, not only would they lose a client, they could have dozens of eldritch wizards on the loose.
After exchanging notes with Maja Małgorzo and Dave (Thaza’s rivals / members of the League of Nations police force), they found Pickett. He had cozied up to Nip Tucker, a West Indies dope pusher, promising to use the doors for immense profit.
Thaza, ever an opportunist, fomented a gang war. With her infiltration skills, and a few crates of "stolen" Lancaster Industries rifles, it was easy to even things up.
Turns out the criminal underground was literally underground. Tucker was using an abandoned subway tunnel to stash Pickett. As the gangs opened fire nearby, the group tangled with the sorcerer.
Mahler, filled with willpower, fought with an eldritch monstrosity, a creature that seemed to dance between reality and imagination. Zelda and Rafe provided covering fire. But Thaza had a plan. For the first time, she would use her thievery to lock a door. Despite mystic opposition, she jumped, scrambled and rolled through the station and barred the door to any invading monstrosities!
Despite Norton reinforcing himself, the tide of battle turned our heroes’ way. Mahler realized that he didn't have to defeat the creature… he just needed to knock out its summoner. And as long as they didn't kill Norton, his duplicates couldn't come close. The former middleweight champion took out the crook with a haymaker, and made sure to mangle his foe’s fingers, preventing future sorcery.
The gang had a choice of how to leave the scene: back through the gunfight, or along the tracks. They took the long way, arriving back at their hotel exhausted. Devi, having finally finished her wedding planning, told them that they had a new client who wanted to talk to them.
“Praise be to Her!” he says, “I didn’t think I’d reach you in time. Danforth said you’d be able to help me, but I think he’s close on my trail. You see–
Rafe cut him off. Turns out the original Biggby had teleported a day’s travel from town and had just arrived at the right hotel! How’d they solve his case before he told’em?
Biggby #1:
