The Descent - The Statements of Gwen Baines

[Grognardsw]

The time is the roaring Twenties. The Great War is a faded memory, America is in ascendancy, Wall Street is pumping greenbacks, hepcats and flappers are dancing to that new Jazz, and Prohibition is vainly trying to halt the hooch. But beneath this gilded surface are grim undercurrents of crime, disturbing discoveries and dark secrets.



August 10, 1925, 7:50 am
Boston, Massachusetts
Apartment of Federal Agent Gwen Baines



Baines spreads out the photographs there on the bed.

All 15 are without heads or hands, torsos sculpted like those garnish vegetables at the fancier restaurants, carved into roses; the separate layers of skin, fat and muscle peeled back in triangular flaps into flowers of meat.

Police pulled in a 22-year-old bookshop clerk from Providence whose brother-in-law had found 12 human hands individually wrapped in the freezer and summoned the bureau. That's a lot of fingers pointing at the guilty party. He's being brought into the Boston branch for questioning by you today.

Then a wrinkle. A wino was picked up for vagrancy who, as it turned out, was carrying three heads in a Macy's bag.

It was assumed at first this was just some copycat thing, but it turned out that all the murder details have been kept from the papers. Neither man is likely to know the other. It's all some unlikely coincidence?

Gwen Baines is suppose to find out. Miller* wants Baines in this for a reason. He says Baines has "abstract patterning skills" so he gets the weird jobs. A scientist friend calls it "anomaly theory." Analyzing the evidence, carefully winnowing out the most troublesome details, obscure little fragments that don't fit and are often overlooked.

The knock at the door almost startles the contemplative Baines.

*Bruce Miller, Baines older Bureau mentor and friend, referenced in Baine's character history.
Words in post mostly from Alan Moore.

[thesniperknight1]

Baines takes an extra second to look at the photographs before answering. The shock of whats in them gave his heart quite a stir, he have seen quite a lot of crimes over the years but this one takes the prize for most disturbing, yet he can't help but feel curious, what sort of a man would do something so horrendous? He had a hunch that it was neither of the two suspects but he could only confirm it when he meets them, someone who would do something like that wouldn't be caught this easily but then again everyone makes a mistake at some point, he has killed 15 and covered his tracks very well, he had a view of the murderer as an intelligent psychotic man who had some sort of a message

But what is his massage? Turning the human torso into a flower while throwing everything else away.....blossoming, he thought, interesting. Before he even knew it, there was a grin on his face but he quickly collected himself and answered, "The door is open, come in". He sat next to the photographs and lit up a cigarette.

[Grognardsw]

August 10, 8:30 am
Boston, MA
Bureau of Investigation, Interrogation Room

Baines' colleague Ezekial Smith walks in. Ezy is a chain smoking fundamentalist Christian, who Baines thinks may be homosexual. Anomaly theory again.

"Ready to go?" he asks.

The agents drive a 1924 Ford Model T Touring over to the BOI office downtown on Stuart Street. The 20-year-old suspect is Timothy Carver. Baines resists commenting on the surname.

"His place in Providence was checked by police," says Ezy. "Body parts in the cellar. Nothing otherwise obviously incriminating in the apartment, but you may want to give it your type of scouring. Roommate is away in Baltimore, expected back tomorrow. We'll question him then. Carver's boss at the bookstore should probably be questioned as well. Looks like you'll be taking a drive down to Providence."

Carver has a lost look in his eyes as he sits at the interrogation table. He's 5'10" with black unkempt hair, brown eyes, wire-rim glasses, mustache, wrinkled clothes and body odor.



He looks up at you and smiles.

Let the questioning begin.

[thesniperknight1]

Baines looked up at Ezy, "People usually start by saying good morning and how do you do. But yes, I am as ready as I can ever be", he gave him a dry smile while collecting the photographs of the bed and stuffing them into his pocket. As he left, he offered the good agent a ciggy for his troubles.

"His place in Providence was checked by police," says Ezy. "Body parts in the cellar. Nothing otherwise obviously incriminating in the apartment, but you may want to give it your type of scouring. Roommate is away in Baltimore, expected back tomorrow. We'll question him then. Carver's boss at the bookstore should probably be questioned as well. Looks like you'll be taking a drive down to Providence."

"Looks like we have a lot to do, this will be a long day. Tell me, is there anything that connects the victims? Race? Gender?......Religion?", he said playfully looking at Ezy to try and poke the beast.

Baines looks at Carver with great care, as if searching for a lost treasure map in his facial expression, "Hello, Mr.Carver, I am agent Gwen Baines. I will be asking you a couple of questions today if you don't mind", Baines sat down opposite to Carver to maintain eye level contact to try and study his facial expression as his questions are made.

"Do you like flowers Mr.Carver? The symbol of beauty in this world, obviously everyone likes them. But they symbolise something else, change, salvation, freedom........blossoming. It's beautiful, isn't it? The moment when a flower blossoms, the transformation from nothing into something of wonder. It's almost magical, isn't it Mr.Carver? I understand, you didn't mean to hurt anyone, you were only setting them free, guiding them to salvation", Baines stood up and moved behind Carver before taking out one of the pictures from the crime scene and throwing it on the table for hime to see, "It's quite impressive, you have precise hands and quite a lot of them I hear. What did you do with the rest of the bodies Mr.CARVER?", he payed great detail at observing his body language and facial expressions.

Psychology: [1d100] = 95
A success rate of 55%, 45 to hit

[Grognardsw]

Bureau of Investigation Agent Gwen Baines chats with Ezy before the interrogation of the suspect.

"Identifying the victims has been tough given the missing heads," says Ezy. He takes a drag on a cigarette. "But we're cross-referencing with missing person reports. We have three heads now from the wino. The hands don't help too much. Hopefully this kid will spill the beans on who. More than half of the victims were women. Found mostly in Providence, Boston and Baltimore. Only four victims had a definite connection: they were a family - a grandma, mother, father and nine-year-old daughter. Only the son survived. He is still in shock at and being held at Arkham Sanitarium, which recently opened a pediatric ward. Among the other victims, no clue on connections among them at this point."



Baines introduces himself to Timothy Carver. The 20-year-old is calm, with a certain detached glare.

"Ah flowers," Carver whispers in answer to Baines. "And the flowers she sent and the flowers she said she sent, are all equally dead. You don't care anymore, she said. And the books she read and the books that she said she read, are all spread on the floor. You don't care about them anymore."

"Where are the bodies?" demands Baines.

"I know what you're getting around to, and I'm already there h'rrnhai," Carver says quixotically. "Mystery and misery can sometimes be a call to action. Even a source of passion - ia g'htep y'rnthlai?"

"I freed six," Carver says. He nonchalantly gives their names, circumstances, and locations of disposal. The locales match. Carver insists he'd only done six. That will bear some confirmation.

Baines consults the notes about the wino with three head's in a Macy's bag. That guy is down the hall waiting for interrogation. If Carver did six, and the wino three, that leaves six unattributed victims.

"Who did those?" murmurs Ezy to Baines afterwards. The agents look at their notes. On the 'to-do'check list is Carver's apartment, interviews with his book store boss and the returning roommate; the wino; and the surviving son of the murdered family.

[thesniperknight1]

Baines was quite surprised that he got a full admittance without any struggle, Carver was too calm and detached, almost like he wasn't really there, an empty vessel of a man who used to be but no more. He felt uneasy, Carver was clearly influenced by someone or something, it's probably the same thing with the wino. Who could manipulate people with such detail? Almost completely brainwash them. He only admitted to 6 bodies and he didn't have a reason to lie, he wasn't even in the right mindset to lie.....there are more of them out there, his hunch told him and his hunches were almost always right. Baines's hands were trembling with excitement and fear simultaneously, his curiosity was getting the bette of him.

"We need to send someone to inform the family of the identified bodies immediately, they have suffered for too long", said Baines to Ezy with what looked like a sad expression on his face.

"Who did those?" murmured Ezy.

Baines sighed, "I am afraid that means there are more Carvers out there, and worse is that means there is a carver maker somewhere, and that is bad. Well, lets get a wiggle on, we can't waste time", Baines gave Ezy a quick pat on the shoulder and led the way, "Let's finish up with Carver before moving on to anything else, how about we check his apartment and question the roommate first?"

[Grognardsw]

“Alright, we can contact the family after checking Timothy Carver’s apartment. His roommate gets back tomorrow,” agrees Ezy to Baine’s suggestion.

The BOI agents drive down to Carver’s apartment. He lives in a cheap apartment block on Tanner Street in West Providence. Two run-down buildings face each other, clothes lines strung between them.



Baines and Ezy park the car a street over, walk up to the third floor. A rat crosses their path and scampers into the wall. The door to apartment 3F is closed and locked, a police “Do Not Enter” sign posted. Ezy has the key. The agents walk in.

The apartment is a three-bedroom affair, a bedroom for Carver and one for his roommate Robert Angell, and a third devoted to books and art. Easels compete with books for space. The art must be Angell's. There is a living room connecting the bedrooms, a kitchen and one bathroom. The place is run-down, messy and has a strange smell of body odor and perhaps foreign food.

Baines starts searching the room.

Please roll Spot Hidden. Describing your search will add a bonus to the roll.

[thesniperknight1]

"Shall we start?" Baines asked Ezy rhetorically as he was putting on a pair of gloves. He started searching the place for anything out of order and for the weapon (if it hasn't been found), searching in places where people dispose of things or hide them like in trash cans or garbage chutes, behind the drawers, under beds, mattresses, fridges and sofas or in closets where the term "Skeletons in the closet" can be literal in this occasion. He didn't left a stone unturned including the roommate's room, following his motto "Under suspicion until proved innocent". He paid attention not only to what is hidden but also to what is shown, for that can tell you a lot about someone, and knowing who carver was and how he turned to what he is now is important (use psychology here).

The smell from the kitchen was unpleasant, but more than that it was alarming. It didn't smell of food gone bad, it didn't smell of what he perceived as food. He approached the kitchen carefully with an ominous feeling in his gut and took a look around. He tried to use whatever small expertise of food and cooking he possessed to determine what he sees and smells in front of him. He examined the texture, the feel and even the taste, though he was hesitant at first but he knew it must be done.

When he reached the book and art room, his senses started tingling. Bad vibes were off the chart to the point where he forgot to breathe for a second. He knew that whatever he was looking for was probably here somewhere. He stared at the roommate's art half intrigued, he never really understood "art". He understood its emotional and spiritual value but he rarely connects to a painting, but nevertheless he looked at the art as if it were evidence for some reason. When he got to the bookcase, he felt his chest tightening a little bit. He spent a lot of time searching through them for a hidden item, but slowly he became more interested in the books themselves. Searching for a pattern or an out of order book, desperately going through them as his gut feeling begged him to stop, but he didn't listen for once.

He then went back to Ezy, "Found anything interesting?"

.Psychology (55%): [1d100] = 29
Spot Hidden (25%): [1d100] = 55
Cooking (15%): [1d100] = 85

[Grognardsw]

August 10, 1925, 4:10 pm
Providence, Rhode Island
Apartment of Timothy Carver, serial killer
Federal Agents Gwen Baines and Ezekiel Smith

Baines and Ezy give the apartment a good going over. The place epitomizes the “starving artist” flat. The furniture is second-hand, the beds unkempt, the place dusty, the kitchen filled with unwashed dishes and scattering cockroaches. It seems Carver and his roommate spent what little money they have on their passions: books, easels and art supplies, and a battered Victor Victrola phonograph player and collection of records. The music is mostly classical, but there are a few recordings from jazz bands Hepcats of Ulthar and the Beats of Leng. There are receipts from a Zann’s Music Shop among the records.

Among the books are history, macabre and fantastical fiction from the likes of Poe, Machen, Dunsany, and pulp magazines such as Weird Tales and Argosy.

Tucked into one of the books, serving as a bookmark, is a ticket to Club Zothique in Providence. Several notebooks lie scattered about containing short stories that appear to be written by Carver. Half of the writing is gibberish – does Carver have a writing disorder?

Ezy points out a stained cocktail napkin from Club Zothique with a name written on it – ‘Carcosa.’ The artwork seems to be drawn by Carver’s roommate, who the investigators determine from mail lying about is Robert Angell. Mr. Angell is due back tomorrow. It looks like Angell is a student at the Rhode Island School of Design. The artwork seems related to classes – there are still-lifes, landscapes, abstracts. His cramped studio room is a mess.

Baines surveys these details, trying to draw abstract patterns, connect fragments and anomalies which together may yield connections or suggestive hints. A jigsaw puzzle of a murderer’s mind, with not many pieces to work with. He considers other avenues yet to explore: interviewing roommate Robert Angell, Carver’s employer Reginald Wilkins, the wino back in Boston, and any leads from the apartment here that may be worth following up.

- Good post there sniperknight.
- Feel free to use The Investigators Notebook thread to keep track of stuff in an informal out-of-character manner, should you feel the clues or story necessitate it.
- If you see words highlighted, it’s linked to a page about a given subject. For example, Weird Tales
- Inspiration and more in this post from Alan Moore.

[thesniperknight1]

Baines remembers that Carver was speaking gibberish at the interrogation too, so out of precaution he collected all the half written gibberish and put it in a bag as evidence. He stared at the ticket from the club and instantly felt it. "You had to go there", his gut proclaimed almost arrogantly. He tucked it in his pocket and went to meet Ezy.

Ezy points out a stained cocktail napkin from Club Zothique with a name written on it – ‘Carcosa.’

"Carcosa......where did I hear this before? Anyway, we need to find this Carcosa and Club Zothique seems to be calling to us", He showed him the ticket, "I think Club Zothique just jumped to the top of our list and the roomate ain't coming 'till tomorrow, waddya say? I hear you are a real oliver twist", Baines did what he perceived to be a friendly laugh but somehow it didn't suit him.

[Grognardsw]

“Uh, Carosa, right…” Ezy says, flipping through his notebook. “No past mentions of a Carcosa. Yeah the roommate Robert Angell is tomorrow. Sure let’s go over to this club. Maybe we can get something to eat before. I’m no fancy feet on the dance floor. You won’t see the Charleston from me.” He smiles. “How about you?”

The Bureau of Investigation agents collect their evidence, bagging Carver’s notebooks and club ticket. They stop off at Leng’s Chinese food for a quick dinner; the place has creative preparation of squid and other sea foods, though the agents opt for traditional dishes. Then they drive over to Clinton Street. The neighborhood goes south quickly.


Club Zothique, a juice-and-jazz joint, is nestled among a tangle of streets. It’s a warm night and there are many out and about: boozehounds, college-boys from Brown with their flappers, well-to-dos out to see what all this jazz is about, arrogant Italians, negroes and bohunks. All looking to get a belt on and have a swell time. The Club occupies an old meeting hall space next to a fenced graveyard.

It’s still early so inside the front room is mostly empty. Baines looks around.


A jazz band is tuning their instruments in one of the back rooms. A waitress is cleaning up tables. Several tables are taken with local neighborhood folks, smoking and drinking. Besides the front room, there are three public back rooms. One is a primarily a dance floor with a band stage. The other two are bars with counter, table and booth seating. There are several doors out of each room.

[thesniperknight1]

"My idea of dancing is quite different from most people. I think that dancing should only be done by two people who are madly in love with each other and that shows when you dance. You can tell when two people dance with each other if they are in love, It's quite a beautiful sight. I used to be quite the floor flusher but not anymore", his eyes showed sadness for a moment but he quickly shook it off, "Let's go, I am starving".



Baines grabs a chair and sits as he is taking out a cigarette and lighting it up and offering Ezy one as well. He then calls for the waitress, "Excuse me, could you by any chance bring us two glasses of water", he smiles gently. As he waits for the waitress to come back, he takes a second look around the club but paying more attention to his surroundings and looking for the reason why carver frequented this place rather than another. He looked at each individual that occupied the club, especially the band. Baines believed that music was so very emotionally moving that it can be a motive to kill, although his theory lacks evidence of such incidents where music lead to death, he believed it nonetheless. Baines blows a bit of smoke, "Keep an eye on the band, tell me if they do anything suspicious", he whispers to Ezy as the waitress approaches.

As she puts down the glasses and turns to leave, "Sorry Miss, Can I ask you something?", he put out his smoke and flashed his badge in a blatant way so that most of the people in the club see it, "Do you know of a Mister of perhaps a Miss Carcosa?", his voice was loud enough so that everyone would hear him but not loud enough to show that he was trying to attract attention to himself. With Ezy watching the band, Baines was concentrating on watching everyone else in the room including the waitress, searching for the slightest of uneasiness or fear in their faces other than the conventional fear of the badge.

.Psychology (55%): [1d100] = 80 I feel like I am using it too much
Spot Hidden (25%): [1d100] = 63

[Grognardsw]

August 10, 1925, 6:00 pm
Providence, Rhode Island
Club Zothique
Federal Agents Gwen Baines and Ezekiel Smith

Ezy raises an eyebrow at Baines' dancing philosophy and allusion to a lost love.

While waiting for their glasses of water, Baines looks around the club. It is early so the joint is far from hopping. It's hard to tell why Carver may frequent the place from its physical characteristics alone. It's not a high-class club, but neither is it a dive. He can see a little of the band in the next room, tuning instruments, jawing, joking amongst themselves. Two whites, two blacks and an ebony crooner with exotic tattoos - most unusual - indiscernible from Baines' table. Probably due to go on in a few hours.

Ezy excuses himself to go the bathroom and Baines sees him walk through the other rooms.

The waitress brings the waters. She doesn't respond well to the badge. Baines sees the shift in eyes, an almost imperceptible flinch of facial muscles. "I ain't heard of no Carmosa," she answers. The few customers near enough to Baines' table glance over at him when he announces himself aloud.

Ezy returns to the table and says quietly, "Not much going on. Too early. We'd get more information later." He looks around at the customers staring at them. "And under cover."

[thesniperknight1]

Baines regretted using his Badge too early in an attempt to flash out any suspicious characters. "Well, sorry to bother you miss", he said to the waitress giving her his best smile. He put 50 cents on the table and left the club with Ezy.

"I guess we can come back later tonight, I think that waitress was winking at you", he said joking to try and hide his shame of blowing it. He lit up another cigarette, "Where do you think we should we go now? Interview the wino with the three heads or a nice visit to the bookstore?".

[Grognardsw]

"The wino is back in the Boston office, so we'll have to get to him tomorrow after talking with Carver's roommate," says Ezy.


Agent Ezekiel Smith

"We could try the bookstore, but it's probably closed. If it is we'll cool our heels at the Providence office and go back out to the club tonight?"

[thesniperknight1]

Baines sighs as he blows a bit of smoke, still reeling in the disappointment from his foolish attempt. "I see no way around it, we have to cool off back at the office. Maybe that will give us the opportunity to check Carver's gibberish notes in more detail".

Once they were back at the office, Baines takes a cup a coffee to give himself an extra boost in his journey of understanding Carver's mind. He pulls out the notes and lays them on the table, cracking his hands and neck as he starts to go through them. Half of them seemed like gibberish and the other half was readable. He started comparing the notes to each other, looking for repeated words or phrases hidden within the texts even if it was gibberish, something that would bring him a step closer to understanding why he did it or at least understand his mindset better. Endless patterns that both interested and bore him at the same time. Here he is once again trying to decipher the words of a madman, he couldn't help but chuckle every once in a while at his repeated situation.

Linguist (00%): [1d100] = 96 So close, yet so far
Other Language (01%): [1d100] = 61
Psychoanalysis (01%): [1d100] = 44
Spot Hidden (25%): [1d100] = 35

[Grognardsw]

Sipping coffee in the Providence BOI office, Agent Gwen Baines peruses the notebooks of Timothy Carver. The man is clearly cracked, but his writing shows some talent. The older notebooks contain complete short stories, stuff you'd see in Argosy or Blue Book magazines. Contemporary yarns with melodrama and a touch of action and romance. Later Carver writes more adventurous tales of explorers. Then the pieces get more surreal, darker, at points seeming to describe dreams more than reality. He slips in and out of gibberish. Baines is no linguist, but he's fairly sure its no major language. Is it a code, cipher, language disorder? Ezy glances at the words too. "It's all Greek to me," he mutters.

In one story - are they even stories this gibberish? - Baines spots a disturbing doodling:



Clearly it will take someone with linguistic training to learn more. There are various receipts in the notebooks, serving as bookmarks: Charter's Bookstore (Carver's place of employ), Club Zothique, Zann's Music Shop, Leng's Chinese Food Emporium, the Shunned House in New York City, and an open ticket for a ship to Amsterdam.

[thesniperknight1]

Baines saw the gradual change in Carver in his notes, the change from a man with an ambitious dream of being a writer to a madman who chops heads and hands. But that only made his curiosity grow bigger, what changed him became almost an infatuation to Baines, he yearned to unravel the mystery. He hears Ezy's comment and replies under his breath, "The whole world is greek to you Ezy".

When he noticed the doodle his heart stopped for a moment. A head and a hand, nothing else. He then was certain that these notes hold the key to Carver's sudden change, but he needed some help from an expert. He looked at his clock and remembered that the library was closed. He sighed and lit up a cigarette putting one leg over the other over the desk and holding the notes. He shuffled through them again then he noticed the bookmarks. He looked at the clock again and realised that it was still too early to go back to the club, so he stares at the other bookmarks. He contemplates why Carver has a ticket for Amsterdam but he quickly gets it out of his mind and New York is too far away to drive now.

He glances to Ezy, "Say Ezy, do you know a", he looked back at the receipts, "Zann's Music Shop or Chinese Food Emporium? How about we check it out since we got time, and even if we come out empty at least we will eat something, I am still not full. How about you?"

[Grognardsw]

Baines contemplates the information he has gained, trying to connect the dots. Carver has yielded some interesting leads, but the BOI agent still doesn’t see any relationship to the wino and his three heads, or the other unknown murderer. Baines and Ezy chat. The partner brings up again the four victims who had a definite connection: they were a family in Cambridge, Massachusetts - a grandma, mother, father and nine-year-old daughter. Only the son survived. He is still in shock at and being held at Arkham Sanitarium, which recently opened a pediatric ward. “Carver copped to six murders. The details weren’t in the paper. How could it be a copy-cat murder?”

To Baines’ suggestion they visit Leng’s Chinese Food Emporium or Zann’s Music Shop, Ezy says, “We know the restaurant is still open.”

The agents drive over to Leng’s.

“Welcome,” says the maître-de, bowing to Baines and Ezy. “Back again so soon?”

[thesniperknight1]

"It is impossible that it was just a coincidence that three different murderers simultaneously had the same idea to kill in the same way, and it sure isn't a copycat, the higher ups are keeping a tight seal on the whole thing. 'Once you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains, no matter how improbable, must be the truth' , we just need to find our improbable".

Baines felt horrible for the surviving kid, for a moment he wondered if it would have been better if....he shook his head to clear his thoughts. "Can we squeeze the little kid in our schedule before we go back to the club? He might give us a clue on the other killer".

Baines nudged Ezy before going in and whispered "Go with me on this". Baines went in with a smile, "Hello there", he said chiperly, "we are back for a different reason this time. We are from the Arkham House and we would like you to cater for our surprise party. The guest of honour is Timothy Carver, he came to us with a striking novel and we thought a surprise party would be the best way to celebrate our newest author. I am sure you know of him, we heard he came here often and that is why we came earlier today to see for ourselves and we were quite impressed, weren't we?", he looked at Ezy expectedly, "and if this goes smoothly we might need you for other affairs as well", he said to tempt him, "We just need a few notes on what sort of food did he eat? Did he have a favourite drink? that sort of thing, oh, and if you can tell me who was he meeting with, that would be great. I tell you It is hard to find this guy's friends, he is a bit of an odd bird but then again most of them authors are", he chuckled.

Persuade (50%): [1d100] = 66