#casex

– Missing Metamorphmagus in Milwaukee

CASE LEVEL: Three

POINTS REQUIRED: Four Hundred Fifty 

OVERVIEW:

Two weeks ago a nineteen year old Metamorphmagus named Xander Cain was reported missing from New York City. Their mother reported them missing after not hearing from them for six days, telling local aurors that it wasn’t strange for Xander to forget to contact her for days at a time, but that that when she checked in with their roommates it became clear that Xander hadn’t come home for many days, leaving all of their belongings in their room. Xander’s roommates informed their mother that Xander had recently fallen in with a bad crowd, having joined a group of several other Metamorphmagi who were reportedly involved in some kind of organised crime ring.

The New York Auror Division has been investigating the missing persons case for the last two weeks, but there have been few leads that could point them in the direction of Xander. Two days ago, someone matching Xander’s description was spotted in Milwaukee at a club frequented by Metamorphmagi and a known hot-spot for smugglers and other low-grade criminals. Their roommate confirmed their identity based on a white ink tattoo of a snake on their arm, which the roommate said does not change when they metamorph themself. After their identity was confirmed the case was passed up to MACUSA and to the Central Squad. An auror from the New York Division will be available throughout the case to assist with the investigation.

PERSONS OF INTEREST:

Arlo Branwell: The owner of a wixen club in Milwaukee called ‘Mimic’, Arlo is familiar with nearly every Metamorphmagus that comes through the area. If Xander came through the city, Arlo Branwell is likely to have noticed their presence or be aware of where they went next. 

Julián de la Cruz: an auror officer with the New York Division, de la Cruz has come along as a consultant on the case. An ambitious young auror from a prominent family, he is likely to be less than pleased with the case being taken over by Squad aurors and out of his hands. 

Addison Knight: A Metamorphmagus with a white serpent tattoo which ties them to the crime ring that Xander Cain may have been a part of. Addison is based out of Milwaukee and may know what’s going on with Xander. 

CHIEF’S NOTES:

Picking up a missing persons case already two weeks old puts us in an extremely precarious position. If Xander was in fact at this club, they could be in extreme danger if a smuggling ring got a hold of them. Please keep your telekits on you at all times, and let me know if you need anything. 

- Acting Chief Langer

CASE STATUS: TAKEN

– Sea Monster in South Padre Island 

CASE LEVEL: One

POINTS REQUIRED: One Hundred

OVERVIEW:

Reports have been flooding in during the last few weeks, from wixen kind and no-maj kind alike, of a sea monster plaguing the community of Padre Island. It appeared suddenly, and has made some kind of appearance every day since it first surfaced. One visiter told local aurors: “Yeah, it was like… a fish monster? Or a dragon monster? It was fucking awesome, dude!” Another woman, having overheard the former statement, later told the interviewer: “I don’t know, it looked kinda plastic to me.” 

The area has been flooded with new tourism and visitors since the cryptid first made itself known. Hundreds of people have arrived with the sole goal of seeing the beast for themself, as it swims through the idyllic waves. Many detractors and skeptics have stated that they believe the entire case is a hoax, and that the sea monster is likely a ploy to bring more people into the community. There are others, however, who believe its authenticity, and that they may have discovered a long vanished magical creature, or a new emerging species of sea-dwelling magical beast.

PERSONS OF INTEREST:

Nora Kang: A local tour guide, Nora has lived in the area for a long time. She’s been vocal about her skepticism regarding the authenticity of their new local cryptid. She’s been quoted by local aurors as saying: Honestly, I wish we could all just shut up about it.

Maureen Nikolson: An employee of the South Padre Island Historical Society, and the main guide for the societies series of historical tours around the island. A bitter rival of Nora Kang to the end, Maureen is a steadfast believer in whatever sea-creature has taken up residence in their friendly waters. 

Freddy Blair: An auror from the local division, and a self proclaimed cryptid specialist. Freddy is...exuberant, and extremely excited to work with MACUSA in tracking and studying a new kind of supernatural creature. 

Hampton Bradshaw: a Texas businessman and millionaire hotel magnate, Bradshaw has recently opened up a brand new luxury resort and hotel not far from where the majority of the sea monster sightings have happened.

CHIEF’S NOTES:

Okay, but what if it’s Nessie? And she just migrated? 

- Chief Ben Eames

Merlin, do I hate cryptid cases. The longer this thing goes unsolved the more chance we risk of having a breach to the Statute of Secrecy, so please be as vigilant as you can here. Rory has established the concealment of two authors of a website on “cryptozoology” which for some reason is a thing we keep running into now. If you need any assistance please let me know. 

- Deputy Chief Langer

CASE STATUS: TAKEN

– Mystery on Devil’s Island

CASE LEVEL: Two

POINTS REQUIRED: Two Hundred Fifty

OVERVIEW:

The Norbury and Downs: Breakfast and Murder Mystery Club is a social club that has been a part of the wixen upper class social scene since the early 1920′s. The club initially began as a way for upper crust members of society to meet casually, enjoy a well-cooked breakfast and bond over a shared love of murder mysteries. The club began as a twice a month Sunday morning social gathering, but over the decades it has evolved into a once a month weekend long affair, where club members will be thrown into the middle of a fictional mystery, and given roles to play, all for the aim of solving a mystery like some of their favorite literary sleuths. 

For the month of March, six lucky club members were invited to an old manor located on Devil’s Island, part of the Apostle Islands within Lake Superior. The eight members were thrown into an Agatha Christie style mystery, where each of them were given different roles to play belonging to someone who’d been invited to the manor by a mysterious wix named Mr. Nash. Some of these roles would be Nash’s estranged family members, others would be people he’d been acquainted with, such as old war buddies, or former flames. Upon arriving at the manor, the club members all shared a decadent dinner with their host, Mr. Nash, before retiring for the evening to each of their assigned rooms. 

At approximately 11:23pm that night, a man’s scream would ring out through the manor. After the club member’s searched the home, they quickly found Mr. Nash dead in his study, his letter opener stabbed through his back. Most club members saw the event as the official kick-off of that weekend’s murder mystery game, but upon further inspection the wixes realized to their horror, that Mr. Nash- or whoever he really was, was in fact quite dead. On the desk his body lay slumped over, the club members found a chilling note, reading, “ Hell is empty and all the devils are here. “ 

Due to the various wards on the islands, no wixes are allowed to leave it until Monday morning. MACUSA has been able to breach the wards to allow entry, and has chosen to send in two of its squad aurors in order to determine just what dark game is afoot on the island. 

PERSONS OF INTEREST:

Charles Quincy Loddington the IV: The current president of The Norbury and Downs: Breakfast and Murder Mystery Club, it is Charles’s claim that the gathering scheduled for that weekend had been organized precisely like any other done by the club. It is Mr. Loddington’s claim though, that Mr. Nash was never intended to die, and was rather hired to serve as the club members’ host as they solved the murder of a butler. 

“Mr. Nash”: An actor hired by the social club. Mr. Nash’s real name was Mark Verney, and he’d been working club gatherings for Mr. Loddington for the past seven years, filling in various roles during their murder mystery weekends. This was the first time Verney was hired to play the coveted role of “the host”. 

“Mx. Esmund”: The butler that was intended to “die” that weekend. Mx. Esmund was the manor’s butler, and portrayed by an actor by the name of Felix Chapman. Felix was not supposed to fake their death until the next morning though, when club members were supposed to find the actor’s murdered “corpse” in the foyer. According to Felix, this was the first time they ever worked for the elite social club, and they’d spent the majority of the evening in character, only talking to “Mr. Nash” as the wix’s butler. 

Social Club Members: There are six members of the social club still staying within the manor. All six of them are in concealments made for them to appear like their designated character. Some of these club members are convinced that Mr. Nash’s death is still part of that weekend’s festivities, and may approach the aurors as actors, rather than real life law enforcement. Other club members have grown frightened over that weekend’s very real events, and have closed themselves up in their rooms. 

CHIEF’S NOTES:

Oh I’ve been to one of these events before! They’re super fun!!

- Chief Ben Eames

Due to the fact some of the club members still believe themselves to be playing the game, you may run into some difficulty deal with them. Try to be as patient as you can, and see if there is any way to convince them of the very real crime that has occurred. I have been informed that your telekits should still work on the island, despite it’s heavy security wards. Please let me know if you need anything while you’re there. 

- Deputy Chief Langer

CASE STATUS: TAKEN

– The Black Lantern Murder

CASE LEVEL: Three

POINTS REQUIRED: Four Hundred

OVERVIEW:

The Black Lantern is a well known alchemical research group based out of Chicago, with branches spread throughout the United States. It is also a long suspected front for a dark artifacts smuggling ring, although MACUSA attempts to tie illegal activity to the Black Lantern as a whole have been unsuccessful. Until now. Taslima Gordon, the co-owner of a successful financial firm in Las Vegas, was in the city to meet with CEO Lian Wing Mock at the Black Lantern’s headquarters earlier this week. The two businesses have no known ties, but nothing about the scheduled meeting seemed unusual to outsiders. 

However, Gordon never showed up for the meeting. The next morning, housekeeping at the Foxglove Hotel found Taslima Gordon’s body in their room, with no signs of struggle, dead of an apparent killing curse. Soon after the news of Gordon’s death broke, aurors received a tip from Journey Wing Mock, Lian Wing Mock’s daughter, saying that her father had cancelled lunch with her the previous day due to a last minute meeting, which she believes must have had something to do with Gordon, as she never ended up seeing her father that day.

After an initial investigation, the case of Gordon’s apparent murder has been handed up to MACUSA, with the belief that the circumstances of their death might confirm illegal activity attached to the Black Lantern, and Lian Wing Mock. If concrete proof of a smuggling ring is found attached to the Black Lantern, a separate team will be sent in to begin to take them down.

PERSONS OF INTEREST:

Taslima Gordon: The victim, found in the Foxglove Hotel, an apparent death by killing curse cast with their own wand. It is unknown as of yet why Gordon was in Chicago for a meeting at the Black Lantern headquarters, but it seems likely they were there for off the record business.

Lian Wing Mock: CEO of the Black Lantern, and suspected leader of a dark artifacts smuggling ring, who has eluded aurors for years, without concrete proof of his involvement with illegal activities. He rarely makes public appearances, and his whereabouts are currently unknown.

Journey Wing Mock: Lian’s daughter, who reported the meeting her father had with Gordon. She is rumored to have been in training to take over as CEO for her father when he retires, up until a few months ago when she stepped away willingly. It is unclear how much she knows about the business.

Ransom Hazard: Journey’s ex-boyfriend. He is currently living in Las Vegas, and is the assistant of Thomas Thorne, Gordon’s business partner. Journey says she’s seen him at Thorne’s club there, the Maker’s Mark, with Gordon multiple times, and he might know why Gordon was meeting with her father.

CHIEF’S NOTES:

Our department has been trying to take down the Black Lantern for quite some time, and for good reason. Don’t let yourselves get too cocky here, this may be the closest we’ve ever gotten to linking the group to some of their more nefarious activities, but that doesn’t mean anything until we have some concrete evidence against them. Watch each other’s back out there, and let me know if you need any additional help. 

- Acting Chief Langer

CASE STATUS: TAKEN

– Spooky Happenings at the Piggly Wiggly

CASE LEVEL: One

POINTS REQUIRED: Seventy-Five 

OVERVIEW:

Strange reports have recently been flooding out of Eureka Springs, Arkansas regarding a series of strange events occurring at a local Piggly Wiggly Grocery Store. The events began approximately three weeks ago, when a customer reported hearing strange voices coming out of the milk refrigerators. Management at the time chalked up the voices to that of store employees, restocking the deep freezer directly behind the milk shelves, but that was not where the peculiar reports would end. 

Two days later, a single mother along with her five year old both claimed to have witnessed what they described as “strange shadow figures” walking between the shelves. Several additional reports have flooded out of the store in the weeks since, with the most bizarre being that an entire stock of Dunkaroos floating out from their shelf and hovering over the aisle for a full twenty minutes. It was after this most recent occurrence when the Arkansas Auror Division turned the case over to MACUSA, having been unable to pinpoint the cause of these strange, yet very much Spooky occurrences. 

PERSONS OF INTEREST:

Christopher Shannon: A thirty-one year old no-maj and the store manager. Chris has witnessed two of these events himself, and several others through the store’s video cameras. He is currently of the belief that the events are the result of a hoax someone is trying to pull in order to gain some level of notoriety. 

Roman Matthews: A seventeen year old no-maj who is a part-time bagger and shopping cart attendant. Roman was the store employee to have first discovered the floating Dunkaroos. They claim to have attempted to bring down the dunkaroos with a fly catcher, but every time they tried to bat down one of the packages, they’d simply float back into the air. 

Christine Charlotte: A forty-seven year old no-maj and the store’s deli manager. Christine claims to have witnessed one of these phantoms themself late one night as they were doing inventory. They described the phantom as “a woman in period clothing churning butter in the pop aisle”. 

Wren Williams: A twenty-four year old cadet from the Arkansas Auror Division. Wren is a medium with the squad, and was first assigned this case. After investigating the scene, Wren claims to have discovered no signs of any paranormal activity, or any residual magic at all for the matter. They’re not sure what could be the cause of these events, but they do not believe it to be ghost related. 

CHIEF’S NOTES:

Maybe the lady was trying to make butter for the store? 

- Chief Ben Eames

The cause of these events is still entirely a mystery which means you must work quickly to discover its cause and how to stop any more of these strange events from happening, before even more no-majs are exposed. Rory has established the concealment of two “ghost hunters” for you- which yeah you know what, why not at this point. Please get down to Eurkea Springs as quickly as you can, and let me know if you need any assistance. 

- Deputy Chief Langer

CASE STATUS: TAKEN

– Siren Smuggling Ring in Sioux City

CASE LEVEL: Three

POINTS REQUIRED: Three Hundred Twenty-Five

OVERVIEW:

In the last month, the Central Squad has now received two cases concerning siren vocal cord smuggling. The first of the two centered on a case involving a captured siren, who’d been part of a travelling show that’d been springing up throughout the American Midwest. Upon further investigation, it was found that the siren had been captured along with several pod-mates, and had her vocal cords removed for what had then been unknown reasons. The siren was successfully returned to her pod, but three of her podmates remain missing. This case has since been linked with the potential siren smuggling ring in Sioux City, after records show Mapilton was in the area shortly before acquiring the siren. 

The second case involved a stolen wand belonging to Sophia Jonker-Herschel, heiress to the Jonker’s Wands dynasty. The wand, which had been passed through her family, contained a core made of a siren vocal cord, capable of amplifying existing persuasive charms to have effects near the level of an Imperius curse. The wand was recovered, but not before its core had been removed by a wix looking to replicate the wand’s effects for unknown ends. The wix who stole the wand, Dulcinea Lucas, has offered to help MACUSA in tracking down the smuggling ring that seems to be connected to both cases, hopefully giving Central Squad the opportunity to stop them before these extremely dangerous wands can be produced and distributed more widely, and before any more sirens come to harm.

PERSONS OF INTEREST:

Jet: According to Dulcinea Lucas, Jet was the one to have initially informed her about the dangerous, but highly rare wand core held in Jonker-Herschel’s safety deposit box. After Dulcinea stole the wand, Jet soon came into possession of the core after Dulcinea sold it to him. Dulcinea has told MACUSA Jet is operating out of Sioux City.    

Hector Soto: Believed to be Jet’s right hand man, Hector has been involved with multiple other smuggling rings on MACUSA record in the past two decades. He is known to frequent a wixen bar by the name of The Sleeping Chimera, located outside of town.

Corporal Rebecca Yun: Auror out of the Iowa Auror Division. Corporal Yun has been investigating smuggling rings out of Sioux City and the surrounding area. They’ve been looking into the wix known as Jet for the last six months, and may have additional information to help locate him and his inventory of smuggled items. 

Dulcinea Lucas: The wix who provided Jet with the core of an old siren vocal cord want, Dulcinea has provided MACUSA with the limited information she has about the smuggling ring and Jet’s intentions.

CHIEF’S NOTES:

Oh, weren’t you two also on the other two cases? Wild! 

- Chief Ben Eames

Norwood, McMahon, you both are coming onto this case with your two separate experiences, work together and do what you can so that we can finally put this thing to bed. If these wands start getting mass produced we’ll have a major issue on our hands given the wands’ dark nature. Rory has given the two of you concealments to use should you like to go undercover within the ring, they’ll send you the details on them shortly. 

- Deputy Chief Langer

CASE STATUS: TAKEN

– Honey Island Swamp Monster

CASE LEVEL: One

POINTS REQUIRED: Seventy

OVERVIEW:

Among the sprawling marshes and bayous of Southern Louisiana, just past the Mississippi border, lies Honey Island Swamp. For decades the swamp has served as a popular tourist destination, where travelers can book tours to experience close encounters of the area’s local wildlife, from the general safety of an air boat. Most tourists go to catch a glimpse of one of the swamp’s local alligators, others however, go to seek a beast of an entirely different nature. The Honey Island Swamp Monster is a cryptid sighting first reported in 1963. A retired air traffic controller claimed to have first spotted the beast while flying over the area in a small twin engine aircraft. The beast would become an obsession for the man, who would spend the remaining twenty years of his life meticulously tracking the beast. Before his death he claimed to have captured the creature on a real of 8mm film, and had a collection of blurry photographs of something wading through the swamps. Since then, reports of the monster have only multiplied, with additional evidence being found, such as a webbed foot cast in plaster, and a wild boar that had been slain in a mysterious manner. 

Across the various sightings and blurry pictures collected, the beast is reported to be bipedal, and averaging about 7 feet in height. Its fur is said to be entirely silver, with a green tint to it due to the swamp waters. Since the tale of the creature took hold, many have tried to explain just what it is. The most bizarre of these explanations is that the creature is a result of a bizarre crossbreed. According to local reports, a circus train had crashed in the area in the early 20th century, and the chimpanzees on board had escaped into the swamp, where they then bred with the local alligator population. No matter where this creature came from, or if it exists at all, the frenzy surrounding it has now reached new heights as a documentary crew has recently descended on the area, eager to finally get quality evidence of the creature. Fearful of the evidence they may find, MACUSA has decided to intervene in the situation before it gets any more out of hand. 

PERSONS OF INTEREST:

Naveen Gadhavi: The producer of the film, Gadhavi first heard about the creature while attending last year’s Mardi Gras, where a float of the now legendary cryptid had been included in the parade. Naveen has never produced a film of any kind before, but his pocketbook is limitless after hitting it rich in California’s tech boom.

Gwendolyn Bukowski: The director of the film. Gwendolyn has directed three nature documentaries for National Geographic, and has earned several honors for her work. Her presence on the project has raised many eyebrows, although most have assumed she’s only in it for the hefty check Gadhavi has written her. 

Dr. Nina Hall: A professor from Mississippi State University. Dr. Hall holds a doctorate in animal sciences and is considered to be a well respected member of the school’s biology department. They have been brought onto the project to act as a specialist. Gadhavi has recently made a donation to Dr. Hall’s department in the effect of $500,000, which is likely the reason for their agreeing to be part of such a film. 

CHIEF’S NOTES: 

How does a chimpanzee mate with an alligator??? 

- Chief Ben Eames

Everyone involved in this case is a no-maj, so please be careful. When we caught wind of his documentary, Gadhavi was still hiring crew members, and luck have it, he’s currently looking for two animal trackers. Rory has worked tirelessly to get you your concealments in time, they are that of two experienced trappers out of the Florida Everglades. Fortunately, Gadhavi has accepted the applications we sent in for you without needing an interview. I have left the resumes on your desk that we sent in, please familiarize yourselves with them in case anything on them is brought up. Gadhavi is currently expecting your arrival at 9am tomorrow morning, good luck. 

- Deputy Chief Langer 

CASE STATUS: CLOSED

– Journey to Excalibur 

CASE LEVEL: Two

POINTS REQUIRED: Two Hundred

OVERVIEW:

Ten days ago, a twenty-four year old witch named Isobella Armitage was reported missing to local aurors in Evanston, Illinois by her roommate. Isobella had gone on a date and when twenty four hours later she had not returned and was unable to be contacted, local aurors investigated the disappearance and found Isobella—or, at least, found part of her: Isobella had gone to a recently opened, state of the art virtual reality arcade called The Game Zone, opened by a local wix who had been experimenting in combining magic and technology to create popular hyper-realistic immersive virtual reality games.

Isobella and her date were the first customers to test The Game Zone’s brand new high fantasy story game, Journey to Excalibur. The game experience was intended to last for one hour before automatically ejecting both women from the game; however, after an hour passed, Isobella appeared to become stuck in the game itself. There seems to be no way to forcibly remove Isobella from the game itself without risking potential neurological damage. While she can theoretically survive for up to two weeks in the environment of the game and the magical suspension field her body was placed in to allow her to enter the game, The Game Zone was found empty by local aurors, with no sign of its owner or any employees, causing a fear that any fluctuation in the building’s power or its magical fields before Isobella is safely extracted from the game might be enough to kill her.

PERSONS OF INTEREST:

Isobella Armitage: the missing witch, Isobella has been trapped inside of Journey to Excalibur for ten days. Her body is placed in a strong magical suspension field, meaning she does not need food or drink, but her mind is neurologically connected to the game’s interface, making her impossible to extract from the game without finding a way to release that connection.

Milla Phan: Isobella’s date, Milla made it out of the game after the allotted hour with no issue. She claims to have been disoriented from the game, feeling sick enough that she forgot she was there with Isobella. She returned home after leaving The Game Zone and claims to have slept for sixteen hours before remembering what had happened and contacting the local aurors. She is the only known person to have experienced Journey to Excalibur.

Roscoe Sykes: owner and engineer of The Game Zone and its four existing virtual reality experiences—not just Journey to Excalibur but also the science fiction game The Race for the Jovian System, detective noir game Roses of Astoria, and Western mystery Outlaw of the Old Town. Local aurors have been unable to reach Sykes for comment during their investigation, throwing his intentions into question.

Nathan Tucker: the officer of the Evanston Auror Division who first responded to reports of Isobella’s disappearance, Tucker has offered to be on hand to cooperate with Squad aurors in sharing the intel he has received from his initial several day-long investigation.

CHIEF’S NOTES:

Oh man, this sounds like a fun one! I hope you two have a blast!

- Chief Ben Eames

Please proceed on this case with great caution. We still have no clue yet why Isobella became trapped in the game and not Milla. We also have no clue just what kind of neurological damage could be done by it either. Look out for each other in there, and please don’t spend any more time inside the game than necessary. 

- Deputy Chief Langer

CASE STATUS: TAKEN