ooc: Pending upon further details....

Penny/Kate:

You head back to the hotel room in order to rent out the rooms for your plan. Fortunately there are plenty available and the desk attendant buys your explanations easily enough. Upon hearing your name though he gives a start and informs you that a parcel has been held for your return. I was hoping you would come back for it he looks triumphant. It's a bit heavy but I think you can manage. He hands you a finely wrapped package in a round hat box. It weighs roughly 10 or 11 pounds and has a heavily perfumed smell. There is a neat little card with elegant handwriting that reads," A token of apology for any troubles caused to you. Best opened in private- B"

Wherever and whenever you decide to open it you will find inside to your horror, Mrs. Bently's severed head. The box has been lined heavily to prevent stink and the head has been drained of blood to prevent a mess. Very thoughtful actually.

Penny was surprised at the parcel; she wasn't expecting anything. 'I haven't ordered any hats...' With a sense of unease, she thanked the clerk and, as the noted suggested, waited until they were in the privacy of their room before opening it. But first, Penny applied Holmes's method, scrutinising every part of the parcel before opening it and potentially ruining the evidence. She examined the packaging, both paper and string; the hat box itself; the perfumed aroma (no doubt to conceal the contents...); the card and handwriting. It was all high quality, no expense spared.

"B" could stand for "Belial", but also "Bently". Emma Bently was, so far as she knew, still dead, but she could have sent this before her demise. A witch's hex bag in the mail would be a cunning attack. She doubted Richard Bently would go to such effort, but his wife certainly would. As would Belial.

Her examinations had already filled her with dread as to what might be contained within, but she opened it and peered inside. 'Ah.' she said, swallowing her disgust at the severed head of Emma Bently. 'Well, she always wanted to get ahead in the world...'

Wrinkling her nose against the smell of decay, Penny reached in and lifted out the head so she could examine it more closely: the cut marks, the degree of decay and rigor mortis. 'The head has been drained of blood to prevent leakage. How considerate. We should be glad this did not also wait 123 years for delivery.'


OOC: Sherlock-scanning the package and head for clues: Search 22, Investigate 17
11:46, Today: Penny Dreadful rolled 17 using 1d20+13. investigate.
11:47, Today: Penny Dreadful rolled 22 using 1d20+10. search.
This message was last edited by the player at 03:20, Fri 19 Dec 2014.

From what you can tell it has been about two days since the severing of the head judging by decomposition, which fortunately is quite minor at this point. The hat box is for a man's hat judging by the design and masculinity of the lining. The handwriting is meticulous and also masculine, though there are aggressive slants to it calling to mind great passion and ambition on the writer's hand. This was likely prepared by Belial himself, which is surprising that he would take so direct a part in so messy a thing. The sever marks indicate her head was neatly sliced by a very sharp blade. It only took one slice to remove it, indicating a well practiced hand, yet you would venture that this is what killed the woman judging by the uneven cut that seem to show she struggled a bit during the ordeal. You can't help but wonder Belial's interest in you to kill one of his own agents in order to apologize for her trying to kill you. Whether he knows of her deceit you are unsure.