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The Mystery of the Last Fry Motel

This scenario is designed for a game of roughly two hours, including character creation.

The pitch​

It is night.

Rain is pouring down.

The Van breaks down on an abandoned road. Immediately use one of its keywords: black smoke, temperamental engine, questionable fuel gauge, or any other truth chosen by the table.

The only lit building for miles is the Bates Burger & Motel, a 1950s roadside stop that seems to have missed several decades of modernization.

The elderly manager, Mr. Grossi, greets the group while trembling:

"Run... The Ghost of the Mad Cook is back! It haunts the kitchen with its fluorescent spatula!"

Naturally, nobody actually runs away.

The monster​

The Ghost of the Mad Cook​

A specter covered in glistening grease, wearing a shredded chef's hat and wielding a phosphorescent spatula.

It screams terrifying recipes. It appears to walk through walls. It appears on one floor and immediately vanishes to another. It smells faintly of fresh paint.

The truth​

The Ghost is actually Mr. Zellani, a local real-estate developer.

Beneath the motel is an old Prohibition-era smuggling cellar containing a collection of rare liquor worth a fortune.

Zellani wants to frighten Mr. Grossi into selling him the motel for almost nothing.

His appearances rely on:

  • a costume;
  • phosphorescent paint;
  • a network of dumbwaiters and service passages;
  • a few sound effects;
  • the certainty that no sensible person will ever come investigate what is happening here.

He did not plan for the Van.

The three Keys​

To solve the mystery, the group must uncover three families of information.

Players do not need to discover them in a particular order or at the places suggested below.

Key 1 — the Motive​

Someone wants Grossi gone because the land or building has hidden value.

Possible clues:

  • aggressive purchase offers signed by Zellani;
  • an old plan showing a sealed cellar;
  • old bottles discovered behind a wall;
  • a delivery ledger from Prohibition;
  • Grossi suddenly remembering that his grandfather used to talk about "the basement we were never supposed to open."

Key 2 — the Trick​

The ghost uses a physical device.

Possible clues:

  • phosphorescent paint;
  • traces of machine grease;
  • a plan of the dumbwaiter network;
  • nylon line;
  • hidden speaker;
  • a piece of costume caught on a trapdoor.

Key 3 — the Culprit​

The clues must ultimately point to Zellani.

Possible clues:

  • dry-cleaning ticket;
  • paint invoice;
  • costume button;
  • shoeprint;
  • real-estate contract;
  • recognizable recorded voice;
  • absurdly obvious monogram.

Once the three Keys are sufficiently established, there is no reason to prolong the investigation artificially.

Move to the final trap.

The three acts​

Act 1 — First contact​

The group settles into the diner while the Van cools down.

Mr. Grossi serves cold burgers and tells the story of the Mad Cook.

Then the lights flicker. The refrigerator door opens by itself. The Ghost of the Mad Cook bursts out screaming an impossible recipe.

Moments to look for​

  • The Clumsy Duo tries to flee while keeping their food: a perfect moment for their standalone roll.
  • The Handsome Guy immediately announces a wildly disproportionate strategy.
  • The Brain notices that something about the apparition does not add up.
  • The Pretty Airhead may trigger an early Accidental Charm or Oops.

The ghost disappears through a dumbwaiter or service passage before it can be caught.

Leave at least one small clue behind.

Act 2 — Exploring the motel​

The Handsome Guy now has an excellent reason to say:

"Let's split up."

Do not resist the trope.

Cut quickly between the subgroups.

Room 13​

The Pretty Airhead finds a sealed room with an enormous mirror and a wobbly coat rack.

The ghost appears.

An Oops may make the wall rotate and reveal the dumbwaiter network: the Trick Key.

Otherwise, the same information can be discovered more directly, but with a complication.

The boiler room​

The Brain examines the building's pipes and mechanisms.

She may find:

  • phosphorescent paint;
  • a recently installed pulley;
  • a dry-cleaning ticket in Zellani's name;
  • a scrap of fabric from the costume.

Even a Defeat should give her something to reason from, even if it covers her in soot or makes her lose her glasses.

The kitchen and storeroom​

The Clumsy Duo is obviously looking for food.

A chase can send them through a movable shelf into a sealed room containing old bottles or an entrance to the cellar.

They may therefore discover the Motive Key completely by accident.

A large Cross-Resonance Success should produce a ridiculous but extremely effective chain of events.

Grossi's office​

If the players pursue a more rational lead, they can find Zellani's repeated purchase offers and an old plan of the motel.

This scene can provide any missing Key without forcing a unique solution.

Act 3 — The Grand Trap​

Once the three Keys have been gathered, the group knows the Ghost is human and needs to be captured.

This is the Handsome Guy's moment.

He designs a plan using as many absurd elements from the fiction as possible:

  • luggage carts;
  • tomato sauce;
  • giant fan;
  • clothesline;
  • diner bell;
  • freezer door;
  • equipment found in the Van.

Turn these truths into Bets when they genuinely matter to the Focus.

Then roll.

If the Handsome Guy wins​

The trap works... on the wrong target.

The Duo ends up in the net. The cage traps the Brain. The monster escapes the device exactly as it planned.

But the movement of the scene should open the possibility of a second rebound.

If he loses​

The trap collapses. The sauce spills. The fan starts blowing the wrong way. The cart slams into the refrigerator door.

And the Ghost ends up knocked out, tied up, or stuck exactly where nobody expected.

The Handsome Guy can then explain that this was obviously part of the plan.

Epilogue​

The group pulls off the mask.

"Mr. Zellani?!"

Zellani explains his plan in far too much detail.

Then comes the mandatory line:

"And I would have gotten away with it if it weren't for you and that blasted dog!"

Mr. Grossi thanks the group.

The Van mysteriously starts again without anyone really knowing why.

Someone suggests stopping for food at the next gas station.

The GM already knows it will probably be haunted.

Character and Van creation — 15 to 20 minutes​

Reading the archetypes should be immediate.

Let the players keep or cross out keywords, invent one or two, quickly define their relationships, and create the Van together. This phase also works as an icebreaker.

Rules explanation — about 5 minutes​

Explain only:

  • fiction comes first;
  • what matters becomes a Bet;
  • a Bet normally gives one D6;
  • evens are Successes;
  • every archetype has a particular twist;
  • the GM adjudicates relevance quickly;
  • nobody is going to die in a chase with a plastic ghost.

The rest can be discovered through play.

Act 1 — 20 to 30 minutes​

Arrival, exposition, burger, first appearance, first chase.

Act 2 — 45 to 60 minutes​

The heart of the investigation.

Switch quickly between groups and provide the three Keys as soon as the players' actions justify them. Once all three are established, cut to the next act.

Act 3 — 20 to 30 minutes​

Impossible plan, rolls, reversals, capture, and reveal.