Chris Kerr
A string quartet holds a charity performance at a local concert hall on the third Thursday of each month. The quartet are renowned for playing music which is not only hauntingly beautiful, but also completely original. No piece played by this quartet has been heard before. The four musicians also refuse to say who the composer is, although they are happy to provide copies of the score for an additional donation.
Over the last four months, each time a concert has been played, a man or woman has been found brutally slashed to death nearby, after the performance.
1 The musicians refuse to give away the origin of their pieces because most of them don't know it. The first violinist buys it from an orderly working at a nearby lunatic asylum.
The music is composed by an inmate. In his dreams, he visits a mysterious 'master' who dictates music for him to transcribe to paper after waking. The master is a creature of the dreamlands who uses the psychic energy from the audience to briefly materialise in our world and steal a little bit of essence from a convenient victim. Mutilating the body afterwards disguises the physical traces left by this draining.
If this is allowed to continue, the master eventually materialises permanently and becomes a great force for evil in the waking world.
2 The music is copied from an ancient volume of magic. The musicians are cultists, and they play hymns to a great old one. Ending the first set signals other cultists waiting nearby to make a sacrifice as part of the rite. Within the next few concerts, the cultists aim to summon an avatar of their god and receive rare mystical knowledge.
If the cult are not stopped, they eventually complete their ritual and stop on their own.
3 There is nothing unusual about the music, the quartet are simply lucky enough to have found a talented new composer to write pieces for their concerts in his own original style. The murders are committed by an ordinary thief, who strikes during the performances because that is when a large number of wealthy people are gathered together in one convenient place.
If he is not stopped, the police eventually catch and convict him.
Copyright (c) 2003 Chris Kerr
Chris is not so keen on virgin's blood, but always happy to accept a sacrificial pint of lager. He spends long hours in front of the bathroom mirror practicing his evil laugh.
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