The Whimsy Park Mystery

DJ suggests a side trip to visit his old friend Lemmy Hedemin, who owns an amusement park in Ohio.

[https://youtu.be/nkJlaBLzw4k Recording of game session (YouTube)]

==Summary==

Still shaken by [[Scooby_Cthulhu:The_Hommas_Leaf_Mystery|their experiences at the home of Doctor Hommas Leaf]], the gang needs to unwind and relax. DJ suggests a side trip to visit his old friend Lemmy Hedemin, who won [[:File:Whimsy_Park.jpg|Whimsy Park]] in a card game a few years ago.

When they arrive, the park is nearly empty. Very few people are in line to get in. While they approach the gates, a chipmunk mascot gives Hideyori a hug. The mascot's costume is stained, and it smells of tobacco, sweat, and formaldehyde. At the gates, DJ asks a ticket-seller to call Lemmy, and Lemmy appears a few minutes later. He is happy to see DJ and the gang, and invites them to lunch at [https://youtu.be/Lv8q8epbJVw Chipmunk Clubhouse].

Lemmy is upset that the park is not doing as well as it had been. According to Lemmy, a boy went missing in the park three months ago, and since then people claim to have seen ghosts and monsters wandering the park. Business is down, and Lemmy is considering selling the park to a group of Germans who have been trying to buy the park from him for over a year.

The group decides to split up and look around, and then meet later at the Chipmunk Clubhouse.

Connie and Dusty ride the Ferris wheel. While at the top, they both notice that the park is not laid out in a loop like most parks. Instead, the paths form a star with the center slightly... off-center. Something is wrong about the shape, but neither Connie nor Dusty can put their finger on it. Dusty tries several times to sketch the park, but each time the lines do not quite match up. The effort is unnerving him, and eventually he gives up.

Hideyori rides the bumper cars. Most of the cars are empty and idle, which makes the ride a sad experience. Just before the ride ends, Hideyori's car is rammed by a car that appears to be driven by a ghost -- the translucent figure of a young boy, [[:File:screaming_child.jpg|silently screaming in terror]]. Hideyori tries to follow the car, but loses sight of it and the ghost.

DJ visits the funhouse. It is the standard affair, with halls of mirrors, rotating tunnels, and stairs that are painted to look tilted. Animatronic creatures jump out from dark corners. One of these is particularly scary: a tall, skeletal figure with a round stomach, crazy smile, and a top hat. The figure grabs DJ with its long, hard fingers, but DJ pulls away and flees. DJ finds the exit ("See the egress!"), and takes a long pull on his flask.

Connie, Dusty, and Hideyori are making their separate ways back to Chipmunk Clubhouse when they run into DJ. Everyone relates what they have found. As they are talking, they are approached by Drufus Miltoop, the assistant manager of the park. He takes the VIP passes that Lemmy had given the group, and replaces them with badges that appear virtually identical, insisting that these are the "correct" badges.

Drufus warns the gang not to stay in the park, because bad things have been happening. A boy was kidnapped, and dark things prowl the park at night. He hopes that Lemmy will sell the park to the Germans soon, before the park has to close for good. Dusty (whose family is quite wealthy) suggests that perhaps he could invest in the park, and asks to see the books. Drufus absolutely refuses, and orders the group not to go the office. He repeats his warnings, and then leaves.

As Drufus stalks off, Hideyori catches a scent of formaldehyde.

The gang wants to see the park from above to see the pattern that Connie and Dusty saw, so they ride the roller coaster, Thunder Alley, the tallest ride in the park. At the top, they all see the pattern, and can tell that something is wrong with it, but they do not know what. Near the end of the ride, the ghost of the silently screaming boy briefly appears next to DJ.

The gang heads to the "center" of the park's pattern, which they saw from above. It is a locked storage building. They break into it and search it, finding assorted supplies and decorations for the park. They also find numerous mascot costumes of various designs. Among them is the stained chipmunk costume that hugged Hideyori and the thin man costume that attacked DJ. Both costumes smell of formaldehyde. They also find a dated invoice on the floor, apparently dropped there no more than a week ago. The invoice is signed by Drufus Miltoop.

The final room of the storage building has a new hasp on the door, locked with a large padlock. They break into the room, finding it to be chemical storage. It also contains the crudely embalmed body of a young boy. The body is tied at the wrists and ankles, its mouth is sewn shut, and its eyes are stapled open. Hideyori examines the body and finds that occult marks have been cut into the boy's chest, postmortem. It is a spell, binding the spirit of the boy to the park. After debating the best course of action for a few minutes, the gang permits Hideyori to break the spell by cutting the bonds from the body's wrists and ankles, removing the staples from its eyelids, and cutting the stitches from its mouth.

The body sits up and screams for a full minute, then collapses, at peace.

When the group has regained their composure, they head to the office to see the books that Drufus Miltoop did not want them to see. Drufus is in the office, but Dusty distracts him while Connie quickly looks through the files. The gang departs office to look over what Connie found: it is a letter from the German amusement park conglomerate, offering Drufus Miltoop a 10% finder's fee for the sale of the amusement park, with an additional bonus if the sale price is less than the park's market value.

The gang finds Lemmy and tells him everything. They call the police, and when the police arrive they confront Drufus. Presented with the invoice found in the storage building and the letter from the Germans, Drufus admits everything, and is taken away in handcuffs.

Lemmy thanks the gang for their help, and they spend the rest of the evening at the park, which is no longer haunted.

==People==

<div><ul class="thumbs"> 
<li>[[File:Lemmy_Hedemin.jpg|200px|thumb|none|Lemmy Hedemin, Owner and Manager of Whimsy Park]]</li>
<li>[[File:Drufus_Miltoop.jpg|200px|thumb|none|Drufus Miltoop, Assistant Manager of Whimsy Park]]</li>
</ul>
</div>

[[Category:Scooby Cthulhu]]
[[Category:Horror]]