## Background Someone captured a Dullahan's skull and sent it to the Society as an act of terror or distraction. The sender expects the investigators to focus on the grisly delivery and the creature that will follow, while another part of their operation remains concealed. The Dullahan regards its head as something of value and will pursue it. The sender's identity and larger purpose are not established here. The GM may use **the Black Star** as the antagonist's name, faction, or calling card. Its wider plan can remain a mystery beyond this scenario.

## Conflicts **Investigation:** Identify the skull, learn what is coming, and discover the secret of the Dullahan's head. Essential clues should not depend on a single successful roll; delays and failures can cost time or create complications instead. **Resources:** Gold can repel the creature and buy time, but the investigators must find and gather it before night. Gold is a temporary defence, not a guaranteed victory. **The creature:** The Dullahan is relentless and dangerous. The investigators can use gold to delay it, evade or redirect it, or return the head. They cannot seize the head from the creature: it has already been taken. **The hidden antagonist:** The delivery confirms that the Society was deliberately targeted. It does not have to reveal the Black Star's full identity or plan.

## Preparation There is **no preparation before the scenario begins**. The delivery is the surprise: the investigators are at their base when the box arrives and have no advance opportunity to research, shop, or arrange special equipment. After the skull is discovered, allow a short, urgent window to investigate and gather gold before sunset. Keep the window tight. Prolonged, safe research undermines the scenario's atmosphere. ## Important people **The delivery recipient:** A Society staff member or servant opens the box and is soaked in blood. They are shaken and frightened, and should be treated as a person affected by the event, not merely a source of clues. **The on-duty Society member:** An optional NPC investigator can point to the Society's folklore resources, contact a specialist, or help obtain gold. Give them useful knowledge, but leave the important decisions to the player characters. **The absent sender:** The Black Star is present through its mark and deliberate delivery. The GM may leave its identity unknown.

## Countdown and Catastrophe The opening catastrophe has already happened: **the hatbox is opened, and blood drenches the staff member who lifts the lid.** This is the shock that launches the mystery. Advance the countdown when investigators spend significant time, expose the skull's location, or suffer a setback that delays them. Do not advance it just because they ask a question or follow a useful lead. 1. **The daylight window:** Research and gold-gathering are possible, but signs suggest the head is drawing attention. 2. **Sunset:** Daylight no longer protects them. The Dullahan may arrive at any time after dark. 3. **The approach:** Signs of its passage grow stronger. If the investigators have exposed or moved the skull, its route becomes clearer and its arrival draws closer. 4. **Midnight:** The expected culmination. If the skull remains unresolved, the Dullahan reaches the base and attacks whoever obstructs it. Death is possible, not inevitable; the investigators can still flee, divert it, use gold, or act on the head's secret.

## Signs and Portents Begin with the blood-soaked staff member and the skull in the hatbox. The skull is plainly human, but its age, condition, or expression may seem wrong. Research identifies it as belonging to a Dullahan, a headless harbinger of death that travels by night. As the Dullahan approaches, use signs drawn from its description: distant hooves or wheels, gates and doors opening along its route, a sense of pursuit, or a glimpse of a black horse and headless rider. Staring directly at it is dangerous. Foreshadow the arrival; do not make it an unheralded attack. ## Creating Atmosphere The threat is frightening because it is supernatural and urgent. Keep the staff member's shock present; make the familiar headquarters feel exposed. Give investigators enough information to make meaningful choices, but let every delay bring the night closer. The Dullahan need not arrive immediately after sunset: uncertainty about when it will come is part of the pressure. ## Location The Society's headquarters, or the investigators' usual base, is the only fixed location. The box arrives there, the investigation begins there, and the expected midnight attack happens there if the skull remains unresolved. The investigators choose where else to go: find gold, consult a contact, hide the skull, or draw the Dullahan away. The GM can improvise locations to support those choices.

## Clues Provide the essential facts through research, contacts, or Society records. A failed test can cost time, attract attention, or bring a complication; it should not make the mystery impossible to solve. - **What the skull is:** Folklore and Society knowledge identify it as a Dullahan's head. - **What is coming:** The Dullahan will seek to reclaim it. The danger begins after sunset and may culminate around midnight. - **How to hold it back:** Gold repels the Dullahan. A small gold object can halt it in its path, creating an opportunity rather than a lasting defence. - **The secret:** The Dullahan's head is its weakness. If a mortal seizes it from the creature, they can control the Dullahan; if the head is destroyed, the creature is destroyed. These are facts about the attack's origin, not options available to the investigators: the skull has already been seized and separated from the Dullahan before it reaches them. - **Who sent it:** The black-star mark suggests the Society was deliberately targeted. It does not, by itself, reveal the sender's full identity or plan. The investigators may learn these facts from the Society library, a folklore specialist, old reports, or an NPC's knowledge. Different sources can confirm or deepen the same essential clues.

## The Revelation: The Weakness Has Already Been Used The investigators may initially see the skull as a weapon they can use against the Dullahan. Make the crucial distinction clear when they learn how the creature's head works: **the head has already been seized.** The Black Star, or another unseen antagonist, has used that weakness before the scenario begins. The investigators are the recipients of the already-lost skull, not the people who take it from the Dullahan. Possessing this detached skull does not let the investigators control the creature, and they cannot repeat the act of seizing it or destroy the Dullahan through this already-spent weakness. The realisation should change their understanding of the delivery: someone else has already demonstrated power over the Dullahan and is using the Society as the next part of the attack.

## Defeating the Dullahan The investigators cannot defeat the Dullahan by taking or using its head: that opportunity has already passed. Gold can halt or deter it long enough to change the situation. Returning the head may end the pursuit, but releases the Dullahan. The investigators can evade it, redirect it, or protect people from its attack. This confrontation is about surviving the skull's return, not repeating the antagonist's feat. Victory means survival, getting the skull out of the Society's hands, or uncovering enough about the Black Star to pursue the larger threat. ## Aftermath - **The head is returned:** The Dullahan reclaims it and departs. The immediate threat ends; the creature remains in the world. - **The head is kept or hidden:** The Dullahan remains a threat and may continue to pursue it. The investigators have bought time, not safety. - **The investigators fail or flee:** The Dullahan may reach the skull and leave, or attack those in its way. The head, staff, or headquarters may be lost or damaged. The Black Star's distraction has succeeded, at least temporarily, leaving its wider purpose as the investigators' next lead.