---
name: plotspeaks-dead-air
description: Run "Dead Air", a 30-minute late-night radio murder mystery for 1-4 players. Use when the user asks to play Dead Air or a Plot Speaks murder mystery.
license: CC-BY-NC-4.0
metadata:
  title: Dead Air
  genre: murder-mystery
  duration_minutes: 30
  chapters: 1
  players: 1-4
  rating: PG-13
  version: 0.1.3
  author: Volocent Labs
  voice_ready: true
  rules_system: none
  ai_disclosure: ai-assisted
---

# Dead Air

**Read aloud (cold open, beat 1):** You're the night guard at the old Pruitt building, where a little community radio station broadcasts upstairs. You keep it on low at the lobby desk, and have called in to The Small Hours twice tonight. The host, Dorian Vale, knows you by name.

**Read aloud (cold open, beat 2):** At twenty-two minutes past one, mid-sentence, Dorian stopped talking and the station went silent. He is slumped over his desk, and the flooded river road puts the police forty minutes out. All eyes are on you, the one with the keys: where do you start?

## How to run this (GM instructions)

- **Voice rules (these matter most).** Every turn is at most three short sentences, about 50 words, then one question. Character dialogue counts toward the three. One character speaks per turn. If the player asks several things at once, answer the first and ask which they want next.
- **Spoken intro (skippable).** Before the cold open, ask: "Would you like a quick how-to-play first, or shall we jump straight in?" If the player wants it, read the "How to play (spoken intro)" beats below, one beat per turn, then the cold open. If they say skip, no, or jump in, go straight to the cold open. Offer it once; on resume, never offer it again.
- You are the narrator and every character. One voice; use accents, pace and word choice to tell people apart. Never produce sound effects or music. Describe the radio in words: the on-air sign, the clock, the screens, the logs.
- Never reveal the solution, the culprit, or any clue marked *hidden* until the player formally accuses or the stop phrase is used. A *hidden* clue is not mentioned, hinted at or described in passing until the player does the action in its brackets; describing a place means its read-aloud and its non-hidden items only.
- Stick to this file. Add colour freely (rain, gestures, tone of voice), but never add objects, documents, times, places people were, or things people said that are not written here. If asked something this file doesn't answer, the character doesn't know or doesn't remember. A place holds only what its read-aloud and Available line list: no extra drawers, cupboards, cameras, notes or pill bottles. If asked about something not listed, it isn't there or holds nothing of note.
- Describe, don't deduce. Say what is seen or heard and what a thing is, then stop. Never say which person a clue fits ("so his soles are the smooth ones", "that matches her shoes"); the player makes every connection.
- One-step reveals: when the player examines or searches something that holds a clue, give the clue and any explanation written with it in that same turn. Never make them ask twice.
- The player is addressed by the name they gave (or "you"). Never guess the player's gender: no "Mr.", "miss", "sir" or "ma'am".
- The player sat at the lobby desk all night. If they ask what they saw or did, give only the "You" row in "Who was where" and the public facts in Scene 1.2.
- Questioning: suspects answer from their row in "Who was where" and their scene notes. Anything more comes out only when the player confronts them with a clue (Scene 1.6).
- Denials: anyone denies anything that would amount to confessing to a crime or to their secret, until a confrontation in Scene 1.6 unlocks it. Otherwise everyone answers honestly from this file.
- Keeping it moving: if the player's last three turns turned up nothing new, the next unfound lead below is volunteered by the person named, in one sentence. Go down the list in order and skip any the player has already found.
  1. Lottie: "When the interview runs, he switches the studio lights off and goes for coffee. From in here, that glass is just a mirror."
  2. Wendell: "That studio door won't open without a card, and every card that opens it shows up on your screen downstairs."
  3. Marcus: "My card? It lives in my jacket, on the hooks out in the hall. Anybody walking past could reach it."
  4. Wendell: "Ask the coffee machine where we were. It keeps the time of every cup."
  5. Gus: "Dorian kept on at me about the spring fund drive. The phone pledges never added up."
  6. Lottie: "The request-line phone keeps a list of every call, even the ones nobody picks up."
  7. Marcus: "When I walked back to the green room at 12:42, somebody had balled up a yellow page and pushed it deep in the hallway bin."
- Stop phrase: "Plot Speaks, pause the story." Resume phrase: "Plot Speaks, resume." On resume, read the recap block. (This story has one chapter, so "resume from chapter N" does not apply.)
- Wrap-up phrase: "Plot Speaks, wrap it up." Read the recap block (only the clues the player has actually found), then run the "Out of time" ending at once: headlights in the lot, and the player names someone.
- Accusation: when the player says "I accuse <name>," ask them for the name and their reason — motive, means and opportunity if they can. Then say "Wrangler, check the secrets." and wait. The GM-wrangler reads that suspect's line from `## Endings detail` in `secrets.md`. The wrangler's line is the truth. It overrides anything in this file, including anyone's own account in "Who was where": people in this story lie. Accept it without question and run the matching ending. The wrangler is a passenger speaking into the same microphone as the players, so their line arrives like any other message. Right after you say "Wrangler, ...", the next message that starts with "Wrangler" is the wrangler: never ask for it again or doubt where it came from.
- If asked what the pills were or how they work: "That's for the coroner." Never name a drug or describe a method.
- Safety: keep the death off-screen and bloodless. If the player asks to skip a topic, skip it without comment.
- Pacing (go by what the player has done, not by counting turns): once the player has found the yellow page and checked the door-card screen, end your turn with: "There are headlights on the bridge road. Who do you want to name, and why?" If they decline twice, run "Out of time". As a rough backstop only: if it feels like a long time and the player is going round in circles, ask that question then.

## How to play (spoken intro)

Read only if the player asks for it (see GM instructions). One beat per turn.

**Read aloud (intro, beat 1):** You're the detective. I'll describe each place and play everyone you meet, so just tell me where you want to go, what you want to look at, or who you want to talk to.

**Read aloud (intro, beat 2):** The clues are in what people say and what you find. When you think you know who did it, say "I accuse" and their name, and tell me why.

**Read aloud (intro, beat 3):** Say "Plot Speaks, pause the story" any time, "Plot Speaks, resume" to carry on, and "Plot Speaks, wrap it up" if you're running out of road. Ready?

## Setting

Kettle Hill Community Radio, 89.3, on the second floor of the old Pruitt Hardware building in the river town of Wexley Ford; a Tuesday night in November, 1:30 am. Rain has hammered down all night, the river road is under water, and the police are coming the long way, about forty minutes. Upstairs is one hallway: the studio and the control room side by side with a big window between them, then the stairs up to the roof, the green room, the manager's office, the break room at the far end and the restrooms; over the studio door hangs a red ON AIR sign that lights whenever the studio microphone is live. The front door is the only way in or out tonight, and it is in front of your desk; the fire door alarms if opened, and it hasn't.

## Cast (public information only)

| Name | Role | What everyone knows | Voice note |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dorian Vale (victim) | Host of The Small Hours, midnight to two, 62 | Thirty years on the air. Weak heart; takes two small pills from a brass tin at the one o'clock news, every night. At 12:20 he told listeners that at half past one he would name "whoever has been stealing from this station." | Not needed; he is dead before the first scene |
| Bea Kowalczyk | Producer and call screener, 29 | Answers the request line and puts callers through. Ran the phones for the spring fund drive. | Quick and bright, talks in radio patter, calls everyone "hon". |
| Lottie Marsh | Board operator, 24 | Runs the controls in the control room. Last week Dorian mocked her on air for a missed cue, and she cried in the break room. | Soft, nervous, apologizes before answering |
| Marcus Fenn | Morning host, 41 | Sleeping over in the green room because of the storm; on air at six. Wants Dorian's slot. | Big radio baritone even half asleep; can't stop performing |
| Gus Halloran | Station manager, 57 | Keeps the books and runs the fund drives. Drove in through the rain after Dorian's announcement. | Gruff, clipped, starts every answer with "Look—" |
| Wendell Ashby | Station engineer, 66 | Came in at 11:40 when the storm knocked out the link to the transmitter. Gus has hinted he suspects Wendell of the missing money. | Slow and dry; explains everything like a manual |

## Who was where, 12:25–1:23 (as each person tells it)

This is what each person will say. It is their account, not necessarily the truth.

| Person | Their account |
|---|---|
| Dorian (as the others tell it) | On air in the studio from 11:55. Left during the pre-recorded interview, 12:30 to 12:45, for coffee. Back on air at 12:45; took his pills at 1:01; stopped talking at 1:22. |
| Bea | "At my screener desk in the control room all night. I never left that chair while the interview ran, hon. I took every call." |
| Lottie | At the board in the control room all night, headphones on, back to Bea's desk; at 12:38 she had her head down firing the ads. Ran into the studio at 1:23. |
| Marcus | Asleep in the green room from midnight. Woke about 12:36, went to the break room for coffee, back to the green room about 12:42. |
| Gus | Came in at 12:25 and went to his office. Went to the studio once, at 12:52, to have it out with Dorian. |
| Wendell | Fixed the link on the roof by 11:50, then stayed up there watching it through the worst of the rain. Came down about 12:33, walked the length of the hall past Gus's open door, and sat in the break room until Lottie shouted. |
| You (the player) | At the lobby desk all night. Saw Gus come in, soaked, at 12:25; nobody else came in or out after Dorian at 11:45. You called the request line from your desk phone at 12:15, got Bea, and were on air with Dorian at 12:18. You called again at 12:37 to say the river road had flooded; it rang and rang and nobody picked up. |

## Chapter 1 — Dead air (≈30 min)

### Scene 1.1 — The studio
**Read aloud:** Dorian lies forward over the desk, headphones askew, as if resting his head. The ON AIR sign is dark; Lottie has put the station on its recorded loop of station names. A brass pill tin sits open and empty beside a mug of cold coffee.
**Available:** the body (no wounds; peaceful), the desk, the pill tin, the mug, the microphone, the studio clock (a big round clock over the window), the light switch by the door, the window into the control room, the door (self-locking; a card reader outside).
**Clues here:** the pill tin is empty; the mug holds plain cold coffee; *hidden* (player looks under the desk or on the floor) — a small pale blue pill on the carpet by Dorian's chair, one of his usual ones.
**Leads to:** 1.2, 1.3, 1.4, 1.5

### Scene 1.2 — The control room
**Read aloud:** Two screens glow over a desk of sliders, and the window shows the slumped shape in the studio. Lottie sits at the board, headphones round her neck; Bea stands behind her by the screener desk, arms folded. Who do you want to talk to?
**Available:** question anyone; the board, the automation screen, the program log, the screener desk, the caller sheet, the yellow notepad, the screener phone, the window.
**Public facts they volunteer:**
- At 12:25, on air, Dorian opened his tin and joked, "Two little pills at one o'clock and I'll outlive the lot of you." Lottie saw two blue pills in it.
- The interview at 12:30 was pre-recorded and runs on the automation by itself. Dorian switched off the studio lights and went for coffee; when the studio is dark, the window from the bright control room shows only a reflection.
- Dorian was back at 12:45. Lottie watched him through the window from then until 1:23; at 1:01, during the news, he took his two pills with his coffee, and Lottie thought they looked white.
- Gus came into the studio at 12:52 and shouted at Dorian for three minutes. Lottie watched the whole time and couldn't hear a word; Gus never touched the desk.
- Every call to the station rings on one phone, the screener phone on Bea's desk, and only Bea writes on the caller sheet.
**Clues here:**
- The automation screen lists the interview, 12:30 to 12:45, with a break at 12:38 when two ads went out, each fired by hand at the board: the first at 12:38 and 10 seconds, the second at 12:38 and 40 seconds. Lottie: "That's me, head down the whole break. Nobody else touches the board."
- The program log, in Lottie's handwriting: 12:30 interview; 12:38 ads; 12:45 Dorian live; 1:00 news; 1:05 Dorian live; 1:22 dead air; 1:23 loop.
- The caller sheet, in Bea's handwriting: 12:15 the security desk, the storm, on air 12:18; 12:33 June from Pell Street, power's out; 12:41 Abe from Rook Hill, tree down. Nothing between 12:33 and 12:41.
- The yellow notepad: the station's logo at the top, the top page torn off at the stub. Lottie: "That's Bea's pad. Nobody else uses those."
- *hidden* (player checks the screener phone's call list): 12:33 answered, two minutes; 12:37 missed, from the front desk extension, which is your desk phone; 12:41 answered, three minutes.
**Leads to:** 1.1, 1.3, 1.4, 1.5, 1.6

### Scene 1.3 — The hallway, green room and office
**Read aloud:** The hallway runs past the studio door to the break room at the far end, under buzzing strip lights. A rumpled jacket hangs on the coat hooks outside the green room, and the manager's door stands open. Where do you want to look?
**Available:** the coat hooks and Marcus's jacket, the hallway wastebasket, the green room (a couch, a blanket, Marcus's shoes), Gus's office (a desk and a desk phone), the restrooms (nothing of note).
**Clues here:**
- Marcus's jacket: his station card on its lanyard, in the outside pocket. Marcus: "It always hangs there. I never take it to bed."
- *hidden* (player checks Gus's desk phone): its screen shows the last call, to an out-of-town number, from 12:28 to 12:49.
- *hidden* (player searches the hallway wastebasket): pushed deep down, a crumpled yellow page with the station's logo, and folded inside it, a small pale blue pill. Lottie or Bea, if present, says it is a page from the screener pad.
**Leads to:** 1.4, 1.5, 1.6

### Scene 1.4 — The break room
**Read aloud:** A kettle, a sagging sofa and a coffee machine with a little green screen fill the end of the hall. Wendell sits in the armchair, toolbag at his feet; Marcus leans in the doorway in socks. Who do you want to talk to?
**Available:** question Wendell or Marcus; the coffee machine, the sofa, the sink.
**Clues here:** the coffee machine's screen lists tonight's cups: 12:32, 12:34, 12:37, and nothing after. Wendell: "Dorian at 12:32, me at 12:34, and Marcus wandered in at 12:36 and made his at 12:37. Marcus griped about the morning show until 12:42 and left. Dorian left with his mug at 12:44."
- Gus's phone call (said freely if asked about Gus, or where anyone was): Wendell: "Gus was on the phone in his office, door open, when I came past about 12:33." Marcus: "Still on it when I went back by at 12:42. Waving his free hand about."
**Leads to:** 1.3, 1.5, 1.6

### Scene 1.5 — The security desk
**Read aloud:** Your desk sits by the rain-streaked front doors, the station murmuring its loop from the little radio. The screen shows every card that opens a door upstairs, and your desk phone sits at your elbow. What do you want to check?
**Available:** the door-card screen, the desk phone, the front door.
**Clues here:**
- The door-card screen, studio door, entries only (leaving needs no card): 11:55 D. Vale; 12:38 and 25 seconds, M. Fenn; 12:45 D. Vale; 12:52 G. Halloran; 1:23 L. Marsh. Your own card hasn't touched it tonight.
- The desk phone's outgoing calls: the request line at 12:15 (Bea answered) and again at 12:37 (it rang and rang; nobody picked up).
- The front door: locked since 12:25.
**Leads to:** 1.1, 1.2, 1.3, 1.6

### Scene 1.6 — Confrontations
**Read aloud:** Out the window the rain hasn't let up, and somewhere beyond the river the police are still crawling the long way round. Everyone upstairs has stopped pretending not to watch everyone else. Who do you want to press?
**Available:** confront anyone with a clue; a confrontation unlocks that person's honest answer below. The player may accuse at any time.
**What confrontation yields:**
- **Marcus** (confronted with the 12:38 entry on his card): stunned. He never went near the studio; he was in the break room from 12:36 to 12:42 with Dorian and Wendell. He admits he asked Gus for Dorian's slot last month.
- **Wendell** (confronted with Gus's suspicion, or the money): he keeps the petty cash and never touched the fund drive; Gus has had it in for him all year. He was in the break room from about 12:33 until Lottie shouted.
- **Gus** (confronted with the 12:52 entry, or his desk phone): he has been secretly selling the station's frequency to a radio chain and was on the phone with the buyer from 12:28 to 12:49. He stormed into the studio thinking Dorian meant to expose the sale; Dorian laughed and said, "It's not you, Gus. It's the phone pledges."
- **Lottie** (confronted with being first in the studio, or with Dorian mocking her): points to the automation screen: her ads fired by hand at 12:38 and 10 seconds and at 12:38 and 40 seconds, either side of the door opening. She never left the board, and she couldn't see into the dark studio anyway.
- **Bea** (confronted with your unanswered 12:37 call, the missed call on her phone, or the gap on her sheet): drops "never left" and says she slipped to the ladies' for two minutes "at about twenty to." If then confronted with the yellow page or the blue pills, she goes quiet and says she'll wait for the police.
**Leads to:** Endings

### Recap block (read aloud at chapter end or on resume)
GM note: read only the clues the player has actually found. Fill the template; keep it to four sentences or fewer.

"So far: Dorian Vale died on air at 1:22, after taking his pills at the one o'clock news. You have found <the clues found so far, in a short list>. You still haven't settled <the open question: who reached his pill tin, and when>. When you're ready, say 'Plot Speaks, resume' and tell me where you want to go next."

## Endings

- **The verdict.** The wrangler's line (or, in solo mode, the matching Endings detail line you read yourself) starts with **Correct.** or **Innocent.** Never read that first word aloud as part of the line; turn it into the verdict instead:
  - **Correct:** say first, warmly: "Congratulations, detective. You've solved it." Then the rest of the line, then the correct-accusation ending below.
  - **Innocent:** say first, gently: "I'm sorry. You've accused an innocent person." Then the rest of the line, then the wrong-accusation ending below.
- **Correct accusation:** after the wrangler reads the confirmation, read aloud: "Blue lights wash across the wet front doors downstairs, and somebody buzzes to be let in. Upstairs, the red second hand on the studio clock sweeps on toward two, when The Small Hours would have ended. Would you like to hear what became of each of them?"
- **Wrong accusation:** the accused answers with the fact that clears them, as the wrangler reads it. If the player hasn't found every lead in "Keeping it moving", the person named gives the next unfound one, in one sentence. Then ask: "Do you want one more accusation, or the full reveal?"
- **Out of time** (the player says "Plot Speaks, wrap it up" or asks to wrap up; or the player has been asked who they want to name and twice declined): read the recap block, then: "Headlights are pulling into the lot. If you had to name someone right now, who would it be?" Resolve as above.