The Barrel Siren

Badessa Munro

The Barrel Siren was the nickname given to the notorious serial killer Badessa Munro who was known for trapping her victims in barrels and letting them drift out to sea.

The Barrel Siren

First Discovery

In 1253, a fisherman off the coast of the Campronto Peninsula discovered a barrel floating in the water and pulled it aboard his boat. Inside he found the body of a young man. After identifying the man as a resident of Wakary Island, authorities determined that the ocean currents must have carried the barrel from the place he had been killed to the place he had been discovered. Despite cooperation with multiple jurisdictions, there were no leads and the investigation went cold.

A Pattern

Over the next few months, three more barrels were discovered on the shores of the Campronto Peninsula, each with the remains of a person in their twenties. It was at this point authorities determined they were dealing with a serial killer. Investigators noticed that the barrels had scratch marks on the inside, suggesting that the victims were actually alive when they were trapped inside and cast out to sea. The victims were all in their twenties, but they were of different genders and they came from different places, races, and social classes. Authorities were able to identify the victims by their missing person report, but the last reported sightings were all over the Purple Foot Islands. Any identifying markings on the barrels had been sanded off by the killer. Authorities knew the killer was someone with the means to island-hop frequently, but they had little else to go on.

A Break in the Case

The Barrel Siren might have continued if not for one barrel being improperly sealed in late 1256. The victim was able to break out and swim two miles back to shore where he immediately contacted authorities. The man had been at a marina on the southern tip of Argelea Island when he'd met a woman who offered to show off her trawler and maybe a little more. After that his memory was hazy until waking up in a panic in a rocking darkness and clawing his way out.
By following up on the man's story, authorities were able to get a description of the boat from the owner of the marina where it had been docked, as well as a description of the woman who was piloting it. This information was shared throughout the Purple Foot Islands and eight days later she was reported as docking along the eastern coast of Argelea Island. Authorities quickly took the woman into custody and searched the boat to find an empty barrel and a strange assortment of red clothing items and accessories, presumably trophies from her victims.

Justice

The identity of the killer was Badessa Munro, who sailed the Purple Foot Islands on a trawler financed by her father. She confessed immediately to her crimes, explaining in detail how when her Regifted Syndrome symptoms were acting up she would dock somewhere and either seduce or Serenade a man into following her on board. There would be a romantic encounter, perhaps a day or night together on the sea, before she would coax them into climbing into a barrel, and sing them to sleep. She would then seal the barrel and push the victim overboard before continuing sailing through the islands.
Munro then informed the authorities that she had killed at least nine more than the number of bodies that had so far been discovered. Three more barrels washed up on Campronto Peninsula over the next month, but even with a search team dispatched to scour the sea, they were not able to account for all of the victims Munro claimed to have killed.
In 1257 Munro was tried and found guilty on 18 counts of homicide, 1 count of attempted homicide, 1 count of kidnapping, and grand felony misuse of Power of Melody. She was sentenced to death later that year by the same method she had murdered so many others. The additional victims' remains were never recovered, presumably lost to the sea.

Impact

The story of the Barrel Siren was sensationalized throughout Leland, often leaving out the fact that Munro suffered from Regifted Syndrome and claiming that she had been born a meledere and that the power had gone to her head. This led to a short-lived rise in violence against melederes in southern Cesland as the public was reminded of the potential dangers Power of Melody could pose in the wrong hands.

The Woman Behind the Name

History

Before becoming the Barrel Siren, Badessa Munro was the sixth daughter of seven to family in the brewing industry along the southwest coast of Cesland. Like the rest of her family, she possessed Power of Composition, but she had little interest in the family business.
When she was seventeen, Munro contracted the virus responsible for causing Regifted Syndrome. She quarantined on the family boat so as not to infect her family. The physical symptoms weren't bad, but she suffered from trans-enmantic replacement symptoms, specifically she lost Power of Composition and suddenly found herself having Power of Melody. It was a strange and confusing time for her, but after a few weeks the symptoms subsided and she returned to living with her family. A few months later, symptoms returned and it became clear she was one of the people who suffered with the effects of the virus for the rest of their lives. Her family didn't treat her any differently, but she still felt like she had somehow disappointed them.
In the following years she struggled with the lack of control over her condition. It was a Power she hadn't asked for, nor did she even want it. At twenty four, she decided to leave home to find her purpose. Her father willingly allowed her the use of a trawler to travel wherever the seas would take her. For the most part she enjoyed the freedom of island hopping in the south, but that freedom was marred by the recurring symptoms of her condition.

Becoming the Siren

Eventually Munro decided to learn how to use her temporary Power rather than fighting it in the hopes that it would make her feel in control. She started experimenting whenever she was on land and picked up advice from local meledere tutors. It was difficult to put that advice into practice, however, because Power of Melody induced by Regifted Syndrome acted differently than the natural-born variety.
Munro again became frustrated, but discovered she had a knack for lulling others into sleep or submission. Though she enjoyed the solitude, the seas sometimes became lonely. When docked, she began seducing men back to her trawler. Not for anything bad, just some harmless fun, but the more she did it, the more she found she enjoyed the feeling of control and started pushing the envelope farther.
Aboard ship were a few barrels from her family's brewery which had previously been full of beer, left over from some occasion before Munro had taken the trawler and no one had bothered to remove them. One night she talked a lover into climbing into one of the barrels and sung him to sleep. She didn't set out to throw him overboard, but something clicked inside her head. She stole the red earring he was wearing, sealed the barrel, and shoved it off the back of the trawler. As she stood watching the barrel float away she felt like she had won, like she was finally in control.
Seeking that feeling became an obsession. Whenever she was suffering from a flareup she would dock and find another victim, sometimes more than once if her flareup went on for long enough. When she ran out of barrels she would return home for a visit and steal some from the brewery storehouse.
During one particularly long flareup she attempted to seduce a third victim. As they were out at sea she could feel her symptoms beginning to subside and panicked. If she could no longer Serenade, she would lose control of the situation. In her rush to carry out her mission, she improperly sealed the barrel. That victim would be the one to point authorities directly to her.

The Color Red

Munro never realized it herself, but the people she targeted were wearing red, whether a hat, shirt, jewelry, or something else. Authorities weren't able to find a pattern in the victims because she would remove the red article of clothing before sending the victim to his or her death. The color red is associated with Power of Melody. Munro may have seen the people wearing this color as a manifestation of her condition, and her control and murder of them was a proxy for controlling and overcoming her condition.

Enmanity
Power of Composition
Power of Melody**

Conditions

• Regifted Syndrome

Ethnicity

Cesnockwe

Life

1228 SU 1257 SU 29 years old

**Intermittent, caused by recurring trans-enmantic replacement symptoms