HALLOWEEN 2015- MURDER MYSTERY CYOA

[Ruriska]

E: Attempt to use the stairs

"Oh it was terrible! There were spiders and dust and this place is so dark and horrible. I want to go home and forget we were ever here." She did not, at any point, mention the key she’d hidden in her wig or the money (even if it had been fake).

Edelweiss sat dramatically on the seat and fanned herself with one of the books, slumping backwards as if she was in mid-feint. "You go ahead and look around, I’ll just- I’ll just… go upstairs and find the bathroom, the library is boring me and I need to freshen up."

With a suddenly sprightly hop off the seat, she gave her fiancée a big, wet kiss on the cheek and then left him there to see if she could find the way up.

Tristam Lockhart

 

[NymiiNym]

Right, now they were in the library. Now, where to start looking? The library itself didn't look promising. The back of his head whispered to search about, but the impatience took over. He knew there were stairs somewhere around here, and he had absolutely every intention of finding them. Whatever was on the next floor he sensed would be more rewarding. He was just one small phony in a giant maze of books, after all!

Now..... where were those blasted stairs?

E. Attempt to use the stairs.  

[VerityHattress]

A mouse and a hole in the floor boards under the rug? Well Sea Major guessed that it could be important. Maybe it meant there was a pathway underneath her or something? Perhaps there was something around here that could help with that question? With that in mind, Sea Major made her way to search the library's south bit of the room. Holly still had that book in mind from the great room though, and also that phony with Womb in their name.  

[Jun D]

E: Investigate the mysterious rustling.

A tree was rustling ominously! Whatever would Don Calimari do?! Carefully weighing up the situation (read: perhaps a little too excitedly), Don Calimari nodded and made a beeline for the rustle. Boy, it sure would suck if something awful happened to Don Calimari here, but needs must.  

[purplerosesbeauty]

C: Search the wine cave

Diamante stomped her hooves lightly in celebration. "It must be! You remember Fussbudget saying how he had been so ill, and vomiting and all? Perhaps... someone poisoned his wine!"

She followed the pink mare into the wine cave, and looked at all the wine labels. Lav wondered if they had actually gotten real wine for it, or if it was empty bottles or something... what would have happened if she had asked for some wine earlier? She smiled and figured they would have just given her some juice. "So much wine... too bad Moneybags never liked to share."

Yunonia

emotion_bigheart

 

[StarieMichie]

Judge TACO continued his line of questioning, and talked to Chop Chop more.

"How frequently had he been seeing this doctor, and when was the last time he saw him? Also, who usually took him to the doctor?"

s**t was getting real. TACO ate some cheese off of the cheese plate.  

[theCorniest]

After finishing her business in the luxuriously appointed bathroom and washing her hooves (not to mention making faces, and maybe practicing some of her lines, in the well-lit, glamorous mirror), Cutie pocketed the conspicuously placed key. She was sorely tempted to play in the bathtub, too, but alas, she had to win her justly deserved inheritance, and there was no way she was doing that with wet feathers.

Since nothing else seemed amiss in the restroom, Cutie Honey decided to search the locked bedroom (B). With any luck, there would be some strong, conclusive evidence in there.  

[Scaramouche Fandango]

Round the Eighth

Talk to [NPC]

Habeus Corpses: The lawyer is reading through a case file.

Wine About It: "You know," the wine steward muses. "The last time I saw that book it was on a stack of towels. I wonder..."

Rank and File: SPIDER WAR

Fuchsia Fussbudget: Missing in action.

Chop Chop: "He’d go every now and then- he funded some research into allergy cures, I think, so he’d go when they needed to talk to him or when he needed to yell at them. Nothing really regularly scheduled. And usually he drove himself! Have you seen his car? It’s an old boat of a Rolls Royce. Never let anybody touch it- he’d polish it with a diaper. I don’t think he ever changed a diaper in his life, but he’d polish cars with them. He wouldn’t even trust a chauffeur. I saw him almost fire Rank and File once because he’d moved the car while trying to do some work on the outside of the house."

Kitchen

Chop Chop and Wine About It are in here. Chop Chop is stuffing a chicken, while Wine About It is opening a bottle and frowning. While searching the wine cave, Bitter Pill and Diamante are impressed by the wine rack. Nothing down here is dusty or broken. Everything is in tip-top condition. The wines are listed by year; there's a rack of 1918s, a rack of 1919s, a rack of 1920s... Each wine rack has the bottles arranged in rows. There are empty spaces at the end, but for the most part they are neat and tidy with no gaps between- looks like Wine About It keeps everything very precise.

Which is why the gap in the 1919s is so... obvious.

You can…
A: Return to the dining room and search it (or talk to the remaining NPC).
B: Talk to Chop Chop, the cook (and/or ask for a snack- and yes, you can specify what kind of snack) or to Wine About It
C: Search the wine cave
D: Search the kitchen

Dining Room

Nobody is here except for Habeus Corpses.

Great Room

Not much has changed in here. This room appears to be completely empty.

Parlor

The spiders have constructed a tiny siege tower and are flinging bluebottle wings and bits of balled-up silk at poor old Rank and File. He's found a cushion and is using it as a shield.

Palm Court

The trees continue to rustle as the Don approaches. Suddenly, a wild screeching echoes through the halls of the mansion as a whole bunch of bats explode out of the palm tree. They seem to be quite happy to live in the mansion; there must be a way in somehow, probably a cracked skylight somewhere. Huffing and puffing, the Don takes flight. Winging wildly through the upper levels, he finds himself on the catwalk somehow. He knows that he can’t stop here, though. The joke makes itself. From the catwalk, two closed doors probably lead to bedrooms. On the other side, there's a beeline to a workroom; it's got a sewing machine on the door.

You can…
A: Go left and search what is probably a bedroom
B: Go left and search what is probably a bedroom slightly further down the hall
C: Go right and search the workroom
D: Go right and search the open guest bedroom

Trophy Room

One of the taxidermy heads appears to move... wait, no, that's just a trick of the light.

Sitting Room

Nothing new is in this ransacked room, but it is a pretty swell passage to the library.

You can...
A: Search the library west
B: Search the library north
C: Skip searching the library and head directly to the stairs
D: Search one of the other accessible rooms- powder room/restroom, trophy room, etc.

Office

The chaos of the office has been left behind.

Powder Room/Restroom

This restroom is quiet now.

Library

Other than the stairs, there’s not too much else in the library. Certainly there’s dozens and dozens of books, but most of them don’t seem to be particularly helpful to you. The stairs, on the other hoof… Also, while searching the southern part of the library, Sticky Fingers comes across something the others don't see while trying to get up the stairs. It's an actual piece of nylon rope! Not just rope filaments, but an actual two-foot length of coiled nylon rope. The ends are frayed; looks like somebody cut this in a hurry and didn't seal the ends with fire. Sea Major sees this as well!

As several phonies attempt to make it up the stairs, there's a lot of pushing and shoving. Some phonies- Torts Illustrated and Gunky Gumshoe- don't quite get up the stairs. Others, like Colonel Whizbang, Edelweiss and Bright Blessings, make it up. However, after the last phony climbs the stairs, they clang open and don’t retract. Looks like repeated use broke the mechanism! Whoops! On the plus side, that means the stairs are now easy to access.

You can...
A: Search the library north
B: Search the library south
C: Search the library west
D: Search the sitting room
E: Go upstairs

The Second Floor

Whizbang, Edelweiss and Bright Blessings ascend the stairs and hit the landing. Their options open up from there.

You can...
A: Search the reading room
B: Search the lounge
C: Search the art gallery (or if you want to forego a search for evidence, roll a d10 to find the passage).
D: Search the bathroom
E: If you can fly, you can search the top of the palm court (roll a d4 if you want to try to fit through the bars of the catwalk; 1 is success and allows you to search the catwalk, all others are failure.)

The Art Gallery

There's nothing inside the first vase, but when the second vase is investigated, an angry spider shakes its tiny spider fist at you. It's kind of cute in a weird, slightly terrifying way.

You can...
A: Search the reading room
B: Search the lounge
C: Search the laundry room

The Lounge

Nobody is in this weird period piece of a room.

The Reading Room

As Penny searched the boxes, she found… oh goodness. This was interesting. This was very interesting. It seems as though her father has been extremely involved with improving the women’s wing of the local hospital; particularly the maternity ward and oncology centers. It’s… no surprise, really, given how tragic the death of Penny’s mother was. The box Penny chose first had a bunch of property deeds, some of which have been transferred to the hospital for expansion. Another box holds records of the work his other companies have done- Penny probably doesn’t like what she finds here, given her opinions on deforestation…

You can...
A: Investigate the boxes
B: Search the art gallery
C: Search the reading room
D: Attempt to open the laundry room to search there (roll a d10; 8 breaks the door down, otherwise failure).
E: Search the previously locked guest bedroom

The Bathroom

This bathroom is empty, but glamorous.

The Laundry Room

The laundry room smells like fabric softener and happiness. Industrial machines are stacked against one wall; an ironing board sits in the corner next to a steamer. Rifling through a laundry basket, Del finds something hidden underneath a sheet- it’s a black book with a wine list in it. There’s some pages missing, like they’ve been torn out- but how did this get up here in the first place? There are several other baskets of clothes, blankets, and other household goods in various states of cleanliness.

You can...
A: Search the laundry room some more
B: Search the art gallery
C: Search the guest bedroom

The Previously Locked Guest Bedroom

The door to the locked bedroom creaks open ominously. As you shine your light around, you come face to face with an enormous pair of glass eyes. They stare at you- as do another and another and another and oh god there’s so many.

This is a guest bedroom. It’s full of dolls. It smells like lilacs and talcum powder. There are not one, not two, not three, but four different portraits of the same old woman- Moneybags’ mother, Luxury Handbag. She’s a sweet-looking old lady, but why are there four of her? The dolls take up most of your immediate attention, however. They’re wearing frilly dresses and tiny patent-leather shoes. Some have winter garments made of real fur. All have elaborate hairdos and cold china faces. Dolls take up every available surface. There’s shelves of dolls, dolls on the nightstand, dolls on the dresser- even some dolls on the bed, which is tightly made. These aren’t the kind of dolls a child loves and plays with; they’re the kind of doll that nightmares are made of.

The other conspicuous thing is shoved under the bed. There’s no dust ruffle, and it was honestly easy to miss- but Cutie Honey is low to the ground, and glass tends to shine in a flashlight’s beam. There’s a bottle in here. It’s small and empty, but it smells of almonds. Curious.

You can…
A: Search the bathroom
B: Search behind a door that looks like it might lead to a bedroom.
C: Search the reading room


The Open Guest Bedroom
This room is a fairly standard guest bedroom. There's a big bed, some chairs, an unused fireplace. There's an empty vase on the dresser, next to an elaborately carved wooden box. This box is locked, however- a small key would fit in there, probably... Other than that, there's nothing obvious. It doesn't look like anybody's stayed here recently. There's a workroom next to the guest bedroom, and the catwalk is also accessible from here. From the catwalk, a few more rooms are visible.

You can...
A: Investigate the fireplace (roll a d10)
B: Search the workroom
C: Search a room at the end of the catwalk that's probably a bedroom
D: Search another room a little further down the catwalk that's probably a bedroom

show spoilerhide spoiler

PS: If you guys are wondering how I decide who makes it up the stairs and who doesn't, I roll a d20 here because it's quick and random. For each person, if they're within 5, they make it up.

zippedsiren

Astraea Pandora

Magician Arcana

frozen_flames06

Luafien

StarieMichie

purplerosesbeauty

Atmadja

Yunonia

FrostyPeaches

cursedandwandering

Yushika

Kitty Sprightt

EchoLimaFoxtrot

thyPOPE

Fea Line

Tristam Lockhart

VerityHattress

Ruriska

~Twilight...Angel~

elvyralani

Maxx D

Jun D

 

[thyPOPE]

previously locked guest bedroom!

Huh. Well - Pennybags couldn't say there was much of interest directly related to the murder in here. Unless his father's interest in maternity wards was supposed to be any indication. That was fine. "I'll head over there," he said, indicating the previously locked guest bedroom. Maybe he could catch sight of his daughter, or his wife, or his son. Or...you know, someone else related to him.

Unfortunately all he could really see in here was, uh, dolls. O-oh, this was - his grandmother's? He guessed? Well, it didn't matter. He sidestepped the dolls as much as he could and tried to get near the portraits. It had to be strange that there were four of them. Had Father really loved Grandmother that much?  

[theCorniest]

Cutie Honey bit back a scream as her flashlight reflected off the eyes all around the room. God, she hated dolls. Even beyond their stares, there were four matching pairs of eyes staring into the room - from four identical portraits of someone who looked vaguely familial. What the heck was this, some kind of shrine to her grandpa's mom?? To heck with that, she was going to turn this room into a walk-in closet when she owned the mansion.

The glint of glass definitely caught her eye, and she reached under the bed to discover - an empty bottle, smelling of almonds. Strange. She automatically pocketed the bottle from under the bed as another phony entered the room - her father.

"Oh, hello, daddy," Cutie chirped, with all the silver screen sweetness at her disposal. "Have you found out anything about grandpa's murder?"  

[Yunonia]

B: Talk to Wine About It

There appeared to be nothing amiss in the wine cave. Bitter Pill felt disappointment wash over her. Maybe it was time to finally leave this area and search some other part of the house. That at least appeared to be what everyone else had done. The quietness was beginning to get kind of eerie.

Turning to Diamante she said, "we should probably try to search somewhere else for now...just lets ask Wine About It about the missing wine glass first!" She paused before making her way over to the keeper of the wines. "Excuse me..." Bitter said pointing over to the cabinet in the kitchen, "we noticed one of the wine glasses missing and were just wondering...if you might know where it went off to?"

purplerosesbeauty

emotion_bigheart

 

[Fea Line]

A: Investigate the fireplace (roll a d10)


Hmmm, nothing seemed interesting, at least not at first glance. Del wasn't about to give up that easily however! He glanced around the room deciding where else to look. The bed seemed..... uninteresting, though comfy! He really wanted in that box but no amount of tinkering with the lock opened it. It was going to need a key. Rubbing a hoof against his chin in thought, Del's eyes sweeped towards the fireplace. Maybe there might be some clues there? Something left over that the murder tried to burn maybe? Wandering over towards the fireplace, Del searched for a poker to start nosing around in whatever was there. Caramell also took a moment to wonder to herself how Paws was doing and if she was having any better luck. It was really bugging her Paws wasn't here right now! She sooooooo wanted to ask her what she thought the book meant. Or rather, What Quarter might think this book and its missing pages meant. And the wine list.... maybe Del would have to go have a chat with Wine About It later....  

[EchoLimaFoxtrot]

First the rat and then he had to share tight quarters with other phonies. He was small, sure, but not that small! No matter. Shaking it off, Colonel Whizbang took a step forward and then looked around the second floor. What treasures would he find here?

The diminutive phony hoofed in to the lounge to see what secrets he could uncover.  

[elvyralani]

The sitting room was an absolute bust! Satin could tell the place was completely picked over already so she headed for the stairs.

C: Skip searching the library and head directly to the stairs