Ok everywhere he looked, he saw phonies sticking their noses into shelves of books searching for clues. It was quite surprising to the pirate, errr detective, that this Moneybags had so many first prints of almost everything! There even was Edgar Allen Poe's short stories! Weren't those like out of stock years ago? He sneezed as he kept on scanning the titles on every shelf.
That is when he noticed a ladder of some sort to get closer to the upper shelves. How else would anyone without wings be able to reach up there? As he looked up to see how high it was, he noticed another phony. She was holding tightly onto a book and the picture that was half visible under her leg was a collage of sailors’ knots.
He climbed up the same ladder she did and stopped just a few steps underneath her. "Arrr lass, what'd you got there? Do you want to learn about tying knots? I happen to know most of them. I can show you!" He called up to try and get her attention.
For a library, this place was quite noisy. Sets of stairs can be heard as it was dropped and the clomping of hooves echoed from the west to the south of the place. From where he stood, he could see a few phonies racing south catch onto something. One of them even peeked under a rug......
But the clomping he heard was much much closer. Almost as if it was just right above him! He looked up at the other phony on the ladder and called out to her again. "Did you hear that?? Someone is climbing up the stairs! Can you check the shelves? Maybe there is a secret passage!"
Ruriska
Posted: Sun Nov 08, 2015 7:43 pm
C: Go back through the tunnel to the dining room.
Diamante sniffed and gave an amiable smile. "He sure did a number. Ruined my marriage, but I could say the same to you, no? Poor Bitter Pill. But I do understand, dear. It doesn't fix anything but revenge is surely sweet. Not that I had anything to do with it, you know. I almost wish I did,"she said, waving her hoof.
She nodded as the older mare mentioned seeing Habeus Corpses. "Oh yes, Moneybags' lawyer ought to know something, don't you think? Especially what Miss.... Visage had to do with this. Perhaps he had written something in his will about the woman," she said, and followed her back through the tunnel.
Haute was dedicated to his role, but it was hard not to make faces right back at his cousin, Shrill X. Eventually, he caved and stuck out his tongue and crossed his eyes - he figured Cutie Honey would probably do the same in that situation.
Cutie Honey saw the ladder hatch pulled open, and saw it draw shut. What was that horse hockey?! Whatever, she'd seen where it was, so it was up to the second floor for her (E). She gave the stair hatch a good yank and fluttered on up. The stairs pulled up again as soon as she set hoof on solid floor again - how irritatingly clever. She'd have to do something about that when she owned the place.
For now, she took a good look around the room - landing? hall? - she'd come up in, and the worthless people who temporarily inhabited it.
Posted: Sun Nov 08, 2015 8:46 pm
A. Search the other half of the room.
Book Smart was very sure, there has to be a way into Moneybags secret library. So he began to search the other half of the room, muttering about following the code.
Perched on the ladder, Edelweiss extracted the book and put in under her arm. “Brass Tacks! Oh smoopums, I’ve missed you! Did you get me a snack? I’m just doing a bit of investigating,” she replied to her wonderful, handsome fiancée and did her best to look full of shy adoration. It was a look that failed for the most part and only succeeded on making her look slightly constipated.
Her friend from earlier was now in full view as he investigated a way up to the next room and she called back merrily, “Just another book.” She might have kept staring, to see if he found the way or not but was distracted when someone came up the ladder below her.
“Good sir, I do hope you aren’t looking up my skirt,” she said with a grin, despite not wearing a skirt and then gave him a once over. She could think of a worse time than learning about knots from a handsome gumshoe pirate, especially if he was into a bit of experimentation in the bedroom. Not that a lovely lass like Edelweiss would ever consider such things with her beloved in the room.
“Let’s get down and we can look at the book together,” she suggested and waggled a leg in his face to show that yes, she would really like to get down now.
Tristam Lockhart
thyPOPE
FrostyPeaches
Posted: Sun Nov 08, 2015 11:56 pm
"I've only seen mouse droppings," said Pennybags, shaking his head in reply. Well - perhaps he should've spent more time in the northern wing, but then again he still found it dubious that a book would contain the answer. He was much more interested in what was happening upstairs. Although - just who were these people? He couldn't say he recognized any of the three phonies gathered around that ladder. "I'm Pennybags, if you need me," he told the assembled group.
Then he went back to searching for the stairs. They had to be somewhere in this area, right?
Press looked up as a clang rang through the air. Was that the sound of stairs? She decided to see if she could find them.
Posted: Mon Nov 09, 2015 8:21 am
Round the Sixth
Talk to [NPC]
Habeus Corpses: Habeus Corpses looks up, somewhat surprised. “How did you know about Dr. Visage? She’s the head of the maternity ward over at Warhorse Memorial; Moneybags was working with them to renovate part of the maternity ward and the women’s health center- it was going to be named after his first wife. She died, you know- it was quite tragic by all accounts. She got sick when his daughter was a child; retired to the East Wing and from what I hear just… didn’t respond to treatment. She’s a nice woman- a little older and quite sweet. Very compassionate. He’d been having meetings with her- they’d met when his wife was sick- and the gifts committee to talk about some of the minor cosmetic issue- you know, just to make him feel more involved with the process. I think they'd been seeing each other socially as well; he'd had some questions and they seemed to be getting along. Nothing salacious, mind you- she's married- but they seemed to be decent friends. That's definitely her coat- she must have left it here. It's been so warm recently.
Wine About It: The jury is back in. Wine About It is fussing around in the wine cellar, occasionally popping up to the kitchen to sneak some cheese.
Rank and File: SPIDER WAR
Fuchsia Fussbudget: Missing in action.
Chop Chop: Chop Chop is ultimately confused by the Judge's singing ability- who knew a man of the court would have such a voice?- but calms down a bit, enough that the cutting boards are no longer quivering in fright. "Where could she be?" she mutters. "You haven't seen the housekeeper around here, have you?"
Kitchen
Chop Chop and Wine About It are in here. Chop Chop is deboning a chicken, while Wine About It is still looking for that missing list.
You can… A: Return to the dining room and search it (or talk to one of the remaining NPCs, HC or FF). B: Talk to Chop Chop, the cook (and/or ask for a snack- and yes, you can specify what kind of snack) C: Search the wine cave D: Search the kitchen
Dining Room
The dining room hasn't much changed, but additional investigation reveals the hidden panel has come ajar. It is easy to access now.
A: Talk to [NPC] [HC, FF] B: Search Kitchen (or talk to an NPC within- Chop Chop is available for talking!) C: Search Great Room D: Use hidden corridor to access the Sitting Room- turns out that when a small child attacks a wall, anything springy in that wall opens up. E: Use hidden corridor to access the Powder Room/Restroom
Great Room
Not much has changed in here. This room appears to be completely empty.
Parlor
Rank and File is whistling "The Ride of the Valkyries" as he mows down the spiders.
Palm Court
This room has pretty much been abandoned.
Trophy Room
Colonel Whizbang stops in the trophy room as his flashlight shines on the pictures he's in. He was so much younger back then! Pressing on a panel near one of the bears reveals... the spinning panel! The Colonel is deposited in the library.
Sticky Fingers, on the other hand, finds nothing but a long shaft going up and down. Looks like a dumbwaiter nobody's used in years. It's not big enough for anyone to fit in.
You can... A: Search the palm court B: Search the sitting room C: Search the office D: Investigate the walls to try and use the spinning panel (roll a d20)
Sitting Room
Nobody is in this ransacked room.
Office
The chaos of the office has been left behind.
Powder Room/Restroom
Bright Blessings attempts to use the service passage from this room to get to the library, but seeing as how the service passage doesn't go to the library, they have gotten confused and turned around and ended up back here. After careful searching, it honestly doesn't look like there's anything else in here. You can keep searching if you want to, but maybe you should move on?
You can... A: Search the other half of the room. B: Go back through the tunnel to the kitchen. C: Go back through the tunnel to the dining room. D: Head through the sitting room to the library.
Library
While Torts looks for some kind of hidden panel or secret, an oddly-colored and shaped book seems to scream for attention. Pulling it out, a hidden panel opens up. There’s a key inside! It is small and brass and looks like it opens a small, simple lock. The book on knots has a dogeared page; flipping it open, the marked page has a list of instructions about how to make a garrote. That's morbid. Even more morbid are some underlined parts and a note: "Nylon is best- hardware store??"
You get the feeling that there's more to find in this library.
You can... A: Search the library north B: Search the library south C: Search the library west D: Search the sitting room E: Attempt to use the stairs (roll a d20 unless you know where they are)
The Second Floor
Penny Earned, Pennybags, Don Calimari, and Cutie Honey 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
The art gallery is a wonderfully strange little room. There’s an eclectic collection of paintings here; many seem to be either original or else very fine copies. Vasily Przewalski’s Hunter’s Rest, Naponyon Crossing the Alps, the Moona Lisa, Van Hoof’s Starry Night, a copy of a rather famous advertisement for the Poney Noire, that Maregritte piece with the apple, Gustave Curb Bit's The Meeting… there’s even a Mare With A Pearl Earring. There's a pair of Greek vases- one's got centaurs on it, and the other appears to have Theseus fighting the minotaur- and there's several small sculptures of serene-looking phonies. In addition to all the antique art, there is an oil portrait of Moneybags himself. The unicorn’s glance is mocking, as if he’s tormenting you from beyond the grave. There are some smaller paintings as well; as Del investigates, one of them begins to look quite suspicious. The eyes of this painting are cut out, which is creepy enough in its own right- but by pushing it aside, a small alcove is revealed, big enough for a phony to sit in. The back of the alcove is dark and seems to extend quite a bit. The smell of linen and laundry detergent hangs in the darkness, and a careful flashlight survey reveals that this is a hidden tunnel leading to a laundry room (a laundry room that is locked from the outside, mind you).
You can... A: Search the reading room B: Search the lounge C: Search the laundry room
The Lounge The lounge is a sleek, stylish room with modern furniture... for 1963. Egg-shaped chairs and awkward sofas line the walls; an abstract coffee table that looks somewhat impossible to use is the centerpiece of the room. It doesn't seem like it's been used in a while... As you search this room, you can see something out the window- is that... a light? Is somebody outside? The storm rages and lightning flashes, briefly illuminating everything. The figure with the light is gone; perhaps it was just your imagination after all.
You can... A: Search the art gallery B: Search the reading room C: Attempt to open the laundry room to search there (roll a d10; 8 breaks the door down, otherwise failure).
...and the Others...
As Moneypenny stumbled around in the darkness, his flashlight flickered and failed. There was the noise of distant hoofsteps, then a woosh as the trapdoors opened beneath him. There wasn't enough time to scream...
zippedsiren
Astraea Pandora
Magician Arcana
frozen_flames06
Luafien
StarieMichie
purplerosesbeauty
Atmadja
Yunonia
FrostyPeaches
cursedandwandering
Yushika
Trying to use the stairs wasn't a thing you could do from the powder room.
Sticky sighed and trotted away from the dumb waiter. No longer in use... So did that mean the upstairs wasn't frequented that much? There could also be a downstairs too.
Posted: Mon Nov 09, 2015 8:47 am
[search reading room!]
So Pennybags had found the stairs. He grinned to himself, and then - wait, that was his sister! And his daughter! Surely he could trust them with what he'd found, scant as it was. They were at least members of the family. "Penny Earned, Cutie Honey - I'm glad to see you," he said. "Have either of you seen anything interesting? There was a - strange gun in Father's trophy room, but I didn't get much of a closer look. The wall contained a spinning panel to the library." He shrugged. The sheet music seemed much less interesting now.
Points made, he headed to the reading room to see what he might be able to get at. There was no use wasting his time sitting around...and while Pennybags remembered the layout of the house, Lemma did not. She wanted to know exactly what was in this room! And, well...there might be clues, too. She'd like to have those.
thyPOPE
Devoted Hoarder
Offline
Astraea Pandora
Crew
Offline
Posted: Mon Nov 09, 2015 9:00 am
A: Search the reading room
Penny was heading towards the reading room when she hear the stairs open and close a couple more time, finding a stranger, her brother, and his spawn on the second floor. Her first inclination was to punt the tiny demon spawn over the catwalk and back to her mother. She had wings, she'd be fine. Her second inclination was to yell at her brother for not being more on top of things here that some phony could come and murder their father and potentially take everything he had. She'd been trying to help THE WORLD! He had one old stallion! No, she'd do that later when all this mess was over.
Clearing her throat to temper her anger; "Well it is the Trophy Room Pennybags, it would be the right place to keep his guns. What do you even mean by strange? Was it fired recently? Did it smell of gunpowder? Was there dust on it? Had it been moved?"
She grumbled inwardly as he and she seemed to be going to the same room to search, but maybe she'd have a few moments to grill him a little more on this "strange gun."
thyPOPE
Posted: Mon Nov 09, 2015 9:12 am
A. Talk to Habeus Corpses (again)
"Her coat," He said absently, absorbing the information. Fireflight was deeply torn, as he could hear from the Phony traffic that the activity was moving elsewhere and his character felt rather antsy speaking to the lawyer, but found himself unable to end this dialogue tree with options remaining allow questions to persist. "I know you're not his accountant, but since you handled his will," Vigorish himself got quite involved in the checks and balances back at the ol' office, really, "did he manage to donate for the renovation - say, maybe a sum of thirty thousand or so, or not at all? If he was so involved, with the hospital and Dr. Visage, then shouldn't they have been been a potential beneficiary in the will, and summoned today?" That sounded rather accusatory, and Vigorish was not uncomfortable with that. Being able to ask what he felt were pertinent questions made him feel important. "Or is there any other potential beneficiary seeking such charity?"
Maxx D Vice Captain
Garbage Cat
Offline
StarieMichie
Unicorn
Offline
Posted: Mon Nov 09, 2015 9:26 am
TACO didn't know how safe he felt being in a room with a woman that was that good at deboning a chicken. He liked his boner right where it was, thank you very much. But now that he calmed her down, he might as well talk to Chop Chop.
"Where was the last place you saw the housekeeper? And why are you looking for her?" He had just had kind of walked into this (and although I backread, that is OOC knowledge haha), and wasn't sure what to do with this mess.
Despite being a little scared of her, he briefly considered seducing Chop Chop down to the wine cellar for round two, but it seemed a little rude to do that with Wine About It standing RIGHT THERE, even for TACO.
"Also, does anyone in the house have special dietary restrictions?" These are really big words for TACO, and he only knew them because once he was given "dietary restriction" from his doctor of a low-whiskey diet. "You know, something that they'd have to take shots for? I found a syringe in the trash in the bathroom.... which could be for something normal or for POISON AND MURDER."
Jun D rolled 1 4-sided dice:
3Total: 3 (1-4)
Posted: Mon Nov 09, 2015 11:27 am
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.)
What a nice little family reunion. Far be it for Don Calimari to interrupt them (though he was definitely not above keeping a pricked ear out even as he smiled and ghosted past them). Slowly (after eavesdropping on all he could), the Don made his way to the palm court, eyeing the catwalk...but try as he might, he could not fit past the bars and contented himself with flapping about the top of the palm court instead.
(TOO MANY MIDNIGHT SNACKS FOR DIAMOND. emotion_donotwant)
Jun D Captain
Shoujo Shounen
Offline
EchoLimaFoxtrot
Offline
Posted: Mon Nov 09, 2015 12:05 pm
The Colonel stumbled, quite disorientated from the all spinning. After the stars stopped and he wasn't swaying on his hooves anymore, he blinked as he looked around. Slowly, he could see start seeing the library. At a loss on where to start searching, the Colonel took a small step towards the west side of the library.
