HALLOWEEN 2015- MURDER MYSTERY CYOA

[Scaramouche Fandango]

Round the Seventh

Talk to [NPC]

Habeus Corpses: “Thirty thousand?” Habeus said with a bit of a laugh. “Try twenty million. That’s how much he’d given in sum. I think the thirty thousand you’re talking about was a private donation for a gala they’re having in a couple months for the hospital board. They were working on getting a few artists from the Met to do a Four Tenors sort of deal for entertainment. He’d mentioned it at our last meeting; they were going to go to the opera, then she and someone from the board of directors were going to come back here and hash things out over drinks. I don’t know if the check’s been cashed yet; the benefit isn’t for a while."

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: The cook nods, a somber look on her face. “Oh yes, that’s why I have to keep such a tight ship. There were those years that Penny Earned was strictly vegan- and then there’s all of Moneybags’s allergies. Soy, tree nuts, peanuts- he has… had… that entire complex. Legumes and nuts just tended to throw him for a real loop! Chocolate, too- he was extremely sensitive to theobromine. He’d been meeting with some doctor, Scratch and something, about it- but I don’t know if they had figured anything out. We have to be very strict about it; no nuts in the entire house, and chocolate only in limited quantities and on limited occasions."

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. While searching the kitchen, Bitter Pill and Diamante get it in their heads to check the cabinets- they seem a likely place to put something away. They doesn’t find the missing wine list, but the kitchen searchers do notice that the dishes and cups are stacked immaculately in sets of eight- except for the wine glasses. There’s only seven of those.

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)
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]
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

The spiders have constructed a tiny flamethrower with a book of matches and part of an old squirt gun. How has this happened?

Palm Court

This room has pretty much been abandoned. Diamond hovers at the top and notices something moving in one of the trees. It rustles quietly and ominously.

You can...
A: Return to the landing
B: Search the bathroom
C: Search the art gallery
D: Search the reading room
E Investigate the mysterious rustling.

Trophy Room

Trophy Room: In addition to the not-so-smoking gun, there’s one more thing of some potential interest in the trophy room that nobody had noticed. Under the hippo, there’s a glass with a little whiskey residue and half a lipstick print on it. Sticky Fingers has no trouble using the spinning panel and finds himself in the library.

Sitting Room

Nobody is in this ransacked room.

Office

The chaos of the office has been left behind.

Powder Room/Restroom

This restroom is quiet now.

Library

In the northern part of the library, Brass Tacks sees it first. A scrap of translucent paper under a table. Curiously, he picks it up. It’s… a label. To a vial of epinephrine; there’s an expiration date printed on it, but it’s not for another three weeks. Interestingly, it’s for a vial much, much larger than typically prescribed; the entire dose here could be lethal. And hadn’t there been a syringe someone found? Curious. Sea Major shoves away the rug, which reveals the floorboards. There’s a hole in one of them that looks as though it was gnawed by rodents. In the western part of the library, a chubby rat darts out from between the shelves. It climbs up a table leg and immediately starts grooming itself, washing its little hands and tugging at its whiskers. Its bright eyes twinkle in the flashlight beams. It squeaks and chitters as it scratches its ear. There’s also some nylon rope fibers on the ground, but the rat is much cuter. More nylon fibers can be found in the southern part of the library as well, practically ground into the carpet.

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

There doesn't seem to be anybody living in here.

The Lounge

As Quarter Mane sinks into a sofa, it wheezes and groans. Old furniture does that sometimes. What old furniture typically doesn't do is have strange pokey lumps in it- which this one does. Investigating the couch cushions, Quarter Mane finds...

That this couch has been terribly constructed.

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).

The Reading Room

The reading room is a large, comfortable room with wide tables and several chairs. It functioned as a workroom for Moneybags and for his children- Penny and Penny have memories here- this is typically where they did their schoolwork, after all. The room is usually well-lit by skylights; now it is occasionally lit by flashes of lightning. The rain is incredibly loud on the tempered glass windows. The room’s plush rug muffles the sound of any footsteps. There is a pile of documents on one of the tables; it looks like property deeds to various businesses. Nothing seems to have been changed- it just looks like somebody was filing them. There are some boxes on the shelves that go around the room as well; they’re just cardboard bank boxes with lids on them.

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).

The Bathroom

The upstairs guest bathroom is even more luxurious than the bathroom downstairs. This one has a tub. A giant, round marble tub, with jets and bubblers and a button for foam. The spout is shaped like a whale, and the taps are leaping dolphins with engraved eyes. A pile of fluffy towels sits next to the tub; unlit candles are clustered on the steps leading up to it. There’s a toilet cubicle with an empty trash can as well. One wall of the bathroom is lined with a marble counter with two in-set sinks; the mirrors above them are outlined with old-fashioned Hollywood style light bulbs. The counters under the sink are full of hair-care products and toiletries, but the most interesting and obvious thing in this bathroom is a key sitting next to one of the sinks. It looks like it might go to a locked door.

You can:
A: Search the art gallery
B: Search the locked bedroom
C: Search the reading room
D: Search the lounge

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

show spoilerhide spoiler

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

 

[EchoLimaFoxtrot]

UGH! A rat! The colonel lets out a not-so-masculine squeal while he jumped back. It might have been a cute rat but rodents were not on his list-of-appreciation (maybe because he kind of resembled one what with his eyes and all). The nylon fibers he sees is looked over. It might mean something, it might now. He continued to look around the Library and tries to see what is in the shadows.

(Attempt to find the stairs)  

[Maxx D]

D. Use hidden corridor to access the Sitting Room

Vigorish nodded and grunted, annoyed at the very salty reminder of the debt good ol' Moneybags had so conveniently left behind, wishing he had nabbed the cheque instead of the child. Noting, with a suspicious eye, that the lawyer had also neglected to address his question about being a beneficiary and their presence, he swept away - there was nothing more he was going to get out of her on this topic. Galloping through the secret tunnel of the Dining Room, it was time to move towards more fruitful areas of the mansion.  

[cursedandwandering]

A-Search the art gallery.
Well, the lounge was a total bust. Running a hand through his hair, Quarter Mane decided to see how Delegator was doing in the art gallery. Maybe the hot headed yes man was having better luck in the other room.

As he strolled down the hall towards the gallery he spotted a few other guests heading into the reading room. "HI! GOOD LUCK WITH YOUR ADVENTURES OLD CHAPS!" He giggled, waving as he passed by.

The art gallery was amazing! The hunter's eyes went wide as he entered the room, ogling all the paintings as he passed them by. There certainly were a lot of cute girls in these paintings. The stallion winked at the Moona Lisa as he passed by. But, what he wasn't seeing was the stallion he came up with.

"CARAMELL! Oops- I mean DELEGATOR! WHERE ARE YOU?" He called, peeking into the Greek Vases to search for the other phony. Of course, he knew it was quite impossible that his sist-friend was inside one of them, but it certainly did seem comical.  

[Fea Line]

C: Search the guest bedroom

Del picked up the black book he had found hidden beneath a sheet, flicking through the pages, eyes squinted shut. Some were missing, torn. "By my dollar bills who..." he paused again, scrunching up his nose as he gazed over the wine list. Surely Wine About It wasn't that careless.... the drunken ninny. At least she had nice legs.... But why would this be up here and hidden beneath a sheet?

Because someone was trying to get rid of it obviously! Tucking the book into a saddle bag, Del took one last glance around. Could there be more secrets to find in here? Maybe. Thoughts were starting to circle around in his head. "I'll find whoever you are you b*****d that killed the old b*****d!" Del spat before his ears perked towards the distant sound of his name... both names.. being called.

Ahh Paws...Quarter Mane. Shaking his head he made his way towards the door to test if he could open it from this side and get out. He didn't really fancy having to climb back through that tunnel. When he was able to get the door open he poked his head out, catching movement out of the corner of his eye. It looked like Quarter Paws had just entered the art room... but Delamell's gaze went else where.

Guest bedroom. What secrets waited inside? Del could only find out! Maybe the missing pages of this book were hidden inside somewhere in there. Moseying over to the door Del turned the lock and stepped inside. Glancing around the room, Del tried to spot anything that looked immediately suspicious or out of place. "What went on in here Moneybags, hmmm?" He started for any drawers or nightstands first to see if they held anything of interest. In particular he he ruffled through any papers hoping to see if any matched the black book.  

[Magician Arcana]

[Search the Library South]

Sticky Fingers yelped as the pannel swallowed him and then spit him out onto the ground of the library. With shaky hooves he pushed himself up and tried, desperately and in vain, to make the room stop spinning. Walking away from the spinning panel, he found himself in the Southern part of the library. Wait. A library?


Sticky Fingers wouldn't probably care about a library, but his... er... other self sure as heck did. Wow, someone must have been rich wait a second he KNEW that already. He couldn't fight the urge to take a closer look at every tome.  

[o1234566789]

C: Search the wine cave

Bitter Pill tapped her chin upon noticing the missing wine glass. "Diamante...look here!" she exclaimed. "There's a missing wine glass...d-do you think it was what was used to do the ol' stallion in?" The pink unicorn was ecstatic. She felt they were very close to finding something very big.

"Let's go ahead and check the wine cave like we came here to do. Then maybe me can talk to Wine About It on our way out." She motioned to the small pegasus to follow her into the wine cave.

purplerosesbeauty

emotion_bigheart

 

[Atmadja]

Clementine heard the Colonel's yelp and turned her head sharply to see what was the matter. Immediately, she saw the cause of the commotion: a rat, in this beautiful old house! A RAT! What on earth--someone would have to answer for this! How DARE they get to such disrepair that RATS were coming out of the woodwork, literally!

Shifting her weight--and sending a glare after the person who suspected her of all people, she moved to the library west to continue her search there. She paid close attention to the floorboards here, and shifted books around, as well as the furniture. Rats! Were there more? How bad was the disrepair in the household, anyway? She would be talking to Fuschia after this...  

[elvyralani]

Satin Doll, having not apparently found a thing, decided to move onto the sitting room. From what she could tell there wasn't anybody in there at the moment, maybe a previous searcher had missed something.

D: Search the sitting room  

[frozen_flames06]

C: Search the library west

Find some books about dead poets but not about the house history, Book Smart carefully put down the dark blue book. Turning to the west direction, hopefully he can find some books about the history of this house. Perhaps the answer of who the killer is lies within a book. Barely registering others around him, he started to look at the books with care. Whoever put the books in here, did it with such chaos. A book of lost love shoved harshly with a book about the mysteries of the stars, a book about mind puzzles sitting next to a book a fairy tales, just to name a few.

Oh if Obi could only live in here....and take ALL the books  

[Tristam Lockhart]

Ruriska

Brass gently guide her away from the other stallion, glad to see that he took the hint."Had quiet the adventure, My darling? Did you find anything interesting besides that horrid book?"He puleld a seat for her and raised an eyebrow at the small piece of paper. He picked up, frowning at the label. "This is distressing. First a syringe in the bathroom, and now a prescription. Epinephrine?"

"I wonder if it has to do with whoever owned that coat..." He mused outloud to his fiance. "Let's take a look around, we might find a bit more here"

A: Search the library north
 

[thyPOPE]

A. investigate the boxes (but really the papers?? idk ahah)
What Pennybags hadn't missed about his sister was how inadequate she made him feel. "Uh," he said, shaking his head. "I didn't touch it?" He didn't really know what else to say. "But it was a revolver, and there weren't any in the photos of him, or in the case." That had been about all he'd seen before he'd run into the panel, which...well. He hadn't really looked back.

He shook his head at her apology, though, maybe accustomed to it. "I know we're both worried," he said. Then, while she was peeking at the boxes, he went through the papers, glancing between him and the more full-looking boxes. Was anything out of order? Misplaced? What had his father been looking at recently?

Astraea Pandora

ffff SORRY ABOUT THAT Q_Q ;;

 

[zippedsiren]

Look for the stairs

Torts was getting bored with her search in the library. While the hole in the floor boards did seem interesting, she was not keen to find a rat there, perhaps someone else would have a better look. She decided to try her hand at searching for those darn stairs to the second floor instead.