A: Talk to Wine About It Diamon - Don Calimari looked right and left at the guests and staff, feeling quite important in his pressed suit and trilby, cocked just so. Such a pity about poor Moneybags, he'd always liked the old stallion. Such a pity. Strolling (fluttering, at stallion eye level) over to Wine About It, he slotted between the two already questioning her, shaking his head.
"Such a pity about poor Moneybags," he said, "such a pity. You must be so upset, dear Wine."
He smiled understandingly at her, but under the black brim his eyes speculatively gleamed - he'd come calling at his old friend's house often enough to know how much she loathed her employer, yet here she was, more shaken, or stirred, than he'd imagined she'd be. The Don hardly suspected that they would find a bloody corkscrew in the trash, but perhaps Wine About It knew a little more than she'd let on. Some killers needed liquid courage, and her hooves had power over enough liquid courage to fuel a battalion.
Posted: Wed Nov 04, 2015 9:38 am
Round the Second
Talk to [NPC] [Specify which- Habeus Corpses, Rank and File, Fuchsia Fussbudget, Wine About It]
Habeus Corpses: Oh lovely, the kid was on the table. Rolling her eyes, Habeus Corpses picked up Cutie Honey with her magic and held her at eye level for a bit. “Look here, sweetie,” she said. “I don’t think you know very much about how grownups work. Your grandpa was a very important man, and I am not his only lawyer. I am on his estate team- do you know the word estate? It means that your grandpa was so vastly wealthy that he needed quite a few of us. Now, I am the executor of his will. That means I make sure it’s carried out. But others helped work on it; helped divide assets. This was done by somebody on the inside. This isn’t my house- I don’t live here, and it’s not my job to babysit your grandpa. Now why don’t you run along? There’s a playroom on the second floor if you can find the stairs. There’s a dollhouse the size of a studio apartment up there.” She placed the squirming child down and shook her head- there was something decidedly sticky about children. “As for how the letter got there… that I don’t know. The envelope was sealed- tamper evident. Look, it’s got the firm’s watermark on it. But… he could have gotten another one somewhere. It’s not a forgery- nobody’s quite that sophisticated. And it’s not like we only worked on it here- while the groundwork was laid in his office here, he came in many times to my firm, raving about some new change. At one point, he was going to leave his entire fortune to start a home for abandoned dogs. Then he was going to give it all to some pharmaceutical company doing research on- I don't even know, something on allergies. He had… moods, you see. I'd thought we'd gotten through to him, explained the lawsuits that could arise after his death, explained what might happen to the businesses he'd worked so hard on..."
Rank and File: Rank and File spoke with an air of casualness that demonstrated how little he cared about the goings-on. “Of course I know things that you don’t. Like the pension he left his retainers. I don’t really care who killed the old b*****d-“ he pronounced it baah-staahd, drawling out the vowels- “I’m walking out of this with a cool five million and nothing can change that. That’s plenty to retire on.” From somewhere in his coat, he took a drink and surveyed the gathered guests cooly. “Madame, I’ve been here for years. The fact that you’re not the sort of person who notices house staff… well, that says something about you, doesn’t it? At least his wives knew I existed,” he sniffed. “And don’t think the elevator’s in poor repair; it simply draws too much power. If we turned it on, we’d risk blowing the generator. The power went out about twenty minutes after the storm started. The lines out here are still above ground, and the transformer down in the valley blew.” He took another drink and thought for a moment. “You know, the master was acting a bit strangely as of recent. He wanted to reopen the East Wing and renovate the house, despite him never expressing interest in the past. It’s haunted, you know. ‘Twas always his wife’s part of the house.” The butler knew that at least some of them knew this- after all, Bitter Pill had lived here. “You might remember her. He always said the ghost of her lingered there- and who’s to say it didn’t?”
Fuchsia Fussbudget: The housekeeper batted her eyes at the question. "Because none of us did it. None of us were on duty when he was killed. I'd clocked out for the day and neither I nor Rank and File were in the house. We'd gone into town for dinner- if you call down to the Thirsty Turtle, they'll tell you we were there. We're something of regulars. Chop Chop- that's the cook, she's around somewhere- and Wine About It had gone home hours before. It was the night after his birthday celebration. He had opened all of his presents- they’re in the Sitting Room, if you want to see what he got. I tidied up and then we left. We came home but not through the main entrance- we just went directly to our quarters like we tend to do. It's quieter. I woke up the next morning and he was dead in bed when I went to go in and clean. Stiff as a board, with his eyes all bulgey. I phoned the police immediately.” She fanned Clementine. "Why don't we get you a refresher, ma'am? I must say, it's such a shame about the will. He'd said some strange things recently- I think there was nothing but spite in that man's heart. He was constantly meeting with his lawyers and with a contractor- he had this idea that the East Wing needed reopening. The only thing that part of the house needs is to be torn down."
Wine About It: Wine About It nodded at Lucky Clover. "“Sure thing, darling. What’s your favorite wine? I’m awful partial to good Chateaubriands from the late 70s, early 80s. Or champagne, any vintage. I like the bubbles. It’s got to be real champagne, though- the stuff from Napa just doesn’t cut it. The boss man was so picky. It was downright obnoxious. You should have seen him when somebody gave him a bottle of cheaper stuff for his birthday- he didn’t even send him a thank you note! Tell you what, I’ve got some real nice sparkly stuff up here; how about a bellini? There’s peach nectar in the fridge.” She reached over the guest rooting through the fridges. One of the fridges held fresh produce; one was dedicated to meats and cheeses; the third held mixers and various beverages. Nothing too incriminating or out of the ordinary- although it looked like somebody had been skimming off the container of caviar in the meat and cheese fridge. “Bellinis all around! I’m… thank you for asking. It’s- do you have any idea what it was like being his sommelier? He was so unbelievably specific. Most enthusiasts like a variety of things; they’ll collect Italian reds or French whites or wines casked in oak or what have you. Not Moneybags. No, he had the damn fool idea to be a synchronic specialist. Only wines from 1918-1920. And he was damn stingy with what he’d let me taste- he didn’t give a damn about pairings, only about the vintage and how much he’d spent on it. He got this bottle of Malbec for his birthday from somebody, a 1919. Wouldn’t even let me catalog it properly- I only got a little bit of the information entered- and when I corked it, he wouldn’t let me have a sip first to recommend a cheese pairing. I don’t even know why he kept me on staff, other than to say he had a sommelier. Now there’s this huge collection of wine and the inventory’s gone missing. I came in this morning and it was gone. I tore this place apart- but... it looks like somebody's taken it. I think it must have been the butler or the maid- trying to skim off the collection, maybe.” As she poured the wine cocktails (or, in one case, the peach nectar/seltzer combo) and passed them around. "If you find a black leather book with a bunch of wines written down in it, let me know. I'm going to stick around here and keep looking." After the wine, she sent them on their way... but put a hoof on Judge Fudge's shoulder before he could get out of there. The mare playing Wine About It was conflicted. On the one hoof, she could lose her job as a volunteer. On the other, she was kinda drunk and didn’t really want to answer more questions. On the third, the guy playing Judge Fudge was kinda hot. What would her character do? Would she sleep with one of the house guests?
Hell yeah she would, she hated this job. “You. Me. Wine cave. Let’s make like a cheap bottle of premade sangria and get funky."
Parlor
The silverware and china are… decidedly not untouched. Somebody- a long time ago, from the look of the dust- has taken away a teapot and two sets of cups and saucers. Two teaspoons are missing, as well, like a child would take from a tea party. Rooting around in the vases, Moneypenny found two objects of interest. The vase on the left hid a few individually-wrapped candies- chocolate bonbons with various centers- orange, peanut butter, cherry. The vase on the right held ashes and scorch marks. It looks like somebody burned something surreptitiously in this vase- there’s a corner of a torn photograph, but it’s very hard to make out what it was. The ashes don’t even smell burned anymore; whoever did this did it ages ago. While Penny was shooing her nephew away from the vases, she saw something in the vase- a corner of a torn photograph, long-burned. She recognizes the background from her youth- it’s a room in the now closed-off East Wing, meaning the picture was likely of her mother. Suddenly, there was a horrible scrabbling noise. One of the portraits has been removed from the wall, and the spiders that were nesting behind it are furious. Literally thousands of tiny spiders start pouring out from the crack in the wall.
You… better leave. And not come back for a while.
You can… A: Calmly walk back to the dining room B: Side-step into the great room and pretend this never happened C: Scream for help D: SPRINT BLINDLY OUT OF THERE (roll a d20)
Kitchen
The brief wine reception in the kitchen didn’t really interrupt anybody’s searching of the room. The trash, which didn’t seem to be too old, was full of eggshells, banana peels, and other food scraps. The recycling bin, right next to the trash can, has boxes, cans, and pretty standard trash. The only things out of the ordinary are receipts for pan-Asian takeout. Wine About It’s name is on the bottom of them. The receipts all have an order of egg rolls and an order of pot stickers, but the entrees are different. They include beef chow mein, egg foo young, soba noodle, chicken satay (no sauce), hot and spicy shrimp, and Peking duck. Looks like she ordered in quite a bit. The dishes are all in their proper place, as are all the knives in the knife block. Nothing looks out of place in the pantry, either. The western end of the kitchen has double doors leading to the servants’ quarters; these are firmly locked. If there’s another way in or out of here, it’s not obvious.
You can… A: Search the dining room B: Talk to an NPC [HC, FF, RaF] C: Search for another way out (Roll a d20)
*note: this includes the folks who talked to Wine About It!
Great Room
The cavernous Great Room is quite intimidating in the dark. A sweep of the room reveals a few more details easily missed at first pass. Those who investigated the elevator cage find nothing; it’s an elevator, plain and simple. Well, not plain at all. The brass fixings are beautiful; the grille is decorated with burnished curlicues and geometric rivets. It is truly a work of art. But it holds no obvious clues… and definitely won’t get you up to the second floor. It’s in perfect repair, it’s just off. Upon closer inspection, the book is discovered to be an ornately-bound copy of Marcus Aurelius’s Meditations. Moneybags must have been reading it at some point. There are no obvious notes in the margins or anything; the book seems to just be a book. Closer inspection of the piano reveals some sheet music slumped over on the stand- Duke Ellington’s “Satin Doll.” Of all the pieces… The piano is in tune, if somebody wanted to play.
In the murky dark, you can see the doors to a few more rooms. Towards the immediate front of the house is Moneybags’ office; next to it is the trophy room. The office appears to be in some disarray; in your flashlight’s beam, you can just make out a piece of overturned furniture. Nothing looks quite amiss in the trophy room. In the near distance, you can hear the sound of trickling water. The palm court is an indoor conservatory; the three-story room is the tallest in the house. Situated under glass skylights, it is host to a great number of plants and has a lovely water feature- a small river that circles the room. Unfortunately, it is too dark to see anything specific in this huge room.
If you are in the Great Room, you can:
A: Search the office B: Search the trophy room. C: Search the dining room (or talk to one of the NPCs within) D: Search the palm court (roll a d20)
Dining Room
As Vigorish ransacked the dining room, he found some incredibly interesting papers. Shoved into the back of a drawer, a set of detailed notes about place settings, serving order, and kitchen protocols is scribbled on some notecards. These are instructions for outside help, brought in for fancy parties. It's not particularly useful... except for the note about how to access the hidden service corridor that goes from the dining room, around the kitchen, and opens into the sitting room. All one has to do is press lightly on a panel obscured from easy viewing by a tall hutch to open it from the dining room side. It would have been impossible to find without these notes.
A: Talk to [NPC] [HC, FF, RaF] B: Search Kitchen C: Search Great Room D: Use hidden corridor to access the Sitting Room- everybody but Vigorish, who found the corridor, must roll a d10. 10, 9, 4, and 3 succeed and can search the sitting room.
...and the Others...
As Honey Belle and Objection! went off and explored, something creaked and groaned. A panel in the floor opened up and the two of them found themselves falling, too quick to even scream. They were somewhere dark- somewhere that smelled like mold. Something glimmered in the dark in front of them for a moment; a brief second of candlelight, something shining- and then a brief whiff of smoke as the darkness took over.
zippedsiren
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LOLLI qAq
It still amuses me that LaLo is playing a sweet little boy.
A- Search the office Paws Button flashed a grin at her sister, gently nudging the other mare playfully.
"Now listen here ol' chap. A little touching isn't going to hurt this boring old book, alright?" Quarter scoffed, quickly losing interest in the piece of writing. "Here, you can keep it." He shoves the tome into the stallions hooves before resuming his search.
Eyes narrowed he skulks his way through the room, occasionally sniffing some of the guests. What did a murderer smell like? Well, in a house where everyone was searching for them he could only imagine... Prey. A smirk spread across his face as he slinked into the office, eyes gleaming at the sight of the overturned furniture. Now if this wasn't the sign of a struggle he wasn't sure what was.
Perhaps Moneybags had gotten in a little spat with his killer here before his untimely end? Quarter Mane thought as he observed the mess, righting the fallen pieces to see if anything was underneath them. His eyes keenly trained on the floor for signs of hoof prints or scraps of paper.
Posted: Wed Nov 04, 2015 10:13 am
TACO shuddered with antici....
pation as the mare led him down the stairs toward the wine cave. Not only was he going to get lucky, but he also was going to have the chance to explore an area without any other players around. And as a perk, with the wine inventory list missing, no one would notice if they shared a bottle or two.
Then again, it was in game wine list that was missing. The people running the event may actually have a detailed list of what they had... and very likely, all the "old bottles of wine" were likely just cheap wine with fake labels on the front for the effect. Or TACO was overthinking it. Acting was hard. He was much better at other types of performance.
Speaking of, he reached the wine cave, and had a brief look around to find the best spot to get busy on. Doing it on a cave floor was not really his thing. He could lay down his cape (of course Judge Fudge was wearing a cape, why wouldn't a judge need a cape) to keep from getting dirty, but he really didn't want it to resort to that.
"Don't worry babe, I won't judge you too harshly."
---
After banging his gavel for a bit, TACO made his way back to the rest of the group in the Kitchen. It seemed that they were pulling on a bunch of doors, trying to get out. That generally seemed like a good idea, and he thought it might be best to search for another way out.
He grabbed at random things, hoping one of them would open a secret door, though really, he was a bit tired now, and wasn't trying very hard.
Fantasia decided to... Talk to Rank and File, again.
Although she talked to Rank, Torts overheard snippets of the other conversations, it was hard not to , when they were all in the same room. She was intrigued by the birthday party and presents, but also how Moneybags seems to change his mind willy-nilly about investing in different things. Dogs? Allergies? So strange!
The story of the a haunted east wing intrigued her the most however, but the house was so monstrously huge, she knew that she could easily get lost in there. As a lawyer, she wanted to be direct, affirmative action! Clear paths. Rank and File did tell her one thing of use, that the east wing was once abandoned, but there where plans to rebuild it.. why? That was definitely where she wanted to go. Torts Illustrated looked at Rank and File with sympathy, he clearly only cared about the money he had gotten through the pension. Maybe money was the key to having him open up more.
"You are right, sir. Toiling away all these years, under Moneybags, I know you deserve every penny you've gotten from this incident. I know how you feel, working for someone you're not fond of, in work you could care less for... " Torts was talking about the ex-wife Lucky Clover, her own annoying employer. She was working on buttering him up a llittle, before going in for kill -- in legal terms.
Torts Illustrated whispered into Rank and File's ear " A cool 5 mill can buy a lot, and I bet you wouldn't want anything to come between you and that cash. But you know, there's a lot of legal issues to work through... taxes. You'll need someone to help you ... work the laws in your favor. To keep as much as you can. I could help you, tax law was always one of my favorite areas. But only if you help me. " Torts was being a little slimy, admittedly, but if she wanted to move away from divorce law to prosecution, it couldn't hurt to do a little side for a new client. She paused in speaking, "Help me, I'll help you. What's the best way to get the east wing, if the elevator is out? Secret stairs perhaps, tunnel?"
Sticky Fingers trotted from the elevator back to the center of the great room. While the elevator was gorgeous, and surely led to somewhere secret filled with treasures. The next obvious place for monies galore had to be... The Office!
Entering in carefully, Sticky Fingers allowed his horn to illuminate the room in the dim glow. One piece of furniture was overturned. Curiously, the phone approached it and peeked inside.
Posted: Wed Nov 04, 2015 11:25 am
The Colonel stumbled around the Great Room. His eyes danced towards the piano, debating if he should play. He decided it would be best not to and continued the search. Of all the rooms that his flashlight gleamed through, the office looked the most interesting to him - and so he went back to investigate the drawers and furniture (it would be just like Moneybags to hide something in upholstery...).
First, he might find something to help him later, unrelated to the murder. Maybe a little something-something to help his own career... And if not, maybe there are clues that would allow him to discover the murderer and acquire all of this wealth.
Holly really wished she could figure out what to do. This Sea Major wasn't as easy to portray as she would of thought. However, she knew she had to try her hardest to do so. Maybe Sea Major would play the piano some?
Sheet music? That seemed rather interesting to Sea Major, but not for the purpose of this mystery. Sea Major was really into music, not just opera in general. That was just what she was best and most passionate about. Perhaps the sheet music would be important later? Maybe she could take it with her so no one else found it?
Sitting down at the piano and looking the sheet music over, the mare attempted to play the piece a bit. That way she could better remember the melody for this piece, Duke Ellington’s “Satin Doll', before heading to the palm court to investigate this mansion more. There was no harm in playing the piano right, as long as she moved along to another room soon after? With the piece played, she would then begin to make her way to the palm court to see what she could find there. With her flashlight nearby, she planned to search along the river's edge for clues.
Posted: Wed Nov 04, 2015 5:00 pm
A: Calmly walk back to the dining room
Press stared at the spiders in disbelief. She quickly put the portrait back over the crack and calmly turned around shaking spiders off her hands.
Once back in the dining room she decided to check out the buffet, maybe there was something hidden among the china.
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Posted: Wed Nov 04, 2015 5:12 pm
For one brief moment there was a glimpse of something hard in Clementine's eyes. Then, in he nextt, nothing but grief in tears clouded her expression. There was nothing in that part of the house that she could think of… but it was interesting to know what Fuchsia had said.
"The East wing," she cries. "How very odd! Did he say that he wished it remodeled? What an expensive undertaking… or, just reopened? Oh, FUSCHIA--do you think he lost his mind at the end? Could that be it? Come-- I must have something, a drop of brandy."
Clementine staggered toward a chair, slowed by the weight of her grief. As she went, she looked around herself and the room, trying to see if there was anything amiss. Would the old fool jump out and tell them all he still lived? That they were all scurrying about for naught? Then she really WOULD cry…
Posted: Wed Nov 04, 2015 5:20 pm
Penny as Penny wasn't impressed at the spiders, because as Penny, she would have seen worse in all of the third world places she'd been but as the actual Penny, spiders didn't bother her a bit. So Penny and Penny were both like, "meh."
Choice: A
The ashes and the corner of the photo had been upsetting. Why was someone burning her mother's pictures? It couldn't have been daddy could it? He loved her mother dearly and never quite got over her death. It was probably one of his ex wives. Still...
She merely frowned at Edelweiss, rolling her eyes. That diamond was probably mined by children somewhere and smuggled out of the country in someone's lower intestine all so it could be shaped, mounted on a ring and stuck on her hoof. She was about educate the mare in the ethicacy of the diamond trade when the sound of scrabbling behind her made her turn and she saw Printing Press picking the portraits of her family off the walls and man (phony?) handling (hoofing?) them. "Excuse me!" she barked, ears flat, eyes blazing. "How dare you.." she stopped mid sentence as the wave of tiny spiders emerged from the crack one of the portraits was covering started to cover the wall. Pft, she'd seen bigger while digging wells for the poorest tribes in the deep jungles of the dark continent. Still, being in what was rapidly becoming the spider room wasn't going to solve her daddy's murder, so she turned on her heel and calmly walked into the dining room, shutting the doors behind her. "I hope they eat the lot of you." she mumbled.
The dining room was trashed. Some phony had gone through, opening everything and rooting around in things. She could feel her blood boiling. There were tribes in rainforests who ate bugs and spoke only in melodic tongue clicks who were more polite than those who were trashing the mansion and going through other people's private belongings! If her daddy was alive he'd....
"Fuchsia!" she cried, beckoning the housekeeper over as she picked through the notes and papers that had been rifled through, looking for whatever it was the other phony had been looking for or had found. "Fuchsia.." she kept her voice down. "Is the east wing still locked up? I would really like to get back in there and check on mother's belongings and.." she whispered "I think something related to daddy's death is there as well." . She cleared her throat, glancing warily as Press also emerged from the lounge and at the other phony still around. "Please Fuchsia, for mother and daddy, help me get in there."
Caramell grinned and playfully nudged her sister back before promptly resuming character.
Delegator huffed furiously as Quarter Mane scoffed and shoved the book towards him, claiming no harm came from touching. But of course it did! They were at the house of a murder for pony's sake! "You damn well bet I'l keep it!"" Del spat back, tucking the book neatly under his arm, lips curled in anger.
Snorting, the hothead looked first towards the office then towards the trophy room, deciding to meander towards there. It didn't seem like anything was out of place, but maybe that's what the murderer wanted them to think? How many times had Del set someone to shining the trophies upon Moneybag's command? He had lost count... and to think it was all over with!
Snorting again, Del nosed his way around the room, mumbling incoherent things under his breath as he searched for anything out of the ordinary.
Diamante tsked her tongue as she overheard Fuschia. In his bed? There were better places for him to be murdered, surely? And so close to his birthday. She still held a grudge against her old friend for ruining her marriage, of course, but at this to be honest who didn't? She huffed and wandered more around the dining room, shaking her head at the man who had ransacked the place.
(and here i see if she managed to get into the sitting room?? ok she didn't)
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Aric Val rolled 1 20-sided dice:
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Posted: Wed Nov 04, 2015 6:50 pm
D: Search the palm court (roll a d20)
He was sentimental for a great moment, touching the ornate varnishes and paintings that hung on the walls and tables that decorated the grand room- -- that just seemed so empty and cold right now.
The phony wondered towards the palm court, it had seemed like the biggest place to find something. He had been familiar with most of the places in .. .. he had hoped nothing horrid would jump at him.
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