Murder Mystery '06: On the Island

[Rider]

"LAND HO!"

Kirby bounced up and down on the bow of the ship.

"Hard a port!" Thundy called, waving his hat in the air. Buddy started turning the wheel frantically.

"Buddy, dearest, that's starboard," Ducky said.

"Right is port, left is starboard. I've got it, dearest."

"Buddy, it's not... Thundy's gonna kill you if you break his ship."

"Nothing can damage the Seawolf. She's unsinkable, remember? Thundy said so."

Ducky rolled her eyes. Men...

* * *

"This island reeks of magic," Kat said.

Sammy grimaced. "You get the impression that we're being watched?"

"Like goldfish."

Quaint straw huts were scattered sporadically throughout the island. In groups of two and three, the forumers took up residence in these huts.

There were, to Buddy's dismay, no scantily-clad natives. He and Ducky left soon thereafter to help the rest of the mods clean.

Patjade unloaded the suitcases from the ship. She set up four radios on the north, south, east and west sides of the island. These radios could communicate with each other as well as with the radio in the Splatterboard and the one on the Seawolf.

The south radio crackled to life. "Patjade! Come in, Patjade!"

"Spot!" The Lady Jade picked up the microphone. "Can you hear me?"

"Loud and clear. Look, we have a situation on our hands."

Patjade rolled her eyes. How long had she been gone? A few hours, tops? And already, trouble.

"Several magical scrolls are missing from the Tabloid shop. Including the spy-scrolls. I've been looking for them everywhere, but they're not in the forum."

"You're sure?" Patjade asked incredulously.

"Positive. And I was wondering if... well, if a forumer... you know no forumer would ever take something from another, but... if the scrolls accidentally fell into someone's suitcase... If they were sent back with Buddy and Ducky, I'd be willing to overlook the whole thing."

"Buddy and Ducky have already left. I'll ask around, but..."

She remembered overhearing Kat and Sammy talk about being watched.

"Actually, I think your scrolls might be here."

* * *

"TAG! You're it!"

"Not fair!" Gavvie yelled to Leoness. "I'm slow on land!"

"You beat me in the swimming races, I beat you in tag," Leoness said sensibly. "Go after Nick. He doesn't seem to be doing anything."

"It's too hot to run," Nick complained, collapasing in the sand. "This is a beach, not a dog-racing track, and I- ouch!"

"What is it?" The anthro dolphin and lion-fae rushed over.

"The ground here is hard. There's something under the sand," Nick said. His paws brushed away a thing layer of sand to reveal a gold-grey stone. Scratched in the stone was a code.

01010011.01101111.00100000.01110110.01100101.01101110.0
1100011.01100100.00100000.01100101.01100011.00100000.01
100101.01101000.00100000.01100110.01111001.01100100.011
00001.01101110.00100000.01111001.01101000.01110100.0010
0000.01111001.01101101.01100011.01110101.00100000.01100
101.01101000.00100000.01100100.01100001.01111001.001011
10.00100000.01010011.01101111.00100000.01100011.0110000
1.01101100.01110101.01101000.01110100.00100000.01100101
.01100011.00100000.01100101.01101000.00100000.01110110.
01100101.01100011.01110010.00100000.01110000.01101001.0
1100100.00100000.01101000.01110101.01100100.00100000.01
100101.01101000.00100000.01100100.01110010.01100001.001
00000.01100011.01100001.01111001.00101110.00100000.0101
0011.01101111.00100000.01100100.01110010.01100101.01101
110.01110100.00100000.01100101.01100011.00100000.011001
01.01101000.00100000.01110011.01110101.01101001.0110100
0.01100100.01111001.01100101.01101000.01100011.00100000
.01110000.01101001.01100100.00100000.01101000.01110101.
01100100.00100000.01101001.01101000.01110100.01100001.0
1101110.01101011.01101110.01110101.01101001.01101000.01
110100.00101110.00100000.01010011.01101111.00100000.011
01101.01111001.01100011.01100100.00100000.01100101.0110
0011.00100000.01100101.01101000.00100000.01100011.01100
100.01101110.01100101.01100111.01100001.00100000.011100
00.01101001.01100100.00100000.01101000.01100001.0110101
0.01100001.01101110.00100000.01100101.01101000.00100000
.01100010.01110101.01101001.01101000.01110100.00101110.
00001101.00001010.00001101.00001010.01010011.01101111.0
0100000.01100110.01110010.01110101.01101101.01100001.00
100000.01101100.01101110.01101001.01100011.01110010.011
00001.01100011.00100000.01110011.01110101.01101001.0110
1000.01100100.01111001.01100101.01101000.01100011.00101
100.00100000.01101110.01100101.01101010.01100001.011011
10.01100011.00101100.00100000.01100001.01101010.0110000
1.01101000.00100000.01101100.01100101.01101010.01100101
.01101101.01100101.01110111.01111001.01100100.01100101.
01110101.01101000.01100011.00101110.00100000.01011001.0
1101000.01110100.00100000.01111001.01101101.01101101.00
100000.01100100.01110010.01111001.01100100.00100000.011
01101.01100101.01101010.01100001.00101100.00100000.0111
0110.01100001.01111001.01101110.00100000.01110011.01101
111.00100000.01111001.01101110.01101110.01100101.011010
10.01111001.01101101.00101110.00001101.00001010.0000110
1.00001010.01000110.01110010.01111001.01100100.00100000
.01111001.01110011.00100000.01000101.00111111.

[Gav]

ridergirl333 said:

"Not fair!" Gavvie yelled to Leoness. "I'm slow on land!"

So, so true. How did you find out my weakenss? >> *pokes Rider*

As for that code... it looks like binary to me.

[Rider]

[glow=red,2,300]When you crack the code, PM me please. ^_^[/glow]

[Deleted]

Oooh. I decrypted it! ^_^ *hopes he's right on the guess*

[Random Cameo Neotomi]

brymax406 said:

Oooh. I decrypted it! ^_^ *hopes he's right on the guess*

...you psycho.

[Stal]

((Remember to keep the chit-chat to the speculation thread. We have to keep threads like this clean and with pertinent posts))

[Zylaa]

((You can delete this post, but could you please please please add some returns in the code? It's stretching the page like crazy and it's really bugging me.))

[Spot]

Chelsey sighed happily, enjoying the tropical breeze. There was a chilly hint to it, but she shrugged it off. Some time away from Lycos and Spot would do me good, she thought to herself. Shame I have the chore of searching for new supplies for the tabloid shop, she grumbled as an after note.
She reached into her back pocket to get the list Lycos gave her. She unfolded it, but to her surprise was greeted by this instead:



Too cute to suspect? What's that supposed to mean? Chelsey smiled. Spot's drawing must have gotten mixed up with Lycos' paper. Ah, here's the list, she thought as she pulled out another slip of paper from behind the drawing.
Chelsey looked at the drawing once more, then folded it up, put it in her back pocket, and started looking for some decent souvenirs.

[Rider]

Sunset at the island.

Servi lit a bonfire. Whether it was intentional or not is still a mystery. Elycien, in all her Thirecat glory, somehow managed to make marshmallows appear out of thin air. Everyone gorged themselves silly, putting the day's troubles behind them.

"It's time for ghost stories!" Sammy yelled, slipping her Ember T-shirt on over her bathing suit.

"I've got a good one!" Eri said. "Once upon a time, there was a beaver..."

"No, Eri, real ghost stories!" Sammy insisted. "Ones that will give us all sugar-induced nightmares!"

"Does anyone know any ghost stories?" Huntress asked, shaking droplets from her sea-soaked hair. (Water, not the NT editor.)

There was a cricket-filled silence. (What are crickets doing on a tropical island?)

Finally, Patjade spoke up. "I know a story. It's completely true, too."

Everyone leaned in closer as Patjade began her bone-chilling tale...

* * *

It is said that on those hot summer nights, when crickets chirrup lazily in the hazy golden moonlight, the face of a young man can be seen in the walls of the Catacombs. Sometimes his face appears near the sunlight Neopian surface. Sometimes, one has to travel a long way underground to see it.

He seems sad. All he had in life was his pen and his hopes, and those hopes so quickly were stolen away from him.

His name has been lost to the oblivion of time, but many Catacomb locals refer to him as Johnny Blue. Still others call him Johnny Lost or the Drummer of the Deep.

Surely you’ve heard of the Spirit Wars which, centuries ago, ravaged between the layers of the fabric of space and time? Ghosts from the In-Between, belonging neither here nor there, united and battled fiercely against a thousand worlds in an attempt to take them over and create a utopia of the Lost. My story begins around three-hundred years ago, towards the end of the Spirit Wars in this region. Mages and beasts and angels and demons from every dimension were growing weary. The war on the border of Neopia and the Daemon Worlds was a particular disaster. They were forced to bring physical beings onto the battlefield.

Johnny was a human, a lot like you and I. He had hopes, fears, dreams… and his biggest dream was to become a writer. Every waking hour was spent at his desk, scratching out heart-breaking romances and sorrowful tales of loss. Yet it was inevitable. His country called him to wage war against that which cannot be physically struck. He would be a drummer boy, tapping out orders to the battlefield.

He refused to go.

So many had already died in this terrifying war. So many that crypts were being built underground to store them all. Under Neopia Central, a vast network of Catacombs, a labyrinth of the dead. So many of these graves were unmarked, nameless, souls who made the ultimate sacrifice and then were forgotten.

On the day that he was supposed to report for duty, Johnny found himself wandering among these souls, listening to their despairing whispers and wondering if he might not be among them tomorrow.

How many ghosts wandered, lost in this stone prison? A thousand? A hundred-thousand? A million? How many had fought against the ghosts of other worlds, only to become that which they fought against?

Dusty old memories fell like white down from the stone ceiling. Remnants of war spattered the warm feather-snow like blood. A radiant white kickball game floated like a dandelion seed though there was no wind, no sky, and was struck and tainted by the horrible screams, the clash of steel, the roar of fire and hissing ice. Faster and faster the feather spirals downward, weighted by the burden unbearable and striking Johnny’s shoulders.

Every memory seeped into his sensitive mind, longing to be heard and remembered, needing to leave its mark on one among the living so that its life and death might not be forgotten. Every soul tried to fuse itself with his, knowing that dark oblivion was just around the bend, and clinging to this boy like a life-raft. Every story ever told, experiences real and painful began to fuse with this simple boy. Masterpiece tales, unspeakable tragedies

Like piranhas, the million forgotten ghosts flocked to their prey. Memories of children laughing pierced by screams and roaring hellfire assaulted the boy’s mind like a wave. The power of the spirit world condensed into a ball of grey-glowing desperation, gaining energy all the time but never gaining mass or volume. Every ghost clambered like a drowning man towards the center of the ball, the center of the boy’s soul. Their desperation tore like claws into his skin…

It became too much for him to take. Like a star in the void of space, his soul collapsed in on itself and became like a black hole. The hundreds of thousands of ghosts of the catacombs were devoured by the nothingness that they feared.

A swirling whirlpool… No light…

An eternity of stories, lost.

It is said that the black hole left behind became what we now know as the Underdeep. Gorging itself on our fears and sorrows, it can make them real if only you give it the power. The tattered remnants of the spirit of Johnny Blue still wander around the hell he created. Some see him dressed for war, drumming a heartbeat on his little drum. Others see him as a simple writer, so like you and I.

Indeed, it could happen to anyone. Who is it who decides which rhythms are broken and which spirits are broken and destined to be forgotten forever? Which stories shall find paper and memory, and which, indeed, shall fade?

[Rider]

That night, the island was covered in nightmares.

They crept in the shadows like physical beings, causing even the most uncreative imagination to reel in fright. The spirits of the lost seemed to be present that night, wailing in the depths of oblivion and remembered only as horrors.

The next morning...

"It's a bit odd, isn't it?" Kat said. "We win this vacation and suddenly everything falls apart at home. It's almost like..."

"A conspiracy?" Sammy asked, her face perfectly straight. With a stick, she drew a line in the sand.

"Well... yes," Kat said ashamedly.

"No need to be embarassed. This place gives me the chills. In fact, last night..." Sammy's voice trailed off.

"You felt it too?" Kat asked.

"It felt odd. A type of magic strong and foreign, but it... still reminded me of home."

"Home?"

"The NTWF, rather. It was like something from the forum, but I can't put my finger on it..."

"Something or someone?"

"I... can't say for certain."

There was an awkward silence.

"Sammy," Kat whispered. "We're still beng watched."

[Rider]

Sailing towards the island... a ship...

"WE'RE SAVED!" Kat raced out of her hut and sent purple sparks flying. Leoness threw fireballs into the air to flag the ship down.

And skipping over the boring bits 'cause Rider's gonna get kicked off the computer, the NTWFers were back in the NTWF in the biggest, timeliest, typo-iest deus ex machina in forum history. ^_^ YAY FOURTH-WALL-BREAKING!

*ahem* >.>

In any case, they find the place collapsed, more or less. The Catacombs are in ruins. Walls have been knocked down. But where things are knocked down, things are revealed. And the graveyard-Catacombs give that same, familiar feeling as the island, as if it was all in one's head, or perhaps in one's Voices.

You know what has happened here, more or less. You think you know the name of the murderer.

The murderer's name will reveal the door.

The password is hidden in the reason why the island cried riddles and scrolls. The familiarity of the synthesized prize.

HOW TO: Catch a murderer.

Every board on the NTWF has a keyword. i.e. The URL of the RP baord is: ntwriters.proboards53.com/index.cgi?board=roleplay

The keyword is roleplay.

I have hidden the board, but you can get to it through your URL bar by typing the full screenname of the murderer as the keyword. i.e. If you think I did it, you wouldn't write Rider, you'd write ridergirl333. If you think it's Kyubi, just write Kyubi.

I'm holding you on the honor system. I trust that you're not just going to plug screennames in there until something works.

Oh, and don't make the search for the password more difficult than it needs to be. (The password is case-sensitive, I found that out the hard way.)

Start the search.