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Post by Gelquie on Dec 31, 2012 19:59:13 GMT -5
Gelquie stares at the food and sighs, not willing to be the first to try the food. She had no way of telling whether the servant was lying, and she decided to wait for the others to try the food first.
"So we find out that the apples had pesticides and we think the brandy is also a poison. Were the apples just to lead us on a false trail? ...Or is it something about the pesticides that activates the poison in the brandy? And then Millie..."
Gelquie paused for a moment before shaking her head and walking to the far end of the room, as far away from the others as possible.
"Bah. How much more of this death business are we expected to take?" She muttered to herself as she lay down in one of the beds.
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Post by Draco on Dec 31, 2012 20:32:49 GMT -5
Draco walks over and grabs a loaf of bread and begins to munch on it. He then hops into the bed Gelquie was laying in, sitting on the edge.
"We best eat now and be prepared tomorrow. Otherwise you'll just be all the more hungry tomorrow, possibly eating the real poison then."
He shakes the bread a little at Gelquie, crumbs falling on the bed. He brushes them off a little.
"I'm really getting curious about the queen now, is anyone else? She seems to know a lot about this poison, has a mirror that can tell us stuff, doesn't want to speak to anyone, and it was the princess who asked us for help, not the queen. Something fishy is going on here... There's something brewing here."
He hops off the bed, leaving a loaf behind. He goes and begins to eat a little more of what was left.
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Post by ♥ Azzie on Dec 31, 2012 21:43:08 GMT -5
Azzie sat on her bed, running her hands over the blankets. She smiled a bit; they were so soft. She made a move to lie down, then thought better of it and got up to take some food.
"This is all so weird," she commented. "I don't know about you guys, but I have no idea what's going on." She carried her food- a bit of bread with some cheese on it- back and sat upright on her bed, covering her feet with it. "Sure is nice of them to let us stay here, though."
When Azzie finished her snack, she lay down and snuggled into the blankets. "Real nice..."
She frowned, looked back at the food table, rubbed the blanket a bit again, and squeezed her eyes shut. After a moment she turned, opened her eyes to stare at the ceiling, and stayed that way for a long time.
Eventually fatigue overcame her, however, and her eyes drooped shut as she slipped into sleep.
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Post by Amneiger on Jan 2, 2013 10:38:40 GMT -5
"I wonder if the Princess can help us get an audience with the Queen?" Amneiger nibbled on a piece of jerky. "Except for what Draco said...the Princess does seem suspicious. If we tell the Princess that we want to see the Queen, and if the Princess is the culprit, she might decide to make sure we never see the Queen."
"...Where is the Queen, anyway? If the Princess won't let us see the Queen, maybe we can sneak in ourselves."
Amneiger pondered what he'd just said for a moment.
"Actually, let's not sneak in. That would just get our heads on pikes."
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Post by Fraze on Jan 2, 2013 13:38:18 GMT -5
You're awoken in the morning by a servant, and led into the dining hall. The breakfast is much like the dinner you had the night before.
The Princess is here, along with some servants. When you were in the dining hall last night, the place was a bustle of activity; now, it's quiet save for the patter of footsteps.
The Princess stands as you arrive. You bow. She gestures for you to sit, and you do. You tell her what you learned. She seems surprised to hear that you suspect both the apple pie and the brandy.
"But surely it would be either one or the other?" she asks. "If the apple pie was already poisoned, why would the brandy need to be so as well?"
"That's the thing, we really don't know yet," you answer. "But we're going to do our best to figure it all out.
You talk some more, and eventually the princess leaves. Another servant leads you to the wine cellar. It's down in the lowest level of the castle.
You search the wine cellar thoroughly. The bottle from the banquet doesn't appear to be there, and none of the labels on any of the other bottles or barrels have anything like the mark that you found on the suspicious brandy bottle. Nothing else in the room appears to be out of place.
"Where is the bottle of brandy that was in use at the banquet?" you ask the servant who's attending to you.
"All of the food and drink from the banquet is being stored separately."
"How is the wine cellar inventoried?"
"It--uh, each time a something is removed it gets marked down. We know how many of each item are in the cellar, so we can always check if something is missing."
"Has anything gone missing recently?"
"No one steals from here, if that's what you're asking. The King is--was--very strict about the alcohol supply." The servant gets a look of distant terror.
A thought strikes you. "Where is the poison kept?"
"Poison? I don't think we keep anything like that laying around."
"We were told that the gardeners use pesticides."
"Oh, that." The servant calms down a bit. "It's kept in the dungeons, just a bit farther down this hall."
Another servant shows up at this point. "Begging your pardon," she says, speaking to the players. "Mr. Maxwell has asked me to tell you that--" she pauses, trying to remember the message exactly. "You have permission to examine the brandy bottle from the banquet, as well as its contents. You may test it in any way you see fit, as long as you don't damage the bottle, don't use up all of the liquid in it, and don't add anything to it." The new servant dismisses the first one, and follows along with you.
"Do you know where in the castle the food from the banquet is being kept?"
"I'm sorry, but I don't." The servant looks a bit embarrassed. It looks like you'll have to find it yourself.
((Hint: Murders can be spooky, and tend to splatter.
Just like with the last clue, post it in a spoiler when you find it!))
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Post by Huntress on Jan 4, 2013 9:20:03 GMT -5
On account of two days having passed, we feel that a new clue might be in order, just for kicks.
"That'll teach them to have a party in late October."
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Post by ♥ Azzie on Jan 4, 2013 17:03:07 GMT -5
 Now you need to test it for poison. Somehow. "I found it!" Azzie yelled after they'd all been searching for quite a while. "At least I think this is it. Is it?" She sniffed the outside of the bottle but, having no idea what poison was supposed to smell like, this did her little good. |
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Post by Kristykimmy on Jan 4, 2013 17:45:01 GMT -5
Kristy the Boo ran up to Azzie, glad someone finally found it.
"Yay for Azzie," she cried. "Okay, so how do we test this for poison?" she gives Draco a snarky look, remembering the apples. "Maybe Draco wants to taste it?"
((Seriously, yay for Azzie. Maybe I'm just bad at figuring out the clues, but I've been looking for the last two days with no luck. You rule, Azzie.))
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Post by Draco on Jan 4, 2013 22:42:31 GMT -5
Draco chuckles a little.
"It has crossed my mind. But I can't just wash off poison from a liquid, so I'll pass."
He looks around at the others.
"So, how do we test it?"
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Post by Celestial on Jan 5, 2013 11:09:43 GMT -5
Celestial frowns, taking out her pipe again and chewing on the end.
"If we still had access to Mage Manor, we did have some fantastic alchemists there with us who could have tested it. But, as such we're going to have to go with a more...traditional method. One which is less pleasant."
She took out the pipe and sighed. "We need four small animals. Mice would probably be the easiest to find around here. We take them, feed one just the wasp poison, feed another the brandy, the third both things and leave the fourth as a control," she said sombrely. As much as the idea of killing small animals sickened her, there did not seem to be any other way.
Unless...
"The queen is a chemist, right? Perhaps we could ask her if she knows anything about this subject?" Celestial remarked, putting the pipe back into her mouth and taking a puff of air.
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Post by ♥ Azzie on Jan 5, 2013 11:29:33 GMT -5
"Yes, the Queen!" Azzie piped up quickly. "Let's ask her!"
She dearly hoped the others would agree.
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Post by Kristykimmy on Jan 5, 2013 13:59:51 GMT -5
Kristy the Boo grimaces at the idea of doing that to mice.
"Please, let's keep that for the absolute last resort. Let's go see the queen, like right now," Kristy chimes in.
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Post by Fraze on Jan 5, 2013 15:04:38 GMT -5
As if on cue, a servant steps up to the players. "Pardon me, but I have a message here from the Queen. She has asked that you read it at your earliest convenience." The servant hands you an envelope. The royal wax seal is unbroken. You open it, and see a short letter written in a dignified, flowing script. It is my understanding that you have been investigating the death of my late husband, the King. I have been following your investigation with great interest, and I have no doubt that you are equally interested in speaking with me.
Test the contents of the suspected brandy bottle for poison. When you have come to a conclusion, report your findings to the butler Maxwell. He will make a public announcement to the castle. I will agree to meet with you upon your completion of this task. |
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Post by Kristykimmy on Jan 5, 2013 16:16:23 GMT -5
Kristy the Boo frowns after reading the letter and looks towards Celestial.
"Well, that's out. Is there any other way to test this without using the mice method? I'd really like not to use that method. Aren't there any other chemists around? The queen can't be the only one, can she?"
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Post by Pixie on Jan 5, 2013 23:30:31 GMT -5
"I wish to point out that as much as I hate killing innocent creatures, Celestial has a efficient method. However. I think we should do the experiment with the wasps that would die anyway. This way no mice die, the creatures that hurt people do, and we can get to the bottom of this mess." Ellen chimes in.
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