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Post by Coaster on Aug 11, 2013 14:52:06 GMT -5
Rob listened quietly as the accusations started to be flung, which reminded him of some game Obi always wanted to play. Acetic Tourney or something like that... Thankfully, he was acquainted enough with the legal system to understand the contempt of court charges and whatnot that would probably be brought up by said game's antics actually occurring, and how much more in the kind of "trial" Miss Macy now enforced.
So, presuming that Miss Macy wasn't the murderer--after all, she wasn't one of the card-carrying guests, even though she had the most motive and access--Rob tried to whittle down the suspects he figured were innocent.
Nor could it have been the piano or the maid he attempted to talk to earlier, even though both have been instruments of murder in many murder classics.
Which meant only one thing.
"Um...listen," she said in a tone that wasn't really commanding at all. "I think it was that girl who's acting scared of this mansion. It seems to me that a murderer would want to put up that kind of pretense to pull suspicion away from themselves!"
...Yes, it had to be the most innocent-seeming person possible.
"I object. It's clearly this girl, contemptuous toward Mr. Woo for only inviting her for her voice, even demanding that she sing in public! In front of this lot of aristocratic buffoons! No offense. For his grand unveiling, what else!"
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Post by Avery on Aug 11, 2013 14:56:31 GMT -5
Frankly, Hanna was fairly relieved when Macy showed up and ordered Hanna's group back to the hall-- because Alexa and the prince had gotten awful whispery, and Hanna was fairly sure they were now in an alliance with the mansion. So she did not complain, as so many others did, about being herded into the basement. Though she did not like the prospect of being locked inside a room in the mansion, she decided the chances were slim the mansion would specifically kill her when there were so many other unsuspecting, easier targets.
"Um...listen," she said in a tone that wasn't really commanding at all. "I think it was that girl who's acting scared of this mansion. It seems to me that a murderer would want to put up that kind of pretense to pull suspicion away from themselves!"
Hanna spun towards the voice. It was that aristocrat, Erika Something. Hanna began to sputter out a retort, but before she could--
"I object. It's clearly this girl, contemptuous toward Mr. Woo for only inviting her for her voice, even demanding that she sing in public! In front of this lot of aristocratic buffoons! No offense. For his grand unveiling, what else!"
"YES! It's you!" she agreed. "Or um-- not, because it's the mansion, but, it's not me. I could never murder someone, I am not evil like mansions! I am a good person, you know. A great person. Just ask my brother Geoffrey. Geoffrey will tell you, I'm very nice. Tell them, Geoffrey! Tell them I am not a murderer, but the mansion is!" A little breathless, she added, "And... and... I think it's the prince and the ginger, in cahoots with the mansion! I was in their group and they... found a bear! A bear! And it was nice to them, which was odd, because bears are not sweet. Clearly the bear was trained by the mansion, as a killer, but it did not attack them because it knew they were ALSO tools of the mansion! YES! That's it! THAT IS IT! Alexa and Stal did it, the team of them, with the mansion for support, and the bear, too! I HAVE IT ALL FIGURED OUT!"
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Post by Thundy on Aug 11, 2013 14:56:59 GMT -5
Manuel was annoyed. His uniform had accumulated some dust and scratches where he'd been sneaking around the mansion looking for clues. He hadn't yet finished ruling out the suspects when he was hurried at gunpoint to the basement. Mostly Manuel had kept to himself, absorbing himself with the problems of tracking down Woo's killer. It was an exercise for the mind, very relaxing. But now all that progress was moot now he was in a room containing (at the very least) one murderer.
He had not even realised he had been paired up earlier with two others. At the time he was in the dining room, looking over some hastily scribbled notes over a glass of Port. Glancing around the room he observed that others where much further down that road and would be waking up with some killer hangovers.
Sighing, he doffed his peaked cap and rubbed his temples. Think. Who had the means, motive, and opportunity?
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Post by Ted (the zombie Dalek) on Aug 11, 2013 15:09:37 GMT -5
Miss Macy had clearly gone mad! Marvin feared what such an unstable woman might be driven to do in a confined space - with so many other unstable people and the fear of being accused and lynched weighing down on everyone present. Marvin hated confined spaces! This night had turned into a calamity! Why did he have such a habit of trusting old friends in spite of their younger eccentricities?
The other guests seemed equally as perturbed, with the exception of a few. How could anyone be expected to keep their head while being corralled towards a subterranean prison, with the threat of being shot if you did not comply?
To make matters worse, somehow he had ended up right behind that Snaw van Peacock fellow. Marvin's distaste for this man could not be put into words. Ever since the unfortunate unveiling he had been strutting about the mansion as if it were his own, and he seemed to be purposely getting in the way of everyone actively trying to bring some order to this investigation.
He decided to seek out Dr. Maize and that nice-looking chap from earlier. They seemed about the only sane persons in this whole mansion. He hoped that with them he might finally be able to have a sensible conversation. Together they might actually be able to make some headway on this case. After locating them among the shuffling crowd, he began to make his way over, hoping he would be able to reach them before they reached the basement.
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Post by Gelquie on Aug 11, 2013 15:10:24 GMT -5
Things had not been very hurried, but Geoffrey really seemed to be for some reason.
“Come on! Let’s hurry up already! For your one true love or something, right -” Geoffrey said before he stopped himself. Rochelle subconsciously took a step back. She had barely known him, and yet... Maybe it was how she was acting? He must have picked up on that. Before she could think on that further, Geoffrey grabbed their arms and dragged them towards the kitchen, forcing Rochelle to drop what she was examining (a well-crafted candlestick, which clattered onto the ground) as she followed him to the kitchen, doing her best to keep up.
However, before they could spend very long examining, the servant, Miss Macy, called them back out into the Hall. Wait, really? They hadn't really spent very long doing anything, and she was still trying to clear her head from the alcohol. (Though at least it made her feel a bit lighter about the situation; all things considered, it's not like she couldn't treat the situation seriously anyway.) And then Miss Macy drove them all to the basement, and threatened to shoot anyone who resisted.
"What?! You can't keep us down here! We there are too many things up there to consider! We need to..." Rochelle trailed off as she thought of something before she glared at Miss Macy. She then went over to Sergei and whispered into his ear. He had been kind to her. He was likely the one she could trust the most. And if she was wrong... Well, maybe she could see something in his behavior.
"Psst! Sergei," she whispered carefully into his ear. "Don't you think Miss Macy's behavior is a bit... off? Do you think she might have planned something?"
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Post by Kristykimmy on Aug 11, 2013 15:12:05 GMT -5
"YES! It's you!" she agreed. "Or um-- not, because it's the mansion, but, it's not me. I could never murder someone, I am not evil like mansions! I am a good person, you know. A great person. Just ask my brother Geoffrey. Geoffrey will tell you, I'm very nice. Tell them, Geoffrey! Tell them I am not a murderer, but the mansion is!" A little breathless, she added, "And... and... I think it's the prince and the ginger, in cahoots with the mansion! I was in their group and they... found a bear! A bear! And it was nice to them, which was odd, because bears are not sweet. Clearly the bear was trained by the mansion, as a killer, but it did not attack them because it knew they were ALSO tools of the mansion! YES! That's it! THAT IS IT! Alexa and Stal did it, the team of them, with the mansion for support, and the bear, too! I HAVE IT ALL FIGURED OUT!"
Alexa gripped Stal's arm hard, anger surging through her as Hanna shouted her accusations.
"You're mad, Delaney, and everyone knows it! I wouldn't be surprised if it was you! That way you could continue your fantasy that this mansion is out to get you. And, if it wasn't you, it was probably your doctor to experiment on what you would do if such a thing happened!" Alexa shouted right back. "After all, you're the one who immediately got violent at the least provocation and you have been trying to arm yourself since this began!"
She looked to Stal, wondering if he had seen something they hadn't. "Who do you think it was?"
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Post by Coaster on Aug 11, 2013 15:27:08 GMT -5
Rob's eyes drifted to the generator in the corner as he finished his accusation, the crazy lady took the opportunity to resume her deranged rants against her groupmates, and one of said groupmates countered with a retort.
This isn't going anywhere without hard evidence...
Pipes to hide behind, electric noise to blanket the screaming... but even the furnace and generator combined weren't that loud.
Slit throat... Too easy. Besides, there weren't any visible cutting wounds on Mr. Woo. Nor was his head sufficiently deformed to have been bashed in by a blunt weapon.
...strangulation. Nobody could hear the screams if there were none, and with non-insulated cable connected to the generator, even a human's internal circuits would be fried. Doubly-caused death in half the time, and the basement's ladders to make a quick getaway after stashing Woo's body in the cold basement, where the sculpture was most likely fabricated.
"On second thought, maybe we should be thinking how Woo was murdered--from there, the who should present itself. I mean, look at that generator in the corner..." He proceeded to relate the rest of his speculation.
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Post by Kozma on Aug 11, 2013 15:41:06 GMT -5
Miss Macy had lost her mind. Even after stating that all the guests were terrible investigators, she still would not let anyone leave to fetch the police. Instead, she had everyone herded into the basement for what she called a trial. Not only that, she was now threatening to shoot anyone who refused to comply with her demands.
"This does not look good for any of us," Richard stated to Dean and Major Belkov. "I'm afraid this won't end well."
Indeed it looked as if it would not end well, at least in Richard's opinion. He figured that there were many ways for this ordeal to end and most of them were bad. The wrong suspect could get accused, or worse, Miss Macy could shoot and kill an innocent guest. With all this happening, Richard had to wonder if Miss Macy had a part in the death of Mr. Woo. He had no evidence of it and he figured that if he accused her then he would be declared the murderer and shot.
Richard had to think fast. He could not stand for Miss Macy's rather absurd tactics in getting this murder solved yet if he tried to resist it, he would be killed. The murder would have to be solved now, if there was any hope to save all the guests.
Luckily, through his own investigations, he had quite a lot of evidence on hand. He believed he knew what was used to commit the murder and he figured that if he shared this knowledge with everyone, this 'trial' would soon be over and the correct murderer apprehended.
But first, he would have to state why he was not guilty. But how would he do this? He was alone in the library with...
Dean! Of course! Dean had been in the library with him. All the evidence was pointing to only one murderer, not two! Hopefully he and Dean could convince everyone that they both couldn't have done the deed because they were in the library together.
Richard looked to Dean and explained the plan to him. He could only hope that Dean would cooperate and not falsely accuse him just to save his own skin. After all, Richard had no intention of accusing anyone unless he knew that they were the true murderer.
As accusations began to fly, Richard went through all the evidence he gathered. Inheriting Mr. Woo's mansion did not matter anymore; it was now about getting all these innocent people alive.
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Post by Celestial on Aug 11, 2013 15:41:37 GMT -5
His comrades were very unenthusiastic about going about exploring, something that Sergei found strange considering the young Tovarish Williams' enthusiasm about the mansion and the fortune. Nevertheless, they had all proceeded down into the basement and began investigating when suddenly, everyone from the party filed in. Sergei narrowed his eyes and tried to tell how and why. It soon became apparent to him that this was another ploy by Miss Macy. She was clearly insane and for a moment, Sergei wondered if she was the murderer. But perhaps she could not be so keen to find the suspect, unless of course it was a double bluff.
His eyes widened in shock however when he heard that there would be no booze. Was the woman insane? No booze meant that tensions would build and locking people in with a murderer who were already angry and on edge without something to take the aforementioned edge off was suicide. She was clearly trying to destroy evidence.
Sergei coughed and put his arm around Miss Macy, twirling his moustache.
"Sorry but you should not trap killer in here. At least give us alcohol to relieve the edge. Drunk people talk interesting things," he smiled at her. "Of course, you could have killed esteemed Mr. Woo and now are trying to destroy any witnesses."
He saw Alexa, the girl he was with almost begin to cry. He walked over to her but to his dismay, she gripped onto Stal's arm. So she had bonded with the prince then. Sergei did not really mind, however. There were plenty of other girls here...such as the one whispering in his ear. He remembered her name as Rochelle. Sergei turned to her, smiling.
"Yes, it is. She may be the killer or she might be saddened by loss of Mr. Woo," he said. "You, dorogaya, however, are holding on very well. I'm glad for you."
Despite Miss Macy's threats to those who do not talk, Sergei decided to take the risk. He was old anyway and was used to facing death, it did not terrify him and he was not going to let some crazy housekeeper make him terrified. He'd seen far worse things in his life than this. Instead of joining in the accusations, he withdrew a flask of alcohol from under his hat and sipped it before looking around for people he could talk to. As luck would have it, he spotted Sir Manuel Adventure and smiled widely. He had wanted to get to know Sir Adventure well. He took Rochelle by the hand and guided her over to the other military mary.
"Rochelle, dorogaya, may I introduce you to my good friend Sir Manuel Adventure. How have you been, tovarish?" he hugged Manuel tightly. "This is awful. We are stuck down here without food or drink...want little? Help relax," he offered the flask to Manuel.
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Post by Avery on Aug 11, 2013 15:43:37 GMT -5
"You're mad, Delaney, and everyone knows it! I wouldn't be surprised if it was you! That way you could continue your fantasy that this mansion is out to get you. And, if it wasn't you, it was probably your doctor to experiment on what you would do if such a thing happened!" Alexa shouted right back. "After all, you're the one who immediately got violent at the least provocation and you have been trying to arm yourself since this began!"
"S-shut up!" Hanna screeched back. "I am not mad, I am not mad, I am tired of people saying I am mad! Yes, I've been trying to arm myself because no one will listen to me! You are all ignorant and horrible!"
"On second thought, maybe we should be thinking how Woo was murdered--from there, the who should present itself. I mean, look at that generator in the corner..."
"W-who even cares about Woo!" Hanna sobbed. "He lived in this mansion, I bet he deserved it, I hate you all!"
"N-now, Hanna," slurred Drunkle, "you be n-nice." Hic. "But 'Lexa, really, you think she could pull off a murder? Like you s... said... she's mad, hah! The whole family is. Geoffrey hears voice." Burp. "And their Papa, he's a real-- real-- weird-o too. They've got a normal brother. He's ten. He's normal for now but you know, puberty." Hiccup. "He'll go mad then. They all do. Then he'll be my client, too! Except... if I get fired. Which I will if Hanna and Geoffrey aren't c-cured. So be nice to them, so they'll be cured!"
... and then Drunkle passed out.
((Narrator Note: I had to update the card-for-posts thing because after some consideration I decided two cards per day was slightly much. >_>; It's now two cards TODAY ONLY, then one per day thereafter with thoughtful, interactive, on-point posts.))
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Post by Ted (the zombie Dalek) on Aug 11, 2013 15:55:10 GMT -5
As the basement door slammed shut, and people started arguing and throwing accusations at each other, Dr. Medlis could take it no longer.
"SETTLE DOWN!" he yelled in his best authoritative tone. "We need to have a rational discussion - WITHOUT resorting to personal attacks! The murderer is certainly trapped in this room, so we NEED to stay calm and discuss the EVIDENCE!"
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Post by Lizica on Aug 11, 2013 16:09:11 GMT -5
"You know, it's always surprised me that a dump this superficial would have hidden depths in the first place."
"You shouldn't be surprised!"
"I shouldn't? Why not?"
"That Woo was always taking his shenanigans to a new low!"
"DOHOHOHOHOHO!"
"Hey, Standoof, Wallnerd, how do you lot feel about stairs?"
"And speaking of low comedy."
"Unless you're comfortable climbing back up musical scales, I'd say that taking the stairs down on a piano would be a pretty poor decision."
"It might be pretty bumpy and dangerous, but I think we'll be fine."
"Why's that?"
"We're the only ones in this mansion that have made us crack up at all!"
"DOHOHOHOHOHO!"
"Barricading the steps to the basement will NOT stop the trial for the murderer! Move that piano out of the way and get it back into the Hall!"
"Miss Macy, calm down, it's a little stuck, and we can't just--Ohhh, shoot--(WAIT NOT LITERALLY)--"
With a hideous, cacophonous rattling, the piano and busts were accidentally shoved down the basement steps. At the bottom, the piano barely managed to screech to a halt before it could hit the water heater, but the two busts were hurled off and landed in some cardboard boxes five feet away.
Scowling, Miss Macy stormed over to the two busts and firmly propped them back up onto the grand piano. "WE HAVE TO MAINTAIN SOME SEMBLANCE OF ORDER!" she shrieked to the rest of the staff that was staring at her.
"This dinner party finally seems to be picking up," murmured Waller.
"Really?" said Standorf as the guests began to accuse each other. "I thought it had finally hit rock bottom!"
"DOHOHOHOHOHO!"
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Post by Tiger on Aug 11, 2013 16:28:05 GMT -5
Cross was starting to think there might something strange here besides the shrimp.
Eratic shouting, agression, general bossiness...as the guests were shepherded down the stairs, Cross tapped furiously into her iMod. The already useless wireless signal on the tablet vanished completely as they went farther and farther down; luckily, Cross had an app rather than foolishly relying on a website.
This trial should be easy, Cross thought, slotting Macy's physical characteristics into the form. I just have to find who seems most likely to have committed murder - I'm sure there's a syndrome or condition I can diagnose...starting with Miss Macy!
She typed 'agitation'. Agitation of the scalp...not quite was she was looking for. Aggression. Irritation. Shoting. Cross trailed to a halt at the base of the stairs. There were no matches in the database.
No matches. No matches meant no symptom-checking.
Of course - I'm not a psychologist! She could be disturbed in other ways! Her stomach still twirling uncofortably, Cross tucked the iMod under her arm. If only Grunkle wasn't completely wasted.
Accusations started to fly like hypodermics in an ambulance. Cross tried to keep track of who was accusing who and what peculiarities everyone exhibited - a girl afraid of mansions, a timid-voiced singer, a...erm...robot?, a prince who'd found a bear (hallucinations, a potential effect of the shrimp?), Macy herself was nuts but undiagnosably so...
There was also a piano and a set of busts in the corner. Cross didn't even bother checking if 'maintaining a facade' was a symptom. She'd probably just missed an update to her diagnostic tool.
"On second thought, maybe we should be thinking how Woo was murdered--from there, the who should present itself. I mean, look at that generator in the corner..."
"I agree!" Cross declared. "This trapping us in the basement idea is ludicrous - pseudo-psychology at best, and our resident psychoanalyst is -dr..." She hitched a thumb toward Grunkle, only to see that the woman had passed out. "Down," she corrected. "The only way to solve this murder is with cold, hard, science! Not warm, mushy, puzzle-solving!"
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Post by Thundy on Aug 11, 2013 16:50:42 GMT -5
Manuel gratefully accepted the flask "Spasibo, mayor, one could use a drink in times like these," He took a quick swig and handed the flask back to Sergei. It good vodka."Could be better, I've been wearing my feet out going from room to room about this place looking for evidence and now we're trapped here. If only they'd let me keep my service pistol when I retired, we could be out of this in a jiffy. How have you fared in this, old sport? This whole lot seems suspicious, but I still can't seem to figure out what the motive might have been."
He turned to Rochelle and held out a hand for shaking "Ah pardon my manners, good evening ma'am, Group Captain Adventure, at your service. To whom might I be addressing?"
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Post by Draco on Aug 11, 2013 16:55:29 GMT -5
Mori didn't care what was going on anymore. He just had to run for it. Getting up, he darts past people, and oddly makes his way to the basement. Once inside he hides himself in a corner. Seeing that it was still unsafe, he began to move boxes around. It doesn't take him long before he has a box fort created. to finish the job, he places a sign on the outside.
"STAY OUT! MORI SPACE!"
With that he hides inside, peering out at anyone who happens to walk in. He pulls out his cellphone.
"These people are getting crazier as time goes by! First the host dies. Then we're locked in. THEN we were put into TEAMS! THE HORROR!!! Now, I'm not really sure what is going on, I sort of fazed out for a bit. I think some crazy lady threatened us with a gun? I'm hiding in a fort now. SEND HELP!"
He stared at his phone, and got no answer.
"Looks like we're on our own Taka..."
Silence.
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