MURDER MYSTERY PART 5 (Making fun of Dorp Squad)
Part One
Part Two
Part Three
Part Four
=====
We all spent the next hour or two meandering about the mansion. Hardly anybody spoke after what we'd seen at the fountain. To have someone you'd once considered a close friend get rung and wrenched through whatever mechanisms pumped through the fountain was an indescribable anxiety. Worse yet, the party consisting of Sungwon, Wilco, Morri, and Dogss had yet to return, and by this point the snowfall outside was basically a blizzard, and the ground had picked up nearly a foot of snow. Mewd and Cherri seemed especially nervous, both having a loved one among their group. I walked past Mewd staring blankly out the window, but said nothing.
Having wound down a little after the initial shock, I decided to take a look around the third floor, which had remained mostly untouched since we arrived. According to Wiggy, they wound up getting stuck in the cellar before they got to explore up there. I decided to bring him along since he seemed to have his wits about him, and seemed the least likely to stab me in the back at a moment's notice. Out of the corner of my eye I thought I saw somebody walking around in the dining room. This wasn't particularly unusual, so I thought nothing of it. We headed up the staircase to the third story.
Interestingly enough, the stairway opened into a hallway with six doors on either side. At the end of the hall was a rather menacing portrait of the leader himself, staring down the hallway with great intensity and clutching a skull cane. It was extremely unsettling, especially considering that the shock from his death was still pretty fresh on my mind. Wiggy didn't seem to perturbed, however.
"Hey Blue..." he asked. "Do you think... Do you think Torte accepted death?" He looked at me with a wondering expression that was hard to define.
"What the hell?" I asked. "What do you mean?"
"Oh, haha!" he laughed. "That came out really bad! No, what I meant was... Do you think Torte realized he was about to die? What do you think he thought in that moment?"
I had no idea what to make of this question. Still, I thought about it. "I guess so," I responded. "I mean, I can't imagine what that must've been like for him... In his last moments."
"He didn't look scared," Wiggy explained. "He looked like he was... ready."
"Hey, look, can we... not talk about this?" I said, trying to change the subject. Wiggy had had more time to come to terms with Torte's death than I had, and I still felt nauseous thinking about it. "We can... uh, discuss this later."
"Alright, Blue," Wiggy nodded. "Sorry, I just thought it was interesting."
"So... you wanna take either side?" I suggested. "We can holler if we find anything."
"Oh, yeah, let's do that," Wiggy agreed, stepping up to a door on one end. "Do we wanna get Jackson up here?"
"Huh?" His question caught me off guard. "Oh, uh... yeah, I guess we could. I don't know where he is right now though."
"Okay, I'll be right back," Wiggy skipped down the stairs like an excited child. Somehow my allowing Siro up here had lifted his spirits considerably. I supposed that anything that would help ease the tension would be for the best.
Soon he came marching back up with Siro behind him. Siro seemed excited too.
"Hey buddy!" he smiled. "We gonna explore the third floor?"
"Yeah, that was the plan," I nodded. "So... I guess we're gonna split up, like we said?"
"Sure thing," Jackson agreed. "Wiggy and I will take this side and you take that side."
At this point I wondered if they hadn't been planning something. Against my better judgement, I decided to simply trust that they were just being gay for each other like usual. "Alright, we can do that."
I kept my eye on them for an extra second or two, but then turned around and faced my side of the hallway. I turned the knob on the first door and, almost to my surprised, it opened. I took a breath and stepped inside. It seemed to be a standard bedroom, lavished with a few high-class flares. The bed frame was golden and bedazzled with all kinds of fancy and likely authentic jewels. Were I a cat burglar I'd probably attempt to pick out all the little bits and pieces and sell them for a pretty penny, but this wasn't the time for that. Across from the bed was an equally fancy mirror. I took a moment to look at my reflection. I looked utterly exhausted and pale as a ghost. I suppose that was to be expected, given the situation.
I took the time to straighten my face and pick out some bits of dust that had accumulated from previous exploration. Through the mirror I noticed the glimmer of a shiny doorknob across from the wall I was facing. I looked closer and it looked like a reddish brown color, like bronze. I suddenly remembered the key I was carrying around from the greenhouse, and fumbled around for it in my pocket. This time it was actually there, and I looked back up to compare the key with the door. I saw a large figure standing directly behind me.
"AAAGH!!" I screamed, falling back and dropping the key. I looked up at the person who was standing behind me. It was MGAW, with tears streaming down his face.
"Oh... I didn't mean to scare you, Blue Boo..." he whimpered. "I wanted to talk if you didn't mind..."
"Jesus Christ, MGAW!" I spat, trying to catch my breath. "What are you doing up here?"
"I saw you guys walk up here," he explained. "And... and I needed somebody to talk to, so..."
This man was literally the last person on earth I wanted to be in a room alone with, and yet here he was. Was this some kind of karmic revenge for some injustice I'd committed before? Even so, the man was clearly a mess, and I figured I was obligated to lend him some support regardless. "It's alright, Kraig," I sighed. "Sit down, man, you're an absolute wreck."
He plopped down on the bed, still crying uncontrollably. He took a few heavy breaths, then started to lie down. This seemed to calm him a little bit, and he finally spoke again. "It was my fault, Blue Boo... I could have saved Chef Torte."
"Hey now," I said, starting to reach out to pat him on the shoulder, but stopping halfway and awkwardly retracting my hand midway. "Y'all did everything you could've, I'm sure."
"No!" he cried. "I could have saved him! I knew what to do, but I hesitated! I just... I couldn't decide if I was right..."
"Slow down," I told him, trying to get a coherent explanation. "Just, tell me what happened."
"Well," he began. "We had to find levers... to use the bridges... and then, we could cross the water... It was hard though, there were so many levers, and I've always been very bad at puzzles, you know. And then, when we got to Chef Torte, we had to find three more levers to get him out. And the machine keeping the water from becoming freezing cold was about to die, and if that died, then... then so would he..." He broke into tears once again. I had to shush him a few more times to get him to continue. "So... so we found two of the levers. And that unlocked the box where we found the KEY. As soon as the KEY was used, the system would have been shut down and Chef Torte would have been killed. Still, Ludwiggy immediately went running to stop the clock, but... but he could've..."
"You had 24 seconds left, Kraig," I reminded him. "You guys didn't have time."
"The last lever..." he continued, seeming to ignore me. "We couldn't find it. We looked at every single lever but we couldn't find it... And then I figured it out, I knew which lever it was. I remembered the shape! I should've told him! Why was I too afraid to yell?"
"What are you talking about?" I asked. "Yelled what?"
"The first lever, dammit!" he was now sobbing through his words. "It was the lever from the first bridge! We needed to pull it back out! I screwed up worse than George W. Bush screwed up 9/11!"
After my cringe, I thought back to what he'd just told me. The lever from the first bridge... What a sinister trick that was! They would have had to toss the lever over the river of sewage, and had it fallen in, those trapped on the other side would have been stranded there. It was an incredible risk for the life of a friend. But you also had the option of taking the KEY and escaping without the risk, but then... Wait. A thought had just occured to me. If Wiggy knew that using the KEY would kill Torte, why did he do it when 24 seconds remained? He should've waited until the last possible second to escape. If anybody was to blame here, it was him. Suddenly I grew incredibly suspicious of the man searching around with Jackson in the room across from us. Oh my god, Jackson! Panicking, I immediately ran back into the hall and through the room they were searching. I heard Kraig calling out behind me, but ignored him.
"WIGGY!!" I yelled.
They looked at me, startled. Jackson was not dead at all, and Wiggy seemed more confused than anything. "Yes, Blue?"
"Oh, I..." I lost the words. Now was not the time to make an accusation. The man seemed genuinely bewildered at my sudden outburst. "It's, it's nothing... Have you found anything?"
"Just a locked door," Jackson said. They were standing in front of a door with a polished silver knob. It was remarkably similar to the one I had viewed through the mirror just moments ago.
Oh shit, I'd completely forgotten! I was going to try my key on that door. But before I could speak, somebody was yelling from downstairs.
"You guys, get down here!" It was Anne Marie. "Hurry up!"
We looked at one another and began making our way back downstairs. MGAW was standing in the hall, and Jackson let out a nervous 'Oh... hey, MGAW," as soon as we saw him. Back in the dining room we found the rest of the group, including Sungwon's party. They were all covered in flour, and I could see cuts all over Morgan's hands. I wondered what they'd been up to all this time. Before I could ask any questions, however, I noticed that Mewd was holding another envelope. On it, there was a large number one painted in red. Sarah was hugging him tightly.
"Another message?" I asked.
"Somebody left this here," Mewd explained. I suddenly remembered seeing somebody in the room earlier. Could it have been them?
Everybody was silent. Suspicious eyes were being shot all around the room. Any of us could have planted that letter. That is, except for myself and Wiggy, who was by my side at the time. But why the number one? Were there more letters to come?
"I suppose..." Mewd started with a nervous paused. "I'll read it for you?" He opened it up and viewed its contents. The confused look on his face suggested that the contents were of a most disturbing nature. Still, he read it aloud.
a WoLf I aM
eLeVeN sHeEpS lIe In WaIt BeFoRe Me
OnE sHeEp HaS bEeN sLaUgHtErEd
ThE rEsT wIlL bE dEaD iN tHrEe DaYs TiMe
ThReE aRe NeEdEd To SuRvIvE mY tRaPs
MoRe ArE rEcCoMeNdEd
FoR "eXtRa LiVeS"
bUt OnCe ThE tImEr ReAcHeS zErO
tHe ShEeP aRe SlAuGhTeReD
sEe YoU iN hElL, sHeEp
-ThE wOlF
Eleven sheep... one wolf... Was the wolf one of us? Everybody looked absolutely terrified. One of us was out to kill the rest of us. One of us...
Which one of us?
THE RULES OF THE GAME ARE LAID OUT! A MURDERER SITS AMONGST THE GROUP OF FRIENDS!
WHAT HAS PROZD'S GROUP BEEN UP TO? AND WHICH OF THE DORP SQUAD IS THIS MYSTERIOUS "WOLF"? FIND OUT IN TWENTY YEARS, IN PART SIX!
Part Two
Part Three
Part Four
=====
We all spent the next hour or two meandering about the mansion. Hardly anybody spoke after what we'd seen at the fountain. To have someone you'd once considered a close friend get rung and wrenched through whatever mechanisms pumped through the fountain was an indescribable anxiety. Worse yet, the party consisting of Sungwon, Wilco, Morri, and Dogss had yet to return, and by this point the snowfall outside was basically a blizzard, and the ground had picked up nearly a foot of snow. Mewd and Cherri seemed especially nervous, both having a loved one among their group. I walked past Mewd staring blankly out the window, but said nothing.
Having wound down a little after the initial shock, I decided to take a look around the third floor, which had remained mostly untouched since we arrived. According to Wiggy, they wound up getting stuck in the cellar before they got to explore up there. I decided to bring him along since he seemed to have his wits about him, and seemed the least likely to stab me in the back at a moment's notice. Out of the corner of my eye I thought I saw somebody walking around in the dining room. This wasn't particularly unusual, so I thought nothing of it. We headed up the staircase to the third story.
Interestingly enough, the stairway opened into a hallway with six doors on either side. At the end of the hall was a rather menacing portrait of the leader himself, staring down the hallway with great intensity and clutching a skull cane. It was extremely unsettling, especially considering that the shock from his death was still pretty fresh on my mind. Wiggy didn't seem to perturbed, however.
"Hey Blue..." he asked. "Do you think... Do you think Torte accepted death?" He looked at me with a wondering expression that was hard to define.
"What the hell?" I asked. "What do you mean?"
"Oh, haha!" he laughed. "That came out really bad! No, what I meant was... Do you think Torte realized he was about to die? What do you think he thought in that moment?"
I had no idea what to make of this question. Still, I thought about it. "I guess so," I responded. "I mean, I can't imagine what that must've been like for him... In his last moments."
"He didn't look scared," Wiggy explained. "He looked like he was... ready."
"Hey, look, can we... not talk about this?" I said, trying to change the subject. Wiggy had had more time to come to terms with Torte's death than I had, and I still felt nauseous thinking about it. "We can... uh, discuss this later."
"Alright, Blue," Wiggy nodded. "Sorry, I just thought it was interesting."
"So... you wanna take either side?" I suggested. "We can holler if we find anything."
"Oh, yeah, let's do that," Wiggy agreed, stepping up to a door on one end. "Do we wanna get Jackson up here?"
"Huh?" His question caught me off guard. "Oh, uh... yeah, I guess we could. I don't know where he is right now though."
"Okay, I'll be right back," Wiggy skipped down the stairs like an excited child. Somehow my allowing Siro up here had lifted his spirits considerably. I supposed that anything that would help ease the tension would be for the best.
Soon he came marching back up with Siro behind him. Siro seemed excited too.
"Hey buddy!" he smiled. "We gonna explore the third floor?"
"Yeah, that was the plan," I nodded. "So... I guess we're gonna split up, like we said?"
"Sure thing," Jackson agreed. "Wiggy and I will take this side and you take that side."
At this point I wondered if they hadn't been planning something. Against my better judgement, I decided to simply trust that they were just being gay for each other like usual. "Alright, we can do that."
I kept my eye on them for an extra second or two, but then turned around and faced my side of the hallway. I turned the knob on the first door and, almost to my surprised, it opened. I took a breath and stepped inside. It seemed to be a standard bedroom, lavished with a few high-class flares. The bed frame was golden and bedazzled with all kinds of fancy and likely authentic jewels. Were I a cat burglar I'd probably attempt to pick out all the little bits and pieces and sell them for a pretty penny, but this wasn't the time for that. Across from the bed was an equally fancy mirror. I took a moment to look at my reflection. I looked utterly exhausted and pale as a ghost. I suppose that was to be expected, given the situation.
I took the time to straighten my face and pick out some bits of dust that had accumulated from previous exploration. Through the mirror I noticed the glimmer of a shiny doorknob across from the wall I was facing. I looked closer and it looked like a reddish brown color, like bronze. I suddenly remembered the key I was carrying around from the greenhouse, and fumbled around for it in my pocket. This time it was actually there, and I looked back up to compare the key with the door. I saw a large figure standing directly behind me.
"AAAGH!!" I screamed, falling back and dropping the key. I looked up at the person who was standing behind me. It was MGAW, with tears streaming down his face.
"Oh... I didn't mean to scare you, Blue Boo..." he whimpered. "I wanted to talk if you didn't mind..."
"Jesus Christ, MGAW!" I spat, trying to catch my breath. "What are you doing up here?"
"I saw you guys walk up here," he explained. "And... and I needed somebody to talk to, so..."
This man was literally the last person on earth I wanted to be in a room alone with, and yet here he was. Was this some kind of karmic revenge for some injustice I'd committed before? Even so, the man was clearly a mess, and I figured I was obligated to lend him some support regardless. "It's alright, Kraig," I sighed. "Sit down, man, you're an absolute wreck."
He plopped down on the bed, still crying uncontrollably. He took a few heavy breaths, then started to lie down. This seemed to calm him a little bit, and he finally spoke again. "It was my fault, Blue Boo... I could have saved Chef Torte."
"Hey now," I said, starting to reach out to pat him on the shoulder, but stopping halfway and awkwardly retracting my hand midway. "Y'all did everything you could've, I'm sure."
"No!" he cried. "I could have saved him! I knew what to do, but I hesitated! I just... I couldn't decide if I was right..."
"Slow down," I told him, trying to get a coherent explanation. "Just, tell me what happened."
"Well," he began. "We had to find levers... to use the bridges... and then, we could cross the water... It was hard though, there were so many levers, and I've always been very bad at puzzles, you know. And then, when we got to Chef Torte, we had to find three more levers to get him out. And the machine keeping the water from becoming freezing cold was about to die, and if that died, then... then so would he..." He broke into tears once again. I had to shush him a few more times to get him to continue. "So... so we found two of the levers. And that unlocked the box where we found the KEY. As soon as the KEY was used, the system would have been shut down and Chef Torte would have been killed. Still, Ludwiggy immediately went running to stop the clock, but... but he could've..."
"You had 24 seconds left, Kraig," I reminded him. "You guys didn't have time."
"The last lever..." he continued, seeming to ignore me. "We couldn't find it. We looked at every single lever but we couldn't find it... And then I figured it out, I knew which lever it was. I remembered the shape! I should've told him! Why was I too afraid to yell?"
"What are you talking about?" I asked. "Yelled what?"
"The first lever, dammit!" he was now sobbing through his words. "It was the lever from the first bridge! We needed to pull it back out! I screwed up worse than George W. Bush screwed up 9/11!"
After my cringe, I thought back to what he'd just told me. The lever from the first bridge... What a sinister trick that was! They would have had to toss the lever over the river of sewage, and had it fallen in, those trapped on the other side would have been stranded there. It was an incredible risk for the life of a friend. But you also had the option of taking the KEY and escaping without the risk, but then... Wait. A thought had just occured to me. If Wiggy knew that using the KEY would kill Torte, why did he do it when 24 seconds remained? He should've waited until the last possible second to escape. If anybody was to blame here, it was him. Suddenly I grew incredibly suspicious of the man searching around with Jackson in the room across from us. Oh my god, Jackson! Panicking, I immediately ran back into the hall and through the room they were searching. I heard Kraig calling out behind me, but ignored him.
"WIGGY!!" I yelled.
They looked at me, startled. Jackson was not dead at all, and Wiggy seemed more confused than anything. "Yes, Blue?"
"Oh, I..." I lost the words. Now was not the time to make an accusation. The man seemed genuinely bewildered at my sudden outburst. "It's, it's nothing... Have you found anything?"
"Just a locked door," Jackson said. They were standing in front of a door with a polished silver knob. It was remarkably similar to the one I had viewed through the mirror just moments ago.
Oh shit, I'd completely forgotten! I was going to try my key on that door. But before I could speak, somebody was yelling from downstairs.
"You guys, get down here!" It was Anne Marie. "Hurry up!"
We looked at one another and began making our way back downstairs. MGAW was standing in the hall, and Jackson let out a nervous 'Oh... hey, MGAW," as soon as we saw him. Back in the dining room we found the rest of the group, including Sungwon's party. They were all covered in flour, and I could see cuts all over Morgan's hands. I wondered what they'd been up to all this time. Before I could ask any questions, however, I noticed that Mewd was holding another envelope. On it, there was a large number one painted in red. Sarah was hugging him tightly.
"Another message?" I asked.
"Somebody left this here," Mewd explained. I suddenly remembered seeing somebody in the room earlier. Could it have been them?
Everybody was silent. Suspicious eyes were being shot all around the room. Any of us could have planted that letter. That is, except for myself and Wiggy, who was by my side at the time. But why the number one? Were there more letters to come?
"I suppose..." Mewd started with a nervous paused. "I'll read it for you?" He opened it up and viewed its contents. The confused look on his face suggested that the contents were of a most disturbing nature. Still, he read it aloud.
a WoLf I aM
eLeVeN sHeEpS lIe In WaIt BeFoRe Me
OnE sHeEp HaS bEeN sLaUgHtErEd
ThE rEsT wIlL bE dEaD iN tHrEe DaYs TiMe
ThReE aRe NeEdEd To SuRvIvE mY tRaPs
MoRe ArE rEcCoMeNdEd
FoR "eXtRa LiVeS"
bUt OnCe ThE tImEr ReAcHeS zErO
tHe ShEeP aRe SlAuGhTeReD
sEe YoU iN hElL, sHeEp
-ThE wOlF
Eleven sheep... one wolf... Was the wolf one of us? Everybody looked absolutely terrified. One of us was out to kill the rest of us. One of us...
Which one of us?
THE RULES OF THE GAME ARE LAID OUT! A MURDERER SITS AMONGST THE GROUP OF FRIENDS!
WHAT HAS PROZD'S GROUP BEEN UP TO? AND WHICH OF THE DORP SQUAD IS THIS MYSTERIOUS "WOLF"? FIND OUT IN TWENTY YEARS, IN PART SIX!