Dragonator

John gives Dr. Phil a lift to look at the chandelier. The chandelier appears to be made of fine cut crystal and the central section appears to be covered in thousands of small diamond, enhancing the light considerably. Other than this you cannot see anything of note. Michael decides to take a look at the four suits of armour. They are all identical to the one downstairs, and as the Professor said earlier, they are priceless. You look inside each of them, but you cannot see anything suspicious. As discovered earlier, they can be moved with some effort. There is nothing underneath any of them.

Anthony walks up to the large doors to inspect the dragon. He notices that it is very similar in appearance to the small circular seal on the right shoulder plate of all the suits of armour, expect of course that it is a lot bigger and is depicted with precious gems and gilded wood. It appears to be looking towards the west wall... John has a good look on the floor around the small table and finds a tiny key which could easily have slipped off the edge unnoticed. But what could it be for? Once you have all finished looking around here we can continue through one of the three doors, the west door, the east door, or the north doors. All three appear to be unlocked.

Miss Sandy walks over to the west door and tries the handle. The door is indeed unlocked.

John saunters over to the table and has a look underneath. There is nothing there except a few cobwebs. There is however a note on the tabletop which reads as follows: Staff, I will not require your services for the next few days; I have some business to attend to tonight and then I will be meeting with some colleagues tomorrow morning and will be out the rest of that day. I want the three course meal I requested served on the table at 7pm sharp, and then you are all free to go. ~C Meanwhile, Dr. Phil and the Chef go and take a look at the armour. All four sets are similar to the one downstairs and each is in front of a wooden panel inset into the wall. There is nothing behind any of them that you can see. The bases can all be moved, with some effort. Peter approaches the grand doors and finds them to be unlocked. The doors appear to be of a high craftsmanship, it must have taken years to have them carved and gilded, and even more to get the stones inset. The doors are obviously designed to impress anyone approaching with the wealth of the Lord. You get sore fingers trying to remove some of the expensive gems, but your efforts prove fruitless. You notice that the doors, when closed, portray the image of a single large dragon, with rubies glinting it it's scales and sapphires for it's eyes. Truly a masterpiece in itself.

Indeed I do, he passed away in his sleep a few weeks after that article was published. Lord Chester has had two butlers since then, the first wasn't very good. Talking of the servants, I wonder where they are? Michael goes to help John re-assemble the armour, with Dr. Grimsworth watching very closely to make sure they don't damage anything. Michael takes the chance to have a good look at it piece by piece. You do not find anything out of the ordinary. Now that everyone had had a good look around the foyer, it is agreed that the detectives should head upstairs, prompted by the chef. The group moves up into a short hallway not to dissimilar in appearance from the foyer, lit by a decidedly brighter chandelier of cut crystal. The walls are again paneled with wood, two panels on each side, and each alcove holding another suit of armour. Between the panels on both sides of the hall are an identical set of tall wooden doors (One of the west wall and one on the east). A much larger pair of doors, gilded and inlaid with precious gems and ivory, stands at the end of the corridor. The only other piece of furniture worth noting is a small wooden table in the north-western corner of the hallway. It also appears that there is no underfloor heating up on the first floor. (Note: If you ever want to return to a previous room to re-examine something, just say where you want to return to.)

Newspaper Article Chef Fredrick walks over to the armour and carefully moves aside the base. Behind the armour he finds a screwed up piece of paper which must have fallen behind it. Unfolding it, he finds that it is a newspaper article from the Dratos Times. The date on it is 3rd July 1992. It reads as follows: New Lord of the Manor With the passing of Lord Samuel Dracus, the controversial old manor known as Dragon's Retreat has found a new owner in his son, Chester Dracus, now lord of the manor. Lord Chester is a well known businessman who has made a fortune in the financial business, and although still grieving for the death of his father, he says that he is "looking forward to taking up [his] position as the new Lord". The manor, located in a small valley north of Dratos, has been for centuries a centre of speculation for the community due to the rumours that surround its construction. It is a believed that the old mansion contains many hidden secrets, and it is even rumoured that a vast treasure is hidden somewhere within the confines of its walls. Many eager treasure hunters have through the centuries tried and failed to find this treasure, although most never make it beyond the doors of the private residence. Other, more sinister rumours, talk of a dreadful curse that is over the house, one of death and evil. When asked if he was fearful of the Dragons Curse, Lord Chester replied, "why should I be afraid of some piece of folklore? I'm sure that the untimely deaths of all the previous Lords of the manor each have a logical explanation, and there is most certainly no supernatural intervention." Despite his words, most people still feel that the manor has bad luck seeping from it's walls, and so it is mostly left alone, with only the bravest of treasure hunters attempting to annoy the Lord. Egor, the butler of the manor, told the Times that " [hith] previouth mathter wath of exthellent health before he died. Who knowth what thingth can happen behind thethe wallth...". Our reporter did not ask to much else after that. The true question is, is there any truth in the rumours surrounding Dragon's Retreat? Is there a large treasure hidden somewhere within? And what of the other, more sinister rumours? A local farmer spoke to us about a terrible thing he saw a number of years ago, informing the Times of a "terrible evil" that lurks beneath the keep. "Don't go near that place!" he said, "it's evil I tell you, evil!" Whether there is any... The rest of the article is missing. Max walks over and picks up the old helmet. He peers inside. There is nothing unusual to be seen, but... is that... movement? Suddenly a large spider jumps out and lands on his face. The unfortunate actor screams and drops the helmet, which by some unlucky coincidence lands on his foot, and prances around the room shouting "get it off, please, get it off!!". The spider, clearly frightened, jumps away and crawls into a corner. (OOC: It should be noted that you are not required to put your actions in bold, I'll still see them if you don't.)

Thanks mate, this is indeed my Dragon's Retreat MOC, at least all the exterior photos are. I haven't added anything to it though, in fact I'm in the middle of tearing it down as I need to start my entries for the CCCVI. All interior photography is done on small "Hollywood" style MOCs; that is they are just rough MOCs for the purposes of the photographs only.

(OOC: Just a small note on game etiquette, as some of you appear to be a little confused. Usually I will let the first person to say they want to move on lead the group, and the group will stop whenever somebody wants to take a closer look at something. If you have a question about something then feel free to voice it out loud and you might get an answer. Once you are satisfied you have found everything you can, somebody may suggest to move on, and so it will continue. Also remember that I don't have my computer at the moment and that I'm not online all the time, so please bear with me. Thanks.) Anthony walks over to the suit of armour to take a closer look. He pulls on the arms, which causes the helmet to fall off and land on his foot. No other effects are observed. Meanwhile Miss Sandy looks suspiciously at the wooden panels, however she cannot see anything out of the ordinary, it appears to be just a wooden panel. Some of the party suggest proceeding up the stairs, however they soon decide that they would rather stay as a group, not wanting to get lost in the old house. They waited as some of the others had a look around. An excellent question my dear Miss Sandy, and one that deserves an answer. This morning Lord Chester failed to turn up to a meeting at a small coffee shop in town, and as he is usually the punctually sort, I and my colleagues came to the conclusion that something dreadful must have happened to him (as you do). We are here to find out exactly what has happened. I fear he may be dead... or worse. :pir-skull: Chef walks over to the door and tries to open it. It is unfortunately locked. The room inside appears dark, however you can smell the strong aromas of baking from within. Michael moves into the small corridor and looks up. A shaft of light is filtering down through a small skylight that goes up to the roof. You cannot see anything suspicious. Peter steps past Anthony who is busy tending to his foot, and removes the sword. He then hefts it in a familiar manor. Looking at it shows that it is a combat sword, with some small ornamentation around the hilt, the sort an officer or knight might carry. Perhaps somebody who knows a bit about history could tell as more about this armour? Max walks over to a corner and unzips. A slight breeze is felt moving through the room, and the chandelier shakes slightly. An angry moan is thought to be heard. Suddenly reconsidering his actions, Max quickly moves back towards the group. It would be a bad idea to offend the spirits of this manor, don't you think? I'm sure we can find a bathroom for you a little later. (OOC: Man you guys are fast! Give me a second to catch up! ) Some of the group start trying to pry up the floor tiles, but only succeed in bruising their knuckles. If you guys could please stop tearing the house apart, I would greatly appreciate it. We are guests remember. Dr. Phil takes a look at Antony's foot, but it does not appear to be broken, only bruised. As he stands up, he notices that the base of the statue had moved slightly; apparently it is not fixed to the floor.

Miss Sandy leaned back against the left wooden paneled wall (to no obvious effect) and began jotting in a small leather bound notebook. Meanwhile, the rest of the detectives stood around, carefully avoiding walking near the cracked floor tiles directly below the chandelier and near the medieval statue. The detectives were feeling much warmer now, what with the lack of wind and the under-floor heating. "Perhaps this investigation won't be as bad as we first thought?" somebody remarked. And yet they could not shrug off the ever present feeling of hidden eyes watching them...

You know I don't either, but it's a lot of fun, right? Maybe we've all just gone insane, I mean, we turned to voting for voices in the sky for crying out loud!

What's that? Oh you guys want to go inside? Right, well since we're all now here, let's head on in! Entering the Manor The group of detectives heads west across the bridge and walks hesitantly up to the large looming black doors of the manor. They stand confused for a few seconds, wondering how to get in, before Dragonator produces a key from his pocket. Lucky I brought this, otherwise we would be a bit stuck! He then proceeds to insert it into the key hole and unlock the door. CREEK!! The door makes an ominous noise as it swings open, letting light into the dim interior. The group trudges inside, wary as to what awaits them... The Entrance Foyer Inside the EB detectives find themselves standing in a dim Entrance Foyer. The foyer is illuminated by an old rustic chandelier which barely manages to make the room visible. Directly ahead of the group is a large set of stairs leading up into the house. The only other exit out of the foyer is down a short hallway to the left which ends with a single wooden door. To the right is a single statue of old armour, which stands in front of one of two wooden panels inset into the wall. The group moved into the room quietly, awed by the simple yet grand surroundings. The floor tiles feel warm underfoot, much better than the cold outside. Suddenly, a loud boom breaks the silence. Sorry about that, the door must have caught in the wind. Hmmm, I think I left the key outside too... Dragonator walks back to the main door but cannot open it; it seems you are locked in. Opps. I hope you all locked your cars, we won't be able to leave until we can find another key.

Don't worry, I got voted for a lot during Mystery Castle, although it never reached a majority at any point. I don't know what they would have done without me. Wait, what are we talking about? Anyway, let us see what Tiny Pius has to say to our theory...

Most certainly Miss Sandy, how could I refuse such a charming smile!

Looking at everything we know... which is not much... I have I come to a decision. Vote: Tiny Pius (Game Host - almost as crazy as that castle dude!) Well perhaps that might help to get us all out of this hell hole...

Oh for goodness sake tis is getting ridiculous. Another witch? You know I'm starting to lean toward the theory that there are no witches, despite how pointless that would render this game... of life. Anyway, let us take a look at what we have now. We have six people dead, all of whom we have been told are witches. We have an Inquisitor who managed to get away before we could interrogate him on his lousy torture and conviction results. We have a letter that points towards the legitimacy of the Inquisitor. This brings up three possibilities. 1. The Inquisitor is legitimate and something really messed up is going on here. 2. The Inquisitor was a fake and forged the letter. 3. The real Inquisitor was attacked and this fake stole his belongings and came to the town (somebody brought this up yesterday, so I thought I shouyld mention it). Other things worth noting are that the Inquisitor was the one that bought the golden helmet from me, although I cannot see the significance of this. Do you think I could have it back since he's gone now? He also appears to be the one who stole the cross/key from the church. Mystery solved! (Just kidding) Seriously though, where are we at? I am about as confused as it is possible to be without going insane! Man those witches are good. Anyway, I'd like to hear what the rest of you make of the current situation.

My dear Miss Sandy, we cannot go in until Anthony arrives unfortunately. He's probably planning some sort of grand entry by parachute or some such, that's my bet on why he's late at least. In the mean time I have a wonderful little bottle here that might help to warm us up.

Now we are just waiting on Anthony, and if he doesn't arrive soon I'm going to freeze to death. Does anybody have a key for this house?

So... I'm not normally one to try to rush the host or anything, as I know how tough it can be to get everything just right, but I don't suppose you could let us know when we might be able to expect the next day? It would put our minds at rest. Thanks, and keep working on it, the game is getting exciting!

Well you're a quite bunch, aren't you? We are just waiting on two more people to arrive, and then we'll head on in. In the mean time, feel free to talk amongst yourselves and exchange pleasantries etc. Really, normally you guys can't keep your mouth's shut! (For the sanity of Hinck and also because I didn't bring any of my other personalities with me, I'm not going to type in red. Italics are story, normal is speaking etc. Colours are for when things get out of hand. )

If you want to have a go at the answer then you could always PM me, but I doubt you've got it quiet yet. This works differently from a mafia game, in that you work your way through the mansion to try and figure out who the murderer is. This is made more complicated as the murderer does not know who s/he is (like in Cluedo). Nobody is killed unless they break the rules or use up all three guesses. Or unless they annoy me. The aim in this game is to solve the mystery first, and to try and do it without letting anybody else beat you to the post. All answers are sent to me by PM, so nobody will know if you make an incorrect guess. Theoretically this entire game could be run in a single thread. I chose to split it into chapters though for a number of reasons. Firstly, to help break up the flow of the game, giving the players time to think on what they have learnt, and me time to get the next chapter ready. This also helps to keep interest as it makes it easier to read; people can find what happened when much easier than searching through all the pages of a single thread. Lastly, I am going to be away over the holiday season a couple of times, and the use of chapters means I'll easily be able to have breaks for this without interrupting the flow of the game. Most of my away time will be only a few days, however I will be away for just over a week after Christmas and also a 5 day period in late January. The participants already know this, and do not mind having these small breaks (at least they haven't complained yet...). There is no rush, but I do want to get the first couple of chapters done before Christmas, so that they all have something to think on while I'm away. I might set tem a puzzle or something to crack while I'm gone. Hope that answers all your questions! Note: The first chapter is more of a confirmation thread. The real mystery begins in Chapter two.

Man I love it! That dragon is awesome, one of the best I've seen in a while. The head is truly outstanding, you've managed to pack a lot of detail into such a small space. The fact that he is rising out of a well made me laugh. Good luck in the contest, I would vote for this if it was in a poll.

(OOC: Love you too Hinck. Now cut out that OOC crap! ) Ah welcome you three, you are the first to arrive (obviously). Once the others get here we can proceed to enter the manor. Dr. Phil, I fear you have mistaken me for a mighty and magnificent historical figure who just happens to look exactly like me. People don't live for centuries, really... Um, anyway, back to the topic at hand.

A slight breeze winded it's way out of the city of Dratos, ancient capital of the Dragon Masters Kingdom but now a buzzing metropolitan, late on that Tuesday afternoon. The breeze blew its way north, flitting across fields and small farms, until it eventually reached a small secluded valley, approximately 15 miles distance from the city. Within this valley, Dragon's Retreat, belonging to the late Lord Chester, could be found. It stands alone, the only visible landmark for miles around. And it waits... As the sun touched the tops of the hills of the surrounding valley, and as the shadows began to lengthen, a small group gradually gathered near the old manor house known as Dragon's Retreat. The early arrivals agreed that they would approach the house once all were there, but they still had a nice view of it, standing on the opposite side of the river. One of the first to arrive was a mysterious man who called himself Lord Dragonator. It appeared that he would be accompanying the group on the investigation. Might I suggest that we all begin by introducing ourselves and perhaps share a little about what we do? Once we are all here we can enter the manor. And so the EB detectives greeted each other with wide smiles and open arms (figuratively speaking). But in truth, they were wary, for what did they really know of each other? And what secrets did the old house contain that they should be so afraid just to look at it? The mystery had begun, and the answers could only be found within Dragon's Retreat... ********** Remember that to win the game you must answer the following four questions: WHO committed the crime? WHERE was the crime committed (which room)? WHAT was the murder weapon? WHY was he killed (motive)? For the full list of rules, please click on the picture at the top of the page or follow this link. Good luck everyone, let the game begin! Participants: 1. ImperialShadows - Peter Crawford; Lawyer 2. Sandy - Susan Greenwood; Receptionist 3. WhiteFang - Dr. Phillip Marshall; General Practitioner 4. Hinckley - Max Sinclair; Actor 5. Sir Dillon - Michael Dunne; CEO of Brick Plates 6. jipay - Bernard Knightly; President of the DHPT 7. ImperialScouts - Lieutenant John Spencer; soldier 8. Sir Nadroj - Dermot Stephens; University Student 9. Mr. Mandalorian - Dr. Gregory Grimsworth; University Professor 10. TheBrickster - Anthony Blackwater; Private Detective 11. Erdbeereis1 - Chef Frederick Valentine; Chef

What? No, exams silly.

They should be finished by now. Well at least mine are, so I assume his are too.