Ok, so judging by the lack of visitors (not one like since it was published), I'm guessing very few people spotted me adding this to my consolidated list of puzzle homes. So i'm doing a big ol' post about it here! This is possibly my toughest puzzle home yet, and so far nobody has cracked it. You get to help a goblin detective solve a murder mystery. Who wouldn't want to try and do that? So go visit Venomfly's place on Splitpaw... Morton Midnight, a wealthy nobleman and industrialist, has been found murdered in his manor house. Shamshovel the goblin ans his assistant Doctor Venomfly have been called in to try and crack the case, but it seems they're rather short on clues. Six guests attended a dinner at Midnight's house the night he was killed, and any of them could have committed the murder. It seems everyone had a motive - and they're all intent on accusing each other! Any of six possible murder weapons could have been used. Was it the antique candlestick, the length of chain, the bottle of poison, the tinkering spanner, the ornamental bow, or the hunting knife? And we don't even know exactly where the murder took place! It's your job to figure out who did the deed, where they did it, and what weapon was used. Venomfly has taken statements from all six suspects, and she's pretty sure that someone isn't telling the truth about their movements that night. You'll need to cross-reference the statements (hope you like reading!), and carefully explore the house in search of other evidence. Perhaps the murder weapon will show up in an unexpected place? Maybe one of the rooms shows signs of a struggle? Here's the list of suspects, and some possible motives - just to whet your appetites further... Lady Sky A distant relative of Morton Midnight, the snobbish Lady Sky stands to inherit the Midnight estate in the event of his death. She's not getting any younger while she waits, and Morton was still young and in good health. Would she have taken this opportunity to make a killing? Professor Violet A mad gnomish inventor, and business associate of Midnight's. Apparently he and the victim had quarrelled in the past about 'intellectual property'. Maybe Morton finally pushed him too far, or perhaps Violet saw a chance to gain a terminal competitive advantage... Mrs Milk Morton Midnight's fire-breathing-dragon of a housekeeper. Mrs Milk has a violent temper, and may have decided that the victim's poor treatment of her would not go unpunished. Commander Goldenrod A former military dwarf, Commander Goldenrod came into money following some spurious business dealings during the war. It's been suggested that Morton Midnight may have been blackmailing him. Miss Crimson Morton's latest in a long line of ladies, Miss Crimson is an aspiring actress. Morton has just secured her big break in Freeport's theatre world. However, it seems the victim's reputation as a lothario may have caught up with him, and hell hath no fury... Heirophant Lime An old priest, Heirophant Lime runs a temple school built on land owned by the Midnight estate. Morton has been planning to sell the land on, and Lime is desperate to stop that happening. But how far would he go to prevent it?
I've had feedback that there is a *LOT* of reading in this one... so be warned, you may need a comfy seat, and a pen and paper to hand!
I can see it now... ;-> "Professor Violet, in the laboratory, with the tinkering spanner!" Or something along those lines; it all sounds so familiar... ;-> Actually, if it were me, I've watched entirely too many police procedural shows, I'd want to examine the body more closely...depending on the type of damage, it could rule out the others. Unless, of course, all of them got at least one lick in... One person, one weapon, I take it? Will have to drop by once EQ2's installed on the new system! ;-> Uwk
Please do come and visit when you can, Uwk - sounds like you'd enjoy putting your armchair forensics to the test .. indeed, it seems that Sham the detective has already made some notes about the state of the body - which should help you rule out some options! And yes, it is indeed one person and one weapon.
Aw... ;-> It could be funny as heck, or gruesome as heck, to have the poor schmoe reeling around from the poison, then get whacked in the head by the spanner, then fumble into the archer's line of sight...all the while the others don't know someone else got him, unless they might notice an arrow...okay, leave the archer for last... ;-> "Cause of death?" "Natural causes." "Anyone who didn't die of all that would be unnatural." --Don Martin (I think) Uwk
Okay, first - I'm a huge Sherlock Holmes fan (both the new one on BBC and the original Sir Arthur Conan Doyle works) and I love the game Clue, so you already won major points with me before I even stepped foot in the house. I really enjoyed the creative writing you put in. Lots of great details that made me laugh - like Lady Sky's "The food was lovely too. Monkey's brains are an old favourite of mine." Excellent stuff! I also love how you coordinated each of the statement books with the colors that matched the characters names/descriptions. Wonderful detail. I'm also very impressed that the house is laid out almost perfect to the game board. I will admit, though, my sleuthing skills are not up to snuff and I couldn't crack the case! Still, very impressive work!
Wow thanks Dexella! I'm much gratified that you noticed some of the little details... Makes it all worthwhile! Shame you didn't manage to crack the case though.. Maybe I made it too tough! The trick should be to figure out when Morton died, then where he must have been and who had access at that time to both the room and the murder weapon without being observed by the other guests. Am away on hols till next week (currently in a guesthouse near the Black Forest) so wont be checking in game mails to see if anyone has cracked it until Tuesday.
You lucky dude, you! The Black Forest was great, really fun for a US tourist (I highly recommend the venison stew...nommm...). ;-> I'll visit, probably with my li'l Kerra good girl Otocolobus if it's based in So. Qeynos. Uwk owner of 9 toons on Splitpaw, 7 evils since my first guild was based in Freeport... X-P
I think it will be Freeport. Venomfly is an arasai so would most likely have started in neriak. No venison for me by the way Uwk, ich bin vegetarisch. Or something.
The following is the extent of my experience with Black Forest: ___________________________________________________________________________________________ As far as the house is concerned, I have to make time to go check it out. It looks rather interesting.
NOM! Black forest cake...hope you can have whipped cream frosting, Elduren... And the house is frustrating! It's a great mystery, I'll give you that; I think I have at least the key to the murder weapons (I've accounted for all but one, which is either a) suspicious, or b) I'm blind [wouldn't be the first time]), but I think I'll have to look over the suspects' depositions again in more detail, now that I'm slightly more coherent and it isn't late at night here. ;-> Uwk aka Otocolobus in the house ;->
The cake... the mystery... I'm so touring! Really though, this is fantastic idea to create an interactive mystery zone. Thank you for sharing
Please, see if you can solve it; it's stumped everyone so far, though I must admit I haven't been following up on it since the double XP weekend was started... ;-> Uwk the Slacker Detective >^.v.^<
We have a winner!!! Aeriel sent Venomfly a mail identifying the correct murderer, weapon, and room! They even explained how the killer pulled it off! So well done that person! Can I add any more exclamation marks? I think so!!! 100 plataroonies in the mail to you Aeriel. Well that at least puts my mind at rest that it can be cracked. So for the rest of you slackers there is still hope. And runner-up prizes.
ARGH! This Erudite would love to come solve your mystery, but she can't make a toon on Splitpaw! It's not a server that comes up when I go to make a new character
You have to go to the "Game Version" option on the launchpad and switch to EU in order to make a splitpaw toon. It does a very brief patch to update the version, and then you can make your toon. When you want to play your regular toons on US servers, just switch the game version back to US.
Thank you Elduren for the prize - completely unexpected I really enjoyed the puzzle and you've done a great job on building Morton Midnight's Manor House. I loved the character names and the colour co-ordinated suspect statement books! Some of the other touches were super too - I particularly liked the book of poems and the suspect statements were so well written I will certainly visit your other puzzle homes Aeriel
I'm not going to lie. I visited once, for about 20 minutes. But then I went back to utilizing the double XP. (I did take some screenies, but I haven't sat down to look over them since - I've been a bit swamped.)
