Investigations: [Concluded]

[Seon]

Thanks to...Edgar Allen Poe, Utano Shogo, and Ryukishi07 for inspiration

Welcome to the first game of Investigations, a mystery solving game with a twist! Here, you shall play the role of an amateur detective.

As a detective, your job would be, of course, to detect. You will determine how a culprit may have comitted a crime without the help of the incompetant police. You will never have to worry about whodunit or whydunit. You alredy know both! That would be because you are talking with the murderer right now.

.................................................................................................... ...............................................................................


You glance down at the tabloids as you walk near the house of the victim. "Three days ago, after receiving a frantic phone call, an ambulance was dispatched to Ravenfalls county. When the emergency personnel, led by Mrs.Brown, rushed up the stairs, they found Mr. Brown dead of strangulation. The police arrived minutes after. ...despite being protected by a home secuirty system and enjoying living in a neighbourhood in which no crime had occurred in the last 4 years, Mr. Brown was found strangled in his sleep. The terrorized neighbours have expressed their condolences for Mrs. Brown (29) who found the body of her dead husband in her own bed when she woke up, and wish for the hasty arrest of the culprit.

The police have reported that all the doors and windows were locked by the time in which the emergency personnel arrived, and that the home secuirty system was engaged. So far, the police have been unable to find a logical explanation for the crime. However, there are rumours that Mr.Brown was threatened multiple times before his death..."

You sigh and pocket the tabloid. The line "despite being protected by a home secuirty system" bugs you considerably. That, and the fact that the murderer apparently killed the victim right next to his still breathing wife without her noticing.

You look up to examine the house.



It seems to be a two floor house. You know that, as with every other house in the neighbourhood, this house was fitted with an autolock. In addition, the sign saying "Protected by ADT" is pinned to the front lawn. Fat lot of good they did to the house's occupant, you think.

The entire area is cordoned off by yellow secuirty tape. A single man in blue guards the entryway. It seems as if there is no way at all you will be able to search the house yourself.

[Askthepizzaguy]

Objective is "how" it was done, then?

[PershsNhpios]

Bribe the man in blue and make an entrance.

Vote: Seon

[Seon]

Yes. Whodunit and whodunit is irrelevant: you know that the murderer is a killer who kills for the sake of making mysteries.

Ah yes. You MAY move around the character and ask questions and inquiries.

[Askthepizzaguy]

What markings does the victim have on his body?

Specifically, does it look like there are bruises consistent with hands or fingers, markings of that nature, on the victim's body?

Or, does it look like there was an object used for strangulation, such as a rope, cord, or sheet?


Edit: Or wait, I can't examine the body, can I?

[Seon]

You can't but sure. I will answer that question, the murderer used a rope of some kind to strangle his victim. No other bruises exist. But that's the lesser of the mystery here.

[Askthepizzaguy]

I would figure, if the wife is telling the truth, that it was self-strangulation, for reasons I won't get into here. Either he was suicidal or on drugs or what have you.


If not, it would be the wife or someone else still in the house.

[Seon]

The wife did not commit the crime. This, I shall guarantee.

The murderer is someone that neither Mr or Mrs Brown know. This, I shall also guarantee.

Mr. Brown did not commit suicide. This, I shall also guarantee.

[Askthepizzaguy]

The ADT guy is mad because Mr. Brown never paid for the installation.


Arrest: ADT installation guy.

[Seon]

Lol. XD

Yes, the ADT guy MAY have been able to disengage the security system and pick the lock of the house to get in. But how, you may wonder, would he be able to strangle his victim without the wife, who was sleeping right next to the victim, noticing?

[Askthepizzaguy]

She could be deaf, on medication, or a heavy sleeper.

[Seon]

I refuse to confirm, although I certainly will not deny.

The point is, mere conjecturing will never get me to reveal more.

Remember that you can ask the Man in Blue some questions as well.

[Csargo]

Bribe the guard with donuts to let you in the house.

Ask the guard if they know who threatened Mr. Brown or if he was threatened at all.

[Seon]

Bribe the guard with donuts to let you in the house.

Ask the guard if they know who threatened Mr. Brown or if he was threatened at all.

You approach the guard, walking as if you own the darn house. As you reach into your bag to pull out a donut, he shoots you a look and says "No visitors."

Well darn. It seemed like a good idea at first. Instead of the donut, you pull out a business card.

"Hello, ," you say with a smile, handing him the business card. "I just wanted to ask a few questions about the case." The cop raises an eyebrow. "Discovery Channel? Didn't you people visit yesterday?" he said.

"Well, yes," you add hurriedly. "But the director would like for me to clarify a few things. Oh, and..." you show him a yellow manilla envelope. "Of course, cooperation will yield gratitudes..."

"Ah..." the cop nods knowingly. Money, of course, is a common language.

"Well," the cop said. "What do you want to clarify?"

"We heard rumors that Mr.Brown was threatened by someone. Have the police been able to confirm the nature of the threatening messages? If so, what were his motives?"

The police's face darkens. "You know I cannot answer that," he replied flatly. "I will, however, confirm that Mr.Brown was indeed threatened. Mr.and Mrs. Brown thought it was merely a prank, and did not call the police. It is a truly tragic circumstance, really. If they did, we might have been able to stop the entire affair."

You nod approvingly. In heart, you can't help but feel as if the guy rehearsed this whole thing too well...was he just standing in front of the house waiting for a reporter to ask him this question?

"The poor man." the police adds. "I don't know if I should be telling you this..." he leans forward. "But...we haven't been able to find any motive whatsoever. Mr. Brown moved into this neighbourhood just a month ago, and he never made any enemies."

"Anything else you want to clarify?"

[Beefy187]

Sorry I came here late.

Ask the fellow about Mr Browns family. Any children or relatives? Whats his occupation?

[Seon]

"Sorry," the cop replies. "That would be a private affair."

*note: Yes, Mr. Brown was a corporate executive. It is not completely unforseeable that he, in his career, made several enemies. However, I will guarentee that that was not the motive. This was the work of a psychopath.

[Csargo]

Ask if there have been any similar murders recently.

[Seon]

"No," the cop replies. "This has been a crime free neighbourhood for the past...4 years. The emergency personnel didn't expect it to be a murder. Frankly none of us expected it to be a murder, so they just sent some paramedics. The hospital was closer to this house than the police station anyways."

The police pauses to remember. "It's all quite a mystery..." he said. "How could this have happened? All the windows of this house are locked from the inside, and they all have vibration detecting sensors built into it. The door's fitted with an autolock and the wife swore that the chain was still set from the inside when she opened the door. We think that she did it... She's the only one who can....but then why? And where did the murder weapon go?

[Beefy187]

Ask for permission to question the wife.

[Seon]

The man in blue raises an eyebrow. "She's not in here. No duh. Besides, you know that you can't ask me that question. Privacy, you know? Actually, I think I would like you to leave now."

"Bu..."

"No matter. Just. Go."

You walk away, still unable to quite piece together what happened in the house.

OOC NOTE: All the clues that you *need* to piece together the thing have been given .

IC: You boot up your PC. 'tis time to talk to the murderer. Over the past few years, you two, the murderer and the detective, have grown quite close together. The murderer would, on many occassions, kill people and taunt you over the web with it, daring you to solve it.

Of course, you solved most of them. MOST OF THEM.

A conversation box suddenly appears in your screen. It's the murderer. "So, Mr. Detective!" the murderer says brightly. "have you figured it out yet?"

Suddenly the murderer goes offline. Few minutes later he appears again. You smirk. "Battery problems again? Forgot to pay the electricity bill?"

"Shut. Up." The murderer replies. "So, did you solve it yet?"

"It was impossible for anyone to sneak inside the house even before the cops came," you reply. "How the heck did you..."

The murderer laughs. "I don't know, magic I guess."

[Askthepizzaguy]

I still think I solved it with the ADT guy, I just didn't ask all the right questions.

I'm not sure what other solutions there are.

[Seon]

It could be done by the ADT guy, but that would be too easy. Therefore I shall give you... A major hint. At no point during the night of Brown`s death did the secuirty system disengage. The culprit was able to get into the house without that.

You might then go to say something like “Mr. Brown simply forgot to close a window or something.” So I will state that all the windows were closed. You may even say that the murderer bribed the ADT guy to not install a detecror in a certain window. No such thing happened.

[Askthepizzaguy]

I do believe I has been stumped.

1. It was not a self-inflicted death or accidental death.
2. It was not the wife.
3. There's no one else in the house.
4. It was not the obvious suspect, the ADT guy, who is the only one I can think of who can sneak in and out of the house when the security system is armed.
5. There is the unresolved problem of why the wife did not wake up during the struggle.
6. These people are all human, this isn't one of those mind-screw problems where the dead person is actually a fish.
7. It was no one that the victims knew.

As such, and without any other firm leads, I am not sure what kind of questions to ask here.

[Seon]

There`s another hint in your short conversation with the murderer himself.

[Csargo]

Obviously santa did it.

I have no idea how to solve this :/

[Greyblades]

Are the window locks electrical?

Edit,: No, wait, thats not likely, why put a computer chip lock on a poxy window?

Ok what about the sensors are they battery powered or run off the power mains?

Ooh I just thought of something, was Mr Brown on medication?

[Seon]

Are the window locks electrical?

Edit,: No, wait, thats not likely, why put a computer chip lock on a poxy window?

Ok what about the sensors are they battery powered or run off the power mains?

Ooh I just thought of something, was Mr Brown on medication?

Battery powered. They were installed merely a month ago and did not run out of power.

He was on sleeping pills~ That`s what you would like me to say. But I jest. He was not on anything.

[Askthepizzaguy]

I think I need some of what ever it was that Mr. Brown wasn't on. It's obviously really good stuff.

This one is giving me a headache. I'm going to concede, because I don't think I can solve it without building off of someone else's work, since I am presently stumped. So they should try, and take credit.

[Greyblades]

What about mrs brown did she take anything?
Oh another thing; that house looks pretty expensive, did the Brown's hire a maid or other cleaner?

[Seon]

What about mrs brown did she take anything?
Oh another thing; that house looks pretty expensive, did the Brown's hire a maid or other cleaner?

Mea. Brown did nor get any medication from her doctors nor did she buy any off of the pharmacist.

The Browns did not hire a maid. If she had any relation to the case, I would surely have mentioned it by now.