>>14460
You check your watch. It's about 12:15.

Kyrie: "Archer understands. We need to at least fight back. His plan will work, if we all stick to it."

Rudolf: "......It seems dangerous. But hell, we've lost our children already, right? Let's make that bastard pay!"

Hideyoshi: "Dyin' here, trapped like sitting ducks, that won't do us any good. A shame we missed out on the food though."

Natsuhi: "I don't know who this Beatrice is, but I will not let her erase the Ushiromiya name!"

Rosa: "For Maria!"

Eva: "........."

It looks like everyone is willing to go along with your plan. The guns are distributed to Eva, Natsuhi, Kyrie, and yourself, as you had suggested.

You open the door. The corners are clear; it's safe. You step out into the hallway.

>>14462
Down the stairs and out the front door. Might as well grab some of the umbrellas in the foyer as I'm leaving.

>>14474
You and the group successfully go out the front door, all carrying umbrellas.

It's raining quite badly outside, the wind blowing ever stronger. However, it's not enough to stop anyone from pressing onward.

Kyrie: "So, Archer. If we are to test my theory about the epitaph, we must go to the chapel."

Natsuhi: "Father's personal chapel... I can lead you all there."

Although you were one of Kinzo's friends, you were never informed about this chapel. You could try to find it on your own, or allow Natsuhi to guide you. Or possibly do something else...

Last edited at 14/04/05(Sat)18:17:01

>>14493
"Kyrie, I was sure you'd have understood what I was planning. We need to check the guesthouse before the chapel."
Head to the guesthouse and confirm the corpses of the deceased

>>14494
You lead the group to the guesthouse.

Once inside, you all go upstairs to check on the corpses. But the doors to the cousins' room and Nanjo's guest room are both locked.

Natsuhi: "...That would be my fault. I had asked Gohda to lock the doors before leaving that horrible crime scene."

Rudolf: "So did anyone think to snag the master key from his pocket?"

Everyone looks around at each other, speechless. Guess not.

>>14496
"No problem, we just need to apply a tad bit of force."
Kick the door in

>>14514
You kick the door, but it's quite solid and doesn't budge. You try again and again, but it doesn't open...

"Oh come on. Stand back!"

Eva pushes you out of the way and motions into a fighting stance. She takes a few deep breaths...

"HaaaaaAAAAAAAAHHH!!!!!"

With all of her strength, she spectacularly spin-kicks into the door, blowing it right open!

>>14518
The adults rush inside the room. The corpses of the children... are all missing. The blood which had come from their corpses is still present, but the bodies themselves... nowhere.

Rosa: "They're all gone?! Archer, do you have any idea what's going on?!"

Hideyoshi: "The door was locked, and it looks like the window is too... How did they get out without leavin' a trace?!"

Kyrie: "On the nighstand... There's another envelope! Sealed with Kinzo's wax-seal!"

Praise my name.

That's all the letter says.

>>14520
"Praise who's name? They forgot to sign the letter."

Chapel time

>>14533
BGM: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nfVA1F1mdV8

The group leaves the guesthouse, travelling all the way to Kinzo's chapel.

Kyrie begins to mess with the letters Q U A D R I L L I O N above the chapel's door...

The lion statue turns its head, facing Rokkenjima's untamed forest... Everyone stands there in shock, waiting for either you or Kyrie to tell them what to do next.

>>14537
"It would seem our path is set for us."

Lead everyone in that direction.

>>14540
You lead the others in the direction the lion statue indicates. After about a minute's walk, and a few twists and turns later...

...You uncover a staircase, leading into an underground tunnel...

Immediately upon descending, you see there are three paths to take. What will you do?

>>14621
"A three way path, huh.... I feel like there must be a definitive answer but it seems we missed a hint somewhere..... anybody have any ideas?"

>>14622
Everyone looks at you and Kyrie in confusion.

Kyrie: "...If we split up now, things will only be more confusing. We need to remain together, especially in such a dark tunnel. If nobody has any starting ideas, then I suggest we take the left path and go from there."

"Why the left path of all paths? Isn't that the path that you would normally expect a person to default to if they are required to use the process of elimination to determine the correct way? Well I don't really have any better ideas, though, so we might as well go down the left lane."

Proceed to go down the left lane, exercising extreme caution, etc.

>>14703
At the end of the path, you encounter another fork in the road. This time, two options.

You also notice what looks like... a body, lying in the middle of the junction. It's hard to see from this distance, so you could approach it for a closer look.

>>14704
Approach the body for a closer inspection.

>>14705
When you move closer, you notice it's wearing a suit like a servant, but don't see anything unusual... other than the goat head. It's clearly a lifeless body nonetheless.

Natsuhi and Rosa almost let out screams, but Hideyoshi and Rudolf keep them quiet.

>>14706
Clearly a lifeless body, eh? Must by one of the disappeared victims. My money's on George.

Remove the mask to determine who this corpse belongs to

>>14707
You take off the goat head, obviously a mask -- to reveal a heavily decomposed skull. It's clearly been dead for a long time. A sharp object resembling an ice-pick can be seen protruding from the skull, as if gouging it.

Natsuhi: "This is... What on Earth is this?!"

>>14709
"It appears to be a body. Perhaps a missing person, perchance a long miss and long deceased servant. We should at least make preliminary attempts to identify this person."

I will attempt to identify this body's sex by genitalia. If this is impossible due to decay, I will use the pelvis instead.

"Gouge the head and kill, huh? Clearly not the right order given the current state of these remains."

>>14710
You undress the corpse, and determine by its pelvis that it is most likely a male.

You pervert!

>>14711
"A male corpse...."

Use the remains to next determine age next. Via the teeth (both the wear and the development). This could also be aided by the size of the remain themselves, how big the bones are, etc.

>>14712
It's obvious by the size that this is the skeleton of an adult male. Nothing more can be determined from inspection.

Where shall you go from here?

Last edited at 14/04/22(Tue)21:31:16

Left

>>14714
Your group follows the left path again.

You reach a dead end. You can see what looks like water, or rather what one might consider a river, flowing through the rocks below. It looks like it's flowing from right to left and then splits, going in two directions: your left, and in front of you. You could probably trace its path if you backtracked from this information alone.

Let's go back to the previous fork and then go down the other way

>>14716
You take the other path.

Another junction of three paths. There's also another path leading back toward your original starting point.

>>14717
Take the left path

>>14718
You go left.

Eventually the group finds the river once again, but it's not just a river... It's a large body of water, and in the middle of it sits a giant submarine! The words 'Cavallo Bianco' can be seen on two plaques attached to the side of the ship. The door to the sub looks slightly ajar.

Other than that, this area doesn't seem to hold much despite its size. It's completely surrounded by rocks, so it's another dead end of sorts. The water seems quite deep, so it's probably best not to dive in.

>>14719
"A dead end of sorts. But if the door on that sub is open, we can probably enter."

I will attempt to board the sub.

>>14720
You crack the door open and board the sub, the others following close behind.

There's a lot of machinery and not much room to move around. Keeping your guard up, your group is suspicious of anyone hiding... but there's no one in sight.

Rudolf: "What the hell is a submarine doing underneath this island...? Is there something we all don't know about?"

Rosa: "Father told stories about being involved in the war... Do you think this is from that time?"

>>14721
While walking through the tight space, Natsuhi clumsily hits her head against the ceiling. She lets out a small 'ouch', but she seems alright.

...In the process, everyone hears a latch open, and something falling onto the floor. It's a white key... Kyrie kneels down to pick it up.

Kyrie: "So we followed this river and found a key. Do you see where this is going, Archer?"

Last edited at 14/04/22(Tue)23:33:26

>>14722
"Oh boy, here we go..... now to see if there's something cool to unlock"

Keep searching

Last edited at 14/04/22(Tue)23:24:57

>>14725
You search the interior for any more clues, but find nothing of interest.

Kyrie: "There's nothing useful in here. But I think I know what to do next."

Kyrie moves toward the submarine's exit. She steps outside and finishes her thought.

"...We need to solve the epitaph again. Find the six chosen by the key. This key is white, and the sign outside says 'BIANCO', which is six letters long and Italian for that color. So, something must be hiding back there, right?"

Last edited at 14/04/22(Tue)23:35:32

>>14726
"Huh, a puzzle within a puzzle. Something tells me this one was not intended as a part of the original epitaph."

Assess the situation to determine everyone else is still here. Then I'll make my way to the outside of the submarine and more closely examine the words Cavallo Bianco

>>14736
Everyone is still with you.

The two words are both on separate plaques. Upon close examination, the 'BIANCO' plaque can be lifted up to reveal a small compartment in the sub.

Kyrie checks the compartment and holds up a blue key.

Kyrie: "Another key. This might be useful later on."

>>14799
"Looks like we're done here"

Go back and try the middle path at the fork.

>>14810
Your group decides to go down the middle path. It's a dark and narrow corridor, but you see some light near the other end.

Your group remains cautious as you walk toward the light...

Suddenly, a sound! Footsteps?! At the other end of this hallway?!

Rosa: "Is that... the culprit?!"

Last edited at 14/05/27(Tue)19:45:42

>>15087
"Must be, can't imagine anyone else around.

Hey, Mr. Culprit, show yourself. Surely our climactic showdown is about to begin."

>>15349
After you say that, you hear the echo of the footsteps picking up pace.

Rudolf: "They're trying to get away! Let's go!"

The others instinctively chase after the fleeing culprit. Down the hall is another corridor, now brightly-lit. There are several closed doors paving the walls, but only a single door among them open.

Just as you arrive in the hallway, you could see a shadowy figure entering that room with the opened door... Looks like that person is the culprit after all.

...As you look around, it seems there are several more of those goat-butlers lying around in the halls, all dead. None of the survivors are concerned with them, however, considering the culprit is right inside that room...!

Natsuhi: "Stop! I will not allow you to get away with murdering the Ushiromiya family! For my husband and my daughter, I will be the one to kill you!"

Natsuhi dashes into the room, and a moment later, a gunshot rings out across the hall.

Last edited at 14/06/24(Tue)14:05:13

>>15350
I run in after her.

>>15351
What he said

>>15352
You run into the room after Natsuhi. The others follow right behind you.

Natsuhi can be seen fallen on the floor, her head smashed into a bloody mess. There's hardly anything left...

You smell smoke coming from the barrel of a gun. And you see the person holding that gun, in the center of the room... Ushiromiya Kinzo!!!

BGM: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=35dnAFiOz1k

"Fufufufu...!!! So this is how the game ends. You've really cornered me. Does everything make sense now, you fools...? Or shall I be the one to explain everything for you?"

All of the adults are frozen in shock.

Last edited at 14/06/24(Tue)18:42:12

>>15353
"I'm still not quite sure of my importance in all of this? Dear friend, why was it important that I be summoned here for this occasion?"

Last edited at 14/07/14(Mon)19:10:48

>>15445
"Friend? You call me your friend? Does the pawn or the rook call the hand that moves them his friend? You were placed on my chessboard, to serve my purpose, and now that it has been fulfilled, I desire your friendship no more!

I regret nothing! My sons and daughters deserve nothing from me! They and their children are all failures, none of which deserve the title of the head of the family! The Ushiromiya line ends here! The one who gave new life to the family name shall also be the one to take it away!

And it is not enough to simply kill you all! One does not slaughter dogs. They must first grow to have a fighting chance, and only then can they be mercilessly crushed to pieces! What better way to strike fear into my children's hearts and paranoia into their minds than to slowly kill the ones they love?! I could have simply detonated this bomb, but first it was necessary to mentally torture all of you!

And you Archer, played right into my hands! To kill them slowly and perfectly, without a chance of failure... How disgraceful! It was necessary to find someone willing to fight back! Without risk, there can be no reward, and the larger the risk, the larger the payoff in the end...!!! You are an opponent, a challenger! By summoning you to this island, I raised that risk immensely, all for the sake of my own entertainment!

Do you get it? That letter I sent was a fake, a lie! Not a word written on it was true! And all of my faithful servants stayed home today, after I told them that a bomb would be going off at midnight, killing everyone...!!!

Do you have any more words for me, ...dear friend?!"

Last edited at 14/07/14(Mon)19:21:55

>>15446
"Any hints to share before I shoot you?"

If not, I'll shoot him.

>>15447
The old man laughs as you ready your gun.

Kinzo: "A hint? The game is over, you win. The bomb is in the clock over there. Disarm it, and you may leave."

*BANG!*

You shoot Kinzo in the chest, and he topples over backward to the floor. Silence falls.

The survivors (Eva, Rudolf, Rosa, Hideyoshi, Kyrie) are still in shock after witnessing these bizarre events. Kinzo was alive the whole time, hiding down here, plotting to kill them all? And it was all big practical joke none of them were laughing at?

...Eva, who had been just as dumbfounded as the others and had been staring at her father's dead body for several moments, suddenly began walking to the other side of the room.

Eva: "He said the clock, right?! ...Does anyone know how to disarm this thing?! It looks like there's a switch here... Can we really trust Father's word, or is this another trap that will get us killed?!"

>>15448
"That should be the end. I can't see the point of any more surprises by now."

>>15449
Eva flips the switch.

The end.