"So, that's why you have to find the hidden gold and make us rich. I think it has something to do with the word 'Quadrillion'."

Ozaki continues ranting on the phone. Why did you even tell him you'd be here?

>>17001
"Right, 'us'. Just leave it to me. Anything else you want to tell me before I get started? I'm ready to go."

"Just don't get distracted. I know how you get, man."

The phone clicks.

>>17004
I look around the room and check my watch.

The room is a standard guest room. From the window, it looks like you're in the Guest House. It's 5:37. Dinner should be around an hour or so, but you're not sure what time the family typically eats.

Last edited at 14/12/31(Wed)01:00:38

>>17007
I leave my guest room and lock it behind me, going out into the hall to see if anyone is around.

As soon as you walk out, you catch Rudolf's eye. Was he waiting for you?

"Hey, Kinjo. Glad I could catch you. We haven't managed to crack Krauss yet, but we're giving it a gallant effort. He can't keep us away forever, right? Not when we have our own doctor in the house."

>>17009
"Yeah, exactly. You want to try talking to him again?"

"Actually, Kyrie and I think that you should question Dr. Nanjo. Be friendly, but see if there's anything he says that doesn't make sense. You might be able to catch some medical stuff that we wouldn't."

>>17011
"Sure thing. Where might Doctor Nanjo be right now?"

"You haven't seen him? I thought he was in his room upstairs. If not, check in with the servants. He likes to chat with them. Anyways, I have to get back to things. I'll be surprised if I get out of this conference without any gray hairs."

>>17035
"Good luck. It's too late for me!"

I'll go to Nanjo's room and knock on the door to see if he's there.

You walk upstairs. It looks like the cousins haven't returned from the beach yet.

You knock a few times on Nanjo's door. A lock clicks and the door opens.

"...What is it?"

>>17037
"Hey, sorry to bother you. I was wondering if I could talk to you about Kinzo."

"Oh, I'll imagine you'll do whatever it is that you please. There's no point of asking what I think, is there?"

Nanjo sighs. "As I've told everyone, Kinzo is merely at the end of his days. A heart beats a finite number of times."

Last edited at 15/01/04(Sun)19:32:32

>>17039
"Whaaaaat?! I'm at the end of my days?! Is anybody a doctor around here?!"

"I understand you're a far more experienced doctor than I am, so I was hoping to learn a few things from you, while we're both here.

...Is Kinzo well enough to at least see his family this year?"

Last edited at 15/01/04(Sun)19:37:16

"I'm sure. I never recommend that my patients unnecessarily strain themselves, but Kinzo is the kind of person that would go to dinner if he genuinely wished to. Only he can really decide. Rather, I'm more interested in you, Mr. Goldbar. Why exactly are you here? Is someone sick that I'm unaware about? Has a deadly plague broken out? I should like to know."

Last edited at 15/01/04(Sun)19:47:07

>>17041
"Oh, that's because Kinzo invited me here himself. Said something about wanting a second opinion. I wanted to check up on his health with you first though, since you know all the details about his history."

"That's a damned lie!" Nanjo's face scrunches up. "Kyrie and Rudolf are your employers. Even I know that much."

Last edited at 15/01/04(Sun)19:59:48

>>17043
"Sorry, some people say I have a weird sense of humor. ...Anyway yes, I'm their family doctor. Ange has been sick a lot lately and they're afraid they've got it too. I'm here in case they experience any of the symptoms during the conference, because it would be really bad if they did. You've heard of Ebola, right?"

"Don't apologize for your humor, Mr. Goldbar. We all have things that we're best at. Mine is medical knowledge. If that's all, good day."

Nanjo shuts the door in your face. Coincidentally, you hear sets of footsteps climbing up the stairs accompanied by Maria's voice. As you look back, the cousins emerge from the steps.

"Ah, Mr. Goldbar," Jessica says. "I hope that you're getting along alright."

"Uu! Maria found lots of shells! Beat Battler in a collecting race."

"Now, Maria," George says. "I'm sure that Mr. Goldbar doesn't care about that."

"We stayed out longer than we expected," Battler says. "We got completely rained out."

>>17045
"Oh, has it started raining? I heard there's going to be horrible weather the whole weekend. We might get stuck here if it's bad enough."

"I'm sure we wouldn't mind if that's the case," George says. "There are people that we rarely get to see on this island. It's a lively opportunity."

"I don't know," Jessica says. She looks at you. "These conferences get more stressful every year. I'll be glad when it's over. I'm sure you have work to do on the mainland, right? I know that not everyone gets the luxury of having nothing to do."

>>17047
"Work? I spend most of my days playing Nintendo when I'm not writing mystery stories in my office. I have so much free time you might suspect I'm not even a doctor at all."

I'll check my watch.

"Anyway, it's getting close to dinner time, isn't it?"

It's 6:04.

"Uh, right. It'll probably be around another half hour," Jessica tells you. "If you want, you can wait around here until the servants call. I have to go up the mansion anyways."

Jessica grabs an umbrella and takes her leave.

Last edited at 15/01/04(Sun)21:12:56

>>17049
I turn to Battler, George, and Maria.

"Huh, I suppose we can wait here. Wonder why Jessica had to go early."

"She mentioned that she had to help her parents with something," Battler says. "I think it has to do with gramps."

"I wonder if he'll be joining us for dinner," George says. "It would be a pleasant surprise."

>>17051
"Yes, the suspense is killing me..."

I turn to Maria.

"Hey Maria, you said you picked up some seashells, right? Want to see a cool magic trick?"

Maria looks surprised. "Do you really know magic?"

>>17053
"I'll prove it to you. Let me see one of those seashells, please."

I reach out my hand to Maria.

Maria hands you a seashell.

>>17055
"<Good!> We will be using this as a teleportation device. You remember the fun you had at the beach just now, right? I'll use this shell to teleport all of us back there!"

I hold the shell and raise my arm up high.

"The only condition... This spell only works if you keep your eyes closed. If anyone opens their eyes, we'll teleport back right away! Do you want to give it a try, Maria? Can you close your eyes for me?"

Maria closes her eyes. "I'm ready!"

Battler and George smile, looking amused.

>>17057
"Alright. We're going back to the beach. Come, remember, what form did it have? Lots of sand. You're walking on the sand again, aren't you? Remember how it looked and felt..."

I bring the shell to her ear.

"...And the ocean, you can hear it now, can't you? It was gray -- no, blue, it was a blue ocean! And you can hear its waves crashing on the beach, right? We've teleported back! Just keep your eyes closed, and remember its form with your mind, or the spell will break!"

"Uu! Maria can hear it! The waves are moving against the sand. The ocean tastes so salty. There's sand stuck in-between Maria's toes! Amazing! Uuu! Uu!"

It appears that your spell worked.

Last edited at 15/01/04(Sun)22:03:02

"Uu. The rain clouds are closing in on us. Waves are getting stronger. A wave hits Maria's legs while she's gathering shells and knocks her over! Uuu! Uu!"

"The joyful power of magic? I'm disappointed, Kinjo Goldbar. The last time this fragment played, you spent this time completing the witch's epitaph. If you're going to squander around helplessly, at least make it entertaining. Haven't I been cursed with enough saccharine magic stories?"

>>17062
"You seem to forget that in the original fragment, dead bodies were found in the gold room the next morning. If I don't solve the epitaph then nobody goes to the gold room and nobody dies."

"Don't misunderstand me, I understand the strategy in your decision. I just wish you wouldn't be so boring about it. You may be the detective, but I control the board's presentation. You didn't take Maria to the beach. All you did was put a shell up to her ear. You've both been standing in the guest house."

Maria opens her eyes. She seems to be in a sour mood.

"Maria isn't sure if she likes the beach anymore."

George walks back into the hallway. You hadn't even noticed that he left. "Gohda just called. We should head to the mansion."

Last edited at 15/01/05(Mon)11:17:22

>>17066
"Alright, let's get going then."

I'll grab an umbrella and lead the way.

Battler, Maria, and George follow you. As you're leaving, you can hear Doctor Nanjo trailing behind. He keeps his distance.

You pass by the rose garden on your way to the mansion. With the storm growing heavier, it's hard to see too much. Maria struggles to hold on to her umbrella, but Battler helps her out.

Battler and George chat casually as you approach the mansion's entrance. Apparently, George is interested in marring a servant girl named Shannon. George seems pretty peeved that he would blurt out something like that.

"Mr. Goldbar. About Shannon, I haven't told the rest of my family, yet. I'd appreciate it if you could keep what you've heard to yourself."

>>17068
"Sure thing."

You walk through the doors of the mansion. When you enter the dining room, you see that the adults are already at their spots on the table. You have a seat near the cousins. It doesn't look like Kinzo has joined in on the festivities.

"I do hope that Father arrives soon," Eva says. She wears a small smirk. "I'm getting quite worried about him."

"That's right," Rudolf says. "We'll definitely have to make sure of his well-being before the conference ends."

"They're talking about the inheritance right before dinner?" Battler scowls. "You'd think they'd give it a break for an hour, at least."

"They're hopeless," Jessica says. "Just ignore them. Are you really going to give it to her tonight?"

George nods. "I'll give her the ring. If she wears it in the morning, I'll know she wants to marry me. If not...well, I'll know."

"That's your plan? Geez, you really don't understand her heart at all, do you?"

Different conversations whirl around you. Everyone's waiting for dinner. What will you do?

Last edited at 15/01/05(Mon)12:04:11

>>17070
I'll stay in my seat and wait quietly until dinner starts.

Conversations carry on for a couple of minutes. You don't contribute. You hear your name brought up a few times from the adults, but nobody addresses you specifically.

Then, as you're waiting, you see it: a letter sitting in the middle of the table, just beyond your reach. You're sure that wasn't there when you entered the dining hall.

There's a sense of foreboding in the room. Something is...off. Even though everything looks normal, something seems out of place even apart from the letter.

Last edited at 15/01/05(Mon)19:45:19

>>17072
"...What's that?"

I point at the letter.

"That's...the seal from Father's ring," Krauss says. He looks flabbergasted.

Eva looks incredulous. "Is it now? And what kind of trick are you showing us?"

"Was that there before?" Rosa asks.

Kyrie shakes her head. "Someone must have put it there. Did anyone see?"

Nobody speaks up. Were there really no witnesses? It's like the letter magically appeared at the table.

"Well, what are we waiting for?" Rudolf grabs the envelope and tears it open. The adults are tensed up. "Let's see..."

Something is sorely out of place. If only you could put your finger on it! Yet, everything looks so normal.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OVOf6HEur5Y

"I, Kinzo Ushiromiya, Head of the Ushiromiya family, with a sound mind and conscious, name my granddaughter, Jessica, to be my successor. My son, Krauss, will act as Head until she comes of age. When Jessica is twenty-one years old, she will inherit my land, my title, and all of my gold. I've drafted an official will with my dear friends Genji and Nanjo as my witnesses, but I leave this letter with my family. They ought to be the first to know of my intentions.

I've made so many mistakes during my years. I will never be forgiven, but I hope that my granddaughter does better. This is my last wish."

You finally figure out what's off. There's a strange, distant cranking sound, like some kind of machinery.

>>17076
"Wait. Does anyone else hear that?"

I'll try and listen to where the sound is coming from and head in that direction, looking for the source.

"Hear what?" George asks.

You walk in the direction of the sound. It seems to be coming from behind you, from outside of the mansion. There are several windows lined up on the wall, but it's too dark to see.

"Wait," Rudolf says. "There's another note in the envelope."

He pauses. "Sacrifice the six chosen by the key?"

Gohda walks in the dining room with a tray of food. "I hope that everyone's ready to eat. I've brought a fine course of--"

As Gohda removes a plate cover, he shrieks. When others see it, they do as well. On Gohda's tray...is the severed head of a burnt corpse.

Krauss stands up. "What in the world?"

>>17078
"What the--?! Whose head is that?! Is this a joke?!"

Natsuhi's eyes dart around. She scowls. "What is the meaning of this? Someone speak--"

Several windows break at once while deafening bangs explode on the other side of the wall. Some glass flies into your face and scratches you, but it barely avoids hitting your eyes.

"Everybody, get down!" Rosa yells. The family starts ducking under the table, but it's too late. Nanjo and Natsuhi have bullets lodged in their skulls. Krauss was shot straight through the chest.

"We're being attacked!" says Battler. You can hear screaming coming from somewhere else in the mansion as well. Could that be the servants?

>>17080
I jump down to the floor and crawl along the perimeter of the room to the door leading to the hallway.

You succeed with no interruptions. There aren't any more shots. The hallway is empty, but you can hear shouting from a distance.

>>17082
I'll run toward the screaming (because that sounds like a good idea).

You follow the noise and reach the servant's room. You find Shannon standing over the bodies of Genji and Kumasawa. They were both shot in the head. The window in this room is broken as well.

"M-Mr. Goldbar! We were just sitting down to eat and...and..."

>>17084
"The dining room was attacked too! We need to stick together and regroup with the others."

She nods, clearly flustered, and follows you back. The others are just dashing out of the room and into the hallway. Besides the dead, everyone is accounted for.

"Oh God... they're all...What do we do?" Rosa asks.

"Stay together," Rudolf says. "And stay away from windows. They can't attack us if they don't have a vantage point. Damn it, they're going to pay for this."

"Nobody should have been able to get on the island," Kyrie says. "This shouldn't be possible. Where's Kanon, anyways?"

"He...he never came to dinner," Shannon says.

"Then he could be the culprit behind this! We need to go upstairs and grab Father's guns," Eva says.

Last edited at 15/01/05(Mon)21:15:29

>>17086
I look at each person just to see who specifically is present with us right now.

Eva, Hideyoshi, Rudolf, Kyrie, Rosa, Gohda, Battler, Jessica, George, Maria, and Shannon are all in the hallway.

"Mom...Dad..." Jessica sobs at the ground.

Eva clings onto her husband's jacket.

"They're all fucking dead!" Battler yells. "What the hell happened? It's useless, it's all completely useless!"

>>17088
"I guess we should get Kinzo's guns then. But we can't go inside the study without a key, can we?"

Rosa turns to Gohda. "Do you know where the key to Father's study is?"

Gohda frowns. "There are two. One is kept in the study and I believe that Genji keeps the other."

"Then we need to get the key from Genji," Eva says. "Why isn't he here?"

"Genji is..." Shannon trails off.

Last edited at 15/01/05(Mon)21:44:05

>>17090
"...Follow me."

I'll lead the group back to Genji's corpse and search him for the key to the study.

You lead the group to the servant's room.

"Be careful," George says. "It could be dangerous in any room."

Everyone enters.

"Even the servants..." Battler says.

"This is just awful," Hideyoshi says. "Who would do something like this to these decent folks? It's sickening."

You search through Genji's pockets, but you can't find the key on him.

"Where the hell is it?" Rudolf says. "You said he has it!"

"I- I have no idea, honestly! I'm only a master chef! Keys are beyond my area of expertise!"

>>17092
"Guess we're not going to the study then. Unless anyone wants to try and break down the door?"

"It's better than doing nothing," Rudolf says. As he turns to the hallway, he looks down in surprise. "What is that?"

There's a small key sitting just outside the door.

"That..." Gohda says. "That's a key to Kinzo's study."

Eva snaps her eyes around the room. "Who put that there? It was someone in this room, right? Tell me who it was!"

Nobody answers her furious demands.

>>17094
"Well then."

I take the key and lead the way to the study.

"Hold on," Kyrie says. "In chess, there's a scenario called a 'Fool's Mate'. It happens when a player loses in the fewest possible amount of moves. If someone left that key there, they want us to go to the study. It's a trap."

"That's right!" Eva says. "We'd just play into their hands."

"What choice do we have?" Rudolf asks. "Sit around here and wait to be shot?"

>>17096
"I say we settle this the old-fashioned way: Rock paper scissors! If Rudolf wins, we go to the study, and if Kyrie wins, we stay here!"

"You'd decide our lives on a game?" George asks. "Are you insane?"

"I'll go to the study myself," Rudolf says. "We have to try."

"We don't," Kyrie says. "We should find a secure place to wait out the storm. If we keep our wits about us, we can make it through this."

"Kyrie--"

"I'm not letting you do something stupid."

"Where would we go?"

>>17098
"There aren't too many safe places in this mansion, are there? The parlor has windows just like the dining room. We'd probably be safer in here than anywh--"

Suddenly I realize something odd.

".........Wait, can someone remind me... Was there a portrait of a woman in the entrance hall earlier...?"

"Uuu! That's the Golden Witch, Beatrice! She can do anything."

"Why is that important?" Rosa asks.

>>17100
(So she's in this fragment after all...)

"Perhaps the gold room would be the safest place to hide."

"Gold room?" Eva asks. "What are you talking about?"

>>17102
"The hidden room with Beatrice's... Kinzo's ten tons of gold. I believe I know how to reach it."

"You have to show us!" says Eva. "It might be the one place that the culprit can't reach."

"Can we really risk going outside in a time like this?" Shannon asks. "Even if we all move together, we'll just be a large target, right?"

>>17104
"Hey, Shannon. How'd you know we needed to go outside to reach it...?"

"Good question," Kyrie says. "You stole the words from my lips. On that note, Kinjo, how did you know that Kinzo's guns were in his study?"

The atmosphere in the room seems to tense up.

>>17106
"When you said they belonged to Kinzo, I figured it was safe to assume they were stored in his own room. Now, what about you, Shannon? You seem like you must know where the gold is, right?"

"I- it just made sense that it would be outside. I've been everywhere in the mansion and I've never seen anything like a gold room..."

Shannon trembles a bit.

"Hey, Kinjo!" Jessica stares at you. "My parents are dead! Get some perspective and stop trying to bully Shannon."

"It is a fair question," Rudolf says. "Nobody is accusing you, Shannon, but it seems strange."

"We're all stressed," George says. "Of course we're going to say things that don't make complete sense. Are we all going to jump on each other that quickly?"

The tide of the room seems split.

Last edited at 15/01/06(Tue)13:09:53

>>17108
"Anyway... I guess it is risky to leave the mansion. I'll leave the decision to you guys."

Silence fills the air. Nobody wants to be the first to give a suggestion and later be blamed for giving a poor one. It's Kyrie who speaks up first.

"I have a theory about what happened in the dining hall and in the servant's room," she says. "If I'm right, we should be able to walk outside without being scared. Did anyone notice that, after the initial gunshots were fired, nobody pulled the triggers again? One set of shots. If someone was trying to kill us, they'd shoot multiple times. It's easy to picture if you turn the chess board around. That means that there's a good chance that someone set up a trap. It could have been on a timer or some kind of remote detonation, but I think it's likely. I won't lie, however, I'm not sure. It's a risky bet to make."

"We should send someone to investigate," says Eva. "Then we'll know for sure."

"Wait!" Gohda says, already seeing himself being volunteered by the group. "We can't just send someone in a dangerous situation on their own. We- we have to stick together, right? We should call the police right away!"

>>17110
"Is there a phone in here?"

I try to look for one so I can call the police myself.

You find a phone sitting on a table in the room but, predictably, the outside line isn't working.

"One thing is bothering me," Battler says. He sounds hesitant. "Well, a lot of things, but...who's head was that on the dinner plate that Gohda brought in?"

"That couldn't be Kanon? Or Grandfather?" says George. "It looks like the head was burnt."

"If it's Kinzo, that's just more reason to think that the study is a trap," Kyrie says.

"But there's no way of knowing, right?" Rosa asks. "What if Father is okay and doesn't know what happened? Or what if he's in some kind of trouble?"

>>17112
"Even if the external line doesn't work, the internal line still should, right? How about we call Kinzo's study and find out?"

"If contacting Father was that simple, I wouldn't have asked you here. But we can give it a shot."

Rudolf asks Gohda for the extension and dials. The phone rings, but nobody picks up. Well, that was unhelpful. Maybe you should look at things from the perspective of a chessboard.

>>17114
"The culprit wants us to split up, so I suggest no one leave the room alone. Either we go together or not at all. Splitting up just makes us more vulnerable to being picked off."

Kyrie addresses the group. "I think that we should use this opportunity to find Kinzo's hidden gold. If Kinjo's right, the benefits could outweigh the risks."

"What about Dad?" Rudolf asks. "And even if he's dead, we could still use those guns."

Last edited at 15/01/08(Thu)15:49:10

>>17116
"We go to the study, take the guns, and then barricade ourselves in the gold room."

"This doesn't seem like a good idea," says Kyrie.

Rosa looks down at the floor. "It's the only way to know whether or not Father is okay."

Your group travels safely to the third floor of the mansion. With everyone as silent a whisper, the monotonous sound of a clock fills the mansion. Every once in a while, someone darts their head around expectedly, as if they expect Kanon to jump out and ambush everyone.

"Be careful," Eva says.

"You want to do the honors, Kinjo?" Rudolf asks.

Last edited at 15/01/08(Thu)22:05:21

>>17118
I open the door.

You open the door. There's a headless, burnt corpse sprawled over Kinzo's desk. It rests in clear juxtaposition to the rest of the room-- meticulously clean.

"Father," Rosa says. "Oh my god. What did they do?"

"Damn this," Rudolf says. Damn it to hell. Dad could be a pain in the ass, but he deserved better than this. He should have died peacefully in his sleep."

"We'll get revenge later," says Eva. "We need to get in there and find those guns."

Last edited at 15/01/09(Fri)11:58:45

>>17120
I search the room for the guns.

You walk into Kinzo's study. As you do, your foot breaks a small, nearly invisible string tied across the door frame.

Firey shrapnel tears sinks into your flesh like fangs. Sleep peacefully, by beloved detective, Kinjo.

"................"

>>17123
"Bullshit! I want a re-roll!"

Bernkastel sighs. "If I keep trying to crank the fragment backwards to make up for your mistakes, I'll shred it. Still, I've invested too much in you to stop now. This will be your last chance. What spell did that witch use? Oh, right. Come, try to remember, what form did you have?"

You wake up in an unfamiliar bed. Breathing is a bit difficult and you're all bandaged up, but otherwise you feel fine. You suspect that there's some morphine in your system.

This must be Kinzo's bedroom. It looks like Bernkastel found a loophole that didn't require her to turn back the clock.

Rudolf opens the door. You can hear some more voices from behind him. "You're awake, huh? How are you feeling?"