Each team will be given one small mystery-solving kit, containing rudimentary fingerprinting powder, a small magnifying glass, a code-breaking sheet, and two clear chemicals labelled ‘poison-detectors’ that are supposed to turn blue in the presence of poison.
‘Lien’ is a very serious actor determined to do his best; unless someone specifically asks him, he will treat Meisheng’s murder like it actually happened, and grow very annoyed if someone forces him to break character. Yunxu has allowed certain rooms in the mansion to be accessible to the competing teams for this mystery, but if your characters try to leave those rooms without explicit permission Lien will grow flustered and remind you that your presence in the mansion is supposed to be a secret! Further attempts to break game rules will result in immediate disqualification (and, depending on how far the rule-breakers go, Yunxu’s personal involvement.)
Lien will lead your characters to a small dining room off the lobby. The dining room will be empty except for one table, five chairs, and the marked outline of a body sprawled on the floor in the corner. The body itself, Lien will explain, was carted off by his superiors, and there’s no way for him to let your characters have access to it. All he can give you is the crime scene. The only other notable thing in the room is a small empty crystal glass sitting on the table.
There are a number of ways for your characters to proceed, any of which can lead them to secondary clues (revealed later):
• They can fingerprint the glass, and ask Lien to identify the fingerprints for them (it will take him a few days). • They can test the glass for poison, but neither of the colourless liquids will turn blue. • They can inspect the dining room with the magnifying glass, and discover traces of a fine black sand tracked into the spaces between floorboards. If someone, for some reason, decides to test the black sand for poison, they’ll find that only one of the two liquids turns blue, and Lien won’t be able to tell them why. They can follow up on how the chemicals work at Stark Industries if they’d like. • They can ask Lien for updates on the investigation as it stands, and Lien will tell them there are three kedan who were seen in the vicinity of the dining room with reason to want Meisheng dead - a Snake, a maid, and one of Yunxu’s personal butlers. (The personal butlers have been made up for the sake of the Mystery Games.) But Lien won’t tell them names, mainly because he doesn’t actually know what the names are. • Asking around other ‘NPCs’ in the mansion will net a few different results depending on how the characters approach the questioning. Being subtle will lead to the discovery that the crystal glass in the dining room is of a different model than the mansion’s usual fare, and a set of four were brought in by the personal butlers. Being more direct will lead to the discovery that the maid who services this part of the mansion is an absolutely terrible maid, and no one can fathom why she was hired - surely she must be the killer! • Following up on the crystal glass’s origin will lead your characters to an empty glass blower’s studio a short five minute walk from the mansion, but the studio will be empty apart from the necessary manufacturing equipment.
CRIME #3: MURDER
‘Lien’ is a very serious actor determined to do his best; unless someone specifically asks him, he will treat Meisheng’s murder like it actually happened, and grow very annoyed if someone forces him to break character. Yunxu has allowed certain rooms in the mansion to be accessible to the competing teams for this mystery, but if your characters try to leave those rooms without explicit permission Lien will grow flustered and remind you that your presence in the mansion is supposed to be a secret! Further attempts to break game rules will result in immediate disqualification (and, depending on how far the rule-breakers go, Yunxu’s personal involvement.)
Lien will lead your characters to a small dining room off the lobby. The dining room will be empty except for one table, five chairs, and the marked outline of a body sprawled on the floor in the corner. The body itself, Lien will explain, was carted off by his superiors, and there’s no way for him to let your characters have access to it. All he can give you is the crime scene. The only other notable thing in the room is a small empty crystal glass sitting on the table.
There are a number of ways for your characters to proceed, any of which can lead them to secondary clues (revealed later):
• They can fingerprint the glass, and ask Lien to identify the fingerprints for them (it will take him a few days).
• They can test the glass for poison, but neither of the colourless liquids will turn blue.
• They can inspect the dining room with the magnifying glass, and discover traces of a fine black sand tracked into the spaces between floorboards. If someone, for some reason, decides to test the black sand for poison, they’ll find that only one of the two liquids turns blue, and Lien won’t be able to tell them why. They can follow up on how the chemicals work at Stark Industries if they’d like.
• They can ask Lien for updates on the investigation as it stands, and Lien will tell them there are three kedan who were seen in the vicinity of the dining room with reason to want Meisheng dead - a Snake, a maid, and one of Yunxu’s personal butlers. (The personal butlers have been made up for the sake of the Mystery Games.) But Lien won’t tell them names, mainly because he doesn’t actually know what the names are.
• Asking around other ‘NPCs’ in the mansion will net a few different results depending on how the characters approach the questioning. Being subtle will lead to the discovery that the crystal glass in the dining room is of a different model than the mansion’s usual fare, and a set of four were brought in by the personal butlers. Being more direct will lead to the discovery that the maid who services this part of the mansion is an absolutely terrible maid, and no one can fathom why she was hired - surely she must be the killer!
• Following up on the crystal glass’s origin will lead your characters to an empty glass blower’s studio a short five minute walk from the mansion, but the studio will be empty apart from the necessary manufacturing equipment.