Murder at Ravenshade Manor: The Game's Afoot

A scream echoes through the dark halls of Ravenshade Manor. The lights flicker back to life, letting darkness hide no longer. Lord Ravenshade calls for his dinner guests to come to the foyer. Crimson Drake, Saffron Bloom, Jade Glass, Indigo West, Dr. Mauve, and Alabaster Finch make their way to the foyer. “Where is Lady Ravenshade?” None of the guests react, each one looking at the other, “Where is my wife?” he asks again, this time more desperate, still no one moves. Rage fills Lord Ravenshapes' mind, “I swear if one of you killed my darling sweet Elodie, I will destroy you!”

“How do we know you didn’t kill her yourself and wanted to add it to your list of blackmail! We all know you have dirt on us, and this dinner is just another way to keep us quiet.” Saffron Bloom shouts at the man who kept her on edge for years, threatening to expose her more deadly botanical interests.

“How do I know you didn’t kill her when you meant to kill me?” Lord Ravenshade stares down the group that he has squeezed more money out of than he ever thought possible.

Crimson Drake, with the charisma of the stage performer he is, approaches Lord Ravenshade, “Awfully convenient to have a power outage with all your enemies in the house, maybe you planned this…”

Lord Ravenshade hits the security button, “There, no one gets in or out till the police arrive, if we can solve her murder before they arrive.” He pauses pulling a vanilla folder out of his breast pocket, I won’t give this to the police, see none of you have proof I’m blackmailing you, and who are the police going to believe, the grief stricken husband who discovered all his friends had underhanded dealings, or the people who they just got handed enough evidence for to lock away for years.” He stands tall, “Now get to work.”

***

The last thing I remember hearing is my own scream, feeling a sharp pain and the world going dark, then I awoke in my bedroom, looking over my own body, had I know I was going to die today, I would not worn the black party dress that Ulrich loves so much, I would have worn my sunset orange one. Wait- Why am I dead? And why am I in our bedroom? I was helping Ulrich host his yearly dinner party with his friends. I wouldn’t have come to the bedroom, not with guests around.

Suddenly, Ulrich bursts in and runs to my lifeless body, “Elodie, my love! I found you!” He tries to bring me back, but I fear it’s too late. “I’m so sorry this is all my fault! One of them did this to get to me! I just know it, I will make them pay.” His tears fell, and I can’t remember the last time I saw him cry.

I float next to him and rest a hand on his shoulder, “Oh, Ulrich, we were supposed to gro-” I stop and back away, “Wait, are you saying one of your friends killed me on purpose? But why!” He doesn’t react to my voice, “Right, I guess I’m a ghost, no more talking with the human world.” I float back and forth, trying to think of what to do. That’s when I notice the bars on the window, he’s activated the security system, which means everyone must be downstairs. I float through the floor and find my guests arguing in the foyer.

“All of us had plans to rid ourselves of the blackmailer, right?” Dr. Mauve leans against the wall as if this isn’t a surprise, who, if I remember right, Ulrich was investing in his newest experiment. Who is this blackmailer they speak of?

“Well, duh, he’s so totally harshing the mellow of our business.” Jade Glass tosses a crystal in the air one-handed, while the other hand stays in her pocket. Ulrich gave her a business loan for her studio.

“So, who killed Lady Ravenshade? And why, it’s not like she knew what he was up to.” Alabaster Finch looks at his old pocket watch, Alabaster is Ulrich’s oldest friend. I met them in college, they were practically brothers. Wait, is my husband the blackmailer?

“Do we really buy that naive housewife act, though? There's no way she’s that oblivious.” Crimson Drake, who adjusts his suit, brushing off dirt or maybe dust. He used to be a magician. Ulrich said he was helping him with some legal trouble, but I’m starting to wonder how much of my husband's stories were true.

“And killing the wife only makes our lives harder - So out with it, whoever it was!” Indigo West, a world-renowned critic, shouts from the center of the room, the group starts arguing all at once, and I have a hard time hearing and keeping their stories straight.

“Enough with the arguing!” Saffron Bloom yells at everyone. “We aren’t going to get anywhere with this! One at a time, where were you when the power went out, and where was the last place you saw the lady? Crimson, you were the first one here, so you start.”

I try to think about how the night played out, but my memory is fuzzy. I hover as they have a much quieter conversation and try to place the night back in order. Crimson sighs, “Lady Ravenshade greeted me at the door, Lord Ravenshade showed me to The Music Room, showing his newest investment, a grand piano, asked me to play a few notes for him, and I must admit I got lost in the music and only stopped playing when the power went out.” I do remember hearing music, but I don’t recall being in The Music Room.

“I showed up next, along with Jade, Indigo, Lady Ravenshade took us to The Tea Salon, said she had a new blend of tea we just had to try, being the botanist, I couldn’t wait to see what I could identify. After we had the tea, Lady Ravenshade, Jade and Indigo left, heading out to The Conservatory Ballroom. I planned on joining them but had a tea I wanted to mix up first.” Saffron explains. I did remember showing off the tea blend I wanted Saffron's opinion on it.

“Once we were in The Conservatory Ballroom, I caught sight of a new painting in The Rosewood Library. So I excused myself to get a closer look. I saw Alabaster leaving the library as I came in the other door.” Indigo looks over at Alabaster. That’s right, I intended to get her opinion of that painting.

Jade, however, starts talking, “I was trying to convince Lady Ravenshade to let me host a class, but well, then Lord Ravenshade interrupted, asking his wife where he left his-” She pauses, “I don’t remember what he said, but whatever it was, she giggled and hollard back at him something about the study, and he shot me a look so I dropped the subject of a class and headed to The Garden Gallery. I’m not sure where she went after that. The power went out pretty quickly.” I do remember Ulrich interrupting us, but I can’t remember why.

“I arrived next.” Mauve starts, “Well, Alabaster was pretty much on my heels; he barely said hello to our gracious host. He beelined straight for The Rosewood Library. I listened to Crimson’s piano playing with Lord Ravenshade for a moment, but then he seemed to grow bored with the music, so he led me to The Garden Gallery. he seemed quite pleased with the work Lady Ravenshade had gotten done on it this year. He made small talk, then looked at his pocket watch and realized how close dinner was and that he didn’t have his speech, so he took off. Oh, and I do remember seeing Jade enter the garden. ” His speech! He’d asked me where his note cards were.

“Guess that just leaves me, I was on a mission to find some documents that proved his father left part of the family business to me, so first I check The Rosewood Library, when I couldn’t find any proof, I headed to The South Wing Study, where Ulrich would have found me when he was looking for his speach. But the power went out, so I just hid behind a chair till he left.” Alabaster rubs the back of his neck. Why would Ulrich's father share the business with him…

“So wait. If everyone is telling the truth, that means she was in The Conservatory Ballroom alone.” Saffron states, “Someone has to be lying…”

Once again, they start arguing, only this time they all fan out, determined to figure out who did it and how. I sit in the quiet, shocked by all I’ve learned, I glance at a portrait of us in the entryway, “You lied to me. Our entire life together is built on a lie!” I didn’t know ghosts could cry, but tears burn in my eyes. “I will solve my own murder!”

I take off, starting in The Music Room, I look around, trying to take in anything out of the ordinary. Crimson and Mauve talk near the piano, “There is one thing I remember from the backout, I swear I heard something fall near the window, but nothing looks out of place.” Crimson shakes his head, “Such a shame about the Lady, she was the only good thing about that son of a gun.”

“I’ll cheers to that.” Mauve shares his flask with Crimson.

I go closer to the window, “Maybe nothing looks out of place to you.” The windows are open and they look out onto The Conservatory Ballroom, explaining why I could hear Crimson's music. I take in the beauty of the trees and hanging lanterns that make up the space, then remember why I am here. I lower myself to the windowsill, nothing looks off at first, but then I see it, a small piece of black fabric. My dress, had I crawled through the window? But why? On the floor near the window, there is a bow to the violin, only the bar is broken in half - my hand goes to my neck, had someone- I shake my head, “Can’t think like that now. I need more.”

I move to the The Tea Salon, I worked so hard to make this old sun room a nice place to visit, I make sure to collect dried herbs for tea so people can mix their own blend, on one of the glass tables sit my favourite mug - it’s full of tea, I give the tea a sniff, and scrunch my nose at the smell, it’s unlike any tea I’ve ever made, then Saffron words replay in my mind, I planned on joining them but had a tea i wanted to mix up first. She poisoned the tea, and if Ulrich had walked in and seen my mug with tea in it, he would have stolen a sip or two, then brought it to me- Based on the smell, he wouldn’t have made it to The Conservatory Ballroom.

I move on to The Garden Gallery, I can’t bring myself to get to the ballroom just yet. Jade and Saffron stand there talking, “There’s just one thing I don’t get about Alabaster story…” Jade leads against one of the statues.

“Yeah, what’s that?” Saffron raises an eyebrow.

“He came to the foyer the wrong way to be in the office. The office is off the library, and he came in through the Ballroom doors. Do you think he went through the library and came in the ballroom door just so he didn’t get caught?” Jade shrugs, “It just seems like a lot of work when he could have come out of the library door.”

Jade makes a good point, maybe Alabaster was hiding something. I look around the garden, I see the broken pot. I should have cleaned that up before guests arrived. It broke in a storm a few weeks ago, but I couldn’t bring myself to toss it. I look at the pieces again, one is missing. I watch Jade shuffle something behind a statue while Saffron rattles on. I get a closer look, it’s the broken pot… and there's blood on it! Had Jade been the one? Her one hand hasn’t left her pocket. If I could get a look at it, what would I see?

I race to the library, ignoring that feeling growing in my heart. The Rosewood Library is my favourite space. Indigo and Alabaster stand looking at the painting, “He got this one from me; his wife wanted more unique art for the library, so I got him this very convincing fake.” Indigo shakes her head, “She deserved the real deal.”

“She did.” Alabaster glances back at the office, “Hey, where is the other raven?” He points to the shelf.

“The Raven?” Indigo looks over at the shelf.

“Elodie had cast-iron bookends that were ravens. And one is missing.” It feels strange to hear my first name out of his mouth, but why did it feel like I heard it recently?” I move around the library looking for my missing bookend.

I find it on my little desk, one of my notebooks is out, and pages are torn out, but thier near the back, and one of my pens is shattered by I assume the bookend. Who was writing, and why?

I slip into The South Wing Study, this was Ulrich's space, other than the fresh flowers I brought him every week, his office was one of the few rooms I didn’t touch. I walk to his desk, his letter opener is missing; it was a gift from his father when we got married, and it never leaves his office. Maybe Alabaster moved it, he seems to think he is owed something from Ulrich's father. I look around, I ver go past his desk, this is his space after all. In the corner of his office, I find a trap door. “I didn’t know this was here.” I float through the door and follow the path, and at the end, I float through into The Conservatory Ballroom.

When I start looking around, I notice that none of the decorations look out of place, except the Decorative Garden Spade we got done up for our wedding, which seems to have been knocked out of its flower pot. And there are a few crumbled balls of paper rolling slightly, I kneel to pick one up and notice a pool of blood.

Suddenly, my memory comes in waves, I cry in pain as everything starts spinning.

Can you solve the mystery? Join us on June 6th to see if you got it right! Comment your guesses below!