[DINE] The Den of Deception

[DWaM]

I grab Nao's shoulder. "It's going to be okay. You don't have to look at this. Breathe."

I then looked over to Christian. "Mr. Engel! Are you okay? What happened here?"

[kwando1313]

Mizuki sighed.

"And here I finally thought I'd get a case where someone didn't end up dead..."

[Bad Player]

"I... I... I'm fine..." Christian manages to stammer out.

It sounds like the other inhabits of the house have noticed the commotion and are approaching...

[DWaM]

"Dammit...!" I said, realizing what's about to happen.

I stepped out of the room, towards the approaching commotion and shouted: "Please, nobody enter! There's been an incident! Mr. Gabriel Levine is dead and, as far as we can tell at the moment - it was far from natural. As such, this is a potential crime scene and I must ask you not to enter! Remain calm!"

I turned to the poor maid.

"Please, call the police."

[kwando1313]

Mizuki stands just outside the door, to make sure no one else enters the room.

[Reverie]

Now alone with Christian, Haru knelt down next to him.

"Good, good." She started. "You're right -- you're gonna be fine. Take a few breaths just to be sure. Don't let me rush you."

She paused for a bit to let him regain some composure.

"Anyway." She adopted a gentler tone. "Once you feel ready for it, I'd like to hear what you have to say about all... this." She said, surveying the room again. "No pressure, take your time. My colleagues aren't going to let anybody else in here for the time being, so don't worry. But it's vital that we get to know what happened here, and you're, well..."

The presence of Gabriel's body was hard to ignore.

"...the only one here who can help us."

Haru offered a hand towards Christian.

"And while we're at it, let's get you off the ground, eh?"

[Bad Player]

"R-Right... Yes," Nao says before rushing off, all the color drained from her face.

Anne, Asher, Rachel, and Seth each arrive at the hallway. Since Edwam and Mizuki are blocking them off from the treasure room, they filter into the lounge instead. A few minutes later, Nao returns and enters the lounge as well.

Back in the treasure room, Haru navigates through the maze of cases near the entrance, and approaches Christian.

"T-Thank you," Christian says as he grabs Haru's hand and stands up. "I think I'd like a bit... of time to calm down..." He says, turning away from the corpse.

[Reverie]

"Alright. In that case, maybe you'd be more comfortable once we get you out of this room."

Haru holds open the door and prompts Christian to step outside.

[DWaM]

"Alright, Mr. Engel, right this way..." I said, following after Christian, and closing the door behind me.

Spoiler : DWaMQuest :

I let the man calm down a bit in the hallway and then go back to my previous question.

"I understand this is difficult. But the police and the rest of the family will ask you a lot of questions. Try and calm down and get your thoughts in order.

What happened, Mr. Engel?"

[kwando1313]

Mizuki steps back in the room.

Spoiler : :

"Guess this means I get the 'fun' job of examining the body, huh?"

She sighs.

"I'm guessing you've done this before too, right?"

Mizuki grabs a pair of gloves from her purse, puts them on, and starts examining the corpse.

[Reverie]

Spoiler : Treasure Trove Cove :

"Ah, uh... here and there, y'know...?" Haru responds, uncertainly, moving away from the body and towards the suit of armor.

She examines the pieces strewn about, looking especially for any extra pieces lying around.

[Bad Player]

Spoiler : Hallway :

Christian took a deep breath.

"I was cleaning and tidying the treasure room, as per my usual duties... When I was near the i-iron maiden, I... smelled something. I suppose it was the blood or the body or... Anyway, I-I didn't know what it was then, so I opened the casket to investigate, and saw... him. I screamed, and instinctively walked back... and the next time I knew, I was on the floor, and you all were there..."

Although he doesn't actually seem that visibly at first glance, he's stuttering over a few of this words, and you can see his mustache slightly trembling.

You hear the phone ring back in the body of the mansion. Nao excuses herself from the lounge to go answer it.

Spoiler : Treasure Room :

The corpse is truly a gruesome sight. Holes are spaced throughout the body in the same pattern and spacing as the spikes in the front half of the coffin. A line of red descends from each of the hole, causing resulting in a torrent of blood over the lower half of his body. He's wearing what look like white pajamas... although they're horribly stained now. As far as you can tell, his face has a mix of horror and surprise. You try to avoid looking at his remaining good brown eye. His arms are raised, with his hands are about shoulder level. On the inside cover of the iron maiden, you find a blood-stained feather on one of the spikes. It's hard to tell since it's drenched in blood, but the feather was probably originally white. Eyeing it, it looks like that spike would probably have pierced Gabe in the left breast.

Meanwhile, Haru searches the pieces of armor. Not being an expert in medieval armor, she isn't able to make much sense of it... However, as far as she can tell, none of the pieces she finds are duplicates, or don't fit. There are also pieces of the wooden stand that had been holding the armor up. Finally, there is the bow that the suit of armor had been holding... except now it's in two halves.

-----

Spoiler : Original Treausre Room :

This is a strange, dimly-lit room filled with… various items. In the front part of the room is display cases filled with weapons of all shapes and sizes. Unfortunately, the display cases are arranged to align with the contours of the weapons, creating what feels like a maze to get into inner part of the room. On the western side is four various suits of armor in a line, with the back two facing the front two. They each have a weapon: a crossbow, an axe, a sword, and a bow, which does not appear to be strung. On the back wall is what appears to be a large, steel casket with a woman etched on the front. Above it a stag’s head is mounted on the wall. To the right a second, identical casket, but a doe’s head is mounted on the wall. As you face the door, you notice a lion’s head is mounted on the southern wall, and a lioness’ on the western wall. There are only two lights—on the northern and eastern wall—which give the room a dark, eerie feeling. Finally, in the northwest corner is a pedestal with an obsidian statue on top. It appears to be a man with the head of a jackal, holding a scale in front of him.

[DWaM]

Spoiler : Hallway :

"What was the last time you saw Gabriel?

Do you remember hearing any screams or seeing anything out of the ordinary before you got to the treasure room?"

[kwando1313]

Spoiler : :

"Ugh... This is... Pretty unpleasant... But..."

Without disturbing the rest of the body, she attempts to examine the pockets. And also the feather.

[Bad Player]

Spoiler : Hallway :

Christian stares at the ground.

Finally, he says, "I suppose it was last night at dinner." He then adds, without much of a pause, "I didn't notice anything else amiss in the treasure room."

Spoiler : Treasure Room :

Mizuki carefully pats the pockets that Gabriel had, but it doesn't feel like there was anything in them.

The feather is a few inches long, and about an inch wide. It probably was pretty before, but now wet, and with blood of all things, it is anything but.

Nao returns to the hallway from the direction of the kitchen, her face somehow even paler. She opens the door to the treasure room, but specifically making sure not to look inside. "Um... The detective wishes to speak to the three of you... on the phone," she reports.