A Poirot Murder Mystery II: And then there was the Sleeping Nile

[Freshmeat]

A Poirot murder mystery II:
And then there was the Sleeping Nile
A small werewolf game with Ye Olde Twiste
(needed: eight players)


Narrators: Freshmeat & GAThraawn

It's another tale of murder and mystery, brought to you by that handsome devil Freshmeat!
Sir Florence Drake, the British ambassador to Egypt, has been murdered on his yacht 'The Calypso'* after holding an exclusive party for a diverse assortment of friends and acquaintances. It's up to the yacht's guests to find out who was responsible for Sir Florence Drake's murder.

*: because all yachts are named 'The Calypso'

The following eight people are suspected of having committed the crime:

• Rufus Gladstone (42 years old): a safari hunter of questionable morals who has made a small fortune with the ivory trade.
• Jeeves (52 years old): the obligatory butler.
• Lord Damien Drake (29 years old): the ambassador’s son and a true Machiavellian at heart.
• Robert Wainwright (33 years old): one of the most successful investigative journalists in the world, a man who is simultaneously feared and respected among the high society.
• Alan Jones (23 years old): a talented actor who also happens to be the brother of the late Carrie Jones.
• Emma Cook (36 years old): unsurprisingly, the cook.
• Lady Amelia Donahue (27 years old): heiress to one of the largest enterprises in Egypt and rumoured to have been Sir Florence Drake’s mistress.
• Margaret Wilkinson (54 years old): because regardless of what company you find yourself in, there’s always an old crone around. What is she even doing on this boat anyway? Who is she? Did she get an invite or something? I mean, geez.

You can choose which character you want to be. If you don’t pick a character, one of the remaining unchosen characters will be assigned to you.

Every character has his or her own set of certain characteristics (shoe size, pipe or cigarette smoker, etc.). These are entirely randomized and are key to figuring out who the murderer is.

And now, without further ado, on to the rules (not for the faint of heart!):

The Roles

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The following abilities are universal abilities, which means that every character can use them:

• Investigate (day action): during the day, you can investigate one aspect of one of the murder sites. You must publicly state so in the thread in blue text.
• Investigate (night action): during the night, you can investigate the room of one particular player to find out two of their characteristics. This is a free action. If your role states that you have a special ability, then you can use that special ability and still investigate someone's room, even during the same night. Investigating someone's room is done by sending a PM to the narrator.

Innocent passenger: You’re simply at the wrong place at the wrong time. Your goal is to find the murderer and the accomplice, and bring them to justice. You have no special abilities.

Lovers: Both of you know that your partner is innocent. You won't 'die together' if one of you gets killed or arrested (whether on suspicion of being the murderer or the accomplice, or for obstructing the investigation). The remaining lover will still continue playing as normal.
You have no special abilities.

Murderer: You are the murderer of Sir Florence Drake and know who the accomplice is. Your goal is to survive for 7 days or to reduce the number of players on Team Innocent to equal that of the number of players on Team Guilty.

You can only take one special night action during the night. You can investigate someone's room (a free action) and kill someone, but can't investigate someone's room, kill someone and frame someone in the span of one night.

Before the game starts, you can plant one fake clue at the first murder site.

• Sleight of hand (day action): during the day you can investigate one aspect of one of the murder sites. You can remove the evidence present there, or change this evidence to something else. This is done by sending the narrator a PM during the day and telling him something among the lines of “while looking for footprints at the murder site of Sir Florence Drake, I replace my own medium-sized footprint with a bigfoot-sized footprint."
  This is a permanent change.
  You must be physically present at the right location to remove or change evidence. You can't remove or change the evidence of, say, the murder site of Alan Jones, if you're investigating the murder site of Sir Florence Drake instead. Your action must also match that of the evidence you'd like to change. This means that you can only remove or change a fingerprint if you are "looking for fingerprints". The same applies to investigating other aspects of murder sites.
  
  It doesn't matter if you and someone else end up investigating the same aspect of the same murder site as you. You'll still be able to remove or alter the evidence without them noticing. At the end of the day, that person will then see whatever you changed the evidence into (either a misleading clue, or nothing).
• Kill (night action): you can kill someone who might pose a threat to you. This will open up a second murder site however, and might thus provide the remaining detectives with more clues. At least one full night must pass before the murderer can strike again afterwards. This means that the first murder of the game can happen on the second night at the earliest.
• Disguise (night action): the murderer can change one characteristic of himself and one of his accomplice, fooling anyone who investigates these characteristics of either of these two people that night (e.g. "I plant a red hair in my room and a pile of cigarette ashes in the room of my accomplice, as opposed to my real blonde hair and my accomplice's real pipe ashes").
  These changes are temporary and last only one night. If the accomplice gets arrested, then the murderer will only be able to disguise one of his own characteristics for the remainder of the game. He won't gain the ability to disguise two of his own characteristics from that moment onwards.
• Frame (night action): the murderer can plant false evidence in someone's room, changing one characteristic of his victim. This will fool anyone who investigates the victim's room that night (i.e. plant a bottle of poison in someone's room, rather than, for example, their original knife).
  This is a temporary change and lasts only one night.

Accomplice: You know who the murderer is and have aided him or her in doing the dirty deed. Your goal is to survive for 7 days or to reduce the number of players on Team Innocent to equal that of of the number of players on Team Guilty.

• Distract (day action): you can prevent a passenger from discovering a clue by subtly distracting them. In order to do so, you must investigate the same aspect of the same murder site as your target. Both of you will then find nothing at that location. This ability works automatically whenever the situation arises. If you so desire, you can willingly forfeit this ability by messaging the narrator about it.
• Stalk (night action): during the night, you can follow one of the players to find out whose room they are investigating that night and which characteristics they are trying to find out. You can both investigate someone’s room and stalk someone (not necessarily the same player as the one whose room you are investigating) during the same night.

***

Important: It's against the rules to show a PM sent by a narrator to anyone. This includes role PM's, investigation result PM's or any other type of PM. Players are free to share the contents of these messages at their own discretion, however.

All roles are chosen randomly, just to keep things fair for everyone. This also means that the ‘lovers' role can end up in the hands of two characters belonging to the same sex. This is, naturally, just a flimsy pretext to give more material to those people (all two of them) who want to write erotic slash fiction about the characters of this game.

Aspects of murder sites and characteristics of players:

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Aspects of murder sites:
{table=Head] | Possibility 1 | Possibility 2 | Possibility 3 | Possibility 4
Footprints | small-sized | medium-sized | large-sized | bigfoot-sized
Fingerprints | small-sized | medium-sized | large-sized | bigfoot-sized
Hair strands | brown | black | blonde | red
Minor clues | cigarette ashes | pipe ashes | coat button | shoelace
Murder weapon/cause of death | gun/shot | knife/stabbed | garrote/strangled | poison/poisoned
Motive | greed | revenge | passion | fear[/table]

Characteristics of players:
These correspond entirely with the aspects of the murder sites.

The trick obviously lies in figuring out the characteristics of the other passengers and comparing it to the evidence you've gathered (without being fooled by the murderer's efforts in either instance, of course!)

An example of what the characteristics of a person might be is detailed below. None of these necessarily mean anything until you compare it to the evidence of the murder site(s).

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You are Lady Amelia Donahue and are an innocent passenger. You must try to find out who the murderer amongst the other passengers is.

Your feet are bigfoot-sized.
Your fingerprints are medium-sized.
You have brown hair.
Your shoes are missing shoelaces.
You have a gun in your room.
You wanted Sir Florence Drake dead because you were in dire need of money.

Keep in mind that for some clue types there may be no clues to be found at all. Whenever a murder is committed, the murderer and accomplice will usually (and unintentionally) leave a few clues behind. Which clues they leave behind are determined randomly, but will always correspond with their own characteristics (someone with brown hair obviously can’t leave a blonde strand of hair behind).
The murderer can plant one fake clue at the start of the game however. He can also plant fake evidence afterwards.

At the start of the game, the murderer and accomplice will be informed of the clues they have left behind (unlike the other passengers, they will recognize these immediately when they revisit the murder site, as they are their own). Half of these clues will have been dropped by the murderer and the other half will have been dropped by the accomplice.
Who the clues that are dropped on other murder sites belong to, is determined randomly. Because of this, it's entirely possible that all the clues on a secondary murder site may have been dropped by the accomplice. But usually the murderer and accomplice will have dropped a relatively equal share of clues.

Winning the game:

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Team Innocent:
The passengers win by arresting both the murderer and his accomplice. They can arrest someone by voting for him as per the standard WW rules. An accusation like this can be made at any time during the day.
Whoever gets the most votes will be arrested (lynched), even if 'the most votes' corresponds to merely one or two votes. In case of a tied vote, the bandwagon that reached the highest number of votes first will be counted.

Important: if you arrest someone on suspicion of him or her being the murderer, but your suspect turns out to be innocent, you will be arrested as well (for obstructing the investigation), even if you are the murderer or the accomplice. If three innocent passengers all accuse a fourth innocent passenger, then all four of them will be arrested at the end of that day, so be careful who you accuse!
Accusations only count if they are put in red. People are free to make as many (unofficial) accusations as they'd like.

Voting is not compulsory. It's perfectly allowed to simply investigate people's rooms and the murder site(s) for several days before accusing someone.

Whoever wins on Team Innocent is based on a point system, detailed below. Only the two players with the highest number of points at the end of the game will win. The only exception to this rule are the lovers, who always win together.

{table=Head]Actions taken | Point change
Dead at the end of the game | Automatic game loss
Alive at the end of the game | +0 points
Leading the bandwagon against the accomplice | +2 points
Joining the bandwagon against the accomplice | +1 point
Leading the bandwagon against the murderer | +3 points
Joining the bandwagon against the murderer | +2 points[/table]

In case of a tie, the winning passenger will be decided on by the number of characteristics they've uncovered about the accomplice and the murderer. They do so by PM'ing the narrator at the end of the game with their guesses of what hair color, fingerprint size, motive, etc. both the accomplice and the murderer had.

Team Guilty:
The murderer and the accomplice win by eluding capture for 7 game days. They can also win by eluding capture until the number of players on Team Innocent equal that of Team Guilty.

Both day and night phases last around 48 hours, to give everyone involved the chance to send in their their actions and share information (whether publicly or through private messaging).

Players will be autolynched if they miss two consecutive days of voting/investigating.

Previously on Poirot Murder Mysteries:

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Peril under the Sun on the Orient Express: in which Count Mitoslev was murdered on a train while travelling through Russia. After a long and arduous investigation, Jack Snyder (the murderer) eluded the investigators' grasp and escaped.

Narrators: Freshmeat & GAThraawn

Players:
1. Fin
2. Mordokai (as Lord Damien Drake)
3. Banjo (as Rufus Gladstone)
4. Shadowcaller
5. ThePhantom
6. Griever
7. Emperor Demonking
8. Murska

[Mordokai]

In, again. As Lord Damien Drake, if possible.

[banjo1985]

In In In!

Rufus Gladstone please, I like the thought of being a git.

*Leaps head first into thread to make sure of his spot*

[Shadowcaller]

Must...join...fast...

[ThePhantom]

Sure, I'm in.

[Griever]

Would love to play, barely missed last one

[Emperor Demonking]

Sign me up.

[Murska]

Well, I would like to join. A bit complicated but hey, it's the same for everyone. :P

[GAThraawn]

Is it too late for me to get in again? Please?

[Dr. Bath]

Dammit. I've missed out. Perhaps next time...

[Mordokai]

Well, I do owe you a whole lot for all the avatars you made for me. If you want, you can have my place. If Freshmeat agrees with this, it's yours.

[Dr. Bath]

Nah, fairs fair, you got there first. And anyway, GAThraawn is next on the list, not me. (what with Fin reserving a place)

[Freshmeat]

I'm fine with switching places, but it seems like Dr. Bath is willing to wait and has already declined Mordokai's generous offer. I'll put the doctor on the waiting list for the next game, and GAThraawn as well if he's still willing.
Speaking of GAThraawn: he has offered to co-narrate this with me, and given the large amount of PM involvement in this game, I gladly accepted.

Roles will be sent out somewhere between now and tomorrow evening. Various things still needs taken care of first, such as role/character/characteristic randomization and demonic co-narrator blood pacts. The usual stuff.

[GAThraawn]

Righty-ho then. *goes to get knives for blood pact*

So, with me as co-narrator then, if everyone could make sure to send their PMs to both Freshmeat and me, that would make our lives a lot simpler. Which is a good thing.
For us, at least.
Thanks.

[Freshmeat]

An excerpt from the private journal of Chief Inspector Japp:

I make today’s entry with a heavy heart. When I first received Sir Drake’s invitation to spend some days with him aboard “The Calypso,” I rejoiced at the chance to see an old friend with whom I have had far too little contact since he accepted this diplomatic post here in Egypt. It was a convergence of the fates that I happened to be here on business for Scotland Yard, and was more than happy to extend my stay by a few nights in order to re-acquaint myself with the cheerful old fellow. Upon my arrival, however, I found a man different to the one I had last seen in England: he seemed much older, as if the years had worn on him too quickly, and had a nervous and slightly anxious air about him, almost verging on the paranoid. I supposed on first glance that the political arena was simply one for creating such a tension, but when he broke himself away from his other guests and retreated to his cabin with me, he made a statement to me that was most grave.

While I am not at liberty to discuss the entire conversation, not even in this journal, lest someone discover it and use my writings for some nefarious purpose, I can say that the ambassador confided in me a fear for his life. He gave me several details, and explained in great detail why he thought someone would be brazen enough to attempt to murder him. He could not, however, tell me conclusively who he thought might make an attempt, and neither could he provide me with any evidence other than his testimony. The gathering, he explained to me, was intended to bring me, one of his oldest friends, to his side, and allow me, in the confines of his yacht and over a period of several days, to deduce who on his list of suspects, was planning a deed most foul. Certain others he had invited, he explained to me, and gave me their names, although I still shall not print them here, because they bore his implicit trust, despite any outside appearance that they may wish him ill, and he felt much safer in their presence. Between myself and the others, he said, no criminal of any capacity at all would attempt a killing here. The only conveyance off the yacht, the motorboat, was currently in a state of disrepair, and without it, anyone who committed a murder would be stuck here, for days, confined with a group of his closest friends and myself, and here he referred to me, in a remark I wish to convey only for my own amusement, as the “Great Inspector Japp” (My standing as a Chief Inspector notwithstanding...he has been gone for some time.), between whom his identity would surely be deduced.

Now, the reader must understand this point, this was not the man that I had known back in the hallowed halls of Cambridge Academy. This talk of suspicion and paranoia and murder was most unlike the man, and he was working himself into a state as I had never seen him before. While I took note of his theories with due concern, I was also all too aware of the possibility that his time in the devilishly unpleasant country had marred his judgement, possibly even rendered him impaired. When we had concluded our business, I bid him farewell and retired to my own cabin to consider all he had imparted to me. When I awoke this morning, it was to the news that Sir Florence Drake had been killed in his sleep. Furthermore, the yacht’s oil line had been sabotaged and the motorboat lowered. I can only assume that the party responsible for this foul deed had lacked the knowledge Sir Florence had credited me with, and attempted to make their escape on a boat they found not to be working. I cannot help but feel that if I had taken last night’s frantic concerns in a graver fashion, I might have been able to prevent this most deeply regrettable turn of affairs. However, as a Chief Inspector of Scotland Yard, it is my solemn duty to apprehend the culprits, and as we have been rendered adrift by the failed escape attempt, I have the time in which to do so. I fear, however, that my faculties alone may not be up to the challenge, and lament the absence of Hercule Poirot, as I sometimes am wont to do. I intend to recruit the passengers’ assistance in piecing together the clues of this debacle, and hopefully between them, they can aid me in concluding this affair.

***

"Some of you may already know me." Inspector Japp began, while pacing back and forth on the yacht's deck.
He had gathered all the passengers there after Sir Florence Drake's dead body had been discovered by Alan Jones that morning. Everyone seemed utterly repulsed by the crime, but Inspector Japp knew that behind these facades of mock grief, many were glad to see the ambassador dead.

"For those of you who don't know me, allow me to introduce myself: I am Chief Inspector Japp, and I work for Scotland Yard. I've solved many a case like this one, and was often aided in my efforts by Hercule Poirot, a man whose name has become a household word in Europe and possibly the rest of the world as well. It's most regrettable that the man himself is currently on business in Russia - something to do with the Orient Express, as I understand it - and thus cannot lend us a hand here. Still, I hope to live up to his name and solve this case in what little time rests us."

Inspector Japp looked all the passengers sternly in the eyes, trying to pick up on a tell of sorts. Perhaps the murderer wouldn't be able to hide a slight hint of fear upon hearing that an inspector of Scotland Yard was on board?
Unable to determine anything that would suggest this, the inspector continued.
"The facts are clear, ladies and gentlemen. Someone on this boat, probably aided by an accomplice, has murdered Sir Florence Drake last night. Although they intended to escape by the motorboat, their efforts were marred upon discovering that the motorboat was in a state of disrepair. In other words: the culprits can't have left the boat and are still among us. There can be no mistake about this."

"Since this boat's oil supply is damaged, and the flares have been thrown overboard, all we can do is wait here out in the Meditteranean sea until our absence is noted and the coast guard will come look for us. I suspect that this will take several days. As luck would have it, we've got enough food stored on board to last us for about a week, so this shouldn't prove to be a problem."

"It's quite possible that the murder and his or her accomplice will find a way to escape when we are rescued," Inspector Japp said while litting a pipe. ""Since we don't want a scandal to leak out when so many members of the high society are involved here, it would be in everyone's best interests if we could find the culprits before we are rescued from this unfortunate predicament. There are many things to take into account here, and since you all knew the ambassador better than I did, I bid you all to help me in uncovering whichever clues might lead us to those responsible."

"Now, you must all understand the following very well: both the murderer and his or her accomplice are trapped. It's not unlikely that they'll kill again if that's what it takes to keep their identities a secret. So be on your guard.
With that in mind, I suggest we all head to Sir Florence Drake's cabin now to see if any evidence has been inadvertedly left behind."

"So," Rufus Gladstone interjected. "What you're trying to say is..."

"Yes," Inspector Japp said, nodding.
"We're all in this boat together."

***

Game starts

We have the following passengers on board:

{table=Head]Player name | Character
Fin | Lady Amelia Donahue
Mordokai | Lord Damien Drake
Banjo | Rufus Gladstone
Shadowcaller | Alan Jones
ThePhantom | Robert Wainwright
Griever | Margaret Wilkinson
Emperor Demonking | Emma Cook
Murska | Jeeves[/table]

Day 1 begins

State (in blue) whether you want to look for/investigate footprints, fingerprints, hair strands, minor clues, the cause of death or the motive behind the crime.

(many thanks to GAThraawn for writing most of today's narration)

[Mordokai]

Lord Damien Drake wasn't feeling cheerful today. No, not at all. As if the sleepless night wasn't enought, somebody wen't and murdered Sir Drake. And now Scotland Yard was snooping around. What an unfortunate turn of events. Well, if they needed help, he guessed it was the least he could do.

(Search for minor clues)

[Fin]

The death seemed to have had a profound effect on Lady Donahue, who upon hearing about the death took it upon herself to try and find out who the murderer was! Her first port of call, find out the cause of death.

[Murska]

The aging butler looks shocked at the news of the murder. After collecting himself, he went on to try to ascertain the motive of the murder.

[ThePhantom]

Sad at the news of the death of his friend, Robert Wainwight reporter nose for news sends him to look for the cause of death. After all, that was the second thing printed, right after the victim's name.

[Emperor Demonking]

"Do we know what his will was? I'm shook up but with my employer being murdered." Said the cook as she looked for minor clues.

[Griever]

Margaret Wilkinson looks around at everyone as they make their way through the murder scene. She crouches down and searches for hair strands.

[Emperor Demonking]

Minor clues

[Shadowcaller]

(( I want to search for footprints and are right now too lazy to write any RP.))

[Uncle Festy]

"We're all in this boat together."

*cue storm of groans*

[banjo1985]

I'll search for hair strands to avoid inactivity.

[GAThraawn]

Day 1 Ends

After Chief Inspector Japp makes his grave announcement, the passangers of "The Calypso" begin to tear apart the murder scene for any clues as to who might have been responsible, each eyeing the others as the do so. It seems unthinkable that not only has Sir Drake been killed in his own bed, but that the murder is still on the yacht, feigning innocence and searching the cabin as dillegently as the rest.
Would anyone have the audacity to attempt to alter the evidence of the crime right now, with everyone present and watching? Or would they choose to leave everything untouched, letting the would-be detectives outthink themselves and accuse one another in their paranoia? And did the Chief Inspector mention an accomplice? What role might they have played in all this? The air is thick with suspicion as the sun begins to set on the Mediterranean, and everyone retires to their bunks for the evening, spent after the ordeals of the day. However, as the still of dusk descends on the pleasure craft, a figure stirs, and begins to creep stealthily down the hall.

Unable or unwilling to be claimed by sleep, the dead of night seems like a good opportunity to investigate the other passengers, and perhaps discover some clues that could lead to the apprehension of the killer. Of course, some of the shadows that slink quietly across the deck have a more nefarious purpose...

Night One Begins
Please send all night actions to both Freashmeat and me

[Freshmeat]

((This is your friendly narrator reminding you that the night will end in around 10 hours. Send in those night actions people!))

[Freshmeat]

Night 1 ends

The sun crests the horizon once again, and people begin to stir aboard “The Calypso.” As the memories of the past day return with the morning fog that floats in off the cool Mediterranean waters, tension quickly creeps back onto the yacht.
Just yesterday, Sir Florence Drake was killed in his cabin, and the murderer and his or her accomplice remain free and unidentified; while every passing night the chances of them striking again go up.

As everyone gathers on the upper deck for breakfast, they are relieved to note that all are present and accounted for, and eager to mull over what they learned before retiring to their beds, and to return again to the scene of the crime to collect more evidence. One by one, they finish their meals, and eye each other suspiciously, wondering as to who in their midst may possess the desire to kill again...

Day 2 begins

[ThePhantom]

"Oh what a night. I was almost too worried to sleep." Robert Wainwright picks at what remains of his breakfast. "To be trapped at sea with a murderer, is not my idea of a fun time. Now getting a great story, that's my idea of a good time."

[Shadowcaller]

(( Time for my annual ooc search, I want to search the only murder site for motive of murder.))