A RUDE AWAKENING

[thedirectors]

It's morning on the Disorient Express, around 8 AM, and the train is completely still. In fact, the train hasn't moved since 12 AM last night. If you peer out the window to your cabin, you will see a blinding blanket of white snow staring back at you, piled at least two feet high. And it's still coming down, albeit slower than before.

Perhaps some of you have been delivered breakfast in your cabin, or others have headed towards the dining car to be served breakfast. The staff all look exhausted as they dish out pastries, coffee, and tea. You are soon informed that the railroad has been blocked by a large snowdrift, and will not be able to move until they clear it away. They profusely apologize for the inconvenience, and assure you they are working as quickly as possible to remedy the situation.

You hardly have enough time to shove a croissant in your mouth when you hear a piercing, animalistic shriek from the sleeper car hallway, followed by something shattering.

Maybe you should investigate what's happening.

Comments

[campire]

[ Oh dear, that doesn't sound good, does it?

Well, Nathan will put down his coffee and go take a peek at the sleeper car. What's happening in here? ]

[thedirectors]

[As you poke your head out into the hall, you see a few things. There's a staff member–a river otter–pressed against the wall opposite the cabins, her eyes wide in shock. Her trembling paws are clasped over her mouth. A shattered tea set lies on the ground, staining the carpet a dark hue, next to an upturned platter and an unfortunate number of pastries.

The door to Cabin 9 is wide open.]

[campire]

Oh, goodness, are you all right there?

[ The otter gets a reassuring pat on the shoulder and he follows her gaze to cabin 9! ]

[thedirectors]

[The otter jumps, startled as Nathan pats her on the shoulder.]

Yes–I mean, no, I mean–I don't know–Mr. Devineaux just said–

[The scene that greets you in Cabin 9 is…odd. Romero seems to be sitting slumped over on the couch area of the cabin. He almost looks like he's fallen asleep. Ernest is crouched on the ground, his cap having fallen off his head. His paw is touching Romero's chest, trying to find any sign of life.

As people begin to crowd around the cabin door, he glances back, trying to sit up as straight as possible. It almost looks like Ernest is trying to rouse Romero from his slumber–as far as you are aware, there doesn't seem to be anything immediately wrong with him, save for the pale, clammy tinge of his skin.]

Please, ah, return to your cabins, the situation is under control–a doctor, is anyone here a doctor?!

[Despite his reassurances, Ernest is looking more and more distressed by the second. Every inch of his body seems to tremble with anxiety.]

[takethebacon]

[Mildred heads to the sleeper car as well, looking more annoyed than anything.]

It's way too early for this nonsense...

[campire]

It is common decency to wait until after noon to scream, isn't it?

[takethebacon]

Or at least wait until we have some caffeine in our systems. This is downright rude.

[agoddeal]

[Popping her head out of Cabin 14 just in time to contribute to this:]

Or much too late for this nonsense. No self-respecting ghost should be about in the morning.

[hefring]

[ a mood. not that he's bothering to get up for it at the moment. ]

[takethebacon]

Ghosts don't exist, but either way it's a horrible time to disrupt us for no good reason.

[toomanynotes]

[Well, you don’t need the excellent ears of Mozart’s to hear that — he pops his head out of his own room, trying to work out whereabouts in the car the noise came from exactly?]

[thedirectors]

[It's towards the middle of the car, but it's not hard to figure out what's wrong.]

[hematocritic]

[He really could have used the coffee, but his half full cup is definitely meeting a sad end on the floor when that scream sounds.

Time to elbow and shove past other people to the spot of the scream]

INVESTIGATION START!

[thedirectors]

[It seems as though there's a mystery afoot! Unless you want to wait to be brought into custody and questioned by the police on your activities on board the train, perhaps it would be in your best interests to investigate.

Instead of gathering all the relevant clues all at once like in a murdergame, we’ll be spreading the investigation and discussion over the course of the next week. This is to try and emulate the structure and pacing of a traditional murder mystery and allow people to really marinate on potential theories.

Today’s investigation will be focusing on the sleeper car, Romero’s cabin, and testimony from Ernest/other staff in the area. This investigation will be more structured like a normal murdergame to ease people into the mystery. When the new log gets posted tomorrow, characters will be able to investigate as they please.

It might not be immediately obvious where to look at first. However, we will try and nudge people towards certain hooks with our clues. Multiple people are welcome to participate in a single investigation thread, and multiple people can investigate the same area more than once to potentially find new information. Additionally, we encourage people to question other player and non-player characters to try and figure out what they know! Chat with your friends, spin some theories, and see where the trail leads you.

All clues will be added to the investigation notes for ease of reference. Please let me know if you have any questions!

SLEEPER CAR

[thedirectors]

[That poor otter is still standing in the hallway, trying to pick up the porcelain tea set she shattered earlier.]

[campire]

Well! Things have certainly taken a turn for the dramatic.

[ Anyway, since he's presumably still out here with her... ]

Oh, let me help you with that.

[ He'll kneel down to pick up the sad ruined pastries and look for any missed porcelain shards... anything notable on the floor of the car while he's down here? ]

AREA CLEARED

[thedirectors]

[Until someone else finds a reason to re-investigate this place, for some reason.]

ROMERO’S CABIN

[thedirectors]

[There's stuff in here other than the body, you know.]

[toomanynotes]

[Well, someone as shameless as Mozart would probably suit this job. What’ve we got in here?]

AREA CLEARED

[thedirectors]

[It's doubtful anything new will show up here.]

ERNEST

[thedirectors]

[Poor guy.]

[takethebacon]

[Mildred just

Looks over at Ernest.]

So how do we know you weren't the one who killed him?

TESTIMONY FINISHED

[thedirectors]

DISCUSSION?

[thedirectors]

[Maybe you can chat theories with your friends and what you overheard last night.]

[theobviousculprit]

[Discussion? Oh, don't mind if she does.

Eva is at the lounge, sitting down. Even though she looks mostly calm, judging from the way she fans herself there's a certain undercurrent of tension in her. When someone approaches, she gives them a very courteous smile, and then says:]

What a nasty situation we have in our hands now.

[.....]

It's hard to believe anything can happen on this train without the employees knowing about that. I don't know what you think, but as far as I'm concerned, there's a very good chance the employees are...compromised. [Eva closes her fan] Wouldn't that make sense? That they had something to do with this whole incident, as accomplices...or that one of them is the killer?

[Figures that Eva would ponder that. She's distrustful as hell]