Murder mystery night (OPEN TO MORE, deets inside)

[Deleted]

((First off, I figured I could run this kinda like a DnD style game? I promise I won't meta game xD I'll just make up a fun mystery and then our characters can figure it out and Virva can just assist with hints and such if absolutely needed. Open to like 5 others max? I could also host different murder mysteries for other groups, but I'll prolly set the scene and whatnot from my OOC account <3 Feel free to join or PM me for more info xD))

Murder mystery seemed like a fun enough pass time to Virv. Considering that her job at times dealt with similar things it seemed like she ought to be good at this. Not that she was planning to steal the thunder from others or destroy their little fun. She just wanted to know if she'd be any good at these made up games and scenario's. From what she'd heard they got a bit outlandish and unrealistic at times. Such a thing would surely complicate the game. She walked in with a small group of people as the host lead them towards the scene of the fake crime. Virva had to admit this seemed more fun than she'd anticipated.

She joined the rest of the group as they walked into an ostentatiously decorated room. The fireplace seemed to have but cut from a single block of marble and the hearth still burned cheerfully despite the otherwise ominous feel to the room. Looking around, Virva spotted the huge painting of a young lady, hardly older than seven or eight. Yet even that painting was dwarfed by that of a portrait of a family that included the little girl once again. She seemed younger there, barely four years of age. The house was decorated for the holidays, carved pumpkins and other autumn related dried goods were strewn around various places. The leather sofa's were decorated with small pillows of animal fur and the carpet was quite clearly very expensive. On the floor before the sofa the shape of the man from the portrait was on the ground in a peculiar position. He clearly was the victim here. On the small table a glass was knocked over, the contents spilled over the table and the carpet, suggesting a culprit for the cause of death.

Virva could feel herself smiling, only because this entire scene was manufactured for entertainment purposes as she looked at one of the people in her group. "So what do you think? Where should we begin our investigation?"

TAG: Open to 5 max! <3

[Deleted]

Simon had been easily talked into going to Hogwart’s Halloween event by his sister Summer. They had been laying low as always but with recent events drawing the news from witch hunters and the relative peace they both had from them since making it into Europe he slowly felt safer. Not enough to return to his old life but enough to allow Summer to do some of what she wanted. She seemed to be in a healthier state of mind when she got what she wanted. As she had never been able to attend Hogwarts, an event hosted by the school was as close as she would probably ever get. That and she had friends of her own that went to the school so she could see them.

They hadn’t been together long once getting to the island when she ran off with a friend. Simon wanted to keep an eye on his sister at all times since what had happened but he quickly lost her in the crowd. He was nervous but with the number of ministry and Hogwarts staff here he felt okay with Summer being on her own for a bit. Walking around he found a few interesting things. One of them happened to be the murder mystery mansion. Something that would rely on thinking and finding clues rather than some of the sillier games. Sounding up his alley as he entered the mansion and was paired off with five other people.

They entered a room which he could only describe as a living room, with many family portraits and a fireplace with a fire going. Only thing off was the body on the floor who seemed to be the man from the portraits. He assumed it was a fake made to look like it. It would be a little much for that to be an actual person pretending to be dead. One of the people in the group he had entered with, a woman around his age he assumed, asked what he though. That and where they should start. “Well if cheesy stories have told me anything we should be looking to track down the butler as they always do it.” Simon smiles back to the girl as he began to look around the room once more. “Which I was joking about but since he was drinking something just before he died it seems, it might not be a bad place to start. If there is a butler that is. Or house elf.” The last part he made a small scoff at to himself. As if a house elf would ever actually kill their master.

@virvatuli

[camila calderón]

October 2025

There was no better time to make use of Polyjuice Potion than for Halloween, and Camila had Sienna to thank for that. She couldn't imagine what a nightmare it would have been if she had to go out in public for something so crowded as herself, especially because her being there would have distracted from the fun of it. Although it was probably a little morbid, the idea of figuring out a fake murder mystery sounded a lot better to Camila than some of the real things that had happened in previous months, though she was immediately reminded of Auguste's mansion in France.

Walking in with a group of others (and with Sienna by her side in the event that anything happened), Camila nudged her friend. "Auguste should renovate," she teased Sienna at a whisper, seeing how outrageous the "mansion" looked. If anyone would be able to convince Auguste that that was more his style, it would be his girlfriend.

"So what do you think?" one girl asked the rest of them. "Where should we begin our investigation?"

One young man, probably around their ages, said that they need to be looking for the butler. He added that he had only been joking, but it appeared that the "murder victim"—who was thankfully not a real person—had been drinking something prior to his death. It was either the butler, he said, or a house-elf.

It was possible that the spilled drink hadn't been the cause of death, though, Camila considered. What if it was only incidental? It could have happened that the victim collapsed and knocked the drink over because of his proximity to it at the time—and not because the drink itself had led to his death. She looked around the room, trying to gain more clues… There were the family portraits, and whoever was in this scenario was probably wealthy. Were there enemies involved?

Sienna Aurélie Linslee
@virvatuli
@simontroy

[Sienna Aurélie Linslee]

October 2025

Zombie Island. On the surface, the idea seemed too deep into the horror genre for Sienna to enjoy – like something out of one of those low-budget zombie movies that was always released around October. But the whole event actually seemed like a lot of fun, and Si had to admire the level of thought that had been put into the island. There were games, and Halloween-themed activities, and Sienna could smell the tell-tale sign of pumpkin spice drinks.

She wasn’t sure how she and Camila had ended up at a murder mystery event and whose idea it had been. But Si wasn’t complaining – it looked like good fun and she was excited at the idea of acting out a Sherlock Holmes or Agatha Christie story. And it’d be nice to have a hangout with Camila in a public environment for once, even if it meant Si’s latest batch of Polyjuice Potion was in use. As the girls walked through with the rest of the group, Sienna snorted at Camila’s suggestion. “I’ll bring it up to him right away,” Si promised mischievously. “What good is a place if you don’t feel like you’re walking into Dracula’s castle?”

Maybe the scene called for a more solemn reaction, considering the spooky setting and the ‘murder’ that the group was to be investigating. But, like the redheaded girl in their group, Sienna couldn’t keep a smile off her face. “Oh wow, this has been really well done,” Si admired as she turned in a circle to take in the room. Some of the members of the group got down to business right away, mentioning the likely cause of death and the possibility of suspects. Camila was eyeing the large (slightly creepy, if Si was being honest) portraits, so Sienna peeled off to go examine the knocked-over goblet. She didn’t have much experience making poisons, but she’d come across many in her line of work and could whip up an antidote quickly if needed. She leaned over the table while doing her best not to touch anything. If the goblet had been poisoned, maybe something had been left behind. A change to the consistency of the liquid, or some trace of it on the cup? Maybe that was too much to hope for.

“Does anything else look out of place?” Si wondered as she straightened again, avoiding the spilled drink on the rug. She glanced over the ‘victim’ and suppressed a shiver as he didn’t move. It must be good acting, because he was really quite convincing.

@virvatuli
@simontroy
camila calderón

[Deleted]

Virva gave the guy a bit of a confused look. She wasn't really familiar with the stories where the butler did it, partially because that just wasn't a job in the druid circles she grew up in. She had no idea why he would think a butler (she honestly wasn't even sure what it was) would be the obvious choice for murderer. She figured that perhaps it was a good thing to her to not be aware of all the murder stories, as being objective was kind of important in her line of work. That being said, since this was clearly a story setting he could possibly have some advantage due to actually knowing murder stories.

Virva looked towards the person that had led them here and would clearly make a slight introduction before they got going. The woman smiled a polite little smile. "Welcome, investigators. You're free to move about the house as you please and investigate. The body is obviously not that of a real person but a life-like body usually used for medical training and of course training for law enforcement and aurors to investigate murders. You're allowed to manipulate it in any way you deemed needed for the investigation, although we ensure opening the body up will not be needed at your selected difficulty." Virve pulled a face at that, since she worried she'd gotten the easy version. She did not want to be left unchallenged, although they were right the body looked real enough. 

The woman soon continued. "Spread amongst the rooms are several actors hired to act as suspects, or at least people to have been present while the body was found. No violence may be used against these actors but asking them the right questions might unveil additional information that took place. Once you're certain you have enough evidence, simple ring the bell in the hallway. The investigation will end and you'll hear if you got your suspect convicted and if they were the actual killer in this scenario. Please try to be in agreement as there is no going back after ending the simulation. Good luck and have fun! Happy Hauntings!" And with that the lady walked out and Virva turned to the group. "Okay, so we're looking for butler? Or House elfs. We should probably find out how he died first." She mused and looked at one of the two other woman in the group that had looked at the coffee table earlier. "Do you think it was poison? I can look at the body if needed. I'm not to squeamish." She'd already seen her fair share of corpses that were far worse off than this poor fake fellow. At least he still seemed to have all his limbs. 


Sienna Aurélie Linslee Apart from the dead body and the obvious stain on the carpet, you notice a few more peculiar things. Either somebody moved the glass or the liquid fell in a really peculiar pattern on the carpet, as it just a little far off to logically be coming from the fallen glass. You notice an odd smell in the air. It's like somebody burned a steak.....

If you look at certain locations mentioned or move to a different room I'll post a below like here to describe your findings or just give a description of the space. I'll also manage the NPC's in a different colour so it's more obvious which parts are like, Virva working with y'all and which parts are NPC related. Happy investigating and I hope you'll like the thing I set up! 

Adjacent area's: Hallway, kitchen. 

@simontroy camila calderón Sienna Aurélie Linslee

[Deleted]

Soon after Simon mused about the fact it might have been a butler or even less likely a house elf. The lady who had led them into the room explained more about the game. They could ask the paid actors in the building and were free to move about the house. They could also move the body also. Which thankfully the body was indeed fake, the type used for medical and law enforcement trying. He figured he should have realized that having used them in his own training at St.Mungos. At least before he left that life behind. The only things they weren’t allowed to do was use violence against the actors to get information. Which seemed pretty obvious to him. It was just a game and they were just actors after all.

One of the girls in the group he was in asked about it being poison and that she could look at the body as she wasn’t that squeamish. Looking at the obvious clues he would have sided with poison. Still this was a game, there was sure to be some twist or more to it than that. Still even if it was poison it didn’t prove who did it. “I can check it out as well, it’s a fake but I’ve trained with these style of dummies before.” Simon spook up as well offering to help. It would be better to work together to solve this than trying to do it by ones self. He moved over to examine the fake body better, if it had been poison there wouldn't be much proof on the outside of the body though.

@virvatuli
camila calderón
Sienna Aurélie Linslee

[camila calderón]

October 2025

Camila hoped that she would never have to be involved in a real murder mystery in any way, so a simulation of one was probably for the best. It seemed relatively realistic, minus the media circus that Camila knew she would face if she were tied to any case like that in real life. The good thing was that this was only for fun, and she wasn't herself; she was Julieta.

After an introduction from the volunteer who was leading the activity, clarifying that there were actors in some of the other rooms, the others in the current room with her started throwing around theories, much faster than she could keep up initially. Butler or elves? Both of the strangers in the room mentioned checking out the "body"—fortunately just some sort of training mannequin—for any evidence, with the guy mentioning that he had trained with them.

Camila nodded, looking to Sienna for guidance on any ideas. They probably didn't all need to be crowded around the dummy of the murder victim, but there was certainly far more in the room. "Do you see anything?"

Sienna Aurélie Linslee
@virvatuli
@simontroy
OOC: Sorry for the wait, and I'm thinking we might want to start a Discord group chat for this?

[Sienna Aurélie Linslee]

Sienna frowned and squinted as she took in the body (which wasn’t real, fine, but it still made her shiver). Besides the obvious ‘murder’ that had taken place, something didn’t feel right about where the victim had fallen in relation to the cup. He was on the ground, not the couch, and the glass had been knocked over on the table, but the contents had spilled oddly on the carpet. She was vaguely aware that someone had come in to speak to them about the mystery, and she sort of absorbed the rules – move around the house, talk to the actors, decide on the killer. But she didn’t pay much attention to the others speaking (Camila could catch her up) until the redheaded girl asked if she thought it was poison.

Between that and Camila’s question– Sienna shrugged as she let the confusion show on her face. “It must be poison…but something looks wrong here, doesn’t it?” she asked the group uncertainly. She stood by the coffee table with the glass and mimed drinking something and setting it down. But that wouldn’t have knocked over the glass. Then she shook her head and ‘drank’ again before pretending to drop the drink. “I don’t see how the glass could have ended up here while the liquid spilled over there, so it must have been moved. But by the murderer? And why?” Si bit her lip at the mystery.

Both the redhead and the man suggested looking at the body, and Si automatically moved away from it. She rubbed her eyes as she tried to think, although the burnt smell was distracting. “Is the kitchen nearby? Something smells burnt, and it isn’t coming from the glass.” It occurred to her that she only knew Camila in the group, so she offered tentatively, “I’m Sienna, by the way. I work with potions, but…not too much with poisons.”

@virvatuli
@simontroy
camila calderón

[Deleted]

Well at least it looked like she'd fallen in with a clever enough group. She wasn't fully sure on the giggle pair but Sienna of potions at least seemed to know something useful, which was truly a blessing. She guessed the girls were actually far more clever than she currently gave them credit for but she was just too used to the serious atmosphere at work that the fun aspect seemed so awkwardly misplaced in a place such as this. Still she was pretty sure she could put that aside for the sake of the game. She was here to have fun far more than solve a case, although her professional pride (no matter how small it was) made it difficult not to want to get it right with a near obessive drive.

The only guy in the group mentioned having trained with the dummies before and Virv looked at him curiously. "I'm guessing healing? I don't think I saw you at ministry." She said with some curiosity. Perhaps he was privately employed but it didn't seem too likely the private sector had easy access to spelled body dummies. It just seemed like they'd be rather expensive to enchant. It would actually help if he was a healer in figuring out the cause of death. She could do a preliminary research based on location but wasn't too familiar with healing to decide the actual cause of death if it wasn't glaringly obvious. She'd made the mistake once of thinking it was a cut with a huge knife when it had been a huge wound from a tiny knife. Since then she'd learned not everything was so easy to decide based only on appearances when it came to finding cause of death.

The girl mentioned that it didn't make much sense for it to be poisoning with the positioning of the glass. Virv found herself smiling a large smile and walking over, checking to see what the girl had said. She nodded. "Well seen! It doesn't look very believeable no. Maybe it was moved?" She wasn't quite sure what else to add to the discussion from there. It was at least clear that there were bound to be plenty of hints around the house. "Should we split up and explore or do you prefer to mostly stick together?" She asked to nobody in general. She figured they'd all chip in with their own opinions if they wanted to. No use to ask anybody in specific.

@simontroy Upon inspecting the body you notice that there is actually a bezoar in his mouth, suggesting he realised he was being poisoned. Looking further you notice that the smell of burnt flesh, although subtle, seems to coming from the body. Somebody must have put a new jacket on him as there is a relatively small cauterized wound in his back, as if somebody stabbed a very hot object into his back as he was attempting to save his own life with the bezoar.

Sienna Aurélie Linslee You spot a door that would logically lead to the kitchen in the back of the door. If you choose to enter you find yourself in a relatively large kitchen, kitchen island included. The kitchen is meticulously clean as if it had been scrubbed down earlier that day, or at least not very long before your arrival. There appear to be no dirty dishes anywhere at all, except for the one glass in the room you came from. The kitched is obviously used frequently, although most of the pots and pans in sight look to be damaged and old, although a few positions where you expect kitchenwear are suspiciously empty.

camila calderón Sorry I have no good hints for you but well, my fav superstar (after Gus ofc) isn't really investigating yet >.< <3 I'll get something here for you as soon as she investigates... well, anything at all!

[Deleted]

As Simon began to look over the body closely one of the girls, the red head, asked him if he was trained in healing as she hadn’t seen him around the ministry. So, she was in something law enforcement related. That wasn’t too surprising as the ministry was helping throw this event. “Yes, trained at St.Mungo’s for over a year. Till something came up.” Simon answered with more detailed than he normally would but being at a ministry held event and not hearing anything from the witch hunters or Summers old school had him feeling like they were safe, at least for the time being. “That feels like a lifetime ago now.” He added noticing what seemed like something in the victim or rather dummy’s mouth.

He looked over a moment from his searching as the other girl pointed out that the glass had been put back on the table even through all the liquid was spilled on the floor. He returned to the body once more as the two woman spoke to one another. Finally figuring out what’s as in the dummies mouth. It was indeed very life-like as even the stone was wet like it had been in an actually mouth. Something he didn’t exactly enjoy. “The drink might have been poisoned but that shouldn’t have been what killed him.” Simon said standing up and revealing the bezoar. “This thing should have neutralized just about most poisons people would use. Besides I believe the the burnt smell might be coming from this guy.” Simon explained looking back to the body. He had lifted up the back of the coat after finding the bezoar and noticing the burn wound and burnt hole in the dummies clothes on his back. “Someone tried to poison him and when he tried to save himself he was stabbed with something, possibly.”

The one girl, Sienna had offered her name and her field in potions and Simon felt he as well should offer his name in introductions. Better than trying to call each other by generic titles. “I’m Simon, and you don’t have to worry about saying you don’t work with poisons, I don’t think you had something to do with this.” Simon replied offering a slight joke. It would be an awful time to joke if this had all been real. Yet he was feeling more relaxed having something to preoccupy his time than his normal worries.

@virvatuli
camila calderón
Sienna Aurélie Linslee

[camila calderón]

October 2025

Gradually, they began to make more observations about the way in which the "murder scene" had been set up. For example, Sienna expressed her certainty that there had been a poison involved in the man's death. At the same time, there was something peculiar about that. The position of how the cup would have been held by someone drinking from it relative to where it had fallen didn't match up. There was also a burnt odor that wasn't coming from the room that they were in, though Camila wouldn't have noticed it without Sienna's having pointed it out.

As Camila wondered what was causing the smell, Sienna introduced herself to the room and explained that she worked with potions rather than with poisons. The redheaded girl asked them if they wanted to split up or to stay together. Because she was under the effects of Polyjuice Potion, Camila didn't want to get too far away from Sienna if she could avoid it, though she knew that there would be benefit in splitting up. It wasn't a real murder scene; none of them were in any real danger in a simulation.

Meanwhile, the young man who was observing the "body" remarked that it wasn't whatever had been in the glass that had killed the man. There was, from what Camila could see of what he was holding up to them, a bezoar, which would have been an antidote to the poison, she knew. There was more, though. The burning smell was at least a simulation of burnt flesh, which made Camila rather uncomfortable. At least it was only a dummy, though the young man pointed out that the burning smell was coming from some sort of stab wound. That definitely wasn't her strong suit, but she knew that they would have to look for a weapon, and it likely wouldn't have been a wand.

Camila began to think about what might have caused the wound. There was the fireplace, with the fire still going. That would have been hot enough to burn someone or something, though the question was with what. The dummy hadn't fallen straight into the fire, she thought, as the young man gave his name as Simon.

"Julieta," Camila introduced herself—or her disguise—to the others, moving closer to the fireplace. "Is there…" Of course she didn't know the English word for what she was thinking of, a fireplace poker. "A metal stick?" she questioned, hoping that at least Sienna would understand what she was getting at. "You touch the fire with the metal stick…?"

Sienna Aurélie Linslee
@virvatuli
@simontroy
OOC: Sorry for the wait again!

[Sienna Aurélie Linslee]

Sienna frowned slightly at the new information – so he apparently was poisoned, or at least thought he had been, but after saving himself with a bezoar had been stabbed to death. Such a bizarre turn of events, but the Healer’s findings at least lined up with her own. The frown turned into a smile and a startled laugh as the Healer, Simon as he introduced himself, assured her that he didn’t think she had anything to do with the murder. “Well, that’s generous. Now you just have to prove you didn’t do it,” Si shot back with a smile. Yeah, they were in the middle of a murder mystery, but they were ultimately here to have fun, right?

Since she already knew who Camila was, and who she was pretending to be, Sienna turned her attention towards the door she was sure led to the kitchen as Camila introduced herself. The others were distracted with the murder weapon, so Si figured she could disappear for a minute to see if there were any obvious clues in the other room. When she entered the kitchen, Si gave a low whistle at the impressive layout (she loved to cook, so she spent a lot of time in her own admittedly more cramped kitchen). But she wrinkled her nose after a moment at the signs that it had clearly been meticulously scrubbed down and that the pots and pans were not well-maintained. “Even if it didn’t kill him, finding signs of the poison might be a good start to finding a murderer. So if I was a potentially suspicious ingredient, where would I be?” Si mumbled to herself as she used her sleeve to open various cabinets and drawers without leaving fingerprints.

While she searched, she also noticed several spots that definitely should have things filling the space, but were suspiciously empty. Si hummed in contemplation as she took a mental inventory. Maybe they’d been used to prepare the poison? Or maybe they were involved directly in the murder? Either way, it was something to report back to the group. She walked back through the door in time to hear Camila describing a metal stick. “…a poker?” Si asked confusedly after a moment of silence, although with absolutely no context regarding the conversation. “I found the kitchen,” she offered a moment later to explain her absence. “It doesn’t look…the way you’d expect.”

@virvatuli
@simontroy
camila calderón