The Masquerade

"Neither do I," James said with a small smile, looking away. "It would be sad indeed."

"So," said Taber, catching Asteri's expression. "What all happened?"

Asteri glanced in Eremia's direction. "Well, why don't you ask her-"

The room suddenly went pitchblack. There were startled cries from all around, followed by the sound of people rushing throughout the darkness as they tried to find some form of light. Asteri just stood right where he was, knowing that he was better off staying in a location he knew than trying to get somewhere else.

The partygoers fumbled around in the darkness for a good five minutes before any sort of change occurred. In the distance, a single flame illuminated a face in the darkness - Maahes, the man with hair the same color as his own. The flame rested firmly in the palm of his hand, growing larger as the room continued stay dark. Soon it was illuminating those around him as well. It wasn't much, but it was something, and Asteri could appreciate at least that.

He heard Mira shift near him. His pointed ears twitched. She was trying to put her goblet down - he could hear fumbling around with the table - but wasn't making much progress. From what he could tell, it seemed like she was knocking things over in her attempt to rid herself of her cup.

The lights suddenly turned back on.

Asteri could count the amount of times Mira had screamed when he was in a room with her on one hand; she wasn't easily terrified. But when Mira saw what was at her feet, she let out a terrified, horrified scream and stumbled right back into him.

There was an injured man on the ground in front of him. He was covered in blood, and his injuries look so severe that Asteri at first thought he was dead. There was a bullet hole in his chest. Countless knife marks in his clothing and in his now bare skin. Two little holes in the side of his neck. And then, right as he was going to retch at the sight, he noticed something absolutely horrifying:

He looked like he had suffered from frostbite.

And the ice that clung to his hands was structured in a way that was nearly identical to his own.

The man took one last breath of air before dying.

Rendra pushed through the group of people starting to gather around the corpse. She stared at it for a few seconds, then looked back up at the group with wide brown eyes. "I guess I just found your first riddle," she said, her voice shaking. "Someone here must have killed him. And if you guys don't want to die next, I think you're going to have to figure out who."

As soon as the lights went out, James was relieved. Finally something was happening. Finally, they were going to get one step close to getting out of this masquerade prison.

Rationally, he stayed in place, waiting for the light to turn on, or for someone to produce some source of light. As expected, Maahes had the courtesy to do so with his abilities, and within their small radius, he was able to see enough to understand that for most of those in the rest of the building, they were scrambling around in chaos. If Rendra's plan was to scatter and confuse them, he wasn't sure what would come next, but he had a feeling it wouldn't be something as tame as a literal puzzle, or even a riddle.

And then the lights came on, and he heard a scream. Without hesitation, he determinedly hurried to the source, pushing past worried and anxious party-goers. He only half looked back at Maahes and Vala, giving a nod of his head, expecting them to follow.

He pushed his way through the huddled crowd and came out beside Rendra, just in time to hear her instructions and see the dead body.

Now, naturally, he was disturbed to some degree. But he had seen people in various stages of death and decay, and as much as he disliked it, he wasn't phased by the sight. So the focused stoicism remained on his face, and he looked down at the body with what he knew would only be perceived as cold indifference. Rendra had just raised the stakes. There was a murderer amongst them, and their lives were at risk if they didn't find them. He looked at her through the corner of his eyes, face still the same.

If she left them with that, they would be a mess of disorganization, and people would begin to point fingers with wild accusations made on baseless arguments. Suspicion couldn't be a base for condemning someone into the hands of Rendra, who had now proven herself - or Kartiel, the person she worked for - as more than a liar, or a trickster. There was something much darker, much crueller at play.

"Under what conditions?" he asked. "So we find evidence to prove to you who it was? Are things like interrogation, or holding something more organized, like a trial, left up to us? Do we have a time limit? Are we running up against a clock?"

While Asteri's eyes may have lingered on the ice, it was the two small marks on the man's neck that drew Lorcan's attention. He saw Second absentmindedly raising a hand up to his own neck and resting it where the bite marks were on the other man. That was what they were - they were small enough to have come from his fangs, and he was almost completely certain that he was the only person here who had them.

So didn't that mean he was somehow involved?

But he didn't remember hurting anyone. He just remembered darkness, and then hearing Mira scream as the lights turned out. Lorcan wanted to sink back into the crowd. Even if he said he didn't remember hurting anyone, who would believe him? He looked like a vampire, and Hero wasn't here; he couldn't turn back to his original form without his best friend and contractor being in the near vicinity.

Lorcan wasn't all that frightened by the sight of a dead body. Though they usually tended to disappear in a puff of white particles before the bodies could end up in such a state, he had attacked players in the past. It was a different kind of experience, but it still meant that the sight was familiar.

By the time that he had finished thinking all of this through, Maahes, Vala and James had arrived at the group, and James had started to interrogate Rendra - who, as the questions grew more specific, seemed to be looking more and more worried.

"I don't know," Rendra said. Her voice was still shaking, and she seemed to be growing more nervous. "This was-This was just supposed to be a masquerade with a couple of riddles thrown in. No one was supposed to die."

"But someone did die," another voice cut in. This one was unfamiliar, and the woman it belonged to was as well. She emerged from the back of the ballroom and pushed through the crowd, staring down at the body. Lorcan was too distracted by the murder and him being possibly implied to pay much attention to what she looked like. "And I'm sure someone else will if we don't figure out who the murderer was."

She looked up from the body. There was something about her face that Lorcan just couldn't ignore - something about the lack of horror, and something about the lack of any sort of worry. He looked down at Second. It was the same type of look his best friend had right now. Whoever this woman was, she was a strategist, and she had seen battle before. That much was clear.

Speaking of Second, his best friend clear his throat. "If we want to figure out who did it, we should first start with the injuries, right?" he said. He crouched next to the body. "There's frostbite on his hands. He has two marks on the side of his neck-" Here Second looked nervously up at Lorcan, knowing that everyone would automatically assume that he was responsible for those. "-several stab wounds, and a gunshot to his chest."

Spoiler

Time to do a quick description of my character - or, rather, here's some pictures that match what I was imagining for her. There's her hairstyle, her clothing and her makeup right now. The one thing you can't see is her eye color, which is dark brown.

"This guy wasn't killed now, though," Raiden said, popping up from nowhere.
"Frostbite takes time, and we didn't hear any gunshots - unless I went deaf during those few seconds for some reason," he glanced to Rendra, staring her down for a few seconds before turning his attention back to the body.
"I'm willing to bet that during the blackout this dude was brought in after being stabbed and shot outside."

Raiden made some good, shrewd points, and delivered them very cooly, which almost transcended the effect of the fluffy pink gown and bescribbled face.

"That's a sensible theory. The question is, was this the work of a singular culprit," I said, looking around the room, "Or did they have help?"

"Who knows? Maybe one person was really angry, or this man was injured in self defense and was stabbed further by someone else to be used for scare tactics. Perhaps if it was a group maybe he had angered them."
Raiden looked up at the other unfamiliar lady who had spoken earlier.
"..."
He turned to Rendra.
"Do you perhaps know this man? Was he maybe crucial to one of your riddles?"

"Oh no!" Taber said, processing what had happened after his conversation had ended by the lights going out. He was particularly concerned about the arrival of the dead body right next to him. If everyone hadn't gotten so panicked and started to run, he probably would've been able to spot the culprit in the dark. But now, he didn't have the slightest clue who the killer was. Only that the victim was very, very dead.

Taber let go of Eremia as she whirled around and saw the corpse. Snatching her staff from the table, she prodded the area around the man's chest and watched a slow flow of blood trickle out from the gunshot wound. "This is far too much effort to kill a singular man," Eremia said. "Even to send a message. Would you mind propping him up, so I may get a closer view?"

The wolf nodded in agreement. He stepped behind the body and lifted it up to its torso. Eremia crouched down in front of the body and glared at the frostbitten fingers and horror-stricken face. Behind that expression, and behind that yellow mask, Taber swore he could see Eremia growing paler. They'd both seen lots of dead bodies before; why be so grossed out about it? But, if she was responding like this, he was worried about her. She always stopped thinking when she was repulsed by something. And then she made decisions there were about as bad as his.

Finally, Eremia stood point. She pointed accusingly to the host. "Whether your intention or otherwise," Eremia said. "A man died under your jurisdiction. I suspect he will be the first. As host of this party, if you are so incapable of keeping your guests safe, I have plenty to say about the intelligence of both you and your benefactor. For shame."

Kratzer gazed at the body from the far wall, silently observing as the events unfolded. Viper, who was at his side, watched in a quiet, sadistic joy derived from the fear, shock, and terror of those around her.

He approached the body and knelt down beside it, examining it. There were two bites on the side of the neck that looked like they were from a vampire - but he was the only one there, and the only other person who had anything remotely close was Lorcan. Yet, he hadn't left, and unless there was something Kratzer was really missing, Lorcan couldn't get in and out with enough time.

He hesitated, then took some of the blood on his finger and sniffed it, and then licked it, trying to get more information on the individual despite his hidden face.

Viper watched from where she was standing but was having more fun seeing the looks in the eyes of the witnesses now that the man himself was already dead.

For a second, Rendra almost look angry. She straightened ever so slightly, looked Eremia right in the eye and opened her mouth to say something to her - only to bite back her retort before it could leave her mouth. She turned to Raiden instead.

"I knew him," she said, "but not knew-knew him. He was just like the rest of you. He was-He was just here for the masquerade and to solve my riddles...His name was K-" She made a noise that was a mix between a horrified hiccup and a sob as she looked at the other occupants of the room, her gaze landing on the woman dressed in scarlet. For a moment, they held each other's gaze, and then both turned their attention back to the body. "K-Keith."

Maahes walked over to the corpse's side and gently closed the man's horrified eyes. He kept his gaze down. He wished he could have done something to prevent the murder, but now all he could do was hope that he could prevent any future ones from occurring.

"If we're assuming that this murder was done before the lights went out," the woman said, getting to her feet, "then couldn't anyone who was alone before then have committed the crime?"

Maahes looked at the other people present, then back at the woman. The logic made sense, but there was one flaw with it that he couldn't ignore. Luckily, he didn't have to.

"That would have required them to find a way out," Vala argued, taking a step forward. "Which none of us have been able to do yet."

"Not necessarily," Second suddenly said. He got to his feet as well. "They-They could have found some place to bring the victim where no one would notice them. There has to be some sort of secluded area where they could murder the victim and keep them until the lights went out."

"But he wasn't dead yet," Vala continued to protest. "He died right here. I'm all for miracles, but this just doesn't make sense. He should have been a dead man by now if he was injured earlier. And someone should have heard the gunshots."

The unnamed girl in a suit that had been clinging to Asteri's side shook her head. "Not necessarily," she quietly said. "There's-There's spells to muffle noises. Spells to put that ice on someone's hands. Spells to even shoot guns that disappear afterwards. All of those injuries could be blamed on magic."

She took a deep breath. "So that would mean our list of suspects is the following: Lorcan, for the bite marks. That woman over there, for the knife marks." She pointed at Viper. "Asteri, for the ice. Anyone with a gun for the bullet wound."

She took a second deep breath.

"And me, for the possibility of it all being caused by magic."

Taber laughed anxiously. "If Aegeas was here," he said. "He'd probably blame this on Kartiel. Good thing Kartiel isn't around."

Eremia, eyes wide, quickly turned and motioned for him to stop. He froze, looked down at the body, and gently set it down. It hadn't been right to say, but he didn't know how else to react. This was all so bizarre and mysterious and creepy and he wasn't sure if he'd just randomly die and normally that wouldn't have bothered him but Eremia was here and -

After standing up to his full height, head bowed, Taber felt a pair of arms wrap around him. He placed a hand on Eremia's head and smiled.

"The magic could be attributed to me, too," Viper says. "At least, parts of it. We've both got guns and Kratzer's a vampire so these things don't narrow it down to any single individual. I mean, I didn't do it, but I did spontaneously stab someone and then grab a drink so no one said my head was put together all that great."

Silberfuchs stood and glanced around. "There's no marks where he was dragged, so if he was killed elsewhere, and then brought here, whoever did it would have to be strong enough to carry him." He sniffed the air, trying to detect any other presence around the body that could give a hint as to who carried the dead man.

Taber could hear the sniff. He coughed.

"Uh, I lifted the body up, so it might smell a bit like me?" he said. "I could totally smell for stuff too, but I dunno what to look for. I'm not sure what's going on." His voice trailed away at the end.

Raiden rubbed his chin, replaying the events in his head. He had his serious face on, even though his face was drawn on and he was wearing a fluffy pink gown. He turned to Mira.
"You!" he said, pointing accusedly at her, "What were you fumbling with when the lights went out?" he asked rather dramatically