The Three Angels

Welcome. This an extract from the game, "the Three Angels". You play as one of the guests when tragedy strikes! An heirloom of the Mustard household has been stolen, "The Three Angels." Using first-person perspective, you will be tasked with collecting clues around the mansion you are staying in to discover the thief. These clues can be anywhere from documents to something one of the other guests may say. Enjoy [[Chapter 1: Why Was I Invited?]]

How did I get invited? I mean, I remember talking to Lord Mustard on a few occasions but not enough to be invited to a party! Hopefully it will be an enjoyable experience anyway, but he didn't really provide much information in the invitation. I don't even know who the other guests are or even if there will be anyone else! Still, they are providing accommodation over the night, so I don't have to worry about that. They even took care of transport from the train station to their manor which is quite a distance. "That's us sir. I will have your luggage taking to the room you will be staying in." [[Thank the driver and leave. -> The Manor.]] [[Leave the carriage. -> The Manor.]] [[Tip the driver and leave. -> The Manor.]]

As I followed Henry, I could not help but be awed by the decor of the place. If there were any doubts on the wealth of the family, then they have now disappeared. The amount of artwork, weapons and the like that line the walls is incredible. I felt giddy just looking at them. All to soon Henry opened a door, and left in the direction we just came from. I was left stunned at this, so I entered through the door he opened and realised it was a bedroom with my case being placed at the bottom of the bed. While I walked into the room I noticed one of the floor boards was loose. "Well, what should I do now? I have some time before the event starts?" [[Look over the room.]] [[Read a book that you have in your case.]] [[Head to the Dining room early to see if anyone has arrived yet and thought the same as you.]]

I couldn't help but notice the room has been recently cleaned to an absurd standard, with not dust being left. It left me a bit unnerved as I felt like I was intruding. There was a desk by the window that was bare, and a door next to the bed that I believe leads to a bathroom. [[Read a book that you have in your case.]] [[Head to the Dining room early to see if anyone has arrived yet and thought the same as you.]]

I took a book I rather enjoy out of my case to read on the bed called 'The Guide of a Thief." I have read this before but I still find it enjoyable to read. I got lost in the pages, turning them continuously for the next while as I wait to be summoned. "Hello sir, everyone is waiting in the dining room to start the event." "Thank you, Henry. I shall be on my way now." I place my book back in my case and, after ensuring I still look presentable, I make my way to Henry to follow him to the Dining room. Once there it appeared that I was the last to arrive, so I took a free seat next to an elderly gentleman. [[Sit Down.]]

As I walked down the corridors, I could not help but notice the lack of staff for such a grand manor, with the few staff I did see looking stressed and over worked as they rushed about to, presumably, get ready for the event. I noticed one of the maids looking more nervous than stressed with a muttering problem. Considering that I was terribly lost due to, after realisiing after I had left my room for a while, I did not know the layout of the manor, I thought about asking her for directions to the Dining room or instead picking either a left or a right at the next cross section. [[Ask for direction.]] [[Go left.]] [[Go right.]]

"Oh Hello!" She seemed a bit embarrassed as I called on her. I don't think she noticed she was mumbling till I began talking to her, and she continued for a bit, glassy eyed, afterwards. "What can I do to help you sir?" "I was wondering if you could give me directions to the Dining room. I seemed to be a little lost." "Okay sure! I was supposed to be heading that way anyway until I kinda lost focus. Follow me." [[Follow silently.]] [[Ask about the muttering.]]

I continued to take random turns after this in hopes of finding the Dining room until a maid found me and decided to take me herself once discovering my situation. Terribly embarrassed I decided to follow silently. [[Follow silently.]]

I followed her through the corridors silently, and as we reached a door, she turned to me. "Here is the Dining room. Thank you by the way for snapping me out of my day dream there. Enjoy your day!" And she walked off to complete the tasks she had for the day. I looked at the doors, then myself to ensure I looked presentable, then walked in. [[Enter the Dining room.]]

"Oh, well this is a bit embarrassing. I am going over what my new responsibilities are going to be in my next job. This one won't last much longer with how things are going so I'm getting out before it gets worse." This confused me as I believed the place to be a good, stable place to work for, but before I could question her, she turned to me to announce we were at the dining room door and walked off with a cheerful wave at me. I decided to ask if I saw her later and opened the doors. [[Enter the Dining room.]]

I noticed that no one had took the initiative to arrive so early, so I decided to continue waiting here, regretting that I didn't follow my original idea to read a book in my room. Eventually the room began to fill, and I took a seat next to an elderly gentleman. [[Sit Down.]]

I looked around the room as I sat down, noticing the simplicity of the place. I also noticed that the window was slightly ajar. Before any food was given out, the lord of the manor, Mr Mustard, stood up from his seat. "Now that everyone is here, why don't we introduce ourselves. I am Sir Harold Mustard, and this is my wife, Barbra Mustard. Who is next?" I noticed how Mrs Mustard's face turned into a slight scowl at this, but the introductions continued before I could think too much into it. "I am Elizabeth Mustard, and I am 9!" This loud exclamation came in the form of a little girl who was previously sitting next to Mrs Mustard before standing up dramatically, who instantly turned to scold her. "Not so loud Elizabeth. You do not need to shout, now sit back down before I send you to your room without any dinner." After Elizabeth began to pout and sit down again, an awkward silence followed. Before a young man stood up to introduce himself. [[Listen to the rest of the introductions.]]

Dinner was an interesting event with Richard continuously asking me on my knowledge on different engineered projects and if I knew of any in the making. As we talked, however, I could not help but notice that the only two people who didn't converse with each other was Mr and Mrs Mustard. While odd the married couple didn't talk, Richard kept me distracted enough I didn't think too deeply into the subject. Eventually dinner was finished, and we continued to talk with drinks in hand with Elizabeth having water when Smith pointed out something on the mantel piece. "Oh, isn't that statue gorgeous, Mrs Mustard!" I looked over to see what she was talking about and I could not help but agree. It was a statue of three angels, each showing a different emotion. The tallest had her arms spread and a joyful expression on her face, while the next looked angry as if something had insulted it. The last was hunched down with her hands covering her face, giving the impression she was a weeping angle. "Why yes, it's a family heirloom that has been passed down for generations. I don't understand the importance of it, but a family heirloom is as it is." After that, throughout the evening, before I left the room to turn in for the night, I would glance at the statue of the three angels. [[Wake up in the morning.]]

I woke up in the morning feeling refreshed as last night was a busy night for me. I looked over to find, to my surprise, Henry at the door looking far from amused. "Hello sir, please follow me to the Dining room for breakfast." I expected him to leave me and stand outside the room but nope. Keeping the door open and everything he stood there with a steel-like glare and so I moved to collect my clothing for the day from my case, then moved to the bathroom to freshen up. Afterwards I followed him to the room and entered. [[Open the Dining room doors]]

"DID YOU TAKE IT!" And I walked straight into Mrs Mustard with a finger pointing at me as if ready to poke my eye out and go through to my brain to kill me. I was shocked as she stared me down and couldn't help but stutter as I said my next sentence. "D-d-did what?" "HE'S GUILTY! LOOK AT HIM, HE'S NERVOUS! LOCK HIM UP!" I was terribly confused, and no one decided to elaborate as Mr Mustard tried to calm her down. "He's nervous because he just walked in to have you accuse him without saying anything first. No calm down woman!" "CALM DOWN. CALM DOWN. THERE IS A THIEF IN THIS HOUSE AND I WILL FIND THEIR PATHETIC LIFE THROGH THE MUD!" I turned to the other guests, feeling completely lost in what was happening. I must have looked lost as Greg decided to inform me, at least in a very vague way. "Look at the mantle, my boy." [[Look over at the mantle.]]

The Statue wasn't there. It took me a while to signify my confusion at the matter as there is a clear circle of dust surrounding where the statue was meant to be. At least now I understand Mrs Mustard's hysteria. Then Richard stood forward. "Good thing I'm here then. No one leaves this room just yet and that includes you Henry." "As you wish, sir." "Now, is there any chance the maids would steal the Statue?" "No sir, they leave the manor around 9 and normally arrive about midday. It's the reason I was the only one who served you the previous night." I found this to be off, as there should be some form of late night staff. Okay, that's good. The list of suspects has been shortened to the people in this room. Anyone want to confess now?" The room was silent, but that was to be expected as no one wanted to be the culprit. "Okay now. First things first, so there is no excuse later we shall check the rooms. Together. This ensures no one can hide anything." Well this escalated quickly. However, there was one problem with this plan as Elizabeth pointed out. "Aren't there two places we need to go then? Because mine and mummy and daddy's rooms are at the other side of the manor than the guest bedrooms." "Elizabeth, myself and your mother own the statue. Why would we steal it?" [[Continue to listen to Richard.]]

"I'll go with the detective as well." And off we went following Mr Mustard as he showed us the way. We decided to enter Elizabeth's room first and were met with quite the surprise of an extravagant collection of soft toys. Bears, rabbits, dogs and cats were lining shelves on the walls as we looked over the place. Richard went to check one of the shelves when Mr Mustard exclaimed. "Don't touch the animals please. Elizabeth always knows when we try to clean the room and her temper tantrums are not something I would wish to happen right now." "Mr Mustard, we are here to search the room. We must not cut corners for your daughter." He started immediately to go through the shelves as I began searching the wardrobes and Mr Mustard began looking over the bed. In the end we found nothing, so we moved on to Mr and Mrs Mustards room. We started a search, with Mr Mustard demanding to search the desk as it held his documents. As we searched the room I noticed him moving a certain item out of view. [[Mention this.]] [[Ignore it.]]

"I'll go with the girls to look at the guest bedrooms." Me and the three others decide to check out my room first as, form what I found out, my room was the closest to the dining room. Elizabeth's response was to turn up her face at the idea, but Mrs Mustard didn't let her escape. We entered and gave my room a thorough search. Not even my underwear was safe. I kind of stood back saying, "It's my room and I don't want to be accused of hiding evidence." It was a reasonable suggestion and as we continued, Smith found my book. "Who would have a book like this?" "It is an interesting piece that I did my research paper on in my criminology course. It's a good read I would recommend." She did not look convinced but decided to return my book to its place in my case. Nothing was found in my room, so we continued through the rest. Greg as next to my own. Nothing was found in his as well. Next was Smith's room. "Lets go inside." [[Smith's room.]]

To Be Continued.

Smith's room was similar once again to my own and Greg's. We began our search, with me at another side of the room as I was not allowed to see her undergarments. As I looked I noticed that, like my room, there was a loose floor board. [[Check the floor board.]] [[Leave it alone.]]

I pried it up and looked under it, finding a pendant. "WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!" In my surprise I nearly dropped the pendant, catching it just before it reached the ground. "Give me that this instance." I turned to Smith, who was the one who shouted in the first place, and handed it over, but not before Mrs Mustard got glimpse of it. "Where did you get that locket?" And here we go again. "What do you mean, where did I get this locket?" "I have the exact same one, in my jewellery box! Did you steal the statue like you stole the locket?!" "NO. This locket is mine. It used to belong to my grandmother!" "Don't bother lying to me! I know what you are now. I'm not surprised my Hornswoggle of a husband invited a wagtail to this!" Well that escalated quickly. I decided to stop it before it escalated further. "Why don't we go to the master bedroom and make sure that this is your own locket shall we?" The two women glared at each other and turned away. We followed Mrs Mustard to her room and when we entered it was complete chaos. [[Enter the room.]]

I decided that it would not be too important to miss this. So, I decided to leave as it was. We continued our search and found nothing else in the room. "Okay, all that's left is the Detectives room." We enter his room and get to work. Unlike the last three we did find something in his case. "Lockpicks." While it makes sense for a detective to have lockpicks, why would he take them with him to this event. There is no need for him to have them in the manor yet here they are. "Is it just me or is that not just a bit suspicious?" I had to agree, but decided to return to the Dining room since we had searched all the rooms. [[Return to the Dining room.]]

"This is an insurance letter claiming that if the statue is stolen then you receive a substantial sum of money. It is an important piece of information!" "That is a private document that you have no grounds in reading1 This is a violation of my privacy!" Obviously, Mrs Mustard had had enough as she waltz through them towards her jewellery box and began to look through it. This put a stop as the other boys in the room looked startled as Mrs Mustard steam rolled past them. Elizabeth could not help but giggle at this. "I cannot see it. Proof that she is the thief!" "Oh, be quiet. I did not steal your locket! YOU, go look." "There is no need for him to go through my jewellery box!" "Yes, there is." She pointed straight at me and I could not help but feel a little trapped between a lion and a cliff. I looked between the two won=man as they shifted form glaring at me and then each other. "What are you waiting for? Do it!" [[Search the jewellery box.]] [[Leave the jewellery box alone.]]

"I'll look through the box just to make sure." I move over to the box and begin to look through it, even with Mrs Mustard breathing down my back when I notice a little compartment in the side, hidden by a large pearl neckless. I move it to look inside when Mrs Mustard obviously thought I should stop. "Get away from there NOW!" "Oh why? Let me see!" Smith sprung up like a viper, seeing the compartment and opening it without a care in the world and finding immediately, a locket similar to her own. "Proof!" As she gloated a bit, I began to wonder why Mrs Mustard decided to hide the locket. It made no sense as there was no doubt she didn't know about that compartment as she stopped me before opening it. "Let's head back to the Dining room and discuss what we found shall me. I'm interested in hearing what has happened." As we listened to Greg, I wondered what scheme we had inadvertently stopped. [[Return to the Dining room.]]

"I think Mrs Mustard would have been thorough in her search." Mrs Mustard looked pleased at this, as well as smug as she continued to glare at Smith. Smith, however, looked as if she wanted nothing more than to kill me. "Spineless Coward." "I suggest we move this to the Dining room? we can discuss our findings there." Ah Richard my saviour. We left the bedroom to the Dining room, ready to say what we found in our search. [[Return to the Dining room.]]

"Oh, this is nothing." Was his response, trying to play it off. Yet Richard did not accept this and took the document before He could place it out of site. It turned out to be an insurance letter, more specifically for the statue detailing that if the object is stolen, then they insurance company shall pay a substantial fee to the names on the document, Mr and Mrs Mustard. "This is more than important. This give you a motive to fake the theft!" "Absurd! That is ludicrous allegation." "And yet a possible one." I stayed quiet on this, as Richard and Mr Mustard argued over the document. I noticed that there was something off about the document, but I could not tell what it was. It was on the tip of my tongue. The argument lasted a while, so I decided to stop the argument before it escalated further. "We should head back now. The other may be waiting in the Dining room." They agreed, although both stiff and unlikely to be more than civil with each other, so the walk back was silent and awkward, and I could not help but liken them to children. [[Return to the Dining room.]]

We continued to search the room, more so me and richard, trying to find anything. Richard eventually found something. "Now this is interesting." It was an appraisal for the statue in Mr Mustards name. "Yes, well Barbra asked for it and I didn't think twice to be honest." "Why would she need an appraisal?" "She obviously plans on selling it." But didn't she say it was a family hierloom? She would not part with that likey even if she didn't understand why anyone would want it. Unless Mr Mustard was lying but I should wait and ask her with the others. "Let's head back to the Dining room." [[Return to the Dining room.]]

As I left the carriage, I could not help but marvel at the manor. It was a luxurious place, and from what my research in the library told me has been in the Mustard family for around 13 generations! I had seen the butler standing at the door, waiting for me to come closer. "Hello sir, my name is Henry and I am the current head butler of this manor. The festivities will be held in the Dining room later this evening. Now please, follow me." A no-nonsense butler it would seem. I'll try not to get on his bad side then. Don't want someone to spit in my food. [[Follow Henry]]

"I am Detective Richard Kuuntswaddles of the Scotland Yard. A pleasure to meet you all." Formal and short, yet informative. Interesting. The next to speak was a young woman next to the detective. "And I am Selena Smith, but you can call me Smith." And that one was just cold. On the other side of the table, next to myself was an older man who stood up. "Hello everyone, my name is Greg Chessworth. As the young gentleman said before, it is a pleasure to meet you all. All that's left now to introduce themselves now is you, young gentleman." He turned to me at this point and I was a bit shocked at being put in the spotlight so abruptly, I began to stutter a bit before Mr Mustard put me out of my misery. "Ah this here boy has an amazing mind! He is currently an academic at Edinburgh University with degrees in Criminology and one other if I remember right?" As I caught my breath back from my embarrassment, I informed them that the other was in engineering as I had an interest in the subject. Richard immediately grew exited and dragged me into a talk on steam engines and how I felt about them. Feeling more at ease I conversed back, with the other guests tuning out as we rambled on till dinner arrived in the form of Henry. "Here is the dinner ladies and gentlemen." [[Eat dinner.]]

Richard stepped in here with a reason and a suggestion. "We must check all the bedrooms and, thanks to Miss Elizabeth, I know we should split up. I shall go to the master bedrooms myself with Mr Mustard." "Well I shall go to the guest bedrooms with Elizabeth and Henry!" "I am sorry mistress, but I must attend to other things in the manor." "Okay Henry, off you go." The divide between Mr and Mrs Mustard is becoming more apparent as she didn't hesitate to go to the other side of the manor. This left me and Greg to decide where ew would go. "You pick lad. I'll go with the other group to help even out the groups. The little girl isn't going to be much help in the search." [[Master Bedrooms.]] [[Guest Bedrooms.]]