Let’s Play Classic Clue #1 (Solved by PrinceAlarming)

[Jonathan Green]

Looks as though 'Reverend' Green is trying to distract us from the truth by throwing wild accusations at Mrs. White, just like he did when he accused Col Mustard. Although I'm starting to doubt that his dark secrets involved murder (this time at least). Three of us have all pointed the finger at him without enough evidence to prove our case. Mrs. Peacock confirmed spotting him near the Ballroom, and we know that scenario was a dead end. Figuratively, not literally. Is this some nervous tick I've suddenly developed? Making puns when I'm unsettled by a ghastly murder... I'm starting to annoy myself with this, it's immature and childish.

Now let's see... there's something about the Lounge that has everyone traipsing in and out of it. I'd better head over there and see if I can find any vital Clues to this case. Maybe something that the others have overlooked.

Miss Scarlet seems awfully quiet all of a sudden after trying to get Green thrown in the slammer. Her cheeks are starting to resemble her name out of sheer embarrassment. She's gripping that Wrench like it's her only lifeline to retain some dignity; probably convinced that it's the murder weapon.

But perhaps Mr Boddy was struck by something else. Green was wrong about Col Mustard having the Candlestick in here. So what else could have been used to do the dirty deed? I'd better have a look around.

Hello, what's this? Footprints! It looks like there's bits of ashes that were tracked into the room and clung to the carpets. These footprints aren't exactly that big, I'd wager they're probably smaller than ones I would leave behind. Miss Scarlet and Mrs Peacock both seem to have very dainty feet hiked up in those ridiculously impractical high heeled shoes they love to tip toe around in so much. Maybe that's why these tracks are so small. I don't recall seeing Mrs. White wearing shoes like that. Both Mustard and Green tend to stomp around all over the place with their big feet; especially Mustard in those clunky boots which may be necessary in his military excursions, but are almost as unnecessary as high heels at social gatherings.

Obviously one would get ashes clinging to the bottoms of their shoes by stepping into the fireplace. A ridiculous sentiment in most places, but not here Tudor Hall. At least not here in the Lounge. The others may not be aware of the secrets this house itself holds, but I am. Behind this fireplace is a Secret Passage that leads to the Conservatory. There are too many people in here for me to slip through into the Secret Passage unnoticed, so I'll have to go the conventional way to get to the Conservatory.

If the murderer had discovered the Secret Passage, they could have hid inside and waited until Mr. Boddy was alone in the Lounge before emerging to attack. Then they'd slip back through the fireplace and reemerge from the Conservatory on the opposite end of the house as far away as possible. Wait, didn't Mr Green mention being near the Ballroom and Conservatory at the time? But my gut tells me that he's not the culprit. I won't completely eliminate him from my suspicions, but I'll keep that in mind. Mrs Peacock clearly mentioned seeing him over there... WAIT... PEACOCK! If she saw Green by the Ballroom, then she was likely by the Conservatory herself! And she was next on my list of suspicious characters. The pieces are all starting to fall into place.
I'd better hurry along to the Conservatory!

Let's see, no footprints in here. That makes sense since there's no carpets and the ashes would have likely been tracked through the Secret Passage before making it all the way in here. And yet, here we have a mess of potted plants knocked over onto the floor right by the entrance to the Secret Passage. The murderer might have bolted out of the Secret Passage in a hurry and accidentally knocked them down. Mr. Boddy was found by the cellar stairs, which are not far from the Lounge. The murderer might have dragged him out there in an attempt to avoid having people search through the Lounge and discovering the Secret Passage. It likely took longer than they had expected to move Mr. Boddy, so by the time they returned to the Secret Passage they were sprinting all the way into the Conservatory, upon which they carelessly bumped into this plants, sending them crashing to the floor.

Unless, it's a panicked attempt to hide evidence under the exposed roots, broken shards of pottery, and spilled potting soil. Let's just sift through this mess real quick... just like unearthing ancient artifacts back in Egypt... and what do we have here? Buried treasure, or rather a buried Lead Pipe!

Oh Mrs. Peacock, you are getting sloppy, my dear...



Peacock, Lead Pipe, Lounge

NO ONE can disprove.

Seriously dude, I wish I had the writing skills as you.

Cue Reverend Green

[PrinceAlarming]

NO ONE can disprove.

Seriously dude, I wish I had the writing skills as you.

Cue Reverend Green

This is so much fun!!!

[Sir Shamrock]

"Blessed are the inquisitors, for they shall be answered. Where were you at the time of the murder Mrs. Peacock?"

Rev. Green suggests Mrs. Peacock, in the Lounge, with the Revolver.

[Jonathan Green]

"Blessed are the inquisitors, for they shall be answered. Where were you at the time of the murder Mrs. Peacock?"

Rev. Green suggests Mrs. Peacock, in the Lounge, with the Revolver.

NO ONE can disprove...

Cue Professor Plum

[PrinceAlarming]

"No need to answer that, Mrs. Peacock. For unless you're about to confess, anything you say is going to be a lie."

"How dare you! Trying to incriminate me, you cheeky *******!" Mrs. Peacock spat.

"I must say, you've become quite sloppy. You may have benefited from the deaths of your husbands and managed to cover your tracks to avoid suspicion, but you certainly didn't cover your tracks this time. And I mean that quite literally of course..."

Mrs. Peacock's face flushed bright red with anger, but before she had a chance to snap back at Prof Plum once more, Mrs. White cut in:

"You mean the ashes that were scattered all over the carpet in the Lounge?" the maid asked.

"I do indeed."

"I warn you, Prof Plum," Mrs. Peacock fumed, "if you dare..."

"You keep quiet!" Mrs. White snapped. "I've had my suspicions about you all along. You killed my little Johnny, didn't you?"

The red in Mrs. Peacock's face quickly drained until it was almost pale white, completely taken about by Mrs. White's outburst. She couldn't even remember the last time someone has spoken to her like that. And certainly never from a servant!

There was a terribly awkward silence. No one had ever heard Mrs. White speak like that to anyone before.

"Go on, Professor," Mrs. White finally said, with tears streaming down her face.

"Yes... thank you. I've deduced that Mr. Boddy was in fact murdered in the Lounge. From what I've gathered, Miss Scarlet was with Mr. Boddy in the Lounge, prattling on about some nonsense of the performing arts in need of financial backing..."

Miss Scarlet gruffly cleared her throat at this statement, giving Prof Plum a death glare.

"...which I suppose is not important. What is important however, was her discovery of the Wrench at some point in the evening, which she had set down on the mantle of the fireplace in the Lounge at some point. Unbeknownst to her (I'm assuming), Mrs. Peacock was eves dropping on the two them. In her hands, Mrs. Peacock held the Lead Pipe, with devilish intention. Staying as quiet as possible to remain undetected, Mrs. Peacock waited until Miss Scarlet had left the room..."

"If I had been eves dropping," Mrs. Peacock interrupted, "Josie would have spotted me on her way out of the Lounge."
Mrs. White stared her down, as if ready to slap her across the face.
But Mrs. Peacock, in the midst of taking a few steps away from Mrs. White as a precaution, dared to finish her rebuttal. "There's only one door to that room."

"This is true. There is only one door to the Lounge. But there are two ways in and out of the room (not counting windows of course). For you see, behind the fireplace is a Secret Passage!" Pause for dramatic effect...

No reaction.

In fact, the other five all looked guilty of having known about the Secret Passage this whole time, without openly admitting it.

"...a Secret Passage that connects the Lounge to the Conservatory. Mrs. Peacock was hiding in the Secret Passage, Lead Pipe in hand, ready to strike once Miss Scarlet left the room."

"And where is this Lead Pipe?" Col Mustard inquired.

"I left it where I found it, underneath a mess of toppled plants on the floor of the Conservatory."

"Please let it have been the orchids," Mrs. White muttered under her breath. "They're such a nuisance."

"And you didn't think it necessary to bring it here?" Col Mustard asked.

"Not in the slightest."

"You didn't think it necessary to produce the murder weapon?" Col Mustard continued.

"How could I, when someone has already done that for us?" gesturing to the Wrench in Miss Scarlet's hands.

"You mean... Miss Scarlet killed Johnny?" Mrs. White gasped.

"What?" Miss Scarlet cried. "No! Professor! You can't be serious..."

"Josie, you've been caught red handed holding the murder weapon!" Mrs. Peacock accused.

"Mother!" Miss Scarlet shrieked. "How could you say that?"

"If everyone would stop interrupting me, then I could continue to explain what actually happened."

"Well it seems clear to me..." Mrs. Peacock started.

"Hush!" Mrs. White snapped at her.

Mrs. Peacock looked around the room, and begrudgingly held her tongue when it was clear by the looks on everyone's faces that they didn't want to hear another word out of her.

"As I was saying. Mrs. Peacock was hiding in the Secret Passage, Lead Pipe in hand, waiting for her opportunity to get Mr. Boddy alone."

"I've yet to see proof that this Secret Passage you keep referring to even exists..." Mrs. Peacock began.

SLAP

Mrs. Peacock collapsed into an armchair with complete shock. Her left cheek was bright red with the hand print of Mrs. White.

"You murdered my Johnny," Mrs. White sobbed. "Stop playing games and just confess!"

Mrs. Peacock remained silent. She looked to her daughter, but Miss Scarlet had no sympathy for her mother who had just accused her of the murder by twisting around Prof Plum's words.

"Get on with it, Professor," Col Mustard insisted.

"Yes," Miss Scarlet agreed, glaring at her mother. "Do go on."

"With the Wrench having been placed on the mantle of the fireplace, Mrs. Peacock likely assumed that other's had seen Miss Scarlet with the Wrench earlier on. If she were to use the Wrench to do the dirty deed, then others who had seen Miss Scarlet with the Wrench and possibly leaving Lounge would assume that Miss Scarlet was the culprit. Once Miss Scarlet had departed and Mr. Boddy was left alone in the Lounge, Mrs. Peacock crept through the Secret Passage in the fireplace, picked up the Wrench from the mantle, and... well you know the rest."

"On the contrary, Professor," Col Mustard confessed. "Mr. Boddy was found at the foot of the cellar stairs. Not in the Lounge."

"Ah, yes. Mr. Boddy would have likely been found in the Lounge so as to incriminate Miss Scarlet. But I can think of two possible reasons on why he was moved. First being the footprints made up of ashes from the fireplace that have gotten into the carpet. Leaving Mr. Boddy in the Lounge would bring attention to the footprints leading to and from the fireplace, where the Secret Passage would inevitably be tied to the murder, thus possibly exonerating Miss Scarlet. Anyone seeing Mrs. Peacock leave the Conservatory, such as Mr... or I suppose it's reverend... Reverend Green who saw her leave the Conservatory from the Ballroom could have easily pieced it all together from there."

"And the other possible reason?" Miss Scarlet inquired, unable to hold back her tears of fury.

"Not wanting to incriminate you after all, leaving us with a mystery on our hands with no clear solution. The easiest way to hide the body would be to drag him out into the hallway, open up the door to the cellar, and toss him down the stairs before ducking back into the Lounge..."

"Which must have happened mere moments before I came out of Dining Room to investigate the noise that I heard," Col Mustard added.

"...disappearing back through the Secret Passage into the Conservatory."

"Well?" Miss Scarlet said, looking down at her mother in the armchair.

"Well what?" Mrs. Peacock asked, utterly drained and defeated.

"Was it to cover your tracks," Miss Scarlet elaborated, "or to deflect suspicion from me?"

"You're just angry with me that I thought the Professor had caught you," Mrs. Peacock began. "I didn't want to believe it, and I was fully prepared to get you a good lawyer to protect our family..."

"You can't even answer the question!" Miss Scarlet cried.

"What about the Lead Pipe?" Col Mustard asked Prof Plum, trying to tune out the mother and daughter squabble.

"I believe Mrs. Peacock had it with her the whole time until she ran back into the Conservatory. She might have dropped it when she accidentally bumped into the potted plants. Or perhaps she purposely buried it there so that she wouldn't be seen with another potential weapon."

"So that's it, then?" Mrs. White asked.

"More or less. When Col Mustard alerted all of us that he had found Mr. Boddy down in the cellar, she used that distraction as an opportunity rinse the blood off of Wrench in the Kitchen before stashing it under the sink. It was Mrs. Peacock, with the Wrench, in the Lounge."

Accusation

[PrinceAlarming]

Not the best bit of writing I've done, but I wanted to make my accusation before heading off to bed, with tomorrow being Thanksgiving and all.

[Jonathan Green]

"No need to answer that, Mrs. Peacock. For unless you're about to confess, anything you say is going to be a lie."

"How dare you! Trying to incriminate me, you cheeky *******!" Mrs. Peacock spat.

"I must say, you've become quite sloppy. You may have benefited from the deaths of your husbands and managed to cover your tracks to avoid suspicion, but you certainly didn't cover your tracks this time. And I mean that quite literally of course..."

Mrs. Peacock's face flushed bright red with anger, but before she had a chance to snap back at Prof Plum once more, Mrs. White cut in:

"You mean the ashes that were scattered all over the carpet in the Lounge?" the maid asked.

"I do indeed."

"I warn you, Prof Plum," Mrs. Peacock fumed, "if you dare..."

"You keep quiet!" Mrs. White snapped. "I've had my suspicions about you all along. You killed my little Johnny, didn't you?"

The red in Mrs. Peacock's face quickly drained until it was almost pale white, completely taken about by Mrs. White's outburst. She couldn't even remember the last time someone has spoken to her like that. And certainly never from a servant!

There was a terribly awkward silence. No one had ever heard Mrs. White speak like that to anyone before.

"Go on, Professor," Mrs. White finally said, with tears streaming down her face.

"Yes... thank you. I've deduced that Mr. Boddy was in fact murdered in the Lounge. From what I've gathered, Miss Scarlet was with Mr. Boddy in the Lounge, prattling on about some nonsense of the performing arts in need of financial backing..."

Miss Scarlet gruffly cleared her throat at this statement, giving Prof Plum a death glare.

"...which I suppose is not important. What is important however, was her discovery of the Wrench at some point in the evening, which she had set down on the mantle of the fireplace in the Lounge at some point. Unbeknownst to her (I'm assuming), Mrs. Peacock was eves dropping on the two them. In her hands, Mrs. Peacock held the Lead Pipe, with devilish intention. Staying as quiet as possible to remain undetected, Mrs. Peacock waited until Miss Scarlet had left the room..."

"If I had been eves dropping," Mrs. Peacock interrupted, "Josie would have spotted me on her way out of the Lounge."
Mrs. White stared her down, as if ready to slap her across the face.
But Mrs. Peacock, in the midst of taking a few steps away from Mrs. White as a precaution, dared to finish her rebuttal. "There's only one door to that room."

"This is true. There is only one door to the Lounge. But there are two ways in and out of the room (not counting windows of course). For you see, behind the fireplace is a Secret Passage!" Pause for dramatic effect...

No reaction.

In fact, the other five all looked guilty of having known about the Secret Passage this whole time, without openly admitting it.

"...a Secret Passage that connects the Lounge to the Conservatory. Mrs. Peacock was hiding in the Secret Passage, Lead Pipe in hand, ready to strike once Miss Scarlet left the room."

"And where is this Lead Pipe?" Col Mustard inquired.

"I left it where I found it, underneath a mess of toppled plants on the floor of the Conservatory."

"Please let it have been the orchids," Mrs. White muttered under her breath. "They're such a nuisance."

"And you didn't think it necessary to bring it here?" Col Mustard asked.

"Not in the slightest."

"You didn't think it necessary to produce the murder weapon?" Col Mustard continued.

"How could I, when someone has already done that for us?" gesturing to the Wrench in Miss Scarlet's hands.

"You mean... Miss Scarlet killed Johnny?" Mrs. White gasped.

"What?" Miss Scarlet cried. "No! Professor! You can't be serious..."

"Josie, you've been caught red handed holding the murder weapon!" Mrs. Peacock accused.

"Mother!" Miss Scarlet shrieked. "How could you say that?"

"If everyone would stop interrupting me, then I could continue to explain what actually happened."

"Well it seems clear to me..." Mrs. Peacock started.

"Hush!" Mrs. White snapped at her.

Mrs. Peacock looked around the room, and begrudgingly held her tongue when it was clear by the looks on everyone's faces that they didn't want to hear another word out of her.

"As I was saying. Mrs. Peacock was hiding in the Secret Passage, Lead Pipe in hand, waiting for her opportunity to get Mr. Boddy alone."

"I've yet to see proof that this Secret Passage you keep referring to even exists..." Mrs. Peacock began.

SLAP

Mrs. Peacock collapsed into an armchair with complete shock. Her left cheek was bright red with the hand print of Mrs. White.

"You murdered my Johnny," Mrs. White sobbed. "Stop playing games and just confess!"

Mrs. Peacock remained silent. She looked to her daughter, but Miss Scarlet had no sympathy for her mother who had just accused her of the murder by twisting around Prof Plum's words.

"Get on with it, Professor," Col Mustard insisted.

"Yes," Miss Scarlet agreed, glaring at her mother. "Do go on."

"With the Wrench having been placed on the mantle of the fireplace, Mrs. Peacock likely assumed that other's had seen Miss Scarlet with the Wrench earlier on. If she were to use the Wrench to do the dirty deed, then others who had seen Miss Scarlet with the Wrench and possibly leaving Lounge would assume that Miss Scarlet was the culprit. Once Miss Scarlet had departed and Mr. Boddy was left alone in the Lounge, Mrs. Peacock crept through the Secret Passage in the fireplace, picked up the Wrench from the mantle, and... well you know the rest."

"On the contrary, Professor," Col Mustard confessed. "Mr. Boddy was found at the foot of the cellar stairs. Not in the Lounge."

"Ah, yes. Mr. Boddy would have likely been found in the Lounge so as to incriminate Miss Scarlet. But I can think of two possible reasons on why he was moved. First being the footprints made up of ashes from the fireplace that have gotten into the carpet. Leaving Mr. Boddy in the Lounge would bring attention to the footprints leading to and from the fireplace, where the Secret Passage would inevitably be tied to the murder, thus possibly exonerating Miss Scarlet. Anyone seeing Mrs. Peacock leave the Conservatory, such as Mr... or I suppose it's reverend... Reverend Green who saw her leave the Conservatory from the Ballroom could have easily pieced it all together from there."

"And the other possible reason?" Miss Scarlet inquired, unable to hold back her tears of fury.

"Not wanting to incriminate you after all, leaving us with a mystery on our hands with no clear solution. The easiest way to hide the body would be to drag him out into the hallway, open up the door to the cellar, and toss him down the stairs before ducking back into the Lounge..."

"Which must have happened mere moments before I came out of Dining Room to investigate the noise that I heard," Col Mustard added.

"...disappearing back through the Secret Passage into the Conservatory."

"Well?" Miss Scarlet said, looking down at her mother in the armchair.

"Well what?" Mrs. Peacock asked, utterly drained and defeated.

"Was it to cover your tracks," Miss Scarlet elaborated, "or to deflect suspicion from me?"

"You're just angry with me that I thought the Professor had caught you," Mrs. Peacock began. "I didn't want to believe it, and I was fully prepared to get you a good lawyer to protect our family..."

"You can't even answer the question!" Miss Scarlet cried.

"What about the Lead Pipe?" Col Mustard asked Prof Plum, trying to tune out the mother and daughter squabble.

"I believe Mrs. Peacock had it with her the whole time until she ran back into the Conservatory. She might have dropped it when she accidentally bumped into the potted plants. Or perhaps she purposely buried it there so that she wouldn't be seen with another potential weapon."

"So that's it, then?" Mrs. White asked.

"More or less. When Col Mustard alerted all of us that he had found Mr. Boddy down in the cellar, she used that distraction as an opportunity rinse the blood off of Wrench in the Kitchen before stashing it under the sink. It was Mrs. Peacock, with the Wrench, in the Lounge."

Accusation

Your accusation is...
CORRECT!!!



Congratulations PrinceAlarming for solving the murder of Mr. John Boddy.
I’ll post the details of the crime soon.

Thank you everyone for playing!

[BBP]

In case you wondered why I confessed so soon - with my first turn I knew weapon and murder location. I'm used to being able to accuse after you had a turn where nobody shows cards, but Jonathan doesn't allow this in this game. Plus I had no weapon I could use to ask instead of the wrench. After Wavey's cards were split, I had 3 suspects meaning I was a max 3 turns away from a definite answer with proof - but without being able to conceal my knowledge for very long the odds of losing were suddenly 2/3. So on my last turn I decided to go all-in - with a 33% chance of winning. Not the best tactic, no, but the only one in which I had fate in my own hands.

In retrospect getting 2/3 correct on my first turn with nobody showing may have been very bad - it took the puzzle element out of the game very swiftly.

In future I'd like to suggest the possibility of guessing after your turn in case nobody gets to show or when asked in advance by the player (in PM to the game master) since it's a bit of a Clue SNS move to run with your opponent's solution.

[Jonathan Green]

In case you wondered why I confessed so soon - with my first turn I knew weapon and murder location. I'm used to being able to accuse after you had a turn where nobody shows cards, but Jonathan doesn't allow this in this game. Plus I had no weapon I could use to ask instead of the wrench. After Wavey's cards were split, I had 3 suspects meaning I was a max 3 turns away from a definite answer with proof - but without being able to conceal my knowledge for very long the odds of losing were suddenly 2/3. So on my last turn I decided to go all-in - with a 33% chance of winning. Not the best tactic, no, but the only one in which I had fate in my own hands.

In retrospect getting 2/3 correct on my first turn with nobody showing may have been very bad - it took the puzzle element out of the game very swiftly.

In future I'd like to suggest the possibility of guessing after your turn in case nobody gets to show or when asked in advance by the player (in PM to the game master) since it's a bit of a Clue SNS move to run with your opponent's solution.

Note Taken

[PrinceAlarming]

I had the solution after my second turn. It's true that in the board game an accusation can be made after a suggestion, but I didn't mind waiting until my next turn to make an accusation. It was very nail biting for me to see if someone had pieced it together before my turn came around again, which was kind of fun.

I guessed Rev Green, Wrench, and Ballroom on my first turn, already suspecting that Scarlet, Wrench, Lounge was close to the solution with no one disproving it. Both Rev Green and Ballroom were cards that I had, so with no cards shown to me this confirmed the Wrench, and (I'm assuming) made 2 cards in my hand look highly suspicious.

Scarlet had guessed Scarlet, Wrench, and Lounge; and then accused Green, Wrench and Lounge. This told me that Lounge was also part of the solution since no one disproved her suggestion and her accusation only had the suspect changed, meaning she had her own card.

With two thirds of the solution deduced, it was only a matter of figuring out the murderer. I wasn't 100% sure about the Lounge, so I kept it as part of my second suggestion just to make sure. I swapped the Wrench with the Lead Pipe (another card in my hand) in my suggestion so as not to make the murder weapon too obvious. Scarlet and Green I had eliminated; Scarlet had a card for Mustard, Candlestick, Lounge; and no one disproved White, Rope, Lounge. So on the off chance that Scarlet had Mustard's card (for Green's suggestion), and Green had White's card (using a card in his hand in his suggestion), that left Peacock and Plum. Mustard and White weren't eliminated, but there was reason to doubt they were part of the solution (even if my suspicions on who had their cards is wrong). Well I hate suspecting myself in every game of Clue I play, so that left none other than Peacock to suggest. To my surprise, no one could disprove it. I had my answer. I had Green, Ballroom and Leap Pipe in my hand; no one disproved Wrench, Lounge, or Peacock.