Crackling of a CAMPFIRE, DISTANT SCREAMING and SCREAMING of DANGEROUS FOREST CREATURES. Our strange narrator speaks:
NARRATOR
Welcome, good and bad guys! Are you looking for a new story to give you goosebumps? Well, it’s your lucky day…or not.
(sinister laugh)
Gather your courage, because I am going to tell you…
LIGHTNING and THUNDERSTORM!
NARRATOR
…a murder…in Castle Nathria.
THEATRICAL ORGAN Crescendo.
NARRATOR
Ah, Nathria Castle. A place riddled with danger, where eyes stare mercilessly at you in the dark. Where even the most powerful can do nothing against the relentless wheels of fate. And where it is generally inadvisable to decline any invitation given by a gargoyle.
DISQUIYING MUSIC rises.
INTERIOR: large room. WE HEAR the sound of a party: conversations, clink of glasses clinking, music.
NARRATOR
When his guests were assembled in the great hall, Lord Denathrius, the master of Revendreth, held up a golden goblet, filled with red, vaporous anima. He seemed far from suspecting that he had invited his worst enemies!
DING DING, clanking of a fork on metal. The guests are silent.
DENATHIUS
Welcome to my humble home! I know you can’t wait to get to know each other better over a sumptuous feast, or innocent parlor games without ulterior motives. Besides, I’m curious, too… What did you hope to find by responding to this invitation? Wealth ? Knowledge ? The prestige of being seen my company? Maybe you’ve heard of some unfounded rumors that I’m selfishly hoarding anima! Admittedly, it is a heady substance, intoxicating… delicious… and which confers a power beyond…
DENATHRIUS coughs when he realizes he almost proved the rumors right.
DENATHIUS
In short, as I said, I hope to offer you an evening that you will not soon forget. I still have to finish some preparations for the festivities. Please visit the premises while waiting to be called for dinner.
Denathrius’ footsteps fade away.
A door slams.
NARRATOR
Despite the confusion caused by the departure of their host, the guests followed the advice of the master of the place, and left to their own devices, they spent a short time wandering around the castle and its estate…
When suddenly…
SNAP of a falling cup. Sound of the anima evaporating, as if carried away by the breeze.
Scream of the MANAGER.
REGIS
Help ! Sir Denathrius has been murdered!
Dramatic music!
INTERIOR: dining room
NARRATOR
Yes, Lord Denathrius was lying on the dining room floor. The mighty lord was gone. The ten guests, now all suspects, crowded around the stage.
Footsteps and hoofs, doors slamming, gasps of surprise.
NARRATOR
But who could have done such a thing?
The artificer Xy’mox, a mysterious trader?
XY’MOX
But he was such a good customer…
NARRATOR
The Ethereal with the aptly titled Prince of Evil Rafaam?
RAFAAM
My very dear friend Sir Donatrio! Nooo!
NARRATOR
Draka, the orc baroness?
DRAGON
(sarcastic laugh) Obviously you were very close to him, Rafaam.
NARRATOR
Or two Maldraxxus guests?
The decimator Olgra, another Orc who came on a personal mission…
OLGRA
It’s impossible ! I needed him for… something.
NARRATOR
Or maybe Naga Baroness Vashj,
who, like Draka, once belonged to the House of Eyes?
LADY VASHJ
(in a sarcastic tone) Who could have wanted him dead?
NARRATOR
Denathrius’ power-hungry ally, the lich Kel’Thuzad, ?
KEL’THOUSAND
I am very shocked… and disappointed. How could you be so careless, Denathrius? ALL our evil plans are ruined!
RAFAAM
(whisper in a sympathetic tone)
Attention, you said it out loud, that.
NARRATOR
What if the killer was one of the two visitors to Ardenweald? The Sylvar Aral’on? The Tirnenn Sesselie?
ARA’LON
What a tragedy.
ARMCHAIR
(running his hand through the leaves of his hair)
I doubt that the news saddens really our queen…
NARRATOR
Surely it couldn’t be Pelagos, the affable Kyrian guest?
PELAGOS
This kind of event is always tragic, but Denathrius wasn’t an altar boy either… was he?
NARRATOR
It was definitely not Regis, the loyal steward. Unless… ?
REGIS
(weeps softly) Wow, wow… Poor Lord Denathrius… Wow…
NARRATOR
The guests stared at each other suspiciously:
the culprit must have been among them.
The accusations were already flying when a lightning tore the sky!
BRAOUMMM !
NARRATOR
Thunder rumbled!
BRRRRRRRR !
NARRATOR
And the doors suddenly opened!
Crash of doors slammed open.
NARRATOR
In the entrance stood a figure. Small, but fearsome,
he gave hope to the innocent and made the criminals tremble. He was the famous detective…
MURLOC HOLMES
MRMGGGGGRRRLLLL !
NARRATOR
Murloc Holmes himself!
He was accompanied by his friend and colleague, Doctor Watsaileron.
DR WATSAILERON
NARRATOR
Everyone was breathless!
Exaggerated and almost simultaneous exclamations of surprise.
NARRATOR
Like the great detective that he was, Holmes immediately took matters into his own hands. The suspects were ordered not to leave the scene while he inspected the body.
Holmes emits “mrrrgggllll”, as if he were speaking the words reported by the narrator.
NARRATOR
Holmes was surprised to find no evidence indicating the cause of death. He asked the master’s servants to move the body, then drew a chalk outline on the floor. He had to find out who had committed the crime so he could understand comment. Where were the suspects at the time of the murder?
ARA’LON
At the kennels.
ARMCHAIR
In the maze.
LADY VASHJ
In bogs.
DRAGON
In the cemetery of the stelae of vice.
NARRATOR
Serious things were beginning! Holmes resolved to investigate outside the castle first. First stop: the kennels.
EXTERIOR: KENNELS. Terrifying noises of the gargons (stone creatures) in the kennels.
ARA’LON
Altimor the Huntsman wasn’t there, so he won’t be able to prove what I’m saying.
But boys do.
Horrible threatening noises turn into equally horrible, yet affectionate noises.
ARA’LON
(warmly) Hi, my big ones. Draka, you allow me to also scratch at your chien ?
DEATHFANG’s three heads growl.
DRAGON
No. (to the Murloc) And now, Mr. Holmes, where are we going?
NARRATOR
So many suspects, so many places to examine… What clues would the famous detective discover while investigating this murder? Perhaps Draka was hoping to distract him from a crucial element. It was time to study his alibi… and to go to the cemetery of the stelae of vice.