FOURTH INVESTIGATION

[grimgrinningghosts]

[After over a month of all this, all the death is starting to take a toll on this mansion. Maybe with the death that happened just yesterday, you hope that no one else will die this week, but even the most optimistic guests here will realize that's wishful thinking at this point.

Either way, as you leave your bedroom, you will hear strange music echoing through the hallways.

Investigate?]

Comments

[sixfingeredstan]

[Welp. Guess what this nerdy fucker is going to try to do.

He pushes all the pieces over to the side of the room and begins laying them out flat, finding the places where the breaks match.

When it starts to resemble...something, he calls over to Fiddleford.]

Any idea what instrument this is?

[grimgrinningghosts]

[As a side note, even now Ford should be able to tell it'll be impossible to actually completely repair it, as there is a lot of sawdust that seem to have been created by breaking this instrument.]

[sixfingeredstan]

[He can still get a general shape out of it, though, right? He's just laying the pieces flat on the floor.]

[grimgrinningghosts]

[You still can!]

[terribibble]

[Fiddleford just picked up a catgut string off WALL-E, so when he sees an instrument coming together from (or at least outlined by) the broken pieces it doesn't surprise him. His voice is very heavy]

The murder weapon, I think.

[So. It's a string instrument. But what kind? He'll probably be able to tell by looking, particularly if it's a guitar, banjo or violin.]

[grimgrinningghosts]

[It should quickly become apparent that it's a bit larger than any of those instruments.]

[sixfingeredstan]

Could it be a violin, just...larger?

[Ford's a genius, but a musician he is not.]

[terribibble]

[Oh. Oh.

Is it, by chance, a cello? A bass? He's less familiar with those but he knows them, they're pretty distinctive and they'd have that little part on the bottom for balance.]

[grimgrinningghosts]

[It seem to match pretty closely to a cello.]

[terribibble]

'A violin but larger' is about right. I think it's a cello.

... Jesus, someone beat him with a cello with enough force that they broke it to pieces.

[sixfingeredstan]

Hot Belgian waffles.

[He shakes his head.]

Not even just pieces. Sawdust. Whoever did this...had a lot of power behind their swing.

[terribibble]

They... they hit hard enough they dented his motherboard.

I can't fix that.

[And he's not even a little bit torn up about it. No. Goodness no.]

[sixfingeredstan]

[Ford's shoulders fall, and he gives Fiddleford's shoulder a sympathetic squeeze.]

I'm sorry. You did what you could.

[terribibble]

I've got it. I'm keepin' it. I could fix it if I could get the right parts. There's just nothin' in this house to get them out of.

[But there might be eventually. New rooms keep opening up. New things keep getting spat out of the slot machine in the game room. Eventually there's got to be some kind of electronic that he can cannibalize.]

[sixfingeredstan]

We'll keep our eyes peeled. There's got to be something. And like I said—if anyone can fix him, it's you.

[Ford really, really hopes that's the case.]

[sixfingeredstan]

[That sorted, Ford goes back to the handprint and takes a tracing of it using his notebook and pen. Best to have a copy of that for matching purposes, huh?]