Chapter Text
Pomni sat on the colorful couch as she saw the approaching circus members coming closer and closer into view.
“Good morning, Pomni,” Ragatha waved before continuing, “I guess that’s why you weren’t in your room”.
“Morning. Yea I got up a while ago,” Pomni responded. The rest of the colorful cast of characters joined her on the couch. Kinger was absent, presumably still in his fort. Gangle was showing Zooble her drawings. Jax was behind the rest of the group and he ignored everyone else to stride over to the edge of the couch to take a peak at Gangle’s drawings.
“Wow those are really good,” he said with his expression not changing. Pomni couldn’t tell if this was a genuine complement or if he was being sarcastic.
“[BOINK] off, Jax.” Zooble snapped while trying to block the rabbit's view of the paper.
“What? I’m literally giving her a compliment!” he said smile widening. Whether or not he actually liked her art, he got some satisfaction at making Zooble pissed off.
Pomni remembered the few drawings she had seen and added,”Gangle, you are really talented. Anyone with half a brain would agree.”
“See? I have at least half a brain,” Jax smirked while staring at Zooble. Pomni shifted in her seat slightly. She didn’t want to sound like she was defending him but he seemed to be referencing something else.
Ragatha opened her mouth to say something but suddenly and startlingly, Caine jumped out from nowhere with Bubble at his side.
“HELLO MY GLOWING GUMDROPS! BOY DO I HAVE THE ADVENTURE FOR YOU TODAY!!” Caine excitedly stated while twirling his cane and shimmying left to right in a little jig. Why does he have a cane if he floats? But before she could give that too much thought, Caine stopped twirling his cane and snapped them all over to the stage.
“TODAY'S ADVENTURE IS… A WHODUNIT MYSTERY! ON A DARK AND STORMY AUTUMN NIGHT, YOU AND A GROUP OF MYSTERIOUS TRAVELERS FIND YOURSELVES TRAPPED TOGETHER IN A SPOOKY MYSTERY MANSION!”
“Really, another haunted mansion?” Pomni caught herself saying. She did NOT enjoy the last one. As nice as the one on one time with Kinger was, she did literally go to hell and back.
“NOT HAUNTED, MY DEAR! INSTEAD OF GHOSTS, IT’S FULL OF MYSTERY! ONE PERSON IS ASSIGNED TO KILL EVERYONE ELSE AND EVERYONE ELSE MUST FIND OUT WHO IT IS!”
“Still kinda… Dark?” Ragatha said. She seemed unsure of this adventure. Ragatha never was up to the more violent adventures. Especially if she’d have to be the one to kill. Hopefully Caine wouldn’t do that to her.
Zooble and Gangle nodded in agreement at Ragatha pointing out the dark nature of this adventure. Jax did not share this and instead had a wide grin at the idea of possible violence, chaos and havoc.
“I for one am intrigued" He smirked.
“What? Was killing us the first time around not enough for you?” Zooble responded
“Not when you all made it soo easy. Were you even trying?” Jax smiled at Zooble, Gangle and Ragatha but they didn’t give him whatever reaction he was looking for. He shrugged and returned focus to Caine, clearly eager to play along with his murder mystery.
“ALRIGHT, HERE ARE YOUR ROLES AND GOOOOOOOOOOOOOD LUCK” Caine interrupted, pushing them towards a navy-grey portal and out of the circus.
Walking through the portal with the group, there wasn’t a whole ton Pomni could see directly in front of her, with the taller members of the circus obstructing her view. There was indeed a steady stream of rain falling upon them. The water splashed hitting the stone path they walked along. Tall spooky pines and trees missing leaves huddled together making the distant forest look like a pitch black void. A flash appeared in the sky, briefly illuminating the whole area with a booming clap that followed soon after.
“Oh that's really close, we better hurry up!” Ragatha said, voice shaking ever so slightly as it seems she forgot about Caine’s description including stormy. “The house is just up ahead” She said before quickening her pace forward.
As they approached the house, it did look awfully similar to Mildenhall Manor. Caine does like to reuse assets, maybe it’s a remodeled version. Between the similarity to the Manor, the rain pouring down her hat and dripping onto her back and the general unease of what's about to take place, a shiver escaped from her. Ragatha ushered everyone in while holding the door, with Pomni entering last.
“Alright! We made it.” Ragatha said triumphantly, she seemed a bit more determined now that she was inside. She wrung out her patchwork dress and Pomni began to take in the surroundings. They were in a warm yet dim lit foyer, everyone's outfits drenched from the rainy walk, there was a long carpet leading further into the house, the walls were wooden and elegant. Several paintings and portraits lined the walls, depicting several mannequins in varying different colors and accessories.
“Wait, so when do we get our roles?” Jax impatiently asked, "Let's get this show on the road!”
Just then a piece of paper materialized into the hands of the cast members. Pomni unfolded her paper to see the words, GUEST: SURVIVE THE NIGHT AND FIND THE KILLER! She sighed, she didn’t necessarily want to be the killer but that means now she has to figure out who it is. Feeling a presence over her shoulder she turned around sharply to find a lanky tall purple rabbit standing over her shoulder.
“JAX!” she said, startled and moved away from him slightly while Jax stayed still and grinned.
“What? Your paper doesn’t even have anything on it!” He said. Pomni noticed he hadn't even unfolded his own. “I was hoping you’d get it, that might have been interesting”.
“Why don't you look at your own paper before trying to see mine. And it doesn’t have nothing on it, it probably just looks like that so the killer isn’t revealed at the very beginning.” She pointed out. Jax seemed to agree with her to some degree and started unfolding his paper while grinning wide at the possibility of the chaos he could cause. However that grin didn’t last long after a second of the paper being completely unfolded.
“UGH!” Jax exclaimed in dismay while reading his paper. Clearly he wanted to be the killer. Of course it could just be an act. Pomni scanned the other circus members to see their reactions to their roles. Zooble, Gangle and Kinger all didn’t have any notable reaction but Ragatha shifted uncomfortably upon reading her slip of paper.
“Uh I’m not so sure about this,” She started before realizing everyone else was casting a suspicious glance her way. “I just mean-uh- I know most of us are gonna end up killed and I don’t want to be killed”. That checks out because she didn’t like the more violent adventures, especially if they were forced to turn on each other. However, everyone, including Pomni, still gazed in general distrust at her. Well, you can’t really trust anyone in this adventure.
“So if we’re all guests, who is the host?” Kinger said, taking eyes off Ragatha. A valid question.
Just on cue, two wooden mannequins strolled down the corridor towards the group. Neither of them were the standard blank mannequin, one was made of a darker wood with a string of pearls around their wooden neck. The other was a lighter wood with a spotted tie.
“Good evening and welcome to my home! I’m so pleased you were able to make it despite the dreary weather. My name is Terri and this is my husband.“ The pearled mannequin started saying, the tie mannequin nodding in agreement. “The rest of the guests are in the drawing room, you may accompany them while dinner is being prepared. It shouldn’t take too long”
Pomni watched as Ragatha took their invite and followed them to whatever a drawing room is. “So Mrs. Terri…” Ragatha began. It finally clicked. Mrs. Terri. Ms-Terri. Mystery… A bit on the nose, but the names aren’t exactly why the adventure is supposed to be exciting. She did wish for a bit more creativity from Caine but before she could start thinking up other names, they reached the drawing room. It was a closed off room with a few couches and tables. Stationed around the room were a red mannequin with a cowboy hat, the princess from the candy kingdom who was sitting on one of the many couches and… Gummigoo. Of course he was here. Caine does like to reuse assets, but it sucked that he is going to get killed before her very eyes… again.
The host and host's husband, who Pomni didn’t know if he was named or she missed his name, left the room to let the guests mingle. Ragatha went to talk to the princess, Gangle and Zooble took a spot on an empty couch, Kinger stared at the lavish paintings that lined the wall, Jax came up to talk to Pomni.
“Soo, who do you think it is?” he asked
“No one has died yet,” she pointed out. She had her suspicions but she couldn’t point to anyone specifically yet. “It could be any of us,” she gestured out into the room.
“Yeah, it could even be you. Don’t think I’m not keeping an eye on you, pompom,” He said smirking.
“Well you’re on my radar too, you could be lying,” she poked back at him. Everyone is on her radar technically.
“Yeah, yeah. But who knows! You’ll never know until it's too late.” He shifted slightly, if she had to guess because he was in fact still unhappy at having to be a guest. Pomni possibly suspected him the least. “Well who do you think is gonna get it first? I’d put money on ribbons.”
“I wouldn’t be so sure. I think Zooble might kill someone if they tried to get Gangle,” Pomni said. She didn’t appreciate putting Gangle down and assuming that the only way she wouldn’t get killed was if Zooble protected her but it did ring somewhat true. “Besides, I think the reason there are even NPCs here in the first place is so that Caine doesn’t immediately have to kill one of us,” she added.
“Or to make it take longer,” Jax pointed out, “Or maybe we all are guests and the killer is one of the NPCs. That would be a twist”.
Pomni shook her head at the idea of the secret killer being an NPC. Seems a bit…Pointless? But Caine does like having control of his adventures so maybe. “Well… It’s possible? I guess. Seems unlikely to me,” she finally said. Jax shrugged and wandered off to bother someone else.
Pomni walked around the room, glancing at each painting. They are much more elegant than the creepy paintings that line the circus walls. There was a display set up with paintings of the two host mannequins in different situations, family portraits and some graceful artifacts that Pomni could guess are from some travel they did. (They don’t travel; they are NPCs.) World building. Pomni moved some objects out of the way and noticed something. A small vile with a label declaring the continents poisonous. (I guess this is what the killer is supposed to use to take someone out.) She quickly tucked the vile back behind the mementos, not wanting anyone to get the wrong idea about her intentions. She made a small mental note to not drink or eat anything here. Shouldn’t be too hard.
She wandered over to Ragatha and the princess, remembering her name is loo something but that's about it. After some general small talk, the host mannequins came back and brought everyone to a formal dining room. They passed through various other classy rooms before finally reaching the room with a long wooden table and fancy cloth placemats. Pomni sat herself between Ragatha and Jax. The table was set with far too much cutlery for dinner. (Who needs that many forks for one meal?) Another mannequin in a maid outfit brought out drinks and food moments later.
“I was wondering where that dress went after the softball adventure” Zooble laughed, causing Gangle to look and smile in response. Pomni realized that this maid outfit was strikingly similar to the one she voted against putting Jax in, except missing the heart cutout. Jax groaned at the sight of this familiar dress.
“I hope you're the first one to go” Jax said to the couple, which made the princess and Ragatha cast a fearful glance. Pomni was pretty sure this was an empty threat… Pretty sure. The maid poured them all a cup of tea with dinner. Caine seemed to think that ‘fancy dinner’ included tea but Pomni wouldn’t know if that wasn’t the case. Then the food came out. Everyone was enjoying the digital feast except for her and Kinger, who didn’t seem to know there was food in front of him.
No one seemed to be dropping dead from the food so she considered trying it for a moment. The lights started flickering a little, which put Pomni on edge. It seems the storminess outside was more than just atmosphere.
“Oh don’t you worry about that!” The pearled host of the house said while waving her wooden hand. “It’s an old house and the power doesn’t thrive in the stormy wind.” The second host nodding along with her point but not adding anything. (Did Caine even give this guy a voice?)
The lights flickered more, each flicker off lasting a touch longer than the last. The two hosts didn’t acknowledge it and continued eating. The lights went out. No longer than just five seconds. Gangle squeaked and the lights came back on and Pomni could see that Zooble had grabbed her ribbon hand. Pomni smiled slightly at the sight but the two looked shocked. That's when Pomni looked to see where they were looking and saw the tie mannequin face down in a plate of food. He was dead.
“Guess it's starting,” she muttered to herself, while Mrs. Terri jumped up and shrieked, causing all the guests who hadn’t already been made aware of the situation to become perfectly aware that someone here is a murderer.