James responded, "The MO is different, Basil's face was sewn up to make it look he was killed by a witch whereas Archer's wasn't and if I had poisoned him, Basil wouldn't have died that quickly. This is just theory but maybe there's someone who supports the witches but is not a witch themselves and is killing people in order to help the witches. Also, are we completely sure that both Mickey and Lucine were killed by the witches? Maybe one of them was killed by the same person who killed Basil."

Last edited by Winston Payne on Sat May 30, 2020 7:02 pm, edited 2 times in total.

"Well, there's one way to verify that." Maurice turned around to investigate Mickey and Lucine's bodies.

---

"Their smiles do not appear to have been stitched", Maurice declared shortly afterwards, rampantly double-posting. "I think that clears things up, then."

---

There’s an ominous thudding that echoes through the halls of the manor. Heavy footsteps, slow…purposeful, echoing off the wooden paneling and growing louder. The others look around befuddled by the noise. Everyone was accounted for and visible. All that remained in the house was corpses.

The footsteps grew faster, more frequent, urgent. HUNGRY.

[THEME MUSIC]

A wave of unease broke throughout the group as they looked to one another confused. The footsteps broke into a full-on sprint.

James, dumbfounded and with a look of fear looks to Bertram, who is just as puzzled.

In that moment behind him, the double doors burst open, as the furious, speeding form of Basil, face twisted in rage hurtled towards James fist outstretched.

With a rippling impact, Basil’s haymaker knocked James off his feet and across the floor sending his gaudy sunglasses skidding aside.

Panting with effort Basil straightened up and roared his frustration. His lips bleeding, it seemed clear he had either cut the stitches holding his mouth together or simply torn them apart but either way it was clear Basil was back.

“Little, poisoning…money grubbing…bastard….” He panted “Archer was a good man you know!”

“H-hello everyone…” he said with a struggle as he leaned on the couch to support himself. “I…I’ve got a lot of explaining to do.”

"J-Jesus heckin' Christ! The dead walk again!" Zachary cried, surprised and terrified by the apparently-reanimated form of Basil. "D-Damn right you have some explaining to do! Just what the heck is going on here?"

---

Twilip looks genuinely horrified at what should be her brother's corpse, but as is decks James in the face an honest smile replaces the look of sheer terror. "Before you explain yourself you might wanna give James another hello. If you really are Basil that is."

Maurice had a look of shock on his face once Basil entered but as he destroyed James he calmed down. "My god... Basil, is that really you? Were you alive this whole time?" He looked towards James' body on the ground, giving a rather wide grin. "And where did you get so much strength from?"

---

Basil settled himself down on the couch shaking. "I don't know Maurice...I think my strength is spent now. Barely feel I can walk to be honest." He said breathing heavily.

His eyes settled on Wyn and he tried to get up but the effort was too great for him. His eyes were wet. "Ah Wynnie-poo...I feared I'd never see you again..."

---

James got back up and put his refined sunglasses back on but made sure to distance himself from Basil. "Come on Bas, there's no need for violence. I guess we can now safely say that I didn't kill you. Anyway, I think we'd all like to know what happened. How are you still alive?"

Basil nodded and began to explain.

"On the night of my 'death', I was caught and drugged and I lost consciousness. When I woke up, I was in a kind of half-dead state, somewhere between the living and the dead...I was could have left at any time but..." He looked up at the ceiling, a distant look on his face "...it was so peaceful...and I was so relieved to see my family again..." He remained looking up at the ceiling for a moment before coming back to terms.

"In any case, I decided my time was up and that I should return to the world of the living and...I left." He ended simply.

---

"Zilly!" Wyn exclaims before running towards him and wrapping her arms around him. "Oh darling...We all thought you were dead!" She then pauses briefly, pulling away slightly. "It...it is you, right? This isn't some kind of witchy trick, is it?"

"Basil, you're alive? Thank heavens," Bertram said, though he seemed unable to muster any real positivity. All the recent deaths had left him far too numb. "I don't suppose you learned anything that could help us while on the other side?"

Bertram's words made Zachary realize something.

"Y-Yeah! H-How is-How is everyone doing on the other side? Is . . . Is R-Robin holding up alright at least? Wh-What about the others? Anything you learned that could help us find the witches?"

The high of knowing Basil could talk to the dead wore off quickly though as reality set in, "But, um, where and how did you learn to do that? I'm very curious . . . but I really, really want you to be on our side."

---

While waiting for the answer, Bertram turned to Maurice. "I still don't follow what you were saying earlier. Why did you ask me if anyone had visited me? How does that relate to this 'plan' you were going on about before?"

"Hahaha! Wynnie-poo!" Basil exclaimed hugging his young wife tightly and nuzzling into her until she pulled back "And don't be ridiculous darling! Of course it's me! I was so frightened about leaving you alone here but..." He hesitated thinking about something else. "At least Asher and Violet have each other on the other side." He said patting Wyn's side.

Looking towards the others from his chair, Basil decided to answer Zach first. "Well, they...are doing about as well as you might expect some are coping better than others" He said solemnly "Jackie was mortified seeing both Mickey and Lucine die together. Robin was trying to console her. Robin herself is horrified at the thought that Gloria might have given her the gold as some form of curse." He paused for a moment "Not that I think that's the case Robin. I still think Gloria truly appreciated you and hoped the curse wouldn't extend to you." He said looking up at the ceiling.

He returned his attention to the others "Where was I? Briggs, Vincent and Billy seem just the same as ever." He gave the ceiling a reproachful look "My beloved children seem to think that being dead means they don't need MANNERS anymore which I HOPE they'll improve on." He tutted slightly with a hint of warning.

"And Archer, is...well he seems very much the same wonderful person he always is...even if his actions had some unintended consequences." He sighed.

His mouth was dry from having been sealed for a day "I...can I...is there anything to eat or drink? The afterlife has an infinite supply of tea and biscuits but it doesn't seem like it's sustained this body at all." He rasped

---

Last edited by Pierre on Sat May 30, 2020 10:29 pm, edited 2 times in total.

Basil double posted to break convention and for emphasis.

"Oh and Zach..." He beckoned to his little brother.

"Robin says...she says..." He paused a moment to recall her words "She says, she has all the time in the world but that you deserve a happy life. You bring joy to people wherever you go and that you yourself should take some of that joy as well." He smiled solemnly "And... she'll wait for you. As long as it takes, she'll still be there for you."

---

"...You don't appear to be lying. With all that's happened recently, I suppose there being some form of afterlife isn't so hard to believe," Bertram said, a little colour returning to his cheeks. "I can rest a lot easier knowing those who have died are doing well on the other side. I must admit, even if I tried to soften the blow by telling myself they'd all gone to the Golden Land, I never really believed it."

He instinctively turned to ask Archer to get Basil some refreshments, before remembering what had happened. "...Allister, if you could?" he asked the young boy. Even now he felt he still had do to things 'the done way': it was the servants' duty to serve, just as much as he had his own duties to the family.

"W-Wait, you think Gloria hoped the curse wouldn't spread to Robin? Are you saying you couldn't talk to her yourself? Was . . . Was she not there?" Zachary asked, wanting to know every detail.

After hearing Basil relate Robin's message to Zachary, he looked downcast, and then stared up where Basil had been looking earlier, as if he understood. "I-I'm sorry, dear. It's just . . . so hard to find joy and meaning in life right now when the biggest source of it has been torn away from me so suddenly. Between Mama, and you, and the others, can you understand why I just . . . can't? I'm so, so lonely right now. My heart has been shattered in a way I don't think can ever fully be repaired. There's no way I'll find anyone as good for me as you were. When I've already had the best, nothing else could possibly measure up. Everything just feels . . . hollow anymore." Zachary sighed, a pained expression on his face.

"But now that I know you'll be waiting for me, I guess it makes this a bit easier to bear. Maybe . . . Maybe I'll someday be able to invent something to let me hear your voice again. That would be enough. To make it so when someone's loved-ones die, they don't have to be completely separated." Zachary sighed again. He figured this prospect seemed foolish. "Bringing joy to others . . . Am I still capable of that? Yes, I . . . I think I could be. And that starts with finding a way out of this mess." Zachary made a fist with his right hand and knocked it against his chest over where his heart would be. "I'll do it . . . I'll make this world better, somehow. It's what Mama wanted, it's what you want, and it's what I want." To punctuate his final point, he stood up and blew a kiss toward the ceiling. "I love you, Robin. Until we see each other again."

---

Allister snapped out of the trance he was in.

"Y-Yes, of course." He said, standing up, and dusting himself off.

Figuring Basil would be sick of tea and biscuits, he returned from the kitchen a few moments later carrying a tray with a pitcher of water, a glass, and an assortment of different kinds of cheeses. He carefully sets the tray down on a nearby table, and pours the water from the pitcher into the glass.

"Yeah, you go little brother." He said smiling awkwardly, painfully aware of having felt similarly following Diane's death.

"Still, there's only so much time for sentimentality I'm afraid...here's some other information from the other side." He said clearing his throat. Clearly he would need that water and food soon.



"Let me start with what I learned on the first night."

"Briggs and Violet both claim they visited my room on the first night they died. This they felt made for a very good case as for why I was a witch since they both died and had that in common. Factors that weren't helped since it looked like a vigilante had killed me at the time, and someone planted a book on Witchcraft in my room the same night." Basil sighed wearily "Yes, the case doesn't look good and it's a shame I need to care about that just now. It was so much easier pretending to be dead." He shook his case "As for my own belief on this, I think it's likely that the Witches probably laid a trap on my door. A curse like a landmine that might kill all who come near." He looked at the others cautiously "While I hope not to return to the afterlife soon, I can see why this might make you all suspicious. I'm hoping my honesty here makes it worthwhile in some way." He paused a moment before remembering "Oh and none of them were particularly forthcoming about what they were doing at my door. The fact we are all here means that some of the witches are dead by my estimate so they are likely spying on the afterlife. By my count there must be...at most three witches left among us."

He nodded satisfied before moving onto another point.

"Robin claims she only slept the first night. Billy said he went to visit Briggs."

Basil tapped his chin as he moved onto the second night when he had 'died'

"Asher stayed in...his plans were foiled by his untimely...death." Basil paused solemnly missing his children who he could no longer see.

"As for my plans that night, I determined that Lucine lied about what she did that night. I think she claimed to have done nothing?"

"Later I asked Jackie what she had done at night and she said she had visited James. I know she was telling the truth. She said James had been muttering something under his breath and she was worried about him. Apparently no one else did visit James that night though. The second night she visited you my dear Wynnie. To see you were doing alright." He smiled at Bertram "She's a sweet woman, Jackie. Better than you deserve brother but she's very happy with you."


He paused and thought about the rest of that 'day'.

"Time moves strangely over there but we could see everything that was going on here by circumstance."

Basil frowned in thought before snapping his fingers "Oh! You need to get Vincent's guitar to his daughter Carrie." He told Zach. "He's entrusting you with it. Suppose you both felt a certain kinship over music."

He chuckled slightly in spite of the morbid tone. "Well anyway then Vincent joined us...and then a few others...." He added mirthlessly.

"Vincent insists that a message be passed onto his children since well...Mickey won't be able to do it now. Violet also wanted to posit the possibility that Wynnie and Maurice could be colluding witches to avoid suspicion."

"Archer felt his talents had best remain a mystery to most so... I'll preserve his secrets for now. There's a slim chance the witches can't communicate with the other side in a similar way so I'll let that remain secret for now."

"Sadly I didn't stay longer but...that's all I determined from the other realm." He said exhausted as he reached for a glass of water and some cheese.

"Thank you Allister, your father loves you very much by the way. He'd do anything to protect you." Basil said forcing a smile before drinking his water greedily.

---

Twilip looks a tad bit confused. "You determined that Lucine was lying? Since you don't seem to be hiding anything, might I ask how?"

Basil shook his head while eating ferociously "I need to catch my breath for a moment Lippy." He said between bites.

"I'd appreciate it if you could reveal a little bit more about what was going on last night from your own investigations if that's alright?" He paused to wipe some of the blood from his stitches off using a napkin that Allister had thoughtfully provided with the food.

"You've been so useful to everyone Wynnie-poo! I'm eager to hear what last night's investigation turned up!" He cooed

---

"You're quite welcome, Sir Basil." Allister said, smiling weakly. "A-And thank you for telling me that. I know he would." He tried his best not to cry, but despite that a few tears streamed down his face. He quickly wiped them away with the handkerchief once again.

Twilip looks very uncomfortable when asked about her investigations, but gives a small sigh and begins. "With recent events I suppose I can't hide it much longer... I have been investigating some of you. To put it bluntly I can tell whether any one you have any.. Magic I suppose and through this I have found that that the non-enthusiastic servant boy was most likely not a witch before the first set of murders. Before your first uh... Death? I found that Archer was also unlikely to be a witch and finally I was going to investigate Mickey, but somewhere along the way I blacked out. Then I assume the bodies were found not long after... With that said I hope you'll forgive me, but I'm probably going to investigate you next with the whole back from the dead thing."

Zachary's eyes widened when Basil mentioned Vincent's request.

"Vincent . . . trusts me with the guitar? Certainly, I'll do it. Assuming I live through this, of course . . . " Zach walked over to the case and began to lift it up. "D-Does anyone know a way I could possibly identify Vincent's family? I remember him bringing out some sort of photo, but I don't know what happened to it. Also, Basil, would you mind telling me or writing down for me what Vincent's message for his family was? The written message is preferred if you - or he - rather it stay private."

After he got his answers (hopefully), he began lugging the guitar up to his room. Since it was responsibility now, he vowed to keep it safe. After he dropped off the guitar in his room, he took a detour on the way back to the others and made a stop at the master bedroom to see if he could get in, and to see if he could investigate it for clues, knowing that the dumbwaiter from the kitchen connected there.

---

"If you are basing this off of the idea that the witches will kill us all if they ever outnumber us, you would be mistaken," Bertram said. "Going by the stories, they will likely wait until their plans are complete first." It seems he was trying to say that witches don't win as soon as they reach a majority, instead only winning once the arc ends and they hold a majority. "Unless you have any other evidence to the contrary, anywhere up to all 5 witches could be alive right now... albeit, judging by who's left I doubt there's so many witches among us.

"In any case, Allister, what were you up to while all this was taking place?" he then asked, trying and probably failing to put on a kindly voice. "At this point you're just about the only unknown left."

"Interesting, quite the tale, Basil." Maurice nodded. "Of course, the theory that me and Wyn are in cahoots is a preposterous one, unless you're saying Bertram is also one of them. Still, that is quite a lot of information. At this point we know almost everything about each other, don't we?"

He then turned to Bertram. "You seem confused, brother. If you do not understand, then let me make something clear to you. I visited you earlier. Yet it seems this has not occurred to you? I thought you were supposed to keep track of everybody who visited you. Or did I evade your radar?"

He sighed. "That was my plan from the beginning, you see. I figured given your role, if I visited you continuously and you noticed my presence, I would essentially have an alibi. It's not as though I would be able to harm you either even if I was a witch, given your immunity. That being said, it's strange you haven't noticed me at all."

---

"What?" Bertram exclaimed, a little unnerved. "No, I never noticed you. First it was Zachary and Wyn, then just Zachary, and just previously two others followed me, but neither were you." Somehow this thought creeped him out a little. "Surely you yourself should be aware of whether you're good enough at following people that they don't even notice you?"

"I'm usually a stealthy person, but I was counting on your paranoia for me to be seen... I suppose I can't be that lucky, though." Maurice sighed. "This also opens up the possibility that someone else could have visited you prior to me without you noticing... Quite disturbing, really."

---

“I was cleaning when ‘Sir Asher’ approached me.” Allister began. “I tried to run, but he eventually caught up to me. I was surprised, since I can normally outrun someone, if they’re following me. However if someone were to target me, their ‘action’ would probably be delayed until another time. So if ‘Sir Asher’ was trying to kill me, there’s a good chance I may be dead soon...”

“Then Sir Zachary saved me once ‘Sir Asher’ got a hold of me. And you all know what happened from there...”

Wyn sighs. "Of course she would suspect me of something. But alas, if that were true, James would also have to be a Witch, as well as every other person I would investigate in the future. Plus, there are only so many Witches among us... If I were really pulling a trick like that, it could only work for so long."

"It's possible I suppose, but they wouldn't have achieved anything by visiting me anyway," Bertram pointed out. "Still, I do find it strange that you didn't even know I wouldn't notice you."



"Oh dear. I hope that's not the case... We'll have to all keep an eye out for any more of these... for lack of a better term, 'zombie' attacks.

"In any case, this is my analysis so far:

• Bertram: Immune to witchcraft. Learns who visits him.
• Basil: Can somehow tell if people lie about their actions.
• Wyn: Investigates abilities.
• Maurice: Visits someone. "If something happens to them, something else happens." Has stalker stealth abilities.
• Twilip: Investigates magic.
• Zachary: Tracks two people, to see if one visited the other and how many times they did if so.
• James: Poisons people. Victims die in the third twilight.
• Allister: Can run away from people, delaying their targeted actions.

"All of this seems to be in order, but now it begs the question. If some of us alive now are witches... Who among these people could fulfil that role?"

"Hm...I don't want to make any rash accusations, but..." Wyn puts a hand to her chin. "One thing that worries me is Twilip's ability, as it seems like a good cover for a Witch. After all, a Witch is already familiar with who has magic and who doesn't.."

"You know what else is a good cover, nay, actual role for a witch to have?" Zachary asked, somehow from another room because he's just that good, "Investigator. It's a good cover because the witches would of course tell each other what they can do, so the 'investigator' can confirm it, but it's also a nice helping hand for the witches: slowly discovering what secret abilities we can do against them so they can plan ways around them."

---

"I already said this before, but my cover as an investigator would only work so long, as there are only a handful of Witches that could be among us. Maurice and James have already confirmed my role, unless you want to believe that both of them are also Witches." Wyn shakes her head in disappointment. "How many more people do you want me to investigate before my abilities can be confirmed?"

"I don't like to say this, but a lot of my siblings seem to have quite suspicious talents... Not just the being able to tell who has magical abilities, but being able to tell who's lying about their actions, surviving a brutal attack, tracking other people's abilities... All very useful for witches", Maurice surmised. "And if everyone has doubts about me, I can ask Wyn to reveal the specifics of my talent and showcase how non-beneficial it would be for a witch."



"Ah, I should clarify, normally this is the case", Maurice replied. "Most people I visit don't notice me. I had thought you would be an exception to this given your ability to watch out for others, but it doesn't seem to be the case at all. I wouldn't have been able to tell without this experiment, though. So now we know I am capable of evading even your watchful eye."



"This, I admit, is a possibility. This would not require her to lie about her findings, and could help her frame others as suspicious... such as James and Bertram." Maurice shook his head. "All we have confirmed is she is an investigative party, but she could still be working for the witches for all we know."

---

Basil held up a hand "Please hold up a second this is all getting a little too fast for me."

He patted Wyn's hand "Dear...please I'm sorry if I missed it but what did your investigation last night turn up?"

He also gestured to Bertram "And it is strange that you didn't notice Maurice visit you last night. Would indicate that someone is lying here, please I think we need honesty now brother. Can you tell us who the other two who visited you last night were?"

---

James decided to share his thoughts, "I think Twilip's talent is the most suspicious. It just seems a bit too powerful and convenient. If she was a witch she would already know who is and isn't a witch and would be able to use her 'power' to protect her companions and frame potentially innocent people. Like many other people have said, I think we can trust Wyn because if I was colluding with her, I doubt she would have made up such a potentialy incriminating ability for me."

"Wyn investigated James. It how we outed him as the one who poisoned Archer," Bertram said. "As for Maurice, I see nothing strange about it. I'm immune to witchcraft and can also learn about people who visit me. Maurice can do something or other when he visits people, and can also bypass anyone who might spot him, like me or Zachary."

Basil nodded "Right thanks for catching me up, and the other person who visited you Bertram?"

---