Murder Riddle (Solved)

[Segaco]

I initially made this for another forum, but I think it'd be a good fit here too.
This riddle is based on a certain character's game in umineko no naku koro ni. It is not necessary to have played either that game or know anything about umineko to solve this, so you don't have to worry about that. I'm just saying this to give some context.

Mhm, let's put that aside for now and start the game:

Rules

- All characters state things in

Purple Declaration

. All things said in Purple Declaration can be considered to be the truth with the exception of the fact that culprits may lie.
- Characters who are not culprits speak the truth and only the truth (**in purple**).
- There may be multiple culprits.
- A culprit is defined as someone who kills.
- A culprit may lie before murdering.
- A culprit cannot die, but they can fake death.
- All statements made in narration are true.
- Accomplices do not exist unless they murder, in which case they become culprits.
- There are only 5 master keys, one tethered to each servant. These keys can lock and unlock all doors except for the study's.
- Once a servant’s body is discovered and is believed to be dead, their key is immediately destroyed.
- A key cannot be removed from a servant. In other words, the servant is essentially the key.
- Only one key exists for every room.
- A room cannot be unlocked from the outside without a key but it can be unlocked from the inside.
- A room can be locked from the inside without the need of a key.
- There is no detective, there is no need for one.
- The keys to all of the rooms are initially in the servants' room.
- Anyone may be the culprit, even Jezz, who is just a little kid.
- If not mentioned, the causes of death are irrelevant.

People in this story:

1.William White (Male)
2. Yarn Watch (Female)
3. Ryax Corney (Male)
4. Tech Netorius (Male)
5. Fen Netorius (Female)
6. Jezz Netorius (Female)
7. Thorus Idiotus (Male)
8. Takumi Hijri (Male)
9. Nate Turner (Male)
10. Orange Duckling (Male)
11. John Watson (Male)
12. Alex Lettuce – Doctor/Physician (Male)
13. Flaming - Head servant (Male)
14. Sarah - Servant (Female)
15. Fracie - Servant (Female)
16. Luka - Servant (Male)
17. Zeus - Servant (Male)
18. Xerxes Lefan - Mansion Owner (Male)

Maps

First floor:

Spoiler:

Second floor:

Spoiler:

Third floor:

Spoiler:

Basement:

Spoiler:

Story

For meetup reasons, Xerxes Lefan invited his childhood friends William White, Yarn Watch, Ryax Corney, Tech Netorius, Fen Netorius (and their 10 year old daughter Jezz Netorius), Thorus Idiotus, Takumi Hijri, Nate Turner, Orange Duckling, and John Watson to his private island. Xerxes' private doctor, Alex Lettuce, was also invited to check on Xerxes' health.
What no one knew was that a typhoon would soon arrive to the island, making them unable to contact the outside world…

When the guests arrived on the island via boat at 8:00 PM, the servants Luka and Flaming were there to greet them. The guests were guided through a path in a forest, and after some time, they reached a ladder which was against a tree. The servants told the 10 guests that Xerxes had decided to build a mansion on top of a tree.
They all shrugged this off and went up to the entrance, where they met the servants Sarah, Fracie, and Zeus, waiting for them.
The guests were guided again, but this time, to the dining hall. In there was Alex Lettuce, Xerxes' private doctor.
After sitting down on chairs around the big table in the center, everyone was given the keys to their own rooms.
…
Everyone talked in there for two hours until it was 10:00 PM, and most went to their room. Xerxes, Watson, Nate, Fracie, Thorus, and Takumi decided to stay there to talk some more.
…
The following day, at 6:00 AM, the ones outside the dining hall alive gathered in the dining hall after hearing a scream coming from the room, which had its main doors wide open. Not only that, the typhoon had started at some point in the night and it was now raining heavily.
In the dining hall, sitting on chairs and laying against the table were… the bloody bodies of Xerxes, Watson, Nate, Fracie, Thorus, and Takumi.

Sarah

: "

I-I woke up and w-went with Flaming to the dining hall to check if the six were still chatting...

"

Flaming

: "Indeed… Sarah and I always wake up at around the same time, so we met in the hallway.

When we tried to enter the dining room, we found the door locked, so I unlocked it with my master key...

And found the bodies. Sarah screamed and almost passed out because of the blood…"

Zeus

: "I'm sorry everyone, but

I dozed off in the servant's room last night… I woke up when I heard the scream.

However, I can assure you all that I'd have woken up at night if someone had tried to enter."

William

: "I see.

I searched the dining hall, and can confirm there was no one hiding in the room.

"

Tech

: "Right after finding the bodies,

I went to confirm the deaths of Nate and Takumi… and they were indeed, dead…

I thought that, maybe, one of them would have survived…"

Ryax

: "While keeping Jezz away from the scene,

I confirmed the death of Xerxes and Fracie along with Fen.

"

Alex

: "

Luka and I confirmed the deaths of Thorus and Watson.

I've been told they were both very good friends."

Luka

: "After mourning for the dead people,

Yarn went to the windows and told us they were all locked.

"

Yarn

: "Having checked that, I can say that

it's impossible for someone to have left through the window.

They would slip and fall to their death because of the rain…"

Jezz

: "Oh, we're talking about locked things! I can contribute!

I just tried to enter the kitchen to get some snacks but the door was locked!

- Ouch!"

Fen

: "You little… What did I tell you about going places without permission?! Anyway, something weird about all of this is that

I found the key to the dining hall and kitchen on the table.

"

Flaming

: "

I also saw those keys on the table when the door was opened…

"

Orange

: "I cannot imagine who would do something like this…"

Yarn

: "Yeah… We cannot let the culprit get away!"

With Yarn's words, William went over to Fracie's body and took out her master key. The group decided to destroy it, this way, no one would not be able to use it.
…
Having witnessed such a horrible scene, the group moved to the servants' room for a moment so Flaming could call the police: the room has the only phone which can call the outside world. However… the phone did not work. The typhoon seemed to have been messing with the signal.
Now not being able to call the police and fearing a nineteenth person was on the island killing them, they decided to go back to lock up the dining hall for the police to investigate when they arrived, and search the whole mansion for this mysterious person…
To search for this unexistent individual, the group of twelve decided to split up to search each floor, and after some choosing which was completely random, this is how things ended:
-William, Alex, Tech and Orange were to search the third floor.
-Luka, Yarn, Fen and Jezz were chosen to search the second floor.
-Ryax and Zeus had to investigate the first floor.
-Flaming and Sarah were left with the basement.

With the groups chosen, the groups went on their way to search for a nineteenth person.
However, half an hour later… a scream was heard coming from the first floor. It was Zeus'.
The group in the second and third floor descended to the first floor, and found Ryax and Zeus in front of the basement's door.

The group entered, and found something which they were not quite expecting.

Alex

: "T-They are dead…

Sarah and Flaming died instantly.

The stab wound in their hearts… All the blood on the floor… There's no doubt about it."

Zeus

: "H-How d-did this happen?!

The door was locked, so I unlocked it with my master key!!

And inside the room were the corpses of those two, so I screamed…"

Ryax

: "Everyone! State your alibies!

I searched the Parlor, Nate's room, Takumi's room, and the servants' room with Zeus before heading to the basement.

I lost sight of him for like a minute on my way to the servants' room, but I don't think that's all you need to kill someone…"

Tech

: "I was in the third floor, and since we were four, we split up…

I went with Alex to the study, which was unlocked.

We didn't find the culprit, but we found quite a few secrets in the room, so we stayed there to look for more."

Orange

: "William and I decided to split up since there weren't many rooms in the third floor…

I searched the bathroom and Thorus' room.

"

William

: "Indeed, we split up.

I first quickly searched Thorus' room, and then searched every inch of Orange's room but I couldn't find anyone hiding nor anything suspicious inside either room.

"

Jezz

: "Our group split up too!

Mom and I searched Fracie's, Sarah's, and Zeus' rooms alone

because she said she didn't trust Yarn and Luka!- Ouch!"

Fen

: "I told you to not say that! Anyway, after a quick search of this room,

I found the basement key next to the bodies.

"

Ryax

: "

I saw the key too when the door was opened.

"

Yarn

: "

I searched Watson's and Ryax's rooms with Luka. There was no one hiding in there.

"

Luka

: "Yes, but after we were done with those two rooms,

Yarn said she didn't feel like searching her own room with me, so I did it alone…

"

The group discussed their alibies for a bit, but they soon stopped when they thought the alibies didn't point to who did it. The now 10 people moved to the boiler room and searched thoroughly, but they quickly concluded there was no one hiding in the room, not even inside the incinerator.
Having finished, they went back to the basement and destroyed Flaming's and Sarah's master keys.

The group exited the basement, and when they were in the hallway, Alex and Tech took out six winchesters. The two claimed to have gotten them from Xerxes' study, and took them so they could defend themselves. Although skeptical, the group accepted them. However, they quickly realized that they can only shoot one time with each gun before running out of ammo! Ignoring this and being grateful for having something they could defend themselves with, the 10 thought of what to do next.

Eventually, they decided that gathering in the parlor until the typhoon stopped would be the best course of action to take. So they headed and stayed there until 1:00 PM, when William announced he wanted to go to the bathroom. He was given one of the winchesters, and Alex decided to go with him just in case.
However, before leaving, William had something to say:

William

: "Listen,

if somebody shoots a winchester, they'll be left with gunpowder in their hands.

"

And after that, the two left the parlor, leaving eight in the room.

Several minutes later, a loud sound was heard. Alarmed and scared, the group ran out of the parlor and tried to find the room from which the sound originated.
They eventually reached Alex's room, which had the door locked. Luka took out his master key and put it in the keyhole, opening the door afterwards.
Inside, they found that the room was a mess, with the closet on the floor, clothes all around the room, and the bed turned around.
But those things did not matter to the group at all, they were focused on a certain someone in the center of the room…

Ryax

: "William! N-No…

He's dead… and because of the winchester next to him, he was clearly shot…

"

Orange

: "The culprit may have escaped through the window! Let me check… Damnit!

The window is locked!

"

Tech

: "

…I found the key to William's room next to his body.

"

Luka

: "Yes.

It was there when I opened the door.

"

Zeus

: "

There's no gunpowder in William's hands…

"

As they were about to continue discussing, they then remember… Alex! Where did he go?!
Following their gut, the group headed to William's room. They stopped at the door. There, Zeus put his master key in the keyhole and soon opened it.
Inside, was doctor Alex. He was dead.

Ryax

: "N-Not again!

Alex is dead! And judging by the knife next to him, he was stabbed to death…

"

Jezz

: "Everyone!

The windows are locked

, too!- Ouch!"

Fen

: "Leave this to the adults! By the way,

I found this key labeled Alex's room next to the body.

"

Zeus

: "

I also saw the key laying there when I opened the door.

"

Yarn

: "While you were all talking about keys and stuff I searched the room… Sadly,

there's no one hiding here.

"

Luka

: "

There's no gunpowder in the doctor's hands… Actually, there's no gunpowder in the hands of anyone in this room!

"

The group decided to not touch the crime scenes anymore and locked the two rooms with the master keys so no one would mess with them.
Having lost another two, suspicion began to arise. What if there was no extra person in the island? What if someone actually slipped out to kill? What if… one of the people around me did this…?
These thoughts started to fill some people's heads… and acted upon them.
Fen grabbed Tech and Jezz by the hand, said she was leaving, and really left. To the luck of the group, she had taken two of the winchesters, so only three were left…
Yarn was the next one to leave. She took Ryax by the hand and ran away.
That only left three people in the hallway: Orange, Zeus, and Luka.
Orange looked at the two, announced he was gonna hide in his room, and left, taking one of the winchesters with him.
The two servants remaining awkwardly looked at each other and decided to go to the parlor with the two last winchesters for the time being. Though, that didn't change the fact that they didn't trust each other…

When people less expect it, bad things happen.
A loud sound was heard coming from somewhere, startling everyone. Some people were now regretting having left the others alone, so they all left their respective rooms to gather in the hallway of the first floor to see if everything was okay.
…Except for Orange. He wasn't there.
Worried something may have happened to him, the group of 7 headed to his room. Inside the unlocked room, the group saw the corpse of Orange.

Zeus

: "

…Orange is dead

, no doubt about it."

Ryax

: "Why... to die like this…

That winchester next to him must have been used to kill him…

"

Tech

: "Indeed,

it doesn't have any ammo on it.

"

Yarn

: "I just searched the room.

There's no one hiding here.

"

Jezz

: "Everyone! Listen here!

The window's locked!

- Ouch!"

Fen

: "I told you to leave this to the adults! Everyone, we must find the killer, but I'm not it!

I was with my husband and daughter the whole time!

"

Yarn

: "I stuck with Ryax like glue.

Neither of us left the room we were in.

"

Luka

: "

Zeus and I did not leave the parlor

, either."

Tech

: "Let me check something, everyone show me your hands… Great,

none of you have gunpowder in your hands.

"

They decided not to touch anything else so the police could investigate when they arrived, so when they were out, they locked the door with a master key so no one could enter.
The group of 7, now worried for their safety, split up once again in the same groups as before. It was at this point that the crimes began to accelerate.

6 PM, a male scream was heard. Zeus, Luka, Fen, Jezz, Ryax, and Yarn once again gathered in the first floor hallway, and noted that Tech was missing.
Searching through the mansion, they found some blood in front of the bathroom's door in the third floor. The door was locked, so Luka unlocked it with his master key and inside the small cramped bathroom, was…

Jezz

: "Dad… No…

Dad's dead…

"

Fen

: "Dear! No!! I'm sorry for not trusting you and

kicking you out of my room!!

Why!?!?"

Ryax

: "

…The winchester next to him has no ammo.

"

Luka

: "Looking at his wounds, I can see

he was stabbed in the chest four times.

"

Zeus

: "I believe we must state our alibies once again.

I stayed with Luka in the servants' room the whole time.

"

Luka

: "Indeed.

Tech entered at one point to get the key to the bathroom, which was next to the body when I opened the door.

"

Yarn

: "

I stayed with Ryax in my room until we heard the scream.

"

Fen

: "*cry* I…

I was with my daughter and husband in my room…

but I kicked out my husband because I didn't trust him… I left him unarmed… *sob*"

Zeus

: "

There's no gunpowder in his hands…

"

Yarn

: "Huh? What's that in his fingers?"

Jezz

: "B-B…

Blood

?"

Ryax

: "Mhm,

I also see some bit of skin in his nails.

"

Fen

: "This means

he must have fought with his killer!

"

Ryax

: "Tech… I swear I'll avenge you."

The group mourned for Tech's death and recalled they were 18 when they got to the island. The six of them got a strange feeling of loneliness when they realized what their numbers had been reduced to…
Putting their hope on a nineteenth person existign on the island, the group of six decided to trust each other again, and gathered in the Parlor…
There, Fen announced what she was going to do.

Fen

: "I'm done with this. The nineteenth person should have just a knife. Give me one of the four winchesters left, I'll end this once and for all. You don't bring a knife into a gun fight. Dear… I'll make the culprit pay."

No one stopped her. Actually, Jezz tried to stop her mother, but she just ignored her and went outside.

Luka

: "Aah! I'm done too! I cannot let anyone else die! No more deaths!!"

Luka took one of the winchesters, leaving two, and left the room, slamming closed the door behind him.

Zeus

: "This… This is the first time he acts like this. He's your average small, shy and silent boy…"

Soon enough, two loud sounds were heard. The ones in the parlor eagerly waited for the two to enter through the door… But that never happened.
After 10 minutes, Zeus and Ryax took the last two winchesters and bursted out the room. The other two left the room with them and looked around, but were not able to find anyone in the first floor.
They ran upstairs, but there was nothing in the second floor at first glance, so they moved to the third floor.
There, in front of the study, on the floor… they found lots of blood, but their eyes focused on the bloody bodies of Luka and Fen.
The group quickly searched Luka's corpse and destroyed his master key.

Jezz

: "…"

Zeus

: "They are both holding their guns, and are pointing them at each other… It's almost as if they had shot each other…."

Ryax

: "...Maybe they thought they were the culprit…? No, that's unlikely."

Jezz

: "

…Mom… shot… dead…

"

Ryax

: "

Luka must have died from that slit neck

, too."

Yarn

: "By the looks of things,

whoever fought with one of these two got shot.

"

Zeus

: "Yeah, and

none of us has been wounded by a bullet.

"

Jezz

: "You… idiots…"

Ryax

: "Huh? Jezz?"

Jezz

: "I'm talking about earlier…

If dad… fought with his killer… then the killer would have wounds and scratches on their body… but none of us four has those kind of wounds…

"

Ryax

: "…Jezz, are you okay? But that's right too, we forgot to check each other before."

Jezz

: "…I see

the two winchesters don't have any bang bangs left

-"

Ryax

: "Jezz!"

Jezz

: "…"

Before anyone could react, Jezz had ran into the study and locked the door from the inside. Ryax tried to convince her to get out, but Jezz did not answer. Half an hour later, Jezz had still not answered to Ryax, so with the help of Zeus, the two men somehow managed to break down the heavy locked iron door.
And inside, not only the room was filled with blood, in the center was... Jezz…
The sound of the rain filled the room as Ryax, Zeus, and Yarn stood there in silence.

Ryax

: "Jezz… No…"

Zeus

: "The window is wide open…"

Yarn

: "

Jezz… was shot dead

? Huh?"

Ryax

: "

There's no one hiding in the room…

Don't tell me…"

Zeus

: "

That winchester in her hand must be the murder weapon…

but doesn't that mean…"

Yarn

: "She committed suicide…? Why…? But… Where did she get this gun from anyway?"

Ryax

: "Her parents died, but would she really do that…?"

Yarn

: "Anyway!

My dear Ryax is a nice and gentle person!

So he couldn't have killed anyone! A nineteenth person really exists!"

Ryax

: "Yeah! You guys can't be the culprit who killed the others, I think! Not only this murder is impossible for us, but

Yarn would never kill anyone!

"

Zeus

: "I… sadly don't really know either of you… But by the time we've been together, I don't think either of you is capable of murder. Especially Yarn,

she would never kill anyone!

"

And like that, with the three looking at Jezz's body, this tale is paused.

-----------------
One thing to keep in mind:

For the sake of the mystery, one cannot remove the ammo from a winchester.

Now that you have finished the story, you can now start trying to solve it. There are three more things you need to know about theorizing before starting:
- To win the game you must pinpoint the culprit/s and how he/she/they did it. Basically, you have to post a full theory explaining how everything happened.
- When stating a theory, it is mandatory for you to use

blue text (#00FFFF)

.
- After you make your theory, I will respond to it either with

red text

to disprove it (anything said in red can be considered to be the truth) or normal text just explaining why it's not correct.

That's all you need to know.
Anyone can participate, so I hope you hop in and try to solve this!

[Segaco]

Of course, it is a mystery after all. Discussion is encouraged!

[Segaco]

A wonderful deduction indeed!
However, I am afraid to say that, though some obvious with the suggested culprits, you do not mention how the other murders and locked rooms occurred, so I will sadly have to refuse to answer to your theory.

[Segaco]

I apologize if I look like I'm asking too much, but I'd love if you explained how the murders were committed in the order the boodies were found.
And one last thing you missed in your theory is Jezz's death: If no gunshot was heard and Yarn is not lying with her "Jezz was shot", how could this happen? She'd be a culprit then, no?

But, I am a nice and benevolent person, so even though you are missing some of the deaths (Orange's and Jezz's), a small red you shall receive.

When Flaming's and Sarah's bodies were found, no door had been locked with a master key.

[Segaco]

When Flaming's and Sarah's bodies were found, no door had been locked with a master key.

I am a little confused on what this means. Does it mean
(1) The master keys were not used to lock doors AT ALL at ANY point before the bodies were found, or
(2) Any door that was locked before got unlocked by the time the bodies were found?
(Or something else?)

The first. No master key was used to lock a door before Flaming's and Sarah's bodies were found.

Jezz's death: If no gunshot was heard and Yarn is not lying with her "Jezz was shot", how could this happen? She'd be a culprit then, no?

Well, there was a long interval were Yarn and Zeus were unaccounted for. So perhaps Yarn was too far away to have heard it, and Ryax heard it but did nothing about it? (The narration almost implies that Ryax did not kill her, but I am not sure of this.)

It would be nice if Blackberry and who else was solving this earlier came and helped sort out my thoughts on this. I am probably overlooking something big here.

When all else fails, focus on the door.

[Segaco]

Theory 03

Ryax, Zeus, and William are the culprits.

First six murders

: At 6 AM,

Zeus

woke up, opened the dining room, and killed some of the first six.

Ryax

assisted; they each killed three.

I presume that they were able to do it because everyone fell asleep in their chairs after chatting so long.

Zeus also gave himself and William each a knife, and locked the kitchen by grabbing the keys out of the servants' room. He had little time, so he left the keys on the table

, as Fen noticed.

Sarah and Flaming

: Those two went into the basement and locked the door using the basement key, taking said key with them.

Zeus

used his master key to

un

lock the door, and killed the two. He then rushed upstairs, told Ryax about the whole deal, and they agreed on some lies to tell the group.

William

killed

Alex

and dropped his key near Alex's body. Then, William took the key to Alex's room and locked Alex's door. Then he went to his own room, locked it from the inside, and faked his own death.

Orange

was simply killed because William got in and Orange forgot to lock his own room. (The narration never says Orange locks his own room.) William used his

knife

, and Ryax

pretended

that it was a bullet wound.

Tech

was stabbed in the chest four times by William.

Fen

and

Luka

were killed in the same manner as I said in the last theory:

William used his knife to kill

Luka

. Fen shot William, but he survived, took Luka's gun, and fatally shot Fen. He then hid somewhere

, it does not matter where.

Jezz

was murdered to make it look like a suicide.

The reason that Ryax/Zeus did not simply go and get the study key from the servants' room is that

Zeus, when unaccounted for, snuck into the servant room, grabbed the study key, delivered it quietly to Ryax, and unlocked the door.

They probably talked to Jezz for a bit before

Ryax grabbed the gun and shot her. Meanwhile, Zeus led Yarn somewhere that Yarn would not hear the gunshot. Ryax then made the scene look like a suicide, left, and locked the door with his study key. Then he feigned concern for Jezz and got Zeus to break down the door.

Hmm, I see.
There are several problems with this theory, some being that it is not mentioned how Tech's locked room was created, the group found Orange's body because of a loud sound coming from his room, and at the end before Jezz's death I meant to imply

Yarn, Zeus and Ryax were together the entire time after Jezz went into the study.

But, instead of focusing on these little points I will shoot the core of the problem:

The moment there are more culprits than innocents, the culprits would immediately go kill off the remaining innocents.

[Segaco]

Possibly, who knows~?

[Segaco]

First question: "No" is the correct answer.
Second question: A corpse is dead, so yes.

For questions normal text is fine, but you can bold/color them if you wish.

[Segaco]

Ryax confirmed the death of Xerxes and Fracie along with Fen. Assuming Fen is innocent, she would have called out Ryax's lie since she'd also know if Xerxes was alive or not.

And about Tech's locked room: The narration mentions that the bathroom is rather cramped, so I would say it is safe to assume

the bathroom is too small for a person to hide from another in the room.

[Segaco]

The moment you assume there is no solution, then you won't be able to solve the mystery.
However, do know the point of locked room mysteries is to make you think that it is impossible for them to have occurred.


Let me give you a hand for the bathroom locked room. All you have to do is think of what you already know.
With the story itself, we know that the door was locked and that the only key to the room was inside with Tech.

In other words, you can say that the only way to lock the door from the outside was inside the room, which could not be accessed because it was locked.
Since it is obviously impossible to go through a door and get the key to lock the door from the outside, we are left with few answers:

A) The key being put after the room was broken into
A - Though, this would not be possible because Luka, who is clear, said the key was there when the door was opened.

B) There is a gap under the door and the culprit kicked the key in after locking it
B - But would the culprit really go out their way after being wounded & their victim having screamed (meaning people would come running soon) to look for the key in Tech's person and do this?

C) A servant locked it with their master key.
C - Last time I checked, all servants had alibis or were dead. Ruled out.

D) The door was locked from the inside, as there is no way to lock it from the outside.

And... we are left with option D. The only way to lock the door is from the inside, and since we know there was no one hiding in the room, then there is only one possible answer to this mystery, an answer you found out yourself:

The person inside locked the door.

[Segaco]

So this is how it feels to get cornered. Well,

For the first six murders the culprits may have left the keys on the table because they forgot, but how was the door locked?

For the second murders, the narration states "The group(s) in the second and third floor descended to the first floor, and found Ryax and Zeus in front of the basement's door."
With "The group" I really mean

the groups which were chosen to go to the second and third floor. Which means, the entirety of those groups descended to the first floor. That is to say, William, Alex, Tech, Orange, Luka, Yarn, Fen and Jezz.

To be more clear:

no one ever hid in the basement.

If you take another look at the purples for the basement you may reach the intended solution.

And lastly, let me ask you a question about William's and Alex's case. Just a very simple and easy question:
A certain sound made the ones in the parlor take notice that something had happened to the two. What was this sound?

[Segaco]

Why can I edit everyone's posts?
How weird.

Theory 07

Ryax did what he said with Zeus and then dashed into the basement when Zeus was not looking. He locked the door and killed

Sarah and Flaming

with his knife. Then he called Zeus in shock from within the basement

, so that Zeus would

unlock it with his master key

.

Do keep in mind our dear characters

are

a bit stupid, but not too much. Imagine if the person you were with suddenly disappeared, called you from within a room which has the only way in and out locked, and when you unlocked it you found him inside with two dead bodies.
Not sure about you, but I would immediately think something was off there. And not mentioning these things to everyone else would be even worse.

Let's clear this up a bit with red:

Ryax and Zeus were together in front of the basement's door when Zeus unlocked it.

[Segaco]

Remember Ryax was not with Zeus for around a single minute, so it would be difficult for William to meet with Ryax, tell him the plan, have Ryax get into the servants' room, look for the key, go to the basement to slip the key in and then meet back with Zeus.
It could be argued that the servants took the basement key and William slipped it under the door after stealing it from them, but why would the servants take it? Even if they needed to lock a door, they have their master keys, so there's no need.
But it could also be argued that William entered the servants' room, took the key and then slipped said key under the door without Ryax's help after killing the servants, so I'll just deny all of these theories with one red:

There are no gaps under any of the doors.

If you believe that you got your culprits, then go back to the story and check out what they say in purple. Since you know they may lie about things... you may just find what they're lying about.
-----
On another note, do you know why the colors in the forum are a darker than in other forums?

The red in this forum is like this.

And in some other forum I'm in it's different:

Red's like, more "red"(or brighter) in the second picture

[Segaco]

...Well, I believe that will be enough for me to accept defeat.
Honestly, at first I was pretty worried because I noticed only a day after I had posted the game that I had given the

outdated

version of the mystery. There are several typos in the story (like "unexistent" and me sometimes forgetting to put an s on words), and the final version destroys many of the possibilities suggested here (like mentioning there are no gaps under doors, the basement being searched, the kitchen being checked), and it also makes it more of a challenge to guess the culprits.
Here all you needed to do was confirm deaths, and based on the narration and that Yarn is innocent you would be left with three people being suspects. In the updated version you were left with 8 suspects, and needed to take an extra step after assuming Yarn is innocent to know Ryax and William did it.
Ah, what a shame.
...Well, let's continue with the story. It hasn't ended, after all.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

As the three left examined the poor corpse of Jezz, they scratched their heads as they theorized how all of this happened.

Zeus

: "Hey, I've been thinking..."

Ryax

: "What is it? If it's a clue to find the bastard who did this, then say it!"

Zeus

: "...I think Jezz was right. Someone fought with Tech, so the culprit should have been damaged. Yet, none of us are wounded. And I'm certain whoever fought with either Fen or Luka got shot, but again, none of us are wounded."

Yarn

: "Well, yes... What are you trying to say?"

Zeus

: "...Someone may have faked their death, and one of us could be their accomplice."

Ryax

: "What are you saying?! Are you really trying to get us to doubt each other NOW?! A nineteenth person must have done this!"

Zeus

: "...To confirm a 19th person really exists, would you two mind going with me to every room to check if all the bodies are still in their respective place?"

Ryax

: "But the police has to investigate! We can't tamper with the scenes!"

Zeus

: "Don't worry, all we'll do is unlock the doors and peek into rooms to see if the bodies are there. We won't touch anything, so there's no problem at all. Let's go."

As Yarn nodded to Zeus' words and Zeus started heading to the door, the three heard a cough and a groan come from under the study's table. They stared at it for a few seconds, and then a person slowly crawled out!
This person was... William?!

Yarn

: "W-William?! Weren't you dead? What's with all those bruises and bumps in your face?! And that gun wound in your leg-"

Zeus

: "I was right! No nineteenth person exists! William is the culprit!!! And because of Ryax lying about him being dead, he must be his accomplice!!!!!"

Yarn

: "W-W-What...?! Ryax, please tell me this isn't true!"

Ryax

: "O-Of course it isn-"

Before anyone could react, William rushed at Zeus and snatched the last winchester from him. Being successful, he shot Zeus in the head with the weapon. He dropped lifelessly on the floor, right in front of Yarn.
Yarn stared at the body in horror and prepared to fight back... before realizing it was 2 v 1. Seeing they could easily kill her, she began to panic.

Yarn

: "N-Noo!! I don't want to die!! Someone help!!"

Yarn ran to the open window in an attempt to get out, but she noted it was still raining, and the rain made the window seal all slippery. If she tried to leave now, she would likely slip and fall to her death.
Sadly for her, before she could decide what to do, William ran to her and pushed her off the window. Yarn fell from the mansion, and from the tree, headfirst onto the ground.
...She died instantly.

Ryax

: "...I was actually planning to let her live and come with us..."

William

: "Too much trouble. Let's just sack this place."

The two searched the room thoroughly, and found many bags with gold bars inside of them!

Ryax

: "..."

Now having what they needed, the two headed to the first floor, and when William opened the exit's door to start going down the ladder... Ryax pushed him off, and William fell from the tree-mansion to the ground.
Just like Yarn, he died immediately upon crashing with the ground below.
Ryax grinned at the situation before him... but quickly got sad when he realized all he had done was probably for nothing. Not caring anymore and forgetting his initial plan, he started to go down the ladder, planning to get the bags with gold William had.
As he descended, Ryax thought that absolutely nothing could go wrong at this poi-
The ladder snapped, making Ryax lose hold of it. The only thing Ryax could do then was be in midair, waiting for his death while looking at the stormy clouds...

The following day, when the boat person saw no one was coming to shore, he decided to go check what had happened. After a long walk, he found the corpses of Ryax and William next to a broken ladder...

--------------------------------------

The whydunnit and howdunnit are here:

Spoiler:

Ryax convinced William in the night to go steal Xerxes' fortune together and keep it to themselves. William, seeing Xerxes had a legit private island, servants, and a mansion, in a tree no less, agreed to this since it was clear Xerxes did have money somewhere in his mansion. But, if they stole everything, everyone who had gone to the island would be suspected by the police, and that would be a pain, so they planned to just kill everyone, burn down the mansion to fake their deaths, and then leave the island via boat, bribing the one driving it with money to stay quiet about things.

William and Ryax first entered the servants' room and took the keys to the dining hall and kitchen. They then went over to the kitchen, took some knives, and used them to kill the six people in the dining hall, who were still chatting. Having done that, Ryax hid in the room and had William go sleep to his room. Ryax then locked the dining hall's doors from the inside, locked the kitchen door with the kitchen key, left both keys on the table, and hid under it.

Next day, while William pretended to search the Dining Hall, he made Ryax get out of his hiding spot, and then told everyone there was no one hiding in the room.

As for the second murders, when William split up with Orange, he went downstairs to the first floor, and the first thing he did was enter the servants' room to get the basement key. He quickly left before Zeus came with Ryax to investigate and entered the basement, where he killed both Flaming and Sarah with his knife. After finishing with the deed, he just left the basement, locked the door with the key, and left to where he was supposed to be investigating.
When everyone entered the basement to check the bodies, William dropped the key to the room next to the bodies. Ryax saw this and lied about the key being there when the door was opened.

In the third murder, William took one of the winchesters and left the parlor with Alex. On the second floor, he forced the doctor to enter William's room and stabbed him to death with his knife, dropping it next to him. He took out Alex's key from the corpse's pocket, dropped it next to it, left the room, and locked the door with his room key. William ran to Alex's room, locked the door from the inside, made a mess out of the room, threw down the closet to make it seem like a gun had been shot, laid on the floor, and put the key to William's room next to him.
When everyone arrived to the scene, Ryax lied about William being dead.

Fourth murder, William peeked through the keyhole and saw Orange go upstairs alone. He first went to get the knife he had used to kill Alex in William's room, and then went to Orange's room, finding Orange inside. He was quickly shot down by William. Seeing Orange had a winchester, he swapped his out-of-bullets winchester with Orange's charged one and quickly ran to the bathroom to hide, locking the door from the inside and waiting for an opportunity to arise.

While William was in the bathroom, Tech was kicked out of Fen's room. He felt like going to the bathroom so, after finding the door locked, he entered the servants' room, where he saw Luka and Zeus. Tech took the bathroom's key, and headed off to his destination. When he unlocked and opened the bathroom, he found William inside. William had no other choice but to kill him. The two fought, and Tech managed to snatch William's winchester away from him before William stabbed him four times in the chest.
Tech screamed once stabbed, and he got William out of the bathroom, got in, and locked the door from the inside, dropping the bathroom key in the process.
Meanwhile, William, now being a bit damaged, fearing people may come soon, and knowing Tech would die pretty quickly, he decided to hide in the study for the time being.
While investigating the bathroom, Ryax understood something had happened to William because of the condition of the body and decided to say that the winchester next to Tech had no bullets just in case.

For the sixth murders, William had waited for a bit in the study for people to investigate Tech's corpse and leave. While everyone was in the parlor, William headed to the bathroom and found it unlocked. He took the winchester back from Tech and then left, but found Luka and Fen outside in the hallway.
Since he didn't want to fight the two as he was already weak, he tried to kill both stealthily starting by cutting Luka's neck from behind. Sadly, Fen noticed him and shot him. Luckily he was just shot in the leg, so William shot back, hitting her heart.
Knowing he had messed up by making too much noice, he swapped his weapon with Luka's and entered the study. He stood there for a bit regaining energy and thinking of what to do, but to his luck, Jezz entered and locked the door from the inside.
William had no choice but to shoot her, and since it was likely someone would enter soon, he quickly planted the gun in Jezz's hand, opened the window and finally hid under the table. All so they would either think she killed herself or someone killed her and left.
It took them a while, but the people outside eventually broke down the study's door, and inside they found a dead Jezz. Ryax, of course, lied about no one hiding in the room.
And about Yarn's purple about Ryax being nice and such: Being nice and gentle does not mean you cannot kill.

[Segaco]

Ah, and yes. I am using the mafblack theme too. Must be why.
Although I gave the outdated version of the story, I hope you guys had fun.
Thank you for playing, and do know I may put up another mystery soon!

[Segaco]

...and then there was none.

but seriously, why does everyone die

Good question. Tradition, maybe?

Where did this whole thing even come from? Where is the "non-outdated" version? (I mean, I already know the answer now, but I still wonder what the structure was.)

Hmm. The story came from my head (though the original rules came from umineko), and the final version is in a word document on my PC. I'll put it here in a spoiler tomorrow so you can see. I'm in bed with phone currently.

[Segaco]

Ah sorry, it completely slipped my mind.
I copy pasted the thing here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1yFh ... r78L0/edit

(I thought I wrote this post but never did apparently...?)

So I found this viewtopic.php?f=10&t=73920 but it is just plain confusing. Like, apparently some wizard is killing everyone, except that no such wizard exists and one of the 18 did it? And the people solving the mystery can die?

Yeah, the version in this thread was better. Although, I would like to just see (for comparison) what the "non-outdated" version looked like.

That's another forum game. There, people move around the mansion and try to figure out how murders happen before the culprit kills everyone. Here, all the murders have already happened and you just have to figure out how things were done.