NOVEL NEXT Chapter 97 - Last Interview
“The Investigator, weary from the many back to back interviews, sits alone in the room for a long while, mulling over all the information gained so far, before calling for the guards to bring the next guest in.” Echo’s smooth narrator voice announces.
“Guards! Bring in the next one!” Juliette shouts dutifully, and shortly after, Ellie appears on the scene, her flowing robes gliding across the floor as she makes her way towards the table and takes a seat.
“Now, Magister Chance, would you recount your evening for me? Broad strokes is fine, I will ask clarifying questions if required.” the investigator addresses her.
“Certainly.” Ellie responds. “I arrived at the appointed hour and then partook in some proffered refreshments while chatting idly with acquaintances. I had an enriching discussion with the general about military history, not a subject I specialize in but an interesting one nonetheless. After the dinner, I whiled away some more time with - frankly - boring idle chatter, before being called to the sitting room by the head of the house to investigate a magical artifact he had come into possession of recently.
It turned out to be some sort of magical mirror that allows someone to ask their mirror image three questions which it has to answer truthfully. Quite the entertaining nick-nack, but I fail to see a practical application for such magics. After concluding my identification of the item, we noticed a commotion and I was subsequently informed of the happenings by the general.”
“Thank you, magister. Anything else you would like to add?” Juliette inquires.
“... Nothing I can think of at this point in time. My apologies.” the magister concludes their retelling.
“Well, thank you for your time.” the investigator gives a weak smile and dismisses her with a wave of his hand.
Now, all pieces are in place, all the necessary information disseminated. It is time for the highlight of the show!
Echo’s voice rings out, clear and easily audible in the entire hall.
“Now, dear delver’s, the good Count Cassidy requests your assistance in solving this case. The good investigator, after all, needs an assistant.”
Juliette gets up and moves to the front of the stage, directly looking at the delvers looking on with dawning realization on their faces.
“Now, we have little to go off. Based on testimonies alone, the Bard and the Father, followed by Lady Lander seem to be most suspicious. Do you have any ideas for how we could get additional information?”
The adventurer’s immediately begin a hushed, and quite heated, discussion amongst themselves. Ideas are being proposed and discarded rapidly. The thing they seem to latch on mostly is the circlet and potentially identifying it, which is reasonable, but they worry about whether or not the magister can be trusted to do it.
Eventually, however, the mage throws in a different idea that causes everyone to fall silent for a second.
“Could we use the mirror to ask our… counterparts… questions? They look like us, you could say they are mirror images…”