The "Black Stories" crime riddles thread

[Mandle]

Case #48
Paragraph #1: The Pointing Finger
You, a freelance but well-known sleuth, arrive at the scene of the crime well ahead of the police. Monitoring their radio bands on your scanner has often paid off in the past. The corpse of the old man lies splayed over the impressive mahogany desk of his private study. His glazed eyes are open and his face is fixed in a mask of fear. His left hand is frozen in rictus reaching towards the spot where an intricate wooden box was lying upon the desk until you took it. His right arm is stretched out in the other direction and the hand seems to be pointing at something.

You hear police sirens in the distance but closing in fast.

You have:
Your Notepad. ~ It is a basic model with a black card-paper cover and backing. These and the pages in-between are held together by a spiraling wire at the top as is common with most notepads. Nothing of current importance is written in the notepad.
Your Pen. ~ It's a black ballpoint pen. It has a button at the top you click to extend/retract the ballpoint.
Your Keys.
Your Wallet. ~ It contains just the usual stuff. Nothing useful for this paragraph.
A Wooden Box. ~ It's a wooden box about big enough to contain a softball. It has many intricate designs inlaid in what appears to be gold, and which you cannot spend the precious time on, before the police arrive, to figure out.


PROGRESS

Look at wooden box. ~ It's a wooden box about big enough to contain a softball. It has many intricate designs inlaid in what appears to be gold, and which you cannot spend the precious time on, before the police arrive, to figure out.

Look at direction the right arm seems to be pointing. ~ You peer along the line of sight from the right hand, but cannot tell exactly what it is pointing at. This study is a jumble of stuff.

Look in the direction that the man's eyes are facing. ~ The dead man's eyes are staring in about the same direction as his pointing finger. There must be something important over there, but you can't tell exactly where or what.

Take box. ~ You grab the box. You have passed the point of no return by disturbing the crime scene. Now you must leave before the cops get here or you're in even deeper shit than just by being here, but you feel that first solving the mystery of the pointing finger is vital. Speaking of cops, you can now hear sirens in the distance but growing closer.

Is there anything written in my notepad? ~ You look at your notepad. It is a basic model with a black card-paper cover and backing. These and the pages in-between are held together by a spiraling wire at the top as is common with most notepads. Nothing of current importance is written in the notepad.

Shake the box. ~ There is something heavy and metalic that thumps around inside the wooden box.

Did the man live alone? ~ Yes, he was a rich old miser and a bitter loner. More about him in paragraph #2. No time for thinking about his history right now.

Examine pen. ~ It's a black ballpoint pen. It has a button at the top you click to extend/retract the ballpoint.


NON-PROGRESS

Open wooden box. ~ You have no idea how to, and no time for trial-and-error.

Check for wounds on the body. ~ He appears unwounded, but no time for a detailed search.

Check for any identification on the body. ~ You already know the man's identity. It's not something you need to worry about right now in Paragraph #1.

Examine study. ~ It's an old, rich man's study jumbled full of treasures and junk. Which is which is not obvious. There are no further hotspots for now.

Examine desk. ~ A huge mahogany desk, probably worth more than your car, but no time to rifle through it. The police will be here any minute!

Examine left hand ~ Nothing special except for what's mentioned in the story.

Examine right hand ~ Nothing special except for what's mentioned in the story.

Draw designs on box in Notepad ~ That would take too long. No time!

Use pen to draw a line from the guy's right hand to see more specifically where it points. ~ It would still be too far from the edge of the desk to whatever he was pointing at to narrow it down enough.

What is in my wallet? ~ Just the usual stuff. Nothing useful for this paragraph.

Am I supposed to guess what the finger could be pointing to? ~ No.

Open the man's right hand/ Move the man's right hand/ Use pen to carefully lift the man's right hand. ~ You're too worried these would destroy your chances over ever uncovering this clue. Also: Not needed.

Describe the body. What is the man wearing? ~ He is dead and wearing rich man clothes. Everything important about the body is mentioned above in the story.

Do you see anything out of place or unusual for a study? ~ The place is a jumble of too much stuff to look at everything in a short time, but nothing catches your eye as glaringly out of place.

What time is it? ~ Night-time.

Is the window open? ~ No.

Examine "corner" where the right hand is pointing at. ~ Too much jumble, too little time.

Listen to radio scanner again. ~ The radio scanner is built into your car, which is parked around the block.

[CaptainD]

>Examine left hand
>Examine right hand
>Draw designs on box in Notepad


We haven't had one of these sort of games for a long time... WHAM used to do them (but more general adventure game style rather than a specific detective case like this - I think this is a great idea btw )

[Mandle]

Cheers, I hope it's a bit of fun.

By the way, as the case notes could get rather long I'm just going to update the one at the top of this page whenever someone posts some actions. At least until we get to the next page of thread.

[Riaise]

Look in the direction that the man's eyes are facing.
Take box.

[Mandle]

Updated above.

[Stupot]

Use pen to draw a line from the guy's right hand to see more specifically where it points.

[Mandle]

Updated above.

[dayowlron]

Is there anything written on your notepad?
What is in your wallet?
Are we supposed to guess what the finger could be pointing to? what kind of stuff is in that direction?

[Mandle]

Updated above.

[Riaise]

Perhaps the "pointing" is misdirection and the man has something in or underneath his hand?

Open the man's right hand. Or
Move the man's right hand. Unless that would disturb the crime scene too much.

[Cassiebsg]

Following Riaise's trail of thought, just wanted to add a little detail to this "messing up the crime scene"...

Use pen to carefully lift the man's right hand.

[Mandle]

Updated above.

[Kumpel]

Shake the box.
Describe the body. What is the man wearing?
Do you see anything out of place or unusual for a study?
Which time is it?
Is the window open?
Did the man live alone?

[Mandle]

Updated above...

Also, please remember that this case is running on 100% enriched adventure game logic, as mentioned before: There is an obvious puzzle that needs solving and the means to do this are already all mentioned at least in the main post. There is no need to scrounge around every nook and cranny of the study and/or the dead body (ewwwwwwwww)...

Sorry if this is frustrating but otherwise the game becomes an ever-increasing spiral of small details that lead to more small details which all eventually obscure any chance of progress.

I guess what I mean to say is: Play it like it's an adventure game, moreso than a tabletop RPG game with a live DM sitting right there in front of you, because other such threads have kind of shown that this kind of gameplay gets overwhelming quite fast for the DM and confusing for the players...

[Cassiebsg]

Examine "corner" where the right hand is pointing at...

[Mandle]

Updated above.

(Also copied descriptions of inventory items to inventory list for convienience as post is getting quite jumbled itself)

[Stupot]

Listen to radio scanner again.

[Mandle]

Updated above.

[Kumpel]

Leave the study?!

[Stupot]

Examine pen.