Dungeons, Dragons, Ghouls, Ghosts, Murder, and Mystery

A New Year post, I feel, is necessary for almost any blog - and so here - now - this is the time when I make good on my want to tell you about the changeover from 2010 (the year I have dubbed that of fake-binary - due to all of the "Oh My God looks it's 10/10/10" when in fact the '2' breaks that completely) to 2011 (the year I am dubbing the year of legitimate ternary - due to the many occurrences of the numbers '0', '1', and '2' appearing in dates.) Admittedly, yes, it is slightly belated - but you know what they say: "better late than never" (unless, of course, you were waiting for an ambulance, in which case 'late' and 'never' may as well be the same thing...)

New Year was, for me at least, simply marvellous. On New Year's eve Lydia, Andy, Spudless, and myself went to the Adventure Park near the Bathurst Hospital to watch the most spectacular fireworks show of my life (of course, the only other ones I have seen latest for about 5 minutes, so they weren't hard to top...) where we serendipitously met up with Shorty, and ate pizza on a blanket under the exploding pyrotechnic devices. Really, no word other than 'Magical' could possibly describe the sensation of doing that.

But that splendiferous occasion is not the topic of my writings today, Dear Reader, oh-no-not-at-all-no-way-no-how. Instead I shall be telling you of what I did on New Year's Eve Eve (i.e. two Wednesdays ago.) The new year period is, ostensibly, a time for parties - most people decide to just throw some kind of "raging bender" (or whatever it is they call them) and be done with it. But not me - that is not how I roll. I decided to be tricky and throw a Murder Mystery party, for a small group of my friends.

The mystery, which I called 'Natural 20', was set at a D&D game, and involved my stuffed toy tiger Felth as Duncan Marchent (the deceased); myself as Bradley Stotch (Duncan's study partner); Squiggles as Everett Tester (Duncan's best friend); Emma as Magenta Marchent (Duncan's younger sister); Lydia as Janet Hartman (Duncan's girlfriend); Spudless as Franklin Chalmers (Duncan's roommate); Andy as Edward Stotch (Bradley's twin brother); and Noni as Columbia Hart (A Canadian exchange student.)

During the D&D game, Duncan and Bradley had a bit of a fight over the way his character was acting, and so Duncan asked to talk to Brad alone, in his room. Brad got in there to find that Duncan was not in the mood for talking...He was dead...The group crowded around the body, and fear gripped their souls - someone amongst them was a killer. Brad had run away from the group during the chaos, and tension rose when he was not only found deceased, but poisoned - cyanide.

It didn't take long before suspicions rose, and paranoia began to tear through the group - investigations by various party-goers uncovered various rumours and facts - including the notion that Columbia was somehow related to Janet; the fact that Magenta was pregnant; the possibility that Duncan stole something important from Everett and was willing to get it back at any cost; and the fact that Brad and Duncan were having a secret affair - amongst other "discoveries".

During the course of the night it was friendships were made, and broken - trust was gained and lost. Who could have been so cold blooded as to kill not one, but two innocent people...Or was it not a single killer, but two working together (or perhaps...separately!) When the police arrived at the scene the accusations flew around like dung in a monkey exhibit - "Did you know that Franklin is obsessed with Janet?!" "Oh yeah, well Edward is a member of some bizarre cult!!" "Hey, my brother didn't steal anything from me, maybe it's someone who was spurned by the pair..."

It tore the group apart.

In the end, the police came to the same conclusion as the group, and arrested the individual they found the most likely to have committed the murder.

But did they get the right person? Tune in Monday to find out...

The moral of this story is that cliffhangers rule, but only when I already know the outcome. When they happen on TV (for instance, in a Doctor Who two part story) I am generally quite displeased at the fact that I must wait a whole week to discover just how The Doctor will escape the latest trap set for him by his enemies...Oh Doctor...You're fantastic - swoon.