smosa/stories
/clue
/meet-in-the-dining-room
/


Your luggage is taken to your room. You leave your coat on. The guests have congregated in the dining room, though few are sitting. They all look at you as if they have been urgently waiting your arrival. They all appear to be fixing their gaze either at you or at various points around the room in order to avoid conversation with one another.

"Good evening ladies and gentlemen" you say to them as you enter the dining room. "Could everyone please have a seat?"

The guests take their seats at the long dining table, already set up for a full course dinner. With the time they've had to wait for your arrival, you're surprised the house staff has managed to keep things business as usual. You hear them busy in the kitchen putting the final touches on the meal that is about to arrive.

You are seated with the guests which is yet another contribution to the unconventional nature of your investigation. What you'd really like to do is examine Mr. Body. Body was the dinner guest whose place at the table was errantly set for him as it had been for every meal prior leading up to his murder sometime early this morning.

You let the dinner guests know they will engage in formalities before questioning begins. You introduce yourself and meet your fellow guests, beginning with Miss Scarlet at your right and Colonel Mustard at your right. As you wait for the butler to return so he can show you to the body, the colonel does the most talking at the table. As he speaks, you notice an enormous ring on his index finger that clanks against the table as he punctuates his stories with each hand.

You pay little attention to the Colonel's war stories and it appears the other guests have little interest as well. You take the napkin from the table and set it in your lap. You notice a small label stitched into the seam of the napkin.

../read-what-is-written-under-your-napkin ../ask-colonel-mustard-about-his-ring