Florian Hartwell
Victim NPC
The academy Head Boy: golden, gracious, the ending every route was written toward. The cohort assumed tonight he would crown the commoner sweetheart and close the story.
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All Routes Lead to Murder
A scenario by Murder Maker
- Romance
- Justice
- Ritual
- Reputation
- Poison
- Intrigue
The premise
Graduation night at Ravenscroft Royal Academy of Arcane Arts, where the Promising always ends the same scripted way: the Head Boy crowns his commoner sweetheart and the cohort's 'villainess' is cast out. Tonight the script breaks. Florian Hartwell - the Head Boy every route was written to end with - lies dead on the Vow Terrace, and the Warding seals the grounds until dawn. The prefects want one tidy name, and the 'fated' villainess is first to take the fall. An otome-night murder mystery for 11-12 players plus a game master, one evening: work the routes and find the classmate who rewrote the ending.
The cast
Theodore "Theo" Calloway
Suspect
The other golden boy: the cohort's beloved cotillion lead and this year's ball-master, gracious to a fault. He courted Lillian openly all year and, everyone agrees, took Florian's 'endgame' status with astonishing…
Ophelia Beaumont
Suspect
The cohort's appointed 'villainess' — the death-flagged girl the Promising tradition slates to be denounced and exiled the instant the golden couple seals. Cold, precise, and universally expected to be tonight's…
Lillian Sable
Suspect
The commoner sweetheart the whole story was scripted to crown — the 'heroine' the school adores. Tonight she fled the Vow Terrace in tears minutes before the body was found, and she was seen handing Florian his…
Sebastian Locke
Suspect
A charming, celebrated rival suitor — high battle-magic rank, easy confidence. He courted Lillian for a year and made no secret of loathing Florian as the 'inevitable' rival fate kept handing her by default.
Henrietta "Etta" Sinclair
Suspect
Lillian's fierce best-friend confidante, always at her shoulder. Tonight she is agitated, evasive, and conspicuously eager to point the investigation at Florian's many enemies.
Rowan Ashby
Suspect
The scholarship outsider, lowborn and on a charity place, who tends the academy greenhouses for his keep. Florian's set tormented him for years. Quiet, watchful, and clearly hiding something tonight.
Cosima Pennington
Suspect
President of the gossip club and its scandal-sheet — the academy's rumour-mill made flesh. She sees everything, prints half of it, and sells the silence on the rest.
Caspian Reed
Suspect
The duel-club hothead. Florian shamed him in the ring and laughed off his challenge; half the ball heard him swear he'd 'settle it tonight.' His ceremonial blade is missing from the Duelling Hall.
Marguerite Vane
Detective
Head Prefect and warden of the graduation Warding. Cold, procedural, and under orders to hand the parents a signed culprit by the dawn bell. She has already decided the tidy answer is the fated villainess.
Warden-Chaplain Selene March
Witness
Keeper of the Pairing Chapel and its Affinity Font — the incorruptible ledger of matches. Bound by Font law to keep every record sealed until the ordeal of the midnight bell, which she herself is sworn to ring.
Perrin Fenwick
Witness
The cotillion robing-attendant who pins the graduates' vow-blooms under the ball-master. A nervous, wage-dependent boy who keeps to the robing-room and says little.
Intrigues
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Four Roads to LillianRomance
Every route was supposed to lead to one girl. Not one of them ever asked her.
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The Dawn VerdictJustice
The prefects want a name by the dawn bell. They already have one picked out.
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The Ending That Never CameRitual
For generations the Promising has ended the same way. Tonight, for the first time, it refused to.
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The Gilded Head BoyReputation
Golden is a title the school gave him. Ask who paid for the gilt.
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The Greenhouse PoisonPoison
The poison that killed him grows in beds one boy tends for his keep.
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The Information WarIntrigue
Every secret in this room has a price tonight. Cosima is taking bids.
Factions & circles
- The Ball StaffStaff
- The Prefect WardensStaff
- The Senior CohortTeam
All Routes Lead to Murder
Graduation night at Ravenscroft Royal Academy of Arcane Arts, where the Promising always ends the same scripted way: the Head Boy crowns his commoner sweetheart and the cohort's…
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