This is the very first part of the murder mystery, I will be making a journal soon enough setting up the strict rules for the players of the murder mystery, but for now I hope you all enjoy the setup.

Also, to let all readers know. This series isn't prone to be super super super serious, I imagine this as more of a B-movie, full of cliches. I will likely throw many references in these stories, and I can tell you all that this story has at least one. ;)

I hope you all enjoy, and I would love to hear what you all think of it!

Icon by the talented  sournote103

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Legues spread his arms wide as first guests to the party entered the room, “Welcome! To my humble abode, and may I say that this will be one of the most fulfilling nights of your lives.” He winked at a fine Siamese woman, her tail flicking back and forth in awe of the grandeur of the building. “And, may I say all nine of yours.” He kissed her on the paw, causing her husband to pull away his enchanted wife away in annoyance.

Smiling and greeting each and every guest that walked in, Legues found himself meeting a wide variety of interesting guests. The first, and by far one of the most eccentric, was a dog by the name of Joel. The dog was dressed in extremely casual clothing, though he indeed had the attitude for a party. “Hiya!” Joel practically shouted at the host, “I’m Joel, I absolutely love your house. Best I’ve seen for a long while, hey wanna see a trick I can do?” He started to blather near endlessly, but thankfully Legues saw another guest coming in and excused himself from the talkative dog.

“Hello, and welcome to the party.” Legues greeted the newcomer warmly, extending a paw out to the otter who had just walked in.

Using his tail to prop himself up to Legues’ level, Aaron happily took the owner’s paw in his own and shook. “Hi, I’m Aaron. Thank you so much for throwing this party, my girlfriend was going to be coming but she had a bit of a family emergency.”

“No problem, I’m just glad that you were able to attend.” Legues said, letting the otter’s hand go so that the guest could mingle with the other visitors. Legues introduced himself to as many of the guests as he could, introducing himself even though it was pretty obvious who he was. “Hello, I’m Legues Kneels, your local politician.” He said with a grin.

Many of the responses that he received were, “Yes, I know who you are.” But every one of them were good natured, Legues had made a good impression on many of the men, women, and anthros of the city.

An odd sight stepped in next, a Raichu that was dressed in a fine black jacket. He introduced himself to some nearby anthros and humans as Legues neared, “Hello, I’m Ral. I’m here to give our good man Legues here a step up in the political world.” The people he had spoken to stepped away a bit put off, his attitude a tad bit abrasive.

Legues sighed, he knew very well who Ral was. He and many of the other politicians knew Ral as he was a ‘politician funder’. Often funding several politicians at a time to get a step in the politics of the town, Ral was infamous as he was known to use dirty tactics to set his own politicians against one another in a ploy to earn money from both sides. “Ral, it’s a… joy to see you.”

Ral grinned, straightening his satin red tie, the Raichu extended his paw towards the fox. “Legues, it’s a joy to see you again. I was just saying how I’m planning on funding your next…”

“Yes Ral, I heard what you were planning. And I’m sure you’ll be glad to know that I’m more than well-funded for my next election, thank you for the offer though.” Ral sniffed in annoyance, but kept his good natured face.

“Well, I’m glad that you’re so well off Legues. If you ever need any help, please just shoot me a text or a call.” He smiled one more time as he retracted his paw from Legues’ and strutted off to talk to some other party goers.

Legues rolled his eyes, “Well, there goes trouble…” Turning around, the fox glanced at the guests that had come in so far. The lights of the mansion were bright and the personalities of the guests were shining, other bureaucrats had come so that they wouldn’t be left out in the political talks and average people had come so that they wouldn’t miss the social event.

“Ah hem!” A woman’s voice called out above the noise of the people, and the entire ensemble of visitors turned to see a rabbit dressed in a satin gown. Many men’s jaws dropped in shock at the sight of the magnificently dressed woman.

Next to the woman an annoyed looking wolf stepped out from behind her, “Introducing miss Jamie "Lop Ears" Snowshoe La Bun-Bun III. Esq. PhD. STD.” He sighed as the last part slipped out of his mouth, “Now that’s a mouthful…” He grumbled to himself as he walked away.

“Hello everyone!” Jamie shouted as she flipped her ear back as if it were hair, “I’m so happy to be here, and to be among you wonderful people!” Everyone was put aback by how extravagantly she was acting, and as she stepped down the stairs everyone saw how enormous her feet were. “Oh, please don’t mind me. Go back to your little chit chats.” She waved on as she saw that they were all still looking at her, but Legues could tell that she was enjoying all of the attention.

Stepping towards her, Legues smiled widely. “Welcome to the party Miss Jamie, I’m so glad that you could make it.”

Proffering her hand towards the fox, Jamie giggled. “Why thank you so much mister Kneels, I’m glad to see that there are still gentlemen in this world.” Taking the paw in hand, Legues kissed it gently.

“I hope that you have a good night.” He said before walking away, leaving her to strut around the room, alluring men (and a few women) to her. Making his way across the room, Legues walked by Joel and heard the dog blathering on to a guest who looked as if he wanted to be somewhere else.

“And then my dad told me to get out of the house, so I just walked out and since then I’ve been living on my own.” Joel listed off happily, “Ever since then, I call my dad every day to thank him for letting me live on my own!”

Legues shivered, “Good thing I didn’t ask for his life’s story….” He muttered, the door to the kitchen then swung open to reveal a dragon. “Ah, Liu. How goes the cooking?” Legues asked as the dragon walked towards him wiping his hands off on his cooking apron.

“It’s going well sir, the food is all cooked and ready for dinner. The tables are all set for dinner, so when you’re ready we can serve food.” Liu said. Legues was satisfied with the cook, having been expensive he had better have been a good cook. Turning towards the party, Liu whistled, obviously impressed. “Great turnout, looks like I cooked just enough.” He pulled out a spoon from his waist and winked, “Good thing my spoon told me so.”

After the dragon went back into the kitchen, Legues smiled. “Well, it’s a good thing I found that article on him. Liu-Targ definitely does his job right.”

Stepping out of a crowd, a well-dressed young man walked towards the host of the party. “This is an amazing party mister Kneels, thank you so much for throwing it.”

Legues smiled, “It’s no problem mister…?”

“Noir, Noir Iblis.” The pair shook hands, “I’m here on orders from my mistress. She didn’t want to attend as it was…” He thought his words over for a moment, “She believed it to be dull…” He chuckled nervously scratching the back of his head, it was obvious he didn’t mean to offend the host. “I have to say though, this party is by no means dull. I’ve never had more fun!” Noir was impressive in how he was dressed, it was obvious that he had been trained in proper dressing.

Dressed in a fine red suit, Noir was striking with his youthful face and pitch-black hair. “Well I’m glad that you’re enjoying yourself, please give my regards to your… mistress.” He said, and Noir nodded with a smile before turning back and walking back into the crowd. “Well… that was unexpected…” Legues muttered to himself, not entirely happy with the idea of an enslaved person.

“Mister Legues! Mister Legues!” Legues was surprised as he was turned on the spot by a pair of large hands, he was greeted with the sight of a thankful eye and a scarred one. “Mister Legues! It’s an honor to meet you sir!” Legues found his arm nearly getting ripped off as it was shaken powerfully by the bull. “MY name is Marcus White sir! I’ve followed your support for anthros, and may I say that you are an inspiration, and I just wanted to thank you so much sir!”

After Marcus let go of his paw, Legues swayed for a few moments, dizzy after being shaken by the powerful bull. “T… thank you Marcus, I’m glad that I’ve inspired you so much.”
Tears poured from the undamaged eye, “Thank you so much sir, when I was younger I was beaten up for being an anthro. When I heard about your support for anthros recently, I just had to listen to your rallies. You are an amazing person.” He pulled Legues into a tight hug and the fox had to wheeze for breath as he was lifted into the strong arms.

As he was being put down by the bull, he was surprised as a flash of light filled his face. A human grinned as he looked at his camera, “Great picture!” He then walked up to Legues to shake his paw, “Hello mister Legues sir, I’m Darrel Everett. I’m a freelance journalist, I recently got kicked out of my old job.”

“Oh, I’m sorry.” Legues offered, but Derrell just smiled and shook his head.

“It’s fine, now that I’m not working for a dirty rag. I can report real stuff! Like how awesome this party has been going!” Darrel said with a grin.

“Well, I’m glad that you can report good things.” Legues said. Darrel exchanged a few more good words and they took a picture together before he walked away to take a few more pictures.

“The party is going fantastic!” Legues said with a shiver of anticipation, having being concerned with how the party was going beforehand, he was ecstatic at how well it was going. Walking towards the stairs, Legues was ready to give his announcement for the night when a scream rang out. Legues turned in shock to see that the crowd was parting around the middle of the room, “What’s happening?” He called out in confusion, but the guests were too interested in what had happened to step away.

After a few shoves, Legues was able to make his way to the center of the room. In the middle of the crowd, was a facedown man with blood pooled around him. “Dear god…” Legues muttered to himself, realizing that something awful had happened and that the guests might be in trouble Legues turned to the crowd. “Alright, all guests should leave right now. There’s been a murder.”

But from in the crowd, a voice called out. “Hold it right there!” Everyone turned to face a handsome looking wolf, the wolf was dressed in a sharp tuxedo and as he strutted towards the middle he showed off his impeccable physique. “This is a crime scene.” He said, “And I, am an inspector from Scotland yard. I am Wainright Lefound, and I will find out who did this.”

There was an air of awe from the people of the crowd as they watched the wolf walk into the middle of the crowd, but Legues was more than a little skeptical. “Why is there an inspector from Scotland yard here? This is America.”

Wainright chuckled, “Well you see Kneels, I am here on vacation. I heard about this little soiree and decided that it would make for a nice break, who knew that a murder would happen today? No one, I will assure you of that. But I am here to solve this mystery, now if you would just step aside.” Legues grunted as the wolf pushed him aside and pulled out a magnifying glass from his inner coat pocket.

“Well isn’t that convenient?” A woman asked from behind, and Legues turned to find himself face to face with an angry looking woman.

Turning around, Wainright looks her over. “And you are?”

“Vaidya Elva Hehr. A real investigator, I’m a P.I. I just came in a few minutes ago.” She turned her gaze to Legues, “Your boats are being slowed down by the way, the storm outside is becoming outrageous.” She then turned her gaze back to Wainwright once more, her gaze could freeze fire with how chilly it was. “Now, if this is a real murder. Then who do you think it is, Mister Wainwright?”

Wainwright sniffed and then turned to the body once more, everyone in the crowd saw how his body was now stiff. The wolf quickly investigated the body, poking at his limbs every now and then before standing up straight and turning around with a triumphant grin on his face. “Why it’s obvious!” Turning over the body, he revealed the corpse’s hand which was curled around something. Slipping it out, he revealed it to be black fabric. “From this piece of fabric, it’s a simple deduction. When this man was being murdered, he grabbed onto the murdered as the knife was impaled into him.”

Vaidya wasn’t impressed from her gaze, Wainwright gulped nervously for a moment before continuing. “From the quality of this fabric, I can tell you exactly who the murderer was!” Everyone started to murmur excitedly as they prepared to hear who the murderer was. Wainwright turned around and pointed towards a butler, “It was you!”

Dramatically the butler screamed flinging his arm in front of his face, “How did you know?! I was sure I had gotten away with it!”

By this point, Legues wasn’t impressed. From the whole scenario, he had pieced together the fact that the whole murder was a sham. The people in the crowd were impressed, but he wasn’t, and neither was Vaidya. Stepping forward, the woman pushed aside the wolf, her tail flicking hypnotically as she kneeled beside the corpse and looked it over a few times before sniffing in triumph. “Well, I would believe you Wainright, but the fact is.” Standing up, she glared at the wolf. “This corpse was never alive in the first place, it’s a mannequin. Though I have to admit, you did a good job of dressed it up to look like it had been alive.”

Wainwright’s grin slowly slid off his face, “W… what do you mean? This person was most certainly alive, and you’re disgracing their name.” He turned away, shivering slight as he tried to look insulted.
“Well then, please inform me. Where is this body’s identification? I didn’t see any wallet or card on them. I’m sure you know that to enter this party, you have to show some form of ID.” There was a murmur through the crowd, indeed everyone who had entered had shown their ID to the men at the entrance.

Wainwright was silent, his gaze went steely. “Well then…” He murmured, “It seems as…” He gulped heavily, “You’ve caught me in my game Miss Vaidya.”

“Yes, yes I have. And you’d best know, Mister Wainwright, that it’s a felony to pretend to a law enforcer or investigator.. When we get back to the mainland, you will be under arrest Wainwright.” Vaidya said.

The wolf ducked his head in shame as the people glared at him, turning to the butler Vaidya spoke to Legues next to her. “Mister Legues, I think you’d best fire this butler as he was obviously in on the ploy.”

Legues nodded, glaring coolly at the butler. “I believe so, when this party is over I’m sure we’ll have a fantastic talk about his job in the near future.” The butler ducked his head in shame.

“Well then, I think the party should continue!” Vaidya said aloud, Legues was glad that she was there to diffuse the situation. As the guests went back to their individual talks, Vaidya and Legues walked towards the table with the beverages. “Well, that was fun.” Vaidya laughed, her attitude shifting to a much cheerier disposition.

“Thank you for helping with that situation Miss Vaidya.” Legues extended his hand to her.

Taking his hand, Vaidya smiled. “Please, drop the Miss. I hate formalities.” She chuckled, “That situation back there was nothing, I’ve dealt with a few situations like that in the past. It’s easy when you blindside the culprit with the details they’ve missed.”

Legues smiled, “Well it’s a good thing you were here. Or else that could’ve been bad.” Vaidya nodded, the two exchanged pleasantries for a bit, and the party passed as the moon rose high in the sky and the storm grew worse.

At eleven, the guests started to pour out. At eleven thirty, a majority of the guests were gone and the boats were at shore. Legues received a call from the coastal service, “Hello?”

“Hello Mister Legues, we have to inform you that we aren’t going to be able to send any more boats until tomorrow as the storm is far too bad. We apologize for the inconvenience.”

Legues sighed, “That’s fine, I understand. Be safe.”

“You too sir.” Hanging the phone up, Legues turned to the last few people there. He looked over the people, some of the cooking staff was still there, and the last of the guests were gathered in a circle and were busy exchanging stories.

“Excuse me everyone.” Legues announced, and all of the guests turned to face him. There were nine guests left, not counting the kitchen staff and the other waiting attendants. “The storm has gotten far too bad for the boats to come back out here, so for tonight you all have to stay the night. I’m sorry if this inconviences you.”

Miss Jamie flung her hand to her face dramatically, “Oh no! Whatever shall we do, we’re going to be stuck all night in this mansion! I can’t go home to my wonderful boyfriend…” She started to sob, several attendants sprinted towards the distressed rabbit and offered her a tissue. “Oh, you’re all too kind.” She said with a smile and wiped away the tears, “I shouldn’t let myself be so distressed, after all I’m surrounded by such gentlemen.”

“Mister Legues, is there no way to get to shore?” Marcus asked.

“No, I’m afraid not. Usually we have spare boats, but they were used to ferry guests back and forth.” Legues explained.

Vaidya sighed, “Well, we’d best make the most out of this situation. I guess we’d better make sleeping arrangements for everyone and…” There was a sudden clap of thunder and a bolt of lightning struck the island, the lights went out and there was silence.

All of the guests screamed as the island was completely black for a couple of minutes during the darkness there was the horrifying sound of a pot smashing and then the lights flickered back on, there was a sudden scream of horror. Miss Jamie had been in the process of kissing one of the attendants when she pulled out of the kiss and had screamed when she saw that two of the guests that had been alive up till just a moment ago, were now dead.

Lying on the floor, was two bodies. That, of Mister Wainwright, and that of Vaidya. Their bodies were surrounded by blood, Vaidya had been apparently hit with a vase while Wainwright had a knife protruding out of his chest. Legues was completely horror struck as were the rest of the group, Joel was the first to break the silence. “W… who did it?” He asked.

Liu sprinted out of the kitchen with spoon in hand, “Someone took my butchers knife during the blackout. Has anyone seen it?” As he ran towards the group, he stopped dead in his tracks as he saw the knife sticking out of Wainright. Color drained from his face as he realized what had happened, “Oh no…”

Noir stumbled away, his hand held over his mouth as he threw up in a corner of the room. No one knew what to say, but they all knew what this meant. There had been two murders done during the blackout, and there hadn’t been enough time for one person to commit both. There were two murderers among them, and they were all in danger.