Part 86: Gamble, or Guile?

[BGM: Dog Days]


He was investigating a student commons. Bunny and Pig were searching together on the other side of the rather large area. We approached Dog.

Hey, Dog.

Mouse. Dragon. I guess you're here now.

That we are.

Neat.

Not, uh, curious as to why?

I figure if you wanted me to know you'd tell me, and if you didn't you wouldn't, even if I asked.

Um, well, we're trying to figure something out. Do you know anything about Ox being poisoned?



Oh, that whole thing? Ox was already here. Made a big fuss about it.

And what did you tell him?

Told him the truth. I've got no idea what that's about.

Anything else?

Nope, that's the gist of it. I hope it sorts out well though. I like Ox.

You seem pretty unbothered by a thing that's going to end in a death, one way or the other.

Oh, I am bothered. But I don't see what crying's going to do for us now. Figured I'd be way more useful continuing my job.

How about you told us about the Chief of Police? You're close with him, right?

Bowen? Yeah, I know a thing or two about him.



Why should I tell you, though?

Because it could be really useful?

I suppose, I suppose. …

You know what? I'm bored. It's been too long since I've gambled.

Dog took out a pair of dice from his pocket and put them on the nearby table.

Woah! Where'd you get that?

There was a whole bin of them in one of those mathematics classrooms.



Let's play a little game.

A game?

The hell are you talking about?

It's real simple. First, I'll roll one die, and cover it with my hand. Next, I'll roll another one. You take a look at the other die, and you guess if it's a higher number or a lower number than the one you can see. Guess right, you win!

Guess wrong, you lose. If the numbers on both die are the same, I win by default. But hey, that's only a 1 in 6 chance, you know? Understand?

Uh, yeah, I guess.

Great. Then let's play.

What? You can't be serious!

Why can't I be? I'm bored.



If Mouse wins the gamble, I'll say whatever you want to know about Bowen.

Why can't you just help us normally?

I'm a very private person, Mouse. You can't just ask me to spill private details for nothing.

Besides, the rules of this gamble definitely favor you. So, ya know, you'll probably win.

I... I guess I don't have a choice. Alright then, bring it.

Ey, that's what we love to see. Love the spirit on this one.

I can't believe you're wasting our time with this shit. Kick his ass, Mouse.

And like that, Dog began his waste of time. First, he rolled one of the dice. It seemed like a fair roll. As it was coming to a stop, he slammed his left hand on top of it.

Alright, my die is set. Now let's see what your die is.

With his right hand, he rolled the second die. Our attention was completely pulled in as it bounced up to the edge of the table. It was... a 5!

Ah, damn. Not great for me. Well, for formality's sake, guess I'll ask: Higher or Lower?



This is a little bit of meta-knowledge, but we know Dog absolutely can and will cheat whenever it comes to this kind of thing. We also know that he does his best to hide his cheating when it suits him, so he'll sometimes cheat sub-optimally to give him the best advantage, but not a guaranteed win. Therefore, with that in mind, the correct answer is...

...Higher.

Mouse? What are you doing?

Trust me.

Dog looked stone faced as he lifted his left hand. His die was... a 6!!



Well, how about that.

Seriously? What are the odds?

It's not a matter of odds. It's a matter of Dog being a shady bastard.

What are you talking about, Mouse?

Oh, don't play coy. This game was too simple, too dumb for it to be pure luck. You were definitely cheating somehow, even if I didn't know the specifics.

Well... you know, maybe when people's attentions are distracted by one die roll, turning over a die under your hand undetected isn't the hardest feat.

You fucking serious? You know if you tried to pull that shit in some places, you'd get shot.

Which is why I don't pull that shit in those places, just with drunkards.



Anyways, you won the bet. Hit me with what you want to know.

Okay, um, so... what can you tell us about Brian's case? Was there anything, well... off about it?

There was plenty off about it, I'll tell you that.

Rare we get such clear cut answers as to who the killer is. That Morris guy really could've used a bit more time to plan his scheme.

Are you certain he did it?

Mouse, everyone's certain. It was painfully obvious.

Still, didn't stop the Chief of Police from going in on the suspect.



I heard plenty from him, about the late nights he'd spend interrogating the suspect. Morris didn't crack, though. Never got a confession out of him.

Did Chief Bowen act strange at all regarding the case?

'Course he did. It was his brother that was murdered.

Although... I suppose his attitude did start to shift at one point.

Oh?

Yeah, now that I'm remembering, it was rather strange. As time went on, Bowen got less angry and more... what's the word... antsy? He just seemed antsy about it.

I remember I heard him talking to himself one night at the bar. He said something strange.



'Either way, I just need to put that brat in jail and publicly end the case'.

Yeah, that's not something a fair defender of justice is prolly supposed to say, huh?

I'd say.

Thank you, Dog, that's exactly what I was looking for.

Well, glad to be of service.

You know, you're a surprisingly good gambler. I need to play you again sometime.

If we both get out alive, I promise I'll take you up on that offer.

What do you know. A reason to try.

And just like that, Dog went back to his search.

[BGM: That Pesky Rodent]


Dragon and I reconvened back in the classroom we started in.

That certainly was insightful.

Maybe. Still, even if he had good info, it pisses me off that he toyed with us by making us play that stupid ass game.

Dragon stretched out her arms and cracked her knuckles. She drummed her fingers on the nearby cabinet.

What's our time looking like?

Well, it's definitely the fifth round already. But there's still a bit of time before this round ends. We have a bit more time to investigate.

And after that?



We're going to have to come to a choice.

You mean about killing someone.

…

You know, if we're wrong, we're just going to be committing murder for no reason.

The person who poisoned Ox has to be one of the traitorous personalities, right? If we do nothing, we're just letting that person take one more step towards their objective.

We aren't going to be able to get through this without any violence. We just need to make sure that the violence is directed towards the right targets, so there can be as little of it as possible.

Damn. That's cold-blooded. I didn't think you had it in you.

How is wanting the fewest number of deaths to occur cold-blooded?



Maybe cold-blooded ain't the right word for it. It's... pragmatic. It's a very realist take on the situation. I was just worried you were going to be one of those hippie, 'we need to get everyone out alive' types.

I mean, I would like it if everyone could get out alive.

Yeah, well, that ain't happening. Not with things like this.

I guess you're right...

You said we had some more time to investigate?

Yeah?

Alright then, where should we go?

[BGM: Silence]


We can only speak to one more person, if it wasn't obvious. The last person we can get relevant information from is, well...

Let's go try and talk to Bunny.

Bunny, huh? I guess that wouldn't be so bad an idea.

But are we sure he's actually gonna give us any useful information? Even if he does know something, I bet he'll be evasive about it.

Well, that's where you come in, right? If you think he's being shady, you just have to come in and apply some good ol' fashioned pressure. I bet if you get up in his face, he'll fold in an instant!

I'm not sure things'll go that smoothly.

Eh, what the hell. Not like we've got a better plan.

That's the spirit!

Is it?

And so we began to look for where Bunny was searching. Eventually, we ran across him on the third floor. He was still investigating the student commons. He and Pig were still looking around together, while Dog searched at the other side of the room.

[BGM: Lucky Foot]


We approached Bunny and Pig.

Hey Bunny. Pig.

Mouse!

Noticing us, Bunny walked over and stood right next to Pig.

Oh, hi guys. What brings you around here?

Y-yeah, why are you here?

Can't we just be checking in to see how you're doing?

Of course you can, we'd love that.

But Ox isn't with you, and you're not looking for Trinkets. Isn't that, um, super weird?

You've got us, Pig. We're actually here to talk to you about something really important.



You see, someone's used a really scary Trinket on Ox. He's going to die unless we can figure out who used it.

Y-you don't say?

Really? Well gosh, that just sounds horrible! Who would do something that evil?

Yeah, who? Whoever did something like that should be ashamed of themselves! How evil! How villainous!

I just wanted to ask if you two knew anything about this.

Know something? Us?

Sorry to say, but we've just been focusing on finding Minor Trinkets. We don't know anything about what you're talking about.

What Bunny said! We know nothing about any Trinkets or poison or anything. So you don't really need to bother us about this.

Oh, well...



The choice you make here is important, but not that hard to figure out considering what we already know.

Where have you searched for Trinkets already? Like, what rooms have you looked in?

The Spanish classroom on the second floor!

Subtle.

…

Yes, well, we've looked through there, as well as the French and German classrooms. We've also looked in some of the offices here on the third floor, and we've been looking through the student commons as well.

I'd say we've been making good progress, how about you Pig?

Yes! We definitely have.

And have you found anything yet?



Unfortunately, we've yet to strike anything useful.

You'd think we'd have at least found something by now. Weird, huh?

Yes, weird indeed.

Alright, well, thanks for talking with me I guess. Let us know if you find anything important.

Will do.

...

Mouse, is that really it?

Yeah, I want to check something.

I walked down to the second floor with Dragon.



Then, I went into the Spanish classroom.

What are we doing here?

Pig was acting super conspicuously through our whole conversation. Then she blurted out this room. I wonder...

I began to search through the classroom for anything conspicuous. Before too long... I found it.

Here it is!

What?

A safe!

Poorly hidden behind some textbooks, I pulled out a small, cheap looking safe. Obviously, it was locked with a passcode. But that didn't matter to me. Merely finding this safe was enough.

Come on, let's go.

What? But we just found a safe!

There probably won't be anything in there anyways.

I walked with Dragon back to the classroom we started at. When we got there, Dragon had questions.

[BGM: Silence]


What was that about?

Bunny and Pig lied. They said they hadn't found anything, and yet there was a locked safe poorly hidden in a room they claimed they searched. There's no way a group of three misses that.

Those bastards! Why would they lie to us like that?

I can think of one reason.

Then you think?

In all likelihood, that's what happened.

Shit.

Still, I think there's more to this story that we need to find out.

Yeah, I guess you're right.

Dragon sighed. After zoning out for a couple seconds, she looked back at me.

So, what now?

We're running out of time. I'm not sure we have much more time to investigate.



At that moment, Ox entered the room.

Ah, found you two. That's convenient.

Ox!

Hey, would you mind joining me in the cafeteria as soon as you can? I'm trying to gather the whole group.

Sure thing.

If you haven't, input your actions for this round. I'm not sure how long the meeting will last, but it might go through the end of the round.

Cool, but, uh, how're you doing with the whole 'poisoned' front?

I have made some progress on that front. There is a... partial solution.

What do you mean?

We'll talk in the cafeteria.

And without another word, he left.



That was odd.

Agreed. Let's input our actions for this round and go join up with the others.

Got it.

And so we did just that.