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The Belly of the Beast is the ninth episode of season 9, Mice & Murder.
Recap[]
"Last we left our animal investigators, they put their heads together in the darkened séance Room in the leisure wing of Loam Hall, as Sylvester Cross, the murderer, rotted in the oubliette of Loam Hall, but perhaps we were a little bit quick on the draw, for, as our friends and allies of Sylvester put their heads together, they began to question whether the world's greatest detective would so clumsily implicate himself in this string of horrific murders. And, indeed, as Sylvester was kept below the kitchen in the wine cellar of Loam Hall, the body of the Lady Lucretia was discovered, with the words: "I do not need my hands to murder." And, indeed, screams of the occult rang out throughout the assembled party guests, because it seemed that Sylvester was using powers from beyond the grave to control the spirits of the dead, and kill the Lady Lucretia where she stood.
I will also say, at this point, that Gangie Green revealed that the constables, who took so long in arriving, are old criminal accomplices from London, servants of the Cottonbottom family. Mysteries abound. Fletcher Cottonbottom's ghost, seen at the beginning of the night, was that the same as Daisy's appearance through the mirrored hologram, and, if so, does that mean that Fletcher Cottonbottom is somewhere here in Tufting Meadows?
The mysterious figure that fought our companions at the top of the elevator when they went up to see where the elevator went, to see if they could find the hidden and mysterious third floor of the house, was that Simon Shellcrest? Was that Ambrose Harding, a man we know to be a criminal? Or was it Armond Armadillo, who, of those three, is the only one who appeared injured, as he would have been if Gangie Green's shovel and Lars Vandenchomp's powerful fists had connected with him?
And, finally, as they all assembled, they realised that three o'clock, the time when they believed that the elevator would be able to go to that mysterious, third, unexplored floor of the house, Buckster Boyd, looking at his father's watch, "time is money, here's both," put it together. It's not a time, it's a position. And, with the skillfully pickpocketed key by way of Mr. Gangie Green, the companions zoomed into the kitchen wing. With a mighty blow, Lars Vandenchomp laid low the crooked constable and, with a bolt of electricity from a well-placed jab underneath from this electro-cyanotoxic fungus, the cop was taken care of, and Sylvester Cross sprung from where he was being kept to join his companions in the elevator. With a twist counterclockwise, the elevator descends into the third and final wing of Loam Hall."
Synopsis[]
The elevator descends to the basement of Loam Hall, and the sylvan sleuths begin to smell cyanotoxins. As they descend, Gangie Green and Lars Vandenchomp are preparing for a potential attack, Buckster $ Boyd is looking around to try to figure out which side the elevator door might open, Vicar Ian Prescott is looking at Buckster, Daisy D'umpstaire is looking at Detective Sylvester Cross, the tension palpable, and Sylvester is looking towards what he believes to be the door that will open, mentally preparing to see his arch-nemesis, Fletcher Cottonbottom.
The group speculate above the table about their theories related to the mysterious goings-on of the evening. Buckster realises that, whoever is responsible for the heinous crimes tonight, they must have had an ability to move within Loam Hall both secretly, and amongst people, as both of these elements would've been necessary to pull off the murders. Sylvester speculates that Fletcher is behind everything, and that Squire William Thornwall Brockhollow must be merely in his employ. Buckster is hungry to revisit the ledgers, to find out who was employing and being employed by the former Squire Badger. Daisy thinks about the fact that the switch to the breaker in the former Squire Badger's desk in the study is in the bathroom, and that this might be because the bathroom is a place one goes alone. She also remembers what Rosalind Crumb told her and Ian when they asked about the bust of Barkus Aurelius in the study: that she has often had to return it back to the library, where it is supposed to go. Lars thinks about the fact that it seems like all of the events of the evening have been set up to assassinate Sylvester's character and/or frame him for murder. The fact that the two of them were even invited to the former Squire Badger's 60th birthday party is strange, and Sylvester's fury at not being able to solve a case (that of the death of Connor McCabbage) for the first time in his life would be considered a plausible motive for murder by many. Sylvester thinks back to the insight that he gleaned upon looking at the bodies of Constance Brockhollow and Dr. Corbin Magpie: both of their eyes were looking straight ahead, just like the eyes of Connor.
The elevator reaches the secret basement wing of Loam Hall. Gangie notices all kinds of mushrooms down here, which he knows are filled with cyanotoxins. Deep within their fungal beds are thick cables, going up to a copper cable high above: this is the secret store of Loam Hall's power. As lightning strikes, the mushrooms light up, and Gangie realises that the earlier flickering of ghostly lights in the séance room was not, in fact, caused by the supernatural, but by the mushrooms, that had made their way up into the séance room, reacting to the strike of lightning. As the group approaches a door ahead of them, they see that it has been locked using a large padlock with numerical rollers, which would require an eight-digit sequence to unlock.
As Sylvester investigates the area, and Lars provides him with the Help action, he comes across a number of footprints. He sees the footprints of a large badger man, and the very recent footprints of Ambrose Harding and Thomas Gilfoyle. Thomas's tracks only go to where the mushrooms are and approach the locked door, but do not go through it. The badger's and Ambrose's footprints go through the locked door. He also sees tracks from within the last hour of cats and dogs, which the group speculates are those of the crooked police officers from the Tufting Meadows Constabulary. Finally, he sees footprints, both fresh from within the last hour, and also going back months and months, of a rabbit. He sees that, written on the lock in Latin with two little olive branches around it, is the phrase: "morte est in gloria." Ian tells Sylvester that this means 'glory in death'. After much speculation and confusion, Daisy realises that the passcode to the lock must be the incorrect date written on the bust of Barkus Aurelius. She enters the date, and spits in Sylvester's mouth whilst they are bickering. Putting in this date unlocks the door, and the group moves through into the next chamber.
Within this chamber, the group sees a number of artefacts from Bavaria, from the Schnauzer War, all indicating incredible criminality: munitions, secret schematics, plans, smuggling routes, and the like. Daisy realises that this room connects the former Squire Badger to the Cottonbottoms, and years of criminal organisation. Buckster, Daisy, and Gangie each decide to steal a valuable painting whilst they are there. Lars realises that the painting in the corner of the room is the original badger painting from Loam Hall, that has since been replaced with the fake portrait with the eyeholes.
As the group moves into the next hallway, it is pitch black, and they can smell a very different kind of decay to that of the mushrooms in the previous rooms. Sylvester lights his pipe with a match so that the group can see by it, and they see the true base of Loam Hall: the Roman ruins that make up its very foundations. As they move further into the room, they realise that this ancient fortress has been turned into something of a morgue. They see a number of body parts in the room, and, underneath one of the beds, under a white sheet, they see the shape of a large dead body. As Gangie goes over and lifts back the sheet, the group sees the dead body of the former Squire Badger.
As they set about investigating, Ian blesses (casts Bless on) the group. Buckster decides to help (provide the Help action to) Sylvester in his investigation. Sylvester looks around the room and realises that the dead bodies have been strangely chopped up. Daisy realises that the corpses that have been coming here have not been being used as one-to-one replacements for people, but as raw materials. The group also remembers that they ran past what they believed to be the former Squire Badger's body on the way to the elevator. Lars's attention is drawn to the eyes of the body in front of them, and Ally (Lars) receives texts from Brennan that read: "Squire Badger DOES have a war wound, which contradicts Lars's theory... BUT... This body's...", and the rest of the messages are blacked out. Katie (Gangie) also receives a text from Brennan, reading: "You find ____ in here... This is where the mouse bodies came too. Also... you smell ____", with the blanks blacked out. Raph (Ian) receives a text from Brennan, reading: "You find a bag of ____", but the rest of the message is blacked out.
Gangie reveals that he has found mouse fur on the body, and can smell pond scum. Ian overturns a scrap of fabric in the corner of the room, and reveals that he has found a disguise kit. Lars sees that the body in front of them does not have the spilled wine marks from dinner, or Buckster's fur from the altercation that he had with the former Squire Badger earlier in the evening: they deduce that this must be a fake, and that the body of the real former Squire Badger must be upstairs. Lars and Sylvester notice that the eyes of the badger in front of them stare blankly ahead, as blankly as those of Connor, Constance, and Corbin. Gangie realises that the mouse fur he's found is the fur of Connor. As Daisy and Sylvester start bickering, Gangie begins medically investigating the body, and realises that it is an amalgamation, and that the bodies brought to this morgue have been chopped up, and the body parts used to create decoy corpses. He knows that the badger corpse in front of him is the decoy. He also finds and digs out a piece of shrapnel from the badger's chest. Katie (Gangie) receives a text from Brennan that reads: "This means whoever these horrifying morticians were... KNEW about...", but the rest of the message is blacked out. Gangie tells the group that whoever created this decoy corpse knew about the former Squire Badger's shrapnel wound. He can also tell that a number of the bodies that would have been in here have already been moved back up in the elevator, and intuits that the cops, whose tracks the group saw earlier, must have been the clean-up crew, getting rid of this evidence using the elevator. Ian reveals to the group that he can smell incense.
The group decides to have a bit of downtime so that Rekha (Daisy) and Grant (Sylvester) can have a short rest, in order to re-roll their investigation checks. Gangie decides to try to figure out where the living people are, if, as the group has speculated, the bodies of Corbin, Constance, and Lucretia upstairs are decoys. He is unable to find any hidden bodies or people, but can hear shouting upstairs, and the ringing of the call button on the elevator. He knows that this means that people know where they have gone, but have no way to call the elevator back up to them. He also notices more pond scum in the elevator, but is not yet sure what to make of this.
Buckster decides to sit down with the ledgers, and Lars gives him the Help action. Brennan sends Sam (Buckster) a number of texts, the first of which reads: "Squire Badger was into SOMEBODY for more than a fortune. The bodies don't end up as money coming in anywhere. Badger's DEBTS ____," but the rest of the message is blacked out. The second text reads: "You also find instruction of where to find Gangie Green. Gangie was recommended to Badger by Cottonbottom." The third text reads: "Recent purchases include: (1) Tufting Meadows Textile Mill, (2) A controlling stake in the London Grazer three years ago - the dirtiest rag in London, (3) A meal credited in Houston, Josiah Jackrabbit's hometown..." The fourth text reads: "Squire Badger had money 5 years ago from munitions trading with Fletcher in the war... Then you realise the art pieces Badger sold, ____," but the rest of the message is blacked out. The fifth text reads: "THE BIG SECRET: Squire Badger ____ attacked by Bavarian forces, ____ and that's where he got patched up." The sixth and final text reads: "You see tons of money paid to Col. Hawkins over the years... Hawkins was in on the original deed." Buckster realises that the former Squire Badger had debts all over, owed to various institutions. He accumulated these debts on items and services that served the purpose of keeping up appearances: the keeping of a large staff, donations to his alma mater, and the like. He also sees money paid for renovations to Loam Hall from the last couple of years. He does not see any money coming in for the selling of bodies at medical institutions; the bodies don't show up anywhere on the books. He realises that the former Squire Badger was in lots of debt when he re-entered the military as a commander during the Schnauzer War, became very wealthy again during the war, but then spent it and fell into debt again due to his appearance-saving purchases. He sees letters from creditors coming after the former Squire Badger, and sees that it was clear that he would need to declare bankruptcy, but someone with as much stake in status as the former Squire Badger would never do this. He sees that, just under two years ago, letters started showing up clearing the former Squire Badger of his debts, but that no money was recorded as coming in on the books. He sees a number of acquisitions, and the shape of the institutions that the former Squire Badger was working with begin to come into focus. He knows that he wasn't clearing his debts, but merely moving them to be owed to shadier institutions.
Ian attempts to track down where the incense is coming from by giving the Help action to the detectives, Sylvester and Daisy. Sylvester follows the scent of incense back towards the elevator, and realises that it is wafting up from the elavator shaft. The group realises that there must be a floor below this one, and that it can be accessed by turning the elevator key to the 9 o'clock position. Daisy sees what looks like a hastily scrawled letter "D" in the baseboard of the elevator, that looks like it was scratched, not with a knife, but with a beak.
Buckster looks up, holding a number of military receipts. He begins to give the group a little lesson about business, and Lars reveals that they have a business degree. Buckster reveals that the former Squire Badger's debts were not being cleared, but, instead, he was being fronted the money by Fletcher. He explains that the art around Loam Hall is all art that was reported as stolen following the Schnauzer War, and that it should rightfully be in the hands of the Bavarians. This means that the former Squire Badger was a military art thief, and led his own men into harm's way in order to steal art: an act of treason. He then took this artwork to Reichenbunny Castle, where, after his own men were killed, Fletcher had him patched up. The reason why Jeremy Brockhollow knew nothing about his father's war wound was because it was a wound that he had received during the massacre of his own men during an illegal mission. If this injury was never reported, due to the fact that it was received on an illegal mission, it explains why the former Squire Badger never received a medal for his injuries received during the war, and why James therefore had to plant the Medal of Valour in the desk of his secret study.
The group realises that the only body without gaudy 'evidence' in Sylvester's hand accompanying it was the former Squire Badger's body. They realise that Fletcher was likely not aiming to appear as an apparition on the docks, but was, instead, merely flipping the wrong switch before he flipped the switch that sent the electric charge through to the desk that killed the real former Squire Badger. They realise that this means that Fletcher must have been in the downstairs bathroom earlier in the night, and that, therefore, he must have been somebody able to move throughout the party the entire time: he was disguised as one of the party guests.
Daisy realises, upon looking more closely at the "D" scratched into the baseboard of the elevator with a beak, that there are three people at the party with beaks: Ian, James, and Corbin. Due to the orientation of the letter, it looks like it was written by somebody lying down on the floor, and writing it on their side. When she sees Gangie with the pond scum, she realises that the "D" stands for docks, just as she had suspected upon finding the letter "D" written on one of the breakers in the downstairs bathroom earlier in the evening.
The group takes the elevator one floor lower, and emerges into a candlelit ritual chamber, with an altar at the top of it. Written all around the room in blood are the phrases: "I am the servant of the serpent. I am the hunter. I am the one who wields the souls of those who I have slain. I slew Ignatius Cottonbottom and captured his soul. I've laid a curse on the Cottonbottom family, and I will not be satiated until all of England is under my dark dominion," followed by a fox symbol. Upon the altar, they can see the dead bodies of Jeremy and Osmond Sheffield.
Gangie looks to see if the bodies of Jeremy and Osmond are real bodies or decoys. He sees that the eyes of the bodies are looking straight ahead, indicating that they are decoys. Lars does a perimeter check to try to see if they are alone in the room, and hears the police shouting from up in the elevator shaft. The police are saying that they have heard the elevator moving again, and are accusing the guests of working with Sylvester, threatening violence if they don't give up information. Ian finds a Bunsen burner, and a painter's rag draped over a series of small containers. When he opens the containers, he smells blood. He realises that these are set dressing elements, and that whoever is setting up the murders was not quite ready for them to find the staged decoy Jeremy and Osmond yet.
Grant (Sylvester) and Rekha (Daisy) both roll nat 20 investigation checks, allowing them to either ask Brennan any question that they have about the mystery, or choose to receive some mystery information about the room that they are in. Grant (Sylvester) chooses the mystery information, and Rekha (Daisy) chooses to ask a question. Grant (Sylvester) receives texts from Brennan that read: "Secret door in the wall leading up to ____. You don't think Gangie knows... but it is a way for you to move UNSEEN and not give them the elevator back," with part of the text blacked out. After some deliberation with the group, Rekha (Daisy) decides to ask whether Fletcher is Ambrose. She sees that both Ambrose's and a rabbit's footprints are down here, and that the prints were imprinted at the same time, recently, meaning that Ambrose cannot be Fletcher. This leaves just two other shelled suspects: Armond Armadillo and Professor Simon Shellcrest.
Sylvester reveals a streak of light coming through the ceiling of the room. Pushing a stone brick, he asks Gangie to lead the way up the spiral staircase that is revealed, as he would know the place that it leads to best. Following the staircase, the group pop up in Gangie's groundskeeper's cottage, in the base of the chimney. Gangie is completely mystified by this. From the cottage, they can see terrified guests being backed into the corner of the Loam Hall ballroom by a shouting constable.
Buckster suggests that they leave, as they are now free from the police and the murderer, before remembering the contract still on James's body, and his knife in the hands of the mouse maids, and deciding that they should all stay as it is the 'right thing to do.' They see, in the ballroom of Loam Hall, one of the guests telling the constable that Matilda Molesly is the one who knows the house best, and then see the constable grab her by the neck, lift her up, and tell her she has to tell them everything that she knows, as she cries out. The group realises that, at this current moment in time, they seem like the murderers, as they are the ones that are missing, and that the guests won't help them whilst these constables are around. They know that they need to find some way of getting rid of these constables, and that they need to clear Sylvester's name, and all of their names by association, by proving who the actual murderer is, and capturing them. They also realise, as Daisy had determined earlier on in the downstairs bathroom, that "D" stands for docks, and that "T" stands for tower, as the top of the tower is framed in light.
Lars and Sylvester decide to insight check Gangie to see if he has anything to do with the murders, as the passage in the ritual room leads to his cottage. They realise that it does not look like Gangie has ever used the passage in his chimney. The group makes plans for their re-entrance into Loam Hall. Lars looks around and sees that one of the constables is posted up by the door of the boathouse by the docks. They decide that they will go over to the docks. Sylvester and Daisy decide that they both need to end up making it the tower. Buckster decides that he will cause a distraction by going in through the front door. Ian decides he will follow after Buckster through the front door, and try to help Matilda and the guests. Daisy decides that she will also go through the front door, and will use the cover of Buckster's distraction to sneak through the manor to the tower. Gangie decides that he will sneak through the side entrance, due to his more suspicious status, and then come through to the ballroom to help the guests, and, most importantly, Matilda, his foster mother. As they all take off, Lars wishes Sylvester "good luck," and says they will meet him in the tower. Left behind, as he is the most suspicious of the group, Sylvester knows that it would be safest for him to remain in Gangie's groundskeeper's cottage. However, looking up at the tower, he sees, illuminated in a flash of lightning, a rope, hanging from the tallest window of the tower.
Locations[]
- The basement
- The elevator
- Gangie's groundskeeper's cottage
- The docks
- The ritual room
Characters[]
The Sylvan Sleuths[]
- Gangie Green
- Vicar Ian Prescott
- Lars Vandenchomp
- Detective Sylvester Cross
- Buckster $ Boyd
- Daisy D'umpstaire
New[]
Returning[]
Mentioned[]