Castle caper Part 1

The girls arrived in London, in little under 3 hours and made their way out of the airport. Since Eriza was supposedly arriving by boat, everyone felt they'd get the jump on her. However, much to their dismay, Melinda was outside waiting for them.

"Oi, you ain't supposed to fucking cheat like this, dammit! No shortcuts! Go back to Italy!"

"Yeah, make us. We can pass the time by kicking your teeth in," Serika glared as she cracked her knuckles.

Melinda scowled, but quickly regained her composure as she explained that there was something they could all do to pass the time. "See, there's this castle murder mystery attraction nearby. I hid a key that will be vital to saving Eriza there, so better go get it. Oh, and there's also a clue there too, so have fun."

Before the girls could react, Melinda suddenly vanished in a puff of smoke, leaving them with little choice, but to humor her.

...

“Wow, this place looks cool,” Madoka mused.

“Seems like there’s quite a few people here,” Yuni stated.

“So, what is this castle anyway?” Serika asked.

Emeri explained that the place was known as R-castle. It was said to be haunted by the ghost of Jack the riper, but had quickly become an interactive murder mystery tourist spot.

“Welcome everyone,” a man in a fancy cloak stated. “I am the Count of this castle, and I shall be your host tonight. You are all gathered here because a terrible murder has occurred. My beloved daughter, Mary has been slashed to death. Since I don’t believe in ghosts, I think one of the people living here is responsible. You fine detectives must identify the culprit before 2:00 A.M. If the culprit is not identified in the 6 hours you have, they will escape when the drawbridge is lowered. All the information you need is on the table. Please, you must catch that murderer!”

The girls walked over to the table and picked up their dossier. Inside was a list of the suspects, information on the crime scene, and a clue.

“Hunt the Baskervilles to find the passage. Float not but gaze upon the boat under the moon,” Emeri read.

“Great, we’re probably gonna have to solve one of that bitch’s crimes,” Serika growled.

“Why’re you so grumpy? We are detectives are we not? Let’s solve this mystery, Onee-san!” Yuni smiled.

“Let me play detective too!” Madoka waved.

“Mado-chan, they are- er, were real detectives back in Japan,” Emeri sighed.

The girls walked through the halls of the castle as they searched for the answer to the clue.

“I wonder if that message is specifically for us, or if it’s part of the game,” Yuni mused.

“Where would we find Baskervilles? Maybe in the yard?” Serika suggested.

“I doubt it, the garden doesn’t seem big enough, though maybe there’s a hidden passageway there.”

“Why not try the library? Perhaps the book is what we are supposed to seek,” Emeri hypothesized.

Suddenly, Madoka tackled the three, saving them from just barely being sliced by an axe. Then much to everyone's horror, the knight statue began moving and picked up the axe in an attempt at round 2.

Madoka didn't let him, and delivered a powerful, MADOKA KICK to his chest, sending him flying down the hall. Madoka huffed in rpide at her accomplishment, but as Emeri took a closer look at the axe, things got awkward.

“Um, Mado-chan, the axe isn’t real. I think that guy was a hired actor."

Madoka nervously stared down the hall at the knight, sprawled out on the ground, twtitching in pain. "Uh, let's got to the library."

As the girls made their escape, staff members began crowding around the knight and attempting to revive him.

"Well now we got bigger problems," Serika grumbled.

“Hey, I didn’t know he was fake!” Madoka pouted.

“We’ll apologize once we get the key. We can’t risk getting kicked out,” Emeri stated.

The girls reached the library and began looking through the books.

“Oo! I found bard of the Baskervilles! Bards of the Maskervilles!” Madoka exclaimed as she pulled a book out.

“It’s not Bards of the Baskervilles you idiot. It's HOUNDS of the Baskervilles!” Serika growled as she walked over.

As Madoka opened the book, a puff of sleeping gas was released. The bookcase then opened as two pairs of hands grabbed the drowsy Serika and Madoka and whisked them away before Yuni and Emeri could notice.

“I found it. This one’s got hounds in the title,” Yuni stated as a secret passageway opened.

She immediately ran in as Emeri followed behind her. Four pairs of footsteps echoed as the girls came to a window looking out into the lake.

“Yuni-chan, I see a boat floating on the water,” Emeri exclaimed.

“Hmm, I don’t see any message, say Mado-AAAHH!”

Yuni screamed in horror as she turned to see two ghastly apparitions standing behind them. One was a bloody woman, while the other was a man with a pale white face, a demented smile, and a sharp bloodstained knife. Emeri and Yuni immediately ran away as fast as they could as the apparitions gave chase.

...

Madoka and Serika awoke bound and gagged in a small room with a fireplace.

“Mmph! Mmph mmph [Hey, get us out of here already]!" Serika grumbled.

However, Madoka just froze in shock as she attempted to communicate with Serika via blinking morse code.

“We- can’t- be- reckless. These- ropes- are- wired- to- bombs. BOMBS!?”

Sure enough, a single wire tied to each girls’ wrist was linked to a maniacal looking explosive device. Worst of all, the device had a timer, and was slowly ticking down to zero.