3536 Glissando
on November 9, 2022
Characters: Abbott Heigh, Cadugan, Captain Ajira, Captain Lilianne Carruthers, Jystine Orlando, Lucas Greyfort, Maula Bloodhand
Location: Abbey of St. Aldwin the Skilled
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Just how fast did the poison work?
That means the harpsichord dropper was not at the prayer. Or at least, left before the end. Just like the victim.
I think I’ll need to re-read the chapter from the start to get a sense of why Maula gives this smug look, though.
The new timing of events might completely exonerate Maula, which is why she looks smug
Yes, we know that, but why?
It’s ok, Kogan explains why below.
I just did, and I still have no idea. As far as I can tell, the victim died by drinking from the bottle from Maula’s room, and everybody already knows the harpsichord didn’t kill her. Why is the timeline even relevant?
BWAAA-HAHAHAHAAA!!!
(deep inhale)
Holy sh!t, Rich – Panel 4 is amazing.
t!
Seriously! Maula looks smug and coy simultaneously, so well done!
That Smug Face would put Jeremy Clarkson to shame.
If I squint real hard, I can make believe there’s a halo over Maula’s head. She is looking both smug and beatific.
Because Maula was at the prayer. She left after the bell and ate lunch in her room.
Initially it was assumed Taurenil died during lunch, but by the time the lunch bell rang, she was already dead.
Yup, for anyone wanting the sources were this is stated:
https://www.yafgc.net/comic/3516-lunch-counter/
Because Maula *took her food* that meant she has an alibi right up to the start of lunch. The assumption that the murder had happened at lunch was simply because the first moment someone noticed she was missing was at lunch (when she didn’t appear) but Carruthers failed to account that it could have happened earlier too. That said I am not convinced that Maula still has an airtight alibi, we aren’t accounting on her for prayer.
And indeed we know that Taurenil was incapacitated with pratroot and killed with a needle before the hapischord event, so she was killed any time between
Generally, following conventions, at this point we should be able to solve "the easy mystery" (normally whondunnit) with the hard mystery (why) still to be revealed. That said, nowadays with the internet I could see why we wouldn’t want to release this too soon, as the surprised could be ruined for everyone.
The cause seems to be that Taurenil was researching on the past of the artifacts and context on those. Probably triggered by her anger at the giving away of the artifacts, believing they weren’t legitimately the order’s to give away. Her book couldn’t have been magic, but instead was a series of names, it was a family tree, she was tracking it and trying to find how that family connected to the temple. In what way I don’t know. The person who murdered was someone who wanted those artifacts to be given as a price. They probably gave the prattroot and then stuck the needle, and used the harpsichord to fix the issue. I wouldn’t be surprised that the body was moved, and the murder happened elsewhere. Personally I’m starting to suspect the Abbott but have no evidence, just a hunch. I don’t think that the murderer had to know if prattroot worked, but given the value of the artifacts (maybe they are magical, but this can only be revealed if they leave the protection bubble) the possibility of revival to solve the mystery was too worrisome, so the needle was intended to ensure revival was impossible, and the harpsichord to create an alternative alibi.
How has nobody noticed that the real punchline is that Maula wasn’t in the crowd until panel 4?