The Witch's Game - By EvaRia

[Kakerlake]

a few questions for the witch:

- Other than through a door or window, there exists no method through which it is possible for a human to enter any of the three guestrooms.

does this also apply for leaving the rooms?

- When you woke up, each of the guestroom windows was locked from the inside.

Is this true for the immediate time after waking up, or when the detective was checking the windows? (or both?)

 - Were Bob, Bert and Fred dead at the moment when the detective woke up?

 - In the story, it sais the detective hears a click when the 3 doors are locked, yet they lock with a bolt which surely wouldn't make a click sound. Do the doors make a click sound when they are locked?

[EvaRia]

Before the four go into the house, the culprit goes in and plants a window-closing robot in each of the closets, not quite closing the closet door. Bob, Bill, and Fred all leave their windows open, and go to bed without looking in the closet. The culprit sneaks in each room via its window, kills the boy/man inside, then climbs out. He/she then uses their robot remote controller to get the robots out of the closet (the door wasn't closed so they can push against it) and go to the window of the bedroom it it in (it has special tread-like feet that allow it to climb up walls) and lock it using its mechanical arms. The culprit then sends the robots back into the closet. The closet doors are left open the the fourth boy doesn't notice when he checks the room later. The culprit then presses a button on the remote control that fries the wiring in the robots. (Basically de-activating them in a way that the robots can never be re-used.)

the windows (which slide sidewards and auto lock) are opened by all three cousins. The culprit then sneaks into the room and kills the cousin inside. (S)he then sneaks out and closes the window behind them. He repeats that with both the other cousins.

I will repeat the red truth:

- No method exists through which it is possible to perfectly seal one of the guestroom windows from outside the guestroom.

Your robot is being controlled from outside the guestroom, so it is disallowed! The autolock is also disallowed!

So cyborgs are allowed, as long as they are humans, right Well, I don't need one for my theory.

Poisonous gas/bacteria was blown through the bottom gap of the front door, killing all your cousins, but since you were incredibly lucky you just happened to be imune. The poisonous gas/bacteria can't be smelled and causes the vomiting of blood until the victim dies. (The cousins can't wake up because of the poison and therefor can't scream for help)

No knife marks on the body, opposed to how the story went. The witch stabbed them :O
The poisonous gas leaves wounds on the body, and causes massive bleeding. Somehow you were not affected by this toxic gas - it's still in the air, but it's invisible and has no smell.

I will repeat the red truth:

- No method exists through which it is possible to kill someone inside one of the guestrooms from outside the room.

This disallows the poison gas method which you describe!

Is this picture accurate for the purposes of displaying the entrances/exits to each room? Doors are dark green, windows are light green, and the couch is positioned such that the doors to the guestrooms cannot be used without waking the detective. (This was constructed only from red truth and the memory of which cousin entered which room).

Very nice. I will acknowledge it.

There are small differences, but for the purposes of this game this image is an accurate representation of the layout of the guesthouse.

a few questions for the witch:

- Other than through a door or window, there exists no method through which it is possible for a human to enter any of the three guestrooms.

does this also apply for leaving the rooms?

Acknowledged. There is also no such method to leave the rooms.

- When you woke up, each of the guestroom windows was locked from the inside.

Is this true for the immediate time after waking up, or when the detective was checking the windows? (or both?)

I will acknowledge both. Both the moment when you woke up and when you came across each window, the windows were perfectly sealed from the inside.

- Were Bob, Bert and Fred dead at the moment when the detective woke up?

Clearly not. My story stands: The witch killed them during the night and escaped using magic! I won't acknowledge any other possibility in red!

- In the story, it sais the detective hears a click when the 3 doors are locked, yet they lock with a bolt which surely wouldn't make a click sound. Do the doors make a click sound when they are locked?

Locking the door makes an audible noise which I decided to describe as a *click*. Is this important? Do you have some blue truth that says so otherwise?

Will we find out the motive of the killer in the solution?

I was more focused on the game aspect so I'm not confident in the motive I prepared being a particularly convincing one. However, I do have one prepared, yes.

[Annele]

You haven't said anyhing against robots yet...


Before the four go into the house, the culprit goes in and plants a window-closing AI robot in each of the closets, not quite closing the closet door. Bob, Bill, and Fred all leave their windows open, and go to bed without looking in the closet. The culprit sneaks in each room via its window, kills the boy/man inside, then climbs out. The robots then use their AI to come of the closet (the door wasn't closed so they can push against it) and go to the window of the bedroom it it in (it has special tread-like feet that allow it to climb up walls) and lock it using its mechanical arms. The robots then travel back to their closet. The closet doors are left open, but the the fourth boy doesn't notice when he checks the room later.

[Kakerlake]

I'm assuming the culprit has a monkey pet which he perfectly trained to open and close windows and doors. The monkey isn't a culprit, but a very nice and cute animal.

In the night, Bob and Bert had their windows open, as it was a hot summer day. Fred however was afraid of the witch and kept his window sealed.
When the trio slept, the culprit killed Bob, advised his cutypie monkey to go inside Bob room, lock the window and hide.
Then the culprit killed Bert, went inside and locked the window.
Then he waited for the detective to wake up, and start screaming and knocking on the doors. As Fred didn't hear any answers from Bob or Bert, he thought they were trolling and didn't answer to not spoil the fun.
When the detective went ourside to check Bob's window, the culprit came through Berts door into the common room and as soon as the detective went to check on Bert, the culprit signalled his monkey to open Bob's door, go into Bert's room and hide there.
Then the culprit silently knocked on Fred's door, who opened with a wide grin and got instantly killed with the uber ninja killing arts of the culprit.
When the detective went to check on Fred, the culprit signalled yet again his monkey to go into Freds room, lock it and hide.
While the detective checked on Fred, the culprit went into Berts room, locked it, went through the window, through the front door, into Bobs room and locked the door.
Just in time, since the detective came back into the common room.
The culprit then was free to leave through the window and fetch his ever so lovely monkey from Fred's room.

[EvaRia]

You haven't said anyhing against robots yet...


Before the four go into the house, the culprit goes in and plants a window-closing AI robot in each of the closets, not quite closing the closet door. Bob, Bill, and Fred all leave their windows open, and go to bed without looking in the closet. The culprit sneaks in each room via its window, kills the boy/man inside, then climbs out. The robots then use their AI to come of the closet (the door wasn't closed so they can push against it) and go to the window of the bedroom it it in (it has special tread-like feet that allow it to climb up walls) and lock it using its mechanical arms. The robots then travel back to their closet. The closet doors are left open, but the the fourth boy doesn't notice when he checks the room later.

Those are quite the magical robots you've got there. As the witch, I can almost approve their use!

But sadly, I can't allow you to set them free in this gameboard...

No form of autonomous device or artificial intelligence is capable perfectly sealing a door or window. I will extend this to weather, natural forces, animals or any other method which does not require the direct action of a human or use of magic.

[EvaRia]

I'm assuming the culprit has a monkey pet which he perfectly trained to open and close windows and doors. The monkey isn't a culprit, but a very nice and cute animal.

In the night, Bob and Bert had their windows open, as it was a hot summer day. Fred however was afraid of the witch and kept his window sealed.
When the trio slept, the culprit killed Bob, advised his cutypie monkey to go inside Bob room, lock the window and hide.
Then the culprit killed Bert, went inside and locked the window.
Then he waited for the detective to wake up, and start screaming and knocking on the doors. As Fred didn't hear any answers from Bob or Bert, he thought they were trolling and didn't answer to not spoil the fun.
When the detective went ourside to check Bob's window, the culprit came through Berts door into the common room and as soon as the detective went to check on Bert, the culprit signalled his monkey to open Bob's door, go into Bert's room and hide there.
Then the culprit silently knocked on Fred's door, who opened with a wide grin and got instantly killed with the uber ninja killing arts of the culprit.
When the detective went to check on Fred, the culprit signalled yet again his monkey to go into Freds room, lock it and hide.
While the detective checked on Fred, the culprit went into Berts room, locked it, went through the window, through the front door, into Bobs room and locked the door.
Just in time, since the detective came back into the common room.
The culprit then was free to leave through the window and fetch his ever so lovely monkey from Fred's room.

Interestingly enough, my above red works for this theory as well.

[Kakerlake]

let's go after small parts of the crime here:

How the killing happened:
Since it isn't possible that anything from outside can kill someone inside a room, the culprit must have been inside each of the three rooms to kill the three boys Bob, Bert and Fred. The culprit used a knife (memory) to do it and killed them in their sleep (they weren't able to react in any way).

How the culprit left the room, but having it sealed afterwards:
Since a room can only be perfectly sealed by direct action of a human (or magic) and there may not be a human inside after a sealing happened, something non human must be used which moves due to direct actions of a human (or magic).
Sounds to me like a remote controlled robot that was used to seal the door.

Something is off in the rooms:
The detective was obviously looking into each corner of each room when checking for the boys, and something wasn't how it should be. Since I'm the detective, I should know what I saw there.
Could you please write in red everything that was different in each room compared to what one would expect there?

Motive:
Their car was parked in front of a large gate. Obviously, this must have pissed off the culprit.
The culprit is the gardener! no... the plumber who has a remot controlled robot, usually used to drop into the sewer. duh.
Why did the little one survive? because he's too young to drive!

- When you checked and entered each guestroom, other than you and the respective cousin, no human existed within the room.

This means, that each bath was unlocked and no one was inside, right?

[EvaRia]

How the killing happened:
Since it isn't possible that anything from outside can kill someone inside a room, the culprit must have been inside each of the three rooms to kill the three boys Bob, Bert and Fred. The culprit used a knife (memory) to do it and killed them in their sleep (they weren't able to react in any way).

Blue truth ineffective. This is a valid theory, but explains no part of the actual mystery (The nature of the closed rooms). As such, I give you no answer in red.

How the culprit left the room, but having it sealed afterwards:
Since a room can only be perfectly sealed by direct action of a human (or magic) and there may not be a human inside after a sealing happened, something non human must be used which moves due to direct actions of a human (or magic).
Sounds to me like a remote controlled robot that was used to seal the door.

I will extend my definition.

The definition of a "direct action" required to perfectly seal a window includes a prerequisite of direct physical contact. Any inclusion of a device or third party to seal a window is considered indirect.

Something is off in the rooms:
The detective was obviously looking into each corner of each room when checking for the boys, and something wasn't how it should be. Since I'm the detective, I should know what I saw there.
Could you please write in red everything that was different in each room compared to what one would expect there?

Once again, this blue truth explains nothing and therefore is ineffective. It is more of a normal question and I will treat it as such.

I will repeat the red truth:

- Your memory is accurate to the narration in the story.

In other words, anything strange that you actually noticed within the guestrooms has already been described in the story. You were in a state of panic, of course, so there's only so much you can calmly observe in the situation.

Motive:
Their car was parked in front of a large gate. Obviously, this must have pissed off the culprit.
The culprit is the gardener! no... the plumber who has a remot controlled robot, usually used to drop into the sewer. duh.
Why did the little one survive? because he's too young to drive!

Blue truth ineffective. Once again, this does not explain the mystery and I will refuse to answer in red. You are free to think what you will of the motive.

- When you checked and entered each guestroom, other than you and the respective cousin, no human existed within the room.

This means, that each bath was unlocked and no one was inside, right?

This does not necessarily mean the bath was unlocked but it does definitely mean that nobody was inside.

[timetock]

The culprit was already hiding in the rooms when the boys walked in. The witch attacks the first one, killing him instantly and putting him on the bed. Another witch in the second room kills the second cousin, while the first witch dashes quickly to the 3rd room and ambushes the 3rd cousin. They die without a sound. The witches then lock the door with a prepared magnet (after carefully placing the cousins on the bed, of course) and because they were insane they leave the detective alone. They then wait for the detective to go to sleep and they hide somewhere in the guesthouse. They make their escape when the detective leaves the house.

[xyan]

The culprit was already hiding in the rooms when the boys walked in. The witch attacks the first one, killing him instantly and putting him on the bed. Another witch in the second room kills the second cousin, while the first witch dashes quickly to the 3rd room and ambushes the 3rd cousin. They die without a sound. The witches then lock the door with a prepared magnet (after carefully placing the cousins on the bed, of course) and because they were insane they leave the detective alone. They then wait for the detective to go to sleep and they hide somewhere in the guesthouse. They make their escape when the detective leaves the house.

Methinks the witch will dislike repetition of red truths at this point, maybe she'll give a new one.

[timetock]

Methinks the witch will dislike repetition of red truths at this point, maybe she'll give a new one.

you can't expect someone (other than the witch perhaps) to remember all the red truths. Also they're red, which is kinda hard to read and hurts the eyes. I'm sorry if I breached a truth (I did take time to go through them, mind you), but as a person who joined halfway I kindly ask you to remind me of anything that I might have missed  Thank you.

[xyan]

you can't expect someone (other than the witch perhaps) to remember all the red truths. Also they're red, which is kinda hard to read and hurts the eyes. I'm sorry if I breached a truth (I did take time to go through them, mind you), but as a person who joined halfway I kindly ask you to remind me of anything that I might have missed  Thank you.

based on your blue, these things are negated by red truths:
no more than 1 culprit
you did not explain how movement was done from room to room with locked doors and windows
no trick, even a magnet, can open a door or window