(PC) Let's Play Mystery Case Files: Ravenhearst Part 16
0BRIEFING
Entry #16 (Hidden Correspondence)
July 28, 1895
Fever weakens me such that I have difficulty focusing my vision. My hands have begun to convulse and I have great difficulty holding, let along updating, this very journal. Rose often records my thoughts as I dictate, but I still have enough stamina to make these updates.
After discovering the dress, and Rose’s increasing anxiety towards Charles, we have agreed to hide my diary. I fear this anxiety may be quite well-founded, however, with our newest finding. While cleaning the third floor, Rose discovered that Charles has secretly adorned an upstairs bedroom with all the trappings of a nursery, including a crib! Unsettled, I demanded to see the room myself. Upon inspection, I found that the crib contained unopened correspondence from my family in the United States!
I am scared for my very life.
Time Limit (Standard/Relaxed): 30 minutes/60 minutes
Required Items: 45
Total Items: 48
LOCATIONS
Cellar: 8
Entry: 8
Garage: 8
Guest Bathroom: 8
Master Bedroom: 8
Wardrobe: 8
THE LOCKSMITH
Chapter 16 – Silique
On July 24, 1895, Charles introduced Emma to the maid who would be assisting her during her days while he was away from the house. Emma, feebly welcoming the kind woman, was giddy with the prospect that her recovery may very well be on the way. Benevolently offering her a cup of herbal tea with a tender smile, her appearance was nothing short of maternal. She introduced herself to Emma as Rose Somerset, servant for hire.
For Charles, this was not a coincidence. Assailed by money woes, Rose had put him on increased alert towards the nature of her and her husband’s finances. Upon mentioning that Emma had been growing too demanding to handle alone, she came up with an idea. Garnering the approval of Reginald as an occupational upgrade, Rose was to be both a maid for the manor and a nurse for Emma’s illness. The salary was profoundly better, so Rose traded in her bar apron for a maid’s uniform.
Around that time, Emma was also in the midst of a transition. With Charles’ search for her cure turning resolutely fruitless, she was starting to resign herself to the fact that her affliction was likely beyond the realm of modern medicine. Upon realizing that she was now reliant on a wheelchair to move around the house, Emma reacted with more annoyance than alarm. Rather than question the nature of such a purchase, she welcomed how Charles had bought enough wheelchairs for her to move about on whichever portion of the estate she wanted to visit.
As always, Charles and Ramesh were to blame for Emma’s deteriorating condition. Four days prior, Charles had complained to him that his cocktail of cotoneaster and chloral hydrate was starting to ebb in effectiveness. If Emma was to remain in his grasp, he needed to purchase the most potent substance Ramesh had on him that could incapacitate her. Sure enough, a type of tea immediately sprung to his mind. Before searching for it, he entertained Charles with a concise history of the item in question.
In the fourteenth century, an emperor known as Timur was heralding what was fast becoming a growing superpower throughout Asia. With his genius application of force and strategy, he was beloved by his allies and dreaded by his enemies. His crowning achievement was the cultivation of the Surkhab poppy, a plant whose opium could effortlessly kill a man, which Timur had used in false diplomatic meetings. Among his subjects, he grew particularly fond of the farmers of the Surkhab River, the key agriculturalists who provided him with the means of domination.
However, there was a single farmer who was unimpressed with Timur’s accomplishments. Sensing he could make more in another empire, he followed the Silk Road eastward, bringing the poppy’s seeds with him to Ming China. Once he arrived in Nanjing, he headed straight to the court of Zhu Yuanzhang, armed with the knowledge of effective conquering and how to cultivate the necessary flowers. Zhu, impressed, welcomed him into his palace as an asset towards territorial expansion. Afterwards, he had abandoned his old life from Afghanistan and had welcomed his new one, Sinicizing his name to Du Huanong as he resided into a caste of royalty and luxury.
Having pitched Timur’s tactics successfully, the Du family was integral to the expansion of the Ming dynasty. By 1390, Du had moved his operations to Yunnan, cultivating the flowers along the Red River. During his days as a ferocious florist, he had further evolved upon Timur’s central thesis. If opium could be used as a vessel for poison, then why not something far more mundane so that it wouldn’t elicit attention? As he sipped his tea, the kernel of an idea began to germinate. By lacing the tea leaves with poppy’s nectar, Du boasted that he discovered a way to craft a krait out of chai. His emperor employers seconded his idea, following a successful experiment during their campaigns in Manchuria.
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