"OH COME ON!" Lalna shouted at the top of his lungs when he saw Martyn and Toby's bodies for the first time. The scientists' hands flew to his temples as he began to massage the sides of his forehead as he also began muttering to himself, desperately trying to calm himself down. He had begun a few breathing exercises when he heard Rythian stride over to Sips, Sjin, and Minty, the latter of the three still fainted in Sjin's arms.
"What happened?" He heard the mage ask. Sips shrugged with a confused look on his face as Sjin began to stammer out an explanation.
"W-Well, uh, we w-walked in and, and Minty turned on the lights, a-and then Toby fell and broke the table and-"
"That's enough." Lalna, who had managed to lower his rising stress levels, looked over to see Rythian place a hand on the bearded man's shoulder. "We get the gist of it." Sjin stared at him for a moment before he nodded and returned to trying to rouse his girlfriend from her state of shock. Lalna frowned. Ridge's murder was bad enough, but with the death count at four now, it was clear everyone was starting to lose it. The scientist sighed and looked at Toby's body in front of him.
"Who was with these two, again? That little Asian girl, right?" he asked. This caused most of the people in the totaled second dining room to look at him.
"Kim? Well, yeah, I think." Zoey gave a hum of thought as she tapped her chin with her robotic hand. "Hmm...oh! Maybe she did it! Am I right, am I right?"
"Kim?!" Sjin suddenly looked up with a mix of shock and confusion on his features. "Why, she wouldn't hurt a fly! I found her near my farm and she's been super sweet ever since. I even taught her some rules of the trade."
"Kim's been on your farm? You two? Alone?" Minty's voice caught everyone by surprise when the blonde looked up and gave Sjin the Evil Eye. The bearded farmer laughed nervously and pulled at his collar as his girlfriend stood up and brushed herself off, apparently having recovered from her previous scare.
"I-It's not what you think!"
"Oh really?"
"Yes! I swear on it!"
"Say, Sjin, didn't this Nano-Jim or whatever her name is pop up a little while after your scarecrow disappeared?" Sips asked suddenly. This caused everybody to look towards Sipsco's CEO's direction for a change.
"Scarecrow? What scarecrow?" Rythian and Zoey asked in unison, causing both of them to share a look before they returned their attention to Sjin. The farmer-slash-dirt trader pulled at his collar again and nervously glanced around. He gave a hard swallow before he spoke.
"Well, yes. I suppose you're right Sips..." He said. He looked over to Rythian and Zoey. "Y'see, I made this scarecrow out of this cool totem thing I found near my farm. A few days later, however, it had disappeared from its post in the wheat field! At first I thought someone had stolen it because my crops had been flattened, but rumors started to go around that some rude dude dressed in purple have been seen hanging near my orchards. During an expedition into the Nether for Glowstone, I found this tower thing-a-ma-jig where Kim was, ahem, 'trapped inside'." He used air quotes around his last words for whatever reason. He gave a curious glance around the room. "You all don't think that Kim is my scarecrow come to life and is going around killing people, do you?"
"It's highly possible with that kind of evidence." Lalna replied, arms crossed over his chest and with a casual shrug. He had been standing back to witness everything. Watching, waiting for the possible murderer to slip something he shouldn't have. Sjin looked as though he was about to make a rebuttal when Rythian spoke up.
"Before we go accusing anybody, let's think realistically." The mage spoke. "First off, totems are a very very very dangerous thing to use, and we can all agree that Sjin was an idiot for using one."
"Hey!"
"Second, I really doubt that a totem, as powerful and dangerous as it is in the wrong hands, can actually come to life and start killing people just because it was put up on a post. Third, who says that this scarecrow built the tower? Kim could've built it herself, or one of us did and just forgot it was there. Fourth, if we're going to say that Kim did all this, where's the proof?"
"Well for starters, Ridgedog was killed with a knife, and Kim was the only one who had access to the kitchen at the time of his death. Kitchens have knives, you know." Honeydew spoke up for the first time in ages. Lalna watched as Rythian nodded in acknowledgement.
"Okay, but this doesn't really work because...?"
"Oh oh oh! Kim was in the kitchen when Ridge died! She couldn't have left the kitchen, stabbed him, and then head back inside the kitchen in the span of a few seconds!" Zoey cried, glancing between each face in the room excitedly as she gave her explanation.
"Yes! Exactly." Rythian replied, pointing a finger towards his apprentice. The redhead gained another toothy smile on her face as the mage continued. "Whoever killed Ridgedog had to be near him when the lights went out. The closest was Xephos, but sadly that theory has already been debunked."
"Speaking of our former spaceman friend, it is quite possible that Kim dealt with Martyn and Toby while nobody else was around, strung them up on the chandelier, and then snuck down to the basement to take out Xephos and Honeydew."
"A scrawny thing like Kim could do all that?" Minty asked, obvious skepticism on her voice. Lalna smirked as he clapped his hands together.
"Which brings me to another interesting point. Kim, if she is responsible for all this, could very easily have a partner in crime. While she took care of poor Martyn and Toby up here, someone went down to take out Xephos and Honeydew down there. This person would've also had to be sitting near Ridge's end of the table. Someone like, I don't know, Sjin?"
"Sjin you lying bastard!" Sips suddenly shouted, though his tone made it obvious he was still unsure about the whole thing. All eyes suddenly flicked in the farmer's direction. The poor man looked mortified.
"What? Me?! How did you come up with that wild idea?" He asked frantically.
"Yeah, Sjin was with Sips and I the entire time! Maybe you're the one behind all this and you're just framing everyone else! Ever think that would become obvious, blondie?" Minty snapped, taking a defensive step forward to protect her boyfriend.
"Lalna you lying bastard!" Sips shouted again, this time wheeling and pointing a finger in the scientist's direction. Lalna threw his arms up in the universal "hey man, be cool" gesture.
"Hey, take it easy! This is all just speculation here."
"Or maybe it was Honeydew, and he killed Xephos to make himself look innocent!" Zoey chimed in. Her tone wasn't angry or accusative at all. It was more like she was just absently voicing an idea.
"Honeydew you lying bastard!"
"Hey, Lil' Red Riding Hood!" Honeydew snapped back, causing Zoey to cringe and take a step away from the dwarf. "Make another comment like that and I swear I will personally-"
"EVERYONE QUIET!" Rythian's voice suddenly pierced the hum of the arguing crowd and caused everyone to go silent. Lalna's eyes widened in surprise as he watched Rythian take a stand for once; or at least, this was the first time he'd seen him do so. The mage shot a disapproving glare at everyone before his expression became less serious, and he sighed. Lalna thought he sounded unbelievably tired.
"Look, let's all just calm down and start thinking rationally again." He spoke. "Pointing fingers will get us nowhere. Yes, it's possible that Kim is the murderer. Yes, it's possible she has an ally. That doesn't mean we have to freak out and call this girl a witch or a demonic scarecrow or whatever. Maybe if we find her, she'll bring up something to prove her innocence."
"Rythian has a point! Don't go hating on Kim just yet, guys. There's still..." Zoey paused to do a quick headcount on her fingers. "...Ten of us? Ten of us! There's still ten of us here and only one-possibly-two murdering-psychos around! Odds are we'll figure this out."
"You know, I just realized something..." Honeydew began, stroking his beard as he thought aloud. "If Lalna, Rythian, Zoey and I could hear Minty scream from the basement, why couldn't Lom, Ravs and Nilesy on the first floor?"
The whole room froze as Lalna, Rythian and Zoey shared the same look of worry. Without waiting for any of the others, the three ran out of the room and headed for the stairs, praying to Notch that the three missing persons were still among the living.