Murder Mystery
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This is the quick guide for Murder Mystery. For a more in-depth version, click here.
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| File:Murder Mystery.jpg | |
| Release date | 9 June 2003 (Update) |
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| Members only? | Yes |
| Quest series | None |
| Official difficulty | Novice |
| Official length | Short |
| Developer | James B |
Murder Mystery is a unique quest, in that, everything is random and there is a good amount of detective work you have to do on your own. However, there are plenty of clues to be found as to who the culprit is. The murderer varies on every account.
Official description
| “ | Old man Sinclair has been found dead in his mansion! Unfortunately, the local authorities are having some trouble figuring out who's the guilty party. Maybe the eye of a passing adventurer will be of help. | ” |
Walkthrough
| Start point: |  The Sinclair Mansion, situated north of Camelot and north-east of Seers' Village.
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| Members only: | Yes |
| Official difficulty: |  Novice
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| Description: | None |
| Length: | Short-Medium (Anywhere between 15 and 30 minutes) |
| Requirements: | None |
| Items required: | |
| Enemies to defeat: | None |
Before starting, check the Glitches section to prevent getting stuck in a certain part of the quest.
Crime Scene Investigation
To begin, talk to one of the guards near Sinclair Mansion, located directly north of the Seers' Village. They tell you that Lord Sinclair has been murdered and they cannot figure out who killed him. Offer your help, and he says that you should question the family to gather information about the murder.
First, search the murder scene, which is on the eastern side of the mansion. Inside will be a pungent pot which you should collect, along with the criminal's dagger.
Search the smashed window to find the criminal's thread. You will need to talk to the guard there to be able to investigate it. Whilst in this area, you must also investigate the wooden gate. Then, go around to the various bedrooms belonging to the suspects to find a number of silver items, all contained within barrels in each room. (There are four rooms upstairs and two on the ground floor.) Look for:
- Anna's Silver necklace
- Bob's Silver cup
- Carol's Silver bottle
- David's Silver book
- Elizabeth's Silver needle
- Frank's Silver pot
Tip: As soon as you figure out whose fingerprint it is, check their story about how they used their poison. Verify that their story is not true by checking that area and then talk to the guard to finish the quest. You no longer have to talk to everyone else in the mansion to be able to finish the quest.
The Usual Suspects
Now it's time to get your first piece of evidence. Go to the Gardener's shed and search the sacks to find some flypaper, you may need up to seven sheets, so collect them all if you have the inventory space. Go to the kitchen and fill your pot with flour (the kitchen is next to the stairs). Use the flour on the criminal's dagger, then use the dagger on a piece of flypaper to get an unknown print (Fill five pots with flour from the Sinclair Mansion' is also a easy Seers' Village task).
Dust each silver item with flour and use the flypaper to lift fingerprints from the items, then compare them to the print of the silver dagger you found at the crime scene (use the unknown print together with everyone of the suspects' prints). Once you've got a match, you can drop all the other silver items. You'll need more than just that for a conviction, though.
Sherlock in the House
Next, you need to gather info about the poison. Go to the mansion gate and speak to Gossip, loitering around the guards and ask him who he thinks is responsible. He will tell you that he saw a poison salesman who came in the village and gave a huge sale on poison to the family. The poison salesman is in the pub in Seers' Village.
Travel to the pub and ask him about the poison and he'll tell you that everyone at the mansion bought some. Go back and ask the person with the matching fingerprints what he/she used the poison for. Then check the corresponding item or area. Things will not be as they said.
Law and Order
- If you have found matching finger prints for Eliz, the daughter of the deceased man, then she will say that she had used the poison on the fountain. Go and investigate the fountain, but in the dialogue it will say that no one has touched, or poisoned the fountain.
- If you have found matching finger prints for Bob, he will say they had a problem with the beehive in the garden (located near the milk seller) and had used the poison on it and you must investigate it. It will say, "The beehive buzzes with activity. The bees definitely don't seem poisoned at all"
- If you have found matching finger prints for Carol, she will say that she had used the poison on the drain to unclog it, you must investigate the drain. It will say, "The drain is totally blocked. It really stinks. No, it REALLY smells bad. It's certainly clear that nobody's cleaned it recently."
- If you have found matching finger prints for Anna, she will say that she had used the poison on the compost heap. When investigated, the dialogue will say, "The compost is teeming with maggots. Somebody should really do something about it. It's certainly clear nobody's used poison here."
- If you found matching fingerprints for David, he will say that there was a nest of spiders upstairs between the two servants' quarters and that he had to kill them all before their pathetic servants whined at his father. When you investigate the spider web, it says that there is a spider's nest here and you estimate there must be at least a few hundred spiders ready to hatch. It's certainly clear nobody's used poison here.
- If you found matching fingerprints for Frank, he'll say that he was cleaning the family crest with it. Go outside, and check the wall. It will mention that it is still dirty, and there is no evidence of cleaning here.
Go back and talk to a guard and tell him you know who did it. Show him the fingerprints, tell him about the poison, and show him the thread from the window-sill, since its colour will be a match to an article of the guilty party's clothing. Case closed!
Rewards
- 3 Quest Points
- 2,000 coins
- 1,406
Experience - 2 extra spins on the Squeal of Fortune
Music unlocked
Required for completing
Completion of Murder Mystery is required for the following:
- King's Ransom
- Recipe for Disaster/Freeing the Lumbridge Sage
- Seers' Village Tasks:
- Easy: "Bunch of Flours"
Glitches
- In some cases, the pot and the dagger will not appear in the room, nor anywhere else in the house. If that occurs, log out and back in and you will see them where they are supposed to be.
- Players who work on the quest while logged on to the French language edition of RuneScape may be able to locate David's silver book in Bob's barrel.
Trivia
- This quest is a reference to the Milton Bradley board game "Clue" (aka "Cluedo").
- During the quest the poison salesman will say that the poison is called, "Peter Potter's Patented Poison Potion" which may be a reference from the tongue twister, "Peter Piper Picked A Peck of Pickled Peppers," or it may just be an example of an alliteration.
- Hobbes mentions that he didn't hear the dog barking, suggesting that the murder wasn't committed by a stranger. This may be a reference to the Sherlock Holmes story "Silver Blaze" which hinges on the same point.
- The six suspects have names that start with the first six letters of the alphabet.
- After proving who the culprit is to the guard he will say, "We don't have many murders in RuneScape." This is strange, due to the fact players murder each other all the time.
- At the beginning of the quest the guard says, "Every murder leaves clues to who done it." This may be a reference to the mystery genre, Whodunnit.