Chapter 3.2 Writeup :
Norimizu and his two side-kicks are dumbfounded when it comes to the photographic plates : there hasn’t been so far any signs that the people of Black Death Manor have dabbled in photography. Or maybe the plates somehow were used to show something to Grete Danneberg ? Whatever the explanation, it points to the mysterious figure seen by Tago Shinsai as a real person, and not a supernatural being. Our heros decide to investigate the foot traces in the garden, before it gets dark, but Norimizu first wants to check the score of the Requiem that was played earlier. They visit the library, where Shizuko is working. Much like the early descriptions of the Manor, the library seems to hold every possible books about every possible subjects, be it music, philosophy, or the occult. As for the Requiem, Norimizu thought it would have been written, or at least amended, by Santetsu; but he’s wrong, and the Requiem was written by Claude Digsby ! It seems also that Grete Danneberg visites the library often during her last days, more precisely a side room where many books awaiting new bindings are stored without order. Norimizu is looking for a specific book there… and finds it, or more precisely, finds the cover and binding, but inside, the book itself is quite different. Even more so because it actually holds a hidden key : the presumed-lost key to the medicine room !
Our heroes then go to investigate this medicine room. It lies close to the former laboratory of Santetsu, but also close to the room where the seance took place the previous night. Our heroes find a vial of potassium cyanide, empty, and other drugs which, combined, can induce a coma in the victim… or maybe the criminal just left them here to mock the detectives. Once more, they find traces of Claude Digsby, in a note left by Santetsu which seems to indicate some sort of opposition or struggle between the two (but Digbsy died before ever setting foot in Black Death Manor…).
Our detectives then move on to the seance room itself, and the adjacent room where the mysterious figure was seen the previous night. There is nothing quite out of the ordinary here, at least, everything seems in line with what happened the previous night. Whether the mysterious figure is real or supernatural remains unclear; and Norimizu points to a possible common meaning between some musical notation in the music they recently heard, and a catafalque. They exit the room, and find the family cemetery further away in the garden; There lies Digsby’s catafalque surrounded by religious, but also occult and alchemical symbols and plants, all of which seems to be in in line with the idea of violent deaths
Thoughts
Another very rich, very dense chapter, which once more flirts with the occult. Black Death Manor continues to be shown as a very excentric, very intellectually rich place… but also a very ominous one. And once again, our detectives, even Norimizu, seems to be a couple of steps behind the murderer. The gothic elements are, once again, played to the hill.
I must admit, however, that I find Norimizu’s logic very hard to follow. I’m pretty sure this will all come together at some point, but some of his decisions seem either arbitrary…
