Master of Games:A Sherlock Holmes Mystery

FINAL DRAFT

By

Jesse Young & Ahmad Cooper

2015/2016 'Cyclopean Media'

http :// cyclopeanmedia . com /

romantiscience@gmail.com

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CHARACTERSCast:Sherlock Holmes (Male): Titular character, world-renowned consulting detective. Prior to his mysterious murder he orchestrates the most skilled 'game pieces' to come together to determine which among them is his killer.

Pawn (Male): The smart-alec son of the stuffy King. Pawn has a proverbial chip on his shoulder, unhappy with the lowly rank of pawn. His relationship with his father is strained, mostly attributable to not being nearly so reverent of Chess and the storied family legacy it represents.

King (Male): Laying on thick the airs and graces, King is an old fashioned sort, doggedly devoted to chess strategy. He often speaks in terms of chess metaphors. A Chess supremacist, he considers it the only game worth playing, 'The worthiest pursuit of kings'.Cthulhu (Female): A technophile and avid video gamer. She clasheswith the traditionalist King who considers video games 'beneath consideration'. Also good at resolving conflicts, she often acts as de facto mediator.Domino (male): A rather morose and cynical person but nevertheless caring and engaged. Thankful for Cthulhu's intervention during a suicide attempt, Domino is always at Cthulhu's side and is want to heed her above anybody else.

Die (Female): A dyed-in-the-wool (pun intended) role-player. Shehas a bursting imagination but is quick to lose her cool.

Robber (Male): Robber comes across as somewhat conceited. And he is a little....owing to the fame gained by the success of the Settlers of Catan games. He likes to be in charge at all times and can be rather insensitive. In very simple terms, kinda a douche-bag.

Yellow (Male): A criminal psychologist. Yellow is practical and intelligent. He's rather difficult to pin down. Detached and aloof at times and deeply impassioned at others, Yellow never seems to have a fixed personality. He resides at the Cluedo mansion so was the first person to discover Sherlock's body.

Ikusa Bros. (Female): These inseparable twins are obsessed war gaming fanatics and history buffs. Shrewd and judicious, they apply their apply their prowess as a practical life philosophy. Sometimes their love of war causes them to be more unforgiving than most on social issues.

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OPENING LOGOS 'Cyclopean Media' motion graphic Presents A film by Ahmad Cooper and Jesse YoungFADE OUT, FADE INEXT. UNDISCLOSED ALLEY, NIGHT

MEDIUM CLOSE UP IN PROFILE SHERLOCK Holmes Sherlock Holmes absently walks by smoking a pipe. Looking distracted, his head bobbing up and down with each step. MEDIUM SHOT SHERLOCK Holmes The camera pulls out to show Sherlock Holmes strolling somberly past gaslight street-lamps. He looks a man about toface death but at peace with that fact. Light cascades over his face as he pushes onward. Interspersed flashbacks have him writing out his last will and testament. Film opening credits appear as part of the background scenery, painted onto benches etc. - Staring Voice Actor A- Voice Actor B, C, D and so on. Flashforwards of a graveyard with Sherlock's gravestone prominently placed atop a small rise under a tree. Credits continue as the music begins to swell. - And Voice Actor G as Sherlock Holmes- Music by Jesse Young- Additional Music by Z & Y- Written, Directed, Animated and Edited by Ahmad Cooper andJesse Young. EXT. CLUEDO MANSION, NIGHT

Sherlock Holmes is seen from behind entering the Cluedo mansion through the front entrance, turning to face the camera as he steps over the threshold. The words 'Last Night' spell themselves out in scrabble pieces in front of the mansion.

INT. CLUEDO MANSION, MOSTLY DARK Sherlock flicks on his torch after fumbling about in his inner coat pocket. A beam of torchlight scans across the

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entrance hall like a radar. There is a light rustle. The light quickly snaps back, alighting on a dark shape just outof frame. The camera angles up to reveal a shadowy figure. SHADOWY FIGURE

(MUFFLED VOICE)*Mostly incomprehensible* Drop *mumbles*alone, weapon, too easy.

CLOSE UP SHERLOCK Holmes Sherlock is seen to place his gun on the floor and step back several paces, raising his arms in surrender.

SHERLOCK HOLMES (CLAPPING ABOVE HIS HEAD)

A-ha! Of course...Bravo! But we both know neither of us has been playing by Queensberry rules exactly in all this.

A dull thud is heard as Sherlock is knocked to the ground. A dragging sound is heard.

FADE OUTFADE IN

Sherlock Holmes is seen tied up in a corner. Signsof injury about his body.

FADE OUT

SHADOWY FIGURE*Mostly incomprehensible* laughs *mumbles*overestimate, take no pleasure, whatever trap you're hoping to spring on me I'll hop right past.

SHERLOCK HOLMESI expect so lucky rabbit. Except...except of course a trap left out in the open is apuzzle, as all animal traps are. A delicious danger whose solution echoes 'Weare all hunter and hunted at once. The only true hunter is the master of games. For they have the cleverest traps. Only they are truly free. For only they have let themselves be hunted so long there is a not a trap among all the other hunters that can keep them.'

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At this, Sherlock flashes a SLY GRIN. His head lollsan arc to rest chin against chest. The shadow of an approaching figure creeps closer.

The title screen barrels forth. A dot spiraling outward from the middle distance to a drum roll and rousing orchestral flare. The movie title reads,

- Master of Games: A Sherlock Holmes Mystery.

Behind the title a scene of Sherlock's gravestone engraved with the words 'Death cannot be conquered. The wise player seeks not to checkmate her but to stalemate. Sherlock departs this world as death's equal'. The shot lingers on the gravestone.

There is a FLASH and a GUNSHOT is heard.Blood sprays steaming and deep red in streaks like hot lashes across the cool marble of the headstone. This is hilarious

EXTEME CLOSE UP SHERLOCK HOLMES

In flashes the screen alternates from total darkness to Sherlock's face numerous times. With each flash the camera draws closer. The final flash reveals Sherlock Holmes sprawled out on the floor. A scream rings out then a weak gasping sound is heard followed by a death rattle.

INT. CLUEDO MANSION (DINING ROOM)

Sherlock's body is stretched across the floor of the dining room. The room SPINS as blood rises up in geysers from his chest and abdomen. His pipe drops from his mouth beside him and his signature cap is carried away by the torrent of blood. His faint gasping subsides as he quickly succumbs to death. Dude, how much blood in this scene!?FADE OUT

INT. WOODEN DESK A letter UNFURLS itself on the desk. The letterhead reads,'221B Baker Street London NW1'. The heading 'Being the last will and testament of one William Sherlock Scott Holmes'. The camera zooms such that only the top third of the page remains visible. Writing begins to appear on the letter as Sherlock's V.O. reads it aloud. The camera pans down slowly,keeping the current sentence in frame. As the will is read

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aloud the silhouettes of the 8 recipients of the letter appear over the page in turn. Each recipient reading a portion of the will. Unobtrusive text at the bottom-left of the screen announces each character's name.

SHERLOCK HOMLES/VARIOUS(V.O.)I, William Sherlock Scott Holmes, residentin the City of London, being of sound mindand disposing memory and not acting under duress or undue influence, and fully understanding the nature and extent of allmy property and of this disposition thereof, do hereby make, publish, and declare this document to be my Last Will and Testament, and do hereby revoke any and all other wills and codicils heretofore made by me. FIRST: a. Subject to the payment of my debts funeral expenses and administration expenses I bequeath all my property both real and personal to my partner Dr John H.Watson and appoint him sole executor of this my will. b. I wish to be interred at St Woolos Cemetery. Funeral arrangements are to be handled by Dr John H. Watson as he sees fit. SECOND:a. For purposes that will shortly become apparent this will has been distributed toselect individuals in a time-sensitive manner. I would ask all those in possession of this document to carefully read sub-section b. that follows.b. Eight people will receive this will on the morning of the 28th of the eighth monthin the year of our lord 2015 (really?). The precise time of delivery being predetermined such that you yourself and the seven others are duly afforded equal time in making adequate preparations for what follows.

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That you are reading this means I have been murdered. This will was written in the full knowledge of the likelihood of myimminent death. Not since dismantling Moriarty's blasted network all those yearsago have I had such cause to doubt the supremacy of my intellect. Of the blighted fiend I know only that they count themselves among your number. My final eight suspects. Which of you reads this with a knowing grin? Waiting for my last hurrah so you may wrest the title of 'Master of Games'. The one who walks knowingly into a trap. One so much like me, who walked knowingly to their death. Knowingly yes! Dying on myown terms. Events orchestrated so what hadbecome unavoidable could happen where I needed it to happen, on the Cluedo game-board. Where all eight recipients should convene immediately upon reading this letter in full. Have you worked it out? Or did I make you think you have. That is why you'll come. To pass among the assembled minds triumphant; rabbit, hunter, wolf, 'Master of Games'. Cluedo - not for the poetic irony, but isn't it fitting? The perfect setting for the ultimate murder-mystery....And the killer walks amongst you. No elipsis in a willOh great gamers, perceptive puzzlers, riddle resolvers and paradox perpetrators feel flattered that I credit you with the ability to do me in. Come together on the morn anon to find my body. You all know mymethods, apply them. It will take your combined cunning to outdo the one who would be master of our fates. Some partingadvice - remember to look for consistency,where there is a want of it we must suspect deception.Signed by the testator in our joint presence and attested by us in the presence of him and of each other

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TEASTATOR - William Sherlock Scott Holmes (Signature)WITNESS 1 - Mycroft Holmes (Signature)WITNESS 2 - Dolores Hudson (Signature)super fun read, but i think this will be a slow scene to just view thewill line by line. I deleted chunks that idon't think are nesecary to be read aloud,but can pass by on the screen?

FADE OUTINT. WOODEN DESK

ARIEL SHOT CLUEDO BOX

On top of the box lid of the board-game Cluedo scrabble pieces assemble themselves into the words 'That morning' as the camera zooms in. INT. CLUEDO MANSION The Cluedo mansion is deserted except for Sherlock's mangled corpse. While the sun RISES the camera ZOOMS from the body of Sherlock out and up toshow the entire board as the 8 suspects descend on the mansion. FADE OUT

INT. CLUEDO MANSION Establishing shot of entire interior of the mansion. Sherlock's bloody corpse is visible in the dining room. The eight starting positions of the board are occupied by the eight murder suspects. Medium shots show all the suspects standing stock-still. Domino is the first to move, making a bee-line straight for Sherlock's body.

DOMINOSherlock how can it be? Say it! prank or stunt but not....

As Domino mourns over Sherlock's body the other suspects rush into the dining room.

EVERYONE

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(Screaming in unison) Sherlock!!!!! DOMINO (Sighing) Death...

PAWN They really went to town.

IKUSA BROS.It's calculated disrespect.

FADE OUT.

INT. CLUEDO MANSION

Whispers are exchanged between the eight suspects gathered around Sherlock's body.

CLOSE-UP CUTHULHU

CTHULHUDamn well, that. used. to. be. Sherlock. We can safely rule out a hoax.

HARD ROCK riff plays as Cthulhu's character introduction animation appears on screen. A profile shot of her on one side and her name followed by a brief description on the other. The description reads, 'Technophile, Great Old One'.

CTHULHU (con't)Maybe we should just take moment to compose ourselves? PAWNJust what the hell is Sherlock playing at?Far out, this is heavy. Deep-end depraved psycho-murderer level. I got half a mind to split.

DOMINONone of us is going anywhere. You know that.

PAWN Like hell. Some Hannibal wannabe running this horror-show.

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HARD ROCK riff plays as Pawn's character introduction animation appears on screen. A profile shot of him on one side and his name followed by a brief description on the other. The description reads, 'Rambunctious, still in school, King's son'.

PAWN (CON'T)Nightmare fuel for a lifetime already thanks.

IKUSA BROS. This Grand Guignol was put on for an audience. Somebody is enjoying themselves.

PAWNGrand....what? Yes I get italright. We're quitelliterally in a game. Look, how convenient,a bloody unsolved murder on a Cluedo boardno less, I don't care if Sherlock was murdered. Getting us involved like this isplain messed.

KING Son! That was out of order. These are grave circumstances. I'm sure Sherlock had his reasons. DOMINO I phoned Watson en route. The will is legit but he didn't have any more details. Beside himself distraught.

HARD ROCK riff plays as Domino's character introduction animation appears on screen. A profile shot of him on one side and his name followed by a brief description on the other. The description reads, 'Dexterous, Misanthropic, Lives with Cthulhu'.

DOMINO (CONT'D) Sherlock ordered him to steer well clear of here and instructed Scotland yard to be ready to arrest somebody on suspicion of his murder at 5pm sharp in the entrance hall.

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ROBBER Well now. I do admire the man's confidence. And I don't think I've had thepleasure of an introduction. Name's Robber. Game's Catan. You may have heard of me before?

HARD ROCK riff plays as Robber's character introduction animation appears on screen. A profile shot of him on one side and his name followed by a brief description on the other. The description reads, 'Egotistical, Podcaster, Famous from Catan games'.

ROBBER (CON'T)I mean no disrespect obviously, but there's a killer on the loose in here and well, no offense but how can I be expected to take you at your word?

DOMINO (EXASPARATED SIGH)None taken.

CTHULHUPlease. We all know how this goes. The killer won't risk exposure. We gain nothing by turning on each other.

ROBBEROh ha ha! Yes! Yes! Gotta keep on our toesis all. Of course the best course to nab this scoundrel is to knock noggins. Many heads and all that. Quite so. Quite so.

PAWNDon't you think this is strange?

YELLOWHow so?

PAWNAll this stuff about being a master of games and how Sherlock knew the killer would show up here today.

IKUSA BROS.The killer sees this as a game of wits. Anabstraction. We are all game-pieces.

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IMAGE grows DISTORTED. Words 'Dissonance reduction field' flash. A human hand descends and tears the scene in two as if a piece of paper. There is a brief flash of a room fall of people (human). The hand replaces screen with a hand-draw image of Pawn.

PAWNWell....we are. Hello!

The hand-drawn image FADES INTO the scene returning to normal.

IKUSA BROS Not like that. In the abstract sense.

HARD ROCK riff plays as Ikusa bros' character introduction animation appears on screen. A profile shot of them on one side and their names followed bya brief description on the other. The description reads, 'Twins, History buffs, War-gamers'. IKUSA BROS (CONT'D)

I posit undifferentiated ludological disorder, wherein identity becomes subsumed under ludic archetypes. 'We are what we play'. Being fond of war-games say, we become the quintessential representation. We appear literally to themurderer as plastic game pieces. Similarlythis comes to define their self-concept.

ROBBERTruly fascinating! Such trenchant insight into the mind of our killer. Curious isn'tit...wouldn't you say?

MOVIE appears to have suddenly PAUSED. The image is static but wobbling somewhat.

HEAVILY DISTORTED VOICEAnd now that I think of it they may have been on to something. Whoops hey what are you doing in my memory bank? Shoo Shoo.

BACK TO NORMAL

DOMINOHere we go again. Casting more aspersions.Who let this dickhead (find another term)

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in? Can we not devolve into an accusation tossing free-for-all?

ROBBERHeavens no! I mean simply to ask the pertinent questions...as I see them.

DOMINO Here's a question I'd like answered then. Where where you on the night of the murder?

PAWNDun dun dun!!!!

KINGCut that out this instant.

IKUSA BROS.It's only a thought, but I think you can glean as much from Sherlock's letter alone.

DOMINOStrikes me as oddly specific. But then again we are........

IMAGE grows DISTORTED. Words 'Dissonance reduction field' flash. Again a human hand descends and tears the scene in two as if a piece of paper. Once more abrief flash of a room fall of people (human). But the scene has changed from last time. The hand replaces screen with a hand-draw image of DOMINO.

PAWNOn a Cluedo board. We're on a Cluedo board.

HEAVILY DISTORTED VOICESore loser Sour Grapes Sour Grapes Sour Grapes. *hits head*

The hand-drawn image FADES INTO the scene returning to normal.

CTHULHUActually it's probably best to start out by establishing everybody's alibis right?

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ROBBERWhat are you all looking at me for? You doknow that I am a cyberstar of some note. That my globally streamed special one-off live podcast went all night. Come'on theremust be a few fans in the house?

DOMINOThe lady doth protest too much methinks.

ROBBERFor shame! Misquoting the bard. But all right. Here it is.

DISSOLVE (FLASHBACK SCENE #1)

INT. LIVING ROOM

The Dice Cup podcast logo motion graphic loops on the screen. Robber's silhouette in the bottom-left as he recounts the night before the murder.

ROBBER (V.O.) Did you know 'The Dice Cup', that's my podcast, is the premiere table-top gaming related podcast with a listenership well over.....

Pawn's silhouette replaces Robber's in the bottom-left. PAWN (V.O) (Interrupting) Just get on with it.

Robber's silhouette replaces Pawn's in the bottom-left. ROBBER (V.O.) My boy it's all quite relevant I assure you.

CUT TO Robber and his podcast co-host Dicey can be seen sitting at a dining table with podcasting equipment about them. They both sport expensive-looking headphones. A watermark of The Dice Cup logo hangs in the bottom-right corner of the screen.

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DICEYYou're listening to The Dice Cup special night-long live-streaming event. (theme music plays). But first up a word from oursponsor.

CUT TO The Dice Cup logo is again emblazoned on the screen. Above the logo are the words 'A quick word from our sponsor'. Elevator Muzak plays.

ROBBER (V.O.)Always being sent directly to jail in monopoly? Bad Yahtzee rolls making you contemplate murder? Need more brains!!!?? In ZOMBIE DICE? God doesn't play with diceand neither should you. Eliminate luck andtake control of your life. Iwin.com sells a wide range of high quality loaded and trick dice for almost every game. Because it's not fun if you don't win! Iwin.com.

CUT TO The Dice Cup logo emotion graphic reappears on thescreen as does the silhouette of Robber.

ROBBER (V.O.)Ah I love doing the ads at the top of the show. Really limbers up the voice. As I always say....

Cthulhu's silhouette replaces Robber's in the bottom-left.

CTHULHU (V.O.)(interrupting) Is this truly necessary?

Robbers silhouette replaces Cthulhu's in the bottom-left.

ROBBER (V.O.)I happen to think we should all provide a thorough and complete account. Anyway....

BACK TO

INT. LIVING ROOM We are now inside the flashback sequence again which is indicated by subtly different tones.

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ROBBERHello and welcome to tonight's Dice Cup live-streaming extravaganza. As always I'mRobber and beside me is a man who never rolls snake eyes, Mr Dicey!

DICEYRemember folks tonight we're streaming live. Hit us up with all your questions and comments. You can reach us on twitter using the hashtag #dicecup. What a bumper show we have in store for you all tonight.What about something on the top story being a discussion on boardgaming to modern enlightenment But before anything else lets do the news. (GET BOTH DICEY AND ROBBER TO READ)Our top story this week concerns the unexpected crowd-funding success of Cow Simulator: The Boardgame. Closing out it'scampaign on Thursday funded to the tune 17million dollars. Making it the all-time highest funded board-gaming project in crowd-funding history. Stretch goals reached included an RPG module, a bonus deck consisting of an additional 50 rag-doll deformation action cards, rubber udder expansion and a bonus 'send your friends out to pasture' dice game. Early playtesting reports have been largely positive, with players praising the game for being a strikingly faithful adaption of the widely popular sandbox simulation video game on which it is based. Who knew janky physics engines could be recreated with cardboard tokens and plastic playing pieces? ROBBEROh, hold up just a sec. I think, we have alistener on the line now. Hello, EXOLAR isit? EXOLAR (Voice represented by vocal waveforms filling the screen, screen-captured from an audio-playback platform)

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Big fan here. You guys are just so integral to the community we're trying to build. Front and center working the trenches. ROBBERI am humbled by your words. EXOLARI would like to know what your thoughts are on boardgaming as a vehicle to enlightenment? To moral improvement. ROBBERTo that I would say I have never considered the idea. But then I am intrigued. EXOLARIn all seriousness. So much of what board-gaming is involves optimising solutions, parsing complex scenarios and social interactions. It's about accepting bad outcomes with grace and advancing civilisations. I mean....

FADE TO BLACK The words 'Some time later. Much Much later'. Appear onscreen.

DISSOLVE

INT. CLUEDO MANSION

CLOSE-UP ROBBER

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ROBBERSo there you have it honorable members of the jury. In any case somebody of my stature is hardly going to go get mixed upin something as unsavory as murder. Ho-ho to even think. CTHULHUThank-you for that rather exhaustive account of the previous night. Now can we move on, and please let's aim to be succinct. YELLOW But I suppose we ought to be methodical about this.

HARD ROCK riff plays as Yellow's character introduction animation appears on screen. A profile shot of him on one side and his name followed by a brief description on the other. The description reads, 'Criminal psychologist, Lives at Cluedo Mansion'. YELLOW (CON'T) We need to push our killer to slip-up.

IKUSA BROS. We can say people in Sherlock's league arent prone to obvious mistakes. DIE But doesn't he say 'There is nothing more deceptive than an obvious fact?'

HARD ROCK riff plays as Die's character introduction animation appears on screen. A profile shot of her on one side and her name followed by a brief description on the other. The description reads, 'Fabulist, Lucky, Avid tabletop role-player'.

CTHULHUHowever you slice it we must first establish the whereabouts of everybody on the night of the murder. Let me go ahead.

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DISSOLVE (FLASHBACK SCENE #2)

INT. wooden coffee table Cthulhu hops merrily over to a generic video game controller. Several long tentacles emerge from her body and she manipulates the controller with them.

CTHULHU(V.O.)For deep untold eons I have been a hardcore gamer. Before there was time, weeks, days, stars.. I set an evening aside for gaming. Long into the night yesterday I thus preoccupied.

CUT TOEXT. STREET (VIDEO GAME LEVEL)

Cthulhu plays a side-scrolling beat-em-up game. She controls a blue street brawler who takes on a number of orange thugs. The HEADS-UP DISPLAY shows acountdown timer, score and health information. Pawns's silhouette appears in the lower-right.

PAWN (V.O.) Street Rage: Hyper Edition. Oh yeah! All aboard the pain train.

Cthulhu's silhouette replaces Pawn's in the lower-right. CTHULHU(V.O.) Pain..wah? Look I'd had a trying evening and giving the beat-down on some thug-fodder does wonders to work through my emotions. Spectators cheer on in the background. Eventually a BOSS stage is reached. Pawns's silhouette appears in the lower-right.

PAWN (V.O.): Wow that's the final boss stage! That must've taken you all night?

The boss defeats Cthulhu and 'GAME OVER' flashes across the screen. It repeats several times then in slow motion, zooming in gratuitously to show the boss tearing apart Cthulhu's character.

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BACK TOINT. wooden coffee table Tentacles whipping about wildly, Cthulhu clasps the controller, crushing it to pieces in a rage.

CTHULHU(V.O.)Sometimes Street Rage becomes rage-inducing so one is forced to rage-quit.

DISSOLVE

INT. CLUEDO MANSION

CLOSE-UP CTHULHU CTHULHUAnd there you have it. IKUSA BROS. Achievement unlocks would have synched with your gamer-tag. It's a simple enough matter for us to verify. DIEUmmm yeah it could've easily been somebodyelse playing though. And wait so you were home alone the entire night? Oh sorry. Not jumping in to accuse you of anything. But that's not a very solid alibi.

ROBBER And right you are too to raise such questions! DOMINO Oh come off it!

YELLOWReal-life isn't neatly wrapped. Murderers rehearse their alibis. Innocent people often have none. Who can be sure?

KING How do you answer this charge? CTHULHU (Looking to domino nervously) Charge? Overstepping the mark there. As to this weakness in my alibi...

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DOMINO (Interrupting) Not for my sake you don't. It's going to come out anyway! CTHULHU I know, it's just.... DOMINO What's the use then? CTHULHU I wanted to approach it delicately.

DIE Approach what?

DOMINO (Cthulhu and Domino both look at each other) We spent the night together. PAWN They're in bed together! CTHULHU No no. Not like that.

DIEDidn't you just finish telling us you werealone all night? DOMINOThat trying evening she had. That would beher quite literally talking me off a ledgeWe don't even know each other that well. Anyway the state I was in...She offered upher spare room.

DISSOLVE (FLASHBACK SCENE #3)

INT. wooden coffee table Domino drunkenly stumbles over to a jumbled pile of Jenga blocks. Singing semi-coherently he causes the blocks to stack up, forming a Jenga tower. Domino's silhouette appears in the lower-right.

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DOMINO (V.O.)Sometimes I get mired in a misanthropic funk. Last night I had too much to drink and wandered off...

DOMINOArghh people (hiccup) rotten the lot on em'. (semi-sung)

Cthulhu's silhouette appears in the lower-right. CTHULHU (V.O.) We happen to live in the same district. All of us here today are at least vaguely aware of each other, as I was of domino. Domino ascends the newly-constructed tower.

CTHULU (V.O. Con't)It seems too much like a coincidence but incredibly improbable events happen every day. I was heading home, late-afternoon and spied domino atop the tower. What could I do? I rushed over.

Die's silhouette replaces Cthulhu's in the lower-right. DIE (V.O) Gosh, I can't begin to imagine.

CTHULHU(At the base of the tower) Please won't you step away for there.

DOMINOWhat if I just jumped? CTHULHUThis isn't what you want.

DOMINOWho are you to say?

CTHULHUCome down. We'll talk

DOMINOWoah vertigo oh no!

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CTHULHUCome! DOMINO(Sighing) Whatever I'm too tired.

FADE OUTINT. wooden coffee tableCthulhu and Domino walk off together into the distance. Dots on the horizon.

DOMINOI wasn't actually going to jump you know.

DISSOLVE

INT. CLUEDO MANSION

CLOSE-UP DOMINO DOMINOEverybody happy? Look I knew going into this....I'm fine. Okay I'm fine. CTHULHUYou're not. That's okay. You will be. Withtime. And help. DOMINOThanks. That means a lot. Everything is so back to front yanno. This world is diseased.

PAWNYou're telling me. But hey we've got yourback and stuff, jeez I don't know how to do this kinda thing. DOMINO(slightly bitterly) Forget it, let's just continue our investigation. ROBBERYes uh-hmm sorry to butt my head in again.Now don't take this the wrong way....

DOMINODon't even start. My god.

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ROBBERNow now. I'm not suggesting I don't believe you. Well, what is truth after all? But now consider for a moment. Is this not the remorse of a killer? DIEYou insensitive ass. Seriously? KINGI concur. Such speculation is both reckless and indecent. ROBBERHmmphhh. IKUSA BROS.Regardless, however facetiously pawn meant it to say the two of you were inbed together, we cannot discount the possibility of multiple killers. DOMINOI accept that at this stage we just don't know.

IKUSA BROS.In any case, we'd expect there be a digital footprint or some witness to all this. So I'm tentatively satisfied by youralibis for the time being. YELLOW.Careful now. Sherlock seemed quite certainthe killer was acting alone.

KING I know something of chess.

HARD ROCK riff plays as King's character introduction animation appears on screen. A profile shot of him on one side and his name followed by a brief description on the other. The description reads, 'Grandmaster, Chess Elitist, Pawn's father'.

KING (CON'T)Make no mistake this battle of the intellects was a chess match between two gentleman. Arguably, the match of a century.

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ROBBERNow who's speculating? YELLOWSave it. There'll be plenty to squabble about soon enough. You do all realise thatI live here?

IMAGE becomes SCRATCHY replicating a VHS TAPE. 'Dissonance reduction' dances about the screen. Screen explodes to a view of a human woman peering intently into the camera waving the Yellow game piece around in front of her. She knocks it repeatedly against the camera lens.

YELLOW Take a good look, I'm a blooming Cluedo piece.

FADES INTO the scene returning to normal.

KINGReally? Ah well you all look so alike. DIEHey grandpa, inappropriate remark much? KINGNo disrespect intended, but the morphological similarities do speak for themselves. DIEWhat are you even saying? Ekkkk. IKUSA BROS.In light of this rather startling admission, We're eager to hear what Yellow has to say for himself. YELLOW Here goes. You'all might want to sit down for this.

DISSOLVE (FLASHBACK SCENE #4)

INT. CLUEDO MANSION (PREVIOUS NIGHT)

Yellow enters the mansion near the conservatory. He makes his way past the billiard room, library andfinally the hall on his way to the lounge.

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Silhouette of Yellow in the bottom-left. YELLOW (V.O.)As I've said Cluedo Mansion is home. I stayed out late after work and didn't arrive home until, it would have been around 10pm I guess. Before you ask, I didn't see anything suspicious. Went straight to the lounge room to wind down with some music. I put on a relaxing record and must've drifted off.

Silhouette of Pawn replaces Yellow in the bottom-left. PAWN (V.O.) You were there? Case closed.Silhouette of King replaces Pawn in the bottom-left. KING (V.O.) Let him speak. Yellow enters the lounge room. Walking over to a record player he presses the button to turn it on. The record player hisses and crackles to life. Resting his head on the sofa, he falls asleep.

FADE OUTEXT. CLUEDO MANSION Sherlock Holmes enters the Cluedo mansion. He is followed by an unknown person; only visible by theirhand and the gun they are holding.INT. CLUEDO MANSION

The gun fires. Jets of blood shoot up from Sherlock's body.FADE OUTINT. CLUEDO MANSION (LOUNGE)

Yellow jolts awake with a start. He paces the lounge momentarily in confusion before rushing to the source of the gunshot.INT. CLUEDO MANSION (DINING ROOM)

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Yellow finds Sherlock's bloody corpse. Panicking, he notices the gun. He runs over to it and drags it away from the scene.

YELLOW (V.O.)I must have fallen asleep because I awoke with a start to the sound of a gunshot. I leapt up from thecouch and stumbled upon Sherlock's corpse. My head spun and I panicked. I don't know exactly why.. maybe I thought the killer was still lurking around and would go after me? But I took the gun; the murder weapon. I stashed behind the bookcase in the library.

DISSOLVE

INT. CLUEDO MANSION

CLOSE-UP YELLOW All the assembled characters gasp and murmurs risefrom the crowd. CTHULHU If I may, we're left no choice now but to designate you our prime suspect. Everybody?

YELLOWI guess this places me in a rather compromised position, doesn't it? At the scene of the crime, tampering with evidence and no witnesses to vouch my innocence.

ROBBBER If I may, as far as I'm concerned with this startling confession there's probable cause enough for immediate restraint and interrogation. DIE I can't believe I'm saying this, but that's sensible right?

PAWNBut who would be so stupid as to commit murder andthen make no attempt to hide it? Unless that's what you want us to think? Or maybe it's a triple bluff?

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KING(Bumbling) What flagrant...suspicious......tampering with the scene. Handled the murder weapon. Good as a confession. Sherlock practically fingered you as the one, leading us to your door. DOMINOWho knows. Sherlock's thought-process was always impenetrable. God knows what Yellowwas thinking, killer or not, moving this alleged gun. IKUSA BROS.If we think of this in terms of game theory we're left with four possibilities. A. Yellow here is guilty and wants to get caught. B. Yellow is a supremely incompetent killer undeserving of Sherlock's attention. C. He wants us to think thatwould be too obvious or lastly D. He's innocent and realises the best course is direct honesty. YELLOWI intend to cooperate fully. Obviously since I am here now. And am interested as anyone, more so to clear my name, in unmasking the true killer. CTHULHU Yellow poses no imminent threat to us or of fleeing? I put forward that we continueto hear out the rest of the alibis. ROBBERSurely a mere formality? IKUSA BROSWe must respect due process. To that end, I concur with Cthulhu. KINGJustice is found through proper procedure. PAWNAnd we must adhere to the tired proceduralformula right? DIELampshade a lampshade and what do you get?Hahaha

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PAWNHahhahaha DOMINOTimes change. Murder doesn't. PAWNOh today's generation is primed for violence, weened on technicolor bloodshed framed in the detached aesthetics of cool.Bored by morality. DOMINOAll you've ever know is a million virtual deaths, more real to you than the real deal. PAWNOh today's plenty real. I've lived this story a thousand times. Real-life collapses into a cascade of familiar tropes. DIEWe've seen too much to care before we're old enough to make a difference. DOMINOAren't you two reading from the same hymnbook? PAWNIt's not us that are cynical. Rather that's the older generations projecting. What if I had killed Sherlock just becauseI could? Taken the gun and went on a mass shooting spree. Want a mea culpa for the sickness of today's youth?

DISSOLVE (FLASHBACK SCENE #5)

INT. CHESS BOARD. A chess board is set up with opposing white and black sides poised for battle. The white king readies his troops.

WHITE KINGMen today do your king proud. WHITE PIECESSir, yes sir!

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WHITE KING(Pointing to a Knight) Noble steed you have the opening move.

Pawn leaps forward two spaces. WHITE KINGWait! What manner of insubordination is this? Seize him at once.

Pawns on either side of him try to grab Pawn but he brushes them away.

PAWNHey! Back off. I've got this. (giving a thumbs up) Trust me. (Turning to face the black side and doing a neck slicing motion) You're all dead. BLACK KINGCome'on. Its a mathematical impossibility for a single pawn to triumph in chess.(Punching his palm) Let's see you try. WHITE KINGRetreat men. Leave this fool to his fate.

The white chess pieces retreat from the board, leaving Pawn alone to face the opposing side. As theblack pieces pursue him to the far corner of the board Pawn waves his hands in surrender.

PAWNYou're violating so many chess rules. Don't push me. I may be forced to break some rules of my own.

Pawn pulls a GUN from his back pocket (presumably the same gun that was used to murder Sherlock). He proceeds to MASSACRE the opposing side's pawns in a bloodbath worthy of Tarantino, all the while quipping lame one-liners.

PAWNThis ain't your grandpa's chess.

Deep Blue? Try deep red; a bullet through your head.

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Ever see Gary Kasparov play like this?

Hell. I must be a prodigy. A regular BobbyFischer.Fishcer.

The Black King commands his bishops to take care of Pawn as the surviving black pieces, including thekillng himself, beat a hasty retreat.

BLACK KINGBishops stay back and take this guy out. BLACK BISHOPSYes my lord. PAWNGreat bishops...Well I believe in the separation of church and state. BLACK BISHOP(Drawing blood from himself with a ritual blade) From out this vital essence spilt, grant me thus; a staff is built (staff materialises). We are no men of cloth. Allthat is divine is his majesty's will (grabbing staff). PAWNIf there's anything I hate more than clergy its monarchists.

The Bishops levitate, using their staffs to causemagical spikes to erupt and sweep across the board.

BLACK BISHOPS Long live the King!

Pawn flies up and knocks the bishops from the air. PAWNTo hell with your king. Society will neverbe free until the last king is strangled with the entrails of the last priest.

He eventually succeeds in beating them both to death. He stalks off defiantly.

PAWNAll in a day's work.

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Just outside the board one of the knight pieces transforms into an actual knight on a horse. It dematerialises and rematerialises on the board in front of Pawn.

KNIGHTI live to serve. You defile your own king and defame ours.

The knight charges for Pawn. Pawn's arms mutate and become greatly enlarged. Dodging a strike from the knight's sword, Pawn slides around to the side of the horse. He lunges forward, managing to push both knight and horse off the edge of the board and thus table. The second knight (also transformed) approaches Pawn from behind.

SECOND KNIGHT Traitor! You're a dead man. Pawn turns around in time to stop the knight's sword between his hands. He then pivots the sword around to plunge it into the knight's horse. The knight goes flying off the horse as it slumps to thefloor. Silently Pawn lifts the horse, carries it to the edge of the table and lets it drop to its certain demise. Pawn's mutation reverses and his arms revert to normal size.

PAWN Chess is murder! Chess is murder! CHESS IS MURDER! Just outside the board the two black rooks performa fusion dance ritual.

ROOKSBind us close with thine power. Let two become this tower.

The two rooks slide into each other, merging and growing into a stone guard tower of sorts. The towerspins wildly. It dematerialises and rematerialises on the board in front of Pawn.Silhouette of King appears in the bottom-left.

KING (V.O) Where is this place?

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Silhouette of Pawn replaces King in the bottom-left.

PAWN (V.O.)The place where chess lives. Where pawns speak. Where games are real.

PAWN Gah, what is that? One of the rooks appears as an archer on top of the tower. He fires off arrows at Pawn.

Silhouette of Ikusa Bros appears in the bottom-left. IKUSA BROS. (V.O.) Reason sleeps but where does it lay it's head?

Silhouette of Domino replaces Ikusa Bros in the bottom-left.

DOMINO (V.O.)Resist the pull of this narrative nihilism. Remember Sherlock! ROOKTake that. And that!

Pawn is impaled by several arrows but continues onundeterred toward the tower. As the arrows keep coming he makes his way to the base and up the tower- reaching the top.

ROOKWhere is he?

Silhouette of Die appears in the bottom-left. DIE (V.O)Woah mondo meltdown. Mind meld and swim this K-hole fever dream.

Pawn sneaks up behind the rook, taking a sword from a barrel and slaying him with it.

ROOKDid I die in vain?

Silhouette of Cthulhu appears in the bottom-left.

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CTHULHU (V.O)The thread? I've lost the thread.

A second rook bursts through a trap-door atop the tower but is summarily dispatched by Pawn.

SECOND ROOKIs this all there is?

The guard tower lurches which causes Pawn to slip off the edge. The tower crumbles. Pawn hits the ground with a thud.

FADE OUT

INT. CHESS BOARD Pawn is shown unconscious in the middle of the chess board. Just outside the board the Queen transforms into a giant spider. It dematerialises and rematerialises on the board, crawling up to pawnand dragging him away in its clutches.

Silhouette of Domino appears in the bottom-left.

DOMINO (V.O.)Hack! Cheap and ineffectual flailing. Willthe the plot back before you lose the audience.

Silhouette of Robber replaces Domino in the bottom-left.

ROBBER (V.O.)Flaming structures snake the pattern whichscreams like inner workings of a killer. Your boy is mad King. I think he did it.

FADE OUTINT. SPIDER'S WEB

Pawn awakens to find himself trapped in the Queen's web. He manages to struggle free, falling some distance to the ground.

INT. SPIDER'S LIAR

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The spider Queen discovers him trying to make his escape and a chase ensues. The pawn deftly pulls a match from its box as he rolls off it avoiding the spider. Pawn strikes the match and sets the spider Queen aflame. She turns belly up, curls inward and cries out in pain. Pawn return to the chess board for a final confrontation with the Black King.Silhouette of King appears in the bottom-left.

KING (V.O.)Did it. Yes Sherlock. My son drew us into this waking nightmare?

Silhouette of Cthulhu replaces King in the bottom-left

CTHULHU (V.O.) Sherlock? The thread back?

INT. CHESS BOARD

The king sits at his throne at the far end of thechessboard. A giant jewel-encrusted crown rests in an oversized treasure chest. There is a weapon standbeside the king's throne. It houses a gatling gun, aspear and a staff.

BLACK KINGWhat? How is this possible. Well.. I guessthey're all dead. Interesting, my army couldn't kill a single pawn. Pathetic! Well I grow tired of these games, explain yourself PAWN.

PAWNMathematical impossibility? The results are in...I am the 1%. It is time to free this land from kings once and for all. Your reign of terror is over!

BLACK KINGHmm, very well. But first I must congratulate you on your efforts before I smite you into oblivion. Come then, fight me! Choose your weapon, I'll show you why I am THE KING!

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The black king motions to the weapon stand. He leapsoff his throne and pounces for the staff. Pawn, right on his heels, grabs the spear.

PAWNSeriously? A gatling gun...this spear willhave to do.

The pawn and king lock weapons, trading blows. BLACK KINGThis will cut you down to size!

The black king swings around and with a mighty blow rends one of Pawn's arms clean off.Silhouette of Domino appears in the bottom-left.

DOMINO (V.O.) We're getting out of here. Everybody grab hold. The image becomes progressively more degraded. Strange glitches and film artifacts intensify.

PAWNARGHJKEF!!! My arm (roaring)

BLACK KINGIt's time to die for you. Your head willbe mine! (laughing)

As the black king goes in for the killing blow Pawn bounds forward. PAWN

Die!!!!!!!

BLACK KINGNo!!!!!!!!

The king is knocked backwards and over. The impact fractureshis skull and blood begins to pool. PAWN

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(Panting) Good riddance.Victorious Pawn assumes the throne. By this time the image quality is quite poor. As pawn delivers his last line the screen erupts into fantastic colour. PAWN After all I guess life is just a game of thrones.DISSOLVE

INT. CLUEDO MANSION

CLOSE-UP CTHULHU All 8 game pieces have been knocked over and scattered about the board. A human hand from on high reaches down to pluck them up one by one and set them back to their places.

CTHULHU Non-sequitur.

PAWN What was that?

CTHULHU Nothing, sorry. Feel funny. Continue on with your alibi.

PAWN I'll pass this one over to my father. He wouldn't like how I'd tell it.

KINGEnough with the juvenile theatrics. My sonmay lack common decency but he is no murderer. He & I devoted last night to studying classic chess openings.

DISSOLVE (FLASHBACK SCENE #6)

INT. LIBRARYThe camera pans down to reveal Pawn and King seated at a study desk. (cue cello chamber music) The library is lined with bookcases and a staircase to the right leads to a second floor mezzanine. In the center of the desk is a tiny chessboard.

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MEDIUM SHOT PAWN AND KINGPAWN's silhouette appears in the bottom left corner. (Throughout the following exchange King's lips are moving)

KING (PAWN'S VOICE IMITATING)Now son, I am very disappointed in your last performance at the international chess championships.

KING's silhouette replaces PAWN's in the bottom leftcorner. The lips of the non-silhouetted KING in the library continue to flap. As if he is being puppeteered. KING

Quit putting words in my mouth. PAWN's silhouette replaces KING's in the bottom leftcorner. KING (PAWN'S VOICE IMITATING)

But son! This is how I talk. Chess is our life! It is everything that we stand for.

KING's silhouette replaces PAWN's in the bottom leftcorner.

KING True enough but let me tell it. PAWN's silhouette replaces KING's in the bottom leftcorner. PAWN (V.O.)

Fine! PAWN's silhouette FADES.

KINGSon. You have all the makings of a grandmaster. But aptitude will only get you so far. Undisciplined as you are you'll stay vulnerable unless you...

CLOSE UP KING

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KING (CON'T)...drill the standard forms and opening moves. PAWN (POSSIBILY SARCASTICALLY)Weekly lessons yeah! lay it on me pops. You know me eager to learn!

ABOVE SHOT CHESS BOARDThe chessboard fills the frame as King runs through the various moves to a particular opening sequence.

KINGMemorise this, it's called The Queen's Gambit. Too long spent playing sloppy withan eye to showmanship. You'll get tripped up on rookie moves.

MEDIUM SHOT PAWN AND KING KINGThere's yawning gaps in your knowledge andThe Queen's Gambit goes back to the 15th cen- PAWN (CUTTING KING OFF)You do remember how I swept the Russians last season?

KINGBe that as it may, innovation precedes from imitate knowledge with the established forms.

DISSOLVE

INT. CLUEDO MANSION

CLOSE-UP KING DOMINO (MUTTERING HALF TO HIMSELF)Well well crotchety Luddite over here gavebirth to a showy little upstart. DIE (OVERHEARING HIM WHISPERING)

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Son succeed where I have failed that I maylive vicariously through you *sniggers*

CTHULHU CLEARS her THROAT and GLARES askance at the pair of them.

IKUSA BROS.Simple enough. We'll pull any surveillancefootage and check over the library records. Did you check anything out? KINGYes in fact, several quite illuminating volumes and a monograph written by a Mr. AMooney. Theoretical genius of course. Indefatigable..sadly he... IKUSA BROS. (INTERUPPTING)The books? KINGWhere was I? Yes all stamped out on the borrowers card. DIEThey still do that? ROBBERSomething amiss? DIENot unless you mean your attitude. ROBBER (IN AN EXAGGERATED TONE) You wound me.

YELLOWBut doubtless it's a trifle to find out either way? CTHULHU I dunno. There is something that doesn't sit right in all of this. Seemingly many of us havesolid alibis. How is it Sherlock wasn't able to

40

narrow the field. Surely Sherlock could have known well in advance about Robber's live show. ROBBER Thank you kindly. YELLOWWho can say? Watson may tell you one thing. Contra-wise Doyle on the other hand another. IKUSA BROS.It's immaterial now. DIE Doyle? YELLOWEager puppy. You have a good nose on you. DIE Weird thing to say. YELLOWApologies. DIE Something definitely smells fishy though. YELLOWEverything about this is fishy and before long we're all seeing red. DIE Not me. I'm cool. ROBBERCool...so care to let us in on what you were doing last night? DIESure thing, jerk-face.

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DISSOLVE (FLASHBACK SCENE #7)

INT. TABLETOP

Die and his fellow rag-tag band of role-players rollout one by one from a dice bag. A pencil is sharpened and Die sets to work filling in his character sheet. Various D&D books litter the table.

DIE (V.O.)I'm an early 80s D&D die so naturally I goin for classic D&D. A few of my other tabletop die buddies and I get together each week to role-play. Last night we werecontinuing a basic campaign. We'd recentlyhad a new recruit to our group and wanted to ease them into D&D (which can be quietquite daunting to newcomers). Still, I wanted to keep things interesting...and maybe I overdid it with some of the monsters. Quite punishing for such a low-level quest.

The adventurers set forth over a bridge, singing merrily of battles and gold to come.

GROUP(Singing) Gold and loot! Loot and gold! Dragons slain and tales told.

A fierce and gleaming red dragon arises from the cover of a D&D handbook. Die and a friend scramble and make it past the dragon, its hungry eyes dartingafter them and its claws narrowly missing.

DIERoll for you lives.

The other two adventurers yet to cross, Die urges them on. They make a mad dash for it and manage to evade the dragon's teeth as they come crashing down just behind them.

DIECome'on now's your chance!

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A second monster breaks free from its book cover andinto existence. This one is green, ugly and tentacled.

DIENot again, curse these enchanted tombs!(avoiding the monster). Oh wait, 8 and 6! watch out!!!!

Die watches as his friends 8 and 6 are torn apart bythe monster's merciless tentacles.DISSOLVE

INT. CLUEDO MANSION

CLOSE-UP DIE DIETwo brave adventurers died that day. They were both right on the cusp of leveling uptoo. Still, there was no time to sit around and mourn. All the gear I looted from their corpses will come in handy whenI go to slay the dragon in the next session. SHERLOCK????Sherlock must have had quite a loose definition for 'Master Gamer' for you to qualify. D&D is more an outlet for childish fantasies than any sort of space for abstract strategical thinking. CTHULHUReally this is no time for bickering.

DOMINOCthulhu is right. We must get on with the grisly task. I believe only Ikusa Brothersremain to submit their alibi. IKUSA BROS.Then we shan't keep you in suspense.

DISSOLVE (FLASHBACK SCENE #8)

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INT. TABLETOP

Several boardgame boards are laid out on the table. Signs welcome people to the annual war-gaming convention. Plastic men and painted war-hammer figures battle it out in large-scale skirmishes as the Ikusa brothers float by on an airship, taking inthe sights.

IKUSA BROS. (V.O.)We were invited as honoured guests to the annual war-gaming convention. IKUSA BROS. Wow they've crafted some huge skirmishes this year. Look over there such advanceduse of battle formations. I must make a note to speak to their commander.I usually find these big events tiresome but this year they have that amazing war-hammer showcase planned.

The airship glides softly down to land. The Ikusa brothers disembark. They are greeted with the impressive sight of a war-hammer ship landing and a giant eagle swooping down to snatch a solider in itstalons. Their guide, 'Horsey' comes up beside them.

HORSEYWelcome to the 12th annual war-gaming conference for cultural exchange. I'll be escorting you this evening.

Horsey leads the Ikusa brothers up a ridge to a bombed-out building serving as a makeshift conference room. A welcome party of warriors awaits.

NONDESCRIPT WARRIORSlarggg will meet you now.

The Ikusa brothers enter the derelict building.INT. DERELICT CONFERENCE ROOMThe room is barren except for the Ikusa brothers andSlarggg SLARGGG

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I slargg war-chief greet you now and will discuss the meat of battle and impending doom machines known as tanks.I have feed brain Sun Tzu's 'The Art of War. I have learned that in order to defeat the enemy in the meat of battle youmust pull their spines out and skin them alive before they shit on your families. The second law of battle is to strike fearinto the hearts of your enemies by tea-bagging their wounded soldiers while spinning around in circles.

CUT TO

INT. TABLETOP

Brief shots of tanks and other combat vehicles.DISSOLVE

INT. CLUEDO MANSION

CLOSE-UP CTHULHU CTHULHUOkay, I guess at this stage we're given everybody a fair chance to offer up their alibi. Now we just have to set to work verifying them and gathering evidence. KINGBut really any one of us could be the murderer or murderers for the matter. How do we rule out sabotage or the murderer framing somebody else when checking the alibis? YELLOWIf I may put forward a plan. I've been mulling over this for some time and I think I have a solution.

ROBBER

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Hold up, let's see...we have you at the scene of the crime at the time of the crime and in possession of the alleged murder weapon? My alibi is unassailable.Shouldn't I be in charge of this operation? KINGI concur with Robber. You're the prime suspect. I don't see why we should let you assume the lead on this.

YELLOWIt's not about taking the lead. To solvethis we must work by consensus. DOMINOI agree, no leaders. CTHULHUMe too, all equals. Decide democratically. IKUSA BROS.At this stage we'll give everybody the benefit of the doubt. Pooling our resources is the best plan. We should hear yellow out and judge his plan on merit. Robber, King, do either of you have objections you wish to air? ROBBERI still think we're being set up but I'll go with the majority. KINGBetter to work as a group. Take a vote on decisions. Go ahead Yellow....

CUT TO

INT. BLANK WHITE PAGE

Yellow's hand scrawls his alibi checking plan in thick black marker on the page. He draws

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representations of all the suspects and boxes witharrows showing who will check who's alibi.

YELLOWOkay so tThere are eight of us. Cthulhu and Domino and King and Pawn both share an alibi so that leaves 6 alibis to be corroborated. I think we should spilt into groups to check them out but the important thing is to prevent sabotage. That means obviously that no one should be involved in verifying their own alibibut also that nobody should work in a group together if they share the same alibi. This stops the chance of any collusion to fabricate evidence against an innocent party.

The most efficient way to do this would be to spilt us into two teams of 3 and one team of 2. Each of the three teams will be tasked with checking the detailsof two alibis; covering all 6. Group A will consist of Pawn and Domino who willcheck the alibis of Yellow and Die. Cthulhu, King and Die will make up GroupB, checking the alibis of the Ikusa Bros. And Robber. The final group, C, would have the Ikusa. Bros, Robber & I looking into Cthulhu slash Domino and Pawn slash King's alibis.

INT. CLUEDO MANSION

CLOSE-UP YELLOW YELLOWMaybe as suggested by others we should take a vote on this? All in favor say aye. KINGAye. PAWNAye.

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IKUSA BROS. Aye. ROBBER(Stares blankly) CTHULHUAye. DOMINOAye. DIEAye.

FADE TO BLACKThe words 'Moments later' appear on the screen then fade.

INT. CLUDEO MANSION

Alibis are checked in a montage sequence. Pawn andDomino check out the lounge and Sherlock's body. Ikusa brothers, Robber and Yellow climb the Jenga tower and look around. Pawn and Domino examine Die's D&D books. Ikusa brothers, Robber and Yellowtalk to a clerk at the library. King, Cthulhu and Die use a computer to review security camera footage. Cthulhu rings Die's co-host Dicey to clear Die's story with him.FADE TO BLACKThe words 'Alibi checking having been completed...' appear on the screen then fade.

INT. CLUDEO MANSION (BALLROOM)

CLOSE-UP - YELLOW Everyone has reconvened in the ballroom to discussthe findings of alibi verification attempts. They stand arrayed in a semi-circle around the edges ofthe room.

YELLOW

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A representative from each group will now report their findings.

Pawn marches confidently into the center of the room, facing Yellow and giving him a small salute.As he speaks he turns at intervals to address those behind him.

PAWNGroup A reporting sir. We were able to establish phone contact with Die's role-playing buddies sir. They confirmed his alibi sir. Regarding your own alibi, or lack of, we cannot rule you out as a suspect yet sir.

Die returns to his place and King takes center stage.

KINGWe're no closer to checkmating our villain. Group B can vet the Ikusa Bros'alibi with eye witness accounts and security camera footage. Robber's podcast co-host backs up his alibi, so do live-callers to the episode, not to mention references to breaking news which prove the episode was recorded during the murder.

King returns to his place and Robber has the floor.

ROBBERAs far as Group C is concerned Cthulhu and Domino only have each others' word for their alibi. They could very well beaccomplices. We interviewed the library clerk and its seems King & Pawn are off the hook. Book recipients and security footage all but prove their innocence.Well I guess safe to say I wasn't involved in the murder. No alibi is bulletproof though, after all we're all 'Master Gamers'. However practically I

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think we can narrow down the list of suspects and those of us with alibis allbut confirmed should take control of coordinating efforts from now on. Specifically Pawn, King, the Ikusa Bros & I. Lets take a vote....

CUT TO

INT. WHITE PAGE

The words '8 suspects' are scrawled on top of the page. Each of the 8 characters is represented by an image. Yellow's hand crosses out the images of Pawn, King, Ikusa brothers and Robber. The number '8' is scribbled over and replaced with the number'4'.

INT. CLUDEO MANSION (BALLROOM) PAWNAye. KINGAye. ROBBERAye. IKUSA BROS. Aye. DIEAye. CTHULHUI abstain. DOMINOAs to I. YELLOW(Sighing) Aye.

ROBBER50

So Six ayes and two abstains. Alright.... Well the next logical step is to conduct a thorough investigation of the crime scene and try to figure outa motive. I was thinking...

KING(Interrupting) Erh hmmm.

ROBBER(Louder this time) I was thinking... KING(Interrupting) ERH HMMMMM! ROBBERExcuse me. KINGWe didn't just vote to appoint you leader. The understanding was that Pawn,the ikusa Bros., you and I would lead efforts since our alibis have stood up. We should all consult with each other and come to a group decision as to our next move. ROBBERWhere are my manners, but of course. (pause) Well... gather around. Don't be shy.

Pawn, King, Robber & the Ikusa Bros. huddle together and whisper amongst themselves. Die, Cthulhu, Domino and Yellow form their own little group and look on. Some time passes.

KINGWe have reached a decision about how to proceed with the investigation. Firstly,staying with the same three groups as before we shall conduct a thorough forensic investigation of the scene. Each group should have those who are no

51

longer a suspect keep a close eye on those who are.

Group A will focus on evidence to identity the killer. Foot prints, fingerprints, DNA, fibers etc.ect. Group B will examine the circumstances of death.This includes the exact time of death, method and details on the murder weapon.Group C will collect and collate information, looking for any other clues. They will try build a cohesive picture of what happened last night.Secondly, each of the four remaining suspects will be interrogated individually by a non-suspect. Any comments?

The four remaining suspects glance at each other and glumly shake their heads.FADE TO BLACKThe words 'Moments later' appear on the screen then fade.

INT. INTERROGATION ROOM

The interrogation room is harsh white and only possesses spartan furnishings. The interrogator and interrogated stare off each other across a long plain black table. The interrogator on the left and the interrogated on the right. Robber (interrogator) and Domino (interrogated) are presently in the room as the first round of interrogations begin.

ROBBERYou and Cthulhu, partners in crime. Let's explore that notion for just a moment here. DOMINOYou don't intimidate me. Drop the act.

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The second round of interrogations is King (interrogator) and Die (interrogated).

KINGYour alibi just rubs me the wrong way. You rub me the wrong way. Now are you going to come clean or am I going to need to convince you? You'll find me most persuasive if need be.

The third round of interrogations is Pawn (interrogator) and Yellow (interrogated).

PAWNOkay its clear you have no alibi. You'reon thin ice so you'd better fess up if you're still hiding anything. I mean it.Don't make me angry.

The final round of interrogations is Ikusa brothers (interrogators) and Cthulhu (interrogated).

IKUSA BROS.You know what? We figure your buddy Domino is probably just about ready to rat on you. If you confess now we might just be able to cut you a deal.

Some snippets of dramatic moments during the course of interrogations are shown. The Ikusa brothers bashing Cthulhu over the head. King landing a punch on Die. Pawn tipping the table over in a rage. Robber snapping off a chair leg and hurling it at Domino. Pawn and Yellow wrestling atop the table. Domino pushing over a chair. Cthulhu flinging the table with her tentacles.FADE TO BLACK

The words 'Forensic investigation begins' appear on the screen then fade.

INT. CLUEDO MANSIONThe forensic investigation is undertaken in a montage sequence. King takes a shot on the billiard table. Robber puts on his gloves. Cthulhu

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King and Die, all wearing their gloves, discover the gun in the library. Domino finds Sherlock's tracks leading to the mansion. He measures them using a measuring tape. Robber and Domino measure Sherlock's shoe size. Pawn dusts the dining room for prints before moving on to the lounge. Yellow's fingerprints turn up on the sofa. Cthulhu, Die and King take Sherlock's body temperature. King tests out different angles to work out where the killer shot from. Yellow and the Ikusa brothers stumble upon the 'Game Mode Switch' in the study, it appears to have been active during the murder. Pawn hunts for DNA evidence and finds some of Yellow's DNA.

FADE TO BLACK

The words 'Forensic investigation having been completed' appear on the screen then fade.

INT. CLUEDO MANSION

Everybody convenes in the ballroom once again.

CLOSE-UP PAWN PAWN(Clearing throat) We found Sherlock's tracks so we know where he entered the board, umm, all our tracks are all over the place so that trail leads nowhere soto speak. DNA testing and fingerprintingonly turned up Yellow on the gun. But I mean that checks out with his story. He said he touched the gun of course assuming the killer wasn't Yellow whoever did kill Sherlock was careful not to leave any trace evidence. KINGSo we've entered the endgame and we're playing blind. The game is rigged. The killer can see our moves but we don't know where or when the killer is making theirs. Intriguing...I fear that our opponent may have outplayed us though. We could very well be in check and not know it. Was Yellow set-up? I mean

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you've been the prime suspect from the beginning and there's a mountain of circumstantial evidence implicating you....and yet it can't be that simple, can it? YELLOWI have been framed, but not very plausibly. Why frame somebody without motive? Who would believe I could outwitSherlock and yet be so incompetent at covering my tracks? And yet viewing the situation objectively my actions should arouse much suspicion. KINGYes. You must remain our prime suspect until such time as we can uncover a deeper conspiracy. ROBBERYes. Remember we can't discount Yellow. YELLOWBut remember Sherlock's words to us,'There is nothing more deceptive thanan obvious fact'. DIEDon't you mean, 'Remember to look for consistency, where there is a want of itwe must suspect deception'?

At this point there is a minor stare off between Die and Yellow.

CTHULHUI don't think we can discount anyone at this point; even those of us that have been supposedly cleared. If Sherlock waskilled we'd be hard-pressed to overestimate the sophistication of our killer. DOMINO

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There's a thousand ways to concoct an elaborate alibi, but some people are more equal than others I guess, wouldn'tyou say Robber?

ROBBERWe must conduct this investigation taking into account the balance of probabilities. Nothing is ever 100% withscience, my friend. I can't prove I didn't hire a doppelganger to pretend tobe me, thereby creating an alibi, but such an extraordinary claim would require extraordinary evidence and we must stick to the evidence. Nothing personal. CUTHULHUI think we've been shabbily treated.... DOMINO(Nods). CUTHULHUBut you're right. The killer is far morelikely to be among the 4 of us. DOMINOI guess. But maybe the killer counted onus thinking that way. CUTHULHUWe can't work off pure speculation. ROBBERAgreed so lets allow King to continue with Group B's findings.... KINGRight, yes...I have have few revelationssurrounding the death of Sherlock Holmesthat should certainly cast some things in a new light.

Okay, so ballistic fingerprinting shows 56

beyond any doubt that the gun that Yellow told us was in the library was indeed the murder weapon. Furthermore, gunshot wounds appear to be the sole cause of death. There were no signs of astruggle and it seems that the body wasn't not moved postmortem. From this we can safely assume that the murder took place in the dining room where we found the body.

Based on the body temperature, lack of decomposition, rigor mortis, and livor mortis Group B estimates the time of death to be between 10-11pm last night. The severity of the wounds suggests Sherlock would have died from acute blood loss within minutes. Now for the curious thing; there was clearly multiple gunshot wounds. However, Yellowonly reported ever hearing a single shot. DIELying to conceal his guilt! IKUSA BROS.I don't see how. Really, what does it matter whether it was one gun shot or several? Perhaps its proof of innocence.If you were the killer you would know how many shots there were, right? Maybe Yellow's story is true and he slept through the first few shots and only woke the hear the last. Who's to say? CTHULHUWe can't say what the ultimate value of any piece of evidence may be but the more we collect - the tighter the net. ROBBERA woman after my own heart. CTHULHUHardly.

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ROBBERWell I still haven't revealed the biggest bombshell. The net has tightenedmore than you may think. Yellow and Ikusa brothers here know what I'm talking about. Yellow also knows that this puts him in a very perilous position indeed. Can't seem to catch a break, can you? Oh well... YELLOWI might as well go ahead and sign my owndeath warrant then, huh? ROBBERI didn't say there's a fire but there's sure a lot smoke billowing out from yourdirection.

YELLOWIf you already think I'm guilty anythingI do to plead innocence will just be taken as more evidence of guilt. (Sighing) Very scientific. Here is the big news folks. The 'Game Mode Switch' was left enabled an hour leading up to the murder right through until an hour after the murder. There you have it. Pawn(Perplexed) Huh? YELLOWThe 'Game Mode Switch' is used as an anti-cheating device in boardgame competitions. It enforces movement restrictions on game pieces such as ourselves. Basically pieces cannot move outside of the rules set forth in their game of origin. ROBBERIts apparent that Sherlock's luring of the killer to the cluedo board had everything to do with this 'Game Mode

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Switch'. Sherlock's masterstroke. It waskept well-hidden suggesting it was meantto be kept secret. Now we can use this information catch our killer. YELLOWUpon discovering the switch, we of GroupC took the liberty of creating simulations for each person showing whateffect the 'Game Mode Switch' would havehad on their ability to commit the murder. ROBBERI think the results speak for themselves.

CUT TO

ABOVE SHOT CLUEDO BOARDA diagram of the Cluedo board appears onscreen. From above we see Sherlock head from the entrance into the dining room where he is killed and blood spills out his body.

ROBBERSo how would the switch have affected Sherlock? Well, He would have been able to move 2-3 spaces a turn in any direction. A turn being defined as 3 seconds. Whoever killed Sherlock must have been able to both outpace him and successfully maneuver to him even with the conditions of the 'Game Mode Switch'imposed upon them.

The diagram of the Cluedo board now shows Robber teleporting directly from the mansion entrance to the dining room harbouring Sherlock's corpse. A pair of dice roll in the top right corner, settling on the number 7.

ROBBERMe, well I wouldve only moved with using dice to roll a 7. That would have allowed me to teleport instantly

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anywhere, so you might say I could be the killer. However, since Cluedo limitsthe number of die to one and one die cannever give a result of 7, for all intents and purposes I would have been immobile. Hence I couldn't have killed Sherlock.

The diagram of the Cluedo board now shows Cthulhu standing at the mansion entrance unable to move.

ROBBERCthulhu doesn't move at all in her game.So really she would have been immobile on the Cluedo board too. That's another suspect down.

The diagram of the Cluedo board now shows King gunning for the dining room. Despite his best efforts his pace is sluggish.

ROBBERKing would've been able to move in any direction, as he does in chess and similar to Sherlock. Like Chess though he would have been capped at one space per turn. That makes its exceedingly unlikely he could have corned Sherlock in the dining room.

The diagram of the Cluedo board now shows Pawn entering the mansion from every possible point. Nomatter where he starts he cannot reach the dining room as he is restricted to moving in a perfectly straight line.

ROBBERAs any Chess player is aware, our littlePawn over here can only move forwards and cannot shift rows. He would've had such limited maneuverability and a top speed clocking in at only one space per turn. It would have been a minor miracle for him to have gotten anywhere close to Sherlock with that 'Game Mode Switch' on.

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The diagram of the Cluedo board now shows the Ikusa brothers entering the mansion. They creep slowly and attempt a pincer maneuver on Sherlock at the dining room. ROBBER

Ikusa Brothers are totally in the clear now too. Since their game Ikusa doesn't really have spaces as such, warriors only attacking adjacent territories, they would have been capped a 1 space per turn like King. Even with the both of them flanking Sherlock and attemptinga pincer movement it would have been mathematically impossible for them ensnare him.

The diagram on the Cluedo board now shows Domino teleporting to different locations around the board. ROBBER

Now things get interesting folks! Dominois a teleporter like me. That means he would had one chance to appear anywhere on the board. So in theory, If Domino could have predicted that Sherlock was heading for the dining room he could have teleported there and pow pow pow. Since he would've only got a single chance I don't think its all too likely.I've saved the most intriguing findings,our last two fish in the net - Yellow and Die.

The diagram on the Cluedo board now shows Yellow racing toward the dining room at a considerable pace. ROBBER

Yellow would've been able to move in anydirection and gets the bonus of a home game advantage. Since he is a Cluedo piece the 'Game Mode Switch' allows him an automatic maximum movement speed. Cluedo uses one die so he would have been move at a whopping 6 spaces per turn. A movement speed twice that of

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Sherlock's. He could have cornered Sherlock with little difficulty. Of course having the means doesn't mean he did it.

The diagram on the Cluedo board now shows Die racing toward Sherlock at a considerable pace. Sherlock flees but die corners him in the dining room, killing him. ROBBER

And Die, well Die rolls his own body andthe result is his movement speed. There's not a thing that would have stopped him from rolling whatever he felt like. Rolling a natural 20 time after time would have made Die like a cheetah chasing Sherlock the tortoise.

INT. CLUEDO MANSION (BALLROOM)CLOSE-UP ROBBER ROBBER

And that was our little presentation. Ifwe put it all together the alibis, the physical evidence and now this... well we can only draw one conclusion. It musthave been either Die or Yellow what doneit and frankly I'm leaning toward Yellow.

Yellow angrily raises his fist and hurtles forwardwith the intent of slugging robber square in the jaw. The Ikusa brothers rush in to hold Yellow back but he quickly retreats to his original spot. YELLOW

Come'on! You've had it in for me from the start you bastard.

ROBBERI mean when you came home the 'Game ModeSwitch' must have been on. Are you

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telling me you didn't notice it?

Cthulhu can see the situation escalating so she walks between Yellow and Robber and tries to calm things. CTHULHU

Stop it! Both of you. Yellow's movement was unimpeded by the switch being on, remember Robber? I really doubt that he would have noticed anything amiss.

Having said her piece, Cthulhu returns to the spotshe was standing in. IKUSA BROS.

You really buy that? ROBBER

Yes. Why so eager to defend? Hmmm we haven't explored the idea of multiple killers much yet...

DOMINOWhat are you implying? some massive conspiracy? Wasn't it you banging on about, 'extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence' before. All welland good to cover your own ass hey?

CTHULHULets not be uncivil now. Stick to the facts remember? We must accept the multiple lines of evidence that point toeither Yellow and Die as the killer. That's a coin toss. We're at 50/50 for solving this. I'm still baffled that we haven't been able to establish a motive. KINGSomething else has been troubling me. IfSherlock did indeed flip the 'Game Mode Switch' to help us uncover the killers identity, then why didn't he already know that only Die or Yellow would have

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been able to pull it off? Why 8 suspects? CTHULHUI think he was aware of that. But from his point of view at the time remember it could have been any one of us after him. I would imagine that if somebody other than Yellow or Die were the killerhe would have apprehended them and wouldstill be alive. He took a risk and he paid dearly for it. In dying though he pointed us to his killer. PAWNIf that's true the letter was only a back-up in case he died. Why not just come out and tell us in letter that it must have been Yellow or Die. Why make us take all this time figuring it out? DIEThink about it. If he did that it would be letting the killer know how close he was to catching them. The killer wouldn't have been stupid enough to comehere if they knew we knew it was a 50-50chance they killed him. Sherlock countedon us being able to figure it out ourselves betting that the killer had noclue about the 'Game Mode Switch'. The ace up Sherlock's sleeve. YELLOW(Directed at Die) And he caught you completely unawares right?

Die turns to face yellow, sternly pointing at him and gesticulating vigorously.

DIEThat's pretty bold accusation you're making there.

Die and Yellow now face each other. Yellow casts an accusing finger at Die.

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YELLOWWell I know I didn't do it, so it must be you!

The argument continues as they stray into the middle of the room, everybody else encircling them. DIE

I guess everybody should take your word for it. Its not like we have your DNA onthe murder weapon or anything.

King interrupts Die from behind her left shoulder,Die cranes her head to listen. KING

Perhaps.....Cthulhu chimes in from behind Die's right shoulder. Die arcs her head back around to face her. CTHULHU

Yes....lets work this out as a group....CLOSE-UP YELLOW YELLOW

No no, go on Die lets have at it. One onone! Lets see who the real killer is.

DIEWe have plenty of evidence on you already. I'm the only one with somethingto lose.

YELLOWBut if you're innocent why be afraid? Besides, how could I possibly fool all these 'Master Gamers'?

DIE

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You've done a pretty good job of it so far. They think you're the red herring in this story.

YELLOWSo its just a story to you? We're all actors in your little role-playing experiment, Some kind of power trip? Killer is always who you least expect...

We get a view from the sidelines. Die and Yellow continue to yell incoherently at each other in thebackground. PAWN

Time to get some popcorn. KING

SHHHHHH DOMINO

How is this getting us anywhere? ROBBER

Let em' both get riled up. The killer will slip up eventually.

CTHULHUSo we just watch.....

ROBBERPretty much.

KINGWhat a farce.

CLOSE-UP DIE DIE

You're manipulating the narrative, portraying yourself as the innocent victim being framed; banking that nobodywould believe Sherlock could be killed by someone so stupid to leave so much evidence pointing to them.

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YELLOWWhat would be the point killing Sherlockjust to get myself caught? If I wasn't planning on getting away why wouldn't I just turn myself in. Why the big spectacle?

DIEMaybe this is how you get your kicks. Ormaybe you're just hoping to get off withreasonable doubt; leave a lingering uncertainty in the jury.

YELLOWWhat fanciful nonsense! No alibi, my DNAand fingers prints everywhere, present during the crime, discovered the body, hid the murder weapon that was my master plan? That people would double guess and let me go because it was too easy to catch me?

Yellow and Die start circling around the room, keeping up their heated argument. They eventually come to a stop. DIE

Look you're proving my point - trying toclaim your innocence by pointing out howmuch you blundered the murder. That's the genius of it.

YELLOWWell you've got a lot to say about me, but don't think that you can deflect scrutiny off yourself so easily. You're the one trying to spin the narrative.

DIERight....

YELLOWWell you're saying I engineered things to make it look as though I was framed, hoping that I would elude authorities by

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hiding in plain sight while they chased the 'real killer'; a phantom created byme.

DIEYep and the jig is up. Its time to confess.

YELLOWNot so fast. What's to say you didn't frame me?

DIEIf I was going to frame you why would I make it look so obvious?

YELLOWA-ha! Exactly! You framed me but are trying to make it look like I framed myself because it would be too obvious if you had framed me because it looks like I have been framed so people will think you wouldn't be stupid enough to frame me.

PAWNMy head hurts.

Dramatic camera movements and angles as the plot inches towards its inevitable climax. DIE

Well-played. I guess that sort of logic can be applied to either of us.

YELLOWSo did anyone actually meet any of the friends you were role-playing with last night?

DIE No, but they were called up....

YELLOW

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But you know where they live. You have their addresses?

DIEWell actually they weren't physically present per se.... We play via Skype. I only know their Skype user names. We allmet on this role-playing forum...

YELLOWHow very convenient. Got you on the back-foot. Your alibi's Swiss cheese. Who's to say they arent all dummy accounts controlled by you?

DIEWhy would I kill Sherlock?

YELLOWBecause you're deranged. You can't distinguish between your fantasy world and reality anymore. You want to see if you can fool us all, if we'll all be thelittle cogs in your grand opera.

DIEAnd which cog might you be?

YELLOWI'm the spanner in the works. Admit it! You weren't role-playing last night!

DIEI didn't kill him. I didn't kill him...

Die slides backward nervously as Yellow walks up to him, leaning in intimidatingly and waving his finger about. YELLOW

Where were you? DIE

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I didn't kill him. I only lied because Ididn't have an alibi.

YELLOWWhere were you?

DIE(Stuttering) I just came to visit. I heard gun shots, I ran...

Die is shaking on the spot. As Yellow looms over her his finger comes down to poke her square on the forehead. Its like a bullet to the head. YELLOW

The jig is up. its time to confess. DIE

(Screams).Die throws out her left arm. The side of her forearm connects with Yellow's head immediately bowling him over. In the confusion she grabs hold as pawn as a hostage, dragging him under staircaseto where the gun is located. After retrieving it, she aims the gun at pawn. DIE

Stay back. Pawn

Unhand me.Eyes trained carefully on the others as they look for an opportunity to make their move, she backs toward the study where the 'Game Mode Switch' is housed. DIE

I'm out of here and none of you dare follow me. Got it?

Casting Pawn aside she makes a dash for the 'Game Made Switch'. After engaging it she goes straight for the nearest exit. For some reason an invisiblebarrier of sorts prevents her from leaving. She takes a run-up...still no good.

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DIEHey! What gives?

Not paying the others any attention she tries again and again and again. Sprinting for the exit only to slam into the invisible barrier once more.Yellow carries Pawn over to the others who are gathered by the exit. Die can be seen in the background trying everything to cross the barrier to no avail.CLOSE-UP ROBBER ROBBER

(Whispering to the group) I anticipated the killer was might try this. I managedto hack the 'Game Mode Switch' so that no pieces may enter or leave the board. Problem is, 'Game Mode' will only stay enabled for a 5minutes. We'll have to work together to catch her before then.

By this time Die has given up on getting through the barrier. Instead she stares hopelessly at group, contemplating the gun nestled between her fingers. KING

(Shouting over at Die) By the way, the chamber's empty on that gun! I made sureto remove the remaining bullets.

Die points the gun toward the group and pulls the trigger nothing. Briefly glancing down at