MORE-LIKE-HOUR 2 

"Well, that was a disaster," said the Shadow Mistress sadly, looking at Cho's body. "Perhaps Cho's shadow could bring her back to the Castle. Where would she want to be buried, do you think?"
"IDAHO?" offered Pinkie PIEper.

"It was a rhetorical question," said the Shadow Mistress quickly. With a flick of her hand, another disruption of light carried away Cho, seemingly to the Castle.

"I suppose we should keep going. Big Ben, anyone?"
The Alter Egos cheered. The sane counterparts did not seem as happy-- someone had just died, for Pete's sake-- but they followed the Shadow Mistress willingly as she led them to the clock. It was just chiming twelve as they arrived. 

"ThIS iS BoRinG," complained Candy KING, and Pinkie PIEper, Veronica, Catrina, Torstyn, PSXtreme, and Tara readily agreed.

"You know what would make it funner?" said Catrina.

"What?" said Torstyn.

"If we could CLIMB it!" Catrina's cat tail twitched with excitement.

Candy KING frowned. "i'D rATher EaT cANdY, ThAnKs."
Catrina shrugged. "I'm doing it!"

She flexed her cat claws and sunk them into the building.

The sane counterparts and the Shadow Mistress weren't paying much attention to the half-cat person climbing the Big Ben. Perhaps they would have been more so if someone hadn't just died, but someone had, so mostly they just stared at the clock without staring and thought gloomy thoughts.

"HEY!" shouted Catrina. "I CAN SEE EVERYTHING!"

She was perched on the hour hand of the clock, grasping the minute hand for support. It didn't offer much-- she was slowly sliding downwards.

"Catrina!" gasped Joss, coming out of her stupor. "CATRINA! GET DOWN FROM THERE!"
Of course, she didn't listen. "I CAN SEE THE CLOUDS! AND BIRDS! AND A BUNCH OF HOUSES! AND THE LONDON EYE! AND THE REST OF THIS CHUR--"
She never got to finish the sentence, as the hour hand was roughly jerked from under her feet. She tried holding on to the minute hand, but, as had been said, it was not at all sturdy. Slowly, it creaked, pointing straight at the 6, and then...

It fell, bringing Catrina with it.

The murderer slipped down from where they had been on the clock, hidden by every guest's eye. Apparently their brief absence went unnoticed, and they slipped back into the crowd.

DAY 3 (though it still has not been a day)

"Well," said the Shadow Mistress uncomfortably, "Maybe. . . we should go to the Globe Theatre?"
Veronica practically fainted. "Shakespeare's original theatre? That's, like, the most famous thing EVER! We're going there?"

"Sure," the Shadow Mistress said. "It's a very famous tourist spot. We could probably even go backstage. I think they're showing Macbeth at the moment."

"SoUnDs BOrInG," Candy KING complained.

"Everything sounds boring to you," Veronica snapped.

"ThAT's BeCaUsE It IS," said Candy KING. "Is THeRe a CaNdY FaCtORy sOmEwHeRe?"
"No, we want a cake factory!" said Pinkie PIEper.

"Yeah!" agreed PSXtreme.

"No," said the Shadow Mistress firmly. "We are going to the Globe Theatre and that's that."
There was a bit of grumbling, but she was the guide.

But after a while, the Alter Egoes were plenty happy.

Because there was no one else in the world, the Shadow Mistress let people go up on the stage and behind it. Veronica insantly started reciting Hamilton, and the Alter Egos got very excited when they noticed the weapons backstage. Soon, they were all in mock battles using real knives and swords, and Pinkie PIEper ran around with a blank shotgun shooting. The sane counterparts, however, went through the front and read about the costumes, the theatre in its time, and the strategies onstage. 

Everyone was having fun, until there was a sudden shriek.

"CRYSTI!"
That was Donut, with Pavlavla gaping behind her. The elf was lying still on the floor, a knife in her back.

The murderer had struck again. 

Is it too late to join?

Waiting for feedback. 

Will you post different rooms, please? I'm the only CBer in my room.

I apologize for the delay in installations. The days have been inconvenient. I will do my best to post daily from now on.

Also, as I have said, rooms are unchangable. They may be edited once a certain number of people die. Again, apologies.

ACTUALLY-NEW-DAY-FOR-ONCE FOUR

The Shadow Mistress, after Crysti's death, decided that they'd better not take any more chances. She herded everyone out of the Globe and back to the castle, where the disturbances of air (which were clarified to be the CBers' missing shadows, under the control of the Shadow Mistress) gave them a rigorous pat-down to uncover any weapons, poisons, or otherwise someone may have smuggled. They were fruitless; the murderer had done their job well.

The Shadow Mistress's servants provided the guests with their dinner, and then sent them to bed. There was grumbling, complaining, and insomnia, but eventually the stationary castle was filled with the sounds of snoring.

***

The next day, after breakfast, the Shadow Mistress called her guests to the Great Hall again. She seemed excited under her layers of clothes.

"This is one of my favorite attractions in England, where I'm bringing you today," she told them. "It's called the Tower of London. It's a very famous medieval castle-- it houses the Crown Jewels, among many other things! It's one of my favorite places to go. Absolutely fascinating."

She cut herself off, obviously sensing a ramble, and led them out the door.

The Tower was guarded by a gate, but seeing as there were no guards, they walked straight in. There was no one inside, but there were a few ravens. The Shadow Mistress pointed at them. "There are six ravens at the Tower in all, not counting wild ones. They're all captive, and are said to protect the Crown with their presence."

The Tower was not simply a cylinder. It was a whole fortress, so to speak, with multiple buildings, a food court, and a path running through it all. There were even small houses for the guards; empty, of course. 

"The White Tower and the Crown Jewels are the main attractions," said the Shadow Mistress. "I'll show you the Tower."
The White Tower was an exibition of weaponry. The Shadow Mistress explained that it also contained the first royal conservatory and the Chapel of St. John. The display of arms was simply the museum part of it.

The walk through the torture instruments did not include any death, luckily. But there was some at their next stop. . .

"This is the Bloody Tower," said the Shadow Mistress. "It was originally called the Garden Tower, but it changed because of a mystery here. There was a murder: two princes, Edward V and his brother Richard, were killed, supposedly under the orders of Richard Duke of Gloucester, who eventually became Richard III. It's also a tourist spot. Shall we go?"

She didn't wait for an answer, but led the group inside.

The part of the Bloody Tower where it got its name was a rather medium-sized room. A film was playing, demonstrating exactly why the murder of the brothers was such a mystery. The Shadow Mistress lined her guests up to watch.

A scream cut off the motion picture.

Everyone turned, looking for the source of the noise, and saw Pinkie PIEper falling forward, an impressive dent in her skull.

They got out of the Bloody Tower rather quickly, carrying Pinkie with them. Elsa laid her "sister" in the grass. 

The ravens flocked over to look at the corpse. In unison, they let out one shrill cry, then fell silent.

"That happened once to a chaplain," the Shadow Mistress whispered. "He died, and during his funeral the ravens cried out once. It's a characteristic of the birds."

Some of the CBers shot her angry looks. Of course, her comment had been completely anticlimax.

"it's really too bad," said PSXtreme. "We were starting to get along rather nicely."

During the silence for Pinkie, the murderer was able to slip back to the White Tower and deposit the bludgeon they had used back to its spot. It had served them well.

Hmm... the plot thickens...

DAY 5

The Shadow Mistress decided she was done with London.

On the Castle, the trip from London to York would take no time at all, but the Shadow Mistress insisted that it would be a nighttime trip, and forced her guests to bed. So she piloted the Castle on its little spindly legs in York's direction.

She set it down in an out-of-the-way sort of place and waited until the CBers woke up. They breakfasted, and then made their way out into the world.

"This is one of many Medieval chapels in England," said the Shadow Mistress. "We'll be looking at many of them as we go--Monesteries were quite common. Please, follow me inside, and don't destroy anything!"

Candy KING groaned.

They made their way through the church. It was large, with many side rooms and stained glass windows. The going was slow, as people would insist on admiring every single window at every single angle before moving on. 

As they passed under an archway, Hèmín noticed something peculiar. "What's that, above the arch?" she asked, pointing.

It was a bunch of pipes, coming up and then down again in a triangle-like fashion. "It's an organ," the Shadow Mistress explained. "That's where the sound comes out."

September seemed in particular interested with this find. "I'll catch up," she said to the person in the back of the group, who happened to be Torstyn. He nodded, acknowledging that he understood.

She examined the pipes for a few moments, and was about to turn and leave when the loudest noise she'd ever heard echoed through the room.

Carolion burst in; obviously, the murderer had been sloppy. "WHAT THE HECK?" she shouted.

"WHAT?" September shouted back. "I CAN'T HEAR YOU!"
They clasped their hands over their ears, but it was too late. The pure noise of the organ had already damaged them. With one final, jarring chord, they became entirely deaf.

It would have been fine that way, but the murderer wanted to finish the job. They sauntered up to the two girls, grinning. They held up a sign that said quite clearly, "Don't worry, you're not quite deaf yet. If you scream as loud and long as you can, you can still cure yourself."

The girls exchanged glances, but really, what could it hurt? 

They started to scream.

And scream.

And scream.

It would have been ear-splitting to anyone nearby, but the murderer had on earplugs and a good pair of earmuffs to block out some of the sound. They still had a headache for quite a while, though.

When the girls looked ready to pop, the murderer stepped up to them and pressed clothespins over their noses. Then the murderer covered their mouths with their hands and waited.

Soon, they collapsed. The murderer checked their pulses.

Dead.

___

R.I.P. September and Carolion, who died in the strangest way ever.