Season 1, Episode 11: McMystery at McDuck Manor
It's a relatively normal day at McDuck Manor. Mrs. Beakley and Webby carry luggage bags to the front door and set them down. A crossbow falls out of Webby's bag.
"Ugh, Webby. A crossbow?" Mrs. Beakley asks raising an eyebrow.
"Webby sighs apologetically, "Sorry, Granny." Webby takes the crossbow to her room and returns with a long bow and quiver of arrows.
"That's better." Mrs. Beakley praises.
"What's all this?" Dewey asks as the triplets and Ella walk over to them.
"Hey, guys! Every year. I brush up on my survivor skills on a secret island-" Webby says excited only for Mrs. Beakley to clear her throat.
"It's not a secret if you tell us Webby." Ella explains to Webby who chuckles nervously.
"I-I Mean, a, a, a regular island young warriors definitely don't combat the forces of nature and each other." Webby says nervously. A Grenade rolls out of her pack; she kicks it away for Mrs. Beakley to catch and place in her bag, "Y-you know, it's girl stuff."
Ella raises an eyebrow.
"I gotta go!" Donald yells running down the stairs, past everyone and into his car driving off.
Ella's eyebrows raise even more and she looks to Beakley concerned and confused.
"WHy is everyone running off?" Huey asks just as confused and concerned as Ella.
Beakley sighs, "You would figure it out sooner or later." Beakley whispers to the group, "Today is Mr. McDuck's birthday." Beakley says.
The triplets and Ella exclaim in surprise.
"I forgot the guy could even have a birthday." Ella mutters to herself earning a amused smile from Beakley.
"Okay people, we are in crisis party planning mode! Louie, you start a guest list. Dewey-" Huey exclaims before taking order only for Beakley to interrupt him.
"Absolutely not. Mr. McDuck has a strict no birthday party rule. He hates the reminder that's he's-" Beakley is interrupted by Louie.
"Literally the oldest person he knows?" Louie teases causing Dewey to burst into laughter and Huey cracks a smile while Ella facepalms.
"But our most epic relative deserves the most epic party ever!" Huey exclaims with a big smile.
"Eh, I don't know. He hasn't had a good one since before his old butler Duckworth died." Webby says unsure gesturing to a portrait of DuckWorth dusting a Portrait of Scrooge.
"Okay, be honest, has that always been there and I hadn't noticed or does this portrait come and go?" Ella whispers to Beakley gesturing to the portrait.
"It's always been there, dear." Beakley chuckles.
"And then there is the fact that his best friend isn't around anymore... He hates celebrating his birthday without her..." Webby says remembering the kind hearted, smart and beautiful duck who would come by every year on his birthday before it all just stopped, for some reason.
"Like this stuffy old guy could beat the party I threw for the Junior Woodchuck party Planning Committee. It was both work... and play. I'm-" Huey begins ranting
"Don't say I didn't warn you." Beakley says grabbing her luggage and heading for the door.
Webby runs up to Ella to give her a hug, "If I don't come back, tell my story." Webby told her before following after Beakley.
Ella turns to the boys when the doors close.
"Nah, he's gonna love it! Huey's time to shine!" Huey gushes happily.
"Count me out." Ella said petting his shoulder as she walks past. "If you need me I'm going through the junk pile again." Ella told them heading up the stairs.
Ella stops in front of the picture, she points to her eyes then at the picture, finding it suspicious.
** Transition to nighttime at McDuck Manor***
"Another year older, another year richer, and the house to myself. Time to celebrate the peace and quiet..." Scrooge says happily walking through the manor until he notices a strange shadow past by.
"Ah! A home invasion! Take that, ya bionic bandits! Scrooge say following Dewey into the foyer and tackling him before looking up and seeing Huey, Louie and three guests in conspicuous disguises stood in the foyer.
"Surprise!' Louie, Huey and the guests cheer!
"Happy b-b-birthday!" Dewey presses a key on his keytar.
Scrooge growls.
"BOYS HAVE YOU SEEN MY KEYTAR!?" The boys all flinch at the sound of Ella's annoyed voice.
She walks in carrying a big sack.
(Cue the opening theme song)
The party is in full swing. One guest fans themselves, another is eating food and the third is on their phone. Scrooge is sulking in a chair while "Party" scrolls across Dewey's visor.
"You actually did it you mad lad." Ella told Huey looking around at the party with a frown.
"But of course, Ella. You may not want the best birthday for Uncle Scrooge but we sure do." Huey says before going over his list.
"It's not that I don't want him to have a happy birthday. It's that I respect his wishes. I was planning to give him a birthday gift but it may have to wait for now..."Ella sighs ruffling her hair, she had forgotten her goggles in her bedroom.
"Thanks for coming regardless, I was hoping you could be the great finally." Huey told her as they walk past a grumpy Scrooge.
"What do you mean?" Ella asks him confused.
"You see I was hoping you could sing happy birthday to him." Huey told her giving her a hopeful smile that she just couldn't say no to. Ella sighs in agreement.
"So, next is mingling! From 6 to 6:05. Bathroom break at 6:06 but keep it under a minute because at 6:07, we're scheduled to have fun!" Huey calls out happily.
"One minute is not a enough time to use the bathroom and wash you hands." Ella says shaking her head as she pulls at the dress Huey forced her to wear.
"Fun times!" Dewey says through the mask, Fun flashes across the screen on his face before he presses some buttons getting a applause and a sheep noise.
"What the blazes was that?" Scrooge asks looking at Dewey in confusion.
Huey walks closer to them, "Oh, Just the one and only Dj Daft Duck!" Huey says.
"Daft Duck is right." Ella mutters earning a smirk from Scrooge.
"Yeah!" Dewey gives a thumbs up, "What up, yo?"
"Dewey's only answering to his DJ name tonight, just go with it." Huey explains to Ella and Scrooge.
"Why are there a bunch of masked weirdos in my house?" Scrooge asks annoyed.
Louie walks up as Huey explains, "Louie put together a guest list of Duckberg's most powerful and Elite."
"That's not a good-" Ella is interrupted by Huey who gestures to the masked guests, "It's quality, not quantity."
"This is just depressing Ella mutters shaking her head. "I'm going to my room, tell me when the party is over." Ella says heading up the stairs.
Huey watches her go with sad eyes, he thought she'd enjoy this party for sure. Ella adored escape rooms.
Scrooge looks to Huey noticing his sad face and looks to where Ella left. 'Poor Lad, if he's trying to impress her, he's going about it the wrong way.' Scrooge thinks shaking his head.
** While the party is in swing***
Ella walks into her room and over to her recent project, a birthday gift for Scrooge.
She remembered he broke his old compass the other day on a adventure. So since he destroyed and lost his old one she made him a new one with some help from some YouTube tutorials on how to make a compass.
She places the, now wrapped and boxed, item in her hoodie pocket.
While wondering the manor Ella finds a bedroom door with the name Duckworth on it and hums to herself.
**
Huey walks up to Scrooge who tries to flee by leaving a balloon with a mask of his face on it.
"Ah, there's the birthday boy. I've got just the thing to help get you in the party mood." Huey says making Scrooge sit back down. "Cue the lights." Huey told Dewey.
The lights are off, eerie music plays as smoke from a smoke machine fills the air.
"Ladies and gentlemen, grand illusionist master of the arcane, Nik Nokturne." Huey announces.
"Spelled with two K's cause I made the C's disappear." Nik Nokturne says dramatically.
"Ugh, if there's one thing I hate more than birthday parties, it's birthday party magicians. Ugh." Scrooge says bitterly.
"Well, good thing he's an illusionist then." Huey chirps.
Nokturne appears behind a guest with cards in hand, "Choose your destiny." He says dramatically, enticing the guest to do so before taking the card back and making the cards disappear.
"The card's in this pocket next to a dove." Scrooge calls out.
The card and a dove fly out of Nokturne's pocket.
"You're not helping." Huey told Dewey who played cricket noises on his keyboard.
"You, non-believer. Come forth to experience real magic. Behold the abyss box." Nokturne says pointing to Scrooge before revealing a large box.
"Nope." Scrooge says stubbornly.
"But Uncle Scrooge, you have to for the party." Hue gives him puppy dog eyes.
"Ugh, fine." Scrooge relents before going into the box.
"Who knows what mysteries wait inside." Nokturne says closing the doors.
"Typically you want me to hide inside this trap door in here?" Scrooge's voice says from inside the box.
Nokturne laughs nervously, "Hahaha, ah Embrace the pull of darkness. I call upon the spirits. The party has just begun." Nokturne tells the crowd dramatically.
The lights cut out and when they cut back on the entire box is destroyed.
Nokturne panics, "Ah, my beautiful, beautiful box!
***
Scrooge feels himself being placed down in a chair and struggles to look around with the blindfold over his eyes.
The blindfold is removed revealing Ella and Duckworth.
"Duckworth? Ella?" Scrooge asks surprised.
"Surprise!" Ella tells him with a big smile.
"What's going on here? Is this part of the party?" Scrooge asks looking around confused.
"Nope, Beakley said you didn't like birthday parties since Duckworth died, and i found his bedroom while wandering the halls. Then I found out Duckworth's soul is still in the manor and found a way to release it without him going evil, you can thank Fenton for that one. And so, here we are." Ella tells him offering him a box of popcorn.
"Happy birthday by the way." Ella told him as he situates himself in his chair, the two watching the chaos go on through the monitors.
Ella's phone rings, "Henlo?" Ella answers knowing it was Huey.
"ELLA! SCROOGE HAS BEEN KIDNAPPED! WHERE ARE YOU RIGHT NOW?" Huey yells in a panic.
"I'm not currently in the mansion, decided to hang with Lena." Ella lied, Lena would back her up if he called her.
"Well when do you think you'll be here?" Huey asks Ella looking frantic over the monitors.
"It'll take me a while. This would be a good time for you to play detective though." Ella says.
Scrooge, Duckworth and Ella watch as Huey's eyes light a blaze.
"Ella, you're absolutely right. I'll call you back when I have this mystery solved." Huey then hangs up and begins his investigation.
"That's that then." Scrooge says eating his popcorn.
Duckworth looks down at the little girl in front of him, she looked vaguely familiar, but he couldn't figure out for the life of him why she did.
"This is a rare time for the two of us to talk." Scrooge suddenly tells Ella causing her to look up at him.
"What'cha want to know?" Ella asks.
"Well, for one lass, how'd you happen upon Donald and the boys?" Scrooge asks turning in his chair to look at Ella.
"Honestly I don't know. All I remember was being on a ship for whatever reason, then BOOM! I black out and when I awake, Donald had found me wrapped up in a sail cloth and offered me to stay with them." Ella told Scrooge honestly rubbing her head remembering the headache she had from the incident.
Scrooge hums in thought, that was nothing to really go on. He supposed he could grab Donald and Beakley and ask for their help to look up any of the recent boat explosions during the time period of Ella being found.
"Not much of my memory came back but I did learn things about myself through instinct. For example, when the engine of Donald's broke once, He couldn't afford to have someone fix it at the time and before I knew it I had tools in my hand and was fixing the engine and improving it. Until Dewey got to it anyway..." Ella said remembering that Dewey exploded the house boat.
Scrooge hums writing it down on a notebook Duckworth supplied him with.
"Another example is my quick thinking, attention to detail, photographic memory, and my ability to kick butt. But anything about my past I don't know a thing about. Whenever I try to think about it... it's like something is trying to block it out." Ella said removing her charm bracelet and fiddling with it.
"The only thing I can really remember is someone giving me this charm bracelet before the ship we were on blow up. But their face is all fuzzy..." Ella sniffs, she always felt sad when she looked at the charm bracelet so she usually kept it hidden beneath her hoodie sleeve.
"May I see that Charm bracelet, lass?" Scrooge asks carefully holding out his hand.
Ella hands it to him, she trusted him not to sell it or destroy it.
Scrooge observes the charm bracelet with a hum, "Duckworth, doesn't this charm bracelet look extremely familiar?" Scrooge asks Duckworth who was watching Huey try to deduct on the monitors.
Duckworth looks the charm Bracelet over, "It looks very similar to the one you gave Lady Athena...But it has been many years since you've last seen her, sir." Duckworth said recognizing a specific charm, Scrooge had that same charm on the chain that held his lucky dime.
It was a charm that looked a lot like a compass, he and Athena had made a promise that no matter what they'll find each other again, hence the compass.
"I think I may know who gave you that charm bracelet lass. Although something tells me it's not time for you to know... Or more specifically she wants to be the one to tell you..." Scrooge says handing her the charm bracelet back, a sad frown on his face.
"Is it the woman who is your best friend? The one you have a huge picture of in your office? The one you who you gave me her locket?" Ella questions her eyes wide with wonder.
Scrooge chuckles "The very same." Scrooge chuckles, there could be the chance that Ella is Athena's daughter or even her granddaughter, it would explain why Athena has been gone for so long.
"I believe it is time for me to step in." Duckworth says catching Ella and Scrooge's attention.
Huey was now accusing Glomgold of stealing Scrooge, Duckworth snatches up Glomgold leaving a message.
"I can't believe Louie invited all your enemies to this party. To be fair the party isn't very good but either way..." Ella says squishing her face.
"Agreed." Scrooge hums as each time Huey accused someone Duckworth would take them until it left the boys and Nokturne.
"Huey, seriously?" Ella asked shaking her head as he blamed his brothers for Scrooge's disappearance.
Ella and Scrooge watch the boys come close to their room with devious smirks.
The door behind their chairs open, "Boys, I give you the man who kidnapped our Uncle Scrooge."
"Uncle Scrooge? Ella?" Dewey and Louie ask surprised when she turned around dramatically in her chair.
"Yo." Ella says snickering.
Scrooge is busy laughing at the screens, "There you lads are. You're just in time for the best part." Scrooge tells them turning in his chair and gesturing for them to watch the monitor screens with him and Ella.
Huey climbs into the chair with Ella while Dewey and Louie continue standing watching the monitors.
On the monitors you could see the guests being kicked out the manor.
"The person or persons with the best reason for getting Scrooge out of the party was Scrooge himself.
"S-s-say what?!" Dewey said forgetting he didn't have the helmet or the keytar. "Sorry, I'm not used to talking. Sound epic, be-beep boop beep..." Dewey says still in character.
Ella shakes her head amused.
Wait, what about Black Art's ghost?" Louie asks confused.
"Not his ghost, my ghost. Boys, meet Duckworth." Scrooge says as the scary ghosts turns into the ghost of Duckworth.
"Good Evening young sirs." Duckworth tells them.
"A ghost butler?" Dewey asks surprised.
"SO do I ring a bell when I need you, or you just show up..." Louie trails off upon seeing Ella's unimpressed face.
Scrooge and Duckworth turn to Ella who jumps out her chair, "You see boys, I remember not ever seeing the picture on the wall until today so I decided to roam the halls and investigate. While doing so I found Duckworth's bedroom and of course went it." Ella told the boys walking around them.
"I had recently found a way to properly summon a ghost without them being evil and without having to sacrifice anything or anyone. SO I used that to my advantage and summoned Duckworth. But I needed a way to get Duckworth to Scrooge and vice versa." Ella explains switching the cameras so they were on Duckworth's bedroom and the foyer.
"While that preposterous prestidigitator thought he up a spirit. Ella replaced the spirit with Duckworth. SO unfortunately for him, it was the ghost of my most loyal servant." Scrooge finishes for Ella. The monitors show Ella placing a small vase behind the big box before she went through a secret exit in the wall.
"I returned to the corporeal world at young Ella's request in order to find the mansion full of Mr. McDuck's enemies, and even worse, hosting them at a sub-par party." Duckworth finishes.
"Hey!" Huey says offended.
"So he did what any butler worth his coat tails would, alleviate the situation." Ella tells them placing a hand on Huey's shoulder and gesturing to Duckworth.
"So that's why you left." Huey said to Ella remembering how much Ella loved the birthday Word Search.
"So the creepy whispering was you?" Louie asks weirded out.
"I do have a flair for the dramatic." Duckworth says smiling.
"When the lights went out you and Ella took Scrooge to protect him from them, and me." Huey says sadly.
Huey turns to Scrooge ashamed, "I'm sorry, Uncle Scrooge. This was supposed to be a party for you but I made it about me. Please accept my resignation as world's greatest party planner slash detective." Huey says hanging his head.
"Ach, rubbish. This has been my best birthday ever. Those fellows will think twice before trying to set foot in McDuck Manor again, and Ella brought back my favorite butler from beyond the grave, no less. Along side the fact that I learned something new about my missing childhood friend. The two of you really threw a cork-u-lar of a party." Scrooge praises Ella and Huey.
"HAng on if you liked the party why did Duckworth scare us all half to death?" Louie asks.
"Ah, you weren't in any real danger. That was clearly a fake ghost axe." Scrooge says.
Ella glares at Duckworth, "Or at least it had better have been, if were real, I'd send him to the depths of hell." Ella said with a scary smile on her face.
Duckworth shivers in fear, "Ahem, of course."
"let this be a lesson. I never want another party." Scrooge said.
"But what about parties for holidays like Christmas, Hanukkahh, and the often overlooked Arbor Day?" Huey asks.
Ella sighs and grabs Huey by his collar and drags him from the room, "Let's just get him a good gift for those holidays." Ella tells him as Dewey and Louie follow her and Huey out.
**
Scrooge was in his room looking through a old photo album when he hears a quiet knock on his door.
Scrooge stands and opens the door and is greeted by Ella.
"Forgot to give you my planned birthday gift." Ella told him handing him a small red gift box.
"Hope you like it." Ella said before heading to Huey's bedroom door.
Scrooge looks down at the gift before closing his door.
When he opens the gift his eyes go wide at the beautifully crafted compass watch.
Scrooge smiles and puts it on, he looks at the note it came with.
"Dear Scrooge,
I know you don't like celebrating your birthday but I hope you'll accept this gift. I remember you broke your compass so I made you one you can keep on your wrist. The vials I gave are full of the cleaning stuff I mentioned a while ago. Just dab a cloth with it and it should clean any smooth surface.
Enjoy your birthday,
Elanor"
Scrooge chuckles before testing the vials on a old picture frame and is surprised how quickly it cleaned it in one swipe.
"Amazing, utterly amazing. You raised a good kid Athena..." Scrooge says looking down at the now cleaned photo of himself and Athena.