"Bum-bum-bum!! A body has been discovered! There will be a short time for investigation, and then we will hold a Household Trial!" Herobrine's voice boomed throughout he mansion.
"He's d-dead!" Tyler said quietly.
"Nononononono..." Seto muttered.
"I-I'll go get the others," Ty offered, and rushed out of the room.
"What are we g-gonna do?" Tyler asked, unable to take his eyes off of Jordan's face; his mouth was gaping open slightly and his eyes stared blankly at the ceiling.
"...We...we have to figure out who did it, right?" Seto said.
"How?" Tyler asked.
"We can...look for clues," Seto said slowly, walking towards Jordan's body.
Tyler followed, trying not to gag at the harsh smell of blood.
"Well...we can inspect the wounds to try and infer how he was killed," Seto explained. He shakily lifted Jordan's head and turned it to the side, revealing a large head wound. Tyler instantly looked away as he saw much more blood than he needed to see.
"There's...a big wound on the side of his head," Seto explained quietly. "He was hit hard with something."
"What does it look like he was hit with?" Tyler asked, slowly turning to look at Jordan once again, no matter how hard he was quivering.
"Well...it looks like a big, blunt object. Nothing like a sword or knife," Seto reported quietly, resting Jordan's head back on the ground.
"We're here--OH MY GOD!" Ian screeched, running out as quickly as he had ran in.
"S-someone has killed already?!" Brice asked fearfully.
"Not just someone. One of us," Ryan pointed out ominously.
"I don't f-feel good," Bash said weakly, looking away.
"W-we need to stay calm, and look for c-clues. We have to find out who did it, or we all d-die," Quentin pointed out fearfully.
Everyone nodded grimly, and started searching the room for clues, some of the more strong-hearted people helping Seto inspect the body. while some of the more sensitive people inspecting the room.
"Look," Ant said, pointing to Jordan's right hand. "His hand is all cut up, like he hit it on something."
"And the glass from the window is on this side of the wall, which means it was broken from the outside," Mitch acknowledged.
"There's stab wounds in his chest, too. He obviously wasn't killed with just one weapon," Matt pointed out.
"The blood has stopped flowing, but it's still wet, so he wasn't killed too long ago," Seto realized.
"Oh, and there's small cuts on his body from the glass, so he died after the glass was broken," Ryan said.
"C-can I please leave for a minute?" Bodil asked, looking faint.
"Me too..." Jerome said, shivering.
"It's fine. Go," Brice told them, and the two rushed out of the room.
"So, what do you think happened?" Tyler asked.
"Someone broke the window from the outside, definitely while Jordan was in here," Ant explained.
"Maybe they broke it with the same object that hit Jordan on the side of the head?" Quentin suggested.
"Probably. I bet he was standing here," Mitch explained, standing near the broken window, facing the bookshelf on the left wall, "When the killer snuck up on him and broke the window while hitting him in the head at the same time."
Quentin looked down at Jordan's body. "That makes sense. Then maybe when Jordan was recovering, the killer ran in an stabbed him..."
"Ohh, god, why are we here?" Ian asked painfully, looking away from Jordan's corpse.
"Then how was his hand cut? It looks too big to be from the glass shards," Seto asked.
"Hmm...I don't know. Maybe he just punched something," Matt suggested.
Bodil and Jerome came back in.
"There goes my breakfast..." Bodil groaned, clutching his stomach.
"I f-found this in the kitchen," Jerome said, holding out a kitchen knife.
"That's a knife, Jerome. And watch where you point that thing," Ty said cautiously.
"No, look! It's wet. Like someone had washed it off, to clean...blood," Jerome said, staring at the knife.
"Someone could have been just cutting food," Jason pointed out.
"Maybe. Was anyone actually seen using a kitchen knife before?" Mitch asked. Nobody answered. "I guess not..." he muttered.
"Well, I see you've all had your fun!" Herobrine's voice boomed throughout the house. "You guys are really weak. Bodil even threw up in the kitchen garbage can. Grow up. But anyway, it's time for the Household Trial! We get to find out who did it. Remember, if you guess wrong, you ALL die except the murderer. An elevator door should open up in the hallway you're in, past the Enchantment Table room. Good luck! Ahaha!"
Everyone exchanged fearful glances. "Well, let's go..." Ty said weakly, and everyone left the room and Jordan's body and headed for the elevator room.
≪≫
They all gathered around in a circle in the Household Trial, which was in a small, colorful, circular room. There were sixteen round desks for each of them to stand by. One was empty, behind it was a picture surrounded in an elegant frame, standing up on a pole. In the frame was a black and white picture of Jordan's face, with a big red X through it.
Everyone tried not to look at it.
Behind the circle sat Herobrine on a throne. "So, welcome to the first Household Trial!" he welcomed happily.
"Here you will all debate over who committed the crime. If you guess right, the murderer will be executed. If you guess wrong, all of you except for the real murderer will be executed, and the murderer beats the map! Now...begin!"
Everyone looked around the circle.
"Okay. Let's start with the facts," Mitch said. "We know Jordan was murdered in the enchanting room at night."
"He was hit with a blunt object and stabbed in the chest," Ant added.
"What could the blunt object have been?" Ian asked.
"Well, by the looks of the hole in the window and Jordan's wound, the object was a square or rectangular shape, and was big and heavy enough to inflict real damage when swung, thrust or thrown hard enough to break a window," Seto explained.
"I have some evidence that might help," Brice said. Everyone turned to look at him. Brice pulled something out of his pocket, and held it up for everyone to see.
It was a shard of orange glass.
"Brice, that's just glass. It came from the broken window," Ryan pointed out.
"It's glass. But not from the window. The window broken was only made with green and blue glass. So how did shards of orange glass find its way in here?" Brice asked meaningfully.
Everyone thought for a moment. "I know something that has orange glass. Something that couldn't be used, or worn, if its glass was broken," Quentin said, and looked over at Jason.
Jason's eyes widened as everyone turned to look at him. "M-my helmet?!" he exclaimed.
"Were you really not wearing your helmet because you weren't allowed, or was it because Jordan could have broken it when you attacked him?" Mitch asked suspiciously.
"That would explain why his hand was cut..." Jerome pointed out.
"N-no! I swear, I was told that I wasn't allowed to wear my helmet!" Jason exclaimed, shaking.
"By who?" Mitch asked.
"Well...Ian told me," Jason admitted.
All eyes turned to Ian, who just frowned. "Ian, why would you tell Jason he couldn't wear his helmet?" Ryan asked.
"I was just trying to help him out before Herobrine killed him over it or something," Ian explained.
"So then where's the helmet now?" Seto asked.
"Well...Ian told me to leave it on the stage in the Dining Hall, where Herobrine would come collect it," Jason explained hesitantly.
"Was it really for Herobrine to collect, Ian? You could have easily just snuck into the Hall at night, taken the helmet, and deliberately used it to kill Jordan so you could frame Jason!" Ant exclaimed.
"Ian, d-did you really do that?!" Bash said in shock.
Ian looked around, gripping the front of his desk. "So you're all framing me now? It could have been anyone who had taken the helmet."
"So you admit the helmet was taken?" Bodil said with raised eyebrows.
Ian opened his mouth to defend, but Adam cut him off. "Herobrine! Is there a rule that no helmets are allowed in the Mansion?"
"Hm? Nah," Herobrine replied, leaning on one arm of the large throne he sat on.
"So there was no rule?" Jerome asked.
"Then why would you tell him that, Ian?" Adam asked.
"Jason's just making this whole story up to frame me!" Ian growled. "You're the one framing me, Ian!" Jason retorted.
"You know...I did see Ian in the kitchen this morning..." Ty pointed out. "I was the second one to come to the dining room, and Ian was in the kitchen. He could have been washing the knife that Jordan was stabbed with."
"Or," Brice said, "He could have been washing that cut on his hand."
Everyone turned to look at Ian's right hand, which had a thin but visible cut on it.
"Where'd you get that cut, Ian? Broken glass?" Mitch asked.
Ian looked around at everyone in disgust, but was speechless. "Alright, looks like this debate is over!" Herobrine announced. "It's now time to vote on who the murderer is. Voting devices will be provided for you all on your desks...now, let's see what everyone thinks!"
He turned to the wall behind him, where a giant slot machine slid out of the wall, which had parted into two. Everyone watched as the three slots spun around. One by one, each slot stopped on a picture of Ian's face. Confetti blasted everywhere, and the word 'GUILTY' flashed in bright red on the machine.
Ian stared at the machine in shock, shaking and gripping his desk hard. "Ian, why would you do that?!" Adam exclaimed.
"We're all going to die here anyway! I'd rather kill than b-be killed!" Ian yelled.
"Well, it's time for the punishment!" Herobrine said happily. "Hmm, what to do? Oh! I got it!" he decided. A platform with a big red button above a small screen rose up from the ground in front of him. He pulled out a small mallet, and hit the button with it.
On the screen, an animation of a black-and-white sprite resembling Ian appeared behind a red background.
'GAME OVER', the screen read.
A sprite resembling Herobrine came on the screen, and dragged the Ian sprite away.
'Ian has been found Guilty. The punishment will now begin,' the screen read.
≪≫
"THE BIG BANG"
Suddenly, the wall behind Ian opened up, and a chain with a metal cuff shot out and grabbed Ian by the neck. He grabbed at the cuff and struggled as the chain jerked backwards, having Ian suddenly skid quickly down the long hallway the chain had came from. Herobrine had the other fourteen minecraftians follow him down the hallway.
"I thought that since this is the first execution, things should start with a BANG, you know? A BIG one," Herobrine explained. Everyone watched in fear behind a big metal gate as the chain slid back into a metal pole it had came from, and metal claws emerged from the sides of the poles, grasping Ian and bounding him to the pole.
Holes opened up in the ceiling, and tons of blocks of TNT piled out onto the area around the poles. Ian jerked his head from side to side, clutching the metal claws around him.
Herobrine smiled, and flicked a switch on the wall next to him.
There was a deadly moment of utter silence, then all the blocks exploded at once, with deafening booms that rang in everyone's ears.
When the explosions had faded, Herobrine began laughing maniacally while everyone else stared in utter silence at the pole whose claws now grasped nothing.
"Oh my god! Oh my god!!" Tyler screamed, shaking violently and taking a couple steps back.
Everyone seemed to be quivering in fear, as Herobrine continued to laugh. "Well, that's quite the start to this map! Wonder who'll be punished next? Welcome to Herobrine's Mansion of Despair!"