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Iconkali "You could have warned me, monsieur!"
This page contains major spoilers.
We are in the ocean. There is nowhere for us to run, therefore no need to imprison us. Here is our offer. Let us discover the true culprit by the time we reach port- or you may arrest us for the crime.

Fogg's 'wager' with Captain Keake


The Murder of Madame Shu is a scenario that occurs aboard the Noelani whilst en route to Honolulu from Yokohama. The ship's artificer is killed and Passepartout and Fogg are implicated in the crime.

1) The Murder[]

A while after Passepartout and Fogg have boarded, the Noelani begins to veer and tilt dramatically. Passepartout goes to investigate, and runs into a traumatised Carlotta, who claims to have discovered the ship's Artificer Shu dead in the engine room.

Passepartout examines the crime scene with Carlotta. They discover the murder weapon nearby: and it is one of Passepartout's possessions (either the .45 Calibre Rifle, the Machete, the Hammer, the Katana, the Cutlass, or the Wrench depending on what the player brought aboard[1]). If Passepartout brought multiple arms, e.g. having the rifle, a cutlass, and a katana, the assailant will use the katana and it alone will be silently confiscated at the journey's end. The Balkan Dagger seems to be of no use to the suspect. Thus the Captain accuses Passepartout and Fogg of the crime. Fogg suggests a wager: he and Passepartout be given the chance to prove their innocence by uncovering the real culprit. If they fail, then Fogg agrees that both he and Passepartout will be arrested once they arrive in Honolulu. The Captain agrees to these terms, and Passepartout is instructed by Fogg to do some detective work.

There are four suspects;

  • Captain Keake: The Noelani's captain and a close friend of Madame Shu.
  • Mr. Jaffer: A disgraced former police detective.
  • Ms. Carlotta: The wealthy American owner of a shipping company.
  • General Peters: An elderly and somewhat xenophobic ex-officer in the British army.

2) The Crime Scene[]

On the first day, Passepartout should investigate the scene of the crime. Stand, attempting to imagine the incident. Passepartout will be distracted by the steam valve which rights the boat, making a loud hissing sound and blowing cold air across the room.

3) Strange Sounds[]

Passepartout pays a visit to General Peters and asks him about Ms. Carlotta, and the fact that she seems to know Madame Shu. He was previously unaware Carlotta and Shu knew each other. Peters will mention loud noises on the boat bother him, also, but they don't come from the engine...

3) Lucrative Business[]

Next, Passepartout speaks to Carlotta. He asks her why she was in the engine room to find the body, and if she was the one who righted the boat, considering also if she is familiar with the workings of the boat. He then changes the subject, asking about Shu and Carlotta's relationship, about Shu's reputation and then discovering Carlotta's ownership of a rival shipping line.

4) A Friend in Mourning[]

On the final day of investigation, Passepartout asks the Captain about Shu, and about Carlotta's plan to buy Shu's fleet.

No Suspect (Failure)[]

On the final day, Passepartout may admit he does not know the culprit. He may also begin to make a nonsensical judgement, accusing the wrong people or making the wrong assumptions about the case, and will always be interrupted by Fogg. In both of these scenarios, the Captain will admit there is not enough evidence to arrest the pair, so everyone, including Shu's murderer, walks free and the case is forever unsolved.

5) The Accused![]

Towards the end of the journey, Passepartout will gather all of the suspects in a room to make his final accusation.

In order to navigate this dialogue path to the correct conclusion, it is essential to explain several important pieces of information;

  1. Mr. Jaffer's estimate of the time of death is a guess, based solely on the temperature of the body when it was discovered (it was cold, leading Jaffer to deduce she was murdered several hours prior to the ship going off course).
  2. Shu's scream was not heard because the ship's engine frequently makes a high-pitched squealing noise.
  3. Cold air is often blasted into the engine room from a nearby valve.
  4. Ms. Carlotta runs a competing shipping company and was trying to convince Madame Shu to leave Captain Keake and the Noelani and join her instead.

Mr. Jaffer's estimate of the time of death is actually wrong - the reason Madame Shu's body was cold is because it was blasted with cold air by a valve in the engine room. Therefore, Madame Shu did not die hours before she was discovered (a time when most of the suspects had alibis) but only minutes, at a time when Ms. Carlotta was seen running from the engine room. It was Ms. Carlotta who murdered Madame Shu after Shu rejected the offer to come and work for her. Fearing the Noelani's superior speed could cripple her company, Ms. Carlotta used her understanding of the ship's engine to plan the murder, using the routine high-pitched squeal of engine to mask Madame Shu's fatal scream and letting the cool air chill the body and confuse the time of death.

Carlotta is taken away in chains upon the Noelani's landing in Honolulu, and Passepartout wonders if she will be executed. The Captain is grateful, but still recoiling from the sudden death of a close friend. Then he calls back Passepartout and rewards him for solving the murder by making all of the departures from Honolulu free of charge.

Footnotes[]

  1. If none of the items is owned, mysterious figure will give Passepartout a Wrench before departing. If all dangerous items are removed from the inventory after departing but before murder, Madame Shu will still be murdered, but the name of the tool will be missing from the standard text.
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