Max, did you loose this case? Have you eaten too much bad Weisswurst or was it those ugly bagels offered by zeogold?

Come on, Max. It's been more than a week now.

Not sure if he will show up, how to say it friendly his eaten habits are a bit wrong in the moment, or better to say the modus operandus is poled in the wrong way.
EDIT:Means zeogold, I think you can go on.

Hey fellas, I mentioned it privately to zeogold but thought I should mention briefly here also that I've had a computer catastrophe lately as well as a few other life events transpire that I've had to redirect my attention to in the short term which is why I've been absent on the forums for the last couple of weeks. My current access method is temporary and unreliable so I will continue to be offline mostly for a while.

I'm hoping to have everything resolved and new hardware set up by December at the latest but hopefully much sooner, but unfortunately I wont be able to participate in the forums for probably a few weeks. Thought I'd mention it here in case people wonder why I'm not responding.

On the upside, I shall return with a larger bow and stronger bones as I'm eating calcium and magnesium (literally!). Going to be missing out on all the cool stuff going on here for the time being though.

Hope you all have fun with the investigation in my absence though and I'll join the next one in the future. Hope everyone enjoys the big mega fall sale that's on and I'll see you all soon.

Thanks. Hope to see you soon.

We won't go anywhere really :)

Well, fortunately, I have a bit of a back-up plan, so let's see how this goes...
*zeotyping sounds*

Hope everything turns out well.

I'm sure you'll be back.
Zeo no longer having a laptop isn't stopping him, should be doable for others. :P

Don't forget, we/you are talking about skeletonbow, THAT is different :P

Fair point. :P

The detectives argued back and forth for a bit. There seemed to be a general consensus, but in two ways.
"Guys, we're wasting time," complained the Puzzlemaster. "It feels like a week's passed, with how long you guys have taken to decide what to do. Get outta here and get searching already!"
Most of the detectives scrambled out the door, while Goodalt, Trent, and The Doc stayed behind.

"Ok, THIS time we're going to get a proper autopsy done, or I'll eat my gold." said ZFR.
"You say that with conviction, you must know what you're doing." commented Detective Hendra.
"And THIS time, you have friends to help you out!" mentioned Officer Sci, cheerily.
Suddenly, Max began to sway back and forth. His face turned pale, and he began to wander off from the group.
"Where are you going?!" asked Detective Wald.
"I am feeling sick! I have foolishly eaten too much Leberkase! I must search for a bhut jolokia or a nice tasty Habanerose to cure me of my illness!" said Max. With a click of his trusty net gun, he ran off in search of something to cure his ailment.
"Well...ok...we still have plenty of us here, though!" said Fantas, merrily.
"True," said Kusumahendra, "at least that monk is still following us. Wait, no, he's not. Did he go somewhere?"
Sure enough, the detectives looked around and noticed that Brother Sanfueg had indeed disappeared.
"Well, whatever. He was always kinda aloof anyways. We still have Detective Bow to play us a song!" said Fanatas, desperately trying to keep her cheery disposition.
Detective Bow took his guitar off of his back and prepared to add a +5 agility to the group with his tune, when suddenly, he became aware of a figure behind him. Turning around, he saw at last the rival that pursued him. A man, clad in many colors and diamonds, with his cape fluttering in the nonexistent wind. The mad, wise jester, Djaron Djestere!
"At last, I have found you!", bellowed the great Djestere. "So, you think you can take MY place in stringed background melodies? Ah-honhonhon! Not so easily, my dear fellow! We shall settle this...with a DUEL!"
"Can't you guys take this somewhere else?" asked Ashwald, but it was too late. The two musicians were already engaged in mortal combat of melodious notes. None could intervene in this battle.
"Guys...you know that if we don't have enough people, it'll inevitably end up badly. It's because it works off a vote sys-"
Ashwald caught himself, remembering the last kick he received, and immediately went back into character.
"...I mean, uh...because we simply don't have enough people to help us! If we lose another, this autopsy report will probably fail."
"Look! It's fine, ok! It's alright! We still have 5 of u- GET BACK HERE OR SOHELPMEI'LLWRINGYOURLITTLEBLUENECKYOULITTLE GRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!"
Officer Sci leaped upon Bler, who was ambling away to make the acquaintance of a nearby daisy. The smurf was grabbed and stuffed into ZFR's pocket.
"WE'RE GETTING OUT OF HERE RIGHT NOW BEFORE WE LOSE ANY MORE!", screamed Officer Sci, and away they went.

Night falls. The light is on in the Puzzlemaster's office. Two figures can be seen studying something on the desk. Studying, watching, finding, poring over the most minute of details that can be deduced through the greatest extent of brainpower.
Two other figures can be seen fighting over a bagel.

Djaron and Skeletonbow's duel for today is:
Feudin' Banjos, by Arthur Smith (1955)

The next day was a tad overcast, although without any adverse weather effects.
The detectives returned to the Puzzlemaster's office.
"Ok guys, did you find any- ...wait, why are so many of you missing?!"
"Well, Max got sick and Skeletonbow left, saying he had to take on a quest against some jester or something." explained Ashwald.
"Here's proof of my legal sanity." said Bler, who hopped out of ZFR's pocket and onto the Puzzlemaster's desk.
"This is the note from Detective Bow, eh? Let's see...'Dear detectives, I am afraid that I must do a bit of traveling. I have met with a new quest, one which challenges my guitar-shredding ability. Fortunately, my natural knowledge of French, being a Canadian, shall aid me, so do not fear for my safety. However, I feel that you should know I talked with Bler. He's perfectly fine, apparently that story with the lightning storm and fight to the death with a fearsome monster turned out to be nothing out of the ordinary. The storm was Detective Wald flipping the lights on and off in the bedroom, while the fearsome monster was a cockroach that had found its way underneath a bed. He bravely fought it off using a sewing needle, and should be commended for his commitment to defending his fellow detectives. And now, I'm off!'...well, that sucks. I was hoping for something way more exciting. Y'all got anything with the autopsy? We had a bit of an anger management issue with the note, so not much got done."
"YOU are the one that hogs all the bagels for yourself!" protested Goodalt.
"Can it, Hans. ZFR, you got anything?"
"For the last time! Quit with the Hans and Franz references!"
"We actually found something this time," explained ZFR, "I got Bler to steal the autopsy report from the station while the rest of us distracted Sergeant Zeagold. Here it is."
The Puzzlemaster looked at the file that was placed on his desk. "Hm...Officer Sci, you're the one with the police training. Can you read this thing?"
"Sure!"

"A huge amount of blood soaked through the deceased's left pant leg. The bullet entered just above the knee, severing an artery and causing massive bleeding. A single bullet was retrieved from the leg. No other wounds are visible."

"Huh. Useful info. Right then, back to work. I've really only got one lead left, and that's on Leroy. Unless some of you would like to help me on this note? We haven't got much time left...we need to hurry either way."

DAY 4 BEGINS NOW!
GET SLEUTHING!

What? What? Wait.... What's this? MORE DETAILS. Waited one whole *week* for this???

*grumble* Mysterious note *grumble*.

PLus 4 against 4 votes and not a single word on the notes?
Lets get a lynch-party set up and hang zeogold up and dry!

*yawn*...gripe, gripe, gripe, that's all you guys ever do.
Hey, y'know something? How come Sanfueg never speaks? I should do a little experiment...

The Puzzlemaster, for the first time in three days, got up from his desk. Walking behind Sanfueg, he carefully began to remove the hood of the mysterious cloaked figure. Suddenly, with a flash of light, the riddle-loving detective was blown backwards into his seat.
"DO NOT TOUCH ME!" yelled Sanfueg. "YOU WISH TO SEE MY TRUE FORM? I SHALL REVEAL IT TO YOU MYSELF!"
The monkish figure turned around and removed his hood.
"OH MY GAAAWD!" screamed Ashwald, in horror. "HE'S BLONDE! MY EYES! MY EYEEEES!"

Standing in front of the detectives was Lucius_Malfoy!

"Well, there went any continuity this story ever had." griped Zeogold.


Private phone calls have been sent out.