You are Sally Barnes, a grad student doing your thesis on DNA cloning. You are dressed as Cleopatra, Queen of the Nile.

Chip Ashcroft, an obnoxious undergraduate frat-boy, has invited you to a party at the estate of his parents, heiress Veronica Ashcroft-Wellman and conservative radio personality Mike Wellman. Ordinarily, you would have blown off the invitation, but tonight you felt the need to blow off some steam instead.

A cab takes you down the tree-lined driveway and up to the door of the sprawling Ashcroft estate; an ambulance passes you heading the other direction. The driveway is filled with luxury cars, and the grounds stretch off along the east side of the mansion. You notice stables and a hedge maze just north of the driveway.

As you step from the cab, you immediately notice the smell of cooking meat. Your mouth starts to water, but the smell makes you uneasy for some reason.

"Natural One" by Folk Implosion can be heard blasting from inside.

You step into the front hall and see a stairway leading up to the second floor. There is a closed door in the west wall and an open door across from it that apparently leads to the ballroom.  Beyond the stairway, you see that the hall continues and opens into a long gallery, lined with art. In the middle of the gallery, you see an old-fashioned, free-standing elevator with an old-fashioned butler inside, descending to the basement.

In the front hall, a young man dressed like a Marine is talking with a black man dressed like Frankenstein's monster. You're pretty certain that the black man is Governor Asher.

"Er....Excuse me Mr. Govenor," the Marine stammers. "There seems to be a lot of problems going on that you might not want to be connected to. Why don't you let me lead you in a safe direction away from people who might take the wrong meaning from these events. I know a good way out! Follow me!"

As the Marine is saying this, a man dressed like a convict steps into the room and flashes a badge. "Sgt. Duffy, homicide," he says. "Did any of you see the shooting out here a few minutes ago?"

Before the words are out of his mouth, the Marine has dragged the governor into the ballroom. The detective shrugs and turns to you. "Miss? Did you see anything?"

Before you can answer, there is a commotion on the second floor, followed by a gunshot and screaming. Sgt. Duffy whips out a gun and charges upstairs.

A police siren can be heard approaching the mansion.

For the first time, you notice a pool of blood on the carpet.

If you would like to follow Sgt. Duffy up to the second floor, click here.

Click here to switch to the Marine (Brother Foooz).