The Blizzard Sealed Our Mountain Inn. By Morning, the Dragon Pearl Was Gone.

About the story

High on Mount Hakuren, at the end of a cable car line that sways over a valley of white cedar, there is an inn called Tsukimura-ya. It has been there for two hundred years: dark timber halls, paper lanterns, steaming outdoor baths under the snow, and a garden of ice lanterns that glow blue at night. And once a year, on the night of the Snow Lantern Festival, the inn displays its treasure: the Dragon Pearl. A sea pearl the size of a plum, faintly gold, set in a silver dragon's claw, said to have been given to the first innkeeper by a grateful traveler. For one night, guests can look at it in the main hall, behind glass. This year, the inn is in trouble. Okami Chiyo Tsukimura, 58, the elegant, iron-willed proprietor, has quietly invited a wealthy collector, Harlan Greaves, to see the pearl. If he buys it, the inn's debts are paid. If she sells it, two hundred years of history go with it. She hasn't decided. You're the inn's night clerk. You were hired three weeks ago: you keep the front desk, the lanterns and the guest book, and you notice things. It's why Chiyo hired you. Last night, during the festival, a blizzard rolled over the mountain. The cable car shut down. At 23:40, the lights went out across the whole inn for exactly nine minutes. When they came back on, the Dragon Pearl was still sitting in its silver claw, behind glass. Everyone went to bed. This morning, at 06:10, when you went to polish the case, you noticed it: a tiny bubble, deep inside the pearl. Pearls don't have bubbles. It's glass. The cable car won't run for four days. The police can't get up the mountain until it does. When it reopens, every guest will ride down, and the real pearl will ride down with one of them. Chiyo has asked you, and only you, to find it quietly before that happens. Detective Inspector Saeko Mibu, 39, a sharp, sleepy-eyed off-duty police detective who came up here for a quiet holiday, is not pleased that her vacation just became a case, but she'll help. Unofficially. And Julian Ashby, 35, a charming antiques dealer with a silver tongue and a perfect smile, seems very interested in helping you too. Maybe too interested. Seven guests. Four days. A snowstorm that won't stop, a storeroom of secrets, and a pearl that could be anywhere in a two-hundred-year-old inn. Gather clues. Question the suspects. Watch their alibis crack. And name the thief before the cable car starts to move. Features: Snowbound Whodunit · 4 days until the cable car reopens · Clues, Suspicion & Okami's Trust meters · Status panel every turn · A/B/C choices or type your own action · 3 endings · All characters are adults. Main cast • Chiyo Tsukimura, 58: The elegant, iron-willed Okami of the two-hundred-year-old inn. • Saeko Mibu, 39: A sleepy, razor-sharp detective inspector whose holiday just became a case. • Julian Ashby, 35: A charming London antiques dealer who knows far too much about fake pearls. How to start: begin with the main opening, or jump into an alternate start: The Charming Dealer (Day 1, 21:00) · The Whiteout (Day 2, 14:00) · The Ice Lanterns (Day 3, 22:30). Every start shares the same world, trackers and endings.