Currently on Royal Street...

Sylvia Jones is a tattoo artist in New Orleans, Louisiana. After her best friend, artist Celestine Broussard, is found dead in a historic cemetery during the Mardi Gras season, Sylvia turns to Michelle Gray Investigations to confirm her suspicions that Celestine was murdered.

Hints

Celestine's Key

• Look at the drink menu. Where does Ines say Celestine left her key?
• Read the Graveyard Guardians story in the storybook. Who does the symbol on the tomb represent?
• Watch the documentary trailer. Does this symbol make an appearance?
• Does the figure represented by this symbol have another name? Check the storybook!
• Does this figure's other name have a place connected to them? Check the parade map and Good Fences posts for ideas.
• Is this place along Celestine's route from her house to her studio? If so, you've found the key!

Good Fences

• Do you see any clickable links on any of the posts?

Logging On

• Check Sylvia's letter for the specific task she assigns you: identify the location of Celestine's studio key. Navigate in your web browser to royalstreetcase.com and log in to Michelle Gray's website with the password ORLEANS.

Sticky Note

• The letters MP, GG, GVQ, and PBL are four different acronyms. Are there any phrases you've come across that include words that start with these letters?
• Have you checked the storybook?
• Now that you know where to look, have you tried counting the words in each story? Start with the italicized words.
• Have you seen any markings that might relate to the four words you've just uncovered?
• Follow the instructions Celestine wrote on the sticky note as you work with the storybook. It may help to have a pen or pencil nearby.

Reveals

Celestine's Key

• Ines mentions that the key is in the home of Celestine's "spiritual protector". Sylvia insists that the key has to be somewhere other than the cemetery, since Celestine would have wanted it to be somewhere she could easily visit.
• The symbol on the tomb in the storybook represents Baron Samedi, a figure that acts as a guardian of the dead in Louisiana Voodoo.
• Baron Samedi's symbol from the storybook also appears in the last scene of the documentary trailer.
• In the Graveyard Guardians story, the caretaker mentions that in Louisiana, Baron Samedi is considered to be one and the same with the Catholic saint, St. Expedite.
• The parade map shows that there is a statue of St. Expedite in a church near the cemetery. The statue is along the route Celestine would have traveled daily to her studio, and it is in an easily accessible public place. Open the Contact shortcut on the desktop and send Sylvia an email with the phrase "Statue of St. Expedite" in the body of the message to complete the first objective and advance the story.

Good Fences

• If you click on the hyperlink to email GoodFindzGuy59, you'll get something interesting in return.

Sticky Note

• The acronyms MP, GG, GVQ, and PBL stand for certain titles in the storybook.
• The numbers after each acronym stand for the number of words you need to count in the story. For example, PBL 14 stands for the 14th word in the Pirate Brothers Lafitte and the Baratarians story: turquoise.

• Decoded, the sticky note reads:

  • Purple → Gray
  • Crimson → Turquoise
• If you follow Celestine's instructions, you will connect the purple and gray dots on page nine of the storybook, then the crimson and turquoise dots on page seven.

• With the lines you've drawn, you will have marked through the following letters: Z-O-M-B-I. This is the name of Marie Laveau's snake and Celestine's password. Open the Contact shortcut on the desktop and send Sylvia an email with the word "zombi" in the body of the message to complete this episode.

Transcripts

Documentary Trailer

Ines: It's Mardi Gras, y'all. The wildest, greatest party in the frickin' universe.

Ines (cont'd): In New Orleans. Carnival is the sun that our lives revolve around all year long. But to make this magic -

Celestine: You gotta pull your weight!

Ines: This is the story of the Mystic Krewe of Marie Laveau. The most incredible organization in the history of Carnival.

Ines (cont'd): We laugh. We cry. And honestly, sometimes we just royally piss each other off.

Ines (cont'd): It matches perfectly -

Celestine: No. Girl, you must be living in some sort of fantasy world. I never said -

Ines: That's not true. That's not true. You told me -

Ines (cont'd): But in spite of everything, we wouldn't have it any other way. I'm Ines Couvillion. I was born and raised here in New Orleans. So every year, my calendar counts down to Mardi Gras. And as an artist, I didn't just want to celebrate Mardi Gras. I wanted to live it. And so did my best friends, Celestine and Sylvia.

Sylvia: Carnival taught me that this fantasy of becoming somebody else? You can do that any day of your life! When we all met, I'd just moved here and didn't know a soul. Cel took me under her wing, treated me like a fellow artist. I'd follow her to the moon for that. She got me to realize my own worth.

Ines: Oh yeah! The cheating neckbeard. Whatever happened to him?

Ines (cont'd): When we started our krewe, we were just three friends living together in the Bywater. We now have over five hundred active members. Our is a story powered by real magic. The magic of sisterhood. The magic of community. Of creation. Of wanting to make your mark on the world. But making a good time isn't always a good time. But it's worth it in the end. As long as we don't kill each other!

Ines (cont'd): Hey, Cel! Cel! Celestine! Smile for the camera!

Celestine: Not everything is for your documentary, Eye.

Ines: Yes, it is.

Drink Menu

• THE NIGHT SHE DIED
  for "safekeeping"...???
• My doc my doc my doc
  Ines = always about Ines #eyerolllll
• Celestine!
  Jay omg
• I can't even w/ yall
  I'd do anything to go back to that moment
• WHAT NOW? NO LEADS. NO NOTHING.
• Ines said something once when she was talking trash about Cel...
  she keeps a hidden key btwn her place & studio!
  paranoidddd much?
• Ines said key is at the place where Celestine "visits her spiritual protector".
  WHERE? Thought maybe the grave of Marie Laveau, but they don't just let you walk in there for no reason. She snuck in the night of the murder, but almost impossible to get into cemetery alone during the day. HAS to be somewhere else that's in between her home and studio. But where?
• Sylvia you are drunk. Stop doodling and go hoooooome!

Letter from Sylvia

Something else you should know about me is that I draw all day long. I work in a tattoo shop, and it's how I think things through. Something about seeing everything on paper just makes it click. I sent you some notes that I made at the Social about where I think we might search for the key. I'm sorry they're such a mess to read... it's just how my brain works.

-SJ

Notebook

Page 1

• Just a tiny little thank you for taking on this case for Celestine. I used to tend bar at the Royal Street Social before I became a tattoo artist, and their cocktails are straight-up ridiculous. Enjoy!
• Le Cimetière

• Ingredients: mezcal, dark rum, house made cinnamon-Sichuan peppercorn syrup, topped with floating Sichuan peppercorns

  • For the cinnamon-Sichuan pepper syrup: Combine ⅓ cup water and ⅓ cup sugar in a saucepan over medium heat. Add 1 cinnamon stick and 1 tbsp Sichuan peppercorns. Stir until the sugar is dissolved. Let cool; remove the cinnamon stick and strain to remove the peppercorns. Store in an air-tight container in the refrigerator for up to 3 months.

  • For the cocktail:

    • 1 oz dark rum
    • 1.5 oz mezcal
    • 0.5 oz cinnamon-Sichuan peppercorn syrup
    • 3 to 5 Sichuan peppercorns
  • Combine all ingredients in a shaker half-filled with ice.
  • Shake, then strain into a chilled coupe glass.
  • Top with the peppercorns.

Page 2

• The Armstrong

• For the Earl Grey concentrate:

  • Boil water, pour over 2 Earl Grey tea bags in a mug.
  • Steep for 5 minutes, remove the tea bags and let cool.
  • Store in a sealed container in the refrigerator until ready to use.

• For the cocktail:

  • 1.5 oz lavender-citrus vodka
  • 1.5 oz Earl Grey concentrate
  • 0.5 oz orgeat syrup
  • Sprig of fresh herb for garnish (try mint or thyme)
  • Soda water
• Fill a small (8 oz.) mason jar with nugget ice or crushed ice.
• Combine vodka, tea concentrate, and orgeat syrup in a shaker half-filled with ice.
• Shake and strain into the mason jar.
• Add soda water to fill the rest of the jar.

• Garnish with the sprig of fresh herb and serve with a straw cut in half.

Page 3

• Storyville Sling
• Ingredients: gin, cherry and cacao liqueurs, lemon juice, house made grenadine, orange bitters, soda water, dried lemon

• For the grenadine:

  • Combine 1 cup pomegranate juice and 1 cup granulated sugar in a saucepan.
  • Bring to a slow boil, stirring constantly.
  • Reduce heat, cover, and simmer 10 to 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.
  • Let cool and pour into a bottle.
  • Add 1 to 2 dashes of orange flower water, seal the bottle, and shake to combine.
  • Store up to 3 weeks in an air-tight container in the refrigerator.
  • Add ¼ oz high-proof vodka to extend its shelf life.

• For the cocktail:

  • 1.5 oz gin
  • 0.5 oz cherry liqueur
  • 0.5 oz cacao liqueur
  • 0.75 oz lemon juice
  • 0.5 oz grenadine
  • dash of orange bitters
  • 2 oz soda water
  • Dried orange wheel for garnish
• Fill a tall cocktail glass with nugget ice or crushed ice.
• Add the soda water to the glass.
• Combine remaining ingredients except the garnish into the shaker half-filled with ice.
• Shake, then strain into the prepared tall glass.

• Garnish with dried orange wheel and serve with a straw.

Page 4

• The Crossroads
• Ingredients: rye whiskey, stout, pecan smoke

• For the smoked stout:

  • There are multiple ways to add smoke to a cocktail; one method is using a smoking board and a jar. You will need a wooden smoking board, pecan wood chips, a kitchen torch, and a mason jar with a lid.
  • Put a small pile of pecan wood chips on the board and light them with the kitchen torch so they begin to smoke.
  • Put the mason jar over the chips to trap the smoke.
  • When the jar is full of smoke, quickly add the liquid you wish to smoke to the jar and screw on the lid.
  • Swirl the jar for a few minutes to infuse the liquid with smoke.

• For the cocktail:

  • 1 oz rye whiskey
  • 8 oz chilled stout, infused with pecan smoke
  • Luxardo cherry speared on a cocktail pick
• Put the rye whiskey into a rocks glass.
• Infuse the stout with pecan smoke following your prepared method or the one suggested above.
• Pour the smoked stout over the rye whiskey.

• Garnish with the speared luxardo cherry.

Page 5

• Violet Fugue
• Ingredients: absinthe, crème de violette, butterfly pea tea, lemon juice, cava

• For the butterfly pea tea concentrate:

  • Boil 1 liter of water.
  • Remove from heat and add ¼ cup dried butterfly pea flowers.
  • Cover and steep 5 minutes.
  • Strain into a jar with a lid and store in refrigerator until ready to use.

• For the cocktail:

  • 1.5 oz butterfly pea tea concentrate
  • 1 oz absinthe
  • 1 oz crème de violette
  • 0.5 oz lemon juice
  • Cava
• Put all ingredients except the cava into a shaker half-filled with ice.

• Strain into a champagne flute and top with cava.

Page 6

• Bywater Babes' Brew
• Ingredients: blended light rum, anisette liqueur, dry curaçao, allspice dram, blood orange syrup, soda water

• For the cocktail:

  • 1.5 oz blended light rum
  • 1 oz anisette liqueur
  • 0.75 oz blood orange syrup
  • 0.5 oz dry curaçao
  • 0.25 oz allspice dram
  • Soda water
• Fill a tall cocktail glass with ice.
• Fill the glass half full with soda water.
• Combine all other ingredients in a shaker half-filled with ice.

• Shake and strain into the prepared glass. Stir gently and serve.

Page 7

• Feu Follet
• Ingredients: rye whiskey, vanilla-infused brandy, three-pepper simple syrup

• For the vanilla-infused brandy:

  • Split a vanilla bean lengthwise and cut into three pieces.
  • Add the pieces to 1 liter of brandy, close the bottle, and let sit at room temperature for 2 weeks.
  • Remove the beans; add 2 oz simple syrup to the bottle and mix well.
  • Store up to one year.

• For the cocktail:

  • 1.5 oz rye whiskey
  • 0.5 oz vanilla-infused brandy
  • 0.5 oz three-chile simple syrup (at the Social, we used Royal Rose's)
  • 2 dashes Tabasco sauce
  • Dried whole chile pepper for garnish
• Combine all ingredients but the garnish in a shaker half-filled with ice.
• Shake and strain into a rocks glass over two large ice cubes.

• Garnish with the dried chile.

Parade Map

In the Warehouse District

• Celestine's Studio

Photo of Sticky Note

• Connect the dots.
• MP 10 [arrow pointing right] GG 2
• GVQ 16 [arrow pointing right ] PBL 14

Storybook

Syl,

I can feel the shadows circling. If something happens... make some noise. This will get you started.

-Celestine