Poor Unfortunate Souls

**Poor Unfortunate Souls** is a case featured in *Criminal Case*. It takes place in the *Under The Sea* chapter of Graecita.

## Plot

**You are now experiencing the story in third-person view**

In Graecita, at Jennifer Tanaka’s estate, Niilo Hämäläinen’s statue is seen laying on a bed, his girlfriend Gina Rosales sitting next to him. Gina is staring at the statue with agony at Niilo’s body, wondering whether he’s still alive under his rock shell or had she lost him forever. Meanwhile outside her room, her sisters have brought Lavender Tonkin into the estate where they had her try turning Flora Baros back to human, but no matter how hard she felt her wand she failed to break Medusa’s curse and she ended up falling to the ground from exhaustion. The daughters of Aphrodite became worried for her and gathered around to check if she’s okay and Gina decided to leave her room to check what’s going on. She ended up staring at Flora’s statue with guilt and she asked herself why Flora sacrificed her life to save her, when she’s the one who was foolish enough yo unleash Medusa’s wrath. One of the sisters came to comfort her and she explained that Flora had lost her real sister recently and that they are the only family she has left and it made her more protective and that even if another one of them got themselves into this situation, Flora would rush to have their back. But this didn’t help relieve Gina’s guilt who still felt responsible for having many of the city lose their lives. Suddenly, the girls heard their brothers, Cedrick and Dimitrios argue and asked the two men what’s the problem. Dimitrios glared at Cedrick, warning him to stay silent, but Cedrick ignored him and told the girls that Dimitrios plans to riot outside the palace to have Medusa killed. This shocked the girls who tried to talk sense into Dimitrios, but he refuses to listen to reason, saying that they had lost 5 of their siblings this month and he won’t let Medusa get away for “murdering” Flora and Jennifer. He then eyed Gina for support, expecting her to be in his side as she had lost her love, but to his surprise she told him not to do it. She backed up her argument by reminding him that when she tried attacking Medusa it caused havoc in the docks and thanks to her thoughtless actions many of the city turned to stone. She continued by telling him that if he started a riot even more of the city would get petrified, he being one of them and begged him not to protest outside the palace. Dimitrios was eventually persuaded not to go, but he turned to everyone and told them that his absence from the protest means nothing as the whole city is in on the plot and the riot will happen either way.

Meanwhile at the submarine, the girls are seen looking at the windows, admiring the ocean view and pointing at fish and sea animals that are passing by. However, Hasuro was busy eating some gross green vegetable with chopsticks and when Yoyo asked him what he was consuming, he revealed that it was fermented seaweed that he bought from Atlantis. This grossed out the girls, as well as Maverick who suggested that Hasuro work on his tastebuds, but Hasuro insisted that it tasted good and tried to get Maverick into eating it. But Maverick was too disgusted and he slapped the chopsticks from Hasuro’s hands, which made the seaweed fall onto the floor, and noticing what was on the ground, Zachary slipped as he was passing by and it made him fall on his back. Concerned, the girls gathered to see if Zachary was alright and luckily he suffered no major injury, except that his back hurt a little and he found difficulty in bending it. Hasuro assured him that it was nothing serious and that he just needs to rest, but soon Natalie knocked on the submarine, signaling that they arrived to the ravines. This caused a problem in the ship because the team agreed that Zachary would go down the deep sea with Natalie, but now that he is injured they had to choose someone else. So Mia volunteered, put on her diving equipment, tied a rope around her waist and went into the water. Natalie was surprised to see Mia and asked her what she was doing as she expected Zachary to head with her to Ursula’s liar. When Mia revealed what happened to Zachary, Natalie became worrisome but Mia told her not to fret and that Zachary will be fine. The two girls then went down the deep sea together.

The deep sea was dark, narrow and infested with many creepy animals, some which could cause harm by simply being touched. Natalie and Mia had to be very careful and while both of them felt terrified swimming through the region, they found humor in the situation by imagining how Ophelia would act if she was here. As they giggled, they managed to make it to Ursula’s lair without facing any harm. Fear rose into the girl again, who quietly swam into the lair, hoping not to disturb the sea witch. Surprisingly the lair seemed quiet yet it looked like a mess, as if a fight had broken through. Out of curiosity, Natalie and Mia took a look around and they found a fat lavender-skinned half-octopus lady laying on the ground, with a cauldron on top of her. The girls tried to help her, but the lady appeared yo be dead. Natalie then gasped when she recognized the figure as how Ursula was portrayed, stating that this must be her.

**You are now playing as Mia Loukas**

As Natalie and Mia are observing the shock of seeing Ursula’s dead body, two eels suddenly emerged and started swimming around them with predatory eyes, which were terrifying the two girls. Fortunately for them, a mermaid who was cleaning the place came out, and she held both the eels by their necks, which shocked the duo as they were taught that eels electrocute whomever touches them. The mermaid tied the eels together and used the broom to throw them out like they were tennis balls. The mermaid turned to check on the two girls only to act shocked when she saw Ursula’s body behind them. The mermaid confronted the duo who swore they haven’t done anything to Ursula and they asked the mermaid what she was doing here anyway. The mermaid introduced herself as Maris and she revealed that she works here as an understudy to Ursula, so the due decided to ask her questions on the sea witch and when questioned whether Ursula made any enemies, Maris laughed as the girls were asking the obvious and she told them that many Atlanteans would gladly kill Ursula as she had robbed their loved one’s souls. Natalie and Mia decided to investigate Ursula’s murder, hoping it’d somehow lead them to Bellanca and decided to suspect Maris as well as the eels, Flotsam & Jetsam. Shortly afterwards, the girls crossed paths with a diver named Balthazar Clark who Mia recognized as a TrendVid star she used to crush on and they decided to add him to the suspect list as well, seeing that he was close to the crime scene. Natalie and Mia took a break to recap the case but were disturbed by two giant stingrays swarming around them.

Out of fear of being electrocuted, Natalie and Mia tried to swim away from the stingrays, but it was too late as the stingrays charged at them. Luckily though, the stingrays had no intentions of killing them so instead of stinging them with their tails, they forced the girls to ride on their torsos. Natalie and Mia realized the stingrays wanted to take them somewhere and although they didn’t wish to know their destination, Mia removed the rope from her waist and they held on the stingrays obediently, waiting for the journey to end. Eventually they made it to the icebergs where waiting for them was a lady of the same specie as Ursula, but she was thin and had green skin instead of purple. Eventually, they learned that the woman was Ursula’s younger sister, Morgana and as one might expect she was not very pleased for her elder sister’s death and demanded that they bring the killer to her once they’re done with the murder so she could pick their punishment. Afraid to know how she’d react if they refused, the girls agreed to her terms before returning to their investigation and ended up suspecting Atlantean commander Sanders who was on a quest to find Princess Bellanca. Additionally, the duo learned that Maris only worked for Ursula so that she could learn how to brew a potion to restore her youth and that Ursula cursed her eels, Flotsam & Jetsam by taking away their ability of generating shock, their only form of protection against predators so that she could keep them as pets. As Natalie and Mia were discussing the case, a swordfish came to attack them which made them scream.

To their luck, Balthazar was around to see the attack and before the swordfish could stab the girls, he held it by its nose and fought it off, forcing it to swim away. The girls thanked Balthazar for saving their lives and he welcoming them, but also warned them to be more careful in swimming as no one might be around to save them next time. After that horrifying experience, the girls decided to go back to the investigation where they found out that Morgana did not get along with Ursula, feeling jealous of the love their mother had for her elder sister and that Sanders had it for Ursula and was trying to get her convicted for her. They also discovered that Ursula lured Balthazar into her lair and promised to have him reunited with a girl he hadn’t seen for 7 years and although he misses her, he refused Ursula’s gifts as he was now engaged to another woman and felt bad for the idea of leaving her for his old love. Eventually, Ursula’s killer turned out to be her understudy, Maris.

Maris reacted defensively toward the murder accusations, claiming that they only believe she’s the killer since she lives under the same roof as Ursula, but once she was presented with evidence, she admitted that she killed Ursula because she stole her life. Maris explained that back when she was in her early 50’s, she met a merman who was both handsome and muscular, but he could not talk. This made it difficult for him to socialize, but Maris liked the mysterious vibe he gave off and decided to befriend him and eventually she fell in love with him over how shy and tender he was for a really big man. It only took three days for them to share a kiss, get intimate and they got matching necklaces to symbolize their “undying love”. But after that day, the man disappeared and Maris went looking for him everywhere but never found him. Maris went into depression, refused to date anyone else and it her over 60 years to finally heal and by now she was already too old for anyone to find her “desirable”. Eventually, Maris found Ursula and started working for her and one day Ursula told her to feed the worms, who used to be mermen and mermaids who came to Ursula for gifts but failed to pay their price. Maris did as told and she realized one of the worms wearing a necklace similar to hers. It didn’t take Maris a second to process and realize that worm was her lover and that Ursula had turned him into the worm. While Maris was happy to be reunited with him, she was furious to see him at that state and went to confront Ursula. Ursula realized that Maris was talking about “Nestor”, a skinny merman who came to her for the gift of strength to win over a girl he fancied and that she turned him to a worm as he failed to get his true love kiss. Maris called Ursula a liar, revealing that she loved Nestor for more than his looks and that Ursula had no right to punish him. But Ursula simply laughed and told Maris that men are shallow creatures, that she may have truly loves Nestor but to him, Maris was nothing but a sex object who he was likely to dump now that she is “old” and “ugly”, and that she should be grateful for Ursula as she saved her from heartbreak. But Maris refused to see it in that perspective and she threw a boiling cauldron at Ursula where the content burned her to death. As they promised, Natalie and Mia took Maris to Morgana who turned the heartbroken mermaid into ice.

After arresting Ursula’s killer, Natalie and Mia head up to the submarine, where they were glad to see that Zachary’s back have healed. Having no idea about the murder, Zach asked them if they found Bellanca. Much to his disappointment, Natalie informed him that Ursula was murdered when they found her at the lair and they have no idea if Bellanca had come to her for gifts or not. Zachary questioned whether there was anyone else living with Ursula, where Natalie informed him about Maris, but unfortunately she was frozen. Suddenly, Natalie remembered about the eels and suggested that she tries talking with them and maybe they’ll tell her whether the princess has been at the lair or not. Zachary and he, Natalie and Mia were about to swim to Ursula’s lair, but before they could leave, Alex Stamos stopped them. Zachary asked what was the problem, where Alex informed them that Yoyo and Ophelia would like to talk with Natalie and Mia.

Wondering what went wrong, Natalie and Mia followed Alex where they saw Yoyo waiting outside Ophelia’s cabin. Natalie asked Yoyo where was Ophelia, and she replied by saying that she locked herself in her room and started knocking on the door. At first Ophelia was reluctant to get out, but Yoyo managed to sweet-talk her into opening the door, revealing a woman with the head of a lioness, wearing Ophelia’s clothes. Natalie screamed but realizing that was Ophelia, she bit her tongue and lied by saying she looks great. But Ophelia did not take the compliment and started roaring with panic. Natalie asked Yoyo how that even happened, where she explained that Ophelia was snooping through the potions they brought to the ship and saw one labeled with an image of a lion and thought that it was a “Potion of Bravery”. Ophelia drank it hoping it would give her courage but instead she’s slowly turning into a lioness. Alex asked her if they tried out the other potions, where Yoyo sighed and revealed that they looked at the other potions and they had labels of different animals but none that could turn Ophelia back to human. Natalie was going to suggest they get help from Madelina, but then she remembered that she’s no longer with them and then she recalled that Ursula had a sister who was also a witch and maybe she could help them out. Natalie and Mia swam all the way to the icebergs to speak with Morgana, who was not pleased by the visit but she agreed to help Ophelia, but she expects a price. Natalie was at first hesitant, but Morgana assured the duo all what she’s asking for is 2000 sand dollars. This relieved Natalie, but she wondered where they could get all that money and then remembered there were treasures hidden in the deep sea and wondered if they could find something that is worth all that money down there. Natalie and Mia decided to swim into the deep sea and they managed to find a chest which unfortunately had a lock. Luckily, Mia figured out how to open it and inside the chest were dozen of Atlantean coins, each worth one tenth of a sand dollar. Before they took the chest to Morgana, they had Alex count the coins and he revealed that there were exactly 23659 coins in there which equal to 2365 dollars and 90 cents, more than what they needed to afford Morgana’s services. Natalie and Mia took the chest to Morgana and after confirming that the duo reached the price, she gave them a potion and told them to have their friend drink it and she will turn back to her original form. The duo followed the witch’s advice and gave Ophelia the potion, who drank it and turned human again.

Hoping for answers on Bellanca’s whereabouts, Mia swam with Natalie and Zachary to Ursula’s lair where they questioned Flotsam & Jetsam on whether the princess had been there or not. The eels responded by laughing and Natalie translate them by saying that they claim they have no idea who they were talking about. Zachary was not having it and grabbed the eels by the necks, threatening that if they don’t answer their questions, they’ll take them to their ship and have them cooked for lunch. This scared the eels who started to talk, by revealing that a young mermaid had come to Ursula for help to get back with her former lover and the sea witch helped her by turning her into a human-being and rose her into the surface. Assuming that mermaid was Bellanca, Natalie became shocked as she had no idea Bellanca had a love interest and she asked the eels why would she need to become human to get back with her ex, which Flotsam responded to by exposing her lover as a human. This all was confusing Natalie and while she was trying to process things, Zachary and Mia decided to look around the lair to find out the identity of Bellanca’s lover and underneath a pile of empty jars they found a locket. When they opened the locket, they found a picture of a boy in his early 20’s who looked very familiar to them but couldn’t remember who exactly and so they put his face under the database. To their surprise, the boy in the photo was Balthazar Clark. The duo were wondering if this locket really belonged to Bellanca, but Zachary then remembered how he and Kaleb met both Bellanca and Balthazar in the now-sunken in Pearl Island and saw that their presence there together could not be a coincidence and it’s very likely that Balthazar was Bellanca’s lover. After learning this discovery, the duo went looking for Balthazar but couldn’t find him meaning that he was gone, but then they spotted a ferry moving above. They recognized that ferry as the same one they had earlier seen Balthazar in and that it’s very likely they might find Bellanca there and they had to catch up to it. Zachary and Mia chose to waste no time, reunited with Natalie and started swimming back to the ship.

**You are now experiencing the story in third-person view**

Once they have figured out who Bellanca’s lover is, Zachary and Mia quickly hopped into the ship and told everyone to start moving. Concerned, Ophelia asked if they were in any trouble where Mia assured her they aren’t, but they know now where Bellanca had went and will explain everything later. Zachary then approached Mary and pointed at the ferry, asking her to follow that ship but keep her distance so that they don’t bring fear to any of its passengers. Mary was most confuses on what’s going on, but she chose to listen to Zachary and started sailing the ship.

Meanwhile at the viking ship, Madelina snuck to the lower deck where the vikings kept their livestock and saw that the area was being guarded by one of the vikings who fantasized about raping her. The viking noticed her and gave her a flirty greeting, which sent chills into Madelina’s spine. She found herself reluctant to pass him, but eventually she built up the courage to ask him if Chet was there. The viking replied by telling her he is, but then carried on making advances to her. Madelina chose to ignore him and pass through, but suddenly she felt him pinching her buttocks. As a fight or flight response, Madelina pulled out Holly and used a spell to stun him, making him fall on the ground. Madelina was terrified over what she did and screamed, which drew attention to Chet Peretz who was shocked to see the unconscious viking standing behind Madelina. Nervous, Madelina tried to explain that its not what it looks like, but Chet ignored her and went straight to checking the viking’s pulse, relieves to see he’s still alive. Chet then notices Madelina and asked her what happened, and she ended panicking and told him that the viking groped her. Chet calmed her down and assured her she did nothing wrong, as the viking was not permitted to touch her by any means and said that they need to move his body, so that when he wakes up he’ll be confused of what was going on. Chet then tried to carry the body, but his weak slender body did not allow him to carry all the weight, so Madelina stepped in and helped him. Chet was clearly embarrassed by the idea that a girl could lift better than him, but he remained silent as they moved the viking’s body behind one of the horse, and left his helmet scattering so that it looks like he was knocked over by a horse. Once they are done relocating the body, Chet started taking deep breaths and he asked Madelina what brought her there. This startled Madelina, who was having an orgasm over Chet’s breathing, but she got to her senses and told him that she came here to apologize. Chet was confused and he asked Madelina what she was sorry about and she admitted that she shouldn’t have overreacted back at her room and she should have listened to his side of the story instead of relying on Mia putting her down. Chet smiled and told Madelina that she’s got nothing to apologize for and that’s just happy that everything will go back to how it was, but when he tried touching her hand she pulled away. She then turned to him and told him that she forgave him for what happened at Ogygia, but she’s mad at him for everything else. She then tried to leave, but Chet shut the door of the stable they were in. Madelina glared at him and asked him what the hell was he doing, but he simply pushed her into a corner and kissed her. Madelina was pissed off and she hit Chet, who got to his senses and apologized to her, saying he has no idea what got to him, but Madelina told him to shut up before pulling him for another kiss and the two started making out.

While the two are messing around at the stables, the rest of the vikings were in the main deck. One of the vikings came to Chief Rune and told him they have a problem. The chief asked what happened and the viking pointed at a direction where there was an odd looking sea creature awaiting them. The creature was a pretty woman, however, she had tentacles and they weren’t just regular tentacles, each one of them had the head of a serpent on its end, waiting for their preys. The vikings no idea what was that creature, however they knew it was dangerous and that they had to move away. So Chief Rune told everyone in the ship the change the direction of the sails, so that they don’t fall victims to that “monster”. After hearing that, Gertrude decided to check on “Jane” and warn her that they may get attacked, but she wasn’t in her room. Gertrude asked her daughter, Valkyrie where was “Jane” and when she told her she went to the stables, she rushed down there. She then started calling her name, which startled Madelina who was laying on the hay with Chet. She quickly put on her coat and Chet his shirt before showing themselves to Gertrude. The nurse didn’t bother to ask what they were doing and simply told Chet that Chief Rune called all men for the main deck before escorting “Jane” to her room. Gertrude and Valkyrie then started locking up all the doors and windows, which was confusing Madelina, who asked what they were doing. Gertrude then explained what the men have seen, which worried Madelina but she recalled she heard of the creature before. Soon, she realized that the creature was Skylla, and while she was dangerous if they changed their direction they’ll end up encountering Charybdis, a creature that would end up swallowing them and trapping them into her body for eternity. This made Madelina panicked and she told the nurse and her daughter that she needs to speak to Chief Rune and tell him to switch back to their original direction. This surprised Gertrude who asked “Jane” if she’s crazy, but suddenly the ship started spinning. The women got tossed around the room and they all started screaming, eventually all getting knocked out. The ship has fallen into Charybdis.

## Summary

### Victim

* **Ursula** (Body melted by boiling cauldron)

## Suspects

Flotsam & JetsamMarisBalthazar ClarkMorganaSanders
## Quasi-suspects

Yoyo IpOphelia LincolnChet PeretzGertrude
## Killer’s Profile

* The killer eats oysters.
* The killer uses salt scrub.
* The killer sings.
* The killer wears blush.
* The killer wears silver jewelry.