Kevin & Abi and the Secret of the Golden Pendant

album cover by PixelWayve

*Kevin & Abi and the Secret of the Golden Pendant* is the third and final installment of the Secret Series trilogy.

The album features Oliver Marsh and Kiera-Marie Somers as Kevin the mouse and Abi the Witch, Lauren Osborn and Hayley Warner as the Osborn and Warner girls (with Oliver doubling as the Marsh men) and Kerttu Aarnipuu as Ryvyr D Goblin and a singing pendant. The cover is drawn by PixelWayve.

WARNING: this page includes spoilers for the identity of the cluprit(s) of the murder mystery.

## Plot

Kevin and Abi are travelling through New Albion, debating over their prospective theme song and what to call themselves. Michael provides some further context on the two of them, establishing the story in the late Atompunk Era. The duo hear a scream, and then run into Ryvyr D Goblin, who asks for their help to solve a murder.

The trio arrives at a club, where a fancy party is bein held. Inside, they find a dead woman named Kyla, as well as three socialites: Sorandra Osborn, Temna Warner, and Elliot Marsh. As Kevin speaks with them, he learns Sorandra and Temna are on poor terms with each other, due to generations of fighting. Furthermore, Elliot is dating Sorandra, but cheating on her with Temna. Sorandra is the host of the party, celebrating the launch of a new monorail line. Sorandra and Temna both blame one another for the murder of Kyla, who was Sorandra's cook and is noted to have a now-orphaned daughter named Rebecca, while Elliot, who was handling the drinks, blames no one, but does mention that the poisoned glass was given to him by Sorandra to serve to Temna, and then tries to sell the detectives insurance.

Temna brings up that Sorandra's mother had stolen a special pendant from her own mother, which Ryvyr recognizes as one owned by her tribe. It has the power to create gold leaves used for tea, and Ryvyr wants it back. However, the music suddenly comes back on, which provides a chance for the three suspects to disappear. After they do, though, Abi notices a 'time door', which Abi hypothesizes is due to the Pendant. The three go through the time door.

They find themselves in the early Atompunk Era of New Albion (about a week before the end of Act 2 of The New Albion Guide to Analogue Consciousness), and find the Balley, where inside, the Voodoopunks are having a party to celebrate their imminent migration to Elysium. Lee Morgan is performing live. Suddenly, another murder takes place, this time that of two Voodoopunks. Kevin and Abi find that the suspects are the parents of the previous three suspects: Sogandra Osborn, Terna Warner, and Ernie Marsh.

This time, Terna had hosted the party. Both women allege that it may have been Ernie who had poisoned the victims, who they mention were parents to a young son, but both also quickly begin fighting one another. Ernie, when questioned, implies that the poisoned glasses was meant for Terna and given to him by Sogandra to serve, then tries to sell the detectives washing machines. Once again, the music starts up suddenly and the suspects flee. Another time door appears, and the trio goes through it once more.

They find themselves outside of New Albion, in an area very close to the Mountains to the West, further in the past. They also find another pair of murdered victims, this time the two Voodoopunks who Jacqueline O'Brien had dispatched in order to assist Lloyd Allen. Differently this time, though, the two women are actually friends: Solandra and Telna are very close, and Solandra is dating Elias.

Elias confirms this, and reveals himself to be Connor Morgan, albeit not the Connor Morgan from the timeline in which the story takes place. This Connor Morgan comes from an alternate timeline, one where Lee went to an alternate dimension in which he died. Connor used the technology to go to more alternate timelines, but he found that if he prevented Lee from travelling, Cthulhu would come and destroy the timeline.
Eventually, Connor determined that he could find a timeline where Lee did not go to an alternate dimension, and instead went to Elysium. He also went to an alternate timeline where Arcadia Corp had developed a way to extend lifespans, making him essentially immortal. From here, Connor went from timeline to timeline, trying to find the perfect combination of actions which would allow him to save Lee without destroying the timeline.
First, he had to prevent the two Voodoopunks from helping Lloyd, so that Lloyd would be around to help the Voodoopunks get to Elysium. Then, he has to orphan those two Voodoopunks' grandson, which causes him to become an alderman. The alderman will eventually cause Rachael to end up in an asylum, where she will talk a woman named Kyla out of suicide. Kyla will eventually give birth to Rebecca, but then Kyla must be killed before she can steal the pendant and leave New Albion with Rebecca, so that Rebecca stays in a high rise flat. Because she is there, she turns to the internet and lives in the MMO that leads her to meet the Meme. The Meme will save Rebecca by fighting off the cyber-schistocerca, which will influence them to later fight for New Albion against Cascadia, preventing Cascadia from nuking New Albion. By preventing New Albion from being nuked, the Albino Tribe will also not be nuked, making it so that they can reform the Albinos' Goddess, thus avoiding the wrath of the Goddess' angry lover, who would otherwise destroy New Albion's entire Narrative. As such, with the world undestroyed, Lee can finally live a full life.
Connor states that the murders were necessary, and that this may be the last timeline he can enjoy a life with Lee. He goes to kidnap Lee, but before he can, Abi turns him into a frog. Kevin, Abi, and Ryvyr, finally understanding the full story, return to the present to retrieve the pendant from Sorandra.

Michael finishes the story, and prepares to die. However, Han-Mi comes, and tells him that Raven and Lloyd want to see him. Michael refuses, until Han reveals that Jill is still alive. Michael breaks down in tears, before confirming that he will join them to save Jill.

## Cast

Oliver Marsh as Kevin and The Marsh Men

Kiera-Marie Somers as Abi

Paul Shapera as Michael and Lee

Lauren Osborn as The Osborn Women

Hayley Warner as The Warner Women

Kerttu Aarnipuu as Ryvyr and The Pendant

Psyche Chimere as Han-Mi

## The Murder Mystery Challenge

Prior to the album's release, Paul issued a challenge to the fans to see if they would be able to guess the murderer during the livestream events. Rewards for Paul and the fandom were agreed upon, depending on if the culprit was identified correctly or not. During the livestreams, the music was paused between songs 10 and 11, giving the fans time to discuss and vote on who they thought the culprit was.

The wager terms for the Patreons were: Paul will host another cocktail hour if the murderer is guessed correctly, or the patreons have to create Paul an official Wikipedia page if the murder is not guessed correctly. The wager terms for the general listening party were: Paul will write a Helen's Hell Hags song if the murderer is guessed correctly, or the fans will compile a wholesome video of all everyone saying what they like most about themselves if the murderer is not guessed correctly.

During the first patreon listening party, Jesper began the discussion by suggesting the frog was the culprit. Even though the songs had not yet mentioned the frog and it was only featured on the corner of the album art, frog is technically a correct answer and would have won. The frog was in the lead with up to 8 votes before people switched their vote as the conversation moved to more serious answers. Meanwhile, Some Dargons had put together a detailed set of notes on the songs and had a solid case to accuse the Marsh Men. However, in the end, the patreons accused the Pendant with 12 votes and lost the wager.

The second patreon listening party was a much smaller group. Paul had reset the wager, saying that if the second listening party guessed correctly the first loss would not count and the patreons would win. Before the music began, Nuget accused Connor of being the murderer, and continued to suggest Connor as the voting began. With 2 votes for Ryvyr and 3 votes for the Osborn women, the patrons again lost the wager.

In the general listening party, it was an extremely close race between the Marsh Men and the Pendant. When the final vote was called, the Marsh Men had 20 votes and the Pendant had 21 votes. The fandom lost the wager by a single vote.

Even though he won every wager, Paul hosted Cocktail Hour 8 with a 90s theme and wrote a Helen's Hell Hags song.

## Cover Art Clues and References

Each murder scene is represented by three images: two images of characters and one close up of the poisoned drink. The backgrounds of the first murder scene are green, the backgrounds of the second murder scene are red, and the backgrounds of the third murder scene are blue-purple. The characters in yellow are the Osborns, the characters in red are the Warners, and the characters in blue are the Marshes.

Clues for the final reveal

* All three Marsh men have a mole by the left corner of their mouth, indicating that they are the same person
* Sogandra is shown to be handing one poisoned champagne glass to Ernie (center left edge), but then there are two glasses of champagne lying on the floor (directly below the title)
* Lloyd Allen's microphone is shown by the poisoned tea (top right corner) because that's what was needed to keep him from rescued
* The walls and key behind Sogondra and the poisoned champagne glass (center left edge) is a reference to "one day the walls will fall away, a swallowed key will buy my way" cause Rachael needed to be locked up in the asylum
* Next to Kyla and the poisoned martini (bottom right corner) there's a little keypad on one of the buildings (just to right of "Mystery") and also gitchy 8-bit shadows on the counter surfaces for Rebecca's gaming and how she needs to remain in the high rise flat and not leave the city
* Michael is drawn with tattoos that relate to previous narrations that he's told (bottom left corner). The Cthulhu tattoo is much more prominently displayed than usual, since Cthulhu destroys the world if Lee doesn't go to the alternate dimension

Other details and red herrings

* The red string forms the shape of a mouse and witch hat for Kevin and Abi
* The circled letters: I E O T R O D M can be unscrambled to spell "TIME DOOR"
* The hollow yellow circles in the background of the crime scene images represent the pendant's singing, coupled with the post it notes that read "come to me, hear my song"
* Leaf imagery is featured on the outfits of the characters attending the upper class party and Balley celebrations, since the gold leaves from the pendant is how the Warner and Osborn families attained their wealth
* The volcano is from Ryvyr's storytime about the pendant, as the volcano was the catalyst for the famine through the land. In the same image there is a herd of poro (reindeer)
* The cow is a reference to the "stuck up cow" insults from the first murder scene
* The wigwam and teepee represents Kevin's objectively terrible two tents joke, and next to them there is a road that's long and winding don't you know

## Trivia

* The alternate Connor's convoluted plot calls back to a number of previous works, including:
	+ Astonishing Tales of the Highly Improbable (the Voodoopunks killed by Connor on their way to the Akashic Monastery in the Mountains to the West are first mentioned by Lloyd here, as is their disappearance under circumstances that, until now, were unknown.)
	+ The New Albion Guide to Analogue Consciousness as well as Nash Harding and the Secret of the Twisted Tower (Arcadia Corp helped the Voodooopunks get to Elysium in the former album, and the latter album shows that Arcadia Corp was helped by Lloyd in conducting their experiments. Additionally, the Alderman who is orphaned by Connor, as well as Rachael, who ends up in the asylum because of him, both make their first appearances in The New Albion Guide to Analogue Consciousness.)
	+ The Forgotten Meme (Rebecca and the Meme make their debuts here, as do the cyber-schistocerca.)
	+ The Broken Cyborg (the lore surrounding the Albinos' Goddess and the Fairies' God is first mentioned here.)
	+ The Lost Fairy (the war between New Albion and Cascadia happens in this album, as does the subsequent disarming of Cascadia's nuclear warheads by the cyber-schistocerca.)
* Paul has confirmed that Connor's last fake name (Elias) is a reference to the word Alias, a clue that he might not be who he claims to be.
* Paul has said that the song before each crime scene is an establishment shot and (he couldn't believe he had to explain this) Lee is not signing with two dead bodies on the floor, they are discovered after his happy moment. Lee was not around for the crime scene because he and Adrian were in the back making out. After this, Lee and Adrian wanted to keep partying so they stole a bottle of alcohol and went to walk by the river, met some friends and after the bottle was finished went back to their basement and did bong hits. They ended up on the floor watching the movie Mary Hoppins

1. ↑ https://www.instagram.com/p/CLrpV8JJo1H/
2. ↑ https://www.instagram.com/p/COVksTCJytv/