Pointdexter: A Swooning Over Stan-fiction

Chapter Fourteen

Dipper's voice suddenly changed, flipping into a higher pitch.

"There's been crime! Someone has stolen my precious silver sword! You three look like heroes, won't you help me?" Dipper said, grinning at his Grunkle and then at Alice.

"Aw..." Alice pursed her lip in a mock pout. "Poor mouse."

"When I arrived in my room, I found these three suspects!" Dipper continued in his mouse-pitched voice. "A gnome, a kobold, and an owlbear. I knew someone was going to come and steal my precious sword, so I set up a wonderous feast as a trap for thieves!"

Alice exchanged a glance with Ford, her face twisting in a 'trying not to smile' face, as she wondered how a mouse would be living it up in an evil sorcerer's puzzle dungeon.

"I left them three goblets: the first held a truth serum, and the other two a lying serum." Dipper explained in his mouse voice."I don't know which one of these creatures drank from which, so I was going to hold an interrogation when they woke up. But now you're here! Oh heroes! Won't you help me figure out who stole my sword? I'm afraid that if I uncover the culprit, they'll slay me in cold blood, delicate mouse that I am."

"Alright," Alice mused, crossing her arms over her chest. "I've been looking for crimes to be solved."

"Took the words right from my mouth, Alice," Ford chuckled. "Let's get on with the interrogation."

"You approach the sleeping creatures in turn, waking them with a few shakes and asking who stole the silver sword," Dipper explained, his voice returning to its normal sound. "The gnome says he didn't do it and that the kobold did it alone. The kobold said he didn't do it, and the owlbear did. And the owlbear says that she didn't do it, the gnome did it alone."

Alice leaned back, humming under her breath.

"One drank a truth serum, and the other two a lying serum," She muttered aloud. "So one is obviously telling the truth, duh."

Ford chuckled at her response, she could practically hear his mind wiring, "Yes, exactly right. The trick is figuring out which one it could be."

"Was it the Gnome?" Alice tried out, testing the waters of her guesses.

"Nope," Dipper responded with a grin.

"Alright-" Alice grinned back at him. "Then the crime was a duel pair. Each of them is accusing another, but the owlbear and gnome point out that their accused did it alone specifically."

Ford raised an eyebrow as if impressed by her line of thought.

"That's a good point," He pondered, his hand lifting to his face. "They're both adamant that they're innocent and the other is the sole culprit. So if one of them is lying and the other is telling the truth."

"There's a contradiction in the confession of the owlbear!" Alice said, jerking straight. "It was the Owlbear and the Gnome!"

"Nice job!" Dipper grinned in his mouse voice. "Now cough up the sword, thieves!" 

Dipper shifted his papers, returning to his normal voice.

"The owlbear dis within her feathers to reveal an ornate, polished silver sword, and the gnome retrieves a matching scabbard from under his hat. The mouse gives you the sword, telling you that it's more trouble than it was worth. You move forward, leaving the mouse's room behind, and come to another doorway."

Alice glanced at Ford, a smile plastered across her face, to find he was watching her work the puzzle the entire time. Before she made eye contact with him, he turned his head, facing the gameboard on the floor and-