Pelican Town Detective

In this Stardew Valley mystery fanfiction story, which is also featured in the Sora Journal Podcast, farmer Rory has to figure out who is throwing rocks at Linus' tent. I wrote this for the Expedition “Don’t Turn Around,” where we analyzed the mystery genre and created our own mystery story or game. 

Pelican Town Detective

Day one

It was a beautiful and sunny, spring day here in Pelican Town. I woke up, fed the animals, watered the crops, and harvested the mushrooms from the cave. I then checked my bee house and realized that some honey was ready to be harvested. I put it into a glass jar and stuck it in my pocket to bring to the Junimos later. Junimos are small creatures who reside in abandoned buildings. The Junimos here in Pelican Town live in our run-down, empty community center, and they have been fixing it up for us if we give them certain items. I started down the path through the town square, heading up toward the community center, when I saw a “help wanted” ad on the bulletin board hanging outside of Pierre’s General Store. It read:

“DETECTIVE WANTED. Someone has been throwing rocks at my tent by Mountain Lake almost every night for the past week. Whoever will help me find the culprit will receive a handsome reward of 300 gold. Thank you - Linus”

Linus is one of the kindest people in town. I can’t think of a single person who would do such a horrid thing. I took down the ad, put it in my pocket, and continued the walk up to the community center. 

I opened the creaky, beat-up door to the community center. 

“Hello!” I called out.

There was no answer, besides the echo of my own voice.

I walked into the building, toward the pantry to the left. The floor creaked under me as I went. I saw a small, lime green Junimo peer out of a hut on the far end of the community center. In the pantry I opened a large, white box and placed the honey inside. The green Junimo came running toward me and picked up the honey. 

“Thank you! A gift!” The Junimo said.

“You’re welcome,” I replied.

The Junimo ran back into the hut, and I went back out the door. From the Community Center, I headed up the path to the Mountains, where Linus lives.

When I arrived in the mountains I saw three of the town’s teenagers, Sam, Abigail, and Sebastian, throwing rocks into the lake by Linus’ house. Rather suspicious if you asked me, but I greeted them anyway.

“Hi!” 

“Hello!” Sam replied.

“Have any of you seen Linus?” 

“He was sitting by the big magnolia tree by his tent about thirty minutes ago,” Sebastian said, sounding bored as usual.

“Thanks.”

I continued north, up the steep slope that led to Linus’ tent. It was muddy from last night’s rain and super slippery. When I arrived at the top of the slope I saw a rather sorrowful Linus sitting under a huge, bright pink magnolia tree to the left of his yellow tent.

“Rory!” He exclaimed, perking up.

“Hi! I saw your Help Wanted ad! Are you okay?” 

“Yes, I’m fine. If only I could figure out who was doing this…” He sighed,

“I’ll find them.”

I searched the area around Linus’ tent for any clues as to who was throwing the rocks, but I couldn’t find a single thing. I was about to give up, but I then spotted something round and of a faded brown color in a nearby bush. 

“What’s that?” I asked Linus.

“Hmm, I’m not sure…”

I stuck my hand into the bush and pulled it out. It was a faded football that had the name “Alex” sloppily written on it in black Sharpie. I held it up for Linus to see.

“George’s grandson?? I should have known,” Linus said, seeing the name on the football.

“What do you mean?”

“George caught me digging in their trashcan the other day. I bet he put him up to this.”

“I will go talk to him,” I said, “I’ll be back soon.”

By the time I had arrived at 1 River Road, home of Alex Mullner and his grandparents, it was already 7 o'clock at night. I saw Alex standing in front of his house, tossing around a handball.

“Hi, Alex,”

“Hey, farm girl!”

“I think I found something of yours,” I said, holding up the football.

“Oh my gosh, where was it?” He asked, taking it from my hands.

“Oh, umm, up in a bush near the mountains.”

“Makes sense! It’s where I practice, lots of space. Anyways…thanks. That’s been missing for like three weeks.”

Three weeks…So it probably wasn’t Alex. It was getting late, so I headed back up to the Mountains.

“Any luck?” Linus asked as he started a fire in front of his tent.

“Wasn’t Alex,” I replied, “He said that football has been missing for weeks.”Then I had an idea.

“What if I stayed up here overnight? I can watch from the hill and see if I see anyone throwing the rocks. You can stay in my house, so you don’t get hit!”“You don’t have to do that…”

“I want to,” I said, firmly,

“Well… alright, but I want you to sleep in your own bed tomorrow.”

“Will do.” 

We chatted by the fire for a while, and then Linus headed down to my house, and I headed down to the still-slippery hill, where I would be watching for suspicious activity.

Night one

It was 11 o’clock at night. Everything was still, and silent apart from the crickets chirping nearby. I was struggling to keep my eyes open. Something would have happened by now…right? Maybe they weren’t coming…maybe it wouldn't hurt…if…I fell asleep…for…just a minute…

I awoke to the sound of a crash. I could hear the sound of rocks hitting Linus’ tent, but I couldn’t see who was throwing them. I climbed a little further up the slippery hill, in hopes of seeing something. Nothing. It was as if the rocks were throwing themselves. I took another step closer, but then my feet slid out from under me in the mud, and I fell hard on my back. I slid all the way down the hill, almost straight into the river. I heard whoever was throwing the rocks run down the path toward the community center. I tried to chase after them, but I just slipped around in my mud-drenched boots. I took off my boots, pulled out my flashlight, and, in my socks, walked the long way up to Linus’ tent in search of clues. 

Clues

Footprints

• Too small to be human, even for a human child.
• They look similar to bird footprints, tiny and stick-like.
• They go down the path toward the community center, but they stop when the path turns into sand.

Slime on the tent

• Is a faint brownish-yellow color.
• Could be slime from the mines or sap from trees.
• Very sticky.

Day two

I’ve been reading these few pages over and over again for the past hour. It’s four in the morning. The mud on my clothes has dried now and I’m sitting by the river, trying to find a connection. I guess I should head back to the farm and feed the animals.

I just got home, Linus is still asleep. My corn is ready to be harvested, so I will take some to the Junimos. It’s a windy day today, there are cherry blossom petals floating in the breeze. It’s very calm, and quiet. I started up the path to the community center, past the abandoned bus, past the community garden and past the playground. I opened the creaky door to the community center.

Then I dropped the corn on the ground, in shock.

Very familiar footprints were scattered across the community center floor.

It all came together.

The slime was HONEY, which I had given them yesterday. It wasn’t rocks at all. It was the Junimos jumping on Linus’ tent. 

Of course.