Things that will probably come in handy. Such as the Riddle Room Riddle.
Val's Riddle
Two detectives arrive, on a scene An ornate throneroom, all in green The Emerald Prince lies, Bloodless The King and Queen victims, of Bloodlust
The Throne upset, in center A physically pristine mentor Green carpets, stained sanguine But the royal scholar, evergreen
And the evergreen Queen, was she A kingdom averted of war, were we Because the two detectives spoke not Of the greatest mystery ever wrought
Answer - a story about incest
Drakansa
"if the detectives never speak no one will ever know the prince is not the true heir and no one will know the mentor is. Yet somehow she becomes Queen. If the illegitimate Prince marries the mentor after the death of the old monarchs she will become Queen. The kingdom will remain in control of the Royal line and no one needs to know about the infidelity, which would only lead to people questioning the new Queen's rule and likely lead to war."
The only thing missing is the Evergreen implication that the Queen/Mentor outlived the Envious Prince but at this point that's nitpicky because the lack of mention of the Prince in the third stanza is a little shaky to expect that deduction. More importantly, you solved WHY war was averted, the vital third clue, as well as identified that the Prince was not one of the murder victims.
Guesses from 17511-17518 Clues:
Valgee
omnomNOM de Plume
"Well let's look at what we know... There are six known figures: two unnamed detectives, the prince, the king, the queen, and the mentor/scholar. Two colors are mentioned: Green and red, with green being clearly the most important aspect. One inanimate object seems to be important, and that is the toppled throne. The detectives arrive and find the mentor standing over the other three who are all dead. So that's the mystery. But the detectives do nothing and it would seem the mentor became the new queen. Her ascension seems to have been the best possible outcome. This is just my assumption, the actual text is unclear as to why the detectives remain silent and whether it's referring to a new queen or the old queen. Were the murders necessary to avert war? Did the detectives need to stay silent for their own safety or for the good of the kingdom? Why is everything so freaking green? So in my thinking this is either a literal reference to some body of work that we haven't recognized yet (which I think unlikely) or the characters are meant to stand in as a metaphor for something else. What is green, has six figures (three active and three inactive/departed)? I find it interesting how the figures are grouped. 2 detectives, 3 royals, 1 mentor. That's probably not relevant though. I don't have any guesses and I'm sure you can see all that for yourself when you read the riddle, but sometimes it helps me to lay it all out and look at it from different angles."
Looking good! I'm crazy glad that the mentor/scholar was interpreted to be a single person as I was initially worried that the wording of the riddle might have implied otherwise.
I think the riddle's been up long enough to merit a few hints:
1- Everything above is composed of mostly correct conjecture, although there is one glaring error; the riddle was purposely worded to create this red herring. 2- Unlike most of my riddles, there is no code or cipher or what have you. Like most of my riddles, the solution is abstract and contingent on figurative speech and double meanings. 3- There is a "time" lapse between each stanza, the stanzas are ordered chronologically, and each stanza contains a "clue" or "clues" to the mystery that all work in tandem together. 4- The answer is not a literary reference; the riddle is entirely self-contained and self-referential. The answer is, essentially, whatever the mystery was, or what the scenario the riddle is describing was. Basically, what the eff happened is the riddle.
