Scioly Assassination 157: You Are Cordially Invited

[Pebble]

The two things I notice about the bonus story are Regulus and calendula, that's it.

[aakoala]

The YouTube link which AstroClarinet pointed out is about Regulus calendula, a species of bird which is in sciolyperson1's profile picture. I second AstroClarinet's protect (if necessary)

[Assassinator]

YOU HAVE SUCCESSFULLY SAVED SCIOLYPERSON1. LET'S SEE IF YOUR LUCK HOLDS OUT, TRAVELERS

<<you reach the entrance of the castle. the large wooden doors creak shut behind you, louder than the echoes of your footsteps>>
<<once your eyes adjust to the light, you see a table covered in food, a portrait hanging on the wall to the left, and an intricately woven and embroidered tapestry on the wall to the right. throughout the main hall there are gargoyle statues, and under your feet there is a plush red carpet that goes up marble stairs>>

<<you look closer at the table>> (Click to Show Hidden Text)

 the dishes on the table include carbonara, plantains that don't look right, a batch of cucumbers labeled beneficial, a lasagna, eight bags of olive garden breadsticks, a honeydew, a chicken and rice dish that smells faintly of bitter almonds, a cheese bust, several half frozen herrings, baked potato soup, persimmons, and a philly cheese steak sandwich

<<you look closer at the portrait>> (Click to Show Hidden Text)

 there is nothing exceptional about the subject of this portrait, except maybe how messy the hair looks

<<you look closer at the tapestry>> (Click to Show Hidden Text)

 it shows a red-haired man who is dancing and wearing a striped shirt under a jacket.  he is no stranger to love

[Pebble]

[original post was deleted by user]

[Pebble]

It seems to me that the only thing of major importance is the meal.

[aakoala]

The chicken and rice dish got cyanide in it???
I'm currently trying to make sense of the meal, and it seems super suspicious. A lot of the food on the table originates either from Italy or India/China, with exception of the honeydew, frozen herrings, potato soup, and Philly cheesesteak. The clue mentions "frozen herrings" which could be red herrings?

[Pebble]

Half frozen fish doesn't sound safe to eat, which means there are two foods that could be potentially dangerous (at least that's what we think).

[Assassinator]

SINCE YOU HAVEN'T PROTECTED ANYONE, AND HAVE JUST GOTTEN STARTED ON PUZZLING OUT MY CLUE, I WILL GRANT YOU AN ADDITIONAL 24 HOURS. USE THEM WISELY

[LittleMissNyan]

Woohoo I'm going to be very offline this month due to summer stuff, have a brain dump before I go

List for reference (Click to Show Hidden Text)

carbonara
plantains that don't look right
a batch of cucumbers labeled beneficial
a lasagna
eight bags of olive garden breadsticks
a honeydew
a chicken and rice dish that smells faintly of bitter almonds
a cheese bust
several half frozen herrings
baked potato soup
persimmons
a philly cheese steak sandwich

Clue stuff:
- Shopping list cipher? there's no numbers to count on though
- cheese bust? hey sassy what's the cheese bust of?
- what aakoala said (the chicken and rice has arsenic in it; a lot of the food's from Italy or Asia except the honeydew, herrings, potato soup, and cheesesteak; "frozen herrings" = red herrings)
- breadsticks?? hmmm I wonder
- the rickrolls could also refer to sassy game 146 (which I did), which involved plenty of breadsticks and rickrolls
- WAIT WAIT WAIT THIS WAS IN SASSY'S SIG
3, 6, 8, 9
- the cucumbers, honeydew, cheese bust, and herrings
- anyone have any ideas?

Possible targets??:
- me (146)
- Fyren and Torchic (breadsticks)
- JoeyC (rickrolls)
- best to figure out what the sig numbers mean
yeah sure I protect myself for breadstick/rickroll related reasons

Speculation with no evidence:
thought caitlinwithaC seems a bit sus, she does do D&D and the writing style would make sense idk I came up with that theory at like 5 in the morning struggling to function feel free to ignore

[Pebble]

I do not think we will be able to identify the target.