Three hours into "The Crimson Diamond" and I reached chapter three!

Geologist Respa in the dining room with the fork...

Dinner was served the last time I played The Crimson Diamond, so I went to grab a bite to eat. People didn't seem all that happy with me asking questions all the time, I think they were just tired and wanted to go to bed. I had heard earlier that Evan and Nathan wanted to discuss something in the study after dinner. But as far as I could tell, they never went there. They remained in the dining room, waiting for Jack to clear the dishes. But he was busy in the kitchen, however, and wanted my help. But first I went around the lodge to see what everybody else was up to, and that's how I listened in on another conversation between Nessa and Corvus.

Love in-game maps! Could use one of the grounds, too...

It's very handy that a message pops up about muffled voiced whenever you near a door with people behind it having something interesting to say. I remember in The Colonel's Bequest you were pretty much left on your own to figure out where to go, and there everything you saw, heard or found could progress time, and then the NPC's would move positions, so you might miss some things during the earlier time. I'm not really sure if The Crimson Diamond uses a similar technique or not. There's no in-game clock, but there definitely is story progression after doing certain tasks, usually indicated by an auto-save message. So I try to make sure to know every NPC's whereabouts before doing something I think leads to such a progression, but I'm sure I'm still missing lots of stuff. Like that study appointment. Eventually I helped Jack doing the dishes and that's when Evan and Nathan effectively left the dining room. No idea where Nathan went, but Evan went for a lie down in the conservatory. No study. I went around the lodge to see what everybody else was up to again. Most were asleep but others were engaged in... other... activities.

Couldn't help myself; I just had to jump off...

The next morning it turned out I wouldn't be able to leave the lodge after all, due to... circumstances. So after looking around what everybody was doing again, I started my task of improvising a new mineral investigation kit and go about the countryside finding samples. This was quickly achieved after some easy puzzles, and I even found a couple of death scenes. No rewind function here like in Beyond the Edge of Owlsgard, though, so remember to save!

What a cozy place this is... for now...

Dinner is served again on day two at Crimson Lodge. Afterwards, I fall asleep in the conservatory only to wake up at the ruckus that leads me into chapter 3. The plot has indeed thickened, and it looks like I'll finally get to do some investigating!