yuggoth | ( TRIAL

At exactly 11:30 am, all residents who are still asleep will be jolted awake by a sharp, burning pain that spreads across their whole body. A simple look will reveal no visible injuries, oddly enough, and the pain will fade away as soon as they're properly awake. Those early birds who are already up and about will feel nothing — except maybe a strange, mysterious sense of relief as they go on about their business. Lucky them.

Moments later, an announcement will come through the static-filled PA system:

"This is Craftly speaking. My apologies for the rude awakening [not really], but your presence is required in the Dining Hall. Our first trial is about to begin. Please do try to be there before noon. My staff members have simply too many duties to tend to, to be escorting each and every one of you out of your quarters. Good day."

And true to his words, anyone who doesn't make their way to the Dining Hall before noon will be dragged kicking and screaming regardless of where they've sequestered themselves. Sucks to be you, huh? Upon arriving there, however, residents will be given the menu, one copy of the rulebook, one pencil, one notepad, and a cheque folder. Lunch and dinner will be served at the appropriate times, and appetizers, desserts and beverages (of the non-alcoholic variety) will be available throughout the trial. All you have to do is ask one of the faceless men, and your food will be delivered to you in ten minutes or less depending on what it is.

The Dining Room itself looks about the same as it does any other day — save for the fact that the lights have been dimmed. Why this, you ask? Because the projector is now in use. Transparencies containing each resident's profile will be displayed on the pull-down screen, with one of the staff members rotating through the images every minute. The profiles of the deceased are included, and if current discussion deems it necessary to focus on one particular resident, anyone is free to ask the faceless man to pause on the appropriate profile for a while.

A small area has been sectioned off with a transparent, plastic curtain right next to the pull-down screen. Its use will become rapidly apparent once the victim's corpse has been wheeled in. Anyone who wishes to step into this area will be asked to wash their hands in the kitchen, and they will be given a pair of latex-free gloves and a hairnet by a staff member who is stationed nearby. Residents are required to dispose of both items before returning to the dinner table; a trash bin is available outside of the curtains for this purpose.

Evidence found during the investigation, on the other hand, will be displayed in the back of the room. Two, long tables have been taken out of storage for this occasion, and any items found by the residents on Friday will be displayed here for further examination.

Finally — a clock above the pull-down screen displays the current hour. Please do remember you have until 9:00 PM to figure out whodunit and cast your vote.

( victim )

Welcome to our first trial! Characters will be given nine (9) hours to discuss everything related to the investigation to hopefully solve the mystery behind this week's murder. No one will be allowed to leave the Dining Hall without explicit permission from the Innkeeper (and only then to take a tinkle), and all characters must cast their vote before 9PM EST. You may do so on this week's voting page.

If you have any questions or doubts, shoot us a PM or a PP over at

yuggoth.

( quick navigation )
voting | profiles | menu | locations | ic rulebook

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

She seemed so... nice, when she and I spoke before.

[Reckless, but nice.] It's hard to imagine, but if we can't find any evidence to indicate that someone might be trying to cast the blame on her for this, then...

Then she'll be the one everyone accuses.

[He doesn't sound nearly as concerned by this as she does.]

In the end, someone is going to be chosen.

[And executed.]

If the evidence doesn't suggest otherwise, I don't see that we have any choice but to vote for her, but... she keeps saying she's not the killer. What if we pick her, and it turns out she was telling the truth?

[Then they'll have killed someone innocent AND a killer will be on the loose. :c]

Such hesitations will only lead us to running in circles. Tell me, if you have doubt in her guilt, what would you do instead, with no alternatives, knowing a name would have to be offered?

...there's nothing we can do, really. Like I said, I don't see that we have any choice but to vote for her without evidence that suggests someone else may be at fault.

[She sighs.]

But if she is innocent, that's... a burden we'll have to bear.

(reply from suspended user)

...that bothers me, too. All of that, but the part about the deadline especially.

[Yukina bites her lip, fiddling uneasily with one of her sleeves.]

I thought... I don't know. That if there was someone who would be willing to... get things started... that they would have been a more willing participant. But this killer waited for as long as possible before taking action.

If we knew why, then...

...there are some things about the Ghost theory that don't make much sense to me... at least, if it's the Ghost possessing Hana-san.

[She looks down at her hands.]

But there are problems with the theory if it's the Ghost possessing Jason-san, too. If the Ghost did direct Jason-san to enter her room, and she killed him in self-defense... rather than saying "I didn't do it," when we started to suspect her, why didn't she try to explain that from her perspective, Jason-san was the one who had attacked first?

We're... reasonable people. Nobody wants to execute her. What we want is to find the person behind this, and if it's not her, she has to help us find out who it is.

What's most difficult for me to fathom is how her... weapon was used, if she really didn't tell anyone at all about her role.

[It's a matter of timing, mostly.]

Hana-san said that she put it away each night. So it... wouldn't have been immediately visible, when the person possessing her woke up.

[She puts out a finger to count along as she lists each point.]

The killer possessing her would have had to search her room thoroughly enough to find the weapon. If they were lucky, maybe that took only a minute. Unlucky, and it could take perhaps five. At that point, they would only have had between ten to fourteen minutes to determine how they could make use of the weapon, decide on a victim, come up with the idea of using the hangar to pick the lock on a door, actually try to pick the lock, get Jason into that room somehow, kill him from behind, fold the hangar back into place, and hide Hana-san's piano wire somewhere she can't find it before putting her back in bed so that she would wake up along with everyone else.

Perhaps they were panicking because it was so close to the deadline and somebody had to die. But if that's the case, wouldn't a panicked person take the easiest way out, and kill one of her sleeping roommates? There would have been two targets right there, within easy reach.

[Yukina's brow furrows as she considers it. It's a possibility - a slim one, but a possibility nonetheless.]

It would have to be both Percival-san and Marty-san aiding the murderer, I think. Because... their stories matched each other's. Either that, or one of them helped, and the other was threatened into agreeing with them...

[It doesn't seem likely. But then, Hana being a murderer didn't seem likely this morning, either.]

...do you really think people have made alliances like that this early on...?

[GOD, SHE HOPES NOT.]

[God!! Why is everything so much of a stretch except the thing they don't want to be true :c]

...what do you think is the most likely scenario, Andersen-san...?

( TRIAL - WEEK 1 )

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject