( TRIAL - WEEK 2 )

[abhoth]

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 second 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, and will be given a pair of latex-free gloves and a hairnet by a staff members 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. ( victims ) 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, 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

Comments

body locations

[bownthisway]

Hey, can we talk about where the bodies were found? It sounds like Vincent might have been stabbed and killed in the grocery store since that's where most of the blood was, but he was found in the diner...so why would the killer have bothered moving his body there? Plus if he was bleeding that heavily, wouldn't there have been some kind of trail left when his body was moved?

There's also the question of why Hibiki was found so far away from Vincent. It doesn't look like he was dragged, so either the killer was strong enough to carry him all the way into the dining room, or he made his way there himself while he was still alive. It's definitely possible that he was the one who attacked Vincent, but he may have been working with someone else who has the weapon that was used to stab him...so maybe his partner turned on him afterwards?

[thawedheart]

[she was distracted by stripping so i'm sorry if this is a dumb question]

Are we... sure that their deaths are related? Isn't it possible that the bodies were so far apart because two people went after them, separately...?

[bownthisway]

Maybe, but it'd be a hell of a coincidence that we found hair that looks like it could belong to Hibiki in the grocery store. And that it looks like someone beat him barehanded when we know Vincent likely struggled and hit his attacker with his fists.

I guess it could be part of some ploy to make it look like Hibiki attacked Vincent, but then that just raises a whole bunch of other questions.

i s2g if this tag doesn't go through i am going to scream i got blankpaged 3 times trying to send it

[thawedheart]

...right. And if something raises more questions than it answers, then... maybe it's not the solution after all.

[Hmm.]

I wonder why Hibiki-san was in the grocery store so late, then. It... doesn't make a lot of sense.

[willremember]

Maybe someone uninvolved caught them fighting? And then tried to help or intervene, but was too late, and killed the attacker out of revenge or on accident or something? Then they would only want to move the one body that implicated them, maybe?

Or... Something like that.

[willremember]

[ she shrugs. she's not offended by the criticism, but ]

I don't know. Isn't it really just one coincidence? An innocent person walking in on a fight isn't that unrealistic. And from there it's just - people. It gets messy.

[bownthisway]

Then the question's which body they moved and why they needed to at all. How would leaving Vincent's body in the grocery store have implicated them more than finding it in the diner? It's not like they bothered covering anything else up in there.

[willremember]

Maybe something about how the body was resting originally was... Implicating?

[ she has no idea ]

[forlease]

There was a scalpel and blood in the dining room with Hibiki... So I think he was killed there.

[gamerscore]

Hi there.

[ :) ]

Was there anything odd when you arrived...? Anything like a fight could have happened?

[forlease]

Mn... I don't think so. He was sitting in a chair with his head down. Like-- [ The more he tells this, the more he thinks on what he saw ] -- Maybe someone came up from behind him? But I didn't look around, so I don't know if there was blood anywhere else, or a fight, or anything like that.

[bownthisway]

Then we need to figure out who died first. I don't think it's a coincidence that Vincent's knuckles are bruised and Hibiki was beaten barehanded, especially when nobody else looks like they've been punched that hard.

[forlease]

Right. That makes sense. I just don't think Hibiki's body was moved, is all. If that's the case, wouldn't he have been killed first...?

[lohengrins]

An accomplice -- or a group, even. 3 people could easily work together in some attempt to eliminate the rest of us.

It's only natural that alliances would begin to form.

[perceptions]

That would be pretty terrible if true. I mean, we're all pretty much strangers to each other with few exceptions.

[lohengrins]

This game itself is "pretty terrible", so it's only fitting.

Alliances are a matter of purpose. People are willing to go to far lengths in order to survive.

I'm sure you know that well.

[gamerscore]

You don't think people are really doing that...? We don't know each other. Well, except for a few people, I guess?

[nowyouseeit]

[makes a face]

But what sort of alliances could bring three strangers together to murder thirty-nine other people?

[rextenebrae]

[ ... ]

... or perhaps there were no accomplices at all, but separate killers, who weren't coordinating with each other.

[thawedheart]

...I do think that... based on the message in the Lounge on Monday, the Ghost is working with... someone. Maybe even multiple someones.

[Her brow furrows.]

If the Ghost didn't kill this week, then... maybe whoever did, was working with that person in some way.

[bownthisway]

I wouldn't be surprised if that was the case...but trusting two other people to not turn on you this early, especially people cold enough to sacrifice that many lives? That could backfire easily.

[crimsonsparrow]

I don't think it should be ruled out that a motive was simply to make this whole situation more confusing. The more aspects of this case there are to keep track of, the more easily something important may be overlooked.

[Look, this is all pretty dang confusing.]

And while I'm not sure how relevant this is to the subject at hand, I wonder if it's also worth noting that whoever did kill Vincent...well, I think it's quite clear that they enjoyed themselves.

[thawedheart]

...enjoyed themselves?

[yikes]

What makes you say that, Suzaku-san?