( 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

CAT HERDING

[nowyouseeit]

All right! Let's summarize what we know so far!

[HUP HUP Kaito is hopping up onto one of the dining room tables to get everyone's attention. he is only wearing his socks, because he gave his shoes to Jake and Andersen. don't step on any forks, Kaito]

Okay. So far, we've concluded that Omega likely. . . killed herself, as a sacrifice to even the playing field with the Ghost. Craftly said if there was evidence of the Ghost's involvement, we would've found it by now. With that knowledge, we've begun to focus our attention on Hibiki and Vincent.

[holds up one finger]

First, Vincent. His body was found in the diner. He was stabbed through the eye, had a broken nose, some of his limbs were broken and he looked like he's been stabbed in several other places as well. The scene at the diner was a mess too, indicating the possibility of some sort of struggle. Vincent's stab wound is consistent with an object that's small and round, likely a pen or a screwdriver, if we're assuming the murder weapon was an item associated with a role. Some of the bruises on Vincent's body look like boot prints, with the size and shape matching Hibiki, Kamui, Aloy, Dirk, Percival, myself, Bakura, Dave, Akira and Apollo.

Hibiki's body was found in the dining room. His throat was slashed with what we assume is a scalpel, and he had also bruises all over his body.

There was also a lot of blood and a strand of hair found in the grocery store, indicating that maybe one of our victims was killed there. We speculated that maybe Vincent was killed there, and Hibiki was involved in his death and somehow moved his body to the diner.

The only person who had any fresh injuries consistent with a fight of some kind was Kamui.

[lifts a hand and scratches the back of his head thoughtfully]

That said-- based on Vincent's injuries, I think our killer is either the Technician with the screwdriver, or the Author with the pen. As for Hibiki. . . I'd say maybe his killer was the Mortician, but with so many scalpels missing, s'hard to say.

Does that cover everything?

[parodeity]

For what it's worth Vi and I found one scalpel missin' from the clinic as of this week. So...that's probably the bloody one found at the scene? In which case I doubt the mortician was involved.

[nowyouseeit]

[aha. he nods]

Thanks. So. . . we're probably looking for someone without a weapon role, as Hibiki's killer. Assuming the same person didn't kill them both.

[perceptions]

Craftly said around 6pm that he'd tell us if there are multiple killers or not. Or at least that's what he implied.

[parodeity]

Or at least not that weapon role. There are other ones they could have had.

[potentite]

Oh, um, well, we're leaning towards the thought that, perhaps, there is an alliance. If that is the case, alibis may start to matter very little when people could be associates covering for one another. But I'm not sure what to do with that.

[nowyouseeit]

[makes a face]

Yeah, I dunno what to do about that, either. But if this was the work of some kinda alliance, then if we catch the right killer, that'll be a pretty big blow to said alliance. Right?

[ninjay]

If there is one, then I doubt there's that many people in it. It was pointed out earlier that the more people are in on a secret, the more likely someone will blab.

[potentite]

[He nods.] The rules state the game ends with three people. Even a forced alliance wouldn't last if they knew one of their number would need to be sacrificed at some point, so at least we know it's only three.

[It still sucks but hey.]

[crushcard]

I think we can discount the fact that the Mortician was involved as the scalpel was discarded at the dining hall - I doubt whoever has that role would discard a scalpel that can only be used by them, it's letting go of something too advantageous.

[perceptions]

Plus wouldn't it be invisible? We never found the piano wire that was used to kill Jason in the end, so I don't think we would have found the scalpel if it belonged to the Mortician.

[nowyouseeit]

[STYX FORGOT ABOUT THE BLOODY SCALPEL CUZ SHE SUCKS, so ergo, so did Kaito]

Yeah, Dave reminded me. So the Mortician probably isn't involved after all.

[thawedheart]

Right. I think it's very likely that it was someone who either didn't have a weapon, or didn't want to use one that there wasn't a plausible explanation for.

Since so many people took scalpels from the clinic, it... would probably seem like a safe weapon to use, to not bring suspicions down on any one person right away.

[splinten]

Do we have any more details on where the strand of hair was found or how the blood was spread out at the grocery store?

[ninjay]

It was found on the corner of a shelf that was knocked over. There were items all over the ground, with blood on them, most likely from landing on the blood after they fell from the shelves. The blood was set in small droplets and some splatters.

[splinten]

Since there's no point not muddlin' this further, is there any indication the hair might be from the killer instead of Vincent or Hibiki? Neither of them had any signs of being pushed into a shelf, did they?

[crimsonsparrow]

[Come to think of it...]

Did you discover any pieces of glass?

[nowyouseeit]

[he was about to respond with "I didn't search the grocery store so I don't know" BUT. Jay's got this!1]

[willremember]

That's a really good summary, but... Does it point to anyone? Not just their role, but who has the role?

[crushcard]

At this point you're probably better off asking people directly and seeing if they are willing to reveal their roles.

Most probably won't. Would you?

[willremember]

I think a person who's willing to use their role to kill wouldn't tell anyone, even in private.

... But you're right. Even innocent people won't want to. We don't know who the bad guys are - admitting your role is just putting a bit target on yourself.

[nowyouseeit]

. . . I feel like, based on what we've got so far, Kamui's the most suspicious.

[but he says this. . . super hesitantly, especially considering what happened last week with Hana]

[frizziest]

You forgot to mention that most of those listed have been absolved of guilt by showing they had no bruises of their own. Otherwise... very thorough explanation, Monocle-san.

[nowyouseeit]

[. . . a slow nod]

That's why I pointed out that Kamui was the only one of us who had fresh injuries consistent with a fight.

[heeee trails off though, gaze flickering away, because. Hana. he remembers what happened last week, when they made too many assumptions]

[bownthisway]

That's only assuming the killer was bruised at all. You'd think they'd have tried to do a better job covering up the bruises on Vincent's knuckles if they knew we'd be looking for injuries on everyone.