FIFTH TRIAL

[whimsicalism]

FIFTH TRIAL

THE CONTAINMENT CENTER

There are two more dead this week, and some unusual locations led to some unusual and interesting evidence. Once the students have had time to scour the affected areas and collect their clues, Kakuya's lilting telepathic voice guides them back to the elevator. Everyone now has plenty of elbow room - and plenty of carrying space to bring down the evidence, living creatures and all.

In addition to the constant strobing of the lights and the scream of metal chafing against metal, those who can tune into the softer noises in the background might hear snippets of a song on their descent. Though the lyrics are garbled and unintelligible as any other song playing in the soda fountain, a muffled crooner keens in the distance. The familiar clown whose presence is a constant despite the shifting cells, however, is 32 22 flavors and then some. He precariously balances a multi-scoop ice cream cone in one patient hand, all of its assorted scoops unpleasant and sickly colors. Multiple punctured balloons hang down from his other arm, wrinkled and dripping what is probably chocolate sauce. A cohort of aliens that look like every mid-century American fantasy of the little green men from outer space hone their weapons in silence. For the most part, every monster looks less restless now, but the hunger hasn't faded from any of them. If anything, it's intensified. If anything, it looks like they're biding their time.

There is, however, no sign of Father in his new prison. If he's suffering from the consequences he faces, you won't get the satisfaction of seeing that just yet.

Without the stark light of Father's telecomm screen, the trial room is a little bit darker but no less brutal. There's no longer a Prefect's desk visible by the podiums. Nanami, with nowhere to go, stands around aimlessly for a few moments, fidgeting, before finally taking a petulant seat on the open floor.

Kakuya, herself, is no where to be seen but the faint sound of flute music announces that she is watching. A voice echoes in the back of your mind as you return to your familiar podiums.

"It... looks like two of you are gone... Find out who killed... Koishi and Carrie, won't you? Kakuya... won't mind if you don't but don't... give up right away, okay? That would be no... good."

She laughs in her familiar, childish way. "Kakuya... wants to see what... you do this time... friends. Let's... start."
Investigation | Podium Layout | Locations | IC Profiles | IC Rules | IC Evidence Presentation | Evidence List | NPC Questions

OOC NOTES

Welcome to the fifth trial! Today's trial image is the famous eldritch cafe illustration by Jeff Paul Johnson. There are two dead this week, and success will entail solving both murders. Despite the shakeup in the management recently, there are still NPC question sections available.

Evidence Reminders:

• If you can carry it you probably can bring it. While the body itself isn't allowed into the trial, most things are, including live animals.
• If your character has access to a piece of evidence and you don't know if you can bring it in, you can either ask the mods privately if that's possible or by pinging them in the post itself.
• If a piece of evidence is forgotten or the original finder otherwise can't present it (an emergency, etc), you can either assume retroactively that someone did or that the sheep brought it in to make sure that everything is tidy.
• As always, just put MODS in the header of your comment to get our attention for any clarification.

Good luck!

Comments

EVIDENCE PRESENTATION

[whimsicalism]

[We sure hope no one took a swim on a full stomach.]

Re: EVIDENCE PRESENTATION

[lets_dewey_it]

Adorabat and I saw the same thing: Carrie had a bit of blood on her fingers. We think she wrote the "Don't trust" message.

What I found on my own is the message has a bit of a smudge next to the letters. I think Carrie must have died in the middle of writing the message.

There's scratches around the floor by certain chairs and a table, but the furniture itself was in its original positions, meaning they must have been scraped across the floor before being put back.

Lastly, there was a smoothie glass, and two school notebooks. The smoothie was spilled all over the notebooks and I can't read whatever was in them, but one of the notebooks had a page torn out of it.

[copycut]

[ Kuro walks in with two boxes of breakfast bars. She tears one open and sets them both down on top of her podium. ]

There was a big mess in the kitchen... Kind of like someone was looking for something in a big hurry. The knives were arranged on the counter, in a nice line from smallest to largest. It looked like one of the larger ones was missing... but not the largest.

I also found this.

[ Kuro offers up a drawn diagram. There's no writing, but it appears to be a depiction of how to use a string to move a broom in front of a door. The paper has been torn into large pieces. ]

[temmapathy]

[Emma raps the broom she's been carrying on...Valmont's podium? Seems she's choosing to stand there now.]

I found this broom with a long string tied to it near the door of the ice cream room. There were some marks on the wall that seem to match with it scratching against there. There was also a blender with part of a smoothie inside, that seemed like someone'd drank a lot of it. I have no idea what they mixed in there, but they definitely scooped some vanilla ice cream and then didn't put the lid back. Also, the ice cream scoop is missing.

KOISHI’S BODY

[canreallymove]

[Deep breaths.]

Ok, so. The, uh, girl we found in the pool. She was hit on the head, which I’m pretty sure is how she died.. She also had a bruise on her tentacle.

…also I don’t think she died in the pool room. There was a puddle of water and some weird vanilla stuff between the pool and the door. Might have been blood too. There was also a lot of water on the edge of the pool, so…I think she was dumped there.

Carrie's Body

[violence_ensues]

[As Adorabat watches the monsters flit by as she goes down, she tries feeling scared. She tries feeling afraid. Anything to give even the smallest scrap of food to sate their hunger. These monsters are terrifying, Adorabat says to herself.

Yet... she can't help but feel anything but pity. They're hungry. And Adorabat unfortunately isn't scared of them. She sighs and heads to her podium when they reach the bottom.]

I looked at Carrie's body, which was face down. There was a stab wound on Carrie's chest. I couldn't really tell how deep it was, but I believe it came from a straight blade. And it looked like it didn't come from any weird angles.

Her shoes didn't look like they were messed with any, but I did find multiple wounds on her arms, most likely created in self-defense. One thing about them was weird, though, as Carrie's bracelets were still on her arms. They weren't taken off.

Carrie's finger had blood on it, most likely used to write something. And aside from thatm I didn't see any other wounds or marks.

[Adorabat looks to Sonic after saying all of that. DID SHE DO GOOD?]

[shinedsobright]

[In the elevator, Fret was panting a bit from running away from Nanami! But his evidence is secured, if rather jostled in their bags.]

These two were each stuffed into one of the vending machines. We got an ice scream scoop with blood swirled into the melted vanilla, and the equally bloody knife.

I dunno if they thought no one would see em' because of the flaps over em', or what. But the blood's gotta be why a scoop was taken from the ice cream, right? Probably in a hurry, if they couldn't even put the lid back and they had to stash it all the way over there.

NPC QUESTIONS

[whimsicalism]

[It's okay; talking is still allowed in this game.]

Not really a question but still.

[hashtagwoof]

... Hey. Nanami. There's an empty podium next to me if you need it.

[ He gestures to what used to be Jeanne's spot. ]

[temmapathy]

[...well, she said she'd do it. She slowly lifts her hands to sign at the clown.]

What do you want from us?

Re: NPC QUESTIONS

[lets_dewey_it]

_{[Dewey raises his hand, looking like two brain cells in his head finally collided]}

Can we bring Toritorika in here?! Can we cross examine her?!

Simple Timeline Theory

[lets_dewey_it]

Okay. This doesn't account for the "why"'s of every piece of evidence. But the simplest possible way this could have gone is...

Someone killed Carrie in a struggle in the Soda Fountain room. They tried to frame someone else by writing a message in Carrie's blood, even getting one of her fingertips dipped in it. Koishi comes in and sees the killer writing the blood message, and then the killer chases Koishi down to the pool room to eliminate her as a witness.

The killer either doesn't think to finish the message, or they decided that the smudge would make it look unconvincing anyway, so why bother?

[temmapathy]

That seems to make sense. And...do you think the killer went back to the soda fountain room after killing Koishi? They'd have to pick up the knife, right?

[violence_ensues]

...nnnnn...

Actually, I think this brings up a good question. Who made the smoothie? Carrie, Koishi, or the killer?

Dewey we gotta think

[lets_dewey_it]

_{[Returning with some seed after the cross examination with Toritorika...]}

Okay! So, what we learned from Toritorika... The killer offed Carrie, then Koishi walked in on them, ran away, and then was killed herself. The smoothie was made BEFORE Koishi was killed, and before the notebooks were soiled. But also, Koishi and the killer talked before she died... I think "No hard feelings" implies a degree of familiarity, at least in my eyes.

There's still other questions that need to be answered, so... We might as well sit down and think more.

[violence_ensues]

I didn't really talk with Koishi... Who here could've been friends with her?

SMELL CHECK WITH DOG BRAIN

[hashtagwoof]

[ Whelp! Hunter asked for this! Now he's gone barking mad!

Luckily this time it's somewhat useful. He may not have superhuman dog powers, but he has smelled the remnant of smoothie and Sonic's glove so he's gonna get up close and smell everyone for traces of ice cream and chlorine! He will also notice if someone smells too clean... Or if something's off about their appearance since he's getting up close here.

Hopefully someone can snap him out of it once he's smelled everyone. ]

[violence_ensues]

[Adorabat's body might smell like she showered without soap this morning and possibly traces of blood and her breath may smell of pepperoni, cheese, and chokkit milk. No vanilla smell at all.]

[canreallymove]

[Well, as stated, he smells like chlorine with a hint of vanilla. Which he admitted upfront and which Anya and Dewey can back him up on. And his breath smells faintly of chili dogs, so no shocks here.




Also he will refrain from saying good boy. He's 99 percent sure that that's just being patronizing to him at this point.]

SHOE CHECK

[canreallymove]

…ok, so I was thinkin’. You guys mentioned a smudge in the blood that was written out, so what if…

[He rubs his nose.]

Time to check the ol’ sneaks again. Show ‘em if you got ‘em!

[He will be checking shoe tops and bottoms and also if the shoes are what they would normally wear.

Let’s start!]

[violence_ensues]

[What shoes?: the final mix]

Bird Check? (MODS)

[keyringwitness]

[Yasu has been fairly quiet all trial. With all the suspicion that's been cast on her lately, she doubts that anybody except maybe Kuro will listen to what she has to say.

...but what about what someone else has to say?

Yasu tries to get Totorika, Koishi's budgie, to alight on her finger. Giving the bird a soft smile, Yasu will offer some scritches as a reward, and then start circling the podiums.]

Given how many of Totorika's feathers were found around the pool, it's very possible that she saw the crime as it happened and tried to attack the culprit. The culprit swiped at her with the ice cream scoop, spreading droplets of vanilla ice cream in the splashes from when Koishi presumably drowned in the pool. Some of her feathers came off while she was dodging the strikes.

Now, Totorika is a very clever budgie. [A few scritches under the chin for being a good bird.] Therefore, it's more than possible that she'll be able to recognize the culprit when viewing them from up close. So, if you don't mind...

[BIRD TESTIMONY: BEGIN

Yasu will bring Totorika up close to each of the survivors, seeing if the budgie reacts oddly to any of them.]

[hashtagwoof]

Uh...

[ Hello, birb. ]

art... check...??

[copycut]

[ Okay. Following this conversation, Kuro asks the sheep for a stack of paper and enough pencils for everyone.

She passes one around to every podium with a living person, and then: ]

Okay~ If everyone could draw what they imagine a kitchen with a door and a broom looks like, that'd help a lot!

[ Though, her expression is much more grim than her voice as she returns to her own podium and begins scratching away. ]

[temmapathy]

[Emma's sketch is in roughly two-point perspective, outlining various kitchen appliances and the door. Her lines are kind of shaky, and most of the items look pretty much like boxes. She doodles a quick broom even more roughly before setting it down.]

BOSS FIGHT: AVA

[gotnothing]

[ As her art matches up to the diagram, and everyone starts to assume she's responsible anyway, Ava takes a deep breath. ]

Alright, time to play Moriarty. So you think I killed two people. Prove it. This is all a big fucking game, right? We're all here to play murder for some stupid doll? So let's play.

[ Eyes up, Vault Hunters. ]

NOT A GAG TAG

[lets_dewey_it]

_{[He swings his axe out to the side, hoisting it onto his shoulders and stepping on top of his podium.]} Maybe this doesn't prove anything, but between you and everyone else, you'd definitely know the smoothie gag.

VOTING

[whimsicalism]

[The sheep silently hand out the voting pamphlets. Their once kindly glances are blank.]

Congratulations... let's... end this game soon, okay? Kakuya's got ideas for... next week... this was fun but we can do better, friends. It's... time for a vote. Majority rules.

[keyringwitness]

Ava. [Nice and clear-cut this time.]

EXECUTION: Who's that Beside You? (CW: Asphyixiation)

[whimsicalism]

Things are a little different this time. There's no alarm, no Father yelling in triumph or anger. Just a young girl laughing from nowhere as Kakuya speaks up. "...good job. This game is over... let's break Ava and then start over..."

The only thing that's the same is that the ceiling of the trial room opens and a container descends. Ava vanishes and appears in the container. She doesn't look happy at all, trying to glance for a purple glimmer in the glass. When she finds one she extends a middle finger at it.

For the longest while the container seems completely empty except for Ava herself. Then her shadow stretches across the wall of the container behind her. A vague humanoid shape appears, tilting it's head in indecision. It takes a few moments but a woman steps out from the shadows.

There's a wry smile on her face as Ava finally realizes someone is behind her. She turns--only for the woman to grab Ava by the throat. She snarls as the woman tries to strangle her. The struggle is fierce but brief. The woman leans in closer, long hair brushing against Ava's shoulder, as she whispers something in her ear. That gets another snarl before she gives her executioner another weak attempt at a middle finger before collapsing.

The woman shrugs before melting into the shadows. Ava doesn't move for a while but it's clear that Ava is dead, her defiance silenced.

Kakuya is quiet too. "Leave. Now... Kakuya needs to think."

[violence_ensues]

[OKAY YES, MAAM, ADORABAT SKIDADDLES OVER TO THE ELEVATOR.]