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

[canreallymove]

…so…does this mean we’re maybe looking at two killers?

[shinedsobright]

Uh... I dunno? [That connection did not jump out at him, explain]

[canreallymove]

Ok, so…there’s a possibility we got two killers: Koishi and person who killed her.

[shinedsobright]

So you think it'd be Koishi setting up the locked room?

[Sounds kinda off to him but... then again, if it wasn't Yasu, maybe it would be someone else who is whimsical like that?]

[copycut]

It looks like we have three options.

The first is that Koishi killed Carrie, while a second culprit killed Koishi.

The second is that Koishi and Carrie were killed by the same culprit.

A~nd, finally... The third is that Koishi and Carrie were killed by two different, unrelated culprits!

Before anything else, we should figure out some way to narrow it down to one of the three. Otherwise, our solution might wind up way off.

[violence_ensues]

Wouldn't it most likely be the second option? The knife and the ice cream scoop were in the same vending machine, so unless the two killers were working together, I don't see any reason why the two things would be together.

[copycut]

I agree with that! However, Yasu-chan also has a point. If our culprit already had a knife, it's strange that Koishi was attacked with an ice cream scoop of all things.

On the other hand... If we say that Koishi killed Carrie, we have the same problem in reverse. If the culprit didn't leave the knife behind, why was it hidden as well?

In both cases, I can come up with an answer... Which is why I'm not sure that we can rule out one or the other, yet.

[shinedsobright]

Here's what I think... the killer knifed Carrie, and was trying to make a locked room out of the whole shebang, but then Koishi snuck up and grabbed the knife from them - she would have pretty good range with her tentacles, so she could easily flick it back to her and run away. Then the killer scooped the blood out of the ice cream, chased her with the scoop, and took the knife back after she was dead! Then the killer put them in the vending machine on the way back. Am I a genius or what?

[copycut]

[ polite golf clapping ]

Wow, that's great, Fret! Actually, that's about what I was thinking... Do you imagine a struggle for the knife is where that tentacle bruise came from, then?

[shinedsobright]

[He nods! He appreciates the claps, though he will try to be SLIGHTLY more serious now that it seems the idea has more merit]

That's gotta be it, especially if she kept the knife in the tentacle the whole time. It could be pretty hard to pry it away even if she was dying.