Castle W Mods (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
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castle_whims2022-08-26 10:07 pm
whimsicalism) wrote in castle_whims2022-08-26 10:07 pm
FIRST TRIAL
FIRST TRIAL
THE CONTAINMENT CENTER
After all the evidence is collected, the students themselves are as well. The Little Brother units gather them up in orderly fashion, encouraging the line to proceed two-by-two up the hallway beyond the music room and into the newly opened area. When grouped up together, the class just barely fits into the glass-paneled section of the decontamination chamber. It's hard not to wonder if the entire student body was never meant to make it this far in the first place. A short burst of pressurized air later and the panels lift - and, for the first time, the door to the containment facility opens before you. Behind it, an elevator beckons the class in. A Little Brother unit reaches inside, pushes a button, and the lift's real, see-through door closes before the lift begins to lower.
As the elevator descends, the car passes floor after floor of cellblocks. Start florescent lighting casts stark highlights onto each of them, and in those closest to the elevator car, shape after shape is visible. A wolf the size of an elephant with blood-tinged saliva dripping from it's massive fangs. A clown holding 20 multicolored balloons in one hand, a popped and shredded 21st hanging from the other out to you with a gap-toothed grin. A pit of writhing snakes with no beginning and no end. The feeling is comparable to the hungry, lingering gaze from outside the academy's fence. Looking out at the many cells, it's as if there's no barrier between them and the assembled students at all.
The car's moving too fast to see all of them clearly, but careful attention reveals one final detail: Some of them are completely empty. The other noticeable thing is the noise. Snarls, roars, sly chuckles, hissing, and even someone humming a haunting lullaby... they all mix together into a cacophony as you near the final destination.
When the elevator comes to a complete stop, the group is let out into a black-floored room illuminated by the same stark florescent lighting. Luckily, as soon as you go through the doorway the noise suddenly stops. The steep walls extend some two or three stories above without interruption, throwing stern, exaggerating angles reminiscent of brutalism. 21 stone podiums stand in a densely illuminated circle in the center of the room. Each one bears a name of one of the students in the class.
The Prefect is already waiting for everyone, sitting at a long desk backed by a projector screen bearing the same ram insignia from the post-spelling bee dance. Her hands are folded in front of her, and she barely moves.
"Looks like somebody attempted the alternative capstone. A week ago, I never would have believed it... but I know better now. Those who fall behind... just weaken the herd.
Luz, The Owlette, is dead. What a stupid title... I really hated it." The Prefect's expression staggers for a moment, then settles again. "Her murderer's still here, and the only way to prove that you deserve another chance in this school is to find them. Get the exam started."
There's a flicker on the screen behind her as the Principal speaks. "You heard Miss Kiryuu. We're beginning the exam, don't just stand around staring at each other!"
OOC NOTES
While played out OOCly on Saturdays, trials ICLY take place the afternoon after investigations are concluded. This means that characters will have only a brief period of rest to gather their thoughts before being brought down. While the podium layout graphic shows room numbers, the real stone does bear characters' names.
The victim's body will not be available for reexamination during the trial but other pieces of evidence small enough to carry/move with you can be brought down into the trial. If you need mod input or NPC input in the middle of a thread please put 'MODS' in the header so we can see. Trials play out until the killer is caught or until around 8pm Eastern, at which point we'll try to wrap up. Good luck!
EVIDENCE
THE MURDER WEAPON
When Sonic and I investigated the kitchen, there was a chef's knife missing from the knife block, and Sonic found a bloody chef's knife buried in a pot of dirt, along with a, er, dirty washcloth.
It's easy to make the guess that this is the m- murder weapon, but somebody w- who saw her up close should probably match the knife to the wound anyways. [Yasu gulps.] We need to know for sure. If we move forward with a faulty assumption, t- t- then we might, uh, get... [Killed. If nothing else, the consequences for failure were good encouragement to check her work.]
Aside from that, there are two things that are bothering me. The first is where the knife was found. It'd be understandable if it was in, um, the kitchen sink, or hidden somewhere else, but... why bury it somewhere we can find it if the culprit was just trying to conceal the weapon? The washcloth wasn't used to clean the knife either, o- or the blade would've been covered in less, um. Blood. It doesn't m- make sense as a step to the murder, it has to be an act particular to the culprit.
And... [Yasu hesitates before this next part. It feels almost like a betrayal to bring up.] Even if she had other wounds... Luz getting killed with, um, a stab to the heart, or at least that's what it looked like from the distance I saw her... corpse... Murdering her with a single thrust to the ribs would take precision. I think the culprit has experience with fighting.
That's all. [Shrinking back, she bows her head.]
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Playground Evidence stuffs
These runes have to have been Lux's doing. Some sort of ritual, maybe?
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[Fret thought about replicating the papers, but turns out they were freaking everywhere, so he figured - you know what - the staff probably don't mind him helping them clean up a little. So he has just brought a few to the trial. You all dodged a bullet considering Fret's art style.]
Soooo... these sure were a thing?
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HALLWAY TRAILS
We found a small but significant amount of blood in this area, the hallway that we should probably consider "between the playground and the gym". Naturally that was impractical to bring with us. Which is almost more curious, because there was a secondary trail of paper. Some pieces were sliced apart, while most were stepped upon with dirt. Someone... besides the intrepid investigators who were so kind as to help me... stepped in the blood - probably one of the more typical children in this group. Yet the paper purely dirt. It was as if someone hated and fought the paper itself.
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THE BODY
I examined the body. Yuta and Dylan were in the room with me, and can confirm some of the observations, though neither of them got so... close as I did. I couldn't confirm time of death, but for what it's worth, it had not entirely cooled when I touched it.
Luz was killed by a single stab wound to the chest. There was no significant angle to the wound that I could see, which makes it likely that the culprit was of a similar height instead of significantly shorter or taller or is able to fly, or that Luz was lying down when originally stabbed. If it was someone who was significantly shorter or taller then there would probably be some kind of upward or downward angle to the wound.
It was not very large, and was likely made by a knife or scissors, or something with similar dimensions. Not a sword, or an axe.
She might have known what was happening. There was a gash on her arm which might be a defensive wound. Her fingertips and fingernails, however, had dirt on them, but no blood, so it is unlikely that she managed to scratch the culprit, unless she used some kind of tool, however the fact that her hands were dirty might mean she was using them to dig or bury something before she was killed.
The puddle of blood she was lying in seemed like the right size for someone of her size bleeding to death, so if she was moved from somewhere else it is probable that the knife was only removed after she was placed where she was found. There were no signs of significant movement or struggle. Despite this, she had blood on the soles of her shoes, which were... not being worn as might be expected. They seemed to be too loose, and disheveled.
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HALLWAY
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SHOES
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NPC QUESTIONSs
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Do you know who it was?
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Scary, scary~! I want to pet the big doggy.
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Thief!
[ Valmont brandishes a tiny yet authoritative finger across the room at Koishi. ]
This girl is a purloiner of other people's hard-earned turtles! Headmaster, I demand you lock her up at once!
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He walks into the room, glancing around as he finds his way to his podium... ]
Ugh... Whoever your interior designer is, they ought to be sacked.
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She can't die yet. She can't let innocent people die. Papa wouldn't let that happen.
Remember what Papa would do, Anya.]
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She flinches when Emma first squeezes her hand, but after a moment, she squeezes back.]
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And now that she's here, she's not so sure she can do it. Her eyes nervously flit from person to person, completely unsure of who the murderer is. She meekly pokes the tips of her wings again with an anxious whiny noise.]
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But. They can do this. They need to do this. And he needs to do this.
And the first thing he needs to do is help someone.]
Hey, it's...we're gonna figure it out, okay? I promise, we'll all figure this out, and get out of here.
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SHOE CHECK
Everyone around Luz's height should go first since they're m- most likely, but we should still be thorough and check everyone's.
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Like so.
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Re: SHOE CHECK
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whoopsy daisy
Re: whoopsy daisy
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THE MOTIVE?
The dirtbag said he’d bring in enemies from home if we didn’t kill. So I guess maybe we can narrow it down to who wouldn’t really like that. Like, REALLY wouldn’t like it.
So let’s talk about our enemies, I guess? Mine’s Buttnik, he’s ugly, I beat him and I’ll beat him again if I gotta.
[shrug]
How about everyone else?
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I don't think any of my "enemies," if, um, they can even be called that, are really that bad.
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Re: THE MOTIVE?
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Re: THE MOTIVE?
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NAIL CHECK
You can swap shoes out pretty easily, but...
The knife and washcloth that Sonic dug up were several inches deep in the dirt.
It's possible that the culprit forgot to get the dirt out of their nails after they were done burying them, w- whatever their reason originally was. We haven't seen, um, any sign of any kind of digging implement, so they had to have used their hands...
Everyone, show your nails to the class. We need to check for dirt.
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Re: NAIL CHECK
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CLOTH CHECK…?
[Holds up the bag with the cloth. Time to compare.
Also for Sonic. What clothing? He never wears anything outside of his kicks and gloves.]
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Re: CLOTH CHECK…?
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Get Herded
So! Let's go over what we think so far! Luz was stabbed with the knife. The wound matches that, so that's probably it. The knife was at a point where it has to be someone around Luz's height. Because if the person were too short or too tall, it wouldn't be at that angle. It also probably has to be someone really good at fighting because it got her good. We think her glyphs were done on instinct because she wanted to fight...but forgot her magic doesn't work here. So she probably took off.
Plants are very important. We're thinking that the culprit did some digging and we're trying to find a way to link them to that because of the knife. Because it was in a plantpot. We thought the shoes were important, too, because Luz's shoes are all messed up. But we might be out of luck there, because there's two pairs of shoes for everybody. There's also been some blood in the hallway, but a weird thing is none of the papers have blood on them. Sonic also has a dirty cloth there as another evi...evi...it's with this.
We don't have any culprit yet. Just a lot of thinking. Anya's not sure....what've we got?
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[He's never seen a six year old do a coherent presentation on the fly like that]
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Re: Get Herded
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THEORY TIME
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INJURY CHECK
[With that out of the way, he takes his uniform off, his two blue shirts on underneath it. He rolled up his sleeves, pulled his collar down, lifted his shirt up, the whole schebang.
He's uninjured.]
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Re: INJURY CHECK
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ALL CLEAR
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catherd-ish???
There's...
[Deep breaths.]
I think the culprit came from a world where magic exists. Or... at least something l- like magic. Otherwise, Luz throwing out those glyphs wouldn't be a credible threat. It's just... paper, to most people. B- But, there were lots of slashed pieces, right? Not just one or two? S- So they thought for a little while that they'd work.
That's all.
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AH CHOO
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Adorabat Accusation
I believe we have thoroughly eliminated the theory that Luz left any kind of mark by physically contacting her killer. We must consider another theory. We know that the culprit held the knife at a certain height relative to Luz's body. We know that a shoe similar to Luz's made a footprint. These facts are completely different from "a person similar to Luz in size did those things". We also know that the culprit had a very significant amount of time to set the scene - Luz was dead for over an hour, and the culprit went about deeply burying the knife in the flowerpot completely unseen. How did such a meticulous person leave a bloody footprint that was also totally separate from the enormous scattering of paper?
There is an extremely harmonious explanation that comes to mind. The killer removed Luz's shoes to create the footprint because it would benefit them for us to believe. This explanation becomes even more harmonious if we believe that it was easier for the killer to pull off the shoes than to manipulate their laces and put them back on. All the more so if the killer had a tiny body that could dodge Luz's grasp.
[Jeanne smiles sadly and looks at the nearby Adorabat.]
And does this not bring to mind a person chomping at the bit to fight any of our monstrous enemies? A person used to magic sources that can be shattered in a single strike? A person who knows how to gather evidence?
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[Immediately defensive.]
No way! There's no way she would do it!
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Re: Adorabat Accusation
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ACCUSATION: KOISHI
[Yasu's eyes widen behind her bangs as she realizes something.]
You... you said you came from a world of youkai, right? And... nobody else remembers you. At least most of the time.
Magic exists in your world. So...
If Luz saw you in the hallway, and by instinct tossed out a glyph when she saw a stranger there...
Would you have recognized that as a threat?
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[ tilting her head ]
No one remembers me because there's nothing to remember. I stopped existing the day I closed myself off from everyone.
Her glyphs kind of look like the sigils we use in danmaku battles, maybe. But what other evidence do you have?
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OBJECTING!
[How does he do this, how does he do this, how does he do this...]
I, um...I think I might've...miss-smelled, a couple people, when sniffing people. I just...I just need to smell two people again.
[He turns to one side.]
Reika.
[He turns to the other.]
K...Koishi.
I just...I think I might've gone something wrong, before. Can you let me try again? Please?
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cw: disassociation reference
HERE WE GO
That's enough!
[She's shouting at the top of her lungs.]
I did what you wanted! I killed someone! I tried my best to get away with it! That's what you wanted, isn't it?
So now you won't bring Joker here, right!?
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1/2
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Re: HERE WE GO
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VOTING
You're right, Miss Aoki. Joker won't be brought here now. Whether you live, however, is up to your classmates. Voting is now. Majority rules.
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Re: VOTING
Re: VOTING
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spoilers for the witch
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EXECUTION: I Love to Laugh (cw: clowns, blood)
The Principal's voice booms through the trial room as the sound of papers being flicked through is heard, too. He seems to tap on his microphone. He laughs deeply."Oh, yes. I know who to send you to. Prepare the extraction procedure!"
There's a heavy grinding of gears and concrete as the ceiling of of the trial room slides away and a clear container, the size of a dorm room descends. A thrumming warning siren blares as Reika--who was standing among you just a few seconds ago--vanishes. She appears, confused, in the container. At first it looks like she's completely alone as she walks the perimeter of the room.
A large clown seems to shimmer into existence right behind her. It's the gap-toothed monster you saw on your descent. This time, the clown doesn't have any balloons. It grabs Reika by the shoulders who jumps in shock. She moves quickly into a fighting stance, fists raised if she needed to attack. The monster steps back, putting a finger to it's massive grinning maw. Reika seems to relax slightly at the touch. It reaches out and pulls a quarter from behind Reika's ear. She seems still puzzled by this.
This continues for about five minutes. The clown keeps doing magic tricks, running around the container, falling over itself and generally fairly harmless. Juggling, a few card tricks... for a while it might look like that the clown is trying to make her laugh.
Although the container is silent, Reika eventually laughs. It's hard to tell, really, but the grinning clown's reaction is clear. Clapping it's hands, it pulls out a magician's hat and starts helping her pull numerous scarves out of the hat.
It all seems fairly harmless until Reika comes to the end. A large knife is tied to the end of the scarves. Her confusion quickly melts to fear as the clown grabs the knife and slits her throat, letting the blood spray messily against the clear wall of the container. As Reika collapses, the clown raises a hand towards the students below. It's hard to make out at this distance but it's mouthing something (Thank you for the meal) as the container is pulled up to the rest of the holding cells.
Reika Aoki is dead. The Little Brothers worriedly shepherd everyone back into the elevator to return to the Academy. Today was a long, horrible day but at least it's over. You can practically hear the Principal roar with laughter as you leave.
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This can't happen again.]
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