first trial

[facultwist]

When you've found all there is to find, it's (perhaps mercifully) not long at all before the Headmistress speaks up.

"Investigation time is over. Please move to the conservatory, because I imagine you all want to figure out who did this even without me hanging over your heads."

Moving to the conservatory finds Isabella to the side, candelabra in one hand, manning an elevator button panel retrofitted into the wall.

"You're going to have to stay close to me."

And with that, she hits the down arrow, and a panel on the floor slides open, revealing... a spiral staircase down into the darkness. The staircase is wrought iron, painted black, which is definitely not safe to traverse without light.

Which means you'd all better follow Isabella as she starts down it, lighting candles on the walls as she goes to reveal more and more of the staircase. It's about fifty feet down before the staircase ends at the mouth of a tunnel, darkness overwhelming past it.

It's mostly a straight shot to wherever it is that Isabella is taking you, and there's not much to note about the old stone walls around you. This is a proper secret tunnel - nondescript and functional. A couple offshoots show up here and there, but each one is gated off by a huge and heavy steel grill.

For those of you with a good sense of direction, your final destination seems to be below the Church of Saint Melangell, but the room Isabella leads you to does not seem like the average church basement full of folding tables and little old ladies playing bingo. This chamber is larger, and the smoothness of the stone walls almost makes it seem like a natural occurrence, large and round. There's no sunlight in here, but when Isabella puts the fire of her candelabra to the wall, several torches light in sequence to illuminate the space.

In the center is a pool of clear, clean water, and arranged in a circle around it are several writing desks, one for each of you, names carved into the surface of the desks themselves. The desk that would have been Sayo's has a heavy black cloth draped over it, hiding it from the world. The empty desk... is just empty.

There's a blast of static before the Headmistress speaks up, the acoustics of the chamber picking her up easily.

"Time to figure out who did it. One of you is dead, and this is your chance to find justice. Any questions can be directed to me, Isabella's just here for effect. You may begin when ready."

Comments

[sweetsynergy]

[Vanity steps warily down the stairs, eyes looking around the room. Her hands are white-knuckled around the long, thin bundle of her sport jacket, but her face is carefully neutral.]

There's an extra desk. Why.

[facultwist]

Why not? There's no... secret bonus student you haven't met yet, if that's what you're worried about.

[ergine]

[ Kohaku goes to her desk. She's smiling again, and she folds her hands there, prim and demure. ]

Miss Interim Headmistress, may I ask a question about the terms of the game?

[ She does not actually way for a reply. ]

Your rules have told us how to win, but not what the winner receives. I have been wondering... Will the game conclude upon the culprit's victory or defeat?

[facultwist]

If the culprit wins, the game's over. If the culprit loses, the game keeps going.

[tomestones]

[Dagr follows numbly. They've been on autopilot since they saw what happened to Sayo and it's the only thing that keeps them moving forward. But even once they've all arrived and the Interim Headmistress has spoken to them, it's hard to accept the reality behind her words. That this could have possibly been done by one of them.]

Why... Why did you set all this up? Why are you making us do this?

[They mean the murdergame in general, not just the trial.]

[facultwist]

[ There's the blast of static that comes from the Headmistress tuning in, but it's goes on for a moment longer than usual. ]

Because I have to.

[goldendoll]

[ doloris keeps the bottle of bleach in a plastic bag as she steps into the room, eyes widening slightly when they land on the desk draped in black. she moves from desk to desk until she finds the one marked for her, paling as she realizes she's directly facing the spot meant for sayo. ]

This is too much...

[ numb as she is, there's something desperate to the words. not knowing what else to do, she takes her seat. ]

[lifegoalsorwifegoals]

[ Ah... Sitting next to Mariko's empty desk already feels strange. How must it feel to look across the room and see... ]

Doloris-san...

[ Rinne's always been good at, despite her off-putting, empty self, finding something almost comforting to say. But right now? She can't find anything. ]

...hang in there.

[thatsplato]

What’s in the bag? [IF NONE OF YOU WILL BITE, SHE WILL.]

[eternalfuture]

Miss Interim Headmistress, one more question...what happens if we can't solve the case? Do we get to call the police at that point, let them do their thing?

[says someone who really thinks the police should have been called by now, storm or no storm]

[thatsplato]

[Misty audibly scoffs.]

[trustheart]

[ Chris is wide-eyed and shaken-looking on the walk down, following Vanity like a dog would its master the whole way. She looks not all there, almost like she's trapped in a dream—or a nightmare—the whole time, and takes her seat when instructed obediently, as though her body were on autopilot.

If it were never clear before that this young woman has some previous, and altogether horrific experience with death and violence, it would be altogether obvious by now. Eventually, she gulps down her own shame and anger over not being more pro-active and finally speaks, while reaching out under her desk on her left side to try and grab Vanity's hand; her voice comes out as a croak: ]

Let's get whichever one of us did this.

[sweetsynergy]

[She'll squeeze Chris' hand, down and out of sight.]

Even if the death itself was an accident, what happened after-

[A shudder runs over her, remembering the dumbwaiter. The smell. The stairs, and her father-]

[Vanity breaths deep, focusing.]

[shellhawked]

[Hawke is uncharacteristically quiet on the walk down the stairs. No quips or jokes, her jaw clenched and her tongue set firmly between her teeth.

She even makes it to the desk with her name carved in it before she looks up in the direction the Interim Headmistress's voice comes from and snarls,]

What is your problem?!

[thatsplato]

[sweetsynergy]

[Once things are- as settled as they're likely to get, Vanity lays her jacket on the desk, unwrapping the lounge's fire poker.]

This has been damaged, recently.

[She points out the end and the scuffing damage to the iron.]

Did anyone find evidence of blunt force damage- anywhere?

[rosewitch]

Yes. Though probably not as a direct result of being struck with a poker.

Someone was pushed, or fell, over the railing on the second floor of the conservatory. The railing was damaged.

[hootheart]

[Tiera has been tapping at her phone, on and off, for a while, much longer than she usually takes to assemble a message. When she finally lifts it up and activates the speaker, it's clear why. The voice isn't the one of her communication app, one tuned to try and be slightly more natural and accurate in places. Instead, it's a very robotic text-to-speech voice, reading out a report much more detailed than her usual communications.]

Autopsy Report:

The remains of the victim were found in a black garbage bag, located in the dumbwaiter that is used to send objects to us. The only remains in the bag were the victim's head and hands, which had been cleanly sliced off. There was also slight bruising on the hands, with no discernible pattern. The blood appears to be a few hours stale, with little having pooled in the bag. Two other objects found in the bag were a bloody knife, sharp enough to have made the cuts, and a collection of rags stained with both bleach and blood. Photographs are available on request.

[She can't risk being misunderstood here, after all. It's best to go into neutral essay-writing mode, even if her expression is barely hiding the simmering fury underneath.]

[ergine]

I discovered Sayo's feet buried inside one of the plant pots in the conservatory. [ She just says it directly. ] Unfortunately, the soil made it difficult for me to make out much about their condition...

[ergine]

There was an impact zone in the conservatory. It destroyed several of the potted plants. There was also a fencing foil in the wreckage.

[ Which she did bring with her! It's sitting neatly atop her desk. ]

I suspect this means that Sayo actually fell from the second story of the conservatory, and may have been killed or incapacitated that way. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to confirm that this fencing foil was hers... I know several people in the group are members of the fencing team, so do any of you know if it would be possible to identify it?

[ There are a couple of other things, but. Like. They aren't relevant to the query. ]

[rosewitch]

I tried to identify its owner and wasn't able to. [A beat.] I'm sorry.

cw: dismemberment

[tomestones]

[Dagr exhales slowly. Fine. Time to play along and share what they found.]

Three large knives were missing from the kitchen. In the cabinets under the sink, I found another one of those black trash bags and it contained... her... legs. No feet.

[They're just. Going to leave it at that. Dagr didn't think to get pictures, but feel free to say your character did if they would have considered it!]

They were fairly bruised and the cuts were pretty precise, probably done with a big knife.

[Another exhale. Almost done.]

There was a missing bottle of bleach and several trash bags were taken too.

Re: cw: dismemberment

[trustheart]

Well, we found the bottle of bleach! It was hidden in the lounge!

...Who here knows how to handle a knife?

[thanoptical]

[Satsuki coughs. She has a small bag with hair in it.]

I found this in the conservatory. It was down the drain in the floor, don't touch it, it was covered in bleach. [Yes, Satsuki's hands are red now and definitely look like she didn't take her own advice.] The surrounding floor was covered in bleach still--which I flushed down the drain with a hose. I also found something in a flower pot.

[She places another bag on her desk. It's a bloody, dirt covered knife.]

[iseedollpeople]

... Is it too bleached to tell whose hair it is?

Cw dismemberment mention

[bellpepperexercise]

[Well, this is looking to be about as much of a farce as one could expect from making a bunch of teenage girls be detectives. Kana hates this, but she also doesn’t trust that the headmistress is bluffing about killing them.]

I found a bunch of grooves on the windowsills of the ballroom and the halls? They looked like they came from a sharp object, so…maybe from a murder weapon?

Then, uh…I found an arm. Sayo’s arm, probably. Seriously, whoever scattered all those body parts like a scavenger hunt? You’re sick.

[eternalfuture]

Grooves? Like something dug into the windowsills?

[she nods]

It's nauseating just thinking of someone scattering things around.

cw: dismemberment/gore

[iseedollpeople]

[Mei eventually settles in at her desk, after giving the name carved in it a lingering, unhappy look. Once she seats herself, she keeps her gaze clear of the black-draped desk one desk over and the empty desk to the side.

It's better to focus on the people who are here.

Probably. Ironically.

After a moment she starts speaking in the same soft voice she spoke to the Interim Headmistress with -- flatly, without any particular preamble. Staring at her desk.]

... I found Y-- Sayo Yasuda's arm and torso inside black garbage bags in the billiards room. It was wearing the same outfit she was wearing last night in our room.

The arm was... I think... the left arm, and was very bruised. It was missing the hand. [they all know where the hand is, hopefully, because of Tiera's report and everyone crowding at the dumbwaiter -- so she doesn't dwell on it] A knife was in the bag with it, bloody. It was a kitchen knife, that didn't look like it was damaged other than the blood.

These were under the billiards table.

The torso was underneath the bar. It was missing all of the limbs, and the head. [also obvious] There were some bruises, like the arm. Both of them looked like they were cut... by an expert, probably with the knife.

Sayo still had her wallet and cellphone. No one took them.

[hootheart]

Other knife? Why two? Knife not dull, not broken, no reason need two.

[goldendoll]

[ Lounge bleach. ]

[rosewitch]

[Might as well lay it all out. Anthy lays her shaking hands inside her assigned desk and takes a deep breath.]

[First:]

On the second floor of the conservatory, there was a section of scuffed floor, both wood and carpet, leading to a damaged section of railing. It wasn't a dent, exactly, but more like impact damage — something fairly large and not very hard, nothing wooden or metal. Whatever it was that hit the railing fell over and landed on the potted plants below, the ones that Kohaku found by the foil.

[Second:]

Based on what I know of fencing, I believe the pattern of movement I saw was two people fencing on the second floor. I also believe what fell over the railing was a person, or at least a body. That's just a theory, though.

[shellhawked]

So it was likely Sayo who fell unless one of us is hiding some massive bruising.

hand check!

[tomestones]

Okay, so we're thinking that maybe evidence of all of this was left behind on someone's hands. So let me see yours - I'll check you over real quick.

[Dagr's specifically looking for signs of dirt/blood under the nails, redness or irritation from either bleach or over-washing one's hands, or anything that might be noteworthy!]

Someone can check mine over as well; only fair.

[hootheart]

[Tiera holds out her hands. Her nails are filed into her usual slightly-sharp points, and there is dried blood on them-but it's pretty obvious, plus she was handling parts of the body before. No signs of irritation either, she didn't touch the bleach rags.]

sniff check

[formerbanchou]

I'm going to smell people to see who smells of bleach.

[At least she was nice enough to say something before smelling people.

She's smelling for bleach, blood, or soap smells, especially from people's hands.]

[eternalfuture]

[no bleach, blood, or soap here!]

VOTING

[facultwist]

[ At some point in all of the commotion re: Misty, the Headmistress will speak up. ]

I think that puts us about ready to go to a vote, don't you? Write down the name of the murderer on your desk and Isabella will be around to collect all the votes in a second. You can write it in your own blood by pricking your finger with the pen... or use the inkwell, that might be easier.

[ There's a click, and a compartment opens up on all of the desks, revealing a nice fountain pen and inkwell, along with a slip of paper. ]

Majority rules. There is no penalty for voting incorrectly... as long as the majority of you don't also vote incorrectly.

mods

[sweetsynergy]

[Oh of fucking course.]

...Does it count as a misvote if someone votes on behalf of another person.

[you fukken hack mastermind monobear wannabe-]

Execution - Sphecius speciosus

[facultwist]

[ Once all the votes are tallied, a breeze sweeps through the chamber, flickering the flames in the lights, then increases until the light goes entirely out. It’s a long moment in the darkness before a projector creaks to life, casting a recording on the far wall.

The recording shows Misty standing in a hallway much like the ones you took to get here, holding a torch, alone. Writing on the wall near her is barely legible under the light of the flame:

NAVIGATE YOURSELF TO YOUR COMPANIONS’S SIDE AND SURVIVE

Which leads Misty to make her way through the tunnels. There are more turns and twists than you remember from your way in, which likely means she’s somewhere else in there, running and growing more and more distressed as she goes. The projection jumps from camera to camera - these must be security cameras that the Headmistress would otherwise use just to watch things.

Along the walls, more messages.

SOLITUDE

YOU WILL BE ALL ALONE IN YOUR TIME

FORGIVENESS IS NOT AT HAND FOR YOU

It’s a long run, but the execution doesn’t draw things out. Eventually, there’s a light in the distance. She can see it. You can see it. The flicker of candles. Misty runs to it, desperate breaths clouding the stale air.

And she runs.

And she turns the corner.

And she falls.

There is candlelight, yes. But the candles stand over a drop. And Misty falls over the edge of the drop. She cries out. But there’s no more noise, other than the crunch at the end.

Misty Quigley is dead.

It takes a moment, but the feed cuts, and the Headmistress speaks up. ]

Congratulations. Isabella will lead you back to Rosenblum Hall. Go get some rest.

[ ooc: this ends the trial! Isabella will lead you back through the tunnels the way you came, though there's now lighting in them. No sign of the messages from the video, though. Looks like Misty really did die alone. ]

[thanoptical]

[Satsuki doesn’t watch. She closes her eyes tightly and doesn’t even try to listen. Sorry, Misty.]