FIRST TRIAL

[umbralant]

Trial I

investigation

profiles

voting

The opera house doesn't seem to have gotten any changes. There are no lights on the windows, the lobby is dark. Only when everyone is gathered there something does happen: Rembrandt appears, opening the main stage doors, the large and heavy doors creaking when they open.

Rembrandt herds everything together, guiding them down the halls of the seating area. You better not stray from the hallway -- there's a very palpable sensation that something's deeply wrong about this place. You may perhaps see the form of something moving, blending with the darkness. Wait...it's several forms. A few pairs of intensely blue eyes, eyes that so far only Ango may have seen before, gaze at everybody. You really shouldn't try to approach. At least they don't try to come closer, cowed by Rembrandt's presence.

The main stage is the objective here. It's lit rather brightly, with the spotlights the Lady had used for her introduction a few days ago, illuminating the stage. In what's a rather ominous touch, the backdrop depicts hellfire. There aren't any props around, other than a few seats that seem to be spares for seats in one of the minor auditoriums, not even enough seats for everyone. Rembrandt blends into the darkness.

"Welcome!"

That's the Lady's voice, coming from high up. Looking up, you'll find a balcony to a side, large and with two seats. There's the Lady, wearing her dress, visible even in the darkness. She's standing up right now and leaning on the railing, shouting at them.

"Let's try to make this short and sweet. We figured it'd be fun if you all got to discuss who killed dear annoying Elliot. Give us a name, and we'll execute that person. Nice and simple, don't you think?"

"So, culprit who saved so many people from us...now you have to struggle for your own life. Oh, we never told you about this before? Don't feel bad, there's a lot we don't tell you all about. She sits down, adjusting her dress.

"I'm not going to pretend I care about you all catching the right person. Just give us a name and let the culprit go free, for all I care. Get started, we don't have all day to do this! You only have seven hours! Get moving!"

Here you are, all the actors in this impromptu play about justice, and the audience is...well there certainly is an audience larger than you were expecting. Everyone will hear the noises of those things moving around in the seating area, from time to time directing their eyes at the group, but they still make no attempt to approach. Looks like the audience that really matters is up there, in the balcony.

Let the trial for the death of Elliot Schafer begin.

[OOC NOTE: From the halfway point of the trial and onwards, you'll have the option to ask the masterminds for the chance to get a hint! Be warned, though: the price will involve some body horror for your character. Keep that in mind when deciding to use this option!]

navigation

profiles

rules

locations

shop

location changes

full navigation

Comments

[raventhaw]

The clock tower had quite a bit of evidence. I'll talk about what I saw.

Dazai and I investigated the first floor. Right off the bat we found a trail of muddy footprints leading towards the stairwell. The footprints lead me to the fourth floor, where I immediately found that the door to the observation platform was open.

[ she pauses for a brief moment to allow people to process this. ]

The wall next to the door was covered in markings that were made out of mud. These markings were made deliberately and had straight lines and several geometric shapes covering most of the wall. I couldn't tell if they were supposed to make a pattern or if they were drawn randomly. Didn't seem like anyone else knew, either.

Anyone else who investigated the clock tower is free to chime in with their findings.

[deadlygoals]

[Dazai will deposit his two buckets on the stage. One of these had mud in it, while the other looks fairly clean and a little wet. ]

I found drops of mud on the third floor! That's where I found these buckets. Maybe this is what they used to make the art on the fourth floor?

[inordertobelieve]

This seems to correlate to the muddy dustpan. It seems the most likely digging tool. The dirt hole in the square would then logically serve as the source of that mud.

[deadlygoals]

[ Giving a nod. ]

It's strange though. Mud is pretty heavy. Why drag it up when they could have used pens or pencils to draw the designs?

[ortion]

Ah, so that is where those ended up.

[Dist is quick to elaborate on what he means by that.]

I took some time to investigate our living quarters, and I noticed that our supply of buckets and dustpans in the storage room had diminished. Our culprit must have gotten these supplies from there.

I don't suppose anyone spotted someone walking around housing with them...?

[baitless]

I found water splashed on the floor in one of the bathrooms, so I would imagine that is where they filled the buckets.

The water wasn’t muddy, so I think that if they washed their feet, it was not in that bathroom.

[apothecares]

I was also at the clock tower. Ango and I went out to the observation platform, and we found this bottle with a can and candle. Looks a bit like a homemade lantern ta me, and a newly put together one at that. The edges are all sharp, so watch your hands. [He helpfully gestures an offer to pass it to whoever wants to look at it] We also found a rope made of cloth from here [a handsweep to encompass the Opera house where the scarves tied together had to have been from] hanging off the side.

[reanbeans]

...That's strange.

[ He looks like he's thinking... ]

If it was all the way up there, I was wondering if anyone could see that from a distance. It might've been used as a way to lure for Elliot.

[notbymyside]

In addition to this, a statue dressed up in a dress and a wig was tired to the end of the 'rope'. And when I looked directly down from where the statue was hanging, I could see where Elliot's body was.

[wishuponazoi]

Did that have any blood on it?

[inordertobelieve]

So our culprit staged a pretend murder to draw attention to the location...?

[pr159]

And likewise, I could see that from where the body was.

[reanbeans]

What hair color was the wig?

[deadlygoals]

[ He's going to grab the bottle with a can and a candle. Poking the edges. Definitely sharp. ]

Maybe we should test this. Also might want to check hands in case the culprit was the one who made it.

[pr159]

I wonder if those sharp edges would account for any of the victim's hand wounds...

[ it looks ridiculous enough for him to have come up with it... based on his very shallow judgment of a kid he hardly knew, anyway ]

[inordertobelieve]

The only question then would be why it was found on the observation deck, rather than falling alongside him.

[psychophant]

I wasn't at the clock tower, but I did find something odd in the backstage of the opera house.

There appears to be at least one dress missing, along with several missing light scarves, and a single missing wig. I do hope none of you dressed up to kill that boy.

[that's absolutely a lie, please tell him someone put on their murdering ballgown!!!]

[puperoni]

They'd have a really bad fashion sense if they did. [ Pizza is down for judging with you Iago. ]

[twoasone]

[ He raises his eyebrow at that. ] Straight lines and geometric shapes? Do you suppose someone was trying to draw a larger image of some sort?

[deadlygoals]

It's really weird, right? They went through the trouble to dragging a bucket full of mud and water to the fourth floor to draw shapes on the fourth floor.

[raventhaw]

It was hard to tell. I suspect nobody but the artist themselves would know what those symbols all mean.

[wishuponazoi]

How large were those footprints? That might narrow down our possible suspects quite well.

[deadlygoals]

Maybe we should do a check, hmm?

[ordealia]

Do you mind elaborating a little more on the markings? Were any of the marks repeated at all? I'm just trying to get a better idea of what they looked like.

[raventhaw]

Once Mikami's finished, he can hand the notebook over to you.

[ this is what it looks like! ]