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!]

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[dominioned]

[ Need to shout at your masterminds for something? Or maybe just shout? Do so here. ]

SOME ADDITIONS

[dominioned]

[ When everyone is more or less settled in, Rembrandt will leap down from the balcony to the stage. It's a move you probably shouldn't be doing, especially with several flips in the middle, but there are a lot of things he shouldn't be doing.

Regardless he then turns to the group with much flourish. reaching into his coat pocket to procure two stacks of parchment, one in each hand. ]

Before you begin—I received several grievances earlier about the quality of the autopsy report. It is of mine and my Lady's utmost concern that you are well equipped for your stay, within reason of course. As such, we have another gift for you.

[ Rembrandt holds up the pile of parchment in his left hand, glove slightly creasing the page. ]

By now you should be more than aware of the very first gift we gave you when you arrived. Sharing is a virtue, but one it seems a few are more acquainted with than others, so allow us to share as well. On this sheet is a list of all the powers you were given. A summary if you will, we wouldn't want to give away all the surprises., nor the actors and actresses who have been cast in each role.

Finally, it is necessary to establish some ground rules, now that this game is properly underway. [ He raises the other pile of papers for emphasis before setting both on the ground in a neat pile. ]

Now, let us properly begin.

[twoasone]

[He's gonna look through these new papers for a second... Then lingers on the rules.]

I had a feeling there was more to it than simply killing someone... But what if your "audience" condemns the wrong person?

[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.

[drydrown]

Honestly, as much as I'm involved in proceedings involving justice back home, they've given us no reason to bother here. They don't care who we cast out, so long as we get rid of someone.

If we stall or can't find someone before the time limit is up, we should just get rid of whomever we like least and let whatever god is watching sort them out.

[soulspice]

Then we kill that wrong person, the culprit gets away with the crime and receives their reward, and everyone lives happily ever after -- except those who died, but who cares about them.

[Hmmm...]

In this case they'd receive nothing except safety, but I'm sure you understand.

[pr159]

I assume you left out this whole part in the initial briefing because you didn't want to risk discouraging anyone from trying it.

[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]

[ Death glare from Mikami, instantly. ]

Not all of us are so without any sense of justice and propriety. We're executing the culprit and the culprit only.

[soulspice]

Ooooh I like how this guy thinks.

[Ooooh the Lady liked that. Can't be good for you, Cumore. Just look how she treats poor Dist]

[twoasone]

Hm...

[ He scratches his chin... ] Just making sure.

[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.

[drydrown]

Executing criminals is what I do, you tactless lout. Know your place and stop trying to act superior.

I'm entirely in favor of removing whomever is running around murdering people, but I'm not about to place that above my own self-preservation. Or don't you think time limits exist for a reason? I doubt that we'll simply be released unpenalized at the end of things.

[wishuponazoi]

We will not let someone die on a false accusation! [Sirius definitely sounds mad about that.]

[drydrown]

[Her approval would probably fill him with shame if he had any. Unfortunately, this man has never known shame in his life, so it just kind of fills him with the apparently desire to glance over and acknowledge the Lady's presence and otherwise not respond to the remark.]

[p_q]

Oh? Is that a threat, Mikami Teru?

[He cocks his head from where he's doing his wall-leaning thing because who needs chairs amirite.]

How do you plan to enforce such a thing?

[inordertobelieve]

[ Mikami doesn't bother to secure any of the chairs for himself, he's fine standing up. In fact, he's pacing a little, with long angry steps. God, he's mad. He'd be the picture of the scary prosecutor, if it weren't for the fact that he's dressed in a frilly opera suit. ]

I have brought a notebook with crime scene sketches, courtesy of Shin. In absence of photography, this will have to suffice for evidence on the corpse itself. Shin is better equipped to explain his schematics, so I will leave it to him, but know that I was present for the drawing process and he had no time to tamper with the body.

Meanwhile, I explored the area surrounding the body. Allow me to present my findings.

Elliot was carrying a book back full of stationary and knives, many of which were strewn around the body. There were around a dozen knives, some of which were recognizably from our kitchen in the clergy housing. None of the paper was written on. There were a few history books, additionally. None of these items showed any suspicious qualities aside from their presence at the crime scene.

But there were a few more oddities around the main square. For one, there was a muddy dust pan in one of the bushes.

[ In fact, he is holding this very dust pan right now. Did I mention he took gloves from the Opera, too? He did. He is holding it with gloves. ]

This in itself seems like an odd act of littering, but not noteworthy alone. However, there was also a hole in the grass at the corner of the square, near the benches. There was mud around it, indicating there had been digging recently. I tried digging the spot and came up with nothing. If anything, it might be that something used to be buried and was removed. How this relates to the case remains to be seen.

[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!!!]

[drydrown]

Is it really a false accusation of we all know full well what we're doing in handing someone over like that? Semantics aside, they want a name in seven hours. I intend to give them one. You're free to do as you please.

[inordertobelieve]

It happens to be what I do as well. I'm a prosecutor, I know my place very well.

[ Noooot budging on this. The courtroom (or whatever makeshift courtroom this is) is his home, he's not surrendering it. ]

I simply do not approve of defeatist talk before we have even tried to look at the evidence. The time-limit is far off and frankly, we are only wasting that time by already discussing such eventualities. Invest that energy into seeing justice served - however much 'justice' can be found in a place like this.

A Better Autopsy Report

[twoasone]

[ Well. This is more unsettling than anything he's experienced. All those blue eyes, staring...

At least he brought Mikami's notebook with him. A notebook full of detailed sketches of the body as it was found. ]

As you can see, many of his bones from the waist up were broken and there is a part of his head that was caved in. I can assume the body had been there for a while since rigor mortis had already set in... I also noticed some scraping and abrasions on both his hands here, and here...

[ Sigh. ] I would have gotten more detail on the body if somebody didn't decide to barge in while I was working. [ GLARING AT RIDEAUX... ]

[inordertobelieve]

I cannot force your hands in the vote, but I can and will see to it that this case is solved satisfactorily. If you have any drop of righteousness, you will vote for the correct culprit then.

[deadlygoals]

He had the knives early on Thursday. He was staging a protest outside of the Lady's office in the library.

[ A pause though as he looks at the dust pan. ]

I think that mud was removed from that hole.

[p_q]

I can't say I do.

[Hollows + righteousness = ??????]

I wonder what you'll do, should you fail in your mission immediately.

[tokihanate]

[ After reading the papers. He raises his hand, like asking a teacher. ]