TRIAL II

[lesmodsalouette]

Trial

At least this time you were given ample time to wreck your sleep schedule before the clocks gong at midnight (no apologies for such little sleep in the first place withstanding). The carnival looks just as you remember it, with the banquet and drinks refreshed. The spread is the same as before with two new additions: a platter of cute cupcakes that might remind you of someone, along with baozi of all types.

Like before, mind the pit in the middle and settle in to vote out the guilty party for the death of Siobhan "Shiv" Roy. With the benefit of experience, maybe this will be a little bit easier? With the mood weather lifted, there won't be any floods at trial at least.

(( OOC: Welcome to your first trial! You'll have 7 hours (until 8 PM EDT/5 PM PDT) to vote one (1) person guilty of murder. As this is scapegoat style, a correct vote is not necessary. Please remember to vote unless otherwise discussed with the mods, as that is our AC for this game ))

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ISH

[calamitish]

[ ish is here as you would expect him, just as excited as he was the last time. in his hand is a sheet of parchment that you're all familiar with. ]

Welcome back, welcome back! Here's to another wonderful carnival for all of us!

One bit of housekeeping before we start: I've added to the rules. Voting for me will not be considered an invalid vote. So don't do it, okay? [ if you need a copy, there's several set out by the banquet as either the worst napkins/placemats ever. ]

That's all from me! But you should try these steamed buns, they're delicious! [ he magics the rules away to get a steamed bun for himself, yummm.

feel free to use this tl to bug him at any point in trial! ]

EXAMINE EVIDENCE

[lesmodsalouette]

[ reply here if you'd like to examine any piece of evidence further! the body was automatically transferred here by ish, so get your body touching if you desire. ]

DISCUSS INVESTIGATION

[lesmodsalouette]

[ top level for reporting investigation results! ]

library investigation pt i

[baebladie]

[ Blade's just going to get straight to the point. ]

In the library, there were scorch marks at the doors and floor. I couldn't tell much about how they could have been made thanks to the smell of burnt paint, metal, wood, and paper. The marks were centered around the door; largely around the door handles and outer edges of the doors. G'raha looked more at the damage to the doors, and other matters, but I did notice some damage - splits in the wood, chips and scratches in the paint. And some debris at the front of the doors.

None of the fire pokers from the fireplace in the library were missing.

The doors themselves were burnt; the ones towards the bathroom side, burnt less.

The bathroom doors were forced shut because of a heavy fire poker forced through the door handles on the other side.

[ That's it for his side of the investigation. ]

[perfectpower]

[Looks at the rules.]

These just say 'the Witch of Ruin', not Ish.

[caporegrimme]

I found marks too. They were coming from the solarium passing through the salon, and down the hallway, towards the banquet hall.

I'd say this means the killer, after setting the fire, walked in that direction, carrying something sooty long enough to brush against the floor a few times. What's strange is that every single mark I found was pretty much identical.

[calamitish]

That's my title! Ish, Witch of Ruin.

Body Evidence pt 1

[divineth]

[Still with the clownery... Canst thou take this shit seriously, Ish? Signs point to never.]

I took part in examining Siobhan's body with Homura. While she focused her efforts on the primary injuries, I looked elsewhere for supporting evidence.

It seemeth Siobhan did fight back against her assailant, as I discovered scratches and light bruising upon her arms.

I also noted that her hair was wet and in a state of disarray, a few loose leaves tangled within it. In addition, her makeup was smudged and her shoulders were also wet. This, I must admit, painteth a concerning picture of her altercation with her assailant.

[siffriend]

[ From th...

...

Siffrin had been Kind Of Out Of It for reasons that are blessedly not apparent on his cloak anymore, but-- ]

The doors... were already open, when we woke up. In the solarium.

[ (You remember, because you'd tried to dash for them and ended up on your face.

Mmmmmmm. Not your best moment. That whole episode.) ]

[cleansheets]

Do you have a reason to claim the Solarium as the start point of that trail?

Garden

[oncefallen]

I believe Miss Homura and Urianger investigated the body itself, so I took the opportunity to look around the garden. The garden itself was oddly undisturbed despite the scene in the hedge maze, but I did find a small smear of blood on one of the fountains nearby. It was quite small-- so small that I didn't initially notice it upon waking.

The gravel path that runs from the stairs to the hedge maze was disturbed-- there were patches where the gravel had been pushed away to reveal the dirt beneath, though in no clear pattern such as you might expect with footsteps or something being dragged through it.

And finally, on the lower steps I found shards of glass that made a trail up to the landing, where I found a broken lantern. Interestingly enough, I found no other signs of a struggle anywhere in the vicinity, nor any drops of blood accompanying the glass.

hi correction over here

[caporegrimme]

[Yes! I do! And the reason is that Nick is a dummy who kind of got mixed up what end of the hallway was smokier, oops. Player's fault, not character's fault.

It probably is the other way around, the Solarium is the end point]

[antline]

Maybe...the trail in the gravel was from someone...dragging her?

[oncefallen]

Something sooty... a lantern, perhaps?

[obtect]

[Man…this sucks. But she’s trying to not dissociate entirely through this at least.]

You think she got any hits in on the killer?

hedge maze brief gloss + body side homura

[antemeridian]

... Sariel, Vanis, and I spent the night by the pond. When we woke up it was to snow falling and smoke in the air, so we agreed to head in different directions. Vanis went towards the castle, and I went for the hedge maze. On getting to the entrance, it was already obvious that something had occurred there, as both the gravel on the paths and the hedges themselves were disturbed, in the manner of someone simply going through them rather than around. On following the trail the disturbances left, Sousuke Sagara and I eventually came across Siobhan Roy's body on a path further in. Urianger Augurelt also arrived at around this point.

[ the level of formality involved here means everyone is getting full named, but you will have to just imagine the lack of honorifics. ]

She was ... on her back, eyes open. It looked like she had just been left where she'd fallen. It didn't seem as if she'd been dead for very long, either, I don't think... She wasn't stiff yet, and— when blood begins to pool in the underside of a body. [ she means livor mortis, but doesn't have the word for it right now. ] That hadn't happened either. There was a dagger still in her chest, right around here— [ she says, gesturing to around where her heart would be, ] —but you can examine her yourself if you'd like to confirm. Given the location, I would be surprised if this wasn't the injury that killed her.

I have also brought the dagger here, as we removed it while we were looking her over. [ it's loosely wrapped up in cloth, and free for people to check out under the evidence top levels, sure. ] I did avoid touching it directly, only through layers of cloth, but I am unsure whether we even have the capability to take prints from it, or if it would help. It is one of the daggers from the Mars Room, I can confirm.

[ her lips purse for a moment. no need to go over what urianger already did, and he's the one who got a closer look at all that anyway so; ]

There was another stab wound on her abdomen. Roughly around the base of her ribcage, and unlike the one aimed at her heart, this one was angled upwards. The two injuries are about comparable in size and cleanliness, so they likely could have been made by the same weapon. There was nothing really of note on her back when we turned her over, however.

... Urianger and I mostly were busy with the body. Sousuke Sagara inspected the area more thoroughly.

[simulacres]

Do you think she tried to fight back before she died?

[vivens]

What would have been the point of forcing the bathroom door shut. Were trying to ensure that there would only be one way easily in and out?

[oncefallen]

The fight may have involved one of the smaller fountains, given the smear of blood I found there. Being shoved into it during an altercation could explain why her hair and shoulders were wet.

[safetycheck]

[ ... ]

When you say "comparable in cleanliness", would you happen to know if they were both, in fact, clean cuts?

[remainsilent]

[ He has nothing to add, but he is watching ]

[uiscebeatha]

[ They were. Nodding, because it was one of the first things he noticed upon waking. Corroborating!

His right forearm is bandaged. Hi Siffrin. ]

[siffriend]

[ ...

Siffrin's not... quite... looking at their roommate, but they aren't shirking away either. Hi Cain. ]

[distain]

If it didn't look like something was dragged through, then what about a scuffle?

[antemeridian]

I mostly mean that the overall quality of them is the same. To my eye the wounds are not particularly ... messy, for what they are, but I am also not an expert on the handling of bladed weaponry.

[ read: i queried the mods about potential wound funkiness once the dagger and clothing were out of the way because pepperridge farms remembers gummi worm holes, but nothing of note was mentioned in the mod response meta. but we can also absolutely get one of the stabbier folks to double check. ]