TRIAL I

[faentasy]

Trial V

investigation

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The sounds of Hamelin's flute reach you, wherever you are. No matter the melody (light and whimsical today) it always seem to signal the start of something unwelcome. Whether you resist or not, eventually you'll find yourself drawn to the origin of the song.

The lush greenery of the palace courtyard greets you at the end of your journey, atmosphere heavy like the party from last night was simply an illusion. And at the center of it all, Hamelin smiles, his mouth curved, as he gathers everyone to one side of the palace grounds. With a short note from his flute, the quiet is broken with a small tremor that only grows and grows until the ground itself seems to erupt with chaos.

There's practically no time to react as roots and branches pierce through from the dirt in a wide circle around the group, limbs entwining around each other densely to create a thick wall of branches that obscure any sight of the outside world. And in that pitch black cage, the rumbling continues underfoot, bringing with it the strange sensation of moving up. When the shaking finally seems to die down, what awaits when the branches loosen and unwind is--

The hollowed inside of a grand tree, its size large enough to be comparable to the palace's ballroom. As you look around, you'll see several oversized toadstools (thirty-one for those inclined to count) growing about the place, and a small wooden table where ballots and quills are laid out, in addition to a hard-covered book with the profiles of each and every one of you. Directly behind the table is a particularly large knot, wide enough to stick your hand into.

A glance to the 'windows' in the tree trunk only show thick branches with their foliage and the wide blue sky; those who approach these windows and look down will also see that anyone who tries to escape this way is going to be leading themselves to a very, very long drop. No other exits are visible anywhere in the tree, either.

As absurd as this entire place was, as absurd as this entire situation was, the only way to get out was to play the game.

It was time. The trial for Samidare Asahina's death had begun.

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Comments

[ideismo]

...She also had scratches present on her neck. Morbid though it is, if she were being either hung or strangled it's incredibly likely that she was trying to loosen whatever was used to do that. It's likely the skin under her nails is her own.

[mearry]

Well, there has to be a way to detect our killer, damn it!

[ideismo]

We have a time limit, remember. If nothing else, that's reason enough to be sparing in what we spend that time on.

I understand your frustrations, but we'll get there. No crimes are perfect.

[zloushka]

So she wasn't knocked out at all? She was awake the whole time?

[Zola winces]

How horrible...

[ideismo]

I'd imagine so. If we assume she was hung, her neck doesn't seem to have been broken so she wasn't dropped. However, as reported there are no defensive wounds to imply strangulation on even ground.

I'd imagine this to be a possible use of that pulley system mentioned. To hang her, and then utilize it further to drag the body up to the roof.

[vogelfrei]

How did the culprit know she would climb onto that roof?

If this is how it went, it was pre-mediated to a degree of having the pulley materials prepared ahead of time. Considering most of us don't climb random roofs on the regular, so this method would not make sense for most other potential victims, they must have known she would go there.

[ideismo]

There are implications being discussed that she knew the killer, are there not? Someone knew her and knew she was out.

[vogelfrei]

Certainly. Maybe the roof was a pre-discussed hiding spot.

I would easily buy into that, except it leaves the barricade unaccounted for. Since none of us living appear to have built it for unrelated reasons, we likely have to attribute it to Samidare or the killer as well.

[gemuinemanagement]

Maybe it's a red herring
To draw our attention to places with no evidence

[biyishuangfei]

I agree with him. There's a lot of evidence, and I think this part about these 'barricades' is meant to throw us off.

Especially since we're just going in circles about them, clearly.

[vogelfrei]

It is certainly an option.

I agree with prioritizing the evidence at the crime scene for the time being.

[libirdian]

Mostly likely. I think it's important to keep the crime scene evidence and everyone's locations in mind.

[mirrite]

... or two people working together. Someone could be trying to throw us off the trail.

[amortristis]

[ ............... dude. ]

You do realize what you're suggesting by opening that up, correct?

[mirrite]

That they had an accomplice? Look, I don't like the idea either, but so far this all sounds like a hell of a lot for one person to do all by themselves.

[mathodical]

Technically, they would have had the time.

We only woke up around 8:00 the next morning.

The time of death was 11.30pm the previous night. That's a fair amount of time to kill someone, clean up the crime scene and build a barricade or two, even if it's just one person.

[ just saying. ]

[mirrite]

[Hmm...]

But that would also mean they probably didn't get much sleep if they did all of that by themselves.

[amortristis]

That is true, but that's largely not what I am referring to.

[ She just kind of. Glances, and then looks at Phil. ]

[mirrite]

[Yeah... yeah, he's realizing that much now...]

[biqe]

There's nothing to be gained from acting as an accomplice, is there? If anything, I think that idea would only point to us.

[mirrite]

[... yeah, he's realizing that now that he's said it.]

Guess not, unless they had some sort of agreement going.

[reallyfishy]

Pretty sure the rules make it clear that there ain't much ta gain for accomplices.

[...]

Also, what Morgan darlin' said.

[warmthbringer]

Yeah... Only the person who actually does it gets the credit. So the accomplice-- they wouldn't have their wish granted, if Hamelin can even be believed about that.

[amortristis]

[ squints ]

[reallyfishy]

What? I was just agreein' that it opens a can of worms. 'specially for him an' Phil.