TRIAL I

[faentasy]

Trial V

investigation

profiles

voting

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

Intro & Questions

[begrimed]

[ Hamelin for his part settles easily enough into one of the nooks of the "windows", flute resting on his lap. ]

Welcome to your pasture, my sheep! Well it's more of a tree but details, details!

Make yourself comfortable, cause you're gonna here be a while. How long? Til' you've found who you think is at fault for killing Sami. But on the other hand an open game with lax rules isn't a proper one at all so... you have seven hours.

And if you don't wanna play? I'm not going to force you but a life demands a life. Unless you'd rather me pick, which I'd be thrilled to!

Questions? Questions?

prints + culprit height

[gemuinemanagement]

[Okay, this... this is fine. Suga's more collected than he was earlier.

He sticks close to C-ta's side, and after writing his note, hands it to C-ta to read for him. There's no way he can write big enough for everyone to see.]

Outside the mansion Edelgard and I found prints
Two partial footprints and a handprint
It looks like the culprit caught themselves on their hands and feet when they dropped down

Judging by the distance from hands to feet
They're shorter than me and taller than Edelgard

[Also sitting on his toadstool is a list of who that applies to and their heights, which Suga won't mind if anyone takes a peek at.]

Also
This should go without saying
But birds don't have hands

[biqe]

Question, actually... Doesn't executing the culprit provide a disincentive for playing this game? Or are you satisfied with any death, whether it's a murder or execution?

[goldencave]

[ Thanks, he was going to ask the same thing... Well, yell the same thing. Phillip would probably be more eloquent than an angry, glaring Norton. ]

[mirrite]

[Taking a peek... and not liking what he sees.]

Mansion Kitchen

[vogelfrei]

[ Seven hours is not a lot of time for a bunch of amateurs, so McGillis will sit right down and get to business. He's glad he's not alone in that attitude. ]

Hopefully we wound up securing more evidence than destroying it, amateurs that most of us are.

I personally went inside the mansion that Samidare was found on top of. Within the kitchen some things were amiss. The oven was on, albeit at a low temperature. Its inside smelled earthy. Further, the sink had been used.

I tried taking fingerprints from the oven handle, but unfortunately my results aren't usable.

[gemuinemanagement]

[he doesn't like it either!!]

[incompletely]

[ He's still recovering from the time he just had not long before the trial, and he walks over to take a look at Suga's list. He doesn't like that he's on there, but...gotta cover all bases, right. Something like that. ]

Good work, you two.

[begrimed]

Ahaha, only if you find 'em. If you want to vote someone else for execution just because you don't like 'em, be my guest.

[ But more to the point, he twirls his flute between his hands. ]

The price of your wishes is to kill someone and get away with it, just plain killin' someone would be way too cheap a price. I like to see a little creativity in my stabbings.

[gemuinemanagement]

[Tenn obviously didn't do it because Tenn is a perfect angel, but he'd be accused of bias if he left him off, so on the list he goes.

He nods. Time to do their best.]

[warmthbringer]

[ ...? ]

It smelled earthy? Like... dirt?

prints paart 2

[crimson_flamel]

I would also like to draw attention to another aspect of the evidence found by Suga and myself.

The footprints and handprint that we found were positioned in such a way that indicated whoever left them jumped off either the roof or the wall. I'm no expert, but while it didn't look physically impossible, it would still likely prove difficult for an amateur to do so without injuring themselves. This leads me to believe that our culprit is at the very least somewhat athletic.

Re: Intro & Questions

[crimson_flamel]

What happens to the killer if we punish the wrong person then? Are they allowed to go free or will they lurk among us until the game is finished?

[vogelfrei]

Dirt, or maybe clay...? I couldn't tell you for certain, sticking my head into an oven only goes so far as scientific methods are concerned.

[mathodical]

[ FROWNS. ]

The oven was on?

The temperature must have been low enough, because the chimney was cold.

[crimson_flamel]

I couldn't find any evidence of the dirt surrounding the mansion being particularly disturbed. How odd.

[biyishuangfei]

Hmm...I think from what you're saying, that makes sense.

Well, I can say that I don't think I can do anything like that without breaking some bones.

[ Anyway. ]

Do you think they jumped off after they were...done with everything, or...?

[vogelfrei]

It was fairly low, but the kitchen itself was somewhat warmed up. It might have been on for a while.

HI MASSIVE ROOFTOP EVIDENCE THREAD

[mathodical]

[ for most of the people who have seen william over most of the past week, the professor cuts a very different figure - his posture is straight and regal, his expression impassive, and he absolutely came to this meeting prepared.

first off, a large sketched diagram of the crime scene (thank u fishy) to properly illustrate his points, and he's going to point at it while he presents his findings, as follows: ]

I won't go into details very much over what Professor Pericles found out about the body since he is more suited to give his findings on the matter, but the curious thing about Samidare Asahina's body was how it was placed onto the rooftop in the first place.

As the professor would have mentioned, the body was found on the rooftop of one of the mansions. I have confirmed that the rooftop can only be accessed by climbing a trellis along the side of the mansion, and the trellis, as far as I can tell, can hold the weight of one person at any one time - it was already slightly damaged - the clear conclusion is that someone had already used it before I got there, and it was further warped after I used it to get up to the rooftop, but it held the weight of Koto and Yor just fine without adding too much additional damage. It seems obvious to me that the killer was probably someone smaller or lighter than myself.

The second curious thing is that the body was wrapped by a rope-- [ here he'll place the pilfered rope on top of the table, take a look at it if you want to ] --which does not match the ligature marks around Samidare Asahina's neck - it is thinner, and was wrapped around the body after she died rather than used to restrain Samidare Asahina prior to her death. I've confirmed independently that such ropes could be found in the furniture store, are long enough that the full length of said ropes are able to reach the ground from the rooftop of the mansion, and are strong enough to hold Samidare Asahina's weight if appropriately secured.

In addition, based on the strange placement of the body - there was an adze-- [ the adze also is placed on the table for everyone to look at - definitely looks like one from the workshop if people want to recognise it ] which was lodged in the rooftop gutter and attached to the ropes. Based on preliminary examinations it's unlikely this was the murder weapon - the wounds don't match the adze. I've also confirmed that it was used to knock at the chimney of the house for some reason, and I have my theories about why and how that was done, but I digress.

The last thing of interest is the fact that there were two sets of tiles knocked off the roof. Once closer to Samidare Asahina's body, and one closer to the east side of the rooftop. Koto and Raven, I believe, can confirm that the hole on the east side, which leads to the attic, is much too small for someone to fit into.

[ a pause, and his scarlet eyes are grim. ]

My theory is that Samidare Asahina was not killed on the rooftop. Rather, she was murdered in another location, and the killer took painstaking measures to isolate her body in a place which would have normally been inaccessible to most people. The most likely theory, based on the balance of probabilities, was that the rope was secured to Samidare Asahina's body, and our killer climbed the trellis to the top of the roof, where they disposed of the body by raising it up to the rooftop, likely using the chimney as a counterweight, and then disposing of the adze which was used as a tool to aid the killer in climbing to the rooftop.

[ that's a lot, but william is hopefully presenting it in a way that... makes it easy to digest. ]

[hellochildren]

[This is...definitely not the trial room he expected, but he'll work with what he's got-not like he's got any other choice, really.]

I vas the one to find the body, for zose who woult vant to know, as vell as one of the people to look over her body. Frau Asahina vas on the roof of a mansion, wrapped in a raser old red curtain, and zough most of her vas covered, her feet vere still visible. Not only zat, but the curtain vas wrapped arount her somevhat messily, mainly trying to cover her completely, despite her shoes still being open to the vorld. Additionally, the rope there vas wount arount her raser zan being in any sort of knot, wis a goot deal of it being underneas her.

As for the corpse itself, zere vere ligature marks on her neck-on the front and sides-zat vere about an inch vide. Not only vere zere scratches on her neck, but skin under her fingernails indicates she attempted to save herself, but ultimately failet. Zere vas bruising on her stomach as vell-most easily comparable to a baseball in size-and, unsurprising given the time of death, livor mortis had long since set in, wis the back half of her being qvite red-zough the parts of her vhere she vas lying on the rope vere pale, for obvious reasons.

Herr Moriarty and Frau Koto can confirm sings, if you have any doubts, as zey joinet me on the roof during our allotted investigation time.

Now, can ve begin speculating? Because I alreaty have a theory in mind.

workshop evidence

[biqe]

Marcus and I looked through the furniture store and workshop. The only thing that was notably out of place was a sharpening stone that had been left out on a worktable, and appeared to have been used recently -- it was scratched and there was metal dust on and around it.

The tools all appeared to be present and in place, but it's worth noting that the shops here restock quickly whenever we take something, so I'm not certain whether that really tells us anything or not -- if the killer used something from the workshop, it may have just been restocked already.

The furniture store itself seemed undisturbed.

[sempiternel]

[ Peeks at the list... and frowns in dismay. She doesn't see her name, but there are people she likes on that list... ]

[zloushka]

Why would one be baking clay in the middle of the night? Even for a murder?

[Seems like a little strange of a thing to do, even when it involves someone's death]

[crimson_flamel]

This was somewhat overshadowed by later revelations but I would like to point out that the palace kitchens were barricaded by furniture. I couldn't find any further evidence within the kitchens, but the timing feels extremely suspicious.

[sempiternel]

A low temperature? Low enough to dry something perhaps, but not burn it? Shoes can weather up to a certain temperature. If the sink was used...