WEEK 3 - TRIAL

[productions]

week three trial



[At 9 AM precisely, the old grandfather clock chimes once again, and the doors to the drawing room are opened. They will remain open until everyone has come inside, after which they will shut behind them. It is not possible to leave on your own, although perhaps if you have a specific purpose the hostess will allow you to go, as long as you are accompanied by a partner.

The room is set up comfortably, with several tables by the fireplace set out to assist with the trial. The Hostess will also remain in a seat near the fireplace, next to the scales on the mantle. At lunch, the doors will open to bring in a large meal on an automatically rolling buffet, and at 3 PM, tea and finger sandwiches will be served. You'll be able to enjoy the trial in comfort, of course, but the information cards set out on tables will not allow you to forget your true purpose here.

At 7 PM, the trial will adjourn for the day. Players will be escorted by the Hostess to the ballroom, where dinner and wine will be served until 10 PM, at which point players will be required to return to their wings in groups with their wingmates and will be locked in their bedrooms until 8:30 AM the following morning.]

victim



suspects



Character Statuses
Setting
Manor Rules
Cheat Sheet
Voting

Comments

[humanic]

Don't get your hopes up. I'm like ninety-nine percent sure we won't get a clear print, especially with a shitty homemade kit, but might as well try for that last one percent.

I think flour might be too heavy. The stuff they normally use - it's really fine. Soot could probably work though - there might be some in the fireplace.

[souredsweet]

[SORRY DAVE BUT...

after a second of hesitation, Kaoru will be using the katana directly to check at least one wound and see if it fits the width of the blade without too much wiggle room. and since there's already stabbing of a dead body going on, there will also be an attempt to see if it can be discerned whether the thinner, sharp side of the blade was facing up or down based on how the katana fits.]

[souredsweet]

[that gets a little hesitation.]

Should it not be more concerning if she hasn't decomposed...? A decaying body is to be expected, but a body that remains in one piece even after death goes against what we know as natural.

[pandacea]

Could he not have been initially pushed down the elevator shaft out of self-defense and then stabbed when the killer had realized what they'd done and tried to cover it up? Though I suppose there is then the question as to how he was stabbed in the front when he was found lying face-down.

No...what you say makes more sense. [She sighs.] I am relieved that it doesn't seem like we will have to vote for someone who was only trying to protect themselves, but it seems like I haven't contributed anything useful to this trial yet either....

[inthebones]

...We'd like to bring Miss Carter's body out of the room. The smell is too distracting to concentrate.

[souredsweet]

[May continues to be a favored person... it is a really endearing reaction though okay!!]

Do not worry, Miss May. He was only seeking consult.

[inthebones]

Now that we know the two chosen items, the possibility of a secret passageway nearby smeared with blood is probably out of the question as well.

The walls around the upper portion of the shaft were clean - if he had been stabbed prior to falling down the shaft, there would certainly be bloodstains on the walls as well. And if we're certain the elevator can't move, then it seems as if he must have been stabbed exactly where he was found.

How long does the door stay open?

[inthebones]

...Very fine, you say?

[It was too bad they didn't know anyone who could alter the properties of a material so long as certain rules about equivalent whatever were followed oh wait]

I'll retrieve some soot from the fireplace, then - and see if we can't grind it finer.

[pandacea]

It does provide quite a large contradiction... It could be that he had been pushed and then stabbed, which would explain how the killer got the sword away from him, but then why flip him over to stab him?

[humanic]

Yeah, I've got no idea how these old-timey elevators work either. Automatic sensors haven't been invented yet, right?

[humanic]

I'm pretty certain it can't - none of us have figured out a way to make it move yet, right? So the killer probably wouldn't have either.

I've never timed it, but unless we're dealing with someone with super-speed here, probably not long enough to stab someone a bunch of times and climb out.

[vytis]

We could test it. ...With something we wouldn't mind potentially getting crushed by the doors, anyway.

[productions]

Oh dear, that silly old thing? I must have forgotten all about it. Go ahead, darling - it'd be such a shame if such a minor detail made you all lose enough track to vote for the wrong person again, after all!

[inthebones]

...Then perhaps they stood outside the doors and stabbed our victim from above.

I believe one of our suspects has sentient hair.

[pasodoble]

It's possible but once Dave was removed from the situation, it isn't really self-defense if the intended victim ran down the hall and the stairs to the basement to finish him. They would have passed or been near quite a few people who could help.

Ah... ( Just going to give her a reassuring smile and give her a pat on the shoulder, ) We still don't know who we're looking for so I wouldn't count you out yet.

I need you to keep doing your best, okay?

[respecting]

Yeah. Though, if we can figure out when he died, that'll do something for it! And I think I got a hint... when we was on the crime scene, that blood pooled round the body was still sticky. So how long's it take blood to dry?

[inthebones]

Did he have hemophilia?

[Har har and so on and so forth.]

It depends on the volume of blood, of course. A few smears would dry within a half hour or so. Large puddles... I think they could conceivably last much longer. Tens of hours, even.

[productions]

[The blade fits with some wriggle room, but again, there's too much trauma to the body to be able to tell any other details.]

[aozaki]

[Touko'll be dropping by to not examine the body, but the condition of Dave's clothing. How stained is the front and back with blood, respectively and comparatively?]

[inthebones]

[And after consulting with the Hostess, Susan will nod and help Lithuania remove the body.]

[respecting]

Oh. It covered a lot of the elevator, so I guess that won't help much.

[humanic]

[so, so dryly]

I actually looked this up in the library after last week's fiasco. Who knew it'd come in handy again this fast? Anyway, a drop takes about twenty minutes. A pool that big with more of it constantly leaking out of the body? Ten hours or more sounds about right.

I also looked up how long it'd take for a body to cool - again, after last week's fiasco and all - and it's a little more exact for that. The body temp goes down around 1.5 degrees Celsius per hour, which means absolutely nothing to me as someone who lives in one of the very few countries in the world that doesn't use the metric system because America hates its students, but evidently that translates to like eight to twelve hours or so.

[pasodoble]

Is anyone here a priest...?

[humanic]

It'd have to be something the killer would have been able to grab quickly and use. A chair, maybe?

[humanic]

[He makes a face.]

Yeah, but...how stupid would someone have to be to pull that trick after last week?