WEEK THREE - TRIAL

[hellscapes]

Hello, deadlings. We're right back at it, huh?

You may have been wondering what you could possibly do in the aftermath of yesterday's beek. Your demons weren't entirely helpful, and it seems that there were no answers to be found. But on Saturday morning at 11am, you'll soon hear a sound coming from the dock. There's a large ferry waiting for you, and even if you resist you'll eventually find yourself compelled to climb aboard and set off on a short voyage. The islands around you look fairly blurry, but you don't go very far before you stop at a slab of land with two large buildings stationed. The Execution Bar is locked tight and you won't be able to head in that direction. Instead, once again, your feet navigate you to the building on the right as the door creaks open.

Inside is a bar. It's dimly lit in several places, but bright enough for you to see each other and navigate without running into the furniture. Tables and chairs are scattered around in front of the bar counter, and the floor is far less sticky than the bar on the other island. Stained glass windows decorate the walls depicting images of humanity's suffering, and concrete crosses and tombstones are gathered in the corners. The bar itself is fully stocked with all types of alcohol and mixers, along with an array of bar food to help keep your energy up.

At the head of the room lounging among the statues of saints and the Blessed Virgin are Bloody Mary, Malibu Sunset and Rosé. With them is also a cut-out of Guy Fieri, dressed as a (sexy?) samurai with a bunch of cool flames cut out of construction paper glued to his back as he walks away from an explosion. He is also holding a sign that says "YOU CAN SOLVE IT!" However, there are now paper tears glued to his face as well.

Above them hangs another hand-painted banner, sloppily thrown together.

CONGRATS ON YOUR TRIAL!
12pm - 9pm
Vote or suffer eternal damnation

You can try to leave, but the door to the bar has been locked. All of the windows are reinforced, and there isn't another way out. You've been called here for one reason...let the misery begin!

Hello, and welcome to your fourth trial! Over the course of the next nine hours, characters will have the opportunity to discuss, investigate and theorize about this week's murder! Characters will have time to examine the body of the victim and explore relevant locations.

There will be a mod-tag break between 4pm EST/1pm PST to 5pm EST/2pm PST. While the trial may continue and players can tag each other, mod-led threads such as questions and investigations will be on hold.

Finally, we have a voting page for characters to vote on the culprit! Please be sure to read this page carefully and that your vote is in by the time trial finishes (9pm EST/6pm PST).

Good luck, and have fun!

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Comments

[ontrend]

Hell if I know, unless there's anyone else out there who's been subscribing to my "drink away the pain" philosophy...

catherd

[outsidebones]

The events in question took place, as far as we've been able to determine, on the new island. Regardless of who did this, I believe it is in our interest to find out what occurred.

[she's going to read this all out of her notebook, so she isn't affected by memory problems. she seems to trust that the who will be filled in.]

Zagreus spent the night in the coffee shop on the island - ah, did he? I don't recall seeing him there. [she chews her lip, frowning, but continues.] It appears he may have evaded death for a while - enough to leave footprints around the island and to write messages - but ultimately, death came for him.

The cause of death, as far as examination of the body was able to determine, was snake venom in his left heel. There was a puncture wound there matching a snake, and the area around the wound was swollen, consistent with a reaction to venom. Besides that injury, Zagreus had bruises and small cuts across his body. We were unable to determine whether any of them predated Thursday, but it would appear a struggle of some sort occurred. Fresh bruises on his front, back, arms, and legs would indicate he was hit or had fallen in some fashion. There was a bump on the top left of his forehead, and he was making a 'V' sign, which I am told is a popular sign to use in photographs but also can indicate the letter V or the number five.

He smelled of alcohol, but there was also a damp, salty patch on his shoulder.

On his person, glass shards and damaged pieces of metal and plastic were found. These shards and damaged pieces match the wreckage that was found inside the home of the pervert hamster, suggesting a struggle in that location. It has been speculated that Zagreus may have been hit with a bottle of beer, hence the bruise to his temple, the alcohol scent, and the glass shards, which were brown in color as a bottle might be.

He also had, on his person, a scroll torn in half containing several names.

The precise events of the night are unclear. There were two sets of footprints on the beach, heading in the direction of houses, suggesting Zagreus was perhaps pursued or did pursue the killer from the beach in that direction, though the footprints may have been walking rather than running. Supporting this theory, a message in a bottle purportedly written by Zagreus was later found floating past the beacj. Also found on the beach was a black cloak, from the costume shop, which was damp at the bottom from beer. The cloak could have fit many, but would have best fit those closer to my height. That beer had gotten on the cloak would suggest a shorter person was wearing it.

The group which investigated the neighborhood noted footprints that appeared to be heading from the beach. The computers had been destroyed - it is possible, though not confirmed, this was done by slicing them with Zagreus' sword or a similar weapon. This would have matched the metal pieces and plastic on Zagreus' body. Also in this area was more glass shards, some white feathers, and a trail of drops of blood, which led to a hole in a wall, inside of which was a snake. Some of these feathers matched a bird animal creature, but not all of them. [which seems to be being followed up elsewhere.] A bug catching net and Zagreus' sword was found. In the trashcan were crumpled up posters of rabbits and a broken security camera.

As it turned out, there was blood on the tip of Zagreus' sword, and the snake had been stabbed.

One question I have concerns the bar. As we have just heard, it was wrecked, and a drink that causes clumsiness may have been consumed. This could explain some of the destruction. Sandy footprints would suggest the bar was visited after the beach, but the fact that there was beer on the cloak left on the beach might suggest otherwise; furthermore, footprints seemed to go directly from the beach to the hamster's house, but it sounds as though the clumsiness drink and this confrontation would have happened between.

Could the footprints have led first to the bar and then to the hamster's house, where a final confrontation occurred?

[greatvalue]

[sir.

he sighs tiredly.]

Someone else deal with him.

[refate]

It was inevitable, I'm surprised it didn't happen sooner. Teach or I can dilute it safely if need be.

[ he... does not have any on him currently, unfortunately. sort of regretting that now. ]

Yeah. So it's sounding like it wasn't necessarily an accident. [ like last week ]

[greatvalue]

[also his own peet]

[psynchronise]

The beer's tolerable, that's more than enough reason to be drinking it.

[reignite]

[ her head tilts once more, confusion still evident but she will rest her hand briefly on Gideon's. ]

Thanks, Gideon. [ she glances over to the bar, mulling that thought over with a bit of a furrowed look. ] ..I think I'll pass.

[outsidebones]

[yes fine she'll stick out a boot. actually, there's something sort of red clinging to the sole of her shoe.]

[eleusinia]

Seriously, I'm fine, don't worry about me. We only have so much time left. We can deal with this after 9.

[cavaliered]

[neat! what is this little metal thing she found in uriel's wings. can she tell what it is?]

[engineers]

[ it's

a lot easier to focus on this right now than what's happening, actually. lu bixing looks over at gideon and uriel, takes a deep breath, and then kneels down with a towel from the bar and a bandage to help get her patched up. ]

It's okay. It looks like the print'll be really helpful, just - try to stay off of your foot for now until we can get it cleaned up.

[ ... ]

Guess we should stop spending our Thursdays in the bars, huh?

[greatvalue]

[... squints. what is the red thing?]

[reignite]

[ a nod. ]

I use it when I spar with Gideon, and I've been attempting to break those memory screens... it never breaks them though.

[ontrend]

Right? It's like, been slowly getting better bit by bit.

[outsidebones]

I'll handle it, Hunter.

[she will handle it by not making chandra do the check.]

[hellscapes]

[ it's a little piece of metal! it does look similar to what was found on zagreus's body. ]

[refate]

Yeah - just keep it wrapped. We can't spare the trip right now, and I don't have any of it on me.

Good job, Percy.

[engineers]

[ putting this on his math meme that beer is funky conspiracy board he's going to go get bitten by a snake as soon as this trial is over ]

[cavaliered]

[after harrow is finished, with a frown:] I found something metal in Uriel's wings. Looks just like the stuff that was on Zagreus.

And the feather Kuranosuke found at the house looks like a pretty good match for her wings.

[astika]

[thanks harrow you're a pal]

[astika]

[...

i'm sorry chandra has nothing meaningful to contribute to this apparently as he just laughs again.]

[outsidebones]

[...she doesn't see any reason why he should do the check, really, but she's watching him.]

[onlythans]

I wonder about that damp salty patch we've yet to identify.

Tears, mayhap?

[ontrend]

[think...ing...]

Okay, so I'm just like... spitballing here. But what if, like... I dunno. What if this is more like last week's thing...? [...] Not like... with an octopus or anything like that. But.

Neither of the people who woke up that night seemed like they were out to murder each other. Could it have been like that this week too? With the net and everything... and the snake in the hole...

And if the snake's poisonous...

[his brow furrows]

Maybe they were trying to fight off the snake after it bit one of them and... I dunno... went to the bar to get alcohol or something to disinfect it? ...but if there was poison, and it was getting bad, what if they...

[his voice trails off.]

[toyska]

[Ah. Yikes.

He nods his thanks at Harrow but otherwise doesn't comment on either of their updates.]