TRIAL | WEEK FOUR

[divus]

FOURTH TRIAL

The participants' sleep the night before is blessedly free of god-sent dreams, and when they wake and the morning dawns bright and early, they find themselves drawn to the courtyard.

The courtyard looks mostly the same as it did the day before - filled with statues of each of the participants, with frosted glass-topped coffin at the center. However, now that the trial has begun, the coffins of our victims are open, their bodies is available for examination.

Cunning, for obvious reasons, is standing alone among the statues, waiting for everyone to arrive. His arms are folded over his chest and he's leaning against whatever statue is conveniently behind him, eyeing the participants as they fill the courtyard. When the last participant arrives, he speaks.

"So hey, thanks to someone today's trial will be a little different. You know these things still need two of us, right?"

A voice interrupts him, coming from the courtyard's entrance. "Don't worry, I'm not going to make you do this alone. I'm here now, so we can get this started!"

Ambition, clad in her usual mask and flowing robes, strides forward. In stark contrast to last week's appearance, she seems much more composed than before - in fact, she seems perfectly at ease, and she heads up to join Cunning, crossing her arms and surveying the group imperiously.

"Cunning's in charge of field trips today, and I'll be handling your questions. Try not to ask anything too ridiculous, got it?"

Behind them, above the doorway to the altar room, marble busts appear depicting the masked faces of the five suspected gods, names etched upon their stands: Merriment, Ambition, Justice, Cunning, and Disorder. The culprit is among their ranks, but which team will bear the burden?

Good luck, everyone. You have nine hours to cast your vote... and your time starts now.

VICTIMS;



SUSPECTS;

OOC NOTES

Hello, everyone, and welcome to our fourth trial!

Each trial is surrounded by different circumstances, so don't expect this one to play out the same way as the last, but for now we're going to cut back a bit on the overview and trust you all to go forward on your own. Still, read on for a general reminder on what to keep in mind while playing with the game's specific trial mechanics:

Participants will have the chance to investigate a preserved version of the temple as it was on murder night by providing the name of the location they wish to investigate to the appropriate host. Only one location may be investigated at a time, and no more than three characters should take part in the investigation. Clues from the death announcement dream and the characters' bodies themselves will provide hints for which places you may want to investigate, so these will serve as good ic talking points. The accompanying host is able to manipulate the environment upon request to allow you to test theories. We suggest that you visit locations to confirm or deny theories that have come up in discussion at the trial, or to search for clues if you get stuck. The others can and should continue to brainstorm while the investigation crew is away. Characters may revisit previously searched locations.

The purpose of these trials is determining which god is considered responsible for the actions of their follower, and in turn, which god will therefore lose a follower. Ultimately, your task here is to sway the group at large into voting the way best plays to your strategy and not just for solving a crime. Remember that no matter what conclusion you come to, there's never any guarantee that any actual culprit will be up for execution. We highly encourage that you start early thinking about which god may have had the most to gain from the crime, so you aren't finding yourself voting blind at the last moment. When you're ready, please place your character's vote over on the voting page. Voting will close at 6PM PST/9PM EST, and will serve as our activity check for the week, so please be sure you get your vote in before it ends unless you have contacted us previously.

If you have any questions at any time, please let do us know by pinging us on Discord or on plurk! Britt (bloodthirstiest) is taking point on the trial today, and Danielle (entrappings) is her backup.

Thank you, and have fun!

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Comments

dance studio findings

[requiemed]

[So. After checking out the dance studio, Senri and Zoe are returning! One of them is holding a severed hand and one of them is ushering a penguin along into the trial room, all of which is completely natural.

Zoe speaks up first.]

Okay, uh. Senri and I went to the dance studio, and the mirror was shattered. There was blood and pieces of a bandage around that area. There was a jagged piece of the mirror that seemed like it had missing glass, too. The CD Cunning gave us was Ariana Grande...?

[She pauses for a moment.]

Also, uh... We kind of found a severed hand that doesn't look like it belonged to any of the victims. It kind of looks like an adult man's hand...? We also found this penguin that was dancing to the music. I think that's it.

[She's weary.]

[selfimmolates]

... Well, no wonder Senri looks like he wants to cry right now.

[usogi]

[he wants to curl up into a ball and cry where's taka or sasuke or redacted]

[requiemed]

I think it's pretty understandable at this point.

[tootsiepop]

[...]

Excuse me— You found a what?

[requiemed]

I'm not sure whether the severed hand or the dancing penguin is more surprising here, but those definitely both exist.

[usogi]

[senri is here with the hand please take it from him]

I think the bandages were Aimi's - they looked sorta like the ones she had from last week.

Does anyone know what her injuries are like....?

[selfimmolates]

[sure, ray will... take it...]

Mouri was looking at her, I think.

[ritualization]

...Nito-kun. Perhaps you shouldn't...

[ishi holds out a hand, for... the hand...]

[sleepingkogoro]

[Here's Mouri's report!]

[dupelicate]

[what the HELL

hesitantly:] So... should we be checking for people who are missing a hand?

[requiemed]

You'd think it would have already been obvious...

[Hm.]

But - probably?

[whirlingmace]

I have both of mine.

[ Wiggling her fingers at Luke because it's Luke. ]

[covenantal]

You found Rin-chan?

[ Yu looks

startled to see the penguin?

and he's gonna. come over to take a look at the poor thing. ]

[whirlingmace]

Whoa! I didn't know Yuyu had a penguin.

[dupelicate]

It has a name?!

[requiemed]

You know the penguin...?

[You know what, sure. She'll roll with it.]

[haw]

[ he's still zzzzz but speaking of hands...

if anyone checks him, majima still has both, but his right pinky is super broken? weird! ]

[whirlingmace]

[ ...did he lose to a bird again ]

[digestif]

[ yeah broken finger whatever. mizuki is ignoring that and coming over to gently wake him up with a kiss...

no they aren't, they're shaking him by the shoulders. get the fuck up idiot. ]

All right, your time out is over.

[sleepingkogoro]

Mizuno's fatal injury was a large piece of glass embedded into her head. There also was a lot of glass on her hair. It's pretty obvious what happened -- the killer broke the mirror and used a shard to attack her.

[Hmmmm...]

There was a lot of mirror shards involved last week too. Could the culprit that killed Mizuno have acted last week too?

[usogi]

[ . . . ugh.]

Do you think the shard disappeared to somewhere else...? Would someone have taken it with them?

[selfimmolates]

... We know there were three guilty parties last week, one of whom was dead—Hector, presumably, since he was the only victim alignment to be on the suspect list. Given that Ambition made it clear that Fortune's killer was still alive, that means Hector killed Blackfire, who was the death that involved mirror shards, if I recall correctly?

Though that means Fortune's killer went after Hector, by process of elimination. We know that this week, we have three culprits and four victims again, meaning it's not improbable that whoever got away last week went after multiple targets again.

Someone correct me if that's wrong, though.

[whirlingmace]

I think we should ignore that for now until more things connect the two, right? We don't want to get sidetracked.

[odasaku]

Sorry you guys had to see that.

[ the hand, that is. ]

Does anyone remember any victim losing a hand?