CHAPTER 1 ; INVESTIGATION

[themodsgrimm]

The Story Continues... CHAPTER 1 - WEEK 1??? Narrators Remain ; The clock begins to chime, and on the first note, curfew lifts. Your doors swing open, whether you are ready or not. Leaving your room is a blur. The person you fell asleep beside — are they still there? Have they vanished? Were they ever there at all? You can't seem to recall clearly. What you are most aware of is the pervading sense of wrongness in the air, and how you can't hear anything but the chime of the clock. Even the sounds of your own voice and your own footsteps do not reach your ears. By the time the time the clock strikes nine, you know one thing to be true: blood has been spilt. Search the castle carefully — you wouldn't want to miss a single important detail, would you...? Welcome to this week's investigation post! This time, you all will be posting your own locations that you wish to search. Please note the Locations page for your reference. Evidence — or lack thereof — will be noted in these threads. We ask that group threads consist of no more than 2-3 characters. After the discovery of the body (or bodies) and any pertinent evidence, an IC announcement concluding the investigation will go up. You are then free to make your own toplevels on this post for any threads you would like to have between the end of the investigation and the start of the trial. If you have any questions, please ask on our Discord server or ping us on plurk. Please direct pings to Danielle (entrappings) and Britt (bloodthirstiest), as we will be taking point on this investigation! Instructions on this week's investigation can be found in a pin in the General chat! full navigation. locations taken (statuses) stories (profiles) info & faq wishing well private conversations

Comments

[themodsgrimm]

[Are you guys sure you want to go into the maze? Really, truly sure? Because in the distance, there's the sound of a loud, echoing roar. Something is in there.

But also, like.

You know what? It's fine. As they enter the maze, they may notice some flecks of gold on the hedges. Who takes a closer look? Who goes a little further in?]

[doublecrows]

[to answer Nico's question--]

I can think of one reason, but even then, it's risky. Varian-san mentioned there's a Minotaur living between these hedges, so any excursion into the maze is dangerous.

[-- and then there's the roar, and Akechi stops in his tracks]

Ah, yes. . . example A.

[BUT ANYWAY, TIME TO EXAMINE SOME GOLD FLECKS]

[function]

[ hm. that sure is. a thing. excuse 2b while she turns back after hearing that roar. she quickly returns with three of the former spears souji had requisitioned for training purposes and tosses one each to nico and akechi. ]

Just in case.

[ before they move forward, though, +1 on the gold fleck inspection... ]

[resumed]

[He stares at the spear-stick for a moment before he gently just...hands it back to 2B. He does grab for his sword though and eyes the gold flecks with zero explanation.]

Thank you, but I can fight better with this. [He started carrying it around since he woke up in a sword pile last week, leave him alone. But while those two are examining...guess he'll just head further into the maze! Do the analysis thing, team, Nico will try to pinpoint how far the roaring is away from their location.]

[themodsgrimm]

[Well then.

Akechi, looking more closely at the gold flecks on the leaves, will find that the flecks are actually droplets of gold ink, and they're less on the leaves themselves and more on the stray strands of long, dark hair that had been snagged there.

A few feet away, 2B will catch sight of a knife. It looks as though it's been discarded in a hurry, and has a faint sheen of gold ink on the blade.

Nico, listening closely, can guesstimate that the roaring seems to be coming from the center of the maze!]

[doublecrows]

[ah]

[quirks both brows as he reaches out to pluck the strands of dark hair from the hedge with his (GLOVED, TYVM) fingers. how long is it, exactly, if he measures it against his arm??]

Golden ink.

[he calls out to Nico and 2B]

The same shade as Evans, correct?

[function]

[ she'll hone in on that knife, crouching down to inspect it. even though she also has gloves on, she instructs her pod to carry it for her. ]

Yeah. Same with this knife.

[ about how fresh is the ink? is there any sort of distinctive pattern on the blade? ]

[resumed]

[He's not too far so he can hear Akechi at least.] Which means what, whoever our victim is bled gold just like she did? It was purple last time.

[But there's a minotaur and it's in the center...but he's going to keep going just to make sure they aren't missing anything. If there's ink and a knife, there's bound to be some other clues. Right? They didn't see the ink before this.]

[themodsgrimm]

[Akechi's comparison of the strands of hair to his arm reveal that they're roughly arm length! Whoever left this here had very long dark hair.

The ink isn't terribly dry - but then, with the snow, it's not too odd for it to stay moisturized. It's definitely been here for upwards of a couple hours, though.

Nico, as he scans around, will also note that there are a few strands of blond hair snagged to a different bush. They'll need to go further in to see anything else - though one of them might want to take care, there's a branch that's protruding from the hedges ever so slightly. It looks sharp!]

[function]

[ to akechi: ] Think we've gotten all that we can here.

[ with that, she gets back onto her feet, pod still holding the knife in question. she brandishes her pole and makes her way over to nico with the full intent of going further into the maze. something nags at her first, though... ]

...how many sets of footprints were there?

[ as in, did someone never leave the maze? ]

[doublecrows]

[well this hair is Akechi's now, he is a hair thief, that's not creepy at all. he holds it in one hand while he hoists the wooden makeshift sword up with the other, trundling back towards Nico and 2B]

Gi-Gan bled purple ink, and Evans bled golden ink. I presume whomever this belongs to bled gold ink as well, but what that means, I can't say.

[and then, to 2B]

We'll be ready to trudge foolishly into the lair of the beast after examining a few more points of interest.

[he points at the sharp branch with one hand, while stopping to peer over Nico's shoulder to examine the blond hair, why are ya'll shedding so much it's winter you need that??? how long and what shade of blond is it?]

[resumed]

I don't know. [To answer 2B's question.] The snow covered them too much to really tell, but we can double-check on the way back out unless your pod thing got a better look. [He's going to walk up to the sharp branch though and try to break it so they don't snap themselves on it. On the other hand, he's also looking to see if there's gold ink on the branch too. Is there?

The hair's interesting.]

But someone with blonde hair and someone with dark hair definitely came in here. Even if they maybe never left. [...] If someone really died in there, we have to go in and find them.

[themodsgrimm]

[There's no gold ink on the branch!

But there is blood. Like, actual honest to goodness blood. Hmm. Also, the blonde hair looks as if it's relatively long and light, which doesn't exactly narrow things down at all.

Aside from that... once they move on, the path is surprisingly straightforward. There are minimal twists and turns, almost as if the maze wants whatever else is in here to be found.

Eventually, they come to the center of the maze.

There's a minotaur, pacing around the center and occasionally throwing its head back to bellow at nothing.

There is also a body, which the minotaur occasionally wanders toward and nudges. It doesn't move.

Hmm. They're going to have to figure out how to retrieve that.]

[function]

[ well, that was... easy. sus.

seeing both the minotaur and the body on the ground, 2b tenses and holds her pole at the ready. even though they're most likely out of sight and earshot, she still lowers her voice. ]

Unless either of you has a better idea, I'll distract it while you two look at the body.

[doublecrows]

[GONNA SNAG THE BLOND HAIR TOO, THANKS. right before they enter minotaur country]

[also, things not on akechi's list of good times: minotaurs]

[dead bodies, otoh, are a solid 3/5]

Y. . . yes, that would be ideal, with your abilities. We'll be quick, of course.

[resumed]

[He's Unsure but at the same time he nods.]

Let me know if you need backup. [But he's already starting to sneak his way over, sticking close to the hedges to get near the body.]

[themodsgrimm]

[It's a solid plan. 2B is indeed able to get the minotaur's attention - it locks eyes with her and stamps at the ground. Once, twice, three times - and then it charges. It will chase her all the way through the maze, back the way they came, unless it is stopped or unless she manages to shake it off her tail .

...

But this leaves Akechi and Nico super clear to retrieve the body? So there's that. There's... there's that.]

[function]

[ you guys better thank her for this if she survives.

she's a pretty fast runner herself, so she'll gladly twist her way back through the maze. as she passes by the pole that nico neglected to take, she picks it up and hurls it at the minotaur's head, hoping to at least annoy it, if not slow it down.

also thanks nico for breaking that branch so she doesn't eat shit on it ]

[doublecrows]

[BYE 2B WE HARDLY KNEW YE]

[as soon as 2B and the Minotaur vanish further into the maze, Akechi sucks in a sharp breath and trots forward, towards the body. FIRST THINGS ARE FIRST: WHO DEDA??]

[resumed]

[Farewell toob. Nico watches her go and he starts to follow but no, there's a body.

So yeah, who's dead and how super-dead are they? It's a dead body, whatever, so he's crouching down to get a better look here.]

[themodsgrimm]

[The minotaur lets out a roar and is indeed distracted by the thrown spear shaft! In fact, when it hits him, he veers right and gets stuck in the hedge. 2B will be able to safely escape the maze ... or go back to the other two, if she wants. No one could blame her if she doesn't.

Meanwhile, back with the body... Akechi may recognize the identity of the slain Narrator from his tapestry. It's Soo-won, and as Nico will discover when he crouches down to get a better look...

His throat has been cleanly slit. It seems the ink on the knife from before came from him, because there is some gold ink near the wound.

...

They'll likely need to examine the body in more detail at the trial, however; the minotaur begins to re-form in the area, as if out of thin air. When it sees them, it will charge at them (and at 2B if she's returned). They'll need to heft the body up and haul tail out of there.]

[function]

[ she legitimately considers it

but for some reason, a Conscience™ develops and she turns back to grab the other two. she arrives just in time to see the minotaur getting ready to charge again. she'll send her pod to support the others if they choose to take soo-won's body with them, but 2b herself is getting ready to haul her ass for round 2. ]

Go!

[doublecrows]

[Akechi is, in fact, just about to examine the rest of the body when mINOTAUR!!]

Di Angelo, help me!

[he drops the wooden spear-sword thing an grabs Soo-Won (f) by the shoulders to hoist him up, hoping that 2B being a distraction at least gives him enough time to do this??]

[resumed]

[Luckily (surprisingly? Shrug) Nico nods and immediately moves to shoulder part of Soo-won's weight. He can hold him up well enough and he nods, keeping the corpse-feet off the ground as the minotaur charges.]

Come on! [And he's already moving, come along Akechi. Nobody needs an angry minotaur.]

[themodsgrimm]

[Once Akechi has successfully summoned (his persona) Di Angelo, the two of them are able to successfully hoist up the body and start on their way out with the help of 2B's pod. The time it takes for the Minotaur to finish reforming and take notice of them will give them a nice head start before it crashes in behind them. As long as they don't stop, they'll be able to make it out safely! Like, it'll be kinda dodgy there for a hot second as the Minotaur pursues them all the way to the entrance, but, nonetheless, safe!]