grimmoired | CHAPTER 1: TRIAL

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CHAPTER 1: TRIAL

The Story Continues...
CHAPTER 1 - WEEK 134 Narrators Remain ;

Wakey wakey, naughty murder children. It's a lovely Saturday, after all. Breakfast is served piping hot at its usual time and all of the evidence has been removed from the scenes of yesterday. No matter how you choose to spent your morning though, the clock will begin to chime the moment both hands reach the large, ornate twelve.

Before your eyes materializes a door...but not just any door. Unlike the door leading to the festival, this door sits primly and properly right in front of the foyer. Whether you exit the castle on your own or you feel a friendly, invisible push, you begin to walk under an arc of wisterias. Behind you, the clock continues to chime with every step you take.

By the time the time the clock strikes twelve, you've entered a beautiful garden. In front of you is a long table, 19 seats on each side. Around the garden are several glass cases containing evidence collected yesterday. As noon intensifies on the sun-shaped clock, you'll find Tiger at the head of the table, a glass-covered rose near her right hand.

Tick tock, Narrators. You have nine hours to deliberate.

Throughout today's trial, the snow continues to fall as it has all week, though it's gentle and soft. Instead of tea and crumpets, today's snack bar includes the makings for s'mores, including sharp metal skewers. A fire could be built, should anyone have anything flammable. Additionally, every now and then, the howls of a group of wolves will penetrate the silence that occasionally falls on the the group...and sometimes even in the heat of the moment.

Welcome to your trial post!

Please see here for the OOC summary of events from yesterday's investigation.

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If you have any questions, please ask on our Discord server or ping us on plurk. Please direct pings for the NPC to Danielle (

entrappings), as she will be taking point for today's NPC, and the moderator team will be on deck for all other questions.

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There's... something that bothers me.

[She frowns.]

If they were planted, how did the killer - or killers, since there were two sets of footprints - get them?

If it was from the bathrooms, then anyone in my dormitory could have taken it at any time. But the fact that the lock into our common room was picked... that meant they were coming from outside the common room after curfew, doesn't it?

So you're thinking whoever got your hair was someone outside your dorm.

[Hm]

Though if there's two killers on the loose, maybe someone from your dorm took the hair, and their accomplice picked the common room door to let them out.

Correct. Additionally - Soo-won resided in my dormitory as well. So that's two things that showed up in the hedge maze that should have been behind that locked door that night.

[Someone very clearly had a reason to break in there.]

It's not outside the realm of possibility that the second person involved was from that dormitory, of course. But even if that's so, why didn't the door to Takamaki's door have its lock picked as well?

... Now that you mention it--

How do we explain off Ann-chan's hair being taken?

I don't believe Takamaki is foolish enough to not make sure her hair is secure if she were to be disposing of a body.

My theory is perhaps it was someone from her dormitory, or who is close enough with someone from there to not seem out of place if they were hanging around and happened to go into the bathroom at some point.

So -- just followin' this line of thought -- one culprit from your dorm, another from Ann-chan's.

Something like that - though if one of the culprits was from my dorm, I don't see why they would have needed to pick the lock to get at my hair or at Soo-won. No one would have batted an eye at anyone who lived there being around before curfew.

...while it's possible the lock was picked merely to let the other culprit out, wouldn't that hold true for someone from any dormitory? How would the first one have gotten out?

If one of the culprits was from your dorm, picking the lock at all would have to mean that they'd be returning during curfew hours, right? Which is possible for Soo-won, since it seems like he might have been the second to be killed... But if there weren't any footprints around Dave because he died much earlier, then our killer or killers could have been at work fairly early.

That's true...

[Hmm.]

Would that mean both culprits were from my dorm, then? Because if none of the other locks were picked, then nobody returned there during curfew.

It's possible, but it still wouldn't explain how Dave was targeted or where Ann's hair came from. [A beat, and then thoughtfully:] Though she did say she sheds, so the killers may have just picked whatever hair they could find that didn't closely match their own? Not a targeted frame - just a general one.

It's not a bad strategy - especially as there are so many people in this castle with light hair. It would make us waste time narrowing it down only for it to ultimately prove useless.

[grimmoired and its army of blondes]

Edited 2018-06-16 22:47 (UTC)

[dangit britt you edited with exactly what i was going to say!!]

I agree. Any light hair would have had the same effect, though it makes me wonder why they went through the trouble of grabbing yours if they already had Ann's... Or vice versa, whichever came first. Why frame two separate people? To increase their chances of getting away?

To make us believe that it was one or the other, and not consider any other possibilities...?

[That seems almost too convoluted, though. Reyna frowns.]

But that depends on how complicated we believe they made this. The simplest answer is that one was planted, and one was left by mistake.

[...]

The only problem with that is that Takamaki doesn't seem the type to kill, and I know for a fact it was not me.

What about her roommate?

[A shrug]

I don't know who it is, but technically they'd have easy access to Ann-chan's hair. Especially if it sheds. It could've gotten on them and then it got left behind by mistake.

(no subject)

toughchoices - 2018-06-16 22:57 (UTC) - Expand

(no subject)

concasse - 2018-06-16 22:58 (UTC) - Expand

I believe that it wasn't you. If any sort of poison or drug were involved, it makes no sense for it to be.

[#honorablewarriorsclub]

I don't know Takamaki-san well enough to say one way or another, but I'd rather not rule out a possibility just based on who does or doesn't seem like a killing sort. Still, if you don't think that it is... [He does put weight to Reyna's opinions!] What other possibilities might there be, outside of confusing the trial and being left accidentally? Maybe two frames to protect two separate killers?

(no subject)

toughchoices - 2018-06-16 23:02 (UTC) - Expand

(no subject)

sanguinairy - 2018-06-16 23:05 (UTC) - Expand

It does, but I don't understand why the locks wouldn't have burned the person trying to pick the locks from the outside.

It did when we first arrived.

Would it burn someone who belongs to that dormitory? I wonder - would those burns have been enough to show on someone's hands? If so, and no one has any sign of being injured, it might be possible that the person was from Reyna's dormitory to begin with and was simply returning to it past curfew.

It burned my hands when I tried to get out from the inside last week. I can't see why it wouldn't have burned someone from the outside coming in...

Would you say it burnt badly enough to leave any sort of visible mark?

[Are they gonna do handcheck 2k18]

It might have if I kept at it, but I let go right away once it started to hurt.

[Sorry, Souji. :c ]

[LOOK NO APOLOGIES IN THIS HOUSE.]

I'd think most people would... Though it does make me wonder if someone thought to wear gloves? They could keep your hands from burning or being noticeably marked, if they had to touch it for long.

[ raises his (gloved) hand ]

I'm not so sure about that? I tried to open a door that first weekend we were there and felt a burning sensation underneath my gloves.

So it's possible that someone who had to touch the door long enough to pick the lock might have some sort of burn then, right? Unless burning only applies to touching the knob itself...

I didn't try to pick the lock, so I can't tell you there. But, um, assuming the burning sensation is on both sides of the door during curfew and that it's not just a psychological reaction and instead an actual physical one, we might as well check people's palms? There's still a high possibility it's nothing, but it's worth a shot.

I'll see about getting that organized when we have a little time, then.

[He doesn't want to interrupt IMPORTANT INVESTIGATING with something that looks like a dead end.]

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