CHAPTER 3 ; INVESTIGATION

[themodsgrimm]

The Story Continues... CHAPTER 3 - WEEK 3??? 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, the mods will be providing top-levels for you 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 Britt (bloodthirstiest) and Danielle (entrappings), as they 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

[alchemenace]

[ there's no such thing as relaxing when there's a child around

Also god let there not be ink all over the baths ]

[themodsgrimm]

[F...ortunately for them, they don't even have to get to the bathhouse to realize that something is amiss. As they head toward it they'll notice something just past the batthhouse, on the stairs that lead up to the fourth floor.]

[thesettingsun]

[This isn't going to be fortunate, is it.]

Guess I'm not bathing today...

[He goes to check out that 'something' more closely.]

[alchemenace]

[ ... F-follows to go check on them stairs ig ]

And I was hoping we could have Friday off this week. To make up for yesterday.

[themodsgrimm]

[As the two approach the stairs, what's waiting for them becomes more clear. Monetary bills are scattered haphazardly about.]

[thesettingsun]

...At least it's not a body?

[Dazai's going to pick up those bills. What currency is this?]

[alchemenace]

[ ??? Varian is going to look around to see if there's anything else, like a path the money was leading to or smt. Also: ]

Is it just papers?

[ what the FUCK is a money. ]

[themodsgrimm]

[Holla holla get some American Dollars. As Dazai picks them up, he'll notice that some of them seem as if they're sliced.

Varian's continued search will indeed find him something else!

Severed human fingers.]

[thesettingsun]

It's money. American money specifically. Did you find anything?

[Dazai's not looking over Varian's way...]

[alchemenace]

[ are they leaking blood or ink or are they surprisingly clean fingies. also how many. also what's an American.

Also Varian is dead inside and croaks ]

What I am sincerely hoping is puppet fingers.

[ please let it be fucking puppets ]

[themodsgrimm]

[No...no, those are definitely human fingers, Varian. They're completely clean of any surrounding mess, blood, ink, or otherwise.]

[thesettingsun]

[Now Dazai turns. And sees the fingers.]

...Why don't you give those to me to hold onto? So you don't have to look at them anymore? You can just tell me how many papers are here and how big the numbers are instead.

[Easier job!!]

[alchemenace]

[ "how big the numbers are" is enough to get Varian to just throw dazai a dry look. he's not five!!

But seriously how many fingies are there ]

Yeah, you can pick them up. [ he's not arguing THAT thanks he doesn't want these, but he's also not going for the money, just walking closer to see if there's anything else near the fingers ] ... There's something off. They're really... really clean? You'd think there would be something-- something to show they were cut off, right?

[themodsgrimm]

[Other than the money and the fingers, there's nothing else strewn about that can be noticed. Even without picking them up, they'll be able to tell that there are three fingers: the middle, fourth, and pinky fingers from someone's right hand.]

[thesettingsun]

[Dazai's gonna pick them up... it's not the weirdest thing he's touched.]

...Sure are fingers. Could've all been sliced off in one go...

[alchemenace]

Alongside the... [ unsure voice ] "American money"? Still, if they were sliced off here, wouldn't the person have bled somewhere?

[ if he looks around the area where the fingers were are they in the middle of the stairs. were they all about in the same spot. what if he looks at the ceiling.

anyway more importantly, to dazai: ]

Can you tell what color the... god let it be ink-- is?

[ look at the severed part of the finger for the child dazai it's the only way ]

[themodsgrimm]

[Although there's no blood or ink anywhere to be seen, when Dazai picks them up he'll be able to see that there is still liquid inside of the fingers...red ink, specifically.]

[thesettingsun]

It hasn't bled out anywhere, but inside... it's red ink.

...I guess we'll find whose fingers these are later.

[alchemenace]

... Something doesn't add up.

[ how did the fingies not bleed? did someone just throw fingers and money around for fun. is this shoegate 2.0. Anyway ]

Should we... go back to see if the body isn't inside the bathhouse?

[thesettingsun]

Probably?

[Gonna... check inside the bathhouse proper now, like he meant to.]

[themodsgrimm]

[If they head back inside of the bathhouse, they won't find anything out of the ordinary--especially not a body. Whatever happened to the poor sap missing fingers, it doesn't look like they ended up here. It's still safe to take baths here.]

[alchemenace]

[ I can't wait until we find out tomorrow we missed the body at the top of the stairs ]

... So... Now what?