CHAPTER 5 ; INVESTIGATION

[themodsgrimm]

The Story Continues... CHAPTER 5 - WEEK 5??? 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

[themodsgrimm]

[There isn't anything out of place on the stairs upward, or even noticeably out of place when they enter the owls' room. But they're watching you, Souji and Ion. Always watching you.

What will they examine more closely first?]

[sanguinairy]

Mm... They seem to be fine, at least?

[HM... Hi owls, thanks for leaving him vaguely unsettled. ANYWAY!! He'll move over to the window first, and the table below it so he can rifle through the papers on here. Are there any spooky ghost notes??]

[fonlines]

... I suppose so.

[ Owls, as spooky as ever. Ion just inclines his head at their resident messenger birds in vague greeting. Hi to you too, creepy owls, how've you been the past week, been keeping well fed?

But while Souji checks out the window and table, he'll instead make a slow sweep of the perimeter of the room. ]

[themodsgrimm]

[No spooky ghosts notes here! Just blank paper and writing utensils. Would Souji like to send a letter?

Nothing seems out of place along the perimeter when Ion looks. There might be some owl droppings under the perches, though. Yuck.]

[sanguinairy]

[No, no he would not... But he'll look through the quills and ink too, checking to see if anything's missing or amiss. Blood in the ink tins? Inkblood in the inktins?? Maybe a quill used to stab someone?]

[fonlines]

[ ... Is there a particularly alarming sight out the window, or something? He'll very carefully crane his neck to look out and down if he needs to, Souji isn't going to shove him out of it or anything right.

Otherwise he's going to join Souji in. Looking through the things at the table. ]

[themodsgrimm]

[There's no blood or inkblood in the tins! And, sadly, all the quills seem to be in place. Quillstabby murder will have to come another week.

But, when Ion checks the window, he'll see that there's an owl fast approaching it!

It has a letter tied to its leg.

He'll want to back up before it swoops in or he'll be getting some talons to the face.]

[sanguinairy]

[THAT'S NOT A SAD THING THAT'S A GOOD THING Souji doesn't want to deal with any quill murderers, damn.

In any case Souji will look up as soon as he hears flappy wings from the great beyond, looking startled. HOPEFULLY ION HAS GOOD REFLEXES but uh even if he doesn't Souji is grabbing him by the sleeve to pull him aside. No pushing out of windows, at least! Good work.]

[fonlines]

[ Ion's reflexes are decent thanks!!! which basically means these two just sort of end up throwing themselves to the side or something to avoid incoming ballistic owl.

The. Incoming ballistic owl that seems to have a letter, in fact. Can they read it. Can they take it. Who is it for. ]

[themodsgrimm]

[it's a sad thing because i, personally, want to deal with quill murderers

anyway, the owl is just kind of... flying around the room in a circle? they can snag the letter if they are willing to get close enough to it - there doesn't seem to be a name on the outer envelope, which is probably why it didn't go straight to a specific person.]

[sanguinairy]

[i dont even know which mod you are but this applies to all of you so, fair,

ANYWAY after righting himself again after having thrown himself to the side to avoid incoming ballistic owl, he'll now make it his mission to Catch The Owl instead!! Or at least try to nab the letter, since he is in fact willing enough to get close even at the risk of bird attack.]

Hold still for a second--!

[fonlines]

[ If Souji trying to catch the owl doesn't work then Ion just sort of. Holds his staff out to the side to present a semi-functional makeshift perch instead???

Listen, Souji's taller than him, what do you want from him.

also how would you kill someone with a quill it'd just like break instantly :/// ]

[themodsgrimm]

[ :)

Anyway! The owl perches on Ion's staff when he holds it out to the side, putting Souji in a perfect position to snag the envelope. Once it's off its foot, it hops away and goes for one of the perches. ...message delivered!

So there stand Souji and Ion with an envelope that's just waiting to be opened.]

[sanguinairy]

[Souji's fucking wheezing from the exertion of chasing an owl for even like 5 seconds i hate this

BUT IT'S STILL NOW, AT LEAST!! So he can reach up and nab the envelope, though he gives it a mildly suspicious look.]

...I guess we ought to open it, then.

[Which he will do! Carefully, by the edges, just in case they might be able to test this for fingerprints later or something. Or in case there's glitter inside I GUESS!! What awaits these fools.]

[fonlines]

[ Sorry he didn't do that from the start, partner, hopefully you're not wheezing too much.

if this is a glitterbomb is2g sharpay-- actually no i'd believe fitz would do it too if it was gold ANYWAY Ion will be looking carefully over Souji's shoulder as he opens the letter. ]

It's a rather... interesting time for it to appear, especially with no clear intended recipient...

[ is the letter from one of the victims this week telling them to find their murderer??? a warning not to feed the swans? ]

[themodsgrimm]

[There's no glitter in the envelope, surprisingly! There's just a letter. A letter with handwriting that Souji will likely recognize.]

If ███ ███ the letter about me punching ███ in the face, please forward ██ to my murderer.

[sanguinairy]

[HM. HM, YEAH HE SURE DOES and he looks Pretty Concerned by it.]

--This is Hijikata-san's handwriting...?

[fonlines]

[ Ion seems fairly surprised too, but probably for a different reason? ]

... He punched who in the face?

[ "If you? get? the letter about me punching him? her? in the face, please forward it?? to my murderer.

what does this mean, exactly. It's how hard to send letters here and this is what Hijikata chooses to send them? ]

[sanguinairy]

[That's about what Souji pulled from this mess too but he doesn't seem any less confused by it. Hijikata-san why...]

I... don't know? He never mentioned anything about punching anyone in the face to me.

[Why is Hijikata punching people in the face WITHOUT HIM.]

[fonlines]

It could perhaps be a name, if it is short, but...

[ he is one of like three people with three letter names here, let's not. ]

It wouldn't make sense to refer to the murderer and- them separately...?

Was Sir Hijikata particularly prone to being cryptic?

[ Souji tell him more about Hijikata what does this mean ]

[themodsgrimm]

[honestly this castle needs more face punching

anyway, are they going to check anything else in the room?]

[sanguinairy]

[Considering that's only like. Ions, Ann and maybe Abe, he will discard that thought for now...]

It might be something separate? Hijikata-san isn't a very cryptic person, no... He's very blunt.

[This letter also seems blunt to him honestly HE'S JUST MISSING THE PIECES HE NEEDS FOR IT TO MAKE SENSE.]

He may have been in contact with someone else and tied to that letter, this one makes more sense...?

[BUT RIGHT, the rest... of the investigation... For now, unless Ion protests, he'll fold up the letter and slip it back into the envelope to keep.]

We can ask around later, I suppose. [FOR NOW, he'll just. Look under the table, just in case.]

[fonlines]

[ Hm, well, that's a good point about the multiple letters thing, though the fact that it's missing an addressee is still odd... ]

That might make sense, but... ah, perhaps we can discuss this later, then.

[ Investigation and all. Anyway, before Souji folds it away and they look around some more, does the letter seem as if it was cut or torn off from a larger whole or something?

Otherwise Ion's going to join Souji in scrutinizing the area near the table. ]

[themodsgrimm]

[There's a slip of paper under the table!




It's blank. It probably fell there when the owl came swooping in.]

[sanguinairy]

[THANKS, PAPER. Anyway, Souji will just nod at Ion's suggestion and glance around the room one last time. Anything up near the rafters?? A crouching hidden murderer?]

Mm... I don't think there's much else to check here.