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

[alchemenace]

I'll... check on the puppets?

[ why did he just volunteer for that. anyway while hikage is checking the seats Varian is going to climb the stage to take a closer look at both the stage and the puppets ]

[themodsgrimm]

[There's nothing to find around the seats or the puppets. They're all in pristine condition! Hooray!]

[psychedelica]

[ HMMMMM. ]

There's nothing over here. Let's look backstage.

[alchemenace]

Right... Same here. I'll climb up!

[ hikage can have the first level while varian decides to climb an unsafe ladder to death because he has no wisdom to think these things through?

maybe all the ropes are on fire up here ]

[themodsgrimm]

[If Hikage searches the first level of the backstage area he'll continue to find...nothing out of the ordinary! How lucky for one singular old man. Varian, meanwhile, while he won't find anything out of place with the ropes...it looks like there's something much farther down on the walkway's path. It's hard to tell what it is from here--the area's a bit too dark.]

[psychedelica]

[ he's still full of youthful energy, please... ]

There's nothing here, either...

[alchemenace]

[ I can't believe Varian carrying his entire inventory on himself like a rpg character finally served a purpose for good. he takes out his fucking light up potion as he starts to edge further on the walkway ]

I think there's something up here? Give me a second.

[themodsgrimm]

[Sweet, sweet illumination. Congratulations, Varian, your science has earned you the slumped-over form of a body!]

[alchemenace]

[ science was a fucking mistake. Varian takes in an unsteady breath but walks closer to identify the body and anything else... around...

whomst the fuck is dead ]

Why can't you be an extra puppet...

[themodsgrimm]

[Whomst the fuck is dead, indeed.

The closer Varian gets, the better he'll be able to see the visible injuries on the body--injuries that definitely wouldn't look that way on a puppet body. Yeah, this is sure a body, alright, and it's clear who it belongs to.

Abe no Sousei is dead.]

[alchemenace]

[ oh my god. why. ]

.... Hikage anytime you want to come up, go ahead...

[ but to justify sib being busy Varian does not explain why because he's too busy softly yikesing and taking a closer look at these wounds. how bad is it. Does he have both legs. Why do I have to ask this. ]

[themodsgrimm]

[Fortunately(?) for Varian, Sousei does indeed have both legs. One of them, the right one, however, is broken and covered in open wounds--but they look to be a couple days old at this point. There's a lot to take in, here, honestly. The more he looks, the more he'll find. His right wrist is broken, as well, and there's a wound on his left arm. Possibly most grotesque of all is the unnatural angle that his broken neck is positioned.]

[alchemenace]

[ okay well at least Varian doesn't have to check for a pulse in false hopes. he gives it a 10/10 death diagnosis. what's the wound on his left arm like? a cut, a bruise, how big, where exactly is it, etc.

and also that broken neck, is it JUST snapped, or is there any bruising ]

[themodsgrimm]

[The wound on the upper left arm is definitely a stab wound, and it is is far from clean. The skin is split messily, as if it were made carelessly. The neck appears to simply have been snapped, but there are bruises elsewhere on the body, though any that Varian comes across seems to lack any particular pattern or source.]

[alchemenace]

[ I can't believe someone threw sousei down a flight of stairs and he broke his neck.

anyway since it's far from clean. reveal to me saucy's ink color mods as Varian brings his light closer to check. And then he'll move on to looking to see if anything seems out of place around sousei in this dingy walkway ]

[psychedelica]

-- What's going on?

[ this is the sound of Hikage coming up the ladder after him now that sib is done eating dinner!

of course, he sees what is going on pretty fast. ]

Oh. [ first body ever found, yippee. ] Sousei, huh...

[themodsgrimm]

[It's him, one saucy boy. :(

The wounds themselves don't seem to be bleeding, but if Varian gets in nice and close he might be able to tell that the ink inside of them is purple.]

[alchemenace]

Y...ep. It sure is Sousei.

[ and Varian literally raises the arm holding his light potion up in disgust when he sees the ink color sorry ]

Of course he was a villain. Of course.

[ ??? that sure is an outburst ]

[psychedelica]

... Of course?

[ the fuck does that mean, Varian. Hikage isn't much of an expert in identifying wounds, so he doesn't comment on that; if anything, his investigation buddy is slightly more intriguing at the moment.

That said, he does take a glance at the area around the body. Are there any signs of the body being moved, or the area around being disturbed? Bloodstains or anything... ]

[themodsgrimm]

[No bloodstains, and nothing else disturbed around the body that indicates it's been moved! There is one thing they might notice, however: Sousei's sword is missing from his body.]

[alchemenace]

[ Varian falters for half a second before he just. shrugs ]

The number of villains compared to the other two is pretty low, and I don't want to know what will happen when it hits zero? I feel like it can't be anything good.

[ also hikage might wanna notice the sword thing because fuck if Varian would he's face deep in body poking ]

[psychedelica]

Don't lie to me.

[ he'll get an answer out of you later if he has to, varian.

but, yes, Hikage does notice the sword is gone. This doesn't surprise him for a few reasons. ]

His weapon is gone... I think he was some kind of soldier, so whoever killed him probably had to separate him from it to hurt him this badly. [ a beat. ] Could it be around here somewhere?

[themodsgrimm]

[I'll be here if ya'll wanna look for the sword but I think Varian might want to find a way out of of the hole he dug himself into first.]

[alchemenace]

[ oh my god? Varian makes a face ]

It's not a lie. But let's just look for that sword. He definitely took a beating, and he's got a stab wound, so maybe...?

[ anyway Varian is going to open his potion and gently pour out some ON THE FLOOR IN A SPACE THAT IS FULLY EMPTY HE CHECKED FIRST so that the area is a bit more lit up and they can both check for sword behind ropes and shit ]

[psychedelica]

I doubt it was your actual reason, either.

[ he is also wondering what the hell that magic glowing juice Varian has is, but he'll leave that for later. Since the floor below them is empty, he also looks around for the sword up on the catwalk, just in case it's been stabbed into a lever or pully or some such. ]