CHAPTER 6 ; INVESTIGATION

[themodsgrimm]

The Story Continues... CHAPTER 6 - WEEK 6??? 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 1-2 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

[disclosures]

[Honestly she just wanted some fresh air after being cooped up for an entire night. Plus she hasn't... investigated outside.

But with the swan rapidly approaching she's starting to think this was a bad idea. She's backing up as quickly as the swan is coming at her.]

I didn't do anything.

[resumed]

[What! The hell! The swan is approaching and Nico's drawing his sword almost immediately to challenge this angry bird. He doesn't swing yet but he's Prepared.]

Why are they always so mad?!

[themodsgrimm]

[The swans are always so mad because you silly humans keep disturbing their peaceful lake refuge!! Case in point - as they drop their gazes down to the approaching swan, they'll definitely spot some scuff marks and scrapes in the dirt that lead toward the lake.

The swan honks angrily as it approaches.]

[disclosures]

[She'll tug on part of Nico's shirt and point at the scuff marks.]

I think we need to follow those.

[Even if she does keep looking wearily at the swan.]

[resumed]

...you're probably right. [But swan...]

Make a run for it? [He'll sidestep the swan and start jogging toward the lake. He keeps his eyes on the ground though to see if he spots any more marks.]

[themodsgrimm]

[The swan is only a few feet away now, Rebecca... though it looks briefly surprised as Nico sidesteps it. ??? It's used to humans attacking it.

Anyway, they'll find some more scattered swan feathers on the ground between them and the lake, as well as what looks like scratch marks! There's a little lump of dirt, from which some little, pale nubs are poking out.

Hm.]

[disclosures]

[Rebecca looks uncomfortable, that's not new. But she's just going to hurry to Nico's side.]

... Should we... uncover it?

[She's not bending down to do it herself though.]

[resumed]

Um. [He hovers as soon as he slows down and sees...nubs? And swan feathers. He's going to look at the lake to gauge where the swans are before he nods slowly.]

Maybe it's...nothing? [...he's going to use the tip of his sword to try and push some of the dirt aside.] Do swans know how to dig? Maybe they got territorial about something and hid their stash of whatever.

[How do birds work? Pushing dirt...and trying not to look too close at those scratch marks yet.]

[themodsgrimm]

[Territorial swans is a good theory. The angry one turns around to stare at them before honking indignantly as they pay more attention to the dirt lump than to it.

Anyway, poking at the dirt reveals that some of those nubs actually look like fingers, the more the dirt comes away.

Yikes.]

[disclosures]

Nope! Nope! I don't wanna do this!

[She's immediately pulling away from Nico and the fingers.]

It's all you, Nico!

[resumed]

Are you kidding me!? [This is both to Rebecca and to the indignant swan. And the fingers? But he watches Rebecca just to make sure the swan doesn't go after her even as he crouches down.

Fine. He'll use the tip of his sword and also his hand to scrape away dirt. How many fingers are we talking here? Maybe they'll be lucky and this will only be, like, two.]

[themodsgrimm]

[nah man, there's five fingers. they don't seem to be loose, either.

also the swan is following rebecca.]

[disclosures]

[Okay swan, do your job and end her misery.

Because she's not coming back to the fingers.]

Good luck, I don't wanna touch it. I'm not- I'm not equipped for this! At all!

[resumed]

It's just--[Oh. No. Those fingers are attached to something and he shuts up.

...I can and can't believe Rebecca's making the 14 year old do this. But he's silent and he's going to keep...digging...he guesses. How far does he have to go?

Also swan please don't be an asshole.]

[themodsgrimm]

[as long as rebecca keeps moving, the swan won't manage to catch up to her - it just follows her at an acceptable distance. but hey, at least this way she's keeping it from trying to eat their evidence?

nico will have to dig down quite a bit... but eventually, he'll be able to pull out a whole-ass arm.]

[disclosures]

[Don't expect better out of her.

Yeah, she's just continuously walking around and stressed about finding fingers next to swan lake. The hell is this!! What the hell is this!!!]

I hate this!

[But she's at least distracting the swan.

You're welcome.]

[resumed]

[I hate that I'm writing this sentence but yeah, he's going to unearth a whole-ass arm and just...hold onto it.]

You're going to hate this even worse. [Why is it just an arm? Now that he's sitting in the dirt though and he has an arm, he'll...try to hold it at a less-awkward and disgusting angle and see what he can determine. What state is the arm in?]

[themodsgrimm]

[as rebecca is leading the swan away, she may catch sight of a scrap of something purple and gray near the line of trees!

nico, meanwhile, will find that it looks like the arm has been either cut or torn off from the shoulder. pretty violently, too! there's a lot of dirt on it, yuck. ...also it seems to be a left arm, judging by the fingers.]

[disclosures]

[She definitely see the whole ass arm, her face goes pale and she looks away. And finds a- something!]

Great! You're right! Deal with that! I think I found something.

[Time to look at that scrap of something! As long as it's not an arm it'll be better! Probably!]

[resumed]

Hey! [But okay...off she goes. Have fun or whatever, he'll be on the ground with this stupid arm.

...gross. He looks at the scratch marks on the ground though before looking at the arm again. He's putting the arm down and using it like a rake to see if the fingers leave similar marks, or if the marks are from swans, or if they're unrelated.

Did swans rip off someone's arm and bury it? Why are there so many feathers?]

[themodsgrimm]

[Rebecca will snag the scrap! It's fabric. At first glance, it looks pretty clean.

Nico's experiment will result in almost identical claw marks in the dirt - lighter, perhaps, if he's not being particularly forceful with his raking.]

[disclosures]

[At first glance. What about a closer inspection...? She found this scrap, she's going to examine it.]

Does anybody wear... purple and gray?

[resumed]

[That's alarming. He looks up from the arm.] Just...people who aren't alive anymore. Or someone I don't know. [He'll look at the lake again. How's the shore looking?]

[themodsgrimm]

[upon closer inspection, it ... also seems pretty clean. hm. the swan shuffles closer to rebecca as she examines it and waits until it's right next to her before it honks obnoxiously.

the shoreline looks about the way one might expect after a whole arm has been found there. there's the scuffle marks and feathers they found earlier, and out on the water, they'll see a swan rapidly swimming away from some of the others with something in its mouth.]

[disclosures]

[Rebeccca jumps when the swan honks! You're a rude swan, you know? But while she's here are there any other fabric scraps around?]

I'm... going to keep looking over here.

[Because she doesn't wanna look at the arm.]