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

[themodsgrimm]

[Sanji can probably avoid getting burnt - it seems like it's been burning for long enough that it, at least, won't set him on fire.

On the other hand, it's been burning for long enough that it's nigh impossible to identify who it might have once been by just looking at it.]

[concasse]

Shit, it must've been burning a while... there's not really a lot to go on.

[Okay but seriously WHO THE FUCK WENT THIS HARD LAST NIGHT?

W-would... touching it help?? Like oh god, are there clothes? Any identifying marks? Please tell me this body has all of its limbs. Sanji is gonna check for all the goodies before he gives up]

[axilium]

... Well, have fun. I'm going to check out the patch again?

[heading back to the patch! give us the deets on the empty spot.]

[themodsgrimm]

[The clothes have all been burnt to the point that really he's kind of just holding a charred skeleton with some burnt flesh bits. Is this really what you want to be doing with your life, Sanji? ...at least the corpse seems to be in possession of all its limbs, though.

The spot where the pumpkin was missing from has a lot of dirt there! ...there's also a couple of loose matches on the ground.]

[concasse]

[Listen, last week they missed a whole-ass body, Sanji is leaving no stone unturned.

But if it's charred, it's charred. Looking discontent, Sanji will put it down and look around the pumpkin carriage for hints instead. Or is it as burnt as the corpse?]

[axilium]

[just checking, but do the matches look used...

also, he's going to gently kick away some of the dirt.]

[themodsgrimm]

[the carriage itself is just as burnt as the corpse!

and sure enough, on closer inspection, the matches do indeed seem to have been used. the dirt near the empty spot doesn't seem to be all that disturbed - at least, not until belph kicks at it.

what else will our intrepid investigators check?]

[concasse]

[... Honestly Sanji is considering taking his kitchen knife and slicing into this charred body to see what blood comes up but we'll be classy for now.

He's gonna go find Belph first]

Find anything?

[axilium]

[are you sure anyone's still classy in this game.]

Matches?

[concasse]

That might explain the charred body....

[Sigh]

I'll check the track to see if I find anything.

[axilium]

I guess I'll... keep looking around the patch?

[because he's paranoid about missing something. anyway, are any of the bigger pumpkins big enough to hold a body or body parts OR WHATEVER.]

[themodsgrimm]

[now that they're not distracted by chasing around a pumpkin carriage on the track, sanji will note that there's a piece of parchment on the track! ...it looks vaguely burnt from this distance.

belph, meanwhile, will not find any pumpkins big enough to hide a body in, but as he wanders the patch, he'll find a bit of disturbed earth a couple rows over from the missing pumpkin's spot.]

[concasse]

[Oh god if Sanji left Belph to discover a body part, I am so sorry.

Yeah Sanji will approach the parchment but not pick it up yet because burnt parchment might break. He's being careful! That said, he'll bend in close to see if there's anything on it.]

[axilium]

[... well, he can't complain too much, since this is why he was kicking dirt earlier??

this time, though, he's going to cautiously brush away the dirt with his hand...]

[themodsgrimm]

[it looks like there's some writing on the parchment! it's barely legible. the top of reveals to whom it's addressed: someone whose name ends in "van," though the first part of the name is burnt away.

belph will find that it definitely feels like there's something solid under there. he will, however, have to dig more deeply to see what.]

[concasse]

[... HM.

Okay he'll pick up the parchment... gently... If he turns it over, will he find anything else to read?

He is looking behind him at that pumpkin carriage, though.]

[axilium]

Ugh...

[he'll dig some more...]

[themodsgrimm]

[there isn't anything on the back side of the parchment! there may be more on the front, it's just hard to read without looking very closely because of the condition of the paper.

as belph digs further down, his hand will close around something spiky. hope he wasn't digging too roughly! will he pull it out?]

[concasse]

[WELL HE IS GOING TO LOOK CLOSE. SUPER CLOSE.

What do your elf eyes see, Sanji?

... Or does he need a magnifying glass to read this nonsense]

[axilium]

[... please don't let him regret this, but okay, he'll pull it out?]

[themodsgrimm]

[Sanji's elf eyes will be able to make out a few words! They are “meet”, “pumpkin patch”, “tonight”, “utmost importance”, “else you”, “friends” and “dire”.

Also Belph pulls out a rusty mace from the ground.]

[concasse]

[... So he's gonna pocket that parchment and--]

I'll be right back, Belph.

[Sanji's taking out his

kitchen knife

IF BELPH WANTS TO STOP HIM HE GETS ONE CHANCE]

[axilium]

Uh...

[... you know what, you live your best life, sanji.]

Have fun?

[he's just going to pretend that's not happening as he examines the mace. why are we getting fancy with potential murder weapons.]

[concasse]

[PERFECT in that case

Sanji is going to use the knife on the charred corpse.

Specifically the thigh! And try to create a small cut that will hopefully give him an idea of what the blood/ink color is]

[themodsgrimm]

[the mace has rust and dirt on it! and also a few flecks of gold liquid.

back with sanji and the charred corpse, the teeniest, tiniest amount of gold ink seeps out of the cut.]