CHAPTER 7 ; INVESTIGATION

[themodsgrimm]

The Story Continues... CHAPTER 7 - WEEK 7??? 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]

[The book is a heavy anthology of fairy tales, most likely from the library.

It's also pretty scuffed up.

Someone wasn't very kind to it! They'll be paying the replacement cost, it can't go back out into circulation like this.]

[asswipe]

[...

Hm. Didn't someone in the castle take out an anthology like this before? This bodes well.

She quietly flips through the book to see if there's anything of note besides it being roughed up. Any ink or scribbles on the margins? How about a signed confession slipped inside? No?

If there's nothing else of note in the book, though, she'll get up to take a look at... whatever is on the altar. God.]

[themodsgrimm]

[No signed confessions here, sadly.

Once Veronica heads over to the altar, though, she'll get a pretty clear look at the body.

Lying there motionless is Rebecca Bunch.]

[asswipe]

... Oh, Rebecca.

[At this point, Veronica isn't even shocked over dead bodies. She's just... sad. Please stop killing her friends.

Carefully, she approaches Rebecca's body to take a closer look at it. Any obvious stab wounds or injuries at first glance, or is she going to have to move this corpse around?]

[themodsgrimm]

[There's a bunch of deep-looking cuts on her neck, which is covered in a shitton of golden ink.]

[asswipe]

[Yikes. How many cuts are we talking about here?

And while she's inspecting the body, are there any other injuries on Rebecca? Anything under her fingernails? She'll be taking her down from the altar if possible to take a look at her back, too.]

[themodsgrimm]

[there are A Lot of deep cuts. it's not easy to tell the exact number - many of them overlap.

When Veronica shifts focus to Rebecca's fingernails, she'll find blood underneath them! Apparently she did not go quietly into this good night. There isn't anything immediately obvious on Rebecca's back, though; her clothing looks intact.]

[asswipe]

[She seems relieved when she notices the blood under Rebecca's fingernails, but... Then she's just annoyed.]

Fuck. [DOUBLE CHECKING THAT IT'S, YOU KNOW, REAL BLOOD before putting her hands down.] Couldn't they have asked for permission at this stage?

[Since, you know, heroes had to die anyway. This is fine. Truly. If there's any bruises under Rebecca's clothes, though, she's not going to take a look. Instead she pats her down to check if she was carrying anything on her, checking any pockets she might have and what not. Is this a lootable corpse?]

[themodsgrimm]

[It is indeed real blood, as she'll either smell or taste because I can't think of how else she would even find this out. She'll note one other thing as she puts her hand down, though - her right wrist is bruised and broken. Yikes.

Anyway, as she pats her down, she'll feel something in both her pockets! One pocket has something a little more solid-feeling; the other has something just a bit thicker than what would be in an empty pocket.

What's she going for first?]

[asswipe]

[She's going to smell them because she is not, in fact, Natsuo kin. :/

Anyway, she's going for the more solid-feeling thing first. What do we have here?]

[themodsgrimm]

[In that pocket, Veronica finds a vial of liquid and a folded-up note! Will she read it here in front of god and everyone (okay, so it's just the golden tiger statue) or will she save it for later...]

[asswipe]

[Considering there's no dying pope in the room this week, she's going to read it right here. Witness her, Golden Tiger Statue^TM.]

[themodsgrimm]

[It reads as follows:]

To my family,
I know that where you must return to now that I have gone is a place full of terror. I wish there was more that I could do to help you, but we are all bound to follow the rules that have been set in place. This is the best I can give you. There's only enough for one use, so please choose carefully.
Love always,

[there's no name at the bottom.]

[asswipe]

[... Is the handwriting one Veronica would recognize, or no? Because otherwise, she doesn't know what to make of this.

Pocketing the vial and the letter, though, she goes for the other pocket.]

[themodsgrimm]

[It is not handwriting Veronica would recognize!

The other pocket has another note.

Is she reading this one too?]

[asswipe]

[Aye. Reveal to her your secrets, mystery note.]

[themodsgrimm]

[It's in Rebecca's handwriting, and it reads as follows:]

I'm sorry.

[asswipe]

[...

Veronica stares at the note for a moment, quiet, before she just... folds it back up and returns it to Rebecca's pocket. Okay. We're good on corpse inspection for the day.

Making a beeline for the unlit lantern! Is there anything immediately off about this one besides the fact that it's no longer burning?]

[themodsgrimm]

[Nothing is visibly off about the unlit torch at first glance! But then again, it's kind of dark since it's supposed to be providing the light over here. Maybe she'll want to take it off the wall and bring it over to one of the other torches for a better look.]

[asswipe]

[HM. Concern.

She's going to take the unlit torch down, then, and bring it over to one of the currently lit torches. Anything visible now? Also: How hot/cool to the touch is the unlit torch if she taps the top with her fingertips?]

[themodsgrimm]

[In the light of the lit torches, she'll be able to see that there are some scuff marks on the torch itself! It's looking a little dinged up.

The top of it feels about room temperature.]

[asswipe]

[... Well, then. She turns the torch around to take a closer look at those scuff marks. Is there any way she could tell if it was like, dragged against a surface or if it made impact with something?

Once she's done with the unlit torch, though, she's going to set it down so she can take one of the lit torches. She'll backtrack to take a look at the area where the unlit torch was. Anything of note on the wall, floor, or the thing that was holding up the torch?]

[themodsgrimm]

[It definitely looks like these are more impact scuffs as opposed to drag scuffs.

There's nothing on the wall, floor, or... the thing that was holding up the torch... i don't know what that word is... SCONCE i know the word now, megan is a hero. anyway, nothing there that looks out of the ordinary, but she can totally search the rest of the room with her newfound light source if she wants.]

[asswipe]

[MEGAN IS TRULY A HERO...

Anyway, yeah. The torch is now her new best friend. She's going to check for any signs of blood or ink along the walls and floor, before moving onto the pillows. Are the pillows okay? Did they survive whatever the torch and book went through?]

[themodsgrimm]

[The pillows look like they've been kicked around a bit - or maybe they were always sort of haphazard? Chaos reigns in Tigerland, maybe.

There isn't blood or ink on the ground - but she will see some dark marks on the ground near the altar!]