WEEK 2; TRIAL

[killerwaves]

TRIAL

Whether you investigated or decided to take it easy, before you know it the speakers crackle to life instructing you to head to the beach. This is a demand not a request, and anyone who doesn't comply will find themselves forcibly moved there by the kitty bots—even if it takes a whole swarm of them.

Once you get there, you'll see that this isn't quite a beach party, instead a gigantic sandbar dotted with some type of constructs has risen out of the sea and tides. The path to the sandbar is solid enough even if it is relatively narrow, and once you arrive you'll find that you're far out in the ocean, way farther than it's comfortable to swim.

And once everyone is gathered, the pathway recedes back into the sea leaving you trapped here, all twenty-eight of you. At least there's ample seating, a kind of amphitheater made of sand with space in the middle for grandstanding or dramatic revelations. Though the area is mostly open, there are lone pieces of sand wall around the edges, maybe to dissuade you from tossing someone into the ocean without stopping you entirely. Thankfully, a lone outhouse rests again one of the walls just in case you need to use the bathroom, though it's not much in the way of actual privacy.

Settle in, get comfortable or just complain about all the sand you'll be tracking back, if you make it back that is. There's still another sacrifice to be chosen after all according to your administrators and—

Maybe you've noticed there's no palm trees or speakers here? It's just you, and the sand. For now.

(( OOC: Welcome to your first trial! You'll have 7 hours (8PM EST/5PM PST) to find the killer and send them off their death, if you believe in justice at least. Since this is scapegoat style, finding the correct killer is not mandatory!

Please remember to vote before then unless you've spoken to a mod, as votes are our stand-in for AC. ))

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EVIDENCE TOP LEVEL

[killerwaves]

[ Comment here with your evidence from investigation! This is to keep things more easily digestible for those who come in late.

Discussing the evidence available is OK -- however, please try to show evidence on the first post of a comment thread instead of posting it as a reply on someone else's thread, to make it easier to find.

Take a look at a full evidence toplevel! ]

1/2

[allworknoplague]

[Once everyone's arrived and settled in, including sundry kittybots -- presumably for convenience's sake, since at least one of them is carrying snacks and beverages like you're at a baseball game or something -- there's a hissing sound from the top of the amphitheater, where the sand wall is... dissolving?

Both dramatically and somehow unceremoniously, the top of the amphitheater parts to admit two strangers.

One of them is a man in a dark shirt and simple slacks, looking like some kind of dressed-down businessman with the tie to match. He could look almost unassuming were it not for the intensity of his gaze and the bizarre and gaudy beak of the plague mask that covers most of his face. Red and gold: both Ho-oh colors and, apparently, masking colors in this day and age.

He lifts a hand, does something that flashes under the light of the sun, and suddenly there's what looks like a sunshade where they emerged, tinted glass reflecting both the wind and heat.]

All right. Since we're doing this the old-fashioned way, I think it's about time we introduced ourselves properly, too.

Call me Overhaul. You've known me as Ho-oh until now.

[His unaltered voice is low, almost a growl but smooth, rolling out over the sand despite -- apparently -- the lack of amplifying equipment. Either the acoustics are good here or somebody has practiced projecting, who knows.

He doesn't wait for his companion before continuing.]

You've done your investigation, you've got your evidence, you've got your dead. Now it's time to choose the second sacrifice -- you can go for whoever killed the battery acid kid, or you can take out somebody you don't like. Choice is yours.

You've got 7 hours.

[handsheld]

[ And as for his "companion", well, he doesn't seem to mind waiting to speak apparently, though the overly floofy shock of bright white hair obscures much of his face and expression. He's certainly grinning by the end of it though, clearly amused about something.

Rapt0r probably meets the image of what most people have of him in their mind, dressed in a light cloak and pants, all black of course, showing nary any skin besides his hands which aren't gloved. His sneakers at least provide a pop of color, red, because color themes are important perhaps. They match his eyes which are a similar bright red. ]

Finally. [ That word, long and slow, languid, and deep seems to be directed at Overhaul for his poor choice in aliases before he turns to address the group. ]

Drop the Rapt0r bit now, I'm bored of it—my name's Shigaraki. Feel free to say all the stuff you were saying before to my face and maybe we can have some fun. No promises on holding back though, that wouldn't be fair to Merlin.

CHAI'S BODY

[conchy]

And then there’s the matter of Monsieur Chai’s cadavre. Billy found him lying in a pool of his own blood! Mm, someone had fun and it wasn’t Monsieur Chai. In fact, according to Monsieur Wuxian’s examen, he was in a state of panic when he died, but of course he was!

Anyway, there’s the matter of all that blood. Thanks to petit Xiao’s efforts, his body was discovered beneath the wreckage of the missing go-kart. In addition to the pool of blood Chai was lying in, blood was running down the left side of his chest and onto the ground. There were also blood splatters on his chest. If you want my expert opinion, this splatter is consistent with being struck by a blunt object.

What’s more, there is a gaping wound in his chest that was stuffed full of gummy worms! Heh-ahaha! How fascinating! After digging the worms out and giving Chai a thorough inspection, it became clear that whatever stabbed through Monsieur Chai cut clean through him, piercing his heart! The wound was quite jagged as well. My genius tells me that this was a straight stab, unrefined as it was.

Ah, and his ribs! The ones on his left! They made the most delightful crunch when Monsieur Wuxian touched them! Hrnnng! Très bien! They were quite clearly broken. He was covered in bruises as well, many of them uniform, which suggests a pattern! Those particular bruises are large and circular, but that’s not all.

He also has a wedge-shaped bruise consistent with the head of the golf club we found lying near his body. Ah, and do note that all of this bruising is on the left side of Chai’s body. There are bruises on the left side of his back as well, naturellement! Incidentally, Chai’s mechanical arm also happens to be on the left side of his body...

RAILWAY

[conchy]

Some sort of dreadful incident occurred on the railways...! Rather, I wish it were that exciting. We found a scattering of étrange glass along the tracks, but that isn’t all! Would you believe me if I told you that glass was not glass at all, but sugar? Oh là là! Quite odd indeed...

Ah, but savoir: the source of the glasslike sugar is unclear. Did the culprit bring it with them? A midnight snack, perhaps? As for what may have broken the sugar, that’s also a mystère!

GOLF COURSE GO-KART

[plunges]

[ Link to the entire Go-Kart invest.

Xiao arrives carrying three…large, metal things in his arms. Yeah. Also I forgot to mention that he's part of the matching green shirt squad, unfortunately, shout out to y'all. ]

I investigated a Go-Kart that was found near Chai’s body at the golf course. It was purple and found crashed into the side of one of the courses, slightly on top of the incline. It was also smoking.

I looked inside of the kart and found 3 of these [ And he’ll just. Plop those metal things down for people to look at. These are the gumdrops! ]. They were wedged inside of the kart, on top of the right pedal. I believe that is the pedal that propels the machine forward.

The outside of the kart has some scuffs at the front, but what was most noticeable was down here. [ He’ll show his phone. It might be hard to see for most, but there’s an image of the fender being very messed up. ] This part of the kart had a dent that did not line up with the kart’s position on the course; it was too high to look like it occurred there. It was on the left side of the kart, when you are facing it.

Finally, this component of the kart was damaged. [ Another photo! Look at that. It’s a picture of the engine. ]

That’s all I could gather.

[microtransactions]

[ huh! ]

Well color me surprised! Somehow I didn't expect you two would drop the pseudonyms, much less actually show up in person.

Any reason you're not just sticking with the catbots and PA system?

[finalmix]

Sugar from... candyland, probably?

How big was it, like? [ mimes making a sheet using his hands?? ] Big or small shards?

[finalmix]

[ huh! x 2, although josh doesn't seem as surprised as magolor. ]

... I thought you'd both be shorter.

[conchy]

Perhaps so! They were relatively small shards... ah, and there weren't very many of them.

[hearnoplague]

Gummy... Worms? What sort of critters are those?

[ He's trying to picture a worm that fits the gummy description and all he's getting is a squishy thing with no teeth- ]

MINI-GOLF

[diabolizes]

[ Wei Wuxian is here, and he's part of Matching Green Aloa Shirt squad. He has a mechanical cat with him however, specifically 808, who he's holding in one arm. She seems to be unharmed, although she's likely still scared. ]

I'm sure it's obvious, but when I was investigating, the first thing I found was this cat underneath a big candy bowl. Once I managed to scoop her up, I noticed that the giant gingerbread man looked off. In fact, he was missing the present box that belongs in his hands. That box was right below him on the ground, and it had a dent on one of its sides and some hot pink paint scuffed away in one spot. I've got photos if anyone would like to see them. Ah, and I found no evidence suggesting that the gingerbread man himself was hit—he was in good shape.

There were also some skidmarks leading from that area to where the Go Kart crashed. I didn't follow them as Xiao was taking care of that particular spot, but the most notable thing about those marks were their path.

[idologue]

Ah... so you came after all?

[ That one's at Shigaraki, who gets a little nod of acknowledgement. Overhaul is being eyed a lot more curiously - that mask... ]

[conchy]

A type of sugary confection! We don't have such étrange sweets where I hail from either, but if you like, I can fetch one from his corps for you to sample... Heheh!

[skyworp]

Well, look at you.

[It's a little condescending, like "look who finally decided to come out of their cave!"]

An underwhelming reveal, but I'll give you points for effort.

[gluttoning]

It's just candy. Shaped like worms.

They're pretty good.

[handsheld]

I was gettin' tired of the whole ghost and coward thing. Plus the view's better like this.

[ If these sound like off the cuff answers, it's because they are. ]

But really, I just felt like it.

Moving this with the rest of the reactions.

[hearnoplague]

[ Ok, Kallamar's here. He seems to have left the spear at home, but he may have a concealed dagger in the pocket of his hoodie. Just in case.

He's also hanging near the water, because squids like water it seems. ]

So our captors finally show themselves.

[ He sounds unimpressed. ]

[conchy]

Accueillir! Ravi de vous rencontrer!

[A pleasure to meet you both, truly. Lobelia claps his hands together and smiles gleefully.]

Merci beaucoup! I was getting bored, you know, but it heartens me to know our gracious hosts intend to make good on their threats. This is wonderful news!

[handsheld]

What, you think we'd bother to lie on the profiles?

Goop and Near Goop Incorporated

[chosenwang]

I found a shiny glob substance on a tree in the golf course. I have a bit of it with me in a napkin. [ Is it actually sugar goop I'd cry ] The edges of it is flaking out.

There was a downward slash on the tree itself that could be from something similar in size from a sword or harpoon.

The bubbling fountain was tampered with something not quite a liquid but not quite a goo either. It was very hot in temperature and smelled sweet. Didn't risk to take a sample of that because it started to melt one of the props from the golf course.

[ Oh yeah! He has pictures of ALL THE THINGS ]

[allworknoplague]

Oh, the plan was never to hide indefinitely.

I've mentioned before that we were observing you on a trial basis. Besides, it's standard procedure to quarantine new arrivals, especially if they're from different dimensions. Wouldn't want to catch anything.

[dupiety]

Ah, so you aided in handling the body.

[Just purposefully ignoring the overall delivery of said evidence...]

At least I know I can count on you to be thorough.

[finalmix]

Nah, just a presence thing, heehee.

[ :) ]

[handsheld]

Why not? Bit crowded for a tea party though.